Pumpkin Cream Parfait

Hey Guys (guy, to the probably one person read who reads my blog :p)

In case you haven't heard yet its fall. fall = pumpkin. This little creation is pumpkin, cinnamon, and Greek yogurt. That's all, but for something so little it packs such a flavor punch!

Pumpkin Cream Parfait
serves 1

1 container vanilla greek yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree(canned is fine)
cinamon

layer the yogurt and pumpkin in a glass/jar (if your me use a wine glass). then sprinkle cinamon on top.

 See? so simple, I kinda feel silly calling it a recipie.

Nutrition info:
Calories: 145
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 19g
     sugar:14g
Protein: 17g

Question of the Day
Do you have any TV shows you watch regularly?
I watch Walking Dead every Sunday.

Pumpkin Waffles

 
Farewell 

The last of the pumpkin is gone, devoured by my hungry family. These waffles will call to you from the beyond; more, more, more they'll whisper to you after the last bite is gone. Cause they' just that yummy!

Pumpkin Waffles:
serves 4-6

1 1/2 c pumpkin
3/4 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (you can use any flour you wish, as long as the total flour is 1 3/4 c)
2 t baking powder
1 t splenda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c milk/liquid of choice
3 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Whisk milk and eggs together with pumpkin. mix dry ingredients into wet. you can separate the eggs and whip the whites, then fold into the batter before cooking, if you want to have extra-fluffy waffles. cook for 3-5 minutes.

Eating these reminded me of Going out to breakfast at IHOP. I actually sat down at the kitchen table to eat them. my whole family ate them, then my dad had the leftovers for lunch.

Nutrition Info(serves 6):
Calories:223
Fat:6.8g(mostly from the nuts)
Carbs:33g
     sugar:2g
Protein:10g

Question of the Day:
Whats our favorite season?
mine is defiantly summer
 

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Aloha

Aren't these things so cute? They remind me of summer and Curious George, what with the bananas and the man in the yellow hat and all. These little circles brighten my day :D and my stomach.

After I made these I thought of turning them inside out, making a batter with cocoa/carob powder and using diced banana as the "chips" try it, and see how they turn out!(and tell me)

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
serves 1-2

1/3 c flour
1/3 c rolled oats
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 mashed banana
1/8 t salt
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 c liquid (water/milk/what-ever-else-you-want)
chocolate chips


Mash the banana in a bowl, then mix in other wet ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and mix. You can omit the chocolate chips and opt to ad them in once the pancakes are in the pan if you want more control of pancake/chocolate chip ratio. Pour into skillet and cook on medium-low heat.

I found that these didn't really need to be topped with anything. I tried honey(I do not recommend), agave, maple syrup, and chocolate syrup, but it tasted better pure. I suppose you could top with milk or whipped cream if you MUST have something on top of them.

Nutrition Info(for 2):

Calroies:190
Fat: 4.3g
Carbs: 35
     Sugar: 3.2g
Protien: 4.7g

Question of the Day:
Do you ever watch any "little kid" shows?
I wasn't into Curious George when I was little but sometimes I'll watch it now.

Ingenious Kitchen Tip

 
Heyo 

Today I've gotta share this neat little trick i came up with to look at my recipes without shmaging (sh-mAg-ing. to made dirty and or messy) them. and yes I made the word shmaging up. I also use it to describe cookie dough that gets eaten before getting cooked. shmag (sh-mAg. raw cookie dough that's gonna get eaten before being baked).

You just clip your recipe to your kitchen cupboard handle with a clothespin and you ready to go! Now you're wondering why you didn't think of this sooner huh? 

Question of the Day:
do you have any clever tricks that are duh-why-didnt-i-think-of-that simple?

Strawberry Jelly Pancakes

 
Hello (again)

(the photo is a stock photo :( I couldn't seem to find the (2 separate) pictures I took of these beauties)

Its cold outside. I don't like cold.
So I needed something to warm me up(que pancakes), but my stomach was hanging on to summer(que strawberries). Unfortunately strawberries are not something I keep on hand, but I did have some homemade strawberry jam in my fridge, which works for me. Some creative baking and 15 minutes later I was completely satisfied.

Strawberry Jelly Pancakes:
     (makes about 8-12 pancakes, 4-6 servings)

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1/4 c.(4 T) strawberry jelly(you may use sugar free, and subtract 20 calories per serving)

mix dry ingredients together, then add in wet, stir well. Cook these on a stove heated to  medium heat in a sprayed skillet.


Delicious, and a perfect blend of summer and fall. These were delicious and my family loved them :) You could use whatever kind of jelly you want to make different flavor pancakes (blueberry anybody?).

Nutrition Info (the sugar free version in parenthesis):
Calories: 197(170)
Fat: 0.7g
Carbs: 42g(37g)
    sugar: 6g (1g)

Question of the Day:
What's your favorite kind of fruit?

Nutella Cookies

Heyo

I found a recipe online for no-bake nutella cookies, but they were full of sugar. Which sounded like a challenge: make some healthy nutella cookies. now nutella isn't that healthy to begin with. Despite its health-food status, it's really just fudgy, frosting. But you can't have nutella cookies with out nutella(literally, you can't) so I vowed to make it as healthy as I could.

Normally the first thing I would do is substitute splenda for sugar, but because no-bake cookies are mixed on a stove-top(I find it ironic that no-bake recipes almost always require a stove) that was out. So what to put in instead? tru-via? agave? I had options but I was leery about substituting a liquid for a solid... Unless I reduced the amount of butter.... less butter is good. So agave it was.

The second thing to is get rid of some butter... but wait, we already did! Problem solved!

Healthy Nutella No-Bakes: 
     (makes 12 cookies)
3T agave
2T milk
1t+1/2t cocoa( you can try subbing chocolate protien powder if you wish)
2T peanut butter
3T nutella (I cut the original recipes amount in half)
1c rolled oats

In a saucepan mix the agave, milk and cocoa powder over medium low heat and mix until combined. stir in peanut butter and nutella until melted, then stir in the oats. mix thoroughly and reduce heat to low. quickly spoon cookies onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 30 min.

These cookies came out even fudgyer then the original

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 67 per cookie
Fat: 3g
     saturated fat: >1g
Carbs: 8g
     sugar: 3g
Protien: 2g

Question of the Day:
What do you like to do on your days off?
Today is NEOEA day so no school for me! I get to spend it baking :) I'm even taking a vegan cooking class later today!

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Heyy ;)

I'll admit it, I have a pancake addiction. Seriously I need to sign up for PA meetings (pancakes anonymous). But don't these things look delicious? Just looking at the picture makes me want to go make another stack! Seriously.. just ...nom nom nom! so good :) 

These are (you guessed it) Chocolate-Covered Katie's. Unfortunately this recipe was hidden deep in the depths of dessert heaven. Here's the link to the actual recipe (cause its fricken impossible to find) 

I was inspired to make these when I went to IHOP with my tennis team, but later got sick because I forgot they used milk and butter in their batter. Boy did I feel stupid! So I went on a quest to make some lactose free ones :)

Carrot Cake Pancakes:

     (serves two)

 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (others have said plain whole wheat works)

 1/3 cup heaped shredded carrot (feel free to add more)

 1/8 teaspoon salt

 Up to 2 Tbsp sugar, around 1 Tbs agave or 2-3 NuNaturals packets

 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

 1/4 heaped teaspoon baking powder

 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

 1 1/2- 2 Tbsp applesauce

 1/3 cup water/liquid

Optional add-ins: raisins, shredded coconut, walnuts, pineapple tidbits (If you add pineapple, you’ll probably want to decrease the applesauce or liquid a bit.)

You can leave out the sweetener if your topping these with anything sweet :)

 Above topped with creamy frosting( also Katie's recipe), but you could also top with maple syrup, agave, raisins & apples, vanilla icing, coconut butter, or pineapple juice.

Creamy Frosting
(Or pudding or mousse)
(Makes about 1 1/3 cup)

2/3 cup silken-firm tofu(I’m sure soft-silken would work too)
4-6 T raw cashew butter (or another nut butter)
scant 1/8th tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
sweetener (sugar, agave, etc. powdered sugar could work out well, too)

Blend everything in a blender/food processor, or Magic Bullet cup. It's thicker when cold, so it’s a good idea to make it up ahead of time.

I ended up drizzling some maple syrup on mine along with the frosting (which I halved and still had leftovers)

Nutritional info:

Pancakes:
Calories: 235 (with walnuts and raisins)
Fat: 3g
Carbs: 49g
     sugar: 12.5g
Protien: 7g

Frosting:
Calories: 28(I'd say I used about 1-2 tablespoons)
Fat: 2g
Carbs: 1.5g
     sugar: 0.3g
Protien: 1g

Question Of The Day:
Do you have and addiction to a certain type of food?

Banana Peanut Butter Pie

Hello cookie crumbs

 Bananas and peanut butter and chocolate and peanut butter and chocolate and bananas and deliciousness. The best part? you don't have to bake it! No wait! The best part is my mom hates peanut butter(the weirdo :P) and banana (double weirdo!) and my dad thought it looked weird so wouldn't try it, which means this beauty was all mine!

Peanut Butter Pie :

as baked by Chocolate-Covered Katie

     (Can be gluten and sugar-free)

Crust (its chocolate):
     (gluten-free!)
1 tbsp cocoa powder (or cacao powder)
1/4 cup raw cashews (or almonds, walnuts, pecans, or macadamia nuts)(I used almonds)
1/4 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened )(I subbed in extra almonds)
1/16 tsp salt
1/4 cup pitted dates(or prunes or raisins) (4 small dates/prunes)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Then transfer to a 7-in baking dish or aluminum pan. Using a piece of wax or parchment paper(or a spoon, cause I'm to lazy to get out wax paper), smush into the pan and pour desired filling on top or refrigerate until ready to use. Feel free to increase recipe size for a bigger pie.

Filling:
1 cup peanut butter (Or another nut butter, or Sunbutter)
3 medium bananas (
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted (Can sub with 1/4 cup canola oil) (or extra pb; the texture will just change)
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar, or liquid sweetener (such as pure maple syrup)

Blend everything together very, very well. If you want a deeper-dish pie, use: 1 1/2 c peanut butter, 4 1/2 bananas, 1 tbsp vanilla, a little over 1/8 tsp salt, 1/4c plus 2 tbsp coconut oil, and 5 tbsp powdered sugar.

Freeze until firm. (If not using the coconut oil, just chill in the fridge instead.) Pie should be kept cold; I kept it in the fridge(no coconut oil here) but you can put it in the freezer. Just thaw before eating, and the mousse-like texture will come back. WARNING: I kept my pie in the fridge (I omitted the coconut oil) and because of the banana what was open to the air did turn brown, but it still tastes the same. a.k.a delicious.

I bet you could even put some chocolate chips in if you wanted! the original nutritional info I had for this pie incorrectly calculated it at 170 calories and I didn't notice until just now that it was wrong. But hey, this is still good for you. It has peanut butter, and happiness, how is that unhealthy?

 Calories: (for 12 slices) 230
 Fat: 18g (mostly healthy fats from the nuts)
 Carbs: 15g
     sugar: 7g
Protein: 6.5g

Question Of The Day:
Do you have dessert often, or just on special occasions?
 I find so many recipes that there's usually one around.

Rich Black Forrest Cake

Yesterday last Friday was my moms birthday. Which meant cake. Classic gain-five-pounds-from-one-slice cake. My mother does not half-ass cake. Which means that I (on this occasion) do not half ass cake either.

My mom loves anything chocolate, and so of course she loves chocolate covered cherries. when I found out there was a cake version of chocolate covered cherries, I knew it was made for my Mom.

Rich Black Forrest Cake:
   serves anywhere from 10-20 depending on slice size


Lazy Lady Cake:
2 c of sugar (feel free to sub splenda)        2 T vinegar
3 c flour                                                  2 t vanilla
1/3 c cocoa                                             1/2 c oil
2 t baking soda                                        2 c water
2 t salt                                                    1/4 c cherry brandy


mix the dry into the wet. bake in two 8" cake pans at 350 for 20 minutes.

This cake has been in my family for as long as I can remember, and it is the moistest yummiest chocolate cake ever. and its vegan; score!

Filling:
1/2 t almond extract
1 can cherry pie filling

leave some of the liquid in the can. Then mix the cherries and flavoring together.

Frosting:
16 oz heavy/whipping cream
1/2 t almond extract
1/2 c powdered sugar

whip the cream until very soft peaks form, then ad almond extract and powdered sugar, and whip until stiff peaks form.

full fat whipped cream isn't exactly vegan but I really just couldn't think of a substitute


Assembly!

1.  put the first layer of cake on a plate!
2.  then pipe some frosting around the top edge (to hold the filling in)
3.  pour some filling on that moist mamma!
4.  put the second layer of cake on that sugary sandwich!
5.  get yo frosting, put yo frosting on you sugar-witch, and spread it alllll over

Because I'm fancy, and its a birthday, I took shaved chocolate (use a potato peeler and a normal bar of chocolate) and made a ring on the top of the cake. Then took chocolate covered cherries and placed them around the ring.

Calories: (for 15 slices) 470 or 340 if you substitute splenda for sugar and omit the             chocolate covered cherry on top.
Fat: 20g
Carbs: 62g (30g if subbing splenda)
     sugar: 30g (4g)
Protein: 4g

So this obviously isn't the healthiest recipe in the world. But its not the worst either, and like I said this is a classic old fashioned cake.

Here are my health-ifications: you could use a light whipped cream instead of the fatty one I used (cuts 30 calories per serving and also some fat), you could use applesauce instead of  oil in the cake (cuts 70 calories per serving and also fat), and lite pie filling(cuts 25 calories and also fat)

Question Of The Day:
What's your favorite kind of cake?

Applelisious-ness

 Hi!

Its fall, and that means apples. And around here the best place to go for apples is Brant's Apple Orchard. Now apple are delicious on there own, but you cant go wrong cooking with them either! Brant's sells all kinds of goodies, but one of the best is there apple doughnuts.

No, I'm not making a recipe for apple doughnuts, but I am telling you that the best part of fall in Ashtabula is Brant's. And maybe Halloween; I love Halloween. So is there any thing special about your town that you love? I only get Brant's once a year so its a special fall treat :)

Question Of The Day:
Whats your favorite thing to cook with?

Sugar Cookies for Grandma

Hello anybody and everybody!

Today is National Grandparents Day, so I made my Granma some sugar cookies. But I hate guilty food, and my grandma belongs to weight watchers, so I made them healthy-style; thanks to Chocolate-Covered Katie. 

Now i think these cookies taste amaaazing! But my mom tasted one and thought they tasted like biscuits :( So what do you think, biscuit or cookie?


Sugar Cookies:
     (makes about 10)
3/4 c pastry flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 t plus 1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 c Splenda
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
1 + 1/2 T milk
1/4 c vegan butter sub, such as Earth Balance (Some readers say you can use coconut oil, but I haven’t tried it.)

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. 

In a separate bowl, melt the vegan butter, then stir in vanilla and milk. 

Pour dry into wet and mix again. 

Form balls or roll out (not too thin), then use a cookie cutter to make shapes. If you want soft cookies, you’ll need to get the dough very cold. (So roll the balls first, then fridge until cold.)  

Cook in a 325F preheated oven for 9 minutes. They will look very underdone when you take them out, but that’s ok!! Just let them cool for 5 minutes before touching. 
 

So maybe these cookies didn't work out. But its the thought that counts right? 

Cookie Tip: As a general rule, you should store soft cookies in plastic containers and crispy cookies in glass ones.

Nutrition info:

Calories: 55 
Fat: 2g
Carbs: 9
   Sugar:0


Question of the Day:
Do you have a close relationship with any of your grandperents?
also: do my cookies taste good?!
 

Magical Mulligatawny Soup

Herro my sprinkles

Sniff, sniff. I got blasted with a "back to school" cold. So today for dinner I'm having mulligatawny soup, and sharing with you.
This recipie is from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (my moms a big Harry Potter fan)

Mulligatawny Soup:
      (serves 6)

2T vegetable oil
4 chicken thighs (we used 6)
1 finely chopped onion
2 sliced carrots
2 finely chopped celery ribs
6c water
1 corred,peeled, and diced granny smith apple(we subbed whatever we had)
1T curry
1T salt
1/2t black pepper
2c rice
optional: shredded coconut for serving


Sear the chicken on high heat till golden and crispy (4 min each side).
Pour off all but 2T fat and add onion carrots and celery sauteing untill onions are soft(3-5 min). Add watter apple curry and pepper. Add chicken thighs back to the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30-45 min. Remove the ckicken from the pot, discard skin(if aplicable) and bones, and cut into bite-size peices. Return to pot. Skim fat off serface of soup. Add rice 

Yuummmm. There's nothing like soup on a fall day, and it satisfied my cold induced need for chicken noodle soup.

The best part? This bowl has only 200 calories in it and half your daily  vitamin A requirements). That's right. A big ass bowl of soup without the big-ass.

Here's the nutrition info(calculated by spark notes):

Calories: 198
Fat: 7.2g
Carbs: 23.8g
  Sugar: 3.3g

Question of the day:
What makes you feel better when you're sick?