Pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream...oh, and some veggies

Today it is raining sideways. Perfect day to stay in my yoga pants (don't know why they're called that.... I never do yoga in them) and bake. I pinned this recipe forever ago, and it was just what I was hoping for on a day like today. Pumpkin, since halloween is tomorrow, and salted caramel buttercream! Because there is no better combination. Here is the original recipe. I sprinkled some with cinnamon and some with my gorgeous pink sea salt from hawaii. Also I used fresh pumpkin instead of canned. For the first time this year I made a pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin~ and it yielded about double what I needed for the pie. So I froze the rest and it came in so handy today!

I've somehow resisted eating one (so far) but I did lick a bit of frosting off my finger... so scrumptious.

I think they'll be perfect after our chili feast and trick or treating tomorrow! 

Again, click here to visit made in melissa's kitchen for the recipe!

And to balance the cupcakes.... something healthy. But still delicious! I know I've said this before, but roasting veggies is the absolute best. It really brings out their flavor, they stay firm but tender (no mushy, soggy veggies in this house!), and it is so simple! Roasted broccoli is my favorite. Roasted red potatoes are a close second. This fall combo of carrots, fingerling potatoes, purple potatoes (from a friend's garden- gorgeous, right?), and garlic is as delish as it is pretty!

Just chop veggies, toss with olive oil and whatever seasonings you like. I think I used an italian blend, some sea salt and fresh ground pepper for this. Honestly just salt and pepper is wonderful though! Toss 'em on a pan (this is my favorite pampered chef baking stone~ It's very well seasoned from all this veggie roasting I tend to do!), then roast in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Sometimes more. Stir them around now and then. 

Serve as a side dish, toss with pasta, or just eat it straight off the pan as your dinner! That's my favorite way. :)

So there ya go! A healthy dinner so you feel better about eating all those pumpkin cupcakes.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing some of the crafts I've been working on for my bazaars! One is coming up next weekend... hope those that are local can stop by and visit!

My new favorite mac n cheese

A good, homemade, creamy macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite things ever. Especially on these chilly fall evenings. 

My mom made this version for us recently and I did not believe her when she told me it's pretty low in calories! 390 for a hearty 1 1/3 cup serving, 10.9 grams of fat... oh, it's still sinfully cheesy, but a lot healthier than most.

The secret? The sauce is made with pureed butternut squash! It makes it delicious and rich, with no butter, no flour, and no cream.

Here's what you'll need:

3 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1lb squash)

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth (you can use chicken broth, but of course we make it vegetarian)

1 1/2 cups fat-free milk

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fat-free greek yogurt

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) shredded gruyere cheese

1 cup (4 oz) grated pecorino romano cheese

1/4 cup (1 oz) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

1 pound uncooked cavatappi (I used penne)

cooking spray

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup panko

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Combine squash, broth, milk and garlic in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place the hot squash mixture in a blender. Add salt, pepper and greek yogurt. (My greek yogurt was expired-oops... so I made a last minute substitution and used mascarpone cheese instead. ) Remove the center of blender lid (so steam can escape); secure lid on blender, then cover the opening with a towel. Blend until smooth. Place blended squash mixture into a bowl; stir in gruyere, romano, and 2 tablespoons parmesan, stir until combined. 

Cook pasta according to package, drain well. Add to squash mixture and stir to combine. Spread mixture evenly in a 13x9 baking dish (I used a 9" round ceramic dish instead- worked out fine) coated with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add panko and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and stir in remaining parmesan cheese. 

Sprinkle evenly over the hot pasta mixture. Lightly coat topping with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley.

This stuff is seriously so good. The butternut squash is not obvious when you eat it; it just adds a richness and a hint of sweetness. Yum. 

Margaret's tomato jam

This is fall comfort food at its best!

My friend Margaret shared this recipe with me, after I tasted hers and absolutely had to make my own.

It's really easy! My recipe yielded 6 pints.

Here's what you'll need:

5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped (got some fab looking ones at a local farm stand since mine haven't even ripened yet!)

3 1/2 cups sugar (I know. But it's so worth it.)

8 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon red chili flakes

In my opinion, it could use a bit more ginger and chili flakes... but that's just me. :)

You'll also need 5 or 6 pint canning jars, plus rings and new lids, a boiling water canner, and basic supplies as desired (jar lifters and funnels sure are handy).

I imagine you could freeze this if you don't want to can it... let me know if you try it!

Combine all ingredients in a big ole pot.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer until it becomes a sticky, jammy mess. The recipe says this will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours depending how high you keep the heat. Now, when I'm told to simmer, I set my gas stove about as low as it goes. After a good two hours at this temperature, my jam was more like tomato juice. So I kicked that heat up to about 3 on my range, and within a half hour or so it thickened up beautifully. 

Maybe simmer means something different to me that it does to you, but I'd raise that temp a bit or this will take all day! Which is fine, if you have all day. Because, wow, does it make your whole house smell amazing! 

So, once it's cooked down to where you'd like it, remove from heat and fill (clean, hot) jars, leaving 1/4" of headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on rings (not too tight!). Process in boiling water canner for 20 minutes. If you are new to canning or need more detailed instructions, the canning jars usually come with some handy little instructions. It really is easy. 

Something about having jar after jar of summer delights stacked up in my pantry makes me so happy. 

The first time I tasted this jam, Margaret had poured it over a brick of cream cheese and served it with crackers. It was to die for. 

Today I spread a bit on my grilled cheese sandwich for a simple rainy day lunch, and that sweet/savory/spiced combo was phenomenal. I can't wait to find more ways to use this delicious stuff! Wondering if it would be good on some grilled chicken for hubby? Or tossed with pasta and a little cream? Any other ideas?

Simple pasta recipe

Well hello! I'm not exactly sure why, but I've just not been in the blogging mood lately. 

Ironically, since my blog is 'sleepless in Sandy', I couldn't sleep anymore this morning. Baby (who's almost two, but he will always be baby to me) sleeps like a perfect angel. Goes to bed at 7pm happily, awake, and without a peep... and sleeps ALL night long until usually 8 or 8:30 am. Love him. He's been sleeping like this for at least the last 6 months... probably since I weaned him at 14 months. And Ty gets up early, but gets himself breakfast and watches a show on daddy's iPad. But my blog will always be 'sleepless'. It reminds me of those exhausting nights and tired mornings with young babies and makes me thankful for my sleep. 

Anyway, I found myself awake much earlier than normal today. The house was quiet, the coffee was hot, and blogger was calling. I don't think I mentioned this before, but last month sleepless in Sandy turned a whole year old!! This was exciting for me, and I wanted to do something special to celebrate.... but I just never came up with the perfect thing. Ah, well...

Here is a great recipe I wanted to share, taught to me by my mama. Simplest pasta ever. And great timing too, because I just scored 41 boxes of free pasta at Albertsons with coupons. Probably my best coupon deal ever. And no, I don't plan to eat pasta every night to "use it up"... We eat pasta probably twice a week, so this should last close to six months for our family. Visit frugal living (my fav couponing website) to learn more.

 My mom knows the fancy italian name for this traditional pasta recipe, but I can't remember it... and she's probably still asleep. :) So I shall not wake her. And we shall call it Butter Parmesan Spaghetti. 

Ready?

Melt butter in large frying pan. I used about 3 tablespoons here, plus a couple tablespoons of olive oil. 

Add lots of fresh ground pepper. The fancy italian name is something about pepper... So this is important. And yummy.

Meanwhile, your noodles should be boiling... make sure to reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water. That's the secret, apparently.

Add your cooking water to the butter and pepper. I didn't add the whole cup right away. You can always add more if you need it saucier. 

Toss your (drained) noodles into the butter mixture. These are the free noodles I got, Ronzoni garden delight, or something. They actually have veggies in them- something like a whole serving of veggies per serving of pasta. Why not? And they are yummy!

Now add lots of grated parmesan cheese. Start with a little and stir really good... the pasta water thickens up as you add the cheese, and you don't want it too thick. It's all about the right balance of cheese to pasta water. So add slowly. 

You should end up with lovely saucy noodles. My sauce was a bit too thick in this pic. I went a little cheese crazy. Add extra pepper now too. 

Oh, here's a secret- use freshly grated parmesan, or..... if you are out and you have the shake can of parmesan (my hubby loves that stuff so we always have it and it keeps forever in the fridge), use it and it tastes just as great! This makes it a perfect recipe for just before I need to grocery shop again and I'm out of everything. 

My chives are growing like weeds right now. They must love rain. We've had lots of rain. I know I mentioned that recently so I won't elaborate. Anyway. 

Chives taste fab snipped on top of this simple pasta. As does a little lemon zest. You can even stir a little fresh squeezed lemon juice into your sauce. Or citrus vodka as my mother does. I plan to try it next tossed with some roasted veggies. Broccoli perhaps? Yum. 

Quinoa and red pepper salad with sesame and ginger

I just love quinoa! It's a delicious little grain (actually a seed!) that you can do so much with. I especially like to make salads with it. Here's one of my new favorites:

1 cup uncooked quinoa (I buy mine in the bulk section)

1 diced red bell pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped scallions

dressing:

3 T sesame oil

2 T soy sauce

1 T rice vinegar

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 finely chopped clove garlic

salt and pepper

1. Place quinoa in saucepan with 2 cups water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Rinse with cold water or refrigerate until chilled. 

2. Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss with cooled quinoa, peppers and scallions. 

Spicy Asian spinach salad with toasted pepitas

I love this salad. Super fresh and crunchy, with a bit of heat. Plus pepitas are just delish. I usually serve it with some tofu baked in an asian sauce of some sort, or a side of chicken for hubby.

salad:
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup toasted unsalted pepitas or pumpkin seeds
2 green onions, chopped (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves (don't skip the mint! it adds so much fresh flavor!)

dressing:
1 T lime juice
1 T canola oil
1/2 tsp sriracha chili sauce (rooster sauce, we call it)
1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger

1. Stack 5 or 6 spinach leaves, and roll stack lengthwise into tight cylinder. Cut crosswise in fine slices. Repeat with remaining spinach. Transfer to large bowl and set aside. ( I *think* this method is called 'chiffonade', and it's how I always cut my basil. Sounds more time consuming than it really is.)
2. For dressing: whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. I usually add a little sugar or agave nectar at this point- this dressing is pretty tart.
3. Toss spinach with bean sprouts, carrots, pepitas, green onions, and mint leaves. Add dressing, and toss to coat.

The original recipe called for eggs, which I eliminated since I don't eat them. But I bet they would make a yummy addition if you like them! You just make an omelet of sorts, with 2 beaten eggs. Then cut into 1/2 inch pieces and toss with the other ingredients.

This time I topped hubby's with the extra filling from the Thai chicken bites. Easy peasy!

Thai chicken salad bites

Ok, I can't actually tell you that these are yummy, seeing as how I won't eat them because of the chicken. But they sound fab! And look delicious! And hubby liked them! So there ya go.

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 T chili garlic sauce
1 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 cups shredded or finely chopped cooked chicken breast
1/4 cup finely chopped roasted peanuts
2 T finely chopped fresh mint
2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 cucumber, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds ( I used a spoon to hollow mine out a bit, and remove some seeds)

1. In a medium bowl, stir together oil, chili sauce, lime juice, sugar and ginger until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the chicken to coat. Stir in 2 T of the peanuts, the mint and cilantro.
2. Top each cucumber round with 1 T of the mixture, sprinkle with remaining peanuts.

I also spooned some of the mixture into some mini sweet bell peppers, then used the rest to top hubby's salad. I think it would also make a great filling for a wrap!

menu planning

In an attempt to stick to our grocery budget and reduce food waste, I decided I needed to get back in the habit of menu planning. I go through phases of being good about this and not so much... But I find when I don't plan, too much food gets tossed.

I also am starting to coupon again... it's been a while! I got so overwhelmed with keeping up on the cutting and filing. It's really time consuming, and if I get even one week behind it's a nightmare to try and catch up. So I read about a different filing method recently, probably on Frugal Living, that requires no cutting! I just stick each week's inserts into a page protector or pocket divider inside my coupon binder and label them with the date. The beauty of frugal living's website is they post all deals and matchups for you, including where to find each coupon. So this way I'm only cutting the coupons I need for each particular deal. Saves me so much time! Most deals they post are local, meaning Portland metro area. But I imagine there are similar websites for different parts of the country.

Here's what I got for free this week: fabric softener crystals, spices, nail clippers, tweezers, nail files, crackers, Frank's red hot sauce and yakisoba noodles. Plus I got 22 cent deodorant, 79 cent dishwasher detergent, 50 cent frozen dinner rolls, 19 cent gum and 50 cent flushable wipes. Woohoo!

So back to the menu. I thought I'd post my meals for this week, along with recipes for some as I get to them. Sometimes I get in a cooking slump and need some inspiration, and I love hearing what others are making for dinner!

I usually go through my recipe binder and pick out 5 or 6 things I'd like to make ( I figure we may eat out once, or have dinner at my parents'...). I try to pick a couple things that use the same ingredients to reduce waste. And I always have to pick a meat dish and a vegetarian dish, hopefully that sort of compliment each other- that way my dinner can be Mike's side dish. Or I'll just pick a great veggie meal, then bake some chicken to go with it. My poor hubby. I am hopeless with the chicken. I was 13 or 14 when I stopped eating meat altogether, and haven't touched it since... sooo I never really learned to cook it. Luckily he isn't a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He likes chicken. That's about it. So that makes my life easier. And he's ok with a vegetarian meal now and then. Love him.
So here's what I chose for this week:

1. Thai chicken bites; Asian spinach salad with baked tofu
2. Pizza puffs (don't laugh, they're yummy); baked potato soup; quinoa salad with parsley and lemon
3. Chicken and potato curry with rice (crockpot, woohoo!); quinoa red pepper salad with tofu
4. Sausage and fennel pasta; carrot apple salad (a new fav, can't wait to post it!), cauli with cilantro lime cream
5. Farfalle with tomato goat cheese sauce; baked chicken of some sort; homemade steak fries
6. Barley and edamame salad; summer squash and corn chowder; mustard parmesan crusted chicken
7. Weekend lunch- black bean tostadas with spicy corn relish

I don't really choose which days to have which meals- I like a little flexibility. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something. But this makes it super easy to just choose a meal in the morning, and do as much of the prep as I can ahead of time. Makes that cranky-hungry-kids-tired-mama-4:00 time much more bearable.

Hopefully this helps if you need some meal ideas for your menu planning! I'll be posting most of these recipes in the next week or so, as I make them so I can show you pics!
What are you cooking this week?

Artisan bread in 5 minutes

I've heard about this easy method for making awesome bread lately, and finally checked it out on make happy. I love experimenting with bread recipes, but to get a really amazing artisan loaf like this, it tends to be rather time consuming. Not anymore!! 

Easiest.Bread.Ever. 

You mix up a big batch of dough- only four ingredients for the white bread:

water

flour

yeast

salt

This is why I started with the white. The wheat requires more ingredients, some I didn't have on hand. But I'm excited to try it next. 

The recipe makes enough dough for 3 or 4 loaves of bread! After mixing, you let it rise a couple hours, then stick it in the fridge and just pull off chunks whenever you want a fresh loaf! It keeps for 2 weeks! Brilliant. 

Here is my first loaf. I shaped the dough a bit, dusted with flour and made slashes in the top. You bake it with a pan of water in the bottom of your oven and the steam makes the crust all gorgeous. 

It was so yummy.

I dipped it in my new aged-for-25-years balsamic vinegar while still warm... amazing.

I decided to copy Marisa and try a garlic cheese loaf. I love the versatility of this dough... there aren't a lot of rules. I like that. I flattened out my dough, the covered it in a mix of melted butter and Johnny's Garlic Seasoning (Costco), then grated aged white cheddar. This is actually my second garlic cheese loaf... I used too much cheese for the first one and it was super oily when it came out of the oven. So don't use too much cheese. :)

Then I rolled it up and tucked it into a parchment lined loaf pan.

Here it is! All melty, cheesy, garlicky goodness.

This was my favorite. 

There is a whole book (or two...) you can buy about this method. There is a huge wait for it at the library, so I suppose I should just buy it. I think this dough would make awesome pizza crust too. Anyone else tried this?

Edited 2/25/11: Click here for the recipe, then scroll down to the section that says "free recipes", and click either the 'White Boule Artisan Free-Form Loaf' or the 'Wheat Artisan Free-Form Loaf". A few people mentioned having trouble finding the measurements and full recipe. Let me know if that helps!

Cake class creations

Cake class was so much fun. Last night was my last one and I'm kinda sad it's over! The series I finished was called Decorating Basics, which was four weeks long. But there are two more four-week classes I can take! I just need to decide when to take them... week nights are kinda hard because class starts at 6 and Mike is barely home from work by then. 

Anyway... Here is my first cake:

I took this photo with my phone in class, so the quality is not great... but how fun this was!

Here are some of the flowers we learned and practiced:

Then we learned how to fill cupcakes! Mine were red velvet filled with a cream cheese/whipped cream mixture. 

We learned a few more flowers and practiced on the cupcakes. Turns out I am really awful at making flowers. There are a few I can handle, but the roses we learned last night? Not so much. My friend Becky whipped out roses like nobody's business, but mine were seriously deformed. Good thing I have that handy Cricut Cake. I'll just cover everything in fondant. 

Here is my final cake. It was super fun. I drove myself crazy trying to get the icing smooth. Again, perhaps I'll just cover everything in fondant from now on. 

These are one of the two flowers I can make that actually resemble flowers. Leaves? I can handle leaves. Easy peasy. Maybe I'll just make leaf cakes. 

Ta da!!! Here is the fun surprise:

Inspired by Marisa's rainbow cake. My purple layer sorta fell apart so it's a little thin in the center. But still so pretty!

It was so ridiculously tall it wouldn't fit in the cake carrier I borrowed from my friend Jessica. Luckily my cake class friend Becky had a taller one, so we traded for the evening. 

I love the rainbow cake. It was a bit time consuming, however... and I used 3 boxes of cake mix. And my stand mixer got a heck of a workout. But it was kinda worth it. :)

Baked potato soup

A hearty, super simple dinner for chilly winter nights!

Ingredients:

olive oil- about 1T

sweet onion, chopped- small handfull

garlic, minced- a couple cloves

flour- about 3T

italian seasoning

salt and pepper

vegetable broth (or any kind)- about 3 cups

potatoes,  baked, peeled and cubed- 4 or 5 small

1/2 and 1/2- 1 cup

hot sauce

cheese, sour cream, chives- for garnish

Heat olive oil in large saucepan, add onion and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. 

Mmmm, I can almost smell it just looking at this photo!

Add flour, italian seasoning and salt and pepper... stir to make a clumpy paste. Cook for a minute or so.

Add broth, bring to boil, cook for 2 minutes or so. It'll thicken up a bit.

Add potatoes. My cubes were too big. I prefer them a bit smaller.

Add 1/2 and 1/2... I used whole milk since I didn't have any, and we always have whole milk for Beckham. You could also use cream to really make a sinful soup.

Add a few dashes of hot sauce now too. This really makes the soup. Warms you right up without being overly spicy. 

Stir it all up, heat through but don't boil. Adjust seasonings as needed. Mine needed more salt and pepper.

Garnish like a baked potato- cheese, sour cream... since my herb garden is basically non-existent this time of year, I had no fresh chives. Should have bought some but I didn't think of it. They taste fantastic snipped on top of this soup. Green onions would be good too.

Don't forget to enter my coffee cozy giveaway! Just click here and leave a comment! That's it! Only a few more days to enter. :)