Pumpkin Cupcakes

 

 

Ingredients

 

Paper baking cups

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/ 1/2 t baking soda

1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

3/4 t salt

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground allspice

1/2 t ground cloves

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Maple cream cheese frosting

 

Preparation

 

Preheat oven 350. Place paper baking cups into miniature muffin pans. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine pumpkin and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture stirring just until moistened. Spool batter into cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake in batches 15 - 17 mins. Let cool in pans on wire racks 5 mins then remove from pans and let cool completely. Spread frosting.

 

 

Orecchiette with Sautéed Greens

 

 

 

 





I borrowed Chef Recipes Made Easy from my library a couple of years ago, and yes I still have it! (I know, I know) I use so many of the recipes, but I'm finally going to add them to my blog and give it back. This is a favourite of mine as we often get mixed salad from Costco and I end up with too much to eat so I use it with the orecchiette, one of my favourite pastas!

Here are the ingredients but really you can add as much as you like, the scallions make it so don't skip those!

Ingredients

1 bag/box of orecchiette usually 12 oz
4 T butter
1 bunch scallions thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 T oilive oil
5 oz baby arugula
6 large swiss chard leaves coarsely chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook the orecchiette reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the scallions and garlic and cook over low heat until softened, about 2 mins. Add the wine and cook over moderate heat until reduced by half, about 5 mins. Add 1/2 cup of water and puree the mixture in a blender until smooth. Season the scallion sauce with salt and pepper.

Wipe out the pasta pot and heat the olive oil. Add arugula and swiss chard, cook over high heat until wiltered, 5 mins. Add the pasta, scallion sauce and reserved pasta cooking water and simmer, tossing and stirring until the sauce is thick, about 3 mins. Stir in the cheese, season with salt and pepper.

Now you can cook it the pro way or just toss everything together and cook then add the pasta and toss, yes I know I'm lazy and hate cooking lol !!!

Serves 4.


 

2 Week Menu

 

Minestrone

Indian Chicken Curry

Eggplant Pasta

Meatloaf, Stir Fried Broccoli & Cauliflower, garlic, oil, Baked Squash

Crunch Wraps

Chicken Caesar Salad

Salmon & Creamed Spinach

Spanish Steak with Rick & Beans

Penne with Sausage Marinara

Crunch Wraps

Hamburgers

Tuna Curry

Perfect Blueberry Pancakes

 

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
1 t baking soda
1 1/4 cups almond milk
2 eggs
2T melted butter
1/2 t vanilla
1/8 t nutmeg
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preparation

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whist together the liquid ingredients in a large bowl. Add liquid to dry, combine well. Preheat griddle or pan to medium heat. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto sprayed griddle. Sprinkle with blueberries. Cook until bubbles appear and bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook a minute or two longer. Makes about 6-8 pancakes

Mongolian Beef - Chinese Restaurant Cooking Secrets - PoorMansGourmet

On the subject of Chinese Beef here's a great tasting recipe from Poor Man's Kitchen. Mongolian beef is a lot like General Tso's. You don't have to use the cornstarch if you want to cut the calories/starch, sometimes I'm more in the mood for clean food!

Ingredients

1 lbs Beef Chuck or Beef Flank Thinly Sliced
1/4 cup Corn Starch
vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil1/2 teaspoon Ginger, minced1 tablespoon Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Hoisin Sauce (optional)1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Water
1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Corn Starch deluded in 2 tbsp of Water
1/2 tsp Chili Flakes (optional)
2 large Green Onions, sliced on the diagonal into one-inch lengths

Beef in Black Bean Sauce

A tasty meal for when you're in the mood for something  a little salty! I added orange peppers & baby bok choy tonight! This recipe serves 2 so you'll definitely need to double or tripple for a family!

Ingredients

Sauce:
1 tbs crushed black beans
1 tbs soy sauce
½ tbs dark soy sauce
½ tbs oyster sauce
1 cup salt reduced chicken stock / broth
1 tsp corn flour / corn starch

200g thinly sliced beef - if you'd like to know how to 'velvet' your meat here's the link to my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZr3Hk...
½ coarsely chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
Vegetables (I used broccoli and carrot)
Oil

 Serves 2 Enjoy!

First steps to getting healthy - Exercise

There's nothing like comfort to make us lazy. I believe that's why we struggle so much with weight gain. Between bad foods and sedentary lifestyles. And the world is now one big temptation. But if we want to stay healthy we need to practice self restraint in the foods we eat and keep moving to keep our bodies strong and energetic. I find myself needing to bring myself back on task and pay attention to what i'm eating and how much i'm getting out. For myself with 7 children, it's all too easy to prepare meals that everyone likes and sit at my desk trying to provide it. I think that is one of the biggest dangers to working at home. It's keeping time to yourself to provide what you need. So here's my inspiration to get healthy post today, hope it's inspires someone else!

5 Must Watch Food Shows


Forks Over Knives

Chew Over This

Food Inc.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead


Great Apps for 5 Minute workouts

I'm not much of a workout person, I prefer to keep active and go outside and run around with my kids, hike, swim, waterski, tennis, badmington, whatever the activity. But as I get older I'm finding I have to do some kind of strength exercise. I like very simple straight forward workouts that don't take a lot of time but give me the punch I need. These apps have great exercises that are easy for anyone to do anywhere, anytime with no need for equipment if you're travelling or away from home.

Go Fitness - Exercises and Workouts (free) great strength building with just a few core exercises, perfect to use without having to spend time building a plan etc.

Yoga Break Great if you haven't done any yoga before, short and sweet exercises, video and audio (I believe I got this free thru Apps Gone Free but it's currently $2.99

Daily Ab Workout (free) 5-10 minute ab workouts with video instructions

There are quite a few 5, 7, 10 minute workout type apps for free, here are the few I've tried and liked.

7 Minute Workout 12 high intensity bodyweight exercises. 30 seconds per exercise, 10 seconds rest between exercises.

5 Minute Butt and Legs quick workouts

Taking a course is an excellent way to start a walking program. Listen, learn and get fit all at once! I'm currently taking a free course with Udemy on Social Media Marketing. When all else fails turn up the woofers and dance while the housework!

For the more serious the Beachbody Home Workouts are very reasonable.

 

Caesar Salad Dressing

One of our summer favs! Chicken Caesar Salad.





INGREDIENTS

4 chicken breasts
3 romaine lettuces

2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice (or concentrate)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS

I cook my chicken in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, until it's browned a little.

Start with the garlic and lemon juice, blend for a minute and slowly drizzle the oil. It will be smooth and creamy. Add the worcester and blending again slowly add the cheese.

That's it very simple, the dressing will last about a week but I usually use all of it. You don't need the chicken but with it but makes a perfect light summer meal. If you find it a little spicy you can cut the garlic and lemon juice down slightly.

 

Cooling Down

Cooling down this summer can be a delicious experience. Salads are back in season and with so much variety to choorse from you can put your recipe book away and get creative with your own favorite ingredients.

My favorite way to make salads in summer is very simple, with a family of 9 everyone has different likes and dislikes, so to please everyone I chop everything up into separate bowls and they can add what they want to make their salads with a choice of salad dressing. My MIL calls it a rainbow salad, very appetizing name for little ones! Put leftovers in the frig for lunch the next day. Carrot, celery, zucchini sticks make a great snack choice with this awesome organic hummus dip from Costco. Get your friend to take you there for some if you're not a member.

 

Rainbow Salad Recipe - Epicurious.com

Mix blueberries and walnuts into your greens with raspberry vinigarette, add lemon juice for a zest twist on a shrimp sald, or create a chilled vegetable salad full of crunchy vegetables.

Kids also love cold treats on a hot day, so why not combine some juices in ice pop molds with chopped fruit. Get family and friends together this summer and cool down with these yummy ideas and some of your very own.

See more Fun Food Snacks on my Pinterest board.

 

How to Make Gluten Free Flours at Home

 

 

I found myself with 2 5lb bags of flour last night, both with bugs! I gave up a long time ago on these, my house was infested with them for years before I was around. I compromised by keeping all my grains and anything else they might like in the freezer. But I have only so much room, and when we shop only once a month it gets a little crowded.

I was making these delicious curry basil falafel, and couldn't find anything to use to substitute. I tried a little breadcrumbs but they were still not cooking well so I finally added some ground oats.

Its very easy to make most of the basic gluten free flours. I find them way too expensive and when used in most dishes the home made is an excellent cheaper substitute with the added plus of not having to fill my freeze with 5 different flours.

Basically you just thrown the cup of whatever you need in the blender....and don't forget the throwing part lol. When I used almondsin baking I simply grind them first then add most of the ingredients right into the blender. They grind up surprisingly well in my 3rd hand 10 year blender which is outlasting my Vitamix! Yes we killed our Vitamix, like everything else in the house. Luckily Costco has a lifetime warranty on their products, so my husband took it back.

So to make oat flour you throw it just the same way, I find 1 cup at a time works perfectly. If you need to see formatted instructions, wiki seems to have everything these days. The only further comment I would make is that you may find you need a little extra moisture with some of these flours, maybe an extra egg, or I tend to use ground flax mostly.

And I just realized I have wheat berries in my frig, which I obviously haven't used for a very long time. If you don't have a problem with gluten and not substituting for health purposes, adding different flours to your cooking will add extra nutrients and in some cases cut down on the carbs and calories.

How to make flour

How to make rice flour

How to make oat flour

How to make coconut flour

All purpose gluten free flour

In case you require some specific flours for baking these are the basic recipes for baking flours you could adapt.

How to make cake flour

How to make self raising flour

In case you're interested my very old still working blender is an Oster. Gosh it's on sale for $34.99 right now, maybe I should buy myself a new one :)))

 

 

For a great list of gluten free flours and the best flours to use as substitutes wheat-free.org has a wonderful list right here!