Why use canned when you can have fresh?

I have never made my own pureed pumpkin before but thought I would give it a try this year thanks to some encouragement from one of my husbands friends and oh the free pumpkins from his work didn't hurt either. :)

1. Split the pumpkins in half and scrape out the seeds/pulp.
2. On a rimmed cookie sheet, pour a half cup of water and put the pumpkins cut side down.

3. Roast at 350 for 45-60 minutes, until soft.
4. When cool enough to handle, I scoop the flesh out of the pumpkin.
You can run it through a food mill so that any seeds, skin or pulp that are missed get strained out when pureed, or alternately use a potato masher, blender, food processor, etc.

Freezing the puree guarantees you have pumpkin to cook with year round instead of hunting around for the canned stuff in the off season at your local grocery store.

Whole chicken in a crock pot

This is a GREAT way to save time and money on chicken.
Buying a whole chicken can be much cheaper then buying it piece by piece and you can have fresh chicken broth when you're done!

I got this from The Happy Housewife's blog and so I encourage you to follow the link on over there!
Whole Chicken in a Crock pot.

Turkey Chili

This one comes from the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (yes she's married to THAT Seinfeld) :)


Prep 15 minutes Total 35 minutes Serves 8
**I doubled this one though so it took a little longer to cook**

Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tbs Olive oil
1/2 C chopped red onion
1 lb lean ground turkey
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I used my grater plater for this one!)
1 Tbs chili powder, or to taste
1 tsp salt
1/4 sp sweet paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (15 oz) can chopped tomatoes
1 (26 oz) carton of reduced fat low sodium chicken broth (I used my vegetarian/organic bouillon chicken cubes for this one)
1/2 C red pepper puree (this is one of her "trick" veggie slip ins since I didn't have this I used red pepper instead to spice it up a bit, only about 1 tsp.)
1/2 C carrot puree (another one of her "truck" veggie slip ins that I just did right there while cooking.)
1/4 C cornmeal
2 Tbs flaxseed meal (I could NOT for the life of me find this so we skipped it)
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Coat the bottom of a large pot with cooking spray and set over medium heat. When the pot is hot, add the oil. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile sprinkle the turkey with the garlic, chili powder, salt, paprika and pepper. Add the turkey to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the turkey is no longer pink.

Stir in the tomatoes. Add the broth, red pepper puree, carrot puree, cornmeal, and flaxseed meal, stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered. 15-20 minutes, or until the flavors have blended. Stir in the beans and cook a little longer, just to heat them through and to help thicken.

mexi deli rolls revisited

Mexi deli rolls were something my mom used to make as a quick lunch/dinner idea that was fast and very filling when I was kid.
However this time around in making them I didn't have the exact ingredients she had so I improvised a bit.

Mexi Deli rolls

1 package of Flour tortillas (on average we have 1-2 rolls per person depending on the age here so my family usually uses 10 tortillas)
Sliced deli ham
Sliced turkey smoked or regular will do
guacamole (we didn't have this so we used sliced avocado and I liked it better!)
sour cream
shredded iceberg lettuce (I only had romaine so I used 1 leaf per roll)
shredded mexican or shredded cheddar cheese
toothpicks

I spread a little bit of sour cream and guacamole on the tortilla maybe about a 1/2 Tbs but you can do this to taste. Then lay slices of ham and turkey usually about 2 each and finally put some cheese and lettuce on top of that to taste I do about a little less then a 1/4 or so.
Last but not least roll tightly without splitting the tortilla and use a toothpick to hold together if necessary.
Can be served with chips and salsa.

Sweet yam and pumpkin puff

This was originally a recipe I got from the magazine ParentLife in the Taste of Life section titled "Eat What You Love; yummy fall recipes low in sugar, fat and calories"
But I tweaked it so I could use what I had on hand and so now it's no longer low fat or low in calories but still yummy! :)

Sweet Potato Puff (original title)
Ingredients :

2 lbs dark sweet potatoes or yams (2 cups mashed)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree or fresh if you like
1 large egg
3 large egg whites (this is where I fudged it and just used 3 regular eggs instead of the separate egg ingredients)
1/2 c. light sour cream
2/3 c. splenda or other low calorie sweetener (I used organic sugar instead)
1 Tbs margarine or butter, melted
3/4 tsp. cinnamon (I used 1 tsp because I like to lay on the seasoning)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (oops I forgot to add this)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. chopped pecans (I used almond slices because it was what I had and I don't like pecans much.)

Directions :
Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork and place in microwave. Cook on high for 10 minutes or until the flesh is soft.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Coat a 2 quart casserole or souffle dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Cut the sweet potatoes or yams in half and scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, except the nuts, and beat until smooth. I put my mix in my kitchenaid mixer unit and had it on a number 4 for about 8 minutes or however long it takes me to fold a load of laundry. ;)
Spoon into the casserole dish and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top with nuts.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the center slightly puffs.

Thank you to Marlene Koch and her book Eat What YOU love.

Cooking for 2.....ok it's more then that now.

Wow has it really been since June that I last posted? Wow I am SO sorry! *insert blushing face here*
Life has really gotten away from me and so has my goal of cooking well for my family.
I really want to cook I do, I'm just so rotten at it and not to mention a major procrastinator too.

Early this fall we found out that we are being blessed with another little one come spring and so cooking has taken a back seat or rather far far away vacation from my mind.
Don't get me wrong I LOVE to eat! I just don't like having to prepare it so much anymore....though I still love baking...hmmm

Today's recipe is nothing fancy really, just something I threw together for my son's birthday.

1 box of white cake mix (and coordinating ingredients to make such cake)
orange food coloring or red and yellow to create an orange colored batter (color to taste, in our case it was hunters, fluorescent orange!)
Tub of orange frosting (handy this time of year being October, but if not availiable just color white frosting orange in a bowl.)
Colored frosting for whatever design you are making, I got black and yellow as I am making the bat signal on this cake.

My son loves the color orange and camouflage but since camo is hard for me right now to do on a budget I stuck with orange and am using his Lego batman figurines as cake toppers! Yes I made sure to disinfect them before placing them on the cake.

Prepare cake according to package instructions, cool then frost with orange frosting.
Since I am doing a bat signal on this cake I printed out some batman coloring sheets
for inspiration, you can use them as templates if you trace the design on wax paper and then cut it out like a regular stencil. But make sure your frosting has set and hardened before you do this otherwise you will have frosting all over the stencil and a choppy looking top to your cake! :)

To train up a child....in cooking that is!

Inspired by a recent visit to the In laws house my daughter really wanted to cook today.
We had already planned to do food lessons all summer long now that school was out but we started earlier then planned now.
So thank you cousin J for your inspiration and the yummy chocolate chip cookies!
Oh and did I mention cousin J is a lovely 10 yr old girl! :)

G (my 9 yr old) has made food without adult help in the past, nothing elaborate just your basic Kraft Man n' Cheese though I now prefer to give them the Annie's Homegrown brand only because it's all organic and much healthier then the other types.
She can also scramble up a mean egg and has started on pancakes though those still need some work.

Today however she made brownies for us, granted they are not from scratch just the boxed kind but she did it alone and got everything assembled and put together without mom reminding her what goes where.
She got a quick lesson in being careful while leaning over to put a pan in a hot oven (ouch moment!) no burns just a bit of warmth. I believe every kid needs to learn this lesson, maybe not completely the "hard way" but enough that they know not to reach willy nilly into a hot oven!
Right now the delicious smell of double chocolate funfetti brownies is wafting through the house as we anxiously await a bit of their gooey goodness!
Here's hoping she remembers how and when take them out when the buzzer goes off!