Thanksgiving 2015 Pre-amble and Dessert

I have our traditional Thanksgiving feast all planned and ready to go! Pasture raised turkey ordered; CHECK. Menu sorted out with all dietary needs sorted out; CHECK! Grocery shopping done; CHECK. Pumpkin puree from farm fresh pie pumpkins made and waiting to be turned into pumpkin pies. I plan on making my regular, tried and true pie which is always a family favourite. In addition to my traditional pumpkin pie, I also plan to try my hand at a dairy free version using coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. If this goes well, then, next time, I will try a gluten free crust.  Cross your fingers for me! So that I can accommodate my dairy and gluten free requirements, I am making my apple crisp which I have tested thoroughly with great success and TWO thumbs up from my omnivorous family.

Yesterday, I was at the apple orchard again.  I was there a few weeks ago to pick a bushel of MacIntosh apples for the apple sauce I can every year. Normally, I pick half a bushel of Cortlands for pies, crisps and salads at the same time. Sadly, they were not ready when I was there so I had to make another trip. 

After picking my apples,  I found some of the most adorable pie pumpkins available for sale. I decided I would try my hand at making my own pumpkin puree for the pumpkin pies this year. This gives me another opportunity to support a local farmer and another way to skip the factory kitchens PLUS no BPA infused cans touching my food. A Win/Win/Win scenario me thinks! FYI: a rule of thumb is 1 pie pumpkin = 1 pie. 

Isn't this the cutest little pumpkin ever?

First of all, you need to take a really sharp knife and cut the stem off close to the pumpkin. Then, cut the pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and the stringy bits. 

Place the pumpkin halves face down on a parchment lined roasting pan. Roast in a 350° F oven for 35-50 minutes until a fork or a knife is easily inserted isn't the skin and flesh of the pumpkins.  Roasting time will vary depending on the size of your pumpkins.

Let the pumpkins cool so you can handle them. Then, with a spoon, scoop out all the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin into a food processor and purée till smooth. Today, I used my Vitamix to blend, but next time I will use mynfood processor because it is hard to get every last bit of pumpkin out of the blender. Once the pumpkin is puréed, gently pout into a fine mesh strainer so that the excess moisture drains. It will take a few hours. For my 2 pumpkins, I got 1 1/4 cups of water.  For pumpkin pie, it is important to remove the excess moisture so that the pies set. I would think you can skip this step if you are making a pumpkin quick bread liaf or muffins. 

Since I prepared this today and will be making my pies on Sunday morning, I stored the purée in mason jars and refrigerated till pie making day. 

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! ❤️❤️

New To Me Products and Pita Veggie Pizzas

I am over the moon! I have discovered 2 new to me brands of "made for me products". I know that much of my blog is about making your own things, but sometimes a busy person needs a little help. When you can find a company that makes its products with the same love you do in your own kitchen and without the use of chemicals, then go for it.  Your tummy will thank you!

The first is a bread company called Silver Hills Bakery. This bakery makes wonderful sprouted whole grain breads and bagels. Their products are non-gmo, vegan, dairy-free, and use organic ingredients. To find out more about this Canadian company, click here! I like their breads for sandwiches and toast, not to mention, I find their breads a little lighter in texture so I think this bread will appease even a white bread only person. There is a variety of breads and bagels and you can even get hamburger and hot dog buns too. 

I absolutely love their bread toasted with a spoonful (or 2) of my homemade chia seed jam! Below are pictures of my Strawberry and Blueberry Chia Seed Jam and my Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam by Oh She Glows. 

The second brand is the Ozery Pita Break Bakery; another Canadian find. This bakery makes a variety of pita products - some savoury and some sweeter, perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. There are no chemicals, preservatives or additives; when they use all purpose flour, it is the unbleached variety AND they are particular about the quality of all their ingredients. To find out more about this company, click here! 

Today I want to share with you my Pita Pizzas. For this recipe I used the Pita Break Multi Grain large pitas, but you could certainly use their One Buns for a snack size pita pizza too. The regular size pita's make a perfect base for a single serve pizza, so if you are pressed for time, or just don't fancy making your own dough, these large pita's have you covered when you want to have homemade personal pizzas. If you are super hungry, 2 will fit the bill! 

If I don't have any of my homemade marinara for pizza sauce, I will flavour a cup and a half of pasata with some sautéed minced garlic and some oregano and basil, dried is best, and cook it down till the sauce is thick and mounds on a spoon. If I have some leftover marinara, I usually reduce it a little more too.

My favourite pizza as of late is a veggie pizza. I like to play around with various veggie combinations. Some great choices are:

• sauteed mushrooms
• sauteed onions
• sliced green onion
• sauteed kale
• wilted spinach (excess moisture squeezed out)
• sauteed, diced zucchini
• diced red or yellow bell pepper
• tomatoes
• Kalamata olives, sliced

When I feel like a little meat on my pizza I cook up my favourite Italian sausage and slice it or dice it finely. The classic pepperoni would work too, but I have been opting to avoid deli meats as of late. 

Finally, a little mozzarella cheese, grated or crumbled.  If my cheese has been frozen, (I freeze cheese when it goes on sale) I find that it doesn't always grate well so I have opted to crumble it over the pizza. Also, I have been using a lot less cheese in my foods lately because I prefer to eat it as a "sometimes" food. 

Pizza Sauce

1/3 bottle Pasata, a little more than 3/4 of a cup

1 large garlic clove (a heaped teaspoon of garlic granules works too)

1 tbsp dry oregano (not powdered)

1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt

several grinds of black pepper

Place all ingredients into a small saucepan, stir well to combine. Simmer over a medium heat for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has reduced by about a third and the sauce "mounds" on a spoon. 

This makes enough sauce for 8 pita pizzas, about 2/3 cup.  If you are only making 4 pita pizzas, you can freeze the remainder in a 250 ml jar for another day. 

Ozery Pita Break Whole Grain Pitas (4 per pack)

1/3 cup pizza sauce

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

4 oz sliced cremini mushrooms

1 cup kale cut crosswise into 1/4" ribbons (stem removed)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced

1 1/2 roma tomatoes, sliced thinly OR 8 or so cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced 

In a heavy fry pan, saute the mushroom slices in about a teaspoon or so of your favourite oil, over a medium heat. I tend to use olive or grapeseed oil. Once the mushroom slices are golden brown and have released their moisture, remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl or plate. Using the same pan, sautee the kale ribbons over a medium heat with about a teaspoon of oil. Stir regularly and cook the kale until slightly wilted and soft. Set aside in a bowl or plate. 

Dice the red peppers and slice the tomatoes. 

Preheat your oven to 425° F and make sure your rack is at the halfway mark. Place the 4 pitas on a large baking sheet. Spread about about 2 scant tablespoons of sauce on each pita. Evenly distribute your mushroom slices over the sauce. Then evenly distribute the kale. Sprinkle the red peppers and then the cheese. finally, top with the tomatoes.  Place the baking tray in the oven and bake pizzas for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Remove the pan from the oven. Let stand for a few minutes and then transfer, one at a time, to a cutting board. Using a good 6" chef's knife or pizza wheel, cut the pizza into quarters.  Serve with a mixed green salad and your favourite homemade dressing. YUM!

Fruit On The Bottom Yogurt

My family has always enjoyed yogurt, particularly, the fruit on the bottom kind. For the past year or so, I have made a conscious choice to buy organic (would love to find grass fed too, but that is not to be). Sadly, the organic yogurt carried at my grocery store offers only a few flavours, of which, only one is liked by my daughter and it is the already stirred kind.  In order to stop the yogurt flavour boredom from which my family is suffering, I decided to try my hand at my own fruit on the bottom yogurt, and I must say, I am pleased with the results.

So why should I make my own fruit on the bottom yogurt?

• I can serve organic yogurt
• I can guarantee that the fruit on the bottom is more fruit than fruit flavoured "gel"
• I can eliminate the refined sugar 
• I can control the amount of sugar
• I can prepare the flavours that my family loves, so nothing goes to waste 
• I can minimize the single serving waste because I use 125 ml canning jars and reusable lids.

I think this is a win-win especially since it is easy to do and doesn't take much time.

When I started thinking about how to make this, I knew I didn't want to use the refined white sugar to sweeten the fruit or the yogurt. This meant, I would have to use honey or maple syrup resulting in a thinned down the yogurt. In the past, I have made a cornstarch or arrowroot thickened fruit sauces and sweetened with a little maple syrup which was excellent on pancakes or spread on toast.  Sadly, the starch method would not be an option to thicken the yogurt. Hmmm! Thinking cap back on and then the AHA moment!

Drumroll please... Enter my favourite plant based thickener... Chia seeds - weird, wonderful, are amazing!  They thicken milk for chia seed pudding; when mixed with water, they can be substituted for eggs in baking; they can thicken fruits to create chia seed jams. With all this thickening power, I decided they would be a perfect ingredient; and let's not forget the nutritional punch chia seeds bring to the party.  Yes, we have chia seeds for the win!

So far I have made 2 flavours: blueberry and mixed fruit.  For my blueberry flavour, I used fresh blueberries because we had just been picking. For the mixed berry version, I used frozen berries that came in a raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, and blueberry mix from the grocery store. I also varied the preparation of the fruit jams to see how they would perform with the yogurt. My blueberry jam was cooked and my mixed fruit jam was a raw chia seed jam.  Spoiler alert... BOTH methods worked perfectly!

Today I am going to share my blueberry flavour. I will post the mixed fruit recipe next time!

For the blueberry jam, I used an excellent recipe for Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam by Oh She Glows. I mentioned that I used fresh berries this time, but I've made this before using frozen ones. The jam turns out beautifully both ways. I let the jam sit overnight because I actually made the jam to have on hand for toast. It was serendipitous that I had it in the fridge when I got the brainstorm to use it in my fruit on the bottom yogurt!

1 recipe  Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam (save the leftovers for toast or pancakes!)

Yogurt

2 cups plain organic yogurt, I prefer a 2.5% fat content for creaminess. 

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp chia seeds** 

Mix the plain yogurt with the maple syrup and chia seeds well.

Put 1 tablespoon of the blueberry jam  in the bottom of the jar.  I used 6 each 125 ml canning jam jars (1/2 cup) with the canning lids and screw bands. Spread it to cover the bottom evenly.  If you like a little more fruit filling, you can add a little more. Cover the fruit with the prepared yogurt and put the canning lids on and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours so that the yogurt thickens up.

**NOTE:  If you use more maple syrup in your yogurt, you may need to add a few more chia seeds.

These are the perfect size for a packed lunch or snack. The containers are reusable and inexpensive to buy. I like to make a bunch up on the weekend for the upcoming week. Please let me know what you think. If blueberry isn't your thing, watch for my next post to get the mixed fruit recipe!  

Green Smoothies - Breakfast of Champions!

Last year I did a post about breakfast cookies and green smoothies. I was happy to tell everyone that breakfast could be easy and quite portable if necessary. I still adore the breakfast cookies, but I have to say green smoothies have been my go to weekday breakfast since I took a temporary full time job. They are fast and easy to make. They pack an excellent nutritional punch and can be consumed right away or taken to go. Win - Win - Win I say!

I am not big on breakfast first thing in the morning and certainly not at 7 AM. Instead, I try to start my day with a warm lemon water which has great health benefits. Half of a fresh squeezed lemon, a 1-1/2 cups filtered water and topped with 1/2 cup boiled water provides me with a good start to achieving my daily requirements of vitamin C, helps to promote a healthy digestion system, and is a tasty way (once your taste buds get used to it!) to get some water into the bod after 8 hours of sleep! As a side note, lemons are acidic and can be hard on tooth enamel so I usually drink my lemon water out of a straw... just in case. While I am drinking my lemon water, I make our lunches for the day and blend a green smoothie for 2 to tuck into our lunch bags (my favourite way to transport is in a 500 ml mason jar with the canning lids). Later in the morning, around 9:30/10:00 am my tummy is ready to welcome the green smoothie breakfast I packed in my lunch bag. My husband quite enjoys his as a mid morning snack since he likes his cereal first thing.

Over the past several months, I have perfected my version of the green smoothie. I think it has the perfect amount of sweetness. When my daughter was home for a visit, I got a two thumbs up too. This smoothie recipe can be made in a regular blender but it reached new heights of healthy decadence in my Vita-mix!

When I started blending smoothies, green or fruity, I had a heck of a time not ending up with a blend full of smoothie big enough to feed a small army. Finding the right quantities  and proportions for the ingredients was key, after all, there is only so much smoothie one can drink at one time. Sometimes my smoothie was so thick that I had to thin it down with more liquids or the too thin so I would add more fruit/greens. Before you knew it, my blender jar was overflowing.  Not a good thing! Now after several years of smoothie making, I have managed to eyeball the fruit/greens ratio to liquids so I can consistently make a smoothie for 1, 2, or 3.

My recipe for my favourite green smoothie is pretty consistent in yielding essentially two 500 ml mason jars, the perfect size for breakfast or a mid morning/afternoon snack. This recipe is based on my blender jar which is 64 ounces when I measure out the spinach. If your blender jar is smaller, you may want to add a handful or 2 more greens once you've reached the 1/3 mark. You can also use a little more or less maple syrup too, depending on your taste. I find that if my pineapple is nice and sweet and my banana is quite ripe, I need only 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup.

 

Ingredients

Fill your blender jar about 1/3 full of baby spinach, organic please, and gently packed

1 slice 3/4" or 1" thick pineapple ring, fresh or fresh frozen; not canned

2 Tbsp hemp hearts

1 medium/large banana, preferably with many brown spots (I keep a stash in my freezer)

1 medium avocado

2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 to 1 1/2 cups milk of your choice (dairy or non), a little more depending on personal preference.

Method

Add the ingredients to you blender in the order given.  Start with 1 cup of the milk.

Blend on high, stopping if necessary to scrape down the sides and make sure the ingredients blend.

Add the remainder of the milk as necessary. Continue to blend on high until your smoothie is smooth. You may wish to add a little more milk at this point if you prefer your smoothies less thick.

Pour into drinking vessels of choice. I like using the 500 ml wide mouth mason jars with the canning lids if I am taking my smoothie to go!

Substitutions and Options

Hemp seed can be substituted for 2 heaping tablespoons of almond butter or peanut butter 

Spinach can be mixed with some kale, for my tastes, I would only switch out about a handful because kale has a strong flavour. Typically, I use more spinach than kale, but if you like the "extra green flavour", add more kale than spinach.

Maple syrup can be subbed with a good quality raw honey, local if you can get it.

No milk, no problem - cold filtered water or cold green tea will work too!

Tips

When fresh cored and peeled pineapple is on sale, I buy a bunch and then slice it. I then lay the slices on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat sheet and freeze the rings. Once frozen, I transfer them to a freezer bag.

As Kermit the Frog says... "it's not easy being green"! This green smoothie is creamy, tasty and an excellent start to your day OR as my husband can attest, it is also a great mid morning snack. This is truly a guilt free pleasure any time of day!

Gazpacho - A Lovely Summer Soup

When I was younger, my mom found this wonderful recipe for Gazpacho and we made it regularly during the summer. I LOVE this soup. It is a wonderful, cold soup - perfect for those hot days when you don't feel like heating up your kitchen. It is refreshing, light and full of all kinds of healthy! Serve it as an appetizer or as a light meal with a whole grain pita and a bean salad. YUM! All you need is a good knife, a peeler, a blender and a fridge. Sadly, our family recipe went missing so I set out to re-create the recipe of my childhood. I believe I have succeeded!

Start by preparing your veggies.  Peel your cucumber, halve and clean out the ribs and seeds from your peppers, trim your green onions and celery. Chop everything in a medium dice.

Throw the chopped vegetables into the blender. Add 3 cups of the tomato juice to start.

Peel and mince the garlic clove. Measure out your olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper. Add it to your blender.

Blitz everything until a uniform soup results. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this in two batches. Transfer the gazpacho to a container to store in the refrigerator.  I prefer glass, but that's just me. Use whatever container you have on hand.  Add more tomato juice as necessary to get the soup consistency you enjoy. You can add the additional tomato juice to the soup in your storage container and shake or whisk it in. I like my gazpacho to be fairly "fluidic" so I have used as much as 5 cups of tomato juice, but I always start at 3 cups and add a little more at a time to get the best consistency. I like to chill this soup at least 3 hours or over night to let the flavours combine. The soup keeps well for several days too, so you can snack on the left overs.  I even found out that I could pour it into single servings (not the added veggies though - add those at serving time) and freeze the soup. Once thawed in the fridge, the gazpacho is as tasty as

 freshh! Who knew?

At serving time, finely dice the remaining cucumber, red and green peppers and a medium tomato of your choice. 

Pour the soup into your serving bowls and sprinkle the finely diced veggies into each of the bowls evenly. If you like, you can add one extra drizzle of olive oil too.



Gazpacho

A wonderful summer soup, refreshing yet substantial. This recipe serves 6-8 people.

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Ingredients

• 1 can of Roma tomatoes – 796 mL (in season Roma tomatoes , 5 or so fresh, skinned and seeded, could be substituted)   
• 1 sweet red pepper, halved and seeded                                    
• 1 green pepper, halved and seeded
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 green onions, green and white parts
• 1 English cucumber, peeled and cut in half
• 1 good sized garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
• 3 to 4 cups tomato juice (approximately)
• 1 generous pinch or 2 of a good quality salt                                    
• A few grinds of pepper
• 1 medium tomato (garnish)

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Instructions

• Reserve the other halves of the red, and green peppers, and cucumber for garnish at serving time.
• Roughly chop the cucumber, red and green peppers and green onions.
• Finely dice the celery.
• Add all chopped veggies, canned tomatoes, 2 cups of tomato juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt and pepper to the blender. Blend on high. Do in 2 batches if necessary.
• Pour the soup into a large pitcher. Check the consistency of the soup, Add the remainder of the tomato juice, more if required; stir well and chill for several hours – minimally 3 hours, but preferably over night so the garlic mellows a bit!

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Serving

• Finely dice the reserved red and green peppers, cucumber and the tomato.
• Pour the soup into bowls, sprinkle with a generous serving of diced veggies.
• If you want, you can drink this soup as a quick snack, simply by pouring just the soup into a tall glass. Such a speedy way to get a whole bunch of goodness. Who needs V-8?