Pumpkin Chai Latte

Yummy note: I know it is a bit off season, but I really love pumpkin. In the morning, I like a nice tea or flavored coffee drink. Usually I go for the cold frothy coffee drinks, but lately, since it has been a bit cooler in the morning, I like a warm drink. Earlier this winter I picked up some pumpkin spice coffee and it was a bit more stronger for my taste, so I didn't drink it very much. So I wanted to try and use it up by mixing it with something to make it more tolerable! :) I thought the spiced coffee might mix up well with the Chai tea I like to drink, and make a nice mix. Hey, and it is like a double-dose of caffeine in the morning, right? haha. It's good for those busy days!  Tea and coffee mixed, at first I wasn't sure, but once I mixed it up, it was delicious!



Pumpkin Chai Latte

Ingredients: Equal parts of each below:
(about 1/3 - 1/2 cup, about 3oz)
Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Chai Tea Mix
Milk

Garnish: Pumpkin Pie Spice Seasoning
Whipped Cream

Directions:

Prepare pumpkin spice coffee as directed. Next, measure out equal parts of the Chai tea mix and milk in a small measuring bowl or large cup, stir and heat as directed on your Chai tea mix. After your Chai tea is warm, stir in the coffee.

Again, you are still using equal parts of each mix in your drink. Garnish with whipped cream and additional pumpkin pie spice seasoning and enjoy.

green almond pear smoothie

Yummy note: I can't believe I am doing a post about a "green smoothie." Seriously. I feel like I just stepped out of the Dr. Seuss book...  I really never thought about drinking or even making my own green smoothie before, it just seemed weird to me. I like my fruit smoothies..strawberry, banana, and orange, you know, nothing too crazy, and usually no vegetables in them. I knew I had to throw out any of my previous thoughts and keep an open mind to it and just try it. I mean I do it with my kids day in and day out, so I should take my own advice and just try it. So an open mind, and a few ingredients later, I had made this delicious smoothie from Get Healthy with Heather. Yes, I admit it, I liked it! and my husband did too! (and he isn't much of a spinach fan.) This green smoothie recipe would even make Popeye proud. This is exactly what the Secret Recipe Club is all about, trying new things you'd never think of and being introduced to some wonderful bloggers, like Heather. I've always heard about how awesome these "green" smoothies are for you though, but I could never get brave enough to take the plunge, until now. Get Healthy with Heather had so many amazing smoothie ideas on her site, you should check it out for your own inspiration. Besides recipes, Heather has some great home fitness and health posts to read up on, too. Go over and check out Heather's site, and give her some comment love and best wishes, as she will have her hands full very soon, as she is expecting a baby in just a few weeks!  Good luck, Heather! and now on to the feature, a Green Almond Pear Smoothie!

Green Almond Pear Smoothie 

Ingredients:
a frozen pear (peeled, cored, chopped up and frozen ahead of time)
2 cups of baby spinach
1 1/2 tbsp of almond butter
1 cup of milk
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
handful of ice

















Directions:
The day before you'd like to make your smoothie, you will need to have some chopped up frozen pear pieces. So make sure you do this ahead of time or just keep some fruit pieces in the freezer for handy.
















In a blender, combine all of the above ingredients. I actually threw mine into my Baby Bullet, basically a smaller version of the Magic Bullet, but cute. :)





















Blend ingredients together for a few minutes, or until smooth. You may need to stop and stir it a few times, if needed, depending on the power of your blender. Once smoothed, Add a bit of ice at the end to achieve your desired smoothie consistency.

Go on.. Just try it. Don't be afraid of the green. Must drink with a cool looking straw, right? I learned this trick from Heather, as she has had some cool looking straws and glasses for her smoothies! :)

Yummy note: Look at the flecks of almonds from the almond butter here, it is one of the more pronounced flavors in this smoothie, so if you are not a big almond fan, make the switch with a different nut! I made one with creamy peanut butter instead, and it was equally delicious and creamy if you are not a fan of the texture. If you have any food allergies, like in my family, you can easily make swaps with the milk and the nut butters and be creative. 

yogurt blueberry muffins

Yummy note: Becky from Baking and Cooking, a Tale of Two Loves guest posted on Kim's site called the Farmers Wife.  I immediately fell in love with these blogs, for some reason, I got a nice welcome home cooked feeling from them, so that is why I had to try out this blueberry muffin for this month's challenge. A challenge you ask, it was from Tina at Mom's Crazy Cooking, where every month a group of bloggers get together and make the same exact thing.. well sort of with our own spins on it. So you'll see here a big ole list of blueberry muffin recipes to try out all in one spot! So what I loved most about this recipe, is that I could easily adapt it to our dairy allergies in the family.  I am seriously Kim's newest fan of her site, as I think I have pinned several recipes to try out already! With an easy soy yogurt substitute, it worked great! Just note, for those new to soy yogurt, not all soy yogurts are dairy-free, so check labels and tiny print very carefully.

Yogurt Blueberry Muffins

Original recipe I used with dairy-free adaptions located here http://www.the-farmers-wife.net/2011/06/yogurt-blueberry-muffins-from-baking.html

 

Ingredients:

Muffin batter:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten Could use Egg Beaters
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. milk (I used soy milk)
1 (6 oz.) carton yogurt (I used strawberry soy yogurt)
1 c. fresh blueberries (Original said to use frozen, non-defrosted blueberries.)

















Crumb topping:
1/3 cup sliced almonds
4 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon





















Directions:

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix egg, oil, milk, and yogurt in another small bowl or large measuring cup. Pour into dry ingredients, stirring only enough to moisten.





















Fold in blueberries. Yummy note: If you'd like you could also fold in some of the almonds at this point into the muffin batter as well.  




















If you’d like to add a crumb topping, combine almonds, sugar and cinnamon and keep off to the side. Line muffin pans with paper muffin cups or grease the pans. Scoop out about an ice cream scoop or so (roughly about 2/3 full) of the blueberry muffin batter.















Sprinkle with your crumb topping if desired. Bake in a preheated 400 degrees oven for about 20 min or until golden brown.

Yummy note: What I love about this recipe, is that these muffins stay moist for several days.  



April fool's day egg-cellent brownies

Yummy note: I wanted a fun treat to take to a recent playdate for the kids and with April and Easter right around the corner, I made up a batch of these adorable brownie eggs for them. I thought the girls would get a kick out of them, especially since my kiddo hates hard boiled eggs. I get the "yuck" look everytime, so why not play an April Fool's joke on her and say her treat is a hard boiled egg, rather than a sweet treat!

Egg-cellent Brownies

Ingredients:

7 ounces chocolate, chopped
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), cut into 8 pieces
3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 cup flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla
prepared empty egg shells, as directed below

couple tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

To prepare the empty egg shells: The prepared egg shells need to be done atleast 30 minutes prior to baking, so allow extra time for that. I carefully poked a small hole at the top of the egg shells using a wine bottle opener. Then I took a wood skewer and broke up the yolk to be able to shake out the rest of the egg into a bowl. While doing this part, the small opening at the top of the egg became a bit bigger, lol. Time and patience, or perhaps a steady hand is needed for this. :) Emptied egg shells are then rinsed and dunked into a bowl of salt water for about 30 minutes to soak. Once you soak them, drain the water out of the eggs and let them dry. Last step in preparing the eggs, is you want to pour in some vegetable oil into each shell and gently swirl it around to coat. The original recipes calls to do about 12 eggs, however, I only had the patience and time with the kiddos to do about a half dozen! So I poured the rest of the batter in one of my smaller shaped silicon pans and baked the leftovers that way! :)

To make the brownie batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler like I did, or in the microwave. Stir until melted and smooth, then allow chocolate to cool a bit. Then whisk together eggs and sugar. Add in vanilla and warm chocolate. Mix ingredients well before adding in your flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Stir until just combined. Then pour batter into a baggie and cut off an end to be able to pipe into the eggs. Pipe in batter into empty egg shells, until the eggs are about ¾ full. Place eggs into a muffin tin, that has a layer of crinkled up aluminum foil on the bottom, to hold the eggs in place while they bake. Bake for about 15 minutes or until brownies are done and cool. I would guess you could color the eggs shells before, but honestly it was more of an after thought for me, so I did it at the end. To make the dye, I just used like a cup of boiling water, a splash of vinegar, and a couple drops of food coloring in a cup and dunked the eggs in to pretty up the eggs.



Thanks to the bloggers from these sites from which I saw the idea originally:

Erin at http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com/2012/03/secret-recipe-club-egg-shaped-brownies.html

and Liz at http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com/2011/11/egg-shaped-brownies.html and http://www.larecetadelafelicidad.com/2011/11/brownie.html

chicken stock

Yummy note: I don't know what gets any better but some homemade loving chicken stock. It is like liquid gold. It warms a cold day, and fills your tummy and soul when you're sick or just need a warm comfy bowl of soup. I know, I can just buy a box at the store for a few bucks and not waste all my time doing this from scratch, but it isn't the same. Seriously.. When you cook a whole chicken, it really gets a bang out of your buck. You get a ton of meat, not to mention some great chicken stock to use for future meals. When I make a whole chicken, depending on its size, I can usually get a couple days of meals from it. Who doesn't love that? So I went looking in my cookbooks the other day for a chicken stock recipe, I came across this beauty here. How simple and delicious it is, and you often forget that the those are the things that make life better. It's not the crazy long list of ingredients, but instead the quality. I got this cookbook from someone at my workplace several years ago. It was sitting in the free pile someone brought in to give away, and of course I snatched it up, as I just love those old school traditional cookbooks. What a treasure find it was. I used the chicken stock recipe from this Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book here.

Chicken Stock 
recipe from the Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book

my little treasure of a cookbook

Ingredients:

about a 4-5 lb whole chicken*

3 quarts cold water 

1/3 cup died carrots 

1/3 cup chopped celery 

1/3 cup chopped onion 

a tsp of so of parsley (original recipe said a sprig)

2 tsp salt  

*Honestly, the scariest part of this recipe is using a whole chicken if you have never done that before. If you are scared of that part, use the already prepared cut up whole chicken pieces. 

Directions:

Original recipe called to do this on the stove but I've done it in the crockpot several times too, it depends on your preference. For the stovetop, place whole chicken (or cut-up pieces) in a large pot and cover with the cold water. Bring to a boil slowly and then remove the foamy, scum like bubbles at the top. Then, add in the rest of the ingredients above, and gently simmer again for about 3 hours. Chicken should be falling apart by now and ready to remove and keep for future meals. Back to the stock, you need to strain your stock (using a cheesecloth or by other means). Discard the bones, fat, and the veggies, as the veggies are pretty blah if you were to taste one, as the flavor has cooked out into your stock instead. Next, chill the broth, and remove some of the fat and strain again.  If you are doing this in a crockpot instead, I will place the whole chicken into the crockpot, along with ALL of the other ingredients and cook on low for about 8-10 hours and follow stove top directions for straining and cooling as above. 

   

Such nice rewards for such a little effort. Seriously try it once and you'll be hooked. 

This broth makes a wonderful golden chicken and egg noodle soup.

Look at all off the great cooked chicken to use for quick meals.

Pop-over for a cause

Yummy note: So every month, you know I participate in the Secret Recipe Club. What fun I've had in this club getting to virtually know and read about many great food bloggers out there. One of my blogger friends, Jey, from The Jey of Cooking is hosting a wonderful opportunity to help out right now. About a year ago, her mom received a life-saving heart transplant. Since then, Jey decided to post a heart-healthy recipe on her blog to honor her and invited her friends to join along. The awesome thing is that for every heart-healthy recipe that Jey receives she will make a donation to The American Heart Association. Yea! what a great cause to help out with, so if you want to join in, find out more details here. So, what did I decide to make... for awhile now I've been wanting to make popovers. I've always heard about them and never really made one before, so when I checked out one of the heart-healthy recipe links posted by Jey and I saw one and thought, yes! It looked super simple and perhaps easy to modify. Well, my modifications kinda went a bit off, but I can't wait to keep tinkering with this recipe and finding the best for our family's needs. I have been trying to switch and use more whole wheat flours in my recipes, so I did that, while I also made a soymilk modification as well, due to milk allergies. Also, I had a box of liquid egg whites in the fridge, so I used those in hopes of kicking up the healthier portion as well. :) It wasn't an exact "popover" like the massive puffy creme puffed looking things I'm familiar with, but it was still tasty.

Pop-over for a cause

Original recipe I modified from here - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00536

Ingredients:

1 cup soymilk
1 cup whole wheat flour
about 3/4 cup of liquid egg whites (or 4 egg whites)
non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Make sure you generously coat 6 muffin cup tins with cooking spray or else your popovers might get a bit stuck on. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and soymilk together.

Add in the flour and whisk until smooth. Fill the greased muffin tin about 2/3 full.

 Bake in the top part of the oven until golden brown and puffy. Peek in on your popovers after about 15 minutes, but don't open the oven door! It may take up to 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven and size of muffin tins. Once they are done, serve immediately and enjoy.

 

Yummy note:  So reflecting back on this... They didn't pop-up like I was hoping, nor was the texture up to my perfection. However, it did yield in a lighter biscuit like muffin that my younger kiddo loved. I thought it was good too, but not great. So I went researching it a bit, and saw that my egg whites and milk might have been better off at room temperature instead of directly out of the cold refrigerator. Also, perhaps heating up the pan in the oven before pouring the mixture into the cups would have been helpful too. Ah, oh well, I guess I will be testing this recipe even more.. If you have any suggestions, please let me know what might work with my recipe modifications. If you want the original list of ingredients, please check the original recipe.

Happy Pi (3.14) Day!

Yummy note: I should let my husband do the blog for this day since he's the big math whiz in the family, but I suppose I do a Pi(e) theme in my own way. Haha.. We celebrated 3.14 - Pi Day with a homemade layered pudding pie! I started with a handed down pudding recipe from my mom's mother, Alice. It originally had milk and eggs in this recipe, but I modified it a bit this time to see what would happen if I omitted the eggs, and changed the milk to a soy milk instead. The results were pretty good for a dairy-free and egg-less pudding. Yes, the texture was a bit off, as it was a tad spongy rather than silky smooth for a pudding, but it had a nice flavor. Not to mention it was allergy friendly for us. Next time I might add in the eggs back into the recipe, and see if that helps the texture and richness of the pudding. Here's the original pudding recipe I modified below if you'd like to make the pie this way as well.  

Happy ∏ Day

Egg and dairy-free pudding pie 

Ingredients:

Vanilla Pudding Layer:
about 8 teaspoons flour
about 12 teaspoons sugar (~1/4 cup)
dash of salt
1 cup of vanilla-flavored soy milk
additional 1 tsp vanilla to taste

Chocolate Pudding Layer:about 8 teaspoons flour
about 12 teaspoons sugar (~1/4 cup)
dash of salt
1 cup of chocolate-flavored soy milk

Graham Cracker Pie Crust:1 package graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup softened (dairy-free) margarine substitute 

Directions:

In a food processor, crush one sleeve/package of graham crackers with the sugar. Add in softened margarine into the crumbs and pulse together until combined. Press crumbs into pie pan and pop into a preheated 400 degree oven and toast graham cracker crust for about 5 minutes or so, just until the crust starts to bind together. 

For the pudding, do each layer one at a time when you are ready, or else the pudding will set up before you are ready to pour it into the pie pan. Prepare your layers in the order you'd like. I did chocolate first, but it is up to you. 

Chocolate soy milk is my quick fix ingredient here, when I didn't have any chocolate to add in the pudding as the original recipe called for, I used chocolate milk instead! 

In a small sauce pan, add in flour, sugar, and salt. Add in soy milk and constantly whisk/stir mixture on low heat until it starts to get bubbly and thick. Remove from heat, and add in more vanilla extract flavoring if you need to the pudding. Pour the one pudding into the graham cracker crust, and begin next layer of pudding. Once you've repeated one of the batches of pudding, continue with the other and pour warm pudding on top of the other pudding layer slowly to avoid layers from mixing. Chill, slice and serve your pie! 

Happy Pi Day! 

 
How are you celebrating Pi day today?  :-) 
Maybe make a quiche, lemon tart, breakfast pie, or a pizza!