Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups!

mmmm peanut butter cups... mmmm pumpkin... mmmm peanut butter cups with pumpkin!

I've been on this chocolate peanut butter kick for the past ... about 25 years.  It's the most delicious mixture of ingredients ever.

They sell "pumpkin" peanut butter cups in the store, but they are only in the shape of a pumpkin, no pumpkin flavor.  So I decided to make my own.  The most wonderful part of making these is they can be "organified" by using all organic ingredients!! That makes them healthy right? hehe

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

Makes: 24

Ingredients:

2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk, but might use dark next time)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (organic of course!)

1/2 cup canned or home made pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (optional)

24 mini muffin papers

Directions:

Line a mini muffin pan with mini muffin cup papers.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a double boiler, or in the microwave for one minute and then 15 second intervals to prevent burning.  If you do burn it, try adding a little bit of oil, sometimes that can revive burnt chocolate. 

Pour a small dab of chocolate in the bottom of the mini muffin paper and "paint" up the sides with a spoon or, if you're messy like me, your fingers (and then lick them, but don't tell anyone that you're serving them too).  

Place pan in the fridge to let the chocolate harden, about 5-10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl.  Taste to make sure it's sweet enough to your liking, remember the chocolate will add some sweetness too.

Once chocolate has hardened, place a small scoop (about a tsp, I used too much at first) of the pumpkin/peanut butter mixture into the muffin paper, over the chocolate.  Make sure not to over fill or fill past the top of the chocolate. 

 To finish, spoon the remaining melted chocolate over the tops to completely cover the peanut butter mixture.  Give the pan a tap on the counter to make sure the chocolate oozes down to the bottom.  Put them in the fridge for another 10 minutes or until chocolate hardens.  Make sure you hide some from your husband because they will magically disappear overnight!! :)

Maple Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is one of the easiest and most delicious dessert for fall.  What I love about apple crisp is that you don't need many ingredients to make it delicious.  This is wonderful served with vanilla bean ice cream!  When Nick and I ate this, we forgot the ice cream and remembered about an hour later... so, of course, we needed to have another serving. :) Enjoy!

Maple Apple Crisp

Makes: 4 tarts

Ingredients:

5 apples - Sliced thin, seeds removed (I don't peel cause I love the peeling, but you can)

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup all-purpose organic flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 pinch sea salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup toasted and chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Place apples in an 8x8 inch baking dish or 8 individual tart dishes. Toss apples with syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples. Top with toasted pecans and a drizzle of syrup.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chicken Katsu Curry

The first restaurant Nick and I went to in Hawaii served Japanese curry.  It was both of our first time experiencing such flavors!  Later we found out that the restaurant was basically the McDonald's of Japanese Curry, but we didn't care, we loved it!  I wanted to recreate our first food experience in Hawaii, but didn't want to use anything from a package, because they always contain unnecessary ingredients.  This was pretty similar to what we had in Hawaii, which totally surprised me because it usually takes a few mess ups before I get something that detailed correct.  It was super delicious.  The only thing I would change is to pound the chicken flatter. Yum!

Chicken Katsu Curry

Serves: 4

Chicken Kastu Ingredients:

4 organic chicken breasts pounded flat (maybe 1/2 inch thick)

1/2 cup flour seasoned with curry, turmeric, and chili powder

1 egg beaten

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Oil for pan

Dip chicken in flour mixture, egg, and panko in that order on both sides.  Heat up a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Pour oil (I use grape seed oil) to coat the bottom and lightly fry both sides of chicken about 5 minutes on each side.  Deglaze the pan with wine (my new favorite thing) and put into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked. Remove from oven and plate! Pour curry sauce over.

Curry Sauce Ingredients:

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp garlic puree (I used a zester to puree garlic, about 3-4 cloves)

2 tsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp medium curry powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 tsp garam masala

Directions:

Add the chopped onion to a saucepan with 1 tbsp grapeseed oil. Gently cook the onion on a medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to caramelize for another 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan and place into a bowl.

Melt the butter in a clean saucepan, add the flour and stir through the butter to cook it out for 2 minutes.

Add the curry powder, turmeric, paprika, chili and lemon juice and cook through the foamy mixture for another 2 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, stock and add the onion/garlic mixture back to the sauce.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes adding more coconut mixture and salt/pepper to taste.

Pour curry sauce over chicken cutlets and serve with brown rice and steamed vegetables. :)

Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

When we lived in Hawaii, Nick and I would have a smoothie every single morning.  Possibly because we always had fresh delicious fruit on hand, or because they were so darn easy! Seriously, we would make about 10 jars of smoothies every Sunday evening, then stick them in the freezer, take them out before work and by the time we'd get to work and settled in, they were perfect! 

These smoothies are delicious and have the flavors of fall!  Usually when I make a smoothie, I just dig through the cupboards and fridge for whatever I can find and throw it in the blender.  Which is exactly what I did this time.  I knew I had some leftover pumpkin that I wanted to incorporate so I just went from there.  I know they should be bright orange like pumpkin pie, but since I added the oatmeal, they turned a brownish color.  But some of the best things in life are brown... chocolate ice cream, root beer, fudge... it's all good.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

Makes: 6

Ingredients:

3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

1 cup cooked oatmeal

2 bananas

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup soy vanilla protein (cause Grandma said so)

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

4 tablespoons toasted pecans (this was one of those ingredients that I just dug out of the cupboard)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

a shot of pure maple syrup

Directions:

Throw everything in your blender and blend until smooth.  I always freeze afterwards, but if you want to eat right away, just use frozen bananas.  :)

Pumpkin Donut Holes

Nick and I don't really eat donuts.  They are deep fried and packed with chemicals (depending on where you get them).  However, we do remember the days when eating a fresh donut dripping with grease was heaven.  So, I made this baked pumpkin donut to bring us back.  They are delicious!  I think nutmeg just makes a donut a donut.  Yum! 

I wasn't planning on baking anything today, but I had this open jar of pumpkin from my grandpa's garden that needed to be used before it went bad.  Plus, it's cold out and turning on the oven is a lovely way of making the house cozy and smelling delicious!  Enjoy!

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

Makes 24 donut holes (mini muffins)

Ingredients:

For the Donuts:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoons ground cloves

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup milk

For the Coating: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a mini muffin tins with olive oil and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. In a separate large bowl whisk together apple sauce, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the muffins bake, melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Dip each muffin top in melted butter, then dip in cinnamon sugar.  Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Vegetable Broth

Nick's sister gave me the idea and I'm so glad she did because "we don't waste in this family."  Even if they are just carrot and onion scraps, we don't waste.  So we eat so many vegetables in a week that we started to save the "scraps." Scraps are carrot peals, the butt of celery, broccoli stems, onion peals, the tops of garlic, stems of herbs... pretty much anything you have.  We now have a zip lock garbage bag in our fridge that we use for our veggie scraps, and on Sundays, we make broth!  It sure beats buying a box of broth for at least $2.99 and a load of sodium.  I don't even add salt to the broth, I just salt whatever it's going in to.  It's great to use for soups, pho, rice, beans, anything that you would use water for, it just adds flavor!  So simple, you just keep your bag of veggie scraps in the fridge, then put them in your slow cooker, fill with water and set on low for 8 hours.  Then strain into jars and keep in the fridge.  Enjoy! :)

Pile of veggie scraps

Place all the veggie scraps into a crock pot and fill with water

The veggies after 8 hours of cooking on low

Strain the broth and place in jars until use

Mushroom Wild Rice Soup!

Nothing like a mug of soup on a cool fall day. My aunt makes the chicken version of this soup and it's so stinking good!  It really makes me feel at home.  Very filling too!  I changed up her recipe a bit because we don't really every have cream soups on hand and I make it with mushrooms and it's just as good.  If you can't stand mushrooms though, you can use chicken... I guess.

Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

Serves: 10

Ingredients: 

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb chopped mushrooms (I used baby bella, white, and shitake)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups whole milk

2 cups chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

4-5 cups cooked wild rice

6 oz white wine (optional)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

 

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup veggie broth

Directions:

Cook mushrooms, onion and garlic in olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until mushrooms are tender, add white wine and cook down about 3 minutes. 

Transfer to a large soup pot and add 2 cups veggie broth, carrots and celery. Simmer until veggies are tender.

In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and add flour, whisk until foamy.  Add 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup of veggie broth, turn heat to high just until it boils and turn town to simmer until thick and creamy. Add this to the soup pot.

  dd cooked wild rice and heat to desired temperature adding whole milk until soup reaches desired consistency.

Add slivered almonds before serving.(I toasted mine too, they were delicious!)