Category: Recipes

Happy New Year & Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix Cookbook Review.

Happy New Year friends! Hope you are all having a fantastic week, and can you believe that it’s already half way through the month? Where has the time gone, I’m in denial. The past few months have been just insane packed; between work travel, personal travel for the holidays, holidays and buying a new house (more on that later)… it’s just been crazy.

I don’t do the whole “new year’s resolution” business. For me, the year renews on my birthday and let’s be honest… how many resolutions do we actually keep? I much prefer choosing a few things to work on and be mindful of as the year progresses to front loading my things to update list. My thing this year is to be better about cooking different things. There’s a cooking “rut” that I can easily slip into when life gets hectic. My go to recipes are played over and over like a worn our record and in the same way that listening to the same song 50 times get’s old, so does eating exactly the same thing day in and day out. That being said, I feel like I do need to give an honest disclaimer here and say that when the Coldplay “Sky full of Stars” and Adele’s new song “hello” came out I played those bad boys like they were going out of style.

FullSizeRenderBack to resolutions, I decided that with a new kitchen and finally having an oven again after what felt like an eternity, it was time to crack one of the stacks of cookbooks and try a few new recipes. The first cookbook I reached for was Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix. This book is my mantra. He builds this cookbook on the idea of improvisation; presenting multiple ways to cook the same ingredient or ways to play with a certain method of cooking. This book is about finding an ingredient that gets you excited to cook, then shopping for the recipe.

Regardless of your cooking style, this book will inspire you. By the book recipe follower, you’ll be happy. Improv loving pinch of this and that cook, you’ll be inspired. There is truly a recipe for everyone, gluten-free, meat loving, paleo, vegan, etc.

The diagrams and imagery in this book, not to mention the organized and mindfully chaotic way each page is laid out, was so easy to digest and kept me turning the pages. It really is a kitchen bible, from a DIY condiments/sauces like homemade ketchup and teriyaki, to an entire section devoted to how to make your own spice mix, 12 ways to cook eggplant and mouth watering meat recipes, you’ll be able to cook and improv to your hearts content.

I received a free copy of this book for my honest opinion, and my opinion was in no way biased.

Thanksgiving Day Menu with Recipes

Happy leftovers day everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing day filled with family and food!

This year I did a mini-digital detox and refrained from posting very much on my social channels but rest assured, while I didn’t photograph every amazing bite we ate like royalty and I have some awesome recipes to share with you! Some of the recipes are not yet posted since I didn’t get many pictures so I’ll have to re-create the meal to get some shots once the holidays settle down a little… oh darn… we’ll have to have another Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Gluten-Free Stuffing

FullSizeRenderThere is one part of Thanksgiving that I love, stuffing. I’m usually a hard core protein and veggies first gal but there is ONE day of the year that whole lifestyle gets turned upside down. This year is my lucky year, we get on both Thanksgiving and Christmas! But, there’s a little variation this year, we’re testing out gluten-free stuffing. We took my mum’s classic stuffing recipe and substituted the Mrs. Cubbison’s Corn Bread Stuffing for homemade gluten-free croutons.

I’d been baking through some of the gluten-free mixes that Krusteaz sent me as part of the Krusteaz Blogger Bake-Off and we had a half pan of the gluten-free corn bread and decided to adapt moms amazing classic stuffing recipe to be gluten-free.

 

Gluten-Free Stuffing
prep time:  45 min  | cook time: 1 hr 30-45 min

Gluten- Free Honey Cornbread and Muffin Mix
1 Cup almond milk
1/3 Cup olive Oil + some for crisping the crumbs
1 Egg
Poultry seasoning
1 lb. roll of gluten-free sausage
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bunch finely chopped celery
1/2 stick of butter
1 sour green apple, finely chopped
1/2 c golden raisins
1/4 c brandy
2 3/4 gluten-free chicken broth

Steps 1- 5 you can make up to three days ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the fridge. For day-of assembly, start at step 6.

  1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. To make the cornbread croutons, take the corn bread and cut into small chunks. Toss lightly with extra virgin olive oil and dust with poultry seasoning. Bake corn bread in pre-heated oven until crispy, 30-40 minutes.
  2. Soak the 1/2 c golden raisins soaked in the 1/4 c brandy plus the 3/4 c. of the chicken broth. (Save the other 2 cups of chicken broth for later in the recipe).
  3. Sauté onion in 1/2 stick of butter. Throw in celery and sauté until translucent. Throw in the chopped apple and let sauté for just a bit longer. Scoop the mixture onto a plate.
  4. In the same pan, add the sausage and cook until crispy. Drain off any fat, there might not be any but you can soak it up with a paper towel.
  5. Drain the raisins, saving the liquid, and add to the sausage in the pan. Add the onion celery mixture and simmer about 5 minutes. Then add the brandy and chicken broth from the raisins and an additional 2 cups of chicken broth.
  6. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
  7. In a large bowl add the sausage and veggie mixture and a box of the stuffing crumbs and fold until moist. Don’t over mix or crush the bread piece.
  8. Butter either a two quart or three quart glass baking dish and add the mixture. Add a few pieces of very thinly sliced butter to the top of the dish. Cook 45 minutes covered in pre-heated oven.
  9. Turn heat up to 415, remove lid and cook for an additional 15 minutes. The top will look a little burned but don’t worry, that’s the BEST part and it tastes AMAZING!

Mum’s Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce

FullSizeRender (1)Has anyone else just had the realization that Christmas is just one short month away? You can’t miss the signs, decorations are at every turn, the music is in every store. We can’t deny it any longer folks, the holidays are here! Each year I have conversations with friends and family about how we all have so much “stuff” and how hard it is to shop for everyone on the Christmas list. Isn’t there a one stop shop for people that don’t require specific or multiple presents? Yes, it’s called anything homemade. As someone who is obsessed with homemade/DIY and  loves to cook I’ve tried to make the majority of my Christmas presents the past few years and it’s been fun! One year I made scarves for everyone, another year I hand stamped note cards, another year I did cookies in a jar. It gets a little tough around the holidays to devote time to making presents so it’s a great idea to get started thinking about projects like this in October but with the work schedule this year I’ve spent most weekends sleeping, cooking, cleaning or catching up on the ever growing to-do list.

Well, this weekend has been a much needed change of pace lounging in pajamas, sleeping in, leaving the house only to play in the snow, playing games and watching Christmas movies all day long and munching on leftovers. It’s been divine. It’s also given me a bit of time to write which is always relaxing. Our Thanksgiving feast this year was just off the charts amazing, and it was actually pretty manageable, as manageable as an 18 pound turkey and homemade pies can be. I’m usually a protein gal, hands down. First thing on my plate will always be an inhuman amount of whatever protein is served except one amazing day a year that we call Thanksgiving. When my mum’s amazing Thanksgiving stuffing and Cranberry sauce are on the table all bets are off. Turkey is only the transportation vessel for the amazing cranberry sauce to reach my mouth. I talk more about the amazing stuffing in my blog post here but this post is about the cranberry sauce so let’s stay focused.

You can throw it in some toasted quinoa with a slice of turkey for a paleo leftovers snack. Besides using it up in leftovers, there are so many things you can do with this sauce that don’t require turkey. It makes a great spread for a slice of toast, or use it as a compote on some pork chops. You can bake jam filled butter cookies. for a tasty snack. The options are endless!

Mum’s Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce
Prep Time:      |Cook time:
This recipe is for a single batch, but we usually double it for Thanksgiving 

1 1lb bag of organic fresh cranberries
1 large orange, juiced with some zest
3/4 c organic sugar
1 tbsp Grand Marnier

Place all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium-low heat (you don’t want to burn the sugar) and simmer until you hear the cranberries popping. I like my cranberry sauce a little chunkier so I turn off the heat when about half the cranberries are still in tact but you can cook until all the cranberries are dissolved if you like!

Mom’s Thanksgiving Stuffing

FullSizeRenderThere are a few things that I look forward to each year at Thanksgiving: getting together with family and my mum’s stuffing. There are a few things I love about the holiday season, the red Christmas cup at Starbucks, twinkle lights going up on all the trees downtown, the hope of snow in the city, Christmas cheer and decorations, presents under the tree and stuffing. Yes, stuffing. If you haven’t had my mum’s stuffing at Thanksgiving you haven’t lived friends. Bold statement I know, but it’s true. My mum has used the same stuffing recipe for as long as I can remember and I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember. For a gal who’s doesn’t usually lose her mind over bread, butter or sausage I go crazy for my mum’s stuffing. Thanksgiving doesn’t feel the same without it. There is some magic that happens when you cook up some Jimmy Dean sausage (the regular flavor! None of the others taste as good, we’ve tried!) and throw it in a casserole dish with some chopped onion and celery apple and mix it with a box of  Mrs. Cubbison’s Corn Bread Stuffing. It’s magic folks, pure magic. Already being in the kitchen cooking is a HUGE advantage in this situation because then I get the snag a few bites of the mixed up goodness before going in the oven.

This year mum and I cooked up the Turkey day feast and we had a blast in the kitchen! She brined and cooked the bird and whipped up some gravy from scratch and made a batch of her ridiculously delicious cranberry sauce and some homemade cinnamon apple sauce. I was in charge of roasting up our veggies and making a Pumpkin and Pecan pie with crust from scratch. I didn’t have time to home roast a pumpkin like I usually do so a can of Libby’s pumpkin stepped in. It’s a great pinch hit if you don’t have time to roast your own pumpkins. The entire feast was incredibly tasty, but my heart belongs to the stuffing. I dream about this stuffing all year and for some reason never wrote down the recipe so this year I made it a point to get her recipes and write them down! The next few weeks will be sprinkled with her mum’s recipes for Thanksgiving feast!

If you have one oven like we do, you can make the day-of cooking a bit easier by making most of this recipe ahead of time and simply assembling and cooking in between turkey and your other side dishes.

Mom’s Famous Thanksgiving Stuffing
prep time: 3o min  | cook time: 1 hour

Mrs. Cubbison’s Corn Bread Stuffing, 1 12 oz box
1 lb. roll of Jimmy Dean regular flavored sausage
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bunch finely chopped celery
1/2 stick of butter
1 sour green apple, finely chopped
1/2 c golden raisins
1/4 c brandy
2 3/4 chicken broth

Steps 1- 4 you can make up to three days ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the fridge. For day-of assembly, start at step 5.

  1. Soak the 1/2 c golden raisins soaked in the 1/4 c brandy plus the 3/4 c. of the chicken broth. (Save the other 2 cups of chicken broth for later in the recipe).
  2. Sauté onion in 1/2 stick of butter. Throw in celery and sauté until translucent. Throw in chopped apple and let sauté for just a bit longer. Scoop the mixture onto a plate.
  3. In the same pan, add the sausage and cook until crispy. Drain off any fat, there might not be any but you can soak it up with a paper towel.
  4. Drain the raisins, saving the liquid, and add to the sausage in the pan. Add the onion celery mixture and simmer about 5 minutes. Then add the brandy and chicken broth from the raisins and an additional 2 cups of chicken broth.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
  6. In a large bowl add the sausage and veggie mixture and a box of the stuffing crumbs and fold until moist. Don’t over mix or crush the bread piece.
  7. Butter a glass baking dish (you can use either a two quart or three quart glass baking dish) and add the mixture. Add a few pieces of very thinly sliced butter to the top of the dish. Cook 45 minutes covered in pre-heated oven.
  8. Turn heat up to 415, remove lid and cook for an additional 15 minutes. The top will look a little burned but don’t worry, that’s the BEST part and it tastes AMAZING!

Cookbook Review: The Kitchn

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Let me start by saying I’m not a big cookbook gal, and I’m HOOKED on this book! From the gorgeous pictures to the wonderful way the recipes are laid out to the helpful tip that rightfully take up half the book, but I’m getting ahead of myself. This so much more than just a “Cookbook”, It’s a cooking school in a book. 

They say you spend a third of your life in bed, but I’m convinced that we spend a third of our lives in the kitchen. From food preparation, consumption, entertaining and cleaning we spend a great deal of time in the busiest room of the house. I’ve been using The Kitchn’s recipes for years so when I was given the opportunity to review The Kitchn Cookbook  I jumped on it! Remember that this review is coming from a gal who doesn’t usually like cookbooks. Don’t have the space or the attention to make them worthwhile, I usually want one recipe out of them and they gather dust. This book, however, is totally a keeper! It’s more than your usual round up of recipes, which are all really great recipes! It includes tips for keeping your kitchen clean and organized (which is important if you spend as much time as I do in the kitchen!) and also includes tips on how to properly stock a pantry planning and storage various ingredients. With recipes for everything from the one-pot wonders, slow cooking, no-bake, and time intensive dishes there’s really something for every taste and skill level and kitchen size.

Reading this book is like learning all the tribal knowledge of cooking with your mother and grandmother for Thanksgiving. It not only has amazing recipes (knowing how to make vinaigrette or lemon bars from scratch will totally change your cooking game) but it also has great tips for preparing meal plans, entertaining a group, stocking a pantry and storing ingredients and basically has a mini cooking school in chapter 5. The entire chapter is devoted to the tips and tricks that will change the game. Sure, we might already know how to chop an onion and might even know how to boil a mean pot of water. But, can you confidently deglaze a pan (trust me, it will change your life), thicken a sauce and properly cup up a whole chicken? There are also tips on how to adapt recipes, store your fruits and veggies and more!

Consider this the handbook for the kitchen you’ve always dreamed of. With recipes for everything from the one-pot wonders, slow cooking, no-bake, and time intensive dishes there’s really something for every taste and skill level and kitchen size.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion, and my honest opinion is that this is a kitchen must have!

 

 

 

Pumpkin Seed Butter (Gluten-Free, Dairy Free)

FullSizeRenderLast summer I got hooked on pumpkin seed butter. Before that, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I felt pretty nut-butter gourmet knowing that there was macadamia butter as well as cashew butter. I knew that you could grind your own; I’ve seen and even used the machines in my local Whole Foods to make fresh almond butter. But those machines were big, and scary, not to mention loud and quite menacing to look at. The though had NEVER dawned on me that it was something that could be made at home. Until a combination of a strong desire for a food processor, DIY itch and budgeting came together. Random components, but quite a story!

This recipe was adapted from the the kitchn’s Pumpkin Seed Butter recipe. I LOVE that they say it was inspired by a nut butter that they tasted at the Portland Farmers Market because I’m pretty sure it’s the same nut butter that hooked me on Pumpkin Seed Butter. Nut-Tritious Foods is a wonderful little company based out of  Vancouver, Washington.  They do a great job of educating customers why cold-pressed nut butters are better for you. I pulled the info below from their about page because it’s REALLY important to know!

“… we COLD-PROCESS and don’t use heat to get our nut butter into the tub. Heat will oxidize the healthy fats (poly- & mono-unsaturated) and make them more like a saturated fat! Most all jar nut butters have been heat processed – you can tell by the ‘nutcrete’ in the bottom of the glass jar.” An additional note, the heat processing method allows the nut butter to sit on the shelf in a jar until it’s purchased. Personally, I’d much rather have the fresh stuff that I know is perishable and know that I’m getting the most nutrition out of my consumption.

Check out my Almond butter recipe here.

Pumpkin Seed Butter

2 cup raw pumpkin seeds, without shells
1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax meal*
1/4 cup  grapeseed oil
1 spoon of honey (to taste)
pinch grey salt

*Flax Meal: You can easily make flax meal in a coffee

Combine  pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds , and flaxseed meal in your food processor. Blend until the ingredients are well chopped and blended. You’ll need to stop and scrape the sides down so all the ingredients get blended together.

Add the honey and blend until the nut butter starts to form. This can take up to ten full minutes so have patience! Once you see the play dough texture, where the seed butter starts to form a ball and move around the bowl you’re getting close! Add the oil and continue to blend 5-10 minutes more until the butter is consistently smooth. Your food processor might get warm but don’t worry too much, you can always let it cool a little bit and then blend away. I used the 1/4 cup of oil and it was just fine, but you may want to add more depending on how you like your nut butter.

Place in an airtight container (tupperware or glass jar) and store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

There are plenty of additions to this recipe, you can mix up the ratios. You can choose olive oil or coconut oil. You might want to add salt, or use salted pumpkin seeds. You can also pre-heat the oven to about 350 and roast the seeds on a parchment paper or foil wrapped cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes. If you oven roast them, stir the seeds once or twice during cooking and let them cool before adding to the food processor. There is also a delicious looking adaption for Maple Pumpkin Seed Butter and Chocolate Pumpkin butter.

Quick & Easy Fall Meal: Delicata Squash, Quinoa, Chicken

Screen Shot 2014-09-17 at 8.54.40 PMThere are nights that you get home and the LAST thing you want to do is cook. But, a bowl of cereal just isn’t going to cut it either. Image one of those days then add a three day moving process where so many things wen’t wrong you’ve lost count, and you just want it all to be over. That’s how the past week has been. I’ve been tired before, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never felt this level of exhaustion…falling into bed because I can’t bear to keep my body upright or my eyes open any longer. But I also can’t seem to stomach the idea of consuming another meal that doesn’t come from my own kitchen. I vowed that tonight was be the night, without and idea of what magic would happen to result in a consumable meal.

photoA quick triage of the fridge, pantry and cooking dishes quickly indicated that tonight was going to be a “throw together” meal and it was time to get a little creative. This was one of the meals where I just started chopping, sautéing and hoping that adding enough herbs would do the trick to result in a meal that was worth eating. There are a few kitchen staples that are always on hand (a post to come about that!) so that I can throw together a decent meal on little time and minimal ingredients and effort.  One of my go-to fall meals is a simple combination of toasted quinoa, butternut squash and toasted chickpeas. I decided to do a variation on this meal with some delicata squash I picked up at the market and a few frozen chicken breast I had in the freezer. I have to admit, there were a few points in the evening that I started to calculate how quickly a pizza could be delivered but the end result was just delicious! This is for sure getting added to the “fall staples” list! Delicata squash are a city chef’s dream. They’re much smaller than other fall and winter squash (save maybe acorn squash) so you’re not lugging 15 pounds of squash home and you don’t have to peel them! They’re super simple to thin slice and pan cook or roast in the oven on a foil sheet at 425 to get that delicious, caramel, melty, amazing squashey goodness!

To make this recipe vegetarian, substitute the chicken with toasted chickpeas.

Delicata Squash, Quinoa, Chicken

1 medium Delicata squash
2 chicken breast
1/2 cup dry quinoa
Fresh chopped or dried parsley
Cracked pepper to taste
Grapeseed oil

  • In a medium stock pot, toast the quinoa over medium heat, moving the quinoa in the pan, until you see it start to brown. Remove from heat, wash, place back in pan with 1 cup water, cracked pepper and fresh chopped or dried parsley. Cover and bring to a boil then turn off the heat and let it sit until the rest is ready.
  • Meanwhile, pre-heat a pan with grapeseed oil or any other high cooking heat oil. Wash Delicata squash exterior, cut in half, scrape out seeds and slice thin then add to the pre-heated pan with some fresh cracked pepper and parsley. Move in pan until lightly browned.
  • Cube the chicken and add to pan with the squash. Add cracked pepper and parsley to taste.
  • Move contents of pan chicken and squash are browned. Cut one of the pieces of chicken in half to assure it’s cooked throughout.
  • Serve in a bowl with peanut sauce, fig or stone fruit compote, or balsamic drizzle.

Butternut Squash Couscous (Vegetarian, Vegan, Meat Free, Dairy Free)

photoThe way that I describe this dish, is a middle eastern version of fried rice. It’s a great meal the throw together and one that you can experiment with spices that you don’t likely use in your daily cooking. The original recipe calls for a steaming method of cooking, which is the traditional method. I neglected to read the directions before I started the recipe and didn’t think we even owned a steamer! Well, after I completely revamped the entire cooking method, I realized that we DO have a steamer so I guess I’ll try that next time!

Couscous is very low in fat, and has about the same in protein, fiber and carbs as quinoa. Quinoa beats couscous in the mineral content, but couscous packs an amazing 87% of your daily suggested intake. About 55mcg is suggested daily and couscous has 43mcg per once cup serving. Selenium has antioxidant properties, can help the body regulate the thyroid hormones, support a healthy immune system, and aid in metabolism. One of selenium’s most important roles is as an antioxidant helping to prevent cell damage due to free radicals. (Sources: WebMD and Eating Well)

One VERY important thing that I did not note, until I’d already washed and set aside four cups of couscous, is the water to couscous ratio in this recipe. Much like rice or quinoa, there is a two to one ratio for water to couscous. Now, this recipe called for 4 cups of dry couscous. Four cups of dry couscous is quite a large portion, borderline obscene actually. I only realized this fact at the very moment where I was pouring the 8 cups of water and 4 cups of couscous  into my stove top pan and it was nearly brimming over. And, I hadn’t event started it boiling yet! My denial for the amount of couscous I was in the middle of making could no longer be indulged and I pulled out the large stock pot and transferred my absurd amount of couscous into the larger pot. While there was much more couscous than I would normally cook, about 9 servings worth, the ratio of the other ingredients worked perfectly. The only thing I would change is to maybe try cutting the couscous by half. 

To serve, mix the roasted zucchini and butternut squash, chickpeas, raisins and sautéed onion together in a bowl and add a little more chopped parsley. (Typically, chickpeas from a can are already cooked but double-check.) Add in the couscous and stir well. The couscous will be a little gummy which is possibly due to my cooking method and not steaming it as directed. Garnish with more fresh  parsley if you wish. You can also add grilled chicken or tofu to this if you want more protein like I usually do.

Squash Couscous
Yield: 9 cups of couscous + a good amount of veggies for 4 people 
Recipe and method adapted from the recipe on Canadian Living
*Note: Due to preference and feeding two people versus 6, I suggest cutting the couscous, chicken stock and water in half. If you LOVE couscous or have a lot of people to feed, keep the recipe as is!

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb (one medium large)  butternut squash, peeled and chopped in 2 inch cubed
2 large zucchini, sliced into 2 inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups  ( 1  15 oz can)  chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 c chicken bullion paste for chicken stock
8 cups water
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 cups Israeli couscous ( I only had 3 cups, so I added one cup of the golden small couscous
additional parsley to garnish

Directions
Wash and chop the zucchini and butternut squash. Don’t forget to de-seed the squash. Lay out on aluminum foil on a baking sheet and roast at 450 for 30-45 minutes. Turning every 10 -15 min. Wash the couscous and set aside.

Chop the onion and fry it on the stove with some olive oil in a large stock pot. Set aside in a large bowl which you’ll use to mix up the rest of the ingredients. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to the bowl, along with the raisins and some more parsley (to taste). Add the zucchini and butternut squash to this bowl once they’re browned on all sides.

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in the large stock pot you used for the onions. Stir in the 1/4 cup of bullion, parsley, ginger, pepper, salt, and turmeric. Let boil together for a few minutes. Add the couscous and let it come back to a boil. Be sure to stir it all up every few minutes. Cook until the couscous soaks up the broth and get’s to a consistency you like.

Add the couscous to your large bowl with the onions, raisins and chickpeas, zucchini and butternut squash and stir. Garnish with additional parsley if you wish.

Tonight we’re eating this with some delicious bone in pork chops that are currently brining, but you can serve with grilled chicken, boiled eggs, firm tofu, or grilled steak. The options are endless!

Pumpkin Pie

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There is a special feeling of accomplishment and “arrival”reserved for the moment when you look at your LOVELY freshly baked pumpkin pie cooling on the rack,  knowing that you both roasted the pumpkins used in the pie AND made the crust from scratch. You “can” use the canned stuff, but roasting your own pumpkins just puts this already delicious recipe over the edge of deliciousness! Roasting pumpkins isn’t as hard as you may think and it truly is worth the time for some AMAZING tasting pumpkin pie! You can find my simple recipe HERE.

I like to use organic local pumpkins whenever available. The nice thing about doing pumpkin pie, is that you can roast extra pumpkin and use it later in the week! I usually roast a pumpkin to make puree for the pie, and roast a pumpkin to roast in chunks to use with toasted quinoa and roasted chickpeas for dinner, or tossed in a salad.

Pumpkin Pie

Prep:15 mins |Cooking: 55 mins

Ingredients
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1  15 oz. canned Pumpkin or 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
1 12 fl. oz. can Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell (homemade recipe HERE)
Whipped cream (optional)

Directions
Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
POUR into unbaked pie shell.
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

 

 

RECIPE TIPS
Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly – it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray pie pan with cooking spray before placing pie crust in pan. If pie crust is over browning, cover edges with foil.
To use prepared frozen pie crust: Place cookie sheet in oven and pre-heat oven as directed. Pour filling into frozen crust and bake on preheated cookie sheet.
High Altitude Adjustments: Reduce sugar to 2/3 cup and increase butter to 3 tablespoons. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.