Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients (makes 1 9-inch pie)

• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ½ t. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. cardamom
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp. molasses
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cans (15 oz.) pumpkin
• 1 cans (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shells

Instructions

Blind bake the pie shells at 350° F for 15-20 minutes until dough goes from translucent to opaque but before it browns. Protect the rim of the crust during the blind bake. Set aside to cool while mixing the filling.

Mix the dry ingredients: sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl together until well combined. 

Beat the eggs in a mixer.

Add pumpkin, molasses, and sugar/spice mixture to the eggs and mix until well combined

Slowly add the evaporated milk until the mix is a uniform color.

Fill the crusts to the brim. Protect the edge of the crusts. Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350° F and bake for an additional 30-45 minutes. Take the crust protector off near the end of the bake.

Cool on wire rack for 2 hours, then serve immediately or refrigerate.

My Hummus

My no garlic, very lemony hummus. 

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans 
• 1/4 cup celery
•  1/4 - 1/2 tsp Corriander 
• 1 lemon, zest and juic
• enough bottled lemon juice to make up 1/4 cup between it and the juice from the lemn 
• 1/4 cup tahini 
•  1/8 cup fresh lemon verbena 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp paprika 

Instructions 

• Drain and thoroughly rinse the garbanzo beans. 
• Prepare the garbanzo beans. Use a blender, mixer, or vegetable strainer to puree the garbanzo beans. I found that my stick blender was the fastest and most effective method. The goal is to crush them into a paste.
• Cut the celery in thin slices and fry the celery and Corriander in a little oil until the celery is just translucent.
• Zest and juice the lemon. 
• Add bottled lemon juice to zest and juice from lemon to make up 1/4 cup of juice.
• Chop the lemon verbena fine.
• Mix together all of the ingredients and blend until well combined.  If you can, use a mixer or whisk to whip it together and smooth out the texture a bit.

Enjoy!

Any-Fruit Crisp Topping

This topping can go on top of any fruit when making Fruit Crisp and is yummy. 

Ingredients

• 200g rolled oats 
• 140 g flour 
• 140g brown sugar
• ¾ c unsalted butter, softened (or 1 avocado with 118 ml butter or ¾ c yogurt butter)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Note that this is not a recipe that requires precision, so all amounts are approximate.  The balance of butter to dry ingredients needs to be enough to coat and bring everything together.  

Method 

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. 

Line a baking dish with baking parchment and prep and bake about 6 cups of fruit (especially fruit like apples or frozen fruit) for 30 minutes. If your fruit is softer or fresh you might not need this step. 

While the fruit is baking, mix the dry ingredients together. 

Soften the butter to around room temperature. You want a fairly loose consistency for mixing. 

If using avocado, cut it into chunks and thoroughly combine with the softened butter. A potato masher works well for this if you have one.

Add the butter (or avocado/butter, or yogurt butter) to the dry mix and work until all ingredients are well-combined. 

After the fruit comes out of the oven, cover it with the crisp topping. 

Raise the oven temperature to 400F Bake at 350for 20-30 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through and the topping is lightly browned.

Let rest for 20-30 minutes, this will help the topping finish crisping up and will keep you from burning your mouth on the hot fruit.

Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

75 ml vegetable oil
240 ml milk or buttermilk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla

300 g all purpose flour
75 g brown sugar
20 g cocoa powder
20 g dark cocoa powder or melted baking chocolate
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

250 g chocolate chips

Instructions

If needed, melt the chocolate and then add it to the combined mixture. If using powdered add to the dry mixture.

Mix the wet ingredients together.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture until well mixed.

Add the chocolate chips, stirring in by hand until well combined.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Fill muffin cups with 60ml (¼ c) of batter. They will be about 2/3rd full. Makes 17 muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in the tins for 5-10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Carrot, Orange, and Spice Cake

Ingredients

• 200g/7oz unsalted butter
• 280g/10oz light brown muscovado sugar
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 1 tsp Grand Marnier
• 320g/11¼oz all purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 320g/11¼oz grated carrots
• optional 170g/6oz pecan nuts, toasted and chopped
• 1 orange, zest and juice only
• powdered sugar 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/360F/Gas 4. Grease and line the base of two 9in cake pans.

Grate the carrots and add the juice and zest of one orange. If using nuts, add them here.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then whisk in the sugar, eggs and orange oil until smooth and well combined.

Sift the flour, baking soda and ground spices into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the salt and baking powder.

Fold the butter mixture into the dry ingredients until combined. Fold in the carrot mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle (check after 40 minutes and cover the top of the cake if the cake is browning too fast).

Leave to cool in the pans for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Finish with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top of the cakes and enjoy.

Inspired by:
Ian's Colossal Carrot Cake

Fried Rice

I just put together a simple fried rice recipe to have as a quick dinner and use up some leftover rice. I made it fairly bland because I was hoping my mother could eat it and she's become very sensitive to many smells and tastes, but it would be easy to add more seasonings to it if you like. 

Ingredients

• Left-over rice, I used about 3 cups (scale the rest of the ingredients to the amount of rice you have).
• 3 Carrots, chopped
• 1 cup Peas, frozen
• 2 eggs, whisked together
• Cooking oil, I used canola
• Soy Sauce

Instructions

• Heat about 1 Tablespoon of oil in a wok to medium heat. 
• Add about a teaspoon of soy sauce to the whisked eggs and pour the mixture into the oil. Let it cook for a bit then turn it over (as if you were making an omelette).
• Take the cooked egg out of the wok and set aside
• Add more oil to the wok, about 3 Tablespoons and let it heat back up
• Add the rice and some soy sauce to the wok and cook until the rice is warm and has absorbed the soy sauce. I added enough soy sauce to turn all of the white rice a light brown color.
• Once the rice is heated through, push it to one side and add some more oil to the bottom of the wok.
• Add the carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the frozen peas to the carrots (leaving the rice to one side for now). Stir the peas into the carrots then cover the wok for 2-5 minutes, until the peas have come up to the temperature of the rest of the ingredients. 
• While the carrots and peas are cooking, cut the cooked eggs into strips or pieces.
• Add more soy sauce if needed and stir the rice, carrots, peas, and eggs together.
• Check for doneness and even heating, cook a bit longer if needed.
• Serve.

Notes

You could use any combination of vegetables you like with the rice or add more flavorings. This was made with what we had in the fridge at the time. If you already have leftover rice on hand it is really quick to make-- it took me about 20-30 minutes from getting the ingredients out of the refrigerator to serving it. If you don't have a wok, a larger frying pan would also work.