Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin!

I'm posting up some treats for Emily in honor of her pumpkin obsession.

First, inspired by this Pumpkin Spice Creamer from Coconut Mama, I made this the other morning. I didn't use it in coffee, we had it as a warm breakfast drink (also known as soup!). You'll get fats and gelatin in this one.

Sweet and Creamy Pumpkin Spice "Notte" (Rhymes with Latte!) a la Kathryn

Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin puree (canned or make your own)
3 cups coconut milk (canned (Natural Value is organic, BPA and guar gum free!) or make your own but if you make it, make it thick)
Seasonal spice - nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon
a pinch or two of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla.
6 egg yolks
a big hunk of coconut oil, maybe a 1/4 cup
grass-fed gelatin (yes, this is GAPS, after all)
optional honey if you want the dessert feature

Mix it all together and gently warm. I don't like to heat raw honey so I didn't let this get too warm. Let your gelatin "bloom" by sprinkling it and letting it rest before you stir it in. Both girls liked it and it was quite filling!

Then later you could make these:

Pumpkin Spice Coconut Muffins

I found a recipe for basic coconut muffins and highly modified it, so you may have to adjust the cooking time just a bit. Keep checking them. They turned out great and didn't last 24 hours. Makes 12.

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks and 1 cup coconut milk to replace whites (or use whole eggs)

1.5 cups pumpkin puree

1/2 cup, plus 3 tablespoons coconut flour

1 tablespoon each of cinnamon and ginger

a few grates of nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda (saw that it is now considered GAPS legal)

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare your muffin pan.

I like to put all wet ingredients together and all dry ingredients together then mix them. Let sit 5 minutes. Fill your muffin pan and then bake 20-25 minutes until starting to brown and not soft when lightly touched on the top. We put coconut oil and a drizzle of honey on them. No gelatin in this one.

I like the looks of the recipes on the Coconut Mama site. I have to go back and peek around there some more. I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Fudge and was thinking I could modify it too (less honey) or maybe not!   Might make for a tasty muffin topping or would that be too much pumpkin for you, Em?

Fall Weather and Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

Today is the most beautiful day - quite a change from the wind and rain of the hurricane the other week and the cold, wind and whipping snow we had last week from a nor'easter that followed on the heels of Hurricane Sandy.  It is one of those days where the sky is bright blue and cloudless and even though it is warm, the falling leaves and chill is a reminder that the warm weather won't last.

There is something about the change from Summer into Fall that triggers something in me. It is a little hard to explain, but Fall makes me think. It, more so than any other season, reminds me of the passage of time. Although most people think of Spring as a rebirth, Fall is my rebirth. It makes me remember where I have been and where I want to go. It makes me antsy to start new projects to refocus on old goals...and the funny thing about Fall is that even though they days are getting colder and darker, it makes me believe that anything is possible again. 



 

One of my favorite things about Fall is pumpkin – I love pumpkin in everything.  At the farmers market the other week I bought a few pumpkins, chopped them in half, scooped out the seed (salt and roast at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes - delicious) and put the halves in the slow cooker for about 6 hours. Then all you have to do is scoop out the flesh and freeze. Homemade pumpkin puree is much more flavorful than the canned variety, but of course, canned also works and Farmers Market brand uses BPA-free cans!

I've been making this smoothie as a dessert - it tastes like pumpkin pie filling to me. If you wanted more sweetness a date or some honey could be added.

 Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

1 frozen banana (unfrozen will also work)

¾ c. pumpkin puree
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or ground ginger)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract                                                       ½ cup almond milk, coconut milk, or kefir (I used goat’s milk kefir)

Blend all ingredients in blender and drink!

Expect more pumpkin recipes to come... Like I said I'm an addict.

Halloween Duck

Downtown Manhattan, Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Well it has been a crazy couple of days here in New York post Hurricane Sandy.  We were very, very lucky given the amount of destruction caused by the storm surge and winds.  Seeing the photos of cars floating in downtown NYC where I work and houses under water across the river in Hoboken it is hard to believe that we were relatively untouched other than some downed trees and branches.  It is hard to know what to do and how to help.  The subways are still not running.  Manhattan is powerless from 39th Street down. Limited bus service is available with people spending hours waiting to get on a bus and traffic is even worse - lines for gas stations take hours due to power problems.  So we have been staying local.  I went to the gym yesterday and it was packed.  Everyone else must have cabin fever too.  I haven't seen that many people in the gym since January when New Year's resolutions are fresh in everyone mind.

 Warren Street, Brooklyn

Since I have had a lot of unexpected free time, I have been doing a lot of cooking - kale chips, roasted vegetables, roasted red pepper and tomato soup, chicken stock, apricot nut bars, sandwich bread, Mexican style chicken soup... etc.  Alex commented that if we did lose power we'd have to throw out all of my newly made food.  I responded that we may have to throw out some stuff, but we would most certainly be drinking the 6 quarts of chicken stock I just made. Luckily for us we didn't lose power.

Yesterday,  I decided I would cook up a duck breast I bought a few weeks ago at the farmers market for dinner. I haven't had duck in...well, I can't remember the last time... and I have to admit it was pretty amazing.  I served it with a cherry sauce and roasted vegetables.

Pan Sauteed Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce

1. Salt and pepper both sides of the duck breast and let come to room temperature - about 15-20 minutes. 
2. Score the skin side of the breast with cross hatch slices - this way it will cook up very pretty in your pan. 
3. Heat a pan over medium heat (I used cast iron) and place breast skin (aka fat) side down.  Let cook for about 8-10 minutes until browned and flip to the other side, cooking roughly the same amount of time.  You could also choose to finish this off in the oven if it is getting too brown - I try to limit turning on my oven since it makes our apartment a sauna so I just cooked it on the stove the entire time. My duck was about medium-rare with this cooking time.
4. Remove duck from pan when done and let rest while you prepare the sauce.



Cherry Sauce
1/2 small onion minced
1 orange juiced
1/2 c. organic Bing cherries (important to use organic here)
1/3 c. chicken stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (check to make sure there is no sugar hidden here!)
2 tablespoons dry red wine
Salt/Pepper

1. Pour off the fat left in the pan from cooking the duck breast leaving a thin coating to start the sauce.  Reserve fat in the fridge for cooking eggs/vegetables later.
2. Saute the minced onions until soft and translucent.
3. Deglaze the pan with the wine and balsamic vinegar, scraping up any brown bits.
4. Add the orange juice, chicken stock and cherries to the pan breaking up cherries with the back of a spoon to release juices.
5. Let the sauce simmer until thickened, adding more chicken stock if sauce becomes too thick.
6. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
7. Sit down with your small glass of red wine, sip slowly and enjoy your duck!