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Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater (Tales of a Canned Pumpkin Shortage)

September 9th, 2010

I have read several articles recently and heard from several people that there is a shortage of canned pumpkin this year. I’m not exactly sure of the details of this said pumpkin shortage, but the word on the street is that there is going to be a canned pumpkin shortage when the holiday season rolls around. Some people have already reported this problem, while others are hoarding every can of pumpkin pie filling they can find.

When I started typing this- I really didn’t know much about the shortage, other than the fact that I heard there was one. Since I’m of the curious sort- I decided to snoop around the information superhighway and see what I could see and low and behold- there is a pumpkin shortage. The resason being is because there has been too much rain and not enough sunshine to sustain a proper growing season in central Illinois- which I’ve found out is where 95% of all the pumpkins come from (including canned) in the United States.

I will admit that while I am not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie (I’m more of a pecan pie kind of gal myself), I do love pumpkin in breads and muffins, so the shortage is something that is of concern. I decided to take matters into my own hands and three days ago I bought a pumpkin that I plan to roast (hopefully tomorrow) and then cut into pieces and freeze. This will allow me to have fresh pumpkin anytime I want it, without having to depend on the supermarket to deliver me the canned pumpkin I may need.

You may want to try it yourself- especially since it’s easy to do. After all, what’s Thanksgiving without pumpkin? I’ll share the pumpkin roasting adventure with y’all, but in the meantime- if you’d like to read about the shortage- check it out here

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Blueberries, Blueberries and More Blueberries

August 17th, 2010

This past Saturday Marcel, Bobbi and I went on a blueberry picking adventure. There aren’t any farms in our immediate area, so we drove an hour and fifteen minutes so we could pick until our heart is content. I ended up picking a little over 9 pounds and Bobbi went home with a little over 10. We did all that in a little over an hour.

We weren’t the only ones there picking, but there were enough to go around for everyone. I brought them home, washed and packaged them and stuck them in the freezer. I plan to use them in my yogurt and also in muffins throughout the rest of the year.

After I shared about our adventure on my Facebook account, I made a mention to someone that I was going to look for a whole-wheat blueberry muffin recipe and probably make some in the near future. Oddly, no sooner than I posted that, I looked on the News Feed and saw that Betty Crocker had posted a great recipe for just that.

Some may consider it a coincidence, but not me. I was thrilled with the recipe and decided to share it with y’all today. I haven’t made them yet, and I’ll probably make some changes (like using Agave instead of honey and applesauce instead of the oil), but they really look great on their own.

Enjoy- At the end of this entry, you can find the link to the original recipe.

Whole Wheat-Blueberry Muffins

Whole wheat flour, a touch of honey and frozen organic blueberries star in classic blueberry muffins.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup fat-free (skim) milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
1 egg
1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 cup Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup Cascadian Farm® frozen organic blueberries (from 8-oz bag), do not thaw

Directions

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray, or place paper baking cup in each muffin cup. In small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
In large bowl, beat milk, oil, honey and egg with spoon. Stir in flours, baking powder and salt just until flours are moistened (batter will be lumpy). Gently fold in blueberries.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (cups will be full). Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

Nutritional Information

1 Serving :

Calories :

Total Fat :

Cholesterol : 20mg

Sodium : 230mg

Total Carbohydrate : 27g (Dietary Fiber: 2g, Sugars: 11g)

Protein : 3g

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker

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Sinful Treats- Frozen Chocolate Mousse Squares

July 28th, 2010

Marcel is a huge fan of chocolate mousse, so when I had this email yesterday from Kraft I couldn’t help but add it to my ‘to make’ file. The photo to the left is the finished product and one that I stole borrowed from the fine people at Kraft.

In addition to thinking about how delicious it sounds, I couldn’t help but think about how great it would be to serve at a BBQ or even as a cool dessert on one of these warmer than warm evenings. I actually think I may make it for a little get together that I’m planning later with friends, and even though I’m trying my best not to indulge these days- I may have to have a little bite or two of this.

Even though as made it is not for the calorie conscious- there are ways to make it ‘lighter’ by using fat or sugar-free Cool Whip, or using fat free sweetened condensed milk. Both of thsoe could shave off quite a few calories, plus if you use low-fat Oreo’s that would help as well. Then again, sometimes an indulgence is nice.

I leave you with the original recipe- compliments of Kraft Foods. In the meantime I think I’ll go wipe the drool off my mouth. haha\

Frozen Chocolate Mousse Squares

12 OREO Cookies, crushed

1/4 cup Butter or margarine, melted

2 tubs (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese Spread

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

4 squares BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

LINE 9-inch square pan with foil, with ends extending over sides of pan. Mix cookie crumbs and butter in prepared pan; press onto bottom of pan.

BEAT cream cheese spread in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Blend in chocolate. Whisk in COOL WHIP. Spoon over crust.

FREEZE 6 hours. Remove from freezer 15 min. before serving. Use foil handles to lift dessert from pan. Let dessert stand at room temperature to soften slightly before cutting to serve.

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Fascination with Food

July 22nd, 2010

It seems that lately I’ve been fascinated with posting pictures about everything. It seems that me and my ‘eye’ have been in a constant state of picture taking when we are out and about, because it seems that there is always something interesting in my path.

Today, I wouldn’t say that this was in my path, but it’s a picture of my lunch. It’s tuna salad that I made, and when I ate it, I couldn’t help but think of my parents. I remember many years ago, one of them made some tuna salad (made with Kraft Mayo- their ONLY mayo choice) and I noticed that my tuna salad had carrots in it. I was disturbed that they’d put a foreign object in my salad, but mom urged me to try it and I actually liked it. Now, when I make tuna salad- I do the same thing, only I use low-fat mayo and lots of mustard. I added some pickles, grated egg, a little Tony’s seasoning, garlic and onion powder and then spread it on a whole-grain cracker. I have to say that it was delicious and reminded me of home.

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Happy 4th!

July 4th, 2010

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today! I actually celebrated last night with friends for a little cook out and fun times and I had a blast. I ate entirely too much, but luckily all the foods I did have were healthy, so I know I didn’t break the calorie bank. I had the opportunity to spend some time with my good friend Carrie and her husband, which made the evening even better.

In spite of the little bit of rain, we still sat outside under the terrace and managed to keep dry. Later, as the guys watched the World Cup, Carrie and I spent the evening sitting outside chatting away about any and everything. She and I even made talk of having a girls weekend somewhere with a group of fun friends. That’s something we definitely need to make happen.

Since I won’t get to see Carrie again before my birthday, she brought a gift to me last night. She knows how much I love and adore coffee AND coffee cups, so she brought me some delicious smelling coffee’s, plus she brought me the most ADORABLE coffee cup. It is cute and whimisical and it says “Happy Girl” on it. I’m going to have to take a picture and share with y’all.

That was my celebration for the 4th, and sadly, today is going to be a work day for me. I don’t mind though, since I didn’t have anything planned anyway, plus I have enough left over grilled chicken and salad from last night to eat without me having to cook. Marcel, on the other hand, will go to his moms for Sunday dinner.

The picture above is one that I borrowed from the Nestle website and is for some Toll House Stars and Stripes Cookies. I thought they looked so scrumptious and festive that I just had to share.

1 pkg. (16.5 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

24 fresh, medium strawberries, sliced

3/4 cup fresh blueberries

2 tablespoons NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels

PREHEAT oven to 350º F.

ROLL cookie dough to 1/4-inch thickness between two pieces of wax paper. Remove top piece of paper. Cut cookie dough into stars with 3-inch star cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheet(s). (If stars are too hard to remove from wax paper, refrigerate rolled dough for 10 minutes.) Roll remaining dough to 1/4-inch thickness; cut out additional stars.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. While hot, reshape and pat edges of each star back into shape with knife. Cool on baking sheet(s) for 2 minutes; remove to wire rack(s) to cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in small mixer bowl until fluffy. Spread onto cooled cookies. Place strawberry slices onto each cookie pointing outward. Place 5 to 6 blueberries in center of each cookie. Top each cookie with morsels.

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Recipe: Steakhouse Potato Salad

May 26th, 2010

As I was browsing through my email this morning, I came across a recipe from Kraft that aroused my curiosity. It was called Steakhouse Potato Salad. I don’t know very many Southerners who don’t love themselves a good serving of potato salad, and since I haven’t had any in a long time, I thought I’d check out the recipe and see what it had to offer, so I clicked the link.

This is one of those instances when I probably shouldn’t have clicked the link, because before I even finished reading the recipe, my mouth was watering.

First, the recipe uses red potatoes, which are my absolute favorite potato. Especially if they are straight from diddy’s garden- they can’t be beat. The recipe also contains bacon and cheese. I can’t imagine anything that doesn’t taste better with bacon and cheese. This is obviously not for the health concsious- although I can see where it can be made healthier by using turkey bacon, low fat cheese and fat-free ranch dressing. No, it wouldn’t be the same, but it would probably still be good.

Mom, I don’t know if y’all are having company for the holiday on Monday, but you definitely should make this and let me know how it is. You can use your regular Kraft mayo in place of the Miracle Whip, since I know your not a fan.

In addition to the recipe, I also stole borrowed the picture of the finished product from the Kraft website.

Steakhouse Potato Salad

3 lb. small red potatoes (about 9), quartered

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup MIRACLE WHIP Dressing

1/4 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing

6 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

4 green onions, thinly sliced

PLACE potatoes in 2-qt. microwaveable dish. Add water; cover with lid. Microwave on HIGH 12 to 15 min. or just until potatoes are tender; drain. Place in large bowl.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until completely cooled.

MIX dressings. Add to potatoes with remaining ingredients; mix lightly.

If you’d like the recipe direct from the Kraft site, click the photo.

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Just Desserts

May 4th, 2010

After dinner (a fabulous soup that my mother in law made- which meant I didn’t have to cook) I realized that while I had fat-sugar-free cherry yogurt for myself, I didn’t have anything for Marcel. Of course, I realized this after I asked him if he’d like dessert.

The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Honey would you like something for dessert?

(Opened fridge and realized there wasn’t anything that he would generally eat, and began thinking.. “Oh crud, now what?”

Marcel: Sure, what do you have?

Me: Bananas or cherry yogurt.

Marcel: You know I don’t like either one of those, so no thanks.

Me: (having bright idea) What about strawberry yogurt?

Marcel: Why didn’t you say that first? That’s fine.

Me: (Closed kitchen door and took out fat-free Greek yogurt and no-sugar added Strawberry Jam.) Ok honey, just one second. (I proceed to scoop out several tablespoons of jam and about the time I was adding the yogurt, the door opens and in walks Marcel.) Ooops!

Marcel: Laughing. You said you had strawberry yogurt. I’m not eating that junk. You cheated!

Me: Laughing even harder and taking a bite and making exaggerated MMmmm sounds. See, this is really good.

Marcel: Repeating cheater over and over again.

Me: Just try it. It’s strawberries and yogurt. It’s good, trust me.

(Me attempting to force feed Marcel like a 2-year-old.)

Marcel: Marcel finally takes a bite and promptly takes it to the table where he devours it.

By this time I’m laughing and gloating and I said to him “See, not half bad huh?”

Obviously he liked it, there wasn’t a drop left in the bowl.

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Manic Monday and Fresh Vegetables

May 3rd, 2010

I’m never one who likes to generalize things, but I have to say that in terms of ‘typical’ Monday’s- this has been one. It has been a weird day all the way around and I can’t help but believe that this isn’t a snapshot of what the rest of the week is going to look like. I believe in bigger and better things to come.

Sleep last night was fitful. For some reason or another, JJ decided to wake every hour and bark, although I still have no idea of exactly what he was barking at. He knows, but I am still dumbfounded.

There are some good things going on, like I found fresh eggplants at the supermarket today for .50 each. I bought four, and even though I have no earthly idea what I’m giong to do with them at this point, for 50 cents I couldn’t leave them behind. I also bought some green beans, bell peppers, strawberries and zucchini. I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and I can’t imagine eating processed foods all the time. In fact, I couldn’t tell you the last time I ate something processed and my body reacts when I do.

I know that fresh vegetables are often expensive, but there are always frozen options, which are just as healthy as fresh (and in some cases even more healthy) Try it for two weeks and see for yourself.

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The Journey Continues

May 3rd, 2010

In an effort to continue educating myself on nutrition, health and yes, weight loss, I’ve been researching and reading on various foods and also things that we don’t always think about when considering weight loss- and that’s stress, sleep, and negative thoughts. For the most part we all tend to think that weight loss is all about calories in -vs- calories out, and while that is true, there are also obstacles that can stand in our way to keep us from being as effective with our journey as we’d like.

Something I’ve also recently come to realize is that because our bodies are different, and because the way we metabolize things differently, some people need different things in order for them to get the most out of their bodies. I’ve recently started trying to up my protein levels because as we all (or most of us) know, protein helps build lean muscle mass. I do eat a lot of protein, but I’m still under what I’ve been wanting to eat and wondered about possibly investing in protein drinks weight loss to see how that would help me along my journey.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want or aspire to be a body builder, but I do want to boost my muscle mass, because in turn it will push my metabolism up and I’ll burn more calories per hour even when resting than I would otherwise. I think it’s going to make a difference- that and getting rid of the negative psychobabble that upon observation found that I give myself far too often. The important thing is to be healthy, and I’ll be expounding on that in the near future.

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Easter Cupcakes

April 3rd, 2010

I decided to make cupcakes for the masses (meaning anyone who would like a cupcake) this weekend and set out on making both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. For the chocolate, I used my ‘go to’ chocolate recipe that I always use, but instead of making it into a chocolate cake, I poured it into the cupcake cups.

For the vanilla cupcakes, I decided to use a new recipe, which received rave reviews, but in the end I was a little disappointed with it. I got the recipe from Bakerella, and while I love her baking (her cupcake balls are amazing), I wasn’t crazy about this recipe. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, so the search for yellow cake recipe that I love continues. (This one was a little too ‘eggie’ for me, since it contained 4 eggs).

Below, you can see the process and ultmately the finished product.

I’ve given most of them away and saved a few for Marcel.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by for a cup of coffee and a cupcake.