Quinoa Pizza Crust

I have much been anticipating this year's visit to the pumpkin patch. Last year, I realized I was fond of the strange colored, odd looking pumpkins.


And last year, although I loved that grayish looking pumpkin, I refrained from taking it home and went with a traditional orange one.

This year however, I made sure I went home with one I truly loved.



And I'm very happy I did. Also at the pumpkin patch this year were these mushroom-style squashes. Didn't get one of these, but had to take a picture.



I continued to take pictures on the car ride home. My pumpkin & my roommate's pumpkin in my lap:




The lady working at the pumpkin patch informed me that one customer said they once took home a grayish pumpkin like I was buying, and it lasted for 6 months! I'll keep you updated.


Now, to cooking. I made something delicious: A personal pizza with a quinoa crust. I got the recipe from one of my three favorite blogs:

http://peasandthankyou.com/2009/10/26/a-day-with-a-peel/

I cooked the quinoa with some garlic, then combined the cooked quinoa with some oregano, basil, nutritional yeast, wheat germ, water, and salt. The recipe called for ground flaxseed instead of wheat germ, but I used what I had on hand.



I grated an organic zucchini for my topping.




And baked my crust in the oven. I think I needed to make it thinner. It didn't get crispy all the way through, so I tried to flip it, and then this happened:


It's not pretty, but hey, it happens.

I topped it with tomato sauce and grated zucchini. I must say, the crust was packed with flavor! This is the first time I've really liked quinoa. I initially made this recipe to get rid of the last of my quinoa, but ended up loving it and wanting to make it again.



And to close, I leave with you with a photo of our family of pumpkins.

Pumpkin Smoothie

Last night, I searched the web for more ways to use my pumpkin puree, and turns out, there is such a thing as a pumpkin smoothie. Needless to say, I was excited about this. I looked at about 20 different recipes, and then I made my own version for breakfast:

PuMpKin SmoOthie

1 chopped up frozen banana
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp flaxseed oil
1 tsp of something sweet (honey, agave, stevia)
Pinch of salt
Drop or two of vanilla extract

And topped with a dash of cinnamon!

I will surely be making more of these throughout the season.

Bake-fest

Above are the festive dish towels currently in the kitchen, courtesy of my roommate's mom. I love them.

So, the pumpkin oats? I made them! Unfortunately I did not like them. I think because of the mushy texture. So this morning I made them into pancakes.



Topped with a dollop of greek yogurt. Much better!

And now, a tribute to my bake-fest with my sister. First of all, upon my arrival home, I was greeted by Laura with a glass of iced almond milk coffee.



With our early-evening coffees at hand, we began to prep for dinner. Check out this vibrant tomato Laura got at a farmer's market.



Our mom made a fantastic mushroom risotto with butternut squash.



And Laura and I baked... rather, formed, a sort of no-bake chocolate cake using dates, hazelnuts, almonds, and cocoa powder.

Into the food processor they went:




And then we mushed it into a cake:


And sprinkled it with coconut:



And the final product was this:


My mom and Laura weren't that fond of it, but I loved it! It tasted just like nutella. Like a fudgy nutella cake.

And the baking continued. We needed to make something fall-y! Pumpkin carrot muffins:


We used this recipe: http://www.dailyunadventuresincooking.com/2009/01/pumpkin-carrot-muffins.html
...but used chopped pecans instead of sunflower seeds.



They turned out great! But did the baking continue? Yes.



We made Nikki's Healthy Cookies (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html) but this time with a Fall twist. We added pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to the mix!

And it yielded our best batch yet.



With Ghiradelli chocolate chips.

Pumpkin

Autumn has struck me. My favorite season. Bring on the jack-o-lanterns, the changing leaves, the Halloween, and all things pumpkin.

Pumpkin has tons of health benefits seeing as it is packed with vitamins, potassium, fiber, magnesium, carotenoids, and zinc. So it's great for your glowing skin, your immune system, your digestion, your blood pressure... the list goes on.

SOOoo I have been on a quest to find a great *pumpkin oats* recipe. And I've taken note of many. And today I got THIS:



...for my pumpkin oats. I can't wait to use it.

Looks like I will be using oats, milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, maybe vanilla, maybe caramelized banana? Maybe raisins. Maybe peanut butter. Maybe almond butter. We'll soon see.

On another note, the photo at the top of this post was taken by my sister Laura in 2008. Those are her feet and that was her pumpkin. It's my favorite Fall photo and is currently the wallpaper on the front screen of my cell phone.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Belated Labor Day! Cookie cake and fresh berries from the barbecue at my house.


Just a warning: This post may be a little random.

Here are a few of my recent happenings:

My most recent favorite margarita is from Mixto. Tequila with fresh lime juice and muddled strawberries.


One of my most recent projects at work:


Cupcakes for cardiologists. Those are hearts wearing stethoscopes.

And these roses for a wedding:


We made 300 of these roses. This was intensive labor.
The brides colors were "shale blue, pale lilac, and sweet thistle."

...Sweet thistle?

And this is what happens when my coworker and I break out the rainbow sprinkles.



Sprinkles make a cupcake 10 x cuter. It was a slow day at work.

And this has been my dinner as of late:



A sweet potato with black beans, rice, pico de gallo, and plain greek yogurt. A great combination!

And this is me preparing for Hurricane Earl a week ago.




Taking a picture of myself with a 2-gallon jug of water to show my mom I am prepared.

And this is where it gets really random. In August, Libertine and I met up to package up and send off our gift to Michelle for her birthday. Can I just say I was in love with the tissue paper that Libertine brought? I took pictures of it because I couldn't resist.


Three different colors off tissue paper. Shades of purpley blue!

I really wanted to include that picture in a post somehow.

Energy Bars

I was inspired (by another blog) to make these energy bars.

First, I chopped raw almonds.


Next, I put these roughly chopped almonds in a bowl with unsweetened coconut flakes and dried cherries.


I added 1/2 cup of honey and a couple tablespoons of wheat germ. Mixed it all togeth.


I spread it all into a glass pan to go into the oven. It spread out really thin, but it turned out just fine.


This went into the oven at 350 degrees and baked for about 20 minutes. The final product:


Raw almond energy bars with dried cherries and toasty coconut flakes.



And a recent drink I've been enjoying: The Green Monster.


A lot of ingredients went into this smoothie. Frozen banana, frozen pineapple, greek yogurt, fresh spinach, hemp seed, flaxseed oil, and mango juice. Don't worry - you can't taste the spinach; it gets masked by the fruit, resulting in a delicious tasting smoothie. MmmMMmm tastes healthy!

Orange Quinoa

My favorite blog just featured a recipe for quinoa salad with strawberries, tomatillos, yellow bell pepper, water chesnuts, avocado, and an orange lime dressing.

It sounded good, and I needed a new dish to put in my fridge to pack my lunches for the week, so I gave this one a shot. But instead of making the orange dressing, I cooked the quinoa in an organic orange juice concentrate which was being featured on sale at the local co-op.

The dish turned out... interesting. Let's just say I wouldn't make it again. It was a little too fruity and tart for lunch. Maybe it's because I cooked the quinoa with an entire cup of orange juice CONCENTRATE + 2 cups of water. I think the concentrate needed to be way more diluted. And the combination of strawberries with tomatillos and water chesnuts... it just wasn't a combination I was in to. And for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to throw cilantro in there. Not really. It was worth a try!

On a different note, I wanted to show pics of the frames my roommate Chelsea and I painted for our bathroom. And thank you Sarah for helping!



The blue, green, and yellow match the shower curtain. Which looks like this:
Here they are with their reflection.




And below is a picture of my friend Scottie who turned 21 today. He is holding the box of cupcakes I brought him from work. Happy birthday Scottie!




And tonight I was feeling in a very chai-y mood. So I cozied up with a Chai cupcake and hot mug of Chai tea.



There's no such thing as too much chai, clearly!

Fiesta Mexicana

Yesterday evening, I took a trip up to Sanford to visit with my friends Michelle and Libertine at Michelle's family's house. Michelle, who is currently a student at the French Culinary Institute in New York, had a festive Mexican dinner in the works.

These are the fresh tomatillos before she put them in the oven to make a roasted tomatillo salsa...



Michelle's sister, Katherine, went to work on a fresh mango and red bell pepper salsa...

Michelle's mom grew up in Mexico, so Mexican food in this house is always authentic.
Libertine was highly entertained by how their mom pronounces the word "mango" the way real Spanish speakers say it. (Like mon-go instead of main-go)

We made Guava Margaritas with fresh squeezed limes, guava juice, tequila, and simple syrup.

Libertine salting the rims of the Margarita glasses:



I loved how the sisters were both wearing black and white dresses!


Katherine's salsa in the works


And here you see the final product. Mango, red bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, lime juice.

Unfortunately my pictures stop there, but there was also spicy guacamole prepared by Michelle's mom, grilled chicken, peppers & onions, pork, and piping hot corn & flour tortillas. And for dessert, fudgy brownies and homemade banana rum walnut ice cream.

And a presh pic of Libby & Mich with the huge but very sweet horse/dog, Bailey.


Until next time : )