Roasting pumpkins and making pumpkin puree

It's fall...and that means pumpkins! We don't carve them but we sure do eat them! I've been playing around with a lot of pumpkin recipes this fall and loving it. I have to say my all time fav is still the seeds though =)
The pumpkin in the picture above is not a small pie pumpkin. It's a large pumpkin, I'm talking like 10 lbs. My friend who owns a local farm stand store gave me a run down of their pumpkins. This particular one is large, but still very sweet. I felt it was the best for my money considering the size of our family. Small pie pumpkins don't need to roast as long. You could do a couple of them at a time. My large one was all I could fit on a baking sheet. Here's what I do:

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~Cut off the stem. Slice your pumpkin in half. Scoop out guts and seeds and set aside to make yummy pumpkin seeds later.
~Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your pumpkins face down.
~Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 45-90 minutes (depending on the size of your pumpkins)
You should be able to easily poke a fork through the skin.
~Remove from oven and let cool.
~Scoop flesh out of the skin.

You can use the pumpkin at this point for recipes, or sprinkle with seasoning salt and dig in. Or you can continue on to make pumpkin puree and never buy canned pumpkin again!

~Place flesh in a blender and blend away. You want it super smooth so let it go for a minute or so. If you aren't using it in a recipe you can strain in a cheesecloth to remove excess water. My 10 lb pumpkin made about 10 cups of pumpkin puree.

And there you have it! Roasted pumpkin and pumpkin puree!

Just another way to enjoy fall even more!

Fall and Perfectly Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Fall is here in all it's glory! Beautifully colored leaves are everywhere.
Scroll down for some pictures of fall and a recipe for perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds.

 This was from a recent trip to a pumpkin farm on our third boys 5th birthday! A wonderful group of our homeschooling friends joined us for all the fun. There was tons to do, a corn maze, giant slide...

And of course, PUMPKINS!!!
Here's Jake, our newly 5 year old =)














Perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds, YUM!

These are actually squash seeds, but they work too!

Perfectly Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
by Amanda @ Natural Organic Lifestyle

Scoop out your pumpkin and separate the guts from the seeds.
Proceed to have a pumpkin gut fight.
Clean up said fight.
Back to the seeds.
Rinse seeds very well in a strainer.
Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Add about a ts of salt.
When boiling, dump in your seeds.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Strain seeds and lightly pat dry. (They don't have to be super dry, just not dripping)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread seeds out on it.
Toss seeds with a little olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and seasonings of choice.
My favorite combo is onion salt and garlic powder, YUM! But cayenne and salt is good too. There are so many choices! Or you can just do salt.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Stir.
Bake another 10 minutes.
Stir and check for doneness. Make sure the seeds inside aren't burning. You want the outside just browned.
If needed, bake longer but check every 5 minutes or so.
Baking time can vary depending on your oven.

Enjoy fall in all it's beauty and yumminess!

What are your favorite fall activities and recipes?

Sauteed Bok Choy

Bok Choy was another veggie we have received from our CSA Farm this summer/fall. I don't think I'd ever seen bok choy before, nor had I eaten it. Ha, funny story, so the first week we were able to pick up veggies from the CSA last spring we happened to be out of town. I told them we wouldn't be there but not to worry about our veggies. Well the super-nice-people that they are, they delivered them to our neighbor to give to us when we got back. So we came home to a surprise bag of veggies, always a good thing in my book! Most of it was pretty straightforward, a lot of greens, some turnips, radishes....and this other thing, no idea what it was. But it kind of looked like a green. So, the next morning, since I had so many greens, I decided to make veggie juice, which of course included "the other thing". Now, I can generally tolerate any veggie juice, no matter how awful...uh, not this time. It was awful! Lesson learned, "the other thing" was bok choy, and don't EVER juice bok choy!

But here is a great recipe for sauteed bok choy, which is excellent!

Sauteed Bok Choy
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

1 organic bok choy
1 organic onion
2 organic cloves garlic

Using the entire bok choi, including the stalk, chop it into pieces. Saute garlic and onions in a pan with a little oil until soft. Add bok choi and cook until just softened. Add some organic soy sauce or coconut aminos, salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Roasted Baby Turnips with Parsley Mustard Vinaigrette

This year we joined a CSA (community sponsored agriculture), which means we get to go pick up veggies from them every week. What's been great about it, is that we are ending up with veggies we've never had, or never cooked, or even thought about cooking. We are all trying new things, and really liking them! Something we've had a lot of this summer is turnips. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever even seen a turnip before. The recipe below is a recipe the CSA gave us to try with the turnips. We love it! 


Roasted Baby Turnips with Parsley Mustard Vinaigrette
1 TB organic white wine vinegar

1 1/2 ts organic whole-grain mustard

1 green onion, minced

1 1/2 TB chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

24 baby turnips (2 pounds) (could be done with large turnips too, just chop them)

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a bowl, whisk the vinegar with the mustard, scallion, parsley and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Cut the turnips in half through the stems; quarter them if large. In a large bowl, toss the turnips with the remaining 1/4 cup of oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the turnips on the  baking sheet and roast for about 18 minutes, until tender. Transfer the turnips to a platter and let cool. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve.

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

Nothing says yummy like roasted potatoes! Great side dish for so many meals!

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes
by Amanda @ Natural Organic Lifestyle

6 organic medium red potatoes
4 TB organic evoo
1/2 ts real salt, or to taste
Ground pepper to taste
1/4 ts dried organic thyme
1/4 cup organic shredded parmesan

Slice potatoes into 1inch size pieces. Toss all ingredients together in large bowl. Spread into a greased baking dish or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender.

Sunflower Butter and Jelly Popsicles

My 4 year old's favorite food in the world is sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches. So he just about fell over in happiness when I presented him with these! Have you ever made banana soft serve? This is like that but taking it further and freezing them into popsicles. These are so good, and good for you! You can feel guiltless eating these! You can vary this up with different nut/seed butters and different flavors of jelly/jam. Just make sure they're organic ;) These recipe was adapted from Angela's recipe This was her genius idea, I just varied it up a little. I also think this would just make a great banana soft serve recipe and you wouldn't have to wait for the looonnnngggg freezing time for the pops! I'm impatiently waiting for bananas to freeze right now, I can only imagine that I will be much more impatient for the popsicles to freeze too! But they are so worth it! Enjoy!

Sunflower Butter and Jelly Popsicles
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

6 frozen bananas (when freezing, I do have to suggest breaking them into small pieces first)
2 heaping spoonfuls organic sunflower butter
1/4 cup organic milk (raw cow's milk or coconut milk)
1 heaping spoonful organic sunflower butter (to mix in later)
3 spoonfuls organic jam/jelly (to mix in later, I used my blueberry jam)

In a food processor, blend bananas, milk, and 2 spoonfuls of sunflower butter, until smooth. Stir in the rest of the sunflower butter and the jelly/jam in a swirl. Spoon into popsicle molds. Freeze for 8 hours (I know, this is soooo long to have to wait!!!) Enjoy!

Smooth banana/sunflower butter mix

With sunflower butter and jam swirled in

GOT Kale Chips

GOT Kale Chips? That would be Garlic Onion Thyme Kale Chips! GOT just seemed easier to say =)
If you've read previous posts, I love kale chips. I love finding new flavors. My fav is Sour Cream and Onion Kale Chips but for the sake of saving time on soaking nuts or seeds, not to mention the price, I like to experiment with other flavors. GOT Kale Chips are very flavorful and snack-worthy! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 bunches organic kale chips
1/3 cup organic evoo
2/3 cup water
half an organic onion, roughly chopped
2 large cloves organic garlic
1/2 ts good salt, or to taste
pinch of ground organic pepper
1-2 ts organic thyme

In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the kale, and blend. Remove kale from stems and tear into bite size pieces. In a large bowl, toss the dressing with the kale, rub it around good to make sure it coats all the pieces. Lay out on dehydrator sheets (don't worry about spacing them too much, they will shrink down a lot). Dehydrate at 105 for 5-7 hours or until completely dry. Store in airtight containers. Great savory snack!

Chocolate Chip "Cookie Dough" Balls

These are super yummy and taste amazingly like cookie dough! But these are much healthier for you. You could "almost" call them health food ;) ...but I wouldn't, ha! I adapted this recipe from one I found at http://ohsheglows.com

Makes approximately 20 1 inch balls
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted raw organic cashews

1/2 cup organic rolled oats
1/4 cup organic white whole wheat flour (unbleached)
1/2 tsp real salt
2 tbsp organic cane sugar
4 tbsp organic pure maple syrup (add gradually until desired consistency is achieved)
1/2 tsp organic pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup organic cacao chips
1/4 cup EnviroKidz organic Koala Krisp cereal (like a chocolate rice cripy cereal)

In a food processor, process cashews and rolled oats until fine. Add flour, salt, and sugar and pulse to combine. Add vanilla. Add maple syrup while processor is running, a little at a time. (If you wish, you could substitute 1 tb of maple syrup for 1 tb organic sunflower butter, that would be really yummy!) Occasionally check dough to see if it's a consistency to make balls. If too sticky, add more flour. If too dry, add more syrup. When your dough is ready, pulse in chocolate chips. Scoop dough out into a bowl and knead in cereal. With wet hands, form 1 inch balls. Store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy! Yum!

Mexican Stuffed Poblano Bake

This is so yummy, I could eat it all the time. Well...almost all the time...I have to leave room to eat enchiladas and french onion soup =) This turned out to be totally family-friendly. The first time I made it just for hubby and I because I thought it would be too spicy for the kids. They kept asking for bites and ended up eating a ton of it. Though, here's a disclaimer, some poblano peppers are spicier than others so if I had really spicy ones it wouldn't be so kid-friendly. But I've made it many times since then and they still gobble it up. So maybe cooking them for so long makes them less spicy, I don't know. Either way, we love this recipe!

Ingredients:
24 oz organic crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
2 organic onions, chopped, divided
1 jalapeno, chopped
Sea salt and pepper
3 cloves organic garlic
2 cups organic beans, black or pinto
1/2 cup organic cornmeal
1 cup pepperjack cheese
1 ts organic cumin
4 large poblano peppers, organic if you can, I can't find them =(

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a blender, puree tomatoes, 1 onion, jalapeno, 2 garlic cloves, and a dash of salt. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish.
Mince remaining garlic clove. In a large bowl combine garlic, beans, cornmeal, 1/2 cup cheese, 1 diced onion,  cumin, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 ts salt, pepper to taste.
Slice peppers in half and remove stems and seeds. Place in baking dish and stuff with bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top.
Invert another baking dish to cover the dish and place in oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes until cheese browns.
Enjoy!

Kiwi-Dew Juice

Makes approximately 2-3 cups juice. Very light and refreshing!

1 small honeydew, or half a large
2 kiwi
1 organic apple (green would be best, but any kind will work)

Run fruit through a juicer, minus the skin on kiwi and skin and seeds from honeydew. Pour, serve, and Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Veggies and Beans

This is a great vegetarian option to the traditional sweet and sour dishes. Though this would still be awesome with chicken if you wanted to.

Ingredients:
2 heads organic brocolli
1 organic red pepper
2 cups diced pineapple
1 cup organic beans, pinto, black, or kidney
1 organic onion, sliced
2 cloves organic garlic, minced

1/4 to half a cup pineapple juice (Note: if using canned pineapple, which I don't recommend with bpa lined cans, you can use the juice from the can. You can run some pineapple through a juicer. Or use frozen pineapple and as it defrosts you will end up with enough juice. Or with fresh pineapple you can mash some with a potato masher and squeeze some juice out.)
1/4 cup organic brown sugar
2 TB organic cornstarch
1/4 ts organic ground ginger
1/4 cup organic vinegar (apple cider or white wine)
2 TB braggs liquid aminos, or organic soy sauce

In a bowl, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, ginger, vinegar, and braggs or soy sauce. Set aside. In a skillet, saute in a little water or oil,
brocolli, red pepper, and onion until tender. Add minced garlic and saute for about a minute. Add beans and pineapple and cook until heated through. Pour in reserved sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 3-5 minutes until sauce is thickened.
Serve over brown rice.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Why buy canned cranberry sauce laden in BPA when you can make your own! It's so quick and easy, let it be a part of your next holiday gathering!

Ingredients:
4 cups organic fresh cranberries
2 cups water
2 cups organic sugar (I actually prefer to use less, you could use 1 cup sugar, and substitute some orange juice for some of the water)

Place cranberries and water in a pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, cover the pot and reduce to medium. Cook until the cranberries have burst. Puree cranberries in a blender or food processor. Pour back into the pot and stir in sugar. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and let set for at least 30 minutes. Place in the refrigerator if you like your cranberry sauce cold.

Herb Balsamic Tomatoes

Yummy, healthy, side dish. appetizer, or snack. My kids gobble these up!
Picture above is one tomato. I personally consider that one serving, but others may not. So I will write the recipe for one tomato/serving. Multiply as needed!

Ingredients:
1 tomato, sliced
A couple fresh basil leaves, chopped
A couple fresh mint leaves, chopped
A couple fresh parsley leaves, chopped
A pinch of fresh dill
Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
A drizzle of balsamic vinegar, organic
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, organic

Lay sliced tomatoes on a plate. Sprinkle with herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with vinegar, and then oil. Enjoy!

Mango Guacamole

A unique take on the standard guacamole. Try it with tortilla chips or just by the spoonful!

Ingredients:
1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 green onion, chopped
Pinch of sea salt
2 ts evoo
1/2 cumin

Gently toss all ingredients together. That's it...super easy!

Kale Chips

Ok, seriously, these are MUCH better than they look! I tend to not be able to stop eating them. You could flavor these any way you want. Below is a basic yummy recipe. They crisp up nicely like chips!

Ingredients:
1 bunch organic kale
Olive oil
Garlic Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove kale leaves from stem and rip or cut into bite size pieces. Toss with olive oil. Spread the leaves out on a parchment lined baking sheets or lightly oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper over all the leaves. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crispy. Enjoy!

Quinoa Tabouli

Quinoa is so very good for you with 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, 4 grams of fat in a one cup serving. It is a gluten-free grain, so it's great for everyone. You can use it in place of rice on most recipes. Tabouli or Tabbouleh usually calls for bulgar wheat. This is a yummy side or main dish. Enjoy!
This is a variation of a recipe I saw at www.hacres.com

Ingredients:
1 cup organic quinoa
1 cup organic grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, minced
A couple mint leaves, minced
3 cloves organic garlic, minced
 Half a cucumber, diced
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
Juice of one lemon
2 TB gluten-free tamari (or organic soy sauce, braggs liquid aminos)
2 TB olive oil
1 ts sea salt
pinch of cayenne

Place quinoa in a fine strainer and rinse. Rub the grains together.
Place quinoa in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, cool.
In a small bowl, mix together lemon, tamari, olive oil, salt, and cayenne.
Toss all ingredients together.
Let mixture sit for an hour for all the ingredients to mingle. Refrigerate until ready to serve and toss one more time. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Nachos

Nachos are such a well rounded meal! So grab a tray of them and head to the living room for movie night with the kiddos! That's what we do! (You can even throw on some meat if you must for those meat eaters!)

Ingredients:
1 bag organic tortilla chips (important to get organic since a huge percentage of corn is GMO)
2 cups shredded organic cheese, jack or cheddar
1 can sliced black olives
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 organic onion chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
1 cup organic black or pinto beans (already cooked)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay chips on a parchment lined large baking sheet. Scatter all the ingredients except the cheese all over the chips.

Top with cheese. (I like putting the cheese on top of the toppings because it holds them to the chips)

Cook for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve sour cream and salsa on the side, Enjoy!

Guacamole Egg Rolls

This is a variation of a recipe I saw at www.mommybistro.com She has some great comfort food recipes, you should check it out.
These are fun! Serve them with a side of salsa. As for the egg roll wrappers, I found egg roll/spring roll wrappers in the frozen section but after reading the ingredients I put them back. I would have put them back just for the fact that bleached white flour was the first ingredient, but scroll down a little and there was propylene glycol (aka anti-freeze, ick). Then there was Sodium Benzoate, which is a pretty bad preservative. So I went over to the Japanese isle and they had some spring roll wrappers with something like 4 ingredients, none of which were a deal breaker, so I got those. The only hitch with those is they are hard and crispy. I had some in my house a few years ago that I could not figure out how to use. Everytime I tried to wrap anything they would snap. Now, if you know how to use these you're probably shaking your head at me right now. If you don't, you have to soak them in water for a few before you try to wrap anything. Boy did that make an amazing difference =) The first thing I ever successfully wrapped with them were bananas, chocolate, and almond butter...THAT was super yummy! Though I've learned since then to use more than one wrapper for each roll so they are less likely to tear while wrapping and cooking. This recipe will call for two wrappers for each roll, feel free to use more, honestly three might be better, adjust accordingly. A ton come in the package I got so I didn't even come close to using them all.  Here's a pic of the ones I got:

Ingredients: (Makes 8 egg rolls)
16 egg roll or spring roll wrappers (Please read the ingredient label!!!)
2 avocados, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 organic onion, chopped
Handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 ts sea salt
1 organic egg, beaten
Coconut or olive oil for searing or deep frying (See instructions below)

In a large bowl, gently stir together avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro and salt.

Fill a plate with water and place 2 wrappers in the water to soak for a minute. Remove from water and place on a sheet of wax paper. Place a couple of scoops of avocado mixture down the middle.

Fold the bottom flap up a quarter to halfway up the mixture. Brush the beaten egg along all the edges.

Fold the top flap down, and roll up. Repeat with all rolls.
Now at this point, you could go ahead and deep fry them if you so desire. If you do, coconut oil would be the healthiest choice.
Or, you could heat a skillet with about 2 TB of coconut oil. Sear all sides of the roll, and place roll on a baking sheet. Repeat with all rolls. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping half way through.

Creamy Baked Potato Soup

Way back when I worked at Outback Steakhouse. I loved their creamy potato soup and their creamy onion soup. Though I still haven't mastered the creamy onion soup, this potato soup has long become a staple in our house. It's very hearty so don't plan to have it with a huge main course. Pair with a salad and an artichoke, Mmm!

Ingredients:
5 organic potatoes
1 cup organic milk
2 tb organic butter
1 oz organic cheddar cheese
1/2 onion
1 ts salt
1 ts pepper
2 cloves organic garlic
1 TB veggie bacon bits

Optional toppings:
chopped green onions
sour cream
veggie bacon bits
shredded cheese

Bake potatoes until done. Quarter the potatoes. Place potatoes in a blender (I use a VitaMix) with the rest of the ingredients and blend. If it's too thick, add some more milk. If you do this right after the potatoes finish cooking  you shouldn't need to heat up the soup. But if you wait awhile you'll need to throw it in a pot on the stove for a few. Or make ahead and put in the crock pot on "warm".

Caprese Salad

I love Caprese Salad! So do my kids! They cheer when I set it on the table. Now you can totally make this the pretty way by slicing your tomatoes in rings, placing a basil leaf and slice of cheese on top and then drizzling with the dressing. But for my family, I would need like 5 plates done like that for how much they eat of it. Do you know how long that would take? Just for them to gobble them right up. So I just mix it all up in one big bowl. Not as pretty presentation-wise, but oh so yummy!

Ingredients:
5 medium organic tomatoes, sliced
1 8oz chunk of fresh mozzarella
20 or so basil leaves, chiffon (put leaves in one pile, roll them up, and slice)
3:1 oil to vinegar (you need about a 1/2 cup total)
Olive oil, organic
White Wine vinegar, organic
1/2 ts sea salt
3 cloves organic garlic, chopped

In a measuring cup mix together oil, vinegar, salt, garlic, and basil leaves. In a large bowl mix together tomatoes and mozzarella, toss with dressing.