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Unsweetened Slow Cooker Applesauce Recipe (oven version, too)

I don’t know about you, but we love having both cranberry sauce and applesauce on Thanksgiving and always the homemade kind. It’s my tradition every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to make a huge pot of both and my house smells amazing. When my kids see the huge pile of apple peels on the counter and smell the cinnamon-y sweetness in the kitchen, they start to feel the holiday spirit.

The last two years my friend Caitlin has brought her delicious homemade applesauce for Thanksgiving, so I didn’t make any. But the kids and my husband have missed tasting it fresh and warm out of the pot when I cook it from scratch, so I decided to make some a few weeks ago and boy, did they all go crazy for it.

The recipe I love is by everyone’s idol, Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa. I have made that applesauce many, many times, and not just for Thanksgiving. It has a deep, rich apple flavor because the apples are roasted in an enameled pot low and slow in the oven. Although over the years, as I have become a little more health conscious, I started to make small changes to her recipe, such as eliminating the butter and sugar, and still turned out a most tasty applesauce. A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Picky asked me to make applesauce and I thought it might be fun to try it in the slow cooker. Major success!! I think I will make applesauce in the slow cooker every time, forever and ever and ever.

I think the key to making a tasty applesauce is my same secret (not such a secret really) to making the best apple pie is using many varieties of apples. I also think you can get away with using no added sweeteners if you choose mostly sweet apples, as opposed to tart ones. If you typically buy unsweetened applesauce at the store, I am sure you will think this recipe is perfectly sweet enough. I always try to use as little sugar as possible in fruit desserts because I think you taste more of the fruit flavor than just a bland sweetness. For this particular batch I used Pink Lady (my favorite), Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, Arkansas Black, Fuji, and Granny Smith. You don’t have to use that many different kinds of apples, but make sure you use at least three varieties.

Unless we just met, you know how much I love prepping in advance and thinking ahead, especially when it comes to holiday entertaining. And even though I always made my applesauce the Sunday before Thanksgiving, guess what? You can freeze it. I know! Amazing. Today is a great day to go out and buy a ton of apples and make this. Although it only makes 6 cups and I am very sure there’s no way it will last you until the big day because you and your loved ones will want to devour it. We love it plain, especially warm, but it’s also awesome on pancakes and French toast, with yogurt and granola, and on poultry. Mmmmmm!!

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5.0 from 3 reviews

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Slow Cooker Applesauce

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes 6 cups

Ingredients

6 pounds of apples (use several different varieties and try to use more sweet apples than tart)
the peel from a small lemon (use a vegetable peeler to take it off and try to remove in one whole piece so it’s easier to find when the applesauce is cooked)
juice of half a lemon (2-3 teaspoons)
3 cinnamon sticks
pinch of allspice

Instructions

Peel, quarter and core all the apples. Save a large piece of peel from a red apple to include in the slow cooker. It will add a beautiful rosy color to the sauce. Place the apples, reserved piece of apple peel, lemon peel, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks and pinch of allspice (if you’re using that) in the slow cooker insert. Cover the slow cooker and set it to LOW. Cook for 5-6 hours until apples are super soft.
Before you stir or mash the apples, remove the apple peel, lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. If you like a super smooth applesauce, blend with an immersion blender. I like it more chunky, so I just stir the apples with a wooden spoon or a large whisk.
Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or freeze for up to two months.

Notes

To prepare in the oven, place all ingredients in a nonreactive Dutch oven or enameled pot, cover and bake for 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees. Remove peels and cinnamon sticks before mashing apples.

Planning a happy thanksgiving — 3 weeks and counting!

This post has been edited from the one originally published on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

If you followed the advice in my post last Thursday, perhaps you now have a general idea of how many guests you will be hosting on Thanksgiving. If not, it’s time to get on the phone and do some inviting! Do you have a good balanced menu and have you taken guests up on their offers to bring something? This week we have a few more tasks that we can check off the list.

3 weeks before thanksgiving

Order the Turkey If you eat turkey on Thanksgiving, it’s a good idea to order it now. I have always ordered a fresh, free-range, organic turkey, because in my opinion they have a tasty turkey flavor and are better for you than most other alternatives. The only thing that may be better is a heritage turkey, which has a much stronger turkey flavor and supposed to be more moist. It will have less breast meat though and will be more expensive. Avoid “self-basting” turkeys which are injected with anything from chicken fat to salt to chemicals. True, they are easier to cook, but I think they taste more like salt than turkey and they are just full of stuff you don’t want to feed your family.

Here are some questions that will help you decide size:

How many ovens do you have? If you have one large oven that can accommodate two turkeys side by side and an extra oven to spare (you’re so lucky!), then you have the option of cooking two smaller birds versus one large one. But with two small ovens, you may not want them both being monopolized by turkeys.

Are your guests dark meat-eaters or white meat-eaters? You will get more white meat by weight from one large bird than from two smaller. Likewise, you will get more dark meat from two smaller birds than from one large one.

How big a turkey should you buy? The rule of thumb is one pound of turkey per person. So if you are expecting 16 guests, you should order a 16 pound turkey. That doesn’t mean that you will have 1 pound of meat per person, though. I think this is only a good rule if you don’t want leftovers, if your guests are not big eaters, and/or you have an good number of dark meat eaters versus all white meat eaters. Two years ago I cooked two 17-pound turkeys for 20 adults and 5 kids and I had just enough leftovers for the five of us for dinner the next day. Last year I cooked two 18-pound turkeys for 24 adults and 5 kids and we had the same amount of leftovers. My point is that I think 1 1/4 pounds per person is a safer bet.

Do you have a bad back? What does this have to do with anything? A very large turkey is mighty challenging to keep pulling out of the oven to baste. I find two smaller turkeys much more manageable, if you have the oven space.

Planning Your Table Decor I don’t do anything fancy for my table decorations, but it’s nice to make the table look special. Now’s the time to check your linens for stains and make sure you have enough napkins, plates and glassware. I generally like to do something simple with fresh flowers in autumnal colors and add in a few of the kids’ Thanksgiving art projects from years past. I just adore Jenni Kayne’s table setting at the top of the post and below. Check out all her lovely holiday photos and ideas on her ripplustan.com blog — beautiful! But you can put out bowls of apples and pears or gourds and nuts, add in a few votive candles and it will look beautiful. If tablescape isn’t your thing, you can always order from your local florist or full service market. Just get on it this week. I just dropped off my heirloom pumpkins at Rolling Greens to have them insert succulents. Those arrangements last quite a while, so I figured why not enjoy them this month and not have to worry about doing it in two weeks!

Make your pie crusts and freeze them You can freeze them in disc form or roll them out, fit them into pie plates and freeze them, well wrapped.
Make your homemade stock and freeze it I use over a gallon of chicken stock on Thanksgiving for soup, stuffing and gravy.

Make your dry mixes for pie fillings, cornbread and other baked goods. Not only are there never enough ovens on Thanksgiving day, but there are never enough measuring cups and spoons either. I measure out the dry ingredients, store them in a glass jar and label each jar, e.g. “Dry Mix for 2 Pumpkin Pies.” I didn’t label them the first year I did this and let me tell you — pumpkin pie spices smell A LOT like apple pie spices.
Check your inventory of helpful tools and appliances Here’s my list of Thanksgiving essentials:

Instant-read thermometer — the only way to know if your turkey is ready.
Roasting pan(s) and rack(s)
Fat separator
Twine for trussing
Baster
Potato Ricer — for making the best mashed potatoes

More recipes to come, but look here for my Thanksgiving recipes. And also check out my Foodily page and Pinterest boards for more recipes and table decor ideas. Last but not least, I’ll be sharing lots of tips every day on Instagram so be sure to follow me there!

Chicken tikka masala recipe

Did you know that Chicken Tikka Masala is the most popular dish in Indian restaurants in the US and it’s not even Indian? Nope, you won’t find families in India sharing Tikka Masala recipes because as the story goes, this dish was created in a London curry house. Interesting, no? Did you know I had the most difficult time trying to make this dish look appetizing in these photographs? Just needed to get that off my chest.

Regardless of what it looks like, I love this recipe and so does my family. It is so full of flavor and very easy to make. Chunks of chicken are smothered in a rich sauce of tomatoes, spices and some coconut milk to balance it all out. Normally heavy cream is used in tikka masala, but coconut milk is the perfect substitute and I actually like it here better than cream. Yum. For you do-aheaders, you can make the masala sauce the night before and then cook the chicken right before dinner, heat up the sauce and you’re done! Prepping in advance like that is my ace in the hole, allowing me to pull together a delicious and healthful dinner on a busy weeknight with no stress. It’s like having a jar of tikka masala sauce from Trader Joe’s in the pantry. But before you think about doing that, as much as I like Trader Joe’s, this sauce blows theirs away. Fact.

We eat this with my Indian Basmati Rice and Peas recipe and a green vegetable, either green beans, spinach or even a green salad. You can go even simpler by making some plain steamed rice and that is perfect here too. The only ingredient you’ll need for this recipe that you might not have is garam masala, which is a sweet and spicy (not hot-spicy) spice blend that contains coriander, green and black cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and cumin. All awesome anti-inflammatory and warming spices which are great for your health and perfect for this time of year as the weather starts to cool off a bit. Of course you can make your own by toasting the whole spices and grinding them up and I am sure that would make a world of difference in your cooking, BUT…I kind of don’t have time for that so I think store-bought garam masala is perfectly fantastic. All the markets in my area carry garam masala, but you can order it here if you can’t find it.

I am also very excited that my Whole Foods started carrying organic tomatoes in a glass jar by Jovial Foods. Very excited! Remember, canned tomatoes contain tons of BPA which is toxic, especially in large doses for kids. You already consume BPA in places you can’t control (water, eating in restaurants), so try and avoid it when you can. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a company that doesn’t use BPA in their canned tomatoes. Pomi is what I normally use since the tomatoes are boxed in BPA-free tetra-paks, but the tomatoes are not organic. Not ideal, but Pomi says they don’t use pesticides. Anyhow, now my tomato dreams have come true with Jovial Foods and you can also find them on amazon. Is there anything you can’t find on amazon? Just a random thought.

While we’re talking about making our lives easier, the classic way to make the chicken in tikka masala is to marinate it in yogurt, which tenderizes it, and then broil or grill it. I know some of you are not going to want to use yogurt on chicken and I know others will not want to grill. No problem. If you want this to be authentic, you’ll follow the recipe. If you’ve never had this before and won’t know the difference, by all means grill or roast plain chicken seasoned with salt and pepper or roast a whole chicken and cube up the meat. The tikka masala police are not going to get you in trouble. Can you tell I am giving you every excuse to make this?? Let me know if you do!

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Author: Pamela, adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Serves: 6

Ingredients

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tablespoon sea salt, divided
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon cumin
½ cup plain whole yogurt
2 Tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or unrefined coconut oil
1 large onion, finely diced (you can do this in a food processor)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 ½ Tablespoons garam masala
2 pounds fresh, peeled and seeded tomatoes, diced (or the equivalent of boxed or jarred tomatoes, about 28 ounces)
1 Tablespoon maple sugar, coconut sugar or natural cane sugar
1 cup coconut milk, preferably full-fat (you can use the whole can if you want the sauce to be creamier)

Instructions

Place chicken in a dish. Mix 1 teaspoon salt, coriander and cumin together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with spice mixture and pour the yogurt over the spiced chicken breasts. Turn to coat well. You can do this several hours in advance and refrigerate until ready to cook.
Preheat broiler to high and set the oven rack on the second level. Line a baking sheet with foil.
Place a metal cooling rack on top of the foil-lined baking sheet and arrange the chicken on top of the rack. Broil for 5-7 minutes on each side until charred but not burned. Chicken should be cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the ghee. Add onions and cook until tender and slightly browned. Stir in garlic, ginger, 2 teaspoons salt and garam masala.
Add diced tomatoes and continue cooking and while scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add sugar, lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Pour in coconut milk.
Cut chicken into chunks (remember, it should be cooked through) and stir into sauce until heated through. Taste for seasoning. Serve with basmati rice.

Planning a happy thanksgiving — 4 weeks and counting!

This post has been edited from the original, which was published on October 27, 2011. I adore Thanksgiving. I love the traditions, the food, the Macy’s parade on television while I am making my pies, the football games. I love moving the family room furniture after the last football game is over to extend the dining room table. I love hearing everyone share why they’re grateful. I have cooked every Thanksgiving for the last 18 years, as well as dozens of Thanksgiving-themed cooking classes. I have made lots of mistakes and in the process learned a thing or two about how to execute and enjoy a very happy Thanksgiving. Every Thursday from today until the big day, I will share my best tips, strategies and a few good recipes to set you up for a successful holiday. Let’s get started!

4 Weeks Before Thanksgiving

Guest list Now is a good time to invite family and friends for the holiday, even if they are regulars. I send an email out to all our guests with the schedule for the day, especially when we will sit down for dinner. We live on the West Coast, which means the second football game is over at 4:00. Anyone that wants to come for the earlier game is welcome to do so. There’s coffeecake, fruit and coffee in the morning. A mugful of soup and cornbread around noon; hors d’oeuvres at 3:00 pm and dinner is at 4:00 or whenever the game is over. You know that I pray for no overtime!
Plan your menu Planning the Thanksgiving menu requires a bit of strategy and balance. Make sure you have a balance of cooked and raw food (one thing I have learned is no matter how big your kitchen or how many ovens you have, it’s never enough on Thanksgiving!); protein, starches and vegetables (I find most Thanksgiving menus to be too starchy;) and ingredients (make sure not every recipe has dried fruit and nuts in it.) Know what dishes need an oven and when because if you’re making turkey and you have one oven, you won’t be baking too much in the hours before dinner.

Also, know your audience. I love trying new recipes, but my family looks forward to the same traditional standbys every year. There was almost a revolution when I took Breaded Cauliflower off the menu in 2007 ( I now serve it as an hors d’oeuvre.) So I compromise by making the classics (traditional roast turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie), but I also try out a new salad or vegetable side dish every year.

Also, just because you’re cooking overtime for Thanksgiving dinner, doesn’t mean your household won’t be needing dinner the night before and breakfast the morning of. Instead of ordering takeout pizza on Wednesday night, make and freeze a casserole in the weeks ahead or plan for your easiest 20-minute meal. The same goes for Thanksgiving day, especially if you have young children in the house. You can save your appetite and get by on a piece of fruit for the day, but your four-year-old cannot. I always make a pot of butternut squash soup the day before and a pan of cornbread to be served around noon to tide anyone over until the big meal.

Outsource Do as I say here. Don’t do as I do. You don’t have to make everything yourself. In fact, most people would be delighted to contribute something to the holiday which will alleviate the pressure on you. But you must be specific otherwise you’ll end up with 4 pumpkin pies and no green vegetables and we all know what I think about that. “Thank you, Caitlin for your offer to bring something. I think I’ll take you up on it. We have neither stuffing nor apple pie yet. Would you like to tackle one of those?”
Write out a schedule Take the time to plan everything that you need to do over the next four weeks and put it on the computer so you have it for future holidays. By taking a little time now, you will save yourself stress, anxiety and HOURS later. Trust me on this. You can see my detailed schedule as an example.

Photocopy your recipes from books and magazines I remember my first Thanksgiving with a stack of cookbooks and magazines taking up valuable counter space and my wasting so much time looking up each recipe multiple times. Ugh! Put your photocopied recipes in sheet protectors and create a dedicated Thanksgiving or holiday binder organized by category. This just might be the most useful tip I give you.

Here’s what I am probably making this year:

Breakfast:

Coffeecake, fruit, coffee and tea

Lunch:

Butternut Squash or Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup and Cornbread

Hors D’oeuvres:

Breaded Cauliflower with Tomato Dipping Sauce

Zucchini-Gruyere Tart

Muhammara

Dinner:

Traditional Roast Turkey with Gravy

Cranberry Sauce with Apples and Raspberries

Applesauce

Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Whole Grain Stuffing with Mushrooms, Leeks and Herbs

Brussels Sprouts with Turkey Bacon and Dates

Maple-Mustard Roasted Vegetables

Harvest Chopped Salad or Butternut Squash Salad and/or Brussels Sprout Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (my husband’s favorite)

Balsamic Roasted Onions

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Freshly Whipped Cream

Winter Fruit Salad

Click here for loads of Thanksgiving recipe ideas!

Thanksgiving

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies Recipe (gluten-free)

Have you made my vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? If you’re new here, do not hesitate. They are fantastic! They’re a staple around here and definitely one of the more healthful (less bad for you?) cookies I’ve tried. I love that recipe so much I decided to tinker with it and make a fall version with pumpkin puree and delicious spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Amazing! It’s like pumpkin pie meets an oatmeal cookie. And as much I love these cookies fresh out of the oven, they are just as delicious raw. That’s right, as in cookie dough. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. After I posted my secret pumpkin oatmeal cookie dough addiction on Instagram, my students started stealing the bowl out from under my nose during class and having a taste themselves! The benefits of a vegan dough.

I thought I would sneak this recipe in today before you start baking treats for Halloween. Of course, these are perfect during the entire season of fall and beyond. They’re a snap to make and like many cookie recipes, you can prepare the dough in advance and bake as many or as few cookies as you need. I like these best the day they’re made and even the next day. Because there’s pumpkin in them, they get a little soft after a day.

This recipe ended up being more flexible than I imagined. I had to try it with a nut other than walnuts one day for a student with a walnut allergy and pecans worked great. I haven’t tried this recipe with sunflower seeds, but I think it would work if you need to go nut-free. The sunflower seeds just might react with the baking soda, however, and cause the cookies to have a green-ish color to the them. Might be kind of cool for Halloween! I know many of you will want to sub chocolate chips for the raisins and I say go for it! Pumpkin + chocolate + spices isn’t my thing, but that doesn’t mean you won’t love it. I was serving these in my classes plain and simple, but I found a recipe for a fun sweet potato-cream cheese frosting that was delicious as a filling if you wanted to make a sort of oatmeal cookie whoopie pie. Just for kicks.

However, like I always say, just because these cookies are higher quality and not made with junk and chemicals doesn’t mean you can eat them all day long. Concentrated sweeteners can still raise your blood sugar and will still feed yeast and fungus in your system and will keep you addicted to sugar. So with the beginning of the season of sweets, which I say starts on Halloween and ends on New Years Day, I try to be conscientious about not going crazy when I am offered candy and treats galore. But before we start thinking about 2014, we’ve got lots of fun in store. Thanksgiving is indeed four weeks from Halloween which means you and I are going into planning mode pronto. See you all back here on Thursday!

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Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes 20 2½-inch cookies

Ingredients

1 ½ cups oat flour (see Step #2) (use certified gluten-free oat flour if you are gluten-free)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 ¾ cups raw walnuts or pecans
6 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (it doesn’t need to be melted)
¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup (grade A or B)
10 Tablespoons (½ cup + 2 Tbs.) coconut sugar or brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) (anywhere between ½ -1 cup works)
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (use certified gluten-free rolled oats if you are gluten-free)
1 cup unsulphured raisins or chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
Place oat flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Place walnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and pumpkin and process until mixture has the consistency of natural nut butter.
Stir walnut mixture into flour mixture. Fold in 2 cups rolled oats and the raisins.
Use a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper to form dough into balls, and place on baking sheets. You can fit 12 on a sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a damp hand. Bake 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry.
Cool a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

SWEET POTATO-CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
(adapted from "Feeding the Whole Family")

1 cup mashed baked sweet potatoes
¼ cup softened cream cheese or soft tofu (2 ounces)
1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon or orange juice

Cream together all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or with a mixer until smooth and spreadable.

cinnamon coconut sugar maple syrup oats pumpkin walnuts

Black bean and pumpkin soup recipe

Nothing is as comforting to me as a one-pot, hearty meal in a bowl. I love substantial soups and stews, especially ones with beans or legumes. I very often make soups on the weekend for lunch or for a Meatless Monday dinner. They also make a fantastic school lunch for the kids the next day. This black bean and pumpkin soup is P-E-R-F-E-C-T for a chilly fall day, especially on Halloween if you want to send everyone off with a filling, warm meal. This is almost like a chili because of the beans and the small amount of cumin and oregano, but not quite as thick. My favorite ingredient in here is the pureed pumpkin which gives the soup a little body. So much nutrition in one bowl!

This soup is a really easy one if you use canned pumpkin and canned beans. I’m so glad more manufacturers are responding to our desire for BPA-free products. There are more and more companies who are using cans without BPA. That is particularly relevant to this recipe because I know you can find organic pumpkin puree in BPA-free packaging by a company called Farmer’s Market or by Pacific Foods and organic black beans in BPA-free cans by Eden organic. A gentleman behind the customer service desk at Trader Joe’s told me they don’t use BPA in their cans, except canned tomatoes. I haven’t verified this yet with the company, but I am excited if that’s the case!

Also exciting is the fact that for the first time in a loooong time, I have Mr. Picky’s Halloween costume ready to go. This never happens in our house quite this early, as in a week before Halloween. Poor kid one year made a Batman costume the night before out of grey baseball pants and an cape from an old zombie costume of his sister’s. This year he is going as a punk rocker complete with wig and (temporary) nose ring. All of his costumes must involve eyeliner or face paint and this year will be no exception. My girls are not trick-or-treating this year. I think the novelty has worn off. That and my husband said there will be no teenage children of his trick-or-treating without a costume. I agree — way lame.

Ideally the girls will stay safe at home with a few friends and a pot of black bean and pumpkin soup on the stove and enough in their bellies that they only feel the need to eat a couple pieces of candy and not a basketful. Believe me, I am not the party pooper you might think I am. I know full well that on Halloween night, Mr. Picky will take all of his candy and hoard it behind the extra towels underneath his bathroom sink. I leave them there without letting on that I know his little secret. Until Valentine’s Day when I need to make room for the fresh loot.

Hope you have a fun and safe Halloween! This Thursday is exactly four weeks before Thanksgiving. You know what that means!

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

Author: Pamela

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons unrefined, cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 ½ cups diced green cabbage
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
a pinch or more of cayenne or to taste (optional)
4 ½ cups cooked black beans or 3 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed (click here for how to cook beans from scratch)
½ cup cilantro leaves and stems, chopped
1 ¾ cups pumpkin puree or 1 15-ounce can (not pumpkin pie filling) (click here for how to make pumpkin puree from scratch)
2-3 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2 ½ cups vegetable stock, chicken stock or water

Instructions

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until tender and translucent, about 6 minutes.
Add the carrots, celery, cabbage, cumin, oregano and cayenne* and toss to coat with the oil, onions and garlic. Sauté for a couple minutes or until the vegetables no longer look raw.
Add the beans, cilantro, pumpkin puree, salt and pepper and stock. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook partially covered until the vegetables are tender, about 18-20 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Notes

I have made this soup several different ways. If you want a little more heat, you can sauté a diced jalapeno pepper (do this in Step 1) and/or add a teaspoon of ground chipotle pepper (add this with the other spices.) If you want a little smokiness without the heat, add a teaspoon of smoked paprika with the other spices. You can also puree part of the soup for a thicker consistency. Lots of options!

black beans cabbage carrots celery cilantro cumin onion oregano pumpkin

Homemade chocolate-peanut butter cups and almond butter cups recipe

It is really ironic that I try to discourage sweets but I have always have so much fun making them! I had the best time last Christmas making gingerbread men with my kids. My favorite part of every Thanksgiving meal for me is baking all the pies. And more recently, I thoroughly enjoyed making these chocolate peanut butter and almond butter cups. After my friend Rachel Sarnoff from MommyGreenest guest posted here about choosing higher quality Halloween candy, I did a little research looking for the best options (organic, non-GMO, free of artificial colors, etc.) And then I thought it might be cool to make my own candy for when I have guests over or to give as a hostess gift. Do not for a minute think I would ever make my own Halloween candy to give out to trick-or-treaters! That would for sure put me over the edge. If you do that, however, I think you are amazing.

I’ve seen DIY chocolate peanut butter and almond butter cups all over the internet, so I figured that would be a good one to try. Plus, my husband and I both love them. Reese’s peanut butter cups were always among my favorites at Halloween. Let me tell you, these are a cinch to make! No candy thermometer required. No special ingredients needed. You probably have it all in your pantry and they come together in a jiffy (no pun intended.)

Even better, I made these when I wasn’t in a rush. I wasn’t trying to beat the sunset so I would still have natural light for photographing. I wasn’t making these at dinnertime when I had other things to tend to. In fact, my son was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework, quiet as a mouse, and my girls were out at their activities. And I found making these chocolates to be almost meditative. I can’t wait to make them again!! In fact, if you invite me over for dinner, I will likely bring you a little box of these!

I know that some of you are ready to point out to me that these candies, no matter how much love and organic ingredients go into them, are not healthful. And you know what? You are totally right. I am not going to sell these to you today as something that’s going to save your life. Are they less bad for you than Reese’s? I can argue that yes, they are probably less bad for you than Reese’s which contains GMO-sugar, non-organic peanuts and TBHQ, a toxic preservative which is a derivative of butane. Nope, no butane in mine, but also not exactly health food. But it is Halloween and I think we’re entitled to a few treats now and then and that’s that.

I have already made these several times, with both dark chocolate (less sugar) and milk chocolate. I have used (homemade) almond butter as well as organic peanut butter. And I have sweetened the filling with powdered sugar and also with a combination of powdered sugar and honey or maple syrup. Clearly the least bad (I know that’s grammatically incorrect) option would be dark chocolate with almond butter mixed with powdered sugar and maple syrup. And those are so delicious I can’t even believe it. But if you are looking to make something closer to a Reese’s peanut butter cup, then you need to use milk chocolate, peanut butter and all powdered sugar. Those were my kids’ favorites and I have to say they taste better than the real thing!

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kids or grandkids, look no further!

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Chocolate Peanut Butter and Almond Butter Cups

Author: Pamela, adapted from several sources including Top Secret Recipes, Joy of Baking, and Sprouted Kitchen

Serves: makes 24 candies

Ingredients

12 ounces dark or milk chocolate
½ cup natural creamy almond or peanut butter (or sunflower seed butter if you’re nut-free)
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar + 1 Tablespoon raw honey or pure maple syrup)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
sea salt flakes or pumpkin seeds for topping, if desired

Instructions

Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners. If you are using a silicone muffin pan, it's probably a good idea to place the pan on a baking sheet so you can transfer it more easily to the refrigerator.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a glass bowl big enough to fit over the pot of boiling water without touching the water (this is a double boiler).
Lower heat so that the water just simmers and place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until perfectly smooth. Set bowl aside.
Mix the almond or peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt together in a small bowl until smooth. This mixture should be a consistency that allows you to roll it into small balls.
Spoon a teaspoonful of chocolate into each lined cup.
Scoop a teaspoon of the almond/peanut butter mixture and roll into a ball with your hands and press down slightly to flatten a little. Place in the center of each chocolate cup and push down slightly to allow the chocolate to cover the sides, but not the top of the almond/peanut butter disc.
Pour another teaspoon of chocolate on top of the cups covering the peanut/almond butter mixture completely. Use the back of your teaspoon to smooth out the chocolate on the tops of each cup.
Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt or a couple pumpkin seeds if you like and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to harden. If you need to speed this up, place in the freezer.
Because the chocolate is not tempered, you should keep these refrigerated.

Notes

I use this silicone mini muffin pan. Each individual mold measures 1½ inches across the top. I found two mini baking liners at Michaels which worked perfectly, but these were just slightly too big for my pan.

almond butter chocolate maple syrup peanut butter powdered sugar vanilla

Butternut squash and chickpea stew recipe

I have been consistently making Monday our meatless night, although I often have another vegetarian dinner during the week as well. This week I was excited to cook something with one of the many winter squashes I have bought recently. I taught this vegan butternut squash and chickpea stew last February and I was waiting for the change in seasons to make it again. As opposed to most stews, this one doesn’t take hours to cook and was perfect for a busy weeknight. Actually, I was so busy on Monday that I had to serve it with white basmati rice instead of brown rice (nobody’s perfect!) I also made a delicious kale salad with avocados, pomegranates and sliced almonds. It was the perfect meal for me. I also love this stew because it can be made the day before and reheated, or made earlier in the afternoon and left on the stove, off the heat, until dinner time.

I was really delighted that my son, also known as, but soon to be formerly known as, Mr. Picky, ate everything on his plate (kale, chickpeas, carrots, onions, rice) except the butternut squash. This is major progress and I am very encouraged by how far he has come since the days not too long ago when he wouldn’t have eaten a single bite of this stew. Small steps, but they all get there eventually.

This stew has a little bit of a Moroccan kick to it. I used really flavorful (and anti-inflammatory) spices like turmeric, ginger, coriander and a little cayenne. The cayenne gives it just enough heat, but not too much that you would think this is spicy. I think this would be delicious for a Halloween dinner, whether you are entertaining or just filling everyone up before trick-or-treating. That’s my strategy, you know. I don’t prohibit the kids from eating a little candy on Halloween night, but I give them a nice hearty, substantial dinner so they’re not hungry when they leave the house. Pretty tricky, Mom!

5.0 from 4 reviews

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Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew

Author: Pamela, inspired by epicurious.com

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil or olive oil (I use coconut oil and I really like Barlean’s)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt + extra for seasoning at the end
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric (feel free to add more if you like it)
½ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
3 cups 1-inch cubes of peeled butternut squash (about 1 ½ pounds)
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced or 14 ounces boxed, drained
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed
a handful of golden raisins or currants
1 cup chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

Instructions

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add salt, pepper and all spices to the onions. Sauté for a minute.
Add the squash and carrots and toss to coat with the spices.
Add tomatoes, lemon juice, chickpeas, raisins and stock/water. Bring to a boil and cover. Lower the heat and simmer over low or medium/low heat until squash is tender and flavors have melded, about 40 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add extra salt and pepper as desired.

Notes

Feel free to stir some spinach or chopped chard leaves in at the end. Delicious served over quinoa, millet, rice, spaghetti squash or couscous.

butternut squash carrots chickpeas raisins tomatoes turmeric