Attitude of Gratitude

This time of year gets all of us foodies real excited about what new recipes to try for the holidays and how to alter and adapt things to fit into our preferred ways of eating.  I really love spending time in the kitchen and creating new dishes.  It's a creative outlet for me.  An artistic expression.  I love it. It brings joy and peace and delight in creating and then sharing with others.  It's part of my passion.  So I along with many nutrition friends and fellow bloggers have been collecting my holiday recipes.  I've been posting and also taking notes. Goodness knows there are more recipes out there than I could ever have the time to make.  It only takes a moment to google and you can find something for every eating preference..vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free.....

But are we free? Do we consume food or does it consume us?

This past week we've been talking about Thanksgiving in our house and what that means.  Why we celebrate it.  How it began.  We got a cute little book from the library that describes in a kid friendly way the first Thanksgiving.  We've been talking about what we are thankful for and what it means to be thankful.  Getting to the basics.  I love having a curious 3 year old in my house because it makes me stop and re-evaluate lots of things and getting really real with why we do what we do.

I've really realized in the past week or so how much this time of year focuses on food. Menu planning.  Grocery shopping.  Organizing who goes where for what meal and at what time.  Who's cooking.  Who's coming.  Who's bringing what dish.  Do you eat before, during, or after the football game?

For some this can bring a lot of nostalgia.  Childhood memories.  Favorite foods and dishes. Grandma's cooking.  For others this can bring a lot of anxiety and stress.  All of the cooking and prep.  Trying to navigate through food preferences and/or issues.   I've even had conversations with women who nearly despise this holiday because it is so food oriented and they are recovering from eating disorders. 

So as we enter into this holiday I've made it a point I want to teach my girls about gratitude.  A heart that is full and thankful for the abundance of life and all that we've been so blessed with.  I am trying to teach them the connection of food and well-being as well but really what I ultimately want to teach them is to live a life of abundance.  To laugh, play, cry, hug, smile, serve, love, share, create, and embrace all that they have.  It's easy to get caught up in our culture of want but can I shift my thinking to express and acknowledge all that I am and have?  That's so much more challenging but so much more life giving.

Months ago I started a Gratitude journal.  At the end of the day I jot down 3 things I am grateful for that day.  It's beautiful and sacred.  It's simple.  Often I find my eyes are misty just writing these things down, especially when they involve the people I love the most.  The laugh of my 20 month old.  The sweetness of slobbery baby kiss.  The embrace of my husband.  The way my 3 year old wrinkles her nose at me.  An authentic conversation with a girlfriend.  It brings me present and aware of what's going on in my day to day life.  I don't want to miss that.

So I would invite you my friends that whatever lands on your table this week or whatever work it takes to get to that fancy dinner can we take a moment and just pause and breathe and be fully aware of the amazing abundance of life we have?    To know that gratitude is a way of being. An openness to what we've received and our expression of that blessing. Maybe it takes writing things down and creating your own Gratitude journal. Maybe it's acknowledging someone in your life that you hold dear.  Maybe it's recognizing all that you are and finding gratitude there.  Whatever it is, this is what we teach our children.  They watch us. They learn from us.  Can we raise a generation of kiddos that begin to shift their thinking from "I want" to "I have" or "I am"? A kiddo that realizes a time of Thanksgiving is about so much more than what is on the table but that it's about what is in the heart. 

Grace & Peace to you as you enter into a season of Thanksgiving! May your heart be filled with the blessings and abundance of life!

Pumpkin Cranberry Pancakes (GF)

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Last week the girls and I were having a lazy morning and I decided to play and create a new pancake recipe. So off to the kitchen we went. I had lots of pumpkin puree in my fridge and thought it sounded great in pancakes with some of the fresh cranberries I had picked up from the farmers market.

This is what I ("we"--I usually have at least 1 helper with me!)came up with. They are for sure a 'hearty' pancake.  My girls love pancake mornings! Why not get some veggies and extra nutrients in them? They gobble them up.  Leftover pancakes make a great snack too!

 Pumpkin Cranberry Pancakes

 Ingredients

    1 1/2 cups milk (coconut milk beverage)

    1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)

    1 TBS ground chia seed mixed with 3 TBS water (or 1 egg)
   1 teaspoons vanilla

    2 tablespoons coconut oil (or oil of choice)

    2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

    2 cups all-purpose flour 

    (I used a mix of millet, sorghum, brown rice flour but whole wheat would great and hearty as well)

    2 tablespoons sucanat (or granular sugar of choice)

    2 teaspoons baking powder

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    2 teaspoon ground flaxseeds

    1 teaspoon ground allspice

    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    3/4 cup chopped walnuts

    3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries

   

Directions

Mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, sucanat or sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground flax seeds, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. Gently mix in walnuts and cranberries.

    Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with butter or butter substitute and pure maple syrup. 

****I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure out the batter for pancakes. Makes smaller pancakes which is perfect for small people! And makes a great small pancake for a snack. 

Applesauce

A couple of years ago my mom got me a canning kit for Christmas.  I was so excited.  I felt so domesticated.  And then yes I felt a little old too but really I was just super excited about being able to preserve food that was grown locally, and to make some fabulous baby food.

One of my favorite and easiest things to can is applesauce.  I grew up on homemade applesauce and I've never been a fan of the store bought stuff.  The taste is just so different when you've had homemade applesauce.  It's remarkable. So that is a warning that your kiddos may turn into applesauce snobs, which I would argue there are much worse things. 

This year I canned two bushels of apples for applesauce. I have quite the pantry full of applesauce.  I am guessing we will go through it much quicker than I can imagine.  I've been doing more and more of my baking with applesauce.  I love this because I don't add sugar to my applesauce and then I use that pure applesauce to baked goodies so that I can eliminate most or all of any granular sugar.  My girls love muffins and homemade breads and I love making them as healthy and wholesome as possible. For me, part of that process is eliminating or at least radically decreasing as much sugar as possible. Applesauce makes an awesome sweetener to bake with.  It does take a little experimentation but it does work.

Our homemade applesauce also makes a fabulous snack around our house.  There are ways to add some extras to make it a more hearty snack.  A few fun additions are cinnamon, nutmeg, ground flax seed or chopped walnuts or pecans.  Applesauce also makes a wonderful baby food.  Can it in smaller jars or even freeze it in ice cube trays for smaller portions.  I used to add a little applesauce to baby food purees my girls weren't wild about or willing to eat otherwise.  I often added it to a squash puree.  I've also added it to green purees if they were have a day of turning their noses up to it.  (kale, spinach, broccoli, swiss chard...).  I was willing to sweeten it a bit to at least get the greens into them!

My one suggestion with making applesauce is that you find the "cleanest" local apples possible to can.  Apples rank as one of the top foods that are heavily sprayed.  Even though were into November, most orchards have plenty of apples stored up that are still for sale.  If you are in Grand Rapids, check out Wells Orchards.  They have great prices and do a farming practice called Integrated Pest Management.  I've been getting my apples there the last few years and they are always very delicious and I feel pretty clean. Apples are hard to grow organic and I have to remember it's also about the local farmers livelihood and they are doing the best they can. Sprays are expensive.  They'd really prefer not to have to do them either but they also are counting on that income.  I think Wells has a really great balance and uses really natural processes but isn't certified organic, which I'm personally fine with.  Have a conversation with the folks at the orchard and ask questions.  It's great to know whose hands have been loving your food before it gets to you.

Applesauce

It really is quite simple.  I washed my apples.  Then I cored them with my little hand held corer I bought a few years ago at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I left skins on and tossed them into a stock pot with a little bit of water in the bottom.  I put the lid on and let steam for a few minutes.  I stir them a few times.  The apples will start to soften a bit. 

 

Next I just put them in the blender and happily blended away until a nice apple sauce consistency happened. 

 

****Now I will put a disclaimer that recently my hubs came home with a surprise vitamix (seriously that may have won him hubs of the year award!) and that thing can pulverize anything very quickly.  So with that said it didn't take long for applesauce to happen and I didn't worry to much about how soft my apples were.  BUT I have done applesauce this way for years and always used my regular blender or food processor.  You may just have to play a bit with how soft you need the apples to be and how long you need to blend.****  

 

Next step was to put the applesauce in a large stock pot or bowl to really blend all the batches and flavors together.  By the end of my applesauce making adventures I just poured right from the blender into the jars and it was just as great.  So up to you how much work you want to do!

 Final step was to put jars in the canning pot and process (cook) for 20 minutes. 

There you have it.  Homemade sugar-free applesauce from a local orchard.  Much cheaper than store bought organic variations and well worth the work because the taste is unbelievable!

****Spices can be added to the applesauce in blender to make spiced variations (think nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves).  I personally like to do mine plain and then it has a lot more variety and options for cooking and baking with.  We will sometimes open a jar of applesauce and warm it over the stove on low with a combo of spices. Let's just say delicious!  ****

Squash & Sweet Potato Curry Stew

As the cooler weather settles in I get excited for hearty stews and soups.  Foods that provide a more warming effect on the body.  During my second pregnancy the majority of my pregnancy was in the fall and winter months.  I lived on soups and stews.  That's all I wanted.  It didn't help that I was carrying my sweet little girl high and it never felt like I had room to eat.  I (along with my hubs and a few friends) started to worrying that this baby was going to be a little, under developed peanut because that's honestly all I ever wanted to eat the majority of my pregnancy.  My first trimester was in the summer and well I was just too sick to much at all. So then that left me eating soups from October to March.  Nourishing my growing baby with soups.  Even my mid-wife was a little skeptical that I was getting all my nutrients in. I assured her I was but I did have my own doubts, to be honest.  I just knew I was craving soups like crazy. They were easy one pot meals.  I could get creative and add all kinds of things to them.  There's a lot of variety to play with when making soups.  Now at the time my husband and then 1 year old would not have agreed.  They were on soup burnout, while I was happily indulging in new soup recipes daily and couldn't get enough.  Well my sweet little Sydney girl arrived in March weighing in at a whooping 8 pounds 15 ounces! Whoa! Nearly 2 pounds bigger than my first.  So much for my malnourished growing baby! I think we were all completely surprised.  She looked like a 2 month old when they handed her to me.

So I share this story with you to tell you that you can create powerhouses of nutrition in stews and soups.  Think of adding whole grains (quinoa, rice, barley, millet, bulgar..), tofu, tempeh, various vegetables, spices, and herbs to soup recipes to give them a creative or fresh feel.  Soups can be an amazing vehicle of nutrition for you and your family. Even with little eaters they go over well.  The veggies in soups are soft enough that they make for great finger foods and start to expose babies to a little bit of variety of spices.

I wanted to share one my favorite stews I created this fall.  So hearty and warming.  We loved it.  Well all except my littlest one.  She prefers not to eat soup.  It's funny really. Maybe there's something in her that just cannot handle the thought of any more soup even though her little body was built on the stuff!

Well I hope you enjoy a hearty stew and cozy evening in!


Squash & Sweet Potato Curry Stew

1 onion, finely chopped
1  14 ounce package extra firm tofu
1 large sweet potato
1/2  medium sized butternut squash, cubed (mine was already cooked)
2 cloves garlic
1 3/4 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups garbanzo beans (canned or already cooked)
3 cups finely chopped spinach, kale, swiss chard, or other leafy greens
Medium head of broccoli

1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
sea salt to taste
chopped fresh mint

In a skillet, add oil and cook tofu until lightly brown.  In stock pot, add oil and cook onions and garlic. In stock pot, add sweet potatoes, squash, curry, cinnamon, ginger, and sea salt.  Saute' for 1-2 minutes until squash and sweet potatoes are covered with spices.  Add veg. stock and coconut milk.  Cover and allow to come to a boil. Add broccoli and tofu and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Stir in tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and greens. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes.    
Garnish bowls with chopped fresh mint.  Eat as is or over a already cooked grain.  I just used some brown rice I had leftover in the fridge and added it right in with the soup while it was simmering.

Cranberry-Pumpkin Cookies (Gluten-Free)

It's full swing into fall here in Michigan, and it really is a glorious season.  The colors, the smells, the coziness of it all.  I just love fall.  Lately I've been on a pumpkin kick.  I just cannot seem to get enough pumpkin.  It's so fun to roast pumpkins and make puree.  I'm all for easy and simple and canned pumpkin is just fine, but there is something fresh and tasty about roasting your own pumpkin.  And just think...homemade pumpkin pie with fresh roasted pumpkin. Oh my goodness.  Heavenly!

It's easy to roast a several pumpkins at a time and then freeze the puree that you have left over for yummy goodies throughout the winter or for purees for baby food.  Pureed pumpkin and applesauce make a delicious baby food mix.  In fact, I'd even add kale or other greens when my girls were small because the sweetness of the pumpkin and applesauce could get them to eat anything!  Not to mention all the fabulous seeds you'll get when you make your own pumpkin puree, which I'll post about soon.

I've been on a kick of trying to make muffins and cookies with no granulated sugars, especially as the cold and flu season is upon us.  This isn't an easy project.  I've been using more applesauce, dates, and bananas to sweeten our baked goodies.  I've come up with some good, tasty wholesome treats and I've also had a few turn out, well less than desirable.  It's a work in progress.

This is one of our families new favorite cookies.  We all agree. They are yummy! Sweetened with pumpkin and pure maple syrup.  I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, "The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook" by Cathe Olson.  I by no means claim to be a gluten free goddess in the kitchen but I've been playing around and experimenting a little more with our baked goodies.  These just so happen to be gluten free.  Of course you can use your regular flour and I'm sure they would be just as tasty.  These are a more "spongy" cookie which I prefer over a hard crumbly cookie.  I hope you enjoy some healthy cookie goodness!


Cranberry-Pumpkin Cookies

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup softened coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
3/4 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 375.  Beat together sweetener and coconut oil until smooth.  Add vanilla, egg, and pumpkin puree.  Beat well.  In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.  Add flour mixture to liquid mixture.  Mix until smooth.  Fold in dried cranberries and pecans.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  (I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper and that worked really well).  Bake about 10 minutes, or until bottoms are golden.  (I had to add some extra time to mine...probably an extra 5 minutes but check frequently so that they don't burn).


Makes about 3 dozen.

These cookies go really well with Vegan Pumpkin Spiced Ice Cream for a very tasty, fall treat!

Vegan Pumpkin Spiced Ice Cream

  

Vegan Pumpkin Spiced Ice Cream

1 can coconut milk
1 cup coconut milk beverage (or any other non-dairy milk)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (or canned pumpkin)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. ground ginger

Combine ingredients in blender.

Allow mixture to chill in fridge for 1-2 hours.

Process in ice cream maker or allow to "set" in freezer.

Tips:

If you start with chilled coconut milk and non-dairy milk beverage it takes less time to chill mixture.

Full fat coconut milk makes the creamiest ice creams but I usually stock up on Trader Joe's (when I get to one!) coconut milk, which has less fat but also costs less.  It works just fine and makes a great ice cream.  

I like to minimize sugar in our life so I usually try to use maple syrup or local raw honey as sweeteners, but you could play with lots of other sweeteners and also the amounts.