Jack O Lantern: 2 Ways

Have you ever thought that throwing away or composting a perfectly fine pumpkin wasteful?

Have you ever wondered what you could do with the pumpkin?

Pumpkin Bisque

Peel and cube the pumpkin, lightly toss with olive oil. Roast at 400F on a lightly greased baking sheet until slightly golden.

Blend with 2-3 cups (start with 2 cups and add more as needed, this depends on how much pumpkin you have) low sodium chicken stock. Add a dollop of butter and 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt for a delicious Autumn soup. Sea Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve with some toasted pumpkin seeds on top.

Pumpkin Chickpea Lentil Stew

Peel and cube pumpkin. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Soak 1/2 cup lentils for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse lentils.

In a slow cooker turned to High. Add pumpkin cubes, chickpeas, lentils, 1L low sodium chicken stock, 1 bay leaf and 1 can of cubed stew tomatoes.

Let cook for 4-5 hours on High. Sea salt and pepper to taste. Serve with garlic toast or dinner rolls.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

30 large white button mushrooms
1 shallot
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp Buckwheat flour
Trim the hard ends off of the stems. Remove stems from the mushrooms. Chop the stems up along with the shallot. Sautee with olive oil until slightly browned. Add 1 tbsp buckwheat flour to thicken mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Stuff each mushroom cap with a tsp of the filling mixture. Press the mixture in lightly.
Place stuffed mushroom caps on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the tops are golden.
Serve when hot.

This original recipe is entirely vegetarian and vegan friendly. Add some crab meat or bacon or even ground beef for a meat lover crowd. Great. Simple. Easy Appetizer.

Thai Style Beef & Potato Stew

Ingredients:

1.5kg of cubed lean beef
1 large potato diced (in this recipe I used a yam because I was out of russets)
1 tbsp whole tricolor peppercorns
6 lime leaves sliced to thin fine strips
1" piece of galangal sliced
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 sprigs of Thai basil
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsps of EVOO

Turn the stove to Medium high heat.
In a pot place EVOO and garlic. Stir and cook till slightly golden. Add beef and brown all sides of the meat.
Deglaze the pot with stock scrapping the browned bits off the bottom for added flavour. Stir in the potato and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes and turn down the heat to Medium.

Add peppercorns, lime leaves, galangal, whole basil stalks only, reserve the leaves for later. Stir and combine with stew mixture.

Cook covered at medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour occasionally stirring. Garnish with reserved basil leaves. Serve with rice, noodles or bread.

Enjoy :)

Thanksgiving Rice Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 loaf gluten free bread - cubed

1 cup cooked brown wild rice

2 celery stalks - diced

1 carrot - peeled and diced

6 mushrooms - diced

3 sprigs of parsley - minced

1/2 white onion - diced

1 tbsp Poultry seasoning

1 cup turkey drippings or chicken stock (you my substitute with vegetable stock for vegetarians and vegans)

1 tbsp butter or margarine

Turn on the stove to medium heat. In a large pot melt the butter and sautee the onions, carrots and celery till soft. Add the mushroom and rice, mixing well. Add the stock, poultry seasoning and parsley. Bring to a simmer while stirring. Add cubed bread and continue to stir until the stuffing has formed. Shut heat off and cover the pot with a lid. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Salt & Pepper to taste.

Serve with turkey, tofurky or whatever floats your boat. I can guarantee this stuffing to be super yummy.

Thai Red Carrot Curry

I was on a whim of trying something new today. I had about a half cup of baby carrots and some thai red curry paste that I have purchased from my local thai restaurant. I thought maybe I could make it a carrot curry sauce. And so I did. For the curry paste recipe, incorporate 1/2 cup carrots with 2 tbsps of your favourite red curry paste. Blend with 1/2 cup of coconut milk. You should end up with a chunky paste.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, sliced
1 tbsp fish sauce or tamari sauce
1 tbsp golden cane sugar or palm sugar
2 tbsps corn starch
2 tbsps garlic granules
1/2 cup carrot, roughly chopped
2 cups coconut milk, seperated into 1-1/2 cups & 1/2 cup
2 tbsps red Thai curry paste
1 handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup asparagus, 1" lengths
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 ginger slice, minced

In a glass bowl marinate chicken with fish sauce, sugar, corn starch and garlic granules for 30 minutes to an hour.

In a wok heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil, add garlic and ginger and stir till it is golden brown. Add mushroom slices and pan fry till golden brown. Add chicken and let cook for 5 minutes, occassionally stirring. Add curry paste and 1-1/2 cups of coconut milk. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add asparagus, stir and cover for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with coriander as a garnish.

Keep in mind that the vegetables can be substituted with any vegetable of your choice. But the carrots will remain an ingredient for the sauce. :) You can also make this a vegetarian dish, use tempeh or tofu in place of the chicken. If you want it to be a vegan dish, then use tamari instead of fish sauce.

This curry is best served hot with steamed rice or flat bread. Hope you enjoy my recipe and feel free to leave me a comment below.

Happy Cooking :)

Food & Lifestyle: August Empties

This was an impulse buy and it was love at first crunch! A nice spicy thai basil curry aroma made with different types of spuds and pumpkin. I love the crunch factor of these chips as it reminds me of kettle cooked chips a lot. I have repurchased this 4 times now and will continue to purchase it in the future.

Add a tablespoon to smoothies, use as cooking oil, use as butter spread and make salad dressings with it. I love this product for cooking and beauty reasons. Moisturize from the inside out. If you would like to know what use this product for in the beauty side, check out my other blog: maydaydesigns.blogspot.ca

For the person that likes efficiency and quick breakfasts. This is the PBJ to grab, no need to clean your knife off or using two knives to make a single PBJ sandy. It's all swirled in one. Love this idea!

Chicken Tamale Pie GF

Chicken Tamale Pie

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 8

Ingredients

1/3 cup warm water or rice milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 1/4 cup corn flour
1 handful fresh chopped cilantro
1 cup tomato sauce
4 tbsps Picante Bufalo Salsa Clasica
2 tbsps Picante Bufalo Salsa Chilpotle
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup shredded Jalapeño Almond Cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine the first 7 ingredients (water/rice milk through cilantro), using just 1/2 tablespoon of the Mrs. Dash seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour tamale mixture into a round pie plate coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. While the tamale pie is baking, toss the chicken in the remaining 1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash seasoning.

When the tamale pie is done – it will be just barely set and golden brown – pierce entire surface liberally with a fork (it might stick a little bit to the fork).

Pour tomato & Picante Bufalo sauce over top chicken and mix well, pour this mixture on top of the tamale pie and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes.