Fun with Pumpkin Pie

My four-year-old decided we should make pumpkin pie.  Good idea.  The kids had fun scooping out the seeds and then we baked our pumpkin.  I wasn't too concerned about making a delicious pie, it was just a fun family activity.  Of course I didn't have any evaporated milk on hand, so I googled a recipe for pumpkin pie without evaporated milk (thanks to my husband for explaining to me how to search with a negative symbol.)  Guess what.  The pie was delicious!  So, I thought I'd share the recipe, because next time I make pumpkin pie, I'm going to use this recipe!

I didn't bother to fuss with the crust; I just let the kids make a pat-in-the-pan crust.  Our pumpkin made 2+ cups of pumpkin puree and I just used it all, even though it was a bit more than the recipe called for.  Also, the baking time was significantly increased from the recipes instructions, by perhaps 20 minutes.

Monkey Bread

AnnMarie inspired me to make monkey bread.  I haven't made it in the past because it "requires" so much artificial stuff.  Per AnnMarie's inspiration, I made my own bread dough in the bread machine and let the kids roll it into balls and dip it in cinnamon-sugar.  This kept them busy for awhile!  Then we poured the butter-sugar on it baked it.  Yum!  Whole wheat dough was a much better option that store-bought refrigerator dough, in my opinion.

AnnMarie suggests that this is a delicious "breakfast, snack, dessert or potluck dish", but I'm sure that if you make it 100% whole wheat, you can serve it for dinner too.

Freezer Beans

In the coming weeks months, I hope to share some of my freezer friendly recipes.  So here's the beginning.  Well, actually the beginning was the Freezer Fries recipe a couple posts ago.  Those are fabulous.  Next up, beans.

I was inspired by Once a Month Mom's refried black bean recipe.  So I made it.  But, of course, I changed a few things, well, most things.  Here's my version....

One pound of black beans
1/2 to 1 medium onion, finely chopped
Garlic, a bunch, maybe half of a bulb or so
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper


1.  Rinse and soak beans overnight.  In the morning, drain and rinse.
2.  Put beans in crockpot with onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
3.  Cover with about 3 3/4 cups water.  Add more water if needed during cooking.
4.  Cook on low for several hours until beans are easily mashed.  Mash to desired consistency with your preferred kitchen gadget.  If the consistency is too liquid, cook on high, uncovered for a bit more time.
5.  Divide into two quart-sized freezer bags and freeze.
6.  To serve, thaw and reheat on the stove

I like to serve these with Lynn's Mexican Rice.  I follow that recipe, mostly.

Notes on Breadmaking

Many things affect the outcome of homemade bread.  A great recipe is a good start.

A mountain is also helpful.  Bread grows well at high altitude.  I happen to be blessed to live at high altitude.  If you have the choice between baking bread on the beach or the mountain, choose the mountain.  But, you probably don't have a choice.

Another useful ingredient is high protein wheat flour.  The protein in wheat, called gluten, is what forms the unique structure of bread, the matrix filled with millions of tiny air pockets.  Simply look at the ingredient label to learn the grams of protein per serving.  I use whole wheat flour that has 6 grams of protein per 1/4 cup serving.  Your bread flour may be labeled "red" or "white."  Red equals higher protein.  My favorite flour is called Bronze Chief by Wheat Montana, available inexpensively at Wal-Mart.

Recipe. Mountain. Flour.



Disclaimer:  Free advertising for both Wheat Montana and Wal-Mart.

Freezer Fries

Recently, my mom came to visit and we always try to get some productive tasks accomplished when she's here.  One of our tasks was to fill our freezer with prepared food.  She volunteered to wash, peel, and chop 20# of potatoes!  Here's our recipe for homemade french fries right out of the freezer.

Wash and peel potatoes.  Dice and slice into desired sizes.

If you are dealing with a large amount of potatoes, keep your dices and slices in a bowl of water to prevent browning.

Blanch potatoes in boiling water until tender enough to pierce with a fork but not mushy.  Do not overcook!  We simmered dices for about 7 minutes and fries for about 5 minutes.  Depends on how big you cut your potatoes.

Next, submerge blanched potatoes in cold water to prevent further cooking.
Pat potatoes dry or lay on a towel.

Line baking sheets with wax paper (or maybe parchment paper?) and place potatoes on in a single layer.

After potatoes are frozen, place in freezer safe container of choice.

To cook, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Take potatoes directly from freezer and toss with oil and seasoning, if desired.  Place oiled potatoes on baking pan and bake until desired crispness.  We use 20-25 minutes.

100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

I needed a new recipe for 100% whole wheat dinner rolls.

Here's what I found. (I omit the 1 tsp gluten.)

Fabulous.

Works every time.

Makes great loaves of bread too.

Love it!

Filling the Freezer

One of the thing I love about OAMC cooking, is at the end of the day, something productive got done!  You know, instead of those days when everything is falling apart at the end of the day and you can't even name one productive thing that was physically accomplished.  None of that with cooking day!  You can lay out all your goods at the end of the day and see with your own eyes what was accomplished.  Love it!

Recently, my mom came to visit, so we took advantage of the extra pair of hands and spent a day filling the freezer.  We even got just a bit of prep time the day before.  Mom watched the kids and my husband and I worked in the kitchen.  He makes fabulous muffins!  The baby enjoyed some time in my sling and other times sat with Grandma.  Of course, I took breaks to nurse him too.

So, here's what we got done:  one pan of homemade granola, a double batch of oatmeal pancakes, two meals of enchilada bake, two meals of vegetarian crustless pot pie (this was an experiment), three meals of refried black beans and Spanish rice (to put in tortillas or whatever), a quadruple batch of "Balls," 6 batches of waffles, 8 meals worth of vegan burgers, 8 meals worth of soup, and almost a gross of muffins!

The freezer is FULL!