Berries: For Brunch and for Books

I love berry season. As we approached Memorial Day, our local strawberry fields were starting to give out. Blueberries were coming in. And the grandkidlets and I took advantage as much as we could. 

I started thinking about some beloved books I read as a child involving berries of all kinds. I mention all the time one of the highlights of my life was picking blackberries on my maternal grandfather's farm. But I also picked huckleberries up in the mountains with my dad and his parents. Berries meant adventure. So, that's why I gravitated toward berry books.

First there was Blueberries for Sal which reminded me of my huckleberry adventures. It's considered a classic.

Here's where you can find a description and ordering on Amazon.

 

 
Then, when I was upper elementary age, there was Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. This was a book that touched my heart as a child, made me want to read Grapes of Wrath when I was older.

And here's another classic with ordering and description info. 

Now I've read a lot of books in my lifetime and I don't remember all of the children's books I read. But I do remember these two every berry season.

Now that you've let me go down memory lane, here's your reward.  A little dish I whipped up for Memorial Day weekend and will make again for the Fourth of July.  Plenty of protein and low sugar so you can enjoy this brunch dish/dessert without guilt.

Patriotic Muffin-Style Quiche

1 cup Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix

2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
water
1 cup fresh blueberries

whipped goat cheese (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix one cup Pamela's baking mix with whole eggs and egg whites. Stir with a whisk, adding a small amount of water to keep the mixture from becoming stiff. Be sure to combine well but don't over mix.

3) Add blueberries, gently stirring until combined.

4) Pour into a greased glass pie plate.

5) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn and is done in the center.

6) Remove from oven and let cool on the counter for fifteen minutes. Cut into wedges.

7) Garnish with strawberries or additional blue or blackberries. The goat cheese adds additional protein and a great tangy taste to go with the berries. 

8) Store leftovers, if any, in refrigerator.

Do you have any berry picking adventures to tell? What is your favorite berry dish or book?

When you don't have a garden, garden anyway!

It's that weird time at the farmers markets here.  Between cold weather veggies and too early for tomatoes, green beans and all the things I really look forward to during the summer.

It's a weird time at my house too. I can't put in flowers or veggies this year because of a huge remodel we are taking on. So, I'm spending my time back in WWII England and reading about British Victory gardens. I knew plenty about what was going on in the USA but not in England. 

My grandparents, actually my grandfather, had the green thumb and his victory garden grew well. When I was little, he was still out there on the acre and a half, planting. I loved my grandfather's garden. Spent so much time there, accidently spearing potatoes, avoiding Black Widow spiders in the corn, and picking zinnias. My grandfather's garden was so special I commissioned paintings made from the memories I have.

We really regret not having our own family farm to take the grandkidlets to see. So we take the grandkidlets down the road to the local farm and produce stand.

And I might try making a chair garden like this one I saw at a local antique fair. But I don't know that I could replicate the beauty of this one. I'm having not-buying remorse.

So, do you have a garden, veggie or flower? Have you tried to garden and failed? Or had great success with containers? Do you rely on the local farm near by for educating the children in your life?  

Passing the Torch, By-passing the Cans

It was an action packed weekend at the Steele house. Not only was Easter celebrated but a certain young lady turned two. When you are two you get to sit at the big kids table and hunt for your own eggs full of chocolate and quarters alongside your brother and sister.

If you are in your late twenties and early thirties, you get to hunt for harder-to-find eggs full of cash money and Cadbury eggs. Grandma Juju even lets you sit at the adult table but you have to bring part of the meal. It's been kind of hard to let go of making everything, but I'm learning to trust these kids. 

Dear Daughter's boyfriend brought a most excellent green bean casserole. Now remember, we don't do canned soup in our house. Everything has to be made from scratch. But Photog Boy was up to the challenge. The guy is a chef par excellence as well as great photographer and student.

I miss the tradition of canned soup green bean casserole but when you taste something like it was served in a French restaurant, well, tradition takes a backseat to gourmet dining.

Photog Boy respects the right of folks not to like caramelized onions but oh what a topping.

Here's the recipe. It takes a few pans and concentration but oh, it's so worth it.

Haricot Vertes a la Photog Boy

16 oz heavy cream
1 shallot diced or a teaspoon dried shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion sliced
2 boxes fresh Bella mushrooms
6 cups fresh green beans, stems removed (each bean pod cut in half or thirds)
salt and pepper to taste
butter

Step 1: In a large saucepan, melt one tablespoon butter on medium heat, add shallot and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add sliced mushrooms and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 4 dashes black pepper. Cook until liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms about 5-8 minutes.When the liquid is almost evaporated, add the heavy cream. Bring mixture to a boil and lower heat to simmer. Simmer until reduced by half. Remember to stir occasionally throughout. 

Step 2: While mushrooms cook, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons butter in a small saucepan (enough to coat bottom of pan) and melt on low heat. Add sliced onion with pinch salt and pepper. Cook onion until caramelized. (This will take a bit of time but don't be tempted to rush by turning up heat.) Set aside.

Step 3: In a medium pot, bring 3 cups salted water to a bowl. Add green beans and cook until crisp tender (You can also steam) and drain. Set aside.

Step 4: Combine drained green beans and mushroom sauce. Put in 9x13 glass dish. Top with caramelized onions and cook at 350 degrees for thirty minutes or until bubbly. 

So, what dish responsibility have you given over to folks for family dinners or celebrations? Do  you find family saying even though they follow Grandma's directions the {fill in the blank} doesn't taste quite the same? Have you found healthier ways of making a traditional entree, side dish or dessert?
     

It's Tradition: Breakfast Casseroles and Food History - Gluten Free!

It's Holy Week here in North Carolina, a time of traditions like Palm Sunday pageants, egg hunts, and Easter brunches. So I was thrilled when Amazon delivered this book about food traditions in the South on Sunday (yes, a Sunday, apparently our area is full of people who can't wait til Monday).

I heard about The Edible South on The State of Things on a program which discussed the history of food in our state as well as the growth and changes over time in our cuisine -click here to take a listen.    

Marcie Cohen Ferris does an excellent job of covering everything from early basic ingredients to the place of food in the Civil Rights movement to the cuisine influence of New South immigrants
and the challenge of hunger in the region. 

I LOVE reading about food in books. Southern girl I am, when I read a food description, I always circle back to the foods I loved growing up visiting my Nanny's farm in the hollers of Southwest Virginia or Grandmother Hilton's home in small town Bristol, Tennessee. Canned goods, recipes, and stories about relatives always made it back to our home in Washington DC, a town folks don't realize is a Southern town! Food, family and history just seem to go together in my mind.  If you are an author and put food descriptions in your book or make a dish a centerpiece of a scene, I'm your fan for life.


I'm also a big fan of make-ahead breakfast casseroles especially around Easter because I'm Southern. Again, tradition, tradition, tradition but a relatively new one. I can remember Mom making them but not further back. Were they a 1970s invention? Or earlier? Googled. Nothing. Hmm. That rabbit hole took me to the history of eggs. When did folks start eating them? Why are they in a dozen? I knew about their symbolism for Easter (New Life) but I wanted to know more. Tah dah! I found a great article here on foodtimeline.org

Important announcement: For anyone who wants to know the history of a certain food for a certain time period, Foodtimeline.org is one great research site that even includes recipes. 

This year Dear Daughter requested one for her birthday celebration that fell on Palm Sunday.  DD was actually born on Easter so if her birthday doesn't fall on it, it falls near it. A busy time.Thanks, DD, for making it easy for me. Sort of. The ingredient list sure didn't.

Most breakfast casseroles have bread cubes or processed hashed browns as the carb ingredient.  Sausage is an add-in.  But bread's out for me because of the allergies and the texture of gluten free bread just doesn't work for this recipe. Most gluten-free recipes used pre-made hash browns and regular sausage. So we're good, right? Nope, still a problem. With cornstarch to prevent sticking, MSG, and other preservatives, I can't tolerate those ingredients either. So I decided I'd make my own sausage and use roasted potatoes instead of frozen hash browns. I always use small farm or imported cheese. Adaptation here I come.  

Gluten-free, preservative free Breakfast Casserole

The Night Before:


1) Roast three to four pounds of Yukon potatoes cut into one inch cubes (coated in two tablespoons olive oil and dashed with sea salt) at 425 for 40 minutes in a 9X13 pan, stirring midway. After cooling for 15 minutes, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

2) Combine 1.5 pounds of ground pork,  2 tablespoons of Penzey's Breakfast Sausage Seasoning and 1 tablespoon salt (optional) in a medium saucepan or skillet. Cook over medium heat. Drain when fully cooked and refrigerate overnight.  You can also add a bit more sage if you like.

Morning of:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Pour cooked sausage mixture over roasted potatoes in their 9x13 pan. Mix sausage and potato cubes until evenly combined and level in the pan.

3) Mix the following with a whisk in  a large mixing bowl until fully combined: 

8 eggs
16 ounces sour cream
8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar

4) Pour over potato/sausage mixture. Shake until egg mixture fills around the sausage and potatoes. Then stir to make sure fully coated.

5) Cover with aluminum  foil and cook for one hour at 350 degrees.

6) Uncover and cook fifteen more minutes until lightly browned.

7) Top individual squares with roasted red peppers or other garnish.

Folks went back for seconds. I was lucky to get the shot above!  I have a feeling we have a new tradition that will go down in Steele history.

 Have you thought about the place of food in history? Do you have a breakfast casserole you love? Or a special food tradition for Spring or Easter?

Spring Fevers

This is my youngest grandkidlet, Miss M, who loves to be helpful and share tasks like washing dishes and making Easter decor.

She also likes to share germs like the bug she got from her brother. After visiting Wednesday, she was laid low with a combo respiratory/stomach bug on Thursday. Guess who got the same bug on Saturday? But I wouldn't trade the hugs and kisses for anything.


Getting sick in the Spring is a bummer. When my middle sister and I were little, Ann was felled by the evil chicken pox. Being the oldest, I really gave her a hard time about her spots and her covered in calamine lotion look. One day, Mom was giving us a bath. She gave my back a long stare, called my Dad in to look at me. I knew what she was going to say so I preempted her with "I love dem chicken pox." The itching was miserable but missing out on a beautiful Spring was worse. At least, my sister was happy I got my just reward!

Back to now! Never have I been so glad to have a back up blog recipe. Because I sure don't want to eat, let alone cook right now.

After visiting our favorite Irish pub earlier last week to avoid the crowds, ManO and I hunkered down on St. Paddy's Day. We always watch Waking Ned Devine.  It's tradition!

But we needed a meal to honor the Irish in both of us. We can trace our both our roots back, knowing immigration dates and villages ManO came from. So I thought of ingredients:

Potatoes:  The Potato Famine motivated our ancestors to move to the US. I'm not sure I would have been that brave.

Something Green:  Broccoli, one of my fave superfoods, was the perfect color for St. Patrick's Day.

Irish Cheese:  Oh, Dubliner, how I love thee.  Ignore the price! It was on sale for the holiday.

 

I quartered Yukon potatoes, tossed them in olive oil and roasted them for 35 minutes at 425.

Then I tossed in the broccoli to roast another seven minutes.

Then shredded Dubliner went over the veggies and back in the oven until melted.

To serve I topped with sour cream and a bit of bacon, because you know bacon makes everything better. But it was also a frugal meal, reminding us that meat was for the wealthy. 

Add a salad and it's a perfect light meal for early Spring.  

So are you suffering from one of the Spring fevers like allergies, viruses or March Madness? Do you think children are missing out getting the chicken pox vaccine rather than the real thing? How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? And do you have the Irish in ya?

No Time to Cook - A Survival Guide

March is Speedbo #NoLimits Writing for March, check it out here Month for me. I'm writing as much as I can. Unfortunately for ManO, I'm not cooking as much as I should. I had plenty of food in the freezer, ready to pull out in an instant. But three snow storms hit in two weeks. Forced to raid my stash, I'm scrambling. You may not be a writer but it's March, when garden chores pick up, sports start, and folks just want to get out of the house. See #Cabinfever #cure. Life's busy again.

So here I am, trying to get hundreds, no thousands of words written a day, and hopefully not starve our household in the process. So I'm turning to my favorite snacks and picking the best restaurant to grab meals for lunch and dinner. But I'm also going through Yankee Belle and finding the quickest, easiest dinners I can for poor ManO.

Lunch is about quick snacky meals, leftovers or getting out of the house.  Writing at home can be productive but I need breaks for mental and physical reasons. Sometimes it's better to write somewhere else and eat there so you don't feel guilty about taking a spot for hours.

Snunches (snacky lunches): I'm a big fan of fruit and cheese. I take it up a notch by putting a sliced pear (high fiber) and Tillamook cheese on a rice cake and broiling or microwaving til the cheese melts. Nuts or hard boiled eggs are great for snunches too.  And then there are salads I can pre-make and stick in the fridge.

My pear-and-cheese toast would have looked more scrumptious on a pretty plate but I'm so busy I had to eat it off my beaten up but beloved mini cookie sheet.

Favorite lunch franchise of the moment:  - Zoe's Kitchen
I am fortunate to have a local Mediterranean restaurant run by the same family for decades but I discovered Zoe's down the street. It is my favorite place for soup, hummus and a salad, enough to take leftovers home. Healthy, healthy, healthy AND gluten free options galore. AND their seating space is HUGE so I can sit down and read research or plug in and type. 

When I want to eat the Mediterranean Diet but don't have time to cook, Zoe's is where I go.

Yankee Belle Quick Dinners are perfect, for when you have a few moments to cook or can let the oven or crock pot do the work. Dinner is about keeping ManO happy and myself fueled.  All these meals can be adapted by using veggies or gluten free pasta, bread or cake mix/all purpose GF flour.


Jan Drexler's Quick Chicken for Speedbo 
Ruthy's easy barbecued beef sandwiches
Missy's Quick Chili
Virginia's Huevos Rancheros 
Mindy's easy chocolate cake

Now why the chocolate cake? Well, for one, Mindy's posts are full of chocolate ideas. But two. your family may need a reward for leaving you alone to do what you need to do during busy times. Who am I kidding? I need a reward during Speedbo!

Lastly, let the leftovers do the work: Pinterest, that treasure chest of so many good ideas, got me thinking about a great leftover idea. Cupcake leftovers. These aren't Jan's delicious cupcake war desserts but taking leftovers like turkey and dressing, spaghetti, mac and cheese, etc. and putting them in individual cupcake/muffin liners, freezing and then putting them in a freezer safe bag to be reheated later in the week. I remember mini pot pies when I was a child but also spaghetti and mac and cheese in round tins. Works as well today.

So, when life is crazy busy, what do you eat that requires little or no cooking? Where do you like to go to get a healthy meal  you didn't have to fix yourself? Are you ready for the busyness of Spring?

Pancake People versus Bread and Milk People

Here in North Carolina, we've had a mild winter so far. Last week, we even had temps in the 70s. ManO and I've lived in our area long enough to know summer in January or February is a bad sign. There's a winter storm coming right behind all that glorious spring break weather. 

Sure enough, the Jaws music played again. Meteorologists called for a snow possibility and then changed it to an ice storm definitely. Forget Snowpocalypse three years ago, at least that was just snow.

I love snow. Ice is an entirely different matter.

We don't do ice well here in North Carolina. At. ALL. One ice storm we had was a pitiful inch at an early rush hour. People were stuck on I-40 for seven hours, getting out of their cars to do their business behind bushes or just plain old walk home. Children were stranded overnight in schools.  Their teachers and staff stayed with them. They were saints. So you see why we might go a little overboard on cancellations. This time folks heeded warnings and left early...so they could mob the grocery stores.

My beloved snow boots need spikes!

When it comes to storms around here, there are two kinds of people, Pancake people or French Toast fans (as most folks call them, Bread and Milk people). My sister pointed out she has a snow day tradition of waffle making. But waffles are just crazy pancakes IMHO.

Bad weather forecast? French Toast people risk life and limb to get these two items. Plus the eggs which I totally forgot to get more of.

This week's ice storm hit right before Fat/Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. The tradition of eating pancakes right before Ash Wednesday came from when Christians were required to get all the fat and sweet stuff out of their house before Lent.  No point in being tempted for forty days! Take that butter, flour, eggs, syrup and make pancakes. BUT our community pancake suppers were cancelled all over town. Bummed doesn't begin to describe how we felt.

The good news? I had pancake supper ingredients including gluten free pancake mix, syrup and the last two eggs in the carton. Yankee Belle is full of recipes. I didn't need to go the grocery store. No, let me be honest, I was scared to go. The Publix, Harris Teeters and Food Lions were packed with milk and bread people. Long lines, people fighting over the last of everything, and being impatient because they were sure they were going to get stuck in the storm before they got out of the parking lot. Whew. There's no place like home...so long as there's a stocked pantry.

I didn't have to make a full recipe's worth of pancakes but I did. The great thing about these is they freeze well. And believe me, it's freezing here! Down to lower single digits the rest of the week!

Naked pancakes waiting to be all dressed up!

Pancake Supper Buffet Ideas: Feel free to add your own bacon, sausage, ham and pancake toppings. 

Hawaiian Pancakes   - My favorite pancakes of all time and makes me think of Hawaii, which I need right now. I use Pamela's gluten-free baking mix for this one.

Missy's easy Sweet Potato Pancakes   The great thing about these Southern inspired pancakes is you can use gluten-free Bisquick in the mix.

Ruthy's Pancake Heaven   Our New Yorker knows how to win my heart. Chocolate and peanut butter chips! Need I say more? Yes, it's also easy-peasy as she likes to say, thanks to Bisquick.

So, are you a bread and milk person or pancake person when it comes to storms? Did you go to a pancake supper for Shrove Tuesday?  Do you observe giving up something for Lent or do you plan to mark the days in some way before Easter?

What's in Your Dining Room? A Pinterest Adventure

When I promised ManO we would eat in the dining room more often, I didn't realize the ripple effect it would have on my meals, our conversation, and most especially the decor!  One month and I figured we'd be tired of it and I'd get to turn the room I never used into my dream library.

But a funny thing happened. We liked talking to each other and guests without the distraction of the television or dirty dishes (I'm a use all the dishes, spread the mess around kinda cook). There's a reason restaurants are so popular! No television unless we're in a pub and then ManO sneaks looks at the scores. No dirty dishes. Except we have "seat them by the kitchen" faces. We did an informal study once and realized 90-99% of the time, that's where the host leads us unless we say ASAP, "we want to be FAR, FAR, FAR away from the kitchen." I keep hoping it's because that's where a lot of restaurants seat families with children and we look like we're young parents or, at the very least, tolerant grandparent types.

So why didn't we eat in the dining room before now?  It's simple.We'd started referring to it as
"the museum." The dining room was the last decluttering domain, a reminder of times and people past. Last year, we still couldn't bring ourselves to go through all the formal  stuff we'd inherited.

But after our challenging 2014, 2015 needed to start fresh!  This month's experiment proved we liked eating in the dining room. We just needed to make it our own, keep a few valued heirlooms and antiques then mix them with our favorite things. ManO wanted to keep our newlywed furniture (he's sentimental and it's solid wood) but he wouldn't let me paint that maple no matter what Pinterest said!

My $50 budget also kept me under control because Pinterest can tempt you to do things you never thought you'd do.  We wanted an Ameri-Parisien feel to the room. Plenty of ideas on the boards. Faux French linen placemats were a much less expensive touch than the real thing. 

I had a huge grill-front tavern plate rack of my mom's above my buffet. I wish I had a picture. My sisters and I've called it the "pigeon coop" since we were little, if that gives you an idea. It overwhelmed and darkened the room.  Off the wall it went. Wow, a more serene space already.

My favorite antique from my childhood bedroom is the four drawer apothecary chest.

 

I'd spent $17 on four placemats and $20 on wall paint/patch supplies so my personalized art pieces had to be cheap.

 A frame borrowed from another part of the house and an 8x10 print for $3.99 added another dash of  Paris.  ManO looks quite, um, dashing on this bridge over the Seine.

Pinterest helped again when I looked for ways to update our decor.  I love the sign trend out now but that's what it is, a trend. So I went shopping in my house for another frame. I thought about my favorite quotes en Francais and consulted Belle Calhoune  who loves all things French. She also has ten years of French lessons to my seven.

The French have such beautiful words like etoile for star and amour for love. What to choose? But the beauty of making my own "quote art" is I can switch it out. For now I settled on a Matisse quote reflecting my philosophy of life, "There are always flowers for those who wish to see them." It's about finding beauty in the world (see Jan Drexler's Monday post, ) and gratitude in the dark times.

I hope Monet forgives me for using a Matisse quote overlaying a picture we took in his garden. 

By this point my library idea was toast. But no Paris apartment would be without books. Out when all the things that made the hutch look like my grandma's and in came my favorite books and pottery collection.

Best Pinterest book/bookshelf styling tip: No need to buy books by the yard. Use books that you have and love. My flower arranging, spiritual writing and reading, and our travel books look great together without the dust jackets. Bonus, they lighten up the brown hutch I wasn't allowed to paint!

Not everyone can or wants to have a Paris inspired dining room but I leave you with one of the most wonderful spice blends from Penzeys Spices,  Sunny Paris. Such a wonderful blend of purple shallots, chives, green peppercorns, tarragon, and more. I use it on plain chicken and fish to dress it up, in salad dressing, over asparagus and in breakfast dishes. Yummy and so easy to use!

So, if you could have a dining room anywhere in the world, where would it be?  Are you decluttering this winter? Do you have a favorite spice that makes you think of far away lands? PS. Have you visited the Yankee Belle folks' boards on Pinterest? Such fun.

Toasting Special Olympics, My Daughter, and Oatmeal

This is my daughter:

Isn't she pretty?

This is the building she is jumping off, excuse me, rappelling off this weekend. Man O swears there is a difference between jumping and rappelling. Did I mention this building is 35 stories?

It's the tall one. Sigh.

This is the reason why: Special Olympics fund-raiser.  One of ManO's family friends has been a participant in Special Olympics since 1968. Marty Sheets is one of the most famous athletes of the games and is featured in a painting with Eunice Shriver, founder, in the National Portrait Gallery in DC. You can read about him here.  

We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get downtown to see our daughter go down in the second wave of participants. Man O wanted to know originally if we could pay her NOT to jump, I mean rappell, but he has mustered his daddy courage and we are going to go watch.

We needed comfort food for breakfast. Fortunately, October starts oatmeal season at our house.

You can see my ghostly image in the glass.

I've been looking at a way to make my gluten-free oats special. Yep, oats have gluten unless they are grown in special fields. I found a simple trick. So simple I was totally flabbergasted.

NO one told me about toasted oatmeal. I had to stumble on it on Pinterest. What kind of friends do I have???? Why toast oatmeal, you ask?  It gives the oats a rich nutty flavor that really adds something to a bowl at breakfast, cookies or granola.

Toasted Oatmeal

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Spread oats on an ungreased cookie sheet in a thin layer and place in preheated oven.

Toast a minimum of 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Your oats should look like this picture.

 
 How simple is that? One little step that makes all the difference.

Just like one little step off a tall building makes a big difference in the money our local Special Olympics has for events.

So, do you have an easy secret that makes one of your recipes so much better? Do you have any experience with Special Olympics or doing something crazy for charitable purposes?

PS: I'll check in and let you know how it goes! 

Of Pinterest and Pumpkin

I love pumpkin.  You can tell by my Pumpkin: Hue, Chew and More Pinterest Board:

 

I love the color (notice Yankee Belle's background). Well, I must love the form too because I even love white pumpkins. I love decorating with pumpkins inside and out .

I even love little punkins like this one and his daddy before him. It's a tradition in our house to take pictures in the pumpkin patch:

My grandson back in the day

My son back in the day

Sniff, they are both so grown up now.  Well, if you count five grown up.  I know I am not old enough to have one my son's age. Ack!

My grandson has already started begging for pumpkin pie. He takes after Grandma Juju. Any recipe I can get my hands on, I'll try. Oh, but then there are those allergies again. I've learned ways to modify all things pumpkin, dress them up and make them just as luscious as the pins on my Pinterest boards.

I miss a good pie crust but haven't been a fan of fake ones. So I make a nut crust for my "baked pumpkin." It's simple as...well, PIE.

Nut crust:

Put 1/2 cup pecans and pulse til ground. Add one cup almond meal or enough almonds ground in a food processor to make a cup. Pulse again. Add two tablespoons cold butter and pulse til mixed thoroughly. Place in pie plate or glass dish and place a piece of waxed paper over it, spreading over the bottom of the plate.

If you are fixing a refrigerated pie, you can bake the crust at 350 for 10-15 minutes until toasted. Do NOT over brown.  Cool before adding other ingredients.  

 
If you are going to bake your pie ingredients, just pour the filling over the top of the crust and bake as directed.

Healthier Pumpkin filling:
I used a recipe for the filling off the Libby's can for guidance, but I make it healthier. I use the egg whites instead of whole eggs, a half cup skim milk rather than a whole can of evaporated milk, and most importantly, I've reduced the amount of sugar. I have gotten it down to half a cup but it takes time to get used to eating pie that almost tastes like a vegetable rather than solid sugar. Adding vanilla can also help.

4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
1 can pumpkin
1 T pumpkin pie spice or more to taste
1 dash salt

Beat eggs.  Add sugar and spices and beat again til well mixed. Add pumpkin and milk and beat until blended.

Pour into crust and back for 15 minutes at 425 and then lower to 350 for 40 minutes. You don't want the crust to burn.

To make it really pumpkiny, top with pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

 

So are you a pumpkin fan? A Pinterest fan, especially with ? Feel free to look my boards up on Pinterest and share your feelings about pumpkin! A great fall vegetable or greatest?     

Surviving a Coffee Break

Fall has arrived in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  That’s what we call the part of the state between the beach and the mountains. Rolling hills, trees, and universities. Basketball is king in NC but football season is still game on.   

We are a two generation North Carolina State University Family. Three, if you count my Daddy working there for a couple of years.  Man O and I met there.  Our kids went there by choice, not because we forced them. Now the grandkidlets are being trained in all things Wolfpack.  

Our son built a shrine of NC State items around the TV every game. It was bigger than this by the time he left for college.  

The weather's been perfect for football this week.  The apples are coming in. I can make soup and not sweat into the pot. I should be in heaven. But there's a problem. I need to back down my coffee consumption again.  

  

Well, caffeine really. Did you know caffeine withdrawal is classified as a mental disorder? I believe it.  If I didn’t have to cut my morning cup, um cups, and iced teas for health reasons,  there’s no way I would be reducing my drug of choice. Yep, caffeine is a drug. Sigh.

Caffeine is in everything now. Don’t get me started on the new Cracker Jack’d. Yep, the new version of that wonderful concoction of peanuts and caramel corn now has a cousin with caffeine. There’s also potato chips with caffeine and, get this, caffeinated Stay Puft MARSHMALLOWS.  Can you imagine the Stay Puft Marshmallow man on caffeine?  I don't want to either. But then I did:

There’s reasons a plenty to drink coffee, so the experts say. Alertness, diabetes prevention and cancer reduction. But there are reasons you shouldn’t over do. Heart palpitations, stomach problems, the need to find a Starbucks and breaking down if one isn’t near by. It’s addictive. Sigh.

Watching football this week wasn't going to take my mind off the withdrawal symptoms. We State fans love to say we live to be disappointed.  

Drinking lots of water, dealing with a constant headache and fuzzy headiness is no fun. It’s important to recognize your body is going through a shock to its system and needs some TLC.

After reading way too many articles on living through caffeine withdrawal, I decided to use some of the ingredients I found in detox drink recipes to make a side dish for dinner this week. All the benefits and more of the fiber!  

  

Who knew pineapple reduces inflammation, a withdrawal symptom, and apples are a miracle fruit when it comes to reflux issues? Ginger is known for reducing nausea, another side effect. Cinnamon controls blood sugar.  Vanilla enhances the sweetness without too much sugar. Plus working on a recipe would take my mind off missing my cup of joy, um, I mean joe.

How about them apples? Roasted Pineapple and Apple Bake

2 apples, Rome, Granny or other good cooking apples, diced

1 cored pineapple, diced, reserving juice

¼ cup, butter melted

2 Tablespoons sugar or more to taste

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ginger 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients until well coated.

Preheat oven to 425.

Dice the fruits and place in a large bowl.

Pour pineapple juice and stir to coat apples so they won't brown.

Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

Melt butter and add vanilla to the butter.  Stir until blended then pour over fruit.

Stir fruit, spices and butter/vanilla mixture until fruit is well coated.

Place in a 9 X 13 glass dish.

Back for 30-45 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve warm or cold. 

A bowl of yummy goodness. Bonus: it makes  your kitchen smell divine!

 So what's your obsession? Fall food, football or coffee? Have you had to give up coffee or sugar or sports? How did you cope?

Power Balls and Broken Bones

The GAL has a challenge on her hands and it’s an unexpected one at that.

This is my father in law's childhood wheelbarrow, aka "Bone Breaker."

A couple of weeks ago, the above antique toy fell on my crossed legs. Actually my father-in-law's childhood toy wheelbarrow was thrown down by a certain two year old. But what grandparent is going to rat out her grandchild?

You know the rhyme "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."  Well, the two year old didn't have the attention getting vocabulary words she needed so she threw the wheelbarrow at me instead.  Bless her. It's tough going from being the baby to becoming the middle child.

The wheelbarrow hit the end of my femur. I swallowed words but didn't swallow my tears. My five year old grandson kept running into the bathroom and getting squares of toilet paper to put on my booboo. He's going to be a doctor some day. I just know it. So proud. 

I broke down and went to the doctor when the pain kept getting worse. X-rays told the tale. Think cracked hard-boiled eggs.

It’s what the end of my femur looks like at the moment.  A cracked hard-boiled egg shell.

Now you might think you don't have to pay attention to this post because your bones are fine. I have osteoporosis due to decades of thyroid supplement use and probable gluten issues.  But the doc says  “regular” people also dent their bones all the time. No one eats as much calcium as they should.

As far as my own healing process, not much to do but take anti-inflammatories and eat high calcium food to help in the healing process. I can't take calcium pills. They, like so many meds, have ingredients that spell allergy trouble for me.  

What foods are high in calcium? Some little known facts:

Smelt - The fish not the metal production process. Sardines too. But you have to eat the little bones (sticks). Nope, not going to happen for me.

Condensed milk - two tablespoons give you 10% of your daily requirement.

Sesame seeds and almonds (stones if you will) - who knew an ounce has almost as much calcium as a cup of milk?

Arugula- if you eat a salad made with three cups, that is almost 400 mgs.

Now there are more common calcium boosters: Milk, cheese, yogurt, almonds, broccoli and dark leafy green veggies.

I have the common calcium boosters covered.  What intrigued me the most was the seed and nut idea. I need a snack to keep my blood sugar regulated. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone (or a few). I'd make Power Balls.

No, no, no. I didn't go out and buy a lottery ticket. But I might be able to afford one now! Power BARS are an expensive snack to take hiking or rely on. Most cost over a $1 a bar, more if sold individually. Ah, but Power Balls are a different story.

Power Balls, some without coconut for my friends who are not fans.

Homemade Power Balls, Raw Balls or Nut Balls are the latest craze in the raw food world. Raw food means you stick as close to natural states in food. No cooking to take out the nutrients. Power Balls are the perfect snack when you just need a little something to keep you going  or a snack to take hiking. Yay, it's almost hiking season again. And I plan on being healed up and ready to go.

As with most of my recipes, I looked at a bunch of recipes on Pinterest and adapted them to make my own version. The great thing about Power Balls is you add a dab of this and a dab of that. Some folks like to add a bit of coconut oil. Some like to add honey. Some add a nut butter. Some soak their nuts to make them bind better (ewwwwww! I just couldn't do it.)  I just wanted to keep the calcium high and the sugar lower than some of the recipes.

Going nuts! You'll have plenty leftover for the next batch. They won't last long.

 Julie's High Calcium Power Balls

15-20 small pitted dates (fewer if they are larger)
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sunflowers
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (you can also use honey or maple syrup but I wanted the calcium)
Dash salt (if you like a sweet and salty taste), optional
Coconut, sesame seeds, cocoa powder or confectioners sugar for coating, optional

Step 1: Chop dates and then process in a food processor or blender until they almost make a paste. Remove and put in mixing bowl.


Step 2:  Add almonds and pecans to processor, pulse gently until rough chopped. Add to date mixture. Stir to distribute dates in with nuts or use your hands.


Step 3: Add sunflowers and pumpkin seeds.  Mix again.

Step 4: Add sweetened condensed milk, salt, and stir until evenly distributed.

Step 5: Using a tablespoon measure or cookie scoop, drop balls in coating, rolling around to coat.

Step 6: Place on parchment or wax paper and place in freezer for at least one hour.

Step 7: Transfer to airtight container and store in refrigerator one week.

Makes approximately 20 one-inch balls.  One ball equals one serving.  

So what is your favorite high calcium food? Have you ever broken a bone? Recited the rhyme Sticks and Stones more often than you'd like?