Pumpkin Oat Pancakes (Gluten Free)

Autumn is good for only a few things: crisp apples, no air conditioning, pretty landscapes, and the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Otherwise, it really just portends the winter apocalypse, but you know, let's be positive about my toes being perpetually cold between now and April.

To cheer myself of the cold morning blues, I was craving something that tasted like fall, but preferably with slightly less sugar. Pancakes came to mind as a great carrier of pumpkin spice, and a quick scan for similar recipes landed me on Cookie + Kate's banana oat pancakes. Now, Kate is a pro - her photos are amazing, the measurements exacting. and the recipes make you drool. I adapted her recipe, adopting the oat flour so the pancakes would be more whole grain, but substituting pumpkin for the banana.

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes
1 dry cup oats
12 oz pumpkin puree
1 inch grated ginger
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt, and nutmeg
1/2 cup warm water

1. Make oat flour out of old-fashioned oats: Pour one cup of oats into a food processor and process until it is ground well. (I also added a handful of almonds to the food processor to make the pancakes nuttier.)
2. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the pumpkin puree, butter, ginger, and sugar to the eggs and mix.
4. In a larger mixing bowl, mix the oat flour, baking soda, salt, and spices
5. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir a few times to incorporate.
6. The batter should be the consistency of melted ice cream. If it is too thick, add water or milk to thin it. Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes for the oats to soak up the liquid.
7. Heat up a skillet or non stick pan. Spray with cooking spray if you're not using a nonstick.
8. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan (to make a regular sized pancake). I made mini's so these were about 2 tablespoons of batter.
9. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the pancake is cooked at the edges and the pancake comes off the pan easily. The pan side should be golden brown.
10. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes
11. Serve with maple syrup and apples.

Chocolate Almond Muffins (Low Fat)

On my never ending quest to make breakfast a priority rather than an after thought, I proudly present you with Chocolate Almond Muffins. Reminiscent of Cocoa Puffs and the cocoa dusted Diamond brand almonds, the muffin is chocolately, but not overly so, and chock full of nutty goodness. I modified the recipe from Sparkpeople (link) and used ingredients I had on hand. Unfortunately that meant the muffins would be low fat rather than fat free, but its not like I'm counting calories anyway.

Chocolate Almond Muffins
Makes 12, takes 20-30 min


1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup slivered almonds

3/4 cup (6oz. container) low fat yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, sifting to avoid large lumps. Include the almonds here.
3. In a different bowl, mix all the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry bowl and fold. Be careful not to overmix the batter as this will make the muffins too dense. Its okay if there is still some dry powder here and there.
5. Bake for 12 minutes. 
6. Cool and enjoy.
    

Ginger Almond Egg Custard

I first tried ginger egg custard when I was in Hong Kong. Initially, I was skeptical - how could shops make only steamed egg custard and turn a profit? It can't be THAT good. But it was. It was warm and silky and just a touch sweet. It was fragrant and just a little spicy. And in cute little cups, its downright classy. Until now I haven't been brave enough to try my own - but its pretty easy if you're comfortable with steaming.

Ginger Almond Egg Custard
Serves 4

3 large eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1.5 cups milk (2% in my case)
4 tsp ginger juice*
1 tsp almond extract

Special equipment:
Grater
Strainer/fine sieve (tea strainer works well if its fine enough)
Steamer**

*Ginger juice - grate a fresh piece of ginger over a bowl. Squeeze the ginger pulp to separate the juice from the ginger solids. Discard solids. For 4 teaspoons I had to grate about 1.5 inches.

**I'm a bad Chinese person - I don't own a steamer or the little metal trivet that most families own! So I had to ninja a steamer using:
Large pot with lid
Metal colander
Aluminum foil

If your colander has feet and fits at the bottom of the pot, you can fill water just to the bottom of the colander. Mine had handles, so it actually hung from the top of the pot and I had to seal the open edges with aluminum
foil. The key to steaming is to gently heat the food using the pressure and moisture. The food should not touch the boiling water and the pot must trap all the steam.

1. Set up your steamer. Fill with several cups of water and set to boil. When it boils, reduce heat to medium.
2. In a mixing bowl, preferably with a spout, whip the eggs with a whisk.
3. Whisk in the sugar a little at a time until dissolved.
4. Whisk in the milk and almond extract.
5. Add in the ginger juice and stir slowly. Don't whisk.
6. Pour the mixture through the strainer to remove ginger pulp, bubbles, and egg strands. It should fill four ramekins.
7. Place the four ramekins in the steamer. Steam on medium heat for five minutes.
8. The custard is set when jiggly but not liquidy. It will look exactly the same so you'll want to test with the back of a spoon. Enjoy warm. Okay as cold.

Mango Pudding with Basil Lime Whipped Cream

Mango pudding is one of my nostalgia foods. It reminds me of church picnics and Dixie cups. It recalls memories of Hong Kong and dims sum over Victoria Harbor. Its cheerful color and tropical flavor never fails to put a smile on my face or impress friends. The smooth silky consistency and rich mango burst of flavor make this one of my favorite desserts.

And it is deceptively easy to make! And if the mango wasn't good enough, I also have a special whipped cream that will put you right over the edge. This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever made.

Mango Pudding
Serves 8, 20 minutes active cooking

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup room temperature water
1 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups mango puree (I buy a can from the Indian grocery for about $2 for about 25 oz)
1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 tablespoon lime juice

1. Set up a baking tray with 8 ramekins/molds/cups. Each should have capacity for about 6 oz. Clear a shelf in the refrigerator.
2. Heat the 1 cup of water.
3. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, preferably with a spout for pouring, add sugar, salt, and gelatin. Add 1/2 cup room temperature water and whisk to incorporate for a minute.
4. Add the hot water to melt the sugar and gelatin. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and gelatin is a little frothy. 
5. Add mango, heavy cream, and lime juice and stir to combine.
6. Pour into the ramekins in equal servings
7. Refrigerate for approximately 2 hours. Serve cold.

Basil Lime Whipped Cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
4 basil leaves, minced

1. Zest the lime into a small sturdy mixing bowl. 
2. Add the minced basil leaves and sugar. With a fork or spoon, grind sugar into the zest and basil to release the essential oils and blend the flavors. You should have green sugar!
3. Add the whipping cream. With a hand mixer, slowly beat the sugar and cream mixture. You can slowly increase the speed as long as you're not going to splash yourself!
4. Whip the mix for about 5 minutes until you have soft peaks. The cream will actually increase in volume because of the air, so don't worry if you don't think you have enough!
5. Serve 1 tablespoon on top of mango pudding.

Quick Plum Granola Cobbler

I tried another batch of granola bars today and had a ton of little granola scraps at the bottom of the dish. Of course I could just enjoy as crumbly and delish as is - but why not have some fun and enjoy some extra vitamins too? Its quick, easy, and makes a super fast warm breakfast or low fat dessert.

Quick Plum Granola Cobbler
Serves 1, 10 min

1 plum diced
2 tablespoons granola
3 tablespoons milk

1. In a little bowl or dish, layer in diced plum. 
2. Top with granola from leftover granola bars scraps.
3. Spoon milk over the mixture
4. Microwave 1 minute
5. Devour

Would be excellent with peach or apple, berries or pineapple - really just go crazy.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

I know, I know - its much too early in the year for pumpkin related foods! But if you know anything about me, I cannot resist pumpkin goodies! So it was quite serendipitous when this past weekend I enjoyed some pumpkin ice cream and came across this recipe from AllRecipes.com!

Obviously I adapted it - I didn't want to use the oven given the weather and I only had half a can of pumpkin left in the freezer. And I also have an undying hatred for raisins, so those are replaced by dried cranberries.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding  Serves 8
about an hour and a half

Pudding:
1 qt water
1 cup Arborio rice
4 cups milk (2% in my case)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/3 sugar (to taste. I think I added a smidge more)
1 can pumpkin puree (not filling. And I used half a can because that's all I had!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground clove

Topping:
1/2 cup minced dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds
cinnamon to dust

1. Boil the water. When its rolling, add the rice, reduce heat to medium low, and cook for 7 minutes - the rice should be cooked about 3/4th of the way through. Drain well.
2. Boil the milk on medium high heat. Add the vanilla, salt, and rice, then reduce the heat to medium low. Let the mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring often. 
3. Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. Reduce heat to low. Continue to stir frequently. Simmer for another 30 min or until the mixture has reached the desired consistency. 
4. All pudding to cool and set before serving. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle cranberry almond mixture to top.

Fruit Salad --> Fruit Parfait

I loooooooooooooove LOVE loooove summer. Not just because it warm out, or the leisurely way everyone goes about their lives. But because of the FRUIT. When you walk around parks with the farmer's markets, the fruits call to you, screaming, "EAT ME!" They tempt you as you peruse by with their scented nectar, pulling you in with their perfume. The berries, the peaches, the pineapples and melons. And they seem to get me every time.

And then Suanne has a treasure trove of fruit. In a one-person household -____-;;

Now Kelly will tell you she freezes her fruit. Suanne will tell you its a crime of nature not to eat them now. hahaha. So I make fruit salad!

My most recent fruit salad included strawberries, peaches, apple, and orange segments plus zest. Let me tell you how to segment an orange - otherwise called supremes.

You can watch chef Ming (and his always color coordinated dish towels to his shirts) supreme an orange here:


Technique: How to Supreme Citrus Fruit

1. Get a SHARP knife. This will not work with a butter knife. If you need zest, zest the fruit first.
2. Take your orange/lemon/lime/grapefruit/pomelo and slice off a bit from the top and bottom. (aka the part where the stem was). You want to cut enough so that you slice through the pith (the white squishy part) and can see the fruit.
3. Stand the fruit on the sliced edge.
4. Slice the fruit from the top, cutting with the curve of the fruit, separating the pith/skin from the fruit. This will make orange juice on your cutting board, so make sure you have a good hold on the fruit. Take your time.
5. Continue to slice all the pith and skin from the fruit so you have a globe of solid orange/lemon/whatever.
6. When you look at the fruit, you should see the longitudinal lines (vertical) that separate the segments. Cut just a smidge to the left and right of these lines and wiggle the supreme out. Now you have yummy fruit, with no pith or membranes! Isn't that faster than peeling?
7. Take the leftover membrane after you've removed all the segments, and give it a good squeeze. Reserve if you need some of the juice :)

And now for the parfait! When you have too much fruit salad, or just want to dress it up, grab some yogurt and you have a very impressive breakfast or light dessert.

Summer Fruit Parfait
Serves four large portions or six smaller ones

Two peaches
1 apple (granny smith or fuji)
1 orange
pint of strawberries
honey
plain or vanilla yogurt
sliced nuts (almonds for me)

1. Wash and dry your fruit.
2. Get rid of leaves, pits, and not so yummy parts of the fruit, like bruises
3. Zest and supreme the orange (no juice!! just the supremes and zest!)
4. Slice your fruit into 1/2 inch cubes. (the smaller the cubes, the prettier the parfait. Bigger cubes are great for just salad)
5. Toss in a big bowl!
6. Squirt a teaspoon of honey over the top, mix well. (if you just want salad stop here)
7. Grab 4 or 6 wine glasses
8. Add 3/4 an inch of fruit.
9. Add a layer of yogurt. Add a layer of fruit, yogurt, etc until you hit the top
10. Top with yogurt and the nuts.
11. Serve within 30 min. Salad is good for about 24 hours, then it gets kinda soppy.
12. ENJOY!