Pumpkin Spice Concentrate

Tis the season! Pumpkins Pumpkins everywhere!  I love this time of year! There are so many things you can do with pumpkins! If I were a normal human being, I would get a fresh organic pumpkin, cook it down and make pumpkin puree for all of my recipes. Unfortunately I am allergic to raw pumpkin. Not just allergic, but severely allergic. So to spare my family from having to rush me to the hospital. I have to use the canned organic pumpkin. I can however enjoy the pumpkins in there natural state. As long as they are not cut open... I am fine. I have so many recipes that I will be diving into the next few weeks. A lot of them require a pumpkin spice concentrate. Here is the base recipe for you to refer to.

Pumpkin Spice Concentrate

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar or agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups water

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine everything in a pan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, and let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the mixture to become a thick syrup.

Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Use this for a base in a Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Spice Martini, and in baking cookies and cakes.

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Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil

I have been hearing a lot lately about the benefits of Coconut oil and how I should be using it in the place of Canola Oil. So I was super excited to get a package today from Tropical Traditions. They sent me a Gold Label Organic Virgin Coconut Oil. I instantly got to work doing a little bit of research on the best way to cook with it.

Since coconut oil is highly saturated at 92 percent, it's very stable and resistant to spoilage.When heated, it is 12 times more resistant to oxidation than canola oil. Use it for frying, greasing pans, baked goods, etc. It doesn't even have to be refrigerated.

Coconut oil can be used for all your meal preparations just as you would with other oils, with the exception of dressings. Simply mix another oil like virgin olive oil for salad dressings. It doesn't make a good salad dressing because it hardens due to its high melting point. That high melting point is the same thing that makes it so great to cook with.

I learned a lot about how good Coconut oil is for you. Not just in cooking. Some people take it by the spoonful several times per day to help with skin, hair, immune system, weight loss... you name it!
What is extraordinary about Tropical Traditions is "Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is a truly unrefined coconut oil. This coconut oil is made on Mt. Banahaw and surrounding areas from organic coconuts. Coconuts are used fresh (within 24-48 hours of harvest) from small family farms on Mt. Banahaw and other rural places in Quezon Province, the coconut capital of the Philippines. Only the highest quality coconuts are hand-picked from each harvest. The volcanic soil of Mt. Banahaw makes these organic coconuts some of the most nutritionally rich coconuts in the world!"

I absolutely have loved cooking with this stuff! I am converted! Don't be confused. When you cook with it, it will not have a coconut flavor. I recently made fried chicken and fried green tomatoes with it. The meals were perfectly cooked with no after taste. Yum!

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Vegetarian Appetizer

We recently had fun doing a blind wine tasting at our house. I made up a bunch of small appetizers to eath through the night. My friend is really good at making the plate look "pretty". This is one appetizer we did with the organic cucumbers I got at Chino Farms.

I really like these because they are healthy finger food. I have to have more of these things around for my daughter to grab and go with. She recently went out to eat at a sushi place and didn't think twice about putting eel sauce on her California Roll. Heads up to all of you. Eel sauce has gluten. My daughter woke up to rashes and major mood swings. Oh joy. It is going to be a long week.

Here is how we made the cucumber appetizer:

Slice Cucumbers into 1 1/2 inch disks.

With a melon baller, hollow out 3/4 of the flesh, be sure to leave about 1/4 on the bottom to prevent filling from leaking out.

whisk together

8oz Cream Cheese

2 TBSP milk

1 tsp dill

2 TBSP Cilantro

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Whisk together in a kitchen aid until it is light and fluffy. Put into a piping bag and pip into centers of cucumber. Top with sliced olives and you have yourself a great Vegetarian Appetizer!

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Swiss Chard

I found this lovely swiss chard at Chino farms the other day. It was so pretty that it had to come home with me. It stayed nice and healthy in a jar of water for several days until I decided on how I was going to serve it. It is best served as a side dish. This is a simple way to prepare it. It adds color and nutrition to your plate.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks discarded, leaves cut into wide ribbons

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil on a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook until tender and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and balsamic vinegar; cook and stir until the chard is wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Simple, quick and nutritious.

Cilantro Pepper Chutney

Chutney is a condiment that can be consumed with practically any meal. This specific recipe is for a spicy Chutney that mainly has Cilantro and  Chili Peppers. Though Chutney has an Indian origin it is served with many types of cuisine. I love to add this chutney as an edible garnish to add color on the plate. It works well with Mexican food, Persian food and really well as a sauce with meat. I got these beautiful peppers at Chino Farms and I was dying to use them.

This recipe is not for someone who is sensitive to "heat" in food. Very spicy, but very good. Randy would like to say it goes well with a strip steak. Me... I like it with anything from rice to fish. You can also cook your protien or vegetables with this as the seasoning. It will keep in a jar in the fridge for 3 months.

TIP: Wear gloves if dealing with hot peppers.

Here is what I used:

2 bunches Cilantro chopped

4 Peppers I used a mix of Habenero and Jalepeno

1 head of Garlic –crushed

Salt

Juice of one Lemon

1/2 cup Vinegar

Mix all the ingredients except cilantro in a blender and blend until chopped fine and blended.

Add blend and cilantro into a food processor and pulse a few times to fully chop and blend flavors.

Refrigerate until you are ready to serve it. I use it as decoration on the plate. It adds color and flavor to any dish.

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Lime Sorbet Palate Cleanser

Last night we had a wine tasting at our home. Wine tasting can be really tricky unless you have a palate cleanser between courses. I have found Lemon or Lime Sorbet to be the best. Because of my lime tree that never quits... I made Lime this time, but you can use the same recipe and substitute Lemon for lime to get Lemon Sorbet. To use affectively you just take a teaspoon in your mouth in between wines or food courses.

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon lime zest

In medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the water, sugar, and lime juice to a simmer.

Cover the pan, lower the heat slightly, and cook for about 3 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture to room temperature. Stir in the lime zest. Chill the mixture for 2 hours. Pour into icecream maker and run it for 30 minutes.

Scoop and serve.

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