Whole Spelt Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Muffins

Baking season is just around the corner, and pumpkin season is here.  I'm kicking it off with muffins.  My young kids love these in the mini sizes.  They'll happily devour 3 or 4 mini muffins in one sitting, but won't touch a regular sized one.  It must be a size thing.

If you don't have whole spelt flour, you can substitute 1:1 with whole wheat flour.

Whole Spelt Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Muffins
Adapted from this recipe.
Yields 1 dozen muffins (4 dozen mini muffins).

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups whole spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin pan(s) with paper muffin cups.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together first 7 (dry) ingredients.
• In another mixing bowl, whisk together next 5 (wet) ingredients.
• Pour wet mix into dry mix and combine.  Do not over mix.
• Fold in the dried cranberries and walnuts.
• Divide batter evenly into the prepared pans. 
• Bake until golden, 18 - 20 minutes for regular muffins, 14 - 15 minutes for mini muffins.

These freeze really well if you don't get around to eating them all within a few days.  Or if you want to make a double batch.  My kindergartener loves the mini ones for her mid-morning snack at school. I take a couple straight out of the freezer in the morning (7:30am-ish), toss them into her lunchbag, and by the time she eats her snack (10:30am-ish) the muffins are completely thawed and good to eat.

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July - Disney's Brave-themed 5th birthday cookies
4 dozen vanilla sugar cookies, 1 dozen chocolate sugar cookies

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July - 90th birthday; heart cookies
1 dozen vanilla sugar cookies, 1 dozen chocolate sugar cookies

Watermelon and Grape Smoothie

It is HOT out today.  We went to the Farmer's Market near closing time and I snagged two small watermelons for a great price.  Then we ran a bunch of errands, and when we all got home, we were hot and tired.  So I figured, what better way to use up one of the sweet, juicy watermelons than in an ice cold smoothie?  I had some leftover grapes and threw those in as well.  So refreshing!

Watermelon and Grape Smoothie

Ingredients:

• watermelon, cut into small chunks, seeds removed if necessary
• seedless green grapes
• crushed ice cubes (or whole ice cubes if your blender is strong enough)
• lemon wedges
• honey (optional)

Directions:

• Add watermelon, grapes and crushed ice cubes to your blender.  I used a 2:1:1 ratio (2 parts watermelon, 1 part grapes, 1 part crushed ice cubes)  and it was perfect.  Spritz in some lemon juice.  My watermelon was a little on the bland side, so I added a drizzle of honey.
• Blend until smooth and enjoy.

Avocado Egg Salad

I've been seeing many Pinterest posts about avocado egg salad.  I love avocados.  I'll put them in anything.  So in the past few weeks I tried out several of these avocado egg salad recipes, and let me tell you, they are GOOD!  Some recipes add a little mayo, some add sour cream, others add Greek yogurt, and even others add Dijon mustard, but you know what?  I prefer it straight up.  Just hard boiled eggs, avocado, a squirt of lemon juice, and salt & pepper to taste.

I basically replaced the mayo in a traditional egg salad with avocado.  I like a 1/4:1 ratio of avocado to egg, in other words, 1/4 medium avocado to 1 large hard boiled egg.  1/2 avocado and 2 eggs is perfect for a lunch for me.  And of course you can add whatever mix-ins you like (scallions, chives, celery, onion, capers, mustard, etc.) just like with a traditional egg salad.

While I was trying out the different avocado egg salad recipes, I began thinking of other ways to serve it besides as a sandwich or on crackers, because, you know, a girl's gotta get her veggies in.  I stuffed it into little sweet peppers.  I filled celery sticks and topped cucumber slices with it.  I rolled it in lettuce leaves.  And I tossed it with cooked spaghetti squash.  Don't try that last one with the spaghetti squash, though.  It was, well, yuck.

Avocado Egg Salad
Inspired by this recipe, this recipe, and this recipe, among many others.

Ingredients:

• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
• 1/2 medium ripe avocado, peeled and diced
• salt & pepper to taste
• a slice of lemon

Directions:

• Mash the first 3 ingredients together with a fork along with the juice squeezed from the lemon slice, and serve however you like.

Salade Composée, Day 7, Smoked Salmon

I'm ending this week-long series with a bang.  I absolutely love smoked salmon.  This salad was so good it didn't need any dressing.  Maybe just a light sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Salty, creamy, juicy, crunchy, yummy for my tummy.  :-)

Salade Composée, Day 7, Smoked Salmon


Ingredients:

• smoked salmon (I got mine from Trader Joe's)
• reduced fat cottage cheese
• shredded carrot
• sliced cucumber
• fresh heirloom tomato from your generous neighbor's yard
• edamame
• salt & pepper

Directions:

• Arrange ingredients on a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Salade Composée, Day 6, Mahi Mahi and Beets

Salade Composée, Day 6, Mahi Mahi and Beets


Ingredients:

• leftover baked mahi mahi
• steamed broccoli
• steamed cauliflower
• sauteed trumpet mushrooms
• boiled red beets
• Newman's Own Light Italian dressing

Directions:

• Arrange ingredients on a plate and drizzle lightly with dressing.

Salade Composée, Day 5, Roasted Tofu

I wanted to use garbanzo beans but didn't have any on hand, so I used Great Northerns.  Oh, and don't over-steam your asparagus like I did.  ;-)

Salade Composée, Day 5, Roasted Tofu


Ingredients:

• 1 package firm tofu
• olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 can Great Northern beans, washed and drained
• Newman's Own Light Italian dressing
• romaine, chopped
• 1/2 Fuji apple, chopped
• asparagus, steamed
• grape tomatoes

Directions:

• Blot the tofu well with a paper towel to remove as much water as possible.  Cut into bite-sized cubes.  Toss with some olive oil and TSSS, roast at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes until lightly golden all around.  You will need 1/4 - 1/3 of the roasted tofu for this salad.  (You can use the rest in tacos!)
• While the tofu is roasting, toss the beans with a couple tablespoons of Newman's Own dressing.  Refrigerate until ready to use, about 15 minutes.  You will need about 1/4 of the beans for this salad. Store the rest in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Place romaine lettuce on a plate.  Arrange the rest of the ingredients on top and drizzle lightly with dressing.

Salade Composée, Day 4, Chicken Sausage

We went to a friend's birthday party for lunch today, so the salade composée had to wait until dinner.  It totally hit the spot.  I used Aidells chicken sausage from Costco.

Salade Composée, Day 4, Chicken Sausage


Ingredients:

• romaine lettuce, chopped
• baby cucumber, sliced
• grape tomatoes
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• feta chunks
• chicken sausage, grilled per package instructions, then sliced
• Newman's Own Light Italian dressing

Directions:

• Place lettuce on a plate and arrange the other ingredients on top.  Drizzle with dressing.

Salade Composée, Day 3, Roasted Mediterranean

We went to the Farmer's Market this morning, and I picked up some beautiful organic produce.  I found a gorgeous purple eggplant and some fresh okra.  I decided to roast them with a giant zucchini from my CSA farm box.  Since I seasoned the veggies before roasting them, I only needed an ever so light spritz of dressing on the salad.  So good!

The veggies have different roasting times (eggplant 45 mins, zucchini 25 mins, okra 15 mins), so I started with the eggplant and then added the others along the way.  Mine all fit on one baking sheet, but feel free to use 2 or 3 if your sheets are smaller.

This makes a lot of roasted veggies, so I will refrigerate the leftovers to go with dinner tonight or tomorrow night.

Salade Composée, Day 3, Roasted Mediterranean


Ingredients

• 1 medium purple eggplant, washed and diced
• 1 large zucchini, washed and diced
• 1-ish pound fresh okra, washed
• olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• grape tomatoes
• olives
• leftover rotisserie chicken, shredded
• Newman's Own Light Italian dressing

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a large bowl, toss the eggplant, zucchini and okra with a few tablespoons of olive oil and several dashes of TSSS.  Place the eggplant in a single layer on one side of a large baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes.  Then add the zucchini to the pan and continue roasting for 10 more minutes.  Then add the okra and finish roasting for 15 minutes until all the veggies are tender.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
• Arrange the roasted veggies with the rest of the ingredients onto a plate and drizzle sparingly with dressing.