Grain free pumpkin "brownies"

A friend of mine is doing the Primal diet and pinned a recipe (gotta love Pinterest!) for pumpkin brownies.  They are completely grain free, so they work for a lot of special diets, and only contain 5 ingredients so they're very easy to make.  I'm not quite sure I'd call them brownies, but they are a very moist, cake like, treat. 

 

The first step I took was to find some willing assistants and get them set up on step ladders so they could see the counter.  

I collected all my ingredients: steamed and pureed pumpkin or squash (I used some squash from the garden), nut butter (mine is a homemade combo of almonds and cashews), 1 egg, baking soda and honey

Then I gave the little girl a spoon full of nut butter as she loves it and kept screaming and pointing at it. 

Mix everything together.  (I added some cinnamon and clove to make it a little more pumpkin pie like, but I think chocolate chips would be a nice addition as well)

All baked and ready to enjoy!  

Almond Butter Pumpkin Brownies  from This Primal Life

Feel free to get creative with substitutions.   Try other nut butters, other forms of squash, other sweeteners, spices, mix-ins, the possibilities are endless. I made several batches using either fresh squash that I steamed and mashed or canned pumpkin. I preferred the fresh squash to the canned pumpkin, but the latter worked perfectly well and seemed appropriate for the upcoming holiday.

Consider topping with applesauce and/or whipped cream for a delicious dessert.
Ingredients:
1 cup almond butter
¾ cup mashed pumpkin or other squash, canned or steamed
1 egg
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp baking soda
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix well.  Pour into a greased 8 x 8 in pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Serves 8.

Food rut...

I've been in sort of a food rut lately.  I get towards the end of my meal plan and just don't feel like eating anything I have scheduled, or I get to the point where I'm just bored with things and need something new.  It happens every few months and I just need to look for some new things to try.  Mike reminded me about a vegetable cook book that we have so I decided to pull it out to get some ideas for our fall harvest from the garden.  I made a list of all the recipes I want to try, then made up a new menu for the next few weeks until we get our meat order in.  I'll try the new recipes and let you know how I like them.  Here are the new items I plan to try:
Roasted green beans
Sauteed green beans with garlic and tomatoes
Smothered pork chops
Pasta with kale and beans
Leek and potato gratin
Roasted leek tart (if we have enough leeks)
Mapled parsnips
Balsamic glazed parsnips
Glazed delicata squash rings
Maple whipped winter squash
Roasted butternut squash with apple cider glaze
Carmelized winter squash and onion pizza
Sauteed grated beets
Pickled beets

I also saw a delicious squash and white bean soup on a blog that I need to print out the recipe for.  I love squash soup and this one looked really good!  So, hopefully I'll have a few more food posts coming up soon!

Birthday cheesecake

Things have been a little busy here, we've been getting a lot of food canned for the winter and I just haven't had a lot of free time. I'm also finding that while I can easily cook dinner for the family every night, it takes a lot of extra time to get pictures of everything while I'm cooking.  Hopefully things will start slowing down soon and I can get some more meals posted. 

For my husband's birthday every year I make him a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake instead of a birthday cake.  It's our favorite dessert and I look forward to it every year!  I make one major change to the recipe, it calls for a chocolate crust but my husband doesn't like it so I make it with a plain graham cracker crust instead. If you've never made a cheesecake before, don't worry, it's really easy to do!  

The recipe calls for puree from the raspberries.   When I remember, I save some of the puree I use for making jam, however, I forgot this year....  So, I just took the berries and mashed them through a strainer to get the puree, without the seeds. 

Graham cracker crust all baked and ready for filling.

Mmmm, mixing up the cheesecake batter!  It tastes delicious even without baking (not sure a bowl of batter would make a good birthday cake though...)

The cheese cake is cooked in a water bath.  For this, you line your springform pan with foil, to keep the water out.  Then you place that pan in a larger roasting pan filled with an inch or so of hot water. 

There are 2 layers to this cake, the raspberry layer and the white chocolate layer.  The raspberry is cooked first, then the white chocolate is spread on top of it, and it's cooked for a bit longer.  Go slow so you don't mess up the layer below, as it's still pretty soft. 

All finished and decorated!

Double Decker Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake  Bon Appétit | March 2001

Crust
1 9-ounce package chocolate wafer cookies, coarsely broken
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 12-ounce package frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed, juices reserved  (I used fresh berries)
6 ounces good-quality white chocolate, finely chopped

4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

White chocolate curls (optional)

For crust: Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Double-wrap outside of pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place cookies in processor and blend until coarse crumbs form. Add butter and process until evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom and halfway up sides of prepared pan. Bake crust 8 minutes; cool on rack.

For filling: Press raspberries and juices through fine strainer into small bowl. Measure 1/2 cup puree for filling (reserve remaining puree for another use). Stir white chocolate in small metal bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water until just melted and smooth; set aside.
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth and fluffy. Beat in flour, then eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in whipping cream and vanilla. Transfer 2 1/4 cups batter to medium bowl; stir in melted white chocolate. Stir reserved 1/2 cup raspberry puree and almond extract into remaining batter in large bowl.
Pour raspberry batter into prepared crust; place springform pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of pan. Bake until raspberry filling is softly set in center and beginning to puff at edges, about 50 minutes. Remove roasting pan from oven; let raspberry layer cool 5 minutes to firm slightly.
Starting at edge of pan, spoon white chocolate batter in concentric circles onto raspberry layer. Smooth top. Bake until white chocolate filling is set in center, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate cake uncovered until cold, at least 4 hours. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead; cover and keep refrigerated.)
Cut around pan sides with small knife to loosen cheesecake; release sides. Garnish cheesecake with white chocolate curls, if desired.