Morning Starter

I'm veering off of summer today, because I have a headache and just feel like sitting quietly with a relaxing treat, so thought I'd share that with you.

'Tis the season of Pumpkin Spice everything (except that a lot of it includes no pumpkin at all), but especially in the coffee-shop-addicted Pacific Northwest, the Pumpkin Spice Latte and it's variation, the Pumpkin Spice Frappe, are big news when they're first available.  We bought one of the latter from our local shop, but being used to homemade concoctions with more nutrition, we found them to be too sweet.  --Also, of course, too expensive to enjoy very often.

Last year, I shared a homemade version of the hot, pumpkin spice latte.  This is our homemade, whole-foods variation of the cold, blended drink.  I started by using a powdered frappe mix, but when we ran out of that, made it using ingredients we normally have on hand instead, which means I'm more in control of what goes in, anyway.

Confession:  Sometimes this is my breakfast!

Pumpkin-Spinach Spiced Frappe

Yield: two 20-ounce servings 

Add to blender:

• 1 large handful fresh spinach leaves (approx 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
• 1/2 - 3/4 c canned pumpkin
• 18 ice cubes (ours are made by our freezer...18 fills about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 c liquid (* see options below)
• 1/2 to 3/4 scoop vanilla or chocolate protein powder (This could be optional, but I add this or vanilla yogurt to make the smoothie into more of a balanced snack/small meal.  We use Pure Protein 100 % Whey Protein, Rich Chocolate, because we prefer the whey protein source, and it doesn't have artificial sweetener.  If you leave this out, you may need more sweetener.)
• 2 good shakes of ground cinnamon (~1/4 teaspoon)
• 2 small dashes of ground ginger (~1/8 teaspoon)
• 1 tiny dash of ground cloves
• Sweetener, to taste

This is sometimes our
take-along-on-the-long-ride-to-Grandpa's treat

Blend until smooth, adding more liquid, if necessary, to reach desired consistency.  Of course, adjust the spices to your particular taste, too.

Poor into 2 large cups.  Prince CuddleBunny likes to add a straw.  ;-)  The spinach hides in flavor, but adds a green tinge to the drink, which, overall, tastes pretty much like pumpkin pie in a cup!  Enjoy.



*Liquid combinations I've used to equal 2 cups:

• 3/4 cup cold espresso or coffee, 3/4 cup vanilla almond or soy milk, 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cup vanilla almond or soy milk, 1/4 cup half and half or whipping cream, plus 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (which is optional, especially for kiddos)
• 1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt, 1+ cup soy or almond milk, 1/ 2 cup cold coffee (or milk equivalent for caffeine-free)  

Write31days.com

I'm, honestly, have mixed emotions about using and recommending protein powder, even though I'm pretty picky about which I use.  This article just came to my attention that lists real-food options that will add protein to smoothies, without the use of processed powders, so I thought I'd offer the link.

Kale... Fail. Cauliflower? Better.

I'm a snacker.  I love little things to munch while I drive or watch TV.  In trying to keep unhealthy and/or extra carbs and fat in check, the options are limited, and I keep my eyes open for new ideas.

More veggies in my diet would always be a good idea, so vegetables that could also be snacks would be a double bonus.  A couple of years ago, I tried making kale chips.  You can read about that here... I just wasn't thrilled with the result.  But I was recently intrigued when I heard the term "Cauliflower Popcorn."  I am a cauliflower fan, and loooovvvve  popcorn, so it was worth a try.

A quick search in the internet turned up a 5-star rated recipe on Food.com.  The method is about the same as what I do to make roasted cauliflower, except for one thing.

For roasted cauliflower, I wash and pat dry a head of cauliflower, or pre-prepped cauliflower pieces and break them into approximately 1 1/2 inch pieces.  I place them in a large bowl, drizzle on a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.  I also add parmesan cheese, but often hold it to sprinkle on in the last several minutes of baking. 

I spread the oiled and spiced cauliflower on a oil-sprayed baking sheet, one layer deep and spread out so that they aren't touching each other any more than necessary. 

After roasting for 20 minutes

I put the pan in a preheated 425 degree oven, and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and starts to brown.  

This is where the Cauliflower Popcorn recipe is different.  The 'popcorn' is supposed to bake for a full hour.  This is a long time for the impatient to wait for a snack! According the recipes and comments I read, the extra browning, or caramelization, though, should make the cauliflower sweeter, and some of the smaller pieces will get nice and crispy.

At 30 minutes

Unlike the kale, which I didn't like at all, I wouldn't consider this to be a fail.  I really like roasted cauliflower and this is so  similar.  So similar, in fact, I'm not sure it was worth the extra time for the trade offs.  Yes, the ultra-browned pieces were crispy.  

"Cauliflower Popcorn"... After one hour of roasting.
Actually, it was after 55 minutes, because this was brown enough!

But to us they didn't seem that sweet, just a little burnt.  --Not so much that we couldn't eat them, but not anything we'd consider much of a plus.  The pieces that weren't browned to crispiness were super soft.  When I roast cauliflower, my aim is to get some definite browning, but also to get it out of the oven while the cauliflower still has some crispness of its own left, and hasn't turned to mush.  In an hour, there isn't much hope of that.

My other concern is, when it's cooked this much, has all the good veggie nutrition been cooked out of it, too?  Raw or barely cooked cauliflower, according to the nutrition facts listed on sites, such as World's Healthiest Foods, is an awesome source of Vitamin C, and also a very good source of other vitamins, including K, B-6, and folate, and fulfills other nutritional needs, like manganese, fiber, and Omega-3s.  It might help prevent certain cancers and has anti-inflammatory effects.  It is low on the Glycemic Index, which means it won't cause problems by raising blood sugar levels too much or too rapidly.

According to this article, steaming loses approximately 15% of most of the vitamins in cauliflower, while boiling causes much more of a loss when the vitamins leech into the cooking water.  Nutrition charts on this site, show more than a 50% loss of potassium when boiling, but doesn't have other cooked cauliflower information.  I'd guess the loss in roasting might be equivalent to that of steaming, but I couldn't find more exact information to share.  I still believe that the quicker the cooking, and the more intact the vegetable, the better the retained vitamins.  I would also think over-cooking would make the sugars more readily available to the bloodstream, which is another negative.

I think I'll stick to the shorter roasting time from now on.  I'll have my snack and eat it, too... more quickly!

Stepping Out of the (Pizza) Box

Motivated yet again to add more variety, especially in veggies, to my diet, I got a little creative with last week's Pizza Night.  Might not be too adventurous for some of my readers who are into more interesting foods, but for us it was different.


Not wanting to alienate the less culinarily courageous folks in the family (here that means any boy under 19), I still made some more standard pies with tomato paste-based sauce, sausage, onions, and Mozzarella cheese.  The new one was topped with 

• balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing
• Browned, crumbled Italian sausage
• mixed kale leaves
• baby spinach
• onions
• sliced portabella mushroom caps
• Roma tomato
• a bit of crumbled Feta
• a bit of shredded Mozzarella

It didn't taste anything like what we're used to when we hear "Pizza," but it was a fun change.  Next time I might not use both the vinegar and the Feta, as together they were a bit sour.

Leeky Soup

As I mentioned, when I discussed our newest box of produce from Full Circle Farm in Christmas Every Monday, I've never used or, as far as I know, eaten leeks before.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them, but it was raining, the kids had colds, so everyone wanted something warming.  That called for soup.


I headed to the computer and found a recipe for Cheese and Leek Soup on RecipeSource.com.  Since I'd been craving cheese soup, but we didn't have any sharp cheddar, this looked like an intriguing option.  Partway through making it, though, I noticed that this soup seemed to lack protein, and offer an overabundance of saturated fat.  Since this was meant to be our main dish, this was a problem.  I replaced much of the sour cream and part of the cream cheese with cottage cheese to work it back in a healthier direction.  We also added cauliflower and the broccolette, also from the farm box.  If we'd had shrimp, we probably would've added it, too.

Cream Cheese-Leek-Cauliflower-Broccoli Soup

adapted from Cheese and Leek Soup on RecipeSource.com

While melting
6 oz butter
on the stove in a large, heavy pot over medium heat, mince
1 1/2 cups leeks, using the white part only*
1 1/2 cups sweet onion
1 cup celery
then add them to the butter to cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, but not brown... About 10 minutes.


Pour in
4 1/2 cups chicken stock 
and simmer another 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, blend in food processor
8 ounces cream cheese, cut in cubes
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese





Also, on stovetop or in microwave, steam 
1 small head of cauliflower, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
1 bunch broccoli or broccolette, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
These should be cooked, but still be a bit firm, and the broccoli should still be bright.


Using a hand blender in the pot, or by putting batches into a blender, puree the stock/leek soup.  (If using a blender, return blended soup to the large pot.)

Stir in the cheese-sour cream mixture into the soup, stir, and warm through, taking care not to boil.  (I had a hard time getting this to blend in nicely, so grabbed the hand blender, again, to help smooth it out.)




Add the steamed cauliflower and broccoli.  Also season with salt and pepper, to taste.  A dash of cayenne pepper is recommended (by my family), but optional.








*Leek Note:  All the instructions and recipes I could find say to use 'only the white part of the leek.'  Does this mean the part that is strictly and only white, or does the part that's faintly green, but more like onion and less like leaves count?  I couldn't bring myself to discard the light green part and used it.

Christmas Every Monday

Prince CuddleBunny just took our Monday jaunt to pick up our Full Circle Farm box... But this week's order was in 2 boxes.  I know I ordered it, but it's always a fun surprise to find 2 boxes instead of one, so I feel like I'm getting more for my money.  (Sometimes a little self-allowed  delusion is OK?)

The kids gather around the box(es) to see what's arrived, all sharing their individual hopes (lots of craving for apples this week), and asking questions.

Not only is it nice to get fresh, organic, mostly local produce on a regular, weekly basis, it's fun to get things I've never eaten or cooked with before.  This week has more than the usual share of new-to-me items:

• Leeks
• Baby White Turnips
• Baby Bok Choy
• Broccolette

There is always a newsletter with 2 recipes and excerpts from the farm's Good Food Life blog with links to more recipe ideas.  I'm particularly interested in trying a cake they discussed, using the Italian Prunes from our own tree.  It sounds magnificent, and I hope its success (positive thinking) will make a good future post.

One of this week's boxes even included a tall, but tiny 'Thank You' bouquet... A day brightener.  :-)