Wishing you a healthy and happy Thanksgiving! Hope it’s filled with family, friends and some time to relax.
Thanksgiving Menu–Autumn, Tomato, Bean and Vegetable Soups
Tag: autumn
Thanksgiving Side Dish, Sweet Potatoes With Marshmallows
Thanksgiving is around the corner and that means recipes, recipes, recipes! My Sweet Potatoes With Marshmallows casserole is a family favorite, and the actual index card with the recipe is special to me because it was written by my Grandmother Ruth. It’s stained and yellowing and I keep it in a sandwich bag but, come to think of it, I should laminate it! For Thanksgiving, we prepare no less than three Sweet Potato With Marshmallow casseroles and, at the end of dinner and divvying “some to take home,” there might be about three quarters of one baking dish left over!
Happy holidays, hon!
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lb can sweet potatoes (light or no syrup preferred), drained
- 1 (8 or 15 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained (either size works, depending on desired sweetness)
- 1 egg, separated
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (can lower sugar quantities if desired)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 bag mini marshmallows (can use less or more of bag as desired)
- nonstick spray or margarine or butter for greasing
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9 x 11 glass baking with non-stick spray, margarine or butter.
- With hand mixer, beat potatoes well. Add crushed pineapple to potatoes and mix.
- Separate egg and beat egg white until stiff. Set aside.
- Add yolk to potatoes/pineapple mixture and beat.
- Add brown and granulated sugars to mixture and beat.
- Fold egg whites into mixture.
- Pour mixture into greased baking dish. Dot the top with about half of the mini marshmallows.
- Bake for approx, 25 minutes and then dot the remaining marshmallows on top. Bake for about 15 more minutes. Remove from oven when marshmallows are lightly browned. Tip: Pay attention to marshmallows. They will puff in oven before settling. Add second half of marshmallows when first half is only slightly browned.)
- Total bake time is approx. 40 minutes.
Yield: 8
Prep Tip: A day or two before the holiday, prepare casserole (steps 2-7) but do not top with marshmallows, and refrigerate. On Thanksgiving, remove prepared dish from fridge about an hour before baking. Bake following instructions to dot casserole with half of the marshmallows, bake partway, add remaining marshmallows, and finish baking.
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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Have you heard of The Able Baker in Maplewood, NJ? It has the most delicious baked goods and the place I go to when I don’t have time to bake. Last week, I picked up a Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread and wondered why didn’t I think of that? This easy and delicious recipe can only be made better by adding chocolate!
Happy baking, hon.
CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BREAD (OR MUFFINS)
Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups flour (I used a combination of whole wheat and unbleached flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup water
1 cup chocolate chips, add more if desired
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat first 11 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until well blended. Add 2/3 cup water and beat until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Or, add batter to muffin tins. Bake for 1 1/4 hours for bread, 35 to 40 minutes for regular sized muffins, or 30 to 35 minutes for mini muffins. Test centers with toothpicks and when they come out clean, they’re done. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
Note: Bread may be well wrapped and kept frozen up to three months.
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Post Halloween Easy Kids Activity, Pumpkin Pieces Float
Halloween may be over, but the pumpkins still have a purpose. Before you throw away your jack-o-lantern, here’s an idea–cut it up into pieces. One of the directors at my preschool suggested this easy, fun and educational kids activity, and the kiddos loved it.
My co-teacher and I cut up our classes’ pumpkins and placed the pieces in a water table. Don’t have a water table? A big plastic bin, large sink or even a bathtub will work.
Our two-year olds had a blast scooping, filling, pouring and experimenting. The blog Miss Ashlee’s Class suggests ways to enhance the activity. Older kids could discuss the parts of a pumpkin, hypothesize whether they think the pieces will float or not, learn about density, and record observations.
Happy hands-on learning–always!
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Roasted Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds
I like roasted seeds and nuts (do I sound like a squirrel?), but have never tried sweet roasted pumpkin seeds. When we were scooping pumpkins and saving the seeds for our two preschool classes, my co-teacher Hannah said she loved the seeds with cinnamon. Mind blown! What planet am I living on? How did I not know about these? Hon, here’s a healthy, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo-friendly, kosher recipe from Joy Food Sunshine that I must try!
Happy carving, scooping and baking!
Roasted Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds
Tips Before Roasting Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds must dry completely before roasting. Remove the seeds from pumpkins and rinse thoroughly, discarding any stringy orange pieces. Drain seeds by lining a large baking pan with paper towels, spreading seeds evenly in a layer, and letting sit for 24 hours. At the 12 hour mark, change damp paper towels for dry ones, stir to air out pumpkin seeds.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups pumpkin seeds dried for at least 24 hours
- 3 Tablespoons coconut oil or butter (or vegan butter)
- 1/2 teaspoon pur vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar (or coconut sugar to make paleo)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Very lightly grease a large baking pan, set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Melt coconut oil or butter in a large microwave safe bowl or on the stovetop in a 4-quart pot.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Mix in pumpkin seeds until they are all evenly coated.
- Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin seeds and mix until all they are evenly coated.
- Spread pumpkin seeds on your prepared baking pan in single layer.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. They are done when they start to brown.
- To test for doneness: remove a few seeds from the pan and let sit on the counter to cool. If they harden up the seeds are done. If they remain soft, return to the oven, checking them after 5 minutes. Continue baking in 5 minute intervals until done.
- Once seeds are done, transfer them from the warm pan to another pan lined with parchment paper to let cool.
Yield: 3 cups
Store pumpkin seeds in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
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Manifesting a Grasshopper?
One of my favorite sounds is the nighttime chirping of grasshoppers and crickets. Summer chirping lulls me to sleep the same way as ocean waves. Right about now, in mid-October, I pay close attention to insect mate-calling. There will be a night when the air is filled with nature’s stereo, and the next night the record’s put back in its sleeve. Though I love autumn, it makes me melancholy to bid an official farewell to perfect-temperature-nights, warm-sand-days, and a summer’s promise of possibilities.
As I continue to work towards my writing goals, I’ve added something to my thought process–manifestation. I concentrate on my goals; what they are and what it would feel like to achieve them. If you see me gazing at the sky, know that I am sending my independent-minded characters, lyrical writing, and layered stories out into the universe, hoping they find champions who will bring them to life.
Did I know that when I read the poignant poem Postlude, I was also manifesting a grasshopper? I did not, but there he was, away from his lawn forest, a striped-leg, little guy who let me scoop him up. When I opened up my palm, he hung out and studied me with his five eyes. Then, he hopped out of my hand.
Do you think it’s a sign? A coincidence? A message from the universe that my-work-my-heart-my-passion to share the wonder in the world by writing Kidlit is traveling on both puffy white clouds and waving green grass? I pray so.
Postlude
Stay by the hearth, little cricket.
Cendrillon
You prefer me invisible, no more than
a crisp salute far away from
your silks and firewood and woolens.
Out of sight, I’m merely an annoyance,
one slim, obstinate wrinkle in night’s
deepening trance. When sleep fails,
you wish me shushed and back in my hole.
As usual, you’re not listening: Time stops
only if you stop long enough to hear it
passing. This is my business:
I’ve got ten weeks left to croon through.
What you hear is a lifetime of song.
by Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winning poet
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Early Autumn Morning, A Poem
Sun brightens a patch of grass.
Dew shines like beads of glass.
Blue hugs limbs empty of leaves.
Nests are revealed among the trees.
Air invites inhales fresh and clean.
Birds fly in tandem, which can only mean
“Good morning.”
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Pumpkin Patch Memories
Posting about pumpkin carving with pre-schoolers led me down a crunchy leaves lane of nostalgia. Decorating our house and preparing costumes weren’t our only Autumn traditions. Cherished were our drives to Ort Farms in Long Valley, NJ where we’d take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, pick as many pumpkins as we could carry, and load up on apple cider, doughnuts, and honey sticks. After saying hi to the farm animals, we’d head home. Every year, Hubby got increasingly skilled at carving pumpkins. (Check out his haunted house below.)
Hon, what Fall traditions does your family share?
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Easy Kids Activity: Pumpkin Carving
It may seem obvious to say pumpkin carving is an easy and fun kids activity, but if you teach preschool (ahem, my wonderful new job), you might think pumpkins, knives, and carving don’t mix with ten super wiggly, touch-everything, curious two year-olds! What does work? Carving open a pumpkin and letting them feel and scoop out what’s inside.
Eight children reached right in, touching and exploring. (“Mushy, gushy!”) The textures were new to them–which showed on their faces–but they dug out the wet, stringy pulp and seeds anyway. Fun!
Two kids wanted nothing to do with this strange mess and backed away from the pumpkin. Funny!
Later in the week, my co-teacher managed to make use of time when the kids were sitting still. She carved shapes into a face. What a great way to learn!
At home, we carved pumpkins, also. It was a first for my daughter’s boyfriend from California. Hands on all around!
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Pumpkin Muffins
Holiday time is baking time, and my Pumpkin Muffins are done! The recipe below is the same one I’ve shared for Pumpkin Bread. These muffins are great for breakfast, snacking or dessert. No condiments necessary!
Happy baking, hon!
PUMPKIN MUFFINS (or BREAD)
Yield: About 24 muffins or 2 loaves.
2 1/2 cups sugar (I used about 2 cups.)
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups flour (I used a combination of whole wheat and unbleached flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup water
optional- 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat first 11 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until well blended. Add 2/3 cup water and beat until blended. Stir in the nuts if using and then spoon into baking cups.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes for regular sized muffins, or 30 to 35 minutes for mini muffins. Test centers with toothpicks and when they come out clean, they’re done. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
Muffins may be well wrapped and kept frozen up to three months.
Bmore energy 