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Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up

November 18, 2010

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to do a little re-cap of some of the delicious recipes I’ve made and you can find on this blog to grace your holiday table.

one pot meal recipe of thankgiving or holiday turkey and cranberry dinner — Thanksgiving In One Pot - Glorious One-Pot Meal

Thanksgiving-in-One-Pot A classic Glorious One-Pot Meal recipe for when you’re not feeding an army — and can’t face days in the kitchen or a week of leftovers — but still want that traditional holiday meal of turkey, cranberries, stuffing, potatoes, and green beans. This is Thanksgiving made easy, and there’s even a video demonstration to show you how to do it!

recipe for creamy sweet potatoes with a chipotle kick — Mashed Chipolte Sweet Potatoes

Mashed Chipotle Sweet Potatoes These are not your grandmother’s sticky-sweet sweet potatoes coated in marshmallows and brown sugar. For a change this year, try these out-of-the-ordinary sweet potatoes full of creamy goodness with a touch of fire underneath to keep things interesting. The recipe calls for butter, but you could easily use a bit of coconut oil or olive oil instead if you wanted them to be dairy-free.

Pumpkin muffins Just the right touch of sweetness and a burst of nutritional goodness to lend an air of festivity to any day. In both regular and wheat-free versions, this savory recipe calls for pureed pumpkin or squash and applesauce to give you a guilt-free muffin indulgence that kids love, too.

turkey carcass for turkey soup recipe — Give that turkey carcass another round in homemade soup stock!

Friday Turkey Soup What do you do with the turkey carcass after the big day? Make a huge vat of Friday Turkey Soup to divvy up into freezer-safe containers for easy family meals you can defrost during the rest of the winter ahead. This recipe will create a savory turkey stock that you can freeze and use as a soup base to give depth and richness to future soups of all varieties.

Pumpkin Muffins for Thanksgiving

November 17, 2010

wheat-free pumpkin squash muffin recipe — Pumpkin muffins topped with organic frosting

Ok, I lied. The muffins in the picture aren’t made out of pumpkin; they’re made with Hubbard squash. But let’s not pish-pash over such winter squash details.

I could call them “Hubbard Squash Muffins,” but then how many people would find them when doing a google search for festive baked goods for your Thanksgiving celebration?

But, let’s face it, if I were going to be completely up front about these muffins, I would have to call them something along the lines of “Hubbard Squash Spelt Muffins,” which becomes an ungainly mouthful and rather unappetizing sounding. Which is nothing like how they taste: flavorful but not too sweet; quite addictive, if the second graders who enjoyed them for a birthday treat have anything to say about it.

hubbard squash muffin recipe — hubbard squash

I made this recipe several times recently because

a) I had an enormous hubbard squash that I broke apart, baked, and pureed and was looking to use, and

b) each batch was eaten sooner than I could assemble bags to send to school for celebrations and to give family friends with a newborn.

The muffins pictured contain a mixture of spelt flour with arrowroot starch and xanthan gum, but I also successfully made the recipe substituting all-purpose wheat baking flour in place of those three.

You may have realized by now that I like to shape my breads in mini-muffin tins. Not only does it help with portion control, but there is just something about mini-muffins that makes them fun to eat. You can certainly prepare this recipe in a loaf pan or regular muffin tin, too. The choice is yours!

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Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 1 loaf or about 36 mini muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour, or 2 cups spelt flour + 1/2 tsp. arrowroot starch + 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, agave, or pure maple syrup
3/4 cup cooked pumpkin or squash puree (canned is fine)
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil or softened butter
1/4 cup milk or milk alternative (coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, etc.)
1 tsp. real vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, mix the first 6 ingredients (through salt) together and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs vigorously with a whisk until frothy. Cream the rest of the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stirring constantly to blend all ingredients.

Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until an inserted wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 mins, then turn out onto cake racks. Frost, if desired, but delicious just as they are, too.

Should We Trust the USDA?

November 15, 2010

Lest we forget, the mandate of the USDA is to make US business profitable, not, as we might think, to safeguard the public health.

A recent Michael Moss article in the New York Times looked at the disconnect between government-led anti-saturated fat campaigns and Dairy Management, a marketing and public relations arm of the USDA designed to support and inflate the dairy industry.

Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese.

Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk.

Dairy Management, whose annual budget approaches $140 million, is largely financed by a government-mandated fee on the dairy industry. But it also receives several million dollars a year from the Agriculture Department, which appoints some of its board members, approves its marketing campaigns and major contracts and periodically reports to Congress on its work.

It can make your head spin. As elections rise and fall on budget cuts in education and health care, we’re pouring taxpayer money into commercial campaigns designed to fill the coffers of private businesses at the expense of what we know to be good for us.

I hate it when I’m faced once again with the now-familiar realization that our collective health can be brushed aside when it comes to profits.

When Dairy Management teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese (and then paid for a $12 million marketing campaign,) Dominos sales soared by double digits.

Great for Dominos profits and shareholders, not so great for you the consumer when a single slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat.

Check out these numbers:

$5.3 million Amount that Dairy Management got last year from the Agriculture Department to promote dairy sales overseas
$6.5 million Total budget for the federal Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, which promotes healthy diets

Of course, no one is forcing us to down just one more slice of that double-stuffed pizza, but I’m tired of subsidizing big industries, particularly those that play fast and loose with our health. If Dominos can’t pay for its own marketing campaigns, then perhaps they should consider one fewer superbowl ad this winter.

Regardless of the ubiquitousness of the advertising, the final choice to eat or not to eat lies in each of our hands. Health is an individual choice. You are empowered.

Great Holiday Gift Finds Through Nov. 21 Blog Jog!

November 5, 2010

Have you ever seen a Blog Jog? It’s a day of pathways through the web leading to new and different thinkers and great gift ideas to kick off your holiday shopping.

On November 21, 2010, I will be joining Carol Denbow’s second annual Blog Jog!

I will be giving away a prize or two, and I know other blogs will be as well, but no matter what you’ll discover a new world of possibilities through this event.

And if you have a blog of your own be sure to check out my Recipes for Publicity blog to learn more about what participating in the Blog Jog can do for you!

As a visitor following the path, you’ll be able to jog from blog to blog and see all the prizes being given away. It starts at midnight and runs all day on the 21st…so stop back, get ready to jog, and have fun with it!

Mollie Katzen and the Moosewood cookbooks taught me to cook

November 1, 2010

It’s not often that you get to meet an author whose work has influenced your life in a deep way.

When I was 22, I met Judy Blume and I was tongue-tied. Star-struck at coming face to face with the woman behind the books that I read and re-read so many times… How could I possibly tell her how I grew up along with the stories she told, how much she had influenced me as a writer and as a person? It was overwhelming to consider. At the end, I could just barely stammer out something lame along the lines of “Thank you! I love your books!”

Mollie Katzen Moosewood Cookbook Elizabeth Yarnell Glorious One-Pot Meals cookbook — Elizabeth Yarnell and Mollie Katzen swap cookbooks

Last week I had the honor of meeting Mollie Katzen, author of the seminal work on creative vegetarian cuisine, The Moosewood Cookbook, and all the Moosewood cookbooks that have followed in the more than three decades since.

In the twenty years that have passed since meeting Judy Blume, I’ve realized that opportunities to meet personal idols like these don’t come around every day. So I attended the A.W.A.R.E. luncheon in Denver where Mollie was speaking about healthy eating and brought along a gift to give to a woman who has given me so much.

I had donated a Glorious One-Pot Meals party pack (an autographed cookbook, DVD, potholder, and private cooking demonstration party at the winner’s house for up to 50 friends) to the luncheon’s chance drawing in support of Alzheimer’s research, and was excited to hear Mollie speak and hopefully meet her, too.

The Moosewood was the very first cookbook I ever purchased for myself, long before I ever imagined that healthy cooking would become a centerpiece of my life, back when I moved into my very first apartment alone and wanted to throw a dinner party. With the Moosewood in hand, I learned I could cook. Later, it became my bible when I married, bought a house, and harvested an abundance of vegetables from our organic garden. My copy is tattered and worn, dog-eared and stained. I know of no better compliment and testimony to give a cookbook author.

And now, it is signed by Mollie Katzen herself. 🙂

Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up

Pumpkin Muffins for Thanksgiving

Should We Trust the USDA?

Great Holiday Gift Finds Through Nov. 21 Blog Jog!

Mollie Katzen and the Moosewood cookbooks taught me to cook

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