Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

October 12th, 2016 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (1 Comments)

I keep this blog ‘o mine up and running for a number of reasons:

1.  Around Thanksgiving every year the Yes, You Can Make Pumpkin Pie Without Evaporated Milk post gets a lot of web traffic, and frankly, that just cracks me up.  (The traffic to that post basically pays for the annual web hosting fees to keep this whole thing going, so why the heck not.)

2.  The Intermittent Fasting post continues to be visited regularly as well, and I still love IF and want to keep that post up too.

A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!)

August 16th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!))

I am a salad lover and I love to make awesome salads – but when I’m going to make a salad, any “plan” I have usually consists of:

Step 1: rummage through the fridge for vegetables

Step 2: throw it all together

Step 3: eat

Some plan, eh?  Salads (and smoothies) are just not something I think to use a recipe for – but this also means I often make the same thing over and over again.

Orange Juice in Salad Dressing

January 14th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (8 Comments)

Oranges show up on the list of 44 affordable healthy food under $1 and I have to agree.  When it comes to saving money on produce, the best (and sort of obvious) tip I have is to buy what’s in season.  Oranges are showing up front and center in the produce section right now, coming in by the truck load from California and Florida (as there are no oranges trees in upstate NY, also sort of obvious).

Chewy Pumpkin Granola

September 29th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (Comments Off on Chewy Pumpkin Granola)

I’ve got another pumpkin recipe today, but please don’t be annoyed.  I promise that I’m about to lay off the orange stuff for a while to ensure my hands stay on the paler side of normal this season.

I’ve had a hankering for granola, but every time I look at the ingredient list on the packages in the store and then look at the price, I sigh dramatically, throw my head back with my forearm over my brow and cry “Why, Granola?  WHY?”  (and then I look around the granola aisle and say “who said that?  people in this store are crazy!”)

Pumpkin Muffins (Version 2.0)

September 25th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (4 Comments)

Here we go.  The season of Everything Pumpkin has arrived.  Are you ready?  Do you have your pumpkin game face on?  Pumpkin pie!  Pumpkin spice lattes!  Pumpkin lasagna!  (Pumpkin lasagna?)  I’m even ready to declare September “National Pester Your Mother to Make Pumpkin Muffins Month” because that’s exactly what my kids have been doing: pestering me to make pumpkin muffins.

OK gang, I’m ready.  Let’s do this.

Practice Practicing

September 21st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (2 Comments)

You learn to cook so that you don’t have to be a slave to recipes. You get what’s in season and you know what to do with it.

-Julia Child

I got a recipe from a friend earlier this week that called for sausage and kale, among other ingredients.  The only two items I had on hand were the Italian sausage and kale, but those two items sounded like the answer to my What’s For Dinner Tonight prayers.

I decided to improvise and soon heard myself shouting “Hallelujah!” as a delicious sausage and vegetable medley of kale, tomato, carrot and pepper was born unto thee:

This is Butternut Squash #3 in my kitchen this fall.  My skin is turning more orange by the minute.  Stinking beta carotene.

That’s actually not what I wanted to tell you.

Halved Butternut Squash

No, what I wanted to tell you is that when butternut squash is peeled, cubed and roasted in coconut oil, it reminds me a heck of a lot of a roasted sweet potato.

But that’s not the good part.

Compared to a sweet potato, butternut squash has nearly 100 fewer calories, half as many carbs and 9 fewer grams of sugar per 1 cup serving.

Potluck Apple Crisp

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (1 Comments)

Over the weekend we had a potluck picnic on the calendar and we were asked to bring an autumn themed dish to pass.  I needed something simple, but more importantly, something that I could remember most of the ingredients to off the top of my head.  Per usual, I was making my decision about what to make while I was on my way to the grocery store.

What’s that saying?  If you fail to plan, you plan to fail?  Whatever.  Let’s just make apple crisp.

First thing on the morning of our picnic, I tore into my bag of Granny Smiths and got to work.

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

December 15th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (8 Comments)

I’ve been using my blender a lot recently, due mostly to the fact that I broke a very small, yet very crucial piece off the top of my food processor bowl the other day.

Broken Piece

Here’s hoping that Santa’s got Cuisinart part #DFP-14WBC in stock.

The food processor won’t even turn on without that little hunk of plastic, so this is why I’ve been hanging with my pal The Blender for a week or so now.

Blender

The blender, as well as my second giant box of oranges in less than a month here. We’re all becoming great friends.

Today let’s be thankful for leftovers.

Pumpkin Pie Without Evaporated Milk

I made pumpkin pie this year! Until this week, the only thing I knew about pumpkin pie was that I liked to eat it.

Therefore, as a pumpkin pie newbie (and a girl without a lot of extra energy to spare right now), I decided to go with the tried and true recipe on the side of the can of Libby’s pumpkin puree.

And it looked simple enough. Pumpkin, sugar, spices, eggs… a can of evaporated milk?