My Helper

Here are some examples of my son's ideas for the pumpkin mousse photos

Pumpkin Mousse

Autumn's on it's way...I can smell it in the early morning when I go to bed, and later in the early morning when I rise! The leaves are beginning their ascent into the height of nature's fiery trail. I am so excited! Yes, Autumn is one of my favorite seasons.

Transitions are slowly under way, not only with the seasons, but with Life. My son started preschool and his transition from little boy to big boy has begun. Having my little one with me for four years, I grew accustomed to having my shadow with me wherever I went. Mornings are now mine. Though I have reclaimed them, it feels strange, sometimes empty, and a bit lonely. I know he will only be away for a few hours, and we get to share the rest of the day together, but you know, four years is a long time. Reacquainting and reclaiming myself as a woman and as an individual will take some time.

My transition has begun.

On a lighter note, my apologies to my readers for not posting. There are no excuses and fortunately no major horrific events that prevented me from doing so! I enjoyed the remainder of summer by taking camel rides, going to the state fair, farmers markets, cooking out, and complaining that it was too hot. There you go, honesty, that's what it's all about!

I leave you with a pumpkin mousse recipe I found and tried via thenibble.com and of course, made some changes along the way. It was creamy, fluffy, yet rich without that feeling of heaviness and guilt. Perhaps one could say it's an adultified pumpkin pudding. I can see this being a great filling for a pumpkin mousse pie! Diana, this one's for you!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Mousse
adapted from thenibble.com

1⁄4 cup dark rum
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream

Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer.
Pour rum into a small, heat-proof bowl, then sprinkle in the gelatin.
Place bowl in a pot and pour simmering water in the pan, reaching to half the height of the bowl.
Stir to dissolve the gelatin, remove bowl from heat and cool to room temperature.
As the gelatin cools, Place a large mixing bowl over pot of simmering water, constantly beat eggs until thick and reaches 160 degrees. *Do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water.

Gradually beat in the sugar and continue until the mixture is lemon colored and sugar dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Stir in pumpkin and spices, add gelatin mixture.
In a separate bowl, using clean beaters, whip the cream until stiff.**

Gently fold it into the pumpkin mixture.

Refrigerate mousse for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Makes 6 servings. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for 2-3 days.

* If bowl is partially submerged you will create scrambled eggs due to the higher heat at the bottom of the bowl

**Over whipping heavy cream will yield butter, you may want to save that act for pumpkin butter

***I used light rum, instead of dark, it was all I had on hand--not in my hands, just in case you were wondering!

Blueberry Cake

Tacoma's Tuesday afternoon farmers market was a goldmine! It yielded a beautiful bounty of brightly colored berries, tempting tomatoes, and plenty of tiny pretty potatoes. We brought home blueberries, of course, fingerling potatoes--of which the name grossed out J., and other assorted goodies. Bacon flavored hummus by Sound Bites was claimed by me, and a delicious creamy honey lemon goat cheese was claimed by J. He LOVES goat cheese! He's expressed his affinity for it before, but the honey lemon combo was what won his heart and tummy over. I'm slowly learning to appreciate it, so I give him a 'cheesy gold star'. When we saw the berry stand, he quickly spotted the berries and loudly declared, 'we get these, mama, for my blueberry breakfast cake.' How could anyone resist those beautiful brown eyes, the quick thinking, and little hands holding a half pint of breathtaking blueberries?

That night I made his blueberry breakfast cake. It really is an anytime cake.

It's simple to prepare and quite unpretentious. It's not too sweet, has fruit, and I so do not feel guilty for serving this for breakfast with a cup of milk! Perfect!

Blueberry Cake

adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice, orange juice works well
1 teaspoon zest

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

8 ounces sour cream

1 cup blueberries, preferably fresh

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep pan of choice with a light coating of cooking spray or butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar and zest, until well incorporated and aromatic. Add butter and combine to sugar mixture. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Add whisked flour mixture, alternately adding sour cream.

At this point, the cake batter is super thick. Evenly spread batter into pan.

Very gently, fold in blueberries.

(I found it was easier this way, instead of risking blueberry bleed in the transfer of the batter.)

Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Baking time may need to be altered depending on size of pan.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow cake to cool completely. Dust with confectioners sugar

* The original recipe was a lowfat lackluster caloric waste. Using whole eggs, regular sour cream, and adding the zest and juice gave it a boost in flavor and visual appeal--a fluffy and tasty well risen cake.

* I have tried both lemon and orange juice/zest. Lemon was my favorite.

* I 've also tried frozen berries and it was a relative disaster. The frozen berries made the cake very dense and had a tendency to fiercely stick together.

Mandarin Orange Frozen Yogurt

Hot, hot, hot! This heat is beautifully unbelievable! I appreciate the change, but I do not wish to have it last any longer. As of now, I welcome and am ready for my daytime highs of 65 degrees! Enough said about mother nature's offerings...

To combat the heat, I looked to divine inspiration for something different, creamy, cold, and satisfying. As I waited for an idea to come, I perused the pantry and fridge. Nothing, no ideas. The day came and went, and nothing. Wednesday morning, and it arrived--mandarin orange chunks, in a creamy yogurt sweetened with honey and spiced with cardamom.

Hmmmm, worth a try...I mean, I had to try it. I asked for inspiration, and was given inspiration. I researched some possibilites to increase the creaminess without having to add heavy cream, whole milk, or other sinfully delicious fatty necessaries. One common thread I encountered was using whole milk yogurt, and draining the extra moisture for at least 6 hrs. I tried it, and I liked it!

The end product...a trifecta of exotic summery bliss!

Mandarin Orange Frozen Yogurt

16 ounces plain whole milk yogurt
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup honey

1 cup mandarin oranges, canned and drained

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Pour yogurt into a cheesecloth lined colander and cover with cloth. Let drain at least 6 hours to overnight. This will permit extra moisture to drain, leaving you with a concentrated creamy and dense whey.

Carefully pull up cloth and place yogurt into a medium bowl.

Add honey, cardamom, and zest. Stir. Add oranges. Mix until well combined.
Let mixture rest for several hours to overnight, to infuse flavors.

Place in freezer for several hours until desired consistency.

Makes about 3-4 cups.

* I roughly chopped oranges. If you'd like an uninterrupted oranginess, puree oranges and remaining ingredients.
* I churned yogurt mixture in an ice cream maker for about 45 minutes, and had a rather tough time getting it to a firmer consistancy. After freezing it for a couple of hours it was soft, but firmer

Good Morning!

"Mama, my tummy is hungry for blueberry muffins with sprinkles".
Good morning to you too, my little one! What a lovely wake up call at 5:43am. A request for blueberry muffins with sprinkles...SPRINKLES? I know many who love the look of sprinkles, but I do not do sprinkles. I don't have any sprinkles. Where did he get the idea for sprinkles?

After my first cup of coffee and halfway into the muffin batter, I asked my child, 'what sprinkles do you want on your muffins, honey?' He calmly replied, 'the white ones, the crumbs ones. I like crumbs, mama.'
Now that made more sense, a crumb topping. Kinda sophisticated for a 4 year old, if you ask me. I have not made a blueberry muffin with crumb topping. Pumpkin, cinnamon, apple muffins, yes...blueberry, no. I quickly filtered thru my recipes, both hard copy and bookmarked.

Finally, I settled on a light slightly crunchy crumb topping. The end product, a wonderfully aromatic way to say, 'good morning' as well as a fluffy, tasty, pretty blueberry muffin. I knew it was a hit when I heard, 'I love my mama's muffins!'
What a way to start the day!

I found this wonderful recipe for blueberry muffins about 2 years ago at simplyrecipes.com. I halved the recipe, which yielded 12 standard sized muffins, and used frozen lemon zest. ( I find it so very painful to throw away lemon, lime, and orange peels away....all those precious oils can't be wasted! It's sacrilege) The recipe was practically followed as written. It is a solid recipe!

*I must add that you must make sure NOT to over mix batter and make sure your baking powder has not expired--6 months maximum from opening date.
I can guarantee you, you will have inedible blueberry scented bricks.

Blueberry Muffins
simplyrecipes.com
(posted as halved from the original)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
3/4 cup plain yogurt ( I used whole milk plain yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 tablespoon flour ( if using defrosted frozen blueberries)

"Sprinkles"/Crumb Topping:

Martha Stewart Living, May 2009

2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 - 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
pinch of salt

Adjust the oven rack to the middle part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Crumbs:
In a medium bowl stir sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add cold butter using fingertips, fork, or pastry blender. Manipulate mix until it resembles crumbs. Set aside.
(You may need to add more flour, depending on weather/moisture, and temperature)

Muffins:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one.

Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. (At this point your batter will look fluffy)

Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.

Fold in the berries.
If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour. *

Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil or grapeseed oil using a pastry brush, or with a little butter. Or use one of those convenient vegetable oil sprays.**
Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, as with crumb topping. Bake until muffins and topping are a light golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick to make sure the center of the muffins are done.
Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

*I used frozen berries. I did not rinse or flour, but rather quickly folded in the berries to prevent them from sticking to eachother and to prevent them from wanting to sink to the bottom.

**I used paper muffin liners and sprayed the inside of the liner

Turkish Salad

Summer invokes something deep within that makes me crave pepper salads, couscous, tabbouleh, pita, tzaziki, hummus...just to name a few cravings. There's something oddly comforting and familiar about these lovely foods! Even my choice of music has been affected. The Gipsy Kings and I recently have become close friends again, you know, have coffee together first thing in the morning...yeah, we're kinda tight like that...

A little over ten years ago, I came across a cook book called 'Taste of the Middle East' by Soheila Kimberley. It is filled of stunning photography. Each photo's tantalizing as it is inspiring! The simplicity of most dishes is unbelievable. The layered flavors and textures are always captivating and hold my palate's interest time and time again.

One of my favorite salads from this book is Turkish Salad. Because I'm unable to follow directions, I tweak the recipe to the liking of the moment. Tweak as you wish and let me know, too!
I got a kick out of Deb's post, from smittenkitchen.com. We must be riding the same wave....


Turkish Salad
liberally adapted from Soheila Kimberley's 'Taste of the Middle East'

1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1/3 cup sweet onion
2 cups fresh baby spinach,
green olives, pimento stuffed, to garnish

Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed or minced
1 tablespoon mint
salt and pepper, to taste

Salad:
Seed peppers and slice into thin strips
Finely chop onion
Lightly toss in a bowl

Dressing:
Mix olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mint, salt, and pepper

Pour dressing over peppers and onion
If serving immediately add spinach to peppers and onion.
Garnish with pimento stuffed green olives

*Stores well in a tightly sealed bowl for several days refrigerated, without spinach. Bring to room temperature before serving
* The dressing works well as a chicken marinade, too
* Using mini peppers adds a slight sweetness to the salad
* Make a meal of it with couscous and mint iced tea

Chocolate Pudding Pops

Finally, a moment to reflect and fire up some brain cells! So now that the weather around here is again mild and so to my liking--upper 60's, lower 70's, with lovely overcast, and cool evenings--I feel at ease. Of course after the 'heat wave', we made chocolate pudding pops. I was surprised I had forgotten what simple pleasure resided in a pudding pop--such creamy, chocolatey, heavenly goodness...mmmm, just a moment...I have brain freeze.

Pudding pops are quite versatile with endless possibilities and kid friendly--not only to enjoy but to help make as well...my son had the idea to add some chips, 'the brown chocolate chips'. It was perfect! I was struggling with how to punch up the chocolatey flavor, and that was the perfect solution! He has a way with timing and innocently great ideas.
Next, I 'll need to try vanilla pudding pops with strawberries and white chocolate chips...

Update: I replaced half of milk with 1 cup evaporated milk, omited vanilla, added 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa..and KAPAO! Richer creamier pudding!
-9JUL09


Chocolate Pudding Pops

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder*
1/4 cup cornstarch
6-7 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in heavy sauce pan
Stir in some milk to make a smooth base
Slowly add remainder of milk and vanilla. Quickly whisk to avoid lumps.
Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, while stirring or whisking .
Allow to gently boil until thickened to desired consistency.

Quickly pour into popsicle molds, freeze for about 4 hours. Once set, place popsicle molds in a warm water bath and gently wiggle to release pure popsicle splendor!

To serve as a pudding dessert:
Pour into 3-4 dessert dishes and chill until set, about 3 hours.
Cover with plastic wrap to prevent skin formation.

*I used natural unsweetened cocoa powder. I'm sure you can use Dutch processed cocoa powder. I have not tried it, so I can't the compare the two.

** I evenly distributed about 1 oz. of milk chocolate chips once it was in the molds (I wanted pockets of chocolate)