Unprocessed Pumpkin Dip

With less than two weeks left until Thanksgiving, the pressure is on to find some terrific new recipes that are both healthy and delicious to serve to my guests.  Today I feel like I hit the jackpot!

I discovered and tried this amazing recipe for “Pumpkin Fluff Dessert Dip” on 100 Days of Real Food.  My entire family loved it, including my picky 9-year-old who won’t even look at anything orange!  All ingredients are real food ingredients, which gives me even more reason to love it!  This recipe certainly makes the cut on my Thanksgiving menu!

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix (found in the spice aisle)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• Optional garnish: A few extra sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice (or just plain cinnamon)
• Optional dippers: Sliced apples and whole-wheat graham crackers

Instructions

1. In the bowl of your mixer fitted with a whisk (or use a large mixing bowl and electric beaters), combine the heavy cream, cream cheese, syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Turn the mixer to low and blend until the cream cheese is broken up and no longer in big clumps. Turn the speed up to high and blend until the mixture thickens, about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Turn the speed back down to low and carefully blend in the pumpkin puree. Scrape the bowl with a spatula if necessary.
3. Serve with sliced apples and whole-wheat graham crackers. Store leftover dip in the fridge.

Coconut Flour Brownies

This week I came across a recipe for brownies on the package of coconut flour, and I decided to give it a try.  It is a “healthier” version of the packaged brownie mix I used to buy, using mainly real food ingredients and no white flour.  I don’t feel great about having an entire cup of white sugar in there, so I may try to find a replacement for the sugar next time I make them.  But this time I made them according to the recipe, and my entire family liked them.  Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

6 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium saucepan over low heat, blend butter and cocoa powder.  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla.  Blend this into the cocoa mixture.  Stir in the coconut flour, and mix with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, or until the batter is no longer lumpy.  Add the chocolate chips.  Bake in a pre-greased 8×8 baking pan for about 30-35 minutes.  Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy! 🙂

October Unprocessed – One week later

It has been one week since October Unprocessed ended, and I am happy to say I am still eating mostly unprocessed (with the exception of a few pieces of Halloween candy here and there.)  I found a new local juice bar and visited it with a friend this week!  It has only been opened for a few weeks and is the first juice bar to open in our area, so it was an exciting experience!  I ordered a smoothie containing banana, cashews, coconut oil, vanilla and coconut milk.  It was delicious!!  I also ordered some raw granola, which was also delicious!  My friend tried a shot of wheatgrass, but I wasn’t quite brave enough to try that this time.  Maybe next time 🙂

The last month really changed my food buying habits for the better!  Today I was looking at the grocery store for ice cream for my daughter with a sore throat.  I normally would have just chosen the least expensive one that is full of unnecessary ingredients, but instead I chose the small carton of Haagen-Dazs with only real ingredients.  It was more expensive, but it was on sale and if I don’t have time to make it myself, I feel much better about feeding it to my family knowing the ingredients are all real.

I tried another new recipe today that I thought was delicious and worthy of sharing.  I love this recipe because you don’t have to stick to it exactly.  Just use whatever vegetables you have.  The original recipe didn’t call for broccoli or red peppers, but I had some that needed to be used up, so I added them.  Here is the recipe with my additions:

Roasted Autumn Vegetables with Cranberries

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash

1 large onion

1 cup broccoli

1 red pepper

4 Tablespoons olive oil

Himalayan Pink Salt (or Fine Sea Salt)

4 Tablespoons dried cranberries

Feta cheese to top

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel, halve, and remove seeds from squash and cut them into large chunks.  Peel onion and cut into large chunks.  Chop broccoli into large chunks.  Slice red peppers.  Toss vegetables into the olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 30 minutes.

When vegetables are well caramelized, top with cranberries and Feta.  Enjoy!

October Unprocessed – Days 26 & 27

Yesterday I started the day with an omelet with Feta cheese, onions, and tomatoes.  This was the first time I ever tried it with Feta.  Yum!!!

For snacks throughout the day, I finished off the guacamole with some organic corn chips, had an apple, and finished off the last macaroon.

For lunch, I had the squash soup I made on Friday.  I added leftover brown rice and meatballs to it.  It was delicious!

For dinner, I had a small slice of cheese pizza and I made my green smoothie for the day.  This is what I put into it:

3/4 cup organic spinach

3/4 cup orange juice

1 frozen pear

1 banana

a handful of cranberries from a local Farmer’s Market

I had never had raw cranberries before.  It is a shame that I live in one of the biggest cranberry production areas in the country, and I never really had cranberries before (other than the canned stuff that is loaded with sugar).  I tried one raw and it was very tart, but added to the smoothie, it was good!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

This morning, I finished the rest of the smoothie I had made yesterday.  Those little dots in there are the cranberries 🙂

From there, it all went downhill as far as eating unprocessed.  I had some of the granola bars we made the other day (throughout the day, I snacked on these.  I had many more than I should have!)  After church, my daughters each got a donut.  One of my daughters didn’t finish hers, and I really didn’t want it, but I finished it anyway.

For lunch, I had some leftover squash soup.

We went to a hiking event, and at the end the kids each got a bag of popcorn and candy corn.  I finished off those bags, too.

For dinner, I had more of the squash soup.

So, I feel like today wasn’t very successful as far as eating unprocessed, but I’m not worried about it.  Tomorrow is another day.  At least I didn’t eat any of the candy we got when we got Boo’ed tonight (in case anyone is wondering, that means a neighbor leaves a bag of goodies on your doorstep, rings the doorbell, and takes off…then you need to pay it forward and do the same for another neighbor on the next night.)  Normally, I would have at least had one piece of the candy, which would probably lead to another, and another, etc.  So, I feel like I have come a long way in the past 27 days.  I have so many more healthy recipes I am looking forward to trying this week, and in weeks to come.  This has been a fun adventure so far, and I really don’t see it ever ending (although the blog posts will become much less frequent after the challenge is over.)  I also bought some brussel sprouts today (which I have never tried).  I am looking forward to trying those tomorrow. 🙂