Pumpkin Spice Syrup

I saved the liquid that drained from the pumpkin puree!!! 

2 cups liquid

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

If I had cloves in the house, I'd sprinkle in a bit of that too.

I boiled this mixture, on medium heat, until it reduced to half the amount, making it syrupy and sticky. 

Chocolate Black Bean Brownies

 A very simple and yummy recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook. It's gluten-free, no sugar added and still tasty! This is copied directly from their site:

1-19 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed well
3 eggs
1/3 cup of coconut oil*
1/2 cup honey 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup, sifted cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Grease a 9 " inch pan.  Line with parchment paper. 
2. Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until it is all liquid with no lumps.  
3. Pour into the cake pan.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30  minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (In my oven it took a full 35 minutes, so make sure to test your brownie).
5. Cool for 10 minutes. 
6. Remove from pan, and cool completely. 
7. Cover and refrigerate over night.  In my opinion this tastes best cold straight out of the fridge.
8. Serve with whip cream or ice cream if desired.
9. This cake is suitable for gluten free, lactose intolerant diets. 

*vegetable oil can used in place of the coconut oil, but I like the hint of coconut flavor it gives the brownie. 

Notes:

I  used vegetable oil so I didn't have any coconut flavor, and I'm okay with that. 

The kids couldn't keep their hands off these brownies!

May 12, 2015: I made 12 muffin sized brownies and they worked great! LET COOL IN PAN!

Banana-only ice cream

http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/05/banana-ice-cream-made-from-bananas-only.html

This is too good to keep to myself! It's ice cream and the only ingredient: bananas. Seriously.

More detailed info on the link, complete with photos.

Take your banana collection that's just a bit more ripe than you'd want to eat as is or grab some that you have already in the freezer. Cut the not-frozen banana into 1 inch chunks, lay them out in a single layer on wax paper on a baking sheet, freeze. Or if you're using an already-frozen banana, leave it on the counter just long enough so you can peel it. 

Grab a food processor or blender, throw in the frozen pieces, blend, scrape down if you need to, blend more until it's a smooth, creamy-looking texture. It's like soft-serve ice cream!

But, let's get creative! And if you've tried a variation on this theme, give me a holler and I can list if here if you like, to inspire others :)

I added fresh strawberries to mine. It tastes like a smoothie. Would be AMAZING on waffles.

Other additions:

peanut butter

coconut

pineapple
Nutella

Iced Coffee

I take no credit for this recipe! You can follow this link for helpful instructions and step-by-step photos: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

The basic foundation of her recipe, and if you've had iced coffee and especially if you've attempted to make your own, are these two concepts:

1) iced coffee is easily diluted and therefore bland. 

2) it must be super cold; the colder the better!

First things first: the next time you make a pot of coffee, make extra or save the leftovers and freeze it in your ice cube trays!!! Make lots of them. Once they're frozen you can store them in a plastic storage bag or in a container.

The original recipe is roughly this:

In a large container (it will need a lid in a minute), combine:

1 lb coffee grounds

2 gallons COLD water

Stir to ensure all grounds are soaking in the water. Put the lid on, toss it in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours. The longer it sits, the more the grounds can settle and therefore easier to separate it later.

Strain it through a fine mesh strainer or use what you have on hand: I used a colander with a coffee filter in it. Put it into a (preferably glass) pitcher or container of some sort to store in the fridge. I find my Pampered Chef batter bowl works well, and I did NOT start with 2 gallons of water :)

When it's time to make your iced coffee mixture, fill a glass with coffee ice cubes OR throw them into your ice crushing blender :) LOTS of ice cubes! Add your coffee. I went for about 2/3 of the mixture being coffee, 1/3 any combination of milk and/or cream, vanilla or other flavoring you love, and sugar to taste. 

I just did a batch in my blender and it was approximately 4 cups of coffee, 1 1/2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of cream (I know! right?), 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. I gave it a quick whip with the blender to mix.

Updated May 20, 2014:
I made a batch today:
2 cups cold coffee
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cream
1 full tray of coffee ice cubes
No milk

The coffee isn't strong enough and I didn't add milk because it would dilute it further :(

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This recipe is from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Great recipe book to incorporate veggies and/or fruit into recipes. I highly recommend this book! As usual, I'll write the recipe as originally written, and then I'll add my variations at the end. I made these for a Mary Kay get together last night, and everyone seemed to enjoy them, especially Ella.

nonstick cooking spray

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

6 Tbsp trans-fat free soft tub margarine spread, chilled

1/2 cup banana puree

1/2 cup zucchini puree

1 large egg white

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray, or line with cooking parchment.

In a bowl or zipper-lock bag, combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and shake or stir to mix.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon until just combined; do not overmix. Add banana and zucchini purees, and the egg white, and stir just to blend. Add the flour mixture, raisins, and walnuts, if using, and stir to combine.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonsful onto the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch in between. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 4 to 5 minutes, just until they are firm enough to handle, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Notes:

I didn't have whole-wheat flour, so I used white.

I normally reduce sugar in recipes, but since this was the first time I made this specific recipe, I left it at 3/4 cup. Next time I'd cut back to 1/2 cup, maybe even a bit less.

I used butter. 6 Tbsp comes to 0.375 cup, so that's just over 2/3 cup.

I didn't have zucchini, so I did extra banana instead.

I didn't have eggs in the house, so I used ground flax seed. (1 Tbsp ground flax, soaked in 3 Tbsp water)

I rinsed the raisins in hot water a couple of times before putting them into the batter.

Raspberry Summer Sensation (Frozen Dessert)

This is from Kraft Cooking magazine (summer 2005).

2 cups (1/2 of 1-L container) raspberry sorbet or sherbet

1 cup cold skim milk

1 pkg (4-serving size) vanilla fat-free instant pudding

3 cups thawed Cool Whip light topping

1 cup raspberries

Line 9x5 inch loaf pan with foil. Spoon sorbet into pan; freeze 10 minutes.

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spread pudding mixture over sorbet in pan.

Freeze 3 hours or overnight. To unmould, invert pan onto plate; remove foil. Top with raspberries just before serving. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes to soften before cutting into 12 slices.

Notes:

I made this with mango sherbet and topped it with chopped mango.

I used real whipped cream (with sugar and vanilla) instead of Cool Whip.

I didn't go fat-free or light or anything. And it was good.

I think it would need more than 15 minutes to thaw and be soft enough to slice.

Endless possible variations on this one!

Popsicles

For some reason, this was sitting in my "drafts" box for the last year! Not sure what happened there.

Okay, this is going to be a heap o' spaghetti (for those familiar with the Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti book). Last summer, my friend Christal (Giesbrecht) Barkman emailed me this recipe. It was one of those recipes that I've made many times (lots of years ago) but I don't have on file anywhere and I had completely forgotten about it. Christal and I were neighbours when we were kids and we made and ate these all the time! She says the recipe was from my Grandma Schmidt, someone who wasn't related to us but she was our nanny the first five years after my Mom got sick. Now she is someone I need to write a blog entry about! Anyway. Not an ounce of healthy

1 pkg kool-aid
1 pkg Jell-O
1/2 to 1 cup sugar
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water


Mix Kool-Aid, Jell-O and sugar in boiling water until dissolved. Add cold water. Pour into popsicle holders and freeze.

Rice Krispies Squares with Flax

I have to give credit where it's due: this is BASED on a recipe from "Deceptively Delicious", but I think it's one of those times when you just modify a recipe that's already a tried-and-true household favourite! My Rice Krispies Squares use 1/4 cup butter and the "DD" recipe only calls for 1 Tbsp of margarine with more marshmallows than I normally use. Less butter, more marshmallows. How will this NOT turn into a rock??? So, I took the concept, not the actual recipe. I'm posting my RK squares recipe, which is in the white recipe book :)

1/4 cup butter
9 oz large marshmallows, about 35 (5 cups mini)
6 cups Rice Krispies (I usually do more, like 7 or 8)
1/2 tsp vanilla

DD modification: add 1/4 cup ground flax

Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Zap it for 30 seconds, or until it's melted. Use a silicone spatula to coat the entire inside of the bowl with the butter. Your clean up will be faster if you do this!

Add marshmallows. Microwave for 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute, until the marshmallows are mostly melted. (Total microwave time is often 2 minutes.)

Add vanilla, then Rice Krispies. Stir well until all of the cereal is coated. Dump the cereal into your 9x13 pan. Press down firmly using a dampened spatula or your dampened hand. Chill about 2 hours before cutting.

Notes:
Oh my word! It takes longer to type out the recipe than it does to make it!!!

I use a coffee grinder to pulverize my flax. Grinding the flax seems to double the volume, so if you want 1/4 cup ground flax, put about 1/8 cup not-ground flax into the grinder.

Other variations:
1) add colored sprinkles after pressing it into the pan.
2) Use Cheerios or a combination of the two cereals. Very tasty with Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.
3) Use Lucky Charms.