Cinnamon Applesauce

-4 medium size apples

-2 tbsp white sugar or sugar supplement

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-3/4 cup water

Wash and dry apples

Peel the apples

Cut out the core and chop up apples

Place chopped apples, water, sugar, cinnamon in a medium saucepan on medium/low heat covered for about 10/15 minutes. Keep an ear and eye on the pot to make sure it doesn’t over boil and start spilling out. If it does just lower the heat or uncover

Once the apples are soft let it cool for about 5 minutes. I would mash it with a mashed potatoe masher that way it can give you some nice chunks of apple too. If you don’t want chunks and want a pureed consistency you can use a fork to mash it or put it in your food processor and puree it.

Now you can enjoy some delicious homemade cinnamon applesauce. Eat some fresh right after being mashed when it is still nice and warm. Delicious. Taste like apple pie, yum!!

It is so quick and easy too. Buy your pie pumpkin. Any grocery store during this time of year will carry them or pick one up when you go to the pumpkin patch. Buy a couple so you have it on hand when you need some more puree. Make sure it is a pie pumpkin or very small pumpkin. It will take forever if you just use a normal big pumpkin.

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

-Start with a cookie sheet and cover with foil

-Cut the pumpkin in half

-Scrape the seeds and inner pumpkin strings out. Just like when you are carving a pumpkin, you clean it out first. I use one of the smaller measuring cups that are stainless steel. It works so great for cleaning out pumpkins.

-Cover each entire half of pumpkin in foil.

-Place pumpkin flat side down on cookie sheet

-Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for about 1 hour or until knife goes all the way in with out any effort

-Once pumpkin is soft take sheet out and let it cool.

-When it is cool enough I use a spoon and start scraping out the pumpkin.

-Scoop it into a food processor

-Pumpkin should just be left with skin

-Puree it until smooth

-That is it!! All done!

-You can put it in the fridge for about a week but to keep it fresh if you plan on using it past a week is get an idea of what you plan on making and find out how much puree you need per recipe. I have my pumpkin cheesecake recipe that needs 15 ounces so I measure out 15 ounces and put in its own small plastic container or you can use freezer bags. Then I just label each container and put it in the freezer till I need it.

-The reason I measure it out per recipe is so I don’t have to defrost all the pumpkin puree and just use what is needed and then trow the rest away. It isn’t good to defrost and then freeze again. Just some tips I have come across.

Enjoy the yummy fresh pumpkin puree. There is so many great Fall time recipes out there. I hope to post some new pumpkin recipes soon!!

Tonight I made a delicious homemade Bbq Chicken pizza. It was so good and I know that is healthier than restaurant pizzas.

Ingredients:

-Trader Joes whole wheat pizza dough

-Trader Joes all natural bbq sauce

-rotisserie chicken seasoning

-lite mozzerella cheese

-red onions chopped

-chicken breasts

-melted smart balance non-hydrogenated butter or or an egg yolk scrambled

-garlic powder

I started off putting my frozen chicken breasts onto my crock pot sprinkled with some rotisserie chicken seasoning on top. Put it on high and let cook for about 5 hours. So I normally start around 12pm. Closer to dinner time take the pizza dough out of the fridge and get a pastry mat or cutting board lightly floured. Take the pizza dough out and place on the mat and let it rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees While it is resting start chopping up the onions into desired shaped. Take the cooked chicken out of the crock pot and onto a plate. It should just fall apart easily. Start pulling it apart into the size of chicken you want.

Once the dough is done resting take your pizza pan and place it on there and start spreading it out with your fingers, pulling it to the desired thickness. Now its time for the bbq sauce. Spread the sauce in the middle, sprinkle with mozzerella cheese, add the chopped red onions, then top with the chicken. Put it into the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes pull it out and with the melted butter or scrambled egg yolk brush the crust. The butter will give a little more flavor and the egg yolk will give it a little shine. After that sprinkle the crust with some garlic powder. The butter/egg yolk also allows the garlic powder to stick. Put it back into the oven for 5 more minutes. Once it is done pull it out and drizzle some more bbq sauce all over. It is done, Enjoy!!

I also made a yummy salad. I just combined half the bag of 50/50 spring mix salad bag with some chopped apples, some walnuts, feta cheese and then 2 tablespoons of Trader Joes Champagne Pear Vinagrette Dressing.

Ingredients:

Flour tortillas
1/4 can refried beans
1/2 Avocado
salsa (optional)
Tofutti’s Better Than Sour cream (optional)

Now, just start out by putting a medium-sized frying pan on low heat with the tortilla laying flat in the pan. Then, spread about 1/4 can of the refried beans on one half of the tortilla (I used to heat up the beans separately in a sauce pan, but they heat up just the same on the tortilla). Then, you are going to mash up half an avocado with a fork (if you like your avocado in slices, that’s fine. I just prefer a guacamole texture). When the beans are heated throughout, spread the guacamole on top of the beans. Then, fold over the other half of the tortilla on top of the guacamole & beans half. By this point, the tortilla should be nice and crisp. Then, flip the Quesadilla over to let both sides heat nicely (about 1 min). Finally you’re ready to slice them up and serve them with your favorite condiments such as sour cream and salsa. Enjoy!

Serves one

-1 whole grain (whole wheat) tortilla

-1/2 cup cooked brown rice

-1/2 cup cooked black beans (not refried beans)

-some chopped onion as desired

-some chopped cabbage as desired (or you can do iceberg lettuce)

-some chopped cucumber as desired

-you can add some cilantro if you like, I didn’t. I am not a fan of it.

-Some Tofuttis sour cream

-Taco sauce

Cook the beans and rice. Toast the tortilla a little on the stove. If it feels a little hard microwave it for 20 seconds so it can be folded easier. Cop up the onions, cabbage, and cucumber. I chopped them up small. Add the beans down the middle of the tortilla, then the rice, then add the onions, cabbage and cucumber. Make sure you don’t overload it, it will be hard to close. Roll it up and enjoy it with some Tofuttis sour cream and/or taco sauce. Enjoy!!

Serves one

• 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbsp vegan chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp non-dairy milk
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a single muffin cup and set aside. Mix flour, chocolate chips, sugar, cocoa and a light dash of cinnamon together. Stir in agave, applesauce, non-dairy milk and a drop or two of vanilla extract until combined. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serves 4 to 6

-1/4 pound pasta (any favorite shape, I used fusilli)

-2 tbps olive oil

-2 large onions thinly sliced

-2 garlic cloves finely chopped

-2 celery stalks diced

-1/4 cup shoyu (type of soy sauce)

-1/2 tsp fine sea salt

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1 head of cabbage thinly sliced

-5-6 tbps marinara sauce

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt the water and add the pasta; cook just until al dente. Drain the pasta

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions and cook for 7 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and saute for 3 minutes longer, until the onions are transparent and turning golden.

Add the celery to the skillet and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the shoyu, salt, and garlic powder, then add the cabbage; saute for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes longer.

Add the pasta to the skillet with the marinara sauce and toss together. Cook over medium-high heat for a minute or two and serve.

Ingredients: I make 2 small enchiladas for me and 2 for Josh with this recipe

-Whole wheat tortillas (I use a smaller size but you can use big ones too)

-1 10 oz can of enchilada sauce ( I don’t usually use all the sauce)

-1 16 oz can of refried beans

-Packet of taco seasoning

-Taco sauce

-soy mozzerella cheese

-diced onions (optional)

With the can of beans in a small bowl mix in 1 tsp of taco seasoning and 1 tbps of taco sauce. Mix together until blended. Place the tortillas on a microwave safe plate and microwave for 30-40 seconds. Spread about 1-2 tbps of enchilada sauce on the tortilla then scoop some beans all the way down the middle of the tortilla, sprinkle with some cheese and then roll it up and place on a baking pan. Once they are all rolled up then drizzle as desired the enchilada sauce over all them. Sprinkle with cheese. Place in oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Serve with some brown rice. Enjoy! ( If you want the onions, cook them in a skillet until cooked and a little browned. Mix those in with the beans)