Pumpkin Obsession & Fall

So back in NY when the air started getting crisp and leaves started turning colors you knew it was time for fall. Welllll in Cali it's a little different lol, obviously. There are no leaves changing considering palm trees make up a huge majority of the green here, and the air isn't quite as crisp. It's still between 65-80 degrees during the day and usually doesn't dip below 55 or 60 at night. It's actually been even warmer with some of these heat waves recently and has hit the 90s a couple times. Since I've acclimatized to this new lovely weather I am freezing my butt off in the early morning and at night lol. Makes me wonder how I survived 21 years of harsh North Eastern winters in the negatives! Brrr I need to bring tons of leggings and socks for my trip in December this year :(

 

Anyways, even though the weather isn't the same as back east doesn't mean the yummy fall foods have to change. One of my absolute favorite foods shines during the fall and I use it as many ways as I can as often as I can. So much to the point that I think I annoy everyone in the house when I have a new recipe cooking, but the same main ingredient ;) That food being PUMPKIN! Yumm I loooove pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, tea, coffee, ice cream, pasta, seeds, carving them and so forth. I could eat it everyday. And lately, I have done just that :)

 

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

adapted from Oh, Ladycakes

 

 

 

• 1 3/4 cups full fat coconut milk
• 1 3/4 cups light coconut milk
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2/3 maple syrup
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until completely smooth. Taste and adjust spices if needed. Next, churn in an ice cream maker as suggested by manufacturer's instructions. You can eat it as soft serve once it's done churning or wait and freeze it for a more scoopable ice cream. Either way delish!

 

*The original recipe requires you to cook the ingredients over the stove top to smooth everything out, but I decided to keep it as raw as I could and just blended it all together until smooth. The only mistake I made was trying to go low fat and used light coconut milk instead of full fat. DON'T use So Delicious coconut milk, it's too light, use canned or fresh milk. It came out delicious and tasted just like a slice of pie, however it wasn't thick and creamy enough. When I remake this I'll deff be using full fat coconut milk. Hey at least coconut fat is good for you lol. It also originally called for sucanat sugar, but I chose maple syrup instead because of the flavor combo and what I had on hand. You can swap brown sugar, sucanat, maple or agave for the sweeteners.*

Next is pumpkin carving! Halloween being my favorite holiday and pumpkin one of my fave foods, I obviously love to carve pumpkins. Last year I spent 3 hours carving Regan from 'The Exorcist' face into a pumpkin lol. However, it was fun and I enjoyed my pumpkin ale while doing so.

 

This year I wanted something a little easier so I could actually feel my hand afterwards lol. I went with the classic Freddy Kruger. Only took about an hour and a half :)

 

 

 

Everyone's pumpkins ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When you carve pumpkins you must roast the seeds!!! So gooood ;)

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

 

 

 

• pumpkin seeds, rinsed and guts removed
• sea salt, garlic powder, chili, or any seasoning you'd like

 

Once you remove and clean the seeds. Lay them out on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet overnight to air dry. This is when I like to sprinkle them with salt or whatever seasoning you want so that it sticks better in the oven. You can always add more later when they're cooking. The next day, set the oven to 300 degrees and roast the seeds for 40-45 minutes. Stir them around every 10 minutes or so to make sure they don't burn and brown evenly. You can taste and adjust seasonings. Once they're golden brown and crispy they're done! :) 

 

Pumpkin Pie with Gluten-Free Pecan Crust

from Oh She Glows

 

 

 

 

 

Crust:

 
• 1 cup GF rolled oats, processed into a fine flour OR 1 cup GF oat flour
• 2 cups raw pecans
• 2 tbsp sucanat sugar
• 3 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup brown rice syrup or honey
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance, melted

 

Filling:

 
• 2 & 1/4 cup canned or fresh pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup sucanat sugar
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance, softened
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Grease a 9-inch pie dish very well and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a blender, process your oats into a very fine flour and set aside. In a food processor, add 2 cups pecans and process until it starts to clump and oils start to release. You should be able to make a ball with the dough.

Melt earth balance with brown rice syrup and stir. Transfer clumpy pecan mixture into a large bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Using your hands, squeeze the dough over and over to combine very well. You should be able to form a ball with it. If it's too dry add a bit more oil.

Spoon the pecan dough into pie dish and smooth out evenly. Press down firmly with fingers to form a crust, bringing it up along the sides. Press as firmly as you can. Prick base with fork 12-13 times. Pre-bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, watching closely so it doesn't burn. Remove and cool for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup and arrowroot powder. Now add all ingredients and whisk together, adjusting spices to taste. Add more sweetener if desired. Pour filling in the pie crust and cover crust with aluminum foil. Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for at least an hour and then let sit overnight or at least 3 hours in the fridge to set.

 

When I started this post I was not thinking about how many pumpkin recipes I want to put up. Therefore, I'm splitting it into two posts. Or maybe three by the time the season is over lol. Anyways, here are some delicious pumpkin treasures I've tried and come across so far this fall season :)

 

 

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Rooibos Tea. OMG everyone should go buy this! It's like having a warm slice of pie with NONE of the calories. My absolute faveeee! I'm planning on stocking up for the winter before they sell out :)

 

 

Here in Costa Mesa there's this little Ma & Pop ice cream shop called Han's. It's not dairy free by any means, but let me tell you. It's probably the best dairy ice cream I've ever eaten in my entire life. Especially the pumpkin flavor! So creamy, flavorful, and smooth. I will occasionally indulge just because it's THAT good!

 

I looove coconut milk. Almond is delicious too, but coconut is a whole other ball park. Plus, coconuts are super good for you for sooo many reasons! Well I discovered these little gems on So Delicious' website. After going to Mother's, Sprouts, and countless other stores, I finally ventured to Whole Foods and found these babies. The pumpkin one is amazingggg. Taste just like the ice cream above but dairy free! Perfect after dinner treat. The mint chocolate one is delish too. Taste like a Starbuck's peppermint mocha on ice. You could probably warm it up too and never know the difference! They also have a nog one that I'll try once it gets closer to Christmas. That's enough pumpkin for now, but try adding some more pumpkin into your diet this season, yummm ;) 

 

 

Fun Findings in July

This month was the first time I participated in Foodie PenPals! A program put together by Lindsay, over at TheLeanGreenBean, for foodies around the country such as myself! At the beginning of the month you're assigned someone to send a package of $15 worth of fun foodie items to that you think they'll enjoy. You receive from one person and send to a different person, and then post a blog about what you received at the end of the month. This month I received my package from Summer, over at EatReal.LiveWell, who lives over in sunny Florida!

I was SO excited when I saw all these delicious goodies she picked out for me!!! :)

I have never had freeze dried fruit before but it was so good! Literally melts in your mouth.

These carrot cake cookies were also super yummy. I love how they incorporated coconut into them as well. Great for snacking when I'm out and about and they're raw!

Yummm, chocolate! Need I say more?? Who doesn't like chocolate! The coconut raw bar was such a treat! Sweet and chewy for a perfect snack, while the chili chocolate was spicy and sweet! I've never had chili chocolate before and have always wanted to try it, and it was definitely tasty! The perfect blend of sweet chocolate with a kick ;)

Ah, the spirulina bar! I munched on this beauty while roaming around Universal Park up in Hollywood for the day! It was a great energy boost and tastes just like bananas!



And finally the strawberry preserves she picked up from her local produce stand! She says this is the absolute best strawberry preserves and I cannot wait to try it! I need to use up what's in my fridge first, but I'm excited to dig in soon. She even included a cute postcard from the same farm with a note! :)

What a great box of goodies Summer picked out for me!!! She really hit it right on with everything I love to snack on. Thank you so much for putting this together for me Summer! I loved it all :)

Check out what I sent to Madison over at PilatesMakesYouHappy!

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals. In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for August, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by August 4th as pairings will be emailed on August 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The next fun thing I discovered this month was when I was roaming around the Orange County Fair and saw a booth for 'Farm Fresh To You'. It's about ten local organic farms in the area coming together and putting difference boxes of produce together and delivering right to your doorstep every week or as little or often as you want that month. I was originally looking into the co-ops where you become a member and go pick up your box of produce every week from whatever retailer they drop it off at, but this is way better! Not only is there no membership and it's pay as you go, you can add or change items you might not like or want. You can see what's coming the following week and log in to your account and make any necessary changes, including the type of produce box you want to receive! There are mixed boxes, all fruit, all veggies, and ready to eat ones with less cooking required produce. I thought this was such a great idea not only to support local organic farms, but they literally pick the produce and bring it to you by the next day or so. MUCH fresher than even the organic markets I regularly go to and everything was SOOO tasty!

I decided to get the regular size box to start out with and adjust it from there depending on how much we'd eat in a week. I got the mixed box which is a combination of fruits and veggies. That particular week it came with grapes, nectarines (faveee), plums, cherry tomatoes, assorted tomatoes, a lemon, an onion, a cucumber, a bunch of carrots, and a head of lettuce. The fruit was sooo amazingly juicy and fresh, and the tomatoes and other veggies just as good! I will definitely continue to get a box from FFTY every week! Oh, and if you live in the LA,or Orange County areas you can save $10 on your first order with referral code 6164 and giving them my name, Gabbie Raymond ;) Enjoy!

A friend of mine from back in New York was visiting this past week so things have been a little crazy, but I'll post some recipes I made in a day or two ;)