Pumpkin pie for breakfast!

"Grandma Crow always cooks the best food," says Lucy. And no one can argue. We LOVE grandma's cooking. This trip, she treated us to squash (grown from seed this summer) cooked to perfection into a delicious porridge. YUM! An instant fall favorite. We will be making this again! Probably a lot this year since I have two squashes to bake and put into our freezer.

Pumpkin Pie Porridge

• 2 cups steel cut oats (you can substitute rolled oats in a pinch)
• 6-7 cups water 
• 1½ cups pumpkin or cooked squash
• ½ tsp salt

Add after cooking:

• 1 T pumpkin pie spice
• 1 T vanilla extract

Top with:

• ICE CREAM (suggested) AND/OR peanut butter powder, brown sugar, chopped nuts, fruit

Combine oats, water, pumpkin and salt in a slow cooker and stir until it's fully combined and there are no lumps of pumpkin. Cook on warm for 7-8 hours and then turn the slow cooker on the low setting and stir. Add the pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract and let the oatmeal cook for about 15-30 more minutes to thicken it up if needed. Stir once more and then serve warm with a heaping spoon of ice cream in the middle.

Breakfast from the future

Cooking in the olden days...my mom with Millie and Ginny

In the olden days of my youth, there was no Harry Potter. There was no Internet, no Youtube, no Crocs, no Legoland in American and no such thing as an "app for that."

Life pre-Google...Millie, me, Angela, Will, Dave and Ginny

AND we had to make white sauce on the stove. Which took FOREVER (aka, at least 8 minutes) and you had to stir the whole time so it didn't burn. Now, we can just make it in the microwave in 2 minutes. That means a family favorite, creamed eggs on toast, is super quick to make in the morning. Life in the future is SO wonderful!

Creamed Eggs on Toast

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
4 hard boiled eggs
Jam and pepper (optional)

Combine milk, butter, flour and salt in microwaveable container. Cook on high for 2-4 minutes, stirring every minute until it bubbles up and thickens. Stir in boiled eggs and serve over toast.

Note: an audiobooks is not required for this recipe but I find it adds that something *extra*. For breakfast cooking, I'd recommend The Olivia Series read by Dame Edna - a fantastic character who HAS been around since my youth.

Snowman soup

Important fact: snow that just won't stick to make a snowman is absolutely PERFECT for Snowman Soup. Since this non-sticky snow is the most common kind we get in Portland, it's pretty lucky that we thought up this recipe.

We've been making this for ages, every time we have enough snow. It isn't quite as fun as sledding, building a snow fort, or (yes) making an actual snowMAN - but it brings fun into that little bit of snow that just isn't good for much else.

Here's the recipe:

Snowman Soup

• 1 Snowstorm
• Large bowl 
• Concentrated Crystal Light (preferably lighter colored flavor, or substitute with any punch or juice)

It is preferable to put out cookie sheets early in the storm to make it easy to gather clean snow.

Fill your bowl with the cleanest snow you can find. Bring into the house (traditionally this comes along with a trail of small puddles). Serve into smaller bowls and top with concentrated punch.

Delicious Delite

Holly Hobby + Marge Peterson = stationery made for me by my friend Kimberly Colemere when I was a little girl. I am so glad you found it to write down the recipe for this delicious salad you made up.

Even "Fluffy," henry's pet beetle likes it.

Delicious no-bake goodness

I'm not great about making sweets, not one of those moms with the frosted cookie cutouts or themed cupcakes. I spend most of my cooking time focused on getting 5 fruits and veggies in you ever day. I might call my cooking style "stealth-veggie-experimental." Sometimes, you call my cooking style "gross." Yes, there are downsides to my cooking. But leaving out the fancy desserts has left your expectations wonderfully low; you will usually finish up the last bites of my grossest veggie goulash for the prize of a POPSICLE or "oh my goodness, oh my goodness" a CUP OF MARSHMALLOWS.

One treat we make occasionally are Unbaked Chocolate Oatmeal Chews, aka Gorilla Poops. Your dad started the trend. I get the feeling he ate them A LOT as a missionary. They are delicious, and quick. Plus, you get to say the word "poop" lots and lots. Who doesn't love that?

Here's the recipe:

Gorilla Poops

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla

Cook sugar, milk, butter and coca until boiling. Mix rest of ingredients in large bowl and pour coca mixture over the top. Toss to mix and quickly drop on waxed paper. Let set.

Makes a couple dozen small ones or (on a particularly homesick day north of the arctic circle) one GIANT one to eat straight from the bowl with your companion.

Your own personal crêperie

We ate "flat pancakes" a lot growing up at my house. You sound much more high brow, calling them French crêpes. Oddly, the recipe that always we use is Norwegian; it came from Jeremy's mission cookbook.

Whatever they are called, they have become your absolute, must-have-at-least-4-times-a-week, favorite.

Pannekaker

• 3 cups flower (375 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 eggs (extra egg optional)
• 3 cups milk (almond milk works fine)
• 4 drops vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Holiday-appropriate food coloring, as desired

Mix the dry ingredients together; add milk, eggs, and vanilla; beat batter well. Stir in melted butter (or just dump everything into the vitamix and go with it).

Fry in a medium hot greased frying pan. Serve with lemon juice and sprinkled sugar (your favorite). Or peant buter (my favorite). Or Nutella. Or berries and whip cream. Or cinnamon sugar. Or whatever else strikes your fancy.

The One True Casserole

It is true, Mormons love casseroles. And why not? Many of the recipes go hand-in-hand with serious church ideals such as frugality, the guideline to eat meat “sparingly," and emergency preparedness. Casseroles can be a delicious way to stretch grocery dollars and efficiently feed a large family. Many of their common ingredients are long-lasting and can rotate as part of a Mormon family's typical bunker food storage. Recombining these ingredients in different ways offers some variety while making the flavors palatable to even very picky children. And let's face it, if you've got 6 kids, some of them are bound to be picky.

 

Along with information about the Godhead and the Golden Plates, It is possible that Joseph Smith was given several casserole recipes using cheese and condensed soup.

We ate casseroles all the time when I was little - but Chicken Broccoli Casserole (now lovingly referred to as "Chicken Broc") was the classic. I admit, there were years that I ate around the broccoli. But over time, I grew to love all of it. The smell and taste now remind me of happy times, growing up in Holladay, Utah.

There are many versions of the recipe, but this is our family's. I am pretty sure if you pray about it, you will know it's true.

The One True Chicken Broccoli Casserole

• 2 - 3 big florets of Broccoli - cut up
• 2 chicken breasts - cooked and shredded*
• 1/2 C mayo
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (use healthy request if you have to avoid MSG)
• Enough grated cheese to top
• Cooked rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put broccoli and chicken in an 8 X 8 pan. In a small mixing bowl, combine mayo and soup. Pour over chicken and broccoli. Top with grated cheese. Bake for 30 min until all is hot and the cheese on top is lightly toasted.

A humble prayer asking that the food to "nourish and strengthen your bodies" is optional but highly recommended.

Serve over rice and dig in!

*Frozen chicken breasts are easy to bake up for this. Preheat oven to 375. Bake uncovered frozen breasts 20 to 30 minutes, or until juices run clear when thickest part of chicken is pierced and temperature on instant read thermometer reaches 170°F.

Sea garden pasta

Step one
Align the stars so the love of your life happens to be someone who can hook you up with a steady supply of morel mushrooms.

Step two
Birth a cute kid who will pick out pasta shells and dream up her own sea creature dinner.

Step three
Throw together your ocean:

• Coral: morels
• Rocks: beans
• Peas: pearls
• Shells: pasta
• Water: cream cheese with blue food coloring
• Octopus: sculpted hotdog with caviar eyes (glued on with mustard)

Step four
Serve with a snorkel.

Dinner in a pumpkin

Jack-o-lanterns are lighting up the street. "Skelketons," goblins, and witches are out and about. It's just about time to make our annual Dinner in a Pumpkin. Boo!

Dinner in a Pumpkin Recipe

1 small to med pumpkin
2 T oil
2 T soy sauce
1 4 oz can mushrooms (or some fresh cooked)
1 can sliced water chestnuts (drained)
1 onion chopped
1.5 - 2 lbs ground beef
1 T brown sugar
1 can cream-of-chicken soup
1.5 C cooked rice

Cut off pumpkin top and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. Paint an appropriate face on the front with a permanent marking pen or acrylic paint. Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet, sauté onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain drippings from skillet. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into the pumpkin. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin with filling on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until filling is hot and pumpkin meat is tender. Put pumpkin on a plate. Remove pumpkin lid and serve filling. For your vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin and serve. Serves 6.

Note: we usually precook the pumpkin in the oven for 30-60 minutes depending on size. I also like to add extra cooked veggies like peas, or green beans before baking.

Diabetic approved "hoho heet"

Grandma Crow found out she was diabetic this year. Since then she has completely changed her diet and lost more than 50 pounds. I am incredibly impressed with her resolve to live a healthier lifestyle.

Aunt Deb found this recipe years ago and it's become a family favorite. You can make it with sugar or Splenda but the Splenda version actually bakes up better and tastes terrific. We made up a special batch just for Grandma this year.

Spiced Almonds

Whisk together: 1 lg egg white, 1 Tbsp orange juice

Then add: 2/3 C Splenda or sugar, 1 Tbsp orange zest, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp all spice

Stir until mixed then add: 3 C whole almonds

Spread on cook sheet covered with parchment paper

Bake for 50 minutes at 275 degrees

You've spent a lot of time talking about "heets" (treats) since Halloween. Some days it is almost constant. I'm trying to help you understand what "enough" is and how to savor it. We don't want to spoil you and sending you down the path to future health problems, or demonize food giving you eating issues. Luckily, you still eat a wide variety of foods and keep trying new things. You asked for broccoli the other day which made this mama very happy.

Taste of summer

We have made two trips to the coast this month and both times your dad made this recipe. It's delicious and easy. I would never have guessed a recipe with clams would become a favorite but this one makes the cut!

Spaghetti With Clams

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic
1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 pounds small clams, such as Littlenecks, or cockles, scrubbed and purged in salted water, any open or broken clams discarded
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Lemon wedges, accompaniment

Directions:
In a large pot of salted water, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain and return to the pot, and cover to keep warm.

In a large saute pan or pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper, and salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant and golden, 3 to 4 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the wine and clams, cover, and cook, shaking occasionally, until the clams open, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard any clams that do not open.

Add the cooked pasta and parsley and toss well to combine and warm the pasta. Divide among 4 or 6 pasta bowls or large plates. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.

Bran muffins - a family legacy

One of my mom's best known recipes is a magical combination of wheat bran, oat bran, and who knows what that she used to bake into her special "muffins." Her muffins didn't really look like muffins - more like misshapen biscuits - but they were pretty tasty and we ate them regularly (no pun intended). Those outside the family tried them occasionally and, unused to the fiber punch, tended to have some... digestive side effects.  In fact, a friend of the family once called them colon-bombers and the name so aptly fit that it stuck. I'm not sure mom liked the name as much as we did. Maybe that's why she hasn't made them in a long while. 

The recipe below might be called a subtler version of my mom's muffins. I really like these, but then I can eat a whole flat of raspberries with nary a tummy-rumble. 

Moist Molasses Bran Muffins 

(from Bob's Red Mill package with my additions in italics)

1 cup wheat bran

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (white flour also works fine)

1/2 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup chopped nuts (or flax seeds)

2 Tbsp oil

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Combine wheat bran, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in nuts and raisins. In a separate bowl blend applesauce, milk, molasses, oil and egg. Add to dry ingreadients and stir just until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin tin or paper muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 marvelous muffins!

Texas caviar

My Uncle Russell is a great cook and Aunt Linda knows how to please a crowd what with all the bunco nights, baby showers and gatherings at her place. They brought this dip to a family party and it's awesome. I've been making it a lot lately with all of our ripe tomatoes. I really need to get more recipes from them. 

Roasted Corn Salsa (aka Texas Caviar)
1 16 oz bag frozen corn
6-8 roma tomatoes, diced
1 small onion diced
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
3 avocados, diced
Juice of 3 limes
1/4 to 1/2 C fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 C olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 Tb red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Thaw corn on cookie sheet and broil until it begins to brown (or buy pre-roasted corn at Trader Joe's). Saute onions unless you like them raw. Mix all the ingredients with corn and let the flavors blend several hours. Serve with tortilla chips.

Serves 12 or so. Great for a potluck and keeps pretty well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Cooking show with Mom and Lucy

You love to hang out in the kitchen while we cook. And oh happy day, I have finally moved passed eating only peanut butter and jam sandwiches!

 

Cooking is much more fun with Lucy in the kitchen!

Tomatoes are on which means lots of grilled sandwiches, caprese salads and salsa. We saw a picture in a magazine and decided to try a caprese pasta salad. The recipe in the magazine turned out to be something totally different but the salad we made up is pretty darn good. Today I made a giant batch of it to eat and to take to Marcy who is pregnant with her 5th baby - yikes!

 

Caprese salad: basil, tomatoes, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, 

corkscrew pasta, salt and pepper = yum

Grandma Crow brought us some beautiful cabbage from her garden but after eating only a little of it, we've decided crucifers are still off the menu because they do terrible things to your stomach. Whenever I'm ready to wean, I can just eat cabbage every day and you won't want to come near me. 

 

Thumbs down to crucifers!