Hello love Muffins…
I must confess, I love muffins.
Great for a quick breakfast, I often make a dozen of these Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins and keep them in the freezer. All you need to do is pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds and run out the door.
…
Some things make being on the road all week a little better.
Check out the Roasted Pumpkin in the top left corner of this screen shot of today’s FoodBuzz Top 9 – its my roasted pumpkin from this post!!! 🙂
Another thing that makes a long week brighter is my favorite weekly event – Jenn @ Peas and Crayons‘ What I ate Wednesday. Here’s my WIAW (technically Tuesday… but whatever).
Pumpkin Zucchini Muffin… recipe coming soon to a blog near you!
Remember the Sweet Potato BYOB Greek Yogurt? Same idea, same Sky mag (the new one wasn’t out until the flight home – SJP looks amazing in it!), different flavors.
Pumpkin Greek Yogurt
Pumpkin Greek Yogurt with Fage. I think the secret is using a thick yogurt (this may also help when getting through security!) and not being afraid to add spices/flavors. Shout out to almond extract and ginger in this cup. YUM.
You should have see the guys next to me on the plane wondering WTF I was doing taking multiple pics of my BYOgurt. 🙂
Full recipe at the end of this post.
The St. Louis airport was especially festive after the Cardinals big World Series win!
Lunch today was from a deli in the bottom of an office building. It is barely worth mentions and certainly not worth picturing. Over-salted but otherwise flavorless vegetable soup and a dry roll.
I would have rather had my Wild Mushroom Soup from last week.
Unpictured pretzels and an apple on the plane. I did get a shot of a gorgeous sunset.
Totally made up for lunch.
My boss and I had to work late. Since we were at the airport already, we decided to check out One Flew South in the ATL airport. It was recently featured in Food & Wine!
There weren’t any vegetarian options on the menu, but they did have tofu in a salmon dish. I asked the server if they would make a tofu-only dish and they surprised with me an amazing tofu-veggie sauté. It included sweet potato straws, butternut squash, snow peas, carrots, fennel, spinach, and shittake mushrooms over a parsnip puree. Absolutely delicious.
Dessert was fantastic – Banana Pudding with ‘Nilla Wafers. So much so that I forgot to take a picture until there was barely a bite left in the jar.
I had NO idea airport food could be this good!
Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt
Mix all ingredients together in bowl or recycled yogurt container. For best results, let refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight to allow flavors to meld.
Add toppings as desired. Mine included: pomegranate seeds and these Cardamom Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.
Get through security and enjoy your yogurt-pie as a reward!
As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/
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As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the tastiness everyone else ate today!
What is your favorite seasonal flavor? Eggnog? Hot Chocolate? A pie of sorts?
What airport do you think has the best food?
Apparently Halloween is the new Friday the 13th.
Yesterday I managed to:
Just another Manic Monday…
One thing DID go right: I made some rockin’ roasted pumpkin seeds. Three ways, in fact. Does that mean that 3 things went right?
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Yesterday I posted a “how to” for roasting pumpkin and making your own pumpkin puree (step away from the Libby’s). I cautioned you to save the seeds, and this post is the reason why.
I should preface this with the fact that you can roast any squash seeds. Recently I roasted a butternut squash for my Curried Butternut Squash Dip, I roasted those seeds up like so.
Pumpkin seeds in particular make awesome snacks – they are great sources of fiber, magnesium, manganese, and iron. Plus you can exercise your creative genius flavoring them with basically anything in your pantry. Case and point:
Note: All measurements are approximations. I free-handed these to my liking.
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Rinse seeds from your gutted pumpkin to remove the goop. Spread evenly across a sheet of wax paper or parchment (or other non-stick surface). Allow to dry for 1-2 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
Toss seeds in desired seasonings and spread evenly across a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until beginning to brown (~15-20 mins), tossing half way through. Allow to cool completely before storing in airtight container.
Enjoy as a snack or a tasty topping for soups, salads, yogurt, etc.
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My hand is blistered from grabbing that pan… hopefully no one will want to shake my hand today. LOL!
What is your favorite flavor combo for seeds/popcorn/chips?
Did you go trick-or-treating last night?
Halloween is the perfect day for roasting pumpkin.
Touchdown!!! (John Bazemore/AP Photo)
Before I get into that tastiness, I need to talk a little football. In addition to being Halloween weekend, it was a HUGE football weekend. Georgia Tech‘s Homecoming game was against the undefeated Clemson Tigers. Tech won pretty 31-17, making me one happy girl Saturday night. 🙂
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Every fall people go crazy over the return of canned pumpkin to grocery store shelves. While the canned stuff is good (and convenient), it doesn’t hold a candle to homemade pumpkin puree.
Don’t use your jack-o-laterns for this.
Recycling is good, but those are different pumpkins. What you want to use is the smaller Sugar Pie Pumpkin, which has a sweeter, softer flesh. They can be found at most grocery stores.
Gutted and ready to roast
Yes, it is slightly more time-consuming than opening a can. The end result is well worth it. There is just something about the flavor and the texture that is much, much better. It will take your pumpkin pies and breads to a new level of delicious.
Post-Roast Pumpkin
You’ll notice a huge difference when using it for non-baking purposes too. I love mixing it in my Greek yogurt, smoothies, and pasta dishes.
Some people lick batter out of bowls… I may have done something similar with this pumpkin skin.
Yesterday I even mixed my pumpkin puree with coconut milk and cayenne and used it as a marinade for my tempeh before pan-frying it. Lunch doesn’t get more fall than that!
Pumpkin-encrusted tempeh salad
The puree can be portioned and frozen for later use (if you don’t eat it all at once). Pumpkin muffins year-round!
Pumpkin puree
The puree is decadent. Fresh pumpkin contains more moisture than canned, making the texture absolutely fabulous. You won’t be able to resist sprinkling some cinnamon and nutmeg on it for a mid-morning snack.
Perfect post-photo shoot snack
Don’t forget to save the seeds for roasting!
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It wasn’t a bad fitness week. Thank you all for your well-wishes regarding my injury. I did make the call not to run my portion of the relay. It was a tough decision, but I just literally couldn’t run more even a mile Saturday morning. Now I’m concentrating on healing up and being able to run the Half Marathon on Thanksgiving. I can’t believe its less than a month away!
Workout Recap (10/24-10/30)
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the “guts” (save the seeds to roast later), and then slice each half once to create a total of 4 pieces. Rub the wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet to bake for about an hour (or until tender).
Scoop the meat out of the skins and puree in food processor.
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Best costume of the weekend: Charlie Sheen with Goddesses.
What was the best costume you saw this weekend (or at work today)?
What food items commonly purchased pre-made do you like to make yourself?
Happy Halloween Friday!
In the spirit of The Great Pumpkin/Halloween (and the fact that I’m up to ears in work), here are some of my favorite orange food creations (click the image or title for the recipe!):
Butternut Squash Drop Biscuits
Indian-Spiced Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onions
Lentil-Stuffed Acorn Squash (ok, I realize it’s more yellow… but go with it…)
If I had just one orange item to make this Halloween weekend… I’d make the following soup. It’s one of my Top 5 Favorite Creations. That’s including desserts.
Searching past recipes to write this, I realized I don’t make many orange desserts. My friends do though! Check out some of these awesome treats from the blog-world:
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I just realized almost everything I ate yesterday was unintentionally orange. Creepy.
What are some of your favorite orange/Halloween creations?
Who is doing something fun this weekend? Tell me about it so I can live vicariously!
It seems that every fast food joint has turned fall desserts into milkshakes.
Skip the fast food sugar-bomb and make your own (much healthier) version!
Apple Pie is fantastic a la mode… it’s only natural that is become part of the la mode.
Yes, my Apple Pie Shake is green. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is the time to toss an avocado in your smoothie. It adds to the creamy-milkshake texture and you cannot taste it. (Recipe at the bottom of post.)
To begin my WIAW, I had a post-workout Apple Pie Shake. Perfect beginning to a warm fall day.
Words of shake-making advice:
I only turned my back for a second when I heard a big “SPLAT.” I looked around… where’s my apple??? Hmmmm… glance down… apparently my apple grew legs and jumped off my balcony. It’s not that bad, apple!
Odd craving for apple sauce…
Today’s lunch was gourmet. By gourmet, I mean multi-course.
First a salad of arugula and spinach with carrots, cucumber, and a hearty scoop of chipotle salsa. I love salsa as dressing.
Followed by my leftover “pasta” (spaghetti squash from this dish) and a quick batch of this tahini sauce.
I didn’t realize today was going to be a “make it again” day. Typically I don’t repeat recipes… there are so many new ideas floating around in my head!
After the tahini sauce repeat, I re-made this Wild Mushroom Soup for dinner. It was one of my favorites last winter – someone remind me to re-make dishes more often!
Don’t judge… brown food is impossible to photograph!
I made is almost the same way; however I did use fresh parsley and roasted garlic and added lentils for bulk.
It was a fun snack day! In addition to my “OMG, I cannot get sick” Emergen-C, I tried a new product: Primal Strips.
It’s meatless vegan jerky made from seitan!
Observations:
Verdict: I’d definitely buy it again and would love to try other flavors!
Not pictured: I made another Apple Pie Shake as a bedtime snack. Like I said, it’s a day of repeats.
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Put it in a blender and blend until smooth! Pour into tumbler and drink your pie.
I received the pictured Tervis tumbler as part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program. It didn’t influence the fact that my shake was fantastic, but it did keep it nice and cold while I took a million pics of it. 🙂
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Voting is now open on Facebook for Delta’s Biscoff Bake-Off. Pretty please vote for my Biscoff Cookie Dough Balls by clicking here and “liking” my entry. You can vote 1x per day!!!
As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the tastiness everyone else ate today!
What is your favorite dessert-gone-shake?
Do you have “go to” dishes you make regularly?
Remembering hurts sometimes.
Morning view from our B&B
Maybe I’m being a little dramatic… but I fell in love in the Piedmont region of Italy. Specifically in Alba.
Our first day in the region was spent bumming around the small town of Alba. Two important things to note about Alba:
Therefore, the city smells of chocolate and truffles. How could I not fall in love?
We took our time at the B&B sleeping in and getting ready for the day. All of the train travel, 55 lb bag carrying, and late night arrivals were taking a toll! We arrived in the city center just in time for lunch at one of the original Slow Food restaurants – Osteria dell’Arco.
Not familiar with the Slow Food movement? Briefly, from their website:
Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment.
To say that it was a religious experience would be an understatement.
To begin, I was THRILLED with my massive salad topped with perfect late-season tomatos, carrots, and yellow peppers. The glass of Nebbiolo was pretty tasty too.
Insalada Mista
We ordered a Primi to share, followed by two Secondi.
The primi was so good it almost made me cry – gnocchi with shaved black truffles. That was the lightest, fluffiest gnocchi that I have ever put in my mouth (and we ate quite a bit on this trip). The sauce was perfectly creamy with a touch of salt – just enough to complement the earthy, rich truffles.
The following dishes were also excellent: Brasato di vitello al barolo (braised veal in Barolo wine) and an eggplant dish with red peppers and creamy lemony ricotta.
Check out the Slow Food plate!
Post-lunch explorations took us all over the city, admiring truffles, pastas, and various meats.
We wandered into one particular truffle shop and were admiring the jars truffle-laced goodies when I did something embarrassing. I knocked a 25 Euro jar of anchovies with white truffles off the shelf. It shattered onto the floor and the store filled with the aroma of truffles… which gave way to the less pleasant smell of anchovies. Call me Grace.
I apologized profusely to the man working and mentally prepared myself to have to shell out the money for the merch. much to my surprise, the man insisted I not worry about it and – since I wouldn’t stop apologizing – he gave me a piece of truffled chocolate!
To this day I’m not sure how the next part of this story came to be. The man – Tomi – ended up talking to us for a bit. We told him how much we wanted to have some good white truffles, which are hard to find on menus early in the season. It turns out it isn’t uncommon for people to buy truffles to bring to a restaurant for dinner (BYOT), and he knew of a shop where we could buy them (with his 50% off discount!!!). The really mind-blowing part is that Tomi offered to drive us to his friend’s restaurant in the neighboring town of Teriso for dinner!
How does this stuff happen to us?!
We decided to take our chances that he wouldn’t be a mass murderer (he wasn’t – he was a very nice Japanese-transplant to Italia) and accepted his generous offer. Off to the store to buy truffles!
Clockwise: local hazelnuts, black truffles, white truffles, samples of various truffle spreads
You lick it, you bought it!
Our very own 0.26 ounces of white truffles
.26 oz of white truffles would normally cost about 100 euro. We got it for 50. That’s cheap compared to what you find in the States – I just heard that a local Atlanta restaurant is offering a white truffle pasta dish for $60. Thanks Tomi!
Profumo di Vino has the coolest menu design I’ve ever seen!
Profumo di Vino’s chef/owner, Memo, offered a delicious tasting menu… all of which i can no longer name, but I’ll do my best! ‘Scuse the nighttime low-quality shots.
2008 Elio Grasso Barbera d’Alba
Pumpkin mousse
Encrusted poached egg (post-cut) over a potato puree
Memo shaving our truffles over his olive-oil coated tajarin
Eggs, white truffles, and a phenomenal Hilberg Barbera d’Alba.
This was incredibly tender and moist… I think he said it was quail but it seems too big?!
Molten chocolate cake. Served with a side of jalapeno gelato.
Normal people might go home after all that. We aren’t normal.
The whole kitchen came out to talk to us and we shared drinks with a staff from the following countries: Mexico, America, Sweden, and Japan. There may have been a push-up contest involved. Only in Italy.
Who needs a dose of health food after that smorgasbord? Are you seeing why I need to cleanse? LOL! 🙂
I had a little bit of butternut squash left over and wanted to eat it in a new way. Remembering the Butternut Rosemary Hummus I made last spring, I decided on a dip. Curried Butternut Squash Dip.
The curry and ginger flavors with the sweetness of the squash was delicious. I enjoyed the whole dish with carrots, red bell peppers, and celery. Then I cleaned the bowl with my fingers.
The garnish is simply roasted butternut squash seeds. They are just like pumpkin seeds and super easy to make:
They make a great grab and go snack!
Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Adjust spices and add more oil (or water) as needed.
Use as a dip for your favorite veggies and chips or as a spread on sandwiches or wraps. Or simply eat with a spoon while standing over the blender.
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I think the Piedmont recaps have been hard for me to begin because I’m still sad I had to leave.
Have you ever had white truffles?
What’s your favorite way to eat butternut squash?
It’s no secret that I travel A LOT. I am a Consultant, so it is literally in my job description. Good thing I like to travel – work or pleasure! Last month I flew 17,140 miles on Delta. That doesn’t even include my return from Italia.
Being that it’s such a big part of my life, I though I’d share some tips I’ve picked up for eating right on the road.
Often on domestic flights pretzels or peanuts aren’t going to cut it for me. I’m notorious for having to run through airports, leaving no time to eat meals.
I like plan ahead and bring carrot, zucchini, and celery sticks on airplanes for snack. They can handle not being refrigerated for a few hours and are far better than a few peanuts (or nothing at all… I was shocked to discover that United doesn’t serve anything). That PB packet was from leftover from hotel strategy #2 below.
For early flights I like to BYOB. I’m usually scrambling to get to the airport at 7am and need to bring my own breakfast to the airport. Sorry Delta, but Biscoff does not a breakfast make.
Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt
Yogurt will make it through security. I recently enjoyed my homemade Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt on a 8a flight. Also, remember to save your old yogurt containers for perfect storage when making your own. It was soooo good.
Other BYO Ideas:
Often the only healthy option on hotel breakfast menus is oatmeal. When I order mine, I ask for banana or fresh berries as toppings in lieu of brown sugar and raisins. Even though I always have nut butter with me, I ask if to hotel has any. Many keep individual packages of peanut butter (pictured below) that I take with me for future use.
Sometimes I shake it up and order eggs. If so, I request half egg/half egg whites and that they be cooked with olive oil or cooking spray instead of slathered with butter. If there are veggies listed with other menu items (tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, etc.) I check to see if they can scramble those into my eggs. This request isn’t always met, but it’s worth a shot!
Dinner can be more of an adventure. Options are so limited in hotels! Typically I order a salad with grilled chicken – easy on the salt and dressing on the side. What is it with the over dressed, salty food?! I also check to see what the seasonal veggies are and order a side of those too, preferably steamed. With a glass of wine.
As I discovered this week on the cleanse, it’s especially hard to order dinner on a vegan diet. Without the option of my go-to grilled chicken salad I had to think outside the box to get a substantial dinner.
Again, the idea is to ask for help. Before calling down I read the menu to see what veggies they keep in-house. Then I called and asked if the kitchen had brown and/or wild rice on hand. Night one wasn’t such a success but…
The import thing is to be specific: the hotel line cooks aren’t going to be creative like you are at home. Read the menu and know what veggies you want from, specify how much rice is a serving for you (sounds picky, but it’s better than being hungry), and asked that they bring the oil and salt on the side. Know that may sacrifice on flavor, and circumvent that problem by asking for a side of red pepper flakes or herbs.
On night 2 this worked like a charm – my dinner was delicious. Though maybe not worth the $40 the Ritz charged for it.
It’s a great idea to hit a grocery store once you arrive at your destination. However, most of my work trips are 1-2 days and I don’t have time or transportation (I prefer to taxi vs. rent a car). This makes it difficult, but not impossible to eat well. I’m also lucky in that I can expense food on work trips. Helloooooo room service!
All this to say I bring my own accoutrements to accompany my crazy requests mentioned in #2.
Tops on the “to bring” list is protein powder. You can check with the hotel kitchen, find a coffee shop (99.9% make smoothies now), or locate a smoothie place. They will be happy to make you a smoothie with your powder just ignore the weird looks. Before you leave home, pre-mix it with your favorite spice(s) (I always add cinnamon) for added flavor.
This trip I ordered 2 at a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s shop a block from my hotel – one for immediate breakfast consumption and the second one for a post-workout protein fix (sorted in the room fridge or in a bucket of ice if you don’t have a fridge).
Custom smoothie
Other must-haves on the road:
The most creative hotel creation yet occurred yesterday morning. I knew is was going to be hectic since my boss was now on the road with me and we had an early meeting and my room service oatmeal strategy wasn’t useful since oatmeal isn’t allowed on the cleanse.
I made an overnight breakfast pudding with my cinnamon-laced protein power and a banana from home. Just be sure you remember to save a fork and glass from room service to mush up the fruit.
In a glass saved from room service, mush up banana with similarly obtained fork. Stir in remaining ingredients, adding water until fairly liquid (the chia will soak up the excess overnight).
Place in mini-fridge or in ice bucket overnight.
In the morning, stir and enjoy whilst patting yourself on the back for being so creative. 🙂
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One more idea… if you’re taking a train in Italy, pack up some Prosciutto di San Daniele and bread sticks for the trip.
Do you bring snacks on the road?
How do you navigate not-so-healthy hotel menus and special dietary needs?
