Tag Archives: fall

Mexican Hot Chocolate

1 Reply

Merry Merry Christmas everyone!

Feeling chilly? Need a drink after playing in the snow? This Mexican Hot Chocolate will warm you right up! A delicious blend of spices including ginger and cayenne make this a wonderful steamy drink for a cold winter day.

Blog mexican hot chocolate (2) Blog mexican hot chocolate (1)

Ingredients (1 serving)

  • 2 tsps cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • cayenne to taste (I use about 1/8 tsp, but I like it spicy!)
  • 1 Tbsp agave syrup or honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup milk (or coconut milk)
  • Half ‘n’ half or cream to taste

Directions

  • Mix dry ingredients in a cup
  • Add agave and water
  • Microwave on high for 20 seconds
  • Stir till well blended, add milk and return to the microwave for another minute or until hot
  • Add some whipped cream (optional)

dit-elle-Esther

Lantern Craft

1 Reply

It’s that time of year.. the days are short, the nights are long, and if it’s raining, the days just feel dark! These lanterns are a wonderful kid activity and winter decoration to bring some warm light into the house! Growing up in Scandiavia and going to a Waldorf, we would make these every November for our Lantern Festival. They are super simple to make and you can get creative with shapes, sizes and color schemes! Have fun! 🙂

Blog DIY Lantern craft (7) Blog DIY Lantern craft (6) Blog DIY Lantern Craft x4 Blog DIY Lantern craft (5)

Supplies

  • Glass jar (any shape/size OK, but needs to be glass not plastic)
  • Colored tissue paper
  • Glue (watered out Elmer’s glue)
  • Brushes or sponge brushes to brush light coat of glue on outside of jar
  • Tea lights / votive candles
  • Shiny star stickers (optional)

Directions

  • ‘Paint’ the outside of the jars with a thin coat of watered out glue and rip up pieces of colored tissue paper and stick to jar
  • Repeat with multiple layers until desired color density / effect is reached
  • Let dry, and add a few star stickers
  • Light candles and drop inside the jars
  • Enjoy super cosiness! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Apple Tartlets

Leave a reply

It’s definitely apple season! Pick a favorite cooking apple (Granny Smith apples are wonderful), make this easy crust, and voila – easy paleo dessert. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for some totally-non-paleo goodness! 🙂

The recipe calls for apple juice – this is the only sweetener. I thought the apples might be too tart – but they are perfect. Even without the ice cream, this is a yummy dessert!

These Upside Down Apple Tartlets are inspired from Elana’s Pantry (with some minor modifications).

Blog apple tartlett (3) Blog apple tartlett (1)

Crust

  • 2 cups blanched almond flour
  • dash sea salt
  • ¼ cup coconut oil, at room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Filling

  • 6 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced, and cut into ¼-inch slices (I like Granny Smith Apples for baking)
  • 1 cup apple juice
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (What’s arrowroot? That’s what I said! It’s a natural thickener – a starch extracted from arrowroot. Read more on Wikipedia.)
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° and place eight 1-cup wide mouth Mason jars on a large baking sheet (you could also make one large pie/tart if you prefer – just use an ~8″ round or square baking dish and crumble or lay the crust on top)
  2. To make the crust, pulse together almond flour and salt in a food processor, then add coconut oil and vanilla and pulse until the mixture forms a ball
  3. Transfer dough to a piece of parchment paper and place in freezer for 20 minutes
  4. To make filling, toss apples, apple juice, lemon juice, arrowroot powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl to combine
  5. Transfer apples to Mason jars so that each one is overfull and divide remaining juice from the bottom of the bowl between the jars
  6. Remove dough from freezer, place between 2 pieces of parchment paper generously dusted with almond flour and roll out to about ¼-inch thick and remove top sheet of parchment
  7. Use top of a wide-mouth Mason jar to cut out 8 circles of dough
  8. Place one on top of each apple-filled Mason jar
  9. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown
  10. Serve the tartlets hot out of the oven with coconut whipped cream or ice cream 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles

Leave a reply

Love the Gluten Free Waffles we posted last week? Here’s a pumpkin version! 🙂

Blog gluten free waffles-2 (1) Blog gluten free waffles 2 (6)  Blog gluten free waffles 2 (2)

Ingredients

  • 1  cup rice flour or a gluten free flour mix
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal (omit if you are corn free and add another 1/4 cup of the rice flour back)
  • 1/2 cup potato starch (NOT Potato Flour)
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 2  teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • dash of salt
  • 1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works, too)

Directions

  • Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another
  • Combine and mix
  • Add more liquid if you need to thin the batter (water, milk or more pumpkin)
  • Scoop in portions onto waffle iron and cook
  • Serve with butter & sugar & cinnamon, maple syrup & whipped cream & toasted pecans, or other favorite toppings

dit-elle-Esther

Chocolate Pumpkin Chiffon Pudding

9 Replies

This is an amazing, rich and silky chocolate pudding inspired by Elanaspantry.com. Yes it has pumpkin in it, but no it did not taste like pumpkin! So if you are looking for a pumpkin flavored pudding this is not it. But a great way to add some pumpkin to a dessert.

The original recipe called for raw egg, which I’m not a fan of, so I’ve modified the recipe to allow for cooking the egg.

I bet this would be amazing with some Coconut Cream Pumpkin Spice Frosting (Let me know if you try it :))

Blog chocolate pumpkin pudding-1

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chunks, melted
  • dash of celtic sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a double boiler (I use a stainless steel bowl in a pot of 1-2″ of water) combine pumpkin, coconut milk, and eggs
  2. Whisk while mixture heats, and keep whisking till hot and bubbly
  3. If egg starts to turn solid (clumping) use an immersion blender to fix
  4. Mix in chocolate, sugar, salt and stir till chocolate is melted
  5. Add vanilla and remove from double boiler
  6. Transfer into ½ cup jars, and place in fridge for 2 hours to set

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo Chili

3 Replies

This is a hearty and delicious paleo chili recipe – legume/bean free, full of veggies and a rich flavorful meat sauce. You can do this in a crock pot or regular stove top pot. This makes a wonderful meal served with Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins!

Blog paleo chili

Ingredients

  • 2Tbsp cooking oil (I chose coconut oil or olive oil)
  • 2lbs. ground beef (or ground meat of choice)
  • 1-2Tbsp chili powder
  • 1-2Tbsp cumin
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 1tsp allspice
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 large white onion diced
  • 4oz. tomato paste
  • 28oz. crushed tomatoes
  • 1cup water or enough liquid to cover the meat/sauce
  • Serve with avocado slices and your favorite chili toppings

Directions

  • In a large pot, add hamburger meat and onions and cook through.
  • Once thoroughly cooked, add the spice mixture and stir until combined.
  • Add remaining ingredients and simmer 1-2 hours. I usually simmer 1 hour and it tastes great. (I can’t wait too long when good food is cooking.)
  • Do not drain the liquid that’s produced when the meal/onions cook. It’s keeps the healthy fat in the dish and adds great flavor. Promise!

Thanks EasyPeas-y for the inspiration!

dit-elle-Esther

Soup Season – Some Fall Favorites!

3 Replies

Feeling the shorter days, longer nights, chilly and damp weather? Nothing like a steaming bowl of soup to warm from head to toe! Here’s a collection of soups that Lauren and I have posted over the past year – lots of yummy autumn inspired soups (think pumpkin, squash, mushroom) and more!

Blog pumpkinsoup1

Steamy vegetable based soups

Hearty meat soups and stews

Seafood soups

Super Mom Tip: most of these soups and stews freeze very well! Make a big batch and freeze in smaller portions for easy re-heating later on! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa, Apples, and Chicken Sausage

4 Replies

I’m an equal opportunity gourd lover!  I’ve been itching to make an acorn squash meal, and when I saw them at Costco when was there earlier this week, I pulled the trigger.  I honestly just made this up as I went along with ingredients that I had on hand.  I ended up adding the Craisins and avocado in at the end because I wanted more color for the pictures haha.  BUT…it tasted amazing, so I’m so glad I did!Blog Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa Apples Chicken Sausage-4eIngredients (feeds 4)

  • 3 Teaspoons Coconut Oil (half for the squash/half for the quinoa mixture)
  • 3 Teaspoons Organic Pure Maple Syrup (half for the squash/half for the quinoa mixture)
  • 2 Acorn Squash
  • 1 Cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1/2 medium size sweet onion
  • 1 medium apple- I used HoneyCrisp because they’re on SALE at Costco for 1.27 per lb!!
  • 1/2 Teaspoon crushed garlic
  • Sea salt and Pepper to taste
  • 4 Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausages
  • 1/4 Cup Craisins
  • 1 Small Avocado

Directions

For Squash

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Fill baking pan with about 1/2 inch of water
  • Cut Acorn Squash in half, and lightly coat each with 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil, 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup, and freshly ground sea salt/pepper
  • Place in oven for an hourBlog Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa Apples Chicken Sausage-1

For Quinoa Mixture

  • Place the uncooked quinoa, 2 1/2 cups of water, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic, diced apple, and 1/2 diced onion and a few grinds of sea salt and pepper all in a rice cooker (I tend to use my rice cooker like a “fast” slow cooker-dump a bunch of stuff in and voila haha.)  Start it cooking, and dice up the Aidell’s sausages.  Towards the end of the quinoa cooking (about 20 minutes), dump the sausage in as well as the 1/4 cup craisins.Blog Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa Apples Chicken Sausage-10ceEnjoy!dit-elle-Lauren

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

9 Replies

Wonderful golden cheesy muffins with pumpkin, cornmeal and cheddar! Not paleo, but gluten free and perfect with soup or chili for a cold fall night!

Blog savory pumpkin cheese muffins (2)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3 Tbsp whole milk yogurt or coconut milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 2 Tbsp minced shallot
  • 11/2 cups gluten free flour (or wheat flour if you’re not making this GF)
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 tsps. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric (optional – it’s not enough to add flavor, but it does add beautiful golden color and turmeric is good for you!)
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
  • dash salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  • 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400° F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.
  • In a bowl, whisk together pumpkin, yogurt, eggs, butter and shallots. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined. Fold in 1 cup cheese.
  • Evenly divide batter in the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle each muffin with remaining cheese and pumpkin seeds.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and muffins are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the tin 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack. Best served warm.

Thanks PCC Natural Markets

dit-elle-Esther

Savory Delicata Squash

2 Replies

Not only are pumpkins in season, but there’s an abundance and huge variety of beautiful squash out there. This recipe calls for “Delicata” squash and you can eat the peel – which is full of good nutrients too.

A dusting of curry powder and freshly chopped cilantro make this a wonderful, subtly flavored, side dish! Actually, I could probably eat this as a main dish! So yummy! 🙂savory squash

Ingredients

  • About 6 cups of your favorite squash cubed (I used Delicata squash, including skins, and it was delicious!)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 2 Tbsps fresh chopped cilantro
  • Salt/pepper

Directions

  • Oven to 425*
  • Toss cubed squash in oil and season with salt & pepper
  • Place in a large pan
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until soft enough to easily spear with a fork
  • Remove from oven and toss with remaining ingredients
  • Serve hot or at room temperature

Super Mom Tip: Cube the squash a day ahead and store in a bag in the fridge until ready to use.

dit-elle-Esther