Tasty Bites: Pumpkin!

By Beth

I was once daunted by the idea of converting a big, orange pumpkin into something that resembled pumpkin puree sold in cans at my local grocery store. Pumpkins are good for decorating your front porch, and for making Jack-O-Lanterns, but they aren’t really thought of as food. Cooking with pumpkin usually involves a can. I was happy to learn that those pumpkins can be easily be turned into food once they have completed their service as fall decorations. Small, sugar pumpkins have the most tender flesh, but a pumpkin of any size can be made into beautiful, orange puree rich in beta-carotene and fiber, with a very small investment of active cooking time.

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Tasty Bites: Susan's Healthy Oat Pancake Mix

By Beth

I don’t know about you, but my kids LOVE pancakes! So do their parents. There is not much more comforting than a fresh, warm, fluffy pancake, especially a pancake made from scratch. I rarely have time to make pancakes in the morning, so they are often saved for a breakfast-for-dinner nights. Well, a friend recently shared a recipe that might help us actually have pancakes for breakfast more often. It is a made-from-scratch mix that can be kept on hand to quickly whip up a hot batch. Not only is this recipe convenient, it is actually quite a bit healthier than your run-of-the-mill pancake. Made with whole wheat flour, oats, and optional chopped walnuts, this recipe packs a nutritional punch of fiber, protein and healthy fats. You can make a tiny batch of 4-6 pancakes, or simply double or triple the recipe to feed a hungrier bunch.

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Tasty Bites: Healthy Jalapeño Poppers

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

We’re back in the garden today and harvesting peppers. Way too many jalapeños there! I’ve chopped and frozen dozens of them because they are definitely one of my favorite food groups. They are perfect on salads, in soups, and in casseroles, as well as in my tasty Burrito in a Bowl. But this is one of my favorite ways to eat them – poppers!

I first had jalapeño poppers in a restaurant – jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese, breaded, and deep-fried. They were awesome. Now that I’ve reinvented the recipe, I really like these better because the flavor of the pepper isn’t all covered up with breading and grease.

No formal recipe here, just directions and three ingredients. Well, four if you count gloves.

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Tasty Bites: Toasted Walnut Pesto

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

Have you ever bought fresh basil at the grocery store, or even at a Farmer’s Market? If you have, you know how pricey it can be. Last spring I purchased 4 tiny basil plants for 59 cents at our local grocery store’s garden display. They were pathetic plants, but there’s something purposeful about resurrecting the near dead. (I also bought cilantro, which was brown and buried about a week later).

The result of my meager purchase was so much basil, I can’t even give enough away. I put it in salads and pasta sauce, but the more I trim it, the faster it grows. I was seeing pesto in my future. One trip to the grocery store to purchase pine nuts sent me into shock – they were almost $15 a pound! Undaunted, I turned to trusty Google and found recipes for pesto with walnuts, combined a couple of the recipes, and here’s what I came up with. (Yes, all measurements are estimated. You really can’t go wrong). I really loved the extra-nutty flavor the walnuts provided here, and may never go back to pine nuts. Use as many of the tops of the plants as you can; those leaves are more tender and sweet.

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Tasty Bites: Pizza Margherita

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

This is one of my favorites because it’s so simple and I always have the ingredients on hand. With the end of summer, I’m finding myself with more basil and tomatoes than I can find recipes for, but after a 30 mile bike ride today, all I wanted was pizza! You can make this with my very favorite crust (I use half whole wheat and half white flour) or you can buy an already prepared crust, which I did in this case. I used a gluten-free crust I’d purchased with a coupon, and was pleasantly surprised with how good it tasted.

Goat cheese is not a usual ingredient for this classic dish, but it added a wonderful creaminess to each bite. I was able to use less mozzarella this way, as goat cheese is less fatty than mozzarella. The flavors in this dish blend together beautifully.

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