Pumpkin Pie

I thought I didn't like pumpkin pie, but my boyfriend LOVES it!

He insisted on making one, and I said, "why not!"

We were out pumpkin shopping, and along with our two big pumpkins for carving, we picked up two "pie" pumpkins. Again, he insisted - I was going to try to get by with canned pumpkin, but hey! It was a new experience, and I love to bake, so I went for it. After we got the pumpkins we headed off to the store - we needed eggs, evaporated milk, and pumpkin pie spice. I bought a couple of pie shells as well, and a a few other items for the house, and we headed back home. It was cold and dreary - a perfect warm pie and soup day in my opinion!

My First Pumpkin Pie!

One 8 inch "pie" pumpkin

deep dish pie frozen shell

3 eggs

one can evaporated milk

2 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425. To get your pumpkin - First remove seeds and cut out the stem, and slice the pumpkin in four slices, and place in microwave safe bowl; place in microwave for 20 minutues. After removing pumpkin from microwave, you should be able to easily scrape the pumpkin from the skin, and into a drainer. Try to extract as much water from your pumpkin goop as you can, then puree with a hand mixer or you can use a stand mixer on high. After you puree the pumpkin, combine all ingredients, and keep mixing on high. Place the mixture in the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes at 425, then turn the oven to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes. After baking, allow pie to cool on rack, and enjoy!

First Pumkin pie?

SUCCESS!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Topping

Another day off, another recipe to try. I wanted try yet another sweet recipe, since I've been eating a ton of spicy food lately. I also wanted to see if it was possible to have a delicious cupcake, with nothing really bad for you in it. They were great. I actually made a mistake with the frosting - I really had no clue how to make a frosting thick enough, so I "Accidentally" made a truffle type topping. I'm not disappointed at all - it's delicious! Love'em!!

If I didn't have a headache, and a tummy ache, I would have eaten them all! They were so rich! A glass of almond milk would go well with them I think...

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 coconut flour
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/4 hazelnut agave nector
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and mix with hand mixer on high, or in your stand mixer. Divide between eight cupcake cups, and back for 15-18 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean - which ever comes first :)

Topping:

• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 coconut oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp Hazelnut agave nector

Melt chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl for about a minute, stir in melted coconut oil, and remainder of ingredients - place in fridge for an thirty minutes to thicken - then transfer to stand mixer (or use hand mixer) and whip until smooth, and spread liberally on your cakes!

YUM!! 

No Bake Cookies

So I was dying for something sweet. I wanted something rich, something I could have a bite of and be satisfied :)

No-Bake Cookies:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey (you can probably reduce the amount of honey even more)
1 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup almond butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups dried, unsweetened coconut

 Put honey, cocoa, and coconut oil (or butter) in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, then bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and immediately remove from heat. Stir in the almond butter and vanilla until it is incorporated, then stir in coconut. Place in fridge until mixture is more mold-able, remove, role into balls, place on wax paper, and return them in the fridge in a storage container for noms for the whole week (or in my case, a week and a half) I think I my add dark chocolate chips next time. MMM...

Thai-ish Curry Crockpot Stew

    Since I was off work today, and bored out of my mind, despite having homework due - I thought I'd try something new. I didn't really wanna go to the store, so I threw a bunch of stuff in the crockpot, and called it Thai-ish Curry Crockpot Stew. I had the standard things I needed for curry (meat, coconut milk, and curry powder) so I said, "why not?"

     I served it to my SMO (Significant male other) over rice, but since I have made the primal transition, I had mine in a big ol' bowl - DELICIOUS!

Note: I have no clue what real Thai curry is suppose to taste like - I've never had it, but this was pretty darn good! Forgive me if it isn't what you expected, but like I said, it contains the essential ingredients, so it's gotta be close, right?

Ingredients:

1.5-2 lbs of Chicken
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 bag of baby carrots
1 Zucchini
1 onion
1 bag of frozen spinach (I used creamed, because that's what I had)
4 tbsp of Yellow Curry Powder
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp of onion powder
1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of crushed red pepper
1 tsp of black pepper
1/2 tbsp of salt

Throw all your ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for eight hours. Before serving, dig in with a couple of big forks and shred your chicken - serve over rice, or eat a heaping bowl full if your like me - trust me, it's hardy!

ENJOY!