I'll start off with yogurt because I've made this recently. I was AMAZED at how easy this is using a crock pot. Thank you Crock Pot Lady! It comes out a little thinner than the yogurt you buy in plastic containers at the store, but it's perfect for eating with granola or using in smoothies. The Crock Pot Lady has some tips for thickening it also.
Really, I might as well resign myself to creating a blog about pumpkins. :) The Peanut Butter Boy does it, so why couldn't I focus on one food??? I suppose peanut butter isn't quite as seasonal as pumpkin... I'm already having a hard time finding them at the grocer. Plenty of cans left of course.
So, I wondered to myself, could I really pull off just adding a can of pumpkin to the mix and calling it pumpkin hummus??? I started with the hummus mixed as directed and added half a can on pumpkin. The texture didn't change and the taste was barely descernable. I added a little more, and then some more, and ended up adding the whole can. What the heck? You could taste the pumpkin, but it was very mild! I added a few generous dashes of pumpkin spice to bring out the pumpkin flavor and had it on a whole wheat bagel from Panera. *yum*
Suggestion for topic, and this is a tricky one! We have several friends that must eat gluten free and we are constantly searching for recipes or "safe" foods we can keep on hand for when they are over. Most of these families just recently learned of the gluten issue with their children so they are also searching for ideas as they make this huge change in their diets. Any ideas?"
Congratulations all and thank you to everyone who entered and stopped by! I have loved reading each of your comments and look forward to using some of your ideas as inspiration for future entries!To keep you excited for the Dining on a Dime cookbook and all things frugal, here's another article by Tawra Kellam to enjoy! Stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes soon! 'Tis the season!
Recycle Those Pumpkins !
Peter Piper Picked a Profoundly Plump Pumpkin -- Now what does he do with it?
How to Roast a Pumpkin
You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been carved and sitting out for several days.
To bake a fresh 6 to 7 pound pumpkin, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.
To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1-2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies. To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Boil seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees. Stir after 30 minutes. Bake ½-1 hour more or until crunchy.
*Squash seeds may also be used.
Pumpkin Smoothies
1/2 cup pumpkin 2 tsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup milk or vanilla yogurt 4 ice cubes
1/4 tsp. cinnamon whipped cream (optional)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg sprinkles (optional)
Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2-3 glasses. Serve with a small amount of whipped cream on top. You may also add orange sprinkles if you like. Serves 2-3.
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Tawra Kellam is the publisher of the website www.LivingOnADime.com and the author of Halloween On A Dime and the cookbook Dining On A Dime: Eat Better Spend Less.
The average American family spends over $100 per year on Halloween goodies. As your kids drag you through aisles full of ghosts and goblins, the scariest thing about Halloween is threatening to leave bite marks in your pocketbook. No wonder so many moms flee screaming from the store... It can be much less expensive and a lot more fun to devise your own chilling creations. Here are a few tips that you can use to stave off the greenback gremlins and exercise your creative muscle. It won’t hurt a bit! These and other free frugal tips are available at www.LivingOnADime.com.
Face Paint
1 tsp. corn starch 1/2 tsp. cold cream
1/2 tsp. water food coloring
Mix all ingredients together in an old muffin pan and you are ready to paint. This amount is for each color.
Fake blood- mix 2/3 cup white corn syrup, 1 tsp. red food coloring, 2-3 drops blue food coloring to darken and 1 squirt dish soap (helps blood to run well).
Deviled Eyeballs - Make deviled eggs. Then add a green olive with pimento in the center for an “eyeball”.
Bloody eyeballs- Boil cherry tomatoes 30 seconds. Allow to cool; then peel skin.
Radioactive Juice- mix equal parts Mountain Dew and blue Kool-Aid
Toxic Juice- Add some green food coloring to lemonade for a spooky color!
Brains- scramble eggs with some green, yellow and blue food coloring
Worms- Cut a hot dog in 1/8ths. Boil until they curl like worms.
Vomit- Salsa in a bowl.
Bloody Popcorn- Add red food color to melted butter and pour over popcorn.
Visit www.LivingOnADime.com in the press room for to get more free Halloween make-up and food recipes.
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Tawra Kellam is the publisher of the website www.LivingOnADime.com and the author of Halloween On A Dime and the cookbook Dining On A Dime: Eat Better Spend Less.
***Don't forget to enter our drawing to win a copy of the Dining on a Dime ebook and a $20 gift card to Cooks.com! Click Here!
******Update: this giveaway is now closed, thanks!!******
Pumpkin Cookies
1/2 cup shortening 1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar 1 tsp. soda
1 cup pumpkin 1 tsp. brown sugar
1 cup raisins 1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts 2 cups flour
Cream shortening, sugar and pumpkin in a bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Drop by small spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Brush tops with milk. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Top with frosting.
And now, Tawra Kellam has generously agreed to giveaway 5 copies of the ebook version of Dining on a Dime to my readers!!!! One of those 5 readers will also win a $20 gift certificate to Cooking.com to stock up on some of the pantry goods they will need for the meals you'll be making from the book! Cooking.com also has a great selection of everything else you need for the kitchen if you are good on food.
is a great book in general, but this recipe endeared it to me even more. If I have fruit on hand I can make up dessert or a sweet breakfast dish pretty much on the fly - but without fruit or chocolate I'm pretty much out of ideas. The minute I read this recipe from Julie Stark I knew that if it tasted as good as it sounded, it would be a regular treat. It far exceeded my expectations!
Makes 12 muffins.
LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY
LEVERAGES REAL-PEOPLE, REAL-TIME POWER OF FOOD PUBLISHING
San Francisco – October 13, 2008: Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.
“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”
Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.
“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.
The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month. “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.
Global Blogging Event
Demonstrating the talent and scope of the Foodbuzz community, 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity. The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included:
Mid-Autumn Festival Banquest (New York, NY)
The "Found on Foodbuzz" 24-Item Tasting Menu (San Francisco, CA)
Aussie BBQ Bonanza – Celebrating Diversity (Sydney, Australia)
The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip (Charleston, SC)
Criminal Tastes – An Illegal Supper (Crested Butte, CO)
From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
A Sweet Trompe l’oeil (Seattle, WA)
“24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”
About Foodbuzz, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007. In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.
Ingredients:
Containers: store opened packages of sugar, flour, rice, beans, noodles, cereal, etc. in airtight containers rather than in their original packaging. Not only will this keep your dry goods from going stale before you can use them, it makes an appealing visual display. If you use transparent plastic or glass containers, you'll be able to tell immediately where your desired ingredient is and how close you are to needing to restock.
Mix together 1 cup peanut butter and 1 cup honey until smooth. Gradually add in 3 cups old fashioned oats and 1/2 cup ground flaxseed. Add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup any
combination of nuts and soft dried fruit(try 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts and 1/4 cup each of raisins and dried cranberries) and mix gently in your stand mixer or smush together by hand.
Roll into Ping-Pong-size balls and, for maximum presentation value, put in paper mini muffin cups. You can eat them right away, but they'll be less sticky after a night in the fridge. They freeze well too, layered on wax
by Marlene Spieler. You could use a store bought pastry shell.
In the meantime, Stephanie from Fun Foods on a Budget passed along an award to me!!! What an honor. She had this to say:
