Trying to Use Up Leftover Pumpkin

Note to future self: Giant cans of pumpkin from Costco seem like a practical purchase until you realize you're not going to make two pumpkin pies every time you open a can.

We had some matchstick carrots and canned pumpkin to use when I got home on Sunday after an amazing weekend, but I was too tired to bake until Monday evening. By then, I'd found this recipe  for muffins which I was going to make work for my purposes. I like to bake healthy at the beginning of the week so we have enough things around for snacks, breakfast, dessert, whatever. Mike (and I) normally eat whatever's readily available when hungry strikes so it's nice to have healthier options. These ones turned out delicious so I wanted to share the recipe!

My specifics/subsitutions:

• I subbed canned pumpkin (not the pie filling, just the pumpkin) 1:1 for the oil 
• Used applesauce instead of apple
• I used honey instead of maple syrup
• whole wheat flour instead of gluten free flour
• raw sugar instead of brown sugar (I may have bought a giant bag at Costco)
• forgot the walnuts:), thought I want to try them next time!
• almond meal is available from Trader Joe's or your can process almonds in a food processor

ONE BOWL CARROT APPLE MUFFINS (VEGAN + GF)

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PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

32 mins

TOTAL TIME

47 mins

Vegan, gluten free carrot muffins loaded with fruit and veggies. Super moist and flavorful, healthy and made in one bowl! Perfect for on-the-go breakfast and snacking.

Author: Minimalist Baker

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 flax eggs (1.5 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 4 Tbsp water)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup mashed very ripe banana
• 1/4 cup agave nectar or maple syrup (or honey if not vegan)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or 1 sweet apple, finely grated
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or sub muscavado
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup plain almond milk, unsweetened
• 1 heaping cup (packed) grated carrot
• 2/3 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp gluten free flour blend (see notes)
• 1/4 cup raw walnuts (chopped) for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare flax eggs in a large mixing bowl and preheat oven to 375.
2. Prepare muffin tin with liners or lightly grease them.
3. To flax eggs mashed banana, agave or maple syrup, olive oil and whisk to combine.
4. Next add applesauce, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and whisk to combine.
5. Add almond milk and stir.
6. Add grated carrot and stir.
7. Add oats, almond meal, gluten free flour blend and stir.
8. Divide evenly among 12 muffin tins, filling them all the way up to the top, and top with crushed walnuts (optional).
9. Bake for 32-36 minutes, or until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you press on the top it shouldn’t feel too spongey, so don’t be afraid of over baking! The GF blend just takes longer to bake.
10. Remove from oven and let set in the pan for 15 minutes. Then flip on their sides still in the pan to let cool completely.
11. If you try to unwrap them too quickly, they have a tendency to stick to the wrappers.
12. Once cooled, store in a covered container or bag at room temp to keep fresh. Freeze after that to keep fresh.

Adjustments and Pictures

I recently started seeing a chiropractor for some chronic issues with my neck that started sometime during college cheerleading. Because my job involves a lot of travel and constant laptop use, I think some of these issues were aggravated and I started needing massages more than once a month and their effects would not last that long when I got them. This is what brought me to trying out a nearby wellness center and I'm glad I did. It turns out that the treatment plans there incorporate massage, chiropractic, and physical therapy. So on a normal visit I start with a half hour of massage, an adjustment, and physical therapy that is targeted toward strengthening my weaker areas (we focus on good form, core to supports back, balance, and posture). I'm not sure how much I believe yet that chiropractic care can alone treat issues, but I know the combination is making me feel better thus far and costs me way less than an hour massage. Glad my Carefirst is helpful for something.

On to pictures from the past few weeks!!

Mike being handy and hanging a mirror we got from my mom's house!

Mike's first apple baking adventure. (Yes, Mike.) Apple cobbler/crisp/crumble? It does really matter because it was delicious. After this experiment, I asked Mike if he wanted to become a regular baking contributor. He said he was fine with never doing it again; he just wanted to prove to me that he could:)

This tree is now leave-less, but a few weeks ago, it was the most rebellious little tree.

This is what most of Rupe's days consist of. He has a chipmunk friend who like to come straight up to the window and taunt him, but I think they like each other.

From a GGSS pool party we went to last weekend. Mike didn't want me to take this picture, but then I showed him how ripped he looked and he let me keep it.

A giant bear they are now selling in Costco. It's so big that I didn't even have to talk MJ down from buying it.

What to choose?!?!

We got shrimp and grits, gumbo, and the pumpkin bourbon bread pudding for dessert!

After the 5k we ran last weekend with Sarah...

When life gives you burnt cookies, remember icing fixes all. We may or may not have scraped the soft pillow-y bits of cookie tops off and combined with icing in a family-style desert sharing at Josh's last dinner party. 

We're looking forward to a busy next couple of weekends!!

Kimberly J. Brown Strikes Again.

Although Mike and I have both been very busy with work (he's editing something for his contract job in which someone made a lot of mistakes and I had two new coworkers start training this past week), we did have manage to make time for some fun last week.

Thursday:

We went to see Marie Antoinette at Wooly Mammoth Theatre with some friends. Neither of us had been to Wooly Mammoth before. It was a good show, but kinda scary in ways that maybe don't scare people who go to Wooly all the time? There were masks and guillotines and creepy characters. Kinda put me in the mood for Halloween! Before the show, we had Pho for dinner and I got something our waiter recommended for me (as usual) and it was delicious! We did make room for some Rita's afterward too (their pumpkin pie blendini is actually legit).

Friday:

We were excited to attend Abis's annual Halloweentown party. Although the adult in me who works full-time is always completely depleted of energy by Friday evening, nothing motivates you to go out like the anticipation of introducing a Disney Channel classic to a group of English graduate students who may have never experienced the movie. All the cookies, candy corn, and spiked apple cider in the world could not make the acting any better! Thanks Absi for another successful showing:)

Saturday:

Saturday, we completed the first of Mike's track workouts that he is doing every weekend until ODS to make sure he can predict what his performance on the fitness test will be. He already passes every mark killing it on the running portion, but I like serving as his coach/cheerleader while timing him through specific sets. After a 1.5 mile run at racing pace, 2 minutes of times push-ups, and 2 minutes of timed crunches, he also completed a full Bodypump class after. Later, Mike made stew to take to a sick coworker (from Trinity). Afterwards, we went to see Gone Girl in Chinatown. Highly recommend for girls who have read the book and their significant others who haven't! May not be the BEST thing to watch right before you get married haha, but it definitely put me in the Halloween mood. I'm still not a fan of Ben Affleck. Also, if you're thinking of reading the book before seeing it, I also recommend that! It's a super quick read and will make the movie even more enjoyable for you.

Sunday:

Yesterday, I went to my favorite place to be on a Fall weekend in the city: Eastern Market. I bought spaghetti squash, a cucumber, and honeycrisp apples for the week, and I resisted buying the cutest handmade pencil pouch ever. Hope to go back and buy a lot of our Christmas presents there! Then, I met up with Alicia at The Pound to go over wedding picture stuff. She asked me a lot of hard questions that I had not thought of yet. I'm definitely more of a 'planner' than a 'go-with-the-flow' person, but there is so much happiness that will be happening around that time (wedding/christmas/NYEreunion/birthday) that I can only really muster a "YAY!" about everything. Yay! It doesn't really matter if we don't get every picture or if everything goes wrong because (yay) we're getting married and (yay) our family will be there and (yay) I will make Mike watch the Santa Clause with my family and (yay) twinkle lights. That's basically my only train of thought right now. I'm glad I have friends who can ask me questions about l logistics and that Alicia is going to be there to record all the yay.

Things happening this week:

• The Walking Dead premiere!
• My first visit to a chiropractor to see it helps with some mild, but persistent neck/back/shoulder issues
• One of our last calm weekends before one or both of us is traveling somewhere every weekend until MJ leaves for ODS :(((

Sundays.

I love Sundays so much. It's always been my favorite day of the week and sometimes I forget why, but this past Sunday morning I remembered. I had the sudden urge to make french toast. (We had to take Rupert to the vet this afternoon, and you need your strength for that.)

So french toast. Growing up, Sunday was always the day we would wake up to smells coming from the kitchen: maple syrup or eggs or gravy and coffee. Saturday was a toss up because we had a lot of cheerleading practices and other extracurricular activities, but Sunday was always church day and so breakfast as a family happened. Along with the wonderful breakfast smells, there was also always music in the background. I've gotten so used to laptops being the only way to play music, that I almost forget what it sounds like over a nice speaker system, but it sounded wonderful. Probably 70% of the time, it was bluegrass music. That's what my grandfather, and consequently my mother, grew up playing and singing and so my sisters and I grew up listening to it. The other 30% of the time it was some sort of religious music. But it always set the tone for the day. There was also always light streaming in through the kitchen window which faced the East.

Sun rays and music and good smells.

I keep trying to tell Mike that my strongest memories are stored as music. Food/smell are probably close seconds, but music undoubtedly wins out. Mike recently made (created/built/crafted) a speaker system. I gave him a pretty hard time about this project. Because I'm pretty sure his alternative project plan was to build his own computer and speaker was definitely the cheaper option, I tried not to give him too hard of a time (even when he did use our dishwashing sponge as a 'soldering sponge'). I still never saw the point of the speakers because we have our laptop and TV speakers. When they were finished, we may have started playing some Christmas music (Mike will be gone during the majority of acceptable Christmas music season!) and listening to the great quality made me nostalgic for Sundays growing up.

I like things with meaning and this is why I'm so glad it worked out for us to get married on a Sunday. We will definitely have lots of good food, music, and although we'll be short on the sunshine on the shortest day of the year, we'll have lots of family love to make up for that.

AH IT'S OCTOBER! (And I've gotten things done!)

So just like that September is gone and, because a lot actually did happen this month, I wanted to take the time to appreciated the things I was able to cross off my list!

1) CLEANED OUT CLOSET: I cleaned out my closet and consigned/donated some clothes! Of course, I also bought some new fall clothes, but I feel like I was overdo for an update since my job is more casual than my wardrobe was prepared for.

2) SIGNED UP FOR ANOTHER RACE: Mike and I signed up for another 5k in October that our friend Sarah is running in and also I'm planning on running a Christmas 5k in December. With our 10k in November, we're pretty booked on races.

3) GRILLED OUT: We made bison burgers one night which were delicious and also attended an outdoor pig roast on a roof this past weekend!

4) TOOK DRESS FOR ALTERATIONS

5) I MADE CHILI AND (pumpkin) CORNBREAD! It was delicious.

6) STARTED READING AGAIN. I finished The Goldfinch and just started Gone Girl. 

7) FAMILY MEETING. Mike and I had a "family meeting" about the wedding. Family meetings are my designated weekly times to bring up all the ideas/questions/concerns/random thoughts I have during the week that aren't exactly helpful to bring up THAT SECOND and might require a lot of discussion (my strength, Mike's weakness). We like to pair them with food and a beverage and actually got a lot of small (but IMPORTANT!) decisions taken care of:) All chores are easier with snacks.

I've also had a ton going on at work (listen to one of my students in this NPR story that my organization was able to connect him to: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learningcurve/how-small-financial-setbacks-can-derail-college-plans) and so I'm sure I can also add spending a ton of money on coffee to this list, but coffee is more enjoyable in the Fall:)

During October, I'm looking forward to a visiting family on some weekends (Ashton is almost kinda walking!), seeing Gone Girl in theaters once I finish it, seeing some shows with friends, . Still trying to figure out costumes, though. Can 't believe it's only a month and a half till MJ leaves for ODS!

November 1st, I also have my 2nd (and possibly final) dress fitting, so October will also be filled with lots of healthy eats and working out:)

Still accepting blog names and will be deciding on one maybe at our next family meeting:).