Whiteley Creek Homestead

This morning I had made maple pumpkin custard  that was chilling in the fridge and had just begun preparing a pot of split pea soup for lunch when my cousin Keith and his wife, Cathy, called to ask Dick and I to meet them for lunch. Instead, I invited them to our table. This is a mega easy meal that requires minimal prep. The soup simmers on the stove while the custard bakes and its spicy aroma fills every corner in the house.  

Maple Pumpkin Custard

1 ½ cups milk

4 large eggs

¾ cup maple syrup (I use ¼ cup. Perfect.)

¾ cup canned unseasoned pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325°. Put a kettle of water on to heat for the water bath. Line a roasting pan or 9X13 cake pan with a folded kitchen towel. Heat the milk over low heat in a small saucepan until barely steaming but not boiling. Whisk eggs and syrup in a large bowl until smooth. Gently whisk in the warm milk a little bit at a time so the eggs don’t cook. Add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; whisk until blended. After thoroughly mixed, gently stir to encourage the surface bubbles to dissipate so the post baked custard's surface is smooth rather than dotted with holes. Divide the mixture among six 6-ounce (¾-cup) custard cups. Place custard cups in the prepared pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard cups. Place the pan in the oven and bake, uncovered, 45 to 50 minutes until custards are just set but still quiver in the center when shaken. Transfer custards to a wire rack and let cool for 45 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until chilled. about 20-30 min and then serve. The warmth is soothing. Comforting. To serve, top each custard with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of crystallized ginger. (I had no whipping cream on hand, so, in addition to the crystallized ginger sliced into matchsticks, I topped each custard with a few pumpkin seeds for an autumn touch… and crunch.)

 

              

It all began with a guest's request for a gluten-free breakfast which led me to a box of gluten-free Simply Organic Chai Spice Scone Mix sitting right there on our local food co-op's store shelf.

 

 

Let me just say that all gluten-free products are not created equal. This one, however, is a definite keeper. A boxed mix, however, is dependent upon the store's restocking the product. This leads me to my discovery of a recipe that tastes very similar to this mix version, although it is not gluten-free. A Google search turned up an amazing Chai Spice Scone With Candied Ginger recipe from a bakingbites.com submission. The spices… cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, coriander, and nutmeg. The autumn color. Light and tender. Half the fat of traditional scones. Perfect.

 

Chai Spice Scones with Candied Ginger

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour.)

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cardamom

¼ tsp coriander

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ cup cold butter cut into pieces (I used ¼ cup… perfect.)

½ cup milk

½ tsp almond extract

1/3 cup finely chopped candied ginger

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with natural parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, mix butter into dry ingredients until it is pea-size. Mix together milk and almond extract, then add to flour mixture. Stir until dough just starts to come together. Stir in candied ginger. Dough should be thick and slightly sticky, not dry. On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a large circle about ¾ to 1-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges and arrange on baking sheet, allowing room to spread. Bake for about 15 minutes until scones are lightly browned. (Don’t be tempted to bake longer than a couple more minutes, if you think it’s needed, as they will be too dry.) Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before glazing. (Following is a cream cheese glaze that was included with this scone recipe. However, I just made a quick glaze of powdered sugar, a couple drops of almond extract, and a little drizzle of milk… just enough so it’s thick but runs off the end of a spoon. I topped each scone with a few sliced almonds.)

 Cream Cheese Glaze

2 oz cream cheese, softened

3 tbsp butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

Beat together all ingredients until very smooth. Drizzle over scones. 

 

Thinking aloud, while my daughter Lisa sat at her computer, she said, "I wonder what Nana would like for her birthday." Without hesitation, my soon-to-be 6 year-old grandson suggested cookbooks. "Now, why do you say that?" Lisa inquired. "Because she loves to cook," was his wise reply. I do love to build my collection of nutritious recipes. The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno, is one of the books Lisa gave me for my birthday.    

 

That is Kleenex tissue poking out from the cookbook's pages. I curl up with cookbooks at bedtime before drifting off to sleep and select recipes I'd like to try. The Kleenex box was close at hand. The clothespin is my page marker for the recipe that I tried today… one I will make again and again. 

  

This breakfast cereal prepared with quinoa and steel cut oats, is a mega powerhouse of goodness. Topped with short season honey crisp apples, finely chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, and ground flax… seated on the porch in the warmth of a sunny autumn morning. Mmmmm. Perfect.

Quinoa and Steel Cut Oats

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well or soaked*

1 cup steel cut oats

¼ tsp sea salt

3 cups water

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup organic raisins

In a medium saucepan with a lid, place soaked quinoa, steel cut oats, sea salt, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes. (I cracked the lid a bit to prevent boiling over and added a bit more water the final 10 minutes of cooking time.) Remove from heat, stir in cinnamon, vanilla, and raisins and let sit for several minutes. Serve hot.

Red and golden quinoa are the most common colors sold in grocery stores, but there are also black, orange, pink, and purple varieties. Red quinoa has a higher protein content than golden. *Quinoa is coated with saponins, a bitter tasting, naturally occurring coating that repels birds during its cultivation. It produces soap-like foaming when quinoa is shaken in water. Most boxed/pre-packaged quinoa has been pre-rinsed for convenience, and cooking instructions suggest only a brief rinse before cooking, if at all. If quinoa has not been pre-rinsed, the first step is to remove the saponins, which requires either rinsing the quinoa under running water for several minutes in either a fine strainer or cheesecloth or soaking the grain in water for a few hours. Soaking causes the quinoa to germinate which boosts its nutritional value. Germination activates its natural enzymes and multiplies its vitamin content. Quinoa has a very short germination period. Soaking in a glass jar of clean water for only 2 to 4 hours is enough to make it sprout.

Birthday fun goes on long after the day has passed.

 
One of the gifts my daughter, Heather, gave me is a set of four glass straws from glassdharma.com that come with a cleaning brush and a lifetime replacement guarantee. An extra wide diameter allows chunky mixtures to slip through easily. Since I was anxious to use my new straws and I had been waiting to try a banana ice cream recipe from health.com, it was the perfect pairing. Frozen bananas thaw rapidly resulting in a consistency closer to a milkshake than ice cream, so that is what I shall rename the recipe.

Frozen Banana Milkshake

2 frozen bananas, sliced

6 tbsp (1/4 c + 2 tbsp) milk

2 tbsp finely chopped walnuts

Process bananas and milk in blender or food processor until smooth and thick. Serve topped with a sprinkle of walnuts.