Keeping the weight off this holiday season

This Christmas season don't get so up tight about the fat and calories that are in many of our favorite holiday treats instead makeover your family’s favorite recipes by altering the fat, fibre and sugar content without scarifying the flavor or quality.

Ways to Reduce Fat While Cooking

© Trim all visible fat from meats and remove the skin off of the turkey.

© Drain the grease off of cooked meats before adding other ingredients.

© Sauté with broth instead of oil.

© Allow oil to get hot prior to adding ingredients. Foods soak up cold oil faster then they do hot.

© Making soups and strews in advance and skim the fat off that rises to the top. This is also good for making gravy as well.

© Cooking with herbs and spices will give your foods great flavor without extra calories or fat.

© Use only half the amount of cheese that your recipes call for.

© Roast, grill, steam, boil, broil, and baking are great cooking methods that offer the lowest amount of fat.

Ways to Reduce Fat and Increase Fibre when Baking

© Substitute skim milk or 1% in recipes requiring whole milk or cream.

© Substitute whole wheat flour for half of the white flour in recipes

© Use non-hydrogenated margarine instead of butter or shortening.

© Replace 1 whole egg with 2 egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute.

© Use 3Tbsp dry cocoa plus 1Tbsp oil instead of 1 ounce of baking chocolate.

© Replace one whole egg in the recipe with 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp of water.

© Replace half of the fat called for in the recipe with mashed banana, apple sauce or fat free yogurt.

© Use only half the amount of sugar that the original recipe calls for.

There are some tips I hope will help you this holiday season! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

I have a favorite chocolate cookie recipe that I just love to make. It is so simple and it makes a lot of cookies. Usually I am always experimenting with different types of chocolate chips to put in them. I have used semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter chips, butterscotch and mint chocolate chips. Because I am a huge mint chocolate fan last Christmas I decided to see if crushed candy cane worked well in these cookies and of course I wasn't let down; they tasted delicious! This year I decided to alter the recipe just a little bit. Instead of adding crushed candy cane throughout the cookies I used mint extract in the recipe and then decorated the tops of the cookies with the crushed candy canes. I think they taste even better this way.




Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

1 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 cup white sugar*
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2-3 drops of mint extract (add more if you like more of a mint taste)
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of chocolate chips (Instead I used 1/2 cup of crushed candy cane for the top of the cookies)


1. Cream together margarine and sugar.

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla until mixed well. Add drops of mint extract.

3. Combine in a small bowl flour, cocoa, soda, salt.

4. Blend flour mixture into creamed mixture; mix well. If you were adding chocolate chips this is where you would do it. Works great if you mix with your hands.

5. Roll dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Press dough down with palm of hand and add crushed candy canes to the top of the cookies.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven (350) for 8-10 minutes

Recipe yields 3-4 dozen cookies


*the original recipe calls for 2 cups but you can always half the amount of sugar in any recipe and still get the same results.

Christmas Goodies

So now that it's December its time to post some Christmas Goodies that our family loves to make and eat during the holiday season. With the expectation of a new baby we have been doing some early Christmas baking to be sure that we will be ready for company over the holidays.

First the classic sugar cookie. This is a recipe that the Peterson's use and I find it's my favorite. You can decorate the cookies as much or as little as you like and they still taste yummy. It's been a tradition over the past couple of years to have people over to the house to decorate these cookies with us. Its so much fun to see different peoples creativity. This is also very fun to do as a family as kids usually love getting creative.



Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Blend together the dry ingredients and mix into first mixture.

3. With hands form dough into 2-3 dough balls and chill in the fridge (15- 30 minutes). This makes the dough easier to roll out.

4. Roll the dough out on a well floured surface ( wax paper also works well but make sure it's well floured). Cut the dough with cookie cutters and place onto a cookie sheet.

5. Bake in Pre-heated oven (350) for 7-8 minutes.

Cookie Icing

2 Tbsp margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp canned milk
Coconut extract

Blend together butter and icing sugar. Then slowly add a little bit of canned milk at a time until you have a desired consistency.

Also this frosting taste so yummy when you add just a little drop of coconut extract to it. To make the different colors just put the icing into different bowls and add food coloring.

To top the cookies I love going to the bulk barn and picking up the sliver balls and sprinkles of every color.


The best part about these cookies is once the icing is on you can chill them in the fridge for a 10-15 minutes then you can store them in the freezer. When you have guest coming over just pull them out over the Christmas holidays, put them onto a plate and there you go...cookies in no time!


Hot Apple Cider

During our cookie making parties I usually always have a pot of hot apple cider going. I found this great recipe last year that is so quick and easy to make. I usually just throw all the ingredients into my crock pot and put it on high for a couple hours. Once the drink is nice and hot I just turn the crock pot down to low or even warm.

When selecting apple juice make sure you choose the unsweetened kind to keep the calories of this drink low.



Hot Apple Cider

8 cups apple juice or apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves
2 allspice berries
1 whole nutmeg
1/2 orange peel, cut into strips
1/2 lemon peel, cut into strips

1. Pour apple juice into a large pot or crock pot.
2. Place spice into pot along with orange and lemon peels.
3. If cooking on the stove top bring to a boil and then reduce heat, or put into a crock pot on low or warm, to low to keep drink warm. If you are making in the crock pot, put on high for 2 hours to allow it to get hot. Then reduce heat to warm or low.


Chocolate Pretzels

Another favorite of ours around this time are chocolate pretzels. The past couple of years we have been making our own...because they are soooo easy to make.



Chocolate Pretzels

1-2 bags of pretzel sticks (try to get the long ones)
Any flavor chocolate chips! We usually use the dark chocolate and white chocolate

Toppings for Chocolate
Crushed candy canes
Crushed peanuts

1. Using a double boiler (or a pot with a metal bowl in it) melt the chocolate. Most chocolate melts fairly well but to get a nice dipping consistency try adding just a tsp-tbsp of shortening. I know that many of us think that adding water or milk will do the trick but trust me it doesn't work. It will only make the chocolate go lumpy instead of runny and smooth.

2. Dip the pretzels into the chocolate then roll in whatever toppings you would like. Because I am a huge mint chocolate lover I love the crushed candy canes on the top of my pretzels while others enjoy the sweet and salt taste of theirs coated with peanuts.

These can be placed in the fridge or freezer to allow to set and then brought out and enjoyed at any time.



Being the peanut butter addict I am you better believe that peanut butter balls are my all time Christmas favorite treat!

Last year my friend Maria and I got together to make these treats. We both used the same recipe, however she decided to make hers with all natural peanut butter instead of the Kraft. They turned out soooo yummy. So feel free to try to make some this year with the 100% just peanuts, it will cut down on the amount of saturated and trans fats are in the recipe. Also a lot of recipes for peanut butter balls call to use wax in the melted chocolate but just like for the pretzels shortening works much better but remember you only need a little bit to get the chocolate the right consistency. We found that the easiest way to dip these is by using chop sticks.


Peanut Butter Balls
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups Rice Krisipies

1. Blend together butter and peanut butter.

2. Add in icing sugar and Rice Krispies.

3. With hands form into small balls (or whatever size you would like) and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper.

4. Place in freezer for 20 minutes (we have found that this makes them easier to dip).

5. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler adding shortening as needed.

6. Dip and place on lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer to allow to settle.

These are also another treat that can be left in the freezer in a air tight container.

Christmas decorations

This year will be the first year that Micah and I are able to put up our own Christmas tree. Since this will be our first tree we don't have many decorations for it so to save us money I decided to make all our own decorations this year.

I started off by making my favorite Apple Sauce Spiced Ornaments. They are very easy to make and they look and smell beautiful around the house.

Here is the recipe for them:
1 cup cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp all spice
3/4-1 cup apple sauce

1. Combine the dry ingredients and then slowly mix in the apple sauce.

2. Stir with a wooden spoon a couple of times before mixing together with hands (I always where plastic gloves).

3. Form the mixture into a ball shape.

4. Roll the dough out 1/4 inch thickness. The dough is usually very sticky so I like to use wax paper to roll the dough out. I put one sheet on the table and one over the dough to make it easier to roll out.

5. Cut the dough out with your favorite cookie cutters. Its best to use cutters that don't have many little parts that way the dough will not stick in them. I like to do stars, ginger man, Christmas trees and snowmen.

6. Once you have the shapes pressed into the dough I find the easiest way to get them onto the cookie sheet is to lift them up one at time using a spatula.

7. You will want to make a small hole in the ornament before it bakes so you can hang it once its hard. I usually use a small straw to make a hole. Try not to get too close to the ends so the ornament won't break.

8. Bake ornaments on a single layered cookie sheet at 150-200 (depending on your oven) for 2-3 hours.

This will be the first Christmas that these ornaments will make it on a tree. In other years I have used them as gift tags for friends and when we lived in our apartment I hang them up over the windows with the Christmas lights.




The next on my ornament list was dried fruit. I had done this in our apartment the first year we had lived there as well and they turned out wonderful so I decided to try again. I did apples and oranges. The apples didn't really turn out all that well for me this year but the oranges look wonderful.

Dried Fruit

3 Apples
3 Oranges

1. Slice the apples and oranges width ways, that means you want to lay the fruit on its side so the steam is facing one way and the bottom the other. When you slice the apple like this the core makes a star shape in the center of your dried fruit and the oranges make a lovely pin wheel.

2. For the apples you will want to dip them in a little bit of water that has lemon juice added to it that way the fruit doesn't turn brown before you get them into the oven.

3. Layer the fruit on a cookie sheet. You will want to put a small hole in the fruit before you bake. For the apples you can use the straw but for the oranges I have found that just making a slice with a sharp knife in the flesh part of the orange looks great and if it doesn't take you can slice it again once the fruit is done drying. Bake at 150-200 for 4-5 hours. You may need to bake them longer depending on how juicy they still feel and look.

~ To hang the ornaments I used paper ribbon from the dollar store for the apple sauce ornaments and for the dried fruit I just used a think string like jute. Our tree will be complete with some popcorn garland and red berries. I haven't decided if I will use really cranberries or just some red painted beads. I think the popcorn garland will last longer with out the fresh berries.

Some other cheap Christmas ornaments that I made where from old light bulbs that had burnt out or that had been replaced by the energy saving bulbs. I painted them with a base color and then decorated them with paint, markers, google eyes and felt. I had seen these ornaments many times at craft fairs so I decided to make my own. I did search the internet first to see many different ideas of how other people made these before I sat down to create my own. Here are my reindeer, Grinch and snowman. These would look great on any tree or would make wonderful Christmas gifts for friends and family members.

November Favorite

Ginger bread as always been one of my favorite November treats, since it was what my grandfather always loved to enjoy on his birthday (which was in November). This year I decided to try out my moms famous recipe. The original recipe did call for shortening but I used non-hydrogenated margarine instead. I was doing some research on molasses since the recipe calls for one cup and there are some health benefits. WHfoods states that black strap molasses replenish your iron stores, is a very good source of calcium, an excellent source of copper and manganese and a very good source of potassium and magnesium. In addition to giving gingerbread its dark color and delicious flavor molasses can also be added to bake beans or enjoyed on hot homemade bread, biscuits or rolls.

Gingerbread
1 cup of margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup molasses
2 tsp. soda
1 cup boiling water

1. Cream together shortening and brown sugar in large bowl. Add eggs and beat.
2. Combine flour, ginger and cinnamon.
3. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture alternately with molasses.
4. Dissolve soda in boiling water and add to rest of mixture.
5. Put in greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 40 -45 minutes.



Now the best way to enjoy this cake is with real whipping cream. The best way to make whipping cream is to make sure you put the bowl you are going to whip the cream in in the freezer first. The cream whips up better when the bowl is cold. When making whipping cream you can add sugar to it as you are whipping but we have found that adding maple syrup gives the whip cream an even more delightful taste.

Crinkle Cookies

These little cookies have become my new craving. They are simple to make and go great with a hot cup of tea. The dough also freezes well, which is great to have on hand for those emergency company visits. The original recipe calls for shortening but I use non-hydrogenated margarine and they turn out just wonderful.

Crinkle Cookies

3/4 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Cream together margarine and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat in egg and molasses.
2. Combine dry ingredients together in small bowl (flour, ginger, cinnamon, soda and salt)
3. Add dry ingredients to wt and mix throughly its good to use your hands.
4. Roll into 1 " balls and roll in sugar.
5. Place on cookie sheet and gently press down with hands.
6. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

~ If you want to freeze the cookies you can form into balls, roll in sugar, place on cookie sheet and gently press them down with you hands. Then put the cookie sheet into the freezer and let them freeze. Once cookies are frozen you can transfer them from the cookie sheet into a freezer bag. When you are ready to bake just take them out of freezer, place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Trying new things

As some of you may know from reading our other blog (micahandkatie.blogspot.com) Micah and I made a special birthday crown roast for our friend Weiwei's birthday. As you can tell from the picture there is a lot of pork on this thing and since there was only 5 of us for dinner I had to get creative as to what I was going to do with all the left over pork. Micah did an excellent job making some pork gravy so I decided to through everything together and make a pork pot pie.




I started out by cooking up some potatoes and carrots. As they were cooking I chopped up the pork into bit size pieces. When the vegetables were done cooking I put them into a casserole dish and added some frozen vegetables, the pork and of course my husbands very delicious gravy. When it was almost supper time I put the casserole into the oven (without the crust) after about 20-30 minutes (or when the inside stuff was hot) I added Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough to the top and baked until the top was done.

This was such a quick and easy way to use up left over meats. You could make your own pie crust and put a bottom crust on if you wanted. I think this will be a great recipe for all the left over turkey from Christmas dinner, especially since there will be left over gravy ...well I hope there will be.

Squash Soup

Last year was the first time I started experimenting with pureed soups. I wanted to see if I could make a soup that was just as good as the ones that come from the cartons in the stores without the added fats and preservatives. First I started with squash soup, then carrot and pumpkin. The other night we had some left over squash in the fridge that needed to be used up so I decided to get creative again and see what I could come up with.

Its not a recipe but an expression of creativity until you get the right taste. So get creative and start inventing your own soups.

Squash Soup (the photo above is not from my soup it was used from www.iliveonafarm.com)

1. Start with a large pot. That is approximately 1/2 full of water. I use the water as the puree juice instead of adding cream or milk. That way the nutrients from the vegetables are not lost. If you have chicken stock that can work just as well.

2. Then Add:
Onion chopped in half
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 potatoes (peeled and diced)
4-5 carrots (I added more carrots this time just cause I had to use them up)
1/4 - 1/2 butternut squash ( I can't remember how much I used)
1-2 Tbsp flaked Coconut

3. Spice the soup up while boiling with curry powder, cumin, vegetable cube, salt, pepper, cinnamon or any other spice you think would taste delicious.

4. Let mixture boil until vegetables are soft. Since they are going to be pureed you can let them be as soft as you would like.

5. Puree soup. To do this I add a cup or two at a time into my blender with the juice that is still in the pot. I puree for a minute or so then transfer the puree into another pot thats one the stove. I continue to do this until all the soup as been pureed then heat the puree up and spice to taste adding more of the above spices until you reach the taste you desire.


Note: I have found that curry and coconut taste great with squash or pumpkin soup while pecans or walnuts give pureed carrot soup a wonderful flavor. I usually do not add the nuts to the soup until the puree process after I have toasted them in a sauce pan to bring out their rich flavor. Let me know of other pureed soups you have tried ( I love to find a good broccoli cheddar soup) or what spices you like to add to your soups.

Pumpkin Cookies

With pumpkin in season I have been searching for new and creative ways to use it up! I happen to have pumpkin cookies at a friends birthday party not to long ago and wanted to try to make them my self. I came across a recipe at allrecipes called Iced Pumpkin Cookies. The recipe was delicious and the cookies made the house smell extravagant while they were cooking! I took them to a friends house that evening and they were a hit, everyone there really enjoyed them. The only thing I changed in the recipe was I didn't use as much sugar as it calls for. It calls for 1 1/2 cups to me that was just too much so I only used about 1/2 -3/4 cup of sugar, usually with any recipe you can half the amount of sugar and the product will still turn out with the same results.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar ( 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar)
  
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

A Great Snack

Granola is such a great snack! I love eating it in cereal, on top of yogurt or even on the go. I have been searching for a good granola recipe for quite a while...but I finally found one that I really enjoy. This recipe uses only a little bit of fat and sugar to make the oats crispy; the rest of the ingredients that you add could make the the sugar and fat content high but if you choose the right ingredients this can be a jammed packed snack loaded with lots of nutrients and energy.

 

The recipe I used is from Company's Coming "Kids Do Snacks" I did change the recipe so here is my altered version.

1/4 cup Margarine
1/3 cup Brown Sugar

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup nuts (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, slivered almonds)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried fruit (banana chips, dried apricot)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chocolate chips ( or any other chocolate candy)


1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside. Place margarine and brown sugar in a sauce pan on medium heat. Heat and stir until melted and smooth; remove from heat.

2. Stir in the oats, vanilla and cinnamon until coated. Spoon oat mixture onto baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden. Wait 30 minutes for oats of cool down before transferring to a bowl.

3. Add remaining ingredients and toss together. Store granola in air tight container.


~ You can be as creative as you wish with this recipe. Check out your local bulk barn to get great deals on dried fruit, nuts and seeds to add to your mix. If you children are not allowed to take nuts to school just substitute the 1/2 cup of nuts for more dried fruit.

Harvest Foods

The fall adds not only beautiful colors to the great outdoors but it is the season of many foods that are loaded with beneficial nutrients! These foods can be harvested from your vary own back yard garden or picked up at your local farmers markets. Its a good time to get these foods well they are in the prime of their season. Many of them can be frozen for the long winter months when their availability diminishes causing the price to double or even triple. Here are just a few of the many fall Harvest Foods!


Apples: Are rich in fibre, which helps to lower cholesterol. They have also been known as natures toothbrush because they stimulate gums, increase saliva flow and reduce the build up of cavity causing bacteria. This is the prefect time to pack up your family and head to a local U-pick to get your own apples. They can be eaten fresh, baked, made into apple sauce or used in many other recipes such as pies and apple crisp.



Beets: Are a two in one food. The tops which are dark green are rich in calcium, iron, beta carotene and vitamin C. These can be cleaned, steamed and enjoy with a little bit of margarine and vinegar. The bottoms of the beats are an excellent source of folate, fibre, potassium and vitamin C.


Carrots: Are one of the richest sources of beta-carotene, which is also known as vitamin A. Vitamin A is helpful as its forms and maintains healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, skin and it help promote good vision, especially in low light. Carrots make an excellent side dish. Why not get creative this season and enjoy a bowl of pureed carrot soup!

Cranberries: The beautiful red color of this tart berry comes from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that may lower disease rick. Cranberries also contain vitamin C and fibre. Add these berries to muffin or bread mixes for a new flavor.

Pumpkin and Squash: These two foods are rich in beta-carotene, potassium and fibre.
Squash can be added to any meal as a side dish. It is also great as a soup or in dessert (squash pie).

Pumpkins are not just for show during this season. There insides are delicious and can be used to create many dishes! Try pumpkin in soups/ stews, casseroles, muffins, cookies and of course pie!

Cool Days Call for Warm Drinks

This season Lattes seem to be all the rage! They come in many different flavors; the one that sparked my attention the most was the pumpkin latte I was seeing advertised in many places. So of course instead of paying a small fortune for one of these things at a local coffee shop I began to search the internet for a recipe. I came across many different ones, mixed some of them together and this is the delicious recipe I came up with.

Pumpkin Latte
Ingredients: Makes 2 servings

1 level tablespoon pumpkin puree
1 cup milk (whole if you dare!)
1/2 tablespoon light brown sugar (packed and leveled)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg (+ a pinch for dusting later)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups strong coffee (brewed using 2 tbs per 1 cup of water)
4 tablespoons Coffeemate creamer
4 to 8 tsp sugar
Whipped cream

1. Begin brewing coffee.

2. In a blender puree the milk, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour into a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the milk is warm and begins to froth slightly. (About 4-5 minutes.) Remove from heat.

3. For each serving: Pour 1/2 cup of the pumpkin mixture into your coffee mug. Add 2 generous tablespoons of Coffeemate creamer. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, then add 1 cup of brewed coffee. Add 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar (depending on how sweet you like your drink, I added 3 tsps.) Top off with a touch more ‘pumpkin milk’ then cover with whipped cream and sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve immediately.

This is a great drink because you can make it with just the milk to ensure you are getting your 2-3 servings of milk each day or you can make it with decaf coffee so you still get the flavor without too much caffeine.

Enjoy and happy sipping!

Thanksgiving!

I just love Thanksgiving! Its on of our favorite times of the year as the weather begins to cool down and the leaves on the tree become the most beautiful colors!


Of course at Thanksgiving there are many traditional favorites that we all look forward to. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, squash, vegetables, pumpkin pie and lots more tasty treats. Last year I found a yummy recipe for Sweet Potato Pie and decided to give it a try to add to our dessert collection at our family feast. It was a hit!


Sweet Potato Pie

Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vinegar
Cold water

Filling
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup cooked, mashed, sweet potato
1 1/4 cup of coffee cream or milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon, salt and ginger
1/4 tsp allspice, cloves and nutmeg

Crust
Combine flour, salt and cut in margarine until course crumbs are formed. Beat together in a measuring cup egg and vinegar; then add enough water to measure 1/3 cup. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and mix until dough clumps. Press into a ball and refrigerate (~ 1-2 hours). Roll dough out between wax paper and put into pie plate; chill until ready for filling.

Filling
Beat together eggs until foamy; blend in sweet potato, cream/milk, brown sugar, salt and spices. Pour mixture into shell. Bake in 425 oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40 minutes.


This pie is great served by itself, with vanilla ice cream or cool whip!

To get the maple leaf design on the pie I simply went on a walk and found the biggest maple leaf I could. When the pie was cooling down I placed in onto the pie and sketched around it with a toothpick.


Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron. This root vegetable should be consumed not only at thanksgiving but all year around because it's filled with so many good nutrients.


* http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64

Welcome

Welcome to Kate's Kitchen. I have been wanting to add an additional blog that is just my own to our blog for quite a long time...however life just got busy and I never found the time; until this beautiful fall day.

One of my greatest passions, besides loving and serving Jesus, is nutrition. I have been interested in it for a long time. That's probably why after high school I headed off to St. Francis Xavier University to take their BSc in Human Nutrition. Four years later I graduated from there and just recently have completed a Dietetic Internship program which enables me to become a Registered Dietitian of Canada.

I love teaching people about nutrition topics and I love learning about nutrition myself. I also love being in the kitchen "cookin" up new recipes or putting a twist on old family favorites. That is why I have created this blog, to share with others nutrition information and lots of yummy recipes.

Being frugal in the kitchen is something that makes me tick. I love getting good deals at the grocery stores and farmers market. I will also be posting lots of money saving ideas and recipes that I have learned over the past two years and that I continue to learn.

I hope this blog brings joy into your kitchens and around your kitchen tables.