Pumpkin Apple Swirl Muffins

In order to get some of those you have to make your kitchen look like this...


And suffer some poorly lit pictures of the muffin making process!

Pumpkin Apple Swirl Muffins

Ingredients:

Wet
• 2 T ground flax + 6 T water, whisked (or 2 T chia seeds)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (1 small)
• ½ cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup almond milk (I just realized I forgot to add the milk!)
• ½ cup finely chopped chunks of Apple

Dry
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• ½ t nutmeg
• ½ t ginger
• pinch of sea salt

Creamy Filling
• 2-3 Tbsp Chevre Cheese (or any kind of creamy cheese)
• ½ cup Pumpkin
• 2-3 TBSP grated apple

Crispy Fall Toppings (optional)
• Apple Chunks
• Walnuts
• Brown Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F. Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, stir the flax + water to create the ‘eggs’. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add flax mixture and whisk. Next mix the dry ingredients in medium sized bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Be careful not to overstir! Grease muffin tin. Fill each individual muffin cup about ¼ of the way full. Stir together ingredients for creamy filling. Add a blob of filling to each muffin cup. Then top each muffin cup with the remaining batter. Each muffin cup should be about ½-3/4 full. Sprinkle each cup with mini apple chunks, chopped walnuts and brown sugar. Bake 18-20 minutes.


Don't worry the wet ingredients will look like a soupy mess.


How full my muffin tins were with the a dab of creamy filling on top.


And my creamy filling tasted a little bitter and was a neon orange but it cooked in perfectly and made these muffins so moist.

But I still got some beauties!


These suckers are MOIST and DENSE. I am in love. Seriously.

Can you see the swirls? It's hard they blend in but I promise that they're there! In some of the muffins the swirls of filling just cooked into the muffin in the middle, but no worries you can still taste it and it makes this great doughy, dense, texture.


But of course I have a few improvements in mind...I wish I would have remembered to top mine with apple chunks AND I wish I would have added about a 1/4 cup of walnuts to the dough. I just love the crunch of walnuts in muffins.


But overall these are the perfect muffin to make after a day of pumpkin carving and apple picking.

As always, Happy Fall! (and Monday...)

Fall Gypsy

Mom and Claire headed out on the town. We decided to save money and bring our own coffee...in our to-go cups. Claire picked up a sucker at the post office. Why were we at the post office? We decided to do the right thing send that really cute shirt to my Aunt for her b-day, instead of greedily keep it to ourselves :)


We stumbled upon a gypsy market while we were downtown. Why were we downtown? To find an interesting object for me to draw...we got a little sidetracked.


There were bagpipes. Along with lots of beautiful art. But as a rule I don't take pictures of other people's art because I don't want their ideas to get stolen! It's an artist thing ;)


I could live with fall weather + scenery forever.


Even dead stuff looks pretty!


After scouring all the antique and knick nack shops of downtown and finding nothing interesting for me to draw, I finally decided to just draw the antique style key I had at home. Pictures later :) I did get a little present downtown...again pictures later.

We stopped at the food co-op for some specialty food for me to test out a new recipe...scroll down for a sneak peek.

We then went to Target and Mom was quite generous and took out a 3rd mortgage on the house to buy me some essentials :) (Black pants, jeans, laundry basket...etc. It adds up fast.)

Then we stopped at Cub Foods because I had a sudden fall food craving attack. Please tell me you know what I wanted...


Buttah-nut squash...I cooked it pretty much exactly like the directions told me to...after taking some pictures that is.





Worst part about making squash? Cutting it in half. Ugh. I need to lift weights more often or something!


I rubbed on a thin layer of olive oil and sprinkled some cinnamon and nutmeg on the squash. Then I put it in a 9x13 baking dish with 1/4 cup water and baked at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (when I could poke it with a fork I took it out. I wanted mine a little crunchier today usually I cook it for 45-55 minutes, make sure to check often since it's easy to forget and let it burn to a crisp!)

Since the oven was already going to be on for 40 minutes I made a low-impact choice and decided to make multiple dishes at once. Instead of turning the oven on 3 separate times, I only turned it on once! There were at least 2 things cooking in the oven for all 40 minutes it was on :)

I also decided not to throw away the butternut squash seeds, but to use them! The only waste created by this butternut squash was the top and the gooey innards.



Cinnamon Butternut Squash Seeds

Ingredients:
-Seeds from a butternut squash
-Olive Oil spray or just plain olive oil
-Cinnamon
-Nutmeg
-Salt

Directions:
Scoop seeds from butternut squash and take off large chunks of squash innards. Once seeds are relatively clean (no need to rinse or anything the leftover gooeyness from the innards adds a nice flavor) add them to a cooking sheet sprayed with olive oil. Coat seeds evenly with cinnamon and nutmeg. Add an even sprinkle (I mean just a sprinkle) of salt. Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until crispy. Make sure to check often as they burn easily!


Now let me tell you, I hated, and I use that word rarely, I mean really HATED everything associated with squash. The seeds were bland in a bad way (I have a thing for bland foods). And squash itself was just disgusting in every way, the texture, the taste, blehhh (I think it might be because my mom always wanted me to eat mashed squash...which I would love now but back then it triggered my gag reflex).

These are NOT bland. I think I may have put a tough too much salt of them...but they were still pretty darn good. I loved the salty taste with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. I wish I would have had more seeds to make more of these! I'm thinking up a Chex Mix recipe right now with these incorporated in...perfect for Christmastime. Yes I will extend my love of all things squash related all the way from fall to winter.



While these seeds were cooking I made up a little science experiment that looked like this...


More about that another day though :)


By now my squash was finally done, and it was time for Day 2 of the mega salad promise.


Another winner.

In the Mega Mix:
-Romaine
-Cauliflower
-Broccoli
-Waldorf Salad (made by mom!)
-Butternut Squash
-Cinnamon Butternut Squash Seeds

While we were at Cub Foods we picked up a bag of grapes, only to discover upon bringing them home that they would soon be mush balls. So Mom decided to whip up a quick and easy Waldorf Salad to use them up fast.

Whipped Up Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:
-3 cups grapes cut in half
-3 small granny smith apples, cubed (or two medium-large)
-1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
-1/4 cup mayo
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tbsp sugar
-Salt and pepper to taste (I would have used cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger ;)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl.

The Waldorf Salad was good but Mom and I agree it would have been better with less lemon juice. She really only put the sugar in to counteract the sourness from the lemon juice. But it made for a really interesting taste in my salad!



Scooter of course watched and begged while I photographed.


Oh yeah we picked up a beeswax candle at the Gypsy market. They are supposed to naturally cleanse the air. And you know what?


They work! For only 75 cents this little candle made the living room nice and fresh. It didn't have an overpowering perfumey smell like most candles either. I want more!

Ok it is not creeping up on 4 o'clock...I can no longer procrastinate...I must begin my drawings!

It's Still Fall...I'm Still Obsessed

If you remember(or even read my post) this morning I made this:


I stuck a bunch of leaves I picked up on my walk in an old Black Strap Molasses jar. How low impact of me :)


I don't discriminate against leaves, I picked up bumpy ones, mutant ones, dried up dead ones, and lots of gorgeous fall colored ones.



I thought I was done obsessing on everything Fall for the day...but the obsession managed to continue. I brought my camera to class with me today so I could snap some pictures of the clay pieces I'm working on. Just in case they blow up in the kiln I want to remember how nice they looked. Here's a sneak peak of one...


Oh and you only see this in an art building- art vending machine! Looove it.


While I was walking back from a very frustrating 2 hours at the studio I managed to forget my stress and enjoy my campus. I mean, come on, how many people get to enjoy stone carvings like this on a daily basis?



To add to the Fall charm of a classic college campus the clock struck three while I was snapping photos. The bells chimed away, the fall breeze nipped at my trigger happy fingers, and the leaves rustled. Seriously, this campus is straight out of a movie.


It comes with great architecture and stunning fall displays of color.


It encourages bike riding...

(Do any of you live in big cities who have started bike rental programs? Although I think there are a few problems with these bikes (the atrocious design being the main one) I think its really cool that Minneapolis started this program! Definitely a step in the right direction, that is away from fossil fuel!)


It has traditions that everyone has forgotten how they started, or what they stand for anymore...but they partake in anyways.

Events that are said to be the reason why shoes are thrown in the tree:
1. First F on a college test
2. First A on a college test
3. When you lose your v-card
4. When you graduate
5. The actual reason- because it's cool to say you did it for some monumental reason or another.


Lovely overcast views...


Vines growing like crazy for that Ivy League charm...without the price tag.


Massive old trees to prove how old this place really is...history has been (and is) being made here, right?


Yes, yes, my campus is great but of course I got sucked back into taking FALL pictures. Just another asset to my campus, it has trees engineered for fall. In the "Mall" area of campus the trees turn maroon and gold in the Fall. Really. What more could a Fall obsessed girl ask for?


I decided to take some pictures of leaves in their natural habitat...




While distracted by my photo adventures the "lovely fall breeze" turned in "that awful Minnesota wind". Please don't tell me fall is fading and winter is on the horizon already! I am NOT a winter obsessed girl! Especially Minnesnowta winters (the snow in that Minnesota being said sarcastically...it should be replaced with freezing sleet that turns the world into an ice rink and makes it impossible to walk to class or drive anywhere...but that's not quite as cute...)

Here's some proof of that wind!


When I finally decided I had had enough of stopping to take pictures every 2 seconds (yeah I was that spacey girl that you think is bizarre as she wanders around with a Nikon and then randomly crouches on the soggy ground to get a picture of a dirty leaf) I realized how cold it was!

I rushed home and warmed up some Healthy Dairy-Free Garlic Mashed Potato Leftovers. Still delish. But they didn't warm me up completely...so I mindlessly munched on some nuts.

Ok so I snacked on ALOT of nuts...and raisins...and PB and celery...and then some more dried fruit. Come on, everything was just so unsatisfying! What I really needed was my Mom to tell me to stop being a little food diva and just deal with a little unsatisfaction...but instead I snacked viciously and came up with an evil plan. I realized I needed to healthify another comfort food before I ate all the snacks in my cupboard. So I took a little of this...


Dumped it in my new favorite mug. (I got it at Savers for $1.99!)


Tossed in some sweetness...


And came up with this:

Energy Boost Hot Cocoa

Ingredients:
-1 cup strong Coffee
-1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
-1-2 tsp Brown Sugar
-Sprinkles of Nutmeg and Cinnamn
-Dash of Salt

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Taste test. See if you want a little more of anything!

Sooo I bet I know what your thinking...EWWW why is there salt in this recipe?? That makes no sense! Ok I know, I was skeptical as well, but seriously the salt brings out the flavor of the cocoa. I wish I could say I came up with this on my own...but no. Guess where I got the idea? Modern Family. The t.v. show of all places! On the show they added to chocolate milk...but I figured it would apply to all types of chocolate. And boyyy was I right.


Can you sense how thick, creamy, and satisfying this Hot Cocoa was??

Calorie count = 40 calories!

Ahhhhmazing, I will be making this all winter long, I gotta have something to look forward to during finals week!


I will be sure to always keep these ingredients on hand :)


My healthified energizing hot cocoa was enjoyed next to a beautiful fall display that was not at all disturbed by the raging Minnesnowta winds outside...what can I say? Oh yeah, perfection.

Do you have any crazy secret ingredients that turn a good recipe into a great recipe?