Pumpkin Cheesecake & Gingersnap Crust

We were so excited to make this cheesecake that we forgot to take pictures when we started! Whoops! The original recipe came from Epicurious–we left some things out, tried the pecan topping but couldn’t get it right, so what follows is our version! The cheesecake also got ravaged at the party we took it to before we could snap any respectable pictures. So you’re going to have to take our word for it that it turned out beautifully!

Crust Ingredients

2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
(we only had one cup of crispy store bought cookies, so we used our soft molasses cookies for the second cup)
1+ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling Ingredients

4  8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1.5 cups sugar or sucanat
3+ tablespoons all purpose flour
1.5+ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1+ teaspoon ground ginger
4 large eggs
1  15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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Maple-Pecan Apple Crumb Pie

From the Esalon Cookbook! We can’t wait to try more things out of this cookbook!

Piecrust

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1.25 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sucanat
1 cup cold butter
1/2 cup ice water

Pie Filling

6 cups cored , peeled apples, sliced into 1/4 inches slices
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup sucanat OR honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup maple syrup

Maple Pecan Crumb Topping

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole pastry flour
1/4 cup sucanat
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans

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Peach Blueberry Pie

Crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour (we did 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 white flour)
1 tablespoon sugar or succanat
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 to 5 tablespoons ice-cold water

Filling:

3 pounds ripe peaches (approximately)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (packed) light-brown sugar OR succanat
1/4 cup granulated sugar OR succanat OR honey
1 packet Stevia
1/4 cup all-purpose flour OR whole wheat pastry flour
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons heavy cream


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Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting

We’re determined to make desserts that taste good and are good for you (well okay… desserts that at least aren’t horrible for you and don’t have processed sugar!). The original recipe came from Epicurious, but we made a decent amount of changes to get it sugar-free and we also substituted coconut oil for canola oil, since coconut oil is more beneficial.

Carrot Cake Ingredients:

1/3 cup dried shredded organic unsweetened coconut
3 cups (a little less than a 1 pound) organic farm-fresh carrots, shredded
1 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour
1/2 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons organic ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated organic nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sucanat
3/4 cup organic coconut oil
1 tablespoon organic vanilla extract
3 organic eggs

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Peaches & Coconut Muffins

These healthy (sugar-free!!!) muffins passed the ultimate test: I was thinking about them the next day and couldn’t wait to have another one with my morning coffee! We got the recipe from the Food for my Family blog (great resource!), which has some great food planning tips and more yummy recipes we can’t wait to try!

As usual, we made some modifications of the original recipe based on what we had on-hand and also didn’t add the icing.

Muffin Ingredients:

1 egg
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups fresh peaches

Topping Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons oats
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon coconut oil

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Kale and Barley Gratin

If you like kale, you’ll love this earthy dish. If you don’t like kale, just try it! It really doesn’t taste like you’re eating straight kale… plus the cheese helps! From Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup pearl barley, rinsed
Salt and freshly milled pepper
1 large bunch kale, about 1 1/4 pounds stems entirely removed
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk or basic vegetable stock
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Gruyere


The classic Julia Child Cheese Soufflé

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
1 cup milk, whole
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, unbleached
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground nutmeg
4 large egg yolks
5 large egg whites
1 cup gruyere cheese, finely shredded (about 4 ounces)


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Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

1.5 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 cups white flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1.5 baking soda
3.4 teaspoon salt
1.5 cup white flour
3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter


Instructions:

Combine all dry ingredients
Add in  buttermilk, milk, eggs melted butter
Mix until just combined

Scoop spoonfuls onto griddle

Wait until you see bubbles popping before flipping