The secret lives of vegetables-Butternut Squash and Applesauce Muffins

I wanted to share a recipe today that is one of my favorites. It is one of our family favorites, just in time for the fall season. These muffins come from a book, given to me by a friend, that teach us as parents to hide vegetables in our children's food. Now, as far as philosophies go, this has its pros and cons. I think its great to incorporate vegetables into everyday eating, like shredding zucchini into meatballs, pasta sauce, or hamburger, to increase our intake of vegetables. Breading foods in egg mixed with veggie puree is also a phenomenal idea, if you have the veggies on hand, etc. There are lots of ways I had honestly never thought of to incorporate fruits and vegetables. The author also encourages us as parents to offer vegetables at dinner, even if there is a hidden veggie in the meal. Its a great idea, and it really gets you thinking on how to get some of the more difficult things into your kids mouths.

That said, these muffins are ridiculously good. I make them for people, let them devour them, and then tell them there is butternut squash in them. There is also applesauce and oatmeal in the muffins, but I think butternut squash is the big surprise. Oh, they also have an oatmeal streusel topping that makes them to die for.

If you like roasted butternut squash soup, these muffins will be your best friend, because you can roast the squash for your soup and then just set aside the squash you aren't going to use for the soup and whip up a batch of these babies. They are incredibly tender, no doubt from the applesauce and butternut squash, and really, the crunchy, brown sugar and oatmeal topping is great. They also have a bit of extra fiber with the oatmeal also in the batter. This also gives the muffins a bit of chewy texture.

Roasted Butternut Squash Muffins
Topping
2/3 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Batter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pureed butternut squash
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper baking cups. Make the topping: Stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the butter.
Make the batter: combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not over mix-the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.

Oreo Chocolate-Chip Cookie Brownie

I wrote about half of a blog post yesterday. I am not sure how much longer I can do this eating healthy thing.... my husband and I were going for six weeks but I really miss baking, cooking, making chocolate chip pancakes and trying new desserts. I keep trying to tell myself I am gearing up for fall, and this is the perfect time to eat light anyway. Don't get me wrong, I like eating healthy, but I just don't like being this restricted. I usually eat fairly healthy, with a sprinkling of rich desserts and pastries. On that note, here is a recipe from my mom...she loves to taunt me with these recipes.

Oreo Chocolate-Chip Cookie Brownie

Another day….another dessert! I have a real hard time passing up an idea for a new yummy dessert! I was online the other day…minding my own business…not even LOOKING for any recipes. I was actually looking for ideas for my first granddaughters baby shower! Then up scrolls this pic… A 9x13” dish with the ingredients in the pan and these words below: “cookie dough then an Oreo then brownie mix on top.” There were no other instructions, like temperature and time in oven. No exact amounts! (I’m kind-of weird about that…I get real nervous when I have to ‘wing-it’) But I guess they figured if I’m serious enough..I’ll find a way!...and I did!

I bought a roll of pre-made cookie dough, a package of Oreos and a bagged brownie mix. The mixes both required a 350* oven…

1 package Oreos

1 prepared package brownie mix for an 8x8 pan

1 roll chocolate chip cookie dough

I decided to do individual desserts instead of a 9x13 pan because I was concerned the Oreos wouldn’t cut up very neatly when time to serve. So I used a muffin/cupcake pan and lined each with a paper baking cup.

I read on the cookie dough package that it was supposed to make 16 cookies, so I peeled off the entire plastic covering, leaving the cookie dough in a tube shape, cut the dough tube into four equal sections. Each section was then cut into four equal parts. I rolled them up just for ease of placing them in the paper cups and gently pushed them down to form the bottom ‘crust’. Each ball was approximately 1/8 cup, if you decide to make homemade cookie dough.

Next just place an Oreo into each cup, pressing it into place. Cover with 1/8 cup prepared brownie mix. (You may want to use slightly less if you don’t want them oozing over the top.)

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 12 to 15 minutes. The edges will be firm, but the centers may still seem slightly gooey looking. Cool and eat. ENJOY!

The right one (Sweet Potato Casserole)

This tale might be a bit graphic for some of you. My family and I went fishing the other day, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I caught a little fish, that I probably should have thrown back but I was really excited to clean and cook it. I feel like fish is a fairly easy step to take in my goal to be more self-sufficient, and I think it wouldn't have mattered how small it was I would have taken it home to eat. I caught a large mouth bass, much to the delight of my two oldest sons, and they couldn't wait to get it home either.

Upon arriving at the house, I consulted my copy of John Seymour's

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, and decided I would try to skin the fish, since that seemed like the easiest option. After boning, skinning, and gutting it, I dredged its remains in flour, salt, and pepper, and lightly sauteed it in butter. I added a bit more butter to the hot pan and a squeeze of lemon and made a simplified mueniere. It was great. The fish was very tender and of course didn't taste fishy at all. My son and husband proudly sampled our reward from the hours of trying to find the right fishing spot.
I can't wait to try again next week.

Since Thanksgiving is almost here I decided I should write about one of our favorite Turkey Day dishes. Ok, maybe I am a little premature, but I saw a fall wreath at Costco yesterday and I'm getting ready for Autumn! Probably, before this month is over I will be listening to Christmas music and gearing up for fall and winter. I love these cooler months of the year and I can't wait to be able to bake comfortably again! Here is a wonderful recipe from Saveur. I spotted it in a magazine a few years back and it has been a Thanksgiving/Easter/Special Event staple since. I have had a few people who claim they don't like sweet potatoes tell me how much they love this recipe. I made a few slight changes. One being the original recipe from Saveur, depicted by the photo below, called for topping half with marshmallows, and half with salted cashews. I do all marshmallows, and honestly I just haven't tried cashews. It would probably be delicious, though.

Sweet Potato Casserole

4 lbs. sweet potatoes
1⁄2 cup evaporated milk
1⁄2 cup sugar

6 tbsp. butter, melted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1⁄2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 
2 eggs, beaten
3⁄4 cup roasted salted cashews
1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour
2 cups mini marshmallows

1. Heat oven to 400°. Place sweet potatoes on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet; bake until soft, about 1 1⁄2 hours. Let cool.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Peel potatoes; pass them through a food mill into a bowl. Whisk in evaporated milk, sugar, 4 tbsp. of the butter, vanilla extract, salt, allspice, and eggs. Transfer to a 2-qt. oval baking dish.
3. In a food processor, pulse together cashews, brown sugar, flour, and remaining 2 tbsp. of butter until coarsely ground. Crumble cashew mixture over half of casserole; top other half with marshmallows. Bake until marshmallows are golden brown, about 30 minutes.
SERVES 8 – 10