Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Ever since I learned how easy it is to make your own pumpkin puree, I never buy the canned stuff! Fresh pumpkin puree, made by yourself tastes so much better in food than canned ever did! 

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin (size of your choice)
2 Tbs olive oil

Assembly:

1.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

2.) Thoroughly wash your pumpkin. With a sharp knife and sturdy cutting board, cut the pumpkin in half, and using a spoon, scoop all the seeds out from the inside. (If you want to make pumpkin seeds for a snack, save the seeds in a small bowl and bake them for 25 minutes with salt and pepper at 375 degrees!)

3.) Then depending on how big your pumpkin is, you'll need to cut each half in half or into fourths.

4.) Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil and place the pumpkin pieces flesh side up.

5.) Bake the pumpkin for 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Sometimes a pumpkin will need to be baked more, especially if it is larger. If this is the case, just bake it until it is fork tender.

6.) Once pumpkin is cooked and cooled, place the pumpkin in a blender and blend until smooth.

7.) Transfer pumpkin puree into a large bowl. Use for anything from pumpkin soup, bread, smoothies, oatmeal and even pumpkin gnocchi! 

** This pumpkin puree will be a lighter shade of orange than canned pumpkin. This is because this pumpkin puree is fresh and have NO ADDED PRESERVATIVES! 

Have happy and healthy fall fun! 

<3 Babushka

Homemade Potato and Pear Gnocchi

We have a pear tree in my backyard. One morning I walked out and two pears dropped down right as I walked past the tree. It was a sign. So naturally I started thinking how can I make something delicious, but different at the same time with these pears? I've never made gnocchi before, so I decided to give it a try and honestly they turned out a lot better than I ever thought!  

Give this gnocchi with a fruity twist a try! I promise they wont disappoint! 

Ingredients:
4 medium to large potatoes (Russets or Idaho's work best)
1 1/2 cups of white unbleached flour
2 egg yolks
1 Tbs olive oil
about 1 cup of pear puree

Pear Puree:
2 large diced pears (leave one unpeeled and one peeled--the color of the peels looks great in the gnocchi and enhances the pear taste as well!)
1 Tbs of hot water
1/2 zest of a lemon

For the Sauté:
1/2 a shallot (chopped)
1/2 cup of wine
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil and parsley
1 Tbs fresh parsley

Puree: In a blender combine all the ingredients and puree until smooth!

Instructions for Gnocchi:

1.) Start with boiling the potatoes. When they are cooked and cooled, using a fork smash/mash the potatoes until they are as smooth as you can get them. Try to get all the lumps out! This is very important in having a good gnocchi dough.

2.) To the mashed potatoes, incorportate the 2 egg yolks. Then add the pear puree and stir until smooth.

 Then slowly, in thirds, add flour. The dough will be very mushy and lumpy at first; you need to kneed it until it can be formed into a large dough ball.

3.) Flour your work surface. Cut off a portion of the dough (maybe 1/6) and roll it into a log. The log should be about 1 inch wide! Using a sharp knife, cut off inch size pieces. Repeat until you end up with a lot of little gnocchi squares!

4.) Bring a large boiling pot to a boil (make sure to salt the water). Carefully drop in 10-12 gnocchi into boiling water and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the gnocchi float to the top. Keep a close eye on these! They cook quicker than you think! 

5.) Once the gnocchi float to the top, ladle them out into a large boil, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over them so they don't stick to each other. Continue this process until all of your gnocchi are cooked!

6.) In a large sauté pan, heat a Tbs of olive oil, stir in 1/2 a shallot (chopped) and cook until light brown. Add in about 10-12 gnocchi and allow them to get lightly brown on both sides (will take about 3-4 minutes per side). Once slightly brown, add red wine, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs. Sauté for another 3 minutes or until wine is nicely reduced.

Serve immediately! They're the best when eaten straight out of the pan they were sautéed in! 

** You can also freeze the gnocchi after they are boiled and sauté them later on!

 My Dad and I ate 3 full plates of these! Can you say yummy! :) 

This one looked like a fish!

Happy Eating!

<3 Babushka

Choco-Banana Smoothie!

Wait...regular college kids don't have blenders in their rooms? WHAT!

Hey fellow foodies! 

I havent posted a recipe in quite some time because I have been studying hard in college! I go to school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin studying Speech Pathology and Anthropology. I love going to school and learning, but Ive got to admit...I miss cooking!! I miss being able to invent new recipes and combine various flavors to satisfy my every craving. 

In college, I don't have access to a kitchen or delicious food, thus Im left with a long urge and craving to cook for weeks at a time. My solution? Bring a blender to school and try to make the best out of life. I get fruits, yogurts and veggies from the cafe and try to invent delicious and nutritious smoothies; college doesn't have the healthiest options for meals. 

So in an effort to be healthy while satisfying my food creativity, I made this delicious smoothie for lunch this afternoon! Its chocolaty in all the right ways :) 

Ingredients: 

1 banana

1 Tbs sunflower butter (or peanut butter)..., I like sunflower butter better :]

1/2 cup of chocolate almond milk

1 1/2 Tbs of greek yogurt 

Combine all the ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth and velvety and enjoy!!

<3 
Babushka

Veggie Pizza

This is my mom's and I pizza. We cook a lot together; although we bump heads in the kitchen sometimes...(she claims its her kitchen and I claim that it's mine). I love to cook with my mom and I've learned countless kitchen secrets from her that I will use of the rest of my life, as a young cook, mother/ wife, and old grandmother.

 

After the whole artichoke fiasco and struggles, we fell in love with the roasted jarred artichoke flavor and started to cook with it more often. This is one of the first pizzas we made using artichoke!

 

It is extremely easier to make because you just dump all the ingredients on there to be honest. Its a quick and easy dinner-- its also pretty healthy, considering all the veggies and calcium you're getting from the cheese!

Ingredients:

Store bought pizza dough
1 cup of tomato sauce (you could use my recipe :) )
1/2 cup of chopped roasted or pickled artichokes (from the jar is fine...that's what I used!)
1/3 cup chopped fennel 
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
3 Tbs ricotta cheese
3 cloves of minced roasted garlic
1 large ball of sliced mozzarella
1 Portobello mushroom
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt


Assembly:
Preheat oven to 370 degrees

 

1.) Take the pizza dough, and on a floured surface, roll out the dough until about 1/2 inch thick and looks like a deformed circle.

2.) Cover a pizza pan with aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Place pizza dough on the pan and form/stretch it so that it covers the surface of the circular pan.

3.) First, cover the pizza with a layer of tomato sauce, then add slices of mozzarella cheese all around. Add teaspoon sized dollops of ricotta cheese here and there as well, until the pizza is nicely covered with cheese.

4.) Next, top the pizza with fennel, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes-- until the edges of the crust is golden brown, cheese is melted and veggies are roasted.

5.) When you remove the pizza from the oven, sprinkle 1 tbs of salt on top. I also like to drizzle more olive oil on top as a finish. Adds yumminess also!

 

Cut into squares or triangle slices, I prefer triangle because it looks more traditional, is easier to eat and cut!

 

Eat up!!

Its even better the next day ;)

ENJOY

 

<3 Babushka

Polish style Jambalaya!

I have always wanted to cook jambalaya! I don't know what it is about this dish but it just sounds fun!

So...I decided to go for it and cook jambalaya! Now, I'm not sure if this dish can actually be called jambalaya because I've never seen it be cooked or tasted it before making this dish. So call it what you will, I'm calling it jambalaya because it tasted hella great and sure looked like jambalaya from the Google search I did afterwards! :)

 

My dads exact words, "You got another pot of that stuff? NO?!... Better get started on the next pot then".

 

Ah,, you can always count on daddy to make you feel confident about your cooking :) If my dad approves, then this dish is golden...(he's always been a picky eater)

Now all I've got to do is take this recipe down to New Orleans and get their approval!

 

p.s.. this is "Polish Style Jambalaya because I used smoke Polish sausage!

Ingredients:

5 links of smoked Polish sausages, cubed
20 shrimp ( you may leave them whole with the tail, whole without the tail or cubed them, whatever you prefer. I just removed the tail and cut them in half)
1 1/2 cups of cooked rice
3 cups of chicken stock
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 diced sweet potato
1 diced red pepper
1 diced onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 cup of white wine
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp red pepper flakes (add more if you prefer spiciness)
2 Tbs fresh parsley
2 Tbs green onions
2 Tbs fresh chives
3 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste


Assembly:

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.)  In a medium pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add in rice and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until fluffy. Add in 1 Tbs olive oil when rice is finished cooking.

3.) In a large pot, heat oil and add in 2 cloves of garlic. Once golden brown, add in diced onion. Cook until caramelized. Add a pinch of salt and pepper

4.) Put the diced sweet potato on a baking sheet with olive oil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Check up on them after 15 minutes, and stir them around so they don't stick to the baking sheet.

5.) Meanwhile, add cubed sausage into garlic and onions. Stir and allow sausage to brown.

6.) Add wine and both vinegars to the sausage, as well as the tomato paste, reduce heat and allow for the wine to reduce a little bit, about 5-7 minutes. Pinch of salt and pepper.

7.) Add in chicken stock, bring to boil and reduce to a simmer. Add in uncooked shrimp to the broth, along with the fresh and dried herbs.
8.) Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, so the shrimp cook. Add in sweet potato while shrimps are cooking and after 5 minutes of the shrimp being in the broth, turn off the heat. Add cooked rice into broth and stir.
9.) Taste the broth. If not seasoned enough, add the appropriate amount of salt and pepper.

Serve right away!

ENJOY

<3 Babushka

 

 

 

Rustic Roasted Veggie Spaghetti

This spaghetti recipe came about because my mom bought artichokes and had no idea what they were. I've never actually cooked with them, but I've watched them be cooked on Food Network countless times, so I thought: No problem.

Let me just tell you....problem.

Artichokes are extremely hard to cook and are sure stubborn vegetables! No matter how long I cooked that artichoke, the leaves were tough, chewy and not edible at all. The only part that was edible (the artichoke heart) is TINY and I felt like I was wasting good vegetable.

 

Don't beat yourself up if you cant cook artichokes either...There is a reason why the word "choke" is in there: if you try to mess with it... (that was me trying to joke lol)

 

So I decided to give myself a break because I wasn't going to be able to cook the damn thing anyway, so I bought pickled artichokes in a very cute glass jar and used them in this spaghetti dinner.
Turned out delicious and very fulfilling! Especially since I didn't have to image myself banging my head against the counter top while cooking this time around with the artichokes!

This spaghetti dish is super yummy, filled with nutritious veggies and is perfect for any season or occasion!


Ingredients:

1/2 box of spaghetti
3 large pickled artichoke hearts (roughly chopped)
2 large carrots (peeled into strips with a potato peeler)
1 onion (diced)
1 parsnip (cubed)
1 cup of wine
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup of chopped green onions
1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbs of dried herbs (parley, oregano, basil, cilantro and thyme)
2 Tbs of tomato paste
1/2 Tbs of red pepper flakes
3 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Assembly:

1.) Bring 2-3 cups of water to a boil, and drop in spaghetti. Cook until al dente.

2.) Peel carrots with a potato peeler into medium sized strips. Set aside in a bowl.

3.) In a large pan, heat olive oil, add in diced onion and cook until golden brown. Add diced parsnip. Cook until fork tender, or brown.

4.)  Reduce heat and slowly add wine. Bring to simmer and allow most of the alcohol to cook off. Add in balsamic, apple cider vinegar and tomato paste. Allow sauce to simmer and reduce. Add in 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock, stir and remove from heat and add in chopped artichoke hearts into sauce.

5.) Incorporate spaghetti into the sauce. Add in the fresh and dried herbs, as well as salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

6.) Drizzle 1 Tbs of olive oil on top. May be served hot right away, served cold, or made in advance and served at a later time.

ENJOY

<3 Babushka

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Easy and quick to make, tomato sauce!

Yield: about 1 1/2- 2 cups of sauce

Ingredients:
5 large Roma tomatoes (you could use other kinds if you'd like)
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Assembly:

1.) In a sauce pan, or Dutch oven like I used, heat oil until hot, add diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let them simmer for about 10 minutes.

2.) Add chopped basil, balsamic vinegar, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir, then add water and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

4.) Turn off heat, and taste. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

5.) Take the sauce and carefully pour it into a blender, and pulse until smooth. ( I leave mine a little chunkier!)

 

Great on pizza, pasta, Mexican dishes...etc!

 

  

ENJOY

<3 Babushka