Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta

I love this recipe, adapted from the Our Best Bites cookbook. It's creamy, cheesy and decadent-tasting while remaining diet-friendly. You know we're all watching what we eat leading up to November/December's eight week eat-a-thon. Nearly everything I’ve tried from that book is amazing. It’s definitely worth owning.

Mix milk, cream cheese, flour and salt well in your blender.

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat and add onions, chopped as small as possible. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent. Then add garlic, sage and thyme. Stir constantly for about thirty seconds.

Pour the milk mixture on top of the garlic and onions. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Turn heat down to medium and let cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently until sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add parmesan and stir to combine.

Cover the sauce with a lid and let stand at least ten minutes. Whisk in the pumpkin and warm over medium-low heat until heated through.

Serve over your favorite pasta. We chose shells and it was a huge hit. I will make this again and again.

Cut-and-Paste Recipe

Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta

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12 oz of your favorite pasta

2 cups low-fat milk

1/3 cup low-fat cream cheese

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

1 ½ Tbsp real butter (divided)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 C finely minced onion

1/2 C canned pumpkin (try more if you love pumpkin, this is really mild)

1T chopped fresh sage (1t dried leaves)

1/2 T fresh thyme (1/2 t dried leaves)

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Mix milk, cream cheese, flour and salt well in your blender.

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat and add onions, chopped as small as possible. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent. Then add garlic, sage and thyme. Stir constantly for about thirty seconds.

Pour the milk mixture on top of the garlic and onions. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Turn heat down to medium and let cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently until sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add parmesan and stir to combine.

Cover the sauce with a lid and let stand at least ten minutes. Whisk in the pumpkin and warm over medium-low heat until heated through. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Vegan Cooking with Chloe Coscarelli and a Look at Her Crème -Filled Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

I’m a little bit vegan sometimes. Other times, I eat nothing but lean meats and vegetables, eschewing bread, pasta and rice altogether. There are weeks when I make nothing but Indian food. I bounce around, trying to find a healthy mix and I’ve found some truly awesome recipes.

This month I’m hooked on Chloe Coscarelli’s new cookbook, Chloe’s Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way, which was sent to me for review. I’ve made several of her recipes and my family members, all major carnivores, are really enjoying most of them. We’ve even repeated a couple in the short time I’ve had her book.

Chloe has a way of making vegan cooking accessible and when you eat her recipes you don’t feel like you’re missing something. They’re full of flavor and not full of weird ingredients to compensate for the lack of meat and dairy.

I recommend the Barley Bliss Casserole, delicious, creamy home cooking with a sauce I think about long after I'm done eating it. This is a great healthy substitute for those old cream of chicken based comfort food casseroles.

We also loved her Guilt-Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes with parsnips and cauliflower. These were amazing and pumped full of veggies. I will definitely be making them again.

Also, she’s authorized me to post her "Chlostess" Crème-Filled Cupcake recipe for all of you to try. These were surprisingly delicious and if I can sub them out for my family’s favorite 300-unpronouncable-ingredient treats, we’ll be better off. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that she makes a great cupcake. Chloe created the first vegan cupcake recipe ever to win the reality show Cupcake Wars. Try this recipe, check out her website, and then give her whole book a try. Enjoy!

“Chlostess” Crème -Filled Cupcakes

MAKES 14 CUPCAKES

Move over, you other name-brand cupcakes found in a little plastic bag! These are homemade, have half the fat, and are still crème-filled delicious! 

Make-Ahead Tip

The Chocolate Cupcakes can be filled with Crème Frosting and frozen for up to 1 month.

Thaw cupcakes and apply Chocolate Ganache topping and swirl design before serving. Any leftover Crème Frosting can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. 

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

1½ cups all-purpose flour*

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cold coffee or water

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

*For a gluten-free alternative, substitute gluten-free all-purpose flour plus ¾ teaspoon  xanthan gum

CRÈME FROSTING

1 cup nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 to 5 tablespoons soy, almond, or rice milk

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairyfree)

¼ cup canned coconut milk, mixed well before measuring

2 tablespoons canola oil

To make the Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with 14 cupcake liners. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate

bowl, whisk together coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture into the dry
mixture and whisk until just combined. Do not overmix.

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting. 

To make the Crème Frosting: Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the shortening until

smooth. With the mixer running on low, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon
nondairy milk at a time, as needed, until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. You
may not need to use all of the nondairy milk. Beat on high for 2 more minutes until light
and fluffy.

To make the Chocolate Ganache: Melt chocolate chips and coconut milk in a double boiler or microwave. Whisk in oil until smooth.

To assemble the cupcakes: Fit a piping bag with a small round or Bismarck tip and fill with the Crème Frosting. Insert the tip into the center of the top of each cupcake and squeeze the bag to fill the cupcake with about 2 to 3 teaspoons frosting. There is no need to scoop out any of the cake. Spread the top of each cupcake with a thin layer of Chocolate Ganache and pipe a 4-loop design with the Crème Frosting.

World’s Simplest Fruit Salad

Don’t let your fruit languish, my friends! I always seem to have a drawer full of sad fruit that nobody wants. When the berries and bananas are gone, we’re left with apples, oranges, melons and a scattering of fruits that no one’s excited to eat.

I’ve adapted Heather’s husband’s fruit salad recipe to help me deal with this problem. It’s probably overstating things to call this a recipe. It’s more of a preparation suggestion. However, I’ve made this for showers and parties and always get compliments and recipe requests. So, here it is:

Choose a sampling of fruits from your fridge, or if you’re making this for a baby shower or potluck, choose a sampling of fruits that look and taste good together from your local grocer. This is good, even if all you have are apples and oranges but it's fun to go a little more exotic every once in a while.

Chop the fruits into small pieces, the smaller the better. For example, grapes are ideal for this when cut in quarters.

Place all the fruit in a bowl.

Add a dollop of yogurt. Less is more here. You want just enough to moisten and flavor the fruit but not enough that you ever have “gobs” or white. No one wants “gobs” on their fruit salad. I prefer vanilla yogurt for this but I’ve used just about every flavor imaginable. Personally, if I’m using plain yogurt, I like to add a couple of tablespoons of applesauce or all-fruit jam to sweeten it a bit.

Gently stir to coat the fruit and you’re done!

I’ve served this as a side-dish at dinner in individual ramekins with a slice of orange on top and the kids can’t get enough. They will literally eat two to three times as much fruit when I serve it this way than when I simply chop it and serve it on a platter.

Cut-and-Paste Recipe

Simple Fruit Salad

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4 cups fruit
¼ cup yogurt (vanilla preferred)

Chop fruit into small pieces, no bigger than half an inch. Place them in a bowl with yogurt and stir gently. Take a minute to wonder why you printed off this non-recipe recipe card.

Beloved Fresh Garden Tomato Marinara

Best Sauce EVER.


Start with the loveliest bunch of ripe garden tomatoes you can find. :) Can use canned, but in fall--why?

Nothing, NOTHING better than a vine-ripened garden tomato.

Anyway... I like to make a big old pot of the stuff. Because it rules. And it freezes well. And did I say that it makes my mouth into a party?

Anyhoo. Start with those gorgeous tomatoes. I used 24 large ripe tomatoes.

Boil some water. I filled my 8 quart stock pot 2/3 full, and that was just perfect to boil the skins off all the tomatoes at once, and then I can use the same stock pot to make the sauce after.



When the water is boiling, add tomatoes, and let sit in the boiling water for about 1 minute. If you go a little longer you're okay. If you go much longer, the soup will flow right out of the tomato skins.

Then dump the tomatoes into a sink full of ice water. This will help the skins slide off easily.



Before slipping the skins, you want to start your 2 medium onions and 1/2 C olive oil start cooking in the stock pot over medium heat.

Then slip off the tomato skins. If they're ripe, this should be easy as pie.

Then core them and chop them into quarters or eighths, depending on the size of the tomato.

When that's done, dump them into the pot with the onions, and turn up the heat to high.



Add 3 bay leaves and 3 T minced garlic... this is the equal of 18 cloves. I know, I know... CRAZY. But wonderful. Trust me.

Let this come to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes before adding 1 T basil, 1 T oregano, 1 T Italian seasoning, 1 T salt, 1/2 T black pepper, 2-5 T sugar -- This is totally depending on your taste, and I can't decide for you.

Then simmer until the amount of liquid in your pot is reduced by half, and add at the end 2 T balsamic vinegar. You may have to add more sugar at this point if your sauce is too acidic.



I go sparing with this sauce on my noodles. It is SERIOUSLY flavorful, so I don't lay it on too thick.

Eat this baby over whole wheat pasta, and try it with the quinoa meatballs. I promise you won't be sorry!



Enjoy!