It's Fall Y'all!

This past weekend I traveled to Arlington, Virginia to spend some quality time with my sister and brother-in-law. It rained most of the weekend so we spent most of our time relaxing, watching football, cooking and catching up. Sunday morning my sister and I woke up and made some delicious low fat pumpkin bread.  It’s another one of my fall favorites! I have used this recipe from Cookinglight.com several times and it never disappoints! Paired with a steaming cup of coffee with pumpkin creamer and you’ve got yourself a perfect Sunday morning!

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

 3 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 TBPS baking powder

2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground allspice

2 cups of granulated sugar ( we used a sugar substitute )

½ cup of egg substitute ( such as egg beaters)

½ cup canola oil

½ cup low fat buttermilk

2 large eggs

2/3 cup water

1-15 oz can of pumpkin

Instructions:

 Preheat oven to to 350°

 1. Combine flour and the next 6 ingredients (through allspice) in a mixing bowl and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl place sugar, egg substitute, oil, buttermilk, and eggs and beat with a mixer on high until well blended. Add 2/3 cup water and pumpkin, beating at low speed until blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Lightly coat 2- 9X5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray and pour batter into pans. Bake in oven for 1 hour.

After finishing our delicious breakfast we headed over to Germantown in Maryland to check out Butlers Orchard. It is such a neat little place! You can pick all kinds of fruits and vegetables during peak seasons. We went to see the pumpkins of course! While there we also picked up some locally made snacks for lunch. My sister picked up a jar of both apple butter and pumpkin butter. They are AMAZING!! The apple butter has no added sugar, it’s sweetened with its own juice. We also picked up some venison sausage and local cheese. Paired with their homemade sweet onion mustard and some whole wheat crackers and we had ourselves a delicious lunch! If you have never tried venison you should put it on your to-do list. It’s very high in protein and iron and has about 1/3 the fat of beef! It’s great in chili, as burgers, or even as meatloaf!

When my sister and I get together we REALLY love to get in the kitchen! We continued the fall theme for the day with a healthy dinner of bbq chicken, pan seared brussel sprouts, and winter squash gratin. Fantastic doesn’t even begin to describe how wonderful that squash gratin was! It will definitely be making an appearance at Thanksgiving this year!

Squash Gratin

Ingredients: (Serves 6-8)

*** I have listed the ingredients we used. We altered some ingredients to make it healthier

3 TBSP of unsalted butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 TBSP of fresh, chopped thyme

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

1 small kabocha squash, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

2 cloves garlic, minced

Kosher salt and pepper, just a dash of both

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

½ cup fat free half and half

¼ cup bread crumbs ( if you can use homemade bread crumbs do so- they are much better!)

2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

2 TBSP chopped parsley

½ grated gruyere cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a large oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and thyme and cook until onion softens, about 5 minutes.
2. Combine both types of squash in a large microwave-safe bowl with 1 cup of water. Cover with plastic wrap and cook until squash is just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and add squash to the skillet along with garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook about 3 minutes. Add the broth and cook until mostly absorbed. Stir in the half and half and cook until slightly thickened.
3. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and toss with bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and parsley. Sprinkle on top of the squash and top with gruyere cheese. Transfer the skillet into the oven and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes and then serve!

I used a cabernet garlic olive oil blend I got in Seattle to sautee the brussel sprouts. When I don't have something fancy like that I use olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

HAPPY HUMP DAY!!