Apple Pumpkin Beer Bread

Fall is slowly winding down. Daylight savings has come & gone, so now it's dark in both the morning & evening. This makes me want to curl up on the couch with a blanket & a mug of hot tea every.single.night. Not good. Especially when things like meetings & life get in the way.

You're probably ready for me to let go of fall, since I've been talking about it for months now, but I'm trying to hang on a little big longer.

This bread, with its fall flavors of pumpkin, apple, & spices helped just a bit. It's sweet enough to be dessert, but healthy enough for breakfast. Or as a mid-day snack to tide me over until dinner.

Start by mixing up the dry stuff, complete with lots of warming spices! Depending on how spiced the pumpkin beer you use is, you may want to reduce or increase the spices. I used Post Road Pumpkin Ale, which is slightly spiced but not over the top.

Chop up the apples & stir together the wet ingredients. There will be leftover beer, but don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll find a good place for it. ;-)

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix away.

Then add the apple chunks, stirring just until they're combined. Don't over stir.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan. I put a baking sheet under my loaf pan while baking, just in case, and it did catch a few drippings of batter. I wanted a nice big loaf, so I didn't want to cut back on the ingredients, but I also didn't want to have to clean the oven!

 

Once it cools, you can slice it up & enjoy!

The chunks of apple cooked into little pockets of sweetness, complimenting the spiced bread. Each bite has all the fall flavors, kicked up a notch with the slight hint of beer. I hope you enjoy it!

Apple Pumpkin Beer Bread

Yield: 12 slices

2 1/2 c white whole wheat flour

1/4 c ground flax

1/4 c toasted wheat germ

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

pinch nutmeg

2 c chopped apples

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

1/2 c pumpkin puree

3/4 c agave nectar or maple syrup

3/4 c pumpkin beer

1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray a glass loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine white whole wheat flour, flax, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, mix together coconut oil, pumpkin, agave nectar, pumpkin beer and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until no dry ingredients remain. Add apples and stir just until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cook in pan 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.

How To: Roasted Chestnuts

Have any of you actually eaten a roasted chestnut? There's The Christmas Song (aka Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) about them that we hear every year, but for the majority of my life, that was all I knew about them.

Turns out, they're delicious! As an added bonus, they automatically make your house smell like the holidays!

My in-laws have a chestnut tree in their backyard & this is the second year that they shared the nuts with us. It's probably the last year, too, as the fall snow storm severely damaged the tree.

It's not hard to roast the chestnuts at all. If you know anyone with a tree, it's practically free, but even if you don't, they aren't overly expensive to buy, either.

First, you score each chestnut with an X. You want to cut the skin all the way through so that they're easier to peel. Last year, I just barely cut them & it took me forever to get them open. This time, I cut them with scissors - push the tips into the side of the chestnut & close the blades, then repeat to form an X. Unless you're trying to have perfect, whole chestnuts, it's okay to cut into the meat. You'll see a white X on the roasted nut later, but it doesn't change the taste.

They bake in the oven for about 30 minutes & make the house smell delicious!

As soon as they come out & cool enough to handle, it's time to peel them. While they are still warm, the nut is pliable so you can squeeze the shell to break them open at the X's. As they start to cool, you'll notice that peeling them gets a lot harder. If they cool too much, just stick them back in the oven for about 10 minutes to warm up again.

Ta-da! A big bowl of roasted chestnuts to enjoy!

Roasted Chestnuts

1 lb. chestnuts (or as many as desired)

Preheat oven to 350*F. Use scissors to score chestnuts with an X, making sure to cut all the way through the outer skin. Be cautious as to not cut yourself. Lay chestnuts in a single layer on baking sheets (use as many as needed for the amount of chestnuts you have). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the outer skin peels back around the X. Remove from oven & let cool briefly. As soon as the chestnuts are cool enough to handle, peel off the outer skin. Store chestnuts in a loosely covered container (not air-tight) for up to 2 weeks at room temperature. They can be frozen in a freezer bag for future use for up to 1 year.

Note if you are using naturally grown chestnuts: as you score them, check for little holes. If they have holes, they have worms, so just get rid of them right away. After you bake them, there may still be a few duds, so if you see one that's black or white or just looks a little off, don't eat it. Better safe than sorry!

Veggies & Amaranth

This weekend we tried some new foods.

I'm always looking for more ways to eat veggies & for grains with great nutritional value.

To start with, I made amaranth for the second time ever. The first time, I popped it to eat as cereal & stunk up the whole house by burning the first 3 batches. This time, I decided to go the safer route & boil it in water. It turned out with a similar consistency to polenta & without any overwhelming flavor, making it a nice blank slate for any flavoring I chose to add.

Amaranth is an ancient grain that has tons of health benefits. It's gluten-free, high in protein & is full of vitamins A & C, folate, thiamine, niacin, calcium, zinc, manganese, iron, & more. It was also very filling. We worked in the garden all afternoon after our lunch & I didn't get hungry!

I'm usually a fresh veggie person, so this was something new for me. I remember as a teen I always wanted those single frozen packs of broccoli with cheese sauce. They weren't even good! Some of the broccoli would heat up to the point of mush and the rest would be ice cold. Not to mention all those weird ingredients.

Frozen veggies that you can cook in their package have come a long way since then. I tried Green Giant Steamers for the first time when the Foodbuzz Tastemaker progam offered me the opportunity. This was my first time trying anything similar to this, & I really didn't know what to expect. The ingredient list is just ok - it's mostly the veggies (mine had potatoes, sugar snap peas & red peppers) with 1% of a bunch of stuff including herbs. All of the veggies were heated completely through without being mushy, but the pepper did get slightly softer than I like them.

 It was a great mix for a quick & easy lunch, although I wouldn't rely on these for every day. I still prefer my fresh veggies & to season them myself.

The amaranth & veggie mixture went very well together & wound up being much more filling than I expected. Great for a quick lunch when you're short on time or just super hungry!

Veggies & Amaranth

Serves 2

This is a tasty & quick 20 minute lunch that is nutritious, filling, & requires minimal cleanup!

1 c amaranth

2 1/2 c water

1 package Green Giant Steamers or other frozen veggies in light sauce

In a medium pot, bring amaranth and water to a boil. Simmer for 18-20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare vegetables according to package directions. Spoon 3/4-1 cup of cooked amaranth into a bowl & top with half of the vegetable mixture. There will be leftover amaranth, which can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.*

*I ate leftover amaranth mixed with banana and apple chunks, a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon, and almond milk for breakfast the next day.