Pumpkin Pie 101

Anyone can bake a pie, and if you’re just starting out, a pumpkin pie is a perfect place to start! The ingredients are simple and little tweaks can make it better than the store bought version!

Here’s how I make mine: firstly, I make things easy on myself by using pre-rolled refrigerated pie crust. None of my friends can tell the difference between it and my from scratch version (but if you want to do it, here’s a great recipe). I also don’t bother with fresh pumpkin - the canned stuff has a good texture and is so much less hassle. Some people used evaporated milk instead of condensed, but I like the latter better. Here’s my full shopping list:

• 1 Pre-Rolled Pie Crust
  
• 1 Can of Pumpkin Puree (not filling)
  
• 1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1 T of Pumpkin Pie Spice
  
• Dash of Freshly Ground Nutmeg
  
• Heavy Whipping Cream
  
• ¼ C Powdered Sugar
  

Set your over to 425 F and take your chilled dough out of the fridge. I like to grease my pie plate but if you forget your pie will still come out nicely (there’s fat in the crust). Now crimp your edges and put the pie crust back in the fridge.

Now mix together your pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, egg and spices until smooth. It’s my personal pie making philosophy that you can taste fresh nutmeg and I put it in almost all of my pies. Just a dash will do and it’ll make all the difference!

Next pour your mixture into your chilled crust and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Lower your temp to 350 and cook for another 45. I usually put on a pie shield on my crust now (you can also just use aluminum foil!). When cooked, the center should still be slightly jiggly (technical term). Now turn the oven off and let the pie cool slowly. This will help any cracks from forming on the top. 

Once your pie has completely cooled, you can top with freshly made whipped cream. That’s just heavy whipping cream and a little powdered sugar beat on high until stiff. If it starts clumping together you’ve gone too far and made butter, so keep an eye on it! In these pictures I was low on time so I just used store bought whipped cream, which is fine too! 

I also like to top with candied pecans which are just melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans. 

See! You can make a pie! And it’ll be delicious! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Jessica Bakes | Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I haven’t been in the kitchen nearly as much as I’d like lately, but for Father’s Day I cook Adam and homemade breakfast (biscuits and sausage gravy) and then we hosted my in laws for lunch. For dessert I made strawberry lemonade cupcakes and the best part - no artificial colors or flavors were used! Here’s how I did it…

For the cupcakes I used a lemon cupcake recipe I found online here. I minimized the batch to a dozen servings, but actually ended up only having enough batter for 10 cupcakes. No problem - we can’t eat that many anyway! The only recommendation I have is to bake slightly less than the 17 minutes suggested. My cake was a little on the dry side - but still delicious! 

For the frosting, I modified a recipe I saw a while back online. It’s a basic buttercream base (stick of butter, tablespoon of vanilla, tablespoon of lemon juice and 2-3 cups of powdered sugar). To get the strawberry flavor (this is nuts), I emptied out two boxes of Special K to get all of the freeze dried berries out. My grocery didn’t carry them separately so at 7am on a Sunday morning I had to be creative. And it worked! It ended up being about .02 oz which doesn’t seem like a lot, but was probably a half to ¾ cup. To make them into a powder, I ran them through my coffee grinder and then a fine mesh sieve. I admit I’m not super perfect with measuring - I like to taste and adjust as I go. This made for a pretty thick frosting - you could add a little milk or more lemon juice to thin it out to your desired piping consistency. 

I love this idea especially because of the lack of food coloring (which I’m not all together opposed to, but the more natural you can make something, the better in my opinion). The flavor is great too! Down the road I will experiment with other fruits too (I know Target carries freeze dried fruit for my own future reference). I think I might try adding powdered fruits to my favorite cream cheese frosting - maybe a swirl of plain and flavored? Mmmmmm. 

I topped my cupcakes with fresh farmer’s market berries. I find the smaller local berries to be much more flavorful than the jumbo kind available year round.  

These make for a perfect June treat! 

Jessica Bakes | Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been on a roll with baking cupcakes lately! A few weeks ago I did four dozen using spirits from my husband’s distillery for a party they held (see photos with details here and here) and then I did red velvet cupcakes for the Super Bowl. 

Today I’m sharing a recipe I’ve been tweaking for the past couple of weeks - Mint Chocolate Cupcakes! I think the key is in the kind of mint you use and how much… read on for details!

Chocolate Mint Cakes 

Yields 16

• 3 T butter, softened
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 C, 2T sugar
  
• 1 C flour
  
• ½ C unsweetened cocoa
  
• 1 ½ t baking powder
  
• 1/8 t baking soda
  
• ¾ C milk
  
• ½ t vanilla extract
  
• 1 drop peppermint extract
  
• 1 drop spearmint oil
  

Preheat your over to 350 and line your cupcake tin with parchment liners.

Cream together soft butter and sugar in a mixer until combined.  Add one egg at a time and mix thoroughly.

In another bowl, sift together remaining dry ingredients.

Add vanilla, spearmint and peppermint to milk.

Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients to batter, making sure to fully combine. 

Give it a good whip on high. Fill liners about half way to ¾ full using an ice cream scoop (this was a tool that really upped my game!)

Bake 17 minutes and check with a toothpick to ensure center is baked through (a clean toothpick means they are ready to come out!)

While they are cooling, prep your icing!

Mint Cream Cheese Icing with Oreos

This is my favorite icing base and I use it for every kind of flavor I do! Be VERY careful adding the mint extract and oil… the smallest amount goes a very long way and gives a wonderful nuance to the flavor. Too much and it tastes like toothpaste!

Yields enough to frost 16-20 cupcakes

• 6 oz cream cheese, softed
  
• 6 oz butter, softened
  
• 2 C powdered sugar
  
• 2 drops green food coloring
  
• 1 drop blue food coloring
  
• 1 drop spearmint oil*
  
• 1 drop peppermint extract*
  
• 2 Oreo Cookies, smashed
  

Cream together softened cream cheese and butter until fully combined and fluffy. 

Slowly add powdered sugar in ½ C increments.

Add food coloring and mix until pigment is combined.

*Now for the mint. Using a spoon, drip one drop of each flavor and let it roll off the spoon. Stir the icing with that spoon and remix to incorporate flavor. Taste your icing and repeat if necessary. 

When flavor is to your liking, fold in crumbled Oreo cookies, leaving enough crumbs to garnish your frosted cupcakes.

Once cupcakes have completely cooled, use a large star tip (Wilton 1M shown here) to ice and top with crumbled cookies. 

In the Kitchen | 20 Healthy Meal Ideas

In my Clean Slate post at the end of last year, I mentioned we would be doing our annual Whole 30, but I need to fess up - I’ve been modifying the basic principals - and I’m really happy with our new and improved weekly menu! I thought I’d share my main recipe sources and my favorite meals from the cook books I use most.

As you can see by scrolling through this post, I’m one of those people who takes photos of her food. Love it or leave it I guess! It keeps me creative and accountable and makes me excited to cook. Cooking healthy can be fun and delicious, so do whatever inspires you to eat well! 

What’s the Whole 30?

In short, it’s a diet plan that focuses on meats and veggies and forbids alcohol, sugar, dairy, grains and beans. Read the full rundown here.

What are we doing differently?

Because one of the main goals of a Whole 30 is to identify what foods might inflame your system, we’ve already tested what does and does not upset our lil tummies. For starters, we’ve minimized the amount of dairy we consume (grass fed butter, milk in coffee and small bits of cheese are examples of our exceptions). In the grain department, we’re not eating refined grains that you’d find in breads or desserts* for most meals but have been eating a lot of quinoa, which we love! In the sugar realm, we still use honey as a sweetener - for my morning coffee and in salad dressings. We also eat things like bacon and sausages made by our local butcher and those tend to have sugars in them. Not a big deal to us! We also love beans - whether it’s black beans or homemade hummus, so we’ve kept them as a big part of our weekly diet. Finally, we’re in the alcohol business and we’re responsible adults, so we’ve chosen to allow ourselves red wine on weekday evenings with dinner and a cocktail or two over the weekend. #noregrets 

But Aren’t you Obsessed with Baking?

*Good call. Yes, yes I am. I plan on baking sweet treats and breads on Saturdays once and a while. Adam has a request in for baguettes and I want to do something with my new springform pan! It’s my personal belief that if you deprive yourself too much, you just go buck wild and throw caution to the wind. It also gives me something to look forward to! 

Where do you get ideas?

I’ve been using two cookbooks almost exclusively and I really love them! They are Primal Cravings by Brandon and Megan Keatley and Inspiralized by Ali Maffucci. I believe in supporting other bloggers and authors, and thus won’t be reposting their original recipes. If you like what you see in these photos, please consider supporting them yourselves and buying their cookbooks! I’ve listed my source in each photo from this post.

I’ve also included photos of easier off the cuff meals I’ve dreamed up myself with memorized family recipes or simple preparations (poaching eggs, basic red pasta sauce, etc) And don’t be afraid to pick up something pre made at the grocery or butcher like veggie kabobs!

Favorite Breakfasts

Breakfast is easily my favorite meal of the day. I love eggs cooked in all sorts of ways - poached, scrambled with veggies or hard boiled (and fried, let’s be real!) And yes you’ll see bacon below and no, not everyone would qualify it as healthy, but if you buy from your local farmer or butcher and eat it minimally, it’s a great way to get a lot of flavor in a little (or big) bite. Below are some dishes we’ve really enjoyed as a traditional breakfast meal but also for dinner! See a week’s worth of my favorite paleo breakfast ideas here.

Main Dishes

When I’m looking for recipes and meal ideas I want something nutrient dense, colorful and focused on veggies, lean meats and healthy fats. The following dishes fit the bill and can be altered to fit different dietary needs.

Snacks

Only a couple ideas here, but for me, they hit the spot. On the sweet side of things an apple with almond butter satisfies my sweet tooth. If it’s savory you’re after, a hard boiled egg wrapped in prosciutto is a quick flavor filled bite.