Well the great Turkey Day is now over!  So now everyone (hopefully) has tons of leftovers to work with.  I love my leftovers, but sometimes you need to infuse some new leftover ideas instead just reheating dinner plates all week.  So here's a few recipes from various tasty blogs.  Enjoy!

Prosciutto turkey paninis

Cranberry green chile sandwiches

No noodle soup

Columbia turkey arepas

White bea and green pea quesadillas

Turkey salad with fruit

Turkey grilled cheese

Turkey omelets

So I thought that I was near the end of my pumpkin recipes.  But then we went to Trader Joe's and my daughter immediately threw a can of pumpkin puree into the cart.  What could I do?  She was making a healthy food choice completely on her own volition.  I'm a real sucker for this sort of thing.  I've came home with brussle sprout stalks, eggplants (totally not a fan of) and silken tofu (again, not a fan of) because of this weakness.   So we ended up with more pumpkin, and therefore I have another vitamin A laden snack for you all.

In full disclosure this is not my original idea, but an adaptation from a recipe off of carrots n chocolate.  That is a great blog that I really enjoy, so check it out when you have a chance.

Regardless of all the pumpkin recipes lately I think that you'll still like this recipe.  It's a creation that is laden with good things, like wheat germ and whole grain benefits, pumpkin goodness and calcium.  It's also still really tasty, as evidenced by my kids gobbling them down today for breakfast, while hiking this afternoon and as a snack.

Just a word of warning, the lack of fat in these can make them stick to the wrapper.  Some ways of getting around that are spraying down the wrapper with non-stick cooking spray, letting them cool thoroughly for most of the day before eating, or just dealing with this minor issue.  Either way you will be adding some great things to your kids diets while avoiding white flour and refined sugar, which is a great way to get the empty calories out of your kids diets in my book. 

Enjoy!

Pumpkin breakfast muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 22-25 minutes
Makes: 24 muffins

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 cup granola (I used pumpkin flax)
1 can pumpkin
1 egg
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
more granola for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together honey, butter, apple sauce and granola.  Add in pumpkin, egg and yogurt and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, germ, spice, salt and soda.  Make a pit in the center, then add the wet ingredients and mix until combines, but be careful not to over mix.

Add cupcake liners to a cupcake pan.  Fill with batter 2/3 to 3/4 full.  Sprinkle on more granola.  Cook for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely before serving.

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Alright, here's another pumpkin recipe!  Have you gotten tired of pumpkin yet?  I'm still loving sneaking pumpkin into my recipes, and I might still have a couple more up my sleeve before Thanksgiving.

So here's a great egg-free, oil-free recipe that doesn't involve more than mixing a few things together.  How easy is that?  It's so simple you might as well let the kids whip these together while you catch up on Facebook.

This recipe is another one inspired by my intrepid grad student.  If this whole biomedical engineering thing doesn't work out she's definitely has a future in the snacking business.  She also gave me the cucumber snack cups idea and these cupcakes were the featured item at a recent lab meeting.  I brought two cupcakes home to the kids and they were a hit.  When my vegetable-adverse daughter tried to sneak a bite of my toddler's, he let out a yell heard from across the house.  No one even know that they were eating some nutrient rich pumpkin, which has tons of vitamin A, fiber, vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium, copper and manganese.  Pretty deceptive stuff, but well worth it. 

What's great about these cupcakes is that all you really need is two ingredients- pumpkin puree and chocolate cake mix.  The rest is my additions to make it a little more fancy.  No need to add oil or eggs (an added bonus for parents of kids with egg allergies), the pumpkin puree makes these cupcakes super moist.  With Halloween and Thanksgiving just around the corner the pumpkin part of that is easy enough to find at any grocery store.  As for the cake mix go for a higher quality mix so that you aren't saving money by buying more processed ingredients.  I got an organic mix from Whole Foods, but just check your ingredient list and go for a mix that has less ingredients and doesn't have anything that you can't pronounce. 

Another cautionary note: with the lack of fat in these you will need to use cupcake liners, otherwise you'll definitely have a stick-to-the-pan problem.  Fortunately those little wrappers are lots of fun and are also great carriers for snack mixes, like trail mix and popcorn. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate pumpkin cupcakes
Cook times and number of servings depend on mix

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
unsweetened coconut (optional, but a great visual alternative to frosting)

Combine cake mix with pumpkin puree and cinnamon until mixed.  Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and fill the cups until 2/3 full.  Sprinkle on coconut and cook according to the instructions on your cake mix box for the cupcake version.  Let cool and serve.

So I still have pumpkin pie on the brain. 

I'm guessing that will last until the day after Thanksgiving.  But seeing as pumpkin is so good for you, I figure it's not a bad craving.  Just to re-cap from my last post, here are some of the nutritional benefits from pumpkins:

-280% of your daily vitamin A in one serving (keep in mind this is even higher for kiddos)
-Rich in antioxidants and B complex vitamins 
-Minerals like phosphorous, calcium (both great for growing bones), copper and potassium.

I have made date-nut energy bars in the past, but this time around I wanted to go for something that was bite-sized and easy to coat with crushed high fructose-free graham crackers (for extra yummy potential).  After I processed my ingredients I just rolled 1 inch balls of date mix.  You can also press your mix into a parchment lined baking pan to make squares or bars, but personally I like the bite-sized versions. 

An added bonus to the tiny, easy to handle size is that my uber drooling, cranky, teething toddler has been almost living on these since he is having a hard time eating anything besides ice cubes and frozen yogurt tubes.  So if you've introduced nuts into your toddlers diets, then these are a great, easy to chew, snack for them too.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin pie energy bites
Total time: 5 minutes
Makes: 16 x 1" bites

1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 crushed graham crackers

Place graham crackers into a bag and crush them finely with the end of a rolling pin.

Process dates, pecans, pumpkin and spice in a processor for about a minute until ingredients are well-combined. 

Then roll 1" inch balls,  Drop balls onto a plate with crushed graham crackers and coat evenly.  Let set up in the fridge for a ~ 1 hour.  Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.

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