Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt

One of the prettiest things about fall, are pumpkins. I've been so excited about Halloween already. I know, I know, I am rushing along the season. I had to talk myself out of decorating the house. The ripped up black curtains were almost up! And on top of that, I was picking out pumpkins, for the front steps. I had to step away, the main reason being, the squirrels will have a full sit down dinner, enjoying those pumpkins and lucky me will have to clean up after them. So I stepped away from the pretty pumpkins and at the same time, I don't want to rush this beautiful time of year, but I do want a little taste, so I made this pumpkin pie Greek yogurt. It's almost as good as the real thing. Creamy, spicy and has that pumpkin pie flavor, that only autumn gives. Enjoy!

• 17.6 oz. Greek yogurt
• 5 tablespoons pumpkin fruit butter
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• generous pinch pumpkin pie spice
• 2 ginger snap cookies
• 1 teaspoon raw pumpkin seeds *optional

Combine the yogurt, pumpkin butter, honey, vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Adjust the seasonings, adding more spice, fruit butter or honey, depending on the sweetness and flavor of the pumpkin butter. Crush your ginger snap cookies and combine with the pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle them around the rim of the bowl, mimicking the crust and the best part, if you let it sit a little, it gets as moist as the real thing! Serves 2.

Cold Cantaloupe & Yogurt Soup

What's great about summertime, besides sunny beach days and rainy weekends that are just made for reading good books is the natural loss of appetite that happens! (It's the opposite in winter for me, lol) A nice soup or salad and on a hot day like today, is all I need for dinner, besides maybe an iced coffee to end the meal. (I love them, a little too much.) This soup combines ripe cantaloupe, cucumber and creamy tangy Greek yogurt into a quick, refreshing yet filling treat. Enjoy!

• 1/2 a ripe cantaloupe, scooped out and roughly chopped, include all of the juice!
• 1/4 peeled seedless cucumber, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• fresh course ground pepper
• a pinch of sea salt
• lemon thyme for garnish

Blend the cantaloupe, cucumber, honey, Greek yogurt, ground pepper and sea salt with an immersion blender or regular blender. This makes 4 servings. Garnish each bowl with lemon thyme leaves or pass a small bowl around. A great substitute for the lemon thyme would be chopped mint leaves. Great served ice cold!

Tea Scented Grilled Peaches & Strawberries over Greek Yogurt

I'm so excited, I grilled a tea bag! Not just a tea bag, lol. I added some fruit but I am thinking differently about the humble little bag. It infused the peaches and strawberries with a delicate rose hip flavor as it bubbled away over the flames. I went a little heavy on the mint in the Greek yogurt, so you can add or take away according to how much you like mint. Enjoy and happy grilling with tea bags! :)

• 4 ripe peaches, halved and sliced
• 1 pound strawberries, trimmed and halved
• 2-4 tablespoons honey
• 1 rose hip tea bag, I used Crimson Blossom from Trader Joe's
• splash of vanilla extract
• 17.6 oz. container of Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint plus a few leaves for garnish
• 2 tablespoons blue agave sweetener
• 1 tablespoon uncooked amaranth grain

Layer a few sheets of aluminum foil on top of each other and make a sort of bowl out of it, to hold your fruit in it. Heat up your grill to about 500 degrees. Take your tea bag and moisten it well, this is so it doesn't burn right away. It works almost like soaking wood skewers. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of honey over the peaches, strawberries and the tea bag. Toss well to combine. Place your aluminum bowl over a flat cast iron pan and place on the grill. Peek in on your fruit often, to make sure it doesn't burn and try to keep your tea bag on top of the fruit until the fruit releases its' juices. After about 15 minutes taste the liquid and see if you need to add more honey and add in the splash of vanilla extract at this time. While your fruit is grilling away, combine the yogurt, mint and agave sweetener and set aside. Your fruit will be ready after about half an hour. You will see it bubbling away with all of its' juices and then it will reduce. The fruit will begin to stick to the foil, once that happens, your fruit is ready. Once your fruit has cooled down a bit, remove the tea bag. Heat up your non-stick pan till it is hot on high heat and throw in your amaranth grain and gently shake the pan over the heat until they begin to pop. This serves about 3. Divide the yogurt, fruit among your bowls and top with the popped amaranth grain and mint leaves.

I was so obsessed with the amaranth popping! I originally wanted to just toast it to give the yogurt a little bit of a crunch. But as I shaked and shaked the pan over the flame, to my surprise it started popping. "How fun!" I thought! The batch below is a burnt one, but I couldn't help thinking how pretty and delicate it looks. After some trial and error, I learned that you have to heat up the pan nice and hot before you throw in the amaranth grains.

Chickpea Patties with Red Pepper Yogurt Sauce

I love brown rice farina! And thought how delicious would it be as a pattie? So I combined it with chickpeas and it became a really tasty little meatless pattie. They look just like chicken nuggets and if you have kids, I think they will really like them, especially if you make the red pepper "fancy" sauce to go with them. This would be great for lunch or if you are in the mood to try something new. Enjoy!

• 1 can 15.5 oz. chickpeas, rinsed and the outer skin of chickpea removed.
• 1/2 cup brown rice farina, (Bob's Red Mill makes it or if you go to a health food store they may carry it loose)
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• paprika
• celery seed
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Vegeta, or any all-purpose seasoning you like
• 1 red pepper, roasted, cooled and peeled
• 1 cup yogurt
• 5 capers, rinsed
• fresh ground pepper
• raw walnut halves
• cucumber slices
• kalamata olives
• canola oil

Cook the brown rice farina according to the package and set it aside so it cools a little. Mash your chickpeas, removing the outer skin sounds time consuming but it's not that bad, kind of meditative, lol. Add your brown rice cereal, panko bread crumbs, Vegeta, paprika, celery seed, and nutmeg to taste. I used a lot of paprika and a sprinkling of celery seed and a grating of fresh nutmeg. Add in your egg and combine well. With a hand blender, combine the yogurt, roasted red pepper, capers and fresh pepper and set aside. In a skillet, heat up your canola oil. Make sure the oil is hot before you drop in your chickpea mixture. Keep the oil at medium heat and drop in your chickpea mixture, a teaspoon at a time. They brown quickly, once brown, flip and brown the other side. Drain on paper towels. This recipe makes about 16 patties and best served hot. Arrange your little platter adding in the cucumber slices, walnuts and olives. They are great if you pile your little patties with the yogurt sauce and then top with walnuts and olives. 

Greek Yogurt with Blackberry Sauce

Greek yogurt is a great substitute for ice cream. I know, it's a bit of a stretch, especially because my favorite part of a perfectly swirled soft serve ice cream cone are the rainbow sprinkles. It's just not the same on Greek yogurt, trust me, I've tried. lol But when topped with a blackberry sauce and pistachio nuts, it really does becomes a sweet treat!

• (2) 7oz. containers of Greek yogurt
• 6oz. of blackberries
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
• 2 pinches cinnamon
• a little freshly grated nutmeg
• juice of half a lemon
• a few mint leaves
• 2 teaspoons pistachios, chopped 

In a saucepan, combine the blackberries, water, agave syrup, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and bring to a boil. Add in the lemon juice and a mint leaf chopped. Keep at a simmer on medium heat, uncovered until it reduces into a sauce, about 30-45 minutes. Keep an eye on it, because it can burn easily. This makes 2 servings. In each bowl, place a heaping teaspoon of the hot blackberry sauce (it's a nice little surprise on the bottom), top with the Greek yogurt, smooth the surface and make a small well and add another heaping teaspoon of blackberry sauce. Garnish with the pistachio nuts, a few mint leaves and enjoy!



So yummy, the sprinkles won't even be missed ;)