Pumpkin hummus

It only takes five minutes to make this healthy pumpkin hummus: enjoy it as a dip for fresh veggies and crackers or spread it on sandwiches for added fall flavor. 

Ah, what's a food blogger to do as October comes to end? No more pumpkin! We've probably given you more than your fill of pumpkin-themed muffins, cupcakes, lattes, smoothies, pies, cookies, donuts, whoopie pies, breads, waffles and sauces.

But I had to slip in just one more pumpkin recipe before Halloween.

One thing you'll notice about my pumpkin recipe list is that pretty much all the options are sweet. And I do not have that big a sweet tooth -- more of a savory tooth, to be honest. Which is why I love this pumpkin hummus. A bit hard to describe, it's not quite savory and not quite sweet. It's got a je ne c'est quoi that makes it a favorite for both kids and adults -- and, let's face it, how often does that ever happen with something that's not a baked good or smothered in chocolate?

Quick weeknight falafel

Quick weeknight falafel -- a super-easy, protein-packed meatless meal recipe.

It's unusual to see a meatless recipe like falafel being touted by someone who regularly refers to herself as The Meatasaurus. I grew up in a household in which we did not eat unusually or adventurously; meat, potato and one veg at 6pm every night, that was us.

But you have probably noticed that, with a nod to both good health and fearless cooking, I have been trying to add more meatless dinners to my weekly menu. And not just more pasta, which has always been my meatless crutch.

However, any meatless or vegetarian choices must still meet The Ninj's stringent dinnertime recipe criteria: easy to make and free of unpronounceable, difficult-to-procure ingredients. These falafel patties check both those boxes (seriously -- they only take about 15 minutes from start to finish!) and, with an entire can of chick peas in the ingredient list, are a great source of protein. Plus, adding extra veggies like carrots, peas or even some finely chopped spinach to the falafel, together with a quick pan saute in place of the more traditional deep frying, makes them light and wholesome without sacrificing any of the classic Mediterranean flavor.

Rice noodle bowl with sausage and greens

Easy rice noodle bowl with sausage and greens -- a quick and hearty weeknight meal plus leftovers for your lunch bag.

WE MADE IT!

Tomorrow is the last day of Detox January: how did you do?  I lost my annual five pounds and am feeling much fitter. And I'm happy to be back to eating better, too (my butter consumption is a fraction of what it was over the holidays).

Lest you think that on Saturday we will start celebrating Retox February, I'm sharing this easy, hearty rice noodle bowl so you can keep your Detox January healthy habits going.

(Well, except the no drinking part. Cocktail hour will be reinstated on February 1. I'm no saint, people.)

Part soup, part pasta dish, this rice noodle bowl is just the ticket for winter dinners. And, given how easy it is to prepare, it's a perfect weeknight dish that will leave you with leftovers for your lunch bag, too.

Two meals in one? Score.

Spanish tomato soup with smoked paprika potatoes

A unique Spanish tomato soup with olives, topped with smoked paprika roasted potatoes.

Are you familiar with smoked paprika? If you aren't, you need to be.

I'll admit, I'm not that sensitive to the nuances of different styles of spices. If a recipe calls for some weird-ass version of a basic spice, I usually just use the basic spice, rather than going to four different stores or having to mail-order it.

Remember my number one favorite-recipe criterion: must be easy to prepare. Mail-order spices don't make the cut.

Smoked paprika, however, is the exception.

I'm not sure what recipe originally turned me on to smoked paprika but, once I tried it, I was hooked. Yes, it's paprika, but it also has a not-so-subtle smoky flavor that you can really taste. And it's readily available in most grocery stores. Booyah.

This tomato soup recipe caught my eye because of the smoked paprika. And because it has olives in it (I know, right?). And because it is topped with roasted potatoes. Too crazy!

Verdict? It's fantastic! This is no ordinary tomato soup.  The flavors are smoky and spicy and the briny tang of the olives is the perfect complement. Plus, the roasted potatoes turn it into a meal rather than simply a soup.

DIY almond milk and a bonus fruit smoothie recipe

Learn to make your own almond milk (it's easy!) -- plus how to use it in a delicious fruit smoothie.

I've always been a little freaked out by nut milk when I see it in the store. Is it nuts or is it milk? And since there's no milk in nuts, what the hell is it?

Plus nut mlk always seemed a little too non-mainstream for me. You know, like it's something only vegans or latte-ordering hipsters would drink. Right up there with soy milk.

But I'm happy to report I stand corrected. Nut milk rocks. Specifically, almond milk rocks. And is wicked easy to make, which you know is criterion number one for The Ninj's favorite recipes.

Other than planning ahead the night before, making a homemade quart of nut milk takes about three minutes. Not kidding. It's simple: soak the nuts, pulverize the crap out of them, mixed with water and a little natural sweetener, strain the whole thing and -- VOILA! -- nut milk.

Lightened baked potato soup

Enjoy this easy recipe for lightened loaded baked potato soup, made with rich greek yogurt, for dinner tonight.

Remember the steakhouse dinner of the 1970s? Or the 1980s? Oh hell, it's probably still this way at the Ponderosa -- I have no idea. A big slab of beef, accompanied by unlimited trips to the salad bar (I somehow always managed to smack my forehead on the sneezeguard) and a "loaded baked potato", usually showing up on the plate still inside its little foil jacket, split, steaming and heaped with melting butter, sour cream, less-than-fresh chives and, if you were lucky, a big old handful of shredded cheese.

And then remember the 1990s, when the "loaded baked potato" became a meal unto itself? And purported to be a healthy meal because you jammed it full of a bunch of steamed broccoli, which  then became a joke because you "drizzled" it with a boatload of melted Velveeta.

So, remember all that? Good. Because this baked potato soup has nothing to do with those kinds of baked potatoes.

This baked potato soup retains all the warm, creamy, heartiness of baked potatoes but leaves out the unwanted fat and calories that you often find in baked potato soup when it is made with cream.

(Come on, it's still Detox January -- you know I'm not cooking with cream.)

Peanut butter and banana snack cake

Super-easy peanut butter and banana snack cake is perfect for snacking or a quick breakfast.

We're into Week 2 of Detox January 2014 and I'm giving you a recipe for peanut butter and banana snack cake.

Only with The Ninj do the words "cake" and "detox" manage to go well together.

(See? I told you this would be easy!)

Since I'm still on my post-oral-surgery soft food kick, I've been trying to come up with ever-more inventive ways with bananas, as they are filling and a good source of protein. I've been making a version of this snack cake (peanut butter only) for a few years now and realized that, if I took small bites and mixed in some mashed banana, it would definitely be post-surgery worthy -- especially since I have graduated from drinking my meals to chewing them again.

The banana was the perfect addition, lending a bit more moistness and really highlighting the creamy peanut butter flavor. It's a new breakfast favorite around Casa de Ninj.

This cake is also very kid-friendly and would be a nice lunchbox or after-school treat.  And, as with all my favorite recipes, feel free to personalize it; for example, throw in a handful of chopped nuts, if you want to add a little crunchiness, or add a sprinkling of crushed peanuts to the top before baking.

Sweet potato mac and cheese

Mac and cheese gets healthier and lighter in this creamy sweet potato mac and cheese recipe.

I freakin' love sweet potatoes.

Come on -- you've got to love a vegetable that is so naturally sweet that it tastes more like a fruit and, with a little dab of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup, practically becomes candy.

Now, take that sweetness and pair it with rich, comforting mac and cheese? Awesome. And then tell me that it's actually a healthier mac and cheese, not loaded with cheese?

Wicked awesome. It's a Detox January Miracle!

Perhaps even better -- well, at least for The Ninj in January 2014 -- this sweet potato mac and cheese is nice and soft. (You might remember I mentioned last week that I started the new year with some oral surgery -- not fun, trust me -- which necessitates eating a lot of soft foods.)

Now if you've ever have any kind of oral surgery, you know that when the dentist tells you to eat soft foods, the list includes things like ice cream. Jello and milkshakes.

Yeah, now that's a nice healthy diet for a week. Jeesh.

I survived the first post-op days by drinking my favorite green smoothie, which also made me feel pretty darned superior as it was healthy and loaded with veggies to boot.

(Go Ninj!)

But a Ninj cannot live on smoothies alone. I needed some real food.

Detox January 2014: dairy-free green smoothie

Dairy-free green fruit smoothie recipe that gives 3 to 4 servings of fruits and veggies in one glass -- and tastes great!

It's here! It's here!

Welcome to Detox January.

For new readers, let me explain so you stop freaking out. This is The Ninj's version of "detox", so you know it's not some scary-ass juice cleanse or eat-only-two-crackers-per-day diet plan.

(Please: I like to eat way too much for that crap.)

Mr. Ninj and I do Detox January every year as a way of starting the new year off right, after all the excesses of the ho-ho-holidays. And, frankly, because I'd rather eat a muffin top than have one around my waist.

Detox January is not some overly ambitious resolution that you know you won't be able to keep (new gym membership, anyone?) Instead, it's more of a short-term, mini resolution that you know you can achieve.

The rules are simple. For the entire month of January,

• Abstain from all alcohol (but if a recipe calls for a little bit, that's OK) -- we'll be drinking things like virgin marys and Cuban Buls rather than gimlets for cocktail hour
• Eat a bit healthier every day (I don't expect you to get crazy here -- we just try to eat more veggies than cookies and keep our recipes more Cooking Light than Julia Child) 
• Exercise more than you did in December 

And that's it. Simple, right?

You can do this -- and you'll be impressed at how quickly you will drop the holiday poundage and how much more inspired you'll be to eat better in 2014.

This year, I'm starting you off in Detox January with a nice healthy smoothie -- mainly because I personally am starting Detox January with oral surgery that will require me to drink my meals for a couple of days. (Yeah, lucky me.)

But I don't mind because I've got this awesome green smoothie -- even though it's dairy-free and made up entirely of fruits and veggies, you won't believe how YUMMY it is. (Remember: ninjas do not lie.) Not to mention that you can get three to four servings of fruits and veggies just by drinking one of these bad boys for breakfast! And I can guarantee that it will appeal to even a fussy eater: Mr. Ninj hates pretty much all green vegetables yet he loves this smoothie.

Why? Because you barely taste the spinach! Seriously. All you taste is the fruit.

Butternut mac and cheese

Did you see Monday's post for pasta with butternut squash, broccoli, cranberry beans and bacon? It was a guest post from Sandra over at Kitchen Apparel. We did a blog swap: her post and recipe appeared on my site and mine on hers.

My post was for the butternut mac and cheese you see above: go check it out!

10/7/15 UPDATE: Kitchen Apparel is no longer an active site but you can find my butternut mac and cheese recipe right here instead -- http://www.yankeekitchenninja.com/2015/10/butternut-mac-cheese.html

Crockpot apple pie oatmeal

Crockpot apple pie oatmeal -- cook a delicious, hearty, no-sugar breakfast while you sleep. 

Yes, it's true: oatmeal that tastes like baked apple pie, made effortlessly in a crockpot while you sleep.

Peeps: I may have come up with the world's most perfect breakfast.

Regular readers know that I am continually on the hunt for quick-and-easy yet healthy-and-delicious breakfast ideas. Coming up with new ones gets more and more challenging, yet who likes to eat the same thing over and over?

Not The Ninj, that's fo sho.

I've made overnight oatmeal in the crockpot before, which is extra easy (with no risk of a scorchy mess) when you use the water-bath method. It's simple: Put all your ingredients into a heat-safe bowl (I find that a one-quart Pyrex measuring cup is the perfect size) and put the bowl inside a large (6-quart) crockpot. Fill the crock with water to just above the ingredient line in your bowl, being careful not to fill too high; you don't want cooking water flowing into your oatmeal! Cover it and cook on low while you sleep and -- VOILA! -- breakfast is ready when you awake.

It's also the best way, in my opinion, to eat steel-cut oats, which can be a little too tough and chewy if not cooked for a really, really long time. 

So while crockpot oatmeal is awesome anytime of the year, this particular recipe is really customized for fall with the inclusion of chopped apple, apple pie spices and apple butter (or, since I made a ton of it last week, bourbon apple pumpkin butter) -- and, of course, sweetened with maple syrup. If you want it to be more pumpkiny, simply substitute pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice: yummy, pumpkiny breakfast nirvana.

Vermont potato chowder

 
Earlier in the week, I posted my review of Tracey Medeiros' new book, The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Home-Grown Recipes from the Green Mountain State. (Spoiler: I loved it.)

As I noted in my review, while the book includes the expected recipes from chefs at Vermont's most celebrated restaurants, it also offers favorite family recipes shared by the farmers who provide many of the key ingredients to those same food professionals.

(And Oliver Parini's accompanying photographs are a feast for the eyes.)

As part of the review process, I have been cooking my way through the The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook, based on seasonality, and I've come across some new favorite recipes.

Case in point: the Ski Vermont Farmhouse Potato Chowder.

According to the accompanying story, the recipe was created by chef Gerry Nooney of Timbers Restaurant at Sugarbush Resort, as a way of helping Vermont farmers sell more potatoes. (Again, I love the connection between the food professionals and producers that the book highlights.)

Lightened clam chowder

Lightened clam chowder

I doubt you thought you would ever see a recipe for clam chowder show up here during Detox January, did you?

Clam chowder: practically synonymous with creamy, buttery, this-can't-be-good-for-me-so-I-only-eat-it-on-vacation decadence.

But this is a lighter version of clam chowder, which means it's Detox January-safe -- heck, it's safe to eat whenever you like.

I thought about calling it "Skinny Clam Chowder" until I read on Twitter that appending the "skinny" moniker is "so over" this year, and, well, god forbid I look "so over." (Although don't tell that to the blogger at skinnytaste.com, which is where I got the inspiration for this soup; she might just have to change her blog name so she's not "so over.")

Besides being light, this recipe is also pretty fast and easy (you know that's my favorite combo), so it doesn't have to be relegated to a weekend meal. Go ahead, throw it into the weeknight rotation. Winter is a great time for body- and soul-warming soups like this.

Red pepper pumpkin soup

Enjoy this easy recipe for red pepper pumpkin soup -- for lunch or dinner, it's a creamy sipping soup that will warm your body and spirit.

Red pepper pumpkin soup

Before you say, "Two soup recipes in a row?", let me point out that, here in Vermont, it is 21 degrees and has already snowed -- before election day.

So yes, soup again.

But I'm giving you a lovely, seasonal soup that is so delicious and easy it would be appropriate to serve at the Thanksgiving table, if you serve a soup course.

So you really can't complain.

(And if you do, well ... no soup for you.)

I love red pepper soup. I have a go-to red pepper soup recipe that I make quite a bit, so I almost didn't try this recipe. I worried that the addition of pumpkin and sweet potato might disqualify it as a sipping soup, which is what my red pepper soup is: a soup that is comforting as well as nourishing, a soup that you drink from a coffee mug in front of the fireplace rather than from a bowl at the kitchen table.

But, being all ninja-like, I threw caution to the wind and tried it.

I think you'll be glad I did.

Creamy avocado pasta salad: a recipe

Creamy avocado pasta salad

Avocado and pasta? Really?

Oh, just stop it. Yes, really.

You like it in salads, right? And on burgers and sandwiches? And guacamole?

So I say, why not as a cold pasta salad?

Why not indeed.

This recipe couldn't be easier. (Really, it couldn't.) I made it for dinner but I'm sure I'll be whipping it up a lot as a quick lunch as the weather gets warmer.

Additionally, this is the perfect application for your mini food processor, as it's a small amount of ingredients that go a long way. One avocado yielded enough "sauce" for a 13.5-ounce box of whole wheat elbows. If you like your sauces very creamy, drop that down to about 10 ounces instead.

You seriously have no excuse not to try this.

Detox January, Week 3: "Chef Boyardee" Broccoli Pasta

Broccoli pasta (it's like pesto!)

I realized that I've given you little other than dessert recipes during Detox January ("Let them eat cake!"), so I think that needs to end today.

But it doesn't end in a bad way, I promise. It ends with a lovely, easy pasta dish that I guarantee will become part of your weeknight repertoire, based on the easiness-to-awesomeness ratio.

Loyal reader Cristina turned me on to this one last year after hearing the story on NPR. Turns out "Chef Boyardee" was a real person: one Ettore "Hector" Boiardi (apparently there needed to be a phonetic dumbing-down of his Italian last name so that waspy America could pronounce it ... sigh).

Boiardi was an accomplished chef and had a successful restaurant in Cleveland when he decided, in true entrepreneurial fashion, to bottle and sell his popular sauce -- which eventually led him into a food manufacturing and importing business.

His whole family, apparently, were and are no slouches in the kitchen, his chef-niece Anna Boiardi included. Last year, she published a cookbook-cum-memoir, Delicious Memories: Recipes and Stories from the Chef Boyardee Family, which includes some of her family's best-loved recipes -- including this broccoli-centric one from her mother.