Kasha: The Russian Grain Stir Fry

I got a cooking lesson from my friend, Vlad, this weekend.  He showed me a really easy recipe concept in Russian cooking.  They call it Kasha, and in this case (but not always) it featured buckwheat.  "Kasha" is what they call any quick grain meal.  He soaks the buckwheat (or whatever grain) and briefly cooks it.  Interestingly, if you just soak buckwheat for a few hours (1 cup buckwheat, 2 cups water--not that I actually measured) you don't actually have to cook it more than just bringing it to a boil and turning it off right away while you get everything else ready.  He mixed it with sauted onion, mushroom, and shredded carrot.  Then he tossed in cilantro before serving.  I made it the same way, except I first fried bacon (local), took it out and broke it into the buckwheat, and then cooked the veggies in the bacon grease.  I didn't have mushrooms, so I substituted spinach and black beans (randomly).  I was excited that this recipe gave me an opportunity to use the cilantro I have growing in a pot indoors.  Anyway, it was really easy and quite tasty.  I'm definitely making this again!

Baked Oatmeal: Old-School

I decided I'd try reheating yesterday's oatmeal the old-fashioned way and made baked oatmeal last weekend.  I feel overly microwave dependent, and thought I'd see how it worked if I put it in the oven.  I put the leftover oatmeal from the fridge (which was actually a blend of steel-cut oats, millet, quinoa, and amaranth cooked on the stove until thick and soft) into a shallow baking dish.  I added milk, honey, frozen blueberries, walnuts, flaxmeal, and sprinkled cinnamin over the top.  Then I baked it in the oven until it was bubbling--less than 45 minutes.  It would take longer in a deeper dish.  It tasted very much the same as stovetop, but gave me the satisfaction of not doing it the modern "lazy" way and warmed the kitchen nicely.

Pumpkin Muffins Revisited

I have a bunch of squash I need to use that I bought at the farmer's market.  Here they are, aren't they gorgeous?

I actually started with sunshine squashes, a pumpkin relative.

I thought I'd revisit an old recipe I tried last winter for pumpkin muffins.  Here's the link if anyone's interested in trying it:  pumpkin muffin recipe

I hack the squash in half, then roast both halves side by side in a roasting pan.

The batter, with the raisins this time.

My helpers really surprised me at how capable they were.  Apparently I've been underestimating them!

The helper, one of two.  This guy did almost ALL of the stirring, my least favorite part; greased the cups; and filled the cups.  It was so much better actually letting go of the process and letting him really help me.

The finished product: they were really good with the raisins!

Pumpkin Breakfast Muffins

So I had leftover frozen pumpkin to use up from my freezer.  And I wanted to make a healthy breakfast muffin out of it.  I couldn't really find one I thought fit the bill.  The closest I found was actually a cupcake recipe on Wellsphere:  Original pumpkin cupcake/muffin recipe

What I made was actually . . .   (approximately . . . )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 24 muffin tins and a little loaf pan.

2 cups pumpkin

4 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 large mashed bananas
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix above ingredients first.  Then add:

3 cups ground whole grains (you could use whatever flour you want, I imagine)
1/2 cup flaxmeal (approx.)
4 teaspoons baking powder
about 4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir, then add 1 cup chopped walnuts.  Spoon batter into cups and put leftover in mini-loaf pan.  Muffins take about 25 min. to bake, and the loaf may take a little longer.  Test with knife or toothpick.
I think if I make them again I will add raisins or dates.  I would also consider experimenting with a little applesauce.  If anyone does anything different with these or has a similar recipe, please post under comments!  My measurements are mostly approximations, I should add as a disclaimer.