Say it with Sprinkles: A baking blog filled with recipes & photos of sweet treats & savory eats.

Pumpkin, Please!

Can we talk for a minute about pumpkin?  Everyone’s talking about it this time of year, right?!  But, I don’t mean in the pumpkin spice latte-crazed (although those are yummy!), fall-obsessed, pumpkin “flavored” everything kind of way – I mean in the context of REAL pumpkin and it’s low calorie, high nutrient density profile!  Pumpkin has a lot to offer, and obviously it’s tasty, so it’s understandable why everyone wants a piece of it ( I swear, no pie puns intended! 😉 this time of year.

Beta-Carotene

Pumpkins have beta-carotene to thank for their characteristic, bright orange hue.  Beta-carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the body, which then plays a major functional role in keeping our vision crisp and clear, our immune system fortified, and the repair and health of all the body’s cells  healthy (meaning it’s super important for keeping our skin pretty, too!).

Protein & Fiber

Fiber you may have guessed since most plants contain lots of it, but yes, pumpkins contain protein, too!  Good for digestion, good for pumping up those muscles.

Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, & Potassium

Calcium helps keep your bones and teeth healthy, strong, and fracture free.  Iron promotes the building of blood cells that keep oxygen flowing to your cells for energy and optimal functioning.  Muscle and nerve function, as well as over 300 other biochemical reactions in the human body are dependent upon magnesium.  Energy metabolism, bone strength, and bolstering the immune system are just a few others that rely on this mineral.  Potassium isn’t just a banana thing!  Potassium is also found in pumpkins, and keeps the heart healthy, and is especially important in the diet of athletes and active people since it’s lost through perspiration (sweating!).

Vitamin C & E

It hasn’t been proven, but Vitamin C is suspected to be useful in helping to pull through illness more quickly; it’s also essential for wound healing and collagen synthesis.  Vitamin E is also important to help protect the skin from UV damage and free radicals.  Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest it may help prevent prostate and bladder cancer and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

How to Use Pumpkin:

Fresh pumpkin is perfect cubed and thrown into stir fries, casseroles, or soups.  My favorite super simple, tasty way to enjoy it is to cube it, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your seasoning of choice, then roast it on a sheet pan in the oven!

Stir pumpkin puree it in to oatmeal with a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a splash of cold milk, mix it into quick bread and pancake batters, soups, obviously put it in a pie crust, or blend it up into this pumpkin pie-esque smoothie!  Any way you can add the real stuff (not the flavored syrup!) into your meals, you know you’re doing yourself a favor.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie {Gluten-free, Vegan}

(The awesome thing about smoothies is, you really can’t make a mistake!  Here, you have the option to add in any kind of milk you like, protein powder for a boost (or not, if you’re not feeling it!), and chia seeds, or ground flax for extra nutrition.  I love my smoothies not too sweet, but if you want more sweetness, just up the amount of maple syrup you add a little, or throw in another half banana.  Not exactlyyyyy like pumpkin pie, but you’ll get your fill of the real thing this season, so enjoy the lightened up flavor of pumpkin with this smoothie for awhile!)

Ingredients:

* 1 large banana, frozen

* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

* 1/4-1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond)

* 1 Tbsp chia seeds

* 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

* 1-2 Tbsp vanilla rice protein powder (optional)

* 1-2 Tbsp almond butter

* 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg)

* 3-4 cubes of ice (maybe a few more if your banana wasn’t frozen)

Directions:

Throw everything but the ice in a blender and blend on high until smooth.  Add in ice cubes one at a time until blended – unless you have a fancy Vitamix blender (I’m jealous, if you do!), and then you can probably just throw everything in at once and blend, blend, blend!

LooooooooooooooooVvveee!

I’m not one of those people who are heavily into the semantics of muffins vs. cupcakes and the like.  I mean, I’ve heard some swear you can’t have a muffin with a cupcake paper, and others that you can’t have a cupcake without.  Sure, cupcakes are well, to state the very overly obvious, CAKE…clearly not to be eaten for breakfast…right?

But then what about the chocolatey, cakey-sweet, sugar crumb topping-smattered “cupcakes” parading around under the guise of the muffin moniker?  I know better.  We ALL know better.  So can we please just call the portable, little cupcake/muffins whatever we dang well want once we pop them out of those cupcake/muffin tins, wrappered, frosted, dessert or breakfast bound?  I’m sure there are other specifics involved, like texture, crackly vs. smooth top, etc., but when it comes down to it, I’ll call it a cupcake if I plan to frost it.  I’ll call it a muffin if I plan to eat it for breakfast, especially if it has “mocha” in its description – that’s definitely breakfast.  Maybe I’d skip the frosting in that case, and then call it a cupcake when I pile on the lightly banana-y buttercream frosting.

Life is so much more versatile when you let a muffin be a cupcake every now and then or bake a cupcake without the paper, right!

Mocha Banana Bread Cupcake Recipe

More chocolatey than coffee flavored, these little gems are more muffin-like in the way the tops puff and crack slightly, but more cupcake-esque in texture.  I highly recommend frosting, but you absolutely don’t HAVE to.  But you should!

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup non-dairy margarine

1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium-sized)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp instant coffee granules

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Grease or line wells of a standard size muffin tin.

Cream together the margarine and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.   Add in the vanilla extract and the eggs, beating between additions.  Beat in the bananas until mixed well.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, mixing between additions.  Add in the coffee granules and mix until incorporated.

Scoop batter into muffin tins until almost full.  Bake about 15-18 minutes depending on your oven, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool before frosting.  While cooling, make the frosting.

Hint-of-Banana Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

2 sticks non-dairy margarine (1 cup)

1 yellow banana, pureed

5 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixture until smooth and fluffy.

Add in the pureed banana and vanilla and beat again until smooth.  Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired thickness.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

I’m not trying to steal any mocha banana bread cupcake thunder here, but keep an eye out for what might very well be the most amazing carrot cake recipe ever.  It’s also vegan.  And gluten free.  No biggie.  It’s coming up soon!

Enjoy your weekend!  I have some Santa Monica beach time to look forward to! <3

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet in the interest of the long, gorgeous, holiday weekend!  Things started off a little cloudy yesterday, but cleared right up today!  On to the food…

I wish I could say this pizza was entirely made from scratch, but alas it was assembled with the help of Bob’s Red Mill pizza dough mix – Shhhhh!! 😀

If it wasn’t so dang delicious, I’d be sorta ashamed. Or not. Sometimes you just need a quick, yummy, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE pizza on a Friday night!

This one’s really simple, and dare I say, the BEST pizza I’ve made, hands down, with the help of Bob since I started using this dough mix! Self-proclaimed kale fanatic that I am, obviously I threw it on a pizza, tossed on some artichoke, a generous helping of black olives (LOVE!), and of course, the best thing to happen to dairy-free cheese since…since nothing! Daiya is just waves beyond the competition, nothing even comes close.

Artichoke, Kale, & Black Olive Pizza

(Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian)

Ingredients:

* Bob’s Red Mill packaged pizza dough mix, divided in half
* 1 egg
* 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
* 1/2 package included yeast
* 1 package Daiya mozzarella cheese
* 1 clove garlic, diced
* 3-4 medium-sized kale leaves
* 1/2 large can artichoke hearts, quartered
* I small can sliced black olives

Directions:

Follow the directions on the Bob’s Red Mill pizza crust mix to make the dough. Spread dough out on oiled cookie sheet or a cornmeal-sprinkled pizza stone. Poke small holes all over the dough with a fork.

Pre-bake crust according to the package directions. Spread olive oil over the crust in an even layer and sprinkle with diced garlic.

Sprinkle on as much cheese as you’d like (I like to put some down, add the rest of the toppings and then sprinkle on a bit more cheese to hold it all down). Layer on the kale, artichokes, and then black olives. Top with more cheese, if desired.

Bake 20-30 minutes, depending on how browned you like the top of your pizza. Slice and enjoyyyyy!

I kid you not, I made this pizza, had it for dinner, and then both lunch AND dinner the following day. It’s THAT good!

Om nom nom nom…

Happy Holiday Weekending, all you Memorial Day-ers!