3 Scoops of Sugar

You are here: Home / Archives for Megan

Megan

Pumpkin Linguine with Kale & Walnuts

by

OMG! PUMPKIN LINGUINE WITH KALE & WALNUTS! Pumpkin pasta, where have you been all my life? Eating this pumpkin linguine make me think I am in some fancy lil restaurant enjoying a bowl of crazy good pasta but much to my surprise I am sitting at our dinner table with the hubs. šŸ™‚ All the better!! Simply because that is my goal–to bring simple, healthy, and delicious homemade meals into your home.

pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts

For the longest time, cooking pasta has been a little intimidating for me. Basically, there is one main reason: 1) How do I get not only perfect tasting but also looking noodles? I have had noodles that are mushy, ones that stick together like white on rice, and once in awhile noodles that turn out okay. But I want better noodles than that! I want restaurant quality noodles that swirl around on my fork just perfectly with a taste that makes me go “WOW!” AND THAT IS WHAT I AM GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY!!

The credit for this pasta making process goes to Bon Appetit.Ā I grabbed my latest issue the other day and immediately noticed on the cover there it was, “How to make perfect pasta.” Yes! I thought, finally! I need to read more into this because I simply love pasta, especially in the fall and winter months when I am loving some warm, comfort food. It isn’t even about the pasta itself that I like. I have this picture in my mind that on a cold, Fall evening it would be so cozy to grab a bowl of yummy pasta and sit in front of the fire cuddling up with my hubs and kiddos. I mean, honestly how fun does that sound?!! I think it sounds awesome!!

pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts

Pasta MakingĀ Secrets

1. Use a dutch oven. A large pot like this will prevent your pasta from falling out the sides and making a mess meaning less cleanup for you!
2. Create your flavors. Start with heating olive oil in the Dutch oven. Use enough oil to cover the bottom and heat over medium-low heat. Add aromatics like garlic or shallots to add flavor to your pasta. Next, begin adding mushrooms, onions, or additional veggies until they are tender. In this recipe I started with garlic and added onions.
3. Get the pasta going. In a pot of salted water, cook the noodles until they are several minutes shy of al dente. I cooked linguine in a pot of water for 5 minutes. Then transfer noodles with pasta fork to the Dutch oven. Add a cup of pasta water as well. The noodles should be swimming in the liquid and the liquid should be bubbling.
4. Toss, toss, and toss again. Toss the pasta again and again as the pasta finishes cooking. Add a little more pasta water if needed. Toss some more and then slowly stir in some grated cheese like Parmesan until it melts completely.
5. Finish it up. Continue tossing pasta until each strand is coated and no bits of grated cheese remain. Remove from heat and if desired add cheese on top.

pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts

The steps above are a great tool to cooking any pasta because it takes the pressure off the recipe and emphasizes the pasta cooking process. It is easy to change things up using these steps and have an entirely different meal with just a few change of ingredients! Love these pasta cooking tricks!!

Now it is time to enjoy some delicious pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts!!

pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts

Pumpkin Linguine with Kale & Walnuts

Pumpkin Linguine with Kale & Walnuts

3 Scoops of Sugar
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 8 oz linguine
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup yellow onion chopped
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup pasta water
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese + more for garnishing if desired
  • 1 cup loosely packed kale
  • 2 tablespoons half and half
  • crushed walnuts

Instructions
 

  • Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in Dutch oven. Olive oil should cover the entire bottom. Add garlic and onions and saute for 2-3 minutes or long enough for onions to soften. Add pumpkin puree, nutmeg, and chicken broth. Stir to combine.
  • In the meantime, in a pot of salted water, cook linguine until several minutes prior to al dente. I cooked the linguine in the pot for 5 minutes. Then transfer linguine with pasta fork to Dutch oven. Add 1 cup pasta water with noodles. Noodles should be swimming in the liquid and liquid should be bubbling.
  • Toss the pasta continuously for a few minutes. Add more pasta water if needed. Toss again and then add Parmesan cheese slowly and toss linguine until cheese has melted completely and coats pasta evenly.
  • Add kale and half and half and stir until kale has just wilted. Remove from heat.
  • Serve topped with walnuts and grated Parmesan if desired.
  • Enjoy!

 

 

pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts

Granny Smith Apple Crisp

by

Granny Smith Apple Crisp is the ultimate fall dessert! Hello Fall! We are going to be good buddies this year!!

granny smith apple crispy

There is nothing like warm apple crisp topped with cool vanilla bean ice cream. IĀ am super excited about this post!! My reasons are twofold!! šŸ˜‰ 1. This apple crisp tastes amazing! It has all the right ingredients packed into one 8×8 square baking pan. 2. It is baked with the apple skins so it isĀ packed with extra nutrients. The trick is the skins have been finely choppedĀ in a food processor so there is no annoying texture. Just amazing apple crisp!! It’s a love-love relationship right now with this apple crisp. And you may be wondering what is up with all of the love talk in my food blog posts???Well why the heck would you want to read about some supposed awesome apple crisp that a girl thinks is just okay!? I SURE WOULDN’T!!
I want to read food blog posts from someone that is passionate about their food and ingredients and what goes into it to taste great but is still healthy for you!! That is what I want to read about…just sayin.

granny smith apple crispy

granny smith apple crispy

Oh, another point: Who ever came up with the line regarding desserts that the first one is the best and it goes down hill from there as a way for you to limit the number of bites to just a couple…well that saying does not apply to this granny smith apple crisp! Not lying either peeps! This apple crisp gets better with every bite. Especially when it is warm out of the oven with a scoop or two of ice cream on top. It isĀ so awesome that we used the apple skins in this recipe because that is where the nutrients are!

granny-smith-apple-crisp2

And if you are seeing these pictures in the evening and wondering whether it is worth going to the trouble of making this apple crisp? It definitely is! Totally would not lie about this! Why? Because I made this recipe starting at 8:00pm while my kiddos were watching Strange Magic (their current favorite movie for the week) and I was in the kitchen slicing and peeling apples. There were a lot ofĀ interruptions including getting chocolate milk and/or apple juice for my kids! I finally got this crisp into the oven at 9:00pm! My apple crisp was perfectly done after 50 minutes and I let it cool for 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, I cuddled with my babies and got them into bed. I totally love their ages right now. They have such fun and full-of-life personalities and we have so much fun doing mindless things like playing monster, hide-and-seek, and building castles. It is difficult at times to find time to blog, but I just find the time because I love every bit of it!!

granny-smith-lr2

So the hubs and I sat down at 10:30pm after I snapped some awesome shots of the apple crisp of course! We shared a dish of this perfect granny smith apple crisp with some vanilla ice cream and we were so amazed!! Love this apple crisp! šŸ™‚

I just discovered my favorite fall dessert today and I am loving every bit of it!!! This recipe was adapted by Jo Robinson from Eating on the Wild Side. Amazing book!! You should totally check it out!

granny smith apple crispy

Granny Smith Apple Crisp

3 Scoops of Sugar
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 10 servings

Ingredients
  

Apples

  • 2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and core apples and set aside the peels. DO NOT DISCARD PEELS. Slice the peeled apples into 1/4 inch slices and place in a large mixing bowl.
  • Combine 1 cup of sliced apples, apple skins, honey, one tablespoon flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in food processor. Process on high for approximately 3 minutes until skins are finely chopped. Stop and scrape sides of bowl once or twice.
  • Stir the chopped mixture in with the bowl of sliced apples until well combined. Spoon apple mixture into a greased 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
  • For the topping combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir until blended. Spoon topping mixture over the apples.
  • Bake in the middle of the oven at 350ā„‰ for 50-60 minutes. Top should be golden brown and apples should be tender. Cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.

 

 

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries

by

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries…I love you! Weird, I totally know so you can think it too. What is it about sweet potato fries?! For some reason, I can always find a way to say no to the greasy, caked in salt fries that you get from restaurants, fast food, the works. Bottom line is I can say no. Homemade sweet potato fries on the other hand…there will not be one left over at the end of our meal. Not even one! What is even better? The result is a perfectly crispy sweet potato fry! StinkinĀ good!!

healthy sweet potato fries

Once you try these sweet potato fries, you won’t even need to look back. They are the best fries evaaa!! Healthy sweet potato fries will satisfy you from here on out. No need for greasy, fried, salt-overloaded fries from elsewhere.

These little guys are packed with flavor and nutrition. An interesting point about sweet potatoes is that baking them makes them more nutritious for you because it doubles the amount of antioxidants. Cool huh! I think you just saw the dietitian nerd side of me come out! It gets even better. Sweet potatoes are better for you than traditional potatoes and they have a lower glycemic index which is good if you are at all concerned about your blood sugar level. A lower glycemic index food reduces how fast your blood sugar increases after consumption. So go eat more sweet potatoes!!

Here is a snapshot of all of the flavor that goes into these amazing sweet potato fries! šŸ™‚

healthy sweet potato fries

The prep for these sweet potato fries makes them turn out crispy in the oven. To give credit where credit is due the process for these sweet potato fries was adapted from Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny. She has totally nailed these fries. The first step involves cutting up the sweet potatoes into fries. That is probably the most challenging part of it all because sweet potatoes are not so easy to cup up. Once that step is done, you need to soak the sweet potatoes in cold water for one hour. Rinse and drain them and place them in a Ziploc back with corn starch. Shake them around a bit so they are all coated with the corn starch. These two steps will give you amazingly good and crispy sweet potato fries!

 

healthy sweet potato fries

Little secret from muah- I had two cookie sheets of sweet potato fries in the oven cooking at the same time. The top cookie sheet turned out perfect, but the bottom sheet fries were burnt to a crisp. So if you can fit both cookie sheets of fries near the top of your oven, I would suggest doing that! Also, if you have a double oven that would be ideal to use for these. Second little secret-they were so delicious I was still eating the burnt ones!! HAHA!

For the perfectly done sweet potato fries…umm…so this is a little embarrassing but I was totally being a 12-year-old. My husband and I sat down to dinner and I took a reasonable portion of fries and started eating. But as I realized how amazing these fries turned out my hand was continually making it back to the pan of fries and stealing more. I couldn’t help myself. I do not consider myself a fry lover but sweet potato fries are the bomb people! You have got to try these!! YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU HAVE NOTĀ MADE THEM SOONER!!

healthy sweet potato fries

healthy sweet potato fries

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries

Megan
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Sides
Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon chile powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Peel sweet potatoes and cut into fries. I would recommend checking out youtube on how to cut sweet potatoes into fries because this was very helpful! Soak sweet potatoes in cold water for one hour.
  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Rinse/Drain sweet potatoes and pat dry with paper towels. Place in large Ziploc bag and add corn starch. Shake bag around until all the sweet potatoes are coated with corn starch. Smooth out any clumps that have formed.
  • Transfer sweet potatoes to a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss sweet potatoes around with your hands to ensure all of them are well coated with the oil. In a separate small bowl, combine chili powder, paprika, salt, coriander, cumin and black pepper. Sprinkle seasonings over sweet potatoes slowly and make sure all of the sweet potatoes are seasoned evenly.
  • Place sweet potatoes on baking sheets in a single layer. Do not let them touch each other. To prevent fries from burning, place sheets near the top of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Toss sweet potatoes around using a spatula and spread back into a single layer. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
  • Let cool for 5 minutes.