Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You know how many times I came close to stabbing myself when craving pumpkins.... ALOT.  Thats because I have no regard for my own safety sometimes when I become obsessed with trying to extract the gold from inside my pumpkin.   I don't crave my pumpkin for the decorative appeal, thats just an added bonus. I like to crave my pumpkin for its seeds.  There is nothing healthier, tastier and easier than making delicious roasted pumpkin seeds.  and there is nothing better than chowing down on them during a recent hiking trip through Towada Lake.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds with Garlic Salt

Ingredients

Seeds from your craved pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1-2 teaspoons Garlic Salt

Directions

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Scoop out your seeds from inside your pumpkin and place in a small bowl, try to separate the seeds from the fiber/string of the pumpkin as best as you can aka the guts.
- Transfer your seeds to a colander and wash under cold water for 2-3 minutes, to remove any leftover fibers or guts of the pumpkin
- Pat the seeds dry on paper towels add to a medium bowl with the olive oil and mix well.
- Using a cookie sheet spread the seeds out evenly and sprinkle the seeds with your garlic salt
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally (I would occasionally check on the crunchiness of my seeds by periodically opening the oven during and stealing a seed to try it doneness.)

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2

I love hot pockets but its hard to find vegetarian ones at the grocery store.  Most of the time everything has chicken or pepperoni in it.
      So what do vegetarians do when we want a traditional meaty comfort food?  We come up with a homemade version :)  It was a lot of fun coming up with different flavor combinations when making these homemade hot pockets.  I finally decided on white sauce, kale and artichoke that baked beautifully and was quite tasty! What flavor combo would you try?

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2
Oishii Treats Original
Yields: 2

Time:
Prep 20 Min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury seamless dough sheet
1 cup Kale (washed and chopped roughly)
4 Artichoke Hearts (I bought canned artichoke, drained them of their water and chopped them)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup half/half
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
dash of pepper
dash of garlic salt
1 egg white

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Place a small saute pan on medium high heat and spray with cooking spray
- Add you chopped artichokes and kale to the pan and saute for about 5-6 minutes or until kale is wilted sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Set aside
- In a small sauce pan on medium high heat melt your butter and add the flour, stir until completly combined.
- Pour in your half/half and whisk until thicken about 4 minutes.  add 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese, whisk until completely melted and combined.  You should have a nice thick white sauce.
- Roll out your dough sheet on too parchment paper- I had to re roll mine due to the packaging ripping the dough
- Evenly divide the dough into 4 equal rectangles

- Add about 3 tablespoons of the white sauce to the middle of 2 rectangles (keep the filling in the middle away from the edges so it can seal well), add 2-3 tablespoons of your artichoke and kale mixture, top with some extra cheddar cheese.

- Take your other rectangle half and do a light egg white wash on the seams of the dough, cover your filling and sealing the sides by using a fork to crimp down the edges. do a light egg white wash on the top of the dough and sprinkle with some garlic salt. transfer the parchment paper with your pockets onto a cookie sheet and Bake for 20 minutes .

Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes

For the last month I've been cookin up ideas to make a carmel apple cupcake and when the time came to make a batch, something always came up.  Usually that something was work, cub scouts, homework, or hiking the Hakkoda Mountians.  I finally decided enough was enough, time to get into the kitchen and I will not leave until I have my Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes.

After making alot of cupcakes I decided it was time to try and attempt my luck at making my own batter.  I wanted to infuse the cupcake with apple flavor without adding chopped apples, because the apples were going to be cooked into something like apple pie filling for the middle of the cupcake.  It took a couple of tries but I finally produced an oishii cupcake with a great apple flavor.  I'll be honest there are a few steps to this cupcake and it takes a little time, but it was well worth it :) You could always skip a step and buy store bought carmel sauce....though trust me you will be very happy that you made your own.


I also want to give a huge thank you and shout out to Vera from Cupcakesgarden.com
Vera and her husband designed an awesome button for me.  When it comes to web design and anything fancy with computer graphics I am totally out of my realm.   Check out her amazing blog, she highlights the most delicious cupcakes from all over the web from other bloggers.  If you love cupcakes as much as I do then you gotta check it out :)

Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes 
Oishii Treat Original

Yields: 20 Cupcakes
Ingredients

3/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/3 teaspoon Bakin Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Apple Cider or Apple Juice

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with lineras
- In a electric mixer combine the coconut oil, sugar and brown sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
- In a separate small bowl combine your dry ingredients flour, baking powder, packing soda, salt, and cinnamon
- Alternate your dry ingredients and apple cider to your batter until just combined
- Fill your cupcakes 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes
- Cool your cupcakes on a wire rack, once cool use a potato peeler to crave/ scoop out a hole in the middle of your cupcakes for the carmel apple pie filling

Salted Butter Carmel Sauce
Adapted From Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Ingredients

1 cup Sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup Whipping Cream




Directions

- In a medium Sauce pot on high heat add your sugar and whisk until it starts to melt and turn golden brown (about 5 min)
- Remove the pot from the heat and add a dash of sea salt and butter, becareful there will be steam!
- Whisk the butter until its melted
- Put the pot back on the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream, whisk until its a uniformed color, reduce the heat the medium low and whisk for 1 minute.
- Take off the heat and pour into a heat proof jar, let it stand for 15 min. to help thicken the sauce   Place the carmel in the fridge to thicken.

Carmel Apple Pie Filling

2 cups diced apples
(2 large apples, diced very small)
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Juice or Apple Juice
1/2 cup Carmel

Directions

- Using the same pot that you made carmel rinse it out place it on the stove on medium high heat.
- Add your juice and diced apples and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
- After the apples have cooked remove from heat and add your carmel.  place in a heat proof bowl and let the mixture cool in the fridge. Once cool, scoop the apple filling into your cupcake holes.

Carmel Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup Butter (let stand at room temp for 1 hour)
1 8oz container cream cheese (let stand at room temp for 1 hour)
5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup carmel (do not add hot carmel to the frosting)

Directions

- In a electric mixer combine your butter, cream cheese and mix on medium high for 2 minutes
- Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until fully combine and smooth.
- Add your carmel and mix for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy

Update: I shared this post on several link up parties, so many great recipes were shared clink on the links below to check them out.
http://tidymom.net/
http://myturn-evelyn.blogspot.jp/2012/10/freedom-fridays-23.html
http://www.jamhands.net/