Roasted Pumpkin with Merkén Chile & Honey

Two weeks ago I got a terrible head cold that at first made my throat feel like a solid piece of rock and then morphed into congestion and then just left me aching. When I finally got a solid night of sleep (like a really solid night of sleep--12 hours, or more), I felt like I could think again. Smelling, tasting, and swallowing were still a day away. 

The worst part of a head cold to me is that your body feels totally fine--like you could run a mile- but the minute you try to do anything, you realize it was a terrible, terrible idea. By Friday I felt well enough to hit the climbing gym again, and doing so plastered a fixed smile across my face. I could taste again too, so when I got home I cooked the pumpkin I hadn't found energy to cook earlier in the week. Golden pumpkin with savory Merkén Chile: it was the first thing I smelled all week. 

That pumpkin filled my house with the scent of it's caramelizing edges and steaming Merkén chile. They were beautiful, but that smell was what really swept me off my feet. A drizzle of honey was all that was missing. (Doesn't honey make everything better?)

If you can't find Merkén chile don't sweat it: you can use any kind of smoked red chile flake in this recipe. 

Roasted Pumpkin with Merkén Chile & Honey

Published October 19, 2017 by Caitlin

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons merkén chile, or other smoked red chile flake
• 1-2 tablespoons honey 
• Garnish: 2 tablespoons minced cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Slice pumpkin half, remove stem, and seeds. Slice into wedges, about 1-inch thick.
2. Fit a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place pumpkins on pan, and brush with avocado oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and merkén. Place in oven, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until pumpkin is tender all the way through, and starting to brown on the edges.
3. Remove from oven, and drizzle lightly with honey. Garnish with minced cilantro.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Bowl

Exhausted from holding on and worn out from trying hard, I yell "take!" to my belayer. The slack in the rope tightens and I can sit back in my harness. I stare at the rock wall, analyzing it's seams, and it stares back at me, full of tricks and secrets and history. My forearms ache from holding on: my endurance for sport climbing is lacking right now. 

Three feet from me, a spot of golden yellow with a tinge of red catches my eye.

There, in the middle of the rock, a miniature tree grows, it's leaves turning orange with fall. In fact, an entire micro ecosystem sits within the crack in the rock. A tiny but steady stream of water from above trickles across a pile of dead pine needles, and a bug crawls up to see the view from the edge of the crack.

I imagine a bird visiting that spot a year ago. He drops a seed, and flies off. And then I imagine that seed getting just enough water to sprout--and a bit more, enough that the sprout grows into a tree right there, on the side of a rock face. It's no larger than 1 foot tall, but it clings on to the side of the rock with might and patience. It doesn't have a belayer; it can't call "take."

There is a breeze and I am reminded of the task at hand. I climb on while that baby tree just stays there, clinging for life. Imagine the view from it's home! 

This pumpkin smoothie bowl is the breakfast to eat when the leaves are crunching underfoot and the air is crisp but still not too cold. It's spiced with fresh ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and is super creamy. Top it with toasted pecans, and for an extra special treat add a dollop of whipped cream (coconut cream for dairy free!). 

In the ingredient list you’ll find an outlier (cauliflower) and if you’ve never put cauliflower in a smoothie, this might make you run and hide. BUT I promise you: once that cauliflower is all blended in, you will not taste it. What you will taste: pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. Toasted pecans if you choose to put them on top (please do!). And it will be a thick, creamy smoothie. That texture? That’s because of the cauliflower, which at this point you’ve forgotten is in there.

Try it!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Bowl

Published October 12, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup cottage cheese (or plain greek yogurt, or non-dairy yogurt)
• 1/2 cup milk of choice
• 2 frozen bananas, sliced 
• 1 cup frozen cauliflower florets
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for serving
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves 
• Optional: 1 scoop vanilla or unflavored protein powder
• Dollop of whipped cream (or coconut cream for dairy-free)
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 2 tablespoons toasted pecans

Directions:

1. Add pumpkin, cottage cheese, milk, bananas, cauliflower, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and protein powder to blender. Puree until no chunks remain. Pour smoothie into two serving bowls.
2. Top with a dollop of whipped cream, raisins, pecans, and a sprinkle of extra nutmeg. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Gruyere & Thyme Gratin

With gusto, I let fall into my home. I'm not talking about pumpkins or mums, either. I'm talking about the breeze.

I’m rarely home alone but when I am I take advantage of it. This time, I threw open all of the windows and let the breeze rip through the house. There are only two times of the year that allow you to do this at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, and fall is one of them (Spring is the other; summer is far too hot and winter far too cold). I put Elephant Revival on and turned the volume up high as if to drown out other noise, even though the house was silent. I threw my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head (or tried— half of my hairs fell out, and I didn’t bother putting them into place), and I whipped out the pots and pans. 

It was going to be a good afternoon: I had cheese to melt. 

Even though cauliflower is a fall crop, I abuse the fact that modern grocery stores carry it all year around. I can't lie about this with over 19 recipes using cauliflower on this blog, and almost none of them fall-related. 

This cauliflower gratin is rich and hits your "I really just want cheese for dinner" spot, but feels a little more grown up because 1) you're eating vegetables and 2) the cheese is gruyere, which I almost can't say out loud without second guessing myself (groo-year? gru-air?). There's even a little thyme stirred in. 

It pairs well with a glass of red wine, a cold beer, or a dry cider. Fancy enough for something like Thanksgiving dinner, you could cook this cauliflower gratin up for party. But best of all, you can just reheat it as a lazy couch dinner. 

I hope you'll invite fall into your home like I did: it will come out bubbling and strings of cheese will follow as you serve yourself the first bite. Maybe, if it's cool enough, you can get away with wearing your slippers, too. 

Cauliflower Gruyere & Thyme Gratin

Published September 26, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 8   |    Total Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 pounds cauliflower florets (about 2 heads)
• Water, for steaming
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot powder
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1-1/2 cup shredded gruyere, divided
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash cayenne

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F.
2. Fill a medium pot with 1 inch of water and place steam basket in pot. Place cauliflower in steam basket, and heat over medium heat until water is simmering. Allow cauliflower to steam for 5 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat. Drain any water from cauliflower, and then put cauliflower in a 8x8inch baking dish.
3. Now, in a small sauce pan, melt the butter. While the butter melts, whisk together the milk and corn starch or arrowroot powder until no clumps remain. Pour milk into melted butter and whisk. Bring to a simmer, whisking constantly so as not to scald the milk, for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of gruyere cheese. Continue to whisk and simmer until sauce thickens (it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon), and cheese is fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
4. Stir thyme, black pepper, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne into cheese sauce. Pour cheese sauce over cauliflower and use a spoon to ensure the cauliflower is all coated and the sauce is distributed.
5. Top with remaining gruyere and the parmesan. Place in oven, and bake for 35-45 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and top is golden brown. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.