Kid-Friendly Option - Kitchen Treaty

One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Karen — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 16:14:41 +0000

Savory and creamy pumpkin pasta smothered in fall flavors? Sign me up! This One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta been a huge favorite of readers (and of ours!) ever since I shared it. I had to curtail dairy shortly after creating this recipe, so about a year ago, I updated it, so now it has a dairy-free alternative too.

I’m obsessed with one-pot pasta – you know, the one Martha Stewart popularized just over a year ago, and the one that took the blogging (and general) world by storm?

Just in case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, here’s the deal. You put a bunch of stuff in a pot. Veggies, water or broth, seasonings, and dry pasta. Then you cook it on high, tossing and stirring, until just under 10 minutes later, your pasta is done. The veggies are cooked, a sauce has formed, magic has happened, dinner is served, dishes are all but nil.

One-pot pasta is a good thing indeed. Martha Stewart pun not intended.

Today, we bring you a one-pot pumpkin pasta that I am particularly proud of. It’s super creamy, super simple, super easy, super seasonal. One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta, my friends! You know I had to. (I’ve since shared another one-pot pasta recipe that uses a slightly different method. Equally delicious!)

This One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta cooks up in a flash and results in an incredibly creamy pasta. It cooks up so creamy, in fact, that it actually reminds me of a less-fattening Fettucine Alfredo. And it’s just as good! Except prettier. Because it’s orange.

I kept this one really simple. Linguine – it’s my one-pot pasta comfort zone. Broth, onions, garlic, pumpkin puree. A few red pepper flakes for heat. Nutmeg, creamy goat cheese (or a few alternatives – see the recipe for more), and a few flecks of parsley for color (and because parsley rules my world).

Good times right here.

This totally works as a main dish, but can also function as a substantial side if you desire. Either way, for us, it’s a big-time keeper.

One Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Luxuriously creamy pumpkin pasta in 20 minutes! It’s possible with this super-simple vegetarian one-pot pasta recipe. My favorite easy fall dinner.

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 394kcal

Author Kare

Ingredients

8 ounces linguine pasta
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth*
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup white wine I recommend Chardonnay or another wine that’s on the dry side
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion chopped small) (about 1 cup
3-4 large cloves garlic peeled & minced) (about 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or more or less to taste
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
1 4-ounce log fresh goat cheese (chevre)** or, for a vegan version, 4 ounces of vegan cream cheese or vegan herbed cream cheese
1 small bunch parsley chopped

Instructions

Add all ingredients except the goat cheese and parsley (and any additional salt and pepper) to a large, heavy pot – I use a 7-quart dutch oven.
Place the pot over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. As soon as it comes to the rolling boil, set the timer for 9 minutes. Stir and toss with tongs as it cooks, stirring frequently for the first few minutes and then constantly as it thickens and begins to stick to the bottom of the pot. When the 9 minutes is up, the pasta should be tender and the sauce will have thickened slightly. If the pasta is not yet cooked, continue for one more minute. Remove from heat.
Crumble goat cheese into the pasta. Stir gently until melted and combined. Let sit for 5 minutes (at this point, the pasta will seem somewhat soupy, but it will thicken as it sits).
Stir and taste. Add additional salt and pepper if desired.
Divide between bowls and sprinkle parsley over the tops.

Notes

*Vegetable broth note: I suggest low-sodium broth so that you can better control the amount of salt. If you only have full-sodium broth on hand, I suggest omitting or greatly reducing the salt and then adding it at the end to taste.

**Sour cream may be substituted for the goat cheese.

Dairy-free option:

Substitute 4 ounces of your favorite vegan cream cheese. I’m partial to garlic and herb vegan cream cheese – fabulous in this! Coconut cream also works. Also delicious without any cream or cheese.

Vegan option:

Follow dairy-free option and also make sure your pasta is egg-free.

Kid-friendly option:

Omit or greatly reduce the crushed red pepper flakes. You can sprinkle a few flakes over the top of the grown-ups’ portions when serving, if you’d really like a bit of heat.

Gluten-free option:

Use your favorite gluten-free pasta (I like brown rice pasta in this one!)

Nutrition

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Quick & Easy Dinner: Individual Pizzas Any Which Way + Just Relax!

Karen — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 21:38:18 +0000

I’ve always been a little over the top when it comes to the whole domestic bliss thing – decorating, cooking, hosting parties. Not because I felt Pinterest pressure – or the equivalent before Pinterest became along – but rather because, truthfully, I do get a little giddy over a coordinated-yet-cozy living room or perfectly-swirled buttercream cakes on jadeite stands. And don’t even get me started on how I can geek out over wedding stuff if I let myself.

The truth is, not every meal needs to be a masterpiece. (Photo from IKEA)

But I also learned pretty quickly that domestic daydreams and the reality of life often clash, and clash hard. Attempting to execute all of the perfect little details I’d pored over would lead to one stressed out wife, hostess, and friend. Who wants to be around that?! For me, far more laughing, bonding, and happy memories result from impromptu movie nights with thrown-together quesadillas and questionable bottles of wine than from delicately coiffed petit fors and fine champagne. Pale peach painted pinkies up!

Okay, well I’ve never been a Dom Pérignon kinda gal, but you get my drift.

Magazines and Pinterest are still my jam for ideas and inspiration – once a domestic geek always a domestic geek – but somewhere along the way, things out there in the world have evolved into this highly curated, almost surreal, certainly impossible-to-obtain version of life.

Like, you know, napkin origami. Because naturally. (Photo from IKEA)

The truth is, sometimes it’s nearly impossible not to get swept up into this alternate reality – and perhaps I even try perpetuate it myself now and then with this here blog. Seriously though, rest assured – there are usually colossal messes just outside the frames of my food photos. (Anyone who knows me personally is nodding their heads).

So I really love this new video from Ikea, and I’m thrilled to partner with them on this post so that I could share it with you. It’s such a great (and hiliarious!) reminder to “just relax” and LIVE.

Check out the video:

Yep, there’s something to be said for embracing joy, not perfection. Because, guess what? Trying to attain an unattainable ideal might just be having the opposite effect than you thought it would. I know that’s happened to me.

Friday night is pizza night around the Kitchen Treaty house, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that, sure enough, I’ve totally gone over the top pizza-style now and then and attempted to create my own little masterpieces.

But usually, it’s all about the easy. The imperfection. The getting it done and getting on with family time.

The best pizza nights of all are those in which I relinquish control and bring everyone into the kitchen to make their own (and help with eachothers’).

Each of us prefers a very different pizza – why not enable everyone to make it themselves? So what if your crust resembles the shape of that green monster from Ghostbusters. Are you smiling? Laughing? Relaxing? Good. Then your pizza is perfect.

Pizza night – especially at the end of a long week – is such a great an excuse to just let go already. Sometimes, I make the pizza dough myself, but more often than not these days, I grab some premade stuff from the grocery store. Garlic and herb is our fave.

Sauce-wise, I do tend to make that at home, but I whip up a huge batch and freeze it so that I only need to make it every couple of months or so.

And then there are the toppings, which vary greatly thanks to our multivore household. We’re all about the individual pizzas. I usually go with a cheese-free number piled with veggies or olives while our daughter opts for a cheese-only pizza. Meanwhile, my guy is all about classic pepperoni.

By Pinterest standards, our pizzas might be ugly. But on Friday night pizza night? Life is pretty beautiful.

This isn’t so much a recipe as an easy, unfussy dinner idea, but I’ll list a few options below!

(more…)

The post Quick & Easy Dinner: Individual Pizzas Any Which Way + Just Relax! appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

Peanut Butter Quinoa Mini Muffins

Karen — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 15:16:19 +0000

Last week I promised more muffin recipes, and, well, I guess I’m not wasting any time. Because here’s another! These Peanut Butter Quinoa Mini Muffins aren’t just low sugar (no refined sugar), low in oil, high protein (for a muffin), and dairy-free. They’re also wonderfully moist, full of flavor, and just plain cute. AND they have a shockingly good sense of balance!

Okay, so I may have used a hidden skewer to make that stack stay upright. A food blogger’s gotta do what a food blogger’s gotta do!

These muffins were my first foray into quinoa in muffins. It’s such a brilliant addition! I’d seen them around and decided to throw some cooked leftover quinoa into these to see what happened.

Basically, the quinoa just sort of integrates in with the muffin – you really have no idea it’s there. But it helps contribute to a surprisingly moist muffin, considering how little oil is used in the recipe. And of course there’s all the Omega-3 and protein goodness that comes with the quinoa territory. Gotta love that stuff.

This is my first one-dish-two-ways recipe that’s not veggie/carnivore, but instead adult/picky toddler. I absolutely get how sad the following fact is, but basically, my kid won’t touch muffins if they don’t have chocolate chips in them. I know, I know. I know. But I feel less guilty about that when the muffins have lots of other good stuff in them that she’s getting while she eats the chocolate chips. So there’s that. Sideways face.

So for this batch, I made half with chocolate chips and half without. I love these without the chocolate chips, and I’m watching my sugar intake so they were perfect for me. But with chocolate chips? Yeah, they’re even tastier. They’re actually pretty irresistible.

Another benefit to mini muffin making? The baking time! These things bake up in 9 minutes flat. No joke.

More Banana Muffin Recipes

Super Moist Vegan Banana Bread Muffins
Dairy-Free Banana Muffins with Brown Sugar Ripple (vegan too!)
Vegan Tropical Muffins with Crunchy Coconut Streusel – over-the-top delicious!
Spiced Banana Streusel Muffins
Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins
Honey Banana Muffins
Chocolate Banana Marble Muffins

Peanut Butter Quinoa Mini Muffins

These moist little protein-packed gems are as adult-friendly as they are kid-approved. Make them even more irresistible by adding a few mini chocolate chips.