I figured I should post these before the season for pumpkin feels like it has passed completely. Although spring is around the corner today is perfectly wintery. Pumpkin is one of my absolute favorite flavors, and I use canned pumpkin year round. This recipe makes one loaf if baked as a quick bread. I love that it makes moist cupcakes that go amazingly well with cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Recipe for Pumpkin Bread from Simply Recipes with adjustments for cupcakes/muffins
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree
Just under of 1/2 cup vegetable oil (safflower or a light olive oil works well)
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
(1 tsp vanilla extract)
Preheat your oven to 350. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, & baking soda. In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, & spices. Pour into the bowl w/ dry ingredients & mix just until all are combined. Pour into lined muffin tins, this should make 12 muffins. Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from pan, cool on a rack.
I love these with cream cheese frosting: 1 pound confectioners sugar, ½ stick of butter, 6oz pack or cream cheese, 2 tsp. of vanilla. I like to put a few walnuts or pecans on top when I have them.
I happened to have some extra pumpkin and also made a classic pie and tarts with a graham cracker crust. It was part of a pumpkin dessert feast. 
So, I decided to take a break from blogging. I didn’t think it would be months in between posting but I just wasn’t feeling it. Since this is something I do for fun, I decided to just wait until I was inspired again. I think I will be back to my normal sporadic posting with maybe a few changes.
Anyway, this Orange Beef with Broccoli is really so good and simple to quickly put together. The sauce is light, but the orange flavor is very pronounced. I used a top round steak but the cut of beef doesn’t really matter. I always buy organic beef and this cut is always inexpensive at my grocery store. The trick to cooking a thin steak is a very hot cast iron pan. It makes such a difference in terms of even cooking. I like my steak more to the rare side (although I think it looks more rare in the photos than it actually was). I dry it with a paper towel, brush it with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. It will only take a few minutes to cook on each side. I allowed it to rest while the sauce reduced over low heat. I am still on a New Year’s healthy eating kick so I served this with brown rice and steamed broccoli.
2 Oranges
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp fresh grated ginger
splash of soy sauce
Sesame seeds and scallions for topping
In a small sauce pan over low heat zest 1/2 of one of the oranges, juice the oranges, add the honey, ginger, soy sauce. Allow the sauce to reduce slightly. After the steak has rested for 5 minutes slice and top with the sauce and sesame seeds and scallions
