Pumpkin Dip and Other Treats

A friend brought me a tasty dip that helped satisfy that pumpkin craving that seems to magically appear this time of year.

The recipe is basically:

Pumpkin Dip

2 cups of canned/pureed pumpkin or pumpkin pie filling
1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (if not using pumpkin pie filling)
1 3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding (sugar-free if you desire)
8 oz. of whipped topping or 8 oz. of whipped cream (if you want the full fat version)

Mix the four ingredients together.  Refrigerate to let flavors blend.  Serve with graham crackers, apple slices or baked cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips.

I made tortilla chips to go along with the dip.  Cut whole wheat flour tortillas into triangles.  Spread in a layer on a baking sheet.  Spray with pan spray, sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon-sugar blend and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  If not crispy, bake for a few minutes longer.

The recipe should be easy to modify.  For instance, I bet a combination of marshmallow creme and cream cheese with the pumpkin pie filling would make another great dip.  If you wanted, you could use low-fat cream cheese to make a lower calorie snack.

You can make your own pumpkin pie spice by mixing together:

1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg 

The baked tortilla chips reminded me of a recipe from a "Foods with Flair" class I gave during the holiday season several years ago.

Dessert Nachos with Fruit Salsa

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 flour tortillas (7 to 8 inches wide)

1 large package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons honey

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, brush both sides

lightly with water, then cut into 6 equal wedges. Dip 1 side of each wedge in sugar mixture. (Just knowing me, I doubt I ever did this one wedge at a time.  Feel free to spread the wedges on a baking sheet, spritz with water or pan spray and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Lining the pan with parchment or foil will make for easier clean up.)

Arrange in a single layer, sugar up on baking sheets. Bake in a 500° F oven until crisp and golden, 4 to 5 minutes.  (Be careful if using parchment in a 500°F degree oven.  You can also do this slower and lower -- 350°F oven for ten minutes, more if needed for crisp chips.  In my oven somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes is about right.)

In a 1– to 2-quart pan or glass bowl/microwave, combine the cheese, orange juice, and honey. Whisk over low heat until cheese melts and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. 

Mound tortilla chips on a large platter. Offer cheese sauce and fruit salsa to spoon onto chips. Makes 10 to 12 servings.  I often skipped the cheese sauce to save calories and just offered the chips with fruit salsa.

Fruit Salsa

Peel and dice 2 large (about 8 oz. total) kiwi fruit. Rinse 2 cups strawberries; dice fruit.

In a bowl, mix kiwi, strawberries, and 1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained. Makes 3 cups.  I don't get too stuck on the specifics when making fruit salsa.  If I have frozen blueberries, I add those. Mangoes would be delicious if available in your area. Frozen fruits will work, but the salsa will be a bit runny.  The point is to add fruits and their vitamins and nutrients to your holiday foods.  

Or, if you want, you can go back to that pumpkin craving and a vegetable to your treats.  Below is another recipe from the Foods with Flair class:

Pumpkin Parfaits

2 cups cold skim milk

2 small pkg. butterscotch sugar free instant pudding (or regular, if you wish)

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup non-dairy whipped topping (or whipped cream, your choice)

Beat all together. Pour into 6 large parfait glasses or a serving bowl. To serve, top with whipped topping and nutmeg. Can also be poured in to a graham cracker crust.

I hope you are able to be thankful this season of all the delicious and flavorful parts of your world.  

Bah! Humbug! Just Breathe ...

I know last week I was a little bah-humbug about the holidays.  I really don’t mean to sound like Scrooge, but the holidays provide unique stressors for nearly everyone.  For me, it tends to be gift giving.  It stresses my time, energy, creativity and budget.  I don’t think I’m alone.  A conversation with my 10-year-old daughter revealed that she, too, is stressed about finding the right gifts for her family that fit within the confines of her time, talent and budget.  We talked about the gifts she brings that we appreciate most are not ones that can be put in a box and wrapped.  Her sense of humor and loving spirit are two much appreciated gifts.  Still, even 10-year-olds are not immune to the stresses of the season.

Maybe for you gift-giving isn’t the trigger.  Maybe food is a stressor for you.  All those high-sugar treats tempting you all the time.  It could be the extra events in the schedule that tax a limited energy supply.  Perhaps your stressor is a particular family member who pushes your buttons and who you can avoid most of the year, except during the holidays.  And, for many, the holidays bring to mind the person who isn’t at the holiday table this year, and never will be again. 

Life, with its joys and sorrows, doesn’t really consult dates on a calendar when it presents us with challenges.  It has been a long time ago now, but I remember two holiday seasons, in particular, where I vacillated between the joyfulness of the season and the clarity of future reality.  It was a little bit like being on a teeter-totter on a playground.  Thrilled when you were up and bracing for when you were down, never knowing if it was going to be a soft touch down, going right back up; or, if this was the time you hit hard and bounced off. 

In 2004, my family – the sisters, the spouses, the children and my parents – all decided to go to Lethbridge for a family vacation.  We planned to enjoy a water par
k and other holiday happenings the city had to offer.  We were one year into my Dad’s brain cancer at that point.  The idea was great, but the timing was bittersweet.  Dad had been doing pretty well, but during that trip, it became evident that the tumor was growing again.  The following year, we spent the holiday season with Dad at Peace Hospice in Great Falls.  As a mother with young children at the time, I tried to keep up the appearances of the holidays for their sake.  Looking back, it seems like a strange blur of all the right holiday dresses, food and decorations accompanied with the worry, the doctors and nurses, and the inevitable death of my father. 

I think all people have their own bittersweet at the holidays.  I think the trick is to find more sweet than bitter.  There are ways to counteract holiday stress triggers.  One way is to communicate your needs clearly to those around you.  If cooking the meal for a huge family gathering destroys your joy, do a potluck or ask everyone to bring one appetizer, or have everyone bring their favorite cereal and you supply the milk.  Your family will surely remember the year they had cold cereal for their holiday feast!  Or, skip the food entirely and do a game night.  Another way to combat stress is to get regular exercise.  Even if you have company or are traveling, set aside the time you normally would to walk, swim, run or stretch.  Try to keep your diet as regular as possible, maybe even putting a little more focus on getting a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. Eat a healthy breakfast packed with whole grains and drink plenty of water. When you are well-nourished, it seems you can handle more of the stresses coming your way. 

You can also use a variety of breathing techniques to reduce stress.  One breathing technique I learned during my counselor training was to exhale through your mouth as long as possible.  When you can no longer breathe out, take a deep breath in.  This technique was recommended for people who had anxiety attacks.  When you are already anxious, you are pretty tight and then someone will say, “take a deep breath,” which is not possible because are tense.  If you breathe the air out of your lungs first, they have to refill.  It can be very helpful in stressful situations or when having trouble sleeping at night.  Just repeat the process a few times until your body relaxes. 

You can even use those devices we all seem to be carrying around to help you relieve stress during the holidays.  The Shop Smart magazine, produced by Consumer Reports, recommended a few apps for stress reduction, including Breathe2Relax, Buddhify, Omvana and more, plus a few recommended podcasts including those found at UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.  If an app isn’t for you, perhaps set a timer to remind you to go for a walk or do some deep breathing, stretching and relaxation exercises. 

With some of the stress-reduction tips, I hope you will find yourself up more than down on this season’s see-saw.  

___________________________________________________________

Disclaimer:  I have faith that you will take what you can use from this blog and discard the rest.  I believe in your ability to discern whether or not to spend any money on products suggested.  I trust you to understand that I am not endorsing any particular commercially available product over another one of like quality and cost.  

Resources:

The resources below are links to other websites that may be of interest to you on the same topic as this blog.

A Simple Enough Holiday  -- After writing my post, I found this article.  The author and I seem to share many of the same sentiments.  Wonder if we are distantly related?  

Tips on Holiday Eating from Our Friends at Utah State University Extension

Coping with Stress from eXtension

Grief and the Holidays

And now a few words from the Christmas Witch ...

Around this time last year, a misguided and belated witch, presumably from Halloween, arrived to take over my psyche during the Christmas holiday season.  My family will recall that it nearly took an exorcism to remove her from my body.  I was very frustrated last year with the tasks related to the holiday season.  The tasks that annoyed me the most, and with Grinch-like stealth stole my pleasure, were related to gift-giving.  I know, “it is better to give than receive” and all that, but I was in no mood for either giving or receiving -- at least not tangible, store-bought items.  I was actually so uncharacteristically miserable about it last year that I vowed to reassign the gift detail to my husband this year.  We have a month to go to see how that works!

Maybe you also find yourself overwhelmed during the holidays.  There are a variety of tips that people can use to bring a better proportion to their holiday season, but for now, since my Scrooge-like focus is on gift giving, I’ll offer a few tips in that department.  One of my favorite ideas is to eliminate gift-giving entirely, when possible.  All those $5-10 gifts for the various groups your family belongs to, from work to clubs, really add up.  Not only in the monetary budget, but in the energy budget.  All the time spent shopping and deciding and wrapping only clutter your holidays.  And, really, when was the last time you got or gave a $10 gift that it was truly a needed item.  Most people can and will buy what they want for themselves in that price range.  My “gift” to many people in my world is that I will neither provide nor expect gifts from them.  Talk to your colleagues or your civic clubs and youth organizations and take a load off everyone and eliminate the gift exchange.

Another idea to reduce financial strain during the gift-giving hubbub is to start with the end in mind.  At the end of your purchases, you don’t want the residual gift to be perma-debt. Far too many households carry an extraordinary amount of credit card debt. People often get carried away, either with the impulse purchases during the holiday season or with the pressure to give really good (read expensive) gifts.  Jean Chatzky, author and financial editor for NBC's Today Show, recommends a budget of 1.5% of your household’s after-tax income be spent on holiday gifting.  According to the US Department of Labor, the mean wage in Montana is $39,000.  After subtracting 25%, as a general estimate for taxes, that leaves $29,250 multiplied by 1.5%, leaves $438 for a gift budget.  Based on this example, our average Joe Montanan, would write down everyone on his gift-giving list and figure out how to divide up his gift budget among those recipients.  According to Chatzky, 1.5% is the amount most Americans can pay off by February, if they charge holiday purchases.  Well, now, thanks to the math, I realize why I was so grumpy last year.  The price on the expected and advertised gifts well exceeded my 1.5% budget!

A friend offered another suggestion to reduce the stress of holiday shopping.  She only gives what she can buy locally.  Think about how much time is saved, and how much more pleasant the experience, when shopping where you live.  Perhaps the choices will be more limited than the gazillion options of online shopping, but it can be the gift that keeps giving – circulating money in the local economy.  Plus, it can be a great tool for those of us who suffer from TMC (Too Many Choices) syndrome. 

Another tip is to give only gifts you already own. Some of the most memorable and nicest gifts I’ve ever received were used and it actually was the “thought” that counted.  Among my favorite gifting ideas is to give services, such as oil changes, haircuts, house cleaning or to share your own talents by volunteering to mend or cook, or do odd jobs for which you are skilled.  I also like the idea of giving experiences, not things, which reduces clutter.  A great example I heard recently was when grandchildren, who never know what to get their grandmother anyway, decided to pay for her to participate in strength-training classes at her assisted-living facility.  One of my favorite gifts I received last year was from my mother, who bought tickets for our family and our neighbors to enjoy a Phil Aaberg concert in Chester.  It was the highlight of my otherwise self-induced surly season last year. 

 

This year, Phil Aaberg will be in Choteau on December 11 giving his talents to help the group.  This group gives support to people in our community who are developing their own talents, but may not be able to afford parts of their training.  These

are the gifts that keep on giving.
Opportunities for All

This year, I hope to take my witch’s broom and sweep away at least a few of the strains of the season.  Maybe some of the ideas will work for you to be holly and jolly, too.  

_________________________________________________________________

Jean Chatzky Holiday Spending

MSU Tips on Jolly

Holiday Stress