mini pumpkin pies (incidentally dairy-free)

A friend posted about craving pumpkin pie on Facebook and suddenly I wanted some too. I had a can of pumpkin, and while I had no butter, condensed milk, or pie pan, I had substitutions that could work, and so...

I made an oil-based crust using this recipe: https://cozypeachkitchen.com/oil-pie-crust/
I made the filling from a few recipes I looked at, but basically:
1 1/4 c. soy milk
2 eggs
1 can (14 oz) pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger
some amount less than 3/4 cup of sugar, mostly brown but some white (I couldn't measure because I used the giant lump of brown sugar that had solidified in my bag of brown sugar, and I softened it in the liquids for this recipe)
I did not add any oil, which some recipes called for

I sprayed the muffin tins very well with baking spray. The dough (double crust recipe) was enough for about 10 mini-pies in my muffin tin. There was more than enough filling--not sure what I'll do with the extra. I baked it at 375 for maybe 25-30 minutes but if I try again I think I will try baking at a higher temp for the first few minutes, like many recipes suggest for full-size pies. Cool completely in pan (this seems important.)The crust didn't stick to the pan at all, but it was a little hard (but not impossible) to maneuver the pies out intact because the crust was a bit crumbly. Next time I would try making more of a prominent fluted edge, which might be useful as a handle to pull the pies out. The filling sort of puffed up a bit during baking but then sank down on cooling.

Protein pancakes

I keep looking for this recipe (which I've made once or twice) and not being able to find it, so I'm putting it here.

1c cottage cheese (low sodium would be good if available)
1c rolled oats
1c eggs.
Pinch of cinnamon
sugar/vanilla extract if desired

 blend (I used a stick/immersion blender) and fry in oil. 

(Placemarker til I can make more notes but I’m not sure it came out that well) I made this, with modifications including using 2 onions, 3 ribs of celery, 3 carrots, a whole pound of lentils, and a godly amount of fresh ginger, because I’m extra like that: https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/curried-lentil-soup-0 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 large carrot, finely chopped 1 rib celery, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons curry powder 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth 1 1/2 cups dried lentils, washed and picked over Salt and pepper 1 13.6-oz. can coconut milk

Belgian Waffles with oil (not butter)

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/simple-homemade-waffles-50027026 I made these today because I didn't want to mess with melted butter. They were decent! I was also out of milk so I used half and half (thinned with a little water.) I did not grease my waffle iron and they came out of the iron just fine - not sure if it's something about my waffle iron or if people who say you need to grease the pan are just always lying.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs

(I also added a splash of almond extract.) 1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. 2. Whisk the milk, vegetable oil, and eggs together well. 3. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until almost blended. There will be a few lumps. 4. Pour the batter into your waffle maker (about 1/3 cup)and cook according to instructions - approximately 4-6 minutes on medium high or until the waffle maker stops steaming. Optional: To make Blueberry Waffles, pour the batter onto the waffle maker, sprinkle fresh blueberries on top, and close the lid. Cook as usual according to the waffle maker instructions.

peach cornmeal upside down cake

I neeeeeed to make this when it's peach season:
https://www.marthastewart.com/316964/peach-and-cornmeal-upside-down-cake

Chocolate Chia Pudding

1 can of reduced fat coconut milk (Trader Joe's brand, about 2 cups even though the can says it's about 6 1/4-cup servings)
1/2 cup chia seeds
~3 TBS granulated sugar
splash vanilla extract
dash of salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder (plus a little more?)

I used an immersion blender to blend everything well before adding the chia seeds, and I'm letting it sit at room temperature for a bit to set before refrigerating because coconut milk solidifies in the fridge and I imagine that chia seeds can't absorb solid coconut milk.

Verdict: tasty, but didn't taste like what I wanted, which was...honestly probably chocolate soy milk. Which is an unfair expectation of coconut chia pudding. 

Dutch Babies II

I made a dutch baby pancake using (basically) the NYTimes recipe this morning:

• 3 eggs
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Pinch of nutmeg
• splash vanilla extract
• dash of cinnamon 
• 4 tablespoons butter
•  1 apple, unpeeled

Preheat oven to 425, mix ingredients (except butter and apples) in bowl. I blended them with an immersion blender til a bit beyond "solidly blended." Slice apples about 1/4" thick. Butter went into my old 10" cast iron, into the oven *once the oven was almost to temperature*. As soon as the butter was melted, pulled the skillet out of the oven, fanned out the apple slices in the pan on top of the butter, poured the batter on top, and stuck it back in the oven for ~20 minutes, then lowered to 300 and kept it in for only 3 more minutes because it was starting to burn.

Verdict: good recipe, overall, and came out of my cast iron skillet easily enough even though the skillet needs to be re-seasoned quite badly. But the apples didn't really cook enough. Some recipes for dutch babies with apples suggest you cook the apples a bit first but I figured I'd try it without doing that because less work is nice if the finished product doesn't suffer. But I bet this would have been better with more thoroughly cooked apples. Such is life.