Ingredients:

One cup almonds or walnuts (or a mix!), chopped or blended
1 cup flour - to make gluten free, use a mix of what is available (buckwheat, corn, chickpea, for example)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon each: baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, and cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon each: ginger powder and nutmeg
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large ripe banana
3 cups cooked pumpkin (chopped into small pieces or mashed together)
1 cup raisins

Directions: Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt and cinnamon, ginger) together in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients (olive oil, mashed banana, and vanilla) in another bowl.  Add the wet to dry ingredients, stir until just combined. Add the pumpkin, golden raisins, and nuts, stir together until the batter is smooth.

Scoop the batter into a lightly oiled bread pan.  Bake about 30-35 minutes at 180 C. Use a toothpick in the center of the pan to check - when it comes out clean, the pumpkin bread is done!  If the center is still a bit gooey, feel free to put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.  Enjoy! 

Ready for a creative dessert that tastes an awful lot like apple pie!? We first sampled sweet samosas in Rishikesh, India and decided to recreate our own version in Kazakhstan. They are easy to make and go so well with a cup of tea, either at breakfast or for a quick treat after a meal.
They will also make your whole house smell like a freshly baked pie. Here's how to make them! 



Dough:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon olive or vegetable oil

Mix the flour and oil, then gradually add the warm water, sugar and salt in to the dough. Knead thoroughly and put in a plastic bag to sit for at least 30 minutes. Knead again before rolling.

Filling:

3 apples, cut finely
2 pears, cut finely
Handful of raisins and dried cranberries
Pinch of nutmeg and cinammon
1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar
Optional: splash of lemon juice

Mix all the filling ingredients together and you're ready to stuff your samosas!  

Assembling the samosas:

Roll the samosa dough into 4-5 inch circles, and cut the circle in half with a knife. Using a bit of water, take your semicircle and make a fold in the shape of a triangle. Seal along the fold.

Put this cone carefully between your thumb and index finger and place a ball of the filling inside. Wet your finger and run it along the edges of the dough with water and seal to enclose the stuffing, pinching the edges and folding over.

Once the samosas are assembled, cook at 350 Fahrenheit for 10 minutes on one side, then flip over and cook for 10 minutes on the other side.

This recipe makes about 15 small samosas. Enjoy!