Piña Colada Kabobs

The flavor reminds me of summer and Hawaii and delicious.  Such a fun treat, with a great presentation, yet quick and easy.  Pineapples are one of those fruits that you should smell before you buy. It should have the aroma of a fresh pineapple without any hints of mustiness. The stronger the pineapple scent, the juicier the fruit will be.  Yellowing is also a good sign of ripeness.  Some people pull out a leaf and according to the resistance know if it is a good one.

Many people don’t buy fresh pineapple because they don’t know how in the world they would cut it.  I prefer to slice the bottom and top off, stand up on its end and then cut down the sides with a carving knife to get most of the brown off, small bits do not bother me.  I cut this in half lengthwise and each half in half again, then trim the middle core like an apple.  The core is a bit woody, but has great flavor, so it is great for juicing and even smoothies.  Throw them in the freezer if you don’t have immediate plans for them. If I am going for bite-sized pieces to snack on, I slice each quarter into four slices and dice into the common “tidbits.” For this recipe I slice each quarter into thirds, so it will make six kabobs.

½ pineapple

1/2 batch coconut cream frosting

1 cup shredded coconut (toasting is optional)

6 skewers

Slide a skewer into each wedge.  Pat the back of the wedge with a paper towel, spread with one tablespoon frosting and press into a bowl of shredded coconut.  Repeat with each wedge and refrigerate until ready to serve.

GAPS Pumpkin Pie Soufflé

I have wanted to post this recipe for a while now, but I couldn’t find it in my files. I had accidently saved it in my general recipe file instead of my GAPS recipe file, which is fitting since this pie pleases everyone alike, but then again, most of my recipes do : -)

On GAPS there are a lot of eat this at this time, 20 minutes before this and at least 2 hours after that and first thing in the morning or before bed... It takes major choreographing at first and can be difficult to orchestrate. One of these situations is that fruit is not supposed to be eaten with meals because it interferes with digestion. This makes desserts tricky because fruit makes an easy dessert without added sweeteners (honey or ground dates). I am so excited about this recipe because it fits the bill and is based on vegetables!

The idea came to me instantly after reading Kami’s post for Squash Bars on her blog Finding My Niche. I made these bars as given and they are awesome for snacks and even treats. I had to call them pumpkin bars because my kids think they don’t like squash. I added a few spices, sweetened it to my liking and poured it on a grain free crust for a pie. The egg whites make it nice and light. I have not tried this without whipping the whites, but would imagine that it would yield a denser pie like the traditional thanksgiving dessert.

I serve this with homemade yogurt cream for us and we love it. For guests and my husband, who has not lost his sweet tooth, I serve it with a good dollop of amply sweetened whipped cream and it gets rave reviews.

I have used both a pie pumpkin and butternut squash in this recipe and feel that the squash was slightly sweeter. Squash is always much easier to find. Either way, just cut them in half, remove the seeds and bake on a sheet pan, cut side down until completely soft. The spices are completely flexible, nutmeg and would be nice as well. Some people like a lot of spice to their pumpkin, so feel free to add more if that is the case. 


This recipe is for a deep dish pie plate or two regular pie plates.  You can pour leftover filling in any baking dish to have some extra treats on the side.  This is also fantastic sprinkled with my GAPS Crumble halfway through the baking time.

8 eggs, divided
2 cups pureed butternut squash
4 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup honey
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate egg yolks and whites. Place whites in mixing bowl and yolks with cooled pumpkin puree. Whip egg whites until light and fluffy. Combine egg yolks, squash puree, melted butter, honey and spices. Mix well. Fold in egg whites gently. Pour into a deep dish pie plate with optional crust. Bake for 55 minutes for deep dish 30 for regular. The middle should still jiggle slightly . Let cool, then slice and serve. Keeps five days in the fridge.
links; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

GAPS Pie Crust

Baked good are a little tricky on GAPS. You are not supposed to have too many, which is good because they are expensive. Almond flour is the typical grain replacer and runs ten times the price of my old spelt flour. Making my own is not very time effective; soaking and removing skins, dehydrating and grinding without making it into butter… I admit to stretching it when I can.

I have found that white navy bean flour is really handy to have on hand. You do need to soak and dehydrate, but there is no tedious picking off the skins and grinding is a breeze as they can go through a regular wheat grinder. Beware that the end product has a strong bean flavor, but cooking seems to dampen that somewhat. Besides using it to stretch out my almond flour, I have found that it works great to thicken sauces and stews.

This crust is great for pies like pumpkin and apple. It would also work for many bars like lemon, pudding or other layered bars. Lining the dish with parchment paper is the safest way to go to get nice slices, but I have gone without and it wasn't too problematic.

1/2 cup soaked and dehydrated navy bean flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons water

Combine flours and salt. Cut in butter with a fork until evenly distributed. Add water and mix thoroughly. Press into glass, deep dish, pie plate. It helps to dampen your hands a bit as the dough starts to stick. Try to get it as thin and even as possible. I don’t do any fancy edges; just work the dough about half way up the dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes until bottom and top begin to brown a bit.
links; Menu Plan Monday, Monday Mania

Sprouted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last month, my son got baptized and we hosted a large group of family to celebrate.  I made my crowd pleasing Sourdough Spelt Pizza, GAPS Meatzza, these cookies and GAPS Coconut Macaroons, so we had option.  I talked with the kids about what would be available and what would be their choices.  It ended in our first meal of cheats, but it was not too bad as it was real food and very modest amounts.

At the event, the cookies were a big hit and I was reminded that I needed to get these delicious confections posted.  I can't keep this from you any longer.  I worked and work on this recipe, and perfected it before we started GAPS.  Then, it got buried in a stack of more current recipes. So here it is with all of my quirky, cookie-developing processes.

 I am hard to please in the cookie department.  I like them slightly brown and crisp around the edges and nice and chewy in the center.  Never cakey, crumbly, hard or cracker like.  I like a lot of flavor too, which means natural sugars, whole grains and butterJ.  I am mighty proud about this recipe; The farm fresh eggs, pastured butter, extra virgin coconut oil and sprouted flour are super healthy!  Still, I can’t get away from the high amount of sugar, the carmelization of which adds THE BEST flavor.  Then there are the chocolate chips, where I just do what I can to get a nice quality with more real chocolate than sugar.

I started experimenting with sprouted flour cookie recipes when I learned that whole grains have anti nutrients and need to be properly prepared for maximum benefit.  Soaked and sour dough recipes always yielded cakey, again, not my thing.  But I found sprouted flour so hard to work with because it crumbles and doesn’t absorb the fats and liquids easily.  My biggest problem was figuring out the right amount of flour to use in the dough.  I have baked too many cookies with my old, delicious recipe with instant pudding and was always trying to get the same texture in the dough.

I found the balance; 2 eggs, less one white and ¾ cup butter or 1 stick plus ¼ cup coconut oil (the oil makes a little thinner cookie, which is pictured).  Coconut sugar has a much better texture in these than sucanat and a less over powering flavor and maple syrup add a more complex flavor while giving the sprouted flour the liquid it needs to hydrate.  My most life altering discovery was the refrigeration time, which is nothing new to cookies, but not common for the chip kind.  The dough is almost batter like after mixing, letting it spend time in the fridge gives the flour time to absorb the moisture it needs and sets up the melted coconut oil and butter, thus, a beautiful cookie dough is born!

1/2 cup pastured butter, melted but not hot
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sprouted flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Place butter, oil, sugar and syrup in a mixing bowl and beat on high until smooth and lightens in color.  Add egg, salt and vanilla and mix well. Dump in all flour and sprinkle baking soda on top, take care to break up any clumps. Pulse until flour is moistened, add chips and mix until evenly distributed.  Place in a covered bowl and place in the fridge for 2 -6 hours. You may refrigerate longer, but dough will need to warm up for an hour before it can be easily scooped out again.

The exact baking makes or breaks this cookie.  For medium sized cookies (2 tablespoons of dough) I bake at 325 degrees on convection for 8 minutes.  When I remove them from the oven they are puffed up and fall as they cool.  The edges are barely golden and the middle is entirely doughy.  Let cool completely on pan before serving or storing.  This is when they set up, otherwise they will fall apart.  If you don't have convection, I would bake at 350 degrees and check them at 8 minutes, but they may not be ready until 10 minutes.

Chia Pudding

For breakfast, a snack, dessert or a cute, green furry pet. Ch-ch-ch-chia.

While the chia seed is not cheap, when you look at it's nutritional profile it kinda is.  It contains more iron than spinach, more antioxidants than blueberries, more fiber than beans, more calcium than milk, and more potassium than bananas. Not to mention that it is a complete protein and an excellent source of omega three's.  This is a super food in it's own right and versatile as all get out.

Add a couple tablespoons to your smoothies. Use to thicken sauces by just mixing in the seeds (about 1 tablespoon per 1/2 cup) and letting the mixture set up for 20 minutes.  You can make a "chia gel" by mixing 2 tablespoon seeds and 1 cup water, refrigerate overnight.  This gel is flavorless, will keep for a month and can be used in yogurt, salsa, soups, and salad dressings.  Chia gel is also a great egg replacement; 1/4 cup gel equal 1 egg in a recipe.

 One of my favorite uses for chia seeds is chia pudding.  A really flexible recipe.  You can go basic with just the seeds milk and sweetener.  Vanilla adds a nice flavor and I love the spices, but you could also go chocolate by mixing in 2 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder, this would slightly hide the brown specks in the pudding.  My favorite milk to use in fresh coconut milk, almond milk is excellent, but cow's milk or goat's milk would do the trick too.  As always; the creamier the better!

3 cups milk
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a quart jar.  Stir well and refrigerate overnight.  Especially great with sliced strawberries, bananas, peaches or mangoes mixed in before serving.

How do you like your chia?
links; Hearth and Soup Hop, Menu Plan Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Happy Homemaker Monday, Monday Mania, Fight Back Friday, Recipe Swap, Finer Things Friday

Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes

At last, finding my knack with sourdough!  Most of the time I have felt I have had to sacrifice flavor for the health of sourdough.  I am coming out of it though and these completely divine cupcakes gave me a huge boost!  Perfect for valentine's day. I am hoping to transform these cupcakes into an awesome layer cake for my sister's birthday.

I haven't baked a lot of cakes in my day, luckily my family just goes for anything sweet.  I did a great lemon cake a few years back, but couldn't replicate it.  Most of the time I stick to banana cake (banana bread with frosting) and carrot cake for birthday's because they are familiar.

Kate is spending her birthday with me and our dad and brother will be here too with some golfing buddies.  I just don't think they will go for the "healthy cakes."  {Evil cackle} Because this cake is healthy too and they won't even know it.  Except for Kate, because she can handle the truth.

1 cup freshly fed sourdough starter

1 cup raw milk

2 cups spelt flour

1 1/2 cups coconut sugar

1 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional, may sub another flavoring of choice)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs

Mix starter, milk and flour.  Cover and let rest at room temperature for 8 hours.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t get really bubbly. Cream together sugar, oil, vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, salt baking soda and cocoa powder until mostly smooth and shiny.  Add eggs and mix well.  Pour in half of sourdough mixture and pulse 3 times.  Scrape out remaining mixture and pulse until thoroughly mixed but do not whip vigorously.  The texture is spongy like marshmallow cream.  Ladle into lined muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan to cool completely.  Top with chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces dark chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring (mint would be really good)

Melt chocolate with cream, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat, add vanilla.  Let cool 20 minutes.  Spread on tops of cooled cupcakes.  The ganache will set up more in the next hour.
links; Things I Love Thursday, Fightback Friday, Finer Things Friday

Hot Chocolate from Scratch

It is raining and cold.  Brrr.  There are only a few days spread over 2-3 months that hot chocolate even makes sense.  Today the high was in the 50’s.  We haven’t turned our heat on yet, but the thermostat says 67 degrees, so I am thinking it will need to kick on to get me out of bed in the morning.

Our friends gave us these fancy marshmallows in a stick with crushed candy canes stuck all over them for Christmas.  Paired with a nice mug of cocoa, it made a nice dessert.  My husband HATES peppermint (can you imagine!?) so he opted for whipped cream, which I have to say is really good too.

We love Abuelita, but I have been looking for something I can make from scratch.  I found a great mix of chocolate, cinnamon and really good vanilla in raw, whole milk that makes a great replacement.  If you want to add a little kick, add a pinch of chili powder or cayenne pepper.  Not too much, just enough so that people say “what’s that flavor; I can’t quite put my finger on it?”

3 tablespoons sucanat or honey

3 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon ground Saigon cinnamon
1 pinch salt

2 1/2 cups whole milk or coconut milk

1 teaspoon REALLY good vanilla

Over medium heat, mix sucanat, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt.  Gradually stir in milk and stir constantly until hot, do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into blender and blend until frothy and pour into cups. Serve immediately with marshmallows or whipped cream.

links; Real Food Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, Things I love Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Ultimate Recipe Swap

Dark Chocolate Truffles

Many years ago, at a church cooking class, this chica did a truffle demonstration.  I was so hooked.  After asking her if I could share the recipe she distributed then, she sent me this link, where she already blogged about it.  She does far better at pictures and tutorials, so I will let you clickity-click over there for the recipe.  Meanwhile, I will share my tips and tricks here about things I do  a tad differently.

I like my chocolate DARK, so I use Trader Joes Pound Plus 72% Dark Belgium Chocolate for the ganache (center).  I melt it with Trader Joes Organic Cream.  It is the best cream I have found, not ultra pasteurized, which is hard to find.  My source for raw doesn’t have a separator that makes it pure enough to whip, meaning there is milk mixed with it.  This moisture would cause the chocolate to clump and seize and get gritty.

There are many candy coating’s you can use; a low grade almond bark, which obviously is made of a bunch of garbage, would be the cheapest option.  My sister made an oreo truffle (crushed oreos and cream cheese dipped in almond bark) with my son on his birthday.  It’s allowed when most of them are not for you and when it is a kid project that creates a lot of waste.  There are also Wilton brand candy coatings in every color imaginable, still full of a bunch of garbage.

This year I found a real chocolate coating at none other than Trader Joes.  It is made with 65% cacao and has only 5 ingredients, the most offensive being soy lecithin.  They are called “Semi Sweet Chocolate Callets.”  What ever coating you end up using, a little weapon for your back pocket is palm shortening.  After dipping and dipping, the melted coating gets contaminated and starts getting thicker, and clumping.  A tablespoon of palm shortening thins it right out again so each truffle is nice and smooth.

For Christmas gifts this season, I made 4 kinds; mint, coconut, raspberry and orange by adding extract to the ganache.  I did a little drizzle that used a total of less than 1 block of almond bark (that I had left over from my sister) that I colored with 4 different colors to indicate the flavors.  They turned out lovely and are the epitome of sinfully delicious, homemade chocolate.
links; Things I Love Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday

Mini Fruit Tarts

Melt in your mouth, tender, flaky, mmmm.  I kinda have a thing for puff pastry! These tasty desserts/extra special breakfast items were born out of an ancestral recipe. Kolaches are a family favorite from my beloved Czechs line again. They are made with simple sweet, yeasted dough and traditionally have a poppy seed or nut and date filling.  Puff pastry is completely different dough, and I use what ever filling is convenient, with gobs of them in my freezer, apricot and blueberry make good sense. 

The last time I had kolaches was when my grandfather died 17 years ago.  Many neighbor’s and friend brought them to my grandma’s house for the family to enjoy, how comforting they were!  Though I have recipes for the sweet treat, I have never made them myself.  I always reverently think of them when I am making these tarts, which makes them extra special.

Trader Joes has their all butter puff pastry back in stock, so if you are not up for making my homemade version at the moment, grab some there.  The glaze is up to you, I think they are still wonderful without, but it is nice to add to your desired sweetness.  It is fun to have a variety of fillings and see all the colors randomly placed together.  Note that a little goes a long way, each little tart can only handle a rounded tablespoon.  Also, jam does not have enough starch to hold up in the oven.

1 cup pureed fruit (may be slightly chunky)

½ cup honey (I used sucanat with blueberries)

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 recipe puff pastry

½ cup powdered sucanat

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm fruit in a sauce pan.  Stir arrowroot powder in with the honey and add to fruit.  Cook to a simmer.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.  Let cool.  Cut pastry with a round cookie cutter and place circles on baking sheet 1 inch apart.  Combine the left over pieces by pressing them together lightly and cutting for more rustic rounds (this keeps the light texture, re rolling makes them tougher.) Let rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Push your thumb in the center of every round to make a dent for the filling. Carefully place 1 heaping tablespoon filling in each dent.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until pastry is lightly browned.  Mix sucanat, butter and vanilla until smooth.  Drizzle on warm tarts or brush glaze on edges. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

I have had good luck freezing the finished product and popping them in the toaster oven on low for 10 minutes to thaw and reheat.

links; Simple Lives Thursdays, Whole Foods for the Holiday's

Raspberries Drizzled with Chocolate

Most days, a piece of fruit does the trick for the role of dessert after dinner.  If I have been eating well, I am without sugar craving and am more satisfied this way.  When the holiday's hit, I usually like something stronger for dessert.  Sugar is an addictive substance.  If you, or your children don't like fruit in general, there is too much sugar in your diet.  Fruit should taste sweet, which is a highly desirable attribute in food.  When one over indulges with the potent sugars that are in processed foods, the taste buds become less sensitive to the delicate sweetness of whole foods.

This dessert is somewhat of a transition, it bridges the gap between too much and feeling deprived.  When a bowl of raspberries doesn't sound so great to your sweet tooth, raspberries drizzled with chocolate surely does...without going over the top.  Guilt free.

I like Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% dark Belgian Chocolate.  You can play around with the amounts depending on where your sweet tooth lies.  This will make a drizzle that sets up as a brittle drizzle, the same texture and hardness of the original chocolate bar.  If you like yours to be more pliable like a ganache, add 1 tablespoon of cream to the melted chocolate.

1.5 ounces dark chocolate

12 ounces organic raspberries

Slowly melt chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently.  Carefully wash raspberries in a bowl of water and dry with paper towels.  Place raspberries on silpat or parchment and drizzle with melted chocolate.  Place in refrigerator 15 minutes, but no longer than 6 hours.  We get 4-5 serving from this, but use your own judgement.

links; Tuesday Twister, Tempt My Tummy, Tasty Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesday, Hearth and Soul Hop,  Whole Food for the Holiday's

Homemade Jello

I hate when JELL-O is served as a salad. Those boxes that are full of sugar,artificial colors and flavors are junk food. They do not contain a shred of nutrition that makes them worthy of a before-meal course. I have come up with a lovely real food solution to this madness. It is really only slightly more work and, in my opinion, much more delicious.

You can use a juice from concentrate and you will be better off than the box. I used my vitamix, so in a sense, it was a very fine puree rather than juice. If you have a juicer, this would be another great use. The gelatin doesn’t turn out as clear when you have all the natural fibers in there, but as long as it is smooth, the texture will be so similar. Of course serve with real whipped cream to get the full benefit of all the nutrition in the fruit :)

4 cups of real fruit juice
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon gelatin
1/4 cup of honey
1 cup of berries, fresh or frozen (optional)

Place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let soften for 5 minutes. Boil two cups of the juice and all the honey, pour into bowl with softened gelatin. Mix thoroughly and then add the remaining juice. Sprinkle berries it bottom of 9x13 or similar size dish. Pour juice into dish, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours. Cut and serve with whipped cream.

Links; Fightback Friday's,  Whole Food for the Holiday's

Beignets

A special event favorite of ours are these delicious puffs of heaven called beignets.  They are essentially the French version of donuts.  My recipe has evolved considerably over the years…starting with white flour, white sugar and evaporated milk and ending up here with a lot more nourishing whole foods. I have not been brave enough to try these whole grain, but have increase the amount I have used over time.  Still with more than half whole grain, they are nice and light because the dough puffs as they fry leaving a pocket of air in the middle.

This was the first time I tried powdered sucanat on them and the flavor was different for sure, but just as good.  I am thinking I might try infusing the sugar with a vanilla bean next time.  I also realized Sunday morning I didn’t have any cheap oil in the house, so I had to use my $10 bottle of extra light olive oil. I would love to fry these in coconut oil, but the oil gets grimy from the flour that comes off the dough, so it isn’t really reusable.  I am going to look for a refined coconut oil that is less expensive for next time, any suggestions?

2 cups warm milk

4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons salt

½ cup teff

3 cups sprouted spelt flour

2 cups white flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 quart oil for frying

1 cup sucanat, powdered.

Place milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, honey, nutmeg, salt, teff and flours with yeast on top in mixing bowl and knead with dough hook for 4 minutes.  Transfer dough to large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.  Roll dough out on flour to ¼ inch in thickness, cut into 2-3 inch squares (or what ever size and shape you want) with pizza cutter.  Heat oil to 400 degrees in a 5 quart, wide bottom pan (or fryer.)  Place 5 to 6 pieces in oil at a time, once they start to puff turn promptly with tongs. Let brown slightly and turn back onto first side to brown.  Remove from oil and place on paper towels to cool slightly.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Toss in a bag 10 at a time with powdered sucanat, shake and transfer to a serving dish.  Repeat with remaining beignets. Enjoy!

This post is shared with whole food for the holiday's, tempt my tummy tuesday, tasty tuesday and gnowfglins tuesday twister.

Lemon Honey Cookies

After a week on a cruise ship and enjoying fancy desserts at least twice a day, I came home with a bit of a sweet tooth. For the most part I snack on Trader Joe’s dark chocolate, but it also opens up for the opportunity to experiment more with cookies.

I really like the way these turned out given the ingredients. Usually I have to compromise by using half white flour or white sugar to make a really good cookie. Not so here, I used all unprocessed ingredients. Basically, you could eat these cookies for breakfast and be much better off than the boxed cereal eaters of the world.

Often I find when making sweet things that using two different sweeteners yields better results than just one. Natural sweeteners have strong flavors so dividing them makes it so that one is not too overpowering. Honey is liquid, making things too thin and sucanat is brown making things extra dark.

Blending the sucanat has 2 purposes; it powders the sugar for a finer texture and it releases more flavor from the lemon zest. The method is sort of like making biscuits. I use my vita mix, but a food processor would work well too. I would imagine that a nice blender could do the job as well.

I told the kids that these were vegetable cookies. Sprouted spelt is a vegetable right?

¼ cup sucanat
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 1/2 cups sprouted flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup butter
½ cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla

Place sucanat and zest in blender, blend until powdered. Add the flour, salt and baking powder, pulse to combine. Cut butter into small pieces, place in blender and pulse again until butter is well incorporated. In a mixing bowl, whisk together honey, juice, yolk and vanilla. Turn blender on and slowly pour liquid into blender. Scrape down sides if needed and blend to just combine. Place dough on a sheet of parchment and shape into a log, wrap tightly and refrigerate for two hours. Preheat oven to 375. Unwrap dough and slice into ½ inch rounds. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. It is best to let them cool on the baking sheet. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

links; whole food for the holiday's

Red Quinoa Coconut Sweet Potatoes

For years I worked with Chef Brad, a local chef who has a passion for whole grains, and he really got me hooked on red quinoa. It can be hard to find, but is slowly becoming more widely available. It has the texture of white quinoa, so that would be the best substitution, but the flavor is pleasantly nutty and is worth getting your hands on.

Yams and sweet potatoes are very different tubers. You will not find an authentic yam at a regular grocery store, even chain health food stores have them mislabeled. Instead we see an orange variety and an orange-red variety, sometimes you may come across a whitish yellow variety. They are all very similar in texture and even flavor and nutrition, so find the one that suits your taste.

This is a recipe from Chef Brad that I adapted many times over as my food knowledge expands. Again I urge you to try using slightly less sugar each time you make sweets, you will notice more flavor and crave less sweetness in all your meals. This dish goes perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner and with many fall season meals. We have this for dessert on most days. The sweetness is a happy medium, I could do with less, but for a big family gathering I use more.

I like that there are no oats to worry about soaking and such, still the nuts give a nice crunch. I use this same topping for apple crisp on the apples from my apple turnovers. Save time by making a double batch of topping and refrigerate up to a week to use on a fruit crisp.

4 cups cooked sweet potatoes
1/4 cup honey
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups soaked and cooked red quinoa
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup roasted or soaked and dehydrated walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup sucanat
½ cup sprouted flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons maple syrup
½ teaspoon nutmeg

Mash sweet potatoes and mix with sweetener, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt. Spread evenly in a 9x9 dish. Layer quinoa over potato mixture. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle on top of quinoa. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

If you need to free up some oven space and cooking time on thanksgiving day, may I suggest this cold, make ahead side. For more great ideas on thanksgiving sides go to this gallery.

links; Whole Foods for the Holiday's

Apple Turnovers

When it rains, it pours! I seem to be accumulating apples these days. I had ordered a 30 pound box of honey crisps at the beginning of October, soon after I came across a really good deal on organic granny smith’s and thought I needed to have them for baking. Every week since then, I have gotten a bag of apples in my bountiful basket. Therefore apples have made their way in my tummy for the last 30 some days, and I am not complaining.

There are so many apple recipes out there, some things to watch out for are;

1) too much cornstarch, apples have a natural pectin that helps them “set up” so they are naturally not as watery as cooked peaches, plums or berries. A dab will do ya, less you end up with a gooey, hard to swallow mess. I have replaced cornstarch with arrowroot powder for a healthier alternative.

2) too much sugar, I can’t stand an overly sweet dessert. Learn to appreciate the natural sweetness of foods and just enhance the sweetness slightly when it comes to desserts.

3) too much spice. Cloves, ginger, all spice, nutmeg, cinnamon even cayenne pepper, all go nice with apples, just not all at once. Keep spices simple and let the apple flavor be the star.

This is an easy dessert that has a grand presentation for guests. I talk a bit about puff pastry here. Turbinado sugar is not much better than white sugar, but I use it for the unique crunch in lends. You could use white sugar in a pinch, but don’t even think about insulting my dessert with cool whip!

2 lbs. apples, peeled and diced/sliced (whatever you like)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup sucanat
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2-10x10 sheets of puff pastry
1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Place apples, lemon juice, sucanat, cornstarch and cinnamon in a sauce pan and simmer until apples are slightly tender and create a thick sauce. Let cool to room temperature. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll pastry sheets out to 12x12. Place side by side on a sheet pan with one of the corners of each sheet hanging over the two short sides of the pan. Spoon half the filling onto the inside halves of the pastry sheets. Dab egg wash on two sides of each pastry. Fold over into a triangle and pinch the seams to seal. Brush the top of each turnover with the egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut 2-1 inch vents in the top of each pastry and place in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and delicious. Cool 15 minutes before slicing. This recipe makes 4 hearty servings, 6 regular servings and 8 dainty servings.
links;  Whole Food for the Holiday's

Carmel Banana Pecan Topping

We were in need of a new syrup for Friday Morning Waffles. My last creation was a bomb; a goopy, grainy, bitter mess (I blame the peaches, anybody found a way to use up icky mushy peaches?) Usually fresh berries and whipped cream suffice, only one problem, berry season is gone. We have done syrups from frozen berries and those are nice too. But for this morning I came up with a nice buttery topping with bananas that was such a treat. I can see this going well on a lot of things… hot cereal, ice cream, brownies, vegetables.

For the waffles I used the same recipe as my soaked pancakes, sometimes changing up the grains to spelt and oats. Make sure you have a nice, clean, nonstick waffle iron that gets really hot to prevent sticking. Even with all that, I still spray the iron before the fist one goes on, just for good measure.

1/3 cup sucanat
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup soaked and dehydrated pecans
2 bananas, sliced

Melt sugar and salt in butter until smooth. Add vanilla, pecans and bananas. Heat through and serve.

Cinnamon Pizza

Another blast from my past of high school employment at The Pizza Ranch. There they called this dessert “Cactus Bread,” remember the western theme. Of coarse I had no recipe to work off of at this chain restaurant. The instructions included mixing this bag with water to make the dough, open this bucket for the preserved margarine stuff and that bucket for the strudel, then cut open a bag of frosting. I may have made the cinnamon sugar from scratch. Anyway, it was pretty darn yummy, so I did a little experimenting to recreate and here you have it; made with whole grains and all real food, from scratch, cinnamon pizza.

½ batch of multigrain pizza dough

parchment paper

2 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoons sucanat

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Roll dough out to ½ inch, place on parchment paper. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Strudel

2 tablespoons butter, softened

3 tablespoons sucanat

3 tablespoons sprouted flour

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

dash of salt

Cut butter into dry ingredients. Crumble the strudel on top of the dough and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 500 degrees for 5 minutes.

Glaze

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup powdered sugar

Whisk until smooth. Let bread cool slightly and drizzle with glaze.

I have heard you can powder sucanat in the vitamix. I'll have to try it and let you know how it goes. I am really trying to avoid white sugar without sacrificing flavor, any tips?

Melon Refresher

The best time to eat watermelon is NOW. It tastes the best now, is most nutritious now and is cheapest now, so chow down now. It is hot and we need lots of fluid, melon is perfect for summer.

So simple and delicious. Add honey if you need a sweeter drink, but this time of the year the melons are so sweet on their own. I have tried this with many varieties of melon and they all made an excellent drink.

This recipe makes yummy popsicles too. I just made some last night with yellow honeydew, a bit of kale and dulse. They were a brilliant green and the kids gobbled them up today.

4 cups chopped melon
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 tablespoon flax oil (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Green House Smoothie

After years of trying to cover up the green-ness of spinach in smoothies, I have finally decided to embrace the color that epitomizes nutrition. Smoothies are great for packing a big nutrition 1-2 punch. There are TONS of supplemental items that can hide in a nice, smooth, refreshing beverage. This is a sample recipe that even my husband enjoys. If I am making one for just me and the kids I will add a few more goodies, or add them after I have poured him a glass. Smoothies are a chance to get creative, use up what you have. Always remember to freeze produce that is about to go bad and just throw them into the next smoothie.

2 cups kefir
¼ cup flax oil
dash of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 whole kiwis
2 bananas-frozen
core of 1 pineapple-frozen
3 cups baby spinach
2 cups ice

Place all ingredients in blender for 45 seconds. Turn into “ugly smoothie” by adding frozen berries.

Other goodies:
Seaweed
Nutritional yeast
Hydrated chia seeds
Hemp seeds
Soaked nuts
Coconut oil
Essential oil
Kale
Carrots
Avacado
Beans
Sprouts

Multi Grain Banana Bread

Sweet breads are typically white flour, laden with vegetable oil and white sugar, just because there are a couple cups of bananas or zucchini does not overcome the fact that these breads are no better than a birthday cake. With a little know how, these three major issues can be remedied.

First off, mild flavored whole grains can be used to a a whole lot of nutrition. I recommend barley, oats, kamut and soft white wheat, any combination from one to all four will give good results. To give the whole grains a lift, increase the baking powder by 1/2 teaspoon.

Next, we address vegetable oil, which is the lowest class of oil next to hydrogenated (why must they taint the glorious "V" word?) My oil of choice in this case is coconut oil, followed by light olive oil and expeller pressed canola oil. No need for a full cup, the bananas and kefir give moisture a boost, while taking care to not over bake makes a world of difference.

Lastly, the dreaded over processed white sugar. It is true that texture of, lets face it-cake, is benefited by white sugar. But surely 2 cups is over doing it. For me and my kids 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup is sweet enough to be a treat. Jarom adds a sprinkle of powdered sugar to his slices. Consider cutting back on sugar little by little, if you go too far just garnish with powdered sugar. Another trick is sprinkling a couple tablespoons on top of the batter before cooking, coarse sugars like turbinado work great for this.

Once we had banana bread for breakfast the and kids thought I was being naughty. Layne said "We did not have a very healthy breakfast today, Mom." Of coarse I argued that we did.

1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup of white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons kefir or buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 medium bananas
2/3 cup barley flour
2/3 cup oat flour
2/3 cup soft white wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan. Cut a 5x9 inch piece of parchment and place in the bottom of the pan.In blender place syrup, sugar and egg. Blend on low for 45 seconds. Add oil, kefir, vanilla and bananas. Blend again for 30 seconds. Place the remaining ingredients on top of mixture. Pulse until mostly combined, finish mixing with a spatula and pour into loaf pan. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Be sure to check the bread a couple times in the last 10 minutes for doneness. Press gently on the middle of the loaf, firm is done. When you remove loaf from the oven, let cool 5-10 minutes in the pan, then turn out on a wire rack and peel the parchment from the bottom.