Expanding a toddler's vegetable repertoire...

As my son approaches the two-year mark, I only now understand why parents are constantly trying to find ways to *sneak* vegetables into kids meals.  In fact, didn't Seinfeld's wife write an entire book on how to be a veggie sneak??  I digress.  Now, to be completely honest, my toddler is not an overly fussy guy.  He's pretty good about eating his veggies at supper (lunch is another story...) but somehow I feel like I'm in this never-ending rotation of peas, carrots and potatoes.  Boooring!

It's summer time and we are fortunate to have a wide variety of local veggies available to us, the majority of which are not peas, carrots, or potatoes.  So on the weekend I bought a number of zucchini at my local farmer's market and as our camping weekend approached, I realized I had yet to use them!  A quick search on tastespotting for "zucchini" brought up a number of zucchini fritter/pancake recipes.  Worth a shot, I thought.  So, I pulled out my handy-dandy food processor and grater attachment and went to work.  What resulted were these totally awesome fritters that much to my surprise and pleasure, my toddler couldn't get enough of (ketchup added, of course...)!  The recipe below was my own version of what I found.

Zucchini fritters

4 c grated zucchini (I used the grater on my food processor)
1.5c bread crumbs
3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
2 eggs
chopped parsley, salt & pepper, to taste
coconut oil, for frying *

* If you don't have cocont oil, I'm sure you could substitute canola.

Place zucchini in a colander or sieve and use your hands to wring out as much moisture as possible.  Leave for 5-10 minutes over a bowl and squeeze again.  Add in remaining ingredients and stir to combine well.  Add extra flour if too moist.

Heat coconut oil in a big frying pan.  Once hot, take 1-2Tbsp of zucchini mixture and shape into small pancakes.  Drop into hot oil and fry a couple of minutes until nice and brown on each side  (I used a cast iron pan).  Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.  Serve warm.

Cookies for a weekend camping adventure

These cookies break all my *rules* in healthy eating: they are chock full of sugar, flour, and all around yumminess!  However, these cookies are for a special occasion - this weekend John and I have decided it would be fun to take our toddler camping in Lake Placid.  Now, in our pre-child (or DINK) days, Lake Placid was a regular destination of ours, both in winter and in summer.  Since the birth of Monkey, as he is affectionately, but oh-so-appropriately nicknamed, we have yet to venture the 3.5 hour trip to that area.  So, perhaps it is our longing for the relaxed, rugged days of before, more so than our good sense (camping with a toddler??) that is motivating this trip, but whatever it is, the campsite is booked and now, the cookies are made, so nothing will can hold us back. 

It is somewhat of a tradition, er, habit of mine to always bake cookies for camping trips and not just any cookies, but usually something extra special to, you know, counter all those calories we burn hiking the adirondacks, swimming in Mirror Lake, mountain biking or cycling through the rolling hills, etc.  This trip is no exception.  Mind you, most of the calories we burn will likely be chasing Monkey around a campsite, away from campfires, and maybe if we're lucky, up the mountain in his backpack while he sleeps (did I mention this insanely busy Monkey also likes to sleep, thank goodness...).  So, maybe we don't need the calories like we once did, but I'm not one to mess with tradition, or at least not one that tastes so good!

So, here is my most recent camping cookies invention.  Give them a try. I bet they'll taste just as good in the comforts of your own home without the annoying blackflies, drunk obnoxious campers, or a toddler who refuses to sleep in a portacrib (oh no, did I just jinx myself?!)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole grain flour (e.g. whole wheat, spelt, barley, rye)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup large flake rolled oats
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped peanuts

1. In a standing mixer, beat butter.  Add sugars and salt and beat until well combined.  Add eggs and peanut butter.  Beat mixture until everything is well incorporated and then add vanilla. 
2. Sprinkle flours, baking soda, and baking powder over butter mixture, and then either stir in using the "stir" option on your machine, or else use a wooden spoon.  
3. Once the flours are well incorporated, add your remaining ingredients and stir in with a wooden spoon.
4. Form into 1-11/2 inch balls spaced 1-2 inches apart on your baking sheets (I needed two baking sheets).
5. Bake for 12 minutes at 350o.
6. Let cool for a minute ot two on the sheets and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Sourdough - a labour of love

Yum, sourdough.  It has such a unique flavour and is best eaten with nothing more than a nice slather of butter.  Now, with all the gluten free baking I've been doing over the past couple of months I've really been craving some "real bread".  But of course, I still don't want to end up eating a whole loaf myself.  So, I did some research and found what I believe to be a perfect compromise - sourdough.  Did you know that sourdough has numerous health benefits to which all other breads cannot hold a candle?  Just google sourdough benefits and you'll find tons of information.  But the short version is that beneficial bacteria are created during the fermentation process that are not unlike the good bacteria you would find in yogurt or sauerkraut.  Yay!

So, once I knew that sourdough was what I wanted to bake, I quickly found out that it wasn't as easy as throwing some yeast, water, flour and fat together and letting it rise.  No, sourdough requires days upon days of feeding and watching.  It's actually very little work--just don't start it expecting to have a loaf tomorrow.

Now, I am not going to post a recipe here.  Rather, I am going to point you to the website I used for my starter and bread.  It is a very comprehensive, day-by-day chronology of how to build your sourdough starter and ultimately, make your bread.  http://cookistry.blogspot.com/2011/04/building-sourdough-starter.html.  The only place where I found I didn't match her instructions was in the time it took to get an active started.  She said 8-10 days and mine took 15.  I tried after 11 and the bread failed miserably.  Hence, my message to you is, be patient.  Only use your starter once you see it bubbling up in the jar after your daily feed.  If it doesn't rise, it's not ready, no matter how many bubbles you have!

Give it a try and let me know how you make out.  Here's what my first (successful) loaf looked like - and yes, I baked it on a pizza stone(!):

Date-sweetened oatmeal raisin cookies

I know, two sugar-free cookie posts in a row...  But once again, I had something in mind and I didn't want to stop until I perfected it.  Now, the banana cookies are awesome, but you don't always want banana in your cookies, right?  So I tweaked some recipes I had -- some with sugar, and some without -- and came up with these truly awesome no sugar, no grain flour cookies.  These cookies are only sweetened with dates so are very much guilt-free and especially kid friendly--cookies for breakfast anyone??  I think my toddler liked these ones best too!
Now, if you are more of an oatmeal choc chip cookies fan, feel free to substitute mini choc chips for the raisins or currents.  They would just no longer be "sugar-free" (but still way healthier than standard oatmeal choc chip cookies!) ** Update: I made these cookies with mini chocolate chips and they might even be better than the raisin ones...

SUGAR FREE OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

1 cup almond flour

¼ cup coconut flour

¾ cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt

¾ cup dates, boiled, drained and stirred to make a paste
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp coconut extract
raisins or chocolate chips

¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, combine butter, eggs, dates, vanilla and coconut extract.  Pour dry mixture into wet and stir until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut.
3. Taking 1 Tbsp of batter at a time, form into small disks, approx 1-1.5cm thick. (NOTE: These cookies do not spread out like regular cookies so the shape you make them before going in the oven is the shape they will stay).  Place onto baking sheet and bake until starting to brown around the edges, approx. 12 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Banana cookies (psst! they are sugar-free)

Ingredients / Directions:

2 c rolled oats
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c coconut
3 over-ripe bananas
1/4 c coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1 c dates
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cover dates with water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes until dates are soft.  Stir dates with a wooden spoon to make a paste.
3.Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add to dates along with oil, egg, and extracts.
4. Combine oats, flour, coconut, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Stir into banana mixture.
5. Allow batter to sit for 15 minutes or parchment-lined cookie sheet. (You can flatten them if you like.)
5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Gluten-free + bread = better than you think!

No, we are not Celiacs, nor do we have any wheat allergies.  My husband just likes to try to keep his gluten consumption to a minimum.  He feels better, he says.  Me, well, meh!  I am indifferent, but am wise enough to know that if I make regular bread, I'll have to eat it all by myself.  So gluten-free bread it is--something I can make and I won't be forced to eat the whole loaf just so it doesn't go to waste...you know?

Finding a gluten-free bread recipe wasn't the hard part; rather, finding one that didn't contain all kinds of weird ingredients or an ingredient list a mile long was the problem. Xanthan gum?  Sorghum flour?  What the..?  That's when I stumbled across Elana's Pantry.  Her approach to gluten-free baking is out of necessity (she is Celiac) so this gal has done her baking research, and successfully, I might add.  Her focus is on baking with almond flour, known to most of us as ground almonds. Now, I know what you're thinking, bread with almond flour?  Wouldn't it be heavy and well, nutty?  And I'd say, it's certainly heavier and nuttier than Wonder Bread, but I wasn't looking to replace good ol' bread, because the truth of the matter is that I can go and buy a loaf and eat it without issue, if I so crave it.  I was just looking for something to fill the void left from my forced decision to not make my homemade multi-grain bread weekly anymore. 

So, I picked up some almond flour (holy expensive Batman!) and already had some arrowroot flour on hand from making my son's animal cookies and gave her recipe a go.  It was good--John claimed it was better than real bread, but I'd say that was a bit of a stretch! To be honest, I felt it was lacking something, so I decided to reassess the recipe and see how I could make it better.  I looked around at some other bread recipes and figured out what I thought was missing (key ingredient - butter!, plus a few other small tweaks).  I was very happy with the results.  It really is a yummy bread--more like a quick bread or loaf--but more importantly, it truly fills my bread void :)

Here is my modified version, adapted from Elana's Gluten-Free Bread 2.0:

Almond Arrowroot Bread (aka Gluten-Free Bread)

2 cups almond flour
1 cup arrowroot flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 350o.  In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a larger bowl, beat eggs for 3 minutes or until nice and frothy.  Beat in honey.  Very slowly beat in the butter.  Stir in dry ingredients and pour into a small greased loaf pan.  (NOTE: I used a pastry brush to grease my pan using the melted butter from my recipe.)  Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the bread is nice and golden.  Let cool in the pan before removing and slicing into the bread.  I keep mine in the fridge after a day or so, as per Elana's instructions, but I don't enjoy it cold. Luckily it toasts beautifully!  Yum. 

Sunday Spring Brunch!

Spring has finally arrived here in Ottawa.  It's been a long time coming.  Usually by the first of April we've seen a few nice days here and there, but this year that hasn't been the case.  So, this weekend when we finally reached double digit weather, I naturally felt the need to celebrate with spring-like food.  A friend of ours, who also happens to be our accountant, was coming over on Sunday to bring our tax returns and help John out with his business accounting, so I thought this to be the perfect time for a spring meal.  Our friend is someone who appreciates good food too, so I knew my efforts would be appreciated.

Once the time was agreed upon--late morning--I knew immediately what brunch meal I wanted to prepare as it had to be not too fussy and easy to make ahead of time, so that I could get to the gym Sunday morning before brunch, of course :)  For my main dish I opted to make a smoked salmon frittata with dill and green onions from One Perfect Bite.  I had made this dish before, only having doubled the recipe the first time and used hot smoked salmon instead of the called-for more standard cold-smoked stuff.  This time I did not alter the recipe at all and it turned out beautifully.  My only comment is that I needed to cook it for a few minutes longer, plus a quick broil, compared with what the recipe calls for. 

Now, what to serve with the frittata didn't come to me as easily.  I just knew it had to be equally as "Spring-y".  Then I remembered a couple of blackberry scone recipes in a foodie magazine, Where Women Cook, that I had received at Christmas.  At the time, I wondered why on earth the editors opted to include TWO blackberry scone recipes in their magazine.  Having looked closely at both, I now now that they are quite different recipes, but still think it a bit redundant--I mean, couldn't one have at least been blueberry, or peach, or...? Anyway, it is what it is and thanks to this redundancy, I was able to come up with the perfect accompaniment for my frittata by combing the best aspects of the two recipes.  The result was a delicious scone with an undeniably spring-like appeal, thanks to the berries and naturally pink-coloured glaze!

Blackberry scones (adapted from Where Women Cook Dec/Jan/Feb 2011)

Scones:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, cut into 1cm cubes
1 egg
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup blackberries, any big ones cut in half

Glaze:
1 Tbsp butter
2 blackberries
1/2 Tbsp whole milk
icing sugar (approx 3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl.   Using your fingers, rub butter into flour mixture until a nice crumbly texture.  Beat egg with milk and stir into dough.  If your dough is too dry, add more milk.  Scrape dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until dough comes together nicely.  Divide into two equal size pieces and shape into two disks, each approximately 1.5 cm thick.  Spread blackberries in the centre of one of the disks, leaving a 2cm border around the edges.  Place remaining disk on top and pinch the edges closed.  Flatten the whole disk gently with your hands.  Transfer to a baking sheet and cut into 8 wedges.  Do not separate the wedges--leave them together so it looks like a pie.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes, or until tops are lightly golden and bottom is evenly browned.  Remove from oven and while cooling, prepare glaze.

Glaze: Heat blackberries and butter in microwave until butter is melted, approximately 10-15 seconds.  Mash berries with a fork.  Stir in milk and vanilla and gradually stir in icing sugar by the heaping spoonful until desired consistency is reached.  Drizzle over scones.  Pull apart the wedges to serve.

Chrisabars

I originally called this post, "Homemade Larabars" but then I remembered the resistence by certain family members not to call them this as my name is not Lara and, really, Larabars bears no significance on the actualy ingredients, so why not make up a name?  Consequently, in a bout of ingenuity, Chrisabars was the name that was suggested and I'm trying my darndest to make it stick. 

These bars are actually different from the ones I shared with my family a few weeks ago.  Those ones were amazing, but for them I had followed a recipe exactly from Homemakers magazine (recipe at the bottom).  My only complaint about them is that they are very messy.  My food processor is not leak-proof and so everytime I make them, the orange juice drips everywhere--and I have a very large (12cup) processor!  For the Chrisabars, I made up the recipe--in fact, I don't even have precise measurements.  But that's the beauty of these bars, the room for creativity and personal preferences.  The measurements below are approximate.  Add more dates or walnuts as needed to get the consistency you like.  Feel free to add more or less coconut or extract as desired too.  My only suggestion is to use honey dates, as I've indicated in the recipe.  They puree much more easily than regular dates--your food processor will thank you! 

Once you have tried this recipe, or the one from Homemakers, feel free to get creative and find your favourite flavour!

COCONUT CHRISABARS

1 1/2 c. honey dates
1 1/2 c. unsulphured dried apricots, soaked for a bit in boiling water
3/4 c. walnut halves
1/4 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2-1 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well blended and chopped, then turn on processor and let it all blend together until a nice paste is formed.  Scrape into a parchment lined 8-inch square pan.  Bake in oven for 1.5 hours to dry out slightly and set.  Cool completely.  Cut into squares to eat.


DATE WALNUT ENERGY BARS (from Homemakers magazine, February/March 2011)

750g (1.5 lb) pitted dates
1 orange rind, finely grated
1/2 c (125mL) orange juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 cups walnut halves

In a food processor, puree dates, orange rind, juice and salt.  Add 2 cups of the walnuts and pulse until finely chopped.  (If food processor has a small bowl, do this in batches to avoid a mess).  Add remaining walnuts and pulse until coarsely chopped with some larger pieces remaining. Scrape mixture into parchement paper lined 9-ince baking pan; smooth top.  Bake in centre of 200 degree oven until no longer sticky and fairly dry, approximately 3 hours.  Let cool completely.  With moistened knife, cut into bars.

A new twist on an old grain

In keeping with my efforts to cook a mainly gluten-free diet through the week, I have discovered a number of new grains, which are, in fact, very old grains that have just happened to fall out of mainstream cooking and baking here in North America.  Many of these grains are actually making somewhat of a comeback as people try to replace the wheat in the diets with other grains or simply wish to incorporate a wider range of grains into their diet.  One of these grains is millet.  I know, most people tend to associate millet with birdfeed, but it's actually a very tasty, very nutritious grain, especially when served at breakfast.  It also is extremely nutritious, being very high in B vitamins and easily digestible.

I cook some kind of porridge a few times a week to have in the fridge so that my little family can quickly heat it up in the morning.  This morning we had a little more time than usual so I made my cereal right before we ate it.  And this morning, as I mentioned above, millet was my grain of choice for the porridge.  I really must say that I have yet to cook a porridge that my family hasn't liked, and that includes my toddler!  This morning's was no different.  However, what was different was that I made this one up (!) and I thought it was too good not to share.

Millet Porridge

1 cup millet, rinsed well
1 cup whole milk
1 1/4 cup water
handful of honey dates (important that these are honey dates as they break down nicely in the porridge)
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Combine rinsed millet, milk, water and dates in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and turn heat down to simmer for approximately 15 minutes, or until desired texture is achieved.  Stir occasionally during simmering to ensure even breakdown of dates.  Remove from heat and stir in cardamom and coconut oil until all oil is melted.

Serve and enjoy!

Brownie cooks... brownies!

I know, kind of corny that I'm writing a post about brownies, but I made these brownies today and had to share them with you.  These are definitely NOT your run-of-the-mill chocolate fudgy or cakey brownies.  These are special.  For starters, there is no flour in them.  Secondly, there are no added refined sugars.  Thirdly, they have black beans in them.  Sounds crazy, you say?  Well, I myself was skeptical, until I tried them.  Now I am *slightly* hooked and ate a whole row for dessert tonight. 

You are probably wondering why I ever wanted to mess with brownies.  They're so good, you say.  Well, that's true, but when you live with someone who tries to avoid flour and sugar while you still need your sweet fix, baking a whole pan of old-school brownies would mean you'd HAVE to eat them all yourself...  So, in search of a compromise, you learn to be creative.  Luckily, I didn't have to be too creative.  Pattycake.ca did that for me.  In my search for "alternative" brownies, I came across her recipe for "Really Awesome Black Bean Brownies" and thought I'd give them a try.  Here's her recipe: http://www.pattycake.ca/node/370.

I made a few slight adjustments, the main one being the substitution of cooked dates for the carob syrup mainly because I had tons of dates on hand and had never even heard of carob syrup.  Here's my recipe below.  Give them a try and tell me if you can stop yourself after just one...  but hey, these are relatively guilt-free so maybe having a couple, or a whole row, isn't so bad after all!  I have to warn you -- these are not for the faint of heart nor are they very kid-friendly.  With the addition of coffee, tons of cocoa, and lack of sugar they are the equivalent of an 80-90% cocoa chocolate bar, compared with regular brownies being like an Aero or Dairy Milk :) 

Really Awesome Black Bean Brownies (adapted from Pattycake.ca)

 

1 can black beans, rinsed
2 large eggs
½ cup dates cooked in a little water and stirred to make a paste
1/4 c honey
1/4 c brewed coffee
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/2 c cocoa
2 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c chocolate chips

In a food processor, combine beans, eggs, dates, honey, coffee, vanilla, and melted butter.  In a large bowl, sift together cocoa, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt.  Fold liquid ingredients into cocoa mixture just till combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Grease and dust with cocoa an 8-inch pan.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 till set - about 20 min. Allow to cool to room temperature and transfer to the fridge – they are best cold.

Lentil stew

Now, I know to many "lentil stew" doesn't sound too appealing but it truly is one dish I recommend trying before judging.  In an effort to include more lentils (other than red lentil dhal, which we make almost weekly) into my family's diet, I have been on the search for some hearty lentil supper recipes, namely something with meatier green lentils.

In an almost fate-like twist, two recipes actually came to me!  One thanks to The Sweet Beet, a fantastic real-food blog to which I subscribe and anxiously await new posts, and the other compliments of a calendar my husband picked up at the local natural food store.  I decided to combine the best aspects of the two, add a few of my own touches, and the result is a belly-filling, simple-to-make, healthy, and truly delicious stew.  As you can see below, my little guy can't get enough of it (p.s. this is his second bowl!)

Lentil Stew

butter and olive oil for frying
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced carrots
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups green lentils
3/4 cup red lentils
1/4 cup quinoa
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 can tomatoes (796mL)
splash red wine vinegar
1/2 pkg mushrooms, chopped
parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Sort and rinse your lentils and quinoa well, and set aside.
Heat butter and oil in large saucepan.  Fry veggies and garlic for about 10 minutes, or until onions are transparent.  Add tomato paste, herbs, and salt and pepper.  Stir to coat veggies.  Add lentils, quinoa, stock, tomatoes, and red wine vinegar.  Stir to combine.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Add mushrooms, and add a little extra water, if necessary, so that the stew doesn't stick to your pot.  Simmer for another 20 minutes, or until lentils are done to your liking. Check seasoning and serve.  I like to grate a little parmesan on each bowl before I bring it to the table.  Enjoy!

Arrowroot animal cookies

Now, I have to state upfront that these cookies truly are a labour of love.  I have been trying for months to make the perfect homemade replacement for store-bought arrowroot cookies--you know the ones, full of white flour, vegetable shortening and modified palm oils (what the heck are those anyway??), glucose, soya lecithin, etc... We have all eaten them and fed them to our babies, under the premise that they are great first foods for baby.  But really, what makes them such great food??  I would argue nothing, other than effective marketing, thanks to a photo of a cute and apparently healthy baby on the box. 

So, after giving the store-bought cookies to my son on numerous occasions, mainly because of their convenience, I began to question my decision to do so, and decided to hunt for a more nutritious homemade version.  I was shocked to find that all the recipes I found online were not much different from the boxed version, minus some of the additives.  Thus began my multi-month experiment to come up with my own recipe.

What you will find below is nothing like the cookies from the box.  Rather, they are something completely different, except for the addition of arrowroot flour.  The arrowroot gives the cookies a melt-in-your-mouth texture while still being a slightly crispy cookie.  Also, did you know that arrowroot is easily digestible?  This is the reason, I discovered along the way, that arrowroot cookies are, in fact, marketed towards babies. 

In keeping with the theme of these being cookies for my toddler, I decided to purchase a few mini animal cookie cutters, thus, creating the hybrid arrowroot animal cookies.  Sure, the mini cookie cutters add to your prep time (it takes a lot longer to cut out dozens upon dozens of little polar bears and hippos than a bunch of 4cm circles!), but the cuteness factor they provide make it all worth it!

Give them a try and tell me how much your little one (and yourself, and your husband...) loves these little cookies:

Arrowroot animal cookies

¼ cup spelt flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup barley flour

¼ cup arrowroot flour

½ tsp baking powder
¼ cup ground walnuts or almonds or combination of both
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup white sugar

2 Tbsp brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

All-purpose flour for kneading

Whisk the flours, ground nuts and baking powder. Set aside. In a separate medium bowl, beat the butter with the sugars and salt until it's smooth and looks a bit like a brown sugar frosting. Beat in the egg until everything is uniform in appearance.  Stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured counter-top and knead in enough extra flour to help form the dough into a ball--the dough will be very soft and sticky when you first put it onto the counter. Cut the dough in half, flatten each piece, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. On a floured work surface roll each circle of dough out thinly (maybe 5mm or so). Using small animal-shaped cookie cutters, cut out cookies.  Bake until the cookies are just beginning to color at the edges ~5 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on racks.

Makes a lot of cookies, exact amount depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

Option: If you want to make these cookies a little more grown-up appropriate, do as I have done--stew a few dates and prunes until soft and broken down.  Let cool.  Prepare the recipe as above, but use a round cookie cutter instead (size to your liking), and put a small bit of the dried fruit filling in the centre of each and fold over, sealing the edges well.  Bake for a few minutes longer than the animal cookies.

Homemade multi-grain bread

When I decided to start this blog, I thought it fitting to start with a post on homemade bread, as what is more appropriate than breaking a loaf of bread to start things off?  This is my favourite bread recipe.  I'll admit that I haven't tried a whole lot of different recipes but when I first tried this one, I knew I wouldn't have to look any further.  This recipe comes from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain cookbook.  My sister gave me this cookbook a number of months ago knowing my love for experimenting and baking with whole grains.  Little did she (or I, for that matter!) know just how much this cookbook would further engrain my passion for whole gains and open me up to experimenting with all kinds of new ones. 

So, this takes me back to my bread...  Well, actually it is Ms. Boyce's bread, but I have played around a bit with the flours and the methods to add my own touch.  Whereas the original recipe calls for whole wheat and white bread flours, I have expanded this to include spelt and barley, and use unbleached all-purpose in lieu of bread flour.  This makes a slightly darker loaf and a little bit heartier.  I have tried to eliminate the white flour completely but it didn't turn out.  The bread was way too crumbly and hence too difficult to cut and butter.

Also, I should add that my little family of three cannot eat a whole loaf as the original recipe makes.  I make two smaller ones, and pop one in the freezer right after baking.  This gives me homemade bread later in the week without double the time and effort!   If you try it, I think you'll be pleasently surprised how easy it is.  My only advice is to plan ahead, because although it isn't too labour intensive, it does take approximately 3 hours from start to finish (not including cooling period!)  This bread is so good, I find pairing it with anything more than a nice slab of butter takes away from the yumminess.  Here is my recipe:

Multi-grain bread

2 1/4 tsp yeast
3 Tbsp molasses
2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup barley flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 Tbsp kosher salt

1. Combine yeast, molasses, and water into the bowl of a standing mixer.  Stir together, scraping all the yummy molasses off the bottom of your bowl to incorporate.  Let stand 5 minutes until surface is nice and foamy.
2. Combine the flours, oats, and butter in a large bowl.  Add to yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.  Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
3. Add the salt to your dough and, using the dough hook on your mixer, mix on level 4 for 6 minutes.  The dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl.  If there is any sticking, simply add extra all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp at a time until it no longer sticks.
4. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead with your hands a few times.  Put the dough into a greased bowl and roll around to cover the surface of the dough.  Cover and let stand for 1 hour.
5. Using a knife, cut the dough into two halves.  Take one half and press down on floured surface, working towards a rectangular shape, pressing out all the air bubbles.  Fold the dough down from the top to the middle, and fold the bottom up to meet the top fold.  Bring top and bottom together and pinch ends to seal.  Pinch the sides together and roll the dough back and forth to form evenly into the shape of your pan.  Place the dough seam-side down into a small greased loaf pan.  Repeat with other half of dough.
6. Cover loaves with towels and let rise for one hour.  While the dough is rising, turn the oven on to 400o. 
7. When dough has finished rising, bake for 35 minutes.  To test if bread is done, tap the top of the loaf.  If it sounds hollow, pull it out.  If not, put it back in for a few more minutes.
8. Remove bread immediately from the pans and let cool on cooling rack until completely cool.