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!