Grain-free Pizza Crust

I was so pleased this past weekend to come up with a recipe for a grain-free pizza crust that everyone really liked.  It's still a work in progress so I will be updating with the changes I make.  But here's what I did:

Ingredients
1 cup blanched almond flour
1 tablespoon coconut flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg

Method
Whisk wet ingredients together.  Add dry ingredients to wet.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pour batter onto lined baking sheet and spread till it is about 1/8" thick. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Add toppings (I put on my homemade sauce, a very little bit of cheese made from raw milk from grass fed cows, sauteed mushrooms, onions, and peppers and a couple of slices of Applegate farm chicken & turkey sausage).

I was very pleased with how it turned out.  Other almond flour pizza crust recipes I have tried were just too much.  Just super dense.  Coconut flour pizza crust recipes were just too coconut-y.  This is a nice, mild pizza crust where the toppings really stand out and don't get overwhelmed by the crust.

I would like to get the crust a bit more crispy which means either more oil or another egg. I'll post when I try the modifications next time and hopefully I'll get a picture too.

Paleo Porridge

My kids really like porridge.  They still eat millet porridge three mornings a week (along with turkey bacon and usually a fruit).  Z1 likes eggs and on non-millet days will happily gobble them up (as long as they are prepared plainly, i.e. just a little salt and pepper and cooked in coconut oil).  Z2 will not even entertain the idea of eggs--no preparation style tickles his fancy.  So I've tried many different foods at breakfast and he seems to only be interested in waffles (and I haven't tried paleo waffles so it's the gluten-free oat ones he eats) and millet.  Well, I'm trying to move Z1 and Z2 further along the paleo track and so with some experimentation, I've come up with a pretty good paleo porridge.

Paleo (almond) Porridge

1/2 cup properly soaked almonds (or almond meal)
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ripe banana
1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
coconut milk

Add all ingredients except the coconut milk to a blender and blend well.  Transfer to a pot and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat till thickened.  Pour into bowls.  Add milk.  Stir.

This makes 2 servings and the kids really like it.

I'd like to try the same recipe with some macadamia nuts or walnuts as they have a better Omega 3:6 ratio but almonds are my kids favorite nut so I figured I'd start there.

Interestingly enough, while looking for a nice picture or porridge, I came across one from Elana's Pantry (one of my favorite favorite blogs).  The recipe is for Gluten-free, Grain-free Porridge and I think might give this one a try for the kids too.

Wheat-Free Oatmeal Waffles and Weight Watchers Update

I'm still giving this wheat-free diet a try.  This coming Tuesday will mark 2 weeks that I've, to the best of my ability, avoided wheat.  Usually on Sundays we have pancakes and since I can't have my regular pancakes, I've been making wheat-free oatmeal waffles.  I googled and came up with a bunch of hits.  I combined 2 or 3 recipes to make up this one.  

Wheat-Free Oatmeal Waffles

Start by heating up your waffle iron.  You will need

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup almonds

1 medium banana

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon oil

Put everything in the blender and run it till smooth.  Spray your waffle iron with cooking spray, pour about a 1/2 cup of batter in and cook for about 8 minutes.  You should come up with 4 waffles.  

----------------------------------------------------

The waffles are really good.  I still have my tempeh bacon (which I marinated for the first time yesterday--they were awesome!) with them except I make sure to use wheat-free soy sauce.  By the way, the tempeh bacon recipe comes from You Won't Believe it's Vegan.

As for Weight Watchers . . . perhaps the best thing about WW is that it is adaptable to any diet: raw, wheat-free, vegan, macrobiotic, whatever.  Recently they changed the program saying that this new one accounts for new research discoveries--and it does seem to accommodate diets that have more fruit in it.  This new program assigns 0 points to fruit whereas with the old program, fruit was 1-2 points depending on the type of fruit.  I've spent this whole year that I was on WW diligently tracking my fruits and treating them with respect.  I don't eat 2 bananas a day (because that was 3 points) although before WW I would have without giving it a second thought.  In fact, all points are calculated differently (in some cases points values are higher) but you're allotted more points daily.  

I'm not one for change especially if something is working. I'm skeptical about the new program and I've considered canceling my account with them.  But I have to say that tracking what I eat with WW E-tools has kind of become a way of life for me.  I have tons of recipes on there and it's something I use every day.  In fact, I keep the window open all day long and sometimes plan out my whole week of eating.  

I realize that WW is a business and they have to change things up every so often to a) attract new customers and b) keep profits high (by keeping people from figuring out how to do WW without paying) so I can't fault them too much.  We weren't given a choice in the matter (i.e. the choice to stick with the old program or switch to the new) and so I have to get with the new plan (or quit altogether).  That in and of itself was really maddening but, I mean, if I just stick to what I've been doing more or less, I expect my weight to stay the same.  I am trying not to let the different point values change anything. I'm also thinking about using SparkPeople since they also have a recipe tracker and all that and it's free.  However, I'm comfortable with WW and I don't really feel like changing even though I fork over $12 a month to them.  

I have to admit:  when I woke up one morning and found that they had changed everything, I went into a sort of panic.  Like I said, tracking has become part of my life.  It really upset me that they had changed things.  I immediately considered canceling.  After all, I've lost the weight and I have a pretty good idea of how to eat to keep it off.  I think.  I'm not totally confident though and I like having the support of an online tracker to help me keep it visual and to keep a record.  I wish, though, that wisdom about eating were more intuitive to me.  I mean, all around not just with WW.  The WW change made me realize all too intensely that I don't know exactly what to eat to feel good and healthy. There are so many camps with different ideas about what to eat and I am willing to try different things but honestly, it's challenging.  And I seem to have no internal direction about what would make me feel good and what to eat (and how much to eat) to stay this size.  So I just keep trying this and trying that and having to rely on outside things like WW  . . . psychologically, that doesn't feel right at all.  But it's something that I think many of us struggle with since we are so disconnected from food production and traditional ways of preparing and eating foods.  We're at the mercy of those who say, "Eat this and not that."  It's all very . . . disconcerting.  

Anyway, I wanted to share that recipe and how I'm feeling about the new Weight Watchers. 

Simple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

On a whim, I decided to pick up a butternut squash at last week's grocery shopping trip.  We didn't grow up eating squash and I really haven't done much with squash in terms of cooking.  But squashes are everywhere now so I thought I might give it a go.  

Initially, I was going to find a recipe online but I decided to be a bit more experimental plus I didn't want to be bothered..  Here's what I did:

Ingredients

• Small butternut Squash (mine was about 2 lbs.)
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• half of a large onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• salt, pepper, dried thyme, cinnamon, brown sugar
• water or vegetable broth, 3 cups

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Cut the squash length-wise and use a spoon to remove the seeds.  Cut the squash into 1-2" cubes.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the cubed squash on it.  Pour one tablespoon of oil on the squash, adding a dash of salt and black pepper.  Use your hands to massage the oil and spices onto the squash.  Roast in the oven for about 45-55 minutes, until you can see that the squash has browned nicely (not burnt).  

At about 35 minutes into the roasting, add the other tablespoon of olive oil to a medium sauce pan and turn on the heat to medium.  Chop the onion and mince the garlic.  Toss the chopped onion into the hot oil.  Add 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, dried thyme and brown sugar to the sizzling onions.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until the spices are fragrant and then add the minced garlic.  Cook for another minute or so being careful not to burn the garlic.  Once things start to stick a little,   add your 3 cups of water or vegetable broth.  By now, you squash should be ready.  

Pour the contents of your pot into your blender.  Add the roasted squash.  Blend.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning.  Pour contents of blender back into pot and warm (if you like hot soup).

Makes 4 servings.  

I thought this was very tasty and really autumn-esque.  I went heavy on the olive oil but you could cut it a bit and get good results, I'm sure.  As the recipe is written, each serving is 4 Weight Watchers points.  Considering that there's no real protein in this dish, I'd say that's a lot of points.  But it's oh so good.  And I need to put on weight.  :)

Nope. Can't Do it. Wouldn't be prudent at this juncture!

Eating wheat that is.  

I am finally, after years of sinking suspicion, accepting that I cannot tolerate wheat.  As a child, I tested as allergic to it but I guess I just adjusted.  I guess as I got older, my body couldn't take it anymore.  I took a break from wheat for a week (which was really tough, I'll admit because I really enjoy my whole wheat breads and things) and then started up again yesterday.  I'm bloated.  And just feel so . . . lethargic. 

I'm tired of the bloating.  Tired of just feeling off.  (((Sigh))) I'm not looking forward to learning a new way to bake.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll get excited at some point but not now.  

For now, I found a pretty decent, straightforward vegan, gluten-free pancake recipe which I'll try next Sunday.  

Are you a vegan, gluten free baker? Any words advice?

Curry Chickpea Stew

I really dislike recipes that call for cooked beans because it's an extra step!  Most of the time, I cook a big batch of beans and freeze them in small portions for easy use in these recipes.  Sometimes  (like today) I don't have the right beans frozen and I don't want to go through the hassle of cooking beans right at that moment.  I could use canned but I like to use canned beans sparingly (mainly in dips like hummus or salads) because they can be more expensive than dried beans (and as much as I have tried to ignore it, there's the BPA issue blah, blah, blah).  

Anyway, most soaked beans lend themselves well to being cooked in a soup or a stew.  I've done it with almost every bean under the sun just using spices and herbs that naturally compliment the beans (like cumin for black beans or fennel for navy beans).  I've done it for every bean except garbanzo beans (chickpeas).  Until today.  

Curry Chickpea Stew

• 4 cups of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) along with 16 cups of their soaking water (soak the beans overnight)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 4 carrots chopped
• kale, stems and all, chopped or ripped into ribbons
• 2 tbsp. curry powder
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• salt to taste
• 1 cup vegetarian beef chunks or cubed tofu (optional)
• 1 cup frozen corn

In a large soup pot, in 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium flame, saute the chopped onion till translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another minute or so.  Add spices and cook for 1 minute.  Add diced tomato and cook until the tomatoes break down, about 3-4 minutes.  Add carrots.  Pour in the chickpeas and the soaking water, cover and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling, reduce heat to low.  Cook for 1 hour or until beans are tender.   Add the vegetarian beef chunks or cubed tofu (I used beef chunks but tofu that had been frozen and thawed would work great in this recipe) and then add the kale and the corn.  Cover and cook for 1-2 more minutes.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning (i.e. add salt or more pepper).  Turn off heat.  Enjoy!

Makes 10 servings.

I had a little bit of sweet plantain left over that I tossed in there too.  I can't taste it but it might be doing a little something for the dish.  :)

The stew is really delicious and satisfying.  It's actually a wonderful fall/winter stew.  I think instead of (or in addition to the) beef chunks or tofu, you could add some pumpkin or sweet potato. 

The recipe as I cooked it today is 7 Weight Watchers points per serving.

Two Awesome Dishes brought to you by . . .

My Cuisinart 14-cup food processor!  

I've said before how much I love my food processor.  It makes short work of tons of tasks and next to a good knife, it is (for me) an essential kitchen tool.  Just today, thanks to this wonderful machine, I was able to crank out two wonderful dishes.  The first was 5-Minute Hummus which I found in the May 2010 issue of Real Simple magazine.  This hummus is similar in taste and texture to the hummus that we get at one of my favorite restaurants Ta'im.  Trader's Joe's organic hummus is good but this homemade hummus puts it to shame!  And with the food processor, it really does take only 5 minutes.

The second dish I made today is really a dessert:  Peanut Butter Cup Pie from Tofu 1-2-3 by Maribeth Abrams.  Another very simple recipe that with the food processor (and a store-bought graham cracker crust) literally took 10 minutes start to finish with decadent results. 

There's one more project I'd like to attempt with my food processor: sprouted wheat bread.  Since starting Weight Watchers, this is the bread I eat the majority of the time.  I'd love to be able to make it at home.

Mock Tuna Salad--a Quick, Easy and Filling Lunch

I think most vegetarians at some point get around to making a mock tuna salad.  There are lots of recipes floating around on the web.  I'm not really a fan of eating chickpeas whole (unless they've are part of a very flavorful stew and have taken on some of the spices) so I avoid recipes where the chickpeas are not pureed. My favorite recipe by far is this one.    I add one extra tablespoon of relish, a rounded teaspoon each of black pepper and sea salt to the basic recipe.  Each serving is 6 Weight Watchers points but it wasn't keeping me full until the next meal.  By the time it was time for dinner, I was really, really hungry.  So to try to combat this I started to add 

• half a large red pepper, chopped
• half a large green pepper, chopped
• two stalks of celery, diced
• 1/4 cup of chopped onions
• two small carrots, chopped

Paired with a whole wheat mini-pita, this recipe is quite filling and feels like I am eating a real meal instead of a snack.   As an added bonus, this recipe is very quick to make in the food processor (aside from chopping the vegetables).  I used to make my own vegan mayonnaise but . . . I just need a little bit of a shortcut these days. 

Father's Day Feasting!

A sistren of mine, who I met through my blog, inspired me!  For Father's Day, she planned to make a beautiful lasagne for her kingman's first Father's Day and I thought it was a great idea.  I hadn't planned to do much of anything beyond a card but I figured we hadn't had lasagne is a long time.  Even though we really like lasagne around these parts and my recipe is relatively easy, making lasagne it a multi-step process and involves a lot of dishwashing and clean-up.  Also, we treat processed soy (textured soy prtoein/isolates, etc) as a treat (so we only have it every so often).  But, I think, Father's Day was a special enough day to make it!

We had it with a mixed green salad and a simple vinaigrette.  It was delicious.  And, surprisingly, only 7 Weight Watchers points!

Here's my recipe for Quick and Easy Lasagne. 

I'm posting this while cooking lentil dahl for dinner.  We sure eat multi-culturally around these parts!

My First Attempt at No-Knead Bread

Tuesday was like a marathon kitchen day.  I made all kinds of things: Spicy (vegetarian) Italian Sausage, yogurt, whole-wheat pizza dough, perfect tempeh burgers (broke my burger press making them this time) and (drum roll please) no-knead bread . I finally finally finally decided to give the famed no-knead bread recipe a shot.  The results were a little disappointing but I think it's because I was rushing this morning to get it done.  I watched a few videos on YouTube and I'm pretty sure I got the procedure right but I was sloppy in some places.    The bread looks beautiful--like store bought Italian bread--but inside is kind of wet, gummy, and heavy instead of light and fluffy.  It tastes nice even though--yeasty and good for soup.  We're going to eat it.  :)  I am eager to try it again though when I have more time and I'm more relaxed--perhaps I'll start Saturday and finish Sunday.

Making yogurt again

Over the last few weeks I've once again started making yogurt at home.  I started making yogurt two years ago when we joined a food co-op and were getting fresh milk (pasteurized but not homogenized) and eggs.  We don't drink milk though and I didn't want it to go to waste so I learned to make yogurt.   Nowadays, I just realize how much cheaper it is to make my own yogurt and on top of that, I'm not thrilled with all the sugar and additives to be found in commercially made yogurt.  Not to mention that there's no guarantee that the "live active cultures" are still live and active by the time you bring that yogurt home.

Making yogurt is so simple as to be ridiculous.  There are tons of multi-step, complex yogurt making instructions to be found online but really it's an ancient, basic process once you understand what's going on with the bacteria.  The whole point is not to kill the bacteria but to create a situation where the bacteria multiplies. My Syrian friend in graduate school regularly made yogurt and didn't even use a thermometer.  She would just almost boil the milk and used  her (clean) pinky finger to test the temperature.  Her rule was if you could keep your finger in the milk comfortably for 10 seconds, it was cool enough to add your starter yogurt.  Then, stick the mixture in your oven to set.

Here's my simple step-by-step process:

1. You need (very) clean pots, jars and utensils.  Anything that touches the milk/yogurt should be clean.  You can sterilize everything but that's not really necessary.  Just wash with soap and some good, hot water.  
2. Heat a half-gallon of milk till it almost boils (about 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit).
3. Let it cool to about 120 degrees Fahreneheit.  You can speed this up by sitting your pot in an ice bath.
4. Add a cup and a quarter cup of plain yogurt (either some you bought or some you saved from you last batch) to your cooled milk and mix well.  
5. Incubate in a warm place for 5+ hours.  I use a cooler that I fill with warm water (about 120 degrees Fahrenheit).  Make sure the water only comes to the neck of the jar, i.e. don't cover the jar with water.
6. Remove from the cooler (or wherever you've been incubating) and let it set in fridge.  

That's it.  You have wonderful, freshly homemade yogurt that you know is chock full of live active cultures.  

The process for making soy yogurt is similar but you really need a good thickening agent or else you get like a soy kefir.   

Photo Credit:  "IMG_3101" by justinhenry on Flickr.com

This is for the lover in you . . .

The tea lover, that is . . . 

It's no secret that I love tea and my very favorite type of tea is chai.  Many tea companies (including my favorite company Not Just Tea) now make chai and you can pay a pretty penny for a box of twenty tea bags.  But really all traditional chai is is a spiced black tea.  

I've thought about making my own chai for a while not but never really got around to it.  Until today when my sister, who loves chai as well, called me to ask for the ingredients to make it at home since paying $5 a cup for it at Starbucks is not a good look.  So I googled and came up with this:  Awesome (and Economical) Chai concentrate.  Now, I have lots of black tea around here which I don't like to drink because it's pretty bland on it's own so I was excited to give this recipe a try.  

Awesome (And Economical) Chai Concentrate Recipe #34713
by rsarahl
1 day | 5 min prep

SERVES 30 -40, 14 oz concentrate

1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or grated nutmeg
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
strong black tea or herbal tea (regular or decaf)

1. Pour condensed milk and spices into the blender and blend on high speed for a few seconds until the milk looks evenly "flecked" with spices.
2. Pour mixture into a clean jar or container with a lid.
3. Refrigerate at least 24 hours.
4. Alternatively, pour mix into ice cube trays and freeze.
5. To use concentrate: Brew a strong black tea or strong herbal tea of your choice.
6. Stir in 1 frozen concentrate cube or 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of chai concentrate mix per cup of freshly steeped tea.
7. Frozen cubes will keep up to one year in the freezer if you pop them out of the trays and store in a freezer bag.
8. Concentrate will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Okay, admittedly, I didn't wait 24 hours.  I just shook it up and put some in my tea.  (I used two tablespoons but I'll bet that by the time I let it sit for the recommended 24 hours, I won't need as much).  It was delicious!  It tastes *just like* some of the brands I've tried at a fraction of the cost.  And had I actually used condensed milk, I'm sure it would have been a little piece of creamy, wonderful tea heaven.  :D

Photo Credit:  "how about a heavenly cup of Chai this Sunday afternoon" by uteart on Flickr.com

My No-tomato Challenge

Z1 is totally anti-tomato.  If a dish even looks like it may have tomatoes, he's not touching it with a 10 foot pole.  As luck would have it, the majority of my dishes feature tomatoes!  So the challenge has been to cook things that he'll actually eat like split pea soup and honey baked lentils.  I needed to come up with one more tomato-free dish and was inspired by the same mama who showed me some sewing tips to make a curried pasta dish with chickpeas (which Z1 loved when he had it at her house--even asked for seconds).  So here's a quick breakdown of what I did today and it was really good.  I was quite proud of myself and Z1 willingly ate.  

Curried Noodles with Chickpeas

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic finely diced

1 tbsp ginger finely diced

1/2 cup light coconut milk (I get mine from Trader Joe's)

1 cup vegetable broth (I use one cup water + one cup veggie broth powder)

7.5 ozs. long pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti)

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

salt to taste

Boil pasta according to directions until al dente.  Heat oil in a large skillet and add the onion.  Saute for 2 minutes until onions are translucent.  Add garlic and ginger and saute for one minute more.  Add the spices and stir until they kind of clump up.  Deglaze your pan with the coconut milk and the vegetable broth.  Add salt.  Continue to heat until sauce starts to bubble then add your chickpeas.  Cook for 5-7 minutes so that the chickpeas absorb some of the flavor.  Add the corn and the peas and cook till they are soft.  Then add your pasta and stir to coat it.  Taste.  Add more salt if needed.  

This dish took all of 20 minutes to make.  I had my cooked chickpeas ready (I cooked a huge pot a few weeks ago and froze them in 2 cup portions) and my coconut milk ready (I froze half of the milk from the last can I used).  Everything else was pretty handy already.  I love that it was so quick to put together and actually tasted . . . really good.  If it were a little more salty and maybe a little sweeter (more corn or a dash of sweetener), I'd say it was restaurant-esque.  :)  Sorry for no picture . . . I'm tired today. 

Cranberry Walnut Waffles

I found this recipe I posted eons ago on VegWeb

Cranberry Walnut Waffles

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

l cup unbleached white or whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 cup organic sugar or 1/3 cup sucanat
1 cup soy or rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer powder
1 tablespoon lukewarm water
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup sugar-free applesauce
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom (optional)

Directions:

Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl: flour, baking powder, vegan sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Mix well. In a different bowl, combine the egg replacer with water and beat until frothy. Add the oil and continue to beat. Next add the vanilla and applesauce. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the cranberries and the walnuts. Batter should be thick but not too thick, i.e. mixing should be rather easy by hand.

Spray waffle iron with oil (Spectrum Natural makes a good cooking spray). Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into the waffle iron and let cook for about 8-10 mins. each or a little past the light on the waffle iron goes off.

Can be made into pancakes by adding a little more milk.

Note: precise measurement ensures that the waffles come out perfectly.

Serves: 5 belgian waffles

Preparation time: 30 mins

These are simply delicious and I'm a little bummed that my waffle iron is not working all that well lately. They are so good they could be use for desserts or eaten for breakfast without syrup.

Photo Courtesy of digiyesica on Flickr.com

Super Quick and Easy Black Beans and Rice

Tonight I really didn't want to be bothered with a big production for dinner. So I put together this recipe and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Previous attempts at beans and rice have left me beans that were too mushy or rice that was overcooked. Tonight's attempt was perfection. So here's the recipe:

Super Quick and Easy Black Beans and Rice

1 tbsp olive oil
half of a large onion, diced
half of a large green pepper diced
2 cups cooked brown rice
one 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Saute the onions in the oil until they soften about 2-3 minutes. Add the spices and cook for about a minute till fragrant. Add green pepper and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked rice and stir everything till combined. When rice is warmed through and evenly coated with oil and spices, add the black beans. Add salt to taste and voila!

This recipe serves three (or 4 if you serve it as a side dish). It's 6 Weight Watchers Points per serving.

Oh, and of late, Z1 is completely and totally against tomatoes of any kind in his food so it's an added bonus that they are not featured in this recipe especially since so many of my other recipes rely on tomatoes. So yeah for something the kiddo will (potentially) eat.

He did not eat it, btw. But because there are no tomatoes, I'm positive he might give it another try.

Gumbo!

So, I've never had real gumbo like with real sausage and neither has the hubby but when I saw Vegan Dad's recipe for Gumbo with Vegan Andouille Sausage a few years ago, I was intrigued. So I made it bu I think I was the only one who liked it. Granted, I didn't have some of the ingredients then so that might have been the problem.

Well, on one of Z1's DVDs (don't ask me which one) they were talking about gumbo and so Z1 was nagging me to make some. Since we were in a kind of rut meal-wise (beans, beans and more beans albeit with a variety of grains and breads), I decided to make it again. This time, it was a real hit. I think I will make this more often with one modification and that is to brown the sausages before I add them to the soup. Even though the Andouille sausages were delicious, we all agreed: we didn't like the mushiness of the sausage in the soup. Browning them before adding them to the soup may help to keep them a little more firm.

Each serving of the gumbo was about 6 Weight Watcher's points each and since it's a very filling meal (lots of vegetables), that 6 really good quality points. I'm sure I'll make it again soon especially in these cold winter months (the pepper really warms you up).

It's the hubby's weekend off (and one of the very few where he's not working overtime) and I love to make comfort foods when he's home. Today, I'm making pancakes and tempeh bacon for breakfast (although I'm not having pancakes). I'm making pizza for dinner.

Dark Chocolate Cake with an Unexpected Ingredient

I was really surprised to find a whole cup of sauerkraut as an ingredient in this cake!! It's vegan except for the butter which is easily substituted with Earth Balance or another vegetable-based margarine. The cake is a Weight Watchers recipe and I've never actually tried any from the site. Sauerkraut is a "filling food" which means it's a food that's good for you and keeps you feeling full long so it's pretty nice to find it in a dessert like cake! I was going to try it for Z2's little birthday celebration but since it's a new recipe to me, I think I'll use my tried-and-true recipe and experiment this one out later.

Anyway, here is the Weight Watcher's recipe:
Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup(s) sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup(s) butter, melted
1 1/2 cup(s) hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup(s) sauerkraut, pureed until smooth
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a Bundt pan with cooking spray. 
In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and 2/3 cup of cocoa. Add melted butter, hot water and vanilla extract; mix well. Add sauerkraut and blend thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake in center of oven until a tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Cool cake in pan for about 20 minutes and then turn out onto a baking rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder before slicing into 14 pieces. Yields 1 slice per serving.

Notes: You can easily change the flavor of this cake by adding strong coffee instead of the hot water or adding cayenne pepper and cinnamon with the vanilla.

POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 14
Preparation Time: 8 min
Cooking Time: 60 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

If you try it before me, let me know how it goes!

On another note . . . it's snowing where we are. Again. I've lived here all my life and I still hate the snow. (((sigh)))

Bananas and Blueberries . . . a winning combination!

I have a large bag of frozen blueberries sitting in my freezer leftover from summer smoothie making. In the winter, I just can't drink anything cold.

On Sundays we usually have pancakes for breakfast and since I had a whole bunch of very ripe bananas, I decided to try a banana blueberry pancake, which I've never had before. Z1 loves banana chocolate chip so I just made up the batter for pancakes* (adding two mashed bananas). For half of the pancakes, I used chocolate chips and for the other half I used blueberries. (I don't mix the add-ons into the batter--I just drop them onto the uncooked side of the pancake while it's cooking. I got this tip from Alton Brown and I have to say, this works out a whole lot better.)

Well, it turns out that I really like the banana blueberry combination so yesterday, I decided to do the same combo in a muffin. Weeks ago I found the best banana chocolate chip muffin recipe I have tried so far. It's super moist and delicious and all that. I've substituted nuts for the chocolate chips and so yesterday I thought, "Why not try blueberries?" I did and it was really good. Even Z1 who's not a fan of blueberries was gobbling them up.

I had wanted to raise a berry bush in the back last year and didn't get around to doing it. This coming year, though, I think it would be a great idea. I really liked these muffins and we use lots of blueberries for smoothies and stuff. Supposedly, berries are pretty straightforward to grow so I'm kind of excited to try.

*I have since decided that the recipe does indeed need 1/4 cup of extra liquid which is what the original recipe calls for. So the recipe I am using looks like this:

Pancakes Like Mom Used to Make (Except Vegan)
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or other flavorless oil)
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Put your oven on "keep warm".

In a large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and stir until everything is well combined and all the lumps are gone.

Oil your griddle or pan lightly with some flavorless oil. Pour 1/3 cup batter onto skillet and cook until bubbles start to form on the top or until the bottom side of pancake is as brown as you'd like. Flip and cook the other side.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Tried a new recipe tonight: Honey Baked Lentils

Actually, I've had the recipe for quite a while now. I got it on MDC and I vaguely remember trying it before and not liking it.  But I decided to give it another try and tonight, I had excellent results.  Here's the recipe:


Honey Baked Lentils
1 cup lentils, soaked for a few hours (I used brown)
2 cups water or vegetable stock
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (I used half turbinado and half maple syrup)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 small onion chopped 
salt and pepper to taste (I used 1 tsp sea salt and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a glass baking dish.  Bake for 90 minutes.  (The original recipe says to bake covered but I didn't and it came out just fine.)  I added carrots to mine but I imagine you could add a variety of root vegetables and it would be really good.  I also doubled the recipe which fit in a 9" x 14" Pyrex glass baking dish.  It serves about eight adults.   


To go with the honey baked lentils, I made seasoned brown rice.  I just tossed 2 cups of rice in the rice cooker with 5 cups of vegetable broth, a pat of Earth Balance, about 1/4 tsp. sea salt and half of a large onion that I chopped.  Don't have a rice cooker?  Ever heard about baking rice?  I saw Alton Brown do this on his show years ago and seriously, it revolutionized my brown rice cooking life!  The rice comes out perfectly cooked and wonderful.  If I hadn't jacked If my mother hadn't willingly given me her rice cooker (that she wasn't using anyway), I would still be using this excellent method. 

(Don't mind my chipped plate . . . I don't know why it's my favorite plate. I just love it.) 

It was a delicious and easy dinner and I am definitely adding it to my repertoire.  

Apple Muffins sans Bran

I really wanted to bake something today. It's a rainy day and we're stuck inside plus I'm not in the best of moods. Baking helps with all that.

The other day I bought a bag of apples and made apple bran muffins. I've got quite a bit of apples left over and lots of applesauce too. So I decided to make muffins again but this time, not as "wholesome" tasting. So I used Cathe Olson's recipe for applesauce cake:

Applesauce Cake
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 cups whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Oil a 10-inch round cake pan or 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. Beat oil, maple syrup, and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in applesauce, raisins, and walnuts. In separate bowl, sift remaining ingredients together. Dough will be stiff. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes, or until cake pulls away from edges of pan and knife inserted in center comes out dry. Cool on rack. Serve cake plain or with whipped tofu topping. It's also delicious frosted.

Makes 12 servings

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I added one chopped Granny Smith apple (left the skin on). I also did not use maple syrup since it's simply too expensive these days. I substituted a half cup of soy milk (+ a little) and 3/4 cup turbinado sugar. This recipe makes 12+1 large, really moist muffins.

On top of the muffins, I sprinkled on a crumb topping which is very simple to make either using your hands or the food processor.

Crumb Topping

3 tablespoons of unbleached white flour

1/4 cup oats

pinch cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoon non-hydrogenated margarine

1/4 cup (plus a little) turbinado sugar

You process that in the food processor or with your hands until it's crumbly.

The crumb topping adds a little bit of extra sweetness but overall, this is not a sweet muffin which is great. The applesauce cake recipe is recommended time and time again as a good option for a first birthday cake.

As usual, the kids are devouring them. Which is a good thing because it seems like all I really wanted to do was bake them and not eat them. I can't wait till I'm in a better mood.