Bread -- bread with seeds -- gluten free, grain free, nut free,vegan, nutritional powerhouse

Hey, I make weird stuff. This. This is my favourite kind of bread right now. So good with a little apple butter or coconut oil on it. I've updated this by throwing in whole sunflower seeds. I love the texture this produces. I've been eating a piece of this for lunch everyday. Powerhouse. One thing I've noticed as I've gotten ... ahem ... older, is that there is certainly virtue in maintaining a higher protein intake. Thus the protein powder and seeds in this bread. Makes this 40+ vegan woman feel strong.

ingredients:

2 cups water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup finely ground chia seeds
1/2 cup ground hemp hearts
2 tbsp arrowroot flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
4 tbsp carob powder
4 tbsp pea protein powder

1 cup pumpkin seed flour
1 cup sunflower seed flour
3/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup whole black chia seeds
1/2 cup whole sunflower seeds


directions:

1. combine the water and vinegar
2. add in the salt, chia, hemp, arrowroot, xanthan, carob, and pea protein, and either whisk or use a hand blender. Xanthan gum is a tricky bastard if you are not careful. Slimy and clumpy? Ick. Mix that sass-monster in.
3. Add the flours and baking soda, and mix with a spoon
4. Finally stir in your whole chia seeds, and your whole sunflower seeds
5. put into a loaf pan that has been lined with parchment
6. shape the loaf
7. bake at 345 for 90 minutes
8. dehydrate at 200 for 3 hours, removing from the pan after 1 hour

(I do 2 loaves at once so as not to run the oven for this long for just 1.)

345 for 90 minutes
200 for 180 minutes

School Cookies!!! Vegan, gluten free, nut free, and yummy

Even though it's March Break I made these appropriate for school. They are yummy. I like the combination of carob with a hint of orange. We love shape cookies, and what's better than hearts? According to my kid, not much.

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup coconut nectar
1/4 cup coconut sugar

20 drops orange essential oil

1 tbsp ground vanilla
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


1/4 cup ground chia seeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut, finely ground
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, finely ground
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, finely ground
1/4 cup ground hemp seeds
1/4 cup carob powder

1/4 cup coconut flour


1. combine the ingredients in the order listed
2. thoroughly chill the dough
3. take 1/4 of the dough and roll out between 2 layers of parchment
4. cut with cookie cutters and transfer to a lined baking sheet
5. preheat the oven to 345
6. bake at 345 for 12 minutes

makes 2 very full cookie sheets, total number will depend on size of cutters ....

Carrot and Raisin School Muffins -- gluten free, grain free, delicious, moist, nut free goodness

In celebration of the season, I'm making carrot muffins. Which season? Carrot season! No idea what I'm talking about. But these are delicious, great for you, and school appropriate because once again they have no nuts. Sigh. They have that wonderful combination of spices that works particularly well for carrot cake. Moist, too. But go ahead and use a copious smear of butter. You know you want to ...

ingredients:

2 cups warm water

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 cup pitted honey dates

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp ground vanilla bean

1 tbsp ceylon cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp saigon cinnamon

1 tsp korintje cinnamon

2 tbsp carob powder

black pepper

1/4 cup ground chia seeds

1/4 cup ground sesame seeds

1/2 cup ground flax meal

1 cup shredded coconut, ground

1 cup pumpkin seeds, ground

4 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2  cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup raisins

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. combine the dates, coconut oil, and warm water and let sit for 15 minutes

2. puree with with a hand blender

3. add the eggs, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and carob, and blend again

4. stir in the baking soda, chia seeds, sesame seeds, flax meal, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds

5. stir in the shredded carrot and the raisins

5. scoop the batter into prepare muffin cups

6. bake at 345 for 50 minutes

PB and H Ginger Cookie People -- gluten free, vegan, and cute

Yes, okay, I'll confess to having a few screws loose. But my brain really needed to know what would happen if I made ginger bread men using peanut butter. I NEEDED to know. And now I do.

If you are not as much of a peanut butter lover as am I, please check out my gingerbread man recipe from last year:

Gingerbread People 2010

ingredients:

1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp egg replacer + 1/2 cup water, combined

1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

2 tsp ceylon cinnamon

1 tsp saigon cinnamon

1 tsp korintje cinnamon

2 tsp ground vanilla bean

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp ground ginger

1/4 cup ground chia seed

1/2 cup flax meal

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups almond flour

4 tbsp coconut flour

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. combine the honey, peanut butter, and water/egg replacer mixture

2. add the apple cider vinegar and coconut sugar

3. add the ginger, cinnamon, sea salt, and vanilla bean

4. mix in the ground flax seed and the ground chia seed and look out your window and feel grateful that you live somewhere you have the freedom to bake cookies and enough food to feed your family and friends

5. add the baking soda

6. stir in the almond flour

7. add the coconut flour

8. stir it all together. If you do it right, you should be cursing me by the time you manage to mix in all the coconut flour.

9. bake at 345 for 15-16 minutes

10. store in an airtight container when cool

11. share with all your friends

Shape Cookies -- Really Delicious Rolled Cookies -- gluten free! Vegan! Sugar Free!

This is not my first bake sale. That is to say, this is not my first rodeo. What I mean, is I've made shape cookies before. However, this is really delicious. There is a sweet crunchiness to them, a pleasing intensity, and an overall harmonic synthesis of flavours that elevates the taste beyond the sum of its parts. There is alchemy afoot here.


My son (three!) and I decided to make some shape cookies today, and these are what we came up with. Chock full of goodies such as chia, flax, almond, and pecan, these cookies offer a sweet treat that won't monkey with your blood sugar, and will fuel your body. The sweetener is coconut sugar, which you may recall is very low on the glycemic index. Unlike some sweeteners, it doesn't give me headaches or a racing heart, so I love it. Plus it has a rich dark taste that works beautifully with the carob powder in these cookies. I chose carob for a few reasons. I wasn't trying to get an imitation chocolate thang going on. I love using raw cacao when going for chocolate. However, carob is a nutritional wonder of protein, minerals, vitamins etc. Additionally, it is naturally sweet, unlike cacao which requires more sweeteners to balance its dark and dirty flavour (yum). Carob goes beautifully with the spices, pecan meal, and coconut sugar flavours in this recipe, and I would recommend against substituting cacao for carob without trying the carob first.


ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
2 tsp egg replacer + 1/2 cup water, combined

2 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup ground chia seed
1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 cup carob powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup pecan meal
1/2 cup almond flour

3 tbsp coconut flour


directions:

1. lightly warm the coconut oil to melt, and mix in the coconut sugar and apple cider vinegar
2. make sure oil is not warm, and mix in the egg replacer and water
3. add the cinnamon, vanilla, and sea salt
4. mix in the chia and flax
5. add the carob
6. mix in the baking soda
7. mix in the pecan meal and almond meal
8. finally add the coconut flour, and mix well
9. preheat the oven to 345
10. roll out the dough in 2 or 3 pieces between two sheets of parchment
11. cut using your favourite cookie cutters
12. place on a lined baking sheet, and bake for 17 or 18 minutes at 345

makes about 1 1/2 or 2 trays of cookies, quantity depends on size of cookie cutters

variation: I wanted to have a bit more of a dark and dirty flavour this go around, so in addition to the 1/2 cup of carob powder, I added 2 tbsp of raw cacao. I also added one tsp of regular cinnamon to the 2 tsp of ceylon cinnamon. To make up for the difference of dry ingredients, I reduced the coconut flour from 3 tbsp to 2 tbsp. The verdict? The three year old says: MMMMMMMM!