Chocolate Banana and Chocolate Chip -- Chocolate Monkey Muffins for Aidan's Birthday Dinner

It's Aidan's birthday dinner, and he loves these.  Happy birthday to you. I hope it's a great year!!

Vegan, nut free, grain free, full of chocolate and other good stuff.

ingredients:

1/2 cup hemp hearts, finely ground
1/4 cup chia seeds, finely ground
1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds
1/2 cup balinese cacao powder + 2 tbsp prana cacao powder
1 cup coconut sugar + 1/4 cup date sugar
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup chickpea flour

1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean + 1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas -- approx 4 very ripe
3/4 cup warm water + 4 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips


equipment needed:

1. measuring cups
2. measuring spoons
3. mixing bowl
4. silicone muffin cups or papaer muffin tray liners
5. cookie sheet or muffin tray
6. seed grinder


directions:

1. preheat the oven to 345
2. in a bowl, combine the ground hemp hearts, ground chia seeds, ground sunflower seeds, cacao, tapioca starch, chickpea flour, sea salt, baking soda, cream of tartar and ground vanilla bean. Mix until it is very homogeneous
3. in a separate bowl, mash your bananas
4. in a separate bowl, combine the warm water (not hot) and coconut oil, and let the oil melt
5. add the banana, water and coconut oil to the dry ingredients, and mix well
6. when the batter is beautifully mixed, add in the chocolate chips and mix well
7. scoop the batter into 24 small muffin cups. If you are using silicone, you can bake them standing up on a cookie tray. Or line 24 muffin cups with muffin papers in a muffin baking tray, and divide the batter evenly.
8. bake at 345 for 35 minutes
9. remove from the oven, and allow to cool before removing from the tray or silicone muffin cups

** Tea cookies v 2.0

Simple cookies like this are a basic comfort food in my opinion. These are full of amazing goodness, so you can enjoy them not only to sooth your rumpled soul but also to fuel your beautiful body. Some of my favourite ingredients for cookies and cakes these days are chickpea flour and sunflower seed flour. A perfect nut-free combo that can go to school with you, or stay home with all the cool vegans.

This are great. Simple, tasty, and good for you. Make the dough ahead. The longer they sit in the fridge, the easier it will be to work with.


It's really important not to try to roll them out the way you would a traditional cookie dough. You will find it much easier to work with if you are rolling the dough on either a piece of parchment or a silicone mat. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment so the dough doesn't stick to your rolling pin.

equipment needed:
grinder (for chia seeds and sunflower seeds)
silicone mats
baking sheets
parchment paper and rolling pin
bowl
measuring spoons
measuring cups
cookie cutters


ingredients:

1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup date sugar
1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup ground chia
1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup warm water
2 tbsp vanilla extract



1. combine dry ingredients
2. combine the hot water and coconut oil in a measuring cup to let the oil melt
3.  add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and water
4. make this into a beautiful dough, wrap it in parchment, put it in an airtight container and let it chill for a few hours. This will make the dough come together beautifully, too, and will be much easier to roll out and to work with. Maybe 4 hours? Or overnight? If you try to work with it right away, it will probably be too sticky and tricky.

roll on a silicone matt using a sheet of parchment on top of the dough
cut with cookie cutters
bake at 345 for 20-25 minutes

** Soft cookies -- chickpea flour cakies

There are people who live here who are big fans of the spongey kamut flour kakies that we've been making. Today I decided to mix things up by using chickpea flour and sunflower seed flour. If you are unfamiliar with sunflower seed flour, I have to tell you, I've never seen it in the store. But it's one of my favourite things to bake with. I use raw sunflower seeds, and grind them to a fine powder in my little coffee grinder. They offer such a delicate texture to baked goods, and are such an affordable alternative to almond flour. Additionally, goods baked with sunflower seed flour can go to school. Not, I mean, to get an education. Just for ... yumminess.

equipment needed:

seed grinder for chia and sunflower seeds
measuring cups
measuring spoons
mixing bowl
mixing spoon
baking sheet and silicone mat or parchment paper
oven



ingredients:

2 cups chickpea flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup sunflower seed flour
1/4 cup ground chia
1 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon


1/4 cup coconut oil
2 cups hot water
1 tbsp vanilla extract


scoop heaping spoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet and bake at 345 for 30 minutes

Customized Soft Granola Bar -- vegan, simple, no-bake goodies

As an example of what you can do to customize the simple chewy granola bar to suit your preferences, we took the basic recipe, and added a few things: hemp hearts, raw cacao, and ground vanilla bean. Simple goodness that you can take with you easily.  I bet these would be good with raisins or chocolate chips. Or pieces of roast almond.

equipment needed:

mixing bowl
mixing spoon
measuring spoon
measuring cup
parchment
silicone baking pan or glass pan lined with parchment that overhangs enough to lift the whole thing out.



ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut nectar
1/2 cup sunflower  seed butter
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tbsp raw cacao
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean


2 cups scotch oatmeal


directions:
1. heat the coconut nectar and sunflower butter and mix together
2. stir in the sea salt and shredded coconut
3. stir in the scotch oatmeal
4. press into a silicone baking pan
5. score into bar shapes
6. chill
7. makes chewy granola bars



substitutions:

• instead of sunflower seed butter, try almond butter or peanut butter
• instead of coconut nectar, try maple syrup. What's your favourite liquid sweetener?

optional possible add-ins to customize these bars:

• 2 tbsp raw cacao
• 1/2 cup hemp hearts
• chocolate chips
• raisins
• dried cranberries
• chopped nuts
• pumpkin seeds
• sunflower seeds

What would you add?

Sunflower Butter Granola Bars -- raw and vegan!

So, we're into making our own granola bars. Soft, no bake granola bars.  Soft, chewy,  yummy granola bars. I wrapped them up in little pieces of baking parchment to make them able to travel. Like a coat for your snack. How cute is that?

equipment needed:

mixing bowl
mixing spoon
measuring spoon
measuring cup
parchment
silicone baking pan or glass pan lined with parchment that overhangs enough to lift the whole thing out.



ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut nectar
1/2 cup sunflower  seed butter
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup shredded coconut

2 cups scotch oatmeal


directions:
1. heat the coconut nectar and sunflower butter and mix together
2. stir in the sea salt and shredded coconut
3. stir in the scotch oatmeal
4. press into a silicone baking pan
5. score into bar shapes
6. chill
7. makes chewy granola bars



substitutions:

• instead of sunflower seed butter, try almond butter or peanut butter
• instead of coconut nectar, try maple syrup. What's your favourite liquid sweetener?

optional possible add-ins to customize these bars:

• 2 tbsp raw cacao
• 1/2 cup hemp hearts
• chocolate chips
• raisins
• dried cranberries
• chopped nuts
• pumpkin seeds
• sunflower seeds

What would you add?

** Apple and (Honey) Cake -- Apple Upside Down Cake -- gluten free, grain free

So, this cake was dubbed 'not bad' and also 'yummy'. As in: "Give me some more of that yummy." It's  a perfect holiday dinner cake -- we've used it for Rosh ha Shannah as well as for Thanksgiving. I know it's not vegan, and I think it would work beautifully with maple syrup.  For the love of all that is sacred and delicious though, please don't use corn syrup. I use royal gala apples because those are the little cuties we have on hand. If you've never made cake batter using chickpea flour and tapioca starch, it is a beautiful thing.

a)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup chickpea flour
1/4 finely ground chia seed
1 cup finely ground sunflower seed flour


b)
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda

c)
1 cup hot water
1 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil


d)
3 small apples --cut into chunks


e)
 3 small apples, sliced
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt


1. grease a springform pan well with coconut oil and line the bottom with parchment
2. put 1/4 cup of coconut sugar and 1/4 tsp sea salt into the bottom, and distribute evenly
3. cover the bottom of the pan with the apple slices in a beautiful pattern (circles)
3. preheat the oven to 345
4. combine the dry ingredients and set aside (a and b)
5. combine the wet ingredients and set aside (c)
6. cut an apple or two into chunks to make around 2 cups
7. mix part a and b
8. add in part c until well combine
9. fold in part d
10. gently fill the springform pan
11. bake for 60-65 minutes or until 'firm'
12. let cool
13. slide a knife around the edge before removing sides, and allow to cool completely
14. cover with a plate and invert
15. remove the bottom of the pan
16. remove the parchment

hallowe'en cookies -- vegan, grain free, nut free, gluten free, sweet, yummy Sugar Cookies

I made these for my son's hallowe'en happenings at school. I knew I was going to have to compete with a lot of sweetness, so instead of using my preferred sweetener of coconut sugar, I went for the organic cane. The result is a sweeter cookie, and one that is sweet enough even without icing. I dyed some icing orange by using turmeric and red tea, and make pumpkin lines on the cookies. They were a big hit.  Of course I forgot to take pictures of the iced cookies, but there you have it. The un-iced ones were simply pumpkin shaped.  I like to hope that the chia, coconut flour, chickpea flour, and sunflower seed flour all helped to keep blood sugar stable, even in the face of all that S-U-G-A-R!

equipment needed:

grinder (for chia seeds and sunflower seeds)
silicone mats
baking sheets
parchment paper and rolling pin
bowl
measuring spoons
measuring cups


ingredients:

1 cup cane  sugar
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup ground chia
1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup warm warm water
2 tbsp lemon juice
10 drops lemon essential oil (or vanilla extract)





icing:

3 tbsp red tea
1/8 tsp turmeric
2  cup icing sugar
pinch sea salt (be a little generous here)
a few drops orange essential oil or vanilla


directions:

1. combine the dry ingredients
2. mix the coconut oil into warm water in a separate bowl or measuring cup and let the oil melt
3. mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. chill the dough
5. roll the dough out between 2 sheets of baking parchment, and cut with cutters. Don't roll the dough too thin
6. bake at 345 for 15-20 minutes
7. when cool, they can be frosted with the icing piped out of a ziplock that has the corner snipped. That's what I did. Easy. If you don't have the decorating tools.

** Little Kamut Kakies -- vegan cookie-cakes

Simple soft lightly sweet pastry, halfway between a little cake and a little cookie. These are very popular in our household of bread lovers. Spongey and comforting.

equipment needed:

measuring cups

measuring spoons

mixing bowl

stirring spoon

baking sheets

silicone mats or parchment paper

ingredients:

1 cup scotch oatmeal
1 cup kamut flour
1/4 cup ground chia
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup coconut oil



directions:

1. combine dry ingredient
2. in a separate bowl, mix water and coconut oil and let it melt
3. add the wet to the dry, and stir to fully incorporate
4. scoop spoonfuls of  this thick batter onto lined baking sheets (I like to use silicone baking mats on baking sheets, but parchment would work too.

bake at 345 for 25-30 minutes

** No-bake chocolate granola bars with hemp hearts and scottish oatmeal

These no-bake granola bars are very popular in our house. We keep them in the freezer, and even people who aren't chocolate lovers are crazy about them. These are an amazing whole-foods treat that will fuel you and keep you going when you need it. Wrap them in a little baking parchment and take them with you!  With the goodness of hemp hearts, and raw pumpkin and sunflower seeds, the sweetness of date, and the super-awesomeness of raw cacao, you don't have to choose good for your taste-buds or good for your body.

equipment needed:

silicone square pan
mixing bowl
measuring cups
measuring spoons
mixing spoon

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup raw hemp hearts
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup raw shredded coconut

• 1/4 cup ground chia seeds
• 1/2 cup scottish oatmeal

• 1/4 cup dates, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup krisda chocolate chips

• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tbsp cacao powder

• 1/4 cup sunflower seed butter (unsweetened)
• 1/4 cup coconut butter
• 1/4 cup coconut nectar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. combine the sunflower seed butter, coconut butter, and coconut nectar, and warm until liquid and stir until homogeneous
2. add the salt and cacao and mix well
3. add the sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, and pumpkin seeds, and stir well
4. mix in the dates
5. stir in the ground chia seeds, scottish oatmeal,  and the shredded coconut 
6. add the chocolate chips (make sure the mixture is no longer warm before you add these or they will melt)
7. when well mixed, press into a silicone baking pan (8 inch), and flatten well using a piece of baking parchment
8. chill, then cut into 'bars' or squares.

plain simple muffins -- vegan, gluten free, and wholesome

School muffins. School muffins with raisins. No nuts. No grains. No nonsense. Vegan!!

These little cuties are simple to make, and have such a simple, pleasing taste. Comforting.

The batter is made of such goodness as chickpea flour and sunflower seed flour

equipment needed:
mixing bowl
measuring spoons
measuring cups
mixing spoon
seed grinder
silicone muffin cups and baking sheet or muffin pan and liners


ingredients:

1 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup ground chia seed
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar



1 1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup coconut oil

1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips)


directions:

1. in a bowl: put all the ingredients except water, coconut oil, and raisins
2. mix well until completely combined
3. in a separate mixing bowl, combine the hot water and coconut oil, and let it melt
4. mix the wet and dry ingredients together
5. finally, stir in the raisins
6. scoop into 24 small prepared muffin cups
7. bake at 345 for 30 minutes

** Lentil Vegetable Crockpot -- vegan, whole food, delicious

The smell of this dish while cooking is out of this world. I'm such a sucker for the combination of cumin and paprika. I adore lentils. This is wonderful with brown basmati, or by itself. Huge hit with everyone. Simple, comforting, unpretentious food that cooks itself while you do something else.

equipment needed:

6 quart crockpot
knife
cutting board
sieve for rinsing lentils
measuring cups
measuring spoons



ingredients:

1 onion, chopped ( 1  cup)
2 cups chopped green cabbage
3 cups rinsed green lentils, not cooked

1/2 cup sliced dried mushrooms

2 cups chopped celery (I use the hearts for this)
2 cups diced carrot
2 cups diced asian sweet potato

4 tsp sea salt
black pepper
2 tbsp marjoram
2 tsp paprika (sweet)
2 tsp ground cumin)

1/2 cup dried apricots -- sliced

8 cups boiling water


set crockpot for 5 hours on high

savoury chickpea flour biscuits -- vegan, gluten free, nut free, grain free, delicious crackers

I have a thing for spice. Not super hot, but funky kind of savoury spices -- a glorious combo of paprika, cumin, coriander, chipotle, sea salt, and black pepper. For me, it's entirely delectable. I like it with lentils, I like it with these crackers. So good. If you have a taste for chili powder, harissa, or cumin goodness, these might be for you. Easy to make, and good for you. Makes up two full trays of biscuits.

equipment needed:

rolling pin
baking sheets
silicone mats or parchment paper
bowl
spoon
seed grinder



ingredients:

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup ground chia
1/2 cup coconut flour


1 tsp sea salt (heaping tsp)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp paprika,
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp chipotle


1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup water + 2 tbsp water



sea salt and black pepper to sprinkle on top

1. combine ingredients
2. roll out in 2 pieces on silicone mats
3. score into squares
4. place the silicone mats onto baking sheets
4. sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper
5. bake at 345 for 30 minutes

sweeeeeet potato "bacon" -- vegan, plant based, delicious

So, ya, we're for realsies totally veg here. But who doesn't like mesquitey spiced sweet potatoes? Yummy!


We get these awesome sweet potatoes from a farmer named George down at St. Lawrence Farmer's market. They are the asian kind  with fuchsia skin and firm white flesh. Our faves. They stay quite dry and firm, instead of getting as soft as the orange ones most people are more familiar with.

equipment needed:

knife
cutting board
bowl
oven
baking sheets
measuring spoon
(scale to weigh sweet potatoes if you are obsessive enough)
spoon for stirring!!


ingredients:

600 g sweet potatoes scrubbed and cut into bacon strips -- Asian sweet potatoes work best for this
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tbsp mesquite powder
1/2 tsp sea salt.


directions:

1. scrub 'em and cut 'em.
Most of mine were large, so I cut them into half through the diameter, then cut each half into the narrowest half on the length of it. I then sliced each piece thinly -- about 3 mm.
2. melt some coconut oil in a big bowl
3. put the thin slices of sweet potato into the bowl and toss it in the coconut oil. I used my hands
4. add the seasoning, then toss thoroughly
5. lay 'em out in a single layer on a baking sheet that is line with parchment paper or a silicone mat
6. bake 'em on 2 trays for 40 minutes, switching the position of the trays half way through the baking