easy peasy chocolate chocolate chip muffins *

The virtue of these muffins is that they mix up really quickly, and bake in 30 minutes. Sometimes I'm game for elaborate play in the kitchen, but much of the time I want to get in and get out, because there are too many other things that also need doing. So, yesterday, to that end, I devised some lovely little muffins that mix up quick and bake up nicely.

The fellas very enthusiastically gave these top marks, but they are both a big fan of the darker chocolates in life's beautiful cornucopia of chocolate.

equipment needed:
mixing bowl
mixing spoon/whisk
measuring cups
measuring spoon
muffin cups (I like the silicone ones)
muffin tray (if using paper liners) or baking sheet
oven


ingredients:

a)
1 1/2 cup kamut flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup shredded coconut

b)
1/2 cup cacao
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup date sugar

c)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp tonka bean powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract

d)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup hot water
1 cup cold water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar


e)1 cup fair trade chocolate chips



directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. combine the coconut oil and warm water from d) and set aside until fully melted
2. mix together the items from a) b) and c) until very well combined
3. mix together the cold water and apple cider vinegar, then add all the ingredients from part d) to the dry ingredients.
4. whisk or stir well
5. mix in the chocolate chips
6. scoop into 24 muffin cups
7. bake at 345 for 30 minutes

**** garlic bread sticks -- made with Kamut flour

I mean, who doesn't like soft chewy garlicky breadsticks? These happened. And they were pretty much a big hit.

equipment needed:

bread mixer or a bowl and spoon, followed by your hands and the counter

measuring spoons

measuring cups

kettle for warm water

silicone mat and baking sheet

oven

1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp dry oregano

2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 cups kamut flour
1/4 cup corn meal

1 cup warm water
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp bread yeast

make your dough
roll into thin sticks
let rise on silicone baking mat
brush with water and sprinkle with sea salt
bake at 345 for 15 minutes or so

Soft Pretzels

My rotten little beast of a son -- whom I Rotten Beast because he knows I adore the face off of him -- declared we would make soft pretzels. Ta da!!! Mix 'em, knead 'em, rise 'em, boil 'em, bake 'em. Piece a cake.

equipment needed:

measuring cups
measuring spoons
bread mixer or strong hands
large pot for boiling the pretzels
silicone mats
baking sheets

ingredients:

2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 cups kamut flour
1/4 cup corn meal


1 cup warm water
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp bread yeast


directions:

1. in a bowl or large cup, combine warm water, coconut sugar, and bread yeast
2. allow to foam, setting aside until you are ready for it
3. in the bowl of your mixer or in a large bowl, combine the sea salt, Kamut flour, tapioca starch, and corn meal
4. add the proofed water/yeast combination to the dry ingredients and mix, kneading until the dough is soft and stretchy.
5. break off small pieces of dough and roll into long thin sticks, then twist the sticks into proper knotted pretzel shapes.
6. place them on a silicone baking mat to rise for 1 1/2 hours
7. boil water in a large pot, adding a few tbsp of baking soda
8. boil the pretzels in the baking soda water for 2 minutes
9. drain the pretzels (I use a slotted spoon and then let them rest on a wire baking rack)
(If you so desire, this would be a good time to sprinkle them with large salt crystals. We didn't.
10. place on the silicone mat
11. bake at 345 for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size of pretzels

Sunday Morning Apple Cinnamon Muffins -- sugar free, nut free

The world is slick and covered in ice -- beautiful and treacherous -- so I decided to stay in this morning and bake muffins. We were lucky enough not to lose power.

My two favourite muffin tasters declared these delicious.

I like the look of them sprinkled with a little coconut sugar before baking -- shiny and gorgeous. These will not stick around for long.

ingredients:

1/2  cup coconut oil
1 cup boiling water
1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp egg replacer mixed with 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chia meal

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp korintje cinnamon
1 tsp saigon cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
3/8  tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup kamut flour


1 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

a little coconut sugar for sprinkling on top before baking


directions:

1. combine the ingredients in the order listed
2. gently fold in the kamut flour
3. gently fold in the apple, raisins, and sunflower seeds
4. scoop into approximately 16 prepared muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with coconut sugar before baking
5. bake at 345 for 30 minutes

Sweet Potato muffins

Now that my husband can't eat any fruit except for sweet potato, delicious apple muffins are out. However, delicious sweet potato muffins aren't. These are loved and loved well by all who have tried them.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut nectar
1 cup raw whole milk (or water if you prefer)
2 organic eggs (use 3 if they are tiny)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp ground vanilla bean


1 3/4 cup fine kamut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup shredded sweet potato -- I use a hand grater (one with big holes, not tiny ones)


1. combine the ingredients in the order listed
2. scoop the batter into 24 prepared muffin cups
3. bake in a preheated oven at 345 for 30 minutes

Pre-baked Mini Pizza Crusts -- Aka Flat Bread

Pre-fab pizza crusts. I bet you could stick a stack of these in the freezer, and grab some out for pizza that bakes up in only a few minutes. Anyway, Kim needed flat bread for pizza, so I one upped and made mini pizza crusts proper. Check it!

each one is 50 g of dough

ready to roll

ready to bake

ready to bake

ready to use

lil' cute pizza crust

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp yeast

3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup ground chia seeds
1 1/2 cups almond flour
3 + cups kamut flour (whole grain, finely ground)

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano



directions:

1. proof yeast ( combine warm water, honey, and yeast in a bowl or large measuring cup)
2. combine the other ingredients
3. add the yeast and water mixture to the other ingredients
4. mix and knead, adding more kamut flour if needed to achieve an elastic and soft but not sticky dough
5. knead for a while (or use a mixer -- that's what I do)
6. divide dough into 50 g balls
7. roll each one flat and bake it. If you are not going to use it for pizza, give it an extra sprinkle of sea salt, and some rosemary for good measure, if you like. I kind of curled the edges up because these are for pizzas that are to be baked on the barbecue, and I thought that would help keep stuff from running off into the fire. If you are just going to bake it, or just use it for flat bread, you can certainly skip the edge rolling extravaganza.


makes 30 mini (thinnish) pizza crusts (Same amount of dough as would make 3 large rectangular thin crust pizzas)

Crepes, the recipe. Dairy free, high in protein, but not nut free and not gluten free.

I really like crepes. I apologize to my gluten-free readers that this recipe is not for you, unless you have a handy flour you can sub in for the kamut. It is dairy free, but not vegan, although I can assure you our eggs come from very happy pastured chickens who live a good fowl life. Yes, we get them from The Milk Man.

I really like crepes, but I wanted a version that is lower in grain than our old standby that I'd make with milk and eggs and whole wheat flour. These ones use almond meal and chia seeds, and have a lovely taste and texture.

If you've never made crepes before, I will tell you right off that they are both easy and hard to make. Don't let the word hard stop you, because you will quickly get the hang of it. 

You need a good non-stick pan. I prefer my big square cast iron skillet for this, but I'm sure you'll have your fave.

There are 4 main things that make crepes tricky:

1. Getting the temperature just right for perfect cooking

2. Rolling the pan as it were to spread the batter when you pour it on

3. The sacrificial crepe -- more on that later

4. uh ... I forgot what 4 was for ... 

1. Now, cast iron pans take a little time to heat up, and I find that my first couple of crepes need 2 minutes per side, but after that 1 minute per side is fine. You want to keep your eye on the heat, and tweak it so that you can brown your crepes slightly without burning them in the alotted time. Usually pretty low -- 2 to 4 on the temperature dial seems to work best for me, but that also depends on the element.

2. You scoop the batter by 1/4 measure on to the middle of the pan, and then pick it up and tip it around and around to allow the batter to spread in a circle. This is how you get a nice thin crepe. If you are using a cast iron pan, it will be heavy, and you'll need to use 2 hands. If it has a helper handle, that can be very helpful for this. You'll need oven mitts after a while as the cast iron gets hot and distributes its heat.

3. Your first crepe will stick, fall apart, be both overcooked and undercooked, and must not be taken as discouraging or significant. Quite frankly, it's part of the process both in pancakes and in crepes. Around here we call it the sacrificial crepe or the sacrificial pancake. The first one in the pan is not a good indicator of things to come.

4. Dang. I still don't know what 4 was for ...

Onwards and upwards.

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

4 eggs

1/2 tsp sea salt

black pepper

1 cup almond flour

2 tbsp chia seeds

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup kamut flour

directions:

1. whisk together water, eggs, salt, and pepper

2. add the almond flour and chia seeds

3. add baking soda

4. add kamut flour

5. allow the batter to sit for at least 20 minutes

6. heat up your crepe pan/ griddle/skillet etc after liberally coating with coconut oil

7. when the pan is up to temperature, scoop 1/4 cup of batter on to it, and tilt around and around to spread batter

8. set the timer for 1 or 2 minutes

9. flip with a spatula when the crepe is ready, and set the timer again for 1 or 2 minutes

10. remove the crepe to a plate and repeat until all the batter is gone.

If you are less ocd than I, you can skip the timer, and just wing it, flipping at will. But I can't guarantee the results if you do.

These crepes would be lovely for sweet with the addition of some vanilla and cinnamon in the batter. 

As they are, I might try grinding the chia seeds next time, instead of putting them in whole. I found it made for an interesting texture, but I'd also be interested to see what the other way is like.

Sweet Potato Biscuits -- what???

I came across a recipe for sweet potato biscuits somewhere, and thought "what?".

A few months later, I came up with this alternative version.
Not gluten-free.
Yes vegan.
Yes dairy-free.
Yes sugar free (but sweet potato-full).

Hey, they are kind of fun! And depending on what colour of sweet potatoes you use, they could look really orange, or really purple.

ingredients:

1 cup of cooked sweet potato (I used a white fleshed Asian sweetie and baked it in the toasted oven until soft)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

6 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1 1/2 - 2 cups kamut flour
1 cup almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt


directions:

1. puree the sweet potato with the water and the apple cider vinegar
2. in a bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, and the sea salt
3. cut the coconut oil into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse pebbly sand
4. fold the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture until it becomes a dough
5. chill the dough for at least 30 minutes
6. pat it out to 1 inch thick, and cut with a  biscuit cutter (I did 1/4 of the dough at a time), and place the biscuits on a baking sheet. Rather than reform the dough and then pat it out again, I loosely encouraged the scraps into the biscuit shape, then 'cut' them again, so as to avoid toughness.
7. bake in a preheated oven at 345 for 30-35 minutes

These biscuits are super carb-a-licious -- flakey, buttery, soft, tender, melt-in-your-mouth good. :)
I'll make 'em with purple sweet potatoes next time.

Green Sesame Noodles with Bok Choy Saute

green sesame noodles with bok choy saute

We received another organic bin this week, and in it was baby bok choy. Really lovely fresh baby bok choy. I thought green noodles would make a wholesome backdrop to a saute of baby bok choy, perhaps sauced with something in the miso honey and ginger family ...

I wanted to see what would happen if I added chia seeds to my standard green noodle recipe. And then tossed them with coconut oil and toasted sesame seeds after cooking. Here's the amended noodle recipe, and the saute recipe follows.

green sesame chia noodles:

ingredients:

150 g frozen organic spinach, defrosted

1 organic egg (xl or l)

1/2 cup almond flour

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 chia seeds

1 1/2 cups  kamut flour

directions:

1. in a food processor, puree the defrosted spinach. If you are using fresh spinach, let me know how it turns out.

2. add the egg and combine

3. add the sea salt, chia seeds, and almond meal, and combine

4. add 1 1/2 cups kamut flour, and pulse to combine.

5. gather the dough into a ball, flatten, wrap, and set aside to 'rest'.

6. divide the dough into 4 parts

7. roll each part on a mat sprinkled with kamut flour, using a rolling pin sprinkled with kamut flour.

8. if the dough is too sticky, add more kamut flour

9. roll the dough out until it is nice and thin

10. make sure the surface is well sprinkled with kamut flour, and roll it up 

11. set the roll aside and repeat with the other portions of dough

12. once all the portions of dough have been rolled up, cut them into spirals using a sharp chef's knife or bread knife (I prefer a bread knife because the serrated blade makes this task easier)

13. uncoil the spirals and lay them out

14. put the noodles in boiling water spiked with a little oil, and cook for 2 minutes.

15. drain the noodles, and toss with coconut oil and a couple of table spoons of toasted sesame seeds

Ready to roll

Green noodle dough with chia seeds. What country does this look like?

A spiral

Three rolled up portions of dough

Cutting them efficiently with a serrated blade

Spirals before they are unrolled

the noodle spirals, after cutting, before unravelling

unravelling the noodle spirals

boiled for 2 minutes, and tossed with coconut oil, a pinch of sea salt, and toasted sesame seeds

bok choy saute:

ingredients:

2 lbs baby bok  choy, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups carrots, cut into medallions then sticks
1 celery rib, cut on the diagonal, then into strips
1 cup raw almonds
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1 or 2 tbsp finely minced fresh ginger

up to 1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp honey
1 or 2 tbsp lemon juice


directions:

1. heat the coconut oil in a large saute pan, and add the almonds, carrots, celery, and ginger, with a little sea salt. Cook until happy.
2. add the baby bok choy and a little sea salt, and stir
3. mix the miso, honey, lemon juice in a small bowl
4. add the miso paste to the vegetables, and combine well
5. serve on a bed of sesame tossed green noodles


Now, if you want to orchestrate the making of this meal in a way that fits into your busy life, you can do it in stages:

1. make the dough, and wrap it and put it in the fridge. The dough can easily be made a day ahead.
2. at your leisure, roll out the dough in 4 parts, roll up the dough, and slice. Put in an airtight container, and put it back in fridge
3. at your leisure, clean and cut the carrots and celery, and store in an airtight container.
4. Before cooking, measure out your ingredients into 'junbi' bowls. 'Junbi' is the Japanese word for 'preparation'. A student of mine who was an amateur gourmet cook used to say to me 'Ryori wa junbi desu', which means 'Cooking is all in the preparation'.
5. You can actually saute up your almonds, carrots, celery, and ginger earlier, and leave 'em in the pan on the stove.
6. Bring water to a boil at the same time as the carrots and almonds are done cooking, and hot.
7. Add the bok choy and do your thing with it, and then toss in the sauce. When that is all ready, set it aside, and cook your noodles. They only need 2 minutes. When the noodles are done, drain 'em, and toss  'em with a little coconut oil and sesame seeds. Put a little bed of noodles in a bowl, and top with the vege stir-fry. Easy-peasy!

ready to top the noodles

ta-da!

:)

Raisin, Flax, and Chia Muffins -- Vegan, Sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free

I was in the mood for some freshly baked muffins this morning. I didn't want anything sweet. I wanted something that would sit well in the tummy, and taste great with a cup of tea. These muffins fit the bill perfects. The raisins give a little sweetness, but the muffin itself has a yummy nutty and seedy taste to it. the texture is pleasing and moist, and the nutritional content is sky high. So far they've been given the thumbs up by a 1 year old, a 3 year old, and three adults.

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

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

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp ceylon cinnamon

2 tsp ground vanilla

a touch of black pepper

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup whole chia seed

2 cups almond flour (JK gourmet)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup kamut flour (finely ground kamut pastry flour for texture)

1/2 - 3/4 cup organic thompson raisins

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. pour the warm water over the coconut oil, allowing it to melt

2. add in the apple cider vinegar, sea sal,t and spices

3. when the water and coconut oil mixture has cooled down, stir in the egg replacer and water

4. add the flax seed and chia seed

5. stir in the almond flour

6. add the baking soda and stir well

7. fold in the kamut flour gently, stirring until just combined

8. add the raisins and fold in gently

9. scoop the thick batter into 24 prepared muffin cups

10. bake at 345 for 30 minutes