I don't have much time for this post but I make this porridge about twice a week. My boys eat bowls of it.
The recipe is from my friend Fateh. I first tried it at a kundalini yoga retreat and it became a favorite for my hubby and I immediately. Luckily my kids just love it because quinoa is great for protein as is tahini. Tahini is also a great source of calcium and omegas.
Quinoa Porridge:
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 1/2 cups oats
9 cups water
Soak quinoa in hot water for at least 10 minutes (or overnight with the oats). Then skim off the top bits and drain the rest.
Bring water to a boil.
Add quinoa and oats.
Watch it carefully as it comes back up to a boil. It can boil over so easy so turn it down to medium quickly when it does.
Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
It stores great and makes enough for just over two helpings for my family. I just heat it up with all the toppings except of course the fresh fruit, yogurt and maple syrup. Especially not the maple syrup, you gotta drizzle that on top so you make sure you get enough maple syrup.
Toppings:
Really anything you want but here's a couple of my favorite combinations:
Fall/Winter:
Almond Milk
Applesauce
Raisins
Cinnamon
Tahini
Maple Syrup
Spring/Summer:
Almond Milk
Cinnamon
Tahini
Maple Syrup
Fresh Fruit
Yogurt
Enjoy a pot on a cold morning or a hot morning with some fresh seasonal fruit!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
My go-to Cookie
I love cookies.
I come by it totally honestly. My mom is the 'Cookie Lady'. When my dad worked for the "City" she would bake every Wednesday in December for the staff. Those were days of "Don't eat that, I may not have enough of that kind" and other awesome gems that go along with a woman who has to make 20 dozen cookies in a day and a half. Just kidding mom you were always lovely...
But seriously I have always been ridiculously spoiled when it comes to cookies. I remember on a high school band trip my mom packed me a huge bag of chocolate chip cookies to share with my friends and me and my girlfriends were a floor above our guy friends and could see into their window because we were at the corner of the building. Well the totally fantastic move the chaperones pull is. We are putting tape on the outside of your door and if the tape is broken, you're in big trouble so stay in your rooms. It's funny to think about being scared of a piece of tape but let's face it, a bunch of bandies are more on the goody two shoes side than the rebel side of things so we listened.
So me and my friends ate those chocolate chips cookies while a floor down those boys sat at the window and salivated and cursed and gestured at us. THAT'S how good my mom's cookies are. No lie.
So when I got all weird and started substituting flours, milks, egg replacements, I thought for sure I would never make a cookie my mom would like. But I did it, I truly did.
My recipe is adapted from this one:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocchipcookies/r/r90110a.htm
So thank you Southern Food for the basics!
But theses are my Cowboy cookies. I know the recipe so well I actually try and race the oven. I try and get them made before my oven gets up to temperature. I haven't done it yet but I was so close once. If my applesauce hadn't been moldy and I had to substitute my substitute I would have been fine.
My best tips for cookies come from my mom:
1. If you are making her Chocolate chip cookie recipe you MUST use Fluffo shortening, nothing else will do.
2. Drop cookies (like chocolate chip and oatmeal) should look a little under when you take them out, they cook a little longer on the pan once out and they sit they are perfect.
3. Always go a little over with baking powder and baking soda, it never hurts, only helps.
4. Always go a little under with the salt.
5. Cookies are best enjoyed hot out of the oven and falling apart. Ok maybe I made this one up, mom really doesn't approve of this one.
I also cut the sugar considerably in most recipes I make. I usually experiment by taking out a 1/4 cup at a time until I actually notice them not as sweet but generally I get to about half the called for sugar. Then I feel better adding LOTS of chocolate chips.
Cowboy Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper
Makes 24-30 cookies
Dry:
3/4 cup gluten flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
Wet:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup of sugar (with a drizzle of molasses to make it brown sugar)
1/4 cup applesauce (my favorite egg replacer)
1 tsp vanilla
Fixings:
1 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips (or partial choc. chips and partial m & m's - Mr. E's fave!)
1/2 cup raisins
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls and then add together.
Stir in fixings.
Drop (and I like to flatten) 12 to a pan on parchment lined pans.
Cook for about 8-9 minutes (depending on your oven).
Mmmm....I may have to go make cookies now....
I come by it totally honestly. My mom is the 'Cookie Lady'. When my dad worked for the "City" she would bake every Wednesday in December for the staff. Those were days of "Don't eat that, I may not have enough of that kind" and other awesome gems that go along with a woman who has to make 20 dozen cookies in a day and a half. Just kidding mom you were always lovely...
But seriously I have always been ridiculously spoiled when it comes to cookies. I remember on a high school band trip my mom packed me a huge bag of chocolate chip cookies to share with my friends and me and my girlfriends were a floor above our guy friends and could see into their window because we were at the corner of the building. Well the totally fantastic move the chaperones pull is. We are putting tape on the outside of your door and if the tape is broken, you're in big trouble so stay in your rooms. It's funny to think about being scared of a piece of tape but let's face it, a bunch of bandies are more on the goody two shoes side than the rebel side of things so we listened.
So me and my friends ate those chocolate chips cookies while a floor down those boys sat at the window and salivated and cursed and gestured at us. THAT'S how good my mom's cookies are. No lie.
So when I got all weird and started substituting flours, milks, egg replacements, I thought for sure I would never make a cookie my mom would like. But I did it, I truly did.
My recipe is adapted from this one:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocchipcookies/r/r90110a.htm
So thank you Southern Food for the basics!
But theses are my Cowboy cookies. I know the recipe so well I actually try and race the oven. I try and get them made before my oven gets up to temperature. I haven't done it yet but I was so close once. If my applesauce hadn't been moldy and I had to substitute my substitute I would have been fine.
My best tips for cookies come from my mom:
1. If you are making her Chocolate chip cookie recipe you MUST use Fluffo shortening, nothing else will do.
2. Drop cookies (like chocolate chip and oatmeal) should look a little under when you take them out, they cook a little longer on the pan once out and they sit they are perfect.
3. Always go a little over with baking powder and baking soda, it never hurts, only helps.
4. Always go a little under with the salt.
5. Cookies are best enjoyed hot out of the oven and falling apart. Ok maybe I made this one up, mom really doesn't approve of this one.
I also cut the sugar considerably in most recipes I make. I usually experiment by taking out a 1/4 cup at a time until I actually notice them not as sweet but generally I get to about half the called for sugar. Then I feel better adding LOTS of chocolate chips.
Cowboy Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper
Makes 24-30 cookies
Dry:
3/4 cup gluten flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
Wet:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup of sugar (with a drizzle of molasses to make it brown sugar)
1/4 cup applesauce (my favorite egg replacer)
1 tsp vanilla
Fixings:
1 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips (or partial choc. chips and partial m & m's - Mr. E's fave!)
1/2 cup raisins
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls and then add together.
Stir in fixings.
Drop (and I like to flatten) 12 to a pan on parchment lined pans.
Cook for about 8-9 minutes (depending on your oven).
Mmmm....I may have to go make cookies now....
Fall Pumpkin Muffins!
I volunteered last week to help bake pumpkin muffins at Mr. E's preschool. I had two groups and it was intense having 6 kids aged 3-5 helping me bake. I tried to be silly, tell them to share, and teach them what the ingredients do in a baking solution. Mostly I was just trying to not teach them my terrible habit of not measuring ANYTHING! I'm not sure how I get away with it when I bake but it seems to turn out!
So I managed to memorize the recipe and have made it twice since preschool last Thursday. It's a good one! I never liked pumpkin pie but I've finally realized it is not the pumpkin, it's the texture. Also chocolate and pumpkin are excellent together. They are not as close as peanut butter and chocolate but still very close friends.
But shhh... don't tell the teacher I added chocolate chips to her fabulous recipe.
Pumpkin (Chocolate Chip) Muffins:
Dry ingredients:
1/2 cup corn meal
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup brown sugar (or my trick white sugar and a drizzle of molasses into the wet ingredients)
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
Wet ingredients:
1/2 can of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp oil (I used olive or vegetable)
1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a muffin tin.
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Mix together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Form a well in the dry ingredients and add in wet. Mix until just combined.
5. Add in chocolate chips if desired.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes (depending on your oven).
Another option is you can make a little icing instead of adding chocolate chips. Or you can spread on a little cream cheese. They are also perfectly lovely on their own, I just have a sweet tooth.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe preschool!
So I managed to memorize the recipe and have made it twice since preschool last Thursday. It's a good one! I never liked pumpkin pie but I've finally realized it is not the pumpkin, it's the texture. Also chocolate and pumpkin are excellent together. They are not as close as peanut butter and chocolate but still very close friends.
But shhh... don't tell the teacher I added chocolate chips to her fabulous recipe.
Pumpkin (Chocolate Chip) Muffins:
Dry ingredients:
1/2 cup corn meal
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup brown sugar (or my trick white sugar and a drizzle of molasses into the wet ingredients)
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
Wet ingredients:
1/2 can of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp oil (I used olive or vegetable)
1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a muffin tin.
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Mix together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Form a well in the dry ingredients and add in wet. Mix until just combined.
5. Add in chocolate chips if desired.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes (depending on your oven).
Another option is you can make a little icing instead of adding chocolate chips. Or you can spread on a little cream cheese. They are also perfectly lovely on their own, I just have a sweet tooth.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe preschool!
TOFU HACK! (The secret to tofu)
I hated tofu at one time. I thought it was tasteless and yet a weird taste and what was with the crumbly texture? This was until I found the trick to tofu.
I wish I could remember what website it was off of. I'm pretty sure it was "Vegan Dad". I was looking for something to BBQ. I was craving BBQ. I also used to hate BBQ but I'm pretty sure that was the meat part because it turns out I FREAKIN' love BBQ tofu!
So I found this recipe and the guy said the secret to tofu is that you need to freeze it in the marinade overnight before you need it. It seems to make the tofu more willing to absorb flavor. It's almost like it makes it more porous or something. I wish I could explain the science to you about it but that's really more my husband's territory, I just know it works.
So I feel the need to share it with everyone because if it's one thing I've heard when people talk about tofu is that it tastes like nothing. So I'm here to tell you folks it doesn't have to.
In honor of non-tasteless tofu, I'm sharing my three favorite tofu recipes!
BBQ Tofu (the one that started it all):
2 pkgs of tofu
Marinade:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
tbsp butter
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
couple drops of hot sauce
3/4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (vegetarian of course)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Freeze overnight and fry or bake.
Lemon Tofu:
1 pkg tofu
Marinade:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Freeze overnight and fry or bake.
Sweet Sesame Tofu:
1 pkg tofu
Marinade:
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
So there you go! Now go and tofu on!
I wish I could remember what website it was off of. I'm pretty sure it was "Vegan Dad". I was looking for something to BBQ. I was craving BBQ. I also used to hate BBQ but I'm pretty sure that was the meat part because it turns out I FREAKIN' love BBQ tofu!
So I found this recipe and the guy said the secret to tofu is that you need to freeze it in the marinade overnight before you need it. It seems to make the tofu more willing to absorb flavor. It's almost like it makes it more porous or something. I wish I could explain the science to you about it but that's really more my husband's territory, I just know it works.
So I feel the need to share it with everyone because if it's one thing I've heard when people talk about tofu is that it tastes like nothing. So I'm here to tell you folks it doesn't have to.
In honor of non-tasteless tofu, I'm sharing my three favorite tofu recipes!
BBQ Tofu (the one that started it all):
2 pkgs of tofu
Marinade:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
tbsp butter
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
couple drops of hot sauce
3/4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (vegetarian of course)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Freeze overnight and fry or bake.
Lemon Tofu:
1 pkg tofu
Marinade:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Freeze overnight and fry or bake.
Sweet Sesame Tofu:
1 pkg tofu
Marinade:
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
So there you go! Now go and tofu on!
Chickpea Salad!
I love a lot of foods and I think if I had to choose a top five they would be in no particular order:
1) Chickpeas
2) Raspberries
3) Chocolate
4) Peanut Butter
5) Quinoa
One of my go-to meals is a chickpea salad. My favorite is to serve it with marinated tofu (marinated overnight - *see my tofu tip post for more info!), quinoa, and kale sauteed in coconut oil, onions and Braggs soy sauce.
The key to the Chickpea salad is the dressing, and letting the salad sit in the dressing for a few hours before dinner to marinate to let the veggies pick up the flavor.
You can use whatever veggies you like I'm just telling you the ones I like best. I also don't give quantities for veggies, you can figure that part out for your likes.
Chickpea salad:
Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Water
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
garlic to taste (I use 1-2 cloves)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of chickpeas
Veggies! I use: Cucumber, red and green peppers, onion (your choice), tomatoes
I love mixing it with the quinoa because the quinoa picks up the dressing, I also like mixing it in with the sauteed kale.
Anyway, have fun with this one, it's super customizable!
1) Chickpeas
2) Raspberries
3) Chocolate
4) Peanut Butter
5) Quinoa
One of my go-to meals is a chickpea salad. My favorite is to serve it with marinated tofu (marinated overnight - *see my tofu tip post for more info!), quinoa, and kale sauteed in coconut oil, onions and Braggs soy sauce.
The key to the Chickpea salad is the dressing, and letting the salad sit in the dressing for a few hours before dinner to marinate to let the veggies pick up the flavor.
You can use whatever veggies you like I'm just telling you the ones I like best. I also don't give quantities for veggies, you can figure that part out for your likes.
Chickpea salad:
Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Water
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
garlic to taste (I use 1-2 cloves)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of chickpeas
Veggies! I use: Cucumber, red and green peppers, onion (your choice), tomatoes
I love mixing it with the quinoa because the quinoa picks up the dressing, I also like mixing it in with the sauteed kale.
Anyway, have fun with this one, it's super customizable!
Curried Coconut Noodles
Yeah..... so it's been awhile. I had two kids so I'm going to call that my excuse. I've been busy blogging about them and not food.
Well now that my littlest munchkin is almost two I seem to be having some more time to cook these days!
I even had a chance to go through my recipe box and clear out the recipes from Foods 9 (grade 9). I kept a couple but come on it's been 16 years!
So I was trying something new tonight and as always I start out and then realize I only have about half the ingredients I thought I did. Tonight it was vegetables. I had a few carrots with black ends and a cabbage that had seen better days.
I really wanted to try and make a Laksa type soup. My favorite restaurant in town makes amazing Laksa but I'm sure they have some spectacular asian ingredients I don't have tonight like lemongrass. My kids love noodles and my littlest (let's call him Mr. O) is currently wheat free so rice noodles are great! I'm lucky because my eldest (Mr. E) will eat almost anything. Mr. O.... well we are working on it.
So I salvaged the cabbage and carrots and made a pretty amazing soup. I don't normally write recipes down but this one was too good not to.
It's kind of a soup and kind of a pasta dish so it's a soup-pasta hybrid. If you have leftovers it sucks up the juice and become pasta though so I think it's best served right away. What I made was a great amount for 2 adults and two young boys. If I had older children I would double it. For sure. Especially older boys...maybe triple.
Enjoy my surprisingly good tribute to Laksa!
Curried Coconut Noodles with Optional Sweet Sesame Tofu Garnish:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion cut in long strips
2 garlic cloves chopped
1-2 tsp grated ginger (I freeze mine for easy grating)
2 carrots (cut in long strips)
1/2-1 cup shredded cabbage
2 cups veggie bouillon (or 2 cups water a bouillon cube)
1 can coconut milk
1/2 -1 tsp curry powder (I went 1/2 because the curry I have is hot and I add sirachi anyway)
2 tsp soy sauce (I use Braggs for wheat free)
1-2 tsp minced fresh basil (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 pkg of rice stick noodles
Garnishes:
Cubed tofu baked for 20 minutes at 375 F in 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp soy sauce
Chopped Cilantro
Soy Sauce
Sirachi
1. In a medium-large saucepan fry onions in coconut oil until they start to brown. Add in garlic and ginger and sautee a couple minutes longer.
2. Add carrots and cabbage and sautee a couple minutes longer.
3. Add in the bouillon and coconut milk and bring to a boil.
4. Add the curry, soy sauce and basil and simmer on low-medium for 15-20 minutes.
5. Cook the rice noodles separately.
6. Rinse rice noodles in some cold water and then add them to the soup to reheat.
7. Serve immediately with the garnishes.
Well now that my littlest munchkin is almost two I seem to be having some more time to cook these days!
I even had a chance to go through my recipe box and clear out the recipes from Foods 9 (grade 9). I kept a couple but come on it's been 16 years!
So I was trying something new tonight and as always I start out and then realize I only have about half the ingredients I thought I did. Tonight it was vegetables. I had a few carrots with black ends and a cabbage that had seen better days.
I really wanted to try and make a Laksa type soup. My favorite restaurant in town makes amazing Laksa but I'm sure they have some spectacular asian ingredients I don't have tonight like lemongrass. My kids love noodles and my littlest (let's call him Mr. O) is currently wheat free so rice noodles are great! I'm lucky because my eldest (Mr. E) will eat almost anything. Mr. O.... well we are working on it.
So I salvaged the cabbage and carrots and made a pretty amazing soup. I don't normally write recipes down but this one was too good not to.
It's kind of a soup and kind of a pasta dish so it's a soup-pasta hybrid. If you have leftovers it sucks up the juice and become pasta though so I think it's best served right away. What I made was a great amount for 2 adults and two young boys. If I had older children I would double it. For sure. Especially older boys...maybe triple.
Enjoy my surprisingly good tribute to Laksa!
Curried Coconut Noodles with Optional Sweet Sesame Tofu Garnish:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion cut in long strips
2 garlic cloves chopped
1-2 tsp grated ginger (I freeze mine for easy grating)
2 carrots (cut in long strips)
1/2-1 cup shredded cabbage
2 cups veggie bouillon (or 2 cups water a bouillon cube)
1 can coconut milk
1/2 -1 tsp curry powder (I went 1/2 because the curry I have is hot and I add sirachi anyway)
2 tsp soy sauce (I use Braggs for wheat free)
1-2 tsp minced fresh basil (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 pkg of rice stick noodles
Garnishes:
Cubed tofu baked for 20 minutes at 375 F in 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp soy sauce
Chopped Cilantro
Soy Sauce
Sirachi
1. In a medium-large saucepan fry onions in coconut oil until they start to brown. Add in garlic and ginger and sautee a couple minutes longer.
2. Add carrots and cabbage and sautee a couple minutes longer.
3. Add in the bouillon and coconut milk and bring to a boil.
4. Add the curry, soy sauce and basil and simmer on low-medium for 15-20 minutes.
5. Cook the rice noodles separately.
6. Rinse rice noodles in some cold water and then add them to the soup to reheat.
7. Serve immediately with the garnishes.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Back.... with Avengance!
Yeah... it's been awhile. Ok so I have some good excuses, I think. I got laid off, went to Hawaii, moved cities, got 2 new jobs. It's all good though I don't really have to explain myself to you all, I probably don't even have a following! If I do, don't be offended, please forgive my absence and thanks so much for reading!
So what have I been up to lately. I have gone from making normal dinners to being laid off and having lots of time for more elaborate things, to being in Hawaii and being very lazy and wanting to eat out and eat bad (btw Hawaii has some AWESOME Mexican food, try Maui Tacos, it's a fast food chain), then to moving here and having two jobs and no time to cook.
So I'll start with a couple cupcakes I made. The first were peanut butter cupcakes which I loved so much for their simplicity. They were so creamy and tasty.
The second set of cupcakes are the Chocolate Cherry Creme Cupcakes. I made them for my hubby's birthday because he loves blackforest cake. They are pretty neat looking. I don't like cherries so I can't tell you about taste but my man sure loved them. So pretty!
*Warning - the next one is NOTcompletely vegan*While we were in Hawaii, basically the only food we could get was Mexican food. So we ate A LOT of it. Mind you there was this place called Wok Star on the main road in Kihei, Maui which had vegan and vegetarian options, not to mention one hell of an awesome owner. But anyway one of the first meals I remember while we were still on Oahu was at Chili's. I ordered this crazy big Taco salad with cheese quesadillas on the side.
So basically I made a black bean and corn relish with some red peppers, red onion, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, vinegar, and olive oil. Then I let it sit for about an hour before throwing it on some lettuce and tomatoes then I added salsa as more dressing to the relish (you could also use a balsamic vinegar) and of course some avocado!! YUM!
One thing that my hubby wanted these Medjool Coconut, Almond Date Treats from Save On. I bought them and then thought, what the heck!? I could make these! So I did. The ingredients are Dates, Almonds, and Coconut. All you need is a food processor. I also rolled them in Coconut afterwards.
Now this next one I'm very, very proud of. I made gnocchi. It was a long and tedious process but I was unemployed so I had the time. I used the good ol' pesto recipe from VWAV which is also where the Gnocchi recipe came from. My friend Jeff helped me and it was lots of fun eating the fruits of our labour.
Ok, then I went on a pancake kick and these were my best attempt, using my Dad's good old family recipe, veganized. Then I melted chocolate chips and let strawberries sit in sugar overnight and topped with those. Not healthy for sure but man were they delicious. I had them for dinner/dessert even.
Lastly, I made this beautiful Chocolate Raspberry Blackout Cake from VWAV also! This cake was amazing. I made it as a dessert for a Sunday night dinner I made for my parents. I made the raspberry glaze though rather than using preserves. Do we even have preserves in Canada? Is that like jam?Anyway until next time!! Keep baking what you love and loving what you bake!
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