(Almost Instant) Hummus Soup

I found this recipe on a "new to me blog."


3/4 cup chickpea flour
1 mashed garlic clove or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
pinch red pepper flakes
3 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
(another ingredient listed below)

Put in a pan and whisk! Keep stirring as it cooks (mine boiled) for about 5 minutes. Turn the burner way down, add the (additional ingredient) juice of ½ lemon and let sit for a few minutes.

Serve with bread/veggies (I like it with broccoli).

You can add sriracha if you like...  YUM!  So easy! 

The winter garden

Soon there will be broccoli!  

See the progress in 3 months!

Sunday morning Banana Muffins

Sunday mornings are usually pancake morning, but this morning I made these Banana Muffins (GF).  Of course, I can never make them exactly as the recipe says, but I was close.  I didn't want quite as much almond flour, so I added tapioca flour ~1/2 a cup and a 1/2 cup of oat bran.... Oh, I doubled the recipe 'cause making just 8 muffins is kind of silly around here.

• 4 flax eggs (4 tablespoons of flax and ~10 tablespoons water)
• 3 large ripe bananas
• 6 Tbsp maple syrup
• 6 Tbsp unsweetened flax milk (could be any nondairy)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (I like a little salt in everything.  I think it brings out the flavors better)
• 1 cup almond meal (ground from raw almonds - not almond flour or pre-ground storebought)
• 1 cup oat flour (ground from GF oats or not if you're not really sensitive)
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran 
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips ('cause we love chocolate)

1. In mixer add water, flax, and bananas. Mix while doing step 2.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pans with 18 paper liners.
3. Add maple syrup, vanilla, non-dairy milk, and salt.
4. First mix the flours and baking powder in a separate bowl and then add to mixer, and mix a little, but don't mix thoroughly.
5. Finish stirring the muffin batter by hand as you add in the chocolate chips.
6. Put in lined muffin pans.  I got 18 muffins.
7. Bake for 25-34 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and they feel somewhat firm to the touch with a just little give.  (Feeling the done-ness is fun.)  Mine baked for 28 minutes. 
8. Remove from oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a cooling rack. They can be tender when they're warm.  

(#8 is Minimalist Baker's directions, but I say, whatevs... just eat when you want and try not to burn yourself!  See how long you can keep your vultures away from fresh muffins.)

Apples

 

Kira got this shot a couple months ago!  It's such a good fall shot.  Maybe I'll get it framed...(I love the number 3.) 

Next year, I have to do something with our apples.  We enjoyed them as apples, but I need to make some apple butter or sauce or something.  I think all my friends should come pick, too!

Sunday equal Funday

 

These are basically these... (original recipe) except we used these incredible chocolate chunks, made 1 batch of PB and 1 batch of Sunflower butter, and didn't use coconut oil.  (One batch is kind of small for 5 people--especially with 3 growing girls.)

What we did:

WET INGREDIENTS:
Flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water mix and let set for 5 minutes)

2/3 cup sunflower seed butter (or PB)
3/4 cup brown sugar for sunflower seed butter cookies (1/2 sugar cup for PB cookies)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1.5 cups gluten-free rolled oats, processed into flour (or 1.5 cups oat flour)
1-2 teaspoons non-dairy milk (only if needed to moisten batter--we needed more, but pour slowly!)
100 grams finely chopped dark chocolate (1 chocolate bar)

Mix all the wet ingredients together (very well) with an electric mixer.  Mix all the dry, except chocolate chips, and then pour into wet.  After mixed, add the chocolate.

Make into cookies--we made about tablespoon scoops and patted them down.  Bake at 350 for 13 minutes.

I love baking with my girls!

Making this soup for dinner... (but I'm too full of cookie dough to eat anything else.  Oops.)

p.s. raise your hand if you remembered a song because of the title.

the whole enchilada

The other day, Kira found this enchilada recipe and she made it with her friend.  I've never made enchiladas before, but I happily tried it.  It was good.  Good job finding a new dinner, Kira! We decided to make it again. 

I changed things a little from the original site.  I put kale, onions, and corn in mine (Nick's and Natalie's), but Kira (and Tia) stuck with black beans and rice (no veggies).  She used a little Daiya Cheese (and so did Tia and Natalie).  Nick and I enjoyed ours sans the Daiya cheese.  We made the cashew sour cream for topping.  OMG!  It's good! The whole recipe is good.

I plan to change the sauce a little next time by adding a little less chili powder, adding more tomato paste, and adding a little cumin.

Here's the recipe with the modifications I plan to make:

Enchilada Sauce
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 2 tsp garlic powder
    • 2 tbsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp cumin
    • 5 tbsp chili powder
    • ½ tsp salt
    • 1 7-ounce jar of tomato paste
    • 3.5 cups vegetable broth
(If you want more kick add a little cayenne and/or chili powder.  The original version of the sauce had 8 tablespoons and it seemed like too much, but I haven't tried making this with 5.  I'm guessing 5-6 tablespoons will be the sweet spot.  I'll fix when I make this again and decide.) (I doubled her amount of sauce because I like sauce and there are 5 of us.)

Cashew Cream
    • ½ cup raw cashews
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove
    • ¼ cup water
    • ½ tsp salt
    • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Kale Filling
    • ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 yellow onion, diced
    • 4 cups frozen kale
    • ½ cup corn kernels  

Black Beans
    • 2 15oz cans of black beans (cooked with 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tsp cumin, and ~3/4 tsp salt--'cause my beans were unsalted.)

Directions:
Enchilada Sauce
    • Heat oil, add flour; whisk until smooth.
    • Add spices, tomato paste, and vegetable broth. Whisk until smooth. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. It will thicken.

Cashew Cream
    • Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until very smooth.  (If you're using a food processor you may want to soak the cashews for 20 or so minutes first.)

Kale Filling
    • Saute onion in a little olive oil or broth (your preference), and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes.
    • Add Kale cook until soft
    • Add corn cook until warm

Rice
We also made some rice for the tortillas 'cause that's what 2 of my girls wanted.

After everything is cooked, preheat your oven to 350F and pour some of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of veggies to a tortilla, add rice (if you want) and a spoonful of black beans.  Roll it up tightly, and place seam-side down in your baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. (We made 10 tortillas, but had to use two pans.) Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, cover everything well. Cover the baking dish with foil, (I used a silicon baking sheet) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. Serve with a cashew cream




   

Now with MORE green

I've started drinking matcha tea.  I'm looking for my favorite brand and reviewing this site:  http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2014/03/matcha-green-tea-brand-reviews-buying.html

Matcha is expensive, but it's cheaper than a Starbuck's habit and Dr. Gregor says it is SUPER good for you! (Click to watch a short video.)

(And this video tells you that it's okay to drink up to ten cups of tea a day.)  (Whew! I'm about 1/2 that.)

Happy New Year!

I need to post about Nick making pizza... He's awesome at it.  I love his pizza crust.  We got pizza crust from a professional, and he made pizza crust, and while hers was very good (maybe the best I've had with white flour), his was just the way I like it.  He used maple syrup in his crust...and some oats... Okay, I digress.  I'll make it a goal to get a post (with pictures) about his pizza crust in 2016!

Anohter goal I have is to make pasta with fried lemons.  I found this recipe and it sounds AWESOME.  Maybe I'll make it for my birthday dinner (coming soon).   Today is Natalie's birthday and we're celebrating by taking her and her 4 best friends out to dinner (pizza--so we don't have to clean up) and then a sleepover.

One last thing, coming soon, is a plan for a month's worth of dinners...  I think pretty much everyone falls into a pattern and they find they eat the same thing over and over.

Okay, here's a screen shot of the NYT's recipe for pasta with fried lemons and chili flakes.  Of course, I'd leave off the cheese and then, voilà, it's vegan.