Two more recipes

I know, I always add three recipes at a time but I couldn't think of a third. Anyway these are two really really good recipes almost worth three. lol


 Super Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Bread
 I can't remember where I found this recipe. I didn't know if it would be good or not, I've been looking for a good bread recipe for a while. This one is really easy and really good.

 Have your favorite little chef help you pour 1 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt

 Then mix it with various utensils :)

 Then realize you can make magic disappearing clouds if you clap when your hands are covered in flour

 1 cup of oats

1-1/2 Tablespoons of honey
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of milk

 Mix together
Form a ball and place on a baking sheet

Bake at 450*F for 20 minutes

When it's done you should knock on it and hear a hollow sound.

It's really to eat! 

This bread would go really well with home made butter!

Chili Your Way

Here is a delicious chili recipe from a great Vegetarian cookbook called "Better than peanut butter & jelly: Quick vegetarian meals your kids will Love!" We love this recipe but, it makes a lot of food so unless you have a big family be prepared to have leftovers.

1 can (15.5oz) of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

 

1 can (15oz) of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I didn't have any chickpeas today so I used black beans instead)

1 can (15oz) of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (these are also called cannellini beans)

 

3 cans (14.5oz each) stewed tomatoes

 1 small can (8oz) corn, drained (I use a 15oz can just because I can't find any organic corn in an 8oz size and I never end up using the leftover corn)

1 zucchini, sliced (I didn't have a zucchini handy but I do usually add it and it's great)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

Saute zucchini, carrots, and sweet potato until crisp-tender in a sauce pan coated with olive oil

Combine beans, corn, tomatoes,and sauteed vegetables in a large pot

Add seasonings:
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tablespoon cilantro chopped
2 Tablespoons chili powder
Dash cumin and red pepper flakes - I don't add the red pepper because it would be too spicy for Liam but I do add Asafoetida to help with digestion (it also supposedly helps fight the flu and helps prevent asthma, bronchitis and whooping cough)

 

Cook slowly for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Lots of protein, lots of vegetables and lots of colors.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Liam and I made this banana bread recipe that I found on the Dr. Weil website. It's hard to find a really good  vegan banana bread recipe here is one that uses no eggs or milk. If you really can't eat honey (which I don't agree with, I'll post about my brother the beekeeper later) then you can just replace it with sugar or agave nectar. This bread is moist and delicious you won't even notice that it's good for you! Banana Bread

Description

Native to the Caribbean and Central America, bananas are one of America's favorite fruits. They are rich in potassium - one banana contains 450 mg of potassium, one-fifth of the adult daily requirement - and offer a fair share of magnesium (33 mg), too. In addition, bananas help to strengthen the stomach lining and are good for soothing indigestion. Most banana bread recipes are saturated with butter and sugar. This one uses a small amount of canola oil instead - which is much better for your heart - and honey, which of course means lots of flavor. Don't use regular whole-wheat flour. It is too heavy for this recipe. Look for whole-wheat pastry flour instead. Food as Medicine Bananas have two stomach-protective mechanisms. First, they help the stomach lining to produce a thicker mucus barrier to protect against stomach acids. Second, compounds in bananas called protease inhibitors can help reduce bacteria in the stomach that have been shown to promote ulcers.

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas (I only had 2 bananas) ½ cup honey (I used 1/3 cup) 3 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil, plus a little more for oiling the loaf pan (I used olive oil) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used 1 cup of walnuts)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350° F. Lightly oil a loaf pan. 2. Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.  3. Stir together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add the nuts. 4. Blend the two mixtures and spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set. I'll post pictures later :)

Three More Reciepes

Here are some more awesome recipes!

Yummy healthy salad

 Grate 2 carrots -I don't have a mandolin so I just used a peeler

 A handful of crasins -add however much or little you like

 1 apple diced -I used gala because that's what Bill likes and it's what we had

1 chopped radicchio - it is a blood purifier and a sleep aid

Ta da! It's so colorful :) I put a little orange juice and mixed it up to keep the apples from going brown and help break down the radicchio


Home made Butter
My mom bought me this book A Slice of Organic Life it has lots of really great information in it. I'm probably going to have to do a post just about this book. It has in it instructions on how to make your own butter.

First you need a clean glass jar. We used a peanut butter jar. 

Then fill the jar about halfway with heavy cream. We used Horizon organic heavy whipping cream. 

  Then add a pinch of salt

Then shake like crazy! Liam was a real trooper he shook it for about 15 minutes!

 After 15 minutes it looked like this. I thought it was done so I put it down and made scones to go with it (see below)

 Then I picked it up about 15 minutes later and started shaking it again and all of the sudden it separated into butter and buttermilk! So I poured off the buttermilk. I kept shaking it and pouring off the buttermilk into it formed a ball (I accidentally deleted that photo)

Bill thought it was really cool and decided to see if I was making any mistakes (as he likes to do) and he gave the butter an "ice wash" which is supposed to make the butter last longer. He broke the butter ball up and then pours some ice water into it and stirred it. Then he poured the water out. It was all foggy, He did this 4 or 5 times until the water poured out clear. Then the butter was done!


Scones

This recipe is from Vegan Lunchbox an awesome cookbook that I got from Whole Foods. I've posted about making Pumpkin Muffins from this book before.

The actual recipe is for Blueberry Lemon scones but I didn't have any lemons and I wanted cranberry scones and Bill wanted plain scones so thats what I made.

The recipe calls for 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour. But I don't have and never use all purpose flour. So I used 1 cup of regular whole wheat flour, and 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour. You can see the difference the pastry flour is a lighter color on bottom.

1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt

 My little helper pouring in 1/4 cup of melted butter. Even when/if I go vegan I won't use margarine, it is so full of fake garbage. I'd rather use nothing.

Add 1/2 cup milk. I used organic cows milk for this one. Then mix it together by hand I had to add maybe 1/4 cup more milk (a little at a time) because it was so dry it just wouldn't stick together! I knew scones were crumbly so I didn't want to add to much. 

 Cut the dough in half and form 2 circles. Then cut each circle in 6 pieces. For the cranberry ones I added a tablespoon or 2 of honey and 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cranberries. Then I painted the tops of half of the plain and half of the cranberry with milk and sprinkled some sugar.

My goofy little helper loved them. So did I! Bill said they were a little dry. Probably because I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. Try them yourself and tell me what you think :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Reciepe

I love chocolate chip cookies, and we I found this recipe on the side of my 5lbs bag of  Bob's Rd Mill organic whole wheat pastry flour. I decided to try because it seemed so much healthier than regular cookie recipes.

1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter
1/3 cup olive oil
1-1/2 cups sugar (I only used 1/3 cup)
2/3 cup milk (I've made it with both almond and cows milk)
2 teasp vanilla
2-1/2 cups whole what pastry flour
1-1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teasp baking powder
1 teasp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used 1 cup)
1/2 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F
Cream together butter, oil and sugar
Add milk and vanilla (This is delicious)
In a separate bowl mix th flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients
Add chocolate chips and walnuts
Mix everything
Refrigerate for 20 minutes (I always forget to do this part)
Place on greased cookie sheet
Bake for about 20 minutes

These cookies don't really spread out much at all but they are delicious.
Pictures coming soon of my little chef making these :)

There's no eggs so you don't have to worry about letting your kids eat the dough!