vanilla Archives - Page 2 of 4

Whipped Coconut Cream Recipe

This has not turned into a dessert blog, I promise. I haven’t really kept track of what I was posting here and I just realized I have been a little out of balance lately. I promise to post a few Mexican recipes next week in anticipation of Cinco de Mayo. But since I posted a picture of this fluffy cloud of coconut cream last week on instagram, my cooking class students have been begging me to share how I made it.

I love how popular coconut products have become. I remember when I first started teaching cooking classes about 6 years ago, people were a little skeptical about using coconut oil, despite all the health benefits. Now, these same ladies are rubbing on their faces at night and cooking their pancakes in it. So awesome.

Coconut whipped cream is something I’ve wanted to master for a while. I’m sure you have realized by now I adore anything coconut, and I also don’t digest pasteurized cow dairy all that well. So being able to enjoy a whipped cream made from coconut would be a GAME CHANGER for me.

It seemed simple enough. Chill a can of full-fat coconut milk overnight. Scoop out the fat that firmed up at the top of the can, leaving any liquid behind. Whip it like heavy cream until soft peaks form, adding sweetener if desired. But unfortunately, not all coconut milks are alike and even within the same brand, not all coconut milks separate they way they need to, leaving me on more than one occasion with a puddle of coconut milk . I did some research and learned that sometimes stabilizers are added to help the coconut milk become more uniform and blended, which is exactly what you don’t want if you are trying to turn it into whipped cream.

I actually gave up on this dream until I spotted a can of coconut cream at Trader Joe’s. This is literally just the cream from the coconut milk. Light bulb! I brought the can home and stuck it in the refrigerator until the next day. I chilled my mixing bowl and the whisk attachment, too. Voila! I was so delighted to open that can (BPA-free, mind you) and scoop out the hardened coconut cream. Success! With very little effort I was able to beat this into a light and fluffy whipped topping. This is something to rejoice if you are dairy-free or vegan!

I do think this tastes very much like coconut, though. So if you’re not a coconut fun, this recipe is not for you. I love it with fresh or roasted berries, on pie, or as part of a banana split. Really, anywhere you’d use regular whipped cream you can also use coconut whipped cream. Let’s just not do a nose-dive into the bowl since it is still super high in fat and calories. Enjoy!

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Whipped Coconut Cream

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes about 1½ cups of whipped cream

Ingredients

1 can coconut cream (not coconut milk)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
optional sweetener to taste: 15 drops of stevia or 2-3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

Chill the can of coconut cream in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Chill the mixing bowl and beaters or whisk attachment to your mixer for about 20 minutes or longer.
Turn can upside down and open the bottom. If there is any thin liquid (it should only be about a tablespoon or so), pour that out and save it for a smoothie. Scoop out all the hardened cream (it should be waxy, almost like Crisco) and place in the chilled mixing bowl. Start beating on high speed and add vanilla and sweetener if desired. Beat until soft peaks form, about a minute and a half. Serve immediately.
If you have leftovers, cover and refrigerate and rebeat to make fluffy again.

Notes

I used Trader Joe's Coconut Cream, but Native Forest is also good and the cans are BPA-free.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce Recipe

It’s amazing what a little fruit sauce can do.

“How about some waffles for breakfast?”

“No00, thaaaanks.”

“How about some waffles with strawberry-rhubarb sauce for breakfast?”

“Really? Is it a special occasion or something?”

Making fruit a little extra special always turns something standard into a little party!

I used to make this strawberry-rhubarb sauce to go with the Lemon-Ice Torte that I have been preparing for Passover since I graduated from college. (If you’re new here, that was a loooooong time ago.) I have always thought that the torte is delicious on its own, so one year I decided to stop making the sauce. No one will miss it. Wrong! There was a revolt. I should have realized that would happen since my family loves all things fruity and saucy.

Even though I can find fresh rhubarb for a few weeks in the spring, I still follow the original recipe and use both frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberries. These fruits make such a classic spring combo. Unfortunately, because rhubarb is a tad tart, so many strawberry-rhubarb recipes are loaded with sugar. I used as little coconut sugar as I my family would allow here, but feel free to adjust according to your taste. I also tested this with maple sugar and I couldn’t tell the difference between the sauce with coconut sugar and the maple sugar. Both are less refined sweeteners, but coconut sugar is a fraction of the price of maple sugar, FYI.

I thought this might be nice recipe to make for Easter since you can make it today and keep it refrigerated until Sunday. The sauce goes beautifully with pancakes, French toast and waffles for brunch, or Greek yogurt and granola. Or serve it over a simple pound cake or the Lemon Ice Torte I posted a few years back. Even if you’re looking to make this for a “special occasion,” the sauce is delicious on oatmeal, matzoh brei, frozen yogurt or ice cream. The truth is, this sauce is really simply to make, especially if you use frozen fruit. You need no particular reason, no occasion to turn any day into something special!

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Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce

Author: Pamela, adapted from epicurious.com

Ingredients

¾ cup coconut sugar, maple sugar or cane sugar, divided
6 Tablespoons water
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 16-ounce bag frozen unsweetened rhubarb
1 16-ounce bag frozen unsweetened strawberries

Instructions

Combine half the sugar and all of the water in a heavy medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pot along with the pod. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Add remaining sugar and stir to dissolve.
Add rhubarb. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, covered and simmer until rhubarb is just tender, about 8 minutes.
Add strawberries and bring to a simmer. Cool. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Can be prepared several days ahead. Remove vanilla pod before serving.

rhubarb strawberries vanilla

Green Muffins Recipe — Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day

I am too excited about this muffin recipe to wait until St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve had great luck in the past using pureed spinach to turn pancakes green, so I knew I could make a green muffin. Not only do I think these turned out fantastic, even Mr. Picky loved them, too. Although I did tell him a little lie and said I used green food coloring and he just lit up, eyes wide, “Really?! You did?! Really, Mom?! Like the unhealthy kind?!” Honestly, I’m a little disappointed that my son actually thinks I would use food coloring in a muffin. And just as disappointed that he would be excited to eat that same muffin. I had to lie again. Actually, buddy, it’s a natural green food coloring which gets its color from spinach. Bummed out face. I know for a minute there he thought I suddenly turned into an exciting mom, one who would take risks and dare to use carcinogens! “Oh. They’re still good, I guess.”

And they are good! These muffins are lightly sweet, moist, simple and BRIGHT GREEN because they are loaded with spinach! St. Patrick’s Day is a HUGE opportunity to get green foods into your kids because they are expecting them. You’re showing your spirit. On any other day, green muffins are you just trying to sneak leafy greens into your kids who are not fooled. But the closer we get to March 17th, green muffins are part of the fun!

This is a very basic muffin recipe. The spinach is undetectable and the banana is very subtle. But if you hate banana, you might be able to sub 1/2 cup of applesauce. I think adding walnuts or chocolate chips would be great, too. One of my daughters suggested cream cheese frosting, although then these become cupcakes which is fine, too. These tasted best the day they were made and the next day, too. They lasted just fine a few days on the countertop in a sealed container, but I would freeze what you don’t think you’ll eat within a couple days. Let me know if you make these and if you get lucky!

4.4 from 17 reviews

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Green Muffins

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes 12

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour or spelt flour (or use 2 cups of King Arthur Multi-purpose Gluten-free Flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum)
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
1 large egg
¾ cup pure maple syrup (Grade A or Grade B)
¾ cup dairy or non-dairy milk (such as almond milk)
¼ cup unrefined coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 5- or 6-ounce bag of fresh baby spinach leaves
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with unbleached parchment liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a blender add egg, maple syrup, milk, oil, vanilla and spinach. Process until pureed.
Add spinach mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the mashed banana.
Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups about ¾ full. I like to do this with a large ice cream scooper. Bake about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Store at room temperature up to 3 days. These freeze nicely!

banana maple syrup spinach vanilla whole wheat pastry flour

Coconut Coffeecake with Chocolate Chunks Recipe (gluten-free/dairy-free adaptable)

I haven’t lived in a cold climate since I was in college, which was a loooong time ago. Sure, several times a year I visit my family in New York and we ski in Utah, but it is not the same as being there 24/7 for months on end. I am much better off in Southern California because I have never been nor will I ever be a cold weather person. Even when I was growing up in New York, I loathed winter. No matter how much I bundled up, I felt miserable when the temperature dipped below 40. I remember sneaking into the hallway many a night and turning up the thermostat to 80 degrees and then turning it down as soon as I woke up in the morning. My mother inevitably said to my father, “I was so warm last night!” And now, 30 years later, my parents finally know why the heat in our house was so wacky.

I was walking in a parking lot (in LA) a few days ago, and I overheard someone say “Boy, it’s really chilly today!” Um, it was 58 degrees at the time. Perhaps cold is relative, but even I’m not that lame. I sympathize with all of you suffering through the polar vortex of 2014. I pray that the temperature becomes reasonable sometime soon.

If I lived in impossibly cold weather right now, I would probably move into the kitchen and bake and make soups all day long. If you like the way I think, give this simple little coffeecake a try. I found the recipe on epicurious.com four years ago and “cleaned” it up a tad with a whole grain flour and an unrefined sweetener. You have to like coconut to enjoy this cake because you’ll be using three different coconut products here. No complaints from me. The actual cake is so moist, even when using whole grain flours like spelt or whole wheat pastry flour. Even though unrefined flours contain more fiber and protein than “white” flours, I actually prefer the taste which is a littler nuttier. But if it’s not your thing, you can use all-purpose flour here just the same. But it’s really the top of the cake that is the best. Just picture crispy, golden flakes of coconut mixed with soft chunks of bittersweet chocolate — RIGHT?! Heaven.

I think this cake is perfect for brunch because it’s not too sweet, but you could easily serve this for dessert with a little ice cream and/or some berries or oranges. Although if the windchill is below 0 degrees where you are, pair this with some hot tea, crank up the thermostat, and call it a day.

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Coconut Coffeecake with Chocolate Chunks

Author: Pamela, adapted from epicurious.com

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups whole spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour*
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (use Earth Balance to make this dairy-free)
¾ cup pure grade A maple syrup or cane sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (I like Native Forest and Natural Value, which are BPA-free)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate bars, broken into ½-inch irregular pieces, divided (or you can buy chocolate pieces)
½ cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9” springform pan** and dust pan with flour, shaking out excess. You can also line the pan with parchment paper if you like.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Stir in shredded coconut and set aside.
Using an electric mixer beat butter and maple syrup in a large bowl until combined. It will be lumpy. Add eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions alternating with coconut milk in 2 additions, beating just until blended after each addition. Fold in half of the chocolate.
Spread batter evenly in prepared cake pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate pieces over batter, and then sprinkle with flaked coconut.
Bake cake until golden and tester inserted comes out clean, tenting with sheet of foil if coconut atop cake is browning too quickly, 45-50 minutes.
Transfer cake to rack and cool 45 minutes before removing from pan.

Notes

*For a gluten-free version, use the following in place of the wheat flour:
½ cup sweet rice flour
½ cup brown rice flour
5 Tablespoons potato starch
¼ cup sorghum flour
3 Tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

**You can use a regular 9-inch cake pan, but inverting the cake makes a bit of a mess with the coconut. Just a heads-up.

The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of orange zest, which I thought was a nice touch, but my family didn't like it. If you love coconut and you want this to really taste like a Mounds Bar, you can add a ½ teaspoon coconut extract to the batter which just makes it a little more coconutty. And if you want this to taste like an Almond Joy bar, add a ⅛ teaspoon of almond extract to the batter!

chocolate coconut spelt vanilla

Homemade chocolate-peanut butter cups and almond butter cups recipe

It is really ironic that I try to discourage sweets but I have always have so much fun making them! I had the best time last Christmas making gingerbread men with my kids. My favorite part of every Thanksgiving meal for me is baking all the pies. And more recently, I thoroughly enjoyed making these chocolate peanut butter and almond butter cups. After my friend Rachel Sarnoff from MommyGreenest guest posted here about choosing higher quality Halloween candy, I did a little research looking for the best options (organic, non-GMO, free of artificial colors, etc.) And then I thought it might be cool to make my own candy for when I have guests over or to give as a hostess gift. Do not for a minute think I would ever make my own Halloween candy to give out to trick-or-treaters! That would for sure put me over the edge. If you do that, however, I think you are amazing.

I’ve seen DIY chocolate peanut butter and almond butter cups all over the internet, so I figured that would be a good one to try. Plus, my husband and I both love them. Reese’s peanut butter cups were always among my favorites at Halloween. Let me tell you, these are a cinch to make! No candy thermometer required. No special ingredients needed. You probably have it all in your pantry and they come together in a jiffy (no pun intended.)

Even better, I made these when I wasn’t in a rush. I wasn’t trying to beat the sunset so I would still have natural light for photographing. I wasn’t making these at dinnertime when I had other things to tend to. In fact, my son was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework, quiet as a mouse, and my girls were out at their activities. And I found making these chocolates to be almost meditative. I can’t wait to make them again!! In fact, if you invite me over for dinner, I will likely bring you a little box of these!

I know that some of you are ready to point out to me that these candies, no matter how much love and organic ingredients go into them, are not healthful. And you know what? You are totally right. I am not going to sell these to you today as something that’s going to save your life. Are they less bad for you than Reese’s? I can argue that yes, they are probably less bad for you than Reese’s which contains GMO-sugar, non-organic peanuts and TBHQ, a toxic preservative which is a derivative of butane. Nope, no butane in mine, but also not exactly health food. But it is Halloween and I think we’re entitled to a few treats now and then and that’s that.

I have already made these several times, with both dark chocolate (less sugar) and milk chocolate. I have used (homemade) almond butter as well as organic peanut butter. And I have sweetened the filling with powdered sugar and also with a combination of powdered sugar and honey or maple syrup. Clearly the least bad (I know that’s grammatically incorrect) option would be dark chocolate with almond butter mixed with powdered sugar and maple syrup. And those are so delicious I can’t even believe it. But if you are looking to make something closer to a Reese’s peanut butter cup, then you need to use milk chocolate, peanut butter and all powdered sugar. Those were my kids’ favorites and I have to say they taste better than the real thing!

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kids or grandkids, look no further!

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Chocolate Peanut Butter and Almond Butter Cups

Author: Pamela, adapted from several sources including Top Secret Recipes, Joy of Baking, and Sprouted Kitchen

Serves: makes 24 candies

Ingredients

12 ounces dark or milk chocolate
½ cup natural creamy almond or peanut butter (or sunflower seed butter if you’re nut-free)
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar + 1 Tablespoon raw honey or pure maple syrup)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
sea salt flakes or pumpkin seeds for topping, if desired

Instructions

Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners. If you are using a silicone muffin pan, it's probably a good idea to place the pan on a baking sheet so you can transfer it more easily to the refrigerator.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a glass bowl big enough to fit over the pot of boiling water without touching the water (this is a double boiler).
Lower heat so that the water just simmers and place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until perfectly smooth. Set bowl aside.
Mix the almond or peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt together in a small bowl until smooth. This mixture should be a consistency that allows you to roll it into small balls.
Spoon a teaspoonful of chocolate into each lined cup.
Scoop a teaspoon of the almond/peanut butter mixture and roll into a ball with your hands and press down slightly to flatten a little. Place in the center of each chocolate cup and push down slightly to allow the chocolate to cover the sides, but not the top of the almond/peanut butter disc.
Pour another teaspoon of chocolate on top of the cups covering the peanut/almond butter mixture completely. Use the back of your teaspoon to smooth out the chocolate on the tops of each cup.
Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt or a couple pumpkin seeds if you like and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to harden. If you need to speed this up, place in the freezer.
Because the chocolate is not tempered, you should keep these refrigerated.

Notes

I use this silicone mini muffin pan. Each individual mold measures 1½ inches across the top. I found two mini baking liners at Michaels which worked perfectly, but these were just slightly too big for my pan.

almond butter chocolate maple syrup peanut butter powdered sugar vanilla

How To Make Dairy-free Ice Cream!

Did you notice the exclamation point in the title? I need you to know how excited I am about this. !! I’ll confess right here that ice cream is probably my favorite food. That I don’t eat. Ice cream doesn’t agree with me, if I can get personal with you. But I think this is definitely for the best because it’s just not good for you. Pasteurized cow dairy + sugar + ice cold = digestive nightmare. But just because I can’t eat ice cream doesn’t mean I don’t dream about it. Yes, of course there are alternative “ice creams” made from soy or coconut. But soy milk is something I avoid (way too processed and hard to digest) and most of the coconut frozen desserts taste like coconut, which I like, but not every time mixed with every flavor. Just an FYI, you can take two cans of full-fat coconut milk, mix it with sweetener to taste plus a drop of vanilla extract and pour it into your ice cream maker and get coconut ice cream. That’s the recipe right there!

But recently I saw a cashew-based ice cream at Whole Foods and a light bulb went off. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? I use raw cashews all the time in my classes to make non-dairy substitutions for my DF friends. When you soak raw cashews and then blend them with a little water, you have the beginnings of lots of dairy-free possibilities. I even made a cheesecake with blended raw cashews that was to die for. I need to post that one day. What’s great is that raw cashews are pretty bland tasting, unlike coconut which definitely has a pronounced flavor, even when mixed with other stuff. Also, soaked, raw cashews are loaded with protein and much more digestible than pasteurized heavy cream and milk. !!

I wasn’t sure if you all would be interested in knowing how to make dairy-free ice cream since I can’t assume everyone has an ice cream maker. But after an unscientific poll on Facebook, it seemed like enough of you wanted to know. I made three different cashew-based ice creams in the last month and I thought they were all great. My kids had NO IDEA they were made from cashews. And to take it one step further (better), I sweetened two of the ice creams with dates. Dates! This is an ice cream that is cashews blended with dates. Are you freaking out right now? You should beeeeeeee!

The three flavors I made were Buttered Pecan (ok, technically not dairy-free because I used butter on the pecans, but you can use Earth Balance), Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Mint Chip. I loved them all, but let me mention that although these are more digestible and arguably more healthful than regular ice cream, I wouldn’t say they’re low-fat or low-calorie. And I’m sorry if you’re nut-free or cashew-intolerant because that’s the only way to go here. I am posting the recipes for Buttered Pecan and Mint Chip and as soon as I find the scrap paper with my notes for the chocolate version I will revise this post and let you know!

I’m just sorry that we may only have another month of warm weather and therefore not much time left for ice cream. Make the most of what’s left of summer, friends. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

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Cashew Ice Cream

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes about 1 quart, so if you only want to make a pint, cut all ingredients in half

Ingredients

Salted Butter Pecan:
2 cups pecans
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, or use Earth's Balance to make vegan
½ teaspoon sea salt, plus 1 teaspoon for pecans
4 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least three hours or overnight and
drained
2 cups water
1 cup Grade A maple syrup (or agave, but I’m not a fan since it’s very
processed and high in fructose)
4 vanilla beans, split and scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mint Chip:
4 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least three hours or overnight and drained
3 cups water
20 pitted dates
2 Tablespoons pure peppermint extract (you may want to start out with 1 Tablespoon and taste the mixture before adding the second tablespoon in case your mint extract is stronger than mine.)
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips, or more to taste

Instructions

Salted Butter Pecan:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the pecans, tossing to coat. Spread buttered pecans on baking sheet and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Bake for 6-8 minutes until toasted, but not burned. Set aside to cool.
Place cashews, water, maple syrup, vanilla and ½ teaspoon salt in a high-powered blender or food processor and process until very smooth.
Pour cashew mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions. I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker.
Once the pecans are cooled, place them in a food processor and pulse to make small chunks (about the size of a chocolate chip, or smaller) or chop coarsely on a cutting board.
minutes before ice cream is finished, pour in the pecans.
Store in freezer in airtight container.
Mint Chip:
Place cashews, water, dates, salt and mint extract in a high-powered blender or food processor and process until very smooth.
Pour cashew mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions.
minutes before ice cream is finished, add the chocolate chips.
Store in freezer in airtight container.

cashews dates maple syrup pecans peppermint extract vanilla

Blueberry-Banana Spelt Bread Recipe (gluten-free version too!)

This year I am trying to get an early jump on the beginning of school. I actually say that every year and I still end up in those ridiculous lines at Staples on the first day of school. My oldest daughter is going into 12th grade (I am clutching my heart right now), so you would think that I had this thing down. So not the case. Until now. I just figured out really late in the game that I need to outsource, meaning I need to delegate some of these tasks to other people. No, I don’t all of a sudden have a staff of helpers at my disposal. But I do have capable children that have waaaaaay more time on their hands than I do and they can navigate the internet like nobody’s business. Why didn’t I think of this 10 years ago?

The kids have just ordered their supplies, backpacks and lunch paraphernalia online and helped fill out a stack of forms (they all know their birthdays and where we live, right?). This has been such a huge help that I am even going to ask them to start helping with their lunches. Just don’t tell them yet. I need to figure out a way to break this to them gently!

I also thought I would start stocking the freezer with some goodies so weekday meal preparation goes a little more smoothly. I made a few delicious quick breads last week and halved each of them. One half to enjoy now and the other half is frozen for a rainy day, i.e. a future school day breakfast or lunchbox snack. I dug into my archives (have I been online long enough to have an archive?) and put a summer twist on my date-sweetened banana bread, one of my absolute favorite, wholesome quick breads. I actually made three loaves — one with whole spelt flour and two with a blend of gluten-free flours with which I have been experimenting lately. I am using more and more spelt flour instead of whole wheat, especially in sweet things. Read about why I love spelt here! And since I know so many of you wan to avoid gluten, I also made a couple of loaves with different gluten-free flours. You can always use your favorite store-bought gluten-free flour blend (my favorite is King Arthur) plus some xanthan gum, but those can be a bit pricey. Either way, it reminded me how versatile most recipes are and that I only need to change a few ingredients to make something more seasonal and/or new. All the loaves turned out amazing and the kids gobbled them up!

This weekend I’m also going to make and freeze some cookie dough, brown rice for rice bakes, fresh fruit for smoothies and chicken stock since the weather has started to get a little chilly here. How are you getting organized for the beginning of the new school year? Would love for you to share. May the force be with all of us!

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Blueberry-Banana Spelt Bread

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes 1 9 x 5-inch loaf

Ingredients

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil, at room temperature
½ cup maple syrup (I prefer Grade A which has a more subtle flavor)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 cup)*
1 cup fresh blueberries
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Line with parchment paper, if desired.
Beat the butter with the maple syrup in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine well. The mixture will look curdled and that is normal.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Add to the wet mixture and combine until just blended. Fold in the mashed bananas and most of the blueberries and nuts. Save a few bleuberries and nuts for the top of the loaf.
Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the reserved blueberries and nuts on top. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes and then remove the bread and transfer onto a rack.

Notes

*Do not attempt this with bananas that are unripe. They are neither sweet enough nor soft enough.

Gluten-free dry mix to sub for the 2 cups of spelt flour:

½ cup sorghum flour

½ cup millet flour

½ cup sweet rice flour

¼ cup GF oat flour

3 Tablespoons potato starch

1 Tablespoon tapioca starch

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

bananas blueberries butter eggs spelt flour vanilla

Individual baked oatmeal cups

I’m down one child for the next six weeks since I dropped Daughter #1 off far, far away in upstate NY for a summer college program. There were some tears before I left. I know how most of you think, but no, those tears were not mine. I love my daughter to pieces, but hear me out. If you were 16 years old and had the opportunity to study architecture at one the best universities in the US, on one of the most beautiful campuses, meeting interesting kids from all over the world, without your parents telling you what to wear or eat or when to go to bed, would you CRY? Hell-oooooo? I am so excited for her! I think back to when I was 16, and I would have given my right eye to get the heck out of sleepy Stony Brook, Long Island, where I am from and do what she’s doing. Cry tears of JOY maybe. I guess Manhattan Beach, California is much more fun than Stony Brook when you’re 16. But just so you’re not worried about her, a mere 24 hours later there were no more sad texts, only pictures of cute boys, usually South American.

Ironically, I am with Mr. Picky visiting my family in Stony Brook, the place I lived for basically my entire life, but the place that I thought was the most boring town on the face of the planet. It is about 60 miles away from New York City, arguably the most exciting place on the planet, although I didn’t get there too much, and especially not without my parents. Stony Brook is absolutely darling, but there was not much going on here when I was a kid, except for a few small beaches which are also very quiet, a lovely (and quiet) duck pond, a carriage house museum (totally true) and a cute ice cream shop. So of course when it was time for college, I needed excitement! A big city! So I left for Philadelphia where I attended college and then moved to Los Angeles after graduation. Many, many years later, after much excitement, I cannot believe I am saying this, but I so look forward to my visits to Stony Brook.

Have I mentioned how quiet it is here? I woke up in the middle of the night last night because I didn’t hear anything. How weird is that? Perfect silence. Actually, it’s AMAZING. I am thrilled beyond words to be in a quiet, sleepy town for the week where I don’t have to battle traffic or stressed out motorists or all the noise that goes with them. And the fresh air is a huge bonus.

It's so hot here, the coconut oil is liquid at room temperature! — It’s so hot here, the coconut oil is liquid at room temperature!

Mr. Picky and I are having a ball with my parents and my sisters and their kids. I am always appointed head of the kitchen when I’m here which is fine as long as someone else is head of dishwashing. Honestly, I don’t mind cooking for a crowd every day. It’s actually easier than cooking for two. And my sisters’ kids which range in age from 3-7 are all fantastic eaters which makes my life very easy.

I heard that all the kids liked the baked berry oatmeal recipe I posted a few months ago, so I thought I would do something a little different and bake the mixture in a muffin tin to make individual portions. Also, my sister’s son leaves early for lacrosse camp every day, so it’s nice for him to be able to take a couple for the road. I made the oat mixture with a few nuts, but then used different “toppings” for each cup just to mix it up a bit. I used blueberries, strawberries & mini-chocolate chips, and mini-chocolate chips & walnuts. The kids all gravitated towards the ones with chocolate, naturally and I’ll admit, a few of them were wondering why there were no chocolate chips throughout the cups and only on top. Next time I’ll throw a few into the mixture as well. The oatmeal cups were popular enough that they were finished off in the afternoon after the kids worked up an appetite after a few hours in the pool.

Keep in mind, these oatmeal cups are the equivalent to having a portable mini-bowl of oatmeal. They don’t have the light, tender texture of a muffin, so don’t expect that. I ate two blueberry ones and felt very satisfied until lunchtime. Remember that oats have a lot of fiber, both soluble and insoluble, making you feel full for a good long time. But I do find that I need to have some good fat with my oats, so the addition of walnuts was perfect for me and also added some nice crunch. No doubt you and I will have some fun with this recipe and find a way to add apples or pumpkin in the fall or bananas, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. My summer just got started and I plan to make it go as slowly as possible.

update 7.3.13: I just made these again, but with my own muffin pan which only yielded 9 cups instead of the 12 I originally wrote. I think my mom’s pan is smaller than mine, which is standard, so I updated the recipe to 9 oatmeal cups which I think is more accurate.

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Individual Baked Oatmeal Cups

Author: Pamela

Ingredients

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (look for labeled gluten-free oats to make this a gluten-free recipe) - Do NOT use steel cut oats
¼ cup walnuts, almonds or pecans, chopped + extra for topping (optional)
⅓ cup 100% pure maple syrup (I like ¼ cup is just fine, but my family preferred ⅓ cup)
1 ½ cups milk of choice (cow, almond, hemp, etc.)
1 large egg or ½ cup mashed banana or ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 ½ Tablespoons melted unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
toppings: fresh blueberries, sliced fresh strawberries, chopped nuts, mini-chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with 9 unbleached parchment liners.
Combine baking powder, salt, oats and nuts in a large bowl.
In a separate medium bowl whisk together maple syrup, milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla (or combine them in a blender.)
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir to combine. You can certainly add chocolate chips or fruit to this mixture if you want all the cups to be the same.
Ladle the oat mixture into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about ¾ full. Sprinkle any additional nuts, berries or chocolate chips over the tops of each.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set and wet ingredients are fully absorbed. Eat warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten straight away or warmed in a toaster oven at 350 until heated through.

almond milk eggs rolled oats vanilla