Super Charge Me Cookies

Makes 11–12 cookies. Wheat-free (using spelt flour & oats).

• 1 cup quick oats
• 2/3 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 tsp (rounded) sea salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 –1/3 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit
• 3–4 tbsp chocolate chips (or use more dried fruit, nuts, or seeds)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup flax meal (not flax seed)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tbsp almond butter (or cashew, peanut, hemp seed butter)
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp applesauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, coconut, raisins, and chocolate chips, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine flax meal, syrup, almond butter, and vanilla and stir until well combined. Stir in applesauce. Add wet mixture to dry, and stir until just well combined (do not overmix). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon batter onto baking sheet evenly space apart, and lightly flatten. Bake for 13 minutes (no longer, or they will dry out). Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 1 minute (no longer), then transfer to a cooling rack.

*As usual, I used the applesauce as a substitute for oil [canola.] I made the cookies using peanut butter and golden raisins, but I think they’d be great with almond butter and dried cherries as well.

Prep and clean up were extremely easy and the cookies were ready to enjoy within minutes. I definitely wish I’d had a cold glass of milk to wash them down with, but I haven’t been buying cow’s milk and even if I wanted to, the stores are cleaned out right now!

Chipotle Dressing

• 1 tbsp almond butter [tahini might have worked better]
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp basalmic vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• stevia to taste
• chipotle chili powder to taste

The dressing was good, but still tasted a little more Asian than Southwestern. If anyone has any ideas [or gets their hands on the holy grail] please let me know. In the meantime, I’ve got a second serving of this leftover. Today, I drizzled it on a bed of greens covered with chopped onions, green and red peppers, white corn, black beans and half of an avocado. The only thing missing was blue corn tortilla chips. This salad needs a little crunch.

Pumpkin-Coconut-Date Bars

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup demerara sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

I am having a lot of success using applesauce instead of oils in baked goods like this. Seems like a good way to cut back on oils, since I use them for plenty of other things, like frying.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla, and applesauce, then mix in flours and baking powder.

3. Stir in dates, coconut, and walnuts to mixture.

4. Coat 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray and spread mixture evenly in pan.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees until batter is mostly firm.

6. Top with additional coconut shavings and cook for another 8-10 minutes on 450 degrees until coconut begins to brown.

7. Cut into bars.

The combination of flours made these bars just the right texture: moist and chewy. I had one [or two] right away and have the rest in my freezer on reserve.

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 2 cups dried split green peas, picked over and rinsed
• 5 cups water
• juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve the zest)
• a few pinches of smoked paprika
• more olive oil to drizzle

Add olive oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, just a minute or two. Add the split peas and water, with 1/2 a vegetable bouillon. Bring to a boil, dial down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through (but still a touch al dente). Ladle half of the soup into a a blender an puree until creamy. Then pour back into the pot with the reserved (still chunky) soup. You should have a soup that is nicely textured. Stir in the lemon juice and taste. If the soup needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup really pops.

Ladle into bowls or cups, and serve each drizzled with olive oil and topped with a good pinch of smoked paprika and a touch of lemon zest.

Serves 4 to 6.

After last week’s Moroccan adventure, this soup was a breeze. Little to no prepwork, and cooked quickly, too. The flavor was nice and simple. I did notice that it didn’t keep me full for nearly as long as the lentils soup that I made last month, though.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Serve one of these loaves the day you make them. Wrap the other in foil and freeze up to one month so that you’ll have it on hand for unexpected company.

Yield: Makes 2 loaves

• 2 cups demerara sugar
• 1 cup applesauce
• 3 large eggs
• 1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and applesauce in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts and raisins

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

One more note: I tried halving the recipe and my batter didn’t seem to yield enough for one big plump loaf. In the future, I’d follow the full recipe and make one loaf plus muffins.

My only changes were to pre-cook the yam slightly, and to substitute a chopped carrot in place of chilis. I’m not big on spicy.

Moroccan Coconut and Chick Pea Soup

• 3 cups light tasting vegetable broth
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 large yam or sweet potato, peeled, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, cored, diced
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, diced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 14-oz. can Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
• 1 15-oz. can chick peas, rinsed, drained
• 1 14-oz. can coconut milk
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon Thai Kitchen curry paste (red or green), or to taste
• A pinch cinnamon and cumin
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Add just before serving:

• 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or mint
• 1 cup packed baby greens

Throw all of the ingredients into a pot and cooked for about forty minutes, until the vegetables were tender, about thirty minutes. Then stir in the cilantro or mint, baby greens and hot red pepper flakes. Heat through briefly until the greens soften, and serve.

Serves 4.

Potato soups don’t normally freeze well, so I kept all four servings in the fridge and the last one kept for almost a full week. For a note on yams vs. sweet potatoes, here’s a good read about the glycemic index at My Years Without Sugar, another blog I recommend.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
• fine grain sea salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound head of red cabbage or radicchio, quartered and cut into thin ribbons
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 ounces golden raisins (or other plump, chopped dried fruit)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• goat’s cheese, crumbled
• a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Roast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Sprinkle on the sugar, and a couple pinches of salt. Stir until the sugar melts and coats the seeds (you pan will need to be hot enough). Transfer the seeds immediately to a plate so they don’t stick to the pan. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion for a minutes or two with a couple pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic, and the cabbage, and a few more pinches of salt. Stir and cook for just a minute or so, or until the cabbage softens up just a touch. Then stir in the rosemary, most of the raisins, and the vinegar. The cabbage will continue to get more and more tender even after you remove it from the heat, so keep that in mind, and do your best to avoid overcooking it – where it collapses entirely. Fold in half of the feta cheese, most of the sunflower seeds, then taste. Season with more salt if needed. Serve garnished with the remaining raisins, goat’s cheese, sunflower seeds and Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4 to 6.

This recipe was adapted from The Complete Tassajara Cookbook by Edward Espe Brown. Published by Shambhala (September 8, 2009)

It was Ashley’s suggestion to use goat’s cheese instead of feta, and also to garnish the salad with butternut squash. I cube the squash, oil it lightly and roast it in the oven, seasoned with salt and pepper. The color it adds to the salad is just great.

• big bed of shredded cabbage
• slivers of red pepper
• slivers of carrots
• avocado, chopped
• green onion, chopped
• edamame, shelled
• peanuts, finely chopped

Obviously, the real wow factor is the dressing, which I made from scratch:

• 3/4 cups peanut butter
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 3 1/2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• T Tbsp chopped green onions
• 6 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 packets Stevia

I whisked all of these ingredients together in a bowl and then transferred them to a jam jar where they kept for a week [and lasted me for about four salads]. If you like your dressing spicy, you could add Asian chili paste.

I didn’t have any pumpkin seeds so I swapped in pecans. Because I’m trying to intake less bleached foods and more nutrients, I used spelt flour instead of cake flour as the recipe originally called for. It made the bread dense and rather nutty, but still very good. I wouldn’t skip roasting the bananas or soaking the raisins in dark rum. These steps take a few extra minutes but they pay off in the end.

Roast Banana Breakfast Bread

• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup Myer’s dark rum
• 2 ripe bananas, unpeeled
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a small saucepan, combine the raisins and rum. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and let stand for 1 hour. Strain the plumped raisins and set aside; discard any remaining liquid.

Place the bananas on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until the skins are black and they have started to seep. Remove from the oven , set aside, and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Turn the machine to low and add 1 egg. Mix until completely incorporated and then add the second egg. Mix again until completely incorporated.

Meanwhile, squeeze the flesh of the bananas out of the skins and into a small mixing bowl. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and mash together. Add half of the banana mixture to the electric mixer bowl and blend thoroughly on low speed. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining banana mixture, blend thoroughly, and add the remaining flour mixture; mix just enough to thoroughly blend the ingredients. Fold the nuts or seeds and reserved raisins into the batter and pour it into a lightly greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.

Bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack, slice, and serve warm.

Makes 1 loaf

I should also mention that although I prepare my breads on Sundays, I can’t eat coffee shop desserts like this every day. Too much sugar! I generally leave a piece or two out on the counter, and put the rest directly into single serving ziploc bags in my freezer so they’re ready to grab on my way to work. A nice breakfast treat- once or twice a week. One loaf will last me for weeks, especially if I’m alternating with another variety of bread. Up next? Pumpkin!

• Pitted dates rolled in shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup organic ricotta cheese

I got the dates at MOM’s, my favorite place to do my marketing. They’re pitted, chopped and smushed into chewy logs and then rolled in coconut. So naturally sweet that they need no additives. The ricotta is leftover from a spinach bake I made the other night, because there’s always leftover ricotta and I hate to see it go to waste!