dabbling in the raw

One of the things I miss about living on Vancouver Island is a great little raw food restaurant in Qualicum Beach that we would visit every once in awhile.  Being vegan, we are not used to having a wide selection of foods in restaurants and subsequently we generally avoid eating out.  A raw food restaurant is like winning the chow lottery for us.  So much selection!  Plus we can usually find kale chips to take home for later, the most oddly yummy snack food ever.

Lately I've been craving raw food meals such as we had on the island but there is nothing close by even vaguely similar.  Trying to prepare raw meals at home, I admit, I'm pretty overwhelmed.  Raw snacks, of course, we do all the time. It's called an apple and a handful of almonds or a smoothie.  But to do the soaked, sprouted, dehydrated and stacked, it's truly a whole new way of preparing food.  Like relearning what I thought I sorted out more than twenty years ago, what with the stove business and not boiling things over.  Plus, oddly enough, I just don't have the appliances to make most of the recipes in a raw food recipe book and I can't seem to bring myself to neither spend money nor fathom where I will put a gianormous dehydrator in our tiny home.

Still, I have been dabbling.  My great love and crutch is bread.  While I adore my sandwiches and toast, I am aware that I am eating way too much of it and, frankly, my tummy isn't happy about it either.  Substituting something raw for my bread snacks without feeling let down by a lack of soft, yummy accessible carbs is my great challenge.  My inital attempts with rice cakes and lettuce leaves wraps left me empty but fortunately, by turning my attention towards raw foods, I've found something as good or even better.

One of the easiest ways to get a raw snack fix that isn't trail mix or a salad, is to wrap stuff up in a nori roll.  We make veggie maki often but it was a bit of a revelation that I could use nori sheets to hold together just about anything I like.  Often the result isn't very attractive and my rolls look are lumpy and misshapen without the rice filler.  They'd get almost any sushi chief-in-training fired on the spot.  But they taste pretty fine and we eat them rather than spend time looking at them.

For anyone else looking for a filling snack, the trick I've found to a satifying nori roll is to use a fibrous vegetable, something sweet, a savory spreadable, a bit of sharp and protein (this is my version of the five flavours).  My favorite combination to date is broccoli, walnuts, onion, dried cranberry and hummus. 

I'm curious to hear from anyone who has been eating raw foods and how you've untangled the strange and wonderous world of raw food prep.  My busy mama brain just can't comprehend any big changes, but to make small ones that only require a sharp knife and may be a blend is right where I'm at.

Yet another way to combine peanut butter and chocolate

Have I mentioned I have no oven?

Not that I'm terribly sad about that now, as the heat is most definitely upon us this summer.  Still, I am a bit of a baked goods fanatic.  Hardly a day goes by without muffins, cookies or banana bread.  Though the oven isn't really necessary to the feeding of my family, I feel a bit like my left arm is broken.  Sure, I can get by without it, but I really don't want to have to.

The oven should be fixed soon, according to The Man.  Which means anytime between Friday and the year 2013.  Until then, I am making do.

Hey, did you know that you can do more than heat up left over curry in the microwave?  Yeah, big news to me too.  I, on principal, dislike the nuker.  I try to avoid it.  During both my pregnancies, everytime the microwave was turned on I would hide my belly away behind the far side of the refridgerator, trying to block any escaped microwaves from mutating my baby's brain.  I know this is slightly crazy, but I'm still not sure how far down the line and around the bend it is exactly.  I do know that if I became pregnant again I would once again hide from microwaves behind the fridge.  Just in case, you know?

So, not a fan of microwaves.

Yet, here I am, not pregnant and ovenless.  Got to get my peanut butter chocolate fix somehow.  Suddenly the microwave is my best friend.

After some experimenting, I'm finding that some sort of brownie type yummy can bake up quite nicely in the microwave.  The texture isn't quite the same, a bit more smoothish (dare I say, plastic?), but overall it's certainly worthy of a coffee break. 

Are you scared?  Want to try?

Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies

(for the microwave)

In a bowl, combine:

1 mashed banana or 1 egg worth of egg replacer product
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used So Delicious' Coconut milk)


then mix in,

1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips

When throughly mixed, pour into a microwavable loaf pan.  On top of brownie mixture, evenly spread

1 handful of chocolate chips
1 handful of trail mix (nuts, raisins and seeds)

Microwave on high heat for 6-10 minutes, checking every two minutes for done-ness.  Let cool before serving to children.

I've found that since these can be done in under 20 minutes, it's become the favorite quick treat for when the neighborhood kids come over to play.  I try to balance this out with some carrot sticks and peanut butter (sweet with fat - crowd pleasing combo no matter what) but I've already become known as the mom who ruins everyone's dinner.  And the mom who also taught them to sing 'peanut butter brownie' to this tune.

I can live with that.  As long as I get some too.

I promise you, they taste better than they look

Sometimes life throws things at you that makes what seemed as common as muck suddenly fascinatingly alien.  With my neophyte green thumb, weekend at the farm where the mud is plentiful and invasive, and then our unexpected adoption of a thousand or so worms, complete with condo housing (post coming soon), dirt has become a big topic around our house.

And we like dirt.  To grow in it, play in it, study it, throw it (man, they really have us figured out), create it.  Dirt is a beautiful thing.  I think what I find most interesting about it is that we talk about it in the singular - dirt, soil, earth - but it is made of so many composite pieces and comes in so many different ways that it's really unfair to lump it all together.

Yet lumping it all together was our dirt lesson for today.  These cookies are made from many different things and include all sorts of textures, but they come together beautifully into one brown, lumpy package.  So boring, until you bite into them.  They are awesome.  Try them. 


Dirt Clods

In a big bowl, mix
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp instant coffee
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Add 1/4 cup each of
sunflower seeds
chocolate chips
chopped almonds
shredded coconut
raisins

In a separate bowl, mix
1 mashed banana
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp ginger ale soda
2 tsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.  Use a spoon to drop tbsp sized clods onto a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

omg cookies

These cookies should be called something descriptive like 'chocolate and peanut butter cookies' or 'cocoa-nut cookies' but since so many of my recipes center on chocolate and peanut butter I didn't want to get you confused.

Did I mention I like chocolate and peanut butter?

As much as my family has eaten chocolate and peanut butter in so many combination you'd think they'd become indifferent to yet another pb and chocolate cookie, but, it turns out, even they are not immune to the sublime thrill that biting into this chocolate-coated peanut butter and macadamia nut number.  It is therefore named after the first reaction almost everyone has had to their first bite:


Oh my god, this is sooooo good!

I'm usually not one to brag (go on too much, yes, but not brag), but I will tell you that it is.  It is very good.  You should go make some now.  And while they are in the oven take a moment to loosen your belt.  You will the extra room.

omg cookies

1 ripe banana

1/4 cup soy milk or water

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

1 cup of dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  

In a large bowl mash the banana with a fork.  Add the soy milk (or water) and blend into smooth-ish paste.  Add in peanut butter and sugar and mix well.  

Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.  Fold in macadamia nuts. 

Roll up mixture into ping pong ball size balls and place on cookie sheet, allowing enough room for cookie to expand while cooking.  Flatten each ball slightly with the back of a spoon or your thumb.  Place into oven for about 10 minutes.  Take them out when they look like they still could use another minute in the oven.  Peanut butter cookies dry out very quickly if baked for too long.

When cookies are cooled, melt chocolate chips in microwave.  Heat chips about 20 seconds or so then stir.  Continue heating and stirring until the chips are almost entirely liquid.  Do not over heat!  

Use the back of a spoon to coat the half of the top each cookie.  Set on parchment or wax paper to cool (could take several hours for the chocolate to completely stiffen, depending on type used.)

Eat in the company of friends and family.  Like booze, these cookies should never be consumed alone.

my plan for action

A few days ago we had our first visit from our homeschool coordinator, whose job it is to liaison between us and the school board. It went well and now we are officially in exclusive charge of educating our daughter.  All legit. We have a list of objectives that is our responsibility to ensure she knows before she is nineteen years of age, a budget that is ten times smaller than that used for each public school student, and an optimistic philosophy of learning. Here we go!

Urk!

After the initial celebration that involved blowing up a couple dozen balloons using a manual air pump (new vocabulary words for Smootch: rod, baffle, and shrapnel) and hanging them from the ceiling on strings at exactly the right height to go against house rules and jump on the bed and knock them around, the enormity of our task set in and I began to feel a little panic overwhelmed. I'd have to say that this decision to homeschool is even bigger than the decision to have the baby in the first place. It's big. And now, there is much work to be done.

(For me, anyway. Smootch right now is actually watching Hoodwinked after spending an afternoon trying to find dead things in the woods to study with a magnifying glass. Smootch is feeling pretty relaxed so far with the way things are going.)

While doing a little pacing and considering my responsibility I spied one of the smallest members of our family soldiering away at his mid-afternoon kip (comes between his early afternoon snooze and late afternoon siesta).



Cats really don't have much to do with anxiety, do they? With the exception of the occasional neurotic beastie, cats generally stick to fight or flight when the moment calls and other than that deal with the serious business of eating, sleeping, and, well, making more cats.

I feel envy sometimes.  Damn frontal cortex.

Looking at kitty, I had this sudden urge to focus on and take care of my most primal needs. Forget about what needs to be done before thirteen years pass, what I really needed to do was be in the moment right now and nourish myself with soul satisfying food.

You know where I'm going with this. This was obviously a Chocolate Chunk Mocha Muffins moment.



I do not know where the original recipe came from, but it has been slowly modified over years. My recipe card was written, scratched out, added to, erased and smudged with cocoa and oil. Like all good recipes are. These muffins (okay, call them mini-cakes) aren't too sweet, but rich and satisfying.

Brought me to exactly where I needed to be.

So, anyone out there feeling a little overwhelmed? One way to get back to the moment is to take care of the basics.  Have a quick nap then bake yourself up a muffin (recipe below).  I'll refrain from any advice on the making of more people.

Cheers!

Chocolate Chunk Mocha Muffins

This recipe makes a double batch (an extra dozen for the freezer). Preheat the oven for 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together

3 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp instant coffee
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg

Make a well in the center of the mix and add

2 cups soy milk
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together until wet.  Lightly oil two regular sized muffin tins (or one extra large muffin pan) and scoop a large tablespoon of the mixture in each.

Cut a dark chocolate bar into small chunks and lightly press a chunk in the center of each muffin.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Mocha Latte Cake

To no one's surprise, it's time to mention that our little family is moving to yet another town. I know, again. Again! At least we will be in the same province, and only two hours away from us now. Actually, we'll be about a twenty five minute drive away from our original beautiful blue home that we sold and moved away from just a year and change ago, hoping to get away from it all.

Hmph.

Our beautiful blue home is now, by the way, a corn stalk green, and not at all beautiful or blue.

So it goes. This is why they invented comfort food.



I think the hardest part about moving away from our current place is having to leave behind the mixing bowls. They belong to the landlords, but they are so wonderful, the perfect weight and size, and, I swear, make every thing taste better. They are a pleasure to make messy and have to wash up.

I will have to keep an eye open for replacements to call my very own. Until we go, however, a few more times around the cupboard. There are plenty of birthdays this time of year. Perhaps you have one too?

Here's to you and the comfort of a well stocked kitchen.

Mocha Latte Cake

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs equivalent of Egg Replacer

2 tbsp instant coffee

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup soy or almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients (excluding chocolate chips) in a large, creamy white ceramic mixing bowl.  Add the wet ingredients and mix well.  Add in chocolate chips and gently stir.  Pour mixture into two 8" cake pans.  Put in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes or until it is springy to the touch. 

All Right Mama

Lately I fancy myself a gourmet ice pop maker.  Nothing, in my books, announces summer has arrived quite like pulling out the ice pop mold from the back of the cupboard.  

This year, I may have gone a bit overboard.  In my freezer is a few dozen frozen pops of questionable nutritional value in varying exotic flavors.  Everything thing from peach maple and spicy pear to super yummy peanut butter chocolate.  

The children get to eat three or four giant pops a day.  My approval rating has soared.

Here's one recipe to help raise your own approval rating with your summer babes:

That's All Right Mama Ice Pop

1 cup soft tofu

1 cup soy milk

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 bananas

1 tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend smooth.  Pour into ice pop molds and freeze.  

yummy nutty pancakes

Mix together:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp wheat germ
1 tbsp ground flax seed
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Combine with:

1 banana, mashed
3/4 cups soy milk
1 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp oil

If batter is too thick, add more water.

Then add,

1 handful of chopped nuts and seeds

Top cooked pancakes with peanut butter and applesauce.

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This is a free tutorial and I encourage you to use the information in any way you need to (check the disclaimer at the bottom of the page). If it works for you, please consider supporting my etsy shop by purchasing a Little Print Design pattern or toss a dollar or two in my paypal to show appreciation and to encourage me to offer up even more quality patterns and tutorials.

Thank you!
Questions about the Donation? FAQ here.

Chai this

Home brewed vegan chai is the only way to go. I've been playing with various combinations for years, but this is the blend of spices that I find most satisfying over the holidays.

In a small sauce pan, add:

3 cups water

1/2 tsp whole cloves

1/2 tsp peppercorns

2 small cinnamon sticks

8 cardamon pods, broken open

sprinkle of ground ginger

Bring contents of sauce pan to boil. Simmer at low heat for 30 minutes.

Add 1 black tea bag and allow to simmer for an additional 3-5 minutes.

Pour tea from sauce pan through a strainer into a large bowl. Return strained tea to pot.

Add:

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup soy milk

sugar to taste

Bring tea just to boil and remove from heat. Serve immediately.

For children, combine 1 part tea with 1 part soy milk.

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This is a free tutorial and I encourage you to use the information in any way you need to (check the disclaimer at the bottom of the page). If it works for you, please consider supporting my etsy shop by purchasing a Little Print Design pattern or toss a dollar or two in my paypal to show appreciation and to encourage me to offer up even more quality patterns and tutorials.

Thank you!
Questions about the Donation? FAQ here.

The perfect oatmeal

Ingredients:
-electric stove
-1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats!)
-1 cup soy milk
-1 cup water

Put the oats, milk, and water into a covered pot on the stove. Bring to boil (keep a watch on it so it does not boil over). Turn off element and let covered pot sit on element for 10 minutes.

Mix oatmeal with sugar, hemp hearts, flax, raisins, bananas, or whatever you enjoy. Share with child.