Egg and Nut Free Strawberry Snack Cake

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! We had a weekend full of family meals and fun. To top it all off we enjoyed this delicious strawberry cake with chocolate cream icing. This is a quick and simple little cake that anyone can whip up for their hard-working Mother :)

Egg and Nut Free Strawberry Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sucanat, rapadura or sugar
1 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch glass pie dish and set aside (I just use coconut oil). In the bowl of a mixer, combine the butter and sucanat until light and fluffy. Add the water and vanilla and beat until combined. In a medium separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and salt with a wire whisk. Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk and combine but do not over mix. Pour batter into the glass dish and arrange strawberries on top. Bake 25-30 minutes or unit a toothpick comes out clean.

I know this sounds bad, but whenever I make icing I just sort of guess at how much for each ingredient and taste as I go. (Maybe that's just because I like eating the icing or maybe it's because I'm too lazy to ever figure out the ratio of ingredients. I'll let you decide). Here's my best guess at what I did for this recipe, but I suggest you just start with how much cream you'd like, add a little sweetener, vanilla and cocoa powder and then adjust if you don't like how it tastes.

Chocolate Cream Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

Pour cream into a mixer bowl and beat until whipped. This will take a few minutes, but you'll get there! Add maple syrup, vanilla and cocoa powder and mix until incorporated. Taste and then adjust as needed.

Happy Mother's Day and enjoy this delicious fairly healthy snack! :)

Fudgy Egg-Free Brownies!!

At some point between a super clingy toddler, major laundry duty, and the aftermath of Caleb gorging himself with beets last night, I decided I needed some chocolate today. Since we're having dinner with my parents tomorrow night, I thought I'd give my failed egg-free brownie recipe one more try.  For the past few months, I've been trying different egg-free brownie recipes but they were either too crumbly or just plain gross : / The missing ingredient? Melted butter.  Ahhh, proof that everything IS better with butter!

Since I like to try to keep even brownies on the "healthy" side, I used white whole wheat flour, sucanat (which is dehydrated cane juice), and real (no margarine here folks) organic butter. Using wheat flour and sucanat tastes EXACTLY the same as using the refined white stuff, but if you don't want to get sucanat, plain white sugar should be fine. (However, I will say that we haven't used white sugar in about 8 months and we're surviving quite well!)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy these brownies! A major plus compared to other recipes I've seen: they actually taste like brownies and there's no tofu!

Fudgy Egg-Free Brownies
Adapted from heavenlyhomemakers.com 

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sucanat (or sugar)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup allergy-free chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in sucanant and cocoa powder. Mix in applesauce and vanilla and stir. Stir in flour and then gently fold in chocolate chips. Grease an 8x8 baking dish (I just rub some coconut oil on it), pour batter in pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Egg and Nut Free Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

Today, while C was napping, I made some cookies to send to my younger brother to munch on while he studies for his finals. I set them on the counter, hoping to keep C from seeing them and begging for one once he woke up. Well somehow, even though he's only 2 1/2 feet tall, he spotted them on the counter as soon as he walked into the kitchen. He got super excited saying "cookie! cookie! coooooookie!" I knew I would have to make something separate so all the cookies for my brother wouldn't disappear, but I didn't have enough chocolate chips for another batch. So, I checked around to see what I did have and found some frozen raspberries and cream cheese. Perfect! Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars.

This is the perfect snack since we've been trying to focus on eating "real" food lately. No refined sugar, white flour, fake fats, chemical additives etc. Basically if we can't pronounce an ingredient, we don't eat it.  That actually includes a lot of "low fat" packaged foods you will find in the stores! This recipe uses white whole wheat flour (which is 100% soft whole wheat -- I've found it to be better for baking), coconut oil which has significant health benefits, and organic grade b maple syrup which is a healthier substitute for sugar. Cutting out processed and refined foods from our diets has been the only thing to help with my husband's headaches and minor stomach issues I've had in the past. And if it tastes this good, we're completely fine with it! 

Egg and Nut Free Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 oz. cream cheese, plain

1 Tbsp. whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup frozen raspberries

In a medium mixing bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together with a wire whisk. In a separate mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, applesauce, cream cheese, milk and vanilla. Beat until incorporated. Fold in the frozen raspberries.

Pour into a greased 8 x 11 glass baking dish and bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Egg Free Corn dog Muffins

Whether or not we'd like to admit it, we all have enjoyed a hot dog on a stick covered with fried dough. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty good! There's been an increasing popularity of real food "corn dog muffins" lately so I decided to give an egg free version a try.  I've been keeping a (short) list of meals C will actually eat, and this one is now #2 on my slowly growing list :P Not the healthiest thing to eat, but definitely more healthy than your normal corn dog!

Egg Free Corn Dog Muffins
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp. sucanat or rapadura (or regular sugar )
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (I make my own by combining 1 cup whole milk and 1 Tbsp. vinegar, let stand for 5-10 minutes)
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 hot dogs, cut into thirds (I use Applegate brand)

Preheat oven to 425 and grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sucanat, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and melted butter. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until a batter is formed. Drop batter into muffin pan by spoonfuls. Insert a hot dog piece into the center of each muffin (lay it on it's side for best results). Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.

Soaked Grains

I've been learning a lot about soaking grains recently and I have to say not only is it a lot healthier for you, it is delicious and easy as well! We've soaked oatmeal, rice, muffins and now yummy bread. Apparently this is the way people used to prepare grains (waaaay back) and it makes it a lot easier for us to digest the grain and increases nutrient absorption as well. Now, I'm no nutritionist but this is what I've found from my research. Basically, grains have protective measures (phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, and proteins) to keep them stable until the time of germination. These protective measures get in the way of nutrition and digestion. By soaking the grains in acidulated warm liquid, it mimics germination and unlocks the enzymes thus making it easier for us to digest and absorb the nutrients available (info from GNOWFGLINS).

Usually I will start a recipe to soak after my son is in bed and I will leave it soaking until the next day when I'm ready to finish the recipe. Grains need to soak about 12 hours, but can soak up to 24 or more hours in some cases. This actually makes it a lot easier for me because I can start the recipe in the evening and then finish it up when my son is napping the next day (and most of the work is already done!)

This soaked oatmeal recipe might be the tastiest oatmeal I've ever had:

Basic Soaked Oatmeal (Adapted from GNOWFGLINS @ http://gnowfglins.com/)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
Raisins (optional)

The night before, combine the oats, buttermilk and water in a pot. Cover and set aside. The next morning, add the milk, salt, cinnamon and maple syrup. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer until thick (about 10 minutes). Serve with raisins or other desired toppings.

This is seriously delicious!

Basic Soaked Whole Wheat Bread (Adapted from Kitchen Stewardship @ http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/)
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp. room temp water
2 Tbsp. yogurt whey (I just used plain yogurt)
1/4 cup coconut oil or melted butter
2 Tbsp. honey
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt

Put water, oil, honey, yogurt whey and flour in a bowl and let soak overnight or at least 12 hours*.  After it has soaked, add the yeast and salt and knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour. Transfer to a buttered or oiled bowl and cover to let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes or longer?) Punch down. Shape into a loaf or rolls, placed in a greased pan and let rise a little longer. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 *Do not add the yeast and salt while soaking - the yeast and salt will get in the way of the soaking process. 

This is seriously good bread. C had 2 pieces with his lunch today and I had to hide it and distract him from begging for more.

All this soaking seemed kind of intimidating at first, but now that I've started doing it, I've found it to be really easy because it helps me plan ahead and most of the work is done while C is sleeping. That's always a plus in my book :)

Kid-Friendly Meals: Fish Sticks!

We started a new family tradition where every Monday night will be "kids night" for dinner where we'll have a (healthier) version of kid-friendly meals. This week I decided to kick it off with a meal that is near and dear to my heart and quite far from my husband's...fish sticks. Growing up I really wouldn't eat anything except macaroni and cheese, but occasionally I would eat a fish stick.  However, my husband's experience with fish sticks ruined his taste for fish (I believe he used the phrase "I gagged" and "it tasted like Lake Erie").  So, this week it was my mission to redeem the fish stick in my husband's eyes and show him that fish really is quite good!

I am pleased to report that both C and my husband ate the fish sticks, and although he wouldn't admit it, I think my husband enjoyed them. I wanted to serve these with macaroni and cheese, but C does not like macaroni and cheese! So I served them with baked fries instead, but either would work well.

Fish Sticks
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1 tsp. salt-free seasoning (I used Trader Joe's 21 salute seasoning)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 lbs white fish (like tilapia, halibut or cod), cut into strips

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the flour, oil and panko crumbs in separate bowls. Mix the seasonings in with the panko crumbs.  Coat each fish stick in flour, dip into the oil and then coat with the panko/seasoning blend. Add more flour, oil and panko crumbs if needed. Place the fish sticks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

These will also freeze really well if you want to make them ahead of time and then save them for busy nights :)

Egg and Nut Free Chocolate Cranberry Granola

My toddler is definitely a grazer. He goes from snack to snack and (sometimes) will eat a full meal here and there. He knows where the snacks are and likes to put his hands on the cupboard and scream until I come get him something to eat. Usually his snack is just fruit, yogurt, or one of these tasty treats from the blog :) This recipe is a spin on the granola recipe I posted a couple months ago. C and my husband are my taste testers for the recipes I post, and while C was eating the granola today he kept nodding his head up and down saying "mmmmmm! mmmmm!" So, I knew I should definitely post it...here you are! 

Egg and Nut Free Chocolate Cranberry Granola 

4 cups oats

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter), melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325. Combine 1st 5 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix together until fully coated. Place granola mixture in a greased 13x9 inch glass baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 40 minutes and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting into bars*. Store in a tupperware container. 

*This version of the recipe didn't hold together as well, possibly because of the cocoa powder. I ended up crumbling most of it and it still tastes great by the handful or on top of yogurt :)