Archive for Baked Goods

Do Better

January 19, 2012 · Filed under 411, Baked Goods, kids, Organics, Recipes · Tagged , , , , , ,

A friend and I say this all the time. Usually laughing at some idiotic, dumb, or senseless thing someone has done…we will look at each other and just say “Come on, DO BETTER!” That is really my motto with the way we eat now, I am just trying to “Do Better”! I am not trying to take the fun out of eating…I am simply trying to just make what we eat real food…instead of everything being packaged, processed…over refined.

We are on our third snow day here in the Seattle area and that means lots of sledding and cozying up by the fire! It also means fun things like baking cookies and making hot cocoa! Yes, we still bake cookies and drink hot cocoa…I promise, I am fun!

Though I realized it would be a bit of experiment when I went to get the ingredients to make the cookies. The recipe would be the same…right off the bag of chips, but the quality of ingredients had changed. Would the end product be the same? Would the kids be able to tell? What the heck…we are snowed in and this is all I got!

Guess what…I think they were better! Could it be? Healthier, better ingredients=a better cookie??? YEP! And my four little helpers showed nothing but complete and utter satisfaction as they gobbled them up! I had to laugh when they asked for milk…apparently you can dip a cookie in Almond Milk and be just as happy!!!

Almond Milk and Power Flour Protein Cookies…nothing but empty glasses, happy kids, and lots of crumbs…Good Food=Good Memories=Good Stuff!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour (so the only flour I had was a batch of protein power flour I keep ready for baking (usually muffins). Based on my results I would say any type of flour…other than white and refined, would be “Doing Better” and work just fine. Try a combo of whole wheat, almond flour…whatever! Bob’s Red Mill makes tons and they are sold pretty much everywhere now!”
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened (we use earthbalance when we need butter, worked great. 100% natural, no GMO’s, no transfats, no hydrogenated oils, or artificial ingredients of any kind)
  • 3/4 cup sugar (Whole Foods Brand, Vegan Cane Sugar…thicker granules, but didn’t seem to be an issue)
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (Private Selection, Organic is what I had in the pantry…a Safeway or Kroger Brand I believe)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract (we just buy the kind w/o alcohol in it)
  • 2 eggs (always get them with omega 3′s added)
  • 2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions are on the Ghirardelli Bag! Yummy!

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The Power of a Warm Apple Crisp

September 11, 2011 · Filed under Baked Goods · Tagged , ,

 

This Warm Apple Crisp was made for me was 5 years ago, and purely by coincidence it was early September.  I had to have the recipe, it honestly was one of those dishes that I could recall with a simple thought…simply amazing.  The flavor was home, warmth, family and all things familiar.

My Cousin’s Wife had made the recipe from an article she had torn from a magazine.  She couldn’t find it, but told me it was a recipe from the “Culinary Muse”.  I found the recipe and was overwhelmed to find I was sitting there reading the recipe, on September 11th, and this Warm Apple Crisp was contributed in honor to the events of 9/11, 2001.

From the tree in our yard

I use this recipe often, and keep it close to my heart.  I promise there will not be a clean dish in the house, but if your read the article that led to the recipe, they may also feel your love, empathy and compassion in each bite.

Here is the original article:  A Time of Gifts, by Stephen Jay Gould 9/26/2001

When we go to the beach the kids pick blackberries.  We freeze them, so last weekend we used some frozen, some just picked.  No additional sugar was added to the berries.  The berries were rinsed (the just picked ones) and placed in a dish with the frozen ones, and I had the kids make the topping. 

My Niece really enjoyed this process, and it was fun to see how proud she was of her hard work!

If you want more topping, it never hurts to double it!  Enjoy and may you find yourself always surrounded by warmth, family, and peace.

9/11/2011

 

Warm Apple Crisp

In the September 26, 2001 New York Times, Stephen Jay Gould wrote a wonderful editorial entitled “A Time of Gifts”.

He talks about the rescue effort at the World Trade Center and the power of “Twelve, warm, apple brown bettys”. Here is our recipe for a warm apple crisp:

3 pounds green apples (Granny Smith), peeled and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1 cube unsalted butter, cold, cut into slices

1) Place sliced apples in a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish. Set aside.

2) To make crisp topping: In a bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients, except butter.

3) Add butter and with your fingers, rub together with the dry ingredients until butter pieces are the size of peas

4) Cover apples with crisp topping. Bake 350, 45-50 minutes or until mixture is bubbling and browned on top. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or heavy cream poured on each serving.

Serves 6-8

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one GIANT zucchini

August 13, 2011 · Filed under Baked Goods, Veggies · Tagged , ,

I have to be honest, I spent years disliking this vegetable.  I just didn’t understand why one would want a zucchini when they could have a cucumber.  A sweet, crisp, cool cucumber…my FAVORITE! I have this same issue with papaya…sitting right nextdoor is a sweet (just that much better) mango!

Yet as I have grown older I have come to appreciate that sometimes the best things in life require some effort.  With a cucumber what you see is what you get.  With a zucchini I get to participate in the process, always a different outcome.  I have come to appreciate and enjoy zucchini, and yes, I still take cucumbers for granted:)

My neighbor invited us over to help harvest his garden. We came home with this bounty.

The peas, cucumber, lettuce and arugula were gone within 15 minutes as the kids and I made a great salad for lunch!  The basil was slotted for an appetizer I was going to make, and the broccoli was paired with dinner the next night.

Today all that was left was ONE GIANT zucchini.

I love fried zucchini…well my version, which is just olive oil and some lavender salt…a few minutes on each side.  But I have also wanted to make zucchini muffins and just haven’t gotten around to it.  What is a girl to do?

Split the difference.

Jennifer’s Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2-1/4 tsp of baking soda
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 3 large egg whites (I used tow eggs and 1 egg white)
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup greek yogurt (you could prob use all applesauce or all yogurt, I just had both) 
  • 1 cup grated zucchini, squeezed and packed into the measuring cup (just use a cheese grater)
  • I also threw in some crasins, walnuts, and oat bran (I always add oat bran when I bake…why not?)

I cooked them at 350 for about 15 to 20 minutes.  They lasted just about that long too once they were done!

 

olive oil & lavender salt

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Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

July 5, 2011 · Filed under Baked Goods · Tagged

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

This is about as healthy as a muffin can get.  I love these, but they do “taste” healthy…don’t bake them thinking you will be biting into a Costco Chocolate Chunk “muffin”!  I use these for my “carb-fix” when needed throughout the week, and for palates that prefer a “sweeter taste” I toast/broil and add some blueberry jam!  We had a houseful over the 4th of July and these were a hit, no complaints!

 

  • 1 1/2 c almond flour (this can be any combo of wheat, nut flours, whatnot)
  • 3/4 c canned pumpkin
  • 3 lg eggs
  • 1tsp bak soda
  • 1 tsp bak powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c agave nectar (I used honey)
  • 1/3 scoop whey protein
  • I also have added dried craisins, raisins, cranberries, and  almonds…I like muffins with “stuff” in them
    mix all ingredients (I like to mix the wet and dry separately and then add them together)
  • I also add a few tbl of ground flax seed, and some oat bran

bake at 350 for 25 min on middle rack

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Cookies.

June 2, 2010 · Filed under Baked Goods, kids · Tagged , ,

I don’t bake, honestly because between the dough and the hot baked goods I would weigh 400 lbs!  But there are so many “clean and healthy” versions of old favorites out there that I started keeping recipes I would like to try.  Then my friend Amy emailed me asking for tips on how to satisfy her sweet tooth.  Eating healthy is not Amy’s problem, that she has always done pretty well…but the sweets call her name and she loves to bake!

So I asked Amy to start testing some of these recipes and to let us know when she finds a good one!

This recipe came from my friend Jennifer and has been stamped “Approved” by Amy!

Clean Eating Chocolate Spiked Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

Two cookies=200 calories/5g of protein/4g of fiber

Amy’s actual feedback:

“So I made the cookies, and while the recipe doesn’t make a lot and I did share them-  they were good they lasted two days.  The recipe was pretty easy and except for the flax meal, I had everything.  The dough was good (I know, I know salmonella) but that is part of the fun of baking cookies.  They were of course best straight from the oven, but I saved two for Betsy and a friend for after school and they stopped playing at the park to eat the cookies and two almost 5 year-olds gave them a definite thumbs up.  I thought they might be dry the next day, but my mom sampled them (and kids) and they were still very good.  I think next time I will try putting some dried cranberries in there too.   I won’t say they will replace regular old chocolate chip cookies all the time, but they most definitely could satisfy my cravings, and of course being that they are “cleaner” it’s better. ”

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