Strawberry Shortcake

Here's another adaptation with no white sugar. This one comes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Ingredients

6 C sliced strawberries

1/4 C (or less) agave

1/4 C Sucanat, or other raw cane sugar

2 C all purpose flour (would be fun to try 1 C whole wheat pastry flour and 1 C all purpose flour)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/4 C unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 C butter

1 beaten egg

2/3 C milk

1 C whipping cream, whipped (if desired. I used vanilla yogurt instead, and it was delicious!)

Directions

Mix the berries and agave and set aside. Combine the raw sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in applesauce and cut in butter. It should look like course crumbs when ready. Combine the egg and the milk, then add to the crumb mixture until just moistened. Pour into a greased 8 in round pan and bake at 450 for 15-18 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving with strawberries and cream or yogurt.

Apple Muffins

I no longer have white sugar in my house (well, I technically have some in my emergency food storage, but I'm not planning on using it unless I have to). I've been enjoying coming up with substitutions. This recipe is adapted from a cookbook called Special Foods for Special Kids, by Todd Adelman and Jodi Behrend. I bought this book when I found out my oldest child (10 months old at the time) was highly allergic to egg and dairy. All the standard toddler foods I saw my friends giving their children were not an option for her. I had no idea what to feed her, so I turned to books. I like this particular book because each recipe is given without any adaptations first, then has a guide at the bottom for which substitutions to make for specific allergies. A lot of other resources I found were assuming that the child was allergic to most common allergens, so they contained a lot of weird and expensive ingredients.

Anyway, the point of all that rambling is that I used the original recipe, without any allergy adaptations, but replacing the flour with whole-wheat pastry flour and the sugar with honey. I'll list the egg and dairy substitutions in parentheses for those who are interested.

Ingredients
1 C peeled and diced apples
1/2 T lemon juice
1/4 C honey (could use agave or other sweetener to make this vegan)
2 T brown sugar
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/4 C melted margarine (choose dairy free brand)
3 egg whites (use 1/4 C water mixed with 3 tsp. powdered egg replacer, like Ener-G brand)
1 1/2 C whole-wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 t cinnamon

Directions
Toss the diced apples with lemon juice and set aside. Mix honey, brown sugar, and applesauce together. Mix egg and melted butter together, then add to the sugar/applesauce mixture. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to form batter. Add the apples, then put in muffin tins, approx. 2/3 full(lined with cupcake liners, if you wish). Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.

Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwich

My main motivation for posting this recipe is to get the last post off the front page :) (though my moon cup arrived in the mail today. Do I dare try it out?)

This is a delicious recipe I got from Cooking Light magazine. I've adapted it a bit, but the main idea is the same.

Ingredients:
2 slices whole-wheat bread
peanut butter
jelly
sliced bananas
sliced strawberries
chocolate chips
butter or cooking spray

Directions:
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat (I like to coat with cooking spray before heating)
meanwhile, assemble the sandwich. Spread some peanut butter on one slice of bread, some jelly (or jam, marmalade, etc) on the other slice. Layer the bananas, strawberries and chocolate chips in the middle. Grill in the pan a couple of minutes on each side. The outside should be brown and crisp like a grilled cheese sandwich, and the chocolate should be melted. Sometimes I cover the pan for a bit to get the chocolate to melt. It's divine.

Here's my super slacker version for a quick snack:
toast some bread. Spread with peanut butter, jam and nutella. Slice bananas (and strawberries, if on hand) and put in the middle. Enjoy.

Not your typical oatmeal cookies

This recipe is loosely based on one I got from my friend Leonor. She gets all the credit for the dried blueberries.

1 stick of butter
1/2 C applesauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C pure maple syrup
1/4 C agave
2 eggs

cream together, then add
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

after mixed in, add
1 1/2 C whole-wheat pastry flour
3 C oatmeal
additional all-purpose flour, if necessary
stir in 1 C dried fruit (blueberries, strawberries, cherries, or combination)
if you're feeling slightly naughty, add in 1/2 C or so chocolate chips

Bake a 400 for 8 minutes, or until the peaks are golden brown
cool on a rack.

Healthy Chocolate Shake

Oxy moron? I think not. I made this for my kids (and a friend of my daughter who was over) while they were busy playing so they couldn't see what I put in it. They all loved it! MWaah hahahhahaha!! (evil chuckle)

Here is the recipe--and don't get freaked out by the beans. You can't tell they're in there.

BETTER BANANA CHOCOLATE SHAKE (makes 5 cups)
By Janet Hailstone, revised from Diet For A New World by John Robbins

¼ cup raw cashews or sunflower seeds
¼ cup cooked, drained black beans
4 pitted dates
1 cup water
1 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tablespoons cocoa, cacao or carob
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (glycerin based or vanilla powder from Dixie Nutrition bulk)
2 frozen bananas (broken into thirds and stored in a Ziploc bag)
1 cup ice

Blend to smooth for about one minute the nuts or seeds, beans, dates and water. With the machine running, slowly add the non-dairy milk, carob powder, and vanilla. Add frozen bananas and blend. Then, add ice and blend briefly. (Long blending melts the shake)

Chocolate De-light

I was craving frozen yogurt tonight, but some friends dropped by and stayed until the health food store was closed (they make their own frozen yogurt....mmmmmm.....), so this was my alternative.

1/2 C plain low-fat yogurt

1/2 - 1 T agave syrup

1 T chocolate sauce

mix together and sprinkle granola on top. quite satisfactory, if I do say so myself.

Afternoon pick-me-up

So the sugar thing is still getting me down. I'm very very bad at cutting it out. I've found a couple of slightly better for me treats that help me get through the afternoon:

1. Stoneyfield Farm Chocolate Underground yogurt. It's my favorite with a bit of granola. Mmmmmm.
2. Protein shake. My favorite brand lately is GenSoy. Of course chocolate is my favorite flavor.
3. A glass of chocolate soy milk (notice any trends?). I prefer Silk brand, but 8th continent is pretty good as well.

Maybe once baby is sleeping through the night I'll be able to cut out the chocolate. Meanwhile, I take heart in the fact that each of the above treats actually provides some nutritional value. Sigh. Any ideas on how to more successfully break my sugar/chocolate addiction?

Ice Cream Therapy

I knew my goal of eating less refined sugar would be the hardest for me; I just didn't realize the scope of my sugar addiction. I use sugar for many things: yesterday I used the cookies for a little energy boost to help me make it through bedtime routines, etc. Today I used ice cream as an anti-depressant. I have a long history of choosing Rocky Road instead of Prozac. I first remember being aware of using ice cream to alter my mood in college. I would get stressed out and ready to collapse, so I would go running and eat a pint of Phish Food (not all in one sitting, but pretty close) and feel like I could handle anything.

Today I ended up stuck in the house most of the day--I didn't have access to a car today, and the weather was way too hot to walk anywhere after 8:00 a.m. In fact, I went on a short walk with the kids at 9:30 and returned home drenched in sweat. My husband came home from work and started working on wiring something for his car. Suddenly, I felt stir crazy and depressed. I had the urge to sprint out of the house and run, but it was still too hot, and my jog stroller has a fast leak in one tire. So, I left my husband in charge of the baby and headed to Baskin Robbins with my daughter. I felt sanity return to me after the first chocolatey lick.

So, I think in order to successfully meet my sugar goal I'm going to have to get regular exercise. Our lives are pretty packed with obligations, but I'm going to have to find something that works. Just walking around the neighborhood isn't cutting it. I need those endorphins, baby! Any ideas?

Curry and Cookies

I made dinner tonight for a friend who just had a baby. She is allergic to egg and dairy (just like my daughter), so I made her some recipes I found while I was avoiding those foods.
Shauna's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 stick of dairy free butter, softened (I prefer Nucoa or Earth Balance)
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
8 oz silken tofu (soft) pureed in blender or food processor
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 C flour
6-8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream together first five ingredients. Add the next three and mix together. Mix in two to three cups of flour and check the dough. Dough should be sticky enough to form balls, but not stick to your hands. Add more flour if needed. Stir in chocolate chips. Use an ice cream scooper or large spoon to form into balls and place on a cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan (my favorite). Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven. Cookies should be golden brown on top (see picture above). Cool on a baking rack or somewhere other than the pan you baked them on (they tend to keep cooking and burn or get hard on the bottom if you don't remove them).

These chocolate chip cookies are surprisingly good, unfortunately for me. I had three--so much for eating less refined sugar. The good news is, they are cholesterol free and higher in protein (I think) than "normal" cookies. Someday I'd like to experiment with my recipe and try using agave, raw sugar and/or apple sauce instead of the white and brown sugars. I decided not to tinker with the recipe tonight, since I was giving most of them away.

Masaman Curry for a Crowd (can easily be made vegan, if that is your preference)

1 and 1/2 cans of coconut milk
1 1/2-2T masaman curry paste (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 lb. chicken, cut into big chunks
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
3 T sugar
1 T salt
5-6 red potatoes, washed and cut into big chunks
1 onion, chopped in big chunks
1 C raw, unsalted cashews
1/2 bag baby carrots (assuming you have the same size bag as me. Use your best judgement)

Directions
Heat coconut milk and curry paste in a large pot over medium heat. Mix well. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and stir to cover with the curry. Add the next 4 ingredients, cover and stew for 30 min. Add the last 4 ingredients and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are done. Serve with brown rice.

It sounds like a long time to cook, but if you time it right, it's not bad. I started the rice right after I added the chicken (brown rice takes about 45 min. to cook). Then I chopped the vegetables while the chicken was stewing, so I didn't waste so much time. I made the cookies during the last 1/2 hour, so everything was done at about the same time.

This was the first time I'd given my daughter brown rice and she LOVED it! I made the curry mild enough that she liked that as well. And of course, she loved the cookies.