Meatballs with some Spaghetti

There are few meals my daughter will eat without any complaints these days, but spaghetti with meatballs is definitely one of them.  She's always been a fan of the spaghetti, we have wonderful pictures of her from maybe around 18 months old with spaghetti sauce all over her face and down her belly.  That love has never wavered.

I recently began adding the meatballs.  In fact, until recently we had vegetarian spaghetti more often than not.  The occasional ground hot link italian sausage, maybe, but I'd never tried meatballs.  They had never been in my family book of food.  They were just something to be seen in movies, like Lady and the Tramp.

With that understanding, I went on a mission to make some meatballs.  I purchased some ground turkey a month or so ago and had portioned it out to about 1/2 lb a bag.  That's a good amount of meat for dishes like spaghetti, casserole, stir fry, etc.  Let meat and more veggies are always the key.  It also allows you to purchase better quality meat because you are using less in your meals.

These meatballs are moist and super delicious with or without spaghetti sauce.  I could definitely see them holding up as an appetizer too.

Turkey Meatballs

1/2 lb ground turkey

1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp non-dairy plain milk 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp pepper

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Shape mixture into about twenty 1 inch meatballs.  Place in an ungreased pan (13 x 9 x 2 inches).  Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center and juice is clear.

To add to spaghetti; make your favorite sauce, add meatballs, cover and let simmer for half an hour.  Serve over pasta.

Baby Shower BBQ

I threw a co-ed baby shower bbq last weekend.  A good time was had by all, and I had many compliments on the food.  I tried to keep the food simple, but must admit that it was a time consuming mistake on my part to try to do everything homemade.  I think people would have been fine with purchased hamburger buns (though they may not have been dairy free then!).

Baby Shower BBQ Menu:

Guacamole and Chips

Veggie Chips from Trader Joe's (these are so addictive!)

Sliced watermelon, pineapple, strawberries and grapes

BBQ lil' Smokies

Sliders on homemade buns (this recipe, but I use 2 Tbsp of olive oil in place of the butter)

BBQ Ribs (secret recipe! lol)

and...

Silver White Cake w/ white "buttercream" frosting

This is a 4 layer cake.  The bottom tier is 2 - 9" layers and the top tier is 2 - 6" layers.  This recipe will make two 9" layers, so I had to make two batches for the cake shown above.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cups shortening

1 1/4 cups vanilla flavored coconut milk

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 large egg whites

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom and sides of your cake pans with shortening and lightly flour.

Beat all the ingredients except the egg whites in a large bowl, being sure to scrape frequently.  Beat until mixture is smooth.  Beat in egg whites until well incorporated, scraping the bowl occasionally.  Pour into your cake pans.

Bake 9-inch rounds 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool rounds 10 minutes: remove from pans to wire rack.  Let cool completely before frosting.

White Buttercream Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

1/3 cup dairy-free butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 - 3 Tbsp vanilla coconut milk

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a bowl.  Stir in vanilla and 1 Tbsp of the milk.  Gradually add in enough remaining milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable.  This is enough frosting for two 9" layer cake.

Sweet & Sour Pork

Well, almost sweet & sour pork.  I fully admit to using a ready made sauce, but it isn't actually called sweet and sour.  It's a sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe's and I think it has a very nice flavor for this type of dish.  You can sub any ready-made sweet and sour sauce for this recipe.

This is a tasty one dish meal that the whole family can enjoy!

Sweet & Sour Pork
ready-made sweet & sour sauce
1 thick cut pork chop (cut into 3/4 inch pieces)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced zucchini
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup cold water
Oil for frying (I like safflower)

Heat about an inch of oil in a deep fryer or 4-qt dutch oven to 360 degrees.  

Beat flour, cornstarch, cold water, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl until smooth.  Stir pork into batter until well coated.

Drop pork pieces into oil, one at a time.  Fry until golden brown, turning 2 or 3 times.  Drain on paper towels and keep warm.

In sauce pot saute onion, zucchini, carrots and bell peppers on medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and add the fried pork, mushrooms and sauce.  Mix until everything is nicely coated.  Serve over rice.

Child's Birthday Party

It's been a while.  I can only say that between a 6 month old teething, two nasty colds making the rounds in this house and planning for my daughters 4th birthday has kept me too busy to get a post on this blog.  Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.

I thought I would talk about a dairy free kid birthday party.  We made the cake ourselves, my daughter loved helping add the candy decorations: gumdrops, sweet tarts, and Necco wafers (which are not dairy free, so only use if your child understands not to eat them!).  The cake recipe is this vegan vanilla cake recipe.  The frosting I used is a friends recipe, so I wont post that, but here is the frosting recipe I used last year that turned out well.  I'd recommend using some strawberry syrup (like the kind barristers use) in place of the milk for a pink color and strawberry flavor!

Last year, I went all out and made a dairy free lunch; complete with little fancy sandwiches.  THIS year I decided that that was just to much work.  lol  So instead we did an afternoon party with light refreshments.  There was a platter of organic: strawberries, apple slices, grapes and carrots.  We also had Trader Joe's Veggie Chips.  These things are a huge hit every year.  The two bags I brought had completely vanished by the end of the party.  We also had some water and apple juice.  Very simple and completely dairy free (as well as free of a few other allergens!).  It was a fantastic party.  I highly recommend the cake recipe if you are looking for something egg/dairy free.

Spinach Empanadas

I ended January well with my budget.  I ended up going over by some, because my favorite raw honey was on sale at Whole Foods, so I stocked up.  On the bright side though, I shouldn't have to buy any more honey for a couple months. 

Empanadas are a favorite around this house, both to eat and make.  You can basically fill them with anything you want and they are going to turn out great.  You have a couple dough choices too, a regular pie crust and baking (kinda calzone like), or using a masa dough and frying (as pictured above).   

Economically speaking, you really can't beat spinach empanadas.  Some chopped spinach, a little tomato sauce or tofu cream cheese, some seasonings... BAM! a taste explosion.  I tend to make the fried version more often than the baked simply because there is something about fried foods that excite my little one.  My daughter happily eats her spinach empanadas, whereas spinach in anything else creates plenty of complaints.  

As always, this is using organic products.  Frozen spinach, canned organic tomatoes, and Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina Corn Flour.  16 empanadas for around $3.75.  I usually eat 4, my daughter eats 2, and my husband eats 6 (our son isn't ready for these yet).  It goes well with some rice, or stir fried potatoes.  A zesty salad is always nice too.

Spinach Empanadas

Dough:

1 cup Masa Harina flour

1/4 cup All purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 to 3/4 cup warm water 

Enough oil to fry in

Fillings:

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 tsp garlic salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

In a mixing bowl, mix the two flours and salt.  Slowly add enough of the water to make a soft dough, just shy of being sticky.  Gently knead the dough a few times on a lightly floured surface, roll into a ball and set aside.  In another bowl, mix the filling ingredients.  Set aside.  Begin heating your frying oil.  Fill a small bowl with water and set that aside too.  

Bring your ball of dough to the floured surface again and roll out to a log shape.  Slice dough into 16 even pieces.  Create a balls with the dough pieces.  Roll out the balls into about 3 inch diameter circles.  In the center or each circle, place about 2 tsps amount of the filling in the center.  Brush edges of circle with water. Fold the round in half over the filling, and press down hard along the edges to seal.  You can crimp the sides with a fork or your fingers.  Continue until all 16 empanadas are made.

At this point, your oil should be ready to fry.  Drop in 2-3 empanadas at a time, cooking until golden.  Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to help soak up extra oil.  Repeat with remaining empanadas.

Tamale Pie

I apologize for no pictures, for some reason blogger isn't uploading my pictures. :(

We are at the end of week two on my new budget rules, and things are going swimmingly.  The first weeks food total was $73.49, this week was $74.99.  I know its going to get a little tougher in a month from now, when a lot more of my staples start to need replacing, but I'm happy with my progress so far.

This week I purchased some meat.  Pork Carnitas to be exact.  Trader Joe's sells a nice little package of carnitas for $3.99 (I forgot to check the package, but guessing its a pound of meat).   This package of meat is great and simple.  Open it up, heat in the microwave a few minutes, then use two forks to shred the meat.  I turned this into 3 different meals this week.  All of these meals could have been completely vegetarian though, simply substitute the meat or just leave it out.

Monday: Breakfast Burritos.  A pack of flour tortillas, a couple scrambled eggs, some sauteed veggies and maybe a little soy cheese.  We add a little amount of carnitas with it to make it feel more like a dinner meal.

Tuesday: Taco Salad.  Some organic lettuce, 1/2 a can of organic black beans, carnitas, some more sauteed veggies, and a bag of unsalted tortilla chips for a base.

And Wednesday was our Tamale Pie.  This meal is $6.08 for 6 servings.  Pair it with some spanish rice, or a nice salad for a complete meal.

Tamale Pie
2 cups Masa flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 oz carnitas
1 cup black beans (rest of the beans from Tuesday's dinner!)
1/2 a 15oz can enchilada sauce
1/2 a 15oz can spinach

Heat the chicken broth to boiling, then remove from heat and add the masa flour, forming a dough.  In a casserole dish, lay half of the masa dough into the bottom.  Spread half the enchilada sauce on top of the masa, then layer your spinach, beans and carnitas.  Using your hands, make "masa patties" with the rest of the dough and arrange them as your top.  Spread the rest of your enchilada sauce as your topper.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the tamale pie for 25 minutes.  Serve hot and enjoy.

Slightly New Direction and General Tsao Chicken

I am going to change my blogs focus, but only slightly.  Everything on here will still be dairy free recipes, and other allergen free when applicable.  However, in an effort to stay budget friendly, I'm going to be trying to make healthy, low-cost meals.  My hope is this will help others feeling the money crunch and help me organize the cheapest meals in my repertoire.

So the rules: my budget is $75 a week, or $300 a month.  I am only buying organic produce and meat.  I am only shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.  And finally, everything will still be dairy free (of course!).  A tall order I think, considering the high cost of organic and dairy free, but I aim to make it happen.  Now on to the food.

This was a veery simple dish, and pretty tasty.  I found the sauce at Trader Joe's: General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce.  It's tangy and slightly sweet, it went great over my battered fried chicken cubes.  I also sauteed some zucchini to mix in the sauce as well, with some green onion too.  Some plain white rice to put it on top of, and viola!  Here is our meal.

Price breakdown for 4 servings came to roughly $5.50 total or $1.47 each person.

General Tsao Chicken

2 chicken thighs or breast, cubed

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce

2 medium zucchini, sliced

1/2 cup chopped green onion

Oil to fry in (we prefer Safflower for frying)

2 cups cooked rice

Mix the flour, cornstarch, water, salt and egg to make a simple batter.  Coat chicken cubes in batter.  Heat up your frying oil.  When hot enough, fry chicken cubes.

Meanwhile, saute zucchini to just al dente.  Remove to large bowl, add cooked chicken and green onions.  Pour sauce over and stir to coat evenly.  Serve with rice and enjoy!

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Well, this was suppose to be posted on Christmas last week, as it was out Christmas breakfast.  However, I've been having just to much fun with my dear husband home to make time. Sad I know. :)

I hope your holidays have been as good as ours.  I was excited to receive "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook" for Christmas.  I also received some new mixing bowls and some bamboo cutting boards.  Watch for those to make an appearance soon. :)

On to our food.  As I said above, I made these rolls for our Christmas morning breakfast and they were a big hit.  I did most of the prep work the night before after the kids were in bed, so that in the morning I could just bake them.  Gotta say, I love having a bread machine for just these occasions.  So much easier!  We did not do a sugary glaze on top because we don't like things too sweet.  If you want a glaze, here is a basic one (replacing dairy butter with your own dairy free one of course).  We thought they were perfect without the sticky glaze though.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup room temp water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg
Filling (recipe below)

Measure carefully, placing all the ingredients except the filling in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Select Dough cycle (do not use delay cycle).  Make filling and set aside.

Remove dough from pan.  Gently push fist into the dough to deflate.  Flatten the dough with your hands or a rolling pin to approx. 15 x 10 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface.  Spread the filling onto the rectangle.  Roll it up tightly, beginning at 15-inch side.  Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal.  Stretch and shape to get it even.  Cut roll into 1 inch slices with dental floss or a sharp serrated knife.  Place slightly apart in pan.

*If you are looking to bake these later:  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator.  You will need to remove the rolls, cover them loosely with the plastic wrap and let them rise in a warm place for an hour or two (until they have doubled) before baking.

*If you are going to bake now:  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 30 mins or until doubled.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove rolls to a wire rack and let cool a few minutes.  If desired, drizzle a glaze over the rolls now.

Enjoy!

Jump Start Breakfast Granola

Well, really I eat it all the time as a snack, but it is a good start to your day if you don't have time to cook something.  Half a cup of this granola is 222 calories, so its pretty calorie packed.  That's because its full of super foods: cacao nibs, goji berries, hemp seeds.  I usually pour some coconut milk on top.  If you need it sweeter, go ahead and add some more honey.

Jump Start Breakfast Granola
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
2 Tbsp cacao nibs
2 Tbsp goji berries
2 Tbsp almond butter
4-5 Tbsp raw honey

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, add chia seeds, hemp seeds and flax seeds and mix so they combine.  Add the almond butter and 1 Tbsp honey and mix well with the seeds, creating small "balls".  Add coconut, goji berries and cacao nibs and combine.

Add one cup of oats at a time with 1 Tbsp on honey, mixing until well incorporated before adding the next cup.  When all the oats and honey have been added, pour mixture into a baking dish and press down lightly.

Put granola in the oven for 30 mins, mixing it up every 10 minutes to evenly bake.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Enjoy.

Kung Pao Seitan

I'm sorry I've gone so long without blogging.  I haven't been cooking much for two very good reasons: 1, I was doing NaNoWriMo last month and 2, my lovely husband is working long hours.  I expect my cooking creativity to snap back into gear as holiday's just scream cooking and baking.

I've been meaning to try seitan for a while.  While we do eat meat, we are trying to greatly limit how much we eat.  Both for health and price reasons.  I try to buy grass-fed, no antibiotics/hormones, cage-free, etc. meat, which can be pricey.  So I thought, if seitan doesn't taste to bad, then it might be a cheaper solution for meat (since we aren't big tofu fans around here).

The base for this recipe is from The Accidental Vegan, but as usual I did tweak it.  Can't help myself you know.  The basic seitan recipe is also from this book, but you can find others online as well.  The one created in this cookbook looks kinda like cut up and cooked chicken (as seen in the picture).  My daughter thought it was chicken just by the look, but I will admit that she didn't like the taste.

(Basic Seitan, before being added to the kung pao.  Tastes better than it looks!)

The verdict?  While the seitan turned out fine and was far better than tofu (IMHO), it still wasn't that great. It does soak up the sauce well, so it was really like eating really big flavor bits. haha  I'm not sure if I will make seitan again, but I will do this kung pao again.  My husband and I both agreed that just beefing up the zucchini and mushroom quantity would make it a great dish, or you could try tofu or meat in it too if you really wanted.  So on to the recipe.

Kung Pao Seitan

1 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 carrot, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 cup chopped bok choy
6 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup basic seitan (or meat or tofu)
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce (this makes it pretty spicy so do less if you can't take to much heat!)

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium low heat.  Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute for about 5 minutes or until onions are soft.  Stir in the soy sauce and carrots and cook a few more minutes.  Stir in zucchini, bok choy, and mushrooms and cook stirring often, for another 8 to 10 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Stir in the seitan, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, sesame oil and Sriracha sauce.  Cook stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries

At the beginning of the month, I blogged about a giveaway happening at One Frugal Foodie.  Well, I ended up winning the 8 boxes of cereal.  Can you believe that?!  So I thought I would post some reviews for the cereals I got.  All of the cereals are dairy free, and a lot of them are free of other allergens too.

Today I tried Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries (my daughters first choice).  As I poured it into the bowl, I could tell that the crispy rice would be on the sweet side, as they had the look of a sugary type glaze to them.  However, the berry pieces was real freeze dried berries, not just some colorful fruit flavored blobs.  As I poured coconut milk on top, I was reminded of childhood: the sound of crispy rice talking.  I told my daughter to listen carefully, her cereal was talking to her.  She thought that was pretty cool.

I can say that my daughter categorically loved this cereal.  It was a little sweeter than I normally like for breakfast, but it was tasty.  I definitely give this a positive review, but will I buy it again?  Probably not. We don't generally buy a lot of cereal in this house.  Breakfast normally consists of eggs and veggies for the adults and an egg and a quesadilla for the girl.  Cereal is more of a snack food here when we have it.  If, however, cereal is actually requested by my daughter this is one I will definitely consider over the many others.

Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries is dairy, wheat, gluten, fish, shellfish, tree nut, peanut, and soy free.  This particular cereal contains honey, so not vegan.

Cheddar Flavored Crackers!

We were doing our normal Monday shopping at Whole Foods this morning when what does my daughter spot, but some cute crackers.  I initial see the Eco-Planet Cheddar Organic Crackers, and my thought is no way she can have these, then I spot on the box non-dairy.  I do a little jig of happiness, then go on to read the ingredients.  They are vegan, so no dairy or egg and they are soy, peanut and tree nut free.  They are manufactured in a facility that processes wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and soy, so if cross contamination is an issue, these may not be a go.

Taste? Well my lovely three year old daughter thinks they are awesome.  Before being dairy free, one of her favorite snacks were Goldfish, so you can imagine her joy at having something similar.  Plus they have fun shapes; a sun, the earth, a windmill and a car.  For me, they don't quite taste like cheddar, but they are very tasty none the less.

We are very happy with this product and I hope if you try it you will be too.

Jen's Awesome Veggie Burgers

I know I've said it before, but I'm not a huge fan of beef.  In this family, cow in every form is just not welcome.  So alternatives to meals that would normally have beef must be used.  I typically will buy either pre-made turkey burgers, or ground turkey meat to make burgers.  They are good and we are happy.

I, however, in an ever increasing attempt to bring us closer to a vegetarian diet, am looking for the perfect veggie burger.  The ones I've bought pre-made are (in my opinion) pretty plain and dry.  So I figured I should give making my own a try.

I started with a recipe from Food Network that was suppose to be fantastic.  We all agreed it was ok, but dry.  Which I figured was from being all beans and oats.  How can that be "juicy"?  So then I googled "Best Veggie Burger" and got lots of hits.  I read about why people claimed certain ones as best and came to this conclusion: Mushrooms are the closest to giving you the meaty texture people like.

Great, but I still wanted the protein one got from beans.  So... here comes my hybrid veggie burger recipe.  I think it is Awesome, thus the title.  I hope you enjoy it too.   I also make my own buns from this recipe (replacing the butter for dairy free margarine of course), top it with your favorite burger toppings and, as my daughter says in gymnastics, ta-da.

Jen's Awesome Veggie Burgers
1 cup mashed beans (I used half black and half white)
1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 a large red bell pepper, chopped
3 artichoke hearts, chopped
2 Tbsp black olives, chopped
1 cup fresh white mushrooms, chopped
1 egg
2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder

In the olive oil, saute the onions, red bell pepper, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and black olives.  Meanwhile, mash the beans in a large bowl.  When the onions become translucent, add them to the beans and mix well.  Add oats and mix.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix really well, I find using my hands works best.  When its all mixed, use hands to form balls (4-6 depending on size of burger you want).  Place the balls in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

When ready to eat, pull the balls out and press into burger shapes (they will be thick).  Heat a pan to medium heat and fry each burger for about 5 minutes a side.  Place on bun and your done.

These freeze really well, just press them into burger shapes and wrap in cling wrap and put into freezer bags.  Just defrost in the fridge on the day you want to use them.

Quinoa with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Have I mentioned I love quinoa?  Because I do.  There is something about that little grain that I can't get enough of.  It doesn't even have to have any fancy sauce, just some plain quinoa with a bit of soy sauce will satisfy me.  The same can not be said for my family though, so in an effort to "spice" it up, I'm always looking for new ideas.

Today's recipe was derived from a Whole Foods Market recipe.  I didn't have all the ingredients required for the original, so mixed it up a bit.  I am sad to say, that while I thought it was tasty, it was not a hit with the family.  My husband hates sun-dried tomatoes, and my daughter... well I'm still trying to convince her that quinoa is good.  I will say playing with this recipe has given me ideas, so watch for more to come!

Quinoa with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 Tbsp virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cup broth (I use chicken, but vegetable would work too)
1/2 cup dry white wine
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup small broccoli florets

Heat oil over medium heat in a pot.  Add onions and garlic and cook until soft / translucent.  Add tomatoes, broth, wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Stir in quinoa and salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add broccoli to top of quinoa, cover and simmer another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and gently toss to combine.  Serve and enjoy.

Pumpkin n' Spice Scones

Saturday was Halloween, and I hope it was a good one for everyone.  We had a blast this year, we went trick or treating with some friends, then hung out their house for a little after party.  My 3 yr old got to walk around with two big 1st graders, and she was very proud of that.  She was also completely worn out after.

Before the festivities, we were just hanging around the house, when my wonderful husband asked if I was bringing something.  Crap-cakes!  For someone who loves to cook and bake, you would think I would remember things like oh... bringing a little something to a party!  So now I was in a mad rush to figure something out.

I started looking towards my usuals: croissants? - no definitely not enough time for that; banana bread? - nope, only one banana left; cupcakes? - kind of overkill on a night when we will have just been trick or treating.  Wait I know, scones.  Sure their sweet, but not quite as bad as a cupcake, right?

Let's see, I thought to myself, there was a recipe I wanted to try on Food Network.  I don't have the exact ingredients, but I do have oranges and cranberries, so maybe that flavor instead.  Hmm....  Wait I know, I have pureed pumpkin, I should make pumpkin scones!  Genius.  lol

Since adding pumpkin is very different from just changing the berry and zest in a recipe, I did a search.  I found this wonderful sounding recipe for imitation pumpkin scones from Starbucks.  It had great reviews, and yet, being who I am I couldn't leave well enough alone.  So here is my version of pumpkin scones.  They were a huge hit.

Pumpkin n' Spice Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
5 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
6 Tbsp cold dairy free margarine
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
Zest from half an orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp coconut milk
1 large egg
powdered sugar glaze (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spice in a large bowl.  Using a pastry cutter or 2 knifes, cut butter into dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly (butter should be about pea sized at most).

In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, zest, vanilla extract, milk and egg.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until you have a very soft dough.  Form dough into a ball.

Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a 1 inch thick rectangle (should roughly be 9" x 3").  With a knife (* I recommend flouring the knife!), cut the rectangle in half length wise.  Then into thirds width wise.  Cute each mini rectangle diagonally to make triangles, you should end with a total of 12 triangles.  Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, they should be lightly browned.  Place on a wire rack to cool.  Once cooled, top with powder sugar glaze.

Powder Sugar Glaze
1 cup powder sugar
2 Tbsp coconut milk

Whisk ingredients together until smooth.

Biscuits and Mushroom Gravy

The baby decided to go back to sleep this morning at 7 am-ish, so I decided to get creative with our breakfast.  Biscuits sounded good, then my husband requested gravy to go with them.  So our breakfast this lovely Halloween morning was fried eggs with biscuits and gravy (and yes on our real plates, the biscuits were covered with gravy!).

The biscuits were just a basic recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  I just replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and the milk with soy milk.  They tasted ok, a little dry.  Since they aren't anything to shout about, I'll skip that recipe.  And yes, I used a heart shape cookie cutter.  An odd choice for Halloween morning, no.

The mushroom gravy was an adaptation from this fantastic mushroom soup recipe.  I highly recommend trying this recipe, it is SOOOOOOOOOOO good.  I was never big on mushroom soup before going dairy, used it in some recipes but that is about it.  This homemade one is so good I can eat the whole pot of soup by myself!!

Mushroom Gravy
1 cup plain coconut milk
3 Tbs dairy free margarine
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
3 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp black pepper

Heat the milk in microwave while you saute the onions and mushrooms in margarine in a sauce pot until onions get translucent.  Whisk in flour, salt, onion powder and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until bubbly, stirring constantly.  Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to make a thick creamy gravy.

Enjoy!

Jen's Super Cookies

I like love to bake.  I always have.  However, I don't generally like to eat what I bake.  I'm not a huge sweets person; savory for me please.  Luckily, I have a wonderful husband that is more than willing to take my baked goods to his workplace and "force" them on his co-workers.

Now that I have a 3 year old though, I find she not only wants to help with the baking, she wants to actually eat what we bake.  With her allergy, letting her eat my baked goods meant coming up with new recipes and/or adapting those that I already used.  I've found this endlessly fun, to be honest, and my husbands co-workers don't notice the difference.  Win - win I say.

That said written, I also find myself not wanting my children to consume mass quantities of sweets.  So healthy alternatives are my goal, and my daughter certainly eats her fair share of fruit and vegetables.  But... kids like cookies.  So here is a relative healthy cookie option for your kids.  I've added notes where things can be adapted for different allergy needs (at least when avoiding the top 8 allergies).

Jen's Super Cookies
2 cups oats (You can find certified gluten free ones)
1/2 cup ground nuts or nut butter (I used the leftover ground almond from my fresh almond milk.  Got a nut allergy? try sunflower seed butter)
3 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 Tbsp raw Cacao (or if you don't have that 1/4 cup chocolate chips is nice)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup apples sauce
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup if your vegan and don't eat honey)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Pour wet into dry bowl and mix together.  Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.  Cookies will look dark and dry, but they are actually very chewy and quite delicious!

The Ultimate Breakfast

Or at least I like to think so.  I try to incorporate vegetables in all of our meals.  This is one of the simplest ways for me to get veggies into our breakfast.  Use whatever vegetables your family likes (and in season), simply saute them and have them with scrambled eggs (or scrambled tofu if you can't have eggs).  Below is my favorite melody, but for my daughter; olives and zucchini only please.

My Ultimate Breakfast
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup zucchini, chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp red onion, chopped
1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
2 Tbsp black olives, chopped
1 large egg

Heat a pan on medium heat, add oil.  Add zucchini, bell pepper and onion and saute till onion is close to translucent (about 2 minutes).  Add artichoke and olives and saute another minute.  Remove to plate.

Add egg to pan and cook to your preference (scrambled in picture).  Place on top of veggies and enjoy.  I will often add some hot sauce to my plate after cooking as well, because I like a little spice.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I'm always looking for ways to cut costs in our grocery budget.  The cost of food has gone up substantially in the last few years, add to that an allergy, and your looking at a pretty large food bill.  What's a budget conscience girl to do?  Homemade goodies as much as possible of course!

With this in mind, I have been in search of a great granola bar recipe.  One that is dairy free (of course) and not to costly to make.  Buying items in the bulk bins can bring costs down, and will certainly beat out any pre-made goodies.  This recipe is a hodge podge of different recipes that I've found over the last few months and makes a good replacement for pre-packaged granola bars.

Once baked, I cut the bars up and put them in an airtight container.  They are tasty, though a bit crumbly.  My husband likes to break up a bar and eat it as cereal.  Play around with the ingredients to find your families "perfect" granola bar.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bar
4 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread oats and coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let the mixture cool completely.  Mix all the ingredients together then add the cooled oat mixture.

Spread mixture into a greased 13 x 9" baking dish, pressing it firmly down.  Bake about 25 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting.

Almond Milk

I don't have a picture for today's experiment, but.. I mean... you know what milk looks like right?  I realized yesterday as I emptied the last of the soy milk into my daughters cup that I had not bought enough soy milk for the week.  What could mommy do?

Sure I could go to the store and buy more, but I'm trying not to make extra trips to the grocery store since they ALWAYS result in un-needed purchases.  I admit it, I'm an impulse buyer.  I always find something we could use it seems.  As we I am trying to 'reel' in our grocery budget, I decided to try something else.  I knew I had raw almonds in the cupboard, we use them for snacks.  Is it possible I have enough ingredients to make a decent almond milk?  After a quick google search and a peruse of a couple recipes, I decided this was a possibility.

The milk turned out fine.  Although I wish I had a finer strainer for it since I did still end up with some pulp.  If I were to make a habit of making my own nut milk, I would purchase a nut milk bag.   I like the idea of making my own nut milk, it is a great way to control what is in it.  However, unless I can find some source of very cheap raw almonds, it is definitely not economical.

Almond Milk

What you need:
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
natural sweetener to taste (I used honey)
a really good blender
a strainer of some sort

Soak the almonds in water overnight.  After almonds have soaked for at least 8 hours, drain and rinse until water runs clear.  Put almonds, 4 cups of water, vanilla extract, and sweetener into blender and blend on high until you stop hearing rattling.  Pour milk through your strainer into your storage container and there is your milk!

I read that you can keep the pulp for other purposes so I am doing that and am looking for something to make now.  So watch for that post.