Almond flour banana muffins

These are great as a quick breakfast or healthy snack. The author, For the Love of Basil, recommends slathering the muffin with peanut butter. I prefer a few chocolate chips :)

Ingredients

• 2 ripe medium bananas
• ½ cup almond flour (I use homemade)
• ½ cup rolled gluten-free oats
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed
• ¼ cup almond butter
• 1 organic egg
• 2 tablespoons honey or liquid sweetener of choice
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Optional: vegan chocolate or carob chips

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Add flax and oats to food processor or blender until it reaches the consistency of flour. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until it is completely mixed (Note: original recipe throws all ingredients in at once).
3. Grease your muffin tin (e.g., coconut oil) or use silicone liners. Equally divide the batter among the cups- it should make about 12 muffins.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops of the muffins start to brown a little.

Baby bum spray

I've tried a combination of recipes and this one seems to work best for us. Most recipes include boiled water, soap, oils and disinfectant.

• 4oz water - boiled 
• 1 TB olive oil 
• 1 TB coconut oil (warmed)
• 4-5 drops of tea tree oil 
• 5-10 drops of essential oils 
• 1/2 - 1 TB liquid castile soap (you don't want it too "soapy")

Adding the water last, combine all ingredients--- swirl, don't shake (it will foam). Place into a 4oz spray bottle.  Spray directly onto skin or on a wipe.  Mixture can also be used on sticky hands when you are on-the-go.

Check out this website for additional recipes:
http://www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml

Satay Sauce

My toddler will eat kale and green beans if smothered in this sauce. He HATES green beans.

The original recipe is intended to be a satay dipping sauce but I think it can be used in a variety of ways. It only takes a few minutes to make and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Makes 3.5 cups and lasts a while in the refrigerator.

 Ingredients

• 3/4 of a 13.5-ounce (400 ml) can of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk (original recipe calls for the whole can but the coconut flavour is too overpowering for my taste)
• 2 teaspoons of Thai red curry paste
• ¾ cup unsweetened natural creamy peanut butter (or more, to taste)
• ½ tablespoon salt
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• ½ cup water
• 1 TBS Sriracha sauce
• optional: tsp of freshly grated ginger 

 

Instructions

1. Gently boil all of the ingredients in a pot, whisking constantly.
2. Let the mixture simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat. 
3. Take the pot off the heat, let the sauce cool down to room temperature and serve (e.g., with fried tofu). OR store the sauce in a mason jar and heat it up in a pan, along with vegetables, rice, tofu etc. The sauce will thicken considerably in the refrigerator - add some water to thin it out if desired.

Thai Chili Sauce

I have always liked sweet & spicy thai chili sauce but never considered making my own until recently. My mother-in-law brought over a dish that she usually serves with store-bought thai sauce, which she forgot at home.

I made it in under 20 minutes.  Doing it yourself allows you to modify the sugar content, control the spice and you can be sure that the ingredients are fresh.

This recipe works well with coconut sugar - you can easily get away with less than one cup. You can also try a slurry of gluten-free flour or tapioca flour as a thickener instead of cornstarch if you prefer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons hot chili pepper flakes                               
• 2 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed with about 1 TB of cold water)         

Directions

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring water and vinegar to a boil. Stir in sugar, ginger, garlic, chili pepper, and ketchup.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in cornstarch. Remove saucepan from stove to cool. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

Protein bars (easy, no-bake)

So 2015 was not a stellar year for this blog, with a baby and little to no help in the kitchen...

Our lovely Ana went on to pursue a graduate degree but we are so grateful to Heather who recently joined us! For our first experiment together, we made these easy no-bake protein bars from one of my favourite sites. They came out beautifully, thanks to Heather. The only substitution was a homemade "chocolate" drizzle (carob) instead of using store-bought chips.

Ingredients:

    • 1.5 cups gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a flour
    • 1/2 cup unsweetened/unflavoured vegan protein powder (I use Manitoba Harvest hemp protein)
    • 1/2 cup rice crisp cereal (I used puffed rice since that's all I had)
    • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or butter of choice)
    • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I prefer alcohol-free)
    • 3 tablespoons mini dark chocolate chips (or make your carob chips)
    • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with a piece of parchment paper. 
2. In large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: oat flour, protein powder, rice crisp, and salt. 
3. Add the nut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir well and add a bit of non-dairy milk if it's too dry. Press the mixture into the pan and roll it out with a pastry / or pasta roller until smooth. Put it into the freezer. 
4. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a small pot over low heat. When half of the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. OR make your own melted "chocolate" by mixing these ingredients in a small pot on the stove. Leave it on a very low heat until your bars are ready (no need to freeze in a container. You're not making chips).
5. After freezing the bars for about 5-10 minutes, remove them from freezer and slice into 12 bars. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and freeze again until set.

They are delicious straight out of the freezer.

Salted Caramel Sauce

I've already posted this recipe but it's been hiding in the salted caramel ice cream blog. I think it deserves its own page. I've used it on several occasions to save baked goods that didn't come out so well. Trust me, it makes everything taste delicious.

Ingredients

• 3 TB Earth Balance butter
• 2 TB maple syrup
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 2 TB almond milk

In a saucepan, melt butter on low-medium heat. Add the milk, sugar and syrup. Stir constantly for a few minutes, until it begins to bubble. Add salt, to taste. My "butter" is salted already so a pinch will do. Remove from heat and place in a glass container. Cover and refrigerate overnight. It will thicken. 

Depeding on what you are using it for, you might want it a bit thicker. Add a TB of coconut oil and a tablespoon of constarch (made into a slurry first with a few drops of cold water). It won't alter the taste much. If you are concerned about nut allergies, you can skip the almond milk or substitite an alternative milk. 

Crazy Cakes (allergen-free)

Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake recipes are all over the Internet. I didn't believe this Depression-era cake (no milk, nuts, butter, eggs) could be nearly as good as its online reviews but I was pleasantly surprised.

For my daughter's 4th birthday party, in a moment of desperation, I made a chocolate crazy cake with salted caramel sauce to accommodate guests with nut and seed allergies. I didn't intend to serve it, I simply needed a larger surface for several birthday candles (we ordered mini cupcakes from a nut-free bake shop). I think it was the mystique of a "staged" cake - some insisted on trying it and they really liked it! Curious to try another one, with my cousin and daughter, we made this mocha crazy cake and it was even better than the chocolate version.

I should also mention that I made a small vanilla cake as my first attempt/trial run. It was very moist but not that flavourful. Frosting or salted caramel sauce is an easy fix. Play around with this simple recipe and you're bound to find one that suits you (lemon, pumpkin spice, mocha). You don't need any fancy equipment, not even a bowl. I usually have all of the the ingredients on hand which makes it an appealing last-minute dessert.

I made a few substitutions to suit my needs like gluten-free flour, coconut palm sugar and coconut oil.

 

Ingredients

• 2 ¹⁄₂ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups coconut palm sugar
• ¹⁄₂ cup cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
• ²⁄₃ cup vegetable oil (I have used melted coconut oil, olive and avocado oil successfully)
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups cold decaf coffee (use water to make a chocolate cake)

Topping*

• ¹⁄₄ cup coconut palm sugar  
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cinnamon 

*Topping is optional but highly recommended. It's simple and delicious and a lot less sugar than icing.

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Place flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into an ungreased Springform pan or 9x13-inch cake pan. Stir with a fork to blend all of the dry ingredients. 
3. Make 3 wells in the mixture. 
4. Put oil in one well, vinegar in one and vanilla in the last one. 
5. Pour the coffee over all of the ingredients and stir with fork until well mixed (do not beat, simply mix it until the big lumps have disappeared). 
6. Combine the sugar & cinnamon topping and sprinkle it over the top of the cake batter evenly - it will from a light crust when baked.  
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick runs clean in the centre (my oven takes 45-50 minutes)