Thursday, March 22, 2012

Homemade snacks and treats

Well, i haven't been keeping up with my blogs, now, have I? Sorry. End of session for my after school program ~ which also means enrollment for next session ~ coupled with out of town travel and sick kiddos have meant a busier than usual schedule. Nevertheless, we continue to pinch pennies. And to eat. So, yes, I have some recipes to post.

The truth is, I have been experimenting with a few recipes, and I wanted to test them and make some adjustments before I shared the results. One thing I have been working on is homemade granola bars. Kaia loves granola bars. I have been able to find some great deals on them, so it's not the cost that's the problem. However, I have long thought it would be nice to save all of that packaging and learn to make them at home. In addition to the environmental impact of all of those individually wrapped bars and boxes, I have been concerned about the ingredients in commercially available granola bars. My general feeling is that if my eyes start to glaze over halfway through the list of ingredients, there's probably too much crap in whatever's inside the package. Especially if I don;t even recognize some of the ingredients.

So, I stumbled upon this: (okay...I STILL cannot post a link here!! Ugh! here is the address ~ check it out! http://www.acupofflour.com/2011/08/05/easy-homemade-granola-bars/) and decided to give it a shot. Now, the first time I made them, I made a batch with a combination of chopped almonds, dried cherries and semisweet morsels as the add-ins. I liked those ones a lot. Kaia made a batch that day, too. Hers included just semisweet morsels as the add-ins. A whole cup of them. They were like candy bars. Naturally, the kids thought they were terrific. I, on the other hand thought they were a little more candy-like than I was hoping they'd be. I decided to play around with the recipe. Now, several batches later, I feel like I can say, "By Jove, I think I've got it!" Here is my revised recipe:

Homemade Granola Bars

3/4 c. peanut butter
1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 1/2 c. oats
2 1/2 TBS ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup semisweet morsels

Add peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil to a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir mixture until it melts and is evenly mixed.
Remove from heat and add oats and flaxseeds and stir well to combine. Stir in semisweet morsels. They will melt. (If you don't want them to melt, I think you could press the mixture into the square pan as below before adding the morsels, then sprinkle them on top and lightly press into the surface. I have not tested this theory, as my kids like the chocolate melted and mixed in to the bars.)
Pour mixture into a square pan lined with parchment paper, and spread evenly. Refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours.
Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

Now, I have to say this: these still strike me as being a bit more like a no-bake cookie than a granola bar. I feel like the oats should a bit crispier for it to qualify as a granola bar. I still want to try a more traditional baked granola bar recipe, but the kids love these, and I am happy with the result. even if it isn't exactly what I was going for, it is delicious.

So, the recipe testing continues. Right this very moment, my very first batch of homemade "fruit by the foot" is drying in a slow oven, and the new (to me) bread machine (purchased from craigslist for $30 ~ brand new, still in the box) is doing its thing, so we will have a freshly baked batch of homemade wheat bread in the morning. I'll let you know how those fruit treats work out. The instructions can be found here: http://outoftheboxfood.com/2011/09/04/foot-long-fruit-roll-up-recipe-update-frozen-berries/ If Kaia will eat them, I will feel I have staged a coup, since the kid doesn't usually eat fruit (except for bananas).

I feel good about feeding my kids healthy, whole, homemade foods, and they seem to enjoy trying all of my recipes. Just this afternoon, I got a request from Hallie for peanut butter banana "ice cream" sandwiches. We first made these many years ago, and all of the kids love them. It's easy to say, "yes" to treats when they are a perfectly healthy choice. In this case, the "ice cream" is actually a mixture of mashed bananas and peanut butter, sandwiched between graham crackers. This is very simple to do, and you will be surprised how much it tastes (and feels) like ice cream.

Begin by mashing a banana or two. Stir in a couple of tablespoons of creamy peanut butter. Place a graham cracker (if using the big ones, I break each one in half, but lately I have been using Trader Joe's Cinnamon Grahams, which are a great size for a little treat) on a sheet of plastic wrap. Top with a glob of the banana mixture, Don't spread it to the edges, as it will spread when you add the top of your "sandwich." Gently place another graham cracker on top of the filling. Wrap tightly with the plastic wrap and place on a plate or a tray for freezing. When you have assembled all of your sandwiches, freeze for a few hours, until the filling has frozen. Unwrap and enjoy.

I guess that's it for today. Sorry about the lack of pictures. Maybe I will try to add some later. In the meantime, you can just make yourself some treats, and then you'll know just how they look :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Vegan "Corned Beef" and Cabbage

It's that time of year ~ Hallie Kay Erin Day is nearly upon us! What? St. Patrick's Day? Ah, yes...that's right. I got sort of distracted on St. Patrick's Day, 2000, and life has never been the same. Hallie Kay Erin go bragh! (did I spell that correctly?) Anyway...the kiddo's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, so I usually try to do a St. Patrick's Day themed meal a few days early, so she can have whatever she likes on her birthday. Most often, I make colcannon, which we all love (bear in mind, when I say "all," I mean, those of us who eat most foods. I set aside plain mashed potatoes for Kaia before adding the cabbage and onions). However, I have been thinking for some time about trying to see if I can come up with a vegan "corned beef" and cabbage recipe that passes muster. After reading a few recipes online, I decided to just wing it. I am so glad I did.

Okay. So, I am still experimenting with seitan. I don't feel like I have this recipe completely refined yet (I think I need to work on my method a bit), but the family LOVED it. I felt it was so, so close to perfect, but maybe not quite there, but it got rave reviews from Shane and the kids, who asked me to please, please make it again. So, I guess it is good enough to post :) If you know of a better seitan prep method, you should probably try it that way. I am going to keep working with this and update it as needed. In the meantime, this was very, very tasty.

VEGAN "CORNED BEEF" AND CABBAGE

Seiten:

1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. each: ground ginger, allspice and coriander
3/4 c. water or vegetable broth (cold)
1 TBS soy sauce
1/8 tsp. Liquid Smoke

In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients. In a measuring cup or small bowl, combine all liquid ingredients. Add liquid to dry ingredient and stir until thoroughly moistened. Knead dough for about 5 minutes, until it is very elastic. Shape into a log. Let rest in bowl while you prepare the veggies.

Veggies:

1 TBS oil
about 28 oz small, whole potatoes, scrubbed
2 cups baby carrots (or roughly chopped regular carrots)
1/2 - 1 whole head of cabbage, very roughly chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp. dill
1-2 TBS prepared brown mustard
1/8 tsp Liquid Smoke
generous sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large souppot over medium-low heat. Add veggies, dill, salt and pepper and stir to coat. Combine vegetable broth, mustard and liquid smoke and add to the pot. Bring to a boil.

Get your raw seitan log and just lay it on top of your veggies. (The idea is to let it steam as the veggies cook.) Right about now, it should look sorta like this:



Weird, huh? If you do a better job of kneading and shaping you seitan, it will be prettier than mine.

Reduce to a simmer and cover. Let cook without lifting the lid for about 30 minutes.

Carefully remove seitan to a plate or cutting board. Stir the veggies in the pot, taste, and adjust seasonings. Use a knife to cut your seitan into roughly 1/2" thick pieces. If you want the pieces to be a rougher, more organic shape (I did), use a fork to just gently pull off pieces. Place the pieces back in the pot, on top of the veggies again. Replace lid and simmer until all veggies and seitan are done. I cooked mine for another 30 minutes, and some of the veggies were slightly overdone, IMO. Next time, I will probably reduce the time by a few minutes. I would suggest checking it after about 20.

That's it. Yum!



I thought the seiten was a bit too soft, so I was thinking, next time, I might steam it and then fry the pieces in a bit of oil before returning them to the pot. However, Shane said the texture was reminiscent of "stew meat" that has been cooked in broth for a long time, and he liked it. One of the first things Hallie commented on was how much she liked the texture of the seitan. So, maybe it is just me. Apparently, everyone else thinks this recipe is great just as it is. You can try it, and see what you think. The flavour is GREAT. I suspect it is more like ham than corned beef (I don't quite remember corned beef well enough to say for sure). Whatever it tastes like, it sure is yummy.

Enjoy!