Vegan Pancake Mix

 Vegan pancake mix

Heat up your skillet while you mix the batter.

1 cup wheat flour 
1 tablespoon sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons vanilla soy yogurt

Mix all ingredients together until just mixed. Fold in yummy extras (blueberries, apples and cinnamon, walnuts and bananas and carob chips, rasberries and carob chips).

Your griddle is ready, flip when there are bubbles in the middle. 

Frozen tomato

Last year our garden produced so much abundance we wanted to save all the excess for winter. I must admit the thought of canning has not appealed to me much. It seems to involve so much work, time and household energy. I tried, instead, freezing everything. I would flash freeze just about everything on a cookie sheet before dumping it into a Ziploc bag. This prevented everything from clumping together in the bag and then we could pour out just what we needed and not have to defrost the whole bag. I did not have any doubts this would work with most everything but I wondered about tomatoes. Hey, nothing ventured nothing gained right? So I just chopped them up, just like I was making salsa. Then into the bags. I laid the bags flat to freeze so they would be easy to store. 

Last night I took the first bag out to use. AWESOME! DELICIOUS! EASY! We have a freezer this year and a bigger garden planned!

The Recipe

Caramelize some onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes and whatever other veggies you have in the fridge. We used carrots, broccoli, celery, I added some precooked brown rice. If you still have too much liquid from the tomatoes then add in some extra rice (not cooked). Just before it is ready add some fresh baby spinach and kale. On the plate top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and provolone cheese. 

 

Tomato and avocado wrap

Tomato and Avocado Wrap

 tomato                                         avocado                               baby spinach

provolone                   mayonnaise            salt/pepper

wrap

Chop tomato and season with salt/pepper. Chop avocado. Mix tomato, avocado, spinach and mayo. Place provolone on the wrap, top with veggies and roll up! YUM

Loaded Choc Chip cookies

Loaded with goodness cookies

Chocolate chips (dark)                          1 teaspoon baking soda

Craisons or dried cherries                                  1 teaspoon sea salt

shredded coconut                                                        1 3/4 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar                                              1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla                                               3 eggs

Combine the following to make a total of 3 cups ( whole wheat flour, almond meal, oats, ground flax and wheat germ).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl combine the 3 cups of flour mix with baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In large mixer bowl ( I use my Kitchen aid stand mixer) beat butter, sugars and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs. Gradually add flour mixture. Then the chips, dries fruit and coconut. Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes until puffy.

Winter squash soup

Butternut Apple soup

A favorite winter soup combining ingredients that can be found in my root cellar.

This recipe will not give exact amounts of ingredients. This recipe is altered based on what you have on hand or what suits your taste. Use it as a guideline for a delicious lunch or dinner.

Butternut squash, apples, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, apple cider, milk/cream, vegetable broth, Smart Balance spread/olive oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degree's. Cut 2 butternut squash in half length wise and scoop out the seeds (save for your chickens). Place squash on cookie sheet and top with Smart Balance and cinnamon. Roast in oven for about an hour.  While the squash is roasting saute until caramelized the onion, garlic, celery and carrots in either olive oil or Smart Balance spread with ginger and pepper.

Take squash out of oven when they are tender. Skins will peel off easily (save for the horses) and place squash into a soup pot. Pour vegetable broth, apple cider, cinnamon and apples into the pot. Bring to a boil then simmer until the apples are tender.

Combine everything together in a blender ( will take a couple batches) until smooth. Pour back into the pot. Add milk/cream, Smart Balance Spread and salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Heart smart cookies

Heart Smart Cookie

I love altering recipes to create my own. My cookie has the cholesterol lowering benefits of oats, all the benefits of whole wheat flour and omega-3's from flax. I have eliminated most of the butter, increased the whole wheat and reduced the sugar.

2 Tablespoons Smart Balance buttery spread

3-4 mushy bananas (or thaw frozen ones to make mushy)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 farm fresh egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

shredded coconut

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup whole oats

1/2 cup flax

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

chopped dates

chopped walnuts

mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in banana, brown sugar,egg, vanilla, coconut and dates, one at a time until smooth.

In another bowl mix remaining ingredients. Mix both bowls together. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Cookies don't spread so you can size or shape them artistically if you like!

Bake for about 12 minutes or until they bounce back when the top is touched.

These cookies freeze well and travel well, perfect for taking along on adventures! Enjoy.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Here is a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks. I usually alter recipes, using them only as a place to start. This one was perfect as written...I did add cheese.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

2 teaspoons oil

1 small onion

2 sweet potatoes diced, about 2 1/2 cups

2 cups cooked black beans

2 cups chopped greens (spinach, kale, etc)

sea salt and black pepper

8 large whole grain tortillas

sour cream or Greek yogurt (my choice)

shredded cheese

enchilada sauce (I uses a 28 ounce can but there is a recipe in the book)

Preheat oven to 375. Heat oil in large skillet. Saute onions 5 - 10 minutes or until soft. Add sweet potatoes.Cover and cook about 10 minutes until tender. Stir in beans and greens. Cover and heat until wilted. Add a little water, if needed, to prevent scorching. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Cover bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish with 1/3 enchilada sauce. Place tortilla on flat surface. Spoon yogurt or sour cream in a line across tortilla. Spoon filling across the top of yogurt/cream. Roll enchilada and place in pan, seem side down.Repeat until all are used. Pour remaining sauce over the top. Top with grated cheese. Cover pan and bake 20 minutes.

Smoothies

I have been thinking about posting recipes for some time now...here it is.

I like to cook, I like to create my own recipes. I frequently make dinner by pulling things out of the fridge/pantry as I cook until a meal appears.

We are vegetarians, however we do eat some wild caught fish. Technically that makes us pescatarians.

I am going to start with one of our favorite quick meals, usually used for breakfast or lunch and sometimes a snack. It is also great when Scout is not feeling well, it packs in a lot of nutrition and she easily and happily slurps it down...the smoothie.

The Smoothie

Basic ingredients in all our smoothies:

Plain Greek Yogurt (24 grams of Protein) for some reason only the plain yogurt packs this many grams of protein.

Stoneyfields yogurt this adds some sweetness and I use a whole milk version for Scout who still has a developing brain!

Flax you will find out I put this in just about everything.

Frozen fruit chunks I get bananas from the grocer when they are marked down and freeze them into chunks for smoothies and baking.

Cinnamon

Vanilla

Milk

We have a large blender so we can make a batch for everyone at one time. Let it run long enough for everything to get well blended and smooth.

Some other ingredients we like to put in

spinach you can't even taste it but you know its there!

chocolate

nut butter

fruit that is getting to ripe

fresh pineapple and coconut

fruit juice instead of the milk

there are no limits here and no measuring (you will find I don't do much of that anyway) just put in what you like and don't be afraid to experiment!