Banana Coconut Cashew Muffins

Banana Cashew Coconut Muffins Wet Ingredients: 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates 1/4 cup raisins 2 overripe bananas 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/4 cup drinkable coconut milk 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar Dry Ingredients 1 cup oat flour 1/2 cup almond meal 1/4 coconut flour 1 tbsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt Add-ins 1/2 cup chopped cashews 1/4 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened Instructions 1. Place dates and raisins in a shallow bowl and cover with boiling water 2. Meanwhile whisk dry ingredients into a large bowl. * I made the oat flour from quick cooking oats by milling them in my magic bullet. I did the same for the almond meal by grinding up slivered almonds. 3. Mash up bananas with the back of a fork and place in a medium bowl 4. Add remaining ingredients (except dates and raisins) 5. In food processor place the soaked fruit with about 3 tbsp of the soaked water and pulse until a thick syrup is formed 6. Add the syrup to the wet ingredients and mix well 7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine well 8. Fold in the add-ins 9. Pour mixture into lined muffin tins at 325 degrees for 20 min Let cool before eating. These are moist and delicious

Bananas and Cream Pancakes

So along with being a vegan this year (and preferably life long), I also want to work my way through my cookbooks. I've had some that I've barely cracked because when I early into this new eating style I was intimidated. Now that I have the basic equipment and understand the lingo I've been more adventurous. One particular book on my shelf: Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton is loaded with excellent, tasty, and easy ideas. So this morning I decided to make and slightly modify the 1st recipe in the book. To date these are my favorite pancakes and a new regular addition to my busy morning schedule.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup spelt flour (or any all purpose flour of your choice)
• 1 Tbsp. + 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 Tbsp. raw sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
2. In a blender or food process (I used my Nutribullet because it's super easy to clean) blend until creamy and uniform the coconut milk, banana, sugar, and vanilla
3. Pour the blended mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined
4. Lightly grease a griddle and let get hot. 
5. Pour out 1/4 cup amounts of batter onto griddle
6. Cook until bubbles start to form and then flip, cook a few minutes more
7. Serve with your favorite toppings.  

Oat Pumpkin Coconut (Flour) Waffles

Ingredients

Wet

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (i used coconut)
• 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed

Dry

• 1 1/4 cup oat flour, ground 1st
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

1. Preheat waffle iron and lightly spray with cooking spray
2. Combine dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls
3. Mix all together
4. Pour in batches based upon waffle iron size
5. Cook until crisp
6. Top with what you like

Gluten Free Flour Blends

I have been experimenting with different gluten free flour blends because of various reasons. Mostly because I like the challenge and the different flavors that come from using non-wheat flours.

Here are 2 of the current blends I have made up in my pantry. Each mix yields about 4 cups.

Double Rice Flour Blend

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup potato starch
• 2 tsp. xantham gum

Corn-Rice-Sorghum Flour Blend

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup potato starch
• 2 tsp. xantham gum

Feel free to sub together any different flours you might like. The key thing is to have an equal ratio of flour to starch and to always use a gum in the amounts of 1 tsp. per 2 cup mix.

Baked Peanut Butter Banana Quinoa Oatmeal

Ingredients 

Dry

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp Peanut flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Wet

• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 mashed ripe banana
• 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Add-ins

• 1 cup cooked and cooled quinoa
• 1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease or line an 8.5 x 13 in. casserole dish
2. In large bowl mix the dry ingredients
3. In medium bowl mix the wet ingredients
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients
5.   Fold in the quinoa
6. Pour mixture into dish and top with chocolate chips
7. Bake for 25 min
8. Let cool for 5 min and then slice

Coconut Lime Pancakes

Ingredients 

Wet:

• 1 Flax Egg (1 Tbsp. ground flax seed via coffee grinder mixed with 3 Tbsp water and allowed to sit for a few minutes)
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut/almond milk blend at room temp.
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. lime zest
• Tbsp melted coconut oil
  
  
  
  
  
  

Dry

• 1 cup all purpose flour (white unbleached or whole-wheat pastry)
• 1 tsp. coconut sugar (usually found as organic and raw)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

•  1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (to fold in right before pouring)

Instructions

1. Make the flax egg in a separate bowl by mixing the ground flax seed with water and set aside
2. In a large bowl sift together all the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle of mixture
3. In a medium bowl combine all wet ingredients and the flax egg
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the well. Stir gently until just incorporated. DO NOT OVERMIX
5. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto a hot and lightly greased pan or griddle
6. Cook until bubbles start forming in the middle of the pancake, then flip and cook about 3 minutes on the other side
7. When done top with what you like. Enjoy

To stick with the tropical theme I topped mine with sliced bananas, shredded coconut, and some maple syrup

Complete Wheat Pancakes

So we all know that implementing fiber into our diets is essentially for a healthy GI tract. Fiber is properly known as cellulose, the insoluble carbohydrate found in plant cell walls. We as humans, and most mammals for that matter, are unable to digest this little guy. However, this makes it excellent in our foods. Fiber makes you feel fuller so you eat less and it adds bulk which makes things move through smoother. The only down side is the added flatulence you may experience. This is much more likely if fiber is something you're newly increasing in your everyday scheme. You see, we all have lots of little microbes in our gut to help us digest. These bacteria have the proper enzymes in their cell walls to break down cellulose and as a result they release nitrogen gas, which is translated as a FART to the human world. Furthermore, we have billions of these guys living in our body at any given moment. So when they go at a new found smorgasbord of cellulose they go a little over the top and cause more gas than you may like....

But if you start to eat plenty of fiber daily this affect will begin to wear off and you will poot more normally... Not sure how to put it any nicer.

On that note, I've been trying more and more ways to incorporate fiber into my family's diet in yummy and creative ways. My 1st goal was to do something with wheat. We all use it (save those that are Gluten-intolerant for obvious reasons) and I did a little research. The flour that we commonly use in our meals is actually only the milled 1/3 part of wheat. The wheat berry (the pretty little round things you see growing off a wheat stalk in the field) is composed of 3 parts: the germ, the bran, and the endosperm. For most flours the endosperm is the only part ground up. What happens is much of the fiber and nutrient dense part of wheat is thrown out. This is true for many other grains such as oats, because we typically only eat 1/3 of those little guys as well.

On different trips to the grocery store I purchased some wheat germ, its in the fridge at the health food store and I also got some wheat bran, on the shelf this time. The germ tends to go rancid if its not kept cold. Now I have plenty of wheat flour in my home: whole wheat pastry, white whole wheat, stone ground whole wheat, and unbleached enriched white wheat. None of these are truly "whole" because again they are only the endosperm. Now my meals started turning and I wanted to create a mixture of all 3 and see what taste I came up with. Boy am I glad I did.

Oddly enough I could find a recipe anywhere online that used all three, in fact if a bran was used with the flour and wheat germ it was almost always oat bran. So I finagled (spelling) and few ideas together and came up with my own concoction. Zacchaeus gobbled these pancakes down, something he almost never does before for finishing his oranges first. Made me smile a bit.

Feel free to also experiment with this recipe, but I promise it is wonderful, nutty, and delicious as is.

Ingredients:                            Makes 5 pancakes

Dry

• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
•  2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 heaping Tbsp. brown sugar

Wet

• 1 Flax Egg (1 Tbsp. ground flax seed (or flax meal that is already ground) + 3 Tbs. water)
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, unsweetened
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce (this replaces oil but you can sub it in if you're not worried about the added fat)
• 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

 Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Make flax egg (I use my cheap and awesome coffee grinder to break mine down)
3. Mix all wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined
5. Heat a skillet or griddle and lightly grease
6. Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the griddle about 2 inches apart and push down slightly with cup
7. Heat about 2 minutes on one side til you see bubbles in the center
8. Flip and heat about 2-3 minutes on the other side
9. Plate and top with what you like
10. Enjoy!

I decided to not use syrup this morning. Instead I put a little Strawberry jam, Almond Greek-style yogurt, pomengranate seeds, and golden raisins on mine. It was so yummy and filled me way up plus gave me lots of energy this morning.