Banana Bread for a GAPS Diet

This recipe is from Internal Bliss: Recipes designed for those following the Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ diet, published by International Nutrition, Inc. The only change I made to the recipe was to put the batter into a muffin tin instead of a bread loaf pan. ... Oh yeah. And I didn't grind my own nut flour. ... and I used butter instead of ghee (even thou we have ghee, but it's kinda pricey, so I rolled with butter). But other than that, I didn't change much. :-}

Ingredients
3 cups Almond Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill blanched almond flour. The book encourages you to make your own. But I'm just wading into this process and taking some short cuts when I can.)
2 Ripe Bananas (The bananas should have some brown spots on the skin.)
1/3 cup Ghee (plus a little extra to grease loaf/muffin pan)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 Eggs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F/170°C.
2. Blend all ingredients until smooth. (I used a food processor for the blending.)
3. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
4. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out clean. (Or for 45 minutes if you are making muffins. But still check with a toothpick to be sure.)
5. Let the bread cool completely before removing it from the pan.

I think the next time I make this, I'm going to add raisins. It just needs something a little bit chewy in it. Chopped bits of apricot might work well also. My kids argued for chocolate chips, but I don't think that's very GAPS friendly. ;-)

If you want to try the GAPS diet and need some recipes to try, you can order this cookbook through Amazon.com. If you get the cookbook, I'd also recommend Dr. Natasha's book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., Dyslexia, A.D.H.D., Depression, Schizophrenia. I bought both books together at Amazon.

Yellow Birthday Cake (AKA Coconut Honeycomb Cake) - GFCF/Paleo

In our continued efforts to change to more of a gut-healing diet, I have recently forayed into the Paleo diet. Invented by a local Fort Collins professor, Loren Cordain, the diet is supposed to mimic the food selections of our ancestors going back thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years. So obviously anything processed or genetically modified is out. But Cordain also kicks grains to the curb (mostly, from what I can tell, because people generally eat grains in the form of highly processed foods).

My sister, Karen, and Nathan both had birthdays last week. When we got together to celebrate as a family, I wanted to have a cake that both of them could eat. (My sister has been on a modified diet for awhile now and Nathan started a Gluten Free / Casein Free diet in early July.) So I checked a book out from the library entitled, Paleo Desserts, by Jane Barthelemy. I settled on the Yellow Birthday Cake, p 31, but I made a few modifications.

Barthelemy relies pretty heavily on a sweetener called Just Like Sugar Table Top. (I believe that's as opposed to Just Like Sugar Baking.) She likes that it's a zero-calorie, zero-carb granulated sweetener that works just like regular sugar. Just Like Sugar is made out of chicory root fiber, also called inulin. But the more I researched inulin, the more I decided it wasn't what we were looking for in our diet. Although Barthelemy listed 6 points that she claims are in inulin's favor (high in fiber, zero calories/sugar/fat/carbs/protein/etc, doesn't promote tooth decay, prebiotic, controls blood sugar levels, gluten-free/dairy-free/etc), I found stories online of people who ended up with digestive problems due to inulin. Studies have also shown that though inulin does feed some good bacteria, it also feeds some bad bacteria and can promote leaky gut syndrome. That's all I needed to hear and I decided to try something else. I explored xylitol and stevia and finally settled on using honey and some stevia in the cake/icing/jam.

I'm going to reproduce Barthelemy's original recipe here first. Then I'm going to follow that with a description of the changes I made. Because the cake is made using a lot of coconut and, in my version, it also included honey, and because it had a honeycomb look and texture once it was cooked, I've named my version the Coconut Honeycomb Cake.

Coconut Icing 

(called 5-Minute Whipped Créme Topping in the book)

Ingredients
2 cups Unsweetened coconut milk, as thick as possible (See my comments on this at the end.)
3 tablespoons Coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
6 tablespoons Just Like Sugar Table Top sweetener (not Baking)
2 1/4 tablespoons Agar flakes
3/4 cup Unsweetened coconut milk, to cook the agar

Directions
1. Have ready all the ingredients at room temperature.
2. Blend the thick coconut milk, coconut oil, vanilla, and sweetener in any style blender until smooth.
3. In a shallow nonstick pan over medium heat, stir the agar into the additional coconut milk. Cook and stir gently for 2 to 3 minutes until bubbling and gummy, and the flakes begin to dissolve. Add the agar mixture to the blender immediately and blend well until it is completely liquefied and any lumps are removed.
4. Pour into a bowl and chill for 2 to 3 hours, or until thick. Then keep it out at room temperature if you're using it today. If you're making it ahead of time, this will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, but allow 4 hours to soften at room temperature before using.

Raspberry "Jam"

Ingredients
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 to 3/4 cup Just Like Sugar Table Top sweetener. (She says she doesn't recommend any other sweetener for this recipe, but I found that honey and stevia worked just fine.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon agar flakes
3 tablespoons filtered water, to cook agar

Directions
1. Press the raspberries to drain all the excess liquid. Especially if the raspberries are frozen, it is important to drain out as much liquid as possible.
2. Place the raspberries, sweetener, vanilla, and lemon juice in any style blender. Liquify completely.
3. If you choose to strain out the raspberry seeds, pour the mixture into a medium-gauge strainer over a mixing bowl. Stir with a rubber spatula, tapping the strainer until all pulp passes through. Pour the strained raspberries back into the blender. Sweeten to taste.
4. In a small pan over medium heat, stir the agar into the water. Cook and stir gently for 2 to 3 minutes until it is bubbly and gummy and the flakes being to dissolve. Add the agar mixture to the blender immediately and blend well to remove any lumps.
5. Pour the mixture into a small bowl and chill for 1 hour to thicken. Spread it on cakes, cookies... all right -- it tastes great on everything!

Yellow Birthday Cake (AKA Coconut Honeycomb Cake)

Ingredients
5-Minute Whipped Creme Topping (see above)
Raspberry "Jam" (see above
1 1/4 cups Just Like Sugar Table Top sweetener
1 1/4 cups medium-shredded unsweetened coconut flakes (not coconut flour)
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon unprocessed salt
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup thick unsweetened coconut milk, or 1/4 cup thin unsweetened coconut or raspberries, for garnish

Directions
1. Prepare the whipped creme chill.
2. Prepare the raspberry jam and chill.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut parchment paper into circles to line either two 8-inch round cake pans or two 8 by 11-inch tart pans.
4. In a dry food processor fitted with the "S" blade, grind the sweetener to a very fine powder.
5. Add the shredded coconut to the sweetener in the food processor. Spin it for a minute to become a very fine powder. Open the lid, stir the bottom, replace the lid, and grind again until the powder is uniformly fine.
6. To the ingredients in the food processor, add the arrowroot, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutritional yeast (if using). Mix well, pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
7. Place in teh empty food processor the egg yolks, vanilla, almond extract, and coconut milk. Mix well and then let the mixture sit while you beat the egg whites.
8. With an electric mixer in a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed until foamy. Gradually increase the mixer speed until soft peaks form. Do not beat until dry.
9. Pour the wet ingredients from the food processor into the dry mixture. Stir the batter briefly and thoroughly.
10. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter in three parts.
11. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and spread it out flat. Bake for 23 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Don't peek or the cake may fall. Check on it after 20 minutes, as the cake can easily dry out. Let cool for about 30 minutes in the pan on a rack.
12. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Tuck a few strips of parchment paper under the edges to keep the plate clean while you frost it. Spread it generously with half of the whipped creme, and then cover it with all of the raspberry jam. Place the second cake layer on top. Spread with the remaining whipped creme and leave the sides unfrosted so the jam is visible. Garnish with sprnkles of shredded coconut and/or a few raspberries, if you desire. Serve and enjoy.

Meg's Modifications

Whipped Creme Topping

For the whipped creme, instead of Just Like Sugar I used about 1/4 - 1/3 cup honey. The overall consistency of the topping was fine, even though I changed out a granulated ingredient for a wet and sticky one. However, because the recipe called for the coconut milk to be thick, I had put the can into the fridge before using it. Then no matter how much I whipped the creme, I ended up with lumps. ... *cough* But as I reread the directions right now, I realize that I used a mixer, not a blender. Perhaps I wouldn't have had a lumpy topping if I'd blended. Then again, next time I do this, I'm not going to fridge the coconut milk first. It doesn't need to be solid until AFTER the ingredients have been mixed. It can fridgitate all it wants after that point.

... I could swear that at some point I added creamed coconut. But as I look back at the recipe I don't see it there. And yet I remember seeing that it required 200grams and that's exactly the amount in a box of creamed coconut. So now I don't know what happened. But my topping had cremed coconut in it in addition to coconut milk.


Raspberry Jam

Honestly, raspberries? Straining out seeds? Next time I'm going with strawberry jam. Raspberries are too much of a pain in the keister. Despite the directions stating that no other sweetener would work, a 1/3 cup honey and a teaspoon of stevia worked out just fine.


Coconut Honeycomb Cake

I don't really like the texture of coconut flakes. So when I food processed the coconut flakes and they didn't turn entirely into the powder I had hoped for, I was kind of disappointed. And when the cake still had a bit of coconut flake texture, I decided that next time, despite Barthelemy's note to the contrary, I'm going to try making this with coconut flour.

I also replaced the Just Like Sugar here with honey and a bit of stevia. Unfortunately, by this time I was so tired of cooking and cutting parchment and separating eggs that I forgot to make a note of how much honey and stevia I used. I know I used a lot less than she calls for in terms of Just Like Sugar. I'll have to pay more attention to this the next time I make the cake.

The finished product tasted a bit like a thick sponge of crepe dough with coconut frosting. It was very light and springy. I hope to make it again soon, with some of the noted modifications, and see if I can make something I like even better. I also hope to buy two cake pans before then. Much to my surprise I discovered that I had only one usable cake pan, and it was already in use, so I made this cake using a tart pan and a pie pan, both of different sizes, which gave my cake a squashed appearance. :-P

It's Chia Pudding, Pet!

Remember chia pets? Chia seeds are sprouted on terra cotta animals and other shapes (Duck Dynasty's Willie is shown to the right) to form "hair" or "fur." They first came out in the 1970s and were more than likely the result of someone dropping a whole lotta acid.

Well apparently chia seeds, all on their own, are the newest craze. They're considered a super food (meaning they're nutrient dense). They're packed with omega-3 fatty acids, and contain lots of protein, fiber and antioxidents. To find out more about how awesome these little seeds are, check out this Super Seeds page.

Back in the beginning of July, we decided to put our son on a gluten free, casein free (GFCF) diet. He's had a runny nose ever since he got really sick two years ago and we're wondering if his stomach lining has never healed properly and he has a leaky gut. (I'll write more on leaky guts some day. It's really quite interesting and isn't really what you probably thought of when you first read the term.) I bought several cookbooks on Amazon, and checked out even more from the library, and I've been a cookbook reading queen for the past several weeks. I'd say the most important change we've made has nothing to do with removing gluten and casein from our diets. It seems like adding in more healthful foods (like lots and lots of veggies) has been the greatest boon. (And we were a pretty darn healthy family before. We grind our own whole grains, buy all organic produce, don't eat a lot of processed foods, etc. But as much as I knew veggies were important, they take time. Chopping time, mostly. And sometimes I just don't have the energy to chop. But that's where the blender comes in handy. More on that in another post also.)

Most of the books I've been looking through focus on an autism or ADHD diet (which is primarily gluten and casein free). Removing these two proteins from the diets of autistic kids has been found to make huge changes in how they interact with the world around them. It's like these kids have been imprisoned in a painful world and when they react people think they're just acting out, not that they're nutritionally screwed up inside. ... but more on that in another post. The key that I was talking about was veggies. And the cookbooks that focus most on veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds tend to be the vegan and raw cookbooks, which I've found the most fascinating in terms of recipes. The GFCF cook books are full of muffins and breads and pancakes and all sorts of crap I've been making all my life. Now I just need to make the same recipe with gluten free flours. But the raw and vegan cookbooks are full of things I've never seen or tried before. Suddenly a whole new world of cooking (or not) possibilities have opened up before me.

This chia pudding recipe is one of those delightful new recipes I've tried and found to be utterly delicious. Now that statement comes with a caveat. Between myself and my three children, one of my girls and I like the pudding. My son and other daughter ate a few bites and that was enough for them. So this clearly isn't a dish for everyone. But if you love tapioca pudding, then it's quite possible that you'll love this as well. And danged if this isn't literally the easiest pudding recipe I have ever come across in my life. So without further ado....

This recipe is from Going Raw: Everything You Need to Start Your Own Raw Food Diet & Lifestyle Revolution at Home (which is the same book I pulled the zucchini hummus recipe from that I posted about recently). I checked this book out from the library, but I think I'm going to have to go buy myself a copy. There are sooo many recipes in here I want to try.

Ingredients
1/3 cup (50 g) chia seeds
2 cups (475 ml) nut milk (There's instructions to make your own nut milk given in the book. But I just used Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze almond milk.)
2 tablespoons (40 g) agave nectar or honey, or a pinch of stevia
dash of cinnamon for garnish (optional)

Directions
Throw the seeds, sweetener, and nut milk into a container. (I used a glass jar with a lid.) Stir/shake the mixture and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Now stir/shake it again and throw it into the refrigerator. Leave it there for 4 hours at a minimum. Garnish with cinnamon when you eat it. It'll keep for 3 days in the fridge (if it's not all gobbled up before then).

That's it. I threw everything into a jar, gave it a shake, went and did something else, came back and shook it again, threw it in the fridge and had chia pudding the next morning. Viola!

The texture is creamy and a tad bit slimy (like tapioca can be). You have to chew the seeds. I guess you could just swallow them, but I'll take a mouthful and spend several minutes chewing. I figure that gets me to eat less in the long run because I spent so much time chewing I have less time to keep stuffing my face. And I like the flavor as it's chewed.

Apparently these little seeds soak the water up like crazy, so it's hydrating to eat them once they've been soaked in liquid for 4 hours. But according to Judita Wignall, the author of the cookbook, you don't want to eat them straight or they'll actually suck the water out of you. (OK, she just said "dehydrate" but that sounds boring. It's when the water is sucked from your cells that you become a desiccated mummy and show up in a good scifi flick, right? So if you don't want to be a mummy in a horror/scifi episode of Fringe or something, soak the seeds before you eat them, K?)

Banana Oatmeal Cookies - GF/CF

This recipe started making the rounds on May 13th, 2013 on Facebook, as best I can figure. The earliest mention of it (using this image, at least) is from a post in a group called The Road to Healthy.

The first time I made this I made the recipe exactly as shown and baked some of the cookies, then I added an egg and baked the rest. I thought the egg would be an improvement but the eggless cookies were snapped up and the rest just lay around until I eventually ate them over a period of days. The egg made them a bit too custardy or something.

On the Facebook post people recommend all sorts of variations from adding chocolate chips or cranberries to throwing in granola or walnuts.

They're really easy to make and rather tasty.

Zucchini Hummus - GF/CF/Raw

This recipe is straight out of Going Raw: Everything You Need to Start Your Own Raw Food Diet & Lifestyle Revolution at Home, by Judita Wignall. I checked the book out from our local library and I've probably spent more time reading it than any of the other cookbooks that I've recently picked up. (I grabbed a bunch from the library but also ordered several from Amazon.) Judita is a gracious evangelist, encouraging her readers to try adding some raw foods to their diet, even if they don't dive in whole hog. (In other words, she doesn't beat her readers over the head with some sort of raw foods bible, preaching fire and brimstone if you don't totally convert to an all raw diet.)

Because chickpeas have to be cooked, Judita offers a hummus recipe with zucchini as the base. (Yay! One more way to use up all that zucchini from the garden.) Nathan made this hummus the same day that I brought the book home. It was absolutely delicious, but he wouldn't let me or Rob have more than a taste. So I grabbed a can of chickpeas, whipped up some of my own hummus, and sat down to eat that instead. I'll admit right up front for all to hear, Nathan's zucchini hummus beat the pants off of my chickpea hummus. Even Rob agreed.

According to the book, this makes 6 - 8 servings. I don't think that's even remotely accurate. Nathan ate his batch all himself and then wanted a little more and tried mine (at which point he decided he was full since mine wasn't as good). So I think you're lucky if this makes 2 servings. But I suppose it depends on how you're eating it. If you're making a spread for your falafel sandwiches, this should work for you. If you're about to sit down to an episode of The Mentalist and you want to munch on yummies dipped in hummus the whole time... and you're going to have to share your hummus with others, then plan on at least doubling the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup (124 g) peeled and chopped zucchini
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup (120 g) raw tahini paste
2 teaspoons minced parsley (We skipped this since we didn't have any on hand.)
Za'atar seasoning (dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, sesame seeds, and other spices), paprika, olive oil, and pine nuts for garnish  (Nathan used some dried oregano, resh thyme, paprika and olive oil and skipped the rest since we didn't have it all on hand).

Directions
1. Place the zucchini, lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt, paprika, cumin, and cayenne in a blender and process until smooth. Add the tahini and blend again until well incorporated.
2. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the minced parsley. Garnish with the za'atar seasoning, paprika, olive oil, and pine nuts.
3. Chill for 2 hours. (We didn't manage this. It was eaten within 1 hour.)

According to the book, "Two tablespoons (30 g) of tahini contains almost 35 percent of your recommended daily calcium intake.

Quinoa and Black Beans - GF/CF

We recently started a gluten free, casein free diet so I've been modifying old recipes and looking for new ones. This is one that I really liked. It's hearty and easily modified to include extra veggies you might have lying around. It was also a breeze to make. I found the original recipe on AllRecipes.com.

The comments on All Recipes include suggestions of adding tomatoes, zucchini, and lemon juice. I think the next time I make it I might try adding some fresh red onion at the end, uncooked, just to add a little extra zip and crunch.


Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
 salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro


Directions
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Tofu "Meat" Loaf

I make meat loaf for the rest of the fam occasionally and I usually come up with some simple alternative for me, like fried sliced tofu or maybe a Qrunch burger. But today I decided to find a tofu "meat" load recipe to try out. I discovered this recipe from midgelet and really liked it. I would have just pinned it (a la Pinterest) but there are no pictures so it's a no go in Pinterability. (OK, that's a totally lame Meg-word. I openly and fully admit it. But I'm leaving it there. So deal with it.) I'm posting the recipe here so that I can find it easily again, and I'm adjusting it a bit closer to what I actually did.

Ingredients

---

• 1 container of tofu ( firm )
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup soy sauce or tamari
• 2 Tbs mustard
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• squirt of garlic paste
• 1/2 of a smallish onion, chopped fine-ish
• 1 cup or so of puffed millet (or some other puffed grain... or a couple slices of mashed bread)

Directions

---

• Mix everything up. Smash it into a bread tin. Cook it for about 30 - 40 minutes at 350 F until it looks toasty. 

Cocktail Meatballs in Tomato-Saffron Sauce

Description:
This is from the Best International Recipe Book from the author's of Cook's Illustrated. Nathan found the cookbook at the library and selected this dish to make with the nutritionist that he was meeting with.

The dish was so good that even though I don't usually eat meat, I ate a full serving of this.

If I had it to do over, I would probably try a veg version of meatballs and cut the meat version of the meatballs in half. And I'd make twice as much of the sauce and picada.

Ingredients:
Meatballs
2 slices high-quality white sandwhich bread, torn into small pieces
1/2 cup whole milk
8 ounces (85 percent lean) ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
1/2 ounces Manchego or Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 large egg yolk
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce
1 small onion, minced
1 small tomato, cored, seeded, and chopped medium
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves

Picada
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped almonds
2 medium garlic cloves,

Directions:
1. For the meatballs: In a large bowl, mash the bread and milk together to form a smooth paste. Add the ground meats, Manchego, parsley, egg yolk, garlic, salt and pepper to the mashed bread and mix until uniform. Shape the mixture into 1/2-inch-round meatballs (1 teaspoon per meatball; you should have 35 to 40 meatballs).

2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of the meatballs and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, reducing the heat if the oil begins to smoke. Transfer the meatballs to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the reamining meatballs. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the oil left in the skillet.

3. For the sauce: Add the onion to the oil left in the skillet and cook over medium heat, scraping up any browned bits, until very soft and lightly browned, 6 to 9 minutes. Stir in the tomato and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the broth, wine, and bay leaves, then carefuly return the meatballs to the skillet. Cover and simmer until the meatballs are just cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes.

4. For the picada: While the meatballs cook, mash together the parsley, almonds, garlic, saffron, paprika, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and a pinch pepper. When the meatballs are cooked, remove and discard the bay leaves. Stir the picada into the sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the meatballs and sauce to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Shrimp and Grits

Description:
Shayne made this for us the first night of our gals' retreat and it was delicious. I made it for my fam for dinner tonight (using polenta instead of grits, but it's all the same thing, right? They're just labeled differently). The kids thought it was weird, but Rob and I enjoyed it. Naomi suggested that I include black beans next time, which sounds intriguing.

Shayne didn't give us her recipe, but I found one online that I used.

Ingredients:
4 cups water
Salt and pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, minced (or one large squirt of tube garlic)

Directions:
Bring water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Add grits and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well. In grease, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turn pink. Add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.

Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately.

Minty CousCous Salad

Description:
I found this recipe on Epicurious, but I've made a few modifications based on how it came out last night.

Ingredients:
6 oz. (ish) dry Israeli (large pearl) couscous
2 cups boiling water
1 bouillon cube
1 cup chopped red bell pepper (I used green, but red, yellow or orange would give you a brighter looking salad.)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives, halved
1 cup chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used a citrus vinegar from Trader Joes. White wine vinegar might work well also.)
1 clove finely chopped garlic or 1/2 teaspoon premashed garlic
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a 2-quart (ish) saucepan, sauté couscous in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until couscous is lightly browned (about 5 minutes). (I used Casbah Toasted CousCous. These directions on how to cook the couscous are from them.)

Add one bouillon cube (I used a salted vegetable bouillon but chicken might work well also.) and the boiling water to the couscous and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Transfer couscous to bowl; fluff with fork and cool slightly.
Stir chopped bell pepper, olives, and mint into couscous. Mix together 2 tablespoons remaining olive oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and garlic and pour over mixture. Fold in feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Don't make the couscous in advance. It just clumps together.

Fruit Bars

Description:
I love fruit bars. If I make these and they need a little extra bit of sweet, I drizzle agave nectar over them.

WholeFoods makes a carmel version of this same thing that includes chocolate chips. Someday I hope to try making that as well. Until then, I settle for fruit bars which are still über yummy.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cup rolled oats
1 cup unsalted butter; cut into 1/2-inch pieces, softened to cool room temperature
2 cups fresh or frozen fruit
3/4 cup jam or preserves or conserve (something that will match or compliment your fruit)

Directions:
Mix brown sugar, flour, soda, salt and oats. Cut in butter until crumbly.

Simmer fruit and jam until fruit is soft and the jam is mixed in well with the fruit.

Press half of oatmeal mixture into bottom of 9x13 pan. Pour fruit mixture on top and cover that with the remaining oatmeal mixture. Bake about 30 or 40 minutes in a 350° oven until slightly browned and bubbly.

Scottish Oatmeal Scones

Description:
This recipe is from Mary Gubser's book, Quick Breads, Soups & Stews which I found in the Detroit library ages and ages ago. Some of my favorite muffin recipes are from this book, but there's also a few excellent scone recipes that I kept from the book as well. This is one of them.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I use whole wheat flour.)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and cream of tartar in a shallow mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the raisins/currants, mix well and stir in the milk until the dough is gathered into a ball. I then form these into circles with my hand, and at Nathan's direction, have started pushing a depression into the middle of each scone to help hold in the butter and jam that he'll be slathering on top.

Pot Pie (with Chicken or Seitan)

Description:
Naomi has decided that she really loves Coopersmith's pot pie. I saw this recipe in the Denver Post (1/12/11) and decided to give it a go, with a few modifications of my own.

When I make this, I double the recipe. So what follows is the amount I make. Feel free to scale it back down if you'd prefer. Since Rob, Nathan and Naomi eat meat, I make a larger chicken version. The rest goes into a slightly smaller vegetarian version.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable) or 2 cups broth and 2 cups leftover from boiling potatoes and carrots
2 cups heavy cream
ground pepper
salt
3 chicken breasts + 1 package seitan
1 medium to large onion, chopped into little pieces
1 bag of frozen peas
2 or 3 carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch thick rounds
2 or 3 stalks of celery chopped to the same approximate size as the carrots
3 or 4 potatoes with skin
1 package phyllo dough

Directions:
Essentially the meat and veggies all get precooked. I toss the chicken in a pan in the oven until it's baked through. I boil the potatoes and carrots until they're soft. And I sauté the onions and celery until the onions are translucent. I also make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan. Stir in the flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the broth, cream, pepper and salt to taste. Cook for 5 minutes or until thickened and smooth.

Then preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit. While the oven is warming up, I melt a little butter into the bottom of the two casserole pans that I'm going to use for the pot pies. (I make one with meat and one without.) I lay several (maybe 10?) layers of phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan. (I know this isn't typical for a pot pie. But we liked it this way.) Then I toss in the chicken, cut into bite sized pieces -- or the seitan, likewise cut into bite sized pieces. I add the veggies and then I pour the sauce over the whole lot. I finish the pie off with the rest of the phyllo dough. I don't bother adding any butter between layers. There's enough sauce to kill a small hamster and a lot of it will soak right into the dough.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Eggnog Cupcakes

Description:
Nathan heard that the bakery down town had eggnog cupcakes and he really wanted one, but none of us were up for trekking down there to pick one up. So I just made some instead.

We're out of eggnog, so I made a mini-portion of an eggnog recipe that I found online, then mixed that into an eggnog cupcake recipe that I also found online. Since I knew I was going to be cooking the eggnog, I didn't mind that it was a raw egg version. What I've written below is my mash-up of the above recipes.

Ingredients:
Eggnog
1 oz rum
1 oz bourbon whiskey (I used Irish whiskey because that's what I had on hand.)
1 beaten egg
3 oz sugar (It should have been 1 oz. sugar, but it came out of the sugar jar faster than I was counting on.)
pinch salt
2 oz whipping cream
2 oz whole milk

Cupcake
1 c (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 c + 3 T sugar
2 t rum
1/8 t vanilla
1 1/3 t baking powder
2/3 t salt
2 c flour
2/3 c eggnog
5 egg whites

Directions:
Mix together all of the ingredients for the eggnog. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 48 mini cupcake tins or 18 regular.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter & 1 1/3 cups of sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the rum & vanilla. Add the baking powder, salt & 2/3 cup flour, beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 cup eggnog. Then beat in another 2/3 cup flour, followed by the rest of the eggnog & then the rest of the flour.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar. (I left this part out since I'd already overdone the sugar in the eggnog.) Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until completely combined then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter between the cupcake tins, filling each one 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes for mini cupcakes or 22 for regular. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

The original cupcake recipe came with a buttercream icing recipe as well, but I didn't notice that until after I'd already done a drizzling icing of my own: powdered sugar, half and half and a splash of rum.

We suspect Nathan might be allergic to nutmeg, so we held off on that and added it individually.

With the leftover 5 yolks, I made egg custard with a dash of nutmeg on top.

Sesame-Garlic Mochi topped with Raw Cashew Butter: Yum!

Gluten free, dairy free, yeast free, no added sugars and Oh So yummy! We've been eating Grainaissance Mochi for years now (that and Edensoy were my two main purchases back when I shopped at the Detroit Food Co-op), but the Artisana Raw Organic Cashew Butter is a brand new find. When I brought it home Rob looked at the label and said, "Oh. It's raw." like I might as well just chuck it straight into the trash. But when I slathered some on top of a warm, gooey piece of sesame-garlic mochi he became completely silent. He finally admitted that it was utterly delicious and he was embarrassed to have been so wrong about it. lol!

100 Ways to Use a Tomato | Endless Simmer

Overwhelmed with bunches of tomatoes from the garden? Check out Endless Simmer's 100 Ways to Use a Tomato.

While you're there, you can also look through 100 Things to Do with a Banana, 100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon, and 100 Ways to Crack an Egg.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Description:
The girls got a banana bread recipe once upon a time when they took a summer class at the farm (Martinez Park). It was a wonderfully yummy recipe which we seem to have misplaced since the remodeling. So we found this one online and it seems to be pretty darn close to (if not exactly the same as) the one we lost.

I'm posting it here so we don't lose it again.

Be careful to measure out the sour cream and buttermilk. I speak from experience in saying that too much liquid leads to a squishy center that won't cook up until the outside is too done.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sucanat
2 eggs
3 or 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour (either hard red or hard white wheat will do)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix the butter and sucanat (or sugar) until well blended. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the chocolate) and mix until combined. Toss the chocolate chips in, mix a bit more, and pour into two greased bread tins. Cook at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes (more or less -- watch for browning edges vs. mushy centers).

I've used the same recipe to make muffins -- 17 regular sized and 12 mini.

Not Too Sweet Blueberry Muffins

Description:
On occasion people offer me muffins that I bite into only to find that what they've really handed me is a cupcake with fruit inside. I don't have anything against cupcakes. It's just that when I'm expecting a muffin, I want a muffin.

The following is a blueberry muffin recipe that does not consist mostly of fat and sugar with an extra sprinkling of fat and sugar on top. In fact, from Nathan's point of view, these muffins are more like bread with blueberries inside. That's not quite right because there is a bit of sweetener in them, but not so much that the sugar hits you between the eyes.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (Hard red wheat will provide a muffin with more flavor. Hard white wheat will provide a muffin that *looks* more like what you might find in a standard bakery or among friends that use white flour when baking.)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup honey, agave nectar, cane syrup, molasses or brown sugar (a sweetener, in other words)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 buttermilk (or powdered buttermilk and water)
1/4 butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tin or use silicone or paper cups.

Mix all of the ingredients (except the blueberries) together gently until just combined. Don't overstir. That'll make the muffins come out with a bit of a hockey puck nature. Fold in the blueberries and pour into muffin tin.

Cook for 25 minutes or until light brown on top. If you use a mini-muffin tin, check the muffins after about 10 minutes. It's likely they'll be done.

Chive Biscuits

Description:
This is mostly the Joy of Cooking recipe for whole wheat biscuits with a bit of changing up to make it chive-worthy.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c flour (I used mostly hard red wheat with a smidgen of white flour thrown in. The recipe called for more but we didn't have it and it still came out just fine.)
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/3 c. (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter
1 c. buttermilk (or sour cream)
chives to taste (I cut in about 2 tablespoons of chives)

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except buttermilk in mixer until pebbly. Don't let it get to a solid mass. Add buttermilk and chives and mix.

I used a cookie scoop to make mini-biscuits cooking them for 10 minutes at 400F degrees. I love my cookie scoop and it makes dishing things out so much easier. The biscuits come out looking like bite-sized puffs.

Meg's Chocolate Brownie Cakes

Description:
Nathan asked me today if he could try making some Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes. I was just about to start staining some shelves on the back porch and wanted to get it done before the sun went down, so I popped open the recipe, helped him find a few key ingredients and left him to it. ... Only to realize, as I glanced at the recipe to give him some pointers, that what I have written there isn't really how I make the baby cakes. So leaving him to go it alone meant he "did it all wrong" (mainly by not stirring the chocolate and letting it burn... but I think if he'd had the butter in there it would have gone a little better for him). So I decided to rewrite that recipe according to the way that *I* make these mini-cakes. Hopefully next time Nathan will be able to follow these directions step-by-step and get it right the first time. (We managed to pour out the not-burned chocolate and finish up the recipe ending up with a pretty respectable mini-cake.)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick)
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I aim for 8 cubes semi-sweet and 4 cubes bittersweet Baker's chocolate.)
4 large eggs
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sucanat
1/3 cup flour (I usually use ground hard red wheat.)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

2. Put the chocolate and butter into a small sauce pan and melt over low heat stirring very often. Once melted, remove from heat and let it sit while you mix together the next set of ingredients.

3. In a medium sized bowl, mix the eggs, salt, and sucanat until well blended. Add the flour and stir until combined.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir until combined, scraping the edges of the bowl to mix well.

5. Pour the batter into silicone cupcake holders. (I set these into a cupcake pan, but you can set them right on a cookie sheet as well.)

6. Cook the brownie cakes for 11 minutes. When you pull them out of the oven they might still be wiggly.

If I serve these immediately, then I give people a spoon to eat them with and we slurp up the goopy brownie cake like it's a thick chocolate pudding. If you let the brownie cakes cool until they are room temperature, they will be more like a soft brownie.