September Cooking Class Recipes

Here are the recipes from this month's CHAO cooking class!  Kids can make these yummy, nutritious snacks with minimal adult supervision.  Always helpful for the busy homeschooling mom....

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

 1 bag chocolate chips
1c peanut butter or almond butter
2c rolled oats
2/3c raw, unsweetened coconut shreds
optional, 1/4c sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or chopped walnuts

Line a plate or cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Place chocolate chips and nut butter in glass bowl.  Melt in microwave about 45 seconds, or in a pan of hot water on the stove.  When melted, stir thoroughly and add all other ingredients.  Drop onto parchment paper by the spoonful.  Freeze or refrigerate until set.  ENJOY!

Sneak licks at home... but not at cooking class!!!!!

Chia Gel Drink

2T chia seeds
1c juice
optional, 1/8t stevia extract powder

Place chia seeds in a bottle with tight-fitting lid.  Pour juice on top and cap.  Shake vigorously for 2 minutes.  Place in refrigerator till ready to drink.  Before drinking, give it a good shake to disperse the seeds evenly.  Add the stevia if your juice is too tart.

About chia seeds:
Chia seeds are tiny black seeds, smaller than millet and typically contain 20% protein, 34% oil, 25% dietary fiber, and significant levels of antioxidants. The oil from chia seeds contains a very high concentration of omega-3 fatty acid - about 64%.  When soaked in water, they release a gel that is highly nutritious.  They do not need to be ground (or even chewed) in order for the omega-3's to be utilized by the body.

Ants on a Log 

Ivy made her own snack today!

1 bunch celery
1/2c peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter
1/4c raisins or cranberries

The ultimate easy-to-make kid snack!!!

Cut your celery into lengths and wash.  Spread with nut butter; top with raisins or cranberries.  Yum!

 

 

Coming in November: Banana Boats and Crazy-Pop Popcorn 

(No classes in October due to Archbishop's Mass and Luncheon) 

 

"Above all, the child must be well fed!" ~Charlotte Mason

Soaked Muesli

"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way. "

~Thoreau

No big deal.  It only took 3 hours of trial and failure on the bedtime routine to buy myself 30 minutes for a post here... compliments of

.

See the tear on her little cheek?

Anyway, sorry for the no-explanation-of-where-I've-been-for-six-months, but food is much more interesting than my 2013 has been, so here's the skinny on Soaked Muesli instead.

I've noticed the 'Refrigerator Oatmeal' trend in foodie cyberspace and I'm here to set the record straight: 

1) Eating raw grains for breakfast is called muesli.  Not oatmeal.

2) Rolled oats are not  raw.  They've been steam rolled. 

3) Refrigerating uncooked oatmeal is convenient and delicious but it could be so much *more* if folks would do it *right.*

Soaking grains for the neophyte healthy eater seems odd, daunting, and downright frustrating.  I know when I had freshly weaned my husband off white flour that the addition of soaking our whole grains was enough to make me hyperventilate so I just hit my mental *delete* button and went on with life.

 However, the concept and the 'why' behind it kept popping up every now and then.  Over the course of several years, I wrapped my mind around the why, then the how, and slowly incorporated soaking into my preparation of grains (and nuts), while refusing to let myself become a perfectionist or paranoid crazy person over it.

Enough for a couple breakfasts and snacks for us- but for my friend with 11 kids, this

countertop full of oats will be a single meal!!!

 

Long story short: soaking grains properly before cooking or consuming them raw makes them more digestible, increases their nutrition, and *may* prevent or mitigate allergic reactions, depending on the person.

Husband-friendly Muesli: add raw coconut sugar and mini chocolate chips, plus (shudder) a dash of organic half-and-half

 

To soak oatmeal is simple, since it is partly cooked.  But it must be done at room temperature.  Refrigerating the oats after mixing cuts short the process.  So *try* to make this up in the morning.  Then let it sit till bedtime and pop your jars or covered bowls in the fridge then. 

 Soaked Muesli
per serving:
1/2 c oats
1-2 t chia seeds (or ground flaxseed, or both)
1-2T almond flour (for protein, or sub any combo of nuts and other seeds)
1/2 sliced banana
1-2T raisins (or mini chocolate chips)
1/4t cinnamon (skip this if you go chocolate-y)
1T yogurt or water kefir
8- 12 oz. milk of your choice (I use half milk/ half water if I'm low)
1-2t extra sugar, if you must

ch-ch-ch-chia! (Remember?)

 

Place oats in bottom of a 16 oz jar or bowl.  (This makes a lot but we eat big breakfasts.)  Dump everything on top and stir with a chopstick.  If you need more milk, go ahead.  The ingredients really gel up, so make this pretty watery.  If you really want to increase the enzyme activity going on during the soak, you can warm up your milk/ water-and-milk before adding it.

Almond flour (just finely ground almonds): protein you don't need to chew!  Great for 3-year-olds.

Top with a lid and let sit at room temperature for about 12 hours.  Then refrigerate and enjoy cold on a hot summer morning.

You can technically let this sit out for 24 hours, but if the room is warm-ish, and you've added fruit or sugar, your muesli might get pretty sour and ZING-y.  I like to let it sit out during cold weather and then warm the muesli really gently before eating it.

 

 

 So, other than being delish, what's the best thing about Soaked Muesli?  It uses up extra kefir:

A jar of the home-made probiotic 'water kefir' that is taking over my life kitchen.

 

 I've been making water kefir, which is a non-dairy version of the liquid-y yogurt-y probiotic drink that more and more people are drinking and more and more regular stores are carrying.  Unfortunately, like yogurt, most of the kefir you get commercially is straight-up junk.  You can add small amounts to soaking grains to break down the phytase. 

More than you wanted to know:

Phytase is an anti-nutrient that is, traditionally, broken down before grains are consumed.  Before modern man invented commercial yeast, quick-cooking rice, and other strange things, grains could only be consumed after breaking them down, a la sourdough bread (for wheat) or traditional Mexican nixtamal (for corn) or traditional Middle Eastern salt-soaking (for rice). 

 

 Really picky foodies will probably balk at the way I soak rolled oats, but since rolled oats are not truly raw, it breaks down faster than most other grains (i.e. it does not need to soak a full 24 hours like rice or several days like wheat or spelt). 

I've heard internet rumors that you can do this muesli with steel-cut oats and simply increase both soaking times, but I probably won't try that till my rolled oats run out and I feel too cheap to replace them before using up my steel-cut.

Ridiculously delicious coconut kefir makes this recipe out-of-this-world scrumptious.

 

You can learn more about kefir and how to make it at www.culturesforlife.com, if your interest has been piqued.

And, to close, an unedited version of my 8 pm kitchen, to prove that I am absolutely no super-mom:

"Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty." 
~Sicilian Proverb

"But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end."
~William Shakespeare

"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way. "
~Thoreau

you-can't-be-allergic-to-this-PUMPKIN PIE

OK, well, someone could be, I'm sure.  You can always try to use an egg replacer like ener-G if that's the issue.

I'm feeling really smug about this pumpkin pie recipe, as no one hasd been able to tell the difference between it and 'real' pumpkin pie. 

Start with your crust.  You can use whatever.  Ground almonds make a really yummy 'graham cracker' style crust which is a nice change from a regular crust.  And most any cookbook will have an 'easy oil crust' type recipe which you can use with coconut or spelt flour and coconut oil or sunflower oil or whatever.  Our tester pies were spelt with coconut oil, but our Christmas pie is a gluten-free pie crust mix from Whole Paycheck Foods.

Then, the pumpkin!

you-can't-be-allergic-to-this-PUMPKIN PIE
1 can pumpkin
1 can coconut milk, full fat NOT lite
2 eggs
3/4c coconut sugar, 1/2c maple sugar, or 2/3c agave
1/2t salt
1t cinnamon
1/2t ginger
1/4t cloves

Toss all this in the blender and pour into your crust.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.  Turn down the oven to 350 and bake 35 more minutes.  That's it.  I'll add some pictures when ours is done!

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. " ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Peanut Butter Cookies! gluten-free, dairy-free

I'd like to say I've used my blogging break in some uberprofitable or at least ubercool way, but I haven't.  Nope.  Just life and Advent as usual, but a little more unplugged.  I love blogging but I'm not really that fond of the internet.  Go figure.

I have, at least, come up with some smashingly delicious holiday treats, though probably putting them up 3 days before Christmas is not overly helpful.

Ah, well, happy new year!

My first recipe is these utterly perfect, allergen-free peanut butter cookies.  If you happen to be allergic to peanuts?  Hold on till tomorrow for the perfect pumpkin pie.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1c natural peanut butter
1c coconut oil, softened but not totally melted
3/4c maple sugar or coconut sugar (you can sub any sweetener you like)
2 eggs
2t vanilla
3/4c coconut flour (or sub 2c spelt flour)
1/4t salt
2t baking soda
1c peanuts, if desired

Cream first three ingredients.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add flour, salt, soda, and peanuts and mix well.

  Form tablespoon-sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet or cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  You may need to add another Tablespoon or two of flour if dough is sticky.  You may need to do some extra forming of the balls if they are crumbling.  Smash with a fork in a criss-cross and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Now, COOL COOKIES COMPLETELY ON THE SHEETS.  Do NOT move these cookies till they are good and cool, or they will be very crumbly.  They firm up as they sit.

So good with hot tea or hot chocolate.  Our tester batches were inhaled in minutes.

                                                               And my amazing helper:

I couldn't get anything accomplished without my wonderful babysitter.

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."  ~Peg Bracken

NOT-So-Ordinary Pork and Beans

"Worries go down better with soup." 

~Jewish Proverb

Soup weather at last!  I made this soup in honor of an organic, free-range pork roast we're trying out from a local farm, but any old pork roast will do.  It's a great way to stretch the meat for a hungry crowd.  Or substitute extra seasoning and 2T extra virgin olive oil for the roast for a yummy and vegan- but still very rich- bowl of soup.

PORK AND BLACK BEANS
3 lb pork roast
2c black beans
1c brown rice
2c chopped carrots
1c chopped onion (or leave it in a solid half for flavor if your family hates onions- I do this then John Paul and I eat the onion whole)
2 t sea salt
2 t salt-free seasoning mix of your choice (mine is just the cheap stuff from ALDI)cajun seasoning is a good choice, too
2 4" strips of kombu
2 Tablespoons seaweed flakes (wakame, dulse, etc.), optional
10c boiling water

Start with the beans and rinse well.  Pork is usually paired with white beans or split peas but I prefer black beans with pork.  Well, with everything, really.  Black beans are delicious!

Adding kombu to the soup means you can use plain water and it turns into soup stock while the soup cooks.  Way easy for the lazy cook like myself who doesn't plan ahead.  (Actually, I had 6 cups of good chicken stock in the fridge when I made this but I had forgotten about it.  Sheesh.)

 Now, follow along closely: dump everything into a crockpot and walk away.  See my half onion floating?  It enriches the soup, but no one has to eat it.  Fine with me!  I love to eat an onion like this, and so does Johnny.

"This is every cook's opinion -
no savory dish without an onion,
but lest your kissing should be spoiled
your onions must be fully boiled."
~Jonathan Swift

 Come back 8 hours later:

 Voila!  Really yummy soup. 

This recipe  approved by my pickiest eater

Lots of crock pot recipes actually do better on the stove where you can brown or saute ingredients separately.  This recipe doesn't really need it, though.  Why?  Well, truth be told, it's the pork fat.  In case you haven't noticed, pork fat tastes good.  Really, really good.  It's hard to screw up recipes involving pork fat. 

"I would like to find a stew that will give me heartburn immediately, instead of at three o'clock in the morning."

  ~John Barrymore

Elderberry is in; Echinacea is out...

Guess what?

Recent 'for real' research shows that echinacea doesn't work for your cold.  Or for cold prevention.

Say what???

 Yep.  True.

So what's a mama to do?  Well, don't throw out that echnacea tincture just yet!  Turns out echinacea really works on infected flesh, but the tincture needs direct contact with the infection- which makes it perfect for your sore throat!  I was skeptical, but recently had the good luck to come down with an awful sore throat.  I tried using the ecninacea-cinnamon tincture I make as a gargle- straight.  Knocked a serious sore throat right out in just three doses.  Nice!

Random pic of world's cutest baby

I first heard this 'herb news' from my doctor.  He trained in Germany so is pretty hip to herbal healing, for an MD.  He went on a tirade about echinacea in my first appointment with him, which was so surprising, I didn't counter.  Instead I came home and, in my next 4 minutes of spare time, tried to find these new studies.

The book Herbal Antibiotics, 2nd Edition: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-resistant Bacteria (provocative title, eh?) is where I found it.  (An excellent book, but not light bedtime reading.)  It gives a fascinating history of the herb (well, fascinating to an herb-nerd like me) and also lays out the most up-to-date research on echinacea.  Most of which, big surprise, was not conducted on this continent.

So.  Apparently echinacea's use is very new, in the grand scheme of things.  And while many German physicians use echinacea, they tend to use fresh juice.  I'm not sure I've ever even considered juicing fresh echinacea, and I've never seen it for sale anywhere!  So that's pretty key when looking at studies on the herb.  Water infusions (tea) of echinacea have shown in clinical trials to be pretty useless against active infections (something I've long suspected), alcohol preparations (tinctures) have a different action, and fresh juice does somehting altogether different.   

What gets confusing, thoough, is that while echinacea apparently won't get rid of your cold, or prevent a cold, it does 'work' as a tonic.  A tonic is an herb that will build up and strengthen your system over time, but shouldn't be what you reach for first during active infections (when you are actually sick, right now). 

Clear as mud, right?

Here's what might actually be helpful to remember:

-echinacea is still good
-Echinacea Augustafolia is medicinally useful, while Echinacea Purpurea (much cheaper) is not as powerful (just look on the label, it will say the variety)
-go for the tincture
-use it like a vitamin, not a medicine, unless you are applying it directly to infected or potentially infected flesh (it's cheaper in your natural first aid kit than lavender essential oil, anyway!)
-don't take echinacea continuously- during cold and flu season, a typical regime is 5 days on, 2 days off, or 2-3 weeks on, 1 week off
-elderberry does work well during colds

Save money by making your own elderberry syrup:
Elderberry Syrup How-To

Random pic of world's cutest baby

"Nobody seems more obsessed by diet than our anti-materialistic, otherworldly, New Age spiritual types.  But if the material world is merely illusion, an honest guru should be as content with Budweiser and bratwurst as with raw carrot juice, tofu and seaweed slime. "
~Edward Abbey

Pinkalicious Pie

Another dessert, a cream cheese pie, ready in a few minutes, plus a few in the freezer.  A dairy-licious trecipe for my many friends who eat dairy.  Everyone loved this pie.  Loved it so much we had to nickname it.  (Pinkalicious Pie.  Pinkalicious.  Ugh.  I hate that book.) 

It made us all sick.  Really sick.  We all have dairy allergies.  But hey, sometimes you crave cream cheese and you have to live a little... and accept the consequences!

Pinkalicious Pie
1 block cream cheese ( you can substitute extra soft silken tofu PLUS 1 oz coconut oil), room temp
1 bag frozen berry blend, 12 -16 oz., room temp
1/4c raw honey, or to taste
1T fresh lemon juice (DO NOT skip the lemon juice if you make the tofu version!!!)
1 crust (gluten-free, spelt, granola, or regular graham cracker from the store)

Blend first 3 ingredients and pour into your crust. 

Freeze until set, or freeze as long as needed and partially thaw before serving.

Yum.  Ed has asked me to make it again, but next time I'll slip him the tofu version.  Still yum, but I can admit... there'll never be any real substitute for cream cheese.


"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." 
~Scottish Proverb
"Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out.  That is what it is for.  Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself."
~George Bernard Shaw

Guiltless Peanut Butter Cups

Well, BreadwithHoney did another little disappearing act, didn't we now?

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, chewing your finger nails, desperate for a recipe, an anecdote, a book review.  I know I mean so much to you... who elase can you count on to get you all excited about vegetables?

You need me.

But sorry, dear reader, no veggies will you find here today.  Now, you could sneak some freeze-dried kale or some Trader Joe's Greens powder into this recipe.  You could.  And I'm the sort of person who does that.

But this recipe has become kind of sacred to my post-partum self.  So I refuse to screw up the indulgence trying to make it healthier.  And ask my husband- I ruin a lot of good food that way.  All in the name of recipe development, of course.  But still, I've forced a lot of green meatloaf on my family.  So the least I can do is offer the occasional, unmitigated, healthy and delicious treat.

It's not my recipe; my sister Christine invented it- thanks, Teen.  So hats off to her, because it has prevented me from grabbing and devouring entire cheesecakes in my currently stressed, sleep-deprived, postpartum state.  Technically this can be a 'paleo' recipe, which is good for indulging without adding to the remaining belly flab, but all the same, I'm pretty sure our ancient ancestors had other things on their mind than gourmet desserts.  Paleo.  Sorry, it's a joke, folks.  A tasty, but silly, diet trend.  Ahem.  Moving on.

Guiltless Peanut Butter Cups
No exact measurements here, but:
a scoop of coconut oil
a slightly larger scoop of peanut or almond butter (peanut butter is technically non-paleo, if you care)
1-3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (raw cacao powder is MUCH MORE nutritious than dutched cocoa powder form the grocery store, fyi) make it as dark as you like
sweetener to taste (maple sugar or syrup, raw honey, agave, stevia powder or liquid)

Gently melt all that if your coconut oil is solid, or just mix well if it is liquid.

Add:
shredded, unsweetened coconut
rolled oats (not paleo)
sunflower seeds
etc.
to make the mixture moderatelt stiff- just eyeball this- coconut is divine, oatmeal will make it more cookie-ish, sunflower seeds make it really crunchy

Spoon into muffin cups and freeze till set. 

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I think you get the delicious idea, right?  Start to finish in about 10 minutes.

Talk about instant gratification.

(Mentally insert cute pics here of my big kids smiling with chocolate smeared all over their faces, ok?)

And the real reason for my recent absence from the web:

Yep, it's pretty much me, Ivy, and my brown chair.  Snuggles, stories, chocolate, and coffee.  Because you don't see sleep on that list, do you now?

This too, shall pass.  And then I'll miss it.  Because I'm just like that.

"And though she be but little, she is fierce."

-Shakespeare

Bumble-Bee Rice Krispie Treat

Credit for this awesome idea goes to my mom.  She spent weeks trying to come up with a bumble bee birthday cake for John Paul.  Without dairy.  Without wheat.  Without entire jars of FD&C yellow #5 (apparently the only way to acheive a good bumbly-yellow frosting).  Not sugar free, but it is a birthday, after all!

So while this isn't a cake:

it is a bumble bee, and for John Paul, that was the important thing.

So, long story short, get yerself 1 box of regular, organic, gluten-free rice cereal, and one box of chocolate, organic, gluten-free rice cereal.  Find yerself some chemical-free marshmallows. 

 Substitute coconut oil for the butter.  Our chocolate rice cereal wasn't very brown, so I added about 1/2 cup cocoa powder for better color.

We formed the body in my oval crockpot crock.  The wings we formed in a Pyrex pie plate; the head and stinger, in a smaller Pyrex bowl.  (All well-oiled with coconut oil.)  Cut the wing circle in half and shape it a bit.  Slice a bit of the head circle off for the stinger. 

Very easy.  Very bee-ish.

HAPPY #3 JOHN PAUL!!!

"You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." 
~Desmond Tutu

Cranberry-Lime Refresher

Mmm... summer!  I can't drink thick, creamy green shakes in the summer.  I want something icy and light, but still full of yumminess and greenery.

Enter the Cranberry-Lime Refresher, a better-tasting green shake for hot summer days.  Won't sit like a rock in your tummy!  (If you can't find cranberries, remember this for next year.  Every year when grocery stores are closing out holiday cranberries, I buy bags and bags and toss them right in the freezer- they keep quite well.  And tart cranberries are a great summery taste.)

 If the green color is unappealing to you or your kiddos, try increasing the cranberry ratio, or use hibiscus or rosehip tea as the liquid.

CRANBERRY-LIME REFRESHER
1c cranberries (all ingredients are per person)
juice of 1 lime (peel and chop the lime if you have a Vitamix or Blentec high speed blender for the extra VitaminC)
1-3c spinach (use 1/2 this if you are using frozen spinach) or any other mild greens
water to thin
ice as desired
stevia or agave to sweeten

Blend.  Drink.  Feel the energy!

My kids and husband love this.  It's a great substitute for a green salad on lazy summer days when you might otherwise not get enough veggies in. 

Really easy, really yummy, really really good for you!

"Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  And this is all life really means."  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Pump Up Your Oatmeal

For the record, my husband doesn't like this oatmeal.  My little people, though, loooooove it, and so do I.  So experiment at your own risk!

We use either rolled or steel-cut oats, soaked and cooked in our usual manner.  Then, in a bowl, we crack an unwashed farm egg and whip it with some hemp or sunflower or almond milk till light and frothy, then we dump in the oatmeal and stir till it is thoroughly combined.  Pop the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute, then top with raisins and cinammon, or fresh berries, and more milk.  You can, of course, drizzle on some raw honey or agave nectar.  See how mcuh they like this?

This is a great way to sneak some protein into your little people's breakfast, if they abhor a scrambled egg, an almond, or anything like that before 11 am, like mine do.  They call this oatmeal pudding, and I think it would be delicious to add carob powder or raw cacao powder to make a chocolate oatmeal pudding, too!

"Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first. "
~Josh Billings