Cinnamon Rolls

O.k. You’ll need 2/3 of the Basic Bread Dough Recipe, the variation involving more honey (I bake the other third into a loaf).

Then, mix up the filling:

3/4 cup chopped walnuts
6 Tablespoons raisins
2 Tablespoons sucanat
3/4 cup liquid honey
up to 6 Tablespoons water, as needed
2 Tablespoons flour
2 to 3 teaspoons powdered cinnamon

Stir together in a small bowl, add water if needed to make the filling more spreadable.

Then, divide the dough in two and roll into rectangles, approximately 18 X 11 inches, the dough will be about 1/4 inch thick.
Spread 1/2 of the filling over each rectangle, leaving the border uncovered. Roll up, from the long side, and pinch closed to seal.
Slice into rolls with a sharp knife (or use dental floss if you want), I cut mine 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Place in a greased rectangular (13 X 9 inch) glass pan. Let raise 30 to 45 minutes and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes.

C

Restocking – How to Change Your Diet, Part 2

Well, when I started thinking about writing this next post I realized I’d already done it.
So, here it is, copied and pasted for your viewing enjoyment:

The most important items on this list are the fruits and vegetables. So, if you have to pick and choose, start there. Add some good herbs if you don’t already have them, and then delve into the beans and grains.
Enjoy the journey!

Grains & Beans

Brown Rice (stored in the fridge or freezer)
Black beans (canned and/or dry)
Lentils
Quinoa
Whole Wheat flour, stored in the freezer
Whole wheat pasta, spaghetti, macaroni, spirals, etc.
Additional grains and beans; such as barley, spelt, oats, pinto beans, etc.

Canned Goods

Shelf stable milk substitute; rice, soy, almond, etc.
Canned tomato products, diced, paste, sauce, etc.
Canned pineapple
Black/green olives

Fats & Oils

Extra Virgin Olive oil
Coconut oil, & or Palm oil shortening

Seasonings & Spices

Onions (I consider these along with garlic to be a pantry staple)
Garlic, fresh
Vegetable broth or bouillon (cubes or powder – homemade version works)
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Arrowroot powder or organic corn starch
Sea salt
Black pepper (preferably in the form of pepper corns and a grinder)
Apple Cider Vinegar, raw
Soy Sauce, or Nama Shoyu

Sweeteners

Honey
Agave nectar, preferably raw (because I like it better, that’s why )
Sucanat

Miscellaneous

Yeast

Nuts, such as: almonds, cashews, and walnuts
Seeds: sesame and sunflower seeds

Frozen

Frozen juice, such as orange, and apple
Frozen corn
Frozen peas
Frozen blueberries &/or other fruit for smoothies, muffins, pancakes, syrup, etc.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Assorted fresh fruits and vegetables, these will vary seasonally. Try to have at least 5 varieties of each on hand.

Spring: Greens (spinach, lettuce, etc.), New potatoes, peas, carrots, beets, strawberries, rhubarb, watercress

Summer: Tomatoes, summer squash/zucchini, eggplant, corn, raspberries, peaches, plums, apricots, Asian pears, cucumber

Fall: Beets, potatoes, kale, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes, apples, raspberries, peaches, broccoli

Winter: Potatoes, parsnips, carrots, winter squash, apples, cabbage, greens

Some things like potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash, and apples will keep well for months when stored properly.

I think that’s about it.
I do keep a more extensive supply on hand, with extras like coconut milk (can you be addicted to coconut milk? I just might be), chocolate chips (grain sweetened), and numerous spices and herbs.
But, this list is more about what to stock if you’re just starting out, or have a limited budget but still need to eat .

With these items on available (depending on the produce selection), I could make:

Stir-Fry with brown rice (lots of variations possible here, including sweet and sour sauce, if you have canned pineapple on hand)
Rice and bean salad with assorted vegetables and a vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt & pepper)
Lentil soup (without the mustard, or add that to the pantry)
Lentil rice casserole (use dried basil, I did)
Fresh homemade bread
Pizza
Black bean and rice burritos with fresh veggies added (you’ll need salsa for this, unless you made it fresh from the produce available)
Tortillas
Tomato-Basil pasta (needs cashews)
Oatmeal
A Variation on out of the cupboard soup (depending on what’s in your cupboard)
Hummus (need a lemon for this)
Fruit Smoothies
Quinoa salads

And numerous other options depending on the produce available, such as:
Hashbrowns
Salad
Veggie sandwiches
Cabbage salad
Sauteed greens
Baked potatoes with steamed veggies and vinagrette dressing
Mashed potatoes

C

Up Next: Snacking

Quick Peanut Butter cups

Snack Time!
This post is dedicated to my friend Leisha. This is her kind of recipe .

Organic Peanut Butter, with no added oils, sugars, etc.
Grain sweetened chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Quick and satisfying!

You’re the Apple of my eye

I couldn’t resist leading in with the cute valentine stickers for fruit. So, just in case you need a last minute gift idea .

And for your dining pleasure, a recipe for apple crisp.

Ingredients:

4 Medium apples, sliced (about 4 cups)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Whole Spelt or Wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan lightly with coconut oil and fill with the sliced apples.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Mash the coconut oil into this with a fork (or just stir it in if your house is warmer than mine ).

Drizzle 1 or 2 Tablespoons of the honey over the apple slices and work the remaining honey into the topping mixture with a fork.

Spread the topping over the apples – just kind of mush it down with your hands or a spoon, or combination thereof.

Bake for 30 minutes until the topping is golden and crisp.

Adapted from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook. I have a few general (non-vegan/vegetarian) cookbooks that I like to keep around as a reference and resource for recipes to adapt and this is one of them.

Apple Crisp is really Melissa’s area of expertise, but this turned out so well I decided to post it anyway. Maybe I’ll get her to post her fat free version at a later date .

C

A Christmas Candy Collection

Prior to this year, I had never attempted to make any candy for Christmas. In fact after making so many dietary changes, I just assumed that enjoying candies at Christmas time was best relegated to the past.
This year, it’s been exciting to not only develop my own caramel recipe, but also find three other excellent recipes for your holiday enjoyment.
Without further ado here they are:

Peanut Brittle and Honey Taffy from Tammie at Simple, Healthy, Tasty
and
Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Fudge from Sketch-free Vegan Eating

Enjoy!

C

Christmas Candy – Chocolate Caramels made without refined sugar

Chocolate Caramels

1 cup brown rice syrup
1 Tablespoon Cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
2 Tablespoons honey

First prepare the pan you’ll be pouring the finished caramels into. Grease the edges and line the bottom with parchment paper. The parchment is particularly important if you use a deep pan like I did, Ideally you’d have something with shallower sides available. Or double the recipe and use an 8 X 8 inch pan.

Melt all ingredients together over medium heat.

Bring to a boil, and continue boiling the mixture until it reaches the firm ball stage. Or, you could use a candy thermometer and remove from the heat when the caramel reaches 235 degrees (245 if you are at sea level) Fahrenheit.

The (almost) finished product cooling in the pan.
When cool, remove the caramels from the pan, and slice or cut into the desired size, usually fairly small. Wrap in waxed paper and twist the ends to close. Stores well at room temperature for a week or so. These could also be frozen for later use.

Yum!

I think this would also work well without the cocoa, the only question being whether or not it would taste too ‘rice syrupy’ for some people.

*Inspired by this post.

C

Sweet and Sour Sauce-A Recipe Conversion

I’ve been searching for a sweet and sour sauce for several years now. I was never able to find one that tasted right to us, and used acceptable ingredients. Usually, they turned out too sweet tasting. So, last week I just bit the bullet and decided to come up with one once and for all that would taste great and work for my family.
I started out with a search for sweet and sour recipes, still hoping to find something out there that needed just a little bit of tweaking. Instead, I found this. Now to be fair, there were a few recipes available whose ingredients were closer to whole foods, but I wanted something I didn’t need to go shopping to make.
So, I knew right off that those proportions would make the sauce way too sweet for our family. I replaced the sugar with 1/4 cup of honey. Next, I don’t cook with white vinegar, so I traded that out for apple cider vinegar, and cut the amount down just a bit to 1/4 cup. I used 1/2 cup of pineapple juice in addition to 1/4 cup of water for the rest of the liquid. Since I didn’t have any ketchup made up, I figured it would be easier to just use straight tomato paste, I added 2 Tablespoons. Rather than cornstarch I thickened it with Arrowroot powder, I kept the amount the same, 2 Tablespoons, but I think it could be cut down to 1 1/2 Tablespoons and still work just fine. That’s the conversion process, as near as I can come to explaining it anyway. I hope it helps someone with their own recipe dilemma. And if not, at least you’ll have a new sweet and sour sauce recipe.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoon Arrowroot powder
2 Tablespoons Tomato paste

Mix all this together in a small saucepan and cook and stir over a medium heat until it has thickened to the desired consistency. Thin with additional water if needed.

C

No Bake Cookies

This post is dedicated to Caren, who doesn’t eat flour products, but really wanted some cookies. So, last week we came up with these.

1 1/2 cups grain sweetened (dairy free) chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter (Sugar-free, we’re talking peanuts and maybe salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of rolled oats

Melt the Chocolate Chips over low heat, then add the Peanut Butter and stir to combine. Remove the mixture from the heat and add in the vanilla extract and oats. Drop by large tablespoons onto wax paper, and let them cool off and set up.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

C

Healthy Snack Ideas

• popcorn  I use a little olive oil and real salt on top. Try some other seasonings like nutritional yeast or a Mexican spice mix
• chips and fresh salsa
• cut up veggies, like cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, rutabaga, jicama
• veggies or pita bread dipped in hummus
• fruit smoothie – Try adding a little spinach for added nutrition. You’ll get some interesting colors, but it tastes great.
• leftover frozen fruit smoothie and then thawed just enough to get a spoon in it (This gets me through my ice cream cravings, so I can just use the store bought soymilk, rice milk, or coconut milk versions for special occasions.)
• fruit juice or lemonade popsicle
• chocolate hemp milk creamsicle
• celery, peanut butter, raisin ants on a log – try other nut butters, dried fruit, and vegetable combinations
• cut up fruit, like apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, melons, berries, fresh pineapple – If you have lots of little ones, try cutting a bunch of fruit up in the morning, arranging it on a platter, putting the platter on ice, and setting it out on the counter or table with some toothpicks for easy and hygienic access. You can always tell if they’re truly hungry, because they’ll eat the fruit, but if they’re craving sugar or wanting to eat because they’re bored or tired, they’ll want something else.
• homemade granola – experiment with different combinations of dried fruit and nuts, add ground flaxseed just before eating for more nutrition, or eat it atop baked apples or peaches with a sprinkle of cinnamon
• trail mix of dried fruit and nuts - mix up your own, so you’re not eating added oils and salt
• homemade fruit leather
• fresh bread
• muffins

If you have some more healthy snack ideas, I’d love to hear about them.

M

What to do with your sweet tooth

Unfortunately having it pulled is not an option. However, cravings diminish as time goes on. If fact it seems that the higher in nutrients your diet is, the less you will crave sweets. So, if you’re having a really difficult time try adding a lot of greens to your diet.

For me the real challenge was cookies. Having decided that living without them was not an option, I set out to find something I could eat that still resembled a cookie. If you decide to include sucanat in your diet then it’s easy. It works just like refined sugar, it just tastes a bit more like molasses. One of the options I’ve been happiest with is my Chocolate Chip cookie recipe (and variations on this theme). I hope you enjoy it too.

Which dessert really tempts you and makes it difficult to stick to your dietary goals? Have you been able to find a suitable substitute? Let us know.

C