Archives: Baking

Hi blog friends! I’m back to my blogging habits, I missed it for a few weeks but I’m officially back!

I just walked in the door from a bit of a shopping spree at Williams Sonoma! I always have so much fun in there even if I’m not buying anything. BUT lucky me… I DID buy something – cake pans! Yes, I am moving on to cakes. I’ve always wanted to perfect the gluten free, no sugar, cake creation and now’s the time. Not to worry, I’ll be sure to post when I come up with some recipes that taste delicious. Stay tuned!!

If you haven’t been to Williams Sonoma, I suggest you take a mini field trip. All of their cooking utensils are top notch and it’s definitely worth the price. Enjoy!

Delicious Squash Cookies!

Last night I made Almond acorn squash teff cookies and boy were they good! I was recently assigned a health counselor by my school and I found this recipe on her blog. The cookies are different AND they taste delicious! Trust me! I had never heard of teff flour before this woman’s blog and I was surprised that it tasted so good – I didn’t even use eggs OR oil! The recipe is S I M P L E, just try it. I changed a couple of things in my recipe – I used a different type of squash other then acorn and then I steamed it instead of roasting it just to save some time.

For one batch of 6-8 cookies (depending on how big you make them) use these ingredients:

1 ½ cups teff flour (you can buy Bob’s Red Mill brand from your health food store or supermarket – it’s gluten free!)

½ cup steamed squash (I couldn’t find acorn squash at my market so I used a different kind of squash that looked similar to acorn – it still tasted great)

¼ cup maple syrup

1 cup almond butter

dash of salt

½ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and blend well. Roll into a size that you like and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet (Non-stick is the easiest pan to use – if you don’t have one I suggest you invest in one). Flatten each ball with a fork and bake for 13 minutes.

Hopefully you enjoy this recipe – I know my fiancé and my work friends loved them! It’s so satisfying when I make a dish or dessert that is gobbled up!

All the recipes that I make are meant to be shared, so please try them. I search for simple, tasty and nutritious meals so please take advantage of the great recipes that I bring to the blog community – you will feel great on the inside.

This past weekend I did something completely out of character… I baked a pie! Yep, you heard it here – I baked a sweet potato pie out of scratch. I was so proud of this pie that I barely ate any myself because I was too busy giving everyone else a piece to see how they liked it. Let me tell you something, it isn’t even hard to do and I’ll explain all the steps below. First I want to tell you that the hardest part wasn’t even making the pie, it was figuring out which pan I needed to bake it in – there were non-stick options, ceramic and all sorts of different pans.

Finally I chose a non-stick pan but have decided that I will buy a ceramic one as well so that I can have a choice as to how the pie will look in the end.

I also want to express how much I love sweet potato pie but haven’t been able to eat it with my new eating habits. Here is a much healthier version of the pie AND it still tastes SO delicious.

Sweet Potato Pie adapted from the Clean Food by Terry Walters cookbook.

Scrumptious sweet potato pie

CRUST:

1 ½ cup pecans

¼ cup chickpea flour

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

pinch of salt

FILLING:

3 medium sweet potatoes

¼ cup maple syrup (or a little bit less – depending on how sweet you like it)

¼ cup rice milk or almond milk

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon arrowroot (found in the health food store near the gluten free flour)

1 teaspoon agar powder (found in the health food store)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Setup your steamer with water and cut up the sweet potatoes so they fit nicely in the pot. Steam potatoes until they are soft all the way through – may take about 15 to 20 minutes given the size of the potato. While they are steaming start preparing the crust.

Chop pecans in food processor until they resemble fine meal. Add chickpea flour and process briefly to combine ingredients. Add oil, syrup and salt and process until it forms dough. Lightly grease pie pan, add dough and press to form even crust – about ¼ in. thick. Pierce several times with a fork and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

When the sweet potatoes are soft and have cooled down begin to remove the skins. Place in cleaned food processor and add maple syrup, rice milk (or almond milk), vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, arrowroot and agar powder. Process until smooth.

Pour filling into the cooled pie crust for about 50 minutes to 1 hour depending on your oven. The top should be lightly browned but be careful not to burn the crust! Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack and serve at room temperature.

If you follow these directions you will definitely have an amazing pie. I wish you luck and please write any comments if you have any.

Blueberry, banana, gluten free muffin made to perfection

Moist and very tasty

Here’s what I’ve noticed about cooking and baking – It’s fun! AND if you have one machine like a food processor or a blender it makes the entire process so much easier! I’ve been having a great time in the kitchen recently – last night I made banana blueberry gluten free muffins!

They are amazing!!

Don’t be turned off by the “gluten free” because they are moist and delicious.

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer and it was so painless that I definitely want to do it again. If you don’t have a mixer then you can do it by hand or however you see fit.

Makes 8 muffins –

– 2 cups of quinoa flour

– 2 tsp baking powder

– 1 ½ tsp cinnamon

– 1 cup berries of your choice (I used blueberries)

– 1 mashed banana (if you like)

– 3 tbls oil (of your choice I used olive)

– 6 tbls agave

– 1 cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix ingredients together in a bowl leaving the milk for last. The milk will help moisten the batter so it’s best to put it in when you’re finished mixing the rest of the ingredients. Mix well so that the batter is smooth and creamy.

Bake for 30-40 minutes and enjoy.

As you can see it is fully possibly to cook and even bake without dairy, eggs, gluten and refined sugar. So you wonder why don’t resaurants and chefs all around the country/world practice using these same ingredients? Well, personally I have no idea why but I wish there were more choices out there for those who choose to eat healthier.

Again, I’m not saying that you should make these muffins and eat the whole batch in one day or even one sitting, but it’s a great snack when your craving something warm and sweet. I say warm because they’re the best when you pop them in the toaster oven to heat them up before consuming. I hope you try this recipe because it’s quite easy and the outcome is great.

If you find that the quinoa flour is making the muffins taste somewhat bitter, try adding 2 tbs of vanilla. The recipe is fully adaptable, so if something doesn’t sit well with you then feel free to change it! Have fun.