Back in the saddle

After a summer hiatus, due to the lack of internet at camp, I am back in the blogosphere. Camp was great. I adore the kids, love being outdoors all summer and have the best co-workers anyone could ask for. I kept up with running 3 days a week (most weeks) and threw in the occasional body weight workout and yoga. Camp food was okay for the most part. Packing the oatmeal, muffins and bringing protein powder got me through the summer relatively unscathed.

Now that I’m home I’ll be prepping for school and planning tonnes of new culinary and workout adventures for the new year. I’m hoping that keeping organized will keep me on track and feeling wonderful.

 

K

oatmeal schmoatmeal

I don’t like oatmeal. At least not in the mushy, cooked in a pot or the microwave, looks like dog vomit kind of way. But I do like baked oatmeal as I discussed earlier when I made the pumpkin mini baked oatmeal that my dad loves so much.

Well, I’ve been stuck in an apple cinnamon baked oatmeal rut for a while and decided I needed to break free. Especially since I will be eating baked oatmeal every morning at camp. At least that’s the plan. To dig my way out of this apple and cinnamon hole, I threw all caution to the wind and made a peanut butter and banana baked oatmeal. I know! CRAZY, no cinnamon or apples to be found in this recipe. Not even applesauce. I must have lost my mind considering I basically made this recipe up.

Anyways, these little beauts will be frozen and packed up for me to take to camp…which I leave for on Sunday and am super excited about!

Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal

1 egg

2 bananas mashed – I used bananas I had frozen, but extra ripe would work too

1/4 c honey

1 1/4 c milk of any kind

1 tsp vanilla

1/3-1/2 c peanut butter (adjust to your taste)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 c shredded coconut

1 heaping tablespoon flax meal

1/4 c unsalted peanuts – chopped

Mix and pour 1/4 cup into lined muffin tins – this will make about 18-20. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350. Enjoy!!!!

These delicious, and pretty nutritious treats are from my cousin Sarah’s blog. They’re super easy to make, and you can customize them however you want. I mix in coconut, flax meal, white chocolate chips and chopped peanuts with 1/4 c of honey instead of the 1/3 because they’re a little sweet for me.

justmypeanuts

I’ve always been a lover of the butter – peanut butter that is. My condolences to all those with an allergy that inhibits them from experiencing what is in my opinion, the greatest food on earth.

My peanut butter eating habits have evolved over time. I used to be a nothing but Kraft extra creamy kinda gal but dabbled in the crunchy once and fell even more in love. Since reaching my adult years and starting to put more thought into what I eat I begin eating the natural stuff. At first I hated it. It missed that zing, that makes you never want to stop eating it, extra creamy bit – aka the sugar! So it took awhile for it to catch on but now I’d never go back! The “regular” kind taste kind of like a dessert to me now. I am not partial to any particular brand…

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Russian Spy Cookies

Sneaky baking is becoming an obsession. I love putting weird things in traditional baked goods to make them a) healthier and b) more fun! Today, with some inspiration from whatrunslori.com’s avocado coconut cowboy cookies, I made cookies that are super soft and moist and taste just like banana bread! Delicious. To make them even better they contain only 4 tablespoons of honey, no refined sugar and the fat comes from avocado! Even better, they are gluten free, low carb, and super high fibre. I consider this a winning recipe!

Why Russian Spy Cookies? Russian spies are the sneakiest things I could think of, and these cookies are pretty sneaky too! They aren’t the sneakiest looking cookies, since they have a tiny bit of a green tinge from the avocado, but they sure don’t taste weird. As I’ve mentioned before attaining “not weird” status is important. If my picky brothers will eat it I’ve done a good job of hiding whatever it is that’s weird.

This recipe also uses coconut flour, which smells delicious and is super high fibre and super low carb. There’s lots of liquid in this recipe as well so the cookies turn out nice and moist. The original recipe calls for you to roll them into balls, yeah that wasn’t going to happen. I think my bananas were a little big so it was more liquid-y than the version from http://www.whatrunslori.com. But they still turned out great.

Coconut Avocado Cowboy Cookies

1 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 mashed bananas – ripe but not overripe – try to use medium sized bananas

1/4 mashed avocado

1 cup milk (I used coconut)

2 eggs

4 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1 cup chocolate chips (you could use craisins, or other dried fruit too)

Mix up the dry ingredients and set aside. I like to squish the lumps out of the coconut flour now to make it easier when you add this mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix all the wet stuff, mashing the banana and avocado up so they’re not chunky. Add the dry to the wet and mix, squishing lumps as you go. Add in the coconut and chocolate chips (or whatever else you like) and then put the mixture in the fridge for about 15 minutes. I found this helped the mixture thicken up as the coconut flour had time to absorb the liquids a bit. I spooned out the mixture onto baking pans (parchment lined worked better than just greased) and then baked for about 18 minutes at 375 F. They were golden brown but still soft.

 

 

hitting the pavement

And I’m back! Running, that is. Finally, I am able to test out this foot of mine and so far it’s holding up. This makes me super excited because in less than 3 weeks I will be at one of my favourite places on the planet: Camp Towhee (seriously, http://www.camptowhee.ca). This is where I will spend my summer with some of the most fun and caring people and campers I know. Perks of the job include a wonderful running trail around the lake…which I intend to conquer. 7km. That is the goal this time around. 6k gave me issues last time, so I’ll be a little more cautious this time around.

Sneaky Mini Cupcakes

Sometimes I like to make things that look normal, and taste normal, but actually aren’t. Mom likes to do this too with her black bean brownies. These cupcakes are super moist…which is odd for gluten free stuff and really rich. I’m going to attribute this to the fact that there’s a whole avocado in them. They’re also vegan (until I added the orange buttercream frosting), because I made them with coconut dream instead of regular milk. There’s no xanthan gum, no eggs and they don’t crumble to bits. I think I’m in love.

Anyways, I modified slightly the recipe from Un Petit Oiseau (http://bonjourpetitoiseau.blogspot.ca/2009/08/gluten-free-chocolate-avocado-cupcakes.html)

 

Chocolate Avocado Gluten-Free mini Cupcakes

1 1/2 c gluten free flour blend – I use  a mix of white and brown rice flour, potato starch, cornstarch and soy flour

3/4 c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 avocado, pitted and peeled

1 1/4 c sugar – I didn’t have agave, or honey

3/4 c coconut dream beverage

1/3 c canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c chocolate chips

I threw the avocado, sugar, coconut drink, canola oil and vanilla in a food processor until its a green mush. It should be pretty smooth so you’ll need to scrape the sides down a bit to get all the avocado pureed. I then mixed all the dry ingredients in a bowl, stirred in the avocado mixture and tossed in the chocolate chips. I then popped the bowl of batter in the fridge for an hour to let the flour soak up the liquids. I find this helps keep the mix moist and not so crumbly. I then scooped spoonfuls of the batter into mini muffin tins and baked at 350F for 18-20 minutes. They’ll feel really soft when they come out, but that’s the nature of the cupcake, trust me, it’s cooked.

I let them cool and whipped up a little orange buttercream frosting. I don’t have a recipe for this. Martha would cry if she knew most of my baking involves not a whole lot of exact measuring. So I  mixed up some butter, lots of icing sugar, orange zest and the juice of half an orange. BAM! buttercream.

These have been brother approved. He has no idea what’s in them and he still likes them.

You only live once,

Karla

neglect, and breakfast

So I’ve neglected my blog. I knew this would happen eventually. But to be honest, I haven’t been baking much. Or running due to a lovely stress fracture in my foot. Once that’s healed up I’ll be back on the pavement once again. For now it’s just upper body and abs workouts.

On a breakfast note, I generally eat yogurt and a banana, or one of my new found favourites, baked oatmeal. I, in no way, came up with this. I hate normal oatmeal. I have a texture issue and the goopy, mushy mess that is traditional oatmeal has no place in my diet. However, I do like how it fills me up and that it’s basically a blank slate. I can add whatever I want to oatmeal: peanut butter one day, dried fruit and coconut the next. I started off baking oatmeal in an 8×8 pan using this budget bytes recipe for baked pumpkin pie oatmeal. (http://budgetbytes.blogspot.ca/2011/09/baked-pumpkin-pie-oatmeal-277-recipe.html). It has lots of flavour, not a whole lot of sugar, which I have subbed for honey or maple syrup most times I’ve made it.

I’ve made a few other versions, keeping with a 1 cup of milk to 2 cups of oats ratio, then adding whatever I feel like. Usually some apple sauce, cinnamon, dried fruits and coconut. Sometimes they’re more granola bar like and sometimes they’re more soft and oatmeal-y. It’s different every time. I find an egg helps to bind the mix together, but it isn’t totally necessary if you use enough other liquid stuff.

My dad also really loves these. So much that I’m making a batch every 5ish days.I usually eat mine warmed up in the microwave and just plain, but I can almost guarantee he’s topping his with maple syrup! They’re delicious either way!

You only live once,

Karla

falling off the wagon

Finish exams and stuff my face sums up my week. Not only was it my momma’s birthday this week, but I also went back to work at the grocery store. Paycheck = great, constant supply of unhealthy snacks = not good. I can’t resist a good sour jujube or caramel corn, or anything dipped in sugar, especially when I hit the afternoon slump. There was just no discipline this week. At all. I did get all my workouts in and I’m up to 6km as I train for an 8k run on the May long weekend. However, I undid all of that with the ridiculous amount of crap I ate. Starting today, I’m writing down everything I eat. Lots more discipline. No more snacks at work unless I bring something from home or it’s a fruit or a veggie.Done.

Anywho, for momma K’s birthday I made her a normal vanilla cake with lemon curd (my fave!) and a whipped cream frosting topped with lots of yummy berries. I use the joy of baking recipes for all of these items, but I wasn’t so impressed with the cake. It was really dense. I was looking for something that would stand up to the lemon curd and not get soggy, but I didn’t want something I could build a house on top of either. Not impressed, still on the lookout for a great cake recipe for my non-g-free family and friends.

I also made a pavlova, just for me 🙂 Well, I did share, but I could have eaten the whole thing. It was beautiful, and perfect, all marshmallow-y with a crispy crust. Topped with whipped cream and berries! If you’ve never made pavlova it can be super tricky. And it’s best to make it on a day that isn’t humid or rainy so it doesn’t get sticky.

Pavlova:

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 250. Line a pan with parchment paper

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar by tablespoon as you continue to beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla. Sprinkle vinegar and cornstarch on top of the eggs and gently fold in (I use a whisk to do this so that I don’t kill the lift in my egg whites). Spread egg whites over parchment paper in a circle with a little bit of a well in the middle to hold the whipped cream and fruit.

Bake in oven at 250 for 60-75 minutes, until a very light brown colour. Turn off the oven and leave the door open a bit until the Pavlova cools. Store in an airtight container on the parchment until ready to serve.

Top with whipped cream and your choice of fruit!

“They don’t taste gluten free at all”

I love chocolate. In any form. At any time. Especially during final exams.

With the advent of 2 exams back to back my craving for chocolate had peaked. One problem. We actually have bare bones food in my house right now. Moving out means eating everything you have so you don’t have to throw it out or take it home. So I was left with 1 cup of gluten free flour and one ounce of bittersweet chocolate. I spent probably an hour searching for a recipe for chocolate gluten free cookies when I stumbled upon this one: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ca/2011/04/gluten-free-chocolate-cookies-with.html

I was afraid it wouldn’t taste right without the chocolate chips — gluten free stuff is weird like that. Leave one ingredient out and bam, nasty cookie. Also, the gluten free flour blend I bought in bulk isn’t the greatest. I kept forgetting my good mix at home so I thought I’d make do with an all purpose blend. Yeah, not so much. It’s great for texture, but if whatever you’re making isn’t super chocolatey or strong flavoured, it has a really off-putting flavour.

Anyways, I made a half batch. Added a little more cocoa than I needed and chopped up that bittersweet chocolate and added it to the mix. I also used regular skim milk and shortening. They turned out pretty good actually. A little dry if anything. But they were tested by my normal food eating roommate and she said “they don’t taste gluten free at all”. Success.

Of course success is much better with frosting, so I whipped up a quick cream cheese icing for these. Not even close to having a recipe for this. Basically just softened some cream cheese, added a splash of milk and a ton of icing sugar. Tah Dah. Just what I needed!

You only live once,

Karla

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

I love all things curry, and coconut, and spicy. Hence this soup.  It was time consuming, but worth every second. It’s got some heat, and the coconut milk makes it a little bit sweet. I added in lots of veggies to make this super nutrient packed and yummy.

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

2 chicken breasts – skinless, sliced thin

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp oil

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken and curry powder. Cook through. Set aside.

1/2 head broccoli – cut into tiny florets

1/2 bell pepper – medium size chunks

2 carrots – sliced

1 cup mushrooms – slice thick

1 tsp oil

Saute until tender but not mushy.

1 medium onion – diced

1 jalapeno or thai chili – minced

1/2 inch ginger – grated

3 cloves garlic – minced

2 tbsp curry paste – red or yellow

2 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 large sweet potato – cut into cubes

1/2 cup lentils

2/3 can coconut milk

5 cups chicken broth

lime – for garnish

Add onion, chili, ginger and garlic to a big pot.  Saute until onions are translucent. Add curry paste, curry powder and brown sugar. Heat for about 30 seconds. Add chicken stock, lentils and sweet potato. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add chicken and veggies, simmer for 5 more minutes. Reduce to low heat, slowly add coconut milk. Heat for another 10 minutes. Serve with a lime wedge!