Whiteley Creek Homestead

This recipe's original name is almond-honey power bar. I found it on EatingWell.com. After my revamping, the name no longer fits, so I came up with my own name… bran-apricot power crunch. The original recipe calls for unsweetened whole-grain puffed cereal (e.g. Kashi's 7 Whole Grain Puffs), but I used Nature's Path Organic Smart Bran with 13 grams fiber per 2/3 cup serving because that's what I had in my pantry when I got a little craving for a sweet treat.  I reduced the 1/4 cup honey to 1 tablespoon and the 1/4 cup turbinado sugar to 1 tablespoon so the mixture wouldn't hold together to be able to press into a pan. Therefore, it couldn't be called a "bar." No matter… "crunch" will do. The almond butter mixed with just a touch of honey, turbinado sugar, and vanilla forms little clusters throughout the mixture that add a wonderful bit of sweetness. Dried apricots are an important ingredient in the recipe that adds sweetness , so I thought it should be included in the name. I kept the word "power" from the original name because it so perfectly describes the nutrition packed into this snack that could be just as appropriate for breakfast.

 

Bran Apricot Power Crunch

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup slivered almonds (I used chopped walnuts because it’s what I had on hand.)

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 cup unsweetened whole-grain puffed cereal (e.g., Kashi  7 Whole Grain Puffs) I substituted Nature’s Path Organic Smart Bran.)

1/3 cup currants (I substituted dried cranberries.)

1/3 cup chopped dried apricots

1/3 cup chopped golden raisins (I omitted.)

¼ cup creamy almond butter

¼ cup turbinado* sugar (I used 1 tbsp.)

¼ cup honey (I used 1 tbsp.)

½ tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°. If using the full amount of sugar and honey, as the original recipe calls for, coat an 8-inch-square pan with cooking spray. If you reduce the sugar and honey amounts to 1 tbsp, you won’t need the pan. Spread oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, and sesame seeds on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the oats are lightly toasted and the nuts are fragrant, shaking the pan halfway through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add cereal, currants (or dried cranberries), dried apricots, and raisins (if using); toss to combine. Combine almond butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture bubbles lightly, 2 to 5 minutes. (If you reduced the sugar and honey, heat the mixture just until the sugar dissolves. The mixture will not bubble because it is not liquid enough.) Immediately pour the almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or spatula until no dry spots remain. Transfer to the prepared pan. Lightly coat your hands with cooking spray and press the mixture down firmly to make an even layer. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes; cut into 8 bars. (If you reduced the sugar and honey, you will need to crumble the almond butter mixture with your hands and you won’t press it into a pan. Instead, the mixture will be loose like granola.) *Turbinado sugar is steam-cleaned raw cane sugar. It’s coarse-grained and light brown in color, with a slight molasses flavor.

 

 

These are seriously the best guiltless chocolate chip cookies you've ever sunk your teeth into. Well, maybe not guiltless… but moreso than the typical recipe. One of the ingredients is tahini, which is a paste made from ground sesame seeds that has the consistency of peanut butter. I cut the sugar content in half and they are perfectly sweet. The original name of the recipe that I got off the EatingWell web site was oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I renamed it tahini choco chip oatmeal cookies because tahini plays such a major role that I thought it should be given center stage recognition.

 

Tahini Choco Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

½ cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup all-purpose flour (I use Gold n White or white whole wheat.)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup tahini

4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I used 2 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp applesauce.)

2/3 1/3 cup raw cane sugar

2/3 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 tbsp tsp vanilla

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips since I reduced the sugar.)

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with natural unbleached parchment paper. Whisk oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini, butter, and applesauce in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended into a paste. Add sugar; continue beating until well combined; the mixture will still be a little grainy. Beat in egg, egg white, and vanilla. Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by tablespoon onto parchment paper. Bake until golden brown, about 16 minutes. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sometimes nothing but waffles will do for breakfast, so I perused EatingWell, a site I visit often, and found a recipe for Whole-Grain Waffles. Good choice. They were light with a hint of vanilla flavor and a slightly grainy texture from the cornmeal, so I renamed them cornmeal waffles as a memory trigger when searching for my recipe to prepare them again.

 

Cornmeal Waffles

2 cups white whole wheat flour*

½ cup fine stone-ground cornmeal

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 large eggs

¼ cup packed light brown sugar (I’m going to reduce to 2 tbsp next time around.)

2 cups low-fat or nonfat buttermilk

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 200°; place a large baking sheet on the center rack. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Lightly beat eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; whisk until well blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Preheat a Belgian-style waffle iron. Lightly coat it with cooking spray. Add about 2/3 cup batter; distribute evenly with spatula. Close lid and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the waffles to the baking sheet to keep warm until ready to serve; do not stack. Repeat with the remaining batter, using more cooking spray as needed.

*White whole wheat flour, which is lighter-colored and milder-tasting than whole wheat flour, is milled from hard white spring wheat rather than traditional red wheat. It has the same nutritional properties as regular whole wheat flour. If it is unavailable in your local grocery or health food store, it may be purchased online from bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.

My classes that I am taking to earn a Bachelors Degree in Holistic Nutrition focus on choosing foods that are locally available in the present season or that you have canned, frozen, dehydrated or stored in a root cellar from last summer's garden bounty. Before I began my college classes, I was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. In the book, Barbara and her family vowed that, " for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood (within the county, if I recall), grow it themselves, or learn to live without it." The book includes meal plans and recipes for each season's crops. This recipe would be perfect for summertime's fresh harvest, but it is also appropriate for wintertime fare if you had canned tomatoes, frozen sweet corn and zucchini, and overwintered onions from last year's garden. My goal this winter is to gather recipes and organize them by seasonal availability of ingredients so that I can become more in sync with the natural cycle of eating.

Chicken Recuerdos De Tucson

1 whole cut-up free-range chicken, or thighs and legs (I used breast because it was unthawed.)

olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced (I chopped it.)

2 red or green peppers, sliced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin seed (I used 1 tsp ground cumin since I didn’t have seed. It worked fine.)

Green chiles to taste, chopped (I omitted.)

1 large or 2 medium zucchini or other squash, thickly sliced

1 cup tomatoes fresh, frozen, canned, or ½ cup dehydrated, depending on season

2 cups corn kernels

2 tsp dried oregano leaves

1 tsp dried basil

2 cups chicken broth or stock

Add a little olive oil to a large kettle (soup pot). Brown chicken (until you get some nice caramelization going on). Remove chicken and sauté the onion and green pepper, adding garlic toward the end. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, until chicken is done to the bone. Garnish with fresh cilantro. I omitted it, but the author cautioned that the dish will lose its southwestern flavor.

I made this "squeaky clean" on-the-run apple drop biscuits recipe two times in the past week. Both times they didn't form a characteristic biscuit mound like the photo in my January/February 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine. The recipe calls for 4 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. I immediately questioned what I thought was an excessive amount of baking powder but added it anyway. The biscuit dough instantly doubled in size and I knew I should have listened to my instincts. The biscuits quickly deflated as they baked due to overzealous expansion. The end product was lightweight but flattened. Today I decreased the baking powder to 1 tsp and and still went with the 1/2 tsp soda. They poofed up like before, possibly not quite as much, and again deflated in the oven. In my third future attempt, I am going to use 1 tsp baking powder and leave out the 1/2 tsp soda altogether thinking that it might be what is causing the inflation. They are biscuits afterall… baking powder biscuits. Why am I pursuing this one recipe so persistently? For one, that tends to be my nature… but, most importantly, the recipe's ingredients are impressive and the biscuits are really very tasty and tender. So, I say try a little tweaking in your own kitchen and I will do the same. When they finally come out of the oven in the mounds I am looking for, I will share my results. 

Apple Drop Biscuits

1 cup spelt flour

¾ cup oat or millet flour (I used oat one time and millet the next. Both are excellent choices.)

4 tsp 1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda (I’m going to try eliminating this.)

1/8 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp raw honey

¼ cup olive oil (I used 1 tbsp olive oil + 3 tbsp applesauce.)

1 cup low-fat plain yogurt or nonfat Greek-style yogurt (I used homemade.)

1 cup unpeeled grated apples

Substitute carrots or pears in place of the apples to change things up a bit each time you bake a batch.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together honey, oil + applesauce, yogurt, and apples. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine. Do not overmix. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with natural unbleached parchment paper. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Sprinkle Oat Topping (below) on top of each biscuit. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden.

Oat Topping

¼ cup old-fashioned (not instant) rolled oats

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp organic evaporated cane juice or Sucanat

 

What is winter without a snowman? This one used as a cupcake topper comes together in a flash using one whole marshmallow, 3/4 of a marshmallow, a little snip of orange slice, two drops of black decorating gel or chocolate sprinkles, and a junior mint. You can use a dab of the icing to hold the "hat" on, if you like. I baked a carrot cupcake that is made with crushed pineapple and pureed prunes. It is so very yummy. The sweet blue and white spiral cupcake paper is from a collection that was a gift from my daughter, Jessie. I think the colors provide a wintery feel. 

I purchased these marshmallows, but if you want to make homemade ones here's a recipe that proved successful for me and isn't difficult at all. For complete snowman instructions, follow this link to Martha Stewart's site.