Raw almond cookie balls

One of my lovely sisters is moving out of the country for a prolonged period. For those who know our family, my sisters are quite close. We will miss her greatly.

I wanted to make a little treat for her to take on her flight. She, like me, aims to eat healthy. As one of her favorite flavours is almond, I devised this little cookie accordingly. I’ve been on a raw-food rampage lately, as I flatly refuse to turn on the oven during this usually warm summer. 

Raw almond cookie balls

• 1 cup almonds
• ½ cup dates
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp raw macadamia nut butter
• ½ tsp pure almond extract
• dash salt
• 1½ cups organic oats

Grind almonds and dates in food processor. Add other ingredients and grind some more, until reasonably homogenous. Form dough into balls of desired size. Simple, eh?

You may roll your cookies perfectly round or leave 'em just a little wobbly, which is my preference.
 

I store these at room temperature, as we demolish them rather quickly.

For long-distance transport, you might wish to wrap each cookie in wax paper, so they won’t fuse.

Frozen yoghurt with lemon

It's been a hot summer here in Newfoundland. The island seems to have forgotten that it's stranded out here in the cold north Atlantic, where icebergs track along the Labrador current during the summertime. The temperature has frequently hit the mid-20s, often higher when you factor in the humidity. Wowza.

As a result, I haven’t turned on the oven in a couple of months. We’ve been enjoying all kinds of salads, smoothies, fresh fruit, cheeses, homemade bean dips, salsa, tortilla chips, etc.

A dessert that's become one of our favorites is a bowl of frozen yoghurt – always vanilla – with freshly squeezed lemon juice. It’s super simple to make and it’s never a problem to keep these simple ingredients on hand. (I can tell by writing this, our fridge/freezer is bound to conk out over the coming week.)

Just squeeze a half lemon (I use my Mom's glass hand-juicer), fish out any seeds, scoop the frozen yoghurt in two bowls ('cause treats are meant to be shared), squeeze half of the juice over each of the servings. Grab two spoons and you’re good to go!

Gluten-free chocolate walnut waffles

I’ve been venturing into the world of gluten-free or, at least, gluten reduced. (A naturopathic practitioner suggested it to me, and my digestive system is so much more happy now.) So I've recently starting creating gluten-free versions of my favorite recipes. This one is adapted from my double-chocolate waffles. In my humble opinion, I think it works out quite well.

Gluten-free chocolate walnut waffles 

Makes approximately 5 waffles.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup almond milk - storebought or homemade
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• Heat waffle iron.
• Whisk egg.
• Beat in remaining ingredients (just until smooth), stirring in walnuts at the end.
• Pour batter onto waffle iron.
• Cook approx 3 minutes, then remove.

Variation: For chocolate coconut walnut waffles, substitute coconut oil for the canola oil.

The Sprouting Diaries (Part 1)

Been learning about sprouting lately. Bought a 4-decker sprouter and lots and lots of different seeds. Have sprouted red clover and alfalfa so far. So excited about the possibilities!

A Pancake of Substance

I had the good fortune to come across a wicked whole-wheat banana quinoa pancakes recipe a little while back. I’ve been playing with it ever since and it’s now my go-to pancake approach.

You can substitute other types of fruit for the bananas. For example, in the recipe below, I’ve used one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s quintessential berries: the partridgeberry. You can also use other types of fine grains (e.g couscous) for the quinoa, other types of sweeteners for the brown sugar, etc.

It is a Pancake of Substance. Yes, I’m capitalizing. And italicizing. It’s just that wonderful.

Quinoa partridgeberry pancakes

Stuff you use to make it:

• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup plain yoghurt (I prefer Greek)
• 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• ¾ cup multigrain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 2 cups partridgeberries

What you do with the stuff above:

1. Whisk eggs in a medium-large bowl.
2. Stir in yoghurt, almond milk and sugar.
3. In a smaller bowl, stir together the quinoa, flour and baking powder.
4. Stir the dry mixture into the wet.
5. Fold in the partridgeberries.
6. Heat some canola oil in the pan of your choice. (I like ceramic.)
7. Dollop in some batter, wait for some bubbles to appear and the bottom of the pancake to turn a nice goldeny brown, then flip them babies over.
8. Goes nicely with pure maple syrup, a berry sauce or another fresh berry (as in the picture above).

Spicy holiday breakfast

They say variety is the spice of life. Well, so is ginger. And cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Especially when folded into waffles.

Gingerbread is apparently a translation of the German word Lebkuchen which means cake of life. Sounds good to me.

Kinda gets you in a holiday mood.

Gingerbread waffles

Wet stuff
3 eggs
¼ cup blackstrap molasses
¼ cup canola oil
1½ cups buttermilk - storebought or homemade

Dry stuff
2¼ cups multigrain flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves

Steps

1. Prepare buttermilk, if making at home. (This will requiring letting it sit for 5 minutes, before adding buttermilk in step 2.)
2. Beat eggs in medium-sized bowl. Stir in molasses, oil and buttermilk.
3. Stir together dry ingredients in large bowl.
4. Stir wet into dry.
5. Scoop batter into wafflemaker. Depends on your gadgetry, but mine take 2½ minutes on a lowish setting.
6. Serve with what fancies you. I like plain Greek yoghurt, walnutes, berries and homemade berry jam.

Adapted from a Sobeys recipe.

Zucchini dreamin'

Harvested my first home-grown zucchini (all four inches of it!) and wanted to make something special with it. Here’s what I came up with. (My husband was first aghast that I would shred the cute zuke. But he liked the results.) 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup plain 10% Greek yoghurt
• 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 1 medium zucchini, shredded
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• about 2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• black pepper
• ¼ cup Parmesan, chopped finely
• ¾ cup multigrain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Mix in yoghurt, almond milk, zucchini, carrot, quinoa, onion, garlic, black pepper and Parmesan.
2. Mix flour and baking powder together. (Just use the measuring cup to mix these up in -- no need for a second bowl.)
3. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.
4. Heat pan (I like non-stick ceramic) and add a little spray of your preferred oil.
5. Put pancake-size dollops of batter on pan.
6. Cook until golden on the bottom, then flip and cook for a couple minutes more. (I tend to cover the pan, but if you wish a drier pancake, you can leave it uncovered.)
7. After removing from pan, squeeze lemon over top. If feeling decadent, melt some homemade garlic butter on top of the hot cakes.

They are quite nice the day after, heated lightly in the microwave, with a drizzle of lemon juice. Also nice with Compliments’ Sensations Greek Style Oregano & Lemon Bread Dipper.

Makes about 9 pancakes.