Oatmeal Raisin Muffins #dairyfree

For our summer curriculum project we're always tasked with bringing in something to eat so we can all snack while working.  I wanted to make something I could eat, but that was also not sugar heavy so I found these Oatmeal Raisin Muffins from The Kitchen Magpie and adapted them to be both dairy-free and nut-free (meaning no nut-milks!).  I also doubled the recipe so that we had some extra for home. 

4 eggs
1-1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup vegan buttermilk (1 Tbsp vinegar, fill to 1 cup with soy milk, mix and let stand 5 minutes)
3 cups flour
2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 tsp salt
1 cup of raisins 

Preheat the oven to 400º and then make your vegan buttermilk - I used soy milk because a) there was also someone with a nut allergy in the group, and b) it's thicker than other DF milks.  Grease your muffin pans well (unless you're using paper muffin cups, but why waste those when greasing well works).  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, brown sugar, oil and vegan buttermilk together.  Add in the flower, oats, baking power, baking soda and salt and mix well.  Mix in the raisins.  Divide the batter evenly between the muffin pans, using a 1/3 cup scoop worked well for this, then bake for about 20 minutes (less time if you didn't double it).  Slide a knife around the edges to help loosen them, then cool on wire racks and enjoy!

Yum!

They even save well in the freezer, just pop into the microwave for 30 seconds, dab on some Earth Balance butter and enjoy!

Dairy-free Lemon Bars with Raspberry Sauce #dairyfree

We've started a Dinner Club with some friends and for our last dinner party in June we made some Lemon Bars with Raspberry Sauce to help start the summer!

I found I have the Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe Cookbook and am really enjoying it because they discuss all the trials they went through to get the best recipe they can.  Perfect for Foodie Nerds!  Luckily they had a lemon bar recipe in there so we started with that as our base and then just had to adapt it to be Dairy Free for me. 

Start by making the crust - for a 13x9 pan I had to make a bit extra, but I also like a thicker bottom than the 1/4 inch thick they suggested.  Using the food processor here makes it so easy!  

Prep your pan - grease it, then lay a strip of parchment paper so it goes up the two sides, then dot it with butter and lay a second strip the opposite way so the other two empty sides get covered too.  (We messed this up... it still works, you just want to make sure things don't stick to the pan.)

Source

1.5x recipe

2.62 cups all-purpose flour (2-1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

1 cup powdered sugar

3/8 cup cornstarch

1 tsp salt

18 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter

Pulse the dry ingredients a few times, then add the vegan butter and quickly blend (10 seconds) then pulse until it's all pale yellow and looks like coarse cornmeal.  Sprinkle into the pan and press the bottom to your desired thickness and then up the sides about a half inch.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 350º halfway through that (or however long your oven takes to preheat), then bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.  Because mine was thicker, it took longer to bake, about 35 minutes.  While it's baking, make the filling.

6 large eggs, beaten

2 cups sugar

4.5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (a 1.5 T measuring spoon is great here!)

3 rounded teaspoons lemon zest

1 cup lemon juice (took 5 lemons)

2/3 cup soy milk

1/4 tsp salt

Whisk eggs, sugar and flour together, then stir in lemon zest, juice, milk and salt and blend well.   Pour into the warm crust, reset the oven to 325º and then bake for about 20 minutes until it feels firm on top.  Cool on the counter and then lift out with the parchment paper and slice.

We had extra filling so I poured it into a bread pan - wrong container.  It took forever to bake, the bars with the crust ended up taking about 30 minutes, then it took an extra 15 for the bread pan.  Should have used a 9x9 so that it would be a similar depth to the 13x9 pan.

For a topping, we sprinkled it with some extra powdered sugar (which melted by the time we arrived, whoops!), scattered some fresh raspberries, and made a raspberry sauce from The Gunny Sack.  

1/4 cup water
1.5 containers of fresh raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash of salt

Put everything minus the vanilla and salt into a small sauce pan, cook over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes and stir occasionally so the raspberries start to break down.  It was a bit thicker than I wanted so next time I would skip the cornstarch, but if you wanted to add it you would mix the cornstarch and cold water together, then pour in and continue to cook until it's thickened.  Once finished, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.   Allow it to cool a bit, then put in a container for transport or storage.

These were delicious, and the leftover curd was a delightful addition.

Enjoy!

DF Chocolate Birthday Cake

We went to Ohio this weekend to visit my in-laws for my MIL's birthday and did a ton of yard work on Saturday and then made cookies and a birthday cake on Sunday.  My MIL requested a chocolate cake with raspberry so I found the "i want chocolate cake" cake from Smitten Kitchen and decided to make it dairy free so I could enjoy it too.  She's the baking queen (her cookies are amazing) so I'm sure it was hard for her to give up her kitchen to the kids for a time.

We made the cake first, doubling the recipe to make two 8 inch rounds:

12 tablespoons of Earth Balance vegan "butter"
1-1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
4 Tablespoons regular sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1-1/2 cup vegan buttermilk 
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Extra dark Hershey's cocoa (couldn't find Dutch cocoa in small town Ohio)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Set the over to 350º.  Put parchment paper in the bottom of the cake pans, then grease them.  Make the vegan buttermilk first so it has time to sit, then cream the "butter" and sugars well in a mixer until they're fluffy.  I learned that with Earth Balance you have to extra cream it to make sure it doesn't start to separate on you.  Then add in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and mix.  Sift all of the dry ingredients onto a large piece of wax paper, then put the mixer on slow and slowly pour the dry ingredients in, pausing a couple times.  Then pour the batter into the cake pans and bake.  With two pans, it took about 45 minutes to fully bake.  These pulled away from the edges of the pan nicely and were really easy to flip out onto a cooling rack. 

Allow the cake layers to cool completely before frosting - so important!  Once cooled, I sliced the rounded top off the bottom layer so they would stack easily, then used raspberry jam to coat the top of the bottom layer and put the top layer on top.  

Frosting time!

We made the frosting a little early and being a hot summer day, it took the layers a bit longer to cool so the frosting was thicker than I wanted to spread it.  Next time I would start the frosting once the layers are completely cooled and we're ready to put the cake together.

4 oz dark DF chocolate (we used 90% Lindt), melted and cooled

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup Earth Balance vegan "butter"

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp soy milk - original unsweetened is best here

1 tsp vanilla

Apparently you can just put all of the ingredients into the food processor and mix, but instead of getting another piece of equipment dirty, we decided to use the stand mixer that was already out. 

Melt the chocolate and then let it cool.  (We stuck it in the fridge for a few minutes and kept checking it so it didn't harden back up.)  Cream the "butter" and powdered sugar really well until nice and fluffy.  Then pour in the chocolate and mix, then add the salt, soy milk and vanilla and mix.   Lesson learned, don't add the milk and vanilla to the chocolate first as that will make the chocolate seize up and is much harder to add in.  It still worked out, but would have been easier the first way.

Then frost your cake!  Smitten Kitchen was so right about the small offset spatula - it made spreading the frosting so much easier than I've ever done before. 

Happy Birthday!

D-F Vegetarian Pot Pie

A mash-up of 3 different recipes for a dinner party with friends

Bon Appetite's March 1996 Vegetable Pot Pie
Smitten Kitchen's Pancetta, White Bean and Kale Pot Pies
Crust veganized from Smitten Kitchen's Better Chicken Pot Pies

Serves 6-8
Time: ~3 hours

1. Top (30 mins plus 1 hour chill)

• 2 cups (250 grams) all- purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
• 13 tablespoons (185 grams or 6 1/2 ounces) cold unsalted vegan butter (like Earth Balance), diced
• 6 tablespoons (90 grams) vegan sour cream or vegan Greek-style yogurt
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) very cold water
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

Make pastry lids: In a large, wide bowl (preferably one that you can get your hands into), combine the flour and salt. Add the vegan butter and, using a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut them up and into the flour mixture until it resembles little pebbles. Keep breaking up the bits of butter until the texture is closer to uncooked couscous. In a small dish, whisk together the vegan sour cream, vinegar, and water, and combine it with the vegan butter-flour mixture. Using a flexible spatula, stir the wet and the dry together until a craggy dough forms. If needed, get your hands into the bowl to knead it a few times into one big ball. Pat it into a flattish ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 2 days.  Then make filling.

Filling (30 mins prep + 1 hour bake)

• 15 pearl onions, or 2 medium onions cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 large carrots cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 russet potatoes (about 8 ounces each), peeled, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 rutabagas (about 6 ounces each), peeled, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 leek (white and pale green parts only), chopped
• 10 ounces mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• Thinly sliced Swiss chard leaves from an 8- to 10-ounce (225- to 285-gram)
  bundle (4 cups); if leaves are very wide, you can halve them lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons dried herbs de Provence
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 2 cups white beans, cooked and drained, or from one and a third 15.5- ounce
  (440-gram) cans
• 1 cup canned vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1-1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Blanch pearl onions in large pot of boiling water 2 minutes. Drain onions and cool. Peel onions.
2. Cut carrots, potatoes, rutabagas and bell pepper into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in heavy large baking pan with onions, leek and mushrooms. Add olive oil and herbes de Provence and toss to coat. Roast until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Transfer vegetables to 8-inch square glass baking dish. Saute celery until soft, then add swiss chard for 2 minutes, and add in to baking dish. Stir in peas and white beans. Season vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate.)
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Mix 1 cup vegetable broth and 3/4 cup dry red wine in heavy small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer. Stir remaining 1/4 cup red wine and 1-1/2 tablespoon cornstarch in small bowl until smooth. Add to broth mixture and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Pour sauce over baking dish.
4. 1. Roll out the dough so that it will cover the baking dish.  Brush edges of baking dish with egg wash, place top over baking dish and press down to adhere to the outer edges.  Brush the top with egg wash, then cut decorative vents to let steam escape.  Bake on top of a baking sheet to catch spills until crust is bronzed and filling is bubbling, 35-40 minutes.
5. 

1. Spoon pot pie onto plate; serve hot.
2. Enjoy with friends!

DF Gingerbread Brownies

DF Gingerbread Brownies
(adapted from Epicurious)


INGREDIENTS

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted EarthBalance "butter"
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons molasses (not robust/blackstrap)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Coat a 9x9" (or 9x13" for thinner brownies) baking pan with nonstick spray. Line pan with 2 overlapping layers of parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on all sides. Coat parchment with nonstick spray. 
   
2. Whisk 2 cups sugar, 1.5 cups cocoa powder, and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl. 
3. In a small bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp cloves.  (Heap those spices!)
4. Melt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter in a medium heatproof bowl in the microwave or in a medium pot over medium heat. Immediately add hot butter to sugar mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until smooth. 
5. Add 4 eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously with spoon or spatula after each addition, until batter is thick, shiny, and smooth. Stir in 3 T molasses and 2 tsp vanilla.  (I got about 2.5 T molasses before it ran out, close enough.)
6. Using a sifter or fine-mesh sieve, sift in the flour-cinnamon-ginger-baking powder-cloves mixture. 
7. Stir until well incorporated, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes.
8. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake brownie until top is firm to the touch, edges are set, center is moist but not uncooked, and a tester or paring knife inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs (not runny batter) attached, about 20 minutes.  *Note: It took about 40 minutes to bake in my oven (gas) probably because they're so thick.  Next time I'll use a 9x13 pan so that they're thinner and bake faster.
9. Transfer to a wire rack and let brownie cool completely in pan. Using parchment overhang, lift brownie out of pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

Summer Blueberry Pie

Yesterday we did a little graduation party with friends for CP and of course he requested a pie for dessert so I made a blueberry pie, adapting this recipe from Inspired Taste to be dairy free.

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts (I used store bought for ease)
2 pounds of blueberries (about 6 cups or 3.5 pints)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon DF butter (we use earth balance)
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon almond milk

Directions:

1. Let the pie crusts warm up to room temperature then roll the bottom crust into the pie pan, pushing the edges up on to the very edge of the pan.  I had to stretch the crust a bit.  Put the pan in the fridge.
2. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, allspice, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
3. Wash and drain the blueberries, then toss in the sugar mixture to coat evenly.
4. Pull the pan out of the fridge and add in the blueberry mixture.  Mine ended up being domed, but flattened out in the oven.
5. Roll out the top pie crust and cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch strips (try to be as even as possible).  Watch the video from the Inspired Taste for how to do the lattice top.
6. Cut up the butter and dot in the holes on the top
7. Make the egg wash and brush the top of the pie
8. Refrigerate the pie for 20 minutes
9. Bake at 400º for 20 minutes on the middle rack
10. Lower the temp to 350º and bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.  I had to cover my pie with tin foil 10 minutes into the 350º so it wouldn't burn, and then took the tin foil off for the last 10 minutes to get that golden brown crust

Next time I will push the edges up higher on the bottom crust to make it easier to hook the lattice, but it was DELICIOUS!  The lemon really made the blueberries even better and it wasn't too sweet.

I suggest serving with some vanilla coconut milk ice cream, but some people like their pie solo.

Keeping this recipe on hand. :-)

Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

When your friend loves lemon cake and strawberry cake, you've got to make cupcakes like that for her bridal shower!

Lemon Cupcakes (adapted from Southern Living)

1 cup vegan butter (like Earth Balance), softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, separated

3 cups cake flour (you can make your own if you don't have it on hand)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon table salt

1 cup soymilk

1 heaping tablespoon lemon zest

2.5 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Shortening or cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl beat the vegan butter just like normal butter at medium speed until creamy with a mixer, add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.  Be patient.  Separate the eggs, add the yolks to the batter one at a time, blending each one in.  Put the whites together in a second large bowl for later.

Mix the flour with baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Add a scoop of the flour, then a bit of milk, alternating and blend in on low speed.  Then mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice, I add more than the original recipe for more lemon cake flavor.  

Back to that large bowl of egg whites, clean your mixer, then whip them until firm peaks form.  Add a scoop of the egg whites to the batter and stir in.  Add the rest of the egg whites and then fold into the batter.  I didn't know how to fold in egg whites, so here's a helpful page from the Kitchn or a video to watch how.

Put cupcake liners in the pan then add a scoop of batter to each.  I used a 1/4 cup measure a little less full and it filled them perfectly - only fill each liner 1/2 to 2/3 of the way...lesson learned, these rise like crazy.  Don't worry about smoothing the tops, that happens naturally during baking, but definitely don't drop it down like I did because you want air (the whole reason of adding whipped egg whites).  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Let cool and make the frosting.

When the cupcakes are cool, use a small knife to core the center about 2/3 of the way down in each cupcake.  Pipe strawberry jam into the center of the cupcake and then use the cored remains to add a bit of cupcake back on top to make frosting easier.

I got the original Strawberry frosting recipe from BethCakes and modified it to be dairy free, which took a couple of attempts.

Attempt One with creamed Earth Balance didn't work.  I creamed the Earth Balance, just like for the cake, then added 2 tbs of strawberry jam like it says, then the puree which I left the solids in and it didn't fully mix together as well as it should have.  There might have been too much puree as I added about a 1/2 cup because I wanted more of a strawberry flavor.  Adding the 2 cups of powdered sugar didn't help.  It looked like this:

That's not going to spread well on top as frosting.  To the trash.

Attempt Two worked much better.  I grabbed the crisco shortening as I know my FMIL (a fantastic baker) uses that to make things dairy free for me sometimes, but to my dismay didn't have a full cup, only about 3/4 of a cup.  So I added that to the bowl (it hadn't been fully cleaned out so there was still lots of strawberry from attempt 1), was in a rush for time to get to the bridal shower these were for, so I threw in enough powdered sugar until it turned into a pink frosting and went with it.

That will work as frosting.

Iced half the cupcakes quickly, cut some strawberry slices to top them with, ran to the grocery store for some store bought icing for the rest as I was super late at that point and headed to the shower.  Luckily, they were a rave.  However, I forgot to take pics in the rush.

Lesson learned: have more crisco on hand and start adding liquids to frostings in small small batches.

1-2-3-4 Lemon Cake

A friend made her husband a lemon cake for his birthday that looked fantastic back in December, but of course it was made with real butter (as it should be for anyone's birthday, although I do really appreciate when people have some dessert for me at a party, even if it's just fruit!).  It looked delicious so of course I had to get the recipe and see if I could adapt it, and our department monthly birthday celebration sounded like the right time!

The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen for the Lemon Layer Cake.  Here's my adapted dairy-free version:

1-2-3-4 Cake
Adapted from several sources: this cake is a classic

This cake gets its name from its proportion of ingredients: 1 cup butter and milk, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs, and from cupcakes to layers cakes, as a basic, white cake, it does not fail.

Yield: 3 9-inch layers (for the purpose of this cake) or 24 cupcakes or 2 9x9 pans(good to know, eh?)

1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance "butter", at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups + 1-2 teaspoons sifted self-rising flour*
1 cup almond or soy milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil & flour the pans.  (Recipes always forget to write in that step!)  Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. It takes a bit longer, but Earth Balance will actually cream.  :-) Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and DF milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla, lemon juice and zest and continue to beat until just mixed. 

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter, then dropping flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure a level cake. I only had one 9x9 pan, oops (guess what I got for Christmas! 9-inch round pans!) so I baked the layers one at a time and the batter stood well on the counter between baking.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (start checking at 15 minutes if you are making cupcakes).

* Self-rising flour has both salt and baking powder in it, but you can make your own at home with the following formula: 1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour, minus 2 teaspoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Lemon Curd
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

From the Joy of Cooking: This makes a sensation filling for sponge rolls or an Angel Food Cake. You can also marble it into a cheesecake.

8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance "butter"
3 lemons, zest grated and juiced

Place the ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Don’t let top pan touch the water. Cook and stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken ever-so-slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate it to thicken.

Place layer one on a plate, spread the top with lemon curd and place the second and/or top layer, then another layer of lemon curd.  I then finished it with a layer of classic white vanilla icing from Duncan Hines due to time, but could have made an icing now that I know Earth balance works pretty well for icing.

It was delicious, well enjoyed at work, and the extras were happily brought home to be enjoyed for the next few days.  It was possibly even better a few days later!  (Classic.  Forgot to take a final picture.  I'll just have to make it again!)

SAG Awards Apple-Cherry Crisp

I'm heading over to my neighbor's to watch the SAG awards tonight and after getting a delivery of apples from my CSA last week and finding a bag of dried cherries that need to be used up, I googled for some apple-cherry crisp recipes and settled on this one from Epicurious. I followed the ingredients list, even finding crystalized ginger!

For topping
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned or quick oats
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice makes a great substitution)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature - for DF: use same amount Earth Balance spread
3/4 cup almonds, lightly toasted, chopped
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger

For Filling
4 pounds Granny Smith or Pippin apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 1/2 cups dried tart cherries
1/3 cup sugar (Epicurious suggests 1/2 c. but that seems like it would be too sweet)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or the pumpkin pie spice here too)

Make filling:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine apples, cherries, sugar, lemon juice, flour and ground cinnamon in large bowl. Mix to blend well. Pour into the 9x13 pan.

Make topping:
Mix oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Add butter and rub in until coarse crumbs form. Mix in almonds and ginger. (Topping can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) 

 
Adding the butter is best done with your hands, or two knives chopping it up into pea size balls if you don't want to get your hands that dirty.

Cover the top of the 9x13 pan with topping and bake for 45 minutes. It might take longer depending on your oven as the original recipe says to make in small ramekins and bake for 40 mins in those.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

What to do when you have way too many apples to eat before they go bad and have to bring something to our department breakfast, I mean meeting, tomorrow morning?  You google "apple muffins" then realize that you have lots of oats too and change the search to "apple oatmeal muffins."  First recipe to pop up was this Apple-Oatmeal Recipe from Martha Stewart, so I decided to adapt it to dairy-free.

I made the first dozen, then worried it wouldn't be enough for the department so I made a second dozen, and in true daughter-of-a-scientist fashion, made some changes to the second batch to see how things work.

Dozen One

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup normal oats (old-fashioned, not quick)
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder - accidentally put in 1 tablespoon and 1/4 teaspoon, realized my error and scooped a bit out
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (she says 1/2, I like more spice usually, thus I also added a dash of cloves and nutmeg)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick Earth Balance "butter", melted and cooled (Google says 1 stick is 1/2 cup so that's what I put in)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 hard apple, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 1/4 cups)

Mix according to her directions and then bake for 20 mins at 350.  I did accidentally stir the dry into the wet instead of the wet into the dry - hope that doesn't matter!

Dozen Two

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder - did it right this time
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (same additions as above)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup almond milk
1 hard apple, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 1/4 cups)

handful of raisins

Same mixing and same baking.

I then looked up substituting oil for butter and found that it's not equal like I assumed.  According to New Health Guide, you use 10 tablespoons of canola oil for 1 cup of butter, so I should have used 5 tablespoons of oil per their suggestions, but I used more like 8 tbsp with my conversion so I added about 1/4 cup extra oats.  On the other hand, Livestrong says "For every 1/4 cup butter, use 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or 3 tablespoons olive oil."  Still off in my calculations.

The taste test...

Both are pretty light on the inside.  Dozen 2 rose a bit more and was more moist, which is how I like muffins better, so in my book, that's the winning recipe!  We'll see how they fare tomorrow.

What to do with a forgotten pound of carrots...

I was cleaning out the fridge when I discovered to my chagrin that I had a forgotten pound of carrots in the back for over a month that needed to be eaten quickly as they were on their last legs. My first thought was these carrot cake power bites that I found on the kitchn yesterday. They look delicious and would be great to take to work to snack on during long meetings of "welcome back teachers time!" but I decided they looked too sweet for what I wanted, and I didn't feel like getting out the food processor from the top of the closet. Also having an abundance of oats, I looked for recipes for carrot oatmeal muffins and found one from Kitchen Confidante that was not huge on the sugar and had the most carrot.

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrots (that's about 5-6 large carrots)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (didn't have, oops, so I found out that you can use more baking powder in a 1:4 baking soda to baking powder ratio)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 c. raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.  Use muffin tin liners or a light coating of cooking spray.

Grate your carrots!  It's a good arm work out...can you do it with both hands?  Then in a medium bowl add sugars, oil and egg to the carrots and mix well.  In a large bowl mix flour, oats, baking powder (and soda if you have it), the rest of the ingredients and I added about 1/4 cup of raisins.  Mix well, then add the carrot mixture to the flour mixture and combine well.

(*I've discovered that recipes that split the wet and dry ingredients don't ever tell you the bowl sizes so I always end up with the wet stuff in the big bowl and then have to either wash bowls half way through, or dirty a third bowl.  Lesson learned...wet in a medium bowl, dry in my favorite big bowl.)

Divide the batter evenly in the muffin pan until about 2/3 full.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

I had some extra batter, so why not make a loaf!

Mexican Rice Bowl

After getting back from vacation and then moving the fiance into his new place for grad school I had a hankering for Mexican, even though we had made tacos for 30 people the previous week.  Maybe it was because I was returning with a large can of taco seasoning?  Who knows.   However, I hate buying tortillas because I never end up using them all up, then they go moldy in the back of the fridge after using 2 of the 8.  What a waste.  There was an article about rice bowls (or grain bowls) as a great lunchtime meal in an old edition of Bon Appetite, so I decided to take that approach.

I made 1 cup of rice, and then was able to divide that into 5 of my pyrex bowls as the base.  I cooked about a pound of ground beef (97% lean) and then used the left-over taco seasoning for that and layered it on top of the rice.  Then made a pot of black beans (2 cans of black beans, 1 corn on the cob cut off, 1 can diced tomatoes, taco seasoning, cilantro, lime juice) for the next layer, and then topped it with diced fresh tomatoes, avocado, salsa and cilantro.  Thus, in about 40 minutes I had 5 meals for the week.

(If you're not dairy free, you could easily add cheese and sour cream on top)

I think grain bowls are the way to go for weekly lunches as they're filling and you can put some protein on them (even cook an egg on them in the microwave at work), then add salad bits, a sauce (like salsa, salad dressing or any other sauce) and you've got a complete meal.

You could go bbq...wild rice + pulled pork + slaw veggies + bbq sauce
You could go asian...jasmine rice + teriyaki chicken + frozen asian veg (reheated) + dash of soy sauce
Breakfast?  Hash browns + sausage + salad greens + poached egg (yes, you can poach an egg in the microwave! )

Possibilities are endless!

Pie Testing & Competition

With the family beach week coming the first week in August, and our 10th annual (maybe 11th) pie competition, I decided to start testing some pie recipes to figure out how to make a diary-free pie that I could eat that would also win over the judges, expected to range from age 4 to 25.

To start, I asked my friend Meg to do some research as she has an awesome food/life blog (www.megbollenback.com) and knows of lots of places to look for these recipes.  She sent me a list of links (bored at the airport on the way to vacation I'm guessing) so I looked through and found some I liked and wanted to try.

Up first was testing fillings.  I tried the recipe from Oh She Glows first for the Chilled Dark Chocolate Pie following the recipe closely, in a regular graham crust for my co-workers at our summer curriculum project.  The chocolate filling was dense, but cut easily when left in the fridge for 2 hours before serving, then served with cut up cherries on top.  Delicious, but possibly too rich for the little kids to earn a vote.

Round 2 I decided to modify the first filling to get it less rich with using all of the coconut milk (white cream and water).  It made too much filling (which makes a great pudding in the fridge), but was only slightly less rich.  Also, because I forgot about a crust, I ended up finding this recipe online for a simple no-roll crust and just used some almond milk to keep it diary-free.

The crust was a bit salty for me, but with the chocolate it was ok, however it was way too crumbly.  And of course, I forgot to take pictures.

Ran out of time to try more recipes due to moving CP to PA for grad school, so I decided to wing it at the beach.

Here's what I did:

Pie 1: competition

Graham Crust - store bought

Filling below

Coconut whipped cream

Strawberries

Pie 2: non-competition

Pecan-date crust

Filling

Coconut Whipped Cream

Strawberries

Crust: (http://minimalistbaker.com/6-ingredient-vegan-chocolate-silk-pie/)

·       1.5 cups raw walnuts (I used pecans)

·       1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

·       1 heaping (packed) cup pitted dates, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water and drained

1.     Prepare the crust by pulsing walnuts and cocoa powder in a food processor until it reaches a fine meal. Remove and set aside.

2.     Place soaked dates in the food processor and process until small bits remain and it’s sticky. Add back in the walnut-cocoa meal and process until well combined.

3.     Transfer to a glass pie pan lightly oiled with coconut oil. Alternatively, place parchment in the bottom for easy removal. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the crumbs and press with your hands to form a uniform crust that goes up the sides. Pop in the freezer to set.

 

Filling

For the filling:

·       1 bag dark chocolate chips (about 340 grams)

·       1 (15-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, chilled in fridge overnight

·       Liquid sweetener, to taste (optional – I used 2 tbsp maple syrup)

·       Pinch of salt

·       1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4. For the filling: Chill can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight so the cream can solidify. When ready, open the can and carefully scoop out the solid white coconut cream into a pot, discarding the water. Add chocolate chips and stir until combined. Heat over low-medium heat until most of the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and stir in the optional sweetener, salt, and vanilla until smooth.

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2013/07/06/chilled-dark-chocolate-pie-with-toasted-almond-crust-and-strawberry-vanilla-compote/#ixzz3hlSNJ2UD

Coconut Whipped Cream

http://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-coconut-whipped-cream/

Ingredients

·       1 14-ounce can full fat coconut milk 

·       1/4 - 3/4 cup icing/powdered sugar 

·       1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1.     Chill your coconut cream or coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight, being sure not to shake or tip the can to encourage separation of the cream and liquid.

2.     The next day, chill a large mixing bowl 10 minutes before whipping.

3.     Remove the coconut cream or milk from the fridge without tipping or shaking and remove the lid. Scrape out the top, thickened cream and leave the liquid behind (reserve for use in smoothies).

4.     Note: if your coconut milk didn't harden, you probably just got a dud can without the right fat content. In that case, you can try to salvage it with a bit of tapioca flour - 1 to 4 Tbsp - during the whipping process. That has worked for me several times.

5.     Place hardened cream in your chilled mixing bowl. Beat for 30 seconds with a mixer until creamy. Then add vanilla (optional) and powdered sugar and mix until creamy and smooth - about 1 minute. Taste and adjust sweetness as needed.

6.     Use immediately & spread over the chilled chocolate filling, or refrigerate - it will harden and set in the fridge the longer it's chilled. Will keep for up to 1 - 2 weeks!

Cover the top with sliced strawberries.

With competitors and some judges

I thought they were delicious and many people were amazed they were dairy free (that whipped coconut cream is delicious!), however due to the usurping of the older generation of judges (ages 15 and up), my pie only got 3rd place.  The winner was a pie made for the judges (ahem, cheaters) with pudding, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles and minion twinkies on top.

I'll have to try again next year with some other recipes!