by jphilo | Apr 27, 2016 | Recipes
My daughter and I went to a coffee shop in Madison during my last visit. We spied homemade peanut butter protein bars in the cooler. My daughter picked one up. “These look good,” she said.
“Too bad they probably have whey in them to jack up the protein,” I said.
“No dairy,” the woman behind the counter said. “But they do have flax seed.”
The daughter and I were ravenous as we’d eaten only salad for lunch, so we laid two bars on the counter, ordered our coffee, and sat down to enjoy our treats and watch my adorable grandson be adorable.
The protein bars were delicious. So good we spent every minute we weren’t laughing at the grandson’s high jinks deciding what ingredients were in the bars so we could make them at home.
Here’s the recipe I created after arriving home. That means the daughter hasn’t taste tested them. But the Man of Steel and I both think their pretty good. The recipe’s pretty forgiving, so you can add your favorite ingredients to the mix so they tickle your taste buds, too.
Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Protein Bars
1 cup natural peanut butter (the gooey kind)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Kirkland chocolate chips
1 cup puffed rice
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons honey
Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until well mixed. Press into a greased, square 9 x 9 pan. Put in refrigerator until firm. Cut into 12 bars. Cover and store in the refrigerator.
by jphilo | Apr 13, 2016 | Recipes
About a month ago, I posted a recipe for the Dairy Free Carrot Cake with Cream “Cheese” Frosting our family enjoyed at the Man of Steel’s 60th birthday party. The Man of Steel, who usually avoids sugar, asked if there was any way to adapt the recipe even more. So he can have it more than once a year on his birthday.
After thinking on his request, I decreased the amount of the sugar in the batter and baked it in bread pans. Next, I halved the shortening and cream “cheese” in the frosting, added a little almond milk and cut the powdered sugar even more to create more of a drizzle than frosting. The resulting carrot bread was delicious, and the recipe is below. However, the Man of Steel says it’s still too sweet, so I’ll be making it again with even less drizzle and decadence. Stay tuned for the next update.
Dairy-Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients
6 cups grated carrots
1/3 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- Combine the grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl and set aside for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF, and grease and flour three bread pans.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and briefly set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, and gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Stir the flour mix into the wet mixture, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in the carrot mixture and nuts.
- Pour the batter evenly into your prepared pans. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the loaves are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place the pans on a wire rack to cool for 10-20 minutes before removing them from the pan.
- Once the bread is completely cool, drizzle with icing.
- Using an electric mixer or in a large bowl with a hand held mixer, place the “cream cheese” and melted butter vegan stick. Cream them together. Add almond milk and beat until smooth
- Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract, and continue to beat the mixture until smooth. Drizzle over cooled loaves.
by jphilo | Apr 6, 2016 | Recipes
Last weekend’s kitchen time was spent baking up a storm for the Wonderfully Made Family Camp dessert auction fundraiser. From the top clockwise are the desserts I contributed: carrot cake, cherry pie, cherry pie, and strawberry-rhubarb pie.
Between baking, setting up for the fundraiser, and enjoying the evening there wasn’t time for testing new recipes. So here are recipes for the goodies that sold for ridiculous prices at Saturday night’s big event.
- Non-Dairy Carrot Cake with Cream “Cheese” Frosting
- Cherry Pie
- Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
My favorite of the three is cherry. Yours?
by jphilo | Mar 30, 2016 | Recipes
My brother and his wife hosted Easter dinner this year. The Man of Steel and I were in charge of only two things: picking up Mom and making pie for dessert. When visiting Mom the Wednesday before Easter, I asked what kind of pie to she wanted.
As a rule, Mom answers that kind of question with a deep sigh. “Oh, I don’t know, Jo. You decide.” But this time, her answer was swift and decisive. “Bumbleberry.”
Which explains why today’s recipe is for bumbleberry pie. Here’s hoping you like it as much as Mom does.
Bumbleberry Pie
12 ounce package of cherry berry mix, thawed
1 cup rhubarb
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or Earth Balance buttery sticks
Heat oven to 425°. Put fruit in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Pour them over fruit and mix well.
Pour filling into a 9 inch pie pan lined with a bottom, unbaked pie crust. Dot filling with butter or Earth Balance. Arrange top crust, crimp edges, and seal. Cut slits in top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes. Turn temperature down to 400° and bake for 30–45 minutes longer, until filling begins to bubble. If the top crust gets too brown, lightly cover pie with foil. When the pie done, place it on a wire rack to cool.
by jphilo | Mar 23, 2016 | Recipes
I’ve been making chicken broth for years by boiling the chicken carcass in a big stock pot. But my daughter recently showed me how to make very flavorful broth in a slow cooker overnight. What could be simpler? Not much as this recipe shows, which works equally well with turkey.
Slow Cooker Chicken Broth
Place the carcass of a roasted or slow cooked chicken carcass, including skin and bones, in the slow cooker. Add pan juices and brown bits scraped from the bottom of the roasting pan. Fill the slow cooker with water. Throw in an onion (quartered), three stalks of celery cut into 3 inch lengths (include the leaves), and 6 garlic cloves (halved). It will look a little gross.
Put the lid on the pot, turn it on low and let it cook overnight. In the morning, run the contents of the slow cooker through a strainer into two large bowls. Allow the broth to cool. Pour into pint freezer bags. Seal and lay the bags flat on cookie sheets. Place cookie sheets in freezer until the broth is solid. Remove bags from cookie sheets, stack and keep in freezer until needed. Makes 8–10 pints of broth.
by jphilo | Mar 18, 2016 | Recipes
This Fantastic Friday post is an homage to last Sunday’s Downton Abbey finale. The recipe’s posting today so fans can whip up a batch of scones, make a pot of tea, put on their best English accents, and be jolly good sports all weekend long.
Downton Abbey Dairy-Free Scones
Between yesterday’s top ten list and today’s recipe, it feels like Downton Abbey Week along our gravel road. Today’s recipe comes compliments of Downton Abbey Cooks, the brainchild of food historian Pamela Foster. You can find Foster’s original recipe, along with many other Edwardian England dishes, in her post about guilt-free scones.
I spotted the recipe while sitting under the dryer and reading the paper at the hair dresser’s. It sounded so good, I came home and created my own dairy-free version. The scones were an immediate winner, receiving the coveted Hiram seal of approval. They were light, crispy, and flavorful. They will be a staple at our house, even though we don’t have a kitchen maid to sift the flour 3 times!
1 cup unnbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons frozen lard
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup dried fruit (I used dried cranberries)
Heat oven to 450°. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Sift three times. (Or have Daisy the kitchen maid do that part.) Add sugar and mix in well. Grate frozen lard (another job for Daisy) and add to dry ingredients. Lightly cut in by hand until mixture has the consistency of sand. Stir in dried fruit. Add almond milk, a tablespoon at a time, mixing dough with a fork after each addition. Stop when dough holds together, but before it gets sticky.
Kneed dough gently a few times. Do not overwork! Form dough into a circle and place on a cookie sheet or heated baking stone. Press dough until it’s a circle 1/3 inch thick. With a knife, cut into 8 wedges.* Separate them slightly. Bake for 5–7 minutes.
