Friday, January 20, 2012

Carrot Juice on Impulse


(You may notice I forgot to defrost these muffins before I began photographing. Pretend you didn't. For me.)

Occasionally, I am an impulsive shopper. Especially when it comes to food.

Last week I bought some carrot juice. Prior to this, I have never tried it, and I don't think I ever would again.

I did get used to it after a few tries, but I wasn't sold. I ended up throwing the rest of it out this morning because I just couldn't bare it once more.

I do love carrots.

Just not juiced.

Fine. Now I know.

Before I dumped it, I used it in these muffins and was able to cut back on sugar because of it. What a good idea, self!


Carrot Spice Muffins
Adapted from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup whole spelt flour (or more whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg replacer (I used PaneRiso)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2-3/4 cup unsweetened, natural carrot juice, plus extra if you need to moisten the batter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin and set aside.

Mix together the first nine ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the next five ingredients; add to the dry ingredients, and mix just to moisten. If the dough seems a little dry, add a little more of the carrot juice. Batter will be thick (you aren't trying to thin it out, you just don't want it to be dry). Stir in the raisins.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until tested done. Cool in tin for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Happy Cookies


I promised myself I would stay away from any sugars that weren't natural for this month, but I caved in. Truth is, I was really feeling a nice chocolate chip cookie today. I read something along the lines of if you are craving something than you shouldn't deny yourself whatever that is, to an extent, obviously.

I'm not sure if I was really craving one or if it was just an excuse for chocolate.

This recipe very closely resembles one from the Veganomicon, and that's because I was using it as a guide.




Gluten-, Soy- and Nut-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Veganomicon.

2 scant cups certified gluten-free oat flour (or gluten-free oats ground into a flour to equal this amount)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
Scant 1/2 cup organic, raw sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 GF egg replacer (like PaneRiso brand)
1/4 cup rice milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3-3/4 cup allergy-friendly chocolate chips (such as EnjoyLife brand)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment; set aside.

Combine oat flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl; set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together prepared egg replacer, sugars, oil, milk and vanilla until emulsified.

Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until mixed. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoon-fuls of batter onto prepared cookie sheets and bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on sheets 5-6 minutes before transferring onto wire rack to finish cooling. Or just eat them warm. Whatever.

Yield: 22 cookies

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Unfortunately, I Haven't Been on Vacation

I've been neglecting this blog as I have been working a lot and haven't had much inspiration with food lately. Let me update you on what has been happening with me since my last post (in the form of bullet points, because I love bullet points):

  • Work, work, work = money, money, and very little time for play;
  • I have been incorporating a larger amount of raw food in my diet, mostly because I got a dehydrator for Christmas and I want to get lots of use out of it, and;
  • I realized I've gained a bit too much weight since the summer and I've decided to cut down on the sweets!
Well, I was trying to cut out the sweets. I have good intentions. For awhile, I just ate fruits to get my sweet fix, but let's just say that's now over. Hah! I'm so weak.

Now that I finally have some time off work I have time to muck about in the kitchen, snack a lot while I work, make a mess of my kitchen floor, and break my spice grinder. I'm a little confused on how that last one happened.

I'm calling this a Mini Raw Apple Cheesecake Pie. It started out as any ordinary raw apple pie but then I ended up with a cheesecake-like filling. Bye, traditional apple pie.

I just threw things into the food processor so there is no recipe. I remember what I put into it, just not the quantities, so here you go:

Crust: oats, apple, cinnamon, ginger, raisins
Filling: cashews, dates + some soaking water, apple, cinnamon, raisins