Magical Mung Bean Soup

The first time I heard about the magical powers of mung beans was during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) scare. In 2002 and 2003 an outbreak in Hong Kong nearly became pandemic. I was living in Cambodia at the time and fear of SARS was extremely contagious and rapidly spreading throughout Cambodia.

So one night during this time we were woken up by a commotion, which in itself wasn't that unusual in the crowded streets of Phnom Penh. However, the next morning we were told to eat our mung beans, if we could still get any. Confused my husband and I went left for work, hoping our translators could help solve the mystery of the mung beans and the commotion.

This would have been the early days of viral texting. Some one had started a rumor that if you ate mung beans you would be safe from SARS. The mung bean sellers at the market opened in the middle of the night to cash in on the rumor (selling them far above market price of course). People flocked to the markets causing the commotion. By the end of the night there was not a mung bean left in all of Cambodia.

Since then I have read about the magical and healing properties of mung beans. In Chinese medicine it is considered detoxifying and heat dispersing. It is used for a range of things from prickly heat to dysentery to poisoning from heavy metals. In Ayurveda mung beans are considered the most nutritious and easiest to digest of all beans and pacifying for all doshas (body types). There are even cleanses that require you to eat only kitchari - porridge made from mung beans and rice. I have also seen it recommended every other day for general health maintenance.

While this isn't kitchari is a yummy soup that goes well with rice or quinoa.

2 cups dried mung beans
6 cups water
1 can coconut milk
2 large tomatoes chopped small
1 tbsp coconut oil
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 inch fresh ginger finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp black mustard seed
salt to taste

Rinse mung beans and put in a bowl cover with water. Soak in fridge over night. After soaking rinse and set aside.

In a large pot on medium heat put the coconut oil, when hot add mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop add the ginger, cumin, corriander and tumeric, saute for a couple minutes until fragrant. Add  tomatoes, water and mung beans. Bring to boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes or until beans are soft. Add lemon juice and salt and then simmer for another 5 minutes.

So, you're probably wondering if we ate our mung beans that day in Cambodia ... of course!

Ice Cream

It is birthday season. It starts with Summer's birthday on September 9th, then my mother-in-law's on the 16th, my stepmother's on the 17th, my mother's on the 24th and last my brother's on Oct. 1st. So how to get around birthday cakes and ice cream and still satisfy that sweet tooth? My solution was to buy an ice cream maker.

The first time I made ice cream was when Summer was about eight months old. My friend had an ice cream maker and I supplied the milk. Yes, that's right. Breast milk. We made banana breast milk ice cream ... for Summer of course. However it wasn't very creamy and when put in the freezer it froze into a solid block. For those nursing mamas reading this, I recommend freezing it in popsicle molds. Momsicles, perfect for teething tots to gnaw on. :)

My next attempt came after I bought the ice cream maker. It was a total failure. I made cashew almond milk (see nut milk recipe), added coconut milk and dates, and poured the mix into the ice cream maker. It is suppose to take about twenty minutes to thicken to a soft serve consistency, but after twenty minutes it was still soupy. After forty minutes it was still soupy. Discouraged and disappointed, I gave up and poured the mix into popsicle molds. Terrible ice cream but yummy popsicles.

It turns out that our freezer wasn't turned on high enough to fully freeze the bowl. So I turned the freezer up and voila: my first sort of successful ice cream. I say "sort of" because it was simply almond milk and dates and homemade almond milk isn't very fatty. It makes a icy ice cream. I poured this into popsicle molds to avoid the solid icy block. Both Summer and my hubby enjoyed them.

Back to birthdays ... I have also made wheat free and gluten free cakes and cup cakes usually sweetened with dates. These have turned out edible but not that great. So when it was my mother-in-laws birthday and I offered to make a cake and ice cream, my in-laws very diplomatically suggested we get dessert at the restaurant. Okay, I can take a hint! I passed on the cake but did make vanilla chocolate chip ice cream and held back nothing. I used whole milk and heavy cream, I threw in extra dates and a ton of chocolate chips. There were no complaints and every one's sweet tooth was sufficiently satisfied.

I had leftover milk, cream and chocolate chips, so I just had to make mint chip ice cream! While it turned out pretty good, it wasn't as minty as i had hoped. It was more like green tea ice cream with a minty flavor. I only put in one small bunch of fresh mint leaves. I realised this wouldn't be minty enough so I blended the leaves into the mix. If I make it again, I will add more mint and strain out the leaves. I would also like to make a vegan version of this one with coconut milk.

The nice thing about making ice cream is that it can be made with just about any milk or milk alternative and you can put just about anything in it - nuts, peanut butter, chocolate, vanilla, mint, etc. and it is easy. I even made the coconut date one successfully, with the addition of banana, and it was very tasty. Below are the recipes that I described:

A couple tips before you start: 

- Different ice cream makers have different directions so make sure to follow the directions for your ice cream maker.
- The fattier the milk or milk alternative the creamier the ice cream will be.
- The ice cream is ready when it is a soft serve consistency. For harder ice cream put it in the freezer for two hours before serving.
-Have fun, be creative and enjoy the sweetness


Coconut Banana Date Ice Cream (vegan):

1 can (about 2 cups) coconut milk
1 1/2 cups nut milk (I used cashew almond milk, see nut milk recipe)
1 cup dates
2 ripe bananas

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Refridgerate for at least two hours before putting in ice cream maker.


Almond Date Icy Pops:

4 cups almond milk
1 cup dates

Blend ingredients until smooth. Refridgerate for at least two hours, pour into ice cream maker. Once it has thickend pour into popcicle molds and freeze.


Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup packed dates
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend milk with dates either in a blender. Mix in cream. Refridgerate for at least two hours before putting in ice cream maker.


Mint Chip Ice Cream:

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
2 cups fresh packed mint
1 cup packed dates
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Heat milk until just before it boils (don't let it boil) add mint let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out mint leaves or for mintier ice cream blend the leaves in with an immersion blender. Add cream. Refridgerate for at least two hours before putting in ice cream maker.

Nut Milk

I have never really liked milk. Not just cow milk, but all milk. I still can't imagine sitting down and drinking a glass of milk, but I do like to make things with milk and I actually like home made nut milks, especially if I add a couple dates to sweeten it.


Store-bought milk alternatives are often mostly water and sugar with a few unwanted additions. Here is a list of ingredients from Pacific Almond Milk (Almond Breeze has the exact same list): filtered water, evaporated cane juice, almonds, tricalciu, phosphates, sea salt, potasium citrate, carrageenen, soy lecithin, riboflavin (B2), vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D2. Seems like a lot of ingredients for something so simple, not to mention that almonds, are the third ingredient listed after water and sugar or evaporated cane juice!


Making nut milks is actually very easy and it really does taste better. Almonds are probably the best for milk for taste and nutrition but you can also use cashews and hazelnuts. I haven't tried walnuts but I imagine they would work with a mix of other nuts.


2 cups nuts (almonds and cashews make a nice combination)
4 cups water
2-4 dates (optional)


Soak nuts for about 8 hours. Rinse and put in blender with water. Blend on high for 5 minutes or until very well blended. Strain milk through a cloth. I use a sprout bag but a tea towel or pillow case will also work well. I have tried using a cheese cloth but it doesn't strain out enough pulp so the milk has a little more texture than I like.

Flourless Pancakes

I love pancakes. My mom makes the best, they are a standard whole wheat pancake with the perfect amount of fluffiness. My dad also makes a great pancake, sourdough. He makes his own sourdough bread and has starter that he keeps in his fridge and feeds. I have been spoiled by having parents with exceptional pancake making skills so I am picky about my pancakes. 


When I lived in Asia, one of my favorite things to do was to go for pancakes at  a Western-run cafe. There were only a few places that made good ones. The one that stands out the most is the Garden Center Cafe in Phnom Penh. Most pancakes you get in Asia are either of the thin crepe-ish variety or the ultra thick fluffy doughy variety. The first is okay but it's not really a pancake, it's a crepe. The latter, however,  needs to be avoided at all cost. The Garden Center had perfect pancakes that were served with honey (or for an extra $3, real maple syrup).

The problem with most pancakes is that they tend to be served enough syrup, sugar sauce or honey (in Asia) to cause a diabetic coma and are made with enough flour to scare off anyone with even the mildest wheat intolerance.

So I've been working on my own pancakes for a while now - trying to come up with something that is yummy but also healthy. My first attempts turned out rubbery, doughy or very heavy. Different flours make very different pancakes. Buckwheat is great in small amounts. It's gluten free, but it has a strong flavor so it needs to be combined with other kinds of flour.  Oat flour is okay, but makes for a heavy pancake. Barley flour is one my favorites, but it has gluten.


There are also many different things that can be added to pancakes to make them more interesting or increase certain nutrients - sweet potato, banana, blueberry, apple, peach, (I even attempted kale cakes),  ground flax, ground pumpkin seeds, and walnuts. And of course don’t forget the sauce.

I love the simplicity of the flourless pancakes below. They were adapted from a recipe in Cynthia Lair’s Feeding the Whole Family, which was adapted from Rebecca Wood’s The Splendid Grain (I think I need to get that cookbook, it sounds like a good one). As I’ve been writing these posts, I’ve started wondering at what point does a recipe become your own? Many of my recipes are inspired by other recipes, but stray so far that I wouldn’t even say they were adapted. This recipe is close enough that I will still say it’s adapted, but each time I make it, it seems to get further from the original and becomes more mine.

So here it is:

Flourless Pancakes

1 cups steel cut oats (Bob's red mill has gluten free steel cut oats), You can also use a 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup buckwheat.

1  ½ milk or milk alternative (I like almond milk) 

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 very ripe bananas

¼ cup ground flax

¼ cup ground pumpkin seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

Put the steel cut oats and milk in a blender jar, cover and soak overnight. The milk can also be replaced with a water/yogurt mix to sour your pancakes a bit. Add the rest of the ingredient and blend until smooth.

Preheat an oiled skillet. Pour about ¼ cup into the pan. Cook 2 – 3 minutes on each side. This makes about 8 pancakes.

Berry Sauce

2 cups frozen or fresh berries (blueberry and raspberry work well)

4 - 6 pitted dates

½ cup water

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook until everything is soft. Transfer to blender or use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. Slather over pancakes.


Summer likes to dip her pancakes in yogurt and apple sauce.

Avocado soup

The first time I had cold soup I was about fifteen. Gazpacho. I had never heard of it and thought the idea was really weird. Soup was something you ate on cold, snowy or rainy days. Something you ate when you were sick or after having your wisdom teeth out and couldn't eat anything solid. Not something you ate cold and for no particular reason.

The first gazpacho I had was of the traditional tomato based style with raw veggies. I was in Vancouver and going to a Metallica concert (yes it's true, I have to admit it) with the older sister of my best friend. I'm not sure why, but for some reason my best friend couldn't go. The soup was very garlicky, not something a teenager wants when she plans to be squashed into a moshing crowd. We came out of the concert deaf, exhilarated and hungry enough for another bowl of cold soup.

Fortunately long gone are my Metallica days and fear of strange food. This avocado soup is of the non-traditional gazpacho kind but very yummy. I can't remember where the original recipe came from but I loved it from the start. It is creamy, yet light and refreshing. Perfect for a hot summer day.

3 small avocados
2 tomatoes
1 long english cucumber
Juice from 1-2 limes (I like it limey so I used two)
2 sprigs of mint
2 cups of water
salt to taste

optional ingredients might include garlic and a chili pepper to spice it up.

Put it all in a blender, blend on high. Chill.

When serving this soup last night my husband comments, "It's one of my favorite soups." However, Summer scrunched up her nose.

Sweet Greens

 

The first time I made this soup was last thanksgiving. My husband's sister was visiting. Like my husband, she also has sensitive digestion and was on a very restricted diet. Instead of a list of foods she was avoiding I was sent a short list of foods she could eat. Rather than being discouraged by these limits I decided to rise to the challenge.

The list included rutabagas, kale and chard. So the first version of this soup was simply rutabaga and greens boiled and pureed with no spices or anything else. She was thrilled with it, but the rest of us needed a little more flavor. I took enough out for her, then added carrots, ginger, cumin, coriander, pepper and salt. Now I was getting somewhere but it was still bland and well... a little too rutabagaish. I added lemon juice and served it with a dollop of yogurt. While no one came back for seconds everyone was pleasantly surprised that its wasn't bad.

Trying to sneak greens into our diet can be tricky so I thought I would revisit and revise this soup. I kept it simple and used sweet potato instead of rutabaga. Now this is a soup I would serve again and ask for seconds.

Sweet Potato Green Soup

- 3 medium sweet potatoes chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 bunch swiss chard
- An inch of fresh minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large pot saute ginger and spices in olive oil. Add sweet potato and saute until starts to brown. Add enough water to completely cover the sweet potatoes, bring to boil, then simmer until potatoes are soft.

While the sweet potatoes are simmering wash and chop the chard and kale. Once potatoes are soft add the greens cook for another few minutes until the greens are wilted and turned bright green. Turn off the heat and then puree in a blender (I was recently given an immersion blender and love it). Add salt to taste. This soup is nice as is or served with a big dollop of yogurt.

This is a pretty big pot of soup so have some friends over or freeze in single serving containers.

Banana Nut Butter Pops

When I was a kid my mom use to let us get one treat when we went to the store. This was a big deal because we didn't go to the store often and we lived so far in the boondocks that we couldn't get there on our own. In the summer's I always got a "Freezee" (grape was my favorite flavor). I did a quick Internet search and couldn't find that brand, it must be Canadian. My husband has talked about "Otter Pops" and I assume it's the same thing. While this artificially flavored and colored sugar water was the best summer treat ever, it definitely wasn't the best for you. 

It's summer and Summer isn't old enough yet to know that icy pops are usually fruity, so I thought I would see how much nutrition I could pack into a pop. This recipe was inspired by a friend who obviously was thinking along similar lines. 

1 very ripe banana

3 tablespoons nut butter (I used one each of tahini, peanut butter and almond butter)

2 dates

2 tbsp ground flax

1 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla soy milk)

Put all ingredients in a blender on high until smooth and creamy. Pour into popsicle  molds and freeze.

I was surprised how yummy these icy pops turned out. The only problem I had was getting them out of the mold but I think this a problem with the molds I bought not the pops.

Green Juice

We've been juicing for awhile. My husband first started juicing on a recommendation from his naturopath when we were still trying to get his health in order. The original recipe was pretty simple: for one juice - half bunch greens, half a green apple, one carrot, 2 stalks of celery, a half inch of ginger and a squeeze of lemon. Since then the recipe has change and grown and morphed (see below). I have experimented with various greens and veggies (kale, collards, broccoli, beets and beet greens, dandilion greens, mustard greens, chard, bok choy, spinach, watercress, parsely, mint, cucumber) and made some discoveries along the way.

First, not all greens are created equal. Many are high in oxalates (or oxilic acid). Oxalates are what cause that gritty feeling on you teeth after eating spinach or chard. So what is the problem with oxalates?  While greens high in oxalates might be loaded with  iron and calcium, they aren't very accessible to the body. The oxalates bind with minerals forming crystals that prevent their absorption. Not only are you not getting the iron and calcium, but these crystals pass through your kidneys and, in some people, may cause kidney stones.

While I believe all this is true, when I look up foods high in oxalates, the list of food is so huge that it would be impossible to avoid them completely. For a full list check out this website http://www.ohf.org/docs/Oxalate2008.pdf.

This begs the question, can something so prevalent in our food really be so bad for you? Yes, if you have a history of kidney stones or some other medical condition that requires you to avoid oxalates. But for the rest of us, as  much as you might want an excuse to give up your greens, you can't write them off so fast. The risk of kidney stones is far outweighed by the benefits of greens. They are packed with nutrients - fiber, folic acid, vitamin C, phytochemicals, antioxidants, iron, calcium, vitamin K,  magnesium, potassium, the list goes on. There are also numerous articles and studies citing the benefits of leafy greens as reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer, for bone health, diabetes, weight loss, and again on and on. So eat your greens ... or in this case, drink them.

While it is important to eat raw and lightly cooked greens, the main benefits of juicing are that it is easier for your body to absorb more of the nutrient and that you can get all the nutrients without all the bulk. I don't know anyone who regularly, or even occasionally, sits down and eats an entire bunch of raw kale. This is the kind of thing you do on a dare. So I dare you to eat one bunch of raw kale! With juicing you can easily drink one or even two bunches of greens.

To start with, what kind of juicer should you use? I use the omega juicer, but any of the masticating juicers are good. Yes, I did say masticating. Not to be confused with other similar sounding words. When we we're buying our juicer, we called up several places asking if they carried masticating juicers and we got a lot of funny responses. They are also called single gear juice extractors.

So which greens to juice? Kale, chard and parsley are our favorites. Their taste isn't too strong. Chard is mild and sweet, parsley tastes like parsley and kale is a little bitter but easily masked by the carrot and apple and is lower in oxalates than both chard and parsley. While parsley is great for juicing - offering lots of iron and a pleasant taste - it makes this weird dark green sludge. It took me a while to figure out it was the parsley. This sludge is such a dark vibrant green that it has to be good for you, but the slimy sludgy texture is a challenge to get down. I was straining it out but recently discovered that if it is pressed through a strainer it reintegrates with the juice ... although the juice is definitely thicker.

Other greens aren't so easily disguised by apple and carrot.  One day at the farmer's market a seller recommended watercress for juicing. I had read it was very high in iron and calcium and low in oxalates, so I bought two bunches. The next day I was very excited to try my juice. I took a big sip, swirled (I'll talk more about swirling later) it around my mouth and nearly gagged! Watercress. It sounds so benign, so refreshing. It is a very deceiving green. It has a bitter, spicy flavor. Not so different from mustard greens, but at least with mustard greens you know what you're getting into. Beet greens are another not so tasty green, also very high in oxalates. Beets and beet greens are great for cleansing, but if you put too much in the juice, your tongue and throat go numb. The first time this happened to me, I thought that I poisoned myself with oxalates. Enough rambling and onto juicing...

Our current recipe (makes 2 servings):

1 bunch greens (you can also mix two or three different greens - I often mix kale and chard )
1/2 bunch parsley
1green apple
1/2 lemon
1 inch of ginger
3 carrots
1/2 large cucumber
1/2 beet

When you first start juicing, you want to keep it simple. Add extra apple, carrots and lemon if the greens are too overpowering for you. Only 1/4th of the juice should be from leafy greens. Greens have cleansing properties and can make the newbie juicer nauseated. Swirling each sip in your mouth is the same as chewing. It gets all the enzymes in your mouth working and helps with digestion and absorption.

Enjoy, my daughter does :)

Strawberry Jell-no

A couple days ago our play group went strawberry picking at the local organic McGrath Family Farm. The kids got to play on a tractor, feed the goats and Levi - a very friendly bunny rabbit - and of course pick yummy beautiful strawberries. While thinking about all the things I might make with the berries, I remembered seeing a recipe in The Real Food Daily Cookbook (my all time favorite Santa Monica restaurant). The recipe was Strawberry Kanten (see recipe below) and is described as a "healthy person's jell-o...kids love this refreshing dessert". Well, Summer took one bite and spit it out onto the floor.  My hubby only slightly more subtle, said it was like eating a silicone breast implant (not that he's ever tried one).

What went wrong with this rubbery gelatinous mass? I pretty much stuck to the recipe ... except for the agar. I had agar powder instead of flakes. I will confess I was being cheap, agar flakes are really expensive at my local health food store so I bought the powder, which was about four dollars cheaper. I had to guess how much powder to put in and obviously I used way too much. In retrospect, I probably could have guessed that this wouldn't turn into a family favorite as I have never liked those weird agar jelly desserts that are so common in Asia.

At this point you are probably wondering what agar is? Agar, or agar-agar as it is also called,  is a red algae and according to wiki it is a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin, a thickener, and a clarifying agent. It can also be used for sizing paper and fabric, as a culture medium for microbiological work and for weight loss. Apparently it is 80 percent fiber and when eaten, it triples in size so you feel full. Wiki goes on...it is used in dentistry for making impressions, electrochemistry and is in modelling clay. This is one versatile little sea vegetable!

If you do like jell-o desserts - and you stay away from agar powder - I'm sure the Strawberry Kanten recipe in Ann Gentry's The Real Food Daily Cookbook is very tasty. So here it is:

4 1/4 cup apple juice
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1/4 cup agar flakes (not powder)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups fresh strawberries (you can also substitute blueberries or raspberries)

Stir arrowroot and 1/4 cup of apple juice together and put aside.
Combine agar and salt with the remaining juice in a sauce pan. Bring to simmer over high heat then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring frequently for 15 min or until agar dissolves.
Whisk in arrowroot mixture, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat for 5 min. stir in vanilla.
Transfer to large bowl and let cool at room temperature.
When it is just starting to set stir in strawberries.
spoon into bowls, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Goo Balls

I first discovered goo balls while travelling in Ecuador. I was hiking near Vilcabamba with my new "travel family" - a Dutch Moroccan, a Spaniard, a Venezuelan, a Basque, a Canadian and myself. It was the Canadian who shared the secrets of Goo Balls with me. I don't remember the exact ingredients but it was instant oaty, cocoa powdery, sugary and peanut butterish, and at the time very yummy.

Since then I have come across the Goo Ball in various forms, The Power Ball, The Energy Ball, The Nut Ball, etc. Being influence by these various forms, the Goo Ball became more sophisticated and at times even fancy. It was only by coincidence that recently I ran into it twice in one week. One friend had made a wonderful date nut version and another made little child sized ones. So today I made some that combined the old with my recent encounters.

The recipe is pretty simple and has room for creativity and flexibility. What I list here is just the basics, add whatever you happen to have in the cupboard or whatever favorites you enjoy.

- something sweet and sticky (my favorite are sweeteners are date puree, honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar)

- nut or seed butter (peanut, almond, tahini (sesame butter), sunflower seed, cashew are all yummy butters)

- nuts and seeds (almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, are my favorite choices)

- optional yummy additions include ground flax, sesame seeds, coconut, chopped dried fruit (apricots are good), raisin, rolled oats, cocoa powder (this makes them chocolate fudgy, carob powder.

Mix it all together until you have a nice gooey consistency. Form into balls and roll balls in coconut, ground flax, rolled oats or sesame seeds. Refridgerate.

Today I started with a date puree (soak pitted dates over night or if you don't have time simmer until soft, puree in food processor until smooth with a little of the soaking water). Then added unsweetened sunflower seed butter (not the terrible stuff I tried to make, see sunflower seed butter post), tahini. In the past I would have then simply added whatever nuts and seeds whole or chopped, but since my daughter is only 21 months and doesn't chew her food very well I ground the nuts and seeds (cashews, pumpkin seeds and almonds) before mixing them in. I also added some shredded coconut and ground flax into the mix. I then formed into balls and rolled them in coconut.

These turned out very gooey and very yummy.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

I have been working on pancakes for a while now and they seem to turn out either rubbery or doughy. the rubbery ones are from over mixing. Apparently the gluten gets all gluey as one might assume that's what gluten might do. These one aren't bad and the sweet potato gives them a nice sweetness.

1small baked sweet potato
1 cup spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup soy milk
1 egg

Mash the sweet potato and mix in the egg and soy milk. Mix the baking powder into the flour. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Add more milk or flour depending on how thick you like your pancakes. Lumps are fine, don't over mix or you'll get rubbery pancakes.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Sweetness without sugar. This has been my challenge. Like many of my recipes this one was inspired by an actual recipe (from "Vegan Lunch Box" by Jennifer McCann). I have made these cookies several times now and each time they turn out completely different. Probably because I do a few substitutions. This time however, I have strayed so far from the original that other than the banana and oats there are no ingredients the same. What they do have in common is what they are missing - sugar.

- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup ground flax
- 3/4 tsp baking powder (aluminum free of course)
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup prunes
- 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder, flax, and oats in a large bowl. Puree the bananas and prunes (the prunes are better if you soak them before). Mix the pureed banana and prune into the dry ingredients, then add the apricots and walnuts. Roll the dough into balls and squish flat (I made them pretty thick) and put on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

Summer loved helping me, although she got more cookie dough in her mouth and on her face than on the cookie sheet.

Broccamole

On the quest to get my daughter to eat some greens, I found the recipe for Broccamole in "The Kundalini Yoga Cookbook" by Ek Ong Kar Singh and Jacqueline Koay. While inspired by the recipe I actually didn't follow it. In fact the only ingredient that is the same is broccoli, and I used the florets while they only use the stalk.

My version of Broccamole:
- 1 and 1/2 avocados (I would have used two but my daughter ate half of one)
- 1 small tin of fire roasted chilies
- about 1 cup of steamed broccoli (maybe a little more, i didn't actually measure)
- juice from one lemon
- salt to taste
puree in a food processor

I served this to Summer (my daughter) with baked tortilla chips. Cut tortillas into triangles and bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes each side.

This turned out pretty yummy and Summer loved it and didn't even notice that she was eating greens :)

Yogurt

I've made yogurt a couple times before right after I got a yogurt maker. It was easy enough, so when when I dug it out of the cupboard I didn't bother looking up the instructions or recipes. Scald milk, add yogurt as starter culture, put in jars, turn on the yogurt maker (which keeps it warm enough to grow the culture) and wait 8 hours. I did all that but it just didn't look right. It was watery with lumps and looked like very curdled milk. after 8 hours it still looked like curdled milk. I threw it out.

For my next attempt I read the instruction manual for the yogurt maker. Scald milk and let cool to room temperature... oops! Whisk starter yogurt with small amount of milk at a time... oops (I just dumped it all in)! This time I decided not to scald the milk (according to the instructions you can skip this step if you leave it in the yogurt maker a little longer), but i did whisk the starter in. It looked right at this point. Don't move the yogurt maker, uh-oh, I needed that counter space, so I move it very carefully. I waited 10 hours but it was still runny. Hummm... I spooned some out for my daughter who has yogurt as a bedtime snack. It was so runny she had to drink it with a straw. It didn't look so appetizing but she didn't seem to mind, especially since she got a straw to play with.

Back to the instruction manual. What had I done wrong? Refrigerate for at least three hours before serving... oops! I put the rest in the fridge and hoped for the best. It firmed up a bit but still a little thinner than I would have liked and also not as sour as I like.

Now I'm left wondering why not just buy organic yogurt? Is it really better to make your own? I'd like to think that homemade is fresher, doesn't have any strange things added to it, and it is made with love.

So, for next time:
-scald milk
-let cool to room temperature
-whisk in yogurt starter
-don't move yogurt maker for full 8-10 hours
-put in fridge for at least 3 hours

Sunflower Seed Butter

I'm new to blogging, this is my first. It was inspired by today's attempt at making sunflower seed butter. I'm not really a good cook but not a bad one either. I'm just not very good at following directions, so while some things turn out great, some things don't. Today was one of those days that didn't turn out so well.

A few weeks ago I was in Trader Joe's and they were offering samples of sunflower seed butter. Pretty yummy. The only problem was that it has added sugar. In our house we try to avoid sugars. Well, how hard can it be to make?

I bought a couple bags of raw sunflower seeds.We have one of those Omega juice extractors that according to the instruction booklet can be used to make nut butters. I put the seeds in and let it grind but it came out more like a grainy flour consistency. Then I remembered something about adding oil. I checked the instruction book. It actually has a recipe - nuts or seeds and a little peanut oil. I don't have peanut oil, but hey why not try it with coconut oil. When getting the coconut oil out I saw that there were some dates in the cupboard so threw those in too. At this point I had oily bits, powdery bits and sticky bits. The booklet does say that it might need to be put through several times to get the right consistency. The second time through it was still a bit dry so I added more oil and put it through again. Third time through it looked and felt weird, it actually was getting more coarse, kind of grainy. Nothing butter like about it. What to do with this oily lumpy mess... make cookies?

I added spelt flour, what was left of a jar of molasses (the only sweetener I had in the house) and powdered ginger and cinnamon. Lumpy, sticky, doughy mess. At this point I actually stood over the garbage with it about to throw it out but decided to keep moving forward. I eventually worked it into more of a doughy ball, less sticky and oily. I pressed it flat into a cookie sheet, cut it into squares and baked it at 350 for 15 min.

Not great but edible enough for my 20 month old daughter who doesn't know any better than to enjoy something that is too doughy and not sweet enough. She also had fun helping me at every stage of the process.