Chocolate Waffles (Dairy Free, Sugar Free, w/ Vegan option)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c Spelt Flour
1/2 c Organic Raw Cacao Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ancient Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Stevia Powder
1 tbsp Agave Nectar
2 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
3 Large eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
4 tbsp Organic Unsalted Butter (or EV Coconut Oil)
2c Chocolate Hempmilk
Optional: 1/2c Raw Cacao Nibs



Directions: Mix the dry ingredients and set aside. Mix all the wet ingredients and let come to room temperature. (I set the bowl in a sink filled with warm water to speed up the process without using the microwave) Melt the EV Coconut Oil (or butter) over a double boiler. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir. When it is almost together add the melted, cooled Coconut Oil (or butter) and stir until most of the lumps are gone. Some lumps are okay, do not over mix! Preheat the waffle iron while the mixture rests. Use oil or butter to prevent sticking. Serve with real maple syrup, agave nectar or honey.


Results: Everyone LOVES these! The wonderful smell filled our house and the taste and texture was excellent! Next time I might add more stevia and/or agave, though. We will definitely be making these often. :) I think this recipe could be used for cupcakes, too. That will be another post so check back!

If you aren't living a vegan lifestyle then you will want to put some whipped cream on these!!

Orange Fries

Ingredients:

1 large Yummy Yam/Sweet Potato
EV Olive Oil
Ancient Sea Salt

Variations:

1) Cinnamon and Nutmeg
2) Garlic and Onion Powder


Directions:

Cover the bottom of your pan in EVOO and turn the burner on low - medium low. Slice your potato to the thickness you desire. Place the cut potatoes in the pan with the oil. Sprinkle with salt, to taste. Cover the pan and cook on low - medium low for about 10 minutes and then flip them with a spatula. Cover them back up and allow them to cook for about 10 more minutes. Cook time will depend on the size of the fry and the temp of your stove.


Results:

These are so addicting! No one really likes sweet potatoes, not even on turkey day, but the Orange Fries are tasty and satisfying! So far everyone enjoys them! Sometimes I like to dip mine in some mustard and my daughter likes to dip hers in a mixture of ketchup and mustard. Most people eat them as they are. MMMMMMMM!

Fast and Simple Gluten Free Bread

This bread is also sugar free, dairy free and soy free! I used Quinoa flour to increase the amount of protein as an added bonus for vegetarians like me. The loaf in the picture above is the very first loaf of bread I have ever made. I'm not kidding when I say it was easy to do!

Dry Ingredients:

3c Tapioca Flour
2c Quinoa Flour
1 1/2c Sorghum Flour
2tbsp Xanthan gum
2tbsp Yeast
2tbsp Ancient Sea Salt

The Wet Stuff:

1/3c EV Olive Oil
2tbsp Raw Agave
3c Warm Water (might need less at lower altitudes)
4 Large Eggs (Organically raised, of course!)


Mix all of the dry ingredients together and, in a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. I have a plastic cake container (you know the one) that I used for mixing the dough. After turning the lid upside down all of the dry ingredients went into it. (You can use a large bowl and plastic wrap to cover if you don't have one of the cake containers.) Once all the dry ingredients have been mixed in the upside down cake lid, and all the liquids have been mixed in another bowl, we are ready to add the two together. Add part of the liquid mix to the dry mix, about 1/4 - 1/3 at a time, and stir it all together with a big spoon. Once all the liquid has been added stir the dough until it is smooth. Then, place the cover over your container and let it rest for at least two hours.

After the dough rests for a couple of hours you can either put it in the refrigerator for later or you can take a piece off and get started baking! Be very careful not to handle the dough too much or it will get over worked and that means goodbye air bubbles!

Baking directions will vary based on the method you use. For this loaf I delicately formed a round loaf on a piece of parchment paper that I had placed on top of a cutting board. Then, let it rest for an hour to an hour and a half. At the point when there was only about a half an hour until baking time I placed my baking stone in the convection oven and preheated it to 400 degrees. (Having the parchment paper under the dough made it easy to slide the loaf from the board to the stone.) My loaf baked for 40-50 minutes until it was a deep golden brown all over. (Baking time will vary depending on the size of your loaf and your altitude.)

This dough will make more than one loaf of bread. I am going to use some of the remaining dough to make pizza and biscuits!

The Results:

Both of the kids were excited about making bread at home and that made it exciting for me! My son likes his bread plain and when he ate this he said, "It's tasty good!". The older child, my daughter, likes peanut butter and honey sandwiches so I made her one with this bread. When asked, "How is it?", she replied, "Great!". After she was a few bites in she said, "You make the best bread ever!". I had a piece with coconut oil, cinnamon and honey which reminded me of the gluten free cinnamon rolls. I also had some plain and it tasted fine to me. I don't eat bread often so I'm just ecstatic that the kids liked it!

Protein Bytes- Raw, Vegan and Sugar Free

1.26 lbs Dates
7 tbsp Cashews
8 tbsp Sunflower Seeds
8 tbsp Walnuts
11 tbsp Cacao Nibs
2 tbsp Chia Seeds
1 tsp Ancient Sea Salt
1 tbsp Spirulina Powder
2 tbsp EV Coconut Oil
1 tsp Stevia Powder

Place all ingredients into the food processor and blend until it comes together and all the nuts are finely chopped. This batch was so large that I ended up needing to separate it in half and then once each half was finely ground I brought them back together in the processor to make sure all the ingredients were evenly distributed. At this point I was able to taste it and I ended up adding a bit more salt, about 1/4 tsp, to get it exactly how I liked it.

The End Result:

I can't stop eating these!! I like them better cold and they should be stored in the refrigerator anyways. Joe is enjoying them as much as I am and even said he was craving them! (that really says a lot!) My daughter and son both eat these and enjoy them but my daughter only likes them at room temperature. A friend of mine was over with her 3yo, who is a picky eater, and she said she liked it and asked for more!

Quick and Easy Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, All Natural, Raw Vegan Energy Bars

@1/2 lb Dates
4 tbsp Raw Cashews
4 tbsp Raw Cacao Nibs
4 tbsp Raw Sunflower Seeds
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1/4 tsp Ancient Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Stevia Powder (I use the green one)

1) Make sure the seeds and any other hard debris have been removed. The organic Halawi dates that I used have no additives so they are kept in the refrigerator. Make sure your dates come to room temperature before you begin.

2) Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the dates break up. Once they start to come apart let the processor run for a few minutes or until all the nuts, seeds and dates are well ground and coming together nicely.

3) Mold your yummy mixture into any shape you'd like! I chose bars but you can do balls, squares, triangles, etc.


The end result: YUMMY x 10!!! The next time I make these I might add some spirulina powder, chia seeds and goji berries. The options are endless so have fun with it! The kids called these chocolate bars and my husband, who doesn't like dates, liked them, too. I'm glad that I won't have to buy those expensive bars anymore!!

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Cinnamon Rolls

This is my first attempt at baking gluten-free without the help of a box! I love cinnamon rolls but I don't want to consume all-purpose flour, wheat gluten, sugar, gmo corn products, vegetable oils or artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. See, it's not that I can't eat cinnamon rolls, I just don't want to eat all of those things that are going to cause ill health effects, whether immediate or later in life. And feeding those things to my children is not something I want to do, either.

After pouring over recipes on line I was able to formulate my own recipe, a starting point for experimenting. Here it is:



The Roll

1/2 c Quinoa Flour
1/2 c Sorghum Flour
1/2 c Tapioca Starch
2/3 c Hemp Milk
1/4 c Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Ancient Sea Salt
2 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
2 tbsp Organic Real Butter
2 tsp Stevia Powder
1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1 Large Organic Egg
1 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First: Melt the butter over low heat in a small sauce pan. Add the room temperature hemp milk and remove from heat. Make sure the the butter/milk mixture is not too hot and then add the yeast, stevia and apple cider. Whisk together.




Right: You can see the melted butter and the milk, ready for the yeast, stevia and cider.








Left: You can see the yeast growing after several minutes in the mix. Yeast apparently love the vinegar. The green color you see is from the stevia powder. If you don't like the color green then you can purchase the white stevia powder.








Right: This is the stevia powder I am using. It is the purest, least processed form of the stevia leaf. Not only is it extremely powerful, only a little is needed, but the yeast likes it, too!









Next: Mix, in a large bowl, the tapioca starch, baking soda, xanthan gum, quinoa and sorghum flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the room temperature, but melted, coconut oil, olive oil, egg and vanilla.





Left: You can see the dry mixture in a large bowl, our yeast that has bloomed and our egg that has yet to be mixed with the oils and vanilla.





Right: This is where I realized that I forgot to put the oil in. Even after I grabbed it and dumped it in the obvious fact that I did not have enough liquid set in. I went on to add about 20 tbsp of hemp milk, 2-3 tbsp at a time. I was left knowing that the dough was over worked and all hope of fluffiness flew out the window. :(




Left: This is the 'brain blob' I was left with. It was very wet and dense. I was not happy. The thought of throwing it away crossed my mind but I managed to find a ray of hope for this sad little thing. Note the parchment paper.





Right: Here's a major crop and zoom so you can really see how gooey this came out. EW!








Left: After rolling the dough out with a rolling pin and parchment paper I used little tool (in this photo) to trim the edges and move the pieces to areas that needed more dough. I also sprinkled a couple tbsp of sorghum flour over my nice rectangle and then used a cutting board and cookie sheet to flip it over.






Right: After I flipped the dough over I peeled back the parchment paper and now we're looking at what was the bottom of the dough. To this side I sprinkled a couple tbsp of flour and then added the filling.


The Filling

2-3 tbsp Organic Cinnamon
3-4 tbsp Organic Real Butter
1/4 tsp Fresh Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tbsp Stevia Powder

This is where I realized that I forgot the vanilla so I drizzled a cap and a half here.



Right: Here it is! My sad little roll! It was actually very easy to roll up with the parchment paper.








Left: I would never use a knife to cut a roll! Get a piece of string to cut your roll and you'll find it will be much easier and your rolls will stay round! (Thank you, Joe, for the demonstration!)








Right: Place the rolls in a buttered pan. Now is when I preheat the oven to 375. The rolls will rest while the oven preheats. Once preheated put the rolls in. I set a pan with water in the oven, too, because I was worried that the rolls would dry out. After about 30 minutes I took the water out and the rolls stayed in for about 20 more minutes.






The Topping

Hemp Milk
Organic Real Butter
EV Coconut Oil
Organic Cinnamon
Stevia Powder






Last: By the time I got to the topping I didn't want to wait for it to come back to room temperature. I didn't measure, either. :) The idea was that once the sauce came back to room temperature it would be thick. As you can see in the photo it was still very much in liquid form.



The end result: the kids LOVED them. They ate 'em up fast and asked for more! Joe said they reminded him of french toast and he was right. They were eggy and heavy and it is because of this that I did not like the texture. (I don't like eggs) Also, they were too sweet for me. To quote Joe, 'not bad for a first try'. I already have a new recipe in the works but I'm going to wait a while before I make more rolls.