hungry?

Finally!  The full details on all of the recipes I have been teasing you with! 

I whipped up a batch of Steel Cut oats the other morning.  I’ve been addicted to adding fresh blueberries in the mix.  I’ve been enjoying hot oats every morning for about a week now, thanks to my plated oats idea!  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a hot breakfast, but it hasn’t made me sweat!

contents

• 1/4c steel cut oats
• 1 1/4c water
• 1/4 milk of any kind
• 1/2t cinnamon
• vanilla
• 1/2 banana

topped with

• handful of blueberries mixed in at the end
• Love Grown Foods granola
• a few raspberries
• cacao nibs – love these!!

The other day, Mama Pea posted a recipe for brownies that I knew I immediately had to try.  I had never tried vegan brownies before and was very curious.  This recipe uses no oil and all whole wheat flour.  I think you can actually get away with eating them for breakfast :)

Dry ingredients – I changed a few things from MP’s recipe, like adding 1T instant coffee.  There was a mild hint of coffee in the final product, which I loved!

The wet – I used 1/4c sucanat and 1/4 brown rice syrup, instead of 1/2c cane sugar.  It worked really well and I think the brown rice syrup helped make these brownies extra fudgey.  Next time, I would actually even reduce the the amount of sugar to 1/3c instead of 1/2c.  It’s amazing how little sugar these delicious brownies need!  I think the applesauce really helps to naturally sweeten them.

I didn’t have vegan chocolate chips on hand but I did have a non-dairy dark chocolate bar that I chopped up instead.  I have made healthy brownies with applesauce before but they have never ever turned out this good.  The recipes I’ve used in the past would call for eggs and I think the combo of eggs + applesauce made them really cakey + airy.  They were always okay, but not even a close comparison to these. 

They’re done in about 20min when they start to pull away from the edge of the pan or crack slightly.  I let them cool for a good 30min before cutting them from the pan.

I figured they would be good…but not oh.my.gawd. I can’t stop eating them, good. 

These would be a hit at ANY party!  Chris loved them!

Double Chocolate Vegan Brownies – that will blow your mind + mouth [adapted from Mama Pea]

• 3/4c whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1T instant coffee [optional]
• 2t baking powder
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1c unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4c sucanat
• 1/4c brown rice syrup
• 2t vanilla
• 1/2c dark chocolate chunks/chips
• 1/2t salt

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder + soda, coffee, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. In a medium sized bowl combine applesauce, brown rice syrup, sucanat, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour the wet into the dry and mix [by hand] until combined.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl but do not over mix.  The batter will be somewhat lumpy. 
5. Let rest for a few minutes [it will become a bit foamy] and then mix in chocolate chips.
6. Pour + spread evenly into an 8x8 greased pan.
7. Bake ~20min until edges pull away from the pan or toothpick test.
8. Let cool for at least 30min before cutting out of pan.

**High Altitude instructions: 

• 1 3/4t baking powder
• oven at 375*

These are extremely flavorful.  Like I said the slight hint of coffee was awesome!  But you can definitely leave that out. 

They were thick and fudgy and definitely the furthest thing from being dry.  [trying to avoid using a certain word that starts with “M” hehe]  The only thing they didn’t have that buttery, oil + egg filled brownies have is that flakey crust on top.  But you won’t miss it a single bit!

I am usually pretty good at only eating 1 or 2 of whatever I bake but not with these.  The slight crunch from the chocolate inside is awesome as well.  I’m sure if you like nuts in your brownies that would be a good addition too.

I like nuts in bread but not brownies!  You seriously need to make these…like, yesterday!!  Definitely great for the 4th of July!

As is this.  White Bean + Garlic Scape dip!  This has some zing to it and is not lacking in flavor.

I’m completely obsessed with the garlic scape pesto and wanted to try using them for something else.  This was really good but I think I actually would just rather make the pesto and use that for a dip!  However, this packs more protein [from the beans!] and less fat [even though the pesto uses healthy fats]. 

White Bean Garlic Scape Dip

• 4 chopped garlic scapes, flowery end removed
• juice from 1 medium lemon
• 1/2t coarse sea salt
• pepper to taste
• 1 can rinsed + drained cannellini beans
• 1/4c olive oil
• 2-5T water

1. Add chopped scapes and lemon to your food processor.  Process until finely grated, scraping the bowl as needed.
2. Add beans, salt + pepper and process.
3. Stream in olive oil 1T at a time, alternating with water 1T at a time until desired consistency is reached. 
4. Process + scrape down bowl as needed.
5. Add more s+p to taste.

Super easy!  Even though I prefer the pesto, this is still delicious!  I enjoyed it with crackers and on top of a salad but I think it would be awesome with fresh veggies.  It is extremely flavorful!

Pizza Sauce

• 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained + chopped [saving the liquid in a bowl]
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2T olive oil
• 1/4-1/2t salt
• pepper to taste
• 1T sugar [I used sucanat]
• 3T tomato paste
• 2t dried oregano
• 2t dried basil
• 1t dried thyme
• ~1/4c tomato liquid

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot, just over medium heat.
2. Add in the chopped tomatoes, being extremely careful from the oil splashing.  Do not just plop them in!  Use a ladle to lower them into the pot.
3. Let cook for ~5min.
4. Add in seasonings, tomato paste, and 1/4c tomato liquid.
5. Reduce heat to simmer for about 20-30min, stirring every 5min or so.
6. Take off heat and leave chunky, puree with hand blender, or throw in a blender or food processor until desired consistency is reached.

I like use my hand blender and like the sauce pretty thick.  If it’s too thick, then out with more tomato juice and also season more according to your taste.  The flavors will enhance even more the next day.

This is SO worth making.  It blows ANY canned pizza sauce right out of the water.  Trust me!  It’s basically a slight adaptation of the pasta sauce I came up with about a year ago.  I definitely can eat this by the spoonful!!  Enjoy!

I also prepared homemade pizza dough for Chris’s arrival!  It was my first time making pizza from scratch since living in Colorado.  It really is not that hard.  You just need to have the time to allow for it to rise.  During it’s first 1hr rise, I went for a 1hr bike ride.  Perrrrrfect!

I used dry active yeast and here is what it will look like if your yeast is still active.  This happens after about 10min.

I kneaded the dough with my Cuisinart dough hook but you could also knead by hand for about 8min.

go go go!

Dough hunk.

After the first rise.

After deflating from the 2nd rice I split the dough into 2 balls, wrapped in plastic and stored them in the fridge.

Crunchy WW Pizza Dough adapted from All Recipes

• 3 1/4c stoneground whole wheat flour [or regular wwf]
• 1t sugar
• 1 1/2c warm water [~110*]
• 1T active dry yeast
• 2T olive oil
• 1t salt

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water. [I used sucanat for the sugar]
2. Sprinkle yeast over water/sugar mixture and let sit for ~10min until fully activated + foamy. [do not stir]
3. Stir olive oil + salt into the yeast mixture.
4. In your stand mixer bowl or large kitchen bowl add in the flour.
5. Next, add in yeast mixture and stir until the it starts to come together.
6. Turn your stand mixer on medium – med/high for about 5min with the dough hook or turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 8-10min.
7. Shape into a ball and rub with a very light coating of olive oil.
8. Set dough in a large bowl and cover with a kitchen towel to rise for 1hr.
9. After 1hr, punch the dough down, forming into another ball.  Cover with towel and let rise for another 45min.
10. Punch dough down again, separate into 4 smaller balls and roll out onto a floured surface into desired pizza shape.
11. Bake at 425-450* for about 10min.

This will make 4 medium sized, thin crust pizzas or 2 larger thicker crust pizzas.  I guess it all depends on how thinly you roll out your dough.  I would say I rolled this to about 1/8” thick and it let to a perfectly crispy crust all throughout the pizza.  It was perfect!

Final pizza photos coming soon!

Now I’m off for some exercise…booyah!

~Ashley