Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Homemade Spinach Basil Pesto (Nut Free!)

I like to sneak veggies in anywhere I can. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes I have to get a little creative. One of my favorite easy recipes is Spinach Basil Pesto. This time of year Basil is easy to come by, so I get a few plants, and make a batch to keep in the freezer. Before we started our "real food lifestyle" easy mac was my go to food on my lazy mom nights. Now, I just add some Pesto from the freezer to whole wheat pasta, and my boys are happy! They have no idea they are eating spinach either. I'm not gonna tell.
I've also used this as a base for homemade pizza, rather than tomato sauce. Now, the hubby and I prefer it!
This recipe is so easy to throw together in the blender, and have fresh pesto sauce in minutes. You can use some right then, and then freeze the rest in ice cube trays for later!


So grab the blender, an empty ice cube tray, and go!
Ingredients:
4 cups fresh spinach leaves
2 cups fresh basil
1/4 cup parmesan blend
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup Olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Place all ingredients in Blender (I use my Ninja), and blend until all the leaves are finely chopped. This only takes a minute or so.
 Once it is the right consistency, you can spoon it out into ice cube trays. Place in freezer, and leave until its fully frozen. Usually I just leave it overnight.

Once it is set, you can place the individual "Pesto cubes" into a ziploc freezer bag. These usually keep for about 6 months in the freezer. 


When I make pasta for the kids, I typically add two cubes to boiled, drained whole wheat pasta. You can dress it up with some fresh tomato, and even add some diced chicken for a big kid meal! ~ C




Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Whole Wheat Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

Blueberries and Zucchini. The two things that we can't get enough of this time of year. Or, maybe I am getting too much and trying to get creative in how I use them? Either way, this recipe is another example of me hiding veggies in my kids foods. They get their muffins, and I get the satisfaction of knowing there is another veggie actually being ingested and NOT spit out. Once again, I am using bananas in place of honey, maple syrup or other sweeteners. Don't worry, your kids won't know the difference.
These are versatile, and can be a great addition to breakfast OR lunch. Enjoy! ~ C




Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
2 bananas, broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
Add ins
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup fresh blueberries


  • Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease your muffin tin or use liners. (I love these reusable silicone ones sold by Amazon.)
  • Mix all wet ingredients together in your mixer. Make sure the banana gets good and mashed up in the mixing process. 
  • While your wet ingredients are in the mixer, put all your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and mix together with a fork or spoon.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Mix until well blended. 
  • Add the "add ins" and mix by hand, or on the mixers lowest setting.
  • Pour into muffin pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins are done when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. 

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza - Using RawMio's Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

We got a new patio set last weekend, and of course we felt the need to break it in immediately. We decided to make our first night dining al fresco with the new set a little extra special by grilling out with family. Thanks to some inspiration from some good friends of ours, we decided to skip the usual cookout suspects and went with a variety of gourmet grilled pizzas, including a dessert pizza, instead.

My husband is the pizza chef and the grill master in our house, so I left this all up to him; as usual, he did not disappoint. He made his signature Southwestern barbecue chicken pizza, a kid-friendly margherita pizza, and the fan favorite - Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza. Our friends that inspired our gourmet pizza cookout actually made a very similar strawberry dessert pizza for us recently that we enjoyed so much we wanted to re-create it using RawMio's amazing Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. ---Seriously, if you try any of their spreads you cannot go wrong with this classic - it is good enough to eat straight off a spoon; in fact, I'm pretty sure that would have been its fate had hubby not used it for the pizza.---

Today I am sharing the super simple Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza recipe; this one was the biggest hit with both the adults and kids, and it was also the simplest to make. Don't worry, though! I will keep working on hubby to write a blog post, so he can share his amazing Southwest barbecue chicken recipe in the future; that one is a bit more involved. 

Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza

The Finished Product!

Ingredients:

Dough (makes enough for 2 small thin crust pizzas)
1 cup all-purpose flour 
2 cups white whole wheat flour (We're partial to King Arthur's)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp honey (or sugar to make vegan) 
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup flax meal or other whole grain (optional) - the flax meal adds a great texture to the dough

Toppings
1 jar (6 oz) RawMio Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
1/2 pint sliced strawberries, more if desired
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)


Directions: 

6-12 hours before cooking time: Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl. You can use a stand mixer if you'd like, but the dough will be so wet that it won't knead well so I just use a wooden spoon. As soon as everything is mixed in, cover the bowl with a towel and leave it alone in your kitchen for 6-12 hours. If you want to do this the night before, just throw it in the fridge after mixing. The small amount of yeast and long rise time helps the flavors develop and makes it easy to roll out into thin pizza crusts.

30 minutes before cooking time: Warm up the oven or grill as hot as you can get it, ideally to about 550°.

Sprinkle a large flat surface with corn meal or flour. Place half of your dough on the surface and dust with flour. It will still be sticky, so you may need up to another half cup of flour to roll it out. Flip and knead the dough for 2 minutes, adding a dusting of flour as you go, until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore. Make sure the surface still has a dusting on it as you go too, so you can easily pick it up and flip it over. With a rolling pin, roll it into a pizza crust shape (about 10-14" diameter) as thin or thick as you want it; we prefer a thinner crust for the grilled version. If needed, keep adding flour so it doesn't stick to the surface.

If you're using a pizza pan, add a dusting of corn meal or flour to the pan, then flip your crust onto it.

5 minutes before cooking time: With a spoon, add the hazelnut spread to the crust, like you would for pizza sauce. I microwaved it for 20 or 30 seconds to soften it up and make it easy to move around. Add strawberry slices as a topping.

Put the pan in the oven or on the grill for 5-15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your crust and how thick the dough is. When it starts to brown, you're done. Sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

You can do this directly on the grill without a pan. After the crust rests, put it directly on the grill grate for 1-2 minutes. Flip it over, quickly add the spread and toppings, then cook covered for another 2-3 minutes.
RawMio Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Thanks, again, to RawMio for providing me with your amazing Hazelnut Spread. I'm hooked, and I can't wait to try some new flavors! 
Note: While the RawMio spread was provided free of charge, the opinions and idea reflected in this article are solely mine. This stuff is seriously DELISH! 

Easy Plantain Blender Pancakes (Grain free & Dairy Free)

If you're looking for a quick, easy fluffy, grain free pancake that tastes good, then you've found it! I've been experimenting with plantains as a flour substitute and so far I've been really happy with the results. Using green plantains does not add a plantain flavor, and the end result is a fluffy pancake with a flour like texture.
The great thing about this recipe, is all you need to do is dump the ingredients into a blender, then pour into the pan. Add any toppings as soon as you put in pan and you're all set! 



Depending on the type of blender you have, you may want to blend these at two separate times. First after the plantains and coconut oil, then after the remaining ingredients. 

Ingredients
2 green plantains, cut/broken into 1-2 inch pieces.
2 tbsp coconut oil
Blend
2 eggs
1 ripe banana*
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
Blend

Pour into frying pan, using coconut oil to coat the pan. I find they are easiest to flip sand dollar size.

Top with chocolate chips or blueberries (or other topping) as soon as you pour into pan. Let sit for a minute or two, to allow to firm on one side, before flipping. 

My kids and husband love these! Hope you enjoy them, too! ~ C

*I've been using a ripe banana in place of honey or maple syrup in my recipes and it's worked out great. No kid complaints here! 


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Whole Wheat Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies - Made with RawMio Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Spread

Anyone else out there a fan of all of the different varieties of nut and cookie butters? My personal favorite before switching to a more whole food based diet was speculoos cookie butter from Trader Joe's, so when RawMio offered to send me a jar of their Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough spread I was so excited. My family and I have tried it a few different ways now, including straight off a spoon (because who can resist?!), on toast, and in the cookie recipe I'm sharing today.

This spread is seriously yummy and loaded with all kinds of super foods. I personally like it best when it's in a warmer form since it takes off a little of the edge from the raw almonds and takes on a little more of the dry-roasted almond flavor I love. In order to really highlight the cookie dough flavor of the spread I added cocoa powder to the cookies; the cocoa powder majorly enhances the flavor of the cacao in the spread.



The finished product!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies


Ingredients

Virgin coconut oil, softened 
2 tbsp raw honey (use maple syrup for vegan version)
½ cup RawMio Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough spread
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 egg (use flax egg for vegan version - how to make a flax egg)
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup white whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup oats



Instructions

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease cookie sheet or use Silpat to line cookie sheet.
2.   Add the coconut oil and honey to a large mixing bowl, and cream using an electric mixer. Next, add cookie dough spread, cocoa powder, egg, and vanilla to mixture; mix until combined.
3.   In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together; add salt. Stir to combine. Add the oats to the other dry ingredients, mix until combined.
4.   Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring to combine as you add the dry mixture.
5.   Using a cookie scoop, form tablespoon-sized balls and place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet about 2” apart. Use a fork to flatten the cookies slightly and form a cross-hatch pattern.  
6.   Bake for 9 minutes on the middle rack of preheated oven. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before enjoying. 




Stay tuned for more recipes using RawMio products.... If you would like to check out more of their products you can head over to their website http://rawmio.com/




Note: All featured products were provided free of charge, but the opinions are solely my own.