Daily Bread: Honey Oat Loaves

Since last Fall my poor kiddo's food allergies have sent me from a feeling of relative balance and well controlled risk to an unpleasant roller coaster ride of vertigo and fear. After years of well identified allergens and gradually lowering IgE scores, he has had a series of mystery reactions and white knuckle oral challenges. Trying to figure out whether a reaction is caused by cross contamination from a previously known food allergy or if he has, heaven forbid, developed a new one, is stressful beyond words. Except for the occasional cry for help over on Facebook, I haven't really blogged about these changes.

Baked Fregola Sarda & Fruit Stuffed Apples with Coconut Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

When I was asked by Marx Foods, purveyors of rare and exotic ingredients, if I'd like to take part in a recipe contest, my response was an immediate yes.  I promptly received a package containing samples of Fregola Sarda couscous, Iranian saffron threads, whole star anise and vanilla beans, along with instructions to make a dessert from the Fregola Sarda and at least one of the spices.

The fragrance from the package was indescribable.  I spent more time with my nose stuck into the little baggies of anise and vanilla than I care to admit.

The arrival of the vanilla beans caused a request from the rest of my family for a batch of coconut milk vanilla bean ice cream, which made me think it would pair nicely with some baked apples, a fitting home for the unusual toasted couscous.  I did do a trial run with Israeli style (pearl) couscous, which will also work in this recipe, but it didn't have the lovely nutty flavor of the Fregola Sarda.

Baked Fregola Sarda & Fruit Stuffed Apples

2 C coconut milk
1/3 C honey
1-2 star anise
1 pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 C raisin sized pieces of dried fruit (I used dried cranberries and golden raisins)
1 C Fregola Sarda
zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 large, firm apples, suitable for baking

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine coconut milk, honey, star anise and salt in a medium pot.  Heat over medium high while stirring, until mixture begins to bubble.  Reduce to low and allow to steep for 5 to 10 minutes.

Remove anise, then bring mixture back up to a low boil.  Stir in cinnamon, fruit, Fregola and lemon zest.  Reduce to low again, cover and allow to cook for 15 minutes.

Prepare apples while the Fregola mixture cooks.  Cut off tops about 1/2 inch from the top.  Scoop out insides, leaving about 1/4 inch thickness on the sides and bottom.  (A melon baller works well for this.)  Use the juice from the lemon to coat the insides to prevent browning.  When the Fregola mixture has finished cooking, place apples snugly together in a baking dish, and fill the cavities.  Place tops back on the apples and pour 1/2 inch of water into the bottom of the baking dish.  Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.  They are especially good with coconut milk vanilla bean ice cream.

I'm sharing my darling baked apples with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday, hosted by Cybele Pascale,
• Sweets for a Saturday round up at Sweet as Sugar Cookies,
• Sweet Indulgence Sunday at A Well-Seasoned Life and
• Presto Pasta Nights, the long running event begun by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Jamie of Cookin' with Moxie.

Disclosure:  I received free samples from Marx Foods to participate in this blogger recipe contest.

P.S.  The poll is open at Marx Foods if you'd like to pop over and give me a vote!

Chunky, Chewy, Nut Free Granola Bars

Granola bars, the ultimate in convenience food, are sneaky little devils.  I expect a package destined for a hiker's pocket to be nutrient and calorie dense, but the bars lining the grocery store shelves are chock full of fat, sugar and allergens.  Occasionally I'll eat one at work, but for the number of calories in that little package, I'd like a little more substance in my tummy.

So I was doubly motivated to create a granola bar recipe that would let my son have a homemade version of another food he can't normally eat and would simply make me happier than the commercial kind.  I wanted one that was thick and chewy, a real meal on the run, with flavors that would convince The Kid (and me!) that this was just another kind of oatmeal cookie.  I tried adding applesauce and spices to increase the moisture and flavor while holding back on the unhealthy stuff.  The result was very dense, very chewy and just what I wanted.

If these bars are a little too on the thick side for you, either cut the recipe in half or spread it out in a 9"x13" pan instead and shorten the bake time.

Chunky, Chewy, Nut Free Granola Bars

printable recipe

1 1/2 C applesauce

½ C Sunbutter (or other nutlike spread, such as tahini or Soy Wonder)

½ C honey  (or agave syrup to make vegan)

¼ C ground flax seed

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp salt

3 C rolled oats (certified gluten free to make…gluten free)

1 C raisins

Shortening or nondairy margarine to grease pan

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease 8”x8” square baking pan.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together all ingredients except oats and raisins over medium heat.   Stir regularly until mixture just begins to bubble, then remove from heat.  Combine warm goo with the oats and raisins, either in a bowl or in the saucepan, if large enough.

Spread mixture into prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes and until edges begin to brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool COMPLETELY before cutting into squares or bars of the desired size with a serrated knife.  Otherwise, there will be crumblage.  Keep in a sealed container to prevent drying.


I'm sharing my lovely chunks with Wholesome Whole Foods hosted by the Health Food Lover and also with Vegetarian Foodie Friday at Breastfeeding Moms Unite, possibly the original home of the one handed meal!

Asparagus and Radish Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

This spring my mom told me about an asparagus and radish salad that she'd eaten at a friend's house.  Her description of it has been haunting me, and I finally broke down and bought some late season asparagus when I was looking for a veg to go with tonight's dinner.

The dressing I made is very sweet, since I was trying to tickle The Kid's taste buds as well as my own, and it ended up working extremely well with the peppery radish.

Veggies:
1 lb asparagus
1 large or 2 small radishes

Dressing:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs honey (veganize by subbing agave)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp brown mustard
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Break the bottom end off of the asparagus, then wash and slice into short pieces.  Steam pieces for 5 minutes, then give them a brief cold water bath to keep them from getting mushy.  Wash and trim the radish, then shave as thinly as possible.  (I used a hand mandoline.)  Then slice into strips with a knife.  Mix asparagus and radish  together in the salad bowl.

Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl or measuring cup.  Whisk with a fork, then drizzle as much as desired over the veggies.  I ended up using only about half.  Serves 2 to 4 as a side dish, but it would make a great lunch with a chunk of cornbread for just one person.

In case you were wondering, that person would be me.

I'm sharing my salad with Souper Sundays hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen and also linking it up with both Vegetarian Foodie Friday, hosted by Melodie of Breastfeeding Moms Unite and Fight Back Friday, hosted by Kristen of Food Renegade.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins II

The Kid's absolute favorite muffin is Oatmeal Raisin, which he regularly requests that we bake. I've been gradually tweaking the recipe since I first posted it, but a recent contest hosted by The Veggie Queen and FlaxUSA finally got me to make some final improvements. Flax seed meal is one of my favorite substitutes for eggless baking, so I was very excited to submit a recipe.

In this new and improved version, the acidity from the soy yogurt helps give the baking soda some lift. (My cupcakes and muffins never have big rounded domes, I'm just happy when they're not concave!) The texture in this final version is really lovely, soft and moist with a nice nuttiness from the oatmeal and flax seed. And the flavor? Oh, my.

Wet Mixture
1 C plain soy yogurt
1/2 C vegetable oil, preferably canola
1/2 C honey
1/4 C flax seed meal

Dry Mixture
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Additional
2/3 C oatmeal
1 C raisins
3 Tbs turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare standard muffin pan by filling with 12 paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients from the wet mixture. Gently whisk until completely combined and set aside. In a large bowl sift or whisk together all dry ingredients. Stir oatmeal and raisins into dry ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined. Do not overmix! Divide muffin batter evenly between the twelve liners. Sprinkle batter evenly with turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes and a toothpick comes out clean from muffins. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack. Makes one dozen muffins.

(The contest ended yesterday, and I submitted this recipe by email in the nick of time. Unfortunately this post was another victim of time crunch here at houseguest central, and I wasn't able to get it up until today, since real life takes precedence over blogging!)

This post has been updated to change the proportions of baking powder and baking soda, so that the muffins rise better.  Also, this recipe won the contest!  Thanks to the Veggie Queen and Flax USA!

Sweetest New Year Cookies

L'shana Tovah!

When this girl from a family of Lutheran pastors decided to marry a nice Jewish boy, my future husband and I did a lot of talking about what was important to each of us and made some decisions about how we would raise any children together. That's when I discovered that the place that I drew the line was around my recipe box. Although I was comfortable exploring a different spiritual home, I wasn't willing to give up my family's traditions, especially the culinary ones.

At first, combining our heritages seemed easy. I found a Star of David shaped iron, and began making my family's Swedish Rosettes, which are cooked in oil, for Chanukah. I thought I had found my footing, keeping what was important from the past, while creating new traditions for my own family. Then my extraordinary child came along, and I discovered that the only thing harder than changing an entire year's worth of holiday traditions to compensate for his food allergies, was adapting the meals from two of them.

These cookies began their long evolution as a very old recipe for Lebkuchen, a honey based type of cookie, which is a distant cousin of both gingerbread and fruitcake. Citron has been replaced with apple, the egg and nuts have been stripped out, and I've added some lift to compensate for the loss of the eggs. They are delicious evidence that families and traditions do change, and that change is sometimes sweet.

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 C honey
1/3 C packed brown sugar

Dry Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C oat flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

Additional:
1 cooking apple, grated
1 Tbs lemon juice

*if you do not have nut allergies, you may substitute 1/4 C ground pecans

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Core, peel, and grate the apple and stir in the lemon juice. In a heavy bottomed pan or Dutch oven, slowly bring the honey to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir the flour mixture into the honey in small batches. The dough will become very stiff, and you may need to place the pan back onto the still warm burner to help combine them. Once the the flour is mixed in, stir in the apple mixture. Place dough in a covered container, and allow to cool in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare the glaze (recipe below.) Line cookie sheets with quick release aluminum foil (preferred) or grease the sheets (you'll be scrubbing them later). Put several ice cubes in cold water in a small bowl and get a wide bottomed glass. Using two spoons, drop dough by tablespoonsfuls onto cookie sheet two inches apart. Dip the glass into the ice water and use it to flatten each cookie. Bake cookies for ten minutes.

After removing cookies from oven, brush glaze on immediately with a pastry brush. Allow to cool on pan for ten minutes, then remove to cooling rack. It's easiest to just slide a cooling rack underneath the aluminum foil and pick up the entire sheet of cookies together.

Glaze:
1 C powdered sugar
1 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs water

Whisk together in a small bowl.

Corn Bread

Dry Ingredients:
1 C cornmeal
1 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:
1-1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2Tbs. warm water
OR
1-1/2 Tbs vegetable oil + 1-1/2 Tbs water + 1 tsp. baking powder mixed together
1 Tbs lemon juice + enough plain soy creamer OR soy milk to equal 1 cup
1/4 C honey
1/4 C melted dairy free margarine plus additional to grease pan

Combine lemon juice and soy creamer (or soy milk if unavailable) and set aside. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9" by 9" pan or standard muffin tin.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

Mix Ener-G Egg Replacer and warm water OR vegetable oil, water, and baking powder mixture. Add lemon juice and soy creamer mixture, honey, and melted margarine.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined. Gently pour into pan or muffin tin.

Bake 20 minutes for corn bread, 15 minutes for corn muffins.

Serve cornbread warm or allow to cool. The Kid likes his with honey. It's even better the second day, if any survives that long!