Category Archives: Recipes

Feb 04
0

Apple Pie in a Pan

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Some of you saw my post on Facebook about this dish (I almost can’t call it a recipe!). It’s my lazy girl way of making pie because
1. I don’t like to mess with pie crust with children around me in the kitchen. They always distract me either with cuteness or frequent requests and I invariably mess up some part of the recipe.
2. This has less carb/fat in it than pie – but it tastes DELICIOUS.

Even better, the overall cooking time is only a few minutes – maybe 6-10 – depending on how many apples you use. And, some of you may not like this – but it’s not super exacting in measurements because it’s meant to taste as sweet/spiced as YOU like it to taste. Be careful, this dish is addicting!

Finally, I’m posting this tonight as a favor to a friend – so no pics ’cause I’m not actually making it right now. Apparently, I’m feeling too lazy to even make a lazy dessert… haha! I’ll try to add pics later.

Apple Pie in a Pan
Cooking time: As fast as you can cut up your apples + 6-10 minutes more
Apples – 1-1 1/2 per person – Any kind but I like to mix up Granny Smith with the sweeter apples like Fuji, Gala, Pink Lady etc.
Cinnamon or Pumpkin pie spice
Coconut oil or butter
chopped pecans (if you like!)
1 T. (or less) Sweetener of choice – maple syrup (the real kind!), brown sugar or honey (we use honey)
Equipment – Knife, Saute pan or wok
Instructions
1. Core and slice apples as thick or as thin as you like them (I like them 1/2-3/4 inch thick)
2. Heat a saute pan to medium heat and toast the pecans for just around a minute or so. They’ll start to smell good. QUICK! Take them out before they burn.
3. Place the pan back on the heat and put just enough oil or butter in it to make it slippery – probably around 2 teaspoons. Just enough to keep the apples from sticking to the pan, not to fry them. A wok is better because you’ll need less oil/butter.
4. Throw in your apples and saute them till they start to get kinda soft. Then, shake some pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon over them. If you’re just making one or two apples, go light on the spice until you reach the flavor you like. Don’t be afraid to taste an apple just to be sure.
5. When the apples are just shy of the consistency you want, add just a little sweetener and stir gently stir it until it melts into the apples. The idea is to keep the flavor of the apples intact and preserve the healthiness of the dish – not melt sugar all over it!  If you use a sweet apple, you hardly need any!
Regarding cooking shape – I like my apples to be soft enough that when you stick a fork in ’em, it slides out easily but the apples keeps their shape.
6. Remove the apples from heat and top with pecans. 
7. Eat
See? Lazy girl pie.
Jan 25
0

Zucchini/Apple/Carrot Oat Muffins (or, how to sneak veggies into your kids’ treats!)

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This recipe is a compilation of several muffin recipes I researched. But, I didn’t love any of them exclusively. So, I created something different. The results are a nutty, fiber filled and delicious muffin (Yes – you can have both!). I do use butter, not nasty canola oil. It just tastes better. However, in a pinch, you could use coconut oil. Also, as we’ve discussed before on this blog, when making muffins, keep the following tips in mind.

1. Start with room temp ingredients – eggs, melted butter. The best way to do this is just take them out as your start measuring so they’re ready when you need them.

2. Measure dry and wet ingredients separately and make sure they’re well mixed before you put them together. Then, just barely fold them together so you don’t end up with tough muffs!

3. Grease your muffin tins BEFORE you start making the muffins. Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, they need to go straight into your preheated oven.

Zucchini Apple Carrot Oat Muffins

Makes 12-14 good sized muffins – or, you can also use 2 med sized loaf pans (I ran out of muffin tins)

Ingredients
Wet ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla (optional)
Dry ingredients
1 1/2 c. barley flour
1 1/2 oat flour
1 T. ground flax seed
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 c. chopped pecans (or walnuts, I just like pecans better)
1 c. shredded apples
1 c. shredded zucchini (squeeze out a little of the moisture or your muffins might be too wet)
1 c. shredded carrots
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt 1/2 c butter and set aside to cool
3. Measure and stir together all dry ingredients except shredded stuff.
4. After stirring together all the dry ingredients thoroughly, add the shredded fruit/veggies and completely coat with flour mixture. I find they mix with wet ingredients better this way – no clumping.
5. Whisk two eggs in wet bowl and blend with sugar, butter & vanilla.
6. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and gently stir minimally to combine.
7. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and bake 25-30 minutes.

These taste great hot out of the oven. Just try to leave a few for the kids!!

Jan 14
0

Dairy-free, Barley-Oat Pecan Pancakes with Homemade Applesauce

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This morning, my husband was home for breakfast. So, we celebrated with a rare treat, delicious Barley Oat Pancakes with Homemade applesauce. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know by now that I don’t buy many pre-made packaged products and this is no exception. But, that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult.

I don’t usually like pancakes – simply because only 1 leaves me feeling full and kind of sluggish for the rest of the day. This recipe is a nice alternative. The dairy-free version tastes lighter and has a better flavor overall.

The original recipe appears on the back of the Arrowhead Mills Barley flour package. But, I made a few changes to include almond milk, remove oil (since you’re cooking with oil anyway) and add pecans. Barley flour and oat flour are available in most health food stores. However, you don’t have to buy oat flour. If you have rolled oats at home, just whiz them around in a food processor till they are flour-like. And – presto! Oat flour. You can also use less honey or leave it out since you’ll probably be putting something sweet on top of the cakes anyway, like my homemade applesauce.

Enjoy!

Dairy-free Barley Pancakes
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
1 c. Barley flour
1 c. Oat flour
1 T. aluminum free baking powder
1 t. fine sea salt
1 c. chopped pecans
2 T. Honey (optional)
2 eggs or 1/2 c. egg substitute*
1 3/4 c. almond milk
2 t. vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Mix together dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly
2. Whisk eggs and mix with other wet ingredients
3. Gently fold wet ingredients into the dry.
4. Cook pancakes by 1/2 cup fulls on a lightly oiled skillet or griddle on medium heat. On my electric stove, that’s somewhere between 4-6. If you’re doubling this recipe, a griddle would be a great choice. It really shortens cooking times.
Here’s the secret to good pancakes.
Make sure your pan is good and hot before you start cooking your pancakes.
Pour the batter in the pan. When the surface of the pancake begins to show bubbles, flip the pancake. After you flip the cake, it’ll be done very quickly so keep an eye out.
If your first pancake burns, just turn down the heat for the next one. The first one’s usually experimental anyway.
Also – once I start cooking the pancakes, I only oil the pan if it dries out and the cakes seem they might stick.
**Egg substitute – 2 T. ground flax seed in 1/2 c. water. Mix it when you start measuring ingredients so it has time to get squishy like eggs.

 

Jan 14
0

Wicked Witch’s Homemade Applesauce

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Once, when my oldest was about 2 1/2, she came into the kitchen and asked for an apple. Pleased she wanted such a wholesome treat, I gave her one – even though it was bedtime. She took one bite and slumped to the floor dramatically. Then, she looked up at me out of the corner of her eye and in a theatric whisper said, “It was poisoned!” Apparently, I was playing the role of the wicked witch! Thus began our family’s obsession with drama – and with all things apple. After all, if it’s in a fairy tale…!

Today, I’ll share with you our easy recipe for homemade applesauce. In fact, this recipe is so easy, it’s almost not a recipe. I made these to go with our pancakes today but they’re just as good by themselves. Just a note – apples tend to cook down quite a bit since they have so much water in them – so you can add more if you’re cooking for a crowd. This is the kind of recipe that you can adjust without messing it up too much!

Applesauce
Ingredients
5-6 good sized apples – I like to mix sweet and sour apples like Gala, Honeycrisp or Fuji with Granny Smith
1 c. water
juice of 1/2 lemon – optional if you’re not canning your sauce – but it does balance out the flavors
1/2 c sweetener to taste – like honey or brown sugar
Instructions
1. Core and chop apples to desired size. We like chunky applesauce and we don’t remove the peels. More fiber! If you like smoother applesauce, core and quarter your apples and then pulse them in the food processor. Remember they’ll get squishier as they cook so they don’t have to be perfect.
2. Toss apples in pan with the water and lemon juice and set to medium-high heat.
3. Once the ingredients start warming up nicely, turn heat down to medium. 
4. Keep an eye on your apples and stir regularly while they’re cooking or they will burn.
5. After they get close to your desired texture, remove a bite of apple from the pan, cool and taste it. 
6. If you want to add sweetener, do so now – only 1/4 c. at a time.  
7. Let apples mix with the sweetener and taste again. Chances are you won’t need much sugar since they’re so sweet on their own.                                                  
Tada – Homemade applesauce!