Frozen Strawberry Dessert

Ingredients

3 cups frozen strawberries
3 cups vanilla hemp milk
3 - 4 TBSP organic maple syrup or to taste
1 TBSP vanilla essence

Method

Blend all ingredients together til smooth 'n' creamy. Pour into glasses and serve immediately or chill and serve within a half hour of making.

Vegetable pie

Today I was at a loss what to cook because we are out of many basic supplies in the kitchen. Well, as they say "necessity is the mother of invention," so it was a good thing, because I had to get really creative with whatever ingredients where at hand. Since we had a few odds and ends but not enough of any one vegetable to make anything substantial, I figured instead Id make a savory pie with a medley of veggies. Turned out very nice indeed! :-)
 
Ingredients

2 cups Wholefoods brand 365 organic pancake waffle mix
1 cup Bob's Red Mill wheat farina
4 TBSP cold butter
1 tsp salt
Cold water as needed to make a smooth medium firm dough

Filling

Grated vegetables of your choice - I used:
1 medium zucchini
2 medium carrots
4 small potato's
4 sticks celery chopped small (the tender heart of it and the leaves)
2 cups of frozen spinach
1 cup  frozen of sweetcorn

1 TBSP paprika flakes
3 tsp smoked Spanish paprika powder
1 TBSP Italian herbs
2 TBSP Cumin powder
2 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp ground mixed black and red pepper
Approx 2 TBSP Sea salt (or to taste)
3 TBSP nutritional yeast

1 cup Ricotta cheese drained or 1 cup cooked down sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt might work too)
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheddar cheese

Method

Place flour and salt in bowl, grate butter into it and crumble it together til its looks like bread crumbs.
Add water as needed to make a firm smooth dough. Put in fridge for 15 mins. Roll out on a floured surface into a round and place into a buttered pie dish, cutting off extra pastry from sides. Keep these to the side til later.Use a fork or knife to make some slits in the pie base. Bake blind in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for approx 10 mins. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat 2 TBSP oil/ghee into a sautee pan. Chaunce spices for a few seconds, add vegetables and stir fry, stirring frequently. Mix in the salt, lower heat, cover and cook til vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, add in nutritional yeast, ricotta cheese and cheddar cheese. (if you use sour cream instead of ricotta cheese
cook it down first til its thickened.

Allow to cool a little. Roll the extra pastry out and cut into strips. Put vegetable mixture into the the pastry shell. Arrange the strips in a criss-cross pattern over the filling. Place in oven and bake for approx 20 mins til
golden brown on top.

Delicious, best served warm. :-)

Cinnamon raisin sticky buns

These sticky buns are tasty and quite filling! They are typically made with white flour, but I made them with wholewheat and Spelt flour(s) to make them more pleasing to those with a more health conscious conscience! If you find this combination of flours too intense and want a lighter pastry use 1/2 white flour instead .Give it a go and see how you like them. :-)

Ingredients

3 cups wholewheat flour
3 cups Spelt flour
2 TBSP Fleischmann's active dry yeast
2 tsp sea salt
3 TBSP raw cane sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups organic milk
2 TBSP butter

Filling

Rind & fresh juice of 2 medium sized lemons
2 cups raw cane sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon powder
3/4 cup carob chips
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
Approx 2-3 TBSP water

Method

You can make the bun dough by hand if you have time. I happen to have a bread machine in this house,so I made use of it.

Put all the dry ingredients into the the bread machine mixing bowl.

In a saucepan, heat the water, milk and butter til warm - if it gets hot let it cool to warm before adding to the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and switch the bread machine on to the dough setting.

Meanwhile, to make the filling; Simply mix all ingredients together and set aside.

When the dough has completed the cycle and is nicely risen remove from the machine. Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Smear with melted butter or oil. Cover surface evenly with the cinnamon raisin filling. Roll up tightly pinching the ends closed as you go. Seal the roll by pinching and then cut into slices approx 1 inch thick. Place onto a greased baking tray. Bake at 385 degrees Fahrenheit in a preheated oven for approx 25 mins.

Remove from oven when lightly browned and while they are still hot place a tsp of butter on each bun and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve cool.

Ekadashi Banana Almond 'n' Ginger Muffins

By popular request I'm posting this recipe for Ekadashi muffins. FYI, folks, if you are wondering, "what the heck is Ekadashi," it refers to a bi-monthly fast abstaining primarily from grains,beans and peas, which is observed in the Krishna community.

When you cant use regular flour in baking, and don't have much experience with alternative flour substitutes, the end result often is dense gluey cakes etc., as probably every person who tried baking on Ekadashi days has experienced at some point!! I developed this recipe after some trial and error, and really you would never know these muffins don't contain wheat, except that they're lighter, and if possible even more delicious than regular muffins.

This recipe is very similar to the wheat-free muffin recipe I posted a while back, but here goes for posterity.

Ingredients

Approx 2 cups freshly & finely ground almonds
Approx 2 cups buckwheat flour
Approx 2 cups tapioca flour
1 1/2 level Tbsp baking soda
4 TBSP cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1 1/3 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup safflower oil
2 pureed bananas
Approx 3-4 cups of water
1 cup cranberries/raisins/chopped dried fruits/orange peel - as you like!!
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger pieces
3/4 cup flax seeds
Sunflower seeds for sprinkling in the muffin tray

Method

Preheat oven - 385 Fahrenheit

Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Blend together the wet ingredients and pour into the dry ones. Mix well.
The dough should be medium runny and kind of goopy (that's the buckwheat being itself). The flax seeds and cranberries are going to soak up lots of that liquid, dont worry! ;-)

Oil the muffin trays, sprinkle with sunflower seeds and fill in the dough. Bake approx 30 mins, til muffins are a lovely chocolate color. If the muffin springs back when you lightly press your finger into the surface its ready. Allow to sit awhile to steam themselves loose from the edges of their cups -- this especially if you filled the muffin dough in generously to the brim -- then they will come out of the muffin tray quite easily.


Makes approx 18 muffins. Praise the Lord for giving you a grand dessert this day and be happy! :-)