Dairy free brownies

I am on a dairy and soy free diet because Santiago has milk allergies, this has put me on the fast lane to weight loss, but also on a tight spot for indulging. Since we cook most everything from scratch it has been not too hard to come up with ways to replace dairy, but the lack of milk in my baked goods has made them somewhat dry and not as rich and unctuous, not so satisfying. That is until I decided I wanted brownies for my husband’s birthday, and since I do not have a lot of time or patience lately, I decided for a very simple recipe. My recipe uses coconut oil, whole wheat and, as usual, less sugar than regular recipes.

You will need:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325°. Line an 8×8″ baking dish with foil. Coat foil with nonstick spray.

Whisk coconut oil, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

These were very thick and chocolatey. If you use whole wheat flour you will get a drier end product than your usual brownie, so if you want it more fudgey bake for a little less time.

We loved them! I baked two sets to share, but never got to! Ignacio just devoured them in no time!

Tofu Pineaple stir fry

I am the kind of cook that opens the fridge and sees “what’s there to be used” instead of carefully planning my meals. And this is what happens when I have some left overs that need to be used (aka: for some strange reason the pineapple was getting sad in the back of the fridge!):

Firm, organic tofu, deliciously golden in sesame oil!

You will need:

1 block Tofu

1 medium onion

4 large sprigs celery

2 medium carrots

1 pint mushrooms

1 red bell pepper

2 cups diced pineapple

Sesame oil

French tarragon

Thyme

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Preparation:

Cut your veggies in medium sized slices.

Cut the tofu in medium sized rectangles and fry until golden in a pan with sesame oil.

In another pan fry the vegetables, starting with the onions, finishing with the mushrooms. Once you have your veggies tender but not mushy, add the tofu, pineapple and spices. Mix well and cook together for five minutes so the flavors integrate.

Serve with rice.

I like fusion cooking, mixing spices that are not traditionally found in Asian cuisine can give a surprising flare to a stir fry. This recipe came out so good that  even my husband, who does not really like tofu, praised it. It makes for a delicious treat and the pineapple goes wonderfully well with tarragon and thyme!

Add unexpected spices as tarragon and thyme to enhance the flavor of pineapple!

Halloween Pumpkin Muffins

Ignacio is teething (again!), this time is molars, which are more painful than any other teeth. This makes feeding time a problem. Doctors say that teething does not affect appetite, and they might be right, but the discomfort in his mouth makes him not want to eat, so then he is hungry, he becomes crabby, does not want to go to sleep, etc. To short circuit this cycle, I try to find ways of tempting him to eat, these include softer foods and sweets. But hey, I am of those moms that don’t want to just give anything sweet to the baby and load him with sugar, I try my best to offer nutritive options and put fruits and vegetables in my baked goods. This is how I cam up with these Halloween Pumpkin Muffins (plus my husband got me a set of lovely cupcake liners and I really wanted to use them!)

Ingredients:

These pumpkin muffins look so festive in the Halloween liners!

2 cups oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 c brown sugar

1 c pumpkin puree

1/4 c molasses

1 egg

1 c milk

1/2 c vegetable oil

Spices (suggested: cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger, all spice, coriander)

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Preheat the oven at 400F. Mix all the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients and incorporate the dry ingredients mixing well. You will have a thick mixture. Remember that all flours are different and have different absorption, so play with the moisture you want by adding more milk. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

I like these muffins. They are mildly sweet, which I like, and thick in consistence. I wanted them to be loaded with nutrition, so I used a thicker lumpier batter, and I used whole wheat flour and oats, feel free to substitute for all white if you want. Also, as a decorative accent I garnished the tops with oats and brown sugar before putting in the oven.
I got 21 muffins out of this, I wanted to share with some friends, so I made a specially large batch. Remember, if you do like me, that I put the second batch in after the first one was out of the oven, your batter will be denser.

I hope you enjoy them!!

Avocado cake: two recipes that you will love!

I know, everybody goes “Avocado cake!!?” And I don’t blame you, we relate avocados with Mexican food, as if it was the only way of using them. Growing up we ate them with mayonnaise or salsa golf (whatever the name for it is in US) and later, when I moved out, because I don’t really like mayonnaise I would just eat them plain or with salt and olive oil, make salads of different types, or mush them for guacamole. But I remember my dad always telling me that his dad used to eat them with sugar… and why not? If you think of it, avocado flavor can be defined as “buttery” but it is not definitely salty nor sweet. So I have been wanting to try it for a while, and since the awesome Bryan Street Market a few blocks from home has avocado sales regularly this time of the year, I thought I’d take advantage and buy a few avocados to try to make a cake.

What was my surprise to see that there are many options to make an avocado cake! So I just made one avocado pound like cake, and one chocolate avocado cake.

Chocolate Avocado cake with tropical avocado frosting.

The chocolate cake I got straight from Joy the Baker, it’s a vegan recipe, and that was a plus, because I’ve always wanted to know how vegans get the cake to work without eggs or anything animal. I followed the recipe as is, except that I reduced the sugar to half (only using one cup) because I figured that the frosting was going to make up for a lot of the sweetness. For the frosting I made my own recipe as follows:

Avocado frosting:

1 mashed avocado

2 cups confectionery sugar

3 teaspoons coconut milk

1 teaspoon orange blossom extract

The cake came out fluffy and moist, very palatable and the avocado flavor is very subtle, it is a light cake that does not feel heavy at all. The frosting has a very interesting flavor that I find complements the cake very well. My husband, who is very much not vegan or vegetarian, really liked this cake, as well as my toddler who does not like avocado. It’s a hit for sure!

The second recipe is also from Joy the Baker, though I modified it to my less rich taste. You can see the original recipe here. At home we like things less sweet than average and I use less butter than most, plus we really like whole grains and use white flour just for fluff. My recipe for one cake (not two) is as follows:

Avocado pound cake:

1.5 c whole wheat flour

Avocado pound cake. Very interesting texture indeed!

1/4 c white flour

1/4 c corn meal

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp butter

0.75 c sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c milk

1 ripe mashed avocado

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Mix the dry ingredients, except the sugar.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the mashed avocado and mix until uniform. Add one egg at a time, mixing well. Incorporate the dry ingredients. The mixture will be lumpy.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out dry.

My thoughts on this cake: It is good and sweet as it is, I really like the unctuous feel of the avocado and how it contrasts with the rough texture of the whole wheat flour and the crunch of the corn meal. You do feel the avocado flavor but it is very different from eating it fresh, and my baby (who does not like avocado, remember?) kept asking for more. The cake disappeared faster than what I expected! In retrospect I would probably eliminate all the butter, the avocado itself is oily enough, and I think I would enjoy it better with some vegetable oil instead, for a lighter cake.

OK, here you have the recipes you asked me for with so much interest! I hope you can make them at home and have fun with them! Surprise your friends and family and enjoy them! And you know, if you do try them, let me know, I always like to know what results other people get!

Recipes: Okra Minestrone

I went to the East Liberty farmer’s market to show my dad how many stands they have and the variety, and in the Blue Bird Organic Farm stand they had okra! My husband is from Louisiana, so I could not go home without some! Half of it I fried, which was delicious! And the other half I used to make a minestrone soup. The secret of this soup is the okra, it will give it a unique flavor, bur you have to make sure to denature all the slime. Let me pass you the recipe:

Okra- half a pint. Sliced thinly

Carrot- one medium

Celery- four stalks

Onion- one medium

Zucchini- one medium

Cooked red beans- two cups

Penne whole wheat pasta- Two cups dried

Chicken or vegetable broth- one cube

Spices- salt, pepper, two bay leaves, oregano, thyme, curry

Water.

Garlic- optional

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First cook the beans in just water, or use a can of sugar free unsalted beans. Slice your vegetables, and reserve.

In a large pot add some olive oil and saute the onions and garlic, add the carrots and celery and let them cook until slightly tender. Add three cups of water and let it come to a boil, add the broth cube. Then add the okra and zucchini. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. The okra will release a lot of gooey slime and you will have to cook for a long time, about one hour, for it to break down. Once the soup stops looking sticky and gooey add the spices, then add two more cups of water up to six cups, add dry noodles and let them cook in the tasty broth you’ve just made. Two minutes before your pasta is done add the beans so the warm up.

Serves six.

Voila! You have a unique and delicious minestrone! Serve hot and enjoy!

Okra minestrone.

Being an artist in the kitchen: Vitreaux potato chips

As you might have already gathered from this blog, I absolutely love to cook. And browsing the internet the other day I found this very attractive recipe. I decided to prepare it for my hubby for V day but it didn’t work out. In the first place I had a really hard time getting those super thin slices, I did slice my fingers too! And then the potatoes got burnt when I followed their directions… so of course I had to modify the recipe and make it my own 🙂

Ingredients:

– 2 Potatoes (I used red skin, but you can use whatever you rather to bake)

Vitreaux potato chips. Good looking and delicious!

– Herb leafs or sprigs (anything you’d like, I used rosemary and sage because that is what I had)

– Olive oil

– Salt

– Oil spray

Preparation:

Slice the potatoes super thin with a sharp knife. Two to three millimeters would be ideal, but slice them as thin as you can. Press the juices out with a paper towel and let sit for 5 minutes.

Place aluminium foil on a baking pan or cookie sheet, leaving half of it out of the tray, and spray oil on it. Then place the potato slices on the foil.

“Paint” the potatoes with olive oil and place a leaf or sprig of any herb you choose on top of it, then plaint again, covering the leaf too. Sprinkle salt on top.

Fold the foil covering the slices and place another cooking tray or cookie sheet on top, add some weight, you can use a baking bowl.

Place in the oven at 400F for 15 minutes. Retire from the oven and carefully remove the foil. If any slice is still soft and white-ish place in the oven for 5 more minutes until golden and crispy.

Prop your potatoes on a plate, you will need something to keep the potatoes up so you can display your pretty art! You could use rice grains, coffee beans, large salt crystals, anything that tickles your fancy!

I hope you enjoyed this beautiful yet simple recipe! Flavor wise, my favourite so far is rosemary, which is yours?

Adventures in the kitchen: Barley stir fry

My husband knows that I am a very adventurous gal (in the kitchen!) and since he is awesome he brought home a bag of barley for us to try. Barley is amazingly healthy for you! It’s great against cholesterol, has a lot of fiber, iron, calcium and selenium! I had never eaten barley so I did not know much what to do with it. First thing I did was to just boil it as per instructions in the package and try it as it was, plain, just boiled, to have an idea of the flavor I was going to be working with. If I had to give you an idea (and I will be unfair to the real flavor) it tastes like a mix between rice and oatmeal, with strong nutty underflavors. So once I had tried it, I knew what I wanted to do with it.

 

Barley stir fry:

2 cups Boiled barley

Barley stock by tasastock.deviantart.com

1 medium onion

1 carrot

1 cup cooked corn kernels

2 cups cooked broccoli florets

2 cups cooked cut green beans

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp rice vinegar

spices: salt, pepper, ground ginger, curry, saffron, ground coriander

In a pot boil the barley for one hour before hand. Use plenty of water and keep in mind that barley expands to about 4 times it’s dry size. You might want to determine how soft you like it. I, myself, like an ‘al dente’ consistency, but my husband likes his starches soft, so I cooked for about one hour and left it cool down in its own water so it would soak up more water and become mushier.

Once the barley is done chop your vegetables and keep them at hand.

In a deep pot warm up two tablespoons of sesame oil and blanch your onions, add the carrot and cook until tender, add the rest of the vegetables and mix them well. Add some more sesame oil if it is too dry and you would like a stronger flavor.

Add the rice vinegar and the spices, mix and let the flavors blend together.

Lastly, add the boiled barley, mix thoroughly, add some more salt if needed.

Once your barley is warm, food is ready!

 

This is a delicious dish, very healthy and veggies lovers friendly. The saffron adds a unique touch to a mainly Asian flavored dish. Try it and let me know what you think!

Recipes: Pumpkin muffins

Just in time for Thanksgiving! You want to impress your family? Then bring them these easy to make, delicious yet healthy muffins! They are really good for you with oatmeal and pumpkin in them and they are very, very tasty.

stock provided by rammkitty-stock

You will need:

-1 cup of oatmeal

-1 cup multipurpose flour

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon baking soda

– spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, whatever you fancy.

-1/2 cup sugar

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-2 eggs

-3/4 cup milk

-1 cup pumpkin

I make my own pumpkin, but I guess you can use canned pumpkin just fine. If you are going all for scratch, cut your pumpkin in medium size pieces and take the guts out, put them in the microwave for 30 minutes or in the oven for one hour. Once the pumpkin is tender let it cool down and pass the flesh through a strainer with a spoon or use a blender. This will make the puree really smooth.

Mix all your dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients to that mix. Grease a muffin pan and bake at 400 F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

If you feel like, toast the seeds and add them to the top of the muffins before baking. Another good option is to throw in 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, they go wonderfully together!

Recipes: Rosemary Chicken and Black Rice Pudding.

Today I had friends over and I needed to cook dinner. They were expected at about 7 and I needed to work, of course, so I needed to cook something that would be nice but doable in just 1-1:30 hours.

I decided for a simple but tasty 3 course meal: marjoram goat cheese toast, rosemary chicken and black rice pudding.

Marjoram goat cheese toasts:

Marjoram Goat Cheese Toasts (c) Constanza Ehrenhaus

_1 french baguette

_2 oz. Chevre goat cheese.

_1 tbsp. olive oil (or more if you want)

_4 5″ sprigs of marjoram

_Cracked pepper.

-4 garlic cloves

Cut the bread in slices and place them in the oven at 300F for 15 minutes or until golden (or desired hardness).

In the meanwhile mix the cheese with the olive oil, the cracked pepper and marjoram. Marjoram is a sweet species of oregano (Oregano majorana) and one of my favourite herbs to use when I need a delicate flavor! But you can also use other herbs depending on your preference (oregano could work well, basil too!). Reserve.

Once the bread is ready, retire and cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm. Take the garlic cloves and rub against the surface of the warm bread. The garlic will melt. Then spread the cheese on the toasts. Bring the toast as an appetizer on a bread basket.

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Rosemary chicken (c) Constanza Ehrenhaus

Rosemary chicken:

-4 Chicken breasts

-1/2 large onion

-3 garlic cloves

-5 10″ sprigs of fresh rosemary

-1 tbsp olive oil

– salt and pepper.

Chop the onion and the garlic and place on a pot with the olive oil. Cook slightly until translucent. Add the chicken breasts and seal at high heat. Then lower the fire and add 1 cup of water. Add the rosemary, salt and pepper, and cook covered for 40 minutes or until desired tenderness. When the chicken breasts are cooked, uncover and let the sauce reduce.

Serve with rice, add the reduce sauce on top of the rice and decorate with fresh rosemary.

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Black rice pudding:

I did not come up with this recipe, but I love it! So I find no need to modify it, and I just want to share it with you 🙂

I would recommend to prepare this one in advance, maybe the day before.

_1 cup of black rice

Black rice pudding (c) Constanza Ehrenhaus

_1 cup milk

_1 can unsweetened coconut milk

_6 tbsp. honey

_1 teasp vanilla extract

Simmer the black rice in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes or until the water evaporates. The rice will release a lot of black pigments and

smell great! Then add the coconut milk, the milk and the honey and let simmer for 10 more minutes. Then add the vanilla extract and simmer for 10 more minutes or until desired viscosity. Transfer to individual bowls or to a large bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

I love the nutty flavor of the black rice! It is really very unique. I’ve got people who do not like rice pudding to really like this one!

I hope you all enjoy this recipes, and you know… if you try them and like them, let me know! 😀

Recipes: Oatmeal muffins

I love baking. For someone who has always had long term goals (think years), baking is my instant gratification activity. I start baking and within an hour or two I can be enjoying the results. Baked goods are also great to bring over to someone’s home or to treat someone who is a little down. Of all the things I bake, muffins have become my standard production, and this is because they take only 20 minutes in the oven, so from the moment I walk into the kitchen until I am enjoying them it takes only 30-40 minutes! Awesome!

My husband and I have always been geared to healthy food, but as of the last year we have really pushed it a bit more and I have replaced a lot of the ingredients with healthier ones. For example, oatmeal replacing big part of the flour, the muffins are not as fluffy, but they are really tasty and they are an awesome ~200 cal snack on the go that will keep your blood sugar up for a couple of hours because of the high glycemic index of the oatmeal. These muffins have been a great success of mine and everybody loves them, if I don’t tell, they barely realize there is oatmeal there because the oats dissolve through the baking, so the muffins are soft. Let me share this recipe with you!

– 1 1/2 cup oat meal

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

– 3/4 cup flour

– 1 teaspoon baking powder

– 1/2 teaspoon salt

– 1/4 cup sugar

– 1/4 cup honey

– 3/4 cup milk

– 1/3 cup vegetable oil

– 1 egg

– goodies and spices! *

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Mix well the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Then add the honey milk and vegetable oil, beat one egg and add it to the mix. Add the goodies and spices. Mix everything until it becomes uniform and tacky.

Spray some oil in a muffin tray and fill the containers with the batter, you should get 8-10 medium size muffins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

*What about the goodies and spices? Well, that depends a lot on your taste, the possibilities are too many to list them all, but here are some examples that I use:

Brandy Apricot Oatmeal Muffins

– 1/4 cup chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla extract, all spice, rubbed sage. (The most popular ones!)

– 1/3 cup cranberries, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon zest.

– 1 pint blueberries, cinnamon, vanilla extract.

– 1 cup dried apricots that have been rehydrated in brandy (if you have porto wine all the better!), vanilla extract.

– 1 pint blackberries, sliced, cinnamon, vanilla extract.

Other things to try: Nutmeg, coriander, pepper, orange zest, cocoa, etc.