Hulk Cereal and Bar option

Today I gave the sons some trail mix as breakfast cereal, with coconut milk and blueberries on top. My eldest asked for more about five minutes after I told him that was all he would get (it was a lot!) I explained to him that the cereal had lots and lots of energy (calories- I am not afraid of calories, but I believe they should not be ignored completely) in it and he said "like the Hulk has lots and lots of energy?" I told him yes, it was the kind of cereal the Hulk would eat since it had so much energy in it. I offered a mandarin or some carrots if he was still hungry and he declined. 

What I put in our "Hulk" cereal:

*Dry roasted salted almonds (from Trader Joe's)

*Roasted and salted shelled sunflower seeds (also from TJ's)

*Coconut flakes (from the bulk bags at Natural Grocers) 

*Generous handful of chocolate chunks (once again, from TJ's)

For the proportions, I probably used an equal weight of almonds and coconut flakes, with a little less sunflower seeds. I just rolled and shook the mix around in a sealed jar. You can eat it dry or turn it into Hulk cereal with a bit of milk! You could even soak it overnight in yogurt or kefir for some grain-free muesli.  

You can sub out the chocolate for raisins, diced apricots, banana chips or even pecans or walnuts. It is a versatile type of thing.  Yummy, very filling and energy dense, to keep those little Hulks going full power until lunch! 

Recipe option: taking the mix, slowly add some type of liquid sweetening syrup and/or plant protein butter until it holds together. Press into a parchment lined pan with some overhanging on the sides and bake on 250 F for 25-30 minutes (or use a food dehydrator after shaping in a pan, but it may take longer). Be careful not to burn! Cool and cut into bigger bars for meals and smaller bars for snacks on the go. 

Spicy Yellow Hot Chocolate

This is a part-immunity, part-pleasure recipe. I adapted this from an MDA post on turmeric tea.
It is intensely spicy, but worth a try if you start coming down with a cold or an illness and can drink.

6 oz light coconut milk (can use full fat, but light is what this recipe is based on, as it is what I had on hand)
10 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 square of baker's unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp Grated fresh ginger (works best if ginger is frozen and use a grater on it straight from the freezer)
1/2 tsp Cracked black pepper corns
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (or steep a stick in milks while heating)
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Pinch of ground cayenne
Stevia to sweeten, to taste (I do not use honey as the sugars can depress the immune response when you are already down).
Water to thin as desired.

Combine all the ingredients on stovetop in a pan, simmer and occasionally whisk for 5-10 minutes, taking care not to let chocolate burn.

Apple Pie Shortbread

As you can guess from the name, this is a recipe for flavored shortbread, this one being apple pie. I adapted the recipe from the Joyful Abode food blog, which was a regular almond flour shortbread recipe.

You will need:
2 cups blanched almond flour
5 TBSP salted butter
1 TBSP coconut oil
.5 cups natural apple sauce
Pinch of stevia crystals
Apple pie spices ( to taste. I ended up not measuring mine at all).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter and coconut oil in a skillet, adding apple sauce, stevia and spices. Cook some of the water out of the pan while stirring regularly, about 5-10 minutes. Scrape into the bowl of almond flour, and combine well. Press into an ungreased pie pan, poke well with a fork all around and bake for 15-20 minutes, until browned around the edges. Let shortbread cool completely before cutting or it will fall apart. Makes 12 servings.

Ribs in the Oven

I wanted to continue using up all the meat in our deep freezer, so next in line were a couple pounds of country style pork ribs. Perhaps it is not an original concoction, but a variation on delicious rib cooking.

What you need to make them awesome like I did:
2-3 lbs country style pork ribs
.25-.5 cups BBQ sauce
Can of lager
Garlic to taste (minced or powder)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 F. Add ribs to a roasting pan, spreading on BBQ sauce and seasonings. Pour lager on ribs, and place lid on pan. Bake for an hour, then turn the oven temp down to 250 F for two additional hours. I happened to have a can of Yuengling in the fridge, so I figured it was as good as any, if not very tasty on it's own. ;)
Ribs were successful- I will be making them again this way.

Sweet Potato Waffles

Waffle irons are great! I love how they nicely put orderly and symmetrical miniature squares into food, while cooking from both sides. That is, regular waffle irons. We had a Bugs Bunny novelty waffle iron, and everything that came out of it was flat. No fluff anywhere! Not at all as I imagined Bugs Bunny being like in real life, unless he became roadkill. So I got rid of it-good riddance. Last night my MIL gave me their old waffle iron (they had replaced it with a belgian-style iron), after I mentioned that I needed to look into getting a normal one. I was very excited, and these are the result of my first adventure with a regular waffle iron.

These sweet potato waffles are good. I topped them with butter and cinnamon for the boys this morning, but my imagination is running wild with many variations.

1 med sweet potato, peeled and shredded (use larger shred size if choice between two)
4 eggs
1.5 TBSP coconut flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
Dash salt

Grease and preheat you waffle iron.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl- batter should be a little wet, but not swimming.
Spoon into waffle iron. Cook for four minutes, or until slightly browned.

*A future variation I'm going to try will be with pumpkin pie spices and topped with freshly whipped cream, chopped bacon and sprinkled with cinammon and nuts. "Oh yeah!" (Think Kool-Aid guy)      ;o)

Watermelon smoothies

This is super easy! No recipe even needed, but I figured since the children enjoyed the smoothies so much, I'd post about them anyway.
*You can get light coconut milk from Trader Joe's for $.99, in bpa free cans. I just bulk it up with heavy cream, or sometimes even make my own coconut milk.

Food items suggested:
3 cups watermelon (or any melon/ fruit)
1 15oz can coconut milk (can use full fat or light. Make sure to shake it before opening!)
1/3 cup heavy cream (omit for dairy free, and use while can of coconut milk).

Method:
Chop watermelon into bite size pieces and freeze. After frozen, stick into a blender with heavy cream and 1/4 can of coconut milk, adding more a little at a time until blender works it in and is running smoothly.

*If you do not care for coconut milk, you can substitute unsweetened almond milk or your preference, but make sure to balance it out with more heavy cream for a fuller and more satiating treat. Same thing goes if you want to omit heavy cream. Add almond or other milk to get blender running smoothie-ly. ;o)

Vanilla Maple Custard

You will need a water bath in the oven for this recipe. I like to put my ceramic bowl that the custard will be baked in into the corning ware dish, as I fill it with water, for water displacement. I also leave the water bath in the oven as it preheats (not sure if this is a normal practice, but it makes sense to me).

Foods for assembling:
1.5 cups whole milk
.5 cups heavy cream
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP pure maple syrup
.5-.75 tsp pure stevia crystals ( I like Trader Joe's brand-they taste the least bitter to me).
Dash salt (I use Himilayan Pink Sea Salt).

Method:
Make your water bath before you begin, preheating it in the oven at 350 F.
Start recipe by heating milk and cream together on stove top at medium heat, whisking occasionally as you go.When slightly boiling and climbing sides of pan or milk rises a little in the middle, turn off and let cool. Skim any skin that forms as it cools (and eat! Cooked milk is yummy...).
Next, while waiting for milk to cook/cool, beat eggs, stevia, salt and vanilla together in a ceramic or oven safe dish (may also use individual custard cups for fancier presentation). Once you are able to stick your finger into the hot milk without getting too badly burned, add a little to the egg mixture, whisking as it streams in(trying to temper eggs a bit-about half a cup milk).  Then add the rest of milk/cream. After that, then whisk in maple syrup.
Place dish(es) into hot oven water bath. Bake for about 20-25 minutes before checking doneness with a butter knife at center. May need a few more minutes if knife doesn't come out cleanly. You can also choose to shut oven off after 20 minutes, leaving custard to cook in residual heat, if desired (woo-hoo! Power saver!) If you do this, let it sit an additional 30 minutes in oven.
Can eat custard hot, cold, for breakfast, for dessert, snack, let a puppy lick it off your toddler's face, etc. I ate mine after lifting weights this afternoon- garnished with Vietnamese cinnamon, nutmeg and raw cream.
Super yum.
P.S. I doubled my recipe and adjusted cook time accordingly, letting it rest in the oven longer.