Cherry Chocolate Chia Pudding

This is probably my favorite healthy dessert.  The original recipe, which I've barely personalized, comes from Dr. Michael Greger's How Not to Die Cookbook.  The link above includes an error in the amount of berries.  The version in the book calls for 500% more berries and, as I've made this many times now, I am confident the book version is correct.  Sometimes I double this recipe to use a whole avocado (and because I can eat a lot of this), but it's hard to fit that much in a Vitamix blender or any container I own.

Ingredients
1/2 ripe Haas avocado
1 1/4 cup pitted sweet dark cherries (I get them from the freezer section)
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbs almond butter
1/2 cup date syrup (This syrup is another HNTD recipe -- 1 cup pitted dates soaked in 1 cup hot water for 1 hour, then blend on high speed with 1 tsp pureed lemon.)
1 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup chia seeds

Directions 

1) Combine everything but chia seeds in high speed blender and blend smooth.

2) Stir in chia seeds by hand.

3) Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving.


To Make Fudgsicles:

1) Omit chia seeds.  Combine everything in high speed blender until smooth.

2) Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

Tropical Kale Smoothie

I've been making this for breakfast pretty much everyday for awhile now.  I put any leftovers in the fridge until lunch.  It's better tasting than the spinach smoothie that tastes like banana bread, and it has more calcium on account of the kale.  The original recipe is from thedailymeal.com.  I've made a few changes in mine, mostly to increase calcium because my intake was a little low. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 2 tsp hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup rolled oats (optional, but it helps me feel full a little longer)
• 1 - 2 cups frozen kale (I use curly green kale -- I de-spine and wash it when I first buy it and toss it in a bag in the freezer to use whenever -- the freezing process also kills a lot of the flavor, so it's kind of gross if you don't freeze the kale)
• ½ cup pineapple (I use canned chunks in their own juice)
• ½ cup frozen mango 
• 1 frozen banana   

Directions

1. Add ingredients to blender in order listed above (they blend up easier if the liquids are closest to the blade).  Blend until smooth, and serve.

Banana-Oatmeal Muffins -- 1st Attempt

This is my first recorded attempt at no-sugar, no-oil, vegan, 100% whole grain banana muffins.  I recall doing something of this sort last year in bread loaf form, but I can't find written evidence, so I don't know what recipe I used.  I just remember the flavor was good but it turned out a bit too wet from all the banana and didn't cook all the way through, which is why I'm making muffins this time.  It's also why I wanted to include rolled oats -- it seemed like they might hold things together as they hydrate and make the bread chewier and less dense.  If they still sort of fall apart, I'm going to try adding 1/4 cup wheat bran next time.  If they need to be sweeter, I think I'll have to add chopped dates or raw date syrup because they are significantly sweeter than bananas.  If they are too dry, I'll just add more bananas (or date syrup).  I tasted the batter before baking, and it seemed to have a slightly bitter aftertaste.  I think next time I'll reduce the baking powder to 1 tsp (and remember the baking soda).

I used this recipe from Saveur for an idea of dry measurements, but it was still kind of a crap shoot since I'm not using sugar or butter or eggs.

They just came out of the oven and are weirdly lumpy, though I'm not sure if that's because of the rolled oats or the lack of baking soda.  I'll post a verdict and outline plans for my second attempt after they're cool enough to taste.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda (which I just realized I forgot to include in the muffin batter -- I'm guessing this will make them denser than they would have been otherwise...?)
1/4 tsp salt
5 large bananas (why five?  because I had six overripe bananas on my kitchen counter, and one appeared to have gone bad)
2 tbs flaxseed meal
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with muffin cups.

2. Use a standing mixer (or very forceful arm) to beat bananas into mostly-liquid form.  Add flaxseed meal and vanilla.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add to wet ingredients and stir until just incorporated.

4.  Fold in rolled oats and walnuts.  Scoop into muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.

[Edited 1/20/2015: These were surprisingly not bad.  The flavor was pretty good, obviously not as sweet as most muffins, but I will easily finish off the batch.  The texture was better than I've had with oil-free baking; I think the oatmeal helped a lot.  Next time I'm going to use six bananas for the added moisture plus sweetener, remember to include the baking soda, and reduce the baking powder to 2 tsp.  I don't think the kind of nuts used matters that much, but I do think their inclusion is vital to the semblance of normal texture.]

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars

I saw some pumpkin spice granola at Trader Joe's last week and thought, "I could make that."  I glanced at the ingredients section and came home and made this.  I am very proud of it because it's pretty tasty and incredibly healthy.  It seems to be Simran's new favorite thing, and it's sweet and chewy enough that you can't really tell there is no sugar or oil.

Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
14 oz. pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, just the pumpkin part)
15 medjool dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. 

3. Toast sesame seeds and chopped pecans in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Make sure to keep them moving so they don't burn.  When they start to smell toasty (1-2 minutes), remove from heat.

4. If you have a high-speed blender, I recommend putting the pumpkin puree and pitted dates and vanilla in it and blending them up.  If not, chop the dates as finely as you can and add them to the puree and vanilla.

5. Combine rolled oats, nuts, salt, and spices in a large bowl.  Add pumpkin mixture, and stir in raisins.

6. Pour granola into prepared baking pan and smooth out evenly.  Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.  Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Green Monster

Simran has enjoyed smoothie recipes from OhSheGlows.com before, and I've been trying to come up with more ways to offer her green veggies, so tomorrow I plan to make her a classic green monster.  We have a couple handfuls of fresh baby spinach leftover from dinner tonight, so it's just the right amount to use up on this recipe. 

If I serve it in a proper glass with a straw and perpetually caution her not to spill it all over herself, I think she'll get excited enough to try it.  I like that it works for breakfast and snack time too.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
• 1 ripe banana, peeled and frozen overnight
• 2 handfuls organic spinach or 1 handful destemmed kale leaves
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds OR ground flax
• 1 tablespoon almond or peanut butter (optional)
• 2-4 ice cubes, as desired
• dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

Cranberry Waldorf Salad

I've been making this recipe for holidays for nearly a decade now.  It's healthy and tasty, and I usually eat the leftovers for lunch and snacks until they're all gone.  I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped cranberries (I've had best results by freezing cranberries, then quartering them.  Food processing releases juice and makes them sourer.)
1 cup chopped red apple
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbs white sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (6 - 8 oz.) container vanilla low-fat yogurt

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine cranberries, apple, celery, grapes, raisins, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and yogurt. Toss to coat. Cover, and chill 2 hours. Stir just before serving.

Festive Fruited Yams

This recipe comes from Neal Barnard's The Cancer Survivor's Guide.  

Ingredients
4 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large green apple, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh cranberries, or 1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbs sugar or other sweetener
1/2 cup orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the yams in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Top with the apple, cranberries, and raisins. Sprinkle with the sugar, and pour the orange juice over all.  Cover and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the yams are tender when pierced with a fork.

3. Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator, leftover Festive Fruited Yams will keep for up to 3 days.

Cherry Sorbet

I started making whole fruit sorbet a couple of years ago for when I want to gorge on something sweet without consuming a ton of fat or sugar, and I just recently discovered my favorite version -- cherry.  While I'm not a fan of most cherry candies because of their tendency to taste like medicine, I love actual sweet cherries, and that's pretty much what this sorbet tastes like because that's pretty much what it is.

Ingredients
1 16 oz. bag frozen dark sweet cherries (Whole Foods carries these.)
1 banana, frozen (I originally said "fresh or frozen," but having made this now with a fresh one, I realize I was wrong.)

Directions

1. Put the cherries and peeled banana in a blender.  If you let them thaw a few minutes, they won't be so much trouble to blend.

2. Blend cherries and banana until smooth.  Push down with a spoon or other pushing implement as necessary (not your hand!).  Serve immediately, or keep chilled in fridge for up to a couple of hours.  (Refreezing adversely affects both the texture and flavor, so I don't recommend making this too far in advance.)

Baby's Easy Fruit Sauce

Simran is accustomed to eating a lot of fruit-based baby foods.  She loves anything sweet, so I mix some into her morning oatmeal and she eats jars of the stuff straight at lunch and dinner.  Now that she likes chunky foods and doesn't need everything she eats to be strained through a sieve, I've taken to making most of her fruits myself.  I'm not sure how much cheaper it is, but at least I don't have to move all those tiny jars from the shelf to my shopping cart to the checkout belt anymore.  I hated doing that.  Amounts below are approximations.  I always make a huge amount of fruit sauce at once -- like a 10 oz. bag of frozen fruit worth -- and freeze it again in tiny containers until I need it.  You can save freezer space by not adding the applesauce until you're serving everything.

Ingredients
1 ripe banana OR 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I prefer organic)
1 cup frozen fruit of your choice (I just buy every organic frozen fruit I can find)

Directions

1. Thaw the frozen fruit.  You can run the bag under warm water, or just leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Put thawed frozen fruit -- and banana, if you are using one -- in a blender and puree until smooth.

3. If you are using applesauce instead of a banana, add the applesauce now.

4. Taste for sweetness.  If it's too tart, add more applesauce or pureed banana until it tastes good.

Here are some blends I recommend (I stole most of these ideas from Earth's Best brand baby food):
raspberry + peach + banana
mango + applesauce
blueberry + applesauce
blackberry + applesauce
strawberry + banana

Whole Fruit Sorbet

I don't remember where I first read the idea to blend frozen bananas and eat them like ice cream, but it works really well.  You get the sweetness of the bananas but you also get all the fiber and nutrition, with none of the added sugar or fat of ice cream.  It's nice if you want to binge on something sweet without worrying about weight gain.  Sameer and I like to use frozen strawberries, ripe bananas, and just enough "Very Vanilla" Silk brand soy milk to make the blender function.  Even my BFF Jackie, who hates fruit, loves that.

In honor of Simran's first Valentine's Day, I'm making a sorbet based on one of her baby foods:  Banana Peach Raspberry whole fruit sorbet.  It should be a pretty pink color and will be a dessert even Sophie (the dog) can enjoy since it's nothing but fruit.  I found organic peaches and raspberries in the frozen foods section at the grocery store, so I'll be using those.  I plan to thaw them in the fridge overnight, puree everything, and then run it through the ice cream maker.  It's more work than the just-blend-frozen-fruit method, but it should make for a smoother, more baby-friendly consistency.

Ingredients
2 cups peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries (I originally said 2 cups, but after making this a few times, I find it's better with significantly less.)
4 medium ripe bananas (the riper the better, as long as they aren't rotten -- it makes them more sugary and less starchy -- if you ever have bananas that are riper than you care to eat, instead of just throwing them away, peel them and put them in a sealed container in the freezer to use in this recipe later.  FYI: Frozen bananas will look completely disgusting, as do bananas put in the refrigerator, but they are still good and have the perfect consistency to make into other things.)
Alternately, use any fruits you want.  The inclusion of bananas helps make it creamy, sweet, and mild.  Straight berries might be a little too intense.

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until blended thoroughly.

2. Place fruit blend in an ice cream maker and run it according to the machine's instructions.  For a soft-serve consistency, serve immediately.  For a harder sorbet, put in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 24 hours before serving.

[Edited 5/29/13:  This stuff is fantastic.  However, Simran prefers her sorbet completely melted, possibly because the speed at which she likes to eat it can induce ice cream headache.]

Candied Pears

Grandma Franklin, my mother's mother, used to make this dish for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.  She called them "spiced pears," but their flavor comes more from candies than from spices, so I've amended the name over time.  These pears were always a favorite of my brother's and mine, and I remember calling my grandmother and asking for the recipe in 2004 and 2005, when Sameer and I started spending the holidays together and I hadn't yet bothered writing down any recipes I used.

Please note all amounts listed below are approximations. You can vary them wildly and it shouldn't matter too much.

Ingredients
1 (28 oz.) can pear halves in heavy syrup
1 (10 oz.) jar maraschino cherries (without stems)
1 cup maraschino cherry syrup (not the same as grenadine, which is pomegranate syrup -- you can typically find maraschino cherry syrup with either sundae toppings or drink mixers at the grocery store)
12-15 Red Hot candies (If you can't find Red Hots, you can substitute other less potent cinnamon candies such as Hot Tamales and just use more.)
7 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

Directions
1. Combine a few of the maraschino cherries (smushed to release their juices), all of their liquid from the jar, the additional cup of maraschino cherry syrup, Red Hots, cloves, and cinnamon stick in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Simmer syrup, mashing Red Hots with a spoon until they have almost completely dissolved, about 7 minutes (I'm making that number up -- it could be anywhere between 5 and 15 -- I've never watched the clock while doing this.)
3. While syrup is simmering, drain the pears and put them in a heat-proof container just large enough to hold them all (your goal is for as much of the pears to end up submerged in syrup as possible).
4. Remove syrup from heat and strain through a sieve into the dish with the pears. (The sieve keeps out the tiny un-melted candy bits, as well as the cloves and cinnamon stick.  You can make do without it, but I'd hate to have to.  Rinse your sieve immediately after using it, before the syrup dries into all the tiny holes and becomes difficult to clean.)  Add most of the remaining maraschino cherries to your pears, seal container, and refrigerate until cooled.  These pears are best made up to 5 days in advance.