Chocolate Chip, Coconut Flour, Banana Bread

My new obsession with coconut flour is getting out of hand. I love the way such a small amount can absorb so much liquid. This fascination started when a client gave me a blueberry muffin recipe that used 6 eggs and only one cup of coconut flour, that just baffled me and so the coconut flour experiments began. (Most muffin recipes of that quantity call for 1 egg with 1 cup of flour) I have failed many times (which I will not share). My 8 month old doesn't seem to complain about eating so much coconut flour, but the toddler and my husband are over it, until now. And I love that it is gluten free, has no refined sugar (if you leave out the chocolate chips...which with a toddler in my house would never happen), and can be Paleo as well.

Chocolate Chip, Coconut Flour Banana Bread

Ingredients
3 bananas, overly ripe
1/4 cup almond butter (or peanut butter)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour (do not substitute)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with non stick cooking spray.
In a stand mixer combine bananas and almond butter with paddle attachment until well combined. Add vanilla and eggs and mix thoroughly. Add coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flax seed. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Add chocolate chips and mix by hand. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the center is set (use a toothpick and stick into center to see if it comes out clean). Let cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.

Banana Mini Muffins and a Muffin Mix

I came across a recipe the other day on superhealthykids. It is a super easy and healthy muffin mix with endless possibilities of items that can be added in. We opted to make some mini muffins with cinnamon and banana once the "Master Mix" was made.

Master Mix

• 8 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/3 cup baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup coconut oil (in the solid state)

Mix all the dry ingredients together, and then cut in the solid coconut oil as if it were shortening.  Use a food processor with pastry blade to incorporate it well into the dry ingredients.

Store your mix at room temperature or below.  Any warmer, and your coconut oil will become soft and liquid.  If you live in a very warm climate, store your mix in the fridge.

Banana Mini Muffins

·         2 1/3 cup “Master Mix”

·         1 Egg

·         1 Cup of milk (used 2%)

·         1 banana, chopped into small pieces

·         1 tsp cinnamon

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees, grease or use paper muffin liners in a 24 mini muffin tin.

Stir all ingredients together until well blended. Scoop into muffin tins and bake 10-12 minutes.

Visit superhealthykids for more mix in options.

Kale and Mini Turkey Meatball Soup

This is an easy weeknight meal that's great as leftovers for the lunch the next day too. My 2 year old who will not eat soup even ate the mini meatballs out of the bowl! You can add brown rice, pasta, quinoa or even other veggies to bulk up the soup more.

Kale and Mini Turkey Meatball Soup

Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion diced
2 carrots, pealed and cut into chunks
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1 bunch of kale, cut into pieces
salt and pepper

Turkey Meatballs

1 lb ground turkey
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
salt and pepper


In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion and carrots and saute for 5-7 minutes until onions are slightly translucent. Add tomatoes, chicken broth and kale. Mix all turkey meatball ingredients together in a bowl. Form into tbsp size meatballs and drop into soup. Bring soup to a boil and lower to a simmer. Cook 45-60 minutes on low heat.

"Healthier" Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

With some inspiration from Chocolate Covered Katie and the fact that I stumbled across coconut sugar at the grocery store today, I decided to try out these cookies. At first I wasn't sure they were blog worthy, but with lots of taste testers approving and asking for the recipe I decided to share. 

Ingredients

§  2/3 cup whole wheat flour

§  1/2 cup oats

§  1/4 tsp salt

§  1/2 tsp baking soda

§  4 tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

§  4 tbsp white sugar

§  1/2 cup chocolate chips (use mini if you can find them)

§  1 tsp pure vanilla extract

§  2 tbsp melted coconut oil (Or vegetable oil)

§  2 tsp flax seed, mixed with 2 tbsp water

§  3 tbsp milk of choice, I used 2% milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients and mix very well. Add wet ingredients, and form into a big ball, use your hands to form.  Now make cookies into tablespoon size balls. Place on silt pad or parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet. Remove and cool on cooling rack.

Easy Vegetable Fritatta

This is a great easy go to breakfast or brunch item that can be made with ingredients you may already have in your fridge. A fritatta can be so versatile in its ingredients there is no one way to make it. I have made a few different types of frittatas for company within the past few weeks and none have been with the same ingredients. Meats, vegetables and cheese are all fair game in a frittata. When choosing ingredients I would stick with about 1- 1 1/2 cups total of meat or vegetable with about 3/4 cup of cheese. For this fritatta I had some different vegetables that needed to be used up, so they ended up in this mixed vegetable fritatta. Also what makes this a great dish to serve at a brunch is that it can be eaten at room temperature, so it is one less thing that has to take up oven space right before company comes.

To see the size the vegetable should be

Mixed Vegetable Fritatta

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup diced onion

1 garlic clove, diced

1/4 cup diced red pepper

1/4 cup diced zucchini

3/4 cup baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 tbsp butter

12 eggs

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, divided

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 12 inch non stick, oven safe pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and zucchini and cook 6-7 minutes stirring occasionally so nothing sticks or burns. You want the onions to be translucent and the other vegetables to be soft, but not mushy. Add spinach and cook until wilted down. Remove vegetables from pan and place into a bowl.

While vegetables are cooking, crack 12 eggs into a blender, add 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Blend until slightly foamy, set aside.

Add butter to same pan used to cook vegetables over medium heat and move butter around to make sure the whole pan, including the sides are greased. Place cooked vegetables back in pan. Pour egg and cheese mixture into the pan and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the eggs. 

Using a spatula move eggs around pan until they start to set slightly and all the ingredients are spread out. Place the whole pan into the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes until the eggs are firm. Slide fritatta onto a plate and cut into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature. (also good cold the next day)

Potato Latkes and A Hanukkah Brunch

Our Hanukkah celebrations have drastically changed since becoming parents. We always had a family celebration, but it was always dinner, with the traditional latkes, brisket and noodle kugel sort of Hanukkah. But now, since the little ones have to be home for bed so early, we turned this years Hanukkah celebration into a brunch.

The menu still had to include latkes, but this year we added bagels, a spinach fritatta, and a pumpkin bread pudding. Maybe some of these other recipes will show up in the blog down the road, but for this second to last night of Hanukkah we will focus on latkes.

Potato Latkes

Ingredients

5 lbs potatoes, Idaho

2 onions

3/4 cup flour

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste (probably will need more than you think)

Canola Oil (lots)

Directions

Prepare the potatoes by peeling and chopping into approximately 2 inch cubes. Place the chopped potatoes into a bowl of water to help then from turning brown.

Using a food processor with the chopping blade in place, pulse the onions into small pieces. Place chopped onions into a large bowl. Change the blade on the food processor to the grating blade. Grate the potatoes in batches until complete. Add to onions and stir. Add the remainder of the ingredients through salt and pepper and mix together.

Pour canola oil into a large fry pan about 1 inch deep and heat until oil is hot, but not smoking. Measure 1/4 cup of potato mixture and squeeze out liquid as you form into a pancake. Gently place into oil and let cook until golden brown on one side. Then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side. Remove onto paper towels to let cool. Add more oil to pan as needed. 

Transfer latkes to a wire rack and keep warm in 200 degree oven. Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

Turkey Meatballs

I love this blog to be able to chronicle all my recipes, but I am not good at this whole taking pictures of my food. I just don't understand how when people are in the middle of cooking, with hands all oniony and covered in raw meat they manage to pick up the phone or camera and take step by step pictures of what they are doing. Maybe it is just because I am always pressed for time when cooking, mostly during nap time or the one episode of whatever TV show my son is watching, but I can barely manage to take one picture of the finished product. 

With that being said, here is my best attempt at what I was able to capture....all with my phone. The nice camera was coming no where near my turkey covered hands.

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small (8oz) can tomato paste

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (15oz) can diced or crushed tomatoes

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

Salt and Pepper to taste

Meatballs Ingredients

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 onion, grated

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/4 lb ground turkey thigh

Directions

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large (better for it to be wide, not deep) pot. Add onion and garlic, stirring to make sure they don't burn, but turn translucent in color, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir to melt the paste slightly. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Bring sauce to a boil and lower to a simmer and cover while you prepare the meatballs.

Mix together all meatball ingredients and form into golf ball size meatballs. Drop the raw meatball into the sauce. Simmer, covered for at least 1 hour, but longer helps develop more flavor (I usually cook them about 2-3 hours)

Serve with or without spaghetti. These also freeze great.