Squeaky Gourmet

The heavens looked down on the fudge and it was a good thing. (Do you have to actually pay Martha Stewart when you use that term?) No matter where I set this fudge the sunshine would wrap around it and glisten as if the sky itself wanted to taste the goodness of this treat.  If you tasted it, you would understand why as well! This is why I am sharing with you the recipe, as I am a foodie evangelist sharing with all of you through the monitor just how you can have healthy food and once in a while a fabulous treat that will cause you zero guilt.  Please note, I said once in a while treat, not that you can eat this treat while on the treadmill thinking somehow it will be the miracle food that will lean you out while you dine on it’s delight. It won’t–it is in the class of junk food that is not poison, how is that? However, if given a list of foods to purchase that are junk, this would never be on it. This is right up there with granolas and whole grain breads–but it has chocolate in it! I mean–look at it! YUM! It was also kid tested and very–very approved!

So–let’s get on with it, shall we?

What the Fudge
1 cup natural peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
1 cup local honey*
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1 cup organic cocoa powder

Step 1: Heat the honey on medium heat for about 5 minutes then add peanut butter and mix in really well.  You can see in the first image here it is still separate, the honey and peanut butter are just swirling around each other not totally in love as of yet. So–keep mixing till it looks like the next image.

See how it is creamy and thick and rich looking in this second image–make it look like this.  This is the foundation of the fudge and making sure you cook it while doing this and stirring it until it is emulsified will give you that chewy texture that feels so good in your mouth!

Step 2: While still cooking stir in the cocoa powder until completely blended.  It looks good, doesn’t it? Well, do not sample it, it is HOT!

Step 3: Remove from heat and stir in the seeds–you have to fold them in really as mixing is very difficult to do at this point.  Once again, I want to remind you that this is hot…hot hot hot. (OK so I burned myself trying it, can you tell?) Press this seed mixture into a lightly greased pan and slice up while still warm into 1″ cubes. This really should be step 4 but I did not get a picture–you know, because I burned myself and was all preoccupied.

Other good ideas:

–Add some dried fruits like cherries
–Add in different seeds like sesame or some chopped nuts

Sometimes I just go to the store with absolutely no planning involved. Well, I PLAN to go to the store but I am, on occasion, shopping on a whim. Yesterday was one of those days. I had been reading about protein bars and how to make them, comparing ingredients in power bars, kashi bars and thinking about my gluten free life and seeing how I could put that all together. I guess it would be similar to when I am drawing or doing a creative writing project. The food items are the canvas and tools and it is up to them to come together to be something–I just hope it is something palatable!

In the organic whole food section of the store I purchased dates, almonds, dried coconut, dried cranberries, and more gluten free oats. At home I knew I had this protein powder in the pantry that was really unfriendly in most of the recipes I had tried with it. I guess I am not a banana creme lover after all–don’t tell the monkeys.

So, back at home I go–ingredients in the car and ideas in my head. First I knew I wanted to soak the almonds, oats and dates. The oats to remove some sort of acid a friendly blogger mentioned to me–what acid it was–no idea (details escape my ADHD brain). Perhaps she will be kind enough to chime in to remind me! I had to soak the dates to make them easier to use as a paste and the almonds were to be soaked to make them less flavorful–ok, just kidding, I soaked the nuts because it is the thing to do! ( I forgot why)

I am super glad I did soak all of them because the results were a benefit to the end results. The oats with the dates made a fantastic paste that just blended so well together. The soaked almonds added a different texture to the end result that made it feel more earth like and natural, more wholesome. I liked it! I soaked them all for 30 minutes, however, the dates were soaked in hot water, nuts and oats in cold water.

After the soaking and draining, I removed the pits from the dates and added those along with the soaked oats to the hand blender blender. (Dear Santa if you can see this, please may I have a food processor for the holidays?)The oats were really in no need of draining as they plumped right up and absorbed more water than I thought they even would! Once these were fully blended into a paste I added that paste to the stand mixer. I tossed in some dried cranberries, some dried unsweetened coconut and an egg and let that blend together.

While that was mixing I took out my handy dandy coffee grinder (which has never seen a coffee bean) and ground up those soaked almonds into a chucky meal of sorts. You can see how there are still considerable chunks in the grinder along with tiny little almond fragments. I added this right into the stand mixer as well. Then I threw in the protein powder and some cinnamon then watched as it made the dough. I was apprehensive and curious–like a mad scientist waiting to see if the creature would live. I thought about short circuiting the outlet to give the bowl a charge but thought better of it. I then remembered to add some xanthan gum to the batch to make sure once it was baked it would still all be as one versus a bunch of weird lumps of granola or something.

I lightly greased a pie pan ( do not use a pie pan, use a 9×9 pan) I dumped my new creation into the pan. You can click the image of the blob to see what it looks like. Very, um, blob like with lumps of goodies poking out. I then wet my hands (if you cook gluten free you should know this trick) and began smoothing out the dough with my wet hands. Wet hands do not get the dough stuck to them. Nifty, right?

I then took the pan and placed it in the oven and laughed maniacally while rubbing my hands together. I was alone in the house so this was OK behavior. I baked this for 35 minutes, until the edges were brown and the top golden. When I sliced this up and took some out I thought–hey these look like Biscotti! So, I plated some and took some pictures and then threw them onto a non-stick pan and placed them back in the oven to toast them up.

You could certainly serve these after the first baking, they smelled so wonderful and had great texture–chewy and crunchy. I just wanted to see what they would do if I baked them again. I left them in for 25 minutes with the oven still on 350 degrees and checked them for burning while they cooked.

I was very pleased with the end result, as were the kids and the hubby. This is a keeper for sure and I will be making these in batches to freeze for breakfast bars. These will now be a part of a healthy breakfast in our New Hampshire home!

Biscotti Protein Bars
serves 9
13 whole dates
1 cup oats
1 1/2 cups protein powder
1 cup raw almonds
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 large egg
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 TBL cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Calories Per 2 cookies-360
Fat- 14 grams
Carbohydrates- 30 grams
Fiber- 7 grams
Protein – 32 grams

In the winter I love to bake things that warm the house, create an atmosphere with the aroma and of course won’t cause the waistline to increase like Jolly Ol’ St. Nicks. Granted it is not winter in New Hampshire yet–she is working her cold way here! This past weekend I had all the kids home while my husband was out hunting and I thought–wow cinnamon buns would be so good right now. So I dug through the pantry to see what I could workout. I had some Red Mills bread mix–gluten free whole grain. I had ordered some a while ago to try out but did not like the denseness of the bread in loaf form. I figured I would give it a whirl as a baked pastry and was very happy with the results! You of course do not need to use a prepackaged bread mix–any of your favorite gluten free bread recipes will work!

Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Buns
serves 12
1 batch of raw GF bread dough + 1 tsp cinnamon added to the dough & 2 tsp vanilla
2 apples washed and chopped
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbls Agave Nectar
1 tsp salt
Topping- 8 ounces Greek yogurt I used no fat vanilla.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees slightly grease a baking dish–I used butter as really it is a scant amount but does add a flavor to the finished product. Add diced apples, cinnamon,vanilla, agave nectar, salt and cinnamon to a bowl and mix. The salt really allows the apples to “sweat it out” and adds a unique twist to the bun when finished. Since this is a lower in fat (naturally) as well as low in sugar recipe–the salt balances out what your taste buds may otherwise feel is missing.Set apples aside. Fill a 1/4 measuring cup about 2/3 full with the bread dough and place in your baking pan–repeat to make sure you have 12 even sized raw lumps of dough.

Next wet a wooden spoon and press out a center for the apples to be placed in the buns. The wet spoon prevents the batter from adhering to the spoon and smooths the dough out perfectly.

After the bread “bowl” is created you want to fill it with the apple mix. After filling all 12 buns you want to cover this and set in a warm area and allow to rise till about double in size–this takes about 45 minutes. I just cover mine and set them on the stove top while the oven preheats. Of course since it takes so long to rise–feel free to toss some potatoes into the oven to bake for your meals later in the day!

You can see here how much the dough has risen–air pockets can be seen and the dough has a “puffy” look to it. Perfect! Go ahead now and place these in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until they are golden brown on the tops and edges.

These were served with warm so the vanilla yogurt really just melted and filled all the crevices. The apples were caramel like in texture and really flavor filled!

Calories Per Bun- 170
Carbohydrates- 36
Fiber-6 grams
Fat-6 grams
Protein- 2 grams

Other Good Ideas:
–bake large batches for bake sales and to bring to holiday events
–double the batch and freeze half of them so you can pop them in the oven without waiting for all the work to be done.
–try pumpkin filling instead of apples

Just for kicks there are 309 calories in a traditional cinnamon bun with 13 grams of fat, 42 grams of carbs with 2 grams fiber, and 5 grams protein. So we just about halved the calories and added in some more fiber and less fat and carbohydrates.

Sweet Crisps–yummy! I found a version of these while surfing sweet potato recipes on Epicurious. These were chewy and crunchy and reminded me of the home-fried potato patties I would eat as a little girl. Only–these are better for you. Making these by hand proved to be more tedious than I would have expected–so if you have a hand grater–please note you will be adding some good muscular work to your dinner preparation. You will be finely grating 2 good sized sweet potatoes–which sounds easy–but I have 4 words that make it difficult for me A-D-H-D. While I was shredding them my mind wanted me to check my email, go fold laundry, look out the window, check the sale status of our books, water plants, reorganize closets–you get the picture, and if you do not–then you probably also have ADHD and are now checking your email because I suggested it to you!

So, I of course enlisted a bit more help with the grating of the tuber–in the form of my lovely assistant and 7 year old daughter. She was once again super excited to help out and to know she would be added to the Squeaky Gourmet blog–special thanks to her as she kept me more focused on the task at hand!

Next you have to squeeze out the juice of the potato, now I was thinking it would be pretty basic as they seem to be pretty dry root vegetables–wrong! I did use the screen I have for making Greek yogurt and it was an easy task as well as fascinating that it holds as much water as it does. No wonder these are so good for you! Side point, also interesting, when you poor out the liquid oyu are left with what looks like wet corn starch. OK, yes it is potato starch–I was fascinated. This picture shows the amount of liquid in one potato–just under 1/4 cup! Crazy–so now we have worked out arms and our grip strength in just making this appetizer/side dish. It is like chopping firewood since it warms you twice, good for the body to prepare and to consume!

After you squeeze out the juice they look like chewed up paper, lacking the life luster they held prior to the abuse they underwent to get to this state. Poor cousin to Mr. Potato!

Ok so let’s assemble this mess into the glorious snack delight they are destined to become!

Sweet Potato Crisps
makes about a dozen
2 medium sized sweet potatoes–peeled shredded and water forced out
1 ounce Romano cheese –shredded
1 ounce Parmesan cheese–shredded
1 egg white
2 tsp fresh sage chopped finely

Heat oven to 425 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients together and form them into 2″ diameter circles onto the parchment paper. ( I had no parchment paper for making mine so I oiled the pan with 1tsp olive oil)

Cook until the edges are browned and they are a deep orange in colors–about 15 minutes. Serve Warm!

Calories Per Crisp
Calories: 48
Carbohydrates- 6 grams
Fat- 1 gram
Protein- 2 grams

Other good ideas:
–add different spices garlic, lemon you name it you try it!
– use as an appetizer for a party

also, if you click any image in this blog you will explode–err I mean you can see a larger size of the images shared.

This post is now part of Real Food Wednesdays–check it out!

Apples are yummy this time of year. You can find fresh apples in every store as well as the opportunity to go pick apples right from the tree around NH right now. How many recipes can you think of for apples? How many are healthy? Ok probably a lot, right? Well, this one is so easy and so versatile! I like to make mine over a bonfire or campfire but you can make them right in the oven as well. All you need is fresh apples, some honey and some raw sugar–oh and a source of heat!

First you want to wash the apples and make sure they are free from inhabitants–of course the marketplace should have already done that for you but if you picked your own you may want to double check. After washing them you can place them onto your roasting stick–look for a good thick stick because apples do outweigh marshmallows. You want to keep it out of the actual fire so you are not just creating apple coals, roll the apple slowly in the heat of the flames.

Once you see the skin begin to crack and the apple juice bubbling out you know the apple is ready!

Roasted Apples
Serves 2
1 tbls raw honey
1 tsp raw sugar
2 pinches Apple Pie Spice

In a small bowl add honey and sugar along with apple pie spice, or cinnamon and nutmeg, or even pumpkin pie spice–whatever spices you like–heck add in a small pinch of cayenne pepper spice for something totally delicious and different.

Place your very hot apple onto a plate (use caution, please note I said VERY HOT) and then spoon the spiced honey mixture onto the top center of the apple and allow it to melt with the heat of the fruit until it coats almost the entire apple.
Share with a friend!

You can bake the apples in an over, without the seasoning , at about 350 degrees. Once the apples are done the skin will begin to wrinkle ad pop and juice will bubble out, remove from the over. Then apple the topping as directed above.

There are really tasty and warming to the soul as well as the belly!

It is officially fall–leaves are changing, weather is cooling down and the days are shorter. So, to celebrate, lets bake some cookies! Apple spice cookies with oatmeal just screams fall to me, really I can hear it, can’t you? Oh, and of course these are gluten free!!

Apple Spice Cookies
1 dozen
1/4 cup fresh butter
2 cups fresh apple sauce
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raw sugar

1 cup GF flour mix*
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. In a bowl add all the wet ingredients and blend using an electric mixer until the mixture is fully blended. In a separate bowl add all the dry ingredients together and mix well. Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix blending on medium speed until it is all the dry is added and well mixed.
Place large spoon fulls on cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until the edges are browned.

* you can use whole wheat flour if you do not need gluten free cookies

Other Good Ideas:
–add in nuts
–add in dried fruit
–make extra because these are really good

Calories per Cookie- 164
Fat- 5 grams
Carbohydrate- 26 grams
Fiber- 3 grams
Protein- 4 grams

Check out More Real food!

Now for a vegetable you rarely see in your local grocery, kohlrabi. This vegetable is in the cabbage family but really has a mild flavor and is really crunchy. I usually eat them raw but thought this would be fun. Hopefully you can find some at your local Farmer’s market.

Kohlrabi Quick Pickles

3-4 peeled and sliced kohlrabi

2 t pickling salt

Combine the kohlrabi and the salt in a bowl and let sit out for 1 hour. Now drain and put in a quart jar or something similar.

In a small pot combine-

1 c water

1 c seasoned rice wine vinegar

3 t chopped garlic

Zest from 1 lemon

2 T sugar

1 t coarse ground black pepper

½ t crushed red pepper flakes

1 small slice peeled fresh ginger

Bring to a boil and then pour over the drained vegetables. Let cool then refrigerate for 3 days before serving. These will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. These are crunchy, fresh and gingery.

My garden is now overflowing with fresh produce but the nights are getting cooler and we have come close to a frosty night a couple of times all ready. So with that being said, I am starting to think of new things to do with all of this produce besides sell it Saturday mornings at the local Farmer’s Market. I live in a rural community which values the availability of fresh produce. People around here really do a lot of canning and preserving. It’s impressive really, this is my first summer to try my hand at any sort of pickles but I’m pretty happy with the quick ones I did so I know you will like them too. I mean, what better way to insure you are giving your family the best produce into the winter months but to ‘put it up’ (preserve, pickle, can….) yourself.

If you don’t all ready eat beets, please try them. These are by far my favorite vegetable so if you haven’t tried a fresh boiled or roasted beet in ages, DO.

Here is another good thing to do with beets and it’s easy and really pretty.

Simple Marinated Beet Salad

5 medium sized whole beets

Clean the beets and put them to boil in a large pot of water until they are fork tender. This takes about 25-30 minutes for 2” beets.

When the beets are done, drain and run under cool water until they are cool enough to handle. Hold a beet in your hand and squeeze the skin off. It peels off very easy and is fun to do. Slice the beets into thin slices and put into a med sized bowl.

½ of a sweet onion – sliced thinly

3 T olive oil

5 T cider vinegar

Pinch sea salt

Pepper to taste

½ t Dijon mustard

Combine everything in with the beets and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Ok I have heard the hype about the black bean brownies. There are recipes all over the internet about this “secret ingredient” brownie. All have declared it delicious, amazing, rich, glorious–I do not need to go on, right? We all know how people describe chocolate and frankly, it is a little embarrassing!

Though in my desire to open the door of gluten free possibilities to my daughter I decided –Why Not, let’s give this brownie a go!

Black Brownie
serves 12
modified from Whole Foods Black Bean Brownie
15 ounces canned black beans-rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tbl butter-melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 8×8 pan.Blend beans into a paste using a blender or food processor. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour brownie batter into pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the sides start to pull away from the pan.

Family feed back: My husband thinks he hates black beans, he tasted the brownie and said they were very good, rich in texture and he asked me if the secret ingredient was coffee. However, the coffee in this is no secret! The taste to me was like those \dark chocolate covered espresso beans you can get in gourmet candy stores. For me the flavor was a good combination because I do not like chocolate but I love coffee which made them tolerable for me.
My children who love chocolate were asked to rate the brownies by a 5 star rating system–one declared 19,000 stars–but she really loves chocolate. The other children all gave the brownies 4 stars.

You cannot taste the bean in this at all–but they add a texture which pleases the palate much like dove chocolate does. These are a rich dessert with some added fiber.

Calories per brownie-146
Fa- 6 grams
Carbohydrate- 18 grams
Fiber- 2 grams
Protein- 4 grams

Other good ideas:
– shave off some calories and substitute butter for applesauce
– cut sugar in half by using stevia
– serve hot with a tablespoon of peanut butter and sliced bananas

OK, harvest is here as well as school starting. So let’s keep those lunch box snack ideas rolling in! Here is a modified version of our Zucchini Apple Muffins we have in Squeaky Gourmet. These were so wonderful and delicious–we shared them with athletes at the NAS Nationals and received rave reviews on the flavor, texture and the fact they did not weigh you down!

Zucchini Banana Bites
makes 12 small muffins
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 large egg
5 large egg whites
1 medium banana-mashed
3/4 cup shredded zucchini
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray your Muffin pan with non-stick spray. Add all the ingredients to the mixer and blend thoroughly. Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Other Good Ideas-
–use pumpkin instead of banana
–add in raisins or other dried fruits
–add in walnuts

These are so good and so easy to prepare you can make them ahead of time and freeze for the winter snacks. Also makes an excellent zucchini loaf!

Calories Per Muffin- 60
Carbohydrates- 9 grams
Fat- 1 gram
Protein- 4 grams