Vegan Breakfast Cookies

 I keep being asked for this recipe, so here it is:

5 bananas

4-5 cups of oats

1 1/2 cups chopped dates softened  in boiling water

1 1/2 cups chopped dried apricots

1 cup corn oil (or other oil)

1/2 cup currants

1 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Reserved date water apprx 1/2 cup

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp chia seeds

Mix all ingredients together.  Place in patties and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Taking the pantry on the road...

My adventures in cooking and baking are going on the road!  We have sold our home and purchased an RV and will be taking an extended family vacation/road trip.  

Our RV has a rather large pantry (definitely a selling feature for a foodie!) and we are awaiting confirmation of the measurements so we can begin stocking our pantry in advance of the move-in.  It's the closed door in the photo below.

All of my favourite recipes have been put in a road-ready binder and we are looking forward to taking these recipes on the road too.

In the last year, we have ventured into more whole foods/plant based diet.  This will mean a lot more dry goods and a lot less meat in the RV freezer.

It's all very much something we are looking forward to.  

I am going to be more intentional about writing and sharing food/recipes during our adventure so you can follow me here if you want to come along virtually.

Until next time,

Mavis

Menu Planning 101

With September comes a resurgence of planning, at least for me.  Summer is a laid back season and we love it don't we?   But now kids are going back to school with their new school supplies and moms are once again faced with the challenge of packing lunches and planning meals.

I'm now a grandmother and those daily challenges are not ones I face anymore, however, I often hear the same complaint from moms with school age kids ... the ever asked question "what is for dinner?"

When our kids were little I was a menu planning freak.  And my system worked and worked well!  In fact it worked so well that the cashier at my supermarket said "I want to eat at your house!"  Nice compliment for sure.

I felt it might be helpful if I shared my menu planning secrets with you.  Disclaimer:  I don't use this system now that my kids are grown although there are some days when I wish I still used it.  But it works!

Supplies:  3 x 5" Index cards, pen, box for cards, paper for shopping list (hint:  if you have extra time, you can  make a master grocery list so you don't have to keep re-writing the same stuff over and over week to week).  Here's a sample I found online:  Master Grocery list

Index cards


Step 1:
This is the fun part.  It's time to scour those favourite recipes that your family loves.  This is when I pour a cup of coffee and pull out my cookbooks too.  I get bored easily so I'm always on the lookout for new recipes.  At one point, I asked my family to give the recipes scores out of 10 so I would know if it was worth repeating.  My hubby said with a chuckle, "who are you kidding?; we're never going to see this again".  Yes, like I said, I get bored easily. :)


Step 2:
On the front of your index card, list the items for your meal.
Example, on mine I have chicken wings, rice and salad.  You can see my well used recipe which I keep handy for the week. 

FRONT OF MENU CARD

BACK OF MENU CARD

On the back of the menu card are the ingredients I need to make the whole dinner.  Note:  Some of these things I may already have in my pantry or fridge so when I go to make my shopping list, I would skip over the things I already have.




Now you've done the hard work.  These cards are reusable and you can add to your library of menus as something strikes your fancy.

Step 3:
Pull all your menu cards for the week and either make a grocery list from scratch or use the master list idea.  Either way, I group items under subheadings such as Dairy, Meat, Produce, etc.

Helpful Hint:  If you happen to have used multiple recipe sources, I also find it helpful to put a note for the source of the recipe.  Abbreviations work great.  For my More With Less Cookbook I would use "MWL, page 69" as an  example.

It's really a simple system and as I've said really works well if you take an hour or two to prepare for the week.  I have been known to use it in panic mode too.  This means I would grab the menu card(s) with the ingredients on the back and head to the store and look at the items on the back as I stroll through the store.  It's not as streamlined as making a list as you can have 'sugar' on both cards and have to mentally make a note about duplicates.

Anyway, that's my menu planning system.  I'd love to hear your feedback!

Mavis

Cappuccino Chip Muffins - Or "Cliff's Favourite" as we call 'em

Yet another of the recipes I make for Extreme Outreach Coffee House.  If you love coffee you might want to try one of these.

Cappuccino Chip Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground coffee (espresso on fine grind)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease 12 muffin cups.

In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso coffee powder, salt and cinnamon.  In another bowl, stir together milk, oil, egg and vanilla until blended.  Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups; bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove muffins from oven and cool 5 minutes before removing from the muffin tin.  Serve warm or cool completely.  They freeze well too.

Using what we have on hand...

Today was one of those days where the pantry is almost bare and we need to do a grocery shop.  We also needed lunch.  I knew I had some frozen spinach in the freezer, and we had cheese.  I also spied the leftover tomato and onion slices from last night's epic burgers made by our son.  I asked my hubby if he thought spinach and cheese muffins would suffice for today's "use what we have on hand"  lunch. Affirmative.

So I set to making these muffins --- Savoury spinach, tomato and cheese muffins.

Here you go!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Spinach, Tomato and Cheese Muffins

375 degrees
20 minutes

2 cups flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder 
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter

1 small onion diced
1/2 cup chopped tomato
3/4 cup of defrosted spinach (you can also use fresh chopped finely if that's what is left in your fridge.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder into large mixing bowl.  Melt butter.  Add egg, milk, and veggies.  Stir to mix.

Add to dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.  Fill muffin pans  2/3 full and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until dry when a toothpick is inserted.

Serve warm out of the oven with butter and a bowl of soup or favourite salad!

My hubby loves them with lots of butter. :)

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Pecan Muffins

This is another muffin recipe that I make for Extreme Outreach Coffee House.

Cranberry Orange Pecan Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
2 oranges
2 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-1 1/2 c. frozen cranberries (or fresh)

Mix dry ingredients.
In blender combine melted butter, egg, milk, and oranges cut into segments with rind on. Make sure to remove any orange pits and white pith as it is bitter.
Add to dry ingredients and mix.
Fold in the chopped pecans and cranberries.
Bake in greased muffin pans at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

This recipe has been requested by many of my friends.  I usually double this recipe and it makes 12 individual scones.  I've also made it in single batches and form circles and score it into pie shapes.  It's really an individual choice.  I make these for Extreme Outreach Coffee House and for them it's a double batch and individual round scones.  They taste delicious either way!

The secret is in not overkneading the dough.

Single:
2 cups unsifted regular flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup whipping cream
4 oz. white chocolate chips
3/4 cup frozen raspberries
2 tsp sugar for sprinkling on top of scones

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with a shelf in the middle.
Combine the flour, baking, sugar and salt.
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

In separate bowl, lightly beat the egg and cream.

Pour eggs and cream into the dry ingredients, reserving 1 tbsp for brushing on top of scones.
Knead lightly just until the dough sticks together.
Divide the dough in two parts.
Roll or pat each part out to make a circle about 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.
Cut each circle into even quarters or sixths.
Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet (I use parchment paper) about 1 inch apart.
Brush the tops with the reserved egg/cream mixture.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 20 mins or until golden brown.
Serve immediately.
#whitechocolateraspberryscones