Wednesday 29 May 2013

Granola

Today was a good day so I started to parcel out smaller more manageable ziplocs full of raw sunflower seeds. I had ordered 25lbs of raw sunflower seeds to use in baking and experiment with making our own sunflower butter. I was roasting a small batch and got to thinking that it wouldn't take much more effort to mix up a batch of granola to toss in the oven after the seeds were done.
I did a quick google and came across this recipe at www.elizabethrider.com, I changed the recipe a bit to suit me and what I had on hand.



Granola (Original unaltered recipe here)
This makes a fairly sweet granola.

4 cups old fashioned oats (I used bobs red mill)
3/4 cup Organic roasted non salted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/2-3/4 tsp epicure pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp honey (Local)
4 tbsp coconut oil

Preheat oven to 300F
Mix first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Melt honey and coconut oil together, 
Stir honey mixture into bowl, mixing well.
Spread over a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 23 minutes. Keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.
Let cool and break up into clumps

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Sweet and Sour Crockpot chicken

I have been very ill with morning sickness so I haven't been very inventive in the kitchen lately, honestly we have been mostly eating out of our freezer. This week almost every single of my meals on my meal plan can be made in the slow cooker. The easier the better at this point :) I like sweet and sour chicken but am not found of how most recipes call for a large amount of white sugar. The honey works very well in this recipe.  I got the idea for this recipe from here, but I changed it around a fair bit to suit me.


Sweet and Sour Chicken
1 diced green pepper
1 can of diced pineapple with juice
1 diced onion
1 inch minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
2 large chicken breasts diced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Sauce
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar (You can use white if you want the cider is just a nicer flavour)

Slurry
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup water

Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce.
Place the rest of the ingredients except for the slurry in the crockpot, pour sauce over.
Cook on low for 5 hours.
15 minutes before serving whisk in slurry.
Serve over rice or steam fried noodles






Monday 20 May 2013

Crockpot Garlic Mashed potatoes


6 small-medium sized russet potatoes
1 cup boiling water
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
4 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon roasted garlic (Epicure selections)
3 tablespoons coconut oil

Peel and dice potatoes in one inch cubes. Place in crockpot, dissolve salt in boiling water and pour over potatoes cook on high for 4 hours until cooked thoroughly  turn to low. Mash potatoes with a masher and mix in the last 4 ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste if needed.



Vegan chili

2 cups dried Kidney beans
1 cup dried black beans
1.5 cup dried pinto beans
1 cup dried mushrooms (You can use fresh I just had dried)
2 500ml jars crushed tomatoes
10 slices pickled jalapenos
2.5 tbsp chili powder
3 peppers diced
3 small onions or 2 small medium minced
1 head of garlic minced
3 cups veg stock
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp epicure bean dip mix



Soak beans over night, boil your kidney beans for 10 minutes (They contain a toxin that must be destroyed by boiling)

Put everything in the crockpot cook on high for 6 hours