December -Soft Ginger Cookies with Frosting
Wet:
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup molasses
1/3 cup rice beverage
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. each: ginger, cloves
pinch sea salt
Dry:
1 tsp. baking powder
4 cups whole grain flour (spelt, oat, whole wheat or oat flour for
gluten free)
Frosting:
1/3 cup Sucanat (evaporated cane sugar)
1/3 cup arrowroot
3 T. Earth Balance, vegan buttery spread
2 ½ tsp. rice beverage non dairy milk
Put wet ingredients in a food processor
and puree until smooth. In a mixing bowl, mix together the wet and
dry ingredients. Cover dough and refrigerate for a couple hours until
cold. Spoon on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350°.
Be careful these cookies burn easily. Let cool before frosting.
Put the Sucanat and arrowroot in a food
processor. Process for a couple minutes to break up the Sucanat. Add
the Earth Balance and rice beverage and puree until smooth. (Be careful
not to add additional liquid, the frosting will become too loose.)
Refrigerate frosting until cold. Frost each of the cookies.
November - Pumpkin Hot Chocolate
1 1/2 cups rice beverage (or your favorite
non- dairy beverage)
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 T. unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch sea salt
pinch allspice
pinch cloves
Put all ingredients in a food processor
or blender, puree until smooth. Pour into a sauce pan and heat on
stove. Serve with some vegan marshmallow or aquafaba whipped cream.
October - Fig Pumpkin Oat Breakfast Cookies
1/4 cup water
1 T. flax seeds
1 cup chopped dried organic figs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
2 T. tahini
pinch sea salt
Dry:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups oat flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. dried ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice
Put in a food processor the 1/4 cup water
and 1 T. flax seeds and puree until frothy. Add the rest of the wet
ingredients and puree until smooth. Put the dry ingredients in a large
mixing bowl and mix together. Add the pureed wet ingredients to the
dry and mix all together. You should get a stiff, cookie dough.
Spoon the cookie dough onto an oiled
cookie sheet or use parchment paper. Recipe will make 11 large cookies.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. (If you choose to make smaller cookies
they will be done quicker, check for doneness.)
September - Boiled Squash and Sweet Potato with
Tofu Sauce
3 cups butternut squash (cut in cubes)
1 sweet potato (orange or white) (peeled and cut in medium cubes)
Tofu Sauce:
1 package silken tofu (10.9 oz.)
1 T. ume vinegar
1 T. tahini
¼ tsp. sea salt
Bring a large pot full of water to a
boil. Put the squash in the boiling water. Keep the temperature on
high, to keep the water boiling. Boil for approx. 10 minutes until
squash is fork tender. Remove from boiling water using a wire skimmer
and put in a colander for a couple minutes to drain off any excess
water. Then put squash in a mixing bowl.
Put the sweet potato in the boiling water.
Keep the temperature on high, to keep the water boiling. Boil for
approx. 10 minutes until the sweet potato is fork tender. Remove from
boiling water using a wire skimmer and put in a colander for a couple
minutes to drain off any excess water. Then put the sweet potato in
a mixing bowl.
Steam the tofu for 5 minutes. Put the
tofu, ume vinegar, tahini and sea salt in a food processor and puree
until smooth. To serve you can either dip the boiled vegetables in
the Tofu Sauce or you can pour some sauce over the vegetables, mix
together and serve. There will be more sauce than needed for the vegetables.
The leftover sauce can be used as a dip for other vegetables or chips
or you can use it over whole grains or pasta.
August - Buckwheat Pancakes with Fresh Blueberry
Syrup
Buck wheat Pancakes
2 T. flax seed meal
3/4 cup water
2 T. olive oil
2 T. brown rice syrup
2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch sea salt
additional 1 1/2 cups water
Blueberry Syrup
1/2 cup organic blueberries
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 T. maple syrup
Put in a food
processor the flax seed meal and 3/4 cups water, puree until frothy.
Add the olive oil and brown rice syrup, puree until combined. In a
mixing bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon
and sea salt. Add the pureed, wet mixture to the bowl and add the
additional 1 1/2 cups water. Mix all together until smooth.
Heat a skillet or pan on medium heat.
Pour the batter on the hot skillet to create the pancake. Cook until
it is almost dried on the top, flip over and cook on the other side.
Continue cooking the batter until all the pancake have been made.
To make the Blueberry Syrup, put blueberries,
brown rice syrup and maple syrup in a sauce pan and heat on stove.
Serve warm over Buckwheat pancakes.
July - Blueberry Pie
My Favorite for my Birthday Month
Pressed Crust:
¼ cup each: olive oil and water
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch sea salt
1 cup walnuts
2 cups brown rice flour
Filling:
5 cups blueberries
½ cup brown rice syrup
5 T. arrowroot
pinch sea salt
To make crust, grind the walnuts to
make walnut meal. Whisk together the olive oil, brown rice syrup,
cinnamon and sea salt. Add the walnut meal and brown rice syrup, you
should get a dough that will stick together. Wet your hands and press
¾ of the dough into a 9 inch, oiled pie pan.
Put the filling ingredients in a sauce
pan. On a low heat, warm the filling, stirring occasionally. The natural
juices from the blueberries will come out as they cook and mix with
the arrowroot and start to thicken. Once filling is warm and starting
to thicken, pour in the pie crust. Crumble the remaining ¼
of the crust dough over the top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Let cool completely before cutting and serving.
June - Grilled Peaches in Fig Sauce
4 peaches
toasted chopped pecans or walnuts for garnish
Sauce:
¼ cup fig jam (I sell Fig Jam at the Westland Farmer's Market,
or your favorite fruit jam)
1 T. olive oil
3 T. mirin (brown rice cooking wine)
pinch sea salt
pinch allspice
Cut the peaches in half, remove the
core. Then cut the peaches in thick slices, four slices per each peach.
Place sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Place the peach
slices in a shallow dish, pour sauce over peaches and let marinade
for 15 to 30 minutes. Heat your grill to very hot. Put the fruit slices
on grill, cook on each side about 5 minutes or until you start to
get a blackened color. Serve the grilled peaches topped with some
chopped pecans or walnuts. Also tastes great served with some vegan
ice cream.
May - Asparagus and Radish with Ume Vinegar
Sometimes the easiest recipes are the most delicious!
1 lb. asparagus (cut into ½ inch
pieces)
4 to 5 radishes (sliced in thick half moons)
A dash of olive oil
A dash of sea salt
A splash of ume vinegar
Brown rice to serve the vegetables over
1. Steam the radishes for just a minute.
Set aside.
2. Steam the asparagus for a couple minutes until fork tender.
3. Sauté the asparagus in a dash of olive oil and dash of sea
salt for a couple minutes to bring out the flavor.
4. Add the radishes to the pan and sauté for a minute. Radishes
do not take long to cook.
5. Season with a splash of ume vinegar. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve over cooked brown rice.
April - Whole Grain Barley
1 cup barley
2 cups water
1. Put the barley and the water in a pot, bring to a boil for one
minute.
2. Reduce to the lowest possible temperature, cover and simmer for
30 t0 35 minutes until all water has been absorbed and the barley
is soft.
3. Remove from heat, let sit for 5 minutes.
Troubleshooting: If the water is gone before 30 minutes, your temperature
is too high on your stove. Try using a 'Flame Tamer' or 'Flame Diffuser'
under the pot to evenly disperse the heat while the kasha is cooking.
If after 30 minutes you still have a lot of water, your temperature
is too low on your stove as you cook the barley. Keep simmering until
the water has been absorbed.
March - Roasted Vegetables with Special Brussel
Sprouts
1 orange sweet potato (cut in cubes
1 white sweet potato (cut in cubes)
1 turnip (cut in cubes)
2 cups broccoli (cut up)
3 cups Brussle sprouts (cut in half)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Dash of: thyme, rosemary and paprika
Brown rice vinegar
1. Place the orange sweet potatoes on
a baking sheet or a casserole dish.
2. Drizzle a little olive oil over and sprinkle sea salt over. Add
just a dash of the thyme, rosemary and paprika. Mix all together.
3. Do the same thing for the white sweet potato, turnip and broccoli.
All on their own separate baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350° for approx. 25 to 35 minutes until the vegetables
are browned and fork tender.
5. Each vegetable will bake at a different time, that is why they
are on separate baking sheets.
6. Once the first vegetable is done, put the vegetables in a bowl
and use that baking sheet to roast the Brussel sprouts.
7. Put the Brussel sprouts on the baking sheet and season as you did
the other vegetables. Bake them until they are almost burnt. They
will look black and will be crips.
8. Sprinkle a little brown rice vinegar over the crips Brussel sprouts
and return to the oven for another 5 minutes, then they are done.
9. Once done, put the vegetables in a bowl together and mix together.
February - Miso Soup with Buttercup Squash and
Brown Rice
Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1. Wash the brown rice by putting it
in a bowl, swish with your hands, then drain the water using a strainer.
2. Put the washed brown rice and water in a pot, bring to a boil for
a minute.
3. Reduce to lowest possible temperature, cover and simmer for one
hour.
Miso Soup
10 cups water
1 onion (diced)
1/2 cup frozen shiitake mushrooms
1 T. wakame flakes (or approx. 6 inches of wakame)
2 cups daikon (cut in cubes) (or turnip, parsnips, rutabaga)
4 cups butter cup squash (or butternut)
1 cups carrots (diced)
1 cups cabbage (diced)
1/4 cup minced greens
1/3 cup dark miso
1 tsp. sea salt
1. Bring water to a boil in a large soup
pot.
2. Soak the wakame for 2 to 3 minutes, until it is soft. Cut in small
pieces.
3. Add the vegetables one at a time, letting the water come back up
to a boil in-between each vegetable. Add all the vegetables except
the minced greens.
4. Reduce to low, simmer for 20 minutes until all vegetables are fork
tender.
5. Add the minced greens and brown rice, let simmer for 5 more minutes.
6. Turn off heat. Put the miso in a measuring cup, add some of the
hot soup broth and dissolve the miso. Add the dissolved miso and sea
salt to the pot, mix all together, let sit for 5 minutes and serve
hot.
Recipe note: You can substitute the vegetables
in this recipe. The butter cup or kabocha squash is the key to making
the soup flavorful. Its natural sweetness complements the salty miso.
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more about Miso - April of Food
of the Month 2022 Archive
