Fruit Cereal Bars (without a bunch of unnecessary crap!)

I love making these bars because you can make them into just about any combination of flavors you want; so much room for imagination and creativity here! They are awesome for packing into school/work lunches (kids as well as college students looking for a healthier alternative) or just an afternoon snack at home. After they bake, I cut and wrap them individually and store in the refrigerator. Grab one for an on the go breakfast as you're walking out the door!

ingredients
3/4 C coconut oil (butter can also be used)
1/2 C brown sugar, packed (I was out today so I used 1/2 C evaporated cane juice)

cream above together then add:

1 C white whole wheat flour
1 C buckwheat flour or oat bran or a mixture of whatever "flours" you like (you could just use another cup of the whole wheat flour). Today I used 3/4 C Buckwheat and 1/4 C ground flax seeds
3/4 C chopped nuts, dried fruit or seeds (Pumpkin Seeds are great in this recipe) (I omitted this today bc of 1. nut allergies and 2. my kids are pretty sick of raisins right now and that's the only dried fruit currently in the house).
3/4 C rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla (today I used 1/2 tea vanilla extract and 1/2 lemon extract)

Press 1/2 of the above mixture into a  greased 9x13 pan

spread about 8oz of your favorite fruit preserves/jam on top (today I used the last of the strawberry jam I canned last summer)

Sprinkle then press the other half of the crumb mixture on top, pressing gently but firmly.

Bake at 350 about 30 minutes, checking at 25 minutes.  If edges are getting brown, take it out.

Cool completely.  Cut into bars.  Eat.  Enjoy.

Basic Vegan Banana Muffins

The girls and I love muffins! I've recently had several requests for my Basic Vegan Banana Muffin recipe so I decided to post it here. I originally found this and tweaked it into the following:

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas
• 1/4 cup oil or vegan margarine, softened (coconut oil gives an excellent flavor)
• 1/2- 3/4 cup sugar, honey or molasses
• 2.5 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup of any add in you like- We use blueberries, raisins, cranberries...one morning I even minced fresh mango and they turned out awesome! (oh and you can't forget the Vegan Chocolate Chips!)

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 360 degrees. In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork till soft (I used a potato masher). Add the oil or vegan margarine and sugar and cream together.
In a separate bowl, combine together the flour, salt,baking powder and baking soda. Combine with the banana mixture, stirring gently just to combine.
Fold in your 1 cup of add in ingredients (berries, nuts, chocolate chips)
Grease or line a muffin pan, and fill each muffin about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Ella loves muffins almost as much as she loves Olivia

 I've made this recipe so often (sometimes every day, they disappear so quickly) I have it memorized and can go from start to putting the muffins in the oven in 5 minutes. It's truly an easy recipe and something kids can help out with.

Violet's Friday Food Post

First up this week is Monday's dinner:
I sauteed some fresh cauliflower in garlic, sea salt, Earth Balance and a little bit of water. In the background you can see 12 lbs of beets from our weekly produce order.

This is a meal the girls and I eat for either lunch or dinner every day:
It's just a light saute of Cut 'n Clean Greens (one of my new favorite things!), broccoli and mushrooms with Braggs, olive oil, garlic, sea salt and a bit of water. They devour their bowls and ask for more!

Last up is Vegan French Toast.. This is no "vegan substitute recipe"- it's far better than any "real" French Toast I've ever tried!

I started with a loaf of white bread baked the night before (I wasn't sure how this would be with whole wheat but after trying the recipe I think it would work and will make it that way next time):

The recipe I used

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla soy milk
4-5 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons sugar
dash cinnamon
bread slices (your choice)
sugar to taste

Directions:
Mix flour, soy milk, vegan sugar and cinnamon to form a batter. Dip bread and fry in lightly greased pan until golden brown. Sprinkle with vegan powdered sugar (we also used Earth Balance).

Makes: 4 servings, Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes

 I made this a second time this week and made E & V thick french toast sticks.

Violet's Friday Food Post

Since her allergy testing a month ago we've changed the way things are made in our kitchen. We are an egg, dairy/casein, oat, peanut and tree nut free home. Friday Food Posts will demonstrate that food can still be awesome with a few changes.


I set the bread machine last night so in the morning we woke up to this:

Rosemary Bread

Shamefully...the loaf made it about 12 hours in our home. It is even more decadently delicious with a bit of Earth Balance Spread.

Muffins I made earlier in the week:

vegan banana bran muffins with cranberries

I used a box of Hodgson Mill Bran Muffin Mix (using Ener-G egg replacer and soy milk) and added in a mashed banana and 1/2 cup of cranberries.

 Fresh Juice:

beetz

Today's organic juice was 4 beets, 1 Pink Lady Apple, one pear and a lime. The girls and I shared our drink and then brought the pulp out to the chickens who were very excited to see all the pink beet pulp. I use a Juiceman II that I bought back in 1997 when I was in college. I was up late one night, no cable and an infomercial came on...and for the first time in my life I was sold. I picked up the phone and called and 13 years later, I'm juicing with that same machine for my daughters.

life, our universe and everything...

I'll go ahead and apologize now if you've landed on this blog because you were looking for something on the GAAA. There have been so many custom orders through Funkaknits (a really great thing!) I haven't had time to pick my first square back up since my last post here. I've made so many Pumpkin Hats I suspect it's only a matter of time before they start growing out of my ears! I've also been working on a super secret birthday project for my sister that I'll post photos of after her birthday in a couple of weeks.


The girls and I have been baking loaf after loaf of amazing bread...vegan cinnamon rolls were even attempted the other day and they turned out really well (put some up in the freezer for later).

banana bread and a little helper

 E started a new session of dance classes which she adores. Parents are asked to wait in the hall during the 30 minute class and the entire time Violet is pleading for a glance at her big sister dancing.

I love the way she looks at E

I've been running the Couch to 5K program. Slowly but surely I'm becoming the runner I always wanted to be. There hasn't been much sleep happening in our home this month of September due to one very teething baby, but making the time to run every other day makes those days somehow doable. My runs are especially lovely since I discovered a private and shaded unpaved road right by the front of my neighborhood.


Lastly, we decided today I'll be making a trip with E and V to see our Arizona family. We arrive a few days before Halloween so the girls will get to experience trick-or-treating with their cousins. So far Ella's costume suggestions are:
1) the color pink
2) Strawberry Shortcake
3) Matilda

The very talented Sarakenobi is brainstorming with me on the SS costume aaaaand an Apple Dumpling costume for Vi Baby.
I'm excited for cooler weather...