Oatcake with Cherries and Nutmeg

A slightly different version of a pancake with half of it being oats, this is a "stick to your ribs" kind of pancake. When I was about 6, or so, my great aunt used to fix oatmeal for me for breakfast and I really didn't like it! She would tell me I needed to eat it because it would stick to my ribs! That made it even worse because I could picture that gray sticky stuff stuck to my ribs inside of my tummy all day long! But, since then I've grown to appreciate oats, even to like them. Therefore, in memory of my Great Aunt Fairy (yep, Aunt Fairy), an oatcake topped with cherries. And I always have loved cherries, so that's no chore and they can stick to my ribs (along with the oats) if they want to.

OATCAKE WITH CHERRIES

AND NUTMEG

Makes one oatcake.

Oatcake

2 tbl organic flour

2 tbl old fashioned organic oats

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

dash of salt

1/4 cup filtered water

Stir all ingredients and cook on a griddle like you would a regular pancake.

Cherries for the top

1 cup sweet red cherries (frozen works fine)

1 tsp natural arrowroot

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp honey

Mix together and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 45 seconds. Let set until it begins to cool and spread it over the oatcake. Delicious!

Black Bean Taco Pizza

I love pizza! Who doesn't. But, pizza made from processed ingredients does me no favors! I'll overeat, feel lousy, be mad at myself and the cravings will begin and I'll want to eat again shortly after already overeating. So, because pizza made from processed ingredients affects me that way, when I have pizza I make it myself. This one - taco pizza from "refried" black beans with stone ground organic flour for the crust uses ingredients made by the earth and not a corporation that uses processed, refined, chemical loaded ingredients. This is a one person pizza made from real food and it's really good if I do say so myself!

BLACK BEAN TACO PIZZA

For the crust - 

1/3 cup organic stone ground wheat flour

1/2 tsp yeast

1/4 tsp honey

3 1/2 T warm filtered water

dash of salt

Dissolve the yeast and the honey in the warm water. Stir in the flour until it's well incorporated and shape into a ball. Cover and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Sauce - 

1/3 cup black "refried" beans - my version of refried beans for this was to take organic black beans that I had cooked with garlic and mash them into a paste-like consistency. You can buy regular organic refried beans and use them as well.

1/6 cup organic taco sauce

Toppings

shredded cheese

sliced black olives

chopped green onion

chopped green pepper

Stir the beans and the taco sauce together for the pizza sauce. Spread the pizza dough onto a baking stone and top with the bean sauce and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Top with the sliced olives, chopped onion and green pepper and any other veggie you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.When it's done top with lettuce and tomatoes and salsa and maybe guacamole. Taco pizza!

Kamut and Oats Banana Nut Microwave Mini Muffins

These are SO good and really fast and cute! This recipe makes two mini muffins baked in the microwave in ramekins for a fast breakfast. Made with all organic ingredients including kamut flour and oats, they're healthy and delicious. And fast! Did I say fast? Speedy? I think I did.

KAMUT AND OATS BANANA NUT 

MICROWAVE MINI MUFFINS

1/2 ripe mashed ripe banana

1 T chopped walnuts

3 T kamut flour

1 T old fashioned oats

1 tsp honey

1 tsp softened butter or coconut oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 T unsweetened cashew milk

Mix all ingredients and divide evenly between two small oiled ramekins. Microwave for 45 seconds and breakfast is ready! You might have time to pour a cup of coffee and have a sip before they're ready to come out of the microwave. So, top them off with a couple of walnut pieces and a touch of honey and enjoy them with that coffee. Or, invite a friend over and share.

Creamy Mushroom, Spinach and Leek Soup

Soup is warm and comforting and for me must have healing properties because there's something about it that just makes me feel better. I think it reminds me of both of my grandmothers, although they each had their specialties. One made the most incredible vegetable soup and the other one always made chicken noodle soup when I wasn't feeling well. And, when the weather begins to turn cooler, it's just time to make soup! Which means I'll be making it in a lot of different varieties for the next several months. This one - crazy with mushrooms, non dairy, vegan, low carb, low calorie, gluten free (if you don't add croutons) - all of the good stuff and non of the bad. I took it to work with me and heated it up and had a healthy lunch that was so much better than the food from the fast food places. And, economically speaking, fixing you own lunch saves a lot of money!

CREAMY MUSHROOM, SPINACH AND LEEK SOUP

4 ounces chopped mushrooms 

1/2 cup chopped leeks

1 chopped celery stalk

1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 T chopped red bell pepper

2 tsp mushroom bouillon

2 cups unsweetened cashew milk

2 T arrowroot powder
1/4 cup water
black pepper

Saute the leeks and celery and bell pepper in coconut oil (about 1 tsp if you choose) or just cook them in a small amount of water until they're tender adding more water to keep them from drying out and burning. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Add the spinach, the bouillon and the cashew milk and cook over medium heat stirring frequently until hot and bubbly. Dissolve the arrowroot in the 1/4 cup of water, add to the soup and stir until thickened. Season with black pepper and add some croutons if you choose. If you eat the entire recipe of soup and don't add coconut oil or croutons, it's about 160 calories. If you add the teaspoon of coconut oil, it's about 200 calories (again, minus the croutons). Soup made from the ingredients made by the earth and a soup my grandmothers both would have been proud of!

Eggs and Avocados - Perfect Combination

My favorite breakfast, hands down is poached eggs on avocado toast made from this bread recipe. Simple, easy and fast, it contains all the nutrition of eggs from pasture-raised chickens and avocados and whole grains. Besides being delicious, the health benefits of avocados are all over the place lately and the difference between supermarket eggs and pastured eggs...well, besides the color of the yolks and the taste and buying local, there's this - From Mother Earth News - "New test results show that pastured eggs producers are kicking the commercial industry's derriere when it comes to vitamin D! Eggs from hens raised on pasture show 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D as typical supermarket eggs."

I eat eggs frequently. My cholesterol level is nowhere near too high and, with the old but new news coming out that dietary cholesterol isn't harmful (and never was), I plan to continue eating eggs from pastured chickens frequently. And to the local lady who raises the chicken we buy the eggs from - thank you!! May you continue to raise chickens for many years to come!

POACHED EGGS AND AVOCADO TOAST

This is so simple it really doesn't need a recipe but here it is anyway. Toast a piece of your favorite organic, unprocessed bread. Spread it with 1/2 of a ripe avocado and top with two (or one) poached eggs. Salt and pepper and breakfast is ready. Takes about 10 minutes max. Fast and nutritious and protein-packed. Using organic unprocessed bread, there should be no craving issues caused by processed commercially made bread that's full of chemicals, sugar and preservatives. Simple? Yes. Rustic? That, too. AND, you should be good to go until lunch.

Organic Kamut, Oat, Wheat and Sunflower Seed Bread

Something about making bread from scratch is good for the soul. The measuring, the knowing that it's made from healthy unprocessed ingredients, the kneading (burns a few calories and works out a few frustrations!), the smell that fills the house while it's baking just makes it feel like you're doing something healthy for you and whomever you choose to share it with. I no longer eat processed bread because I do have issues with it. It sets me up for craving and thinking about food non-stop for at least three days. So, when I do have bread, I make it myself from organic ingredients. Which means I have to make it every weekend or just not have it at all. Therefore, not so much bread for me. But this past weekend I made two loaves of what turned out to be some really fine bread. And, I gave one to my mother who said, "you did good on this one!" That's quite a compliment!

ORGANIC KAMUT, OAT, WHEAT AND 

SUNFLOWER SEED BREAD

This recipe makes two LARGE loaves of bread -

1 tablespoon of yeast 

3 cups of warm water

1 tablespoon of organic honey

1/4 cup organic olive oil

1 cup organic kamut flour

1 cup organic old fashioned oats

5 1/2 to 6 cups organic wheat flour

1/2 cup toasted organic sunflower seeds

2 teaspoons of salt

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and honey for about 20 minutes (until it begins to bubble). Stir in the olive oil, the kamut flour, the oats, the toasted sunflower seeds and the salt. Add the wheat flour in stages until it gets too difficult to stir. Spread about 1/2 cup of the remaining wheat flour onto a board and begin the incorporate the rest of the flour by kneading and work the bread until it's smooth and elastic and shiny (from 8 to 10 minutes). If you don't work in all of the flour, that's ok. Too much will make it tough. This batch wound up using 5 1/2 cups.

Oil two extra large bowls and divide the dough in half. Place the dough in the bowls and turn it over once so the top is also oiled. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise until double. Punch down and shape into a ball and let rest for 20 minutes. Oil two large bread pans and shape the dough into loaves and cover with a dish towel. Let rise until double, or bigger. When it's shaped like a nice loaf of bread, it's ready to bake.

Preheat your oven to 375 and bake until golden and when you tap the top it sounds hollow (about 40 minutes for these two loaves in the oven together). I spread melted butter over the top of each loaf to soften the crust. That's what gives it the shiny look...and that's optional. We'll use this bread for breakfast this week and maybe even make croutons with some of it for soup. And, I'll be making this one again! As my mom said, I did good on this one!

Apple Pie Pancake from Perfectly Imperfect Organic Apples - Cooking Seasonally and Buying Locally

Last trip to the farmer's market I found organic apples from a 60 year old tree. How do I know they  came from a 60 year old tree? Well, the 60 year old man who sold them to me said the tree was planted on his birthday and I believe him. 60 year old tree, or not, they're local and not sprayed, so I'm happy with that. And, I can deal with the "imperfections" because a few spots, a bug bite, or anything from nature is MUCH preferable than dealing with pesticides.

And, this morning I made a pancake and used the apple for the topping -

APPLE PIE PANCAKE

Pancake

1/4 cup organic wheat flour

1/4 cup filtered water

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1/4 tsp apple pie spice
1 packet of stevia

Mix the pancake batter and cook like a regular pancake. 

Topping

1 apple chopped

1/4 tsp apple pie spice

2 tablespoons of apple juice or apple cider

1 tsp arrowroot
dash of salt

1 tablespoon of toasted walnuts

honey

Microwave all topping ingredients (except the walnuts and the honey) for 45 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 45 seconds. Toast the walnuts by putting them in a dry skillet and shaking them around on a hot burner until they are crispy. Top the pancake with the apples, the walnuts and some honey, if you want. Tastes like autumn!