Lactation (Oatmeal) Cookies.

My lovely sister in law just gave birth to TWINS!  I could not be more thrilled.  It is my first time being an Auntie!  Now I have two adorable little boys to love and spoil.  Now that the twins are here, my brother and sister in law have a lot to keep them busy! 

One thing that a lot of new moms struggle with (so I am told) is keeping up their milk supply, sleeping, and keeping their calories up sufficiently to breastfeed.  My friend Heather created the idea of a "lactation cookie" when she had her first child (and she has also had twins recently!).  This is exactly what nutrition is all about, using food to meet your bodies needs.

These lactation cookies are pretty much just like your standard oatmeal raisin cookie. (Men don't worry, you won't lactate if you eat these).  These are called lactation cookies because the main ingredient is oats, and they also have some flaxseed.  Oats are very well known to increase milk supply for mothers, and flax help increase milk supply too.  They also do not have a lot of sugar (you can eat many and not get blood sugar spikes), and the oats and almond flour provide some protein, which is crucial for breastfeeding!  Cookies are also great for new moms because suddenly life revolves around the baby(ies) and finding time to eat can be hard.  Having twins doesn't leave a lot of time on your hands!  Cookies can easily be grabbed and eaten with one hand.  Just make sure they're as nutritious as these!  Beware - I am told husbands like lactation cookies too!  Moms may want to guard them ;)

Lactation Oatmeal Cookies.
    makes over 2 dozen cookies

    2 1/2 cups  toasted rolled gluten-free oats (mine were sprouted and soaked oat groats)
    1 cup  blanched almond flour
    1 Tbsp  organic coconut flour - source
    2 sticks  grass-fed butter, softened - source
    1/2 cup  coconut sugar - source
    2  real eggs
    1 cup  organic unsweetened shredded coconut
    1 cup  organic raisins (can use chocolate chips)
    2 tsp  vanilla
    2 tsp  cinnamon
    1/4 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    2 Tbsp  organic raw honey -- for topping - source
    2 Tbsp  organic raw ground flax seed -- for topping
    2 Tbsp  warm water

To make your cookies:
  1.  To toast your oats, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour oats onto a silicone lined a baking sheet and spread evenly. Place in the oven for 5 minutes, stir and return to oven for another 5 minutes or until oats are toasty (be careful not to burn!).
  2.  In a large bowl combine almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, coconut, cinnamon and sea salt. Whisk until combined. Add toasted oats.
  3.  In another large bowl, beat together butter, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer.
  4.  Combine the dry into the wet ingredients, incorporating together with a spatula. Add raisins, and mix again.
  5.  On silicone lined baking sheets, use your hands to make balls of the dough and place cookies in rows 4x3.  Place sheets into the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.  Then pull from fridge and bake in oven for about 12 minutes until golden brown.
  6.  Make your topping in a small dish combine honey, warm water and ground flax.  Mix together with a pastry brush. Let cookies cool for about 10 minutes.  When cookies are warm, but not hot, brush the flax-honey mixture on top of the cookies.  Remove cookies from pan with a spatula, transfer to a wire rack, and place in the fridge to set the topping.
  7.  After about 10 minutes in the fridge, cookies are ready to eat!

Do the new moms in your life a favor - bring them these cookies :)

Gluten-free Soaked Baked Oatmeal

This is a departure from my normal grain-free posts, I know.  And that's ok.  Have you ever had baked oatmeal?  I grew up on it as a kid, since they would serve full sheet pans of it at the camp where I grew up living.  We would gobble it up, kids and staff included.  Today is no different (it's still delicious), but I was wanting to make my beloved baked oatmeal healthier.  No refined sugar, no rancid vegetable oil, and grains properly prepared.

I posted the original camp recipe way back one summer when my blog was just beginning.  That recipe is the scaled down version of the full sheet pan camp size.  For some reason, the recipe doesn't quite work, as the liquid pools in the bottom.  I think this is because when you bake with full sheet pans you use "cake guiders" which you place on a sheet pan to give the pan temporary sides.  Excess liquid commonly finds itself seeping out the sides, if what is being baked isn't completely homogenous.  This would happen in the large pans at camp.  When the baked oatmeal would come out from the oven, steaming, golden brown and smelling of cinnamon, between the guiders and the small edges of the sheet pan there would be this wonderful crispy and delicious crunchy cake like stuff that tasted of sweet baked oatmeal and cinnamon.  It tasted even better once the pan cooled and I could snap off a piece.  Crispy baked oatmeal heaven.  But pans that home cooks use do not come in commercial size or use cake gliders, so the recipe had to be edited.

The reason you see a post on this isn't because I made it for myself (although it's so delicious I could find myself doing that minus the fact I typically avoid grains), it's because I wanted an easy recipe that I could whip up and share with others.  These past few weeks have shown me that the majority of people don't plan ahead with their food, so they end up eating whatever is convenient.  (This sounds like a no brainer, but I'm guilty of forgetting how "regular" people eat).  I am hoping to get some good, nourishing food into people by making this more often and bringing it around campus to share with my co-workers, friends and professors. 

I wasn't happy with the idea of adapting the original recipe to a real food, WAPF approved version.  Instead I scoured the internet, consulted my favorite real food bloggers recipes and engaged in some serious recipe reconissance.  This version is heavily adapted from my friend Jami.  I can not thank her enough for helping inspire this recipe!  I am very happy with the end result, though I may tweak it in batches to come, and rest assured I will share those updates with you here.  But for now, here's the best baked oatmeal I've ever made.  And best part is, it's completely gluten-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free, possibly dairy-free, WAPF approved, and completely digestible.

 
Gluten-free Soaked Baked Oatmeal
    makes one 9 x13 pan

    4 cups gluten-free rolled oats - soaked: with 2 Tbsp whey, and covered with water for 8-16 hours or overnight - source
    1/2 cup  organic coconut oil, melted - source
    1/2 cup  coconut sugar - source
    4  eggs
    2 tsp  cinnamon
    2 tsp  baking powder
    2 tsp  vanilla
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt

To make your baked oatmeal:
  1.  The night before you plan to make your baked oatmeal: measure 4 cups oats in a glass bowl, cover with lukewarm water, stir, and add 2 Tbsp of whey or for a dairy-free version use apple cider vinegar. Cover lightly with a dishtowel and let soak on the counter overnight, or for 8-16 hours.
  2.  In the morning, or sometime the next day, strain out the water from your oats using a fine mesh colander. Lightly tap the colander with the side of your hand to shake out any more liquid. Plop strained oats into a large bowl. Add cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla, and sea salt to the oats and fold together with a large spatula.
  3.  In a separate small bowl, whisk eggs by hand until glossy yellow.  Mix sugar with melted coconut oil, and add this slowly to the eggs. Make sure coconut oil is not hot, or the eggs will curdle.
  4.  Add coconut oil and egg mixture to the big bowl with the oats. Fold together to combine.
  5.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with coconut oil or butter. Pour batter into the pan. Bake at 375 (mine is non-convection) for about 25 minutes or until top is set, and sides are just beginning to pull away from the pan and become golden brown.
  6.  Let cool, slice into squares and enjoy :) If needed, this freezes very well too.

When the recipe originally came out, I contemplated baking it longer, using less oil and or using less eggs in subsequent batches.  However, now I am not so sure.  I like it how it is, and it received rave reviews from everyone I shared it with.  Like I mentioned previously, I'll continue to play around with the recipe and share any other edits I find.  If you want the baked oatmeal to taste more on the sweet side, add another 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup sugar.  The current amount of sugar gives it just a bit of sweetness, but some might like more.  I like to keep the sugar content lower, since you can always smear it with some raw honey, or even some peanut butter, or top it with yogurt, maple syrup and berries for breakfast.  Since it's sliced into squares it makes a great portable breakfast and snack option, also.  Baked oatmeal is very versatile.  Feel free to add more spices, dried fruit like raisins or even fresh blueberries to the mix!
 
Happy soaking!

Banana Cake II

Last night I had the opportunity to bake! I had some ripening bananas that needed to be used up. I've also been out of the kitchen for a few weeks, and the coconut flour - banana combination was just calling to me! Smeared with some almond or peanut butter for some extra protein, this will be a great grab-and-go breakfast item for me.

Remember my original Banana Cake? I decided to do a second version, hence the name Banana Cake II, with all the ingredients I had available to me in my dorm room. The original recipe has a special topping, while this one is plain for ease of transport.

Overall I am happy with the results. It smelled amazing, rose well in the oven, and came out ooey-gooey banana-y. The recipe is not perfect, and that's why I am not sharing it with you today. Next time bananas are too ripe for eating, I will be baking banana cake II again. This time I need to add a bit more coconut flour (the cake was too moist), a bit more sweetness and maybe change the fat from butter to coconut oil, with a splash of vanilla for taste.

Bananas + Coconut flour + GF oats soaked in raw milk + cinnamon = Real Food for breakfast.

Want a recipe NOW? Click here for my original Banana Cake recipe! I've made it several times and it's a winner. Having either ripe bananas always on hand, or pre-measured mashed bananas frozen in the freezer, makes this recipe easy to whip up anytime!

Nourished Breakfast

Mhmm... don't we all need a good start to the day every now and then? I feel that breakfast is the highest offender in terms of nutrition in the typical American diet. Grains, sugar, industrial fats, processed dairy, empty calories. Those of us who have discovered real food have found a more nourishing and tastier way to eat. Why did we ever eat that other stuff before?

I whipped up this recipe this afternoon after a long day of class - prelab - lab. Lab was an adventure, I got to see my heart beat, because we did EKGs! In one portion of the procedure, we had to raise our heart rate to see the difference between that and resting state. I had to run out of the building and around a part of campus to get my heart rate up enough! (I had electrodes stuck to both legs and one arm, and I took off my Rainbows so I could run easier -- I must have been a funny sight to watch: a crazy girl running barefoot around campus with funny things stuck to her arms and legs!) I tried doing stairs but soon after my heart returned to normal rate. I am happy to have a healthy heart!

This is very similar to my breakfast carrot creation, and my fruity vegan oatmeal bake. I like doing these nourishing breakfast "quick breads." They are easy to make and give me an easy option for a college student breakfast on the go. This version uses roasted sweet potatoes, which I surprisingly happened to have on hand.

Upside-down Creamy Sweet Potato breakfast cake

(It's kinda like baked oatmeal meets sweet potatoes! and you know me, I always must have some creative name.)

2 cups soured raw milk + 1 1/2 cups GF rolled oats - mix well, place in glass jar, cover loosely with a dishtowel, set in an undisturbed spot to ferment and soak for 3 whole days

1 cup pureed sweet potatoes - mine were cooked and I even pureed the skin

1/2 cup melted organic coconut oil

1 medium banana

1/4 scant cup raw honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup organic coconut flour

1/2 cup raisins

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 handful chopped roasted/salted macademia nuts

2 Tbsp real butter - cut into chunks

1/2 cup shredded organic coconut

To make your nourishing breakfast:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. To your fermented oats add: sweet potato, banana, vanilla, raw honey and coconut oil. Puree well with a hand blender. I added my raw honey to my melted [warm] coconut oil to help make it more blendable.

3. In a separate large bowl, add: coconut flour, raisins*, leaveners, cinnamon, salt. Toss well with fingers until distributed.

4. In a 8x8 pan, rub some butter or spray with Misto to lubricate the pan on all sides especially the bottom. Place chopped macademia nuts on the bottom of the pan, followed by coconut and then distributed the chunks of butter evenly on top.

5. Combine wet oat mixture with raisin-flour mixture and stir well to combine.

6. Using several large spoonfuls, dollop the mixture on top of the coconut into the pan. Spread out evenly with a spatula, being careful not to disturb the bottom!

7. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes depending on your oven. The cake will be risen, set, have cracks and sound "bubbly," with the sides pulling away from the pan. Take out and let cool on the counter overnight. Cake will fall in or "rest" slightly. Wait to cut it until the morning, it's gooey inside :) When you take it out of the pan, flip it over and find the nuts and coconut all buttery and delicious on the bottom.

*It's important to mix the raisins with the flour. If you skip this step and just fold them in, then they will fall to the bottom of the pan while baking.

-Update 3/14/10-

This cake is dense and has a really cream consistency! I totally tastes like sweet potato! I might even try pumpkin next time! The texture is so smooth you can't even tell it has oats in it! It actually kinda reminded me of fudge :) It is not sweet, so I would suggest adding in some stevia drops and swapping the raw honey for a full 1/4 cup of organic maple syrup. The macademia nuts kinda get lost in the sweet potato flavor, so next time I will swap them for a more flavor assertive nut, like pecans or walnuts. It also seems that 1 Tbsp of cinnamon was not enough!! I will increase the amount and also add some allspice and nutmeg to warm up the flavor a bit. I definitely want more raisins too! This is totally a work in progress recipe, though some of you might like it just the way it is. Normally I wouldn't post a recipe until it's ready, but cooking is fun, and we can all learn together! Also, this recipe is a success, the flavors are just lacking a little bit, and that is easily fixed. I think the best way to eat this cake is how I did this morning - warmed for 40 seconds in the microwave (or even better use a toaster oven!) topped with real butter, extra raisins, sliced banana, cinnamon and raw cocoa nibs. Delish!

-Update 3/15/10-

I had my friend K taste test my creation. She absolutely loved it, and said she wouldn't change a thing! Her favorite part was the gooey cake part in contrast to the crunchy and chewy raisins and nuts.

I love Friday nights. I try to let it be my time to do "nothing." At least nothing having to do with school! This is my first baking endeavor of the semester. Hopefully it won't be my last, but it is time consuming and it's March (typically the month of HW horror).

Spring break is the first week of April. We have a beach house (temporarily, no we didn't buy one), and it has a kitchen! Success :) There will be cooking!!

Enjoy your yummy new breakfast option; feel free to experiment and tell me what you think!

Coconut Bread, Apple Crisp, and Kiwis

Oh goodness, it's been so long! I have really busy... really busy. This past month (has it really been that long?) has been filled with tests and studying. Next month will be no different, and the next.. until May that is. I have been cooking, just not posting. Now it seems like I have so much to post, but whenever I go to sit and write, nothing comes up. Call it writer's block, call it whatever you like.

It isn't that simple. See, I've been working on this recipe in my head. It's similar to a brownie, but with no chocolate involved. Tomatoes instead. What? You ask. You will just have to wait and see. Problem is, I had this idea- it came to me in class one morning (I seem to get inspiration at completely random times). I've written it down, and gone over it and over it. I haven't made it yet. This is probably because I was waiting for ingredients, which were coming in the mail via Vitacost.com (which I love) and then it was just finding time. Hopefully I will find that time tomorrow night. But actually, tomorrow morning I will set foot in a Whole Foods market. I am shocked, but elated and filled with anticipation. I miss good food stores. Frankly, I have a love affair with Whole Foods... just don't tell anyone, ok? And perhaps best of all? It's right on the water. Pacific Ocean, here I come!

One thing that is a success, however, is this bread. I've wanted to make this coconut bread for a LONG time now, and have never ever gotten around to it, until now.

The problem with most gluten free bread recipes is that they are so complex. Well, maybe not complex in procedure, but certainly complex in ingredients. Some recipes I've found contain at least 20 ingredients, if not more! As a college student, I just can't have all those ingredients waiting for my beck and call. It has to be simple, the few the ingredients the better. That's how it is with this bread.

If you Google "coconut egg bread" or just "coconut bread" you will undoubtedly find this recipe. It's pretty common and I believe it comes from Bruce Fife's book, Cooking With Coconut Flour. I do not own this book, but my mom actually has his Coconut Oil Miracle book, which was very good. It has a few recipes in it which I am going to try someday, but just haven't gotten to it yet (am I alway saying that?)

Anyways, the bread does not rise too much, and it is very dense, like pound cake. It tastes like an eggy coconuty pound cake with a hint of sweet and its full of moisture. I was a little over anxious to get it out of the pan, tried too hard when it wasn't fully cooled, and so the top half of the bread came off one half of the loaf! Ooops. I won't do that again. So I have resorted to eating it with a fork. Slicing will have to happen on the next batch (I will definitely be making this again).

On the next go I might try adding some flax, some whole grain teff, and MORE baking powder. I don't want to go over board on the leavening agents though because I don't want the bread to fall, but I will experiment until it does! 

Coconut Bread

6 eggs (organic, free range, brown AA large)

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (or you can use butter)

3/4 cup coconut flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)

1 tsp baking powder (I did almost 1.5 tsps and will up it next time)

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 Tbsp agave or honey (I used Madava amber agave)

Mix well so there are no lumps! Sift the coconut flour well. Beat the eggs separately. Combine dry into wet in stages. Or just put all the ingredients in a food processor and whiz to mix. GREASE your loaf pan liberally. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Enjoy!

By the way, the large dent you see in the picture is what I ate of it for dinner. Soo good.

My second picture is apple crisp. HAH. I should call it "college crisp" because it is so easy, and CHEAP to do! Stock up on apples from the cafe and viola! College Crisp! I did not know going into it if this recipe was going to be blog worthy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I might as well pass it on.

College Apple Crisp

6 apples of choice (I used 3 red delicious, 2 granny, and 1 yellow delicious)

amber agave

cinnamon to taste (about 1-1.5 tsp)

topping:

1 handful GF steel-cut oats (probably about a 1/4 cup)

1 tbsp coconut flour

2 tbsp amber agave

1 tbsp coconut oil (not melted)

cinnamon to taste

salt to taste

stevia

Cut apples into half moons like you would to eat them (I left the peels on, you can peel the apples if that is what you prefer). Place them in your glass baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and agave to taste, and toss until the coating is evenly distributed over all the apples. In a separate small bowl, put agave, cinnamon, salt (enhances the sweet), coconut oil and coconut flour. Mix with your fingers, add oats. Mixture should have a fine crumb (like when cutting butter into flour for the bottom of a pie) and no large lumps. Sprinkle stevia evenly on top of apples, and then sprinkle topping over apples. Drizzle one last time with agave syrup.

Bake covered with tin foil at 350 for about 40-50 minutes or until apples are tender. Allow 10 more  minutes with the foil off for the top to brown. Let cool for at least 5 minutes and serve! I ate mine plain and it was fantastic. Coconut/goat milk ice cream would be perfect on top as well. Next time I will use more golden delicious apples. Enjoy!

The kiwi, random, I know. But they were at the grocery store for 2/$1. Not organic, but still. Variety in the diet is good, and kiwis are good for you. I bought some for H because she loves them, and I got some for myself as well. 4 kiwis for $2. Your kidding. 2 for her, 2 for me. Now, I struggled with the way to eat them. I thought of using a spoon, but didn't think it would work. I was wrong. Upon searching the internet I came upon this article: How To Eat A Kiwifruit. It was just what I needed before enjoying my next kiwi. It worked splendidly, and I will never eat a kiwi another way again.

I hope to post that new recipe soon. I am dying to see if it will work as I have imagined it. Stay tuned.

How has your month been?