Seabrook Sangria

We had the pleasure of spending Easter with The Cousins.  Actually, we spent it with most of  Mike's family, but to Mia, it is all about The Cousins.  It was a great weekend to be at the beach in the Great Northwest and this year we were in Seabrook, Washington.  This festive libation came out quite well to accompany an amazing meal made by my wonderful Sister-in-law and her husband (not sure if that makes him my brother-in-law? Doesn't seem quite right).  Anyway, I  had to prove to myself that it really was that good by making another vat of it last weekend in celebration of a good friend's birthday.  Indeed, it was dynamite, although the first batch was better by a tiny tad- I think the difference was that I used Newman's Virgin Lemonade in #1 and Trader Joe's Pomegranate Lemonade in #2.  To be fair, I added a bit of suggested cinnamon to the second batch, but I think that gave it some added dimension vs. not.  I'm thinking that the next time, I will skip the ground cinnamon and add a cinnamon stick or two into the pot while it is steeping together instead.  I'm pretty sure it was the lemonade that took a half-point off the second batch.

I also had a rare moment of brilliance and took a shallow dish (maybe a 2-3 cup Pyrex or so) and froze it full of lemonade to add in at the end when I set it out to serve- this way it would stay cold and sangrilicous without getting diluted.  And incidentally, this saves pretty well in a mason jar for up to 2 days in case you want to keep the party going when the guests are gone. 

Seabrook Sangria

• 2 bottles of full bodied red wine, fancy not needed (I like Big House Red)
• 1/2 cup sugar made into simple syrup (see below)
• 4-6oz. Triple Sec
• 6-8oz. Lemonade, plus more for freezing (see above)
• Juice of:
• 3 limes
• 2 lemons
• 1orange (2 might be nice)
• 1 bottle sparkling wine, chilled (not the sweet kind)
• (optional)  1/4tsp ground cinnamon or a couple of cinn sticks
• (optional) misc chopped fruit such as pineapple, strawberries and such

Directions
1.  to make simple syrup, pour your sugar into a jar, cup or other vessel and slowly add hot water into it and stir- just enough to dissolve the sugar - maybe 4 oz or so? 

2.  Mix all ingredients except sparkling wine together in large pitcher or such item and place in fridge for maybe 4-8 hours

3.  When ready to serve, taste and adjust with a bit lemonade, juice and such to your preference, then add in the bottle of sparkling wine and frozen lemonade, then serve over ice with a bendy straw.

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins (Gluten/Dairy free/adaptable)

When I made my first batch of these the other week, I thought Mike was going to float off the ground.  I mean, don't get me wrong, Mia was pretty pumped for the choco chips and all, but my husband after the first (of 4) muffins....."MMM!!  Oh!  These have to go on the blog."  (pause, one more muffin)  .." MMM!  and make sure to tell them that you used cooked oats. You used cooked oats, right?"  And so on.  For those of you who don't know my husband, he is a man of few words.  For those of you who do know him, you probably don't even believe me, but these are actual quotes with actual accentuation to them.  He was even (after the 3rd batch or so about 3 days later) prompted to send me a cherishably,  rare mid-day text stating "what are the odds the last two will be here when you get back from work?".  I'm pretty sure I'm on to something here.  Never mind that they are absolutely delicious for big and small peeps, totally packed with goodness, full of whole grains, no refined sugar and suuuuper easy and fast to make.  I think I timed it at 20 minutes from first measure to out of the oven, as long as your oats are cooked already. 

If you make the gluten-free version, depending on your flour choice, these could seriously be practically a complete meal- just missing maybe 1/4 cup of squash puree or something and they would be perfect.  Use some brown rice and bean flour, fruit?  Jim Gaffigan would agree, these are truly Muffin Vitamins.

Banana Choc Chip Oatmeal Muffins
(preheat oven to 400deg)
1c cooked oats
1egg (or flax egg)
1Tb melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 c milk (I use almond milk)
4Tb liquid sweetener- I typically use Maple syrup
1tsp vanilla
1-1/2c flour (any kind is fine, I use a mix of garb, brown rice, tap starch and sorghum)*
1Tb baking powder
1tsp salt
4T mini choc chips (1/4c)
1 banana chopped very finely

* if using GF flours, I use 1tsp ground psyllium husk or 1Tb ground flax.  Often I use some flax as a part of the flours anyway)

Directions:Mix dry ingredients together.  In separate bowl, mix the wet stuff then combine it all together.  Scoop 2oz (I use ice cream scooper) into 24greased or lined mini-muffin tins and bake for about 12 minutes.  

Consider making extra oatmeal to make the next batch tomorrow.

You may also want to add other nuts and dried fruit and such to your muffs if that is your thing.  It is most certainly NOT mine, but I know your type.
If you want to make regular sized muffins, this will probably make about 8-12 muffs, depending on how much you fill the tins.  Cook for maybe 18-22 min?

2oz ice cream scoop is magic!

Muffin and child to scale.

Crispy Granola Bars (gluten-free/dairy-free)

This recipe came out of a recent need to have granola in the house.  As a recovering child of a hippie, granola wasn't actually a staple- it was considered junk food.  Right along with Grape Nuts and other shocking foods of the like.  Don't get me wrong- it isn't lost on me that I resent all of the organic whole foods and recycling that my mom thrust upon me decades before it was cool- yet I have wholly embraced it as a person and parent.  I just have to live with that.  Anyway, for some reason I have just been craving granola.  A good friend of mine, (Our CarolMerrill), gave me a recipe a year or so back and I finally got to making it.... then Cooks Illustrated put Granola in their recent issue and I felt it was a sign.  As with many things Cooks Illustrated, it sounds great but there are just too many steps to make it perfect- So basically this is a recipe inspired by CI and friends, then a recipe gone wrong in a very yummy way. 

Crispy Granola Bars

• 2c reg oats
• 1/4c coarse flour- oat flour or almond flour work great
• 1/2c crispy (brown) rice cereal(whole foods has a good 365 brand for pretty cheap)
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1tsp vanilla
• 1/4c nut butter of your delight (see note)
• 1/4c sweetie: I used 2T agave and 2T maple syrup
• semi-optional: 2-4T mini chocolate chips 
• optional: 1-2T flax meal, 1T chia seeds or what ever you love to add (nuts, seeds, dried fruit....).  

Nut butter note: my favorite has been to use Sunflower Butter or Almond Butter because of their mild flavor.  When I have made these with Peanut Butter, I have simply found them too Peanut Buttery if you know what I mean.  Mike loved them that way but he is funny like that.

Directions: (Preheat oven to 350deg)
1. Mix dry stuff in one bowl
2. Mix wet stuff together in a separate bowl (as with the Breakfast Cookies, I just build it in a wet ingredient measuring cup)
3. Mix together and smash the heck out of them into a parchment lined pan (really smash them) and cook ~10-12 minutes depending upon if you want a chew or crunch factor.
4.  Let cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting.

Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies (Gluten-free/Dairy-free)

So these are basically granola bar drops or something.  They will pass as a cookie if they have to (say, if you are trying to get healthy food into your kids *ahem*) but they really are a nutritional snack (and therefore totally OK to eat if, say,  you have given up sweets and treats for Lent as some folks I know).  They are ridiculously easy to make,  totally packable and a great bite to keep you going in a pinch.  The 'recipe' below is absolutely just a suggested combination of ingredients. I would certainly encourage you to add nuts if you like, add dried cranberries, coconut, whatever. Clearly, the above batch was greatly helped by Mia this morning who felt strongly about having goldfish, O's and Honey Sunshine included.  I was just happy they didn't burn, but can't possibly imagine how unpleasantly soggy those fish will be tomorrow. 

I typically just literally pile everything into my 2c wet measuring cup, just adding stuff as I go- start with the applesauce, add peanut butter, then just dump it all in after that, adjusting the oats or whatever I choose to plop into them as I see fit to have the mix the consistency I like.  I am not one who likes much moisture in my foods, so I tend to put more oats and such in to keep them dry and cook them a long time.  If you prefer a more moistureful item, go a little scant on the oats and take them out a few minutes earlier.  I actually tend to keep them out on the counter uncovered to dry and stale out a bit.  I have issues.

Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies

• 1/2c unsweetened applesauce (our mix of applesauce, mashed banana &/or squash puree is good, too)
• 1/4c nut butter of your liking
• 1/4tsp cinnamon
• 1/2tsp vanilla
• 1/8tsp salt
• 1Tbls sugar, agave or maple syrup
• 3T raisins (I greatly prefer currants here)
• 3/4-1cup whole oats
• 2-3Tbls mini chocolate chips (optional, but really....)

Directions (preheat oven to 350deg)
As I said above, I just dump all of the ingredients into a 2c measuring pitcher and mix.  I would mix the nut butter and and applesauce first to get it well combined, then add the rest and adjust to your taste.  Then drop in 1oz/1Tbls blobs on a parchment lined cookie sheet and cook 18-20 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

Adapted from this recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie.

Roasted Garbanzo beans (Chickpea poppers)

These have become somewhat of a problem around here.  Mike and I are going through them extremely quickly- like 1-2 cans a day - he says they taste like fried chicken.  I finally got around to making some from dry beans to have a little more say in the salt factor, cut costs and get away from the BPA in the cans with the rate we were consuming them!  At any rate, these are delicious, easy to make and very versatile.  Any kid except mine should love these.  They make a great packable snack full of great fiber and protein and are much more satisfying than other snacks I seem to stuff my face with until I feel some sense of fullness.  I have fallen love with making them using curry powder &/or Old Bay, but you can use any spice you think of that sounds tasty. 

If you are using canned garbanzo beans, keep an eye on the amount of sodium used in the brand you are choosing.  I have found they vary wildly and can quickly veer away from being quite as nutritious when you are eating 2g of sodium in a sitting.  Like baking with butter, I think it is best to use unsalted or lowest salted then add your spices as you like it. I will include a note about cooking your own from scratch below, but out of convenience, the recipe is written for canned.

Roasted Garbanzo Beans (preheat oven to 425)

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed*
• ~1tsp-2tbls olive oil (use how much you want or are comfortable with, I just drizzle it out of my bottle and coat the garbs)
• ~1/2tsp salt
• ~1/4tsp freshly ground pepper
• ~1tsp optional spice (curry, Old Bay, smoky paprika, cumin....)

Directions
In small/medium bowl, toss the garbanzos with the oil, then add the spices you want.  Spread the beans in a single layer out on a cookie sheet and roast approximately25-35 minutes, stirring and flipping them every 10  minutes or so.  They should generally be firmly chewy when done.  I like it when I occasionally over cook a batch and have garbanzo nuts, but Mike and I differ there...

*If cooking from dry beans, simply toss your dry garbs in a pot of water with at least 3 inches water over the top of the beans and bring to boil, then simmer gently for about 2 hours, then drain.  I found that when I did it this way vs. from canned beans, they cooked a little more quickly and were a little crunchy, more like corn nuts.  You could very easily make these and a batch of Chocolate Chip Blondies and be set with a delicious power snack combo.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:  YOU MUST TRY THESE TOSSED WITH THE TUSCAN KALE SALAD!!!

I don't want to sell this smoked salmon wonder salad short, but the Kale salad truly is over the moon.  I just lost my pictures with a computer crash.  boo.

Gingerbread Cut-outs (Wheat-free/Dairy-Free)

Gingerbread cookies are my absolute favorite.  I have never made them before this year because I am almost blinded with resentment of the refrigeration step.  This process is so ridiculous, so heinous, that I simply have never made them.  There is just something about thinking "mmm, I'm going to make some cookies" and "Oh, wait, let's not even think about eating them until tomorrow" that is ... well, you get it.  Anyway, this year I have had an attitude adjustment called 'raising a toddler'.  In this complicated step of life, one reevaluates what one defines as fun and thinks "hey, that might be fun to make them at night and then we can cut them out tomorrow!" in addition to many other redefining moments, of course.  Plus, I clearly under use my Kitchen Aid mixer, as this machine basically makes cookies on its own with a bit of coaching.  All of these years.  Anyway, I was right.  It was totally fun to cut them out and play with Mia doing the cookies once I got through the rolling out process which nearly broke me- but only because I skipped that silly step of rolling it out before refrigerating it.  Incidentally, I don't recommend you skip that step.

So this recipe was adapted from a recipe in The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook (yes, I adapted a perfectly good GF recipe and added gluten), so you could easily replace the spelt flours with your favorite GF flour and 1tsp xanthan gum if you like.  These cookies have great flavor, are super soft with a just-right chew and were exactly what I wanted, especially since this was  my first foray into baking with spelt.  Good stuff.  Low sugar, much lower in fat than typical cookies and great ingredients with the whole grain flour and molasses make them right good mama/toddler snacks.

Spelt Gingerbread Cut-out Cookies

• 3-3/4c Spelt flour (I used 2c reg and 1.75c white spelt)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbls ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbls ground ginger
• 1 Tbls ground cloves
• 1/2 c vegetable shortening, cut into about 8 pieces
• 1/2 unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 light agave nectar
• 1/4c plus 2Tbls molasses

Directions
1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.  Mix on low speed until combined, about 30 sec.  Stop the mixer and add the bits of shortening and the applesauce, then mix on low speed for about 1-1/2 minutes or until consistency of fine meal.

2.  With the mixer still running, add the agave and molasses, mixing until thoroughly combined, about 20 more seconds.  (if you use a food processor instead, add ingredients in order mentioned, process for about 10 seconds per step)

3.  Lay out two large sheets of parchment paper on your work surface.  Using spatula, divide the dough evenly between the two sheets.  Cover each with another large parchment sheet and roll out with rolling pin until ~1/4" thick.
4.  Wrap in plastic and transfer the dough in the parchment paper to the fridge until completely chilled, preferably overnight or at least a few hours. 

5.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

6.  Remove one dough from the fridge and peel back one sheet of parchment paper, then replace it and flip the dough over.   Remove the new top sheet of parchment paper and start cutting shapes!

7.  Transfer cut shapes onto baking sheet about 1" apart and bake on center rack for ~10 minutes.  If you like, you can use raisins and such before baking to decorate.

8.  Save all scraps around your cut-outs and re-roll for more cookies as many times as you like.

9.  Let cookies cool completely if you plan to decorate with your favorite frosting.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies of mixed sizes.  A pretty big batch if you ask me.

This video was made while making some GF snickerdoodles to post another time, but is clearly an excellent alternative mixing method.

Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies

I know, the picture is clearly not a sugar cookie.  It is gingerbread and I will have a recipe for the tasty soft and delightful low sugar spelt gingerbread cookies soon, but really.... Is that maybe the best decorated cookie you have ever seen?  With the spur?  I don't even know how you eat that one.  Anyway, some friends and I got together for a cookie decorating party this weekend.  I was responsible for the Gingerbread variety and The Great Leslie Beck was responsible for the sugar cookies.  Since I am the one with special needs, I made a wheat-ful batch and a spelt batch, but I never expect others to bother.  TGLB, however, is always thinking of the peeps around her.  She made regular sugar cookies and these amazing Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies.  She adapted them from this recipe based on necessity and I will post the recipe as she made it below because they were amazing. I'm sure the original is amazing as well.

I feel like people always want to apologize for things being Gluten-Free.  Really, the only thing that I find typically needs and asterisk is bread.  Other than that, wheat is boring, boring, boring.  Gluten-free grains have way more complexity and flavor.  These cookies are the most delicious sugar cookies I have ever tasted.  Light, delicate and tons of flavor to stand up to delicious butter-cream frosting.

Note:  Leslie used a GF all-purpose mix by Avec Baking that was incredible.  If you are in Seattle, you can find it at PCC.  If you are not in Seattle, please think of this local company for an order. This flour was excellently balanced and xanthan-free.  If you are using your favorite GF mix in this recipe, please make sure it isn't just rice flour and tapioca starch or the flavor of your cookie will be very neutral.  If need be, replace at least 1/2 or 1cup of the flour you are using with either sorghum flour or amaranth flour to boost the personality.  I happen to also love garbanzo flour, but I know that is scandalous.  If you are making your own mix, please use 1.5 cups flours and 1 cup starches, like potato and tapioca.

Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies

• 2 & 1/2 cups Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour mix (please see note above)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch fresh nutmeg

Directions

1. Place all the flours in a medium-sized bowl and whisk them together (if not using pre-mixed). Sift them through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl. Add the baking powder, and salt, then whisk together and set aside.

2. Stir the butter (or let the beater attachment of the stand mixer do it for you). Add the sugar and cream them together until they are just combined. Add the two eggs and vanilla extract and beat for a couple of minutes more. Throw in the pinch of nutmeg and stir one last time.

3. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet, one cup at a time until well mixed.  It should be a thick batter, not entirely stick to the touch, but not as stiff as traditional rolled cookie dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 375 and take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Don’t let it reach complete pliability. The dough should still be rather stiff from the refrigeration.

5. Roll out the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper. This dough doesn’t go paper thin, so you’ll have cookie with a bite to them. Cut out with your favorite shapes.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on your oven and how crisp you like them. Let them cool for 10 minutes before eating them. Let cool completely before using your favorite butter-cream frosting for fancy decorations!

Makes about 15 to 20 cookies, depending on the shapes.