It’s been a little while since I baked something with the help of my little sous chef, so this morning we got to work and tried making some healthy, wholewheat, low-sugar biscotti.  First things first, we gathered our ingredients:  wholewheat flour, raw almonds, organic dried cranberries, baking powder, sea salt, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, pure lemon extract, and eggs.

Then it was on to our dry ingredients.  As always, I measured and Miss G dumped.  Her aim is not always spot on, but boy, oh boy, does she ever love this part.  In with the flour.

Add the baking powder and sea salt.

Chuck in your almonds.

And your cranberries.

Next, on to the wet ingredients.  Crack your eggs and pour them into a separate bowl.

Add the maple syrup, vanilla, and lemon extract.

And give it a good whisk.

Now for the combining.  FIrst, give your dry ingredients a little mix.

Then slowly add your wet ingredients into the dry ones.

Mix just until combined and scrape your attachment clean.

Plop the sticky dough onto a parchment-lined pan.

With very well-floured hands, gently pat your dough into a rectangular shape about 1 inch thick.

Then pop it into the oven and bake.

While you wait, clean up and then have a tea party.

Or play with a tray of ocean items.

When risen and golden brown, take your loaf out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

Once cooled, carefully cut into thick slices.

Place the slices back onto your pan, pop it in the oven, and go for a walk around the block.

Come home to a delicious smelling house and fully baked biscotti.

Enjoy!

These actually turned out really well and got the Gracen stamp of approval in the form of a sign for ‘More, more, more!’  Ours have just a tiny bit of sweetness and a good crunch without being rock hard.  If you want to try making your own, the original recipe can be found here and this is our modified version:

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

• 1 1/4 cup of wholewheat flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 cup of chopped almonds
• 1/4 of dried organic cranberries, chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 2 TBSP of pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp of pure vanilla
• 1/2 tsp of pure lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Stir in the nuts and fruit.

Whisk together the eggs and extracts. Slowly add to flour mixture, stirring until combined.

With floured hands, shape dough into a rectangular loaf about 1 inch thick on the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for about 25 minutes until the loaf is risen and firm. Remove the loaf from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Let the loaf cool about 10 minutes on a cutting board, then cut into thick slices.

Arrange slices cut-side down and bake 10 minutes.  Turn the slices over and bake for 10 more minutes, until dried.  Let cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!

*Grae and I cooked our slices for the first 10 minutes, flipped them, turned the oven off completely and let them sit in the cooling oven as we went out for a 45 minute walk, and ours turned out perfectly!

Today we had a day of rest and relaxation at home. It was filled with snuggles and stories, drawing and colouring, doing puzzles on repeat, and multiple games of hide-and-seek.  Sadly, our day of relaxation meant missing a Port Moody play date we were anxiously awaiting, but after coming home to a runny-nosed doodlebug who coughed herself to sleep last night, I knew we were in need of a very low-key day. In addition to the things I already mentioned, Gracen and I spent a good part of our day doing one of her very favourite things – cooking!  We whipped up two of our ‘while Papa’s away’ staples – chickpea patties and quinoa salad. Both are easy to make, full of nutrients, and delicious (despite what Bradley may say).  The best part?  Both are very sous chef friendly.  :)

Chickpea Patties:
First things first, we drained and rinsed our chickpeas well.  Then Gracen carefully shuffled them into a large bowl.

Next, we added a drizzle of olive oil and an egg.

Then Grae mashed like mad.

When the chickpeas were good and mushy, Gracen added in our fresh ingredients – carrots, zucchini, sweet onions, garlic, green onions, and fresh cilantro.

Then we added the dry ingredients – wholewheat flour, cornmeal, black pepper, sea salt, curry powder, and garam masala.

And just for fun, today we tossed in a little feta.

That’s it.  Then my little sous chef mixed, mixed, and mixed some more until all of the ingredients were evenly distributed.

Then we formed them into patties.

And popped them in the oven.  And while those baked, we started on our next dish…

Quinoa Salad:
First off, Miss G added our fresh veggies to our already cooked quinoa.

Of course she stopped to steal a few big chunks of avocado in between handfuls.

Then we added a little drizzle of olive oil…

And generous drizzle of the Okanagan’s own, Little Creek Dressing (delish).

Then Grae mixed it all up.

That’s it.  Lunch is served.  Chickpea patty, garlic scape pesto, quinoa salad, and apple slices for dessert.

Of course Grae gobbled it up like we hadn’t fed her in a week!  Hopefully a vitamin-packed lunch will help her fight this little bug that seems to be pestering her.  Recipes below. :)

Truthfully, neither of these are “recipes”.  Both just kind of came about last summer when we were freshly home from Kuwait and taking advantage of Grandma Charlotte’s fully stocked vegetable garden.  There are tons of possible ingredient variations and honestly, nothing I’ve done to either dish has turned out badly.  Yay for forgiving recipes!  :)

Chickpea Patties:

• 2 cans of no salt added / low sodium chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 egg
• generous drizzle of olive oil
• 1/2 of a large carrot, grated
• 1 small zucchini, grated
• 1/4 of a sweet Spanish onion, finely chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• handful of fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
• small chunk of feta, crumbled (yummy, but totally optional)
• 2 – 3 TBSP of wholewheat flour
• 2 – 3 TBSP of cornmeal or breadcrumbs
• 1 TBSP of curry powder
• 1 TBSP of garam masala
• generous grinding of fresh pepper
• pinch of sea salt (not needed if using feta)

*Veggie combos are endless.  Mushrooms, leeks, kale, and spinach are delicious in these too.  Also, instead of curry powder and garam masala, basil, thyme, and oregano can be substituted for a more Italian feel.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas.  Add the olive oil and egg and mash well.  Add all other ingredients and stir well.  Gently form into patties and place on the lined pan.  If patties are difficult to form because the mixture has too much moisture, adjust the amount of flour / breadcrumbs.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Serve as is, with a dipping sauce, on a bun with traditional burger toppings, or wrapped in a pita with lettuce and tomato.

Quinoa Salad:

• 2 cups of boiling water
• 1 cup of uncooked quinoa
• 1/2 of an avocado, diced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 of a red pepper, diced
• 1/4 of a long English cucumber, chopped
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• small drizzle of olive oil
• generous drizzle of your favourite dressing

*For a more Mexican vibe, replace the cucumber and parsley with some black beans, corn, jalapeños, and cilantro.

Bring water to a boil.  Add the quinoa, cover, and turn the heat down to low.  Remove from heat when all water is absorbed and fluff quinoa with a fork.  Let cool.

Add fresh veggies, herbs, olive oil, and dressing.  Mix well and serve.

Okay, so maybe we’re not really granola crunchers, but we’re definitely granola lovers.  The problem is that granola you buy at the store is filled with all kinds of sugar, sodium, and other things we don’t want Grae to eat. And since we picked up a bunch of delicious Liberté yogurt today, we needed a batch of homemade, healthy granola, pronto.  Of course my little sous chef was more than happy to help out in the kitchen.

First things first…  Gracen measured out our old-fashioned oats.

Then she added the almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, ground flax, wheatgerm, and quinoa flakes.

And enthusiastically shook in the unsweetened coconut.

That was it for dry ingredients.  Then it was time to stir, stir, stir.  (Don’t mind Grae’s bruised cheek – the poor little thing had a fall a couple of days back.)

On to the wet ingredients and spices!  In a separate bowl (or in our case, measuring cup), we added and mixed together our applesauce, pure maple syrup, olive oil, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.

This part is the most fun.  We added the wet ingredients to the dry and Grae went on a stirring frenzy.

When everything was evenly coated, we dumped the mixture out on two large baking sheets, spread it out, and drizzled on just a touch more olive oil before popping both pans into the oven.

Gracen was our official granola watcher and I was the official granola flipper.  We make a pretty good team. :)

And after about 45 minutes in the oven, we took it out to cool on the counter. Voila!  Done.

Gracen patiently waited for dinner to be made, ate up her portion, and then moved on to her anxiously-awaited dessert course – yogurt with granola and dried fruit!

Apparently it was so good that it disappeared more quickly than she was prepared for.

Be warned – if you try this recipe, licking leftovers off of your sleeve is a total possibility.

Here’s the original recipe and here’s our slightly modified version:

• 6 cups old-fashioned oats
• 2 cups chopped raw almonds
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 2 TBSP quinoa flakes

• 2 individual cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup pure organic maple syrup
• 3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
• 1/2 TBSP ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

This morning Gracen helped me make one of our favourite ever breakfast dishes – Lottie + Doof’s baked oatmeal. (You can find the recipe here.  I normally follow it fairly closely, but I go very easy on the maple syrup and add some ground flax and wheatgerm for added nutrition.)

We normally make it with blueberries, but this morning we decided to switch things up a little and made it with raspberries instead.  Naturally, Gracen was the designated taste tester.

After all that hard work in the kitchen, this little lady ate and then asked for a washcloth.  I gave her one and found her below her chair a few minutes later “cleaning up” her mess.  :)

We got some great news this morning and fresh muffins were needed for the occasion, stat.

Gracen’s becoming a pro at muffin making.

The secret ingredient in this recipe?  Whole greek yogurt!

The highlight for this little object transferring fiend?  Moving the blueberries, one by one, from the plastic container into the bowl.

Baking is just so much fun!

Prepping the pan is Grae’s specialty.

Next step?  Sprinkling cinnamon sugar on the muffin tops!

In the oven they go.

While waiting, my little baker kept busy at the gorgeous easel she got from her Uncle Gary for Christmas.

‘They’re reeeeaaaady, Mama!’

The finished product ready to be packed up and taken to our friends (explanatory post coming soon!)

The recipe we used can be found here.  Now this recipe is from the Pioneer Woman…  And although I never really follow recipes as they are, you just don’t mess with Pioneer Woman.  Why?  Because she is the QUEEN of cooking. That’s why. We did, however, replace half of the blueberries with raspberries, and add a splash of milk and a little cinnamon.  Shhh..  Don’t tell.

This morning’s activity involved baking a fresh batch of healthy muffins for the week.  Baking with a very busy baby isn’t always easy, so I try to have my ingredients {roughly} measured out before we actually get started. I find that it’s just easier if Grae can stay involved with the dumping and mixing and not have to wait for me to fetch and measure ingredients.

Today we sat on the floor next to the lazy susan and measured out the dry ingredients together and then she did this while I quickly gathered the wet ones.  There’s nothing like a little bowl of almonds and a drink to keep this little munchkin happy.

When I had everything out and ready, it was time to get to work.  First, Grae gave the dry ingredients a little stir by hand.

Then she added the walnuts.

In they go!  This may not be the fastest way of doing it, but I always try to let her do it her way first and then help her dump the rest in afterwards.

In with the milk and olive oil.

And now for the egg…

In it goes.

Then the fun part.  Adding the shredded carrot and zucchini!

She quite liked this step at first, but she didn’t love that her little hand was covered in grated carrot in between handfuls.

Once everything was in the bowl, it was time to let the mixer do its job.  Grae held the bowl, just in case. :)

This was the point when Miss G realized that she could see her reflection on the side of the stainless bowl.  Too funny!

With the batter finished, it was time to brush our muffin tin with olive oil.

Gracen waited patiently while I scooped the batter into the cups and then she sprinkled some cinnamon on the tops of the muffins.

Oops.  The result of overly enthusiastic cinnamon shaking.

The final step was placing a pecan on each muffin top.

Of course, Grae wasn’t shy about shoving some in her mouth when she got the chance.

With the muffins in the oven, it’s now time to wait…

Gracen made sure to check on them part way through.

They’re done!

Here’s the end result. You know how you sometimes bake some healthy and then end up eating it because you know its good for you and not because it actually tastes good?  Well not these!  They are actually really delicious.

Not to mention, they’re kid approved.  Gracen loves them!

If you’re in the mood for some yummy and mostly healthy (they do contain a small amount of sugar and salt) muffins, I strongly recommend you give these a try. I have issues following recipes as they are (hence the reason I’m not a great baker), but the recipe I used as a loose guide  can be found here.

Or if you want to try our version, here it is:

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup organic brown sugar, loosely packed
• 2 TBSP ground flax seed
• 2 TBSP wheat germ
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp organic cinnamon (additional for sprinkling)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned organic oats
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large organic egg
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 3 medium carrots, shredded
• 1 small zucchini, shredded
• 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
• 12 pecans (for muffin tops)

Preheat oven to 350° . Prepare a 12 cup muffin pan by brushing it with olive oil.

In a large bowl, combine together the flour, brown sugar, flax, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oats and nuts. Add the oil, egg, milk, carrots, zucchini, and banana and stir until just blended.  Sprinkle muffin tops with cinnamon and place a pecan on top of each.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and watch your baby gobble them up enthusiastically.

*I actually added an extra 1/3 of a cup of milk because the mixture seemed like it needed a bit more moisture, only to realize later that I had forgotten my thawed banana in the microwave (again, bad baker). With the banana, I don’t think we would have needed the extra milk. OOPS!