Chocolate Farmhouse Granola

Now that we are living out of our pantry for as long as possible, the kids are running out of cereal. Catastrophic! How will they survive?! Well by using stuff I have around the house of course!

This recipe will fill 3 one quart canning jars. So it’s technically 24 half cup servings, but they like it so much they are eating it 2 – 3 servings at a time. We might have to start rationing. Lucky for them I will happily sprinkle a scant quarter cup on my yogurt, which will leave a little extra to share.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of oats
• 4 cups of nuts and seeds. (I used 1 c. coconut, 1 c. pepitas, 1 c. sunflower seeds and 1 c. sliced almonds. Try it with pecans, walnuts or whatever you have on hand.)
• 1 cup of cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup oil. (I used melted coconut oil.)
• 3/4 cup maple syrup.
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup dried fruit. (I used raisins. Try cranberries, dried apple or cherries. yum.)
• 1 cup chocolate chips. (Mini is great but not necessary)

Preheat your oven to 300F.

In a large bowl mix oats, seeds, nuts and cocoa powder.

Measure oil, maple syrup and vanilla into a 16 oz liquid measuring cup and stir together. Pour over bowl and stir until all ingredients are coated.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spread the granola out. Sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake 20 minutes. Take the trays out and stir the granola around. Return to the oven and bake another 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Allow the granola to cool completely. Then add the dried fruit and chocolate chips and stir in. Transfer to storage containers that you can seal so it stays fresh.

Try your granola with sliced bananas and milk, in a parfait with Greek yogurt, sliced fruit and jam, or sprinkled on ice cream!

Today I made a pretty parfait with marmalade and mandarin sections. Chocolate and orange are fantastic together.

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Tomato Jam Soup

I love making soup! This one is great for lunch or a light supper with a grilled cheese, or homemade bread, cheese and pickles!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced Ginger
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 can diced tomatoes (or equal amount fresh tomatoes)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup Tomato Jam
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or chili flakes
• salt to taste

Instructions:

• Saute garlic ginger and onion in oil until tender.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
• Turn the heat down and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
• Transfer to a blender and puree the soup until it is smooth.

Try substituting coconut oil and coconut milk for the olive oil and stock for an Asian inspiration.

Do you love soup?!

Tabouli Salad

Or Tabbouleh Salad?

Fluffy cous cous with parsley, mint and lemon vinaigrette.

It’s the first week of February and I’m still harvesting herbs from my garden. Perks of living in Canada’s tropics!

This salad was light and fresh with the spicy falafel we made for dinner in Thursday.

Here’s the list to try it at your house

• 3 cups chopped Parsley
• 1 cup chopped Mint
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• 2 cups cooked cous cous.
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Whisk the oil and lemon juice in a bowl with the salt and pepper.

Fold in everything else and you are done. It’s barely cooking. Haha!

Cous cous is extrememly fast and easy to make. You can make it on the stovetop while you are chopping for a warm salad, or have it ready ahead for cold salad. So far we are on day three and the leftovers still taste good. They are awesome for lunches (or Fridays!)

Lots of folks use tomatoes in Tabouli. My oldest is havnign some acid reflux issues so tomatoes are on the no list right now. Besides, it’s February, tomatoes don’t even taste good right now. I will make this again in the summer and it will be amazing with fressh cherry toms from the garden.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins

I like when the recipe comes first.

Yield: 24 muffins

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour muffin cups or divvy up liners.

Ingredients:

• 2 c roasted pie pumpkin, mashed
• 1 c. sour cream or Greek yogurt (I like 5% yogurt)
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. melted butter or oil (I like butter)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp pumkin pie spice (see below if you need to make some up)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 2 c all purpose flour
• pepitas for topping

Mix wet ingredients with a mixer. Leaving it running on low, add dry ingredients one at a time until they are all incorporated. Batter should be thick. Divide into muffin cups and sprinkle with pepitas. Pop them in the oven and cook for 25 – 35 min. A convection oven won’t take as long.

I got these cool pumpkins form Whittaker Farm that have hull-less seeds, so that’s what I used!

I roasted a few pumpkins at once (I had some of my own too, tiny though they were) and mashed and measured the pulp into 2 cup portions. I have 2 more bags in the freezer waiting for another rainy day.

It was nighttime so these pictures are not very well lit, but I know you are here for the food.

Make your own Pumpkin Spice:

• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cloves

What’s your favourite thing to put Pumpkin Spice in?

Orange Marmalade Banana Bread

This is definitely my favourite Banana Bread recipe ever. But apparently I only photograph it when I have run out of pecans. Don’t worry! It still tastes awesome if you leave out the nuts or substitute almonds! And it also tastes fantastic if you throw in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. mmm. Orange and chocolate together? Yes please!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup Orange & Ginger Marmalade
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped pecans, plus more for topping

Instructions:

Bring butter to room temperature and preheat oven to 375F. Chop pecans and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time. Mash bananas with a fork and stir into batter with Orange & Ginger Marmalade.

Stir baking soda, salt and nutmeg into flour. Add dry ingredients to batter with toasted almonds and stir just until mixed and moist.

Line muffin cups or pans and divide batter evenly. Sprinkle each muffin with more pecans. Place in oven and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

• For 12 muffins, bake for 20 – 25 minutes
• For 4 mini laoves, bake for 35 – 40 minutes
• For 1 large loaf, bake for 55 – 60 minutes

Recipe interpreted from the Blue Chair Cooks with Jam and Marmalade book.

Did you try these? How were they?

Jam Jam Cookies

My grandma used to make these at Christmas with Crab Apple Jelly, but they can be good anytime! I made some today with Raspberry & Lemon Jam and Jalapeno Cherry Jam for a sweet treat. Spread the LOVE!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 4 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Blend butter and sugar, then add in the eggs and lemon juice and blend again. Stir in the baking soda and then add the flour one cup at a time until it is all incorporated. The dough is easy to work with.

Roll it a quarter at a time on a floured surface until it is fairly thin. Cut out circles and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. You can cut a window in half the rounds (or use other fun or seasonal shapes). Makes 2 to 2 1/2 dozen 2.5″ sandwiches, so cut 24 – 36 rounds.

Bake them one sheet at a time for 7 – 9 minutes, or until they start to brown at the edges. When they are cool enough to handle put two together with the bottoms facing in and spread some some jam or fruit butter between them. (A stiffer jam won’t run or squish out.)

This isn’t my grandma’s exact recipe, but it’s pretty close. I adapted it from Edna Staebler’s “Food that Really Schmecks.” A very popular cook book on the other side of my family! (Which was published in 1968 in Ontario’s Waterloo County, if you can find it, it’s a classic!)

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Chocolate Raspberry Sour Cream Bundt Cake

April in our house comes with 2 birthdays and Easter celebrations. Or we are lonely and feeling this self isolation thing and just really needed some chocolate cake. Whatever your reason, marbling raspberry spread into chocolate is brilliant.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa (plus a little extra for dusting)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 c sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
• 1 cup raspberry spread (I chose the low sugar spread, you could try with jam)

Preheat the oven to 350F, put the kettle on to boil, and grease up your bundt pan really well with butter. Butter is your friend.

Cream the butter and sugar until it is nice and fluffy. I have discovered that this is the trick to every good recipe: fluffy sugar butter. Add the eggs one at a time while the mixer is running, and then add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl measure out all the dry ingredients and whisk with a fork. Add to the batter and resume mixing on low until incorporated. Measure hot water from the kettle and add to the mixing bowl. Stir in sour cream. Do not overmix.

Spoon half the batter into the bundt pan. Dollop the raspberry spread around the cake pan alternating with dollops of batter until it is all transferred. Run a knife through the batter to marble the raspberry in.

Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until it tests done. Let cool 10 – 15 minutes and then remove from pan by running a butter knife around the the outer edge, laying a plate over top and then inverting the pan. It should come out easily if you used enough butter. If not it will still be delicious.

Dust the top with cocoa powder.

If you are really yearning for chocolate you can prepare a ganache icing by mixing 1 3/4 cups of bittersweet or dark baking chocolate, chopped with 3/4 cup of warm cream. Stir until all the chocolate is melted, and then let cool for 10 minutes or so. Pour over the cake before photographing for all your insta-friends. I would absolutely do this if I knew I would eat less than a third of this cake.

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Grandma’s Bread

What a crazy week in this fast moving world!

While you are practicing some social distancing you can slow down and fill your house with the smell of freshly baked bread. For toast or sandwiches, this seems like the perfect time to learn how. Then smear a warm slice with butter and your favourite jam.

This recipe makes 4 loaves. I freeze 2 as soon as they are cool, so for my family of four this batch will get us through two weeks.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp yeast

Stir together in a 2 cup bowl and let sit for 10 min.

• 3 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• approximately 10 cups of flour* **

In a stand mixer with the bread hook attached, mix together all ingredients and let it knead for 10 minutes until it has a smooth consistency.

*You can try substituting 1/3 whole wheat flour, or one cup ground flax or wheat germ. Or all 10 cups with a gluten free blend.

**start with 9 cups and gradually add up to 11 cups, until it kneads well and isn’t sticky.

Grease a large bowl with oil, turn out the dough into the new bowl and flip to coat. Cover loosely and let rise for 50 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

Punch down and form into 4 balls. Let rest 20 minutes.

Form into 4 loaves. You could experiment here and roll out the dough, spreading it with a garlic paste or cinnamon jam and raisins and then twisting, or making each loaf into 8 buns. Place the loaves into prepared loaf pans and cover loosely.

Let rise a second time for 50 – 55 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Let the loaves bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until they have a lovely golden crust and test done.

Let them cool a wee bit on a rack and then eat them!

Shown toasted with butter and Quince Jam. Enjoy!

Almond & Lemon Marmalade Muffins

Moist and yummy muffins taste so good warm from the oven with some butter. They keep well in an airtight container and freeze beautifully.

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Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup Lemon & Cardamom Marmalade
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 cup slivered almonds, plus more for topping

Instructions:

Bring butter to room temperature and preheat oven to 375F. Toast slivered almonds and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time. Mash bananas with a fork and stir into batter with Lemon & Cardamom Marmalade.

Stir baking soda, salt and cardamom into flour. Add dry ingredients to batter with toasted almonds and stir just until mixed and moist.

Line muffin cups or pans and divide batter evenly. Sprinkle each muffin with more slivered almonds. Place in oven and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

• For 12 muffins, bake for 20 – 25 minutes
• For 4 mini laoves, bake for 35 – 40 minutes
• For 1 large loaf, bake for 55 – 60 minutes

Recipe interpreted from the Blue Chair Cooks with Jam and Marmalade book.

Did you try these? How were they?