The Yummiest Quesadillas Ever

I'm not even kidding. I first had these quesadillas at a local health food cafe. I thought I was going to die right there. Although the cafe has many delicious items on its menu, I never order any of them. Just this quesadilla. So, I thought I would try to duplicate their recipe. And duplicate, I did. You will love me forever if you make these. See? Like this. You will make this face at me...

Unless you're allergic to pine nuts. Then you will hate me.

This is one of those non-specific recipes, too. Sorry.

The Yummiest Quesadillas Ever

Whole grain tortillas (sprouted is best)
Shredded cheese (the cafe uses mozzarella, I used white cheddar, you can use what you want)
Black beans (cooked)
Brown rice (cooked)
Corn
Pesto (this is what makes these things so heavenly)

Put one (or two) tortillas on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with some cheese.

Broil just until cheese is melted. Top with the rest of the ingredients. Finish with more cheese.

Broil until that cheese is melted. Put another tortilla on top. Broil again until warm and crispy. Cut with a pizza cutter and serve.

You won't regret it.

Pumpkin Cake

Yes. Another pumpkin recipe.  But seriously.

It's Thanksgiving.  And I love it.

  the end.

Pumpkin Cake

 1 1/4 c oil
 4 tsp vanilla
 1 c honey
 3/4 c pure maple syrup

 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce 
 4 eggs
 2 c pumpkin or 1 (15 oz.) can of pumpkin
 1/2 c wheat germ
 3 1/2 c whole wheat flour
 2 tsp baking soda
 2 TBSP cinnamon
 1 TBSP nutmeg
 2 tsp ginger
 2 tsp ground cloves

Combine first 7 ingredients and mix well. Combine the dry ingredients, mix well, and combine with wet ingredients.
Mix until blended.

Bake at 350˚ for 40-50 minutes for two 8" cakes and around 35 minutes for a 9x13.


Serve with Cream Cheese Frosting and Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Since it's Fall--wait, what am I saying? Pumpkin is good in any season. Anyway, since it's Fall, and pumpkin is more in abundance, I'll add to the sweet, pumpkin goodness that's found here. We love to modify Martha Stewart's cupcakes, so when I saw she had a Pumpkin Pancake recipe, I was all over that like Pooh on honey. These are creamy, yes, creamy, and wonderful. We top them with Jessica's homemade syrup (but we use 1 cup maple syrup instead of 1/2 cup honey or agave). If you're feeling really indulgent, you can top it with homemade whipped cream (sweetened with whatever you like), and it tastes like pumpkin pie--I lie not.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Whisk...

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (or sucanat or coconut sugar)

2 teaspoons + a pinch baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt;

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves.

In a separate bowl, stir together

1 ¼ cup milk

½ cup canned pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

Fold wet mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat; pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes; serve with syrup or whipped cream (or both!). Makes 8 to 10.

Pumpkin Cookies

You may not know this about me, but I'm famous. Sort of. Well, not really. But everybody knows I make the best pumpkin cookies in all the land. So, when I started eating healthy, nourishing foods, I felt a little sad to lose my reputation. However, it is not gone! No one has missed the old ones at all! Here are my yummy cookies:

Pumpkin Cookies

1 c. pure maple syrup
2 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. olive oil
2 t. vanilla
4 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking soda
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. ginger
1 t. cloves

(Some people would defile the pumpkinny goodness by adding chocolate chips. I don't. I'll tell you why in a minute.) Mix ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350.

Here's why I don't use the chocolate chips:

FROST WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. Oh, yes. Bring it on.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter
1/3ish c. pure maple syrup
1 t. vanilla

Hallelujah.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I would prefer to put a pumpkin recipe up here, but I haven't had the time to make anything pumpkin.

We did have a birthday, however, the request was carrot cake.

Although I admit, it's still ridiculously delicious.

Carrot Cake

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 TBSP cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1 1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded carrots

1 can crushed pineapples

Bake at 350˚ for 50 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

Whip all ingredients until thoroughly mixed and enjoy!

Chocolate Beet Cake

What? Beets in chocolate cake? Can it be? Oh, it can. And it's delicious. I have a confession to make. I have learned to love many things in recent years. Beets are not one of them. I've tried. Oh, how I've tried. I guess I just never thought of putting them in a chocolate cake. Now I know. And now I love them. As long as they're in chocolate.

I'm not actually going to put the recipe here because I want you to visit my friend Claudia's blog. She has wonderful things there, including the chocolate beet cake recipe.

By the way, she uses coconut sugar in the cake. Sucanat would work as well. But don't forget to put one or the other in the cake. If you do forget because you are overwhelmed and have a screaming 7 month old and a screaming 8 year old and two more who are yelling, "MOM!" constantly, all the grandparents and aunts and uncles who came to celebrate your four year old's birthday will be grossed out and your father-in-law might even be quite rude and hurt your already very embarrassed feelings. Totally hypothetical. I just thought I'd throw it out there...

Enjoy!

Yummiest Cornbread Ever

Ok.  

You can't eat chili without cornbread.  You just can't. This recipe of Jessica's is truly delicious.  In fact, it is so delicious that I renamed it, "Yummiest Cornbread Ever".  "Whole Wheat Cornbread" just didn't do it justice.

It just didn't.

Yummiest Cornbread Ever

1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. whole grain yellow cornmeal
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 c. honey
1 c. milk
1/4 c. oil

Blend all ingredients 20 seconds and pour into greased 8" or 9" pan.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
(I usually double it and use a 9x13 pan.  I bake it for about 35 minutes)

Speed Bread

I love how fast and easy this is. And yum. My mother-in-law came for dinner tonight and she said this recipe needed to be here. (I made the garlic herb version tonight.) So, here it is.

Speed Bread

4 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
1/2 c. olive oil

Blend in food processor or mixer.

Add 1 1/3 cup milk or almond milk (my mom would suggest buttermilk, I'm sure, and I'm guessing she'd be right.)

Mix until dough forms a ball. Pat dough into an ungreased baking dish. Cut into squares before baking. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes until golden.

You can also add 1/2 t. garlic powder and 1 t. parsley flakes with the milk to make garlic herb bread.

Yammies

These are supposed to be called Yam Brownies, but I think that's deceiving because when I hear brownies, I think chocolate. So, I renamed them YAMMIES. Clever, I know. These things are DELICIOUS.

Yammies

1 cup butter (now you know why they are so delicious!)
1 cup agave
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups peeled and finely shredded yams

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9x13 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, cream together butter and agave. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the yams. Spread the batter in the baking dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Eat and enjoy!

Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Pancakes

Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp aluminum-free baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

2 cups milk (I use almond milk, but any kind will do - even water will do in a pinch)

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

splash of cinnamon (I recommend a large splash)

dash of vanilla (once again, I appreciate not-skimpy-dashes)

fruit (berries or bananas are delicious)

Mix and cook on a greased griddle.

Make sure they are heart shaped if you make them on Valentine's Day. These have raspberries in them. My favorite. Simple and yummy. You don't need anything to put on them, but if you're going to anyway, may I suggest 100% pure maple syrup (a little goes a long way), 100% fruit spread, more fruit, or, if you insist...

Vanilla Syrup

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup buttermilk (make by adding 1 tsp lemon juice to milk - even soy or nut milks)

1 stick butter

Bring to a boil. Make sure you use a 3 quart pan. This will cause some bubbling:

1/2 tsp baking soda

Boil for one more minute. Remove from heat. Then add:

1 tsp vanilla

Once again, a little goes a long way. This stuff tastes like caramel.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Here is my recipe for pizza. Well, pizza crust. I'll tell you what we put on it, but you can put whatever deliciousness you want on it. My kids are making dinner tonight. So, we've taken some pictures for you, too. Ignore my messy kitchen.

Super Easy Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) rapid yeast

1 cup very warm water

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Knead five times. Let stand for 5 minutes in a bowl in the oven on lowest temp.

Roll dough onto cooking stone or pizza pan (we use cookie sheets and we press more than roll).

Top with whatever you want! Bake at 450 for 9-15 minutes (depending on how thin your crust is).

Here's how we top ours:

It all started when we discovered Beano's White Pizza Sauce. So yummy. It is just oil and herbs. Until our grocery store stopped carrying it. The nerve. So, we've been trying to make our own. We brush olive oil on the crust and sprinkle basil, oregano and Italian Seasoning on top.

It is almost as good, but not quite. (Their website says that another local grocery store that I never go to has some. I may have to visit...) We then top with chopped up red peppers and some goat cheese.

(My milk sensitive ones handle goat cheese fine.)

Very yummy!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake

Delicious and moist. I usually make a not-at-all-vegan frosting out of cream cheese, butter, vanilla and just enough agave nectar to make a nice consistency. I'm sorry. I don't actually measure. And it's not healthy. Don't think I think it is. But it is nice for a very occasional treat.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake

3 cups whole wheat flour

6 tablespoons cocoa

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup agave nectar

1 teaspoon salt

5/8 cup oil

2 tablespoon white vinegar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cup cold water

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into a 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan. (The pan does not have to be greased.) Bake at 325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Test with a fork for doneness.

Whole Wheat Bread

This is seriously the best and easiest whole wheat bread recipe ever! Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread

14 cups whole wheat flour (don’t use all at once!)

3/4 cup gluten flour

2 Tbsp. rapid yeast

6 cups warm water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup oil

1 1/3 Tbsp. salt

Put 8 cups flour, gluten flour and yeast in bread mixing bowl. Add water. Mix 1

minute and let sit 10 minutes.

Put honey, oil salt and last 6 cups flour in and knead about 6 minutes.

Heat oven to 170 degrees (or “warm”).

Grease 4 pans and put dough in pans. Form into loaves. Put in the oven for 20

minutes.

Turn oven to 350 degrees (leave loaves in oven) and take out after 35 minutes. Turn

out onto rack and cool.