Revamping Strawberry Shortcake

A few Sundays ago, Kyle and I packed up to go to Carole and Dave’s house for a brunch. Brunch. It’s perfect for Sundays. Especially when you’re surrounded by family friends. One particularly awesome family friend (Miss Carole, that’s you!) who doubles as my personal seamstress. Carole is altering a dress for me to wear to a wedding we’re attending in Cincinnati. I’m totally stoked! Yes, stoked! I’ve never been to Cincinnati and we’re planning a trip to Three Sisters on our way through Indianapolis since they serve some hip looking vegan options.

Right.. back to the food!

Brunch consisted of an old favorite of mine from childhood. Skinnies. Skinnies are pretty much crepes that we stuff with chocolate chips, syrup, jams, jellies and anything else we can find. They skinnies are hot enough to melt the chocolate and they are a beautiful thing! I wrestled with myself for a bit on whether I should actually have any as they are not vegan. A few weeks ago I was reading some blogs that talked about just that situation. Sometimes there are more important things in life than the fact that I’m a vegan. I deemed this one of those times and told myself I should have one skinny. With chocolate chips and apricot jam.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think skinnies should be the next “big deal” recipe I adapt to be vegan.

Even though I told myself I was going to be eating a skinny, I decided to bring a brunch item of my own to share. The idea came to me almost immediately. I was going to revamp the strawberry shortcake. Modernize it if you will.

The idea started with coconut. I wanted to make a coconut butter and serve it with strawberries. I wanted to thin out the coconut butter to make a whipped cream consistency. After emailing Ashley from the Edible Perspective, I discovered it just wasn’t going to work the way I wanted. She suggested that canned coconut milk was the way to go. I had seen the recipe on her blog and was entranced by it. Before seeing her “cool whip” I had never thought that you could whip coconut milk into submission like that. Oh you sure can my friends.

Instead of going with a biscuit or cake for the “shortcake” part of this treat, I went with granola. Peppered balsamic granola.

The trio of flavors; pepper, coconut and strawberry; left me utterly speechless.

Carole and Dave loved the combination as well. We even put the coconut “whip” into our coffee. Kyle enjoyed his first skinny experience. After being “called out” on only having one skinny I found the diplomatic way to bring my veganism to the table.

It was accepted warmly.

No wonder I love these guys!

Strawberries and Granola with Coconut Whip
1 pint fresh strawberries

For the granola:
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
3 tablespoons flax seed
3 pitted dates
1 heaping tablespoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons apple juice (or water)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (I used pomegranate flavored)

For the coconut whip:
1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled overnight in the fridge (out of the can)
3 teaspoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

The night before and preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Stick a metal bowl in the freezer along with your whisk. I used my Kitchen Aid bowl and whisk attachment.

In a blender, puree 2 tablespoons of the flax seed, dates, pepper, 2 tablespoons of the oil, apple juice, water and vinegar until smooth. Mix together oats, coconut and remaining tablespoon of flax seed in a large bowl, then pour in the wet mixture. Stir until evenly combined, then stir in the remaining tablespoon of oil.

Spread the granola mixture onto a nonstick baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 minutes. I’m not sure exactly how long I baked the granola. I kept a very close eye on it (I burned my first batch), stirring it every 10 minutes, until it was lightly brown. Cool completely and store.

The next morning, rinse and quarter your strawberries. Set aside (not in the fridge) and get to work on that coconut whip!

Remove the coconut milk and whipping equipment. Whip the coconut milk on high until soft peaks start to form. Add in the sugar and extract, whipping for another minute until the sugar is well incorporated. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

When you’re ready dig in and ENJOY!!

Oat Fanatic

That’s me.  The oat girl. I can’t get enough.  

Morning oatmeal, overnight oats, granola.  I adore granola.  I rarely make it because I can’t stay away.  Really.  I’ll eat the entire thing if you let me.  Before it’s even cooled.

Since I used my last cup of rolled oats, I had to be sure to save some for breakfast.

Spicy and chewy, yet crunchy with a hint of sweetness from the banana. It was difficult to resist.

Good thing the book I’ve been jonesing for became available at the library! It might keep me occupied for a bit.

Spicy Banana Granola
1 banana
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons flax meal
1 tablespoon oil (I used spicy sesame oil)
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon anise seed
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
dash of nutritional yeast (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together oats, blueberries, coconut, cinnamon, anise seed, cayenne and nutritional yeast. Set aside. Puree banana, water, oil and flax, then add to the dry mixture and combine well. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet (I’m stubborn and didn’t grease it but it might be easier if you did) and stick that sucker in the oven. Using a spatula, I broke up the granola “sheet” into pieces about 15 minutes in, then checked on it every 10 minutes or so until it was crispy to my liking. Cool completely before storing or it won’t have any crisp to it!

Snow Day!

I got “lucky”! We NEVER get snow days working at the bank. Then last night that monster of a blizzard (the likes of which I haven’t seen since I was in high school) came through town and BAM, Snow-Whipping City! We got well over a foot of snow overnight, along with some nasty howling wind. It enabled us to leave work early yesterday and have the day off work! Unfortunately for me, this Snow Day came on my day off.

*sigh*

You can barely see my car! And the snow plow "poop" blocking it in..

Oh well, Snow Day = Eat Day, right? I hope so, because that’s all I’ve been doing today! Well, aside from shoveling and napping..

Last night I got the itch again. The itch to make granola. I’ve been craving it like mad but holding off. This time, instead of making my delicious calorie-laden peanut butter and chocolate granola, I decided to go a different route and make some quinoa granola.

Now you see, I’ve tried to like quinoa. I’ve made it into pilaf, cooked it in pineapple juice and stir fried it; I just can’t get into the stuff that way. But I sure do like it in granola form. It stays nice and crunchy and I can’t get enough! Equally as delicious as the peanut butter stuff but much more “figure friendly”. Fit for a day of nibbling!

I loosely followed Ashley’s recipe for quinoa granola over at The Edible Perspective. I made a few changes to fit the recipe to ingredients I had on hand and I’ll repost with the ingredients I did use here. However, if you get the chance to click on over to Ashley’s site, please do. I get amazing ideas from her and her pictures are something to behold!

Maple Vanilla Granola

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 cinnamon sticks
3 tablespoons flax seed
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup walnut pieces
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons dried blueberries
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa, almond milk, water, vanilla and cinnamon sticks to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until all liquid is absorbed. In another bowl, combine flax, coconut, walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, syrup and salt. Remove cinnamon sticks from quinoa and add the quinoa to the bowl with your other goodies. Stir well and spread evenly on either a non stick cookie sheet or a regular cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the mixture for one hour, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes to keep from burning. Allow the granola to cool completely before storing.

Sweet Potato Granola

I’d like to start off this post with a shout out to Kankakee Natural Foods. This is and has been my favorite store in the area since I discovered its existence about a year ago. Best unsweetened dehydrated banana chips this side of the Rockies. Well maybe. I don’t really know what the deal is with banana chips over there in California. Probably pretty substantial, though. Maybe if I go over there someday I’ll find out.

Anyway, so I’m standing at the checkout counter with my granola-making purchases when I suddenly acquired a taste for dried blueberries. I asked the girl behind the counter if they ever dried their own blueberries. She said they didn’t, but they did get in packages of them. She walked over and grabbed them off the shelf to show me. It saddened me that they were teensy bags.

Damn blueberries for being so tiny and delicious and not being grown in my area – therefore expensive!! I thanked her for showing me and proceeded to the door as she returned the blueberries to their shelf.

Then the clouds parted! She waved me down and walked toward me carrying several shiny, beautiful bags of dried blueberries. It turns out that they were a few months past their shelf date and they weren’t allowed to have them on the shelf anymore. She said they were mine if I wanted them and all I’d have to do is just throw them out if they weren’t any good.

I thanked her profusely, practically jumped up and down like a child going to Disney World! Free dried blueberries! Woo-hoo!!

I rushed home to make my granola!

This recipe is inspired by a recipe for Maple Pumpkin Granola I ran across on Sugar Plum. I already have a favorite granola recipe, but it’s not exactly the most figure friendly one. It has lots of peanut butter, butter, honey and chocolate… I have to save it for special occasions.

So here’s my granola recipe. And if by some chance there’s some ingredient you find appalling, just swap it out with something you like! This mixture seems to be pretty delicious completely unbaked or even partially baked. Filling and delicious in any form!

Sweet Potato Granola
1 cup steel cut oats
1/3 cup rye berries
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup unsweetened banana chips
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/8 cup flax seed
1/4 cup All Bran cereal
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cooked
3 dried figs
1 tablespoon tahini paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (substitute Earth Balance or more oil to make it vegan)
1 teaspoon mango extract
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet with canola oil and set aside. In a bowl mix oats, rye berries, pumpkin seeds, banana chips, blueberries, flax seed, cereal and peanuts. In a food processor, puree sweet potato, figs, tahini, olive oil, butter, extract, water and salt. Combine oats mixture and sweet potato mixture. Spread onto the cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring the ingredients up halfway through.

Homemade Granola

So there I was at work, surfing the gluten-free blogs, when I ran across Gluten Free Mommy’s recipe for homemade granola. Of course I printed it off right away! I’ve found a few recipes but I hadn’t found any that really piqued my interest like this one! I tweaked it a bit since I’ve never ever been able to just follow a recipe to the letter. Here’s my variation of GFM’s granola! In fact, this recipe is so delicious it might even replace brownies in my book..

2 cups oats
1/3 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup banana chips
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 heaping tablespoons natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I LOVE Watkins)
3 tablespoons butter (Earth Balance for a vegan version) and 2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a small saucepan combine peanut butter, honey, butter, oil, and vanilla. Once the peanut butter mixture is combined, stir it into the dry ingredients until oats are well moistened. Spread granola onto a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. The granola gets crispier as it cools. Cool at least 20 minutes before storing in a sealed container.

Update: A few days ago I made this recipe with molasses instead of honey (not quite a 1/2 cup).. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted such granola perfection. Munch munch munch..