Chocolate Banana Muffin Bites

This was my second attempt at making a “flourless” dessert. The first banana bread was a big flop (or should I say glop?). I think the cocoa powder helps here. This originally was written as a cake recipe, but since I don’t have a round cake pan I tried it in a bread pan first. That turned out pretty good, but I knew that if I made them in a cupcake pan it would be easier to get it cooked all the way in the middle (and avoid gloppy-ness). These are yummy & even those who are not trying to go wheat, grain, or gluten free will enjoy them!

Chocolate Banana Muffin Bites

3 eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup honey

¼ cup oil

1 cup mashed (ripe) bananas

½ cup cocoa


Preheat oven to 350. Beat or whip the eggs for 2 minutes (I’m using my rotary mixer I brought to Rwanda with me- remember those?) Add the remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly. Grease or insert paper liners in your muffin tin (12 muffins). Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin cups (about 1 inch of batter in each one). Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes & then remove.


Enjoy!
Lisa

This post is a part of Monday Mania, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays.

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

I'm really surprised I have not blogged about these awesome little treats before- these need to be in your recipe book right after the healthy mounds/almond joys.  This recipe comes from the Oceans of Joy blog.  I made them here last week (yes, I brought my [half full] gallon of coconut oil here to Rwanda- and now I am seeing the pitiful bottom of my tub... sigh...).  After not having a good treat for a while I was so ready for these & loved having one each day- bliss!

I know these peanut butter cups look a little funky on top, that's because my chocolate mixture started to seize when I was ready to put the top layer on, so I had to just put little dollops of chocolate on each one- still tastes good though!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

chocolate layer:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/8 cup honey (more if you like your chocolate sweeter)
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt the coconut oil (in a skillet or a hot water bath).  Add the rest of the ingredients and combine until smooth.  I used a regular muffin pan (12) for making these, in the past I have used a mini muffin pan also.  Line each muffin cup with a paper liner or oil thoroughly.  Evenly distribute half of your chocolate mixture into the muffin cups (start with about one tablespoon in each one).  Place in refrigerator or freezer to cool.

filling:
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup ground nuts (optional, I did not have them this time)

Melt the coconut oil again, add in honey, vanilla, and peanut butter.  When thoroughly combined stir in the ground nuts.  Evenly distribute the peanut butter filling into each muffin cup.  Top with the remaining chocolate mixture (if you need to, gently reheat it, being careful not to let the chocolate seize).  Refrigerate or freeze until firm.  Store in refrigerator and enjoy this healthy treat!

In my last post I promised you a picture of my kitchen sink, so here it is: 

Use your powers of perception carefully here- notice anything odd about it?  Hmmmm.  How about those interesting spickets for water that only pour into one side of the sink?  Yeah, sometimes the way they do things here just makes you say... "Huh?"  In order to fill the left sink for doing dishes, you have to use a cup to transfer water into that sink.  But, if I haven't said so already, I am very thankful to have a kitchen with counters and cupboards, because the last time we were here our kitchen was just a room with a refrigerator and a table that doubled as a cupboard and work area.

I am also having awesome success here with my sourdough.  I will post another time about how to dehyrdrate sourdough starter (I brought some of mine from home).  I don't know if it's the elevation (5000 ft.), the air, climate, or the flour (there is no such thing as whole wheat flour in these stores, white only) but my starter actually smells like yeast and is making the most amazing bread!  Very exciting for me when at home all I got was super-sour dense bread that no one else in the family would eat!

Hope all your kitchen adventures are successful this week.
Enjoy!
Lisa

Wheatless Sucess! Oat Flour Pasta

If you read my last post you know we are trying to eliminate wheat from our diet right now (in addition to several other things).  My first wheat-free baking attempt was not a success at all.  It was a flourless banana zucchini bread that came out of the oven, like, well, mashed bananas, zucchini, and honey- pretty much like it went in.  Not so great. 

I found at the local market here we have some interesting flours: (red) millet flour, rice flour, cassava flour (like tapioca flour I think).  The red millet flour is not original to Rwanda, but rather is for a porridge traditionally fed to children in the neighboring country of Uganda.  I made the porridge first, in spite of it's laughable vague directions: "mix flour with some cold water to make a paste, add to boiling water and cook for a while".  It was very bland, but after generous amounts of vanilla, honey, cinnamon and milk it was a nice sweet porridge.  Millet is supposed to be healthier for you than wheat, and easier to digest.  I wonder if maybe that's why only 2 hours after we ate breakfast we were hungry all over again?

The next thing I decided to try was a recipe I found for oat flour linguine noodles.  We have oats & a blender so we were able to make our own oat flour.  I didn't make quite enough so I added about a 1/4 cup of millet flour (which is why you will see it having the "whole wheat" appearance).  I was actually surprised at how easy the dough was to handle & that it turned out fine.  My kids can't wait for me to make it again!

Oat Flour Linguine Noodles

2 cups oat flour (or 1 3/4 cups plus 1/4 cup other flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons oil
2-4 Tablespoons water

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  In the center make a well and put the eggs and oil in there.  Slowly whisk these together until dough is crumbly.  Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring after each one, until a nice dough forms.  Knead dough for 5 minutes (I did this both in hand and on a floured counter).  Cover & allow dough to rest.

If you have a pasta extruder - use it!  I however, rolled my dough out onto the counter as thin as I could (which still was not as thin as it should have been- but this did make it easy to transfer to the pot).  Cut into 1/4" strips.

Boil water in a large pot.  Have a timer handy and set for 6 minutes.  Once it's in full boil, transfer noodles to pot (I put mine on a plate & then carefully dropped them into the boiling water- but trying to get them in there as quickly as possible).  Cook for 6 minutes, then drain immediately and serve.

I don't have a picture of the finished product because we were hungry - it was on the table & gone!  I think one of the effects of going off of wheat is you no longer have that satiated feeling - we all feel hungry all the time it seems now!  What do you think?

You see that oatmeal can in the top picture (the oats came from the UK to be sold here).  Well, money is tight for us so I haven't bought mixing bowls, but that can worked as my mixing bowl.  I tried to use it for my rolling pin also, but it was not strong enough, so I grabbed a large plastic bottle of my son's vitamins.  That got the job done good enough!

Enjoy!
Lisa

This post is linked up to Wheatless Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, and Monday Mania.

I Need Help Please!

In my last post for Hearty Pasta Sauce, I forgot to include this picture of the finished sauce- whoops!

I included the container of honey in this picture because I love how the label says "from local forets" (instead of forests).  And make sure you get a load of my little stove/oven...  Isn't it cute-in-a-completely-inadequate-way?  Yeah, I found a nice square pan that fits inside the oven (no 9x13 is going in there).  I made meatloaf the other day in my muffin pan (that I brought from the states) and I had to remove the rack & actually slide my 12 cup muffin pan into the guides for the rack- but I got it in there & it worked!  Now, you've seen my itty-bitty fridge & oven, I'll save for a post for another day the photo of my slightly-unique-and-kinda-odd sink...

I have been reading a book called Disconnected Kids because of some developmental  issues my 6 (almost 7) year old son has been dealing with for some time now.  I have decided we are going to give his program a try (and I've gotten the rest of the family on board).  Besides very specific exercises, part of the program includes modifying what your child eats.  You are supposed to go through an "elimination diet" for at least 4 weeks (quite possibly more), eliminating all foods which could be behavior triggers.  Common triggers include: wheat, dairy, corn, tomatoes, apples, peanuts, yeast, sugar, food additives etc.  (Eggs are supposed to be excluded also, but we've decided that we don't think our son has a problem with them & he needs the morning protein.)

This brings me to my call for "Help!"  As you know, we are here in Rwanda, where you can probably guess that there are no health food stores & not a lot of options food wise period.  At the store I have seen millet flour and rice flour (they use these for porridge).  Grain wise they have rice, quinoa, oatmeal.  I do not have any electronic kitchen devices (no food processor for making flours or nut butters, no electric mixer, the blender we do have just basically stirs, however we do have a crock pot I just bought from another missionary family).

Do you have any recipes that we could use for our family that are free from the triggers listed above?  I know for breakfasts we can have oatmeal or baked oatmeal, eggs, rice porridge, and I might even try making pancakes using millet flour (although my attempt at making home made syrup using honey & maple flavoring was not so great today- their honey has a very strong flavor here).  For dinners we can have things like meat, vegetables, rice, potatoes, soup- but I would like more options & recipes for me to plan what exactly we will be eating & to make sure everything has good flavor.  I would also like ideas for lunches and snacks as well.

Can you help?  Please post your recipes or links in the comments below- I am weary of spending hours scouring the internet for recipes that don't include any of the "offenders" or ingredients that are unavailable (like nuts, special flours, dried fruits, etc.)

I do have some spelt flour coming with a team in a few weeks- that will make many things easier, but until then things are going to be challenging.  I have thought about doing something similar to this in the past, but always pushed aside the idea because my son is picky already & just won't eat a lot of things as it is.  So, here I am, being crazy in Rwanda & giving it a shot.  The good thing is that even though our options are more limited, it also means the temptations for him are a lot less as well.

Thanks for helping if you can!
Lisa

This post was linked to Fight Back Fridays.

Hearty Pasta Sauce

We are here in Rwanda now & although we were greeted by a completely bare kitchen (not even a plate or cup) my kitchen is up & running now (although in a minimal state).   We even have an internet connection - though it is painfully sloooow compared to our high speed in the US.

 I would like to share with you a recipe that I have made several times during past trips here.  As far as feeding your family in Rwanda is concerned, anything not grown or produced locally is going to be expensive.  So, if we are buying pasta we are paying about $1.50 per bag.  And pasta sauce in a jar?  Forget it- probably about $5 or $6 per jar!  That will sure give you some motivation to cook from scratch (well, almost scratch, this recipe does use tomato paste which is used in a lot of recipes here).  This sauce recipe is not a “Ragu” type sauce, but more of a hearty tomato- based vegetable sauce that you can use on pasta or pizza.

I originally got the recipe from the cook at the guest house where we've stayed here in the past, and I am not sure what American or European cookbook she may have got the recipe from.  Here's a picture of the veggies and everything all prepped (I didn't have enough tomatoes so I used extra tomato paste):

And, yes I wanted to show you my hand- can you see that it is stained orange from shredding carrots?  Just in case you wanted to know a possible side effect of cooking from scratch!  That pile of green in the foreground is from prepping green beans.  The green beans they have here are in fact "string beans"- and you have to de-string them.  I was prepping quite a bit more than what we needed for one meal, just to save some for later.  I also brought Italian spices from home, because they don't have much of that here either.  This table is a high table, like bar height- but can you see how short my refrigerator is?  And the freezer inside is just a compartment in the top of it, with no door.  All part of the experience!

Hearty Pasta Sauce

1 onion (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 Tbsp. oil

2 carrots, shredded

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 Tbsp. dried)

4 tsp. Italian seasoning

6 cups tomatoes

6 oz. tomato paste

1 Tbsp. honey

salt & pepper to taste

Saute onion & garlic in oil until soft.  Add carrots, peppers, parsley, & Italian seasoning, stir.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, honey, salt, & pepper.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Serve or freeze.

Enjoy!

Lisa

Going "No 'Poo"

Before you get any other ideas, when I say "no poo" I'm using the term that refers to washing your hair without using shampoo= no 'poo!  Why would I want to do that?  Well, you can understand why if you read in Dr. Mercola's newsletter talking about some of the chemicals in shampoo, have you seen this article?

I have been thinking about going "no 'poo" for a while now, but what really gave me the bravery to try was this video blog posted at Keeper of the Home.  Part of my hesitancy stems from the fact that for a long time now I have had to use a very specific shampoo for my hair: one that addresses greasy roots and dry fly away ends.  This shampoo was working fine for me, but when I ran out of it, I thought it was time to be brave & try going more natural.

Actually, I was afraid to go all "no 'poo" to begin with, so I thought I'd transition first to a shampoo bar (also called solid shampoo).  It's like a bar of soap, but it's supposed to be for your hair.  I bought one on Ebay; however, I was disappointed from the beginning with it.  It was called "rosemary mint" but it only smelled like regular old soap.  (Maybe this Ebay seller was just selling old stuff, knock offs, I don't know.)  As I used it my disappointment only increased.  It felt like I had soap build up on my hair.  Greasy, yucky feeling.  Here's another blogger who went no 'poo & used a shampoo bar too, but she had a good experience with it.  I had heard of a "transition phase" as your hair gets used to not being stripped by shampoo all the time, so I kept pushing through.  Every third or fourth wash I would use regular shampoo just to cut the build up back down.

Finally, I got down to it & made my baking soda mixture.  Using the 1:7 ratio talked about by Keeper of the Home, I mixed 2 cups water with 1/4 cup baking soda.  (Note: since this time I have done more internet research I have found out the usual ratio is 1 Tablespoon baking soda per cup of water, so 2 cups water would only need 2 Tablespoons [1/8 cup] baking soda.).  I also mixed in some rosemary sprigs (hopefully to help with dry scalp).

I was going to use this repurposed spray bottle, but it had a strong odor that would not go away, so I ended up using an empty lemon juice bottle (has a small opening so the mixture doesn't pour out all at once).  I kept the mixture in the shower, would shake it up, and use it to wash my hair (yes, it is cold on my head- but because it comes out slow it's not too bad).

The first time I used it I was amazed!  My hair felt so clean- no more soapy greasy build up!  I usually wash every other day, so two days later I used it again and I thought to myself, "Wow, what was I so afraid of?  Clean hair?!"  After going through the yucky hair days with the solid shampoo, this was awesome.  On the third day after this wash my hair still did not feel greasy, but I thought I should wash it anyways.  That time what I got was a very dry, itchy, flaky, scalp.  Lesson learned: do not wash your hair until it actually "needs" it.

I also learned another lesson: rinse very thoroughly.  One day I was not careful to rinse thoroughly & ended up finding dusty soda residue in my hair- yuck.  Now fast forward another month or so.  I have been using the baking soda mixture for the most part, and only wash my hair about every 3 days.  Sometimes my roots are greasy and my ends are fly-away, but I use a straightening iron on my hair & that helps to even things out.  I'm still dealing with a dry itchy scalp quite often though (maybe it has something to do with my high ratio of baking soda?).  It's time to make another batch & I decide this time I will boil the mixture.  I want to do this so the baking soda will actually dissolve into the water, and also because I have hard water & I've heard this may help.

It has a little different feel on my hair but still works.  However, I'm tired of the itchy dry scalp.  I did some internet searching and decided to add some pure tea tree oil, which I just did a few days ago.  The good news: my scalp is a lot less itchy.  The bad news: it makes my roots more oily (so I'm washing more often) but a very thorough rinse seems to help that some.

This is all still an experiment in process.  I'm curious now to try a mixture with a smaller amount of baking soda to see how my hair will respond.  I'm also curious how it will work in Rwanda (with the extra sweat & dust my hair will be exposed to).  I'm writing this a few days before we leave for Rwanda, but posting will happen after we get there.  That way the blog stays active even whilst I am unpacking & getting situated in our new home!

How about you?  Have you gone 'no poo or thought about it?  Any tips for me?

This post is a part of Fight Back Fridays.

Oatmeal Snack Bars

I received this recipe from a family friend and I made it before our camping trip as a packable snack.  You could also use these to put in a lunch box (they're chock full of all kinds of good stuff)!  I made a half batch that day because I was low on peanut butter, but I will give you the recipe with the full batch amounts.

Oatmeal Snack Bars
2 cups oatmeal (want it healthier?  use Soaked & Ready Oats)
1 cup chopped peanuts (or other nut)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
1 cup sunflower seeds (I didn't have any so I used cashews)
1 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup wheat germ (or you could substitute dried coconut)
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried fruit (I just used more raisins)
1/2 cup honey
1 16 oz jar peanut butter (2 cups)
1 cup fruit spread (jam, jelly)

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl & mix together for about 2 minutes by hand.  Take a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (I would recommend jelly roll pan) and line it with parchment paper.  Dump mixture onto pan or cookie sheet, and press down (easiest to do this without sticking if you use another piece of parchment paper between your hands & the bars).  Bake for 25 minutes (do not over bake).

 You can see in this picture here what stirring it with a spatula did to my spatula!  Yes, it is thick & sticky stuff!  fyi: The half batch was just the right amount for the pan that fits in my toaster oven.

Once cool, slice into bars & cover.  Will keep for several days at room temperature.  I would suggest putting half the batch in the freezer and then pulling it out when you're almost out of the first half of the batch.  Or, package individually & freeze so they're ready to toss into a lunch box as needed.

Enjoy!

Lisa

This post was written a few days ago and scheduled for today.  As you read this my family is on our way to our new home for the next 9 1/2 months- Rwanda!  We will spend about 28 hours traveling to get there - almost half way across the world from Washington state.  Pray for us!