Raised from Scratch

growing up outside the box: alternatives to processed food and television

Apple Rhurbarb Crumble with Fresh Ginger (includes gluten-free variation) July 1, 2012

Filed under: Dairy free,Dessert,Egg Free Baking,Gluten Free,Vegan — annalope @ 5:42 am
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I really lucked out with my apartment in Chicago. I’m close to the Brown line train, have a fabulous produce market at the end of my street, and a landlady who maintains a beautiful garden in the back yard and generously encourages me to use as much rhubarb and kale and I am inclined. I’d never done much with rhubarb before last summer when I moved in, but I did manage to come up with a few great desserts using that enormous plant, and I’m happy to say that I’m no longer intimidated by rhubarb. In fact I’ve already come to like and appreciate its unique tartness and beautiful color. I’m happy to share this crumble recipe with you which I created last fall and tested again last week (gluten-free this time). It’s vegan to boot!

Perfect served warm on its own or with ice cream.

Apple Rhubarb Crumble with Fresh Ginger

For Crumble:

¾ cup white whole wheat flour OR gluten-free oat flour

½ cup old fashioned oats (be sure to use GF oats if there’s an allergy)

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

½ t. fine sea salt

½ t. ground cinnamon

¼ t. ground ginger

4 T. coconut oil

For Filling:

½ cup sugar

2 T. cornstarch

16 oz prepped rhubarb, cut into ½-inch pieces

16 oz prepped apples, peeled, cored, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1.5 T. fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped

1 T. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 quart container with coconut oil.

Combine ingredients for the crumble in a small bowl, adding the coconut oil last after the dry ingredients have been mixed. Allow the mixture to cool in the freezer while you make the filling.

Rub sugar and cornstarch together in a large bowl, then add the rhubarb, apples, fresh ginger and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into greased baking pan. Top with crumble, allowing medium-sized chunks to hold together as they have cooled in the freezer.

Bake 40 minutes or until crumble is golden and the filling bubbles. Allow to cool 15-20 minutes before serving.

 

Gluten-Free Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes

Filed under: Dairy free,Dessert,Gluten Free,Vegan — annalope @ 4:59 am
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What these really taste like to me is two-thirds of a Smore. It must be the mesquite flour in the cupcake that smells a little like graham cracker, and when I bite into one with warm chocolate running down, I really wish a toasty marshmallow was waiting inside. They’re great even without it, but someday I might see if I can find a way to sneak one in to the recipe. A great summer cupcake when looking for a chocolate fix.

Also, by using coconut oil and a nondairy milk these are easily made vegan! Because they contain no eggs, the cupcakes are light and delicate. Be careful not to pack flours or your cupcakes may be a little crumbly.

This recipe only made 9 cupcakes for me…a small batch which is rapidly disappearing. I intentionally aim for small batches of baked goods because I’m experimenting here, and am admittedly a novice with gluten-free baking. More importantly, small batches allow me to bake more frequently 🙂

GF Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake batter:

¾ cup + 2 T. GF Oat flour

2 T. mesquite flour

¼ cup white rice flour

1/8 t. xanthan gum

2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ t. sea salt

½ t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

½ cup buttermilk or dairy free milk (or 1 ½ t. fresh lemon juice mixed with milk to = ½ cup)

½ cup maple syrup

¼ cup butter or coconut oil, melted

1 ½ t. vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa) for sauce

Preheat oven to 350°. If mixing your own “buttermilk” add the lemon juice to the milk and allow to sit at room temperature a few minutes. Grease 9 muffin cups with butter or coconut oil.

Mix all dry ingredients together in medium bowl. In small bowl or liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk with maple syrup, butter/oil, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to dry and mix well.

Pour into greased cups, bake 13-15 minutes. Do not over-bake…soft is better. Allow to cool in pan on cooling rack for 5 minutes before running a thin knife around the cupcakes and removing from pan to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Sauce:

Chop 1/2 cup of quality dark chocolate (I really like Scharffen Berger) and melt in a double boiler or over very low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan while stirring constantly. Spread over cooled cupcakes.

 

About Raised From Scratch January 11, 2012

Filed under: About RFS — annalope @ 5:55 am
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Hi there! I’m Anna, a mom who gave up restaurant life for a chance to stay home and raise my daughter Ella. We have a great time getting messy in the kitchen, and although I thought I was good at throwing caution to the wind when it came to creating recipes , she takes it to a new level like only a toddler can, and I go along smiling… sometimes cringing… as she tosses half my carefully measured ingredients out of the bowl, onto herself, or the counter, or the floor. But I never regret sharing the experience with my little one, and there’s no other kitchen I’d rather be cooking in.

Parenthood is an ongoing adventure and I don’t presume to have mastered much of anything about it, but I know how much parents can help each other by sharing their stories, trials and triumphs alike. I also know that I have a lot of recipes and ideas to share, and I struggle with the confinements of being a stay at home parent, no longer cooking professionally. I look at some of the countless beautiful blogs written by parents, with flawless pictures obviously staged away from the eyes and grabby hands of a hungry toddler — something I simply don’t relate to. So while I post my recipes somewhat timidly and share pictures which surely will reveal spilled flour on the counter-top or dirty dishes in the sink or a small blurry hand sneakily removing the food I’m trying to photograph, I hope you’ll forgive the imperfections and instead find the freedom to go create your own mess in the kitchen.

Wishing you a delicious day!

 

A Village of Resources

Filed under: Resources — annalope @ 5:44 am
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Links listed here are to provide support to parents, perhaps broaden your horizons, and hopefully make you feel more at ease trusting your instincts, loving unconditionally, and enjoying the experience of parenthood. It’s not easy finding a village (location or community of people) to help you raise your child, but by gathering and sharing resources I hope to prove your village does exist, albeit perhaps scattered and distant.

Re: Gentle/Positive Discipline

Awesomely Awake

Natural Parents Network

Aha!Parenting

Re: Breastfeeding

La Leche League

Kellymom

Re: Elimination Communication / Natural Infant Hygiene

Diaper Free Baby

 

Goldfish Rant January 10, 2012

Filed under: Healthy Snacks,Rants — annalope @ 8:42 pm
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Ready for a brave confession?

I am anti-goldfish.

Everywhere children are present, seemingly every play date my daughter and I attend, every picnic, every diaper bag, these little munchable monsters are invading, and I sometimes feel pretty helpless to stop their plans of taste bud domination.

Over-reacting you say? Those cute smiley fish are a processed food containing 10% of an adult’s daily suggested sodium intake in one serving. They are low in sugar, offer some protein and are free of preservatives last I checked, so it’s true there are plenty of things on the market that would be worse for our kids. But just because something is acceptable doesn’t make it ideal, and there are so many alternative snacks to offer our children to help them expand, rather than limit, their scope of foods that register on the happy mouth radar. Fresh fruit, smoothies, mini sandwiches, cooked sushi, hummus, quiche bites, tortilla pinwheels…let’s make it a goal to get more creative when it comes to offering snacks!

A mom reminded me at a play date today (where my daughter kept asking for more and more goldfish) that kids want what other kids eat. Every parent knows this is pretty much a guarantee — your child will try to steal whatever the other kids are eating around him. It made me realize that one of the reasons Ella, 27 months old, is not a picky eater is because she rarely eats communally with other children outside of snack time. At home and at restaurants she eats what we eat and we order off the adult menu for her. I don’t want to deprive her (okay, I DO want to deprive her of junk-food), and I do let her have a few handfuls of goldfish when they are around, but I do it grudgingly. Don’t get me wrong — I  do willingly and happily offer my daughter treats on a fairly regular basis. She went trick-or-treating this year and tasted a lollipop for the first time (the rest of the candy never made it out of their wrappers and she never missed it). She grew accustomed to little nibbles of homemade fudge or cookies on a nearly daily basis at Christmas time. We order pizza from time to time (pizza in Chicago is not to be missed after all), and I love how excited my daughter gets sharing a cup of gelato with me using those dainty little spoons.

The real point of this rant is not just that goldfish are lacking in nutrition to make it a suitable daily snack; it’s that we parents are missing an opportunity to serve nutritious foods to our children in the company of their peers. Play dates are the perfect time for them to form positive attitudes toward healthy snacks and to learn to accept variety in their diets! Serving the same cracker day after day after day suggests to a child that it’s okay to want salty junk food all the time, and that it’s not unreasonable to expect the exact same food every time they’re hungry. If we put extra effort and forethought into what we are buying and preparing for those malleable taste buds when foods are first being introduced, chances are we’ll save ourselves a lot of arguments as the toddler becomes a potentially picky eater.

My heart sinks just a little every time I enter a house and see the ubiquitous goldfish bowl. The damn fish just stare up at me with that knowing, triumphant smile. “Go ahead,” they say, “try to explain to your toddler that a happy, brightly colored fish that delivers crunchy bliss should be passed up for the hummus”. It might be a losing battle, but I’m not done fighting it yet.

 

Mini Pumpkin Bran Muffins with Chocolate Centers January 3, 2012

Filed under: Breakfast,Healthy Snacks,Muffins — annalope @ 9:34 pm
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These make a tasty snack or a healthy dessert if you make them with chocolate centers. And since nothing is more satisfying than warm chocolate coating your mouth and making an appearance all over your child’s happy face, I recommend serving them before the chocolate hardens. They are delicious and perfectly sweet enough sans chocolate should you worry about your child eating nothing but the chocolate center (surely you realized this possibility, yes?).

Mini Pumpkin Bran Muffins with Chocolate Centers

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

¼ t. fine sea salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1 t. cardamom

¾ cup oat bran

¼ cup brown rice syrup

3 T. pure cane sugar

15 oz pumpkin puree

2 whole eggs

¾ cup unsweetened  applesauce

Handful of large bittersweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare mini muffin tin by lightly coating with butter or oil.In medium bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add oat bran to flour mix.

In large bowl combine all remaining ingredients except chocolate chips, whisk until well combined. Add flour and bran mixture, stir to combine. Fill miffin tins ¾ full with batter and place a single chocolate chip in the center of each muffin cup.

Bake 12-14 minutes. Cool in pan 2-3 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Muffins October 15, 2011

Filed under: Breakfast,Muffins — annalope @ 4:45 am
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Why does the world need yet another recipe for banana muffins? It’s true, there are plenty of them out there, and I know there are a lot of bakers who find a decent recipe and never deviate from it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. My mother-in-law makes the same banana bread every time there are extra ripe bananas around, using a family recipe that has withstood the test of time, and I do absolutely love it. But when it comes to making banana bread or muffins in my own kitchen I find it impossible to not tinker with whatever recipe I might start out with (if there is one). These came about when I had set out to make Banana Mocha Muffins – a recipe I’d recently come up with and really loved, but by the time I’d blended the first few ingredients I started mentally drafting something drastically different. I’m not sure if this suggests creativity or just a lack of focus, but either way the results make me happy and appreciative of my restless mind.

One reason you should try this recipe is because the taste of molasses, coffee, and bananas together is pretty unbeatable. Or you could try my Banana Mocha Muffin recipe which also uses these ingredients. This recipe also has less sugar and less butter than your typical muffin, and uses only whole grains.

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Muffins

¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup natural cane sugar

1 T. molasses + brown rice syrup to equal ¼ cup

1 t. vanilla

½ cup milk or milk substitute

½ cup coffee, room temperature or cold

1 egg

1 egg white

2 extra ripe bananas, mashed

1 T. flax meal

4 t. baking powder

½ t. salt

1 ½ cup white whole wheat flour

½ cup + 2 T. whole wheat pastry flour

¾ cup ground walnuts, reserving 2 T. to garnish muffins

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine butter, applesauce, sugar and molasses/rice syrup in medium bowl; blend well. Add eggs and bananas, mix well. In measuring glass combine vanilla, milk and coffee. In separate bowl combine all dry ingredients, including the walnuts. Add flour and milk mixtures to butter mix alternately; gently mix to fully incorporate.

Butter and flour 12 large muffin tins (or 18 small cups). Pour a heaping ¼ cup of batter into each (or fill small cups ¾ full); top with ground walnuts for garnish. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Muffins freeze well once completely cool. I suggest eating half a batch and freezing the other half, which means less time before you get to try/create yet another muffin recipe!

 

Pumpkin Kale Quiche October 13, 2011

Filed under: Breakfast,Eggs,Lunch/Dinner — annalope @ 5:15 am
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My daughter is a big fan of eggs, so when I told her we were having quiche for dinner and she gave me a serious, disapproving look and shook her head no, I knew she still wasn’t clear on exactly what a quiche is made of. “Egg Pizza!” I exclaimed, and immediately encountered an excited face with big eyes and some of my favorite words to hear: “Ella help.” She always says “help” with such anticipation and hopeful uncertainty, really drawing out the word as she enunciates every letter and places her face, eyebrows raised, squarely in front of yours where she can lock eyes with you so there’s no mistaking how committed she is to her request. Then she runs looking for a big chair to pull up to the counter, and I make sure to hide any extra eggs I don’t want her cracking. Destruction – creation – destruction – creation…this task was designed for a toddler.

Pumpkin Kale Quiche

Note: I use a large quiche pan for this dish (not a standard pie pan). If you don’t have one, or a suitably sized dish (who says quiche has to be round?) you’ll want to use 2 pie pans and make 50% more crust.

For Crust:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup white whole wheat flour

½ t. salt

4 T. coconut oil

6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

¼ cup iced water

Combine flours and salt in medium bowl. Cut in coconut oil and butter until pieces are no larger than pea sized. Add water and mix very gently, kneading only a couple times to form a ball. Flatten slightly into a disc, place on plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while assembling other ingredients.

For Quiche:

5 cups roughly chopped kale

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

¼ cup pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)

10 eggs

½ cup half and half

½ t. sage

1/8 t. black pepper

½ t. salt, divided

In large sauté pan, combine kale with 2-3 T. water, cover and cook over medium heat until kale has steamed (3-5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add ¼ t. salt to kale, place in bowl; shred cheese into same bowl. In large measuring glass or 1 qt. bowl combine pumpkin puree, eggs, half and half, sage, pepper and remaining ¼ t. salt. Cover and keep egg mixture cold while crust prebakes.

Preheat oven to 350°. Roll out chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to cover quiche pan and gently press into pan. Poke the bottom of your crust several times with a fork. Bake for 15 minutes.

Place kale onto prebaked crust, top with cheese, then cover with egg mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until egg mixture is set.

 

The Pancake Stands Alone September 29, 2011

Filed under: Breakfast,Pancakes — annalope @ 5:07 am
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As a kid my mom whipped up a batch of crepes for dinner once a month for me and my three siblings.  We each filled our own thin pancake with jam or jelly, rolled it like a burrito, doused it in powdered sugar and inhaled our creation as quickly as possible without choking on powdered sugar dust. No one seemed concerned with the amount of sugar inside or outside the pancake and, not surprisingly, this was a favorite meal for us kids. The recipe for the thin crepes was always made with Bisquick, just like all the other pancakes we made at home. It was the way Grandma had made them, and Mom followed suit teaching me the recipe by the time I was ten. What I’ve come to realize though is that Bisquick pancakes, like most super-refined products, taste unremarkable and require large amounts of jam, butter, or syrup to make them edible.

So my original love of pancakes must have come from the sugar my parents permitted me to load on top of them, but today my appreciation for the simple pancake is something different entirely. Over the years I have refined my love of the humble pancake and the cravings come now more than ever. The reason they never grow old? – No Bisquick, no standard recipe, no rules. Total creative freedom every time I grab the mixing bowl. And because they’re so easy to make healthy, there’s no guilt when eating to my heart’s content, no heavy belly dragging me down, no sugar crash. When quality ingredients are used, the pancake stands alone, no sugar coating necessary.

The pancake possibilities are endless, the results available to taste test in mere minutes, flavor and consistency alterable as you fry and sample. Think outside the circle; pancakes taste better (at least to kids) when shaped like turtles, balloons, snakes, trees and letters. It’s easy to incorporate a variety of whole grains, protein and fruit into your batter, giving you a secretly nutritious breakfast that doesn’t leave you reaching for the syrup bottle and won’t leave you eyeing the couch after eating.

Cinnamon Walnut Pancakes with Crystallized Ginger

1 cup white whole wheat flour

¼ cup buckwheat flour

¼ cup quick cooking oats

3 T. flax meal (ground flax seeds)

½  – ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour (depending on preferred consistency)

¼ t. salt

1 T. baking powder

1  ½ t. ground cinnamon

1 cup milk or milk alternative

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 ½ t. pure vanilla extract

2 T. maple syrup

2 large eggs

1 T. melted Earth Balance vegan spread or butter + extra to fry

½ cup chopped walnuts

3 T. chopped crystallized ginger

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl (wheat flour – cinnamon). Combine liquid ingredients (milk – butter) in a quart sized measuring glass, or just make a well in your dry ingredients where you can whisk them together. Gently mix together. Add walnuts and ginger and mix gently once more.

Preheat your frying pan over medium heat, adding just enough butter or Earth Balance spread to coat your pan. Once it’s hot…you know what to do. Stay close to the pan and remember to coat with butter between batches.