Merry’s Miracle Tart

Chocolate Tart

I do love sweet treats. Normally I make my own desserts. I figure I’ll eat less sweets if I limit myself to homemade desserts. However, I strongly believe in supporting vegan enterprises especially when the ingredient list is short and pronounceable. I was at the Natural Pantry the other day looking at tofu in the refrigerator case and I happened upon Hail Merry’s Miracle Tarts. There were four flavors available (Merry actually makes 6 different flavors) and I chose the chocolate tart. Here is the ingredient list: organic maple syrup, dark cocoa, raw almond flour, organic virgin coconut oil, sea salt. That’s it! Amazingly, there is 4 grams of fiber in each serving. It was a small tart, 3 ounces and cost $5.19 (Alaska prices!). Three servings per tart. And really, a quarter of a tart would be a perfect ending to a meal. It was rich, intensely chocolate, and imparted a very mild coconut taste. It was really quite impressive how tasty it was considering how few ingredients there were. I’m looking forward to trying out the Persian Lime and the Lemon Meyer Tart.

For an extra special treat, considering pairing the tart with some dark beer. I chose Ommegang Abbey Ale which is now available in 4 packs. This is a Belgian-style Abbey Dubbel Ale that is rich, fruity and quite delicious with the chocolate tart.

Almost all gone... how sweet it was!

Very Veggie Pizza with Sourdough Crust

Re-heated Very Veggie Pizza with Marinara Sauce and Sourdough Crust

Did I mention that I eat a lot of pizza? Many variations of the same theme. In an effort to get out of my “pizza rut” I decided to make a different sauce and crust. I have a sourdough starter living in my refrigerator and it works best when used and replenished often. I try to feed it 2-3 times a week – that way it is active and bubbly. I modified the sourdough pizza dough recipe from Breadtopia.com. If you want to learn how to make bread this is an excellent site. Eric has great videos on bread and pizza making. If you follow his advice you’re going to get some tasty bread.

The sauce is called “Best Marinara Sauce Yet” from allrecipes.com. I do not care to buy bottled pizza sauces primarily for two reasons: 1) They’re really not all that great and 2) It’s so simple to make at home. I made half a recipe of the marinara sauce and split it up for some spaghetti and the rest went on my pizza. You could make the full recipe and freeze it to keep on hand. I will definitely be making this sauce again.

The topping is my usual mélange of garlic, spices, wine, mushrooms, finely chopped broccoli, a bit of fresh spinach and half a zucchini.

I cannot begin to tell you how satisfying it is to make pizza from scratch. There is no comparison of home made pizza to take out or even pizza from the latest and greatest pizza joint in your neighborhood.

Active sourdough starter ready to work!

Pizza Dough
Makes 1 pizza
3/4 cup active starter
1-1/2 TB water
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup unbleached, unbromated all purpose flour
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

Add ingredients to small bowl. Mix and let rest for about 15 minutes. Knead dough until it’s smooth and elastic. (I use Eric’s method of hand kneading in the bowl. The dough may be a bit sticky but just work with it. I’m always disappointed when I add too much flour. Less is better.) Place dough in oiled, covered bowl and let rise until double for about 3-6 hours. This helps to develop the flavor of the crust. Your little starter friends are doing all the work and it takes time.

About an hour before baking the pizza, preheat pizza stone in oven set to 500 degrees.

After dough has risen, knead for several turns on lightly floured surface and let rest for about 15-20 minutes. Then roll out into pizza shape to desired thickness, crimping edges. I like to give it a light spritz of oil.




Marinara Sauce

Adapted from allrecipes.com; makes about 2 cups sauce. Try to make ahead of time so it has time to cool in refrigerator.

2 tsp olive oil
2-3 TB finely diced onion
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1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
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1/4 cup white wine
 
In a food processor place stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped parsley, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

In a large skillet over medium heat sauté the finely chopped onion in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add the blended tomato sauce and white wine. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool before spreading on pizza.

Pizza Topping
This is a lot of topping for one pizza. I like to make extra to have some left over to add to pasta dishes. Resist the urge to use all of it; if you do, you will over load your pizza. That’s the number one cause of “limp pizza.”


Ingredients
2 tsp avocado oil
6-8 mushrooms, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 heads of broccoli, finely chopped
salt, pepper and wine to taste
1 cup or so of fresh spinach
1/2 zucchini, chopped
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chopped sun-dried tomatoes
chopped kalamata olives

Directions
Add oil and mushrooms to sauté pan and cook until mushrooms begin to release moisture. Add garlic and broccoli, spices and wine and cook for a couple of minutes. Add spinach and zucchini and cook until spinach is limp. (Do not overcook. The broccoli should still be crisp; it will finish cooking in the super hot oven.) Dump into strainer to cool and drain.


Assemble Pizza
Place rolled out dough on a piece of parchment paper on a pizza peel. Spoon the marinara sauce on the dough and spread to edges. I also like to add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the top of the base. Add the cooked veggies and anything else such as kalamata olives. Slide pizza into oven on top of pizza stone and bake for 6 minutes; carefully slide parchment paper out from underneath pizza and cook for about 6 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Bon apetit!

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Seriously Green Pizza with Whole Wheat Quinoa Crust

Is this pretty or what? This is before the pizza is baked. See baked pizza below.

I make my own pizza all the time. It's gotten so that whenever I eat a commercial pizza I'm very disappointed. Home made pizza is so much better! I do tend to get into a rut because it's quicker to make when you're on automatic pilot. Believe me when I tell you that with just a little preplanning you can make pizza even on a work night. All you have to do is know what you're going to make, prepare a refrigerator dough ahead of time and preheat your oven to 500 degrees as soon as you get home.

This weekend I made my usual crust but went outside the box for a different sauce and toppings. I had a bunch of spinach from last Saturday's Farmer Market and needed to use it up. I've been cooking from "Let Them Eat Vegan" cookbook so I looked up "spinach" to see what ideas I could get. There was a Spinach Cashew Green Sauce that used 2 CUPS of packed, fresh spinach. Excellent! Then I figured I'd use the what was left of the spinach in a quick sauté of veggies for the top.

Here is an adapted crust recipe from "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day." This book should be part of your cookbook collection. You can have great bread without spending all day fussing around. I make this dough so often I know it by heart.

Whole Wheat Quinoa Pizza Crust
1-3/4 cups unbleached, unbromated flour
1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 TB wheat gluten flour
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
2-1/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast
15 oz. tepid water

Directions
Make this at least one day ahead. It keeps for about 10-14 days so you can make pizza to your heart's content. Get out a big bowl and dump in all the ingredients in the order listed. Mix until combined and cover with foil and let sit for several hours until it rises (doubles). Put it in the fridge for when you want to make a pizza. That's it!

A very, very green sauce. 

Spinach Cashew Green Sauce
This sauce would be lovely over some pasta too. I found it a nice change from my usual white sauce that I put on my pizzas.

Ingredients
1-1/4 cup soaked, raw cashews
2 TB fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups fresh spinach, packed
2 TB virgin olive oil
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions
Add all to food processor and process until smooth. Spread on pizza before baking.

Pizza Topping
Ingredients
2 tsp avocado oil
6 mushrooms, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup or so of fresh spinach
1 head of broccoli, finely chopped
salt, pepper and wine to taste

Directions
Add oil and mushrooms to sauté pan and cook until mushrooms begin to release moisture. Add rest of ingredients and splash a bit of wine into pan and cook until spinach is limp. Dump into strainer to cool and drain.

Assemble Pizza
Hopefully you have had a pizza stone in the oven, preheating at 500 degrees for about an hour. Lightly flour a surface and take about a grapefruit sized piece of dough from your dough stash. Lightly flour and form into a ball and roll out into pizza shape. Place on a piece of parchment on a pizza peel. Lightly scrunch up the edges. Spoon the green sauce on the dough and spread to edges. I like to add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the top of the base. Add the cooked veggies and anything else such as kalamata olives. Slide pizza into oven on top of pizza stone and bake for 6 minutes; carefully slide parchment paper out from underneath pizza and cook for about 7-8 minutes longer.

Baked Seriously Green Pizza!

Tamari Almonds

This is a quick, simple recipe to liven up raw almonds. A great little snack to keep around for when your tummy says, “Feed me!”

I like to bake the almonds on parchment paper and I warn you now, they’ll stick just a bit but it’s easy to break them loose and shake the pan.

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds
1 TB low sodium tamari

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Put almonds and tamari in small bowl and toss to coat. Bake for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. I bake them until the almonds are no longer wet. Keep an eye on the almonds, making sure they don’t get overly brown. They will continue to crisp up after you take them out of the oven. Cool and store in air tight container.

Farmer’s Market

It’s Farmer’s Market season so I’ve been checking them out. My current favorite is the South Anchorage Farmer’s market. So nice to browse the booths listening to live music with the sun shining.

The South Anchorage FM seems to be the only place to get locally made tofu. If you have been put off by tofu in the past, you really need to try fresh tofu. I find the majority of tofu on supermarket shelves rather bitter tasting with off flavors. There is no comparison to Alaska Sprouts tofu. They also sell various sprouts and shoots for about $3.

One pound of delicious local tofu for only $3.

Rempel’s Farm is also at the market offering local organic produce. A new vegetable (for me) was the snow apple turnips. I asked “what is this?” and was given a slice to eat. Crunchy and delicious! I’ve never been overly fond of turnips but these changed my thinking and I bought several.

Mild and crunchy snow apple turnips.

I also purchased some fresh spinach, parsnips and some kind of Russian russet potato.

Parsnips and potatoes.

Another vendor was Rise and Shine Bakery. Their breads are not sold in stores and they don’t have a storefront. You pre-order bread online and pick up at two different locations. Or you can buy some at the Farmer’s Market! So far I’ve bought olive bread and the seeded whole wheat bread. I keep going back trying to buy the sourdough potato but it’s never there. Maybe next weekend?

Rise and Shine Bakery's Olive Bread $7.

Seeded Whole Wheat Bread $6.

WineStyles was also at the market offering 3 tastes of wine for a $10 donation to a non-profit farmer organization. Two of the wines were okay and I loved the Roblar 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. Very delicious if a bit overpriced at $19.

I find myself returning to the South Anchorage market because of the tofu and organic produce. And a wine tasting is also fun too!

Seriously Spectacular Steel Cut Oats

Raw steel cut oats.

I don't know how I have gone on so long without eating steel cut oats. Now that I have finally eaten them I doubt I will ever eat rolled oats again. I had been eating rolled oats most of my adult life. It's a quick, easy, healthful breakfast but it can get boring. And then I discovered steel cut oats! Now, I find myself eating them for breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner.

The texture of steel cut oats is so wonderful. They have 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein and are fairly low fat.

Costco has been carrying 4 lb. 8 oz. bags of organic steel cut oats so it's a bargain. This may seem like a rather large bag to consume but you can use steel cut oats for other recipes too. There is a reicpe on the bag for steel cut oat scones that I plan making.

The secret to quick, tasty steel cut oats is to make them ahead of time in a small slow cooker. I find the oats cook more thoroughly and I enjoy the texture more when the oats are reheated. (I have made them on the stove – they take about 20 minutes but it never seems quite done.) I set the cooker to high, add a bit of dried fruit and cook for a couple hours. When it's almost done, I like to add some maple syrup and let it cook another half hour or so. When most of the liquid has cooked away, I put the oats in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container. To serve, scoop spoonfuls into bowl, add some water and reheat, breaking up the clumps. I like to serve with about 1/4 cup of soy milk. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups water
dash of salt
sprinkle in some craisins and golden raisins
1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions
Combine ingredients in small slow cooker (mine is one of those mini cookers with several settings: keep warm, low, high and off) and set to high. Cook for 2-3 hours until most of the liquid is gone. Add maple syrup to taste and cook a bit longer until all liquid is gone.

You can easily change the amount of steel cut oats you make. Just make it 1 part oats, 3 parts liquid.

A small pot of awesome deliciousness!

Chocolate Malt Ice Cream

This ice cream is super smooth and creamy with the addition of fresh coconut meat. I really enjoy it without all that extra sugar that store-bought ice cream seems to have. The last container of Vanilla Rice Dream I bought, I ended up tossing. It was just too sweet.

I have to admit that the ingredients for this ice cream are not everyday items in your refrigerator or kitchen cupboards. But this is such a delicious, creamy ice cream that it is totally worth it to search them out and learn new techniques – like opening a young coconut. Once you do it, you will see that it is very easy and rather gratifying. When you make this recipe, don't get too hung up on quantities. Just use whatever meat and water that you get from the coconut. If you don't get a full cup of either the water or meat, that's okay. You can top off the coconut water with non-dairy milk. I've made this recipe twice and each time I got one cup of water and meat from the coconut.

The maca powder is considered a "super food." You can find it online at Amazon or at a natural food store. You could probably substitute the maca powder with malt powder but it just so happened that I had some maca powder that I use for my smoothies.

Ingredients
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight and drained
1 cup fresh coconut meat, chopped
1 cup coconut water (from the coconut)
1 cup non-dairy milk
2 TB maca powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup plus 2 TB cocoa powder

Directions
Combine ingredients in VitaMix or other high powdered blender. Blend until smooth. Chill for 24 hours and process in ice cream maker.

Young Thai coconut.