Barley & Baked Bean "Meat Loaf"

 Barley & Baked Bean "Meat Loaf"

We pre-freeze portioned amounts of cooked barley, rice and quinoa and always have various canned beans and veggie burgers on hand so this was a relatively quick dish to throw together before baking.

This recipe was adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe that used turkey and barley to make a meat loaf.  You can find the original here http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=142901

Ingredients:

1 can (16 oz.) Baked Beans, drained and rinsed (vegetarian)
1 c. Cooked Pearl Barley
2 Veggie Burgers, chopped (Used Morningstar vegan patties)
1 TBSP Flax mixed with 3 TBSP Hot Water (to substitute for 1 egg)
1/4 c. Ketchup
1/2 small onion, diced and fried in oil until translucent

Method:

In a mixing bowl, mash beans with a potato masher
Add in barley, chopped veggie burger and ketchup, stir to combine
Add flax mixture and stir again

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray
Press mixture into loaf pan with spoon
Top with more ketchup, if desired

Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. (Mine was done at 40 min.)

Let rest and then cut into slices.

Homemade "Tasty Things" Sesame Crackers

My 3 yr. old B. loves these sesame sticks he calls "tasty things" we get at Trader Joe's but we ran out and I can't seem to make my way over there so I improvised and found a recipe online.  Not exactly the same, but pretty close!  Close enough that I can add them to his snack mix and everyone's happy!  :)

I followed the recipe from this site 
http://breadmakingblog.breadexperience.com/2012/04/sesame-einkorn-crackers.html

But, I changed the following:

Used regular whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt instead of 1/2 tsp.
3 TBSP Sesame Oil with 2 TBSP Olive Oil, mixed
Added a sprinkle of garlic powder and nutritional yeast to the flour
Kneaded all in a KitchenAid and rolled out pretty thin, then sliced with pizza cutter into little sticks

"Cheesy" Mexican Lasagna

2-3 Large Flour Tortillas
1 Can Beans of Choice (Pinto or Black), we used Pinto
1 Veggie Burger, chopped
Nacho "Cheese" Sauce (recipe below)
1 Can Tomato Soup, undiluted

Nacho "Cheese" Sauce

1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp granulated garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder

Whisk ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often until thick.
Stir in beans and chopped veggie burger

Assemble Mexican Lasagna 

Set oven to 400

In a round glass pie plate layer flour tortilla, bean/burger/cheesy filling and flour tortilla
Top with Tomato Soup

Bake for 15-20 min.

Serve with chips, guacamole, sour cream

Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes!

B.'s been listening to a lot of the Wiggles in movement class in preschool, so I thought it would be fun to make the cookie/cake they have a song about.  It's a rainy day...why not?

Anyway, I did my own twist on them and I don't know how they are *supposed* to look or taste, but they turned out yummy!  With the 2nd batch, I didn't form them into balls and instead just spread the mixture onto a baking sheet to make granola.  Both are great!

CRUNCHY MUNCHY HONEY CAKES

3 cups "muesli" - I used a mixture of oatmeal, chia seeds, quiona flakes, dried cranberries and some cinnamon with oatmeal being the main ingredient
1 cup self-rising flour, sifted
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup sugar
9 Tbsp. coconut oil (or you can use butter)
3 Tbsp. soy milk
2 Tbsp. ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp. water (just because, it's not an egg substitute in this recipe)
2 tsp. honey

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine muesli flakes, sifted flour, coconut, and sugar in a bowl and mix well.

Heat butter, milk, flax and water and honey. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. Roll into balls the size of walnuts and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Carrot Corn Muffins

This is a simple recipe using Bob's Red Mill Cornbread Mix - an easy way to sneak in extra veggies on the dinner table!

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gf-cornbread-mix.html

I simply made it vegan by substituting flax for eggs and soy milk for cow's milk and then added 1 can each canned carrots and canned corn (drained)

Makes 16 muffins

Ingredients:

1 package Bob’s Red Mill Cornbread mix
2 TBSP Ground Flax mixed with 6 TBSP hot water in a bowl to equal 2 eggs
1 1/2 c Silk Soy Milk
1/3 c Coconut Oil (or you can use canola)
1 Can Canned Corn, drained
1 Can Canned Carrots, drained (the mixer will break up the carrot slices into small chunks)

Prepare according to package directions in KitchenAid
Pour into muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes
(test with toothpick after 20 min., if it comes out clean and they are slightly browned on the bottom, they are done)

Sweet Pea Chocolate Pudding

Simple and deceptively delicious, easy chocolate pudding recipe that even my 3 year old loves! 


1 can Baby Peas, drained
1/2 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 Banana
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 TBSP Cocoa Powder
4 TBSP Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Cinnamon
Soy Milk

Combine all in a powerful blender (we have Vita-Mix)
Add soy milk as needed to thin

Once blended, transfer to a sauce pan on low heat

In a measuring cup, combine 1/4 c. soy milk with 3-4 TBSP cornstarch

Whisk into sauce pan of pudding and heat through

Chill and serve.

Yummy and good for you too!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles (with secret lentils...shhh!)

*Using Arrowhead Mills Organic Kamut Pancake & Waffle Mix
(doubled recipe)

Made these as a thank you to my fantastic husband, who is also a great father to our 2 boys!  And it's a "secret ingredient" healthy recipe so my kids get in some extra nutrients  :)

Original Recipe (doubled):

2 c. Mix
Flax with water to equal 2 Eggs (2 TBSP flax and 6 TBSP hot water)
2 TBSP Oil (I used Coconut Oil, melted)
2 TBSP Brown Sugar (instead of honey)
1 1/2  c. Soy Milk

*Then I added in:
1 c. pureed pumpkin
Handful of dark chocolate chips
3-4 TBSP canned, rinsed and drained black lentils 

Heat in waffle maker until they are cooked.  If they are runny and sticking/burning, add more pancake mix to batter and try again (I had to do that...the first batch was a mess!)