Texas Sheet Cake -Revamped (Vegan; low Gluten; lower Sugar)

Yesterday for Dale's birthday, I converted a Betty Crocker Texas Sheet Cake recipe and I thought I'd share it with you. This is one of my all-time favorites cakes and although I still wouldn't call it "healthy", it was definitely a step in the right direction. This wouldn't be something I'd make regularly because of the sugar and gluten factors, but for a special occasion, it was pretty tasty. When you see the amounts of sugar, you'll understand what I mean and believe it or not, this Betty Crocker version was the lowest in sugar I could find. That does give the icing more of a glaze texture instead of the traditional fudge-like icing of most Texas Sheet Cakes. Hope you enjoy it. We did (and still are!)!

Texas Sheet Cake (vegan; lower gluten and lower sugar):

• 2 cups spelt flour (I used 1 cup gluten free blend to lower gluten even more)
• 1 cup Sucanat (*see note below)
• 1 cup organic evaporated cane juice crystals
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1/2 cup almond or coconut butter"milk" (**see note below)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 flaxseed "eggs"

Frosting

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3 Tablespoons baking cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons almond or coconut milk
• 1 cup coconut sugar (***see note below)
• 1 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

For the cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 15 x 10 x 1 pan and set aside. Stir flour, sugars and salt together in a mixing bowl and set aside. In a 2 quart saucepan, heat coconut oil, water and cocoa together just until boiling. Remove from heat. Pour oil/water/cocoa into mixing bowl with flour mixture and stir until well mixed. Add butter"milk", baking soda, vanilla and eggs to mixing bowl and stir until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

For the frosting: While cake is baking, heat coconut oil, cocoa, almond or coconut milk, and coconut sugar in 2 quart saucepan just until simmering. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Stir in pecans, if using. 

When cake has been removed from the oven, pour frosting over hot cake and allow to cool completely (about one hour) before cutting.

Notes: 

*You could probably strictly used Sucanat in place of traditional sugar, but it will significantly increase the fiber content so you made need to add more liquid to get a cake-like consistency to the batter.

**To make soured/butter milk, add 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup and then add almond or coconut milk to equal 1/2 cup. It will separate and curdle quickly. This is what you want it to do.

***Add the 1 cup of coconut sugar to what you heat in the pan, otherwise your frosting may be gritty. If you want to eliminate the powdered sugar altogether, then cook all coconut sugar in saucepan just until the sugar dissolves. Cooking too much can make it harder to spread onto cake.

Kale Crunchy "Croutons" (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

I love a good salad loaded up with lots of dressing, croutons and other tasty, crunchy goodies. That doesn't necessarily fit into a healthy, vegan, gluten-free lifestyle though. I refuse to pay over $6 a bag for gluten free croutons, so I've been on a quest to find a decent replacement. My daughter, Leah, recently began making roasted chickpeas which I admit were an adequate alternative.

But today, after juicing my breakfast, I found myself wistfully thinking that it would be great if I could find a use for all of the pulp remnants I've had lately. Sure, I can feed them to my worms, but they have had a plentiful supply since I've been mostly drinking juices for almost a week. I know you can also use pulp in place of eggs in fruit breads, but kale bread just doesn't sound very appetizing and I don't currently plan to start making gluten-free dessert breads.

Which brings me to my epiphany for the day: Instead of making kale chips (like everyone else does), why not make kale "croutons"!

Granted, they aren't square and you won't crack a tooth on them or break a tine trying to impale one on a fork, but they turned out pretty well and I thought I'd share with you how I did it.

Basically, after I juiced my kale, apples and carrots, this is what was left:

You can see in the bowl that I'd already begun to separate out the kale. Next time, I'll empty the kale pulp out of the juicer before I add any other fruits or veggies. I was using curly kale. I'm not certain that you'll get the same effect with a lucinato-type kale.

At this point, most-to all of the liquid has been removed, so I drizzled a little olive oil and sprinkled some garlic powder on them, laid them on my toaster oven pan, and began to roast them. I attempted to dehydrate them on the lowest toaster oven setting I have, which is about 150 degrees. I wanted to keep them RAW, but after 15 minutes, not much had happened to make the texture crunchy. I then roasted them at 200 degrees for 10 minutes and they were perfect. Since I had two different temperatures and times in total, here's my best recommendation and I will update this post when I make them again with more accurate information:

• To keep them RAW, use a dehydrator or an oven/toaster oven on the lowest setting (about 150-170 degrees) and check every 15 minutes until you have the desired texture. Toss them every time you check them.
• To get them crispier, roast at 200 degrees, evaluate every 5 minutes and toss them each time you check.

Now...I'm looking forward to my lunch salad today!

Note: I think you could use any seasoning/flavor combination that you'd like. I personally will be trying some nutritional yeast on the next batch to give them a cheesy taste.

Lemon Spinach Quinoa Salad

This is another Kroger deli salad that we have enjoyed and for which we've created our own recipe (see also Super Food Salad). It's delicious and pretty easy. Plus, it's a good source of vegetarian protein. With 14 grams of protein in 3.5 oz of quinoa, this is one reply for all of those questioning doubters who ask vegans, "But how do you get enough protein?!"

The lemon vinaigrette dressing is a recipe I found on Epicurious. Otherwise, this recipe is just my best guess at how to replicate the Kroger version.

Dressing: 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. sugar or honey

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. sea salt

3-4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions

1 1/2 cups mango, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 c. wheat berries (soaked for 1 hour before placing in salad), optional

mixed greens, power greens or baby spinach- as many as you want to make a good sized salad

Mix all together. This is a salad that can be eaten warm or cold. If you want to leave out the wheat berries to avoid all gluten, you won't even notice a difference and could probably even substitute sunflower seeds.

Enjoy!

Fudgy Chocolate Zucchini Cookies- Veganized!

During my recent search for recipes utilizing the rather large pile of shredded zucchini I have on hand, I came across this recipe from An Oregon Cottage for Fudgy Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cookies. As yummy as they looked, you know I couldn't pass up an opportunity to veganize them!

Ingredients:

• 5 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/4 cup carob or cocoa powder
• 1/3 c. granulated sugar (I used vegan evaporated cane juice crystals)
• 1/3 c. coconut palm sugar (or Sucanat)
• 1 flax seed "egg"
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/4 c. spelt or whole spelt (or combination of both for low gluten option)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (drained of moisture)
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, (We like Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Gluten, Dairy, nut & Soy Free, Mini Chips, 10-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6))

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. If coconut oil is not already softened, then heat briefly. If you needed to heat it , let it cool off a bit. Place oil in mixing bowl. Stir in sugars and carob or cocoa powder until combined. Add flax seed "egg" and vanilla.
3. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt until smooth and then add the zucchini and chocolate chips. Stir until well combined.
4. Drop by tablespoon sized scoops onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes before sliding parchment over to cooling rack.

Notes of things I learned about this recipe:

*You can use up to 1/2 cup or carob or cocoa if you want a stronger chocolate flavor. 1/4 cup carob was enough for me as it has a distinct taste to it.

*We were out of vanilla, and didn't miss it.

*Like the original, you can use wheat flour instead of spelt if gluten isn't a concern.

*My batter was very thick. If you opt for whole wheat or whole spelt flour only, I would suggest making at least part of your sweeteners either honey, maple syrup or agave. You can google conversion ratios to granulated sugar.

*If your zucchini still has a lot of moisture in it, disregard the previous note.

These cookies are delicious. They even received my picky son's seal of approval!

Enjoy!

Now Selling Non-GMO/Organic Wheatgrass and Broccoli Sprouts

I'm going to start selling sprouts and wheatgrass. For $6.00 per container, you can pick up a standard salad greens-sized container filled with either wheatgrass or broccoli sprouts. I planted one container each of these and have been cutting the wheatgrass for over a month. I have harvested broccoli sprouts a minimum of 8 times and still have some left. 

As an added bonus is if you return the container filled with the remnants of your sprouts or wheatgrass and the soil when it is "spent" (a term that represents when the greens are done growing, you're done clipping them or they've become tough), I'll refund a $1 for the chance to reuse the container and to compost the remains of the soil and greens in my wormery.

The reason I took a photo of the seeded soil is because it will look like this...

in just a few short days. Actually, these are the container's I mentioned that we have used. I looked back and they were started the first (broccoli sprouts) and third weeks (wheatgrass) of February and I've been harvesting 4-6 times per week since then. The time has flown and I didn't realize how long I'd had them.

You must be local (Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, Ohio area) to buy. I cannot ship these. And if you'd like to research the health benefits of wheatgrass or broccoli sprouts, click on the links below. There is a lot of buzz about microgreens right now. They are power packed with nutrition and ounce for ounce have more vitamins and minerals than the actual food. Wheatgrass can be juiced, both can be added to smoothies or placed in salads. Even if you're gluten sensitive, pure wheatgrass, without seeds, contains no gluten.

If all goes well, I'll soon be offering pea sprouts and red clover sprouts too. Contact me through Facebook, at a.barthauer@gmail.com or via Twitter (@AngelaBarthauer) if you'd like to place an order.

Link to benefits of wheatgrass

Link to benefits of microgreens like broccoli sprouts

Peanut Butter Chocolate Scones (Vegan/Low Gluten)

We had several more inches of snow last night and I wanted something warm and filling for breakfast. I thought I'd tinker with my scone recipe to create something new. This is the result.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Scones

1 1/2 cup organic spelt flour*

2 Tablespoons organic Sucanat

2 1/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter**

1 flax seed "egg"

6 Tablespoons coconut milk, divided (almond or rice can be substituted)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

demerara sugar, for sprinkling

2 squares semi-sweet chocolate baking squares***

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Flax egg after it has set up.

Start your flax egg by combining 1 Tablespoon flax meal and three teaspoons water. Allow to set up while you begin stirring the dough.

In a mixing bowl, gently mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a separate small bowl, combine peanut butter, "egg", 2 Tablespoons coconut milk, vanilla.

This "wet" mixture became fairly solid even though my peanut butter was a natural, runny version. Place the "wet" ingredients into the dry and stir. You can even use a pastry cutter because it will take on a crumbly appearance as you combine.

Now, add the rest of your milk, 1 Tablespoon at a time until your dough starts to form into a ball and hold together. I stopped with a total of 6. This included the initial 2. When you've added enough milk that it starts to stick together, begin kneading the dough gently in the bowl. You may need more or less milk, depending upon your flour and the type of peanut butter you used. If the dough is starting to stick to your hands as you knead it, it is wet enough. 

The key to spelt is do not overwork the dough.

Divide the ball into fourths and pat into a thick square and place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little demerara sugar. Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven.

While the scones are baking, melt your chocolate either in a double broiler, microwave or in the warmed oven.

When the scones are done, they will be not "give" when pressed in the center. Remove from the oven and drizzle the chocolate on top. Enjoy!

Notes: *Spelt is a  low gluten alternative to traditional wheat. I am wheat sensitive and yet spelt does not cause any recognizable inflammation for me.

**You could probably use crunchy peanut butter, but you may need to add additional milk.

***You could successfully add chocolate chips instead, I believe. I'd try mini-chips and limit it to about 1/4-1/3 cups total, at least until you've experimented with them the first time.

Crumb Cake- Vegan Version

Originally I found this recipe in Grandma's Kitchen cookbook by Gooseberry Patch. I "vegan-ized" it about three years ago. I haven't made it in a long time. But on a morning when the real-feel temperature is in the minus double digits, my kids and I loved the warm, yummy goodness right out of the oven.

Cake:  2 Tablespoons oil

1 flax meal "egg"

1/2 cup milk of choice (almond, coconut, or rice)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup Sucanat

1 1/2 cup Organic White spelt flour*

2 1/2 teaspoons Aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Topping**:  1 1/4 cup Organic White spelt flour*

1/2 cup Sucanat

1 1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon

Scant 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled

1. The most "difficult" part of this conversion is the flax meal egg. If you've never made one, don't worry. Just add 1 Tablespoon flax meal to a cup and an additional 3 Tablespoons water with it and stir. Let it set for a moment while you gather the rest of your ingredients and it will be good to go!

2. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Put coconut oil from the topping in a medium bowl and  place the bowl in the oven to melt while you begin your cake mix.

3. Combine all of the cake ingredients in the order given above in a medium bowl. Sucanat has a coarse texture. If you add it to the liquids, stir and let it sit while you measure out your flour, you will avoid any crunchy tidbits in your cake. [Remove coconut oil from oven, if you haven't done so already.]

4. Once combined together, add to an ungreased 8 X 12 inch pan, spreading to the edges of with a spatula.

(As you can see from the photos, I only had a deep-dish pie pan available. It's a pretty flexible mix.) Don't over mix spelt. It is a gentle grain and if you over stir, can become chewy.

5. With the coconut oil, combine the rest of the topping ingredients. It will be crumbly. Even if it is fairly wet, it will still taste great. Just cut down on the amount of coconut oil the next time.

6. Sprinkle crumb topping over the cake batter and place in oven.

7. Bake for 30 minutes. Since spelt is a wetter grain than traditional bleached white wheat, you may have to bake a little longer or up your temperature 5 or 10 degrees to get the middle set. That's what you want, a set middle. You can stick a knife in the center to test doneness of the cake, but bear in mind that some of the topping will most likely stick to the knife and does not mean the cake isn't done.

8. Remove from oven, cool (if you can wait that long) and enjoy. If you want a little extra sweetness or panache...dust it with powdered sugar before cutting.

Notes:  *I sometimes substitute up to 1/3 of the white spelt with whole spelt for additional health benefits. I have even used 1/3 gluten free flour, 1/3 whole spelt and 1/3 white spelt for the cake batter, but you will need an additional flax egg and possibly a little less liquid. After making the traditional cake a few times, you'll have a good idea what the batter should look like.

**The original recipe called for DOUBLE the amount of topping I have indicated above. But for us, that was just too much sugary topping.

Gluten-free note: Spelt is NOT gluten-free, but is low gluten and can be tolerated by many who are gluten-sensitive.

Better Than Panera, Orange Cranberry Scones

The last time, about a year and a half ago now, that my daughter paid around $2.50 for a yummy orange scone at Panera, I confidently said, 'I bet I can make those at home for a lot less.' I knew it was not only possible, but very likely they would be healthier too. Since my first batch, I've quietly thought to myself that they are tastier also. Last week, when a friend told me, "They're better than Panera," and promptly asked for the recipe...I thought there may just be others out there who are tired of forking over too much hard-earned cash for a sometimes rock-hard scone.

 

A few years ago, I found this great recipe on Opera Singer in the Kitchen's website. Full credit goes to her for the original. I have modified it even further though so I'm not going to copy her version here.

 

Ingredient list:

• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour (You can use a combination of whole and white, more white than whole though. )
• 2 Tablespoons Sucanat
• 1 Tablespoon organic orange zest
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (or less) sea salt
• 6 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 cup organic cranberries, chopped
• 1 flax or chia "egg" {1 tablespoon flax meal or chia seed + 2 Tablespoons water}
• Approximately 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice and/or coconut milk (Look for details about this at the end)

 

Preheat over to 425° F. Stir flour, Sucanat, orange zest, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt together in a large bowl.

 

Cut in coconut oil with a pastry cutter until it looks almost like a crumb topping.

 

Now is the best time to toss in your fruit of choice so it doesn't all stick together once the wet ingredients are added.

 

Stir in the egg and juice/milk combination (I'll explain this further at the end). Mix together with a fork or wooden spoon until the dough starts to form a ball.

 

*Here's the secret to making them like Panera! Do not roll them out like a cookie or pizza dough, which is very common. Instead divide into fourths and pat into a square-ish shape. They will be rather thick. I use parchment paper to make clean up easier and also, because depending upon your pan, if you don't, you'll have to lightly grease the cookie sheet. If you want a fairly healthy version of this scone, then right here, sprinkle them with either Rapadura or Sucanat sugar because they are chunkier and look pretty.

 

Bake 10-14 minutes depending upon desired level of  "doneness".  If you're opting for the most Panera-like scone you can get, while they are baking, mix together the following for a glaze:

 

• I Tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• about 1-2 Tablespoons orange juice
• about 1/3-1/2 powdered sugar

As soon as the scones come out of the over, drizzle a lot of glaze on top. You also have the option of letting them cool a little, making a thicker glaze and spreading it on top to resemble the Panera scones. The recipe for the glaze is mostly approximations, dependent upon how thick you want it.

 

And that's it...almost!

 

Here are my fool-proof  "must do's" if you are looking to have the "better than" label attached to your healthier scones.

• If you're using spelt, which is a wetter dough than all-purpose, bleached, yuck...you must at some point, mix it by hand. This is the only way to make sure your dough is not too wet, which leads to the second "must do".
• The juice/milk combination is strictly a matter of preference, more juice means more orange flavor. But, if using spelt, you will most likely not need the entire liquid unless you are hoping to do a completely whole wheat or whole spelt scone. Then, you also need to opt out of Sucanat in favor of honey, maple syrup or agave instead.
• Yes, I have made the dough far too wet in the past, and they still bake up very tasty and nice. Handling them, not having a whole scones-worth of dough stuck to your hands and shaping them well goes much better with a dough that is mixed just until it sticks together. Try adding about half of the necessary liquid and increasing it as needed.
• The original recipe makes eight scones. In order to get the Panera size, you'll only get half of this amount from my version. I easily double it though (as I did in the photos above) and still get eight. Just remember when you're eating them...1 of my scones = 2 of the originals!
• This recipe is very versatile and is the only one I use for scones. It is super easy to swap out flavor and fruit options to experiment with different tastes. I've made pumpkin (just watch the amount of liquid very carefully); lemon/poppy seed; gingerbread; blueberry/lemon; apple/cinnamon;is cranberry, the original dark chocolate/orange or like Panera, just orange. I used fresh cranberries for the recipe because they are widely available right now and are just so much better than the dried version. Dried is entirely usable though. Really, the possibilities are pretty much endless.
• Last thing, I can't stress enough the part about shaping them by hand. I read a few years ago, that as a low gluten flour and because it is wetter than regular wheat, spelt should not be handled much. Keep in mind that by stirring less, combining just until it holds together and shaping, instead of rolling them out...you will be rewarded with tender, flaky...very delicious scones.

Oh yeah...one more thing: Eat them while they're warm! They really taste best that way.

 

 

 

Vegan Gingerbread Scones

I haven't posted anything on my vegan blog for a long, long time. There are just not enough hours in the day! But I recently had a few requests for this recipe and with the holidays coming up...I thought it would be a good time to share.

Gingerbread Scones

2 c. flour (could substitute 1 c. gluten-free blend)

3 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ c. coconut oil or organic palm oil shortening
1/3 c molasses
¼ c. almond milk
1 egg substitute (I use 1 Tbsp flax meal + 3 Tbsp water)
Sugar, to sprinkle on top

1.      Preheat oven to 400°F.

2.      In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

       3.      Cut in coconut oil or shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4.      In a small bowl, combine the molasses, milk and egg substitute until smooth; stir into the flour mixture just until moistened.

5.      Turn out onto a floured surface; knead gently 6-8 times.

6.      Pat into an 8-inch circle; cut into 12 wedges and place 1 inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.

7.      Sprinkle with small amount of sugar. (Sugar in the Raw or Rapadura works well and looks more professional)

8.      Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

9.      Serve warm.

Notes:

·         My “normal” scone recipe does not require cutting the scones before baking. You pat them into a circle on the cookie sheet and cut them after baking. I think this make a softer scone.

·         Also, if you’re using any gluten-free flour, it wouldn’t hurt to throw in ¼ tsp of xanthan gum.

·         If you are using coconut oil and almond milk, check the scones while baking because they may be done a little quicker. I think these products make most of my baked items a little dryer so they cook faster…probably because there is less fat in almond milk than cow’s milk.