Baked Apples with Michaelmas Dragons

(Michaelmas, or St. Michael's Feast Day, is a favorite at our house...largely because of the dragon tales that accompany it! For this year's celebration, the HBB adapted an old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook recipe for baked apples, then created cinnamon-y dragons and wee knights to go with it. Special thanks to Uncle Joe for inspiring us with his Cinnamon Chums!)

Baked Apples

Wash and core six large apples. Stuff raisins and chopped walnuts into center hole, then place stuffed apples into a 9x9-inch baking dish.

Sauce:
1 cup water
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Place sauce ingredients into a small pan and heat until boiling. Pour over apples and bake at 350 degrees for one hour, basting with the sauce twice during baking.

After removing from oven, place apples in serving dishes to cool. Return sauce to pan and gently simmer to reduce the liquid to about half a cup.

To serve, divide liquid and pour over apples. Top with a teaspoon of sour cream substitute and serve with cinnamon cookies (recipe below).

Cinnamon Cookies (Dragons, Knights, etc.!)

1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup agave nectar

Mix together all ingredients. Chill for an hour or so. Roll out, using oat flour to dust the surface.

Using a small cookie cutter, cut shapes, re-rolling as needed. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until edges are brown, about 10 minutes.

Coming Soon

Recipes for Banana Ginger Cake, Flax Biscuits, Peach Tart and (above) Banana Pear Muffins. (I need roller skates to keep up with the HBB!)

Apple Walnut Cake

(Here's another oat-free recipe; we gave it a big thumbs-up at breakfast this morning. My apologies for the lack of detail in these and previous photos; it's been dark and rainy and the pix have been blurry.)

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients; cut in 1/2 cup butter substitute (we use Earth Balance Buttery Spread, which does contain corn and soy).

1 large apple, grated
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup milk (soy, rice, etc.)

Mix and add to flour/butter mixture. Bake in greased pan (8-inch skillet) at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Overnight Banana Muffins

(This is a variation on the cinnamon-raisin muffin recipe that my children adore. The HBB notes that walnuts would make a tasty addition, if you felt so inclined.)

approx. 1 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup raisins

Place in cereal bowl and cover with milk (soy, rice, etc.). Soak overnight in refrigerator.

Combine the following dry ingredients:

1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine 1 ripe banana (mashed) and 1/4 cup of oil. Stir into oatmeal mixture, then add dry ingredients and mix well. Add a bit of milk if dough is too dry. Scoop into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Red Lentil Soup with Pesto Biscuits

(Confession: these savory biscuits were not a hit with the wee folk. Nor with the HBB himself, who claims he has trouble getting past the garbanzo-flour taste. But I liked them fine...and they're oat-free!)


Red Lentil Soup

1 large onion, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped

Fry above ingredients in two tablespoons of oil until soft.

Add:

1 cup red lentils
1 cup buckwheat groats
8 cups water
1 teaspoon cumin

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-45 minutes, uncovering halfway through. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Pesto Biscuits

3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix dry ingredients together.

Mix together the following "pesto" ingredients:

1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3-4 stems' worth of basil leaves, chopped fine
2/3 cup milk (soy, rice, hemp, etc.)

Combine dry and wet ingredients, mixing quickly. Scoop onto baking sheet to make 8-10 biscuits. Top each biscuit with a few pine nuts, if desired. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Long Time No See

So sorry not to have offered anything new in a while! We've been revisiting old favorites, mostly -- although the HBB did make a fab new version of his Almond Breakfast Cake yesterday. Tragically, however, he was displeased with the way it looked...so back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile, I have two requests:

1. If you have any delectable gluten/egg/dairy/peanut-free recipes, would you consider sharing them with all of us here? I'd be happy to make you semi-famous!
2. If oatmeal is a no-no for you and you're getting reeeally tired of all of the oat-y recipes, would you kindly let me know? HBB is wondering if he ought to roll up his sleeves and start experimenting with things like fava bean flour (!).

A special hearty welcome to any and all Waldorfy list members who are visiting for the first time!

See you again soon...

Pesto With A Twist

(For this vegan pesto, the Happy Belly Baker had the brilliant idea to use nut butters to make up for the missing parmesan cheese. I loved it so much that I demanded a recipe, pronto. HBB regrets that because he wasn't expecting this one to end up on the blog, he wasn't too precise with his measurements. He wishes you luck.)

Bunch of fresh basil (as much as your hands can hold)
Small package of fresh spinach (ours was 4 ounces)
1/2 cup pine nuts
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil (HBB says 3 glubs, as in glub glub glub from the bottle)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Add the following:

2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons macadamia butter

Blend and enjoy on rice pasta!

Almond Breakfast Cake

(Knowing that some of you have oat issues, I requested a recipe using a non-oat flour. The Happy Belly Baker kindly obliged, and here's the result. Note: he's pondering trying garbanzo flour next...)

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix together dry ingredients. Process the following in coffee grinder until smooth:

1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup raisins

Place almond/raisin mixture in a small bowl and gradually add 2/3 cup milk (soy, rice, etc.) and 1/4 cup oil, stirring to loosen globs. Add to dry ingredients and mix until blended. Top with more sliced almonds, if desired.

Bake in an eight-inch iron skillet or small cake pan for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

(My firstborn says these are his all-time favorite. Wow!)

1 cup oat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1 apple, grated
3/4 cup milk (soy, rice, etc.)
1/4 cup canola oil

Combine flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Put raisins and 1/3 cup of oats in coffee grinder and process until relatively smooth. Repeat with walnuts and remaining 1/3 cup of oats. Add to flour mixture and mix together.

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Into it, add apple, milk, and oil. Mix the liquid ingredients, then quickly stir in the dry ingredients.

Divide among 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Ginger Peach Breakfast Cake

(Now here's the thing: Mr. HB Baker didn't even want to write out this recipe for me, because he believed the product to be a failure. "Too grainy," said he. "I liked last week's version better." Big Lad, age 10, agreed. However! Little Lad, age 3, and I LOVED today's version. Last week's? "Too goopy," said I. "And too peachy." So...give this a whirl and see what you think. And if you, like the HBB, find it lacking, he suggests omitting the rice flour, using buttery spread instead of oil, and throwing in more peaches. And we agree that fresh ginger could be an exhilarating substitution for the powdered stuff!)

2 cups old-fashioned oats, ground fine in coffee grinder
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons ginger

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add 2 medium carrots, grated fine. Mix to distribute carrot throughout.

Peel 2 ripe peaches; mash with a fork. Add peaches, 1/2 cup canola or olive oil and 1/2 cup milk (soy, rice, etc.) to dry ingredients. Mix.

Pour into greased 9x9-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.