• 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup light brown cane sugar
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 3 egg equivalent in Ener-G egg substitute
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup vegetable oil**

• 2 cups finely grated carrots
• 1 can (about 14 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup shredded coconut

• nuts and raisins optional

Faux Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 8 oz package of vegan cream cheese
• 1/3 cup vegan soy margarine (like Earth Balance), softened.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups vegan confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, spice, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer combine sugar and egg replacer until creamy.  Add vanilla, then add vegetable oil or applesauce.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together and add carrots, pineapple, and coconut.

Grease pan. Smooth batter into pan. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to let the cake adequately cool before frosting.

For a thicker cake, use a 9×9 glass pan. For a thinner cake with more servings, use a 13×9.  You can also make them in a cupcake pan or 2 loaf pans.

Faux Cream Cheese Frosting recipe:

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla, then add sugar.

This entire recipe tastes just like the real thing! It just made it last night and it is so delicious!

Makes: 9 servings, Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 40 minutes

**Substitutions**

For the egg replacer – I used pineapple juice drained from the pineapple chunks instead of water.  I had it and I thought I’d give the cake an extra boost of flavor.

Again, I don’t use vegetable oil.  I subbed with applesauce as usual.

Since I had a young coconut in the fridge I used that instead of dried shredded coconut.  I just ran it through the shredder with the carrots.  I tried to run the pineapple chunks through as well, but that really didn’t work.  I ended up cutting up the pineapple chunks I had by hand instead.

I accidentally added 3 cups of carrots instead of the 2 called for – I mixed it up with another recipe.  It worked out pretty well though.

I also added 1 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries.

I don’t do soy-based cream cheese frosting.  Instead of that I used my trusty old standby Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting – wow, was it tasty!

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I am apparently in a baking mood today – zucchini bread and carrot cake back to back.  That or I’m just hungry   I found this recipe over at VegWeb.com where it was submitted by Tate.  I was looking at both this recipe and this one by Ina Garten so I’m sure that there are places other than just the extra cup of carrots that I merged them but I don’t recall them.

Just so you know, these muffins by no means need the frosting – and they are better for you without it – but what is a good tropical-inspired carrot cake without frosting?  I mean really.

So why did I pick a vegan recipe?  Well, I ran out of eggs but I have scads of egg replacer!  Shhh – don’t tell!

So yeah – that’s my version of this yummy cake!  And I would have to agree, next to the Oregon Farms boxed cake (now Sarah Lee), this is one of the best carrot cakes I have tried yet.  I’m still trying to duplicate that one though!  Yum…

Oh – and the kids LOVE it!

• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 3 tsp. vanilla

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt

• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Combine the first 5 ingredients (wet) in a mixing bowl.  Sift together the next 5 (dry) into another bowl, and combine being sure to mix well.

If you are adding nuts, fold them in at this time.

Pour the batter into three greased loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.

**Substitutions**
I don’t use vegetable oil for anything.  I substituted applesauce for the oil and they taste great.

I also used a bit of sucanat in place of some of the sugar – it gives it a richer, more molasses-y taste.  It’s like brown sugar, but a little stronger.  It’s made in a different way.

One other thing – I don’t recommend using paper cups if you choose to make muffins.  These are pretty sticky and it’s hard to peel the paper off.  I did this time since I knew I had more than one batch of muffins to make and needed the pan again soon.

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I’m not sure where we got this recipe, but it’s been travelling around with us for a few years and the whole family loves it!  Fortunately it makes more than one loaf, since the first loaf is usuallt gone within the first 2 hours or so of being baked.  It also makes great muffins to toss into a lunch box.

I found this recipe a few years ago – before I started really baking bread much – and it is one of the ones that got me hooked!  It is from King Arthur Flours, but I have never followed it exactly… mainly in the fruit selections…

It is a wonderful holiday bread with the jewel-toned fruits shining out.

I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!

And no… this is NOT a fruitcake!  Nothing candied in here!

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This recipe comes down from my husband’s Grandmother – each year she would make a Christmas tree out of rolls, complete with green frosting.  She passed away, and no one had a cinnamon roll tree this year.  I knew I had the recipe somewhere, and I just found it, so I’m sharing it with you.

• 1 cup milk
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup  warm water to dissolve yeast
• 3-4 cups sifted flour
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• more butter
• walnuts, raisins, cranberries or apples as desired.

In a large bowl combine sugar, salt and butter.  Heat up milk, and when it is hot pout it into the bowl over dry ingredients.  Mix until dissolved.

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

Beat egg and add to milk mixture, then add yeast.  Add 3-4 cups sifted flour, enough to make a soft dough.

Put into a well greased bowl and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size (at least 1 hour).

Knead down and roll out to 1/2-inch thick.

Spread with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, fruits and nuts, leaving one edge clean.

Roll up, starting at the edge opposite the clean edge.  Using your finger, rub a bit or water on the clean edge and seal it to the roll, pinching lightly.

Cut into 1″ slices using dental floss (slide the floss under the roll and bring the ends up around the roll and cross them above it to cut the dough).

Place on a greased cookie sheet and let rise for another hour.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

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You can use your favorite frosting or icing for these, but we usually use Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting.  To make the Christmas tree, set the uncooked rolls out on a jelly roll pan in a triangle shape with 2 rolls at the base for the trunk of the tree.  Grandma often put candied fruits or candy on top of the frosting as ornaments.

If you aren’t Norwegian – or know someone who is – you may have never heard of lefse, but if you have, you know that this is a tasty treat that goes with both sweet and savory.

Lefse can best be described as a Norwegian flat bread, not unlike tortillas. It is often made with potatoes, but not always.

There are only two warnings… it takes all day long to make it, and it usually disappears quickly (especially if there are any Norwegians hanging around) but if you hide it in time it does freeze well.

Without further ado… a small collection of lefse recipes for you to choose from.

Potato-Free Lefse

• 1.5 quarts sour cream (3 lbs.) (4 cups =1 qt)
• 2 quarts buttermilk
• 1 lb. butter
• 4 tsp. baking soda
• 2.5 cups sugar
• 6 whole eggs
• 6 egg yolks
• 3 tsp. salt
• 15 lbs flour – 10 lbs for dough, 5 lbs for rolling

Melt butter while mixing wet ingredients except eggs. Mix some flour with the butter to keep it from curdling.

Combine the salt, soda and sugar and beat into the eggs.

Mix everything together.

Take a piece of dough and roll it out on a floured surface into a large circle that will fit onto your griddle, rolling it as thin as possible. Bake on a griddle over medium heat until light brown, turning frequently to prevent scorching. Stack them between clean cloths to keep them from drying out.

*Courtesy of Lee Oswald

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Potato Lefse

• 5 large potatoes
• 1/2 cup sweet cream
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• flour to roll thin

Boil potatoes and mash very fine (a ricer works well) and add cream, butter and salt. Beat until light and let cool. Add flour. Take a piece of dough and roll out into a circle like pie crust, making sure to roll it as thinly as possible. Bake on a griddle until light brown, turning frequently to prevent scorching. When baked, place between clean cloths to keep them from drying out.

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Krina Lefse

Step one:

• 3 large sifters of flour (about 5 cups in each sifter)
• 1 cup melted shortening
• 4 cups fine graham flour

Combine the above ingredients with lukewarm water, adding just enough so dough can be rolled out farily thin. Roll out as for other lefse, but bake on one side only until a very light brown. This makes a large quantity – about 36 large round lefse.

Step two:

When lefse are all baked, prepare the following mixture.

• 1 cup dark syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. melted butter
• 2 egg whites
• flour to make a fairly thick batter

Beat eggs & combine with the other ingredients. Spread over each lefse with a spatula. Spread lefse one at a time and bake in a hot oven for a few minutes, just enough to brown slightly around the edges. Bake on one side only.

Pile lefse with coated sides together, and put a weight on top of them until they are cold. Then remove the weight and sprinkle a little water over lefse to keep them from breaking.

Put them away – keeping coated sides apart to prevent sticking.

These lefse will keep indefinitely if kept in a dry place.

When ready to use, hold each lefse under cold water, letting water fun over both sides, then place between clean cloths until soft enough to use. They may have to be soaked twice. When soft, spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Put 2 lefse together and cut wedge shaped like a pie.

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Swedish Flat Bread

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sweet milk
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1.5 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup flour for rolling

Cream the butter and sugar together. Combine dry ingredients, making sure to break up any chunks in the baking powder and soda. Beat the eggs into the milk. Combine everything together to form a dough ball.

Roll small pieces of dough very thinly into circles. Bake quickly on a griddle over medium-high heat.

*our friend John’s Grandma’s recipe

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As you can see, there are many variations to the basic recipe, but they are all wonderful. Our favorite ways to eat them around here are with butter, cinnamon and sugar, or with lingonberry jam. They also pair well with savory dishes as a bread to sop up juices.

I haven’t tried to make a healthier version yet, but I would think that you could use coconut oil in place of the shortening or butter in these – if you got the version that tastes like coconut it would be unexpected, but very good. You should also be able to replace the cream or buttermilk with coconut cream or kefir. If you use a recipe that doesn’t use eggs, it would be very easy to make it vegan.

Each recipe makes a goodly sized batch, so wrap some of it in plastic wrap and freeze it. Just take it out and set it on the counter to thaw. You can also refrigerate it to keep it longer. I find though that if I don’t freeze some right away, it tends to get put away into bellies rather quickly.

Enjoy!

I was thinking about using my sourdough starter to make dinner rolls last night, but I didn’t get it started in time – isn’t that the usual problem with starter bread? While I was looking at recipes though, cinnamon rolls kept showing up alongside the dinner rolls in google. I love google, it is where I turn for inspiration for just about everything.

The recipe I found was for a bread machine – which I refuse to use – so I have modified it for those of us who are making things by hand.

So now I had the rolls, but I don’t like the old powdered sugar & water frosting. Cinnamon rolls (like carrot cake) needs to have cream cheese frosting or caramel. Or both. Back to google I went this morning. What I found borders on the divine.

Next time you have an evening to pre-plan for breakfast, or you just want to spoil your family, this is a great recipe!

For the rolls:

• 1 cup sourdough starter – room temp.
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons butter – very soft
• 1 egg – room temp (or warmed up in a bowl of hot water)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast

for the filling:

• 2 Tbsp butter – very soft
• 1 Tbsp butter – melted
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice – divided
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine the starter with the milk, butter and eggs. Stir these up until they reach a soupy consistency. Add in the sugar, salt and yeast. Stir until combined. Add in the flour, 1 cup at a time. If it gets too hard to stir, dump it out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the rest of the flour in.

Knead for a few minutes, until the four is all incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky.

Put unto an oiled rising bucket or bowl and put it into your cold oven for 5 hours or overnight. Leave the light off. You want this to have a sow rise overnight, but not as cold as the refrigerator. Mine had just doubled overnight.

In the morning, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out in a rectangle to a 1/2 to 3/4″ thickness. Let it rest for a couple of minutes like this.

While the dough is resting, prepare your pan. I used a 9″ square baker and a mini loaf pan. In the baking pan, spread 1 Tbsp of the butter in the bottom of the pan so that it is covered with a thin layer. Get the sides and corners too. Sprinkle 1/3 of the sugar and 1/3 of the brown sugar into the bottom of the pan.

Back to the dough. Gently spread the remaining soft butter over the dough, adding the melted butter when you have it mostly covered. Be careful to leave one long end free of butter so you can seal the roll.

Sprinkle the sugar over the butter so that is covers the dough – you may need a bit more or less. Do the same with the brown sugar – sprinkling it with your hands. Cover the whole thing with ground cinnamon. I like a lot of cinnamon, some don’t like as much. Use the cinnamon to your taste. If you want them, now is the time to add dried fruit or nuts.

Roll the dough up, starting at the long end OPPOSITE the bare edge. When you get to the edge that has no butter, etc, on it, get your finger wet and run it down the edge to help it stick. Press it with your fingers to seal it.

Get a length of dental floss that is about 18″ long. Slip it under the end of the log and bring your hands up and cross them, slicing the dough cleanly. I made mine about 1″ to 1-1/2″ thick. Do this down the length of the dough, filling the pan.

I used about 2/3 of the roll as cinnamon rolls, and left the rest whole and tossed it into a mini loaf pan and baked it as cinnamon swirl bread. yum!

Let them sit to rise for about 20 minutes before pre-heating your oven. Preheat your oven to 350F. Before putting the rolls into the oven, I spread a bit of butter over the tops and sprinkled with brown sugar and drizzled with agave nectar. I like caramel-y rolls.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the rolls begin to brown.

These can be turned over into a pan and served as caramel rolls as-is, or you can add cream cheese frosting.

For the frosting:

• 1- 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar – white or powdered works fine
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. In a separate chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add to the cream cheese mixture and whip just to combine – about 30 seconds.

Yep, that’s it.

Be careful when whipping the cream that you don’t over whip it and make butter… although for cinnamon rolls, that would be really tasty too. Starting with a well-chilled metal bowl helps.

So, now your rolls are out of the oven – perfectly caramel-y – and you have this big bowl of frosting. Spread it on thick. Then add some more. The rolls are still warm, so some of the frosting will melt down into them, making a deliciously creamy caramel in the bottom. Since you have just a teeny bit of frosting left you have a choice. You can either lick the bowl clean, or save it to dip fruit into. Or put a bit on each plate for people to add more to their already-covered rolls. They will love you for it.

No, this is not a low-fat recipe. But it is a tasty treat on days that you just want to splurge a little. It is very easy to put together, and in the morning it takes just over an hour start to finish – including baking time. If you start them in the afternoon you can put the pan of rolls into the refrigerator overnight and pull them out when you get up and turn the oven on. If you are using a stoneware pan, you will need it to warm up first though – just a reminder. Metal has no problem going into a hot oven still a little cold.

Let me know what you think! I’m going to go have another roll…

The end of Summer is here, and if you planted it in your garden – and the slugs didn’t eat it all – you may just have a plethora of zucchini lying around waiting to go bad.  What to do?

Make muffins.

Well, you can make bread if you want to, but the muffins seem to last longer around here… something about counting just how many you have eaten already causes us to show some restraint!

These are *healthy* to some extent, but they don’t taste it!  Don’t tell your kids – or hubby – how good they are for you, just how good they are!  The sugary crust that forms towards the top will make sure that they don’t believe they are healthy anyway.

I have no idea where the original recipe came from, but I have tweaked it – as usual – to suit my tastes.  The girls like it this way better too – double bonus!

And did I mention that these make a tasty breakfast?  Yum…

Down to business…

Ingredients:
wet

• 2 cups evaporated cane sugar
• 1/2 cup turbinato sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3 eggs (or egg replacer*)
• 2-1/2 cups grated zucchini
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract

dry

• 2 cups unbleached white flour**
• 2 cup whole wheat pastry flour**
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt

• 1 cup chopped nuts, dried fruit, etc – optional

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a large mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients, making sure to mix the eggs thoroughly.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  This will be a wet dough.

If you are adding nuts or dried fruit, gently fold them in now.

Lightly grease your muffin tins, or use paper.  Fill each muffin cup just over 1/2 full.  We use a regular sized pan, and a mini muffin pan – the perfect size for the girls to take to school.  Either way, you should get at least 2 pans worth of muffins.  I usually get 15 regular muffins, and 24 mini muffins.

Bake at 325F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a middle muffin comes out clean.

If you are using a loaf pan, bake for 1 hour, or until the toothpick is clean.  It should fill 3 greased loaf pans.

Enjoy!

*if you use egg replacer to make these vegan, add it with the dry ingredients.  Add the water or apple juice with the wet though.

**you can use 3-1/2 cups white flour instead if you would rather, but the whole wheat adds a delicious flavor!  And helps them be just a tad more healthy.

I tried a new breakfast side dish today… and it met with mixed reviews. The adults liked it, the kids… didn’t. I think it was more a texture thing in their case. We had it with bacon, eggs and applesauce (and tea, of course!) and it was a very filling meal!

Oats are one of the best grains for us – and they help reduce cholesterol.  The humble oat kept the Scottish people healthy & strong for centuries, as it was the only grain that would grow in northern Scotland, but they are not often thought of these days. Try these for a new way to enjoy this humble grain.  Adding some cinnamon & sugar or dried fruit makes them more like cookies!

2 cups rolled oats
6 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup flour (gluten free or rice flour works well too)
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. hot water (with more set aside for later use)

OPTIONAL
2 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp. evaporated cane juice

Warm up your griddle on the stove to just above medium. I cooked the bacon on it before making the oatcakes, which greased it nicely for the first few.

Grind the oats into a gritty flour in a food processor. Combine the oats, flour and salt into a mixing bowl (and cinnamon & sugar if using), and using a pastry blender or your fingers, mix the butter into the flour mixture. I also added a tsp or so of bacon fat from the bacon I was cooking.

Add the hot water to the mixture to make a sticky dough – you may need to add a bit more than 2 Tbsp.

Using golf ball sized portions of dough, form flat cakes with your hands. Place them onto your warm, greased griddle and cook 3-5 minutes per side. You may have to re-grease your griddle with every batch. I used coconut oil, as it has a higher burn point than butter, but butter works well also.

The oatcakes should stay a little bit blonde, but the browned butter or bacon grease can add a nice flavor.

Serve warm with butter, honey, jam or applesauce. They are also good with cheese.

These could also make good biscuits for a fruit cobbler.

This makes a great bread for thick-cut toast with jam in the mornings, or try it open face with cream cheese and sliced cucumbers! Or, knead in some herbs for a delicious herbed or garlic bread – yum…

1-1/2 cups warm water (around 105-115 degrees – NOT above 120 degrees!)
1-3/4 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
4 cups unbleached white flour*
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1/4 cup honey (warmed for easy pouring)

+/- 1/2 cup flour
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and add the flax seed. Let this sit for 5-10 minutes to activate the yeast. Make sure the water is not too hot, or it will kill the yeast.

While the yeast is activating, prepare your rising bucket or bowl by pouring some olive oil in it & spreading it around the sides & bottom.

When the yeast is beginning to get foamy, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine, and pour the dough out onto a lightly floured counter to knead. Knead until the flour on the counter is incorporated into the dough and the surface of the dough is slightly tacky.

Place the dough in the oiled rising bucket and place in a warm, draft-free area. Let it rise around 1.5 – 2 hours or until double it’s size. Do nit let it over rise.

Punch down the dough** & shape it into a loaf. Place it in a loaf pan that has been lightly buttered & slit the top a few times. Allow it to rise once again for 15-40 minutes – until double in size again. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while the dough is rising.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. It should be browned & sound hollow when tapped on the bottom of the loaf. Cover it with a towel and let it rest on a cooling rack for at least an hour to finish baking internally.

*The loaf pictured was made with 3 cups unbleached white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour.

**If you want an herbed bread, knead the extra ingredients in at this time. Some ideas are minced garlic, oregano, basil, savory, thyme, rosemary, etc. This is also a good time to add in some grains, if desired. Sunflower seeds, millet, amaranth, quinoa, and oats are all good add-in’s.

1-1/2 cups warm water (around 105-115 degrees)
1-3/4 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup millet flour

1/2 Tbsp. salt
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey (warmed for easy pouring)

+/- 1/2 cup flour
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and add the flax seed.  Let this sit for 5-10 minutes to activate the yeast.  The sugar and flax seed help feed the yeast to jump start it.

While the yeast is activating, prepare your rising bucket or bowl by pouring some olive oil in it & spreading it around the sides & bottom.

When the yeast is beginning to get foamy, add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir to combine, and pour the dough out onto a lightly floured counter to knead.  Knead until the flour on the counter is incorporated into the dough and the surface of the dough is slightly tacky.

Place the dough in the oiled rising bucket and place in a warm, draft-free area – I use the closed oven with the light on.  Let it rise to double it’s size – usually around 1.5 -2 hours.

Punch down the dough & shape it into a loaf.  Place it in a loaf pan that has been lightly buttered & slit the top a few times with a sharp knife.  Allow it to rise a second time for 15-40 minutes – until double in size again.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees while the dough is rising.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  It should be browned & sound hollow when tapped on the bottom of the loaf.  Let it rest for at least an hour to finish baking internally.  I place it on a cooling rack with a towel over it.