No Sugar Added Protein Energy ... Rounds

I can't call these "bars", since I baked them in a muffin tin, in order to cut out a few steps, and I can't call them "bites" since they are much bigger than just a bite, and I can't call them "muffins", because even though I did bake them in a muffin tin, they are not.  Muffins, that is.  So rounds it is.

I was at the doctor today, and I asked her when postpartum hair loss is supposed to stop.  Her vague-ish answer was, "Six weeks.  Sometimes 12.  Maybe later. Eventually.  Don't worry; you have a lot; you won't be bald."  Captain Subtext translates that into, "Normally, somewhere between six and 12 weeks, but this doesn't apply to you.  Nothing applies to you since you are the hugest medical anomaly I've ever seen." Anyway, she also told me that adding more protein to my diet would help, so I set out to invent something that packs a huge protein punch in a small, quick to grab, easy to eat package. It wouldn't hurt if it gave me a boost of energy, as well, and an even bigger plus would be if it would help boost milk supply.  I don't ask for much, do I?

Anyway, I came up with these ... rounds, which were initially supposed to be bars.  The nuts, nut butter, seeds, and quinoa have a crapton of protein.  Yes, crapton is indeed a scientific measurement.  Look it up. The bananas and the wheat germ are both chock full of potassium, and aside from giving quick energy, potassium is amazingly good for you.

You can customize this recipe a bazillion different ways, according to your taste.  You can use whatever nuts you would like, alone or in combination.  I used almonds, walnuts, and pecans.  You can vary your dried fruit (and if you haven't already, read about why you should dehydrate it yourself).  I used cherries, blueberries, cranberries, and dates.  I almost went tropical and used pineapple, banana, and mango, as I had all of those on hand as well.  Next time...  You can also choose whatever nut or seed butter you most prefer.  I used unsweetened natural almond butter.  Usually I make my own, but I just didn't have time this time.  I did, however, use MaraNatha brand, and their only ingredient is raw almonds.  Even many of the natural nut butters add some oil, so I'm pretty fond of MaraNatha.  I considered using Sunbutter or Tahini.  You can also use the seed of your choice.  I used sunflower, because that's what I had, but pumpkin or sesame would work just as well.

So now I've got nuts and nut butter and quinoa for protein, tons of potassium for energy and other good things, fruit for a burst of natural sweetness, and oats for a lactation boost.  Now, these are not low fat. Nuts are quite caloric and have a high fat content.  However, those fats are the good fats.  They help lower bad cholesterol.  They have lots of protein, fiber, and healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants.  Eating an ounce of nuts a day can help lower your risk of heart disease.  So while these aren't necessarily low fat, they are quite good for you.

Because there is no added sugar, these aren't sweet and cakey like muffins.  They also aren't sweet and salty and crunchy like granola bars.  If you're looking for sweet, then you need to move on.  They are dense and gooey and pack a hell of a nutritional punch.

Protein Energy Rounds

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup nut or seed butter
• 2 very ripe mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup whole nuts
• 1 1/2 cup dried fruits
• 1 cup rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind!)
• 2 TBSP wheat germ
• 1/8 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Liberal pinch cinnamon
• 1/4 cups seeds

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350.

2.  Coarsely chop nuts and dried fruit in food processor.  Be careful and pay attention, because you don't want to make it a gooey paste.  You just want it chopped up into big pieces, like so:

3.  Mix nut butter and bananas until thick and paste like.

4.  Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

5.  Spoon into a lightly sprayed muffin tin.  And by lightly sprayed, I mean spray the hell out of it, or they'll stick!

6.  Bake for 15 minutes.

7.  These must be stored in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things.  The baby is four months old now, and it would be nice to have dinner again every once in awhile.  While he is able to amuse himself for longer stretches than before, he's still only four months old, and those stretches aren't all that long, so quick and easy is the name of the game here.

Drew recently requested some baked macaroni and cheese.  I had no idea how to go about this, because the only macaroni I've ever made in my life came out of a box, and when I gave up Shit That Is Bad For Me (TM), I pretty much stopped eating that.  So I just sort of made this up as I went along, using what we had in the house.  It's certainly not vegan.  It's also not my usual low fat, healthy fare, but it is better than the packaged processed stuff, and I'm nursing.  I can get away with the extra calories right now, because I've seen first hand what not getting enough calories does to my milk supply!

Laura's Make It Up As You Go Along Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
• 3 eggs or equivalent amount of Egg Beaters
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• Generous pinch salt
• Scant shake cayenne pepper
• Shake ground nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups grated cheese of choice - I used Swiss, Colby Jack, and Mozzarella.  I suppose most normal people would use sharp cheddar and American, but I'm not normal.  I also don't like cheddar, and we didn't have American.
• Something crunchy for the top - I used crushed Corn Flakes.  Crushed crackers of some sort or Panko would work really well too.

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425.

2.  Bring large pot of salted water to boil.

3.  Add macaroni and cook two minutes less than package directions.  Drain and set aside.

4.  If you didn't buy pre-shredded cheese, grate your cheese in whatever manner you       use to grate cheese.  Personally I'm lazy, so I use the food processor.  I'd still be  shredding cheese if I had to do it with a manual grater!

5.  In a large bowl whisk eggs and evaporated milk together until foamy.

6.  Add a generous pinch of salt, the cayenne, and the nutmeg and whisk well.

7.  Stir in the grated cheeses, and mix well.

8.  Add the macaroni and stir well to coat.

9.  Pour into a sprayed casserole or baking dish, and gently smooth the top to make an even layer.

10.  Crush up your crunchy stuff and completely cover the top.

11.  Bake 15 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered.

12.  Let rest for ten minutes before serving.

13.  Lastly, if you have one of these, put him in the kitchen and let him help!

My hope is that he'll develop healthy habits early on and not have to struggle like I did.

Enjoy!

Announcing

It was a long road, but we finally made it!

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Oh my goodness it's a recipe!  It's super simple, super yummy, and everything I needed was either out on the counter or on the top shelf of the cabinet or fridge.  I didn't have to bend or lift a thing, so this recipe fulfills both my requirements and those of my doctor.  It's win/win here!

Now, this recipe isn't vegan, but it would be super easy to veganize by making flax eggs.  This is what I would have usually done, but my little personal blender with the grinding blade has bitten the dust (I'm very sad about this!), and since I've been pregnant, the desire for eggs has been astronomical.  I NEVER just eat eggs under normal circumstances, but I've eaten my fair share over the last several months.  I fully plan to go back to being egg free after the baby is born.

This recipe came about, because I had a wicked craving for pancakes, but I've also never really liked plain ol' pancakes.  I'm not a huge fan of things made with refined white flour in the first place, and I'm very very picky about my pancakes anyway.  I need them to TASTE like something!  I went on an internet search to find some inspiration, and I discovered a lot of gluten free folks using oats as a flour substitute.  What a fantastic idea.  Oats are so healthy!  I decided to give it a try and a twist or twelve of my own, because you know I've got to get rid of as much added fat and as many animal products as I possibly can, and I'm surely glad I did.  These were fantastic!

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups traditional oatmeal (not the quick cook or instant variety)
• 2 cups almond/soy/rice/whatever milk of your choice
• ½ cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin puree-also see further notes below)
• 2 large organic eggs (I used ½ cup of Egg Beaters--much healthier.  You could also use egg replacer or the aforementioned flax eggs.)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1.  Grind oats into flour using food processor.  As you can see, I used a blender, but that's only because the food processor weighs a bazillion pounds and was in a bottom cabinet.  The blender was on the counter, so it required no bending and lifting.  I totally recommend doing this in the food processor.  It's faster, easier, far less messy, and a breeze to clean up.

2.  Pour milk into oat flour and mix very well using a fork or wire whisk.  You'll have to pay attention here, because you need to get all of the lumps out.  It will be VERY thin.  In fact, you'll think, "I'll never be able to make batter out of this!" but trust me, you will.

4.  Soak oats in milk, storing in fridge overnight.  You need to soak at least 12 hours, and you can soak for up to 24 hours.

5.  Next morning, mix all other ingredients into the soaked oats.  Mix well.

6.  Heat griddle or large skillet over medium heat and lightly spray with olive oil.

7.  Pour about a ¼ of a cup of batter onto the skillet and cook two to three minutes, until edges start to dry and brown and bubbles form and pop on top.

8.  Flip with spatula and cook until bottom is golden brown, two to three minutes more.

Enjoy!

Notes:  If for some reason you don't want to use pumpkin, there are lots of substitutes.  You could use ½ cup of apple sauce, ½, cup of well mashed banana, ½ cup of plain soy yogurt (or dairy yogurt if you aren't trying to veganize), 4 T oil, or even 4 T of melted butter.

This recipe made a bakers dozen.

The Confession

I can finally come about the reason I've not been around for so darned long -- I'm pregnant!  I had some complications in the first trimester, which have now thankfully resolved.  That lead to lots and lots of bed rest and then lots and lots of taking it easy.

I've been cleared to have a bit more freedom now that things are going well, but there still won't be much cooking.  There's no lifting of anything heavier than my purse, so that leaves out the food processor, the blender, the dutch oven, and a myriad of other things used to create fantastic meals.  There's also no bending, and that makes it hard to cook, as well.

Now, I'm not complaining here.  I'm absolutely thrilled.  I've never been so happy about anything.  I love this blog though, and I promise that someday I'll be back.  Someday not all that far away even.  Let's say sometime in March!  So stick around, and I'll be back with renewed fervor and lots of yummy vegetarian eats!  (And just for the record, I fully plan on raising a vegetarian baby!)