Jordana Banana Bakes

Saturday, May 30, 2015

About three or four years ago, I got to know about the concept of raw food- some of our friends and my brother have already adapted the "living foods" way of eating at home before I started working at a raw and vegan restaurant a year and a half ago. The concept of raw is simple- it means any plant-based food that is not cooked or heated through above 47°C. So some of the common tools we use to make and "cook" with at work are: dehydrators, spiralizers (to make vegetable "noodles") and silicone molds for our nut-based, gluten-free and dairy-free desserts. People are really amazed at how this innovative way of "cooking" or "baking" can taste superb without the use of wheat flour, milk or refined sugars. And more and more people are hearing the word "raw", are willing to try raw food, and to even try "rawcipes" at home.

I love mangoes and have combined several different recipes to create this wonderful:

Raw Mango Mousse Tarts with Macaroon Crust (makes 6-8 tarts)

For the tart shells:

1 cup shredded coconut (macaroon-style)
1 cup raw cashews, not soaked
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt

For the filling:

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup agave
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp fresh lime zest
3 ripe Ataulfo mangoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup raw cashews, soaked (in 3 cups of water, overnight, in fridge), rinsed and drained when ready to use.

Things needed: a high-power blender such as Vitamix or Blendtec, a food processor, silicone tart molds and a zester.

In your food processor, add the tart shell ingredients and process until combined and the cashews are finely chopped. Place 2 Tbsp of macaroon mixture in each mold and with slightly wet fingers, press into silicone molds evenly, reaching up to the sides. Place tart shells in the freezer to harden, about 1 hour.

In your blender, put in filling ingredients starting with the liquids first: coconut oil, agave and lime juice, then add lime zest, mangoes and soaked/rinsed/drained cashews.

Blend (2-3 times) until smooth and creamy.

Unmold tarts from silicone and place them on a decorative serving plate. Pour the mango mousse (about 3 heaping Tbsp of filling) into each shell. Lightly garnish with more coconut and lime peel or fresh berries. Can keep for 2 days in the fridge, in a sealed container.

Highly influenced by Rawlicious At Home cookbook, TheRawtarian.com and Oprah.com
Raw! Raw Raw! © 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

If you want to make a Spring dessert that will please everyone and their mother, it will be these Lemon-Ricotta Bars from Food52 served with my Strawberry-Ginger Lemon Bar Sauce. With it, the bars are elevated to a whole other level of sophistication.

I was at De Mello Palheta cafe in Toronto and had their mind-blowing Rhubarb Custard Square and ever since wanted to make something similar at home. So the hunt was on and I finally chose Food52's recipe. It was perfect- the ricotta added richness and provided a not-so-puckery filling that complimented the moist and buttery shortbread crust.

As amazing as they were, I really felt it needed something else...perhaps a sweet/tart flavour with a kick, I thought. I wanted something other than rhubarb and decided on crystallized ginger mixed in with strawberries from California I had bought the other day. It was harmonious in every way.

All I can say is, you MUST try the combination. I've made it twice already in the last two weeks and oh, the amount of "Ooos" and "Mmms" i've heard...

For the Lemon-Ricotta Bars:

http://food52.com/recipes/13861-lemon-ricotta-bars

Baker's note: make sure to stir the ricotta filling right before you pour it on the crust before baking.

Otherwise, your bars will crack and look like this:

instead of this:

For the Strawberry-Ginger Lemon Bar Sauce:

3 cups diced strawberries, preferably organic
3 Tbsp finely diced crystallized ginger (about 4 circles)
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8-1/4 cup water

Place all ingredients in a medium pot, stir and bring to boil. Immediately reduce heat to medium and cook for 12-15 minutes, occasionally stirring until the mixture turns pulpy and jam like. Take off heat and cool before serving with/dolloped on the Lemon-Ricotta bars. Prepare to be swept off your feet.

Almost there...

and finally...yes.

Pucker up!
Xxxx © 2015

Saturday, March 28, 2015

From a Facebook Buy and Sell page, I managed to get free back issues of Real Simple magazines.

Did I really need inspiration for a "Life Made Easier?" Well, for quick and delicious meal ideas, that's for sure. I've been working many hours and wanted fresh and healthy in a jiffy. I'm also a sucker for magazines.

So here's my take on a Real Simple and versatile meal- I served this for lunch and everyone loved, loved, loved it!

Pita and Cherry Tomato Toasts (serves 4, vegetarian)

1/3 cup olive oil
4 piece pkg. of white pita bread
8 oz. container of store-bought roasted garlic hummus
1/4 cup each minced fresh herbs of your choice (I used parsley and mint)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, tri-colours
1/2 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup baby arugula
paprika and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven 300°F. Brush one side of each pita bread with olive oil and place them all on one baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 12min. Set aside.

While the pitas are toasting, chop your herbs.

Add the herbs to your container of roasted garlic hummus along with the leftover olive oil and mix.

Top your warm pitas with the herbed hummus, then tomatoes, Feta cheese, freshly ground pepper, arugula, more fresh herbs, perhaps a drizzle more olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika.

Serve as is or with a side salad. Yum!

Recipe inspired from Real Simple magazine, April 2014

Friday, February 27, 2015

My Mom always brings a variety of halva for my husband. The Polish store she buys it from sells fresh, inexpensive blocks of these sweet, seed and nut-butter gems. My new favourite is made from sunflower seed as opposed to the regular tahini base. But on the whole, we enjoy them as a special treat for breakfast. And somehow I want to eat it only at breakfast time, and no other part of the day! Perhaps this comes from way back, from our trip to Egypt, before the girls, when a small group of us were served a simple breakfast on a felucca boat sailing the Nile- baby blue sky, quiet river, black coffee, one platter stacked with just-warmed flat bread, and another, with mounds of roughly chopped pistachio and almond halva. Halva heaven.

Almond Halva Cookies (yields approx. 24 cookies)

1 1/4 cups organic all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond halva, crumbled
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Things needed: mini cookie scoop and rimless baking sheet (or just turn your rimmed baking sheet upside down, then put your parchment paper on top.)

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Then beat in vanilla and crumbled halva. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture and blend it thoroughly before adding the other half, and blend again on low until a crumbly dough forms.

Transfer the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the edges of the plastic wrap to press the dough into a disk. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and chill the dough until firm (about 1 hour).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Have ready two rimless baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a mini scoop, roll dough into 1-inch balls and arrange them on the rimless cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

In the oven they both go, switching the sheets halfway through baking time (at about the 5 minute mark). Bake until the cookies are starting to crack on the top, 10-12 minutes in total. Keep a close eye on them- they can turn dark very quickly.

Cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

You can have these sweet bits of halva heaven anytime. Even for breakfast.

Inspired by Matkonation, Ottolenghi and Gourmet's sesame and halva recipes.
#breakfastmemories © 2015

Monday, January 26, 2015

We love our Overnight Oats, but sometimes it's nice to have warm, no-fuss, flavour-immersed, slow-cooked steel-cut oatmeal during cold, winter mornings. But who stays up until midnight to turn on their slow cooker so that they'll have breakfast ready by morning? Or the patience to keep an eye on steel-cut oats on the stove top? Here's my solution: put all the ingredients in your crock pot the night before, but don't turn it on.

Put the lid on and leave it overnight.

The next morning, before anything else, turn your slow cooker on low.

Your Warm Overnight Oats will be ready in 1 to 1.5 hours.

Warm Overnight Oats (Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Refined-sugar free)

1 1/4 cup organic, gluten-free steel-cut oats (toasted-optional)
3 cups organic almond milk
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp organic coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Things needed: slow cooker.

Combine steel cut oats, almond milk, water, coconut sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in your slow cooker. Give it a stir. Cover with lid but do not turn on until the next morning (low setting). Ready in about 1 1/2 hours. Makes about 4 servings. Top with more almond milk and whatever else you desire ie. bananas, pecans, almonds, granola, coconut, maple syrup, coconut sugar, pumpkin seeds, cacao powder, goji berries, chia seeds, poppy seeds, dried fruit, fresh berries, nut butters, homemade jam,..

Modified from a How To Feed A Family recipe.
Happy New Year, New You © 2015

Friday, December 12, 2014

You know, Santa loves savoury too.

A version of this recipe has been circulating within my writer’s group over the years and it is what everyone reaches for when they have a glass of red wine in their other hand. I think we just call them “Barb’s cheese things” or “those cheddar crisps.” But in The Daily Cookie by Anna Ginsberg, they are listed under January 20 as Cheddar Cheese Cookies. (Of course I peeked at my birth date, and I got Chocolate Ninjabread Cookies...cool.)

When everybody else is making Christmas sweets, serve these with your apéritifs and trust that they will go as quick as reindeer.

Cheddar Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp.
2 cups freshly grated, good-quality sharp Cheddar (please don't use pre-grated cheese for anything)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 cups organic all purpose flour
1 cup crispy rice cereal (I use President's Choice brand)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Smoked paprika, for dusting

Things needed: mini ice-cream scooper (will yield exactly 48 cookies), two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and a mixer.

Preheat oven at 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy, then add grated cheese and blend until mixture turns orange. Add salt, cayenne and garlic powder and blend until incorporated. Add flour and cereal and mix.

With your mini- ball scooper, shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

With a fork, gently make a crisscross pattern on each ball while flattening slightly. Place a not too small pecan piece in the center of each cookie.

Bake one sheet at a time for 5 minutes, rotate the sheet, then bake for another 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Lightly sprinkle cookies with paprika. Enjoy with some excellent wine.

Minimally changed from The Daily Cookie by Anna Ginsberg
(Just in case you were wondering, The Daily Cookie lists Almond Ginger Toasts for December 25. These look like thinly sliced but round biscotti, and look very delicate and scrumptious!)

Monday, November 24, 2014

Kale can be intimidating. The only reason I tried kale is because we make cheesy dehydrated kale chips at work. And I loved it ever since. Then I made a tropical smoothie blended with raw kale and the whole family loved it. And then a bag of Ultimate Kale Chips went on sale at my local grocery store. I still loved it. Then I picked up The Book of Kale and Friends by Sharon Hanna and Carol Pope and made Kale Pasta with Rose Sauce- dinner was a hit. And then on a cold day I had a craving for warm bread made easy and was again flipping through The Book of Kale and Friends. Interestingly enough, the no-knead bread recipe in the book had the “friend” rosemary, but there was no kale. I had some kale chip crumbs left over. I added the crumbs instead of rosemary. There is a reason why I’m blogging about it. I am no longer intimidated...bring on the kale!

No Need To Knead Kale Chip Bread

3 cups organic flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup kale chip crumbs (I used Solar Raw's Better Than Cheddar)
2 Tbsp chopped, fresh herbs (optional)
3 Tbsp olive oil
About 1 to 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Things needed: a large enamel, cast-iron, glass or ceramic ovenware with lid, parchment paper, a wooden spoon, kitchen scissors and oven mitts.

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and yeast together with a whisk.

Add the kale crumbs, blend it in the flour and drizzle olive oil around the flour. Add about 1 cup of the water and stir the flour with a wooden spoon, making sure all of the flour is incorporated (if it is a bit too dry, you can add a little more).

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave the dough in a spot that is warm and undisturbed for 18-24 hours (I started mine early in the morning and left it overnight, to bake fresh the next day).

Transfer the risen dough (pictured above) on a large piece of floured parchment paper. Gently fold the sticky dough into a round shape and cut the excess parchment off. Lightly dust the top of the dough with more flour. Cover the dough with a towel and let sit for 30-60 minutes.

Make sure your covered pot fits in the oven (you may have to move or remove an oven rack). Leave the empty pot with cover in the oven and set oven to 475°F and leave the pot in for 15 minutes.

Before 15 minutes is up, remove towel from your dough and cut an X with scissors in the middle of the dough. With your oven mitts, carefully remove your hot pot from the oven, place it on the stovetop and remove the lid. Carefully place your dough in the center of the pot and cover. Gently place back in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Cool bread on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Slice and enjoy with any type of butter or anything you desire.