- Page 61 of 69 - Wholesome Recipes Made for Sharing

June 19, 2014

Blueberry Oatcakes

These Blueberry Oatcakes are slightly adapted from a recipe that my sweet college friend, Carissa, gave to me. She told me that she makes these for breakfast at least once a week for her girls. After I made these oatcakes this morning, my petite 4 year-old daughter ate 4 and then wanted to have the leftovers for lunch. Needless to say that these are now a regular in our family too!

I love these oatcakes because they are completely whole-grain and comprised mostly of oats. Although we are not even close to being a gluten-free family, I do try to vary our grains so that wheat is not our only whole grain. This recipe does include a bit of whole wheat flour, but it can easily be substituted for a gluten-free flour to make these entirely gluten-free. Some planning ahead is required on these as the oats and yogurt need to be mixed together the evening before in order to soften the oats. I often like to combine my dry ingredients together the evening before as well and then everything comes together fairly quickly in the morning.

These Blueberry Oatcakes are wonderfully hearty and moist and make for a healthy morning breakfast. Serve along with some warm maple syrup to make these even more of a treat.

Blueberry Oatcakes

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups plain yogurt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons honey
1 mashed banana, about ⅓ cup
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon ground flax
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Heaping ½ cup fresh blueberries
Unsalted butter for frying

Instructions

The evening before, mix the oats and yogurt together in a large mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, add the eggs, honey, and mashed banana to the oats and yogurt and mix together with a wooden spoon.
In a small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, flax, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until dry ingredients are just incorporated. Batter should be fairly thick.
Use a rubber spatula to fold in the blueberries.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or griddle. Ladle the oat batter into the pan, spreading batter if necessary to make circles about ⅓" thick. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the underside is golden brown and then flip to the other side and cook for another 2 minutes, until golden brown.
Serve warm along with maple syrup, if desired.

June 16, 2014

Green Papaya Salad

Had a much-appreciated date night at a Sur La Table cooking class with my husband a few weeks ago. We took the Modern Thai Cooking from Pok Pok class. It was awesome. The kind of awesome that made me want to go home and immediately re-create everything that we had just cooked. When I first saw the list of unfamiliar ingredients for the dishes, I have to admit I had reservations about trying to replicate the dishes at home. Once I tasted everything though, I decided an extra trip to the Asian market to hunt for these ingredients would definitely be worth it.

The first dish of the evening was this Green Papaya Salad. Green Papaya Salad, also known as Som Tam, is such a refreshing salad for summer. It’s delightfully crunchy and crisp, slightly sweet, and spicy hot. Please note that green and unripe papayas from your everyday supermarket will NOT work for this salad. After I had made up my mind that I was going to conquer this salad at home, I went to the grocery store and chose the greenest and most upripe looking papaya that I could find. I was so disappointed when I sliced the papaya open and found a slightly pink flesh and black seeds. Not ripe enough for eating and not “green” enough for the salad, it had to be thrown away. So sad. A true green papaya has a completely white flesh with white seeds.

Green papayas used in Thai cooking can be found in the produce section of a speciality Asian supermarket . These papayas have been picked far earlier in the ripening process than the papayas found in a regular supermarket. Green papayas are used more like a vegetable in Asian cooking, rather than a fruit.

The recipe uses a mortar and pestle to crush the garlic and chili peppers into a paste that eventually becomes incorporated into the dressing. Fortunately, my mom was able to let me borrow hers (thanks, Mom!), but I think making the dressing in a mini food processor might work in a pinch if you don’t have one. We used a mandoline in class to julienne the green papaya, but I personally think mandolines are scary. I recently bought a julienne peeler and I love using it for this salad. I’m not a big fan of acquiring lots of little kitchen gadgets, but the julienne peeler was relatively inexpensive and it takes up so little room in the kitchen. It is so fun to julienne vegetables now!

This healthy and refreshing salad is bursting with flavor and crunch. I am so happy that I no longer need to go to a Thai restaurant to enjoy this salad!

Green Papaya Salad

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

2 stemmed red Thai chilies
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small lime, preferably a Key lime, halved through the stem
5-6 long beans, cut into 2-inch pieces, about ½ cup
1 tablespoon lime juice, preferably Key lime juice
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon Tamarind water *
4 ounces peeled julienned green papaya, about 1½ cups, lightly packed
½ carrot, julienned
¼ cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 heaping tablespoons unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Remove seeds from the Thai chili peppers and slice in half lengthwise. Slice the garlic clove in half lengthwise.
Combine the chili peppers, garlic, and sugar in a large mortar and use a pestle to pound together until garlic and chili peppers become chunky and slightly mashed. There should still be small pieces of garlic and chili peppers remaining.
Cut one of the lime halves into 3 wedges and add to the garlic and chili peppers. Lightly pound on the lime wedges to release some of the juice.
Add the lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind water. Use pestle to mix sauce together.
Add the long beans and lightly pound to slightly bruise them. Add the papaya and carrots and barely pound to slightly bruise the papaya. Use a wooden spoon to toss salad together, making sure that the sauce on the bottom becomes well incorporated with the vegetables.
Add the tomatoes and peanuts and toss once again. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with some extra peanuts.

Notes

* To make tamarind water, combine 4 tsp of tamarind with ¾ cup boiling hot water. Let the mixture sit for about 30 minutes, breaking up the tamarind as it softens. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and press on the tamarind solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Extra tamarind water can be saved for up to a week in the refrigerator. Stir well before each use.

Adapted from Andy Ricker's Pok Pok

June 12, 2014

Watermelon Strawberry Sparklers

After I graduated from college, I went to live in Taiwan for one year and worked with a local church while also teaching English classes. Taiwan is a beautiful country, full of majestic mountains and scenic coastlines. One of the things that I miss most about living there is the abundance of fresh juice stands everywhere. I loved riding my scooter around on hot days and then stopping by one of those stands for a cold freshly squeezed juice. One of my favorites was watermelon juice- so refreshing!

These watermelon strawberry sparklers remind me of those juice stands. If you use really ripe strawberries and sweet watermelon, no added sweetener is necessary. Sometimes I add a bit of honey if the strawberries aren’t quite at their peak. Now that strawberry season is here, these watermelon strawberry sparklers are the perfect way to use up all of those extra strawberries!

Watermelon Strawberry Sparklers

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1Ib watermelon cubes, about 3 cups
8-10 ounces hulled strawberries, about 2 cups
1-2 tablespoons honey, optional
¾ cup ice cubes
¼-1/2 cup sparkling water

Instructions

Use a blender to puree the watermelon cubes and strawberries on high speed. Taste and if necessary, add the honey. Add the ice cubes and blend again on high speed until juice is frosty smooth. Divide the watermelon strawberry juice among two glasses and top off with sparkling water.

Notes

adapted from Whole Foods