carrots Archives -

April 15, 2015

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}

Last week’s spring break at home with the kids unintentionally resulted in a lot more baking and a lot less cooking. Not quite sure how it ended up that way, but the days passed by quickly and I have no regrets of how we spent our time together. One of the things my daughter looked forward to most over the break was being able to host a tea party for her grandparents. According to her, it was to be a tea party featuring her scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs are her specialty; she loves to cook them for anyone who will eat them. She has such a sense of accomplishment after she’s cracked her own eggs, whisked in the milk, sprinkled in the salt and pepper, and scrambled it together on the stove. Although it may sound simple, to her it is not, and she is proud of being able to do everything on her own. She couldn’t have been more excited about being able to cook for her grandparents. It gives me great joy to see her taking initiative in bringing others together, to share good company and delicious food .

Along with Evelyn’s scrambled eggs, we served a bowl of fresh berries and arranged a tiered tray of cardamom vanilla breakfast cookies, mini-jars of soaked muesli with chia jam, and these carrot banana muffins. I don’t know what else to say about these muffins besides that they are incredible. They are sweetened almost entirely with dates, only a touch of honey, and made with a spelt and almond flour blend. They are wonderful for breakfast, as a snack, or even as a healthy dessert. The texture is fairly dense, but also very soft and moist. The honey cream cheese is a fun surprise in the middle and makes these taste like carrot cake without all of the added sugars. Carrot cake for breakfast? Oh yes, I can always be on board with that.

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}

Serves: makes 16 muffins

Ingredients

5 ounces cream cheese
3½ tablespoons honey, divided
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 large eggs
½ cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1½ cups mashed banana, (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped (about 9-10 dates)
2 medium carrots, grated
½ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and 1½ tablespoons honey until creamy and smooth. (Using a stand or hand mixer here is helpful.) Place in the refrigerator to chill while making the muffin batter.
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly butter a 12-cup muffin tin and 4 cups of an additional muffin tin.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and coconut.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, banana, vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons of honey. Stir in the dates. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
Place about 1 slightly heaped tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Transfer honey cream cheese to a piping bag. Cut the tip off and pipe a small amount of cream cheese in the middle of each muffin cup, dividing evenly among the 16 muffin cups. Divide the rest of the batter among the muffin cups, gently placing on top of the cream cheese.
Bake 27-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. These taste delicious both at room temperature or chilled. Store remaining leftover muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

adapted from Andrew Weil's True Food

March 17, 2015

Kale Salad Tortillas with Za’atar Yogurt

I made lunch for just myself yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the newfound freedom that went along with that. Cooking for only myself is something I rarely do these days so I found it refreshing not having to worry about pleasing anyone else’s palette besides my own. Don’t misunderstand, some of my greatest joys come from cooking for others and I love bringing people together to share a meal. It’s a privilege to be able to feed and nourish others. Lately though my kids have become frustratingly pickier eaters (Aren’t they supposed to become less picky as they grow older?!) and it’s interesting how my choices in food differ when it’s just me. These kale salad tortillas with za-atar yogurt… these are what my dreams are made of.

I mostly used the recipe for this kale salad, except this time I added thinly sliced fennel and substituted sunflower seeds and pepitas for the pine nuts. For the tortillas, I used sprouted multigrain, which I heated directly over an open flame on the stove. Carefully heating the tortillas this way achieves those beautiful charred edges without using a grill. I often find all-natural sprouted grain tortillas stiff and dry, but after a few minutes of heat, they become soft, pliable, and so much more toothsome.

Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend that has lots of variations, but is usually a mixture of dried thyme, sumac, roasted sesame seeds, and salt. You can buy it pre-made in the spice aisle or make your own. The za’atar yogurt layered at the bottom and drizzled on top gives these tortillas that extra kick in flavor and creaminess. It adds a slight tang and complements the bright lemony kale salad perfectly. I ate all three of these for lunch.

And as it turns out, Ryan ended up giving these leftovers a thumbs up and my little girl willingly gave the salad a try, so there may be opportunities for me to make this again for the family after all.

Kale Salad Tortillas with Za'atar Yogurt

Serves: 12 6-inch tortillas

Ingredients

Kale Salad

1 bunch kale
2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
1 cup grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
¾ cup thinly sliced fennel (about ½ fennel bulb)
3 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons toasted pepitas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon sea salt
dash of pepper
Za'atar Yogurt
1 cup plain whole milk or low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon za'atar
pinch of kosher salt
sprouted multigrain tortillas

Instructions

Kale Salad

Remove kale leaves from the tough stalks and thinly slice kale into shreds. Toss with the cabbage, carrots, fennel, and seeds.
Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together. Pour over salad, tossing together until salad is evenly coated. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Allow salad to marinate in dressing for 15 minutes or so while preparing tortillas and za'atar yogurt.
In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, za'atar, and salt. Set aside.
To prepare tortillas, turn a stove burner to medium high. Using tongs, carefully hold a tortilla over the open flame, about 2 minutes per side until tortilla becomes soft and pliable and edges begin to char. While tortilla is still warm, gently mold tortilla into a taco shape. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
To assemble, spread 1 tablespoon za'atar yogurt on the bottom of the tortilla. Top with kale salad and an additional drizzle of yogurt. Serve immediately.

October 9, 2014

Sweet Roasted Carrots

I do most of the cooking in our family, but occasionally Ryan steps in and decides to take over the kitchen. When he does this, he goes all out and researches his recipes in his very engineering sort of way. He likes to understand the science behind everything he makes so no surprise that one of his favorite cooking publications is Cook’s Illustrated. He once used the Cook’s Illustrated method to make these roasted carrots and they were the best roasted carrots I’d ever had. They were perfectly browned, tender, and intensely sweet.

Cook’s Illustrated recommends covering the carrots with foil during the first 15 minutes of roasting to “precook” the carrots. Skipping this step would allow the release of too much water thus resulting in tiny little shriveled carrots. I slightly reduced the amount of butter and added in some olive oil because I found that the carrots were a little too heavily soaked with butter in the original recipe. I used rainbow carrots just for fun, but I think they make all the difference, don’t you? Roasted carrots make a simple and beautiful addition to warm fall dinners.

Sweet Roasted Carrots

Ingredients

1½ pounds carrots, peeled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
½ tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
Cut carrots in half crosswise, and then cut lengthwise to make even sized pieces.
In a large bowl, combine carrots with butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Transfer carrots to prepared baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Cover baking sheet tightly with foil.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to roast for 30 minutes, until carrots are well-browned and tender. Use a metal spatula to flip the carrots once or twice during the roasting. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

Notes

slightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated