Heart-Healthy Spelt Bread ♥

love, love, love this spelt bread recipe! The author suggests using some white spelt for a lighter, fluffier bread, but I used all whole spelt and it is still pretty light. Yumminess. I smathered a slice with smart balance and drizzled it with honey. More yumminess.

(See, half the loaf has disappeared already!)

Spelt Bread
by Rebecca Wood (posted at http://www.thenewhomemaker.com)
Yield: Two 8 ½" x 4 ½" loaves
For a lighter flavor and texture, use up to 50% white spelt flour. Some people who are sensitive to common wheat are able to enjoy spelt bread.
Note: it is important that you don't over-knead spelt dough.
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (105° to 110° F)
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons sea salt
6 cups spelt flour (use any combination of whole or white spelt)
Combine the yeast, water and honey in a large warm bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes or until the yeast softens. Stir in the butter and salt and 3 cups of the flour. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour in increments until the dough becomes too stiff to stir, then place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 6 minutes, adding any remaining flour as necessary, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Do not overknead.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
Grease two 8 ½" x 4 ½" loaf pans. Punch the dough down to deflate it and divide it in half. Form each half into a smooth loaf and place in a prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top of the pans.
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Uncover the risen loaves. Place the pans on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until the tops are light brown and crusty. Remove from the oven and tap out of the pan into the baking sheet. Turn the oven off and return the breads to the oven to crisp for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Note- I don't know if it was the higher altitude or that I put the loaf pans on a pizza stone... or what, but these only required about 35 minutes to bake, then I popped them out of the pan and back onto the stone for just another 2 minutes.

White Bean Soup

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/4 tsp red pepper sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1 can (11 oz) white shoepeg corn or whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15-16 oz) great northern beans, drained

1 can (15-16 0z) butter beans, drained

In 4 quart dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic in oil 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes.

Homestyle, Vegan-style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, this is a vegan recipe... but don't let that deter you! These cookies are so good. So good that I actually prefer them to the traditional chocolate chip cookie. And, you can eat the cookie dough :)

These are so, so easy to make. The recipe and variations come from popular vegan author Dreena Burton.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note below for wheat-free version)
1 tsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
1⁄4 cup unrefined sugar
1⁄4 tsp sea salt
1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup
1⁄4 tsp blackstrap molasses
1 - 1 1⁄2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup organic canola oil (a little generous 1/4 cup)
1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not overmix). Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes 8-10 large cookies.

Note: Unbleached all-purpose flour produces a cookie with a very classic taste and texture, but you can use whole-wheat pastry flour and still have delicious cookies! For a wheat-free version, use barley or spelt flour. With spelt flour, you may need to add an extra 2-4 TB of flour, if it is a refined spelt flour. Also, if using all-purpose flour, if the batter is heavy and dense when mixing in the wet ingredients, add another 1-2 tsp each of maple syrup and canola oil and work through.

Brubaker Wassail

3 1/4 c water
2 c apple juice
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves

Simmer above ingredients for at least an hour.

Stir in 1/3 c sugar & 6 oz. lemonade concentrate. Serve.

Pulgogi

1 lb. beef, thinly sliced
4 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. sesame seed oil
6 Tbs. soy sauce
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbs. sesame seeds
1 green onion, chopped

1-Marinate beef in remaining ingredients for 2-12 hours.
2-Cook in a wok or fry pan over medium heat until done.
3-Serve with short-grain rice or romaine lettuce leaves (authentic).

Variations:
Vegetarian--substitute one package (16 oz?) extra firm tofu, drained and diced, for beef.
Crockpot--(best version for super tender meat!)-throw all the ingredients into the crock pot and mix well. Cook 4 hrs. on low or 8 hrs. on high. Break up meat and stir in green onion before serving.
Sucrose-free--substitute equal parts honey for the sugar .

Cabbage Salad

Marinade:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 packet ramen seasoning (chili-lime is our favorite)


Cabbage Salad:
approx. 1/2 c sliced almonds
Noodles from the opened Ramen package
approx. 1 T sesame seeds
----> toast these ingredients in a fry pan

Mix in with:
1 head of cabbage, shredded
a few stalks of green onions, chopped

Stir in marinade and toss, toss, toss!

*Note- for very large heads of cabbage, I often use two ramen packets and double the remaining ingredients for the marinade and salad.

Squash Lasagna

After devouring this dish tonight, I had to recommend it to you guys! I saw it made on Studio 5 the other day. They used pumpkin, but the field pumpkin we had was too tough to cut... so we used butternut squash instead, and it was a delicious subsitute. I think any squash would do.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups peeled and diced pumpkin
• 5 tomatoes
• 1 eggplant or zucchini** (we used eggplant)
  
• 16 oz. part skim ricotta cheese
• 9 ounces feta cheese
• 5 oz. pesto sauce
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• Lasagna noodles
• 1 1/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice a field pumpkin into quarters and place on a baking sheet, then roast in oven until browned and tender, about 30 minutes. Slice tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini or other vegetables of choice into thick slices and place on baking sheet and cook for the last 15 minutes of pumpkin time -- until tender and tomatoes are wrinkly.

In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, feta, pesto, eggs, salt and pepper until well mixed. Cut cooked pumpkin away from the skin and cube, and then fold roasted pumpkin into ricotta mixture.

Pour half the tomato sauce into a 9x13 baking dish. Lay lasagna noodles over the sauce. Arrange a single layer of veggie (zucchini/eggplant) slices over pasta and top with half the ricotta mixture. Cover with lasagna noodles. Arrange the roasted tomatoes evenly over the noodles and spoon the remaining half the ricotta mixture over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella. Top with lasagna noodles. Pour remaining tomato sauce over all and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

**You can easily make this a savory Pumpkin Beef lasagna by swapping the eggplant layer for a layer of ground beef tossed in tomato sauce.

~10 servings, 326 calories per serving (about half the calories of other lasagna recipes!)