Coconut Banana Bread

I was looking for a way to blend the flavors of banana and coconut.  I wanted  a recipe that was healthy, moist, and would hit the spot replacing the morning muffin with coffee routine that is high in sugar and fat.  I tried several different recipes and settled on this one. It is moist, crunchy, and delicious.



1 & 3/4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 &  1/2 tsps baking soda

4 medium bananas
3/4 cup pineapple with juice
2 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple sauce
Stevia ( not sure of exact measurement I just put in a few shakes of dried stevia)
1 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts depending on preference



Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl.  Put wet ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Do not liquefy.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix. Add walnuts

last.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and cook about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of bread comes out clean.

Super Salad

I copied this recipe from a website because I am always looking for good and easy salad ideas.  Leafy greens with whole grains have become a staple that I pack for lunch most days of the week.  Most of the time I don't even add salad dressing because the salad is tasty enough without it.

RECIPIES - Charlie Ayers  Super Salad

Super Salad:
3 oz chopped Dino kale
.5 oz dried cranberries
1 oz crumbled Greek feta
1.5 oz Calafia Herbed Quinoa Pilaf
1 oz toasted walnuts
Method:
Toss Calafia Herbed Quinoa Pilaf & Dino kale together with a 2 oz portion cup lemon vinaigrette.
Top with remaining ingredients

Lemon Vinaigrette:
.25 cup fresh lemon juice
.75 cup olive oil
Whisk together.

Calafia Herbed Quinoa Pilaf:
2 cups gold quinoa
2 cups red quinoa
4.5 cups water
.75 tsp salt
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
.75 cup garlic, finely chopped
1.5 cups fresh thyme, chopped
1.5 cups sautéed minced red onion
Method:
Place quinoa in large strainer. Rinse under running cold water until water runs clear. Transfer quinoa to a deep pot. Add the cold water and bring to a boil, lower to a simmer. Cook about 30-35 min.
Transfer quinoa to large bowl, fluff with fork.
Stir in oil and lemon juice.
Cool to room temperature.
Add garlic and red onion. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the thyme.

Zucchini Artichoke Soup

A couple lbs zucchini (4 medium) chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 large or 2 medium leeks washed and chopped into 1 inch pieces (I use just the white part of the leeks) 
Olive oil for sautéing veggies
2 tsps- 1 tbsp fresh or dried marjoram (depends how much you enjoy the flavor) 
1 15 oz can of water packed or 16 oz frozen artichoke
32 oz vegetable or chicken broth (I use water cause I can't tolerate the salt but it's much better tasting with broth)
 1-2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste 
1 medium potato chopped into 1 inch pieces (optional. It thickens soup but so does artichoke. This is really personal preference, I have made it both ways)

 Heat olive oil in a pot on medium heat. Add chopped leeks and sauté until they start to become soft. About 4 minutes. Add chopped zucchini and potato and sauté for 5 more minutes. You don't want leeks to burn so if they start turning brown time to move to next step. 

Add broth or water, bay leaves, and marjoram. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium. The soup is done when zucchini and potato are soft but not soggy.
** It only takes about 20 minutes to cook so Add frozen artichokes after 15 minutes of cooking. 
** (If you are using frozen artichokes they need to be added to soup about 6 minutes before done. 
**If you are using canned artichokes, they will be added after soup is done.) 

Salt and pepper can be added while cooking or after pureeing soup. Remove bay leaves from soup. Remove soup from heat and pour contents into a blender adding canned artichokes. Purée until slightly lumpy. Season to taste. Be careful when blending hot soup. I usually blend it in two batches so it doesn't spill over the top of blend and burn me. Pour into bowls and enjoy!

Raw Cheesecake Yummy

I found this recipe with rave reviews on a blog site so naturally I will be making it today.  I love cheesecake and am keeping my fingers crossed that it is as good as the reviews make it out to be.  

I will keep you posted so to speak.

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Raspberry Cheesecake

Makes: 24 slivers 

For the Crust:

2 cups raw macadamia nuts

1/2 cup dates, pitted (medjools)

1/4 cup dried coconut

For the cheese:

3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour

3/4 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup coconut oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)

For raspberry sauce:

1 bag frozen raspberries

1/2 cup dates

DIRECTIONS

To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.

To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, honey, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste.

Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table.

Place in the freezer until firm. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen and place on a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator.

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Quinoa Salad Every Which Way

I just made a quinoa salad inspired by recipe I am posting below.  I make them weekly and chomp on them for lunch or dinner a few times a week. They are easy to make and you can use whatever is in the fridge/cupboards because quinoa is versatile and mixes well with fruits, nuts, and veggies.  I make my own dressings too and will provide a link below to a website that has several different salad dressing recipes that follow the Dr. Fuhrman lifestyle.

This recipe was taken off the Dinnerwithjulie.com website.

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Apples

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Apples

1 cup quinoa, rinsed in a fine sieve

1/4 cup golden or sultana raisins

1 19 oz. (540 mL) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

a big handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 cup crumbled feta (or as much as you want)

1 tart-ish apple, chopped

1/2 cup toasted walnuts or almonds

Dressing:

1/4 cup canola or olive oil

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar or lemon juice

1 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. curry paste or powder

Cook 1 cup quinoa according to package directions (or there are directions here); dump into a wide salad bowl and set aside to cool. (Tip: add the raisins as it cools – the raisins will plump up as they absorb any excess moisture.) Add the chickpeas, parsley, feta and apple and drizzle with dressing. (To make the dressing: shake all the ingredients up in a jar.) Toss, then sprinkle with toasted walnuts or almonds right before serving.

Serves 4.

Here is my version of Quinoa Salad:

I added baby kale, avocado, mango, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, soy beans,  feta cheese, heart of palm, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumber.  I used a vinaigrette dressing that I got off the Healthy Girl Kitchen Blogspot (Link below).

http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/big-list-of-no-oil-salad-dressings.html

On Peanuts and Therapists

I haven't done much hands on patient care recently and forgot what it was like to be thrust into the action early in the morning, before tea, and half asleep.  It used to be before the second cup of coffee but since I gave up caffeine, there is no first let alone second cup to be had.

I volunteered to help with intakes since we are perpetually short handed.  When you work in substance abuse services, doing intakes can mean a lot of things can go wrong really fast depending on how many drugs were available the night (or even a few minutes) before a client comes in for treatment.  My intake was a youngish dude who was just released from the hospital, which means he probably wasn't high, and had been hospitalized to treat some medical condition related to his drug use.

I really wasn't that interested in why he went to the hospital.  I was more concerned with remembering everything I needed to get done during the admission.  Unfortunately, dude broke my concentration by asking me if I had a pillow in my office he could sit on.  He was in one of our plastic hospital issue chairs sitting in the hallway with a pained look on his face.   I noticed dude was squirming around in his seat and his hands were hovering over his balls.  His pants were tented out in the crotch, and I randomly thought and discarded the idea that he had a hard on.  He looked really uncomfortable, he wasn't high, and he wasn't trying to hide the bulge.  My assessment skills are so good I figured that out before consciously thinking how gross that sounded. Apparently I have mad assessment skills honed from years of doing my best therapeutic work in my sleep.

FYI hospitals use plastic chairs cause they're easy to clean, and bed bugs can't hide in them.  The chair in my office has a cushion, very conducive to bed bugs, and guys who are having some sort of ball pain as yet to be determined...Dude sat down gingerly in the chair and proceeded to ask me if I had read his medical records yet.  Now let me just say how nervous I suddenly got cause when someone wants you to read about their medical condition, especially substance users, no good will come of it.  Especially not at 7am.

 I decided to leave my office door open cause some instinct was warning me that dude really wanted me to check out the situation in his pants.  Sure enough, he starts describing the state of his penis.  He tells me he has a wound on it that really hurts and that he left his pain medicine at home.  he also tells me there is no dressing on said appendage and that the wound is just hanging out... Mad assessment skills in full force I turn toward my computer as he is reaching for the fly of his pants and tell him we need to get on with the interview.  Time for penis assessment later please.

Those of you in the know bear with me while I explain to everyone else just how desperate IV drug users can get looking for a good vein to shoot up in. Especially after they have blown most of them in their arms and legs.  Yep they get that desperate.

Another funny thing about addicts is that they seem to want to show people how they are wrecking their bodies one fix at a time.  I can't remember how often people have come into my office and yanked their shirts up or their pants down to expose the tragic wounds they have received from their personal war on drugs.  Addiction destroys a person one pound of flesh at a time.


 The morning went swiftly down hill as he proceeded to describe his penis shooting up ritual in great detail.  Having been trained in the latest therapeutic techniques, I thought and discarded most of them.  Dude didn't really need me using motivational interviewing open ended questions like "can you describe the rush you get from..."  Or  paraphrasing like " I heard you say that after your penis gets hard..." No I was leaning more along the lines of "do not touch anything in my office, I know where your hands have been."

So instead I used my dazzling therapeutic training to say, "so you been shooting up in your penis?"


To which he replied, "yep, I don't know what I was thinking."

"I do. You were thinking you needed to find a good vein."

"yeah," he agreed

In retrospect, the most therapeutic part of my morning was that dude managed to keep his pants on in my office and I managed to keep my wayward thoughts to myself.

Beet Loaf

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 raw golden beet
1 small rutabaga

   1 medium carrot

   1 head garlic (6-8 cloves will be used in recipe)

   1 onion, minced

   1/2 cup bread crumbs

   2 tbl fresh basil, minced

   2 tbl fresh parsley, minced

   2 eggs, beaten

   1 tsp garlic salt

   2 tbl tomato paste or adobo sauce (makes it a little spicier)

   1 tbl ketchup

   1 tbl whole grain mustard

   1 tbl olive oil

   salt + pepper, to taste  

Cook the quinoa like steamed rice (2:1 ration, water to grain). Bring water to a boil, stir in quinoa (rinsed) and cover. Simmer 15 - 20 min, until cooked through. If all water has evaporated, but the grain still isn't cooked through, just add a bit more water and continue to cook until done. Cool completely.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place beets, carrot, rutabaga on an  oven baking pan that has been lightly coated with Pam or olive oil.  You can also lightly spray veggies before putting them in the oven. roast veggies until soft but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Allow them to cool.  Peel them when cooled.

For the garlic, peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb leaving the skins of individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4th to 1/2 inch of the top of the cloves.  Drizzle the top of the garlic with olive oil and wrap in tinfoil and place in the oven with other veggies.  Cook for about 30 minutes or until garlic is soft and fragrant.  I use 6-8 cloves in the beet loaf.  They are easy to remove from peel after they are cooked.

 Put cooled veggies in a blender or food processor and mix until they are consistency of meatloaf.  Do not liquefy vegetables.  You can throw in the parsley and basil if you don't want to chop them by hand.  

In a bowl, combine the quinoa, onion, bread crumbs, blended vegetables, and minced herbs. In a separate bowl beat eggs and combine them with the garlic salt, tomato paste (or adobo sauce), ketchup, whole grain mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper. Fold the egg mixture into to the quinoa mixture. It should be the consistency of meatloaf.  You don't want it too wet so you may need to add a bit more bread crumbs or quinoa.  Depending on the size of your veggies, you may end up with a larger or smaller amount of beetloaf.  I use a greased loaf pan and roast it at 400° for around 45 min (up to 1 hr).

Dessert in the Raw

Since I now have to cook everything I eat from scratch and have become a reluctant vegetarian  (one who eats cheese sometimes) I needed to figure out what to make besides veggie shakes that would taste good and appeal to my over processed palate.  I began combing the Internet for veggie websites that have organic recipes.  By accident I stumbled across this raw dessert website.  I mean I wasn't looking for dessert recipes but how could I resist... Heather Pace and her Sweetly Raw blog have now become my go to desserts when I need a sweet fix.


http://www.sweetlyraw.com/

I found most of the ingredients I needed to make the recipes at Whole Foods.   Otherwise I would have ordered them online.
The raw chocolate cheesecake has become one of my favorites.  It is rich and dense and chocolaty.  What more could a girl want?

 tohttp://www.sweetlyraw.com/2012/08/raw-chocolate-cheesecake-and-22-more.html