Category Archives: recipes

The Best and Easiest Chocolate Cake

aliyah, parenting, recipes

We made this recipe the last few weeks, and we had requests for this specific recipe from two of the three families who had it when they were at our home during that time.  What’s really nice about this recipe is that it’s really, really easy.  And that means that your child can make it by himself, and have the fun of serving it and impressing your family and friends!

Ds12 made this the first week, and then I had ds9 prepare this, who has very little kitchen experience.  When kids first begin learning to cook, you have to remember not to give them just the preparatory work (eg peeling, measuring), but to let them put together enough of it that they have pride in the final product.  It’s the gratification and pride that makes them want to be involved in cooking in the future.  In this case, they can put together the entire thing themselves with very little help.

So here’s the recipe!

The Best and Easiest Chocolate Cake

  • 1 3/4 c. flour
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 3/4 c. cocoa
  • 1 1/2 t. baking powder
  • 1 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 c. milk (you can substitute water, coconut milk, or any non-dairy milk)
  • ** 1 T. vinegar (if you’re using Dutch cocoa – see explanation below)
  • 1/2 c. oil
  • 1 1/2 t. vanilla
  • 1 c. boiling water

Mix all the dry ingredients.  Then add in the eggs, milk, and remaining liquid ingredients in the order listed.  Pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes.

***Here’s some interesting information about cocoa that I learned about from the woman who used to be the Girl Scout troop leader years ago for dd17.  This is especially relevant for those who are using US recipes but aren’t living in the US.  In the US, the standard cocoa used is natural and therefore acidic -Hershey’s cocoa is typical of the standard cocoa in the US.  In other parts of the world, Dutch cocoa is the standard, and this means it is alkalinized.  What this means is that though people in different countries are calling cocoa by the same name, the natural and Dutch cocoa actually work somewhat differently.  Since I’m now using Dutch cocoa for baking but this was a US recipe, adding 1 T. vinegar compensates for the missing acidity.

Avivah

 

Fennel Apple Salad

recipes

I adapted this recipe from Lea’s sesame chia apple salad.  This is a lovely salad packed with nutrients that looks great on the table, and tastes great, too!

Fennel Apple Salad

  • 6  medium carrots, shredded
  • 3 medium apples, shredded (I used Granny Smiths but red apples would add a nice color contrast)
  • 1 head fennel, diced
  • 3 cucumbers, diced (I use the seedless cukes, and leave them unpeeled)
  • 1 small red onion, minced – optional  (this adds some nice color if you use green apples, but my kids prefer it without)
  • 1 T. chia seeds
  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 – 3 T. lemon or orange juice (I squeezed some from the fruits we picked at our neighbor’s)

Mix all of the vegetables in a bowl, and stir in the chia seeds.  Mix together the oil and citrus juice for a light dressing, then pour on top of the vegetables.

Enjoy!

Avivah

(This post is part of My Meatless Mondays, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Tea Party Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Gluten Free Wednesday.)

Amazing Chicken Pot Pie

recipes

This pot pie has been a huge hit at our house – it’s delicious, frugal, and when everyone sits down at the table, there are always audible expressions of appreciation!

Whenever I make this, I feel like a really amazing mom since it takes more time than I usually want to spend on one meal.  I compensate by doubling the recipe, and putting a second pot pie in the freezer for another day.  If you use ready made crusts, you can cut down on some of the prep, but I make my own so it’s one extra step.  But the results are worth it!

Amazing Chicken Pot Pie

  • 1 c. diced potatoes
  • 1 c. diced onions
  • 1 c. diced celery or fennel
  • 1 c. diced carrots
  • 1/3 c. coconut oil
  • 1/2 c. flour
  • 2 c. broth
  • 1 c. coconut milk
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. pepper
  • 4 c. cooked chicken, chopped
  • 2 pie crusts for topping (recipe below)

Saute vegetables in the coconut oil until tender.  Stir in the flour, and cook for a  minute or so.  Then add in the coconut milk and broth, cooking over a medium heat until the sauce is bubbly.

When the sauce is bubbly, add in the salt and pepper, then the cooked chicken. Pour it into two deep dish pie pans or a casserole dish, and top it with a crust.  Cut a couple of slits in the crust to let the steam escape, and bake it at 400 degrees for 40 – 50  minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Pie crust:
  • 3 c. flour
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 c. coconut oil or palm shortening
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 T. vinegar
  • 5 T. water

Mix the flour and salt, then cut in the coconut oil/shortening.  In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolk, vinegar, and water.  Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix well with fork until mixed well.  Use your hands to work it into  a ball.  Divide the dough in half to form two equal sized balls.

Now to roll it out, get two pieces of parchment paper or waxed paper. This makes rolling it out a breeze!  (I just taught dd11 to make a pie crust this past week using this method, and her very first crust was beautiful, thanks to this tip.)  Place one ball of dough between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll it out with a rolling pin so that it’s a little bigger than the pan you’ll be using.  When it’s the size you want it, remove the top piece of waxed paper and then gently flip over the dough onto your pan. Remove waxed paper and gently shape the dough into the pie pan. Trim excess dough off.  Repeat with second half of dough. Bake according to recipe.

This pot pie recipe is very flexible – you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand, as long as you keep the proportions about the same.  I had a couple of ears of corn in the fridge, so I cut off all the kernels and added them.  You can add in frozen peas, diced butternut squash, yams, parsnips, turnips, or anything else that is similar in texture and flavor.

I made several times this recipe, which was just enough for two meals for our family.  (You can see how all that chopping and dicing can take a while, right?)

*To keep the costs down, I like to increase the veggies and to decrease the chicken, and since the sauce is so flavorful, it still tastes delicious.  This is a perfect way to use leftover chicken, even soup chicken – and of course, it will be perfect for leftover Thanksgiving turkey!

Avivah

(This post is part of Monday Mania, Make Your Own Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, Mouthwatering Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, Mingle Monday, Frugal Foods Thursday, Frugal Tuesday Tip, and Real Food 101.)

Viking Stew

frugal strategies, recipes

This recipe is so easy, and so inexpensive!  It’s hearty and filling, perfect for cold autumn and winter days.

Viking Stew

  • 1 large head of green cabbage, chunked
  • a few sweet potatoes or winter squash, peeled and chunked
  • 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 – 2 lb meat chunks (chicken or turkey chunks are also good)
  • 2 – 3 fresh sprigs rosemary
  •  salt to taste
Mix all of the above ingredients in a roasting pan, and cover.  Bake for two hours at 350 degrees.  Then eat and enjoy!I currently am paying 2 shekel a kilo (about .35 lb) for cabbages and onions.  This makes it the cheapest vegetable currently being sold here.  We bought three cases of butternut squash last week for 15 shekel, and I have yams that we were given.  For the meat chunks, I used diced giblets (also called gizzards, but I dislike how that sounds), which I bought for 5 shekels a kilo (about .75 lb).  And since rosemary grows all over Karmiel, I send one of the kids to go out and pick some fresh when I need it.   (As I mentioned in yesterday’s menu planning post, I make a menu based on what I have on hand – this is a big part of why my food budget stays so low.)

Avivah

This post is part of Melt in your Mouth Monday, Tuesdays at the Table, Fat Tuesdays, Real Food Wednesday and Frugal Food Thursday.)

Tiki’s gluten free tortillas

recipes

If you’ve noticed that this year I haven’t been posting as many recipes as I did in the past, the reason is two-fold: I’ve been so busy I haven’t had much time to post recipes, and secondly, dd16 is a great cook and recipe creator, so I haven’t had her creations to share with you.  (Though dd14 has come up with a bunch of winners that I keep wishing I had time to post – she prefers the food-type recipes, and dd16 prefers baked goods and desserts.)  With dd16 back for a short while, thanks to her additional help I have more time available, and she’s busy making up fun things in the kitchen.

Here was tonight’s creation:

Tiki’s Gluten free Tortillas

  • 1/2 c. millet flour
  • 1/2 c. cornmeal
  • 1 c. potato starch
  • 2 t. xanthan gum
  • 1  1/2 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. salt
  • 3/4 c. oat milk (or milk, coconut milk, water, etc.)
  • 4 t. coconut oil

Combine dry ingredients. Heat oat milk till warm, but not bubbling. Add the warm milk and coconut oil to the dry ingredients and knead till smooth. Split dough into 8 balls and roll each one out (you may want to flour your surface with a little millet flour). Cook  tortillas in an ungreased frying pan over medium heat for 30 seconds on one side, then turn over and fry for another 30 second on the other side.

Yield: 8 tortillas

These were really tasty, not at all like what you’d expect of gluten-free tortillas!  The only problem was that she only made 22, and some of the kids would have liked more.  😛

Avivah

Mac and Squash Cheese

Pesach, recipes

This is a recipe that is great for those on a gluten/grain free diet, which makes it perfect for Pesach!  It’s a totally different way of thinking about a familiar food – I adapted my favorite mac and cheese recipe to create this.

Mac and Squash Cheese

  • 1 c. chopped onion
  • 1 t. minced garlic
  • 2 – 4 T. butter
  • optional – 2 T. potato starch
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 1/2 c . shredded cheese
  • 1 c. butternut squash, baked and pureed
  • salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Saute the chopped onions and minced garlic until golden.  Stir in the milk.  At this point you can add in the potato starch to thicken the sauce a little.  (If you add in this step, mix the potato startch with a small amount of water first and then it won’t chunk up when you add it to the hot milk mixture).  Stir until the desired thickness – it will be quick, not more than a minute.  Add in cheese, and when it’s melted, mix in the squash.  Stir until smooth.  

Serve hot over steamed cauliflower or mashed potatoes. 

Avivah

Butternut Squash Casserole

Pesach, recipes,

Pesach is around the corner and I’ve hardly mentioned anything about preparations, menu plans, or recipes!    Tonight I was writing out my list of dishes to make for Passover, and remembered this recipe.  Butternut squash is a fantastic food – packed with nutrients, delicious, and very, very versatile.  Here’s a recipe that can be used as a side dish for a main meal or as a pudding for dessert. 

Butternut Squash Casserole

  • 2 c. butternut squash, cooked (I like to bake mine at 350 degrees until soft, then mash it)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 – 1/2 c. honey (I prefer the smaller amount of sweetener)
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 1/3 c. butter
  • 2 T. grated coconut
  • 1/2 t. powdered ginger

Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.  Pour into buttered pan and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  Serve warm as a side dish or chilled as a pudding. 

Enjoy!

(This is part of the Real Food Digest Passover roundup– be sure to check there for more great Pesach ideas!) 

Avivah

Falafel with tahini sauce

frugal strategies, recipes

We recently enjoyed falafel for dinner, served with tahini sauce, fresh salad, and plain yogurt. This was (like most of our meals :P) very frugal, and once the garbanzo beans are soaked and cooked, fairly quick to put together. I did an approximate price breakdown so you can see how affordable this is, as well as some of the strategies I use to keep food costs down.  These costs are for a meal for 9 people.

Falafel

  • 1.5 lb dried chickpeas/garbanzo beans (soaked, sprouted, and cooked – you can leave out sprouting if you’re short on time)
  • 4 cloves of garlic or 1 – 2 t. garlic powder
  • 2 T. dried parsley or 1/4 c. fresh parsley
  • 2 t. sea salt (I used Real Salt)
  • 2 t. cumin
  • 3 t. baking powder
  • 3 T. warm water

Blend the chickpeas with water (I use some of the water they cooked in, keeping everything in the pot and blending with an immersion/stick blender).  Mix the spices and baking powder in a separate bowl so they blend evenly, then mix well into the chickpea mixture.  Form into flat patties so that you can cook it without deep frying it.  Fry in buttered pan on each side until browned, or spread into a well-greased pan and bake as patties or a loaf at 350 degrees until it looks done.

Cost: I bought the chickpeas on sale for .59 lb, figure another .20 for the spices.  Total cost of falafel loaf- 1.09.

Tahini Sauce:

  • 1 c. tahini (sesame butter)
  • 1/2 c. lemon juice
  • 1/2 c. cold water
  • 3 cloves garlic or 1 t. garlic powder
  • 1 t. sea salt

Blend all of the above ingredients until smooth.  Serve as a sauce for the falafel loaf.  I bought the tahini on sale for 2.99 for 16 oz, and this was about half the container, so 1.50 for the tahini, about .50 for the lemon juice .  Total cost of tahini sauce: $2.

For the salad, I chopped up lots of pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and homemade lacto- fermented pickles, and made a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  I used reduced produce for this (.29 lb for cukes and pickles, .49 lb for tomatoes), and I bought the olive oil on sale (naturally!), 3.99 for 1 quart/18 oz.  So a large amount of salad (guesstimating about 12 cups) including dressing was about $3.50.

I didn’t make the yogurt with raw milk, something I often like to do and which is very affordable.  I used store bought plain yogurt on sale for .99 a quart.

Total cost for an ample and filling falafel dinner for a family of 9 – $7.59.

(This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday.)

Avivah

Cabbage Wedges with Cheese Sauce (grain-free)

recipes

Earlier in the week I mentioned the menu for my mother’s birthday party, and promised to share the recipe I created for cabbage wedges with grain-free cheese sauce (got concept from here).  The sauce recipe there reminded me of a very processed white sauce, but I make a simple and very delicious white sauce from scratch, and it occured to me that a) I could use nut flour to make it grain-free, and b) I could consider the cabbage in place of noodles (eg macaroni and cheese concept)! 

I had heard of using carrots and summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash) as grain-free pasta substitutes (use a peeler and peel length-wise down the vegetable so you create long strips), but I think you can use just about steamed vegetable if it appeals to you!   (When I say pasta substitute, I don’t mean in terms of flavor in as far as being a base to put tasty sauces on.)

Okay, I know that might sound weird, but the kids really liked this new cheese sauce, which eliminates the whole wheat flour I usually use as a base.  Even ds20 months was sitting in his high chair munching on cabbage, and since I served the cheese sauce separately (because my mother is minimizing fats right now), the serving bowl of sauce got a good workout being repeatedly requested back and forth across the table!

Cabbage Wedges with Cheese Sauce

  • 1 head cabbage, cut into eighths
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1/2 c. coconut oil, melted
  • 1/2 c. nut flour (whatever kind you have)
  • 4 c. milk (I used raw cow’s milk but coconut milk would work, too)
  • 16 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 t. sea salt (add more salt if using coconut milk to balance the flavor)
  • sprinkle of pepper

Steam the cabbage wedges until tender.  While the cabbage is steaming, prepare the sauce.  Melt the coconut oil, then saute the onion in the oil.  When onion is translucent, mix in the nut flour. Then stir in milk and spices (I wasn’t sure if the nut flour would thicken as regular whole wheat flour did, so I used less milk than what I listed above, but wrote in what I would do in the future so the consistency would be better – it got very thick).  Continually stir the mixture as it thickens so it doesn’t burn.  When the consistency is what you’d like it to be, stir in the shredded cheese.

You can put the cabbage in the oven and heat it with the cheese sauce on top for about 20 minutes, or just serve without any further ado!  Serve cheese sauce warm over any kind of pasta or steamed vegetables. 

This would be suitable for anyone who wants to eliminate grains or glutens, or lower carbs. 

(This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)

Avivah

Cranberry Muffins (gluten free)

recipes

I bought some fresh cranberries intending to use them for Thanksgiving, but then my mom ended up making cranberry relish so I didn’t need to!  So they’ve been sitting around in the fridge waiting to be used, amazingly enough still perfectly fresh, and I thought this was a good chance to try out this new recipe with them – I made a lot of adaptations but the original was from here, the Mutritiousnuffins blog. 

Cranberry Muffins

  • 1 c. almond meal
  • 1.5 c. finely shredded coconut
  • 2 c. ground walnuts
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 3/4 c. honey
  • 1 c. butter, melted
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 c. plain yogurt
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 2 c. fresh cranberries, chopped

Mix the almond meal, ground walnuts, coconut, and spices.  In a separate bowl, mix the honey, melted butter, beating in the eggs; add in the yogurt and water.  Mix the dry and wet mixtures, and when combined, stir in the chopped cranberries.  Scoop into muffin tins (this recipe makes 18 muffins), and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  (I’m estimating on the time because I didn’t look at the clock; I didn’t bake the first batch for long enough and they were difficult to remove from the pan, and the second batch overbaked since I was putting the littles to bed.) 

Do not remove the muffins until they’re cooled, otherwise they crumble (but are still delicious).  These are nutrient dense and high in calories, making them super filling so you don’t need more than two or three for an easy and filling breakfast – perfect for days you’re on the go!

(This post is part of Simply Indulgent Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays.)

Avivah