Baked: Sweet Grain-Free Acorn Squash Muffins

It is essential for me that when someone tries something I make, they simply say, "This is good." I don't want them to say, "This is good...considering it's [grain-free] [healthy] [made with liver] [etc.]." So I'm excited to be experimenting with grain-free treats that are simply yummy ~ not conditionally yummy. ;-) It's also important to me not to use specialty ingredients. Real, old-fashioned ingredients that are no longer generally carried at a regular grocery, such as soup bones and liver from grass-fed animals ~ yes; fancy "gluten-free flour" ~ no.

I've been using this grain-free muffin recipe for years now. And I've honed custards (a mix of egg with liquid, such as cream or milk, soup, pureed veggie or fruit, etc.: looks like a post I need to create!) ~ both sweet and savory ~ to a perfection. So now I'm working with this concept: of eggs with different thickenings, essentially, to come up with all kinds of (mildly) sweet, grain-free baked deliciousness. My way of cooking, mind you, is largely "a little of this, a little of that;" I only use rough measurements. And I encourage you to try this method in your own kitchen as much as you dare. It takes practice and a bit of adventure. But if you start with quality ingredients, even if it's not contest-worthy, it'll most likely still taste good. ;-)

So here's a rough recipe I created this morning that turned out yummy. Especially successful because the toddler asked for seconds and thirds! I hope I have the time to share more of these recipes soon.

Sweet Grain-Free Acorn Squash Muffins

makes 9 small muffins

Preheat oven to 375.

3 eggs ~ from a local farm you know and trust

about 1/3 cup leftover baked acorn squash (butternut or pumpkin would work well, too)

1/4 cup flax seeds, ground in a seed/coffee grinder

1/4 tsp organic butter, melted

3-4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped fine (or chopped in a food processor)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Extra butter to grease the muffin cups.

Blend all ingredients. I use a hand-held mixer. Pour into well-greased muffin cups. Bake until firm and brown ~ no longer than 30 minutes; probably closer to 20.

These muffins are so moist and satisfying! My 3 year old daughter ate three at one sitting! That's a record-breaker. The flax helps them to stay together and have body, while not being too "flaxy" (read: "crunchy-granola 'healthy'"). And the dates add just enough sweet without creating a sugar high and subsequent crash! These muffins stand on their own, but you know I won't flinch if you melt some butter or cream cheese on top. And I bet a drizzle of raw local honey would be divine!

Involve your children in the process! Kids love to help if we'll let them. And helping ensures they'll like the end product more because they can take pride in it. It might take a few more minutes, and some food might end up on the counter or on the floor. However, an interest in cooking that starts early is a life-skill that is worth the investment. Anjali helped me make these by pouring in the dry ingredients after I measured them. She also quality-checked the dates. ;-)

Toddler Favorites: Lacto-fermented Apple Butter

End of the season for cellar apples. That means it's time to make more apple butter! I wasn't sure if it was going to happen, shopping at the co-op as opposed to farmers' markets, but it did: discounted apples. I bought two produce bags full of ripe pink lady apples. When I told Anjali what they were for, she wanted to make apple butter immediately! We quartered and cored them, then baked them till soft and dried out a little. I used that handy handheld mixer to blend them. We baked enough to fill a large mixing bowl (even after somebody kept sneaking several apples' worth of pieces throughout the day!). I'll use these guidelines again this year, and hopefully will be able to give you better measurements this time around. Sadly we're on our way back to Kentucky today for the funeral of my "papaw." :-( When we return, the pureed applesauce will be waiting in the fridge for us to ferment into apple butter!
Anjali loves this stuff. To get those good fats into her, and to balance out the sugar, I gently melt a few pats of butter to mix in with hers. She could eat a whole jar in one sitting.

A secret: recently, Anjali has stopped liking the taste of cod liver oil. She used to gulp it down (believe it or not), and I'd have to "cut her off!" I noticed her immune system seemed to be missing the daily dose of this sacred food; she came down with several bugs this cold season, whereas before she had had *maybe* one cold. So I have been giving her CLO in a teaspoon of apple butter ( we use the traditionally-crafted fermented CLO from these guys: http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Home/index.cfm ). I'm not *sneaking* it - she knows it's in there, she just doesn't mind because of the apple butter. If that's all it takes: bring on the apple butter!

Later edition: Well, after a tiny apple fairy nibbled on the apples over the course of a few days while I got around to draining yogurt for whey, I only ended up with enough apple sauce to make a quart and a half of apple butter! So I can't give you any new information on the recipe. But I did use the recipe sited above. I added cinnamon and a couple cloves to each jar. :-)

Fermented: April Veggie Kraut

My assistant is always up for kraut-making. Pounding, stirring, adding the salt, chopping (with very attentive Mommy-supervision!), and of course taste-testing for quality-control. She generally thinks my recipes are too sweet, so she helps me by thinning out the sweet bits before jarring; she's thoughtful that way. ;)

I'm enjoying the weekly culinary challenge that is presented with a CSA. Riverdog Farm sends us a generous bounty of produce every week. My personal goal: to have an empty vegetable drawer when we go pick up our box on Fridays. This means that we eat a lot of fresh veggies, and that we make a lot of ferments! On delivery day, I assess the produce as I sort it into the proper receptacles ~ the fruit bowl, the root drawer, and the crisper drawer in the fridge; I make rough guesses of what I can use for breakfast, what would go great in a soup, what could be eaten raw for salads and snacks, what deserves to be showcased on its own, and what would be yummy in kraut. On Thursday night or Friday morning, what's leftover in the crisper drawer goes to the kraut. For a long time, I only liked cabbage fermented, and disliked it any other way. Lately I've been enjoying it cooked (till soft). So less cabbage is getting dedicated to kraut. But I've also been loving fermented grated carrots, so I've hoarded away at least one every week. Farm-fresh carrots are SO delicious! Instead of winding up forgotten in the back of the drawer until they're limp ~ like grocery store carrots sold in bags tended to in my kitchen, farm-fresh carrots are as sweet as candy simply eaten out-of-hand. They make any meal they touch a flavor treat.

Here's last week's kraut ~ a Springtime rainbow.

One grated carrot

1/4 of a small purple cabbage, shredded

a few red chard stems, sliced

1/2 a pink lady apple left for a day on the cutting board (not from CSA, but still local!), sliced then chopped

1/2 a fennel bulb, chopped

fennel leaves, minced

sea salt

I used some of the pink brine leftover from a Winter kraut of carrots, celeriac, and watermelon radishes, to cover these veggies. In a few days, everything will be pink. I like pink kraut. :)

Fermented: First Veggie Kraut in Baja

Chopped and jarred in our outdoor camp kitchen in La Ribera, Baja California Sur, Mexico. From veggies procured at the Mercado Organico in Cabo San Lucas. Lovely, eh?

Illustrated

If this goes through: I did it! I emailed a photo to my blog, using my
phone. Crossing fingers before hitting Send...

Preserving Lemons

We ~ Anjali and I (!) ~ lacto-fermented the season's lemons following the recipe in Nourishing Traditions. It uses cinnamon sticks, sea salt, and whey, plus some added lemon juice. They should be ready to enjoy in a few weeks. I have a goal ~ with the inspiration and motivation of my fine housemate, Austin ~ of preserving as many different fruits and veggies as I can this year. It's fun, easy, and delicious. Why not give it a shot. I have been re-perusing Wild Fermentation to further fan my fermentation fire!