Muffins and Magical Jam

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

I think I’ve perfected my blueberry cornmeal muffins! I love the texture: juicy blueberries with the crunch of the cornmeal, plus they are wheat free for those who are sensitive or just want a break from wheat. (Note that it uses spelt flour which is wheat-free but not gluten-free).

I used the coconut sugar that my vegan food swap partner Sasha sent me in July and thought it turned out lovely. Knowing the health benefits of coconut sugar (it’s a whole unprocessed food product containing many vitamins and minerals plus it’s low glycemic index), I’ll certainly be using coconut sugar as often as possible over cane sugar. Plus it tastes delicious! It naturally has a caramel-like flavour; much tastier than agave, stevia or cane sugar. If you only have white sugar, you can swap it for coconut sugar one to one. If you don’t have coconut sugar or spelt flour on hand, I’ve made this recipe with white sugar and all purpose wheat flour and they also turn out great.

Blueberry Cornmeal Spelt Muffins
1 1/2 cup almond or soy milk
1 tsp vinegar (I used coconut vinegar)
2 tbsp ground flax
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups unbleached all-purpose spelt flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup coconut sugar or other dry sweetener
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Add the vinegar to the milk and stir. Add the flax and stir then let sit for five minutes to form a buttermilk that will help the muffins rise. Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the canola oil to the milk mixture and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients, and stir until just combined ( over-mixing leads to unhappy muffins).

Pour into muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes for large muffins or 25 minutes for mini muffins.

They were delicious just as they were, but for a sweet treat, I like to add jam….
We used to buy sugary grocery store jam, but have since switched to organic sugar-free jam. Even better, I’ve started making my own sugar-free jam with organic berries from my garden. It is sweetened only with a little bit of maple syrup. Instead of pectin, I use healthy chia seeds, which thicken the jam while adding some nutrition. No fancy canning equipment needed! I can’t take credit for the idea of using chia as the “magical” ingredient, I saw it on Oh She Glows (doesn’t she have the best ideas?!) Her recipe for Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam is found here.

Homemade muffins topped with homemade jam?! Heavenly!

I am submitting my muffin recipe to weekly blog parties Wellness Weekend, Healthy Vegan Fridays and Allergy Friendly Fridays.

Vegan dinner party and my favourite curry

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

One of my favourite dishes to prepare when guests come over is my Thai-inspired curry so that when they walk in the door, they’ll be greeted by the lovely smells of curried coconut, ginger and pineapple cooking. Mmmmmm…. The dish is easily made ahead of time and kept in the fridge, then tossed on the stove to simmer for about half an hour before guests arrive, making it easy for dinner parties when you want everything done ahead of time. You can even make it a day or more in advance and freeze, then defrost in the fridge over night.

The dinner party menu:
Cool Hummus Pizza Bites
Nacho Kale Chips
Spinach and Cranberry Salad
Baguette with Herbed Garlic Butter
Thai Pineapple Coconut Curry
Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Fresh raspberries

I chose it to be the main course when we had our friends Mary and Paul over for dinner. This dinner party happened some weeks ago but I delayed posting as I kept tweaking the recipe for the curry, but now I think it’s perfect.

Mary runs my favourite blog This Is Vegan and is a wonderful cook and baker. As a newbie vegan, I’ve deeply appreciated Mary’s advice on everything from restaurant reviews to blogging tips. I don’t know how successful my first year as a vegan would have been without her, and I certainly wouldn’t have had as much fun, so thanks, Mary! I’ve gotten to share some adventures with her like our girls’ weekend at the vegetarian bed and breakfast that turned out to be a secret beef farm, a fact that wasn’t revealed to us until we had checked out. (“Isn’t it wonderful these people are using their farm as a sanctuary for these cows?… Wait a minute, why are their ears tagged?”) . Back to the dinner party. Mary brought her cool hummus pizza bites and they were a fabulous appetizer. Baked crescent dough topped with hummus and garden vegetables! She posted her recipe for them here.

The recipe for my nacho kale chips are found here.

My Thai curry is adapted from the Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook by Robin Robertson. The curry is a bit time intensive as the flavours need an hour or so to simmer for best results. I like to cook a big pot of brown rice every few days and keep the cooked and cooled rice in the fridge for quick meals; it keeps for about three days. If you don’t have 2 cups of rice made, you can cook the rice while the curry simmers.

Thai Pineapple Coconut Curry
2 packages of extra firm tofu
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp each brown sugar, cardamon, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric and cumin
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked brown rice
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 onion
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups diced potatoes (we used red potatoes and purple yams)
1 cup pineapple chunks (fresh if you can find it, or canned)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (optional)
1 cup coconut milk
fresh cilantro or pea sprouts

Rinse the tofu, then remove excess liquid by wrapping in a clean kitchen towel and pressing gently. Chop into 1 inch cubes.

Combine the sugar (try it with coconut sugar if you can!), shallots, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and spices in a food processor. Add the oil as well as 1/2 cup water.

Warm 2 tbsp of the coconut oil in a pan and cook the onions on medium heat for about five minutes, until softened. Add the spice mixture, then the potatoes and stir. Cook for about three minutes, then add in the vegetable broth, cover and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

In a separate pan, warm the other 1 tbsp of coconut oil over medium-high, then add the tofu, stirring every minute or so, so that all sides of the tofu cubes are brown and a bit crispy (you can skip this step if you want softer tofu). Add the tofu, pineapple, chickpeas (if using) and coconut milk, stir, and let simmer for at least 10 minutes. Serve hot. Top with fresh cilantro or pea sprouts and serve.

The best dish of all that night was the chocolate molten lava cakes with raspberries from my garden. I can take no credit for cake recipe as they are the creation of the amazing Chloe Coscarelli. I haven’t found a recipe for the cakes online, so you’ll just have to go out and get the Chloe’s Kitchen cookbook, but I promise it’s well worth it. It’s one of my very favourite cookbooks.

What are your favourite dishes to serve at dinner parties?

July in the garden

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

I love summer. I look forward all year to my summer garden and I’m one of those people who love the heat

Here is a photo of the harvest I was collecting daily in my garden last July, currently my blog header. Is that a gorgeous sight or what? I was so proud of my homegrown food.

This year…. the vegetables are not so great. My spinach and rhubarb are done for the season after a meager harvest and the rest of the vegetables are doing poorly. The peppers and zucchini aren’t up yet, still just flowers, which could be a pollinating problem, or too much heat. I’ve chatted with neighbours with vegetable gardens and they are reporting the same frustrations.

I tried two cauliflower plants this year; both ruined by heat and caterpillars, see photo of all the eggs in the cauliflower. Gross.

On the positive side, we are reveling in a plethora of raspberries right now.

I’ve been making raspberry smoothies, raspberry jam, raspberry muffins, and of course, just eating them fresh off the canes.

Strawberries are doing well too this year. I moved them to different location than they were last year, and that has resulted in less ants in the containers. Growing my own fruit and vegetables makes me deeply appreciate organic farmers; keeping insects away with no pesticides is quite a challenge.

The Saskatoon berries never came up, too much damage from the animals in the spring; hopefully we’ll get a good harvest next summer. For the first time in a dozen years, our mulberry hasn’t had ripe fruit by June, the berries are still small and white, though they look like they’ll be ready to eat in a week or two. The herbs are hanging in there with the heat. We finally had rain this week, which was desperately needed, my rain barrel was just about empty.

Anyone with tips for organic fruit and vegetable gardening? I’d love to hear your comments.

June in the garden

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

First strawberry.

Roses and clematis.

The raspberries are just coming out now. The Saskatoon berry bush shows no sign of producing this year, perhaps too much damage from the rabbits and ground hog. No mulberries yet either which are normally ready by mid-June.

Henry enjoys the salad bar.

My first year attempting to grow cauliflower. The above picture was taken two weeks ago. Unfortunately, my cauliflower turned purple in last week’s heat wave (and it’s not a purple variety cauliflower). I learned after the fact that I should have blanched the curds when they appear by covering them with the leaves so they could finish growing in the shade. Lesson learned for next year!

Rhubarb. Hm, what shall I make? Muffins?

Spectacular peonies! They smell heavenly too.

Roses in an up-cycled tea tin.

Beautiful basil in my herb pot.

Zucchini blossom. Can’t wait to enjoy their veggies in a few more weeks. The spinach has been out for a few weeks though I just have three plants of them. The peppers barely have buds, so we’ll have to wait a while longer for them.