Note to Self…

This morning, hardly awake:

First thought – DKM. Dropkick Murphys. YES! That was it! go back to sleep.

Second thought – Bran muffins. I want some bran muffins. go back to sleep.

Third thought – I think I’ll sleep in today. I’m a little tired and it looks crappy out so I probably won’t be going anywhere anyway. shut eyes.

Fourth thought – The phone would ring immediately after I declare I’m sleeping in, wouldn’t it?

_________________

So, basically I must have been driving myself crazy in my sleep because I still hadn’t thought of what DKM was before I went to bed. There were a couple bloggers who guessed it [e-mail me to redeem your prizes], which just made me laugh and remember waking up with “Shipping Up to Boston” in my head moments earlier.

And no, it’s not just because of the Bruins that I love that song. I mean, just listen to it. First thing in the morning, preferably. And do some Irish jigs around your butcher block in the kitchen while preparing your breakfast.

In a leprechaun hat, preferably.

Not that I would know anything about any of that scenario.

I would know something about flaxy French toast, though. So I’ll talk about that, instead. I’ll leave it to your own imaginations as to whether I was tap dancing around my kitchen while making this, though.

 

Being that I looked out my window and saw this yet again:

Really wet, heavy snow. Read: Sloppy and slippery. House arrest once again.

I decided to make something a little more time consuming for breakfast. I have pancakes down to a science so I can make them quickly in the morning, which carries over to mornings when I have more time, too. Having nowhere to go, I decided to put a little more thought into breakfast this morning.

I’ve been wanting to make French toast for a while now, but wasn’t sure if the mini slices would be enough for keeping me full. Today, I knew I’d be home all day. Worse comes to worse, I eat an hour later, right?! Surprisingly enough, it was difficult for me to finish it all! Don’t worry, though – I took one for the team and did.

Yes, it really is possible to get that same French toast texture without eggs! Making it with flax sounds strange at first, I admit. I mean, I think I was legitimately grossed out when I first heard of it, so I don’t blame you if you are, too.

But I mean, really. Have I ever lied to you? -insert shifty-eyes here-

Buttering/Earth Balancing your pan is critical to making any sort of pancake or sandwich – and French toast is no exception. You don’t need a lot, but you can’t even compare the flavor to that and just using non-stick spray.

And please, no need to be “neat” about it. We’re not after pretty awards here, we all know the ugly food is the best.

Huh, maybe that’s why I’m always disappointed whenever I go out to eat…

If you’re patient and give it enough time – the outside still gets crispy while the insides are still moist and flavorful. I’m sorry if you hate the word moist. I do, too – but really, what else can I say? Damp? It’s not juicy not is it soggy.

The Mixture I used (approximately, anyways…about that measuring thing…)

• 2 T. milled flaxseed
• 1/4 c. + 2 T. coconut milk
• 1/2 t. coffee extract (vanilla would work just fine, I just so happen to be the person who is all out of vanilla, yet has plenty of coffee, peppermint and coconut extracts. I would.)
• pinch ground cinnamon
• pinch ground nutmeg

Mix all with a fork, allowing to sit a few minutes. Add more milk if necessary. Poke each piece of bread a few times before dipping each slice in and saturating. Transfer to a greased pan, allowing extra of the flax mixture to remain on the bread. Cook about 4-5 minutes on each side, until crispy.

Garnish with grilled banana and figgy peanut butter and jelly sauce. And chia seeds and honey-roasted almonds if you’re feeling feisty.

Note to self: I miss you terribly. (speaking of “bring me back” songs…)

Er, wait, what I meant was – note to self: make French toast more often.

And about those bran muffins?

They were not just a groggy early-morning sentiment, my dears. They were happening.

I promise these were muffins for me, not Teddie. I kept thinking how much he would love them. Carrots, applesauce, molasses, cinnamon and sunflower seeds? The kid would be in heaven.

I used these almost-forgotten about pressed dates that Mo sent me way back when. I got a kick out of the “serving size: 1 package,” as I imagined myself just plopping down on the couch and nommin’ on the brick like so:

om-nom-nom

The recipe I used was Kelsey’s. And they are fantastic! It’s a good thing I didn’t actually read the recipe before I printed it off and trekked into my kitchen, though. It requires the use of a food processor, which is usually a big no-no for me. For some reason, I detest cleaning the processor in addition to regular baking dishes. Or in general. Same goes for garlic presses.

Life’s tough.

I realize this is probably old-news, but my new trick is using an ice-cream scoop. I used to just spoon it in, but then I’d have really ugly muffin tops. This leaves them nice and smooth!

And perfectly sized! Well actually my mini-muffins are perfectly sized since I usually just want a little somethin’ somethin’ when it comes to muffins, but that would have required me refilling the tray about ten times.

Which wasn’t happening.

I am very picky about my bran muffins – a lot of bran muffin recipes use more oat bran than wheat, and are too sweet for my liking. I like my bran muffins to be dense, moist and…well…wheaty! These are just the ticket.

Another added bonus: they didn’t require any bananas. I love bananas, and have a great branana muffin recipe – but I’m down to my last banana and you guys know what happens when I lose my bananas. I think I might hide the last one, just as an extra precaution. You know…in case someone else might want it, heaven forbid.

But if I haven’t convinced you to make bran muffins or flaxy French toast…maybe I can convince you to do this:

Toast up some good bread…smother one slice with cashew butter…smother the other with a bit o’ butter/earth balance…throw on some good dried apricots…drizzle a smidgen o’ maple syrup…and chow down. Heavenly.

(but what’s with me saying o’ instead of “of”? Am I really feeling that Irish today?)

And I’ll leave you with this scandalous picture:

I had sausages with dinner! I love sausages…

What’s something you openly admit to having high standards about? I am definitely a bread snob!

Going Bananas over Cashew Butter

You may recall that I’m often saying I’m relatively laid back. Not much ruffles my feathers, if you will.

This morning, I realized something.

I realized that’s all lies.

Do you see what's missing? It starts with "b" and rhymes with "shmershmanas"

Because I get upset about bananas.

I was somewhere in the middle of demanding my sister tell me what happened to my bananas, prompting her to tell me if she’d eaten any, and rifling through her purse and lunch box before I stopped myself and had this sudden epiphany of “oh my heavens, what has become of me. I’m being selfish over bananas.”

Sure, you can have my kidney.

Hell, take my liver, too!

But heaven forbid you eat my bananas. Because then the pancake batter that I’ve so lovingly prepared to go along with those non-existant bananas will, in fact, hit the fan.

Muffins I made Tuesday. There were 9 large ones and a dozen mini ones. I've only eaten one. None of my food is safe around here these days.

I guess it’s a good thing, so I’ll just look at it that way. Even if last night I had three bananas left and this morning, 0. The other night, I still had a quarter of a loaf left of  an orangey-coconut barley flour loaf, and the next morning, none. So finally I made these muffins that were politely requested, using barely any sugar, and braced for the “these are terrible!” remarks, but apparently that wasn’t necessary.

I think we have secret leprechauns hiding in our cabinets that come out at night-time, because there’s only four of us. March is just around the corner, you know.

Luckily, being rendered banana-less doesn’t mean the world has stopped turning. I don’t think. I mean, I’ve still got three more days to go before I make it to the store because I’ve pledged no more groceries until Sunday, but I’m pretty confident that the apocalypse won’t come because of this occurrence.

Knock on wood.

Being all thrifty and wanting to save money lately, I decided to take it upon myself to make cashew butter.

Cashoo butter, if you will.

I guess I’m not really sure if that makes sense, since I don’t recall how much I spent on those cashews, but I’m sure the price would end up being pretty close.

At least I feel like I’m being more resourceful/economical/thrifty.

Do these pictures convey how runny it was?! Because it was. I was so giddy. It is so delicious. Cashew butter is easily my favorite nutbutter. So smooth and creamy all on its own. I refrained from adding anything to it, because I just love the plain cashew flavor it has on its own!

Well, I did add a bit of oil – but just because based on everything I read, it tends to be on the drier side, and the jar of it I had prior had oil in it, too. You could omit it, but I wanted it runny so I added it. It’s negligible, really, so you might as well just add it since it improves the consistency that much.

Cashew Butter

• 1 1/2 c. salted cashews
• 1-2 t. olive oil

In a food processor, blend cashews first, it took me about 5 minutes. When butter-like in consistency but a bit dry, add in the oil. Blend about 4-5 more minutes, until silllllky smooooth!

Such a shame all that gets wasted, too difficult to scoop out and into the jar…

Hah, syyyyke. You wouldn’t think I’d let all that creamy, cashewy goodness go to waste, did you?! You’d be silly.

I’m not sure, though. Between my pancake breakfast for lunch on Tuesday, and my clean-out-the-cashew-butter with bread lunch today, I’m probably being shunned by other health bloggers blog-wide. Please don’t hate. (appreciate?)

If it makes me look any better, at least the cleaning up was mainly done with homemade pumpernickel…which I realize is actually terribly unappealing, but there will be a post dedicated to this baby soon.

Although, speaking of babies – maybe I ought to mention how much of a rockstar Teddie was today after his little vacation. Oh, yes – it was 20* when I woke up this morning and was about ready to go running around outside in shorts and a t-shirt it felt so warm. Which meant Teddie’s sweet vacation must come to an end.

I thought his little eyeballs were going to pop out of his head when he saw a new scary monster in a new corner (now there’s scary things in all but one corner – eyeroll) but he was surprisingly gentlemanly about it. Truth be told, it scares me, too – it’s a cart (to be pulled behind a horse) that is quite large and propped against the wall.

He probably knows exactly what it is and is afraid I’m going to hook it up behind him. Maybe that’s why he was so good undersaddle…hmmmmmmm…

Now. Go protect your bananas. And make some cashew butter while you’re at it.

Are you “possessive” over anything? I should clarify that I wasn’t legitimately upset about the banana issue, but I was a little baffled and a little disgruntled I couldn’t have my grilled banana this morning. Eh well, it’s good for me to start having to think outside of the banana.

In terms of the baked stuff, I enjoy sharing because I know what the alternative is and I’d rather the fam eat homemade stuff than pure sugar from a box or bag

Have you ever made your own nutbutter? What was your favorite combo?

The Baking Blog

You guys must wonder if all I do is bake and eat sweets these days! Yesterday, I mentioned baking as being my boredome-buster for being snowed in. I guess that’s not so surprising considering…well, I bake when I’m not bored, too. In fact, at this very moment, all I can think of is what I want to bake. And so, I’m sitting on my hands (or, typing this blog post if you want to be literal) because we have plenty of food in this house, and I know I have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to bake. Four days in a row without baking won’t be happening, so I figure I might as well give myself until Thursday to eat through Super-Charge Me cookies, cookie dough balls and muffins.

Had I mentioned how, after baking so much for friends and co-workers, all I wanted was some Super-Charge Me cookies? The craving was pretty intense, and I figured I had to make some for Santa on Christmas Eve so that he could be charged for his long night delivering joy and presents.

While nosing through my cupboard to see what I had in terms of dried fruit, I was reminded of an old obsession I had; dried apricots. I used to have dried apricots on a daily basis -how did I forget all about them?! They wound up being paired with roasted almonds in some good old-fashioned Super-Charge Me cookies. Hit the spot.

Is there something you used to have all the time, only to completely forget about it all of a sudden?

And yesterday, I made muffins. Mini muffins. When Ipopped these littlebabies out of the tin, I couldn’t stop ooh-ing and awww-ing, even shoving them in my mom’s face proclaiming “loooook at these little babies they’re so adorable!”

I am officially wierd. You knew this.

My mother gave me Vive le Vegan! for Christmas, and naturally – I had to test it out. I was thinking muffins, and settled on the Orange-Poppyseed Muffins, but then when I was flipping through the desserts section, I saw coconut-lime cookies.

…Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Do you see where I’m going with this?

It had to be done, folks. I mean – who doesn’t cook with coconut and limes while there’s a blizzard outside? I realized afterwards how backwards I am. Here, in the middle of a blizzard, I am cooking coconut-lime poppyseed muffins while I should be standing over a pot of bubbling chili.

Ohhh, my life.

Before we get started, a few notes, mainly because I have this sudden obsession with bulleted lists lately:

• They aren’t very pretty because I never bother smoothing out my muffin tops. Note to self: smooth out your muffin tops! We’ll just call them rustic.
• If you bake these in mini-mini muffin tins you’ll probably die at the cuteness.

Coconut-Lime-Poppyseed Muffins

• 1/2 c. + 2 T. ground oats
• 1 T.  poppyseeds
• 1 T. (generous) sugar
• 1/4 c. shredded coconut
• zest from one lime
• 1/8 t. sea salt
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour
• 2 T. coconut flour (or another 1/4 c. white whole wheat)
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• juice from one lime
• 1 T. milled flaxseed
• 1 t. chia seed
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3 T. almond milk
• 1 t. vanilla extract (I bet coconut extract would be good, though)
• 1 T. coconut oil
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375*.
2. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, flaxseed and chia seeds.
3. In a large bowl,combine the ground oats, poppyseeds, sugar, coconut, lime zest, salt, nutmeg, flours, baking powder and baking soda. Tip: sift in the coconut flour and baking powder and soda.
4. To the lime juice and flax mixture, add your remaining wet ingredients, stirring to combine. Stir in the coconut oil. Combine everything and stir until well combined. Fold in the dried cranberries.
5. Spoon the batter into sprayed/nonstick muffin tins until 3/4s of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes (longer or shorter is depndent on the size of your muffins. My baby ones were pretty crispy on the outside after 17 or so, while the large ones I left in for twenty.)
6. Now, pop those little babies in your mouth like they’re popcorn, while watching the violent snowstorm from inside your safe and humble abode.

Oh, and for what it’s worth – sitting on my hands to prevent myself from baking totally didn’t work. I started writing this post shortly after lunch to keep myself entertained. It’s not 3:35 and I had to do something. It’s still frigid outside, I did all of my cleaning yesterday, and I don’t feel like going out again, either. I’m still chilled from being at the barn all morning.

So, naturally, I convinced my mom she wanted a dessert. She didn’t really, but I needed an excuse, you know. I convinced her she wanted date squares. And when I mentioned it, she realized she wouldn’t mind some date squares after all.

Touch-dowwwwwnnnnn, Jessica!

She’s used to this game I play by now – me suggesting she wants a dessert or a snack or something. And then I play a guessing game, until I say something that she actually says “oh, yeah, okay!” to. Her mom used to make date squares, I guess – so I hope these are just as good!

I followed the recipe in Vive le Vegan, however I used orange zest instead of lemon, coconut oil instead of canola, and date syrup instead of molasses. I quite like them, myself – they are not too sweet, and have the subtle tones of orange in the creamy date layer. The oats in the subtly sweet crust are a nice touch, too.

My thoughts on the cookbook? Another great one to add to my collection! None of the recipes are so complex that they are off-putting, nor are any so simple that I sort of laugh and say “well gee, maybe I should write a cookbook.” They are all health-conscious but not in a restrictive way, and there is a good, diverse selection, too. Lastly, the ingredients are all pretty easy to find, save for tamari and barley flour – though I think I could find both of those things if I knew to look for it at the co-op. The author does give subs for the barley flour, luckily – but it does make me want to try baking with it!

Have you “read” any new cookbooks? What’s your favorite one, or a favorite “kind”? I enjoy reading my cookbooks from cover to cover, not just skimming recipes. I find it really gets my creative juices flowing, and helps to teach me what works with what, too.

I’ve also found that I enjoy all types – not necessarily just vegan cookbooks or just “healthy”cookbooks. In fact, I love flipping through magazines with recipes for meat or things that aren’t trying to be healthy, too – because it’s another take on marinades and dishes!

Same-Old Same-Old

This weekend went by too fast.

I want it back.

I want weekends like this all. winter. long.

Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen and I doubt we’ll have weather this beautiful again for many more moons. It’s already back to rain starting tomorrow.

That said – I spent nearly every daylight minute outdoors this weekend. I found a little bit of “kitchen time” at lunchtime today to play – but other than that, I’m still in my low and slow sweet potato rut.

You think I’m kidding. I’m not.

And I’m still swearing by these cornmeal pancakes. I keep forgetting to try it as a waffle – remind me to do that on Tuesday!

I know I’ve said I’m going to start eating more environmentally friendly  – but I couldn’t pass up these strawberries at Hannaford’s! And I mean…I’d get a little bored eating apples all winter. This is Vermont, you know. I am nothing without bananas.

And yes – I’ve still been loving buffalo tempeh! Is it weird that I equate hot, spicy food with bad for you, though? And pickles. Pickles make this sandwich, though. And hummus. In light of Vegan MoFo, of course – it was my ranch dressing

Speaking of which – why do these pickles need to be called hamburger pickles? Honestly. It’s not like they’re made of hamburgers.

I really needed to make another loaf of bread, and while you might think “how do you find time for bread making when you’re outside all day?” it’s the easiest thing to fit in, really!

…with a minor backfire.

First, let me say that the hardest part of baking bread has come to be actually picking out the recipe. I spent all night last night deciding on a recipe! In my exploration, though, I read Matt’s explanation of a bit of the science behind dough and whole wheat, which was helpful I my baking expeditions.  So then I really wanted to make this bread, but only have active dry yeast. Could I sub that for instant yeast, anyone know?!

Anyways – I ended up baking this, but veganizing it with molasses, earth balance and almond milk. It was super easy to get the dough ready this morning and let it rise while I was at the barn. I asked my mom to punch it down and put it in a loaf pan in an hour or two…and therein lied the problem.

I’m not complaining, because it was sweet of her….but she also decided to bake it. She didn’t know what to bake it at or for how long…but she did. I still haven’t asked because I don’t want to know, but I think it was definitely underbaked. The top was still really soft, much like a sandwich bread you buy in a bag from the bread aisle. It’s really hard to cut because of this, but still tastes really good. I was afraid the molasses would have too bold a flavor, but it’s surprisingly not. I did cut back on that a bit, though.

I’m not complaining because I had the best ride on Teddie. Both yesterday and today he was amazing, though….our best rides yet! He was cantering like an old pro!! Transitioned right when I’d ask with no little hop/buck like he does in the indoor, and actually maintained it for full 20m circles – something he can’t do in the indoor yet. And correct leads [nearly] every time! I’m seriously … well, walking on sunshine right now. I’m so proud of my little boy!

I also quickly made some muffins – a hybrid variation of my gingerbread muffins mixed with my carrot-spice graham muffins.

And blackened tofu – from ED&BV. I’m still limiting my non-fermented soy intake, but it was $1.99 at Hannaford and after disliking/avoiding tofu for so long, really just wanted to give it a try.

I think the real reason I’ve got a bone to pick with tofu is because everytime someone asks me what I’m eating (well, okay, not so much anymore), it’s along the lines of”what’s that, tofu?” or if I talk about what I’m making, it’s obviously tofu something. It makes me just want to scream “I don’t even eat tofu!” Which, I don’t. Today reminded me of that. I just don’t care for it. I’d rather have tempeh or seitan, especially because those are either a fermented soy product or soy-free.

It wasn’t terrible – but nothing to write home about. If I’d have done the same thing with tempeh, I bet I’d have loved it, though.

Hopefully it’ll be good in sandwiches.

Either way – the kale ad s.p. so picked up for the lacking tofu. I feel like all I’ve done lately is eat kale and sweet potatoes. And I’ve hardly eve made a dent in my kale supply. You’ll be seeing it very often, I think.

Tofu – yay or nay?

Gingerbread Muffins

I’m really glad everyone enjoyed yesterday’s post!! I enjoyed writing it, too – I was actually a little surprised that I had to reel myself in a few times. Before moving onto a normal post, one thing Daniel pointed out that I should mention is that ketones actually occur when carbohydrate intake is less than 50-100g/day, not when protein intake is too high, which is what I had said. Another thing I forgot to point out is that yes – ketones are in our body naturally. The only difference is that if we’re eating a diet that is well balanced, everything in our body should be relatively well-balanced, too. So when there are carbohydrates consumed only in minor amounts, less fatty acids are being broken down and excess ketones build.

I was sure I was missing something 😉

But anyways. This weekend has been busy! Good busy, but still busy. Yesterday morning I had  a senior portrait to shoot bright and early…well, it was supposed to be bright and early. I ended up having to wait for the girl an extra half hour which was sort of frustrating, but I dealt.

I was probably so understanding because my breakfast was simply outstanding. It must have put me in a good mood 😉 Well that and I’m pretty easy-going, anyways 😛 I ended up taking so many pictures on this shoot – I am still going through them. I don’t do much usually, but she specified she wanted a “scene-vintage” type senior picture, so I’m doing some funky editing with color and such on some of them.

Since I was parked within walking distance of the co-op, there was no way I could just not go. I mean, hello! I was so stoked to see they had this coconut milk kefir! Ironically – I usually hate strawberry flavored stuff.

I was debating as to whether I wanted to try it for a good five minutes, literally standing there with a bottle of kefir in one hand, and this in the other.

I’d put one back, then change my mind.

I think the people there thought I was crazy.

Obviously, you see which I chose 😉 I think I just have a bad mental image of strawberry flavored things since I’d remember strawberry flavored ice cream, yogurt, etc. taste so artificial-like. I tend to forget that stuff like this doesn’t taste artificial because it uses real fruit!

So I was quite pleased with the taste. I had it over some of the best waffles I’ve ever made…mashed banana oat bran. It’s really good on its own, too.

That said, I really hope the co-op gets the plain or at least vanilla in stock…strawberry is good, but I doubt I’ll always want strawberry.

Especially with my ginger-kick! Speaking of which…

I ran completely out of ginger, but guilt-tripped my mom into getting me some while we were at the store 😛 She made me return a bunch of nasty cans and bottles for her.

As in, that she finds. It doesn’t sound too gross…but they’re not all rinsed out, the bag smells, and the beer slime gets all over your hands.

Though it is sort of comical as little old ladies watch as you feed the machine with gigantic empty 40s.

Anyways. Ginger kick. With my new ginger, I could now attempt gingerbread muffins. I guess attempt is an unfair adjective, though – I succeeded, after all!

Seeing as how it was basically impossible to find a recipe that did not require at least a cup of sugar, I decided to just wing it based on a banana bread recipe, because I also had some ripe bananas to use up.

Gingerbread Muffins

yields 6 muffins

• 3/4 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. oat bran
• 1 t. ground ginger
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ground clove
• 1/4 c. blackstrap molasses
• 1/3 c. + 1 T. almond milk
• 1 medium-large ripe banana
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 1/4 c. walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*

Combine the flour, oat bran, ginger, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and clove in a large bowl. Set aside, and in a medium bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Stir in the molasses and almond milk.

Add the wet to the dry, and stir until just combined. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.

Spoon into sprayed muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

And if you want to play a trick on someone, tell them it’s chocolate!

Okay, that’s just a little bit mean.

Next time, though, I’d love to add fresh cranberries rather than dried raisins. ooooh! ahhhhh!

I also tried my first carnival squash this weekend! I was expecting it to taste a lot like an acorn squash, but it’s actually so much better. A lot sweeter than I was expecting (because, as I said, I was expecting acorny!) but purely delicious, especially with cheater baked beans.

I tried a different baking method, too – rather than baking face-down in a pie plate with water for an hour, I just put it on a cookie sheet and baked it face-up at 450* for…I don’t know how long.

I will definitely buy this guy again! It made for a great easy dinner last night, and easy lunch today – which is saying something, because you know I love me a good sandwich for lunch!

…like this. My mom broke out the “let it snow” placemats already. Uhhh, let’s not.

Anyways. This was a “grilled cheese,” the cheese being humnut cheese! It was just what I was craving.

It was, however, the last of my bread. I really enjoyed that loaf of honey whole wheat, but I wanted to try something new this time.

My initial plan was to make a bread that required I be of legal drinking age for the key ingredient, but we didn’t have any in the house, so I settled on spelt bread. I really love spelt – but you might not know that because I can’t remember the last time I bought a loaf/made a loaf.

Spelt is similar to wheat in appearance. However, spelt has a tougher husk than wheat, which may help protect the nutrients in spelt. Spelt flour has a somewhat nuttier and slightly sweeter flavor than whole wheat flour. Spelt contains more protein than wheat, and the protein in spelt is easier to digest.

It is that nuttier flavor that makes me really love it, I think!

Except…every time I’ve made spelt flour, I get a flat-top! I followed this recipe with some tweaks.

Next time, I’d just bake it for 35 minutes or so at 400* rather than 15 minutes at 480* first, and then 45 minutes at 380*. I think the high temperature first gave it a really crunchy crust. While the inside is still moist and flavorful, it’s really hard to cut through!

And hey..might as well wrap this up with a quasi-fail, right?!

I wanted to try making my own “KIND” bars – but my binding method needs tweaking 😛 The flavor is delicious – it’s a mix of cashews, dates, puffed millet, date molasses, flax and sunflower butter (well, primarily) – but I couldn’t get them out of the pan in one piece. I formed some of the “scraps” into balls!

This blurb is horsey, read or picture-read, just giving you a warning!

And I know, I know – it’s been ages since you’ve seen Teddie photos! My mom hasn’t come out with me recently, but she wanted to come see him this morning. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go (since I haven’t been on Sundays) but then I realized I got all of my homework done yesterday and there was no way I was going to just sit and edit photos all day.

I’m so glad we went, though – it was a nice enough (by that I mean it’s getting too cold already!!) morning and since we got dumped with a tooon of rain the past two days, I knew we’d have to work in the indoor. I wasn’t sure how he’d be, so I was more willing to go knowing I’d have help available on the ground if necessary.

See, I took a lesson with A last week and we worked on going forward – meaning, hello, Teddie, yes leg means go! I’m fairly certain he knows this, just likes to try and get away with not doing it – namely, in the indoor. So the second he’d pull his “I’m going to stop” move, she’d be right there and quick little pop him in the butt with a lunge whip.

Before you go calling PETA, we weren’t beating him into submission, merely politely reinforcing the rules.

And he’s actually been really good since then! He’ll still randomly try it one or two times – usually if we’re crossing through the middle of the ring – but it’s not a huge issue. Knock on wood. We now have a nice, forward marching walk and trot. I was surprised at how much he’s stepping up in some of these pictures, actually!

I’m seeing our mini-dressage pony potential coming through again, which makes me happy 🙂 He’s such a stinker…love him!

And on a completely unrelated note…

I also loved tonight’s dinner.

But, since I’m one for cliffhangers lately, you’ll just have to wait and see what it is. I promise it’s pretty ridiculously yummy, though!

What was your highlight of the weekend?

Does anyone know of a good “nutrition tracker” or recipe-calculator website? I have to track three days of eating to analyze for nutrition for class…and while I’m really excited for the project, it’s also going to be a bit of work considering how much I make from scratch. I’m trying “SparkPeople” at the moment, but I’m not sure I trust all of the calculations since some of the foods are entered by users.