Chocolate-Cherry No Bake Pie

Tonight I made a pie by pairing components of two separate desserts and then topping them with fresh cherries. It turned out really well, and is quite healthy as far as desserts go. Recipe #1 is here. It's a raw fruit pie that I've tried making before. The crust is amazing, but the cashew "cream" in the original recipe didn't turn out well for me- maybe because I don't have a high speed blender- I couldn't get the texture right, and it tasted like sweet hummus,ugh! So I was looking for something else creamy to use for a filling and I came across this recipe for a chocolate mousse that's made from avocados. Perfect! I didn't have the raw cacao powder or coconut nectar that the original calls for, so I used cocoa powder and honey+maple syrup. I also learned a great trick for pitting cherries! If you don't have a cherry pitter, check out this video for a demonstration of pitting cherries using a bottle and a chopstick. Anyhow, this pie takes awhile to make, but it's a delicious and healthy sweet for a hot night when you want to impress someone and you don't want to use your oven.

Chocolate-Cherry No Bake Pie
adpted from recipes at lifewithgreens.com and thekitchn.com

Pie Crust:

8 medjool dates

1 cup raw unsweetened coconut

1 cup nuts ( I've used both raw and toasted, both are good)

1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Directions: Place all ingredients into a food processor with the “S” blade. Pulse and mix until moist and formable. Transfer raw pie crust mixture to a pie pan of your choice and press into the sides of the pan.

Make Pie crust first. Place in the refrigerator to chill while you are working on the other ingredients.

Chocolate Avocado Pie Filling

4 ripe avocados
, cut into chunks

1/3 cup honey

2 Tbs maple syrup

1/2 cup raw cocoa powder


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


pinch of salt
fresh fruit and nuts for garnish

In a food processor, blend avocado until smooth. Add all other ingredients, blending until mixture is uniform. Chill for half an hour in the freezer.

Next make the chocolate filling. Put it in the freezer to chill while you are pitting the cherries

About 1lb cherries, pitted 

Go on, pit those cherries!

Remove pie crust from refrigerator. Place half the pitted cherries on top of the crust in a uniform pattern. Top with chocolate filling (I only used about ¾ of the filling recipe in the pie). Top with remaining cherries. Serve immediately or keep in the refrigerator for later enjoyment.

Easy and Versatile Fruit Cobbler

The following recipe is magical. It's delicious, takes very little time or effort to make, can be made with any almost any fruit, and comes out perfectly every time. Is it healthy? Well, it has a lot of fruit in it, but it also has quite a bit of butter and sugar, so this is one you''ll want to eat in moderation. I got the recipe many years ago when I was getting a CSA from Helsing Junction Farm. It was printed in one of their newsletters, but luckily, they still have the recipe on their website. I have made it with apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, berries, cherries apricots, and plums. I never peel the fruit, so the only real work is slicing the fruit up. It's also a great way to use up fruit that is getting a little too ripe or is otherwise not in the best shape for fresh eating. Usually, I use a mixture of whatever fruit I have on hand. The one ingredient you don't want to leave out is the lemon zest- it adds a bright and unique flavor to this excellent and very special dessert.

Easy and Versatile Fruit Cobbler
adapted slightly from Oly’s Swedish Apple Pie recipe at helsingfarmcsa.com

-Slice whatever fruit you are using into a 10 in round cake pan. I usually try to fill the pan about ¾ full with fruit. For this one I used 3 white peaches, 2 yellow nectarines, 2 plums, 4 apricots, and a ½ pint of blueberries. I never peel the fruit, but if you don't like the texture of the peels, you could. If you are using apples or pears, you will probably want about 5-6 pieces of fruit.

-Mix together the following:

-1 TBS sugar

-½ tsp cinnamon

-Sprinkle half over the fruit and toss together. (Save the other half to sprinkle over the top of the cobbler).

-Melt 1 stick of butter in a small saucepan and then add the following:

-1 cup of flour

-The zest of 1 lemon

-¾ cup of white or brown sugar

-Gently mix together and then add 2 beaten eggs.

-Fold the mixture together and then pour it over the top of the fruit

-Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until firm and lightly browned.

Cranberry Crunch

During November, we always have lots of fresh cranberries available in the produce department, which means it's time to make Cranberry Crunch! I love to make this cobbler; it's simple and quick to put together and has less sugar and fat than most cobbler recipes (although I will say it is even more delicious with some vanilla ice cream). The recipe comes from the American Wholefoods Cuisine Cookbook. The cranberries retain their delightful tartness and have an awesome cherry-like texture when cooked as the recipe instructs. I also sliced up a small apple and a fuyu persimmon that had seen better days and added them to the original recipe. Cobbler is the perfect vehicle for using up fruit that is past its prime, so if you ever have apples, plums, etc that need to be used up, throw them into a cobbler with more expensive fruit like berries- they'll blend right in and often add some nice textural contrast too.

Cranberry Crunch
adapted from American Wholefoods Cuisine
2 cups fresh cranberries (frozen cranberries that have been thawed will also work)
1 small apple, cut into small pieces (optional)
1 fuyu persimmon, cut into small pieces (optional)
1/3 cup honey plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs molasses
Preheat oven to 350F
Combine berries and 1/3 cup honey in a small pot and boil gently until berries pop, about 5 minutes. Pour into a 8 or 9 inch glass baking dish (don't use a metal baking dish, it will make the berries taste metallic).  If you are using the apple and/or the persimmon, stir these in with the cranberries.
In separate bowl, combine oats, flour, and cinnamon, and cut in oil and butter with a pastry blender or wire whisk to an even consistency. Scatter on top of berries. Mix remaining 2 tablespoons of honey with molasses and drizzle evenly over topping.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden on top. Serve warm or room temperature.

Doing What I Love Most

Today I spent much of the day cooking and prepping food for the week, and my oh my, it was fun! I felt productive and happy, and I got to listen to lots of great music too. One of the  things I love best about winter is staying inside and making lots of delicious and healthy food for the coming week. It feels great to open the refrigerator and have so many healthy options to choose from.


Today I made:
Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa (I substituted apples for the berries)
Quinoa Banana Pecan Bread with Cranberries (I added zest of one lemon and a half cup of dried cranberries)
Rice with Lemon, Parsley, and Walnuts (I substituted a rice-quinoa blend and adjusted the amount of liquid and cooking time)
Washed lettuce for the week
Prepped carrots, celery, beets, daikon radish, cucumbers, and red peppers for salads and snacks
Baked a delicata squash that we'll have for dinner
And there's still time to go for a second walk of the day- yay!!- winter is a cook's best friend!

Quinoa Banana Pecan Quick Bread

I'm teaching a quinoa cooking class this Sunday, and I wanted to try out a recipe I saw recently that sounded intriguing. The original calls for using sprouted quinoa, and being the slightly lazy cook that I am, I decided to try it with raw quinoa just to see if that shortcut would work out.  My verdict? It's tasty, but a little weird...
This bread is dense, sweet,and filling, with a flavor that reminds me of a nourishing bowl of sweetened oatmeal. Using the uncooked quinoa gives the bread a slightly crunchy and seedy texture. I think it would be really good topped with a little blackberry jam and/or some dried cranberries and lemon zest thrown into the batter, but it's also pretty good on its own. Overall, this is a really nice substitute for a less healthy pastry or dessert, but trust me, you will feel like a total hippy when you're eating it.

Quinoa Banana Pecan Quick Bread
 recipe by Brandi Evans

1½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1 cup quinoa (sprouted or not)

½ cup sprouted (or nonsprouted) oats

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup chopped pecans

2 ripe medium-sized bananas, mashed

1 cup buttermilk

¾ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons oil or melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Stir together the flour, quinoa, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pecans in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the mashed bananas with the buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla, and oil or butter.

Add banana mixture into the flour mixture, and fold together until the batter is just combined.

Pour batter into a greased 9 × 5 loaf pan (or use a 10inch springform cake pan like I did) and bake until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf (mine took 35 minutes and probably should have stayed in for 5 more minutes). Cool for a few minutes for easier slicing.

An Apple A Day

Alright, as cheesy as it is, I'm making Goal #34 to eat an apple every day at least through the end of this year (in Washington, due to amazing storage technology, apple season can go almost into the spring, but I will probably stop eating one every day once they start getting mealy and old-tasting). Research has shown apples to be beneficial for lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol, improving overall cardiovascular health, regulating blood sugar, and providing anti-cancer benefits. Some links about apple nutrition and health benefits, here, here, and here. They are also tasty, filling, easy to transport, and inexpensive (at least where I live). I feel really fortunate to live in the apple capital of the world, as we have so many varieties to choose from. This morning I had a Honeycrisp apple with some quinoa, walnuts, cinnamon, and a little agave syrup. It also looks as though you get pretty much the same benefits from eating apples raw or cooked, as long as you keep the peel on, as that is where many of the nutritional benefits are found.

Healthier Ice Cream Substitute

Tonight I wanted to make a sweet treat for a friend of mine who is injured, so I whipped up some "Nice Cream" in the food processor. Nice Cream is like ice cream, except instead of using dairy products as the base, you use frozen bananas. Nice Cream is easy to make, you just have to plan ahead a little.
What you'll need:
ripe bananas
a flat freezer safe dish
a food processor
anything you'd like to mix into your Nice Cream (For this batch I used coconut and pecans. I've also used peanut butter and hippie Nutella which are also both delicious, and a co-worker told me he's used figs. Really, anything you'd enjoy eating in regular ice cream should work fine)
Step 1: Peel the bananas and slice them onto the flat freezer safe dish in a single layer
Step 2: Freeze the bananas until they are solid (I usually freeze them overnight)
Step 3: Puree the frozen bananas in the food processor. They will go through some weird stages (big hard lumps, tiny gritty lumps, etc.). You want to keep pureeing them until they are still frozen but starting to get smooth. When they get to that point, mix in your other ingredients and give it one more whir. Scrape your concoction into a freezer safe container and freeze for a few more hours. Yum.
Happily, I made enough extra to enjoy some myself when I got home from my bike ride!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

As I mentioned in my last post, we had friends over for dinner last night, and I made this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp for dessert. I found the recipe when I was looking for strawberry recipe ideas for the Co-op's produce newsletter. I really like the way this turned out; it has a lot of fruit and very little sweetener, and the rolled oats give it a nice crunch. It's reasonably healthy for a dessert, and very flavorful. I think it would also be really good with sliced stone fruit (peaches, plums, etc.) and/or other berries.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
adapted from a recipe on skinnytaste.com
For the filling:

1 lb strawberries, hulled and quartered

6 rhubarb stalks cut into small pieces

zest from 1 orange
juice from 1/2 an orange

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup agave nectar or honey

For the Topping:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or garbanzo bean flour if you want to make a gluten-free version)

1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries and rhubarb in an oven safe dish. Add agave nectar (or honey), then orange juice and orange zest; sprinkle with cornstarch and toss until fruit is well coated. Mix remaining ingredients for the topping in a medium bowl then spread over fruit. Bake until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 50 minutes.

Before and After: Smoothies and Popsicles

 I've had a nasty cold this week, and I haven't felt much like cooking. One thing I have enjoyed making, however, is smoothies. A cold smoothie feels great when you have a sore throat, and they are a quick and easy way to eat something reasonably healthy. As I was enjoying one the smoothies I made this week, I realized that they would also make excellent popsicles. I love ice cream, so I am always looking for healthier frozen treat alternatives. What I like about using popsicle molds like these is that you can put whatever you want in them. I am lucky to work in an amazingly well-stocked co-op where we have many types of bulk frozen fruits to choose from, so I took advantage of that and used lots of different types of fruit in my smoothies. Below are 3

smoothie recipes that I tried making popsicles with today. A few notes: Normally, I would probably use regular milk, but since I've been congested, and thought dairy products would make it worse, I used soy milk in these. I'm sure you could substitute whatever type of milk (almond, rice, coconut, goat, etc.) you like. Also, as I mention above, I can buy small quantities of lots of different fruit for variety. If you don't have access to bulk frozen fruit, just try one or two types at a time. And of course, when fruit is in season, feel free to substitute fresh fruit! Smoothies and popsicles are a great way to use up fruit that is bruised or becoming overripe in the warmer months. Each of the recipes below makes 2 popsicles + one 8oz smoothie.

Strawberry Melon

1/2 melon

1/4 avocado

1/2 banana

large handful frozen strawberries

small handful of frozen peaches

1/2 cup OJ

1/4 cup soy milk

Pineapple Mango

1/2 banana

1/4 avocodo

large handful frozen mango

large handful frozen pineapple

1/2 cup OJ

1/4 cup soy milk

Raspberry Lime

1 banana

2 large handfuls frozen raspberries

juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup OJ

1/2 cup soy milk