Kefir Soda

Kiss Me…

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…I’ve got some Irish in me!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Leave it to the Irish to turn a holy day into a day associated with BEER!  Not that I’m complaining, I am planning on enjoying a Guinness float in honor of my Irish Pappy.

If there are any Irish readers out there, how is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated in Ireland?  Is it more about the church service and less about the green booze?

March 17th is a special day in my family because it’s my mother-in-laws birthday!  Happy birthday Shay!

I made her a birthday cake but since she lives 3 hours away we had to eat it all ourselves. 😉

This flour-less, low-fat chocolate torte was an experiment that turned out really well.

  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 nugget panela dissolved* in 1/4 cup water OR 3 tablespoons brown sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup cocoa (non alkalized is much higher in antioxidants)
  • 3 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • ~1/4 cup unsweetened baking chocolate

Whisk all ingredients except the baking chocolate together in a bowl.  Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler and quickly whisk into the other ingredients.  Taste for sweetness.  This is meant to be a rich, semi-sweet torte but if you prefer it a little sweeter you can add another tablespoon of brown sugar/panela dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water.

Butter and cocoa your baking dish. I used an 8 inch pan but I would have preferred it a little thicker so next time I will double the recipe or use a smaller dish.  Bake at 350 for 22 minutes.  Take out of the oven when it still looks a little undercooked.  Since this torte is low-fat is will dry out if cooked too long.

I glazed the top with a Cabernet Sauvignon jam that I melted in the microwave. Raspberry would be great too. If you wanted to go full-on decedent a chocolate-coconut icing like the one I made for Halloween would be pretty amazing.

*Panela

These morsels of unrefined cane sugar are my go-to for all of my sugar needs lately (Kefir Spritzer, Kombucha, the occasional sugar-sweetened dessert).  They can be found at any Latin American specialty store for a few bucks a bag.  Panela dissolves quickly in hot or cold water and tastes similar to brown sugar but unlike brown sugar is unrefined.  Most brown sugar is just refined white sugar with processed molasses added back in.  The processing of both the sugar and the molasses stripes out the nutrients and you are left with empty, nutritionally-void calories.  Panela is minimally processed and the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals remain.

It’s a gorgeous day and along with a little yoga and a quick kettlebell workout, my exercise will come in the form of yard work and walking dates with girl friends.  Love Spring.  Enjoy!

Splendid Sunday

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One of my newly-created Sunday rituals is to listen to The Splendid Table podcast while working on a meal or other kitchen project.  After a weekend out of town, a little Sunday ritual was exactly what I needed when we got home yesterday evening.

To the sound of Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s fabulous chuckle (Tate loves to make fun of her), I set to work.

First order of business after being away from home is to check on my ferments and make sure I am not nearing an over-carbonation catastrophe.

The kefir spritzer

and kombucha were right on track.

I ♥ bubbles so I let my brews ferment at room temperature until they are light and fizzy but it’s possible to take it overboard and end up with the shaken-warm-soda-like eruption that ends in a sticky mess on the counter.

But the bubbles are worth it. 🙂

Dinner was combed together from the near-empty fridge and muffins were mixed from the freezer and cabinets.

Apple-Ginger

These babies turned out to be a complete failure in the filling department but otherwise they are awesome.

They were filled with an almond butter and banana combo but I guess the ratio of fat to fruit was off because the filling was totally absorbed into the muffin and I couldn’t even taste a hint of it in the center. 🙁

Delicious and so-quick breakfast

I won’t even bother with the details for the filling since it was non-existent!

The Dry

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp ginger powder

Whisk the dry together in a medium bowl.

The Wet

  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 very ripe banana
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt
  • good sized knob peeled fresh ginger
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 egg

Puree all ingredients except egg in a food processor until banana and ginger is fully incorporated, add egg, pulse until mixed.  No food processor?  How do you cook?!  Sorry.  You could mash the banana by hand and grate the ginger.

Add wet to dry, mix until batter forms, add 1 chopped apple.  Fill muffin cups until just full.  Kinda random but this batter made 7 muffins, without filling you could probably do 6 big ones or 12 small.

Bake for 25 minutes in a pre-heated 375* F oven.  Take out, let rest for 5-10 minutes, remove muffins and set on cooling rack.

Each large muffin contains just under 200 calories and is an excellent source of dietary fiber.

Today will be full of fitting in errands and exercise between patients at the clinic.  We got the morning off on the right foot with an active commute

Note Tate’s raised left arm, that would be a cup of coffee.  There’s talk of rigging a cup holder to his bike but I think he prefers to be able to drink it en route. 😉

There’s a lull in patients so I think I’ll head upstairs to the studio and flow through a few Sun Salutations.  If you are in the area, I am subbing a 12pm Vinyasa class tomorrow here at Core, come play with me!

Hope your weekend was fantastic, have a great Monday!