Honey Tahini Almond Cookies

Posted in Food, pinterest by peppermintsandhoneybees

This is one recipe that I tried from pinterest that I will definitely be making again! Not only are they healthy but they are addicting. These cookies are packed with nutrition and naturally sweetened with honey. I also added a little agave nectar to mine for a little extra sweetness.

I got the recipe from a blog called http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2014/03/honey-tahini-almond-cookies

1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup tahini
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon agave nectar (optional)
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Combine the almond meal, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Next combine the honey, vanilla, tahini, and agave. Slowly stir in the dry mix until everything is mixed up. Roll into quarter sized balls and roll into the sesame seeds, coating the balls. Press them down on your lightly greased cookie sheet so they are about 1/4″ thick.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 10 minutes or until the bottoms are brown.

Enjoy!

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15Oct2014

Vegetable Bean and Lentil Stew

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

It’s been raining here by Chicago all week and with the dreary cold weather it’s starting to feel more like fall. I decided it was time to make my Vegetable bean and lentil stew for dinner. I call it this because it’s the best name I can think of because I pack it full of all kinds of good stuff. I never measure stuff out when I cook so it comes out a bit different every time but I’ve tried to put together a recipe if anyone wanted to try it for themselves.

Usually I use a little of whatever beans and lentils I have in our pantry. For this batch I used:

Black beans, pinto beans, great northern white beans, and lentils. Use enough of whatever your mix is to fill the crock pot up 1/4 of the way. Fill it up with vegetable stock so its up above the beans about an inch fill with water about three more inches. I add 1 Tablespoon of chopped garlic and about 1/3 cup of chopped onions. I use a pinch or two of salt and some thyme.
Here is a picture of everything else I added. Also not pictured, kale and onions. I let the beans and lentils cook for a bout an hour or two first before I add everything else.

Next I chop up a few carrots, stalks of celery and two or three potatoes. I add a handful of kale and let let simmer until everything is cooked. Usually a couple more hours. I let it cook all day to let the flavors cook in. It’s good for a Sunday around the house. It makes quite a bit so you’ll have leftovers too!

enjoy!

19Aug2014

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes with Peach Frosting

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve been searching for the perfect basic cupcake recipe for a while. I wanted a basic go-to recipe that I could use to base other concoctions I try out. I found one at handletheheat.com that had a good, easy, basic recipe and it showed what happened if you subbed different ingredients out for others. I love trying to make dessert recipes healthier, and I’m not vegan, just vegetarian, but I try to limit my dairy so I wanted to try and make a go-to vegan cupcake recipe. I like to see if I can make desserts still as tasty while switching the ingredients.

I listed the original recipe along with the things I switched out such as almond milk, flax seed for eggs, and coconut oil for butter. The next batch I make, I’ll probably use coconut or rice flour to see if I can make it gluten free too. I have a niece who has Celiac disease and can’t have gluten, so I like to make sure she can still enjoy as many of the same treats as everyone else.

For the icing I wanted to use something I had already and had bought peaches the day before so I decided to try and make some vegan icing with coconut oil and powdered sugar. This one I made up as I go, but the measurements should be pretty close. Just eyeball it! Also make sure to keep these refrigerated so the icing doesn’t melt. 😉

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unrefined virgin coconut oil
1 egg or 1 teaspoon flax seed + 2-3 teaspoons water (enough to make the consistency of an egg)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of milk (I used almond milk and it turned out fine)

Combine all dry ingredients and then add wet. Mix with a hand mixer and then scoop into lined muffin tin. The batter will be a little thicker than regular cake batter so don’t worry.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Makes 12

Icing:

1/4 cup unrefined virgin coconut oil melted
1 peach blended in a blender, bullet, or food processor
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (again I used almond milk)
1 cup powdered sugar (you may have to add more if it’s too watery)

I also added a little flour to mine to thicken it up. Add all ingredients and blend with a hand mixer. Next let it set in the fridge for about an hour or about 20 minutes in the freezer to thicken up the icing. And again since it’s made with coconut oil you’ll need to keep these refrigerated so the frosting doesn’t melt.

Also I used whole wheat flour in my cupcakes because that’s what I had but for the next time I think I would use either regular flour or coconut flour. The wheat flour gave the cupcakes a kind of muffin taste, which wasn’t bad but if you’re going for a more traditional cupcake taste I’d use something else. Enjoy!

30Jul2014

Sesame Soy Kale Chips

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

If you’re like me you love anything sweet to snack on but sometimes something salty and crunchy is in order. I made these kale chips yesterday and they are almost already gone! They’re super easy to make and healthier than most salty snacks!

You will need:
•a gallon sized ziplock bag
•one bunch of kale. Must be cleaned dried and removed from the stems
•soy sauce
•sesame seeds
•garlic (optional)

Begin by cleaning kale and ripping it up in sections about an in ch or two wide. Lay it out to dry as I did here.

Next add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the bag with 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons sesame seeds. I added about 1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic to mine as well.

Add the kale and seal with air in the bag. Then shake until it is all coated. Next open the bag and let the air out, close it and work the mixture in so it is evenly coated throughout the kale.

Spread the kale out onto a lightly sprayed baking sheet or pan and bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until it’s crispy.

Then enjoy! I should warn you they are addicting. 😉

For more flavors I found a list at Refinery29

10Jul2014

Mulberry Crumble Pie

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hi everyone! I just made my very first ever pie and it turned out pretty amazing so I thought I’d share the recipe here. I found a couple different recipes for different kinds of pies and combined them while tweaking them a little bit more. I must confess I used a pre-made pie crust this time since I was a little scared of my first pie.

I have been wanting to make a mulberry tree for two summers now, and since we have mulberry trees in our yard now I took it as a sign.

Here’s what you will need for the filling:

4 cups of mulberries (blackberries would also be amazing!)
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons of Lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons of butter (I used vegan butter which also works.)

Just combine all ingredients and mix. place into uncooked pie crust.

Now for the crumble:

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons quick oats
3 Teaspoons cold diced butter
1/3 cup sugar

In a bowl whisk flour and baking powder.
Add diced butter and mix together with your fingers.
Add oats and sugar. Whisk.
Pour topping on top of pie.
Pat down with your fingers.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. After 15 minutes turn the oven down to 350 degrees F, and bake for about 15 more minutes. The top should be golden and sides bubbling.

Let it cool and enjoy with ice cream or even just by itself. I’ve never really been big on ice cream on pie. Weird I know!

The pie filling I got from a blog called Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome, and the crumble was from a strawberry pie I found at On Sutton Place.

Have fun baking and eating!

12May2014

Cinnamon popcorn

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day weekend! I made sure I was outside as much as possible. I bought a new bike so now I can finally go on rides. We also went out exploring, shopping and just enjoyed the 80 degree weather. Even the cats are loving it. (mostly because of all the birds on the patio)

I thought for its week I’d post a recipe. We’ll not really a recipe it’s just how I like to make popcorn. We’ve been on a big popcorn kick here lately and I of course have a huge sweet tooth so I like to sweeten mine. We pop our own which is way healthier and just as fast as the microwave kind. It’s cheaper and has less nasty chemicals too.

We pop it over the stove in coconut oil which tastes great! I then drizzle mine with agave syrup and coat it with cinnamon. I mix it up and then its ready to enjoy. It’s so good and not that bad for you. I also use Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice sometimes too if you like pumpkin.

Enjoy and let me know how you like your popcorn!

Jenna ❤

6Apr2014

Tangerine Upsidedown Cakes

Posted in Food, pinterest, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I don’t cook to many desserts but I was in the mood and wanted to try this recipe I found on pinterest from

http://drizzleanddip.com/2012/09/10/clementine-upside-down-cakes. I used tangerines instead, but whatever! I varied my recipe because I used a cup of Greek yogurt and a cup of water instead of butter and eggs but I will give you the recipe from Drizzle and Dip and if you feel adventurous like I was you can deviate from the recipe.

225g butter – room temp
225g caster sugar
225g flour
2t baking powder
4 large eggs – room temp
finely grated zest of 2 small clementines, or in my case tangerines
about 1/2 – 1 t of brown sugar for each cake
15 slices of peeled clementines (1 slice per cake)

Hot Syrup

1/2 cup of clementine juice
1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 c / 350 F
Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, allowing to fully combine between each addition
Add the clementine zest and mix.
By hand sift the flour and the baking powder over the mix and fold it in to combine
Sprinkle around 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in the the bottom of each cavity of a greased muffin pan.
Add a slice of clementine (cut about 1cm thick) on top of the sugar.
Using an ice-cream scoop, evenly measure out the cake batter and dollop onto each clementine (about 3/4 of the way up the pan).
Bake for 25 – 30 mins, until golden brown. Mine took 30 minutes with the Greek yogurt.
Make the syrup by bringing the juice and sugar to the boil until the sugar has dissolved and it just starts to thicken.
Using a spatula gently loosen the baked cakes from the mold and tip out onto a cooling rack. Pour the warm syrup over the cakes to allow them to absorb.