Just Flourishing » Baking

We All Must Believe In Something…

Janna — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:36:12 +0000

…I believe I’ll go canoeing.

I spent the weekend at BF’s cottage…and remembered my camera!

Before I left to go out there, I whipped up a batch of adapted babycakes chocolate chip cookies. The original recipe calls for Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour but I couldn’t find it here! I asked babycakes on twitter if I could substitute spelt flour:

I got no response. So, I just went for it and hoped for the best!

Mmmm cookie dough….

Cooling on the cooling racks…looking mighty tasty!

Well, I have an answer for you. YES you most definitely CAN substitute spelt flour!

The cookies were thin, chewy, crispy, and sweet. Pretty darn good for vegan, whole grain spelt cookies!
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All packed up and ready to go!

OFF TO THE LAKE!….

Pretty much the very first thing BF and I did when I got there was hopped in the canoe and went for a paddle!

Fun Fact About Me: From the ages of 9 to I8 I went to a wilderness focused camp in Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ontario! Every year we went on a progressively longer canoe trip into the woods finally culminating in a MONTH LONG canoe trip when I was 15. We paddled for miles and miles each day and portaged our canoes and ruck-sacks into different lakes! Yep, I carried a canoe on my head!

Wish I could find my pictures of it but I’ll leave you with a picture of me on a shorter canoe trip two years later with some food I had just whipped up!

Hope you enjoy my smiley friends

There is a huge part of me that is completely “City Girl”. I pictured myself living in New York City ever since I can remember. However, there’s a part of me that still LOVES the wilderness and the outdoors.

On the water yesterday. I haven’t lost my canoeing skillz!

For dinner we had pickerel, fries and salad. The pickerel was lightly breaded and tasted VERY similar to breaded chicken! If I am ever craving chicken, I know what to make now!

For dessert we had Jeanne’s Cake. There is definitely a story that comes with Jeanne’s Cake

I grew up eating Jeanne’s Cake My baba (mom’s mom) would serve it for dessert for EVERY special occasion. It was probably the first cake I ever tasted. And the one I’ve eaten the most throughout my life. And she still serves it to this day, though much less often.

Jeanne’s cake is famous in Winnipeg and has been around for over 50 years. It’s loved for its shortbread crust, real butter icing and Belgian chocolate swirl. It is by no means healthy…but it is delicious and evokes so many memories. I can never turn down a slice

We had to go back early today to send BF on his way back to NYC… but I’m looking forward to more outdoor adventures at my OWN cottage in the coming weeks.

A view of the Manitoba prairies on our way home. I may be a die-hard “City Girl” but I’ll always be a Prairie Girl at heart

Do you enjoy the wilderness/camping? Ever been on a canoe trip? Portaged a canoe?

Fun In The Kitchen: Babycakes Cupcakes (video)

Janna — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:00:29 +0000

On this rainy weekend, JH and I decided to attempt to make babycakes cupcakes…and film it! It’s not really a cupcakes how-to (as we can’t share the recipe with you because it’s from the babycakes cookbook), but just a fun video of us attempting to make the cupcakes.

Hilarity obviously ensues.

There is a yummy frosting recipe that I share, though! And you may even learn how to zest a lemon

Oh..and enjoy the musical stylings of Glee in the background!

Have a great rest of the weekend! Hope it’s not too rainy where you are!

I Am The Baking Queen

Janna — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:22:51 +0000

I can bake. I mean, give someone butter, sugar, refined flour, and eggs… and almost anyone can bake something delicious.

But, give me whole grain flour, agave/evaporated cane juice, oil, applesauce, egg replacer… and I cannot for the life of me make something tasty. Believe me, I’ve tried. I can bake, I just cannot bake “healthy”.

Until now…

babycakes has turned me into a baking genius… no, a Baking QUEEN!

Thin chocolate chip cookies, crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

And they were made with whole grain flour! coconut oil! fruit! and NO butter, NO refined sugar, NO soy and NO eggs.

I had to make more…

Not to mention the recipes (once you get the ingredients, which can be a challenge ) are beyond SIMPLE.

Banana bread…perfection in both appearance and taste. Every time.

What I said at the top about giving someone “butter, sugar, refined flour, and eggs”, I take it back… What I meant to say was:

Give someone a babycakes cookbook and anyone can bake something delicious!

Next on my list…cupcakes!

Are you a baking queen (or king )? What do you love to bake?

Chocolate Bread Fail

Janna — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:03:59 +0000

Okay, so I kind of, sort of… had a baking FAIL.

I really wanted to make a Chocolate Babka for today’s post. A babka is kind of like a bread/cake aka a cake made with a yeast dough.

Seinfeld anyone?

I found a recipe and began my preparations. As it turned out, this recipe wasn’t for Chocolate Babka as much as it was for a Chocolate Egg Bread.

“Hey, Chocolate Bread sounds not bad” I thought to myself. So I went ahead with it, changed a few things around and baked away.

Looked great! And smelled amazing while baking

Unfortunately the taste was…not “to die for”.

I tried it plain (too eggy, hardly any chocolate taste) And then with PB…

Slightly better with the PB, but… there was just something NOT RIGHT about this bread.

Oh well. Ya win some, ya lose some. Clearly, I will not be sharing the recipe with you.

But I will point you in the direction of a few recipe for Chocolate Bread that I believe will turn out just deliciously.

I may give one of them a try! Or maybe just go take a stroll over to Balthazar to pick up a loaf of their amazing looking chocolate bread!

Happy Friday!!!!

What is your FAVORITE type of bread?

I LOVE bread of all kinds, but I would have to say my ultimate favorite is sourdough. Such a soft and tangy bread!

*YOU HAVE 2 MORE DAYS TO ENTER MY VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY TO WIN A JAR OF YUMMY CHOCOLATE BODY CREAM*

Some things I’m loving right now…

Janna — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:47:59 +0000

Thanks for your additions to the list of “Man- Friendly Vegan Food”, keep them coming!

And because I’m in a list type of mood these days, I thought I’d give you a little run down of the things, both health and fitness related, and not so health and fitness related that I’m lovin’ right now…

1. My Winter Head-Gear

JH got me this hat from The Gap for Chanukah and I absolutely LOVE it. It’s so warm and looks so big and comfy and adorable on.

And I just got those pink and fluffy earmuffs (Juicy Couture) on sale at Bloomies and they are the cutest!

2. My New Gym Shirt

Another win from The Gap; this exercise tank top. I don’t have a picture of me wearing it, but it fits me so well! I kind of want to get one in every color… I think I just might! It has great coverage, good support, doesn’t really show sweat marks and I love the long length.

3. How Now Brown Cacao

I got a sample pack from One Lucky Duck a couple weeks ago filled with some amazing products. I love a lot of them, but my favorite so far has to be the How Now Brown Cacao “body dessert” from Simply Divine Botanicals.

I love rich, chocolate-y smelling body creams. And this one is made with ingredients like organic raw cacao butter, organic virgin coconut cream and organic avocado oil…you can pretty much eat it . It’s really moisturizing and I wear it as perfume, it smells so good!

4. Satsumas

Unlike some types of mandarin or tangerine oranges, Satsumas are always SUPER easy to peel and very soft and sweet. And they’re so pretty! I saw these at WF the other day and had to buy a whole bunch! (BTW – they aren’t the same as clemintines).

5. Almond Breeze

Almond Breeze was the very first Almond Milk I ever tried and I really like it, but wasn’t a fan of the (miniscule amount) of soy lecithin in it. So I went out to try a bunch of other brands. However, they all managed to disappoint me with their taste (too sweet) and their consistency (not smooth). After a couple weeks I decided to go back to AB and it tasted like HEAVEN! I guess I’ll just have to live with the itty bit of soy!

6. Barney Butter

I ordered 3 jars of this stuff and after I finished the first jar in about 5 seconds, I decided to hold off on the next two. Well, I just opened my 2nd jar the other day and am already 1/4 into the jar (whoops). It’s just SO good! How do they do it?

7. Sweet Treats

I’ve been enjoying a lot of sweet treats lately such as:

Cupcakes at babycakes (split a lemon spelt and chocolate spelt with JH)

Homemade Vegan Brownies (recipe here)

And some Christmas chocolate the BF brought home for me from Godiva!

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What are some things you’re loving right now??

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely mine.

Some "Glow"-ing Meals

Janna — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

It’s finally here! It’s GLEE DAY!!!!!!

I apologize, I am slightly obsessed with this show, but it hasn’t been on in two weeks… I am going through serious Glee withdrawal!

Alright, moving along.

For lunch yesterday I used the leftover brown rice pasta from dinner the other night to throw together a quick and easy pasta salad.

Easy Leftover Veggie Pasta Salad

What I used:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
The juice of one fresh lemon
The zest of one lemon (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon or whole grain mustard
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup brown rice pasta
1/2 cup grape/cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 avocado, chopped
1 cup chick peas
- [Other good veggies to use would be broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, corn, beans]
A handful of mint or basil leaves cut into chiffonade
*Feta cheese would probably work well with this (I didn’t have any on hand)

Combine olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard and garlic in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Put pasta to large bowl. Add tomatoes, avocado, and chickpeas. Pour dressing over and toss. Add in mint/ basil and toss again. Serve right away or chill in the fridge.

Dinner and Dessert just happened to be inspired by Miss Angela from Oh She Glows.

Dinner was an open faced Amy’s California burger on a piece of Ezekiel bread with a spread of Angela’s Salsa + Hummus dip and topped with goat gouda, avocado and a bit more salsa.

I also had a bunch of sweet potato fries I made the bf. I think these were even better than my first batch!

And now for last night’s dessert.

I decided to try my hand at making Angela’s Pumpkin Scuffins. I made a couple modifications – I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of spelt and I left out the chia seeds, as I didn’t have them.

I followed her directions, into the oven they went and….

YUM. How good do those look?

I stole a bite when they were still hot because they smelled SO GOOD coming from the oven I couldn’t wait another second to try them.

The verdict?…

Stop what you are doing right now and RUN, don’t walk, RUN to make these scuffins. They were SO good! Light, fluffy, pumpkin-y, sweet but not too sweet, spicy… just so delicious. I had to REALLY use a lot of self-control not to eat all of them. I settled for one.

The bf had one with some ice cream and he described them as, and I quote “a dance party in my mouth”. They’re good. You should probably make them… right now.

Thanks for the recipe Angela!!!

**Updated to ADD**
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Top 10 Reasons you should Wear ID when you go out for a run/bike.

They gave me a coupon code that I could pass along to all you folks
Coupon Number: ThanksJanna563191
The coupon is good for $1 off any Road ID order placed by 12/11/2009.
To order, simply go to RoadID.com or click the link below:
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A special guest post is coming up tomorrow and a VERY special post is on deck for Friday!

Have a great Hump Day!

Janna

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SOME FUN LINKS FOR YOU TO CHECK OUT:

Just Cause
Survival of the 20’s
My New Favorite Person – Amy Phillips
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Vegan Cookies and Chop Chop Salad

Janna — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:06:19 +0000

Good morning!

So, as much as I wanted it to be, unfortunately running was not in the cards for me yesterday evening. I definitely tried though! I got all bundled up a la Angela’s Project Snow. I grabbed my ipod and slapped on my Garmin and was off into the cold. I turned on my ipod, put in my earphones and… nothing. Apparently my earbuds decided that they no longer want to work Then I turned on my Garmin and it displayed “low battery”. I mean, I could obviously run without a Garmin and without music. But… when it’s dark and cold, I think I’d rather have them. And maybe a part of me wasn’t totally crazy enough to run in the dark and in the cold. I think for me, maybe I should try and do my outside runs in the morning or afternoon; I’m not a big fan of running in the dark.

So, I went back home and saw there was just enough time for me to make it to my usual Wednesday gym ritual – the Brazilian Series at Equinox.

I am not giving up on this running thing though!

Dinner and Dessert

I have really been craving salads lately. I think it may be because I have been slacking on my veggie intake.
After seeing the chopped salad on this lovely lady`s blog, I decided it was exactly what I wanted for dinner last night.

I tossed together in a bowl:

1/2 small head of washed and chopped red leaf lettuce
1/2 an English cucumber, peeled and diced
About 20 grape tomatoes, halved
1 small avocado diced
1 roasted red pepper sliced (I used a jarred version. But feel free to roast your own)
1 cup of chickpeas
1 cup of sliced hearts of palm (my favorite salad mix-in!)
A few sliced mushrooms that were on their last leg
(You could also throw on some goats cheese or chopped nuts – I didn’t have any on hand)

I then dressed it with a bit of EVOO, balsamic vinegar, a squirt of lemon juice and a small amount of salt and pepper .

Delicious (and nutritious )

I love love love salads with tons of ingredients thrown into them.

What are your favorite salad toppings? (mine are hearts of palm, chick-peas and strawberries!)

After dinner the bf and I both had a bit of a sweet tooth, so I decided to try my hand at making some vegan chocolate chip cookies!

I followed this recipe, but substituted the regular flour for whole wheat pastry flour.

The finished product:

They smelled, delicious and they looked delicious… but they tasted, as the bf said “just okay”.

He actually said they tasted a bit bland. Maybe it had to do with the WW flour? Or maybe it was the lack of butter

I thought they were not bad; they definitely hit the spot for me but I agreed that they could have been better.

I will keep searching around for a good recipe. If you know of any please send them my way!

I think a breakfast smoothie is on the menu this morning!

Happy almost weekend! Have a great day!

Janna

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To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate

Wondering about whether you should get the H1N1 Vaccine?

Did you know today was “Nutrition Day”?

Eat those fruits and veggies!

Treat or Trick?

Janna — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:22:04 +0000

[source]

To indulge in the Halloween Candy… or not to indulge? That is the question.

There are as many “Healthy Halloween Ideas” floating around the web as there are encouraging words to “just indulge”.

Especially if you have kids, and even if you don’t, it’s hard not to feel the urge to have a couple mini chocolate bars, a handful of candy corn or a few lollipops.

But, what exactly is IN those much loved Halloween treats?

Let’s take a look:

One popular mini chocolate is the Twix Bar.

[source]

The ingredients consist of:
milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter,chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin & PGPR (emulsifiers), artificial flavors), sugar, enriched flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate,riboflavin, folic acid), partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, skim milk,dextrose, lactose, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, soy lecithin, artificial flavor
[source]

Let’s evaluate:

Lots of sugar… but we already suspected that would be in there
There is quite a bit of soy for those who may be sensitive to it or choose to avoid it.
hydrogenated = TRANS FAT = bad!
PGPR or “Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate” is an emulsifier made from castor beans which reduces the viscosity of chocolate. … Yum?
“Artificial flavor” …doesn’t sound like the best idea to me.

Now lets take a look at the ingredients in the much loved Halloween treat – Candy Corn.

[source]

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Confectioner’s Glaze, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Salt, Artificial Colors, (FDC Yellow 6 Lake, Red #40, Red 40 Lake, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, Blue 1 Lake, Blue #1, Yellow 5 Lake), Egg Whites, Honey Glycerin, Mineral Oil, Carnauba Wax[source]

Let’s evaluate:

Again, TONS of sugar
Artificial flavors – yuck!
And OMG an OVERLOAD of artificial colors. EW EW EW and EW.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather avoid ingesting partially hydrogenated soybean oil and Red 40 Lake, thanks very much.

Once you know what these candies are actually made of, I think it definitely helps you to choose whether it’s worth it to “indulge”.

That said, you don’t have to restrict yourself from eating treats on Halloween! There are lots of choices out there that you don’t have to feel bad about indulging in:

Dark chocolate (the darker the more antioxidants!)
Mints
Home-made treats!
Dried Fruit
Chocolate covered nuts – such as these ones or these ones.
Soft Eating Liquorice – but make sure to look at the ingredients list (the kind made by Darrell Lea is tasty and has a pretty good ingredients list)
Pumpkin – always a favourite at Halloween time – try my recipe for Pumpkin Scones!

Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Question of the day:

If you’re dressing up, what are you going as?

I’m going as a CARE BEAR! Specifically, Cheer Bear! So mature.

Maybe I’ll even post a pic of my costume tomorrow. Maybe

Updated to Add: I just want to clarify that I am dressing up to go to a Halloween PARTY, not to go Trick-or-Treating.

Fully Stocked and an Explosion!

Janna — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:29:52 +0000

Housekeeping: I started my FAQ page! It’s still a work in progress, but feel free to check it out!

And as always if you have any questions about nutrition, health, fitness or anything else that you think I may have some insight on, leave me a comment or email me at justflourishing@gmail.com.

Nothing makes me happier than a pantry, cupboard, fridge and freezer FULLY stocked with food.

After a marathon grocery shopping weekend I am fully stocked for hopefully the next 2 weeks (give or take some produce).

Pantry

Cupboard

Fridge (doesn’t look THAT full… but trust me, it is MUCH fuller than normal)

Freezer

Explosion!

I was having my bff JH and her friend Emily over yesterday, so I decided to bake up some brownies. You saw in my last post that I had No Pudge Fudge Brownie mix on hand. So I decided to shake it up and make it with So Delicious dairy free coconut yogurt and pureed pumpkin instead of cows milk yogurt.

The flavor was spot on, but I think I added a bit too much pumpkin because the brownies definitely had more of a pumpkin pie texture than a brownie texture. Whoops!

Before JH and Emily arrived, I was doing a big clean of the apartment. While cleaning the bathroom cupboards I accidentally knocked over my nail polish and it BROKE and splattered ALL. OVER. THE. BATHROOM.. Dark purple nail polish EVERYWHERE. It was awful.
Luckily we need a new shower curtain and bath mat anyway. But… ugh… the smell was terrible.

What a way to welcome my friends, right.

Luckily, the girls didn’t mind the nail polish spillage. To get away from the smell, we walked around and I ~~forced them to go with me to buy a temporary shower curtain~~ showed them around the neighbourhood.

Afterwards we had some brownies. The girls actually liked them! (or so they said!)

The brownies (after some of them were consumed by us girls )

I froze the rest and they taste MUCH better frozen.

Dinner

Dinner last night was kind of on a whim. Even though I had just bought tons of groceries the BF and I wanted to go out.

We settled on an unassuming restaurant called Cafe Falai. It is somewhere you would probably just walk past without noticing unless you actually stopped to take a closer look at it.

When you actually stop to peer inside it’s as if you’re looking into someone’s pristine white linen dining room in the middle of a busy street …across from a car lot. It’s kind of like a mirage!

Inside it is all white linen and chandeliers.

Simple, yet elegant

And the food?

Well… the food was wonderful.

The bf and I split a green salad with avocado:

He had the veal (boo!)… actually he said it was one of the most delicious meals he has had in NYC.

And I tried the handmade almond flour (!) pasta with mushrooms and cauliflower

It looks so teeny on that big white plate. But honestly it was very filling. And so rich and delicious. The only downside was that it was a BIT too buttery.

Overall, the meal was beautifully prepared and tasted great. I will definitely be going back many times.

Tonight

After a long day of studying for me and a long day of work for the bf we decided that it was a wine night.

We each had a small glass of Barons de Rothschild 2002 Saga Bordeaux.

I ate earlier but the bf hadn’t eaten. He requested a LARGE, pasta-filled dinner.

I cooked him up some Spinach ravioli with san marzano tomato sauce AND a piece of Kashi veggie lasagna. I topped it all with some fresh basil and swiss emmental cheese. On the side is some more shredded swiss emmental cheese.

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Mmmmm passsssta!

Alright. Off to watch some of my guilty pleasure. Then off to bed!

Janna

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Project Feed Me:

Don’t forget about Project Feed Me! This week the items are two boxes of mac and cheese!