Flax Seed Focaccia, Coconut Flour Carrot Muffins, and the Best Chard Side Dish EVER

I have been playing around with different recipes for baked goods for a while, and as is my usual custom when separated from my stock of vegetarian, vegan and raw cookbooks at home (sob!), I tend to start my experimenting by dreaming up the foodstuff I would like to eat, googling its main ingredients, and reading about 20 recipes for the same before making up my own version. This time, however, I found Elana's Pantry. Oh yes, it's a grain-free baker's delight! I barely had to tweak anything, and the tweaks were merely because of what I had in my cupboard at the time - I am confident her recipes are perfect as is. I ended up spending a night making two recipes from Elana - her Flax Foccaccia bread and Carrot Muffins. They were both AMAZING (especially to someone who doesn't eat baked treats that often!)


I am posting the recipes below with my small variations...and I encourage you to try them. She knows what she's at. That got me thinking that I don't usually talk about food blogs on this, my food blog. I don't read a lot of them regularly, as I just don't have time to do so, and there's about seven zillion out there that I would read if I could. However, not a day goes by that I don't check my RSS for a new post from Choosing Raw, my favorite blog. Why is it my favorite? I suppose because it was one of the first blogs I started visiting when I was just starting to try raw foods, and trying to find alternatives to what I had been eating my whole life: namely grains, sugar, soy, etc. Gena, author of Choosing Raw, does use soy sometimes, and she does use grains, but her personable, informed view on eating (she is a nutritionist!) and her approachable take on veganism and eating disorders are things I can appreciate. Thankfully I have never had an eating disorder, but I know many people who have, and she writes about her own recovery in a hopeful, helpful way that is inspiring. I am not vegan, but I also appreciate her writing on that lifestyle, which I have flirted with for a while now...but as you will see below, the cheese still has a hold on me. (I tell myself that I have so many 'forbidden' foods I should allow some dairy since I am able to digest it...but that's just an excuse to consume delicious cheese. If I had more willpower I would make the vegan switch. Some day!)

Choosing Raw is also where I found the other blogs I like to read from time to time, as Gena has got a great list of links as well. I won't go on about them all here - you can check them out for yourself. 

Anyway, on to the recipes. Let's start with muffins: cinnamony, raisiny, carrotty gems of muffins...I think I might have to make more tonight as my batch ran out a few days ago.

Gluten Free Carrot Mini Muffins from Elana's Pantry
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt - I changed this to 1/8 tsp Himalayan salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
3 eggs
¼ cup grapeseed oil - I had to sub in some sunflower oil
¼ cup yacon syrup - I used agave
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup carrots, grated
¼ cup currants - I used raisins

1. In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
2. In a large bowl, blend together eggs, oil, yacon and vanilla
3. Blend dry ingredients into wet, then fold in carrots and currants
4. Grease a mini muffin tin with grapeseed oil ...I used a regular-sized muffin tin, with papers, and it made 10 muffins
5. Spoon approximately batter into each greased mini muffin cup
6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes ...it takes a little longer with large muffins so set your timer for 10 minutes then check every 2 minutes after that - muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean
7. Cool and serve

Makes about about 32 mini-muffins...or 10 big delicious ones!

And now we move on to Focaccia. When I saw this recipe I was a bit skeptical. It's basically made of flax seeds! Would it be tasty? The answer is - yes. The bread itself is fairly bland, but it is a sponge for flavors...making it perfect for topping with just about anything, or just dipping into some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It keeps well in the fridge, too. 

 

Flax Focaccia Bread Base - Elana's Pantry
2 cups flax meal - make this by grinding flax seeds in a coffee grinder or food processor. Do not grind in advance as flax meal goes rancid quickly (and flax seeds should always be stored in the fridge!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 tablespoon agave nectar
5 eggs, whisked
½ cup water
⅓ cup olive oil 

1. In a large bowl combine flax meal, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt
2. In a smaller bowl, mix together agave, eggs, water and olive oil
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry, mixing well, then allow to stand for 2-3 minutes so that batter thickens
4. Pour batter into a 11-by-7-Inch pyrex baking dish I didn't have anything this size so I used 2 smaller casserole dishes
5. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or so until a knife comes out clean
6. Remove from oven and cool

Rosemary Parsley Topping
1 batch focaccia
1 small onion, minced
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, minced
¼ cup olive oil

1. Slice focaccia bread into squares and place on a parchment lined baking sheet
2. In a small bowl, combine onion, parsley, rosemary and olive oil
3. Spoon mixture onto bread squares
4. Bake at 350° until onions are browned
5. Remove from oven and bread will be crunchy; drizzle with more olive oil if desired
6. Serve

 The bread bakes into the perfect height to be sliced in half and then toasted in the oven.

 I skipped Elana's topping in favor of mashing up some roasted garlic and olive oil and salt and spreading that on top of a few slices on Night 1...I baked in the oven at 350 until crispy and served with a generous salad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Night 2, I tried plain toasted bread with just a little olive oil brushed on top, and dipped it in the leftover oil and balsamic from my salad:

And on Night 3 I used the bread as a base for a pesto-mozza-tomato melt, with a side of delicious chard:

Either way, it's a winner. 

The chard is also a winner, and may be my favorite chard saute I have ever made (which is saying something). I have made it four days in a row now because it's so tasty (and because if you can actually get fresh greens at the Dawson grocery store, you'd better eat them in quantity!):

Quick Chard and Apple Saute

per person:

olive oil

3 large chard leaves

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/2 apple, chopped (golden delicious is delicious here)

1 tsp rosemary

1 clove garlic

salt and pepper

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in a saute pan on med. low heat, add onion and cook about 2 minutes, till starting to soften. Add apple and rosemary, cover pan and cook for another minute or two. Chop your chard stems and leaves into pieces and add to the saute along with the garlic and salt and pepper. When everything is tender and nearly cooked, add the balsamic vinegar to the pan and stir to coat everything well. This will give a nice glaze to the saute and bring out the chard and apple's sweetness. Season and eat!