Beet Cookies

It's no secret that I adore beetroot. I know, what's wrong with me right? But, whether it be in a sweet chocolate oatmeal cake, spicy beet and bean burgers, or a savory beet soup, I have a hard time passing up on it.

And with favorable health benefits that effect athletic performance, blood pressure, dementia and diabetes (to name a few), this little, gregariously red veggie is a valuable asset to any diet.

By the way, did you know that Betanin, obtained from beetroot, is used commercially as a red food colorant in tomato paste, sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, sweets, and breakfast cereals?

Which – if I were to stretch the facts a bit, you might think you abhor beets but if you love tomato paste – you might actually be a beet lover?! How about that for logic, eh?!

Back in my college days, I often added boiled beets and boiled eggs with a sprinkle of salt and red pepper flakes to my ramen noodle and tofu diet. Beets are quite budget-friendly, making them a college student's dream veggie – and there's not much waste as you can eat the greens as well as the roots of the humble beet!

These days however, I spread my beets around – making sure to add them to sweet and savory dishes alike: like these chocolate chip cookies!

These chocolate chip beet cookies are gluten free and dairy free – with tapioca flour and peanut butter taking their place. Now, you could sub out any gluten free flour blend for the tapioca flour, but, in experimenting, I found that tapioca flour seems to add a bit chewier texture to these cookies. I also experimented with baking times and if these were baked for 18-20 minutes, the resulting cookie is chewier than if you baked than if you baked it for 10-12 minutes like I did for this batch.

So, what's your favorite veggie to add to cookies?

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Beet Cookies Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons pureed beets
• 1 tablespoon tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, or chips of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Add peanut butter, egg and brown sugar to a bowl and mix well.
3. Add in the beet puree, tapioca flour, vanilla and chocolate chips and mix well.
4. Form into circles and flatten them.
5. Bake for 10 minutes and enjoy.

Notes

• I roasted beets for 40 minutes and then pureed them in a blender and add them to dishes as needed.

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Amaranth Porridge

When I was a child, I refused to eat oatmeal. Frankly, I was a bit odd when it came to breakfast. My daily habit consisted of either buttered toast, Crispix cereal, or Cream of Wheat. Never the sugary cereal or the "dinosaur egg" oatmeal my brother liked.

At some point I grew past that and embraced every kind of breakfast, from blueberry waffles to omelets. Still, there is something to be said for the childhood comfort of a bowl of Cream of Wheat, and now that I'm an adult and fully into experimenting with ingredients, I've fallen in love with amaranth porridge.

Amaranth is a plant that is sometimes considered a weed, but is also cultivated for eating. In many countries the seed is what you eat. These teeny-tiny seeds are similar to quinoa and puff up slightly when cooked. You can order it online, or find it in some grocery stores near the other ancient grains.

Amaranth is also an excellent source of protein, fiber, and lots of minerals, so it's a good option for those who are health conscious. It has its own uniquely nutty taste and is certainly a filling breakfast!

Amaranth porridge is an excellent substitute for oatmeal if you are still craving that hearty taste but need to add something new to the menu. I like to cook it with a mixture of milk and water, and then whatever fruit I feel like having.

Firm fruits like apples and pears work beautifully with this recipe, as well as bananas and frozen berries. For fresh berries, I like to add them at the end of cooking, just so they're warmed and not completely mushy.

You can also use your favorite spices in amaranth porridge, from cinnamon to nutmeg to cardamom. I haven't tried making a savory version yet, but because savory oatmeal is all the rage right now I might need to make my own twist.

Be sure to serve the amaranth porridge with maple syrup for drizzling, or cream if you like (or both!).  Any leftovers can be saved in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and reheated in the microwave with a little extra liquid.

Give amaranth porridge a try!

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Amaranth Porridge Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 cup amaranth seeds
• 2 cups 2% milk, or water
• 1 medium apple, peeled and diced
• 1 cinnamon stick, 4-inch
• pinch of salt
• pure maple syrup, to serve

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine amaranth, milk or water, apple, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover.
3. Simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring every so often, until amaranth is cooked and desired consistency is achieved.
4. Serve with maple syrup for swirling on top.

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Marbled Chocolate Orange Bread

I think quick breads are maybe my favourite thing to bake. Muffins, scones, biscuits, breads - they're all awesome. This marbled chocolate orange bread though? It just may be one of the best ones to come out of my kitchen yet.

Although I might just say that about almost every quick bread I make.

I did say that I love them.

My daughter seems to have inherited that love. She's ten, and has recently taken to asking if she can make muffins almost every week. Sometimes more often.

That's fine with me, we seem to run out of them almost as fast as I can make them! Plus, they're such a great thing for kids to make. Muffins are easy enough that she can do everything by herself and they pretty much always turn out. It's hard to mess up with quick breads.

This marbled chocolate orange bread is another very easy quick bread to make (aren't they all?). Maybe a little bit on the festive side? Something about the chocolate and orange together - totally makes me think of Christmas.

But you know what? Chocolate and orange are fantastic together and definitely should not be relegated to the holiday season. It's too great a combination to only be enjoyed one month out of the year. That's just a fact.

It's also a fact that you need to make this bread. Now if not sooner. It's light and fluffy, it comes together quickly and is in the oven in under 20 minutes. Full of chocolate and orange flavour and studded with chocolate chips, it will be hard to stop eating after one slice.

I know we polished off this loaf in less than two days. That's okay though - I'll just get my daughter to make me some more. She's as addicted to baking quick breads as I am anyways.

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Marbled Chocolate Orange Bread Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon orange zest, (about 2 medium oranges)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup orange juice, (about 2 medium oranges)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray an 8x4 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and orange zest. In another bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, egg, oil, buttermilk, orange juice and vanilla until well combined. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
3. Move half of the batter to another bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder. To the other half of the batter, fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Fill the prepared loaf pan with alternating spoonfuls of the two batters. Swirl a knife through the batter to mix the two together slightly and smooth the top. Bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

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Source: Adapted from my Marbled Chocolate Grapefruit Muffins.

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5-Minute Peanut Butter Dip

This is my Grandma's no bake peanut butter pie in the form of a dip. Plus it has cream cheese, so it's like peanut butter cheesecake dip. With a touch of honey and cinnamon too. It's sweet, with a bit of warm spice. I love honey and peanut butter together, and I always marvel at how well cinnamon complements peanut butter too.

It's unexpected, but it totally works. Basically, you're getting peanut butter cheesecake dip, plus honey and cinnamon, and it's just a huge, generous bowl of super simple, sweet, creamy, rich, peanut butter goodness.

Even better, you can prep and eat this dip in 5 minutes. It's helpful if you have a little time to chill it, but it's not necessary. So all in all, you only really need 300 seconds of time for this recipe. BEAUTIFUL.

You can dunk so many different things in this dip. Lots of options.

I put together a nice platter of graham crackers, Nilla wafers, pretzels, and fruit. Apples are always excellent with peanut butter, and I love strawberries because it gives me PB&J vibes. Peanut butter on graham crackers is still one of my very favorite snacks to date, and it inspired these buckeye graham crackers.

Pretzels, well, the sweet and salty combination is impeccable! But you could also dunk oatmeal cookies, shortbread cookies, Oreos, banana slices, or even celery. It would be such a popular tray for summer parties and BBQs!

It was inspired by my grandma's pie recipe, which is THE most popular recipe on my entire blog, of nearly 300 recipes. That pie went viral one day, and never stopped. It makes me so proud and happy that it's one of my Grandma's recipes that happens to be the most popular since I've spent countless hours with her in the kitchen learning to bake and cook.

It's the simplest pie in the world, and you can prepare it in about 10 minutes flat, but it's sooooo rich, creamy, and peanut-buttery. There are good reasons that it's the most popular recipe on my blog, and it's definitely not the photos! Eek.

Since that ridiculously popular and awesome pie was the inspiration for this ultra-quick and delicious 5-minute peanut butter dip, I know you will not be disappointed!

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5-Minute Peanut Butter Dip Recipe

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Ingredients

• 4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 8-ounce container whipped topping, thawed
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For Serving:

• fruit
• cookies
• crackers

Directions

1. Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, whipped topping, honey, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat until well-blended.
3. Pour into a serving bowl, and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
4. Serve dip with fruit, cookies, and crackers for dipping.
5. Store in refrigerator.
6. Notes: It is not essential to chill this dip before serving. You can mix the ingredients and serve it right away, but it is most ideal if the dip is chilled for about an hour!

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Farro Arugula Salad

I get stuck in food ruts often. My kids will often let me know by exclaiming loudly the number of times we've had some variation of tortillas-meat-cheese-vegetables in the past two weeks (> 5). Ahem. I mean, fajita leftovers become nacho toppings become rice bowl fixings. Rinse and repeat.

A few years ago I got stuck on Caesar salads. We went through months of me perfecting my dressing technique, serving it as the side for nearly every meal or as the meal itself topped with chicken.

Last year it was a red wine vinaigrette that I poured over fresh greens, green beans and tomatoes, made pasta salad from, served over quinoa, and more.

Last month we embraced the rice bowl, eating steaming bowls topped with avocado slices, pickled cabbage, and hot sauce day in and day out until spring arrived with a plethora of new produce and full stop.

There's a new food rut in town, one with bunches of baby greens, fresh herbs, the most perfect tender radishes, and lemon vinaigrette. It's nutty and chewy, vibrant, full of flavor, and it has a bit of bite from the peppery arugula. You can find the leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch, and when they're gone, you bet I'll be stirring up another pot of farro for tonight's dinner.

The key to this salad being quick and easy is using pearled farro, which cooks quicker than its whole grain counterparts. Trader Joe's sells a 10-Minute variety, and many stores carry pearled or perlato farro.

However, if you want that whole grain with all the bran, simply make your farro ahead of time, rinsing it after cooking and spreading it on a baking sheet to dry before transferring it to an airtight container and storing in the refrigerator. Then you can simply pull it out, toss with your dressing and fresh vegetables, and consume.

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Farro Arugula Salad Recipe

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Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked farro, at room temp
• 2 cups fresh arugula
• 3 radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 medium lemon, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• parmesan cheese, for garnish, optional

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss the farro, arugula, radishes, shallots, and the lemon zest.
2. In a separate container, whisk together the lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and the black pepper.
3. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until combined.
4. Pour over the grains and greens mixture.
5. Serve with thick parmesan flakes, if desired. 

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