'Seeded' Watermelon Frosty

The watermelon frosty was great…could have used less maple syrup! Probably depends on the fruit and your own taste, but very cute and I actually liked the chia seeds in it (me and chia have an iffy relationship at present) so this is good. 

Watermelon Frosty 
2 1/4 c. frozen watermelon cubes
1/2 c. water (approximately)
2 T. maple syrup
1 large lemon, squeezed (lime juice also works very well! use 2 limes)
1 fresh banana

Blend. Fold in about 1/2 t. of chia seeds per glass. Serve!

See link here, and more chia information

optional: a few dashes of cayenne powder in the blender or over top when you serve!
Garnish: a few slices of watermelon - with rind on - frozen. Serves 2

link here

Lime Watermelon Frosty 
2 c. frozen watermelon
1 large ripe banana
2 T. agave syrup (or maple syrup)
4 T. lime juice (about 2 limes)
1/2 t. lime zest
1/2 c. + water as needed to get blender moving

optional: a few dashes of cayenne for a spicy sip
optional: a few ice cubes for an extra frosty sip – I like to use coconut water ice cubes

serves 2-3
Blend. Serve!
video link here

contributed by Karen, Barbara's daughter

Chocolate Beet Cake

One of my goals is be able to do year-round gardening. Last year I had a beet crop I kept in the ground through the winter, just picking as needed. I just pulled up the last of the beets, and have new seedlings ready to go in. I wanted to make some cupcakes for a party tonight so steamed my beets for this recipe. 

And if you missed this beautiful—really!— video post on baking a cake with beats, check it out here.)

Chocolate Beet Cake
3 eggs (organic, range fed)
1-½ c. Sucanat (unrefined cane sugar)
¾ cup coconut oil (can substitute applesauce for half of this, if desired)
1 t. vanilla
1-3/4 c. steamed beets (about 2 medium-large beets, peeled and chopped)
4 T. raw cacao (best) or nonalkalized baking cocoa
2 c. whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat, ground fine)
1 ½ t. baking soda
½ t. sea salt

Puree beets, then add eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add chocolate and other ingredients. Bake in 9″x13″ oiled pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (I made a half batch for a dozen cupcakes.)

Frosting
Cream together:
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa (even better, raw powdered chocolate)
½ c. butter, softened (or coconut cream concentrate, if it is soft but not turned to liquid. please note that you can’t put frosting made with coconut oil/cream on a refrigerated cake or it will become hard)
½ cup powdered Sucanat (if you have only regular Sucanat, blend it in your BlendTec until very fine, or your frosting will be grainy)      from Green Smoothie Girl

by Dee, wife of Barbara's son Scott

Monster Cookies

Scott went to support the young women camp fundraiser this year. After the dinner, they have a dessert auction. Scott bought a plate of cookies by Jill. She definitely makes the best cookies. We decided to start the love"—and calories—and have them delivered when Jason and Erik and their families were visiting here in Portland.  Scott picked Jill's monster cookies and we have all thoroughly enjoyed them. The last cookies was shared for lunch as I type. If you go to Barbara's cook book above, you can check out another version of Monster Cookies. I remember Jared making these, and even mailing them to us!

Monster Cookies
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. brown sugar
24 oz. peanut butter
6 eggs
2 t. vanilla
4 t. baking soda
8 c. oats
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 large bag of M&Ms

Directions:
Cream together butter, sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add baking soda and oats, and then chocolate chips. Mix together. Form each cookie with a 1/4 c measuring cup. Place 6 dough balls on each cookie sheet, and smash each one down with your palm. Place 10 M&Ms on each cookie. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 45 large cookies.

Granola

I tried the first of these granola recipes a week or so ago. 

It is good, and better if you add a sweet fruit like banana or raisins. 

I want to try the more simple one next time. 

The top photo shows the nut mixture after soaking.

The bottom photo is the granola on a dehydrator tray.

These are from The Green Smoothie Girl collection.

Pineapple Smoothie

Just made this as part of our breakfast.....AMAZING!!!!!

(Carissa, Erik and Ethan celebrate Carissa's birthday.)

Pineapple Smoothie 

1 frozen banana 

1/3 of container of pineapple star fruit concentrate 

1/3 c. frozen mango chunks 

1 c. pineapple juice 

1/4 c. vanilla yogurt 

1 c. milk

Ethan getting into videos, bubbles and his duck.

by Erik, grandson of Barbara

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Ian said he wanted a Pineapple Upside-down Cake for his birthday. We have no idea how he came up with that, as he's not had it. 

He does like the book "Inside, Outside, Upside Down" though! 

He helped me make the cake the night before, and enjoyed it on 

his 4th birthday: April 15. 

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

4 eggs
1/2 c. butter
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1 (20 oz.) can sliced pineapple
10 maraschino cherries, halved
1 c. sifted cake flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. white sugar
1 T. butter, melted
1 T. almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a 10" heavy skillet with a heat-resistant handle (I use a cast iron skillet), melt 1/2 cup butter or margarine over very low heat. Remove from heat, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over pan. Arrange pineapple slices to cover bottom of skillet. Distribute cherries around pineapple; set aside.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Separate the eggs into two bowls. In a large bowl, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until very thick and yellow. With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an over-and-under motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until blended. Fold in 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine and almond extract. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.

5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip. Loosen the edges of the cake with table knife. Cool the cake for 5 minutes before inverting onto serving plate.

Onion Bread

Here's a quick idea using Rhodes bread dough. I used this recently with dough mixed and raised in my bread maker. It turned out very good; we had it with Creamy Broccoli Soup from Mom's cookbook.