The Baking Days

I'm speaking of the baking days like they were a thing of the past ... They're not. Really, they're not. I'm being a little over-dramatic. It's been a long week. I wanted to bake, but stuff got in the way. Lots of stuff. Lots of stressful, last-minute stuff.

On Wednesday, right smack in the middle of all the stressful action, I longed for one of these muffins. Apple tahini muffins to be exact. I made them awhile ago when I wanted to bake up some wholesome treats to help ease me through report card writing. And they really hit the spot -- incredibly moist and flavourful with a big, rich tahini punch that rounded out the tart, sweet grated apples that just about melted into the muffin. Along with the whole wheat flour, and wheat bran, these little mini-muffin-gems were also a much-needed energy booster just as my batteries were running low.


Darn. I should have planned ahead and made a batch of these last weekend before the madness started. Oh well. I have a big long-weekend to look forward to, and you can bet that I'll be back in the kitchen, covered in flour, working through a batch of something warm and fragrant.

Apple Tahini Muffins
makes 24 mini muffins

1 egg
1 tablespoon of canola oil
2 tablespoons of tahini
1/4 cup of yogurt
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup wheat bran
3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 little apples, grated

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, tahini, yogurt, honey and milk until well-combined.

2. Sift in the flour and baking soda and powder. Add the wheat bran and give everything a big but gentle stir. Add in the grated apples and mix until just combined.

3. Spoon the batter into lined mini-muffin tins and sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top of each one. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

Help! Health Contradictions

Ok, so I did something that I didn't think I would do anytime soon: I signed up at the gym across the street from me. It's not just any old gym. It's like a weight-lifting, mind-changing, philosophy-pumping gym filled with large, muscly, oily looking men and women in tight spandex work-out shorts who don't smile back when I smile at them. Why? Well, the thai-boxing didn't work out (waaaaaaay too expensive!), and my partner and I wanted something exercise-y to do together that was convenient, interesting and a challenge. After muathai proved too hard on my summer budget, we signed up at the gym across the street.

Now, the signing up came with a 3 hour lecture on how to eat better and exercise better and a 1 hour training session on how to do 4 different lifts properly. We brought coffee, but I still left yawning. All I wanted was something to supplement my cardio workouts, something that would allow me to get stronger and more capable at doing certain physical tasks. The messages I got, were not only confusing, but hard to follow. Yeah, I'll spare you the gorey details, but apparently, cardio is a waste of time because it lowers your resting heart rate and you end up burning less calories when you're sleeping or resting -- but by lowering your resting heart rate aren't you making things less difficult on your heart?? It gets better. Apparently we're supposed to cut dairy out of our diets because it's so unnatural and no other mammal drinks another mammal's milk (so ... no other mammal wears clothes ... or uses technology ... or friggin pumps weights!), AND we're supposed to stop eating grains too because their not part of our "original diets" (yet at the end of it, he said that we should take advantage of the global market and eat a variety of meats and fruits and vegetables ... yeah, I don't think the global market was around when the first humans hunted and gathered!). Oh yeah, and basically all vegetarians have it wrong because you'll end up chubby and will never be able to build muscle because there's no protein in a vegetarian diet (Hello!! Brown rice + beans = complete protein!).


So ... does that mean that this (and I quote) "best oatmeal I've ever eaten," inspired by this gal and this lady shouldn't ever be made again? Oh come on! Peanut butter, bananas, strawberries? Until last summer when I read the mentioned posts, I never even thought to bake oatmeal. Now I do it all the time and experiment with different fruit/flavour combinations (apples, raisins, cinnamon and rhubarb, cherries and almonds). And that big dollop of skim milk yogurt on top .. that's no-no too??

The Best Baked Oatmeal

1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of soy milk
3/4 cup of skim milk
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 banana, chopped
1 handful of strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup of quick cooking (5 minute) oats

1. Put the peanut butter in a large bowl. Whisk in the soy milk a little at a time so that the peanut butter gets incorporated (as opposed to just having big lumps in the liquid).

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-combined. Pour into a cake pan or square baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven until all the liquid is absorbed and it gets little golden at the sides.

3. Prepare to taste oatmeal that you have never tasted it before! It's like having cake for breakfast! Even better topped with yogurt (oh no! the dreaded dairy! How am I ever going to build muscle!)

So, does this ALSO means that the honeyed cherry muffins I made yesterday morning are nixed from my repertoire as well?? I thought they were super healthy -- oatmeal, fresh fruit, honey, canola oil, psyllium husks (ok yeah that was random.. I tried to sneak that one in but it didn't work. My Dad brought over this huge jar of psyllium husks because it's supposedly super healthy. If you don't have it, just use wheat bran or wheat germ). The secret here is soaking the oats in the liquids for 5 minutes or so before adding the rest of the ingredients - makes a very tender, moist crumb for the muffins. But the grains are a no-no ... really?!

Honeyed-Cherry Multi-Grain Muffins

1/2 cup of quick cooking oats (5 minute kind)
1/4 cup of psyllium husks (or wheat bran or wheat germ)
1/2 cup of yogurt
1/2 cup of skim milk (or instead of milk and yogurt, use all buttermilk)
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of honey
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
1 egg
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of cherries, pitted and chopped

1. In a large bowl stir together the milk, yogurt, oil and honey until well blended. Add in the oats and psyllium husks and stir. Let the mixture sit for at least 5 minutes (this would be a good time to pit and chop your cherries).

2. Add in a beaten egg, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

3. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix until just combined (don't over mix!). Stir in the cherries.

4. Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins (makes 12 big ones and 24 mini-muffins) and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

5. Enjoy your whole grains! Yeah, I'm never going to get a six-pack anyway!

Beyond Peanut Butter: Healthy Tahini Treats

I LOVE peanut butter. I love it with a capital L. I love it with bananas, spread on toast, stirred into bowls of oatmeal, baked into cookies or my favourite, on a spoon. But recently, I've tried to expand my horizons and try different types of nut and seed butters. I've discovered the almost orgasmic sunflower seed butter with flax: spread on pumpernickel and topped with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds, it makes a really tasty little snack. I've tried soy-nut butter with less success - great cooked with oatmeal, but not-so-great on its own. I gotten reacquainted with almond butter and I also bought tahini for the first time. It's not really a special kind of nut/seed butter. It's pretty popular and common for anyone who has ever made hummus, but personally I've never bought it. The one time I made hummus, I made so many substitutions that it was ruled out as hummus by my best friend. And I quote "It sounds like a lovely spread, but that's NOT hummus."

So, at the bulk barn the other day I bought a generous scoop of tahini. It tasted wonderful but intense on it's own -- probably not sandwich material, but I thought that it would bake really well into a cookie. As soon as a thought about sesame seeds and sweet treats, the taste of the infamous sesame snap flooded my mind. So wonderfully sesame-y but oh so tooth-achingly sweet. After that thought, my mind was made up: I would make some sesame-seed cookies sweetened only with honey, and I would try to make them healthy.


How did they turn out? It got a great review from Ms-That's-Not-Hummus, so what more can I ask for? It had a great, intense sesame flavour, and crumbly texture that goes great with a cup of coffee and an 11am strategic-planning conversation (don't ask!). At first I thought they were a little dry, but the texture grew on me. If you're looking for a dessert-y cookie, you'll be disappointed. But if you're hoping to bake up something wholesome and guilt-free to snack on with your afternoon cup of coffee or tea, these are the cookies for you. My favourite part? The black sesame seeds that are sprinkled on top! They give the cookies that something extra that would even make them suitable to serve your guests. Next time, I think I'll incorporate the black sesame seeds right into the cookie to give it an extra crunch.

The long and the short? Tahini = Cool! Now, should I try making hummus??

Tahini-Honey Cookies

1/2 cup of tahini
4 tablespoons of honey (I used a delicious, local wildflower honey)
1 egg
a tiny splash of almond extract
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 cup of quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flower
black sesame seeds for sprinkling

1. In a large bowl, beat together the tahini, honey, egg and almond extract.

2. Add the oats and stir well

3. Add the baking soda and powder and stir. Add the flour a little at a time. Near your last 1/2 cup, the dough will get kinda sticky and hard to stir. Don't worry! That's normal. Keep stirring until everything is incorporated.

4. Form little balls with the dough and place on a cookie sheet. They won't spread out much, so you don't have to worry about leaving a lot of space in between each one. Flatten the balls with your fingers and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the sides of the cookies get nice and golden brown. Take a good whiff of them as they come out the oven. You'll smell that wonderful honey.

6. Enjoy with a coffee, tea and good conversation.