dates – Page 2 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

The Fall Flavors Raw Brownie

September 22, 2014October 3, 2017by Rebecca3 Comments

I loaded up on Italian plums at the farmers market last weekend. Their sign said “last of the season” and I sighed because we’ve moved so quickly into the autumn months. It was a game day and all the college students have arrived back in town. These past few days, the temperature still got uncharacteristically up into the ’90s ’round these parts, but the mornings and evenings say summer has ended. It’s dark until 7:00 am. It gets dark at 7:00pm. Blink and those last few plums will be missed. The remaining local peaches sold out early at the market a week ago and the melons are on their final hurrah.

Well and truly, though I’m reluctant to transition at this time every year, I’m a sucker for each new seaon. There are new-again flavors to be savored and weather and beauty in the natural world to be appreciated. Fall is my MOST FAVORITE of all because of the crisp mornings, colorful leaves, and the natural bent of light that slants just so each afternoon. Plus, I like comfy sweaters, hugging my cuppa throughout the day, the return of the rain, and warming spices that mean more in this season than all the others.

The Recipe Redux folks requested a recipe this month with dehydrated food. I don’t have the equipment or the space these days to go all DIY and and get my dehydration-station on, but I do have grandparents that have stocked my parents’ freezer with no small shortfall of prunes. My mom never uses them. I’m the only one who ever takes a random bag home, and even then, I’ve only developed one recipe over the years that I really like to eat prunes in. No longer. They go well with hazelnuts, chocolate, and spices. Plus, they can be enjoyed all season long, since you know, they’re dehydrated and all.

This brownie really is lovely and boasts a huge plus: it’s nutrient-dense. I know all my friends and relatives roll their eyes because I make desserts that always have some form of health benefit, but raw desserts are simply the best. These brownies have all the good flavors, natural sugars from the fruit, and are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats from the raw cacao and hazelnuts.

Fall Flavors Raw Brownies, adapted from Oh, Ladycakes

2 cups roasted hazelnuts

6 Tbs. cacao powder

pinch salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

8 medjool dates

1/2 cup prunes

1-2 Tbs. water

In a food processor, blend the nuts, cacao powder, salt, and spices until they are all finely chopped and incorporated.
Next, toss in the dates (pitted and halved), and the prunes. Process until a paste begins to form, and add 1-2 Tbs. water until the mixture just begins to form a dough, but isn’t too sticky.
Line a 8×8 pan with parchment paper, and scoop the brownies in. Flatten them across the whole pan, and then stick in the freezer to harden up for about 30 minutes. They can then be removed and cut into square. If you’re not going to serve and eat them all right away, store them in the fridge or freezer in a covered container. This batch makes about 16 brownies.

Summertime

Carrot + Zucchini Oat Bran Muffins

July 27, 2014October 5, 2021by Rebecca2 Comments

I am a struggling carrot farmer. Packets of seeds. Different locations within the space. Different weather patterns, sowing dates, and groups of planting hands. Gorilla planting at random when watering. Watering frequently. Pre-sprouting. Row covers. Gleaning scraps of information from the successful carrot farmers I know. They’ve all been attempted.

Let me explain. I coordinate a school garden. I plan the crops, the rotations, the amendment schedule and IPM techniques and timing. I coordinate the students, the teachers, the garden club, and the irrigation. Somehow, I can’t quite coordinate the soil to grow a substantial crop of carrots.

The carrots we’ve managed to grow were fat and tasty, and there is a meager amount of later-planted carrotlings still pushing their way through their sparsely sprouted rows. There’s progress. But carrot farmer, I currently am not.

I see this carrot-failure as a small metaphor for the general way of things lately. I’ve been in a real mental funk, feeling like no matter the new tools I gather and employ, the result is still the same. Lackluster. Not the success I had envisioned.

In light of the set-backs and failures, both personal and carrot-related, I’ve been taking stock of the situation(s). I have a few more tools up my sleeve, a little more determination and knowledge with each new attempt. I tend to not give up easily. In fact, I’m more likely to summon the kind of rage orange-haired people are known for and use it to my full advantage.

Those carrots will grow in that garden. They’ve got great soil and an ideal microclimate. If they’re willing to grow in my home garden with its frequently neglected and weed-infested clay beds, those carrots must grow in the school’s garden. I’m insistent.

Harvesting at least one substantial row of carrots is my personal gardening mission for the season. We will have a good and healthy carrot crop come autumn. I’ve the rage on my side. :)

Carrot + Zucchini Oat Bran Muffins, makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular muffins
Recipe updated: 10/5/21

These muffins are heavily adapted from a recipe in The Sprouted Kitchen that I slowly adapted over months and years. We keep coming back to them and each time the muffins turn out better. They are a perfect way to begin a laidback summer breakfast AND they use up summer squash or zucchini and carrots–because let’s be real, I have five summer squash in my fridge from the last two days harvests, at least six more growing rapidly on the plant, and tons of squash blossoms and bees making more magic happen. I’ve EVEN managed to grow a successful crop of carrots in my home garden. If you’re a gardener, know one who shares, or have a CSA box, you too are probably trying to sneak veggies into anything and everything at this stage of summer!

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp. raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup / 56 gr coconut oil
1 egg or 1 flax egg (1 Tbs. ground flax seed + 3 Tbs. hot water)
1 Tbs. blackstrap molasses
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pitted dates
3/4 cup grated carrots (about 1 large carrot)
3/4 cup grated zucchini or yellow summer squash (about one small squash)
1 1/2 cups / 180 gr gluten-free flour mix
3/4 cup oat bran
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, pour in the non-dairy milk and vinegar. Whisk and let sit for a couple minutes. Then measure in the oil, egg, molasses, and vanilla. Stir in the carrots, zucchini, and chopped dates.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, soda, xanthan gum, salt and spices. Then pour into the wet mixture. Miix gently until all the ingredients just come together.
Scoop out the batter evenly into a prepared muffin pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F.

Summertime

Blackberry Lemon Coconut Cream Bars

September 21, 2013by Rebecca2 Comments

Friday morning, summer ended. From my office window, I watched dark clouds blow in and with them came all autumn’s wet and windy glory, leaves swirling through the mist. I trudged through the garden after school, feet tingly wet, and with muddy fingers, pulled fallen cornstalks, bolted lettuce, and withered melon vines. I reminisced back to July and August, and even the day before, Thursday, when I was still picking blackberries, knowing all too soon, the weather would change.

Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. – Seamus Heaney

Blackberries. Blackberry picking. Our new apartment complex cozies up to the forest on this edge of town. Wild briers take over here, and to my delight, I have noshed on blackberries for weeks. While not many have found their way into a bucket for later, I’ve made it a mission to send summer off proper like with lemony-coconut cream blackberry bars. They just so happen to be raw, vegan, gluten-free, and super easy.

Though the photos are a delicious mess, I’d still like to tell you about all the layers of goodness. Dates, nuts and spices make up the salty-sweet bottom layer, followed by fluffy coconut cream with a hint of lemon. The topping, so simple and divine, is pureed berries mixed with a bit of chia seeds to help it set. If they fall apart coming out of the pan, that means you were like me and in being overly anxious to taste, weren’t patient. That’s fine. As is running to snag some frozen berries from the store if all the wild ones in your area are long gone. Relish the last day of summer with me before snuggling into that sweater and pumpkin spice latte.

This recipe is part of September’s Recipe Redux challenge to create a healthy no-cook dessert.

Lemon Coconut Cream Blackberry Bars {raw, vegan & gluten-free}, inspired by Sprouted Kitchen

4-5 medjool dates, pitted

1/4 cup raw walnut pieces, toasted

1/4 cup raw almonds, toasted

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. coconut oil

pinch of salt

1 15 oz. can full-fat coconut milk, chilled

2 Tbs. powdered sugar

zest from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups blackberries

1 Tbs. chia seed

Stevia extract, to taste

In a food processor, combine dates, nuts, cinnamon, oil and salt. Puree until finely chopped and the mixture sticks together when pinched with your fingers. Turn out into a square baking dish (I used a 6 x 8 glass container).
Open the chilled coconut milk and without stirring, spoon out the cream layer into a medium bowl. With a fine mesh strainer, pour out the remainder of the can and keep all the cream that is in the top. Reserve the watery milk for another use.
Whip the coconut cream along with the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. Pour atop the nut layer.
In the food processor, puree berries and chia seed until smooth. Add stevia or sugar to taste. Pour atop the cream layer, and set into the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours. (Or dig in and make a mess, like I did!)