summer – Page 14 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

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!)

Summertime

Eggplant & Olive Caponata Pasta

September 15, 2013August 25, 2017by RebeccaLeave a Comment

I grew up eating a lot of meat and potatoes. Both sides of my family have strong Irish heritage, and spilling over from generations who cooked to feed many on less, those meat and potato dishes didn’t come with much by way of seasoning. My dad refused to eat rice without first spewing a gazillion complaints. Spicy food meant a dab of medium salsa and worldly cuisine meant eating tacos with corn tortillas (instead of flour) from the taco wagon, a feat that did not happen until high school.

During my sophomore year in college, the first year alone and off a meal plan, armed with loads of curiosity and roommates willing to branch out, I learned much of cooking, seasoning, and by trial and error, how to eat healthily. I learned to eat and cherish vegetable meals without meat. I discovered new cuisines.

It was then that I stumbled on a recipe in the food section of the Oregonian for Sicilian Caponata. My love for eggplants, kalamata olives, and Italian cuisine was firmly cemented.

Over the years, this slightly unusual take on caponata has become my favorite pasta dish. It’s the one I talk about when people ask me what to do with eggplant. It’s the one I think about in February when tomatoes and eggplants are all out of season, but the rich combination of heat-loving vegetables, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon and cocoa, capers and olives all stewed into a lovely sauce make me long for summer again. This is the dish I have made over and over this summer, eating it day after day, skipping a week, and then making it all over again. And it is perfect in this month when the garden (and markets) are teeming with eggplants and tomatoes in their end-of-summer glory.

My parents have come a long way since those adolescent days, and though I haven’t made this dish for them, I know they too, would eat it right up.

Caponata Pasta, adapted from the Oregonian, serves 4
olive oil

1/2 a large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. raisins

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbs. cocoa powder

1 tsp. fresh minced thyme

3 to 4 very ripe tomatoes

1/4 cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives

2 Tbs. capers, rinsed and drained

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz. tubular pasta (I used Ancient Harvest Gluten-Free rotelle)

In a large pan, saute onion, garlic, raisins, and pepper flakes for about 10 minutes or until the onions are soft.
Stir in eggplant, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder and cook 5 to 10 minutes more over medium-high heat. You may have to add a drizzle of water to soften the mixture up.
Add the thyme, olives, capers, tomatoes, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta, taking off the heat and draining just before it is done.
Toss pasta with sauce until thoroughly combined and the pasta is al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve!

Summertime

Recipe Redux: Apricot & Roasted Hazelnut To-Go Oats

August 21, 2013by Rebecca10 Comments

My mother and I have an arrangement. She gives me jam and pickled beets and the like, and I return the empty jars to her for the next go round. Except when I don’t return the jars and begin to use them as my new Tupperware for traveling. Usually it’s trail mix, granola or this time around, To-Go Oats. She always eventually gets the jars back, as I start collecting too many. In the meantime I have an excellent collection of portable containers.

The last several years have seen me as an on again/off again weekend traveler. These next few weeks are no exception, as I will be on the road again and again until mid-September. I am definitely counting down the days (less than 30, I hope!) until W moves back for good. I’m squirming in my seat and imagining all the activities we can enjoy together that have been missed this last year. I just can’t wait.

Though I’ve always been big on traveling with food and eating a consistent diet no matter the circumstances, after discovering all of those pesky dietary restrictions in the last couple years, it has become mandatory to travel with a bit of food insurance. Throwing a batch of oats with all the fixings into a pan is my thing. I can leave the cooler with every random pantry item that I mightneed at home. Instead, breakfast is all there in a convenient jar to be poured into a pan and made into a bowl of goodness.

I like to add both old-fashioned thick oats and steel cut oats because I like lotsof texture. This batch includes a strangely addicting mix of fennel seeds, dried apricots, cinnamon and roasted hazelnuts. It is happiness in a jar. I always add fresh fruit, and this time around decided to double up on apricots, adding fresh red apricots to the top once cooked. The beauty of this mixture is if you’re an oat and yogurt kinda person, this is practically muesli-esque and can be used both ways.

Did I mention I am excited to now be participating in Recipe Redux? This month’s theme is Raising the Bar on Food in a Jar.

Apricot & Roasted Hazelnut To-Go Oats, serves 1

1/4 cup old-fashioned oats*

2 Tbs. steel cut oats*

2-3 dried apricots, diced

1 Tbs. roasted Hazelnuts, chopped

1 Tbs. brown sugar or to taste

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

dash fennel seeds

1-2 fresh apricots or any available fresh fruit

Measure into a clean jar, spin the lid, and shake. You’re ready to go!
To cook, boil 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Add entire contents of jar, turn heat to medium and cook about five to 10 minutes, depending on desired consistency.

* I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free oats, but any brand will work, if you’ve no gluten problems.