Sesame Seed Bagels

(Disclaimer: This recipe is from the lovely Margaret Anne from Natural Chow, but I’m just posting how I made it using her recipe.)

I was procrastinating bored yesterday and I really wanted to make something easy. When I need inspiration, I always head over to Pinterest and there were like five pictures of bagels that popped up instantly, so if that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what would be.

My first attempt at these weren’t so bad, if I say so myself. Sure, they aren’t perfectly round and the hole might be a bit too big, but it tastes way better than a store-bought bagel (no preservatives and all those other bad things!).

So when I was looking at the other bagel recipes floating around the internet, all of them had to boil the bagels before baking them. I thought that was very weird, like putting dough in water before baking it? Who came up with that?

Naturally, I had to search it up.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

It’s gluten-free! I usually don’t care if it’s gluten-free or not, but I had a gigantic bag of almond flour (purchased, of course, at Costco. Where else would we get big bags of anything and everything?) so I decided to try and experiment with it. I know a few people who have problems with gluten and they literally cannot eat anything with flour, or only in small amounts, which I definitely would hate because I love baked goods!!! There are oats in this, but they do not contain the protein gluten which is found in wheat, barley and rye grain, instead, they contain a protein called avenins so oats are still gluten-free.

Did I forget to mention that these taste incredibly delicious and it’s only sweetened with maple syrup?

I never knew these bars even existed until this summer, when I went camping and someone brought these for dessert. I still can’t believe I never ate these! Like what have I been doing with the first fifteen years of my life?

Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries

Healthy fries just got real. Sure, they don’t actually taste like salty potato fries, but don’t compare them to that unhealthy junk. Think of it as soft baked zucchini coated with a crispy layer of cheesy goodness and breadcrumbs.

I think summer flew by way too fast. I did summer school for a month, went camping one time and now it’s already school again. I don’t know if I should be sad or happy. On one end, I know I’ll have lots of homework and projects and classwork and tests, but on the other hand, I am excited to see my friends again and see if there are any new kids coming (our school is small so a new kid is a big deal)!

I will now veer away from the topic of school since that’s making me anxious. 🙂

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins

A friend came back from a trip in France recently and they came over to our house, bringing lots of dreamy chocolates for us to taste. They were melt-in-your-mouth type of delicious. Anyways, that day, I had made muffins using the zucchini from our garden because we always have way too much, and my friend tasted one and said it was pretty good. I was happy, but then he paid me the utmost compliment any baker can get (or at least, in my rankings of compliments). He asked for another one! And then cheerfully gobbled it up.

Whenever someone asks for a second serving, I know they truly like it and that can brighten up my day no matter what kind of day it is. Even if it’s pouring rain and I have soccer practice. Outside. And my friend didn’t even flinch when I said it had zucchini in it :). A true eater.

These moist muffins are loaded with zucchini and chocolate, and there is no oil! Also, they are sweetened with maple syrup and cane sugar, which is a healthier alternative to your regular white granulated sugar. An all around A+ in my books.

• Servings: 12
• Time: 30 mins (Prep 10 mins)
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Sneaking in that zucchini without compromising chocolate’s delicious taste. These muffins are even healthier with applesauce instead of oil or butter.

Ingredients:
1 cup white flour
1/4  cup cocoa powder
1  1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup Greek yogurt (try it homemade)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup applesauce, no sugar added
1 cup grated zucchini, lightly pressed to remove large amounts of water
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Grease 12 muffin tins with butter or coconut oil.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, Greek yogurt, maple syrup, cane sugar and applesauce. Once thoroughly mixed, fold in the grated zucchini.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and lastly fold in the chocolate chips. The mixture shouldn’t be too liquid (if it is, add a 1/4 cup more flour). Divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan.
5. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the top of the muffins have risen and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Let the muffins cool down in the muffin tins for 5 minutes before removing and placing on a metal rack. Eat warm or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Wild Blackberry Pie

These summer days have felt so long with my Spanish class. But now I can say I’m officially done as I went to pick up my report card today. This leaves me with only three more weeks to enjoy the break and sunshine before going back to school again.

The previous summers, my brother and I were always enticed by the free juicy blackberries hanging in the prickly bushes alongside a sparsely used road next to our house. We would always go with a large container in each hand and pick blackberries until the containers were overloading and our fingers stained purple. There were times where we would turn the blackberry-picking into a mission, seeing who could get past the thorns and reach into the deepest places and pick the most blackberries. I usually won :). We were always disappointed though, because the biggest and shiniest blackberries would be just out of our reach, no matter how much effort we put into our jumping and stretching.

Blueberry Walnut Applesauce Muffins

The other day, in my Spanish class, I had a discussion with my substitute teacher about food, and more particularly, eating healthy. She made one remark which really interested me. The teacher told me that she wants to enjoy life and all of its perks, such as food, so if she was presented cupcakes, she would go for it, but then she told me that eating one cupcake is not the same as eating three of the same.

This conversation prompted me to think about what is truly healthy eating. I have been thinking about it for a very long time and I have discovered a lot of different opinions.

When there are no fats in the recipe.

When you eat the right amounts of food from all the food groups.

Eating more greens and less meat.

Just eating one cupcake.

Crispy Sweet Apple Chips

You know those apple chips that you can buy at the store? The bag you buy when you feel really guilty looking at all those delicious salty chips in all different sizes and flavours? Well you can make it way cheaper at home by just using apples and a slicer/really good knife skills! We first made these a few years ago but it took so much time and sweat using a vintage mandolin slicer, as we had to move the apple back and forth across the blade to create thin slices of apples. Which was even harder to do in the summer heat. And the end result was tiny shriveled apple chips, that although tasted really good, disappeared too quickly for all that effort.

So we didn’t make them again until now. My mom decided, after buying a few expensive bags of apple chips, that it was time to attempt making apple chips again, but this time not with the vintage mandolin slicer.

Easy Vegan Apple Crumble

The simplest crumble recipe ever! I used Gordon Ramsay’s method I picked up somewhere on the internet where he slightly cooks the apples before baking it in the oven and this technique adds much more flavour. But aside from all that technique mumbo jumbo, it’s finally summer! I finished school a few days ago and I feel so relaxed. The only thing I did was read Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (it’s a really good book but read The Mortal Instruments first!) in one sitting for the entire day. Then I had some ideas brewing so I randomly wrote a short story.

And then I saw that my library had a comic contest, so naturally, I started drawing a comic (for the first time ever which is super hard, you have no idea).

Healthy Light Lemon Bars

Yummy. That’s one word to describe it. I would also like to add light, healthy, delicious, sweet, and smooth. Too many words? Yeah, probably, but ah, who cares? I need to describe these bars the best I can!

I’ve been on quite a lemon streak, but they are so good in everything, such as the Lemon Blueberry Chia Seed Pudding I made last week, that I can’t seem to stop using them! The crust in these lemon bars was, by the way, perfect! I usually end up with a crumbly crust that can never seem to stay put before I manage to stick the bar into my mouth, but this crust was a bit more doughy when I baked it, so that’s why it didn’t disintegrate to the touch!

The Healthiest Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Not only are they healthy, they taste awesome too! Coconut oil helps keep it all together and the oats are so flaky and delicious. This is the first time I’ve used oat flour ( I grinded oats in a food processor), and it acts exactly like regular flour! Make sure you grab a bit before everyone finishes it off.

The cookies are best eaten with a plate under so all the crumbs that fall can be picked up and eaten! Oh, and I just wanted to say that chocolate is my favorite thing to eat. Ever.

One piece of advice: Don’t forget to add the sugar! I made that mistake and realized it just after I had finished placing all the cookie dough neatly on the tray, all ready to go in the oven. So, sadly, I had to break all my nicely shaped cookies and mix it all together in a bowl with the sugar and then place then back on the tray.