April 4th, 2016
Every weekend, I try to make time for preparing snacks for the week, along with a few other essentials like a big batch of green juice, homemade almond milk, a pot of grains or beans, some kind of sprouted seed or legume, and a sauce to top quick salads and bowls. I don’t always have time to check all those items off my list, but having a head start on things like that helps immensely when it comes to sticking to healthy, homemade meals throughout the week.
I made these beet snack bars last weekend, and they’ve been great to have throughout a busy week to give to Paloma, and as an emergency snack or meal replacement for my husband and I.
Aside from preparing for a big cookbook photoshoot next weekend, I’ve been watching the figure skating championship in Boston. Both my parents were athletes, and I grew up in a household that very closely followed most sports. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved to watch ice skating, and that love has not faded one bit. A few of my favorite skaters took the pedestal, and I’ve been left a happy fan.
These bars are chewy in texture, with juicy pockets of raisins and a nice crunch from cacao nibs. Beet, tahini and almond butter make them filling and nourishing, and cacao nibs contribute energizing properties. Paloma likes them, mostly due to how colorful they are – and the drizzle of chocolate on top does not hurt. I’ll go ahead and put these bars into the kid-approved category as well. Enjoy!
Beet Tahini Snack Bars
1 small beet – baked, steamed or boiled, and peeled
1/2 cup soft dates – pitted
1/3 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup or maple syrup, optional
2 1/2 cups regular rolled oats – coarsely ground in a food processor
2 cups barley puffs, quinoa puffs or other whole grain puffs
1/2 cup sesame tahini
1/2 cup almond butter
handful cacao nibs
1/2 cup raisins
pinch sea salt
melted dark chocolate for drizzling (I use these dairy free chocolate chips)
1. Blend beet, dates, coconut milk, vanilla extract and syrup in a blender until smooth.
2. Combine oats, puffs, sesame tahini, almond butter, cacao nibs, raisins, salt, and beet mixture in a large bowl. Mix to combine thoroughly.
3. Line an 8″ x 8″ baking dish with parchment paper, extending the paper up the sides of the dish. Distribute the mixture into the dish in a flat, even layer. Place into the freezer to firm up, for at least 1 hour. Take out of the freezer and remove the firm block out of the baking dish, using the extended ends of the parchment paper. Place onto a cutting board and cut into bars of your desired shape. Drizzle with melted chocolate.
4. Keep in the freezer, in an air-tight container (the bars will never be frozen solid). Remove from the freezer a few minutes before eating.
Tags: almond butter, barley puffs, bars, beets, cacao nibs, dessert, quinoa puffs, raisins, snack, tahini, vegan
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May 2nd, 2014
Paloma and I are leaving for Russia today, and here is one of the snacks I will be bringing for the long flight. Lately, when flying alone over big distances, I’ve been a fan of giving my stomach a break, just drinking lots of water and munching on some carrots and sliced cucumbers. Airplane meals have always given me a stomachache, and I try to stay away. But having a five year old with me is a much different story. I know that Paloma will require a variety of foods to keep satisfied. For snacks, I decided on carrots, apples, local blueberries (the season is here!), kale chips and these sprouted sunflower seed bars.
Over the years, I’ve become a sprouting fanatic. Knowing how many benefits sprouting or soaking awakens in seeds, nuts, and legumes, I can never bypass the easy and fun process. Recently, I got my hands on unhulled black sesame seeds and was very excited to see how easily they sprouted! As I make most of my nut and seed butters at home, I rarely look at that section in stores. But being so crazy busy with preparing for the trip and the release of the cookbook, I decided to buy sesame tahini instead of making it. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of sprouted everything on the shelves! Even things like Sprouted Pumpkin Seed Butter and Sprouted Chia Seeds – made me happy.
These bars are fantastic to have at home or take on a road with you. You can also eat them broken up with yogurt or any milk of your preference as a sort of granola for breakfast. You don’t have to sprout the sunflower seeds for this recipe, however the process boosts nutrients, improves the taste and eases digestion if you start with good quality, raw sunflower seeds. I usually buy mine in bulk sections of local health food stores with a good rotation or online (nutsonline.com has superb quality products).
In other news, we’ve been working on a cookbook trailer (coming soon!), and Cathryn Fowler, who is shooting it, took the photos for this post.
Farewell! I’ll try to keep Instagram updated with some travel snaps.
Sprouted Sunflower Seed Cocoa Bars
Note: Sometimes make these bars using sunflower seeds only (no buckwheat), or use a mixture of different seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, black and tan sesame, chia, flax and poppy seeds. You can totally experiment with your own favorite combination, just keep the dry to wet ratio according to the recipe.
3 cups dried sprouted sunflower seeds (or just raw sunflower seeds)
3/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats – soaked in water for a minimum of 1 hour, rinsed and dried completely, or quinoa puffs
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips (I use vegan Enjoy Life) – optional
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
6 tablespoons coconut oil
large pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract – optional
1) To sprout the sunflower seeds, soak them in purified water overnight. Rinse and keep covered with a wet kitchen towel for 12-24 hours, until sprouts become visible, rinsing every 8 hours or so. It’s important not to overgrow the sprouts.
2) After sprouting, dry the sunflower seeds. If you have a dehydrator, place them on a mesh screen covered tray and dry at 115F for 8-12 hours. Or simply spread them on dry and clean kitchen towels or several layers of paper towels and leave to dry completely. In the latter case, don’t wait until sprouts become too apparent before drying, as they will most likely continue growing during the drying period. Changing the towels to dry ones will help speed up the process.
3) Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Preheat oven to 260 F (130 C). Spread the mixture on a parchment paper covered large baking tray into an even thickness. Score/cut into bars by pressing a knife into the mixture rather then dragging it through. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool completely and break into bars.
I like to keep the bars refrigerated for extra crunch.
Tags: breakfast, chocolate, snack, sprouted, sunflower seed
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March 23rd, 2014
Finally, our plans have been set in stone, the tickets have been bought and all the arrangements made. Paloma and I are flying to Moscow in a month. We’re staying in the city for a day to see some friends and then jumping on a train for the 24-hour ride down south to my hometown. Paloma has never yet been to Russia, and as hard as I imagine the 12 hour flight will be for her, I’m sure she’ll love the train. The rest of the family will join us at the end of May, when we intend to visit to a couple of other places in our region, including Sochi. We’ll be back in the States just in time for our cookbook release day – June 10th. I am getting very excited to see family and friends, all of whom I haven’t seen in years. I am also dreaming about all the delicious Russian food I will inevitably consume, prepared by some of the best cooks in my book – my mom, aunt, and girlfriends.
As any Russian, I grew up eating a lot of pies (pirozhki in Russian). Yeasty, doughy shells stuffed with meats, cabbage, eggs, rice, sorrel, or fruit. My favorites were always cabbage pies, that my mom makes with lightly sauteed cabbage and hard boiled eggs. The dough recipe for pirozhki is a frequent conversation subject among many Russian women – everyone has their own secret to the perfect dough. The question of ingredients, ratios, types of yeast, and oven temperature are not to be taken lightly. These days, I try to avoid pirozhki as much as I can, but individual homemade pies take me back to family tea times of my childhood like nothing else.
Since I often experiment with healthier, lighter varieties of doughs and fillings, I decided to share this lighter handpie recipe I’ve been coming back to often throughout the winter. And before peas and asparagus take over the greenmarkets, I thought I’d squeeze in some nourishing wintry flavors one last time. The pies are a curious combination of sweet and savory in one shell, combined with the ever-balancing flavor of ginger. They are great to enjoy with a meal, a cup of tea, or as a snack to take to work or school.
And since there are so many inspiring handpie recipes in the world already, I thought I’d share my (most likely incomplete) list:
1. Despite how it may seem now, summer is not far – soon will be time to make Laura’s Strawberry Handpies and maybe even the ice cream too?
2. Lindsey’s gluten free Cranberry Poptarts with Ginger Glaze will definitely be in my dreams until the next cranberry season.
3. Ashlae’s mouthwatering Blackberry Jam Pies so beautifully presented by her inspiring photography.
4. Beth is a true handpie master, making all kinds of flavors work in her pie fillings – Muscadine Rose Handpies, White Peach Rose Basil Handpies, Blueberry Basil Goat Cheese Handpies.
5. Shauna’s dreamy Savoury Handpies, which gave me the idea to use rutabaga in mine. 
Gingery Rutabaga and Pear Handpies
makes about 15 handpies
for the dough
1 1/4 cups sprouted or whole spelt flour, or half each sprouted/whole and light spelt flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 tablespoon coconut sugar
generous 1/4 cup coconut oil – solid
2-3 tablespoons ice-cold water
for the filling
1/2 small yellow onion – diced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger root – peeled and minced
couple sprigs fresh thyme – optional
1/8 rutabaga – peeled and diced
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper – optional
1 ripe but firm pear – cored and diced
coconut sugar for sprinkling
to make the dough
1. Place the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix.
2. Cut the coconut oil into small pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse until incorporated.
3. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough comes together when pressed between fingers. If it’s too dry, add one more tablespoon of water.
4. Form a disc with the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate while making the filling.
to make the filling
1. Warm up about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onion, ginger and thyme and cook, stirring, at medium heat for about 4 minutes.
2. Add in rutabaga, salt and pepper and cook for another 7-8 minutes.
3. Let cool slightly, then stir in the pear.
to make the handpies
1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into any shapes you prefer, using a pastry or cookie cutter, ravioli stamp or a shot glass. Reshape, re-roll and cut more, until all of the dough is used up.
2. Arrange half of the cut pieces on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Spoon a small amount of filling on each piece and lightly sprinkle with coconut sugar. Cover with the rest of the dough sheets and press around the edges with a fork.
3. Place the tray into the freezer for 10 minutes. Take it out and quickly score or prick the tops to allow the steam to escape. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden around the edges. Let cool. Store for about 3 days in an airtight container at cool temperature.
Tags: ginger, pear, rutabaga, snack
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