Gingerbread Popcorn: Streetname...G-Crack

I'm loathe to even reprint this heinous recipe. Especially since it's after Christmas and there's absolutely no call, NO CALL I tell you, for making this. Just don't go there. Don't do it.
Weeeeelllll, you could just try a 1/3 of the recipe. Maybe 1/2 since it's easier to figure that way. ;-)

G-Crack:
(gleaned from Culinary in the Desert's blog)

15 cups of popped popcorn (I used 3 bags of Central Market's All Natural microwave popcorn)
2 cups of packed brown sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 250

Line 2 large baking dishes (I used 9 X 13 glass pans) with foil and coat with cooking spray. Fill each with 7 1/2 cups popcorn.

Combine butter, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a large, heavy bottom saucepan. Heat over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil for 5 minutes; stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add baking soda. Pour over popcorn; toss to coat.

Bake at 250 for one hour, carefully stirring the warm mixture about every 15 minutes. Cool completely then store in an airtight container.

Vegan Spelt Banana Nut or Chocolate Muffins

What's a gal to do when there are too many nanners in the house to eat up? Duh.

These are so scrummy! I just love whole spelt flour...tastes so much better than whole wheat in my opinion.  Finally, a banana bread recipe that is pretty darn healthy compared to most.  I think it tastes way better than the butter laden ones to boot.

If you'd rather bake up a loaf, this fits nicely in an 4.5" x 8.5" loaf pan and would cook in about 42 minutes according to the original (pre-tweeking) recipe I found on Recipe Zaar.

Update: This has been my go-to banana bread recipe since the first time I made it. I know they're not vegan when made this way, but I now usually add 3/4 of a bar of Lindt "Touch of Sea Salt" chocolate; chopped, and about 1/3-1/2 cup nuts (if the Monster lets me get away with it).
This usually yields more like 9-10 muffins.

Vegan Spelt Banana Nut and/or Chocolate Muffins:

4 medium ripe bananas (I like to freeze the bananas in the peel, thaw them, pull off their bums and squirt out the innards, then whiz them up with a stick blender to smooth them out.  You might have to heat them in the microwave after blending to warm them enough that your coconut oil doesn't seize up, if using)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
3 Tbs grapeseed, canola, other healthful neutral flavored oil, or even hazelnut or walnut oil if you want to play up the nuttiness of the muffins (I've been using extra-virgin coconut oil lately...yum!)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
~3/4 cup walnuts or pecans (I've made this recipe so many times now and settled on using a combo of 8 squares chopped Lindt Touch of Sea Salt dark chocolate bar + a generous 1/3 cup walnuts)

Heat oven to 350.
Oil muffin tin (or loaf pan...cooking for ~42 min).
In a bowl, mash bananas then add maple syrup, oil, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift together spelt flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Blend the wet and dry mixtures, then fold in nuts or chocolate chips.
Pour into oiled muffin tin and bake for about 23-25 minutes, or until tops just spring back upon applying gentle pressure and or a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Remove from oven and let cool in tin for about 5 minutes.
Remove from tin and place on a rack to finish cooling.
I do highly recommend at least one or 2 "sample" muffins eaten warm.

Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread

Here's my new favorite non-yeasted bread for a healthy New Year. I gave a dry mix of this to my mom for Christmas...jury is still out on weather or not she'll like it as much as I do. Some of the ingredients might be harder to come by for some, but I just love this toothsome stuff and find it well worth the trek to Whole Foods market to gather them. The first time I made the recipe from Susan Jane Murray's site, I used rolled oats in lieu of the rolled millet/barley. It resulted in a longer cooking time, but was still good. I like to cook this in a 9x13 pan and then cut into 8 planks when done. I pop them in the freezer and they're there for me whenever I want one. I've eaten them toasted with a fried egg on top or topped with some mashed avocado, lemon and sea salt (YUM), plain ol' buttered, and also toasted and broken up over my morning yogurt with fruit. All delish! Be forwarned, this opinion belongs to someone who happens to love buckwheat and is also into alternative "granola" type foods. :-) Susan Jane's site is an awesome new find for me. I hope to try out more of her recipes soon.
Jeez...typing this up has made me very sad not to have any tucked away in the freezer. Off I go to make some more!

Make sure you scroll all the way down for my alternate Banana-Almond version.

Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread:
(adapted from Susan Jane Murray)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1 teaspoon Herbamare seasoning or celery salt (Herbamare is awesome stuff! My new fave and I've found it in several stores...no need to purchase online)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese is best)
3/4 cup rolled barley (couldn't find the rolled millet the orig. recipe called for, and barley only from Whole Foods)
1/2 cup whole buckwheat grains (I toast 'em first in a dry skillet, stirring until a nice nutty fragrance develops...4-5 min?)
3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 cups of milk or carrot juice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 tablespoons of honey or agave (I found a powdered cactus flower honey and use that now, since it's easier to mix in with the dry ingredients...totally random and you don't need to search it out to make this!) ;-)

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Grease a 9x13 cake pan with a bit of oil, then line with parchment.

2. Sieve buckwheat flour, soy flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, seasoning and spices into a large bowl to introduce air and make it fluffy.

3. Add rolled barley, whole buckwheat grains, sunflower seeds and milk and sweetener. It should be of pouring consistency.

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes , or when a toothpick comes out clean.

5. Remove from oven, flip out onto a rack and allow cool. When cooled I use a pizza cutter wheel to zip through the bread to make 8 individual pieces, then slip them into a large freezer bag and store in the freezer. Better I think after it sits a bit...the buckwheat groats get a chance to soften up some.

To your good health in the New Year!!


I had 2 bananas to use up the other day, so thought I'd play around with the above recipe. Tastes great toasted and buttered!

Banana-Almond Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1 teaspoon Herbamare seasoning
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese is best)
3/4 cup rolled barley (could try a sturdy rolled oat too if you can't find barley)
1/2 cup whole buckwheat grains (I toast 'em first in a dry skillet, stirring until a nice nutty fragrance develops...4-5 min?)
~1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 medium sized over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 heaping Tbs. almond butter
1 1/2 cups of milk or carrot juice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 tablespoons of honey or agave

Preheat oven to 350 and line the bottom of a 9 x 13 cake pan with parchment paper and spray sides with a good canola spray.
Mix all dry ingredients together (buckwheat flour through sliced almonds)
In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas with almond butter and honey and stir well.
Add almond milk to the banana mixture and stir until combined.
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl.
Since I've only made this once, I can't remember how long I cooked it for.
Use a toothpick to check for doneness starting at around 30 min...knowing that it'll take longer than that. :-)