"Your Eyes are Bigger Than Your Stomach"

My mother used to say that to me all the time growing up.  I'd fill up my plate of food and hear "your eyes are bigger than your stomach".  I get it now, but as a child, it made no sense.  I'd look at my stomach, and my eyes were most certainly not bigger than it (especially given I was a bit of a chubkin of a thing)!

Blueberry Pie with Lemon Coconut Whipped Cream

I know I promised a book review in this post, and I'll get to it next, promise.  But, I've been making pies for the last few weeks, and our eldest just loves fruit pies.  I've been thinking of my mom's saying whenever our daughter looks at the finished pies... she has that look in her eyes that she could eat the whole thing!  I've now passed along this saying, explaining how my mom used to say it to me.  Rightfully so, she too thinks it's a strange thing to say!

So, what am I up to with these pies?  Well, I have been intent on creating wheat-free and also gluten-free pie crusts.  Initially, I thought the gluten-free pie crust would be the biggest hurdle.  My first crack was just that - crack!  The crust was hard and dry and crumbly.  Temporarily defeated, I moved on to the wheat-free crust.  I tested both a blueberry filling and apple filling in the wheat-free crusts, both were delish.  The Blueberry Pie was especially good with some Lemon Coconut Whipped Cream on the side (also a new recipe, and I've been terribly hooked on it lately)!

Apple Pie with Gluten-Free Crust

While working through the wf crust, the juices starting flowing for the gf crust.  Impatient as I am, had to test it out - there was still blueberry pie in the fridge, and I tested a Gluten-Free Apple Pie (I had lots of those apples to use up).  It was divine!  The crust is tender and tasty, and with the apple filling is full-out delicious.  I'm still tweaking the wheat-free crust, but am thinking I might still prefer the gf version, because it is darn tasty - and the dough is actually more forgiving, bonus!

All my recipe madness has led to one happy fruit 'n pie filled kiddo, who is determined to eat enough pie to prove me wrong about the eye 'n stomach theory.  Oh, and the other daughter wants no part of fruit pies, go figure - which of course, works out tickety-boo for our eldest ("YES! More for me")!

The genes that you inherit from your parents are not the most important factors in determining whether you fall prey to any of the ten leading causes of death.  (The China Study)

Blueberry Coffee Cake

A quick post with a sweet treat to show you. This is a new recipe I've just about finished, a Blueberry Coffee Cake with Walnut Streusel Topping. The testing has gone through a few phases, because I'm working with frozen blueberries and they affect the texture of the batter. Think I've got it now, but definitely want to test it again when fresh blueberries are in season. That's some time away, into August... I am really eager for summer fruit season, fresh organic peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums... so much goodness to enjoy!

With Mother's Day this weekend, I thought I'd share something our youngest daughter said recently. Of course, when our children are young, they get used to calling us "mom" and "dad", so when they sit and think about our actual names sometimes, they find it a tad peculiar. Our daughter was talking about my name one day and said "Dreena"...... "sounds like cleaner". Uh-huh. I thought "that's a lot of what mommy does, honny, clean up"!! :) And, after a mom's day event at her preschool, later in the day she said "I had the best mother's day ever... you're the best mommy ever". Is there anything sweeter a mom can hear?

So, to all of you moms that are taking a break (as brief as it might be) from cleaning to read this post... I wish you a Happy Mother's Day! Take some time for yourself to relax, and also get in a few extra hugs and kisses from your kidlets. Oh, and of course, indulge in a sweet vegan treat as well. :)

Black and Blue Pancakes

It's Sunday, and as many of you know, that's Pancake Day in our house.

This one is a simple recipe to throw together, and that's a very (very) good thing... because these new Black and Blue Pancakes are a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Well, they're healthy enough, made with whole-grain spelt flour, blueberries, very little oil, and also including non-dairy milk
(I like Living Harvest hemp milk)...

but then, we add the chocolate chips! Like having bites of dessert for breakfast - YES!

There's something incredibly satisfying and sublime to me about the combination of chocolate and blueberries in baked goods. I think they were meant to be together. Kind of like black and blue in a bruise, but in a way that's good. You know what I mean. Chocolate and blueberries should be together more often... make it so in your kitchen!

Berry Apple Grunt

When I began writing ed&bv, I had intended to include some vegan versions of traditional recipes from Atlantic Canada. Some of you that have TEV or that have been following my blog know that I grew up in Newfoundland. I posted about it before.

I did manage to put my twist on the Atlantic classic Blueberry Grunt recipe... my version being a healthier, flavorful Berry Apple Grunt.

Growing up, picking blueberries was one of my favorite things to do with our family. We could drive out to spots in the country and just pick for hours. I loved it. The berries we picked in the wild were much smaller than the berries I now buy out west. And although I prefer the sweetness of the big plump blueberries, the wild blueberries of Newfoundland are certainly more flavorful.

My version of this recipe uses a combination of blueberries, strawberries, and apples, and is made without white flour or white sugar. As you might suspect, I've also made it wheat-free and without margarine.

While this is classified as a dessert, my version is not overly sweet. I've made it for breakfast for the girls, pairing it with soy yogurt. If you do make it for dessert, try serving it with some non-dairy ice cream or Macadamia Maple Butter Cream from ed&bv.

The method of cooking is simple. The berries are combined with sweetener and flavorings in a saucepan. As it simmers, sweet batter dumplings are added to the mixture, and the pot is covered for the dumplings to steam and cook. The name 'grunt' comes from the sound that the steaming berries and pudding make as it cooks in the covered pot.

Personally, I've never heard any grunting from the dessert... only grunting from family asking for seconds.

Fresh Blueberry Oat Squares

Don't you want to bite the screen? I saw the August cover of Canadian Living magazine while in line at the grocery store and immediately thought "I must make those!" (vegan of course, and Dreena-style!)


Off to the kitchen I went, loosely following my recipe for Delish Date Squares in Vive for the oat crust base, and then changing up the filling using fresh blueberries. These look just as delicious as the Canadian Living version (imo; just not as 'tidy'!), taste spectacular, and unlike their version these bars do not include any butter, white flour, or white sugar - and are wheat-free!

Aren't blueberry-filled desserts supremely delicious? Their only drawback are their characteristic tell-tale signs. The purpley-blue teeth! (Entirely worth it though!)Reminds me of a story as a child. My mom had a big bucket of fresh blueberries. We ate some of the fresh berries, and then she told us (me) to leave the rest for her baking (or jams, I can't remember what she was using them for - that didn't matter to me at the time, because I wasn't really listening). So, she was busy bathing my younger sister. I went into the bathroom and sat on the tub to join them and talk.

My mom asked "Dreena, were you eating the blueberries?". "No!", I emphatically (but sheepishly) answered. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Yes", I answered with a big smile. But no fibbing could get past the proof... in my teeth! She remembers that story to this day and laughs every time saying "no, mom, I wasn't eating blueberries"... and flashes me a big smile.

I have to run through this recipe again, then I'll post it so you can flash 'em your bestest blueberry smile! :)