Heirloom Carrots Parte Deux!

Maintaining healthy habits in the New Year is a constant struggle. As January comes to a close, I’m trying new ways to continue eating well.  I have a bag of buckwheat flour that’s about to expire next month; I probably bought it the last time I was “eating well”! 

Can you see the date?! I got two more weeks to go!

I searched the internet blogs and recipe lists for the last two days looking for a recipe that wasn’t necessarily vegan and didn’t have any strange stabilizing agents like xanthan gum. What I concluded was that I’d try something on my own!

My heirloom carrots inspired me to make a carrot cake muffin, but a healthy version, and my favorite kitchen gadget aided in the shredding! 

By saying, “No!” to cream cheese frosting, these muffins became savory and the buckwheat adds an earthy element. Also the honey didn’t impart much of a sweet factor as I’d had hope, so in a possible revision, I’d substitute honey with brown sugar. As a side note, you can substitute whole what flour for the oat flour. If you don't have oat flour, you can quickly make your own by pulsing oats in a coffee grinder. I used the grinder blade on my Nutribullet. Ultimately, I reached my goal with this recipe. This will be a great breakfast with a little bit of fruity jam; can't wait til tomorrow morning!  ENJOY!!

 Ingredients 

1 cup buckwheat flour (dark)

^1/2 cup oat flour

2 tsp baking powder

^1/4 tsp salt

^1/4 tsp cinnamon

^1/4 tsp ginger

^1/4 cup walnut

^1/4 cup apricot

2 ^1/2 cup carrot (about 2 carrots)

^1/4 cup honey

1 egg (beaten)

^1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup skim milk

Makes 12 muffins

Directions 

Heat oven to 350F. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Grate carrots. Combine wet ingredients to dry. Place mixture into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

PS
This is my cream cheese frosting recipe:
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

Blend all ingredients together with an electric mixer. Dollop onto muffins. 

The carrots turned my soup purple!?

My blogging hiatus is over! Hello and welcome back to my cooking adventures!

I decided to make some chicken stock tonight.  Over the weekend, I visited my old farmer’s market in Clark Park to pick up our weekly vegetables.  With the bitter cold, it was hard to stroll each stand.  Though the crowd was small, the shivering vendors busily restocked baskets with local produce. Perhaps, really they just kept moving to forget how cold it was! As I examine each basket, I picked up some heirloom carrots.  

These wonderful purple, orange, and red variations are so ornate, and they retain such a pungent carrot-flavor when raw.  The sugar content is much less than the average store bought, and the purple variety has a sharp parsnip flare.  

For my stock, I took out my 3qt pot, filled it with carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, and chicken bones, and then covered with water. I added salt, pepper, nutmeg, cumin, and bay leaf. I brought the stock to a boil and then let simmer for an hour. 

Upon my return, the purple carrots leached their color! The flavor is there, and the carrots have mellowed in intensity.

I’ll definitely be getting some looks at lunch with my purple soup! With the remaining carrots that I have, I’ll roast them, and hopefully, the purple carrots will behave and not bleed!