Applesauce Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Easy Freezable Applesauce Waffles (Dippable!)

January 16, 2017 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 147 Comments

A little breakfast meal prep and you’ll always have an easy morning! These Freezable Applesauce Waffles are gluten-free, vegan, allergy-free, and dippable! A customizable recipe perfect for kids, teens, even adults!

How I do with we all had endless morning hours before starting our busy days! My mornings are essential and I’m proudly part of the 4am club! I know most people aren’t willing to take it that far and try to savor every moment of sleep they can. Plus. if you have little kiddos you need to get up and ready for school, the mornings can become a dreaded event. That’s sad! Let’s not make that have to happen anymore!Read More

Homemade Cinnamon Ornaments

December 15, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 42 Comments

All you need is 2 ingredients to make these super simple and easy Homemade Cinnamon Ornaments! A great DIY holiday craft or fun Christmas gift for both kids and adults to make and customize!

That adorable and easy DIY Christmas present I made a few years ago for my family and friends, finally all written out for YOU to try yourself! If you’ve been a Strength and Sunshine reader over the years, you know I love to channel my inner crafter during the holiday season and DIY all my holiday gifts. From memory jars, nail polish mugs, and of course FOOD!Read More

Sauerkraut Chickpea Flour Ravioli + Spiced Applesauce

April 18, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 143 Comments

Homemade sauerkraut filled chickpea flour ravioli in seconds! Mix, roll, cut, stuff, boil! The simplicity of a gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and vegan dinner recipe that’s healthy and flavorful with the saltiness of sauerkraut and sweet spice of an applesauce topping!

That’s right! It’s like homemade Banza! But this is taken a whole step further. Once you see just how easy it is to make your own chickpea flour pasta, you’ll realize why there is such a craze around it! It fits almost every diet, is protein packed and healthy in all ways! Plus I’m packing these little pasta packs with the greatest belly healing fermented food, sauerkraut!

I’ve had homemade pasta on my recipe bucket list for the longest time! One of the first things on there (besides bagels!) These are actually a recent creation too, so it took me THIS long to try making them! At first I was just going to shape them and not stuff, but I felt stuffing them and make them dumpling/ravioli-like was more special 😉

Then the conundrum or a “sauce”. I felt the same way about the gnocchi I made. What to top it with?! This is such an important (and difficult) decision! The sauce can make or break a recipe. Since I was krauting it up, I looked up flavors that go well with the cabbage. I saw tons of pork recipes (ew), but also apple! The salty and sweet sounded like a good plan, but I wouldn’t just leave it at plain applesauce either!

Before we get to the sauce, let’s talk dough! For some reason I came away with battle wounds from this recipe. Both my thumb knuckles (knuckle closest to the wrist), had little circle sized scraps on them. I didn’t notice it until that night, but I’m assuming it was form the rolling pin? I’m not sure, but I digress! You’ll be fine 😉

So you simple make the dough by mixing chickpea flour, psyllium husk, and water together. Then you roll it out (it’s a bit tough) as flat as possible. The take a small glass and make your “circle” rounds. Re-roll out the dough as needed until you get at least 8 rounds. Then you stuff one side with a bit our sauerkraut (I recommend Bubbies!) and fold the circle over, sealing it with some fancy fork marks 😉

The most fun part comes last. The boiling! (All good foods are boiled!) It literally takes about 90 seconds once you drop in the pasta to the boiling pot. The float up so quickly! Just scoop them out and place them on a paper towel to drain and then plate! Well, you also need to simply mix up your sauce and drizzle that over too! Some savory, caraway, onion, dijon are mixed into some applesauce, and bam! You are done!

This is a small batch, for 2 (you and a date) or maybe you mom for mother’s day which is coming up! You can easily double or triple this and even freeze them to have on hand at any time! I actually ate this dish reheated and it was delicious! (That’s the power of the “pea”). Now that you’re dying for the recipe, here you go!

Sauerkraut Chickpea Flour Ravioli + Spiced Applesauce

Sauerkraut Chickpea Flour Ravioli + Spiced Applesauce

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Homemade sauerkraut filled chickpea flour ravioli in seconds! Mix, roll, cut, stuff, boil! The simplicity of a gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and vegan dinner recipe that's healthy and flavorful with the saltiness of sauerkraut and sweet spice of an applesauce topping!

Author: Rebecca Pytell

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 Cup Chickpea Flour
1 TB Psyllium Husk Powder
¼ Cup Water
½ Cup Sauerkraut
For the Sauce:
½ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
½ Tsp Summer Savory
½ Tsp Caraway Seeds
¼ Tsp Onion Powder
¼ Tsp Dijon Mustard
Fresh Parsley (for serving)

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the chickpea flour, psyllium, and water. Mix together until the water is absorbed, then knead with your hands and form a ball.
On a chickpea floured surface, roll out the dough as flat as possible.
Cut 8 (mine were 2½in or so) round with the of of a drinking glass and peel away excess dough which you can roll out again.
Now, lightly reflour the dough rounds and roll each on out even flatter.
WIth each flat oval shape round, place about 1-2 tsp of sauerkraut on one half of the oval, then fold it over and seal the edges using the back prongs of a fork.
Boil a large pot of water on the stove and then place the ravioli gently into the boiling water (all 8 should be fine at once, but you can do 2 batches if your pot is smaller).
After about 90 seconds, once the ravioli float to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.
To make the sauce, simple mix together the applesauce, spices, and dijon.
Plate the ravioli, top with the spiced applesauce, and garnish with fresh parsley if desired!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 4

And above is a simple image to show you the process 😉 I hope you give these a try! Even easier than the bagels! I see many more homemade pasta recipes on the horizon! If you have that chickpea flour on hand (which you should. It’s a pantry staple!), then this is what I wan to see on you dinner table tonight! We really need to start a chickpea pasta revolution! Make it worldwide!

So tell me:

+ Have you ever made your own pasta?

+ Favorite ‘krout brand? I’m a die-hard Bubbies girl! (But I haven’t really tried many others…)

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Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 24, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 157 Comments

The classic chocolate chip cookie with the protein punch of quinoa. Healthy, gluten-free, vegan, quinoa chocolate chip cookies that will fool anyone into thinking they’re eating a decadent dessert. These call for a double batch!

Savory, sweet, dinner, side dish, DESSERT? Ah!!! You know I write all my posts over the weekend and trying to figure out which recipe I wanted to post today took me all week plus the weekend. Then it was a mad rush to edit and write! I didn’t plan on posting these cookies for a few more weeks, but, well, they’re just too good to wait any longer! I made enough of these cookies to have stocked in my freezer and have been heating them up for a mid-morning “protein” burst the last couple of weeks. Daily cookies? Good stuff!

I think we can all agree that the chocolate chip cookie is the ultimate classic cookie. Everyone has had a chocolate chip cookie and everyone has a recipe…maybe. Actually baking did happen in my childhood at least. More than “just add water“. The ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about making chocolate chip cookies as a kid before, but maybe not all the memories. So let’s take a trip down memory lane to a simpler time full of young innocence and gluten-filled goodies. Even then, ever since I can remember, I’ve just loved the excuse to get in the kitchen and cook or bake. So when my mom would randomly call out to my brother and I, asking if we wanted to help with some baking, I ran!

From what I remember, it was always nighttime, maybe after dinner, but it would be dark outside, the kitchen would be warm with the oven preheating and the overhead ceiling lights giving the room an orange glow. The big (and still only) red glass mixing bowl would be set down on the table, the all-purpose flour, and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate “morsels” to the side. I’d make sure I got prime spot in front of the bowl, kneeing up on the kitchen chair. To keep it fair, my brother and I would take turns adding each ingredient to the bowl.

First we would measure and dump in the flour to the big red bowl. Then one of us would measure out the brown sugar (which we always joked about how it looked like “poop” when combined with the melted butter). There was the the glorious smell of vanilla extract! I loved dumping that in! It was my favorite smell! Then the milk and egg which my brother and I both had my mom do. No scary raw egg cracking for us! Last but (really) not least, we got to add in the chocolate chips.

Now, obviously some of those chocolate chips ended up straight in our mouths, but for the most part, we got them in the batter where they belonged 😉 (P.S. my family DOES NOT eat raw cookie dough or any batter. That is so dangerous and never happened in our house!). But then came my favorite part and the most “work”. Mixing the batter!

When you first start, the batter is so hard to mix and we would have to mix for SO long (it felt like). My brother and I would take turns when our arms go tired, but then the batter would become smooth and the only bumps would be the great feel of the chocolate chips gooping around in the batter. I just loved that feeling of mixing the smooth batter! Of course, that also signaled that out work was over. My mom would be the one to drop the cookie batter ever so evenly on the bare greased cookie sheet while my brother and I started counting down the minutes until warm fresh baked cookie would be taken out from the oven in all their aromatic chocolatly gooey hot glory!

They say one of the simple pleasures in life is a fresh baked warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie, and they are correct. It’s one of those experience everyone must have (multiple times) in their lives. It’s pure and utter magic. Since I want everyone to be able to experience that (as well as myself, yet again), I had to make allergy-safe chocolate chip cookies. I whipped them up on a whim, all with quinoa! Quinoa flour, flakes, and of course a bit of arrowroot for the chewy factor. While baking they smelled EXACTLY like “real” chocolate chip cookies. And to my even bigger surprise, when I had my brother try one he said, “Wow, there taste like the actual thing!” <——- Mind blown! I can attest to that too! The crumb and texture is exact and the chew is perfectly how a cookie should be. No to mention the abundance of studded chocolate chips though out! These quinoa chocolate chip cookies are a MUST make, 5 times over!

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

The classic chocolate chip cookie with the protein punch of quinoa. Healthy, gluten-free, vegan, quinoa chocolate chip cookies that will fool anyone into thinking they're eating a decadent dessert recipe. These call for a double batch!

Author: Rebecca Pytell

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

¾ Cup Quinoa Flakes
¾ Cup Quinoa Flour
½ Cup Arrowroot Starch
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
½ Tsp Butter Emulsion (optional)
⅓ Cup Granular Erythritol
½ Cup Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir/whisk until you have a smooth batter.
On a Silpat lined baking sheet, blob and smooth down, about 2 tablespoons each, 12 cookies, evenly spaced out.
Bake the cookies in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow them to cool a bit before devouring (if you can).
These freeze very well and can be reheated in 30-40 seconds for a nice warm cookie snack!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1

Would you like a cookie? If you were to make one Strength and Sunshine recipe, right now, I would want you to make these! I promise, you may just rethink your Toll House classic when you get a taste of these! Quinoa chocolate chip cookies for EVERYONE! The joy, comfort, warmth, and love, it’s all right here just waiting for you! From my kitchen to yous, xoxo

So tell me:

+ I’m scared to ask, but I have to. Are there any NON chocolate chip cookie people out there? Bless your sad soul 🙁

+ What’s your favorite baking memory you have as a child? Definitely these cookie nights!

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Caramel Apple Granola

October 26, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 164 Comments

An easy granola with all the seasonal flavors; healthy, gluten-free, vegan, and sugar-free. Caramel Apple Granola is perfect for breakfast, snacking, or topping a dessert!

What has become of the Granola Queen, you may be thinking. I’m terribly sorry I haven’t shared a granola recipe in what seems like years! I should have probably shared my older ones first (from last August perhaps?), but this most recent and seasonal one just seemed like a better fit. No matter what the combo, granola will never fail to bring a smile to my face. I’m very fond of my “granola flavor idea list” I keep in a Google doc, as well as my coveted granola board on Pinterest.Read More