Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Bread {vegan}

Operation put strawberries in as many things as humanly possible before summer gets here continues today. I've long been a fan of the marriage of strawberries and banana. They made a dynamic duo, and feel tropical and springy. So I decided to adapt my Aunt's banana bread recipe, which I pretty much grew up on and have been making forever, to include strawberries! Yipee! 

I wanted to make it somewhat less of a treat and somewhat more of a dare I say, healthy, snack. Something that would be appropriate with your morning coffee. So I omitted the sugar and replaced it with half the amount of maple syrup. All hail maple syrup! I swear I should have been born Canadian. With the help of a little coconut oil, I also made it vegan. I used a combination of whole wheat pastry flour, which makes this bread surprisingly light, and good old fashioned oats. And despite the fact that it tastes just as good if not better than the banana bread I grew up eating, it's packed with protein, whole grains, and fiber, so there is no guilt in eating the entire loaf. The result is an incredibly moist loaf of classic banana bread with the perfect tang from bursting ripe strawberries. I think banana bread is the ultimate homemade food. It smells and tastes like home.

Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Bread {Vegan} 
Makes 1 large loaf

1 flax eggs (1 tbsp flax seed meal + 2.5 tbsp water + pinch of baking powder) or 1 chicken egg
1 cup mashed ripe banana (~2 medium bananas)
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats (not quick-cooking)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 scant cup finely diced strawberries + 1-2 strawberries for topping

Prepare the flax egg, if using. Combine flax and water in a small prep bowl, stir to combine and let sit at least 20 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a medium loaf pan (I used coconut oil spray) .

Process the oats in the bowl of a food processor for about 1 minute until finely ground. Combine oat “flour” with whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and whisk to combine.

Toss baking powder into the flax seed mixture (skip this step if you are using a regular egg) and stir, it should be thickened to the consistency of an egg by now. In a large bowl (or stand mixture) mix together flax egg, bananas, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Slowly integrate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Gently stir in the diced strawberries and pour the batter into your loaf pan. Thinly slice remaining 1-2 strawberries and drape them on top of your loaf. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown on the top and a skewer comes out completely clean.

Notes:

The fresh strawberries give this bread a lot of moisture. Moisture leads to a longer cooking time. The top of your loaf will likely be darker than the loaf in the photos (which would have used a longer cook time).
As tempting as it is to toss in 2-3 ripe bananas and call it good, you need to measure out exactly a cup. Too much banana and the loaf won’t cook through. Trust me and my 6 loaves of under-cooked bread.

An Announcement + Chocolate Doughnuts with Real Strawberry Icing {vegan}

We're moving to Chicago!!! 

I'm starting a doctoral Psy.D. program in Clinical Psychology the end of August. I've wanted to do this for what feels like forever, at times the vulnerability of actually admitting it felt overwhelming, but it's been in the works for a very very long time. I get to specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and I hope to one day integrate my work in mindfulness + meditation into working with clients facing mental health challenges.

Aside from loving the program, we were really quite smitten with Chicago, a city neither of us had very high expectations for. The pulse of the city made me feel like I was back in New York, but with a fresh new mid-western perspective. Although reminiscent of it, Chicago doesn't try to be New York. It holds it's own and has a lot to offer. Also it has really good food, costs way less than LA, snows (I know we are crazy, but we miss snuggle/soup weather), and enables me to sell my car and hopefully rely solely on a bike (I've already got one all picked out!), all of which excite me to the point of elation. 

I knew in my gut right after the interview this is where I'm supposed to be. I found out I was accepted just over a month ago, felt like the weight of the world had lifted, and have been riding the high ever since. I submitted my deposit and made it official a couple days ago and I am so so excited. 

That being said, we have less than four months left in LA, which somehow feels daunting and exciting at the same time. It's an odd feeling to know that your current life has an expiration date. I've found myself both "checked out" and trying to savor these last months here. We made a bucket list of all the things we need to do before we leave, most of which just includes restaurants. But this I know for certain, my students will be the thing I miss most about my time here in LA. They fail to mention two things when you do a teacher training. 1. That you pretty much take a vow of poverty when you commit to a career as a yoga teacher. and 2. That you will absolutely come to love your students, they will inspire you, push you, and teach you more than you could ever know. 

Also, my husband will most likely be sailing for the first year we're there, which means he'll be gone for weeks at a time. If you have the secret to making two careers work simultaneously, please let us in on it, because it's been rough. Ultimately it's going to be a good move that brings us both closer to the life we want, even though we have to take one step back in order to take two steps forward. 

And although I'm totally terrified and excited, I think a lot of what being an adult is is constantly working to fill shoes larger than our own. I remember a couple years ago not even being able to admit to people that I secretly wanted to be a yoga teacher. It felt big, scary, and vulnerable, and when I first attempted teaching full-time I felt like I was awkwardly trying to "fake it until I made it" in shoes that were way too big for me. Flash forward a couple of years and those same shoes are snug and comfortable.

Then I started the whole application process, took the GRE, awkwardly asked for letters of recommendation, and poured my heart into my essays; I felt like I was once again awkwardly trying to fill those giant shoes. And starting classes this August, then working in the field through practicum and internships will probably feel the same. But I'm learning to be okay with it. To accept that the awkward, unsure, "fake it till you make it" phase is a part of growth. It's a sign that you're moving into a new level of power. And I think patience is the greatest thing we can offer ourselves as we stumble to figure it out, because those shoes that felt enormous, we'll eventually grow right into. 

I think ultimately Brené Brown says it better than I ever could:

“The bottom line is, if you’re going to go into the arena, you’re going to get your butt kicked. But as scary and dangerous as that sounds, I don’t think it’s as scary and dangerous as spending your entire life on the outside wondering what if I would had shown up. To me that’s far more dangerous. And I know it’s seductive to stand outside the arena, and think to myself ‘I’m going to go in there and kick some ass when I’m bullet proof and when I’m perfect.’ And that is seductive. But the truth is, that never happens. And even if you got as perfect as you could, and as bullet proof as you could muster, when you got in there that’s not what we want to see. We want you to go in and we want for ourselves and for the people we care about and the people we work with to dare greatly”

— Brené Brown

So I made doughnuts to celebrate moving to the city that makes the best dang doughnuts I've ever had. They are simple, baked, and vegan and they have a strawberry coconut glaze made with real strawberries, because duh, it's April, so why not? 

Oh and if you're wondering I still have every intention to keep this little space on the internet while in school, because honestly there are few places I'd rather escape to than in my own kitchen. I'm hoping this new city will only channel a greater sense of foodspiration. So now I'd love to hear from you. Have you been to Chicago? Maybe you're from there or have family there? Where should we live? What should we do? Where should we eat? Seriously give me everything you've got! 

Chocolate Doughnuts with Real Strawberry Icing {vegan} 
makes 18 doughnuts 

For the doughnuts: 
2 cups bread flour (see notes) 
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 cup brown sugar 
1 can full-fat coconut milk minus 2 tablespoons 
2 tablespoons lemon juice (~1 lemon) 
2 flax eggs (1/4 cup water + 2 tablespoons flax seed meal + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ) OR chicken eggs 
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons instant coffee 
1/4 cup (1.5 oz) chocolate chips 
1 teaspoon vanilla 

For the icing: 
1/2 pound strawberries (~1 heaping cup), quartered 
1 teaspoon coconut oil 
pinch of salt 
2 tablespoon canned coconut milk 
1/4 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small prep bowl, prepare the flax eggs by combining water with flax seed meal and let sit while you prepare the remaining ingredients. In a medium bowl combine coconut milk with lemon juice and let sit. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Warm the coconut oil until melted and very warm. Stir the chocolate chips and instant coffee into the hot coconut oil until the chocolate melts and the mixture is cohesive. Add baking powder to the flax eggs and stir. Combine coconut oil mixture, coconut milk, flax eggs and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until completely combined. 

Spray your doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray (I used Trader Joe's Coconut Oil Spray) and scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into each doughnut mold. I used a cookie dough scoop to do this. Cook each batch of doughnuts for 14-17 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 5 minutes then invert the pan over a cooling rack. They should come out pretty easily. 

While your doughnuts are cooking, prepare the glaze. In a small saucepan, cook strawberries, salt, and coconut oil for about 5 minutes over medium/low heat until strawberries have softened and their juices have thickened. Blend strawberries, coconut milk, and powdered sugar in the a blender or food processor until completely smooth. 

After doughnuts have cooled completely, dip each doughnut into the icing and serve. 
  

Notes: 
Here's the thing with the bread flour. I tried this recipe with a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour the first time around and the resulting doughnuts were light and fluffy like sheet cake. The problem was they were so light and fluffy you could barely pick them up, let alone dip them in icing, without them completely falling apart. They hold together much better with bread flour and also taste much closer to traditional fried cake-style doughnuts. 

 

Meyer Lemon, Raspberry, Goat Cheese Waffles

I'm currently on a bit of a citrus kick. Our fruit basket is chock-full of various shades of orange, pink and yellow, and I may have already confused a grapefruit and a blood orange for a lemon multiple times this season. All the colors and shades start to blend together until you actually cut the thing open and taste it! Thanks to the kitchn I learned storing lemons in a ziplock bag in the fridge keeps them fresh for a month! I tried it and it works like a gem. Lemon water has been a new obsession of mine as well. And meyer lemon water? Don't even get me started - I could drink gallons of the stuff. It's tangy, sweet, refreshing, and it's supposed to be detoxifying and SUPER good for you. 

If you've never had the chance to try a meyer lemon, they are sort of a delicacy and can be on the pricier side but are well worth it. They are generally softer than a regular lemon, with brighter more orange skins, they produce more juice and best of all their taste is sweeter and softer than regular lemons. They're really a treat. 

There are few combinations I love more than meyer lemon and goat cheese, especially in the winter. They taste amazing in my favorite one pot kale & quinoa dish so I figured why not let them play together in something sweeter. Meyer lemon waffles with sweet raspberries and tangy goat cheese. So so good. And the best part about these waffles? They freeze beautifully, just pop them in the toaster and they taste like they just came off the waffle iron. Happy Sunday. 

Meyer Lemon, Raspberry, Goat Cheese Waffles
Makes 4 large waffles 
adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
3 tablespoons coconut sugar (or granulated sugar) 
1 tablespoon meyer lemon zest, (from about 2 large lemons) 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/3 cup meyer lemon juice (from about 2 large lemons)
1/3 cup greek yogurt, I used 2% Fage
1/2 cup almond milk, regular milk, or water (I used almond)
1 heaping cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed slightly 
2.5 oz crumbled goat cheese (about 1/2 cup loosely packed) 

Preheat your waffle iron. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small prep bowl, stir together sugar and zest until the mixture becomes fragrant. Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture and whisk to combine. 

In a large bowl, mix together butter, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, greek yogurt, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined, don't over-mix. Pour in raspberries and goat cheese and stir gently, keeping the goat cheese crumbles intact. Dollop the batter into your waffle maker and cook until golden, following manufacture's instructions. 

Notes:

• You could totally use regular lemons if you can't find meyers.
• I have a very un-fancy waffle maker and I know they are all probably a little different, but I found turning up the dial to the highest "most brown" setting worked best. I also sprayed my iron with coconut oil between waffles. 
• These freeze beautifully. Just pop them in the toaster and they taste almost better than they did on day 1.