Chocolate Lava Cakes

One more recipe from Nutritious and Delicious, by Maria Emmerich, so that I can wrap up that chapter in my kitchen! I really enjoyed these cakes.

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, divided
¼ cup vanilla almond milk
1 stick lactose-free butter
2 eggs
2 eggs yolks
1/3 cup erythritol
½ tsp. stevia glycerite
½ tsp. vanilla
¼ cup peanut flour

To make the centers, melt 2 ounces of chocolate and the vanilla almond milk in a double boiler. Whisk gently to blend. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm. Form into 6 balls; refrigerate until needed.

To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 400 °F. Spray six 4-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Melt 4 ounces of chocolate and butter in a double boiler; whisk gently to blend. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs, yolks, sweeteners, and vanilla on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and light. Fold melted chocolate mixture and peanut flour into egg mixture until just combined. Spoon cake batter into ramekins. Place a chocolate ball in the middle of each ramekin. Bake about 15 minutes or until cake is firm to the touch. Let sit out of the oven for about 5 minutes. Run a small, sharp knife around inside of each ramekin, place a plate on top, invert, and remove ramekin.

Peanut Butter Donuts with Chocolate Icing

 

This recipe is from Maria Emmerich’s book Nutritious and Delicious, and a similar version is available here. My beef with this recipe is mainly that some donuts stuck to the pan (as a matter of fact, the chocolate cake donuts from the same book never even came out of the pan!), and the icing was maybe a bit too stiff. I ended up rewriting the recipe because the one in the book had been developed for cupcakes and was poorly edited, but anyway, I got 18 donuts from this. I baked them for 12 minutes instead of the 20 to 25 minutes called for.

For the donuts
2 cups peanut flour (for me, this was 240 g)
½ cup powdered natural sweetener (erythritol, or equivalent) + ½ tsp. stevia glycerite
3 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt (I used ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt)
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 ¼ cups unsweetened almond milk (I used lactose-free milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs

For the icing
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 Tbsp. lactose-free milk (maybe 3 Tbsp. would have been better)

For the donuts
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease donut pans.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds while scraping bowl. Mix at high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl every minute.

Spoon batter into greased donut pans until they are 2/3 full (do not bother using a piping bag!). Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans, then move to wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing
Melt together the chocolate with 2 tablespoons of the milk until even consistency. Dip the donut tops in the icing, then let dry. (Alternatively, you could spread the icing over the donuts if it is solid enough.)

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad Bowl

 

This is another recipe from Marco Borgres’s book The Greenprint. I love this salad bowl for lunch and I’ll be making it again! I also added some roasted, salted pepitas as a topping at one point, used microgreens, and I switched up the dressing based on what I had on hand (a lime vinaigrette tastes better to me than straight-up lime juice, and I also had an herby garlicky dressing).

2 small sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
¼ tsp. paprika
½ Hass avocado, sliced (I used more)
1 large tomato, sliced
1⁄3 sweet onion, diced
juice of ½ lime (see note above)
pinch of dried parsley flakes (I omitted that)
sea salt
2 cups spinach
1 cup canned corn, drained and rinsed
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ cup hummus, store-bought or homemade

Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the sweet potato over the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with the paprika and roast for about 30 minutes, flipping once halfway through, or until tender and golden.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the avocado, tomato, onion, lime juice, and parsley. Season with salt to taste.

Divide the sweet potato, tomato-avocado salad, spinach, corn, and black beans between two bowls. Top with the hummus and serve.

Raw Broccoli Salad

 

This recipe is from Marco Borges’s book The Greenprint. I served it as a side to Hawaiian meatballs. I did like the salad, but the dressing skews heavily acidic and I think it could be balanced with some oil (the Little Prince emphatically agrees).

For the salad
6 cups chopped broccoli florets
2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 cup hulled pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted (mine were salted as well)
½ cup finely chopped red onion

For the dressing (see note above)
1/3 cup stone-ground mustard
¼ cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. water

In a large bowl, toss together the ingredients for the salad.

In a small bowl (I used a jar), whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss to coat evenly.

Hawaiian Meatballs

 

I tried this recipe for Hawaiian meatballs.I served it once with broccoli salad, though it was also good with rice. We loved the meatballs, but the sauce was not what I expected – and I have to take the fall for that because I had to make last-minute adaptations. I didn’t have enough soy sauce, so I decreased the amount of sweetener to compensate. It was still chunkier than I would have liked, but oh well, that’s life. I did make the meatballs smaller – the below is my size and I got 44 meatballs.

For the meatballs
2 lbs. lean ground beef (I used 1 lb. beef and 1 lb. turkey)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup lactose-free milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup white OR brown rice, cooked according to package directions

For the sauce
12 oz. crushed pineapple, OR finely minced fresh pineapple
¾ cup water (I omitted it, but did not drain the pineapple)
½ cup low-sodium soy sauce (I only had ¼ cup)
⅓ cup honey (I used ¼ cup; see note above)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. water
fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish
sesame seeds, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, milk, egg, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Use your hands (I used a fork) to gently mix ingredients until thoroughly combined but not packed down. Scoop meat into 3-tablespoon mounds (I used a 3-Tbsp. cookie scoop and made 2 balls from a scoop) and gently roll into balls (which should measure a bit more than 1 inch across).

Arrange meatballs on prepared baking sheet, at least an inch apart. Bake meatballs for 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through to the center (cut into a meatball to check for doneness; internal temperature should be 165 °F if using a thermometer). Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain any grease and cover with foil to keep warm.

While meatballs are baking, cook rice according to package directions.

At the same time, in another saucepan set over medium heat, prepare the sauce by combining pineapple, water, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, and fresh ginger. Bring sauce to a boil, stirring occasionally, and then reduce to a simmer. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water. Stream cornstarch mixture into simmering sauce while stirring. Allow sauce to cook for a few minutes until thickened and glossy, stirring occasionally.

Serve meatballs over rice with sauce poured on top. Garnish with fresh cilantro and sesame seeds, if desired.