Organic Granny

 Black-ish Forest Vegan Chocolate Pancakes My dear husband turned 71 today.  I am making him General Tso's tofu for dinner but also wanted to make him a delicious breakfast that would be something different from the usual smoothie and oatmeal.  It had to be vegan, low in processed sugar, and maybe kind of reflective of a favourite German food.   I know his favourite birthday cake used to be Black Forest Cake.  Way off his menu these days with his desire to be sugar-free and healthy as he trains to run another half-marathon in the Spring/Summer. So after reading over a few such chocolate pancake recipes, I made a few modifications and came up with a pancake mix that I can store as the combined dry ingredients in a jar in the fridge, and when we want these lovely pancakes again, I will just scoop out the dry mix and add in the wet mix (almond milk and apple cider vinegar), and cook them up-- easy-peasy!  So, here is the mix for 4 batches (about 16-24 pancakes): -1 1/2 cups oat flour

                                                                                         It seems to me that Kunio Yamagishi may have decided upon a particularly deep emotional challenge for himself as a writer of historical fiction. What if instead of writing about a lonely man who undergoes extreme emotional deprivation and finds true love and/or personal happiness in spite of that deprivation I write about a person who-- like many humans we hear about-- only experiences blurry glimpses of personal happiness through the course of his life. Would those dim hopes be enough to sustain him into natural death in old age? What are the choices in life when all your dreams evaporate?   Yes,  The Return of A Shadow  is possibly the saddest book I have read, or at least in a long time. But beautiful writing, and a likeable protagonist kept me interested and hopeful in the outcome. I believe that older adults, perhaps the age of the protagonist himself, would be most apt to read this book. W

A dear friend had a huge Bosc pear harvest from her tree this year-- 700 pounds!  I was one of the lucky beneficiaries.  This vegan pear butter recipe is the result of a rave on Facebook by one of my friends.  So, looking at several recipes, I have chosen what I think works to produce a silky, yummy, pretty healthy pear spread.  The word "butter" does not mean that real dairy butter is involved (in fact, no fats!) INGREDIENTS: 5 pounds of fresh Bosc pears, peeled, split, cored, roughly chopped 1 teaspoon dried ground ginger* 2 tablespoons dried ground cinnamon** 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup coconut sugar pinch of salt (optional)                                                           These are common BOSC pears.                                                           You can use this recipe for other                                                              pears, such as Barlett, as well.                                                            EASY M

Porridge made with barley is not familiar to everyone. This sweet porridge recipe comes from the Sacred Cookbook- Forgotten Healing Recipes of the Ancients . You will find other delicious, little-known old "ethnic" recipes from all over the world in this collection. Barley Porridge Serves 2-4 INGREDIENTS: 1 1/4 cups organic barley flour 4 cups almond milk, or other milk of choice sea salt 6 large medjool dates , pitted and chopped 2/3 cups chopped walnuts 4 tablespoons raw honey (other sweetener, like maple syrup, for children under 1 year) METHOD: 1. Whisk the barley flour in the almond milk over medium heat in a medium size pot. Be sure to bring all the flour into play and stir until smooth and beginning to bubble. 2. Turn the heat down as boil begins and allow the porridge to simmer gently for about 5 minutes. (Watch to prevent burning, whisk if needed) 3. Remove from heat, salt to taste, and spoon porridge into bowls. Add the dates, walnuts and honey