All Paths Naturopathy

Category: recipes

  • Chocolate Chip Cookies

     So what do you do on a summer day in Southern Oregon when you have to stay in the house as a result of poor air quality from forest fires?  Well, since it has been cool enough to turn on the oven, I thought cookies sounded like a good idea.  Moons ago, I was blessed with a few bags of chickpea flour, also know as besan or gram flour.  This legume flour is high in protein, and low glycemic index.  When paired with a seed these cookies not only taste great, but are a complete protein source as well, which makes them great to take as a snack with fruit and nuts when hiking or adventuring in the Rogue Valley or checking out a play in Ashland or music in Jacksonville.  If those attributes were not enough to convince you to try this recipe, they are also gluten free, vegan and paleo friendly!
    One of the great aspects of this recipe is that if you too have fond memories of eating cookie batter before it has made it into the oven, this batter will surely break you of the habit.  It has to be one of the worst tasting batters I have ever tried.  It is amazing the wonders of heat and time in there ability to transform the batter into some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever baked.

    Ingredients

    1 flax egg
    1 and 1/4  cup chickpea flour
    1/2 cup sugar ( I used coconut)
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp xanthum gum
    1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
    1/2 tsp ground clove
    1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ( carob, coconut nibs or even butterscotch can be substituted)
    1/2 cup butter
    2 tbsp milk or your favorite substitute

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 375 F

    Grease cookie sheets

    Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
    Cream sugar and butter.  When well combined switch to a whisk and beat until fluffy, continue beating while adding the milk and flax egg.
    With out over mixing, combine the dry ingredients with the wet, before adding the chocolate chips.
    Using 2 teaspoons, scoop out rounded teaspoon size balls onto the greased cookie sheet.
    Bake until the edges are lightly golden brown approximately 8-9 minutes.
    Remove from oven and gently transfer to a cooling rack after letting the cookies rest for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet.

    In Health,
    Dr Amanda Hochman
    Photo

  • Flax Pesto Potato Salad

    Here in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, as well as in other parts of the country the CSA boxes as of late have been brimming with beautiful vegetables. So much so that beets, and cucumbers went into a quinoa tabbouleh, flax pesto with fingerling potato salad, and the salad greens were again the soup though this time they were paired with miso and ginger rather than vegetable bullion.   The weather has been so hot in the evenings that there has been smaller than usual appetites and a bit less desire to turn on the oven.  Fortunately on Sunday I had a day of divine inspiration in the kitchen.  Having a bowl full of flax pesto sitting in the fridge just asking to be combined with fingerling potatoes in a mayonnaise less potato salad.

    Flax Pesto:

    1/4 cup flax – freshly ground
    1 + 1/2 cup fresh basil
    1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    3 cloves of garlic peeled
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    zest from 1 lemon
    juice 1/2 lemon

    Combine all ingredients into a blender or food processor.  Blitz until thoroughly combined.

    For the Potato Salad

    1 pound of fingerling potatos cut into 1 inch pieces
    1/2 cup cooked quinoa
    1/8 cup sour cream or tofutti
    1/4 cup flax pesto
    1/4 cup cottage cheese ( can be omitted)
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon pepper
    greens from 3 scallions

    Boil the potatoes until fork tender.  Pour off the water and reserve for soup stocks.  Let the potatoes come to room temperature and combine the rest of the ingredients into a large bowel.  Stir to ensure that the potato pieces are well incorporated.  Enjoy right away or chilled for 60 + minutes.

                                               

    In Health,
    Dr Amanda Hochman
    Naturopathic Physician at All Paths Naturopathy & Midwifery LLC
    Photo

  • Lettuce pea soup

    The pictures of the soup do not bring out its beautiful green color, and I am sure that a few more peas would have not hurt either.  Yet, I had been pining for pea soup and had bags of lettuce sitting in the fridge and no desire to eat salad or much of anything, for that matter while the temperature had been in the upper 90’s.  With inspiration from a recipe I had seen on my search for a chilled pea soup, this little number came into being.  It was a perfect number now that the temperature has finally dropped to a more seasonable 80 degrees here in Southern Oregon, following the veritable heat wave.  It had been so hot, that the mere thought of even turning on the stove top was just unbearable so there would be no fresh made chicken stock for this soup base and we do not usually have boxed stock in the pantry hence, the use of the bullion cubes instead. The meal was also inspired by all of the beautiful summer small plates being served here in Ashland at some of our favorite establishments.

    Ingredients: 
    1 tablespoon butter or butter substitute of your choice
    1 cup onion diced
    1 /2 lb salad mix or torn head lettuce
    1 lb sugar peas shelled or whole with strings removed
    1.5 squares of low sodium vegetable bullion
    um vegetable bullion
    4 cups water, boiling
    Warm the onion with butter until the onions take on a golden hue in a sauce pan approximately 7 minutes.  Melt in the bullion cubes as the onions are cooking.  Add 4 cups of boiling water to the sauce pan.  Add the peas and simmer for 1 minute.  Turn off the heat and add the lettuce to the pan, stir gently until the lettuce is wilted.   Carefully transfer a portion of the mixture to a blender and blitz to incorporate.  Continue in this fashion until all of the soup has been blitzed and transferred to a storage container.  At this point you can either enjoy the soup now.  This soup is also good chilled or at room temperature.  To help chill the soup faster, I transferred portions to their serving bowls which were then placed in the fridge for 30 minutes.

    Fresh pea soup with lettuce after it has been chilled in the refrigerator.

    This soup paired beautifully with tomatoes filled with baba ganush and cucumber-turnip salad.

    In Health,
    Dr Amanda Hochman
    Naturopathic Physician at All Paths Naturopathy & Midwifery LLC
    Photo