Coconut Tres Leches

A sad effect of childbirth was my body decided dairy was no longer acceptable. I am always looking for substitutes for my favorite dairy foods now. This is a winner. I am not a vegan, but vegan recipes often fit my needs for dairylessness. I used a cake box with eggs for this recipe, so it wasn't vegan. And it was really yummy for all who tried it.

It's a little complicated, like you start doing some of these steps TWO DAYS before you actually want to eat the cake, but it's worth the effort.

Coconut Tres Leches
adapted from this blog

Ingredients:
For the milk topping:

• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed coconut milk
• 1 2/3 cups Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Original, divided

 For the cake:

• A box. Pick a favorite that would taste good with coconut.

For the whipped topping:

• 1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled in the refrigerator for 24 hours
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

 First, get a can of full fat coconut milk and chill it in the fridge for 24 hours.
Second, you have to make your own sweetened coconut condensed milk, as explained in this recipe. You can do this a few days ahead of time if you need. I think it lasts a couple weeks in the fridge.

Brown Sugar Sweetened Condensed Milk
adapted from this blog

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Heat coconut milk and brown sugar together in a medium sized pot over medium heat whisking constantly until mixture thickens and reduces to about 1/2-2/3 of original. This takes about 30 minutes. When milk is finished, it will coat the back of a spoon as seen in the above pictures. Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Note: When I made this I totally spaced putting in the brown sugar (only two ingredients, and I forgot one! Pregnancy brain). So at the end I squirted some agave syrup in and it was just fine. I'm curious to find out what it tastes like when I make it the way I'm supposed to. . . 

Third, you make the evaporated almond milk.
Evaporated Almond Milk   

• 1 1/3 cup unsweetened original almond milk (I use Blue Diamond)

Heat 1 1/3 cup Silk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1/2 volume, whisking constantly. Set aside and cool completely. (Don't overcook it like I did the first time and leave yourself with an almond paste. Honestly. I can't believe this tasted as good as it did with all the mistakes I made. The second attempt at evaporated almond milk turned out great.)

Fourth, bake the cake in a square pan. Get a box. This is complicated enough. Cool cake completely.

Fifth, (so many steps!) assemble the goodness (some of this you can do while the cake is in the oven and cooling):

• In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup sweetened condensed coconut milk, 1/3 cup evaporated almond milk, and remaining 2/3 cup almond milk. Pierce cooled cake several times with a fork (I recommend spraying the fork with nonstick spray), and pour mixture on top. Cover dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 24 hours. Place remaining can of coconut milk (for the whipped topping) in the refrigerator at this time as well if you haven’t already.

• To make the whipped topping, place a metal bowl and beaters in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Turn chilled coconut milk can upside down and open. Pour out the liquid (you can save it for an other recipe!) and use a spatula to transfer the rest to your chilled bowl. Add 1 tbsp sugar and vanilla and beat on high until fluffy. Spread evenly over chilled cake.

Notes: Strawberries taste very nice on top of this. Or pineapples. 

Sugar Cookies

A friend made these for me and Justin said they were the best cookies he's ever eaten. So I got the recipe:

Sugar Cookies
by Lethe Bradshaw

• 2- 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup butter softened
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. They will bake on the pan when you take them out. She overcooked them by two minutes when she made them for us. :)

Sneaky Smoothies

My 2 year old is pretty good about eating fresh fruit, and he'll eat some veggies if they are prepared the right way, but the variety is lacking. I've been trying to figure out how to get leafy greens into his diet, and the only way I'm successful is by putting it in smoothies. This sounds so gross, but my son likes it so much, he drinks a large glass and then is upset when I tell him it's all gone.
I have a few things I always put in the smoothie, and then the rest of the ingredients depend on what I have in my kitchen.

Sneaky Smoothie
by Brooke Hochstein

Standard Ingredients:

• 1 Banana
• 1 heaping spoonful creamy peanut butter
• 1 large handful of fresh spinach (or whatever greens you want to throw in. I put unseasoned steamed asparagus and edamame in yesterday with spinach. I fill half the blender with these greens. Other ideas: Avocado, cucumber peels, peas, cooked beans, etc.)
• 2-4 c water (to meet desired consistency)

Additional Ingredients:

• Frozen fruit to make the smoothie icy (Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, etc.)
• Fresh fruit (Strawberries, blueberries, apples, melon, raspberries, whatever you have in your fridge and need to get rid of soon)

Blend well!

You could also put some greek yogurt or whatever you want to make it creamy. I leave this out since I've cut dairy out of my diet. The banana makes the smoothie creamy enough for me. Sometimes I'll add two.
I'm sure there are nutritionally balance recipes out there. These are usually called "green smoothies." The color of mine tend to be a purple-orange color (is that possible?) with green specks. The appearance doesn't seem to effect the consumption rate at this point.

Easter Bunny Buns

We made these this year for a gift basket. I didn't put faces on the bunnies, but they sure did taste good. This is copied straight from Mason's April 2011 Friend Magazine.

Bunny Buns

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 5 1/2 cups flour, sifted
• Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter

1. Wash hands with soap and water.
2. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
3. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
4. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
5. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.
7. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.
8. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.
9. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Illustrations by Julie F. Young

Note: I used butter instead of crisco. Same amount.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

I got this idea from 101 Things To Do With a Cake Mix, p. 117. I changed some things.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

• 1 Box of your favorite chocolate cake mix (I used Triple Chocolate)
• 1/3 C. Oil
• 2 Eggs
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together cake mix, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. The dough will be stiff.
Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Use a round cup or cookie cutter to cut out uniform cookies. Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable oil. Place the cutout dough on the pan.
Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies onto a cooling rack. When cool, place a scoopful of ice cream in-between two cookies. Wrap the sandwiches in plastic wrap. Store cookies in a an airtight container in the freezer.

Note:
We did open-faced sandwiches. Next time I will make some hot fudge to top it off. I may even use other ice cream flavors. Justin said this was the best dessert I'd ever made :)

Quick and Easy Apple Crisp

Quick and Easy. Just my style. Made this for a dinner party, and everyone really liked it. It only took me about ten minutes to prepare, and it took that long because of all the peeling and slicing.

Quick and Easy Apple Crisp
from 101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix, p. 113

• 4-6 apples (about 6 cups)
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1/2 c quick oats
• 2 t sugar
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1/2 c butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core, and slice apples. Spread over the bottom of a greased 8x8-inch pan.
Mix cake mix, oats, sugar, and cinnamon together in large bowl. Pour melted butter over the top. mix with fork until crumbly.
Bake 35-40 minutes, until apples are tender and top is golden brown.

Notes: I barely cooked this for 35 minutes, and it was kind of crumbly/powdery. I served it with ice cream and that kept all the powder contained. I will cook it longer next time. I used three large gala apples to make it this time, and it seemed like plenty. Maybe I could have done four and had more juices cooking. . .

Crepes

In the Netherlands, we called these pannekoeken. I love them.

Pannekoeken
by Brooke

• 6 eggs
• 2 c. milk
• 1 t. salt
• 1 c. flour
• butter for frying
• toppings of choice: Nutella, bananas, shredded apples, yogurt, powdered sugar, butter, syrup, strawberries, peanut butter, nuts. . . it's hard to go wrong with this.

Beat eggs until frothy; add milk and salt. Slowly stir mixture into the flour. Melt butter in a frying pan. Hold pan while pouring batter and rotate to make a thin coat of batter over the bottom of the pan. Add fruit or nuts to batter if desired to have it cooked in. Cook until the top turns glossy. Flip and cook other side. Spread on toppings, if desired. Roll up, fold up, cut up, whatever your style is. Best to serve hot.