Friday Tip- Jam Bar Cake

You need to follow @brocolli_mum on IG and make her Jam Bar cake now! For the 2 cups of fruit, I use anything I have, fresh, frozen or combination. I usually make more fruit compote than I need, and the extras become jam for the next week! Today I used frozen grapes, apricots and cranberries! I topped the cake with chopped walnuts, sliced almonds and coconut shreds. No guilt at all eating cake with beans, dates and oats!!

A new bread find!

While at the NHA Conference this past June, Pat and I were introduced to Manna Organics Bread, specifically, carrot raisin with only three ingredients: sprouted organic wheat berries, carrots and raisins! No added salt, oil or sugar. Find those online and at Natural Grocers in the freezer section. The loaves are very small, dense and moist! It is definitely lime a dessert for us! They are a small family owned business in Illinois. You will enjoy the bread. They freeze well, and I ordered a whole case!

Dehydrated Plantains

The best sweetest snack ever is dehydrated plantains! Buy them green and wait until they start getting very black and are soft and squishy when squeezed. Cut into 1/3 in discs. This time I added cinnamon and hemp seeds on top. Then dehydrate at 125 for 4-6 hours until they are the consistency you like. Check on them after 4 hours, add more time as needed. Once cooled, store in airtight container for months (although you will eat them faster than that). Great to pack for travel or hikes.

Company Polenta Pie

This worked out great as a make ahead meal for 4 to 6 people.

1. A day or two before you need a lunch or dinner meal, make a double batch of polenta (6 cups of water to 2 cups of polenta). Once thickened, pour into a 9 x 14 glass pan and smooth out and store in fridge till the day you need it.

2. Prepare on the stove top a mixture of cooked veggies, beans, salsa and spices that will be your middle layer. 3. Now prepare or purchase a plant based cheese topping for the last layer.

4. Also cut and prep any cold items that you’d like to pile on top of the polenta pie after it is baked: mixed chopped greens/cabbage/cilantro, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado, and chopped mango or pineapple. Now that you have everything prepped, putting it all together the day of your company lunch or dinner will be easy.

5. Day of Company Meal: 2 hours before you want to cook your meal, spoon the bean mixture on top of the polenta and then gently dollop the cheese mixture and spread it easily with the back of a spoon to cover all the beans. I sprinkled the top with a few pickled jalapeños and pumpkin seeds. Let it sit on the counter until you are ready to bake it.

6. Bake at 350, 25-40 minutes until bubbly. Once it is done, get out all the other cold items and put them in a line so that people can top their polenta pie with whatever they want.

Chef AJ Amazing Pasta

Winner Pasta Meal!

Thanks to Chef AJ for showing us a very simple and easy meal in the instant pot. You’ll need a box of jovial brown rice pasta, choose either penne or fuscilli. She served this delicious pasta on top of fresh Romaine with a Cashew Caesar dressing on top of it. You could just as easily put the pasta on top of a big bed of greens.

For the pasta, you’ll need 2 cups of boiling water and a jar of your favorite marinara sauce. I get mine from either Whole Foods or Aldi. That is all she used in her recipe. But I added a lot more to mine to get more veggies into it. I added some smashed cooked chickpeas, cooked lentils would’ve been fine too. I added bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, okra, tomatoes and green beans. The pictures will show this.

Directions: into a six or 8 quart Instant Pot put the dry pasta up on the bottom layer then add 2 cups of boiling water on top of that. And then add your 3 cups of jarred marinara sauce. On top of that add any raw veggies/ cooke beans or even tofu. Pressure cook for 4 minutes and quick release when it’s done.

https://email.mail.chefaj.com/c/eJxsk99yujgcxZ8m3LUDCQa44ALFAGqtqxYLN52QRAx_AoWIrU-_Y7uzs7Pzu01OknPyPR_2Ibk_zSYSjIFXrZ0Lqb7e3rEcDO67hY0pMnjXUqn8lsrmmV3EmVbPrGsN4VuOi13PnTmWIR67H60YR1qKx5XButS3wd6GV8fbS5yUBdv_o9LfvfAZbXsqS_WftccxTB3OoW0JxLBVMJfZmJkCI0OoSQ6daoXSfj90_Mq07JRx8Rlz3bPLOYOImzayHc7R2UYzjJltOY5jSB-aEJuuhS1sw5n1jJHjUtOClutSBzEP2Ob_szX-Ret-BCgAkABIGqnq53YsR8WHhwBA8uP7SQ-U1VKVABJMIbJsGxfQAYiwTmnKdMIBCt3Z8v3EdqjCwkzuQ27GYWA07OM3ulRaDIo2_hskI4_S-t1yASTB0ilUrFXSL8ZDb1Upf2-DPF9vXjMqLTJbF1DHuUCb06Cqz34RdgDO4Wbo39JKHl7KqjhdACRumjk7ds1cmRyycHE8z__av8kawPmURPoa8GOeoLsVekWR5qT42iNz_47NYLvZCa8h45ezvHZxBOD8m2fLeN4dASQ3cnTz7x4H6zuA892-rrJ1NQBIFmWVJJvokp1zAAndpptMWRHbJpNu3rZshfKDrmM3iVe3HC-PS7pNASRxH6zCYLVQ3ouZmzQbTefsvB5UyT4Ppzj00H1eH8p-IccdDNK8zlS1g9p-QUk-3x5w8_it7fk23cod2kVfr2lQp8nSjbpj5Zh89no6zFVcVElAi-PyWEdtH3kAktPk1aheDV-fMI8WJNheGECh0XQ_TMy8VXhP0ulM71XJLqm0Im60Ql867tNeGt0gS6n84trUTz-DNPqhmyQXww8p5VUZg983VOmCjoJz2jR0BLZZ_nata42xuw5M-L9FkuP0dOuGWgyG9h8W_vi-9lnXfvwRV-0L_fEvVZMP_w4AAP__9-pE-w