The Odd Fork

Red, ripe, sweet strawberries... Strawberry is more than a fruit, is the symbol of spring! The Odd fork got the season's first strawberries, so it made these lovely strawberry - chocolate whole grain muffins. Oh, they are vegan and sugar-free as well!

To make them, just blend a ripe banana with some non dairy milk of choice together with 8 - 10 small, ripe strawberries. Add self rising whole grain flour and some coconut. Mix well and add into the cake dough some extra chopped fresh strawberries and some sugar-free black chocolate pieces. Divide the dough evenly among muffin tins filling them with batter up to 3/4.
Bake in a preheated oven, air setting, at 350 C, for 20 minutes or until the top is slightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.

Enjoy them warm with coffee or tea for breakfast, or anytime!

Fasolakia in Greece is a common, very popular, vegan comfort food. It is actually green beans cooked in tomato sauce with chopped onion, parsley or dill and potatoes or carrots.

As usual, the Odd Fork had the idea of stepping out of the ordinary and ended up adding... strawberries! The result was the most spring green beans ever!

For 2 to 3 servings:

- a big onion, finely chopped

- 3 carrots chopped into thin rounds

- 400 g canned chopped tomatoes

- 450 g green beans, fresh or frozen

- 1 bay leaf

- 3 whole cloves

- 3 grains allspice

- salt, pepper 

- 1/2 bunch fresh dill chopped

- 10 strawberries cut in cubes

Place a pot over high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion and sauté until it softens. Add carrots and 1 - 2 minutes later, add tomatoes, green beans (thawed, if using frozen), a glass of water and all the spices. Cover pot with lid, lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until beans and carrots are tender. 

Then increase heat to medium-high, take the lid off and cook stirring often for another 15 - 20 minutes so that the excess water evaporates and sauce thickens. About ten minutes before the end of cooking add dill and strawberries.

The dish is better served lukewarm or even at room temperature and it is definitely a spring meal, full of aroma and colors!

The Odd Fork has many food blogger friends and one of them is Penelope. She cooks with imagination, using leftovers and healthy, mediterranean ingredients and she always creates new, tasty recipes! So when the Odd Fork came across these tahini mini breads, it made its own version using its favorite wholemeal Greek tahini (tahini = sesame paste) and spices!

Ingredients:

- 4 Tbsp wholemeal tahini

- a medium, ripe banana

- 1/2 cup black raisins, soaked in warm water (keep the water)

- 2 Tsp mix of ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg

- some sunflower seeds (about 1/3 cup)

- whole wheat self rising flour (as much as needed)

Just add into your blender tahini, banana cut in pieces, spices and 1/2 cup of raisin water and blend everything together on a high speed to get a nice, smooth paste. Transfer into a bowl and add flour stirring slowly, until batter resembles a cake dough.

Add sunflower seeds and raisins (drained) last and mix to combine into the dough. Divide it evenly among muffin tins filling them with batter up to 3/4 and bake in a preheated oven, air setting, at 350C, for 20 minutes or until the top is slightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.

The Odd Fork ate as many as possible while still warm with its afternoon Greek coffee and saved the rest into single-use plastic bags in the freezer. This way the're going to remain fresh for long, and any time the Odd Fork wants a warm muffin for its breakfast, all it has to do is to heat the muffin up in the oven and enjoy with coffee! 

So yummy and healthy at the same time, thanks Penelope! ;)

The Odd Fork hates programs. It likes to be spontaneous and when it comes to cooking, the result of mixing leftovers with no recipe just being struck by inspiration, has often been a success!

The sweet pie above tasted -thanks to the spices, like Greek grape must cookies, a.k.a. moustokouloura. This big "cookie" though, is stuffed with a delicious sweet zucchini - raisin mixture, low in fat, vegan, high in fiber and excellent for the Odd's Fork morning coffee!

For the pastry:

- half a packet of whole grain self-rising flour (about 250 - 300 grams)
- a shot of olive oil
- a shot of cognac (or rum/whisky, anything available)
- half a cup of coconut sugar
- mix of ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon

For the filling:

- 4 to 5 small, tender zucchinis
- half to 2/3 cup of black raisins
- some sunflower seeds
- 2 to 3 Tbsps coconut sugar, or to taste
- a shot of cognac
- mix of ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon
- 2 Tbsps corn flour

The Odd Fork started with the filling first and all it had to do, was to wash and shred the zucchinis using a cheese grater. It mixed the shredded zucchinis with all the remaining filling ingredients and set the mixture aside. Someone can taste and adjust the amount of sugar and spices.
For the pastry, the Odd Fork  added  olive oil, cognac, sugar and spice mixture in its blender and mixed on high speed until sugar dissolved (as possible). It added flour to the liquid mixture and kneaded to form a soft dough that could be easily rolled by hand. Again, someone can adjust the amount of flour or use some of the filling liquids if dough is too thick.

The Odd Fork rolled half of the dough on a pan lined with parchment paper stretching it with hands, placed over it the zucchini filling and covered with the remaining half dough stretching it again by hand and carefully sealing the pie edges. It pinched the pie's surface so that steam could evaporate during baking time.
It baked in a preheated oven at at 375 F for 30-40 minutes (depending on the oven), until pie was golden brown but just to make sure, it pinched an edge and when the fork came out of the baked dough clean, it was a good sign that the pie was ready.

The Odd Fork let pie cool before cutting it. It tasted it happily and was also pleased enough to trick some little forks into actually eating their green veggies with no complaints. 😏
That's because zucchinis are well "masked" in this sweet pie and due to raisins and spices, someone can easily pass it for an apple pie!