non-gmo Archives • Katie's Tropical Kitchen

Posted on November 20, 2016April 20, 2020 by katiestropicalkitchen — 2 Comments

Banana Brownies

These banana brownies are a marriage between my oat flour banana bread recipe and chewy chocolate brownies. Bananas are so abundant here on Hawaii Island. They are also extremely versatile and especially great with chocolate. This recipe features coconut oil, maple syrup, and oat flour instead of wheat, butter, and refined sugar. It uses organic cocoa powder instead of processed chocolate chips. These are a guilt free dessert. Eat em up! Use a little less oat flour if you’ like them to come out more gooey than cake like, try substituting a different flour if you’d like a smoother brownie mouth feel.

Banana Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup liquid coconut oil
3 cups mashed banana
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs beaten
1 2/3 cups oat flour (ground oatmeal)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cup cocoa powder
macadamia nuts for topping

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Oil 9 x 11 baking pan
mash and measure bananas. I use a immersion (stick)
blender and
its done in 30 seconds. You can leave some chunks if you want the banana chunk vibe
in a bowl combine all the ingredients starting with the liquid (oil, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, banana).
Then add the dry ingredients (salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and oat flour)
Mix well and pour into pan
Top with optional chopped macadamia nuts.
Bake in oven for 25 minutes.
Serve warm or cool!

If you like this recipes try my….

Chocolate Banana Muffins with Fresh Coconut

Chocolate Banana Cookies with Macadamia Nuts

Chocolate Beet Brownies

Posted on May 30, 2016March 6, 2017 by katiestropicalkitchen — Leave a comment

Buckwheat spelt pancakes with sunflower seeds and bananas

These pancakes are made with HEALTHY HEARTY STUFF. When served to Adam’s nephew, he gasped, “how did you make these taste so good?!” It’s true they are really quite yummy.

This pancake recipe highlights buckwheat, which is a highly nutritious and gluten-free cereal also referred to as kasha. It has numerous health benefits. For example, it contains rutin, glycoside, that has been shown to strengthen capillary walls and improve circulation. It also contains all eight essential amino acids, thus is high in protein. Buckwheat also has a lot of fiber, B vitamins and is shown to regulate glucose levels which is helpful for controlling diabetes.

This recipe uses coconut butter milk instead of buttermilk, (or milk substitute made by blending coconut butter and water), honey instead of sugar and is topped with sunflowers for added protein and banana for some fruit vibes!

Buckwheat pancakes with sunflower seeds and bananas

Servings: about 6-8 pancakes, ~5 inches in diameter

Equipment: frying pan and blender if making coconut butter milk

Ingredients:

3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/4 cup flour (I use spelt, but you could try using gluten-free flour mixes, or another mild or complementary flour like coconut, or almond)
2 tsp baking powder
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 organic eggs, beaten
2 cups coconut butter milk (blend heaping tablespoons of coconut butter into water at room temp)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

Combine wet ingredients and stir
Combine dry ingredients and stir
Stir dry into wet and combine but not over stir, batter shouldn’t be too thin, less runny than cake or brownie batter but not thin. Think about the batter for the box-kine pancakes. If too thin add a little more flour until thickens up a bit
Let rest for 30 minutes or so for best results
Heat pan on medium to medium high depending on stove top
If using non-stick you just add a little butter or coconut oil. Otherwise with stainless steel, use a significant about so that it cover the pan and the pancake will not burn. This is always the hardest part about pancake.
Cook on one side, add sliced banana and sunflower seeds, check bottom when it begins to brown and when top begins to bubble a little flip. Turn down heat if necessary. You want it to cook inside before it burns on the outside : ) About 2 minutes per side.
Eat alone or serve with jam or maple syrup : )

Posted on July 3, 2015July 26, 2020 by katiestropicalkitchen — 2 Comments

Fresh papaya and passionfruit (lilikoi)

This fresh papaya and passionfruit recipe is the simple marriage of fresh papaya and lilikoi flesh. Papaya’s latin name is Carica papaya and it is from the family Caricaceae. It is one of the fastest growing fruit trees in Hawaii and also one of the greatest agricultural products to be exported from the island chain. In Australia it is known as Paw Paw. It is native to southern Mexico and Central America, but is now grown in subtropical and tropical locations all over the world.

If you have never had a ripe papaya it tastes a faintly like a mix of melon, bananas, pineapple. It has a flesh that is similar to a soft melon. In Hawaii, papaya is so abundant that almost everyone has a few papaya trees even on smaller plots of land. Another great thing about papayas is that they grow year round. Likewise, they are inexpensive and abundant in stores. Try to look for non-GMO varieties, some of which include: Mexican Red , Caribbean Red, Maradol, Royal Star, Singapore Pink, and Higgins.

Caution: The more unripe a papaya is, the more latex it contains, which may aggregate people with latex allergies.

Passionfruit is called Lilikoi in Hawaiian

Equally common in Hawaii is passionfruit or lilikoi vines. These vines require little maintenance after planting as long as they have something to climb. Comparable to papayas, passionfruit vines have a long fruiting season. Here on the Hamakua coast of Big Island our vines mostly fruit from late Summer to early Winter. The ripe fruits drop to the ground from the vines that can climb the tops of trees, fences, buildings etc.

In Hawaii, papaya is a common accompaniment with breakfast. It is usually garnished with a wedge of lime which is squeezed on top to liven the flavor. Even if this combination doesn’t convince you to eat papaya regularly, you should definitely give papaya with fresh lilikoi a try.

All you need to do is scoop out the the seeds from a halved a papaya. Then scoop out of the seeds from the halved lilikoi into the papaya flesh and enjoy with a spoon.

Resources

https://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-facts-about-papaya.html

Posted on June 26, 2015October 25, 2017 by katiestropicalkitchen — Leave a comment

Creamy macadamia nut dressing

This creamy macadamia nut dressing recipe is Adam’s creation. It is essentially one of the only dressings we make because it is so satisfying. It also has many different applications besides salad. For example, we use it mixed with pasta as the sauce, we use it in our tacos, on top of our shepard’s pie, to dip our carrots in and more. The texture is silky, with a slight tang, a subtle sweetness and a strange taste resemblance to bacon. Adam says it reminds him of the secret sauce commonly used in fast food restaurants. Yet, this recipe is vegan, gluten-free, gmo-free, and extremely delicious.

Macadamia nuts are the local choice for nuts or seeds in Hawaii. They also have a unique set of nutritional benefits. Firstly, it is an excellent source of energy as it has one of the highest caloric values for the seeds/nuts (100g is 718 calories). They are high in fiber and are naturally gluten-free. Additionally, macadamia nuts are packed with minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc), antioxidants, and vitamins (especially B-complex vitamins, with smaller amounts of Vitamin A and Vitamin E. Macadamia nuts are also a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid and palmitoleic acid. These are known to help lower total LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL or good cholesterol.

Recipe for creamy macadamia nut dressing:

Ingredients:

1 cup mac nuts (or other creamy nut, like cashews)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce (non-gmo and gluten-free)
1/4 of a medium red bell pepper
4-6” sprig of rosemary (stem removed)
1/2 – 1/3 cup water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons dijon mustard

Steps:

Blend ingredients together in blender, slowly adding water until creamy consistency is achieved. Add salt if necessary.

Ideas for a salad:

Salad: (use as many as you have, but at least 3).

Chopped mixed lettuces
Chopped tomatoes
Carrot slices (use a peeler to achieve thin strips)
Beet slices, same method as above
Sliced radish
Chopped cucumber
Fresh corn
Sprouts
Raisins
Chopped apples

Resources:

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/macadamia-nut.html

Posted on June 25, 2015July 26, 2020 by katiestropicalkitchen — 1 Comment

Furikake Popcorn

People put a lot of things on popcorn all over the world. In Hawaii, “Hurricane Popcorn” often is sprinkled with furikake, sugar, food colorings and other seasonings. In this furikake popcorn recipe, we strip out the unessential sugar and colorings and simple toss the furikake with melted coconut oil. If you are not familiar with furikake a basic definition is a traditional Japanese seasoning that includes sea salt, toasted sesame seeds, and nori (a dried seaweed).

Furikake is a packed with nutrition. The sea salt includes magnesium. The toasted sesame seeds are high in protein, minerals, and nori contains protein fiber and many more minerals and vitamins. Seaweed also has naturally occurring iodine which is vital for developing fetuses, and in proper thyroid function. Additionally, seaweeds have more than 56 minerals and trace minerals necessary for your body in the most absorbable form.

Make sure you look for all natural varieties as often mainstream furikake contains MSG, gmo-sugars, etc. Check the ingredients and make sure you are infact making the healthy choice. Also, avoid labels with words like “stabilizers, additives etc.”

For example, this furikake pictured is made with sea salt and contains no MSG. Furikake is most often used on top of rice. Additionally it is sometimes as an additive with another Hawaiian dish called Poke, on baked or broiled fish, on top of fries etc. Try adding this savory topping to your Popcorn to up your nutrient content.

Recipe for homemade Furikake Popcorn

Ingredients:

Organic popcorn
Coconut oil
Furikake
Sea Salt

Steps:

Use an air popper or pop your corn in a pot just like the ol’ days using coconut oil.
Toss with salt, more coconut oil if needed and then the furikake.
As an optional extra seasoning you could add a few dashes of some hot sauce

Banana Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

Steps:

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Buckwheat pancakes with sunflower seeds and bananas

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Steps:

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Passionfruit is called Lilikoi in Hawaiian

Resources

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Recipe for creamy macadamia nut dressing:

Ingredients:

Steps:

Resources:

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Recipe for homemade Furikake Popcorn

Resources

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