This is a fun, easy, CORN-y recipe that I made up for this week’s BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient)…  I’m trying to use up some orange juice that’s in the fridge, so I incorporated that as well.  It adds a really subtle sweetness that is mandatory for all good cornbread.  And the bitelettes are just too cute.

Corn Bitelettes with a Hint of Orange

Ingredients (makes 27 bites)

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1/2 cup wheat bran (or flour)
• 1/4 cup oat bran (or flour)
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Mix together the wet ingredients (olive oil, egg whites, OJ).  Mix together the dry ingredients (corn meal, wheat bran, oat bran, baking powder, salt).  Mix them together.  Add the corn! and mix well.
3. Drop tablespoons of batter into mini-muffin cups.
4. Bake for 18-19 minutes at 425F.

Enjoy! I wish I had thought to put cheese on them.  That would have been perfect.  These are delicious and corny and oh-so-yum.  I hope you try them   Since I forgot to put cheese on top, slathered on some fresh whipped butter.  It was great.

This recipe for apple pie is a far cry from the buttery, sugary goodness that my Grammie serves up each year at Thanksgiving… but it’s different in a good way!  Bobby and I both loved the flavors and textures of this unsweetened-yet-strangely-traditional apple pie.  I hope you try it out, because it’s really delicious.

The inspiration comes from Meg’s blog – she recently posted this recipe for apple pie.  I made a smaller and slightly different version.

Macrobiotic Apple-Raspberry Pie (Unsweetened)

Ingredients – crust

• 1/2 cup oat bran (or whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons cold water

Ingredients – filling

• 3 medium apples, sliced up
• 1 cup water
• dash of salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• a few raspberries
• 2 teaspoons corn starch

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.  Mix together the oat bran, flour, and salt.  Add the oil and lightly mix with a fork.  Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time, keeping the dough slightly crumbly.  Put it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
2. Spray a small pie dish with non-stick cooking spray (or olive oil).  Pour in about 3/4 of the crumbly dough and mush it down to make the crust.  Reserve the remaining dough.  Cook at 375F for 15 minutes.  After you take it out, turn the oven temperature down to 350F.
3. To make the filling, boil the water, apple slices, salt, and lemon juice for about 6-7 minutes or until the apples tart getting soft.  Drain the apples (save the water!) and set aside.  Return the water to medium heat.  Mash the raspberries and add them to the water.  Then slowly add the corn starch.  Continue to stir until the mixture starts to thicken (5-7 minutes probably).
4. Put the apples into the cooled pie crust (wait at least 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven).  Pour the thickened water mixture evenly over the top of the apples and crust.  Crumble the remaining dough (uncooked) over the apples and top with a few more raspberries.
5. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.

I enjoyed mine topped with more raspberries and some fresh blueberries.  Bobby did the same.  The entire pie is almost gone and it only came out of the oven an hour ago!  Even though it has no added sweetener, the fruit has enough sweetness of its own – I really can’t describe how awesome this pie is.  You just have to make it.

I will do an actual update of the Whole Life Challenge tomorrow (it’s going well!)… I’m trying to make the most of the little free time that Bobby and I get to spend together.  Tonight’s plans – hot tub and hookah!  Feel free to comment on this post with your Whole Life Challenge updates and I’ll include them in my post tomorrow.

Make sure to check out Sophia’s blog for the next Blogger Secret Ingredient!  She’s giving away some adorable prizes

The Blogger Secret Ingredient for this week was kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and I had some wonderful entries:

• Junghwa’s Kabocha Ezekiel Sandwich
• Sophia’s Kabocha-Lentil Burgers
• Michelle’s Oven-roasted Fusion Kabocha
• Cindy’s Nuts for Kabocha
• Elise’s Baked Kabocha
• Heather’s Kabocha with Almond Butter
• Alison’s Soy-Braised Curry Kabocha
• Coco’s Ideas for Kabocha

I asked Bobby to help me pick the winner, and this week’s winner is…

Michelle, with Oven-Roasted Fusion Kabocha!  (My mom actually commented that this looked amazing and incredibly gourmet – she reads the blog.)  Go make her recipe!

Thank you so much for all of the creative entries.  I’m passing on the BSI to the only person that might love kabocha more than me (well, I’m pretty sure she loves it at least as much): Sophia @ Burp and Slurp~.  Check in on her blog for the next Blogger Secret Ingredient announcement!

The Whole Life Challenge continues… check back in tomorrow for an update.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!  Take a moment to remember our fallen troops.

Keep the BSI entries coming in!  I have some great ones so far… (if you’ve entered and you’re not on the list please let me know!)

• Junghwa’s Kabocha Ezekiel Sandwich
• Sophia’s Kabocha-Lentil Burgers
• Michelle’s Oven-roasted Fusion Kabocha
• Cindy’s Nuts for Kabocha
• Elise’s Baked Kabocha
• Heather’s Kabocha with Almond Butter
• Alison’s Soy-Braised Curry Kabocha
• Coco’s Ideas for Kabocha

You have until Sunday night to submit!  Then I’ll pick a winner and announce who’s going to be hosting next week.

There have been a few challenges recently (Shelby, Coco, and probably more) that I really liked.  I’m going to propose my own challenge.  If you want to join me, pick at least one of the following tasks and keep me updated with your progress!  Ways to do this:

• Link back to this post OR
• Comment on any post OR
• E-mail me (magpie707@gmail.com)

I’ll post summaries of your updates periodically (depending on how much of a response I get I might post this every day or every other day).  I’m calling this the Whole Life Challenge, because I think it’s important to have balance in our WHOLE life – not just bits and pieces!  This means nourishing our body, nourishing our mind, and nourishing our soul.  Feel free to use this icon or make your own…

The Whole Life Challenge starts tomorrow, Friday May 22nd, 2009!  Let’s try to do it for two weeks.  If we like it, we can continue on through the end of June.  Feel free to join at any time.  Here are the options (remember, you only have to pick one for each day, but you can do more):

1. Yoga every day (at least 10 minutes)
2. Walking every day (at least 10 minutes)
3. New meals each week (at least 1 *new* recipe each week – can be for lunch or dinner; this can be a recipe that you make, or a meal that you eat out that you’ve never had before; preferably more than 1 each week!)
4. Eating a big enough dinner so that I don’t need to snack before bedtime (aiiii, this is the hardest one!)
5. Going organic for greens…
6. So that I can eat a nourishing bowl of green oats each day! (any variation of “green” is good here – green smoothie, green oat bran, green oatmeal, green anything!)
7. Pick your own!  Just let me know what you want to try to do for 2 weeks.  I’ll post about it and link back to you if you have a blog.

I’m going to try to do all of them.  Are you with me?  Try to do one each day!