Dahl-icious!

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Deanna
Dahl & Broccoli

Dahl & Broccoli

Today was supposed to be grocery shopping day. But, we discovered a leaking faucet in the basement, and spent the better part of the day fixing said leaky faucet. That of course meant that we didn’t make it to the grocery store, and had to rely on one of our “go-to” meals. Everyone has those, right? They’re the meals you can throw together with whatever happens to be left in the cupboard or the fridge. Tonight’s meal was dahl with broccoli and rice. It’s quick, easy, and nutritious, and did not require a trip to the store. What more could we want?

Dahl

2 T. veggie oil (or ghee if you do dairy)
1 onion, cut in half, sliced thinly
1 t. mustard seeds
1 cup yellow or red lentils (or 1/2 cup of each)
2 – 2 1/2 cups water
1 t. ginger
1 t. garlic
1/4 t. turmeric
1 hot chili (I used a serrano, but use whatever you like), minced
1 1/2 t. salt

In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil. Fry the onions and mustard seeds until onions are beginning to brown and mustard seeds have popped. Remove the onions and seeds from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, mix the rest of the ingredients and simmer until lentils are soft (about 15 minutes). Mash lentils slightly. You want a stew-like consistency at the end. (Adjust water amounts depending on how dry your lentils are.) Stir in reserved onions.

Indian-spiced Broccoli

1 t. coconut oil or ghee
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. mustard seeds
1 small bunch broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 t. salt

In a small pan, heat the oil cumin and mustard seeds until mustard seeds begin to pop. Add the broccoli and salt and sauté until crisp tender. You can use a little bit of water to help the broccoli along, if needed.

Posted in beans, broccoli, Indian, vegan | 5 Comments

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bites

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Deanna

We love Lara Bars in this house, and we’ve been eating a lot of them.

A lot.

As you might now, eating a lot of Lara bars winds up being a tad bit expensive. And, while I’m all about supporting a great company with a great product, sometimes, the frugalista in me demands that I take action. Besides, sometimes I really just want a bite or two of luscious Lara Bar goodness.

Voila, the Chocolate Pecan Pie Bite.

This recipe is by no means original People all over the internet have been coming up with their own home made version of Lara bar goodness. The fabulous Ricki has La”Raw” bars, aka Cocoa Nibbles. Gluten Free Gidget has Pumpkin Pie Fudgie Babies. Hallie of Daily Bites has Carrot Cake Bites. And on, and on.

And, now I have….

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bites

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bites

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bites

4 oz raw pecans
4 oz dates
1/4 t. salt
1 T. raw cocoa powder

Toss all ingredients in a food processor and process until ball forms. (If your mixture isn’t coming together, it’s probably because your dates were a smidgen dry. Try sprinkling with a teaspoon of water at a time until the mix comes together.) Scoop with small cookie scoop and form into balls. Refrigerate until firm. Makes about 10.

Posted in chocolate, dates, nuts, raw, vegan | 4 Comments

Dairy-Free Cinnamon Lassi

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Deanna

Those of you familiar with Indian cooking are no doubt familiar with the lassi – a traditional drink made with yogurt and water. There are both salty and sweet versions. I’ve never had the salty variety. But, the sweet one and I – we go way back.

Long ago, I frequented an Indian restaurant that, while they had the more traditional mango lassi, also offered up a cinnamon version. The tang of the yogurt with the warm spice of the cinnamon was an addictive combination for me. Sadly, when I gave up dairy, I gave up lassi. Soy yogurt lassi just did not cut it.

But I am lassi-less no more. Enter the super spectacular So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk.

Oh Turtle Mountain, I love you so.  This is the same company that makes Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream, and So Delicious coconut milk beverages.  Apparently, they also make a kefir-like drink and a creamer, too. Though I’ve yet to find either of those locally.

Last night, after I made dairy-free ganache with coconut milk, my husband said to me, “Is there anything that coconut milk can’t do?” He must have been thinking about that today. I sent him to the store for some of the cultured coconut milk and he came back with extra, saying “We could make lassi out of this.” Right he is.

Cinnamon Lassi

Cinnamon Lassi

Dairy-Free Cinnamon Lassi

2 cartons So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/2 – 1 T. agave syrup
1/4 – 1/2 t. cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients together and serve over ice.

Posted in coconut, drinks | 4 Comments

Blogger Secret Ingredient Honey Roundup

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Deanna

Jenn posted this week’s round up from the blogger secret ingredient challenge. There are some amazing looking honey recipes involved. So, be sure to go on over and check them out.

Next week’s secret ingredient challenge is being hosted by Helen of Fuss Free Flavors. The secret ingredient is capers. I’ll be sitting this one out. Capers are not a part of my repertoire. But, I’ll be interested to see what other folks do with them!

Posted in Cooking Challenges | 2 Comments

Cinnamon Crouton Cereal

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Deanna

Kitchen disasters. They happen to all of us. Since going gluten-free, kitchen disasters have made a more regular appearance at my house.

I could let that get me down. It would be easy to let that get me down.

But, you see, I have this stubborn streak. It runs in the family. We’re a tenacious German lot. We don’t give up easily.

I’ve been on a quest to make a decent loaf of vegan gluten free bread. It started with Mark Engleman’s Gluten Free Vegan bread. It was okay. Certainly better than others I tried, and it gave me the inspiration to continue working on it.

This week, Aubree Cherie posted a recipe for a whole grain bread that looked intriguing. It was based on a recipe by Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free. It looked like it could convert to vegan relatively easily, since Aubree Cherie had already made it dairy free and it only contained 1 egg. Shouldn’t be hard to convert, right?

Well, not so much.

Fallen Bread

Fallen Bread

The loaf fell – a victim of too much rising time, and perhaps not quite the right combination of flours without the binding strength of an egg.

As homely as it looks, it actually tasted pretty good. So. What to do? I could pitch it. But us stubborn types would consider that giving up. Besides, that seems like such a waste. I could make a strata or a bread pudding. But, that would be just a wee bit ironic, wouldn’t it?

Croutons are always an option. Garlic and olive oil and salt…. Yum. But, it wasn’t what I was craving. I wanted something sweet and spicy. Sweet croutons? Why not? In a bowl, with some chopped pecans and a splash of coconut milk? Better than any store-bought gluten-free cereal, any day.

Cinnamon Crouton Cereal

Cinnamon Crouton Cereal

Cinnamon Croutons

1 loaf gluten-free, vegan whole grain bread, cubed
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 T. vanilla
1 T. cinnamon (divided)

Preheat oven to 300°. Mix syrups, oil, vanilla and 1/2 the cinnamon in a small bowl. Pour over bread cubes, tossing to coat. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon on coated cubes and toss again. Spread on 2 cookie sheets. Bake until croutons are crunchy, stirring often. (The total time will depend on how moist your bread is. Mine took about 50 minutes to get crunchy, stirring every 10-15 minutes.)

Posted in breakfast | 4 Comments

Dutch Sugar Cookies

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Deanna

Usually, the recipes that I post have some sort of redeeming quality – something that makes them healthy. This recipe has nothing. It is the gluten-free equivalent of out and out junk food. But, hey, these aren’t for me to eat. These aren’t even for my family to eat. These are for my son’s school’s annual carnival bake sale. And everyone needs a few bake sale standbys, right?

I realize I’ve already posted a recipe for sugar cookies. The advantage of this recipe is that it does not require any chilling time, and I was pressed for time when making these. They also result in a less crisp cookie than the other recipe. Of course, the advantage of the other recipe is that sorghum is a whole grain flour, whereas white rice flour is not.

The recipe is from Bette Hagman’s The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert. She gives directions to use her featherlight flour blend. But, she also gives the recipe for making the flour blend, and I’ve done the math for you to break it down into its components (not perfectly so, but it worked).

Confession time: when I read the recipe for the featherlight flour mix, for some reason I read the 1 t. of potato flour/cup of other flour as 1 t. xanthan gum/cup. Yep, totally different things. I didn’t even realize that’s what I did until this morning while typing this up. So, if you want to try it her way, it should be 3.5 t. of potato flour and 2.5 t. of xanthan gum. Or, try it my way. It worked. Go figure.

A whole bunch o' sugar cookies

A whole bunch o' sugar cookies

Dutch Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup + 2 T. rice flour
1/2 cup + 2 T. tapioca starch
1/2 cup + 2 T. corn starch
5 t. xanthan gum
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 egg or 1/4 cup liquid egg substitute
2 t. vanilla
1/4 cup (or more) potato starch for kneading

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small bowl whisk together flours, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. In a medium bowl cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients. The dough will be a soft ball. With your hands, knead in enough of the potato starch to make the dough easy to handle and roll out. (Note: I didn’t do this – I chilled the dough while I did the dishes from making the dough, and then used generous amounts of sorghum flour while rolling out the dough.)

Roll out the dough. (She suggests plastic wrap over the dough while you roll it out if it’s too sticky. Again, I didn’t do this, I just used more sorghum flour if it stuck. It was an easy to handle dough, though.) Cut out into desired shapes and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for ~10 minutes or until just beginning to brown. (I use parchment on my baking sheets.)

Cool slightly before removing from pan. (I just slide the parchment off the pan and allow to cool on the counter on the parchment before picking them up.)

Posted in cookies, desserts | 2 Comments

Pea Shoots with White Bean, Mushroom & Tomato Melange

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Deanna

I was in Orlanda a few weeks ago, traveling for work and staying at one of the Disney resorts. The chef there made amazing, scrumptious, gluten free, vegan food for me. At every meal. Oh, how I loved that treatment.

But, now we’re back to reality and while my husband cooks amazing food for me sometimes, if I want something new and special, I probably need to cook it myself.

That’s okay – I like to cook (just in case you couldn’t tell).

One of the meals the chef made was a salad of beet greens with a mixture of a bunch of stuff in a garlic kissed sauce – delicious. I’ve been thinking about that one. A lot. This is my take on it. It’s clearly not identical. But, it captures the spirit of a warm tomato, bean, mushroom sauce served over fresh, seasonal greens.

Mmmm...melange.

Mmmm...melange.

Pea Shoots with White Bean, Mushroom and Tomato Melange

1 T. olive oil
1 small yellow onion, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, seeded, cored, and chopped
4 large button mushrooms, stems removed, diced
2 T. vegetable broth
1 cup cooked white beans
1/2 t. salt
Pepper (to taste)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
7-8 fresh sage leaves, minced
1 small bunch pea shoots, tough stems removed (or use the greens of your choice)

In a skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and sauté until onions being to caramelize (5-10 minutes). Add garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms. Continue cooking over medium heat until mushrooms begin to release their moisture and tomatoes being to break down. Add vegetable broth, salt, pepper, and beans. Cook until beans are warmed through and sauce is thick. Turn off the heat, and add lemon juice and sage. Adjust salt and pepper if needed. Serve over pea shoots. Serves 3-4.

Posted in beans, tomatoes, vegan | Tagged | Leave a comment

Kiddo Creations: Peanut Butter Power Balls

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Deanna
Kiddo Creating - Peanut Butter Power Balls

Kiddo Creating - Peanut Butter Power Balls

The Kiddo is my super A+, number one kitchen helper. This is the kid that once upon a time wanted to be the “Fireman’s Baker” – so he could live in the fire house with all the firemen and bake all their cookies for them. Yep, that’s my kiddo.

Of course, now that he’s older, I can’t always rely on him to help out in the kitchen. There are baskets to shoot, and bikes to ride, and books to read and, and, and. So, yah, I doubt Kiddo Creations is going to be a regular feature. But, when the mood strikes him, I’ll be all about the Kiddo in the kitchen.

Sitting at the dinner table tonight, we were discussing this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient, honey. The Kiddo thought my idea of the peanut butter balls was excellent, and helpfully pointed out that if I won, he’d be happy to eat any chocolate that has dairy in it, because you know, “Mom – you can’t eat it anyway.” Wise child.

I pointed out that if he wanted a chance at the chocolate, he had to help with the cooking.

He was hooked. (Chocolate is very motivating.)

So, here it is – this week’s entry in the Blogger Secret Ingredient challenge…

Peanut Butter Power Balls

1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup natural peanut butter
1 3/4 cup GF oats (you could probably use quinoa flakes)
1/3 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup sorghum flour, approximate

Put honey and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir together. Add oats and flax seed and stir until well combined. Add flour a tablespoon at a time until mixture is not too sticky to handle. Use a very small cookie scoop, scoop out mixture and roll into balls in your hand.

Chill. Eat.

Posted in honey, oatmeal, peanut butter, snacks | Tagged | 6 Comments

Blogger Secret Ingredient Fun

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Deanna

Last week I posted a recipe using cashews for the Blogger Secret Ingredient challenge. Aubree Cherie has announced the winner. Sadly, it was not me. But, don’t those cashew cookies look oh so very good? And, following along introduced me to a blog I’d yet to stumble on – the winner’s blog, One Frugal Foodie.  Yay! I’m always excited to find new blogs to follow.

Next week’s secret ingredient is honey, and the challenge is being hosted by Jenn of Jenn Cuisine. I’m going to have to do a bit of pondering on this one….. But, I’m sure I can come up with something to submit. How about you?

Posted in Cooking Challenges | 5 Comments

Tempeh – Friend or Foe?

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Deanna

I feel a million times better since going gluten and dairy free. Those were easy choices, really. The reactions were clear and relatively immediate. I’d have to be stupid not to pick up on them. But, there have been days where I’ve questioned other things in my diet, soy being one of them. Soy sauce and soybean oil seem to not be major factors. But, tofu and soy milk? Not sure they like me. (And, frankly, I’m not such a huge fan of soy milk either. That’s right – I’m talking to you, oh thick and bland one.)

But, I’ve been reading a lot about fermented foods and all the wonderful things they can do for you. They’re easier to digest, they contain good bacteria that beneficial to your intestines, they reduce allergic responses and they even reduce risks of certain cancers. Tempeh, in particular, seems to have some great things going for it. Apparently, the fermentation process makes the amino acids more readily available, and increases several key nutritional components – Riboflavin, vitamin B6, nicotinic acid, and pantothenic acid. Yay! And, to me, it just tastes better than tofu. Look at this gorgeous meal my hubbie cooked for me last night – tempeh, broccoli and asparagus stir fry with lots of ginger, sesame, wheat-free tamari, and garlic:

Tempeh Stir Fry

Tempeh Stir Fry

So, that’s the good news – yummy, good nutritional value, happy bacteria.

This morning, though, I woke up and took off my jammies only to discover a giant swipe of dermatographia across my chest – a classic sign of an allergic reaction. For those not in the know, dermatographia is an over reaction of your skin cells to any stimulus. So, apparently, I scratched an itch and it resulted in “hives” all along the scratch lines.

Now to be fair to the tempeh, I’m not sure there’s a cause and effect relationship going on. The pollen count is really high here right now, and my allergies, in general, have been a bit out of control. And, so, the jury is still out.

Do you react to soy? Is fermented soy okay? Or, do you need to avoid all soy?

Posted in Research | 2 Comments