holy crap it's been over a year since I've written something!

First the obligatory mea culpas-I needed the sleep, I went to Minneapolis for my former housemate's wedding, and then I went to Hawaii. Right, the last one elicits no sympathy for me, I know. However, I did manage to snag quite a few great spices and some Alaea red sea salt; which is important because I plan on trying to make kalua style roast pork at some point. And will of course, post the recipe for the 5 people that still read this blog :) But this post is about what I made yesterday! Leslie has been adding eggs back in to her diet, so I thought we should celebrate with homemade marshmallow cream and whoopie pie!! Babycakes Covers the Classics has a chocolate whoopie pie recipe and this was the time to break it out! The cookbook suggests ricemellow creme, which is fantastic substitute for marshmallow creme if you can have soy. Alas, we can not, so adding eggs back into her diet is certainly a reason to celebrate :) There is also a new spice shop Savory that opened up near my work-they have everything from wood smoked salt to grains of paradise! They also have a fantastic baking aisle that had the black cocoa powder! I couldn't wait to try it. I did change the recipe up a little bit-I have always been taught to bloom cocoa, so I added in some hot coffee (cause who doesn't love chocolate and coffee, eh?)and changed up the flour quantities as well as some of the process. And I'm not posting a marshmallow creme recipe, because it basically is an Italian meringue with corn syrup for fluffiness and I use Wayne Harley Brachman's off the Food Network's website at any rate. If you can't do eggs or sugar, the Babycakes cookbook also has an agave nectar vegan frosting that is to die for and tastes spectacular in these as well.

This is also shared with Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

Whoopie Pie
1 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill AP gf baking flour
 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (when using the black onyx cocoa use 1/4 cup of it, and 1/4 cup of standard cocoa)
 1/4 cup potato starch
 1/4 cup tapioca starch
 1/2 cup HOT coffee (or water. or other liquid to bloom the cocoa)
 1/4 cup arrowroot
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 cup melted coconut oil (I use spectrum, babycakes uses omega nutrition)
 2/3 cup agave nectar
 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, warmed
 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
 In a medium bowl whisk all the dry ingredients EXCEPT THE COCOA and set aside.

 In a medium bowl whisk the cocoa(s) with the hot coffee til all is smooth & smelling good. Add the agave nectar and vanilla; whisk to combine. Add in the warmed applesauce (if it is cold, it will start to solidify the coconut oil you've melted, in little chunks. no bueno) and whisk to combine. Add in the melted coconut oil (now babycakes cookbooks use the dry measuring cups for measuring everything-so for this recipe measure out the 1 cup of melted coconut oil in a dry measuring cup)and whisk to combine. Now start adding in the dry ingredients, stirring with a rubber spatula until the mixture forms a smooth dough.

 Drop the dough by the spoonful onto prepared baking sheet (I use a small ice cream scoop, but feel free to use a regular spoon), spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Using the palm of your hand, gently flatten each pie to help it spread.
Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the pan and continue baking til the pies are firm to the touch and toothpick comes clean, about 7 minutes more. Cool for 15 minutes on baking sheet on cooling rack.
 Spread filling of your choice in the middle and let the happiness begin :)
Makes 18 whoopie pies.

season of spice!

I hadn't thought I was quite so busy this summer, however the fact that I haven't posted any of my efforts since May is proof enough that I haven't been paying attention to my poor neglected blog. Well, here I am today, begging pardons and posting a yummy spiced muffin recipe from the latest addition to my bookshelf. Kim Boyce wrote this amazing cookbook dedicated to whole grains! Good to the Grain focuses on cooking with oat, amaranth, teff, quinoa, and kamut!(there are other grains that you may or may not be able to eat as a gluten free peep.) Now most of her recipes in some way feature whole wheat flour, in among the other grains in combinations. Obviously, I had many experiments in figuring out how to make something completely gluten free as well as healthy. Now why recommend this cookbook if not all gf? Because of the research! How she shows the techniques and the behaviors of these grains that most people are not familiar with is outstanding. I had to buy it. And promptly made the spice muffins, because, hello fall! I did alter the recipe for Leslie, so it is inadvertently vegan and sugar free for another friend who is avoiding white sugar. No sugar? No butter? How are these good again, you might wonder, but let me tell you they are fabulous! My two year old niece had two before we caught her going back for a third. So there you go, Isabella approved gluten, dairy, and sugar free spice muffins!

this is linked to Allergy Friendly Friday

Spice Muffins

Nut Topping:
1 cup walnuts (halves, pieces, etc-they are getting chopped anyway so whatever you have that is handy)
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses (but not blackstrap, Kim says)
1 tablespoon agave nectar
pinch salt

Dry Mix:
1 cup garfava flour (garbanzo&fava bean mix)
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (if you must have more, please adjust for you-I don't like cinnamon front & center in my spice muffins. Kim used 1 Tablespoon)
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves

4 oz or 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened-not completely melted tho!

Wet mix:
1/2 cup almond milk (feel free to sub for what works for you)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce, room temp
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses (again no blackstrap)
1/2 cup agave nectar (if you want to use 1 cup of coconut sugar with the dry mix, go right ahead! I was out and had plenty of agave)
1 teaspoon of Enger-G egg replacer, whisked with 1 tablespoon water.

Preheat oven to 350 degreesF. Toast walnuts til golden, 15 min or so. Toasty nut smells will ensue.
Lightly grease the top of your muffin pan-the molasses mixture is messy, you don't want to be chipping that off your pan later. Place muffin liners in your cups. If you normally fall into the anti-muffin liner camp, ignore me and have fun getting these out of your muffin tin. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In bowl of your standing mixer (or large bowl for handheld) whisk dry ingredients together. Add the softened coconut oil and mix on low speed for at least a minute, til the mixture is as coarse as cornmeal.

Meanwhile, make nut topping. Chop toasted walnuts if you didn't have pieces on hand. Stir together the molasses, agave, salt, and walnut pieces in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Whisk all of the wet ingredients together in medium bowl. Small note-if your applesauce is not room temp then your coconut oil will start to solidify when it comes into contact with ice cold applesauce. You will not get the nice tender crumb you were hoping for in that case.

Now that you have cornmeal looking substance in your mixer bowl, start adding the liquids! Pour slowly into the bowl of the mixer and mix on low until just combined. Now increase speed to med/high and mix for 1 minute. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape down the bowl.

Scoop the batter into lined muffin tin. An ice cream scoop is handy for this, but a 1/4 cup measuring cup works too. Or a spoon. You know whatever is clean and works for this. Don't fill the cup to the top. I can hear tiny voices screaming "in the book she does!" but then you get sticky oven floor. if this isn't a problem for you then go ahead and fill them even with the top.

Re-stir the walnut mixture, because all the molasses and agave will have settled. Scoop a small spoon's worth of mixture onto the center of each muffin and press the nuts GENTLY into the batter. You don't want them to fall out across the pan as the muffins rise, but you don't want to deflate your batter. Bake for 25 minutes or so (your oven, etc) til your kitchen smells of spice and the tops are dark brown and the nuts are very caramelized and toasty.

Take pan out of oven CAREFULLY! Molasses burns are not pretty. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5-6 minutes; basically until they cool down enough so that you might touch them without risking use of aloe vera later, but still warm enough so that they are not permanently stuck to the muffin tin. Set the muffins on a rack to cool to edible temperature and not burn the roof of your mouth. Kim says these muffins are best eaten day made, but I loved mine the second day-the flavors just seem sharper and even more delicious. Should there happen to be any leftovers, store them in an airtight container til you can finish them off. You know, two hours later. Makes 12 regular sized muffins. (not Texas sized)

all hail the donut goddess!

Erin McKenna, that is. In her new book, Babycakes Covers the Classics she includes a recipe for donuts! Gluten free, vegan donuts. Clearly, I had to buy this for my sister, since she has been bereft of donuts since her diagnosis. I decided to do plain cake donuts with cinnamon sugar topping; she has a chocolate glaze, but I was in the mood for the cinnamonny goodness. The recipe calls for a donut pan; as always, Amazon has quite the selection to cover your donut pan needs, should you need one. However, I had succumbed to the temptation that was mini bundt pans ages ago, and decided those would do quite nicely. I also adjusted the ingredients to suit me- Erin calls for 3/4 cup rice flour; have I mentioned how I am not fond of the flavor of rice flour? So, reduced that(not omitted, because it does add a fine grain to the texture), added other flours and I have to say-these donuts are fabulous! She also gives you substitutions for vegan sugar, agave and even coconut sugar! She points out, correctly, that coconut sugar (palm sugar too, falls victim to this) is hella expensive, and hard to find if you do not live in the vicinity of a Whole Foods or other speciality market. However, I do live near a Whole Foods, so I used coconut sugar in my donuts, but used the vegan sugar for the cinnamon sugar coating. If you are avoiding white sugar altogether, am sure you could use the coconut sugar for both. Then prepare your hot beverage of choice(coffee, tea, cider, etc), sit down and enjoy the hard work of the donut goddess and you, all who make these gluten free delectable treats possible.

submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, of course.
and Allergy Friendly Friday too, for great allergy free recipes.

GF vegan Donuts

1/3 cup melted refined (no smell) coconut oil (Erin steadfastly uses dry ingredient measuring cups for her liquid, so make sure you do as well-or we shall mock you for failing to read directions)
oil of your choice for brushing pans (I actually used spectrum shortening-coconut oil is waaay too expensive in my opinion to be brushing on pans)
1 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup brown rice flour (I like authentic foods)
3/4 cup Bob's Red Mills gf baking mix
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
7 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce (room temp-otherwise it will harden your coconut oil!)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (Erin used 4 tablespoons, which I didn't have. If you would like to use 4, then reduce the applesauce by 1 and the hot water by 1)
1/2 cup hot water, plus 1 tablespoon of hot water.

Place 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon in a shallow bowl. whisk. set aside.

preheat oven to 325 degreesF. Brush 2 six-mold donut/ mini bundt pans with oil and set aside.
In medium bowl, whisk together all your dry ingredients. Add all your wet ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula or use your kitchen aid (I like my kitchen aid mixer, personally) just til the ingredients are combined. Using a tablespoon (yes you want to measure-nothing worse than not getting 12 donuts because you filled your molds overfull), drop 2 1/2 tablespoons of batter into each mold. Using a toothpick, spread the batter around evenly.
Bake for 8 minutes, rotate and continue to bake til donuts are golden brown about another 8 minutes. Oven times vary, etc, so make sure you are checking on these! Don't burn the donuts! Let cool in molds for five minutes, then run a knife carefully around edge and turn out onto cooling racks. Dip in your cinnamon sugar. Eat! Or you know, let cool a little, then eat! makes 12 donuts, if you measured your 2 1/2 tablespoons correctly.

The best laid plans of taco nite

I adore Amy Green's blog, so when she she came out with a cookbook I went right over to Amazon to preorder! Since the happy day that it arrived in my mailbox I have been trying things out and loving every single one, with the possible exception of carob. I feel for people who are avoiding sugar and dairy, and thus inadvertently depriving themselves of a lot of chocolate. Chocolate is proof someone, somewhere loves us. But I digress. Taco Nite! She does a recipe for sweet potato and black bean tacos that I have been dying to try and this was the perfect event! Except I couldn't find my steamer. Hmm. Well, what about parboiling, then roasting? I can do that. And I have black beans in my pantry; I wasn't going to go spend money on canned beans when I can soak beans during day then cook overnight. (yes, if you are new here, OCD is often mentioned in connection with me, however did you guess?) And then I caught some show on the Food Network with Bobby Flay doing a sweet potato taco-where he used some glaze with maple syrup and chipotle. Hmm.... So the resulting tacos were more of a homage to both of these amazing chefs.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos

3 largish sweet potatoes (approximately 3lbs)
3 cups black beans, cooked with cooking liquid. (I soaked for 8 hours while at work, then cooked slowly in crock pot overnight. Amy used cans of black beans (use 3). you choose!)
1 yellow onion, chopped.
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon Chipotle Tabasco
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt (but really, salt to taste-this is just a guideline)
1 tablespoon scotch
2 limes, juiced.
4 limes, cut into wedges

Corn Tortillas
Toppings of your choice


Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces. Yeah, a pain, but the more even your pieces, the faster and more evenly your potatoes will cook. Put in a large stockpot and just cover with water and bring to boil. Now, we are parboiling these, so just boil long enough so that they just start to give when pressed, but are not soft enough for a fork to go through! Maybe 5 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl.
Preheat oven to 425 degreesF.
In a small bowl, whisk the syrup, Tabsaco, scotch and spices together. Now add lime juice to taste- I like lime, you may not, but all that smokey spicy sweetness needs a tart counterpoint so please use the juice of at least one lime. Now pour over the sweet potatoes and toss to coat. Line a rimmed cookie sheet (don't want sweet potatoes escaping onto your oven floor) with aluminium foil (you don't want to clean maple syrup off your pan) and place into your hot oven. Roast potatoes for 25 minutes or so til all is smelling wonderful and there is a little crisp edge to the potatoes. Take them out and let cool slightly. Turn oven down to 200 degreesF and throw in a group of tortillas to warm through.
While the potatoes are roasting, heat oil of your choice (we used safflower) over med/high heat and saute the onion in a large skillet. When the onion is nearly translucent and smelling lovely, add in in 1 cup of the beans. Mash the beans into the onion. You may need to add a little of the cooking liquid (or can liquid) to get it to a nice consistency. Now add in the remaining beans and combine thoroughly. I like the combination of some mashed, some whole; feel free to mash all the beans if you choose. Ok, potatoes done. Beans done. Toss them together in a large bowl. Serve with tortillas, and taco toppings of choice. We followed Amy's suggestion of queso fresco for those who could have dairy, Daiya cheese for those who couldn't, shredded red cabbage, squeeze of fresh lime juice and Amy's great carrot and jicama slaw. Do as you will! served about 8, generously.

flush of success

Replete with coconut milk caramel, I decided that there has got to be more ways to use this luscious milk. Case in point-Whole Foods sends me these little recipe emails and one of them was featured a flan recipe. I thought how serendipitous! I am having taco night and flan will go with that beautifully! Except for the fact that Leslie can't have eggs or dairy. Ok, so sub dairy with coconut milk-check. Eggs? How do you do custard without eggs?? This took a bit more pondering, eating of sugar, then it hit me: agar agar!! It helped set up the lemon bars, so hey I bet it would set the milk. Turns out, I am right, which is always a beautiful thing; as opposed to when I am wrong and have wasted ingredients on something that looks as if evil trolls left it in my kitchen for a cruel prank. The next time I might try using half coconut milk, half hemp or almond; this tasted lovely, but like coconut. So if you think you might want a more neutral flavor to your flan, a mix of milks is the way to go. I used agave in the custard itself, since several of us are trying to lessen the refined sugar we eat. So, you could, conceivably, have panna cottas from this recipe if you can't have any sugar. However, I have not had much success with caramelizing other sugars- anybody have any suggestions for this? If so, please rush your mouse right over to leave a comment!

Submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergen-Free Friday
Coconut Milk Flan

2 cans of unsweetened coconut milk (Use at least one can for the 'cream', to help with the consistency of the custard. I used the 365 brand)
2 tablespoons agar agar flakes
1 tablespoon triple sec (I thought orange would be nice-feel free to sub vanilla)
1/4 cup of light agave nectar
1 cup sugar

In a heavy saucepan, heat the sugar by itself over med/high heat. DO NOT MOVE THE SUGAR! You want to let it melt and caramelize evenly and if you try to muck about with it now, you will not get smooth, luscious caramel. Now, when you start to see the edges go brown, and brown spots appear in the middle of the white expanse of sugar, take the pan off the heat and swirl like a madwoman. (you can stir like a madwoman with a heat proof spatula, I suppose. But what fun is that?) This will help the rest of the sugar melt and it won't burn to an unrecognizable blob that has to be chipped off your pan. Now you should have a lovely liquid pure caramel-pour it VERY QUICKLY into a 9 x 13 pyrex and try to spread it as much as possible before it starts to harden-which it will! So important to start pouring and spreading AS SOON AS all the sugar has melted. Set aside somewhere warmish-I set mine on the back of my stovetop.
Ok, the milk. Pour the two cans of coconut milk in a heavy saucepan and whisk until the 'cream' has combined back with the more watery looking milk. (I keep my cans in fridge-if you don't, then this may be super quick for you) Now bring the milk to a simmer. Add agave, whisk in completely. Add agar agar. Bring to a boil. Be careful to watch this pot! Boiled over milk just stinks-literally, and it is a waste of money. When it has reached full boil, lift it up off the burner and whisk like a dervish. You will still see little floaty wisps of agar agar. Set the pan back on hot burner and bring to boil again, then immediately turn heat down to med, to let the 'custard' simmer gently until all of the agar agar has dissolved, another 10 minutes or so. Now, pour this still very hot (be careful not to burn yourself)'custard' into your prepared 9 x 13 pyrex. You will hear hiss and pop as the hot liquid hits the sugar-that is normal. Let it cool a bit at roomtemp, then cover with plastic wrap (if you try to do this immediately, it will steam, which you don't want) and refrigerate for 8 hours. This makes a very thin flan, which I prefer- feel free to use a smaller pan for a thicker slice of flan. served 10 with small pieces.

how to become addicted to caramel in 5 easy steps!

One of the things that has been hardest for Leslie is butter and cream. She adores ice cream, sundaes, whipped cream, etc. So I made chai coconut milk ice cream from Amy Green and while it was chilling in the ice box, I had a eureka moment-if I can do ice cream with coconut milk, why can't I do caramel?? The whipped coconut cream turned out pretty darn good. After all, a good caramel sauce is sugar, cream and butter-simple, right? So I decided to experiment, and let me tell you that is step 1 in becoming addicted. The sauce turns out beautifully brown, you could smell that unique almost-but-not-quite burned sugar and pours like a dream over ice cream. I ate several spoonfuls before I ever got any ice cream, and then, of course, when I did get ice cream, drizzling some over is a must! There are, I am sure, a trazillion caramel sauce recipes out there, but Elise Bauer from Simply Recipes does an excellent one and has great pictures! My next step would be to see if I can do this with palm sugar or coconut sugar-we were out of both this weekend. There was a chopped episode on the food network (speaking of addictions)and one of the chefs made a caramel sauce with piloncillo sugar and it was gorgeous dark, nutty brown! So there will be update with the palm sugar, if I can get it to work, but to feed addictions in the meantime, there is dairy free caramel sauce.

this post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergy Friendly Friday

Dairy Free Caramel Sauce

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of coconut cream (from a can that was chilled for at least 24 hours in ice box)
6 tablespoon of Earth Balance (we use the soy free)

Ok get the heaviest saucepan that you own, 2 or 3 quart size. You are going to be heating up sugar, and you don't want it splashing back on you. Take your chilled can of coconut milk and use the pointy end your bottle opener to open two small triangles on the bottom of the can so all of the coconut water can come rushing out. (you can save this for a smoothie or discard, as you wish) Now using your can opener, open the top of the can and scoop out the cream into your measuring cup(or honestly, I eyeballed it, went that looks like 1/2 a cup, and got on with the sugar cooking). Measure out the tablespoons of the Earth Balance into another cup. Now that you have all you need laid out, you can begin; otherwise, trying to measure stuff while your sugar is heating up is a good way to get 2nd degree burns upon your person and even worse-completely burn the sugar to inedibility.
Heat the sugar in the saucepan over med/high heat. DO NOT TOUCH THE SUGAR NOW. Otherwise, your caramel sauce will be grainy; no, just allow the heat to do the job and melt the sugar. When the sugar has started to melt-you will see several small brown patches interspersed within the white sugar, take the pan off the heat and swirl the saucepan like mad woman! Keep hold of the handle and keep the hot sugar inside going in a circular motion. Keep swirling til all of the sugar is that beautiful caramelized brown. Now return pan to the heat and add in the Earth Balance, whisking like a dervish til the Earth balance has melted. Take the pan off the heat again, and slowly whisk in the coconut cream-it WILL foam up and look like it is about to take over your kitchen!(this is why the heaviest pan your own) Never fear, that is why you took it off the heat and why it is important that you whisk CONSTANTLY at this point. Keep whisking til it is smooth and creamy and pours evenly, no lumps! When it has cooled enough to touch, but is still warm enough to pour, go ahead and pour it into whatever jar or tupperware container you keep your caramel in. Or just pour it all right onto your ice cream. Makes about 1 cup of caramel sauce.

How I learned to stop worrying &love the algae

6 months ago, in a happy lemon fog, I told Iris that I would accept her challenge to make her gfree lemon bars vegan! In the midst of a move. Uhuh. We all saw how well I posted on that, mmm? However, the actual process of figuring out how to replace 2 eggs did take a few trys and some quelling of hostile oven takeovers. At first, I thought coconut or almond milk yogurt could work, and wouldn't it be great if they had it in lemon? Sadly, they only had lemon yogurt in soy yogurt. So if you can have soy, mayhap you can play with this, but the plain yogurt dulled the tart lemon that I prefer in my lemon bars. Finally, a eureka moment while I was packing my cookbooks-Veganomicon! This is a great cookbook even if you are not vegan and has been great for someone with Leslie's needs. Surely they have lemon bars, I thought-and they did! They used agar agar to jell the filling-genius! Agar agar is derived from algae and many vegans use it in place of gelatin for jelling and thickening. They also suggested tumeric for color, but I didn't use it, since I was using palm sugar, which is brown-as you can see. They used white sugar, so if you use a whiter sugar or sugar substitute, that would be the way to go. Let me say algae is my new favorite thing and I bow in the direction of Isa Chandra-Moskowitz, murmuring I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.

submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Gluten Free Wednesdays

Gfree, Vegan Lemon Bars

Crust:
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup potato starch (you could also use tapioca)
1/4 cup cornstartch (ditto)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/8 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 cup palm sugar (you could also use honey-Zoe did, but I was out of honey, having subsisted on tea for my throat for a good 2 weeks)
1 cup shortening-I like spectrum's palm oil (Zoe used Earth balance spread, if you prefer)
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (or if you are avoiding coconut, veg oil of your choice)

Whisk all flours, starches, sugar, salt and gums together. Add the shortening and cream into the dry ingriedents- I use my Kitchenaid mixer with a paddle attachment. Add in the coconut oil and continue mixing until it is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse meal and holds together when pressed. Press into a 9x 13 pan-as you can see I used my trusty Pyrex. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 min til the crust smells great and has browned slightly. Cool completely on wire rack, 30 min or so.

Filling:
1 1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons agar agar
1 1/2 cup palm sugar (you could try 1 cup of honey too)
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 tablespoons softened-not melted-coconut oil.

Fill a heavy saucepan with the water. Add the agar agar and let sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, get on with zesting and juicing the lemons! When you have 2/3 cup of juice, add the arrowroot powder, whisking heartily to help distribute the powder evenly and help it to dissolve. After the 15 min for agar agar is up, turn up the heat to med/high and boil for 10 minutes, or until the agar agar is dissolved. Add palm sugar, stir til everything looks caramelesque and smells great. Whisk coconut oil in. Add the arrowroot thickened lemon juice and zest and whisk constantly til thickened, about 5 minutes. Don't let this boil rapidly! A few slow lazy bubbles is what you are aiming for. This will thicken into a very gelatinous substance to pour into your crust. I say pour into crust, but really it is more like you upend your pot over the crust and the filling falls out with a ploomph sound and you spread it evenly over the crust with a spatula. Let cool at room temprature for 20 minutes or so, then stick in your ice box for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Et voila! Lemon bars that look like apricot bars but taste deliciously, tartly of lemon.

inadvertant hiatus

Ok. I was never the most reliable blog writer, let's just get that out there. And then I moved. Next, I went on vacation to New York-which was fabulous! And really, who expects anyone to keep up their blog while on vacation? (unless of course yours is a vacation blog-by all means carry on.) Then there was a flight out to see family. Then I was invited out for a long weekend in San Francisco-who says no to that? Especially since I found a fantastic bakery& bought their cookbook: Tartine. And then I got the most wicked case of strep throat necessitating 12 days of antibiotics. For a good 3 to 4 of those days, I did nothing more active than trying to down chicken soup so that I could down my meds. The rest of my convelesance was a trade off of reading books and reading blogs. Which of course made me think about my blog and how I have sadly neglected it. This post by Dianne Jacob especially made me ponder exactly why I have a blog and how I interact with the other blog people out there. It is my hobby, I'm not making money off of this, nor will I ever. And yet, it is in the public 'verse. How these two facts intersect with eatch other has many viewpoints and I am still processing these as to how they apply to me& mine. Dianne's book is a great resource for how to write about food-and how not to. So I am trying to not use passive voice when writing down recipe directions (which is hard!!), being clear in my instructions, and trying to be inventive in my word choice. Which means, of course, that now I am actually writing things out on paper first and editing! Now you understand fully why the inadverdant hiatus. My sister and I still cook for her dietary needs and I have been taking pictures so that I can post them. You know, eventually... There will be a lemon bar recipe posted soon, I promise-it was orginally from Iris who had Zoe help her convert it to sugar free, gluten free and dairy free dessert. She then issued a challenge to make it vegan, which in a lemon scented deliruim, I accepted! While moving. Yes I know, I too am shaking my head at this bit of lunacy. However, I think I did a pretty good job of converting the recipe itself (Leslie said wow!) but the posting pictures and updating everybody-not so much. But I will be strict! I will post the recipe with pictures this weekend! I have been working on other things too; a mashed potato recipe with hemp milk, coconut cream caramel, and vanilla cupcakes(still!). I have also been cooking up a storm with Amy's new cookbook and trying out recipes from Gluten Free Girl& the Chef that are dairy free or that we can make dairy free. I might post some of these or I might just post the changes I made. In one of the posts on Dianne Jacob's blog, they discussed proper etiquette when adapting a recipe and making sure credit is given. Now, I have always given credit to whomever's recipe I adapted, but it never occured to me that posting a recipe that had no need of adaptation is considered a huge oh-hell-no in many parts of the blogosphere, even when credit is given. I had no idea my little hobby would have rules (it's not baseball or baccarat for crying out loud!), but apparently now that more people than my mom& sister read my little hobby, is important for me to respect the populace that has so helped us. However, I am honestly curious, what are your thoughts are on this subject- how have you decided between posting an adapted recipe or just detailing your changes and linking to the original recipe?

adopt a gluten free blogger- celiacs in the house!

Wendy does an amazing job with two teenagers and finding healthy things for them to eat! This woman always fascinates me, as I have barely been able to manage myself, let alone help out my sister, but Wendy certainly manages her family's food with aplomb and verve. Our first instinct (ok, maybe just mine) is to hate people like that, the perfect organizers, but I think her love of food and family can teach us all a lesson on how to eat better for ourselves and our families. Sea is hosting adopt a gluten free blogger this month, and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for a beginner like me to learn! She has several recipes that I want to try with adaptations for Leslie. Since our instructions were to post a link to the original recipe, I needed to find one that fit all of Leslie's limitations, not just no gluten. This small caveat taught me that I should, perhaps, read the entire set of instructions before responding with a happy yes. Honestly, though, if I had read through her blog and noticed this, I might not have adopted her-and that would have been my loss. Her photos are beautiful and make me hungry! Her explorations of her local food markets and gluten free avenues are vividly posited for us, in the happenstance that we might visit her neck of the woods. Her education becomes our education, since she posts on learning about canning and how delicious it can be. I persevered and found Turkey cutlets with a mustard pan sauce! Ok, I didn't have any turkey cutlets, but I had chicken breasts in my freezer. Wendy has beautiful photos of her farmer's market haul of asparagus and strawberries from that day; I had zucchini (yes still, I wasn't joking about the glut) in my house that I needed to eat before they started paying rent in my kitchen. While I am happy with just chicken and simply sauteed veggies, I am admittedly weird, so we added some Jasmine rice to soak up that mustard pan sauce goodness. And everyone should be very proud of me- notice 2 pictures! One of the pan sauce, in the pan and one of everything assembled on the plate. Yes I know it is a paper plate; I am moving and for whatever reason, decided that my dishes were getting packed up first(weird- told you so). The paper plates did not one iota deter us from digging in to this amazing lunch and there were no leftovers-and we aren't even teenagers!

the last dance of the summer bbq

Here in the mile high city, we had a record 96 degrees this past weekend; serendipitously, I had decided to host one last bbq before our mercurial weather decided it should snow in September (hey, it's snowed here in JULY-you never know). When I barbecue, I turn to Steven Raichlen's Barbecue Bible (he is THE grill master, I tell you!) and the recipe I did this weekend was his North Carolina Style pulled pork- mainly because I didn't have to change anything for it to be gfree and dairy free. Plus, you get pulled pork with coleslaw, as you make the same sauce for both slaw and pork! Now, he grills this on a gas grill outside; as I wasn't going to be home Friday til late and didn't want to burn down my apartment building, I used his suggestion to do it in my oven. This is another of those recipes that people think they can't do because it requires time, and they could not possibly be more wrong. Yes it cooks for 12 hours- however, put it on before you go to bed, let it roast away and by the time people start to show up for food, it is done! As an added bonus, your house will be redolent of roast pork. And let me tell you, there will be absolutely no leftovers.

This is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

I have also linked this to Gluten Free Wednesday and Real Food Wednesdays- yummy recipes all around!

North Carolina Style Pulled Pork

1 9-12 pound pork shoulder (aka Boston Butt-bone in is better, but honestly I've made with boneless and it still came out amazing)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar (i've also done palm sugar, for those of you trying to avoid refined sugar)

Preheat oven to 250 degreesF. Whisk together spices with brown sugar. Cut small slits in the fat along the pork shoulder; now rub the spice mixture all over the pork shoulder. Place seasoned pork into your roasting pan, 9 x 13 Pyrex, dutch oven, whatever you have that is big enough for 12 pounds of meat. (Now, you can do this and then stick the whole mess in the fridge for up to 24 hours if desired.) Now, cover the pan with foil (or lid if using dutch oven) and slowly roast the pork for at least 12 hours; it can go as long as 18. If you can manage it, take the lid or foil off the pork and crank up heat to 475 degreesF for the last 30-45 minutes or so. You don't have to do this, but I like the crust it gives the pork- however, it still works beautifully if you don't have the inclination/time to do this. Your house will smell divine.
Now, after you take the pork out of the oven, let rest for however long it takes you to get your Vinegar Sauce and coleslaw together- at least 30 minutes. Discard any bones and and most of the fatty au jus, you do want a little in the bottom; I eyeball, so whatever you think looks good.(I store my au jus in the freezer for later cooking-do as you will). Now you shred- or pull- the pork. I do this with tongs and a fork, but two forks work too; the point is that you wanted shredded pork that will sop up all that yummy sauce. Ok, now your pork is shredded so add in the remaining 2 cups of Vinegar Sauce- toss your pork to coat. Now serve with the slaw. You can also serve this on buns that are gfree friendly- but honestly, we eat it in little mountains with corn tortillas. I know, we're weird. Served our marauding band of 20 on Saturday.

Slaw
2 bags of shredded cabbage (now, you could always want to slice 2-3 heads of cabbage yourself- your CSA box could be overflowing. I was feeling slothlike. Too much volleyball.)
1 cup of Vinegar Sauce (recipe follows)

Put cabbage in large bowl. Toss with one cup of Vinegar Sauce. Whew. Done.

Vinegar Sauce

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup (I tend to make my own-yes I'm that food nerd- but Heinz organic is pretty good too.)
1/2 cup brown sugar (again, palm sugar works here; you could also try honey)
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 tablespoons of chipotle Tabasco (this is my addition-I think it is fabulous! you can omit, if you choose)
2 cups apple cider vinegar (or to taste)
1 cup of water (to taste)

In a large bowl, whisk the spices with the brown sugar. Add ketchup and Tabasco (if using). Add the apple cider vinegar and water, whisk to fully incorporate. Now taste the sauce- it should be tart, vinegary; remember it is going to encase slow roasted pork, so you don't want too sweet, but adjust tartness/sweetness to your taste. Want more sweet? Add ketchup. More tart? Add vinegar.

The Farmer's Market God smiled on Zucchini

Zucchini, for me, is the epitome of summer. I have so many different recipes for this lovely vegetable-steamed, sauteed, stuffed, casserole, etc. But even my enthusiam can wane under the absolute glut of zucchini. The farmer's market god did indeed smile on zucchini-mayhap even gave it a kiss as I don't think I have ever seen so much zucchini! Somehow, though, there is always another recipe to renew my joy in this lovely summer veggie. My new favorite is Michael Symon's-a raw zucchini salad! I served it with my braised short ribs and polenta. Now I didn't post a polenta recipe-like rice, polenta is 1 part polenta to 2 parts liquid. There are other fancier ways to do it, but most of them use dairy which many, including Leslie can't have. I will however post the zucchini salad recipe, because it is divine and perfect as is. Plus, you thinly slice the zucchini-I am always excited at any chance to use my mandoline! I love all sorts of kitchen tools- and this one gives me perfect, thin, even slices faster than I ever imagined possible. Although, I have done it with a knife, and it has come out perfectly too.

I have submitted this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Zucchini Salad

2 zucchini (about 3/4 pound, thinly sliced)
2 yellow summer squash (about 1 pound, thinly sliced)
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon salt (Michael used kosher, I used sea)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 small clove)
1 shallot, finely sliced
Grated zest and juice of 3 lemons, or to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup fresh dill

Combine the zucchini and squash in a colander in the sink and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of salt over it. Toss to coat, and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes- no longer ! Otherwise, the texture will be mush-you'll lose the crunch as the salt will have removed too much of the water. In a large bowl, combine the garlic and shallot, sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and whisk in lemon zest and juice. Whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream, and then the almonds and dill. Taste for seasoning and acidity(it should be nicely acidic).
Add zucchini to dressing, toss, and serve immediately. Serves 4-6.

If you need to make ahead, slice zucchini and squash up to an hour before salting; cover with damp towel and leave at room temperature. Make up the vinaigrette up to 3 hours in advance.

fast is not always good

I am up for fast, delicious meals just as much as the next guy. But sometimes in the frantic pace that has become our life, I think we are missing out on things that are amazing and divinely yummy because we talk ourselves out of it-that will take too long, that ingredient list is 2 paragraphs, etc. Pffft! I am here to say that sometimes we need the food that has been prepared in a fashion that has largely passed out of of favor with the majority of people. Why out of favor? Because many people are too used to thinking: "how can I make dinner in 30 minutes or less?" And let me reiterate, that is, in and of itself, not a bad thing! My point is that I think we forgo other recipes and miss out on their brilliance and flavors that only slow and involved cooking can create. Case in point: short ribs. Now I adore pork-pork belly, bacon, pancetta, prosciutto, pork roast, and the list goes on and on. Somehow though, veal short ribs are one of my favorite things to cook. Some people think this process is too complicated, time consuming, etc.- no, no it is not!! Let me tell you-roasted, then braised short ribs are proof God loves us and wants us to be happy. And the best part is that this recipe is inherently allergy friendly! No gluten. No dairy. Fabulous! Now I used to serve short ribs with mashed potatoes, because this is comfort food and short ribs produce a fantastic sauce. However, mashed potatoes sans cream &butter are just not the same. Michael Symon suggests serving his with polenta-genius! It is my new favorite cookbook, especially as he has a salted zucchini salad that is amazing too-also allergy friendly. Now you will notice the recipe below isn't Michael Symons; that is because there are a gazillion short rib recipes, honestly. Some of the tell you to dredge in spiced flour, then pan sear; others have you thicken the sauce with all kinds of non allergy friendly things. Anyone that has written a cookbook that includes meat probably has one, so the recipe I list below is a melange of several people's brilliance that I have taken and probably not done justice to.

I have linked this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

This post is also linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays

Braised Short Ribs

6 pounds beef/veal short ribs on the bone(the bone gives flavor! DO NOT USE BONELESS)
4 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 leek, outer green leaves removed and roughly chopped.
1 Bay leaf
10-12 sprigs of Italian Parsley
1-2 sprigs of thyme (you could also use rosemary or oregano)
1 bottle of red wine (I prefer Cabernet Sauvingon, but to each his own)
2-4 cups chicken stock, as needed (or veggie-whatever you have that is gfree, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Now you are going to want to start these the day before you plan on serving them. Honestly, there isn't alot of hands on effort-the oven does most of the work while you are off doing other things.
Preheat your oven to 400 degreesF. Get out your roasting pan, 9x13 pyrex, or whatever you have that you like to roast meat in. In a small bowl, mix a a little bit of pepper and salt- I like freshly ground and about half salt, half pepper, but to each their own. Rub the salt and pepper over the ribs and place them in the pan fairly close together. Scatter the chopped onion and 2 of the chopped carrots over and amongst the short ribs. Roast for an hour to an hour and half- til the ribs are brown and all the drippings are caramelizing.

Meanwhile, while the ribs are roasting, get on with the sauce! Ideally, you want a pot that can go from stove top to oven; however, not everyone has one, so I'll give two methods. So, pour your wine into the pot, over medium/high heat. Add the rest of the carrots, garlic, leek, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn heat down to low and let the wine be gently heated with the aromatics until the ribs are done.

Now we'll do the stove top braising method first: add the ribs into the wine. (you can also dump in the roasted carrots and onion-I do, but my sister doesn't) You may have to pack them in tightly and that is fine. Now the braising liquid should barely cover the ribs; if not, then add some chicken stock to cover. Now take a piece of foil and crumple it slightly and put over the whole mess, then cover with the lid. Leave on medium/low heat for about 3 hours, til the ribs are tender and a knife slides cleanly in and out.
Oven method: Reduce oven heat to 225 degreesF. Add the ribs (also roasted carrots& onion if desired) to the wine, pack in tightly. Again liquid should barely cover ribs; add stock as needed. Put on the lid and place in over for about 3 hours, til the ribs are tender and knife slides cleanly.

Remove ribs to a bowl. Strain the liquid into the bowl over the ribs and refrigerate overnight. (you can also put the ribs and strained liquid back into the pot you braised them& leave in fridge-just depends on how much room is in your fridge)
Now, as the ribs cool they will reabsorb some of the liquid and the flavor that comes with it. This is why you make them a day ahead; the flavor is unbeatable. And I really do think that it is the easiest dinner for people ever, since the oven does most of the work. Your guests will think you have channeled some famous chef and toiled all day in the kitchen; but in reality, you spent maybe 30 minutes and then toddled off to bed. Another perk of this spending the night in the fridge is that all the fat will congeal on top of bowl/pan and you can remove that easily.

Now it is the day you are serving them. Heat your oven up to 325 degreesF. Skim fat off the top of the sauce/ribs. Place the defatted ribs/sauce in the oven to warm gently through, about 30 min. Place ribs on a platter and keep warm, while you simmer the sauce til it is reduced by half, 20-30 minutes. Now you can debone the ribs for serving or let your guests do that. I think they look marvelous with the bone, next to the polenta. Serves 6.

the lingering smell of happiness

I adore PBS (unless they are begging for more money) and the cooking shows that they have! Adventures with Ruth is usually good for some exotic deliciousness-this time it is curry! So we decided to do the recipe from the website Prawn Varuval. I have made some adjustments to the recipe-Leslie's diet and the lack of a good Indian food supply store near me (kari/curry leaves?? really? I would love to try fresh curry leaves, so if y'all know a good purveyor, leave me a comment- please! meanwhile, omitted for lack of sources), and I have to say- it is fairly fabulous! Leslie had a gazillion zucchini from the garden so we served it with freshly sauteed zucchini-just seasoned with salt, as curry is spicy enough- and organic brown basmati rice (I heart sunflower market). I thought this would be a fast and easy way to get back into the habit of posting my experiments. This summer has been crazy busy with work, continuing education workshops, and just plain summer fun activities. I will try to do better about posting- but don't expect me to turn into Amy Green overnight. :-) This dish is great for summer, as it is super quick to throw together and as odd as it may seem, the spicy lime scented shrimp seems to cool you off. One caveat- your house will smell, not unpleasantly, of curry for a few days. Lingering smell of happiness, prompting me to cook something else.

I have submitted this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Indian Spiced Shrimp (because I butcher the pronunciation just as much as you)

3 tablespoons oil/ghee (whatever works for you)
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (or 1 teaspoon of ground fenugreek)
1/4 teaspoon of Indian brown or yellow mustard seeds (or 1 teaspoon ground mustard)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Indian Red chile powder (or similar amount of Cayenne)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or kosher)
1 lb jumbo(about 20) shrimp, peeled, leaving tail segment attached and deveined.
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 medium cloves)
1 piece of fresh ginger (1 inch x 2 inch) sliced thinly lengthwise (about 12 slices)
1 lime
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (recipe prefer Tellicherry)

Ok, so if you have access to the spices whole-take the fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds and grind them together in your spice grinder. Alternately, use the already ground counterparts; as you can see whole freshly ground spices pack more of a punch. You might need to adjust for flavor and your preferences. Put ground spices into a large bowl; add cumin, chile powder, salt and coriander. If you can't find ground coriander, try looking for a spice mix called garam masala- it will have cumin, coriander and black pepper (among other Indian spices) and works nicely here. Add shrimp, tossing to coat well with spices.

Heat oil (we used avocado, as Leslie is wary of ghee being completely casein free- but authentic tasting would be ghee if you don't have her issues) in a heavy skillet (or wok) over medium high heat until hot, then add garlic and ginger, stirring until garlic is golden-about 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook, stirring until pink and just cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with pepper and squeeze lime over. Serves 4 if you have small appetites. Served 2 of us.

oh vanilla, where have you gone?

Any who have been reading my small blog knows my addiction to cookbooks. Especially when they yield fabulous recipes; however, when you follow a recipe exactly and it does a belly flop into the kiddie pool, it is annoying- to say the least. Babycakes cookbook has in the past always produced amazing, delicious stuff! The chocolate cupcakes are to die for! So I am unsure what happened this weekend- the vanilla cupcakes had good texture, but the color and taste was off; they tasted healthy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but not what I am going for. And there wasn't even any rice flour! So I will be tinkering with this recipe before I post it online; I am posting pictures though, in case any who would peruse here have any thoughts about what I did exactly that cause the two tone color shift in the cupcakes.
Now I have noticed that many of the Amazon reviews for Babycakes absolutely revile Erin for her frosting and that angers me slightly. Yes coconut oil is expensive, however how often are you making cupcakes with frosting? Everything else in the cupcakes is things most gfree bakers have on hand. And I have to say I have never had an issue with the chocolate frosting. And I didn't really have an issue with the vanilla frosting either- with the small exception that I inadvertently turned it green. I can not do soy, so I substitute hemp protein powder for the soy milk powder-easy peasy, lemon cheesy, right-o? Normally yes. However, when I traveled to Whole Food this past weekend there were out of the vanilla flavor of my beloved hemp protein powder. A lovely person who was on staff recommended a new protein powder they just got in, also hemp based and has no soy, whey or sugar! Woohooo! I was so excited about this and the fact that it came in vanilla chai flavor I did not look at the ingredient list as closely as I should have- it also had chlorophyll in it along with the other vitamins. Vitamins are good! And in the chocolate frosting it gives me secret pleasure to know that people are eating healthy vitamins and minerals in their frosting. But while chlorophyll is great for your body, it has one small drawback to achieving a creamy white vanilla frosting- it is green. As in Kermit the frog GREEN, I tell you. (see picture above) The cookbook does tell you that chlorophyll is a great way to naturally color frosting and let me tell you works beautifully. I am just not sure green colored frosting is the way to go. And while it was creamy and fluffy, the one problem with the Babycakes frosting is that when it heat hits it, it melts.(It also doubles as sauce.) So my poor healthy cupcakes sitting on the picnic table yesterday after a wee bit looked covered in drippy moss. Needless to say, I have lots of them leftover and I will try one of the recipes that calls from crumbs! Hopefully, by the time I have added more agave and other ingredients they will have lost their odd healthy flavor and just taste sinfully delicious.

ode to the blogosphere

There is such an amazing resource out there for those in need of speciality diets: the no gluten, no sugar, no dairy, no soy-recipes that match all of these can be found out in the blogosphere. I used to wonder at those who set up blogs; I couldn't fathom who would have so much extra time and energy to put whatever they chose to send out into the electronic world. Now, I consistently visit this world to learn about cooking with specific requirements for Leslie. I sign up to receive their hard work and knowledge via email and rss feeds. I stalk them on twitter. (that sounds scary, but really, isn't that what twitter is?? scads of people stalking each other over the internet?) One such blogger is Amy Green and she recently posted a recipe for strawberry orange cornmeal cake that I had to try! So off I went to the market, only to find blueberries, not strawberries were on sale. I could do blueberries, I said to myself. With lemon! This could work. Then I subbed applesauce for the egg and almond milk (Amy's suggestion)with tablespoon of apple cider vinegar swished in it for the buttermilk. I also used a gfree flour mix, as I didn't have sorghum flour by itself. They didn't rise as high as the original, but I think that is because the batter was spread thinner in the bigger pan; next time I will double the recipe. The mongering hordes polished off an 8x8 pan of this cake, so I think my small changes to Amy's recipe worked too. And, be very proud of me- I got not one, but two pictures!

EDIT: Amy mentioned in her comment below some ways to get more lift to the cake if you are not eating eggs- I am going to try to use the baking soda soon and will post how it goes!

I have posted this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday. :)

Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Cake

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon gluten free flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mills)
1/4 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon flax meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 cup safflower oil (Amy used grapeseed-but I didn't have that on hand)
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup almond milk + 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (Amy used buttermilk)
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degreesF. Coat an 8x8 cake pan with oil. Now, Amy used 4 6 ounce ramekins-do as you will.
Measure out the almond milk, then add the tablespoon of apple cider vinegar; stir and set aside.
Combine flour mix, cornmeal, baking powder, flax meal, salt and xanthan gum in a medium/largish mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together oil, honey, almond milk with cider, applesauce, zest and vanilla.
Make a well in the cornmeal mixture. Pour in the liquid ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. Pour into your 8x8 pan or your ramekins. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean. If you do the ramekins, Amy says 28 minutes for them and to make sure they are placed on a baking sheet, not just tossed pell mall into your oven. Okay, she didn't say that exactly, she's way nicer than me, but you know what I mean. Let cool on baking rack. Leftovers can be wrapped and frozen if you don't live in my house; I never have that problem. Makes 4 individual cakes or feeds average size pieces of cake for 6.

free at last!

Ok, anybody who is baking with gluten free ingredients hears all about the gum issue-xanthan vs guar, which is better and how they enrich the dough so that it can mimic the properties of gluten which we can no longer have. I have baked with both and I have been amazed at what they can do. I also am a little peeved sometimes at the gumminess of my crumb or an odd after taste. Previously, I reduced the quantity of the gum to see what that would do and then I would be happier with the finished product; after all, isn't that was gfree baking is all about, tinkering with this, fiddling with that in hopes of a kick ass recipe that will delight us and be healthy and taste good-not oh I-am-happy-you-made-this-for-me-fake-smile good, but omg!-I-don't-miss-anything-I-am-not-supposed-to-have good. Last week I had accidental progress, as I spaced putting in xanthan gum into my lemon cupcakes- and they still came out great! Inspired, I wondered what else can I do without xanthan gum? And on sale were blueberries, buy one get one free! Well, it was a sign! Especially since the last couple of batches or so of blueberry muffins I was not happy with. For my normal gluten with dairy muffins I use a hybrid of the recipes by Lisa Yockelson in her fabulous book Baking by Flavor and the recipe in James Peterson's Baking. James Peterson has some awesome food photography and everything is explained precisely in words and in a picture tutorial- the whys & wherefores, the things you need to know to bake, period.(I adore James Peterson for this reason and he does the same in his other books, Sauces & Cooking-both of which I also have). One might be asking, why would someone who is baking gfree and vegan care about regular cookbooks? Because you have to know how everything works with gluten; if you don't, you will find it hard to replicate that gfree. This recipe does have sugar and I know many who are tying to lessen the sugar or do without completely; sorry that I have yet to come up with a blueberry muffin recipe that uses something else. The first few attempts at using agave nectar resulted in blobs that threatened a hostile take over of my oven. I think evaporated cane sugar would work, and I would love to try palm sugar at some point; I was sadly out of both of those last night.

7/4/10 EDIT: I wanted to succeed in making these sugar free as well, so I have been quietly experimenting with these (praise be, we've had a glut of blueberries) and I think we have a winner! I used 1/2 cup of raw wildflower honey instead of the sugar and they taste great :) One caveat though-the first time I made these with honey, they fell apart as soon as they were peeled out of the paper liner. The next time, I added 1 tablespoon more of my g-free flour mix and a scant 1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum-SUCCESS! At least we think so :)They honey makes them a really pretty deeper brown, but still gives a crunch to the top crust. And I will add the picture I took before they were devoured-as soon as I figure out how to label it :) thanks for being patient with me as I learn :)

I have also submitted this for June's Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free

This is also linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday :)

Gfree, Vegan Blueberry Muffins

1/2 coconut oil (or butter for you who can have dairy)
1 cup gfree flour mix (I am partial to Bob's Red Mills)
scant 1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (I am partial to Authentic foods)
2 tablespoons potato starch
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup yogurt (I used coconut milk, but do as you will. the orginal recipe called for sour cream)
1/4 cup milk ( I used almond, as it was in the fridge and open)
1 pint blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degreesF. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Now, you could do that grease&flour farrago, but gfree crumbs tend not to bind too tight- I think the cupcake liners help hold everything in, but do as you will.
Whisk in a medium sized bowl the flours, starches, spices, baking powder &soda. Set aside. Put the sugar in a large bowl and add coconut oil; mix together. I do this on medium speed in my Kitchen Aid. Add the flour mix, a little at a time to the sugar mix, reserving 2 tablespoons for the blueberries. Add the applesauce, yogurt and milk and mix well. Take your pint of blueberries and toss them with the 2 tablespoons of the flour mix, making sure they are coated. Now add the lemon juice to the batter and mix just til incorporated. Add the coated blueberries and fold them in by hand with a spatula. Try and do this all quickly, as the lemon juice is activating the baking soda for some lift. Drop 1/4cup mounds of dough into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown and a toothpick comes clean. Your kitchen will also smell divine. Makes 12 standard size muffins.

a happy accident

Have you ever forgotten to add something to your recipe and then liked they way it turned out better? It was just such a rare and encouraging happenstance that occurred at my house this past weekend. We had a dinner party, everybody bringing such good g-free foods- taquitos with corn tortillas, a homemade spicy chili oil with garlic, a vinegary tangy coleslaw and my spicy mango chicken salad. Again, I got absolutely no pictures of any of those; I am such a bad food blogger! But I did get pictures of my new and improved lemon baby cakes! The previous recipe I had posted was good, but I thought I could make it better with a little different mix of flours- and I was right. It appears in small quantities, brown rice flour can give you that fine, tender crumb but not impart a super healthy taste. And I also wanted to try reducing the xanthan gum, as sometimes it can impart a gummy mouth feel I am not impressed with. That was the grand plan; however I completely forgot to add the xanthan gum! But they rose beautifully in the oven and they tasted fantastic!! So I have edited the previously posted recipe to reflect the new quantities; I still have 1/2 a teaspoon of xanthan gum listed, as that is what I was going to try and thought I should leave up because you always hear horror stories about g-free baking without xanthan gum. (Maybe this no xanthan gum thing was a one time only happy moment. You never know.) I also tried the coconut cream whipped cream again- progress in this as well. It really does need a super COLD bowl, so my bowl was in for three hours and it did whip up a bit stiffer, but still not whipped dairy cream consistency so will continue to jigger with this a bit too. I also tried to make these wonderful puffs that Shirley came up with without eggs this weekend, substituting flax seed meal, but there was no puff! Saddened, I had to postpone fiddling with this recipe again so that I wouldn't be that hostess who never leaves the kitchen during her dinner parties; however, fear not, as I will try again at the earliest opportunity. And really, there will be more pictures. I promise. You know, eventually.

I also linked this post to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

Yes, yes I do need that!

There are, admittedly, many kitchen gadgets that just take up space awkwardly and serve no useful purpose. However, none of those are in my kitchen, despite what the naysayers yammer on about. What prompted this post? My beloved mango slicer from Oxo! Yes, it does look odd, however it is perfectly designed to cut a swath around the seed of the mango, leaving me with only the luscious fruit inside. I love summer when mangoes appear with such abundance; I have smoothies, I make Indian-esque curries and soups and, let's be honest- I eat it plain, right off the skin. It is just sooo yummy. And when I made chicken salad with mangoes, it was just the perfect summer lunch; it was also gfree & dairy free! So even though I didn't beat the mongering hordes to grab any pictures (apologies, I really do need to practice that) I thought I would post the recipe for the blog to balance out all my sweet recipes. It is adapted from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer cookbook (yes, yes I do really like her) and is perfect for leftover chicken; in fact, that is how she presents the recipe and called it Golden Jubilee chicken salad (for the year of creation, not because the Queen ate it. Although, she should, it is that good). I, however, feel it is totally and completely worthy of roasting chicken for! So that is what I did, and I am fairly sure you will agree once you have eaten this.

I also posted this on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

Spicy Mango Chicken Salad

7-8 chicken breasts (I did boneless skinless, as that was what was on sale.)
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons safflower oil (or oil of your choice)
3-4 mangoes (or more if you are a mango lover)
1-2 serrano chiles (or more if you like really spicy)
1 teaspoon coconut sap sugar (this could be omitted, but I like the bit of flavor it adds, plus it helps macerate the fruit; do as you will)
7-8 limes (yes, I know this is LOTS of lime juice, but you will be drizzling oil over)
3/4 cup cilantro, chopped (cilantro seems to be divisive, so adjust quantities as you will. but the flavor is marvelous, so please just don't edit it out. unless you are allergic/intolerant)
Small head of butter lettuce (or your leafy green of choice)
Additional Oil for drizzling.

Preheat oven to 350 degreesF.

In a skillet over medium/high heat, add spices and stir til everything is smelling aromatic, maybe 1 minute or so. Now add the 2 tablespoons of oil & whisk together. Have your chicken breasts in a roasting pan, 9 x 13 Pyrex, whatever you are roasting them in. Brush the chicken with the spice/oil mixture, evenly coating all the breasts. Bake them for 35-40 minutes, til the are done, registering 170 degrees on your thermometer (which is my favorite kitchen gadget evah! I <3 thermo pen).
At this point, I cover the chicken and stick in the refrigerator overnight. Then when I am ready to serve salad I combine the fruit and chicken; however, feel free to cool the chicken down and do this all in one setting.
Now I use my much adored Oxo mango slicer and pit my mangoes, then chop them into rough squares, putting them in a large bowl. Chop the Serrano chile(s); if you like heat, leave the seeds, if not then seed the chiles as well and add to mangoes. Add the coconut sap sugar. Squeeze all the lime juice over the mangoes & chiles. Stir to combine. Now, at this point I usually put a cover my bowl and put in the refrigerator overnight as I like to let the flavor combination develop; again, feel free to carry on with out this.
Now, that the chicken is cold, chop it into rough cubes. Add to the mango mixture and toss/stir well to combine. Add the cilantro and stir again. Now, divide your butter lettuce (which I use since I agree with Nigella in that it pairs beautifully with the aggressive flavors of chicken & mangoes, but do as you will) onto however many plates you are using. Scoop out the chicken salad onto the bed of lettuce and drizzle just a bit of oil over the top (Nigella used peanut or sesame, but for those with allergies choose wisely). This serves 8-10 (I am really not joking about the mongering hordes) but also keep well for a day or two, so is good for leftovers.

biscuit love, baby

Any person from the South will tell you that any kitchen that does not produce biscuits is not a kitchen. Biscuits are the staple- you have them for breakfast, you have them with roast, and you even use them for dessert. Now, traditional Southern biscuits are usually made with low protein white flour; I have a bag of White Lily flour for just such a purpose, or you could also use cake flour because that low protein is what gives them that ethereal fluffiness, that lightness of crumb that tastes divine right out of the oven and even better with butter. But how do you make fluffy biscuits gluten, dairy & soy free? Fortunately, I did not have to much figuring out myself! Once again Cybele Pascal's Baker's Handbook had a fabulous recipe for baking powder biscuits! I changed it up a little, as tinkering is just a part of my nature, and I liked the texture of a little more cornstarch, the coconut flour & believe it or not just a bit of brown rice flour. The solid dairy free, soy free vegetable shortening stood in for butter. Anyone who has ever put Crisco in the freezer to bake knows that it never quite gets solid in the freezer, so it works perfectly; however, Spectrum makes their shortening with palm oil. Which gets SOLID. I had to grate it on a box grater into the flour mix! However, that is actually a technique(I found out later)that the Cook's Illustrated people use to get precisely even amounts of fat into their biscuit recipe. I also did not use a biscuit cutter; in my family we made biscuits round by pulling off part of the dough, gently patting it into a vaguely round shape, and then dropping them onto the hot cookie sheet. The other traditional thing I did was oven temperature; I cranked the oven to 500 degrees to preheat. Then when I put in the biscuits in, I immediately turn the oven down to 400 degrees; the initial boost of heat helps boost the volume of the biscuit, helping to achieve that coveted fluffiness. I will say these are not the same as grand mama's biscuits-but they are flat out amazing for being gluten free vegan biscuits. You can see in the picture we used some of the leftover biscuits for strawberry shortcake (notice the whipped rice cream from a can!) Love the biscuit, baby!
I also linked this post to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

G-free, Vegan Biscuits

3 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix (I like Bob's Red Mills)
2 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons corn starch (if you can't do corn, sub as needed)
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (I like Authentic foods)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 tablespoons double acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon evaporated cane juice
1 cup dairy free, soy free vegetable shortening, chilled (I like Spectrum-if you want to grate it into your flour, measure this cup at room temp, then put in the freezer. otherwise, measure the cup and put in fridge)
2 cups plain yogurt (I used coconut)

Preheat oven to 500 degreesF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together your flours, starches, xanthan gum, salt, cane juice, & baking powder.
Now, grate your frozen shortening into your four mix. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers until you have a pea sized crumb, and when compressed the flour mix holds together. Add the yogurt and stir until just combined, making sure you incorporate the crumbs at the bottom of the bowl. Okay, if you just can't make biscuits without a biscuit cutter, dust a work area with gfree flour mix. GENTLY pat dough into a 1 inch thick disc, pressing in any loose bits. Use a 2 1/2 inch floured round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits. Cut them as close together as possible and DO NOT rotate the biscuit cutter- straight up and down, in and out of the dough. Transfer biscuits to baking sheet. (you can also brush the tops with milk of your choice, for shiny topped biscuits) Now, I just pull off a racquetball sized piece of dough, GENTLY pat it into a 1 inch disc (maybe 2-3 pats, max- the less you handle to dough, the better your biscuits will be) and transfer to the baking sheet. Repeat until all biscuit dough is gone. The biscuit cutter will garner you 12 biscuits. You get 14 with my grand mama's method. Now as soon as you put the biscuits in the oven, TURN DOWN the temperature to 400 degreesF. Bake in center of oven for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden. Transfer to rack to cool or eat warm.

celebration of 100 days not eating food

Because Leslie is intolerant of so many things, it has become our joke that she is allergic to food. Following her diet is hard, especially when you have a crazy work schedule and tempting food is always there. So when Leslie told me she had been strictly following her diet for hundred days, I felt there should be celebration! There was pork roast, salad, and roasted mashed sweet potatoes, all gfree and veganish(I say veganish, because I doubt pork is technically vegan, but no dairy products). And for dessert I made baby lemon cakes, adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess because they are some of our favorite lemon cakes to be had. And the recipe lent itself, I think, quite easily to adapting to gfree, but also no dairy products. I replaced the dairy yogurt with coconut, eggs with applesauce, butter with coconut oil and the flour with my gfree mix. Nigella makes it with a powdered sugar &lemon juice icing, but I had been reading on several good people's blogs about the joy that is whipped coconut cream! I must try it!! As you can see from my picture, for whatever reason it did not whip to the same heights as traditional whipped cream, but it was delicious! I will have to experiment with this all again; most blogs told you to leave the cans in overnight and to put the bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer a good 3 hours before whipping. Uh huh. My bowl and whisk attachment were in the freezer maybe an hour, although my coconut milk in the can was in refrigerator overnight. Next time I will see if freezing the bowl for longer makes that much of a difference. I will also try to practice my food photography; on everybody else's blog all the food is soo pretty! Examples: I've linked this post to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday. :)



Baby Lemon Cakes

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used coconut)
6 tablespoons coconut oil (Nigella used melted butter, and you measure coconut oil after you've melted it! how perfect was that?)
1/2 cup of applesauce
zest & juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of gfree flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mills)
1 tablespoon finely ground brown rice flour (Authentic foods)
1 tablespoon of potato starch
1 tablespoon of tapioca starch
2 tablespoons of coconut flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum
7 tablespoons of sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degreesF. Nigella calls for a baby bundt pan; I used a baby loaf pan. You could also do cupcakes! Whatever pan you use, prepare with liners or grease& flour.

Mix together in large bowl the yogurt, applesauce, zest of 1 lemon and then the juice of that lemon. Nigella uses this juice for her icing, but since i am planning on coconut cream, I just dumped it in the batter. (I am strangely impulsive that way, plus I figured the juice would react with the baking soda and help with lift since there are no eggs)

Whisk together the flours, starches, sugar, baking soda, & xanthan gum in a medium bowl. Melt the coconut oil; measure out 6 tablespoons and add to the yogurt mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the yogurt mixture and mix til just incorporated.

Portion out into your prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. It took 25 for my little baby loaf pan, but the cupcakes only took 20. Basically, when they are lightly brown and your kitchen is redolent of lemon, they are done. They also spring back when touched. Makes 6 baby bundts/loaves or 9 cupcakes.