the contradiction of gluten free, vegan meatloaf.

Ok, everybody loves meatloaf. It is such a comfort food, bringing back warm and fuzzy memories of mom's meatloaf and her home cooking-even if she never made meatloaf in her life. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes are proof God loves us. However, while Leslie eats meat, she can not have eggs or gluten, which are traditionally a part of the meatloaf mixture. We experimented with some rice crumbs and some hemp milk, trying for a gluten free panade. Again, what is it with rice that it makes everything taste weirdly healthy? It also gave that meatloaf the consistency of a curing adobe brick. In my search for alternatives, our friend Becky (who also cooks gfree for a friend) suggested trying oatmeal. Oatmeal? Really? She swore you didn't taste the oatmeal, and during the baking they just meld with the meat. She didn't have any suggestions for the eggs and I while I thought about egg replacer, I didn't think its properties would mesh well with meat. Then I was reading over Cybele Pascal's fabulous book and her suggested substitutions for eggs and had an eureka moment. She lists prune baby food; basically prune puree with a bit of water. Hey, I have a recipe for roasted pork loin with apple and prune compote- this could work! So we experimented; the result? We were wowed. And learned that I need to work on my food photography-no matter what we did, meatloaf just didn't look tasty in my amateurish pictures. It looked like a lump of brown that was just looming evilly over the green beans. Maybe pictures of meatloaf always look good because they photograph fake meatloaf; isn't a sad thought that we've always been drooling over painted Styrofoam?

I also posted this on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

G-free &Egg free Meatloaf

2 lbs of ground meat (we used a meatloaf mix of beef, veal&pork. we heart our butcher. you may choose as you prefer)
1 onion, chopped.
1/2 c plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats (certified g-free, of course)
2 2.5 oz containers of prune baby food. (we used Gerber-you want just prunes&water)
2 tablespoons of Italian Spice Mix (feel free to adjust and use individual spices)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degreesF

Saute the onions in a tablespoon of veg oil (we used grapeseed) until they are translucent. Meanwhile, while they are cooking, add your ground meat to a medium bowl. Add in seasonings and stir. Add in the oats and prune puree and stir. Now that the onions are done, add them in too. Stir well and make meat into a loaf shape and place on broiler pan; I like free form meatloaf. Or you can dump it into a Pyrex pan, of course. Now I like a little ketchup spread across the top of the loaf; Leslie is of the anti-ketchup group, so do as you will. Bake for 30-45 minutes or so, until it smells divine and is looking brown and crispy on the outside(if you use ketchup, it will look brown and crispy too). Obviously, serves 6 with mashed potatoes and green beans.

unraveling the mystery of why rice flour always tastes healthy

Most of the gfree cookbooks out there rely heavily on rice flour. It is good for you and usually works well in flour blends designed for gfree baking. One such cookbook that I recently discovered, Flying Apron's baking book uses it in the majority of recipes. It is a wicked awesome cookbook, and everything I've made to date comes out perfect! However, it does beg the question of why does rice flour always taste healthy? Probably because it is. And baking with oils that have neutral tastes or shortening(which has no taste) instead of butter lets the taste of rice shine through. But other gfree flours are good for us (in varying degrees), but they don't taste healthy like rice four tastes healthy. Huh. Maybe my mouth is just weird. So far my favorite recipe from Flying Apron's book is Peach &Walnut Tart using her almond pie crust. The almonds almost distract you from the healthy rice taste and make this crust super easy to work with, albeit almost instantaneously crumbling sandiness upon being baked. But you will scoop up the crust with your fingers, I promise. It is that tasty. This time I made it was more just peach tart, as it was snowing and I ran out of walnuts and wasn't going to the store. So the only tinkering with this recipe was due to what I had on hand in my pantry. This recipe is just sooo amazing. Although, the crust does brown super fast....there might be updates later. Also, I submitted this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Peach &Walnut Tart

Single crust:
1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons palm oil (I was out and used coconut and it worked fine)
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 tablespoon of cold water

Combine rice flour, almond meal, and salt in large bowl. Whisk together and set aside. In bowl of standing mixer, mix the palm oil til softened, about one minute. With the mixer on low speed, add the honey, almond extract and water and mix til soft dough has formed, about 5 minutes. If dough is dry, add 1 additional tablespoon of cold water til dough is smooth.

Take a moment to preheat your oven to 375 degreesF. If you have a pizza stone, throw it on the bottom rack.

Slice off a 13 inch sheet of parchement paper. Dust with rice flour. Place dough onto parchment and sprinkle with more brown rice flour. Roll dough into an 11 inch disc, or there abouts. If you are planning on making this in a pie plate, then be more exact about it. I used a 10 inch tart pan, which is easier to cheat with, since there is no fiddling about with a decorative edge. Now, when you have your circle of dough, place your tart pan/pie plate, inverted, over the middle of the dough. Now slide your hand under the parchment, and flip the dough into the pan. Remove parchment,and press dough into place. Any tears that ocur can be fixed by gently pressing the dough back together. It is miracle dough, I swear.

Now we are going to par bake the crust for 15 minutes. You don't need pie weights or any other farrago that we are used to in dealing with gluten crusts. It will be perfect, especially on the stone.

Now the filling:
4 peaches, pitted and sliced into thin wedges. (or 1 bag of frozen. It was snowing here in Colorado when I made this, so I cheated. Cascade Farm has yummy organic frozen stuffs.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons arrowroot
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons brandy or freshly squeezed lemon juice (frozen peaches, so used the brandy)
1/2 cup ground walnuts. (didn't have any, and it was snowing, so made w/o, but thought you would like the actual option)

In large bowl combine peaches, cinnamon, arrowroot and a pinch of salt. Mix gently til peaches are coated. Add maple syrup and brandy and toss gently; you want the arrowroot and syrup distributed evenly, no globs, but you don't want the peaches to start breaking down. (which isn't a problem if you cheat with frozen-not reccomending, mind you, just stating facts)
Arrange coated peaches in concentric circles on the par baked crust, filling the tart pan snugly. Pour any remaining liquid over the top of the peaches.
Bake on the bottom rack of the oven until filling is set and peaches cooked through, about 45 minutes. Check tart halfway through; if it is browning too quickly cover with foil. (or if, like me, you were watching a particularly intense movie and didn't check, you will just have brown crust.) Cool slightly before serving. We served with a mango sorbet.

blasphemous mac & cheese

Until Leslie had received her diagnosis, I had never thought I would say anything good about anything vegan. Who voluntarily decides not to eat meat? Cheese? Butter?? Nobody with promising cognitive processes, that's who. However, in the past 6 months or so that we have been dealing with her dietary limits, I now have a whole new appreciation for vegan baking. Where else would I find ways to substitute eggs, cheese, butter and everything else Leslie can't have? Granted some rely heavily on soy(poor deluded souls), but those are easily ignored in favor of those who ingeniously have new ingredients for old methods. I recently found the glutenfreegoddess! Some of her recipes are not vegan, but all are gluten free and she explains everything very clearly. Sometimes annoyingly so for those of us that can follow and cook from recipes more intricate than she writes; but as Thomas Keller has yet to come out with a gluten free cookbook I find myself dependant on the kindness of stranger's blogs. I was perusing her lovely recipes when I found The Best Vegan Mac&Cheese Recipe. My first thought was, Blasphemer! There can be no such thing. But then I read her recipe and found myself intrigued despite myself- frozen gluten free, yeast free waffles for bread crumbs? That is genius! Using tahini or almond butter to get that creamy depth that usually only comes from actual butter and cream? Holy cow indeed! I simply had to try this.
I automatically altered the recipe a bit for Leslie, since she can not have yeast. I also altered it for me; or rather the sneering, but charmingly French accented voice in my head that holds no truck with powdered anything when actual onions and garlic are available. Next time I swear, a picture; I will be faster than the mongering hordes.
I also submitted this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

EDIT/UPDATE: Ok, so the gluten free, yeast free waffles I tried with this the first time worked, but Leslie pointed out that they have soy! D'oh! Lesson for me to read the ingredients list as well as the shiny Gluten Free banner on the front. So if you can have soy, Van's is the way to go. Sadly, we are not supposed to have soy (thanks be that it was a small quantity!) Hence, the next time we made this we made our own waffles with Authentic foods baking mix which is an extra step for us, but our waffles worked well too. Instead of eggs we used Enger-G egg replacer for 2 eggs and a 2 Tablespoons applesauce. And you can freeze the leftover waffles for the next time. Or to have actual waffles.

Oh, while I am here, I should also add the last time we made this we used cashew butter, omitted the nutmeg & oregano, replaced the tumeric with cayenne pepper, added 1 tsp of ground mustard (we like mustard&cayenne with our tuna. feel free to comment about our weirdness and/or substitute your own spices) and added tuna and frozen peas for a pretty kickass gluten free, dairy free tuna noodle casserole.
this post is linked on May’s Gluten-Free Lifestyle Carnival
Blasphemous Mac&Cheese

10-12 oz dry pasta, partially pre-cooked. (I like Tinkyada too & used penne, but to each their own.)

Sauce:
6 tablespoons avocado oil (or vegetable oil of your choosing; this was what I had)
4 tablespoons sweet rice flour (aka Mochi- I like Mochinko)
2 1/2 cups plain hemp, rice or nut milk of your choice. (I used hemp)
2 tablespoons tahini (you could also use nut butter of your choice)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice (you could also use a vast array of gfree vinegars)
1 teaspoon of sea salt (or to taste)
1 onion, chopped medium
6 garlic cloves, minced (I adore garlic. You, of course, may add your garlic to taste)
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons white wine
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (Originally, added for color, but I liked the taste of it as well; it went well with the tahini, I thought)

Topping:
2-3 gluten free frozen waffles, plain obviously. (unless you have a mad craving for strawberry or something fruity. I have heard of stranger things)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (or, again, whatever is in your cabinet)
spices to taste. I used a bit of dried oregano, what with the tahini and lemon juice.

Ok, so toast the frozen waffles. Yes, really. When done, break them up and put into your food processor; give a few whizzes until they are looking crumbesque. Add in spice(s) and give a quick whizz. Now drizzle in that bit of olive oil,& pulse just til the crumbs are moist and start sticking together a bit. Briefly toast these in a skillet, to get that lovely crunch. Set Aside.

So, pre-cook pasta as follows: bring large pot of salted water (yes it makes a difference) to a roiling boil and cook pasta til just slightly tender, but still firm to bite (al dente for those in ignorance). Drain IMMEDIATELY in colander and rise under COLD water. Set aside. Rice pasta has differing cooking times I have found, so please check the package for their instructions, but it should read very much like the above. Only with minutes.

Pre heat the oven to 350 degreesF

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over med/high heat & add in the onions. Saute for about 10 min, til they are smelling good and starting to soften. Add the garlic, and continue to cook til the onions are nice & golden and the garlic is smelling divine, another 5 min or so. After you added the garlic to the skillet you can start the roux in a medium saucepan. You want the saucepan over medium heat; add in the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil. When oil is hot, whisk in the sweet rice flour. You want a fairly blonde roux for this, so only cook the flour paste for about 10 seconds, then slowly add the in hemp milk, whisking like a dervish to blend the roux into the milk for your silky sauce. When all lumps are gone, up the heat to med/high bringing mixture to a boil(do I really need to say it will thicken as it heats? I so say). Don't let it boil over! As soon as your sauce is bubbling, turn the heat back down to low.
Add in the sauteed onions&garlic, tahini, mustard, lemon juice, & sea salt. Whisk well. I also added a bit of white pepper; do what you will with the pepper situation. Now add in the white wine and the nutmeg. Mix well with whisk. Remove from heat and set aside.

Pour the cooked pasta into a 6 cup baking dish. (I used my small 6c corningware oval, but do as you will. You could also do 6 individual stingy ramekins, but combine the sauce and pasta in a bowl first, then divide.) Pour the sauce over the pasta and gently combine. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with your newly spiced waffle bread crumbs. You could also sprinkle a bit more dried oregano (or spice of choice) along the top for color. (I did)

Bake for about 25 minutes, until all is bubbling and smelling more divine than anything vegan should. Serves four at the goddess's house; 3 at mine. The mongering hordes, you know.

practicing for my gfree domestic goddess test

First, I must say I had no idea that so many of my friends are blog nazis. You don't capitalize words at the beginning of the sentence! You don't consistently capitalize actual famous places/things! You have run on sentences! You don't blog everyday! Huh. So, in the future I will endeavor to write in the proper English style, and update more often, but don't hold your collective breath for everyday. Personally, I thought I did well to figure out how to insert links into my blog. At any rate, onto the food! Nigella Lawson has this amazing blackberry galette with a cornmeal crust in her How to Be a Domestic Goddess cookbook. I had tried a few times to redo this recipe for Leslie, but I wasn't entirely happy with the results. I then stumbled across Cybele Pascal's The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook, which is marvelous! She has a raspberry galette recipe with cornmeal pate brisee! And she ingeniously uses a 'soured' rice milk, even though there is no baking soda in the recipe. Of course, I fiddled with her recipe as well; I prefer more crunch in my crust, so I added 1/4c of coarse ground cornmeal and upped the amount of fine cornmeal, at the same time reducing the amount of gfree flour mix. The result? The picture is of the last piece, because as soon as it was cool enough to eat, it was devoured. You will notice it has blueberries and strawberries- I buy fruit on sale, and raspberries were 5$ for half a pint?!? Yeah, no. Buy one get one free fruit rules the recipe. Leslie says thumbs up!
This is also featured on Go Ahead, Honey! It's gluten free!
Berry Galette

Cornmeal Pate Brisee
1/3c Rice Milk (or milk of your choice)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1c gluten free flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mills)
3/4c finely ground cornmeal
1/4c coarsely ground cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3c granulated sugar
1/2c dairy free, soy free vegetable shortening (I like Spectrum)
1 tablespoon ice water, if necessary

Berry Filling
4c fresh or frozen berries (raspberries, blueberries, etc)
4 tablespoons evaporated cane juice
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons gluten free flour mix, or arrowroot
1 tablespoon rice milk, for brushing the crust.

Combine rice milk with lemon juice and set aside for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degreesF.
Meanwhile, in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour mix, cornmeals, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the sugar, mixing for a few seconds until combined. Add the shortening, mixing on medium speed until you have a coarse meal that holds together when squeezed, about 1 minute.
Slowly add 'soured' rice milk and mix on low speed until the dough begins to ball in the center, about 1 minute. If seems too dry and not coming together, add the tablespoon of ice water.
Turn dough out onto parchment paper. Mold into a circular, vaguely flat disc, pinching together the edges. Top with another sheet of parchment paper. Now roll out dough into a 13 inch circle. (you don't have to top with 2nd piece of parchment, but be forewarned, it is a sticky, delicate dough) Use your fingers to even out edges if they are too jagged for your taste. This is a free form tart, so it doesn't have to be a perfect circle, with perfect edges. Transfer dough, parchment paper and all to a rimmed baking sheet. Easy to transfer to oven and if berry juice leaks, it won't leak onto your oven floor.
Now, the filling! Combine berries, 4 tablespoons of evaporated cane juice, lemon juice, and flour mix. Toss gently to distribute the flour evenly.
Arrange berries in the center of the dough, leaving a 2 inch border. Fold the edges of the dough toward the center, pressing gently to seal. The dough will only partially cover the fruit; the center should be a circle of glistening berries. Seal any cracks by pinching crust with fingers.
Using a pastry brush, brush the rice milk over the dough. You can also sprinkle a tablespoon or so of sugar over the whole business, if you want. I just brush the rice milk over; it helps seal the dough and gives it a nice sheen when done.
Bake for 30 minutes in the center of oven. Then rotate the baking sheet, decrease the heat to 350 degreesF and bake for 25 minutes longer, or until crust is golden, and all is smelling delicious. Transfer baking sheet to cooling rack and let come to room temperature before serving, 15-20 minutes. We had this with coconut bliss ice cream on top. YUM! Serves 8. Or 6 dessert hogs.

nobody knows precisely where spelt orginated, but it was popular in the dark ages, so i am guessing nowhere good.

apparently, some people who are wheat sensitive/allergic/etc can have spelt. Leslie isn't one of them, praise Elvis! however, in my new babycakes cookbook she has spelt recipes for these people for whatever reason. as for me, let the replace spelt trials begin!

as i adore cobbler, i decided to start with the blackberry, peach& oat cobbler on page 126. how to replace 1 cup of spelt flour? well, for the first try, i thought i would use a pre made mix, bob's red mills baking mix has sorghum flour, fava bean flour, garbanzo bean flour and tapioca starch. i also used apples instead of peaches because fresh peaches in Colorado in February? i have more faith in santa. and apples, like stone fruit, hold their shape when baked. and since i used apples i replaced the cinnamon with nutmeg and added a wee bit of cardamom. result? not bad, but the cobbler topping didn't brown as well as i like and wasn't too crispy, more doughy. & i wasn't crazy about having it be spiced and no spices in the fruit. trial #2 had me using 3/4 c of bob's mix, then adding 2 tablespoons of coconut flour and a tablespoon of potato starch, and an extra tablespoon of tapioca starch. i upped to rolled oats to 1/2 cup (i am an oat fan). i also altered the recipe so that the spices got mixed in with the fruit. result? WOOHOO! the coconut flour lent it a more nutty taste, it was crispier and more evenly browned. more oats helped too, especially with crunch. so am going to post this recipe,(i also submitted it to slightly indulgent Tuesday) with my alterations:

Blackberry, Peach&Oat Cobbler


3 cups sliced fresh peaches, with skin
1 cup fresh blackberries
1/4 cup arrowroot
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup bob's red mills gfree baking mix (or your own)
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
1/2 cup rolled oats (gfree certified, duh)
3 tablespoons evaporated cane juice, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or spice to your liking)
1/4 cup coconut oil, plus more for brushing
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 c hot water


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. (i live about 5k, so i do 350) line bottom of 8 x 3 inch round cake pan with circle of parchment and brush with oil. or just brush with oil, if you have no parchment.
In small bowl, whisk arrowroot, cinnamon (or whatever spice you are using),and 1/4 teaspoon salt together. Add fruit and stir. Add 1/4c of the agave nectar, stir and set aside.

In medium bowl, whisk together the flours and starches, oats, 3 tablespoons of the evaporated cane juice, baking powder, and remaining 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt. Add the oil, remaining 1/4cup of agave nectar, the vanilla and the hot water to the dry ingredients. Stir until a moist dough is formed, like 4 min.

Using a rubber spatula, spread the fruit mixture evenly in prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of batter over the top of the fruit, but DON'T SPREAD. Sprinkle the top with evaporated cane juice.

Bake the cobbler on center rack for 20-25 minutes, or until it is smelling divine and the fruit is bubbling through gaps in the crust and said crust is the shade of golden that you desire.

Let cobbler stand for 15 minutes before serving warm. I like mine with either a berry sorbet or coconut bliss coconut ice cream.


In the unlikely event that there is any leftover, it keeps for up to 3 days at room temperature, covered in plastic.

we are not men- we read directions

in my quest to make gluten free, vegan baked goods i found a cookbook called Babycakes written by a bakery owner in New York City! fabulous, i thought to myself, as i ordered it toot suite off of amazon. upon its arrival, i was promptly drooling, looking at all the amazing pictures. however, as the title of this post reiterates, i am not a man, i read the entire cookbook cover to cover before i even went shopping. so, i set a date for friends to come over to eat, drink and not damage my new TV. i made everything according to Leslie's diet, so we were all eating gluten free, mostly vegan dinner; i say mostly vegan as we had pork roast, but no butter, cheese or other dairy products. does that count? what do you call people who eat in accordance with a vegan lifestyle in everything but meat? just dairyless diet? but i digress. for dessert i had made the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting-mainly because i adore anything chocolate and the reviews on amazon were strangely vehement in their frosting angst. how hard could it be, really? (yes i am frequently smug)i followed the directions for the frosting; substituting hemp protein powder and hemp milk for the soy protein powder and soy milk-which she says to do if you are allergic to soy, which we are. i made sure the coconut oil was at room temp. i assembled it all in my trusty blender and whirled the ingredients into chocolate sauce goodness. i poured it into tupperware and set into the refrigerator to set up, believing the book that promised it would.
onto the cupcakes themselves. since the recipe called for cocoa, i automatically bloomed(whisked with hot liquid to bring out flavor)it in the hot coffee, then added to the remaining ingredients. oops. recipe didn't call for that. hoping i hadn't screwed it up irreparably, i baked them in muffin tins. they came out smelling like heaven. i knew they were gluten free, sweetened with agave nectar of all things and had no eggs, but when i tasted them i had no idea-it was plain chocolate goodness in my mouth. i did notice they crumbled easier than college girls at mardi gras- super delicate crumb. note to self-ALWAYS use cupcake liners. i made sure i put them away in zip loc for the next day. 12 hours later, the frosting DID set up. and still tasted like chocolate! maybe not the chocolate frosting with butter i am used to, but tasty. so, as my friends are walking in, i am frosting cupcakes, hopeful that people won't gag en mass when eating them. as i am making the coffee, people start in on the cupcakes. i am asked multiple times for the recipe, by people who have no idea these are gluten free and vegan. when i gave it to them their reaction was complete shock. so two recipes in, a successful baking event. sorry no picture though, they were gone before i could find my camera-yes they were that good. i decided to post a review on amazon, so that i can rebut those negative ones, the gist of which was: if you can't be bothered to read the directions, we can't be bothered to listen to your whiny assed complaints.

1st post

the title of my blog refers to my fabulous friend/sister-Leslie. she was recently diagnosed gluten intolerant, soy intolerant, egg intolerant and casein intolerant. no wheat. no soy (not that i think that is a loss, personally. i think most soy products taste like newspaper your let your dog poo on, then ground and mashed for food. fortuantely for me, i am soy intolerant as well), no eggs, no butter, no milk, no cheese, no yogurt, no...well, you can, literally write pages of what she CAN NOT have. so, this means that in addition to gluten free challenges, she also eats like a vegan. unless she is eating meat, which she does, because she is not cutting anything else out of her diet. i looked at this like a food challenge, one i am determined to be victorious in so that she can have cookies, and cake and frosting and fried chicken everything she once had eaten. but, you know, within her dietery constrants. yes, i am amazingly OCD, however did you guess? so this blog will detail my experiements, the good, bad and the ugly. there might even be pictures. and as the title of my blog spot details, i am petite, have red hair, and frequently cranky. or just downright bitchy, it all depends on the day and my caffiene consumption throughout. small warning to the world at large.