COMING SOON: Vegan, Raw Girl Scout Cookies

like I said... coming soon. Hubby's calling me to bed *eyebrows*

Vegetarian Paella

Rice commodities are rising, and are expected to continue to rise, so I thought I'd take a moment and make this classic dish before prices went into the stratosphere.

Paella comes from Spain, originally, taking its name from the Valencian word for 'frying pan' - it's usually made from vegetables, seafood, and meat, and liberally dosed with saffron and olive oil.

I was short on saffron tonight, so as you can see... I left it out.

It's usually cooked so that all the liquid is absorbed and the bottom forms this fantastic crust - my favourite part - but I was also short on time, and I thought that The Carnivore would react better to a 'stoup' - as Rachael Ray calls it - than a dryer consistency (which he usually refers to as 'a side dish').

Turns out he prefers to add a little ground beef to his paella - guess it's still a side dish - but the kids and I were loving it.

Here's the recipe for your perusal. Feel free to add saffron. Oh, and if you have time, let the rice completely absorb and form that crust. You won't regret it.

Vegetarian Paella

1/4 cup of olive oil

5 cloves minced garlic

1 large yellow onion, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups rice

1 can crushed tomatoes 9or 4 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped and a generous 2-3 threads of saffron)

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

2 c asparagus, cut into small pieces

1 cup green peas

1 lemon

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is tender and translucent. At the same time, heat the broth in a separate pan until simmering.

Pour the rice into the pan and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers and tomatoes and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the simmering vegetable broth and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until almost tender and almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the peas and asparagus.

Squeeze the lemon over the rice. Continue cooking until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

Serve the paella straight from the pan, garnished with lemon wedges.

It's Truly Vegan! Asparagus Linguini Alfredo

After four long years of waiting, our first crop of asparagus was finally ready to harvest - asparagus, you may not know, takes so many years to establish that it almost makes one wonder if it's worth it to plant in the first place.

Trust me - it is.

After four long... (did I say long? I meant loooooooooonnnnnnnng) years of cultivating the plants, you'll begin to harvest asparagus - lots of it. And you'll keep harvesting this (free!) veggie for the next twenty years. More if you're willing to do the back-breaking labour of splitting the roots.

I love asparagus. Every which way. In lemon sauce, steamed, boiled, baked, fried in tempura - I don't care how it's done. I love it.

I sat there wondering what on earth to do with this first harvest, and it hit me -- alfredo!
Rich and creamy, ultra dreamy loaded with fat and calories - who doesn't love the buttery, cheesy goodness of a real alfredo sauce?

Well, vegans for one.

Or those with dairy intolerances. What's a gal to do?

I came up with this lovely alternative for alfredo, and it passed with everyone - even The Carnivore. Everyone assumed it was the normal dairy version.

Traditional alfredo is pretty straightforward. Extremely high-fat-content butter (European style) is warmed and melted with plenty of high-quality Parmesan, that's thinned with just a bit of pasta cooking water. The starch in the pasta water gives a certain body to the sauce that would otherwise be lacking.

In the United States, things get a little more complicated. The lack of high quality butter (most of our butter has too high a water content to work) and parm makes it difficult for the average homemaker to make a good sauce. Also problematic - people tend to use too high of a heat or the wrong proportion of ingredients - and they end up with a gloppy-oily mess or something tasteless.

Because of this, most restaurants (and home recipes) use a flour-thickened cream or milk-based white sauce into which plenty of parmesean has been melted. Garlic and cayenne pepper are the secret ingredients of the most popular restaurants' alfredos.

People tend to crave what they know, and assuming people have rarely if ever had a traditional alfredo (I have...wow! Amazing), I went for the more commonly available taste and texture.

Macadamia nuts are the secret here for texture - They're superstars in the vegan world and great for subbing for dairy cream.

A combination of vegan 'cheeze' fave nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, salt and garlic (and a tiny pinch of cayenne) takes care of the taste. One thing I advise - I've gone a little light on the salt. Traditionally Parmesan adds a very salty dimension to food, and your taste buds may insist on more salt. Feel free to add it at the end, by sprinkling over the plate.

Better Batter Flour adds body, and olive oil adds the final touch of fattiness to the dish and helps round out the flavour.

Asparagus Linguini Alfredo

1 pound Thai Kitchen Linguini style Rice Noodles
2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into small pieces
3 tbsp olive oil

2 c water
1/4 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour (optional, for thinner sauce, omit)
1 1/2 c macadamia nuts
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/16-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 c olive oil

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Meanwhile in a blender, combine water, flour, mac nuts, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, sea salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Blend until completely smooth.

In a saucepan saute asparagus with 1/4 c olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add alfredo sauce and heat through. Stir in olive oil. Stir in hot noodles and serve.

Bengali Inspired Spinach Curry

I love Indian food - the blend of spices, the comfort-food textures - it's my idea of heaven. Unfortunately The Carnivore disagrees. To him Indian food is just so much weirdness rolled into one - and the fact that there's about zero chance of getting any kind of meat with the meal tends to put him in a 'lovely' frame of mind.

Because of that, I rarely make Indian food -- it's not worth the dirty looks.

So you can imagine my utter joy when my oldest son (whose turn it was to pick dinner) asked for ingredients that really and truly couldn't combine into anything other than... INDIAN FOOD!

This meal is really more of a fusion food than truly authentic Indian Food - I've been having massive cravings for black beans and spinach in some sort of combination (don't ask), so I had to tweak the original Bengali recipe a bit to make flavours mesh.

Contrary to popular belief, curries don't have to have loads of tumeric or (gasp) curry powder to work. Curry, according to a childhood friend of mine, is essentially any kind of a vegetable stew.

This particular curry is sweet and spicy, creamy and fresh, and blends well with the tumeric scented pilaf that I made as a side dish, using none other than our beloved Seamaiden's rice recipe as inspiration. It also happens to be super high in protein and fiber.

Enjoy!

Bengali Inspired Spinach Curry

1/4 c olive oil
1/3 c raw sugar
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp tomato paste

4 oz diced green chilis
1 onion, diced
2 pounds frozen spinach, thawed
2/3 c slivered almonds
1 c dehydrated coconut
4 c cooked black beans (1 can)
1/4 c water

In a large pan, saute the oil, sugar, mustard seeds, cumin, sea salt , and tomato paste until the sugar and tomato paste begin to caramelize.

Add the chilis and stir well. add the onions and saute till soft. Add the spinach, almonds, coconut, beans, and water, and simmer until heated through.

Serve with pilaf and naan.

Chinese Spring Rolls and Dulse Rangoons

I've always been a sucker for things wrapped in wontons and deep fried - really doesn't matter that I'd be in pain for several days afterward - I have never been able to resist the siren call of the egg roll, the spring roll, and the infamous crab rangoon.

Of course, finding out that the misery was due to a genetic disorder really put a damper on m love relationship with these delicacies - the specter of cancer doesn't really make them as appetizing... and my decision to stop eating pork and shellfish sealed the deal.

Did you know that most egg rolls/spring rolls have pork in them? And most crab rangoons contain... you guessed it - actual crab. Shocker, eh? And the rangoons that don't??? Well they contain fake crab, aka GLUTEN....

So I've been rangunless for a while now, and I just couldn't take it any more.

I decided to make a go of it and came up with these recipes. Dulse adds a seafood dimension to both the spring roll and the rangoon. Have fun!

WONTON WRAPPERS
If you're going to make your own dim sum, you need wonton wrappers. These are relatively easy and very quick to make, and they can be used anywhere traditional wontons are called for. This makes 16 wonton wrappers.

1 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1 egg
2 Tbsp water (up to 4tbsp total - save 2)

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the egg and flour together, adding 2 tbsp of water. The mixture should stick together when pressed - like a stiff pasta dough. If it's too dry add up to 2 tbsp of water.

You'll want to heavily flour your rolling surface. Split the dough into four parts and flatten each into a square. Sprinkle the top of the dough heavily with flour and roll out until the square is 8 inches by 8 inches - it will be thin.

Take a knife or pizza cutter and cut the square into four smaller squares.

Now you can leave these squares as they are, but I think it's better to make the squares really, really thin. To do this you'll want to flour the rolling surface again, as well as the surface of the wrappers - don't worry that this will make them too dry - it will help combat the moisture of the filling. Roll them out until you can see through them - each square will be about 5 to 6 inches wide. I've included a rather ghetto picture of one of my wrappers on top of my ecover dishwashing tabs box, so you can see how thin the squares will be.

Use these anywhere you would use wonton wrappers.


Chinese Spring Rolls
It's a common misconception that spring rolls= rice wrappers with lettuce. Chinese Spring rolls differ very little from Chinese Egg Rolls - they're both fried parcels of cabbage wrapped in egg-dough wrappers. Not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks spring, I know. Still, these manage to taste fresh and light, which is a miracle in itself when you're dealing with anything deep fried. They're also extremely simple and require only easily available ingredients. Serve these as a meal in themselves, or as an accompaniment to any meal. This recipe makes 16 spring rolls.

2 c cabbage
1 c shredded carrots
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c rice vinegar
1/2 c water
2 Tbsp dulse
1 clove garlic, grated or crushed
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2 Tbsp gf Tamari
dash hot chili pepper sauce

1 recipe Won Ton Wrappers

Mix the cabbage, carrots, onion, vinegar, water, dulse, ginger, garlic, tamari, and hot sauce in a bowl and let marinate overnight - you can let this soak for up to three weeks, and honestly I think it's better and tastes 'fresher' the longer it sits. Drain the mixture, squeezing it dry and reserve the liquid to make a dipping sauce.

Place a wonton wrapper on a floured surface. Working quickly, place about 3 Tbsp of the mixture on the wrapper, starting about 1/2 inch from the top and sides. Fold the sides of the wrapper in and quickly roll the wrapper into a sausage shape, enclosing the filling. Quickly dampen the edge of the wrapper with a wet finger and finish rolling the spring roll. Press lightly to seal and set aside. Repeat this process until you've used all of the wrappers and filling.

Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a wok or deep fryer. Fry up to three spring rolls at a time, until golden brown and crispy.

Meanwhile take the reserved liquid and add 1 tsp of either tapioca starch or cornstarch, and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Let thicken and remove from heat - add salt to taste.

Serve the wrappers with dipping sauce.




Dulse Rang00ns
I couldn't take it anymore - I had to make some of those wickedly junk-food concoctions that I'm sure are pure Chinese-American junk food. Ranguns. Dulse gives a distinctly sea flavour to the cream cheese filling and deep frying makes these treats just like their restaurant counterparts. Don't be shocked by the inclusion of Worchestershire here - the basic ingredients of the stuff are staples in the asian kitchen. This recipe makes 16 ranguns.

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 c green onions, minced
1/4 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/4 tsp gf tamari
1 very small clove garlic, minced (about 1 tsp)
2 Tbsp Dulse

1 recipe Won Ton Wrappers

Beat the cream cheese, onions, sauce, tamari, garlic, and dulse together. Take 1 1/2 tsp of the filling and place in the center of each wonton wrapper. moisten the straight edges of the wrapper and,placing your fingers on each straight edge, press them together in the center, so that the corners form little pockets, or petals. This will take a few times to get exactly right.

Heat ta least 2 inches of oil in a wok or deep fryer and fry the rangoons a few at a time. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Adopt a Blogger: Tapioca Pudding

My adoptee of the month was Kate of Gluten Free Gobsmacked!

Now, apparently I'm supposed to tell you a little about her - last month I neglected to do this (*sorry, Sea!) because.... well, frankly because I'm notoriously fuzzy with details. So here's my take on Kate:

Kate's a long time celiac (2000, right, Kate??) who's famous for her beautiful photography and creative recipes. One thing I've come to appreciate about Kate is her ability to weave a tale. Usually a food blog (especially mine) runs something like this: "Blahblahblahrecipedescription, recipe, pic" Not the most scintillating to read... Kate manages to bring a background into her tale, and I find myself reading her entire post, instead of skimming through and looking at the pretty pictures.

In fact it was her warm and personal style that led me to adopt her this month. Many of you who follow my blog -- when I'm posting regularly - know that I have my own gf flour blend, and so Kate's recipes, which rely heavily on her own mixes and a more traditional approach, might seem a little strange. At fist I thought it was a little strange, too...

But Kate always has options available! I pulled a fantastic Tapioca recipe from her blog, and let the magic roll. Now my pic looks nothing like her pretty pic, so I'll let you wander over there and peek - I'm sure it tasted every bit as good.

Kate's recipe varies from the traditional recipes in a few ways -- most appreciated on my list, the cinnamon sticks, which lent a spicy, clean taste to the tapioca without muddying it, like ground cinnamon would have. I'd never thought to add cinnamon to tapioca pudding, but I don't think I'll ever want to make it otherwise, now that I've been enlightened!

The other major difference: This tapioca is baked. I honestly had never heard of a baked tapioca pudding before - baked bread pudding, baked rice pudding... but never baked tapioca pudding. This made the pudding a little more custardy, which is perhaps why she recommends adding whipped cream to the pudding afterward. We didn't, which is perhaps why our pudding isn't prettiful like Kate's.

I never thought it would be possible to call a tapioca pudding decadent, but Kate proved me wrong. Way to go!

Buckwheat Crepes! My adoptee: Seamaiden

My adoptee for the Gluten Free Blog event is none other than our beloved Seamaiden! I chose to make her fabulous buckwheat crepes as my 'project.'

She recommended making a fantastic-sounding mushroom filling, but my husband wouldn't touch a mushroom to save his life, so I decided instead to make my family's version of Bananas Foster, recipe follows.

The crepes were delicious and very mild, compared to what I was expecting. I found that using two pans and staggering the whole 'pour, swirl, flip' method gave me exactly the perfect timing, and it cut down on the total time needed for the preparation. Brenda's method of blending everything in a blender was genius and made for a very silky, smooth batter. These crepes were really delicious.

Of course I used the Better Batter flour where she calls for 'your favourite gf flour mix' and I ground the buckwheat myself in a coffee mill, which to me makes for a lighter flavoured flour than stuff you can usually buy. It also makes for a lighter looking pancake, which was really nice. Expect if you make this using a commercial buckwheat flour that it will be darker.

Here's Sea's blog recipe: Buckwheat Crepes

And here is our version of Bananas Foster.... you'll find this one is more buttery and fresher tasting than the famous version.

Bananas Poe
1/4 c salted butter
1/2 c raw or demerrara sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 c golden rum
5 large bananas, sliced

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved. Add the nutmeg and allspice and stir. Stir in the rum, and heat until the sugar dissolves and the syrup bubbles. Stir in the bananas and heat until just warmed through.

Place the bananas in crepes or over pancakes and serve immediately.

THE Definitive GF Croissant

The internet is a wonderful thing! A few months back I posted a great, super easy crescent roll recipe on my website. The ladies over at the Delphi Forum took it and improved upon it. Of course, I had to have another go at the thing, so I tweaked their version of it... The result was a delicious crescent roll, indeed.

One thing that bothered me about the recipe was the loss of the yeast, which lends itself to the flavour of the pastry. I detected a distinct 'baking powder' taste in the Delphi versions of the roll, which -although not at all objectionable - stopped short of a true croissant flavour.

The fact that the crescent roll wasn't going to rise, becuase of lack of yeast, bothered me to no end as well.
So of course, you know me...

Several tweaks later, I am proud to announce the absolutely, incontrovertably, most flaky, tender, buttery croissant you will ever eat, bar none. It also makes insanely great pain au chocolat and pigs-in-a-blanket.

I'd made my own version of Kate's 'army of crescent rolls' ... but they were literally all eaten before I could get the camera and snap a shot. Alas.

Mr. Picky... aka the hubby, says these are the real deal, and a woman at a local celiac conference (who's NOT a celiac and eats gluten as a religion, lol) wasn't aware that they were gf when she was eating one (she thought my stuff was just normal stuff for the regular vendors to eat, since it was separated from all the other samples) and was literally shocked that it wasn't a 'real' croissant.

I'll leave it to you to be the judge.

Here's my recipe. It makes 16 normal/Large sized croissants. Have fun!

The Definitive GF Croissant

Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter, (8 Tablespoons) frozen

1 package rapid rise yeast
1/4 c warm water
1/4 c sugar
2 sticks of butter, cold
3/4 c Full Fat Sour Cream
3/4 c Full Fat Ricotta Cheese
1 egg

2 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda

AT LEAST 3 cups of Better Batter flour for rollign

2 egg whites, beaten with 1/4 c water, till slightly foamy, for makign the croissants beautiful

Directions:

1. Place yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set in a warm place to proof for 10 minutes, or until creamy and foamy. (This is important!)
   
2. Cream together cold butter, sour cream, ricotta cheese, and egg until whipped, creamy and semi-yellow in color (about 3-4 minutes) - the butter should resemble cottage cheese
   
3. Add Better Batter Flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Mix together until the dough comes together - mostly away from the sides and begins to form a ball or lump in the middle of the mixer (about 3-4 minutes). It will still be sort of sticky!
   
4. Divide into two portions. Shape each one into a rectangular patty about 4x6x1.5
5. Place into a Ziploc bag. Refrigerate at least two hours, overnight preferred. This is important! If you're impatient like me, you can freeze it for an hour.
   
6. Grate the frozen butter (I used my food processor) and put it into a freezer-safe storage container/bag. Return grated butter to the freezer until you are ready to use. (By the way, it will store indefinitely like this.) You can divide it at this time to make it easier.
   
7. Work in a cool place, lay down a parchment paper or Silpat and flour heavily with about a cup of flour. You'll need a rolling pin for the next step!
   
8. Remove one of the rectangles of dough from the fridge, and the butter from the freezer.
   
9. Generously dust the top of the dough rectangle and roll the dough as to about 1/8 inch thickness. You should be able to see through the dough partially. I was able to roll the dough about 27” long and about 15” wide.
10. Turn the dough lengthwise. Generously sprinkle the middle 1/3 of the dough with about 2-3 tbsp of the the grated, still-frozen butter. Fold up the bottom third of the pastry over the top of the middle third. Sprinkle two more tbsp or so of the grated, still-frozen butter over the top of the part you just folded on top. Fold down the top third of the dough to cover the center/butter again. If your dough is getting warm, please put it in the fridge for at least an hour (I work fast, so I don't do this).
    
11. Generously flour the top, sides, and bottom (lift the dough gently to push flour underneath) of the dough. Repeat the rolling out thin and butter sprinkling one more time. You will sprinkle the butter on twice and roll out three times. You'll need a lot of flour, and you should be able to see the flecks of butter through the dough.
    
12. After the round of of butter sprinkling and folding, turn the dough again and roll the dough out for it’s final time,rolling it to about 1/4 inch thick (not thicker!). Work quickly at this point as the dough is beginning to warm up again.
13. Leave the dough lying flat along the parchment paper.
14. Divide into long triangles with the pizza cutter (each triangle should be the full length of the long end dough - about 15 inches, with a wide end of about 4 inches. You will end up with 8 large triangles for each 1/2 of the dough. At this point you may want to fill your croissants with all kinds of goodies by placing your filling on the wide end of the triangle.
    
15. Roll the croissant up from the wide end carefully (as the layers are thin). Seal the end (to keep it together during baking) by brushing the beaten egg white onto top ½ inch before finishing the roll. Shape into a crescent moon shape.
16. Brush the completed croissants with beaten egg white (this makes them shiny and pretty).
17. Lay the complete croissants on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and Let rest in a warm place for 30 minutes or so. Repeat steps 7 through 16 with the remaining dough.
    
18. Bake the croissants at 425F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.

You'll have blistery, puffy, buttery, yeasty croissants. The real deal. YUM.

Raw Fried Rice (cauliflower for people who hate cauliflower)

I'm not doing the RAW thing, perse... as far as counting percentages and obsessing. But I find that my brief foray into obsession opened up an enormous world to me - one that tastes better, most of the time, frankly. So I do find myself eating very High Raw most of the time.

This recipe is a super quick, super easy way to make a family favourite of mine - fried rice - without actually having to have any cooked rice on hand. Without actually having to cook, for that matter. If you're weirded out by the whole cauliflower thing, don't be. I hate raw cauli... but I love this dish.

Fried Rice

(click on image to enlarge)

Makes 6+ cups

This rice is as close as you’ll come to real fried rice. It’s got the right balance of mouth feel and taste, and it was a winner here at the house, even with Mr. Picky. You’ll find this serves 3 VERY generously, or four, with a side dish. Feel free to serve it very cold as a salad, or slightly warm, as I’ve suggested, for an authentic Fried Rice.

Ingredients

• 1 Head of Cauliflower
• 1 ten ounce package peas, thawed, or fresh peas
• 2 tablespoons onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup cilantro or flat leafed parsley
• 1 inch of lemongrass
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• a drizzle of sesame oil, optional
• 2 teaspoons ginger, grated
• Braggs, or gf tamari
• 1 cup hulled sunflower seeds

Preparation

In the bowl of your food processor, pulse cauliflower into ‘rice’ and place in a bowl.

In the FP, pulse the onion, garlic, lemongrass, and cilantro or parsley until finely minced. Place in bowl.

Place peas in bowl. Stir all ingredients together.

Drizzle with oils and gf tamari or Bragg's. Stir in sunflower seeds.

Optional but AWESWOME: Heat on very low heat in a saucepan, stirring contstantly until just warm to the touch, or place in dehydrator for 30 minutes.

Absolutely Authentic Tasting Vegan Caesar Salads

It's almost impossible to make Caesar Dressing properly without animal ingredients. I mean, the classic Caesar recipe calls for plenty of egg yolks and anchovy paste, and swapping out ingredients tends to make something that's 'not quite' Caesar Dressing.

I wasn't satisfied with that, so I put my little brain to work and came up with this substitute. I guarantee you won't be able to tell it's vegan.

In order for you to get it to work, you'll have to do a first stage recipe. First Stage recipes are where you have to make one thing in advance, in order to use that thing later. The First Stage recipe I use to make this is cultured nut-cheese. It's a brilliant sub for cream cheese (the best I've ever found) and the base for all kinds of things (like vegan feta, vegan yoghurt, vegan sour cream, etc). You can find it at my Raw Food page, but I'm including it here, for ease's sake, below the Caesar Dressing Recipe:

Creamy Caesar Dressing

Makes about 2 cups dressing

You won’t taste a more authentic Caesar dressing. This reminds me almost exactly of the creamy Caesar dressing served at Red Lobster.

The secret is in the dulse flakes, which give the secret ‘anchovy’ taste; and in the hempseed, which works perfectly here in place of Parmesan. Your tastebuds will feel guilty.

You can choose to use either water or oil. Oil will give a creamier, richer dressing, but water makes it considerably lower in fat.

To make a Salad, toss Romaine or Spinach (I used spinach in the picture above) with the dressing and top with lots of hempseed. If you’re really ambitious, make some homemade croutons and toss them in, too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cultured Real Cream Cheese (recipe below)
• 1 lemon (juice of)
• 2 teaspoons dulse flakes
• 2 tablespoons hempseeds
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard (homemade or otherwise)
• 1½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons onion, minced
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 cup either water or oil
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, optional
• hempseed for sprinkling

Preparation

Whir everything but the last set of hempseeds together in a blender until absolutely smooth. Let sit at least 1/2 hour or overnight for best flavour.

Toss with Romaine or Spinach, the extra hempseed, and homemade croutons, if desired.

Real Cream Cheese

Makes 4 c

This cream cheese actually tastes like cream cheese, feels like it, and looks like it. The secret is in the probiotics. Use it for awesome cream cheese, or serve with Bagels and Lox (see my other recipes).

Ingredients

• 4 cups Macadamia Nuts
• water to cover
• ¼ cup probiotic powder, any brand

Preparation

Place mac nuts in blender. Cover with juuuuuuuust enough water to come up to level with the nuts. Add the probiotic powder. Whir in the blender until absolutely smooth (this may take about 10 minutes, so make sure your blender doesn’t get too hot). THe consistency should be like cold cream.

Place in a mesh bag/cloth napkin and Twist until the bag is sealed. Place in a collander and put a weight on the top (I use a plate with a can of something) and put in a very warm place (Like your dehydrator or the radiator) for at least 48 hours. Refrigerate.

And now back to our regularly scheduled inanity...

No, I'm not dead!

I've been backlogged with work, getting this business off the ground. I'll be posting again soo, though, so have no fear.

Here's a few pics to keep you interested (I'll post the recipes later!):

Batter Fried Fish-nChips

Pain au Chocolate with incredible croissant crust

Auntie Anne's clones

Gran Marnier Angel Food Cake with Craberry Swirl

Unfried "rice" (cauliflower for those who hate cauliflower)

Sufiganiot (Jelly Donut Heaven)

I was in the mood for Jelly Donuts. Really in the mood: so that's what we ate for dinner. *shrugs* If you don't mind putting on a thousand pounds it's really the best dinner on earth. Really... ask my children!

So anyway, I made several variations in powdered sugar and plain sugar, both traditional and yeast-free:
Filled with strawberry jam,
Filled with homemade cran-rasp-blueberry jam
Filled with Nutella, which is totally not jelly, but you'll of course forgive me.

Tomorrow I'm planning on making strawberry-filled banana ones, strawberry filled chocolate ones, cran-apple filled nutmeg-scented ones, and perhaps a few others. Not sure yet.

Here's the basic recipes. Filling recipes are below that:

Sufiganiot (Traditional Hanukkah raised jelly donuts)

1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp Better Batter Gluten Free Flour

3 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1/4 c butter or margerine, melted
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 c water

Flour, for rolling

jelly
oil for frying
powdered or granulated sugar

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl, and let them sit for abotu 5 minutes. Add the flour, salt, and sugar and stir well.

2. Crack the eggs into the water. Stir this into the flour mixture, until the mixture is relatively smooth. Beat in the melted butter or margerine and let sit in a warm place to rise.

3. Flour a parchent paper or silpat lightly. flour your hands. Dump the dough onto the floured surface and dust the top with flour. Press out to about 1/4 inch to slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. This will still be very sticky inside! Meanwhile heat oil, at least 2 inches, in a skillet or fryer to about 400 degrees.

4. With a small biscuit cutter (about 2 inches), cut circles out of the dough. Place a tsp. of jelly on half of the circles. Dampen hands and wet the rims of the other half of the circles. Press one empty circle on top of a filled circle, and gently pat around the sides to make a nice jelly donut shaped donut.

5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown on one side, then flip and fry on the other side. Remove with a slotted spoon, and roll in sugar. Serve very fresh.


Yeastless Jelly Donuts

5 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 c water or milk

1. Mix the Four, baking powder, and salt.

2. Stir in the water, until mixture is well combined.

3. Flour a parchent paper or silpat lightly. flour your hands. Dump the dough onto the floured surface and dust the top with flour. Press out to about 1/4 inch to slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. This will still be very sticky inside! Meanwhile heat oil, at least 2 inches, in a skillet or fryer to about 400 degrees.

4. With a small biscuit cutter (about 2 inches), cut circles out of the dough. Place a tsp. of jelly on half of the circles. Dampen hands and wet the rims of the other half of the circles. Press one empty circle on top of a filled circle, and gently pat around the sides to make a nice jelly donut shaped donut.

5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown on one side, then flip and fry on the other side. Remove with a slotted spoon, and roll in sugar. Serve very fresh.


Cran-rasp-blueberry jam:
In a blender, combine...
1 c cranberries
1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c dried blueberries
1/4 c dried raspberries

Cook over high heat for 5 minutes, or until it boils for a few minutes. Let cool.

Vegan Stuffed Shells For Everyone

I wish I had a beautiful photo to show you... but hubby grabbed the plate of shells and took off with it to the bedroom... apologies to all, lol.

I've been having problems with most dairy for about 4 months now - I finally tracked down another source of migraines. Dairy. Drat. Mozzarella seems to be okay, strangely enough. In talking with others who have dietary induced migraines, I've heard the same thing. If anyone would like to explain to me why mozzarella is fine but, say Cream Cheese (which is another fresh cheese) isn't, I'd love to hear it. Occasionally I'll give into temptation and still have some kind of cheese - because I just love cheese - but generally speaking I am trying to avoid dairy altogether.

Anywhoodles... This stuffed shells recipe is delicious enough to please even the most picky eater. It really tastes like traditional stuffed shells.

If you don't have any objections to dairy, forego the vegan angle and top the shells with a lot of really nice mozzarella. Do that and no-one will even know that the filling isn't dairy.

This is a great way to use up all that pulp left over from making nutmilk.


Stuffed Shells

1 1/2 c nut-pulp (instructions below)
1 c sesame seeds
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c water
2 Tbsp parsley
1 clove garlic, crushed and minced to smithereens

1 package Tinkyada large shells

6-8 cups Chunky Tomato sauce (We like Ragu Organic or Muir Glen Chunky Tomato Sauce)

Optional- 8 oz. Whole Milk Shredded Mozzarella


1. You'll need to start this meal the night before you want to eat it, by making nut-pulp.

Start by taking 2 c almonds (I reccommend blanched almonds for the cleanest, whitest look) and placing them in a large mixing bowl. Boil 2 c water and pour over the almonds. Let soak for about 1/2 hour, or until the liquid looks milky.

Pour this mixture into your blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Wet a towel or nutmilk bag and pour the liquid into it, over a bowl) squeeze out the liquid.

Add 2 more cups COLD water to the blender and return the nutpulp to the blender. Blend for another minute or so. Strain this liquid.

Repeat the cold water step until the liquid being squeezed from the nutpulp looks like whey (milky water). Set the nutmilk aside to use for something else.

Take the nutpulp, sesame seeds, lemon juice, and water, and combine them. Let soak overnight, in the fridge.

The next day, whir this mixture in the blender until it's smooth. Add the parsley and garlic and whir again, until the parsley's chopped fine.

2. Boil the shell pasta until they're al-dente. Drain.

3. Put about 3 or 4 cups of pasta sauce in the bottom of a casserole.

4. Fill the shells with the 'ricotta' mixture and place into the sauce. Top with more sauce. (if you'd like add cheese now)

5. Tope with remaining sauce and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until hot.

YUM!

Vegetarian Potstickers

Potstickers are tasty dumplings, filled with vegetables, that can be steamed or pan fried. The secret to a good potsticker is to roll the dough very thin. This recipe makes about 60 potstickers. Feel free to half the recipe, and make other fillings, for a variety.

1 tbsp oil

2 c finely minced green cabbage

1/2 c finely shredded carrot

1/2 c chopped water chestnuts

1/2 c bamboo shoots, minced

10 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste

2 Tbsp ginger, minced (available at the grocery or mince your own)

1/4 c minced green onion

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

1 recipe Base for stuffed Pastas

Flour, for rolling, as well as a 3 inch round cookie cutterand potsticker press (optional)

water or egg white

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the cabbage and cook until wilted, about 9 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Add the carrot, chestnuts.bamboo shoots, garlic, ginger, green onion, salt, and sesame oil and stir well to mix.

Split the pasta in half, and roll out one half at a time. Place the dough on a floured surface (I like to use a silpat) and sprinkle generously with flour. Roll out until the dough is 1/8-1/4 inch thick.

Gently fold the dough in half to mark the center crease and unfold.

Using the cookie cutter, lightly mark circles on half the dough (do not cut through the dough!

Working quickly coat the marked side of the dough with water or egg white and place a large teaspoon (up to a tablespoon) of filling in the center of each circle.

Fold the dough over and press lightly to seal around the pockets of filling.

Using the cookie cutter, cut out the circles of dough. Gather and reroll the scraps, continuing to mark and fill the dough as instructed. Set aside to dry while you make the second half of the pasta.

Alternately, cut three inch circles and use a potsticker press to fill and seal the potstickers. Use a little egg white on the edges before sealing.

Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place half of pot stickers in bottom of skillet; cook 3 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Add 1/2 cup water to skillet; cover and cook 3 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Place pot stickers on a serving platter; set aside, and keep warm.

Wipe skillet with a paper towel. Repeat procedure with remaining vegetable oil, remaining pot stickers, and remaining water.

Serve with Dipping Sauce (Below):

Dipping Sauce

6 Tbsp GF Tamari Sauce

3 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp hot chili oil OR sesame oil

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

Combine all ingredients and let sit for about an hour before serving.

Cincinnati-Style, 4 1/2 Alarm Chili

According to legend, Cincinnati Chili was created by a Middle-Eastern immigrant who combined his favourite spices with meat sauce, put the conglomeration on top of pasta, added traditional 'chili' accompaniments, and marketed it well.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Cincinnati Chili is a unique and fabulously delicious meal - a filling combination of sweet and savoury with a tiny 'kick' of spice.

Real 5 alarm chili is made with a copious amount of ground beef, which is cooked in the highly spiced tomato sauce, producing a thick, very fine texture. Obviously, any vegetarian recipe is going to omit the beef. I've seen plenty of recipes which skirt this difficulty by using ground soy crumbles. Since we don't do soy in almost any form (except fermented wheat free soy sauce), this presented a problem.

I decided against using my favourite eggplant/walnut 'meat' combination, because I feared the combination of the eggplant with the spices, which truly are middle-eastern (in part) would make the dish taste too much like mousakka.

I experiemented with a number of options, but in the end, I settled for making a nice 'bean-paste roux' and using it to thicken the sauce. This allowed the flavour of the spices to shine through while giving the sauce a little more 'body' and stick-to-your-ribs protein.

My family adored it, and no-one complained about the meat. If you're not opposed, feel free to stir in soy crumbles, or heck! Use Ground beef. Either way, this is the best Cincinnati chili you'll find outside of the state.

FYI: The 'alarms' in a 5 alarm chili are the following. I have it on good authority that for an authentic 5 alarm chili (or in this case 4 1/2 alarm) , one simply 'must' add the toppings in the order listed. Of course, I ignore all of this, but hey...:

2 Alarm Pasta topped with Cincinnati style chili

3 Alarm Pasta, Chili, Sharp Cheddar Cheese (and don't skimp on the cheese!)

4 Alarm Pasta, Chili, Cheese, Chopped Onions

5 Alarm Pasta, Chili, Cheese, Onions, Kidney Beans




And now, here's the recipe:

Cincinnati-Style 4 1/2 Alarm Chili

2c cooked kidney beans, divided
1 c oil
2/3 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1 1/2 c minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
1 15oz can diced tomatoes with chilis
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 c water


Cooked pasta
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
onions
kidney beans


In a blender, combine the 2c kidney beans and flour and blend til smooth.

In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the bean paste and cook, stirring, until the bean paste absorbs most of the liquid and begins to thicken. You'll need to scrape the bottom of the pan continuously.

Add the rest of the seasonings, ending with the water. Simmer, uncovered, for at least an hour or up to three hours.

Serve on top of pasta, with toppings, if desired.

I have been sooooooo sick

Oh my word.

I've been down and out for at least three weeks now, so I'm biting the bullet and going to the doctor.

No idea what's wrong with me.

I'll keep you posted.

Gluten Free Menu Swap... a spiffing idea!

I'm posting my first menu for the Gluten Free Menu Swap. Hope I don't screw it up, lol.
I'll post my veggie meals here and all my other recipes over at Better Batter.
Okay, here goes:

Week of October 22, I'm making...

M Garlic-Basil Dinner Loaves with Artichoke heart and Fontinella Cheese Filling

T A Super-Easy Dal (with apple! You heard right....apple) with Naan

W Black-Bean and Pumpkin Soup

T Hot Mess (Aka Hunter's Breakfast)

F Mexican Stuffed Peppers

S I'm leaving Free to Try Your Recipes!
S I'm leaving free to Try Your Recipes!

This week's menu swap is hosted by Mrs. G.F.
Stop in and give her your love!

Why did I Drop the Raw Foods Thing?

Raw foods! Ahhhhhh raw foods. Delicious, healthy, light and easy recipes for a busy lifestyle. So why, oh why, dearest reader, did I drop the raw foods thing?

Because, in a nutshell, it was very bad for me.

Not the raw foods themselves. The lifestyle.

Okay,

A) Hunny wasn't buying 100% raw. So essentially, though we could survive through breakfast and lunch together, I always had to make separate dinners. Which meant I spent 1/2 of my day in the kitchen. 3/4 for a really gourmet 'uncooked' food.

B) It was too easy to slide into my old eating disorder. Maybe this isn't true for anyone else, or everyone else, or...whatever. But for me, the push to 'go 100% raw' was really too obsessive. I found myself counting percentages instead of calories, and worrying about every little thing I put into my mouth. I started getting aversions to foods that I know scientifically are healthier for you if cooked. I... it wasn't good, and it wasn't going to be healthy if I kept on keeping on.

C) It was hard to get certain vitamins and minerals (like the B vitamins) into my diet. And I feel vitamin deficiency terribly fast -- keep in mind, I've had to be dairy free for a while now, so with no animal based form of nutrition at all, I slid into deficiency hard-core. This is, I suppose, why so many people choose to do a little dairy or eggs with their veggie lifestyle. "Why not take a supplement?"... because the supplements are animal-based (see B above). "why not try masive quantities of sea vegetables?"... I did. It didn't help -- the B vitamins in seas veggies didn't absorb well. ugh. ANd yes, we do eat sea veggies all the time, so there was no aversion.

D) Did I mention that it's getting cold where I live? Really cold. Like dark, dark days of autumn, sliding into the eternal night of winter cold... The only fresh, local, organic, raw produce available here right now is kole veggies (which are fine fermented) and squashes (which get a little rough to take raw). I'm really into local, sustainable Community supported agriculture. (Isn't everybody). So we've got a war of philosophies going. And even if I give in and buy the imported organic-goods (and admitedly I do every so often, especially come winter when my garden's not producing and neither is my local farm), I'm not a Hollywood celebrity,and there's no eternal summer here in the mountains, so unless I want to mortgage my house, 100% raw was not going to happen. Period.

E) One last thing. I'm a research gal. There's a lot of misinformation going on in the Raw community right now. A lot of good, but a lot of missed. For instance, the whole nuts thing. For a while, the only truly RAW nut you could find was almonds, if you wanted to split hairs, and now, even that's hard to find unless you live in CA. Did I mention I can get a tad obsessive?


Anwhoodles.... point being:

I eat a lot of Raw anyway. I'm not going to worry about exactly HOW raw I am. I'm going to enjoy cooked foods and supplement heavily with fresh seasonal veggies, raw or gently cooked, and loads of fresh seasonal fruits (my strawberries and raspberries are just coming on heavily!). I eat well. I eat sustainably. I like to bake. I don't want to make myself starve again.

I'll still use raw recipes. I'll still eat raw. But it's a part of my lifestyle... not my identity.

Cool? Cool.

Because I'm in a Baking Mood...Bagels

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I usually post actual entrees. But I'm in a baking mood and totally off the raw food wagon (or kind of, anyway)... so I'm posting what I've been gorging myself on the last two days - bagels!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the recipes for those who are interested.

I get a lot of questions when I post a recipe calling for Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, so I'm providing a link to the website. Knock yerself out.

Meanwhile... Here's the recipes:

Everything Bagels

These are a near clone of the Everything Bagels you can buy at the Einstein Brothers bagel shops. These bagels fill the house with the smell of a bagel shop. They taste awesome toasted with butter. For a treat, make them into Breakfast Sandwiches.

I'm including photos of each step to try and make it easier to visualize. Follow the directions carefully and you'll have real bagels in no time! This recipe makes 24 large bagels.

8 cups all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c molasses
2 Tbsp salt
2 packages active dry yeast
6 cups warm water

2 egg whites, beaten with 2 tbsp cold water
1 tablespoon dry minced onion
1 tablespoon dry minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Flour, for rolling
Water plus sugar for the water bath (1 Tbsp per 2 quarts)
cornmeal for dusting the pans


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three or four baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal.

1. Mix all Dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and molasses and knead with your hands until the mixture resembles very sticky play-doh.

2. Lightly flour a silpat or plastic wrap (it should barely be covered with a fine film of flour). Divide the dough into softball sized portions (you can make them smaller for a mini bagel, or larger for a deli-sized bagel)

3. Gently roll the dough balls on the floured surface of the silpat until they're smooth. Flatten each ball ito a disk, about 4 inches by 1 1/2 inches thick.




4. Verygently, with floured hands, poke a hole into the center of the dough an work it until the hole is about 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Repeat with all the dough. Let the bagels rise for 30 minutes.


5. Heat a pan full of water, at least 3 inches deep to boiling. Add about a tablespoon of sugar per 2 quarts of water. Drop no more than 3 bagels in at a time (they swell as they cook)!



6. Simmer for 3 minutes, gently turn over and simmer for another 4 minutes.




7. Place back on parchment paper. When the tray is full, place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile combine all of the onion, garlic, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, sesame seeds and salt.Remove from oven and brush all over with egg white mixture and sprinkle equally with the seed mixture.

Return to oven and bake for 20-30 minutes more, or until deep golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

Variation: Substitute all poppy seeds or all sesame seeds for the seed mixture.

New York Style Water Bagels

These really and truly taste, look and have the mouth feel of a great bagel. Serve with cream cheese and, if you're so inspired, lox. They freeze beautifully and reheat well. For a treat, make them into Breakfast Sandwiches.

8 cups all purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp salt
2 packages active dry yeast
6 cups warm water

2 egg whites, beaten with 2 tbsp cold water

Flour, for rolling


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three or four baking sheets with parchment paper.
1. Mix all Dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and knead with your hands until the mixture resembles very sticky play-doh.

2. Lightly flour a silpat or plastic wrap (it should barely be covered with a fine film of flour). Divide the dough into softball sized portions (you can make them smaller for a mini bagel, or larger for a deli-sized bagel)

3. Gently roll the dough balls on the floured surface of the silpat until they're smooth. Flatten each ball ito a disk, about 4 inches by 1 1/2 inches thick.

4. Verygently, with floured hands, poke a hole into the center of the dough an work it until the hole is about 1/2 inch in diameter. Repeat with all the dough. Let the bagels rise for 30 minutes.

5. Heat a pan full of water, at least 3 inches deep to boiling. Drop no more than 3 bagels in at a time (they swell as they cook)!

6. Simmer for 3 minutes, gently turn over and simmer for another 4 minutes.

7. Place back on parchment paper. When the tray is full, place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush all over with egg white mixture.

Return to oven and bake for 20-30 minutes more, or until deep golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

What HAVE I been up to??? Pretzels!

Suprepretzels Clone
Many thanks to Sande Guetthoff for asking me to develop this recipe for her. This makes individual sized soft pretzels that taste remarkably (scarily!) close to the real thing. They freeze beautifully and reheat well. For a treat, try the Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls Variation.

I'm including photos of each step to try and make it easier to visualize. Follow the directions carefully and you'll have real soft pretzels in no time!

2 Tbsp active dry yeast
4 c cold water
6 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1/2 c light corn syrup or agave nectar
1/4 c butter, margerine, or butter-flavoured shortening
2 tsp salt

Flour, for rolling

Beaten egg whites (about 3)

10 c hot water
2/3 c baking soda
coarse pretzel salt, if desired.

Line three or four baking sheets with parchment paper.


1. Put the yeast in the warm water and let sit for five minutes. Add 4 cups of the flour, corn syrup or agave, butter/margerine/shortening, and salt to the yeast mixture and beat well, on high speed, for three minutes. The mixture should resemble very, very sticky cookie dough (or even a bit wetter).

2. Put a cup of flour thickly over a silpat or plastic wrap and place the dough mixture on this. Sprinkle with another cup of the flour. Now very carefully incorporate the flour (knead it by folding the batter in half, patting it out, and folding gently again) until all the flour is absorbed. This should feel like sticky play-doh.

3. Separate the dough into balls slightly larger than baseballs but slightly smaller than tennis balls.

The outside of the ball will get slightly dry to the touch, but the inside will be really tacky and sticky (click pic for a closer look).


4. Very, very lightly flour your rolling surface. Taking one ball at a time, with floured hands, roll the ball between your hands until it is about four inches long. Lay onto the rolling surface.

Roll the dough very gently until it is about 9 inches long. At this point, it will be really delicate. Begin to VERY gently pinch the width of the dough to make it longer, and alternate this with patting the dough gently down to make it flatter. Keep doing this until the dough is about 14 inches long.

5. Take the rope and quickly form it, on the parchment sheets, into a pretzel shape. Brush a little egg white or water under the surface of each 'foot' and onto the base of the pretzel to adhere the 'arms' to the 'body'.

Let rise for 30-45 minutes.


6. Prepare the soda bath: Mix the 10 cups of water with the baking soda and (10 minutes before you're ready to dip the pretzels) heat to a boil. This will be cloudy in appearance. This should be ready just as the pretzels are done rising.


7. VERY CAREFULLY, using as wide a spatula as you can (use two-- one to life and one to slide under and support!) lift the pretzel from the parchment paper into the boiling soda bath. This will boil up into froth, so it's really important not to do more than two pretzels at a time at most! Cover with a lid and time for 1 minute.

This solution will get stronger smelling with each pretzel and may even turn a weird bright golden yellow as the batches progress. That's okay!!

8. VERY carefully remove the pretzel(s) from the water and place back on the parchment paper. Continue to do this with the rest of the pretzels.

Meanwhile heat the oven to 350 degrees.

9. Brush beaten egg white over the pretzels and bake for about 15 minutes, or until deep golden brown. If you are going to eat them hot, sprinkle the salt on before baking. If you are going to freeze them, wait until you are ready to heat them to put the salt on.