Gluten Free Goodness

I just couldn’t wait to share these, they were so tasty!  They never last long around here. They are perfect for everyday snacking, with or without the glaze, and great for breakfast, too.

And did I mention that they are gluten free, casein free, soy free, vegan, egg free, corn free and sugar optional? If you go for raisins, they avoid all top 8 allergens.  I’m patting myself on the back as we speak. They are a good source of fiber and quite healthy

You do need to grate the carrots by hand with a small grater, this way they just disappear into the muffin.  You can add more spice if you like a stronger flavor, and I plan to put in pieces of crystallized ginger on my next time around for my husband and I. This version is more little person friendly..

The Salba seeds (or you can use chia seeds) are what hold these babies together. Salba can be ordered online, and chia is sold at many Latino markets. I’ve been using it a lot lately because it’s a great source of omegas and an even better binder than flax.

Ingredients
1 can crushed pineapple (divided into crushed pineapple and juice)
4 teaspoons whole Salba seeds

1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup sorghum flour (or teff flour)
½ cup arrowroot starch
2 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon each ginger and allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
(or substitute all 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for all of the spices)
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 T molasses (or 2 more T agave nectar)
½ cup crushed pineapple, drained (from the same can as the juice)
½ cup packed finely grated carrots (approx 5 small carrots, but go by the 1/2 cup measure)
2/3-1 cup nuts: brazil nuts, macadamias, or walnuts work well. Or use a combination of nuts, raisins, and/or chopped crystallized ginger for people who enjoy a little kick.

Glaze:
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar (check corn free status) OR you can “powder” maple sugar or succant in a blender
1/2 -1 teaspoon pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350º. Put muffin cups into muffin tin or grease tins, or grease baby bundt pans.

Drain ½ cup of pineapple juice into a small bowl and add the Salba seeds to the juice. Set aside for 20 minutes. Reserve crushed pineapple.

Combine dry ingredients, leaveners and spices and mix thoroughly. Chop nuts and add to dry ingredients. Grate carrots finely. Combine agave, molasses, oil thoroughly, then add carrots, ½ cup of crushed pineapple and Salba gel.

Mix wet and dry until just incorporated. Pour into muffin tins or baby bundt pans until they are 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until browned on top. Cool on wire rack and turn out after 5 minutes.

Make glaze: Add juice to powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon at a time until it is a pourable consistency. Glaze while muffins are warm, but not just out of the oven. A little goes a long way.

Makes 12 standard size muffins and 3 baby bundt cakes or 18 standard size muffins.

I have to share a secret: few people enjoy food as much as nutritionists. Honest. In grad school, I had a friend Michelle who is a wonderful baker, and I got her recipe for Nanaimo bars. I’d make a huge batch, and they’d be in the freezer. Late at night, we’d be studying, and I’d hear the footsteps, then the freezer door open….footsteps away…then 30 seconds later, footsteps scurrying back to the freezer to get another. The overwhelming consensus was that the bars are totally addictive.

With all of my food limitations, I usually don’t try to replicate recipes from the past. I generally explore new territory, because I don’t want to make things that are *almost* like the real thing, I’d much rather make something different, but wonderful in its own right. But when I heard about Chef Jeena’s “It’s all about memories” food event, I couldn’t resist giving these a whirl. If you’re Canadian or have had Nanaimos before, they need no introduction, but if not, they’re super rich, loaded with sugar and amazing My challenge was to de-gluten, dairy, corn, soy and egg them, take out all the artificials but mostly to de-sugar them.

I did them two ways, half close to my memory of the old way, just gluten free, and the other half a batch made of “real food”. Ether way, the bars are quite decadent, but the “redux” is rich from macadamias and coconut, instead of powdered sugar and powdered pudding.

I found the new version bars to be blissful and I think I quite literally swooned. My tasters enjoyed both versions of the bars. If you’re sugar free, the agave sweetened chocolate is quite lovely. If not, you can use the standard chocolate topping or even the traditional filling from the official recipe.

The bars are best kept in the freezer and are good for months, if you hide them well. I don’t know how they keep at room temperature. Here, they’re usually devoured upon sight.

Base (for TWO 8X8 or 1 9X13)
2 cups whole almonds
2/3 cup whole or chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened works fine, and I used reduced fat because that’s what I had)
generous 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1-2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, to your preference
scant 1/4 teaspoon stevia powder (optional)
1/4 cup water with 2 teaspoons whole Salba or chia seeds

Filling (for 1 8X8: double for 2 or a 9X13)
2/3 cup raw macadamia nuts, cashews, or a mix
1/2 - 2/3 cup agave (to taste)
2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
2 Tablespoons sweet rice flour
1 cup of water
2 teaspoon vanilla extract (you could sub vanilla powder, I’m sure)

Chocolate topping(for 1 8X8: double for 2 or a 9X13)
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1.5 Tablespoons cocoa butter
1.5 Tablespoons coconut butter
1.5 Tablespoons Dari free, soy milk powder, coconut milk powder or *gasp!* powdered milk (optional)
1/4 cup agave nectar

Soak Salba seeds or chia in 1/4 cup of water (or, if not vegan or egg allergic, use an egg and add with wet ingredients). In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine meal. Remove. Grind walnuts to a coarse meal. Add coconut, cocoa, stevia (if desired), Salba gel and combine with melted coconut oil. Press down into a 9X13 or 2 8X8 pyrex dishes. Bake for 15 min or so at 350 until slightly browned. Allow to cool.

Make the filling:
Soak 1/2 cup of macadamias or cashews overnight. Drain. Put nuts in a blender with the water, and blend on high, scraping down sides periodically, until smooth. This may take a while! Add in the sweet rice flour.

Cook over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring, until mixture thickens. It should be a good deal thicker than cream, and it will thicken after cooling, too. Remove from heat, whisk in the vanilla and coconut oil and refrigerate until cool (30 min or so). Pour onto the base, and freeze until firm.

The chocolate topping:
Melt chocolate and cocoa butter in the microwave or over a double boiler. Add in the rest of the ingredients and whisk together well. If it’s grainy, you may need to cook a little longer until it dissolves.

Quickly pour onto the base, chill in the freezer.

Once they’re hardened, slice with a sharp knife. Remove from freezer 20-30 min before serving, if you can handle that. (I can’t)

Enjoy.

What can I say? As long as I can have treats like these, I’m happy to keep the originals as a luscious memory.

I love peaches so much that I actually got a peach tree for my birthday last year. This was her first year, so she only had 3 peaches, largely due to my own ignorance in how to care for peach trees. But either way, peaches are the ingredient of the week from the MPM swap, hosted by Natalie at Gluten Free Mommy.

I will have to stick with “plain” peaches, (as if there is such a thing!) since I already went food shopping and we’re heading out of town half way through the week for a conference in Boulder. It seems that Boulder is very GF friendly and I am crossing my fingers and hoping that the stars align and that I get yummy safe food.

Also, this is the Adopt a GF Blogger headquarters for July, AND I am the hostess of Go Ahead Honey, it’s GF–Uncooking edition.

Monday:
Grillin’
Moroccan Kebabs with sweet onions skewers for me and roasted corn (for DH)

Tuesday:
Vegan
Quinoa with a lemony thyme sauce,pine nuts and broccoli and a side of avocado

Wednesday:
Plain and simple:
Roasted turkey with celery in a chestnut sauce
Sauteed onions, garlic and green peppers–my newest obsession

Thursday:
Travel food
Something from my freezer
Canned tuna and carrots and whatever else I can find!

Friday:
Out to dinner

Garden roundup:

From my garden
Tomatoes
garlic
ground cherries
raspberries
blueberries
green peppers
parsley
basil, oregano, thyme, etc.

From the market:
Onions
cherries
peaches
broccoli
cabbage

Baked good of the week:
I made a “whole foods” version of Nanaimo bars, and those will keep me all week, for sure! I’ll post the recipe soon.
Dried cherries: I’m putting my dehydrator to work, which is very new for me.

I’m sneaking under the wire here to share one of my simple cooking favorites. Weekend Herb Blogging rules are changing so that we use exotic veggies and expand our horizons…and cauliflower doesn’t fit the bill!

Cauliflower has a bum rap, no way around it. Some people don’t like it raw or boiled, and so they assume that they don’t like it at all. But roasting gives a totally different dimension to the flavor, and there are so many great spices you can add. I thought I first read about roasted cauliflower with paprika in Joy of Cooking, but I looked back and it’s not there, so I have no idea where I first got the thought, but there are so many other flavors that work as well (or better, I think). I didn’t even offer it to my DH for a while, and then I got him to eat a piece. And gradually over months, he’s stealing all my cauliflower! I’ve had more success getting him to be a cauli-convert than I have with any other veggie.

So you can’t really go wrong as long as you roast. You can do high heat for a shorter time and stir more often, or lower heat, and get busy doing other things. I’ve tried it as low as 350, which takes a long time, and I’ve seen recipes as high as 450. However, the higher temperature you use, the bigger issue of development of acrylamide, a chemical which is cancer causing in high doses. I usually opt for lower and slower because I always have a ton to do and hey, I’m a nutritionist. What do you expect??

You can really get creative for spices, from cumin seeds, to panch phoron, to rosemary, to chili powder, to lemon and dill. Just use sea salt, the texture does matter here.

It’s hard to give an exact recipe, as caulis come in all sizes, and it depends on how much of the stems you use and all of that.

1 cauliflower, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1-3 Tablespoons of oil
1-2 teaspoons sea salt
1 bulb (not clove) of garlic
pepper, to taste

Cumin: add 1.5 teaspoons whole seeds
Panch phoron add 1.5 teaspoons whole seeds and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
Rosemary: add 3 Tablespoons or so fresh rosemary needles or 1 Tablespoon dried
Chili:Add 1 T chili powder
Lemon dill: squeeze juice of one lemon and add 3 Tablespoons fresh dill or 1 T dried. Omit garlic.

Preheat oven to 375-400*. Remove the biggest garlic bulbs from the garlic ‘paper’ but leave the small ones. Chop cauliflower and toss with salt and seasonings. Spread out on a cookie sheet LINED with parchment (you’ll be glad you did.)

Roast until nicely browned around the edges, stirring every 15-20 minutes.

Rediscover cauliflower…isn’t it good?!

*see discussion above

This is my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging, a fabulous way to celebrate the herbs and produce of teh season, and our hostess is Simona from Briciole.

Adopt a GF blogger is the brainchild of Seamaiden of Book of Yum. I love it because I’m someone who is often inspired by the recipes I see on other websites, but I tend to morph them into my usual style and flavorings. This gives me the opportunity to sample someone else’s tastes and styles, which is great. And I’m happy to be the hostess of the July edition of Adopt a GF Blogger! More info is here.

I’ve always been a fan of things seasonal and tasty, and so I was happy to discover the Gluten Free Hippie’s recipe collection. It’s a combination of vegan and mostly raw dishes, although there’s a gorgeous looking cardamom grilled mango that will hopefully be in my near future! I like her approach of real, whole foods, beautiful colors, and vibrant pictures.

For “Adopt A GF Blogger”, I decided to go for the Chocolate Rose Parfait. I do love rosewater, but have never paired it with chocolate before, and now I wonder why! I wanted to garnish it with rose petals, but alas, my bushes have been petal-less since a big storm a few weeks back and are just starting to bud again. However, the raspberries really paired beautifully with the rosewater and brought a real richness of taste, and are a great way of starting off with the ingredient of the week for menu plan Monday.

The pudding was simple yet very creamy, satisfying and indulgent. It does seem that rosewater is a matter of personal taste, though. DH doesn’t like rosewater, which doesn’t make sense to me. I like it so much that I keep giving him things with rosewater and am surprised when he’s not a fan. However, his comments about the rosewater didn’t keep him from devouring his parfait, so they should be taken with a big fat grain or two of salt.

Seamaiden of Book of Yum is on her way to Japan, so I’ll be the host for July’s edition for Adopt a GF Blogger. It’s pretty simple:

1. Choose a GF blogger or someone who features GF recipes on their site.  The only hard part is choosing just one!  And this is on a first come, first serve basis.  Email me your adoption requests to cheryl(at)eharrishome(dot)com, or you can leave a comment.  Please let me know your name, the address for your blog, and the address of your desired blogger, too.
2. Make one of the recipes and blog about it between July 28 - Aug 11.
3. Don’t have a blog?  If you’d like, I can always post a page up on my site.  We’re an inclusive GF family ’round these parts.
4. Send me a link to the post and a purty pic, and a few days after the 11th, I’ll post a round-up.

For more info and history, check out the main adoption headquarters.

Let the fun begin!

1. I’m choosing Ricki, of Diet, Dessert and Dogs, because…Ricki rocks, and I can’t wait to “have” to try her recipes!
2. Mary Francis of GF Cooking School just couldn’t wait to adopt Kate, of Gluten Free Gobsmacked.
3. Terri at Faking it GF Style is adopting Tiffany at Life After Gluten.

Kimberly of Living Free will be be adopting for the first time, and her pick is Sally of Aprovechar

This is my first time as the happy hostess of Menu Plan Monday, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to participate! Please email me at cheryl(at) eharrishome (dot) com with your entries.

And, by chance, if your menu involves dining out, I just put out a newsletter on Dining out GF.

The food of the week is raspberries. As you can see, I’m fortunate to have lovely raspberry plants, and this is one of their last weeks. However, the problem is my arrangement with the birds. See, I was quite naive and misguided and offered to share my berries, meaning they get half of the berries, I get half of the berries. However, they took my offer quite literally and have eaten half…of each berry. Neither DH nor I are crazy about eating berries that are partially pre-munched, so as of late, the berry patch has been largely for the birds. I’ve covered it with tulle and everything, but somehow they mange to wriggle their way in. Part of the problem is that there is a family of rabbits living in the maze of the canes, and they tend to move things around as they hop through. It’s not really a problem because the babies are too cute and I’m glad that they’ve been nesting at our house for the last 4 or 5 years. But I would like to get a larger share of the raspberries!

This will be a raspberry-heavy week for me! We had a raspberry tart, which is tasty, but not yet blog worthy. I plan to make almond cookies filled with chocolate and rasp jam from one of my favorite farmers, and will be using raspberries in the Chocolate Rosewater Parfait, too.

Monday:
Grillin’
Lemony-thyme chicken kabobs with grilled sweet onions and peppers
Sorrel soup with a walnut “cream”
Tues:
East Indian inspired:
Curry turkey cutlets with Cabbage Curry (Kobi Nu Shak) and plain papadams

Weds:
Easy!
Baked trout almondine with steamed broccoli

Thurs:
Vegan
Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Saturday:
Thai
Spring rolls with Thai dipping sauce, grilled chicken skewers, Spiced black rice pudding (I will post the recipe this time!)

Weekly Harvest
From my garden:
Raspberries
Blueberries
Parsley
Oregano, basil, thyme, etc.
Tomatoes!
Ground cherries

From the Farmer’s Market:
Raspberry Jam
Raspberries
Onions
Sorrel
Lettuce
Peppers

Baked good of the week: Almond cookie variations–probably with raspberry jam, white chocolate, dark chocolate and dried orange.

And check out the plans around the web!

Kimberly, at Living Free of Gluten is joining us with a fabulous looking Blueberry/Raspberry Cobbler.  She’s got a fabulous menu of vegetarian treats, including a breakfast for dinner, which is a great one to have in the rotation.

Karen, of GF Sox Fan has been concentrating on blackberries rather than raspberries, and tempts us with the mention of Creme brulee, my DH’s fave!  Maybe she’ll share her recipe if we gently hint?  And she’s got a bunch of fun dishes on the menu, from an Asian slaw to Grilled Salmon Pizza.

Terri, of Faking it Gluten Free Style has a big week ahead of her.  She’s quitting smoking, starting South Beach, and has a lot of grilling in her forcast!  I’m delighted to hear her hubby will be back soon.

Great news from Manda!  She’s working on a GF cookbook, which should be awesome, given her passion for cultural cuisine.  Cooking has been a bit more difficult for her lately since she’s spending time with her grandma in the hospital, but she’s still managing to whip a great menu and is even trying swordfish.

Ester enjoys raspberries, too.  She’s got new raspberry canes, but I’m sure they’ll be huge in a few years!  There’s a chicken with walnuts and apricot dish on the menu that sounds delish.

Natalie, the Gluten Free Mommy and originator of this event ishas a great menu planned.  She and her gang had trip and area a little frazzled, but  with raspberry chicken and raspberry carrots to fit in with the ingredient of the week.  And the picture of her little guy is just too cute!

Mary Francis of Gluten Free Cooking School was ahead of schedule with her post (then I forgot…)  She’s got an Asian inspired menu in the works, and even has recipes and veg options for most days.

Angela of Angela’s Kitchen is a gardener, too, and has an abundance of zucchini.  She’s got a great looking menu and had me at home made gelato.  Yum!

M-Elle at Cooking and Uncooking has a gorgeous rasp shot, and a fun menu of largely raw dishes, like nori wraps and an avo-apple pudding.  I’m intrigued!

Head over and give Sally a little lovin’. She’s recovering from a surgery and still has an ambitious, healthy, locally grown menu planned, and as always, has a great outlook and attitude.

Oh, and hop on over…I’m hosting Adopt a GF blogger and Go ahead, honey. I was such a slacker about hosting that I volunteered for a few, and then it all ended up being in the same month or two…oops!  Chef Jenna is also hosting a great looking event “It’s all about memories“.  I think most of us GF folks have had to remake something from our childhood or culture. so it should be fun!

By the time I got to stop by Kate’s Virtual BBQ Party, most of the letters, (aside from q and z, I think) were taken. So I figured I that N would work, although in the past, I’ve called this my lazy day skillet bread.

I thoroughly love this recipe. It’s not a traditional banana bread, and it’s not a cake, per se, I suppose it’s best compared to a cornbread. I tend to make things that pop up in my head, and then try to figure out how to explain it. Generally, if someone asks what something is, I tell them to taste it and figure it out that way! I’ve had it for brunch, as a snack, as a dessert with chocolate chips, and it could be used (sans nuts) with chili instead or as a side for, say, a BBQ!

Once upon a time, I wanted a snack cake…but I didn’t have time and I was really tired. So I figured that perhaps I could dump everything in the Vitamix and all would be well. Fortunately, that’s what happened, and this has become one of my quick/easy recipes. It’s easy, delicious, and just comfort food for me. Most times when I make something, I try to figure out what to change next time and how to spice it up. But I actually like this one exactly as is.

I wanted something with a banana flavor, but lower sugar and no eggs or soy, and something I could just pick up and eat, too. That’s a tall order! Through trial and error I came up with a cake I liked, but wanted a brown crisp crust, and so this became a skillet cake. You can make it in a regular 9 inch cake pan, though. This recipe is also totally versitile, and I’ve halved it and put it in a 7 inch dish, which works, too.

You can do all teff, all sorghum, or a combo. If you can get your hands on mesquite, do! Not only is it super high in fiber, but it has caramel-ly taste.

Ingredients
1 cup teff
1 cup sorghum flour
1 T mesquite flour
1Tablespoons +1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup hazelnuts, brazil nuts, pecans or walnuts (optional)
pinch of salt

Wet:
2 über ripe bananas
1 level tablespoon +1 teaspoon ground flax seeds
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1/3 cup sparkling (bubbly) water, ‘milk’, or juice

Grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet with coconut oil. Preheat oven to 350.
Thoroughly mix dry ingredients together. Dump wet ingredients (not water) in a blender. Let it roll until well blended. In my vitamix, that takes less than a minute. I would assume an ordinary blender would take a few minutes. Add wet to dry, mix until well everything is well combined, but don’t overmix (i.e. no more dry stuff, but no need for a workout)

Bake for 30 minutes or until top turns a beautiful golden brown. Cool on a drying rack 5 minute, then turn out.

Yum.

I thoroughly planned to sit this one out, I’ve been posting so much lately.  And then I saw watercress at the market.  What I’m going to do with it is still a mystery, but I’m sure I’ll get thoughts from M-Elle’s roundup!  All I know about watercress is that Lewis the trumpeter swan from EB White’s book used to order watercress sandwiches.  Which doesn’t do much for me at this point.

Anyhow, on to the food. I’m sticking to the basics and recycling a lot of quick and easy dishes.

Monday:
East Indian-ish
Garam Masala rubbed turkey breast with panch phoron roasted broccoli

Tuesday:
Leftovers with steamed asparagus in a lemony sauce. Or perhaps watercress when I figure out what the heck to do with it…I haven’t done my research yet!

Weds:
Quick and easy
Baked tilapia with tomatoes and herbs, topped with avocado

Thurs:
CELEBRATION!!!! my 30 days of grain free living is up. Yahoo!
Quinoa with garlic scrape pesto and roasted asparagus
yes, I know I’m a wild child with these crazy celebrations!

Friday:
Grillin’
Probably grilled salmon with rosemary, grilled peppers and spring onions sprinkled with thyme and herbs, and corn for DH

Harvest from my garden:
a bunch of baby tomatoes
ground cherries (more on these later!)
Raspberries
blueberries
basil, marjoram, thyme
Garlic scrapes and garlic, too!
spring onions
parsley

From the Farmer’s Market
Serrano peppers
cherries

Baked good of the week:
Still working on the last of the Brazil nut brownie, largely because I won’t let DH have any more. Mine! All mine!!! (Cheryl growls menacingly)
I will be making the Gluten Free Hippie’s Chocolate Rose Parfait for Adopt a GF blogger sometime this week, too!

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen??  Nah.  Stay in the kitchen, honey, just turn off that stove an oven and we’ll have some yummy, summery, home un-cooking.

Un-cooking can be anything, from pineapple salsa or black bean salad to a your favorite smoothie…maybe a super yum pesto sauce, a fresh melon soup or maybe you’re a raw food kinda person and have favorites to share!  Hungry yet?  I am! I’m thinking of making banana ice cream, but will likely change my mind a few times (as usual).

I’m  the happy host for July’s edition of Go Ahead Honey, it’s GF as started by the Naomi of the drool worthy Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried.  You can send your entries to Cheryl (at) eharrishome (dot) com by July 27thJuly 31st. Let the fun begin!