Gluten Free Goodness

Just a tidbit of news, since it’s making my day: Karina, the GF Goddess is posting low glycemic (low carb) recipes. As a nutritionist who is very into low glycemic foods, and someone who loves to eat, I’m delighted.  Wait, you’re not gluten free?  No worries, good food has no boundaries!  So check out her luscious blog, you’ll be glad you did.

Now on to other tasty topics: ground cherries.  I was reading a seed catalog, which isn’t as boring as it sounds. Hey, I was on a plane and didn’t have much else to do! The description was intriguing: they “have a flavor reminiscent of pineapple”.  How could I resist?  I’d never heard of them before, but hey, that’s never stopped me in the past!

Lo and behold, they’re totally delicious, and probably the happiest member of my garden.  They’re a relative of tomato, but are much sweeter, like a typical fruit.  Like tomatillos, they have a papery peel, which you remove to get the fruit.   Unlike tomatoes,  they grow close to the ground, and they are super low maintenece (i.e. all I do is pick ‘em and they’re happy)

As far as preparation, usually I don’t really do much with them aside from peeling and popping them into my mouth.  I’ve used them in salsa, and in salads as a colorful addition.  I found recipes to make a jam with them, but adding sugar to them seems totally unnecessary.  Besides, I end up eating them so quickly I’d have a hard time getting enough!

I wanted to make sure I was following the WHB rules and give a recipe, so I tried dehydrating a few with a tray of apricots I was drying.  They’re interesting and not as sweet as I expected.  They’re a bit like raisins, but don’t have as full of a flavor.  However, if by some quirk of fate, you’re allergic to grapes (like me), they might make a decent substitute.

As a totally unexpected bonus, they also make an excellent cat toy.  I co-habitate with a large, lazy feline, and he went nuts for one that I dropped on the floor.  Apparently, it makes a great puck.  But the next morning I discovered they’d somehow maneuvered a bunch out of the bowl they were in so the guys would have more toys.  Gotta love it.

This is my entry into Weekend Herb Blogging, as originated by Kalyn’s Kitchen.  This week’s happy hostess is Marija from Palachinka, a fellow Daring Baker who has some seriously drool-worthy pictures on her site.

Mint was the food of the week for Menu Plan Monday, and so I figured it was a good excuse to make this.  This dish is in our standard rotation, sometimes done with chicken pieces and sometimes with chicken breast, and it’s always delicious and easy.  I use chocolate mint from my garden, which doesn’t even taste remotely like chocolate.  False advertising!  The stevia leaves give a subtle sweetness, but don’t worry, they’re not super sweet like powdered stevia.

Mint tends to be a potent tummy soother, and is a good source of fiber. It’s even got a neat story from Greek mythology about its origins. And, of course, if you grow it, you know that it’s very plentiful and a perennial, so I’m always looking for ways to keep up with my plant.

I enjoy this dish because it’s low carb, quick, easy, and using mint is a nice way to add a little variety. The chicken is yummy on a bed of lettuce with cucumbers and tomatoes, and I also like it with apple. We grilled a few ears of corn to go with it as well. And, of course, what I like most is that DH grills it and I can be lazy. For winter months, we just bake it in the oven.

1.5 cups of mint leaves, loosely packed
6 large stevia leaves
several good squeezes of lemon, or a pinch of unbuffered vitamin C powder
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram leaves
1/4 cup oil
2-3 tablespoons water

Either put everything in the blender or chop the mint leaves and combine. Marinate chicken for 2-3 hours (I tend to do all day for chicken pieces). Drain marinade, grill and enjoy!

This is my weekly “Weekend Herb Blogging” submission, founded by Kalyn’s Kitchen. Our host this week is Divya of Dil Se, a yummy blog chock full of East Indian dishes. I’ve bookmarked it and plan to try some!

I made sorrel soup for the first time last year, and told my husband. He started laughing, and said, squirrel soup? Um…not even close!.

Sorrel has a nice tart taste to it, and is supposed to be lovely with fish. Next time! It can be hard to come by, and I was happy to find it at the market.

I know I saw a recipe last year, but don’t remember where, so I decided to just wing it. I left some of the lettuce and veggies un-pureed because I like the texture and hint of crunch, but that’s a a matter of personal preference.

Last time, I thickened with a potato, but those are off limits, so I used a little coconut flour. I’m sure more walnuts or another root veggie like parsnips would work, too.

2 Tablespoons oil
1 cup diced onions
2 big romaine hearts, chopped (divided)
3 cups veg or chicken broth
4 cups or so sorrel
2 Tablespoons coconut flour, or potato flour (NOT starch)
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked overnight if you think of it!
sea salt
fresh mint
white pepper

Saute the onions for 5-6 min until soft with a pinch of salt. Add in 1 1/2 of the romaine hearts and saute a few minutes more. Add broth, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add sorrel and simmer 5 minutes more. Reserve 1 cup or so of cooked veggies and puree the rest with the (drained) walnuts. Add back reserved veggies and add in the last 1/2 chopped romaine heart. Add salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle with fresh chopped mint.

Enjoy!

This is my weekly offering for Weekend Herb Blogging, the brainchild of Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. This week’s kind host is Sounding my Barbaric Gulp

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008. Please do not replicate without crediting/permission.

Or, more accurately, 2 yummy chocolate hazelnut cakes

Each time I see the new Daring baker challenges, I think, can I REALLY make this gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, sugar free and vegan AND have an amazing taste, too? *gulp*
But that’s the fun of being a Daring Baker. It even went more smoothly than I anticipated. This month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Chris of Mele Cotte. The recipe is for the Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream from Great Cakes by Carol Walte.

This was a blast. I was pretty excited about doing this, because I haven’t really piped icing in years, and the spirit of the recipe seemed very adaptable to me. I’m not a huge decorator, and I appreciate needing to do thing differently than I normally would. Although it took a long time, I really both the process and, of course, the cake!

I did two versions, both gluten free, egg free, dairy free, and vegan.  However, one cake had sugar, soy and alcohol, because I don’t have any burning desire to enforce my restrictions on other people. The two variations were:

• Hazelnut cake, hazelnut cream with fresh apricots and a dark chocolate frosting (second picture)

and

• Hazelnut cake, raspberry glaze, praline buttercream and chocolate ganache with praline buttercream on top (top picture)

I used an adapted version of my hazelnut cake from the May DB challenge. The cake had a mild flavor, which was a perfect complement to all of the other flavors in the final production. Rather than making a thicker cake and cutting them in half, I just made very short cakes.  The filling was a  variant of the PB buttercream recipe from Vegan Cupcakes take over the world for the buttercream. Per a suggestion from VeganNoodle, I used 1/2 the powdered sugar and used Darifree instead, which worked perfectly.
I brought the cakes to a dinner party, which was quite lovely, and they were promptly gobbled.  Most of the people there were glutenovores, and people used to a “normal” diet, so I was delighted to get such positive feedback! Sometimes I get a little nervous, especially when I don’t know how things will turn out, but it was delightful. Not only that, but the cakes were enjoyed equally and the sugar free one disappeared the fastest. Yahoo!

I’ve included the recipes for the original parts of the cakes, but not the ones I used from other sources. I have not shared my recipe for the hazelnut praline, because trust me, you don’t want it. It took a heck of a lot of fussing and redoing and undoing to get a workable paste, but my initial efforts bombed in a big way.   Enough said!

I did do a raspberry glaze in lieu of the apricot, as I realized that our jam was gluten contaminated. Phooey. It couldn’t have been simpler, just a bit of boiling water and jam, strained.

Hazelnut cake For 4 thin layers (makes 2 6-inch cakes)
1 cup finely ground hazelnut meal (from lightly roasted and peeled nuts)
1 ¾ cup sorghum flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup apricot nectar
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup agave nectar + 1 teaspoon honey or all agave for vegan version
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 oil
¼ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon hazelnut (or vanilla) extract

Hazelnut filling (for two 6-inch cakes):
1/2 cup agave nectar
2/3 coconut milk
2 Tablespoons sweet rice
2 small apricots
3 Tablespoons hazelnut butter

Chocolate frosting (for 1 6 inch cake, you can double for both cakes):
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon hazelnut butter (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other extract (optional)

or, Chocolate Ganache (for 1 6 inch cake, can double for both cakes)
4 oz chocolate, melted
1/3 cup coconut milk (may need 1-2 teaspoons more)
1 teaspoon frangelico, hazelnut extract, etc.

Preheat oven to 350.
Line the bottoms of round 6 inch cake pans with parchment or wax paper (or for a non-opera cake, use an 8X8 square pan) Grease sides of the pans.

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Mix until just combined and put in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. You may need to cover the cakes if they brown too much on top.

Cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes and turn out onto a plate.

Hazelnut filling:
Blend coconut milk and apricots. Heat in a small saucepan and whisk in agave, sweet rice and nut butter. Stir over medium high heat, whisking, until thickened. Add in extract if desired. Chill before using.

Chocolate frosting:
Whip together coconut oil and agave, add in cocoa powder. Thin with coconut milk until desired consistency.

Chocolate ganache:
Melt chocolate. I tend to do it in the microwave in a glass bowl, stirring at 30 second intervals. Add in the coconut milk until the desired consistency, then pour over cake.

Assembly:
Bake cakes, let them cool. Glaze with raspberry glaze if desired. Use chilled hazelnut cream (with or without fresh apricots) for the next layer, or you can do the praline buttercream instead. Chill briefly in the fridge. Top with either the chocolate frosting or ganache while they are still warm. Pipe remaining praline buttercream on top. or just decorate with chopped or glazed hazelnuts.

Enjoy! I love these Daring Baker challenges.

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008

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 (or an egg)

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.

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008. Please do not replicate without crediting/permission.

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.

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 versatile, 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, including water,  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.

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008

I’ve got a few names for these brownies: Mayan brownies, Brazil nut brownies, and (dare I say it?) Black bean brownies.  Are you still there?  Please don’t run away!  I know the idea sounds wrong, but I can say, for sure, black bean brownies are really quite yummy.

I heard about black bean brownies years ago, in my pre-gf life, and never got around to trying them.  Then when Heidi posted them on 101 cookbooks and I kept seeing them in different places, like Diet Dessert and Dogs and Have Cake Will Travel.  I was intrigued, but there were so many eggs, and/or more sugar (or succant) than my body can handle.  So I adapted the general spirit, threw caution to the wind and hoped for the best.  It took a few tries.  I dabbled with a carob version, had one with coconut flour, etc. and finally, success!  Fudgy, yummy, moist and light brownies, which were promptly gobbled by a group of folks used to a “normal” diet.   And dare I say they’re even healthy?  They’re not low calorie (well, maybe compared to normal brownies!), but the ingredients are nutrient rich, with good-for-you fats, not empty calories.   I don’t even feel guilty that I had one for breakfast.  In the interests of full disclosure, black bean brownies are tasty and very moist, but not over the top decadent.  So they’re great for an every day treat, but not so much when you’re craving a total chocolate/sugar bomb.

The magic ingredient (besides the beans, of course!) is the Brazil nut butter.  I’ve had a long term, enduring love affair with nut butter.  Peanuts and I parted ways years ago, and I truly missed sticky creamy goodness of peanut butter until I ventured out into the wild world of nut butter   It’s great that you can get almond butter easily, but if you’ve never had hazelnut, pecan or brazil nut butter, baby…get your food processor and let’s get cracking! I’ve been known to creep into the kitchen in the wee hours and eat it by the spoon.

Oh, and the Mayan part of the name?  That’s a tribute to the beans, cinnamon, cayenne, Salba and the mesquite, all common South of the border ingredients.  The cayenne adds a nice zing, and I’ve used anywhere from a pinch to 1/4 teaspoon.  Each level of heat is yummy, and is a matter of personal preference.  If you’ve never mixed chocolate and cayenne, do give it a go.

As an added bonus, your food processor does pretty much all the work, you only need one bowl, and they’re vegan, gluten free, egg free, dairy free, corn free, soy free, sugar free, grain free and delicious.

Mayan brownies

1 can black beans, well washed (1 ¾ cup)
1 ½ cup of toasted brazil nuts, divided (or 2/3 cup chopped nuts and 6T nut butter de jour)
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 teaspoons whole salba or chia seeds
½ cup agave (or 1/4 cup agave, 1/4 cup honey)
generous 2/3 cup fresh or frozen cherries
2 Tablespoons carob powder
¼ cup plus 2 T cocoa powder
1 t mesquite (optional)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
pinch of cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons almond extract
3 or 4 drops oil of orange (optional)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

Line an 8X8 pan with parchment and set aside.  Preheat oven to 325.

Toast about 1.5 cups of brazil nuts for 10-15 min at 350.  Pulse in the processor to grind very coarsely, and reserve 3/4 cup of chopped brazils (somehow, by the point where I add them to the recipe, there’s only 2/3 a cup left).  Grind the rest until they become nut butter, which takes a minute or two.  Scoop out and reserve.  Put chopped unsweetened chocolate in the processor, and grind until you’ve got fine pieces.  Add the rinsed beans, Salba, sweetener and cherries and let it run 3-4 minutes.  Add back the nut butter and everything except the reserved brazil nuts and chips (optional) and process until smooth.

Mix in brazil nut chunks into the batter.  (If you’re feeling really lazy, you can mix within the processor bowl, but it’s a tight squeeze.  Put the batter into a prepared pan and smooth out.  Bake 30 min at 325, then cover loosely with foil and continue to bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.

This lovely brazil nut butter treat is a part of the Peanut Butter Boy’s PB exhibition. It’s not quite peanut butter, it’s not quite a cake, but it’s along those lines and hey, it’s all in good fun. If I could try it with PB, I would, and I bet it would be awesome!

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008. Please do not replicate without crediting/permission.

One of my husband’s kung fu students is shipping off to Afghanistan, so we had a small cookout to send him off with warm wishes for safe and entirely uneventful tour. He and his wife are fabulous people, and it was just a small reminder of all of the men and women who are serving every day while we go about our merry ways, totally insulated from the sacrifices they make.

I was a bit stumped at first, since cookouts usually mean hamburgers and hotdogs, and I just didn’t want glutenous crumbs all over the place. DH was a little uncertain about doing things GF, but I promised things would be yummy, so he went along with it. So…we had a gluten free cookout, and people didn’t really notice or miss the wheat in any way!

Generally, if I’m making food I’m going to eat, I have to adapt or create my own recipes, since I can’t do gluten, dairy, soy, corn, sugar, eggs, yadda yadda. So since many of the things I was making were for other people this was a great opportunity for me to make recipes from other GF bloggers!

We had:

• Freshly squeezed mint lemonade



• Guacamole
• 3 bean salad
• Speidie chicken and spice rubbed chicken
• Herb-alicious veggies skewers
• Sweet Potato Cornbread
• Chocolate chip pecan pie (with a nice flaky pie crust)
• Mayan brownies (recipe posted soon)
• Blueberry squares (see below!!)

What can I say, I’m full, and so were all of my guests. Yum.

The first 4 were done freestyle, so I can’t offer much in terms of a recipe. The cornbread was amazing. Despite being hideously seasonally inappropriate, I couldn’t resist making the GF Goddess’ sweet potato cornbread. As usual, she didn’t disappoint! The pie crust was from the Gluten free girl, and my husband asked if there was gluten in it. Um, hello? Have I made anything with gluten for the last 4 years? The brownies are delish AND healthy, a wonderful combo, and I will be posting the recipe soon for the PB exhibition.  They’re chock full of brazil nut butter, which is just luscious.

And here are the blueberry squares, a gluten, dairy, corn, soy, egg, sugar and grain free creation of my very own. I was just so inspired by the beauty of the berries at the Farmer’s Market that I just couldn’t resist. They’re light, moist and a quick, easy, vegan-licous seasonal treat.

Blueberry Squares

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 cup oil
3 Tablespoons apple sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1 teaspoon water with vitamin c powder for citrus allergic
1/2 cup agave (or 1/4 agave, 1/4 honey)
1 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8X8 with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and mix wet ingredients together thoroughly in a separate bowl.  Add wet to dry and mix until combined, then add in the berries. Spoon out into prepared pan and smooth down. Bake for 18-20 min or until browning on top (I don’t remember exactly, sorry)

I will also be posting for the Virtual GF BBQ soon and bringing my ‘nana Skillet bread, which is one of my personal all time faves. I just couldn’t make it today because I’m grain free for the month of June (long story, it’s an exercise for a nutrition conference I’m attending. I’m on day 28 of 30 and I can’t wait!!!)

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008. Please do not replicate without crediting/permission.

My hardneck garlics had scapes a few weeks ago, and now the soft necks are doing their thing. So it’s the perfect time for garden pesto. The scapes and tops are much milder but still have the garlicky zing that I love.

I’ve used both hazelnuts and brazil nuts depending on my mood, and I must say they’re both yummy. I leave the nuts a little chunky, but you can blend, depending on taste. I like it thick. Not A thick sauce does it give flavor, but it keeps the fish from drying out. You use the pesto on pasta, on quinoa, on veggies, or pesto any thick fish. We used halibut, and the leftover sauce went on broccoli, carrots, and (in the interests of honesty) straight into my mouth.

And, of course, you can eliminate the water and do more oil for a more traditional pesto.  But with water it has a fresher taste about it, you’re not missing out at all on the flavor, and of course, it’s a bit kinder to your waistline, too.

1 cup garlic scapes or tops, pushed down
1 3/4 cups fresh parsley, packed down
2/3 cup brazil nuts or hazelnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
squeeze of lemon (optional)
handful of chopped Kalamatas (optional)
sea salt and pepper

Using a food processor, grind nuts very coarsely. Toast at 300 until starting to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Blend parsley, garlic scapes and olive oil, scraping down the sides as needed. Add water (or broth) and other seasonings if desired. Add in nuts and pulse until it is the desired consistency.

Marvelous on veggies, fish, or anything that needs a little jazzing..

This is my submission for weekend herb blogging, which is hosted by none other than the lovely Kalyn herself from Kayln’s Kitchen!  She is also the originator of WHB, and I’m quite grateful, because it encourages me to post about by garden babies.