Faux Eggs

I just got allergy tested recently and discovered that I'm very allergic to corn and eggs, in addition to wheat, dairy, and soy.  But corn and eggs were the highest on the scale there, so I need to eliminate those.  I came across this egg substitute in one of my vegan cookbooks, and I thought I would share it.  It's great for baking.  Today I made blueberry muffins using these "eggs" and they came out wonderful. Here it goes:



Faux Eggs

1/3 cup flax seeds
1 cup water

Blend the flax seeds in a blender or food processor to an even meal.  While the machine is still running, slowly add the water.  Blend another 30 seconds or so till the mixture resembles a thick milkshake.  You can store this in the fridge for 3 to 6 days.  I think 1/4 cup equals one egg.  This recipe supposedly makes the equivalent of 6 eggs. 

I think I'll try this in my pancakes tomorrow too!

Vegan, Gluten Free Lentil Stew

It's Meatless Monday!

My friend started doing Meatless Mondays on her blog, and I thought I'd start doing it too, since we eat meatless about 3 to 4 times a week.  So tonight I made lentil stew.  Lentils are a staple in our house, and this comforting bowl of stew is so inviting.  Not only my kids love it, but friends & relatives love it too.  It's thick, hearty, full of flavor, and full of "Love", as my daughter would say it.   Try it just to say you had a bowl of "Love". Seriously, that kid cracks me up. 

Lentil Stew

1 lb. French lentils (or Brown  lentils, but the cooking time will be shorter)
1 onion, diced
2 carrots sliced
2-3 ribs of celery sliced
8-10 oz. of mushrooms sliced
3 cups chopped kale, packed as good as you can
2 med. potatoes large diced
2 bouillon cubes, vegan and GF like Rapunzel brand
1 T. sea salt (use to your liking)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 Tsp. dried herbs of your choice (I used Italian Seasonings years ago till I discovered Herbs de Provence. Tonight I'm using a blend from Germany that my brother brought me.  It has dill and curry in it. Strange combination, but wonderful on veggies!) 

Sautee the the onions, carrots, & celery in olive oil in a 5 qt. soup pot for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile sort and wash your lentils to remove any pebbles or dirt clods from the beans.  Add the lentils, mushrooms, kale and potatoes.  Then add 3 quarts of water (12 cups).

This is when I add the salt and pepper and herbs to the stew.  Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for around 2 hours depending on your lentils, the elevation, and whatever other factors that could affect cooking.  When the lentils melt in your mouth, it's done! Serve with your favorite GF crackers or add a dollop of short grain brown rice to the bottom of your bowl and ladle the soup on top.  That's what we did!    

Gluten Free, Casein Free Cereal Bars!

Two new bar recipes that the kids and adults love! Try them out.


I got this one from Ellie Krieger on Food Network, but I modified it for our needs.

Crispy Rice Treats

1/2 cup honey or sometimes I use agave or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup natural nut butter of choice. I use cashew butter
6 cups crispy brown rice cereal, GF of course
2/3 cup chopped dried cherries (3 ounces)
Cooking spray, or grease your 13x9 with oil, butter, or something else

Melt the nut butter and honey in a pan over med. heat. When it's smooth and well combined, add the cereal and cherries. Stir to combine and press into your greased pan. This recipe is a little crumbly, but it's healthy. If you want to junk it up, add some marshmallows to your nut butter mixture and melt those in for an extra gooey treat! Just make sure your marshmallows are gluten free.

Nut Butter Chocolate Bars

6 cups GF cheerios-like cereal. (Glutino Honey Nut O's or Nature's Path Whole O's in the health section of the store)

1 1/2 cups GF marshmallows (cram them into the measuring cup any way you can, or just eye-ball it like I do.)

1 cup nut butter (I use almond or cashew butter)

3/4 cup brown rice syrup (you could try agave or something else. Original recipe said corn syrup, but I have a problem with that)

3 T. butter (I clarify mine, or use Ghee) or non-dairy alternative

1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips. These are allergen friendly.

1 tsp. Spectrum organic shortening (for the chocolate)

Grease your 13x9 pan with an appropriate fat like butter or Spectrum shortening, or cooking spray. Measure cereal in a large bowl and set aside. Melt your nut butter, butter or shortening, brown rice syrup, and marshmallows in a pan on low heat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Pour over cereal stirring until evenly coated. Press into 13x9 pan using a spatula. In another pan or double boiler, melt the chocolate with the 1 tsp. shortening stirring constantly as to not make fudge. This happens really easily with this chocolate. As soon as it's almost melted, turn off heat, and continue to stir until smooth. Immediately drizzle (or glop) on the chocolate over the bars, trying to spread it out over all the cereal mixture. Cool before cutting into squares. Enjoy!

These bars are Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, and peanut free

Gluten Free, Casein Free Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Now that it's colder here in upstate NY, soups are perfect comfort food. I just made this one last night, and it was a hit. Even the baby ate it, despite the spiciness of the soup! I don't have pictures of the process this time, but go ahead and try it. It's a good way to use up that huge butternut squash collecting dust in the pantry. Enjoy!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

4 cups cooked butternut squash, packed; usually one large squash (I split it in half, seed it, and bake it cut side down in the oven for an hour at 400 degrees. Can be done a day before.)

5 cups water

1 large onion diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped and/or 1-2 shallots chopped

1 T. fresh grated ginger

1 heaping tsp. curry powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. salt (adjust to your liking)

dashes of white pepper (optional)

2 T. Agave nectar or honey

1 can of coconut milk (mine was 13 1/2 ounces)

Heat some olive oil, or other suitable vegetable oil in a 5 qt. pot and add the onion and garlic, and/or shallots. Sautee for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ginger and spices and sautee for one minute more. Add your cooked squash and water. Simmer for 20 minutes or until all the veggies are soft. I use a hand blender right in the pot and puree the ingredients till smooth. You can put this mixture in the blender in batches and puree till smooth. Use caution not to fill the blender more than half full or it could cause the top to blow off and cause you burns! Add puree back to the pot and add the coconut milk and agave syrup, or honey and gently heat through taking care not to boil. Serve with a big, baby greens salad and a GF baguette! (I use a bread mix that's both pizza dough and french bread. I think the brand is Gluten Free Pantry.) Let me know what you think!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free, egg free, and nut free (if you don't consider coconut a nut)

Summer 2010

So as you can see, I haven't posted anything in over a year. I've been a little busy with baby #4, Loic. I do plan to get back into this, and post more recipes that are vegan, and even raw, as I'm experimenting with that now. The kids aren't too keen on raw yet, but they are ok with some things. The goal is to make everything fun. Like smoothies for breakfast, sliced apples & cashew butter as a dip for snacks, and huge salads for dinner. Lately I hate cooking, not only because I don't have time, but who wants to heat up the kitchen in summer? Our vegetable garden is flourishing right now. So we've been eating salads consisting of 3 different spring green type lettuces, julienned zucchini and yellow squash, sliced radishes, fresh raw peas, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, and whatever we find in the pantry like pumpkin seeds, gomashio, sunflower seeds, etc. We still eat fish and poultry every once in a while, but I only buy local. I found out that most ground turkey and whole turkeys are not only injected with chemical broth solutions, but they have added extracts as well. And forget turkey sausage, my son has reactions to that too. The Gansevoort farmer's market has been wonderful for us. I buy my local poultry at one stand, and goat milk and cheese at another, and gluten free baked goods at another. But as I mentioned earlier, I want to learn all I can about raw food right now. I know I feel best when I eat that way. My digestive issues have been getting worse, so I can't pretend they don't exist anymore. I've been stricter to this dairy free, gluten free, soy free diet. I hope to get off sugar and eggs as well. So I'll be experimenting in the kitchen and posting more recipes soon!

Note: One thing I discovered recently was So Delicious coconut milk ice cream and coffee creamer! They are excellent substitutes for the dairy based and soy based ones. I even like the coconut milk on cereal. Yay! for So Delicious! Until next time...

Gluten Free Shake and Bake

NOTE:  We lean towards veganism lately, and don't eat chicken anymore.  But I'm not deleting this post because too many have asked about this and want the recipe.  And I respect them and don't judge them for it.  Hopefully vegetarians will respect that too, as some of them used to eat meat at some point in their life.  Thank you!

I think I've only had Shake & Bake twice in my lifetime, and it was when I was under 10 years old. And it was at grandma's house. Because it was grandma's it was an extra special treat. I have fond memories of shake and bake chicken. It's complete comfort food that's kid friendly. I had a craving for this a few months ago and did a search for it on the Internet. I couldn't find anything on a gluten free shake and bake type recipe. So I made this one up, and I think it's a complete success. Not only does my gluten intolerant son have multiple food allergies, but he's the pickiest kid on the planet. So he'll be the real test! Now earlier I mentioned that we don't do well with chicken, so we greatly reduce our consumption of it.  I've found that if we only eat chicken a few times a year, we're ok. It's when we regularly consume it that we've noticed problems. And if my daughter gets rashy again, we'll cut it out for a while. So if you have the same problem, substitute another meat, or tofu! The cooking time might be different though. I used dark meat chicken for this and took the skin off. I've never been a fan of chicken skin, so I always do without it. The meat is still moist and not dried out. Next time I will try it with chicken breast, but maybe I'll leave the skin on so it doesn't dry out. I'll have to experiment on that one. So if you feel like you're a little deprived of the comfort food you had when you were a kid, or if you have a picky, celiac child that needs a decent meal, this will definitely work for you!

Ingredients:

1 cup GF bread crumbs

1/2 cup potato flour

2 tsp. salt

lots of fresh ground pepper

1 1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence

2 pkgs. of chicken pieces, I used dark meat

2 eggs beaten, or egg substitute like Ener-G egg replacer, or Faux Eggs (refer to that post)

suitable veg. oil like Safflower or EVOO (I hate it when Rachael Ray says that, now I'm doing it!)

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl or shallow dish for dredging. Pie plates are good for this. If you prefer to use the plastic bag for shaking, you can, I just don't like putting another plastic bag in the landfill. Then beat your eggs in another dish and set aside. Then skin your chicken.

Oh, at some point prepare your baking dishes. I coat them with enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the dish. Set it aside. Then take your skinned chicken and coat in beaten eggs.

Then dredge in crumb mixture and really smash those crumbs into the meat for a good coating.

Then roll it in your baking dish to get a coating of the oil all over the chicken.

Then bake at 400 degrees for around 40 minutes or until chicken reads around 180 degrees with a thermometer.

When it comes to GF comfort food, this is awesome! And it's been kid tested!

Amazing Gluten Free Lemon Pound Cake with Citrus Glaze

Here in NY we are experiencing Spring, finally. The daffodils are out, as well as snowdrops, crocuses, and other bulb flowers that come up right after the snow. Next will be tulips and I can't wait for the Tulip Festival. One thing farmers experience here in the country with their chickens is spring flush. As soon as the days get longer and there is more sunshine, chickens go into an egg-laying frenzy! They lay more than the average number of eggs. So we have acquired a couple dozen eggs from freinds who simple have too much as well as a basket full of goose eggs. Geese only lay in the spring. One goose egg is the equivelent to 3 chicken eggs. And don't get creeped out, they actually taste better than chicken eggs! They are milder in flavor and make excellent cakes. Edie, my 2 1/2 year old, decided she was hungry yesterday morning, so she got out the bowl of goose eggs and dropped them on the floor! A bowl of goose eggs is actually pretty heavy. So I had four cracked goose eggs that I could save, the rest were spread all over the floor. So after cleaning all that up off the floor, I thought what am I going to do with 4 goose eggs! That's 12 chicken eggs! Then it came to me, "Pound Cake!"

This pound cake recipe I made up yesterday is the best I've ever made, so far. There are a lot of ingredients, but don't let it scare you. Most GF pantry's have an assortment of flours on hand, because we've learned, one just doesn't cut it. If you want the best texture, and flavor, you have to combine them to make an excellent product. Everything I use is GF, like the lemon extract. Flavorganics is the brand I've purchased. This recipe is doubled, so cut it in half if you don't want so much cake lying around. There are 5 people in my family, and one loaf might last a day and a half! Especially with my husband's appetite. And you just can't resist it when it comes out of the oven, you have to try it warm with the warm glaze on top. That's why I called it Amazing lemon pound cake.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or grease with oil 2 loaf pans. (9x5)

Ingredients:
5 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp., broken down:
2 cups white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
1 cup corn flour (not starch, not meal, something inbetween, found at Sprout's markets in the bulk bins in AZ)
2 Tbsp. white bean flour (not garbanzo, or fava. I love this for the texture it creates)

2 1/2 tsp. Zanthan Gum
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. GF baking powder

Wisk the above together in a bowl to combine and set aside.

4 sticks of butter or suitable margarine (1 pound)
3 cups of sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
2 tsp. GF lemon extract
1 cup plain yogurt (can be So Delicious coconut yogurt or goat yogurt)
10 large eggs
1/2 cup of suitable veg. oil (I use grapeseed or safflower)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Glaze:
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a KitchenAid fitted with the paddle attachment (or electric hand-held beaters on low speed) add butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon extract, and yogurt on medium speed till combined and fluffy, a couple minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the bowl down with a spatula as needed. Beat in the oil and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time till all combined.

Spread batter in prepared loaf pans. Smooth out the tops.

Bake for around an hour at 350 degrees. I started with 50 minutes, then checked on them and added a few minutes as necessary. Test with a toothpick or cake tester in the center, if it's clean, it's done! Let cakes sit in pans for 10 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Add your orange juice and lemon juice to a small saucepan, and heat up on low. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, wisking till sugar dissolves. When mixture comes to a clear boil , it's done.

Invert your loaves onto a cooling rack or decorative plate, and pour glaze on top.

And voila! It's done! This is not your typical pound cake recipe, you can probably see that I had to make a few adjustments to the traditional pound cake, but the texture is perfect for a GF cake. And you can see that I didn't use loaf pans, but a bundt pan and 2 mini loaf pans to give to fellow celiac friends. Try it warm! It's irresistable!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and nut free