Gluten Free Goodness

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.

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 OR quinoa 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
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
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!!!)

* for a no amylose version, use agave, quinoa flour and unsweetened apple sauce.

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

As my family is Middle Eastern, I grew up adoring baklava, hummus, shwarma, halva, tahini, and all that good stuff. Since developing allergies to…let’s see, ingredients in all of the above, I’ve really been missing the tastes of family and celebration across the years.

So when I accidentally happened upon Siri’s Corner and and her Middle Eastern recipe challenge AWED:Middle Eastern I figured it was time to start playing and bring back some of the old flavors, even if they were in new form. The experimentation process was quite fun. Really, how can you go wrong with ingredients like these?

The result was a satisfying, shortbread-ish cookie with a whiff of rosewater. Unlike most Middle-eastern treats, they are not very sweet. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll want to dust with sugar. I’ll have to try these with orange blossom water sometime, too. I might also make them into thumbprint cookies with a dab of raspberry jam…

1 3/4 cup finely ground blanched almond flour
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons almond or other oil
2 generous Tablespoons honey (for vegan or low glycemic, use agave)
1 teaspoon rosewater
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
slivered almonds or pistachios (optional)

Mix flour, sea salt, and baking powder. Mix honey oil and rosewater, microwave (or put in a hot oven) briefly to soften the honey. Add to the almond mix and stir.

Briefly kneed together, put on wax paper and roll into a log. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Preheat to 350. Cut slices 1/8-1/4 inch thick and place on a silpat. Press in an almond or pistachio, if desired. Bake for 6-7 minutes or until starting to brown.

Enjoy.

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

The timing for this worked perfectly. It’s over 100 degrees outside, a perfect day for a no-bake recipe. Additionally, I’m attending a conference in June, and they’ve challenged all participants to go grain free for a month (including quinoa and other pseudo grains). I’m currently on day 8, not that I’m counting. So Sheltie Girl’s (Natalie’s) Truffles saved the day!

I have enjoyed the Gluten a go go blog for quite some time. Natalie makes great use of a lot of unique flours and binders, which is awesome. Some, like mesquite, agave and chestnut, were already ‘loves’ of mine, but others, like chia, and sweet potato flour were inspired by her recipes.

Natalie is also a fellow Daring Baker, and it was great fun to bake with her and get her suggestion last time around. It’s clear her experimentation has made her quite an expert.

I did follow her recipe exactly, but made 4 mini batches, to give a wider variety of flavors. One batch used curry powder, another mesquite, another Ras el Hanout, and the last vanilla extract. And then within those, some got dried orange peel, some that got heath bar (NOT dairy free, but DH’s favorite) some plain, some nuts…and then they were rolled in carob powder, cinnamon and coconut flour, cocoa powder and powdered sugar, coconut powder and ras el hanout or nuts. No, it wasn’t as complicated as it sounds, and using the muffin tray made it a lot easier. It’s amazing how ambitious I can be when I know as soon as I finish, I have to file insurance claims. Anything but that…

The recipe worked marvelously! My husband remarked a few months ago that carob was something that he’d never eat. So obviously, I didn’t mention what he was eating, and asked what he thought and he said, yummy chocolate. Tee hee…

Due to allergies and such, I was limited to the carob and cinnamon covered curry and mesquite truffles, and I enjoyed both. I enjoyed the curry, but didn’t care for the mesquite (one of my variations, not Natalie’s). It just didn’t add much. Most of my tasters enjoyed the orange peel ones best, but they all disappeared quickly.

This adoption is part of the “Adopt a GF Blogger”, as started by Sea Maiden of Book of Yum. Our current fine host is Thomas, of the GFCF experience.

I’m officially a daring baker!
I’m extremely proud of this cake. It’s more than a cake to me, it’s a milestone.

I’ve loved to bake since I was a little kid, but only really got into it in college. Due to a variety of medical issues, I was far too exhausted to cook or bake for the last 3 or 4 years, and I had so many allergies and intolerances that it seemed impossible to bake treats worth eating.

Slowly, things have changed, and I’ve gotten back to baking. Even when I can’t eat everything I make, I still have the joy of creating something new, the opportunity to experiment and the delight of returning to the things I love to do. And so here’s my cake, a beautiful gluten, dairy, egg, soy, corn and sugar* free creation. If you do agave instead of honey, it’s vegan, too. Not only was I able to do it, but it was delicious, too. It’s the start of things to come, and I’m grateful for one of many new beginnings. And we even got to have it for my birthday!

When I saw the Daring Baker Challenge, my first thought was to make a cake for other people. There were too many eggs, so much sugar, butter, cream…where to even begin to adapt it? Then I remembered Susan O’ Brien’s Almond torte from Sugar free, gluten free cooking (great book!!). I ended up changing most of the flavors, proportions, leaveners, shape, size, etc., but it reminded me that this mission was, indeed, possible.

My final creation was a Hazelnut Opéra cake, with layers of rosewater/honey “buttercream” and fresh apricots topped with a hazelnut white chocolate glaze. Obviously, due to my many restrictions, I ventured quite a bit from the recipe, though I kept the spirit as well as I could. The cake itself was marvelous, though I will reduce the liquid slightly when I make it next, as I have listed in the recipe below. The buttercream worked in the end, but oh my. I had to work and rework it so many times that I don’t quite know WHAT was in the final version. The base was coconut milk, with some honey, and rosewater, and it was thickened with sweet rice flour, coconut flour, chestnut flour, coconut oil and cocoa butter. Many thanks to Sheltie girl at Gluten a go go for her coaching.

The cake and buttercream were sugar free, but the glaze was not due to the fact that my hot bowl of cocoa butter took an impromptu flying leap across the kitchen. (I must say, btw, cocoa butter is surprisingly hard to clean off cabinets.) So I did use decorating chips, but I have no doubt that the cocoa butter glaze would have worked just as well.

I wanted to use blanched hazelnuts, so I roasted them. However, I discovered very quickly that hazels turn to butter very quickly…and now have a jar of super yummy hazelnut butter, so no complaints here. It’s probably much easier to use raw hazel meal or you have to be extremely careful and chill the nuts before grinding.

To see more gorgeous cakes from this amazing group of bakers, check out the Daring Baker Blogroll . And, of course, thanks to this month’s hosts Lis and Ivonne,for a great challenge.

Hazelnut cake
1 cup finely ground hazelnut meal (I used half roasted, half raw)
1 ¾ cup sorghum flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup apricot nectar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup agave nectar + 1 T honey or all agave for vegan version
1/3 cup hazel nut milk
1/4 oil
1 teaspoon rosewater
¼ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon hazelnut (or vanilla) extract

Buttercream:
Coconut milk, sweet rice flour, rosewater, coconut flour, coconut oil, cocoa butter. That’s about as much as I can tell ya.

Glaze:
.5 oz cocoa butter
¼ cup decorator (dairy free, but like white chocolate) chips*
A few drops of hazelnut extract
* these do have sugar, I would imagine cocoa butter with a little agave would work just as well.

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. Cut the cakes in half for your layers (you will have one left over for snacking)

Make the buttercream: I can’t give great advice on this one, but allow your frosting to chill completely before figuring out if it’ll work for you. My original batch would have been fine if I was just patient…not one of my strengths.

Assemble the cake: first cake, then buttercream, then apricots, and repeat! I would not recommend putting the buttercream on top of the top layer, I did, and it ran a little.

Hazelnut glaze: Melt the cocoa butter and chips in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring each time. It should be melted in 1 minute or 1 and a half minutes. Add in extract of you choice. When slightly cooled, pour on the cake.

Enjoy!

NOTE: (added May 31st)
As fate would have it, May has been a month of almost non-stop GI distress. So I’ve come to the conclusion that I just can’t try oats now. The most important thing to me is taking care of my body, and there will be another time that is better for me physically
However, the first recipe I plan to make, whenever I am feeling better, are Carrie’s Apple Bars. I’ll be sending along your prize!!!

I’m turning 30 in two weeks. The big 3-0! And what I really want for my birthday… oats. Yep, oats. If that sounds totally bizarre to you, it is entirely possible that you aren’t gluten free. I know some people were never really into oats, but oatmeal was a huge comfort food for me before going GF. I had one (non GF) client tell me that she didn’t like boring health food, like oatmeal…and I did my very best not to glare at her. Hopefully I even succeeded.

Anyhow, as you all know, the oats controversy is alive and well. I understand and respect why many people have chosen simply to eat other foods. I think it’s important to consider the decision thoroughly and talk with your doctor and all of that…however, I’m ready to take the plunge, because there are so many foods that I can’t have due to allergies or intolerances. If I can’t have oatmeal, so be it! But I do want to know, one way or another. I do have a bag of BRMs certified GF oats, and it has been sitting in a place of honor in my kitchen, receiving my loving and lustful glances for a few months now.

I needed to set a date, or I will simply stare at the bag until I decide to give it away, and I’ll go through this dance until I’m 40. (this is my second bag–I gave the first away). The question is, now what do I do with these beauties? A bowl of oatmeal is too simple, I think. And yes, I realize I am overthinking this, but it has been many years!

What is YOUR favorite baked creation using oatmeal? Specifically, I’m allergic and/or intolerant to gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, grapes, bean flours, citrus, sesame, vanilla, etc. and am looking for low sugar/sugar free ideas. Impossible? Hopefully not. To sweeten the deal, I have a stash of totally unhealthy gluten, dairy, soy, egg and corn free goodies that I got during Passover (the brownie mix does have traces of corn). If you can’t have dairy or soy, you know as well as I do that M&M’s are pretty much just things to fantasize about. Here’s your chance to make it a reality! And if you CAN eat normal gf treats, I’d be happy to switch the prize to something else.

So…if you’d like to play, leave your recipe in the comments, and I will make one as my birthday treat! It can be anything, not necessarily cake.

The contest will go until May 30th. My birthday is the 23rd, but I have so many things going on that weekend that I can’t risk spending the week dealing with a gluten reaction if I get one!

Having friends for dinner is an excuse to get creative. Having friends that eat GF? Now, that’s just a chance to play in the kitchen.

So, dinner was:

• Adeena’s rolls adapted to be gluten, dairy and egg free, with added Kalamata olives
• Dipping sauce: olive oil with minced olives, fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme, pinenuts, and crushed red pepper
• Broccoli with sauteed garlic and toasted pine nuts
• GF brown rice pasta
• Chicken “parm”: chicken breaded in herbed crushed cassava crackers, baked in a sea of yummy tomato sauce. Parm for the dairy eaters and melted mozzarella, and fresh herbs from my garden for me.
• Brazil nut chip cookies with 3 variations

And the kichen, not surprisingly, looks like a tornado hit. Methinks tomorrow is all about leftovers

I spied Adeena’s rolls a while back on Book of Yum, and they got good reviews. I subbed flax eggs and some egg replacer for the egg, used almond milk, and subbed amaranth for the teff for a ‘wheatier’ taste. We did them rosemary, thyme, and cracked sea salt. Some had added in chopped kalamata olives for variety. And those rolls are FORGIVING!! My cuisinart stopped working in the middle and I had to do half by hand and they were STILL good. Rolls you can’t mess up…priceless.

And the best part is dessert, of course.

Brazil nuts and chocolate are heavenly together, and I’ve always been a brazil nut fan. I made brazil nut butter a few weeks back, and it was in the refrigerator, calling loudly to me. Not that I wasn’t sneaking spoonfuls every now and again, but I hadn’t figured out what I wanted creative venture it was destined for. We were having friends to dinner, and so I needed to find something that met my dietary needs AND avoided chocolate, as DH is avoiding caffeine. So it seemed easy enough to do some cookies with chocolate, some without.

The cookies were sweeter than I anticipated, even though I was the only one who thought so. And the brazil nut flavor wasn’t as pronounced as I’d expect. But they’re yummy treats, and largely whole grain, so that counts as delicious and nutritious. For one of the variations, I used chunks of UNSWEETENED (baking) chocolate, which paired well with the sweetness. The 3 variations were unsweetened chocolate chunks for me, Enjoy life chips for the other chocolate eaters, and heath bar toffee pieces to keep my caffeine avoiding DH from pouting too much. It’s no fun watching someone else eat when it looks like they’re getting something better than you, so I didn’t want him to feel left out.

But where, oh where, do you get brazil nut butter? Well, your food processor, of course! Buy toasted nuts or toast your own , and put them in the food processor until smooth. It takes about 6-10 minutes to process, depending on your food processor, and do scrape down the sides periodically. It’s that simple. Or, of course, you could use almond, hazelnut, peanut or butter, or even tahini. You could always do raw nut butters, too, and then you’d have to add a little oil for the grinding.

Brazil nut butter cookies, heavily modified from a recipe from the back of the quinoa flake box

1/2 cup honey* (I would use a little less next time)
1/4 cup sugar (I used turbino, next time I would use a finer grained sugar)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup soft avocado. Yes, avocado.
1/2 cup brazil nut butter
3/4 cup quinoa flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup GF flour (I used mostly teff, some sorghum, and a little sweet rice and coconut flours)
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks, nuts, or heath bar pieces
pinch of salt

*use agave if you are vegan

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the honey, sugar, oil, avocado, brazil nut butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine flours and add flours to wet ingredients. Add in chips/chunks/nuts.

Drop walnut sized balls and flatten slighly onto cookie sheet, silpat mat, or parchment paper. Cook 12-15 minutes, allow to cool on a rack.

Enjoy, try not to eat too many.

This dish was “born” when I wanted a change from caramelized bananas and wanted to use coconut, too. So I threw a few things together, and voila! Dessert. It’s got a subtle sweetness, and is super easy. Any dessert that is delicious and takes less than 15 min from start to finish is a keeper in my book! It also works well for Passover, and for people with multiple allergies and sensitivities.

I totally love coconut flakes rather than the shredded coconut. I’ve found them at Whole Foods from Let’s do organic.The bigger chunks are just much more decadent.

Some had the bananas over ice cream, but you can substitute rice dream or sorbet or have them straight, too.

4 bananas, cut lengthwise
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or shredded coconut
1 T coconut oil
1/2 t maple extract and pinch stevia or 3 T maple syrup
1/2 cup pureed pineapple or 1/3 cup orange juice
a dash of rum (totally optional)
1/2 cup pecans

Grease an 8X8 pan with coconut oil or whatever you’ve got on hand. Preheat oven to 350. Put cut bananas in the pan. Mix pineapple with maple syrup or extract, and pour over bananas. Melt the coconut oil and toss with the coconut. Sprinkle evenly on top of the bananas.

Bake at 350 until browned (about 8-10 min). Serve over a frozen dessert or plain, and sprinkle on pecans at will!
~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008