Posts Tagged ‘vegan’

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Chickpea Crackers

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

chickcrackesr

These crackers are a staple that I make just about weekly. They’re easy, versatile, yummy, healthy, and lend carb-y goodness that seriously needed on my grain free diet. I do constantly tweak them just a bit and play with different flavors, and you can add whatever spices suite your fancy. So give them a whirl! You’ll enjoy them.

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed well and put in a strainer to drain
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons ground flax seed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning dried herbs (blend de jour of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Italian seasoning dried herbs
coarse sea salt

Shake as much water you can from the garbanzos and let them blot with a towel. Pulse in a food processor. Add rest of ingredients through black pepper and blend well. Add oil, and the dough should come together into a ball. If not, add a little more until it does.

rawcrackers

Cover with saran wrap for ease and roll out thinly on to 2 silpat mats or parchment paper (not as thin as you possibly can, but close). Use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into sizes of your choice, and sprinkle with seasoning and salt. For prettier crackers, prick with a fork. Bake in preheated oven until slightly browning (around 30 min), watch them after 20 min or so.

You do have to turn the sheets periodically, and rotate the crackers when you’re able for the best results. The outside crackers brown much quicker–those usually just go directly to my mouth.

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Posted in baked goods, recipe, side dish | 7 Comments »

Easy Almond Cookies

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

alm-cookies

I’m overdue for a recipe post. In some ways, it’s because I’ve gotten pickier. I make a recipe and I like it, but intend to do it again with changes and improve…and repeat…and then I don’t end up posting any! It’s kind of funny, actually, since there are very few recipes that I don’t alter every time, whether they’re mine or someone else’s. It’s just part of the art and fun of baking!

I really like these cookies because they’re very easy, and quite tasty. They’re soft and chewy inside, and fabulous right out of the oven (although they don’t firm up until 10-15 minutes later). The trick is to bake them until they’re *just* set. They’re good once they start browning, but just a bit tough for my taste. So watch ‘em! And, of course, the cookies are gluten/dairy/egg/corn/soy/sugar/grain free, low glycemic and vegan. Yahoo!alm-tray

I’ve been playing with flax cookies in an attempt to add more into my diet, and I’ve tried quite a few variations of these. They were supposed to be Chinese 5 spice cookies, but the flavor of the spice is quite mild, and I like it that way. I will probably try them with more spice in the future. Like any time you add agave to ground nuts, the secret is just a quick whirl or you have a tacky glob. If anyone knows what it is about agave that interacts with nut butters, I’d love to know…I’ve never seen maple syrup or honey act the same way. But the baked product turns out well, so no complaints here.

2 cups toasted almonds
8 brazil nuts
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp stevia
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
1/3 cup plus 1 T ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Chinese 5 spice powder
2/3 cup agave

3 T chopped almonds
Preheat oven to 350
Toast almond and brazil nuts. I prefer to toast chopped brazil nuts, it seems to work better. Grind in the processor until it forms a chunky nut butter, scraping down the sides occasionally (4-5 min in my food processor). Add in everything but the agave, and process a minute more. Add in the agave and pulse a few times.

Roll the dough into small balls (maybe 1 inch in diameter?) and squish down, sprinkle with chopped almonds. Using a silpat mat works best, but I’m sure parchment would work, too.Bake until just set–around 10 minutes. They’re much better when the cookies don’t brown much. Allow to cool on the drying rack for 15 minutes before moving, or they will fall apart.

Enjoy!

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Posted in dessert, recipe | 6 Comments »

I *heart* Red Pepper Sauce

Friday, February 13th, 2009

rpchicken3iconsYahoo!  At long last, I am delighted to get the honor to host Weekend Herb Blogging.  If you’re not familiar with WHB, it was originated by Kalyn’s Kitchen, and our current hostess is Haalo.  It’s a great way to get inspiration for yummy ways to use herbs in your cooking…and an eclectic collection of fruits and veggies, too.

The last few weeks have been a total roller coaster rides, so it was time for a peaceful, relaxing, indulgent meal.  One my DH’s absolute favorite things is red pepper sauce, and one of my favorite things is rpeppersaucehow darn easy it is!  And how delicious, too.  I love that it’s so creamy that it tastes like it’s a dairy based sauce, and the sweetness is such a treat.  My first post way back when had red pepper chicken, and quite a few people asked for the recipe.  It’s worth the wait, I think!

We had an unseasonably warm weekend, so I roped DH into grilling the peppers.  Usually, I just use frozen herb-y peppers from the summer months.  The hardest part is having enough peppers left over to freeze.  They’re just like candy.

So, this is a beautiful meal for you and your Valentine.  The sauce is delish any kind of protein…or on anyone you love. =P

5 large bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
1-2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons oil

1 cup good quality broth
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
good squeeze of lemon
2 Tablespoons ground almond or hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced

Grill or roast peppers, or use canned or frozen. When cool, add to blender with broth, cayenne, onions and ground nuts. Blend until very smooth. In a Vitamix, this takes 2 minutes. It will take much longer in a normal blender. Saute garlic in olive oil, add in the blended peppers. You can poach a protein of your choice in the sauce, or just pour it on whatever you want to make yummy.

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Posted in recipe, vegetables, weekend herb blogging | 4 Comments »

Arugula Winter Pesto

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

arupesto

This is barely a recipe, but it is tasty! Lately, quick and easy have been the primary food criteria around these parts.  This pesto fits the bill, and works to make anything taste yummier. I use it as a dip for raw veggies, and add it to quinoa, steamed veg, fish, etc.  I use less oil than I do for a regular pesto because it’s been bothering my poor sensitive tummy, but feel free to sub more olive oil for the water for a more traditional pesto.

And as a bonus, DH doesn’t seem to realize that he’s eating veggies…

5oz package of arugula, well washed
1/2 cup water* (see headnote)
1/4 cup olive oil (or more)
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2-1 clove of garlic, optional
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, pine nuts or a mix

Put arugula, water, oil, lemon and salt in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add in olives and nuts and blend, leaving it as chunky or smooth as you like!

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Posted in recipe, side dish | 10 Comments »

Quick and Easy Asian Style Gingery Soup

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

gingsoupThis is a quick and and easy recipe that I turn to when I have a sore throat. It is in no way authentically Asian (or authentically anything, for that matter!) I find it very satisfying, and very low maintenance. A good broth or stock is a must. I tend to use home made. Problem is, once you use home made, it’s hard to go back to the store bought stuff!

I must admit that putting lettuce in soup was a random inspiration and it works oddly well. Try it before you rule it out! The amounts of onion and lettuce totally depend on whether I’m in the mood for a broth-y soup or a heartier soup. You really can’t go wrong.

3-4 cups good quality broth or stock
1 inch of fresh ginger, cut into 1/8 inch slices
1/2 medium onion, cut into 1/8 inch ribbons
1 head romaine lettuce heart, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring broth to a boil, add in ginger and onions and simmer 35-40 min or until onions are tender. Add in lettuce and cook until wilted and dark green, 7-8 more minutes. Remove ginger chunks (unless you are VERY brave!), adjust salt and pepper and enjoy! whb3

I’m serving up this soup for Weekend Herb Blogging, as originated by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Haalo is currently the WHB “mom” and our host this week is Pam from The Backyard Pizzarea.  Pam’s photos are lovely!

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Posted in recipe, soup | 6 Comments »

French Yule Log–A Daring Baker Challenge

Monday, December 29th, 2008

yuleThis month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.  They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

I love being a Daring Baker…usually. But when I saw all 19 pages of this month’s recipe, I was a wee bit intimidated! Currently, I’m gluten, dairy, egg, corn, and soy free, and more recently, I’ve had to avoid sugar and grains, too. Given my limitations, sometimes I just make something for DH or friends, but I was doing so much cooking for other people I wanted something for ME.

Once I started thinking about it, it did seem (sort of) doable. The required elements are:hazcake
1) Dacquoise Biscuit
2) Mousse
3) Ganache Insert
4) Praline (Crisp) Insert
5) Creme Brulee Insert
6) Icing

I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the creme brulee without dairy, eggs, soy or sugar, so I confess, I left it out. I know it was required…but with all of my limitations, 5 out of 6 ain’t bad. Everything else was there, at least in spirit.

ganache

I must say, I had pretty low expectations. I’d been fighting a bug most of December, and it got pushed off till the last minute. And yet, everything turned out beautifully, and I would definitely do it again, or parts of it.  It ended up tasting a lot like ice cream cake, and it traveled down beautifully in a cooler.  All I would have done differently is leaving layers to freeze longer so that the layers had a lot more differentiation.  I would have made more chocolate icing, too!  I brought it along with me to NC, and way underestimated the amount of chocolate I’d need.  Since the stores were closed, I just drizzled the icing on rather than making a cohesive coating.

cyule

Since I had so little time and no clue of what I was doing, I don’t have recipes.  I did write down the dacquoise recipe (picture above) but (by itself) it wasn’t very good.  The mousse is a mix of young coconut, hazelnut, cocoa powder, agave, cinnamon, pineapple and chia whipped in my Vitamix.  I almost chickened out on the crisp insert, then reminded myself that I am a DARING baker and made a hazelnut meal/agave/chia/mesquite crispy cracker-ich layer.  The ganache (picture above on right) was baker’s chocolate with thick hazelnut cream and vegetable glycerine, and the icing was baker’s chocolate, glycerine and almond oil.

So it just goes to show how nice it is to go out on a limb, be daring and try something new!  I’m so glad that most of the DB challenges have been do-able, especially considering the number of restrictions I have.   I would like to play with the veganized agar frosting version in the future, and plan to make this into a faux ice cream cake next time.  Thanks so much to our brave leaders, and bring on the next one, baby!

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Posted in daring bakers, dessert | 14 Comments »

Everything just tastes better when covered in chocolate

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

chocpomI’ve had been under the weather this month, necessitating some ingenuity to whip up some tasty allergen friendly treats that are super easy to make. My three favorites? Chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, chocolate covered clementines and pistachio brittle (pumpkin seed brittle, just sub in pistachios). Easy, elegant, low stress, and huge on taste. Vegan and top 8 allergen free too! Totally my style.clem

I don’t know where I first got the idea of coating pom seeds with chocolate, but I couldn’t resist giving it a try, and it couldn’t be easier! The idea for dipping clementines is from a grad school friend, Michelle, who is an amazing hostess.

If you’re not a huge pom fiend, you should be. IMHO, they’re the yummiest winter fruit and chock full of antioxidants and, of course, flavor. According to Greek mythology, we’re stuck with winter because Persephone, daughter of the goddess of the Harvest was kidnapped and taken off to the underworld. She was miserable, and didn’t eat but couldn’t resist pom seeds! Rules are if you eat in the underworld, you stay. So when she is stuck “down there” we’re all stuck up here with winter, as the goddess of the harvest is mourning. Now here I thought I didn’t learn anything in junior high. Funny what sticks in your head.

Giving recipes for these is almost a joke, but here goes! Melt chocolate. Add fruit. Allow to cool. Accept compliments and smile.

Here’s a bit more detail:
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
3 oz bittersweet chocolate

Heat chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 sec (it takes about 2 min total). A double boiler works too, but I’m WAY too lazy. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Stir in pom seeds thoroughly, drop onto wax paper or muffin liners. Allow to cool at room temp. You can put them in the fridge but they won’t look as nice.

I didn’t measure the amount of chocolate for the clementines, but I dipped one half in semi sweet and allowed them to cool on wax paper.
WHB is the baby of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and now our kind hostess is Haalo. Did you see her cherry coconut slice? Looks delish!

Have a relaxing and delicious holiday season!!!

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Posted in dessert, recipe, weekend herb blogging | 6 Comments »

Summer Lovin’ salad

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

simple-salad

I’m a springtime and summer kinda gal, and the winter months tend to get me down.  This salad is small a taste of summertime goodness to remind me of what I’m (eventually) looking forward to!  And this was such a bright and sunny day, too.

This non-recipe is very simple, and uses arugula from my (mini) indoor garden and roasted tomatoes that I made and roasted this summer.

3 cups arugula leaves
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (may not be needed if your tomatoes are packed in oil)
juice of half a lemon or balsamic vinegar to taste
black pepper and sea salt to taste
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 avocado, sliced
handful of roasted tomatoes, chopped or whole

Mix arugula, oil, salt, pepper, and lemon. Add other ingredients on top and enjoy! Best if eaten in the first hour of preparing, otherwise the arugula gets soggy.

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Posted in recipe, vegetables | 2 Comments »

Spiced Forbidden Rice Pudding

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

A rice pudding fit for an empress…

As the story goes, forbidden rice was reserved for the emperor. I’m not sure I can blame him for not wanting to share! If you taste it, you’ll understand. It’s gloriously, indulgently purple, and got a distinctive chew and taste to it.

I’ve made this pudding for years, but rarely, because it took hours to get good and soft. Then it occurred to me that I could just soak it overnight, and get the same consistency in much less time.

Coconut is what makes this a totally indulgent, creamy treat. There’s a lot of debate about coconut, the saturated fat and health, and you can find people on both sides of the issue. If you’re counting calories, you can do it with almond hazelnut nut milk and drizzle with coconut milk at the end, and it tastes almost as good. I’m somewhat tempted to try it with chai tea instead of water and see how that goes.

Also, remember to count the cardamom pods when you put them in so that it’s easier to remove them afterwards! Cardamom gives delightful flavor, but not so much when you bite into it. Trust me.

2 cups coconut milk, hazelnut or almond milk, divided
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup of Chinese black rice (AKA forbidden rice)
1/4-1/3 cup agave nectar (or palm sugar)
8-10 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
chopped crystallized ginger for garnish

Soak 1 cup of rice overnight. Rinse and drain (don’t worry about getting all the water out). Add 1 1/2 cups of water , 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, the agave, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. Keep at a low simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 min or so. When it’s a delightfully soft mush, you’re good to go.

Remove spices and serve, drizzling each portion with a tablespoon or so of coconut milk and chopped ginger. Enjoy with a side of mango, pineapple, raspberries, or sorbet.

If you have leftovers, give me a ring! Or freeze it, it does freeze well..

This is my submission to “Go Ahead, Honey, it’s GF”. November’s edition is about foods from childhood, and our lovely host is Noosh of For the love of food. Rice pudding reminds me of my grandpa, although it was nothing like this. However, this pudding is like a big hug to me, and so it seems to fit the theme.

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Posted in dessert | 12 Comments »

Harvest apple crisp

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to share one my Apple Crisp recipe. It’s always been one of my favorite things to make because they’re so quick, easy and yummy. Crisps are a holiday tradition in my family. It’s very easy to make them gluten free, but I also wanted to make one that was sugar free, because I (and many people I work with!!) feel better when avoiding sugar. It took a few tries to come up with a recipe I’m delighted with.

When I can find them, I love the extra dimension quince adds to the flavor. This peculiar looking fruit is a real treat. The smell is heavenly. I often leave one for a day or two in my car! They are a pain to cut and peel, but the flavor is lovely when cooked slowly. They take a longer time to cook than apples, but if they’re shredded, they cook down easily. If you have a Latino market nearby, these babies are known as “membrillo”

4 apples, pears or a combination, peeled and thinly sliced
1 quince, finely shredded (or 5 apples)
½ cup cranberries
½ cup dried cherries, raisins or cranberries)
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot starch

1 ¼ cups almond meal or almond flour, OR 1 ¼ C sorghum flour (increase oil to ½ cup)
¼ cup quinoa flakes or oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cloves (or replace the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with1 tsp apple pie spice)
½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
finely grated zest of an orange (optional)
¼ cup agave nectar
1/3 cup oil

Peel and slice apples thinly, and mix with cranberries, dried fruit, and agave. Mix spices and flour in a separate bowl, then combine with the apples. Pour into a greased 8X8 pan.

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add in wet ingredients until the texture is crumbly. Scatter the topping over the fruit mixture. Put in the oven at 325 and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake until the juices get all bubbly (generally, 40 minutes total).

Serve and enjoy!

As an added bonus, both the apple mixture and the topping can be made a day or two ahead and stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator.

If you are on a no amylose diet, use cornstarch, almond meal or flour, and quinoa flakes.

This seasonal treat is my submission to Weekend Herb Blogging, as originated by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, though Haalo of Cook (almost) Everything at least once is our new WHB master. Siri of Siri’s Corner is this week’s fabulous host. Check out her site for a great range of global recipes!

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008

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Posted in baked goods, dessert, recipe | 9 Comments »

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