Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

Go gourmet with this delicious vegan treat! I gave a slice to a friend, and then I was out of town for a week. When I returned, I had 3 emails requesting the recipe! I’ve had gluten eaters come back for seconds.  This bread is perfect for brunch or a snack, and also works as muffins. It’s largely whole grain, and the Salba seeds lend a wonderful moistness. It’s gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn and sugar free and vegan.

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while, and am so glad I got around to it.  It won the Gluten Intolerant Groups‘ (GIG) Healthy recipe contest, and it is quite yummy.

There are a lot of different flours in it.  I suspect that you could substitute most of the flours with an all purpose GF mix, though I don’t know if the rice bran would sub well.  If you try it, please let me know!

Salba gel
1 T whole Salba seed
¼ cup water

½ cup + 2 Tablespoons brown rice flour
½ cup sorghum flour (or teff flour)
½ cup almond meal
¼ cup rice bran
¼ cup sweet rice flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

2 Tablespoons honey (or agave, for vegan version)
¾ cup orange juice
¼ cup canola or olive oil
¼ cup agave nectar (or 1/3 cup sugar and 2 Tablespoons honey)
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Line a 9X5 inch bread pan with parchment paper overhanging the edges. Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine Salba seed and water, in a small bowl, set aside. Combine all flours and starches and mix well, eliminating any lumps. Add in poppy seeds.

Zest lemon before juicing. Combine honey and warm orange juice. When well mixed, add in oil, agaves nectar, Salba gel, and lemon juice and lemon zest.

Mix wet and dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined. Bake at 350 for approximately 50 minutes, cover after 30 minutes to prevent over-browning. Check for doneness with a toothpick.

Allow to cool on a drying rack, and remove with parchment paper “handles” after 5 minutes to prevent a soggy bottom. Cool completely on drying rack.

Serve and accept compliments.

Makes one large loaf, or two 5X3 loaves or muffins.

Posted in baked goods, bread, recipe | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

And the winner is….

Posted on September 16, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

First, the winner!  I’m delighted to say that a long time Internet buddy, Brenda Lee, won the goodies.  Congrats, Brenda Lee!  For those of you who don’t know her, she’s the list mom for the GFCF yahoo group, one of the most knowledgeable people on the GF diet and baking that I’ve EVER met (and that’s saying a LOT!) and an all-around fabulous gal.

So many people asked about Salba and chia that I’ve linked to 2 articles I wrote for the Gluten Intolerance Group (great group, BTW!) Hopefully that’ll clear up a few questions.

Baking with Chia

Chia: A GF superstar

Here’s also a list of my recipes that use Chia or Salba.

Banana Mac Chip Cookies (GF, CF, EF, SF, low sugar and vegan)

Black Sesame Whole Grain Bread (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan option)

Carrot Muffin Cakes (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan option)

Brazil Nut Brownies (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan)

Nanaimo Bars Redux (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan)

Turkey Garden Burgers (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free)

Posted in news | 6 Comments

Luscious Banana Bread

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

My in-laws came to visit, leaving me with an overabundance of bananas. Later that day, a friend gave me a jar of orange blossom honey, with the theory that since I bake so much, surely I’d use it. Well, I rarely bake with honey, most of it goes to DH’s tea. But honey has such a lovely flavor, and as I eyed the bananas and honey sitting side by side, I thought, bring on the banana bread!

This is a particularly dessert-y banana bread, and sweeter than many of my baked goods. It’s quite different of my very favorite banana creations, my Nana Skillet bread, which has a much more mellow flavor. I was actually surprised at how it came out because there was a pretty modest amount of sweetener, but a little honey goes a long way! Especially if you’re using super ripe bananas, the chocolate chips are totally optional. As impossible as it sounds, I think I put in too many! Next time I’d likely leave them out all together or only use 1/4 a cup (I used 1/2 cup). Like all of my creations, this is delightfully gluten, dairy, egg, soy and corn free, and can easily be vegan by using agave and cane sugar free by eliminating the chips or using cacao nibs. It’ll thrill your honey for sure. Both loaves and the cake were devoured and enjoyed by gluten eaters and non gluten eaters alike.

I favor mini cakes and loaves in general because they’re so darn cute, and I can also gift them to different people. Rather than doing a big loaf, I used 2 mini loaf pans and a mini bundt (2 mini loaves and 2 mini muffins would also have worked quite well). I assume a standard loaf pan would work, too.

I used the GF flours I had on hand. I used almond meal because I wanted to use healthy fats from real food, like the flax and almond, rather than butter or oils. I’m sure any mix of whole grain gf flours would work, and would suspect wheat flour would work, too.

And just so you’re forewarned, the honey turns the bread a deep yummy brown. Don’t be afraid, though, it didn’t burn.

1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup teff flour
1 rounded tablespoon mesquite flour(optional, or add carob or more almond meal instead)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of fine sea salt
2 overripe bananas
1 rounded tablespoon ground flax
1/3 cup sparkling water
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. Line pans with parchment for ease of serving and cleanup. Stir flax into the sparkling water and set aside for a few minutes. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Mash the banana until you’ve got mush. Combine it with the honey, add the flax mix and stir thoroughly. Briefly combine dry ingredients and honey mixture and add in chopped nuts, mix until just combined.

Put into preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes at 350, then cover with foil and turn down to 325. A mini bundt was done in 30 total, but the small loaves took close to an hour.

This is my submission for Weekly Herb Blogging. It may sound like this wouldn’t fit, because Kalyn’s rules for WHB state unusual fruits or veggies, and bananas are certainly run of the mill! But did you know that bananas are technically herbs, and not fruit? Well, they’re really the fruit of an herb, so that should count.

Our host is Gretchen from Canela & Comino, who has quite a range of global dishes in her recipe section. I must say, I spent far too long looking through the archive!

Posted in baked goods, dessert, recipe, weekend herb blogging | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Hundred list…

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

Ok, I couldn’t resist. Here goes! This is supposed to be a vegan 100 list, which I saw on Veggie Girl’s site (and many others) but many of the things are animal based, so color me confused. I counted something whether I had the meat based version or the vegan one. I was surprised that I’d tried so many, given all my allergies. If you’d like to do it, here are the instructions:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.

5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble allergic
4. Haggis um…no.
5. Mangosteen Hopefully soon!
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht I think so…not sure.
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
Super yummy. Yay buckwheat!
13. PB&J sandwich seriously? who hasn’t eaten pbj?
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle allergic
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish -heck, I’m a jew from NY, whaddya expect?
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche one of my very favorite drool foods from my years in CA
28. Caviar
29. Baklava probably the last non-gf food I’ve made. I miss making these and I miss eating them even more!
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas—which I promply spit out, so I’m not sure if that counts
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl do I get extra points for eating my chowda in Boston?
33. Mango lassi love these…
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider =I make some every year
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
I make an amazing gumbo, if I do say so myself.
40. Fast food french fries – I still occasionally have a few when I can find them GF
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk allergic
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more-wine is wasted on me. Double for expensive wine.
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear- I plan to have one very soon!
52. Umeboshi allergic
53. Tofurkey allergic
54. Sheese
 ok, I miss cheese and all, but fake cheese scares me.
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple um, no. just no.
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores!
62. Soy curls allergic
63 Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake—and then I promptly went on one of those rides that go upside down and let’s just say all didn’t end well.
68. Smoked tofu-years ago at Moosewood. One of the only ways I liked tofu.
69. Fried plantain—me gusta mucho!
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies – warm is the best way to eat a cookie, in my opinion
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can I think I had it more straight from a can than any other way!
76. Pomegranate–let’s just put it this way, I have to schedule teeth cleanings at the end of pom season because I have so many pom stains.
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka –
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitanallergic
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon I’ve even grown one!
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofuttiallergic
97. Potato milk
98. Polentaallergic
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough heck yeah!

Posted in about | 14 Comments

Menu Plan Monday September 8th

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

Another week, another menu plan.  I enjoy the planning because it helps me mentally organize, but usually, things don’t happen according to plan.  The days switch, something isn’t at the market and it gets bumped back, I opt for leftovers…but almost all of it happens in some form or another.

The past week was a busy one in the kitchen for me.  I made Banana Macadamia Chip cookies and Choco-cocoa clusters for my adoption/adaption of 101 Cookbooks.  I also posted one of my all time favorite recipes, Grilled herbed peppers.  DH got a beautiful birthday cake, which I will post soon…

Long story short, it’s a good time for a simple week in the kitchen.

This week’s food is tomatoes!  It’s a great time of year for them.  I went a little tomato overboard with the Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onions soup, and I slow roasted a bunch this weekend, too.  Since I’ve been meaning to make Natalie’s Bombay Chicken for quite some time, so that works perfectly.

Monday:
East Indian inspired
Bombay Chicken (with adaptions for dairy, corn and alcohol free)with roasted panch poron cauliflower and papadams

Tuesday:
Vegan:
Steamed broccoli with a Malaysian brazil nut butter sauce

Wednesday:
Easy:
Roast turkey with sauteed fennel and celery in a chestnut sauce

Thursday:
Leftovers for E, tomatoes and avocados for me.

Friday:
Vegan
Quinoa in a lemony thyme broth
Crispy kale Chips

Baked good:

There is currently a chocolate overload in the house (strange as this may sound) There’s a Chocolate orange cake and chocolate covered orange peels, so I’ll be sticking with something savory, most likely Hazelnut flatbreads

From my garden:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Parsley
Thyme
Ground cherries
Garlic (frozen from my garden)

From the market:
Onions
Kale
Fennel

Posted in menu plan | 6 Comments

101 Cookbooks: an adoption and an inspiration

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

101 Cookbooks meets 101 allergies…not quite, but sometimes it feels like it!

I love Heidi’s blog, 101 Cookbooks. One of the things I like best is Heidi’s inventive use of non-gluten grains and flours, like teff, millet, amaranth, and my favorite, mesquite. It’s cooking and baking for people who love good, real, unprocessed foods. Rather than specialty gluten free foods, her site often features great foods that just happen to be gluten free. The pictures are gorgeous, and each is a work of art in itself. Not only that, she has a real, fresh, approachable way about her writing which makes it feel more like an intimate conversation. And the occasional post on social consciousness? It makes me miss my Berkeley days.

Her cookbook, Super Natural Cooking, is among one of the most food stained in my kitchen, which for me is a sort of cookbook rating system.  😎 Some recipes are gluten free, some aren’t, but most are pretty adaptable to GF. It’s worth getting just for the discussion of flours and grains!

I’ve made quite a few from the website and the book, with my favorite being a gluten/dairy/egg/soy free Chocolate Coconut pudding. There is a list of GF recipes on the site, but don’t limit yourself! There are quite a few GF recipes that aren’t tagged as GF.

I “adopted” Heidi, because she’s one of only a handful of mainstream bloggers who aren’t gluten intolerant that choose to make a point to cater to GF folks and have a GF tag.  So thank you, Heidi, both for the GF recipes and great ideas.

For my adoption, I made the Choco coco clusters. They were amazing! I was first introduced to the concept of salt and chocolate by Sally. I tried it, and thought it was interesting, but I wasn’t sure if I actually liked it. But this adoption was my excuse for getting a smoked salt, and the pairing of smoked salt and the deep rich chocolate was just incredible. I did half a batch with almonds, as per the recipe, and use toasted brazil nuts for the other half. Next time I’d maybe add in some orange peel? Both ways were really amazing.

And for the inspiration…

when I read Heidi’s recipe for Banana Chip Cookies, I couldn’t get them out of my head. Banana chips in cookies?   Yes, most of the ingredients were off limits for me, like the wheat flour, eggs, sugar, butter, etc. but I was determined to pull together a gluten free, whole grain, vegan, dairy/egg/corn/soy free version with little sugar.

I’m delighted to say, mission accomplished! It took a few tries, but hey, the experimentation process was delicious.  And these were absolutely incredible. I used macadamia nuts, which gave a total buttery richness, and sweetened them with agave. People who ate them wanted more, and this was by far the best chocolate chip cookie I had since going GF (and everything else free). The only downside is that an egg free dough means you’ve got no good reason not to just eat it raw…

I didn’t use a binder because I didn’t think it was necessary. Personally, I find xantham a off putting (ya know, something about casings of bacteria and all). They stay together just fine as long as you chill them and keep them small.  But if you want bigger cookies or don’t want to chill them, just add in your favorite binder, like xantham or guar or a little chia seed.

Though I had to change a bunch of elements, the spirit of Heidi’s remains in the whole grains and banana chips.  I never would have thought to put them in a cookie on my own!

Also–I use a spoon-in method rather than sweep and dip, meaning you spoon the flour in one spoon at a time. I don’t know what effect, if any, doing it the other way would have on a final product.

Banana Mac-Chip cookies

3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup ivory teff flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon mesquite (or 1 more tablespoon teff)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
scant 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 rounded teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup coconut oil
3 Tablespoons macadamia butter or cashew mac butter
1/2 cup agave
2 Tablespoons of molasses
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1/3 cup sparkling (bubbly) water

1 cup (measured pre-chopped)  macadamia nuts, lightly toasted and salted
2/3 cup banana chips
2/3 cup chocolate chips (dairy and soy free)

Chop macadamia nuts and banana chips.  I finely chopped about 1/3 of them, and left the rest coarsely chopped.  Chop banana chips.

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly. Cream the coconut oil, nut butter and sweeteners, then add vanilla. Mix wet and dry, add in the bubbly water and add ins. Chill for 30 minutes.

Put walnut sized mounds on a silpat or parchment about 2 inches apart.   Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes or until they start turning a yummy golden brown.

LET COOKIES COOL COMPLETELY before moving them, or they will definitely crumble.  Ideally, you’d wait 15 minutes before moving/eating, but the broken ones don’t count, right?

The adoption/adaption of Heidi’s recipes and 101 Cookbooks is part of “Adopt a GF Blogger”, as hosted by Book of Yum.  Many thanks to Sea for starting and hosting this event. 

Posted in baked goods, dessert, recipe | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Grilled Herb-y Red Peppers

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

First, an ode to my peppers, from their very beginnings
Just a baby

Seedling

Go, baby, go!

Red peppers are one of my favorite foods. They’re amazing roasted, better grilled, and best, grilled with fresh herbs. There’s something about adding herbs and sea salt that just adds another dimension of yum that just puts them over the edge of total yumminess. My favorite is with thyme, but I’ve used rosemary for a change, too. You just can’t go wrong.

Not only that, the leftovers are incredible! Red pepper soup. Red pepper sauce. Red pepper dip. Are you drooling yet? And no, I do not discriminate. Yellow and orange peppers are just as welcome on my grill, but they’re usually harder to come by. I usually use bells, but smaller ones work, too. About half of the ones in the picture of grilled peppers above are actually from my garden

My poor husband knows that no matter how many peppers we make, I’m eating most of them, and so help him if he tries to steal my peppers. Seriously, good grilled red peppers are up there with chocolate in my book.

9 peppers, seeded and chopped or torn in 4ths (depending on the size)
2 loosely packed tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of vitamin c crystals, a good squeeze of lemon, or splash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
3 Tablespoons high heat oil (almond, avocado, rice bran, high heat sunflower or safflower, etc)

Mix peppers with seasonings. This can be done a few hours in advance if needed. Put peppers on grill on low to medium heat skin side down. Turn once they’ve started browning (about 5 minutes) and grill 3-4 minutes more on the second side.

This is my submission for Weekend Herb Blogging, originated by Kalyn’s Kitchen. Our host this week is Ulrike from Kuchenlatein. The posts look so yum that I’m going to have to find a site that does translations!

Posted in recipe, side dish, vegetables | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Menu Plan Monday Sept 1st

Posted on September 1, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

What a busy week of blogging! It’s the deadline for the seasonal veggies version of Go Ahead Honey, it’s GF, and I submitted one of my favorites, Roasted tomato and Caramelized Onion soup. It was also the day to post the latest Daring Baker challenge, which went a wee bit less than perfectly. Earlier this week, I posted a Thai-ish Red Pepper Curry Paste, which has amazing flavor.

I’m happy to host MPM this week, which was originated by Gluten Free Mommy. This week is devoted to one of very favorite foods, peppers. I love peppers, I would say a freshly roasted, marinated red pepper is up there with chocolate on my list of heavenly foods. I’ll be posting my roasted pepper recipe later this week, but the picture above should help to get your mouth watering. About half of the peppers are even from my garden, which makes them even more special to me.

I hope everyone is having a great Labor day weekend! I’m looking forward to a busy week, with my in-laws coming to visit next weekend, too. Both DH and his mom have recently celebrated their birthdays, which calls for a massive chocolate cake. I’ve got a gorgeous one in my head, hopefully it comes out as well as I imagine it. On the main meal front, DH was requesting pork chops, but pork is just way beyond my willingness for flexibility, so as a compromise, I’ll be brining and making lamb chops. I haven’t a clue of what I’m doing, but that’s the best way to learn. We’ll see how that goes

Monday:
Grillin’
Roasted salmon with rosemary and grilled marinated peppers with thyme

Tuesday:
Experimental
Brined lamb chops with plum sauce and broccoli

Weds:
vegan:
Quinoa italiana with broccoli raab

Thursday:
Leftovers!

Friday:Ode to Southeast Asia
Vegan spring rolls, Malasian curry dipping sauce, grilled shrimp (I think), lemongrass iced tea and Thai spiced black pudding for dessert

Saturday:
Out to dinner with a Chocolate cashew cake for dessert. If it’s as good as I hope, I will post a recipe.

Baked good:
Chocolate cashew cake
Banana chip cookies (modified to be gluten, dairy, egg, corn, soy, and sugar free and vegan)

Garden Harvest:
My garden:
Peppers
tomatoes
lemongrass
ground cherries
thyme
rosemary
stevia
basil

From the Farmer’s market:
more peppers
plums
apples
cabbage
garlic

Manda of Asparagus Thin is settling into her new surroundings, and trying to juggle different food preferences, work schedules and the like. On the up side, she’s now got amazing Farmer’s Markets nearby! There may be a peppermint/peach cupcake in the lineup, which certainly has me curious.

Kimberly, of Cooking Free, is working on adding more animal protein back in her diet, and dealing with her daughter’s rice and corn intolerance. Maybe she’ll share her acorn squash stuffed quinoa recipe with us if we’re lucky!

Sarah at Everyday GF is joining us with a fun and thrifty menu plan. She’s got salsa chicken on the menu, and some thoughts on the history of Labor day.

Karen, of Gluten Free Sox Fan is starting a new job tomorrow. Best of luck, Karen! She’s got a good bit of grilling planned, and a triple chocolate cheese cake. Wow.

Angela is ready for the week, but having more trouble with how big her kids are getting. Time files…She’s got a lovely sounding menu, including a lot of garden fresh produce, like watermelon and corn. Quite honestly, her “to do” list for housekeeping chores makes me feel guilty for being such a slouch!

Kim at Gluten Free is Life has a yummy menu and some luscious pizza pictures to get me drooling. She’s a big pumpkin fan, and will soon start baking pumpkin everything. She had a great experience where someone actually knew what Celiac Disease is! (wow)

Ginger, of Fresh Ginger, has a range of global cuisine planned. She’s also got a lot of peppers on the menu. She’s been making her way through cookbooks at the library, and it shows!

Kate, of GF Gobsmacked is gracing us with a healthy lunch menu plan for a busy week! She’s a teacher and so this will be a bit of an adjustment. Her apple crisp sounds super yum.

I’ve also just put up my September GF newsletter on breakfast.

Have a great week!

Posted in menu plan | 14 Comments

Cream (un) puffs: a challenged daring baker

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

“Honey, I think these are the best pancakes I’ve ever had”, said DH. Under other circumstances, I might have gotten all warm and fuzzy. He doesn’t give compliments lightly.  However, I was (in theory) making éclairs for the August Daring Baker challenge, and so I must admit I was less than delighted.

Some things are meant to be, others not so much. I have been very lucky that I tend to have a knack for adapting recipes to be gluten free, vegan, sugar free and more. They’re usually not perfect first time around, but usually at least I’ve gotten them in the ballpark.  The last DB challenges I did exceeded my expectations!!  It’s pretty ironic that when I finally decide to follow a recipe fairly faithfully that I had so much difficulty.

The first time around, I followed the Daring Baker recipe and just switched to a GF flour blend and a pinch of ground chia as the binder. Those darlins’ are hubbies new fave pancakes. Then I tried a recipe from the GF Delphi forums. They puffed up, then fell. Despite still looking pretty (or at least prettier), they were a tad raw on the inside.  At least I was on the right track with those.

My appetite for round 3 was non existent, largely because I can’t eat them due to allergies, DH doesn’t really care for cream puffs, and the rest of my GF tasting squad isn’t really into éclairs either. Aside from my pride, there didn’t seem to be a good reason to try them again. So éclairs2, Cheryl 0, and for the time being, puff pastry, I’ll let you claim this match. But next time…watch out!

I made a chocolate cherry filling, made of coconut milk, cocoa powder, cherries, powdered chia and agave. The filling was quite nice, and gluten, dairy, egg, corn, soy and sugar free (i.e. safe for me). I love using fruits as a sweetener, and the cherries paired quite yummily with the chocolate. Though it was tasty, the proportions still need more work, though if I get it down, I’d be happy to share the recipe in the future.

I wouldn’t call it a total loss.  DH had a HUGE plate of pancakes to celebrate his 30th birthday.  It wasn’t quite what I was going for, though.  Please go see what other Daring bakers have done with their éclairs…I’m sure they look a lot better!  Many thanks to this month’s hosts, Meeta of What’s for Lunch Honey? and Tony Tahhan.

Ah well.  I can’t wait until next month!

Posted in daring bakers, dessert | 11 Comments

Roasted tomato and caramelized onion soup

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Cheryl Harris

This soup is a celebration of summer veggies, and is one of my favorites!  I make a huge batch and freeze it, and it’s such a treat to devour a bowl of summertime in the middle of the winter.

Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of tomatoes.  It was only once I started having them straight out of the garden that I discovered they were actually quite yummy!  So I never had tomato soup growing up, nor did I really develop a concept  of what tomato soup should be like.  I made a bunch of batches last year, and discovered that I like thick, serious soup…none of that thin, watery soup for me.  That’s why I seed everything by hand rather than using a food mill, because it gives a much heartier soup.  This does take a while, but it’s totally worth it–trust me!

As you’ll notice, the ingredients are as simple as can be.  That’s because when veggies are totally ripe and garden fresh, they shine best with little adornment.  For variety, I’ve roasted the tomatoes with fresh thyme, or added in a little cayenne.

I caramelize onions with just a little oil and long, slow cooking.  I do stir, simply because I like doing huge batches.  Otherwise, there’s so little left to enjoy! on!  This summer, I’ve only found sweet onions at the market, which are super yummy, but very watery, so i periodically “bail out” some onion juice and save it to add it back in later.  That’s not needed with yellow onions.   As you can see, they cook way down.

The cashew cream on top isn’t necessary, but boy, is it the icing on the cake.  You can also use a dollop of pesto, if you’ve got some handy.

4 large onions, sliced thinly
2 Tablespoons oil
pinch of sea salt
4 lbs of tomatoes, seeded and peeled
fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil

2 tablespoons of fresh thyme (optional)

Cashew Cream:
2/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon agave or maple syrup

Thinly slice the onions.  If you have a mandolin slicer, it’s much easier.  Heat the oil in a big heavy pot on medium heat, and add onions, stirring every 2-3 minutes for the first 10 minutes.   Add in a pinch of salt.  Onions should keep cooking over medium low heat for 70 min or so until dark and gorgeous.  They require little attention, just stir every 10 min or so while you’re working with the tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 350.

De- seed tomatoes, by chopping and squeezing gently.  For Romas or plum tomatoes, cutting in half is perfect, for a huge heirloom tomato, smaller pieces might be necessary.

Place tomatoes skin up on a WELL LINED cookie sheet.  Spray or drizzle with oil (if desired), thyme (if desired), black pepper and sea salt.  Roast for 15-20 minutes.  You will have more than one tray.  If you have a Vitamix or a high powered blender, it’s not necessary to peel the tomatoes.   If you don’t, it’s easy to pull the skins off as they are cooling.

Puree tomatoes in batches, adding in onion “water” if there is any.  Pour pureed tomatoes into the caramelized onion mix.

If you’re using the cashew cream, soak cashews in water overnight, then blend with water until smooth (this may take a long time!)  Add sweetener to taste.

Gently heat tomato soup, and serve with fresh chopped basil and cashew cream.

Cool to room temp before freezing.

This is my entry to the August edition of Go ahead honey, it’s GF, as hosted by the Crispy Cook.  This month’s theme is seasonal veggies.  What’s more seasonal than tomatoes?

Posted in go ahead honey, recipe, soup, vegetables | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments