Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Halloween!

LOVE Halloween. Costume photos are coming. My hair didn't dye, an $8 job won't cut it. Made allergy-free Halloween treats today. Punkin carving and soup making tonight. Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday (a new realization). The traditions of punkins, orange, costumes, parties, and less required family interaction makes this a great holiday. ;-)

(disney vault)


(aimchong)


(dashboard)




(Bedlam of Beefy)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Product Review #2 (sounds good)

So here is the first of many to-be allergy-free product reviews. These are incredibly important to those allergy folks out there because many store-bought allergy-free items taste like... crap or shredded cardboard.

So for your viewing pleasure we have a customer review of Gluten Free Dairy Free frozen pizza. Yes, people that are forced to eat healthy crave processed food too.



I was pleasantly surprised with the lake of cardboard-ness. The crust was like a thin crust pizza. The lack of cheese was fine with the sweet onion sauce. The toppings were nothing to talk about. Could add prosciutto, sausage, real roasted peppers or sun-dried tomatoes. But for a late night snack after paper-chain making and working on a Halloween costume, it was satisfying. Rating 4/5 stars (mostly because of the crust).



Excellent pairings for this pizza: Sweet Baby Ray's which always adds something to any meal or whiskey. In my case I chose both. Yay for my Friday night on a Monday night!

New Hair Cut!

(This post is for momma cuz she's not on facebook)




LOVE getting my hair cut off.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Pumpkin pie buckwheat waffles!

Yes, the glorious days of pumpkin puree have begun! I stumbled upon this amazing recipe via cookitallergyfree.com. Combining two of my favorite things: pumpkin and waffles! The recipe following... was sketchy to say the least. They taste like... well all I can taste is the gluten free all purpose flour and lack of gluten and eggs :-/ yeah, you just can't get past that. BUT, I really think the buckwheat and pumpkin duo is great.

Ingredients. Bob's Red Mill was on sale so I picked up these three today: brown rice flour, amaranth flour, and sweet white rice flour.



I made my own all purpose flour because I ran out and because I have an exorbitant amount of flours at this point (though, it never seems like enough). I used this recipe though I don't have potato starch (1/2 cup corn starch) or quinoa flour (replaced with more brown rice flour).
  • 2 cups sorghum flour
  • 2 cups brown rice flour (I use superfine brown rice flour)
  • 1 1/2 cups potato starch, not potato flour
  • 1/2 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/2 cup amaranth flour
  • 1/2 cup quinoa flour


Kept the dry and wet separate and folded them in. Whisked those fake eggs into submission.



A bit thick... lol. Don't over mix.



First one, perfect.



Second one, crap. Still edible just ugly.



Ugly waffles rectified with bacon. That'll save anything.


PUMPKIN PIE WAFFLES: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free
(Easily Nut-Free and Egg-Free)
(adjusted by Sweet Pea)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum and gluten-free) hmmm?
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or more cinnamon, or nutmeg, or a pinch of ground cloves)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar (or coconut sugar)-didn't originally add this but is in important HOWEVER, that was the cause of the sticking to the griddle issue
Eggs-Egg-Free version: mix 3 tsp of Ener G Egg Replacer with 4 Tbsp water or non-dairy milk. Whisk until as foamy as possible. This is only the replacement equivalent to 2 eggs, but this is quite adequate.
1 cup plain non-dairy milk of choice
1/2 cup water
1 can organic pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
It asks for kefir (fermented milk) and yogurt. Obviously that's not happening. So I used the whole can of pumpkin and a bit of water.

6 Tablespoons Organic Canola oil, OR Earth Balance Vegan buttery sticks (melted), OR organic butter (melted) -The vegan butter was not enough, I would definitely use at least half canola oil and half butter.
Directions:
1. In medium bowl, sift together all-purpose flour blend, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon and other spices of choice. Once blended, mix in the sugar.
2. In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk (dairy-free) , organic pumpkin, and oil (or melted Vegan butter, or dairy butter). Combine until smooth.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold until just incorporated (do not over-mix).
4. Let batter sit for five minutes while allowing your waffle iron to heat up. Make sure to brush the waffle grates with A LOT of oil. For a 7 inch round waffle iron, add about 2/3 to 1 cup of batter to the center and quickly spread. Close lid and cook according to iron directions.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Halloween Inspiration!

After being Poison Ivy last year, I would like to continue the villain-ness theme:



Guess what's next?!


(adherents)

YESSS! I mean, I ride a bike, BLACK LEATHER is my thing!


(my.spill)


(activitypit)


(photobooth)


(vintagephoto)


(io9)

MEOOOOOW!


(thebatmanuniverse)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

More cookin' with BACON

Monday night I made Gypsy Soup, a recipe my sister passed on. It's sooo delicious and spicy: cinnamon, cayenne, basil, bay leaf, paprika, etc. I had my folks over to eat it with me.
Soup in the makin:



That night I mixed up a Bob's Red Mill yellow cake which was fairly decent. I used 1 flax egg and 2 Ener-G eggs which was good (vs. 3 flax eggs-would have been tough). It was a pretty... doughy cake and was tricky to spread in a 9x13 but, it rose well. My housemate Marie whipped up some DELICIOUS vegan frosting with, a stick of vegan butter (expensive margarine), cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla. It was thick and fantastic after being used to powdered sugar icing. Photos turned out fuzzy-it's not much to look at anyways. :)

Here is my epic BLTA today. I could eat this three times a day. It's epic because I realized I'm a social bacon eater, meaning I don't cook it at home but will happily eat it else where. I think it's in part to the fact that I currently live with 5 vegetarians and I'm very considerate. Today though-you could feel the grease in the house (with apologies). It was made with my special bread, vegan mayo, BACON, spinach, Gramma's tomatos, and avocado. Mmmm!



Unfortunately, avocados are getting lame, I wish I knew someone who would ship them to me from Miami. Later today I was making chicken and noticed I had left the bacon-greased frying pan on the stove on accident. So... yes, I threw my chicken breast and veggies right on in it and it was glorious.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Trying out new delicious-ness!

I wanted to whip up Gypsy Soup but, feeling ill, it just didn't happen. So after home-roasting some garlic and peppers. I made roasted red pepper hummus (never made it before) and curried tuna salad (never had it before). Mama picked me up a gluten-free vegan sourdough loaf from New Cascadia Bakery. Awesome!










Dig in! Great combo!

Roasted Red Peppers
Why don't I do this everyday! OH it was so good!
For beginners: try not to make the smoke detectors go off. When they say watch the peppers like a hawk they mean it. Let's just say I had issues with that. Here's a great tutorial with lots of photos. Garlic was simple, mainly because I have a garlic roaster from momma. But here's a tutorial using a muffin tin instead, again with lots of photos.

Curried Tuna Salad
1 6- ounce can of tuna, drained and flaked
1 large. or 2 small ribs of celery, diced
1 Tablespoon chopped onion
3 teaspoons curry powder
3- 4 Tablespoons of mayonnaise
salt and pepper, to taste
In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Apparently: chilling for 1- 2 hours is strongly recommended, to allow the curry powder to interact with the other ingredients-leftovers might be better than. Enjoy.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, started with this recipeone can chickpeas (drained and rinsed if using canned)
1 roasted red pepper, coarsely chopped
1 head garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt

I added 2 TBS water because I ran out of EVOO :(
Directions: food process, eat and then eat more.

Breakfast of champions!

Mmm, tomato sandwich. Made with tomato from Gramma's garden. It was sooo good! Round two tomorrow for sure.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Not so pretty flatbread and hummus!

So, yes it may look like shredded cardboard but it cooked well. It was doughy, risen, and delicious. I dipped it in home made sesame-fee hummus and it was just... I could eat it every day. I think if I use some other flours it could look prettier. The flaxseed 'fake egg' causes the grainy look. Maybe potato flour and ener-G egg replacement would be better. Could all be made in 30 min!


We ate it before I could get out the camera!

Gluten Free Flatbread Recipe
1 c. brown rice flour (maybe 1/2 potato flour and 1/2 all purpose)
1/2 c. corn starch
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. water
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. canola
2 eggs (or flax eggs)

1. Mix all dry ingredients in medium size bowl.
2. Add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
3. Grease two 8 in. square baking pans and dust with brown rice flour.
4. Spread half of batter evenly into each pan. Use the back of a wet spoon if the dough is sticky.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 15 minutes, or until bread pulls away from the sides of the pans.

Substitution Notes: Tapioca starch or potato starch can be substituted for the corn starch. Flax eggs are 1 Tbsp ground flax seed + 3 Tbsp. water.
Sesame-Free Hummus, makes 1 cup but you'll want more!
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
¼ cup water
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
- Dash paprika, for garnish 1. In a food processor, combine garbanzo beans, water, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, salt and oil. Process for 2 full minutes, until mixture is smooth and creamy.

2.
Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with dash of paprika.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Post-Camp Buckwheat Waffles

The fact that I didn't have to cook for two weeks has inspired me to actually do so now that I'm home. I had been fed up with cooking for myself, hadn't been home much, and had been paying the price. So tonight, at 10PM I decided to wip up some buckwheat waffles.





Turned out rad, wish I had followed the recipe a bit better and wish I could make a PB&J waffle BUT they were fantastic none the less. I used a recipe from a blog and made necessary adjustments. I liked not having to mix the flax meal (my fake egg) before hand and just using one bowl-an oddity with my cooking.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Egg Free Buckwheat Waffles

3/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (or flax meal)
2 tablespoons tapioca flour (cornstarch or arrowroot would be okay, too)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used hemp, soy or almond is probably better)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (IMPORTANT! I left it out and they NEED it)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all flours, flax seeds, tapioca, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Create a well in the center and add the remaining ingredients. Use a fork to mix well for about a minute. Let the batter rest.

Warm up the waffle iron and go for it! It made less than 2 waffles but, my waffle iron is huge. Next time I will not forget the maple syrup, I may spread it out on the iron a lot so they are crunchy, and I will make whipped faux-cream for the top!