Almond Cake a l'Orange

Tonight I tried another recipe from Gluten-Free French Deserts and Baked Goods by Valerie Cupillard. It turned out really well. We put a little apricot preserves on it, but I would like to have had orange marmalade. I couldn't find any at the store that didn't have corn syrup in it. I think it would be really good with it though.
1/3 C vegetable margarine
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C finely ground blanched almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 C white rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp orange zest
Melt margarine. Stir in sugar, almonds, and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Then mix in the flour, baking powder, and zest. Pour into an oiled bread pan and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to 425. Bake for 13 more minutes.

scratch cookies!!! finally

I tried a recipe from Wheat-free Recipes & Menus by Carol Fenster tonight for chocolate chip cookies. These are the first scratch cookies I've made since going gluten-free. They were pretty darn good. I'm going to have to check this cookbook out. Someone gave me this recipe. I have eight children in my house tonight (four of which are mine and four of which aren't), and they have all eaten the cookies and asked for seconds and thirds. I'd say that's a "thumbs up." Trey liked them, too. This picture is of the second batch I cooked. The first batch looked better, but the kidlets ate them up before I could get a picture! I made these a little bigger, and they really should have been smaller. They were a little more gooey than the first ones.

Here's how I made them:
1 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill all-purpose GF flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 extra large egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar. Beat in vanilla and egg. Mix remaining dry ingredients together and beat into everything else. Now stir in chocolate chips. Drop cookies by tablespoonfuls onto greased pan and bake for 12 minutes.

Veggie-Flax Burgers

Tonight's dinner was a big hit with the kiddos. I made sauteed chard with garlic and lemon juice, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, veggie burgers, and gluten free golden gravy. I wasn't very sure about the burgers when I was making them, but they tasted pretty good. My family really liked them though. Ray ate three of them! Trey said he definitely wanted me to make them again. Success! The original recipe came from Delicious Living. This version is doubled and slightly different but not much.
1 1/2 cans (8 oz) artichoke hearts packed in brine not oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 C chopped green onions
6 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
6 tbsp flax meal
4 tbsp raw tahini
lots of black pepper
1 C cooked rice (the original recipe called for brown rice, but when I went to cook that - I didn't have any brown rice. The basmati I had worked well though.)
Pulse in a food processor until well blended (I had to do mine in two batches because there was so much). Form patties and cook in a little oil. The heat needs to be fairly low because they need to cook a few minutes on each side. I used an ice cream scoop to make the patties, and they came out a good size.

My gravy has been a work in progress since we went gluten free. Everyone really liked tonight's version. It had Earth Balance, onion powder, garlic powder, "chicken" broth powder, soymilk, dried parsley, salt, a little chili powder, and brown rice flour. The thing about making gravy with brown rice flour is that it is a sweet flour. Adding the chili powder took care of the sweet taste though. Also, the rice flour takes a while to thicken up. You don't want to add more though because then it will get way too thick. You just have to be patient with it.

yummy balsamic vinaigrette

I made a yummy balsamic vinaigrette for my salad this afternoon.
3 tsp grapeseed oil
1 tsp flax oil
3 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp basil

Tofu Satay with peanut sauce

Tonight's dinner included a bok choy stir fry, spicy grilled eggplant, and tofu satay with a peanut sauce. The stir fry was a recipe from Vegetarian Times. I have tried many, many recipes from that magazine, and I have only thought one was disgusting, so I'd say that's a pretty good track record. However, we weren't all that impressed with tonight's stir fry. It was okay, but it wasn't worth the effort. I tossed that recipe in the trash. The peanut sauce was a new recipe. It was good, but it was very tangy. I think if I made it again, I'd add less vinegar and more cayenne. The recipe called for 3 tbsp peanut butter, but we doubled that. The recipe was for a dressing, so that's why it was so runny. We served it with tofu satay that is a favorite in our house. I drain and pressed the tofu, and then cut it in squares, then put it in the marinade. After I put it on a baking sheet, I cook it at 450 for 15 minutes, then flip them over and cook them another 10 minutes. The spicy grilled eggplant was a recipe from the internet although we changed it up a bit. It was pretty good, but it still needs some work. The tofu satay marinade is super easy. It consists of:
2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp mirin

The Asian sauce is:
6 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tsp minced ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 C peanuts, chopped
Whisk together first six ingredients until creamy, mix in peanuts. Serve.

This morning we had one of our favorite breakfasts. It's super healthy and versatile, too. We mix a container of Whole Soy yogurt (I prefer to use the vanilla flavor), with some chopped almonds, and fruit. This morning we had blueberries, strawberries, and grapes. You can vary the fruit, but the grapes are especially good. They add a sweet crunch that is very yummy. Here's two pictures of it. The first is before I mixed it up, and the second is after.

Molasses and Beans Hot Pot

Okay - apparently I have found a new way to know if you are addicted to blogging! Tonight I ate my dinner, and then realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it to put on my blog, so I filled up my plate again, so I could take a picture. LOL. I made a recipe that I haven't in a while called Molasses and Beans Hot Pot. The original recipe comes from Vegan Delights by Jeanne Marie Martin. I also made a Greek Salad, and that original recipe was given to me by my friend Mirjam. I made some roasted carrots and fried potatoes with it. It was yummy. Here's my modified recipe for the Hot Pot.
2 cups dried pinto beans
1 chunk of kombu
soak the beans overnight, and then cook them until tender and the kombu pretty much dissolves.
Then add:
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup ketchup
4 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1/2 tsp salt
Cook 20-30 minutes over low to med heat until onions are tender.

Here's the salad recipe:
spinach
tomatoes
red onion, thinly sliced (which we didn't have tonight because I forgot to get one at the market!)
marinated artichoke hearts
grated carrots (which I also forgot)
Greek olives
Feta cheese
Dressing:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 of 3/4 cup white wine vinegar (yep - you read that right! LOL!)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/8 cup Bragg Liquid Aminos
ground black pepper
Shake well and pour over salad.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

One thing I have really missed since going gluten free is baking. I used to make everything from scratch, and now I have to completely relearn how to bake. I love this flourless chocolate cake. It is fabulous. It's moist and chocolaty and oh so yummy. Here's the recipe:
1 can of black beans, drained (the original recipe says you can use chickpeas, but I haven't tried that yet)
1/4 cup orange juice
4 eggs
3 ounces chocolate, melted (the original recipes says two ounces, but how could more chocolate be bad? Also, it says to use bittersweet, but I like it with bittersweet or milk chocolate.)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
powdered sugar, for garnish

Put beans and oj in food processor and process until smooth. Add eggs, pulsing after each one. Then add chocolate and pulse again. Add dry ingredients and pulse until just blended. Put in a prepared 8-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool 15 minutes before taking out of pan. Dust with powdered sugar.

bean dip

I've posted on a vegetarian board for bean dip recipes. I figure I can use these for the kids' lunches. They love to dip stuff. I made a version of one today. It was really yummy. My two youngest kids tried it and liked it. The baby begged for it! I made it with:
1 can of low fat, vegetarian refried beans
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 can diced green chiles, 4 oz can, I think
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried cilantro
1 tsp coriander
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Mix in the food processor.
I spread that on corn tortillas and cooked them with a little olive oil. It was really good. I don't know how that would work for one of the kids lunches. I think it might not taste very good on the tortillas if they sat for long. I'll probably put some in their lunches with some tortilla chips and veggies to dip.