Saturday, July 25, 2009

Egg & Vegetable Pie Italiano - The Garden of Eating


A few weeks ago I was approached by a lovely woman (Chef Rachel) about reviewing some cookbooks of hers. I agreed to try the recipes and she agreed to send me her books. Life has been hectic around here lately so I haven't had a chance to make anything but this recipe had jumped out at me due to all the herbs. We had them all in our garden so I could go out and pick them fresh for dinner tonight.

I was actually surprised that my picky son said that this was very good. My husband said it tasted like hot dogs. Not sure where he got that taste on his pallet but it must not have mattered because he took two slices. My ever fussy daughter....ate the herbs off the top and left the dense egg part on the bottom. I guess that's a 7 year old for you. The rest of us enjoyed dinner. It took me about 25 mins to prepare but that was including my trip to the garden for herbs so the estimate of 15 mins may be close to accurate.

You can tell I have been an insomniac lately. Too much Iron Chef watching. My husband laughed at my plate that I put together for my photo. Hey, presentation is everything. :)

A little about the cookbook this came from. It is called The Garden of Eating. It reminded me of a more user friendly Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Chef Rachel has added some great things like seasonal meal plans along with a few pages outlining what her typical eating menus are like. I loved that! Her food is very nutrient dense and includes good fats, grass fed meats and veggies. You can check out her website at http://www.thegardenofeatingdiet.com/.

So here's the recipe:

Egg & Vegetable Italiano

Extra Virgin olive oil, unrefined coconut oil, ghee or clarified butter to grease baking pan.

1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes, or drained, canned diced no salt tomatoes, divided

1 Tbs dried parsley or chives or 1/2 cup washed, dried, minced fresh parsley leaves or chives.

1/4 cup dulse flakes or 1/2 cup dulse leaf or laver (wild nori) sea vegetable, sorted to remove small shells or stones and cut into tiny pieces with shears, optional (I did not add this)

6 medium to large free-range chicken eggs or duck eggs or 8 small eggs

1/2 cup dried, powdered egg whites

2 Tbs dried onion flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbs fresh basil leaves

1 tsp dried oregano or 1 Tbs fresh oregano leaves, stems removed

1/2 tsp dried thyme or 1/2 Tbs fresh thyme leaves, stems removed

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground chipolte or black pepper

1/2 tsp Natural Liquid Hickory Smoke Seasoning such as Wright's, optional

  1. Place rack in center of and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 10 inch deep dish pie plate or 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Scatter half the tomato and parsley or chives over bottom of the pie plate. Sprinkle with dulse if desired.
  2. Combine reserved tomato and remaining ingredients in blender. Process until smooth and frothy, stopping to scrape sides with spatula. Do not over mix.
  3. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in pie plate. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until puffy, firm in the center, and lightly golden on top. Cut into 8 slices and serve, or cool, cover and refrigerate for later. If desired, top each serving with 1/4 of a sliced avocado. Use within 4 days.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Corn Flake Cookies


Gluten Free / Dairy Free Cornflake Cookies

2 Cups Gluten Free Flour (click here for mix)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp celtic salt
1 1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flaked or shredded coconut
2 cups gluten free corn flakes (I used Natures Path)

Sift together first 4 ingredients and slowly add the sugar and beat until light. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and creamed mixture. Add coconut and corn flakes (I crushed a bit). Place rounded dough on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 mins or until edges are lightly browned.

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Here is a picture (above) of the finished beautiful cookies. They taste great too!

Enjoy!!

Stephanie

Gluten Free Blueberry Crisp



We were on a small vacation this week and I came home to find my blueberries in the refrigerator a little less than desirable. So I needed to use them up. What better way than to cook them. So I decided that blueberry crisp would be in order. Here it is. It smells so yummy! Enjoy with coconut milk ice cream for a dairy free / gluten free delight.


Gluten Free Blueberry Crisp
2 Pints Fresh Blueberries - washed
1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I used Pamela's wheat free bread mix)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
1/3 cup gluten free oats
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish.
Mix the blueberries with 2 Tbs of the flour mixture and place in the dish.
Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, oats and shortening. Use a fork to mix the shortening through the mixture. Hint: the shortening works best if cold / solid.
Pour mixture over the top of the blueberries and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until it bubbles and the crust is browned.
Enjoy!
Stephanie

Friday, July 17, 2009

Oh Honey Grahams - Enjoy Life ( Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free)



I recently got the Enjoy Life cookie cookbook. My daughter and I decided to make the Oh Honey Graham crackers.
Ingredients include Brown Rice Bran, Rice flour, Flaxmeal, cinnamon, rice milk.
To get your Enjoy Life Cookies for Everyone click on the title and it will bring you to the Amazon site. You can view the cookbook online too.

These taste like real graham crackers!!



Monday, July 13, 2009

Gluten Free / Dairy Free / Grain Free Red White and Blue Muffins


I found this recipe at the Nourishing Gourmet Website and just had to try them. I love baking with coconut flour. Some say it is expensive but you use very little of it and it lasts longer than regular flour so it evens out. I buy the 4 bag boxes of Bob's Red Mill on Amazon.com . I used fresh berries - raspberries and blueberries.



Red, White and Blue Cupcakes-makes 10-12 muffins

You can also use all blueberries for a delicious blueberry muffin.

(To make these GAPS friendly, just leave out the baking powder, to make it SCD substitute baking soda. )

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs, gently beaten with a fork
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1-In a medium size bowl, place the coconut flour, sea salt, and baking powder. Whisk to remove any lumps.

2-Melt honey and coconut oil in a small saucepan, just until melted (if you have over-heated it all, let it cool before combining it with the eggs so that it won’t curdle it. Combine wet ingredients (eggs, honey, coconut oil, vanilla), and whisk thoroughly into dry ingredients.

3-Fold in fresh or frozen berries. In papered or lightly greased muffin tins, put about 1/4 cup of batter in each muffin tin. Make sure to have some of the blueberries and some of the raspberries in each muffin

4-Bake for 375 degrees until the muffins are lightly browned on the top and a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the middle of the muffin (20-28 minutes)


Enjoy! To your health......naturally.

Stephanie

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Smoothies

Someone recently asked on a GFCF group I am on for smoothie recipes. So I shared mine and then decided it would be a good blog entry for my GF blog as well so here they are. I also want to comment that when the kids are not looking I will grind up flaxseeds and sneak some into their smoothies for some good Omega 3 Fatty Acids.


Berry Smoothie
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup berries
1/2 cup rice milk or water
honey or agave nectar to taste
Ice if the berries are fresh and not frozen

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1/4 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup rice milk or water
5-7 ice cubes
1/2 tsp vanilla
nutmeg
cinnamon (both spices to taste)
honey to sweeten

Chocolate Covered Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1 Tbs cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut milk
5-7 ice cubes
1/2 cup rice milk or water

Strawberry Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1/2 cup strawberries
5-7 ice cubes
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup rice milk or water
cinnamon (to taste)
Agave or honey to sweeten a bit (depends on sweetness of berries and banana)

Avocado Blueberry / Peach Smoothie
1/2 avocado
1 peach
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup rice milk or water
Agave or honey to sweeten

To your health!

Stephanie

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Gluten Free Cake Flour Mix

I use this mixture for my cakes. It works very well and creates a gluten like cake.

Gluten Free Cake Flour Mix

3 Cups Brown Rice Flour
1 Cup Potato Starch (not potato flour)
1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum

Sift ingredients together, combining thoroughly. Use in place of flour in cakes and other baked goods. Store in a ziplock bag or airtight container.


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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Gluten Free / Dairy Free / Egg Free Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes


I made another great recipe today. The best part is that these are gluten free, dairy free and egg free and contain a good fat - avocado. My son loved them (my allergy child) saying "mommy these are so good". Yeah! I used a muffin top pan so that is why they look a little odd.



GFCFEF Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups Mock Better Batter Mix
3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 Avocado (pitted and peeled)
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Agave Nectar
3/4 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 - 3/4 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips


Add all the ingredients into the mixer bowl and blend. Put in a cupcake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 25 mins.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies


Happy 4th of July. We're just hanging around the house. So I decided to bake.

Now for our next adventure in baking......

How do you make a cookie dairy free? Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening! This is the basic Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe with the 1 cup of butter replaced with 1 cup of Spectrum Shortening and the chocolate chips replaced with Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips.