Ratios

I love the art of cooking.  It was after viewing Shauna James Ahern's blog Gluten Free Girl that I was introduced to Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman.  This helpful resources lets you in on the mathematical equations that produce everything from bread to pasta dough.

Ahern along with many other gluten free bloggers is part of a group called The Gluten Free Ratio Rally.  The Gluten Free Ratio uses Ruhlman's ratios as a foundation for creating amazing wholesome goods.  Each month the group chooses a blogger host and project to make from the book. March's host was Shauna James Ahern and the project was pancakes; this month's host was Silvana Nardone, the author of Cooking For Isaiah.  Check out her blog, Silvana's Kitchen, in order to receive a list of amazing group of quick bread recipes from dedicated gluten free bloggers :)

Thrive

I am an athlete and after going gluten free I was curious about healthy ways to improve my diet and my exercise routine.  I discovered Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendan Brazier through the No Meat Athlete blog.  While I haven't yet made everything in this book, I have made two of the sports drinks, a cereal, a pizza, some energy bites and energy bars; all of which were rather good.

I appreciate the fact that Brazier takes the time to educate his readers about the importance and benefits of good nutrition while giving a plan regarding how to incorporate it.  Good nutrition is something that everyone should take advantage of whether or not they consider themselves to be athletes.  If you are interested in having "optimal performance in sports and life", I encourage you to pick up this book.

Cooking For Isaiah

I like cookbooks and I take shopping for cookbooks seriously.  I first saw Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone in the summer at a bookstore and I thought I must come back for this book and a few weeks ago I did and I'm glad I did.  Cooking for Isaiah is filled with recipes that are simple and tasty.  So far, I have made Bread Slabs (a simple yeast bread for sandwiches), snickerdoodle cookies and today my sister and I made cinnamon and spice doughnuts.  They were so good :) I have missed doughnuts.

 I look forward to using her recipes throughout the year.  I would definitely recommend this book to those looking a way to make being gluten free delicious.  Be sure to check out Silvana's website (silvanaskitchen.com/ ) to find out more about her and pick up some new recipes too :)

Kasha with Golden Brown Onions

When I was little, my dad used to make my family and I buckwheat pancakes--huge buckwheat pancakes.  He would slide two humongous pancakes onto my plate and I would heroically work my way through them.  

Besides buckwheat pancakes, buckwheat didn't really enter our minds or our stomachs until I began to do some research on safe grains.  I found out that buckwheat is not only sold in flour form, but also as a creamy farina and as groats raw or roasted.

Kasha is roasted buckwheat groats and I thought that would be a good form of buckwheat to try.  The recipe I used is adapted from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Kasha with Golden Brown Onions

makes 4 servings

time: 30 min

3 cups chopped onion

3 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn

1 egg or 2 more tablespoons neutral oil

1 cup kasha

salt & freshly ground black pepper

2 cups vegetable stock or water, warmed

1 to 2 tablespoons butter (optional)

1)  Put the onion in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat .  Cover the skillet and cook for about 15 minutes, until the onion is dry and almost sticking to the pan.  Add the oil, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring until the onion is nicely browned, another 15 minutes or so.

2)  Meanwhile, if you're using the egg, beat it, then toss it in a bowl with the kasha. (If not, proceed to Step 3.)  Put the mixture along with some salt and pepper in a heavy, large, deep, skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring, until the mixture smells toasty, about 3 minutes.

3)  If you're using the oil instead of egg, put it in a heavy, deep skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the kasha, along with some salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the mixture sells toasty, about 3 minutes.

4)  Turn the heat to a minimum and carefully add the stock.  Cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes . Turn off the onion, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Serve or let the kasha sit for up to 30 minutes before serving. 

5)  When you're ready to serve, fluff with a fork, adding the butter if you like at the same time.

For my variation,  I added minced garlic and chopped spinach and cooked my onions in the oil until they were translucent.

 Kasha has a chewy texture to it and a mild nutty flavor, so if this sounds like something you like go for it  :) 

Brownie Bowls

I stumbled upon an amazing brownie mix from Bob's Red Mill.  It's fudgy, delightful and is lovely warm.  I like brownies and at first glance I was unsure about this mix and went to the internet to find ways to insure the fudginess of this mix but alas the ingredients that a recipe I found called for I did not have.  So, I decided to go ahead and try making the recipe as prescribed by Bob.  The results: amazing texture that is a mix of a slight cake texture with fudginess.  Ah, such a good brownie.  My sister and I made twelve small cupcake size brownies and then I suggested with our leftover batter we make brownie bowls.  "Are you sure you're not overdoing it?" my sister said.  "Yep," I responded, "this is going to be good." as I pulled down my mother's ramekins from the cabinet.  "Okay," she said with a face that said I'm not sure I believe you but after it was done she was a convert. The top of the brownie was like a chocolate crust that encapsulated a dense chocolate masterpiece.  Sometimes a brownie in a cupcake size doesn't work and you just want an upgrade and if so upgrade to the modest sized round ramekin; it doesn't disappoint :)

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day :)

Coconut Muffins

About a week or so ago, my grandmother gave me a bag of coconut flour.  I admit I didn't know that there was such a thing as coconut flour before she introduced it to me, but I was definitely willing to see what I could do with it.  Coconut flour is a high fiber product that is amazingly absorbent.  Bob's Red Mill says that you can "replace up to 20% of the flour called for in a recipe with coconut flour, adding an equivalent amount of additional liquid to the recipe."

After a good amount of research, I've found quite a few recipes for coconut flour including muffins :)  It turns out there are websites devoted to "the coconut".  This particular recipe comes from the cookbook Cooking with Coconut Flour: A Delicious Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Alternative to Wheat [COOKING W/COCONUT FLOUR]. This recipe had more eggs than I was comfortable with but I thought why not be adventurous, right?

I used their basic coconut muffin recipe and added pineapple to it.  The basic recipe is as follows: 

HONEY MUFFINS

This is a basic coconut flour muffin recipe you can use to make a variety of muffins. 

3 eggs 2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk 3 tablespoons honey 1⁄4 teaspoon salt 1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla

1⁄4 cup sifted coconut flour 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt, and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 C) for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

I substituted liquid equivalents for some of the ingredients ie. the coconut milk and the honey (I used molasses instead) and it came out rather well.  The texture might be a bit eggy for some but I'm sure with a bit of testing one can make this vegan as well.  

My muffins can out modest sized and moist; I also made nine of them instead of six.  The bottoms stuck a little to my muffin pan but that maybe due to me.  Anyways here's a picture of them; they are quite filling and taste quite good.

Vegan Cookies

Since my local library is my testing ground for new cookbooks, I'm always eyeing the shelves.  Recently I have come across a book called Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats.  While currently I am not a vegan I think it is important to live a mostly plant based life.  Here are the reasons why I picked it up: I have friends who are unable to have dairy products, I have problems with dairy, and I happen to be curious about making vegan gluten-free cookies :)

The pictures drew me and so did the cookie options.  Right now since I have certified gluten free oats, I have been particularly drawn to oatmeal cookie recipes.  Besides I've been eyeing the biscotti recipes the book contains.  Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her writing partner Hope Romero give guidelines for adapting their recipes to gluten free and as soon I replenish my flour options I am going to dive right in :)

Scones :)

On one fine day, I stopped by my local gluten free food source and they were having a sale on mixes.  I picked up two and one of them happened to be a Gluten Free Pantry Muffin and Scone mix.  I thought it would be fun to try to make this classic tea time treat.  The directions were simple and the results were rather good.  Since currently I don't have a mold to make triangular scones, my scones were made like drop biscuits.  I was surprised to see how big they fluffed up (courtesy of the magic of baking powder).  I tested these to see if they would freeze and defrost well and they passed the test.  I currently have one waiting in the freezer for me, so whenever I feel like wanting a scone I can have one :)

Cabbage Rolls

A few days ago, my family and I were given three heads of cabbage.  Normally I would think "cabbage...eh what can I do with that besides boil it?"  But a week before the cabbage came, I got a good deal on two great cookbooks (How To Cook Everything and How To Cook Everything Vegetarian) and I've needed a reason to use them :)  After I received the cabbage, I began flipping through How To Cook Everything and I settled on two recipes, a Mexican Style no-mayo slaw and Cabbage Rolls. This is the story of the Cabbage Rolls.

The oblong green heads were to my right and my cookbook was to my left on the kitchen table as I intently read about how to stuff cabbage.   The recipe was surprisingly simple.  I would remove the cabbage's leaves, wash the leaves, then put the leaves in a steamer over boiling water for 10-15 minutes until the leaves were flexible.  Once flexible, I would remove them from their steam bath and cut out their woody stems.  After this I would roll them like a burrito around the filling of my choosing.  I had some ground turkey cooking in a skillet with onions and garlic and red bell peppers roasting in the oven.  As soon as my filling was done and my cabbage was too, I applied the filling to its pleasant green home.  It took a few tries to get it to stay in its place (only because I had overfilled them) but after a bit I began to master the art of wrapping.  The wrapping came out well and the filling was rather good.  The Cabbage Rolls were a success.

Breadsticks

So, I thought it would be cool to try my hand at making a common appetizer in the non-gluten free world: breadsticks!  I have been thinking about making this for sometime and my results were decent.  I think next time I will lower the amount of salt that is put into it and see if there is some way I can make it fluffier  :)  This edition used brown rice flour and molasses since we didn't have honey on hand.  I used the pizza crust recipe from a few entries back but if you missed here it is again :)

Pizza Crust recipe

	2 1/2 c Rice flour
	1/4 oz (1.5 teaspoons) Gluten-free quick rise yeast
	1 ts Salt
	1/2 ts Xanthan gum
	1 1/4 c Warm water; divided
	(120130 degrees F.)
	3 tb Olive oil
	1 tb Honey

Combine flour, yeast, salt and xanthan gum in large bowl. Stir in 1 cup water, olive oil and honey. Use hands to work dough (dough will be soft and crumbly). Add just enough of the remaining 1/4 cup water to hold mixture together. Knead dough in bowl 5 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease 12-inch pizza pan; sprinkle with cornmeal, if desired. Flatten dough into round disk; press dough into pan. Add sauce, desired toppings; sprinkle cheese over toppings. Bake in 425 degree F. oven 20 to 30 minutes, or until crust is brown and cheese melted. (Timing varies according to amount and number of toppings.) Use a sharp knife or pizza wheel to cut into wedges. 

Rice Flakes :)

While rice flakes may not be a common thing in a Western household, my research has shown that it is quite popular in India and it is used to make both savory and sweet snacks.  Rice flakes entered my life recently thanks to my grandmother.  When she gave me a bag of it she told me she didn't know what I would do with it, but that it had a recipe for rice pudding on the back.  I felt like this was a food challenge and in order to be prepared to face this new food I went to the internet.  After searching for a bit and seeing all the varieties of delicious foods I could make with rice flakes I decided to use some of the info I had received to make my own rice flake creation.

Here is a picture of it:

I lightly toasted the flakes in oil and after they reached a golden brown I transferred them to a mixing bowl.  After the flakes were inserted into the bowl, I mixed them with brown sugar, flax seed meal and cinnamon.  The results were delicious.  I think that I might be able to use the mixture for a breakfast cereal, if not for a sweet snack.  I still have a good amount of the rice flakes left so later I might try for a savory mix.  Rice flakes can be purchased at your local health food store and perhaps grocery depending on where you live.  As always, please check food labels to protect yourself from unhappy food reactions.

Brown Rice Crackers

I found a brown rice cracker recipe that produces rather good crackers.  The recipe is quite simple and leaves room for your own creative input.   I decided to add some sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper and parmesan cheese to mine.  Here is a picture of the result:

Brown Rice Cracker Recipe

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

2/3 cup cooked brown rice

1 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup oil (coconut, safflower, olive, etc.)

1/3 to 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil large baking sheet. In bowl or food processor, mix flour, rice, flax seeds, salt, and oil until combined. Add water a little at a time until dough holds together. Pour onto floured surface and knead a few times to form a ball. Press or roll dough on baking sheet. Score into 1 1/2-inch squares. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until bottoms are golden brown. Cool before removing from pan.

Yield: about 3 dozen

This recipe comes from Mothering.com (interesting title I know), a website that considers itself the birthplace of natural family lifestyle. So if this interests you, check it out.  It turns out that a good portion of the Brown Rice Cracker recipes I saw on Goggle were a repeat of Mothering's so I though why not see if the recipe is good.

Pancake Picture :)

Here is a picture of some of the pancakes :)

Weekends

Do you know what helps make weekends grand?  Pancakes!!!  Today I made a batch of delicious pancakes from Maple Grove Farms Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix.  They were fluffy and moist and went lovely with some Maple Agave Syrup that I got from Trader Joe's.  This has been the second gluten free pancake mix that I have tried; the first one was Trader Joe's.  I can't say which one I like better but I can say that both are very good quality mixes that produce delicious results.

Pictures of this weekend's breakfast treat will be posted later :)

Happy New Year

It's a New Year and today according to one weather forecast, 49 of the 50 US states are covered in snow.  So, perhaps you had a snow day today and if you did good for you.  I hope you enjoyed it :)  I spend part of mine baking chocolate chip cookies and eating them with a glass of coconut milk.  It's quite a delicious combination. Ah, the joys of snow.  Soon, if not already, your streets will be plowed and life will return to its normal routine; hopefully it's a good one.