Gluten Free Blondies and Pancakes

Howdy!   I hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend so far!

It's been so beautiful outside.

Gluten Free Vegan Blondies

I made these treats above this past week.  I found the recipe at Sarah Bakes Gluten Free Treats.

They came out a little dry for me but they tasted pretty good.  I made some tweaks to the recipe due to the dryness. I also used my own gluten free flour blend.  My adjustments are listed in parenthesis in the recipe)

gluten free vegan blondies

adapted from Sarah Bakes Gluten Free

*makes 16 bars (only made 12 for me)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil(I used Earth Balance and melted it)
• 1 cup brown sugar(1/2 C)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups Sarah's gluten free flour blend
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3 T. non dairy milk
• 1/2 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 8x8-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In microwave safe bowl, melt coconut oil on high for 30 seconds until completely melted.  In large mixing bowl, combine melted coconut oil and brown sugar.  Add pumpkin puree and vanilla.  Stir until smooth.  Mix in the flour blend, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add chocolate chips.  Pour mixture into prepared baking pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Cool in pan for 10 before cutting.

These pancakes would look a lot yummier with some Earth Balance/walnut oil and pure maple syrup drizzled on them right?  Well they were!  Ha ha ha.

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect gluten free pancake and I think these really are them!

gluten free vegan multigrain pancakes

adapted from Sarah Bakes gluten free treats

gluten free vegan multigrain pancakes

makes 10-12 pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups Sarah's gluten free flour or your own
• 1/4 cup certified gluten free oats, ground into flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal(millet flour or another gluten free flour)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups almond milk or any other non dairy milk
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance or coconut oil melted
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*note- if there is not xanthum gum already in your gf flour blend than add 1/2 tsp. to this.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, oat flour, millet flour or other flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In medium bowl, mix together the non dairy milk, melted Earth Balance/coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. The batter will thicken as it sits.

Heat large skillet over medium low heat. Coat with cooking spray or a tablespoon of coconut oil. Add 1/4 scoop of batter to the pan and slightly smooth out. Flip pancake when golden brown on the underside and can easily be lifted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook on other side. Repeat with remaining pancake batter. Serve warm. 

I hope you enjoy these recipes!  We did!

ciao!

Gluten Free Lemon Bars/GF Homemade Bread and a Raw Food Diet e-booklet GIVEAWAY!

I just realized how long it's been since my last blog.  Yikes! 

I missed signing up for Vegan MOFO which I really wanted to do to get my butt into blogging more consistently.  My dog Ace is having health issues and I wasn't focused last week because of it. That's when I noticed I just missed the cutoff to sign up. Regarding my Ace dog?  It seems he may have been bitten by a tick from who knows when that has now caused an auto-immune disorder.   His blood platelets were so low when I rushed him into the vet, his mouth and penis were bleeding along with a bunch of bruising that just happened so quickly. He even started bleeding a bit in his eyes. Talk about being FREAKED OUT!!!  He probably will have to be on prednisone for the rest of his life and no more vaccinations for this doggy.  He started having some issues last spring which we treated and then symptoms started coming back so we treated him again in the summer.  Then boom it came back full force this time.  I'll be taking him in for blood work check ups to make sure he continues to make new blood platelets and that the meds are working for him.  This leads me to a question.  Do you know or are you using any type of product to help build your dogs immune system?  I'm thinking if I can help build his immune system up the lower dosage of prednisone he would need.

Shall we move on to some good stuff!

Gluten Free Lemon Bars

I was inspired to make these bars because my son loves lemon bars and the ones he brought back
home from his visit with his grand parents weren't gluten free although they were vegan and amazing!  The lemon filling is taken from Veganomicon and the crust I made up and you can't even tell it was gluten free.  I have to make them one more time and write down the measurements before I can post.

Gluten Free Vegan Sandwich Bread

This is my fifth attempt at making a home made gluten free vegan bread.  The first two times I used a gf bread mix and the other 2 from other recipes online.  They were heavy, rock hard and/or raw inside. This one has turned out all 3 times so it's a keeper and it's really good!  My son was very proud of me for having a success with this.  The recipe is from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. 

 

 

As you can see it's makes great toast too!  I left it in a little too long...ooops!

It freezes really well too if you want to make a couple of loaves and freeze one or half of one if you aren't going to eat some everyday. 

 

 

GIVEAWAY!!!

 

The weather is changing and it's starting to get cooler(finally)so you may be wanting to consume warmer foods but it's still good to keep eating those raw foods.  I was contacted by Hilary Greenleaf who is an author, educator and nutritionist to give away 2 Raw Food Diet e-booklets!  This a great introductory booklet to get you started into eating raw foods from kitchen tools, stocking your pantry to easy recipes.  It's easy to read and understand.  To win this fabulous e-book leave a comment below on your favorite raw food/meal by 10/10.

Happy winning!

How gluten/wheat affected my son and some of our favorite gf foods

Hello everyone!  Hope you all have been having a good summer so far.  The heat has been kicking in out here in California.  How is it in your area of the world?

I've been packing for our move in 2 weeks which isn't something I would like to be doing. The house we are in was put up for sale, which is a bummer because we're pretty comfortable here.  Luckily we found a new house rather quickly and it's actually closer in town.

On another note a while back my son Keaton was having ear problems for about 1 1/2 years, constant ear pain and ear pressure along with bouts of fluid in his ears.  His ear problems actually started around age 5 then as he got older they were becoming more frequent along with ear infections and then about 1 1/2 years ago it got really bad with the issues I mentioned above.  He had allergy tests which came up with nothing, although she didn't do a food allergy test.  His pediatrician and the E.N.T. Dr. said the only option left would be to put tubes in his ears.  Ear tubes at the age of 14, I don't think so.  I decided to try another doctor and I found a osteopathic doctor who said he didn't need tubes and a Naturopath which helped us start to build up his immune system and hat we should get him off gluten because he has had stomach issues for quite a few years as well.   Keaton and I had a suspicion  he was sensitive to wheat because of his stomach pain but he wasn't consistent with eliminating it all together.  As I was doing research on wheat/gluten intolerance I found that it does cause damage to the immune system and can cause ear pressure/infections.  I discussed this info. with Keaton and he agreed to do anything to stop the pain.  It's been almost 2 months now and how is he doing?  He is ear and stomach pain free!!!!  He just got a physical and the doctor said his ears look great! 

This is where I have to stock up on gluten free foods for the kid.  The first thing to buy would be a great tasting gf vegan bread that I can locally, yet there are only the heavy rice bread options.  Blah! The best tasting gf vegan bread I've found so far is Sami's Bakery(I've mentioned in an older post) located in Florida!  Seriously it's the best tasting bread and now they have burger buns and bagels.  Oh yah and also wraps!  The bummer about ordering from here is that if you want 2 day delivery it's very expensive so I get the standard delivery which from the time of order to arrival can take a good week so I order extra and freeze it.  Check out the bun below which has a Dr. Praeger's Veg. Patty in between. Keaton raves about these buns and says they are better than any non gf bun he's ever eaten. I have to agree with him these buns taste amazing!

Sami's Bakery Burger Buns

I did recently find another bakery which is actually located out here in California that is now making gf vegan breads and I am hoping they taste just as good.  My son will be trying it out for the first time while he is visiting his grandparents.  We'll let you know more about it when he gets back.

As far as finding other gf foods, there are so many more options out there nowadays, some are good some not so good.   Pastas: our favorite is Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta it holds it's shape and also does well reheated up. As far as a rice pasta we like Jovial Brown Rice Pasta which has a great texture but is a bit pricier but worth it.  Gf vegan burgers: Sunshine Burgers, Dr. Praeger's and there is a new one we tried from Health is Wealth Sprouted Grain Burgers that tastes really good although it might not look it would.  They do contain soy but there was only 2 boxes left on the shelf so I figured it had to taste good.  Oh and check out this find...

 

Helen's Kitchen Organic Veggie Ground

I noticed this new product next to the other veggie ground products so I picked it up and noticed it was gf and vegan so I snagged a package to try.   I decided to use it as a taco filling so upon opening it up that it was very moist but this did cook out the longer I cooked it.  It has a really nice flavor without adding any seasoning but I used it to make taco's so I added taco seasoning to it.  I was pleasantly surprised with this product and highly recommend it to anyone who has been wanting to use crumbles but can't do to being gluten free.

So this is just some of our favorite products that I buy the rest I make.



Speaking of things I make.   I recently made the best gf pie crust that turned out fabulous as well as the pizza crust from Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats by Allyson Kramer which I won over at Happy Vegan Face...thanks Jessy I'm loving the new cookbook!  The pizza crust also has a great taste as well.

Gf Vegan Peach Scone from our local health food store

What are some of your favorite gf products/foods?

Next post will be a raw e-book giveaway!

Furry Birthdays, GF-pasta and salads...lot's of pic's!

July we have a couple of our furry family birthdays we celebrate.  1st up is Merlin, he is 16 this month!  He

is still a pretty active cat for his age, like last night, he was very noisy running around and wanting in then out.  Errrrr!  He has thinned out quite a bit and is more verbal now.  If you come over for a visit and the dogs try to get all of your attention, well you will hear Merlin loud and clear, while he jumps onto the couch to say "I'm here too"!

Next up is Ace who just turned 2 on the 2nd.  He just wants all of the love, is quiet and loves to try to crawl onto your lap. 

We took a drive the other day and ended up in Cambria.  We had to pick up some of our favorite Italilian pretzels, Taralli, from Allocco's Italian bakery.  The owners are so friendly.  On the way home it started getting cold, especially sitting in the back of a Jeep, so Keaton shared a blanket with Ace.

Dave and I walk back to the Jeep from picking up some burritos and we see Ace with this sweatshirt on and Keaton giggling. Quite funny.

For lunch the other day I had leftover whole wheat pasta noodles and added broccoli, red bell pepper, garlic, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.

 For Keaton I made  Vegan Yum Yum's "Hurry Up Alfredo" sauce and added Gf pasta noodles and a side of broccoli.

Yesterday I went with a friend to our Farmers Market.  It is so busy now with wonderful colors of vegetables, flowers and the smell of all of the fruit!  I know all of you out there love the Farmers Market too.

I was so happy to see Santa Barbara Picstachio Company there.  These are my favorite pistachio's and the flavored ones have a nice and light flavor, slightly salted and they are organic. You won't find a crusty coated pistacio that's loaded with salt here.  These are just perfect and you can order online too!  If you purchase some let me know what you think!

I picked up some lovely golden beets at the Market too.  I roasted some with olive oil and sea salt.

Once they were done I sliced them up and added them to a salad with red lettuce, kale,spinach and pecans. A good way to sneak in dark leafy greens is to chop them up in small pieces and then add them.  I then drizzled a mixture of Blood Orange Balsmic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, agave syrup(you can use maple syrup or honey) salt and pepper to tastse.  I saw a salad like this in The Flying Apron's Gluten Free and Vegan Baking Cookbook.  The dressing called for regular balsamic.

I'm looking forward to trying the bread recipe's from theis cookbook.  Alot of the recipes call for garbanzo flour which I don't like to use in sweets so I'll be subbing in different flours for those.

For lunch I had lightly sauteed swiss chard, with garlic, yellow bell peppers drizzled with a tahini sauce.

Last but not least you can never have too many gf chocolate chip cookie recipes.  I found this recipe from from Eat, drink & Be Vegan

These are soft and yummy!  I of course cut down on the sugar from the recipe and only added 2 T. of sugar and for the flours I used 1/2 C. Sorghum flour, 1/4 millet and 1 T. buckwheat flour. 

Do you have a favorite GF chocolate chip recipe?

GF-Strawberry Muffins and GF-Spinach Pasta w/grilled Artichokes

It's a beautiful day today and also one to thank all those vets who have served our country  and those men and women that are still doing so today.  Most of us know someone who has put their lives on the line.  My husband's second cousin who is 23yrs old who just finished up Army boot camp is on his way to Afghanistan.  We are thinking of him today and hoping he stays out of harms way.   While I have my own feelings on war I will not get into that.

Now I'll move on to the food!  How does GF-Strawberry Muffins sound?

This is pre-baked, obviously. I like to use the Vanilla Gluten Freedom Cupcakes from VCTOW...

but with some changes.

I originally was going to frost these but they turned out more like a muffin...or so I thought.  These would make a great breakfast muffin.  These came out really light and airy.

The changes I made were...

eliminating the almond extract/decreased the sugar to 1/2 c.

1/3 C. millet flour instead of corn flour

1/2 C. sorghum flour instead of quinoa flour

1 C. chopped fresh strawberries added at the end....fold in gently until well combined.

Next up...dinner.

Spinach Pasta with Cilantro Pesto and Grilled Artichokes

This recipe was taken from Veganomicon but I used GF-spinach pasta and I used fresh artichokes. Since artichokes are now in season I used them and then grilling them really made the dish more fresh tasting.  The cilantro pesto that has basil in it is really nice too.  This also tastes good cold the next day.

Are there any other ways you all use fresh artichokes?  Anyone have a vegan stuffed artichoke recipe?  I'm trying to come up with one.

Enjoy your day!

Roasted tomato basil soup and raw nut oatmeal treats

I hope everyone is enjoying there beautiful weekend!  We are just kind of hanging out and enjoying the great weather.

So I know it's not tomoto season yet but I have really had the taste for tomato

 soup.  You see I had it all planned out as when to make this because it was really cold and raining one day last week and I thought, "how perfect to make this on a stormy night."  That's what I did!

I swear this is the absolute best tasting tomato soup.   Years ago I was watching the Barefoot Contessa on t.v. and saw her make this and it looked so easy to make and I absolutely love roasted tomatoes!  You can click here to get the recipe.  I used ripe plum tomatoes for this but sometimes I mix in cherry tomatoes as well.  When the tomatoes are done roasting, break off a piece of  rustic bread and put a tomato on it and it's tastes oh...so...good!  You'll want to save some for the soup though so don't eat all of them. lol!

I also threw in some sliced garlic to be roasted with the tomatoes.  It calls for butter but I didn't use any EB, just olive oil.  I also think fresh thyme is better than the dried for this and the red pepper, I cut back on too.

Hope you try it, you won't be dissapointed.

 

I'm trying to make more raw nut treats to have around so Keaton can just grab them and get his sweet fix.  I tried to make these more like an oatmeal cookie.  These ones have 1/2C. raw almonds, 1/2C. raw cashews, 8/9 dates, 1/2 C. oatmeal, 2Tbsp. shredded coconut, 2Tbsp. flax seed and dark chocolate chunks.  I shaped them into squares.

I'm looking forward to making a raw strawberry cheesecake with Keaton tomorrow.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

weekend update...

Happy President's Day to all of you.  I hope everyone who has today off is enjoying it.  We are having some beautiful weather out here in California.  Yesterday on Valentines Day it was 72 and sunny.  Ahhhhh the sun!I just had to take a picture of our Cleo!

   

On Valentine's morning I made breakfast burritos for Keaton and Dave.  I had one too!  I can't usually eat something like this in the morning, it usually feels to heavy on my stomache but this actually didn't.  Even though my son and I couldn't finish one I didn't feel yucky after.  The burrito ingredients were: Rice tortilla, pinto beans, scrambled tofu with Soyrizo(I got to tell you the first time my husband had soyrizo he was pretty impressed and said he couldn't tell it was made from soy), potato & onions, avocado and a hot sauce.  Another thing about Soyrizo is Keaton's friend who made the decision to go vegetarian, his dad made breakfast for the boys one day and used Soyrizo for the first time and said he really liked it. 

I was going to make dinner for Valentine's but Dave didn't want me to have to cook.  So we actually were pretty casual this year and we went to the pizza place and ordered a pizza to go.  This is a garden pesto pizza no cheese of course.  I love that they totally load up the pizza with veggies, unlike some places.  I did make a salad to go with and he bought  me a nice bottle of red wine.

For dessert I made the gluten free chocolate cupcakes from Jessy(thanks Jessy) at HappyVeganFace .  These were real light and moist. The only thing I would change would be the gluten free flour mix.  It calls for Bobs Red Mill all purpose mix.  I think I would use Pamela's or make my own gluten flour mix up.  I'm  not a big fan of using garbanzo flour in my baked goods, but since these were chocolate it hid the taste.  We all scarfed this down.  I made a hole in the middle of the cupcake, poured some caramel sauce into it, drizzled chocolate sauce over that and stuck a cute chocolate heart on top! 

Do you say caramel or carmel?  I say caramel.  A discussion was brought up about a week ago when my in-laws were visiting and we were going back and forth on this.  So I did a little research and Caramel is the proper pronunciation for the sweet sugary sauce or candy we eat.  Carmel is a place, a town.  So there you have it.

Caramel Sauce:

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 T. arrowroot or cornstarch

1/3 C. mimic creme, non-dairy cream or full fat soy milk

2 Tbsp. *Golden Syrup or corn syrup

1 Tbsp. Earth Balance

1 tsp. vanilla

 Put all ingredients, except for Earth Balance and vanilla, in a saucepan.  Cook on medium heat and stir until mixture becomes bubbly.  Cook and stir for a couple minutes more until a bit more thick.  Next remove from heat and stir in Earth Balance and vanilla.  Serve warm or let cool.  This can also be re-heated.

*Golden Syrup- It's made from evaporated sugar can juice. I use Lyle's Golden Syrup because it's the only one in the market that I have found.   You can find it by the corn syrup in the market.  I don't like to use corn syrup.

Gluten free noodle kale soup and new products

This soup is made with Tinyada brown rice elbow pasta, kale, tomato, carrots, onion, celery, veggie broth, white wine and herbs. Nice & warm.

I decided to give these treats down here to the left
from Mary's Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs Sea Salt a whirl since they were on sale.My first bite or two I wasn't so sure about the taste so I put the bag away. Then later when my son got home and I
took out the bag for a treat I tried it again and I changed my mind it's pretty good. They are real crunchy and have a ton of good stuff in them like flax seeds, amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds, etc. I would love to try some of there other flavors.

Then check this out! I found this new product from Wild Wood, it's tofu made with Sprouted Soybeans! How cool is that!!! It doesn't really taste any different from other tofu and since this one is superfirm it would be great grilled or used sliced up as tofu steaks. Now you can feel alot better about eating tofu!

Thai Noodle Salad

When it's sizzlin' outside and you want something light and tasty for dinner, this is

it. It is one of my favorite summertime meals. No joke, I can't stop eating this stuff when I make it. No turning on the oven, no standing over a hot barbecue while the sun is beating down on your back, the only thing you need to do is boil some water to cook the rice noodles and saute up some thin slices of tofu(what you add to the tofu after you saute it on the stove makes it taste so yummy) . That's the only cooking you will do! Everything else is fresh and raw out of the fridge or garden. This recipe is called Paul's Thai Noodle Salad from the cookbook Extraveganza . You don't have to add the peanuts, that's optional. My son told me to make this dish for the Teacher's Appreciation Day luncheon a couple of years ago and everyone asked me for the recipe. That's how good this is! You must get the book and try this recipe.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancakes and a trip to a local organic farm stand

Some pickings from the organic farm. I picked the largest fennel at the stand. The blueberries pictured here are less than half of what we picked. We just couldn't stop eating them! The organic blueberry farm has 13 different varieties of blueberries. My son probably ate a good half a pound just while we were picking.

Check out these carrots! These weren't even the widest ones at the stand. They are called

Champagne Carrots and they thrive in rich soil so they don't need to grow as long as regular carrots, but they grow wider. I measured the middle one and it's 2 1/4inch wide. Crazy huh!

Buckwheat gluten-free pancakes, recipe from the PPK. These are topped with freshly picked blueberries and maple syrup. These pancakes are really really good and have now become one of our regular breakfast meals. Here is the recipe below but with my changes.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancakes
Makes 8 five inch pancakes

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice 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 soy)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or organic sugar)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (they taste just as good without the vanilla)

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, and preheat a large, non-stick or cast iron pan over medium-high heat.

When pan is hot, spray with a thin layer of cooking spray and use an ice cream scooper to pour batter and form pancakes. I did two at a time, but do as many as you can fit. The pancake should start to form little air bubbles, but not as much as “normal” pancakes do, so don’t worry. Cook for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, then flip and cook for 2 minutes more. Keep warm on a plate covered with tin foil until ready to serve.

Serve with Earth Balance, maple syrup and fresh fruit.

A change in diet and Pan fried Tofu, Kale w/rice noodles

A change of diet in our house. Yes we are still vegan, get those thoughts right out of your head!According to my sons symptoms his doctor said he has IBS. He said he had to eliminate dairy(already done), cut down on animal protein(well he said meat and we don't do anyways), cut down on fruit(bummer!), up vegetable intake, add more fiber, fiber, fiber foods and cut out junk food. Okay, so I told him we were vegan( I know there are those junk food vegans out there but we are not those) and he gave the head nod of approval and said I wouldn't need to go to a dietician. Cool! The prescription was a diet change and to let him know how he was doing. I'm thinking the only diet change would be to lessen fruit intake(the sugar in fruit is fructose and many IBS sufferers react to fructose)and it wouldn't hurt for him to eat more veggies.

Anyways, I went home and started to do more research and my conclusion is it has to be a food allergy right? He gets so much fiber already it can't be that. So again more research and I found out that wheat is a big time trigger with those who have this syndrome.

So the first ingredient we are taking out of his diet is wheat. Yesterday did a little shopping for him, rice crackers, none of the breads looked good, they were very dense and didn't have very much fiber so I bought a gluten-free bread mix and I'll post about it when I make it. He loves raw veggies so that's a great snack. Now i'm a food label reader and I usually have tamari or's bragg's on hand but when my husband went to Trader Joe's last time he picked up soy sauce from there. So as I was getting ready to make dinner I took out the soy and you know what is listed WHEAT! I totally forgot that it has wheat in it. Why do they need wheat in soy sauce? I know tamari doesn't have wheat as an ingredient or Bragg's Liquid Aminos. So I had to jam back to the store to get a wheat free version. This is where a whole foods diet comes into play. The less processed, the less ingredients, the better for you. But come on soy sauce with wheat what's the deal! Okay, breathe....

Continuing with the diet change my husband and I figure in about a week or so I'll call the doctor and see if we can make an appointment to get a food allergy test done. Until then we will all be on a wheat free diet for the next, at least, couple of weeks and I welcome all comments or advice.

Now let's get onto what we had for dinner last night. So it had to be wheat free and tasty. I opted for the the Pan Fried Tofu, Kale and Rice Noodle recipe from vegan yum yum which was great the first time I made it and was just as tasty his time. The way the Kale is cooked is really good and I sprinkled a bit of sesame seeds on top. Try it out for yourself!