Life, Gluten Free

Baked Basiled Carrots

"Basiled" is not technically a word but I have made it one for this recipe. These carrots are baked, with fresh basil which adds a terrific flavor. This dish was really simple and quick to make (especially since we have a basil plant on the front porch) and it is a perfect addition to baked potatoes.

A great meal to welcome Fall!

Ingredients:

7-9 carrots, sliced into rounds (or for a chunkier carrot, slice into half rounds)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 small onion or shallot (see picture at top. I used an onion from our garden)

sea salt (just a sprinkle, and add more to taste at the end)

sliced tomato (optional)

Directions:

Chop carrots, basil and onions.

Add all ingredientst to a glass oven-safe bowl and mix.

Sprinkle sea salt.

Bake at 400 F, for 45-50 minutes or until carrots are tender.

**at 45 minutes, I layered sliced heirloom tomato on the very top of the dish and baked about 5 more minutes.

Serve with baked potato and squash!

We bought two locally and organically grown heirloom tomatoes and I decided to add the red one to the top of the carrot dish. Good decision! Heirloom tomatoes are sweeter and seem less acidic than other tomatoes like roma and vine ripened. The two we picked out had fun stripes on them.

How to cook plantains 101

Plantains are firmer and lower in sugar content than what we know as a "regular banana." Bananas can be eaten raw, because they are soft and sweet. Plantains are more starchy and are better cooked in some way (fried, boiled, baked, etc).

Keep reading to find out how to cook these tropical wonders. We really love them in our house.  I've been eating them since I was a kid. My dad used to fry them on the stove in a cast-iron pan (usually) and then he would serve them with yogurt and a sprinkling of dark brown sugar.

And while plantains definitely make a great dessert, there are many other ways to serve them too.

What we do, usually, is sauté them in coconut oil and serve them with a sprinkling of sea salt. The key, however, is to allow them to fully ripen and even become what may seem overipe. You can cook them at varying stages of ripeness, but we prefer them to be quite soft.

So, we let them become blankened and to the untrained eye, it may seem they should be discarded rather than consumed (See pic above).

Where to buy plantains?

We buy organic plantains from our local natural grocer, but I am sure you can find them at a variety of stores.

How to cook plantains:

Peel them as you would a banana, though realize the peel is thicker and they will not peel quite as smoothly as a regular banana.

Sllice them into rounds.

Add coconut oil to a pan and start cookung them on medium heat.

Once they start cooking, you may want to turn the heat down to medium low (every stove is different, adjust as necessary!).

Flip them so that they cook evenly on both sides.

Before they are cooked, they are a peachy color. Once done, they will be a nice golden yellow.

Put them on a plate and sprinkle with some sea salt! Yum!!

Why not fry some potato fries in the same pan whie you're at it?

Breaded Polenta

Guest poster: My husband! The recipe was written and crafted by him. He originally created this recipe over a year ago.

Breading

1 cup Corn Meal (finely ground) or corn flour may work as well

4 tablespoon Tapioca Flour

2 tablespoon Potato Starch

1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

4 tablespoon Coconut Milk (So Delicious Unsweetened)

1 rounded teaspoon Egg Replacer

1 teaspoon Rice Vinegar

1/2 cup Water – this is approximate – add enough water to turn this into a batter

I sifted the flour mix (corn meal, tapioca flour, potato starch and xanthan gum) before mixing the liquids in. I then put the egg replacer and rice vinegar in a small bowl and mixed them together with about a tablespoon of warm water. Mix this and the water together. This batter needs to be thick enough to stay on the polenta, but not so thick that it makes the polenta crumble when you try to coat it.

Polenta

I cooked 3 cups to produce extra.

There really is no secret to this, just be sure the grits are thick so that it will set rather than stay mushy. Keeping the water to dry grits ratio at 2:1 should work well. Add more water if you have to but as I said before, don't overdo it.

Add lots of butter, Earth Balance, coconut oil, or olive oil. I used coconut oil. If the grits are thick enough, you can add lots of oil/butter. Generally, the more the better and richer the polenta will be. Also, you can sauté and brown onions, scallions, leeks etc and add the basic Italian spices. You really need to add lots of flavoring to get that flavoring to come through in the final product. Luckily, you can add everything to taste since the polenta is already cooked and you can test it as you add the herbs.

Once the polenta is ready, put it in a large pan to spread out the polenta. I usually spread it to about 1” but you can spread it as thick or thin as you want. Next, put it in a refrigerator until it cools or you can just leave it out to cool. Once the polenta sets and hardens up you can cut it up, coat it in the breading, and fry it in coconut oil (or oil of choice) in a wok.

Balsamic Reduction & Avocado

For the avocado, we simply cubed avocado for garnish. We also made an avocado sauce by mashing avocado in a bowl and then adding salt , herbs and onion. You can also add tomato, sort of like guacamole. Get creative and flavor it how you prefer!

Put balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan. Place on medium heat and let simmer until it reduces to a thick syrup.

We hope you try it!

- Heather & Matt

Champagne Cucumber Delight

1 pound organic champagne grapes
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
4 cucumbers, peeled
1 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Remove the grapes from the stems and place in a bowl.
Dice the cucumber and mix with the grapes.
Whisk the lemon juice, raw honey and golden balsamic vinegar together in a separate bowl.
Add to the cucumber and grapes and mix together.
Serve in individual bowls or along with a meal.

This is my mom's recipe. She put her creative mind to work and "engineered" this delicious recipe with cucumbers and grapes. To be honest, I was skeptical at first. The combination, however, proved to be fantastic. It's a perfect summer salad!

This recipe makes a lot, it's perfect to take to a picnic and share with others. If you want to make less, just trim the recipe down. You can use red or green grapes as well but you will need to chop them into small pieces. Enjoy!

-heather

Summer Salad (Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free!)

Hosting this month is the lovely Shirley from Gluten Free Easily. Shirley has quickly found her way in the gluten free blogging realm and she is a great addition. Her theme for the Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free (founded by Naomi at Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried) is Make Me a Happy Camper. She asked us to submit a dish that we'd take camping, on a picnic or on a hike.

On a whim of inspiration, we roused ourself on Sunday and rushed out of bed to prepare for a hike on Lichen Loop. And of course, what's a hike without a picnic lunch or a picnic snack, in the least? I quickly shucked some fresh corn and washed it along with some cucumbers as a pot of water boiled on the stove, splattering water angrily. We decided to pack some gluten free pasta salad and make a quick summer salad with the fresh corn and cucumbers.

I didn't know it at the time, but the summer salad that I made would by my submission for this months Go Ahead Honey. I had originally planned to post another dish but found out that the pictures that I had snapped did not come out well enough for my liking. That will have to be published another day (because who can resist a dish made out of coconut and orange?).

Summer Salad

NO: gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, nuts

Ingredients:
4 ears fresh corn
3 small cucumbers (these were the pickling kind)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
4 stems scallions
1 teaspoon dill (dried)
salt to taste

Preparation:
Shuck the corn and use a knife to slice it off the cob. Place it in a bowl.
Dice the cucumbers and toss in the bowl with the corn.
Chop the scallions and add to the bowl.
Add the olive oil and vinegar, mixing well with a spoon.
Mix in the dill and then the salt to taste.

Store in a glass container with a lid and allow the flavors to sit.Take on a picnic or serve at home and enjoy :)

Thanks Shirley. This was fun. I have to say, Go Ahead Honey is my favorite event to partake in!

We had a great hike and a great lunch afterward.

Be sure to check Shirley's blog to see who else participated, she should be posting the round-up by July 31st.

-heather

Collard Roll Canapes - Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free!

For this month's Go Ahead Honey, Naomi at Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried chose Canapes as the theme. We were instructed to create something bite-size that would thrill and excite people. Well, at least be somewhat appealing. I struggled with it for a while, perhaps because I don't usually create meals that are intended to be eaten in one bite. 

What I created turned out to be really "two-bite" size, at least for me. My husband, on the other hand, could accommodate these rolls in one bite or technically, one rather stuffed mouth full.

Collard Roll Canapes with Honey Mustard Sauce

NO: gluten, nuts, eggs, dairy, soy

Sauce:

1 tablespoon mustard (of your choice)

1 1/2 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon onion powder

pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons dried chives

Mix the sauce well.

Rolls:

Collard Leaves

1 Avocado

1 Carrot

Scallions

Olives

Wash and dry raw collard leaves. 

Cut the leaves into two by removing the stem.

Cut the avocado, carrot, olives and scallions into long thin slices.

Place the ingredients in the leaves and roll them up. 

Cut long slices out of another collard leaf and secure the rolls as you would with a ribbon.

If you want a quick easy way to secure the rolls, use a tooth pick.

Drizzle sauce on top and serve!

-heather

Onion Rings

Onion Rings

NO: gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup potato starch

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon organic sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 heaping tablespoon vegenaise

1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. 

Cut onions into rings.

Coat the onions with the batter and fry.

Fry them on about medium heat, though it depends on your stove.

We used grapeseed oil to fry them, because it holds a high heat without burning.

Devour them as they are, or dip in your favorite sauce.

My mom gets credit for these. She came up with the wonderful recipe!

-heather

Greek Salad

All I knew was that I love greek salad, and the last time I had one was too long ago. I decided to do some research on Google to see what constituted greek salad dressing, and I found Karina's Kitchen. She has a post featuring greek salad: Three Ways to Dress a Naked Salad. And although I changed it a bit, I wanted to give credit where credit is due! One ingredient that her recipe calls for is garlic, and since my daughter is allergic, we don't use it anymore. 

And because I do so love greek salad, I made a double batch of the dressing because it stores nicely (preferably on the counter, as the oil will solidify in the refrigerator). It only lasted a few days though, because we had greek salad every chance we got :)

Greek Salad Dressing

NO: gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar

1-2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon agave nectar

Dash of salt

Preparation:

Add ingredients to a glass jar (that has a lid, for storage) and whisk until all ingredients are mixed in and the oil is mixed well. Taste test and add more salt or oregano if needed.

It is best to let the dressing set for a few hours before use.

I like to roughly chop the lettuce and add it to a glass bowl. Mix in chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and olives of your choice. I was fortunate enough to receive a nice container of olives from the Whole Foods olive bar, and I used those. You can also add onions - particularly red onions - but my husband eschews raw onions, so there you go :)

-heather

BBQ Tempeh & Beans

BBQ Tempeh & Beans

NO: gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts

Ingredients:

1 large onion

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

6 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon mustard*

1-2 cups of cooked pinto beans

grapeseed oil

salt to taste

Preparation:

Chop onion and saute in grapeseed oil.

When onion is fully cooked and translucent, add crumbled tempeh.

Continue to cook, stirring in tempeh. 

Cook for approximately 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring.

Add pinto beans.

Stir in vinegar, ketchup, mustard and molasses.

Add salt if needed.

Serve warm!

*For mustard, I used organic horseradish mustard by True Natural Taste. You can use mustard of your choice.

-heather

Kale Dip

Packed with calcium, vitamin a, and fiber, this green leafy vegetable also contains one of the antioxidants that nutrition experts believe to play a major role in the battle against cancer, heart disease and certain age-related diseases. The calcium that kale provides happens to be very easily absorbed, so add it to your list of vegetables to eat for healthy bones (Source: Health Benefits of Kale).

This dip is a great way to get your family to eat kale! Bring it to your holiday party this year, and you'll have everyone asking for the recipe :)

Recipe:

1 cup vegenaise or other mayo

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

3-4 kale leaves - stems removed - and lightly steamed *or a 9oz package of frozen kale (thawed)

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Blend in food processor until ingredients are lightly mixed together. You don't want to blend it too much. 

Serve with organic potato chips and/or brown rice snaps (vegetable or plain).

*I didn't have frozen kale, so I used fresh. You can also put this dip in a glass oven dish and bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes or until bubbly and lightly brown. This indeed rivals spinach artichoke dip.

I found this recipe at another gluten-free casein-free blog, The Good Eatah. Thank you for sharing!

I am going to make this again for Christmas. So good!

-heather