Life, Gluten Free

Cornbread with TigerNut Flour

I ate cornbread so many times growing up, it doesn't seem like such a distant memory. Cornbread with chili, or hearty vegetable soups... warm cornbread drizzled with honey. It goes with everything!

I recently came across a new gluten-free flour called Tigernut. Have you heard of it? Despite "nut" being in the name, it is not a tree nut. It's a tuber. 

The folks at Organic Gemini sent me a bag of Tigernut flour to try out. This cornbread is one of the first things that I made with it. I've also used the flour for pancakes and pie crusts. I really love it. It will definitely be a staple in our kitchen.

Organic Gemini TigerNut Flour is 100% organic, non-gmo, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan and raw.

Organic Gemini TigerNuts products are all very high in fiber, in a particular form of fiber known as resistant starch. Resistant starch is a prebiotic that resists digestion and helps our bodies to naturally develop probiotic bacteria ensuring a strong immune system. TigerNuts are also high in iron, potassium, magnesium, and Vitamins C & E. 

Cornbread with TigerNut Flour

Ingredients:

1 cup TigerNut flour

3/4 cup organic cornmeal 

2 tablespoons organic sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt).

Measure 1 tablespoon of coconut oil into your cast-iron pan. Place the pan in the oven to melt the coconut oil. 

In another mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients (eggs, coconut milk and the 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil).

Whisk the wet ingredients together until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture and mix well.

Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve with jelly, honey.. or eat plain! Enjoy.

 

Veggie Frittata

Just recently we were able to add eggs to Sophie's diet! We buy farm fresh organic eggs from a local farm. It's been fun making different egg dishes for Sophie to try. Her favorite is sunny side up.

I love going to the farm stand and picking up fresh eggs. We are lucky to have a farm stand right next to our house. It's easy to bike there or just drive by on my way home and pick up fresh veggies. Today I picked up some zucchini and used it to make lunch.

Being able to support local farmers and having access to wonderful organic produce is such a gift. I love it.

Back to the frittata! It's super simple. Next time I will probably use my cast iron skillet, but the stainless steel skillet also worked out just fine.

Veggie Frittata

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

8 organic eggs

1 small organic yellow onion

1 1/2 cup vegetable mix (I used an organic mix from costco that included : corn, edamame, green beans and carrots)

1/2 teaspoon shawarma seasoning by Spicely (optional)

1 teaspoon Herbamare (or just use plain sea salt)

coconut oil (for sautéing) 

a handful of fresh chopped basil

nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

In about a 9 inch skillet, warm coconut oil and add diced onion.

As you are sautéing the onion, add in the 1 1/2 cup of vegetables.

Mix in the seasoning and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk 8 eggs. Add in a extra dash of salt to the eggs.

Once the vegetables and onion are sautéed, add a layer of fresh chopped basil and nutritional yeast.

Pour egg mixture on top, and bake in oven at 375 for about 35 minutes or until done.

Serve warm.

It's great for breakfast or lunch. I served it with gluten-free pancakes and grits.

Strawberry Pudding

Sophie isn't allergic to strawberries anymore so I knew I had to make a strawberry pudding! My family loved this pudding and it's super easy to make. It didn't last long. Organic strawberries are starting to come into the stores at a great price so we will have to come up with a strawberry popsicle recipe soon too.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dates

3 cup strawberries

2 small avocados 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon coconut oil

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut cream

Directions:

Soak the dates in hot water until soft and then discard the water.

Add all ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth and creamy!

Refrigerate until the pudding is cool and serve with strawberry slices :)

Gluten-free & Grain-free Cinnamon Toast

Sophie was beyond pleased with this version of cinnamon toast, and I was so excited to share something with her that I loved to eat as a kid. Sure, it's a little bit different than actual thick toast, but it tastes great and she couldn't be happier!

So what do you need to make this cinnamon toast?

See the ingredients below! And, it helps to have a little helper eager to help spread on the honey :)

Ingredients:

pure wraps

raw honey

coconut oil

cinnamon

Directions:

Place one of the pure wraps onto a baking sheet

Mix coconut oil and raw honey in a bowl to make a spreadable mixture (about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and 2 teaspoons of honey.. this was enough for about 2 wraps)

or simply spread on one layer of coconut oil and one layer of honey

Shake on some cinnamon

Cut into small squares

Bake in the oven on low broiler for about 2 minutes

(Baking it just the right amount of time is the tricky part, and every oven is different so please be careful. The pure wraps can easily burn to a crisp!)

We also tried it with jelly! We spread on a layer of honey, and then some homemade muscadine jam that we had only lightly sweetened. If you have very sweet jelly, omit the extra layer of honey.. :)

Perfect!

5 gluten-free cold weather recipes

I don't know about you, but I am looking at a good 8 or so inches of snow outside.

And it's cold! As in, it is supposed to be -4 tonight.

So I've compiled a list of some of my gluten-free soup, cake and breakfast recipes.

I hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkin Spice Cake 

Potato Leek Soup

Carrot Potato Soup

Coconut Cake (not grain-free, I need to make a version that is!)

Banana Coconut Porridge

Want more ideas?

Head over to my friend Debbie's blog, The Gluten-Free 'Dish', and check out her recent grain-free carrot cake recipe (note: it's not a tree-nut free recipe, but it sure looks good and is appropriate for those who can have nuts)

Keep warm! ♥

Peach Coconut Porridge

I promise the next recipe that I post on my blog will not be porridge. But, we could barely help it. Last week we had quite a few days of chilly weather with rain. Who doesn't eat porridge when it's cold and rainy outside? right?

Now it's unseasonably warm and I'm wondering what the heck happened.

I don't want to talk about it.

All I can say is, it better start cooling off or I am going to get grumpy.

But I am happy that organic peaches are $1.49 a lb right now.

(that's the best price we've found around here so far this year, how about you? don't say you bought organic peaches for 99 cents a pound, because then I may just have to wallow).

Peach Coconut Porridge

no: gluten, grains, dairy, eggs, soy, nuts

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded coconut

1 banana and 1 peach blended with 1 cup coconut juice

1 peach, diced

1 cup water

Directions:

Blend one banana and one peach with one cup of cococnut juice, then pour into a sauce pan

Add remaining ingredients to sauce pan

Place on medium heat and bring to a light boil

Cover with lid (turn down if necessary, we want a light simmer but not a hard boil)

Stir ocassionaly, cook covered for 10 minutes

Remove from heat, leave the lid on and let it sit for another 5 to 10 minutes.

It's good. Too good. 

Banana Coconut Porridge

We got the memo. Fall is here and we're ready for it.

Porridge? check

Pumpkins? check

The fall craft bug? check!!

I do have a non-banana coconut porridge recipe, but I do think I prefer my new creation with the added banana. I like banana and I think it adds a nice flavor enhancement. Next time, I am thinking about blending one banana and one peach because we love peach and it just so happens to be peach-a-rama here with loads of yummy ones to choose from.

Banana Coconut Porridge

no: gluten, grains, dairy, eggs, soy, nuts

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

2 bananas blended with 1 cup coconut juice

1 tablespoon molasses

1 cup water

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Blend two bananas with one cup of cococnut juice, then pour into a sauce pan

Add remaining ingredients to sauce pan

Place on medium heat and bring to a light boil

Cover with lid (turn down if necessary, we want a light simmer but not a hard boil)

Stir ocassionaly, cook covered for 10 minutes

Remove from heat, leave the lid on and let it sit for another 5 to 10 minutes

Serve topped with fresh fruit (or eat by itself, my favorite way)

My daughter likes it with fresh apple pieces and a topping of pink sprinkles (that is, beet-dyed honey-coated shredded coconut sprinkles made by her dad).

Little Miss Muffet,

sat on a tuffet,

eating her curds and coconut..

along came a spider,

who sat down beside her,

and frightened miss muffet away!

Perfectly Green Smoothie

My friend Debbie, over at The Gluten-Free Dish, recently posted a recipe for her Energizing Spring Smoothie. It got me thinking about one of our favorite - and simple - green smoothies.

And green it is, perfectly so. Green happens to be my favorite color, but that's not the real reason we like this smoothie so much. It tastes good, with just the right amount of spinach for a good helping of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Folate.

Green Smoothie

a generous heaping handful of organic spinach

1 organic banana

1/2 - 1 cup of coconut juice

Add to a blender and process until it's completely liquified.

Serves 1 adult and 1 kid, double for a larger crowd!

**We also like to add fresh orange juice to this smoothie recipe!

Warning: side effects may include, but are not limited to, a green moustache

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?

Coffee Cake Cobbler

Coffee Cake Cobbler
NO: gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, soy

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canned pumpkin or 1/2 cup ground bananas (or a combination of the two)

1/2 cup raw honey

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1/3 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons egg replacer

1 teaspoon xantham gum

1/4 teaspoons himalayan salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour)

Preparation:

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 

Blend the wet ingredients in a food processor or blender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Use an 8x4 pan greased with coconut oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend with a hand mixer.

It is going to be somewhat dry, it will not be like a cake batter.

You may need to add a bit of liquid (water or coconut milk) but expect the batter to be somewhat thick and sticky.

Spread the batter into the pan. 

Take chopped fruit (we used apricots) and put on the top of the batter.

Press into the batter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until done.

We sprinkled some rice flakes (kind of looks like oatmeal) on a few of them but they mostly got crispy. They look neat though!

Enjoy!

-heather