Lemon Coconut 'Roons

 

Just to keep it real... This is what my kitchen often looks like after class prep and recipe creation.  My saintly husband will often chip in to help clean the mess or offer (wisely) to corral the three wildmen (ahem~ Children) while I clean up.

This was the particular mess after working on a treat that will have you begging for more.   (scroll to the bottom for the recipe)

Lemon-coconut Drops

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut fine shred

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 TBSP Lemon Zest (zest before you juice)

1/8 tsp salt

4 TBSP Raw honey or Grade B Maple syrup (room temp)

3 TBSP fresh squeezed Lemon Juice (room temp)

2 tsp vanilla

¼ cup melted coconut oil (NOT HOT!)

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients seperatly.  While your mixer is going in the dry ingredient bowl, slowly add in wet ingredients.  It will quickly thicken.

Using a tablespoon, mold cookies and place on plate.  Chill for 1 hour.  Eat and enjoy!

(optional: slowly warm in dehydrator for 1 hour)

Bagels by the Dozen (or Dozen and a Half)

Bagels

Dry ingredients

2 cups superfine brown rice flour

1 ½ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup teff

¼ cup oat flour

¼ cup Darifree powdered milk

2 TBSP rice bran or flax meal

2 ½ tsp. guar gum

1 ½ tsp. Real Salt

½ tsp. baking soda

Proof yeast

1 cup water (110°- 115°)

2 tsp. sugar

1 TBSP yeast

Wet ingredients

2 TBSP Spectrum shortening

2 TBSP Earth Balance Soy Free

2 TBSP raw honey

1/3 cup water (110°-115°)

4 egg whites

Lightly grease a pan for the bagels to rise on.  Preheat oven to 425°. Mix dry ingredients together.

Proof yeast by mixing water, sugar and yeast together, let sit 5 minutes.

Add shortening and butter to 1/3 cup water and let melt.  Add to dry ingredients. 

Add honey and egg whites, then add proofed yeast.  Mix for 5 minutes until smooth.

Grease hands and shape into 16 small balls.  Flatten to about ½ inch thick and make a big circle in the middle.

Cover and let rise in a slightly warm location for 45-60 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring a pan of water and 1 tsp. sugar to a boil (sugar will make the bagels shiney.)

After bagels have risen, add 3 at a time to the boiling water.  Boil 1 minute, then flip and boil for 30 seconds on the second side.

Using a slotted spoon, put on a cookie sheet dusted with teff grain. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

(NOTE:  there aren't any finished product pictures, because these ALWAYS get gobbled up right away)

Boiling the bagels gives them that nice shiny, chewy texture, yum and yum!

Already to be baked!

FOR REALS... Sugar free Marshmallows

The first time I made marshmallows, it was a "duh, that was easy, why didn't I make them before instead of paying $6.00 for corn free marshmallows," kinda moment. 

 I am now excited to say, I rock at making sugar free ones too!  Easy, peasy...  And they taste WAY better then store bought ones.  Plus if you use xylitol, they are good for your teeth.  FOR REALS!  They both toast fairly well for s'mores, which we ALL KNOW is the main reason for marshmallows?  Am I right?

Shall we begin?

Let's.

Marshmallows (of the sugar free variety)

Sugar Free Ingredients

2 tablespoons gelatin (Use Great Lakes - it’s made from pastured cows w/ no antibiotic in their feed)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups of xylitol (or other sweetener such as Swerve or Just Like Sugar ~ you may need to adjust amounts needed.)
1/2 cup hot water

Optional ingredients:
5 drops vanilla stevia
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for making marshmallow:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water.  Let the gelatin sit to soften, while the water and sugar are cooking.

Combine 1/2 cup water and sugar in a small sauce pan, and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved.

Stop stirring, and place a candy thermometer into sugar water; scrape sides of pan if sugar crystals have splattered up. 

Boil sugar water until temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238-240 degrees).

Remove syrup from heat, let cool a few minutes. Add to softened gelatin. In the mixer bowl, hand-stir the mixture a few minutes to cool and combine.

 

6.  Place bowl on the mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment of a mixer or using a hand mixer on medium high whisk mixture until white peaks form and the marshmallow mixture holds shape, 8 to 15 minutes.

(Add vanilla if desired and stevia drops at this step if desired)

Moving quickly, add to a greased mold or into a bag.  Pipe desired shapes.  Dust with powdered sugar or colored sugar.

Mix gelatin with water and let sit.

Combine sugar alternative and water, bring to a boil

Beat softened gelatin and simple syrup

Beat until soft peaks form.  This is still too liquidy.

Pour into greased pan.  Let sit 4-6 hours before cutting.  Dust with sugar after cutting and let air dry for 1-2 hours.

Happy Accidents! (in the kitchen that is!)

Being that my dearest is a meat cutter, a perk is sometimes he brings home a beautiful cut of meat.  (such as the picture above.)  Downside, is sometimes I have NO idea what dinner will be until he brings something home. 

Well, on a gorgeous summer night, he brought us home some steaks as a special treat.  A once a year kind of a treat.  And I had NADA, ZIP, ZERO, NOTHING to got with it... or so I thought.

I had some leftover cubed summer squash and zucchini left from a cooking class (totally unrelated recipe, that perhaps I SHOULD share at some point.) 

I tossed the cut left overs in rimmed baking stone.  Drizzled garlic olive oil on it from the Stillwater Olive Oil Company.  I just love, love, love their oils.  Did you know they have butter oil that is dairy free and can be used as a butter substitute for those of us that are dairy-free?

I washed and cut a few more zucchini, summer squash, and halved some cherry tomatoes.  Drizzled a bit more oil... Added some Real Salt, dash o' pepper.  Baked at 400 until tender.  Baking time will vary according to the size of said chopped veggies, so you may have to experiment and occasionally check out the tenderness level.

To serve, we add a bit of regular Parmesan for the dairy-can-eat people and a bit of non-dairy parm substitute for the dairy-free people.

Simple, delicious, fast, cheap, nutritious... all those great words a summer cook wants to hear.

Maybe this should be dinner tonight.  YUM!

Oh my, Potatoes Worth Writing Home About!

These potatoes are ridiculously easy, tasty and look fancy! 

Scrub and wash your potatoes.

Using a fork as a guideline, cut in between tines at regular intervals.  Do not cut all the way through.  Laying a knife on each side of the potato as you cut will help you from going all the way through the potato and ensure an even depth cut.

Put a pat of butter of choice in between each slit.  Drizzle with olive oil.  We used Earth Balance Soy Free butter and Stillwater Olive Company Garlic olive Oil.  If you want really over the top potatoes, slip a slice of cheese in each slit. 

Sprinkle with extra garlic powder, Real Salt, and dried parsley.  Pepper would be great too.  If you can do Parmesan, feel free to add that as well.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of your 'tators.

To serve, crumble bacon over them.  Maybe more cheese. Hmmm... maybe I should make these tonight!

Easy, pretty, fun.  My kinda food!

Teff Crepes

I love crepes.  The thin, bubbly batter that becomes a rolled treat dusted with powdered sugar and topped with real maple syrup.  YUM!

Sadly, I hadn't found a good gluten free recipe to love.  The crepes would rip or be gummy, just plain ol' not tasty or appealing.

Then recently I had a brainstorm... TEFF!  We love teff pancakes, they hold their shape, stay fluffy, don't crumble or get soggy with syrup.  So why not try to make crepes with this great grain!

I basically altered my pancake recipe a bit, and compared it to other great crepe recipes. 

Let cool on a wire rack before storing leftovers

Cook until the top of crepe looks dry, then flip.  Look at all those great bubbles!

Enjoy!  

We sure did!

Teff Crepes

1 cup teff flour (we like the brown, but ivory works too!)

1 TBSP baking powder

1/4 tsp. Real Salt

2 TBSP coconut oil melted but not hot

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP vanilla

1 Egg or 1 TBSP arrowroot

1 1/2 cup coconut milk (may need more to get a thin batter)

Put all your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Preheat a cast iron pan over medium high heat.  I use a 8 inch, but 12 inch will work too.

Lightly grease pan with coconut oil (you shouldn't have to do it again)

Pour about 2 TBSP or 1/4 cup batter into pan and swirl to cover the entire bottom of pan.

Cook until crepe no longer is wet on the top.  Carefully loosen edges and flip.

If you aren't eating all that you make, let cool on a wire rack and freeze.

PS There isn't a "pretty" finished picture with them rolled up and dusted with powdered sugar because I turned around and the crepes were all gone!  Yup, those boys devoured them.  Oh well.  :)

Buffalo Cauliflower

What's a girl to do when the pantry is bare? Improvise!

As I was trying to figure out what was for dinner without running to the store, I spotted some cauliflower in my fridge that needed to be eaten.  I vaguely remembered  seeing on Pinterest a recipe for using buffalo sauce on cauliflower.  Since we LOVE to eat Buffalo chicken around here, I figured I'd give it a whirl for dinner.

It was a hit.  I also made plain cauliflower nuggets.  Those were awesome too!

Buffalo Cauliflower Nuggets

Ingredients:

2 beaten eggs or 1 cup coconut milk

1 cup bread crumbs OR 1/2 cup GF flour + 1/2 cup potato flour

1 tsp. garlic

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. salt

6-7 cups of cauliflower florets (washed) or 1 large head

1- 1 1/2 cup of Hot Sauce (think Frank’s, see recipe below)**

1 TBSP melted coconut oil or Earth Balance Soy Free Butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place parchment paper on baking stone.

Mix together flours, garlic and salt to make breading.

Dip cauliflower florets into egg and the dip in breading.  Place on baking sheet.  Bake 25 minutes.

While baking combine hot sauce and butter.

After cauliflower is done baking, pour sauce over florets, return to oven and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with blue cheese dressing or homemade ranch dressing.

Buffalo Sauce (Frank’s Hot Sauce)

1/3 cup ketchup

3 TBSP prepared mustard

3 TBSP apple cider vinegar

3 TBSP molasses

1 TBSP brown sugar

 1-2 tsp. red pepper flakes /cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1 TBSP oil of choice

½ tsp. turmeric

Cut cauliflower to size

Dip in egg or milk, then cover with breading

Bake on stoneware for 25 minutes

Cover with hot sauce, return to oven and cook an additional 10 minutes.

                                  We left half plain and they were great with honey mustard sauce!

They were so, so, so good!