Category: Recipes

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Oil-Free Cranberry Muffin Recipe

10/27/2017

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Oil-Free Cranberry Muffin Recipe

Walking through the produce isle recently I saw my first bag of fresh cranberries for this season, and it got me to reworking an old favorite recipe of mine -- cranberry muffins. These are a crowd pleaser and fairly simple to make. There is no added salt in these, but as you probably know, both baking powder and baking soda do contain significant amounts of sodium. When I make these for people on low-sodium diets, I have been omitting the baking soda -- (and using just the two teaspoons of baking powder) This makes them a bit denser, but still really good. This is a great recipe to use up apples that have gotten soft or a bit past their prime -- you could also substitute apple sauce for the blended apples. This recipe makes 24 muffins.

Ingredients:

3 cups sorghum flour
2 tsp guar gum (or xanthan gum)
1/2 cup ground golden flax seed
1/3 cup arrowroot powder
2 tsp Rumford Baking Powder (Rumford does not contain aluminum)
2 tsp baking soda (omit to reduce sodium)

1 1/2 cups blended apples (about 3-4)
1 cup loosely packed fresh stevia leaves OR 1/2 tsp of stevia extract
1 cup of chopped pitted dates tightly packed
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract

1 bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup of water

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two trays of muffin cups with parchment paper liners.

2) Measure out the first 6 dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with a wire whisk.

3) wash and slice 3-4 apples. Place slices into powerful blender and pulse until they look like apple sauce -- adding more slices until you have about 1 1/2 cups.

4) Add the stevia to the blended apples and blend until well incorporated.

5) Roughly chop the dates on a cutting board and press the pieces into a measuring cup tightly until you have 1 cup. Add these to the blender and blend on high.

6) Add the extracts and bananas and blend well one last time.

7) Place the fresh cranberries into a bowl and pick over them to remove any that are soft, then rinse the remaining with water and drain through a strainer -- repeat this a few times.

8) Pour the blender mixture into the bowl of flour and mix with a spatula to just barely incorporate, DO NOT OVER MIX. Scrape out as much as you can from the blender with the spatual and then pour the 1 cup of water into the dirty blender and blend on high to get remaining mixture into the water. Then add the washed drained cranberries to this water and pulse very carefully a few times -- just to break up the cranberries a little bit, but don't over blend -- you want some nice chunks of berry.

9) Pour the cranberries and liquid into the batter and mix well enough that no dry flour is evident, but don't over mix, then quickly spoon the mixture into 24 muffin cups dividing it evenly between all the cups -- they will be nearly full. Place into preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes just until the tops start to brown. Remove from oven and remove muffins from tray to cool.

Due to the high fruit content, once cooled, these should be stored covered in the refrigerator, where they will keep well for at least a week. We always slice them in half horizontally and reheat them in the toaster oven before eating them -- they are much better that way.

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Israeli Salad

10/5/2017

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My family waits all year long -- filled with anticipation for that part of the gardening season when there is an abundance of fresh ripe home-grown tomatoes and cucumbers just so that we can make Israeli Salad. The combination of these fruits with green olives, onions, sweet peppers, lemon juice and herbs is quite extraordinary -- you just can't imagine how good this is until you taste it. No matter how large of a bowl of this I make, my family continues to have seconds, thirds and more until every last bit is gone.

Normally I do not measure any of the ingredients -- so don't feel that you need to either -- just make the cucumbers and the tomatoes the major ingredients, and don't overdo the onions. Taste it frequently as you mix in the herbs, lemon juice and olives to get the taste just the way you like it. But here are some measurements -- just in case you'd like to follow a recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh chopped tomatoes (large or cherry tomatoes work fine.)
3 cups cut up fresh cucumber (slice into circles and then quarter each circle)
1 cup diced red or yellow sweet peppers
1/2 cup very finely diced red onion
1 bunch of scallions chopped fine (green and white parts)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 TBS onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 8 oz jar of green olives

Directions:

1) Place the tomatoes, cucumbers peppers, onions, and scallions into a large bowl and mix well. Drizzle with the lemon juice, sprinkle with onion powder and thyme and mix well with a large spoon.

2) Place the jar of olives into a blender -- with all the liquid too and pulse it just a few times to barely chop them up. Alternatively, you could pour the olives through a strainer -- saving the liquid and then place the olives on a cutting board and chop them with a knife.

2) Add all of the olives and the juice that they were in to the bowl and mix well. Mix again right before serving.

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Sourdough Buckwheat Bread Recipe

9/24/2017

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When our family first made the switch to gluten-free, there was not a single gluten free vegan bread I could find that was pleasant to eat. So I set about trying to come up with something that was made from whole grains, and had no added sugar or oil. I found that a combination of Buckwheat flour (no relation to wheat) garbanzo bean flour, and flax seeds was my ticket to success. I used red grape skins (you just buy grapes, wash them gently and then carefully peel 2-3 of them) to create a sourdough starter and wallah -- SUCCESS. The first time you make this, you will have to plan ahead. It takes a couple of days to make the starter. But after that, as long as you "feed" the starter (by stirring in a tsp of buckwheat flour and a teaspoon of water every 2-3 days) it will last indefinitely in the refrigerator.

First make your starter...

Ingredients:

3 large dark red grapes preferably organic
1/4 cup of buckwheat flour
1/4 cup of water
additional buckwheat flour and water as needed.

Directions:

Gently rinse the grapes with water. (Be careful that you don't wash the naturally occurring yeasts off of them.) Then peel the skins and set aside. (You can eat the inside.)
Place the 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water into a small bowl and mix well, breaking up all lumps.
Add the grape skins to the flour and water mixture and mix a little more.
Cover the bowl with a cloth napkin and set on the counter, out of sun for two days. Every 4-8 hours (or when you think about it) -- stir in a tsp more of the flour and a tsp more of the water.
After two days, stir in a 1/4 cup more of water, stir well -- and then pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the grape skins, (discard them) and then add another 1/4 cup of buckwheat flour to the mixture. Now you have your starter. You can either proceed to make bread, or store it in a small jar labeled, "Starter" your refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Here's how to make the bread...(Makes THREE loaves)

Here is what the bread looks like after rising -- but before baking.

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup water
¼ cup sourdough starter (from above recipe)

4 cups buckwheat flour
2 cup garbanzo flour
5 & 3/4 cups water
1 cup ground golden flax seeds
2 tsp salt
1 TBS xanthan gum or guar gum
2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Mix 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water and add your entire jar of starter (about ¼ cup). Cover bowl with wet cloth. Let sit about 8-12 hours to get the starter activated.

When bubbly, with rich “sour” smell, remove about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the starter. (refill the same amount back into your starter jar) and put it back into the refrigerator for use next time. The rest of this starter will be used in step 5 below.

Place the remaining buckwheat flour, garbanzo flour, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix well with a wire whisk.

Place 5 ¾ cups water and the flax seeds in blender and blend until thick and creamy. Add the salt and xanthan gum and blend well.

Pour the wet into the dry, add the starter and mix well a hand held electric beater makes this easier, but you can do it by hand too. This will be more of a thick batter, then a dough.

Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper about 12 x 14 inches and set each in a loaf pan. Spoon the sourdough into the pan.

Set undisturbed for 3-8 hours (depends on temperature) – until it increases in size, nearly overflowing pan. The time will be less if you can keep temperature at about 100 degrees. (I warm my oven by turning it on for 1 minute and then turning it off -- THEN I put the loaves in on a lower rack and place a wet cloth napkin on the rack just above them to create high humidity.
Bake it in a preheated oven at 360 degrees for about 60 minutes. Remove from oven and remove from parchment paper and let cool. After it cools, store in the refrigerator. If you want very thin slices – wait until it is completely cool to cut it.

Additionally we have found after storing it in the refrigerator, it tastes MUCH better if we pop the slices in the toaster oven before serving them. Interestingly -- even when toasting -- the slices don't really brown up much -- but they will got hot and fragrant and really yummy. If you really want to impress people (and fat is not an issue) -- serve it with a nice pesto or garlic --olive oil spread (that recipe is in my book too.)

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Make Your Own Home Made Almond, Cashew or Sunflower Seed Milk

7/26/2017

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Freshly made almond milk is AMAZING!

Did you know that you can make your own fresh, "milk" quickly, inexpensively and even save money? Best of all -- you can easily avoid additives you don't want -- like carrageenan, or added calcium which is very bad for arteries -- as are added sugars and oils. And on top of all that -- you can even have a truly RAW product -- none of the packaged milks are raw, they must be heated to kill bacteria in order to be shelf-stable in the package. For all these reasons, I LOVE to make my own nut and seed milks. It is super easy. All you need is a high speed blender, a brand new ankle-high nylon stocking (or you can purchase a regular nut milk bag -- but I prefer the stocking!) and a bowl or measuring cup that you can stretch the stocking over.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of RAW almonds, cashews or sunflower seeds
2-3 cups purified water divided

Optional: liquid stevia, maple syrup or vanilla

Directions:

1) Take a scissor and cut off the top two inches of the stocking -- so that the elastic part at the top is completely removed. (We don't want the substances in the elastic to come in contact with our milk.)

2) Wash the stocking super well with dish soap, carefully and completely rinsing well. Then set the stocking aside.

3) Measure out 1/2 cup of raw cashews, sunflower seeds or almonds and rinse them in a strainer, then place them into the blender. Add one cup of filtered water and blend on high until you have a completely white liquid -- at least a full 60 seconds. Then add the additional 2 cups of water and blend again on high.

4) Stretch the clean nylon stocking over a bowl or large measuring cup as shown and pour the freshly made milk through the stocking. (Note: If using cashews, you do NOT need to do this -- they have so little fiber that you need not filter - just blend and drink!)

5) Lift the stocking off the cup and gently squeeze it to force the liquid out and and collect it in the cup. (see photo below)

For savory dishes -- like making mash potatoes, I use the milk as is. For pouring over breakfast cereal, or drinking as a beverage, I add a few drops of liquid stevia extract, or you could simply stir in your favorite sweetener and vanilla extract. Vary the amount of water used to create a richer product (use less water) or to reduce calories and or cost (use more water.)

Also -- if you can plan ahead...it's nice to soak the nuts or seeds in water for a few hours to overnight -- and then discard the soaking water. This makes the nutrients in your finished milk even MORE bio-available, as nature packages nuts and seeds with enzyme inhibitors that prevent sprouting until enough water is present to insure germination and growth. Soaking removes those.

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Gefilte Fish-less Patties -- Gluten-Free Vegan Alternative to Gefilte Fish

4/13/2017

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I have an entire page dedicated to Passover, with recipe links and my freely downloadable Haggadah for Holistic Nonviolence on this page.

Before I was vegan, and before I suffered food poisoning severe enough to send me to the hospital, I enjoyed eating gefilte fish. The last time I ever ate real gefilte fish, was when I had come home to my parent's house on a break from college. I wanted something simple and quick to eat, and no one was home. I searched my parent's refrigerator. That's when I spotted it -- a quart sized glass jar with several of the football shaped, beige colored fish patties. I noticed that the gelatinous sauce they usually swam in was missing, but thought nothing else of it, as I dumped a couple gefilte fishes onto a plate, smeared them with lovely ruby colored horse-raddish sauce and quickly devoured them.

Some hours later (I don't recall exactly how long) my stomach started hurting. It quickly got so intensely painful, that my father -- who was home by this time, put me into the car and headed to the ER. This is the only time I had ever been rushed to the ER. The doctor did a very superficial exam, asked me almost no questions, ran no lab tests and then told me that he suspected I had acute appendecitis and was going to prep me for exploratory surgery to confirm his hunch. THANK GOD -- i had recently read Dr. Robert Mendelsohn's fabulous book, Confessions of a Medical Heretic. In addition to arriving at the hospital with acute abdominal pain, I also came with some health-preserving skepticism. It helped too, that I had also just taken a class as an undergrad called, The Fundamentals, of Food Processing, taught by what I believed to me the present day incarnation of Betty Crocker herself. Although the class was absurdly biased towards the processed food industry, I did get one thing of value from it -- I came away appreciating how common, how varied, and how under-diagnosed was food poisoning. "There is no 24 hour flu" my teacher said over and over. "It's food poisoning!"

In response to the threat of being cut open, I began to ask the doctors some questions like...."are there any tests short of surgery that you can run to indicate whether or not this might be my appendix?" The ER doc stormed out of the room in a huff. I was then left alone in the ER room, long enough to speculate that they must not really have considered me THAT much in danger of sudden death, since they were leaving me alone so long. That's when I started to notice something. My pain was starting to subside. Eventually the doctor returned to try to bully me into agreeing to his surgery, but by this time, I was feeling much better. I was also starting to connect the quick onset and quick resolution of my symptoms with what I had been learning about in my food processing class. Shortly after that my Dad and I just simply walked out of the ER against doctor's orders. When I got home and told my mom that I suspected I'd gotten food poisoning from something, she told me that in fact the gel sauce in the gefilte fish jar had looked, "off" to her, so she dumped it out, rinsed the fish patties under running water and returned them to the jar. That was the last time I ever ate gefilte fish.

For reasons I can't explain, after I became vegan, and started thinking about how to veganize various traditional Passover foods, I became obsessed with finding a vegan alternative to gefilte fish. Chef Ron Pickarski had a gefilte fish recipe in one of his books, but it did not work well for me. Year after year I would try something else. Year after year I was disappointed. Then last year I stumbled upon the website of The V Word, which had a recipe for gefilte fish and used an entirely different approach to make them from any I had tried before. I was actually pleased with the results -- however still not completely satisfied. So this year, newly inspired, I set about tweaking Rhea's recipe, I added Jack fruit to balance out the chick pea flavor. I increased the amount of kelp powder. I substituted lemon pepper for the lemon rind and pepper-- which saved time and worked better for me, reduced the amount of oil to make it healthier, and added agar powder, to help it all hold together and be firmer. Finally, I created a gel sauce to go with it -- as this was an important part of making it seem more authentic to me.

Gefilte fish should be served with horseradish sauce. But when I searched stores in town, I could not find a single one that had the stuff I remember -- which was colored with beet juice and made from just a few wholesome ingredients. The stuff I found had things in it I would never eat -- like cottonseed oil plus a long list of other stuff, that was completely unnecessary -- and it wasn't red! So i bought a horseradish root and made my own. The result of all this innovation is below -- I hope you like it. This makes about a dozen Gefilte Fish-less patties.

Ingredients for Patties

1 tsp Olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cups chopped carrots (about 2 large ones)
1 1/2 cups chopped celery (about 2 large stalks)
4 cloves of garlic (diced)
3 cups of freshly cooked chickpeas (or two cans)
1 can of Jackfruit in brine, drained and chopped
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp lemon pepper
2 TBS Old Bay seasoning
sprinkle of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 TBS kelp powder
1 TBS dulce flakes
2 TBS lemon juice
1 3/4 tsp agar powder (note -- this is an increase from earlier versions)

Ingredients for Gel Sauce:

1 1/2 - 2 cups of leftover liquid from cooking the chickpeas (or the liquid from can)
1/2 cube of Rapunzel bouillon
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp of kelp powder
1/4 tsp agar powder (optional - to make sauce gel better)

Sautéing the veggies

Directions:

1) Rub the teaspoon of olive oil over the bottom of a large skillet. Turn heat to medium high and when oil is hot, add the chopped onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes stirring often, then add the drained chickpeas, chopped jack fruit, salt, lemon pepper, Old Bay, Cayenne, kelp and dulce stir well and turn heat to low.

2) While vegetables are on low, measure the 2 TBS of lemon juice into a cup and stir in the agar powder. Drizzle this mixture over the vegetable-chickpea mixture and stir well. Let simmer for 3 more minutes stirring often to keep it from sticking. Turn off heat, cover pan and let sit five minutes.

3) Transfer mixture to a food processor fitted with an "S" blade. Do this in two batches if processor is not big enough to do it all at once and then transfer it all to a bowl so you can mix both batches together.

4) Line a cookie tray with parchment paper, and using a large spoon, glop 12- 15 little foot-ball shaped blobs of the mixture onto the tray as shown in this photo:

The mixture is spooned onto the pan...

...after chilling 10 minutes you can pick up the patties and form them into nice shapes.

5) Place the tray into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. This will allow the patties to firm up enough that they can be handled, then you can nicely form them into the traditional shape of gefilte fish. Once nicely formed return tray the refrigerator while you make the sauce.

6) To make the sauce, place the chick pea liquid, half cube of bouillon, clove of garlic, 1/4 tsp of black pepper, 1/2 tsp of kelp powder and agar if using into a blender, blend until well combined, transfer to small pot and bring to a boil. Then let this liquid must cool completely before you put it over the patties -- or else it will cause them to fall apart. When sauce has gelled, remove patties from tray and carefully arrange them into covered casserole dish, and drizzle the sauce over them. They can be eaten right away or stored in this sauce for several days in the refrigerator. These are best served with horseradish sauce.

Newly made Gefilt-fishless patties with gel sauce drizzled over them.

You can make a horseradish sauce by peeling and chopping fresh horseradish root and placing it into the blender. Add about half as much chopped raw beet root, and just enough rice vinegar to help it all blend. blend on high, stopping to scrape down sides a few times. Be careful it's pretty hot!

Additional notes:

Be sure to use UNRIPE Jackfruit that is packed in BRINE, not the ripened sweetened stuff!

Use Agar powder -- not flakes.

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Eggless Macaroons

4/5/2017

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Here is yet another recipe that I will be serving at the upcoming Passover Seder I am helping to coordinate at ECM on the campus of the University of Kansas. While most of my blog posts are NOT recipes...my blog has been heavy with recipes as of late, as I work out the details for the menu for this unique Passover Seder, based upon the philosophy of Holistic Non-violence. Please visit my PASSOVER PAGE to learn more about this event, see the entire menu, or find out how to purchase tickets from ECM.

Please note -- because many coconuts now are harvested using enslaved monkeys (captured from the wild as orphans, after their mothers are killed) it is very important to only purchase coconut products from companies that you are certain are not obtaining their coconut in this way. Let's Do Organics, is one such company. When I can find it, I prefer their, "reduced fat" shredded coconut. It works just as well in recipes, but has less calories and fat than their regular shredded coconut. Take a look and notice the difference in serving sizes between the two products as well:

2.5 TBS Regular Coconut 4 TBS Reduced Fat Coconut
Calories 90 70
Total Fat 10 6
Saturated Fat 9 5
Protein 1 1
Carbs 4 4

Although it does take some time to form each individual macaroon, this recipe is otherwise extremely simple to make.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water
1/4 cup ground golden flax seed
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups Let's Do Organics Shredded Coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a cookie tray with parchment paper
Place the coconut into a large bowl
Place the water and flax into a blender and blend on high until thickened. Add the xanthan gum and blend for another minute until it is like egg white.
Add the syrup, salt and vanilla extract and blend one last time. Then pour contents of blender into the coconut and use a spatula to scrape out every last drop. Stir well until all coconut is evenly moist.
use your fingers to grab about a rounded TBS of the mixture and form it into a small macaroon shape (like in the photo above). Place these almost touching on the parchment paper lined cookie tray and bake in the middle of oven for about 15 minutes - just until they begin to brown. Remove and allow to cool completely before storing. They freeze well.

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Quinoa Vegetable Pilaf

3/28/2017

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This pilaf is actually pretty simple to make, but chopping all the vegetables can be time consuming. If you are in a hurry, you could use 2 lbs of mixed frozen diced vegetables and small can of mushrooms in place of chopping all the veggies (with the exception of the onion and garlic). This makes a really large amount -- enough to serve 4 -5 really hungry people as a main course. Or it makes a great side dish to serve a crowd or take to a potluck.

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine
1 medium onion diced
8 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
4 stalks of celery diced
2 carrots diced
1/2 of a sweet red bell pepper diced
8 oz of button mushrooms, diced
1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp powdered rosemary
2 more TBS of red wine
3 TBS of organic wheat-freetamari
1/2 tsp black pepper.

Directions:

Place the quinoa into a large bowl, cover with water and swish around a few times, then drain through a fine-mesh strainer. Do this several times until the water runs clear. Transfer drained quinoa to a 2 quart covered pot and add the 3 1/2 cups of water and cover. Bring it to a boil on high. Once it's boiling rapidly turn heat to low, cover and simmer about ten minutes -- until the water is gone and the quinoa is light and fluffy. Remove from heat and let rest covered.
While the quinoa is cooking, wash and chop the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bell pepper, and mushrooms.
Place the 1/2 cup of wine, onion and garlic into a large skillet and simmer on high until onion is soft and the wine just about gone. Then add the celery, carrots, sweet pepper, and mushrooms, cover and continue simmering on high -- removing the lid every few minutes to stir the vegetables so that they don't stick. Cook until the mushrooms are shrunken and dark, and the carrots are soft.
Turn heat to low and add the fresh basil and powdered rosemary, stir well and then carefully stir in the cooked quinoa. Mix the tamari with the 2 TBS of wine and then drizzle this over the quinoa, stir everything well and turn off the heat. sprinkle with the ground black pepper, and serve hot. Some people might appreciate having a bit more tamari to add to this at the table.

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Matzah Ball Soup

3/12/2017

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I have an entire page dedicated to Passover, with recipe links and my freely downloadable Haggadah for Holistic Nonviolence on this page.

My new improved matzah balls

Some time after I got off gluten about a decade ago, I came up with a simple (but not very good) substitute for traditional matzah balls, for use in my family's annual celebration of Passover. I would cook millet, with turnips and then mash these up and form into balls which I would bake in the oven. Each time I did this, I always hoped (rather unsuccessfully) that at least part of a ball might stay together for a few minutes after adding it to the soup. These were very "no frills" matzah balls, but what they lacked in culinary pleasure, they compensated for in ease of preparation, enabling me to put more time and energy into the rest of the menu.

But this year, memories of light, fluffy and fully cohesive matzah balls came flooding back to me, and I found myself newly inspired to see if I could come up with a gluten-free vegan matzah ball that would delight. I began by looking at lots of different recipes for traditional matzah balls and the first thing I noticed was that eggs were a major ingredient in traditional matzah balls. That gave me the idea to experiment with Follow Your Heart's new vegan egg product -- and it turned out to be THE perfect ingredient to include to do justice to my childhood memory of matzah balls. Furthermore, these balls freeze and thaw really well -- meaning they can be prepared far ahead of time, so that they are ready to use the day you make soup, without increasing that day's work load. Below is the result of my effort. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients for Matzah Balls:

1 medium potato

3/4 cup quinoa flakes
3 TBS tapioca powder
1 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

3 TBS Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg powder
3/4 cup ice cold water

1/4 cup club soda

Additional 1/2 cup of quinoa flakes

Directions for Matzah Balls:

1) Scrub potato, remove eyes and put it into a small pot, cover with water and boil for about 15 minutes until soft. Remove skin and push potato through a ricer (or you could just dice it with a knife into VERY tiny little pieces -- the size of rice.)

1) Mix 3/4 cups of quinoa flakes, tapioca, dill, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl, then add the finely chopped or "riced" potato and stir well.

2) Blend the Vegan Egg powder with the 3/4 c of cold water on high in a blender and then add this to the dry mixture in the bowl, along with the club soda. Use a fork to blend well. Refrigerate this mixture for at least 30 minutes before proceeding.

3) Remove chilled mixture from refrigerator and sprinkle with the additional 1/2 cup of quinoa flakes to keep it from sticking to your hands and make rolling into balls easier. Roll into 20 matzah balls -- each about the size of an unshelled walnut.

4) Get a large pan and fill it just two and half inches deep with water, sprinkle a bit of salt into it and bring it to a rolling boil. Place 10 of the balls into this pot, bring it back to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes covered. Remove the balls with a slotted spoon and repeat the process with the other ten matzah balls. Add the matzah balls to the soup just before serving.

The Matzah balls can be made ahead of time and frozen for use later. That makes making the soup the day you want to serve it a snap! Then you simply need to add frozen matzah balls to the hot soup and they will thaw right in it!

Soup Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil.
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
3 stalks celery diced
3 carrots sliced thin
1 medium potato diced
1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
1 cube of Rapunzel Bouillon
8 cups water
2 TBS fresh chopped parsley
1/2 tsp dried dill leaves

1 recipe of matzah balls (from above)

Soup Directions:

1) Smear one teaspoon of the olive oil over the entire bottom of a large covered pot. Then place the second teaspoon right in the middle of this. Place pan on burner on high for one minute and then add the diced onion. Stir frequently while cooking on high just until the onion starts to brown. Add the garlic and turn down heat cooking for another minute. Then add the celery and continue cooking and stirring intermittently for three more minutes.

2) Add the carrots, potatoes, celery leaves, cube of bouillon, water parsley and dill. Cover and return heat to high until it boils. Add matzah balls and remove from heat (unless they are frozen -- then continue heating until the balls are hot. Serve right away.

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Lentil Walnut Loaf

3/9/2017

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I hope you enjoy my latest creation. A gluten-free, oat-free, whole-foods-plant-based lentil loaf that is completely salt, oil and sugar free too! While there are many different lentil loaf recipes all over the internet, and few of them have quite this many ingredients in them, my goal in creating this recipe was to come up with something that was not only gluten -free, (and free of oats which I don't eat-- even if they are certified gluten-free oats) but also made without oil and tasted good without the addition of salt. The combination of all the different vegetables -- especially beets with all the herbs, seems to do the trick! This makes 8 servings if served with a salad and other sides, or as a one-dish meal, it would serve four.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups dry brown lentils
4 cups filtered water
1 1/2 cups chopped raw walnuts (measure AFTER chopping)
1 cup grated beets
1 cup grated carrots
2 cups finely diced celery
1/4 cup wine
2 cups finely diced onion
5 large cloves of garlic minced
1 cup filtered water
1/3 cup ground golden flax seed
1 tsp agar powder
2 TBS onion powder
1 TBS dried parsley leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
sprinkle of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup chick pea flour

Directions:

1) Place lentils into a two quart pot and pick through them looking for debris to remove (I have found wheat berries in my lentils on occasion.) Fill pot with water and swish lentils around a few times, then drain through a strainer. Repeat this several times until you feel certain lentils are clean. Return drained lentils to pot and add 4 cups of filtered water to pot, cover and heat on high until pot comes to a boil. Turn down heat, cover and simmer until all water is absorbed and lentils are soft (about 15-20 more minutes.) Remove from heat and let sit covered.

2) While the lentils are cooking, chop walnuts into fine pieces until you have 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped walnuts. Place these into a dry, fry pan and heat on medium on stove, stirring frequently just until they begin to brown, then remove from heat.

3.) Place the wine into a large skillet, turn on high and add the onion. Saute for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and continue cooking until the wine is gone. Add the celery and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently to keep vegetables from sticking. Then add the grated beets and carrots, stir well, cover and turn heat to low. Allow to cook another five minutes.

4) Place 1 cup of filtered water, the ground flax seeds and agar into blender and blend on high until it is like egg white. Add 1 cup of the cooked lentils to this mixture and blend until smooth. Next add 1 cup of the vegetable mixture and again blend again until smooth.

5) Place into a large bowl, the remaining lentils, toasted walnuts, remaining vegetable mixture, the herbs, and chick pea flour and mix all these together well. Then stir in the contents of the blender and mix well with a spatula until it is all evenly moist.

6) Divide the mixture between two parchment lined bread loaf pans, or a glass baking dish large enough that the lentils aren't more than two or two and half inches deep, and firmly press it into the pan and smooth the top. Place into an oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before lifting parchment from pan and slicing the loaf. Serve hot with sauce, and leftovers are great served cold too!

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My Gluten Free Vegan Matzah Recipe...Mmmm

2/28/2017

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I have an entire page dedicated to Passover, with recipe links and my freely downloadable Haggadah for Holistic Nonviolence on this page.

Writing this post is presenting some additional challenges. I just pulled a tray of these Matzahs from the oven, and although I was able to restrain myself from eating them long enough to take a few photos of my finished product, I can't seem to stop eating them now, which is making typing this post harder than usual.

After several disappointing attempts, I finally came up with something that not only tastes good and stays together, but also remains fairly flat instead of having the edges curl up after baking. I've been making all sorts of oil-free crackers for many years, but none of them so far would work as a substitute for matzah because they just didn't look the part at all.

Now I should warn you --what I have created here, would not pass muster with any Orthodox rabbi in terms of being kosher for Passover -- a special type of kosher that involves a lot of additional rules, like for example you have under 18 minutes from the time you mix the flour with water before you get it into a hot oven -- otherwise yeast might start to grow and cause the matzah to be leavened. Furthermore It is a mitzvah -- in fact a commandment, to eat properly made matzah on the first night of Passover, but to fulfill this, matzah must be made of one of these five grains -- wheat, spelt, barley, rye or oats. No exceptions. Some people who are gluten intolerant do eat oats -- if they are grown, handled, and processed to prevent cross contamination. But others do not. For very observant Jews, who are gluten intolerant and don't eat oats, this presents a conundrum that I do not have a solution for. But for those, who want to honor the spirit of Passover by having seders, and retelling the story of liberation from slavery -- and aren't concerned with following all those rules, my recipe may be just the thing you were looking for to make your seder inclusive for those who don't consume gluten. It's actually a very simple recipe, but does take time to roll out the dough thinly. This recipe makes six large crackers -- or one big tray (15 x 20 inches). So you might wish to double it.

Use a large cookie tray. This one is 15 x 20 inches

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup white rice flour
additional rice flour for rolling out dough

1/2 cup water
2 TBS ground golden flax seeds
1/4 tsp guar gum

Unbleached parchment paper

Directions:

Take the sunflower seeds and put them into a blender and grind them into a powder. Then transfer the ground sunflower seeds to a large bowl
Add the garbanzo bean flour, tapioca and 1/4 cup of the rice flour and mix well with a wire whisk.
Place the water and flax seeds into a blender (preferably a small blender jar if you have one) and blend on high until well mixed. Then add the guar gum and blend until it becomes thick like egg white. Add this to the bowl of flours and mix well with a fork.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of rice flour over the mixture to keep it from sticking to your hands, and use your hands to roll the mixture into a nice ball of dough -- continuing to press it into the loose rice flour as needed to keep it from being sticky.
Once the dough is well-worked and not sticky, flatten it slightly into a pancake on the counter and sprinkle both sides with a bit more flour so that it won't stick to the counter. Continue flattening it with your hands like this and turning it over and flouring the other side until it is a flat circle about the size of a small plate. Then transfer it a large cookie tray that is lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle a bit more flour over the top and the place a second sheet of parchment over the top and use a rolling pin on top of that to flatten the dough out as thin as you can until it covers the entire cookie tray. Continue to move the top parchment sheet around -- and sprinkle flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Once you have a nice thin flat rectangle, use a fork to stab the entire surface about two hundred times or so. Then use a knife to score the matzah into six large crackers.
Place the matzah into the middle of an oven preheated to 450 degrees. and bake it for about 13-15 minutes -- just until it starts to firm up, but has not yet browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing in a a plastic bag. If making many days ahead, of when you plan to use it, keep it in the refrigerator.

I think these taste great without adding any salt, but if you are used to a fair amount of salt, you might want to sprinkle some salt on these right before putting them into the oven.

I also think they taste best right out of the oven -- but have found that several days later, you can reheat them in the oven right before serving them and they are just as good.

Rolling out the matzah

rolled out, fork-pricked ready to bake.

One final note I'd like to add is that some traditions consider legumes and rice to be verboten during Passover. The Chabad website has written about this subject Here. But I am troubled by this perspective.

In essence as I understand this, back about 800 or so years ago, some rabbis got the idea, that out of an abundance of caution, beans and rice and other healthy plant-deprived foods that are clearly NOT chometz (one of the five special leavened grains) should be avoided on Passover. This tradition took hold in some, but not all geographic areas, and has now become a source of division amongst Jews from different places.

It appears to me that Chabad's only concern about this custom is the fact that it divides Jews. But they completely ignore an important problem here, namely that this custom has the additional consequence of encouraging and increasing consumption of meat, dairy and eggs (all of which they do consider Kosher for Passover).

There are several problems with this:

1) Environmental organizations have stated that animal agriculture is a major cause of the most serious environmental problems facing humanity today,

2) In order to obtain meat, dairy and eggs, humans must engage in the practice of making other beings into, "chattel property" and "owning" them, which seems contrary to the spirit of Passover.

3) Eating meat, dairy and eggs, has been clearly shown to contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and many cancers -- the leading causes of death and disability in the Western world today.

4) Rearing animals for food, means large amounts of grain and beans get fed to animals -- a very inefficient use of resources (it takes many pounds of grain to produce a single pound of meat) contributing to food insecurity for the poorest humans, while 70% of grain grown is for animal feed. Also while many areas of the US experience drought, the major use of water is for animal agriculture.

I think it is time that Jews speak up, and encourage religious leaders to address this glaring hypocrisy that undermines many of the important ideas that Torah appears to embrace: feeding the hungry, healing the world, protecting human health, compassion for animals, and taking care of G-d's creation.

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Quinoa Breakfast Bars (Gluten-Free, Vegan and Made Without Oil)

2/19/2017

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Easy to make and they store well for at least a week in the fridge. A delicious, nutritious, satisfying, grab and go breakfast, using leftover cooked quinoa.

Store bought whole-food meal replacement bars usually have too much sugar and fat, and I wanted something more nutritious that would also save me money. My first attempts weren't so great, but I kept working at this until I came up with something that would stay together, bake properly and solidify in the middle and taste great. I am happy to share my result here with you. You can make these using any leftover cooked whole grain. I prefer them being made with quinoa -- but if brown rice is what is sitting left over in my fridge I will use that instead. The important part, is that the cooked grain can NOT BE SOGGY! I get the best results using leftover grain that has been refrigerated overnight so that it is a bit on the dry side, and this is a great use for leftover rice or quinoa! This recipe is only mildly sweet, so if you prefer really sweet stuff -- you might want to double the amount of maple syrup. Also, Hazelnut extract is not necessary -- just adds a tiny bit more flavor. If this is not something you keep on hand in your pantry, then omit it. And a note about liquid stevia --not all liquid stevia extracts are equivalent -- some of them have nasty after tastes! I get good results using Wisdom brand Sweet Leaf, Stevia Clear. But during the summer when I have a lot of stevia growing in my garden, I use the whole fresh leaves instead. To use the fresh leaves instead of the extract -- blend about one half cup of loosely packed stevia leaves into the almond milk (in a blender) and then proceed from there.

Here is what it looked like when I used rice, and had just stirred in the bean flour and cinnamon...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond milk (or any plant milk of your choice)
1/4 cup raw chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp hazelnut extract (optional-not necessary at all)
1 tsp liquid stevia extract (Wisdom Sweet Leaf Brand)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 ripe bananas
3 cups of leftover cooked quinoa or brown rice
3/4 cups garbanzo bean flour
2 TBS powdered cinnamon
1/2 cup raw walnut pieces
3 TBS ground golden flax seeds
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1) Measure out 1/2 cup of almond milk into a bowl that holds at least 2 cups. Add the 1/4 cup of chia to the milk and stir well for 30 seconds. Add the three extracts and maple syrup and stir again.

2) Mash up two very ripe bananas with a fork and then stir them into milk mixture.

3) Into a large bowl place 3 cups of previously cooked and cooled (preferably overnight!) quinoa or brown rice. Sprinkle it with the 3/4 cups of garbanzo bean flour and powdered cinnamon. Use a big flat wooden paddle to mix the rice very well and break up the clumps so that the flour coats each grain of cooked quinoa or rice. (Like the photo above shows.)

4) Place the walnuts onto a cutting board and use a knife to finely chop the walnuts up. Chop up just enough to fill a half cup measure, and then add them to bowl along with the ground flax seeds and raw pumpkin seeds. Mix all of this very well.

5) Add the banana-milk-chia mixture to the large bowl of quinoa (or rice) and mix it all very well, then spoon it into parchment paper lined 8x8 glass baking dish. (If you don't have parchment paper, rub a tsp or two of oil onto the bottom and sides of the pan instead) and carefully press it down into the pan and smooth over the top like the photo below shows.

6) Place the pan into a preheated, 300 degree oven and bake for about 40 minutes until it feels pretty firm. Remove from oven and slice into 12 squares immediately -- but then let it cool before attempting to remove slices from the pan and it will firm up. Store in the refrigerator. These keep for at least a week, or can be frozen for longer storage too.

Chopping the walnuts

About to bake in the oven

These bars were made using leftover brown rice. These also make a great treat to stick into a lunch box!

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Crock Cheese Recipe -- A Farb Family Favorite!

12/25/2016

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Jo Stepaniak, has long been my favorite cookbook author for not just her creativity and simplicity, but also because everything I ever make of hers always turns out great. I own many of her cookbooks, including BOTH versions of her Uncheese Cookbook (which were quite revolutionary when they came out, and vegans had very few cruelty-free options that simulated the taste and mouthfeel of traditional cheese) and there was one recipe hidden in the second edition of this book (the blue one shown here -- The ULTIMATE Uncheese Cookbook) that I had never tried -- and maybe never would have except for the fact that I attended a book signing of Stepaniak's and samples of this recipe were available for attendees to taste. I fell in love with this recipe from my very first bite, and then once I made it myself, still couldn't believe that something this delicious, could be so easy to make. I never understood however, why her recipe only used a half pound of tofu though, as this resulted in far too little of the finished uber addictive cheese! Over time, I made some changes to this recipe to not only produce a quantity more suitable to my needs, but also to reduce the sodium and cut costs. Here follows my adapted version of this delicous crock cheese -- reminiscent of the once familiar cheddar-style spread served in pottery crocks that I remembered so fondly from my childhood.

Ingredients:

20 oz package of firm, water-packed tofu
4 TBS raw sunflower seeds
3 TBS raw cashews
1 TBS chopped garlic
4 TBS mellow white miso
1 -1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp ground yellow mustard seed
1 tsp salt
3 tsp onion powder
5 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:

1) Break tofu into chunks and place in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil for five minutes. Drain in a collander and set aside to cool.

2) Place all remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor.

3) Gently press the tofu (still in the collander) to remove as much water as possible, then add it to the blender or food processor. Process until completely blended and very smooth, then transfer to a ceramic crock -- or a glass bowl. Let it set in the refrigerator overnight for the flavors to meld before serving.

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Reduced Fat, Sugar and Salt, GF Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

12/15/2016

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Necessity is the mother of invention.

I have loved ones who must cut their sugar, oil and sodium, and they are CRAVING something a bit decadent, and I can see how important some sort of indulgence is to them right now. Until recently, I had no idea how much sodium things like baking soda and baking powder contributed to baked goods --- but take my word for it -- it's a lot. So I used only a bit to make these. I did also try this recipe while completely ommitting the baking powder, and while they did turn out more or less ok doing this, I definately liked them better WITH the baking powder being used -- they weren't quite as dense. So if you can handle a bit of sodium, I definately recommend that you do use the baking powder. In creating the recipe below, I set about trying to come up with something that would fill the need for a treat -- with minimal amounts salt, sugar and oil and here it is. These cookies were a snap to make. Because I still have a huge box of pears I picked last month -- slowly ripening in my garage, I used pureed pears to replace most of the oil -- but you could probably use apples -- or even applesauce to do this too.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup of pureed pears (or applesauce)
1/4 tsp liquid stevia extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS olive oil (could use canola, or coconut or saflower too)

2 cup sorghum flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp Rumford baking powder (optional -- but recommended)
1/4 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup coconut sugar (or other granulated sweetener)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 - 1 cup GF/Dairy Free mini chocolate chips

You will also need parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Wash and slice the pears and place in blender and puree until like applesauce keep adding pears until you have exactly 1 1/4 cups.

3) Add the stevia, vanilla and olive oil and blend well.

4) Into a large bowl place all the remaining ingredients except for the chips. Stir well with a wire wisk. Then add the contents of the blender, using a spatula to get every drop. Stir just until nothing dry is visible, then stir in the chocolate chips.

5) Using about 1 TBS of the dough for each, form little cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets. Dip your fingers in water and then press down the cookies to flatten them out as much as you can -- don't let them touch, but they can be fairly close -- they won't spread much.

Bake them about 12-15 minutes, just until the bottoms begin to brown, then remove from oven and allow to cool on wire racks before serving. They won't be as crispy as cookies made with a lot more oil and sugar --- but they are satisfying and tasty.

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Seasoned Tempeh Strips with Mashed Potatoes and Golden Gravy

11/12/2016

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Here's something you might want to consider for Thanksgiving -- Seasoned Tempeh Strips. I have long loved tempeh -- a cultured soy product made from whole soybeans. Unlike tofu, which is more processed, tempeh should never be eaten raw. However both of these foods have amazing versatile textures which readily absorb flavorings and marinades. I created this recipe following a generous donation of tempeh from a home-grown Lawrence Kansas business, Central Soyfoods to the Ecumenical Campus Ministeries, where I am currently the veggie lunch coordinator. Just in time for Thanksgiving too! These tempeh strips are fabulous served with mashed potatoes and gravy. For my family I typically make a mushroom based gravy using very little if any oil, however, in making food for Veggie Lunch, where I have an extremely tight budget and recipes must be streamlined and simplified in order to scale them up to feed 80-100 people and do so in the time slot that I have, I have adapted a recipe for gravy from, The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook.

To make the Seasoned Tempeh Strips:
1 lb (two 8 oz packages) of plain soy (gluten-free) tempeh.
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 TBS wheat free tamari
1 TBS balsamic vinegar
1 TBS molasses
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
5 drops tobasco sauce
1 tsp powdered sage
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp ground yellow mustard powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4- 1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil for oiling the baking sheet
Olive oil vegetable spray

Directions:

Slice each block of the tempeh into about 16 thin strips and place them into a flat-bottomed pyrex dish or bowl. Mix all the remaining ingredients together and drizzle over the tempeh. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 4 hours -- or overnight. Then transfer the strips to an oiled baking sheet in a single layer. Spray lightly with an olive oil vegetable spray and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then put right under broiler 2-3 minutes just until they start to brown on top. Serve hot over a bed of rice or next to mashed potatoes, and top with golden gravy.

To make the Golden Gravy

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup sorghum flour
2 TBS olive oil
2 cups water
2 TBS wheat free tamari
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Mix the yeast and sorghum together in a dry fry pan, and then turn heat on high and continue mixing for another minute or two -- just until you start to smell the yeast toasting.
Add the olive oil and using a fork, blend it well into the flour mixture until all the flour has been moistened by the oil.
Turn down flame and add the water continuing to mix until it bubbles and becomes think, stir to remove any lumps. Add the tamarin, salt and pepper.
Optional -- add in a tablespoon or two (depending upon how much you like the vinegar flavor) of the leftover tempeh marinade. Then drizzle over the mashed potatoes and tempeh.

To Make the Mashed Potatoes

3 lbs of russet potatoes
1 cup of soy, almond or coconut milk
1 TBS of olive oil (optional)
salt to taste

Directions:

Wash and peel the russet potatoes, then cut them into chunks and place in a saucepan. Cover with water, put on a lid and bring to a boil until potatoes are soft when stabbed with a fork (about ten minutes). Remove from burner, and drain the potatoes in a colander and then return them to the saucepan.
Use a potato masher to mash up the potatoes, and add the milk, and if using the oil. Add as much salt as you choose, while mixing well until light and fluffy. Serve right away and top with gravy.

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Sunflower Seed Ranch Dressing

10/6/2016

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This is a super easy and quick recipe which can be used as a salad dressing or a vegetable dip. There is only 1 TBS of oil, and a tiny bit of sweetener and salt. It makes 3 generous cups of thick flavorful dressing in about five minutes time. I used my Vitamix to make this, but you could probably also use a food processor too.

This would also be a great topping for a baked potato too.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 TBS olive oil
2 TBS maple syrup
2 cloves fresh garlic, pealed
3 TBS diced onion
1 TBS plus 1 tsp organic, gluten-free tamari
2 tsp dry dill weed
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1) Place the sunflower seeds and water into the blender and blend on high until creamy.

2) Add all remaining ingredients and process one last time -- stop once to make sure that everything is getting mixed -- including around the blades. Then transfer to a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. You can use right away, but the flavor will improve after about 12 hours.

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Blueberry-Pear Muffins, Sweetened with Dates and Fresh Stevia Leaves. Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Oil-Free and VEGAN!

10/4/2016

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It's all because of my friend Heidi and her generous neighbors, with too many pears on their pear tree. I had come home with LOTS of freshly picked pears -- not all of which were picture perfect. Some had bad spots -- that were just growing bigger and worse as the pears ripened on my counter. I hate wasting food. Knowing that pureed fruit can be terrific in baked goods and it's inclusion can allow one to completely avoid using any oil, I decided to cut up the pears with bad spots, which weren't even optimally ripe yet and remove the bad spots. Then I placed all those oddly shaped pieces into my blender and processed on high until it looked like apple sauce. I planned to store the puree in glass jars in my freezer to be used at some later date in my baking.

But I couldn't stop there. I added some pitted dates, fresh stevia leaves (picked, washed and spun dry a few days ago, when I trimmed up my stevia plants) water, vanilla extract and then added that mixture to a mixing bowl full of sorghum flour with a few added things. Then I folded in frozen blueberries....and baked them. The result was spectacular.

Here in more detail is what I did, in case you'd like to try this too:

Ingredients:

3 cups of pear puree (apple would work just as well here too)
1 cup of firmly packed pitted Deglet dates
1 cup of loosely packed stevia leaves (or substitute about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of stevia extract to taste)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS lemon juice
1 1/2 cups of water (divided in half)

3 cups sorghum flour
1/2 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp Rumford baking powder
2 tsp baking soda

3 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two dozen muffin cups with unbleached parchment paper liners.
Measure out 3 cups of well-pureed pear or apple into a large blender. Add the dates, Stevia leaves vanilla and lemon juice. Cover and blend on high until totally blended. Add half the water and blend again.
Into a large bowl, place the flour, flax, arrowroot, xanthan, baking powder and baking soda (tip -- hold a fine mesh strainer over the bowl and dump the teaspoons of baking soda into the strainer and then use the measuring spoon to push any lumps of the soda through the strainer and into the bowl so you don't have clumps of the stuff in your finished muffins.) Stir all the dry ingredients well with a wire whisk.
Pour the contents of the blender into the bowl of dry. Then add the remaining cup of water to the blender and swish it around to get every last bit mixed in -- then add this too to the bowl.
Use a spatula to blend the wet and dry -- just until you don't see any dry left -- but don't over mix! Then stir in the frozen blueberries and quickly spoon into the muffin cups. Put right into the hot oven and bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes -- just until the tops start to brown.

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Seasoned Black Beans with Kale and Carrots and Tofu Sour Topping (Recipe)

9/10/2016

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This is an example of the type of cooking that I do for my family -- and variations of this recipe are something I make often. Several times a week, I cook up a huge pot of some type of bean -- which stores well in the refrigerator for close to a week -- and sometimes I freeze freshly cooked beans (laid out in a single layer on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and then transferred to a freezer bag once they are frozen.) Frozen beans can then be quickly thawed in a colander under running water so that they are just as convenient as canned -- and a whole lot less expensive. These beans are great served over rice or another grain, or used as a filling in burritos. Top with Cheesy Sauce, Sour Topping (recipe below) and salsa. The Sour Topping recipe is super quick and easy. When I make these for my family, I sauté the onions in water -- which is a bit more labor intensive (you have to keep adding just enough water to keep them from sticking -- but not so much that they boil instead of brown) but is healthier. When cooking for large groups, however, the oil sauté is both quicker and easier. (And to most people also tastes better.)

Seasoned Black Beans with Kale and Carrots:

Ingredients:

1 TBS Olive oil or 1/4 cup water for sautéing onions
2 medium onioins diced
3 carrots chopped
4 large kale leaves chopped fine (or more if you want to really pack in the nutrition!)
8 cups cooked (or canned) black beans drained
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp salt (optional)

Directions:

1) Place the oil in a skillet and turn heat to high. Add the onions and sauté until they begin to brown. Then add the carrots and continue cooking another 4-5 minutes until they are soft. Finally add the chopped kale. Stir as needed to keep everything from sticking.

2) Add the beans, chili powder and salt if using and mix and continue heating until the beans are bubbly. Serve hot over rice or other grain, and top with your choice of cheesy sauce, salsa, avocado, chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salsa or tofu sour topping (recipe below.)

Tofu Sour Topping (plant-based alternative to sour cream)

1 12.3 oz package of organic firm Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
2 TBS lemon juic
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy. Store leftovers in a glass jar -- keeps for about a week refrigerated. This actually tastes really good without the salt -- but for those who are use to eating a lot of salt, it will make it taste better.

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BBQ Jackfruit Recipe

8/30/2016

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Jackfruit is the newest ingredient I have added to my culinary repertoire -- and I am quite excited by the delicious opportunities it is opening up. I found 20 oz cans of it at Checker's Grocery Store for 1.49 each. Which means that this is something very economical to use -- so I plan to use it to make BBQ Jackfruit for the next ECM Free Veggie Lunch.

For this recipe make sure you use YOUNG GREEN JACKFRUIT as shown in this photo. After draining the liquid from the can -- this is what the stuff looks like.

Then you just use your fingers or a fork to smash each piece and you will notice that it kind of flakes apart when you do this and the texture is reminiscent of pulled pork.

This recipe is super quick and easy. Really all you do is saute an onion, add grated carrots, shredded Jackfruit and then mix in BBQ sauce, and let it saute for a bit for the flavor to permeate the Jackfruit. That's it.

However, many store bought BBQ sauces are not vegan -- they often contain honey or Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovies)-- and if they use plain old sugar for sweetening -- that sugar might be genetically modified or filtered through bone char. That's why I prefer to make my own BBQ sauce. The recipe I provide here, I have adapted to be less expensive than what I usually make for my family. When I make it for them, I sweeten with a combination of maple syrup and stevia -- but here I have substituted raw (turbinado) sugar (which I found at Checkers for 3.00 for a two pound box -- and it is labeled, "vegan", "gluten-free" "kosher parve --OU" and "non-gmo"). This keeps the costs down, while making it inclusive for lots of people.

BTW -- You can make this recipe completely oil- free, by sauteing the onions in water instead of oil -- but it's a bit more time consuming and tricky to get them to brown in water -- you have to watch them very closely and keep drizzling in just a tiny bit of water continuously to keep them from sticking. Since I created this recipe specifically to make for ECM's Veggie Lunch -- and will be making it for about 100 people -- using oil will make it much easier to prepare.

 BBQ Jackfruit Recipe

Ingredients:

1 onion diced
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 cup grated carrots
20 oz can of green jackfruit, drained

For the BBQ Sauce:

2/3 cup tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
8 tsp turbinado sugar
2 tsp ground yellow mustard seed
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tsp molasses

Directions:

Saute the onions on high in the olive oil until they begin to brown, stirring frequently.
While onions are cooking place all of the sauce ingredients into a blender and process until well blended.
When the onions begin to brown add the carrots and continue sauteing and stirring 3 more minutes.
Lightly smash the jackfruit and stir it into the onions, reduce heat to medium and continue stirring until everything is well mixed.
Add the BBQ sauce, mix well, cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes -- stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking. The longer you cook it, the better it tastes!

Serve over rice, or spoon onto bread and eat as a sandwich.

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I'm the New Veggie Lunch Coordinator for ECM!

8/25/2016

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I have taken on the position of Volunteer Coordinator for ECM's Veggie Lunch. I am so excited and honored that Kim Brooks has given me this opportunity and agreed that Veggie Lunch will be entirely vegan while I am coordinator. I got my feet wet with the first veggie lunch -- where I believe we set a record for the largest quantity of chick pea (faux) tuna salad ever made in the state of Kansas. At one point, we had four different people with potato mashers attempting to flatten chicken peas at one time in an industrial sized pan.

While in general I prefer to make and eat cuisine that is free of oil, and sugar, and low in salt, that will probably not be the case for the food that I will be preparing for Veggie Lunch. This is for several reasons -- the first being that when scaling up food to serve a large number of people -- using oil does make the food prep a bit easier. Secondly I am aiming to serve a population that is use to high levels of sugar, salt and oil, and I expect cares more about taste, then reducing their future risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer or diabetes. In addition, the food budget is very limited. The tricks I typically use to make vegan food taste good to those who typically eat the standard American diet (like using dates and nuts for the sweeteneing and the fat) are far more expensive than sugar and oil. So for those reasons, I am going to be a bit more flexible in my menus for Veggie Lunch. That said, the food I prepare will be made using only naturally gluten free ingredients -- although a separate table will continue to provide bread generously donated by Wheatfield's Bakery, and I will do my best to prevent it from cross-contaminating the food on the main table.

However, I will not be the one preparing veggie lunch every single Thursday. As before my arrival here -- student groups will be invited to prepare the weekly meals intermittently too -- and while they will be required to make the food 100% vegan -- they will not be required to make it gluten free, that will be up to those cooking.

The Fall 2016 ECM Veggie Lunch program opened on August 25th. Here was what was served (pictured to the left along with some of the volunteers who helped make the food).

Tossed Salad with Goddess Dressing
Baked Potato with choice of Sauteed broccoli and onions and cheesy sauce
Chick Pea "Faux" Tuna Salad
Wheatfield's Bread (on a different table)

The food was very well received and loved by everyone that I talked to. I promised that I would post the recipes on my blog....so here they are:

Goddess Dressing:

Ingredients

1 cup of sunflower seeds (rinsed)
2 cups water
2 cloves of garlic peeled
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 T lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground yellow mustard seed

Directions:

Place the sunflower seeds into a powerful blender with half of the water (one cup) and blend on high until thick and creamy. Then add the second cup of water and all remaining ingredients and process on high until completely blended and creamy. Stores well refrigerated for about 5-7 days -- shake well before using.

Sauteed Onions and Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli -- chopped
1 onion diced
Olive Oil
San-J Wheat Free Tamari (organic)

Directions:

Saute the onion in the oil until it starts to brown, add the chopped broccoli and continue stirring until it turns bright green. Sprinkle with tamari, remove from heat and cover and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

The Cheesy Sauce Recipe was posted to my blog Previously
Find it HERE.

Chick Pea Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

4 cups of cooked (or canned) chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
1 TBS Kelp Powder
1-2 TBS Wheat Free Tamari
1 TBS Lemon Juice
2 stalks celery finely chopped
3 TBS finely diced onion
1/2 cup vegan Mayo (We used Just Mayo purchased at Walmart)

Directions:

1) Drain the chickpeas and place them into a flat-bottomed container. Using a potato masher, partially smash the chickpeas - but leave them in chunks.

2) Sprinkle the kelp powder, tamari and lemon juice over the chickpeas and stir well to evenly distribute.

3) Add in the celery and onion

4) Stir in the vegan Mayo

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Oil-Free Lemon Cake (Gluten Free and Vegan Too!)

7/30/2016

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This is now an old family favorite that I stumbled onto when I had literally one hour to make a cake and head out the door to a party. I was not happy with any gluten-free cake recipe I had ever thus far seen. Either they were just too loaded with oil and other undesirable things, or they just didn't taste very good. To make matters more challenging (or perhaps to help me to this success...) I was out of all oils, and all granulated sweeteners. I Grabbed my dessert bible -- Fran Costigan's Great Good Desserts Naturally (which is mostly whole foods and vegan -- but not gluten-free) and looked for a recipe that did not call for any granulated sweeteners. Then I started substituting --- getting rid of the wheat flour and the oil and subbing things that I had on hand. Wallah -- below is the result. (This photo however is from when we made the cake again later for my daughter's birthday. I don't recall now exactly how we iced it -- but probably colored the icing with beet juice and turmeric powder.)

Everyone in my family -- plus everyone at the party loved this cake -- uniced. In fact, it was one of three cakes set out for people to eat, and it was the only one without dairy and gluten -- and it was gone in a flash -- long before the other two.

So here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup quinoa flakes put into blender and ground into flour
2 TBS ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup tapiocha flour
1-1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1-1/2 tsp Rumford baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c finely diced and smashed apple or 3/4 cup applesauce
8 dates, pits removed and chopped
6 TBS lemon juice
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 TBS raw cashew peices
3/4 c real maple syrup
2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 nonstick cake pans
parchment paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F
Cut two circles from the parchment paper that are exactly the size of the bottom of the cake pans and carefully set them in the bottom of the pans.
Add the first 8 ingredients together into a bowl and mix well with a wire wisk.
Place the smashed apple, chopped dates, lemon juice and vinegar into a blender (I use a Vitamix) and blend on high until all is totally liquified and smooth.
Add the cashew pieces to the blender, and again blend on high until smooth.
Add the maple syrup and extracts to the blender, blend once more and then add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry. Use a spatula to get every last drop. Mix just until blended -- be careful not to overmix.
Carefully split the batter between the two pans. It will be very thick. Use spatula to smooth the tops as flat as possible, and bake for 25 minutes.

This cake is amazingly moist even though there is no added oil. It tastes great on the day it is made -- and unlike other gluten free cakes that I have made, it stilltastes good the next day -- no stale flavor.

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Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Oil-Free Cranberry Muffin Recipe

First make your starter...

Here's how to make the bread...(Makes THREE loaves)

Easy to make and they store well for at least a week in the fridge. A delicious, nutritious, satisfying, grab and go breakfast, using leftover cooked quinoa.

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