Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

I entered my grasshopper pudding recipe over on Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays today. You should check it out! It's a great meet up of food bloggers.

toffee-esque almond flour cookies

 

Tonight I made my sweet little boy some delicious cookies. Cookies that were so yummy, that my picky, anti-sweets, gluten eating, dairy loving, carnivore husband said were AMAZING. Yup. 

I recently purchased a book called The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam. It looks a little something like this: 

 

This book is FILLED with amazing information on the benefits of almond flour, and natural sugars. She is a wealth of knowledge. In the book, one of the recipes really caught my eye. It was called the TROPICAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. They sounded amazing, but I decided to tweak it tonight and try something a little different. 

Instead of shredded coconut and chopped cashews, I substituted my homemade Candied Nut Crumble.

Here is what I came up with: 

2 1/2 Cups almond FLOUR (Check out Lexie's Kitchen to find out how to make your own!)**I made my own in an old blender on pulse and then sifted it.**

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 Cup coconut oil, (melted over low heat) (you can also use palm shortening)

1/2 Cup RAW ORGANIC Agave Nectar

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract (gluten free)

1 Cup Chocolat Chunks

1 Cup Candied Nut Crumble 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix together until well blended. 

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, agave nectar and vanilla and mix it until it is well mixed together. 

Combine ingredients and mix until a batter forms and you feel that it is well mixed together. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the chocolat chunks and candied nuts crumble until it is evenly dispersed. 

Using a cookie scoop, or a regular spoon, spoon the dough on to the cookie sheets leaving at least two inches between the cookies as they will spread. No need to flatten. 

Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes. Let cool on the sheets for 10-15 minutes before letting them cool completely on a paper bag. 

Eat and enjoy!  

REALLY REALLY ENJOY! 

Candied Nut Crumble

I am a big fan of candied nuts. I didn't used to be. My mother would eat candied nuts and I would gag. But as I grew to be an adult, I converted to a love of candied nuts. But what to do when you can't have butter or refined sugar? Say goodbye to carnival candied nuts in those little paper cones. But tonight, while making a new batch of cookies for my son, I decided to try being creative, and VOILA! Refined sugar free candied nuts were born right there in my kitchen!

This recipe is my own. I didn't borrow it from anyone. I didn't tweak someone else's hard work. From start to finish this is mine. I think this would make an EXCELLENT topping to an apple crisp or peach cobbler to make it gluten free and A-MAY-ZA-ZING! (I would just add the crumble topping to the cobbler during the last 10-15 minutes of baking to prevent the nuts from burning).

CANDIED NUT CRUMBLE

1 1/4 Cup whole or chopped nuts of choice (I used chopped cashews and macadamia nuts for this)
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp gluten free vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 Tbsp (or to taste) ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp palm sugar

In a medium pan, melt the coconut oil over low heat until melted. Add the chopped nuts and stir constantly. Make sure all the nuts are coated with oil. You will probably have excess oil. That is okay.

Next add the vanilla, and stir, stir, stir! Make sure you get vanilla mixed in with all the nuts. (You can add more vanilla if you like).

Next add the cinnamon, by dusting it over all the nuts, giving it an even coating, then stir again making sure that the cinnamon gets mixed in well.

Add the Palm sugar in 1 Tbsp at a time, to absorb the excess oil. You can stop adding sugar once you feel that all the oil is soaked up by the dry ingredients, or add all of the remaining palm sugar. (You can add more if you need to).

Stir until the nuts are a little more brown, and then scrape all contents on to a plate to let cool. You can put them in to the fridge to cool off faster, or just leave them out until they are cool enough to eat or put in to a plastic storage bag. Store in the fridge. (Try to use it within a week).

This is great to add to granola, or trail mix or just to eat by itself. As I said already it would be excellent in cobbler recipes too. I think it is pretty rich and sweet, so I don't need many to curb my cravings for sweet and crunchy!

Enjoy!

DONUUUUTS... GLLAAAAAAAH!

That was my Homer Simpson impression... And for your viewing pleasure, I present the pictures of my latest creation...

Okay, okay, I'm sorry about the sprinkles. I just added them to make them prettier. The sprinkles are NOT refined sugar free, but my son asked for them, and so I obliged.

These donuts were made in my BRAND SPANKIN' NEW Wilton DONUT PAN! (It just came today from Amazon)!

We opened the box, and my little one said, "DONUTS! Can we make donuts for MEEEE?!" How could I resist that?

So, I scoured the internet, (Starting with my side bar) for a gluten free donut recipe, and came across the amazing Cybele Pascal's recipe for gluten free, VEGAN donuts! SCORE! I had to adapt it slightly because of the refined sugars, and here is Cybele's recipe with a few of my own tweaks:

• 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons rice milk
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup GF All Purpose Flour 
• 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 2 Tablespoons rice milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Chocolate Glaze (my own recipe below)

Here are Cybele's directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine rice milk with lemon juice and set aside.
3. Measure out flour mix by spooning flour into a dry measuring cup, then leveling it off with a straightedge, or the back of a knife. (Do not scoop the flour directly with the measuring cup or you’ll wind up with too much flour for the recipe). Combine flour mix with xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk well. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, egg replacer, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Sift in the flour mixture in three bathes, alternating with the rice milk, and beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, about 30 seconds.
6. Using a teaspoon, spoon the batter into an ungreased non-stick donut pan, filling  each donut cup about 7/8^th full. Do not over fill them or they’ll rise too much. Smooth down batter with back of teaspoon to even surface, then wrap pan firmly against counter a few times to really settle batter into pan.
7. Bake 15 minutes in center of oven until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes on a cooling rack.  Invert onto rack and wrap back of pan lightly to dislodge donuts.  Let cool on rack to room temperature.  

Here is my very own recipe for a chocolate glaze. I thought chocolate and coconut would go well together as a topping for this donut. I hope you enjoy!

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

1 oz Baker's 100% chocolate
1 heaping TBSP cocoa powder
1 1/2 TBSP Coconut Oil
1 1/2 TBSP Raw Agave Nectar (or to taste... use your best judgment).

Melt all ingredients in a double boiler or in two pots as described in my Chocolat post.

Stir constantly, until completely melted. Remove from heat, and let sit for approximately 5 minutes. Dip the donuts in the chocolate glaze, let the excess drip off, and set the donuts aside to cool and set.

Then, add your own embellishments, or leave them plain like me.

Eat and enjoy!

Exit Soda, Enter Smoothie

Yes, I am one of "those people" who drinks a green smoothie every day. Well... I try. Most of the time it is every day, but there are days when my time gets the best of me and I don't get it that day... Usually on those days I don't have nearly as much energy or feel like I've done as good for my body. It's strange what your body starts to crave when you change your diet all around...

You see, I used to crave chocolate all the time. ALL THE TIME. Or cookies or something equally bad for me. I was addicted to sugar. If I went a day without Coke I thought I was going to die. Nowadays, I don't even miss candy bars or the nectar of the Gods Coke. Now, I crave good things like fruits or my green smoothies. I still miss pizza and sometimes cake donuts, and cookies, but those days are fewer and fewer as of late. I have found that I am much more sensitive to sweetness now. But, I think that with anything, it has to become habit. The more you eat well, the more you want to.

In our house, we call green smoothies, "REPTAR JUICE." My son who is 3, was introduced to the Rugrats, and quickly became just as obsessed with the dinosaur Reptar as Tommy, Chucky, Phil and Lil. Don't worry though, we nixed that pretty fast because of how mean Angelica is, but the Reptar obsession remained. Which, I think, is kinda cool.

(REPTAR picture is not my own. I found it on the internet here).

So, how do you make REPTAR JUICE?

Well here in my kitchen it goes a little something like this:

(Makes enough for 1-3 people)
1 Cup NON DAIRY MILK (Usually Cashew Milk)
1 Cup 100% Apple Juice or Apple Cider
2 handfuls of FRESH BABY SPINACH (My handfuls are big)
1 Cup Frozen fruit of choice (I LOOOOVE WAWONA... I get a big bag at Costco)
1 Medium ripe banana
(Add more juice or milk if you need to)

Add all ingredients in to a high powered blender such as my beautiful, amazing, glorious, handy dandy, Vitamix 5200. Blend until smooth. Pour and enjoy.

If this is what "healthy" tastes like, why did I wait so long?!

Choco Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a recipe I had blogged about over on my personal blog last year. I just made these babies again today, and thought I would share them with you. I am keeping my original post, which will follow this little note, but wanted to add some new substitutions...

In place of the powdered honey, you can use regular sugar or coconut sugar. You might consider lowering the amount to 2/3 cup instead of a full cup to cut down on the sweetness. (These guys are really sweet).

In place of eggs, you can use unsweetened applesauce, (I am following a vegan diet as of late, and so tonight when I made these I used 1/4 cup + 1/8 Cup applesauce instead of the eggs and it worked perfectly). A word to the wise, adding applesauce in place of eggs adds sweetness to an already sweet cookie.

In place of the Peanut butter, you can substitute almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter or natural peanut butter. I would recommend using a nut butter that is less sweetened than commercial nut butters. I always prefer to make my own, but you can of course use commercial products with great success. Because of my sugar issues, (and if you want to make this refined sugar free) I would recommend using either an unsweetened nut butter, or one sweetened with either agave or palm sugar, or (if you like) something like turbinado or "raw" cane sugar.

For the chocolate chips, you can either use regular chocolate chips, (as shown in the pictures) or a product like Enjoy life semi sweet chocolate chips, or make chocolate chunks from my Chocolat recipe.

My husband who eats what he pleases ate quite a bit of these tonight when he came home from work. So, if you don't want anyone to know that these cookies are "allergen friendly" then don't tell them. I have found that when you introduce something that you have made, no matter how delicious it is, as "gluten free," "Dairy free," etc people decide right then and there that it isn't going to taste good. So, if it comes up, tell them, but if not, let them enjoy it, and you can smile to yourself that you made something that JUST ABOUT ANYONE CAN EAT that is delicious. 

NOW ON TO THE ORIGINAL POST:

Well, nothing says delicious like chocolate and peanut butter! I received a cookie recipe that is FLOURLESS from my husband's step-mom, but it is just peanut butter. Although they taste good, I am always looking for ways to add more deliciousness to existing recipes. I love to tweak things and make them my own.

We're lucky I got what pictures I did! Husband came home last night and saw them in the fridge and scarfed down half of them! Then, this morning, my sweetheart let me sleep while he took care of little man, and by the time I got up there were only two left. That's right, Ez had a LOT of cookies for breakfast. That's okay. It's not like mommy hasn't been guilty of chocolate cake breakfasts, or cookies for dinner.

So, on to the recipe!

1 Cup powdered honey (or you can use sugar)
2 eggs (I use Large eggs)
1 Tbsp gluten free vanilla (no caramel coloring allowed!)
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter (I use Skippy Natural-Delicious!)
1/3 Cup cocoa powder (I buy it in bulk at the Natural food store)
1 Cup Semi Sweet chocolate chips

Put powdered honey, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix it for about a minute or two until it's nice and creamy. Then add the peanut butter, and cocoa powder and mix for another minute. Add the chocolate chips and just mix until they are well mixed in.

If the cookie dough makes it from this stage to the pans, GOOD JOB!

With whatever dough you have left, (ha ha) use a teaspoon to put down some dollops on to an ungreased cookie sheet, (I have wilton non stick cookie sheets, but I don't think it really matters) flatten them a little, (mine were about 1/4 inch thick) with the back of a spoon or fork, (or wet fingers) and place them in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Pull them out and make sure they aren't gooey. You can continue to cook them for another 2 minutes if you think they aren't finished yet. Be careful though, because they can burn pretty fast!

Now, pull them out, let them cool, eat and enjoy. (If you get one before they are scarfed up by your family!)

 

 

With Love,
Suz

If you are new to this...

I wanted to write a post about some things that maybe will make the transition to the gluten free lifestyle a little smoother. When we found out my son couldn't have gluten, (even a tiny bit) he was two months shy of his 2nd birthday. I went gluten free to help him transition, so he wouldn't be eating foods that were so different from Mom and Dad... then I figured out that I too have a problem with gluten.

Now, I haven't been diagnosed a Celiac, and neither has my son, but both of us have multiple symptoms of the Celiac "Disease", in fact my son has ALL symptoms of childhood CD. But at the prompting of his pediatrician, we decided not to have the test done. There were numerous factors involved in this decision. Our doctor helped us understand what would be at risk if we were diagnosed. My son could potentially have problems getting insured because CD is only managed by following a gluten free diet. Because there is no magic pill, a lot of insurances consider it a pre-existing condition. We would have to let him eat Gluten for a while before he is tested, so that the test can be as accurate as possible. This would not only make him very sick, but do damage to his healing intestines, and even then, the tests aren't always accurate. Then our doctor asked me the question that cinched the decision. "What are you going to do if he tests positive?" I said, "Do what we are already doing." He said, "Exactly. If there is a need in the future, do it then, but as of right now, you don't need a diagnosis to do what is best for your son." I wanted to hug him right then and there. I had struggled for a while with what to feed him, and scrutinizing every last ingredients list, and I was feeling like I was failing my son in some way. It was then that I realized, because the doctor told me how pleased he was with my son's growth and recognizing it was because I was doing everything I could to ensure his health was where it should be, that I can do this. I absolutely can do this. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it downright sucks, but the benefits of this lifestyle have far outweighed any downsides.

So, for those of you who may be in the boat I was in a little while back, I want this site to be a place that brings you that comfort that my visit with the pediatrician brought me. YOU CAN DO THIS! YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING!

When this all started, we ate only rice. My husband was cheap, and I was astounded at the cost of pre-packaged GF foods. So, we started with the basics.

We cook a larger batch of BROWN RICE, and store it in the fridge, so that it is ALWAYS on hand for a quick fix. That way, we can add all sorts of things to it.

Here is a list of foods I keep on hand in the pantry:
RICE
MILLET
QUINOA
DON JULIO CORN TORTILLAS (I keep these in the fridge)
LA CHOY SOY SAUCE (It can be found in most grocery stores. It doesn't contain wheat)
CANNED FRUIT PACKED IN JUICE OR WATER
CANNED BEANS (Check labels always on canned goods)
DRY BEANS
TINKYADA GLUTEN FREE PASTA
BROWN RICE FLOUR
WHITE RICE FLOUR
GUAR GUM OR XANTHAN GUM (Guar is less expensive)
TAPIOCA STARCH
POTATO STARCH
SORGHUM FLOUR
COCONUT FLOUR
COCOA POWDER
FLAX MEAL (You can keep this in the fridge)
PURE MAPLE SYRUP (I buy Spring tree)
AGAVE NECTAR (raw only)
RAW HONEY
RAW ALMONDS
RAW SUNFLOWER SEEDS
RAW CASHEWS
DATES
DRIED FRUITS (Check ingredients)
OLIVE OIL
SPECTRUM PALM SHORTENING (non-hydrogenated)
COCONUT OIL (I don't use this a ton, but it's nice to have on hand)
PALM SUGAR (I am refined sugar free, so this is the sugar I keep on hand)
SKIPPY NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER (or SUN BUTTER if you are peanut free)
BOB'S RED MILL MIGHTY TASTY HOT CEREAL (I use this in place of oatmeal)
CHEX CEREAL (Rice, Corn, Cinnamon, Chocolate)


Here is a list of foods I keep on hand that are NATURALLY GLUTEN FREE:
All sorts of fresh FRUIT (organic)
All sorts of fresh VEGETABLES (organic)
MEATS (un-marinated)
HOMEMADE CASHEW MILK

Some of my favorite pre packaged foods/snacks that I buy that are GLUTEN FREE:
LARABARS (Or make them yourself)
PURE BARS
LAYS POTATO CHIPS (Classic)
SIMPLY FRUIT ROLL-UPS ( just fruit and fruit juice)
TREE TOP FRUIT SNACKS (These are GF, but I rarely buy them anymore)
SWEDISH FISH (These are usually SPECIAL treats for my son... I don't keep them in the house)
DUM-DUM'S (These are also occasional treats for my son)
RAW TRAIL MIX (You can make your own)
BLUE DIAMOND NUT CRACKERS
UDI'S GLUTEN FREE BREAD (Both the multi grain and the white are awesome)
VEGENAISE
CHEX CEREALS (obviously not Wheat Chex)
GLUTEN FREE POTATO SHREDS (Frozen. READ INGREDIENTS. NOT ALL SHREDS ARE GLUTEN FREE)

One thing that you should DEFINITELY DEFINITELY have on hand ALWAYS:
PROBIOTICS!!! This will help heal the damage that has been done to the intestine. In our house we use: GARDEN OF LIFE RAW PROBIOTICS which are gluten/dairy/soy free. KEEP THIS REFRIGERATED.

I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD QUALITY PROBIOTIC FOR THE HEALING OF THE INTESTINES, AND THE IMMUNE ISSUES THAT CELIACS HAVE.

I want to say something that I only found out after I transferred my son to soy milk. TOO MUCH Soy can be harmful to the development of hormones in little boys. Soy contains phyto-estrogens, which can hinder their reproductive health. (I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, but this was told to me by a nutritionist). My son is now off of all soy, and is now on rice milk, or homemade almond or cashew milk.

CHECK ALL INGREDIENTS IN PACKAGED FOOD. WHEAT IS IN SO MUCH! Here is a list of ingredients that contain gluten. 

A few of my favorite BOOKS:
COOKING FOR ISAIAH (this book is GREAT for people cooking GF for children)
SIMPLY SUGAR AND GLUTEN FREE
THE SPUNKY COCONUT
THE WHOLE LIFE NUTRITION KITCHEN

I hope this post helped. I honestly wish I had found a list of things to keep on hand when I was first starting out. But if you have more questions, there is a big list of my favorite gluten free blogs in the side bar. ALL OF THESE SITES ARE GREAT RESOURCES!

Good luck! And I promise this change will make all the difference!

Susan

Also, a word to the wise... MOST RESTAURANTS HAVE INGREDIENTS/ALLERGEN INFORMATION ON THEIR WEBSITES. ALWAYS ALWAYS CHECK FIRST.

Example: NO FAST FOOD HASHBROWNS ARE SAFE FOR CELIACS! And McDonald's french fries CONTAIN WHEAT STARCH! Just double check before going out.