Category Archives: Vegetarian

GF Cinnamon Berry Cake

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Cakes, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Cinnamon Berry Cake with Organic Blueberries and Organic Strawberries

Last fall, my chiropractor had me remove almost all foods from my diet and slowly reintroduce foods one by one as we tried to pinpoint migraine sources that weren’t readily apparent.  It was a successful venture as we found things like green beans that I would never have suspected.  How many times do you hear, “Avoid green beans to limit your migraines”?  Right.  Just me.

Anyway, strawberries were one of the few foods I had not added back in yet because I was having a strange pattern of reacting to reddish fruits (including raspberries, blackberries, cherries, and watermelon).  Today I finally decided to risk the migraine and test them out because we were at Boggy Creek Farm, and they had fresh strawberries that I knew I could trust to be truly organic.  They were deliciously so worth the risk, and happily, I passed the test.  Strawberries will be able to be part of my spring diet.

To celebrate, I adapted a recipe that I made in a gluten version uncountable times in the past two years.  I have been told by someone who has tried a lot of my baked goods that I tend to be a bit perfectionist about my cooking, and it’s admittedly true.  I wasn’t going to post this recipe because it wasn’t quite up to my standards, but my boys LOVED it.  They didn’t complain it was gluten free, and they both went back for seconds.  I still plan to make another version of it with lemon instead of cinnamon, but it seems this recipe was a keeper from my boys’ viewpoint.

Cinnamon Berry Cake

Highly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

½ cup organic brown rice flour
½ cup organic tapioca starch
½ cup sorghum flour
½ cup almond meal
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1 1/3 cups organic granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) organic salted butter, softened to room temperature*
2 large organic eggs
2 teaspoons GF organic vanilla extract
1 teaspoon GF organic white vinegar
1 cup organic rice milk
2 cups fresh organic berries (any combination of raspberries, blackberries, diced strawberries, and/or blueberries works well)
2 tablespoons organic granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400F.  Oil the bottom of a 9×13” glass baking dish.  (I used organic canola oil.)

In a small mixing bowl, blend brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, almond meal, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1 1/3 cups sugar, butter, and eggs using a hand mixer.  Add in the flour mixture plus the vanilla extract, vinegar, and rice milk and continue blending on low speed with the hand mixer until all ingredients are blended.

Use a spatula to scoop the batter into the oiled pan and spread the batter out evenly across the pan.  Sprinkle the berries across the top of the batter.  Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar across the top of the berries.

Bake at 400F for 28-30 minutes.  Serve warm or cold—it’s delicious either way.

(This recipe can be cut in half and baked in an 8×8” pan.)

*To make this recipe dairy free, substitute organic palm shortening for the butter.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GF Lemon Chess Pie

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Gluten Free, Pies, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Last week, my son T not so subtly said to me at the breakfast table, “I like pie.”  I asked him, “3.1415…?” He laughed and said, yes, he liked that pi, too (and he has it memorized to 28 decimal places at this point, so he really does like it), but he meant the kind of pie you eat.  I asked him what kind of pie he liked, and he said without hesitation, “Pumpkin.”  Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to making it for him last week.

Yesterday at breakfast, T once again announced, “I like pie.”  I again asked what kind he liked.  He replied, “Lemon.”  Since we had lemons on the counter that needed to get used up and I wanted to make a gluten free version of this pie so I could try it, T got his lemon pie yesterday.

This pie is intensely flavorful.  I like things like lemon cake and lemon bread, but this was too much for me.  I could only handle about two bites.  If you love lemon, then it’s for you.  All three lemon-loving males in the household love it.

When it comes to water measurements for pie crusts, I find them hopelessly useless.  I always get a small glass of water and slowly add it a tablespoon or so at a time (just dumping it in, not measuring) until I get the dough to the right consistency.  The dough should be soft enough to hold together in a ball shape but not so soft that it’s gooey.  Whatever water is left in the glass after the dough is made, I drink.  It gets more water in me which is always a good thing.

Pi to 28 decimal places as written in sidewalk chalk in front of our house

Gluten Free Lemon Chess Pie

Filling recipe barely changed from Phoo-d.com; pie crust of my own creation.

Makes 1- 9″ Pie

Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups organic granulated sugar
Zest of 3 large organic lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
Juice of 3 large organic lemons (about ¾ cup)
5 large organic eggs
1/3 cup organic salted butter, melted and cooled

Crust ingredients:
5 tablespoons organic brown rice flour
5 tablespoons organic tapioca starch
5 tablespoons almond meal
5 tablespoons sorghum flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup organic palm shortening
1 organic egg
water

Directions:
To make the pie crust, stir together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, almond meal, sorghum flour, xanthan gum and sea salt.  Cut the shortening into the flour using a fork until the mixture is crumbly.  Beat the egg in a small bowl and then stir into the flour mixture.  Slowly add water about a tablespoon at a time to moisten the dough.  It should form a ball but not be sticky.  Scoop the dough into a 9” pie pan and use your fingers to press it into the pan. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter in a food processor, and blend using an s-blade until combined.  Slowly add in the eggs (I use a 2 cup measuring cup to pour them in) while the food processor is running.

Pour the filling into the pie shell.  Carefully transfer the pie into the oven to avoid any spills.  Bake until the filling begins to brown, about 45 minutes.

Cool the pie and serve.  We prefer to refrigerate ours before eating.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

T’s Favorite Potato Salad (GFDF)

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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My oldest son (T) loves potato salad, especially this recipe which is one that I’ve created over the years.  He craves it.  Once the craving gets into his system, he pesters me mercilessly until I make it for him, although now that he’s old enough, I make him help with all of the washing and chopping.  We make a huge batch of it, and he’ll eat it for any meal of the day plus snacks until it’s gone.  I made a smaller batch once, and he complained it wasn’t enough.  I do like this potato salad, but I’m not quite as addicted to it as T is.

I like my mayonnaise to mustard ratio higher than T does.  He would probably prefer it if I reversed the amounts of mayo and mustard in this.  When I know I’m not going to be eating it, I will double or triple the mustard amount to make him happier.  Given that I used to eat mustard sandwiches as a child (mustard spread between two pieces of white bread– a thought that makes my stomach turn as an adult!), I can’t really blame him for his mustard addiction, either.

T would probably prefer I put crumbled bacon in this as well, but bacon is a special treat around our household since just cooking it often gives me a migraine.  Eating bacon is out of the question for me.

This is a great recipe for the upcoming months when potatoes, green onions, peppers, and dill are readily available at local farmers’ markets in Austin.  I substituted orange and red peppers in this batch because I wanted more color.  But generally speaking, I will use whatever peppers I have fresh and on hand.

T’s Favorite Potato Salad

~4 pounds of organic small red potatoes (Yukon Gold work well, too)
3 stalks of organic celery, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
2-3 organic green onions (about ½ cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh organic dill (do not substitute dried)
1 medium organic green pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons prepared organic yellow mustard
2-3 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon organic black pepper
1 cup organic mayonnaise*
6 hard-boiled organic eggs, diced*

Wash and trim the potatoes, leaving the skins on as much as possible.  Place in a large oven proof pot with a lid, and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom to help steam them.  Bake covered for about 45 minutes at 400F, checking to make sure they are fully baked.  If not, bake for longer.  (I will often bake all of a 5 pound bag and then use the remaining potatoes for other recipes or to feed plain to my child who doesn’t like potato salad.) Take potatoes out of the pot and allow to cool.

While the potatoes are cooking and cooling, prepare the rest of the vegetables including the dill.  Once the potatoes are cool, mix together all of the vegetables with the potatoes.  Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, top with the mayonnaise and mustard, and stir well.  Add in the eggs, and gently stir one final time.

Makes an absurdly large amount of potato salad.

*To make this recipe vegan friendly, use a mayo substitute like Vegenaise and omit the hard-boiled eggs.  I will often forget to make eggs and so we will eat it eggless, though my kids prefer it with eggs.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Coconut Macaroons

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Cookies, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Merry 6th of March, y’all.  Yes, that is a Christmas serving dish.

Because of my health, I can’t host parties the way I used to.  I miss it a lot, but it’s something I know will change with time as my health continues to improve.  I have several serving dishes, especially Christmas ones, that my kids have never seen since we’ve never had a party at our house in their memories.

So last weekend, my kids and I were out at garage sales when we started discussing serving trays.  I told them I had a cookie server that had multiple layers, and they wanted to see it.  Today I finally figured out which cabinet it was in and pulled it out while these macaroons were in the oven.  I’m 99% certain I have another cookie serving tray just like this one but in my everyday pattern instead of the coordinating Christmas one.  However, it is probably in the back of a very deep cabinet, and that would have involved getting out a step stool and I just wasn’t willing to make the effort.  So the Christmas cookie serving tray came out to both show the kids what it looked like and to serve as the display for this photo.

And that’s pretty much how things roll around here.  If it’s easier to use a Christmas dish in March than find a plain one, we’ll celebrate Christmas again for a few hours.  At least we got the Christmas tree and the stockings taken down before February this year!

Everyone in the family loves this recipe, including my child with oral sensory issues who doesn’t eat a large percentage of the baked goods I make.  That amazes me because as a child, I thought coconut was a food that only grown ups liked.  I could not see the appeal.  I’m also not a big macaroon fan, but I think that’s because I’ve had so many macaroons that just taste like sugary egg whites.  These macaroons are sweet bits of coconut heaven.  They go really fast around here.

GFDF Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 2 2/3 cups unsweetened flaked organic coconut
  • 2/3 cup organic sugar
  • 1 T organic brown rice flour
  • 1 T organic tapioca starch
  • 1 T sorghum flour
  • 1 T almond meal
  • 1/8 t xanthan gum
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 organic egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, flours, xanthan gum and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well.
  2. Form into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cool.

Makes about 20 macaroons

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

Gluten Free Cornbread Muffins

04 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Breads, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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I gave up trying to get a picture without crumbs around the muffins. They dropped crumbs on the plate every time I made adjustments. This is just the way it is.

I am pretty fussy about my cornbread.  I don’t like it to be overly sweet which I feel like most recipes are.  Hence, has taken me quite a while to get a recipe that works well for me.  The rest of my family will happily eat these, too, even if they are gluten free.  They taste better made with butter (doesn’t everything?), but if you are dairy free, substitute shortening, canola oil or coconut oil and they will come out fine.

The original recipe calls for using paper muffin cup liners.  I hate them.  I feel like they are an environmental waste and that oiling a pan is just as good in most recipes.  I have only one recipe (nectarine cupcakes—they’ll show up on the blog next summer when stone fruits are in season) where I have to use them because the cupcakes fall apart too much if I don’t.  I also react to the cupcake liners when they are in the oven.  They give off something toxic when heated.  I don’t really want to add toxins to my food when I’m going out of my way to make sure it’s organic!

GF Cornbread Muffins

Adapted from The Food Network 

1 cup organic yellow corn meal
¼ cup organic millet flour
¼ cup organic brown rice flour
¼ cup organic tapioca starch
¼ cup sorghum flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1.5 Tablespoons baking powder
¼ c organic granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup organic coconut milk (full fat)
2 large organic eggs
¼ cup organic butter, melted*
¼ cup local honey

Preheat oven to 400F.  Oil 12 muffin cups with canola oil or the oil of your choice.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the coconut milk, eggs, butter, and honey.  In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, millet flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir well.  Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.

*If making this dairy free, substitute coconut oil, canola oil, or palm shortening.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com