Vegetable Lentil Soup

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soups, Soy Free, Vegan

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While we’re back to warm weather in Central Texas at the moment, I’m sure it will get cold again… eventually.  This made a hearty soup earlier this week when the temperatures were a little cooler.

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Vegetable Lentil Soup

Adapted from “Easiest Black-Eyed Peas and Lentil Soup” in 1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes by Sue Spitler

3 medium organic carrots, sliced thinly
3 stalks organic celery, sliced
1 medium yellow or white organic onion, diced
4 cloves organic garlic, minced
2 tablespoons organic olive oil
8 cups organic GF low sodium vegetable or chicken broth*
2 cups filtered water
2 teaspoons dried organic thyme
1.5 teaspoons dried organic marjoram
1 teaspoon dried organic oregano
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon organic black pepper
1 organic bay leaf
1-15 ounce can organic white beans or black-eyed peas
1.5 cup dried organic lentils (I used a combination of red and brown)
1-15 ounce can Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes
2 cups packed organic greens, cut in small pieces (chard, kale or collard greens work well)

Sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in oil in large pot for a few minutes until they soften a bit (or stick to the pan… that’s my signal it’s time to move on to the next step).  Add broth, water, herbs, beans, lentils, and tomatoes.  Cook over medium heat until the carrots and lentils are soft (45-60 minutes).  Stir in the greens and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes until the greens are done.  Discard bay leaf before serving.

Makes about 4 quarts.

*If making this vegan, obviously choose the vegetable broth rather than the chicken broth.

©2012NaturallyElizabeth.com

Happy Halloween!

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in General Ramblings

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When my twins were two, we began trick or treating with them.  However, they had food sensitivities to dairy, soy, and corn at that point.  If you read the labels on most mainstream candy, that pretty much eliminates everything.  Furthermore, neither of them liked chocolate until recently.  That was definitely not from my part of their gene pool.  To  top it all off, I did not want to be loading them up with artificial flavors and colors since one of them did not do well with those ingredients.  So we were left in a quandary about how to do trick or treating when they couldn’t or wouldn’t eat anything they received.

That first year, my solution was to plant “treats” for them at a few neighbors’ houses.  Books, pencils, erasers—that kind of thing.  We went to the houses, did our trick or treating, and then my son announced, “This is fun!  Let’s do more houses.”  Um, well, no.  I didn’t have any more “safe” houses for us to go to.  We lured them home to look at their new goodies instead.

The next year, we let them collect candy, but we had prepped them in advance that they would “get” to trade in their candy for a new and wonderful toy when they got back to our house.  Since they never really ate candy, the trade was an obvious upgrade from their point of view.  They were really happy with their new toys.

And so it continued for many years with their younger brother eventually joining in the fun.  They would collect candy and trade it in for toys.  We would take the candy they collected, put it out in a bowl on our front porch, and let the local teenagers take it away.  One year the teenagers took the bowl which irked me to no end, so now we leave the candy in a paper bag.  Another year the teenagers failed to take the candy at all which utterly surprised me.  I offered it up on the free section of Craigslist, and within 10 minutes of posting, a local homeschooling teenager had collected it off of my front porch.  I know there are other options like taking it to a local dentist who collects the candy for sending to troops abroad.  Some years Mobile Loaves and Fishes has accepted donations to distribute with the meals they provide for those in need.  However, with my illness, I just haven’t had the energy to do more than put it on the porch and let someone else take it away!

In more recent years as the food sensitivities have waned and my kids have gotten older, we’ve also started buying organic candy from the bulk bins at Whole Foods and including that as part of the trade-in deal.  They surrender most of their loot for organic candy and a game.

However you celebrate, be safe tonight.

©2012NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Pumpkin Pie

29 Monday Oct 2012

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

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There’s a red feather coming out of the pumpkin on the left. I was afraid to look inside and find out what it is.

When my kids were young, they had both soy and dairy sensitivities.  When I tried to find a replacement recipe for a traditional pumpkin pie, all of the non-dairy recipes substituted tofu which didn’t work for us.  I spent many years honing this recipe.  It doesn’t taste like a pumpkin pie made with condensed sweetened milk, but it is really good.  My kids adore it.  We make it all year, not just in the fall.  Amazon carries the organic canned pumpkin year ’round.

At one point I baked my own fresh pumpkin and made a pie out of that.  I couldn’t tell the difference and neither could my kids.  For the amount of work it took to bake and puree the pumpkin, I decided to stick with canned pumpkin.

Please note this recipe requires overnight refrigeration before serving.

Confession time:  The pie pictured above is in a gluten containing crust.  The gluten free crust comes out looking very similar, I promise!

GFDF Pumpkin Pie

9 Inch Crust:
1/4 cup organic tapioca starch
1/4 cup organic brown rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup almond meal*
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 c organic palm shortening
1 organic egg
Water as needed

Filling:
1-15 ounce can organic pumpkin
2/3 cup organic sucanat
2 organic eggs
3/4 cup organic rice milk
1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon organic ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon organic salt
1/4 teaspoon organic ground cloves

Preheat oven to 425F.

For the crust:  Mix together the tapioca starch, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, almond meal, xanthan gum, ½ t cinnamon, and ¼ t salt.  Cut in the shortening.  Lightly beat the egg and then add to the flour mixture.  If needed, add additional water until the crust is moist and forming a dry ball.  Press the pie crust into a 9” pie pan.  Set aside.

For the filling:  Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl with a whisk.  Pour into the pie crust.  Bake for 15 min at 425; reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 40 min.  Bake on a cookie sheet to avoid spills.

Allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight before serving.

*Almonds are technically not nuts but contain a cross-contamination risk.  To make this nut free, substitute millet flour.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Muffins

28 Sunday Oct 2012

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

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Hi.  Long time no blog.  The thing about chronic health problems is that they are chronic.  Every once in a while, they tend to get really bad, and then things like blogging have to fall by the wayside.  But I’m back, and I hope it’s not temporary.

These were inspired by one of my wacky cravings.  The recipe originally came from the Betty Crocker’s 40th anniversary edition pumpkin bread recipe, but you’d be hard pressed to tell that now.

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GFDF Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Muffins

Wet Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can organic pumpkin
1 cup organic sucanat
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup organic canola oil
4 organic eggs
1 tablespoons organic GF vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup organic tapioca starch
3/4 cup organic brown rice flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup organic millet flour or almond meal
1.5 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons organic ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon organic ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon organic ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 teaspoon baking soda

Stir Ins:
1/2 cup organic dried sweetened cranberries, coarsely chopped (optional)
1/2 cup organic pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly oil 24 muffin tins.  I use organic canola oil.

In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.  In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Stir in optional nuts and cranberries.  Fill 24 muffin cups about 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes before removing from the muffin pans.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

05 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Soups, Soy Free, Vegan

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[Update 7/7/12]

I realize that the soup picture above isn’t the most attractive looking; I used brown lentils in it which isn’t quite as pretty as when I make it with red lentils. It’s hard to make many blended soups look pretty, but this one tastes really good.  One of my sons doesn’t like beans in any other form, but he will willingly eat this soup.  He really likes to add in chunks of leftover baked potatoes to add a bit more texture and substance to it.  We all like to add in smoked sausage.

I often double this recipe so we have lots of leftovers.  It freezes and reheats well.

GFDF Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

a few tablespoons of organic olive oil
1 large organic white or yellow onion, diced (about 1.5 cups)
4 teaspoons fresh organic ginger, minced
4 large cloves organic garlic, minced
1 serrano or jalapeño or other hot pepper of your choice, sliced thin
1 tablespoon organic curry powder
1.5 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon organic black pepper
1 large or 2 medium organic sweet potato, peeled and diced
1.5 cups organic dried lentils (I use brown or red)
4 cups organic GF chicken broth (I use Imagine or Pacific)*
2 cups water
1 can light coconut milk
½ cup loosely packed fresh organic cilantro leaves

Optional add-ins:
1 pound natural smoked sausage, cut in pieces and cooked
2 cups baked organic white/red/yellow potato, diced

Sauté the diced onion in olive oil in the bottom of a soup pan over medium heat. When the onion is partially cooked, add in the ginger, garlic, and pepper and continue cooking for a few minutes more.  Add in the curry powder, salt, black pepper, sweet potatoes, lentils, broth, and water.  Allow to continue cooking until the sweet potatoes and lentils are soft, about 30 minutes.  Add in the coconut milk and cilantro leaves and cook for a few minutes more.

Remove from heat.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup.  If you don’t have an immersion blender, allow the soup to cool and blend in small batches in a regular blender, taking care not to burn yourself.

If adding in the optional sausage or potato, do so right before serving.

*Use vegetable broth and don’t add in the smoked sausage to veganize this recipe.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GF Lemon Sugar Cookies

02 Monday Jul 2012

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

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Once again, a strange craving hit me yesterday.  This time the craving was for lemon cookies just because I had seen lemons in the fridge.  I hit the internet, found a good looking recipe, and converted it to this successful result.  The cookies are both tangy and sweet.

GF Lemon Sugar Cookies

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Zest of 2 large organic lemons
2 tablespoons fresh organic lemon juice (about one large organic lemon’s worth)
1 cup salted organic butter, softened
1.5 cups organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1 large organic egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon organic GF vanilla extract
3/4 cup organic brown rice flour
3/4 cup organic tapioca starch
3/4 cup almond meal*
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1.5 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar) for rolling cookies in
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, and 1.5 cups sugar until creamy.  Stir in egg and vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients except 1/3 cup sugar.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.  Stir until well mixed.

Form dough into 1.5 inch balls.  Roll in reserved sugar.  Place on ungreased baking sheets spaced about 2 to 3 inches apart as the cookies will spread quite a bit.  Bake at 350F for 9-11 minutes.  Makes 3 dozen.

*Almonds are not true nuts, but they carry a cross-contamination risk. To make this item nut free, substitute millet flour.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Blueberry Cobbler

01 Sunday Jul 2012

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

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My apologies for the long delay in between posts.  June was a crazy month around here.  I’ve been cooking and photographing when my health allows, so I will work toward getting up some new posts in the coming weeks.

This blueberry cobbler is scrumptious, especially fresh out of the oven.  The cobbler starts to get a bit gooey after refrigeration overnight and keeps getting gooier as the days progress, so I wouldn’t recommend making a bigger batch than you will eat in a day or two.  This is for a 9×13 pan, but the recipe easily cuts in half for an 8×8 pan.

GFDF Blueberry Cobbler

8 cups fresh organic blueberries
1/2 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup organic sucanat
1/2 cup organic cornstarch
1 t organic vanilla extract
3/4 c organic tapioca starch
3/4 c sorghum flour
3/4 c almond meal*
3/4 c organic white rice flour
1.5 t xanthan gum
2 tablespoons organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup organic palm shortening
1 cup organic rice milk
1 t organic vanilla extract
2 organic eggs, beaten
2 to 4 tablespoons organic evaporated cane juice (sugar) **
1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9×13 inch glass baking dish with organic canola oil.

Mix together blueberries, 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice, 1/2 cup sucanat, 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1 t vanilla extract.  Put mixture into the baking dish.  Place in the preheating oven while preparing cobbler topping.

In a large bowl, combine flours, starch, xanthan gum, 2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk, vanilla and eggs; stir just until flour is moistened.

Remove the hot blueberries from the oven.  Carefully spread the cobbler topping over the hot blueberries. The pan will be hot by this point!  Sprinkle top with remaining 2T-4T sugar mixed with cinnamon.

Bake in preheated oven for 19-23 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

The recipe can easily be cut in half to make an 8×8″ pan.

*Almonds are not true nuts, but they carry a cross-contamination risk.  To make this item nut free, substitute millet flour.

** I prefer less sugar topping; my kids prefer more.  If you like your desserts on the extra sweet side, go for the 4 tablespoons of sugar.  If not, add 2 tablespoons.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Cinnamon Cake

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

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

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For my birthday, I started out wanting a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake with chocolate cake.  Since I get migraines from chocolate, that wasn’t the best craving.  So I moved on to wanting some other kind of ice cream cake.  However, my friends convinced me through a Facebook discussion thread that I wanted cinnamon cake with homemade peach ice cream instead.  Thank heavens for friends who can get your creative juices flowing when you’re lacking for ideas!

The peach ice cream is ok, but not as great as we were hoping.  My older son and I both agree that next time we want peach sorbet instead.  The cinnamon cake, though, was really good.  All my gluten eating children felt this recipe was a “keeper.”

GFDF Cinnamon Cake

Cake:
2/3 cup organic sugar
¼ cup organic palm shortening
1 teaspoon organic GF vanilla extract
2 large organic eggs
½ cup organic rice milk
3/8 cup organic brown rice flour
3/8 cup organic tapioca starch
3/8 cup almond meal
3/8 cup sorghum flour
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

Topping:
1 tablespoon organic powdered sugar
½ teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.  Oil an 8×8” pan and set aside.  (I used organic canola oil.)

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, palm shortening, and eggs.  Add in all of the remaining cake ingredients and stir thoroughly.  Pour into the pan, and bake for about 25 minutes at 350F.

Mix together the powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon.  Before serving, sift the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the cake.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Fresh Blueberry Pie

31 Thursday May 2012

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

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Costco had organic blueberries available over the weekend, so blueberry pie made it onto the menu for the week.  Both the 9 inch and 10 inch versions of the recipe are below.

GFDF Fresh Blueberry Pie, 9 inch version
Makes one 9” blueberry pie.

Crust
½ cup organic tapioca starch
½ cup organic brown rice flour
½ cup almond meal
½ cup sorghum flour
½ teaspoon organic cinnamon
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup organic palm shortening
1 organic egg

Filling
4 cups fresh organic blueberries
1 cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
7 tablespoons organic cornstarch
1 tablespoons organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the starch, flours, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt.  Cut the palm shortening into the flour mixture.  In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg.  Slowly add the egg until the mixture forms a solid dough.  You may not need the entire egg, or you may need to add a small amount of water to make the dough the right consistency.  Divide the dough into two pieces, roughly a 60-40 split.  Pat the 60% dough into a 9” pie pan.  Set aside the 40% dough.

In a covered medium saucepan, cook the blueberries and 1 cup sugar over medium heat until they lose a large amount of juice (5-10 minutes).  Pull out about a cup of the filling, allow to cool slightly, and quickly stir in the cornstarch.  Add back in the cornstarch mixture, stirring well.  Allow to continue cooking uncovered until the filling is thickened.  Add additional water or cornstarch as necessary to get the consistency correct.

Pour the filling into the bottom pie crust.  Using your hands, flatten out the reserved dough and make a mosaic of pie crust on top of the filling, covering as completely as possible.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Cover the pie with foil and bake for 15 minutes on top of a cookie sheet to catch any overflow.  Remove the foil and bake for approximately an additional 30 minutes (45 minutes total) or until golden brown.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Fresh Blueberry Pie, 10 inch version
Makes one 10” blueberry pie.

Crust
2/3 cup organic tapioca starch
2/3 cup organic brown rice flour
2/3 cup almond meal
2/3 cup sorghum flour
3/4 teaspoons organic cinnamon
1.5 teaspoons xanthan gum
1.5 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup organic palm shortening
1 organic egg
A few tablespoons of water

Filling
5 1/2 cups fresh organic blueberries
1 1/3 cups organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
½ cup + 1 tablespoon organic cornstarch
1.5 tablespoon organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the starch, flours, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt.  Cut the palm shortening into the flour mixture.  In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg.  Add the egg into the flour mixture.  Slowly add enough water to make the pie dough stick together but not become gooey.  Divide the dough into two pieces, roughly a 60-40 split.  Pat the 60% dough into a 10” pie pan.  Set aside the 40% dough.

In a covered medium saucepan, cook the blueberries and 1.3 cups sugar over medium heat until they lose a large amount of juice (5-10 minutes).  Pull out about a cup of the filling, allow to cool slightly, and quickly stir in the cornstarch.  Add back in the cornstarch mixture, stirring well.  Allow to continue cooking uncovered until the filling is thickened.  Add additional water or cornstarch as necessary to get the consistency correct.

Pour the filling into the bottom pie crust.  Using your hands, flatten out the reserved dough and make a mosaic of pie crust on top of the filling, covering as completely as possible.  Sprinkle with the remaining additional sugar.

Cover the pie with foil and bake for 15 minutes on top of a cookie sheet to catch any overflow.  Remove the foil and bake for approximately an additional 30 minutes (45 minutes total) or until golden brown.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GF Blueberry Streusel Muffins

28 Monday May 2012

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

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To me, fresh blueberries are one of the best parts of life.  Between fresh blueberries and fresh peaches in June in Texas, I could eat only fresh fruit and be quite happy.  I also love baking with them.  Frozen peaches and frozen blueberries just aren’t the same in baked goods.   I’d rather wait for the in season fresh fruit.

GF Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Adapted from the Betty Crocker 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook

Muffins:
1 cup organic rice milk
¼ cup organic canola oil
1 teaspoon organic GF vanilla extract
1 organic egg
½ cup almond meal*
½ cup sorghum flour
½ cup organic brown rice flour
½ cup organic tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup fresh organic blueberries**

Streusel Topping:
1 tablespoon almond meal*
1 tablespoon sorghum flour
1 tablespoon organic brown rice flour
1 tablespoon organic tapioca starch
2 tablespoons organic light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons organic butter, softened to room temperature***
½ teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400F.  Oil a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a small bowl, mix together the streusel topping.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the milk, oil, vanilla, and egg.  In a medium bowl, mix together the almond meal, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir thoroughly.  Gently mix in the blueberries.  Divide evenly between the 12 cups on the muffin tin.  Sprinkle half a tablespoon or so of streusel topping on each muffin.

Bake at 400F for 16-18 minutes until golden brown.  Allow to cool in the pan for about five minutes before removing.

*Almonds are not technically a nut but carry a cross-contamination risk. To make this safe for those who are sensitive to nuts, substitute millet flour for the almond meal.

**If you are substituting frozen blueberries for fresh, measure out 1 cup of blueberries and allow them to defrost to room temperature.  Thoroughly drain all liquid from them before adding to the batter.

***If you are dairy free, you can substitute palm shortening for the butter.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com