Carrot Cake

I was never much into carrot cake before having a child. Now, it seems like the perfect birthday cake or occasional dessert that is so healthy and nutritious, with its high fiber and vegetable content and very low sugar. Since my daughter’s birthday in April, I’ve made it three times, each time making improvements but this last week when we celebrated my husband finishing his masters’ degree I think I perfected the recipe. I happened to run out of almond meal and ended up substituting quinoa flakes, and that made it surprisingly moist and tasty!

I will admit that I made a cream cheese frosting. But I used cultured butter and cream cheese (Nancy’s Organic Cultured Cream Cheese is amazing!) with just a tiny bit of honey.  If you are simply lactose intolerant and can tolerate cultured dairy products, then that frosting is heaven indeed.

Quinoa Carrot Cake

1 cup almond meal

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup quinoa flakes

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1 T cinnamon

1 tsp grated nutmeg

3 cups grated carrots

6 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

Combine almond meal, flour, quinoa flakes, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and mix in honey and olive oil. Stir in the carrots, then add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased 9×13-inch glass baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees F. Allow to cool at room temperature.

As for that heavenly cream cheese frosting….

6 oz cultured butter

6 oz cream cheese

2 T honey

Soften the butter and cream cheese at room temperature. Mix together with the honey until smooth. I didn’t even use a hand mixer, I just used a spoon (it is a bit of a workout, but as long as everything’s soft it blends together pretty easily). Spread over the cooled carrot cake and enjoy, refrigerating the leftovers.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches on Gluten-Free Rosemary Rolls

Updated 5-19-2013

Happy spring everyone! This month my daughter turns one, and so far there has been a whirlwind of potlucks, picnics and celebrations, beginning with Easter last weekend. I discovered the perfect barbecue dish for such occasions – pulled pork, slow-cooked in the crock pot. It just cooks all day long and literally falls apart when it’s done, and it melts in your mouth!  Then I picked up some gluten-free rosemary rolls from the gluten-free bakery to make sandwiches, as well as a jar of old-fashioned sauerkraut for the perfect accompaniment.

Here’s my spice rub/marinade for the pork:

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp ground cumin

1-2 tsp sea salt (depending on size of the roast)

3 cloves garlic, pressed

Take a 4 to 6-lb pork butt roast and score the fat with a sharp knife. Then rub with this mixture. Layer some sliced onion in a crock pot and top it with the roast, add 1/2 cup water or stock, and let it cook all day on low. You will know that it is ready when it starts to just fall apart. Then simply shred it right there in the crock pot and allow it to soak up all the juices from the cooking liquid. Serve it alone or on some gluten-free rolls. You could add BBQ sauce, but you don’t even really need it – the meat is so flavorful from cooking in its own juices all day long!

Hello readers,

Just wanted to share another great piece from the Sunday NY Times about gluten (they are giving it a fair share of attention lately!).

This one is a theory about what really causes celiac disease, based on a study comparing celiac rates among Finnish and Russian populations (who have similar genetics and consume similar varieties of wheat). The rate of celiac disease (and other auto-immune diseases) is much higher among the Finnish population, and scientists attribute that to the fact that the Russians have a more robust microbial culture in their gut. The thinking goes that the better bacteria in the gut reduce inflammation, limiting the reaction to gluten and thus preventing the onset of celiac disease. Just one more reason to take probiotics! And breastfeed your baby! And not be afraid of a little dirt or of your toddler putting dirt in his mouth – that’s one way that our gut gets populated with good bacteria

Read Who Has The Guts For Gluten…

Hello readers,
Just wanted to pass on this excellent article in the New York Times’ Science section this week about going gluten-free. Finally there is some attention on those of us who don’t officially have celiac but simply have gluten intolerance. Hopefully doctors and scientists are coming to recognize the health benefits those of us gain by eating gluten-free.
Check it out here:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/gluten-free-whether-you-need-it-or-not/?ref=science

Forgive my absence for the past month or so – between the holidays, harsh winter weather, seasonal illnesses, and a teething baby, I have had my hands full of late. I hope to be more active soon. Happy February!

Spinach & Mushroom Quiche

Here’s a super easy recipe for a dairy-free quiche that is perfect for a holiday brunch. In fact, I was planning to take it to a pot-luck brunch this past Sunday but my teething 8-month-old kept me up all night and we didn’t make it to the brunch. The upside was that meant more quiche for us!

For this recipe I used a pre-made gluten-free pie crust from Bacano Bakery. I loved how their crust turned out in my Thanksgiving pie and these days I am looking for shortcuts so I was happy to try it again. They may have used some butter in the crust, so if you are super sensitive to butter, check the ingredients in any pre-made crust that you buy. You can also make your own crust. I have a recipe here that you can substitute coconut oil for butter and it works great.

It’s not super creamy like a quiche with milk or cheese in it. The coconut flour gives it a slight cake-like texture and adds a bit of sweetness to the savory spinach and onions. The key to really good flavor (and nutrition) is to use really good eggs. You can tell from the bright yellow hue in the photograph above that I used pasture-raised eggs.

Anyway, it’s a tasty breakfast or lunch idea that’s fairly easy to make if you have the time to bake it. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 pre-made gluten-free pie crust (or make your own from my recipe here)

6 eggs

3/4 cup almond milk

3 T coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sliced shitake mushrooms

small bunch of fresh spinach leaves

1 small onion, diced

1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the pre-made crust for about 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden-brown. While it is baking, saute the onions, mushrooms and spinach in olive oil until tender. Remove the pie crust from the oven. Whisk the eggs, almond milk, coconut flour, baking power and salt together. Stir in the spinach and mushroom mixture and then pour everything into the pie crust. Bake for about 45 minutes, until firm.

4-6 Servings

Hope you all are enjoying some pre-Thanksgiving baking time! Thanks to Bacano Bakery, this year I’m making my maple-pecan pie with a pre-made gluten-free crust.

Tomorrow we are off to a friend’s house and I’m bringing my cranberry-wild rice salad (minus the buckwheat this time). The wild rice is cooking in my new stainless-steel rice cooker as I type this.

Hope you all have safe travels, happy family visits, and a day filled with gratitude for all the wonderful things in your life. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Rice-Cooker Amaranth Cereal

Until now I have been wary of using a rice cooker, because of the toxic chemicals in the non-stick coating. However, last week I bought a new rice cooker with a stainless steel bowl and it is changing my cooking world.  Not only does it cook perfect brown rice, but I’ve discovered it can cook all kinds of gluten-free grains easily in one no-mess, low-maintenance pot.

No, I have not received any compensation from the company for promoting this rice cooker, but here it is - the Aroma Simply Stainless Rice Cooker. They come in two sizes; this compact one makes up to 6 cups of cooked rice or other grains and is perfect for making small batches of hot cereal like the amaranth porridge, above.

I love to have a steaming bowl of hot amaranth or teff cereal on a crisp morning but making it on the stove top requires a lot of stirring and leaves a huge mess afterward in the pan and on the stove. So today I tried it in the rice cooker instead, and it was a simple two-step process: add the ingredients and set to cook. That’s all. Leave it alone until the button pops up to let you know it is done. It took about a half hour altogether, so you can take a shower or read the paper or whatever. (Now I can keep my eyes on my 6-month-old without having to constantly keep an eye on the stove.) And it cleans up easily.  You would think that stainless steel would be messier than non-stick, but au contraire. This one comes with a wooden spatula that scrapes the food cleanly from the bottom, where it wasn’t really that sticky anyway.

It’s easy to cook grains in the rice cooker. All you have to do is measure 1/4 cup of dry grains per serving, and then fill up to the water line on the bowl for that number of servings. (Note: If you’re making quinoa, be sure to rinse the grains well first. Also, use about 1/3 less water.) Add a pinch of sea salt and a pat of butter or a bit of olive or coconut oil and set to start. Once it begins to boil, it will cook for about the same amount of time you would cook it on the stove top. It automatically figures out when it is done and shuts off, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Recipe Ideas: If you’re making a breakfast porridge, add some cinnamon or raisins or dates or walnuts. Or all of the above. Be creative. I’m going to have fun coming up with some fun recipes for more savory meals in the coming weeks. Look for more posts to come and let me know if you have any great rice-cooker recipe ideas!

Turkey Chili

Now that I have a 5-month-old baby, I no longer have time to prepare all of my meals from scratch. But since it is especially crucial right now to eat nourishing home-cooked meals, the best solution is to prepare them ahead of time, so that I can easily heat them up whenever I am pressed for time.

The meals that work best on such occasions are nutrient-rich soups and stews. You can make a big pot and have leftovers to freeze or refrigerate for later. Also, if you have a good bone broth cooking stock pre-made, you can whip up an easy bowl of soup anytime using whatever you have on hand in your refrigerator, even leftovers.

The first and most important thing to have on hand for making any soup or stew is good cooking stock. For this recipe I use my own home-made chicken stock, one step that is easy to do ahead of time.

Any time you roast a chicken or turkey, save the bones. Put the whole carcass in the crock pot, cover with water and add half of a lemon or 1 T fresh lemon juice (the acidity will help draw minerals & other nutrients from the bones), and simmer overnight. In the morning, let it cool and strain the liquid into pint jars to be frozen for later use (Don’t fill glass jars completely or they will crack when frozen).

This nourishing broth is loaded with minerals as well as flavor, and will make any soup or stew distinctive and delectable. Soups made with bone broths are especially nourishing for nursing mothers and those who want to boost their immune system, and are excellent sources of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.

The gelatin in bone broths aids in the digestion of other foods. It also makes soups naturally slightly thicker, so recipes are flourless and gluten-free. If you haven’t got any of your own stock on hand, you can usually buy some from a good butcher shop, but keep this step in mind for the future, because it is so easy to do and so good for you. Below my chili recipe, you will see some other easy ideas to make quick soups from bone broths.

Turkey Chili

I am so excited that autumn is rolling in and all the late summer/early fall vegetables have arrived at the farmers’ market, including all the various types of chili peppers. There are so many to choose from, sweet or spicy, including Anaheim, Fresno, poblano, Serrano, and sweet banana peppers. My favorites are the poblano peppers because they are not too spicy and have a slightly smoky flavor. These plentiful peppers and the crisp fall weather make for a perfect hearty pot of chili!

(makes 4 servings, double the recipe for more leftovers or if cooking for more people)

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 can (or 2 cups pre-cooked) red kidney beans
• 1 14-oz. can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 pint chicken or turkey stock
• 1 poblano pepper, seeds removed & chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder (more or less, to desired level of spice)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 T olive oil

Saute the pepper, onion & garlic in olive oil until fragrant in a large soup pot.

Add the ground turkey, salt, and spices and brown. Strain the beans and tomatoes (if using diced) and add to the pot along with the stock.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes to thicken and absorb the flavors. When serving, top with some fresh diced cucumber & cilantro, or some fresh greens you have on hand such as spinach or arugula.

Refrigerate or freeze the leftovers to heat up on another occasion. I usually find that it tastes even better the second time around!

Quick soups from bone broth base

Sometimes I just feel like having a hot bowl of soup for lunch, but I don’t have the time to make a full recipe. (This happens a lot when I am home by myself with the baby.) You can easily do this in 5-10 minutes if you’ve got some cooking stock made ahead of time. It seems like I’ve always got a jar of stock on hand in the fridge since I make it so frequently.

Here are some easy ideas to whip up a delicious and nutritious bowl of soup using bone broths and leftovers or anything else you may have in your refrigerator or pantry.

1. Bone broth with seaweed, buckwheat soba noodles and mushrooms – add an additional cup of water and boil all ingredients until noodles are cooked (about 8 minutes. Make sure they are 100% buckwheat in order to be gluten-free!)

2. Miso soup with chicken and rice – if you have any leftover chicken and cooked rice, add some chicken stock and bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes, then pour into a bowl and stir in a teaspoon of miso.

3. Coconut soup with shrimp – heat some cooking stock with a small can (5-6 oz) of full-fat coconut milk, add a pinch of chili flakes and some frozen peeled and deveined shrimp and boil for 5 minutes or until the shrimp are fully cooked (less time for pre-cooked shrimp).

Create your own yummy soup using home-made stock with whatever leftovers or ingredients you have on hand. I’d love to hear your ideas and creations!

This post is part of BlogHer’s Make Ahead Meals editorial series, made possible by Bank of America.

Roast Beef & Cabbage in Teff Wrap

This is actually one of my husband’s creations. (I have been enjoying it up until cabbage went on the no-no list of foods to eat while breastfeeding!) A simple but tasty quick lunch recipe. Take a gluten-free teff tortilla and top it with some sliced roast beef and some grated goat cheddar. Place it under the broiler for a minute or two until the cheese starts to melt. Saute some cabbage in toasted sesame oil and add to the tortilla. My husband likes to add in a little dijon mustard as well. Wrap it up and eat up!

Hello readers, for those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, just a quick shout out to let you know there is a new gluten-free bakery in town, Bacano Bakery. For the moment, they are only selling at farmers’ markets, until they build up their business and acquire a storefront, which will hopefully be soon! They make AWESOME gluten-free multigrain bread, and I’ve tried several of their baked goods (such as peanut butter cookies, quinoa-carot cake bars, and pumpkin-pecan scones) and they are delicious and wholesome, and don’t use a lot of sugar compared to other gluten-free bakeries I’ve been to. They use local, seasonal ingredients and many ancient grains such as quinoa & teff. Help support their business by looking for them at the farmer’s market. They are currently at the Grand-Lake market in Oakland and hopefully others (as well as local grocery stores) soon! Visit their site at http://www.bacanobakery.com/