What's Cooking Saturdays? (Gluten Free!)

almond crust pizza

yummy toppings

Are you working on being gluten free? Do you miss eating pizza? I did when I started my gluten free life. I discovered a lovely recipe for this almond crust pizza above from Elana's Pantry. I bought her book see here... just look at that cake on the cover!

I don't do well with the gluten flour mixes they have out there with the potato starch and tapioca flour, too many carbs. So, I was delighted to find Elana's blog and cookbook on almond flour recipe's! She has done a lot of research and work developing these. I thank her so much :) !! And because I don't eat sugar either her book is right up my alley as she uses agave nectar as a sweetener. She gives you a lot of info on ingredients and where to get them in her book. 

chocolate filled cookies

Keep an eye out for my upcoming posts " What's Cooking Saturday's" to see some of the lovely cooking I'm doing at my house. I like to use recipe's but I always alter them a bit to my tastes. 

chocolate cream pie

Here are some muffin's I made that are delicious! On the left side is a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times magazine 12 years ago. It's the best vegan muffin recipe I've found. The base is peanut butter ( I use almond now) and banana. I add whatever flavors we are in the mood for chocolate chip, blueberry etc. I took out the wheat flour and added almond flour. Yummy! The muffin on the right is a delicious pumpkin spice coconut flour one from "The Primal Blueprint Cookbook by Mark Sisson" My husband loves this guy he's got a blog see it here... Marks Daily Apple

For the first recipe of this series that will post on Saturday's is...

 My very own chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! When I was a child my Grandma would bake these cookies and put them in the cookie jar. I loved them so much I would eat them even if they were super old with white marks on the chocolate chips. It has been a long struggle to create a recipe that worked but I finally did! 
Here it is...


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cup ground rolled oats ( I use gluten free Bob's Redmill grind them up in a cuisinart)
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter ( vegan use a butter substitute)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 T almond extract
1 egg ( if you want it vegan use oil and water instead)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 cup chocolate chips (  I use grain sweetened ones from Sunspire)

Set the oven to 350 degrees

Grind up the oats in a cuisinart to a fine flour. Mix the dry ingredients, oatmeal, flours, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. 
Cream together the eggs, agave, almond extract, oil and butter in a small bowl. 
Mix together with as few strokes as possible the dry and wet ingredients, then fold in chocolate chips.

You can drop a Tablespoon full of the dough on a cookie sheet or use an ice cream scoop and flatten them down. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let them cool for a few minutes if you can stand it otherwise dig in! I can never wait but they fall apart if you eat them hot. Enjoy :) 

Come back next Saturday for the next recipe! 

Have a lovely healthy day!

Chandra

Gluten Free Holiday Enjoyment!

Today I am talking about a yummy thankful Holiday with gluten free, sugar free sweets! I enjoyed Pecan Pie when I was younger. Now due to my no sugar diet I stay away from sweet things. Although I still love sweet things. I have been baking muffins with fruit as a sweetener lately. I found this recipe about 10 years ago in Vegetarian Times Magazine. It's called Quick Banana Bread but Iv'e changed it so much it is now more like Pumpkin Muffins so I'll call them this.

Pumpkin Muffins

1/4 cup almond milk (or any milk you like the old recipe said soy milk)

6 Tablespoons olive oil

6 Tablespoons maple syrup ( I use agave nectar sometimes or just omit this)

21/4 cup mashed bananas

1/2 cup pumpkin ( they used peanut butter)

2 cups flour ( I use almond and 1/4 cup coconut flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup cranberries,  blueberries or chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Blend the wet ingredients together in a blender. mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the wet and the dry together using as few strokes as possible. Fold in cranberries, blueberries or chocolate chips.

Place by spoonful into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes until brown.

I hope you enjoy!

There are two great bloggers out there I frequently read. The Balanced Platter and Elana's Pantry. Just when you thought you couldn't enjoy any desserts for the holidays here come the great tasting gluten free pies. They have many great recipes but I found this recipe from The Balance Platter Maple Pecan Freezer Fudge. It looks good, who needs crust!

I did make it almost to her recipe. I omitted the stevia and added more maple syrup equaling 1/2 cup. I also added vanilla and put them in the frig instead of the freezer. My Husband said they were good but a little too sweet. I can't have maple syrup either so I am making my own version with agave nectar and maple flavoring.

I did find a great recipe for gluten free pie crust from Elana's Pantry  made of almond flour, yum!
This recipe has eggs but this one from her book is better. It is easy to make.

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, agave and vanilla. Stur in wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until combined. Press dough into a 9 1/2 inch or deep dish pie pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling.

 Then you can add berries, pumpkin, or chocolate cream pie. Elana has many great dessert recipes. I am so grateful to her, she has a great cook book with many wonderful foods!

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your Holidays!

Chandra

Thanks for leaving a comment, I love to read them!

Happy New Year 2012!

Chocolate, chocolate chip, berry muffin

It's the beginning of a New Year... the sun is shining, the air is crisp. The world is forever changing. It is my birth month. It is a time to rejoice in all we have as Californian's. Sun, Art, Openness, Creativity and Spunk! I think as I sit and eat my delicious vegan, gluten free, lightly sweetened with fruit Chocolate, chocolate berry muffin and drink my rooibos tea that I might die soon. This sounds morbid I know, but it is a Buddhist meditation. Buddha was very smart in helping us self centered individuals change our minds to positive.  I have done this meditation many times. You think I may die today, many people are dying and at some time I will. After thinking of this for a while and meditating on it you come to the conclusion that I must make the most of my life. I must help myself become a better person and be able to help others. This makes you practice Buddha's teachings at every moment. (that you can remember too) Unfortunately, it is not the meditation that spurs these feelings but a talk with a doctor who is concerned about some lumps I have. So, I practice taking and giving (another meditation to tell you about later) on everyone in this situation and think many people die every day. When it's your time you must go. First, I cried thinking of my children and how sad they would be to not have a Mom anymore. About my husband who would have to live life alone. How sad my parents would be to have their child die before them. Then I said to myself, " I have to do everything I love to do quickly so that others can enjoy it." What would I want to give to others. Writings, Buddhism, food they can eat that tastes great, love, art, inspiration. There is an urgency to it all. Maybe, I feel this way also because I am reading a book called, "Precious Time" by Ace Remas (also my meditation teacher get book here) it emphasizes the fact that you waste your whole life doing something you don't like, save all this money, then grow old and too tired to do the things you wished to do. Then it's too late. So what do you want to do with your life? Are you doing the things you love? How can you help others? I think to myself,  I have so many things I like to do, what do I choose, how do I make it happen? I have to stop thinking about how I am not good at anything, stop wasting time and do the things I love. After all that's what this blog is about.