Dehydrated cauliflower popcorn (raw, vegan)

Holy crap this is addictively good.  I would have never thought I alone could eat a whole head of cauliflower. Dehydrating it makes it much softer, smaller, and removes water content so it is much easier to eat a lot of veggies when dehydrated-- totally reminds me of the dehydrator sauteed zucchini I loved this summer.

The nooch is the right color and taste to replicate butter/cheese (espeiclaly in combination with salt and onion powder) and it gets a little crispy at the edges from the dehydrator. It is very convincing as popcorn/snack food. I bet you could get kids to love this stuff.

I think I may make this for the next potluck/party-- in that case I may need to double or triple the recipe!

METHOD

The idea is really quite simple: cut up a head of cauliflower into small bite sized pieces.

In a bowl, combine the dry stuff:
2 TB nutritional yeast


2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
scant 1/2 tsp himalayan or sea salt

Toss the cauliflower florets into the bowl. Add 1 TB good olive oil. Toss it all together with a spoon.  This helps the oil stick the dry goodies onto the florets.

Grab 2 dehydrator trays (I use excalibur) and put the teflex sheets on top of the mesh screens.

Spread out the cauliflower mixture over the two trays.  Dehydrate at 115 F for 4-8 hours, until it reaches your desired level of crunchiness. Consume warm straight from dehydrator for best effect.

Caramel Shortbread (gluten free)

My husband loves shortbread (maybe it's a British thing?) and caramel.  So when I saw recipes floating around for a mixture of the two I knew I had to try it.

METHOD
In food processor, combine until crumbly:
1 C butter (that's 2 sticks)
1/4 C sugar
2 C gluten free flour (I use a mix of brown rice flour with potato starch and tapioca starch)
1/4 tsp salt

Press into a 9x9" pan.  Bake at 350 F until starting to turn golden brown, 25-30 minutes

Once the shortbread is done, in a small saucepan on the stove, melt 1/2 C butter (that's just 1 stick).  Once melted add the content of 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and bring to a boil.

Boil, while stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, for 5 minutes. It will thicken and turn a darker color.

Turn off heat. Pour in 1 tsp vanilla extract, stir. Pour over the shortbread in the pan. Let cool. Once the pan has cooled off, put in the fridge.

When ready to serve, cut into slices.

To freeze, cut into squares and separate on a cookie sheet. Freeze them while separated, then transfer to a bag.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Banana Raisin Cake

I started with this recipe and made a bunch of changes and substitutions. 

My husband loves banana bread and cake, but he's not really eating chocolate or nuts (due to high nickel density). And I love chocolate and nuts with bananas. So I had to figure out what else to combine with banana cake.  Raisins!!! It's really a great match.  This is one of his new favorites.

METHOD

Combine the dry ingredients:
2 C gluten free flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon (I like to use firey hot kind like Costco Kirkland brand) 
1/4 C brown sugar

Mix the wet ingredients:
5 TB coconut oil, melted 
1 C mashed banana (about 2 bananas) - I leave a couple chunks of banana for texture
0.5 C yogurt (I use Nancy's plain)
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 eggs

Combine the dry and wet.  Add 1/2 C of raisins. Pour into a 9" or so pan.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 25 minutes or until it is set and no longer wet in the middle.

Yeasted Gluten Free Pizza Dough

This is actually a convincing pizza.  The worst part was transferring teh dough to the cookie sheet as it is so delicate. But the taste was surprisingly like the "real thing".  If you are reheating up the leftovers, I suggest crisping in a toaster oven or under broil (microwaving pizza doesn't make the best texture). 

This is enough for 4 pizzas. When eating pizza with salad, the two of us only need one pizza. So I'd imagine the full batch below would serve 6-8 people, depending on appetite and other things served.

METHOD
Enough for 4 pizzas

Whisk together in 5 quart bowl:
5.5 oz brown rice flour
9.5 oz gluten free flour (mine was a mix of tapioca starch, potato starch and rice flour)
4.5 oz cornmeal
1 TB granulated yeast
0.75 TB salt
1 TB xanthan gum

 Combine in another bowl:
 1.5 C lukewarm water
1/4 C olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 TB sugar

Now add the liquids to the dry ingredients, stir. Allow to rest until rises, approx 2 hours.

Use immediately or chill.  Cut into 4 balls and roll out using rice flour. Carefully transfer to baking sheet (unlike gluten doughs this does not hold together well-- plan on babying it).

Pour on the tomato sauce, then sprinkle with cheese and your favorite toppings (I like spinach and feta).





Bake pizza on baking sheets in 425 F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is crisp on the edges and the cheese is bubbling.

Vegan Seitan Sausage

I had a hankering for sausage- something with lots of seasonings, especially paprika and fennel seeds.  I have a tub of vital wheat gluten and figured I could try making vegan sausage seitan-- and it would be practically free!  Mostly, I followed the recipe at PPK.

This was delicious when cut into pieces, and fried up in olive oil, and the hot pieces put over a green salad with boiled potato. 

METHOD
Start a large pan of water on the stove and heating up for steaming.

Combine in a bowl:
1/2 C cooked chickpeas, mashed
1 C water
1-2 TB tomato paste
2 TB reduced sodium soy sauce (but then I thought thye maybe needed more salt??)
1.25 C vital wheat gluten
0.25 C nutritional yeast
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1.5 tsp crushed fennel seeds
0.5 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
black pepper

Now divide the dough into four chunks. Roll each into a sausage/tootsie roll shape in 4 sheets of aluminum foil. 

Place foil wrapped logs in a steamer basket. Steam for 40 minutes (medium or low heat).

Unwrap, then enjoy immediately or refrigerate.  I prefer my seitan sausage to be cooked again or at least heated through for serving- and I think it needs a little more grease/oil, so I like to pan fry it with olive oil.  I've seen others bbq these like a hot dog.

Fast Gluten free Chicken Tomatillo Enchiladas

Seriously I don't know why I hadn't tried this earlier. Simple filling dinner that is super fast to put on the table.

I make loads of tomatillo salsa in the summer, so it's easy to pop open a can/jar for this recipe. If you don't have your own stash, pick some up at the store (and seriously consider making some next summer).

I stole an idea from a gluten free blogger about using corn tortillas for enchiladas- just fold in half like a taco! Since corn tortillas are stiff and hard to bend, this is easy and reduces how much they break.

METHOD

Assemble your ingredients:

• Filling: I used leftover chicken potato tomatillo stew that I make in the slow cooker. Alternatively, you could toss cooked chicken with salsa and call it good. 
• Corn Tortillas
• Tomatillo Salsa
• Cheese

You may need to warm the corn tortillas slightly in the microwave to make them more pliable.  In the middle of each corn tortilla, spoon some filling. Then fold in half and place in pyrex dish. Repeat until dish is full. 

Pour additional tomatillo salsa over the top-- the weight of the salsa will help push down any pieces of tortilla that want to fly open. 

Shred cheddar cheese (or use cotija or your other favorite cheese) over the top.  Mine looked like this prior to cooking:

Microwave and/or bake/broil in the oven until heated through and cheese is melty (or even slightly bubbly/browned) on top.

Eat hot.

Favorite Gluten free Cakes

Since discovering the husband has a sensitivity to gluten, I've started baking gluten free things for him.  I bake them up, let him eat some hot and then we cut the rest up and stick it in a ziplock freezer bag and freeze it in the chest freezer. This way it stays good for the moments when he's hungry for a snack (and it doesn't tempt me as much!).

I also make my own rice milk which means I have a cup or 2 of rice pulp leftover each week. The rice pulp is ground up rice bits that are strained out when I make the milk. 

I started out making things as muffins as they are already portioned out. But now I find baking in a square or rectangular pyrex dish is easier to pour and easier to clean up. You just have to slice into squares.  And baking in glass means less metal residue in the food.

Here are our favorite gluten free cake recipes- I've already made each of these several times in the past few months!

Kabocha Cake: you can use any type of meaty squash and roast it for this cake.  I like butternut, red kuri, and kabocha squash for this recipe, and one of these days I'm going to try delicata squash too. It's a great way to sneak in some extra vegetables. 

Blueberry Muffin/Cake:  he loves anything blueberry and this creates a very tender delicious spongy cake.

Zucchini Cake: another vegetable inspired cake that I had been making with gluten for a while.  At first I worried he wouldn't like the green flecks- turns out that's a plus! It looks quite pretty.  And the zucchini blends well with cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Shortcut Easy Rice Milk

I had been making rice milk the "right way" for a while and then started to get lazy.  The following is not quite as good but still good enough for cereal.  It tastes better when it's had a chance to cool in the fridge.  Now when I'm short on time, this is what I do:

 Place 1 C raw rice in high speed blender.
Add 2-3 cups cold filtered water.
Blend for a couple minutes.
Strain and squeeze through nut mylk bag (I made my own)
Sweeten with maple syrup and add a pinch of salt

This makes a half batch, which is a quarter gallon (fill up a half gallon jar half full; or use a pint or something slightly larger than a pint).

Rice Pulp Gluten Free Blueberry muffins (or cake)

I adapted this gluten free blueberry muffin recipe to use up rice pulp, which is leftover from making rice milk.   If you want a faster way to make rice milk, check out the shortcut method.  I've made this three or four times in the past month or so- it's that popular. This is one of a trifecta of the hubby's favorite gluten free cakes.

Update 1/4/2015: this is one of the most frequently cooked things in our household. I've found that the gluten free flours don't absorb as much oil and liquid as regular flour, so I've updated the recipe below.

If you don't have blueberries, this cake is wonderful with sliced Italian prune plums. Or you can swirl jam into the top of the cake if you're out of fresh fruit.

METHOD
Toss 1 C frozen blueberries with a dusting of gluten free flour. Set aside.

Combine in a bowl:
1 C leftover rice pulp from straining rice milk
1/2 C gluten free flour (I mix brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch)
1 tsp psyllium husk powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.25 tsp kosher salt
1/4 C sugar

Separately combine wet ingredients:
2 TB butter
1 egg

1/2 C yogurt (I use Nancy's plain yogurt)
1/2 C water
1 tsp vanilla

Add wet and dry mixtures and stir. Now add the frozen blueberries and stir just until combined.

Pour into greased large 12 muffin pan, or pour into an 8"x8" pyrex baking pan.  I like the baking pan because it cleans up easier.

Bake at 350 F for 50-55 minutes or until set (timing depends on how wet your rice pulp was). The rice pulp makes it cook a lot slower than a normal cake would.

Freezes well, just microwave to thaw and eat.