"Samoa" Cookies

A few months back I saw a great recipe at beautiful Real Sustenance blog: Gluten Free Samoa Cookies. (Grain/Egg/Corn/Soy/Dairy/Refined Sugar Free). Samoa cookies have always been my favorite, dating back to my year as a Junior Girl Scout. If you've ever read the label though, like me, you know that they are not very good for you. So I was very excited to find Brittany's recipe over at Real Sustenance, and saved it for a later date. Check out the recipe here.

I finally had the chance to make these cookies yesterday with a good friend. They weren't exactly like original Samoa, but they were EXCELLENT cookies, even compared with traditional cookies made with wheat flour and butter. We used spring themed cookie cutters - a flower, a tulip and butterfly. If I get the chance to make these again some day, I will just keep it simple with a circle cutter, because the shapes get covered by the blobs of caramel and you can't tell what they are underneath the delicious toppings. The shapes made it more festive though, so I'm still glad we did that.

The caramel is so delicious, the fact that you can't tell these are tulips, flowers and butterflies doesn't really matter!

First, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Shortbread mix to make the base cookies. It was one of the last grain items left in my kitchen, so it needed to be used up. This made my cookies gluten free but not grain free. However, they are free of soy, dairy and egg.

I made the shortbread cookies with substitutions for the ingredients called for on the recipe on the bag, which called for butter, water and an egg yolk.

I used the new Spectrum butter flavored palm shortening in place of butter or soybean oil shortening, and instead of egg yolk I mixed a heaping tablespoon of golden flax meal with 1/8 cup warm water, into a yolky-textured gel. I had to add water throughout mixing the dough, to get it to the right texture to roll out flat, but they turned out very well - if a bit hard. The golden flecks of flax meal in the white cookies looks pretty.

Once the shortbread cookies were cooled, I made the caramel. The original recipe had several options for each ingredient - what a blessing when you have dietary restrictions! I made it with the following:

• 3/4 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar (another item in the small "gotta get rid of this" section of my cupboard!)
• 1/4 cup agave
• half can of canned, preservative-free coconut milk (I LOVE Taste Nirvana!)

I was surprised at how long it took to get the caramel past 200 degrees; it was a stubborn pot that didn't want to boil! But finally after about 30 minutes, the candy thermometer was creeping up and we had our caramel. It was delicious! I think it's pretty neat that you can make caramel dairy-free, and I want to make it again for a special occasion to top coconut ice cream.

For the chocolate topping, we used Enjoy Life allergen-free mini chocolate chips (those things are AWESOME!) and my unsweetened coconut flakes were organic, small shreds from the bulk section of Whole Foods that we toasted on parchment paper in the oven for about 5 minutes

A tulip

It was definitely worth it to finally try out this recipe. I would love to repeat it every year around Girl Scout Cookie time, so I feel less left out. It's good to treat yourself once in a while :)

Happy Spring! Are you as thrilled as I am that it's finally here?!

Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts!

This morning was one of those special ones - I got up and the sun was shining, my body wasn't flaring, and I was ready to take on something new! (Don't you love that?) So, I baked some doughnuts. And oh my goodness, are they good. Stay with me here...

A few days ago I came across a recipe for Apple Cider Paleo Doughnuts over at Paleo Spirit. With a few modifications, I soon had six gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, egg-free, soy-free, Paleo, (vegan,) Apple Cider doughnuts on my counter top.

Now there's only one. And I'm trying to save it for my hubby. But I don't know if I will make it!

What a wonderful sight!

Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts

adapted from Paleo Spirit

What you need:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of fine sea salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2/3 cup warmed apple cider (I used a locally produced unsweetened, unfiltered, fresh pressed apple juice)

For the sweet sprinkle topping:

1/4 cup sucanat

1 tablespoon cinnamon

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare your doughnut pan. I used canola oil spray, but I don't condone this for regular use! Next time I'm going to grease the wells with coconut oil and see how that works.

First, make your egg substitute. Put 3 tablespoons of flax meal in a bowl, cover with 1/3 cup warm to hot water. Whisk with a fork and let sit to gel.

Another option is to use homemade cinnamon applesauce* - it would add the binding capabilities of egg, plus more apple and cinnamon flavor! (I'm doing this next time!)

Next, get out two mixing bowls. In one bowl, use a fork to mix together the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt. In the other bowl, stir together maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and egg substitute. Add the dry ingredients to the liquids and fold together. Pour in the warm apple cider and mix well.

Spoon dough into the doughnut wells, enough to be level with the pan surface. I used a full size doughnut pan with 6 wells, and the amount of dough was exactly perfect to fill each one to the top. Put pan into preheated oven. After 15 minutes have passed, check on the doughnuts. They will be soft to the touch even when done, but when they are ready, the edges will be browned and when you tap the dough with your finger, no batter will come off. My doughnuts were ready after 20 minutes of bake time.

Let sit to cool and "firm up" for a bit, 10 to 20 minutes. I had to feed my little one, and when I returned after 20 minutes the doughnuts were spongey-soft but firm enough that most of them came out of the pan in one piece when I turned it over onto a cutting board. 

For the finishing touch, use a silicone/pastry brush to moisten the doughnut tops and sides with melted coconut oil, and sprinkle on a mixture of sucanat (or coconut sugar, or whatever pretty crystallized sweetener you like) and cinnamon.

These doughnuts are very soft, almost spongey, and remained that way all day. Absolutely no problems with coconut flour-drying out issues here! They have a moist coffee-cake-like texture, but they are fragile; don't expect to pick one up and eat it like a "crap-filled Hostess" doughnut (ok, that quote was from my husband just now). My taste tester said they remind her of old fashioned Dunkin Donuts - the cake style ones that had cinnamon sugar topping. If you are comparing these to that kind, I'd say they are as good if not better! I’ll play around with it some more to see if I can get them firmer (maybe less liquid?), but the taste is in need of NO upgrades! Another day, another reason to be thankful for the food we're meant to eat! :)

Fast Food Mondays: Salmon Croquettes

Today I'm debuting a new weekly theme post: Fast Food Mondays. No, no, put down the car keys, toss that take out menu in the recycle bin, and put away your wallet. You DON'T need to go through the drive thru to come up with a fast family dinner solution for busy weekday nights. If you give it a try, I think you'll find that staying home and spending just a few minutes in the kitchen with common ingredients, you can have a satisfying dinner that doesn't break your budget or your eating plan.

Tonight we have Salmon Croquettes. One word: Delightful!
Isn't it true that some of the best creations come out of the most limited circumstances? When the refrigerator is looking sparse and the pantry is looking lean, all you need is a protein and Google to find a solution. Tonight our protein was a can of Alaskan pink salmon, and Google brought us to an outstanding index of canned salmon recipes at AlaskaSeafood.org. Inspired by several of the recipes found there, I came up with these truly delicious Salmon Croquettes. Time clocked from the can opener puncturing the lid, to a warm croquette sitting on my plate: twenty-five minutes. And that was without a prepared plan. With this as a guide, for you I'd say fifteen. So there you go: {real] fast food!

What you need:

• One 14.75 ounce can of Alaskan pink salmon, drained*
• 2 quail eggs (seriously!) OR 1 chicken egg OR 1 TB flax meal + 3 TB warm water, mixed and left for 5 minutes to gel
• 1/4 cup gluten free breadcrumbs**
• dried minced onion (approx 1 TB)
• dill (approx 1/2 TB)
• Dijon mustard (approx 1 TB)
• washed, chopped green onions (approx 1/4 cup)
• Lawry's seasoned salt (approx 1/2 TB)
• fresh ground black pepper (approx 1/2 tsp)

*You may pick out the salmon bones and skin to your satisfaction, but it is not necessary as the salmon is pressure cooked in the can. That process makes the bones and skin very soft and easily digestible. Leaving the bones in adds a great deal of calcium to your dish!
**Ener-G Foods makes a good gluten free variety for these purposes

What you do:

Using a fork, mash the salmon chunks as you would canned tuna fish. Add the eggs, bread crumbs and Dijon mustard and mix together. Then add your seasonings according to your taste. Blend everything together well.

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat, drizzling with a bit of grapeseed oil.
Form four patties with the salmon mixture. Place in the hot skillet and cook for eight minutes, flipping patties halfway through.

There you have it - a nutritious protein dish in less than twenty minutes.

Serving suggestion: Plate the salmon patties with a side of steamed broccoli or asparagus and (if you eat gluten-free grains) a small portion of wild rice.

GF Home-Style Meatloaf

I grew up hating meatloaf. I didn't eat meatloaf for over fifteen years, but my judgments about it changed the day that I was served a warm, fresh slice of the Costco deli meatloaf. Ever since that encounter with moist, tomatoey, lean beef with hints of brown sugar, I have had meatloaf on the back burner of my mind. I've been tempted to buy it once or twice, but the ingredients list is over fifty words long, and it's full of allergens and trans fats. But I haven't forgotten the taste of those moist morsels, and I have been dreaming of recreating it at home in a allergy-safe and health-promoting way.
Today I started making a list of foods to make on our Christmas getaway, I searched online for "GFCF meatloaf recipe" and found this version from Whole Foods Market. This meatloaf looks and sounds delicious, and I can't wait to make it!

My only two requests for the location of our trip were a fireplace and a kitchenette. As many of you know too well, a vacation in a small town with allergies and no kitchen is not a vacation. It is ruined by stress searching for safe restaurants and healthy options at the local grocery store, or by giving up, cheating on your safe diet, and facing allergic reactions the rest of the time. When I woke up on Friday morning Hubs had arranged the whole thing at the perfect place, even inquiring about extra firewood so I can curl up by the fire to my heart's content! I can't wait to get out of town with my best friend, a good book, and a load of allergy-friendly snacks and meal fixings. I am getting so excited as I anticipate this trip! Fresh air, the fireplace, and PEACE. This is what Christmas is about, anyway - the Prince of Peace coming to us in flesh, forever changing our world. We all deserve this Peace. It's going to be amazing, no matter what.

Oops, I went on a Christmas tangent - I'm back in Meatloaf Zone now.

Here is the recipe:


Home-style Meatloaf (WholeFoodsMarket.com)

Serves 8

Grated carrots and onions add a nutritional boost to this delicious meatloaf, while the mustard and Worcestershire sauce ensure a hearty flavor.

Doesn't this look amazing??

Cooking spray 
2 pounds lean ground beef 
1/2 cup rice cracker crumbs 
1 yellow onion, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced, divided 
1 cup grated carrots 
1 egg, lightly beaten*
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce, divided 
2 to 3 teaspoons gluten-free yellow or Dijon mustard 
1 tablespoon gluten-free Worcestershire sauce 
Salt and pepper to taste 
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside. 
In a large bowl, combine beef, cracker crumbs, chopped onion, carrots, egg*, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, mustard, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to prepared pan. In a small bowl, combine remaining tomato sauce with sugar. Pour sauce over the meatloaf and scatter sliced onions over the top. 
Arrange pan on a small baking sheet and bake until cooked through and deep golden brown, about 1 hour. Set aside to let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

*Update - I ended up making this meatloaf with a handful (approx 1/2 cup?) of plain instant mashed potato flakes as a substitute for eggs. It held the meatloaf together and added moisture to the dish. Try it to skip the egg, it works great!

Guilt-Free Hot Cocoa and Egg-Free Baking Subs

I found a great recipe for a totally allergen-free hot chocolate at Z's Cup of Tea. I'm currently drinking a cup of Swiss Miss that my hubby brought over to my desk. I'm drinking it for several reasons - 1. it is very late and I'm too tired to be picky, 2. I have been trying to reintroduce dairy for the past several weeks, to see how I do, and 3. It's been a long, trying week. I need a treat in the form of a warm liquid hug. Tomorrow everything will be better, and I will try this recipe from Z. I think I'll use rice, coconut, and (my new favorite) hazelnut milk...

 Z's Cup of Cocoa

Hot Chocolate
8 ounces (1 cup) is the usual size for a drink, though that day I only used 1/2 cup (4 ounces) of milk and it was just enough for the little guy. (Sometimes, smaller is better.) For milk, we’ve used a blend of soy and rice milk and So Delicious’ Coconut Milk Beverage in Original and Vanilla.
Serves 1 to 2 (small, two servings: 4 ounces; regular, single serving: 8 ounces)
Ingredients:
1/2 to 1 cup dairy-free milk of your choice [see head note]
1 to 2 tbsp. cocoa powder, natural or Dutched/alkalized (using Dutch gives a richer chocolate flavour)
1 to 1 1/2 dessert teaspoons agave nectar or honey
Marshmallows (optional, they make a fun sub for whipped cream)
Method:
Heat the milk in a small pot over medium heat, bringing just to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder (1 tablespoon per 1/2 cup) until completely blended. Pour the hot chocolate into a mug or mugs. Sweeten to your taste: I actually preferred a slightly bittersweet hot chocolate, while my brother went for the slightly sweeter side. Top with marshmallows or have as is. Enjoy!

One more fun item: a complete list of many brilliant substitutions for eggs in baking and cooking, found on Chef In You. We are officially in the Christmas season and entering the most popular baking season of the year. I had my final already and I've got four open weeks with "Christmas baking" written all over them; I'm going to be utilizing this brilliant list all month!

 This photo from Chefinyou.com sums it up! :)

I'm passing on to each of you a kind wish I received from a friend this week: This holiday season, may you be with those you love, and those who love you. Blessings!