Who Cares About the Beef...Where's the Bun???

OK, so I'm giving this whole gluten free thing a little go. Kyson has had three reactions to wheat products and despite not finding anything on the web about ME having to go wheatless since he's still nursing, I'm applying the same logic about nursing moms cutting out dairy in their own diet if their baby is reacting to it. I'm hoping this will help clear up his eczema and help him sleep better at night!

I have to say, I now have empathy for those who find themselves delving into a vegan diet and missing cheese, etc. I am one of those who never liked the taste of cheese in or on anything, creamy mayonnaise and cream cheese dips. So it was a cinch for me to go vegan and couldn't understand why others would 'miss' former foods they once consumed. I'm really finding the whole gluten free thing to be hard, as I'm such a carb-o-holic and while there are a wide number of GF substitutes out there, I still find a certain taste (tapioca starch maybe?) that seems to be prevalent in so many GF baked goods. I tried making a homemade loaf of GF bread and just one bite had me gagging. I also bought some GF crackers and am convinced I chewed up part of my tooth in eating them. So I miss my bread and my crackers.

OK, I'll stop whining.

Anyways, I have made some really tasty GF things. I need my snacks, and these have all been pretty helpful in helping me from pigging out on gluten filled goodness.

From the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook, Buckwheat Apple Muffins. Fortunately no tapioca starch in this one, as it doesn't use the author's GF flour blend - just buckwheat. Ash devours these.



From the same book, Blueberry Millet Muffins. They look so professional! I actually really like these, despite the mild tapioca taste. They are incredibly fluffy for something gluten free!



Finally, again, from the same book, Banana Flax Muffins. I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips instead of the raisins. My fave!



And now for actual meals...

Caesar Salad from Appetite for Reduction. It actually calls for Eggplant Bacon, which I found a bit of a pain to make. Instead, I added baked tofu (suggested in the recipe) but in my marinade, I added a few dashes of liquid smoke. Thinly sliced, it was a nice smoky addition. I love how this dish has no garlic! It gives my breath a nice break. Pictured with GF pasta with Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Sauce from Vegan Yum Yum.



Brown rice + lentils + cooked veggies (onion, garlic, carrot, spinach) + Hurry Up Alfredo sauce from VYY = tasty little meal.



Give me a scarlet GF letter on my chest - at this weekend's cupcake party, I'm sooo cheating and will be scarfing down non-GF cuppies :( I already feel guilty as I know I'm not giving myself the full 3 weeks to see if this diet change impacts Kyson. *Sigh*

Gluten and Soy Free (!)

Not sure if our little Kyson has some allergies or what, but for one mere day I tried to be gluten and soy free in an effort to see if my milk is causing him issues. I failed miserably. The soy free part isn't too bad, and I think I can try that for a few weeks, but I love my carbs too much to give up the gluten.

However, having said that, I have made some fine stuff that meets both criteria!

First, a peanut butter cookie recipe from my friend - I'm guessing from 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes or something, since the font of my photocopy looks familiar to other 'Best' books. Made with amaranth flour, it really doesn't taste like a gluten free cookie! I love them!


Next, Coconut Curry Stew from Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. Fab!


A suggested side to the stew, Fruity Couscous (I'm my case, quinoa) from the same cookbook. I think both of these meal items had a total of like 10 fruits and veggies - we nailed our 5-10 per day quota with this meal!


Finally, Strawberry Shortcake! I made Spongecake from the Allergen-Free Bakers Handbook. It was so fluffy and delicious - I thought it was quite surprising for something with no gluten. With vegan whipped cream and yummy strawberries, it felt like summer was here.

Gluten-Free V-day

This year, we celebrated all the toddlers’ birthdays on Valentine’s Day. Given a few allergies and intolerances here and there, I decided to make VCTOTW’s gluten free cuppies – with 10 of the 12 vanilla ones topped with this sugar-free frosting (I’m getting sick of icing sugar…and it’s not especially great for the little ones anyways) and the chocolate ones topped with chocolate tofu mousse.



I also couldn’t go without also recognizing Valentines’ Day, so I teamed up the cute little valentines for Ash’s little buds with goodie bags filled with more gluten-free treats. Seeking something both nut-free and gluten-free and healthy at the same time, I came across these toddler treats. I have to admit that I was sceptical, because the uncooked dough didn’t taste all that great. But once baked, delicious! I did use mini-chocolate chips instead of raisins, thereby upping the sugar but I hope also the taste value. I don't have a pic for some reason, but they looked EXACTLY like how they turned out on the website with the recipe.

I had hoped to try sculpting those cookies into hearts to suit the theme, but it wouldn’t have cut it. And Ash and I sampled so many that we didn’t have enough for all of the goodie bags! So I broke out my copy of VCIYCJ (I hadn’t tried anything yet!) and went to make the gluten-free version of their roll-out sugar cookies. I was going to use their recipe for Gluten Frida, but it called for coconut flour which is a no-no for one of the kiddos. So I pulled out my bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Blend and subbed it 1:1 with a ¼ tsp of xanthan gum. The dough still seemed very wet, but once chilled and rolled out with more GF flour, I had no problems. They baked up great! I just wish that I could get over that GF taste – some flours seems a little beany. But I’m hoping the kids don’t mind! When Ash sampled it, she didn’t seem to notice and told me it was yummy in her tummy.



Between writing this post and actually posting it, it looks like we're having to modify Ash's diet to not include soy, gluten, corn and sugar until we figure out what's causing her so many issues...so I'm thinking my food prep challenges are about to increase! Stay tuned...

Gluten Free for a Week (well, almost...)

This week's menu is courtesy of October's Vegetarian Times. And I guess with it being Celiac Month, many of the recipes are gluten free (GF). Over the past few months I've been trying some GF recipes as an added challenge to just vegan cooking, so it seemed like a fun task to try some of these meals out this week.

I first have to note that I would have modified the order of the recipes presented, but damn blogger is giving me a hard time with copying/pasting and moving pics around...argh...

Pumpkin Parfaits with Oat Crunch - Wow, awesome! The Oat Crunch tastes like Kashi Go Lean Crunch, and with sweetened pumpkin pie filling, this really does satisfy a sweet tooth. I really wish we could eat these at Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie. Well, maybe these and a slice of pumpkin pie.

Tasty Tofu Patties - Tasty? Yes. Tofu? Yes. Patties? No - more like crumbles. I have no idea what I did wrong but this stuff just didn't hold together at all. Maybe some chickpea flour would have helped! Ah well. Plus, the recipe said it would make 8 patties - I got to 10 and still had 1/2 the mixture leftover. I'm going to just cook it up like a scramble - way less effort. I served these with my Actually Crispy Sweet Potato Fries...rice flour for these fries this time to stick with the whole GF theme.


Curried Red Lentil Soup - I have about a billion red lentil soup recipes, but something stood out about this one. It was great! And Ashley gobbled it up, so based on that alone, this one is a keeper. I kinda cheated on the whole GF thing, as I served it with multi-grain whole wheat bread.

OK, so this one is the only thing that's not from VT and it's not really GF, but I worry that if I don't blog about it now I'll forget to! Zucchini Spelt Muffins from Vegan Brunch. I don't have much luck with grated carrots or zucchinis in baking, as everything turns out soggy. This was the case with this muffin, sadly. I'm sure it's user error and not the recipe, as Isa is a Recipe Goddess.

Roasted Ratatouille Pizza with Chewy Pizza Dough - OK - the dough. I'm used to 'tough' pizza dough. I thought I'd done something wrong because this gluten-free dough was runnier than my pancake batter. But I followed the instructions to spread the dough with a baggie on my hand and it turned out great. A little soggy, but actually edible. More edible than I thought considering some of the GF stuff I've made has been pretty gross. I don't know if I will make this crust again, but I will definitely roast up the veggies like this for topping future pizzas! I do also have to note that I didn't have that 'heavy' feeling that I normally have after woofing down several slices of pizza. As for the veggies, I would normally cook off some of the liquid on the stovetop, but roasting made the veggies a little chewy and delicious!

Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping - I had my doubts about this turning out since the chickpeas were so lumpy compared to the runny batter. But the chickpea flour really did make a crepe-like texture and everything held together perfectly! Great off the griddle and also tasty cold the next day.

Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Popcorn - So tasty! Basically microwave popcorn with melted Earth Balance, Sucanat and cinnamon. Tasted just like the cinnamon toast I made as a kid where I loaded it with margarine, a ton of sugar and cinnamon goodness. So yummy! But very calorie heavy. I ate most of the recipe myself, so I probably had about 10 of the 1/2 cup servings to myself. Honestly, who would be able to eat only a meager 1/2 cup of this stuff?

Autumn Vegetable Tagine (no pic - no idea how I forgot to snap one) - I have a pressure cooker since I use it to save time on a meal, but with having to bring it to high pressure three separate times while making this recipe, I didn't find it to be all that helpful. The flavour of this dish was kinda blah and while it wasn't horrible, it really wasn't worth the effort. I also felt a little deceived since a glance at the photo in the mag showed all ingredients, including the couscous (in my case, quinoa) mixed into the pressure cooker. Of course, this made me think it was a one-pot meal. In reality, the grain is cooked separately, adding a little more effort than I originally thought.

The upcoming week's menus are more simple, as I'm trying a few reliable faves since Ashley got stuck with a nasty stomach bug and needs to eat up! I think there are a few sneaky dips that I might be able to blog about though.