Nutty Coconut Granola Bars

 

Nutty Coconut Granola Bars

Ingredients

6 cups gluten-free rolled oats
4 Tablespoons butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)
1/4 cup rice bran oil
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Reed's Extra Ginger Brew
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp brown rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1/2 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut flakes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Stir the oil and melted butter into the oats. Spread the mixture on two baking sheets and toast for 15-20 minutes.

Combine the sugar, honey, molasses, brown rice syrup, and ginger beer in a saucepan on low heat and stir until it is all nicely melted together. Add the vanilla.

Combine all the other dry ingredients and toss together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients. Stir.

Spread everything out onto a well-greased cookie sheet, pressing down firmly and reshaping when necessary. Bake for 20 minutes or until the granola is golden brown. Let it cool.

Here's the fun part. Take a large knife and cut the granola bars into whatever sizes you want. You can eat the bits that break off or save them for cereal.

Eric demos the knife.

Sweet potato black bean nachos

Sweet Potato Black Bean Nachos

Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 cup of diced tomatoes (I used Pomi, the kind in the tetra pak)
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cilantro
hot pepper flakes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb. spinach
corn tortilla chips

Instructions

Cook the turkey. Add the sweet potato, the diced tomatoes and spices. Simmer for about a half an hour until the potatoes are soft. Stir in the black beans and cook for a minute or so. Stir in the spinach, adding gradually as it wilts.

Serve over tortilla chips with guacamole. Other options: sour cream and cheese.

It can get pretty messy, particularly with the thin chips that I like to use.

Option: They also taste really good baked. Just crumble tortilla chips and add them in a layer to a greased 9"x 7" in. pan. Pour the mixture on top. Sprinkle fake or real cheese over it and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the cheese melts and browns.

Sausage with sauerkraut and apples

Sausage and cabbage for New Year's Eve with a wonderful Spanish wine from Jinny.

Sausage with sauerkraut and apples

Ingredients

4 medium Italian sausages
1 small onion, cut in half circles
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup apple cider
1 cup sauerkraut
2 apples, cut into thin slices

Instructions

Brown the sausages. Remove the sausages and saute the onions until golden brown. Add the sausages again along with the apples and cabbage. Pour the cider over everything. Cover and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the cabbage is translucent.

Apple Pear Noodle Kugel

GF DF Apple Pear Noodle Kugel

10 oz. package of GF wide noodles (I used Seitenbacher Gluten-Free Golden Ribbon Gourmet Pasta)
4 tbsp buttery spread
2 pears, grated
2 apples, grated
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup golden raisins
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp golden flax seed meal
4 tsp hot water
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
more cinnamon and butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix the lemon juice with the grated pears and apples so that they don't brown while waiting. Cook the noodles.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, grease a regular-sized pie pan or 11x7 baking dish with 1 tbsp of the buttery spread. Next, make a flax seed slurry by combining the flax seed meal with the very hot water. Let this sit for at least five minutes or until it thickens.

Drain the noodles in a colander, then mix in the rest of the buttery spread.

Stir the agave, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon into the pear-apple mixture.  Add the flax seed slurry, then the coconut milk and stir to combine. Be gentle, as the noodles break easily. Transfer to the pan.

Combine the maple syrup with a half teaspoon or so of the maple syrup and spread the  mixture over the top of the kugel. Dot with butter.

Bake for one hour or until the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbling. Cool for another hour to set.

Serve warm.

GF DF sweet potato latkes.

GF DF Sweet Potato Black Bean Latkes

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 14 oz. cans organic black beans
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped and drained
2 eggs
1 cup oat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp vegetable broth

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a bowl. The latke mixture should be moist enough to form into a patty easily. If it is too wet, squeeze the excess liquid out between your hands. Scoop the latke mixture in your hands, pressing to shape into a nice-looking patty. Be sure not to make them too big or they will fall apart more easily.

Cover the bottom of the pan with oil. Drop a small piece of the mixture into the pan. When it starts to sizzle, it's hot enough to fry a latke. When the pan is full of sizzling latkes, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the undersides are browned (about five minutes). Turn the latkes over and cook another five minutes or so until each side is a nice, golden brown.

Notes

Serve with a choice of applesauce, sour cream, or even cranberry apple relish. It also tastes wonderful topped with pulled beef brisket.

And then have some carrot latkes, which look almost exactly like the sweet potato ones. They also taste amazing with cranberry apple relish.

GF DF Chocolate Walnut Rugelach

GF DF Chocolate Walnut Rugelach (adapted from Gluten Free Girl)
For the dough:
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp kosher sea salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
4 oz. coconut milk (the thick part)
4 oz. buttery spread
1 egg
1 tbsp water

For the filling:
1 1/4 cup walnuts
1 cup DF GF chocolate chips
1/4 cup apricot spread

Instructions

Combine the dry ingredients by putting them in a food processor and pulsing a few times.  Add the coconut milk and buttery spread and mix until it starts to form giant curds.

Divide the dough in half and shape each into a ball. Cover each dough ball with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes so that they are hard enough to shape more easily.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and blend until it forms a paste. 

Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper. Try to roll it out in the shape of a rectangle, but if the dough decides to go in different directions than planned, just tear off the offending pieces and smoosh them where they were supposed to go. Even it out again with a rolling pin. To make a nice rectangular shape, cut off the rough edges with a knife and save the extra dough bits for later.

Spread the filling over the dough, leaving about a half inch of space at the ends. To roll the dough, lift up the parchment paper a bit and encourage the dough to roll forward. Once the edge has lifted off the paper, use your fingers to gently roll the dough. Be careful not to roll too tightly or the dough might separate and leave little holes (which can be patched up with the reserved dough).

Make an egg wash by mixing the egg and water together. Brush the logs with the wash and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden brown. When the logs have cooled, cut them into slices. Tip: Run a sharp knife under very hot water. This keeps it from flaking so much when you slice them.

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Note:
The original recipe calls for potato flour.

GF DF Creamy Polenta with Ragu

Creamy Polenta (adapted from The Splendid Table)
3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal
2 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup vegetable stock



Fill a large pot with three-quarters full of water and bring to a boil. 
In a stainless steel bowl, whisk the hot water with the cornmeal until there are no lumps. Whisk in the vegetable stock. Cover the bowl with foil.

Set this on top of the pot of boiling water, making sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Reduce heat to medium so that the water bubbling more slowly. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every half hour or so. Reseal the foil after stirring.


Ragu Bolognese (DF)
2 oz. pancetta
4-5 carrots, cut into small pieces
4-5 stalks of celery, cut into small pieces
1 onion, minced
1 lb. ground sirloin
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
3/4 cup vegetable stock
1 cup almond milk

Saute the vegetables and pancetta for about 10 minutes, or until onions and celery are translucent. Add the ground sirloin and cook until meat is browned, about another 5 minutes.

Stir in the wine and tomato paste. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 hours. The liquid mixture will reduce slowly this way. Add in the almond milk about 1/4 cup at a time. After 2 hours, the ragu should be moist, but not runny or have too much liquid.

The result is a rich, flavorful sauce that tastes wonderful over polenta.