gluten freedom and buckwheat pancakes

I have been away from public blogging for awhile now, not feeling so hot and focusing on my family. I did some soul searching, listening to my body, getting frustrated with doctors, having some tests, and ultimately determining I am unable to consume or use wheat products. Wheat exacerbates and creates many unpleasant symptoms for me, from allergies and asthma, to skin troubles and chronic anemia to debilitating fibromyalgia pain. It's only been a few weeks, but I'm already feeling better. Gluten freedom hasn't (and won't) fix all my symptoms, but it's helped tremendously, and I'm convinced this has gone on a long time (I believe wheat allergy played a role in my asthma, too, which started severely when I was 18 months old). I'm also convinced my fatness (and gender) contributed to doctors not catching this. Ask me about my anger at the medical community, sometime. Or don't. You probably shouldn't.

Anyhow, my lack of energy led to a complete disinterest in cooking and baking, and I'd only been making the bare minimum. I wasn't baking much because it was really starting to make me feel awful, and the energy expended and resulting pain wasn't worth the pleasure of a baked treat. I've gone away from fresh vegetables (except for simple salads), which is especially tragic now that we live in the bay area, where there's farmers markets nearly every day of the week somewhere nearby, and there are great stores that sell delicious produce, too. Now I've got to re-commit to healthy, fresh, delicious food.

Today I made buckwheat pancakes. I was searching for gluten-free vegan recipes online, and most recipes either use a pre-made flour mix, or only use rice flour. I like rice flour, but it seems too gritty to use without something to off-set that texture. My first attempt resembled concrete. Whoops! Then I decided to think simpler. These are not as flat as crepes, but they're definitely not big and fluffy pancakes. More baking powder (and/or a little apple cider vinegar) would probably help this. Maybe next time. I think they came out pretty well, though. They're high sugar for a pancake, I don't deny.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cup almond (or other nondairy) milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp maple syrup (or agave)

Instructions
Preheat (I used cast iron) skillet over medium (or just below medium) heat. Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and dry in a large measuring cup or small bowl. Add wet to dry and mix really well with a fork. Go ahead and over-mix that bad boy, because it's the wheat gluten that makes pancakes tough. Over-mixing wheat-free flours actually develops the shorter non-wheat-gluten proteins and helps with binding and structure.

I used a quarter-cup measuring cup to scoop batter into the preheated oiled pan, making two at a time, two minutes per side. I used canola oil out of laziness, but coconut would have been a better choice in hindsight. Makes 10-12 dollar-sized pancakes. (I think I'll double it next time.)

oven-baked french toast

DSC_1785.JPG
Originally uploaded by jennifermf

Perhaps this isn't the most attractive food photo ever, but I assure you, this was sicky sweet and all the sugar you could dream of in a breakfast food. Honestly, it was delicious. However, it was REALLY sweet. What's in the picture was breakfast for two days. I made this with some stale multigrain bread we bought at a farmer's market in the area. We'd gotten a free loaf (ProTip: Hit the farmer's market closer to closing time to get better deals and free stuff) in addition to the one we bought, and this one went stale. And TA-DA! oven-baked french toast was born.

Note: this recipe is great because you can make it the night before, let it sit in the fridge and then throw it in the oven the next morning. However, you don't have to let it sit overnight, and can bake it right away. Letting it sit overnight soaks the bread with the apple yummies, though.

ingredients:

2 apples, cored and cubed
3 tbsp Earth Balance
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup apple juice or water
1 cup soy milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 thick slices of day-old rustic bread

directions:

In a medium saucepan, cook apples in Earth Balance on medium heat until apples start to soften. Add cinnamon, sugar, and maple syrup and cook until apples are soft. Pour half the ingredients to the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking pan. In a bowl, whisk together apple juice (or water), soy milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Dip each slice of bread into mixture until fully covered, and arrange on top of the apple mixture in the baking dish. Pour remaining batter over the bread, as well as the remaining apple mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

To cook, heat oven to 350 degrees, bake for 35-40 min. If desired, serve with maple syrup, but it probably won't need any!

Your favorite vanilla ice cream (I love So Delicious!) might also be a great addition, although if you want to be healthier, some veggie sausage patties would balance this out nicely and add a little protein to this carb coma.

tofu scramble and a cooking tip

Last month, my husband and I took a quick trip into Chicago and we ate at the Chicago Diner and Veggie Bite. Both were delicious and amazing! I highly recommend both places if you're ever in Chicago. The diner was fantastic and we ate there for dinner and breakfast. Veggie Bite was a lunch stop when we first got into the city. I had my fill of vegan junk food (hot dog and chili cheese fries), but the diner was filling delicious satisfying much healthier food. :)

For quite some time now, I've been a tofu scramble snob, basically only using minor variations of my own recipe. For breakfast at the Chicago Diner, I had the tofu scramble, and it was different than what I was used to, but it was pretty tasty. I thought I could make a similar one at home if I tried, and then I remembered Vegan Dad.

Vegan Dad has a scramble recipe that's gotten rave reviews online, and this morning I had a scramble and sausage craving. OH MY GOODNESS, this is better than anything! I don't think I'll ever make another tofu scramble! Seriously, you must try this: clicky clicky clicky!

I don't have any adequate photographs, so you'll just have to check out his blog and his post. Honestly, it was a little creepy how much this resembled semi-runny eggs. I got over that pretty fast, though. :)

In case you're curious, for sausage, I made the tempeh and white bean sausage patties from "Vegan With a Vengeance" with minimal modifications. (I mash mine up really well before turning into patties, though, and use matzoh meal for bread crumbs.)

Stainless Steel Cooking Tip!

I have one non-stick pan left (mentioned in another post). I have every intention of not buying another teflon/non-stick pan once this one wears out (the coating flakes off), because of the reports about the questionable safety of these coatings. Cast iron can be a great nonstick substitute, but I don't feel comfortable using it on my cooktop. I've read this magic trick with stainless steel (which we use regularly) and I finally tried it today, and I've GOT to share it with you!

Basically, you shake some salt onto the stainless pan, and put your oil on top of the salt, and heat as normal. Somehow this makes the stainless function almost like a non-stick pan. (I'm sure a high-fat food wouldn't stick, but tofu still has to be gently worked off. But it's MUCH neater than the tofu messes I've made in that stainless pan before.)

My scientific hypothesis regarding how this works is that the water-soluble salt gets coated with the oil, and then "rolls" around the pan (since salt won't dissolve in oil), like little ball bearings if you will (nerdiest cooking analogy ever? perhaps), and the food kind of skates around the pan on these oil-salt beads. even once everything was stirred together, nothing stuck to the pan.

My hypothesis requires further testing, however.

One word of caution: because you're heating oil that seems to be more "mobile" than ordinary oil, and adding wet tofu, this oil splashes a LOT more than any other time i've put tofu in oil. So just be careful. :)

Maybe I'm the last person on earth to discover this, but here it is, documented for all eternity. Make fun of me if you must. :)

waffles

plain old waffles!

we make waffles pretty much every weekend and every weekend i say "i'm going to write down this recipe!" but today's were pretty special, so i'm finally doing it. no picture, because we ate them too fast. but this is what i do every weekend, although sometimes i halve the recipe if we don't want waffles on sunday, too, or i don't want leftovers. i love to put extra waffles in the fridge to have for breakfast or snacks during the week. the batter keeps well for a few days too, so you can just fire up the waffle maker over the next few days if you want fresh waffles on a bleary monday morning.

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder (see note below)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups soy milk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 tsp vanilla

directions:
combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl or large measuring cup and add to the dry, mixing well until only very small lumps remain. cook as per your waffle maker's directions.

variations:

* mix and match your flour!! today i used half quinoa flour and half white flour. sometimes i use one cup of whole wheat flour and the rest white. the quinoa mix is my new favorite.
* decrease sugar to 1/4 cup or replace with 1/4 cup agave nectar. (i like my waffles sweet.)
* replace some of the nondairy milk with fruit juice.
* add a teaspoon of cinnamon.

this recipe makes 6 or 7 belgian waffles. i bet it makes twice as many regular waffles.

NOTE: i use aluminum-free baking powder. i highly recommend you do, too, if only for taste reasons, because there's less of a potential for that metallic taste that can sometimes happen with lower quality baking powder.

zucchini waffles

my mother-in-law's garden is overflowing with delicious vegetables!

she told me i can use zucchini and summer squash any way i'd use any other squash i decided to put that challenge to the test. yellow zucchini keep these waffles from getting too dark or greenish, and they crisp up on the oustide and stay moist on the inside. they're so delicious!

this recipe makes a LOT of waffles, so you might want to halve it. i love leftover waffles for breakfast or snacks the next day, so i'm happy to have leftovers, or you can do what we also do, and store extra batter in the fridge for fresh waffles all week long.

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
1/3 cup brown sugar (or regular for less color)
2 cups vanilla soymilk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cups pureed yellow zucchini

directions:

mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the liquid ingredients, mixing well until only tiny lumps remain. fold in the pureed zucchini and mix just until blended.

cook according to your waffle maker's directions.

in my experience, waffle batter will keep for about 5 days in the fridge.

note: i pureed my own zucchini by washing the zucchini, chopping off each end, and throwing chunks into my food processor. since zucchini isn't really that moist (at least ours isn't, it's been a really dry summer), i added 2-3 tablespoons of water to keep the blades going. you may need to adjust the liquid in your batter accordingly if you do this too, or don't have to do it.

note #2: this recipe works great with pumpkin! you just might want to add a touch more oil, up to 1/3 cup.

Quick and Healthy Sugar Free Breakfast Cookies

i tend to change this recipe a little each time i make it, but i've decided i like how this came out.

ingredients:

2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup flax seed meal
3 cups oats
1/4 cup olive oil (this can be decreased to limit fat, just increase water content)
1/2 cup dried berries (I use mixed, or cranberries)
1/2 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp agave nectar

directions:

Preheat oven to 350f.

Mix everything into a big bowl! (Mash the bananas first, and add everything else to save on dishes.) Shape dough into bars on a greased cookie sheet, making the bars about 1/3-1/2 inch thick. Make into cookie shapes for breakfast cookies, rectangles for bars, or pack into a cookie sheet and cut after they’re done baking. I prefer breakfast cookies, but these will make traditional “bars” really well.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges brown.

Makes about a dozen large breakfast cookies, or six bars.

sugar-free carrot mini-muffins

i was trying to think of a witty or at least more descriptive name for these guys, but nothing comes to mind. they're pretty healthy, as far as these things go, since they use date sugar in stead of regular sugar or artificial sweeteners, have carrots in them, and can be made whole wheat for extra awesomeness. i opted to use white flour because my newfound love of fiber is probably going to backfire on me soon and i don't want to overdo it. (date sugar is ground up dehydrated dates, which are my new favorite food.)

my apologies for the lack of picture, but they seem to have been eaten too quickly for me to get a good one!

ingredients:

1 cup soymilk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup minus 2 tbsp date sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 cup shredded carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
1 tsp orange zest (i buy it in the spice section instead of making my own)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg (fresh or not)
1 1/3 cup flour

directions:

preheat oven to 375f, and spray a mini muffin tin with oil. then mix everything up! in the interest of laziness, i mixed everything in one bowl in the order above (first letting the vinegar curdle the milk a bit). if you are fancier and less lazy than me, you can mix the wet ingredients together, and then sift in the dry. mix well, and spoon into mini muffin tin. bake for about 18-20 min, until a toothpick comes out dry. cool for a moment and then transfer to wire rack.

makes 24 minis! (if you want full-sized muffins, it should make about a dozen, and double the cooking time.)

variations: add 1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, and/or chopped walnuts. to make them less healthy, they'd be awesome with a crumb topping or cream cheese frosting!

tofu scramble

i don't have any photos of this, but it's probably my favorite breakfast food, along with a good waffle and some sausage. it's a great weekend breakfast, and the leftover scramble is awesome when reheated for breakfast the next day. it's great in tortillas too for breakfast wraps. there's a ton of variations, so i'll post some at the bottom. here's the bare bones recipe:

ingredients:
one block drained and sorta pressed firm/extra firm tofu
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp olive juice
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

spice mix:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika (i like hungarian best)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
dash of pepper

directions:

over medium heat in a large skillet, sautee the garlic for about a minute, then add the spice mix stirring well for about a minute. crumble the tofu into the skillet (i prefer larger chunks, they'll break as you're cooking anyway, but do what you wish). try not to mash the tofu up, but give it a good toss and stir to coat it all with the spices, garlic, and oil. depending on how much water was left in your tofu, you'll need to cook it for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. if it looks really dry or sticks too much, add a splash of water to deglaze the pan a bit.

once cooked, add the lemon juice, and nutritional yeast.

i'm from new england, so i prefer my tofu scramble smothered with ketchup. feel free to do something classier, like salsa, or minimalist, and eat it plain.

variations:

i hate onions. you probably don't. add half a chopped onion to the garlic, and caramelize the heck out of it. alternately, you could add onion powder to the spice mix.

i love peppers. add half a washed, seeded, and diced bell pepper of your favorite color to the garlic, and continue as usual. live dangerously and use more pepper if you're into it.

i love mushrooms, too. add three or four good sized chopped white or crimini mushrooms to the garlic and sautee until they release their juices.

carrots rock. if you're not as lazy as i am, grate a large one or handful of baby ones in a food processor and throw it in towards the end.

if you have some vegan sausage on hand, crumble it in with the tofu, and make breakfast goulash. (i'm sorry i lack witty names for these things.)

serve it with tater tots-- or just cook some tater tots and throw them in with the sausage and toss it all together. this combo, along with peppers and mushrooms, is my personal favorite. with ketchup, of course.

breakfast sammiches!

honestly? i don't miss those fast food restaurant breakfast sammiches because of the nastiness that they contain, but i miss the warm squishy salty chemically-flavored yumminess, as well as the plain old fun and simplicity of eating one.

but no eggs, dairy, or pork, please.

the "eggs" and bakon here are the leftovers from a failed attempt at tofu benedict (or bernaise, i think), a sauce that i had no right serving to anyone, but my trooper of a man ate two servings. maybe if it's perfected someday, you'll get to subject your own partners to it. ;)

so here goes:

seitan bakon ingredients:

seitan, cut into rounds, counting on two slices per sammich

for the marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

seitan bakon directions:

preheat oven to 350f. spray a glass baking dish with oil, and lay the seitan rounds in it. mix the marinade well in a small bowl, and spoon half-to-two-thirds of it over the seitan. bake for 15 minutes, flip, add the rest of the marinade, and bake 15 minutes longer. it'll be firm and slightly crispy, but not brick-like.

note: i used very moist seitan from a batch that didn't come out so hot. if you have nice firm not-so-moist seitan, you may only need to cook this for 10 minutes a side. check after 10 minutes and see how crispy your seitan is doing.

tofu ingredients:
extra firm tofu, drained and pressed (if you like it chewy, freeze it first)
1-2 tbsp soy sauce

spices (mix in a little bowl):
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt

tofu directions:

slice the tofu however you like, about 1/4-1/2" thick. i like to cut the block in half (the "short" way), and then slice the halves into bit square slices. figure one large slice or two smaller slices per sammich, so you can store unused and uncut tofu in fresh water for a week or two. spray a nonstick skillet with oil and heat at medium (or a little lower). lay the tofu slices in the pan, drizzle with a little soy sauce, and sprinkle with half-to-two-thirds of the spice mix. cook until they start to get crispy, or at least firm up, flip them, and sprinkle with the rest of the spice mix. (you don't have to, they'll have plenty of spice at this point, but i like the flavor). flip at will till they seem done. it'll probably take about 20 minutes.

sammich assembly:

if you like real food, toast your muffins to your preferences, stack two slices of bakon on the bottom, one or two slices of tofu on that, and top off with the half a muffin.

if you're like me, assemble the sammich on an untoasted muffin, and stick it in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. smother tofu in lotsa ketchup and enjoy! :)