Vegan Almond Flour Pancakes

There is no rhyme or reason to my posts right now. I'm trying so many different things, it's hard to keep them straight. But this recipe was so good, I had to put it online or I would lose it. Again. I made these a few weeks ago when I was experimenting with different pancake recipes. We loved them. But instead of saving the recipe, I just printed it out. Then I lost the paper. This happens a lot now. I run upstairs then stare blindly, trying to recall why I hefted up the stairs to begin with. Entering your fifties is not for the timid.

I looked everywhere in my documents folder but couldn't find it. I was panic-stricken! The best pancake recipe on earth and I lost it. Curses. Then I caught a clue and went through my online history. No small task, considering how many websites and recipes I've been reviewing in the past month.

It resides on The Daily Dietribe. I am getting this woman's recipe book. I don't know who she is yet, but I will find out and buy it. I think I'm starting to feel the same way about this website as I do about The Gluten Free Goddess. Kitchen wizards!

These pancakes are fantastic. Her original recipe post is extremely detailed and helpful, explaining which flours work best and how to adjust liquid amounts depending upon your flour choice. Check it out.

Vegan Almond Flour Pancakes

Adapted from GF Vegan Pancakes by www.thedailydietribe.com

Dry ingredients:

1 ¼ C almond flour

½ C potato starch

2 t baking powder

½ t sea salt

2 T beet sugar

Wet ingredients:

¼ C applesauce

2 T oil

1 – 1 ½ C coconut milk

Directions:

Preheat griddle. Preheat oven to 200°.

Whisk together dry ingredients in main bowl.

Whisk together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl or measuring cup. Start with one cup of milk.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well. If too thick, add more fluid. I like batter to be just ‘pourable’.

When oven preheats, turn it off. Prepare a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top and place in oven.

Add a small amount oil to griddle. If oil sizzles, the griddle is ready.  Scoop portions of batter onto griddle using a ¼ measuring cup. These are usually so thick, I smooth them down a little with measuring cup. Batter also thickens as it sits, so keep that in mind as you work.

As pancakes are cooked, slide onto cooling rack in oven to keep warm.

I double this recipe so there are leftovers. Since I always store them in the fridge, I can't lose them. I may forget they're there, but I will find them.

Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice

Hands down, the easiest, best way to cook brown rice. I was never a fan of brown rice until I tried this method. Comes out perfect every time. Every time! I've baked it in both a glass dish and a Teflon baking dish. Always perfect. I love Alton Brown and miss his show, Good Eats. Loved to watch it with my kids.

Adapted from Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice.

1 1/2 C brown rice (I use Basmati)
1 C vegetable broth
1 1/2 C water
1 T canola oil
1 t celtic salt
 
Preheat oven to 375°.

Rinse brown rice and dump into an 8x8 cooking dish.

Add oil and salt to veggie broth and microwave 2 minutes on high. Stir to insure salt has dissolved then pour over rice.

Microwave the remaining fluid for 2 minutes and add to rice mixture.

Cover with tin foil and bake 1 hour.

Fluff with fork and keep loosely covered until ready to serve.

Make Ahead Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes

When I considered Thanksgiving dinner and converting everything to be allergy-safe, I made this way harder than it needed to be. I do what I always do. Hop on the internet, surf over to Google, type in dairy-free whatever-else-free I need, let the links unfold, then angst over which recipe looks the least alien to the original.

What I should have done was simply take my old recipe, replace the milk and butter with my go-to dairy subs, and get on with it. Not so hard, really.

My daughter claims she doesn't like coconut milk b/c it's too strong, but in reality, I cook so much with it, she hardly notices. I steered clear of it as my dairy replacement in mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving so it wouldn't overpower the taste. In truth, I used a combination of coconut milk, hemp milk, and chicken broth, and no one was the wiser.

I've since made mashed potatoes with all chicken broth and it was terrific. Not what I'd make for a traditional holiday meal, but it's great with a Mediterranean chicken dish I made last week. I'll have to post that someday.

This is based on a recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook - remember cookbooks? I still occasionally consult one, but those days are waning. I make these in my crockpot so they stay warm while I'm dealing with last minute dinner prep - turkey carving, gravy-making, table-setting, etc.

We like mashed taters very creamy, so be forewarned. If you like yours thicker, dial back the milk sub.

Dairy-Free Mashed Potatoes

• 8-10 boiling or Yukon gold potatoes
• 1/3 to 1/2 C very warm dairy free milk (I use So Delicious coconut milk)
• 2-3 T dairy-free butter ( I use soy-free Earth Balance)
• 1 t Celtic salt (if using finer ground salt, you may want less)
• pepper to taste

Preheat crockpot to warm or low setting. Add DF butter to soften.

Scrub potatoes, peel and cut into large pieces.

Boil 30 minutes or until tender. Drain in colander.

Dump in warmed crockpot. Add DF butter and beat with hand mixer until lumps are gone.

Add salt and pepper, then slowly add milk until potatoes are to desired consistency.

Cover and keep on low until ready to eat.

Roasted Potato Wedges

This isn't Christmas dinner fare since my daughter insists mashed potatoes are the only potato allowed on the holiday dinner table - better on which to slather gravy - but these tasty potatoes are a staple side dish in the winter months.

I've had some challenges getting these to bake correctly, though. They stick like crazy to the tin foil I place over the cookie sheet. The sheet stays clean but the tin foil ends up enjoying more of the potato than we do.

I finally sat down and researched this phenomenon. Popped it into Google and voila! Instant answers. The main culprit was the tin foil. No surprise there. Many suggested dousing it with oil, but the vast majority of the posters recommended either no-stick foil or using a different type of baking dish - ceramic or glass - and placing the potatoes directly on the well-oiled, preheated surface.

The problem is the moisture in the potatoes. To prevent them from releasing fluid and thereby creating the liquid lock that causes them to stick, they must go directly on a preheated surface with plenty of oil so the skins seals up quickly before liquid releases.

I tried preheating the pan with the foil in it, but still got a gluey mess. I've had such bad luck with foil, I didn't bother with no-stick foil. I said goodbye to easy cleanup and went straight to a ceramic pan, preheating it with oil before dumping the potatoes in. Success! No sticking. Bigger cleanup, of course, but a much more satisfying culinary experience.

I wish I could tell you where I got this recipe. I found it on the internet years ago before I had the good sense to note the source when I saved it to my computer. I adapted it slightly as it had a boatload of salt in the original version (a tablespoon!), but these easy wedges are crispy and delicious and satisfy the french fry craving in my kids.

Roasted Potato Wedges

5-6 russet potatoes, scrubbed
1 t crushed rosemary
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 t salt (I use a heaping t of celtic salt)
pepper to taste
4 T extra virgin olive oil

Place a greased 9 x 11 baking dish (glass or ceramic) in oven. Preheat oven 425°.

Directions

Cut potatoes in 6-8 wedges/tater.

Place wedges in a gallon Ziplock bag.

Add spices and olive oil. Close bag and mix together until spices are combined and oil is evenly distributed.

Remove baking dish (with oven mitts!) and place on a pot holder.

Dump taters in pan and use tongs to evenly distribute. For crispy taters, place on the cut side, not the skin side.

Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, turn taters to the other cut side, and rotate dish.

Place back in oven and bake another 15 minutes or until taters are to desired crispiness.

I'm dreaming of garlic knots

Not sure why I'm stuck on the idea of having garlic knots. I never once attempted to make them pre-allergy days. The only garlic knots I've ever had were made in an amazing pizza parlor in Belle Harbor, New York, called Plum Tomatoes Pizzeria. Holy cow, are those suckers good! Everything in this place is good. We ate in a couple times, but once my sister owned a permanent home in the area, we ordered take-out and had their luscious deliciousness delivered right to our door. Those were the days.

No more wheat or butter for me. And I have no hope of creating anything remotely like them, without yeast. The more research I do, the more I'm convinced that a reasonable facsimile are possible gluten-free, just not yeast or egg free. It's easy enough to make garlic butter with Earth Balance. Not the same, but as the memory of dairy and wheat fade in the data banks of our taste buds, the new ingredients will take hold and satisfy. That's the theory, anyway.

But the yeast thing really sucks. Bread texture is beyond dense without yeast. I've been working on a pizza crust that isn't half bad, but it wouldn't work as a garlic knot. The dough is too sticky. I made Noah's Rolls last weekend for a Christmas party, but the egg replacer I used - flaxmeal goop - overpowered the flavor and ruined it for me.

The texture wasn't half-bad, but the color was anemic. They didn't brown. Not sure what to do about that yet. An egg wash is out. Can I brush it with garlic butter before it finishes baking? Conventional wisdom calls for the butter brush-down after they come out of the oven.

T'is a puzzlement. I'm making lasagna tonight. I'd really like to have garlic bread with it, but I haven't found a good savory bread recipe yet. That's why garlic knots popped into my head. If I can get the rolls right, I can wash them down with garlic butter and call it good.

I'm going to try Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of flaxmeal goop this time and see what happens. If it works out, I'll post it into my library.

Corn-free Southwest Black Bean Salad

This is not perfect, but it wasn't too bad for my first attempt at improvising an ingredient.

There are many versions of this salad available in cookbooks and online, but I adapted mine from Gina's Southwestern Black Bean Salad at SkinnyTaste.com.

1 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz roasted carrots, diced (about 3 carrots)
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 C red onion, chopped
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
2-3 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
juice of 1 lime, divided
1 small Hass avocado, diced

Combine black beans through salt and pepper. Add half the lime juice. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, add avocado and the rest of the lime juice. Correct seasonings and serve with chips, as a topping for tacos, or as a side dish.

Roasted Carrots

This recipe is available all over the internet in various forms, but I borrowed from both Ina Garten's Roasted Carrots and The Pioneer Women's Roasted Carrots by Pastor Ryan.

I can't believe I never tried carrots this way. Really easy. Really good.

Roasted Carrots

4-5 large carrots, as uniform as possible
1 - 2 T olive oil
1/2 t kosher or celtic salt, (to taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven 400°F.

Scrub carrots clean. Peel if you like, but I didn't it.

Slice lengthwise and cut in half. Try to get each slice relatively uniform to insure even roasting.

Prepare a baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil.

Place carrots on foil, drizzle with olive and sprinkle with salt. Toss to evenly coat.

Place in oven and roast 25-30 minutes. Skin of carrots should shrivel and gently brown in spots when done.