Pictureless Pomegranate Salad

This healthy salad is a delicious addition to holiday or winter meals. The fact that it was consumed before photographs could be taken should not prevent my recording the recipe, but it is rather pretty. I made it to suit my dietary needs - no sugar, no dairy, no apples, and lots of nutritious health benefits. For those with high non-sweetened tolerance, the honey and cinnamon can be omitted, and it tastes quite zingy and delicious. The walnuts help to cut the acidity of the lemon, and also add crunch to the sometimes unpleasant chewiness of the pomegranate seeds.

Winter Fruit Salad

Toss fruit:
- Seeds of one pomegranate, precipitated into a dish
- One navel orange, peeled and chopped across sections into bite-size bits
- 1/2 cup walnuts, pieces or chopped

Mix dressing:
- Juice of one lemon
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and/or ginger (optional)

Pour dressing over fruit and nuts and toss again. Chill or serve immediately. Serves 2-4.

Fermented Grain Applesauce Snack Cake - Gluten Free

{No pictures, I know. Picture a thick moist spice cake without sugar or frosting}

Because I've considered experimenting with gluten-free yeast bread too time-consuming and high in the sacrifice of fiber for fluffiness and gluten-freeness, I've been experimenting with soaked/fermented grain quick bread. It's time-consuming if you count the soaking time, but not if you count what you actually do. Plus, there is only one wait-time between initial preparation and preparation to dump in the pan. The last batch of this cake-like bread that I made turned out addictively moist, grainy and delicious - as well as easy to digest, thanks to its hearty soaking.

It is unfortunate that I am an unprincipled dumper when it comes to cooking and baking. I smell, feel, look and jiggle and taste and, for the most part, hopelessly fail to measure. But I tried to keep track of some important things in this last and most-successful cake of moistness and tender, glutenless crumbs.

So here is the recipe!

STEP 1 - Before your all-night or all-day soak.

In large glass measuring cup or mixing bowl, combine

2 cups of gluten-free grain flours:
 (I used - 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
 - 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
-1/4 cup fine buckwheat kasha)
You could use brown rice flour, sorghum, teff, oats or oat bran (if you can) millet flour etc. - just make sure to use a combination of several, since most gluten-free flours have a flat, distinctive flavor when used alone. Coarse flours like cornmeal, oats and fine kasha lend a nice chewy texture, and a small amount of starch like arrowroot or tapioca adds softness and springy-ness).
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put on stove or in microwave to heat till hot - near but not fully boiling:
1 1/2 cups water

While the water heats, add on top of the mixed flours, but do not stir yet:
1/2 cup natural (un-sweetened) applesauce, or cooked 'seconds' apples (and/or prune baby food)
1-2 tsp. dark (blackstrap) molasses 
1 T Bragg's apple cider vinegar

Add hot water to flour and apple sauce and stir together till nice and batter-y. Add more flour or water or applesauce if it looks too dry or too wet. Cover with a plate or something and let sit over night, or all day , or all day and all night (or until next week if you are adventurous or have ADD). Feel free to stir it whenever you walk through the kitchen, but make sure it has time to soak - at least 8 hours, or longer if your kitchen is cold. You want the batter to sour and ferment a little. It might begin to smell 'spoiled' depending on what flours you used, but that's okay - the baking will take care of it.

STEP 2 - Before baking:

Grease an 8x8 baking pan with butter.

Uncover your wonderful smelly grain goop and add, stirring heartily with a fork or whisk after each addition,
2 eggs, or 2 egg-yolks and an egg
1/4 cup softened/melted butter, grapeseed oil, coconut oil or other desired fat
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves (and/or of nutmeg, ginger too - whatever you like)
1/2 tsp. buffered Vitamin C powder (optional!)
1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder or baking soda, or half of each

Pour batter into pan. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, or cinnamon or nutmeg, or coconut flakes, or nothing; or drizzle with rice milk and gently swirl with knife for an extra-moist bread. Bake at 350 - 375 F (I did 365) until set in center and brown at edges. (20 minutes? I didn't time it - it's too appetizing to forget about). Let cool in pan 10 minutes before eating. (Ha, as if I did that). Enjoy!

Refrigerate if any remains overnight, or it might start fermenting again. Not quite yummy. If you leave it out and that does happen, simply crumble the remainder of the 'spoiled' bread into your next batch for even better flavor. I often do this if there's some old stuff left when I want to make a new batch. No need to eat the old, stale bread when you can just crumble it into the new.

If anyone tries this recipe, let me know how it works and what you tweaked.

Rooty Fruity Hotdog Hash - GF, Grain-Free, Nightshade-Free

Today I made lunch like I do almost every day. Begin with a cast-iron skillet and a fridge of leftovers and end with something that no one in the world has ever eaten before. Sometimes it is quite tasty - today, tasty enough to write down the recipe.

We had leftover roasted parsnips in the fridge - not everyone has those, but they should since they make things so tasty. Just add some extra scrubbed and olive-oil slathered parsnips to the bottom of your next meat roast and see if you are fortunate enough to have any left for yummy hashes.

So here is the recipe...

Rooty Fruity Hotdog Hash - 1 serving

Add to well-buttered skillet:

- 1/4 cup sliced cooked parsnips
- 1/2 cup cooked beans (I used azuki beans. One could use cooked navy, northern or red beans)
- Nitrite-free turkey hotdogs - 1 or 2 sliced (I buy these for a reasonable price)
- 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground fennel seed
- dash of black pepper and salt to taste

Saute on med-high until hotdogs begin to sizzle and warm through. Add a splash of chicken broth or unsweetened coconut milk if mixture begins to stick or become too brown. Peel and slice a mango. When mixture is done, turn off burner and chop desired amount of fresh mango into the mixture. Stir slightly, serve and eat.  (Any remaining mango may be eaten for dessert with fresh yogurt or coconut milk.)

I found that the spicy sweet tastes of parsnip and mango go very well together and complement the saltiness of hotdogs and blandness of the beans wonderfully. The fennel and ginger just give it more spicy delight. Try it sometime - try it with variations. It's great for people who like the convenience of hotdogs but can't eat buns or ketchup!

Flogurt & Berries

This breakfast/snack/dessert recipe is extremely adventurous, so only recommended for like-minded palates. But it is free of sugar (except minimal amount in natural berries), dairy, grains, soy, and starches - and it has a texture identical to yogurt.

Here it is.

Cook in saucepan over medium heat until vegetable pieces are tender:
2 cups chopped fresh cauliflower (1/2 small head)
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 T white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 T sunflower, coconut or grapeseed oil


Pour cauliflower mixture into blender and add
1/2 cup unsweetened almond (and/or coconut) milk 
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
Stevia glycerite drops to taste


Blend until very smooth. If cauliflower pieces are tender enough, this should not take more than a minute.

Pour 'flogurt' over fresh or frozen mixed berries. To serve as a dessert, the flogurt can be poured into a dish which has frozen berries on the bottom and allowed to sit in the refrigerator a couple hours before serving so the berries thaw.

Pureed cooked cauliflower is also delicious as a vanilla smoothie without the vinegar/lemon juice and with a little extra liquid. Try it with cinnamon or nutmeg.

Beans & Cabbage on a Trip

Cooked navy beans and steamed cabbage. Combining these does not produce culinary delight - more like a bland mush, and maybe other issues later. But it's what I had to work with, and I was determined to make it delightful, or at least interesting. So in the skillet they went.

A cup of cooked cabbage

A half cup of beans

Then it got interesting, and here is the recipe. 

Add to cabbage and beans in a cast-iron skillet:

1 tsp. butter
1/2 tsp. whole caraway seed

Stir and sautee` briefly. Then add:

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

1/4 tsp. ground coriander 

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/3 cup coconut milk (we keep So Delicious refrigerated on hand)

1/2 tsp onion powder

Dash of black pepper

Salt to taste


Cook on med-high, stirring occasionally until thick and bubbly.
Remove heat and stir in
1 tsp. coconut oil

 Serve piping hot, topped with additional coconut milk, butter, or coconut oil if desired.  

(This could also be made with fresh onion, sauteed from the beginning with the caraway seed, instead of adding onion powder later.)

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Soup

I invented this recipe as I was making some quick pumpkin soup and found this sitting on the counter...

Sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free GAPS-safe and completely yummy! If you have the pumpkin cooked ahead of time (half and de-seed the pumpkin; put face-down on a cookie sheet with 1/2" water and bake at 350 till soft; scrape cooked pumpkin into a dish) and in the fridge, it's also fast and easy. The peanut butter adds a hearty dose of protein.

1 cup coconut milk
2 cups cooked pumpkin or butternut squash
1/2 c. natural peanut butter
1 T butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt to taste

Combine in pan over medium heat and cook till bubbling. Turn off. Pour carefully into blender (do several small batches if necessary to avoid explosions) and puree till smooth. Serve with a spoon. I could definitely eat this for breakfast.

Grainless Pumpkin Snacking Squares - Gluten and Sugar Free, GAPS friendly

The best thing about these bars is that they travel marvelously, and for someone on a sugar and grain-free diet, snacks on the go can become rather limited. They're a welcome supplement to my the usual starchless fare of nuts and raw veggies! I admit, they taste somewhat healthy. You won't imagine that you're eating a soft cookie made with white flour -- but they are chewy, flavorful and satisfying.  They key is the spices!

1 cup pumpkin seeds, freshly toasted

2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup soft butter or coconut oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

Stevia to taste (8 drops or so of liquid stevia) or xylitol

Grind toasted pumpkin seeds (still hot) and seasonings in blender or food processor until powdery or starting to clump. Add remaining ingredients, blend until smooth (may need to scrape down sides with a knife or wooden spoon) Scrape dough out of the blender jar onto a well-greased cookie sheet and spread to about 1/2" thickness. (Does not need to reach sides) Sprinkle with more cinnamon. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (I've actually never timed it!) or until puffy* and lightly browned on the edges. Cut into squares on cookie sheet. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes and remove with metal spatula. Store as you would cookies - about a week in airtight container at room temperature, and for ages in the freezer. I like to keep them in the freezer and eat them cold with a generous topping of butter. 

*These bars have made bubbles for me without fail, despite attempts to prick holes, etc. If anyone tries these and discovers a way to get rid of the bubbles, let me know. On the positive side, the bubbles do make the texture more interesting.

Savory Snacking Squares recipe should appear in a future post.