Vinegar Cake

This is a gluten free cake I've wanted to try for a bit. I liked that it was all mixed in the baking pan, less to clean up (well, it would be less if made without a pair of 3 year old helpers.

I used a mix of gf-oat flour and quinoa flour. I also added a scoop or so of protein powder. I tossed a handful of dairy free chocolate chips on the top, but didn't have enough to cover it all.

It has no xanthan gum so I was worried about how crumbly it would be, but it's good. Like most GF products, you need to make sure it's cooled 100%. 

Corwyn liked it, once I convinced him it wasn't hot anymore. Nathan fell asleep at 6:10 and so will need to wait until the morning for his try.

 

October Vegan Food Swap

I've taken part in a few Vegan Food swaps but am behind on the blog posts about them. I promise I'll get to the first two soon, but since I actually have a chance to do the October one on time, I'm going for it.

In this food swap, put on by MeShell and you can get details here Canadian Vegan Food Swap (with a link to find the USA version for those of you not north of the 49th). Each participant is given someone to send food too. Someone else sends a package to them. The idea is to try to find food your partner would like that they are not likely to have tried or have easy access to.

My sender this time was in the Toronto area and did her best to find foods I was less likely to find in Vancouver, while trying to be kid friendly at the same time. My package came from Lauren at http://www.sweatpotatopies.blogspot.ca/

As with any package that arrives at my place, the boys got involved with the unpacking. (see that sofa that looks like hell, it's 18 months old, yup, that's it, from the Brick, I'm not impressed (I typically keep a cover on it). They just love opening boxes and taking things out, lining them up and then putting them all back in again (and then repeating the process over and over and over). They were more interested in the actual process than the food itself, although once Nathan saw the picture on the Sprinklez, he kept insisting that they were cupcakes and I had to open them to show him they were not.

2 Gluten Free products from Sweets from the Earth. 

I've never heard of this company. These disappeared fast. The kids were less fond of the brownie than I thought they would be, but it might have been the gooey texture in the middle that turned them off (which was okay with me as I got to eat it!)

Mulling Spice from Simply Organics

While I've heard of and seen this company, I have yet to try this product. This time of year is perfect for it.

Prana Tamari Almonds

These are a total favorite of mine although I suspect with the recent pancreas issues, almonds are off my list now. Happily the boys liked them.

New Moon Kitchen Granola

I love granola and am loving the chance to try some new ones. This one is local to Toronto so totally new to me. Nathan will sometimes also eat it, although Corwyn still has some aversion to cold cereal.

Confetti Sprinkelz

These were something I was happy to see, so happy once I opened them. See, I've bought these before and was so disappointed. I really try hard to avoid or at least limit the toxins in food colors, but preschoolers and sprinkles in baking are made for each other. When I bought it box the sprinkles were a monotone grey. Bleh. But this box, the colors were so much more obvious. And while no, these are not like the ones with the toxins for brightness, they are still colorful enough to entice the kids without the damage.

They boys have been begging me to make cupcakes since seeing these, so we'll be doing some up soon.

Overall, this was a fabulous swap thanks to Lauren. I look forward to the next one.

Gluten-free Coconut Muffins/Cupcakes

These are somewhere between a muffin and cupcake, a bit sweeter than a muffin, but not as sweet or rich as a cupcake. I like cup-in over muff-cake but neither works well.

Anyway, I had planned to bake this weekend anyway but Corwyn sped the timing up a few days. He loves eggs and also likes to take them from the fridge to hand to me, even when I'm not ready. Last night, he picked up the egg carton and then while turning, tipped the remaining 1/2 dozen or so eggs out. Sigh. All of them were cracked, but luckily only one broke open and was past saving. So baking it was.

The recipe along with some variation options will be at the end. Some information and the process will precede it.

I was first turned onto using coconut flour by this book


It was here my love for using coconut flour began. I started to use it in more recipes and began to experiment. And I learnt some things along the way. It's a very dense flour. You need very little compared to the liquid ingredients. It likes eggs and works best in recipes with lots of egg. Let it cool (almost) completely before removing it from the pan. A little fills you up.  There are quite a few brands on the market. I use the one I can find. I haven't tried others but I'm sure they are all similar. It's a bit yellowish in color, not quite like either a white or a whole wheat flour. It has a slight coconut taste but not as much as you think.

As mentioned coconut flour is dense and likes eggs. I found that if you can whip the egg whites before mixing in the yokes and other wet ingredients then you'll get a lighter finished product. It's not necessary, but if you have the time and the tools, then go for it. As it would have it, based on how the eggs were cracked, I was only able to separate the whites from two of the six so I whipped those. Try to go until the peak stage for maximum froth. 

I use free range, grain fed eggs. It's a personal choice but I do know the yokes are much brighter in color and I like the taste more. (And it's that much more critical for money reasons to use the cracked-by-Corwyn ones vs throwing them out). The next picture is after adding the honey, oil and the rest of the eggs. You can see how nice and yellow it is. 

Oh, coconut oil. You don't have to use it but I recommend it. It is a saturated fat *gasp* but it's health benefits have been shown again and again as out weighing the fat. So unless you have explicit orders by the doctor not to, give it a try. It's kept at room temperature and is solid (it's summer so solid is probably a generous term). To melt it for ease of mixing, I measure mine and leave it in the cup on the element that gets hot while the oven is preheating. It's melted and ready when I need it, with no extra work.

This is after mixing in the coconut flour, baking soda and chocolate chips. It's still quite liquidy. But you need to leave it for another few minutes (maybe while you prepare the pan) and the flour will absorb some of the liquid making it almost mold-able before you put it in the muffin tins.

I've mentioned before that I love using ice cream scoops for muffins and cookies. It gives them a uniform size making them come out of the oven at the same done-ness. These are my current scoops. The biggest is a 1/4 cup and works great in a regular sized muffin tin. The next down I use for mini muffins and the smallest is for drop cookies. These are also great because the kids can help scoop and I can still hope for even baking sizes and slightly less mess.

And of course the finished product. I've also mentioned before about using parchment paper liners in the tins. I LOVE this and this picture should show you how that the claim to being no stick is true. 

These are not a diet muffin. They are made with coconut flour, coconut oil and eggs so there is fat in them. They are honey sweetened so have calories from that too. And, oh yeah, I made this version with chocolate chip (dairy free so Nathan can enjoy them). There is around 200 calories in each. But with 1/2 egg in each, there is also a fair bit of protein. Depending on how you feel about honey, if you eliminated the chips this is probably a paleo 'safe' food.

Basic Recipe
3/4 cup of coconut flour
1/2 to 1 tsp of baking powder (personal choice, can be omitted for a much denser result)
dash of salt (sea salt if you have it)
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup liquid sweetener (honey, agave, maple syrup)
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350
Lightly mix flour with baking powder and salt. Put aside.
Whip the egg whites until the peaks stay firm
Add the rest of the liquid ingredients and mix until fully combined
Stir in the flour + powder mix until well combined (you can keep using the electric mixer)
Add the chocolate chips and stir until just combined
Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes or so

While you do, line 12 regular or 24 mini muffin tins (I prefer to use parchment paper liners).
Divide the mixture into all the tins (remember my hint on the ice cream scoop if you have one).

Bake for around 22-27 minutes. Check at the lower number using a toothpick inserted into the center. It should come out clean. I left mine in 25 minutes and they were just starting to get dark at the edges but are not burnt so I'd say just right.

Remember to let them cool before you take them out of the pan. I know you want, you really want to to try them hot. They will smell great but if you do, you will think they are not cooked or turned out wrong (yes I've done this). Let them cool at least 30 minutes, longer if you can handle it. Then enjoy.

I recommend keeping these refrigerated or in the freezer. Mine have never lasted long so I can't say how long they will last.

As to variations, there are tons. I used the chips this time because it was last minute baking and I went for ready made, fast and easy. Switch out 1/4 of the coconut flour for raw cacao (or regular cocoa powder)  for double chocolate. Eliminate the chips all together for a basic muffin. Add in dried berries or even chopped fresh berries (since they are in season).  Change out the vanilla for orange or lemon oil and put in some grated rind for a refreshing taste. Cut the sweetener in half and put in a concentrated fruit juice. Use an egg replacer to make it vegan (I've done this using either flax seed and ener-g egg replacer with success). Add some fresh herbs (I'm thinking rosemary) for a more savory option (hmm, I'm thinking lemon rosemary for my next attempt). 

The possibilities are almost endless. Just don't change the liquid to flour ratio and use eggs or equivalent binder and you'll be fine.

Pumpkin Muffins - Recipe Revamp

As if being Gluten free and dairy free wasn't enough, I actually try to cut back on sugar and include veggies where possible. I'm a big fan of both The Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld of Deceptively Delicious. I don't hide veggies in my kids food. I tell them straight up what is in there, but these books have been great for helping me figure out how to add extra nutrients. So I tell the kids that the brownies they brought for a friends birthday party have spinach and beans in them. Just because they don't care or don't believe me doesn't change it.

But going gluten free added some new challenges. I've been vegan before so the dairy free part was much easier. The Sneaky Chef has a very small section of gluten free recipes but I wanted more. I took a recipe the boys had like when eating wheat flour and modified it.

I changed the wheat to a combo of coconut flour, quinoa flour and brown rice flour. Coconut flour is amazing to cook with. It's a very dense flour and adds a bit of sweetness. Quinoa flour is great in that it also adds more protein to the dish. I use brown rice flour for the same reasons I used to cook with whole wheat flour, less processing and more nutrients. I'll try this again maybe using oat flour instead of rice just to see how it goes, but overall I'm happy with the flour combination. Coconut flour is so dense that you feel full faster.

Sugar is a hard one. I have been cutting out any refined sugar from their diets (there wasn't much but still). At first most was replaced with Agave. There is some debate around this now that I don't want to get into, but I still wanted to move more towards natural sweeteners (think fruits). I stumbled onto coconut sugar and thought I was saved. And while I can find nothing bad about the sugar itself, after reading this article on it at Tropical Traditions my current bag is going to be my last. So for this recipe, I switched out the brown sugar for a mix of some of my remaining coconut sugar and a date puree. To make the date puree, I just soaked some dates in water for a while then blended it all up. I started small and will cut more of the sugar out next time. I cut back on the total sugar overall too.

Both these chefs use a variety of colored purees. You can find details on the websites or in the books. This one called for an orange puree. Normally this is a mix of carrot and sweet potato, but as it was, I had just used the last of the carrots for a soup for the boys for lunch. So ahah, use the soup instead of the carrot. The soup was carrot, cauliflower and red lentils. Adding cauliflower gave extra vitamin variety and the lentils a bit more protein.

I'm not a fan of canola oil, due in part that over 80% of the crops are GMO. For making I use either grape seed or coconut oil. This time I tried the grape seed. Next time I'll probably try the coconut. It will add a bit of natural sweetness and let me cut out more sugar.

Overall, this turned out great. They were devoured over the next couple of days with not a complaint from the kids.

One other tip I wanted to share was the use of parchment paper cups. I had been using the paper on cookie sheets and cake pans for a while. I was so happy to find the cupcake liners. Just pop them in, no greasing or flour required and your baked goods will slide out. I'm not kidding. Look at the last picture to see one of these gems baked in a conventional paper liner and one in the parchment liner. The one in the parchment liner falls out. You lose some of your muffin on the other and it's that much harder for little hands to handle. They make them in the mini and regular size.

And after all that, here is the recipe with pictures to follow it.  This is based on Sammy's Pumpkin Spice Muffins from The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour (flour, not flakes)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 large eggs
3 tbsp grapeseed oil
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 tbsp date puree (1 tsp water and 4-6 dates)
6 tbsp my orange puree (see note)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix, can be canned or fresh cooked)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Mix the first 9 ingredients together in one bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients in another bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir to combine.

Bake 18-20 minutes at 350. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean.

Makes 20 mini muffins

This is the soup that I used instead of carrot in the orange puree. Clearly I don't have a problem getting carrot or cauliflower into the boys. This is their favorite lunch food (seriously, they will eat it 7 days a week).

The finished muffins. I use a small ice cream scoop for the batter. It makes the muffins even in size and gives ones with little rise a nice rounded top.

Here you can clearly see the difference in using parchment paper liners. I didn't peel the one on the left, I just took it out of the pan and the paper fell away. The one on the right had to be peeled off and of course left some muffin sticking to it.

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What's eating you?

Or rather, what do you eat?

Based on the doctors recommendations for Nathan after his emergency room visit, he's gone dairy and gluten free. This means that the home is dairy and gluten free {gf}(although my caregiver brings her own food and there is often gluten but rarely dairy). So by default, Corwyn is also gluten and dairy free (although I don't freak out as much if we're out and he gets a hold of something). I admit that because I eat lunch at the office, I was not kept to the same restrictions.

This has opened up a whole new adventure in cooking for me. Before, their favorite go-to meals if I didn't have something ready was pb sandwiches, plain bread or mac n cheese (really healthy I know). Mac n cheese is totally out. I've tried the gf and dairy free kinds and neither will even go near them. Happily, they've stopped asking for it. Bread is a different story. I'm trying to find a good (easy) gf bread recipe but no luck so far. The local grocery and health food stores carry them, but they are almost 7 a loaf (and its a small loaf). They eat much less bread now. Luckily their breakfast stayed mostly the same, oatmeal with fruit. It changed in that I buy the slow cook gf oatmeal now instead of the inexpensive instant, but I don't mind the extra time in the morning.

I cook lots and lots and lots of soups. They like most of them, but some I end up eating all of. They also like rice with the veggie-they-currently-approve-of and chickpeas so again, they get lots of that. And sushi rolls. Every night, when I walk in the door from work, Corwyn greets me with 'buy sushi? buy sushi?'. Sushi is a Friday thing but he wants it daily. On days when I have no idea what to make for dinner or little time, I'll make an exception and get some. There is a combo at the local place with 8 rolls of yam and avocado and 8 rolls of tofu and avocado for 6.50. And happily Corwyn eats all the first and Nathan all the second. Why happily? Because the yam is breaded and Nathan can't have the breading. So it works out perfectly.

I have now discovered 'flours' that I had no idea existed. Some are obvious like oat or rice flour but then there is coconut and sorghum (what the heck is a sorghum anyway). I've borrowed some cookbooks from the library  and any I found overly useful I've since bought. I make muffins 2-3 times a week now.

I've also been 'forced' to do lots of reading on the subject and everywhere I turn I'm reading more and more about the problems associated with eating the wheat that we have around in this generation (I already know all dairy ones, but I have a cheese addiction). As of last week, I've gone gf myself. Actually for the short term, I'm going totally grain free (no rice, oats etc) just to zap my body into a healthy zone. I'm also sugar free too (including things like honey, agave etc) and hope this is a more permanent thing. In a week, the pain in my knees has decreased by about half (I'm holding out for the other half) and I have more energy and generally feel better (that I lost 6 pounds doesn't hurt either).

I'm not sure where this will go, but I am committed to doing what is necessary to keep Nathan healthier and if giving up certain foods will do that, then so be it.

Here are some pictures to prove that I'm not starving them or giving them only boring, bland food (although coming up with a gf, dairy free Easter was a challenge).