Quinoa Coconut Cookies (Top 12 Free)

I wanted to make some cookies to help me enjoy life despite being so restricted on the elimination diet I am currently on. I decided to adapt my Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to see if they would work and thankfully they did!

I made them one time without gums and they were tasty but very crumbly. Then after some research, I learned that you can use psyllium husk as a substitute for gums and this batch stuck together much better. I forgot to get true psyllium husk from the store, so I just opened my husband’s fiber capsules, which are pure psyllium powder. (Apparently, I’m a fan of use what you got on hand!)

Top 12 Free Quinoa Coconut Cookies

1/2 c. millet flour
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. light buckwheat flour
1/4 c. potato starch
1/4 c. tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. psyllium husk
1 1/2 c. quinoa flakes
1 1/2 c. coarsely shredded coconut (or mixture of medium and flakes)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. raisins
1/3 c. + 2 tbsp. canola or light olive oil
1/2 c. sunflower butter (125 g)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. hemp milk (literally just hemp hearts blended with water)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix together flours, psyllium husk, quinoa, coconut baking powder, salt and raisins.
3. Cream together oil, sunflower butter and sugars.
4. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.
5. Add wet ingredients into the dry and mix until smooth. The batter should be somewhat sticky.
6. Spoon batter onto cookie sheets or if you want to roll batter into balls, place on cookie sheet and squish into disks. Balls should be around golf ball sized.
7. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cookies are slightly browned.
8. Remove from oven and let sit on sheet for about 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.
9. Enjoy!

Makes 24 – 30 cookies depending on size and how much batter you eat. Cookies do decently in a sealed container on the counter for 2-3 days, but are best stored in the freezer.

My son helped me make and photograph these cookies and he was more than happy to enjoy the fruits of his labour!

Total Elimination Diet Food Ideas

Well, it’s been …a while. Lots has happened in the last 5 years and right now I’m on a Top 12 total elimination diet for baby G. This means no:

• Gluten
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Soy
• Oats
• Rice
• Corn
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Legumes
• Chicken
• Beef

I wanted to create a list of foods I’ve made/ found that work for this diet for future reference and maybe help other poor souls going through a similar experience. Typically I make lots and then eat leftovers for a while to minimize food prep time.

(You’ll have to pardon my phone photos of food – I haven’t brought out my camera for food photography in years 🙈)

Breakfast Ideas

• Buckwheat porridge
  • Mix in a ripe banana at the end so you don’t need to add sugar
• Allergy Awesomeness’ Pumpkin Muffins
  • Remove xanthan gum, use 2/3 amount of sugar, use whole 398mL can of pumpkin, use mixture of tapioca/ potato starch/ millet/ light buckwheat/ sorghum, no glaze
  • Doubles well
    • I made 12 muffins and poured the rest of the batter into an 8×8 baking pan for pumpkin cake. Tastes great with sunflower seed butter!

• Oh She Glows Buckwheat Banana Blueberry Pancakes
  • For Substitutions:
    • 1/2 c. Buckwheat groats is ~90-100 g, so use that much light buckwheat flour
    • Use sorghum flour instead of rice and tapioca starch instead of cornstarch
    • Use homemade hemp milk or light gum free coconut milk, adjust amount as required to reach desired consistency
    • I add 2 tbsp of olive oil if using hemp milk for heartier pancakes
  • Recipe doubles and triples well. Pancakes freeze nicely and can be reheated in your toaster.

Snack Ideas

• Crunchy Coconut Granola Clusters from the Oh She Glows App
  • Just like the ones from Costco! My husband has requested that I keep making these
  • Sub honey for the rice syrup
• Lexie’s Kitchen Nut Free Energy Bites
  • A yummy bite that doesn’t use something sweet as binding!
  • I have used hemp hearts instead of chia, didn’t toast the coconut and added water to compensate for my thick sunflower butter to activate the flax so they would actually stick together.

Dinner Ideas

• Ground Lamb and Turkey mix really well together
  • We’ve made meatballs and burgers from this:
    • Mix ~1/2c. Buckwheat flakes with water to make it thick oatmeal consistency in the bottom of a stand mixer
    • Add 1lb ground lamb, 1lb ground turkey, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1-2 tsp salt and beat together until well combined.
    • Shape as desired and bake until cooked through
• Lamb Stew and Dumplings
  • Brown ground lamb. Add cut up onion and mushrooms. Cook until browned. Add celery and carrots. Add parsley, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, little bit of turmeric and nutmeg (or use free from bouillon). Cover with water.
  • Meanwhile, mix together Biscuit dough (scroll down to the end of the post for recipe – use 1/3c. Each tapioca, potato starch, sorghum, buckwheat, 2/3c. Millet and no gum, use 1c. homemade hemp milk or light coconut milk and ~100g palm shortening. Sprinkling in some dried parsley is nice, too)
  • Scoop dumpling dough onto meat mixture. Cover and cook until dumplings are cooked through. Thicken sauce as required.

• Millet Flatbread, when cooked to crispy makes an excellent replacement for buns or toast
  • This Recipe turns out quite well using olive oil, but there are simpler recipes I haven’t tried yet
  • They are usually good with avocado
• Pork tenderloin coconut curry served over quinoa
• Turkey Spaghetti Sauce over GoGo Quinoa’s Super Grain pasta
• Leftover Kalua shredded pork shoulder mixed with sauteed onions, apples, parsnips, carrots and greens
• Stanpot – so free from smoked sausages boiled with potatoes and kale
• BBQ herbed turkey breast (salt, pepper, herbs de Provence/ poultry seasoning) with olive oil mashed potatoes
• Taco Salad (ground turkey/ pork with onions, mushrooms and peppers with homemade texmex seasoning, salad, salsa, green onions, homemade guacamole, cilantro, greens, free from pasta if desired)
• Allergy Awesomeness’ Korean Chicken Broccoli
  • Use turkey or pork instead of chicken, free from hot sauce and serve with quinoa

I hope these are helpful for some different ideas for Top 12 free food ideas! If you need more, check out Free to Feed and their cookbook!

Stay healthy and Enjoy!

SRC: Tara’s Multicultural Table’s Shopska Salata (Bulgarian Salad)

 
 
Wow! It’s hard to believe that it’s already the end of January! That means it’s Secret Recipe Club time!

For this month’s SRC, I was paired with Tara of Tara’s Multicultural Table! Tara’s blog is amazing – like it implies, there is tons of food from all over the world. After looking through her delicious Recipe Index, I realized that my exposure to cuisine worldwide has been severely limited! She has recipes from most countries around the world and everything looks scrumptious!

  
It was a hard choice, but I chose to make her “Shopska Salata” or Bulgarian Salad. It’s kind of like a Greek Salad, but better as there aren’t any olives or harsh huge chunks of onions and the roasted peppers add sweetness and additional depth of flavour. The red wine vinegar adds a fruity undertone, which really complements the salty goat feta. 

Roasting the peppers does add additional time and effort to the recipe, but it’s totally worth it.

  
Shopska Salata

2 Peppers

1 Cucumber (peel and remove seeds if desired)

3 Large Tomatoes

3 large or 6 small green onions

1/4 – 1/2 c. Fresh Parsley, stems discarded

3.5 oz. Goat feta, grated (to be traditional, use Sirene cheese)

Olive oil to taste

Red wine vinegar, to taste

Salt, to taste

Pepper,to taste (optional)

1. Heat oven to 400F. Wash peppers, remove stems and seeds and cut in half. Rub with a small amount of olive oil and place face down on a lined cookie sheet. 
2. Bake for 25 minutes, then flip over. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or until peppers are soft, browning and skin looks like it’s separating. Let cool. Once cool, remove skin and chop into bit sized pieces.
3. While peppers are cooking, dice tomatoes and place in a strainer. Sprinkle with salt and let them drain until peppers are ready, tossing occasionally to help liquid drain off. 
4. Chop up the cucumber and finely dice the green onion and parsley and place in a large bowl. Add the peppers and tomatoes. Toss to combine. 
5. Top with cheese and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Salt as desired.
6. Enjoy!

  
What’s your favourite type of salad?

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking below!

Gluten, Casein and Soy Free Christmas Cake

My mom loves Christmas cake. So after I discovered ghee, I have been making a version of my Grannie’s Christmas Cake for her the past few years. I’ve modified it to take out the parts I don’t like and to make it a bit (emphasis on the bit part) healthier than the traditional version. First, I have removed the candied citron peel as ain’t nobody got time for that (aka. it’s gross). Then, I replaced some of the usual candied fruit for unsweetened dried fruit. Third, I douse it in way more brandy than the original recipe called for as it needs to stay moist of course!

This cake is super rich – it’s great when you eat it just because, but it is amazing when you eat it while skiing or while outside in cold weather. I think it’s because the ghee and brandy to help keep you warm! 😉

Gluten, Casein and Soy Free Christmas Cake

4 oz. currants
2 oz. apple juice sweetened dried cranberries
6 oz. sultana raisins
4 oz. dried figs, diced (I cut them in half lengthwise and then slice them into three sections)
4 oz. glace cherries, cut in half
2-3 rings of dried, unsweetened pineapple cut/teared into pieces
2 oz. blanched slivered almonds
1/4 c. starch

4 oz. Ghee (it’s casein free!) (Or 6 oz. butter)
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 egg replacer (I made mine with Almond milk, but feel free to use any dairy free milk)
2 tbsp. brandy
1/2 c. each brown rice flour, sorghum flour and tapioca starch
1/4 c. millet flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Extra brandy

1. Preheat oven to 250F and place a bowl or pan full of water in the oven.
2. Take an 8″ springform pan and line with parchment paper and wax paper sticking 2″ above the edge of the pan (parchment paper on the outside – to do this, I cut out a circle of each for the bottom and then a long strip of each that is 2″ wider than the height of the pan. The length is pi*d, and for my pan, it was around 24″. You do want a bit of overlap, so if it’s too long, that’s okay!)
3. In a large bowl, combine all the dried fruits. Add the starch and toss until the fruit is covered, breaking up any clumps.
4. In a stand mixer, cream the ghee and sugar.
5. Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
6. Add the brandy and mix until combined.
7. Sift in the flours and beat until a smooth batter forms.
8. Remove from mixer and stir in the dried fruits until fruit is evenly distrubuted in the batter.
9. Scrape in lined pan and smooth out.
10. Bake for 3 hrs or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
11. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack. Don’t remove from the pan.
12. Once cool, take a toothpick or other thin pointy object (I used one of those turkey skewers) and poke holes all over the cake. Take a 2 -3 tbsp. of brandy and pour over cake. Place cake in a ziploc bag.
13. Repeat a couple times over the next few days. The cake can be stored on the counter for a few days on the counter and longer in the fridge. It freezes very well, just make sure you brandy it at least twice and wrap in two ziploc bags.
14. Enjoy the rich goodness!

Note: When you thaw it, douse it in brandy. Trust me, it’s worth it. 🙂

Are you a Christmas Cake lover or hater?

SRC: Making Miracle’s Mushroom Sausage Ragu

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Rebekah of Making Miracles. Rebekah is a surrogate mother (which is awesome!) and has two kids of her own. Unfortunately, her 17 year old son recently had a stroke and so I ask you to spare a moment to pray for his recovery! She focuses on making food that is “quick, easy and family friendly!”

Rebekah has tons of delicious recipes, many of which Mr. Bean asked me to make: BBQ Chicken Salad with Cornbread Croutons, Crockpot Shredded Beef, Party Beans, Gourmet Mushroom Risotto and Perfect Summer Sandwich.

She has a large selection of baked goods, but I was visiting Mr. Bean in Red Deer for the weekend, so I had no access to my usual baking and gluten free flour supplies. I chose her Mushroom Sausage Ragu and it did not disappoint! It was fairly simple and very delicious, making it a perfect dinner. We ended up making about double her original recipe, which made excellent left overs.

Mushroom Sausage Ragu

1 lb gluten free mild Italian sausages
2 tbsp. Olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
4 c. Chopped fresh mushrooms
2 – 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 – 798 mL can of diced tomatoes, partially drained with juice reserved
3 tsp. Italian seasonings
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
16 oz. pasta (I used gluten free penne)

1. Remove sausages from skins, break into pieces and fry up until browned in a large skillet.
2. Remove from skillet into a paper towel lined bowl. Wipe out skillet.
3. Add oil to skillet and sauté onions and mushrooms until onions are soft and mushrooms are cooked through. Add garlic and sauté for a minute.
4. Add diced tomatoes, Italian seasonings and salt and pepper. Simmer until most liquid starts thickening up. Add more liquid if desired.
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to instructions.
6. Serve Ragu over pasta and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
7. Enjoy!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking the link below!