Awesome gluten free pasta

 

I just wanted to post a quick link here to this amazing red-lentil flour pasta that I found in a grocery store in Toronto this weekend. The ingredients consist of two things: water and red-lentils, yep that it JUST water and red-lentils. So they are SCD safe* and impossible to differentiate from real pasta! They are even healthier than real pasta, I am ordering a batch from amazon. They are made by ecochefs a Toronto-based company. Here is the link to their website if anyone is interested.

(*well you can't be sure that the lentils were sufficiently soaked/rinsed before being made into pasta as suggested by the strict diet guidelines but we tried them with  no ill effects and when you cook it its soaked..*)

Review of Brownie Recipe (using coconut flour)

I was really craving chocolate (again I know) so I decided to use the cacao nibs grind them up like cocoa powder and try out the chocolate brownie recipe found here on the comfy belly blog. They turned out so well that I made them yesterday and the only picture I have of them is the two that are left! They are even better after being chilled in the fridge for a day.  I also added a peanut butter icing to give them a Reese-like taste. I am sure they would work just as well using cocoa powder as is suggested in the original recipe.


So I only altered the recipe a little as follows:

Ingredients for brownie batter

• 1/2 cup plus one tsp of coconut flour
• 1/3 cup of ground up cacao nibs ( with enough water to cover and blend in blender)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/3 cup of melted butter 

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Icing

• 4 tablespoons all natural peanut butter
• 2 -3 tablespoons honey

Instructions

1. Blend nibs in blender until coarse powder add enough water to cover and continue to grind until the mixture is as fine grained as you can get it, it'll look like a brown liquid(nib juice as I dubbed it)
2. Combine nib juice with coconut flour and make coarse breadcrumb like texture
3. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, butter, and vanilla until well blended.
5. Combine the cocoa mixture and egg mixture and blend well (with a mixer if possible).
6. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or just grease it well and use a spatula to scoop the batter into the pan.
7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the brownies comes out clean.
8. While batter is baking mix peanut butter and honey and spread on top when brownies are done and cooled.

Pecan Pie!!

 I was reading one of those silly mystery novels about old ladies who cook and bake and make tea and solve crimes and there was a recipe for pecan pie at the end of it. I had never even considered the fact that I might be able to make my own pecan pie. It seems like one of those extremely complicated desserts and I was surprised at how easy it looked so of course I had to give it a try. It was not difficult at all the most difficult part was making sure not to leave the pecans toasting in the oven too long and burn them..which of course I did ... but I saved enough not burnt ones to make it anyways and it still turned out wonderfully.

 Ingredients For Pie Crust

• 1 1/4 cup almond flour
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup butter -melted
• 1 egg
• 6 TBSP apple sauce -more if still too dry
• pinch salt

 Instructions

1. PReheat oven to 350 F. Combine flours and salt first.
2.  Stir in egg and butter to get coarse mealy texture.
3. Slowly add apple sauce until you get a thickness that will be able to be pressed into a greased pie pan without falling apart. Adjust amount of apple sauce needed as necessary. * Note this crust ends up as a soft crust not a crispy one, I suspect if you used all butter instead of applesauce and cut out the egg it would be much crisper but I didn't want to use that much butter as there is also butter in the pie itself.*
4. Bake crust in oven for 20 min while you prepare the filling.

Filling Ingredients 

• 1 1/3 cups pecans
  1/2 cup melted butter
  3 lightly beaten eggs 
• 1 1/4 cups Honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Instructions

1. Place pecans on baking pan and roast in oven for ~3 minutes checking very often ( my recipe said 6-7 minutes but that turned out to be too long so best to check to see if they are slightly browned and smell nice and remove them before they become too dark).
2. Mix together butter,eggs,honey, salt and vanilla, whisk until smooth.
3. Mix pecans into filling mixture and pour into prepared pie crust. Place pie in oven turn up temperature to 400 F and bake for 10 minutes to crisp outside. Cover pie with tin foil so crust doesn't burn and then turn temperature back down to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Ratatouille

I didn't have any eggplant but I had a lot of other vegetables on hand so I decided to give ratatouille a try now that we are finally incorporating some tomato into our diet.  My fiancee like it so much -and this from a guy who always wants meat- that he said I had to post it on this blog. So I definitely think it is worth a try.

Ingredients

• 2 grated Carrots
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pinch salt
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 1/2 grated Zucchini
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 1/2  large chopped yellow or red pepper
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce (check to see only tomatoes no sugar/other illegal ingredients)

Instructions

1. Add oil to frying pan, fry onion and garlic for 1 min,  add carrots fry another ~ 5 minutes add zucchini and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes until vegetables are mostly cooked.
2. Add tomato sauce and stir through. Pour  one layer of cooked vegetables into oven safe dish spinkle cheese on top add another layer of vegetables and more cheese on top.
3. Bake in oven at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes.

Carribean-Inspired Feast: Chicken with Mango Salsa, lentils and Carrot Salad

 This meal in contrast with the last one I posted should be saved for sometime when you have a lot of energy for cooking and you don't mind spending time making a complicated dish. It is definitely worth all the work though the complex flavours mix really well and even though I don't really like mango usually,  it worked really well in the salsa with the chicken so much so that I may have to revise my opinion of mango !

Caribbean Chicken Marinade Ingredients

I adapted this from a recipe I found here  I cut down on some of the spices and removed the sugar to keep it simpler and easier on the tummy

• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup  vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ½ teaspoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash of cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp) or more to taste *depends on how spicy you can handle
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients for marinade and taste to see if you like the spice level, adjust if necessary. Pour marinade into plastic bag add chicken and shake to coat. Place bag in fridge for minimum of 2 hours  or longer, you can leave it all day.
2. Place chicken on heated grill barbeque or one of those George-forman type grills. Cook until done cut into chicken and it should no longer be pink.

 Mango Salsa

This can also be prepared ahead leaving time for the flavour to really blend. 

Ingredients

•  3/4 Cup frozen mango pieces defrosted or same amount of fresh mango chopped into small cubes
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 3TBSP fresh lemon/lime juice
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• pinch salt and pepper
• handful of chopped fresh parsley and oregano if available
• 1/2  avocado chopped

Instructions

1. Combine ingredients in bowl and let sit for at least one hour.

Carrot Salad

Ingredients

• 2 Grated or Julienned Carrots
• 3 TBSP vinegar
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• several sprigs of fresh mint and parsely chopped
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl toss and serve.

Finally prepare lentils according to package directions (usually rinse boil, drain and serve with melted butter on top) and serve all dishes together for a wonderful meal!

 

Sausage Balls on a Bun with Asparagus

I came up with this idea while trying to think of something I could make very quickly for dinner. This took only a half hour to prepare overall!

Instructions

Hot Dog Buns

First make the buns and pop them in the oven. I used the basic recipe for  SCD Muffins or Bread that I posted here earlier and I added a little bit more coconut flour so that it was firm enough to shape into four oblong "hot dog bun" shapes.  I baked these in the oven for 20 minutes.

Sausage "Meat Balls" and Asparagus

Ingredients

• Organic wheat/sugar free sausage *make sure to check labels very carefully or ask butcher it is impossible to find these in a regular grocery store
• Tomato Sauce *again check ingredients
• 1/2 tsp oregano and basil
• 1 clove garlic 
• as many asparagus as you think you will eat
• 1-2 lemon slices
• 1 tsp butter
• 1TBSP veg oil for frying

Instructions

1. Cut up sausage bits to bite sized pieces (so they cook faster) turn on stove-top under frying pan to medium heat add a little bit of oil and sausages leave to cook turning occasionally
2. In a microwave safe dish place washed trimmed asparagus and enough water to cover them. Cook on high in microwave for 12 minutes.
3. Chop up garlic add to sauce pan and fry for 1-2 min add tomato sauce and spices and heat through until bubbling, then turn off heat.
4. Remove asparagus from microwave drain squeeze lemon juice over them and spread butter to melt on top.
5. Finally remove cooked buns from oven slice in half place cooked sausage in the bun and top with tomato sauce. Serve with asparagus and enjoy!