Roasted Garlic

A few years back, when I was still eating crusty gluten-filled french baguettes, I came upon a how-to for roasted garlic bulbs. I distinctly remember the night when I had my first taste of roasted garlic. It was magical. I had my crusty baguette all ready to go. i seriously just stood at the counter spreading the creamy garlic cloves like butter on my baguette. No time for sitting, this was a life-changing experience, people. Of course when consuming large amounts of garlic, it is totally crucial to have anyone else you may be living with to indulge in the garlic-y goodness as well. This is so you both become immune to garlic-y... umm... body aromas ; ) Enjoy.

Cut the top parts of garlic bulb off, (the pointed end)
exposing the inner cloves.

Side view.

Rub olive oil over top of bulb.

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Peel away the outer layers of bulb - the husk-like papery stuff. Cut the top pointy end part of bulb off, about 1/4 inch. 
3. Place each garlic bulb in a piece of aluminum foil. Rub some olive oil onto the top part of each bulb. I don't measure, but maybe 1 Tbsp?
4. Wrap the bulb up in foil.
5. Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes, until the cloves are soft.

Served with some roasted delicata squash rings!

Easy Kale Chips

Salty. Crunchy. Extremely versatile and oh so easy to tailor to your specific seasoning needs. Kale is seriously one of the healthiest foods. Ever. In the world. 
It is full of vitamin K - which is important for proper blood clotting and healthy blood vessels, and vitamins A and C. 

• 1 bunch of organic kale (I used Lacinato/dinosaur kale)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt, or to taste

After washing the kale, remove the large stem in the middle of each leaf as well as the vein-like tiny "stems" that run throughout the leaf. If you don't remove them they get ridiculously hard after cooking and will taste (and feel) like sticks, thus ruining the otherwise awesome and otherworldly experience that is kale chips ; )

Dry the kale very well. I ran mine through a salad spinner. Or blot super well with paper towel. Put kale into large bowl. Add olive oil and salt. Mix well. 

Other seasoning ideas:

- vinegar and sea salt (add 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar)

- chili powder and cumin

- garlic powder

Arrange kale on baking sheets, I had to use 3 total, lined with parchment paper. Bake at 300F for 20 minutes.

Chewy Nutty Almond cookies

In a previous post I mentioned that I had tried a cookie recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess. These cookies ended up tasting just like caramel! I had to freeze half the batch just to ensure that I wouldn't end up eating them all at once! This tactic didn't really work out because I ended up thawing out the cookies shortly after freezing them... at least I made a legitimate effort, right?
I made some modifications to the GFG recipe - using Honeyville's blanched almond flour instead of Bob's Red Mill. Sometimes I find the taste of sorghum flour a bit too strong so I used a mixture of sorghum flour AND brown rice flour, subbed canola oil for the olive oil, and used a flax "egg".

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl:

• 1 cup Honeyville blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch
• 1.5 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt (NOT kosher salt)
• 1.5 tsp. xanthan gum

Mix/"cream" these together in another bowl:

• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1/2 cup sucanat
• 1/3 cup canola oil (or light olive oil)
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. agave nectar (or honey, maple syrup, etc.)
• 2 Tbsp. flax meal mixed with 6 Tbsp. water

1. Make flax "egg" and allow to sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to get gel-like. Then mix with other liquid ingredients. 
2. Add the dry ingredients mixture to the creamed sugar mix.
3. If too dry, add 1-2 Tbsp. almond milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Stir until mix has a dough-like consistency.
5. Stir in, by hand, 1/2 cup chopped almonds (or pecans, hazelnuts, other favorite nut)
6. Cover bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes in fridge.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 Celsius) and prepare baking sheet. Line sheet with parchment paper.
8. Scoop little balls of dough onto lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart, and press dough balls down just a bit to flatten.
9. Bake in preheated oven for about 18-19 minutes, until cookies are golden. I ended up slightly burning my first batch, and ended up being WAY TOO hard to eat after they cooled. Learn from my mistake ; )
10. Remove cookies with spatula, place on cooling rack. 

Quinoa Bean Tostadas

These tostadas were inspired by the Chicago Diner's avocado quinoa tostadas. I quickly became addicted to these after moving to Chicago. For my version I just used store-bought corn tostadas and topped with a parsley-based Chimichurri sauce. You can purchase chimichurri in the store or attempt your own homeade.

I'm a fan of Frontera's Tomatillo salsa!

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups water or broth
• 1 can refried black beans
• toastadas
• chimichurri sauce or tomatillo salsa
• Roma tomatoes, diced

1. Rinse quinoa until water runs clear. Drain in fine mesh sieve. 
2. Bring 2 cups water or broth to a boil with quinoa in medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes until all water is absorbed. Set aside.
3. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Assemble your tostadas by placing a layer of refried beans on top of the tostadas, followed by the quinoa. Place on cooking tray and placed in oven for 10-15 minutes, or until beans are heated through. 
5. Top with chimichurri, avocado and diced tomatoes. 

English Muffins - GF and Yeast-Free!

I've constantly been on the lookout for breakfast-type bread recipes that are gluten-free AND yeast-free. I recently came across this english muffin recipe from The Daily Dietribe. I just bought a bag of blanched almond flour from Honeyville and have been waiting for the right recipe to come along to try it out! The downside of almond flour is that it is very expensive. However, I don't really bake all that often (aside from VeganMoFo, that is) so when I actually do bake I don't mind using a more expensive flour if it means that I will get reliable and fantastic results!

And so far... everything that I have created in the kitchen with almond flour has turned out great! In addition to these english muffins, I've made some almond cookies from Gluten Free Goddess that tasted just like caramel! I will be posting about those in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Now, a word about these muffins. I realize that they don't really look like english muffins at all. I don't have any photos of the muffins that I've cut in half and toasted, but they work just like an english muffin with all the nooks and crannies! I swear!

GF English Muffins 
    check out the recipe from The Daily Dietribe

Bob's Red Mill - Mighty Tasty
Hot Cereal. An ingredient for this recipe!

Snack - English Muffin with PB, hemp seeds

I recently bought a bag of Nutiva's hemp seeds. I've used hemp protein powder before in my smoothies and I've found that I'm not a big fan of it. But... the seeds themselves are pretty darn tasty and hemp seeds actually contain all essential amino acids, making it a complete plant protein! In case you were unaware, essential amino acids are those which the body cannot make and therefore must obtain from food sources (like hemp seeds, and flax, too!). If you'd like to know more about hemp seeds, check out the Body Ecology website.

Lately I've been getting bored with my usual granola breakfast, so I've been switching it up with some delicious gluten-free english muffins (made with almond meal, and are yeast-free) topped with either peanut or almond butter and a sprinklin' of hemp seeds. Great stuff! 

Flying Apron's Ginger Wheel cookies - VeganMoFo #11

Another awesome gluten-free recipe from the Flying Apron baking book. The recipes in the book make such large quantities, so I cut this recipe in half. Still made a ton of cookies!