Fresh idea for winter salad: Jicama Avocado

Around this time of year I always find myself craving crisp greens and flavorful veggies - the tastes of summer that are long gone here in Vermont! I try to eat only local veggies, which means a lot of winter squash, carrots, and Jerusalem artichokes. A couple times throughout the winter, though, I treat myself to some fresher fare from balmier climes. Jicama and avocado are two Mexican delights which travel well and don't lose too much taste on their long journey. And we now have a couple of local farms which have been able to build greenhouses, which means we are getting small amounts of local spinach and arugula available every few weeks. Find out your co-op's delivery date and snatch it up while you can!

Jicama Avocado Salad with Basil Mustard Dressing
Gluten-Free and Vegan
Serves 2

• 1 large fennel bulb, slice stalks and bulbs into thin strips
• 1 small jicama, peeled, sliced into 1/3 inch pieces
• 2 cups fresh arugula
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• Juice from 1 organic lemon
• 2 Tbsp. Foods Alive Sweet Mustard organic flax oil super dressing or your favorite mustard dressing
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
• 4 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Flax Crackers, crushed
• 1/4 cup cashews, ground

Directions

1. Prepare a large ice bath.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add fennel and cook for 3 minutes. Drain fennel; immediately plunge into ice bath. Set aside for 3 minutes. Drain.
3. Transfer  fennel to a large serving bowl; pat dry. Add jicama, avocado and carrot.
4. Drizzle salad with lemon juice, lemon zest, Flax oil, basil, salt and pepper.  Gently toss to coat.
5. Transfer to serving dishes. Top with ground crushed Flax Crackers and cashews.  Serve at room temperature.
6. Enjoy.

Recipe courtesy of: Amie Valpone
www.TheHealthyApple.com

Flourless Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Flourless Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Mmm, these sound just scrumptious. I love that figs and sunflower butter are used to bind everything together.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen medium cookies

1.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread 
1/4 cup fig butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sunflower butter (or peanut butter)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg 
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups gluten-free oats
5 tbsp. unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
3/4 - 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whip together the Earth Balance, fig butter, and white and brown sugar until well-mixed.  Add the egg and mix together well.  Add in the sunflower butter or peanut butter (depending on your own taste/tolerance) and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, baking powder, and salt.  Stir them into the wet ingredients and mix well.  Add the sunflower seeds and chocolate chips and stir in to combine.

Scoop the cookies out by the teaspoonful or tablespoonful onto the cookie sheets and space 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes (JUST until they start to brown on the edges), then remove from the oven.  They probably won't look completely done - that's ok.  Let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for another 3 - 5 minutes or until you can scrape them off onto a wire rack without their falling apart.  Cool completely, then store in an airtight container until ready to serve.


Originally posted at:
http://www.thisglutenfreelife.org/2011/10/flourless-chocolate-chip-oatmeal.html

When Gluten-Free Doesn't Really Mean Free from Gluten

A cautionary reminder that despite advances, the production of gluten-free products still needs to be improved. I was glad to see that the Upper Valley's very own King Arthur Flour is listed as one of the few producers with strict quality controls in place.

Original post from In Flora's Kitchen.

*******************************

As more and more people eat gluten-free, more and more products labeled gluten-free are hitting the shelves. But what does it mean when something is labeled gluten-free?

I suppose a lot of people are misinformed and believe grains that are naturally gluten-free, say corn for example, would be gluten-free. However, how was it transported, handled, stored, milled, packaged, etc? These issues are real and all too often overlooked by companies trying to get a piece of the very lucrative gluten-free pie.

Recently I became aware of a mill (Butte Creek Mill) in my state that grinds flour, including “gluten-free” flours. However, I could not find any information on their website about how they prevented cross-contamination with their gluten-containing products. I love local, small companies, so I was eager to use their products; I emailed them via their website “contact us” form asking how they ensure the gluten-free products are gluten-free. Here is their response:

The only true gluten free items we sell in the store, are things that we have brought in from other companies (packaged items).  We only have one milling room and one packing room, so there could be a dusting of wheat on our products.  If you are celiac, we do not recommend using our products.  We do have many gluten free flours that we mill here, (rice, quinoa, corn, etc.), but once again, they could have a dusting of gluten.
Hope that helps,
Thank you.

Seriously. I was pretty annoyed with this lame response. Personally, I do not believe that companies should be able to market or label items gluten-free when they are in no way ensuring the products are in fact gluten-free. This issue is extremely important for all those with Celiac or wheat allergies and I am hoping that the FDA makes law the proposed “gluten-free” labeling rule which requires that all products labeled gluten-free have less than 20ppm. This is the standard that most countries have in effect.

The FDA is taking public comment [...] on this issue for a next several weeks and I am hoping you’ll join me and take the time to comment the importance of regulating the label “gluten-free.” For all the time, money, and effort we put into preparing safe meals for ourselves or our loved ones, I think we deserve safe products. If they are marked gluten-free, they should truly be gluten-free.

And I should mention there are companies like Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour that have precautions and testing in place to ensure the safety of consumers. These companies are going above and beyond any current regulations and I think their efforts should really be praised. Yes, their products cost a bit more than other brands on the store shelves, but when I grab one of their products I know it was batch tested and I feel they are the safest options available to me.

Re-post: Banana Rum Cupcakes

These cupcakes look so spectacularly yummy I decided to include Claire's full post from This Gluten-free Life. If you try the recipe, let me know how it turns out! I think it's going to be awhile before I can experiment with something for just B. and me, and I seem to be getting a lot of teetotalers at the farmers' markets. (Several people objected to my Mojito Agave Sweets this week b/c of the inclusion of rum. Sheesh. Get a life, folks. You're talking to someone who thinks 3 glasses of wine in a week is heavy drinking, it's not like I'm out to turn your children into gutter drunks.)

Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally

Soft. Fluffy. Spongey. Moist. Tender. Crumbly. Cake-y.  

Sadly, those usually aren't the first words that that come to mind to describe many gluten-free cakes I've tried from the store.  But that, up there?  That is a cupcake.  A real cupcake.  It is all of those words, to a tee.  And what is behind all of those happy descriptors?

A ratio.  A beautifully simple ratio.

Our host for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally this month is Kate of Gluten-free Gobsmacked.  She's inspired us all to make some delicious variations on white and yellow cake.  Check out her blog for her recipe for Basic White Birthday Cake (I could have used this a few weeks ago for my own birthday!) and for links to all of the other fantastic recipes the members of the Rally came up with (which you can also find at the end of this post).

Sometimes the ratios that Ruhlman describes need a little tweaking.  A few adjustments; a little less flour here, a little more liquid there, an extra egg here, a dash more sugar there.  But for me, his ratio for sponge cake worked perfectly.  One equal part each of flour, butter, sugar, and egg gave me a cake with an incredibly tender crumb, and a beautifully brown and spongey top.  It tasted like real cake - the kind I remember from my gluten days (you know, the kind that made me sick, but was delicious - but that's beside the point.)

Of course, I had to do SOME kind of tweaking to make it my own.  One of my absolute favorite cakes ever is my great aunt Gene's rum cake. (Whenever I see the cover of the cookbook Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters, I always think of aunt Gene and rum cakes, for some reason - I think it makes me think of other, older times and places and scraps of paper tucked between the tattered pages of cookbooks, holding the keys to unlock the secrets of the most delicious things your family has passed down.)  I wanted to make a cake I could drizzle her rum glaze over, so I used some banana in place of half the butter to balance out the rum flavor (which also had the added advantage of making it a lower-fat cake).

The result was absolutely heavenly.  These are best served warm, so either drizzle the glaze over them while they're still cooling and consume right away, or store refrigerated and then reheat them in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds before serving.  Cold, they are still pretty delicious, but they are a bit harder.  Warmed up, they practically melt in your mouth.  I was both sad and very, very glad that I had used the ratio to make only 4 cupcakes.  I shudder to think of myself in the alternate scenario, which would likely have resulted in my eating a full dozen of these.  That's another reason ratios are awesome - you can make as many - or as few - as you like.

Trust me, you will not be sorry you made these.  The commitment is minimal anyway - you can just make 4 to start and see how you like them.  It's perfect for girls living alone, or for you and just a few friends.  I'm pretty sure you'll want to get right back into your kitchen to make more, though.  It's hard to resist an old-fashioned favorite like rum cake.

Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze
Makes 4 cupcakes - can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled, or...you get the idea.

For the cupcakes:
25 grams Earth Balance Buttery Spread
25 grams very ripe banana (about 1/4 medium banana)
50 grams white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. rum extract
20 grams potato starch
15 grams tapioca starch
15 grams sorghum flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. xanthan gum (probably optional, but I didn't try the recipe without it)

For the rum glaze:
1 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
2 tsp. water
1.5 tbsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. rum extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Place 4 cupcake liners in a muffin/cupcake pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine the Earth Balance Buttery Spread and the banana.  Whisk together until smooth, then add the sugar and mix well.  Add the egg, vanilla, and rum extract and beat together.

In a separate small bowl, combine the tapioca starch, potato starch, sorghum flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour into the prepared cupcake liners and bake at 350 F for 15 - 17 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.  Mine took exactly 17 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit in the hot muffin pan for another 3 - 5 minutes (so they don't fall apart when you take them out).  Remove to a cooling rack and let cool the rest of the way, or until you can't stand it anymore and have to eat one.  When they are totally cool, poke a bunch of holes in the top with a fork and drizzle a good amount of rum glaze over the top so that it sinks into the cupcake.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve.  Microwave for a few seconds before serving.

To make rum glaze:  Combine the butter, water, sugar, and rum extract in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Continue to simmer for 1 - 3 minutes or until it just starts to get thick.  Drizzle over the cooled cupcakes immediately (or it will get too thick to drizzle). 

Cool Treats Served Up at Hartland Farmers' Market Tomorrow

The forecast for tomorrow is temps in the 90s, so good thing Barbarian Cooks is planning to bring some cool treats for you!
Dinner - Gluten-Free Tabbouleh Salad with fresh mint, baby greens, heritage variety pink rice, and quinoa
Cool Drinks - Fresh Mint Iced Tea sweetened with your choice of agave, local honey, stevia, or sugar
Dessert - Iced Mojito Chocolates (lime, fresh mint, and rum), Raw Mint Cashew Cremes, Dulce de Leche Caramel Ice Cream Topping

Plus, I'll have Gluten-Free Vegan S'Mores Cupcakes and Gluten-Free Decadent Fudge Brownies!