Peanutty Peanut Cookies!

• you can survive solely on peanuts for 65 days. this is false.  
• peanuts are made out of dried bad dreams.  this is also false.
• in 1992, 400 peanuts were involved in a riot in downtown brooklyn protesting the use of the term "peanut shells" as a derogatory term.  this is very false.
• in 1974 a peanut ran for mayor of Vancouver... TRUE!

Ingredients:

  

• 1/4 tapioca starch
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup buttah
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 EGG
• 1/2 tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup xylitol or sugarshit
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Things to do:

• preheat oven 350.  (three fiddy) 
• cream butter, salt, baking soda, xylitol together. squish it.
•  blend in peanut butter
• blend in egg
• add rice flour and tapioca starch
• make BALLS.  place on cookie sheet. press with fork. 
• bake 13 mins

Bring to the club. dance dance.

these cookies are a bit chalky because of the rice flour. rice flour is not our favorite. but they are tasty enough and perhaps a different flour blend would be an improvement.

 have a taste of the batter!

sharesies with the whole family!

the best loaf! Almond Bread! loaf loaf loaf

This is a tasty bread made with almond flour (yay!) and flax (hooray!)  It makes us so happy because GOOD bread without gluten is hard to find. Almond flour has a yummy flavour and does not have the sandy texture other gluten-free flours tend to have. Who eats sand? Nobody. Sandworms do.

Ingredients:

• 2cups almond flour (buy ground or make [grind in food processor until fine {not too fine or you'll have almond butter woa!}]. making it is fun and noisy)
• 1cup chopped walnuts or pecans or BOTH
• 3 tbsp ground flax seeeed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon or more. don't be shy when it comes to cinnamon.
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter or oil (we like to use coconut oil. tasty)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk.  eat the rest of the can of milk with a spoon and a bashful expression
• 1 mashed banana. we just like to mash things.
• pinchy salt

To do:

• Make sure you yell while food-processing the almonds. This is a great time to let out some frustrations.
• Oven 375
• oil pan
• combine dry things. mix. smile at the nice pile of ingredients.
• combine wet ingredients. mix. wink.
• add wet to dry.
• pour /press batter/dough into pan 
• bake 45 mins
• cool for 20 minutes. DONT DISMISS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STEP. we broke the bread with impatience.

Yum! slice and eat sandwich-wise with things like avocado, sprouts , fancy-style mustard and fresh basil.  Bread is a little crumbly on account of the almond flour (try to get flour ground really fine if doing it yourself) so be careful and treat it well.  It will treat you well in return.

Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake!

We are huge fans of everything goat! Crumbled soft goat cheese on a tossed green salad, triple creme goat brie with a glass of bold red wine, goat yoghurt with fresh fruit and goat butter on steamed veggies. Goat dairy is much easier on our digestive systems and it tastes so darn good. So why not use goat cheese instead of traditional cream cheese for a cake?

Ingredients:

400 gm soft unripened goat cheese (expensive but we were fortunate to find it on sale this week)

1/2 cup zylitol (obviously sugar can be used)

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 lemon, zested

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 eggs, separated (We suggest using your hands to separate yolks from whites. Gently pass the yolk from hand to hand and allow the whites to drop into a bowl)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a bowl mix the goat cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract and zylitol. If we had fancy kitchen equipment we would have used an electric mixer on medium speed. If your kitchen is rustic like ours just get messy with your hands until the ingredients are sufficiently blended. Have a taste! The lemony cheese mix is delicious.

3. Mix in egg yolks two at a time.

4. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until the mixture becomes firm. You'll know they are ready when you can make peaks with the egg whites. We used a manual hand beater for this but if you have an electric mixer it will make this process much faster and easier.

5. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then fold the remaining egg whites into the batter.

6. Pour the batter into a 9" spring form cake pan. Bake for 35 minutes.

7. Garnish the cake with cooked berries and candied lemon peel.

Wondering how to make candied lemon peel? It's remarkably easy. Peel the zest of one lemon in strips. Be mindful not to include the white pith, which has a bitter taste. Boil the lemon peels in one cup of water. Repeat 3 times. Then bring to boil the lemon peel in a sugar water solution consisting of one cup water and 1 cup sugar. Reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. Drain liquid and enjoy the sweet candied lemon peels.

 We enjoyed a delicious 2006 tempranillo from Spain while baking. Such a treat!

Kitchenaide equipment might not be in our budget but a can of paint is! Check out our new green walls and crisp white cupboards! Thank you Behr Paint for creating Celery Bunch Green.

This flourless goat cheese cheesecake is light and oh so delicious! Try it for your next dinner party.

Coconut Rice Pudding. (Dairy Free)

Oh wow was this coconut rice pudding ever delicious. And as an added bonus it's quick and easy to make. Mr. Potato Head gives it two thumbs up, waaay up!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white basmati rice, rinsed
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract  
• crushed walnuts
• blueberries (fresh or frozen)   

 Method:

1. Combine rice, coconut milk, water and sugar in saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 min, stirring occasionally.
3. Take off heat, add cinnamon and vanilla.
4. Garnish with crushed walnuts & blueberries. 
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon & serve warm.

The Terrible Purple Loaf. EEEeek!

This was another attempt at gluten-free crepes using coconut flour. Since we discovered that coconut flour has a unique sticky texture and expands to extreme levels, we decided to tone it down by mixing it with amaranth flour.  Amaranth is a gluten-free grain with a big hearty earthy flavour.  Sounds great right?  You'd think so, wouldn't you?  Well stop thinking that.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup amaranth flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• pinchy pinch salt
• 1 cup water or almond milk
• we may have mashed a banana into the terrible loaf...uncertain...
• 1 egg beaten
• 2tsp honey
• 1 apple (chunked) and 1/2 cup blubes (frozen or fresh)
• 2tsp coconut oil (!)

Procedure:

• cook apples and blubes in your favourite little pot until they get jammy
• combine and sift all dry ingredients, add wet ingredients including the blube/apple jam. 
• mash together
• put in oiled loaf pan
• bake at 350 for 45 minutes
• cool for 15 minutes
• feed to the cat

The loaf has a floofy, and unpleasantly squishy texture on account of the coconut flour and jam, and a dark nasty flavour on account of the amaranth flour. It really wasn't delicious at all. However, the cat loved this loaf. He pounced on it when it was placed on the counter top. When the loaf was moved to the fridge, he jumped in every time the door was opened. What a guy!

Coconut Banana Walnut Loaf. (CBWL what what)

Dear friends,

This is where it all began. When the late night crepe urge hits, one must commence crepe making. Wanting to try the newly purchased and mysterious coconut flour, we began mixing. We followed our tried and tested buckwheat banana crepe recipe substituting the buckwheat with the coconut flour, assuming it would translate well.  Our hopes were high.

The first observation was this: coconut flour expands, and continues to grow. Naomi suggested adding more water to create that crepe texture. Colleen did so and then exclaimed "I think it's still growing". We ladled the thin gooey batter onto the fry pan. It sizzled and flaked away like chipped paint. Yum? Clearly this crepe was not a crepe at all. Being of the minds that food waste is unacceptable we reworked the recipe and made a LOAF. And honestly, it was delicious. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 egg
• 3 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• for top: crushed walnuts, banana slices, blubes (blueberries)
• unwavering determination

Method/Execution:

• combine wet ingredients
• combine dry ingredients
• combine
• add things on top, anything

Bake at 350 degrees for 2+hours.  Let cool for 25 hours.  And enjoy!  Lengthy chill gestation is necessary. Dont touch it before hand. 

Organic eggs from the Farmer's Market

 The Loaf is ready for the oven! It's 2 am.

Omi-dog is terribly concerned with the oven being on for two hours.

Intro

Late one night, Colleen and Naomi decided that pancakes were an absolute must. Being gluten-free activists, they decided to try out an experiment using the newly discovered and not yet tested coconut flour. This was the beginning of hilarious and sometimes devastating culinary endeavors. If you dare, follow their trials and triumphs in the kitchen realm. And if you're really brave, you can recreate their recipes in your very own kitchen. Enjoy (or not).