Coconut Milk Whipped Cream

My sister shared this recipe with me today. Has a wonderful coconut taste (obviously) that goes really well with fresh berries!!

2 Cans of Thai Garden Coconut Milk (full fat)

dry, granulated sweetener of your choice (to taste)

Chill the unopened cans of coconut milk for 24 hours or longer.

Puncture the bottom of the cans and drain out the separated coconut liquid. Once drained, open the can and scoop out the coconut fat into a standing mixer.

Mix on high until stiff peaks form. Add sweetener and continue beating until incorporated.

Serve immediately with your favorite gluten free dessert, berries, cocoa etc.

KEEP CHILLED AT ALL TIMES.

Baked Potato with a Fried Egg

The other morning, I was really tired and didn't really want to do anything too time consuming for breakfast. So I came up with this and it was REALLY good.

(makes one serving)

1 yellow potato
sour cream
butter
green onions or chives
one strip of crispy bacon
and 1 fried egg with runny yolk
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

Steam your potato in the same way you would if making baked potatoes. Open your potato.

Melt a small pat of butter or smart balance inside your potato. Add sour cream, crumbled bacon and your green onions/chives and a bit of salt and pepper if you want.

Put the fried egg over the top of the potato and break the yolk so it runs over the entire potato.

Add salt and pepper and sprinkle with parm cheese. YUM!

Gluten Free Polenta Breakfast Casserole

NOTE: because of the polenta on the bottom of the casserole, potatoes can be omitted in this recipe and it will still taste delicious! It's the chef's prerogative. :)

Here is a link to the original recipe:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2600

My adaptation:

Ingredients
1/2 C sweet or yellow onion, diced small
3 cloves of garlic, mincedl
salt and pepper
1 large tomatos, chopped and seeded
1 handful of spinach, washed well
1 large portobello mushroom
3/4 C fresh parsley and cilantro (or you can use fresh basil if you prefer), minced, to taste
1/2 can black beans, rinsed thoroughly and quickly patted dry
2 tubes of polenta, sliced into rounds (health food stores and Trader Joes carry these)
10 eggs
Butter or oil for sautéing
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for top)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (plus more for top)
sour cream and pico de gallo

Fry the polenta rounds in olive oil until golden brown. Fry onions, garlic herbs and mushroom in olive oil (you can do this the night before to save time).

Place 2 layers of fried polenta rounds in the bottom of the lightly greased casserole dish, so they are wedged in as well as you can, preferably with no space in between (doesn't matter if they look ugly. haha). Pour the black beans over the polenta, then the put the onion mixture on top of that.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Then mix in the tomatoes, spinach and cheese to the eggs. Pour all into the casserole dish. salt and pepper to taste. Cover with extra cheese.

Bake at 350 until eggs are done! Cut into squares (or triangles, depending on your baking dish you are using. :) ) and serve with sour cream and pico de gallo.

Kale and Potato Soup (Zuppa Tuscana copycat with out the sausage)

This soup is amazing! I can never get enough. I like mine with a bit of spice, but you can adjust the red pepper flakes according to your tastes.

1 large bushel of Kale, washed well and torn into bite sized pieces

4 C yukon gold or yellow fin potatoes, washed and diced (I leave the skin on)

1/2 C to 1 C of fresh parsley

olive oil

1 large yellow or sweet onion, diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

6 C broth or stock of your choosing (I use a product called Better than Broth)

red pepper flakes, to taste

1/2 t fennel seeds, crushed as much into a powder as you can manage

salt and pepper to taste

Cook onions and garlic in bottom of your soup pot with olive oil until done. Then, add broth and boil potatoes until tender. Add kale, parsley and spices and allow to cook for another 20 minutes.

I serve this with gluten free corn bread, which I will add the recipe for in a future post.

GF Purple (three berry) Scones

These are so good! Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea!

2 c. gluten free flour mix (see recipe on previous post)
1/3 c. sucanat or evaporated cane juice
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. cold butter or smart balance
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 c. Nancy's plain yogurt (you can use sour cream, milk, dairy sub like hemp or almond milk or kefir etc)
1/2 c. frozen berries (I used the 3 berry combo from Costco)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the largest crumbs are the size of peas.

Add egg, yogurt (or milk or sour cream etc) to the dry ingredients, and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.

Mix frozen berries vigorously until the batter turns pink/purple

With a wooden spoon, scoop into desired sized hills on a lightly greased baking sheet. You can drizzle melted butter over the top and sprinkle with Cinnamon Sugar if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 min. you start to see golden brown in places.

GF Quinoa Heaven!

If you've never eaten quinoa, it's time to jump on the bullet train! It's SO GOOD, versatile and one of the healthiest "grains" on the market. It's actually not a grain, but I won't get into that now. Here is a recipe I adapted from one I found on vegetariantimes.com. The original recipe only added wilted romaine (eeww!) and chicory in regards to veggies....it sounded like a good base recipe, so I changed it up a bit and got something delicious!! I would have to describe it kind of as a quiche but not as eggy.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the dynamic of flavor in this dish.

(ORIGINAL RECIPE: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11247?section )

My adaptation:

Quinoa Bake

1 C quinoa
2 C of broth of your choice
1 medium sweet or yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 portobello mushroom, chopped
4-6 green onions, minced
2 handfuls of spinach
1 C of kale or chard, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped, to taste
1/2 C mozzarella plus some for the top
1/2 C feta cheese
4 eggs, beaten and tempered
olive oil

Toast quinoa in sauce pan for about 3 minutes, constantly stiring.Add broth and cook until quinoa is done

Meanwhile, fry onions, garlic, mushrooms and green onions in a frying pan with olive oil. When done, add to quinoa in sauce pan and combine thoroughly over medium heat.

Toss in spinach, parsley, kale or chard and cheeses and mix until all cheese is melted and greens are well incorporated.

Remove from heat, temper eggs in a bowl (add some of the hot mixture into the bowl with the eggs and beat them, this keeps you from getting scrambled eggs in your mixture) then add the eggs to the quinoa mixture and incorporate well!

Coat a pie pan or a small, square, glass baking dish in olive oil and spoon your mixture into the dish. Salt and pepper the top of the mixture, then add the left over mozzarella cheese to the top. Bake at 325-350 until the cheese is golden brown on the top!

GF Gingerbread Cake

I am going to start out with my newest recipe! This morning I made the kids gingerbread cake and eggs for breakfast. They went crazy over it and ate the entire pie pan of cake! I have to admit, it's the best ginger bread ANYTHING I've ever had, in spite of the fact it is gluten free. This is an adaptation of a recipe I found this morning.

(ORIGINAL RECIPE FOUND HERE: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/gluten-free-gingerbread-muffins-416572)

My version:

1 1/2 C gluten free flour mixture (see previous entry for the recipe for this)
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/3 C sucanut (you can use raw honey, agave or even cut back on the sweetener a bit)
1/4 C softened butter or smart balance (NOT melted!)
1/2 C molasses
1 egg
1/4 C hot water

Combine dry ingredients in mixer. Add butter, egg, molasses and hot water over top of dry ingredients, mix on medium high until all is well incorporated. Bake in a greased pie pan for about 25 minutes at 350.