Gluten Free Pasta Verde, Homemade

Red & Green - this was my Christmas dinner.

 This is an adaption of the previous recipe that I posted on homemade GF pasta. It basically subs pureed spinach for some of the egg, and ends up being bright green! The taste doesn't change very much, so it's still good with a variety of sauces. I've preferred to keep it simple, and top it with a few grape tomatoes sauteed in olive oil, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.

While we're on the subject of olive oil, I highly recommend Trader Joe's Spanish Olive Oil. It is fragrant and rich, not at all bitter, and everything that an EVOO should be! Get it.

I used my Cuisinart pasta maker for this again. I've tried it with the fettuccine dye, as well as the angel hair one. Worked great with both!

When I've made this, I've done a double recipe, and bagged the leftovers to feed myself for the next 10 dinners or so.  Below is the doubled version, because it's easiest to sub the spinach for one whole egg. To make less, I would sub the weight of one egg yolk for equal weight of spinach puree.

Angel hair extruding.

THE RECIPE: (feeds ~8) - (or more, if you're me)

6 oz garbanzo bean flour
6 oz millet flour
6 oz potato starch OR tapioca starch/flour
2 tsp psyllium powder
2 pinch nutmeg
2 tsp salt                           -----> combine dry ingredients (mix them in bowl of pasta maker)

1 L egg
8 L egg yolks*
5 oz fresh spinach leaves    -----> blend eggs and spinach until spinach is pureed. Slowly add to dry mixture and blend.

1 tbs oil (maybe)
1 tbs water (maybe)          -----> after your egg/spinach mixture is fully incorporated into the dry ingredients, evaluate the consistency of your dough.  It should be naturally clumping into walnut-sized chunks. (Although the moisture of the spinach may make it ball a bit more than usual- that is okay.)  If the dough resembles cornmeal, it is too dry.  If this is the case, add up to 1 tbs oil, and re-evaluate. This should be all you need- however, if you find it is still too dry, add up to 1 tbs water.  Get those walnut-ish chunks, one way or another.

Then, follow the instructions on your pasta maker to extrude the noodles. You should also be able to do this by hand-- google elsewhere for detailed instructions on how to do that.

Cook in a very large pot of boiling water for just a few minutes.  Fresh pasta cooks VERY quickly-- and overcooking it will make the noodle structure and shape fall apart. (aka, still tastes good, but looks crummy.)  It always finishes more quickly than I expect!

Top with some olive oil, salt/pepper, or your favorite sauce. Enjoy!

Fettucine in the stew pot!

Fettuccine, just about to be cooked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* STAY TUNED for the dessert that is the PERFECT PAIR to make with or soon after this pasta...... because it uses 8 egg whites! So, it's pretty much a requirement that you make them one after another.  Just don't explode from deliciousness overdoes when you do.

Tapas Espanolas

Mmm Tapas! What are tapas, you may ask? Well. Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, I spent a summer abroad in Granada, Spain. I stayed with a Senora who made the most delicious crepes; walked two miles a day in dizzying heat, skinnydipped in Nerja, hiked los Cachorros, tasted chocolate croissants from every pasteleria in town, watched the sun rise over the Alhambra from club Camborio, tried late-nite shawarma post-Chupiteria 69, learned the difference between "de puta madre" and "puta madre," and of course, went for tapas (or, "tapateando").

Tapas are snacks sold at bars in Spain, and usually of the deliciously greasy bar food variety. One of the highlights of Granada was that at most bars, with your first drink you got a free tapa. To go "tapateando" takes advantage of this-- we'd go out for tapas instead of dinner, bar-hopping from place to place, ordering a drink at each one and getting the free tapa that comes with it. The fun part, of course, is that one generally ends up getting drunk before getting full in the process.  (Did I mention I first got really sick after returning from Spain that summer? Wonder why.)

Some notable tapas that I encountered in my journeys:

Tortilla - the Spanish tortilla is a thick, dense omelet with potatoes and onions mixed in
Croquetes - Fried blobs filled with mystery ingredients! (cheese? meat? who knows!)
Berenjena Frita con Miel de Cana - fried eggplant with sugarcane molasses

Espinacas con Garbanzos - sauteed spinach with garbanzo beans; I think I first encountered this in Sevilla last year, and it was a nice "healthier" alternative at the time.

and, on the other hand, I once received little bread slices topped with an inch of may, sprinkled with bacon bits. TAPA FRACASO! (= tapa fail!)

 And, what to drink with said tapas? My personal favorite was the Shandy- beer mixed with lemon soda. If the place didn't have Shandys, then tinto de verano (red wine mixed with lemon soda) was the way to go-- or, a good old sangria. (Or there was that one bar that had their specialty "orgasmo" mystery drink...)

But alas, the days of Shandys and shawarma and guitar-clapping, sangria-sharing are over.
But that doesn't mean I can't make my own healthy tapas!

Here are the (only slightly gringo-ified) diet-acceptable versions of three of my favorite tapas:
(and sorry for inexact (/nonexistant) measurements 0:)

Espinacas sin Garbanzos  (make it "con" garbanzos by throwing some in- I was lazy!)

Spinach!
Paprika!
Salt, white pepper!


Tortilla Espanola -- here, the idea is that you want enough egg to nearly fill whatever pan you're using. This time I made a tortilla-for-one and used a little baby 6-inch(?) "one-egg" pan:

2 eggs
1/4 - 1/2 boiled potato, thinly sliced -- officially these slices would be fried first with some chopped white onions -- or use leftover french fries. (I used leftover baked home-fries)
dash of onion powder (or chopped, sauteed white onion)
salt
white pepper
little dump of Spanish olive oil (/EVOO)

Mix all ingredients in a measuring cup. Heat pan with a dash of olive oil. Pour in mixture and cook until set. (To be honest, I haven't mastered the art of cooking a perfect tortilla... mine has ended up a bit mishapen!) Cook until set and slice into wedges.

Berenjena Frita con Miel de Agave
eggplant, sliced into ~1cm rounds
almond meal / flaxseed meal
salt, pepper, coconut sugar
agave


Slice eggplant; coat each slice in almond meal (or just sprinkle it on top). Arrange slices on a cookie sheet. Spray with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle on salt and pepper to season, and optional coconut sugar, if desired. To serve, drizzle agave nectar on top.

Easter Treats, Part I: Bunny Cake and Bebe Eggs

Bunny Cake!

Starry approves.

Easter Special- for the Spunky Coconut Easter round-up. Stay tuned for more as Easter draws nearer!

The traditional bunny cake made gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free. To make it look a little more authentic (aka furry), press shredded (unsweetened) coconut onto the frosted bunny.

I made this from a modified vanilla-bean cake- and marbled together the traditional yellow batter with a lavender batter dyed from pureed blackberries.

THE RECIPE:

2 cups cooked and drained white beans  ---> puree in high power blender (Vitamix)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla
~2 tiny-stevia-spoon-scoops powdered stevia
1 tbs agave
5 egg yolks -----> add, puree well

1/4 c flour blend: (millet + garbanzo + tapioca + oat) OR coconut flour (I ran out!!)
2 tsp baking powder----> mix all dry ingredients well, then add to wet and puree again


**pour half of batter into a separate bowl. Then, add ~1/4 c blackberries to dye remainder lavender/purple.


Beat the remaining 5 egg whites until still peaks form (add cream of tartar to help maintain them). Divide egg foam into two bowls; fold one batter color into each of them.


Grease one 8-inch circular cake pan, then like bottom with waxed paper, and grease it.

Start with the color of batter that you have more of: pour a thin layer into the bottom of the pan. Then dollop large blobs of the minority color on top. Use a butter knife to swirl the colors together. Repeat layering, dolloping, and swirling until all batter is used up. Be careful not to overfill pan (leave some room for rising)- if you have extra, make a few cupcakes.


Bake for ~30 minutes at 350 C.



Preparing Bunny shape:


1. Remove cake from pan (pull of wax paper from bottom) and cut in half. Frost flat, under-side of both halves.

2. Stand up two half-circles next to each other, letting the two frosting sides stick together.

3. Cut a wedge out of the top-front to separate bunny's face and body.

4. Frost!



FROSTING:

1/2 c powdered erythritol*
2 tbs ghee, sort
2 tbs coconut oil, soft
1 tbs arrowroot powder (to add volume and cut sweetness- add more/leave out as desired)
2 strawberries, pureed almond milk (add slowly to make it the right consistency)
2 tbs powdered coconut (or flaked, or coconut flour if desired)

* Make your own powdered erythritol! Put ~1/2 c granular erythritol into the Magic Bullet small cup, and pulse for about 20 seconds with the crossblade. BAM-- powder!

To make frosting, blend all ingredients in the magic bullet.

Enjoy your bunny! Give it a face with grain-sweetened chocolate chip eyes, and a strawberry-tip nose. Whiskers can be toothpicks (if you're lazy like me), or carrot/zucchini spliters to be a bit more creative. My ears were pink index cards cut-to-shape... maybe you can come up with something better (edible) for those too!






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






Feature #2: BEBE EGGS



Easter is great. Dying easter eggs is also great. Unfortunately, having 1000000 leftover hard-boiled eggs is not great. Here, I present my family's traditional solution to this epic dilemma.

(Bebe eggs? (almost "Baby" eggs). Why are they called that? I have no idea. They just are!)

Mmm, bebe eggs hot in the pan!

 Basically, Bebe eggs are mashed up, sauteed/re-fried hard boiled eggs. Also makes great fun to make these easter morning! On my childhood easter mornings, we made a tradition of playing catch with each egg- waiting until we dropped it to break it and add it to the pot (and eventually just more-or-less pegging them at each other...).

THE RECIPE:

Lots of hard-boiled eggs! ---> mash with a potato-masher (or a fork- but it will take you way longer)
Ghee
Salt
Pepper
*optional: for more savory eggs, add a bit of onion powder/garlic powder

Melt some ghee on a skillet over medium heat-- add eggs and seasonings. Cook until just-browned, stirring frequently.

Eat em all up for Easter breakfast!

~~

Stay tuned for more easter treats to come: OUTSIDE COOKIES, RAINBOW TRUFFLES, and ORANGE BREAKFAST ROLLS (Pillsbury style!).

Egg and Cheese Crepes

Over spring break I was in Paris for a few days. My overall experience there may have been slightly sub-par, due to a vomiting/grumpy boyfriend, mediocre weather, and sugar-induced fatigue from a downward spiral into Hagen Daas waffle-eating. However, my crepe (and gaufre, and baguette, and Eiffel Tower!) experiences were superb. I never knew that crepes could be a fast-food, sold on street corners in the Latin Quarter.

So, the one and only Parisian crepe that I consumed was this junk-food-esque crepe, filled with egg, cheese, and chicken. It was SO, DARN, GOOD.

And the coolest part? The crepe chef poured out the crepe batter onto the griddle. (and smoothed it around with the crepe spreader dealy.) And then, he broke the egg RIGHT ONTO THE COOKING CREPE. And it cooked itself straight up through the crepe-- awesome. Then sprinkle on cheese, chicken, and fold into a quarter-wedge... hold like and sandwich and bite in.

So anyway, I can now replicate the yumminess pretty well:

RECIPE:


egg
cheese

Batter:
2 eggs (if you don't care about it folding well, just one egg is fine)
1 tbs extra light olive oil

1/2 cup fake milk
1/2 cup (millet + garbanzo + all purpose baking) flour
dash of salt

--> basically, you want the consistency of this to be thinner than pancake batter, but still "batter-y"; aka, thicker than milk or water or any other liquid alone.

Directions:

Heat a nonstick large skillet. To really make sure crepe won't stick, you can spray with a non-stick cooking spray first, but this shouldn't really be necessary.

Hold handle of skillet in one hand (non-dominant). Hold cup of batter in the other hand (dominant). Pour a small pancake-sized amount of batter into skillet, then quickly swirl the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter out, letting it run to the edges of the skillet, while maintaining a circular shape. This skill may take a couple of tries. The smaller the crepe, the easier it is to cook and flip it, but the less satisfying the result. Ideally, you will succeed in making a super-thin, skillet-sized (9 inch? 8 inch? How big is a big skillet??) crepe.

Let the first side of the crepe cook. If you were a genuine crepe chef, you would have a super-hot griddle which would cook your super-thin crepe so fast it would cook both sides at the sampe time. If, like me, however, you are an amateur using a teflon pan that can't be heated above "medium", you will need to flip your crepe.

To do so, loosen around the perimeter of the crepe, then slide the turner under and go for it. After the flippage, crack an egg on top of the cooked side. Use the turner to gently scramble it, trying not to puncture the crepe or make the egg spill too much over its edges. Then cover the skillet with a lid to trap the heat so that the egg will successfully cook.

When egg is cooked, sprinkle some fake cheese on top of it. Slide crepe onto a plate. Fold it in half twice to get the easy-to-handle quarter shape.

OMG cheese. And yes, shoutout to Almond Breeze in the background.

Basil Cheesey Eggs

This one isn't too hard a concept. Great for a quick lunch.

THE RECIPE:
1 egg
1-2 Basil leaves
Some soy cheese
Little bit of almond milk.(~1 tsp)

Crack egg on frying pan. Dump in ~1 tsp almond milk (adds fluffiness). Sprinkle in a small handful soy cheese (I used a "mozzarella" variety), or as much as you want. Break up fresh basil, and add that. Scramble it all together. When egg is just-cooked (no clear parts left), remove from pan and consume.