Mac 'n' Cheese

Just look at that soft, stringy, cheesey deliciousness.

Mac and cheese is quite possibly the best comfort food in the world. It may seem daunting to create, for someone who can't eat mac and can't eat cheese. However, it really isn't difficult at all. So, bring on the cold, grey weather, and get eatin'.

Recipe:
Big handful of brown rice macaroni/penne pasta (I used this kind)*
Big handful of shredded fake cheese (I used a yellow/mozzarella combo)**
Little bit of almond milk (~1 tsp)
1-2 leaves fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to directions, with some salt in the pasta water. Drain and transfer to a new pan. Heat on medium, add cheese, milk, a fair amount of salt, and pepper if desired. Stir frequently. When the cheese is melted and gooey, and milk is incorporated into the mixture, break up the basil leaves and add them to the pot.

Eat it straight from the pan, if you dare.

That's it! Really, shouldn't be too difficult.

* Beware: some pasta (Tinkyada, for example) takes 20 minutes to cook. If you're looking for a quick meal, make sure you have a fast cooking pasta.


 ** My favorite shredded fake cheese is Veggie Shreds by Galaxy Nutritional Foods. It melts super well- although the cheese in these mac pics was something else, aaand I don't remember the brand. I actually haven't found any shredded cheezes that I don't like.

Pumpkin Scones

More in the Halloween Spirit-- this recipe was taken directly from Daring to Thrive.

These were the sconiest scones ever.

In college, my eating club Cloister Inn had the BEST chocolate chip and cinnamon-sugar scones-- and I would all-too-often binge eat three of them at a time. I had never really experienced scones before Cloister, but these were fantastic. They were still warm, crumbly on the inside, but crisp on the outside... just delicious!

These pumpkin scones could give Cloister's a run for their money. Just kidding mine would win because they're HEALTHY!

THE RECIPE: (from Daring to Thrive.)

1 cup brown rice flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup millet flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup agave nectar or honey or brown rice syrup

1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree

6 tablespoons of softened coconut oil

1/3 cup of fake milk (I used soy)

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Carob or chocolate chips, if desired

Preheat oven to 400. 

Combine 'milk' and vinegar and let sit. This = buttermilk substitute!

Combine dry ingredients.

Cut coconut oil into dry ingredients until batter consists of little pebbles of uniform size.

Combine wet ingredients.

Mix wet into dry, knead a little with your hands. Add chips if desired.

Bake on an airbake cookie sheet, or double-layered normal cookie sheets, to prevent bottoms from burning. Grease either with oil first to prevent sticking.

Shape dough in rectangles on sheet. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form two triangle-shaped scones... or shape however you want. Bake for 20 min at 400, then an additional 10 at 350.

Again, see Daring to Thrive for original instructions.

Yum!

Sesame Tofu

OMG chinese food!!!! Also, my entry for the SOS Kitchen Challenge: October! Also, first in my series of Food Around the World! (just wait, it will be great...)

Seriously, this is pretty much restaurant-worthy sesame tofu.

The Recipe:

Use extra-firm tofu: either buy a brick and drain, blot between paper towels, and chop into bite-sized cubes, or if you can find it- use the pre-cubed variety.

Lightly bread tofu cubes in potato starch (/flour of your choice). I did this by dropping tofu into a ziplock bag with a few teaspoons of flour, and tossing until breaded.

"Fry" tofu by sauteing it with sesame oil on a frying pan until lightly toasted. (Or, deep fry in sesame oil if you dare!) Also, be careful if you throw a ton of the cubelets on a small pan-- the breading will make them stick together! So keep stirring/chopping them apart.

The sauce:

1.5 tbs agave nectar
3 tbs bragg's liquid aminos
2 tps powdered ginger
~1-2 cloves garlic (I used a dash of garlic paste instead)
4 tsp red chili powder (I used a dash of red pepper hot paste)
2 tbs sesame oil
1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1.2 tsp potato starch (optional-- I tried to thicken it a bit, but it didn't do much!)

Pour sauce over tofu, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Eat, and finally satisfy that chinese food craving-- minus the sugar, MSG, and other unhealthy mystery ingredients!

Pumpkin Sandwich Cake

It's October, thus I am in Halloween mood.

Yep, that's delicious. Two-layer pumpkin cake, with sugar-glaze filling and chocolate frosting. (Tastes like real food!)

THE RECIPE:

 Cake:

3 eggs
15 drops stevia
4 tbs agave            [cream]
¾ c pumpkin            [add]
3/4 c flour: garbanzo+millet+tapioca+brown rice
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp guar gum

Bake in two 8 ½ inch round pans at 350 for ~15 mins (until toothpick comes out clean).
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool on cooling racks.

Middle filling “white” frosting: (agave-sugar glaze)

¾ c cocnut oil, softened
¾ c light agave [makes it REALLY sweet!! beware!]
5 tbs potato starch
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs coconut flour?
¼ tsp guar gum

Mix, chill.

Chocolate outside frosting:

1/3 carob powder
14.4 tbs / 3.8 tbs oil

12 drops stevia
1 tsp agave (/to taste)

(same as Vanilla Bean cake frosting recipe)

Assembly:

Spread white glaze frosting on top of bottom layer of cake.

Place next layer on top. Cover with chocolate frosting.

If you're feeling creative, use potato starch (or tapioca flour) to stencil on a spooooky message (aka: boo.) It's not too hard- I chopped out the letters from a rando scrap of paper and it worked jussst fine.

Also: MOLD WARNING! Refrigerate pronto to avoid this moist-baked-good disaster. Invisible rancidity is all too common with ACD baking, and this moist, gooey cake is a prime candidate. I foolishly let this cake sit out, and by day three I had to amputate 75% of the cake to save the outer (dryer) perimeter!


 Anyway, this cake is delicious, so bake it.




Also, it took me over 3 hours to invent the middle frosting layer. White frosting is maybe the HARDEST thing EVER to ACD make without (a) sugar, (b) dairy, (c) soymilk powder, or (d) chia seeds. Seriously. Oh, or (e) using the ol' whipped coconut milk trick. My first attempt turned into tortillas. Really. Shockingly pliable tortillas, too! So, if you ever want to make super foldable pita/tortilla items, use a tonnn of tapioca flour. Hooray for eating my mistakes!