Celebration Cake

Guru Purnima (which was July 25, I'm posting late!) falls on the day of the first full moon of summer, and is traditionally a day to give thanks to one's spiritual leader. It is a day full of cosmic energy, and of course, awesomeness.

Also it warranted the making of a full-fledged CAKE.
Thanks to The Spunky Coconut for the basic recipe & inspiration!

O. M. G.      ...........that's right, drool away.

THE RECIPE:

Add to your handy-dandy food processor*:
2 cups cooked white beans**, room temperature
6 eggs
17 drops liquid stevia***
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup agave

Puree!

* I use my friend VITACOST THE VITAMIX... aka my mom's retro vitamix that I tend to get confused and call vitacost.
** I cooked my own, but you could also use unsalted canned beans, rinsed and drained. To boil your own, either soak overnight first, or boil for 10 mins, then turn down and simmer.
*** I use Wisdom Natural Sweetleaf. I am absurdly picky and sensitive to stevia bitterness, and I approve of this brand, when used with care.

1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified
1/3 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/2 tsp sea salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder

Puree!




Heat oven to 325. Pour batter into a small cake pan, lined with parchment/waxed paper on the bottom, and greased all around. Bake at 325 degrees for ~30 minutes- when done, top should be golden, slightly risen, and a toothpick poked into the center should come out clean.

FROSTING:

Combine in a small pan over low heat:
14.4 tbs**** cocoa powder / carob powder (I used ~1/3 carob)
4.8 tbs extra light olive oil (coconut oil would work too)
3/4 cup coconut milk
12 drops stevia
1 tsp agave / to taste

**** 16 tbs = 1 cup, so 14.4 = somewhere around a very scant cup
Mix well, and add:

2 tbsp coconut flour, sifted.


Let frosting cool. If necessary to achieve frosting-consistency, refrigerate before using.

After the cake comes out of the oven, let sit for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on cooling rack before frosting.


Then enjoy! I couldn't believe how amazing this turned out.
I'm never much of a cake person to begin with, but this really is perfect. My whole family approved as well!
 

HUUGE success.

Soba Time

Two creations I made with 100% buckwheat soba noodles:

1. Cucumber Thai Soba Noodles

I created this thai "peanut" sauce as an inexact science, adding to taste. But, here are some general guidelines to recreate:

THE RECIPE 

Trader Joe’s Almond Butter with Flax Seeds
Coconut Milk
2 tsp? Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 tsp lime juice
Ginger
Dash of salt
Thai seasoning
Stevia?
Tofu
Cucumber
Stevia* (3 drops?)

Heat almond butter over low heat to melt. Add coconut milk to thin, and all other ingredients. Stir.
* I didn't use any sweetener, but probably should have.

Cook noodles, set aside.
Stir-fry tofu.
Use a mandolin to shred cucumber into thin pasta-strips.

Combine noodles, cucumber, tofu, and douse in sauce. YUM!
Sprinkle with shredded almonds and coconut, if desired!

Results? Not exactly a pad-thai, but still quite tasty. The cucumber cuts the amount of pasta, and thus carbs, in addition to freshening up the dish and adding some green.



2. Soba Spaghetti with Marinara

This was an easy one! I just used the leftover soba from the thai creation, and didn't even bother to reheat them. Even better, I had some leftover pizza sauce to use!

THE RECIPE:

sugar-free, ACD friendly Tomato Sauce, if you're lucky enough to have it

OR

chopped and boiled tomatoes, with baking soda to counteract the acidity

OR (my lazy woman's route)

tomato-only tomato paste!
salt
Italian seasoning
fresh basil

Combine seasonings and tomato paste to taste. Mix it into noodles, sprinkle basil on top, and consume.
I was very pleasantly surprised that the marinara flavor nearly 100% covered the buckwheat-ness of the soba!* Or, more accurately, they naturally complemented each other to make a great combination, which tasted like an "ordinary" pasta dish.

(* A year ago I had a very unpleasant experience with a "buckwheat cabbage bread." Since then, strong buckwheat flavor still leaves me a little traumatized...)

Fun with Popovers, Part 2

I tried again.
Twofold.
 
First, I used the same flour combination of millet + garbanzo, but added baking soda.
Second, I tried my teff-cinnamon 'waffle flour' blend.

My current hypothesis is that it is impossible to create a true, exploding-out-of-the-pan popover with GF flours. ...I hope to prove myself wrong. However, I did succeed in creating something highly delicious with my present results.


1. Garbanzo-Millet Popover , version 2.0

THE RECIPE:

1 egg
3/4 c almond milk
1/4 c garbanzo bean flour
1/4 c millet flour
1/4 tsp salt ... plus a little more to taste*
1 tsp baking powder.
(extra light olive oil, for pan)

Mix milk + egg. Mix dry ingredients. Mix together wet and dry ingredients. Let sit for 30 min to let flour aerate.

Place muffin tins on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (to catch oil spills) in the oven. Heat oven to 450F. When hot, take out pan setup, and drop enough oil into the each well to cover bottom (0.5 cm deep-ish). Fill each well with batter, and place pan back into oven.

Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes. Lower heat to 350, and bake for another ~30 minutes, until done (test with a toothpick).

Remove and enjoy! I sprinkled veggie cheese and rosemary ontop.

THE RESULTS:

The texture of these was HEAVENLY! Light, fluffy, spongey-- it could pass for a legitimate spongecake.

The taste resembled a gentle cornbread-- slightly sweet, slightly salty, and extremely yummy!

* I only used 1/4 tsp salt, and they probably could have used a full 1/2 tsp. Next time!





2. Cinni-Teff Surprise Popover, version 1.0

So, the teff popover turned out a little less-than satisfactory.

The problem is almost definitely that I did not add salt. Had I added salt, I believe these would have been perfectly delicious, as their two biggest, and really two only problems, were (1) flat taste, and (2) heavy consistency.

However! They have a saving grace surprise! ...a nice glob of almond butter hidden in the center. This saves the day by adding saltiness and texture.

So, at any rate, here is...

THE RECIPE

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c almond milk

1.5 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

enough teff flour to make dry ingredients equal 1 scant cup

... and 1/2 tsp SALT! (which I did not add)

(+ some almond butter)

(+ coconut oil for pan)

Follow same instructions as for millet-garbanzo version, only using coconut oil instead of olive. When pouring batter into pan, half-fill, then add a dollop of almond butter, and then continue filling with batter to the top. Yum.

The 'popover' shown here is surprise-less, aka almond-butter free. The texture here does appear cake-like, but in the mouth... it tastes bloated. It just needs salt to lighten it up!  

SO. It's not over yet, POPOVERS!!!! (score: Popovers- 2. Mac- 1.)

Cookie Baskets

All the cool kids are getting them.

I don't think there's a single ingredient in the recipes for these that is ACD friendly, so I'm not going to post them. But how can you not love a cookie on a stick?!