Quinoa stuffed peppers | raw chocolate bites | Cute neighbor

At a recent family dinner, I served something I haven't made in years, and consider a little retro — stuffed peppers. Do people still make these? Maybe I'm just out of touch because I'm not that fond of peppers, and don't cook with them very often, but I have to admit, they were good.

The peppers were served at a holiday meal alongside potato kugel, cranberry-apple sauce and a large salad, and preceded by smoky cream of broccoli soup. I also made the delicious Silky Chickpea Gravy from Appetite for Reduction.

I can't give exact measurements for the quinoa filling but will tell  you  everything that was in it, and how it was made; there's lots of room for improvisation. The leftover filling, baked in a separate casserole dish alongside the peppers, was used as a side dish, and tasted great on its own, minus the pepper.

I started with 1-1/2 cups of raw quinoa which was cooked in three cups of low-sodium broth. Several chopped carrots, a few ribs of chopped celery, many sliced mushrooms, and a large chopped onion were stir-fried until nearly cooked, then pulsed in the food processor until they were finely chopped but NOT puréed. The vegetables were mixed into the quinoa along with 1/2 cup of shelled, roasted but unsalted pistachios, about 1/2 cup of chopped kalamata olives, salt and pepper. This should be enough for six large peppers.

The peppers were halved, seeded and gently steamed until they began to soften. The stuffing was pressed into the peppers, carefully filling all the cavities and mounding over the tops. The stuffed peppers were then loosely covered, and baked at 350˚F. They were garnished with a bit of ketchup because I hadn't gotten around to making the tomato sauce I'd thought about.

The quinoa tasted fabulous, and I will make it again as a side dish, or as a stuffing for collard leaves if I'm feeling more ambitious. I just don't like peppers that much.

For dessert we had fruit salad and raw chocolate morsels from a recipe in Raw for Dessert by Jennifer Cornbleet. (reviewed here) The recipe I used was for Chocolate Cupcakes, and it was wonderful. Ever since I got my candy moulds, I've been obsessed with using them and this was the perfect recipe for making small-sized treats. (The moulds are fantastic, and if you are thinking about purchasing moulds, I recommend these.) After filling the moulds, I placed them in the freezer until the "cupcakes" were firm, then popped them out and stored them in a tightly sealed container in the freezer until serving time. They don't actually freeze, and are just right for eating right from the freezer. (More about these later.)

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Cute neighbor

Here's a cute photo of our cute neighbor, Lucy, curled up on our bed. Did I say "cute" too many times? Lucy comes to visit often, and seems to think she lives here. What she doesn't know is if she lived here, she wouldn't be allowed to roam around outdoors. She's the nicest cat anyone could wish for — so loving and sweet. And very cute.

Chocolate chip scones, GF and delicious | The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread part two

After perusing all the tempting recipes in The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread, and having a tough time deciding what to make, I finally decided that since I had tried a yeasted pizza dough that served as the base for a savory taco pizza, I should also try something in the sweet treat category. The English muffins I was eying would have to wait until I made chocolate chip scones. I remembered fondly my pre-GF scones, and wondered how these would stack up.

I was pretty excited since I was still stoked by the success of my first recipe from the cookbook, but I'm still at an early stage of GF baking, and never sure how something I'm making will turn out. Will they taste like scones? Will the batter be hard to handle? Will it be gritty, sandy, gluey?

The scones exceeded my highest expectations and tasted exactly like ... scones. The crumb was delicate and, dare I say, almost flaky. They were lightly sweetened, exactly the way I like. My husband felt that something was lacking in the flavor, but I disagreed. It's possible that the little mistake I made while preparing the scones had a subtle effect on the taste, however, I think when I make them again, I'll add vanilla extract for a little added depth. We cut the scones in half because they were a little big for us, but if you want eight pieces instead of four, I suggest waiting until the scones are baked before making the extra cut. They will be a lot easier to handle.

Scones cooling on the rack.

Because there are more ingredients involved with GF baking, and because I can be a bit scatterbrained, I've devised a method to make sure I add all the ingredients to a recipe. I place every ingredient in the recipe on the counter, and as I measure and add each one to the bowl, I place it back into the baking cupboard, which happens to be right next to my work surface. Thus I was busily employed at the point where the dry and wet ingredients combine were about to combine, when my husband rushed into the kitchen all excited about something. I got distracted, and tried to answer his questions until finally, I placed my attention back on the bowls. I combined. I patted out the dough into a round shape. I admired my work. But something wasn't right, and I had an aaarrrgggh moment as I realized  the chocolate chips still sat on the counter. A couple more aarrghs while I considered what to do, then I spread the chips over the top of the dough and gently but firmly pressed them in as best I could. I tried to keep the dough from flattening more but I'm sure my scones were patted down a bit more than required. Still, they came out great. I wonder though, if my husband would have liked the flavor better if the chocolate chips had been better integrated.

(Click on the recipe to see it larger. Recipe reprinted with permission.)

Notes: 1) Instead of using a pastry cutter or knives, I pulsed the fat into the grains with my food processor. 2) To make the buttermilk called for in the recipe, place two teaspoons of cider vinegar into a measuring cup and add five tablespoons of cold nut, seed or soy milk. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Use as little as you need to create a cohesive dough. I had to use it all. 3) You may want to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the wet ingredients. 4) The scones taste best after about five minutes of cooling. They aren't as good after they sit around for a while.

Thanks to Book Publishing Company for allowing me to publish the recipe.  
Full disclosure: The cookbook was provided free to me by Book Publishing Company. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review, or any review. I received no money nor promise of monetary gain. I am not an affiliate of this company. All opinions are my own.

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Bettah buttah

The recipe I printed above calls for vegan buttery spread, and I want to alert you to Bryanna Clark Grogan's new recipe for homemade buttah. It is both palm oil-and-coconut oil-free. She provides extensive information about not only how to make the butter substitute, but why she chose the specific ingredients she used, and why palm oil is having such a negative impact on orangutans. Buttah looks like a great alternative to the popular butter substitutes currently in use.

BTW, The photo is for illustration only. It is NOT buttah. I haven't made any yet but am intrigued.

Allergy-free baking-book review part one | Spicy taco pizza (GF)

When Mary Ellen from Book Publishing Company (The Farm, in Summertown, Tenn.) offered to send me a review copy of The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread, a gluten-free baking book, she caught me at exactly the right moment. (If you're not so interested in GF baking, read on for the taco pizza, which can be made with a crust of your choice.) I've been eating gluten-free for about six months, and although I didn't find the change particularly noticeable in my general diet, baking is a whole other issue. I'd had a gross brownie failure, a successful cookie/cake experience, and a barely-OK bread-baking try. I was ready for something better.

I don't bake often, and don't eat many sweets, but six months is a long time without baking something, even for me. Because my experience with gluten-free baking is so minimal, I read Laurie Sadowski's book like a novel, from cover-to-cover. I appreciated her comparisons of the many kinds of flours, starches and other ingredients, her helpful information on how to customize recipes, her lists of substitutions, and her tips and techniques not just for baking, but for storing baked goods. Not only are her recipes gluten-free and vegan, she has accommodated just about every sort of food allergy you, or the friends and family you are baking for, might have.

One of the things I like so much about the cookbook is the recipes don't seem to be as starch-heavy as many of the ones I've seen. Nor are they as dependent on large amounts of fat and sugar for their success.

By the time I was ready to hit the kitchen, I was feeling much more confident. The recipes include everything from cupcakes, biscuits, doughnuts and scones to yeasted rolls, French bread, New York bagels, English muffins and pizza dough. (No cookies, though.) It was hard picking recipes to try, and I kept changing my mind. Finally, after seeing a post on Cadry's Kitchen about taco pizza, I knew what to do. I had to make pizza dough — the Essential Pizza Crust, to be exact.

The raw dough patted into shape.

It wasn't as hard to make a good GF pizza crust as I expected it to be; Laurie's directions were so helpful. I knew exactly what to expect from the dough at each stage. I might even go so far as to say making the crust was easy. There was one big thing I didn't do according to the directions, and maybe the crust would have been even better if I'd been able to make it exactly as described. Laurie lists a heavy-duty stand mixer as  a required piece of kitchen equipment, and I don't have one in my current kitchen, so I used my food processor instead. The other small change I made was to bake the pie for its second baking rather than use the broiler. And here's a tip from me: when patting out the dough, oil your hands and use your palms to gently pat the dough into shape. My fingers stuck to the dough regardless of the amount of oil on them, but once I developed a "palming technique," it was easy to shape the crust.

The dough after the pre-bake, just before I spread the sauce.

One pizza was enough for two eaters, and the recipe makes two.  After baking and cooling, I placed the leftover pizza on a paper towel-covered plate and covered it with foil before storing it in the fridge. The next night I added more sauce, more tomatoes and a few extra chips, and baked it on my pizza stone during the last 10 minutes or so of  our roasted vegetable bake-time, or until it was hot. The crust bottom was extra crispy and the pizza tasted great. Next time I may be brave enough to use the stone for the second baking, rather than the parchment-covered baking sheet. I was afraid the crust would stick, but I don't think that will be a problem.

The partially-baked pie before going into the oven for its second baking.

I mentioned earlier that I based my pizza on this one. Cadry was trying to replicate a beloved flavor from her pre-vegan days, but I had no such constraints. I'd never tasted a taco pizza, (and maybe I didn't even know there was such a thing!), so I was free to create my own flavors. I cooked a pot of black beans, and turned them over to my husband to make Cadry's spicy black beans while I turned my attention to the crust and the other toppings. I used Bionaturae jarred tomato paste to create a sauce like my father had taught me to do with water, granulated garlic, onion flakes, oregano and salt. To give it extra taco punch, I added chipotle chile powder and a bit of yeast flakes. It was thick, spicy and tasted great. For the chips, I used ones we already had — Food  Should Taste Good  multi-grain tortilla chips, though Cadry's choice of Picco de Gallo chips from Garden of Eatin' would be the way to go if authenticity is key. I layered  on sauce, beans, chips, olives, tomatoes and onions. (Cilantro, if I'd had some, would also have been included.) My husband and I loved our first taco pizza!

(Click on the recipe to see it larger. Recipe reprinted with permission.)

Allergy-free baking-book review part 2 will be about delicious chocolate chip scones.

Thanks to Book Publishing Company for allowing me to publish the recipe. Full disclosure: The cookbook was provided free to me by Book Publishing Company. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review, or any review. I received no money nor promise of monetary gain. I am not an affiliate of this company. All opinions are my own.