Adopt A Gluten-Free Blogger: Karina's Pumpkin Chai Bread with Cranberries

Seamaiden of the vegetarian gluten-free blog Book of Yum is hosting another round of Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, a blogging event in which we adopt another GF blogger and prepare one of their recipes. Last time I participated in this event, I baked gluten-free pita bread. This time it's the "Thanksgiving Edition" so we were all asked to prepare a dish from another blog that was thematically appropriate. I chose to prepare the vegan, gluten-free Pumpkin Chai Bread with Cranberries from the blog Karina's Kitchen (a/k/a The Gluten-Free Goddess). Karina has long been one of my favorite bloggers. She has supported and inspired me ever since I entered the blogging world several years back. When she got diagnosed with a huge list of food allergies in addition to celiac disease, the gluten-free blogging showed their support for her in the Cooking for Karina event I hosted. They made it clear with their numerous submissions that she is one of the best-loved residents of the gluten-free (and food allergy) blogosphere. But I have to make an embarrassing confession: Though I've used Karina's recipes often to inspire my own cooking, I don't think I've ever truly and thoroughly followed one of her recipes! Until today, that is. I chose this recipe in order to use up the cranberries left over from canning cranberry applesauce a few weeks ago and to stretch myself by actually following a recipe for a change.

I was a little worried about what the texture would be like, because the recipe is eggless and I haven't done a whole lot of vegan baking since being gluten-free. Thanks to egg replacer and xanthan gum it actually holds together pretty well. It is beautiful when it comes out of the oven - It is golden in hue and the cranberries look like gems! I enjoyed it, and look forward to toasting a slice or two for breakfast in the morning. Do I lose points if I smear a little butter on your vegan recipe, Karina? Hehe.

The down-low on how I customized the recipe: I chose to use chopped hazelnuts as a mix-in in addition to cranberries, as they were on sale at the store (I initially wanted pecans, but they were twice as expensive). That was a good choice, because the ones I sprinkled on the top of the loaf before baking became lightly toasted which brought out their flavor and crunch. I used raw agave nectar instead of sugar (per Karina's suggested measurements). I would probably use a good bit more sweetener next time. I don't have a major sweet tooth but I think a little more sweetness would round out the flavor. I'd also cut down on the liquid a little bit more than I did, to compensate for the moisture from the agave. I baked it for 60+ minutes and it was still a bit too moist inside. The flours I used were 3/4 cup of millet flour, 1/2 cup sorghum flour, and 1/4 cup tapioca flour.

This bread has a really nice texture with little bursts of tart cranberry flavor. It is lightly sweet which is great for those of us who don't have huge sweet tooths or are trying to cut back on sugar. It has a subtle chai flavor and the pumpkin is present but not overly assertive so this might be a way to get some more veggies into your kids' tummies! It's easy to make successfully using mostly whole grains, which was a plus.

If you haven't checked out Karina's Kitchen, you've been missing out. It's worth subscribing to Karina's blog for the photographs alone! Stop by and congratulate her for just publishing Aftertaste in Exile, her book of paintings, poetry and photography.

Glutenfreebay.com is on Facebook!

Did you know that you can connect with me, with this blog, and with other Gluten-Free Bay readers via the wonderful world of Facebook? So, come join in the fun!

You can declare yourself a fan of Gluten-Free Bay here which will allow you to talk with other Gluten-Free Bay readers as well as have a pretty little picture and link show up on your profile if you so choose. This is a great way to show your friends what blogs you're a fan of.

You can also join Gluten-Free Bay's blog network here. Soon people who join my blog network will be able to see my new posts right on Facebook.

I would be thrilled to connect with more of you via Facebook, so if you're on there, let me know who you are by following one of the links above.

The Quest for the Best Gluten-Free Cholent

This shabbos, I finally found one of the holy grails of kosher gluten-free cooking - A fantastic gluten-free cholent. I crafted this Ashkenazi/Sephardi fusion cholent by accident, really. Cholent is a stew that cooks slowly in a crockpot during Shabbos (the Jewish sabbath, during which observant Jews do not light or extinguish fires or electricity) without being stirred or having the heat adjusted in any way. It's the ultimate in low-maintenance cooking, since you just add a bunch of ingredients to the crockpot and let them cook overnight with no interference. People who've never tried slow cooking in a crockpot might think that all the ingredients would be mush after so much cooking - Strangely enough, vegetables tend to retain their shape and stay fairly firm during crockpot cooking. The meat, which should preferably be from a tougher cut (tough cuts do best with slow cooking in liquid), will become deliciously tender and fall apart when you stick your fork into it. Ashkenazi cholent is usually made with barley or wheat berries, neither of which people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance can eat. But you won't miss the grains with this cholent, as it's unbelievably flavorful and has a variety of textures.

The Sephardi influence on this dish is the use of spices and flavorings that you wouldn't normally find in an Ashkenazi cholent (paprika, lots of garlic, turmeric), as well as the optional addition of whole in-the-shell eggs which become hardboiled over the course of the slow-cooking process. This is a little more decadent and a little more healthy than your average cholent. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this dish has completely changed my conception of cholent. It's heavy but doesn't sit in your stomach like a rock, as some cholent does. My partner is a cholent-eating afficionado and she gave this one two thumbs up.

I sauteed the meat to brown it about 1/2 hour before candlelighting on Friday (a little before 7) and then transferred it, along with all the other ingredients, to the crockpot. My crockpot (pictured above) automatically switches to its warm setting as soon as the cooking time you set it for is done - So at about 7 in the morning on Saturday it switched over, and we ate it at 12:30 PM. It was hot, and perfectly cooked. We ate the leftovers for lunch today and my partner mentioned that this was the first time she'd had the desire to eat leftover cholent. But then again, this is no ordinary cholent!

A little disclaimer: I call for "powdered gluten-free onion soup, vegetable or chicken soup mix." Most kosher soup mixes have MSG in them. That's part of what makes them so tasty. I generally refuse to purchase or consume anything with MSG. But this is my exception. It's my little vice, I guess. If you must avoid MSG at all costs, you can use a couple of gluten-free MSG-free bouillon cubes instead. I've found a kosher, gluten-free brand called Bloch's Best that has no MSG. It's imported from Europe - I found it at Natural Spot in Teaneck. They won't be quite as flavorful as the mixes with MSG, so if you like you can use more salt and more spices and a little more white wine to make up for it.

If you don't have a slow-cooker you can still make this dish - Bring the ingredients to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then right before shabbos cover the pot very tightly and either simmer over a low flame all night, or have it cook in the oven on a low setting.

I will be happy if thise recipe helps just one other gluten-free Jew have more joyful and delicious shabbos... and even happier if some non-Jews and/or non-celiacs will discover this as a new way to prepare a filling one-pot meal.

GLUTEN-FREE CROCKPOT
CHOLENT / HAMIN

A Slow-Cooked Meat & Bean Stew for Shabbos and Every Day

[ Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free / Soy-Free ]

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb to 1 1/2 lbs cholent meat / stew beef
1 onion cut into chunks
2 cups dry cholent bean mix or any combination of pinto beans, cranberry beans, white beans and/or kidney beans
3 Tbsp powdered gluten-free onion soup, vegetable or chicken soup mix*
1 or 2 carrots cut into 1" slices
5 medium yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut in half
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in quarters
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
5-10 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly or sliced
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Optional: Generous dash of white wine
Optional: 2-4 uncooked eggs in their shells

[*I use Osem's pareve, vegetarian, kosher-for-Passover "Chicken Style Consomme Instant Soup & Seasoning Mix" which is gluten-free. I purchase it at Passover to last me year-round since the rest of the year their formula includes gluten.]

In a pan, or in the ceramic liner of your crockpot (if it's the type that can be removed from the element and used like a pot on the stove) heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat. Add onions and sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add meat and cook only until browned on the outside. Move onion and meat mixture into the crockpot (or move your ceramic liner back onto the heating element of the crockpot). Set it so that it will cook on low for 12 hours and then switch to its warm setting.

Add dry (unsoaked) beans, then potatoes. Add all of the rest of the ingredients except for the eggs, distributing ingredients as evenly as possible. Make sure the meat won't touch the lid of the crockpot. Nestle eggs carefully on top of other ingredients. Pour water into the crockpot until it covers everything. Put the lid on, making sure it fits securely so that steam doesn't escape (use a layer of tin foil underneath if necessary).

Do not stir the cholent until you are ready to eat it, at which point you can remove the eggs so that you don't crack their shells, and stir it VERY gently.

Serve in bowls, topped with the now-hardboiled eggs (if you included them). If you've warmed your favorite gluten-free bread or challah on the top of the crockpot you can use it to sop up the stew.

NOTE: This recipe is for a 6-quart crockpot. For a smaller crockpot, reduce all the quantities slightly. No exact measurements are necessary for this recipe.

Cabbage Salad with Lime and Fresh Oregano, and a side of Big News!

Our new apartment is coming together slowly but surely. Merging two people and all their respective stuff into one apartment and a shared life is quite a project. I am loving living in a spacious apartment with hardwood floors and walls painted lovely colors. I am also really digging the endless cabinet and counter space in our new kitchen (still unpainted and far from ready for a photo op!) New Jersey life is treating me pretty well, considering how ill-suited I am to suburbia.

I have a piece of news that I am sharing with some butterflies in my stomach:

I got accepted to the school I applied to, to become a Nutrition & Food Science major with a concentration in Dietetics! It's an ADA-approved program to set me on track to becoming, G-d willing, a Registered Dietitian. I am pretty darn scared but also very excited. Gonna be a full-time student for the first time in many years. It'll be an intense few years 'til I finish my degree, let me tell you. Anatomy & physiology, organic chemistry and microbiology, oh my.

It was 96 degrees today and our air conditioner is/was broken. It's been repaired but is taking a long time to get our second-floor-and-right-above-a-pizza-place apartment back to a bearable temperature. So I decided to do minimal cooking.

It's hot, my back hurts, and my partner is on the South Beach Diet. So this is tonight's menu for a laid-back shabbos (sabbath) for just the two of us:

• Ground turkey tacos on corn tortillas, with black beans, homemade salsa fresca, fresh guacamole and dairy-free/pareve sour cream (Tofutti, since there's no time to make it from scratch).
• A delicious looking Rioja wine from the fantastic kosher wine section at the ShopRite liquor store in Englewood.
• Cabbage salad made from the hugest cabbage I've ever seen.
• Sugar-free ice pops.
  

Nothing fancy. For tomorrow's lunch we'll have salad with quinoa topped with roasted beets and carrots, and some feta cheese.

Here's a recipe for the cabbage salad I made. It's a quick, light, no-cooking recipe with lots of flavor. A great crunchy topping for tacos or a side dish for any meal, especially a spicy summer meal. It's not so different from the curtido de repollo I posted as a topping for homemade pupusas, but I made some alterations that give it its own crunchy identity. Like most cabbage salads, it should get tastier by the day so I made enough that my partner will be able to take some with her to work on Monday for lunch.



The picture above is of the cabbage I used, which is the biggest cabbage I've ever seen. I picked up for $1.50 at the Englewood Farmer's Market today from a local farmer. Good grief, this thing is huge! I don't know if the picture really conveys its hugeness, but I took this pic to show how half the cabbage filled up the biggest, gigantic-est tupperware we have. It was about twice the size of my head, and will easily feed us for two weeks. To be realistic, I've called for one medium cabbage in this recipe, even though in my case it was really 1/2 a mutant cabbage.



Enjoy! Gut shabbos.

CABBAGE SALAD WITH LIME AND FRESH OREGANO

[Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free / Pareve / Vegan / Soy-Free ]

1 medium cabbage, shredded or chopped into small pieces
3-4 carrots, shredded
2-3 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 limes, juiced
2 tsp agave nectar or honey

Mix all liquid ingredients and spices (except fresh oregano) in a small container. In a large bowl, combine cabbage, carrots, and oregano. Drizzle the liquid/spice combination on top of the vegetables, mixing frequently. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours before serving cold or at room temperature.

First harvest.

My first harvest from our garden was a huge bag of baby dinosaur (lacinato) kale, which I turned into a big pan of this:



It's tofu, kale and tomatoes with parsley pesto and pine nuts. I will post the recipe at some point, but not at this moment because I'm a bit overwhelmed. I am in the middle of moving... to New Jersey. I am shacking up with my love. More on this later. I will have my own kitchen again - And some free time this summer. A good recipe for more food blogging, perhaps?

What are you cooking with harvest from your own gardens, or from farmers' market bounty?

Gluten-Free Passover Links for 2008

Dear friends, I am so very sorry that I have not had the time to do a real 2008 redux of the Great Gluten-Free Passover Roundup of 2007. Though I'm happy to say, last year's post is still every bit as relevant this year. Recipes don't age into oblivion like so many things in our world do, gratefully. Since I don't want to let the days slip into Passover without pointing new visitors in the direction of some gluten-free Pesach resources, I thought I'd quickly throw together a list of links that I hope will be helpful to new and old readers alike.

If you are not Jewish and are gluten-free... Good grief, people, what are you waiting for? Get thee to a kosher grocery store! This is the time of year to stock up on gluten-free delicacies, from blintzes (I have two packages in my freezer and can't wait to try them) to croutons to seven-layer cakes. Specifically, look for the label "non-gebrokts" to find products not made with matzo meal, and if a non-gebrokts product isn't also marked gluten-free (or even if it is) contact the company to verify gluten-free status to avoid potential cross-contamination from products made with matzo on the same line. The days after Passover are often a good time to get these items on sale, too.

I hope next year I will have more time and less stress around the holidays and be able to wow you with some new recipes, but for the time being, have a healthy and happy Passover.

Chag sameach!

GLUTEN-FREE PASSOVER LINKS

RECIPES

• Gluten-Free Passover Recipe Roundup 2007 - Recipes from all over the internet
  
• My Passover Recipes - Recipes from this blog that can are kosher for Pesach or can be made suitable for Pesach (ssome may require minor ingredient substitutions, but most don't). Includes mock matzo, non-gebrokts Passover noodle kugel, matzo balls, and more.
  
• Gluten-Free Passover Recipes from Recipezaar
  
• New GF Pesach Recipes from Ellen - Including a new matzo ball recipe that sounds great.
  
• Elana's Gluten-Free Passover Recipes - These look amazing, though many contain agave nectar which sadly isn't yet available in a kosher l'pesach version
  

INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND MORE

• Why Passover is a Gluten-Free Goldmine - A guest column by Lisa Mandl
• A Gluten-Free Paradise - Gluten-Free NYC shows photos of why Passover is, indeed, a "gluten-free goldmine"
  
• A Sample Gluten-Free Passover Menu - With recipes
• Gluten-Free Oat Matzo - Where to buy it. By now it is probably too late to order it, but you can still find it in many kosher groceries. I can tell you first-hand it was flying off the shelves at Rockland Kosher (Monsey, NY) and Glatt Express (Teaneck, NJ)!
• Food Freedom: A Celiac's Passover Story
• Quinoa: The Grain That's Not - Kashrut.com explains why many rabbis consider quinoa acceptable for Passover. Note that Kosher Overseers determined that Ancient Harvest and Trader Joes' brands are kosher l'pesach without a special Passover hechsher as long as they are in closed boxes.
  
• Passover By Design - Susie Fishbein's newest book has sold out nearly overnight at many stores and features over 130 gluten-free recipes for Passover and year-round.
  

Quick & Easy Cilantro-Lime Broccoli Slaw

Mmm... Nothing like a brightly colored, fresh, raw vegetable salad to celebrate the first daffodils popping up in the garden. I plan to make this recipe for Passover, since it's so incredibly fast to whip up large amounts of and is good with nearly every meal. It's also a welcome burst of color and flavor in a holiday that (in many houses but not mine!) tends to be dominated by dense, heavy, potato-focused Ashkenazi fare. This is a super-quick, no-cook, minimal-chopping dish that can be served as a side for Mexican or other Central American cuisines, as a topping on a green salad, or alongside fish or grilled chicken. It's perfect for warm weather, when cooking is the last thing you want to do. I think this will also be a good stand-by for shabbat.

This is hardly a coleslaw (yuck, I hate coleslaw) but it's made with what is often called "broccoli coleslaw mix". You can find it in most American supermarkets I've been in, with the bags of salad and shredded cabbage. It usually contains shredded broccoli and carrots, and sometimes cabbage as well. If you can't find the kind with cabbage in it, try shredding a little purple cabbage in yourself - It's worth it for the color alone.

I don't bother putting in the measurements for this recipe, which I am usually fairly consistent in doing, because it's really an intuitive recipe that's best done by seasoning it to suit your own tastes. Add ingredients little by little, mix well, and taste before further seasoning. Remember that overnight while it sits in the fridge, the vegetables will absorb the flavors fully. So dress it lightly, and don't overdo it on the spices or the lime juice - Subtlety works well with for this salad. It's a perfect showcase for that bottle of very high quality extra-virgin olive oil you've been saving in the back of your pantry... or is it just me who saves such things for "a special occasion" that never comes?




CILANTRO-LIME BROCCOLI SLAW

[Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free / Pareve / Vegan / Soy-Free ]

1 bag broccoli coleslaw mix
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice, fresh or bottled
A generous amount of high quality extra virgin olive oil
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Ground coriander, to taste
Cumin, to taste
A dash of agave nectar or honey

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings. Allow to sit overnight before serving, for optimal flavor. Can stay in refrigerator for several days.

Adopt-A-Blogger: Gluten-Free Pita Bread Courtesy of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried

For the Adopt-a-Gluten-Free-Blogger event, it was only natural that I'd choose to adopt Naomi Devlin of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried. Naomi is a homeopath, mom, and baker from the UK. Her approach to cooking and baking feels familiar to me, because it's similar in many ways to mine. She is one of the bloggers whose recipes resonate with me the most, in her use of whole-grain gluten-free flours and nut meals, her adventurous exploration of new flavor combinations and textures, and her preference for natural sweeteners and nutritious ingredients. I love reading the blogs of cooks who are more likely to post an innovative and healthy recipe that introduces me to new flavors and textures than a recipe that's yet another nutritionally empty gluten-free clone of the usual standard American (or Western European) fare. I rarely bake these days for a variety of reasons, but Naomi's pita recipes were too tempting to pass up.

I made Naomi's recipe for Teff Pita Breads. Though I've had gluten-free falafel, I haven't had a pita bread since stopping eating gluten. It was such a thrill to take these out of the oven and see that they had, indeed, puffed up into pocket breads! (Well, about half of them did at least). They were tasty as can be, especially straight out of the oven. Over this past week I've eaten them stuffed them with hummus, with cheddar cheese, and with peanut butter, bananas and a drizzle of local honey. They were fantastic every which way.



I can't wait to try her other pitas. Here is a list of Naomi's gluten-free pita bread recipes:

Teff Pita Breads
Dark Coconut Pita Breads
Roasted Sweet Potato Pita Breads

Thanks for sharing your terrific recipes with the gluten-free blogosphere, Naomi!