Molasses Cake from Kathleen Grissom's The Kitchen House (Gluten Free & Vegan)

Recently over dinner, one of my best friends said she has a proposition for me. Immediately, I thought she was going to come up with a brilliant idea for a money making start-up. I began imagining myself as a COO of a hip, up-and-coming, company filled with smart and innovative talent. She interrupted my revelry with an announcement about putting together a book club. I smiled, while my get rich quick hopes were dashed and we discussed the details. In all seriousness, the book club was a great idea! Five us meet monthly to discuss books, motherhood, life, and a variety of other female-centric topics.

Grain Free & Gluten Free Vegan Zucchini Bread

One of the biggest battles I've been fighting this pregnancy is some killer sugar and chocolate cravings. I'm pretty sure that its most likely related to mineral deficiencies. I've been doing more research on the topic and found this fascinating article linking sugar and chocolate cravings, specifically to a magnesium deficiency. After taking magnesium transdermally only once (via magnesium oil spray), I didn't have any cravings all day and couldn't even look at chocolate for the first time in months.

Since I was feeling so great, I decided to do some baking, but since I've been eating so much sugar and chocolate, I decided to bake something that's low in sugar and healthy. So I've come up with a grain-free, gluten free & vegan zucchini bread, made with olive oil and chestnut and hazelnut flours. Chestnuts are high in Vitamin C and Vitamin B6 and also contain other minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Hazelnuts are very high in magnesium, iron and manganese.

I also added unsweetened chocolate bits to the recipe just because it sounded good. The bread turned out to be deliciously nutty and naturally sweet from the nut flours. Additionally, the psyllium husks and chia seeds make for a very moist cake. Finally, the olive oil adds a nice savory flavor. The best part: my daughter's been gobbling it up!

One Last Halloween Recipe: Ghoulish Green Sunflower Coconut Cookies

I'm not ready to say goodbye to Halloween just yet. I know, I know, I need to start concentrating on Thanksgiving and even Hanukkah, but I'm just not ready! Superstorm Sandy has put many people's lives on hold and in many areas Halloween has been postponed for the weekend. I wish we postponed Halloween for the weekend so that I had some time to get my act together.

When I'm not cooking and writing for the blog, I actually have a 9-5 job. I work for an Internet retailer of consumer products and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) is our most busy time. As we head into the depths of our busy season, I'm finding it pretty hard to balance my family, my house, my blog, and my overall responsibilities. Something had to go this year and since my daughter is 3 and doesn't really understand, we kind of skipped Halloween this year.

Growing up, I couldn't wait to go trick-or-treating to collect large grocery bags of candy. One year, in Brooklyn, I filled 2 whole bags of sweet, sour, and even salty confections. Since my first trick-or-treating experience was when I was 6, I'm thinking I can still hide our daughter from this ritual for a couple of more years. I'm glad to get reprieve from figuring out how to allow her to enjoy this important American pastime and how to get her to trade candy for something more healthy.

To trade the "good" stuff for some actual good stuff, I have prepared for her a fun recipe: Ghoulish Green Sunflower Coconut Cookies. These cookies are made with no sugar and no eggs, plus they are gluten and grain free (just a little baking powder). Interesting fact: Sunflower seeds contain acid called chlorogenic acid and, when mixed with baking soda under certain temperatures, it will cause the sunflower seeds to turn green. This is a totally harmless chemical reaction that creates a wonderfully fun looking and tasty Haloween cookie! 

I adapted the recipe from a cookbook I recently bought, Nourishing Meals, by Alissa Segersten & Tom Malterre. Tom gave a talk for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition about the Elimination Diet that I love and they also have a blog, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, that I absolutely love. The book features lots of healthy gluten free recipes including smoothies, entrees, cookies, and pies. The recipe for Coconut Almond Sugar Cookies caught my eye, but I had run out of almond flour and had just soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds, so I decided to substitute. The result is a delicious nutty sugar free, gluten free, vegan cookie that will satisfy any little monster.


Ghoulish Green Sunflower Coconut Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup Sunflower Seed Flour (I used this recipe from Empowered Sustenance) 
1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder (corn free)
1/8 tsp Bright Earth Foods Himalayan Salt
6 tbsp Bright Earth Foods Vanilla Coconut Oil
6 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp lemon zest
25-30 drops of stevia

Process:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a food process with an s-blade, pulsing for 90 seconds

2. Add wet ingredients and mix until a lump of dough is formed

3. Remove ball of dough and refrigerate for 1 hour

4. Either roll out dough between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper to desired thickness or using a small ice cream scoop create walnut sized balls

5. If rolling dough, use a cooking cutter to cut out shapes. If using walnut size balls, then press down until flat on parchment paper

6. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes

7. Let cool (cookies will turn green once they cool)

8. Enjoy!


Shared at: Too Many Jars in the Kitchen

Grain & Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas! The Best Waffles Ever & Swiss Chard Hash

Weekend morning breakfasts at our house are usually kind of generic, a version of eggs and toast. So when this weekend the hubby asked me to make him something special for breakfast, I came up with two grain-free (both), Paleo (Hash Only), GAPS (Hash Only) and SCD (Hash Only), friendly recipes that will surely satisfy. Saturday morning, I made a Swiss Chard Hash. Then, on Sunday, I was craving waffles, so I made my usual waffle recipe but substituted grain-free flours. The waffles turned out great! For toppings, I used Tula's CocoYO and my spiced plum compote.

Swiss Chard Hash
Ingredients
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp The Spice House Spanish Smoked Paprika 
4 eggs

Process:
1. Heat ghee in a pan
2. Chop Swiss Chard finely
3. Once ghee has melted add Swiss Chard, salt and paprika
4. Saute Chard for 6-8 minutes
5. Add eggs in sunny-side up fashion, cover, cook for 5-7 minutes or until whites are fully cooked
6. Enjoy!

Grain-Free Vegan Waffles
Ingredients
1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 cup water
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Process:
1. Mix all dry ingredients together and separately mix all wet ingredients together
2. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium speed with a mixer
3. Scoop heaping 1/4 cup of batter onto oiled waffle maker
4. Depending on your waffle maker, cook for 8-10 minutes
5. Add your favorite waffle syrup or toppings
6. Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about going grain-free, Jill at Real Food Forager is teaching a class to help you. If you want to sign up for the class use the coupon code NOGRAINS and receive an additional $20off. The coupon expires September 25th. And don't forget about my Spices Contest!