Chocolate Nut Pie - Gluten and Dairy Free

As a native Kentuckian, a certain type of pie holds a special place in both my heart and stomach.  Upon moving north, I've introduced several folks to the pie--even winning a pie contest at a previous employer!  The thing is, I can no longer eat my own pie...  I've changed that though.  Recently my local grocery began carrying the new Pillsbury line of gluten free products.  I was thrilled to notice that the pie dough is also dairy free.  This was the kick I needed to adapt this pie.

For two pies:

Preheat your oven to 350.

You'll need:

One tub of Pillsbury Gluten-Free Pie Crust

One stick of melted Earth Balance

One cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons gluten-free flour mix

1 cup (or more) pecans or walnuts

2 cups Enjoy Life chocolate chips and/or chunks

BOURBON

Beet Burgers - vegan and gluten free

After receiving some lovely beets in my green bean delivery bin, I wanted to make some burgers.  No online recipes seemed quite right for the taste I was wanting so I created my own thrown-together recipe.

You'll need:

3 beets

1 can cannellini beans

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 bell pepper (I used orange)

1/2 onion (I used Vidalia)

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 chile en adobo

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon sorghum

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon tamari or gluten free soy sauce

Gluten free oats

big handful of flat-leaf parsley

salt and pepper to taste

First, peel and chop up your beets.  Throw into the food processor and chop up quite a bit.  I use a small processor so I do the process and dump in a big bowl method.  Next drain and rinse your beans and process until fairly smooth.  Process all the ingredients except the oats and parsley. 

Once the processed ingredients are in the bowl, mix well and stir in enough oats that it starts to resemble the texture of ground meat.  At this point mix in the parsley (chopped fine).  It will look like this:

Form into patties and bake in the oven at 425 until set.  I had great luck, texture wise, via baking, putting in the freezer for a bit, and then toasting or broiling for a nice crunch.

Serve however you like you like any other burger.

Berry Blood Orange Smoothie

My favorite combination at the moment.

Blend together:
One cup of frozen mixed berries
One banana
Add as much blood orange juice as needed to reach the consistency you like.

Greens blend fairly well into this mix.

Fruit Dip

Now for an easy recipe.  Mix equal parts vegan cream cheese and marshmallow cream, add some orange zest.  Eat with fruit--strawberries are my favorite with this. 

Strawberry Shortcake

With strawberry season in full force, I was craving shortcake.  I use homemade biscuits for my shortcake.  That's the problem though, I don't really use a recipe for my biscuits.  If you have a favorite recipe, it is fairly easy to change to gluten and dairy free.  I replace the flour with King Arthur gluten free flour mix, add in baking powder, salt, xanthan gum, the smallest bit of sugar, some earth balance or shortening, and unsweetened almond milk.  I don't roll out my biscuits as I'm usually only making a few.  Instead I grab a bit of dough and pat it into the desired shape.  Bake at 425 until just golden.

In the meantime, get the rest of your shortcake ingredients ready.  Chop up some strawberries and add a teaspoon or so of sugar.  Mix together and place in the fridge.  

Instead of whipped cream, I used whipped coconut cream made according to the instructions here. 

Stack everything together in your desired order and you're done.

EAT Sandwich

My favorite take on the BLT, is the EAT sandwich.  

EAT = Eggplant bacon + Arugula + Teardrop tomatoes

Eat between your favorite toasted gluten free bread (Rudi's multigrain is what I have on hand) smeared with some mayo (regular or vegan) and jalapeno jelly.  I love this on a corn tortilla as well.

If you're unfamiliar with eggplant bacon, I can't recommend it enough.  I've built off Post Punk Kitchen's Eggplant Bacon recipe to fit my individual tastes.  I add some bourbon smoked paprika, fresh ground black pepper, and sorghum molasses to the mix, and bake the eggplant a tad longer than they do as I like it extra crispy.

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Gluten Free Dairy Free Mushroom Ravioli in a Sage Brown "Butter" Sauce with Peas

While I greatly enjoy corn pasta, I recently had a great craving for ravioli.  Finding a ravioli that is gluten/dairy-free and vegetarian is more than a little difficult so making my own turned into the best option.  I decided to combine a few recipes I saw online and came up with a new favorite.