The Year of the... ?

According to my family and many of my friends, 2007 was The Year of The Suck. And not in any sort of risque or good way.

So, here's to hoping 2008 is the Year of Something Better.

In that spirit, I'm back to blogging. I have a new Acer Aspire (never, ever buy a Gateway a.k.a. eMachines) and a need to talk to myself, so...

Our New Year's Eve appetizer spread. I like to say we had "tapas" but I fear that anytime potato chips are involved, one is not classy enough to be having tapas.
From the top left: Energ-G brand "Seattle" crackers (gluten-and-everything-free) and Havarti, fresh-caught wild Gulf shrimp cocktail (missing the cocktail sauce as of photo time, because Kentucky was still playing football and The Grill-Geek is the designated Cocktail Sauce Maker and a rabid, blue-blooded UK fan), Roasted Garlic Potato Skins, veggies with Really Onion Dip, prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe (what IS the attraction with that?) and "quickles" with White Bean Hummus. (Tip... make the onion dip first, so you don't have to wash the food processor, then you get a bit of oniony goodness in your hummus.)

Brunch this morning signals the end of the holiday feasting. Thank gods. I'm partied out. I love feasting, but my heart wasn't in it this year.

Ham, re-baked with butter and white pepper, mini smoked salmon and Havarti frittatas, and fruit salad with toasted pistachios and walnuts and a rum-coconut sauce. The top right of the photo shows one of the fabulous chocolate muffins I made last night, on the Little Guy's plate. Brunch was also accompanied by glasses of Barefoot Chardonnay "champagne." Delicious.

Let's see... recipes...

GFCF Chocolate Almond Muffins
Makes 10-12 muffins.

Mix together thoroughly in a large bowl:
• 1 cup almond flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup arrowroot (I used 1/4 cup arrowroot and 1/4 cup potato starch)
• 4 Tbs cocoa, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda, sifted
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, sifted
• pinch of Celtic sea salt

Beat together:
• 4 oz coconut oil (or butter), melted
• 4 Tbs rapadura
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup mashed banana

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Let sit for a few minutes.
The batter should be quite thick, or it will take forever to cook. If it seems too thin, add some extra nut flour or arrowroot.
Spoon mixture into silicone muffin pan & bake for about 30 mins at 300F. (Silicone is a godsend for gluten-free baking!)

I added about 1/2 a cup of everything-free mini chocolate chips before spooning into the muffin pan.

These are the single bestest gluten-free thing I have baked so far. They taste exactly like the Hershey's Cocoa Tin Chocolate Cake I used to be semi-famous for. Fabulous.

Mini Frittatas
(based loosely on a recipe by Giada de Laurentis)

4 large eggs
1/4 cup almond milk (use real, if you have it, or even cream)
sea salt and pepper to taste (white or black pepper)
2 ounces smoked salmon, crumbled
no idea how much Havarti, crumbled
1 teaspoons parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk the eggs, almond milk, pepper, salt, and parsley in a large bowl to blend well. Spoon or pour into silicon muffin pan. Should almost-fill 6 of the cups. Drop in cheese and smoked salmon. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and is just set in the center, about 15-20 minutes. Using a fork, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide the frittatas onto a platter (or your own plate). Serve (eat) immediately.

Baking Day

It has been chilly here, finally, but warm enough in the afternoons that I can't justify turning the heater on. We wake up to a co-o-o-old house. I figured the best way to warm things up would be to bake. Yeah, that was my only motivation.

First, I made gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) pumpkin pie. Well, I suppose "pie" should be in quotes, because it had no crust. Perhaps it was a pumpkin custard? It's really yummy, anyway, and if I make it for a special occasion, I'll probably work out some sort of crust. I don't miss crust all that much, though.

This is the recipe that I used:

GFCF Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 can pumpkin

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves (didn't bother hunting around for this, I know I have some, though)

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 eggs

Mix the pumpkin and spices together. Add the remaining ingredients and stir slowly until just mixed. Pour the mixture into the pie pan. Bake at 425 for 15 min, then reduce to 350 and bake for another 30-40 min. Allow pie to cool before serving.

Then I made the muffins in the photo.

GFCF Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
2 cups grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
1 large apple, peeled and grated (I used 1/2 cup applesauce)
2 cups GFCF flour (mine was a Bob's Red Mill bean-based one... need to use it up)
1/2 cup Rapadura, ground fine if it's pretty clumpy
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup shredded coconut
4 large eggs
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Place fluted paper liners in 18 muffin cups.
Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.
Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts and coconut. Set aside.
In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 10 minutes remove the muffins from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 18 standard-sized muffins.

Magic Bacon

My daily astrology email told me to take it easy this morning... and indulge... not try anything strenuous until the Moon was no longer Void and moved into Sagittarius. So I did. When the Cosmos speaks, I listen. Well, when it says something I like, anyway.

I made everything-free French toast and bacon. I used my ol' standby Almond Rice bread, dipping it in a custard of egg and coconut mik, with vanilla and cinnamon. Topped off with maple syrup and shredded coconut. It looked better than it tasted. Damn Cosmos.

I couldn't get a picture of the bacon, because it disappeared. I cooked an entire pound and got two slices, eaten while still scorching hot. The rest went into my hubby and 2-year-old. Mostly into the 2-year-old. He really likes bacon.