Gluten-free Polenta Vegetable Loaf

I love my loaf pan. Basically because it gets me though many a quick bread, which have been quite abundant around here lately. But today, it upped it's standard.

Enter: the polenta loaf.

Polenta has consumed my thoughts before, so this is nothing new. I love it when foods can swing different directions - feeling pasta sauce? Throw it on. Have leftover pesto? Mix it in. Have two leftover cans of beans in the fridge who have nowhere to go? Yes - they go in, too. SO GOOD. So right.

By the way, polenta is a schmancy name for corn meal. It's WAY easier to find it under it's given name, like in the bulk food section of your nearest WinCo. Which is a store that just appeared 2 miles away from me, and has already made a bulk foods lover out of me for life. Bulk food is cheaper than the pre-packaged stuff, and you can control how much you buy. It's a beautiful thing.

For the vegetables, I used leftover stir fried veggies from the night before, but feel free to use whatever floats your fancy. These just had mushrooms, carrots, beans, peppers and tomatoes with a balsamic-gravy thing going on. Use something you love.

This has the casserole feel to it and isn't structured to stay together once you dish it up. As you can see by the sliding slice on my plate in the background, it will be juicy. However, if you prefer saucy over dry, this will work out just fine. If you don't, you'll be so happy with the flavor it won't matter anyway.

Polenta Vegetable Loaf
Makes one 8x5 loaf

Ingredients
3.5 cups water
1 cup polenta
1/4 cup prepared pesto
one 2.25 ounce can sliced olives
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup spaghetti sauce (your choice)
1 cup cooked vegetables
1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

To do:
1. Preheat your oven on to 300 degrees and grease your loaf pan.

2. Boil the water in a medium pot; slowly add in the polenta, continually stirring so it doesn't clump. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and stir every few minutes to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of your pot. Once the polenta has significantly thickened, add in the pesto, olives and parmesan cheese; stir to incorporate and take off the stove.

3. Spoon and smooth 1/3 of the polenta in the loaf pan and layer with half the spaghetti sauce, then half the veggies, and lastly 1/2 of the beans. Repeat this, ending with the last 1/3 of the polenta on top.

3. Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes, until slightly hardened and "crusted" on top.

4. Let cool for a few minutes; slice and serve!

Breakfast Quinoa Cups

Have you jumped on the quinoa train yet? I feel like everywhere I turn, there's someone else discussing the bounty and glory that all this complete-protein crop has to offer. I hear about it as often as I do kale, as if they are cahoots. Married. Quinoa and kale, forever and always.

It's great for vegetarians! It contains essential amino-acids! It will teleport you to Bermuda at first bite! Yeah, all it's benefits can get a little exhausting. Especially if you're type A and need more than a moments notice to travel to a foreign destination.

However, we can't kid ourselves. Quinoa is GOOD. As in, tasty good. And it plays well with others, like cinnamon, berries, and coconut. Making it a completely fantastic breakfast idea.

I've played around with quinoa cups before, but it's always been the savory kind for dinner. These buggers are super quick and easy to make, which makes them ideal for rushed mornings or frantic evenings. And really, you can add whatever you have on hand. For these, I used cottage cheese since I couldn't jive with cheddar. I'm sure goat cheese would be phenomenal, or ricotta.

 Breakfast Quinoa Cups
Makes 12 cups

Ingredients
3/4 cup dry quinoa
1 t cinnamon
4 beaten eggs
1/2 cup shredded pear
3 ounces of your favorite cheese
1/4 cup silvered almonds
1/4 cup dried coconut
2 T brown sugar
1/2 cup frozen berries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin.

2.  Measure out 3/4 cup quinoa and the cinnamon in a medium pot; fill with 2 cups water, cover, and bring to a boil on the stove. Once it boils, lower the heat to medium and let simmer until all the water has been absorbed by the quinoa.

3. While your quinoa cooks, combine the beaten eggs, pear, cheese, almonds, coconut and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add in the quinoa when it's done. The mixture wild be slightly soupy.

4. Ladle equal portions into the greased muffin tin, filling all 12 holders. Place a few berries on top of each cup and bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are slightly browned and firm to the touch.

5. Cool for 5 minutes before eating. If you can.

Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes

Don't think I haven't noticed how drastic my ratio is of savories vs. sweets is on here. Trust me - I love my sugar! However, my baking undoubtedly lends more towards pastries than sweet dessert-like treats. Although I haven't questioned too much on why this is, I guess it's because gluten-free flour is expensive, and I would rather put it towards more practical goods. Pastries (muffins, scones, quick breads) can be sweet and decadent, but can also be geared to more of a breakfast item for those quick mornings.

However, that being said, I love having a specific reason to baking. Like birthdays! I seriously get mildly depressed when a birthday doesn't come with some kind of dessert. It's what makes it so special.

Enter: Peanut butter banana cupcakes, in honor of The King. My mother-in-law happens to adore that man, and it happens to be her birthday, so these had to happen with all the happenstance going on. (Happen just happened a lot).

I followed this recipe subbing in my own gluten-free flour blend and they turned out perfectly! I'm actually pretty excited, because I totally winged it on the flour. The crumb is light and airy, but still dense enough to bond well with the heavier peanut butter buttercream. I'll be using this recipe again for other versions. Coconut frosting might be key in the future.

Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes
Adapted from Mark Matusmoto
Makes 9 large, 12 small


Ingredients for the cupcakes:
1 ripe banana
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter


Ingredients for the frosting:
8 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I wouldn't suggest using the natural kind)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cupcakes To-Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. Mash together the banana and lemon juice until smooth, then whisk in the eggs. In the bowl of an electric mixer, use a fork to whisk together the flours, xantham gum, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using the paddle attachment, beat in the butter until well incorporated. Add the banana and egg mixture and mix until just combined.

3. Fill the cupcake molds about 2/3 of the way full and put the pan in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to prevent the cupcakes from overcooking and becoming dry. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.

Buttercream To-Do: 1. Beat the butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until it is light and fluffy. Spread on the cupcakes with a butterknife or pipe on for a more refined look. I'm hardly a refined person, so I went with the former option. ;) Enjoy!

Arugula and Walnut Pesto

Sundays are pretty low-key around here. We go to church (Scott helped me in Sunday School today. That was pretty cute), we get fed lunch at his parents, stuffed with dessert at mine, and then we head to Freddie's for some grocery shopping. We return home late-afternoon, which leaves me more time than our usual week nights to prep dinner. This extra-long stretch means I can get super wild in the kitchen...which also means Sunday dinners result in adding another recipe to the books, or adding some more contents to our trash.

While we were wandering around Fred Meyer grabbing the usual suspects, I got to thinking of how I could use the arugula that was slowly dying in our fridge. I knew pasta was in the plan for dinner, so pesto came to mind. It didn't take me long to walk straight to the bulk department and fill up on some walnuts. Hi-ho, bulk department TOTALLY the way to go. 3/4 pound for six dollars? This equals out to many more walnuts happenings soon.

This turned out way better than I had expected. I used various other pesto recipes to form a base of how-to-do, including these two. While the peppery taste arugula holds was delish, it was really the salty parmesan that blew it out of this world. But that's me, who could have a hunk of parm in my lip the whole day and be totally content.

This played well with pasta, but I would definitely suggest warming it up in a sauce pan (while your noodles are boiling) and adding spoonfuls of boiling pasta water as necessary to get it all creamy and juiced up.

Arugula Walnut Pesto
Makes about 1 cup

3 cups loosely packed arugula
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 cloves garlic (preferably roasted)
1/4 cup heaping walnut halves
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
S&P to taste


1. In a food processor, get your arugula, lemon juice, garlic, walnuts, and cheese roughly grated and mixed up.

2. Stream in olive oil as the processor is running to get it all smooth and pureed.

3. Taste. Add salt and/or pepper. Taste again. Say "mmm."

4. Use as you wish! Leftovers will be on my sandwich tomorrow.

Cauliflower Pie

And my love affair with the flower continues. I really can't help it. I feel like this once dreaded vegetable has been cropping up the interwebs with all sorts of new surprise ideas. Surprise ideas are totally fun. They stimulate your brain cells and your taste buds.

Brownie covered cookies? Check.

Berry beer cocktail? Future check.

Cauliflower pie? Well, compared to the first two links, this may as well be slug stew. BUT...if you look at it as a balanced, healthy meal (instead of as a delicious, meal combing beer + vodka) then you're doing all right.




We ate this with crispy, roasted broccoli, which was filling if you have two portions of each. However, if you are feeding a meat-eater (meater?) then I bet you could bulk it up by adding a nice layer of ground hamburger or crumbled sausage on top of the potato layer before you add the cauliflower in. This definitely leans more towards a casserole than a pie, so feel free to adapt this to your liking. (However, the spring-form pan cooking method makes it very fancy, so we'll continue to call it a pie. Give it some integrity, people.)



Cauliflower Pie
loosely adapted from Branny Boils Over
feeds 4

Potato Crust Stuff:
3 cups peeled, grated russet potato
1/2 t. salt
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup grated onion

Cauliflower Topping:
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 medium cauliflower, broken/processed into small, biteable chunks
1 cup broccoli, same size pieces as the cauliflower
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 dash thyme
1/2 t basil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t curry poweder
1/2 t garam masala (optional, but I liked it)
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup milk
pepper
paprika

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. For the crust, combine the potato, salt, onion and egg in a medium bowl.

3. Press the mixture into a greased spring form pan and bake for 35 minutes until browned and solid.

3.5 Have some you time! Read your new magazine, eat a couple chocolate chips, try to guess the Jeopardy questions knowing it will be a complete fail (or is that just my life?)

4. Remove the potato crust and turn the oven down to 350.

5. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese over the potato crust.

6. In a large bowl, combine the second egg with the seasonings and the milk.

7. Add the cauliflower, broccoli, and cheese to the milk mixture and mix it all together so everything is coated.

8. Pour this into the spring form pan on top of the potato crust and bake for 40 minutes until tender.

9. Let the pie cool 5 minutes before digging in.

**If you want to roast a side of broccoli, just add it in (tossed with EVOO, salt and pepper) the last 20 minutes while the pie bakes. Then while the pie is cooling for those 5 minutes, turn the oven off and the broiler on for about 3 minutes to get those broccolis nice and crispy on top.

Apricot Snack Bars

As a girl on the go, I am always looking for satisfying, tasty treats that are easily portable that I can eat on the ferry or in the car. It's an unfortunate circumstance when I find a Quaker granola bar in the bottom of my purse, chow it in 3 bites, and I'm end up even hungrier than when I started because it only wakes my stomach up even more.

As the wife of a gluten-intolerant husband, I also need to be aware of how many quick and easy snack we have on hand in the house. If there are slim pickings, the bag of shredded cheese will be gone. Or the most recent cookie batch. Not that there's anything unbalanced (cough) with those selections....but it's nice to throw in some variety sometimes.



That's where these babies come in. I've experimented with making date bars lately, using flavors based off the popular brand of Larabars. They're good, but easy to get sick of. Dates are great (ooh dang, she rhymes) but the flavor is strong.

Dried apricots, on the other hand? TOTALLY the way to go. These taste like cake. I think it's a mixture of the sweetened fruit combined with the salty cashews that just throw a big delicious party in your mouth.

Apricot Snack Bars
adapted from Shutterbean
Makes 8 bars (although I strongly encourage you to double this recipe)

1/2 cup cashews
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup dried coconut
1/3 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons flaxseed (not ground)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Line your 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, chop the cashews until they are in small pieces. Take out and set aside in a bowl.

3. Process your apricots until they are jelly-like - this took me about 2 minutes. They all just kind of turned into a sticky, orangy ball that twirled with the blade and I called them good.

4. To the apricots in the processor, add in the coconut, oats, syrup, olive oil, flax seeds, ginger, and salt; process it all together.

5. Add in the cashews and process until it's all thoroughly combined.

6. Press the mixture into your parchment-lined dish, using the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten it out. Place in the freezer overnight, or at least an hour to harden. Take out using the parchment paper and cut into bars.

7. Repeat, because they'll be gone before you know it.

*Store these in the fridge so they maintain their shape.

Cauliflower Pizza

January came and went, and I survived yet another year of Vegan-O-Con. That's 30 days of eating a Vegan diet, which excludes cheese, dairy, honey, Eggo waffles, hot chocolate packets and countless other food products that I hold near and dear to my ticker. Given that it sounds generally strange for me to suddenly embrace such a dark, twisted world (a lifestyle that millions of other people adhere to regularly), here me out.

All through December, I continuously trash my body. I'm not necessarily an unhealthy eater, but I definitely have a difficult time saying no to all the holiday treats and eats that are constantly orbiting around my vicinity. I truly have zero self-control when it comes to December. And it works, because I know that when January rolls it's enlarged belly around, I will pay. And I will regain my personal standard of healthy by cancelling out the butter, sugar and grossly portions of chocolate with absurd amounts of kale chips, nutritional yeast, and grape tomatoes.

It's strange, but this is totally a system that works for me. Yes, I had two cheat instances (heelllo Tony's pizza and mini-cupcakes) but I didn't beat myself up for it. I got right back on track and dedicated myself to plant-based foods the next meal.

I also find that it sets the tone for the remainder of the year. If I eat super clean in January, I enter February with a strong mindset of what healthy meals should consist of. Meals that make me feel good and leave me with energy. Meals that will include cheese and milk, but will still include veggies and healthy protein. I also find that my cravings for sugar dwindle almost down to nothing. This is saying a lot, given that I am a human female.

Oddly enough (psych) I was completely counting on a nice hearty slice of PIZZA this first week to initiate my non-vegan diet. Quite coincidentally I came across this recipe that used veggies in a way I've never imagined before. As pizza crust. It had to happen.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza
adapted from Eat.Drink.Smile.
makes 2 medium pizzas

3 cups riced cauliflower (one small cauliflower - read Beth's ricing instructions)
2 eggs, whisked
2 cups shredded cheese (I used half mozzarella, half cheddar)
1/2 cup almond meal
3 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
any toppings you want!

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and grease your baking sheets

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cauliflower, eggs, cheese, and flax meal.

3. Once fully combine, add in the oregano, garlic and S&P. Stir stir stir!

4. Once all the ingredients are fully incorporated, divide into two equal-sized balls and flatten onto the baking sheets to a 1/4 inch width.

5. Place in the oven on the middle rack for about 20 minutes. These babies will begin to smell heaaaavenly, and will make you so excited to see how they turn out. Is cauliflower crust truly possible?

6. Once the crust is hardened but not burned, take them out and turn off the heat and the broiler setting on.

7. Add your toppings - we went with a Mediterranean themed pie, complete with sundried tomatoes, olives, caramelized onions and capers with a pesto sauce. The second was marinera-based, with a bean-puree, onions and cheddar sauce.

8. Place under the broil until the cheese begins to bubble - about 5 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and let sit for about a minute. This may be the hardest things you've ever done.

I really dug this! It's not quite pizza, as the crust IS made of cauliflower, so a fork was required for some bites. The flavor was excellent though, and i felt just as satisfied as if I had eaten real pizza. This will be happening again!