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Almond Flour Banana Bread

Written on June 4, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Breakfast

The last time I was looking through my recipe pages, one thing really struck me: I had no recipe for gluten-free banana bread. I thought that couldn’t be. If that was the case, it meant I hadn’t made banana bread in over 2 years, which seemed ridiculous because I can still clearly remember how soft and sweet and spicy and moist good banana bread should taste.

Somehow that was true and I realized I really needed to get with the program. As soon as some bananas turned brown, I mashed them up and made them into banana bread. Even without the gluten, this bread holds its shape with each thick, dense, moist and chewy slice and the flavor has just the right amount of spice and sweetness.

While I think coconut flour could make a texture slightly similar to regular banana bread, I used only almond flour in this loaf because I know what a hassle it is to go out and have to buy 15 different kinds of flour. I used vegetable oil but melted coconut oil would add a great boost of flavor and be slightly more healthy.

Almond Flour Banana Bread

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 55 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 loaf):

1 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
3 medium bananas, mashed(about 3/4 cup banana puree)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts(optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips(optional)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, eggs, oil, sugar, mashed bananas, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt until there are no clumps.
Fold the walnuts, chocolate chips, or any other mix-ins you might want into the batter.
Lightly grease a 5 x 10 or similar sized loaf pan and pour in the batter.
Bake for 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing.

This is really great with butter, peanut butter, chocolate hazelnut spread, or even all on its own. You should keep it wrapped up in the refrigerator in between meals so it lasts longer.

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How To Make Brown & Powdered Sugar

Written on June 1, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in How To

I’m not the best at planning ahead for what I want to bake. Not by a long shot. Sometimes that means “interesting” substitutions like strawberries for blueberries or carob for chocolate; other times it’s just a pain.

The kind of sugar you use in recipes is very important. Besides being sweet, each type offers its own flavor and texture. You use powdered sugar in frosting recipes so that the result is smooth and not grainy while you use brown sugar in cookie recipes to get a rich, dark buttery flavor.

If you’re in a pinch and only have white sugar on hand, you’re in luck. With standard cane sugar you can make both brown and powdered sugar.

How to make brown sugar

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons molasses

Method:

Mix both of the ingredients thoroughly.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month

You can also use this process to make maple sugar by substituting maple syrup in for the molasses. While the nutritional benefits of maple sugar can’t be imitated, the light, amber flavor comes through.

How to make powdered sugar

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon corn or tapioca starch

Method:

Combine the sugar and starch in a food processor or high-powered blender.
Mix on high for 5-10 minutes until the sugar is pulverized to the consistency of powdered sugar.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

If you have the option, buy and stock up on these types of sugar at the store; while these homemade ones are good last minute substitutions, they aren’t exactly the same quality you can buy. Also make sure that you’re starting out with white sugar and not something with color like turbinado sugar which has too much moisture in it.

Hope you found this post helpful. Now that Summer’s here and backyard barbeques are back, I for one will be going through bags of sugar like crazy.

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Gluten-Free Pizzelles

Written on May 30, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Over the weekend I made Christmas cookies. In May. But really, who’s complaining when there’s cookies involved?

This recipe was actually one of the very last ones I made before I got my first DSLR cameras. Since then I’ve been meaning to make them and take pictures again. I somehow never got around to making them last Christmas so now I’m fixing that mistake.

I had a friend help me make these and take some home afterwards. Clearly one of the best things about Christmas cookies is making many many dozens and giving them away to friends and family(but also keeping a stash for yourself because—hell—you baked them and deserve some cookies, too).

The one special piece of equipment you need to make pizzelles is a pizzelle press. The one I used is made by Cuisinart. You can easily use this recipe to make non-gluten-free pizzelles by substituting regular all purpose flour in for the gluten-free mix in a 1:1 ratio.

Gluten-Free Pizzelles

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 pizzelles):

3 eggs
1/4 cup neutral flavored oil
2 teaspoons anise extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour mix

Method:

Beat all of the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.
Heat an electric pizzelle maker according to manufacturer’s instructions until it’s ready to cook.
Take about an ounce of dough and roll it into a smooth ball in between your hands. Place the ball on the center of the pizzelle press, doing the same for both sides if your machine is double sided, and press the cover down.
Cook for about 45 seconds to a minute or until your pizzelle maker says that the cookies are done.
Lift the lid and carefully move the cookies to a separate plate to cool using a fork or other tool.
Repeat until all of the dough is used.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a few days.

These are definitely too good to save just for Christmastime. My family’s favorite way of eating them is with a cup of coffee or tea and cream and dipping the edge in to soften right before each bite.

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Thai Deviled Eggs

Written on May 28, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Happy Memorial Day! Hopefully you’re all set to relax on the beach, but if you’re in need of a quick appetizer or beach snack this might fit your bill.

I used to hate hard-boiled eggs(and by “used to” I mean about a year ago); the texture of the cooked yolks sort of freaked me out. And deviled eggs? Well, I’m a little suspicious of mayo still, so no thank you.

Thankfully at some point I saw the light(about hard boiled eggs—not mayonnaise. That’s still on my gross list). Instead of mayo, this recipe mixes the egg yolks with peanut butter, spices, and coconut milk for a light yet rich mousse-like filling. The peanut butter also boosts the protein in addition to being incredibly flavorful.

I used a frosting piper to fill the centers, but you could use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off to get a similar effect.

Thai Deviled Eggs

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 dozen):

1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons rice vinegar(or white vinegar in a pinch)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder OR 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
3-4 Tablespoons coconut milk(any kind of milk would do)
Crushed peanuts and extra chili powder to garnish

Method:

Boil the eggs in a pot full of water for 9 minutes. Drain the eggs from the water and submerge in cold water to bring them down to room temperature.
Peel the shells from all of the eggs and split them in half.
Scoop out the yolks from the egg whites.
Combine the yolks, peanut butter, salt, sugar, vinegar, and spices in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Slowly add your liquid until the filling takes on the texture of a mousse.
Either scoop the filling directly into the egg whites or use a pastry bag to squeeze them in.
Garnish with peanuts and/or chili powder. Serve at room temperature.

Now go out there and enjoy the weather. But pack your deviled eggs first.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Written on May 26, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I’m really horrible at remembering these federal holidays. I had no idea Monday was a holiday until a friend told me it was last weekend. Back in February I told another friend to have a good Martin Luther King day on Presidents’ Day… while he was in another country that celebrates neither of those. I really need to start looking at a calendar more.

Back to the food—Chocolate covered strawberries are one of those classics that get done again and again but they never get old. They’re so simple you don’t even need a recipe(but you’re getting one). You can make them last minute and they’re near impossible to screw up, so if you’re in a pinch for dessert this Memorial Day then these could be the perfect solution.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 dozen):

2 dozen large strawberries
10oz semi-sweet chocolate
3oz White chocolate(optional)

Method:

Gently melt the chocolate in a small bowl until it’s smooth.
Dip each strawberry into the chocolate and swirl around to cover completely.
Lift the strawberries out of the chocolate and let the excess fall back into the bowl. Place them individually on a non-stick surface.
If using the white chocolate, melt it carefully and put it in a pastry bag or Ziploc with a tiny whole cut out one edge.
Drizzle the white chocolate across each strawberry from side to side.
Refrigerate the strawberries until the chocolate has hardened. Plate and serve still slightly cold.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when life gives you strawberries, cover them in chocolate before eating them.

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Almond Joy Fudge

Written on May 24, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

There are few things better than fudge or candy, except maybe fudge that tastes like candy.

Coconut tends to be one of those touchy flavors; people either love it or hate it. Alone I think it’s pretty good—nothing special. Combine it with chocolate and sugar, though, and you’ve got a clear winner. This fudge has a standard chocolate base but with a layer of coconut-white chocolate fudge on top, topped with an almond. If you omit the almonds it’ll taste just like a Mounds bar.

The best part about this dessert? It can all be made in the microwave so you can enjoy it any time. OK, maybe that’s not such great news…

Almond Joy Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 servings):

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
16 almonds

Method:

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or over the stove.
Mix into the melted chocolate 2 Tablespoons of butter, 3 Tablespoons of coconut milk, and 1/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar until the chocolate is smooth.
Pour the fudge into the bottom of a non-stick 6×6 pan. Put the pan in a refrigerator temporarily to cool the chocolate.
Melt the white chocolate using the same method, keeping an eye on it making sure that it doesn’t burn.
Mix in the remaining butter, coconut milk, powdered sugar, and coconut until smooth.
Take the pan out of the refrigerator and spread the coconut layer on evenly(It won’t be runny but shouldn’t be too solid to spread either).
Place each almond about an inch apart in a 4×4 square pattern.
Refrigerate the fudge for 20-30 minutes until it’s solid. Cut into 16 squares with an almond at the center of every square and serve cold.

By itself the top layer tastes too much of white chocolate(I wasn’t aware that was even possible) to be like the coconut center of a Mounds Bar. But eaten together the chocolate and coconut fudge taste eerily similar to the candy joy. You might want to use an even larger pan such as 8×8 for flat rectangular pieces of fudge.

And as long as we’re on the topic of coconut and chocolate, recently I updated the recipe page for Homemade Mounds Bars with better pictures and easier to read steps. It’s one of the most pinned dessert recipes I have so I can’t be the only one who thinks they’re amazing.

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Gluten-Free Vegan Mac N’ Cheese

Written on May 22, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Thanks for sticking with me the past couple of weeks. I’ve moved home and (almost) unpacked and finally can get back to cooking and food blogging. And did I mention how nice it is to have a full kitchen again? It’s very nice.

One of the last things I ate before I moved was a frozen Amy’s rice macaroni and cheese. Blog-worthy? No. But incredibly delicious. I’d forgotten how good macaroni and cheese could be. Naturally I had it on the brain as soon as I got home and decided to make it almost immediately.

Trader Joe’s corn pasta is one of the few gluten-free pastas I like; you can’t even tell from the taste or texture that it’s gluten-free. It’s that good. Nutritionally, it’s not the best. But if you’re trying to win over a picky eater—gluten-free or not—it’s a safe bet.

This cheese sauce is made with cashews so it’s not only dairy-free but also soy-free. The nuts also add fiber and protein to the dish. You could substitute 3 Tablespoons of cashew butter in a pinch if that’s what you have on hand.

Gluten-Free Vegan Mac N’ Cheese

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

3/4 cup gluten-free macaroni
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews
7 Tablespoons(or a scant 1/2 cup) water
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric(for color only)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pepper and basil for garnish

Method:

Prepare the macaroni by submerging it in salt water and boiling for 8-10 minutes. Undercook the macaroni slightly.
While the macaroni cooks, make the cheese sauce by blending the cashews in 2-3 Tablespoons of water in a food processor.
Once the cashews are pureed smoothly, add the rest of the water and all of the spices and seasonings. Continue blending until well-mixed.
Drain the macaroni from the water and divide it between two small ramekins. Pour the cheese sauce on top evenly.
Broil at 400 degrees for 5 minutes until the top starts to brown.
Garnish with cracked pepper and chiffonade basil. Serve hot.

The basil and pepper help to lighten up the flavor, since no one wants a heavy mac n’ cheese dish in the Summer. The healthy fats in the sauce fill you up for hours and yet taste wholly satisfying. It’s not quite as easy as a frozen meal but well worth the effort.

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Chickpea Flour Pancakes

Written on May 15, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Breakfast

I’ve been neglecting a lot lately.

Neglecting writing blog posts this week because I’ve been swamped with finals.

Neglecting eating healthy most of this semester because it’s easier to make excuses than roast vegetables.

Neglecting restarting the 30 day Shred workouts because I don’t like being yelled at through my own TV.

But most significantly I’ve been neglecting this pancake recipe. And that’s the biggest shame of all; no one should go pancake-less for months at a time. I usually eat oatmeal in the morning because that’s quick and I can make it in a microwave. But sometimes breakfast is worth making a fuss over and that’s when a reliable recipe like this comes in handy.

For the record, chickpea flour does not actually taste like chickpeas at all. It has a really neutral flavor to it. You can find chickpea flour in some specialty markets. The kind I used is by Bob’s Red Mill.

Chickpea Flour Pancakes

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 medium-sized pancakes):

1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 egg
1/3 cup water
1 (heaping) Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
Butter or oil for greasing

Method:

Whisk together the flour, water, egg, sugar, baking soda, and salt until all the clumps are gone from the batter.
Heat a pan or skillet over a burner set to medium with some butter or oil.
Scoop about 3 Tablespoons-1/4 cup of batter into the pan.
Cook until the edges firm up and bubbles come through the batter. Flip and cook for another 15-20 seconds until the other side has set. Repeat until all the batter is used up.
Serve while still hot with syrup, sauce, and/or butter.

Here’s to a Summer of not neglecting.

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Lime In The Coconut Cupcakes

Written on May 9, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

I apologize this recipe is coming on nueve de Mayo and not last week when it might have been more fitting. If it’s any consolation, I made these on cinco de Mayo and ate a few on seis de Mayo and they were still delicious, so I’m sure whenever you make these they’d be a hit.

Lime and coconut go perfectly together. Since I always make my cupcakes with coconut flour, adding lime was a no-brainer. These are just the right amount of sweet and citrusy to be light and refreshing.

I kept the coconut flavor downplayed but if you want to liven them up you can add shredded sweetened coconut flakes to the batter of frosting for an extra layer of flavor. I also think fresh mint would work really well in the buttercream with the lime if you happen to make these at a time of year when that’s available.

Lime In The Coconut Cupcakes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 12 cupcakes):

1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons coconut flour
4 eggs
2 egg whites
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 cup coconut milk
2 Tablespoons lime juice(or 1/2 Tablespoon lime extract if you can find it)
1 Tablespoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a dozen cupcake holders.
Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix until it forms an even batter.
Scoop equal amounts of the batter into each cupcake well.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch.
Remove from the oven. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.

For the frosting, I used roughly 1/2 cup of softened butter, 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of coconut milk, and plenty of lime zest. I say roughly because I did it mostly by eye. I’ve stopped putting effort into making just the right frosting until I get a fancy set of tips like these since they always look blah no matter what I do.

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Tangy Kale and Carrot Quinoa

Written on May 2, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living off meal plan in a dorm room, it’s how to get savvy with the foods and cooking tools available. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I made a meal on an actual stove the past few months, and I can’t wait to move back to somewhere where that’s more convenient.

I haven’t had a chance to run to the store and the day I made this it was pouring outside, so this was truly a winging-it meal made with whatever I had lying around. Quinoa’s a great pantry staple and cooks perfectly in any rice cooker(which is what I cooked this in, although I wrote the recipe for a stove since I figured that’s more common). Add some vegetables and a source of protein and you’ve got a meal.

Another example of ingenuity? The eggs I ate this with were baked, not boiled! I picked that up from this post I found on Pinterest. If you ask me I’d much rather toss eggs in an oven for 30 minutes and get other stuff done than stand over a stove waiting for water to boil. You could also serve this with baked tofu, tempeh, or chicken on top and it’d be just as good.

Tangy Kale and Carrot Quinoa

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

3/4 cup dry quinoa
1 1/2 cup water*
2 cup kale
2 large carrots, shaved into thin strips
2 Tablespoons mustard
1 Tablespoon agave
1/2 teaspoon salt

*This is the ratio with water I usually cook my quinoa in. If the brand you’re using tells you to do differently, follow the box’s cooking instructions.

Method:

Rinse the quinoa and then combine it with the water in a small pot. Cook for 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is light and fluffy.
Turn off the heat and add the kale and carrot strips into the pot. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes until the kale and carrots have steamed.
Add in the agave, mustard, and salt and mix everything together. Serve while still hot.

The agave and mustard aren’t too strong or overpowering but give this just the right amount of flavor to be light and refreshing. Next time I might add toasted cashews and eat this all on its own.

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