Gluten-free Archives - Page 5 of 12

Maple-Orange Roasted Chickpeas & Carrots ( & Brown Rice Bowl)

I haven’t had much chance to cook with home-grown vegetables this summer since I haven’t been at my family home to enjoy the garden. Last year I loved spending lots of time outside helping my Mum out with the gardening, and cooking and eating everything too of course. I shared some pictures of the garden/ our harvest here.

Though I haven’t been home lately, my Mum was in London over the weekend and brought me a ton of veg! I have a feeling she’s struggling to stay on top of eating everything without me there! A few of my next recipes will be featuring the home-grown produce.

First up- these Chantenay carrots!

These fresh-from-the-earth, imperfect specimens are so much more appealing than the luminous orange, uniform carrots you find in the supermarkets, aren’t they?

I gave them the roasting treatment to get them nice and tender and brought out their natural sweetness even more with a maple-orange glaze.

I added chickpeas to the mix too. If you haven’t had roasted chickpeas yet, you definitely need to try them. If you cook them a bit longer than I did here they get really crunchy and make a great snack. I cooked them alongside the carrots here which was just long enough for them to be crisp on the outside but still creamy inside.

The Maple-Orange Roasted Chickpeas & Carrots are a nice side-dish, or you could roast some potatoes at the same time and turn it into a one-pan meal, or do what I did and use them in a “bowl meal”. My other components were tamari-seasoned brown rice and steamed spinach.

Maple-Orange Roasted Chickpeas & Carrots

Yield: 2-4 Servings

Maple-Orange Roasted Chickpeas & Carrots

Ingredients

1-1/2 C Cooked chickpeas (1 Can, drained and rinsed)
175g/6oz Chantenay carrots, halved or quartered if large (you can also use regular carrots chopped into small chunks)
1 Tbsp Olive oil
A few sprigs fresh thyme
1-1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
Zest and juice of half an orange
Sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200C/400F
In a roasting dish, toss the chickpeas and carrots with the olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt (the salt balances the sweetness) and the leaves removed from the sprigs of thyme.
Cook for approx 20 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time. Add the maple syrup, orange juice and zest to the pan and toss well.
Cook for a further 5 minutes, or until carrots are tender and beginning to brown at edges and the chickpeas are crisp.
*UPDATE*Some readers are finding their carrots take longer than stated to cook through. If using regular carrots, not chantenay, I recommend blanching them before roasting to start the cooking process and prevent everything drying out from having to roast for longer.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/08/31/maple-orange-roasted-chickpeas-carrots-brown-rice-bowl/

Have you been growing your own vegetables this year? If so, what’s been the most successful?

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Review: Superfoodies Granola

Very happy to introduce a brand-new product to you today- Superfoodies granola!

Long-term readers will know that I’m a big fan of raw foods. Not that I eat exclusively raw by any means, but salads, smoothies, raw desserts and snacks are some of my favourite foods. I’ve actually just added a “Raw” category to my recipe database so you can find all my raw recipes in one place.

I do have quite a lot of kitchen equipment…but one thing I don’t yet have is a dehydrator. If you’re familiar with raw food, you’ll know that a dehydrator is a magical device that enables you to make foods which are still 100% raw and which therefore retain all their natural goodness and flavour, yet have the texture of cooked foods: Raw cookies, breads and crackers, tart crusts, pizza bases, kale chips and other veggie chips, burgers, fruit leather…the list goes on.

“Red” granola with soy yogurt, blueberries and nectarine

I’d especially love to be able to make my own raw granola (rawnola!), but in the meantime I’m very happy with this one from Superfoodies. It’s 100% raw, organic, vegan, gluten-free and even paleo-friendly.

The ingredients are basically just nuts, seeds, dates and superfoods! All super nutritious and super delicious!

“Brown” granola with banana and coconut milk

Superfoodies granola comes in 3 flavours- Goji & Açai, Cacao nibs & Maca and Coconut & Spirulina.

It’s super crunchy and doesn’t go soggy even when drowned in almond milk. I loved that it has really big clusters too. It means it’s just as good for eating straight out of the bag as a snack as it is with your favourite non-dairy milk or yogurt for breakfast, or as a smoothie topper.

The “Brown” one is my personal favourite. It’s rich, chocolatey and not too sweet.

Young Coconut Smoothie topped with “Green” granola

You can buy Superfoodies granola online through Detox Your World (shipping is Europe-wide) and I think they’re soon to launch in health food stores (if they haven’t already.

Have you tried (or made!) raw granola?

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[Disclosure: Superfoodies provided me with these products for review purposes, but, as always, all opinions are my own]

Chickpea Flour Scramble with Avocado & Chives

The “Chickpea Flour Scramble” won’t be new to many of you, If you’ve been paying attention, you might remember that I mentioned it in my “All About Chickpea Flour” post a few months ago and originally got the idea from blogger friend, Ricki Heller.

For those of you who ARE new to it, well, it’s pretty revolutionary! I didn’t grow up eating eggs (I never liked them) but I appreciate that scrambled eggs are a very easy option for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Tofu scrambles are of course a vegan classic and a great alternative, but not everyone eats soy, or, like me, just doesn’t keep tofu on hand all the time.

In comes the chickpea flour scramble!

I’ve already sung the praises of chickpea flour, but in short: it’s high protein, gluten-free, supposedly more digestible than other legume flours, and non-perishable so very convenient.

The chickpea flour scramble is mega easy to make. You pretty much do what you would for scrambled eggs, and it comes together just as quickly.

This simple version with a lightly cheesy flavour, topped with creamy avocado and chives and served over whole wheat sourdough toast, is my current favourite. Despite never having been into savoury breakfasts, I’ve actually been loving this for my morning meal lately!

Chickpea Flour Scramble with Avocado & Chives

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Chickpea Flour Scramble with Avocado & Chives

Ingredients

1/4 C Chickpea Flour
1-1/2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1/3 C Almond milk OR Water
1 Tbsp Tahini
Large Pinch of salt (preferably black salt for that "eggy" taste)
1/2 Small avocado, diced
1 Tbsp Snipped chives
Black pepper
Wholegrain/GF bread, toasted
Coconut oil OR Vegan butter

Instructions

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat with a drizzle of oil.
Whisk together the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, almond milk or water, tahini and salt.
Pour into the hot pan as if forming a large pancake. Allow to cook until edges look dry then break up with a wooden spoon as if making scrambled eggs. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to dry and form clumps. When done, the mixture should be fairly dry and still a little soft (not yet browned).
Spoon over buttered toast (I like to "butter" mine with coconut oil), scatter over the avocado, sprinkle with chives and grind over some black pepper.
Serve immediately.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/08/20/chickpea-flour-scramble-avocado-chives/

Other “eggy” recipes on the blog:

Vegan Persian Frittata

Pesto-Ricotta Tofu Omelettes with Cherry Tomatoes

Vegan Roasted Vegetable Frittata

Asparagus & Fennel Quiche (with a quinoa crust)

Cheesy Tofu Scramble & Chipotle Sweet Potato Tacos

If you’re new to Coconut and Berries, please sign up for email updates and join me elsewhere! I’m on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram (@coconutandberries), Google + and Twitter! You can also follow Coconut and Berries with Bloglovin or Feedly.

Nutty Quinoa with Inca Berries

Have you tried Inca berries? You might well have, you just don’t know it…

Inca berries or golden berries, those shrivelled, orange-coloured fruits you see below, also go by the more common name of “physalis”. Still not ringing a bell? I bet you’ve seen them in their fresh form garnishing desserts in restaurants. When they’re ripe, the outer layer gets dry and papery and the berries turn bright orange- definitely a pretty plate adornment!

Here’s a picture I took last year of physalis growing in our greenhouse! We sowed the seeds a little late so the fruit didn’t get the chance to fully ripen before summer was over but this year they’re apparently doing much better. My Mum brought me a little container of the “berries” when we met last week but I somehow managed to leave them behind in London so no pictures unfortunately.

Although we’ve successfully grown them in the UK, they’ve been cultivated for thousands of years in the Incan Empire (hence the name) where they’re particularly valued for their nutrient content- They’re especially high in beta-carotene, protein, bioflavonoids, and vitamin A- giving them “superfood” status.

Nutrition aside, in this pantry clear-out project of mine, I found 2 bags of the dried Inca berries (why is it that I have 2 of everything?!)! I’m not wholly convinced by them eaten on their own but they’re a tasty addition to recipes. They’re chewy, sweet and tart with a lingering citrusy flavour.

They certainly gave this simple quinoa dish some pizzazz!

I decided to let the individual ingredients shine here and keep the seasoning really simple- with just a little caraway for a hint of sweet spiciness and coconut oil to bring out the nutty flavours.

With the quinoa, black beans and cashews you’ve got yourself a protein-rich and really satisfying meal. I like this for lunch or as a hearty side-dish.

Nutty Quinoa with Inca Berries

Yield: 4 Servings

Nutty Quinoa with Inca Berries

Ingredients

2 Cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Coconut oil, divided
1 tsp Caraway seeds
1 C Quinoa, rinsed
2 C Water
1/2 tsp Salt
2 C Water
1-1/2 C Cooked black beans/ 1 Can, drained and rinsed
1/2 C Cashews, roughly chopped
1/4 C Roughly chopped coriander (cilantro)
1/2 C Inca Berries

Instructions

Heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and caraway and cook stirring for a couple of minutes, until fragrant.
Add the rinsed quinoa, water and salt, cover, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and allow to cook undisturbed for 10-15 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Stir through the black beans and the other Tbsp coconut oil, cover again and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, toast the cashews in a small pan over medium heat.
Stir through half the cashews and half the coriander, reserving half of each for topping.
Transfer to a serving platter or individual serving bowls/plates and scatter with reserved cashews, coriander and Inca berries.
I like this best served slightly warm or at room temperature, rather than chilled.

Notes

* I appreciate that superfoods are expensive and not necessarily staples in everyone's kitchen. If you don't have/don't want to use Inca berries, I'd suggest dried cherries, cranberries or golden raisins as substitutes.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/08/18/nutty-quinoa-inca-berries/

Other recipes using Inca berries from around the web:

High Raw Beet & Hemp Granola from Choosing Raw

Winter Greens & Walnut Salad from Thrive Forward

Green tea with Golden Berries from Meghan Telpner

Superfood Chocolate Cups from Navitas Naturals

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Raw Triple Chocolate Cookies (with Homemade Chocolate Chips!)

I grew up a white chocolate girl. A Milkybar, or even better, a bag of Milkybar buttons, was my favourite sweet treat. My Easter eggs were always white chocolate and Father Christmas even knew to put white chocolate coins in my stocking on Christmas morning!

Somewhere along the road though, I got into dark chocolate. I’m guessing it was when I went vegan and white chocolate automatically became off limits. Whenever the shift happened, now when it comes to chocolate I tend to think that the darker the better.

The white stuff has hardly crossed my mind for years but for some reason I recently started thinking about it and wondering if I could make a homemade version to rival the white chocolate of my youth.

It turns out there are a lot of recipes online so I messed around with a few to come up with my own. I’m pretty happy with the result: It’s sweet-but not too sweet, creamy and melt-in-the-mouth, with none of that waxiness the commercial dairy-free kinds I’ve tried have had. I used the recipe to make white chocolate chips to use in a recipe, though quite a few went straight to my mouth!

I decided a bold, dark chocolate would complement the subtle white chocolate flavour rather nicely so ended up making some raw dark chocolate chips too. Oh so moreish!

The dark chocolate chips were even easier to make than the white, since, because of the higher fat content, white chocolate melts more easily than dark so getting it the right consistency for making chips was a tad trickier. Neither are difficult though, they just take a little time, so you should definitely try making them (full instructions below). And then you can make cookies too!

Seeing as we were in chocolate mode, I didn’t think it could harm to add a little more…and so these Raw Triple Chocolate Cookies were born! A fudgy chocolate base studded with homemade white and dark chocolate chips.

Raw Triple Chocolate Cookies (with Homemade Chocolate Chips!)

Yield: 8 Cookies (+ extra chocolate chips)

Raw Triple Chocolate Cookies (with Homemade Chocolate Chips!)

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Chips

3 Tbsp Melted cacao butter
1/3 C Raw cacao powder
1 Tbsp Coconut OR Agave nectar

White Chocolate Chips

2 Tbsp Melted cacao butter
1-1/2 Tbsp Raw cashew butter
3/4 Tbsp Coconut OR Agave nectar
1/4 tsp Lucuma powder (optional- just adds a hint of caramel flavour)
Pinch of vanilla powder

Raw chocolate cookies

1/2 C Almonds
3/4 C Cashews
Generous pinch of salt
1/2 C (packed) Pitted soft dates (e.g. Medjool)
1/2 Tbsp Coconut oil
1 Tbsp Coconut OR Agave nectar
3/4 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 C Raw cacao powder
1/4 C Homemade chocolate chips ( 2 Tbsp White, 2 Tbsp Dark)

Instructions

To make the chocolate chips

In two separate bowls set over boiling water, whisk together the listed ingredients until smooth.
Spoon each mixture into a small plastic sandwich bag (placed in a glass to hold it upright)
Place the white chocolate in the fridge to firm up a little while you work with the dark.
Cut a tiny end off the sandwich bag and, as if using a piping bag to frost a cake, squeeze little dots of chocolate onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue until all the chocolate is used up. Place the tray in the freezer for at least an hour to firm up.
Repeat the same process with the white chocolate mixture. If the mixture is too thick to pipe, allow to warm at room temperature for a short while and knead the bag gently.
When firm, remove the chocolate chips from the trays and store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer.

To make the cookies:

Grind the nuts into a coarse flour in a food processor. Add the dates, coconut oil, coconut or agave nectar, and vanilla and process again until the mixture comes together. Add the cacao powder and process again to incorporate.
Fold in the chocolate chips, roll into balls and flatten into cookie shapes.
Refrigerate until firm.

Notes

Keep a container of these chocolate chips in the fridge or freezer for whenever you need a little sweet fix!

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/08/15/raw-triple-chocolate-cookies-homemade-chocolate-chips/

What do you think of white chocolate?

If you’re new to Coconut and Berries, please sign up for email updates and join me elsewhere! I’m on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram (@coconutandberries), Google + and Twitter! You can also follow Coconut and Berries with Bloglovin or Feedly.

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