Vegan Deviled Eggs - Egg, Dairy, Soy, Wheat/Gluten Free

  I haven't been posting on here much lately because I've been really sick. I had strep throat that lasted almost a month and a sinus infection thrown in for good measure. My awesome husband stepped up to take care of the boys, keep the house clean, and make sure no one starved while I lay about in a fever stupor, but it turns out he's not a very good cook (sorry, Chris!).
  So now that I'm feeling better, I thought I'd try out an experiment. This recipe came about because, while in the very worst stages of strep, I could not swallow almost anything and only eating popsicles and vegetable broth for weeks was really starting to wear me down. I needed some calories! I'd read that turmeric and garlic both had anti-inflammatory properties, so I thought I'd make some bland mashed potatoes with a dash of each. Well the resulting potatoes were light yellow and tasted just like hard boiled egg yolks. This got my wheels turning. Could I make deviled eggs?? I love love love deviled eggs but haven't had any for years and because of Jack's allergies, how sad that he would never know the joy of a good deviled egg?
  So I set out to find if it could be done. I found a few recipes here and here, which were good starting points but as both contained soy and Vegenaise (which contains rice), I really just used them for reference. The results came out fantastic. I was really shocked by the flavor and texture of the whites! They are so mush like the real thing! I only wish the edges had come out a little smoother from the mold but if I was really looking to impress I could probably clean them up with a sharp knife.

For this recipe, you really must have 3 important things:

• Black Salt (NOT black sea salt, but Indian black salt also called Kala Namak, which has a sulfurous, egg-y flavor)

• Agar agar powder

• a half egg shaped mold, unless you don't care if they are egg shaped or not. (My mold made eight 2 1/2 inch eggs)

So without further ado, here's the recipe!

Vegan Deviled Eggs 

Whites:

1 cup unsweetened plain coconut milk
1 tsp agar powder
1/8 tsp black salt

Yolks:
1 medium potatoes, skinned, cooked, and mashed (or 1 cup instant mashed potatoes made with just water)
1/3 cup unsweetened plain coconut milk
1 Tbs prepared mustard
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 Tbs dill relish (if desired)

Paprika to garnish

In a small saucepan, bring egg white ingredients to a boil, stirring frequently. Try not to create too many bubbles while stirring, as it will just create more work for you later. Remove from heat, pour mixture into egg molds. Using a spoon, scrape any bubbles off of the top. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix all yolk ingredients together, set aside.

Once eggs whites are set, using a melon baller or small spoon, scrape out half sphere holes near the middle of each.

Pop the whites out of the mold by inserting a butter knife or similar object in between one side.
Scoop egg yolk mixture into a zippered plastic bag and cut off just the tip on one bottom corner.  Pipe mixture into holes scraped in egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika and serve or keep refrigerated up to 3 days. These are suitable for an outside picnic as they do not need to be kept cool to retain their shape (something I was worried about) and they won't spoil as easily as their actual egg counterparts.

Turkey Corn Dog Bites- Dairy, Egg, Wheat/Gluten Free

  Ian's Natural Foods has a whole line of allergy-free, kid friendly frozen foods, like fish sticks and chicken nuggets. They also have these great Jack friendly turkey corn dog bites that we love, but they are a tad on the pricey side and I tend to shy away from pre-packaged foods if possible, so I tried my hand at making them myself.
  I was able to make a reasonable facsimile. I think that if these were frozen while the batter was still raw and then baked, they may be even better, and I'd like to try that next time!

Turkey Corn Dog Bites

1 package turkey hot dogs, room temperature and cut into fourths
1/4 package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free corn bread mix
1 Tbl sugar
Ener-G egg replacer for 2 eggs
1 Tbl Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread, melted
3/4 cup or so plain unsweetened coconut milk or other non dairy milk
olive oil to grease plate

Pre-heat your deep fryer to 375*
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together corn bread mix and sugar. Stir in egg replacer and melted earth balance. Start adding in milk 1/4 cup at a time, stirring thoroughly, until mixture is the consistency of a milkshake.
Grease a plate generously with olive oil.
Dry hot dog pieces well with a paper towel and then dunk them into the corn mixture. Set dipped pieces on greased plate until you have enough for a fryer batch (for my Presto Cool Daddy, that was about 13 pieces).
Fry for about 5 minutes, until golden and beginning to brown. Drain well on brown paper bag and serve.

*If you do not have a deep fryer, you can pan fry these on your stove top in corn oil or your other favorite kind of oil for 4-5 minutes per side.
You can also try baking these at 400 for about 20 minutes, but this is just my best guess as I have NOT tried baking these before. You will have to use your judgement whether it needs more or less time.

 

Cereal Bar Treats - Dairy, Soy, Wheat/Gluten Free

  We had lots of cereal that was going (or already) stale on our pantry shelves. I was just about to throw it out when I thought, well, I might as well try to make rice-crispy type things out of them and see how they come out. The worst that could happen was I would still end up throwing it out.

  I just started melting random stuff in a pot and lucky for my dear husband, these came out tasting like crunchy Reese's. "Oh my god.... you have GOT to write that recipe down" is just about the best compliment a wife can get :D


Cereal Bar Treats

1/2 cup honey, agave nectar, or corn syrup
3/4 cup natural peanut butter (or other nut or seed butter)
3 Tbl Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread
1 cup allergen free marshmallows
2 cups cereal of choice (We used a mix of stale Honey Kix, Honey Nut Chex, and plain Corn Chex)
1/3 cup or so vegan chocolate chips
olive oil for greasing the pan
1 pinch sea salt

Generously grease a small cake pan or casserole dish with olive oil. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat honey, peanut butter, and Earth Balance over medium heat and stir until smooth. Add in marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Fold in cereal and continue folding until evenly coated. Toss in chocolate chips and stir just a few times, enough to spread  them throughout the mixture. They will melt, but you are trying to keep the melted chocolate from completely mixing into the peanut butter. You want to have a marbled effect so some bites have more peanut butter and some have more chocolate.
Spread mixture into the cake pan and pat with a wet spatula until well packed and level. Sprinkle the top with a pinch of sea salt.
Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, until set. Cut into bars and enjoy!

These do not hold up after a few minutes at room temperature, so store in an air tight container in the fridge and serve chilled.

Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

  This is just a quick recipe and no picture as my camera STILL is m.i.a. but I found this on Pinterest using regular potatoes and I decided to try it with some sweet potatoes we had laying around and oh my goodness!! These were just like store bought chips, but they took me 6 minutes to make!
 These are so quick, you can whip some up to go with your sandwich for lunch.

Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

one medium sweet potato, scrubbed
about 2 tsp olive oil
about 1 tsp salt
optional seasonings, like chipotle powder or my favorite, lemon pepper seasoning

Slice sweet potato into very thin slices, 1/8 of an inch or less (I highly recommend a mandolin for this). Toss slices and all other ingredients together in a bowl until well coated.
Pour a drop or two of olive oil on a microwave safe plate and use a paper towel to spread it around. Place potato slices in a single layer on plate (you'll have to do a few batches). Microwave for 4 minutes, then carefully turn slices over and cook for another 2 minutes. Move to a cool plate and they will crisp up in seconds as they cool. Presto, perfect potato chips!

Daiya, you had me at Havarti!

  It's no small secret that we LOVE Diaya cheese in this house. Their mozzarella is fabulous on pizzas and other italian dishes, the chedddar makes the absolute best vegan macaroni and cheese, and their pepperjack in bean and 'cheese' taquitos is to die for.
  So imagine my so-excited-I-almost-wet-myself happy dance I did in Central Market when I came across Daiya's new product, Cheese Wedges.
  Oh. My. Gosh.
  I bought a cheddar wedge and a (are you ready for it?) Havarti jalepeno and garlic wedge. What now? YEAH, you read that right!! They also make a jack style wedge but I didn't buy it. I haven't even tried the cheddar one yet but I'm sure it will be fantastic. I'm here to talk about this jalepeno garlic soft cheese.
  Right out of the fridge, it was soft but not like cream cheese or anything. In fact I tried to scrape some up with a Glutino pretzel (The absolute best wheat free vegan pretzels) and my pretzel broke. However, I put a scoop in a microwave safe dish and heated it for about 15 seconds. It was semi-solid looking but after a good stir the whole thing became smooth and creamy and it was so good it made me weak in the knees! It tasted like spicy spinach and artichoke dip, and I bet it I added some cooked spinach and artichokes and then broiled it quickly with some bread crumbs on top, this would be the most fabulous allergen free spinach/artichoke dip in the entire world. Seriously. Even my dad, who is not feeling the allergen free foods, thought this was amazing. You should definitely give these wedges a try!
  We ate the whole package over the weekend, but next time I go to Central Market I will buy another and I will make this with spinach and artichoke and see if it's as good as I think it's going to be!! :D

Allergy Free Homemade "Cheese-Its"

I would like to start by thanking Fork and Beans for this amazing recipe! A close friend of our family found this recipe and forwarded it to me and to be honest I thought it wouldn't be worth the effort but I was wonderfully mistaken! These are FABULOUS!!

Just a side note, if you have young children with food allergies, use discretion when replicating popular allergen-containing snack foods (especially those that look and taste an awful lot like the real things, as these do!) because it may make it difficult for them to determine if a food is safe or not when they are away from you, like at school or on a play date.

Allergy Free "Cheese-Nots"

3/4 cup wheat free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Daiya Cheddar Shreds (this might be good with Pepper Jack too!)
3 Tbs Soy Free Earth balance buttery spread
1 Tbsp cold water
About 1 Tbsp ourse salt for sprinkling

Pre heat oven to 375.
In a small bowl, stir flour, xanthan gum, and salt together until well blended. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat Earth Balance and Daiya together with a hand mixer until well blended. (You can also just use a fork and good ol' fashioned arm muscles!) Pour half of the flour mixture into the cheese/butter bowl and stir until nicely blended, then add the remaining flour mixture and stir until incorporated.
Add cold water and mix. You want the dough to be ever so slightly crumbly, not sticky at all, but wet enough that you can form it into a ball. If it's too dry, add water 1/2 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.
On parchment lined surface, knead the dough into a smooth ball. Divide the dough in half and place one part in a bowl in the fridge. Roll the remaining half between two sheets of parchment to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a pizza wheel (or pastry cutter if you want to get fancy!) cut the dough into 1 inch squares. Using very gentle fingers or a metal spatula, move each square onto a large parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1/2 inch of space in between each square. Once all squares are on your sheet, use a narrow straw to poke a hole in the center of each square. This isn't necessary but it gives it the authentic Cheese-It look! Sprinkle very lightly with coarse salt. Place sheet in the freezer for at least 10 minutes while you roll and cut the other half of the dough ball.
Bake for 17-20 minutes.

Go Raw Super Cookies

 Sorry, this is not a recipe. Yesterday while in Central Market, I was wandering down an isle and saw an area I'd never seen before: the raw food section. Now while I personally think that raw is best, (obviously raw foods contain more nutrients, fiber, and enzymes than cooked foods) we do not actively strive to eat a mostly raw diet or anything because frankly it seems super daunting and all I imagine is carrot sticks and salads. Well, and yummy green smoothies, but I digress.
 So as I'm just casually looking at the raw food area, I see something called "Super Cookies". There were roughly 10 different flavors (Super Chips, too!). What really caught my eye was that they posted the ingredient list in large print right on the front of the package. That's bold and screams to me "We're PROUD of this stuff." There's no hard to pronounce chemical preservatives, no funky fillers that make you scratch your head pondering their presence (like the time we found milk as an ingredient in plain pre-cooked chicken breast strips...wtf?). Just simple organic ingredients, and thankfully no rice, or oat in most flavors.
 But the real question is, how do they taste!? We tried the Masala Chai flavored cookies and first of all, these little things are only about the size of a quarter, and the serving size listed on the package is 18 pieces, yikes! So for my $6 there's really only 3 servings, but thankfully Jack is not interested in eating that much of anything all at once. They taste sweet but not cloyingly so, nowhere near it. They have a spicy, earthy flavor. They are crispy, but both boys seemed not to be put off by that in the least. I'd say that these were a big hit. And another MAJOR plus... they don't crumble, there are no crumbs coming off these babies!
 So for a quick healthy snack that packs a major nutritional punch and that fits in the diaper bag easily and isn't messy, these are well worth the semi-ridiculous price tag, in my opinion. I'm sold!!