Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Coconut Bars May 27, 2012

 

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! We had a nice little get together and BBQ at our house on Sunday. It was the first of (hopefully) many outdoor shin-digs at our new house! We had a ton of fun grilling veggie burgers, chatting with friends, letting the kids get soaked in the kiddie pool, and enjoying the sunshine! One of my favorite parts of the day were these lemon-coconut bars. They are so so good! Nobody could tell they were vegan or gluten-free!

 

There are two things that make these bars unique. The first is that the filling has tofu in it! So not only are these bars much lower in fat the the real deal, they are also much higher in protein! For those of you trying to avoid soy, you can try subbing coconut cream in for the tofu. The second unique thing about these bars is that the shortbread crust has no butter OR margarine it it! Instead I use a mixture of coconut oil and coconut butter. For those who have never used coconut butter before it is heavenly! I highly recommend it! It is great in smoothies, used as a butter substitute, or just spread on a piece of toast with a drizzle of agave and sprinkling of cinnamon! YUM!

 

Anyways, back to my bars…

 

Gluten Free and Vegan Lemon-Coconut Bars

by Katie Barlow

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

 

Ingredients (24 bars)

For the crust

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 2/3 cup organic powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup coconut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling

• 1 cup silken tofu
• 2 cups organic cane sugar
• Zest from 3 lemons
• 2/3 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• coconut flakes (to sprinkle on top)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350degF and lightly grease a 9x13inch baking pan.

For the crust

Pulse the flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor.

Add the coconut oil and coconut butter a tablespoon at a time and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Add the mixture to the baking pan and press firmly into an even layer.

Bake for 20 minutes (you want the crust to be slightly under-done because it will continue to bake with the filling).

Remove from oven and let cool.

For the filling

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and well mixed.

Pour the filling over the shortbread and sprinkle with coconut flakes.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the center is firm.

Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Allow the bars to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before slicing into bars.

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Kitchen Sink Bars September 23, 2011

 

We are going camping this weekend! Ok we are bringing an RV, does it still count? As always, I am in charge of the food. Camping food should be portable, simple to make and eat, and filling. Since we have an RV we have a little more flexibility because we have an oven, a stovetop, and a microwave. I know, we are totally cheating!! Although, I do not really plan to use anything except maybe the microwave. Here is what we are bringing for food for our two day camping trip:

 

Chia Oatmeal

Bananas

Tons of Fruit

Rainbow Kale Salad

Field Roast Sausages

Sprouted Buns

Hummus and raw veggies

sweet potatoes

Sprouted bread

peanut butter

jelly

Collard greens (For banana peanut butter collard wraps)

vegan marshmallows

chocolate

vegan graham crackers

and these bars…

 

I call them the kitchen sink bars because they have so many different things in them. I kind of love that about them. They are also moist unlike most energy bars, and the best part is they have no sugar! They are sweetened with date paste and a little bit of brown rice syrup! These are definitely bars I feel good about eating and giving out to the people I love!

 

One note about these bars, I used dried cherries and apricots because that is what I had on hand and I do not love the combination. Especially with the little bit of chocolate I put in these bars, it is a bit too tart. Next time I might just do cherries and leave out the apricots, or do apricots and leave out the chocolate, or make them tropical with some papaya and pineapple!

 

As always, the measurements here are approximate. I am really bad about actually taking the time to measure out specific ingredients so take this recipe as a general guideline and feel free to add less or more of something to suit your preference and taste! Also, substitutions here are really easy! The only think I would not change is the dates and the quinoa flakes/oats measurements. Everything else is fair game!

 

Kitchen Sink Bars

Vegan, Soy Free, Gluten Free, Can be Raw

Makes 16 Bars

 

8oz pitted dates

1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes or old fashioned oats, finely ground

1/2 cup hazelnuts, finely ground

1 cup pecans, finely ground

2 small handfuls dried cherries, chopped

2 small handfuls dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup sprouted buckwheat groats

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (I use enjoy life brand)

2 dashes cinnamon

3 tablespoon brown rice syrup

 

1. Cover the dates with water and let sit a couple of hours until plump and soft.

2. Place the dates and water in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Add the date paste and the rest of the ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.

4. Heat the oven to 350degF and grease an 8” square pan with coconut oil, or line it with parchment paper.

5. Pour the mixture into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for thirty minutes until dry but not hard. Cool to room temperature before slicing into bars.

 

Raw version: replace the flakes/oats with buckwheat groats and dehydrate in a dehydrator until firm.

Socca pizza!! March 9, 2011

 

Never heard of it? Neither had I until I found the Pure2Raw blog. Michelle and Lori are kind of obsessed with socca. They even have a socca tribute on their blog. check it out here.

 

As soon as I read about socca on the Pure2Raw blog, I knew it was a recipe I had to try. What I like about this recipe is that it is really simple to make, uses minimal ingredients, and is so versatile. This recipe is easily adaptable to be sweet or savory and can be customized in an infinite amount of ways. The only specialty ingredient that is called for is Garbanzo bean flour, which can be found at your local health food store and is actually very cheap!

 

So I immediately put this on my list of “recipes I must try soon!” and, of course, forgot about it! Then I saw this post on The Edible Perspective and thought “What a perfect way to try my first Socca! Make a Pizza!” So I went to the store bought some garbanzo bean flour and made my first socca!

 

 

This is my Socca Crust fresh out of the oven! I decided to top my socca pizza with homemade raw pesto, Field Roast sausage, and sun-dried tomatoes.

 

 

The result? YUM! Eddie just thought is was okay. He thought it was a bit bland and a little too dry. Personally, I loved the texture. It was a bit bland, but I did that on purpose. I wanted the toppings to really stand out on my pizza, not be overshadowed by the crust. Like I mentioned above, this recipe is so customizable, so you can easily add herbs and spices to make the crust more tasty!

 

I cannot wait to make socca again. And with how easy it is, I will probably make it again soon! Next time I am going to try a breakfast socca topped with bananas, almond butter, coconut, and some maple syrup! How amazing does that sound?!!

  Socca Pizza

Makes two 9 inch crusts

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2 cups Garbanzo Bean Flour

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup olive oil

2 pinches salt

Any pizza toppings you like

 

Directions:

 

1. Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk until combined. The batter will be very watery.

2. Pour into two well buttered 9” cake pans and bake at 400degF for 40 minutes.

3. Allow crusts to cool slightly, about 15 minutes and decrease oven temperature to 350degF.

4. Remove crusts from cake pans onto a large baking sheet. Add pizza toppings and place back in oven for another 10-20 minutes until toppings are cooked through. Serve immediately.

Decadent Gluten Free Vegan Brownies March 4, 2011

These brownies are insane!!! Rich, gooey, intensely chocolatey, everything you could want in a brownie. You would never know these are vegan, let alone gluten free! We make these brownies almost every time we have company for dinner because they never disappoint! Vegans and Omnivores all RAVE about these brownies.

 

There are a couple secrets that make these brownies so rich and fudgy. First, I use Authentic Foods Bette’s Featherlight Rice Flour Blend for the gluten free flour. This flour is super-fine and makes the dough extra creamy and smooth and leaves no funky taste. All you taste is rich chocolate! You can find this flour at Whole Foods or order it on Amazon.

 

The second secret is using coconut cream. Coconut cream is different than coconut milk. Coconut milk is what you get when you buy a can of coconut milk at the store and shake it really well. To get coconut cream, buy a can of coconut milk (I like Thai Kitchen brand), and DO NOT SHAKE IT! Open it up and the extra thick

paste-like cream at the top of the can is the coconut cream. You only want this part! Scoop it out into a measuring cup and use it in the recipe. What will be left in the can after you have scooped out all the coconut cream is a thin milky watery substance, this is the coconut water that separated out of the coconut milk. I like to save it and use it in smoothies.

 

Now go get yourself to whole foods and buy some gluten-free flour and a can of coconut milk and make these brownies NOW!!

 

  Decadent Gluten Free Vegan Brownies

Yields an 8" square pan

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Authentic Foods Bette’s Gourmet Featherlight Rice Flour Blend
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Thai kitchen full fat coconut cream (The thick part scooped out of the top of an unshaken can of coconut milk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 8" square brownie pan.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the coconut cream, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla.

4. Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour into your prepared pan — the mixture will be somewhat thick, so use a spatula or your fingers to make sure the mixture is distributed evenly to the edges of the pan. Bake 15 minutes if you like really gooey brownies, 20 minutes if you want them to be a bit firmer — the top will be set, but a tester should still have a bit of fudgy goo instead of set crumbs.

7. Remove from the oven, let cool, and devour. Like most brownies, these are best when they’ve set for at least an hour.

Hello! And Welcome to My New Blog! September 6, 2010

 

I’ve been wanting to start blogging again for some time but life and such always seemed to get in the way. I moved from San Francisco down to Camarillo, CA and my whole routine got turned upside-down. Once things got settled, I got a job as a chef cooking lunch for a small 8 person company. That was so much fun and I would have loved to blog about it but I couldn’t take pictures of the food I made and I was so exhausted after work that I just never could get myself motivated to start a blog. When I ended up getting an office job after my short stint as a chef I was determined to start writing a blog again… but then I got pregnant… and with this incredible and exciting news came horrible morning sickness. I did not even want to go near a kitchen to save my life, let alone cook, take pictures, and write about food! Well, I am now 21 weeks pregnant, the morning sickness has finally gone away, and I find myself with  a renewed sense of energy and motivation! So here…finally…is my new blog where I will chronicle my life of delicious vegan food, eco-friendly living, puppies, and becoming a new mom!

 

This labor day weekend was a pretty productive one for me! My friend Michelle came over and we baked up some vegan goodies! We are experiment and perfecting some recipes in the hopes that we can start selling vegan, raw, and gluten free goodies at the farmers market soon! This weekend I made some mini vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache:

 

Excuse the picture. I have not used my camera or Photoshop in a little while and I am RUSTY! This is definitely a recipe-in-progress. This is the second batch I made and they definitely turned out better than the first batch which completely sunk in after they were finished baking! However, these little guys still need work. I can’t wait until I perfect this recipe because next on the list is gluten-free cupcakes!

 

I also made some gluten free zucchini chocolate chip loaves:

 

I made the non-gluten free version last week and they came out great! For this version I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour and it came out better than I thought but I’m not a huge fan of this brand of gluten free flour. Anyone have any brands of gluten free all purpose flour they like to use? Or any advice on how to make your own?

 

 

On another note, I decided to start my own herb garden this weekend as well! I planted organic heirloom tomatoes, chives, dill, parsley, and basil. My dog decided to dump out the dill pot, I replanted it, and he dumped out all the soil again! So I have no idea if that one will produce any sprouts but I hope so! I am completely new to gardening and really have no idea what I am doing so this is a learning experience for me and I will definitely let you all know how it goes and share the tips I learn along the way. Any tips from all you experienced gardeners out there are greatly appreciated!

 

This little guy is a pepper plant my mother-in-law gave to us about a month or so ago and it was growing very nicely in the pot in front of the window of our kitchen. It finally outgrew the pot so I decided to replant that one in our backyard in the ground. That was an adventure! We had a little area with dead rosebushes so I dug out the rosebushes (wow was that a task!) and then loosened up the soil and mixed it with some organic potting soil and transplanted the little plant to the ground. We watered it really well to make sure the soil is moist enough for the roots to grow. I really hope this little guy thrives but with the soil being so barren and not much sun hitting the area where he now lives, I think he is going to have to be strong! I’m hoping with some tender love and care he does well.

 

Well I got some vegan chocolate chip cookies in the oven ready to come out and this post is long enough as is so I hope you all had a great labor day weekend and I will try to write again soon!