GF Leek and Pepperjack Quiche

Happy Halloween!  For me, it was a day of corn mazing, apple picking, and pie/quiche making!

I used these great gluten free pre-made pie crusts to simplify the process.  I got them at Whole Foods.  They are made with brown rice flour and have zero grams of sugar per serving.  Whole Foods also makes their own brand of GF pie crust, if you're interested.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 gluten free, ready-made pie crust
- 1 extra large organic leek 
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 T unsalted (cultured, organic) butter

- 1 1/4c shredded (organic) pepperjack cheese
- 1 T amaranth flour (or your other GF favorite)

- 4 (omega-enriched) eggs
- 1 2/3 c plain kefir (*or your heavy dairy of choice, it should not be fat free.  I incorporated some organic evaporated milk I had left over from making pumpkin pies)
- freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

-Melt butter in fry pan and saute chopped leek and garlic until it begins to brown slightly
-Evenly spread into pie crust 

-Toss flour into shredded cheese
-Add cheese into pie crust, on top of leeks and garlic

-In a bowl, whisk eggs and kefir well
-Pour into pie crust
-Top with freshly ground pepper

-Place in oven, preheated to 445, for 15 minutes
-Reduce oven heat to 340
-Bake an additional 30 minutes
-Allow to cool slightly on cooling rack


Makes one 9-inch quiche.  Serves 6 generously.

It must be the garlic, but these smell AMAZING.  Gave my whole home a great, savory aroma.  Taste great, too!  Very simple recipe for a nice brunch.

GF Pumpkin Squash Chocolate Chip Cookies

A re-vamp of Grandma C's famous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

http://foodieforfoodies.blogspot.com/2012/09/pumpkin-strikes-back.html
(original recipe at ^link)

The adjustments include using squash from our CSA farm share.  Also I used a (gluten free!) mixture of almond and amaranth flours, coconut oil, and bananas instead of sugar.
-No sugar added
-Gluten free
-No canned ingredients / BPA
-Whole grain
-Whole food

INGREDIENTS and DIRECTIONS:

1/3c coconut oil
2 mashed bananas
1 egg
1t vanilla
2t baking powder
1/2 t sea salt
1t freshly ground nutmeg
1.5 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger

Beat together in a standing mixer.


2c squash puree (pumpkin or other squash)
2c amaranth flour
3/4 c almond flour
1t xanthan gum

Mix until just combined.


1c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Gently mix.


Plop spoonfuls onto 2 cookie sheets, greased with more coconut oil.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly and EAT!


Super delish, super natural, keeping it groovy.

Diabetes-Friendly Strawberry Waffles

With Hubs' diabetes, and my love of waffles, I tried to bridge the gap with this recipe.  Unsweetened, but full of sweet flavor from pureed strawberries.  Instead of wheat flour, I used both high-protein almond flour and lower-glycemic organic barley flour.

1c Bob's Red Mill almond meal/flour 

1c organic barley flour

½ t baking soda

1t baking powder

1t salt

1t cinnamon

1 c buttermilk

2 eggs

½ t vanilla

0.5 lb strawberries, rinsed and sliced (that’s about 1c pureed or 1.5c sliced)

Preheat waffle iron until smoking hot, and grease very well with coconut oil, grape seed oil, or unsalted butter.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

Beat eggs and buttermilk together in blender.  Add sliced strawberries and blend until smooth and combined. This should make about 2-3c of liquid.

Pour liquid into bowl of dry ingredients and stir lightly to just combine. Do not over-blend.

Cook in greased waffle iron on MED-LOW (3 on a 7-point heat scale), about 1/2c at a time.

If you make 7 waffles, they will each have just under 200 calories, be ALL NATURAL, and be a pretty pink inside!

Raw Blackberry-Ricotta Tart

Its so raw, that its frozen.

Not exactly what you'd expect in the winter, but I am tooling with date-based recipes at present.

INGREDIENTS:

CRUST 

2 c pitted Medjool dates (about 12)

¼ c water

 ...

1c rolled oats

¼ c unsweetened shredded coconut

½ c slivered almonds

pinches of sea salt and ground cloves

¼ t ground cinnamon

¼ c water

DAIRY FILLING

2c part skim ricotta cheese

½ c plain Greek yogurt

1T local honey

1t orange zest

¼ t vanilla

TOPPING

2c+ blackberries, rinsed and dried

DIRECTIONS:

Use a food processor (or, less preferably, a blender) to combine dates with water until mostly smooth.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the mix.  Use as much of the 1/4 c water as necessary.  Blend until well combined and moist.  Smooth this crust mixture into a pie or tart pan, smoothing it up onto the sides a bit.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a couple hours.  I refrigerated overnight.

Later, mix together the dairy layer until smoothly combined.  Smooth over the crust and add whatever fruit topping you want.  Allow to freeze for a good 2 hours-- long enough so the Dairy layer is solid enough to be cut, but not so long that the berries become little ice rocks.

If you don't consume it all after the 2 hours in the freezer, cut the rest into slices (it will be impossible to cut once its frozen solid), place back in freezer, and be aware it will need to thaw out a bit before eating later.  Makes a lovely breakfast the next morning!