Another Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party Plus …

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Progressive Dinner, dairy free, dessert, easy, gluten free, ice cream, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan · 4 Comments

Next week is the Gluten Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. Yes, all of us are creating a meal related to an Oscar-nominated movie—another brilliant idea from our fearless GFPDP leader, Diane (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang). Won’t it be fun to see what everyone makes? Not only are you guaranteed a variety of wonderful recipes in our monthly GFDP, but there are always recipes to fit everyone’s dietary needs. I’ll be serving my meal on Monday, so please be sure to check in after the weekend.

Today is the Friday Foodie Fix over at Diane’s. The “secret” ingredient is agave nectar. Head over to my Out and About page to see what I’ve created. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: dairy free, GFE, honey, maple, nuts, recipe

Maple-Nut Sundae and Xagave

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, Out and About, dairy free, dessert, easy, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan, vegetarian · 51 Comments

Full disclosure: The nice folks at Xagave sent me some of their Xagave nectar to use at the beginning of the year. They also provided a cookbook, Where Nutritious Meets Delicious, of recipes using Xagave. The Xagave and cookbook for this giveaway were complimentary as well. However, I was not paid to write this post. I am writing the post because I like the taste of the Xagave over other agave nectar products that I have used.

This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix—Agave (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang).

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner of this gfe giveaway—Lauren of Celiac Teen! Thanks to all who entered and special thanks to the Xagave folks for sponsoring the giveaway!

One of the most popular spots in our area is Carl’s Frozen Custard. Carl’s is a family-owned ice cream “mecca.“ Carl’s has been in business since 1947 and still uses its original 1940s Electro-Freeze ice cream machine. Housed in an Art Deco-style building, Carl’s has colorful neon illumination, including a giant cone. As far back as I can remember, we’d go to Carl’s. It’s been on my mind lately because it opened for the season a week ago. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t go to Carl’s as a special treat. We lived a half-hour away so we didn’t visit frequently. Now I still live a half-hour away—just in the other direction—so we still do not visit frequently. That makes any visit to Carl’s a special occasion. However, there was a period of time (part of college and a few years afterwards) when I lived just a mile or two away from Carl’s. In college, I even devised a Carl’s diet. Yes, I’ll admit it. I’d go to Carl’s when it opened at 11:00 am, get a small chocolate shake, inhale it, and then not ingest anything until I ate a small dinner. Oh, I did lose weight, but it was one of several foolhardy dieting strategies of youth and was soon abandoned. (Melissa’s recent post on her fabulous Montana Cookies mentioned The Hollywood Cookie Diet, which reminded me of my short-lived Carl’s Diet.) Because Carl’s is not open year round, we tend to go immediately when it opens for the season, stop a few times during the summer, and then stop by right before it closes in November. There’s always a line of folks waiting (except when it’s closed as shown in my photo). Often it’s a very long line, but the staff is the picture of efficiency, taking no time to exchange pleasantries. Non-locals are often amazed at how short the wait can be.

My favorites at Carl’s have changed over time. There was a period of time where I went for a simple vanilla or chocolate sugar cone. Then, I became somewhat addicted to the maple-nut sundaes. Imagine vanilla frozen custard covered with a gooey mixture of maple syrup and walnuts. Their sundae was way too sweet, but hard to resist at the time. When I became a teenager, hot fudge sundaes with nuts were my order. However, as I became more mobile, sitting to eat a sundae did not seem practical, so I moved on to chocolate shakes. Then one day, Mr. GFE and I were both in line and we heard the person in front of us order a hot fudge shake. Hot fudge shake? We both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and when the cashier/server looked at me for my order, the words, “hot fudge shake” came out. Mr. GFE ordered the same and we’ve never looked back. There’s nothing mysterious about this treat. They simply add a squirt or two of hot fudge to the chocolate milkshake before completing the mechanical stirring action. The flavor is fabulous. We both agree that we could never go back to a regular chocolate shake again. Yes, the hot fudge shake is definitely our choice these days. But, when I saw Diane’s secret ingredient was agave, Carl’s maple-nut sundae came to mind.

I found a maple-walnut syrup recipe at Recipezaar.com that sounded similar to what I wanted. However, it contained corn syrup, maple syrup, and granulated sugar. I omitted the corn syrup, omitted the granulated sugar, and added a small amount of Xagave—all of which increased the ratio of walnuts to syrup. Per the Xagave site, “Xagave is a premium blend of agave nectar derived from organic agave salmiana (white agave) and organic inulin from agave tequilana (blue agave). This combination results in the highest quality nectar with the best taste, best cooking qualities and the most heealth benefits of any nectar on the market; making our nectar the perfect sweetener for all of your cooking, canning, and baking needs.” I actually do like the taste better than any other agave nectar I’ve tasted.

In the end, the taste and consistency of the maple-nut syrup I made using Xagave, maple syrup, and water was just right—plenty sweet, but not too sweet, with softened walnuts hunks, and, of course, no refined sugar. When the maple-nut syrup was finished cooking, the vanilla ice cream was also ready. I waited for the maple-nut syrup to cool just a tad before ladling some over the ice cream. The resulting maple-nut sundae was incredibly good. Then my immediate concern became the fact that I was home alone with enough ice cream and maple-nut syrup to make several sundaes. Miraculously, Son and a buddy of his showed up … whewww, that was close! I fed them lunch and then served their sundaes. Son raved over his sundae, especially how good the walnuts tasted. That’s saying a lot because he typically does not like nuts in his dishes.

This sundae is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, egg free, soy free, and probably “more free,” but it still tastes of indulgence.

Maple-Nut Sundae
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

Vanilla Ice Cream

1/3 cup Xagave (or honey)
3 cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled (2 cans)
1 ½ – 2 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
some scraping from inside one vanilla bean (optional, to taste)

Mix all together in bowl with mixer or in blender. Add to ice cream maker and churn 20 to 30 minutes. Chill in freezer after churning if needed. Scoop and top with maple-nut syrup (recipe below).

Maple-Nut Syrup

1/2 cup Xagave
1 cup maple syrup
½ cup water
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or walnut halves)

Combine Xagave, maple syrup, and water in sauce pan.

Bring to a boil slowly, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat and simmer until syrup thickens, about 15 minutes.

Stir in walnuts; simmer about 5 minutes more. Mixture will thicken upon standing.

Cool enough to serve warm (but not hot) over ice cream or refrigerate and serve later.

Shirley’s Notes: I used a very heavy pan that was much larger than needed so I would not have to worry about stirring constantly to keep the mixture from burning. I loved the process. As the mixture simmered and bubbled, it put on quite a show as you can see from the photo above. The syrup will “harden” quite a bit in the refrigerator. Therefore, reheating or at least allowing syrup to return to room temperature may be necessary if it has been chilled for a long period of time.

It might be Friday, but it’s Sundae time … enjoy!

UPDATE: The Xagave folks are sponsoring a giveaway of a 25-ounce bottle of Xagave and their cookbook, Where Delicious Meets Nutritious. While the cookbook is not exclusively gluten free, most of the recipes are naturally gluten free (e.g., flan) or easily made gluten free (teriyaki sauce).

The deadline for the giveaway is Friday, February 26, 9:00 pm, Eastern.

Here are the many ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Subscribe to my feed via email or RSS and leave a comment saying that you did.
3. Tweet about the giveaway sharing the link and leave a comment saying that you did.
4. Post a message on your Facebook page about the giveaway and leave a comment saying that you did.
5. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying that you did with your link.
6. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment saying that you did.
7. Become a fan of my new gfe-gluten free easily page on Facebook and leave a comment saying that you did.
8. Read and comment on any of the posts in the Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. You can find all the links here. Then leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

All entries will be tracked by the individual comments, so you must enter a separate comment to get an additional entry. One comment showing you did all these things will only be counted as one entry, so please remember to note each by separate entries.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: agave, coconut, cookbook giveaway, dairy free, easy, GFE, giveaway, go ahead honey, honey, maple, nuts, slow cooker

Pleasing Pecan Pie—Raw, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan

February 11, 2010 · Filed Under Suite of Sweets, breakfast, dairy free, dessert, easy, flourless, gluten free, raw, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan · 23 Comments

This post is linked to Friday Foodie Fix–Pecans.

It’s day 4 of SSS—Suite of Sweets for Sweethearts! When I shared My First Raw Pie I mentioned that one of the other recipes I planned to make later was the raw pecan pie. I like pecan pie a lot. It can be a bit intense though—a jolt of sweetness–so it’s not a pie that I make very often. I did make a crustless version for Thanksgiving that my family loved and a few gfe readers have really enjoyed as well. This raw pecan pie appealed to me because it’s naturally gluten free and dairy free. Plus, it takes its sweetness from dates, and honey, if used, which also makes it refined sugar free. If no sweetener or agave nectar is added, this pie will also be vegan.

Like the first raw pie I made, this one has a great taste. It really pretty much tastes like what you expect a pecan pie to taste like … just not over-the-top sweet. Instead, it’s just sweet enough for my taste. And, once again, I was impressed that I could actually cut this raw pie into slices like a traditional baked pie. A small piece is more than enough, because this pie is delightfully dense and filling, although it doesn’t taste “heavy” in any way. I would have a hard time choosing between this raw version and crustless, baked pecan pie. This pie is healthy enough to eat for breakfast and that’s just what I am going to do! (Incidentally, offering a piece for breakfast may be a way to get your raw food skeptics to give it a try.)

Pecan Pie (Raw, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan)
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

2 cups pecans, divided
2 tsp coconut oil (liquefied)
3 tsp honey, divided
½ cup medjool dates, pitted
cinnamon, a few dashes (to taste)
1/3 cup water (may use less if dates are very fresh and juicy)

Crust

1 cup pecans, frozen
2 tbsp coconut oil (liquefied)
1 tsp honey (optional; agave nectar may be used. I did not use either.)

Filling

1 cup pecans
½ cup medjool dates, pitted
2 tbsp honey (optional; agave nectar may be used; but either sweetener is optional. I did not add either.)
A few dashes of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup water (may use less if dates are very juicy)

For crust:

Place 1 cup of frozen pecans in food processor; process 15 to 30 seconds, until mostly ground. (Should not be finely ground, should have a few small pieces still.)

Add coconut oil and honey (if used). Process a few more seconds until the pecans and coconut oil are blended.

Press into 5-inch pie plate (or similar serving dish).

For filling:

Soak medjool dates in 1/3 cup of water for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

Add dates, pecans, and water (after the 10 minutes have passed) to food processor.

Process 15 to 30 seconds or so, slowly adding honey (if used).

Pour filling into crust. Garnish with pecan halves, etc., if desired. Serves 4.

Pie crust adapted from recipe from About.com. Filling adapted from a recipe included in newspaper article attributed to Beth Wood, Creators.com.

Shirley’s Notes: Freezing the pecans is supposed to make them bind better with the shortening to make a more viable crust. I’m not sure if it’s really necessary. I froze my pecan halves fairly quickly by spreading them out on an uncovered cookie sheet in the freezer. However, you can try them without freezing and just process with the coconut oil a shorter amount of time. I liquefied my coconut oil just by having the small amount in a bowl on top of my stove while I baked something else. Melted butter (dairy or non-dairy) can be used instead of coconut oil. (Of course, with the addition of dairy butter, this pie will neither be dairy free nor vegan.) In the filling, ½ cup of raisins and ½ cup pecans can be added instead of 1 cup of pecans. Finally, I used sliced raw almonds and dried cranberries for garnish.