~ RECIPES ~
Recipe: Best Gluten Free Chocolate Dessert of all time
Summary: Many of the gluten free recipes I came across relied way too heavily on ingredients that are just too processed. I am a big fan of using whole foods and I really wanted this to stand out not only as a fabulous gluten free cupcake, but, simply as a fabulous cupcake. My search brought me to a flourless chocolate cake recipe by a blogger named John D Lee. He raved about this recipe and he had me intrigued. (His original recipe can be found at http://johndlee.hubpages.com/hub/Decadent-Gluten-Free-Chocolate-Cake.) Now, I had been looking for cupcakes to serve, so I decided to give this recipe a try with some adaptations to better suit my needs. – Maureen Wheeler
Flour-less Cake
Ingredients
- 3 100 gm, 70% cocoa dark chocolate bars. (I used Green & Blacks)
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1.25 sticks butter
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 t espresso powder (an addition to original recipe)
- 6 eggs (this is a change from original recipe that called for 5)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Melt chocolate, sugar, butter, salt and espresso in double boiler over barely simmering water
- When smooth, remove from heat and let cool for several minutes
- Beat the eggs
- Fold eggs in to chocolate mix
- Pour into 20 muffin cups with paper
- Bake 20 minutes ( until toothpick comes out clean)
Expresso Cream
Ingredients
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 3 T 10x sugar
- 3t Espresso Powder
- High quality milk chocolate bar
Instructions
- Pour cold cream into bowl of stand mixer
- Add confectioners sugar and espresso powder
- Whip till forms stiff peaks
- Transfer to pastry bag
- Decorate cakes
- Shave .5 oz (or less) of high quality milk chocolate
- Sprinkle a dusting of shaved chocolate on top
Maureen Wheeler reversed her own autoimmune diagnosis 5 years ago after discovering a hidden gluten intolerance and following an anti-inflammatory diet. Within 6 months she went from being bedridden to training for a half marathon. She knew that many more people were suffering needlessly and decided to become certified as a Holistic Health Coach so she could improve the health and happiness of so many more people. She lives a happy, healthy and active life in Vermont with her husband, 3 sons, dog, cat and flock of hens. You can visit Maureen at www.itsallconnectedliving.com or email her at maureen@itsallconnectedliving.com
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Recipe: Holiday Rice Burgers
Summary: Can you incorporate healthy cooking into your jam-packed holiday? Of course you can with Julie’s simple, tasty and healthy recipe that can serve the whole family. Julie specializes in teaching others to incorporate whole foods into their diet so they can boost energy, improve sexual health, and nurture loving relationships. We could all use a little more of that this time of year!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Lundberg Christmas RiceÒ or brown rice medley, rinsed
- 4 cups spring water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- ½ cup parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons safflower oil shoyu soy sauce, to taste
- ¼ cup pecans, toasted
Instructions
- In a saucepan, soak rice overnight in water.
- Add salt and cover.
- Bring to boil, lower heat, and simmer 50 minutes.
- Let rice cool. Stir in tahini and parsley.
- Wet hands and shape into burgers.
- Heat oil in skillet and panfry each burger until browned on each side.
- Season with shoyu, to taste.
- Garnish with toasted pecans.
Number of servings (yield): 12
Julie S. Ong is the author of The Everything® Guide to Macrobiotics, certified macrobiotic counselor, natural chef, and spiritual life coach, Julie S. Ong helps men and women of all ages discover the healing and wellness powers of macrobiotics. To find out how she can help you take your health to the next level, visit her site at http://everythingmacrobiotics.com/
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Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced, leaving a few half moon pieces for decoration
- 1/2 onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp ground dried sage
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (or parmesan cheese)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 egg used as binder for firmness, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Saute onion in medium saucepan for 3 to 5 minutes or until translucent.
- Add garlic and saute 1 minute.
- Add rinsed quinoa and vegetable stock; bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat to low. Simmer until all liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let stand until ready to use.
- While quinoa is cooking, place diced and half moons of squash onto a large baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with olive oil and dried sage.
- Mix well with hands, spread out evenly over sheet and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes.
- When quinoa is finished, remove squash from oven. Stir together quinoa, squash, nutritional yeast (or parmesan), salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
- Coat a glass pie plate with olive oil.
- In a sunburst pattern, display the half moons at the bottom of the plate, then press quinoa mixture on top to fill remainder of plate.
- Bake 20 minutes.
- Let cool 5 minutes then invert onto a serving plate. Decorate with fresh sage for presentation if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Stanzi Allan Pouthier is devoted to guiding others to connect with their health and happiness. She facilitates seasonal holistic raw food cleanses through her website http://www.VitalityVentures.com and will be launching Holimama.com in 2012 – a source for holistic mothering, from SuperNutrition to SuperBliss.
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Recipe: Buttercup Pie
Summary: So fast, easy and healthy in just 3 minutes! Dairy Free and Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups of cooked Buttercup Squash (To bake it, cut the squash in half, take out the seeds and bake cut side face-down for about 1 hour, until soft at 350.)
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger (or less if you don’t love it)
- sprinkle of nutmeg
- dash of sea salt.
Instructions
- Blend it all up in food processor.
- Pour into a greased pie plate
- Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, and then 350 for 30 minutes or until set and slightly brown.
Nina Manolson MA, CHC, is a Certified Health Coach, Family Wellness Expert and Smokin’ Hot Mom Mentor. She helps busy moms who are overwhelmed and overextended step back into self-care, healthy food and their smokin’ hot self, so they love their body and their life. She also teaches conscientious moms how to make healthy happen in their family. She is the author of the soon to be released ebook: “How to feed your kids well in a world that doesn’t. For more healthy recipes visit: http://www.smokinhotmom.com/blog/
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Recipe: Healthy Chocolate Fudge -Raw. Gluten Free. Dairy Free.
Summary: How do I stay clear of all the sugar-laden sweets that are everywhere during this season (actually, year round as well)? I make my own healthy versions! What I love about this Healthy Fudge recipe is that you can make it an everyday treat or dress it up for company. Also, it’s protein-rich, so you won’t have that sugar roller-coaster that can leave you feeling tired and irritable. -Nina Manolson
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almond butter
- 1/2 cup raw cacao powder – here’s a primer on Raw Cacao.
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (set aside to stir in separately)
- 4 tablespoons coconut butter or oil (if your almond butter is very oily, use less coconut oil or butter) – Coconut butter is thicker and richer
- 8 soaked, pitted dates (soak dates until they soften)
- 1 tablespoon of grated organic orange peel (optional or put less if you don’t want it too orangey)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- How to:
- Put all of the above in the food processor
- Get it nice and pasty, so it moves around the food processor in a ball
- Hand stir-in thin walnuts
- There are several ways to serve these depending on how fancy you want to be:
- Roll into bite size balls and roll in dried coconut – like a truffle.
- Roll into a log, cover with parchment, then plastic wrap and chill in freezer. This is an easy method for always having a sweet on hand. Then you can just slice a thin piece of it whenever you want.
- Spread it into a square cake pan (this looks more like traditional fudge)
- Put it in a small, round spring-form pan and chill. When you are ready to serve, pop your fudge out of the spring-form pan, cut it into little wedges – like tiny pie pieces – and serve on a plate with some fresh fruit. Very elegant.
- Really…make any shape you choose, put it in the freezer to set.
- I usually serve it straight from the freezer, either in balls like a truffle or thin slices off a log.
Diet tags: Gluten free, Raw
Nina Manolson MA, CHC, is a Certified Health Coach, Family Wellness Expert and Smokin’ Hot Mom Mentor. She helps busy moms who are overwhelmed and overextended step back into self-care, healthy food and their smokin’ hot self, so they love their body and their life. She also teaches conscientious moms how to make healthy happen in their family. She is the author of the soon to be released ebook: “How to feed your kids well in a world that doesn’t. For more healthy recipes visit: http://www.smokinhotmom.com/blog/
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Recipe: Raw Kale Salad With Toasted Walnuts And Cranberries
Summary: Kale is addicting for those of you who are new to this veggie. It’s a great addiction to have because we require lots of daily greens to nourish our bodies and create health. I love this salad because it’s got just enough salt, sweet and bitter all wrapped up in one and a little crunch which completes it perfectly. Works as a wonderful side dish or as the main course. It’s super easy and quick; you can’t go wrong.
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch of kale, remove the stems and slice to bite sized pieces.
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh)
- 1/4 cup high quality olive oil
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1/8 t. celtic sea salt
- 1/3 cup toasted walnuts
- 1/2 cup cranberries (dried, unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
- 1 T finely shredded basil
Instructions
- Place the kale in a large mixing bowl.
- Add lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and salt.
- Gently massage the kale to soften for about one minute.
- Let sit while you toast the walnuts in a pan.
- Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.
- Allow the salad to soften for 15 minutes before serving.
- I hold off on adding the walnuts until serving for extra crunch.
Number of servings (yield): 4