Product Reco: Hail Merry Miracle Tarts

So these little gems have been at my local Whole Foods for some time now. And let me tell you, they are A. Mazing. They’re gluten-free. Dairy-free. Egg-free. Refined-sugar-free. Grain-free. And chock-full of healthy yumminess with raw coconut oil, almond flour, cashews, and unrefined sweeteners like palm sugar.

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Gluten-Free Vegan Spicy Zucchini Brownies

Sometimes ingredient substitutions work perfectly, and you’d never know you’d swapped something out. And other times, the substitution turns the recipe into something completely different. The latter is exactly what happened when I made Dr. Liz’s gluten-free zucchini bread last weekend. Zucchini bread became brownies.

Gluten-free baked goods are tricky for me, because often they contain eggs or egg whites for lift and moisture. And at present (and it’s looking more like permanently), I have a high intolerance to eggs. This means most gluten-free breads — sandwich and snack — aren’t Kate-friendly. 

Enter egg substitutes. Very seldom do I use egg replacer — Ener-g or other brands — because it’s a processed product with little nutritional value. That leaves options like applesauce and flax gel, which usually work provided the recipe doesn’t call for several eggs, and I don’t replace all of them with the same substitute. But in the case of this zucchini bread, I had to find something to replace 4 eggs. With a little faith that it could work, I decided to go half flax gel and half chia gel.

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Creamy Buckwheat Chia Cereal with Berries

I love breakfast. I look forward to breakfast more than any other meal — I wake up every morning with anticipation, excited at the prospect of a tasty, tummy-filling breakfast to sate my hunger. I usually lean toward the sweet rather than savory, opting for anything I can dump a handful of fruit into. Pancakes. Oatmeal. Cold cereal. Mmm.

But with leaky gut syndrome still in the picture, breakfast also has become my trickiest meal. During the week, I need a quick breakfast I can toss in my bag and eat at work (because, you guessed it, I don’t get up early enough to eat at home). And those lazy weekend breakfasts of old — gluten-filled baked and griddle goodies, omelets, bacon — are a thing of the past. Brunch requires much more planning and fewer, more-complicated ingredients now. In short, I can’t eat 90 percent of the breakfast items I used to, and I need a fast, easy option. Stat. 

After tiring of hot rice cereal recipes that taste best with cinnamon (oh, how I miss you, cinnamon!), I thought I’d check the hot cereal aisle to see if any new products have made an appearance. And whaddya know, Bob’s Red Mill organic creamy buckwheat cereal jumped out at me. The catch? It’s nothing but organic whole grain buckwheat, so I knew immediately I’d have to add some other stuff to make it palatable. For me, anyway. 

Since I need a break from rice cereal and oats are on my “avoid” list right now, buckwheat cereal is a great breakfast choice for me. Heck, it’s a great way for anyone to start the day! It’s a good source of fiber and protein — so it’ll fill you up comfortably — as well as essential amino acids, iron, zinc, selenium and magnesium. Add a healthy dose of flavonoids for antioxidant action, and you have the perfect base for a power-packed breakfast. To give it an extra boost, and more flavor without sweeteners, I tossed in some healthy seeds and fruit: chia seeds for omega-3 and strawberries and blueberries for even more antioxidants. Of course, you can stir in your own spices or non-dairy milk. Dress it up as you like. 

I make a big batch of this cereal one evening and have plenty for a week’s breakfast at the office. Whew. Huge stress cloud lifted.

For more info on the health benefits of buckwheat, check out this buckwheat article from the George Mateljan Foundation. Oh, and fun fact: Buckwheat is not a grain. It’s a fruit!

Creamy Buckwheat Chia Cereal with Berries

Makes 4-5 servings

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill organic creamy buckwheat (check the label for the gluten-free seal; Bob’s is transitioning this product to all GF by 4/5/12)
3-1/4 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins (check the ingredients to make sure there’s no added sugar)
1/4 cup chia seeds

Add per serving:
2-3 large strawberries, chopped
small handful blueberries

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring water and salt to a boil. 
2. Stir in buckwheat, chia seeds and raisins. Turn heat down to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir periodically to incorporate chia seeds (they tend to float to the surface) and prevent sticking.
3. Remove from heat. 
4. Stir strawberries and blueberries into each individual serving.

Lemon-Basil Salmon with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa

Allergy-Friendly Meal Plan!

I wrote a few weeks ago about the amazing Pepperplate app that helps me plan allergy-friendly meals farther ahead than I could without it. But there’s still something to be said for choosing recipes that coordinate as a cohesive and delicious meal — both in flavor and in cooking method and time. And Pepperplate can’t help with that. It’s up to me to decide what dishes will make a good combination for dinner. I’m talking separate dishes that claim their own little slice of real estate on your plate. Sure, crockpot meals are a godsend, but we can’t eat out of a crockpot every night!

I’m notorious for choosing some really yummy-sounding gluten-free, dairy-free recipes, only to discover while in process of making them into dinner that at least two of the dishes have to cook in the oven at different temperatures or different times. Or that I’ve timed the stove-top dish so poorly, it’s ready 20 minutes before everything else. Hey, I’m no Julia Child, and I’ll be the first to admit it.

So when I discover I’ve chosen an allergy-friendly meal combination that comes together perfectly, I put a check in the “do that one again!” column. And this meal plan, my dear readers, constitutes the first balanced allergy-friendly meal in the Meal Plan series here on The Cheeky Bite: baked lemon-basil salmon with roasted Brussels sprouts and cranberry almond quinoa.

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Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pu'erh Cookies

My friends and family will tell you that I’m chattiest person they know. Which for many, translates to extrovert. Social butterfly. But I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m an introvert in big mouth’s clothing. These last few weeks have been a total marathon of work, travel and social events, which has left me longing for a few days to hole up in our house and hide from the world. I finally got my wish this weekend and had some time to plan a few culinary experiments. I’ve been itching to bake; to play in my kitchen; to fill the house with the smell of fresh, sweet goodies as they puff up in the oven. What better way to cross all three off my list than to make cookies!

I have to give Doug the credit for today’s cookie trial — he spotted a recipe on the inside of a Numi organic chocolate pue-rh tea box before tossing it in the recycling. Vegan chocolate pue’rh cookies. How could I not be intrigued by a name like that? Seeing that the recipe calls for ingredients not conducive to gluten intolerance and other digestive issues, I decided to Kate-ify it with gluten-free and low glycemic ingredients. Adapted, it’s a much healthier version, and still ridiculously yummy.

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Low-Tomato Vegan Chili

Here in Minnesota, we’re maybe a little more than halfway through winter, albeit a mild one by our standards. And one of my favorite winter dishes is a good ol’ tomato-based bean chili to warm me from the inside out. But guess what? I can’t go dumping kidney beans and cans of tomatoes in the pot anymore. I have an intolerance to red kidney beans, and tomatoes are considered an inflammatory food. Bad combination for Kate.

I’ve explored several options to get my chili fix: white turkey chili, white chicken chili, lentil, quinoa chili. Et cetera. Et cetera. None of them quite had that taste and warmth I remember from my dad’s tomato-y red bean chili we ate growing up in upstate New York. That’s what I really want on a frigid, below-zero, gusty Minnesota winter day. Sure, you can substitute other kinds of beans and maybe try a beet-based sauce, but that’s just not authentic enough for me. But last Tuesday night, as I was preparing Sketch-free Vegan Eating’s new vegan veggie, rice and bean burrito filling, I taste-tested it and realized, eureka! This is the closest thing I’ve found to traditional chili in my quest. Imagine that a vegan burrito filling can double as vegan chili!

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Allergy-Friendly Meal Planning Made (Super) Easy With Pepperplate

It’s been more than a year since I’ve been on the anti-inflammatory diet, and six or so months since discovering my gamut of food sensitivities. So you’d think I’d have a handle on meal planning by now. Knowing what you can and can’t eat seems like the easy part — deciding how and when to eat what you can is the wild card. Especially when it feels like there are fewer and fewer hours in the day to sit down and focus on one thing at a time.

For someone who’s never planned a meal more than a day in advance, layering in the challenges of dietary restrictions to my already-hectic and busy life meant there was little time left over to plan what I would eat for lunch and dinner, both at home and work. And know that what I was eating was safe for me. There were work days I would spend at least an hour pouring over my out-to-eat options in downtown Minneapolis, which were extremely limited, to put it lightly. All because I hadn’t planned ahead and thought through a lunch plan for the week. More and more, I was feeling this emotional pressure to think of something fast because I was crazy hungry, or race to quickly search some recipe sites for dinner ideas before leaving work. If you’re managing food intolerance for you or your kids, you know what I’m talking about.

A few months ago, I finally said enough. Enough fretting over lunch ideas. Enough stressing out over what to serve for dinner. I had to find a tool that would help me organize and stick to a weekly meal plan of nourishing, gut-healing, home-cooked meals.

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Mango Avocado Smoothie

Saturday. Sometimes the day gets away from me, and I haven’t a clue what I planned to accomplish. And other times, I wake up motivated and ready to tackle a bunch of tasks. I’m feeling like today is a motivated day. My first thought upon waking was, “I should run on the treadmill this morning.” So I did! Boy, does a quick, solid workout first thing do wonders for the rest of the day. After pushing myself in a challenging cardio-structured run, I played around with a new smoothie idea. 

I’m not usually a huge fan of avocado — I’m a texture person, and ripe avocado meat isn’t too appealing to me. But I bought some the other day because Doug loves it, and I figured I could find some way of eating some without being grossed out. A smoothie sounded like the perfect plan. After all, avocado is one of the healthiest fats out there, and it’s just plain good for you.

Let me tell you, was that ever a great idea. Ripe avocado adds a layer of creaminess to a smoothie; it’s almost fluffy. I’m guessing the addition of Kevita sparkling probiotic beverage also helped create a more whipped-like consistency. Fun!

Probiotics are a big part of the healing regimen for leaky gut syndrome, so I try to get as many varieties in my diet as possible. I love Kevita. Their coconut-water-based beverages are super tasty, not to mention they’re packed with coconut goodness and low-glycemic — sweetened only with organic Reb A stevia, affording a sweet flavor yet a sugar content of only 3 grams per 8 oz. Reb A is a type of glucoside in the stevia plant; it’s the least bitter one in the plant, which contributes to its higher sweetness factor.

But the most beneficial features of Kevita are the active probiotic cultures in each bottle: 4 billion CFUs — colony-forming units, or living microorganisms per serving — of Bacilus coagulans GBI-30 6086, L-paracasei, L-plantarum and L rhamnosus. You may have heard of Lactobacillus acidophilus from the commercial yogurts that advertise their pumped-up probiotic content. But there are several probiotic strains, and it’s a good idea to add a variety to your diet to reap the different benefits of each. Adding Kevita as the liquid in your smoothie can help you do that.

This smoothie also gives you a good healthy dose of leafy greens for vitamins A, C, E and other awesome liver-detoxifying goodies. You can use kale in place of the spinach or leaf lettuce. Enjoy!

Mango Avocado Smoothie

3/4 cup Kevita sparkling coconut beverage (I used the strawberry acai flavor, but any of the coconut varieties will do)
1-2 medium handfuls large spinach leaves (or 2 large handfuls baby spinach)
1 medium handful red leaf lettuce 
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp raw maca powder (can be omitted, I add it for an energy boost)
1/2 red apple
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 fresh mango
4-5 frozen whole strawberries
2 cubes frozen wheat grass juice
2 ice cubes 

Add ingredients to your blender in the order listed. Blend on the Smoothie setting, if your blender has one. In the BlendTec, one cycle should do it.