Baking

Great Recipes for Thanksgiving

It’s been quite a while since I last posted, but I can’t resist reminding you of some of the really great gluten free, dairy free, and paleo recipes on this site for Thanksgiving.

I’m highlighting just a few of my favorites but there are lots more here too

Pumpkin Bread (gluten free, dairy free, grain free, paleo)

So moist and delicious no-one suspects it’s anything other than “the real thing”!

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Maple Pumpkin Pie in Pecan Crust (gluten free, dairy free, grain free, paleo)

Expect to hear “more pie, please” when you serve this un-traditional, traditional Thanksgiving favorite.  I love to have it with Coconut Bliss Coconut Ice cream.

Maple Pecan Pie

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (gluten free, dairy free, grain free, paleo)

Smooth as silk, this holiday soup is a great way to start the meal.

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Red Cabbage Sweet Potato Salad (gluten free, dairy free, grain free, paleo)

This is an unusual salad everyone will love and ask for the recipe.

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Maple Roasted Pears Halves (gluten free, dairy free, grain free, paleo)

For those of you who are looking for a lighter dessert or a yummy sweet side dish, these are just the ticket.

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A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

 

 

 

 

Delicious Gluten Free, Dairy Free Hamantashen with Cranberry-Date-Peach Filling

I know I’ve been negligent about posting recently, but I promise I’m coming back soon.  I’m reposting these Hamantashen because they are so good no one will ever suspect they are gluten free!  Click here for the recipe.

Happy Purim!

 

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Paleo Pumpkin Bread

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I’m going to my cousin’s house for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  In self defense I offered to bring the pumpkin bread so that it would be Paleo.  I have to confess/brag that I don’t think anyone there will even know that it is anything other than a regular pumpkin bread.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy!
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Paleo Sweet Noodle Pudding (Noodle Kugel)

Wheat-free * Dairy-free * Gluten-free * Vegetarian * Parve ~~~

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This recipe is a paleo update of a post I made about for Passover 2 years ago.   But you don’t have to limit it to Pesach, it’s just as delicious for Rosh Hashanna or break fast.

The amazing thing is that Gefen noodles are made with ingredients allowable on the paleo diet:  POTATO FLOUR, POTATO STARCH, TAPIOCA STARCH, SALT, CELLULOSE GUM, BETA CAROTENE

Okay, I’m not sure about the cellulose gum but otherwise they fit into my definition of paleo.  You can buy them in most kosher stores or online at Amazon or buy it by the case (you can share the noodles with friends) for much less per package here:

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Buy Gefen Gluten Free Wide Noodles – 9 Oz. Each (Case of 12)

In the olden days I used to make a spectacular noodle pudding with sour cream and cottage cheese and pineapple (although the pineapple had to be omitted a long long time ago when I became violently allergic to it).  So, I was a little worried about how a non-dairy, gluten free kugel would come out.  The answer is GOOD – really good.

I suspect my family will miss my matzoh kugel this year, but honestly the gluten free matzoh – even though it tastes quite good – just disintegrates and turns to mush when I tried to make the kugel.  So I hope they will forgive me or even better learn to love this noodle pudding instead.  Oh yes, it freezes (which is why I could make it today and plan to serve it at seder) well; just reheat before serving.

Enjoy and Shanna Tova!
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Paleo Passover Potato Kugel with Shallots

Wheat-free * Dairy-free * Gluten-free * Vegetarian * Parve * Paleo ~~

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Last Passover my friend Hadley and I decided to have a leftovers dinner.  Since we each held a seder in our homes, we were unable to attend the other’s seder and this way we could at least taste what the other had served.

Now, not to be boastful, I am an awesome cook and the food at my seder was amazing.  We both made pot roast from brisket and used approximately the same recipe so that was a wash.  Our Tzimmes’ were both delicious in different ways – mine had a very deep richness and Hadley’s had a fresh quality to it that I liked (so much that I’ve made it for this year).

Our menus diverged at the kugels.  I made a matzoh kugel using matzoh farfel, chopped carrots, onions, celery, and parsnip.  I moistened it with vegetable broth and olive oil and seasoned it with salt, pepper, chopped parsley and dill, and poultry seasoning.  This dish has been a hit for the past 15 years – but then I tasted Hadley’s potato kugel and I was blown away.  It was the best potato kugel I had ever tasted.  The other thing about it was it’s paleo and I can eat it!

So here is the recipe with very significant changes but equally fabulous results!  Enjoy! (more…)

Paleo Fruit Crisp

Wheat-free * Dairy-free * Gluten-free * Vegetarian * Vegan * Parve * Paleo ~~

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With Passover just around the corner, I’m starting to test the recipes I’ll use at seder.  I always make my chocolate tort but this year in addition I decided to make something fruity.  Okay – here’s the real story behind this recipe.  I thought instead of making Tzimmes, I’d do something different with sweet potatoes.  I thought maybe maple sweetened sliced sweet potatoes with some kind of a crumble on top.  Then I thought ‘how about some fruit in that’…so in went sliced apples and raisins.  I baked the whole thing forever ’cause nothing wanted to soften and I ended up with this weird dish that was almost dessert – but not quite.

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The topping, however, was divine.

So this is my next try – I got rid of the sweet potatoes and went straight for a fruit crisp.  I used 4 cups of peeled and sliced apple and 3 cups of (frozen) blueberries.  It tasted delicious but I confess that again the apples took forever to cook (about 1 1/2 hours).  I think that’s because I used “hard” apples – you know:  fuji and honey crisp, and pinks.  If you choose to make this with apples, I think macintosh would be a better choice as they soften much better.  But you could also make this with all berries, or ripe pears instead of the apples would be delicious.  If peaches are in season that would be great…anything will taste super under this crisp top (maybe not liver…)

…and, of course, because it’s Paleo – it’s kosher for Passover!  Enjoy!
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Paleo Pecan Passover Cookies

Wheat-free * Dairy-free * Gluten-free * Vegetarian * Parve * Paleo ~~~

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These are the cookies that my friend Dori always used to bake for Passover.  They’re a real hit and so easy to make it’s embarrassing.  Like the macaroons last week, these are very sweet.

I don’t know about you, but I am knee deep in Passover preparations so I will keep this post short.  Hope you’ll forgive me.
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Dukkah-Spiced Chocolate–Covered Matzoh

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It’s 10:42pm and I still haven’t written today’s post – I’m feeling a little uninspired.  It’s not that I haven’t been in the kitchen today – in fact I’ve made my flourless chocolate torte, a not too successful meatloaf, and I’ve been working on Passover mandel brodt (biscotti).  The best biscotti I ever tasted was at a pot luck for an organization I belonged to:  New York Women’s Culinary Alliance.  Imagine about 50 women – all food professionals – bringing dishes to a pot luck.  To sweeten the pot, prizes are awarded for the best recipes.  Can you imagine how great that pot luck is going to be?  To make a long story short (because I’m going to tell the rest of the story when I post the recipe) I loved the Anise Biscotti that Fran Costigan brought…but enough about biscotti.  Tonight I decided to see what Fran’s website was like and BOOM! Her post for today was Dukkah-spiced Chocolate-covered Matzohs.  BRILLIANT!

So, since Friday is kinda my day off (no serious recipe posting), I’m really cheating and just sending you directly to Fran for today’s idea.

I have to tell you that I haven’t tried her recipe.  But as you may remember I did a posting on Dukkah not too long ago.  I would think that the Mulling Dukkah from “A Trio of Dukkahs” would be great for the Matzohs and of course use gluten-free matzohs.  I think these would make a great contribution to bring to a seder.

So Check This Out:  http://francostigan.com/blog/

Macaroon Thumbprint Cookies

Wheat-free * Dairy-free * Gluten-free * Vegetarian * Passover * Parve

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I’ve been making these macaroons for about a billion years (okay, slight exaggeration).  I found the recipe in one of those cookbook/pamphlets that you could send a dollar to the company and they send the booklet to you.  This one was from Baker’s and it was chocolate and coconut recipes.  I don’t think I own the booklet anymore, but I liked the recipe so much that I copied it (by hand because in those days you had to go to a store to make copies) into a blank book that  now contains most of my favorite recipes from various (non-online) sources.

There is no doubt that these are very sweet cookies.  If you are one of the “I don’t like stuff too sweet” people, skip this recipe but forward it to anyone you know who adore sweets.  Needless to say, these are perfect for Passover.
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Organic Shortening – and Dairy-free Flourless Chocolate Torte Revisited

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I always thought shortening was evil.  That is until I found out that my favorite food in the world (birthday cake frosting) was made of shortening and confectioners’ sugar and maybe vanilla (I like my birthday cakes all white – no chocolate for me) – and that it makes for a very flaky pie crust.   But still, it’s one thing to buy a cake or pie from a bakery and another to use the stuff at home.  So why am I devoting a post to shortening?

For one thing, I’m talking about organic shortening.  It’s not hydrogenated oils (evil) like the kind you find in supermarkets.  It’s palm oil (the oil from a palm seed) and nothing else – more importantly – it’s not hydrogenated (a process that turns oil that is naturally liquid at room temperature into shortening that is solid at room temperature).  The flavor is very neutral which is a great deal better than the other options.  As for its health benefits or lack thereof – I’m not too sure as I’ve seen some articles that praise it and others that say it’s downright bad for you.  But to be honest now that “science” has declared butter and eggs okay, I’m not sure anyone knows anything about foods anymore.

I’ve never really been thrilled with my butter replacement choices since going dairy free.  Ghee (clarified butter) has a flavor that overwhelms the delicate flavors of baked goods.  Non-dairy margarine has too stuff in it and I’m not overly in love with the flavor.  Coconut oil leaves everything tasting slightly coconutty and further the consistency can be tricky depending on the room temperature – in the summer it’s liquid and in the winter it’s rock solid.  Oil tends to be…oily.  But this particular shortening is solid but soft like butter that’s been allowed to soften.

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I’ve been playing around with this shortening since I purchased it and find it to work pretty well in any of the recipes that I’ve used coconut oil in.  Here’s the Chocolate Torte  made with shortening.  It’s denser and chocolate-ier than the original I posted last year.  Here’s the recipe: (more…)