GF Vegan Carrot and Pear Fritters

Last week, I was making my carrot muffins and had some batter left over that didn't fit into the muffin pan.  I decided to do a little experiment and fry the batter like pancakes.  Kids went nuts over these pancakes and cleaned up the plate in minutes asking for more.  The fritters have a nice crispy outside and moist on the inside.  So now these fritters/pancakes have been indoctrinated into our regular breakfast rotation.  The recipe is flexible and pears can be easily substituted with zuchinni or Granny Smith apples.

Please note that if you don't have the multigrain flours you can just use regular all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose GF flour 

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (if GF flour doesn't include it)

3/4 cup of mix of multigrain flours (I used 1/4 sourghum, 1/4 millet and 1/4 quinoa flakes)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil + a little more for frying pan

1/4 cup apple juice

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 cup of apple sauce( this is to substitute eggs)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup shredded ripened pears or granny smith apples

1 cup shredded carrots

1.  Whisk flours, xanthan powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

2. Whisk oil, juice, honey, apple sauce and vanilla 

3.  Stir in shredded pear and carrots into wet mixture

6.  Fold in flour with rubber spatula and mix until batter is just combined.  Don't over mix.

7.  Brush preheated non-stick pan with oil and lay out the pancakes.  The batter is a bit thicker then regular pancakes so use the back of you spoon to flatten them out.

8.  Cook on medium heat until bottom is golden and then flip over, press with spatula to flatten out even more and then fry until the other side is golden.  

 

Yellow Rice Vermicelli with Turkey Sausage and Veggies

Couple of months ago I bought a small pack of rice vermicelli from a Chinese Supermarket.  I boiled it and gave it to my kids. Both of my kids refused to even look at it.  I put the packet of pasta away and forgot all about it.  The other day, I was cleaning out my cabinets and came across an almost untouched pack of vermicelli and decided to experiment with it to see if I can make this bland pasta a little more interesting.  First, I made the white pasta a bright yellow color with sprinkling turmeric into the water and then added flavor by sautéing some onion with turkey kielbasa.  To add some contrasting texture and more color I grated fresh carrots and zucchini.  The result exceeded all my expectations. It was so fresh and flavorful that I couldn't stop eating it myself.  The best part is that the pasta stays moist and doesn't stick together.  I had it the following day for lunch and it was as good as it was the previous night.

Ingredients:

1 small pack of rice vermicelli

1 medium onion diced

1 cup of cubed turkey kielbasa or turkey bacon

1 medium carrot coarsely grated

1/2 medium zucchini coarsely grated

1 teaspoon of turmeric

salt to taste

1.  Put the rice vermicelli into a pot or a bowl

2.  Cover the vermicelli with boiling water

3.  Add salt to taste and mix in turmeric 

4.  Cover the pot for at least 5 minutes.

5.  Sautée onion until translucent and then add cubed sausage and cook for 3-5 minutes.

6.  Drain pasta, cut it into smaller chunks with scissors, add sausage mix and fresh grated veggies.

7.  Serve immediately and enjoy.

Vegan and Gluten Free Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

My son is almost 2 years old and goes to daycare full time. The daycare is very good about feeding my son separately from other kids and watching him so he doesn't eat anything he is not suppose to. My heart breaks thinking that all the kids eat together and my baby has to sit by himself at a separate table. At least once a week I try to send in a snack for the whole class so my son can sit with everyone else. This week I made carrot and zucchini muffins for the whole class to eat. I adopted a regular carrot cake recipe for this, substituted half of the carrots in the recipe with shredded zucchini and veganized the rest of the ingredients. The muffins came out extremely moist, fluffy and all the kids were happy with them. When I came to pick up my son there was only one muffin left and my older son just scooped it up and stuffed as fast as he could into his mouth.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose GF flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (if GF flour doesn't include it)
3/4 cup of mix of multigrain flours (I used 1/4 sourghum, 1/4 millet and 1/4 quinoa flakes)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons ground flax seed + 9 tablespoons of water ( this is to substitute eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots

1. Heat oven to 350F and brush muffin pan with oil
2. Mix flax seed with water and set aside
3. Whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt
4. Whisk oil, sugar, honey, flax seed mixture and vanilla until smooth
5. Stir in zucchini and carrots
6. Fold in flour with rubber spatula and mix until batter is just combined. Don't over mix.
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin pan
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the center of each muffin is firm to touch.

Please note that flax seed can be easilly substituted with apple sauce of pureed banana.

Poached Meatballs

This is a gluten free version of my mother in law's tefteli. The bread and the egg are replaced with potato. The meatballs are cooked without any oil and work really well when the kiddies have stomach problems and can't eat heavy foods. Also if these meatballs work really well in soups like Italian Wedding soup. My kids really like them because they have tender and fluffy texture. I like them because they are super simple to make and require only 4 ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
1 large potato
1/2 of medium onion
salt to taste

1. Place a large pot of a heavy lidded pan of water on the stove to boil.
2. Grind in the meat grinder chicken, potato, onion
3. Mix the ingredients an salt to taste
4. When the water starts boiling, salt the water, and form meatballs with wet hands and drop them into the boiling water. There should be enough water to fully cover the meatballs. It helps to have hands wetted in water when shaping the meatballs so the meat doesn't get stuck to your hands.
5. After the water comes to a boil lower the flame to medium and cook the meatballs until they are cooked inside, approximately 20-25 minutes depending on the size. Cut one meatball in half to see if they are white all the way through.

Meatballs Baked in Muffin Pan - AKA Meat Muffins

Welcome to my first post!  This recipe is easy, healthy and most importantly produces moist and tasty meatballs.  The meatballs are gluten, dairy and egg free.  It is a very flexible recipe and all the ingridients can be easily substituted, especially veggies.  i have used squash, broccoli, mushrooms and sweet potato and they all produce fabulous results.  Also, any other grains can be used in place of buckwheat.
This recipe is for 24 meatballs (I usually freeze half of them and save them for a later date). The secret to this recipe is the use of the muffin pan, in which all the liquid stays under each meatball , keeping it moist throughout the baking.

Ingridients:
1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of ground turkey
2 cups of cooked buckwheat or rice
1 cup of steamed and pureed spinach
1 cup of steamed and pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup of salt free marinara sauce
1 small onion pureed
2 cloves of garlic pureed
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 350F
2. Mix all the ingredients by hand or if lazy like me then in kitchenaid on the slowest speed just until all the ingredients are incorporated. Overmixing toughens the meatballs

2. Brush the muffin pan with oil.
3. Wet your hands so that meat doesn't stick to your hands and make small meatballs and place them in the muffin pan.

3. Bake at 350F for 25-50 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs. To check if they are ready you can cut one in half or puncture with a knife and press down with a flat of the knife and if no liquid comes out then they are ready. Don't overcook to prevent dry meatballs.
Bon Appetit!