Merry March to you! A new month brings a new SOS Kitchen Challenge, the monthly recipe event hosted by Kim and me celebrating vegan, sugar-free, natural recipes using a featured ingredient.
Rather than focus on something obvious like oats, cabbage, or potatoes this month (the blogosphere loves St. Patrick’s Day!), we’ve gone in a different direction entirely. This month’s food goes by multiple names, has multiple sweet and savory applications, and can either be eaten cooked or raw and sprouted.
Did you guess correctly? This month’s SOS Kitchen Challenge features none other than the adzuki bean, also known as azuki, aduki, asuki, adsuki, field pea, red bean, Teinsin red bean, or feijao. No matter what name you prefer, one thing is certain: the adzuki bean is marvelously versatile, nutritious, and delicious.
A Bit About The Bean
Adzuki beans are thought to originate in China, and are prized in Asian cuisine, used in sweet and savory applications, and often used for celebratory and festival dishes. These dark red beans are relatively small, with a distinctive white ridge on one side. They cook quickly and are more easily digested than many other beans.
The most common use of adzuki beans in Asian cuisines–especially Japanese–is in sweet drinks, dessert soups, and various buns and pastries stuffed with sweetened red bean paste. Western cuisine has adopted the adzuki bean most commonly in savory applications, such as soups, stews, casseroles, and burritos. Adzuki beans are excellent in vegan dishes, as their texture is hearty and somewhat “meat-like”. Adzuki beans are also very delicious when soaked and left to sprout – azuki bean sprouts are crunchy and absolutely delicious in salads, stir fries, and wraps.
Adzuki beans have a rich, earthy, nutty, and sweet flavor and rich red color when cooked. They are complimented by warm spices such as ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, or chile powder, and go well with other ingredients such as tamari, miso, onion, coconut milk, rice, yam, sweet potato, squash or pumpkin.
Nutritional Benefits
Adzuki beans, like all legumes, are an excellent source of nutrition. The website Knowing Food has a great write up about the adzuki bean, featuring this information:
Adzuki beans are a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc copper, manganese and B vitamins. As a high-potassium, low-sodium food they can help reduce blood pressure and act as a natural diuretic. When combined with grains, beans supply high quality protein, which provides a healthy alternative to meat or other animal protein.
Like most beans, adzuki beans are rich in soluble fibre. This type of fibre provides bulk to the stool and binds to toxins and cholesterol aiding in their elimination from the body.
In Japan adzuki beans are known for their healing properties and are used to support kidney and bladder function. Gillian McKeith is a huge fan of the adzuki bean and refers to it as the ‘weight loss’ bean as it low in calories and fat but high in nutrients. [source]
Additionally, the The Ayurvedic Cookbookby U. Desai and Amadea Morningstar states that adzuki beans have excellent ability to rebuild adrenal function and kidney energy.
Cooking dry adzuki beans is easy and economical. It is also often a necessity, as canned adzuki beans are not always readily available. Eden Foods makes organic canned adzuki beans that are cooked with kombu and packed in BPA-free cans, so if you can’t cook your own beans, those are a great option. But if you have access to dry adzuki beans and have the time to plan ahead, I’d recommend simply cooking your own.
To cook beans, you must soak them first to rehydrate. Soak 1 part beans overnight in ample water. Drain and simmer on the stovetop in 4 parts water for 40 minutes to an hour, until tender but still intact (if adding salt, add at end of cooking). If you have a pressure cooker, follow instructions in your pressure cooker instruction manual. Then drain beans and use as desired, rinsing as necessary. Reserve bean cooking liquid to use as a broth or nourishing warm drink (it is loaded with vitamins and minerals!).
How To Enter The Challenge
If you are interested in trying your hand at cooking or baking with the adzuki bean this month, join us in this month’s challenge! To enter, simply cook up a new recipe–either sweet OR savory (or both)–using adzuki beans, following the usual SOS guidelinesfor ingredients and submission requirements. It can be your own recipe or one you found on a website or blog (even one of ours!). Then submit it by linking up to your blog post with the linky tool, below. Be sure to add a link to this page on your post, and if you wish, include the SOS logo.
Your recipe will be displayed on both Kim’s and my blog in the Linky, and will be featured in a recipe roundup at the end of this month. We look forward to more of your delicious, creative, enthusiastic entries this month!
Thanks to everyone who submitted a stevia-based recipe for February’s SOS Kitchen Challenge! As always, we received a stellar collection of recipes.
Here’s the “Sweet”:
Kim and I were blown away by the creativity in the “sweet” section of the event this past month. While I have added every single recipe to my “to try” list, some that stood out as particularly enticing were
We also had a submission from reader Jess, who made my Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles for her sweetie on Valentine’s Day. Check out the amazing presentation:
Aren’t they beautiful? I bet they’d win anyone’s heart!
And now, for the “Savory”. . . .
Um. . . well, er. . . what the–HUH??
It appears that there was only one savory recipe in the list apart from my own Crunchy Green Salad! I guess most people consider stevia a “sweet-only” ingredient, but if you think about all the savory recipes made with a dash of sugar or honey, you’ll begin to understand the wide range of recipes that can include stevia. I hope you’ll try out some savory variations in the future!
Well, it seems you folks love chocolate as much as I do! Thanks to everyone who entered my spontaneous little giveaway over the weekend.
While most of the entries for the Cocoa Camino bars requested coconut, there was enough variation that every flavor got some love. So without further ado, here are the four winners:
A Coconut bar goes to: LAUREN! Lauren’s comment was, “Ooh I’ve never heard of Camino chocolate! I would love the coconut one! Yum! And that smoothie looks really satisfying!”
An Espresso bar goes to: BRENCA ALRECK! Brenda’s (very sweet) comment was, “How sweet are you that you would give away a fave that you can’t even eat?! I’m gonna have to go with espresso, then I can have chocolate for breakfast!!”
An Almond bar goes to: HAYLEY!Hayley’s comment was, “I think the Dark Chocolate with Almonds would be so good!”
A Raspberry bar goes to: NICHOLE! Nichole’s comment was, “mmm…salivating over that dark chocolate with raspberry!”
CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS! Please email me at dietdessertdogsATgmailDOTcom with your mailing address so I can get these babies out to you asap.
I’ll be back later today with my final stevia-based recipe for this month’s SOS Challenge!
“Mum, you know I’m happy for the winners and everything, but couldn’t you choose a prize that Chaser and I could eat win once in a while?”
Happy (early) Valentine’s Day, everyone! The HH and I have a special celebration planned, which I’ll share in a day or two. In the meantime, I’ve got a guest post up today over at Go Dairy Free for Sweet Sundays: these ridiculously decadent, luxurious Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites. After all, what’s guaranteed to melt your sweetie’s heart if not chocolate?
Yes, all you Frosty-philes, I know all the ways I am supposed to “learn” to enjoy winter. I own top-notch, thinsulate-lined boots and long underwear. I wear Arctic-approved gloves and earmuffs. I wrap my scarf around my face in a manner reminiscent of a Brendan Fraser movie villain. I have tried skating, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing (forget about downhill–I can barely stay upright on the snowshoes). I drink cocoa, eat soup, wear sweaters, use flannel and snuggle with my HH throughout the season. I will always appreciate summer (with all of my heart) and don’t need no stinkin’ winter to provide contrast, thank you very much. And Canadian? Shmamadian! I must have missed the “I love winter” genes.
In fact, the only teeny, tiny, miniscule bit of positive I can find in the Dreaded Season of Ice and Snow is that it looks pretty. For about 48 seconds.
And after that, it sucks.
So, suffice it to say that
I.
Hate.
Winter.
I despise the cold, I dread the slush, I abhor the ice, I shun the snow, I resent having to scrape the rime off my car windows, I can’t stand that it takes longer to get dressed for a dog walk than it does for the actual dog walk, I loathe being chilly even indoors, I curse that my glasses fog up, I begrudge having to wear a hat and the resulting hat-head, I detest that I have to watch where I walk or risk slipping and breaking a hip.
And I really, really, do not like it.
Hate or not, however, I live in Toronto, which has cold, snowy winters. Except for the saving grace of The Girls romping and gamboling in the snow whenever we get to the trail for a walk, I’d probably just stay inside for four months. If there is a visual expression of the word, “elation,” Chaser and Elsie, playing in the snow, is it.
“Thanks, Mum! We really have fun over there. And we appreciate that you take us every day even though you hate it. But you really should get down on the ground and wrestle with us. I bet you would enjoy winter much more that way.”
[It's rich and smooth, but coconut is not the most prominent flavor.]
Luckily, around Christmas time (one of the other few bright spots in the season), I discovered Peppermint Bark from Heather (of the legendary Heather Eats Almond Butter blog). My first attempt at the recipe followed Heather’s own almost exactly, and I posted it on my Facebook Page.
And yes, this is a dessert. Did you think I’d stop making (and eating) them after my recent whinge about gaining weight? Mais, pas de tout! No, I have not eliminated the sweet stuff (made with stevia) from my menus. In fact, I feel that I need to keep such treats in my diet now more than ever, if I am truly going to learn to tap into the physical messages of hunger and satiation. I’ll continue to eat all kinds of foods, in moderation, and redouble my efforts to stop and think–and pay attention–before I eat (and I’ll be chronicling my progress in that area as well; more on that coming up).
Since I first tried the recipe, I’ve continued to play with it, as I found the taste of concentrated coconut butter a bit much for my palate. I added some nuts and spices to create a firm-at-room-temperature, solid-when-refrigerated, impossible-to-resist version of chocolate bark, yet without any chocolate (of course, if you’re not limiting the stuff as I am, you can always sub chocolate or cacao nibs for the carob).
When the texture is refined in the blender, as I’ve done here, it becomes smooth, creamy and melty in the way that a good quality chocolate bar is melty. Even the HH proclaimed this to be a great snack (as he bit into his fourth piece). However, this bark is more akin to one made from white chocolate, with some additional goodies thrown in. It’s also a perfect high-energy snack or dessert, or a little sweet treat to set out on a tray when you’ve got people over on the weekend.
Because, you know, you won’t be going out much now that it’s winter.
This recipe is linked up to Amy’s weekly event, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Check out all the other goodies over there (or submit your own), too!
[Freeform marbled pattern courtesy of natural coconut oils from the coconut, after they are chilled.]
Cinnamon Spiced Coconut Bark (ACD stage 1 and beyond)
This bark makes a great substantial snack. By blending the coconut with the nuts until perfectly smooth, you are, in effect, mixing coconut butter with your nut butter, which will allow the mixture to retain its shape at room temperature. Containing healthy fats and a good protein content, this bark will satisfy your sweet tooth while tiding you over to the next meal. It’s good enough that you can serve it to friends, whether or not they follow a special diet.
1/2 cup (85 g) lightly toasted natural almonds (with skin)
20-30 drops plain or vanilla stevia liquid, to your taste
1-1/2 tsp (7.5 ml) cinnamon
1 Tbsp (15 ml) carob powder
1/4 tsp (1 ml) cardamom
3/4 tsp (3.5 ml) ground ginger
1/4-1/3 cup (60-80 ml) unsweetened carob chips, unsweetened chocolate or cacao nibs, chopped
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and set aside.
Place all ingredients except carob chips in a food processor and process until smooth and almost liquid (as if making nut butter). This will take up to 10 full minutes; scrape the sides occasionally as you do so. If you are okay with a fairly crunchy bark, you may omit the next step.
Next, for a smooth and creamy textured bark (this is what I did), place the already-pourable mixture into a high powered blender and blend until perfectly smooth and silky, so that no traces of coconut texture are visible (if you don’t have a high-powered blender, you can probably do this in small batches; transfer the batches to a medium bowl after each one). Once the mixture is perfectly smooth, transfer it to a medium bowl.
If the mixture is warm (it will likely get heated up from friction in the processor and blender), place it in the refrigerator and cool it to room temperature, stirring every 10 minutes or so (it will take about 30 minutes). Once it’s cooled, stir in the chopped carob chips. If you add them while the mixture is warm, the chips will simply melt and you’ll have carob bark, which is okay, too. Turn the mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top.
Refrigerate or freeze until firm. Remove the bark by inverting the pan over a cutting board. Peel off the plastic and cut into desired shapes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Makes about 12 servings. May be frozen.
And, TWO copies of Artisanal Gluten Free Cookingby Kelli and Peter Bronski (also not vegan). Peter was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2007, and Kelli is a professional chef, which makes for some gorgeous gluten-free fare!
For my own contribution this week, I decided to re-create a holiday staple that’s often used for gift-giving–Almond (or any nut) Bark!
According to the media, we should all be making homemade gifts this year, what with the economy as bad as it is. True, many of us may find ourselves frugally filling jars with mom’s granola recipe; mixing up homemade hot chocolate and bagging it with ribbons; placing shortbread and gingersnaps toe to toe in cellophane-lined boxes; steeping vanilla beans in vodka in tall, pretty bottles; or wrapping our own version of almond bark in glittery gift bags. But I’ve always loved making gifts of food for friends and family (and using a lot of “F”s in one sentence, too, apparently).
A gift of food is more than an inexpensive way to fulfill the need for a present. It represents time spent thinking about what the person might like, as well as time spent carefully preparing, baking (or soaking, or drying, or stirring, or whatever), and then carefully packaging the gift. It’s the personal dimension that makes it so special–and so cherished.
Well, having been on the ACD for almost 2 years now (I know, time flies when you’re fighting fungus), I thought about those of us who can’t enjoy the tradtional almond bark. I knew that an all-chocolate version (unsweetened chocolate with added stevia) could be bitter tasting, so I almost abandoned the idea. Then, about a month ago, I stopped in to the local health food store on my way home from work. I’d forgotten to bring a lunch with me (bad, bad) and was ravenous. I posed my usual enquiry: “Do you have any snack-like foods that are vegan, unprocessed, gluten free, without sweeteners of any kind except stevia, with no yeasts. . . etc.?”
“On a candida protocol?” the clerk asked. Smart cookie, that one (though, inevitably, one likely containing gluten, sweetener, or yeast).
“Why yes! Yes I am!” I responded. As expected, she led me to the bags of Mary’s Sticks and Twigs. Snack-like, yes, but not sweet.
“Oh, wait!” she went on, heading toward the bulk section. “We just got these carob-covered almonds. They’re vegan, with no added sugars. Just carob coating. I actually tried them and they’re not bad at all. . . “
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. “You’re sure they’re vegan?” I insisted. “Yep,” she replied. “Just carob and almonds.”
Perhaps it was my near-blinding hunger,* or perhaps just that they looked so much like chocolate-covered almonds. Either way, I managed to consume the entire portion on the way home. While perhaps not the most ACD-friendly snack (I’m sure the oils used weren’t top quality), at least there were no sweeteners to spike my blood sugar, I reasoned.
Sadly, the next time I visited the same store, they had posted the ingredient list for the almonds–and the second from the top was “whey powder.” A DAIRY PRODUCT!!! Never mind that dairy is a hidden source of natural sugars not recommended for the ACD; but whey is most definitely NOT vegan. I really hate it when I find out, after the fact, that I’ve eaten something I don’t want to eat. Grrrr.
[Freshly made nut bark still in the pan, just set.]
That made me more determined to create my own version. I decided to combine the concept of barely-sweet carob coating with various nuts to create a carob-based stevia-sweetened nut bark! After playing with proportions of carob vs. chocolate, I came up with a very appealing variation that uses very little stevia, retains a smooth, chocolatey consistency, and offers up a tiny hint of peppermint in reverence to the season. It would make a perfect gift for anyone who’s on an anti-candida regimen, Type II diabetics, or anyone concerned with blood sugar levels (which would be everyone around the holidays, I’m guessing).
Of course, if your dietary habits allow, you can make this the old-fashioned way, with semisweet chocolate instead of the carob; omit the stevia in that case.
* Who am I kidding? I’ve never experienced “near-blinding hunger” in my life. . . I always make sure to eat long before that!
[. . . and revealing the nutty goodness inside.]
Dark “Chocolate” Nut Bark for Gift Giving (ACD Stage 2 and beyond)
A perfect gift for those you love. . . this nut bark won’t spike blood sugar levels and contains minimal caffeine because of the carob. Plus it’s filled with heart-healthy oils courtesy of the nuts.
3/4 cup (60 g) unsweetened carob chips
1.5 ounces (45 g) good quality unsweetened chocolate (I used Cocoa Camino), chopped
2 Tbsp (30 ml) extra virgin coconut oil, preferably organic
pinch fine sea salt
15-25 drops plain or vanilla stevia liquid, to your taste
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp (45 ml) soymilk powder
1 cup (240 ml) unsalted toasted nuts–your choice (I used cashews and almonds)
3 Tbsp (45 ml) lightly toasted seeds (I used sunflower, but pumpkin would be stellar)
Line an 8 x 8 inch (20 cm) square pan with plastic wrap and set aside.
In a small, heavy-bottomed pot, melt the carob chips, chocolate and coconut oil over lowest possible heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the salt, stevia and vanilla. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mini food processor or blender.
Add the soymilk powder and process until perfectly smooth. Stir in the nuts and seeds to coat.
Working quickly (the carob chips will cause it to set fairly fast), pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tilt the pan this way and that until the mixture is evenly distributed (if you try to spread it out with a spatula, you will dull the naturally glossy sheen on top). Set aside at room temperature and allow to set; mine took about an hour in a cool kitchen. Or place in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Once set, remove from pan, peel off the plastic, and break into shards of “bark.” Wrap in decorative cellophane, bags, or boxes as gifts.
Variations: the recipe is infinitely adaptable–you can add dried fruits if permitted, cacao nibs, coffee beans, candied ginger, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Welcome to A Gluten Free Holiday 2010, the brainchild of Amy from Simply Sugar and Gluten Free! I’ve got lots to share today, so grab a cup of coffee and a (gluten free) biscotti, and read on! To enter the giveaway, click here. [Update, November 10: The contest is now closed. Thanks, everyone, for entering!]
I’m delighted to be kicking off the gluten-free festivities here at DDD with some tips about how to stay healthy through the holidays. Be sure to check this space every Thursday for five more themed posts from other gluten free bloggers. And please link up any healthier holiday recipes you have, via the linky tool at the bottom of this post–and don’t forget to enter to win one of two fabulous cookbooks by much-loved gluten free authors!
Those of you who read my blog regularly likely know two things about me: 1) I have been struggling with weight issues on and off for many years; and 2) I don’t believe in diets that impose too many “rules.” I don’t count calories, points, or carb grams. At the same time, I do believe–resolutely–in eating real, whole, healthy foods, and that the weight will take care of itself (so far, in the past couple of years, it’s worked for me: my weight dropped 45 pounds and has stabilized within a 5 pound margin by eating this way).
Still, the holidays can be tricky. We all love to eat delicious food, and so much of it abounds this time of year! One thing I’ve learned after navigating this holiday land mine for the past two decades or so is to ensure that I never feel deprived. It’s easy to “overcompensate” when everyone around you is drinking champagne, scarfing chocolate truffles, gulping eggnog or gorging on shortbread–and all you have are some celery sticks with almond butter.
[Does this look like deprivation to you?]
My holiday food survival guide doesn’t include deprivation, “eating a small meal before going to a party” (that never worked for me: I ate the small meal beforehand, then still ate a full meal at the party); or living on liquids the day before a social event. However, it does allow you to indulge, enjoy, and still avoid weight gain. Here are my own–albeit slightly unconventional–tips for staying healthy over the holidays.
1) Keep to your regular routine as much as possible. This isn’t an “eating” rule per se, but it’s so crucial, I’m putting it first. Our bodies like routine. I once read that Madonna rises at the exact same time each morning and works out even if she’s been on stage and out partying until 3:00 AM that same day. Though you may be socializing more than usual at this time of year, if you can retain a semblance of your usual schedule, your body will recover faster. And sleepy people tend to eat more, which can also lead to weight gain. So try to keep to your regular sleep routine and keep exercising, even if it’s less than usual: take the stairs at work, park a bit farther and walk, march in place while you brush and floss your teeth (yes, I’ve been known to do this), do bicep curls in the car at red lights, whatever you can.
2)Go for quality rather than quantity, and consume whole food ingredients whenever possible. Sure, the seven-layer dips and cheese balls and canapes are incredibly appealing, and you shouldn’t deny yourself if that is what you really want. But if you look for the nutritional value of the foods as your primary criterion, you’ll find you naturally eschew anything processed, artificial, or sugar-laden. For me, the choice is easy because I can’t eat refined carbs (white sugar, white flour, etc.)–I will naturally gravitate toward the veggie tray, for instance. According to this rule, even roasted nuts would be preferable to crackers and dip, though yes, they are probably higher in fat than the former. Since they’re also more nutritious and more satisfying, I find I’m happy eating a bit less, so it evens out in the end. If you stick to “real” in whatever you eat, you’ll find that naturally eliminates a lot of the holiday excess.
3)Don’t feel you have to “save the best for last.” In the past, I’d approach a holiday buffet table with the mind set, “I’ve got to try every food I like.” Yet I’d start with salads and veggies because they were ”healthier.” Then I’d want to eat the main dishes I liked, too, and by the time I reached the desserts, I’d be stuffed. But who says you can’t start with dessert? You may find that after a little piece of (real) apple pie, you are happy with nothing more than a cup of tea or a serving of veggies. And since you’ve been maintaining your regular whole-foods diet at home, this little detour won’t impact your nutritional balance in any lasting way.
[Everyone will want to share if you show up to a party with these babies!]
4)If you really want to enjoy dessert with abandon, it’s best to bring your own. I’ve gotten in the habit of volunteering to bring dessert whenever I’m invited to someone’s home for dinner. That way, I know that I can enjoy the dessert with everyone else, and the other guests never know they’re eating something “healthy.” These raspberry-filled truffle cups are a perfect indulgent treat, and one that contains good-for-you ingredients. They’re sweet, rich, delicious–and you won’t feel as if you are missing a thing. In fact, you might wish to make a double batch to ensure that you actually get some before they’re all scooped up! (See recipe, below.)
5) Remember that the real purpose of the holidays is to connect with people who are important to you; so focus on the human interactions and not the interactions of food and your mouth. If you concentrate on socializing and enjoying your friends and family, you may find that sampling all the holiday comestibles becomes a bit less important in your list of priorities this time of year. But even if you veer from your preferred eating habits, don’t berate yourself; move on and return to your regular habits the following day.
Andrew Weil, the popular doctor-cum-alternative health guru has some relevant advice in his bestselling book, Eating Well for Optimum Health. As Weil points out, sometimes the social aspect of eating has a larger impact on our overall health than the specific nutritional value of the food. He concludes with an anecdote illustrating that when “food is blessed by being shared, by being eaten in fellowship amidst conversation and laughter. . . all food is ‘health’ food.” I couldn’t agree more.
Here’s to a healthy, happy (gluten free) holiday season!
The trick to the oozy raspberry center is a single, naturally sweet frozen berry, which then softens inside the truffle cup as it defrosts. The chocolate coating on its own may be less sweet than you’re used to (akin to an 85% cacao chocolate bar), but combined with the very sweet coconut filling, the total effect is sublime. If you are okay with a wee bit of sugar, you could always use semisweet chocolate instead (or chips), for a sweeter coating.
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp (60 g or 2 oz) natural almonds with skin, lightly toasted
1 cup (85 g or 3 ounces) shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp (10 ml) coconut butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) agave nectar
1 Tbsp (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp (.5 ml) fine sea salt
8-10 whole frozen raspberries (keep frozen until ready to use)
Prepare the chocolate: Line a mini muffin tin with 10 metallic paper cups. (You can use the paper cups without the muffin tin, but the tin offers extra support so the cups keep their shape.)
In a small, heavy-bottomed pot. melt the chocolate, carob powder and coconut oil over very low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
Using 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) per cup, pour chocolate onto the bottom of eight of the paper liners and spread it to cover. Pop the muffin tin in the freezer for about 5 minutes to firm up the chocolate.
In the meantime, make the filling: In a food processor, whir the almonds and coconut until you have what looks like a coarse meal. Add remaining ingredients except the raspberries and blend until the mixture comes together resembling a sticky dough.
Using about 1-1/2 tsp (7.5 ml) per truffle cup, scoop out some mixture and form into a rough ball. Make an indentation in the middle and push one frozen raspberry into it, then mold the mixture around the raspberry into a ball. Repeat until all the mixture is used. If you have more than 8 balls, coat the bottom of the extra paper liners with chocolate as needed (and freeze these as well before filling).
Place one coconut ball inside each paper liner, covering the bottom but taking care not to touch the sides (you may need to roll the “dough” into more of a cylinder shape so its sides don’t touch the liners). Using 1-2 tsp (5-10 ml) of chocolate per cup, pour the melted chocolate over the coconut balls, starting in the center and rotating out to the edges, allowing the chocolate to flow down the sides and fill the paper liners.
Place the tray back in the freezer for another 5-10 minutes until the chocolate coating is firm. If you have extra chocolate, you can use it to drizzle swirls, loops, or other decorative designs on top of the truffle cups.
Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Will keep, covered, in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Makes 8-10 truffle cups.
And now that we’ve eaten, let’s have some prizes!
As promised, each installment of the Gluten Free Holiday event brings with it giveaways! If all this talk of healthy gluten free food and dessert is making you hungry, you can enter to win one of two amazing cookbooks–we’ve got four books to give away! To learn more and enter the giveaway, just click here! (Sorry for the extra click–I am abiding by the rules set out by BlogHer, which stipulate that I can’t post a giveaway on the main page of my blog.)
Of course, you’re still welcome to link up a healthier recipe at the bottom of this page–it will still count as an entry!
PLEASE NOTE: This is not an exclusively vegan event as there are six different hostesses participating and not all of us are vegan. It’s the holidays: let’s open our kitchens to everyone on this one! :D
The contest is now closed. Thanks, everyone, for entering!
I’m so excited to be able to share a yummy, healthy, gluten-free holiday with you all this year!
Anyone with food allergies or other dietary restrictions for health reasons (such as my lovely ACD, for instance) knows how important it is to serve holiday foods that are both safe and delicious. We want to help as many people as we can do just that this holiday season.
And just who is “we,” you ask?
Well, this year, I’ve been invited by the wonderfully gracious Amy (the friendly voice behind the popular blog Simply Sugar and Gluten Free) along with four of her other bloggy buddies to participate in this holiday event. The main impetus behind the event is to seek out the very best gluten free recipes for the holidays–ones that are both delicious and healthy!
And “we” includes all of you, too! Without all of you reading, commenting, and linking up for the event, it just wouldn’t be the same celebration! So we’re inviting all of you to participate, too.
How Will it Work?
On Thursdays in November and December, a different gluten-free blogger will host a link-up event where you can share your best gluten-free holiday dishes. The linky will be open until the following Wednesday at 10:00 pm CST.
Every week there will be give-aways, too. Amy, along with Shirley of Gluten Free Easily, has lined up some amazing giveaways–prizes that would make some great early Christmas presents (or perhaps a present for yourself)! I can’t wait to share all of these with you.
That’s me! I’m going to kick off the event by discussing how to navigate the holiday season on a healthier note. After 18 months on the ACD, I’ve learned a bit about approaching holiday (or any special-occasion) eating to avoid packing on pounds or veering too far from a set eating plan. For this event, you can contribute your own healthier dish, or perhaps tips for staying slim when there’s tempting food all around–anything to do with staying healthier through the holiday season.
Share your favorite gluten-free Thanksgiving dish from appetizers to desserts at Shirley’s place. We want to see your stuffing, turkey dishes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly…anything Thanksgiving goes. (And to Canadian readers–we’ve got a head start on the US readership for this theme–so please do share your own Thanksgiving dishes for this week, too!)
Who doesn’t love a gift made with love? Share your favorite foodie gift that’s gluten-free. Have a fabulous way to pack a yummy treat? We want to see that, too.
Bring your family’s favorite entrées and sides. Diane will be ready for them all. And while Hannukah starts on December 2nd this year, we hope you’ll still submit some of your favorite dishes as well.
December 9th – Holiday Breakfast & Brunch at Ginger Lemon Girl
A warm, cozy breakfast or brunch is a wonderful way to start off the holiday. This is a great time to help someone else whipping up your fabulous gluten-free cinnamon rolls or a crumb-topped coffee cake by sharing your favorite recipes.
December 16th – Holiday Desserts at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free
Just like it sounds – bring your favorite gluten-free Christmas desserts for all to share. Cookies, pies, truffles, cakes, and candies….we want to try them all.
So, get your recipe box out and start browsing…then get in the kitchen and start cooking for the best ever gluten-free holiday!
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Looking forward to “seeing” you there!
“Mum, we’re not too concerned about not packing on the pounds at the holidays. . . but we would definitely be interested in those gifts that taste good!”
“Zip it, Chaser–she said, ‘gifts of good taste,’ not ‘gifts that taste good.’ But don’t worry, we’ll be getting our own gifts this holiday season. . . just keep giving Mum that sad puppy stare and we’re all set.”
“I know I’m sure looking forward to some play time this weekend. . . ball, anyone?”
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! (And Happy Weekend to everyone else!)
Even if you’re not in Canada, you can still join in the festive spirit this weekend! We’re going to have enviable weather (21C/70F and sunny on Sunday) and I’m determined to set the work aside for at least an afternoon and spend it with the HH and the Girls. (“Yes, Mum, some time at the trail would be much appreciated.”)
The HH and I will be spending the holiday here at home rather than in Montrreal with my family, so it will be a fairly low key affair. I do have something special planned for our dinner, though, which I will share after the weekend (and once I know the recipe works!).
[This is my first entry for the SOS Kitchen Challenge: Sesame Seeds this month: anti candida friendly, sugar-free, gluten-free halvah. If you've got a sesame-based recipe of your own to share, link up below--and win one of our eleven prizes!]
Have you ever noticed how some of the foods we loved as children seem entirely distaseteful once we’re adults? (This principle works equally well when you compare your teenaged years or early twenties to your 40s and 50s, too: just replace “some of the foods we loved” with “clothes we loved,” “music we loved,” “heartless cads** we loved”. . . you see what I mean).
These days, when I think of foods I ate–with gusto–as a child, I cringe a little. A few of them (Cocoa Puffs, Cherry Blossom) still sound appealing in theory, so the cringe-factor arises more from my current (and oh-so-mature) awareness of their nutritional deficiencies (plus the smattering of high fructose corn syrup, FD & C Red dye #40, sulfur dioxide and butylated hydroxytoluene). Others (Cap’n Crunch, Skittles) no longer tempt me at all.
(“Mum, we don’t have that problem. We still love all the foods we liked as puppies. In fact, if you won’t be eating that Cap’n Crunch, we’d be happy to help you out with it.”)
When we were kids, for instance, the CFO and I performed a Saturday breakfast ritual that involved soda crackers and peanut butter with huge sploshy glasses of chocolate milk. Sneaking into the kitchen while our mother slept (Dad had already left for his butcher shop by 6:30 AM), we’d slide a tray from the cupboard and load it up with a box of saltines, an opened jar of Kraft Smooth peanut butter and two butter knives. Next, we’d add a heaping teaspoon of Nestle’s Quik (after consuming at least one spoonful, dry, first, of course) to the bottom of two tumblers and fill them with milk. If we were really in luck, there would be a carton of chocolate milk already in the fridge–so we’d fill the glasses with that instead.
Then the CFO would grab the tray, I’d snatch the tumblers, and we’d pad down to the basement TV room where we’d station ourselves in front of Boris and Natasha, Bugs Bunny, The Prefab Four or whoever else danced across the TV screen for the next two hours as we slathered saltine after saltine with peanut butter and slurped our drinks. True, I suppose there were worse breakfasts we could have had (those cigarettes and coffee from my 20s come to mind), but we weren’t exactly poster children for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, either (and just thinking of all that sugar makes my fillings ache).
On the other hand, many foods I detested as a child have since become dearly beloved staples. Some of the obvious examples include oil-cured black olives, roasted garlic bulbs, broccoli or parsnip fries. It may be hard to believe, but as a tot I couldn’t face even the smallest tidbit of cheesecake. At my parents’ weekly card games, my mother would serve up cherry-topped cheesecakes, chocolate cheesecakes, no-bake cheesecakes, Farmer’s Cheesecakes, Cheese Danish–and I’d avoid them all. The thick, gloppy filling would stick in my throat and I’d feel slightly nauseated every time I tried to swallow some (too bad my negative response didn’t also stick). Fortunately (or, perhaps, unfortunately), I outgrew my cheesecake aversion by the time I hit my 20s, and the dessert even became one of my specialties in the days when I used to baked conventional sweets.
Another previously loathed–and now loved–sweet was halvah. It was one of my mother’s two favorite confections (the other was known as “Turkish Delight”–gooey, gelatin-based cubes of candy in an array of popsicle colors, each dusted with icing sugar and sold in a rectangular, waxed-paper lined cardboard box, from the local fruit market).
My mother’s preferred halvah, a Middle Eastern candy made primarily from tahini (sesame paste) and honey, was always purchased by the pound at the supermarket deli counter. To me, it resembled a discarded brick of concrete from some abandoned construction site, the oatmeal-gray block streaked with wayward marbling from the chocolate filling. Its texture was dry and grainy with crunchy layers that stuck in your teeth, a sensation I did not enjoy. And overriding the sesame taste was the strong flavor of honey, a sweetener to which I reacted rather viscerally as a child. Needless to say, the mere appearance of either one of those desserts on our kitchen table triggered my gag reflex.
It wasn’t until I hit my 40s and tasted halvah again at a raw foods restaurant that I became truly besotted. By that time, I’d been eating a healthy diet for several years, so both tahini and sesame were staples in my everyday cooking. The halvah this time was soft, with a fudge-like bite and a subtle sweetness (from agave nectar) that encouraged the true sesame flavor to reveal itself. That early sample was studded with bits of cheery green pistachios as well, and I fell in love. I’ve been making my own version of halvah ever since.
This recipe is an adaptation from the one in my cookbook, Sweet Freedom.I’ve used ACD-friendly sweeteners here so that all of us anti candida veterans can enjoy it just as well. Creating the chocolate swirl is easy and lends a bit of elegance to the candy, but if you prefer your halvah plain (or with chopped fruit or nuts), go for it. You can also simply blend the melted chocolate right into the sesame mixture for chocolate halvah, another decadent treat.
** you knew we had to be talking about Rocker Guy (he of the black leather pants), didn’t you?
This is the kind of dessert that looks great on a candy tray alongside chocolates or truffles. At the same time, it contains so many healthy ingredients and is so packed with nutrition that you can feel just fine eating a few pieces as an afternoon snack.
For the halvah base:
1/2 cup (80 g) cashews, lightly toasted
3/4 cup ( 180 ml) sesame tahini
1/4 cup (35 g) sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 tsp (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
pinch fine sea salt
3 Tbsp (45 ml) yacon syrup or agave nectar
10-20 drops plain, vanilla or chocolate stevia liquid, to your taste
For the Chocolate Swirl:
1 ounce (30 g) unsweetened chocolate, preferably organic (I used Cocoa Camino)
1 Tbsp (15 ml) vegetable glycerin or agave nectar (for ACD stage 2, use glycerin)
10-20 drops plain or vanilla stevia liquid, to your taste
Make the halvah base: In the bowl of a food processor, whir the cashews until they resemble a coarse cornmeal. There should be no pieces left bigger than a sesame seed.
Add remaining ingredients and blend until the mixture comes together in a ball. It should have the consistency of a thick dough (resist the temptation to add liquid to make it blend more easily; you want it to be fairly dry, but just moist enough to hold together). Break up the ball with your fingers or a spatula and crumble it evenly around the processor bowl. Set aside.
Make the chocolate swirl: Pour enough water into a small pot to fill it about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to lowest possible heat. Place a larger metal or heatproof bowl over the pot (it should be large enough that the bottom doesn’t touch the water in the pot) and add the chocolate to the bowl. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts, a couple of minutes. Remove the bowl from the pot (turn off the heat) and then stir in the glycerin or agave and stevia. The mixture should remain smooth and pourable.
Finish the halvah: Drizzle the chocolate mixture directly over the halvah in the processor bowl, pouring in a ring shape. Don’t worry if it’s not even or if it doesn’t cover the entire halvah mixture. Replace the processor cover and pulse once or twice ONLY to barely incorporate the chocolate in rivulets through the mixture (any more than this and you will end up with chocolate halvah). You want the chocolate to be distributed between the bits of halvah, but not blended into it.
Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter and turn the mixture onto it. Folding the plastic over the halvah mixture, press the mixture into place to form a compact rectangle. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm. Once firm, cut into small squares for serving. Store, covered, in the refrigerator up to one week. Makes 20-30 small squares.
