Vegan. Gluten Free. XGFX.

I'm now part of a gluten free and vegan blogging community called Vegan. Gluten Free. XGFX. This community was started as a resource for those of us who are gluten free and vegan. There are many vegan and many gf blogs, but this community is made of folks who are always gluten free and always vegan.

Please come and visit us whether you are gluten free, vegan, both, or neither. Most of you know someone who is at least one of those things. Come on over and check out our awesome xgfx blogging community. I'm so happy to be part of this supportive and understanding group of bloggers!

Cashew "Cheese"

I’m a bit nutty and that might be why I like nuts so much. While I’ve eaten them my whole life, I never went far beyond the peanut until the past five or so years. Sure, I would consume mixed nuts at a party, but I never used them in cooking. Along the way, they became a larger part of my diet. Early on, I'm not sure I realized the wonderful nutritional benefits that they offered, such as omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, vitamin E, plant sterols, and so on. They are also rich in unsaturated fats, unlike milk, eggs, and meat (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nuts/HB00085/NSECTIONGROUP=2). Unless you are allergic, there is no reason they shouldn’t be a normal part of your diet.

Cashews are among my favorite nut and if I don’t watch myself, I can eat too many in one sitting. While nuts are healthful, they contain fat and I try not to consume an overabundance of fat in my diet. This is pretty easy since I’m vegan!

Some of my favorite ways to enjoy cashews is to add to cooked dishes, granola, oatmeal, and cereals. Every once and a while, I want the cashew to be the star of the show and when that is the case I dine on cashew cheese. There are probably hundreds of recipes for cashew cheese and if I repeat one here, it is by coincidence only. I’ve combined elements of cashew cheeses that I’ve had in the past to come up with the following recipe. I served it at a recent event and it was a hit!

Cashew Cheese

• 2 cups of raw cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours (if you need them quicker, you can go with at least 30 minutes)
• ¼ cup of water- use more or less depending on consistency.
• ¼ cup of lemon juice
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• Tahini to taste
• ½ tsp of salt or less to taste- I prefer less
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• Pinch of paprika
• Pinch of chili powder

Drain the cashews and place them into the bowl of the food processor along with the clove of garlic and nutritional yeast. Pour half of the water, lemon juice, tahini, and blend. Add more water as needed for consistency and more lemon juice for taste. When it has almost reached the desired consistency add the ground pepper, salt, paprika, and chili powder. Give the cheese a final blend while being careful not to over process. The cheese should be smooth with texture. Taste and add more spices as needed.

Chill for about a half hour, or until ready to use. Serve with gluten free crackers or vegetables and enjoy!

Pickled Sunchokes? What's a Sunchoke?

We have been buying sunchokes, also known as a Jerusalem artichoke, from our farmers market. It is a small root vegetable that looks like a cross between ginger root and a potato. I recently learned that it is neither from Jerusalem nor is an artichoke. The sunchoke is native to the United States and is a knobby tuber that comes from the root of a plant called Helianthus tuberosus. This tuber is healthy as it is rich in vitamin C, phosphorus, thiamine, iron, and potassium.

As a child, my Mom would buy sunchokes and we would snack on them raw or in a salad. This tuber has a very different flavor raw than it does cooked. When eaten raw it resembles the flavor of jicama, although not as watery, and a sweet turnip. When cooked, it resembles the flavor of a white potato. It is delicious!

Over the years, my Mom would bring up the sunchoke and I searched for the choke with no avail. When I came across sunchokes at the Durham farmers market, I was ecstatic to have them back in my life again. Piedmont Biofarm, one of my favorite local farms, had them in their booth one warm Saturday. I was so delighted to see the root after all of these years. John had never heard of them, but was willing to give them a taste.

We both loved their flavor and continued to buy them and add them to salad for a bit of crunch. Piedmont Biofarm was even nice enough to suggest a new way to eat the sunchoke by sauteing them with some olive oil and onion. We followed their advise and were not disappointed.

Recently, I came across a recipe to pickle the choke. I like cucumbers, okra, beans, and peppers pickled and I thought a sunchoke would be just as delightful pickled. I didn’t much care for the recipe that I found so, I used the recipe as a guideline and made up my own.

• Sunchokes (about a pound and a half to two pounds)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
• 1 ¾ cup of distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
• ¾ c water
• ½ Tbsp of whole mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• ½ onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

Mix the lemon juice in a bowl of cool water (the sunchokes will rest in here, so make sure the bowl is big enough to hold the chokes). Peel the sunchokes and cut into rounds. Transfer as cut to lemon water.

Bring vinegar, salt, water, mustard seeds, turmeric, and cayenne to boil in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Cool brine to room temperature.

Cook sunchokes and onion in a large pot of boiling water for several minutes until tender. Drain and let sit to cool. Put vegetables in a glass/ceramic bowl or Mason jar and pour brine over them. Make sure that the veggies are submerged and chill. Stir once or twice a day and allow them to marinate for at least 1 week (to allow flavors to develop). You can start snacking on them whenever you like, but the longer they are in the brine, the better they will taste.

The end result is a homemade, crunchy pickle that makes a great snack!

Birthday Link Love

Last week Deanna over at The Mommy Bowl was kind enough to shout out to her followers to send her vegan and gluten free recipes to share on her blog. It was her Birthday and she wanted to give back. It just so happened that we share a Birthday week. As a treat for myself, I submitted my last blog post and she accepted me. Yay!

It has been nice to connect with other gluten free, vegan bloggers. The support has been so crucial to my current success of being gluten free for five and a half months. The first thing that I learned as a gluten free, vegan is that you NEED support from others like you.

So a B-I-G thanks to Deanna! I appreciate the Birthday Link Love! :-)

Fresh Roasted Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce was part of my life and family gatherings as far back as I can remember. As a child, I didn't like tomato sauce and my grandma (Ma) would make me noodles or gnocchi with butter. I am not sure when I started to like sauce, but it is now one of my favorites. My Mom and Ma make their own slow cooked sauce (you probably already guessed they are Italian). The slow cooked sauce is great, but I also enjoy a quicker cooking sauce.

I never had bottled sauces until I left home and went to college. It was quicker and I didn't want to deal with the fuss of making sauce from scratch. By the time I got to graduate school, I realized that bottled sauces were not for me any longer. They are high in sodium, sugar, and contain unneeded ingredients. In an effort to cut out more processed foods, I cut out the bottled sauces. I quickly learned that making sauce does not have to be expensive and time consuming. The main ingredients are readily available in any grocery store and are affordable. One can make a quick sauce with plain, no salt added tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, sauteed onions, garlic, and spices.

If you are not a fan of canned tomatoes or want to go fresh, a quick sauce is still a delicious option. Organic tomatoes are available in most grocery stores and farmers markets and can easily be roasted and turned into a quick sauce. A sauce containing organic and roasted tomatoes is one of our favorite sauces to serve over gluten free pasta. The following dish is served with a fresh salad.

• Three lbs tomatoes
• 1/2 onion, cut in half and sliced
• 2 carrots, chopped
  
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (if fresh, use more)
  
• 1/2 tsp basil (if fresh, use more)
  
• 1/2 tsp oregano (if fresh, use more)
  
• Fresh rosemary sprigs
• Ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the core. Place the tomatoes face down on a rimmed baking sheet. Peel and crush the garlic cloves and add them to the sheet along with the onions and carrots. Sprinkle the spices over the vegetables and drizzle with olive oil. Roast until they are tender, about 45 minutes.

When the vegetables are finished roasting, remove them from the oven and use tongs to place the vegetables and juices into a food processor or blender. Pulse several times until the sauce has reached the desired consistency. Serve warm over your favorite gluten free pasta and enjoy!

Homemade Letters For Baby Zach

All of our nephews and niece have received name letters with hand painted designs by me. I usually use the theme of the baby room. If a theme has not been designated, then I paint what I like for them. I like the letters because is something they can play with or keep displayed. My hope is that it will help them to learn how to spell their names. Here are some examples of some that I have made. I haven’t taken pictures of all of them and I wish I would have!

It seems like 2011 is the year for babies. Many of my friends and some family members are pregnant. I know of at least six women who are pregnant right now. It is an exciting time! One of the first due is Kelly and she is having a baby boy named Zach. The theme for his room is monkeys and I couldn’t resist drawing monkey themed letters for his room. I had so much fun painting the letters for him.

This past weekend was Kelly's shower and it was fun to celebrate Kelly becoming a new Mom. I was delighted that Kelly and Jed (her fiancé) liked the letters. They even inspired Jed to start thinking about painting a mural in Zach’s room! Every little kid should have art in their life!

Kelly encouraged me to continue to create and wondered why she hadn’t seen art from me before in our friendship. As I thought about it I also wondered myself. Sometimes I am surrounded by other people who create and I feel there is no room for me. As a teenager and young adult, I used to spend hours drawing in my sketch books. The older I get, the less I crack open my sketch book and pick up an art utensil. Part of the trouble is the doubt that I succumb too as I tell myself that I am not any good. In reality, it doesn’t matter if I have any talent. It is something that brings me joy and I should do it without reservation and without judgment. I should do it for the peace that it brings me.

To those of you that have the same reservations, I hope you will find inspiration in your life for art. Thanks, Kelly!

Chocolate Lavender Cake by Wholesome Chow

It is a new year and over the past four months, I have become a new me. More like an improved me. I hope to change my blog up a bit with a redesign, fresh image and logo, etc. One of the changes is to add a review of vegan and gluten free products. I am not sure a blog is the best place to do this. Maybe I should start a dedicated blog for this? Or maybe even a website?

I don't want to wait to make a decision before I highlight an awesome company that I came across last year. The company is Wholesome Chow and they make vegan decadent baking mixes. They use all-natural and organic ingredients. They are allergen friendly by excluding eggs, dairy/casein, and peanut/nut from their products. They even have a gluten free line of mixes!

I don't remember how I stumbled upon this company, but I am delighted that I did! During one of their sales, I purchased three gluten free baking mixes. Below is a picture of their new package design. I love the design and the best part is that their packaging is compostable!

John's birthday was in early January and I decided to make him a cake. Normally I would make a cake from scratch, but GF baking is still a bit of a challenge and an experiment. I have realized that it is ok to have help from mixes. Especially ones that don't contain chemicals, additives, coloring, high fructose corn syrup, and animal products. I can stand behind organic, vegan, and gluten free. So, why not?

I made the Chocolate Lavender cake and a homemade rich chocolate frosting. I served it to John (of course!) and my parents (who aren't vegan). My Dad would not try it because it was the dreaded v-word! That just meant more for me, John, and my Mom. Good thing for us because we all loved the flavor and consistency. The cake was light in texture, rich in flavor, and moist. The lavender was a perfect pairing with the chocolate. I had never had the combination before, but I most certainly want it again. The most exciting part was that the cake did not taste GF at all. Instead, it tasted like a normal and delicious cake! This may not seem like much to most, but many GF baked goods taste nothing like the original baked goods they attempt to mirror. They taste grainy, starchy, and crunchy. This cake was nothing like that and gave me hope. Maybe GF, vegan baking isn't so bad?

The only thing I would have changed was the flavor of the frosting, which was all my doing. It worked well with the cake, but a vanilla lemon icing would be perfect for this cake. I could see the chocolate, lavender, lemon, vanilla flavoring at a summer or spring gathering. I think I'll have to buy this mix again and try my icing idea.

Lucky for me, I have two more mixes to try. Now, I just need a special occasion to try them- OR- maybe not! :-) If you are looking for a GF, vegan cake mix (or just a vegan cake mix), I recommend stopping by the Wholesome Chow website and placing an order today!