Tag Archives: yum

Grain-free Honey-lemon Ricotta cheesecake …

Does eating well get ANY better than this?  I don’t think so!!!

For some reason I’ve been hankering for goats milk ricotta cheese lately … and one of the advantages of making your own ingredients, is that things like ricotta are just as easy to make with goats milk as they are cows milk!  Goats milk ricotta is a thing of beauty!  lovely and creamy, a small curd, and a slight tang!  I won’t post detailed instructions here, as there are lots of good tutorials online.  For my ricotta, I prefer a mild vinegar or lemon juice as the acid, and find that 1/4 cup acid for each gallon of milk is plenty.

Pro-tip — most instructions will have you use cheescloth, BUT it is really too coarsely textured, and you will find curds get caught in between the layers.  I use a fine mesh sieve or a jelly-bag.

This cheesecake is grain-free and refined sugar-free (if you wanted to make this SCD legal, dry-curd cottage cheese would work equally well)  The goal here was to make something that actually tasted and looked like a proper treat, but still possessed some healing properties :)

The ricotta for this has had almost all of the whey strained out (helps it keep longer in the fridge), with a texture like farmers cheese — this results in a fairly dense cheesecake.  IF you like your cheesecake creamier, reduce the ricotta by 75 grams and add 1/2 cup heavy cream and an extra egg yolk to the mixture (to keep it SCD legal, use coconut cream).

One final tip on the method:  this will bake fine, standing on its own in the oven, but remember that cheesecake is basically a custard, so  baking this in a bain marie will also help create an even creamier texture.

Enjoy this with a variety of fruit compotes –  blueberries are just coming into season here  and pair brilliantly with lemon, but we’ll have a progression of fruits and berries right through to the fall that work equally well with the lemon (switch up the spices in the cheescake to pair depending on what fruit you are using!)

Grain-free ricotta cheesecake …

Yield: makes one 6\" cheesecake (double the recipe to make a 9\" cake)

Grain-free ricotta cheesecake …

Ingredients

  • Crust:
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 T coconut oil, melted and cooled
  • 3 T honey
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg white
  • Filling:
  • 500 grams ricotta cheese (I used goats milk ricotta)
  • 120 grams honey (up to 150 grams, to taste)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • grated zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
  • Compote:
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Combine the dry ingredients for the crust in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine.
  2. Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to combine.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Let the mixture stand 5 minutes or so for the coconut flour to absorb moisture.
  4. Press into a springform pan. (You can use this crust for all kinds of pies -- if you need to blind-bake it, bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  6. Combine all the filling ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.
  7. Pour the filling into the crust-lined springform pan.
  8. Bake in a bain-marie for 60-70 minutes until the centre is just barely set. It will firm up as it cools.
  9. For the compote, cook the blueberries, honey, lemon juice and water in a saucepan over medium heat for 20-25 minutes until thickened. Let cool (store leftovers in the refrigerator)
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/07/grain-free-honey-lemon-ricotta-cheesecake/

Craving gluten-free pancakes? We’ve got you covered!

So tomorrow is National Pancake day south of the border (I haven’t seen if its transpiring North of the 49th here), and to celebrate, that famous pancake place IHOP is celebrating by giving away free pancakes in exchange for a donation to the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

In my book, pancakes are pretty awesome, and free pancakes are even better, and supporting a charity that helps out kids puts it over the top.  But, most pancake purveyors places of pancake preparation are full of gluten – not so great if you are Celiac or gluten-intolerent :/.

Don’t fret though!  We’ve got you covered for all your pancake cravings!   You can whip these up, have your pancakes AND eat them too!  If you feel inclined, go make a donation online!

Happy Pancake Day!

Craving gluten-free pancakes? We’ve got you covered!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 10-12 3 inch pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup tapioca starch
  • 1/3 cup potato starch
  • 2/3 cup amaranth flour
  • 1 T psyllium husks or 1 tsp psyllium husk powder
  • 1 T granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk (non-dairy milk + yogurt work equally well)
  • 2 T vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Make a well in the centre of the bowl, and add the liquid ingredients. Whisk everything together until just mixed. Let stand for 10 minutes before starting to cook.
  3. Heat a large griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Make sure to brush the surface lightly with oil before pouring the pancakes out.
  4. Pour 3-4 T of batter onto the griddle to form each pancake -- don't overcrowd your griddle or frypan. When the pancake starts to bubble on top, flip it over and cook until the other side is browned.
  5. Repeat with the remaining batter.
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/02/craving-gluten-free-pancakes-weve-got-you-covered/

Bread pudding: dairy-free and delicious!

I’ve been doing some test baking here in the last couple of days, and we’ve been swamped with a surplus of gluten-free bread.  Lucky for me, I also had a yen for some bread pudding!

This recipe is pretty simple.  Take some bread (day-old is good!).  cut it into cubes and douse it with a basic custard combination until the bread has sopped up the works.  Bake in a low oven for about 40 minutes until the custard is set … and that’s it!  I’ve used coconut milk instead of cream, making it dairy-free, yet still very delicious!

The possibilities are endless — add some fruit if you want, add spices to the custard, or add a small dollop of rum or bourbon!  It’s your bread pudding, so go crazy!  If you want an extra creamy texture, bake it in a water bath, but in a pinch, it bakes just fine in a heavy casserole dish at 325 degrees.

Bread pudding: dairy-free and delicious!

Ingredients

  • 6 cups bread, cut into 3/4" cubes
  • 1 large apple, cut into 1/2" dice
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1 Tablespoon bourbon (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  2. Place the bread cubes into a greased 3 quart casserole dish with the apple and raisins. Toss gently to mix.
  3. Combine all the other ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until well combined. Pour over the bread cubes in the casserole dish, and let sit for 30 minutes while the bread cubes soak up the custard.
  4. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees, until the bread pudding is just set in the centre.
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/02/bread-pudding-dairy-free-and-delicious/

Vanilla-Coconut Ice Cream

This recipe came about due to a lack of dairy products in our fridge, and a late night craving for ice cream!

One of the advantages of having a stocked pantry is that there are plenty of canned goods and dry goods on hand — coconut milk being one those things that is usually stocked in both canned and powder form!

This is a pretty plain-jane recipe for a basic dairy-free ice cream — made into a custard and cooled before freezing.   For this recipe, it might be possible to freeze this and stir every 30 minutes or so during the freezing process, BUT it will not have that fabulous, creamy texture that comes from the contant stirring and introduction of air while this stuff is freezing.  It is not, however, a requirement to shell out hundreds of dollars for an ice cream maker — I have an inexpensive ice cream machine made by Cuisinart – it makes about 1 L at a time in a pre-chilled container, and does the stirring for me.

 

Vanilla-Coconut Ice Cream

Yield: approx. 1 Liter

Ingredients

  • 2 14 oz. tins coconut milk
  • pinch salt
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean, split
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Combine coconut milk, salt and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until very smooth and pale yellow in colour. Add egg yolk mixture to the saucepan and whisk to combine.e
  2. Place the saucepan over medium heat and continue to whisk while it heats.
  3. Stir constantly until the custard begins to thicken. It should reach no more than 180 degrees F and coat the back of a spoon.
  4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Strain into a bowl to ensure the custard is smooth. Put the vanilla back in the custard while it cools (place plastic wrap over the custard while it cools to prevent a skin forming).
  5. The custard can be put in the fridge to cool overnight.
  6. Freeze in an ice cream maker as per the manufacturers directions. Once frozen, remove from the ice cream maker and place in an airtight container to store in the freezer.
  7. Before serving, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften slightly.
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/01/vanilla-coconut-ice-cream/