I have been surrounded by abundant love in the past month and am feeling ready to share and overflow my joy onto everyone. Last month I traveled across the country to LA to stay with my very dear friend and soul sister, Keren and her fantastic family. There I got to cater a movie cast and crew and nourish the project with my creative vegan cuisine. This film project is going to be going places! I am super excited about it, follow it at https://www.facebook.com/TolkiensRoad. After the film gig I found out that The Raw Living Expo was happening so I extended my stay and contacted the expo organizers. I was able to volunteer my talent and work in the demo kitchen. It was a thrilling weekend! I met so many awesome raw stars at the expo, my head was spinning all weekend. I'm still riding the high over a week later.
The fabulous California sunshine adventure has got my girls and I itching to get back to the west coast. We all really belong someplace warm. We felt so very at home in Venice and long for sun, culture and art. There are so many more options and opportunities for us there. I have a new vigor for getting
Here Comes The Sun Bus on the road!
Today is Valentine's Day and I am feeling overwhelmed with love and gratitude for all the blessings and special people in my life! I wish I could see them all and give them some of the special treats that I made today, since that's not quite possible, at least I'll post the recipes and hope you get the chance to try them. Comment if you want some raw chocolates, I'm happy to now have a tempered recipe that I can package and ship without worrying too much about melting.
First this morning I made my gluten free vegan pancakes in heart shapes for my two girls. I use a gluten free flour mix that I make up myself and keep on hand for all my baking. It's simple and I'll share it with you.
GF Flour Mix
2 Cup Brown Rice Flour
2 Cup White Rice Flour
1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum (optional)
The xanthan gum helps in things like muffins and cakes that you want to rise a bit, but if you have an aversion to it or don't have it on hand, it's not necessary. I've heard a lot of people say that xanthan gum is something man made and unnatural, but I recently found out that it's just a by product from the process of fermenting cabbage. It is used in some medications to absorb sugar in the intestines and as sort of a laxative. However in such small amounts there should be no such side effects unless you are super sensitive. Anyway back to the flour mix. Simply sift the four ingredients into a bowl, mix and keep it in a large glass jar or gallon zip-lock bag. You can make larger amounts if you have the need to.
Then use it whenever a recipe calls for all-purpose flour, I've had great success in many dozens of recipes.
Best Ever Fluffy Perfect Gluten Free Vegan Pancakes
3 Cups GF flour mix
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar (or granulated cane sugar)
2 cups almond mylk (or other non-dairy mylk)
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 cup pure water
6 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Sift together the first four ingredients (the dry ingredients) into a large bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients into another bowl and stir well. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Gently stir until everything in incorporated. There will be lumps, it's OK, do not over mix. Let the batter rest while you heat your cast iron skillet or electric griddle. I love my electric griddle for pancakes and perfect grilled cheezes. If using cast iron I coat with a pat of coconut oil. I don't find the need to oil with the non-stick electric griddle. Use about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake and pour onto per-heated pan. Wait for about 4-5 minutes to flip. They will puff up and let you know when they are ready. Today I used a plastic chef's squirt bottle filled with batter to make perfect heart shaped pancakes. I have also added vegan chocolate chips, blueberries and bananas to this recipe at times and had great success.
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We had a special guest coming to stay with us today. My brother in-law, Angel who has been living in Mississippi, but is being deployed overseas for a year next week. I know he has a sweet tooth and I wanted to make him a special valentine, so I tried a new version of my favorite healthy doughnut. The girls and I have been playing with this recipe a lot in the past week. We have made some really yummy flavors and have come up with dozens of more fun ideas to try. Today's attempt was mocha with chocolate glaze and goji dust. I love using goji dust in place of sprinkles as a fun healthy alternative. I've used it on cupcakes and called it fairy dust. It's pretty and festive for the day of love. Don't worry about a bitter goji taste. You won't find it because the glaze or frosting your putting it on is so sweet.
Mocha Love Doughnuts
1 Cup Gluten Free Flour Mix
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar (or granulated cane sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean
1/4 Cup Almond Mylk
1/4 Cup Organic Coffee
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 flax egg (1 Tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 Tablespoons water) or 1 egg replacer
4 Tbs Earth Balance
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla bean in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to a small sauce pan and heat just to warm and melt the butter. Once melted, add the wet ingredients to the dry and incorporate gently. I used a mini doughnut pan and a doughnut hole pan. Mini muffin pans make nice doughnut holes too. Once I just spooned the batter into circles onto a cookie sheet and that worked too. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 14 minutes.
For Chocolate Ganache Glaze
1/2 Cup Almond Mylk (or other non-dairy mylk)
2 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup, Coconut Nectar or Brown Rice Syrup
3/4 Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips (like enjoy live or Trader Joes)
Heat the mylk to a boil on the stove top. Stir in the syrup and turn off the heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Dip the top of each doughnut into the glaze.
To make the Goji Dust I put about 1/4 cup of Goji berries (dried, be sure to pick out any moist looking ones) into a coffee / spice grinder. Alternatively you could do this in a dry high speed blender container. Sprinkle the goji dust onto the glazed doughnuts. Goji dusting makes my heart sparkle!
Love to you all everyday!
xo
