Gluten Free Pizza Roll-up -- vegan, grain free, gluten free, dairy free, delicious!!! Fancy!

Our friends are coming for dinner!! One of our friends cannot eat any gluten at all. Nor can she eat cheese. So, while the others enjoy a more traditional pizza, some of us will enjoy this vegan, gluten free, grain free, pizza-esque roll up.

This dish is wildly successful, and super delicious. It was devoured by everyone. My 5 year old prefers it to regular pizza, and every guest that ate some came back for more. Need I say more?

ingredients:

dough:

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce puree

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp oregano

black pepper 

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

1/4 cup ground chia seeds

2 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp coconut flour

filling:

cashew vegan ricotta and spinach dip

1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours, drained.
300 g package frozen chopped spinach
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp nutmeg
black pepper
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

directions:
puree in the food processor until homogeneous and creamy

sauteed onion:

2 onions sauteed in coconut oil with a pinch of sea salt


directions:
1. roll the dough flat
2. spread with spinach dip
3. sprinkle with well sauteed onion
4. roll up
5. bake for 60 minutes at 345 degrees
6. let cool for a few minutes then cut and serve


and it's fabulous the next day.


A few things:
1. The spinach ricotta mixture can be made a day or two ahead then stored in an airtight container
2. The dough can be made a day or two ahead, then wrapped in parchment and sealed in a ziplock bag.
3. When you roll the dough out, cover it with parchment to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. I roll it out on a silicone baking mat. Do your best to roll it out to the whole dimension of the mat.
4. The trickiest part was rolling up the layers together. Use the mat to help you, because it will move everything in one go and keep it smooth and even. So, use the mat to turn over that first edge and then to keep on easing the roll.
5. Do your best to coax the whole rollup into the middle of a mat for baking, and slide a baking sheet under it before putting it in the oven.
6. The whole thing can be made ahead, then frozen. I froze mine unwrapped on a parchment lined baking sheet, then wrapped it very well once frozen. I then baked it for frozen at 345 for 2 hours. Let cool and set for a while before serving.

Lentil and Veggie Crockpot -- Papa's coming to dinner!

So, Papa and Nana came for the afternoon, and with a little arm-twisting, they joined us for dinner. After a long walk on the beach and much playing! Super yummy!!

ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cups  black lentils
2 cups finely chopped green cabbage
3 cups frozen green peas

2 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced sweet potatoes

4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp marjoram

4 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup coconut butter
6 cups water

3 cups chopped steamed broccoli



directions:

1. as usual, layer the ingredients into the crockpot in the order stated
2. cook on high for 6 hours
3. add the broccoli and turn off
4. adjust salt and pepper to taste

Lentil Crockpot

yummy.

Anyway, Papa was going to be coming over so we made this because he's a huge fan of lentils. Turns out he had to reschedule, but we still got to enjoy the fruits of our efforts. 

Delicious crockpot!!!

ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cups lentils
2 cups finely chopped green cabbage
3 cups frozen green peas

2 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced sweet potatoes

1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano

4 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup coconut butter
6 cups water

3 cups chopped steamed broccoli



directions:

1. as usual, layer the ingredients into the crockpot in the order stated
2. cook on high for 6 hours
3. add the broccoli and turn off
4. adjust salt and pepper to taste

Green and Orange Layered Terrine -- vegan and sensational!

So, it's sort of like a vegan version of my roasted layered vegetable and goat cheese terrine. I've decided to make it for mothers day lunch. Sort of fancy-ish. It will look beautiful plated on baby greens and sided with some sexy deliciousness such as sauted baby king mushrooms, and baby tomatoes with avocado. Prepare to be amazed!!

ingredients:

2 cups raw cashews soaked in water with a little sea salt for at least 2 hours, drain and rinse
500 g broccoli
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup chia -- finely ground

2 cups raw cashews soaked in water with a little sea salt for at least 2 hours, drain and rinse
250 g carrot
250 g sweet potato
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp nutritional yeast
black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chia seeds -- finely ground

4 cups tomato sauce -- I still have a bunch of jars in my freezer from last falls plum tomato extravaganza.


1. process the cashews and broccoli mixture, then set aside
2. process the cashews and sweet potato and carrot mixture, and set aside
3. prepare a springform pan -- grease with coconut oil and layer with parchment
4. cover the parchment with 3/4 cup tomato sauce
5. put your first layer (1/2 of one of the colours), then 3/4 cup of tomato sauce, then a different colour (1/2 of the other), 3/4 cup tomato sauce, then the rest of the first colour, 3/4 cup tomato sauce, and finally the last layer, and the rest of the tomato sauce
6. bake in the oven on 345 for 90 minutes
7. allow to cool
8. remove springform, invert onto platter, peel off parchment, and serve

This vegan dish is simple to make although there are steps and there is a process. It is kid friendly, super delicious, and reminiscent of layered pasta such as lasagna. Rich, savoury, and totally delicious.

For mother's day this year, I will prepare this and serve it on a bed of lightly dressed baby greens, sided by sauteed king mushrooms and a salsa of diced avocado and baby tomato.

crockpot with friends -- vegan and delicious

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 onion -- 1 1/2 cups chopped
2 cups finely chopped green cabbage

2 cups moong dal


500 grams green peas -- 3 cups

1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 cups diced sweet potato -- small pieces


2 cups hot water
1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup coconut butter
1 cup tomato sauce

3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chili powder

3 cups hot water

Nemesis makes dinner -- vegan chickpea veggie bake

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
2 tbsp very finely minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cups green cabbage, finely chopped
4 cups chickpeas, soaked but not cooked
3 cups frozen green peas
2  cups chopped celery
2  cup chopped carrots

4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
black pepper
1 tbsp rosemary

1/2 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup almond butter
2 cups hot water
4 cups tomato sauce (I get mine from the freezer)

3 cups steamed chopped broccoli


1. melt the coconut oil in a large casserole or dutch oven -- i use the nemesis
1. layer the ingredients up to the carrots
2. sprinkle the seasonings on top
3. in a large bowl combine the almond butter, coconut butter, hot water, and tomato sauce
4. pour the sauce on top
5. cover and bake at 345 for 2 hours
6. remove from the oven, stir well, and then add the broccoli
7. serve

yum!

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Winter Stew -- vegan, gluten free, delicious

Rich, sweet, mellow, satisfying. This meal in one-bowl is a perfect winter dinner. Vegan, gluten free, etc etc.

ingredients:

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
2 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 cup finely chopped onion

2 cup finely copped red cabbage
4 cups soaked chickpeas
4 cup diced sweet potato
2 cups diced carrots
3 cups frozen green peas

3 tsp sea salt
black pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

3 cups tomato sauce (I have a couple dozen litres left in my freezer from my summer adventures in sauce-land)
400 ml coconut milk

after -- 500 g chopped broccoli

Crockpot Stew -- giant lima beans in the pink

You are probably sick of me going on about the goings on in my crockpot. But let me tell you that this one is too good to miss. Imagine the satisfying toothsome texture of giant limas simmered in a stew of veggies, tomato sauce, and coconut milk. The coconut milk mellows the bite of the tomato sauce, and the veggies all add sweetness and texture. Truly a delicious combination. Yo, vegans!!

ingredients:

3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

3 cloves of garlic, very finely minced

1 large onion, very finely chopped

500 g frozen green peas

4 cups giant lima beans soaked but not cooked (bring to a boil in plenty of water for 2 minutes then turn off heat and soak for 1 hour. Rinse well)


2 cups diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
3 cups diced sweet potato

3 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp herbe de provence

4 cups tomato sauce (either make it using tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, or take some out of your freezer)

400 ml coconut milk


1. layer the ingredients in the order listed
2. cook for 4-6 hours on high in your crockpot

A Dinner Date

Delicious polenta (with shredded carrot and sauteed onion) topped with yummy lentils cooked with spinach and green peas garnished with a swish of tomato sauce all sided by oven roasted neon green cauliflower. Say THAT three times fast. Oh yeah: and peanut butter and honey ice cream for afters.

Simmered Tomato Sauce -- A hearty, sweet sauce for all your sauce needs

The sauce I make is typically a sauce of minced garlic, chopped onion, and diced tomato, with some herbs thrown in for good measure. When the tomatoes are sweet, this sauce is sweet. When the tomatoes are sour, this sauce is more sour. This sauce is cooked until the tomatoes break down a little, but it's not a long cooking sauce, and it has the fresh taste of its components. 

Today, I wanted to make lasagne, and I wanted a sauce that was a little more grounded, a little more well rounded, a little more ... substantial.  I accomplished this by the addition of carrot to my sauce, and a rather extended low temperature cooking time. Yep, I simmered this sauce for 2 hours. The result is a reduced sauce, robust, full bodied, a little sweet from the carrots, and bold enough to hold its own, but mellow enough to soften all the edges and please all palates.

I pureed it after cooking (using an immersion blender -- such a great kitchen tool) to make a smooth sauce, which suited my purposes.

I'm of the opinion, when making sauce: go big or go home.  What I mean is, you might as well make as much as your pot will hold, because it freezes beautifully in glass jars, and then you have some ready the next time you need it -- for a quickie dinner when you're pressed for time, or for whatever meal you've lovingly planned -- and it's one thing less you'll have to do then. In harvest season, I will buy as many tomatoes as I can carry, and use every pot in the house. There's no point in doing that now, because the tomatoes are neither local nor cheap (but Loblaws now carries organic romas in pound packages, which is great), but because of the long cooking time of this sauce, it's a great idea to make more than just your needs for the day.

The following recipe, after cooking for 2 hours, made 2 L (8 cups), which I sadly used all at once because I made an extra lasagne for the freezer. 

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup garlic, finely minced

3 cups onion, finely chopped

2 cups carrots, finely chopped

5 lbs roma tomatoes, diced (about 10 cups)

2 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp marjoram

1 tbsp oregano

black pepper

directions:

1. saute the garlic, onion, and carrot in a covered saute pan with 1 tbsp sea salt until well sweated and translucent. Use low heat.

2. add the tomatoes, herbs, pepper, and rest of sea salt, and stir

3. cook on low heat (just enough for a low simmer) for 2 hours or so, until the sauce has achieved lift-off

4. use chunky, or puree. Use now, or freeze for later. If you freeze it, make sure you leave a little space at the top of the jar for expansion. It would be a shame to break the jars after all your hard work chopping.

This sauce really was perfect in the lasagne. I think it would be really nice with the addition -- either in the sauce or in the lasagne itself -- of a full-bodied mushroom. Alas, my spouse is not only not a mushroom lover, he is a mushroom hater.  I look forward to trying this sauce again for pizza -- ooh, with thinly sliced king mushrooms -- or portobelli. Yum.

Pizza -- the healthy way

Our friends joined us for a fun afternoon of games, followed by a dinner of pizza (and sauteed broccoli -- what can I say, it's broccoli mania here).

Instead of making the pizza in to turnovers, we ate it big and flat. And it was good.

I sauce generously, and use two kinds of cheese -- a boring but organic mozzarella, and some raw milk parmesan.

If you've tried my recipe for panzarotto, this recipe will seem familiar. I thought the pizza bore revisiting, because it's always well received, and before I didn't have any pictures of pizza, only of the panzarotto.  At last, voila, a pizza mosaic:

pizza mosaic

dough ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 tbsp honey

2 tsp bread yeast

1 cup almond flour

2 cups kamut flour

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

directions:

1. combine the water, honey, and yeast, and allow to foam up

2. mix together the flours, salt, oregano, and coconut oil

3. add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, and knead until it is a smooth dough

4. allow to rise for a while

5. roll 1/2 the dough flat on a piece of parchment-- this recipe will make to xl pizzas that each fill a standard baking sheet. Repeat with the 2nd half of the dough

6. transfer the flattened dough to baking sheets

7. cover the dough generously with sauce

8. cover the sauce generously with cheese

9. add other toppings if you like. We often like sauteed onions and grape tomato quarters. I think mushrooms might be nice, too. Go wild. 

10. bake for 30 or 40 minutes at 345, swapping the positions of the trays halfway through if you are baking 2 at once.

11. Eat with gusto or make your own pizza mosaic.

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew

Inspired by Sara and her squash and chickpea stew ...


I had three adorable if generous 'bone' squashes from my favourite chemical free farmer at the East York Civic Center, and decided that today was the day to use one of them. Squashes to keep very well, so it could be weeks before the next squash post. We'll see.


I oven roasted the individual ingredients before combining them all in my red cast iron casserole (named Nemesis after a Red Dwarf star) and cooking them all together to let the flavours do a final meld.
The individual roasting section of the preparation doesn't really add much in terms of labour because honestly it's the cutting and dicing that feels the most labour intensive. However, it does add a little in terms of time. But also adds much in terms of flavour, integrity, and over all result. If you wish to skip the pre-roasting, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you. Yummy, I'm sure. I oven roasted some cauliflower and was originally going to add it, but then decided to just serve it as a side dish. With a loaf of freshly baked bread. :)


ingredients:


1 butternut squash, gutted and cubed
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
4 cups cauliflower florets and greens, chopped
4 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (see the pizza recipe post) (or you could chop some cherry tomatoes in half and throw those in instead -- yum)


1/2 tsp chili powder
black pepper
sea salt




directions:


1. toss butternut squash with coconut oil and a touch of salt and oven roast on a large baking sheet (line with silicone or parchment
2. toss onion and garlic with coconut oil and oven roast in a small oven proof baking dish
3. toss cauliflower with coconut oil and a touch of sea salt and oven roast in a rectangular glass pan
(you'll be able to fit the squash on your bottom rack, and the other two on your upper rack, and thereby do all at once)
4. oven roast everything at 345 until each one is individually done. I really hate under cooked garlic and onion, so I probably roast these much longer than some people would.  The cauliflower should be nicely brown in spots, and kind of translucent and soft. If you've never had cauliflower this way, try it and give thanks to my sister Debbie :) The squash is nice when it's a little brown in places.
5. you can reserve the cauliflower like I did to use as a side dish, or you can use it in your 'stew'.
6. In a large casserole (cast iron, stainless steel, ceramic, or glass), combine the oven roasted vegetables and the chickpeas. Pour the coconut milk over everything, and stir gently to combine.
7. pour on the tomato sauce. You don't want to use so much that the tomato dominates, but rather just enough that it pulls the flavours together nicely, and balances out the richness of the coconut milk. I found 1 1/2 cups did the trick for me.
8. I really like chili powder (not the same as chili pepper) and decided to add 1/2 tsp to this stew. I really like the way it works with the sweetness of the roasted vegetables and the brightness of the tomato. If chili powder is not your bag, maybe just sea salt and black pepper would work.
9. put the loaded casserole into the oven, and bake for 45-60 minutes to meld the flavours fully.
10. Serve with fresh bread, by itself, sided by cauliflower, wearing only a smile, topping quinoa, or consume standing over the stove directly from the casserole whilst wearing a guilty expression.

Oven roasted cauliflower and cauliflower greens that didn't make it into the stew

Squash stew, fresh bread, and Nemesis

Well, we've eaten this for the past three days or so, and I find it to be wake-up-in-the-night-and-raid-the-refrigerator delicious. Not that I do that ;) But I do look forward to a bowl of it for dinner. Extra Yum!


Let me know what you think :)