Struggeling and starting anew

        It has been ages since I've written. I admit it was on some conscience level to hide the back sliding I have practiced since the summer came. I didn't fall completely off the wagon, but have had many 'cheats' as we call them. Some times were bigger than others and I paid the price for them. Pain, nausea, bathroom issues and some areas of my psoriasis has returned, along with some mild pain from fibromyalgia. I also have noticed that when I have a cheat, I need more sleep. My body trying to digest what it can't. So, I am here, to reveal, that to no great surprise to anyone, that I am imperfect and the guidelines for my eating had finally gotten to me.
       Though I still believe in all that I learned and experienced, the food rut I found myself in was mind numbing, or at least taste bud numbing. You can only eat beans, rice, chicken, vegetables, and fruit in so many ways. Beginning this week, I am back to whole foods and saying no to that which tempt me. However, I am happy to announce that, thanks to Pinterest and some other great websites, I have some new recipes in my artillery  that will prove useful when I desire something forbidden.Since so many have asked about my adventures in cooking and baking, I will strive to blog about it. That means I will have to actually find the joy in cooking again, and not fear the mistakes and failures which end in my 'wasting' food. I will bring forth the good, the bad and the ugly.
        Baking and sometimes cooking is like chemistry. You have to put the right ingredients together to get the perfect outcome. When many of the bases of a compound are changed, it changes the whole concoction. Eliminating gluten, dairy, egg, and sugar; the 4 most fundamental ingredients in American cooking; proves to be complicated, challenging and the results are many times less than desirable. The other parameters will be no pork, alcohol, and avoiding soy. You have just mentally checked off all your favorites, haven't you? Are we having fun yet? No? Ok, well, let me list some of the alternatives because that is going to open up the playground!

Gluten/wheat: Very difficult to do exchanges. Wheat has such a fabulous texture and abilities that it brings that one other flour can not duplicate. However, with a mix of flours and some help from gums, it can be close.  ex. Amaranth, Almond flour/meal, Garbanzo, Fava, Sorghum, White and Brown Rice flour, Sweet Rice Flour, Coconut flour, etc. Gums are gaur gum and xanthan gum.

Dairy: Pretty easy to replace, but some things are just not the same. Butter is really hard and sadly the only one that comes close is made with soy; Earth Balance.
  Yogurt: almond yogurt, coconut yogurt (my fav)
   Sour Cream: plain coconut yogurt
   Milk: almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk
   Sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk: I found some recipes, will have to try using coconut,  rice, or almond milk.
   Ice Cream: Rice cream, coconut ice cream

Egg: Another fantastic ingrediant that is hard to replace. There are lots of options and depending on the job the egg does for the recipe (structure, moisture, flavor, texture), and what flavors will prevail, will dictate what you want to use. 
    Flax + water: probably the one I use the most; meatloaf, cupcakes, pancakes 
    Chia + water
    Banana
    Yogurt
    Apple Sauce
    Vegetable oil
    Pureed Fruits
    Gelatin
    Vinegar and baking powder
    Potato Starch
    Arrowroot
    Corn starch
    Mashed potatoes
    Rice
    Oatmeal
A great website is: http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

Sugar: Refined sugars are so bad. (yes, keep telling yourself this!) Thankfully, I have found some healthier alternatives. 
      Pure Maple Syrup
      Raw Honey
      Agave
      Stevia, would prefer green raw, but can't find any with a price i am willing to pay yet. 
      Coconut sugar
      Date sugar
      Fruits
      Brown Rice Syrup
   (Xylitol would be a great sub, but since it is still from sugar (it is the sugar alcohol), I stay away from it. )


Now, that I have either tantalized your brain with possibilities or you got bored, skipped the above and have begun reading again, I will start with the first recipe I tried the other day from Pinterest.

Brazilian un-cheese bread:

¾ cup dairy-free milk (I used rice milk)
½ cup red pepper hummus 

 1 cup almond flour, packed
2/3 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp coconut flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line one large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, add milk and then hummus, stirring until fairly well mixed.

Add almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

Add coconut flour. Mix and let sit for about 3 to 5 minutes, until batter is visibly thicker---like biscuit dough---when stirred.

Drop a heaping teaspoon of batter onto the baking sheet and then drop a little more on top of that. That second dollop of batter on top the first is important. Without it, your biscuits will be too thin and cook too quickly. (Using a larger serving utensil like an ice cream scoop might be a workable solution that would allow one “dollop” only, but I didn’t try that.) When dropped, batter will not spread past a 3-inch radius, and will not spread further when baked. So batter for the biscuits may be dropped fairly close together.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes. Tops will take on a light golden appearance and look done, and bottoms of biscuits will be a nice even brown.

Makes about one dozen 3-inch biscuits

1st try: garbage, I didn't read the ingredients close enough, my girls were helping and we added 2 c of coconut flour instead of 2 tsp. Since I had not the time or ingredients to multiply the recipe by 46, I had to toss it. ;(

2nd try: Alone, now, they came out well. Like small pancakes. They have the chewy cheesy like center that this bread is known for. I don't think I cared for the hummus though. There was a funny taste that I couldn't pinpoint. Someone believes it was the tahini. I did think it would be good with a little garlic and made into sandwiches. Which I found to be true, just sprinkled some garlic powder on top of the buns before cooking them.

3rd try: I changed it up. I subbed pumpkin puree for the humus, used sweetened vanilla almond milk, added about a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. After the first trial bun, I added 2 more tsp of coconut flour, 1 tsp of vanilla and about 1/3 cup of agave. They had some sort of after taste too, but not as strong and I can't blame the tahini. Not sure what it is, but my almond flour is a bit old. I heat them up and eat them with agave, like a pancake and they are decent that way. 

Recipe one down. Hope you will join me next time and please, if you find a recipe you would like me to give a try, don't hesitate to suggest. 

Have a fabulous day!

Ecclesiastes 3:13
And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.