Easy Peasy Muesli

Why have I never thought of this?  Banana Milk!  I saw it while cruising the web for recipes for raw snacks (a whole other post with that one -- like why are so many raw foods made with a dehydrator?).  Anyway, I stumbled uponThe Raw Food Solution, a raw blog that had some very sensible recipes.  A recipe for breakfast cereal features Banana Milk.   It's so simple and naturally sweet.  I tried it today on my muesli and it did not disappoint.   Here is my very simple breakfast recipe.
Muesli with Banana Milk
serves 1
1 c. uncooked certified gluten-free old fashioned oats
1/2 - 1 oz. chopped walnuts (approximately 1/8-1/4 c.)
1 t. cinnamon
1 banana
1 c. raspberries or blueberries or strawberries
1 c. cold water
Blend banana and water together in a blender until smooth.  Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.  If you are not watching your calories, you might add dried fruit and/or some raw seeds.  Pour banana milk over cereal and enjoy.  The banana makes it plenty sweet so you needn't add any sweeteners.  So easy!

A to Z Cake

My friend Joan recently sent me a recipe for Warm Apple Cake.  It sounded decadent as written, but contained gluten, was high in sugar and oil and absent of that which is currently overflowing in our house: zucchini!  Do you know how cheap Farmer’s Market Zucchini is right now?  They are practically begging us to take it off their hands. I, in turn, am begging my kids to eat it in various forms, some quite yummy, others a bit cruel.
So I bastardized her recipe, slightly terrified that I might be treading on thin cake here.  Basically, I maintained the slightest essence of the original recipe and changed pretty much everything else.
The result was nothing short of miraculous.  It is moist and sweet and rich and pleased every member of my family, even she-who-shall-not-be-named-but-who-poo-poos-every-freekin’-attempt-at-gluten-free-cake-I-create-for-her-blessed-little-celiac-soul.  But I’m not bitter.  Nor is this cake.
You can even serve it to guests, who will wonder when you started eating gluten and sugar again.  Wink.  Wink.
Because of its main ingredients, I call it
A to Z Cake:
serves 8 (large pieces) or 12 (medium pieces)
2 1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. potato starch/flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
3/4 c. vegan buttermilk (vegan milk -- like nut milk -- combined with 2 T. apple cider vinegar*
2 fleggs (2 T. ground flaxseed whisked with 6 T. water)
1 c. apricot fruit spread (just fruit), divided into two 1/2 c. portions
2 c. macerated apples (I pulsed mine in the food processor)
2 c. grated and well-squeezed zucchini (you want to get the water out so squeeze it in your fists and save the juice for a very healthy smoothie)
Preheat the oven to 350 and oil a bundt pan (I used grapeseed oil).
Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a medium bowl (or whatever size you like, really;  nobody’s looking), combine all wet ingredients EXCEPT 1/2 c. of the apricot spread.
Add wet to dry and combine well.  Pour into pan.  Bake for 65-75 minutes, turning once about half way through).  Make sure cake is cooked all the way through when you test it with a tester.
When cake is finished, let it cool about 5 minutes in the pan.  Invert onto a plate or cooling rack.  While still warm, heat the rest of the fruit spread in a saucepan.  Pour over the cake.  You might wish to spread it with a pastry brush.
It is best when served warm!
*The original recipe had 1/2 c. agave instead of this vegan buttermilk and was sweeter.  I am now trying to alter my recipes to eliminate agave.  If you prefer a sweeter cake, you can use the agave or maple syrup instead of the began buttermilk

Back in the Kitchen

I'll admit it.  The kitchen is the LAST place I want to be during the summer.  Our summer menus rely heavily upon fruit salads, green salads, brown rice pasta salads, cold quinoa salads, watermelon, what we like to call "hand-held" fruit, and whatever we can pack for the beach.  This summer we discovered Udi's Gluten Free products.  This changed our lives in a less than meaningful, but highly convenient, way.  Though they contain soy, leaving me out of the mix, we were able to pack sandwiches all summer for my youngest.
But we live in the Mid-west (yes, there are beaches in the Mid-west), where summer ends in early September, no matter how violently I depart from the beach kicking and screaming.  I now understand a great mystery of my California childhood: why clothing stores stock sweaters in August.  Because by the middle of September, we need them in the nether regions of this country (Did I just dub the Mid-west "America's vagina?).  Anyhoo-ha, my point is that I am back in the kitchen.
The challenge this year is that I have discovered another obstacle: MSG.  Now you might wonder what a relative health-nut is doing cooking with MSG in the first place.  Excellent question. I have diligently eschewed MSG since the early 90's when I had three unfortunate break-outs of full body hives after consuming fish at Chinese restaurants.  Or so I thought!  Apparently, simply checking ingredients for the words "monosodium glutamate" is not enough these days.  Food companies are hiding this poison in everything from soy lecethin to natural flavors.  It is nearly omnipresent in vegetarian processed foods.  It is for this reason that I have assumed I was allergic to soy.  Indeed, I am not allergic to soy as tofu or edamame.  I am allergic to soy as lecithin or hydrolyzed soy protein and the like -- all the manifestations containing MSG.  After an elimination diet and some exploration between my cardiologist (I have a cardiologist because I have been dealing with heart palpitations, dizziness, and 2 incidences of lone atrial-fibrilation), we concur that MSG has been causing the aforementioned, parenthetical symptoms.  Yup, MSG.  Do you know how much money in medical bills this hidden poison has cost me?  Not to mention a heap of anxiety.  Now that I have eliminated MSG, all symptoms are gone.
As are a lot of my food choices.  My favorite chips are made with corn oil.  Think for a moment.  Have you ever eaten an oily cob of corn (that you did not make oily yourself with gobs of butter or margarine)?  That's because there is no natural oil in corn.  It is created using MSG, among other things (like corn sludge, for example).  Bye-bye Totopos.  I loved you.  I loved you so much.  Forget about chocolate.  Even when I allow myself the occasional bit of sugar, it can't be most forms of chocolate (except "Enjoy Life" or homemade) as they all contain soy lecithin.
Pretty much any boxed cereal, packaged vegetarian food, and boxed treat contains some form of MSG.  And they don't have to put it on the package if the MSG is couched in something else: natural flavors, soy lecithin, corn oil, etc.  They can even write "No MSG added" if they want.
So I am not just back in the kitchen; I am back with a vengeance.  Without my beloved summer fresh foods, we will be doing a lot of sprouting this fall and winter,along with soups, green smoothies, and creative forms of beans and rice (which will all come from dry beans because guess what is in MOST canned foods?).  I am also using oils instead of Earth Balance, with avocado oil being my favorite replacement for butter added to food after cooking.
Stay tuned.  First stop: A to Z Cake!