Easy Corn Cakes or Savory Vegetable Corn Cakes

Here is the newest favorite at our house. We have made it several times last week, each time varying it some. We like the easy version with nut butter and fruit on top. We like the Savory Vegetable version with pinto beans and salad on the side. You can make both half and half with garbonzo and sorghum flour, or all garbonzo flour or some other variation. It varies the flavor a bit. The garbonzo flour makes a nice texture in the corn cakes. This recipe is a variation of one I found at the Fat Free Vegan Blog.

Easy Corn Cakes
Or Savory Vegetable Corn Cakes

1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup garbonzo flour (besan or chickpea)
1/4 sorghum flour (or more garbonzo flour or other flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (possibly more if you are make the savory cakes)
1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 cup non-dairy milk of choice
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup corn (opt.)
handful of chopped fresh cilantro (opt.)
chili powder (opt.)
cumin (opt.)
garlic powder (opt.)

First, decide if you are going to have plain corn cakes, which are excellent and easy, or if you want savory vegetable corn cakes, which are delicious and satisfying. If you want the savory ones, you will add the optional ingredients in the list. If you want the easy corn cakes, you leave the last five ingredients out.

Mix the corn meal with the hot water until crumbly. Add the remaining dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Mix the non-dairy with the lemon juice and pour it into the dry ingredients along with the corn, cilantro, and spices. Mix well, and set aside while you heat your skillet.

Spray a non-stick or cast iron skillet with a little oil of choice. I like grapeseed oil. When the pan is hot enough to cook pancakes, (I like to set the heat a little bit below medium heat) do one test pancake to make sure the heat is right, and then make more corn cakes using a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Cook until well-browned on each side. Makes about 8-10. You may want to double the recipe so you have left-overs to eat the next day.

Welcome to all Visitors

I'd like to take a moment to say hi to all the people who are visiting my blog, looking for recipes. There were around 30 of you in just the last 24 hours. I hope you find something helpful here.

I know that plant-based, low-fat, gluten-free eating is a challenge, just like walking the ridge between Sacajawea and the Matterhorn in the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon. But with a little training, and the right equipment, you can take on the challenge and reach your goal. I'd like to encourage all of you to keep on taking steps, even baby steps toward healthier eating and living, because it will give good results.

I'd love it if you'd make a comment as you come and go, if you try a recipe, come back and tell us about it. If you are a regular reader, I'd love to know that too. If you are looking for a special recipe that fits the style of the other recipes on my blog, be sure to ask, because I might have the recipe, and not have posted it yet.

Once again, thanks for stopping in for a visit.

Impossible Pumpkin Pie - Review and Recommendation

Gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, dairy-free

I didn't think I'd post another pumpkin pie recipe again this week, but when the kids had some friends over to play and requested pumpkin pie for dessert, I thought I'd look around on the web to see what I could come up with. You see, I don't like making pie crust. I wasn't very good even back in the days when using white flour and lots of shortening. And now when limiting fat intake and using gluten free flours the chances of rolling a crust and getting it to the pie plate without it breaking, cracking or crumbling is very slim. They usually taste ok, but have the look that only a child could overlook.

I found a pumpkin pie recipe at one of my favorite blogs that looked very promising, and makes it's own crust. We gave it a test run the day before the kids came and it looked promising, though I figured out a few ingredients that do not work. I change the flours and starch, the next day and all agreed the pie was a success.

Here are some things I have learned in the process. Arrowroot (replacing corn starch) and Sweet Rice Flour (replacing the rice flour) is not a good combination. It made a pudding like middle with a rubber like crust. Sorghum flour is an excellent replacement for the rice flour. And as for the starch, I went to the store and got some more corn starch, and it worked as suggested. Instead of soymilk, I used hazelnut milk from Pacific Foods for the milk and thought it made a good flavor addition to the pie. In the first pie I used all the sugar recommended, but thought it was a little on the sweet side, so in the second batch I used 1/2 cup, and it seemed sweet enough to me, and I thought I might even try using less next time. (But if you are serving it to sugar addicts, you may need the full amount) I didn't have any vanilla, and it was delicious without it.

You will find the original recipe at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/and-answer-is.html.

Here is my adapted recipe.

>Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/and-answer-is.html

1 1/2 cups soymilk or other non-dairy milk

1 tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer*

1 tbsp. cornstarch

2 cups pureed or mashed cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup rice flour (or flour of your choice--not whole wheat, which makes it gummy) I used sorghum flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp corriander

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. (I used a Pyrex pan, and it came out with no sticking.) A deep dish is recommended because this pie will rise a lot during cooking but will fall back down as it cools.

Put the ingredients in the blender, and blend well for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides a couple of times to make sure everything is thoroughly blended. Pour into a pie pan and bake for about 60 minutes. The top and edges should be brown, but the edges should not be over-done. (Since this is a custardy pie, using the standard toothpick or knife test does not work; it will remain somewhat moist in the center, but it shouldn't be uncooked.)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the counter. For best results, refrigerate until chilled before eating.

Garbonzo Mayonnaise

It seems that we are adding cashews, almonds, and soy to our list of foods to avoid. It is sad, but with a little more food creativity we will make it. The encouraging news is that my friend just put cashews and almonds back into her diet, so I have hope this is not a forever thing.

We used to make a mayo type spread out of cashews, and I knew how to make it out of almonds and soy. But now what? I mentioned my need to another understanding friend and she told me about Garbonzo mayo. We made some this week, and spread it on gluten free bread with allergy free veggie patties. The results were so good, that there was sadness in the home when the dish was scraped clean. We will be making this recipe often. I have adjusted the original recipe to make it lower fat and less sweet.

Garbonzo Mayonnaise

1 cup water
1/4 c. garbonzo flour (heaping)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. honey
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)

Cook water and flour in microwave for 6 minutes until thick. Or if you don't have a microwave, like me, cook it on the stove, or whiz it in the Vitamix until cooked. Add lemon juice, salt and honey. Whiz all ingredients in a blender or the Vitamix while very slowly dribbling in oil. If your impatient like me, spread some on some bread right away, or put it in the refrigerator and it will set up. It will look more solid then regular mayo, because I removed so much oil from the recipe, but it spreads nicely and makes a nice flavor on your bread. Tweek the honey and lemon juice levels if you want more sweetness or less sour in your mayo.

Simple Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Do you need a simple, classic pumpkin pie recipe without all the allergens? Well, this might be just what you need. It is easy to make and passed the taste test with everyone in the family, plus a few other people.

Simple Vegan Pumpkin Pie
(Can be soy free and/or nut free and gluten-free, egg and dairy-free)

Caution: Make this pie one day early so it can set up and cool in the refrigerator at least a few hours or overnight, or the texture will be too soft.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Have ready on 9 " unbaked pastry crust of your own choosing

Mix together the following ingredients (Blend if a smoother texture is desired, but it works fine without blending.)

2 c of solid pack canned pumpkin (1 - 15oz. can)
1 cup non-dairy milk of your choice (preferably a rich soy or nut milk, if you can eat them. I use hazelnut)
3/4 cup brown sugar or sucanat or turbinado sugar
3-4 T. corn starch (depending on how firm you like it)
1 T molasses
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Pour the filling into the pastry and bake 60 minutes, covering the edges with foil if they brown too quickly. Cook on a rack, then refrigerate overnight before serving.

Vegan Eggplant Parmasean

These eggplants from my garden have long been eaten, but I saw eggplant in the store on sale this week. So it is time to post my long promised Vegan Eggplant Parmasean Recipe. It doesn't have a bit of cheese in it, nor is it fried, but we all think it is delicious. Maybe you will too.

Here's how you make it. Start with some slices of fresh eggplant. Use a spatula, or butter knife to spread some sesame tahini on each side of each slice. If you are needing to be very restrictive of fat, spread it on just one side. Have a bowl of nutritional yeast sitting nearby. Lay the slice of eggplant with the tahini on it in the nutritional yeast and coat each side. Use a spoon to help you if needed. Arrange the slices in a baking dish, as shown below. Make as many as you think the people you are serving will eat, and then a little more for left overs the next day. The tahini and the nutritional yeast make a very nice fatty cheese like flavor. We think it is much less heavy then the traditional form, and tastes more fresh.


Now spread on some of your favorite red tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. This time I made my own by blending garden tomatoes, and adding onion, garlic, basil and oregano and salt. Other times I have used the sauce in jars. There is no magic recipe. Just get a generous layer of sauce that you like on top. If you like, you can put a layer of it under the eggplant before you put them in the dish. You could also add a layer of spinach if you like. Or mix in peas to the red sauce.
Bake at 350 degrees F, for around 45 minutes or until the eggplant is tender and smelling irresistable.

Serve with salad and steamed broccoli, or peas. Sprinkle some slices black olives on top if you wish.

Nifty Nutty Cheese Bake AKA Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese

I've recently discovered that I can't eat cashews or almonds anymore. Unfortunately I used them a lot in my cooking to make a cheese sauce substitute, Ranch style dressing, gravy and more. My son wanted Cashew Macaroni and Cheese for his birthday. I knew it would be very hard not to eat some, because I enjoy it too. Then he suggested that I make a second one out of walnuts. I was not sure if it would be good, but it was worth the try. The results? All the cashew eaters said that mine was better then theirs, that it tasted like I had added some Bragg's Liquid Aminos or soy sauce (another food that gives me a head ache.)

We think it is a great tasting recipe, but if you haven't gotten over your love for cheese, it might not work for you. Back in my cheese eating days, someone served some of this to me, and I thought it was terrible. But their mistake was to call it Macaroni and Cheese. It tasted nothing like the cheese I had ever eaten. I have since thought about that many times and now think that it has a lot to do with expectations. So if you don't expect it to taste like cheese, it is pretty good. Therefore, I give my recipe a new name. And if you are serving it to someone who is addicted to mac and cheese, use a different shape of noodle, such as a spiral, so they don't even begin to get their expectations up.

Nifty Nutty Noodle Bake AKA Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese

Cook 2 cups of noodles (spirals, shells, or elbows - I use Tinkyada gluten free pasta) in water with a bit of salt

Blend:
1 cup walnuts or cashews (or other nuts?) in 1 cup of water until very smooth.

Add and blend:
2 oz jar of pimientoes or 1/2 cup of fresh red pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Drain macaroni and place in a baking dish. Pour sauce over the top and stir in. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Uncover and cover with bread crumbs if desired and bake another 15 minutes (bread crumbs are very optional and it is quite good with out them). Serve with green peas! Yum!

Girl Canned Peaches

This is what happened yesterday while I was sick. I started out canning peaches on my own with the assistance of my 12 year old daughter. I thought I had some indigestion, but that shortly turned into the full fledged stomach flu. I hated to do it, but the peaches needed to be canned, and I was wiped out sick with zero energy and frequent trips to a little room around the corner, so I asked my daughter if she could take on the challenge of 60 pounds of big round Rosa peaches. She was a little scared, but I lay down nearby, worthless, except for my brain. My 9 year old son came in and started washing peaches and the peeling them after they were blanched. My daughter filled jars and loaded them in the canner. She did great! I'm so proud of her! She learned she can do more things then she ever dreamed, turning out thirty-one quart jars of golden bounty.

And I cleaned up the sticky kitchen this morning.

Garden Produce

What have we been eating this summer? Garden produce! This morning I picked:
- orange beets
- celery
- eggplant
- cucumbers
- tomatoes
- zucchini
-okra
- and blackberries, they're big ones, bigger then my thumb!


I have to tell you about the blackberries. The plant came with the garden when we purchased this house several years, but it has never done well. The berries have usually dried out before they were ripe. The ones I tasted weren't that great. Early this spring I told my husband that it was probably time we pulled out that plant, as it seemed to be just a space user. Well, the plant must have heard me because this year there are many huge, juicy berries. I've already put 1.5 quarts in the freezer and there are many more waiting to ripen. There was more snow last winter and more rain this summer and that seems to have made the difference. What a treat! Those berries are about 1 inch wide and 1.5 inches long.

Today for lunch I made a cucumber salad, with fresh cucumbers. And then I made potato okra curry with the fresh okra. The eggplant is going to turn into cheeseless eggplant parmasian. I'll try to come through with recipes soon. Meanwhile eat all the fresh produce you can get your hands on. There is nothing like it. I recommend my Tomato Cucumber Recipe highly, if you've got tomatoes. As always, it's gluten and dairy free, and full of nutrition.

Simple Ranch Dressing

I thought I should post my simple recipe for a vegan, msg-free Ranch Dressing. It is popular at potlucks. I don't think most people know that their not eating something homemade, without Vegenaise or something like that.

Simple Ranch Dressing
by Barbara Frohne
www.wildflowermorningrecipes.blogspot.com

1 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 cup water
juice from one fresh lime or 1/2 of a fresh lemon
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Blend until very smooth.

Once smooth add and mix quickly
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried dill weed

Place in a little dish and serve with a yummy green salad or on potatoes or on beans.