Eggless Gluten-Free Meatballs

So, as I stated at the beginning of this thing I'm not much of a vegetarian. I just really enjoy diversity in my diet and I like the gluten-free options and corn-free and dairy-free options of vegetarian and vegan cooking. Plus, I have a friend who has egg allergies but also likes meat. So things that are egg-free regardless of meat content are good news.

1/2 llb ground beef/turkey/lamb/whatever you like
1 cup quinoa flakes
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt, pepper and other italian herbs to taste
3 tbsp ground flax meal

In a small bowl mix 3 tbsp water with 1 tbsp flax meal. Let sit for five minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix quinoa and Italian spices. When flax is ready add ground meat and flax, mixing throughly . Form into balls the size of your choice. I like them smaller so I feel less guilty about eating more of them.

Brown the meatballs in a sauté pan. Then turn the heat to medium and cover, letting them cook through.

There you have it, the easy edition to gluten free pasta. . . that's equally tasty.

Product Review: Soy Yogurt

Soy yogurt was something that I used to find myself unable to tolerate. It was soupy. Grainy. Flavorless. It was just not tasty. And it certainly didn't taste like yogurt.

I had switched to goat yogurt - which I still find to be a delicious alternative to dairy if you can handle goat products. But recently because of the high pollen count this year I had to seriously think about giving soy another go. So I did.

I am not quite sure what changed, but something did. It's tasty. The texture is right. The flavors are good. And it's a nice healthy alternative to dairy if you can't have it. Besides, when I eat key lime flavored yogurt its almost like desert. So, if you can't have dairy treat yourself to this!

As far as brands go, you'll have to give the ones near you a try. For a long while we only had Silk, and now we have silk and stonyfield and that's about it. If you find one you like better, I'd love to hear about it.

Product Review: Hemp Milk

Living Harvest Hempmilk is a girl's best friend. No, really, it is. See, being a long time allergy sufferer I learned that milk is pretty much off limits in the Summer. Or Spring. Or pretty much any time the pollen/dust/mold count was too high. It tends to make the mucus linings thicker and therefor exacerbate any congestion I might have.


So, sometime in high school while working for Starbucks I started to switch to soy milk. And it was tasty and wonderful....except with all the other tasty and wonderful soy products I was consuming I was consuming way too much excess estrogen. This really isn't something you have to worry about if you happen to be a guy, or if you're not on some sort of hormone based prescription or if your body naturally has a lower amount of estrogen. I, alas, am none of those things. So I began to branch out and explore other non-dairy options.

I found that I only liked rice milk over cereal (which soon became an issue when I stopped consuming most cereal due to the gluten/corn content). It's really thin and watery to me, and tastes overly sweet. But I was thankful that my college carried it for the days the dining hall was out of soy. It's always nice to have more than one option available to you.

After the rice milk I tried Almond and Hazelnut milk. I will say right off that Hazelnut milk was not for me. I just couldn't deal with the taste. I am not even sure to this day what I would describe that taste as other than "off". Almond milk, on the other hand, I find quite delicious. Of course this doesn't really work for anyone with a nut allergy. And evidently anyone who has cold sores. (Are we seeing a theme with food and medical anomalies and me?) Pretty soon after I started drinking Almond milk full time I started getting a plethora of cold sores. Which meant that I needed to start looking at other options.



One day whilst browsing in whole foods I stumbled upon the hemp milk, which I had never seen before. And the two brands they carried were on sale. So we picked up a carton of each and brought them home to try. I can't say I even remember what the second brand was, other than it paled in comparison to Living Harvest. It was the first time I remember having a milk-alternative product that didn't scream "wow, this is NOT milk" at me. That isn't to say that it tastes like dairy, because it doesn't. However it does have a smooth, rich texture without being grainy, chalk like or leaving an after taste. And it comes in chocolate and vanilla as well. I like having flavor options for things like protein shakes and hot cocoa and baking.

I also really like that Living Harvest ensures that their product is gluten free. It's good to know for people with serious allergies and medical issues that they're insuring the quality of their product. I would recommend people who like milk alternatives to give it a try as it's tasty and full of healthy protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fats.

Happy drinking!

Vegan No Bake Blackberry Cream Pie

One of my other hobbies (besides slaving away to my baser desires in the kitchen) is knitting. I knit a lot. And with knitting comes Open Knit Night, which is every Wednesday. One of the things I love about knitting night besides the camaraderies and (obviously) knitting is the wine and food and talking that everyone shares together. Often we find ourselves wandering to the local Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor which has homemade creations ready to be devoured.

Despite my love of Brown Cow, I still love to share homemade goodies. One week it was sugar cookies that looked like yarn balls. The next time it was my vegan chocolate cupcakes with the experimental icing. This time it's going to be a no-bake pie. Well, almost no bake.

My recipe inspiration actually came from a Better Homes and Gardens email that was filled with summer recipes. They had this one here, for Black Raspberry Pie. However, It clearly needed to be altered. When feeding my friend baked goods I've learned to think "vegan", and then of course like me he also has to be gluten-free and corn-free. So I went about thinking of what I could do.

Whipped cream substitutes are a no go because they all seem to contain corn. Or a minute amount of dairy. Or at least the ones available by me do. If you know of a better one, I'd love to hear about it.

So anyway, the cream cheese portion was covered. I changed the whipped cream to vegan sour cream to make it a little less dense and used Blackberry Jam instead of Black Raspberry or some such thing.

The pie crust itself was a bit of a challenge. . . Initially I was going to make a "graham cracker" type of crust out of gluten-free vegan cookies. . . Until I realized the ones I had selected had almonds in them. D'oh. Can't use almonds.

Luckily for me, I had just bought Fabe's Gluten-Free Vegan Macaroons. One box was supposed to be for me and one box was supposed to be for knitting for everyone to eat and enjoy. Macaroons are always popular.

Inspired by the presence of these squishy cookies, I decided to try and press them into my pie dish to see if I could form them into a crust of sorts. Sure enough, they smoothed right together to form a crust. I then coated the inside of the crust with agave nectar and baked it for 10 minutes at 350 F just to firm it up a bit.

Recipe As Follows:

Jam-of-Your-Choice Vegan Cream Pie with Vegan/Gluten-Free Macaroon Crust

1 9 inch pie dish (you can make smaller pies if you choose, which might make the crust cost less)
2 Packages Fabe's Mini Macaroons
Agave Nectar
1 10 oz jar of your favorite jam or jelly
1 8oz container of Vegan Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Vegan Sour Cream
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350. Smash macaroon cookies into bottom of pie plate evenly and then up the sides. Lightly coat the inside of the pie shell with agave nectar (use a basting brush). Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. The crust will still be slightly soft when you take it out of the oven, so let it cool while you prepare the rest.

In a large mixing bowl, whip the 8 oz of cream cheese with the 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar on high. Add the 1/2 cup of vegan sour cream slowly and continue to whip on high. When combined, add the 10 oz jar of jam (I choose blackberry) and mix on low until evenly distributed. Slowly pour into pie crust and let set for 10 minutes.

Cover pie (carefully) and freeze overnight. Slice into even portions while frozen and top with fresh berries (to go with jam of your choice). Garnish with lemon zest or mint or anything else suitable. Enjoy!