My Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Lasagna Recipe Is Coming

As soon as I can catch a moment to myself, I will get my recipe up for a gluten-free, dairy-free lasagna.  It is a huge hit in our house, even with the kids, so I want to share it with anyone else that thought lasagna was a thing of the past with food allergies.  I would love to say that it is casein-free, too, but my non-dairy cheeses put the casein back into their products for some reason.  I am working on a meat-free version, too, because I have discovered that beef, no matter the quality, gives me migraines.

My Mediterranean (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free) Pizza

Holy moley, Mabel!  This is the best thing in the world, I swear.  We have not been thrilled with all of our pizza attempts as of late, so we decided to alter our course.  This is what we came up with:

This is such a tasty dish, and it was pretty easy to make.  We used a Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust mix for the crust (substituting 3 T water and 1 T ground flax seed per egg), pre-baked it per the package directions, coated it lightly with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled some Italian seasonings and garlic powder on the crust, placed a layer of baby spinach on top of the seasonings, and covered that with chopped up organic Roma tomatoes, diced feta, and almond mozzarella.  We followed the package directions for baking the topped pizza, let it rest for five minutes, and dug in heartily.

The flavors in this recipe are so amazing, and every single person in our house loved it.  That includes all four little ladies.  All of them!  We are so pleased!!

My Favorite Gluten-Free Bread Recipe

I have been searching and searching for a great-tasting gluten-free bread recipe for years.  Through a little combining of recipes from here and there, plus a good deal of experimenting, I have finally hit upon a family favorite:

Ingredients
2 c. warm water
1/4 c. expeller-pressed canola oil
1 t. apple cider vinegar
3 T. agave nectar
3 T. ground flax seed*
1-1/2 c. brown rice flour*
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 c. quinoa flour*
1/3 c. cornstarch
4 T. Dari-Free non-dairy dry milk
1 t. salt
1 T. xanthan or guar gum
2-1/4 t. yeast

*These ingredients can be made at home with a spice grinder.

Directions

For a bread machine:
Place water, canola oil, vinegar, agave nectar, and ground flax seed in the pan with the paddle already attached.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except yeast, and mix well.

Pour dry mixture into the pan, make a small trough in the dry ingredients for the yeast, place in bread machine, and use the 2-lb, gluten-free setting.  If your machine does not have a gluten-free cycle, the white bread setting should work just fine.

For a conventional oven:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Grease and flour pan.

Place water, canola oil, vinegar, agave nectar, and ground flax seed in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

Mix the remaining ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.

With the mixer on low, slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.  Mix only until combined, as gluten-free foods are easy to over-mix.

Transfer dough to greased pan, lightly greased with shortening and dusted with gluten-free flour or cornstarch. Place pan into the oven with foil in place, and bake for 50-55 minutes.

Allow bread to cool thoroughly on a wire rack before slicing.  Store in tightly-sealed bags or freeze.

Vegan Potatoes Au Gratin

Today was a day for experimentation, and both recipe experiments were a huge success.  I will share my gluten-free bread recipe in another post, because this one is all about my first real attempt at making a vegan dish without a recipe.  Boy, is my family happy I did.  These potatoes were gobbled up in record time this evening, and they were a breeze to make.

Ingredients

4-5 medium russet potatoes, preferably organic, peeled and sliced

2 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

3 T cornstarch

olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic, onion, etc. to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º.

Lightly coat the casserole dish with olive oil to coat the side and bottom.

Place sliced potatoes into casserole dish and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil, saving a little in a separate bowl.  Whisk into the boiling stock the nutritional yeast until well mixed.  After combining the cornstarch with the small amount of stock in a separate bowl, whisk this mixture into the stock and yeast sauce until well-mixed.  

Add salt and pepper to taste, and try using your favorite spices to flavor your cheese mixture.

Remove the sauce pan from heat, pour the cheese over the potatoes in the casserole dish, and cover with aluminum foil.

Cook the casserole dish in the oven for 60 minutes, or until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

Remove the casserole dish from the oven, uncover, and let stand for five minutes.  Serve and enjoy.

100% Organic Whole Wheat, Dairy-Free Bread

My husband bought me a beautiful Cuisanart bread machine early this year for making gluten-free bread.  While I am still on the hunt for a perfect GF bread recipe, I did come across one that is pretty easy.  It still leaves a lot to be desired in the actual mixing and heaviness departments, but it's working for now.  That process made me consider baking bread for the entire family, and so I began looking for great 100% whole wheat bread machine recipes.

Thanks to a dear friend, I had a starting point.  The recipe she gave me was wonderful, but I have been tweaking it a bit to fit into my non-dairy life.  So, here is my take on the perfect 100% whole wheat, dairy-free bread:

1½ c. + 2 T warm water

2 T extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

4½ c. 100% organic, unbromated whole wheat flour

2 t sea salt

⅓ c. packed organic brown cane sugar

1½ T dry non-dairy milk alternative

2 t organic vital wheat gluten

2¼ t organic active dry yeast

Place the warm water and EVOO in the bread pan with the paddle attached.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, sea salt, brown cane sugar, non-dairy milk alternative, and the vital wheat gluten.  Use a wire whisk to break up the brown sugar and ensure proper mixing of all ingredients.

Carefully pour the dry ingredients into the bread pan, and make a well in the center.  Place the yeast in the well, and set your bread machine to the 2-lb. Whole Wheat setting.  Choose your crust lightness level, and decide if you would like to add mix-ins into your bread.  I like to add 1 t roasted, ground flax seed and a few squirts of organic clover honey.  Experiment and see what you like in yours.

Note: for those not sensitive to milk, cut the flour to 4¼ cups and use 3 T of dry milk.  The rest remains the same.