Shepherds Pie

I know Shepherds Pie is usually a cold weather meal, but it just sounded so good! I don't mind using potatoes, but I already had my starchy veg and grains for the day so I decided to do mock mashed potatoes instead. So delicious! You won't even miss the potatoes. You can use regular mashed potatoes if you wish.

Shepherds Pie with Garlic Mock Mashed Potatoes
Serves 4

Garlic Mock Mashed Potatoes
Serves 4

1 medium head cauliflower
1/4 C low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
2. Clean and cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in the boiling water for about 6 minutes, until well done.
3. Drain well. Do not let cool. Pat the cooked cauliflower very dry between several layers of paper towels (otherwise our "potatoes" will fall apart).
4. With an immersion blender in a deep bowl or in a food processor, pulse the hot cauliflower with the cottage cheese, parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper until smooth.


Filling
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can green beans, drained (or frozen, thawed)
1 can corn, drained (or frozen, thawed)
2 TB flour (I used a GF flour blend)
1 C chicken broth (or water)
2 tsp tomato paste
1 TB olive oil
dash of worcestershire sauce
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until just soft.
3. Add ground beef and cook until browned through.
4. Add flour and mix well. Add corn, beans, broth, tomato paste, w sauce, hot sauce and salt and pepper. Let simmer until thickens.

Put filling mixture into a 9X9 inch glass baking dish. Spread the "mashed potatoes" over the filling, covering it all the way to the edges. Bake for 25 minutes until heated through. Serve and enjoy!

Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts - GF

Heather made these after a week long craving for donuts. They are not "healthy" but they delicious and are gluten free and can easily be made dairy free as well.

Gluten Free Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 packet or 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1/8 cup warm water

3/4 cup lukewarm milk, almond milk, rice milk, or any milk substitute(scald then cool)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 tablespoons shortening(we used Earth Balance butter spread for the dairy free option)

2 cups gluten free flour blend(we used Authentic Foods)

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Vegetable oil

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine 1 cup flour with xanthum gum. In a large bowl or stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening, and flour mixed with xanthan gum. Beat on low for 30 seconds scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium for 2 minutes scraping bowl occasionally. Add additional flour and beat until smooth. Dough will be soft and slightly sticky.

Dust a clean surface with flour blend. Gently roll out dough and cut into shape. Cover and let rise until double(40-50 minutes). While donuts are raising prepare glaze.

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep fat fryer to 350 degrees. Slide donuts a few at a time into the oil and fry until golden. When donuts are slightly cook dip into the glaze and let drip on a cooling sheet.

Strawberry Shortcake - GF

My dad's favorite dessert during the summer is Strawberry Shortcake so for Father's Day we gave him one entire cake just for him. I also made a gluten free version for those of us that are GF. It turned out great! It is a little time intensive, but worth it.

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake

12 egg whites, at room temperature
1 C GF flour blend (I used this one)
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C agave nectar
1 TB GF vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Separate egg whites in a stainless steel bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let them come to room temperature. This takes about an hour. If you’re in a time-crunch, put your egg whites in a zip-lock bag and place the sealed bag in warm tap water for about 10 minutes. This will bring them to room temperature quickly.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Position a rack in the lower middle portion of the oven.

Triple sift the flour. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites on low speed until they are beginning to break up and are frothy. Add the cream of tartar and salt, increase speed to medium and continue to beat until the egg whites are billowy mounds. Pour the agave about one tablespoon at a time into the egg whites until all agave is incorporated and the eggs are at the soft peak stage. This means that the peak will form and then fold over on itself. Beating the eggs to stiff peaks will make it difficult to incorporate the flour without deflating the whites. Pour in vanilla and lemon juice. Mix until just incorporated.

Sift the flour over the egg whites about 3 tablespoons at a time and fold in very gently, making sure to cut down into the bottom of the batter and lift it up over the rest of the whites. Resist the temptation to move quickly or stir.

Pour batter into angel food cake pan (or two loaf pans) and cut through batter with a knife, going around pan, to remove any large air bubbles. Smooth top of batter with a spatula. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes (0r about 40 minutes if you use loaf pans) until golden brown and cake springs back when firmly pressed. Check cake after 50 minutes as oven temperatures vary.

When cake is finished, remove from oven and immediately invert on a cake platter. Let cake cool completely, 2-3 hours. To remove cake from pan, place pan on it’s side on the countertop. Use a long, thin, flexible spatula to cut around the edge of the cake, always pushing against the pan. Pop the bottom of the cake pan up. Use a long, thin boning knife to cut around the core. Use the long thin spatula to release the angel food cake from the bottom.

Strawberry Sauce

2 lbs fresh strawberries

agave to taste

Mash strawberries and use agave to sweeten to taste.

Agave Sweetened Whip Cream

2 C Heavy Whipping Cream

1/3 C agave
1 TB pure vanilla extract

Whip cream until thickens. Gradually add in agave and vanilla and beat until soft peaks form.

* Recipe adapted from a recipe over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

Raw Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake - GF

This recipe is raw, gluten free, dairy free....basically is sounds like a recipe that can't be good, but you would be wrong. It is amazing! My cousin that is lactose intolerant and doesn't eat healthy at all, absolutely LOVED it.

Gluten Free Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust:

• 1 c Almond meal
• 1/2 c Dates
• 1 tbls Agave Nectar
• 1 tbls Filtered Water
• Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt

1. To make the crust, process the dates in a food processor until they form one ball.

2. In a large bowl add the almond meal and dates and blend using your hands. Add the agave, water and salt and continue blending.

3. Press in the bottom of an 8″ spring form pan (I happened to have access to this lovely heart shaped pan), being sure to create a hill at the edges as show in the pictures above.

Lemon Cream Cheese Filling:

• 1 1/2 c Cashews
• 1/2 c Lemon juice
• 1/4 c Coconut Oil, melted
• 1/4 c Agave Nectar
• 2 tbls Filtered Water
• 1 tbls Lemon zest
• Seeds from 1 Vanilla Bean or 1 tsp Vanilla powder

1. Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth.

2. Pour the filling over the crust and smooth out with a spatula.

Strawberry Topping

• 1 c Strawberries, chopped
• 1 tsp Agave Nectar

1. Blend the strawberries and agave in a blender, very briefly. You want to have a chunky consistency with small pieces of strawberries.

2. Spoon over the top of the Lemon Cream Cheese Filling. Let set in the fridge overnight (or freeze for about and hour and a half).
2. To serve, remove the spring form sides and garnish with lemon zest and a small strawberry on each slice.

Makes 1-8″ Cheesecake

Thanks to Cybele Pascal for creating her Allergy Free Friday and Brittany at Real Sustenance for April in the Raw; events for sharing awesome recipes! I have recently discovered these sharing events and I love seeing the recipes and discovering new blogs.

Black Bean Burgers

I have decided that I am only going to eat organic grass-fed beef, organic free range chicken and eggs and wild caught fish. Needless to say...I will not be eating those these very often because they are dang expensive!

So I have decided to go semi-vegetarian and get my protein from other plant and animal sources. I found a recipe for black bean burgers and tweaked it to my liking. They are delicious! I am going to make some huge batches and freeze them.

Black Bean Burgers

1 can of black beans (1 1/2 C)

1 C brown rice (or quinoa, which is faster to cook)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green pepper diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 C flour or bread crumbs (I used gluten free bread crumbs)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp olive oil

dash of hot pepper sauce (optional)

Heat 1 tsp of the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté the onions, green pepper and garlic until just softened. In a medium bowl mash the black beans with a fork. Add the onions, garlic and peppers and the remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Form 6 patties. Heat the other teaspoon of olive oil over medium heat. Place the patties on the pan and cook 4 minutes on each side.

You can eat these as a hamburger using a bun or by themselves. I melted mozzarella cheese on mine, then topped it with a little salsa. Avocado or guacamole would be delicious too.

Coconut Flour Carrot Cake - GF

My sister that hates any "healthy desserts" loved this cake. It is moist and yummy!

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

1/2 C butter, melted

1/2 C coconut milk

12 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 C sweetener (I used 1/2 palm sugar and 1/2 agave)

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 C sifted coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 C finely grated carrots

1 C crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 C nuts, chopped

Frosting

Combine butter, coconut milk, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together sweeteners and spices; stir into wet mixture. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in carrots, pineapple and nuts. Pour batter equally into 2 greased 8 or 9x1 1/2 - inch layer cake pans or one 9x9x2-inch pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool. Cover with Cream Cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This delicious frosting is easy to make and saves you 3,000 calories over the sugar equivalent and tastes better.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2/3 cup agave

Steps:

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and blend until smooth with an electric mixer. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Chicken Salad w/ Candied Pecans and Apples

This is my favorite new salad. I eat is several times a week!

Grilled Chicken Salad w/Candied Pecans and Apples

1 grilled chicken breast
10 Candied Pecans (recipe below)
1 crisp apple, cut into pieces
1 slice red onion
lettuce
Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing (recipe below)

1. Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and toss well.


Candied Pecans
1 C raw pecans
1/4 C agave nectar
2 TB melted butter or oil
dash of salt

1. Set oven to broil
2. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread the covered pecans over the bottom and place under broiler.
4. Cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring and flipping the nuts 2-3 times. Check the nuts every 1-2 minutes to avoid burning (if you are like me you burn the nuts 9 times out of 10!)

Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
1 TB all fruit raspberry jam
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar
1 TB fresh citrus juice (orange is my favorite)
2 tsp filtered water

1. Combine all ingredients in small bowl and whisk together.