This past weekend I had a 2nd birthday party for our daughter Pema and there were a few requests for recipes. I tried to make healthy and nutrient dense dishes that were vegetarian to appeal to all of my guests. I can’t disclose my Mom’s green bean kohlrabi fried rice because even if I were to ask her, she can’t possibly give me specifics because she’s very unscripted when it comes to cooking. I, on the other hand, love to use recipes…
Beet bean quinoa salad from Heirloom Beans cookbook
Serves 4-6
5 small beets
1/2 c red quinoa
3 cups well drained, cooked beans (I used Yellow Indian Woman beans since they hold up well to cooking)
1 avocado, cubed
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T cider vinegar
1 t local raw honey
1/3 extra virgin olive oil, preferably something fruity and California grown
Steam or roast the beets. I prefer to steam them because it’s much healthier and definitely fool proof. I steam them until they’re fork tender. Cool, peel skins under running water then cube. Rinse the quinoa in a fine sieve colander under running cool water. In about 1 c of water, add the quinoa and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until the germ separates from the seed. In a large bowl, combine beets, quinoa, beans and avocado. In a glass jar with a lid, combine lemon juice, vinegar, honey and olive oil. Shake until well incorporated and pour over the bowl. Mix to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.
Spring lemon herb gluten free pasta
1 bag Tinkayada rice penne pasta
1/2 c finely chopped herbs like parsley, chives, green onions, basil, dill
2 T extra virgin olive oil, preferably fruity
2 t finely grated lemon zest
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 c or 1 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I LOVE red cow if you can find it - it’s more expensive than reggiano but it’s unbelievably good)
Follow package instructions for cooking. With this brand of rice pasta, you have to watch it like a hawk because if you overcook it, it will get a little gummy although not as gummy and mushy as other rice pastas. I prefer to cook this al dente and then rinse with cool water. Drain and throw it all in a bowl and toss. Add coarse salt and pepper to taste. Easy as that. Thanks Martha Stewart!
Gluten free cake pops
Props to her invention of the cake pop, her creativity and the beauty of her website but I ABSOLUTELY refuse to use the original Bakerella recipe for cake pops. They sound kind of awful and I’d hate to have my mom friends get pissed off at me for making their kids bounce off the walls. So I decided to figure out a way to make them healthier and much less cloying. You will need a cake pop maker for this. It’s actually a complete piece of crap in my opinion because it doesn’t cook evenly amongst the pods, it is Teflon coated (I can’t believe I even bought it for that reason), the machine doesn’t open and close very well and the top gets too hot to handle so you have to wear gloves. So for any of you who want to make cake pops for your next event, e-mail me and borrow mine. Don’t waste your money.
Feel free to use wheat or spelt but I decided against gluten since I knew there’d be babies there who may not have had wheat introduced into their diets yet. This recipe makes a little over 3 dozen cake pops.
3/4 c organic buckwheat flour
1/2 c sweet rice flour
1/4 c brown rice flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t Celtic salt
1/2 c organic butter (I’m currently using Icelandic butter. I know this is totally not sustainable but I’d rather do this for a few months until they no longer find iodine and cesium in our food supply), softened or 1/2 c cold pressed coconut oil
1/4-1/2 c coconut sugar (optional because the coating will add sweetness)
2 pastured eggs (I’m currently using Frenz eggs which are from New Zealand. Egg yolks concentrate iodine.)
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c unsweetened rice, coconut or whatever milk you want to use
Your favorite dark chocolate or white chocolate (I actually dislike white chocolate but used it so that there was some variation in presentation)
Lollipop sticks (You can get them online or at stores like Michael’s)
Sift dry ingredients and combine in a bowl. Set aside. In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Slowly incorporate eggs and vanilla. Alternate flour and milk mixture into the butter mixture. Begin and end with flour. Pipe 1 T batter into each pod in the cake pop maker. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. About a minute before the cake pops are done, I like to flip them over to get the top half golden brown. Allow to cool thoroughly. Put in the freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a double boiler, melt down your chocolate. It’s very helpful to break it up into small pieces first or use something like Dagoba chocodrops and use a deep, narrow bowl. I actually used a tall, skinny mug which worked great. Do not allow the chocolate bowl to directly touch the heat. Once the cake pops are sufficiently firmed up in the freezer, dip about 1/2 inch of the lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and then insert it into the cake pop. This will help it adhere to the lollipop stick. Then dip the entire thing into the chocolate and carefully shake off all excess chocolate. This is a huge pain in the butt especially as the chocolate cools so it’s helpful to keep the chocolate as warm as you can as you dip. You can decorate with sprinkles if you really want to. Organic and natural sprinkles actually exist at Whole Foods in the ice cream section!
To display them, what I decided to do was get styrofoam blocks and stack them like what a normal tiered cake might look like. A paste was made with rice flour and water and this was used as glue for decorative paper to cover the styrofoam. It worked relatively well although you can see in the picture that part of it started peeling off but I’d rather it peel off than use 3M styrofoam adhesive which would touch the lollipop sticks which would then go directly into a kid’s mouth. No thanks.
