Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap cookie crust

I decided to try to make a Vegan Pumpkin cheesecake for a community potluck where the members only eat Vegan or raw foods. I found a great recipe for one and then used my a GF Gingersnap crust recipe.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line spring form pan tightly with foil. Wrap outside of pan tightly with foil (to create a watertight seal during baking), pressing wrinkles flat.

Put half a package of GF Gingersnap cookies, 4 Tbsp. melted butter , 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 cup brown sugar in Food Processor. Press crumbs into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Bake crust for about 10 minutes and let it cool.


Filling:
1 can pumpkin
4 containers Tofutti Cream Cheese-softened
1/4 cup white granulated sugar OR  pure maple syrup  (which is what I used)
Egg Replacer for 4 eggs (I use Ener-G Egg Replacer) or, alternatively, 3 large eggs
1 teaspoon. pure vanilla extract
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom


Directions: Beat the Tofutti Cream Cheese in a mixer. Then add the sugar/maple syrup and egg replacer. Mix this up until it's fluffy. Then add the canned pumpkin. Mix this well and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Then pour the filling into the spring form pan that is already sealed with aluminum foil. Put the spring form pan onto a cookie sheet that has at least 1 inch sides. Put it in the oven and then add the water to the cookie sheet.

Bake Cheesecake at 350 degrees. Check the cheesecake every 30 minutes to add more water to the cookie sheet is necessary. Cheesecake should be done in 1.5 hours.

After Cheesecake was baked and had cooled, I topped it off with leftover GF Gingersnap cookie crumbs and coconut flakes.

GF Vegan and Vegetarian Pot Pie

 

 Vegan and Veggie Pot Pie. Gluten Free Crust Option
 

                                                                                                                                                                                               Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil.

1-2 cups sliced yellow onions
1/2 cup gluten free flour
2 1/2 cups organic butternut squash soup
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons almond milk
3 medium potatoes red or white, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups asparagus tips OR a handful of Kale and Spinach
1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced carrots (4 carrots)
3 celery stocks chopped
2 green apples cut into cubes with skin on
1 sweet potato , peeled and cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (1/2 pound)
combination of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, cloves and cinnamon.
salt and pepper


In a large frying pan, cook both the sweet potatoes and the regular potatoes in olive oil or coconut oil until they are slightly soft, about 15 minutes on medium heat.

Then, in a separate pan, Melt the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, 10 minutes. Add the flour, reduce the heat to low, then Slowly add the Butternut squash soup, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the almond milk, then add in the carrots, kale, spinach or asparagus. Also add in the apples and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add in herbs. Use your own preferred amount of the herbs according to your own taste. You should be able to stab the veggies with a fork, this is how you'll know it's done.

For the pastry:

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour OR you can use Wheat Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 tablespoon honey

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl or a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the coconut oil and mix quickly with your fingers OR a pastry cutter. If using a food processor, 10 pulses should be enough until each piece is coated with flour or until the dough looks like it is "meal". Add the ice water and honey ; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Put the Veggie Pot Pie filling in a glass pie plate. Put the crust on top.

Bake the Pot Pie for 30 minutes at 350 Degrees ..OR until a toothpick, inserted into the pie, can easily stab into veggies and pot pie liquid is boiling.
Always put a cookie sheet under pie plate so liquid doesn't get inside oven.

Resources

 Here is an awesome website for Shauna James Ahern and her husband, who is a chef.
 They have tons of GF recipes. She is a wife and a mother and she has Celiac Disease.


http://glutenfreegirl.com/


Here is a website for an amazing magazine..Living Without.
 If you are sugar free, dairy free, gluten free, etc this has tons of great recipes and ideas.
Thanks to my sister Emily who introduced me to this magazine.

http://www.livingwithout.com/

Gluten Free and Reduced Sugar White Chocolate Macadamia nut Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups GF flour. ( I used 1 cup Betty Crocker Gf Bisquick and 1 cup Pamela's GF flour ) Mix these together.

1 stick unsalted butter
2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup honey   OR   1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup    OR  a combo of both.

1/2 bag of Ghiradelli White Chocolate chips
1/2 cup  chopped Macadamia nuts


Directions:
Preheat the over to  350 degree.
 In an electric mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey/maple syrup , egg and vanilla.

Then, slowly add the GF flour. If you're using two or more flours, make sure you combine them together in a separate bowl first before adding them to the electric mixture.

Make sure these ingredients are blended well together. Then, slowly add the chocolate chips and nuts.

Use a tablespoon and drop the dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the bottoms and tops are slightly brown. The chocolate chips will not have melted, but they will melt in your mouth. Yum!

GF and Reduced Sugar chocolate covered Almonds and Pomegranant cookies

I had three different kinds of gluten free flours left over. Domata, Pamela's Kitchen and Betty Crocker GF Bisquick. I used one cup of each of these flours to make these cookies.
I also had leftover chocolate covered almonds and Pomegranates that I had bought in bulk.
I took a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe. When making these cookies, instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, I used honey instead of sugar. The only sugar in these cookies is whatever sugar is in the chocolate covered Almonds and Pomegranates. These cookies came out with a cake like density. I took them to a friend's bonfire and everyone loved them.

GF and Sugar Free Peach Croustade

Gluten Free and Sugar Free Peach Croustade

This is the same recipe as Ive posted in the past, but I replaced all refined sugar with 100% pure maple syrup and honey

Peaches:

• 1 1/2 pounds small ripe yellow peaches (about 6-7), unpeeled, quartered and pitted

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup.

Crust:

• 2/3 cup slivered almonds

• 1 cup gluten free flour

• 1/4 honey

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 7 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

• 1 large egg yolk

• 2 tablespoons honey

Honey Yogurt

• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt

• 3 tablespoons honey

Crust:  In a food processor, coarsely chop almonds.  Transfer nuts to a bowl (do not wash processor).  Blend flour, honey in processor.  Add butter, using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Drop egg yolk through feed tube and blend just until moist clumps form, using on/off turns.  Gather dough into ball, flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and freeze 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Roll out dough disk between 2 floured sheets of parchment paper to 10-inch round, sprinkling with .  Remove top sheet of additional flour as necessary.  Remove top sheet of parchment.  Sprinkle dough evenly with 1/2 cup chopped almonds.  Replace parchment atop crust and roll to 11-inch round, embedding nuts into dough.  Invert crust and parchment onto heavy baking sheet, nut side down.  Remove top sheet of parchment.

Put peaches in the center of the dough. leave a 1 1/2 to 2 inch plain border.  Using parchment as aid, fold outer edge of crust over edges of peaches.  Drizzle peaches with maple syrup and honey.  Sprinkle with remaining chopped almonds over crust and peaches.

Bake until crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Cool 20 minutes.  You can try and transfer the croustade onto a platter, but I generally leave mine on the baking sheet and serve.

Gluten Free and Vegetarian Dinner

Gluten Free Veggie Burger, Hummus, Sweet Potato chips and Scallops sauteed in olive oil and garlic


I recently went Vegetarian. Needless to say, eating a gluten free and vegetarian diet is a challenge, but also it is the reality for many people who find that they don't digest meat very well. I have only been vegetarian for two months. After getting my fill of black beans and avacodas for dinner each night, I decided to branch out. The meal above is not only super delicious, but it is very high in protein, which is essential to a vegetarian diet. 



Veggie burgers are great because you can pick them up in your local supermarket's freezer and pop them in the toaster. I cooked my scallops with only salt and pepper in olive oil for about 10 minutes on each side on medium low heat. I put some fresh garlic in the pan at the end.