Stogo

While my boyfriend Serrano and I were in Manhattan in October, we had a chance to wander around the East Village with Poblano, his brother. Poblano is also dairy free, and he suggested I try Stogo, which has dairy free ice cream. 

I've never had fresh dairy free ice cream before, and I was excited that there was such a wide variety of flavors. Plus I have many fond memories of eating gelato in Italy, and this was served the same way.

I was able to sample several flavors, and they were all just as good as regular ice cream. The only difference is in the consistency, which isn't even that noticeable. The choice in flavors is what sold me, and two of my favorites were Pumpkin Pie and Salted Caramel. 

They also sold Babycakes desserts and vegan truffles. I wanted to try more than just the ice cream, but I didn't get a chance.

It was a very difficult choice, but I settled on Peanut Butter Fudge and Mexican Spiced Chocolate. The Mexican Spiced Chocolate had a lot of kick, but I liked the combination of sweet and spicy. The Peanut Butter Fudge was amazingly delicious. Serrano loves peanut butter and chocolate together and doesn't really like eating dairy free, but he thought that their Peanut Butter Fudge was the best he'd ever had. Even better than regular ice cream. Coming from him, that's saying something.

I just was happy I could enjoy a fresh bowl of ice cream that wouldn't hurt me later.

Gluten and Dairy Free Fruit Crisp

It's been a while since I posted a recipe of my own, and it's nice to be back at it again. As a base for this recipe, I went off of Mark Bittman's Fruit Crisp, with Apple or Nearly Anything Else recipe from his book Food Matters. 

The first time I made this, I used a bag of frozen cranberries, some leftover strawberries, and an apple.

The result was fairly tart but delicious, but the cranberries created a lot of liquid. Around Christmastime I'll make one very similar to it again, but with maybe only 1 or 1 1/2 cups of cranberries (a bag is 3) and more apples, but with each slice cut into fourths. 

I did surprise myself a bit, however. I ate the crisp with Ciao Bella Coconut Sorbet, and the result was delicious. Their sorbet tastes like fresh coconut, not fake, which makes a massive difference. Plus the tartness of the cranberries with the sweetness of the coconut sorbet is an surprisingly good blend where the flavors really complement each other well. So I suggest this as a dessert you can serve to friends or at a dinner, because it will satisfy all, gluten and dairy free and not, and with the sorbet no one will be left out of a delicious dessert!

The best thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever your favorite or most readily available fruit is. Mark Bittman suggests using apples and pears in the fall, pineapple in winter, rhubarb in the summer (but then add more sugar), and berries and stone fruits in the summer. I just love that this is an easy, fairly healthy dessert (or at least not terribly bad for you) that can be easily tailored to anyone's taste buds. I hope that you enjoy it as much I did.


Gluten and Dairy Free Fruit Crisp
Fruit Mix:
6 cups Fruit, sliced and chopped into equal size pieces
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
A Few Dashes of Cloves
Dash Mace

Crust:
Heaping 1/3 cup Almond Flour
1/4 tsp. Xanthan Gum
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Gluten Free Oats
1/4 cup Shredded Coconut
1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
A Few Dashes of Cloves
Dash Mace
5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread, cold and cut into pieces
Pinch Salt

Preheat the oven to 400.

Prepare your fruit as you like it, but make sure that the pieces are all a similar size so that they cook properly. If you want to make an apple tart with whole slices, be sure to peel the apple first. You can also toss in some dried fruits if you want (you can see below I added dried blueberries), but keep in mind that they will make the dish a bit sweeter. Once your fruit is ready, combine it gently with the spices in a medium-size bowl. Then place in a square 8-inch or round 9-inch baking pan that is lightly greased.

In a medium-size bowl, combine the almond flour and xanthan gum. Stir together until fully combined (this makes sure that the two adhere to one another and bake well together), then add the rest of the ingredients. For the nuts--keep in mind that walnuts hold up much better in baking than pecans, but pecans will work on their own. With your hands, work the margarine into the ingredients, making sure that everything is equally combined. Once you have all of the ingredients mixed together, crumble the topping on top of the fruit.

This is almost like putting together a puzzle, since the topping will come down in small pieces and you will need to evenly distribute it over the top. Sprinkle it on so that it covers the majority of the dish, then go in and fill in the cracks, and it will cover the fruit completely. 

Bake for about 30 minutes (I take it out a minute or two under), until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbling. Can be served right away, an hour later, or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Pumpkin and Cranberry Bliss

This recipe comes from Elana Amsterdam's (of Elana's Pantry) recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry Upside-Down Cake. I first made this shortly after Christmas when I needed some time to clear my head. I had been wanting to make it for a while, but everyone discouraged me since they'd had enough sweets over Christmas.

On this particular day, however, I bought a can of pureed pumpkin and started making it anyway, and surprisingly found no resistance in the Lovely household. In fact, this became an instant favorite. My boyfriend's mother Habanera normally convinces Serrano (my boyfriend) to eat whatever sweets they have in the house so that she won't. I gave them a large chunk of this cake, and even though she told him to eat it, she polished it off before he could.

I've made some adjustments to it, like using brown sugar instead of agave nectar and pureed pumpkin instead of a home roasted pumpkin. I wish I had the time to roast my own pumpkins, but between school and a full time job, I don't. If you do, and would like to use it in this recipe, then replace the pureed pumpkin with 2 cups cooked pumpkin.





Pumpkin Upside Down Cake

1 cup dried cranberries
2 tbsp. Original Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
3 tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 cup Walnuts, toasted and chopped

3 cups Almond Flour*
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Cloves
1/2 tsp. Allspice
dash Mace

4 eggs
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 15 oz. can pureed Pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a cast iron skillet (or an 8 by 8 baking dish) with cooking spray. Melt the Earth Balance in a small saucepan. Once it is melted, add the brown sugar and stir until combined. In a medium bowl, combine the butter mixture with toasted and chopped walnuts and dried cranberries. Stir until fully mixed, then pour onto the bottom of the cast iron skillet, spreading it out until even.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, backing soda, and spices. In a small bowl, beat together eggs, brown sugar, and pumpkin puree. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Pour into cast iron skillet over cranberry mixture, spreading until even.

Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the cake, then place a large plate over the skillet and turn over, resting the cake on the plate. Let cool to room temperature before serving, then enjoy.


*If you are a reader of Elana's Pantry, you might know that she does not recommend Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour for cooking, and neither do I. As much as I enjoy the rest of their products, this one does not always hold up when baking. She has a lot of useful information on the subject that you can easily find here.

Discovering Macadamia Butter Has Its Benefits

I eyed this recipe at the end of Cooking Light's December 2009 issue, but between finals, massive papers, work, and cooking for the holidays, I never got a chance to make them. But I finally got to make them tonight and OMG are they delicious!

The recipe says to make your own macadamia butter by grinding macadamia nuts in a food processor until smooth, but I bought a small jar of MaraNatha Macadamia Butter (it's gluten and dairy free) at Whole Foods. To make the recipe, I also used the Whole Foods brand of Gluten Free Baking Mix, which is a handy substitute to have on hand when you're making a recipe gluten free. I also added more nutmeg, but the taste is not too noticeable. They have a very buttery flavor, but I am a butter (now Earth Balance) addict and love them.


Macadamia Butter Cookies
2/3 cup Macadamia Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar (not packed)
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Baking Mix
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries
1 tbsp. Sugar

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine macadamia butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and brown sugar. Beat with a mixer at medium speed, then add egg and vanilla; beat well.

In a small bowl, combine gluten free baking mix, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, stirring with a whisk. Add to the sugar mixture, beating at low speed until it is just combined. Stir in cranberries. Chill in the refrigerator for ten minutes.

Roll dough into small balls (as equally sized as you can make them). Place 1 tbsp. sugar in small bowl. Lightly press each ball into the sugar, and then place each ball sugar side up on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Then press the top of each cookie gently with a fork to make a criss-cross pattern. Place cookies about two inches apart on the baking sheets; they spread out during baking.

Bake cookies one sheet at a time for nine minutes or until golden. Cool cookies on wire racks. Enjoy.

Spice Up Your Apples

The Tri-Tip was a total success! It was delicious, and even my father enjoyed it. My boyfriend Serrano told me that even though he wasn't hungry he went back for seconds and thirds because it was so good.

For dessert, my mother helped me adapt the Maple Baked Apples with Dried Fruit and Nuts recipe from Epicurious from Claudia Fleming and Melissa Clark's cookbook The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. We changed it a bit, and it was very, very yummy. I recommend this recipe for any gluten and/or dairy free get togethers. It's also a really easy recipe to throw together.

If you serve this to gluten or dairy tolerant people like I did (I was the only intolerant person out of six), they'll still love it. For them, I served this with a small pitcher of whipping cream to pour on the dessert as they liked. For myself, I enjoyed the brown sugar liquid from the bottom of the pan, which was plenty yummy for me. The spices and the sugar gave the apples all the flavor they needed. I used original Earth Balance because it's my favorite, but for this recipe any type of margarine or vegan butter works.




Spiced Baked Apples
6 Apples, Cored
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tbsp. Maple Syrup
1 cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
1 cup Dried Cranberries
1/3 cup Brown Sugar (not packed)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
Few dashes Allspice
Few dashes Cloves
2 tbsp. Earth Balance or margarine

Preheat oven to 400. Core apples and slice into round pieces a little less than half an inch thick. In a small bowl, combine Maple Syrup and Apple Cider Vinegar. Coat apples with Syrup and Vinegar mixture.

Layer apple slices in a baking pan or casserole dish so that they are unevenly distributed throughout. In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, chopped walnuts, dried cranberries, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. With a spoon, sprinkle the mix all over the top of the apples, covering as many of the apples pieces as possible. Slice Earth Balance or margarine pieces in different spots over the top of the apple pieces. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Uncover, and let the juices caramelize under the broiler for a minute. Serve and enjoy.