Stuffed Mushrooms (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free, sugar-free)

One of my favorite appetizers is stuffed mushrooms, as long as the main stuffing ingredient isn’t bread crumbs. That happens a lot, especially in restaurant servings. These are stuffed with crab but you could substitute any ground meat or no meat at all, simply add more chopped mushroom and perhaps some onion to the mixture. The recipe makes between 12 and 15 mushrooms depending on the size and how much stuffing you like.

You’ll need:

12-15 medium to large button or baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup avocado oil (or olive oil)
1 cup crab meat, claw works fine, don’t need lump in this case
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried herbs, depending on personal taste (I use Mrs. Dash mixture but any herbs preferred will work)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded non-dairy cheese of choice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean the mushrooms by wiping off the outside and removing the stems. If they are really dirty, feel free to remove the skins. I prefer to remove them and take away the filmy outside once cooked.

Place on a small cookie sheet that’s been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cut off the inside portion of the mushroom stems and dice. Put avocado oil and diced mushrooms in a saute pan and cook for several minutes. This is where you could also add some onion or garlic to taste. Once diced mushrooms (and onions and garlic if added) are soft, remove from heat and stir in crab meat, herbs, and breadcrumbs.

Place 1 tablespoon to 2 tablespoons of the stuffing mixture into each mushroom cap depending on its size. When all the caps are filled, sprinkle some cheese on each. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until mushrooms are cooked. You can tell when they are cooked because they’ll shrink and expose more stuffing.

Serve hot.

Chicken “Alfredo” (dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free)

This creamy, rich slightly cheesy sauce is definitely something anyone can find comforting and warming. And so much easier to make than at least I ever thought. I’d eaten it out but not at home thinking it was difficult and so fattening that it was to be avoided. This is a much lower calorie dish that you can adjust to fit your tastes. Makes two servings.

“Alfredo” Sauce:

1/4 cup avocado oil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic (about 1 medium clove)
1 cup thick rice milk (blend 1/3 cup rice with 1 cup cold water)
1/2 cup non-dairy cream cheese
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 cup non-dairy shredded cheese (I used a blend of cheddar and mozzarella but use whatever you have on hand; of course the traditional Alfredo uses parmesan)

Heat the oil and garlic in a small saucepan over low heat until warm. Add the rice milk and cream cheese and blend until cheese melts. Add the parsley and shredded cheese and heat until cheese melts stirring frequently.

Cook two chicken breasts (or use precooked breasts from a roasted chicken or store bought cooked chicken). I used the POW Red Lentil spaghetti because its one of my favorites and I like to add protein whenever I can. Cook pasta per box instructions. Drain and mix sauce into pasta. Divide between two plates and add slices of the chicken breasts.

Cooked peas, pieces of asparagus, or other vegetables works well with this recipe.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, soy-free, vegan)

This is a very moist muffin, almost decadent in flavor with all the spices added. Yet with the garbanzo beans ground into the wet ingredients, it has some protein along with the carbohydrates. Its sweetened with dates so there’s no added refined sugar. Because its gluten-free, it needs to cook a little longer than a regular muffin and it also needs to be made in regular muffin/cupcake pans rather than the jumbo (or the teeny ones would work but you’ll get more than the dozen). And its versatile, you can make it with pumpkin, sweet potato, or butternut squash (or a mixture of squashes).

Prepare 12 muffin/cupcakes by grease and flouring them. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a blender or food processor, combine until smooth:

1 cup drained garbanzo beans
2 cups (or 15 ounces if you’re using canned) pumpkin, sweet potato or squash
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped dates (using the ones mixed with flour will help dry the batter)
1/2 cup dried prunes (or you could use dried figs)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Meanwhile in a large bowl combine:

1 1/4 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped dates

When the wet ingredients are well mixed and all solid bits are broken down, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and hand mix until all the flour is combined. Divide as evenly as possible between the muffin cups and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your muffins. If you’re using the teeny muffin pans, baking time will probably be only 10-12 minutes. These are so tasty that they don’t need cream cheese or butter but can be eaten just as baked. Be sure to let them sit 10-15 minutes after removing them from the oven so that they dry out a little more in the baking pan.

Lasagna Rolls (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free)

This is a comfort food for me that I haven’t had in years because the original recipe I used called for jumbo shells or manicotti, neither of which I’ve been able to find in my local grocery stores in gluten-free form. They are available on Amazon.com but since I didn’t have any today, I used some lasagna noodles – I tried two kinds, Tinkyada made from brown rice and Explore made from pea protein. When cooked, they both tasted about the same, like lasagna noodles so in the future, I’ll probably use the Explore because it has a higher protein and lower carbohydrate count. This is really quite an easy recipe to make. And you can either use a marinara sauce or the mushroom béchamel recipe given here. If you wanted to make this a vegan meal, Kite Hill makes an almond milk ricotta cheese which you can use to make a vegan filling.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. For the lasagna noodles mix:

1 pound ground turkey, not turkey breast which will be too dry OR you can use 1/2 pound ground veal or a pound of hamburger. If you use veal, also add 1/2 pound ground pork.
2 teaspoons ground sage (you’d probably want to use thyme, marjoram, or another herb if you use a different meat)
1/4 cup shredded non-dairy cheese
1/4 cup ground mushrooms (this adds moisture to the mix)
1/4 cup minced onion
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about a 1/4 teaspoon of each)

Cook 10 (depending on which noodle you decide to use) lasagna noodles per package directions or when the water boiled, I added the noodles and when it came back to a boil, I cooked them for 3-4 minutes, then turned off the heat and covered it for another 3-4 minutes. Be sure when you remove them from the pot to run cold water over them so that they don’t stick together. (I had to pull apart the Explore noodles since they stuck together in the boiling water.)

For the longer, brown rice noodles, cut them in half so that you have two equal sized pieces from each noodle. The Explore noodles, I just used a larger portion of the meat to fill each one. Take approximately 1/4 cup of meat mixture, shape it into a log to fit in the noodle side to side rather than lengthwise. Be sure that you’ve put a good amount of sauce into your baking dish before you add the rolls because they will stick to the bottom of the baking dish. Line the rolls up in the baking dish with the ends side of the noodle on the bottom. Once you have them all in the pan, add more sauce to the top, non-dairy cheese shreds if you like, and bake at 350 degree for 45 minutes if your oven isn’t pre-heated or 30 minutes if its to temperature.

For the Mushroom Béchamel Sauce, put into a saute pan:

1/4 cup olive oil
6-8 ounces of sliced mushroom, or you can dice them if you prefer
1/4 cup of minced onion
2 diced garlic cloves

Cook until soft, approximately 4-5 minutes. Stir in:

Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon ground sage (again, if you’re using veal or hamburger, use a different herb)
3 tablespoons gluten-free brown rice flour

Let this cook for a minute to get the flour incorporated and then add:

1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (anything other than soy)

Cook until the milk gets hot. This will thicken in the oven as the noodles and meat cook so it doesn’t need to be thickened on top of the stove.

Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Swiss Butter Cream Frosting (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, refined cane sugar-free, vegan)

This is a fairly easy cake to make if you have a hand mixer. Using the coconut sugar makes it look a little funky since coconut sugar is brown, it certainly can’t be called a “yellow” cake which is what one would think a vanilla cake should be. However, I tried it out on four different people and they all said it was vvvveeerrrryyyy tasty! Its versatile as well — the batter can be used as a bundt cake, layer cake, sheet cake, cupcakes, or as the base for a coffee cake. In fact, that’s what tasters said it tasted more like, coffeecake, than a yellow cake. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to coconut so I couldn’t taste it myself although it smelled REALLY good. I’ll be trying this again with different sweeteners to see how it works so stay tuned. It would also be very delicious with the strawberry cream cheese frosting already posted on my blog.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour whatever baking pan used (I only had the jumbo cupcake pans and those were really too big for these cupcakes so if you want to make cupcakes, I would suggest using smaller tins).

With an electric mixer in a large bowl, combine:

2 cups coconut sugar (or date sugar)
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix until blended (the coconut sugar will stay granular at this point. Add:

1 1/2 cups all purpose Gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 cup non-dairy milk

Mix until blended and then add:

1 1/2 cups all purpose Gluten-free flour
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup club soda

Again, mix until well blended. I had to use a scraper to keep the batter from climbing the mixer blades. Pour into prepared pan(s). It will make three 8″ or 9″ cake layers, a 10×14″ sheet cake, 10-12 jumbo cupcakes, or a bundt cake. Baking times will differ depending on what pan you choose to use. My jumbo cupcakes took 30 minutes; a bundt cake will probably take 50-60 minutes. Layers I would think would take around 20 minutes. I used the toothpick into the center of the cake to be sure it was done and I could see it was pulling away from the sides of the baking pan. Cool in pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack. This is a very moist cake so I suggest that you don’t put these cupcakes into a plastic bag (I made that mistake and they all stuck together the next day when I went to frost them).

Chocolate Swiss Butter Cream Frosting

Combine in a small pan:

1 1/2 cups date sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon salt (or a couple of dashes)

Using a candy thermometer, heat mixture to soft ball stage (220 degrees). Stir frequently. Date sugar doesn’t dissolve like regular white cane sugar so expect it to take quite awhile to get to 220 degrees (like a half hour; I actually gave up after about 20 minutes when it finally reached 200 degrees and my frosting turned out a little softer than it should). While the sugar syrup is cooking, beat:

1/4 cup aquafaba
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat at medium speed until stiff peaks form and then continue beating for another 3-5 minutes at high speed. Slowly add the sugar mixture and beat on high for another 3-5 minutes. Add:

2 ounces melted baking chocolate OR 2 tablespoons carob powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon olive oil

When well combined, slowly add in small pieces:

1/4 to 1/2 cup vegan margarine (the amount depends on how buttery and fluffy you want the frosting; I use Earth Balance Soy Free)

Continue beating until the margarine is well combined (you can tell from the picture that I didn’t quite achieve this task and that was mainly because I forgot it in the original beating so adding it later using a whisk and you can see how well that worked!).

Turkey Osso Buco (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free)

One of our favorite cold weather meals is a turkey osso buco (or turkey stew) made with root vegetables. The hot gravy with the succulent root vegetables is so warming and very filling. I don’t always use the same vegetables but they are usually root ones although I’ve been known to add both peas and string beans to the stew.

You can cook this either in a dutch oven in your oven or in a crock pot. You’ll need:

Turkey leg quarter or breast
1 large Russet potato, peeled and diced
1 large turnip, peeled and diced
3 small to medium parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
3-4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
Salt, pepper and herbs to taste
1 quart turkey (or chicken) stock
1/4 cup gluten-free brown rice flour
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Cut the turkey leg quarter in pieces (leg and thigh). Put in a gallon food storage bag, the brown rice flour along with salt, pepper and herbs to taste (I like to use some paprika, oregano, thyme, parsley, along with the salt and pepper; if I don’t have those, I’ll use a teaspoon of Mrs. Dash or other herb mix). Shake to mix and then add the turkey piece(s) and shake to coat.

In a skillet large enough to hold the turkey piece(s), heat the olive oil and then add the turkey over medium heat to brown. While the turkey is browning, dice the onion. If you are using a crock pot, add the onion to the cooker. If you are using a dutch oven, you’ll want to brown your turkey in that and add the onion when the turkey is browned. Be sure to brown all sides of the turkey. Remove the turkey and add the dredging flour to the oil and stir so that the flour absorbs the oils and drippings from the pan. If you are using a slow cooker, add the flour mixture to the pot and then add the turkey along with the stock. If you are using the dutch oven, simply add the stock and the turkey back in.

Using a slow cooker, turn it onto high and cook for 3-4 hours. If you’re using a dutch oven, you’ll want to prepare the vegetables (peel and dice them) and add them into the dutch oven before cooking in the oven at 325 degrees for 3-4 hours. I’ve found that the vegetables don’t cook well in the slow cooker so I peel and dice them and cook them on the stovetop separately, mostly cooked through and then add them to the crock pot during the last hour of cooking.

Makes six to eight servings. You’ll want to deskin and debone the turkey pieces before serving.

Stuffed Peppers (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free, sugar-free)

When I make stuffed peppers, I have to make two varieties. My husband likes the traditional pepper stuffed with a tomato-based rice while I prefer them with a cheesy rice stuffing. We don’t have them often since he’s diabetic and all that rice isn’t good for his blood sugar so I’ve revised my recipe to include only half the rice using quinoa for the other half. Adds more protein while cutting the carbohydrates. So here are both recipes. Makes two servings with a little extra stuffing.

You’ll need:

2 medium peppers, whatever color you like
1 cup cooked ground meat (turkey, chicken, beef or pork)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup cheese sauce (see Macaroni and Cheese recipe)
1 cup tomato sauce (see Spaghetti and Meatball recipe or use one from a jar) plus 1/2 cup for the bottom of the baking dish
1/2 cup diced onion, sautéed
Salt, pepper, and herbs to your taste
Sliced non-dairy provolone or shredded mozzarella for the tops of the peppers

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tops off your peppers and scoop out the seeds, cutting some of the white inside rind away as well (it can be bitter). Place them in a 2 quart pot with water filling the peppers and covering them. Simmer for about 10 minutes until just tender; since you’re also going to bake them, don’t overcook them, just want them parboiled. The 10 minutes includes the time it takes for the water to boil.

Mix together the onions, meat, brown rice, and quinoa, and herbs in a bowl. When mixed, divide into two bowls and add the cheese sauce to one bowl and the tomato sauce to the other. Mix thoroughly and fill the drained peppers. You should have some extra stuffing for serving with them (I usually cut them in half when serving and add the extra stuffing on the top, with more cheese, if you like.

Put the 1/2 cup of extra tomato sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Add the peppers and bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes until very tender and the cheese melts.

Try to choose peppers with flat bottoms but if you can’t find two like-sized peppers with flat bottoms, cut the bottoms to flatten them trying not to cut into the pepper itself. When I can’t find peppers with flat bottoms, I will often cut them in half and stuff the halves and bake them lying on their sides. Or, of course, one could cut the bottom off entirely and place the peppers into the baking dish before filling them, allowing that the stuffing could run out during baking.

Baked Beans (dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, fat-free, vegan)

Being from New England, one of my comfort foods has to be baked beans. I like to eat mine with rice, that way I eat fewer baked beans but my husband likes to eat his plain with extra ketchup. Whatever way you like them, this baked bean recipe makes hearty, not too sweet beans.

Soak overnight:

1 16-ounce bag of dried red kidney beans (or whatever bean your family prefers)

Be sure that the water covers the beans by at least 3 inches. Cover the bowl so that nothing falls in it while the beans are soaking.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. You’ll need:

1 medium diced onion
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 to 1/2 cup real maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want your beans)
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup sugar-free ketchup (such as Organicsville Agave Ketchup)
1/2 cup diced bacon (optional) [when I add bacon, I use turkey bacon that doesn’t add any fat to the beans]

Combine above ingredients except the beans and onion. Add the diced onion and your soaked beans to a bean pot. If you don’t have a bean pot, a very heavy Dutch over would work (like a cast iron one). Add 2 cups of the bean soaking liquid into the mixed ingredients and pour over the beans until they are just covered. Don’t overfill your bean pot to start or you’ll have a mess in your oven.

Bake, adding liquid as needed, for approximately 3 hours or until the beans are soft but not mushy. You want to check them every half hour and add liquid as needed as well as stirring them so that the beans on top don’t get undercooked while the beans on the bottom get overcooked. Remember, once you take them out of the oven and leave the cover on the pot, they will continue to cook. I usually let mine sit on the counter for about a half hour after taking them out and then I transfer them to a serving dish.

Three Squash Mash (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, vegan)

My father loved winter squash — any variety, he raised them all and loved to eat all of them. His least favorite was the most common, the butternut. It was too wet for his taste so when we cooked one, we had to mix it with other winter squash to dry it out. He always doused it with a good amount of gravy, so it had to be dry to begin with so the gravy would sink in (he also liked his potatoes very dry for the same reason). There’s a wide variety of winter squash to choose from — blue hubbard, acorn, butternut, buttercup, kabocha, carnival, dumpling, delicata, etc — I used an acorn, buttercup, and delicata in my mash but you can use any combination you want. I also use the very smallest I can find since, unless my older brother shows up, I have to eat it all by myself since my son and husband don’t like it.

Wash 3 winter squash and then stab them with a sharp knife to pierce the squash into the center so that the steam can escape while you cook them. Put them in a baking dish with about 1 inch of water and put the dish into a 400 degree oven until the squash are soft. In my case, it took around an hour. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 15 minutes (unless you like burned fingers) before you clean them.

Using some paper towels to collect the seeds and strings from the center and a bowl to collect the meat, cut each squash in half and scoop out the seeds and strings onto the paper towels. Once you have them basically out (its okay if a few strings get into the mash), scoop the meat of the squash into a bowl large enough to hold the meat from all 3 squash. Repeat for each squash.

Once you have the meat separated, mix in:

2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup avocado oil, or if you can use it, vegan margarine; the amount you’ll use depends on how much squash you have in your bowl (for my 3 very small squash, I used 2 tablespoons)
1/2 to 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup agave, maple syrup, or honey (optional) — I actually think winter squash is sweet enough without adding any sweetener, especially if you use a delicata, carnival or dumpling in your mix

Stir briskly with a large spoon (or if you have a lot, use a hand mixer on a low setting) until the squash types and additions are well mixed. If your squash is now too cool to serve, put the squash into a greased baking dish and return to oven to heat up, roughly 15-20 minutes if your oven is already hot.

Chicken and Dumplings (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free)

Another thing we always did with leftovers was make a stew and then either serve it with dumplings or put it in a pie crust and make a meat pie with it. And you could easily do it with a rotisserie chicken or turkey breast from the store. And you can adjust the vegetables to your taste, i.e., add some cooked diced turnip, parsnips or some lima beans, etc.

In an 8-quart dutch oven mix:

2 cups diced chicken
1 cup cooked peas
1 cup cooked green beans
1/2 cup cooked diced onion
1/2 cup cooked diced celery
1/2 cup cooked diced carrots
1 cup cooked diced sweet potato

Add stock until the pot is 2/3 full; this should take 3-4 cups and needs to cover the meat and vegetable mixture. Mix up your dumplings in your food processor:

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper

Pulse in:

1/4 cup vegan margarine OR 1/4 cup avocado oil

Once there are pea sized crumbs, add in 3/4 to 1 cup of non-dairy milk depending on if you used the margarine or the oil (I use rice milk but soy would work as well; you want a milk that doesn’t have a strong aftertaste). Pulse until well mixed and the batter is smooth. If your like your dumplings more flavorful, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of an herb mixture OR 1/4 cup fresh parsley to the sifted dry ingredients.

Drop by tablespoons into your boiling stew. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes and then cover and cook an additional 10 minutes or until dumplings look dry on top. Makes about 12 smaller dumplings or 6 large dumplings (the larger ones will take longer to cook so I usually make them smaller for ease of cooking and my husband usually eats 2-3 of them.

Remove the dumplings into a dish and keep warm in the oven while you thicken the stock. Mix 1/4 cup of brown rice flour into 1/2 cup of cold stock until its smooth without any lumps. Add to the boiling stew, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. If its too thin, make another slurry of brown rice flour and cold stock (a tablespoon at a time) until it reaches the desired thickness. Be sure the gravy boils before you add more flour slurry since it will thicken more as it boils. And be sure to stir scraping the bottom of the pot so that the gravy doesn’t burn on the bottom (also reduce the heat; you don’t want to do this on a high heat).

Return the dumplings to the pot and serve. Makes 6-8 servings.