Tomato Pie (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegan)

Another very easy to make recipe, tomato pie takes some planning and most of the day but the time is spent waiting for the tomatoes to dry and that takes 4-6 hours. So if you want to try this easy recipe, plan ahead and make sure you have plenty of time available. Not something you can throw together at the last minute. It’s one way for me to use all the overabundance of tomatoes I have this time of year.

You’ll need:

5-8 tomatoes depending on size
one small onion
a gluten-free pie crust, bottom layer only (see my recipe under desserts)
1 to 2 cups of non-dairy mozzarella cheese (depending on how much cheese you like)

Line a large baking tray with 4 or 5 layers of paper towels

Slice:

5-8 tomatoes, depending on the size (you’ll want about 30 slices)
one small onion

Let the tomatoes and onion dry on the paper towels, turning every couple of hours, for 4-6 hours. I also put a couple of layers over the top so that nothing gets into the tomatoes and I can help dry out the slices. Make sure that its a single layer of tomatoes on the tray. If you don’t dry your tomatoes thoroughly, you’ll have tomato juice in your soggy pie.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prebake a 9 inch gluten-free pie crust. Blind baking the bottom crust helps make sure that it doesn’t come out soggy.

When the crust is cool, add about a half cup of cheese and then place the tomato slices into the pie crust trying to cover the entire surface. Add a layer of onions. Continue to add tomatoes and onions until you have three rounds and the crust is mostly filled. Cover the top of the pie with cheese and bake for 45 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

As a variation, you can add some cooked Italian sausage, either slices or ground, into the pie as you’re layering the tomatoes and onions.

Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free)

My husband never liked anything but Stove Top Stuffing. Last year at Thanksgiving, he told me not to bother to make him any stuffing so I made a small batch of my stuffing and then I didn’t get much of it because he ate almost all of it! So now I make a large dish of this dressing so there’s plenty for leftovers. Crunchy on the bottom and soft and moist inside, you’ll never miss the gluten or the eggs. I use this for a Thanksgiving dressing or to stuff chicken breasts or pork chops.

I don’t cut and dry the bread before making the stuffing — the way I figure it, if you have to dry the bread out so that it will absorb all the flavors of the other things you’re adding, your bread isn’t very good. So I start with my favorite gluten-free bread (I love the DeLand’s Millet and Flax bread or even their millet flatbread), and then don’t add as much chicken or turkey stock (if you want this vegan, don’t use the sausage and use vegetable broth instead of the meat stocks).

Grease a large, flat casserole dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, over medium heat:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 pound of sausage, I use turkey sausage

Brown and then add:

1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup diced baby bella mushrooms

Cook until the vegetables are soft.

In a medium size bowl, place:

6 cups of diced gluten-free bread
1 tablespoon dry sage
Salt and pepper to taste
the sausage and vegetable mixture

Mix well and pour into the prepared dish. Pour over the dressing, 1 cup stock (you can use up to 1 1/2 cups if needed but it may be mushier) being sure to get most of the bread moist. Cover with aluminum foil, or the cover to the casserole dish if it has one. Cook for 1/2 hour and then remove cover and let cook for another 15 minutes until top is browned.

String Bean Casserole (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegan)

A Thanksgiving classic, this is a side dish I had to give up years ago because of the milk and gluten. Here it is revisited and so delicious with the home-made cream of mushroom soup along with the onion and bread crumb topping. I like to use the mixed string beans — green and yellow. It takes a few more steps than your old fashioned green bean casserole but it tastes just as good.

Steam 1 pound of green beans. While they’re cooking, cut half a large sweet Vidalia onion into slices and then cut the slices in half (or use all of a medium size onion).

To a medium skillet, over medium heat, add:

2 tablespoon olive oil
the onions

Cook until soft and starting to caramelize. Stir in:

1/2 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Grease a 5×8″ casserole dish. Mix the string beans and 2 cups of cream of mushroom soup (see recipe under soups and salads). Add to the casserole dish and top with the onion mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for a half hour and then, if you want it browner, stick it under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.

Chicken and Cranberry Salad with Green Goddess Dressing (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free)

As all my allergies progressed, one of the things that most bothered me was a sensitivity to leafy green vegetables. No more salad, what was I going to do! Then I discovered that I could eat red leaf lettuces, what a relief. Now I have a salad almost daily and here’s one of my favorites. I really like various textures in my salads so I add crunchy ingredients as well as softer ones. Green Goddess dressing usually has walnuts in it but since I’m allergic to nuts, I used pumpkin seeds instead. You could substitute sunflower seeds.

You’ll need for the salad (for 2 entries or 4-6 side salads):

1 head of red Romaine, cleaned and broken into bite-size pieces
1 cucumber sliced
2-3 small tomatoes
2 wedges of jicama, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
several scallions or some red onion diced, optional
8 ounces of cooked chicken, diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried cranberries (I used the kind sweetened with fruit juice and unsulphered)

For the dressing, in a food processor put:

1 ripe avocado, skinned and pitted
1/4 cup dried parsley, or 1/2 cup fresh parsley (you can add more if you like parsley; not one of my favorite herbs so I didn’t use much)
2 tablespoons avocado oil
2 tablespoons lime juice (or lemon juice if you prefer)
2 tablespoons ground pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to get to dressing consistency, 1/4-1 cup (my dressing came out fairly thick and I used 1/2 cup of water)

Blend until creamy and all ingredients are combined. Here, again, I used some roasted whole coriander seeds that I pulsed in my spice grinder so they were not fully ground and the pumpkin seeds were also only partially ground. This added some crunchy texture to the dressing.

Figgy Hemp Cream (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegan)

When I lived in western Massachusetts and had to go to the Albany, New York area to give a lecture or do an NPR program, I would always stop at the local co-op and get a pint of goat’s milk black mountain fig ice cream. So good, creamy, figgy, and not too sweet. This recipe comes very close to that goodness. And it is very adaptable; feel free to use the type of fruit you like the best in place of the figs, peaches, applesauce, bananas would all work great.

Add to a blender:

1 medium to large ripe avocado
1/4 cup chopped dates
2 cups fresh or stewed figs
1 cup hemp milk
2 scoops protein powder

Blend until well mixed and the dates are incorporated. Pour into an ice cream freezer or put in individual serving containers, or ice cube trays to freeze.

TIP: Don’t care for avocado? Use avocado oil instead, it has little flavor but makes a very creamy dessert. Use 1/4 cup of oil in place of the avocado pulp.

Carob Mint Hemp Milk (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegan)

One of the things I’ve missed the most over the years is ice cream. I take a water aerobics class at the Y and when we do the “stir the pot” exercise, the instructor always asks people what their favorite flavor of ice cream is and she stopped asking me the third time I said I was allergic to dairy. But now I have an answer be it the Carob Avocado cream from a couple of weeks ago, or this new one I just made. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

In your blender, blend:

1 ripe avocado, this provides the fat so that you don’t end up with an “icy” cream
1/4 cup chopped dates
1 cup pear or apple sauce
2 tablespoons of carob OR leave this out and add chips when the cream is frozen, OR if you can, you could add cocoa or melted semi-sweet chocolate
2 large scoops protein powder
2 cups hemp milk*
1/2 teaspoon mint oil or extract

*I used hemp but coconut or soy milk would work just as well. Rice milk doesn’t freeze well as it tends to make an icy mixture rather than a cream.

Blend until smooth. Pour into your ice cream freezer or into ice cube trays to freeze.

TIP: If the avocado gives too much of a flavor or you don’t care for avocado, add some avocado oil to the blender. The oil has very little taste and will give you a creamy texture.

Chili (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free)

My husband loves chili but it isn’t one of my favorite dishes. I’ve experimented over the years with different chili recipes to please him and here’s the one we decided pleases both of us. I like to eat mine over some soba noodles and garnish it with avocadoes but he’d rather eat his the traditional way. Its a very easy recipe to make the way your family likes chili — swap out the meat, type of peppers, or even the type of beans, or even increase the spices.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves diced
1 pound ground turkey (or if you prefer, hamburger, ground chicken, ground pork, etc.)
1 can diced chili peppers (I used the mild but you can use whatever your family likes)*
1 tablespoon of fresh oregano
1/4 cup tomato paste (or 1 small can)
2 cups stock (chicken, turkey, or beef depending on what meat you use)
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cinnamon sticks
1 (15 ounce) can pinto, or great northern, or kidney, or black beans, whichever you prefer
Bag of non-dairy grated cheese or for individual servings, slices
1 diced avocado

*I wanted to use poblano chilis but the can I saw had added sugar so I went with my old standby of mild chili peppers. Feel free to use fresh peppers and add the diced peppers with the onions and garlic.

In a large, deep skillet, or Dutch oven, heat oil over high heat. Add spices (cumin, paprika, and chili powder) to release the oils. Add onions and garlic and cook for a minute reducing heat to medium. Add the meat and brown. Pour in the stock and add the chili peppers, oregano, tomato paste, vinegar, molasses, salt and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 40-60 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon sticks and discard. Stir in the drained beans and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve topped with cheese and the diced avocado.

Apple Blueberry Muffins (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free, vegan)

Blueberry muffins are a summer family tradition in my family that I’ve had to forgo for many years now. I can remember in my youth, the whole family going to the Meader farm to pick blueberries after supper and then we’d go to the lake for a swim to cool off. The next day, along with freezing most of the berries, my mother would make blueberry muffins to go with a cold salad (like the salmon salad on this blog) for supper that night. It would probably also be accompanied by some sliced tomatoes. This is a simple, quick recipe that makes light and moist muffins. The tapioca flour gives the outside a nice crunch.

Preheat oven to 375 degree and grease 6 large or 12 small muffin tins.

In a large bowl combine:

1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon stevia
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup non-dairy milk of choice, unflavored
1 cup of chunky applesauce, unsweetened (or pear sauce to make pear & blueberry muffins)
1 cup fresh blueberries dredged in 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Mix until all the ingredients are well combined; gluten-free baked goods often need a little more mixing than their gluten counterparts. The mixture should bubble up while you’re mixing it when the vinegar hits the baking soda. If its too thick (should be the consistency of mashed potatoes), add a little more milk by tablespoons.

Spoon into the greased muffin tins making sure all the muffins have equal amounts of batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Best enjoyed warm.

Decadent Carob Cake (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, vegan)

This cake is so moist and fudgy that it doesn’t need any frosting. That doesn’t mean that you can’t put some strawberry cream cheese frosting on it if you want, or even serve it with some non-dairy whipped cream or “ice cream”. I simply serve mine with some of my strawberry jam or some fresh raspberries. So satisfying for those with a sweet tooth.

Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan. In a medium size bowl mix:

2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup carob powder (if you want, you can use cocoa)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a second bowl mix:

1 cup pureed stewed prunes
1/2 cup apple or pear sauce
1 tablespoon stevia, 1/2 cup agave or coconut nectar, or 1/2 cup maple syrup (if you add the liquids, be sure to reduce the club soda by an equivalent amount)
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups club soda

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Be sure to mix thoroughly and then keep mixing for several more minutes (gluten-free flour needs more mixing than regular wheat flour). Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a 375 degree oven for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of your pan and your oven. Its done when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack and then onto a serving plate.

You could also add some chopped dates, hemp hulls, coconut, or if you can eat them, even some chopped walnuts.

Chocolate Figgy Hemp Cream (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, vegan)

This is a very easy recipe to make if you have a blender or Vitamix. And it turns out not only delicious but silky smooth and creamy. Also, its adaptable to several other types of desserts — chocolate cream pie, fudgesicles (if you have a mold or even ice cube tray with wooden sticks), or pudding.

Put in your blender:

1 ripe avocado (or 1/4 cup avocado oil – the oil has less avocado flavor so doesn’t add any taste to the dessert)
1 cup of mashed figs*
1/2 cup chopped dates (or 4 whole medjool dates)**
1/4 cup cocoa powder or carob powder
2 large scoops of protein powder
2 cups hemp milk***
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Blend until smooth. At this point, you can divide the mixture into pudding cups, fill ice cube trays, or place it in an ice cream freezer. If you make ice cream with it, I suggest that when its ready, put the ice cream into small containers since if you freeze it in a larger container, like I did, you’ll have a very solid block of hemp cream that needs to be thawed before you can use it. If you’re making a chocolate cream pie, pre-bake a ready made gluten-free crust and cool it before you add the pudding to the pie crust.

*You could also use 4 ripe figs, or 1 cup of stewed prunes.

**Whole Foods carries chopped dates with oat flour.

*** Coconut milk or soy milk will also work in this recipe.