Chocolate Marble Pound Cake

This is a great recipe I found at www.godairyfree.org . I love the So Delicious line of coconut milk products and we use them frequently in our house. I'm always afraid of web pages disappearing, so I'm copying the recipe here, but you can go to the page here to see the original page with recipe. The only changes I made where adding a touch of salt and adding options for the fat (coconut oil or ghee) and eliminating a step or two in the directions (I'm all about simplifying and creating less dirty dishes when possible!).

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
⅔ cup So Delicious Dairy Free Original Almond Plus Almond Milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup dairy-free margarine (or coconut oil or ghee)
1½ cups cane sugar
¾ cup So Delicious Dairy Free Plain Cultured Coconut Milk (Yogurt)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat together dairy-free margarine with sugar until light and creamy. Add the coconut milk yogurt and vanilla extract and mix well. Add half the flour mixture, mix, then add the almond milk, mix again, and finally end with the remaining flour mixture until combined. Remove 1/2 cup of the batter to a small bowl and mix in the cocoa powder to make a small amount of chocolate batter. Pour vanilla cake batter into the prepared pan, then scoop the chocolate batter on top. Use a knife or skewer or chopstick to swirl batter lightly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Cake can be stored covered for 2-3 days at room temp, or 5-6 days in the fridge. Makes 10 slices.

Kalua Pig (Crockpot)

Busy day? Start this in the morning and it will be nearly ready when you get home. Add a little cabbage, cook a little rice, wait 30 minutes and dinner is DONE!

1 (3ish lb) pork roast
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 head green cabbage, coarsely chopped
Hot cooked rice

Prick fork all over with tines of a fork, piercing the meat. Rub salt over entire roast, paying attention to the holes. Rub roast with liquid smoke. Place roast in the crockpot and cook on low for 10 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking add half a head of cabbage that's roughly chopped. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Coconut Pecan Frosting

This is a great, simple cake that reminds me of a cross between a butter cake and Magic Bars. So good!!!

1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal

3/4 cups boiling water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 cup of shortening

In a small bowl, combine oatmeal and boiling water. Give it a stir and cover it and let it sit for about 15 minutes to absorb the water. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the remaining ingredients together, then stir in the oatmeal. Pour into a greased & floured 8x8 pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

3 tbsp melted shortening, coconut oil, or ghee

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts

2 tbsp rice milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

While cake is baking, combine the frosting ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Spread over hot cake. Turn oven to 'broil' and broil the cake just until the coconut turns golden brown. You have to keep a close eye on it...it will brown wicked fast. Remove from oven and cool before slicing.

There is Life After Spaghetti-O's

Close to two years ago, I ran across a recipe on a blog I stalk  read MSPI Mama. She had figured out how to recreate Spaghetti-Os! My son was immediately in heaven...lol. I follow her recipe, making sure to add the nutritional yeast and I also add 1 Tbsp sugar to the pot. It gives it that slight sweetness that spaghetti-o's have. For those who don't know, nutritional yeast is a powerhouse of a food...it's super rich in B vitamins, and it just so happens to have a slightly cheesy, nutty flavor. It's awesome to add to dishes that need a little cheesy flavor boost. Your local natural foods store should carry it.

With no further ado... here is the Spaghetti-O's recipe on MSPI Mama's blog....

Magic Bars

Magic Bars are...well...Magic! Some call them 7 Layer Bars or Hello Dollys, but I grew up calling them Magic Bars. You will need a prepared recipe of Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk (see previous post) for this recipe.

1/2 c shortening, coconut oil, or ghee
2 c safe graham cracker crumbs
Flaked coconut
Safe semi sweet chocolate chips
Chopped nuts of choice
anything else your heart desires as toppings...
1 recipe Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Add shortening to a 9x13 pan, and put in the oven to melt the shortening. Remove pan from oven and swirl melted shortening to distribute evenly in the pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over the melted shortening and press lightly to form a crust. Add a handful or two each of flaked coconut, safe chocolate chips, chopped nuts, chopped MSPI safe candy bars, dried fruit, whatever you like. Just distribute toppings evenly over the crust. Pour the sweetened condensed coconut milk evenly over the top of everything, making sure to coat the top as much as possible (paying attention to the edges too). Bake for about 30 minutes or so, until the edges are golden brown and bubbly and the top is light brown. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into bars. They will fall apart if you cut them when hot.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

There are so many times you go to make a dessert and need sweetened condensed milk... I used to use it quite a bit. So...here's a safe version!!!

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk (full-fat)
1/2 c granulated sugar

In a medium pot, bring the coconut milk to a boil, stirring frequently. Watch closely, because once it starts to boil, it will boil over in a heartbeat. Turn heat down so the coconut milk is simmering and stir in the sugar, whisking until it's completely dissolved. Allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the volume is reduced by half. Remove from heat and cool completely before using in recipes. Store in fridge in a covered container. It should last a week or more.

Grandma Tolman

There is a dish we refer to as "Grandma Tolman". No, we do not cook and eat our Grandma Tolman, rather it is a dish she frequently made, and therefore the dish was dubbed Grandma Tolman. It's a cross between fried potatoes and potato soup.

Grandma Tolman

1/4 lb bacon, cut in pieces (I usually use a little more bacon than this...shhhh don't tell!)
1 or 2 onions, thinly sliced
2 or 3 lbs potatoes, thinly sliced
Water
Salt & Pepper

In a heavy bottomed pot, cook bacon on medium to medium high heat, until bacon is crisp. Remove bacon (set aside) but leave grease in the pot. To the hot grease, add alternating layers of potatoes and onions, filling up the pot as much as you wish (easy to make a lot or a little of this dish!). Cook on medium high for several minutes before stirring...you want the potatoes and onions on the bottom to brown a bit. Stir it up and then let sit again to brown the new layer on the bottom. After you've browned a few "layers" of potatoes, add water to the pot to just barely, barely cover the potatoes. Cover pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes and onions are tender. Season with salt and pepper, and add bacon back to the pot.

I didn't fall off the edge of the earth...

OK...Starting this up again. :) Getting ready to go into the hospital for awhile to take care of a pressure sore I have, so I want to get a few more recipes up on the blog for family to have while I'm gone. :)

 Toll House Pie

 1 deep dish pie shell (unbaked)
 2 large eggs
 1/2 c flour
 1/2 c sugar
 1/2 c brown sugar (or 1/2 c white sugar + 1 Tbsp molasses)
 3/4 c shortening, coconut oil, or clarified butter
 1 c df/sf chocolate chips (I buy safe mini chocolate chips in bulk)
 1 c chopped nuts

 Beat eggs in a large bowl on high until foamy. Beat in flour and both sugars, then beat in shortening. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. It will look like very, very soft cookie dough! Spread in the deep dish pie shell and bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted halfway between the edge and the middle comes out clean. Cool before slicing. Serve slices warm with whipped coconut cream or safe ice cream.

It's April!

I have had such a hard time making good beef gravy since I stopped using packet mixes. I usually don't have time to make roast beef, and even when I did, it wasn't that fabulous...until this time!

I took a 3.5 lb beef roast, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, rubbed some mustard powder on it, then brushed it with a little Worcestershire (check to make sure it's df/sf), then rubbed it down with a healthy amount of browning sauce. It was magic! When the roast was done (after letting it rest), I made a roux with some grease from the pan drippings (fortified with a little canola oil...my roast didn't have a whole lot of fat), letting the roux brown until it smelled nutty. Stirred in the drippings and some beef broth (made with Better than Bouillon beef soup base (check to make sure it's the df/sf variety). It was heavenly!

Oh, and our Easter dinner was roast beef and gravy (obviously), mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, honeyed ginger carrots, deviled eggs, and rolls (and orange rolls...but those weren't df/sf). It was a wonderful Easter dinner!

New Potatoes and Peas

This is one of my son's favorite dishes! Grandma makes it every time we come visit.

Steam some new potatoes with some freshly shelled peas (if you can get them. If not, diced regular potatoes and frozen peas are good too!).

In a saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp of either MSPI safe margarine or clarified butter (ghee) for each 2 cups of sauce you want to wind up with. Add an equal measure of flour to the hot, melted margarine/clarified butter and stir for a minute or two. You don't want to color the roux, just cook the raw taste off the flour. Add 1 1/2 cups rice milk for each 2 Tbsp of margarine/clarified butter used, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup MSPI safe coffee creamer (gives it that nice creamy taste). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauce will be a little thin. That's OK...the potatoes will help thicken it up a bit. Pour the sauce over the steamed potatoes & peas, stirring to coat. Add a little more salt and pepper, if needed.

Raspberry Chocolate Muffins

4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 oz fresh raspberries
3 to 4 oz MSPI safe dark chocolate, grated
1.5 cups rice milk
2/3 cup oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add raspberries and grated chocolate and toss to coat with flour mixture. In a separate bowl combine the rice milk, oil and eggs, whisking until thoroughly combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients all at once. Mix the dry into the wet, JUST until the dry ingredients are wet (no more than 12 to 15 strokes). Batter will be very lumpy! Scoop into jumbo size muffin liners (makes 20 jumbo muffins) or into regular size muffin liners (have no idea how many it would make...more than 20!). Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly. These freeze nicely!

Stuffing

I love stuffing... it's one of the cornerstones of both our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. However, every time I pick up a package of stuffing mix, I see the dreaded words "hydrolyzed soy protein", "soy protein isolate", "soy flour" or "whey". Luckily, stuffing isn't difficult to make from scratch! I love getting artisan bread to make my stuffing from. One of my favorites is a roasted garlic bread that has whole garlic cloves studded throughout the bread. As with anything, read the label to make sure there's nothing you don't want in the bread.

1 loaf (or more) good, crusty bread of your choice
1 large onion (or a little more, if you like lots of onion), chopped
4 to 5 ribs of celery, chopped
2 medium apples, cored and chopped
1/2 lb MPSI safe sausage
1 stick of margarine or 1/2 c clarified butter (if tolerated)
A few cups MSPI safe chicken broth
Poultry seasoning or a combination of your favorite herbs for stuffing

Slice the loaf. Lay several slices on top of each other in a stack, slice into rods, then rotate 90 degrees and cut into cubes. When the bread is cubed, spread it out on the counter to dry overnight OR put it in a thin layer on cookie sheets and dry it out in a warm oven for a few hours.

When you're ready to make the stuffing, melt the margarine or clarified butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, celery, apples and sausage, crumbling the sausage as it cooks. When the sausage is brown and the vegetables and apples are soft, add a cup or two of chicken broth and add enough poultry seasoning to everything until it tastes right for you. Place the dried out bread cubes in a large, greased baking pan. Pour cooked mixture over the bread, stirring to coat. Add more chicken broth, a little at a time, until the bread is as moist as you like. Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

**Note** If you like a more uniform, softer, scoopable stuffing, add an or two to the mix during the final mixing, adding broth until it's fairly loose, then bake as directed. I prefer a stuffing that has distinct, separate pieces of bread rather than a soft stuffing.

Pumpkin Pie!!!

I made my first dairy free pumpkin pie the other day, and it was FABULOUS!!! I only made TWO changes to the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can:

I substituted the amount of evaporated milk with an equal volume of canned coconut milk (the kind with the solids in it that's thicker than the one meant for drinking that comes in a carton). Then I added about 3 Tbsp flour to the pie (not called for in the original recipe).

I made a pie first with only the coconut milk substitution, but it was a tad soft set (softer than a regular pumpkin pie), so the 2nd pie I made I used the flour and it worked fabulously!

Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes, and so do my children! I've finally come up with a mashed potato that is acceptable to me without all the problematic dairy (my 'regular' mashed potatoes have butter, heavy cream and sour cream in them...)!

Potatoes
MSPI safe margarine or clarified butter (if tolerated)
MSPI safe chicken broth
Garlic salt
MSPI safe non-dairy creamer (original flavor)

Scrub potatoes (peel or don't peel...your preference) and boil in just enough water to keep from scorching. When tender, drain any remaining water from the pot. Mash the potatoes (dry), then add some chicken broth and garlic salt. You want them definitely thick. Add a knob of margarine or clarified butter, stirring until the margarine or clarified butter is melted. Finish with enough non-dairy creamer to your preferred consistency. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional garlic salt if desired.

Cranberry Sauce

1 bag cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar

If you like smoother cranberry sauce, place the berries in a blender with the juice and puree. If you like whole berry sauce, skip this step! Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, allowing it to cook until all the berries pop (for whole berry sauce) and/or the sauce thickens. Skim white foam off the top, pour into a serving dish and chill until serving!

How has it been a month???

Not sure where the past month went, but apparently it went somewhere! lol Thanksgiving was yesterday, so I thought I'd get some of my Thanksgiving recipes up... Stay tuned!

Success!!!

Had some company for dinner, and found out last night that one of the people coming was allergic to dairy. The relief on this person's face when I said my son was allergic too and not to worry about it was priceless!!! I made breakfast for dinner tonight for everyone, and everything turned out perfectly! No one could tell what was dairy and what was dairy-free... the only thing in the entire meal that had any dairy in it was buttermilk pancakes (and I had some buttermilk-less buttermilk pancakes as well). Tonight's menu was:

*French Toast
*Buttermilk-less Buttermilk Pancakes
*Traditional Buttermilk Pancakes
*Scrambled Eggs
*Hash Browns
*Bacon
*Fried Apples
*Assorted jams and jellies (made by my amazing mother-in-law!)
*Orange Juice & Raspberry Lemonade
*4 different 'milks': Dairy milk, rice milk, plain almond milk, and chocolate almond milk (my son's favorite!). I wasn't sure which non-dairy option my guest would prefer, so I put several out.

Dinner was fabulous, and no one could tell anything was different!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

It's starting to cool off, and I'm excited for soup weather!!!

4 Tbsp canola oil
1 very large onion, diced
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
4 Tbsp flour
2 to 3 qts MSPI safe chicken broth
2 cups fresh (or frozen) corn kernals
1 seeded jalapeno, very finely chopped
2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup wild rice blend (raw)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Add onion, garlic, carrots & celery, and saute until vegetables begin to soften. Sprinkle flour over veggies and cook, stirring constantly for a minute or two (not to brown the flour, just cook off the raw taste). Add 2 qts broth, stirring constantly, along with the corn and jalapeno. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, until the broth thickens very slightly. Add chicken, rice blend and nutmeg. Simmer until rice is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a little more broth if the soup gets a little too thick.

*Optional* When serving, people not allergic to dairy can pour a spoonful of heavy cream over their individual bowl.

**To make a 'cream' soup, add some non-dairy coffee creamer (plain flavor) at the end of cooking (1 to 2 cups). I originally ate this as a dairy cream soup (with 1 c heavy cream stirred in at the end). It's good both without the cream or with non-dairy creamer subbed instead.

Yields 8 generous servings

School is kicking my trash...again

It's been a month since I posted. So sorry about that! Things have been nutso around here. I get home from work, get something on the table for dinner, supervise homework, then get kids to bed, then collapse from exhaustion 10 minutes after the kidlets are in bed, only to wake up and do it all over again the next day. The Husband is working a different shift (one he hasn't worked in several years), so I fly solo on weeknights, and it's been a difficult transition. This week is going to be killer, but then I should be in a good place for a few weeks (possibly???). lol Then again, it will calm down just enough to start the craziness of the holiday season. Maybe I won't breathe until after Christmas. That sounds like a better idea anyway!

In other news, Child #2 had a birthday in the past month, and Child #1 will be having a birthday soon. No rest for the weary, I suppose.

I'll be posting more soon as the holiday season begins. This is our first holiday season dairy and soy free... I have some ideas floating in my head and have seen some great recipes out there that I'm anxious to try. Namely df/sf pumpkin pie! There will be one thing though on my holiday table that's NOT df/sf...my mother's Chocolate Marbled Rum Pie. Hello chocolate...hello heavy cream...hello 6 billion calories! Haven't been able to make it df/sf and keep the taste and texture okay.

Orange Rosemary Chicken

One of my favorite dinners as of late... you can use breasts or thighs.

1.5 lbs chicken breasts or thighs
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp canola oil
4-5 smallish potatoes
1-2 orange sweet potatoes
1/2 c orange juice
1/2 tsp grated orange zest (from about half the orange)
1/4 c MSPI safe chicken broth
3/4 c water
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 to 1/2 tsp pepper

Cut chicken thighs in half or chicken breasts in fourths. Heat oil in large skillet. Add onions and saute until onions begin to turn translucent. Add chicken and sprinkle about 1 tsp salt over all and brown on both sides (takes about 10-15 minutes). Remove chicken & onion to a plate. Meanwhile, as chicken is browning, cut potatoes & sweet potatoes into roughly 1" chunks. Mix juice, zest, broth, water, brown sugar, flour, 1/4 tsp salt, rosemary, and pepper until smooth. Add potatoes to pan along with sauce mixture, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken & onions (along with any drippings collected in the plate) back to the pan. Stir. Recover and allow to heat for 5-10 minutes, until chicken is heated through (may need to add a little more water (maybe 1/4 cup) if it goes too dry). Serve with other vegetables and/or a salad. Yield: 4 generous servings or 6 smaller ones