Guess What I Did...!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, mark this day on your calendars!!! (Well, actually last night). I have officially made, without following a recipe, a GLUTEN-FREE COOKIE that is DELICIOUS, did not turn into a PUDDLE when I baked it, is not DRY, WEIRD-TASTING, or like a CRACKER! And I had my roommate, who is a "normal person," taste it, and she said it was REALLY GOOD and tasted like a REAL COOKIE!!! :-D :-D :-D

*Angels singing* HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLELUIA!! HAAAAAAALLELUIA!!!

I was really really craving oatmeal raisin cookies, because the tea we had in class Friday for some reason reminded me of them. Now, I love Elana's Pantry, and her recipes are usually AMAZING. However, I've never gotten her cookies to work for me. They always turn out super greasy and thin and way too crunchy and crumbly, and just kinda weird. So I thought, hmm...I have tons of buckwheat flour, which is WAY cheaper than almond flour anyway...and I like buckwheat, and it's super good for you. I should be able to make a buckwheat cookie, right???

So I Googled gluten-free buckwheat cookies, and nothing seemed quite right - they all had all those expensive bizarre gluten free flours that are super hard to work with and, in my opinion, taste kinda weird sometimes. Finally I found one that called for buckwheat flour and rice flour, so I thought, surely I can substitute something else for the rice flour?

So I used this recipe just to get the basic ratios of how much flour to oil and baking soda and whatnot, but other than that, I winged it!

It is not sugar-free totally, but I used sucanat and honey, which is FAR better than the processed-sugar-packed traditional recipes. Also, the recipe I was looking at called for 1/2 c of butter. I used about a tablespoon, and for the rest I used coconut oil, and it worked FINE, so I'm sure you could use all coconut oil if you wanted it completely dairy free.

As for egg free, I'm not sure if flax seed and water would work as a sub, but you should try it! Ya never know! You might need to add xanthan gum or arrowroot or something to it as well, I'm not sure.

Instead of the rice flour, I used almond flour, because that is what I had, and it's MUCH healthier for you - wayyyy lower glycemic and all that fun jazz.

SO. Here is my amazing, delicious, gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookie recipe!!!

Preheat oven to 375.
Ingredients:

• .5 c almond flour
• .5 buckwheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash nutmeg

Sift together these ingredients and stir well.

• 1/2 c sucanat
• 1/3 c coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp or so honey
• 1 Tbsp butter, softened

Cream together with a hand mixer (I did this by hand, and.....it was a pain lol).
To these liquid ingredients, add:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt

Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture 1/3 at a time. Mix well. Add:

• 1/2-3/4 cup gluten-free oats (maybe more, I don't think mine were oat-y enough)
  
• approx 1/2 cup raisins
  

Stir. Depending on the altitude and humidity, you may need more liquid or more dry ingredients - play with it until it looks right. If the batter is too sticky, place in the freezer for about 10 minutes - this helped a lot!
Drop spoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet greased with coconut oil or lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 375 for about 7 mins (maybe less, maybe more, depending on altitude). I'm in Colorado, so if you're closer to sea level...these could cook VERY quickly. Keep an eye on them!
Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pan to cool (or devouring) ;-)

Oh man...I gotta go eat one now! They're soooo goooood!!!!

Enjoy! Let me know how they turn out for you if you make them!

I Shall Take This Opportunity to Brag :-D

Today in class, we learned about salads and sprouting.

My group made a Moroccan Quinoa Salad with Minty Yogurt Dressing.

Can we say YUM??

AND.........I'm so excited and proud........we finished this recipe in really good time, so I actually had time to THINK and not be insane, and plan out the presentation for it this time. And it definitely paid off! I think it came out really well, and everyone was SUPER impressed. Actually....not to brag TOO much....but it was voted "Coolest Plating Technique" AND the Kitchen Manager brought it out to the table and said, "I just want to show you guys this. This, I think has perfect presentation, because it has height and depth, it takes up a perfect amount of the plate, the contrast between the dots of dressing and the smoky paprika and the white plate are very pleasing to the eye......." etc. :-D :-D :-D

Here's a picture I snuck of it (sorry about the horrible quality, I just took it with my phone!)


I'm not gonna lie............I WAS SO PROUD!!! I've felt more or less like a retard in the kitchen so far, so that definitely made me feel a LOT better!! And OH my gosh, was it delicious too!!! I felt like a REAL.LIVE.CHEF.

I love it too, because I've always LOVED art, and I think I have an eye for it. Majoring in Biology, that wasn't incorporated so much, so art had kinda fallen by the wayside. Now though...I'm combining my passion for health and natural healing and cooking WITH art and it's just.........*sigh* SO WONDERFUL. :-)

Soooo...I figured I'd go ahead and give you guys the recipe too :-)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups quinoa, soaked overnight
• 2 tbs raisins
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin (we added an extra 1/8th at the end too)
• 1 medium lemon, juiced
• 1/2 medium orange, juiced
• 2 Tbsp plain yogurt
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, or unsweetened dried cranberries, minced
• 1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
• 1 head lettuce to make "lettuce cups" (iceberg might have worked better than the romaine we had, but it has almost no nutritive value, and the darker green of the romaine looked nice)
• (We also ended up adding about 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper at the end, to give it a little kick. It could have even taken a bit more, I think)
  

Procedure:

1. Drain and rinse quinoa. Place in med saucepan with 2 1/4 cups water or stock, bring to boil, then reduce heat and cook, covered, for about 20 mins or until liquid is absorbed and quinoa tender, not mushy. (We cooked ours 12 mins, but we're also in CO so cooking time tends to be longer. You don't want to overcook it, b/c then it will be like quinoa mush instead of individual quinoa grains). Remove to sheet pan and fluff out grain to cool.
2. Place raisins, coriander, cumin, lemon juice, orange juice, yogurt, red pepper flakes, salt, and mint in blender. Blend on high, scraping sides as needed. Add olive oil slowly to emulsify. Adjust seasonings if necessary.
3. Place cooled quinoa into large bowl and fluff with fork. Add dried fruit and pistachios. Drizzle with enough dressing to coat and flavor.
4. Place lettuce cups on large beautimous platter. We used an ice cream scoop to scoop out a serving and place it in the center of each lettuce leaf. We then garnished with a twirl of carrot shaving, dressing drizzled, and a sprinkling of smokey paprika. YUM! and BEAUTIOUS! :-D

Hope you all enjoy..........just had to share my exciting news :-D