GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN GARLIC BREADSTICKS

These breadsticks are a family favorite and hard to keep around. When I am cooking them I have to put them up or my 7 year old steals them! I love catching him and seeing that big grin when he's busted!

I use a pizza stick mold that William Sonoma used to sell, they have discontinued this pan, and I am now on a search for a new mold, I'll post it when I find it! You have to have a mold for a shape, but you could bake them and cut them into sticks with no problem.

                                                               Gluten-free Garlic Breadsticks

1 cup garbanzo bean flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder or mashed fresh garlic

1 tablespoon agave or sugar

1 cup warm water

Mix all dry ingredients together until well mixed, then add water and agave. Add sugar to dry ingredients if you use sugar. Mix well, this will be a thin batter. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Coat your pan or mold with oil, then spoon out the dough and wet fingers and smooth out the dough. Spray a little olive oil on top before and it keeps it from cracking while baking. Preheat oven to 425. You can make your breadsticks thick or thin, they will be more bread like if thick, and more crunchy if thin. If I eat them right away I cook for 12 minutes. If I am freezing them for later, I cook them for 10 minutes so they don't burn when I reheat them in the oven. These freeze great! I use these for pizza crusts, dipping, and everyone loves them! I have also used silicone cake pans to make pizza crusts and they turn out great, you may have to cook a minute longer. Remember to wet your fingers to smooth out, and it will ensure that they don't crack. If you still have a problem cracking you can loosely cover with foil and it will hold the moisture in and prevent cracking. Yes, there is an art to these, but they are fast and easy, AND CHEAP! Notice, there's no xanthan gum?

Eggplant Spinach Artichoke Dip

I love eggplant! I love artichokes! And, well, I love Daiya cheese. A year ago I was happy to eat my dairy-free foods with no dairy substitutes. Then Whole Foods started carrying Daiya. I tried it and loved it. Then I found myself cooking around Daiya cheese. I'm addicted to it. I admit it. You can leave out the Daiya cheese and it is still yummy. I also have a name for my dip.

                                           EGGARTACH DIP



1 big eggplant
12 ounces frozen artichoke hearts
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 tablespoon hot sauce, like Tabasco
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon pepper flakes
1/2 freshly squeezed lemon
1 cup of Daiya, plus more for topping
1/4 Gluten-free Vegan Italian bread crumbs
20 or more Gluten-free Vegan French bread crisps

Preheat your oven to 400. Wash your eggplant, poke holes in it with a fork and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Let cool. Steam artichokes according to package. Peel and seed eggplant and add to food processor with garlic and lemon. Process until smooth. Add artichokes, spinach, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of Daiya, process until well blended, but not pureed. Add to baking dish and bake for 20 minutes on 350. After 20 minutes top with more Daiya cheese and add Italian bread crumbs on top. Turn oven up to 425 and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool or you will burn the roof of your mouth like I did because I wanted it so bad! Garish with chopped tomatoes, I used Roman Candles this time. Enjoy!!!

GLUTEN-FREE CORN-FREE TACO SHELLS

Well, both of my kids are in school all day now. I have more time on my hands, even if it does go by quickly. I've had this idea for awhile, but just didn't have the time to put in to do it. I miss tacos! I loved blue corn taco shells. I really loved them. So I got a bag of forbidden black rice for the color, and went from there. You will need a taco shell rack/pan.

           

                                                  Forbidden Rice Taco Shells

2 cups cooked forbidden black rice

1 cup tapioca flour

1 cup brown rice flour

4 tablespoons Spectrum shortening or shortening of choice

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

First I pureed the black rice and shortening,then added baking soda and salt, tapioca and brown rice flour and blended for a few minutes. The dough should be a little sticky but roll up into a ball easily. I used wax paper on top and bottom to flatten the dough by hand or a rolling pin into thin flat disks. Not too thin or they will fall apart and crack while baking. I had a 6 1/2 saucer that I used for a guide and just press the saucer to get your round edge. Carefully peel off the top layer of wax paper. Remove the excess dough around then edge and lay onto rack and peel off the bottom layer. Preheat the oven to 375. Bake on middle rack for 20 minutes. Remove from rack. I made 12 shells, depending on your thickness you could get more or less.

GLUTEN-FREE TABBOULEH

I really missed tabbouleh when I found out I couldn't eat couscous anymore. So when I saw Lundberg's rice couscous I bought up 3 boxes and ran home to make some. I had tried quinoa tabbouleh, but quinoa hurts my digestive track for some reason, so I avoid it. I had also made tabbouleh without the grains because I love the flavor so much. When pomegranates are in season I love to add them to tabbouleh. So this batch of tabbouleh I made with my farmer's market tomatoes.

1 cup Lundberg couscous

2 cups water

4 Roma's or 4 of your choice, I used a black Zebra, 2 grean Zebras, and one Roman Candle
1 good sized cucumber
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch mint
1/2 lemon
1 shallot
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Add water and couscous to a saucepan with lid, bring to boil, then remove and let sit for about 7 minutes, dump out on a plate and let cool. You don't want to cook your ingredients.

Rinse parsley and mint well, both usually contain sand and bugs. Remove from stems. Chop your shallot up so it will puree well. Add parsley, mint, shallot, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. Puree. Cube/dice tomatoes and cucumber. After rice couscous has cooled, mix all ingredients well and chill for about 30 minutes and it's ready to eat. Serve with kalamata olives and gluten-free bread!