Gluten-free Vegan Cupcake Lasagna

       

      Did you miss me? I've been gone for awhile. I started homeschooling my son with autism and liked it so much I started homeschooling both of my kids. Needless to say, I've been a little busy. I haven't stopped cooking! Just haven't been able to blog. I have a few recipes up my sleeves, so stay tuned. One of my biggest issues right now is arsenic in rice. I'm still using rice products but not daily and I am following safety guidelines.

        Gluten-free Vegan Cupcake Lasagna

1 cupcake pan

12 cupcake holder

1 box of gluten-free lasagna noodles cooked to al dente and cut in half

1 eggplant sliced into 12 round pieces about 1/4 inch thick and grilled or baked until tender

1 or 2 zucchini sliced into 12 pieces about an 1/8 inch thick and grilled or baked until tender

12 TBS of pesto

1 jar or cup of homemade tomato sauce of choice

1 or 2 bags of Daiya or your choice of vegan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425. Line the muffin pan with cupcake holders. Take half of a noodle and press it into the pan with the edges sticking out of the sides. Lay one cooked eggplant round in each holder. Add 1 TBS of pesto in each cup. Follow with 1 cooked zucchini in each cup. Top with sauce then cheese. I put a liberal amount of sauce on but not so much it will cook over or make the cupcake soggy and too messy for my kids to eat with their hands. of course use as much cheese as you like! Bake for 30 minutes and let cool for 15 minutes and they are ready to eat. 

I use a cast iron grill pan preheated in my oven to cook the eggplant and zucchini lightly coated in olive oil in the oven on 450 for 20 minutes. You can also lay them out on a cookie sheet with parchment and cook them at the same temperature and time. I also use this pesto recipe: http://www.noglutenvegan.blogspot.com/2010/12/spicy-vegan-pesto.html

I make the pesto ahead of time and freeze them in a silicone ice cube tray so they are ready to use. You can see the frozen pesto in the middle picture. It melts fast at room temperature so you can smooth it out. 

Perfect for lunch! 

Gluten-free Vegan Artichoke Bake

                        Artichoke Heart Bake


This dish is easy and great for a glutened recovery. It has 7 simple ingredients and isn't bland but won't upset your stomach. 

8 to 12 ounces of frozen artichoke hearts or canned
12 pitted Kalamata olives halved
2 TBS capers
4 to 5 fresh basil leaves julienned
1 pint of cherry tomatoes halved
1 lemon 
1/4 olive oil



Mix everything into a baking dish and squeeze the lemon into the mix. If you are using frozen artichokes do not preheat the oven! Place in oven and cook on 400 for 40 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes. This dish is good hot or cold.

Gluten-free Vegan Tortillas

In light of Food for Life rice tortillas containing gluten, I am scrambling for a replacement for my son's favorite meal, the Mexican Pizza. Well, this is what I've got so far. I also decided to go grain-free in light of the arsenic reported in rice. (We just can't win, can we?) It does bend and can be folded. It is a lot like a crepe in the way it is cooked. I have a cast iron pan that is like a crepe pan. I have 3 actually because I cook so much. I put them in the oven to preheat at least 10 minutes before I start cooking. Be very careful because that cast iron is hot!!

                                Gluten-free Vegan Tortillas 
                                                    AKA crepe
                                                             

1 cup Garbanzo bean flour
2 TBS ground Chia or Flax
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 cups of water 




Mix dry ingredients then add in water slowly and mix until there are no lumps. This batter is very thin! Let sit about 30 minutes and preheat cast iron pan at 425, you can use a skillet if you don't have the pan I described. Once everything is ready, pull the pan out and sit it on top of the stove. Spray a generous amount of oil each time so they don't stick. I used a Misto with refined coconut oil. Pour 1 cup of batter into the pan and cover the whole pan with batter by tilting it around. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Then flip it and return it back into the oven for 5 more minutes. These are bendy and do not crack. They are more like flour tortillas than corn, and not at all like the dry cracking Food for Life tortillas.  

Here is the link to a post I read last night about the rice tortilla.  http://gfalert.blogspot.com/2012/03/food-for-life-tortillas-millet-bread.html

Here is their statement. 
http://www.foodforlife.com/about-us/press-releases

Here is a link about arsenic in rice. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/16/146994249/yes-theres-arsenic-in-your-rice-but-is-that-bad


Since December I have been having severe stomach issues and continued eating my regular foods but I was rotating them trying to figure out what the cause was. I cut out the Mexican Pizza and anything with spices 2 weeks ago. My stomach finally stopped hurting about 4 days ago, but I am still babying it. I really am hoping this news was my answer. I'd rather have arsenic than gluten! But I am going to try to avoid both.