Yummy Tasty Vegan "Meat Loaf"

Yes I know the title lies a little. This is definitely NOT a meat loaf. It's more like a veggie loaf. It is really tasty though! And easy to eat warm or cold!

Here it goes!

These are the ingredients:

Loaf

1 Cup dry lentils

egg replacer for three eggs

Coconut oil (preferred)  or extra virgin olive oil for sautéing vegetables 

3 garlic cloves or more

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, diced

3/4 cup oats

1/2 cup oat flour or finely ground oats

thyme, dry or fresh minced

1 tsp cumin

cracked pepper and salt

Glaze

3 tbsp organic ketchup

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

I also made a cauliflower potato mash on the side using white cauliflower and red potatoes. Just cooking all of that in a pot until mushy and mixing in some almond oil to make it smooth. 

Here it goes!
Rinse lentils, bring to a boil 2 1/2 cups water with the cup of dryer rinsed lentils. When boiling, bring to a simmer and cover for 35 minutes. Getting mushy is perfectly fine since we are going to ground 3/4 of the mixture later. When the 35 minutes are done, uncover and set aside.

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the egg replacer as it says on box, for three eggs. If no egg replacer you can use 3 tbsp flaxseed meal and 1/3 cup water. Setting aside for 10 minutes in fridge. These are both used as binders.

Cut chop and mince all the vegetables, onions, garlic and extra herbs you feel like putting into the loaf.
Saute all of them, I usually heat up my coconut oil and saute my onion and garlic first, then add the bell pepper, celery and carrot. When those are nicely sautéed I add all the fresh herbs for just a little bit to up their flavor.
Use a Submersion Blender and blend about 3/4 of the lentils.

Combine the vegetable mixture with the lentils, oats, oat flower, egg or flax and mix well.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper needs.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and press the mixture well into it.

Prepare the glaze by adding all three ingredients together, and spoon or brush it onto the top of the loaf.

Put in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool before slicing (I didn't) or it will fall apart a little.

Enjoy! Everyday of the week, hot or cold, in a sandwich, with ketchup or apple sauce!

I made a side salade with apples, endives carrots and Kale with a blend of seeds (Chia Hemp and sesame)

Gluten and Egg free breaded chicken with stir fry

Today for lunch, I've decided to finally use my home made gluten free bread. I crushed it with a hammer on my patio (in a bag of course) and made it extremely crumby.
I then defrosted some small chicken breasts, and used a blend of herbs and salt mixed into the bread crumbs to bread it. Instead of using egg yolks I used normal olive oil to bind the crumbs to the chicken. I then fried the breaded chicken in some sunflower oil.
The stir-fry, well, it was simply seasoned with some pepper and Cajun seasoning, then cooked in a pan without added oil. SIMPLE :)

 the breading!

Brownies!

Last night I was able to find some gluten, egg and dairy free brownie mix!
It was wonderful. I only added some sunflower oil and water to the mix!
Maybe a little too chocolaty, but the texture was great!
The brownie mix brand was Pamela's. I found it a kroger for about 5 dollars. It has chocolate chips already in it. Also, there are multiple ways to make the brownies on the back of the packaging, giving you a choice.
I WILL recommend this brownie mix!

Delivery pizza?

Yes you can!!

Dominos now has a gluten and cheese free crust! I've tried it, TWICE!

It's quite delicious! 

I ordered, on a gluten free crust (only comes in one person serving, aka small) a rustic tomato sauce without cheese, adding ham, pineapple and black olives. 

The crust was wonderful! Not brittle, great taste and didn't get all soft an soggy. 

The one thing I have to add, it that people who can't even come in contact with wheat shouldn't try it. Dominos has this disclaimer 

On all website and boxes. Overall it says, the pizza is made in a kitchen where wheat can come in contact with it. 

Apart from that! Wow I'm exited! I can still have the good old fashion American pizza delivered to me!! 

And I didn't miss the cheese on my pizza. It made the flavors of the other toppings so much more portent. 

Vegenaise, a great mayo substitute

Hi guys, and galls!

Today I want to right a short post on vegenaise... or mayonnaise substitute.

I LOVE mayo, adore it actually. Unfortunately, with the high content of eggs in normal mayonnaise, I can't have it anymore. Shucks. A vegetarian friend told me about vegenaise, a brand of vegan mayo I can find in my small town, so I decided to try it out.

This is what it looks like. There are many different kinds. I tried the original and it's not too bad. The texture is right, even though it gets slightly liquidy when put in or on hot things. It does have soy in it, but they offer a soy free vegenaise as well as reduced fat, grape-seed oil and organic. They also have a gourmet vegenaise type that offer pesto, roasted garlic, chipotle, barbecue, horseradish sauce and tartar sauce. I'm looking forward to trying some of the gourmet one.

For the original I would say it's missing a little... taste. So I'm going to try adding mustard to it when using it in in chicken salads or tuna. 

This vegenaise website http://followyourheart.com/products/cheddar-3/ has all the information about vegenaise and more! They make dairy free cheese (I'm going to try that VERY soon, trust me) and they even offer recipes. 

I hope you liked this little ovo-lacto-wheat free mayonnaise substitute. 

See y'all soon!

Shrimp Risotto (4 people, 2 1/4 cups rice)

Hi!
I just made a really delicious Shrimp Risotto. Risotto is a type of rice recipe. It's really delicious but a little time consuming. If you want to impress, risotto is the way to go (in my opinion). It's a type of creamy white rice (no cream, don't worry) that cooks for quite some time, while I (or you) stir it and pamper it until it has the right consistency and flavoring you are looking for. It's an Italian Mediterranean dish. It's flavorful, moist and really, really tasty.

I decided to make mine with Shrimp. because I had some :) You could call me an ultimate pantry cooker. I rarely go out of my way to go to the store and buy whatever I need to make a dish. EASY if my motto.

I got a couple of ideas for risotto recipes online (I've never actually made one before). This one recipe I found (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/white-wine-risotto.html) on the dummies website, called for celery, which I had, so I chose this one as my starter risotto recipe.

Here is what I did, and how I did it. Remember i cook ovo-lacto-wheat free! :)

Ingredients:

Rice
White Onion (I used half of a HUGE white onion)
Garlic (I have this garlic in a jar thing I use), so one small spoonful of garlic
Olive oil (as much as coats the pan)
Red Peppers (I used half of a super duper spicy pepper)
Half a bottle of white wine (always use more than in the recipe)
Salt and pepper, of course
Herb Blend

Shrimp
Olive Oil butter


That's it. There's a lot, I know, I don't usually cook with that many ingredients, but it was fun!

Now for the Process:

I first cooked the shrimp in a... let's say, bunch of boiling water with Cajun seasoning (if you like it hot), cumin and Chili Powder. I used the Kroger Raw Shrimp Shell-on (that's what I had). When they turned nice and pink, I waited a little and shelled them. KEEP THE WATER. It'll be the broth for your risotto.

RISOTTO!

First, dice your onions and celery into even pieces. Cut your red pepper into tiny little bits.

Use a deep-large pan or large pot. (I don't have pots yet, so I'm only cooking with a deep pan or simple pans.) Cover the bottom of the deep-large pan or pot with olive oil, let is get warm and throw the above chopped ingredients in the oil, add the spoonful of garlic. Salt and pepper.

Stir with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes on low medium heat. The onions with become a little see-through and a little soft.

Throw in the rice. (About 2 1/4 cups of white rice for 4 people.) Let it simmer in the oil and vegetable concoction for about 5 minutes, don't forget to constantly stir. This is called browning.

When the 5 minutes are up, pour the half bottle of white wine. Get a nice bottle of white wine, never cook with cheap wine, it makes for cheap foods. 

Let the rice absorb the wine. When the rice seems to be boiling itself, add  about a cup and a half of the simmering shrimp water.
When that seems to be boiling itself, repeat the shrimp water stage, until the rice is fully cooked and looks a little goopy.

TASTE your foods, at all times of the cooking process. Even if the rice is still hard. Salt and pepper to liking.

 Once your risotto is tasty, goopy and warm, recook the shrimp.

Sear the shrimp in some olive oil butter and some herb blend in a pan. When they are a little brown, serve them on the plate next to the very warm risotto. If you are having guests, I would suggest a side salad to complete the plate (maybe a baby spinach and tomato salad for color). Also, your guests might be able to eat cheese, so have a bowl of Parmesan on the table for them to sprinkle their risotto with.

I think that's it. I really hope you love this recipe. I loved it and Tony loved it too. WOOO!