Last night was a lovely night, we had dinner at a friend's house and she was prepared for my food allergies! We had brown rice pasta, a delicious pasta sauce that she had added veggies to, (that sauce was SOO good!) and green beans. She felt bad because they had a cheesy garlic bread that I couldn't eat. But I was prepared. I had been really wanting to try out a new french bread recipe. Oh. My. Goodness. I don't care how good everyone thought their bread was last night, mine was better. Best french bread EVER! (esp for a gluten free and sugar free!) It flaked and crunched on the outside. It was fresh and chewy on the inside. With a bit of butter and some seasoning, it was amazing garlic bread. Simply divine.
I am beside myself in pride. I never thought it'd be possible to have french bread this good.
Granted, if I had an actual french bread pan, it would have looked a tad bit better, but considering the taste, who cares how it looks? Divine. Simply divine.
And then, today, I needed something for lunch while at work. But I was prepared once again! TWO nights ago we were at another friend's house hanging out, and I spent most the evening pouring over her cookbooks, copying recipes that could maybe work for me with alterations. So today, I tried one of those recipes. Finally, another spinach salad that's yummy-but different than my same ol, same ol! Roasted sweet potato's, fresh orange chunks, an orange/garlic dressing...again, very good. Healthy, refreshing, and delicious.
It's been a good couple days. Very busy, but very gastronomically satisfying. Thank the Lord for taste buds and good food! It's wonderful being able to eat food that is so delicious and fresh, and knowing that this food was back from the garden-not from some processed plant. No corn syrups or chemically foods that I can't pronounce. Granted, some of the flours I use nowadays are from all around the world, but that just means my breads are well cultured. ^_^
Ooh-and something else exciting? I had to buy new jeans. Because my old jeans weren't staying on me very well, even with a belt. Yay for losing weight! Despite my sudden increase in baking, I'm still losing weight! God is so good to me. I don't need wheat, dairy or sugar to be blessed. There's so many other foods to enjoy.
And time to share some of that food to be enjoyed! Recipe time!
French Bread
First, you need to make the flour mix for french bread/pizza. This is a flour combination that you can dip into and use for several different recipes. I have a mix of it in a ziploc on my pantry shelf. It doesn't need to be refridgerated, so it's pretty handy. I do however need to get an actual storage container from it. I'm scared I'm gonna rip through that ziploc!
Flour Mix 6 cups of mix or 12 cups of mix
White rice flour 3 1/2 cups or 7 cups
Tapioca flour 2 1/2 cups or 5 cups
Xanthan gum 2 TBSP or 1/4 cup
Unflavored gelatin 2 packets or 4 packets
Egg replacer 2 TBSP or 1/4 cup
Sugar (white) 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup
(I omitted the sugar completely from this mix, nothing is missing or seems off, to follow what I did exactly, omit the sugar.) Stir all the ingredients together and store until needed.
The Bread
(small loaf-large loaf, just double it. For the eggs, 3 large)
Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cup French bread/pizza mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP yeast
Wet ingredients:
3 TBSP coconut milk
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 small egg whites
1 1/2 TBSP coconut oil
2/3 cup warm water
- Prepare a french bread pan or cookie sheet by greasing. (spray with Pam) (and if you so desire to, you can dust it with cornmeal)
- In your mixer bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (including yeast). In a small side bowl, beat all the wet ingredients but all the water. Add some water, just not all of it. Add wet to dry, and then add more warm water as necessary. The dough shouldn't be dry or forming ball. Thick, and a good bit sticky.
- Spoon the dough onto the baking sheet of choice, and you may want to smooth it down with wet fingers to form a more french bread look.I actually buttered my hands to smooth it down, and then I scored the top lightly to give it the nice look.
- Cover and let rise. About 35 minutes for rapid rise yeast, and a bit over an hour for regular yeast. Preheat your oven while it's rising. 425 is the temperature you want, and once that bread is fully risen, pop it in for 25-30 minutes, or until that golden brown color comes, and it sounds hollow when thumped. (or you can also cheat and use a toothpick like I did)
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| See how it's stiff-ish? It's not a dough ball? That's what your dough should look like. |
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| The dough after it finished rising and before I scored it. I am ashamed to admit I don't have an after-baking picture, because I grabbed it and ran out the door to be on time for our friend's dinner...and then I ate it all. >_> Next time, we'll have a picture! |
And now for that salad recipe! I don't know the name of the cookbook I got it from unfortunately. But once I figure out the name of that book, I'll credit this recipe to it. So good!
Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad
Salad:
1 TBSP rosemary
2 tsp EVOO
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed
1 huge sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1-2 large oranges
1/4 sliced and diced onion
3 TBSP roasted pine nuts
3 TBSP almond slivers
a whole bunch of spinach.
Dressing:
3 TBSP fresh orange juice
2 TBSP EVOO
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
two dashes garlic powder
Preheat oven to 400.
Combine first 4 salad ingredients, and the onion, put on pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool.
Discard garlic and combine the potato mixture with the rest of the salad ingredient list.
Make the dressing! Combine OJ and other ingredients, mixing well. Drizzle over salad and toss. Enjoy!
Serving size is about 1 cup. 160 calories and 27 carbs
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| Lunch! It's in a tupperware for work purposes, even though I ended up eating at home. |
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