Gluten Free Vegan Gravy

Yesssss this recipe stems from my love of gross diner food, even though I can't eat any of it. I normally hate gravy except in Poutine, my life's desire (pictured below). This was really easy to make and I'm disappointed I didn't try it earlier. I still feel like this recipe isn't perfect but I wanted to document my first attempt. It definitely tasted good in poutine, though.

Ingredients
-1 boiled potato
-1 small onion (optional, I left this out because my stomach is sensitive to acidic things but if you can eat onions, totally put this in)
-6 cashews (you can put more, that's all I had. i really wanted to try sunflower seeds but I was out)
-2 cloves garlic
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1 and 3/4 cups vegetable stock or broth
-1 tbsp soy sauce
-1/4 cup arrowroot or corn starch
-1 and 1/2 tbsp oregano or preferred spice
-1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
-1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)



-In a medium sauce pot, fry garlic in the olive oil until very lightly toasted. remove from heat and let cool slightly.
-In a food processor, combine potato, onion,cashews, garlic and onion, vegetable broth, soy sauce, and arrowroot starch. blend together for 3 minutes or until totally pureed.
-the mixture should look way liquidy, don't freak out. you're gonna see some science in your pot soon.
-put your mixture in the med sauce pot. boil on high for five minutes, stirring continually. Within five minutes your mixture should be much more dense and gravy-like.
-stir in the oregano, pepper, and salt to taste
-boil 2 more minutes
-EEEEEEEEEEEEEAT IT on something.


I chose gf fries
and cheese (real cheese, I didn't have soy cheese : ( )
GF VEGETARIAN POUTINE:

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Vegan Gluten Free Almond Cupcakes

These are delicious and have wholesome ingredients hidden inside! It is mostly a recipe from Jae Steele's vegan cookbook, "Get It Ripe," but I changed it around a tiny bit. She is my new idol. Go buy her book right now.
H'okay.

Almond Cupcakes

1/2 cup almonds or pecans or walnuts (or a mix of any)
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/4 and 2 tbsp tapioca flour
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup maple syrup, agave, or sugar of choice (liquid sugars work better)
2/3 cup almond milk (or other milk substitute)
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 and 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extact
1 tsp apple cider vinegar


-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Grease a 12 cup muffin tray or use paper liners
-In a food processor, grind the flax seeds until fine
-Put the almonds (or other nuts) in the food processor and grind until slightly coarse (you can make it finer if you don't like them chunkay nuts)
-In a large bowl, combine the ground almonds and flax seeds with the flours, baking power, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir.
-Add everything else EXCEPT the vinegar and stir until a batter
-Add the vinegar and immediately pour muffins into tray
-bake 22 minutes

makes 12 cupcakes

*if you want more of a muffin-y taste, do not add the vanilla or almond extracts. This is a great variation if using maple syrup since you can taste it's flavour so much more.


ICING!

3 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar ***(look for sugar that says vegan. animal bones are used in the bleaching process of white sugars. this site is really cool and let's you know how to make icing sugar yourself: http://www.veganchef.com/veganpowder.htm)
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, or cornstarch
1 cup coconut oil, or margarine
1/4 cup almond milk (or other milk substitute)
2 tsp pure almond extract
2 drops vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt




Even Tiny, our backyard squirrel, is a fan of these puppies.

Green Coconut Curry

This is a Thai recipe that is vegan and gluten free without having to substitute any ingredients! I have only become a recent fan of curry, but once I discovered my love for it about a year ago it has been pretty much the sole source of my cravings. It is a bit spicy, but you can easily change that if you wish by adding less curry paste.

This recipe makes two small bowls so if you are cooking for more friends, multiply ingredients accordingly.

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1 garlic clove
-1 teaspoon to tablespoon of Curry Paste (I use Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste available at most super markets. Red and Yellow are okay too, or you can make your own by blending green chilis, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, onion and lime in a food processor or blender: there are good recipes for curry paste online if you google it)
-1 and 1/2 cup vegetables of your choice (I use whatever is in the fridge. today: broccoli, carrot, eggplant, peeled potato.. i know, i have to go shopping)
-1 can coconut milk

You have two other options if you don't have a can of coconut milk lying around. You can check the cupboard for unsweetened, desiccated coconut flakes or, if you have an actual coconut lying around, you can make the milk from that.

Option 1 (dry flakes):
-in a food processor combine a 200g bag with 1 and 1/4 cup of hot to boiling water
-crunch it around in there till it turns into a pulpy mix
-with a strainer, or a cheesecloth if you have one, pour the muchly gooy goo into the strainer and press it down with a blunt object (i used a potato smasher, you can use a meat cleaver or something fun like that but even a large spoon would work)
-when you see enough milk come out, youuuu are ready!

Option 2 (coconut):
-preheat oven to 325 degrees
-with a nail and hammer, hammer two holes into the coconut eyes and drain them juicey brains out (this is the coconut juice. if you are having a party, it tastes very nice with rum and in other cocktail mixes, or even just in smoothies)
-place the emptied coconut in the oven and let sit there for 30 mins
-remove and let cool
WARNING: THIS NEXT PART'S FUN
-get a cleaver and hack that mister to large pieces. if you have a good area outside, you can try dropping it on the floor from above your head.
-once open, peel off the fleshy meat and put in a food processor
-grind until its a pulpy mixture
-strain in same way mentioned above.


THE RECIPE!
-Warm a good sized sauce pot until hot.
-Add the tablespoon of oil and once warm and thinned, dump out any excess oil that is not coating the bottom
-fry the garlic and curry paste for one to two minutes on high heat
-add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of coconut milk
-add the vegetables and cook on high for 10 mins
-lower heat to med high and add the rest of the coconut milk, cook for 10 mins
-serve in small bowl with a soup spoon. if you have one of these:

use it. it makes everything taste so much better.

makes two small bowls.