Green Beans Almandine

One of the vegetable dishes I remember enjoying as a kid is green beans almandine. This November I decided that I wanted to learn how to make it myself. Toasting almonds couldn't be that hard, right? The only other question was whether the girls could eat almonds without having an allergic reaction. They hadn't reacted to almond milk or almond flour, so they probably would be just fine eating toasted blanched almonds. But you never know. We took the plunge and had them try the almonds. As I had hoped, the girls were fine and didn't react at all. Hooray! Now if I can only get my act together and take them to the allergist for further testing, maybe we can try pecans this coming year.

If you make this dish for us, please get blanched almonds. I haven't tried giving the girls almonds with the skins still on and don't know if they would react to the almond skins or not.

Green Beans Almandine
serves 3 to 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb. green beans
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. blanched almonds
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Instructions:

Steam the green beans until they are tender-crisp. While the green beans are steaming, heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the almonds and stir constantly, tossing the almonds, until they are fragrant and have browned. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the salt and pepper. When the green beans are done, toss them in the pan with the almonds and oil. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Improved)

Last year was my first time attempting egg-free chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes tasted good, but they crumbled more than I would have liked. This year Sabrina again wanted chocolate cupcakes for her birthday, so I decided to try out a new recipe. I started with a recipe for super easy, super moist chocolate cupcakes, which I tweaked to make wheat-free and corn-free. Voila! The result really was a moist and tasty cupcake that didn't crumble very much either. This is now my go-to cupcake recipe.

If you prefer, you also can use the recipe to make an 8"x8" cake, but you'll need to adjust the baking time. In addition, if you have coffee on hand, you can use 1 cup of hot coffee instead of the water and Starbucks Via. The instant coffee is just easier for us since we're not coffee drinkers.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Improved)
makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8x8 cake

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

• 1 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal. (I use Bob's Red Mill brand.)
  
• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I like the taste of Ghirardelli.)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  
• 1 tsp. Starbucks Via decaf instant coffee
  
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract. Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.

Ingredients for the frosting:

• 1 cup dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips. I recommend Ghirardelli, Trader Joe's, or Enjoy Life brand.
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. agave syrup or honey
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
  
• pinch of sea salt

Instructions for the cake:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Heat the water in the microwave until it is hot. Stir in the flax seed meal and set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together (pressing through a sieve or using a whisk) the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt, and instant coffee. In a separate small bowl, add the white sugar, apple cider vinegar, canola oil, vanilla extract, and water and flax seed mixture. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until no trace of flour remains.

Pour a level 1/4 cup of batter into each cupcake liner. Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and check to make sure the cupcakes are done using a toothpick: very few if any crumbs should cling to the toothpick when poked into the center of a cupcake. Let the cupcakes cool for a couple of minutes in the muffin tin before removing them to cool fully on a rack.

When the cupcakes have cooled off completely, spread the frosting over them. Add sprinkles, too, if you would like. At Whole Foods I found India Tree brand sprinkles that are made with cane-sugar crystals and are corn-free.

Instructions for the frosting:

Place a small saucepan over low heat. Add the chocolate chips and canola oil to the pan. Stir frequently, until the chocolate chips have just melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the agave syrup, vanilla extract, and sea salt.

Pour the liquid from the pan into the bowl of a standing mixer (or another mixing bowl if you use a hand-held mixer). Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so that the liquid cools and thickens slightly. Using the whisk attachment, beat the liquid on medium speed until it lightens in color and thickens to a spreadable consistency. If the liquid does not seem to be thickening, place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 minutes to cool it down further. Then try mixing it again. When the liquid has turned into a frosting consistency, spread the frosting over the cupcakes or cake.

Banana Berry Smoothie

I got on quite a smoothie kick in college, when I could order one at Collis Cafe and have it made for me on the spot. Since then, I haven't had many smoothies, mostly because I've been too lazy to make my own. I finally decided that, since so many people make smoothies at home, it really couldn't be all that hard or require all that much effort. And it doesn't! After a few tries, I came up with the following recipe that Sabrina and I both like. Naomi tried it but didn't prefer it because of her aversion to all foods that are too cold. Sabrina and I don't mind, though, because it means more smoothie for us!

Banana Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk (or you could try So Delicious coconut milk)
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

Add the almond milk and honey to the blender. Blend for a few seconds. Chop the banana into chunks and add to the blender, along with the strawberries, blueberries, and lemon juice. Blend until it has turned into a smoothie consistency. Pour and serve.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

This is my latest baked oatmeal creation. It started when I tried a recipe for oatmeal with cocoa powder and raspberries. The girls and I liked the raspberry flavor but didn't like the taste of the cocoa powder mixed into the oatmeal. We wanted more of a rich chocolate taste to complement the tartness of the raspberries. So I opted for chocolate chips, which make almost any breakfast better. I started off with 1/2 cup of raspberries, but the girls and I decided that we like it better with one whole cup. Now every bite is a combination of melted chocolate and tart raspberry goodness. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day, even when it's still dark out when we're eating it.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free oats
• 1 1/3 cups almond milk
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• 1/3 cup dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips. The two kinds I use that do not contain milk fat are Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.
• 1 cup frozen raspberries

Instructions:

The night before, measure the oats into a small bowl. Warm the almond milk in the microwave and pour over the oats. Stir and cover the bowl with a plate.

In the morning preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the brown sugar, applesauce, canola oil, baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and stir until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips and frozen raspberries. Pour the mixture into four 7-ounce ramekins. (It's a little more than 1/2 cup per ramekin.) Place the ramekins in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the oven and let the oatmeal cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

You could also try baking the oat mixture in an 8"x8" Pyrex pan if you don't want to use ramekins. You may need to decrease the oven temperature and increase the baking time, but I'm not sure since I haven't tried baking the oatmeal this way.