Banana Muffins

http://minimalistbaker.com/banana-almond-meal-muffins-gluten-free-vegan-optional/
Banana Muffins

These are good. I only used 1 T of brown rice syrup, and should really leave it out totally. I spread this over 12 muffins and it did need 25 minutes in the oven.

Miso Salad Dressing

http://www.traderjoes.com/recipes/recipe/295
Miso Salad Dressing

This is my new favorite dressing. I love it. It is slightly sweet, but not too sweet for David. I love the sweet since it makes me want to eat more salad! I followed the recipe exactly. I did not measure the honey however--it may have been a little less than 1 tsp. Also, I don't think this needs extra salt. I did add a little pepper though.

This is my first time using miso. I used the trader joes brand. I am interested in finding other uses.

Sauerkraut II

http://wellnessmama.com/663/homemade-sauerkraut/

For this sauerkraut batch I bought a small organic cabbage head weighing 2.35 lbs. After taking off outer leaf and the core, it was 2 lbs, and I was able to fit it into my 1 liter fido jar. I added a little less than 1.5 Tbsp sea salt (I used Real Salt, no iodine added). I hand sliced it and then added salt and ~ 1 tsp caraway seeds. After letting it sit for around an hour in a large bowl, and tossing it whenever I happened to walk by, I pounded it with a meat tenderizer for a little bit.  It had reduced in volume and easily produced enough juice to be packed into this jar and be submerged in its own liquid. I did fold up the outer leaf to help keep floaters down. I did not add any whey or any other thing, as I wanted to do this *wild*. I plan to let it go at least 4 weeks. I put it under a towel so it will be in the dark.

Day 2: I pounded it a little more, and let out some air. Sandor Katz's recipe suggests doing more pounding up to 24 hrs in, since the cabbage continues to release more liquid.

Korean Beef Noodle Bowls

Korean Beef Noodle Bowls p 184 Against All Grain

This was a bit too watery. The zucchini didn't really dry out much or lose much water during the salting phase. I think it would be good with half zucchini half vermicelli noodles. David  liked it as is, but I thought there was too much zucchini. Also it is plenty spicy with only a light sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I probably put 1/8 or 1/4 tsp in in stead of 1 whole.

Maple, Orange, Chipotle Sweet Potato Crisp

Maple, Orange, Chipotle Sweet Potato Crisp. This recipe is from Primal Cravings, p 167.

David really liked this. He thinks it would be great for a side on Thanksgiving. He generally does not like sweet potatoes or yams that much, but this recipe he liked a lot because of all the interesting flavors. I made it exactly as written.

Banana Bread: Against All Grain

http://allfueledup.blogspot.com/2013/08/against-all-grains-banana-bread.html
This is from the Against All Grain cookbook.

In the above link it says in the comments how the bread can appear when undercooked. I think mine was undercooked, and it was quite wet, even though the toothpick came out dry. The middle looked a little under, but I trusted the toothpick. Next time, don't trust the toothpick! Let it go at least 50 minutes. Also, I may have put in a little less coconut flour than called for, and I know that can make a difference. Also I mixed it by hand, and so next time I will use a hand beater.

I think this recipe will turn out better next time. I subbed 1 T brown rice syrup for the 3 T honey and it was plenty sweet. It probably did not need any sweetener.

Creamy Chicken Soup

http://meatified.com/creamy-chicken-soup-aip/
Creamy Chicken Soup

I love this soup. I think it a great way to use up leftover cauliflower, which is what I had after making the Chicken Rice Casserole. I did add about 1/3 cup of coconut milk to make it even creamier. The bone broth I had was made mostly from chicken parts so it tasted very chickeny and yummy!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

 Chicken and Rice Casserole, from Meals Made Simple, p 140.

This was so fantastic. It did take me about an hour to do prep, but I can be much more efficient I'm sure. It is worth making frequently. Both kids liked it, and David and I loved it.

Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made the Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Primal Cravings.

I think I ruined the recipe, since I replaced the butter with palm shortening, and the sugar with sucanat. It did not mix up like it was supposed to, and I had to add twice the water it called for. They did cook up and look normal, but they had a strange flavor and I'm not sure if its the sucanat or the flours in the recipe. I think with my diary-free restrictions this is not the best recipe for me, since it is designed around using butter, which has a particular moisture content that does not compare to the replacements.

Hummus II

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/hummus-recipe.html

I only used 1/4 cup tahini in this. I think there was too much garlic and lemon in this recipe. I prefer less kick and more smoothness. I have an old hummus recipe on here from 2010. I will try that next since I liked it before and it has less garlic and lemon. Maybe I will like it again!

Cowboy Hashbrown Skillet

Cowboy Hashbrown Skillet from the Primal Cravings cookbook p 62.

I tried to make this in my enameled le creuset skillet but it always tends to burn things, so this was a little burnt too. However, I still enjoyed it a lot. David said he would rather it have potato than plantains. He likes plantains a lot, but he thought they weren't detectable in the dish because of the strong flavor of the chorizo. So I'll make this again with potatoes, but I'll need to squeeze them out since they are quite wet compared to plantains.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Cookies St. Patricks Day style

http://againstallgrain.com/2013/03/15/cinnamon-oatmeal-raisin-cookies-st-patricks-day-style
Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Cookies St. Patricks Day style

These turned out great. I used sweetened sunbutter I got from Trader Joes, so I left out the honey to compensate. Also only used 5 dates since they were hefty medjool ones. They were great! I made them in the morning and by dinner they were a very dark green. Success!

Meatloaf Meatballs

Meatloaf Meatballs from p 148 of Meals Made Simple.

These are great. They were very loose but still managed to hold together enough to flip and cook. Mine needed 25 minutes, but they were a little large I think. I also used pork sausage since I didn't have ground pork,and that made them a little bit more fatty than they should have been. As they baked a lot of oil came out, but they were still great. I made them with coconut flour.

The sauce was good. I used brown rice syrup instead of honey. The sweetness level was perfect, and I think the recipe was supposed to be like homemade ketchup (with a bit of mustard). It was great! I did use tomato puree in it, which I had never bought before. I've read that strained or crushed tomatoes would be equivalent to puree.

We ate these with rice and corn, but the rice is really not necessary. These really are like meatloaf and stand on their own.

German Apple Pancakes Grain free

http://www.riddlelove.com/2014/11/grain-free-german-apple-pancakes-recipe.html

German Apple Pancakes Grain free

These did not turn out well. It was mostly soggy and didn't puff or anything. The apples on top were good, but everything else was soggy. Nobody liked it except Clyde (my 1 year old). I used "So Delicious Coconut Beverage" as the milk for it.

update: these are much better as cold leftovers. The soggyness is much less pronounced. I'm interested in finding a coconut flour muffin recipe that is good for snacks, (i.e. unsweetened or with 1 T only)

Gluten free dairy free pie crust

https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/143974/gluten-free-pie-crust-with-libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie-filling/?recipeFoodType=100-pure-pumpkin~pies-tarts

This crust rolled out well. I mixed it up in my food processor, and needed and extra 2-4 T of water. I used lard instead of butter, so that might have altered the water content too since its dryer than butter I think.

This made two crusts. They were great for gluten free, but not as good as real wheat crust of course. They were a little thin, but they still worked well. These would be great for a double crusted pie too. I used this for a pumpkin pie and it worked great. I made the pie dairy free by subbing coconut milk for evaporated milk.