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Posts Tagged ‘gluten-free’

Life Changing Crackers

Posted in Healthy, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Life Changing Cracker

A few days ago I stumbled across a recipe for “Life Changing Bread”. Again, normally I would be skeptical about such a bold statement but given that I had recently made a bold statement of my own, I gave this recipe the benefit of the doubt. So off I went to the health food store to buy ingredients I had never ever heard of (psyllium, flax seed, chia) and $15 later (this was going to be one expensive loaf of bread!) I was ready to bake.

Essentially you mix all the dry ingredients together and bind it with a combination of water, maple syrup and coconut oil. Then you let the bread sit, and then bake for 20 minutes, turn the loaf over and bake for another 40 minutes, then let rest until cool. Was it good? Yes. Was it Life Changing? I’ll have to be honest and say not really. I found the texture to be a little bit… slimy.

Now I normally don’t like eating the edges in a loaf of bread, but I found the edges of this loaf to be particularly yummy – nutty and crispy. So why not slice the rest of the loaf and bake it again to get dry out the dough like a biscotti? So I sliced the rest of the loaf in to thin slices and baked at 175 c for 20 minutes.

Success! This time, the crackers were amazing, on it’s own, topped with pumpkin and cashew spread, topped with cheese and truffle honey etc. The crackers were delicious!
It was only after that I realized that blogger who posted this recipe also had a recipe for Life Changing Crackers on her blog. The technique is different though, it that she spreads the mixture in between two sheets of baking paper and rolls in to a thin sheet.

Whichever way you decide to make the crackers (baking it a third time like I did, or rolling it out in to thin sheets), this is a winner recipe… and dare I agree? Life Changing!

Life Changing Cracker topped with pumpkin and cashew dip

Life Changing Cracker topped with pumpkin and cashew dip

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Serendipity Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Posted in Bake, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2011| 35 Comments »

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies


This last week has made me reflect on the many happy accidents in my life.  Starting, in fact, nine months before I was born.

I always thought it was cool that my sister and I were the same age for a month during the year.  I liked it when I told people we were sisters, “same age but not twins”. I found it hilarious when they would give us this puzzled look. It only dawned on me one day, when  I was around thirteen or fourteen, my family was having dinner at the house of some friends they had just met.  The lady was introducing her four children.

“The eldest is James, he is sixteen, followed by Natasha, she is twelve.” She said.

“Then this is Raul, he is eight.  Bea, my youngest, is also eight.”  Then the lady patted her youngest daughter’s head and said as she smiled cheekily and said “She’s the accident of the family!”, to everyone’s amusement.

Everyone, except me, as I was shocked.  If Bea and Raul were the same age and Bea was an accident… I started to think about the age gaps between all my other siblings – everyone was around two years apart except for me and my sister.  I felt my face turning red. Could this mean I was an accident too?

It was only after the dinner that I confronted my Mom about this discovery.

“Am I an accident too?” I asked.

This is why my Mom is so fantastic.

“If you were, you’d be the best accident ever!”  she said.

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Which brings me to these Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies.

Last week I had some friends over who wanted to learn how to make macarons.  I had prepared the almond meal, cocoa powder, icing sugar and caster sugar in little bowls so that all we needed to do was make the meringue and mix.  I pointed to the  almond meal, cocoa powder and icing sugar and told them to mix all of it.  I turned my back to separate the eggs.

“Do you want me to add the sugar?”  My friend asked.

“Yes please.” I told her.

As we started to make the meringue, I asked where the caster sugar was”

“It’s with the almond meal mixture!”  They told me.

“What?  We needed it for the meringue.” I said.

“But I asked you if I should add the sugar.” She said!

I just had to laugh.  Of course I did tell her to add the sugar!  So she added even the caster sugar. Silly silly me!

But that’s okay, because just when I thought that my Trissalicious World’s Best Pistachio cookies couldn’t get any better, I made this with that accidental supply of almond meal and sugar mixture. So here you have the the chocolate and pistachio version, gluten free, easy to make, and terribly delicious.

Serendipity!

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

Trissalicious Chocolate and Pistachio Cookies

  • 180 grams Pistachios (raw, shelled)
  • 225 grams almond meal
  • 120 grams caster sugar
  • 125 grams icing sugar
  • 30 grams dutch processed cocoa powder
  • 75 grams eggwhites (from around 2 to 3 eggs)
  1. Chop the pistachios roughly and set aside.
  2. In a bowl place the almond meal, sugars and egg whites. Mix well until you form a paste.
  3. Scoop the cookie batter and form into logs around 5 cm long, (at this point, if you find the batter too sticky add a little bit more almond meal to the paste) then roll them in the pistachios.
  4. Place them in a baking sheet, around 2 cm apart and bake for around 13 minutes at 150c (fan forced).
  5. Update on recipe: Dust with icing sugar when cool.

 

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How To Make Tortilla Española (Spanish Potato Omelette)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2011| 46 Comments »

Tortilla Española (Spanish Potato Omelette)

Tortilla Española (Spanish Potato Omelette)

Very early on Saturday, with my husband still in a deep slumber, I snuck out of bed, put on my thickest pair of socks and tiptoed down to the kitchen.  I held my breath as I passed the guest room, fearing that even my breathing would be loud enough to be heard.   The wagging of the dog’s tails against the wooden walls magnified across the hallway and I tried to calm them down to prevent anyone from waking.

Finally, I got to the kitchen… “I made it!” I thought.  I was finally going to have a few hours in the kitchen all to myself!

Because as you all know, when Mom’s are visiting – you pretty much have to give up whatever rights you have in the kitchen because, when they’re around the kitchen ain’t yours… it’s theirs!

I wanted to make this this Tortilla Espanola (Spanish style Potato Omelette) for a tapas party I was throwing for New Year’s day.  Made with only four very accessible ingredients (eggs, potatoes, onions and olive oil), a really good tortilla is guaranteed not only to bring any Spaniard to their knees, it’s also sure to please any guest for a tapas party. It’s also great eaten cold or at room temperature so you can make it in advance for any occasion.

And whatever happened to my covert CIA operation? It pretty much lasted a whole five minutes before I turned around, saw my Mom and heard her ask “Can I help?”

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Sometimes No Just Means Not Now…Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

Posted in Bake, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2010| 70 Comments »

Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

When I was a kid I wanted to be a gymnast.  I remember watching a movie on Romanian Nadia Comaneci and how she scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars in the 1976 Olympics and thought to myself that I was born to be a gymnast. 

So my best friend and I started teaching ourselves cartwheels, back bends and once even decided to create our own  dismount station on the side of my brother’s bed so we could practice somersaults (I shrudder at the thought of our bravery then!).  During long car trips my Dad would play classical music and I would close my eyes and pretend to do a floor routine to the music of Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

So the logical thing to do was ask my parents permission to take proper gymnastic  lessons – and I was devastated when they said no. I am assuming they thought it was too dangerous.  Maybe they thought I wasn’t ready… maybe, they weren’t ready.  I brooded over what to do next for months.  Finally, I decided to write them what I thought was a tear jerker of a letter asking them to reconsider their decision.  And what a letter it was.  I’m pretty sure the phrases “this is my dream” and “please, please, please” came up many times.  The next day, they relented.

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Quite Possibly The World’s Best Trissalicious Pistachio Cookies

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on November 24, 2010| 102 Comments »

Italian Pistachio Cookies

Trissalicious Pistachio Cookies

I first tasted pistachio cookies in Italy, about  two years ago.  My husband and I were searching for Il Gelato di San Crispino that was supposed to serve Rome’s best gelato when we chanced upon a little bakery selling these bright green chewy balls of pistachio cookies that were called Bocconcini al Pistacchio di Bronte.  The gelato store was set aside for another day.  Instead, we bought two cookies each (At 3.80 EURO each they were expensive!) and went to Sant’ Eustachio for a caffe and devoured the little gluten-free Italian pistachio cookies.

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