It's Cobblerin' Time!

When I was in fifth grade, I joined my local Girl Scouts group. We did a lot of arts and crafts and cookie sales, but the one thing I explicitly remember about being a girl scout was the overnight camping trip. A night in the woods can be terrifying, as it’s darker than city life, and the unfamiliar sounds of nocturnal animals have you wondering whether or not you’re in a horror movie no one told you about. But a night in the woods can also be exciting, because it almost always means a good campfire and roasted marshmallows.

While marshmallows and weenies were placed on sticks, a girl scout’s dad did something a bit different. He made cherry cobbler on the grill. When it was ready, he placed a heaping spoonful of the dessert into drinking cups and passed it to everyone that wanted it. My brain had difficulty processing the concept of a smoked dessert. S’mores didn’t count. A burnt marshmallow was the only sort of marshmallow that existed in my mind. And although I wasn’t big on cherry desserts, the concept of cobbler on the grill remained deep in my subconscious until this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Cobblers have an old history of being enjoyed in the United States. Some sources claim the cobbler’s origins in early British American colonies, and depending on what the people had on hand, the names changed. Thus, you have names like Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble, Brown Betty, Buckle, Grunt, Slump, Bird’s Nest Pudding, Sonker, and Pandowdy. It could be sweet or savory and served whenever the mood struck. The crust could resemble drop biscuits, pancake batter, or a piecrust. And the filling could be sweet or savory or a bit of both.

As I was thinking of what sort of cobbler to make, that memory of cherry cobbler around the campfire revealed itself. And what better way to make a summer cobbler than to do so on the grill? There is no exact science to the cooking process, other than to monitor the flame and watch for burnt filling along the edges. But at first bite, you feel like you are a wild man enjoying the sweeter side of wilderness. 

Cast Iron Fruit Cobbler on the Grill

For the filling:
46 small strawberries, halved
2 Rhubarb stalks, finely diced
52 cherries, pitted and halved
125 g Honey

For the crust:
75 g Brown rice flour
55 g Quick cooking CGF oats
25 g Corn flour
60 g Chilled salted butter, cut into small pieces
60 ml Whole milk
1/4 tsp. Baking soda

Preheat the grill (gas or charcoal) to moderate to high heat, and generously butter a 9-inch cast iron pan.
To make the filling, combine the strawberries, rhubarb, and cherries in the prepared dish and drizzle the honey on top.
To make the crust, in a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
Scatter the butter on top and, using a stand mixer or doing so buy hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture until pea-size pieces form.
Gradually stir in the milk, mixing until the dough clings together.
Gather the dough into a ball and transfer to a cutting board lined with parchment paper.
With another piece of parchment paper, cover the dough and flatten it out into a 9-inch circle with a 1/4-inch thickness.
Lay the dough on top of the filling and drizzle additional honey on top of the crust. Place the cast iron pan on the grill, to bake for twenty minutes.*
When done, remove from the grill and let it cool slightly on the counter.
Serve warm or at room temperature, scooped from the pan, with yogurt or ice cream on top.

Makes 6 servings.

*You’re looking for filling bubbling along the sides of the pan and a golden brown crust. Depending on the heat, it may take fifteen minutes or twenty-five to thirty minutes. 

T.R. of No One Likes Crumbly Cookies was our amazing host this month.  We had a lovely selection of participants, so be sure to check out what other delicious recipes you can enjoy this summer! What am I saying... You can enjoy these delights all year long!

T.R.* | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Cherry Lime Cobbler   
Adina | Gluten Free Travelette    Date Night Berry Cobbler   
Morri (me!) | Meals with Morri    Cast Iron Fruit Cobbler on the Grill       
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Pineapple Cherry Dump Cake   
Brooke | B & the boy!    Apple-Cranberry Cobbler  

Hearts and Tarts

  The Queen of Hearts

    She made some tarts,

        All on a summer's day;

    The Knave of Hearts

    He stole those tarts,

        And took them clean away.

    The King of Hearts

    Called for the tarts,

        And beat the knave full sore;

    The Knave of Hearts

    Brought back the tarts,

        And vowed he'd steal no more.

~ Anonymous (1782)

W. W. Denslow (1901)

With the exception of reading this poem in Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I never considered the gastronomic pleasures of the tart. In some cases, the words “pie” and “tart” overlap and blur: if it is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry with an open top, it can be either without people batting an eyelash.

Ah, the beauty of food terminology.

I’ve made a few pies to share on Meals with Morri, the majority of which could be equally considered a tart; though in my upbringing "pie" is the more common term in the United States. So when the Gluten Free Ratio Rally was challenged to make tarts knaves and kings alike would want with their afternoon tea, I felt it was high time to make the distinction.

 It’s all about the crust, really. Pie crust, at least on MWM, falls in the flaky category, the one Michael Ruhlman wrote about in Ratio and Alton Brown gave awesome tips and tricks in making on Good Eats. There are literally clumps and bumps of fat left whole to create this amazing crunchy yet tender texture that beautifully pairs with the filling it holds. The tart crust, as I have come to understand, is usually a shortcrust pastry, similar in taste and texture to the shortbread cookie (Coincidence? I think not!). The binders (fat and liquid, and sometimes egg) are brought to room temperature, and care is given to make sure each and every flour granule is coated with fat. The result is a light and crumbly crust.

The one I chose to make was the pâte à foncer, a shortcrust pastry that includes egg. I wanted a flat crust that took center stage with a savory filling that was moist but not too wet. What I got was a crust that may have just become my go-to pastry for future tarts and pies. It crumbled, yes, but it didn't fall apart... VICTORY!

The ratio is quite simple (and rounded up): 5 parts flour, 3.75 parts fat, 1 part liquid, 1 egg yoke, and a little sugar (honey, in this instance).

Grain-free Pâte à foncer (ratio from Michel Suas's Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach as discovered on The Second Lunch)

195 g Coconut flour
100 g Garbanzo bean flour
100 g Quinoa flour
148 g Salted butter, room temperature
148 g Coconut oil, room temperature
79 g Milk (I used Goat milk), room temperature
1 (16 g) Large egg yoke
6 g Honey

Allow butter, coconut oil, milk, and egg yolks to come up to room temperature. (Butter should be almost mayonnaise consistency.)
Soften the butter and mix with the paddle attachment on the electric mixer's medium-high speed.
Add the honey, yolk, and milk, and then slowly incorporate the flour.
Mix until just incorporated, and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour.*

And now... the tart part!

Savory Onion Tart Squares with Pâte à foncer crust

28 g Salted butter
1 Large yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
20 ml White wine, adding more as needed
6 g Dried parsley
1 tsp. Dried tarragon
1 tsp. Dried thyme
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper
122 g Pumpkin puree
1 Egg, yoke and white separated
Filtered water, for the egg wash
Prepared Pâte à foncer

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a large cast iron skillet on medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the wine.
When the mixture begins to brown slightly and become aromatic, add in the onion and garlic to cook for 25 – 30 minutes until caramelized (adding more white wine if it starts to stick at the bottom).
Stir in the spices and cook on low heat for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat and setting aside.
In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and egg yoke and set aside.
On a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, roll out and flatten the dough into a rectangular shape with a thickness between 1/8 and 1/4 inches (remember: the thicker the crust, the wetter you will want a filling).**
Spread the pumpkin until it is about an inch from the edge of the crust, and then top it with the onion (at this point, if you want to add cheese such as Ricotta, Parmesan, Gruyere, or Swiss, go right ahead).
Combine the egg white and equal parts water for the egg wash and coat the edges using a pastry brush.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the crust has browned slightly.
Remove from the oven and let it cool five minutes before cutting into squares.
Serve warm with a sauce accompaniment or as a side to a soup/stew.

Makes 9 – 16 servings.

*I found that chilling the dough over an hour made it difficult to spread out and rather dry. The next time I use this shortcrust recipe (and I will), I'm simply going to go from mixer to pan and see how it fares.
**I also want to use a wetter filling next time (maybe twice as much pumpkin or incorporate ricotta in this particular recipe). I do think this would be delicious with cooked apples with a caramel sauce, though.

Now, I wasn’t the only one who took on the challenge to make a gluten free tart. Charissa of the Zest Bakery was our marvelous host this month. As the name suggests, the Zest Bakery is "a passionate (and zesty!) bakery that strives to provide delicious, gluten-free foods and desserts in the Bay Area. To ensure there are no gluten-containing products present in the bakery or on our equipment, we built our bakery from scratch.”

That is devotion right there, with people who are sincere and passionate about the welfare of others. I now have a delicious reason to visit the Bay Area, if only to be inspired by what they do.

But really, the GFRR always inspires me. See for yourself why…

Charissa | Zest Bakery    Cheddar Apple Tart   
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free!    Plum Tart (dairy and egg free)   
Paula | Gapey's Grub    Sugar Free Pear Tart   
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Pumpkin Tart   
Sihi | Wandering Ladle    Banana-Pomogranate in Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Tart Shells   
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    No-Bake Mini Pumpkin Tarts (grain free)   
Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem    Spiced Cider-Poached Cinnamon Apple Tart   
Jonathan | The Canary Files    Vegan Cardamom Cashew Cream & Fig Tartlettes   
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes    Savory Sweet Potato tart  
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free    Pecan Tollhouse Tarts   
Morri (me!) | Meals with Morri    Savory Onion Tart Squares with Pâte à foncer crust (grain free) 
Jean Layton | Gluten Free Doctor    Nectarine Rose Tart (dairy-free crust)     

Claire Berman | This Gluten-Free Life    Fresh Summer Sweet Tomato Tart  

Playing with Paleo: A Delicious Birthday Experiment

The autumn storms have rolled in and brought with them that crisp air I love so much. Pumpkin and apples are in ample supply, and baking is becoming a coming occurrence in my household. With my Masters application officially submitted, I’ve exhaled this breath I had apparently been holding. Along with other hard lessons digesting from September, October is looking to be one creative and relaxed sort of month (save for midterms, of course).

The best part of fall is the flavor selection. We have foods that warm and fill us, sweet and savory ingredients that come together in a symphony of delights, and the oven always seems to be preheated and ready to go. To add to that, fall is the season I become very adventurous in my recipes.
 

Over the weekend I celebrated my two best friends’ birthdays. J and TJ, a ridiculously adorable couple, have been so supportive and loving as I pieced together what had been causing my recent stress, and visiting them (individually and together) always lightens my heart and brightens my day.

What was left of the piñata...

So when I was approached with the challenge to make a Paleo dessert for TJ, a lover of pumpkin and cheesecake, my Creative Mind’s gears starting turning.

In place of cream cheese and butter, because TJ is lactose intolerant, I looked for ways to make turn raw, dehydrated coconut flakes into “cheese” with a creamy nut butter consistency. (How did I do it? Read on for the link in the directions.) For the crust, almond meal and coconut oil was used to make it grain-free and dairy-free, and it had a marvelous crushed graham cracker taste and consistency.

 It was a delicious experiment, and one that will only get better over time. As for TJ and J?

They loved it.

Paleo Pumpkin Birthday "Cheese"cake

For the crust:
240 g Almond meal
64 g Honey
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
120 g Coconut oil, melted

For the filling:
500 g Homemade coconut “butter”
425 g Pumpkin puree
3 Large eggs
400 g Honey
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger
Sea salt, to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, honey, cinnamon, and melted coconut oil. (If a little wet, add a little more almond meal until it is soft but stable to the touch.)
Press the mixture throughout a greased 9-inch pie pan until evenly covered, and then set aside.
If you do not have homemade coconut butter on hand, proceed to Chocolate Covered Katie’s blog to learn how to make your own, and then add it to the remaining ingredients for the filling in another medium bowl to mix.
Pour the filling in the center of the pie pan and spread it evenly.
Cover the crust with aluminum foil to prevent burning and bake at the center of the oven for one hour.
Remove from the oven and let it sit for 2 – 4 hours until room temperature and then let chill in the fridge for an additional 2 – 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Serve cold.

Makes 8 – 16 servings.

Busy Bees

It gives me great pleasure to write this post, because it has three things I love in this world: family, food, and photography.

Every couple of years, my family (both biological and extended) brews mead. It is a drink of fermented honey (sometimes labeled “honey wine”) found throughout Europe, Asia, and in some parts of Africa over a period of eight thousand years. To us, like our ancestors of which we take precedence, we view it as sacred work. It is a craft that requires all to assist, from sanitizing the five-gallon carboys to measuring out the honey and water ratio to pouring in the yeast and mixing it all together. This year was our largest batch yet: forty-five gallons of newly made mead. And after nine months, it will be ready to bottle.

 

Now, before everyone gets excited, we cannot distribute mead for the purpose of making money, as we are not legally certified to do so. We make it for personal consumption and to share with friends at our monthly get-togethers. Those who take part are of drinking age and drink responsibly as stated in U.S. law. Plus, should you wish for a taste of what we refer as “The Drink of the Gods”, by all means brew your own. I am personally hoping to create a gluten free honey beer this summer, a recipe I will most certainly share with you all. This post, on the other hand, is to share the experience of making mead, with the permission of everyone involved… oh, and share a honey-based recipe to follow.

I love honey. It is my sweetener of choice besides naturally sweet foods and pure stevia. Before my family started brewing, I thought the only honey flavors out there were clover, wildflower, and buckwheat. But oh no, there is so much more variety than that. For our brewing purposes on Saturday, we used the following: wildflower, avocado, killer bee (which tasted like grape), and Scottish heather. They not only differ in color, but in consistency and taste. We purchased our honey from The Bee Folks (they also sell mead making kits) in one-gallon containers as well as a whopping five-gallon bucket from the Amish farm we buy from once in a while. Just imagine: nine gallons of honey for nine carboys. This particular batch is likely to last us for five years at least.

And of course we had sticky fingers from tasting the leftover honey.

 

Along with honey, I love the beings that make it: the bees. When I was part of the Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute of South and Central Asia, some of the kids who didn’t have host families for the week spent the weekend in a beautiful home where Environmental Studies on the Piedmont is located. I came up for the day to hang out with the kids and learn all about bees and beekeeping. 

And maybe I was giving off acceptable pheromones or maybe it was my respect for these small sentient beings, but I was not afraid and I didn’t get stung once. There is nothing quite like honey straight from the hive, and chewing on warm honeycomb like gum. I had more respect of where an important source that is essential to living comes from, and I hope humanity works toward helping the bee population grow to its utmost potential.

Four hours of grueling work meant a hungry group of people. As I was in charge of the menu, I was inspired to put honey in everything. I made a simple salad dressing of grapeseed oil, lemon, and honey, which was also used as a glazed for the salmon. Honey liquor was used to marinate the chicken. And finally, honey took part in making an amazing pie.

I was first inspired to make a coconut “cream” pie when five pounds of dehydrated coconut pieces came to my door from Essential Living Foods. (I also ordered coconut nectar sugar, which comes from the blossom and not the palm.) I gave a little under a pound to a good friend of mine, but I still have enough to last me quite a few recipes in the future. Seriously, the bag is the size of a baby, so if you have any recipes you think I should use them in please leave a comment below.

Chocolate Coconut Custard Pie (inspired from this amazing recipe)

1/2 of Morri’s pie crust recipe
Butter, for greasing the pie pan
4 Large eggs
640 ml Canned coconut milk
105 g Honey
1 1/2 tsp. Bourbon vanilla
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
15 g Cocoa powder, sifted
50 g Raw dehydrated coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured surface until formed into a large flat circle, about one-eight of an inch thick.
Transfer the dough into a greased nine-inch pie pan and smooth the edges (you are not likely to have leftover dough scraps).
Evenly lay out the dehydrated coconut pieces on the bottom and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, coconut milk, honey, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder with an electric mixer until thoroughly integrated.
Pour the custard into the pie pan and bake for 15 minutes.
Decrease the temperature to 350ºF for an additional 40 – 45 minutes, or until the center has firmed slightly.
Take out of the oven to cool on the counter-top until room temperature (at least three to four hours), and then place in the fridge to chill (at lease three to four hours).
Serve chilled with whipped cream, ice cream, and coffee.

Makes 8 – 16 servings, depending on the size of the slices.

Safe Travels: A Sweet Tradition

Does anyone else associate almost every great memory they’ve ever experienced with food? I look back on my college career (and perhaps beyond, now that I think about it) and I recall faces but not names, places but not directions on how to get there, and classes I attended but not the professors who taught it. But for some reason, every single memory that has food in it I can remember it perfectly. I know where I went, what I ate, and whom I was with. I know how I felt before, during, and after eating it.

Food has become quite an intimate thing for me, because nothing else parallels the creativity and the adventure of going to a restaurant or coming up with a recipe. I think back on the time my first roommates at George Mason University took me to Choices By Shawn, a place I would later enthusiastically take others and still wholeheartedly recommend their fries. When friends heard or found out I was gluten free, they would text me the name of a restaurant offering gluten free foods or say they found a product at the store I should try (usually a beer brand). And when I had a recipe I wanted to experim-, I mean, share (Right. Share. That’s the word.) with them, many were kind enough to have a taste and tell me what they honestly thought.

These people, my dearest friends, are the reason I pursued my mad scientist tendencies in the kitchen without my being sorry about it. No one has ever told me “It’s good, I mean, for a gluten free recipe.” If a recipe needs some tinkering, the people in my life will sit down and work with me to make it stupendously delicious. One of those people, and forgive me for the mushy gushiness, is the boyfriend.

When he and I first started dating, he and I would walk around campus after dark or go to the gym right before it closed. We are both fairly active, now in the form of running and rock climbing, but early in our relationship it was a form of bonding.

He didn’t bat an eyelash when I told him I was gluten free. In fact, he was interested in what I ate to make sure I didn’t get glutened when we went out to eat or when we made food together. On our first Valentine’s Day, he made us buckwheat blini with cream and fruit preserves.

But one night, before we actually started dating and being more than friends, we did something so random and so spontaneous I knew I was in it for the long haul.

We made pie, a delicious gluten free apple pie… at 10 p.m.  

It must have been after a late “date” night at the gym, but we came back to the Mason townhouses and found ourselves with nothing to do. We could watch a movie or do homework. We could go on a moonlit walk around Fairfax. But really, after a workout like that, we wanted food. And then he said, “I know! Let’s make a pie!”

“At 10 p.m.?” I asked, incredulous. I’d never baked something so late before, and I was known for my early bedtime. That, and we didn’t even have the ingredients to make a pie.

Before I knew it, we were in his car on the way to Wegmans, still wearing our workout clothes and sneakers. We found a pre-made piecrust in the freezer section, got a bag of organic Granny Smith apples, some whipping cream, and we were good to go.

I still think back on the memory with a smile, especially now that he is gone for another summer to sell educational products in Texas.

Why? Because he wanted to make a pie before he left. An apple pie.

Unfortunately, this particular pie was fresh out of the oven and too hot to handle right when he walked out the door on Saturday, so he didn’t get to taste how delicious it was. But with the family getting together for the weekend, it didn’t last very long and was happily received.

“It was never about eating the pie, anyway,” he explained. “All that mattered was making it together.”

So now we have a new tradition. Whenever one of us is going away, no matter how long, we will make pie the night before. It isn’t to symbolize that the person is leaving; rather, it’s to symbolize safe travels and great adventures while apart.

I’ve said this before; this isn’t a goodbye. It’s a see you later, a "safe travels" and "I wish you well" sort of thing. Still, I can’t wait for him to come home. 

This pie’s crust is the same one from October’s GFRR challenge, only this time I measured it out in grams. One of the hardest things I’m noticing is how ounces and grams are converted to each other. Sometimes, I see thirty grams equaling an ounce while others say 28[.349] grams is an ounce. And then of course there’s the difference between the fluid ounce (29.57 grams or milliliters) and the regular ounce. One cookbook, I don’t recall which one, had pages of these different measurements and briefly caused my head to spin. I’d just made it easier for myself by rounding it up to thirty grams/milliliters per ounce for my recipes, and so far they’ve worked out fine.

Unless it’s a recipe that I make from a cookbook with those specific ounces to grams measurements, Meals with Morri is a 1 oz = 30 g/ml kind of blog. I tried making the dough by first measuring it out by ounces and then converting the scale to grams. The dough turned out just as delicious as before, but I ended up using more water than I had in the fall (likely due to the weather more than anything), and it was just too frustrating with how an ounce varied in its weight.

Along with a bag of Granny Smiths, we also had quinces that needed to be used up, so it just made sense to combine the two. And although apple is usually a double-crust or lattice-topped sort of pie, I used the remaining scraps of dough from the bottom crust to top the pie using cookie cutters in the shape of animals. I didn’t have room for the moose shape, though, so I placed in the center a star instead.

Safe Travels Apple Quince Pie

For the piecrust:
223 g Unsalted butter
112 g Glutinous rice flour
86 g Amaranth flour
56 g Garbanzo bean flour
58 g Tapioca starch
28 g Coconut flour
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
120 ml Ice water

For how the dough is prepared, click here. Like the recipe in November, this will make enough dough for two crusts, so save the other half of this recipe for another sensational pie you have in mind.

For the filling:
4 Quinces, roughly chopped
70 ml Honey
3 (around 154 g each) Granny Smith apples roughly chopped

Honey syrup (30 ml honey and 30 ml Water)

Place the chopped quince into a pressure cooker or large pot and fill it with water 2 – 3 inches above the fruit.
Stir in the honey and cook on medium heat for two or three hours and let it sit until the liquid has thickened into a syrup.
Fold in the chopped apple and set aside.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring to about room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Dust the counter or cutting board with tapioca starch.
Use a rolling pin and flatten the dough into a flat circle.
Place the dough into a greased 9-inch pie dish and remove the extra dough around the edges for the shapes on top.
Pour and evenly distribute the fruit in the dish, and then lay the pie dough cookie cutter shapes to your preference.
Bake for 15 minutes, and then brush the dough with a silicon pastry brush the honey syrup.
Pour the remaining honey syrup throughout the filling and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let it sit for a few hours before serving with whipped cream and your hot drink of choice.

Makes 1 9-inch pie, or 8 servings.

Pumpkin Pie (with a Dairy Free Filling)

I love the days following Thanksgiving, because no food goes to waste in this house (at least, we try). We have two bags for the turkey, one for the carcass and one for the leftover meat pieces. Everything tastes amazing, hot and cold, especially the sweet potatoes and the greens. We learned that garbanzo bean flour is a great thickener for gravy and savory sauces, perfect for grain-fee Morri’s like myself. We also came to the conclusion that I am to make pie crusts for every Thanksgiving get-together, because Mama Dazz was not impressed with the store-bought gluten kind. 

Awesome. Score one for the gluten free pie crust.

Pie was my indulgence, one tiny sliver for both Turkey Day and Leftovers Day. As I talked about in the Turkey Day Round Up, I felt intoxicated after eating it, sleepy and loopy for hours afterward. I’m not worried about the grain-free concept, because I’m sure I can make a grain-free crust with a little tweaking. It’s the sweetener for baked goods that concern me. I’ve tried palm sugar, and that is just as bad as cane sugar in how it affects me. Stevia in baked goods also worries me, because I don’t know how it tastes after being in the oven. So if there is someone who has experience baking with stevia (both in liquid and powdered form), I’d love to hear your input.

Despite it not being grain-free (the crust) or sweetener free (the filling), this is an amazing pie, with a dairy free filling that has a silky mousse texture. However, I think this recipe would go well with sweet potato, yam, kabocha squash, and (dare I say it?) carrot puree. I’ve also noticed that if you have leftover coconut milk, all you need to do is refrigerate it overnight for a loose whipped “cream” effect.

Pumpkin Pie

11 oz Pie crust dough, rolled out flat on a floured (I use tapioca starch) surface
Butter (or solid coconut oil), for greasing the pan and brushing on the pie crust
15 oz Pumpkin puree
8 oz Canned coconut milk
2 Eggs
126 g (<4.45 oz) Honey
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Coriander
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Allspice
Dash of Sage

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan with chilled butter (save any left over for later), and then carefully press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pan.
Put the pumpkin, coconut milk, eggs, honey, and spices in a large bowl and mix them together with an electric beater until combined.
Pour the filling into the pie dough (at this point you can decorate the edges of the pie crust as shown here).
Bake for ten minutes while melting the remaining butter on the stovetop over low heat in a small saucepan.
Remove the pie from the oven and reduce the heat to 350ºF.
Use a basting brush (silicone is preferable) to paint the piecrust edges with the remaining melted butter.
Put the pie back into the oven and bake for one hour.
Once the pie filling has set, let it sit on the counter until room temperature.
Refrigerate or serve as is.

Makes 1 pie. Serves 8 – 16 people. 

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving. A holiday focused on food, family, food, getting together, food, telling stories, food, and more food. I mentioned the food, right? 

My Leftovers Day Plate

Good.

I only had class on Monday this week, so much of my time was spent cleaning, cooking, and nervously awaiting the arrival of our other guests. We were eight around the table: Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, Uncle Rich, myself, and the boyfriend’s father and brother. He came later in the evening, back from his five-day excursion in Mexico.  The energy at the table was enormous, and food was plentiful and beyond delicious. It wasn’t completely Morri friendly, and being grain-free and sweetener free made it slightly more difficult (I indulged with a sliver of pie), but the food that I could and did eat did not leave me wanting. Plus, it was my first Thanksgiving back from Sweden, so I was just tickled pink to be there.

First and foremost, the Turkey, a bird named after the country the English believed it originated (The Turks called it the Hindu, I think, though the bird comes from Northern America). We typically buy the all-natural Trader Joe’s turkey each year, which came with its own brine. Only, upon further inspection, I realized that the brine wasn’t Morri friendly because of the sugar, so we ended up getting the smaller and yes, more expensive Kosher bird. 

Regardless, it was totally worth the extra few bucks, because not only did it taste amazing but it occurred to us that maybe the bird was raised and fed differently due to its, uh, Kosher-ness. It wasn’t some hulking, too-big-for-its-own-legs, obese thing. It was smaller, with some of the feathers in the skin, and juicier than I remember turkey ever being. Next year, I’m going to look in buying a Morri friendly bird online and see where that goes.

As I was going grain-free, I decided not to make a gluten free stuffing which, until I got sick earlier this month, I was making it with a spoon bread base. Instead of putting it in the bird it was baked like a huge bread pudding and a whole onion was put in its place. The onion was my “stuffing”.

There were two kinds of greens, my Uncle Rich’s infamous collard greens, cooked with salted fatback, water, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, and I made green beans with a delish twist, and whose recipe will be posted shortly.

Like many Thanksgiving dinners around the United States, our menu was rather heavy on the carbohydrates, but I think we did rather well in bringing color and balance to the table. Instead of mashed potatoes, we went with “small” sweet potatoes, baked at 400 ºF for 1.5 to 2 hours. The result is a caramelized and sticky exterior with a gooey middle that melts in your mouth. 

We had two sauces, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade, grain-free, and definitely not out of a can. I'm doing my best not to brag too inanely, but our cranberry sauce was beyond amazing, and I wish I had written down the recipe (we used this one for inspiration). Mama Dazz started off with two bags of fresh cranberries, used two cups of orange juice instead of water to cook them, and finished it off with fresh orange pieces and walnuts. Before adding sugar to the whole thing she poured a bit into two ramekins, one for me and one for Grandma D, who has diabetes. I personally liked it unsweetened, but she used a sweetener for hers.

Except for the turkey and Uncle Rich’s collards, I was surprised that most of the things I put on my plate (and made) were vegan. Then again, since everything was mixed into a tasty jamboree of flavors, I guess it wasn’t so vegan after all. Oh well…

As for drinks, I made two kinds of ice tea, Irish Breakfast (caffeinated) and Green Rooibos (non-caffeinated), and poured them into wine bottles for a change of pace. We also had chilled white wines, a 2010 Da Vinci Chianti Big Sergey brought (along with pink roses), and sparkling apple cider. 

Mama Dazz's Apple-Quince Pie (Not GF)

Mama Dazz's Sorghum Pecan Pie (Not GF)

Dessert was a Thanksgiving feast in its own right, with four (count 'em, four) different pies, vanilla ice cream, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and lots of coffee. Mama Dazz made Grandma D her own special single-serving berry pie as one, but she also made pecan pie and an apple-quince pie for the gluten eating crowd. I made a gluten-free pumpkin pie with a dairy free filling, using the second half of the pie crust recipe I made for last month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Grandma D's Three Berry Pie

My GF Pumpkin Pie!

It was weird having pie, with its not-so-much grain-free crust and honey sweetened filling, not to mention eating more than one fruit serving a day (the cranberry sauce was my second serving). After we picked him up from the airport, I ate a tiny sliver of my pie while he ate a reheated plate of amazing deliciousness. I felt loopy and slightly intoxicated after that, and my stomach didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though I did feel off. I think having a grain-free/sweetener free/limited fruit servings diet for a while may help, but it may end up becoming a long-term thing. FiveLac has been helpful; I just don’t want to take 3 – 6 packets every day for the rest of my life. And as long as I have garbanzo bean flour, I'm golden.

All in all, this Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for; you know, besides being thankful for the family I have. For my birthday I have this idea that, for every year after my birthday that’s the number of hours I give to doing community service (i.e., I’m twenty-two, so this year I do at minimum twenty-two hours). I am thankful that my lifestyle enables me to do that. I am thankful for the world I live in, for the people in it, and for the life I lead. I am thankful for every experience, every lesson, every mistake, and every success. I am thankful for my education, for my job, and for my bright today and the tomorrows that follow.

I am thankful for this year’s harvest, whatever that may be.

I end this post with a Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you all. May you have food in your cupboards and pantries all year long, a roof over your heads and a fireplace to keep you warm and dry, and finally, an open heart that grows with each passing day.

Dijon Green Beans with Almonds and Mushrooms (adapted from this recipe)

1 lb 8 oz French-cut green beans, preferably frozen
10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 oz Almond slivers
1 oz Coconut oil
5 Garlic cloves, left whole
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper
Dash nutmeg
2 oz Dijon mustard

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil.
Sautee the mushrooms, almond slivers, and the garlic cloves until thoroughly cooked and browned (careful, though, the almonds can burn if you are not watching).
Add in the green beans and stir until the ingredients are completely integrated.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to medium or medium-low for up to three minutes.
Pour in the spices and Dijon mustard in the final minutes of cooking (i.e. the green beans are still a vibrant green and lukewarm).
After it has cooked, let it sit for five minutes before serving.

Serves 8 – 10 people as a side dish, with a very likely chance of leftovers.

A Pie Crust to Remember

A pie crust that’s easy as [eating] pie? Oh yes, I went there. Pun wholly intended.

I don’t think people realize how easy it is. It was harder to decide what the filling was going to be, and even that changed at the last minute. That’s what the Gluten Free Ratio Rally is all about: showing just how easy it is to make a recipe gluten free with the right ratio.

The last time I made gluten free pie from scratch, it had an all cornmeal pie crust for an enchilada meat pie. It turned out deliciously enough, although I think it could have used a starch or another flour along with it, and the filling could have used more liquid. Not only that, but it wouldn’t roll out into one unified dough. Too sticky and soft.

But I digress.

As the month of October came to a close, Alton Brown’s "Good Eats" pie crust episode came on. I learned what he did for a tender and flaky crust. There was a lot of refrigeration involved, and simply leaving the dough alone to do its own thing. Oh, and the use of a small spray bottle. That was a new technique for the books.

When I finally made the dough, I had the technique to make it but not the recipe for either the crust or the filling. I considered making homemade mincemeat, the sweet vegetarian kind. I considered making pastries similar to pop tarts, savory pies, empanadas, pot pies, samosas, and much more. But then I was inspired… for quiche. Ah yes, quiche, an eggy custard with cheese and veggies and meat. Then I thought about muffin tin pies and the wondrousness of making a plethora of variations for whatever flavor I’m feeling at that particular moment. So I figured, why not do both? This pie crust recipe has that ability.

Pie Crust Recipe

4 oz Glutinous rice flour
3 oz Amaranth flour
2 oz Garbanzo bean flour
2 oz Tapioca starch
1 oz Coconut flour
8 oz Butter (Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter)
2 oz Ice water
1/2 tsp. Sea salt

I followed the directions Alton Brown gave for his "Good Eats" pie crust recipe:
 
Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times.
Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy.
Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of the mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times.
Add more water (I ended up just pouring the remaining water onto the dough) and pulse again until mixture holds together or starts forming into a ball.
Place mixture in large mixing bowl, cover with aluminum foil and use it to press into a bowl.
Refrigerate up to 30 minutes or overnight.

This makes 22 oz of dough, which can make two 9-inch pies crusts or one pie crust with a top. However, I used 11 oz with a quiche in mind, and the remainder of the dough leftover to make muffin tin pies.

Now, the quiche I am posting is not the custard I was planning on posting. I made a mixture in advance because I had work that afternoon and wouldn’t be able to bake it myself in time for dinner. However, it ended up spilling all over the floor so Mama Dazz had to improvise.

Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche

11 oz Morri’s Pie dough
4 slices Muenster cheese, quartered
2.25 oz Frozen spinach
4 Prosciutto slices
10 oz Ricotta cheese
6 Eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Allspice
Pinch of Salt

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring to about room temperature.
Dust the counter or cutting board with tapioca starch.
Use a rolling pin and flatten the dough into a flat circle.
Place the dough into a greased deep pie dish and let refrigerate for up to 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Mix together the ricotta cheese, beaten eggs, and the spices into a consistent batter and set aside.
Remove the dough from the fridge and begin the layering process for the filling, first with one quartered Muenster cheese, then the prosciutto, the eggy cheese batter, the spinach, and finally top it with the remaining Muenster slices closest to the crust. 
Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, or until the center has set, and let sit for fifteen minutes before serving.

Serves 4 – 6 people.

Now, about those muffin tin pies. I couldn’t decide on what filling to use, and I was worried that it would stick to the pan. But they came out wonderfully and the crust held as I ate it.

11 oz of the dough makes 12 muffin tin pies. For a single serving or a romantic indulgence for two, use 1 – 2 oz of pie dough and form two muffin tin pies. Use your choice of filling, from a savory custard or a sweet mince filling. The world… erm, the pie dough is your oyster.

For my single serving, I blended together one egg and a banana, sprinkled a little sea salt on top and dashed it with cinnamon and mesquite flour. Voilà! Instant deliciousness.

I got my inspiration and directions from Make and Takes and Marie’s Mini Pumpkin Pies.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Prep your 11 oz dough and roll it flat on a floured cutting board or counter.
Using a bowl or 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles from your dough (you will likely have dough left over, with you can use to cut out shapes or a 3-inch cookie cutter as a topper).
Place each circle into a greased muffin tin and press them in, letting the sides come up for a fun look.
Pour your filling into each muffin tin cup and fill them to the very top.
Bake for 15 minutes until the dough is crispy and the filling has set.

Makes 12 pies.

Now, like every month, I’m not the only one who made something. Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen was this month’s host for pie crust, and let me say, we couldn’t have a better person for pie. Her writing? Honest. Her recipes? Original and beautiful to read. She is what pie represents, warm and inviting to all.

Here are the participants for this month:

Charissa | Zest Bakery    Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins   
Claire | Gluten Freedom    Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie   
Meredith | Gluten Free Betty    Blueberry Pie 
Jean Layton | Gluten-Free Doctor   Cheese Crusted Apple Pie.    
Erin | The Sensitive Epicure    Chess Pie
Silvana Nardone | Silvana's Kitchen    Chicken Potpie   
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Chocolate Mousse Pie  
gretchen | kumquat    deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie  
*Lisa  | Gluten Free Canteen    Frangipane Apple Pie & Tart   
Shanua | Gluten Free Girl & The Chef    Fresh Pumpkin Pie   
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free    Green Tomato Pie   
Kate | katealicecookbook    Kale & zucchini tart   
Caleigh | Gluten Free[k]    Leek and Potato Pie   
Rachel | The Crispy Cook    Maple Walnut Pie   
Morri | Meals With Morri    Spinach - Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations   
Brooke | B & the boy!    Pot Pie 
Mary Fran | frannycakes    Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie   
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine    Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie   
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan    Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping  
Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks    Mock Apple Pie   
Irvin | Eat the Love    Double Butterscotch Apple Pie
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free   Gluten Free Apple Pie

Cottage Pie

Do you ever have those moments where you ended up questioning something, even things in the past you didn’t have control over in the first place? Do you ever think you took the wrong path, whether it is for a career or a college major? My blogging activity waned for five excruciatingly long days, just as my motivation had for school. I kept cooking, and I kept going to school, but when it came time to study the weekly readings or blog my latest recipe, I couldn’t focus, my eyes glazed over, my mind went blank, and all I wanted to do was sleep and hide from the world.

Yesterday all I did was sleep, and I was still exhausted. My inability to sleep more than six hours without the compulsion to get up each night was starting to get to me (zombie-free, thank goodness). I look out from my bedroom window, gazing at the beauty of this clear autumn day, and I can’t help but feel so disconnected from the Cosmos. I don’t feel like I’m part of my own life.

So I’m looking back at my college career, and I think about Steve Jobs and Chris Botti. Both men are geniuses of their respective crafts, Jobs with computers and Botti with his trumpet. Neither one of them completed college (Jobs dropped out and then back “in” college, only taking the classes he found interesting and Botti dropped out to pursue the life of a musician), but look at the impact they’ve made in the world! I started thinking to myself, my minor classes in anthropology were the ones that kept my GPA under a 3.5, and suppose if I decided use those credits to take the classes I found interesting. Where would my GPA be? Where would I be as a person if I took a year off before going to school and traveled? A lot of recent opportunities have come up in the S/CAR program, opportunities that I can’t be part of because this is my last semester as an undergraduate. Maybe this is where it all started, when I found out that future S/CAR majors would have the ability to turn their senior year into their first year of the Masters program. That, and the fact that I still haven’t heard anything about my grades from Sweden transferring, that kept me from filling out my application and, in my mind, hindering my ability to being selected for the upcoming spring.

For the past few weeks I’ve been angry and frustrated and sullen. I was angry because I felt cheated, because I didn’t know what George Mason could have offered me if I hadn’t taken on the anthropology minor. I was frustrated because all the motivation and drive I had was quickly fading, and December was looming closer and closer. And I was sullen, because the only thing that was keeping me from the people that mattered most to me and inhibiting me from doing the things I loved and wanted to do was, well, me.

The nervous breakdown last night, in front of my family and friends, was my turning point. We all get together on a monthly basis to eat, love, meet new people, and discuss new ideas and philosophies. We started talking about the concepts of Wyrd and Ørlög, or fate and its path, as it is known in the Old Anglo-Saxon and Germanic cultures, and despite all my efforts to not break down, the tears fell and I excused myself for the rest of the discussion. It was at that moment I knew I didn’t feel connected to something I felt I should have been, and that my fate and destiny were secrets I wasn’t in on that they might as well not exist. What was I going to do with my life after graduation? What credentials could I possibly have that gave me a doorway to do something great for the world? What was the point of going through higher education when upon graduation I don’t feel prepared for life outside of academia? I am scared, so completely and utterly terrified, and more than once I’ve half-jokingly told people I’m going to become a Buddhist nun just to get away from everything. I began doubting my ability as being a conflict resolution practitioner. I began doubting my ability to cook. I began doubting the things I loved and the things I was good at. I wanted to put the covers over my head and wait until graduation, to not eat or move or talk.

I sat there, petting my uncle’s two dogs while I calmed down, and a couple of people came down to check on me. I told them why I was a blubbering mess with tears in my hair and a heavy heart, spilling out my fears and my reflections. Two of them, brothers and roommates, said they went through the exact same thing before and after they left the military. In fact, most if not all who talked with me said they’re still trying to figure it all out. “Your career doesn’t define you”, my uncle’s girlfriend said, “but that doesn’t mean you won’t end up where you’re supposed to.” I left the get-together in better spirits than I had arrived. I couldn’t have felt more loved or supported, and for that I am grateful for the amazing family I have.

If it hadn’t been for following Mama Dazz’s incentive and looking into conflict resolution as a discipline, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I learned the art of communication, the power of empathy, and have met the unsung heroes of this wonderful world we have. If it hadn’t been for George Mason or the S/CAR program, I wouldn’t have met the people whom I cherish more than anything, including my colleagues in my classes or the love of my life one fateful Halloween party two years ago. And finally, if I hadn’t been part of this program, I wouldn’t have gone to the conference last year and hear Andy Shallal’s speech that inspired me more than he will ever know.

Thinking about this, now, as I write this post, further reiterates what I’ve always known. Everything is connected. There is no such thing as a coincidence. I’ve been disconnected from the Universe because I’d lost my belief in the process. And when you turn your back on that process and distrust it, you become lost and your way is uncertain. You begin to fear the process, and what it might bring. 

When I was first looking into making shepherd’s pie for the family, put into my single serving Pyrex® dishes, I searched for other people’s recipes before I sought to create my own. Maybe I wanted a point of departure so I wouldn’t mess up something I’ve never made before. Or maybe I wanted to walk down a path already traveled. But then, I noticed none of the recipes were what I was going for. I was afraid to pave my own path, even if it was a recipe for cottage pie (and before you say it, there is a difference between the two recipes).

So, despite my revelation (and a bangin’ original recipe), am I still terrified, frustrated, and sullen? A little. Graduation is still coming up. Midterms are still this week. Morri is still a stressed out, hormonal mess. But you can’t change what has already happened, and you shouldn’t worry about the things you can’t control. Sometimes what other people have done before you isn’t exactly what you want to do. And there may be a better way to do what you have in mind.

Everything happens for a reason. Trust in the process. Believe in your fate and that path your fate is taking. So here, have some cottage pie for your journey. I guarantee you’ll feel better.

Cottage Pie

1.5 lbs Lean beef stew meat, chopped into bite-sized chunks

2 carrots (about 5.5 oz), peeled, quartered, and finely chopped

1 White onion (medium), peeled and finely chopped

5.25 oz Petite peas, fresh or frozen

3 tbsp. Olive oil

2 Garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

20 oz Water

1 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp. Thyme

1/4 tsp. Rosemary powder

1/4 tsp. Sage powder

1 tsp. Sea salt

1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper

3 (heaping) tbsp. Potato starch

4 Russet potatoes (about 2.5 lbs), cut into small chunks

2 Garlic cloves, whole

1 oz Salted butter

3 oz Sour cream

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper

In a pressure cooker or large pot, combine the beef, veggies, water, and spices (sans the potato starch, and cook for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Cover the potato chunks and garlic cloves with cold water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil on medium-high heat until tender.

Drain the water and add the butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper, and mash the potatoes until there is a smooth consistency.

When the pressure has subsided in the pressure cooker, create a slurry with the potato starch (about 2 oz water) and add in with the meat and veggies on medium-low heat.

Once the stew thickens, turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and pour it into an oven-safe casserole pan.

Top it with the potato mixture and evenly spread it out.

Bake for thirty minutes or more if you want the potato to brown.

Serves 4 – 6 people.