Paula of Free Life Gluten Free adopted Kalinda from Wheat Free Meat Free and made her Vegetarian Chicken Salad. Paula called the recipe amazing, and told us that “I enjoyed it in so many ways…on Schar crispbread, on lettuce, with my pita bread, and straight out of the bowl.” She found Kalinda’s substitution of chickpeas for chicken to be brilliant, and though that this recipe “the perfect replacement to chicken salad.” After seeing her pictures and hearing about the recipe, I found myself agreeing, especially because Toddler Yum has developed a fondness for the rotund legume and would no doubt gobble it up in a creamy mayonnaise sauce. Not to mention that it sounds absolutely delectable and I’d like it in my own lunchbox! Thank you, Paula, for introducing us to this promising recipe from Wheat-free Meat-free!

Recipe:
Vegetarian Chickpea Un-Chicken Salad Recipe



Wendy of Celiacs in the Hose adopted Johnna of 52 Sweets and made a savory olive “cake” that sounds like something both Toddler Yum and I would find absolutely delightful. I hadn’t heard of Johnna before Wendy introduced her to me, but now I’m quite intrigued. I tend to like baked goods with half “Grain” flour and half almond flour, and I bet this would be no exception. Yummy! I have to explore Johnna’s other recipes now.

Recipe:
Black Olive Cake Recipe

Shirley of Gluten Free Easily adopted Paleo Parents and made their Dark Chocolate Banana Bites. I’m not Paleo but this recipe would appeal to just about anyone. How can you go wrong with dark chocolate and bananas? And although Toddler Yum isn’t huge on bananas, she adores chocolate and I’m pretty sure the mini-muffin presentation would thrill her endlessly, so we’ll have to try them. Besides introducing this recipe and some others by the Paleo Parents, Shirley shares wonderful range of information from suggestions from how to use paleo recipes in a vegetarian diet to introducing their upcoming cookbook, Eat Like a Dinosaur: Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids.

Recipe:
Dark Chocolate Banana Bites
*Paleo Parent Photo used with permission

Thomas of the GFCF Experience adopted Cassidy of Cooking Gluten-free and made her Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Thomas found a lot to enjoy at the Cooking Gluten-free Blog, from information on alternative flours (almond and coconut) to dairy substitutions and of course, recipes. He ended up tweaking the recipe a little both to accommodate his larger skillet, flour preferences, as well as his preference for canola mayonnaise over veganaise. However he made it, it looks delicious! We’ve enjoyed pineapple upside down cake at our house, but Toddler Yum ended up picking out the pineapple to eat rather than eating the cake itself. That silly girl. The next time I want pineapple upside down cake I may try her recipe.

Recipe:
Gluten-free Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I adopted Megan and Kim of Welcoming Kitchen and made recipes from their blog as well as their cookbook Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen- & Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes First I made a apple scone recipe from their blog, and pined after a birthday cupcake. And then I made vegan artichoke fritters and gluten-free biscuits from their cookbook. All of the things i made were delicious! I also did a giveaway of Kim and Megan’s book, and Gloria B. was the lucky recipient!

Congratulations, Gloria. And I hope those of you who were interested will check it out at a local library or maybe pick up a copy from Amazon. I think you’ll find it a good purchase!

Recipes:
Gluten-free Dairy-free Apple Scones

*Not officially an entry but I couldn’t leave out Debbi’s adoption post:

Also check out Debbi’s adoption featuring Easy to be Gluten-free’s Corn Casserole recipe.

One thing that is a little weird for me is that many of their recipes either call for oat flour (usually with a substitution listed) or for all-purpose gluten-free flour. Since there are so many and they vary in quality and style so much, it seems to me the recipe could be really different if you used, say Bette Hagman’s white flour gourmet blend, or a high protein sorghum or bean blend. I wish Kim had told us what her preference is so that I could have tried it and tasted it like she would have made it herself. In this case I used Bette Hagman’s white flour gourmet blend with a half cup of sorghum flour subbed in for higher nutritional value. The turbinado sugar was just enough to make the dish special without making it sickeningly sweet, and I loved the diced apple. The seasonings were nice, and the coconut milk added subtle richness to the recipe.

Toddler Yum loved helping make the recipe, and I loved that my little raw-dough-fiend could steal bites of the vegan dough without worry over raw egg or other undesirable ingredients. I did find the dough a little difficult (wet) to transfer to another plate, but it worked out in the end. It was fun to make these with my little helper, and she even enjoyed eating them baked, which is the real test. She’ll eat almost any baked good in its raw dough form, but baked is quite another matter.

I also wanted to make their birthday cupcake recipe, but didn’t have applesauce, so that will have to wait for another time. I was intrigued by the usage of both applesauce and sweet potato puree in a “sweet” vegan dessert.

Now, on to the Welcoming Kitchen cookbook. Kim begins her story explaining that when she had a new baby boy eight years ago, he developed severe eczema and breathing issues and they discovered that he was allergic to cow’s milk, egg, and tree nuts. To breast feed her son, she cut out those foods from her diet and learned how to cook for herself and him. This is an issue close to my own heart, as Toddler Yum’s case of allergic colitis also meant that I had to change my diet to breastfeed her, cutting out the top eight allergens and more (rice, potato, and corn). I could identify with Kim’s determination to breastfeed, even if it meant changing her own diet. As she says, after this experience, as she learned more about those facing dietary restrictions, she began developing recipes that would work for many people, and turned her kitchen into a “welcoming” kitchen.

Kim’s recipes are free of eight of the top allergens- “peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, soy, wheat, shellfish” and sesame for good measure. All recipes are gluten-free as written as well, although I would mention to those with Celiac or gluten intolerance that many of the non-savory recipes call for oats in one form or another. While gluten-free oats have become increasingly available in recent years, from my understanding many doctors recommend that those with Celiac incorporate oats in their diet cautiously and keep an eye on antibodies. Some people with Celiac have difficulty digesting oats and may cross-react to the oat protein as it is similar to the gluten protein. For this reason, and because I’m a little chicken at heart, I haven’t chosen to try to incorporate oats into my diet, so the recipes solely relying on oats without clear options for substitutes are not something I can use personally. However, this cookbook would be a godsend for any breastfeeding mom trying to cut out the top eight allergens for her baby. As well, for those who “simply” have a problem with wheat, oats seem to be a gateway grain that helps many people adjust to a wheat-free diet. If you are comfortable incorporating gluten-free oats into your gluten-free diet, you will love Kim’s creative use of this grain!

For my first experiment, I made Kim’s Artichoke Fritters on page 26, a simple but satisfying dish with lightly pan-fried artichoke hearts. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to deep-fry or pan-fry the artichokes, but Kim told me that 1/8 inch oil would be plenty, which had been my guess as well. I used frozen artichoke hearts because I was out of canned. I thought this was a delightful dish and would make it again, especially served with a vegan mayonnaise or some other nice dip. The DH commented that he prefers fresh artichokes, but he is a hard sell for some vegetable dishes anyway. The recipe didn’t call for any salt but we needed to add it when using frozen artichokes, and I think I would even with salted canned artichokes to suit our household’s taste buds.

You may or may not know that I am a biscuit fiend. I’ve tried out many of my gluten-free friend’s biscuit recipes, from Elana’s in her The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook to Ali in The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook: Whole Foods Recipes for Personal and Planetary Health, Second Edition. For the record, biscuits are one of my favorite ways to bake with almond flour, and I enjoyed the simple healthful flavor of Ali’s biscuits too. Happily, Kim did not disappoint with her reliable biscuit recipe. I made it not once but twice this month, using different dairy-free milks depending on the contents of my pantry. It turned out well both times. I ate them in a vegetarian and easy “eggs benedict” with mayonnaise, as sandwich “bread” and this morning, with a tofu veggie vegan scramble and a vegan avocado sauce. I used my own formulation of 3/4 cup sorghum, 1/2 cup tapioca, and 1/4 cup potato starch for the gluten-free flour blend, by the way, and it worked! I had to wait for the xanthan to do its magic and thicken the dough. The first time I made them, I ended up adding a little extra flour. Regardless, another gluten-free biscuit recipe option is definitely a bonus.


There are plenty more easy, and allergen-friendly recipes in this book I’d like to try, from lentil sloppy joes to roasted fennel spread, from gluten-free beer bread and “cheesy” broccoli baked potatoes. Oats or no, I am going to have a lot of fun with this book and I’m so glad Kim shared it with me! Don’t forget to comment below to win your own copy.

[1/21/2012 WE HAVE A WINNER! Gloria B's comment was selected through a random number generator lottery. Gloria, I'll send you an email and once I have your address will mail you your book. :) ]

Here’s how you participate.

1) Pick a gluten-free blogger whose recipes you admire and adopt them by commenting on this post with your name, blog name and their name and blog name.

*Blogger’s recipes must all be gluten-free or have a way to sort and read ONLY gluten-free recipes
*Please pick a different blogger every time you participate
*Please pick a blogger that has not been adopted yet this month!

2) Pick one (or two!) of your gluten-free blogger’s recipes to try.

3) Make the recipe, photograph it and write a post in your blog introducing the blogger and their recipe.

*Follow the recipe as written, as closely as possible. And, please don’t print their recipe on your post- just provide your reader a link to their original recipe.
*Provide a link to this event announcement page

4) Email me at adoptaglutenfreeblogger[at]gmail[dot]com with your photo of the recipe, the URL of your post, name of the recipe and the URL of the original blogger’s recipe post. PLEASE SIZE PHOTO TO BE A MAXIMUM OF 500 pixels wide. Otherwise I will have to resize it manually and after the first one or two I start to cry sad tears of weary despair. You don’t want me crying while I post, do you?

5) Post YOUR POST’s URL in a comment to this post, and if possible please try to visit two other blogger’s posts that are posted here (and comment!).

*The goal is to make this event more interactive and fun!

Deadlines:
Sign up BEFORE December 30(loose deadline; late sign-ups are ok)
Post your Review and Email me by January 9th (firm deadline, no foolin’)

If you don’t have a blog, you are still welcome to adopt a gluten-free blogger. Sign up to adopt a blogger, write a review of one of their recipes, including your name (or pen name), the recipe URL and recipe title. Then take a photo of the completed recipe (if you can) and EMAIL ME the review and photo. I will create a special page just for our non-blogging participants and post it for you.

I’ll start the adoptions by adopting Kim Lutz of Welcoming Kitchen . Now it is your turn!

Adoption Sign-Up Sheet:
1) Kim Lutz of Welcoming Kitchen (adopted by Sea of the Book of Yum)
2) Kalinda from Wheat Free, Meat Free (adopted by Paula Decaria, from Live Free, Gluten Free)
3) Easy to Be Gluten Free (adopted by Debbi Does Dinner Healthy)
4) Stacy and Matt at Paleo Parents (adopted by Shirley of Gluten-free Easily)
5) bill and Haley at paleo comfort foods (adopted by Pip of adventures of Pip)
6) Cassidy from Cooking Gluten (&Dairy) Free (adopted by Thomas of the GF CF Experience)
7) You Pick!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
If you sign up and cannot complete this event byJanuary 9th for any reason, please email me immediately at adoptaglutenfreeblogger[at]gmail[dot]com and let me know. Please ONLY use this email account for Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger relevant emails.

Can’t find a blogger to adopt or looking to meet some new gluten-free friends?
Visit my Gluten-Free Blogroll
Example of an Adoption Post (I went a little crazy)

I must have been in the mood for beans, because that same night I also made her White Bean and Chive Veggie Patty Recipe. I loved the chives and crunchy cornmeal. But I wished I knew what kind of white bean Hero Beth used. I had both white kidney and small white beans in my pantry and didn’t know which would go better. The patties were tasty but needed a little something, so I added a dab of mayonnaise and it complimented them perfectly.

I also made a pumpkin pasta casserole with gobs of cheese and fresh pumpkin puree. I liked it, but I was out of parmesan regianno and could only use the gruyere, which made it a little more plain than the original. I added srirachi hot sauce to mine to kick it up a notch, and added generous servings of pepper and it was pretty tasty. The DH said it was his favorite of all the recipes from the Tasty Yummies blog that I tried. The pasta pictured here is brown rice penne, but I also made some batches with the new gluten-free corn pasta at (west coast) Trader Joe’s. I really like this new jumbo-sized corn penne, but brown rice pasta does look prettier for this recipe.

This was a very fun adoption month and I really enjoyed trying the recipes at Tasty Yummies. The next time I have some brussels sprouts I might have to try Hero Beth’s Shredded Brussels Sprouts with toasted walnuts and dried currants or serve a Gluten-free Vegan Apple Cobbler. Why don’t you check out the amazing recipes and great photos at her site?

This month Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger will be hosted back here at the Book of Yum. It has been a very relaxing two month vacation, and I really appreciate my friends who stepped in to help host for me.* This month, I’ll hope to see you all back here to adopt your own gluten-free blogger.

*If you have a gluten-free blog and would like to host Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger, just let me know in the comments and we can schedule you in!

Just after I posted this I bought some cauliflower that was crying out to be made into Kalinda and Larissa’s recipe for Aloo Gobi, Indian spiced potato and cauliflower curry. Everybody in our house loved it! I added chard because I wanted a little taste of green, and garnished with lime, but otherwise followed the recipe. It was excellent!

Thank you to Lauren of As Good as Gluten for hosting Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger for me this month! You can see the October Roundup Here.

Also, the Book of Yum is up for nomination as one of the Top 25 Food Allergy Mom Blogs. I’d love your votes!


Here are some more recipes that I’m dying to try from their blog:
Aloo Gobi Potatoes and Cauliflower
Fava Bean and Chard Soup
Tempeh Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Coconut Curry Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Cauliflower and Chickpea Skillet
Mushroom Caviar with Buckwheat Blini

Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen adopted Allyson of Manifest:Vegan and made Lemon Poppyseed Waffles.

Recipe:
egg-free Lemon Poppyseed Waffles

Kalinda of Wheat-free Meat-free adopted Maggie of She Let them Eat Cake and made Carrot Muffins.

Recipe:
Carrot Muffin Recipe

Valerie of City Life Eats adopted Katie of Nourishing Flourishing and made three recipes: Dark Chocolate Chip Almond Biscotti, Double Dark Chocolate Doughballs, and Dark Chocolate Chip Doughballs.

Recipes:
Dark Chocolate Chip Almond Biscotti
Double Dark Chocolate Doughballs
Dark Chocolate Chip Doughballs

Lauren @ As Good As Gluten adopted Heidi @ Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom and made her Gluten-Free Power Sticks/Truffles and Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.

Recipes:
Heidi’s GF Power Sticks
Heidi’s Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I at the Book of Yum adopted Kim of Cook it Allergy Free and made pineapple upside-down cakes, dairy-free srirachi fingerling potatoes, chia chai spiced apple bread, dairy-free mochachino with chia, and cinnamon icebox shortbread cookies. Yum! I also reviewed her awesome allergy-friendly recipe Iphone or Ipad App and hosted a giveaway.

Recipes:
pineapple upside-down cakes
dairy-free srirachi fingerling potatoes
chia chai spiced apple bread
dairy-free mochachino with chia
cinnamon icebox shortbread cookies

Alta Mantsch of Tasty Eats at Home adopted Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen and made dairy-free jalapeno poppers, egg-free fried green tomatoes, and stuffed squash.

Recipes:
dairy-free jalapeno poppers
egg-free fried green tomatoes
sausage stuffed squash

Heather of Gluten-free Cat adopted Valerie of City|Life|Eats and made Chocolate Zucchini Chia Pudding and her Azuki-Edamame Hummus.

Recipes:
Chocolate Zucchini Chia Pudding
Azuki-Edamame Hummus

Shirley of Gluten-free Easily adopted Tia of Glugle Gluten Free and made her Apple Crumb Muffins.

Recipe:
Apple Crumb Muffins

I love it when readers are inspired to adopt a blogger even when they don’t have a blog. Ninufar adopted Adventures of Vegirl and made some delicious chickpea pancakes.

Recipe:
Vegan Chickpea Pancakes

Read about her adventures:

I was excited to try this recipe, because it looks pretty simple, and also because I accidentally bought 4 lbs of chick pea flour at once. I made the recipe exactly, omitting optional sweeteners and using the larger amount of water. Putting this together was easy. (See preparation pic.)

Since I don’t own a big griddle, I preheated my one cast-iron pan and my one non-stick pan. Oiled both with spray olive oil, taking the pan off the stove each time. (Safety is good!) I managed to dislodge the burner element under the cast-iron pan while trying to scrape out the third pancake, and in general, I would go with the nonstick pan for these in the future. And medium heat, not low, on my stove.

The final product pic shows some of the gorgeous ones and a few balky ones on the side… the taste was pleasant and nutty, just right. I was so happy they came out, because even with very vigorous whisking, my besan flour still had small lumps in it. All the pancakes cooked through anyway.

Hard-core foodies will likely want to dress these up, but I just put some more applesauce on mine. Something I enjoyed, filled up on, and will be happy to tuck into my lunchbag all week, yay!

Thanks, VEGirl, & thanks Sea for posting this.

–Ninufar

Being me I had to try something savory from Kim’s web site and the Gluten-free Dairy-free Fingerling Potato Surprise with a spicy srirachi mayonnaise topping appealed to me. I loved the idea of an un-cheese topping on fingerling potatoes, especially since the DH and Toddler Yum had just harvested the heirloom potatoes we grew in 15 gallon pots this year. Kim’s recipe was delicious, and everyone in our house loved it. Who needs the dairy in traditional twice baked potatoes? These are so much more interesting. The first time I made it with Trader Joe’s canola mayonnaise that is soy-free but contains eggs, and the seasonings were perfect. The second time I made it (yes, it was that good) I used vegannaise with soy but no eggs, and I noticed that it was a little more tart, so I would probably use less lemon juice with the vegan mayonnaise. The second time around I also microwaved the potatoes, sliced lengthwise, and then broiled them with the mayonnaise-srirachi topping. It was a lot faster, but the texture was best when the potatoes were baked according to Kim’s directions.

The DH and Toddler Yum harvesting our potatoes in the garden. Toddler Yum had so much fun digging the potatoes out of the dirt and rinsing them. We just had to keep her from biting into the raw potatoes- she just loves potatoes!

The third recipe I chose was Kim’s Gluten-free Chai Spiced Apple Bread with Chai Chia Streusel. As you may recall from my long-ago post for Chai Muffins, I have a weakness for chai. I’d never had Chai apple bread and was intrigued by the promise of Chai Chia Streusel. I was so intrigued I went out and bought the chia for the recipe. I decided to test the recipe in its egg-free variation. We do eggs in our household now, but I wanted to try Kim’s suggestion for a chia-gel un-egg. As I suspected, this recipe worked well. I did adjust the seasonings a bit for my taste, adding nutmeg and cutting out the powdered ginger. The one thing I missed was the fun of using black tea in a recipe, but I could add that next time. I liked the streusel, but I think I’d like it with a bit of texture, so I might try quinoa flakes or nuts in the topping next time. Or, I might even leave the topping off, as I liked the bread all by itself. The DH enjoyed the bread as is, and pronounced it a success. He didn’t even know it was “missing” the eggs, or that I’d used chia. I would call that a clear recipe substitution success!

Toddler Yum was eager to steal some, and pronounced it “really yummy.” She has been confusing cake and cupcakes lately due to having cupcakes at her birthday party. So, when I wasn’t looking she stole the cinnamon sticks I was trying to use for styling the photo and stuck them in the bread like candles. I turned around to see her earnestly trying to blow the cinnamon stick “candles” out. “What are you doing, honey?” I asked. “Birthday cupcake, mommy, birthday cupcake,” she puffed, turning a little red as she tried to blow out the nonexistent flame. Taking photos is more challenging with an energetic toddler around, but it is also a lot more entertaining.

I also made Kim’s Dairy-free Mochachino, a frappucino like beverage made with coconut yogurt, ground chia, cocoa powder, and banana. The texture was intriguing, and new to me as I hadn’t tried using chia powder in beverages before. I think I may have erred by using very finely ground coffee that I made in a french press, as the drink was a little bitter. I also couldn’t find the vanilla stevia and left that out. This recipe is probably best for those looking for a healthy smoothie-like coffee drink that like coconut yogurt.

Although I don’t have a photo, I have Kim’s Gluten-free and Egg-free Cinnamon Icebox Shortbread Cookies baking in the oven right now and the entire house smells divine.

As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed adopting Kim of Cook it Allergy Free. Thanks to her blog I enjoyed experimenting with some new ingredients such as Coconut Palm Sugar, Organic Chia Seeds, and re-visiting an old favorite, Almond Meal Flour. I’ve also found what I think will be a favorite family recipe that I can see myself making in the years ahead, an absolutely divine pineapple upside down cake. I hope you’ll explore Kim’s blog, but that isn’t all she has to share with the gluten-free world!

Besides having a wonderful, inspiring blog, Kim also has an app for the Iphone or Ipad with hundreds and hundreds of gluten-free, allergy-friendly recipes that she has created along with a very impressive cast of gluten-free baker contributors. You can create a shopping list for ingredients to make the recipes and customize recipes by clicking on allergens to open a list of suggested substitutions. I like the visual feel to the app, with its bright and cheerful photos of recipes, and the friendly, easy-to-use interarface. Kim shared a copy for review so that I could tell you all about it! I am pretty new to the whole app thing, with the DH mostly just sharing his work Ipad with me and toddler Yum on long plane rides, so I’d never used a recipe app before. Let me tell you, this thing would be a godsend for someone newly diagnosed and/or someone navigating some new allergies. And- I may be an old hand at being gluten-free but I loved being able to browse all the recipes. This app is perfect for a recipe junkie like me. Among many others, there was a dairy-free custard that called my name especially loudly.

Kim has given me permission to host a giveaway of her Iphone/Ipad app here. If you would like a chance to win a copy of her app, leave a comment here and tell me what your favorite recipe is at Cook it Allergy Free. If you don’t have an ipad or Iphone, no worries, I’d still love to hear from you. Just mention “no giveaway” in the comments so I won’t include you in the automatic raffle. I’ll announce the winner on 10/15.