Book of Yum

For this month’s edition of Adopt a gluten-free blogger I adopted Michelle, aka M-Elle, for her gluten free blog Cooking and Un-cooking. I’ve enjoyed M-Elle’s blog for some time now for her healthful recipes and innovative menus, as well as her interest in raw foods. The other day as I was reading her gluten-free menu of the week I happened to notice an intriguing recipe for a coconut milk based quiche. While the original recipe called for some cheese, Michelle suggested trying it without cheese. Since Baby Yum’s sensitive tummy has made it necessary for me to take a break from dairy (and soy, doh), I felt like she was speaking to me, and I just had to try the recipe with her suggested modification. It helped that I had some beautiful zucchini and heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market just begging to be used.

Because I am a lazy girl, I used a chebe mix for pastry instead of Michelle’s pastry recipe. To be honest, I intended to use a batch of homemade pastry dough in the refrigerator but found it had gotten rock hard and a bit… well, off, so I threw together Chebe out of self defense.

I filled the rustic Chebe crust with Michelle’s suggested alternate rows of zucchini and tomato rows for a colourful presentation, threw tons of fresh basil on top, and drenched the whole thing in the coconut milk egg sauce that I’d blended up.

The result? A fresh, summery, and fun quiche that took advantage of the harvest goodies so plentifully available this time of year.

Michelle has tons of lovely recipes at her blog. I’m currently eying the following:

Ginger Peanut Sauce Recipe, perfect with rice paper spring rolls.
Quinoa Black Bean salad in Zesty Dressing Recipe
and her plentiful collection of raw foods recipes,
including Ani Phyo’s recipe for Nori Rolls (printed with permission)

Wouldn’t you like to get to know this creative and healthy foods oriented gluten-free blogger better?
What’s your favorite recipe by M-Elle? Share in the comments!

I haven’t had much time to cook lately, but I still have my supply of lovely cooking magazines. Vegetarian Times and Cooking Light are my two current favorites. I also have a subscription to Gourmet, which I like slightly less but still find inspiration from at times. When i miraculously had a few minutes free, a few days ago I was flipping through the September issue of Vegetarian Times and stumbled across an article on crepes. I love crepes, as they are easy to make gluten free with simple substitutions and usually have plenty of protein in the form of eggs and/or milk that makes them easy to handle. You can also make them sweet or savory. I was inspired by a sweet recipe for cornmeal-blueberry crepes to come up with my own savory cornmeal crepe using some of Bob’s Red Mill new gluten-free cornmeal. I think a more finely ground cornmeal, or even corn flour might be an interesting variation on this recipe, but the flavor of a faintly sweet cornmeal crepe with tangy goats cheese and tasty veggies is not to be missed. It was difficult to find time to make the entire recipe with a fussy newborn clamoring for her own lunch, but it was nice to have a meal that didn’t come out of my freezer. The DH enjoyed this dish for lunch, and no worries, Baby Yum had her gobble fest in the end, so everyone was happy.

Gluten Free Savory Cornmeal Crepe Recipe Main Course  Alternative Grains  Corn  American

Ingredients Crepes: 1 cup GF flour mix (I used Bette hagman’s featherlight blend) 1 cup GF milled cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red Mill) 2 tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp dried lemon zest (or 2 tbsp. fresh lemon zest) 1/2 tsp salt 3 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups 1% milk 3 tbsp. fresh herbs, diced (I used chives, lemon thyme, oregano, and basil) goat cheese filling one: 1/2 lb mushrooms (or as desired), cleaned and sliced olive oil salt pepper 1/4 roasted red pepper, diced filling two: 1/4 roasted red pepper,diced 1 small yellow heirloom tomato, diced salt Directions Whisk together crepe ingredients in medium or large bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer. Heat nonstick pan on medium and take 1/4 cup batter in one hand. Take nonstick pan off the burner and pour batter into pan, swirling pan so that the batter covers the bottom forming a round shape. Heat until crepe becomes golden brown on bottom (1 or 2 minutes). Turn crepe over and heat other side for one more minute or so. You can keep them warm in an 200 degree or warm oven while you prepare the rest. Meanwhile heat a cast iron pan and add a little olive oil to the pan, swirling it to cover the bottom in a thin layer. Add your mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Leave mushrooms alone and turn when they seem nicely done on one side. saute the mushrooms on the other side and then remove from pan and reserve. To assemble crepe version one, spread a small amount of goat cheese in the center of the crepe and add sliced mushrooms and red pepper. Roll up crepe and enjoy. To assemble crepe version two, spread a small amount of goat cheese in the center of the crepe and add diced red pepper and diced tomato, sprinkled lightly with salt. Serve and enjoy! Notes Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Mix bulk recipe: 1 c. Rice flour 1 c. cornstarch 1 c. tapioca starch 1 Tbs. potato flour (NOT potato starch) Mix well.

Rating:  7 Original Source:  inspired by vegetarian times magazine recipe, adapted to be gluten free and savory. My original adaption, please do not replicate anywhere without my permission Recipe ID:  1439 Added:  August 5, 2009 Last Modified:  August 5, 2009