Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Allergy free Gingerbread Loaf


This is not a sweet bread. When I think gingerbread I of course think cookies, but this bread was pleasantly not sweet, with an earthy strong ginger flavor. If you want a little more sweetness I suggest thinning the icing with more syrup instead of milk. 

Ingredients:
2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax seed + 6 TBSP warm water)
1 + 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
6 pitted Medjol dates + 1/4 cup non dairy milk or applesauce (blended together until smooth)
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP fresh grated ginger (do not sub with ground ginger) 

2 + 3/4 cup flour (i used half gluten free flour and half spelt flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Coconut icing:
full fat canned coconut milk (do not shake and place in the fridge overnight)
2 TBSP maple syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a glass or non-stick loaf pan. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. 

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and gently stir until combined. Do not overtax. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 40-50 minutes, checking with a toothpick in the center - bread is ready when it comes out clean. 
Remove from oven and let cool in pan on a wire rack 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely. 

For the icing: remove coconut milk from fridge and open (do not shake). Remove the top hard layer only to a bowl. Add syrup and vanilla. Thin with the liquid part of coconut milk until you reach desired consistency (mine was a little too thick for drizzling).  Drizzle over cooled loaf. 



Sunday, October 16, 2016

Cast Iron Roasted Chicken


Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
softened butter
salt & pepper
*rubbed sage
*garlic cloves
*fresh sage, thyme, rosemary
*1 whole lemon - quartered

Veggies: potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, yams - cleaned, peeled, roughly chopped.

*optional

Preheat oven to 450 and place rack in the lower middle.

Rinse and dry your chicken and remove any giblets.
Rub the chicken down with softened butter - LOTS of softened butter. Then sprinkle GENEROUSLY with salt and pepper and I also used rubbed sage.

If desired, stuff the chicken with lemon wedges, garlic, fresh herbs - this adds subtle flavor to the meat.

Place your chopped veggies in the bottom of your cast iron and season with salt and pepper. Add a half cup water to the pan and then place the chicken on top.
Place the chicken in the oven and immediately lower the temp to 400. Set a timer for 50 minutes and let it roast undisturbed.

The chicken is done when the temp reaches 165 in the thickest part of the thigh and breast, when the wings and legs wiggle loosely and juices run clear. Continue roasting and checking the chicken every 10 minutes until it is done - tent with foil if it starts to dry out at all. Roasting time will be between 50 - 90 minutes usually, depending on the size of your chicken.

When it is done roasting, transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes. Remove veggies to a serving platter and make a gravy out of the drippings in the pan!