Creamy Coconut-Cashew Topping

It’s that time of year when it chills up outside, and warms up inside … the oven that is. Pies, gingerbread, and other holiday treats call out for a creamy topping.

Here’s one of my favorites. It’s an easy, delicious, vegetarian dessert topping. Cashews and coconut are naturally sweet, so all you need to add is a touch of honey and vanilla. Happy eating!

Creamy Coconut-Cashew Topping

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 1/2 cup coconut cream (not sweetened cream of coconut)
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  1. Soak cashews in 1/2 cup water overnight. (This step is optional if you're in a rush. However soaking the cashews makes them easier to blend and brings out their natural sweetness.)
  2. Place cashews and soaking water into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
  3. Add coconut cream, honey, and vanilla, and blend until combined well. If you like your topping sweeter, add more honey to taste.
  4. Refrigerate to thicken before serving.
http://www.laurawestkong.com/gff/2011/creamy-coconut-cashew-topping/

Pasta 1-2-3

Need a delicious gluten-free meal in a hurry? Take 3 pantry ingredients: brown rice pasta, fire roasted diced tomatoes, and tuna packed in olive oil, add a few favorite seasonings to make it your own, and you’ve got dinner in not much more time than it takes to boil a pot of water.

Brown rice pasta is delicious in its own right. I often ate it even before giving up gluten. But you have to cook it right.

Cooked correctly, brown rice pasta has a wonderful bite, slightly softer than semolina pasta, but not gummy or sticky. Just about every package you’ll ever find says BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERCOOK. Don’t ever disregard that warning.

Tips for cooking brown rice pasta

If you’re not accustomed to cooking brown rice pasta, choose a short macaroni style like penne. Less likely to stick to each other than a long pasta such as spaghetti. Brown rice pasta is very mild tasting. Generously salt the water to bring out its flavor. Turn off the burner about 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time is over and place a lid on the pot. When the time is up, check the doneness and always rinse well in cold water after draining.

Pasta improv

A 28-ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes sauces a 16-ounce package of pasta perfectly. I add one 5-ounce can of tuna packed in olive oil, but you might prefer two. Or if you’re vegetarian, maybe you’d rather add mushrooms instead.

While the water boils, prepare the sauce. I start with the seasonings:

  • crushed garlic
  • fresh oregano and thyme
  • sea salt (not too much salt at this point, the canned tuna contains added salt)
  • freshly ground pepper
  • a generous pinch of ground chili
  • smoked paprika to bring out the smokiness of the fire roasted tomatoes

Heat a large pan over medium and drain the olive oil from the tuna into the heated pan. Add your choice of seasonings and cook several minutes. If anything sticks, add a spoonful of tomato juice from the can. Next add the tuna and cook a couple minutes more, stirring to combine well. Finally add the can of tomatoes, juice and all. Bring to a simmer and taste. Add a pinch of sugar if desired (I like coconut palm sugar) and adjust the other seasonings as well.

By now your brown rice pasta should be done. Drain and rinse well in cold water. Make sure the water is drained well after rinsing, then add the cooked pasta to the sauce in your pan. Combine gently and heat thoroughly, until the pasta is hot again and any liquid in the pan is reduced. Splash a bit of good quality olive oil in if desired, and serve.

Have fun!

This is not a “recipe”. Don’t worry too much about measurements or duplicating my ingredients exactly. Relax and have fun with it. If you’re unsure how much to use, add a little, taste and add more if needed. Remember you can always add more, but you can’t take it away.

Use your imagination and the ingredients in your pantry to make it different each time. Olives go great with tuna. Sheep’s milk feta is wonderful with fire roasted tomatoes. Fresh basil. Dried herbs. Minced onions and celery. Chopped green veggies. What would you add?

Creamy Avocado Vinaigrette


Make the most of the final days of summer with this fresh and tangy avocado salad dressing. (I know the calendar says autumn, but here in southern California, the weather doesn’t always listen to the calendar.)

Creamy avocado vinaigrette will go wonderfully with romaine lettuce and the last home-grown tomatoes from your garden. If autumn has already settled in, pair your avocado salad with your favorite soup for the perfect light dinner combination for chilly evenings.

Finding salad dressings on store shelves free of gluten, dairy, egg, soy, and sugar is a losing proposition. Especially when it’s so quick and easy to make your own from scratch. Avocado makes it deliciously creamy and nutritious. You can even use this avocado dressing as a dip for raw veggies or your favorite gluten-free chips.

Creamy Avocado Vinaigrette

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 1-1/2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Peel and seed the avocado, and peel the garlic clove.
  2. Blend the avocado and garlic in a food processor until the avocado is creamy and the garlic is finely chopped.
  3. Add the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar and process until blended.
  4. Add the sea salt, smoked paprika, and pepper, and process until mixed in.
  5. Add the olive oil. You can pour it in slowly while the food processor is going or simply pour it all in at once. Blend until the oil is fully emulsified into the dressing.
  6. Taste, and add more salt, paprika, or pepper, if desired.
  7. Garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika, if desired.
  8. Chill to thicken.
http://www.laurawestkong.com/gff/2011/creamy-avocado-vinaigrette/

Hello Monday!

I got up early to go jogging today. It was still dark, but if I waited till dawn, there wouldn’t be enough time before I had to tend to Monday morning’s duties. It was the first time I felt good since a run-in with oats a week ago, so I didn’t want to miss out.

Stars twinkled as I did my warm up. Stars! You don’t usually even see stars in the sky around here at night. You have to go out to the mountains or desert for that. I’m a little rusty on my astronomy, but I think I saw the Little Dipper.

Especially now, running makes me feel like I’m really alive. Struggling with fatigue day after day, sometimes one starts to wonder. One thing I know for certain, I will never take my health for granted again.

When I finished my run, the sunrise was just getting underway. It wasn’t a vivid, dramatic, picture-postcard sunrise, but to me it was as if it were the first sunrise I’d ever seen.

It’s on days like this that I know that I’m going to be OK. Not every day is going to be easy. I won’t always be able to accomplish everything on my to-do list. There will be bouts with cross-contamination from time to time (hopefully fewer, rather than more times), but the sun will rise again…

Adventures in Gluten-Free Eating

Eating is an adventure…

It might be a simple meal of roasted sweet potatoes dug up from beneath mounds of smoky embers, eaten while squatting on the ground in the highlands of West Papua, Indonesia…

Or a 10-course culinary extravaganza in a red velvet-lined banquet hall in China, where the meal always ends with an obligatory platter piled high with noodles. Even though one usually passes comfortably full by the 5th or 6th course, the noodles are never refused, because noodles symbolize long life. And nobody wants to pass on a serving of deliciously long life…

Or my personal favorite, a walking street food buffet down the alleyways of Seoul, South Korea, with Kimbap (Korean version of sushi rolls), spicy Ddeok-Bokki (Korean rice cake, not like “rice cake” as we know it, but closer to a chewy, gluten-free gnocchi in an addictively spicy sauce), sweet Hoddeok (flatbread stuffed with cinnamon and brown sugar, fried on a griddle), and savory Pajeon (scallion pancake). I should create a gluten-free scallion pancake recipe for you someday. Mmmmm! Scallion pancakes are a delight that nobody should have to miss out on.

Food is more than just filling your stomach, and refusing food is more than simply saying, “No, thanks.” Even when language differences prevent all but the most basic conversation, food speaks volumes.

Unfortunately dietary restrictions have a way of drowning out this culinary conversation and bringing the mealtime adventure to an unceremonious halt.

Since giving up gluten and other foods earlier this year, I generally avoid eating out, preferring to prepare all my food in the safety of my own home. The extra work is well worth it to me, and I go to great lengths to create food that is adventurous, delicious, and yet safe to enjoy.

But the truth of the matter is that it’s hard to shut yourself away in your own little world all of the time, and its nice once in awhile to go out and eat with friends and family, and have somebody else prepare all the food, wash all the dishes, and so on.

So from time to time I take that risk. Recently I ate at Pho Ngo Gai, a new Vietnamese restaurant in San Bernardino, California (1033 North Waterman Ave. Ste. J). I pointed out the lemongrass tofu on the menu, and asked the waitress if I could have something like that, except without wheat/gluten, soy/tofu, sugar, egg, peanuts, and corn. Just the veggies and whatever sauce they could prepare. Without missing a beat, she checked with the kitchen, and sure enough, they prepared a delicious dish off the menu, just for me. One of the few times I’ve eaten out with absolutely no negative reactions.

It’s easiest to eat out gluten-free in places where they make their food from scratch and don’t depend on pre-made sauces and dishes. There have actually been a couple times at restaurants that pre-make food when I’ve had to simply walk away because there was absolutely nothing available for me to safely eat. Calling ahead when possible is always a good idea. I could have saved myself the trips.

When dining at ethnic restaurants, sometimes the language barrier can be a problem in communicating dietary restrictions. It helps immensely when the staff speaks and understands English well, like they did at Pho Ngo Gai, or if you are able to bring along someone who speaks the language.

I’ve been there, done that with varying degrees of success trying to explain what I can’t eat to waiters who depend on English-speaking diners pointing at the number of the dish they want to order. CeliacTravel.com has printable restaurant cards in 51 languages that can solve this problem.

So take precautions, be safe, and enjoy your adventures in gluten-free eating!

How do you deal with eating out gluten-free?

Gluten-Free in Guam

The view from our beachfront kitchen in Guam

Whether your autumn winds are chilly or scorching, you can still escape with me to Guam for some cool ocean breezes and refreshing Chamorro cuisine.

Kelaguen is a ceviche-style dish in which the acid in the lemon juice “cooks” the fish, or in the case of grilled chicken, serves as a delicious marinade. Freshly grated coconut, green onions, and chili peppers round out the island flavors.

While visiting Guam, some vegetarian friends taught me how to make soy chicken kelaguen. Now I have to confess that even though I am practically vegan myself, I am not a big fan of soy chicken. The kelaguen marinade, however, completely transformed the soy chicken and I could not stop eating it. It was that delicious.

I have a new version of kelaguen to introduce to you today: Mushroom Kelaguen. While not a traditional ingredient (I’m pretty sure mine is the first mushroom kelaguen ever made), mushrooms are a perfect fit for this tangy, lemony dish. And luckily, kelaguen is naturally gluten-free!

Grating fresh coconut in Guam

One of the secrets to a good kelaguen is freshly grated coconut. Freshly grated coconut is not the same thing as dried, shredded coconut and will not give the same results. Much the same way that orange powdered cheese is not a satisfactory replacement for a good Wisconsin cheddar.

Luckily you can find good frozen grated coconut in Asian/Filipino markets, which is a decent replacement for fresh.

Look for frozen grated coconut without added sugar or preservatives. If you are a coconut fan, you should buy more than one package, because you will certainly want to try it out in cakes, muffins, and other recipes as well.

Frozen grated coconut

Frozen grated coconut comes in one pound packages. To use it, simply thaw a package, measure and set aside what you need, then use a half-cup measuring cup to make 1/2 cup mounds from the remaining grated coconut. Place the coconut mounds on a baking tray and put the baking tray in the freezer until frozen like ice cubes. Then transfer the coconut cubes to a freezer bag and store in the freezer. When you want more grated coconut, just take out the amount you need and thaw. Nothing could be easier!

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients

  • 2-3 lemons, juiced
  • 2 pounds white mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1-1/2 cups grated coconut, fresh or frozen (thawed)
  • 2 green onions, finely chopped
  • 4-6 small red chilies, finely chopped

Instructions

  1. Juice the lemons and set aside the juice. Rub the inside of your food processor (if using) and cutting board with the insides of the juiced lemons. This will give some protection against mushroom discoloration.
  2. Slice mushrooms in a food processor or by hand. A food processor will give very thinly sliced mushrooms. If you slice them by hand you don't need to slice as thinly as a food processor would, aim for about 1/8 inch wide slices.
  3. Cross-cut the slices in both directions to make small pieces, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Don't worry if a few pieces come out too large. You can always cut them with your spatula while cooking the mushrooms.
  4. Melt the coconut oil in a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat and add the finely chopped mushrooms. They will likely fill the pan close to overflowing, so stir carefully until they cook down a bit and let their water out. Two pounds of mushrooms chopped like this will shrink down to 3-4 cups. Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until most of the water has evaporated.
  5. Add the sea salt and stir. Cook for 15-20 minutes longer to coax out and reduce any remaining water. A little moisture when you press down on the mushrooms with a spatula or spoon is OK. Just so there is no liquid in the pan.
  6. While the mushrooms are cooking you can prepare the coconut (if grating fresh), and chop the green onions and red chilies. If you don't like chili heat, remove the membranes and seeds from inside the chilies before chopping.
  7. When the mushrooms are cooked, transfer them to a bowl and add the grated coconut, green onions, and red chilies. Stir to combine.
  8. Add the lemon juice to the mushroom mixture. Start with 1/2 cup and stir to combine. Taste, and add more lemon juice if desired. Add more sea salt if desired.
  9. Enjoy! Can be eaten at room temperature or chilled. Serve as a salad or side dish with gluten-free tortillas, tortilla chips, flatbread, or large lettuce leaves for scooping.
http://www.laurawestkong.com/gff/2011/gluten-free-in-guam/

We made kelaguen and other island favorites right on the beach in our camping kitchen.

Too many cooks couldn't spoil these pancakes!

Well worth the wait for this island feast!

Lemongrass Mahi Mahi

Marinades are one of those irresistible improvisational creations. Not much in the way of science to worry about usually, just imagine the flavors you love and swirl them together in a sea of deliciousness.

The only problem one encounters occasionally in improvisational marinades is happening upon utter perfection, and having no way to duplicate exactly what you’ve done. A way around this would to be measure everything carefully as you go and write it all down, but that takes away half the fun.

This Lemongrass Mahi Mahi is one of those problems…

Serious. Died-and-gone-to-heaven good.

I don’t have the measurements for you, but I do remember what I mixed together. You’re on your own for the proportions. Luckily for both of us, marinades are rather forgiving concoctions. Here’s what I used:

  • coconut milk
  • minced garlic
  • minced red & green Thai chilies
  • lemongrass, sliced & smashed
  • green onion, sliced crosswise
  • celtic sea salt
  • coconut sugar
  • galangal powder
  • amchur powder

Cook as desired and serve over brown rice, with romaine lettuce leaves for scooping.

Lemongrass can be bought fresh or frozen in Asian supermarkets. You can even grow it yourself if you live in a warm climate. Lemongrass gives bright, citrus-y notes to curries, soups, and marinades, and goes particularly well with garlic and chili.

You can cook with lemongrass in one of two ways. First, like in my marinade above, in large pieces used for flavor and removed before eating. Smashing the lemongrass with a large cleaver helps release more flavor. The second way is to cut the lemongrass into small pieces and pulverize them with a mortar and pestle or food processor, then add to food before cooking.

Galangal powder is available in Asian and Indian markets. Galangal is a relative of ginger root and tastes a bit like peppery ginger. It is used in Thai and Indian cooking. It goes well with fish, as well as garlic and chili. A little goes a long way. Like ginger, galangal can also be used fresh.

Amchur powder, or ground dried green mango, can be found in Indian markets or online from Rani’s World Foods. Amchur has a sour, acidic taste and is used in curries and chutneys. In marinades it makes a good tenderizer. Use it with fish and other meats, in vegetable curries, and wherever you’d like to add a bit of tart flavor.

What’s your favorite marinade mixture?

Tuesday’s Rice

Fried rice is a great dish to highlight your favorite fresh ingredients or even simply use up whatever deliciousness happens to be hiding in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Today’s special contains a little of both: baby broccoli, snow peas, and home-grown tomatoes.

Traditionally, a large round-bottomed wok with a ring, and very high heat is used in making fried rice. I’ve adapted the process for easy home use with a 12-inch nonstick pan on medium heat. It’s still a quick dish to make, just a little more relaxed. If I have other tasks to do in the kitchen, I often work on them in the several minutes in between adding each ingredient to the pan.

One advantage of this non-traditional cooking method is that you can leave the minced garlic in the finished dish without fear of it burning. You’ll get a softer flavor from cooking the garlic at a lower temperature, plus many of the garlic’s nutrients will still be retained. If you want a more pungent garlic flavor and higher nutritional value, add the garlic closer to the end of the cooking process.

I like to have fresh Thai chili peppers on hand (Prik Chee Fah). These flavorful peppers are about 2-4 inches long (not the tiny, extremely hot bird’e eye chilies, also referred to as Thai chili). They add a bit of heat and a vibrant dose of color to any dish. If you don’t want the heat, remove the membranes and seeds before chopping. Look for Thai chili peppers in Asian grocery stores. You can also substitute Serrano chili.

Yield: serves 1 as a main course or 2 as a side dish

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion
  • 3 fresh red Thai chilies (prik chee fah)
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 5 stems baby broccoli
  • 1 handful snow peas
  • 1 medium tomato
  • 1-1/3 c leftover brown rice
  • coconut oil or other cooking oil
  • 1 teaspoon raw coconut aminos (or gluten-free tamari)
  • Thai basil (for garnishing)

Instructions

  1. Chop the onion and set aside.
  2. Finely mince the chilies and set aside. If you'd like it less spicy you can remove the membranes and seeds before mincing.
  3. Finely mince the garlic and set aside.
  4. Chop the baby broccoli into 2-3 inch long pieces and separate the stems from the florets.
  5. Remove the strings from the snow peas and set aside.
  6. Chop the tomato and set aside.
  7. Julienne the Thai basil and set aside.
  8. Heat a frying pan or wok to medium and melt a little coconut oil in it. Add the chopped onion and stir fry for several minutes.
  9. Add the minced chili and stir fry for a minute or two.
  10. Add the minced garlic and stir fry for a minute or two.
  11. Add the baby broccoli stems and stir fry for a couple minutes. Add the baby broccoli florets and stir fry for a couple minutes.
  12. Add the snow peas and stir fry for a couple minutes.
  13. Add the leftover brown rice and stir to combine. Add a teaspoon of coconut aminos and a little more oil if necessary. Stir fry for a couple minutes.
  14. Add the chopped tomato and gently stir fry for a minute or two until the tomatoes are warmed. Check the seasoning and add a little more coconut aminos if necessary.
  15. Garnish with the julienned Thai basil.
  16. Enjoy!
http://www.laurawestkong.com/gff/2011/tuesdays-rice/

Feel free to adjust this recipe to fit your tastes and what’s in your refrigerator on any given day. You may want a bit more rice than I used. I was surprised to find that 1-1/3 cups of cooked rice was all I had on hand today. Two cups would make a more usual proportion of rice to vegetables and would serve more people as well. Of course, you would then also need to adjust the seasonings. I enjoyed the generous proportion of vegetables to rice, so I decided to share it with you exactly how I made it. Cooking, unedited.

Italy Meets Southeast Asia … {+ coconut oil giveaway}

Tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil. Simple, yet divine.

Before the last of summer’s tomatoes are gone, I’d like to introduce you to a fresh twist on this Italian classic:

Tomatoes, garlic, coconut oil, and Thai basil. Italy meets Southeast Asia.

Tomatoes and garlic are familiar enough. Ever use coconut oil or Thai basil?

Tropical Traditions sent me a jar of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try in my recipes, and I’ve used (and loved) it in everything from curries, stir-fry dishes, and roasted veggies to cakes, muffins, granola, and more.

One lucky reader will also receive a 32-ounce jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil. (Enter to win at the end of this post.)

One of the best things about unrefined coconut oil is the fresh coconut scent and taste that it gives to your food. Take advantage of this flavor boost in your cooking. The Southeast Asian-Inspired Spaghetti recipe, below, has a light coconut taste from unrefined coconut oil.

For a bold coconut flavor, such as in a curry, start out by sauteing the ingredients in unrefined coconut oil and then later thickening with coconut cream or milk.

If the taste of coconut won’t go well with the ingredients in a particular recipe, you’re better off using a different oil that time and saving your unrefined coconut oil for the recipes where it can really shine.

A hint of coconut flavor from unrefined coconut oil is almost always welcome in baking. Coconut complements fruits of all kinds, chocolate, and nuts. The melting point of coconut oil is about 76° F. When the temperature is above 76°, coconut oil is liquid. Below 76°, it is solid. This makes it very versatile for baked goods. Unrefined coconut oil is easily melted if you need a liquid oil. If you need a solid oil, like butter or shortening, just chill it in the refrigerator. Unrefined coconut oil makes a flaky vegan pie crust with ease.

For research on the health benefits of coconut oil, visit CoconutOil.com. For even more recipes using coconut oil, visit FreeCoconutRecipes.com.

The final ingredient in our southeast Asian foursome is Thai basil. Thai basil is easy to grow and is quickly becoming more common to find in nurseries. Or simply pick up a package of fresh leaves on your next trip to an Asian grocery store. Thai basil is sweet and has a distinctive anise flavor. It will lend an authentic touch to your Thai and Vietnamese dishes. Try Thai basil in curries, with stir-fried ginger eggplant, or fresh in salads.

Southeast Asian Spaghetti

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces uncooked brown rice spaghetti
  • 2 cups baby broccoli, cut into 1-1/2" to 2" lengths
  • 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup Thai basil, julienned
  • 3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Instructions

  1. Bring water to boil in a large pasta pot with insert. Blanch the chopped baby broccoli for 1 minute in the boiling water. Remove the insert and set the baby broccoli aside. Do not discard the water. Separate stems and florets when cool.
  2. If you prefer your tomatoes peeled, you can dip them in the boiling water before cooking the spaghetti. Then peel and chop the tomatoes while the pasta cooks.
  3. Add 1 teaspoon of the sea salt and the brown rice spaghetti to the boiling water. Cook according to package directions. Be careful not to overcook. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Drain excess water and set cooked spaghetti aside.
  4. Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Cook 2 minutes, stirring often.
  5. Add the baby broccoli stems and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often.
  6. Reduce heat slightly to medium-low and add the remaining tablespoon of coconut oil and the cooked spaghetti. Stir gently to coat the noodles with oil.
  7. Add the chopped tomatoes and julienned Thai basil and stir gently to combine. Check the seasoning and add more sea salt if desired. Cook until spaghetti and vegetables are heated through.
  8. Enjoy! This dish is also good chilled as a pasta salad.
http://www.laurawestkong.com/gff/2011/italy-meets-southeast-asia/

Enter to win a 32 ounce jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil! (a $29.50 value) There are 3 ways to win:

  1. Subscribe to Tropical Traditions’ Email Newsletter for special sales and free recipes.
  2. Follow Tropical Traditions on Twitter
  3. Like Tropical Traditions on Facebook.

Leave a me a separate comment below with your name and email address after completing each item. Each comment will count as an entry. The giveaway starts today, Sunday, September 18, 2011 and ends Wednesday, September 28, 2011. A winner will be picked at random via Random.org on Thursday, September 29, 2011. Open to residents of U.S. & Canada.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

32-oz. – Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil – 1 quart