Oreo-Like Ice Cream

Quick, easy, tasty-treat, and dairy free. Depending on your choices, this can be low carb, vegan, low sugar, or it can be honey/maple syrup or any other sweeteners.

Churning, loveliness!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Cans Organic Coconut Milk
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup BLACK cocoa
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (if substituting for another sweetener use powdered sweetener such as swerve powdered or walden farms sugar-free maple walnut syrup)
• 1.5 tsp cream de cocoa liquor
• 8 mini scoops Kal Stevia powder (pure stevia–not their version with maltodextrin mixed in)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• This is a trick my 1890’s born grand mum taught me: when making anything chocolate, start with boiling water! It does something amazing. This recipe is no exception. Begin with 1/2 cup of boiling water.
• Once the water boils, place into it your 1/2 cup of BLACK cocoa powder. It will be nice if you use another kind of cocoa but it won’t be “oreo” flavoring.
• Mix till a beautiful and fragrant chocolate emerges. Based on the smell, you may be tempted to taste it, at this stage; however, be aware it is dark chocolate with no sweetener despite how it looks and despite how it smells. Be forewarned! 🙂
• Now stir in all of the coconut milk including the fat. Mix well. (Optional: reserve a tiny amount of the coconut cream until the end–mix that in at the very end for a “cookies and cream” style swirl.)
• Mix in the sweetener of choice and the cream de cocoa. This helps the ice cream freeze, but not as solid as it does without it!
• Taste the mixture. Adjust sweetener, if needed.
• Pour this well mixed beautiful concoction into the prepared ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers directions for use.
• OPTIONAL: last step when the ice cream is ready, stir in the reserved coconut cream, if desired for the oreo-cookie-and-cream style ice cream. This is optional.

STORAGE: Enjoy this right away, or store in the freezer. I suggest storing this in individual sized servings. I use some recycled glass bullion jars to have a serving size ready to enjoy as desired. It does take a moment or two of thawing before it is soft enough to eat.

Waffles (Freezer, Toaster Friendly)

This is a staple you can make up, one or more batches at a time, and have ready when you want a soy-free, dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, grain-free version of waffles ready to go. This freezes well and can go from freezer to toaster without any issue.

Last 4 in the batch–turned out as good at the first ones! Be sure to use a preheated, greased, mini waffle iron for this one.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 unripe plantains
• 6 TBSP Coconut Milk (or just use water/olive oil if you cannot have coconut)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP white vinegar.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Use a mini waffle iron. Begin by pre-heating it.
2. Peel Plantain. Cut into small slices.
3. Place plantains and coconut milk into a bullet blender.
4. Blend until batter forms.
5. Add remaining ingredients, blend to mix.
6. Grease waffle iron.
7. Drop batter, one heaping teaspoonful into pre-heated waffle cavity. Spread dough around. Seal. Cook for 5 minutes.

This recipe yields 12 mini waffles.

USE AND STORAGE:

Eat right away. Or allow to cool. These are very moist and steamy so you need to let them cool completely before storing them or you will have a lot of condensation from the steam cooling.

If you are going to freeze them, and they freeze lovely by the way, do so after they are cooled by placing them flat, in a single layer until frozen. Then package accordingly for your freezer.

Once frozen, you can thaw and enjoy; Or you can toast these successfully in a toaster. Just be aware, like coconut flour items, these turn very GREEN when toasted. It also makes it nice to realize when they are finished as the green hue gives away their heat status.

Toppings: Butter, plain, cinnamon and sweetener of choice, maple syrup, honey, or any other jab are all nice choices. Or try these with savory items like chili or other savory waffle toppings.

DINNER ROLLS (Sandwich Buns, Snack Pizza Rounds)

This recipe, depending upon how you shape it before baking (and adjust the baking time accordingly) works well for a number of “bread substitute” types of recipes or meal plans. You can use this, English muffin size, to make open-faced snack pizzas just as easily as you can eat it as it is, or turn it into the base of a breakfast sandwich with your favorite ingredients. I can be used for sloppy joe and/or biscuits with sausage and country gravy style of meal plans too. I’ve used it as a “burger bun” style of bread replacement when eating salmon burgers, turkey burgers, or beef burgers, as well as making a bun sandwich with it. It does okay, flavor wise, with either sweet (top with stevia sweetened cinnamon butter for example) or savory items. It freezes well. It tastes just fine by its self or with butter on it. (Try garlic bread, too–just remember it is soft and can easily crumble). I’ve not tried it yet for bread crumbs but I bet it could be crumbled and used as a base to make herb croutons, or a stuffing base with turkey broth onions celery and sage, and is basically a good go-to item to have on hand since it freezes so well. It can be made ahead and frozen. It thaws easily in the toaster oven in the amount of time it took me to make the meal I wanted to use it for. When I made “pizza” with it, I added it frozen to the baking tray, topped it with frozen sauce, and frozen homemade sausage, and the dairy-free cheese, and it worked well enough too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 Cup HEB Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Flour
• 1/2 Cup Boiling Water
• 1 TBSP Psyllium Husk
• 2 TBSP Golden Flaxseed Meal
• 2 TBSP Melted Butter
• 1 TBSP White Vinegar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Real Salt
• 1/4 tsp Arrowroot

INSTRUCTIONS:

You can find this recipe’s original author’s instructions to mix these and bake them here: Keto Vegetarian’s Recipe

I made modifications from the original recipe due to different allergens. One note is that the water should be boiling when it is used to activate the psyllium. Once mixed, the dough needs to rest for about 10 minutes. The oven should be preheated to 350 degrees. These are baked about 25 minutes (until golden on top). Turn off oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the oven.

They do well: 1) frozen and thawed (I froze them flat on a tray, then transferred them to individually sealed bags with a piece of parchment paper between the split portion so as to be able to separate them before thawing more easily so i could thaw in the toaster oven. 2) can be used without any further work than making them. 3) do well from the fridge and being used.

They are too moist. Like many “coconut” based items these have a tendency to have a too moist texture. They do not hold up well to a burger and don’t toast firm enough, even in the toaster oven (but that’s better than not toasting them) to really not crumble when eating a juicy burger. I would suggest always using sandwich style lettuce in the bun if you are using them as a burger bun so it catches what ever you have inside (tuna salad, salmon beef or turkey burgers, chickpea/hummus spread, etc) when the bun eventually falls apart, as it likely will.

Recipes on this blog I recently used in combination with this dinner roll recipe to make various types of meal plans:

1. Snack Pizza
   
   
2. Salmon Patties
   
3. Burger Patties
4. Turkey Patties
5. Sandwich
6. Open face as a base for: sloppy joes, or sausage and country gravy.
7. Just as is, or with butter, or toasted with butter or seasonings (garlic bread, cinnamon and stevia, etc).

Cheese (Dairy Free)

This cheese is an attempt to have a pizza-friendly cheese. I’ve seen a number of recipes online which use similar ingredients (and another I’m awaiting being able to hopefully purchase some ingredients to give it a try as I don’t have on hand what I need to make it) and end up with something you can supposedly slice, grate, shred, melt, or other wise use a cheese, but which aren’t made with cow or other bovine milk and are available to those on any number of diets (vegan, paleo, gluten free, dairy free, whole 30, keto, low carb, diabetic, for example)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Can Full Fat Coconut milk
• 3 TBSP Unflavored Gelatin powder
• 2 TBSP Coconut Flour
• 1 TBSP Nutritional Yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• OPTIONAL: add a pinch (to taste) of Thyme and Onion Powder. NOTE: this helps especially if you dislike the nutritional yeast flavor! Other flavor enhancing options? Try a bit of mustard powder, “Unami” seasoning, a bit of liquid from canned olives, and/or sauerkraut juice.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Locate the bowl you are going to use, when you’ve finished the process, to “mold (or shape)” the cheese into the shape you desire. Some ideas include a round, glass bowl, or perhaps a mini “loaf” pan for cracker sized slices. I’m planning on using this for shredding so the size and shape do not matter. But you will need the bowl handy when the time is right. Set it next to the stove top in easy reach.
2. Measure all the ingredients. No need to mix first. Just place them into a medium size pan, as you measure the correct amount of each ingredient, adding them in the order listed above directly into your sauce pan. It should look more or less like this:
   
   
3. Place the pan over medium heat while you are stirring to mix the ingredients together. NOTE: the consistency of the mixture, before cooking, is roughly like fat-head dough. In fact it is so much like fat head dough it made me wonder if I can do something similar to make a vegan fat-head dough. Anyway, back to our cheese recipe at hand, once the mixture is fully stirred, continue stirring while you turn up the heat to medium or medium-high. Keep stirring.
   
   
4. Stir and heat. You are looking for that mixture to reach a full “boil” and you want to boil the mixture for a minimum of 3 minutes. Once you’ve hit the 3 minute mark, time wise (and I do suggest timing it), dump it quickly into your awaiting bowl which is going to serve as the shape mold for the resulting vegan cheese.
5. Now cover the cheese.
6. Place in the fridge. As it cools your vegan cheese will firm up and will become a texture you can slice and you’ll also be able to shred it to use it on pizza, etc. or in recipes.

TIPS:

• FLAVOR: Experiment with adding optional depth of flavor with these suggested trials: add a pinch to taste of one or more of the following spices/flavorings: Thyme, Onion Powder, mustard powder, “Unami” seasoning, a bit of liquid from canned olives, or a bit of sauerkraut juice.
• COLOR: This “cheese” is a mozzarella style cheese. However, you can play around a bit with this and get different color cheeses. Who says cheese has to be white or whitish? Other things to try? Annatto Oil (warm for a few minutes 1.5 TBSP of annatto seeds in 1/4 cup quality oil until the spice extrudes into the oil. Store and use. P.S. Annatto is the normal food-safe colorant in cheddar cheeses.) Turmeric. Mustard Powder. Or something creative like beet juice! or Spinach! Who says just because milk is white cheese has to be? It tastes the same, hm?
• TEXTURE: Need a smoother result? Use an immersion blender to blend everything instead of a whisk, while stirring and cooking. I found this texture to be okay as is!
• SHAPE: Play around with the “molds” you use. There are, for example, long barrel shaped silicone ice cube makers, made especially for making ice for water bottles. These may be fun to put this mozzarella like cheese into and mold into a string-cheese style shaped snack cheese.

RESULTS:

• BATCH SIZE: The yield on this is okay. It is neither expensive to do nor does it make too much to use in a reasonable time frame.
• FREEZER FRIENDLY: I will test (and report later) on freeze capability (both as is, and shredded) to see how it works for food prep and storage.
• PIZZA: To use this recipe to make pizza (snack, or larger) simply thaw some of the faux tomato sauce we made previously, spread over a the dinner roll recipe I made last week, a low-carb  gluten-free tortilla, or cassava crust recipe made up. Then add your favorite toppings and shred this cheese atop. Bake as you normally would. This cheese will melt and turn back to a more solid shape when cooled.
• SNACK: To snack, use the cheese as is. Remember to play around with the flavorings and molds to achieve the desired shapes and taste you prefer. If you happen to have a mini loaf pan, that size is perfect for slicing onto crackers. I happened to find a mini-loaf pan for $0.25 at a thrift store! Cannot beat that for a cheese mold!
• FREEZER? (testing this–will report soon)
• FUTURE: I have a few more vegan cheeses I’m going to try over time.

This cheese sets up well, was super easy to remove from the glass dish (it came out whole), and shreds easily with my normal cheese shredder. The shredder was also easy to clean up afterwards.  The shredded cheese melted nicely. The cheese sliced tasted okay and the texture was ok too. 

Coleslaw (Vegan, Egg Free)

How do you make coleslaw, or other mayo related items, when you cannot have eggs or nightshades? Hm! Most egg substitutes include some form of nightshade as part of the ingredients so…there is that. In comes coconut yogurt to the rescue?

INGREDIENTS:

• Cabbage (green, white, savoy, asian, purple, red, or a “kit” of washed and shredded cabbage from the produce department–you name it, it is all good!)
• 2 Baby Carrots
• Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt
• 1 TBSP Vinegar
• 1 Package Sweet Leaf Stevia
• 1/2 tsp (approximately) celery salt (adjust seasoning to your taste buds)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Begin by shredding fresh, raw, cabbage and carrot, if desired; or use a coleslaw shredded cabbage base kit. Note: it doesn’t matter if you use one type of cabbage, both colors, asian cabbage or a packaged cabbage, we just need shredded cabbage. I used about 1 cup of shredded veggies for this slaw version.
2. Set aside the veg until later.
3. Begin mixing the coleslaw dressing ingredients. Taste and adjust as needed.
4. Blend the dressing and the veggies together until well combined.
5. Store in the fridge, covered, for 30 minutes or longer to allow the flavors to blend and meld together.

NOTE: This recipe also works well with broccoli and/or shaved brussles sprouts (do this yourself, or buy a “kit” of them in the grocery store produce aisle).

Dairy Free Sprinkle Cheese

This recipe produces a powder you can store in an air tight spice jar and sprinkle on foods as a topping, much like store-bought Parmesan cheese, but with out dairy or nightshades, which are common in other products.

Besides using this recipe as a sprinkle-on spice, you can also turn this recipe into a quick cheese sauce. To do so, simply add 4 TBSP of the powder to 4 TBSP of butter in a pan over medium heat. Then add cup of liquid (broth, water, “milk”, etc). This recipe easily scales up or down, as needed.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cup Nutritional Yeast
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp Real Salt
• 6 TBSP Tapioca

METHOD:

1. Grind the thyme into smaller flakes or powder.
2. Combine all of the ingredients together.
3. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature. Consider adding to a well-labeled recycled spice jar with a tight-fitting lid, to use as a sprinkle on topping over favorite foods.

Pictured is a quick, go-to, freezer meal including: 7-Spice meat balls, zucchini, 2 TBS Faux Tomato Pasta Sauce, steamed until fork tender sprinkled with salt, pepper, and sprinkle cheese sauce for a quick meal.

CREAMY SAUCE INSTRUCTIONS:

To make a cheese-like sauce, you will need to add to a sauce pan over medium heat 4 TBSP of the “cheese sauce” powder mix, 4 TBSP of butter. Allow this to cook until fragrant and all of the butter is melted and mixed well into the “sauce” mix like you would to make any traditional Roux gravy. Once the roux is fragrant, add 1 cup of liquid. For the liquid pick what ever makes sense for the use you are making the sauce. If you want creamy mac-n-cheese style sauce, consider using a plant based milk. If you want to flavor it with meat or veg, consider using bone broth or veggie broth. If you are short on time or don’t have any thing else on hand in your pantry, use water. It is still good!

The creamy sauce pairs nicely with so many things! You can use it as a cheese sauce for dipping veggies and crackers into. You can use it as a salad dressing for taco salad. You can pair it with poultry, beef, or sausage. You can use up left over veggies such as cauliflower or broccoli or other yum veg with this sauce. It pairs really nice too with home made sausage. And one of my favorites is cauliflower or broccoli rice! YUM!

To turn left over veg, such as cauliflower rice, into the most delicious cauliflower rice you’ve ever tasted follow these steps: start with cold, refrigerated left over cauliflower rice (or other cold, left over veggies–if your veggies are too large, don’t worry, you can “chop” them into the sauce to smaller, bite-sized, pieces to amalgamate the flavors and different veggies into a flavorful way to eat up left overs). Make up the Creamy Sauce as instructed above, toss in the left over veggies, blend and serve. This makes a nice lunch, too, if you have too little of a portion of left over (meat) added to the dish to use everything up. Serve while hot and enjoy.

Left over broccoli “riced” with this cheese sauce served with onion style “noodles” and beef patty.

VEGAN: This recipe is very easy to turn into a vegan recipe. Simply swap out “butter” for vegan butter or a neutral flavor oil when making the sauce use a plant-based milk or water.

RESULT: This is a basic go-to recipe which I’ve re-made many times since first giving it a try. One note: it is claimed by other health care experts that fortified nutritional yeast vs unfortified, natural, nutritional yeast makes a big difference in health; however, as I’ve not studied it out for myself and the only brand of nutritional yeast available to me in my local market is not fortified, but naturally rich in nutrients, I didn’t bother to research this topic out–but if your nutritional yeast is fortified, you may want to do so before using it in this quantity, especially if you have people in your life who are allergic to several things, have autoimmune, or other health issues already.

Carrot Fries

This is a simple to make, tasty snack or nice side to a meal.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound organic carrots
• 2 TBSP Olive Oil
• 2 TBSP Tapioca Flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Prep a baking sheet with either a silicone mat, or parchment paper liner. Set aside.
3. Wash carrots, scrubbing the exterior to remove any dirt or blemishes. Peeling is not necessary.
4. Cut into shoestring or matchstick sized pieces. Try to cut the pieces to approximately the same time so they finish cooking at similar times.
5. Coat cut carrot “fries” with all of the remaining ingredients. Mix well to ensure everything is coated well and well mixed in.
6. Spread the carrot fries on your prepared pan in a single layer without any overlap.
7. Bake until the fries are at the desired texture. Turn at about 1/2 way so both sides crisp up.

YIELD: 4 servings. According to the CM app, each1/4 lb serving has 120 calories and 11 net carbs.

NOTES:

• These amazingly do not taste like carrots!
• They are a great side dish of their own.
• They taste better than sweet potato fries.
• Baking time may vary on the size of your carrot slices, as well as oven differences. Watch closely.
• These are good on their own, or with any of your favorite dip or condiments.
• I served these along size a classic burger, and zucchini salad.

“Caesar-Style” Salad Dressing (Vegan)

This vegan salad dressing is you ceasar-style but dairy-free and anchovy free.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 Cup Coconut Yogurt (or other non-dairy based yogurt)
• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 1 TBSP Lemon Juice
• 1/2 clove of Garlic
• 1 tsp capers, minced
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
• black pepper (I used 2 twists, fresh cracked)

METHOD:

1. Place all of the ingredients into a blender.
2. Whirl.
3. Taste. Add pepper to taste. Adjust seasonings, as needed.
4. Enjoy right away, or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

NOTES:

This is good served over romaine lettuce. But it is also good as a salad dressing over any greens. Capers grow in a plant family which is closely related to cabbage and mustard. Capers give this vegan dish its saltiness, which is a substitute for anchovies which are traditionally used in the non-vegan version.

Tzaziki Sauce (Dairy Free)

This sauce can be made with dairy, by choosing dairy-based yogurt as the main ingredient, or dairy free using coconut-based or soy-based yogurt. Adjust the seasonings accordingly. Make in advance, to allow the flavors to blend best in the fridge.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 Cup Yogurt (dairy free: coconut or soy based; or greek yogurt for dairy option)
• 1/2 Cup grated cucumber (peeled or unpeeled per personal preference)
• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 1 clove pressed Garlic
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 drop YLEO Peppermint
• 1 TBSP Lemon Juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate at least a few hours, if not over night, before using to make shawarma, falafals, kebabs, or salads based on these flavors.

Savory Crackers

This recipe is a trial of turning various recipes I’ve viewed online into an allergen-friendly recipe based on the allergens I’m making meals and meal plans around based on the folks in my life who have various allergies and sensitivities.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup freshly GROUND sunflower seeds.
• 4 tsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp psyllium husk powder
• 1.5 tsp italian seasoning powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 cup boiling filtered water

METHOD:

1. Begin by measuring all of the dry ingredients into an appropriate sized bowl.
2. Mix together dry ingredients well.
3. Add boiling water.
4. Mix together well to incorporate all dry ingredients into water. Press together until it forms into a dough ball (it may be a bit sticky–that’s okay)
5. Allow “dough” to rest for a few minutes.
6. Place dough ball on baking tray between either two pieces of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats. Roll out thin. Now you can leave it whole and bake it that way (watch closely this is going to require longer baking by a few minutes), score it to break easily, or cut it into bite sized crackers. Any method works great depending on how you are going to use it later.
7. Bake until desired done in a 350 F degree toaster oven. Cooking time may vary on each batch.

NOTES:

• Add color: parsley flakes, mustard or turmeric powder, beet or spinach water (left over from cooking and draining a colored veg) or never mind the fact they look ugly–they taste fabulous! With the fresh nutritional yeast combined with the other herbs and spices this tastes like Italian Parmesan something–not quite the texture of breadsticks but not bad either.
• Watch the salt. It can taste too salty. So adjust to your likely and purpose. This is okay as is, but I would tweak the salt down (or leave it out all together) for some uses.
• Serving suggestions: with dip: Don’t pre-cut or score the dough prior to baking. Instead bread into dippers and serve on your snack boards with dip. as a chip: simply enjoy as you would chips or crackers on the side with favorite go-alongs or alone, as is. as a snack: spread with jam, preserves, butter, a compound butter, or top with dairy-free cheese or fish/salmon/sardine/ or plant-based “spreads” atop such as pesto or olive tapenade.