Re-altering Plates or My New Gluten-Free Life

Yep, I know it's been two years since I've updated this blog. Sorry about that. I've been updating Here and There regularly and been very active on Facebook, but it's not the same. And, I've gone gluten free.

Since November 2012, I haven't had any gluten in my food, and it's made a huge difference as far as my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis goes. I'd been having a lot of digestive distress and pain last fall, and before I found out that it was reproductive, I decided to give up gluten just in case I'd become sensitive. I had no idea that folks with autoimmune diseases like mine tend to benefit from giving up gluten.

Prior to the change, it seemed like each doctor's appointment (3x per year), my prescription needed to be increased to get my thyroid numbers right, and I was symptomatic. Since the change, all of my blood levels have been great!

All that to say, my plates have altered once again, and I'm beginning to re-make my recipes gluten free. The first is my Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler.

Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler (Originally posted here.)

Yields 12 servings (or 10 large servings)

Ingredients

Filling
5 cups fresh apricots, pre-pitted and sliced
4 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup agave nectar
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons Gluten-Free all-purpose flour (not the beany kind)

Topping
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla unsweetened almond milk for mine)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/2 cup Gluten-Free all-purpose flour (not the beany kind)
 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (makes all the difference)
1/2 teaspoon Pensey's baking spice (or cinnamon, if you don't have it, but you might want to consider ordering some because it's really great stuff, and they don't pay me to say that)
5 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons good, fruity olive oil (or experiment with another good oil you enjoy)

Directions

1. Lightly oil a glass 9x13x2 in. baking dish.
2. For the filling, gently mix together the fruit, agave nectar, flour, and salt in a large bowl and let rest.
3. For the topping, in a separate bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar and non-dairy milk.
4. In a large bowl, mix the almond meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the spices.
5. Add to the vinegar/milk mixture the remaining agave nectar, vanilla, and olive oil. Give it at least a minute of whisking.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry mixture and combine until just mixed.
7. Give the fruit filling one more stir before pouring it into the prepared baking dish.
8. Scoop the topping on top of the filling.
9. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F while the topping rises. It won't rise a lot, but it will poof up a bit.
10. Bake the cobbler for 40 minutes, then check to see if it isn't getting too brown on top. You're looking for a nice golden brown. The filling should be good and bubbly.
11. Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before serving. It's best warm, but just as good from the fridge 4 days later.

The cobbler will keep at room temperature for 3 days. After that, if there is any left, and my guess is that there won't be, keep it refrigerated until it's gone.

Purim!

Back in May 2007, when the Holiday post beow originally ran, this blog was new to the world and I was new to making Hamantaschen with agave nectar. What I learned was that too much coconut flour (used as a way of dealing with too much liquid in a recipe) can make a dough go very stiff. But when life hands me challenges like the one shown in the little movies below, I just make star cookies.

Note to vegans: While looking into veganizing this recipe, I found a very helpful posting at the Post Punk Kitchen that says you can use the dough for their Fig Not-Ins (from Vegan With a Vengeance) as a base instead. However, that uses regular sugar instead of agave nectar. It will require some food science to nail this one down, but I'm up for the challenge! It just might take place after graduation in May.

(By the way, whenever I see these old videos, I laugh at two things -- my wacky presentation style and my old kitchen. I really need to film the next Altered Plates blog post and bring my filmmaking into the next decade!)

Here's hoping you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy this original post from May 28, 2007:

The Hamantaschen That Became Stars

Here's a 15-minute short film in three parts on my experience re-doing hamantaschen from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. The dough didn't turn out to be pliable to fold into the traditional shapes, so I made cut cookies instead. Regardless, they were a huge hit.