Salmon Lasagna with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Fresh Basil

Serves 4

  1      tablespoon  butter
  1 1/2  pounds  skinless fresh salmon fillets
  14       ounces  jar of roasted red pepper — drained
  1        teaspoon  dried basil
   1/2  cup  fresh basil leaves
  9        dried lasagna noodles — cooked, rinsed
  1/2    cup  soy sour cream
  12      ounces  jar of marinara sauce
  1         cup  caramelized onions
1/2      teaspoon  garlic
1/4      teaspoon  salt
1/8      teaspoon  pepper
4          tablespoons  soy parmesan

1)  Sauté onions in butter to caramelize, add minced garlic when onions are ready, sauté briefly. Add dried basil, sauté, covered, for about 5 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, bake salmon at 350 for 15 minutes.  Break up with fork after it is baked.

3)  In a food processor bowl, process or blend the roasted peppers till nearly smooth. Add sour cream, 2/3 of the parmesan, marinara, onion mixture. fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Process or blend till combined. Set aside.

4)  TO ASSEMBLE: Lightly grease a 2 quart rectangular baking dish. Place a thin layer of sauce, top with salmon, top with sauce.  Continue layering, ending with sauce.

5)  Bake, covered, in a 375 degrees oven for 30-35 minutes, or till heated through. Uncover, top with parmesan, bake another 10 to 12 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Kale with Fried Plantains and Toasted Almonds

Serving Size : 2    

1  bunch  kale — slice, remove stems
1 teaspoon demi glace
1/2 cup beef stock
1 plantain
beef fat or butter for frying
1 medium onion
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons  almonds, toasted

1.)     Sauté onions until caramelized, about half an hour, add demi glace and beef stock.  Add stock, kale, salt and pepper. Stir, cover.  Stir every few minutes until kale is bright green.
2.)     In iron frying pan, heat fat to medium high heat. Slice plantains into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.  Fry on both flat ends until medium browned.  Remove from pan, flatten by pressing down firmly with a small plate or glass.  Return to heat and brown really well on both sides.  Drain on paper bags.
3.)     Place greens on plate, top with plantains.
5.)     Garnish with toasted almonds.

Coconut Key Lime Bars

Makes 12 Bars

  2   cups  finely crushed Midel (gluten-free)  gingersnap cookies
  3   tablespoons  salted butter — melted
  1   tablespoon  brown sugar
  4   oz.  soy cream cheese — softened to room temperature
  4   large  egg yolks
  1   can  sweetened condensed milk — (14 oz)
  1/2  cup  finely shredded coconut
  1/2  cup  key lime juice
  2       teaspoons  lime zest
  1/4  teaspoon  salt
    confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9″X9″ baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on the sides, and lightly spray with nonstick spray. Mix together the melted butter and brown sugar. Set aside.

To make the crust, pulverize the crunchy gingersnap cookies into a fine crumb with a food processor. Pour into a medium sized bowl and mix with melted butter and brown sugar mixture. Press firmly and evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks until incorporated. Beat in the condensed milk, coconut, lime juice, lime zest, and salt until combined. Pour into the warm crust once it’s done baking.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges of the bars begin to brown. Allow the bars to cool at room temperature in the pan or on a wire rack. Once cooled, place in the fridge to chill completely (at least 2 hours).

Once chilled, lift the bars out of the pan using the foil overhang. Cut into squares. Garnish with confectioners’ sugar.

Lemon Meringue Pie- Lactose and Gluten Free

4         egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1/3     cup  cornstarch
1 1/2  cups  water
1 1/3  cups  sugar
1/4     teaspoon  salt
3         tablespoons  butter
1/2    cup  lemon juice
1        tablespoon  finely grated lemon zest
1        pre-baked pie shell — (9-inch)

Meringue:
4     egg whites
1     pinch  cream of tartar
2    tablespoons  sugar

1) Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   

2)  Lemon Filling:    Whisk egg yolks in medium size mixing bowl and set aside.In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, water, sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine.

3)  Turn heat on medium and, stirring frequently, bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually, 1 whisk-full at a time, add hot mixture to egg yolks and stir until you have added at least half of the mixture.

4)   Return egg mixture to saucepan, turn heat down to low and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and gently stir in butter, lemon juice, and zest until well combined.

5)  Meringue Topping:   Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and then gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.

6)   Pour mixture into pie shell and top with meringue while filling is still hot. Make sure meringue completely covers filling and that it goes right up to the edge of the crust. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until meringue is golden. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.  Make sure pie is cooled completely before slicing.

AWESOME Gluten Free Pie Crust

1         cup  sweet rice flour
1/3     cup  tapioca flour
4        tablespoons  potato starch
1/3    teaspoon  xanthan gum
2        tablespoons  white sugar
1/2    teaspoon  salt
1/4    teaspoon  baking powder
1/3    cup  frozen butter — sliced very thin
3        tablespoons  ice cold water
1/2    teaspoon  vanilla extract

1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2)  Whisk the rice flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl of food processor. Turn off processor, add all of the sliced butter, run processor until mix resembles sand.  Turn off, add all of the sliced butter,run processor until dough form a ball.

2)  Butter a square of foil that will cover the crust and dip over the sides.  Add pie chains to weigh down. As pie chains are expensive, I got two lengths of light chain from the hardware store.

4)  Bake for 20 minutes with foil on, then remove and continue baking until golden brown.  If you are going to bake again, such as with a Lemon Meringue Pie, bake until very lighly browned.

5)  Cool and fill.

Crushed Beets with Lemon Vinaigrette

One of the best beet recipes I’ve ever eaten!

2 pounds mixed small or medium beets
6 tablespoons olive butter, divided, plus more
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (lightly packed) plus more
torn fresh dill, plus more
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)

Preheat oven to 400°. Divide beets between 2 large sheets of foil. Drizzle beets on each sheet with 1/2 Tbsp. melted; season with kosher salt and pepper and wrap up foil around beets. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, 40-50 minutes. Let cool slightly, then, using a paper towel, rub skins from beets (they should slip off easily). Crush beets with the bottom of a small bowl (it’s alright if they fall apart).

2.    Meanwhile, whisk lemon zest, lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl; set vinaigrette aside.

3.    Heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beets, season with kosher salt and pepper, and cook until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to bowl with vinaigrette, add 1/4 cup mint and 2 Tbsp. dill, and toss to coat.

Amazing Peanut Butter Cookies

20 years ago I thought I had found the perfect peanut butter cookie.  I’ve used Mary Estella’s recipe from her Natural Foods Cookbook since.

But, since I have been cooking a Traditional Human Diet for about 10 years now, I have been playing around with different recipes; I wanted one with more fat and less sweetener. So I’ve tried about 10 different recipes since…all were good, but not great.  I want melt in your mouth, like a shortbread cookie, texture.  But, I want some crunch on the outside, and lots of peanut butter flavor.

Finally I turned to Cook’s Illustrated, my holy grail of cooking websites how to’s.  In case you haven’t discovered it yet, it is the ONLY website I pay to join, year after year!  Their recipes from America’s Test kitchen are always spot on, and they explain the science of why they work. Their product and kitchen equipment reviews are absolute perfection.  You could spent 2 or 3 months reading everything on the site and it would be the equivalent of going to cooking school..minus the hands on instruction.

So I read their recipe, and then set to play with it.  Here’s my recipe!

1/2 pound salted butter (2 sticks) at cool room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, processed in food processor for 30 seconds, or superfine sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup peanuts, dry-roasted, salted, blended in food processor with sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg plus 1 yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sweet rice flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1.    Cream butter, sugar, peanut butter, and salt in workbowl of electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add yolk, beat well then add whole egg and vanilla; continue beating until well incorporated.  Meanwhile, sift sweet rice flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Stir in peanuts that you have blended into a fine powder in the food processor

2.    Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

3.    Add flour mixture; beat over low speed until flour is just mixed.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 days or double-wrapped and frozen 1 month.)

4.    Form dough into desired shape. I make them about walnut size, they will puff up and spread out. Place 12 dough shapes on buttered cookie sheet. Using a fork wet in water, press each cookie flat and then go back to make a cross section.  Bake, rotating cookie sheets halfway through baking if necessary, until evenly golden brown, about 18 minutes.  You can sprinkle either salt or sugar lightly on each cookie before baking if desired.

5.     Cool to room temperature on cookie sheet.

6.    Use thin-bladed spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack.  Repeat.

7.    Place in airtight container (can be stored up to 3 weeks).

Berries with Orange Sabayon

This is wonderful easy and elegant dessert.  Combing the berries with a protein also makes it very health as it balances the carbs, not allowing the carbs in the berries to elevate the blood sugar.

I don’t always caramelize sugar on top…it’s great without it.

Lemon Sabayon

• 1/4  cup water
• 1/2  teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest, and 3 tablespoons juice from 1 large lemon or orange
• pinch table salt
• 3  large egg yolks
• 1/3  cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)

Berries

• 1cup fresh raspberries
• 1cup fresh blackberries
• 1cup fresh blueberries
• 3  tablespoons sugar for caramelized crust

1. 1. FOR THE SABAYON: Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.

   2. Combine the water, zest, juice, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

   3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until frothy, about 1 minute. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Continue whisking until the mixture begins to thicken, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the juice/zest mixture and continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick, light yellow, and tripled in volume, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan, whisk constantly for about 30 seconds to cool, then set aside while preparing the berries, occasionally whisking the mixture.

   4. FOR THE BERRIES: Combine the berries in a wide, shallow 2-quart broiler-safe gratin dish or divide among 6 ramekins or individual gratin dishes set on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the berries until the fruit is warm and just beginning to release its juices, about 8 minutes. Remove the berries from the oven. Spoon the sabayon over the berries and sprinkle with the sugar. Ignite a kitchen torch and caramelize the sugar. Serve immediately.

Macadamia Cheese

2 cups macadamias, soaked for a minimum of 4 hours

1 cup water

1 teaspoon probiotics

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

Place the mixture in a strainer that has been lined with cheesecloth, and place a weight on top. The weight should not be so heavy that it pushes the cheese through the cloth, but heavy enough to gently start to press the liquid out.

Leave to culture at room temperature for at least 24 but no longer than 48 hours.

Once culturing is complete, stir or process in the following;

¾ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Transfer the cheese to a ring mould. At this point you can remove the ring mould and place the cheese in the refrigerator, or remove the ring mould and place the cheese in a dehydrator at 105°F for 24 hours to get a rind.