Roasted Potatoes-Low Oil

I love roasted veggies. The roasted outsides and mushy insides make me happy and my husband too. I think he could eat potatoes at every meal all day and be happy. He loves them any way but roasted is one of his favorites. The only downfall to the roasted vegetable is that, often, you need to use quite a bit of oil on them so they don’t stick to the pan especially when cooking particularly starchy or sugary veggies like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Recently, our family started to adopt a low oil diet. That isn’t to say we don’t every have oil. We’ve just tried to stop using it as a food group…..I do love my olive oil. Seriously, I could almost eat it by the spoonful. Not the healthiest food choice that way. So, I’ve been trying to find ways to eat some of what we love without all the oil.

Now let me just say that I have literally fallen in love with parchment paper. Nothing sticks to it and things still brown. I’ve started using it a lot. For cookies, for packets of veggies on the grill wrapped in aluminum foil, and for ROASTED VEGETABLES!!!!! It is such a miraculous thing to me, and it makes cleaning up a piece of cake too! Always, always, always a plus for me……

Most of us roast our veggies on some sort of baking sheet. The only issue with using the parchment paper is that is moves around making it rather difficult to use a spatula to flip/stir the vegetables as they cook. One night while prepping dinner I had an idea. I had two baking sheets of the same size, so I cut the parchment paper a few inches (4 or 5 I would guess) larger than the pans. Then I put the parchment the first pan and wrapped the paper underneath the pan and placed that pan inside the second pan which held the paper in place. And Voila! It worked perfectly. I was able to easily use the spatula without the parchment moving. Perfect!

As for the recipe for the potatoes, I’ll do my best. Not a lot of measuring going on and it is a matter of taste. Pick the herbs/spices you like and remember salt.

Here is what I USUALLY put on my Low Oil Roasted Potatoes.

·    Chop up some potatoes and place in a large mixing bowl (1 inch or less cubes work well      and larger or smaller is fine too. You’ll only need to adjust your baking time.)

·    Sprinkle on some salt, pepper, garlic powder-don’t go crazy with this one (you can also use fresh chopped garlic), onion powder and sage.

·    Toss with hands to coat potatoes with spices.

·    Add about 1 tsp or less of olive oil  (per 5-6 medium potatoes) and toss with hands again.

·    Dump potatoes out onto prepared parchment lined pan.

·    Bake at 400 F for about 1 hour. Check them every 15 minutes and turn them with a spatula each time. Remember baking times will vary based on the size of the potatoes and the amount of “roastedness” desired.

And don’t forget summer is on its way. These same potatoes can be cooked on the grill in about half the time. Simply take a large piece of aluminum foil and line the foil with parchment paper leaving about a 1 1/2 to 2 space between the end of the parchment paper and the foil to allow for folding. Place prepared potatoes on the parchment and fold the parchment over to cover the potatoes (like you were folding over wrapping paper). Then fold over the foil and fold over the edges a few times and crimp tightly. Place on a hot grill for about 20-30 minutes turning once if desired. Open these pockets of yumminess and eat!!!

Crazy Tweaked Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (vegan, gluten free, oil free, nut and seed free)

Aren’t there times when you just wish someone would say, “Excuse me, but would you like a cup full of cookies?” Mmmm, yes, yes I would…with a cup of coffee please. Ooooo and a nap! (sigh) I like la-la land. Anyway, since that NEVER seems to happen and since fantasies can only be so real….make some for yourself! You totally deserve it!

These cookies are based on my recently created Crazy Tweaked Chocolate Chip Cookies (2/29/2012 post).  These cookies have no oil so there is also very little guilt involved with eating A CUP of cookies. These crazy treats are suitable for most dietary restrictions and they taste fantastic. They are crispy on the outside and kind of like a brownie on the inside. Yeah, they’re terrible.

If you would like a richer chocolate cookie you could use my Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie from my first post. And if you want to use traditional flour instead of the gluten free flours just replace the sorghum flour, rice flour and starch with 1 cup of all-purpose flour and omit the xanthan gum.       

So, cheers my friends. I raise my cup of cookies to you!!

*Special thanks today to my 3 year old baking assistant. She runs my mixer (and a lot of my world!). 

Crazy Tweaked Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten free, vegan, nut/seed/bean free and no oil products)

1/4 c. sorghum flour                                             

1/2 c. plus 2 TBS white or brown rice flour (tweak: replace 2 TBS of rice flour with 2 TBS protein powder of choice)

1/2 c. plus 2 TBS cocoa

1/4 c. potato or arrowroot starch

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. rice milk (or other dairy free milk ...tweak: you could use a dairy milk instead if you prefer)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. dairy free semi-sweet chocolate chips (like Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or dairy and soy free like Enjoy Life brand semi-sweet chocolate chips)

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In a mixer mix the sugars and the rice milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl stir all the other dry ingredients together using a wisk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. The batter/dough will be a little looser than traditional chocolate chip cookie dough. It should slowly lose its form when scooped. If it is too stiff add an additional 1-2 TBS of rice milk. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon by rounded tablespoons onto the cookie sheet. Make sure you use parchment paper for these cookies because without any fat in the dough they will stick to a plain cookie sheet. You could use a SILPAT silicone baking pad, but I found that the paper worked better.

Bake at 375 F for 12-14 minutes. (I consistently bake them for 13 mins.) Cool slightly on the pan then move to cooling rack. Eat.

*Allow to cool very well before placing in airtight container.

Irish Soda Bread (traditional, gluten free and dairy free options)

Well, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us. It’s time for all things green, leprechaun, or made with Guinness. I thought I’d give you a somewhat traditional Irish treat for the occasion. Now normally I don’t care for soda bread…too much baking soda for my taste buds most of the time. But my son and his class made soda bread this week in school using a recipe from allrecipes.com called Irresistible Irish Soda Bread.  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irresistible-irish-soda-bread/ He brought home a piece for me to try and it was quite good. So, I thought I’d alter it and see how it came out.

I made it last night and tried it this morning (it is recommended that you eat it the next day or several hours after cooling for best flavor). I really liked the flavor and could see making this as a savory bread or muffin to go with dinner. My son loves it and has already had 3 pieces (so have I)! If you made muffins I would guess the baking time would be around 25 minutes give or take 5 minutes. Also, if you DO prefer a more soda-y soda bread you may want to increase the baking soda to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 tsp. I chose to use white rice flour instead of my usual brown rice to keep it closer to the white flour used in the original recipe, but feel free to use the brown rice and I probably will next time.

This bread would also be great with select herbs added. Erin go bragh!

Irish Soda Bread (traditional, gluten free and dairy free versions)

3 cups all purpose flour (tweak for gluten free: 1 1/2 c. sorghum flour and 1 3/4 c. plus 2 TBS white rice flour and 1 tsp xanthan gum…as you can see I increased the total flour by 6 TBS )

1 TBS baking powder

1/3 c. white sugar (I used organic cane sugar)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. baking soda (increase by 1/4 tsp -1/2 tsp if you want to taste more of the soda)

1 egg lightly beaten

2 cups buttermilk (tweak for dairy free: 2 c. rice milk less 4 tsp of vinegar…meaning: place 4 tsp of vinegar in a cup then add enough rice milk to equal 2 c.)

1/4 c. melted butter (tweak for dairy free: use grapeseed oil or oil of choice…I think grapeseed has a somewhat buttery flavor)

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9X5 loaf pan or muffin tins.

Combine all dry ingredients and stir together using a wisk. In a separate bowl beat the egg then add the rest of the wet ingredients together. Pour wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients stirring to combine. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 10-15 min then remove from pan to completely cool on wire rack. Once cooled wrap bread in foil for several hours or overnight for best flavor.

Pure Vanilla Extract: Is it gluten free?

Some people have wondered if they need to purchase “Gluten Free Vanilla” if they are trying to make gluten free products. Here’s the 411. Pure vanilla extract IS gluten free. You don’t need to buy special vanilla. I think the concern was born out of the fact that many grains (like wheat) are used to make the refined alcohols used in things like vanilla extract….. or your favorite martini. However, the distillation process does not allow any of gluten proteins to pass into the final product. So, none of the gluten that may have been used to make the alcohol ends up in the alcohol or the vanilla it is used in. If companies are labeling their pure vanilla extract product as “gluten free” they are likely doing so to get people’s attention and  to become part of a niche market. Much like when many manufacturer started labeling their products “fat free” even though their product had always been fat free and their wasn’t anything new or special about it…..like fat free marshmellows…..makes them SEEM healthier doesn’t it?

Oh, while on the topic of vanilla. Look at other stores for great prices on vanilla. The grocery store prices are ridiculous for the amount of vanilla you get AND many of the major brands include corn syrup. You can get pure vanilla extract (vanilla beans, alcohol and water) at places like The Christmas Tree Shop (about $3.50 for 8oz), Reny’s (in Maine), etc. for far cheaper than the grocery store for an often better product. Also, look in those stores for Bob’s Red Mill flours and products too…..also cheaper than the grocery store!

That’s it for today’s class of Vanilla 101.  Use freely!!!