Carrot Ginger Soup with Cashew Cream

This is another recipe from Rebecca Katz, author, One Bite at a Time, (Celestial Arts, 2004)

I made it exactly as she wrote it out except that I used a hand blender and did the blending right in the pot instead of transferring to a blender. It was so yummy. We are big carrot eaters in our house so I was pretty sure it would be a hit with all of us and it was.



Carrot Ginger Soup with Cashew Cream

Yields 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

3 pounds carrots (about 16) wash, cut in 1 inch pieces
2 to 2 ½ quarts cold water
1 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
½ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon coriander
1 small pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon maple syrup

Cashew Cream Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of nutmeg

Soup Procedure

In a 6 to 8 quart pot add carrots and water. Cover and bring to boil over medium high heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt, decrease heat to medium low. Cook until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserve cooking liquid and carrots in two bowls.

In the same pot heat olive oil over medium heat, add onions with a pinch of salt, sauté until they are golden. Add in ginger, curry, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, coriander, and red chili pepper flakes, stir to combine. Deglaze the pan with one cup of carrot cooking liquid. Return carrots to pan, mix well to coat with onions and spices.

In a blender, puree mixture in batches adding cooking liquid first and then the carrots, blend until very smooth. Remember not to fill the blender more than 2/3 full! Add additional liquid to reach desired thickness. Return to pot, add maple syrup, and reheat slowly.

Think FASS and taste. Does it need a squeeze of lemon or a pinch or two of salt or a drizzle of maple syrup to round out the flavor?

Cashew Cream

Grind cashews in a mini food processor or nut grinder first. Some blenders are not powerful enough to turn nuts into cream so we give it a head start. If you have a Vita-mix skip this step.

Put water in the blender; add ground cashews, lemon juice, salt and nutmeg. Blend until very very smooth, about 3 minutes. Drizzle a teaspoon of cashew cream on top of each bowl before serving.

Copy write Rebecca Katz, 2004.

GFCF Mexican Soup with Dried Tomatoes

I made this wonderful soup the other night - it was so tasty and a great way to use things I had canned and dried from my garden this year. It was a little too spicy for Andy so the kiddos may not like it - but it's a great soup for the adults. Next time I might add a little less cumin and see if Andy likes it then. If you aren't dairy free - this would be really good with some shredded cheese in it.



Mexican Soup with Dried Tomatoes
6 cups broth (I used turkey broth I had made with the turkey bones after Thanksgiving, but chicken or veggie broth would work just fine)
1 cup salsa (I used my home canned but I am sure store bought would work fine)
3/4 cup dried tomatoes, sliced in long strips
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups corn (frozen, canned or fresh will all work)
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Andy's Birthday

Sorry - I've been a little behind and I never updated you with the final result of Andy's birthday cake. I did go with the Chocolate Zuchinni Cake and the kids all ate it really good. If you don't tell them there there is veggies in it, they'll never know!

As you can see, it turned out great. And yes, that is me over on the right.

15% Discount at Miss Roben's

I just got this in an e-mail from Miss Roben's:

Greetings!

Our advanced apologies for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas -the stock photography available to decorate these emails is lacking religious and ethnic diversity.

We know you are busy getting ready for the end of year holidays and if nothing else, having the kids home from school, so I will keep this email brief.

Most importantly, we are offering 15% off any order over $75 before shipping placed between 12-23-07 to 12-27-07. Enter Code: M9h38W

Some Updates:
12 days of cookies emails: For those of you wondering what happened to the 12 days of cookies newsletters-I kept meaning to get them out but was overwhelmed with other responsibilities and then got the flu. Sorry!

Frozen products: ALMOST done. Yes, finally. Without boring you with the details, there are many aspects that need to occur for a customer to place both fresh/frozen and shelf stable to their cart and successfully check out.

Loyalty Rewards: Another coding issue we are trying to correct. In the interim you can still redeem points, and accrue points without interruption. It is just more labor intensive then we want it to be and hope to have an answer in the near future.
Happy Holidays!Allergy Grocer

Great finds at the Dollar Store

Look what I found at the Big Dollar Store yesterday. Andy loves the Imagine Tomato Soup. I have never tried the Crispy Chicken Coating Mix - but guess what? For a dollar I will! For those of you local - they have tons of both of these products at the Big Dollar Store on Robert Street (not Dollar Tree - also on Robert). This is not the first time I have found organic and/or gluten free products at this dollar store.

I hope you are all enjoying my failed attempts

It's not that I have that much trouble making cupcakes. It's that many of my recipes that I post here go through several revisions before they end up here looking perfect.

So many people say to me - I can't do what you do - I try and it doesn't turn out - well, guess what? Not all of mine turns out either. And it is costly to experiment - but it is also expensive to buy mixes and ready made products - and I've tried plenty of them I didn't like either.


Yesterday I made these from the recipe in Special Diets for Special Kids II (Lisa Ackerman's recipe). They are moist and wonderful and I am gobbling them up without frosting. But they will not do for a kid's birthday party - way too messy!

So I have convinced Andy that a cake is better than cupcakes and we are going with the Chocolate Zuchinni Cake that I posted a few months ago. He loved that and it was great. So no more experimenting for now.

Another attempt at cupcakes for Andy's birthday party

Thanks everyone for your comments and e-mails. Part of what I was trying to do was fine a great yellow or white cake. Andy doesn't really care for chocolate and I know I could make some kick ass carrot ones but Andy doesn't like them either and it is his birthday. But he will tolerate chocolate so I think the next attempt is going to be chocolate. Chocolate always seems to turn out better.

As I was searching for recipes I found that several of them used mayonnaise instead of margarine or shortening and I thought I would try that - they were certainly moister, but the texture is still not what I would like and the taste is just okay. My family did eat them all up just like the first batch so none of this is going to waste - just not good enough to fool those on regular diets - especially children.


Here is this batch coming out of the oven - they have a nice golden color.

And here they are frosted.

This is the recipe I came up with:

GFCF Yellow Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
2/3 cup mayonaise (I used Spectrum canola mayo)
1 cup milk sub (I used Silk Soy Milk, vanilla flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
3. Mix the eggs, sugar and mayo until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, milk and vanilla and mix well. Batter will be runny. Pour into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.