Almond milk, diy

I am so proud of myself, that I needed to brag. I just never knew that making an almond milk could be so easy.

sweet almond milk, homemade

Lately I have been trying to find new kinds of “milk” besides cow’s milk, as the latter felt too heavy.

The almond milk  that’s found in the stores isn’t just almonds, but has other additives. So, in my search, I found a great site, full of  explanations about the different milks (cow, soy, nut) and a recipe for homemade almond milk. Guess what? It worked, and it’s so EZ, Not to mention- white and sweet.

I made mine with less dates- thus less sweet, and didn’t use cheesecloth or a “nut milk bag”, but a regular strainer/sieve.

without further ado, turn to choosing raw.

Cheers !

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gluten free, egg free, chickpea flour chocolate cake

It’s no secret that the essence of the Jewish holidays is food. Yes, it is a big deal. Each holiday has it’s own traditions, rules, restrictions, and expectations. We love to make a fuss and we love to eat.

So Passover is around the corner, and the basic rule is that leavened bread and any product that is fermented or can cause fermentation may not be eaten, including five grains: wheat, rye, barley, oats, and spelt. Why? because, life is not easy, just as it was not easy for the ancient Israelites who ran away from Egypt, and didn’t have time for gourmet food.

So when I stumbled upon a bag of chickpea flour, I had a eureka moment. What if, what if, what if I can bake a cake with the… hummus flour?! It’ll work for Passover. Well, I decided to explore. I found many recipes for some pancakes, flat breads, veggie burgers, and such. Nope, not satisfying. I need a cake. Based on the interesting fact that I did find– this flour can substitute the use of eggs, I decided to be brave, and try to bake a simple chocolate cake.

just one slice ???

The reported results of the experiment: three very happy children who loved the cake.

The potential benefits: wheat-free, gluten free, easy to digest, vitamins and minerals = nutritional.

you’ll need:

• greased 9″ round cake pan. I used the spring-form one.  A square pan will also do.
• 2 cups chickpea flour;
• half cup sugar, or if you’d rather keep out of sugar, use Raw honey, or stevia, but feel free to adjust sweeteners according to your sweet tasting buds (most cake recipes call for 1.5 cups of sugar, but we don’t like it that sweet);
• 1 tsp baking powder;
• 1 tsp baking soda;
• 2 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder;
• 100 gr/3.5 oz of good quality dark chocolate bar (I use 85% and up cocoa);
• 2/3 cup olive oil;
• 1.5 cup water.

how-to:

heat oven to 350°f.

combine all dry ingredients together, and mix well.

chocolate cake dry ingredients

pour olive oil and water into the mixed flour, and whisk slowly together, until smooth and all the flour dissolved.

break the chocolate bar into a microwave-safe glass dish, and melt in 20 second time segments, mixing it between each time, until chocolate is uniformly smooth and liquified.

add 1 Tbsp of the batter into the melted chocolate, mix together, and add all melted chocolate back into the batter. mix well together.

mixing chocolate with batter

pour the whole mixture onto greased pan, and into the oven it goes for 35 minutes. Don’t expect a high cake, this one’s a shorty.

notes:

• the kids did recommend, however, to add chocolate chips. since the cake is bit on the drier side, that could be a good advice.
• when adding the water, you may notice that you need a bit more than 1.5 cups. you want to have a smooth fluidish batter.
• you may need more than 35 minutes- all depends on your oven.
• yes- some add ice cream on top, some add frosting. I just like to dunk it in tea. the kids like it as is…

check out my gluten free carrot cake, and gluten free blueberry cake.

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odds and ends

“Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high..”  by DuBose Heyward.

So I gathered bits and pieces from here and there that I felt I needed to tell the world.

• Starting with food. Here’s a real quick and tasty recipe of Pattypan summer squashes. I just got them at our local farmers market. They’re not only cute and add color to your dinner table, but also, ahammm, healthy (here). Most of all- they’re yummy !

Pattypan squashes fresh from the market

All there’s to do: Cut them into halves wide-wise. Also cut a thin flat slice at each end, so the half squashes could rest steadily in the baking dish (wide side facing up). Turn oven to 400 F or 200 C. Drizzle olive oil, bit of salt, crushed or chopped garlic and coarsely chopped rosemary on the yellow shining faces of the squashes.

pattypans go into the oven

That’s all folks. Cover with aluminum foil, put in oven for 30 minutes. Take off foil and let them pattypans get some oven tan till they’re golden(ish). Out of the oven and into your plate they go. With some nice green salad on the side. Ahh ha. Oh yeah- don’t over roast them, they don’t like to dry out.

• more food: Yesterday, on our way to one of the last shows of HAIR in Broadway, a small window on 9th Ave. caught our eyes.  A pile of some fine-looking Bourekas just called us in. The owner, Gazala Halabi, was placing paper-thin rounds of dough on the taboon, which will later become Druze pitas.

Gazala makes pitas on the taboon

We had wonderful bourekas: one filled with sun dry tomatoes and goat cheese, and the other was with spinach and feta cheese. The kids had a Druze pita wrap (“laffa”) with salad and falafel. The plate was wiped clean off the lamb kabab that was there merely 20 minutes before.

We’ll be there again.  Gazala’s Place

Druze cuisine @ Gazala Place

• Staying in the city: restaurants will now need to display the cleanliness rating of their facility according to new letter-grading rules. Now, when deciding upon your next dinner in the City, look on the restaurant’s window. Does it have an “A”, “B” or “C”? Under the new plan, a restaurant receiving an A grade will post it at the end of the inspection. If the grade is lower than an A, the restaurant will not have to post a grade until it has a chance to improve its sanitary conditions. The Health Department will return within a month to conduct a second inspection. The ultimate goal is to improve sanitary conditions and reduce the risk of food-borne illness.

• Going west: San Francisco is requiring stores to post cellphone radiation levels.  Those rates are the levels at which radio frequencies penetrate body tissue. whether or not there is a connection between cellphones (and their radiation) to cancer, it sure brings the question to the table again, to deserve a serious awareness.

Any thoughts to share?

Fun and healthy summer to us all   🙂

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dig my radishes?

our very own first radish

way back in the summer, we planted seeds. radishes seeds. the plants grew real nice, and big green leaves showed up. Only now, at the end of November, we were able to spot a few red radishes. Well, the radishes are cute, healthy and colorful, but it’s the leaves that we hated to throw away, being so good looking 😉

leafy greens

nothing like experimenting. we cut the leaves into thin slices.

thinly sliced radishes' leaves

and… the regular ceremony for getting a tasty result:  saute onions, garlic, salt n’ pepper in 2 Tbs.of olive oil. throw in the radishes leaves. saute a little more, and, aha- yap- ahmmm- yummy tastes good. we’re lovin’ it.

radishes' leaves stir fry

I bet some added slivered almonds or other nuts would even make it better.

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