Creamy Carrot Soup

One of my favorite, and first cookbooks was The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking). Many of my favorite recipes from this cookbook are based on vegetables and are naturally gluten-free. Even before I was gluten-free, I never experimented much with the baking in this book and usually stuck to the soups and vegetable recipes—the book's forté.

Over years of making the "Herbed Carrot Soup Recipe," I have adjusted it to make it not so thick (made according to the recipe it's more like a carrot purée than a soup), give it more flavor and make it simpler to make. It's a good source of beta carotene to keep your skin glowing until strawberry season.

Quick & Kicked up Carrot Soup

2 lbs baby carrots*

1 medium organic potato

6 cups vegetable broth

1.5 cups chopped onions

1 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 tsp. salt

5 medium cloves garlic

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1. Roughly chop the carrots and organic potato (leave skin on) and place them in large soup pot with 6 cups of vegetable broth.

2. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until carrots and potato are soft (about 15 minutes).

3. Heat oil in small sauce pan. Add onions and salt and sauté for 5 minutes until fragrant. Add garlic and dried herbs and sauté for 5 more minutes.

4. Put the contents of the skillet into the saucepan and puree everything with a hand blender or in a regular blender in batches.

*You can use 2 lbs of regular carrots but baby carrots that are already cleaned and peeled save you about 15 minutes.

Caramelized Banana Frosting (Sugar-Free)

"Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal"

~Pablo Picasso

I recently re-watched Pirates of Silicon Valley in ten parts on youtube, of course. This is one of my favorite movies—for the story, not for any cinematic value. I love when Noah Wyle, playing Steve Jobs re-quotes Picasso, stating "good artists copy, great artists steal" and promptly utilizes everything that Xerox has inadvertently gifted to Apple Computers.

Similarly in cooking, I can almost never make a recipe exactly as printed but I definitely "steal" techniques and parts of the process from cookbooks and my favorite food bloggers. While watching Pirates of Silicone Valley and after months of attempts to concoct a frosting recipe that doesn't depend on large amounts of oil, is sweetened naturally but is worthy of the title "frosting," I thought about the first step in my favorite ice cream recipe, Roasted Banana Coconut Ice Cream over at Elana's Pantry. The caramelized bananas and dates had a waxy texture that I realized would be the perfect base for a frosting recipe. Who doesn't want to be a Pirate once in a while?

After adapting and "sampling" Elana's tecnique, I came up with a frosting recipe that was amazing in it's own right (not just for the gluten-free, sugar free, healthier category). Next time, I plan on doubling it so that I can pile it even higher on top of Banana Cupcakes or Coconut Flour Vanilla Cupcakes. All months ahead of Talk Like a Pirate Day— Arghhh!

Caramelized Banana Frosting

Pre-Heat Oven to 375º

2 medium bananas

3 medjool dates

1 Tbs. coconut oil, melted

1 Tbs. vanilla extract (make sure gluten-free)

1/2 C. coconut milk (light, okay)

2 Tbs. coconut oil, melted

2 Tbs. arrowroot powder (Cornstarch will work to if you're not trying to make it grain-free)

1. In a glass pyrex dish, slice the bananas and dates into 1 inch slices, toss in 1 Tbs. Melted Coconut Oil and 1 Tbs. Vanilla Extract.

2. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

3. Puree the caramelized banana mixture with the coconut milk until smooth in blender, vita-mix or magic bullet and pour into a medium sized bowl.

4. Stir in melted coconut oil and arrowroot powder until combined well.

5. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Frosts 12 cupcakes lightly, double if you would like to pile on the frosting.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes (Grain-Free & Vegan)

Frosted with Caramelized Banana Frosting

While I found it fairly easy to make a great gluten-free, soy-free vegan cupcake with a few tweaks to the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World Vegan Golden Vanilla Cupcake Recipe. Substituting an all-purpose gluten-free flour and using light coconut milk instead of soy milk made a very convincing cupcake that nobody guessed was gluten-free or vegan. But, these weren't for my battered stomach that is hostile to even gluten-free grains. I also don't do well with cane sugar, which makes me feel dizzy and drunk—but not in a good way. I feel like I'm having an adverse reaction to a medication. While I don't have this reaction to Agave, with all the controversy surrounding Agave, I try to use it sparingly.

In Philadelphia, I checked out the new Gluten-free Vegan Sweet Freedom Bakery where they use coconut sugar to sweeten their baked goods, which supposedly has the same Glycemic index as an apple. I had one of their amazing banana chocolate chip cupcakes (which do use gluten-free grains) but still had a reaction similar to as if I had eaten sugar. But, their cupcake was definitely inspiring. I made these cupcakes and while they use a lot of ingredients everyone from meat, dairy, gluten and sugar eatings agreed they were delicious.

Banana Cupcakes (vegan, grain-free)

Pre-Heat Oven to 350º

Wet Ingredients

1 small banana

3 Tbs. Grapeseed or Olive Oil

2 Tbs. Applesauce

8 Medjool Dates (or 16 California Dates), soaked for 2-4 hours

2/3 C. light coconut milk + 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar, let sit for 5 minutes

1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract (or more vanilla)

Dry Ingredients:

1/3 C. garbanzo bean flour

1/4 C. coconut flour

1/3 C. arrowroot flour

1/3 C. potato starch

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. xantham gum

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 C. mini-dark chocolate chips or chunks

1. In a blender or vita-mix purée first 4 wet ingredients together until smooth.

2. Mix the contents of the blender with the rest of the wet ingredients in a small bowl/

3. Sift dry ingredients in large bowl except for chocolate chips. Whisk together.

4. Stir wet ingredients into dry, do not over mix.

5. Fold in chocolate chips.

6. Spoon 3/4 of the way full into muffin tin lined with cupcake liners.

7. Make for 25 minutes.

8. The cupcakes will rise significantly but then drop a bit as they cool.

9. Frost with your favorite frosting or the Caramelized Banana Frosting (my next post).

Note: the garbanzo bean flour will have a strong flavor that the banana and dates helps to mask. The batter is not good and tastes like a bean. The baked product tastes much better, so don't be alarmed or throw out the batter if you taste it.