post healthy and/or dairy-free and/or wheat-free recipes here

I served this to my parents a couple of years ago, and they had no clue that this was a tofu-take on pumpkin pie. I think it’s delicious, and it’s dairy free.

Ingredients

1 can (16 ounces) pureed pumpkin
0.75 cup sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp ground ginger
0.25 tsp ground cloves
1 package (10-12 ounces) silken/soft tofu (not the low-fat tofu, as flavour isn’t the same)

9-in unbaked pie shell (I use the nut pie shell recipe, posted earlier in this goal)

Method

Process tofu in a blender until smooth.
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Cream the pumpkin and sugar. Add salt, spices, and tofu, mix thoroughly.
Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes at 425F. Lower heat to 350F and bake for another 40 minutes. Chill and serve.

I love this recipe, which I found here on the All Recipes site. It’s delicious, and doesn’t disagree with DH. Good alone, over rice, or over barley.

Ingredients

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup raisins
0.25 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp minced ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cans (19 oz) chickpeas
1 medium yam, peeled and diced
1 pear, peeled and cubed
salt to taste
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Method

Place water, bouillon cubes, and raisins in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, and simmer until bouillon cubes dissolve.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add cinnamon sticks, cloves, cayenne, turmeric, coriander, and cumin; cook for about 3 minutes until fragrant, stirring constantly.

Stir in chickpeas, yams, and pear into onions; pour in hot vegetable stock and raisins. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables have softened and the sauce has thickened, about 1 hour.

Season to taste with salt and stir in chopped cilantro before serving.

DH loves Indian food. But eating out is frequently a challenge for him, esp if he can’t be sure what ingredients are being used. A small amount of dairy or greasy stuff can be enough to ruin his digestive tract for the night. He’s had a few rough evenings after eating a innocent-looking curry or tandoori that probably had cream in the sauce.

At home, we can control what goes into the recipe, so we end up with something that tastes the way we like, but which doesn’t disagree with him. This recipe comes from Easy Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani. I like to serve it over barley (a change from rice).

Ingredients

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 lbs onions, chopped (about 7 cups)
2 lbs lean ground beef or lamb
1.5 Tbsp minced peeled gingerroot
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 or 4 tsp chopped green chilies, pref serranos (I used pickled jalapenos)
1 Tbsp coriander
1.5 tsp cumin powder
0.75 cayenne pepper
0.75 tsp turmeric
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste
1 can (28oz/796mL) chopped tomatoes, including juice
1 pkg (10 oz/300g) frozen peas
1 tsp garam masala
0.3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Method

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onions until beginning to colour, 10 to 12 mins. Reduce heat to medium and saute until dark brown, 25 to 30 minutes longer, stirring frequently to prevent sticking to pan. If necessary, deglaze periodically with 2 Tbsp water.

Add ground beef, ginger, garlic and chilies. Brown well, stirring frequently, 15 to 20 minutes. Continue to deglaze with water as necessary.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Add coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric and salt. Mix well. Saute, stirring continuously, for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add tomatoes with juice and mix well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Add peas and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with garam masala. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Stir mixture. Garnish with coriander just before serving.

As I said, I like it over barley, but you could serve it over rice. We’ve also used leftovers as a filling in a wrap.

Pesto sauce is traditionally made with Parmesan cheese, but since DH is off dairy, we needed an alternative.

Ingredients

6 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 cup packed basil leaves
1 cup packed parsley
1/2 cup miso paste
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp olive oil

Method

Place garlic and pine nuts in food processor and blend until evenly minced. Scrape down sides, and add in basil and parsley, and blend again until leaves are well minced. Scrape down again and add miso, tahini and olive oil. Blend until you achieve an even consistency.

This is just a basic blueberry pie filling that can be used with the Ground Nut Pie Crust in the previous post.

Ingredients

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Method

Mix dry ingredients in saucepan. Add water gradually. Bring to a boil, add blueberries and cook 3 or 4 minutes until clear and thickened, stirring constantly but carefully to prevent berries from crushing. Remove from heat, add lemon juice.

Cool completely before spooning into a baked pie crust.

Don’t remember where this recipe came from, but we started using it when my FIL decided to stop eating wheat. Delicious with a fruit filling! (See next post for a blueberry filling)

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups ground pecans
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup white sugar
4 Tbsp non-dairy margarine, melted (or, if you don’t care about dairy, unsalted butter)

Method:

Stir together ground nuts, cinnamon, and sugar. Mix in melted butter.

Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch, deep-dish style, pie pan. Chill the unbaked crust in the refrigerator for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Place pie crust on a cookie sheet, and position on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree F (175 degree C) oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. WATCH it carefully, as nut crusts burn easily; they DON’T have to turn black to taste burnt! Cool completely before filling.

This is from the “Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favourites” cookbook, and is completely vegetarian as contains no milk or eggs.

Ingredients:

4 cups water
3/4 cup white rice (preferably basmati)
1 quart 1% soymilk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup currants or raisins
1 tsp freshly grated lemon peel

Method:

Bring water to boil in a heavy saucepan. Add rice and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes. Drain rice and return to pan with soy milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, raisins and lemon peel. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often, until pudding is thick and creamy. Serve warm, or chill at least two hours or overnight.

If desired, garnish with fresh fruit.

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
5-6 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
2 cups fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups green onions, chopped
2/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons dried mint leaves, crushed
pepper and salt to taste

Method:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add quinoa, return to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, until water is absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, then place in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl, tossing well to combine evenly. Cover and chill at least 2 hours, to allow flavours to blend.

This makes a big recipe: easily 8 servings. But it keeps well – even tastes better the next day, so DH and I have no problem getting through it.