Archives for gluten free vegan

Pumpkin Pear Pecan Pancakes

September 25, 2014 by Zucchini Runner in Breakfast, Food, Main Dish | 11 Comments

These pancakes are a spin off my favorite Gluten Free Banana Walnut pancake recipe! We desperately — yes, I said WE desperately — wanted PUMPKIN pancakes for the past week or so. Despite Mr. Zucchini Runner posting this pic to Facebook today…

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…he wanted them just as much as I did! 🙂 So these came about from a need to FEEL like it’s fall in AZ, despite still reaching temps in the triple digits. Which reminds me, we did a trail run last night that was HOT, HOT, HOT! Second day into the Autumn Equinox and I was overheating on a night run. It left my stomach upset the rest of the night, so I ate a super light dinner. I made up for it tonight with these bad boys however. 😉 I must say, the sore stomach was worth it for these views.

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Ok, back to the task at hand. PANCAKES. These are the perfect way to kick off fall and enjoy some in season pears! Have fun with it and enjoy!

This recipe will make ~ 13 pancakes

Combine in a large bowl:

2 2/3 cups all purpose GF baking flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 – 3/4 tsp. pumpkin spice (depending on your taste buds)
1/2 tsp salt

Combine in a separate, small bowl:
3/4 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 pear chopped (I used a d’Anjou; save the rest to top your pancake stack before serving)
2 cups water (add more or less depending on desired consistency of pancake)
2 flax “eggs” (2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 tbsp water; combine and set aside for 5-10 minutes)
2 chia “eggs” (2 tbsp chia seeds + 6 tbsp water; combine and set aside for 5-10 minutes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c. chopped pecans
extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil for the griddle or pan

*If you are new to gluten-free baking, I would purchase the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free flour. It is a great combination of flours: garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, whole grain sweet white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour. It’s a great value to get the right combo of flours in one bag. If you are familiar with gluten-free baking however, feel free to use your favorite combo of flours.

Preheat a griddle to 390ºF

Once you have everything combined in their separate bowls, with nuts and pears chopped and ready to go, add the liquid ingredients to the dry using a large spoon. (A whisk will be a mess…) At this point you can add more water if you want a runnier pancake. Fold in chopped pecans and chopped pears.

Use coconut oil to coat your griddle, before dropping 1/3 c. of batter onto the griddle. Gently push it down with your measuring cup to flatten it out like a pancake. Let cook for about 5 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown. (These won’t bubble like traditional pancakes…) BEFORE you flip them onto the other side, coat the pancake with a little bit of coconut oil using a basting brush (or coconut oil spray if you want). Because these are gluten free, and contain no fat, they stick like CRAZY if you don’t oil them enough. We like to use extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil because it is one of the most stable oils due to the saturated fat content. It’s also a medium chain fat, so your body burns it as fuel right away, versus storing it elsewhere in your body.

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The pears were SO good!! 🙂

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Lastly, I topped our pancakes with a pumpkin syrup recipe from my friend Kristin’s (Cook and Run with Kristin) latest blog post. It MADE the pancakes for sure! Fall was in the air in our house tonight, despite the temps.

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I wasn’t planning on posting this to the blog, but after the first bite, I kind of knew I had to. So you’ll have to excuse the sparse photos, with terrible lighting, I was really, really hungry and didn’t want to wait any longer to eat!

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Do you ever eat breakfast foods for dinner? 🙂

Apple Tart (Gluten-Free)

December 25, 2013 by Zucchini Runner in Dessert, Food | Comments Off on Apple Tart (Gluten-Free)

Merry Christmas everyone! As I was about to bake this apple tart for Christmas evening, I realized it didn’t transfer over to my WordPress.org site, from WordPress.com! So, here it is again, from August. 😉

Now, time to get my bake on – it should be extra easy now that I have my awesome Wonder Woman apron from Mr. Zucchini Runner. 😀

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Let me start off by saying this post is very, VERY overdue! Back at the end of May, Mr. Zucchini Runner and I were up in Northern Arizona with some family, playing cards, watching softball and enjoying walks and runs around this beautiful lake.

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During one of many conversations, my sister-in-law told the story of a magical fruit tree that was producing glorious Arizona apples in her brother’s yard. This tree was producing so many apples, they didn’t know what to do with them! UM, YES PLEASE! She knew I would love some for my homemade applesauce and of course, I wanted to experiment making some other delicious treats as well. A couple weeks later I left there with PLENTY of apples to bake with!

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Originally I wanted to make a cobbler of some sort, but then opted for something a little more fancy. I adapted this recipe from Vegan Dad, by making it gluten-free and changing some other minor ingredients. It turned out incredible! We ate 2 slices each the night I baked it. Whoops.

The instructions below may appear long and involved, but it’s really not that bad actually. Especially since it is gluten free. Saves on chilling and rolling the dough. 😉 A nice little perk.

Tart Crust
1 1/4 cups GF All Purpose Baking Flour
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup Spectrum Shortening
2 tbsp ground flax seed
2 tbsp cold water
2-3 tbsp cold almond milk

Preheat oven to 350°F

Have your 8″ tart pan ready and waiting before you get started. Combine the ground flax seed, water and almond milk in a small dish and set aside. In a large bowl combine the flour and coconut sugar. Spoon in the shortening by the tablespoon and space it out as you plop each blob into the mix. Wash your hands thoroughly. Using your hands, carefully toss the shortening blobs with the mixture until coated, don’t smash the blobs just yet. 😉 Pour the flax mixture over the flour, sugar, shortening mixture. Using your hands again, start mashing it all together. Once it feels 80% incorporated, you can start pressing it into the tart pan. The less you handle the mixture the easier it will be to work with, so be sure not to overwork it. As you are pressing it into the tart pan, try to get it as even as possible and make sure you don’t forget to push it all the way up the sides! 🙂

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, uncovered. You want the crust to be slightly darker and starting to firm up. Cool on counter while you prepare the tart filling.

Tart Filling
2 lbs cooking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks (I have no idea what kind they were, just golden and magical)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp margarine, melted

2 cooking apples, peeled cored, and thinly sliced
1 tbsp margarine, melted
1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 375°F

In a large bowl combine the 2 lbs of apple chunks, cinnamon, lemon and margarine and toss to thoroughly coat. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until you can spear a chunk easily with a fork, approximately 20-30 minutes depending on your apples. Once soft, remove and place back into the large mixing bowl. Using a fork, smash the apples to a mushy – yet incredibly delicious – tart filling. Spoon into cooled and cooked tart shell.

Now for the really fun part! Decorate the top of your tart however you would like with your thinly sliced apples! When your pattern is complete (be sure each slice overlaps), bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, or until heated through.

Once the tart is removed from the oven, use a combo of melted margarine and applesauce to glaze the apples. (I used a rubber pastry brush similar to this one.) You can even sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon too!

Let cool at least 30 minutes (if you can wait that long) before removing tart pan* and slicing. Enjoy and have fun!

*An easy way to remove the ring portion of the pan is to place the whole pie on top of a can of beans (or something) and let the ring fall down on its own. (See slideshow picture.)

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