Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

I took a semester of French in college. The only thing I remember, and use more often than I probably should, is Vous nagez comme un poisson. It's 'You swim like a fish'.

It may not be gorgeous, but it is delicious!
Happy Mardi Gras!

I have several friends who have moved to New Orleans in the last year and every Instagram picture they post makes me want to go down and visit more and more. It's Mardi Gras on Tuesday, and so I decided to make a King Cake in honor of a holiday I don't super understand, but support fully! :) I was on the hunt for a gluten free and vegan recipe, and I couldn't really find one. But I did find a vegan recipe that I made using gluten free flour. It was not hard to make, and smells amazing. This is kind of an all afternoon project, so if you're pressed for time, this isn't the recipe for you. I've never had the original version, so I have no idea how this compares, but if you're gluten free and vegan, and you're desperate for cake, you've come to the right place.

Also, this is supposed to have a bean or plastic baby placed somewhere inside, so that the person who finds it has good luck. My house is bean free, so I bought a bag of plastic babies at the store today. That is a weird sentence. The more I thought about it though, the more I questioned the food safety of cooking plastic in food. I feel like that is the opposite of what you're supposed to do. So of course I Googled it. Most sites now recommend just sneaking it in after it's been cooked and to NOT cook a plastic baby. I fully support this. I found this recipe on The Spruce and the original recipe is by Ashley Adams

Gluten Free & Vegan King Cake

Cake:
1 pkg dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 T maple syrup
2 1/2 c. gluten free flour (plus more) (I use Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 mix)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
6 T lactose free butter, cut into pieces
3 T Egg Replacer mixed with 1/4 tsp hot water*
1/4 c. coconut milk**

Filling
3/4 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c finely chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c lactose free butter

Sprinkles
The original recipe called for you to make your own colored sprinkles. That's crazy. Just buy them at your local baking store. If you want to make your own, see the original recipe

Icing
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 T warm water

*I was very confused by this, because this is not the normal ratio when doing Egg Replacer. It is basically still powder, but I guess it works?
**I took this to mean the canned version, but when I opened my can up, it had separated (I guess my kitchen is colder than I thought it was), and wouldn't mix back together, so I just used my boxed coconut milk that I use for recipes and cereal and it seems to have worked

Ingredients for the cake-note that I changed up the coconut milk

Directions

I think it's important to note that my final product does not look like the pictures online. But my final product RARELY looks like the pictures online, because gluten free baking is it's own animal. Nine times out of ten, whatever I've made TASTES amazing, and really, that's more important, right?

1. In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and maple syrup, mixing gently until the yeast dissolves and bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, and sugar. Add the lactose-free butter and process until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3. Add this mixture to the yeast, along with the Egg Replacer mixture and coconut milk. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until soft dough forms. If you are used to gluten free flour, you know this doesn't exactly exist, but you form it to the best ball version you can.

4. Place in an oiled bowl, covered, for one hour, or until the dough is doubled in bulk. I have a really hard time getting gluten free doughs to double or rise, so if you know of a trick, tell me. Otherwise, just plan on it getting slightly bigger, but not doubled.

5. Make the filling: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, softened butter, copped pecans, and cinnamon until combined. I just used my hands, because it was easier. Also, it ends up being a pretty nice sugar scrub for your hands!

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F. I used parchment paper, but you can lightly oil a large baking sheet or round pizza pan too.

7. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle about 1/8" thick. Again, GF batter doesn't 'do' this like normal batter, so just roll it out the best you can.

8. Use a sharp knife and cut the dough in half lengthwise. Cut each of the strips into triangles, each about 3"  at their base.

9. With the tips of the triangles pointed inward, place the triangles in a circle on the prepared sheet, overlapping one over the other and pressing the edges to seal.

The babies are creepy

10. Place an even amount of the filling on the centers of the triangles. (this is where I was directed to also place the plastic baby. Don't do it. Keep reading)

11. Fold the outsides of the triangles over the filling, so that the reach is just over the filling. Fold the tips over, pressing slightly to adhere the tips to the outside of the ring.

12. Cover the ring lightly with a clean dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes. Nothing rose, but I was able to wash all of the dishes and make extra cookies with the left over dough.

13. Brush the cake lightly with coconut milk.

14. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

15. Allow cake to cool completely and transfer to a serving platter large enough to catch excess icing. Stick a plastic baby in somewhere at this point.

16. Prepare the Icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and salt. Add the warm water, stirring vigorously, until the mixture is a very thick glaze.

17. Ladle the mixture over the cake in several additions, letting the icing run down the sides.

18. While the icing is still slightly warm, shake sprinkles over the cake, alternating sections of purple, green, and yellow. Allow the icing to harden completely before serving.

This is what 'frothy' looks like

Right out of the oven. It looks messy, but smells amazing.
This is where I stuck in the plastic naked baby so that
 someone will have good luck this year if they find it :)

I had extra dough so I made King Cake Cookies-they cooked a little long, but they taste great and are the perfect use of extra creepy babies.

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Ketchup is the thing you never knew you missed until it's back

I'm back! It's been...awhile. Update on the last blog post (IN JUNE!): I did make my final destination in Montana. Glacier Nat'l Park was amazing, the wedding was beautiful, the train ride back was really long, and I'm heading out west again this summer! Yellowstone and Jackson, WY this time. Can't wait! Will not be by train, but by car, so hello, random roadside attractions! I will be stopping at ALL of you.

I've been experimenting with 'Intimidation Cooking' by which I mean making something that I really want, really miss, and have always been a little scared to tackle. The first thing I tackled was vegan macaroni and cheese. It looked like macaroni and cheese, but it tasted...terrible. So on the second day, I added bacon. I  made a full recipe, and I didn't want to waste it, but I didn't really want to eat it. The bacon (as it always does) made it much more manageable. Won't make it again, but nothing went to waste.

Next was ketchup. You know, that condiment that you put on everything. You know what's boring? French fries with nothing on them. The first batch was delicious and tasted like what I remember Heinz ketchup tasting like. It's really, really easy to make, and I went through it pretty quickly. Today I made a double batch (it freezes really well) and can't wait to taste it. I do suggest that the bit that you don't freeze, you let 'stew' in the refrigerator for at least a day so that all the flavors meld together even more. Enjoy on burgers, fries, eggs if you can have them, and everything else you used to eat ketchup with. Original recipe found on the Comfortable Comfort Food blog.

Low FOD-Map Ketchup

Ingredients:

• 1 quart tomatoes (canned, fresh, frozen, or juiced)*
• 1 T tomato paste
• 2 T sugar
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 3 T apple cider vinegar
• salt to taste

Directions:

• Simmer the tomatoes and the tomato paste together in a deep pan or kettle until soft. Cool slightly, then run through a food mill**
• Return to pot. Add sugar, cloves, and mustard
• Boil all of this together for about 30 minutes at a fast (bubbling) simmer, uncovered. Stir occasionally. You want it thick and reduced by about a third.
• Add vinegar and simmer another 5 minutes or so. Salt to taste.

*The first time I made this, I used canned diced tomatoes and put them and the paste through my food processor after step one. The ketchup was not smooth, but really good. The second time I made this I used canned tomato puree and it came out smooth.

**I plan on getting a food mill so that this summer, when I have access to awesome fresh tomatoes straight from the garden, I have super fresh and amazing ketchup.

I had a bit of a mess on my hands

Also, you could probably can this if you want, but I freeze the jars. My mom gave me a bunch of jars to use for canning purposes a couple of Christmases ago, but I don't have a ton of pantry storage space and most of my jars end up getting used for storing my vodka infusions instead. ;)

I used part of the original batch to make Maple Bourbon BBQ sauce. I used the BBQ sauce to make baby back ribs in the oven, and I ate them like a caveman complete with sauce all over my face. Totally worth it. So good. That also freezes really well, so you can make a batch every time you make ketchup and then always have ketchup and bbq sauce on hand. Summer 2017 grilling just got even better.

I'm hosting a Mardi Gras Game Night in a couple of weeks and can't wait to try out Bourbon Chicken and a gluten free, vegan King Cake. Stay tuned...