Gluten-Free Everything Bagels

I’ve learned a great deal about how what we eat affects our bodies since I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in 2015, especially the importance of following an anti-inflammatory diet.  Many people who suffer from an auto-immune condition like Hashimoto’s may also have Celiac disease, so removing foods containing gluten helps reduces inflammation and alleviate joint pain.

Fresh bagels with a savory schmear have always been my favorite brunch meal, so I wasn’t willing to give it up without a fight!  I began experimenting with alternative flours, perfecting what I believe is the gluten-free next best thing to a traditional everything bagel.  I discovered chick-pea flour is excellent for gluten-free tortillas and pizza dough but was too heavy for a bagel.  Then I tried cassava flour, a root vegetable very close in molecular structure to wheat, minus the gluten, and it had the taste and texture I was looking for.

Hopefully, those looking for a gluten-free bagel alternative will try this recipe and agree!

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Not Your Grandmas Deviled Eggs

One of my favorite childhood memories is coloring Easter eggs.  Even today years later, whenever I smell white distilled vinegar, my mind instantly goes back to Easter eggs.  The next logical progression for our beautifully colored eggs was either egg salad or deviled eggs.  When you’re a kid, stuffing half of a deviled egg into your mouth was fun and totally expected.  When you’re a grown up not so much.  So this version is a bit more mature and refined, however, you still get those wonderful flavors of rich egg yolks, spicy mustard, and creamy mayonnaise, but then there’s just a hint of heat from the Sriracha followed by the salty brine of the pickle juice.

And when no one is looking, you can stuff as many of these in your mouth as you can and still feel like a kid!

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Nova Lox with a Schmear

After the holidays, I got into this binge craving for lox and schmear, which is a mixture of softened vegan cream cheese mixed with fresh dill, spicy red onion, briny capers, a dash of pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Imagine chewy, fresh warm bagels, thick, rich, amped up softened cream cheese, and tender, slightly smoky, silky lox. Dang! There I go adding the ingredients to our grocery list again!

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Corned Beef and Swiss Quiche

A few months ago I got into this kick of eating Rueben sandwiches, so ever since then, when an opportunity has come up where I’m out to eat, and the restaurant has a Ruben on the menu, I order it. When it came time to plan our Christmas day brunch this year, I knew my husband and daughter would want their traditional sticky cinnamon rolls, so for my treat, I decided to make a stripped down version of a Ruben in a quiche. Realizing both the sauerkraut and the thousand island dressing weren’t very good quiche ingredients, I focused the flavor profile on the meaty corned beef, the creamy, tangy Swiss cheese, and the spicy dry mustard to recreate the flavor. It was a treat!

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Bacon and Date Glazed Sticky Buns

Bacon and Date Glazed Sticky Buns

Reese’s peanut butter eggs are delicious on Easter morning. However, a close second would have to be these bacon and date glazed sticky buns! And they’re so easy to make – you only need 9 ingredients and 30 minutes. Using pastry dough results in a much flakier and crispier crust than the pre-made cinnamon rolls you’ll get from a cardboard tube.

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Sweet Hawaiian Stuffed French Toast

Sweet Hawaiian Stuffed French Toast

Forget about serving your family those over processed cinnamon rolls from a cardboard tube on Christmas morning. Bake up a pan of this sweet Hawaiian stuffed French toast instead! The warm ooey-gooey cream cheese layered between cubes of sweet Hawaiian bread covered in a custard filling of eggs, milk, cinnamon and maple syrup is the perfect holiday brunch!

Even more importantly, you can prepare it the night before and simply pop it in the oven the next morning. Less time in the kitchen means more time with your family!

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Caramelized Onion, Mushrooms and Gruyere Quiche

Caramelized Onion, Mushrooms and Gruyere Quiche

Weekday mornings are most often very hurried, making sure our daughter ready for school, the dog is walked and fed and I’m ready to go at 7:30 AM.  If I’m able to work in a quick healthy breakfast during that time, it’s been a successful morning.

The weekends; however, are more along my favored speed, where I can plan out and take my time preparing a nice flavorful, delicious breakfast like this caramelized onion, mushroom and Gruyere quiche.  If you read my books, this recipe may sound familiar.  It was featured in my second book, ‘The Enlightenment, Book Two in the Tori Cooper Novels’.

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