Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

The best gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes on GFG.

It's a cool rainy Sunday here in West Hollywood. I am sipping a hot coconut milk chai to the velvet croon of Chet Baker. And I am thinking about cookies. Not just any cookies. Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. The best of the best. Sifting through my variations like a saxophone player in the groove of a beat. How do I like them best? That is the question. Because cookies will be baked today. And I've got a handful of chocolate chip cookie recipes to choose from. I've got choices.

Maybe I'll go with a classic style, bumpy with heavenly chunks of a vegan dark chocolate bar. Or the slightly chewy-crisp favorites made with gluten-free rolled oats from Bob's Red Mill. Wait. But then I remember my buckwheat flour chocolate chip cookies. Slightly sweet and verging on cakey. Perfect with a glass of cold vanilla rice milk. And then, to make matters even more complicated, I suddenly crave my quinoa flake cookie dough seductively studded with dark chocolate chips.

Decisions. Decisions.


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GetRight Pro 6.5 Multilingual

Download Manager and Download Accelerator software for Windows without installation.

Download Portable GetRight from RapidShare (6.0 MB)

(md5: 685400440ae65f6839e6b539c0654c2e)

Extract and run GetRightPortable.

Don't forget to close in systray when leaving.

Settings of installed GetRight should be preserved.

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Scones

A warm gluten-free scone. Hot tea. Breakfast bliss.

Are you sick of the snow yet? My heart goes out to you. So many of you have been hammered this winter. Spring will arrive this year not a moment too soon. My advice? Bake some scones. Scones are easy to throw together. The oven warms up the kitchen and chases off the chill. And in less than half an hour you have a tender gluten-free morsel to share and savor. Gently spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and studded with sweet bursts of raisins, I predict these cinnamon raisin scones will make you smile.

And speaking of predictions, Punxsutawney Phil better man up and predict an early respite come February 2. My fingers are crossed for all of you shoveling out from under. Not that I'm superstitious, or subscribe to the precognitive powers of double furred rodents, but. I remember the long dreary bouts of cold and gray all too well. I spent almost fifty-five years in the grip of Old Man Winter, praying the illustrious marmot would not see his shadow.

Will we have an early spring?

I hope so, Darlings. I hope so.


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OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 en-US & language packs

The free and open productivity suite without installation.

Download Portable OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 en-US from RapidShare (79.4 MB)

(md5: 6cdf0638add42e51942b228415214aab)

Extract and run OOo*Portable.

Settings of installed OpenOffice should be preserved.

For other languages:

Download 3.3.0 Windows language pack:

Run LangPack 3.3.0 PreSetup in OpenOfficePortable folder and don't close MessageBox.

Run Language Pack Installer: should found path, don't change.

When finished close MessageBox.

Can use Java Runtime Environment Portable

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Stew

Hearty and tasty gluten-free slow cooker stew.

Here's a bright and delicious slow cooker stew recipe with sausages - and it's tasty using any sausage you choose, from free-range roaming buffalo to furry-friendly vegan. Scrumptious. Seriously. Make it for the Big Game. You know, the one with a pigskin ball and helmeted men in shiny tights. Throw all the ingredients in a Crock Pot and go root for your favorite tight end. Make a hot artichoke dip and grab some gluten-free chips. Game on.

Go Cubs!

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Raw Cashew Dreamcake

Holy Mother of Pete. Why haven’t I done this before?
I’m talking about raw cheesecake, and I suppose the reasons I haven’t made one yet now seem like silly excuses. I feel like a frickin’ kitchen magician, people. Join me.

Now, I am not pretending I came up with this brilliant idea – I bet making cheesecake out of nuts has been around as long as vegans have tried making meat out of gluten. I ate more than my fair share of these in California, as raw is all the rage, and there must have been a nut-based cheesecake on every heaven-sent menu my hungry gaze graced. What a mouthful. Needless to say, I was inspired, and a bit more than curious to see if I too could play magician in my own kitchen and turn cashews into cream. Check.

Now onto the flavouring. The rad thing about this dessert, besides its short ingredient list, is its versatility. I chose to make a vanilla/raspberry combo, but please don’t let that stop you from experimenting! If you like blueberries, use ‘em. If you’re a chocolate lover, throw in a few heaping tablespoons of raw cacao (oh yea, that’s the next one). How about trying something more exotic like mango and goji berries? The sky is the limit and your tummy is growling, I can hear it from here. Just remember to use the lemon juice with whatever flavour you decide on – it’s crucial to have the extra liquid for blending, and it gives that tangy “cheesecake” taste you’re after. Yay.



This is one dessert that is seriously hard to mess up. The only snafu is that you need a pretty powerful machine to pulverize the cashews, even after they’ve been soaking overnight. I tried using a food processor and it worked, but the cream wasn’t totally silky smooth, as with my Vita-Mix. I think a good blender with various speeds and settings would do the trick - jack it up to maximum power and see what happens.
Regardless, the filling is delectable, even if not velvety soft.

Cheesecake? Good for me?
Um, yeah. Not as in an eat-for-breakfast-everyday kind of way, but to replace your animal-fat heavy, sugar-laden, digestion-halting regular cheesecake? Absolutely.
Here’s the deal: this cheesecake is raw, meaning that all the powerful vitamins, minerals, and enzymes present in the whole foods you use to make the cake remain in tact. Instead of an atom bomb of empty calories in your belly, you actually have a handful of fruit, nuts, and raw honey swimming around, and your taste buds are none the wiser. Ha! Fooled you again…

The Skinny on Coconut Fat
I get a lot of questions about coconut oil, as it is high in fat and people still seem to be terrified of this. To clear things up, coconut oil does contain saturated fat, but lucky for us, it comes in the form of medium-chain triglycerides (or MCTs). This type of fat differs from the types of fat we normally consume from both plant and animal sources, which are long-chain triglycerides (or LCTs). Without getting too technical, MCTs are easily digested, absorbed, and utilized in the body because their molecules are smaller than those from LCTs. This means that unlike other fats, they require less energy and fewer enzymes to break them down for digestion. They are an excellent choice of fat for active people and athletes as MCTs digest immediately to produce energy and stimulate metabolism. They are also ideal for those who suffer from digestive disorders and are often given in hospitals to provide nourishment for critically ill people who have trouble digesting fat.



Raw Cashew Dreamcake
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup raw almonds (pecan or walnuts will also work)
1/2 cup soft Medjool dates
¼ tsp. sea salt

Filling:
1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 5 hours, overnight is best
juice of 2 lemons
the seeds of 1 whole vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract)
1/3 cup raw coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup raw honey (solid or liquid.)(Vegans use agave nectar.)
1 cup raspberries (thaw completely if using frozen)

Directions:
1. Place nuts and dates in a food processor with sea salt and pulse to chop until they are to your desired fineness (process a finer crust longer than a chunky one). Test the crust by spooning out a small amount of mixture and rolling it in your hands. If the ingredients hold together, your crust is perfect. Scoop out crust mixture in a 7” spring-form pan (if you don’t have a spring-form pan, use a pie plate lined with saran wrap), and press firmly, making sure that the edges are well packed and that the base is relatively even throughout. Rinse food processor well.
2. Warm coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on low heat until liquid. Whisk to combine.
3. In the most powerful food processor / blender you own (you decide which one has the most torque) place all filling ingredients (except raspberries) and blend on high until very smooth (this make take a couple minutes so be patient). If you have a Vita-Mix, absolutely use it.
4. Pour about 2/3 (just eyeball it, you can’t make a mistake!) of the mixture out onto the crust and smooth with a spatula. Add the raspberries to the remaining filling and blend on high until smooth. Pour onto the first layer of filling. Place in freezer until solid.
5. To serve, remove from freezer 30 minutes prior to eating. Run a smooth, sharp knife under hot water and cut into slices. Serve on its own, or with fresh fruit. Store leftovers in the freezer (what leftovers?).

JDownloader 0.9.581 Multilingual

Download manager from file hosts without installation.

Download Portable JDownloader from RapidShare (23.8 MB)

(md5: b3e585b6d894c045b2701939d81f1109)

Needs Java Runtime Environment Portable or Installed.

Extract and run JDownloaderPortable.

Settings in App\JDownloader\config (copy your previous database.script from Data to this folder).

Java memory max set to 512 MB: edit JDownloaderPortable.ini to change.

Settings of installed JDownloader should be preserved.

Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins

Wake up with a warm and lovely carrot muffin.

This is my first muffin recipe for the New Year. A tender little bundle of gluten-free joy. So cute and sunny. I love the color. The subtly fragrant texture of finely grated organic carrots, coconut flour and breakfast quinoa flakes. A hint of cinnamon and ginger. A bite of raisin. Seriously chai worthy. And more fiber rich than say, a powdered donut. Or your average gluten-free bagel which is nothing but starch. This a treat you can eat without too much guilt.

Just a smidge.


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White Velvet Soup and a Guest Post at Green Kitchen Stories

The snow just won’t stop. The world is quiet and soft. It’s time for a bowl of soup.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a soup recipe here on My New Roots, and this weather is serving as divine inspiration for a piping hot bowl of creamy comfort food. It combines a few of my favorite things, golden-roasted cauliflower, garlic, onions and velvety lima beans, all blended up to create the most creamy, rich-tasting, delectable soup to cross my lips this new year. And whether your 2011 resolution was to eat more whole foods, lose weight, or cut back on meat, you’ll be checking off all three with my White Velvet Soup that tastes like anything but deprivation – it’s down-right dreamy!

David and Luise, some blogger friends who created the unbelievably beautiful site Green Kitchen Stories, are traveling around the world and asked me if I was interested in posting something on their site. A total honor. How fast can I say yes? To view the whole recipe you can head over to their blog, cruise around and drool at their spectacular photography and innovative recipes. They are the real deal.



This soup is a total breeze to make – most of the work is done for you in the oven! All it takes is a quick blend up and you’re done. So simple. Who says gourmet food can’t be incredibly fast and easy?



Hope you're all keeping warm!
Best, Sarah B.

Warm Coleslaw with Chili-Lime Dressing

Warm winter coleslaw recipe kicked up with chili sauce, lime and mint.

Need a little kick to warm your chilled winter bones? How about a warm and slightly spicy coleslaw with crunchy cabbage, chili, lime and ginger? It's a healthy vegan side dish your body will love. And the best part is, it's easy to throw together. You can do it in no time flat. Which is why I always keep a cabbage in the fridge (don't you, Darling?). You never know when hunger pangs will strike, what with all this detoxing and sugar shunning and working out with Jane Fonda's Prime Time DVD -- which I must confess, I love to pieces. Jane is gentle and warm and encouraging (I don't respond well to bullying and drill sergeant meanies, do you?).

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Chocolate-Strawberry Smoothie - Vegan + Dairy-Free

Chocolate and strawberries - antioxidant power.

On a detox kick but craving something fabulous? Have I got a seductive and sexy smoothie recipe for you. If you love chocolate dipped strawberries, this dairy-free breakfast treat has your name on it. Rich in antioxidants (organic cocoa powder anyone?) and dairy-free to boot, this vegan breakfast tastes more like dessert than the robust boost of protein that it is. 

Sip it like the goddess you are. Feel fabulous.

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Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Fries

Easy, tasty gluten-free sweet potato fries baked with spices.

Like my pal Kalyn I'm a big fan of sweet potatoes. And sweet potato fries. Kalyn's recipe has a different spice blend than mine but our recipes are quite similar. Check out hers if you don't happen to care for my particular spices. Or get down-and-dirty personal and make up your own signature concoction.

Cooking is all about making recipes your own. Developing your own tastes. Your likes and dislikes. Cooking is flexible. And highly personal. It's not precise like, say, brain surgery. Unless you're baking something fussy. Baking folks swear by precision. But I've never actually been that kind of cook. I'm intuitive. I fly by the seat of my jeans. I look at a glistening picture of pasta and vegetables and I feel inspired. I open my pantry and get juiced to play the What If? Game. 

What if I take this ingredient and add it to that ingredient? I wonder. What would that taste like? Then the fun begins.

How do you cook? 

Do you wing it like Chet Baker? Or do you prefer a road map, with precise direction?

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A New Year, A New Breakfast

Happy New Year dear readers! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and that you’ve started 2011 on the right foot. If not, I’m always here to help ;)
My big goal for this year is to improve my breakfast routine. Somehow over the last few months I’ve gotten really lazy in the morning, eating copious amounts of the freshly baked bread at work (I still love you), or grabbing a piece of fruit on the go. Either way, I know it’s one place in my diet that could use some improvement.

One of the most popular foods on the breakfast table in this country is boxed cereal. It’s fast, convenient, moderately filling and inexpensive – I can see the appeal. But cereal that comes in a package with a cartoon tiger on the front is a far cry from the actual grains that were used to make it. Even the definition of the word cereal, which actually refers to the group of grains as a whole, has gone from a natural whole food, to a barely recognizable distant relative with an underwhelming nutrient content that has surely suffered from over processing. Don’t even get me started on all that sugar.
It’s time for a change, don’t you agree?

Cereal Extreme Makeover
I’ve come up with the perfect breakfast solution for those of you who “just don’t have time in the morning”, because you can make a huge batch in one go, dole out the amount you want every day and simply add the toppings you have on hand. It's the Real Deal Cereal and it's so simple! The ingredients are inexpensive, easy to find, and of course, delicious.

I chose a quinoa and millet combination because both are gluten-free grains, and we could all stand to take a break from our wheat-centric diets. Hooray for variety! Remember that quinoa is a good source of iron, calcium, magnesium, and a complete protein. Millet is considered to be one of the least allergenic and most digestible grains available, plus it’s loaded with B-vitamins, phosphorous and potassium. Appropriately, both are warming grains so will help to heat the body during the cold winter months ahead. Indeed.

You can use any kind of grains to make your breakfast cereal base, but choose grains with relatively similar cooking times. Brown rice, for example, takes about 50 minutes to cook, so it would be best paired with rye or spelt. Amaranth and buckwheat are another excellent gluten-free combo that take about 15 minutes to cook. Experiment with various mixtures that suit your tastes, and change it up from week to week. You can always cook and eat your favorite grain all on its own, but I prefer the range of flavours and textures when they are combined in the same pot.

Once cooked, store your cooled grain mix in an airtight container in the fridge for five days. I make my mix on lazy Sunday nights, so I have breakfast for the entire work week. It takes about 3-4 minutes to assemble in the morning, and I’m good to go. You can even keep your re-heated grain mix in a thermos to enjoy at work and add your toppings there.

No more bread, bagel, danish, doughnut binges! No more packaged, processed, frosted, freaky cereal! No more excuses! Let’s do it.



The Real Deal Cereal
Grain Mix Base
1 cup quinoa
1 cup millet
4 ½ cups water
pinch of sea salt

Directions:
1. Rinse grains very well. Place in saucepan. Add water and salt.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
3. Let cool slightly. Store in a container in the fridge.

For each portion:
1 cup cooked grain mix (½ cup for kids)
¼ cup water or milk (rice, almond, hemp, soy, dairy…)
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
generous pinch ground ginger
fresh or frozen fruit
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
Optional additions:
1 tsp. chia seeds – Omega-3 fatty acids, protein, fibre, calcium
1 Tbsp. hemp seeds - Omega-3 + Omega-6 fatty acids, protein
handful chopped nuts, such as pecans and walnuts
dollop of yogurt (sugar free)

Directions:
1. Measure out one cup of the cooked grain mix and place in a small saucepan with the water or milk. Heat over medium heat until warmed through. Add fruit if frozen, warm until fully thawed. Remove form heat.
2. Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, and chia and hemp seeds if you have them.
3. Place grain mix in a bowl, drizzle with maple syrup, add nuts and chopped fresh fruit, plus a dollop of yogurt, if desired.


I truly hope that this recipe and new system works for you and your family. A healthy start to the day is the best gift you can give yourself, and that does NOT include Count Chocula, Cap’n Crunch, or that weird little leprechaun, if you know what I mean.

Detox Green Soup Recipe with Broccoli, Spinach and Ginger

Detoxing from your holiday sugar fest? Try this vegan green soup with ginger.

I'm not perfect. Goddess knows. Especially during the long pale days of Winter. When I am a slug. Motivation is tricky to summon. I loll on the couch with my iPad and expend as few calories as possible, doing nothing more than watching House Hunters International as I read through your ever delightful comments. I scoop guacamole with homemade pecan crackers and conjure recipes for detox green soup as I follow tall young Cincinnatians ducking into tiny Italian kitchens the size of my corner sofa, daunted by the lack of plumbing but in love with the sun baked view of a tangled vineyard through open shutters. I mute the unintentionally absurd commercial for Cialis, trying to imagine why any woman over the age of fifty would even want to deal with 24-hour tumescence before I realize I have eaten a giant avocado.

All by myself.

I don't beat myself up. I know the bottom line. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I am not naive. Perfection is unattainable. No matter what the ad men tell you. And it's not perfection I seek. Though, in full transparency, I used to nurture an inclination toward seeking perfection in my long ago first marriage, but the wrecking ball named irony hit too hard to ignore. Turns out my first husband preferred someone decidedly not perfect. Someone sporting iridescent teal eye shadow and fond of dancing drunk with married men at Chamber of Commerce Christmas parties. That taught me a thing or two. Or three.

The thing about perfection is that no one cares.

And neither does your soul. In fact, your soul loves to throw a monkey headlong into your perfect plan. You know the monkey I'm talking about. The monkey who misses deadlines and loses car keys and eats an entire bowl of guacamole in one sitting (or laying down, as the case may be). So much for resolutions and diet strategies. Monkey WIN!

But just in case you're serious about cleansing those fat little liver cells and whittling away your holiday pie roll, I did make a detox soup. And yes, it was green. And cruciferously abundant in vegan veggie wonderfulness.

It made us feel happy.

And well fed.

Quite virtuous.

But not perfect.

Because perfection, Darling, is not only unattainable.

Perfection is highly overrated.


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Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Mediterranean diet ingredients are fresh, whole, and healthy.

In the spirit of celebrating a fresh, clean start as we hit the reset button and bid farewell to the crusty, ragged year of 2010, I've been contemplating the gentle art of detox, and browsing my Mediterranean Diet friendly recipes (longtime readers may recall I lost the twenty pounds I gained after breaking my hip with a Mediterranean Diet approach to cooking). It was then I decided to gather and share all my Mediterranean inspired recipes in a single reference post. Not only for my own convenience. I hoped you, too, might discover some delicious new recipes -- and perhaps, a few tempting favorites you may have forgotten.

It's post-holiday indulgence, after all. Time to sober up and face the fall-out of all those cookies. The pumpkin bread. That pie! (Have you looked in the mirror lately -- naked? Have you zipped up your favorite pair of skinny jeans since Christmas? Did you have to lay down on the bed to do it?) If you are over a certain age, you might find what I found. 

A little extra to grab onto. 

This doesn't make me happy. I know, I know. I'm supposed to love myself no matter what. I'm supposed to be happy with my shape -- no matter what. I should embrace my extra roll of tummy fat and make peace with it, right? But the dirty little truth is, I don't like the extra weight. Even if it's only five pounds. It makes me feel sluggish and dull. And no amount of post-feminist self esteem rationalizing is going to fire up my enthusiasm for feeling like a stuffed sausage when I yank on my jeans. I like feeling light. Trim. Fit.

So it's time to pinch Doris and tell her to skedaddle. It's time for detoxing from all the sugar. It's time to get real and shape up. Get moving.

Maybe these Mediterranean Diet recipes will inspire. Who's with me?

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