Whey to go

Whey energy bar cookies! Immensely pocketable. These kept me going

strong on our Christmas Eve ride down the coast.

Gluten Free Oats

Whey (leftover from making cheese or straining yogurt)

Dried fruit (I used dried Serendipity Farms plums)

Cinnamon

Honey (above honey from friend Robert of City Bees)

Salt

Soak the oats in whey for 30 minutes or so. The oats will soak up most

of the liquid. Strain the oats and squeeze them lightly to remove excess

whey. Mix these with dried fruit of your choice and the remaining

ingredients. Add honey until you reach your desired sweetness.

Heat the oven to 250. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour

the mixture evenly on the paper and spread it flat. Bake for 30 minutes

and check on it. If the top is crusty, flip it to cook the bottom. Bake it for

another 30 minutes. The cookie should be pretty dry but still flexible.

Cut it into rectangles and store in the freezer. Bring a few cookies with

you on your next bike ride!

I jar what I can

Persimmon season is drawing to a close, and I scooped up the last of

the fruits at last Wednesday's Castro Farmers Market.

To keep them around a little longer, I made a batch of persimmon butter.

It was my biggest canning project yet.

Persimmon Butter

40 fuyu persimmons

10-12 lemons, juiced

chopped fresh ginger to taste

cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to taste

sugar to taste (1-2 cups, reassess after the mixture reduces)

Chop the persimmons and cover them with water in a large soup pot.

Let them boil for a while with a lid before adding the rest of the

ingredients. Remove the lid and boil for a long time. When the liquid

has evaporated a little and the persimmons are starting to get soft

and stringy, puree the whole mixture in a blender. Put the puree back

on the stove and start to reduce on a low flame. Stir occasionally. This

should take a few hours. When the mix has reduced and thickened,

taste and add sugar, spices and lemon juice accordingly (the lemon is

for acidity for safe canning practices). When it is just right, transfer to

sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for at least 10 minutes,

or store in the fridge immediately! Eat it with toast, with yogurt, as a

filling for donuts, or a smoothie filler!

Spiced persimmon smoothie:

1/2 c plain unsweetened yogurt

1/2 peach, frozen

1-2 T spiced persimmon butter

Blend thoroughly, enjoy immediately.

Clean Beets-Drying your vegetables!

Exciting things are happening here in my part of the world! Firstly, outer

space pizza dough. This was topped with parsley and butter beans as an

accidental falafel pizza.

I visited an allergy clinic a few weeks ago, hoping to figure out why I've been

so sick this year. It seems I can't eat tapioca, garbanzo, or potato, three of the

most popular GF flour substitutes (Tapioca is the main ingredient in most of my

breads). The pizza dough was made with arrowroot and quinoa flour in an effort

to learn the ways of some new ingredients.

This bread had amaranth and quinoa but no starch. It taught me a few things

about baking with eggs, something I haven't done in months.

It's been a treat to be excited about food these days. I've been canning

jams and drying fruit, so I thought I'd experiment with root vegetables.

I snatched these beets from Happy Boy Farms last week and roasted them

with turnips and Serendipity thumbalina carrots, salt and olive oil. I

wanted to make an energy bar from vegetables instead of dried fruits, so

I shredded the roasted veggies in my food processor, along with some

braising greens, rosemary, ginger and garlic, and spread it all out on a

baking sheet to dry in the oven. They bars are a little fragile, but really

delicious!

Finally, it's the first night of Chanukah, and I wish you all a warm

and filling holiday.

Chocolate Coffee Loaf

This was served to a well-lubricated crowd at this season's first holiday

party. It went quickly.

Chocolate Coffee Loaf

1/2 c tapioca starch

1/2 c white rice flour

1/2 c brown rice flour

1/2 c gluten free cocoa powder

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 t guar gum

2 T finely ground (decaf) coffee (use up to 1/4 c for stronger taste)

1/2 t salt

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

3/4 c whey (use buttermilk if you don't have whey)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingredients together and pour into a loaf pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. If you slice your cake and it isn't fully baked,

spread pieces on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes.

Call it cake toast.

Polenta Cake

Known as cornbread in the real world, this polenta cake is spiced, so I call it cake.

Polenta Cake

1/2 c tapioca starch

1/2 c brown rice flour

1/2 c white rice flour

1/4 c gluten free polenta

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 t guar gum

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t allspice

1/8 t nutmeg

1/2 c sugar

3/4 c buttermilk (to make it vegan, substitute your favorite milk, plus 1 t apple cider vinegar)

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 325. Mix all your ingredients together, snack on

some applesauce, add 1 t orange zest if so desired, snack on the

orange. Pour batter into a cake pan or cast iron pan and bake for

35 minutes. Let cool slightly before taking it out of the pan. Slice

and serve warm with yogurt.

Kabocha pie!

Red or green kabocha squash makes a mean pumpkin pie. It's got more

flavor than a pumpkin by far, it's easier to peel, and you can buy them

at your local farmers market from now until March!

The pie dough I used is a modified version of the Rugelach dough recipe.

It came out incredibly flakey and pastry-like. Very exciting.

This recipe should make enough dough for 2 small pies.

Dough:

3/4 c tapioca starch

1 c brown rice flour

1/2 c white rice flour

2 t guar gum

1 1/2 T sugar

1/4 t salt

1 stick butter

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2-1 cup cold water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in cold butter with a knife until crumbly.

Add cream cheese and small amounts of water and mix until dough

just holds together and isn't crumbly. Wrap dough ball in plastic

and store in the freezer while you prep the filling. When ready,

preheat oven to 375, roll out dough to desired thickness and

transfer to pie pan (The cast iron was pretty but it made the bottom

crust very tough.). Flute the edges if desired. Score bottom with a fork

and bake for 15 minutes.

Kabocha Pie Filling (egg-free)

(I did this filling to taste, and advise you to do the same, but here are

some approximations.)

This is enough filling for one pie.

1 small kabocha squash, halved, deseeded and boiled until fork-tender

about 1 cup buttermilk

1/4 c plain greek strained yogurt

1/2 c sugar (to taste)

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t allspice

1/8 t nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1 t lemon or orange zest

Peel boiled squash and puree (with some water if necessary).

Mix all ingredients together and edit until desired taste is achieved.

It should be the consistency of a stiff pancake batter.

Pour into a par-baked pie crust and bake for 50 minutes or until cracks

start to form in the top (since there is no thickener in this recipe, it

must bake for a long time, but in the end the texture is incredible).

Serve with the remaining container's worth of greek yogurt mixed with

orange zest, orange juice, fresh ginger and a touch of sugar.

1 pie will feed 12 of your closest friends.

chocolate cake!

GF Vegan Chocolate Cake

Adapted from this Babycakes NYC recipe

1 c white rice flour

3/4 c millet flour

3/4 c tapioca starch

1/4 c teff flour

1 c gluten free cocoa powder

1 T baking powder

3/4 t baking soda

2 t guar gum

2 t salt

1 c canola oil

1 c agave nectar

1 c applesauce

1 T gluten free vanilla extract

1 c hot coffee

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly before adding wet ingredients (cocoa and

tapioca both tend to clump, make sure they are evenly distributed!). If you

have no coffee on hand, substitute hot water.

Pour into two greased round cake pans. The cakes shouldn't be very tall.

Bake at 325 for 26 minutes, switching racks at 16 minutes.

Let cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from pans.

GF Yogurt Frosting (non-vegan)

1 qt greek style plain yogurt

1-2 T sugar (to taste)

zest from 1 orange

1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice

1 T finely chopped fresh ginger

1/4 t salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Add more zest or sugar to taste.

To Assemble:

Flip one cake out onto a cutting board, right side up if possible. With a long

knife, slice in half horizontally. Set aside top layer. Spread cake with two

heaping spoonfuls of frosting, and replace top layer upside down.

Using a second work surface, cut the second cake in half. Add frosting to the

first cake and pile on the next layer. Repeat one more time and top off with

the rest of the frosting. Your cake should look like a giant whoopie pie.

Spotted: True That on Design Sponge!

I was at Mission Bikes yesterday to deliver this shiny new batch of leg
straps for the SF Bike Expo...


When someone told me about this post on Design Sponge featuring a
Mission Bike with a True That corset!


Pretty cool to still see them around (it's been 6 months since I made one!).

Jerseys on the other hand are still coming!

true that takes on winter

so much wool! this one's claimed, but there are more in the works...

true what?

All-wool jerseys, just in time for the rain! Made from recycled wool
sweaters. If you would like a jersey, or have wool sweaters to donate,
please let me know! Jerseys are $65 with shipping.

i'm back!

and happy to be home.

here are some photos to fill you in on the past month!

chocolate and lemon layer cookies! raspberry jam in the middle from
Serendipity raspberries!


Fifth Crow Farms' scarlet queen turnips! They were so pretty I had to take
a photo, and they tasted even better than they looked!


I treated myself to a handlebar bag from Acorn Bags in LA. My ride is
complete.


We had an awesome trip to the East coast. Thanks to everyone who hosted
us, or found us along our route.



Of course, we couldn't travel without cooking. Thank goodness for
ovens!



I'll post more soon! There may even be some drawings in the works...

Bread and pizza? life is good.

Check out that sourdough! It turned into dinner for 4 as the Marshes

and I took off for Rosh Hoshana in LA. It was such a wonderfully fragrant

bread that the lady next to me on the flight asked for a piece!

And pizza for dinner the other night worked a charm. Hearty bloomsdale

spinach and mozzarella with a fresh batch of Serendipity pesto. The

dough (finally!) was not gummy in the least. I cut it while it was hot and it

kept its shape! It was cause for celebration, and time to rewrite some bread

recipes.

More pizza adventures coming soon! Off to the Castro market for me,

Sadie

Cookies!

I finally made a vegan cookie I enjoyed. With the sandy textures and the

cookies that fall apart before they reach your mouth, I thought it might

not be possible. But with a little bit of help from some leftover chocolate

ganache, these cookies were really well received. I served them at the

Evening with Food Artisans market in Carmel, and nobody walked away

without a smile.

Vegan Chocolate Curry Cookies

It helped to have a jar of ganache leftover from the cafe in my fridge. But

you can make your own ganache using a whisk or electric mixer, some

small chunks of good chocolate, and coconut oil, hot water or hot cream.

Stir it really well until the mixture is emulsified (a whisk is much more

effective than a fork or spoon). (you can also use coconut milk, or your

favorite nuts or seeds blended with water until the mix is smooth. See

this post on truffles.

the wet ingredients:

1 c coconut sugar

2 t vanilla

1/2 c chocolate ganache (straight up melted chocolate will probably work fine!)

3/4 c olive oil

1/4 c water

the dry:

1 c brown rice flour

1/2 c sorghum flour

3/4 c tapioca starch

3/4 c white rice flour

1 t xanthan gum

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 T curry powder

1/4 c flax seed meal

1/2-1 c chocolate chips

Roll cookies into balls, and toss in a bowl of sugar and salt.

Place on a pan lined with parchment paper and flatten.

Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. The cookies will seem soft and underdone,

but take them out and let them cool!

They will be very moist inside, so if you are saving them for another day,

refrigerate or freeze them. I ate a frozen one the next day and it was so

good cold!

Vegan Sunflower butter cookies

1 c sugar

2 t vanilla

3/4 c olive oil

1/2 c water

1/2 c sunflower seed butter

1 c brown rice flour

3/4 c tapioca starch

3/4 c white rice flour

1/2 c millet flour

1 t xanthan gum

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 c flax seed meal

sunflower seeds

chocolate chips

Roll batter into balls and flatten. Bake at 350 12-14 minutes.

I made some of these into thumbprint cookies with leftover ganache in

the middle. They were perfect. Store these in the fridge or freezer as well.

peach crumble

While I am now expending all of my baking energy on breads breads and

more breads, I slipped in a couple desserts to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Peach Crumble

(We had 8 large peaches and nectarines, all rotting at a pretty good clip)

Preheat oven to 375.

For the fruit:

Cut up whatever fruit you have that is starting to turn. Berries, stonefruits

and apples will all work very well. Toss with a teaspoon or so of cinnamon,

a few tablespoons of your favorite flour (I used brown rice) and about 1/4 c

of your favorite sweetener. Pour into your baking dish.

For the crumble:

1/2 c brown rice flour

1/4 c tapioca starch

1/4 c sugar

1/4 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

2 T water

2 T flax seed meal

2 T olive oil or coconut oil

2 1/2 t apple cider vinegar

1/4 c sunflower seeds

Mix ingredients well. You want to be sure there are still some chunks in the

mix, so do not overmix. Pour the crumble top over the fruit, and bake for 40

minutes. Serve warm.

Note: 40 minutes is long enough for the fruit to start to cook. It will still be

on the crispy side. If you like your fruit melt-in-your-mouth cooked, cook

the fruit for 20-30 minutes before adding the crumble top. Bake for an

additional 30-35 minutes until the crumble starts to brown.

The crumble will store for a few days in the fridge, but the topping will start to

get a little grainy and soft. So I advise you to be gluttonous this time and eat off

all the topping before refrigerating. You can always rebake the fruit with a fresh

crumble top later.

And a final hot tip:

To get some bruised fruit on the cheap, go to your local farmers market and ask

to buy some of the damaged fruits (this works best with stonefruit, which is

hardest to transport). They will probably cut you a deal, or just give you some.

It is courteous to buy something full priced as a thank you.

back to the drawing board, 2

Here are the results of classes 2 and 3 with the Explo folks! We played

with clay for a few hours, warming up with a game of 3D pictionary. Then

everyone built their own sketch model to demonstrate the settling effect of

bay sediment. There were some awesome models, including a transparent sandy

toilet, a water and sand-filled boulder, and a giant french press full of sand

and water.

Class 3 used all the tricks we learned in the first two weeks. Working as a

team, we built a full-scale model of a wheel, which would connect to a

crane in order to lift exhibits out of the water and onto the pier. Here's a

photo-summary of the class!

I had a blast hanging around with the wonderful folks on the Outdoor team.

Thanks to all for having me back.

back to the drawing board

It's been a long time since I posted any drawings that weren't food related,

and in truth I haven't even done any in months. But some prodding from

the folks at the Exploratorium made me kick into gear. Wednesday was

day 1 of a three week course on sketch modeling. It was an awesome class,

made possible by the wonderful Jesse Marsh, who put together the

workstation of my dreams!

Here's cheat sheet number 1 for the class. May it be put to good use!

Rugelach!

Once again, life has been a little too crazy for blogging. Sorry for the break
in posts! Some more are coming your way soon, as I finish up some worksheets
from yesterday's model-making class at the Exploratorium. For now, chow down!


Gluten Free Rugelach!

For the dough:

3/4 c tapioca starch
1 c brown rice flour
1/4 c white rice flour
2 T potato flour
2 T sweet rice flour
1 t xanthan gum
1 1/2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
2 sticks butter
8 oz. cream cheese
2 T sour cream

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Roll into a ball and freeze for 30
minutes.

Filling:

I put some figs and leftover juice from making pluot butter into a saucepan
and cooked it down into a jam. Use whatever you'd like. Store-bought jam
works well too!

sugar, cinnamon, preserves, chocolate chips

To assemble:

Remove dough from the freezer, preheat oven to 350.

Divide the dough in 4. Roll each ball out on parchment paper into a 1/4 inch
rectangle. Refrigerate while rolling the others.

For each rectangle, spread on a liberal amount of preserves, cover in cinnamon
and a little sugar, and nuts or chocolate chips if desired. Roll, loosely so as not to
squish out any filling, into a log, and place it seam side down. Refrigerate while
assembling the other logs.

Cut the cookies with a sharp knife, and place them seam side down on a baking pan
lined with parchment. Brush each cookie with milk or egg wash before baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. A lot of butter will melt out of the cookies and into your
pan, so make sure to use a baking pan with a rim!

Remove from oven and coat with cinnamon and sugar if desired. Cookies will be
best fresh, but store decently in an airtight container for about 3 days.

getting dirty, plus ribs

I just had to share this photo that Nate Marsh took. The ribs were from
LLano Seco Ranch in Chico, CA, and I baked and grilled them with
homemade barbeque sauce. It was a killer meal.

Barbeque sauce:

water an inch or so up the side of the saucepan
1" cube dried tamarind pulp
1 peach or nectarine, cut into chunks
1/4 t fenugreek
1/4 t anise or fennel seed
1/4 t coriander
a few sprigs of fresh or dried basil
1 or 2 T olive oil

to taste:
sugar, agave or honey
apple cider vinegar
salt

boil everything until the sauce is thick and tasty. pour through a fine-mesh
strainer and stir the pulp until most of the liquid has come out. discard pulp,
and brush the barbeque sauce on whatever you are cooking right before it hits
the grill!

put em up!

Another flat of bruised tomatoes got me thinking about how wonderful it is to deal with food as it starts to go bad. I must admit, it has always been a dream of mine to live in a house with an endless supply of jars, and now I do! If you have some produce that's starting to turn, deal with it! From left to right: juice ladelled from the tomato sauce, tomato sauce, pesto, pluot butter, and juice from the pluot butter. If you don't want to can it, freeze it, and if you don't want to eat it, give it to a friend!



(First one to request it gets a quart of tomato juice!)

from the archives

The view from work of the Calder getting packed up for storage:


The Blue Bottle training lab: all the coffee makers you can imagine,
and then some.


Breakfast at the MoMA:


And my ride, post farmers market:

your extra lemons...

...can look like this!


Lemon curd is superbly easy to make, and extremely tasty. I had forgotten
about it since last summer, when we seemed to make some at least once a
week.

Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from as many lemons as you have lying around (I used 4)
eggs (do you have lots of eggs? separate them and use about 5 egg yolks. if you
only have a few eggs, just use the whole thing. I used 3 whole eggs)
1 c sugar or some combination of honey and agave
pinch of salt

combine all of these in a metal bowl, and set it on top of a pot of boiling water
(double boiler style). whisk constantly until the mixture thickens (it'll be
obvious and will coat your whisk). Remove from heat and stir in 1 stick butter,
chopped into pieces. Once they melt, you can blend and strain your curd, or
just refrigerate it as is. I poured mine into this prepared tart crust (blended
macadamia nuts, tapioca and brown rice flours with olive oil and agave, baked
and covered in a layer of chocolate) to set in the fridge.

let set for 2 hours or more.

enjoy!

market spoils

After my shopping rounds at last night's Castro farmers market, my pile
of food was rather daunting: four bags of greens and a bag of fruit waiting
to be loaded onto my bike before the ride up the hill. But along came Donka
of Happy Boy Farms with a whole beautiful flat of bruised heirloom tomatoes!
There were some in every color, from bright green to watermelon red to yellow
with orange streaks-how could I say no? So I tied the box to my cargo rack,
trying not to squish anything in my overstuffed panniers, stuck a bunch of
sunflowers through the bungee (for kicks), and biked home, Really... Slowly...

There will be tomato sauce galore in my freezer soon. Let me know if you'd
like a tub. (ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, shallots, oregano, cinnamon basil,
summer savory, rosemary, salt, walnut oil)


And sure enough, time keeps passing without my noticing, and it's apple
season again! I made off with 5 pounds of the season's first Gravensteins
from Sebastapol. Summer pie time just took a turn for the better!



And don't forget to check out BREAD SRSLY to sign up for your first loaf!

cornbread for a change

Since summer pies have felt anything but seasonal here in chilly San
Francisco, I whipped up a loaf of fresh corn and bell pepper cornbread to
keep me warm at this evening's farmers market. It's quite similar to the
cornbread muffin recipe from earlier in the year, but a little more refined
and a little more delicious. Eat warm if you can. Also, this cornbread will
melt in your mouth, but crumble on your cutting board, so slice with a
very sharp knife.

Gluten Free Cornbread Loaf

3/4 c tapioca starch
1/4 c sweet white rice flour
3/4 c cornmeal (I used Oaxacan Green cornmeal from Tierra Vegetables)
3/4 t xanthan gum
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt

mix these together thouroughly and add:

1/2 c lard

use your fingers to mix together until mixture is coarse and evenly
distributed.

Add:

1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c buttermilk
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c chopped green bell pepper
1/4 c chopped or grated cheese of your choice
1/4 c fresh corn, cooked and sliced off the cob

Bake at 350 in an oiled loaf pan for at least an hour. Let cool slightly
before turning onto a cutting board. To slice, score top crust with a
serrated bread knife, and cut through with your sharpest (not serrated)
blade. Eat warm.

Chocolate chip quinoa cookies

Well the pie trials are in full force as the summer fruit bowl stays full. This
week featured a blueberry pie (with a quart of blueberries!). It had a
buttermilk biscuit crust which held its shape beautifully when the pie was
sliced. The crust looked like it was incredible right out of the oven, but
when it cooled it got a little tough, so more pies are coming, and someday
I'll get my crust recipe!

The pie still looked beautiful and cute, served with fresh green figs from
Hamada Farm and watermelon ices from Happy Boy Farms.




On a more successful note, these cookies just came out of the oven, and they are divine. Not too sweet, full of food, with a kick from the chocolate chips and decaf coffee beans!

Gluten Free and Vegan Quinoa Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 (or 325 if it runs hot)

Mix together:

1 c quinoa flakes (or sub oats)
1/2 c garbanzo fava bean flour
1/2 c brown rice flour
3/4 c tapioca starch
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t xanthan gum
1 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon

In a separate bowl, combine:

1/2 c coconut sugar (or sub regular or brown sugar)
1/4 c flax seed meal
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c honey (sub agave or maple syrup)
1/2 c tahini (sub peanut butter)
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 c warm water

Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry. Stir in:

3/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 c very coarsely ground coffee (I used decaf)
1/4 c sunflower seeds

Roll 2 T dough into spheres and press flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 15
minutes. The cookies will not look done, but allow to cool and they will
be perfect. Enjoy thoroughly.