Rosemary focaccia bread

 My husband can have gluten so he basically used the recipe here https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/rosemary-focaccia-bread/

He did add some black olives snd he did sprinkle the top lightly with garlic powder. After removing from oven he also sprinkled with parmigiana cheese.

Chocolate mousse

 Easy and tasty

• 1 can chickpea water, aquafaba or cannellini bean water
• ½ cup dark chocolate, or semi- sweet or whatever 
• 2 tablespoons  powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional

Using a mixer mix the water until it looks like whipped cream. Add the powdered sugar and beat a few more minutes until it forms a mixture that doesn’t fall out of the bowl if tipped. In a separate container melt chocolate chips— I use the microwave. Once chips are smooth add vanilla to chips if using . Gently fold the chocolate mixture into your whipped stuff. This is the tricky part— one time it clumped up and didn’t work— not sure why. The other option is slowly at the whipped stuff to the chocolate folding it in gently.Separate into serving dishes and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Good with whipped topping.

Brussels sprout salad

This is so tasty. Full recipe found here: https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/cashew-crunch-shredded-brussels-sprouts-salad/

Used red cabbage snd Brussels sprouts and red bell peppers and many other good things. Very nice Asian dressing. I made about 1/2 of the ingredients below. I also used a bit of purple onion since I didn’t have green onions and I liked the little kick it gave. I didn’t have fresh ginger so I used powdered ginger to taste.

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• 1 pound brussels sprouts, end trimmed and any yellow outer leaves removed
• 4 cups shredded red cabbage (also known as purple cabbage)
• 1 ½ cups shredded carrots (from the bag) or carrots cut into small matchsticks*
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup diced green onion
• 3/4 cup salted roasted cashews
• 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
• For the dressing:
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos if GF)
• 2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 ½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger

P.S. I like more soy sauce than called for in the above recipe 

 

Shepherds’ pie for Christmas eve

 Delish- made 4-5 servings. Found the recipe here https://www.thewholesomedish.com/the-best-classic-shepherds-pie/  But did some substitutions. Used gf measure for measure flour in place of regular flour. In place of meat we used a combination of soy crumbles and pea based ones as shown below.

We also use the Mcdougall recipe for the potato part when wanting to go vegan

Ingredients

Meat Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef -or ground lamb or see above 
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (used gf)
• 2 garlic cloves -minced
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (used gf)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste(used ketchup)
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 cup frozen mixed peas & carrots*
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

Potato Topping:

• 1 1/2 - 2 lb. russet potatoes -about 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter -1 stick (4)
• 1/3 cup half & half
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Go to link for Sometimes we use lentils as the base and combine the 2 recipes using this linkhttps://eatplant-based.com/wprm_print/19543

Wild rice sweet potato soup

 

Go here for the full instructions https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cozy-autumn-wild-rice-soup/     

Note: I used the above rice which doesn’t need cooking so it saves time wise. Instead of the old bay seasoning I used a substitute found online and added some Garam Masala. I used only 4 cups of the broth as my rice was already cooked.

Here are the ingredients but go to link for directions:

• 6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice*
• 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 large (about 1 pound) sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk (or see cream sauce option below*)
• 2 large handfuls of kale, roughly chopped with thick stems removed
• fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

Chickpeas would be a nice addition 

Note— I used some of the spices below along with the garam masala 

• 2 tablespoons celery salt 
• ¼ teaspoon paprika 
• ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper 
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 1 pinch dry mustard 
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg 
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon 
• 1 pinch ground cardamom 
• 1 pinch ground allspice 
• 1 pinch ground cloves 
• 1 pinch ground ginger