Casava cake

Ingredients:

• 3 packets of frozen ground casava (yucca root), defrost
  
• 2 can coconut milk
• 1 3/4 cups maple syrup or equivalent sweetener

Steps:
1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.
2. Grease a 9x5 pan, transfer the above mixture to the pan. Brush the top with oil.
3. Baked at 350 degree F for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until brown.

Baked tofu balls with seaweed

Makes about 40-50 balls

Ingredients:

* 2 packets Nasoya extra firm tofu
* 1 cup Vital wheat gluten
* 2 toasted seaweed sheets, crushed
* 2 teaspoons sea salt
* 2 tablespoons maple syrup or equivalent sweetener
* 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
* 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon oil

Sauce for baking:

* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/2 tablespoon molasses
* 1 tablespoon oil

Steps:

1. Cut each block of tofu into 8 pieces. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and press dry, mash.
2. In a bowl, mix everything together, except for the sauce to bake.
3. Roll the mixture into little balls, each the size of half a ping-pong ball, for example.
4. Steam for 20 minutes.
5. Let the tofu balls cool completely.
6. Combine the ingredients to make the sauce.
7. Coat the balls with sauce, bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes.
8. Turn the balls over, bake for about 10 more minutes or until brown.

Thanksgiving meal

Baked tofu balls with vital gluten flour and roasted seaweed

Thai curry with boiled seitan, king oyster mushrooms, portabella mushrooms, eggplants, okras, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Served with warm French bread. It was the biggest hit.

Roasted bean curd roll with mushrooms

Bean curd sheets on lemon grass sticks or sugar cane sticks

Salad served with soy mayo, lime juice, and maple syrup dressing

Casava Cake

Easy whole wheat bread sticks from toaster oven

I made these bread sticks for a party at work today, everybody liked them since they were so tasty and healthy. You will be surprised to see how easy it is to make these sticks. By adding more water and let the dough rise slowly overnight in the refrigerator, there was not necessary to knead it at all.

Makes 32 sticks

Ingredients:

• 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 handfuls sesame seeds to coat (optional)

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, mix in all the ingredients (except sesame seeds) until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. I used a stand mixer.
2. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap, I used a clean plastic shower cap.
3. Put the dough in the refrigerator overnight.
4. In the morning, let the dough out in room temperature for about 30 minutes.
5. On a flat surface, greased with oil, take about a half size of a ping-pong dough, roll the dough on the surface, stress it out as you roll to make a 9-inch stick.
6. Spread a thin layer of sesame seeds, roll the stick over to coat. (Optional)
7. Toast 4 sticks a time on top brown 2 times.
8. Turn the sticks over, toast on top brown 1 more time.
9. Place them on a rack to cool.
10. I rolled 4 sticks, toasted them, while toasting, I rolled 4 more and toasted until no more dough.
11. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for a week. You can have fresh bread sticks everyday if you want. They taste very good out of the oven. Have fun.

Cookware

Glass is the most inert of all cookware, meaning that it doesn’t leach metals or other ingredients into the food.

Clad
Cookware Layered cookware is called clad. Typically, stainless steel surrounds a sandwich of other metals, such as aluminum or copper. The inert stainless steel provides the cooking surface, while the aluminum or copper improves the heat conductivity. (I don’t personally have clad cookware, but I consider it in the family of stainless steel, below, that I do have.)

Stainless Steel
Stainless is a very good choice for healthy cooking because it is one of the most inert metals. It reportedly does leach a small amount of nickel. One drawback is that it doesn’t conduct heat evenly, so consider stainless “clad,” described above, for this purpose.

Porcelain-Coated Cookware
Also called enamel, this cookware is nonreactive and conducts heat evenly. The porcelain is usually over an iron base. Le Creuset is an example of a porcelain-coated cookware brand. The drawback with porcelain-coated cookware is that once the porcelain chips, the food is exposed to the iron, which can rust.

Greenpans?
Read more about nonstick cookware and alternative tips in Melissa Breyers article that mentions them along with other alternatives and materials to avoid.

Silicone Bakeware?
My concern about silicone isn’t that it will off-gas when it is heated (most bakeware can withstand 500 degrees F before it breaks down), but that very small amounts of migrating silicone oil could get on food, hands and other skin.

Tips for Safe Cookware
• Avoid oven cookware that has any plastic, even if the manufacturer claims it can withstand up to 400F.
• Cast-iron cookware labels sometimes state that the pans are pre-seasoned. This refers to a wax-based coating that keeps the pan from rusting between manufacture and purchase.

Annie Bond is the author of Home Enlightenment (Rodale, paperback, 2008).

Tofu on sugar cane sticks (chạo tôm chay) (edited)

Makes 15 sticks

Ingredients:

* 2 packets Nasoya extra firm tofu
* 1/2 cup Vital gluten wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons sea salt
* 2 tablespoons maple syrup or equivalent sweetener
* 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
* 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon oil
* 15 5-inch long sugar cane sticks


Sauce for baking:

* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/2 tablespoon molasses
* 1 tablespoon oil

Steps:

1. Boil water in a 4-quart pot. Cut each block of tofu into 8 pieces. Add tofu to the pot, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain the tofu, press dry with a paper tower, mash. (A potato ricer can be used to mash the tofu.)
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients, except the ingredients for the sauce.
3. Take a handful of the above mixture and pack tightly on the sugar cane sticks.
4. Put the tofu sticks in a single layer on a steamer. Steam on high heat for 30 minutes.
5. Let the tofu sticks cool completely.
6. Combine the ingredients for the sauce.
7. Transfer tofu stickes to a greased baking sheet. Brush the sauce on the tofu sticks, bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes.
7. Turn the sticks over. Brush the stick with the sauce on the other side, bake for about 15 more minutes or until brown.

Gluten-free Udon noodles from scratch (bánh canh)

I learned how to make this from a Vietnamese website, I would like to share it with you. Homemade noodles always taste better than store bought. This is a very fun and easy way to make noodles. If you can make cookies, you can make udon noodles!

Makes 1 lb and 12 oz:

• 4.5 oz (125 gr) rice flour
• 1 3/4 cup (400 ml) water
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4.5 oz (125 gr) tapioca flour

1. Boil about 2 cups of water in a 4-quart pot.
2. In a metal bowl (or a smaller pot) that fits into the above pot, mix the rice flour with water salt and oil.
3. Place the flour bowl into the boiling pot, and keep stirring until the flour mixture is about half way thick for about 3 minutes.
4. Take the bowl out of the pot, fill the pot with more water, about 3/4 full, add little oil and salt, bring it to a boil.
5. Add the tapioca flour into the rice flour bowl, a little at a time, mix well while adding, the mixture is now very thick, paste like.
6. Fill the cooky press with the flour mixture.
7. Hold it straight and press nonstop into the boiling water.
8. When the noodles float to the top,
use a strainer to pick them up
and release them into a large bowl of cold water.
9. Pour the noodles into a colander, rinse with cold water, add a little oil, shake well so that they won't stick together.
10. They are perfect for soup or you can prepare them in any way you would like.
Here is the cooky press. I bought it from a flea market for only $2. I am sure you can find it from any kitchen stores.