A Clean Bake

How To Bake Flatter Cake Layers

Want to learn all the tips and tricks for how to bake flatter cake layers? This is the post for you! You won't believe how easy it is!     When you're making a layer cake, the most frustrating moment is when you have frosted the first layer and add the second only to turn around and find it... jaunty. It tips to one side, or slides backward or just otherwise makes the cake look amateurish. Luckily, baking un-domed cake layers requires just a few easy steps, which I will lay out ... Read More about How To Bake Flatter Cake Layers

Gluten-Free Vanilla Layer Cake & Vegan Cherry Rose Frosting

If there is one thing I have learned this year, it's that food is more than the sum of its calories. It is art, and it is medicine and it brings people together. The latter is what today's recipe is all about. I had this concept for a chickpea-based vanilla layer cake clattering around my brain ever since I made a chocolate layer cake out of black beans. Beans are a perfect alternative to expensive specialty flours for people who want to try baking without gluten, or are doing so on a budget. ... Read More about Gluten-Free Vanilla Layer Cake & Vegan Cherry Rose Frosting

Creamy Vegan Kale Pesto (gluten free and raw)

Move over, basil! If you've never tried making pesto with kale, now is the time. It's hearty, flavorful, cost effective, and make a delicious and easy pesto that you can use on anything that calls for pesto! Pesto is a delicious amalgam of some of the best flavors there are: basil, olive oil, walnuts, cheese, and garlic. Say what you will about sweets - and I say a lot of wonderful things about sweets, and you should too - but there's something absolutely addictive about the ... Read More about Creamy Vegan Kale Pesto (gluten free and raw)

Pistachio Orange Rice Pudding (gluten free, whole grain, and vegan)

This pistachio orange rice pudding (with brown rice) has a healthier, whole grain twist and pistachio and orange blossom water for outstanding flavor!   Rice pudding is one of those simple-yet-decadent desserts that everyone seemed to love except for me for most of my life. I finally tried a wonderful, homemade version that a friend made in college, and like so many other critical desserts that I had been missing out on, changed my mind. But it's not for the faint at heart, calling for ... Read More about Pistachio Orange Rice Pudding (gluten free, whole grain, and vegan)

Grain-Free Birthday Cake Muffins (gluten free and paleo)

  The best surprise about blogging - other than the fact that somebody actually reads this - has been the community. Maybe I've said this before, but I really can't say it enough. In a world that seems like it would be horribly, high-school-ishly shallow and competitive, there is no shortage of encouraging words, positive reinforcement, and and gotyerbackism, a word that I just made up, but which should definitely exist because these ladies, they got yer back. It's amazing to find a ... Read More about Grain-Free Birthday Cake Muffins (gluten free and paleo)

A Taste of Montreal

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, between a a road trip to Iowa, Colorado and Nebraska a couple weeks ago and a trip to Montreal last month. Montreal is a city I have wanted to visit for many years, and it's such a quick flight that I am not sure why we didn't go sooner. But hey, better late than never.     The trip was over Memorial Day weekend, in honor of Bryan's birthday and also secretly in honor of my fleeting ability to speak French and desire to stumble through some ... Read More about A Taste of Montreal

Naturally-Sweetened Candied Lemon Peels and Lemon Simple Syrup (gluten free, vegan, and paleo)

Don't you love candied citrus? I know I do. Citrus and summer go together like peanut butter and chocolate so there is no better time to make these bright, sweet and tart little candies. Don't be intimidated by the concept of candying. There are NO candy thermometers or cooked sugar here. This recipe could not be easier!   It starts with cleaned and sliced lemon peel. If you don't like lemon, you can easily substitute orange or grapefruit peel. Make sure you have removed all of the lemon ... Read More about Naturally-Sweetened Candied Lemon Peels and Lemon Simple Syrup (gluten free, vegan, and paleo)

Cold Carrot Quinoa Soup with Chickpea Croutons (Gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, and adaptable for paleo and Whole30)

This vegan and gluten free carrot soup is perfect all year round! It's delicious served cold in the summer or warm in the winter. Hearty from quinoa and topped with chickpea croutons, this healthy soup is a great meal! Soup in June? Don't worry; I haven't lost my mind...at least not any more than usual. There is just something about the transition from spring to summer always makes my taste buds crave fresher and less-sweet fare like this chilled carrot soup. Not to mention that ever since I ... Read More about Cold Carrot Quinoa Soup with Chickpea Croutons (Gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, and adaptable for paleo and Whole30)

Classic Banana Bread (Gluten free and whole grain)

This bread has been rather humbling. It started out with the concept that "banana bread isn't so complicated" and "I am totally owning this gluten-free-but-you-can't-tell baking thing". 50,000 loaves later, here we are. It originally had pistachios in it, and once baked up in a skillet - which sounds a lot cooler than it ended up being, unless you want to eat unsightly triangular slabs of banana crumbs. At least it was delicate. Banana bread usually consists of a few basic ingredients - ... Read More about Classic Banana Bread (Gluten free and whole grain)

Paleo-ish Veggie Sliders (gluten free)

Pop quiz: what goes better with sweet potato fries than a burger? Answer: sliders. Why? It's just a rule of the universe. Duh.   Veggie sliders are inarguably better than beef sliders, though, especially when you're someone who hates beef and likes arguing (me), or someone who doesn't like meat but whose stomach can't handle, um, anything from the grain or legume families (also me). Because of my sensitivity to legumes, I try to limit my intake to the good stuff like bean-based ... Read More about Paleo-ish Veggie Sliders (gluten free)