November 2010

What’s Thanksgiving without a Green Bean Casserole — that’s vegan and gluten free as well?

November 30, 2010

When SFoodie asked me to write about my favorite Thanksgiving dish, I was honored to be considered one of their “favorite food people of San Francisco.” But it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to write about. My first inclination was to go with a dessert. After all desserts are what I’m all about – especially on this here bloggity blog. So it was a bit of a surprise (even to myself) to finally settle on the unassuming much maligned green bean casserole. Even more surprising was, through circumstances, I made it vegan and gluten free and ended up liking it even MORE than the dairy version!

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Gluten Free Maple Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Gingerbread Bottom and Sour Cream Marshmallow Topping

November 15, 2010

Pssst. Wanna do a secret baking challenge? Whispered Shauna over at Gluten Free Girl. Well virtually whispered, as she tweeted about it mysteriously and then said anyone interested should send her their email address. Mysterious baking challenge? I was up for that. My result: A maple sweet potato cheesecake with marshmallow topping and gingerbread base. Sweet Potato? Yep. Gluten free, of course.

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Quince, Pear and Dried Wild Blueberry Pie for an 18 Reasons event

November 9, 2010

Fall comes around sneakily here in SF. While the rest of the country is sweltering, our summers tend to be on the cool side, and this summer was no exception. I found myself wearing sweaters during the summer time, throwing on a jaunty scarf or occasionally turning the heat on while trying to warm myself as my fellow Americans were complaining about the stifling heat and horrible humidity. But then September and October comes around and when all the leaves are turning colors in the other parts of the country, we get our heat. Temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s and then, in a blink of an eye, the end of October comes and it plummets down. Fall has arrived (ever so briefly). Pumpkin, apples, maple syrup, and cinnamon come to the forefront in my mind even without down the sidewalk with the crunch of leaves under my feet (San Francisco sadly lacks deciduous trees, one of it few faults and one of the things I truly miss from St. Louis). It’s time for comfort food and for baking something warm rich and heavy that reminds me of grandma. Like a quince, pear and dried wild blueberry pie.

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Southeast Asian inspired vegan Apple Blackberry Pie with coconut crumb and coconut scented crust

November 5, 2010

Peter and Grant are the fanciest friends that I know. They are the only people I know that actually own not one but multiple tuxedos (one can only assume because one is never sure when one will have to go to back to back black tie events). They were the people I went to French Laundry the second time I went (remind me to tell you how I went the first time, it’s relatively amusing). And they are the only people I know who actually shop at Brooks Brothers, without any sense of irony whatsoever. And, of course, they are the ones that inspired me to take a simple basic all American dessert like an apple pie and make it all fancy. I present to you, the Southeast Asian Inspired Apple Blackberry Pie with coconut crumb topping and coconut scented crust.

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