Monday Mention ... Egg Substitutes

There are times when I'm low on eggs and want to conserve them so I don't have to go out to the store right then (or the farmers market that is only once a week) or I don't have enough eggs for a recipe, or I just want to experiment with other nutritional ideas that are available. The more you play with ideas the easier it becomes second nature when you want to create something with leftovers or needing to substitute for whatever your making/baking. There are other reasons to not use eggs, like eating vegan, you have a allergy or sensitivity to eggs or you have trouble with soy ( see my post on soyfree eggs http://whole-food-living.blogspot.com/2014/09/monday-mention-soy-free-eggs.html )

*Here is a link for eggless recipes - http://www.egglesscooking.com/egg-substitutes/

*The original source of the list below - http://www.theholisticingredient.com/blogs/wholesome-living/13568994-easy-egg-substitutions-a-how-to-guide

1 Egg Equals:	Best in:	Notes.
1/2 banana, mashed	Pancakes, cakes, breads	Very ripe bananas will add sweetness
1/4 cup applesauce or 1/4 cup ripe mashed pears	Breads, cakes, brownies	Avoid using more than 1/4 cup total in any recipe
1/4 cup natural or Greek yoghurt	Brownies, smoothies	Can cause final product to be heavier
2.5 tablespoons ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water, set in fridge for 10 minutes	Granola bars, smoothies	Adds earthy, nutty taste and chewy texture
1 tablespoon coconut oil mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder & 2 teaspoons water	Gluten free baking	Adds fat to the recipe, can be tricky to work with
1 tablespoon chia seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water, set in fridge for 10 minutes	Smoothies, baked goods	Binds and thickens
1/4 cup pureed prunes (or any high pectin fruit)	Breads, cakes, brownies	Adds sweetness to recipe
1/4 cup pumpkin, mashed (canned works well, choose BPA free cans)	Breads, brownies	Can be heavy
1/4 cup potato, cooked and mashed (sweet potato might be yum!)	Savoury dishes	Can be heavy
1 tablespoon agar mixed with 1 tablespoon water, whipped and chilled	Gluten free baking	Used to replace egg white only
1 tablespoon gelatin dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water, add 2 tablespoons boiling water, beat vigorously until frothy	Gluten free baking	Binds and thickens

Monday "Mention"- Flourless...

Baking/Cooking without flour? 

Why you ask? It gives your body a small break from flour of any kind ( http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Your-Body-Can-Do-Without-Grains---Including-Whole-Grains&id=3648259 ). And if you can make/bake, and it tastes good, why not! The internet is full of recipes to try your hand at baking/cooking without the use of flour. Here are five websites to get you started...

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/great-recipes.asp?food=flourless

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies-recipe.html

http://recipeland.com/recipes/list?q=flourless

http://homecookinginmontana.blogspot.com/2011/03/flourless-bread-with-no-sugarmade-with.html

http://www.yummly.com/recipes/flourless-cooking

If you would like help reading labels, shopping and/or making meal planning easy contact me athttp://www.wholefood-living.com/contact.html

Tuesday "Try" Remake Baked Cinnamon Breakfast bites...

 Cinnamon Baked Breakfast Bites

http://ohmysugarhigh.com/scrumptious-baked-cinnamon-breakfast-bites-recipe/

Here is all the ingredients I used for my version of the Scrumptious Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites I posted on facebook for "Syrupy" Sunday. I wanted to try these but I needed them to be Gluten and Dairy Free.

I used:

potato starch

tapioca starch

 brown rice flour

 organic sugar

organic shortening

earth balance

almond milk

brown rice cakes

The recipe called for 1 1/3 cup of all purpose flour so I used a combination of potato, tapioca and brown rice flour to equal 1 1/3 flour. I added in the baking powder and some xanthan gum ( about 1/4 tsp) because when your baking with gluten free flour it helps hold it together. 

I used part shortening and part earth balance because I didn't have buttered flavored shortening as the recipe suggested. I worked it in until it resembled crumbs.

Then the recipe called for crisp rice cereal which I did not have on hand so I used some rice cakes, put them in the food processor and ground it up.

Here is what they looked like. Just like crispy rice cereal!

Next I put the flour mix, rice cakes ground up, 2 Tb. sugar and incorporated them all...

Added in 1/2 cup of almond milk, and stirred until a fairly stiff dough formed.

I took the dough and shaped them into about 1 inch balls. I melted 1/4 cup of earth balance instead of butter and mixed the 1/2 cup of sugar with cinnamon. I dipped each ball into the earth balance and then the cinnamon sugar mix. 

Put them into a glass pie pan and baked on 325 degrees for about 12-15 min.

The finally results - GOOD!

What I would do different next time would be use a little less cereal and use all earth balance instead of half shortening half earth balance. And probable no rice flour because the cereal is rice based. It's fun playing with recipes. 

......If you need help with your recipes

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