Dad's Stir Fry With Rice Sticks

Coconut Milk Sour Cream Base for Dips and Spreads. Gluten Free Dairy Free Sour Cream.

When I took my first taste of this, for a moment I totally forgot that it did not contain dairy. When you can trick your own tastebuds, well that's something. It is amazing to me how easy it is to disguise coconut flavor! Use herbs and spices you have on hand combined with food-grade essential oils to customize this sour cream to whatever flavor you want. Use a toothpick to add the oils, since a little goes a long way.

1/2 cup cream skimmed from the top of a can of full-fat coconut milk (I used Thai Kitchen)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Himalayan salt or sea salt, to taste
Food-grade essential oils to taste and/or garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, etc.

Chill the can of coconut milk so that the cream separates from the liquid; reserve the liquid for smoothies. Combine cream with coconut oil, then stir in other ingredients. Chill until firm enough to use as a dip or spread.

Variation #1, Cream Cheese: Use more coconut oil, and a dash or two of smoked paprika to warm up the color.

Variaton #2, Smoked Salmon Spread: Make the cream cheese version, then mix in some canned salmon, more lemon juice, and liquid smoke. I didn't have salmon so I used tuna and added some smoked paprika to make it pale pink and add a nice flavor.

Lime Snowball Cookies. Gluten Free Dairy Free Vegan.

These cookies were phenomenal! I do not think anyone would guess that they were GFCF. You can make lots of variations to this recipe, adding chopped nuts, omitting the citrus ingredients, adding mini chocolate chips, etc.

I based my recipe on this one: http://www.food.com/recipe/a-big-dose-of-lime-snowball-cookies-145013
2 cups Pamela's gluten-free flour mix
1 cup coconut oil, in solid form
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
zest of one lime or lemon
8-16 drops of food-grade lime essential oil (start slow and taste as you go)

Preheat oven to 350. If the coconut oil is solid, combine all ingredients except essential oil with your hands (the heat from your hands will melt the coconut oil just right). Gradually add the essential oil and taste the dough until you like the flavor. Form walnut-sized balls of dough and baked them on parchment lined ungreased cookie sheets for 15-20 minutes or until brown around the edges. Remove from oven and dust tops of cookies with powdered sugar while still warm.

Note: If you add chopped nuts and omit the citrus, use another liquid such as dairy-free milk to replace the citrus juice.

Incredibly Fabulous Three-ingredient GFCF Vegan Chocolate Truffles

When I got tired of eating the chocolate pie (see next post) I decided to scoop some of the filling into a ball, roll it in coconut, and pop it in my mouth as a truffle. Absolutely incredible. These even passed the test of my friend who is a caterer and lover of all things dairy. She could not believe there was no dairy in these.

1 can full-fat coconut milk, chilled (I used Thai Kitchen organic)
12 oz. Trader Joe's chocolate chips
Food-grade essential oils for flavoring the chocolate, such as peppermint or orange (optional)
Shredded coconut, nuts, cocoa powder, crushed organic dye-free peppermints, etc. for rolling

Open the can of coconut milk and drain off any liquid (you can use it in a smoothie), then dump it in a saucepan with the bag of chocolate chips and melt them together until combined. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then stir in essential oils (start with just a drop, especially of peppermint) until desired flavor is reached. Chill in the fridge for at least two hours.

Form chocolate mixture into balls and roll in desired crumbly stuff. Keep in fridge until time to serve.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The first time I made these they were fine but the truffle mixture was too soft, even after chilling. To redeem this situation, I melted 1/4 cup coconut oil and stirred it into the truffle mixture, then chilled it again before forming the truffles.