Pinto Bean Melt

Wild Salmon Melt

gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free (uses goat cheese)

• Four Grain Flatbreads
• chicken, chicken salad, wild salmon salad or pinto bean spread
• Shredded Goat Cheese

Under the broiler of the oven or in a counter-top toaster oven, toast both sides of the flatbreads. Spread with desired topping(s) and then top with shredded goat cheese. Put back under the broiler until cheese is melted and browned. Serve immediately. Yumm!

© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.

With the weather warming up, we sure feel like having lighter, cooler foods. This is a deliciously simple chicken salad. We like to eat it with Quinoa Dinner Cakes. Yesterday when we were out clearing brush and cleaning up our property, I brought out a bowl of this chicken salad and a bunch of the dinner cakes. Yummy lunch — or dinner!

Yummy Chicken Salad

• 1/4 to 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 2 to 3 cups cooked chicken, diced
• sea salt and pepper
• few pinches of dried basil
• generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• finely grated goat cheddar cheese (optional)
• chopped olives (optional)

Toss all ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve atop greens, in a sandwich, or alongside Quinoa Dinner Cakes.

© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.

The recipe calls for 2 eggs. Since we can’t do those due to allergies, I subbed 1 teaspoon xanthan gum plus 1 tablespoon water for the 2 eggs. I put the xanthan gum in with the dry ingredients and added an extra tablespoon of warm water for the yeast-proofing stage.

Thanks, Tiffany!

Our terrific and yummy dinner last night:

Warm Quinoa Dinner Cakes filled with Wild Salmon Salad,
topped with shredded raw goat cheddar cheese and sliced avocado.

Quick Sandwich Bread — Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free
a variation on a recipe shared by a friend

makes 2 loaves

• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 4 cups warm water
• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 2 cups buckwheat flour
• 1 cup millet flour
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 5 teaspoons guar gum
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/4 cup raw honey or raw agave
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, or grapeseed oil, grease two bread loaf pans.

Put water and yeast in mixing bowl. Let yeast get bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until smooth.

Fill each loaf pan with 1/2 the batter. Spread evenly with a spatula.

Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes or more, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven. Let cool on rack, in pans, for 15 minutes. Turn loaves out of pans and return to cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing.

Store in an airtight container.

This bread is delicious toasted! We made grilled goat cheddar cheese sandwiches out of it today.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon.

The flatbreads make great toast, too! Toast them and top them with your favorite nut butter, jam, agave and/or honey — a delicious and satisfying breakfast.

This recipe is so forgiving and flexible that you can truly make it your own.

Gluten-Free Flatbreads

• 3 cups gluten-free flour mix*
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1 cup water

Combine flour, salt and oil in mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. While mixer is on, pour in water. When combined, feel the dough. If it is sticky, add more flour. If it is too dry, add a little more water. Aim for achieving a firm but workable dough.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add a little grapeseed oil to the pan (or for fun, red palm oil!). Shape 1-1/2″ balls of dough into 4″ rounds that are about 1/4″ thick. You may need to grease your hands to work with the dough.

When the pan is heated, fry 3 to 4 flatbreads at a time (depending on size of skillet). Cook them for 1-3 minutes, until browned on the bottom, then flip over and cook until brown on the opposite side.

Transfer to a plate and cover with a towel to keep moist. Repeat with remaining flatbreads, adding oil to the pan as desired. When cool, store in an airtight container or freeze for future use.

*Gluten-free flours are: Amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, cornmeal, teff, millet, quinoa, sorghum, and tapioca. Flax seed meal may also be used. Combine them to make a gluten-free mix, or use one at a time. You will want to experiment, as each flour has a different flavor. Currently, we are enjoying a gluten-free mix made from: sorghum, millet, buckwheat and sweet brown rice (which was shared with me by a friend).

To make the flour yourself, start with the whole grains and grind 2 cups at a time in a Vita-Mix dry container (or mill of your choosing). The softer grains (amaranth, buckwheat, teff, and millet) require about 30 seconds on HIGH, while the other grains require 1 minute of grinding on HIGH. (The exception to my knowledge regards the tapioca, from which I haven’t made a flour yet.)

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon.

*We have been using amaranth, millet and buckwheat flours. But we can also use quinoa, sweet brown rice, brown rice, teff or sorghum flour.

Yesterday, Haniya and Noami made our flatbreads from start to finish. Haniya ground the flour in the Vitamix. These softer grains require about 30 seconds of grinding on HIGH to become fine flour.

I not only took this picture to record the cooking experience, but I thought Haniya looked gorgeous. My mom gave her that beautiful skirt… at least I think it was my mom. Was it you, Mom? (Oops! No, it was Jeff’s mom!)
The t-shirt is one of the ones I made her last week. And her hair!

She and Naomi shaped the little breads and pan fried them. Mikah took the following picture. It is really an action shot.

In July, the kids will be making their (now) traditional summer trek to California to spend 2 weeks at their Gramma, Grampa and Auntie’s house. I am training the girls to make their own gluten-free bread so they will be able to do it while they are there. We will grind all the flours before they leave and put all the dry ingredients together in batches which they can take with them. All they will have to add is water and a little oil and then cook them on the stove.

These flatbreads can be used for all sorts of sandwiches. They are best toasted and then topped. We have eaten them with hamburgers, wild salmon salad, chicken salad, pinto bean spread and veggies. Usually, I will toast and top them, sprinkle shredded goat cheese on top, and then put the open-faced sandwich round back under the broiler or the broiler in the toaster oven to melt and crisp the cheese. Then I might top that with sliced avocado or other veggies that aren’t that good warmed up (like tomatoes or cucumbers).

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon.

Makes 6 Loaves

recipe may be halved for kneading by hand or when using another mixer

• 2 cups cracked grain cereal mix
• 1 cup cold filtered water + 4 cups boiling filtered water (for soaking the cracked grains)
• 2 cups warm filtered water (for the sponge)
• 15-1/2 cups+ whole wheat flour (preferably fresh ground, hard white wheat flour)
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons SAF yeast
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1-1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 tablespoons raw agave syrup or raw honey
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds (optional)

In mixing bowl, whisk together cracked grain cereal mix with 1 cup of cold water. While stirring to prevent lumps, slowly pour in the 4 cups of boiling water. Cover bowl with both lids (lock in place) and allow to sit undisturbed for 30 minutes to an hour, until cereal is thickened considerably and cooled down to comfortably warm. Turn on mixer briefly to incorporate all ingredients. Remove lids.

To the mixing bowl, add the 2 cups of warm filtered water, 5 cups of the whole wheat flour, and all the yeast. Turn on to speed 1 intermittently, to mix until just blended. Cover bowl with both lids (lock in place) and allow to sit for 15 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and doubled in size. This is the sponge.

Remove inner lid. Punch down by briefly turning on mixer to Speed 1. Add 2 cups whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, agave or honey, and poppy seeds. Put on inner lid. Begin mixing on Speed 1. Stopping mixer and removing lid for each addition, add 8 to 9 cups more more whole wheat flour, 1/2 to 1 cup at a time, until dough feels springy, but not gooey. Increase to Speed 2. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, with both lids on. The dough to be soft and springy after the kneading is complete. Overkneading or underkneading will result in tougher dough, so begin checking for springy-ness at about 7-1/2 minutes and every 30 seconds thereafter until you feel the dough is nice and soft.

Transfer dough to a large, greased stainless steel bowl. Rotate dough around so it gets coated on all sides, top and bottom, with the oil in the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm (but turned off) oven*. Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Punch down dough. Divide into 5 portions (for extra-large loaves) or 6 portions (for regular loaves). Shape loaves and place in oiled loaf pans. Cut into top of each loaf 3 or 4 times diagonally with a sharp knife. Put pans in a warm, draft-free place to rise for about 30 minutes, or until dough has swelled to fill the pans and rise above the tops by 1 or 2 inches. While loaves are rising, preheat oven on to 350 degrees. (A good place for the loaves to rise is next to the burner that vents the oven heat — not on the stovetop, but on the counter next to it). When loaves have risen and oven is preheated, transfer pans to the oven and bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Turn loaves out onto cooling racks. When just cooled, put in bread bags. Set one out for immediate use and freeze the rest.

*To warm oven, turn on to 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then turn off. Open the oven door and let most of the heat out, until the oven is left comfortably warm.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon

• 1/2 cup sesame tahini
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup filtered water (or more if needed)
• handful of parsley, chopped

Cream tahini and lemon juice together. The lemon will thicken the tahini. Add water to thin the sauce until it has a creamy, spoonable consistency. A handful of chopped parsley added to the sauce gives it an interesting texture and delicious taste. Sauce may be prepared ahead of time.

© 2007 by Martha Bisharat

My mom submitted this recipe to a newspaper’s cooking contest back in 1984 and she won first prize — $50. I have upped the seasonings a bit, but other than that, this is the same great recipe.

• 4 cups dry garbanzo beans
• 3 large onions
• 6 to 8 cloves garlic
• 2 bunches parsley, with stems removed
• 3 to 5 jalapeno peppers (optional)
• 2-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 5 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda (when ready to fry)
• expeller-pressed canola or grapeseed oil (for frying)
• Garnishes: whole wheat pocket bread, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, shredded greens, sliced avocados, sprouts

Soak the garbanzo beans in water overnight. Wash and drain. In an electric or manual meat grinder*, grind together the garbanzo beans, onions, garlic, peppers and parsley. Grind a second time. Add salt and pepper, cumin and baking powder and mix thoroughly.

When ready to deep fry, add the baking soda to the mixture and mix again. Shape the falafel mixture into patties which are 1 1/2 inch in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. You may also use a Pampered Chef small scoop to shape the balls easily. Deep fry the patties in hot oil until golden brown.

While the falafel is still warm, serve the patties in half rounds of pocket bread. Garnish with thinly sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded greens and top with 2 tablespoonsful of tahini sauce.

*You may also use a food processor or Vita-Mix to grind the ingredients. Grind the ingredients separately. Do not puree the onions or the parsley, but keep them fairly chunky. Otherwise, the parsley is likely to turn the whole mixture green or the onions may make the mixture too watery. Add a small bit of flour or commercial falafel mix if too watery.

© 2007 by Martha Bisharat and Wardeh Harmon