DIY gelatin

I found a link for DIY GELATIN at maantistaaste.com.  Yes, that's the gelatin you could use to make jello.

Originally it was for pork bones, but I used it for ox tail and it worked GREAT.  I'd check out the link above to see what they have to say about gelatin, as it's interesting, but let me tell you the basics here.

Recipe Review - Awesome Avocado chocolate pudding

Sounds like it'd be gross, but it's really not.

I tried out this recipe today, from the website Hold the Sulfites.
http://holdthesulfites.com/awesome-avocado-chocolate-pudding/

It has avocados, chocolate powder, honey, and vanilla extract. I thought I could use enough ingredients to make this plausible.

Looks pretty good, yeah?

Soy Sauce Substitute

This recipe was shared with me recently, for a soy sauce substitute, and has the fewest ingredients I've found in one to date.

It's not sulfite free or low histamine compliant, but otherwise, it's good for a lot of allergic folks.

Faux Soy Sauce

The best cheesecake ever

This recipe was made by a person who obviously LOVES their cheesecake. And after making it a few years back, I can see why. It is quite literally the best cheesecake I ever had in my life, and it's one I made myself, which makes it even better. I can't eat it anymore, of course, but that doesn't matter.

I'm sharing this because frankly, it needs to be shared for everyone who can eat it. Seriously - so amazingly good. I'm not even talking about it more than this, just sharing.

Cooking Debauchery's cheesecake
EDIT: Sadly, this website is no longer with us. But thankfully, I copied the recipe itself because it was so awesome, so I'll share this genius' awesome cheesecake with others so it will not be lost.

"Best cheesecake ever
By kitarra

THE Cheesecake
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

2 pounds cream cheese (4 8 oz packages), softened
4 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup Kifir Cheese [2]
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Zest of one small lemon, finely chopped
Butter and additional sugar for the pan

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees.

Set oven to middle rack and slide into it a large roasting pan.  Fill the bottom of the pan with boiling water and allow to heat with the oven to create a little steam.  Bring another pot of water to a boil.

Removed the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Line it with a large piece of tin foil, folding the edges under so that they do not interfere.  Replace the bottom of the spring form pan into the hoop and lock into place.  Carefully uncurl the tin foil from the bottom and bring it up around the edges of ring, crumpling at the top to create a water tight seal.

Brush the insides of the pan with melted butter making sure to coat every nook and cranny.  Once the pan is coated, pour in 3 tablespoons sugar, shaking it around to evenly coat the bottom and sides.  This will prevent the cheesecake from sticking.

Evenly distribute the cream cheese in the food processor.  Turn to on and slowly add the sugar through the feed tube until the cream cheese loosens and becomes smooth.  You might have to scrape down the sides a couple of times.  Add eggs one at a time, scrapping down the sides between each addition if necessary.

Stop the processor.  While it is stopped add the zest, vanilla and kifir cheese.  Pulse until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared crust [3], resisting the urge to lick the mixer bowl.  Shake the pan, taping it against the kitchen counter to get out any errant air bubbles.

Place into the middle of the roasting pan and add enough water to come up a little more than half way up the sides.

Bake at 500 degrees for 12 minutes.

Open the oven door and reduce the temperature to 200 degrees.  Keep the oven door open for a few minutes until it cools slightly.  Close the oven door and bake without opening for 1 hour.

The cheesecake will look done at this point and be jiggly in the center.  It will want to come out.  Don’t you believe it!  To prevent cracks, run a thin knife between the edge of the cheesecake and the pan.  It should retract readily.  Close the door and bake for another hour to 75 minutes or until the whole cheesecake move in a slightly rubbery way when gently shaken.

Bring the temperature up to 350 and bake until the top is golden and puffed.

Remove to a wire rack and cool, tearing away the tinfoil to allow heat to escape.

Chill in the refrigerator over night.  DO NOT be tempted to cut into it right away.  This is very hard, I know, but the texture will not right until it has chilled thoroughly.

[1]  Cheesecake Nirvana is currently located in my freezer where it will sit and await my birthday on the 16th.
[2]  Kifir Cheese is sometimes called Lebnan and can be found in Persian or Arabic markets.  If kifir cheese is not available, substitute with Greek Yogurt, preferably drained for a few hours in a coffee filter.
[3]  The first hint I had that I was on the right track is that this cheesecake was nearly half an inch shorter than the cheesecake mousse horror!  The pan should be about half full, maybe a little more.

Originally from http://www.cookingdebauchery.com/cooking_debauchery/2007/02/the_cheesecake.html"

As for allergens - It's gluten free, can be grain free (depends on some brand names), peanut and tree nut free, but it contains dairy, eggs, sugar, and lemon or vanilla.

Homemade, grain-free starches and flours

In the last few years, I've reacted to all processed starch that I've purchased. I know of other sulfite-sensitive folks who have said the same, as well as some super-sensitive celiacs, and some folks who have to be corn or grain free.

If you need a starch, however, and you can have either sweet potato or potato, there's a really easy way to make your own sweet potato or potato starch. This method leaves you with remainders from the process that you can turn into sweet potato flour or potato flour, too!

Citrus salt

This looks very interesting and tasty. Just a little something to add a bit of zing to a food.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/citrus-salt-recipe.html

corn tortillas

I can't eat these anymore - maybe someday I can grow my own organic heirloom corn and make this work, but not at the moment.

However, coming from the southwest USA and having made these in the past, I had to put at least one post in here about how to make corn tortillas. They are SO good when made from scratch.

I never used a tortilla press and just made heavy, thick ones by patting them in my hands. I ended up liking those very much, even though they don't roll around food as well. They work great to use as the noodle portion of lasagna if you make a sort of 'Mexican Lasagna,' with chicken, tomatoes, and green chiles as the filling between tortilla layers. A green enchilada sauce goes very well with this, too. Not that I can eat most of that anymore, either, LOL.

This recipe below looks about like what I usually made. Almost no ingredients, just corn masa and water. We sometimes added salt, but that was about it! If you are eating corn, I would highly recommend corn masa over corn meal. It is processed in such a way that the nutrients from corn are more bio-available, so you get more of them.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000160.html

Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower

I've been trying to find ways my children will eat more variety in their veggies - as this makes up a huge part of our diet - and finally found a way that they like cauliflower, yeaaa!

Roasted cauliflower. I used this recipe.

Basically, I chopped the cauliflower, roasted it around 400-425 with a little oil or melted animal fat and salt rubbed over them. The kids liked the smaller pieces that had more browned area the best. The bigger pieces didn't go over as well. I'd highly recommend this one!

It always feels great when you can find something the kids like to eat!

LOW HISTAMINE DIET - make this sucker as is. :-)

Socca - A French Flatbread

Socca is a completely grain free flatbread that comes from France. It's even a traditional grain-free flatbread, so no weird substitutions to alter the taste, woo hoo!

This stuff is SO easy to make, it's awesome. And it tastes good, too. My kids tell me it reminds them of the batter around a corn dog; I assume that's a positive review, heh.

No Shampoo

Shampoo has been a bit of a problem for a while - lots of allergies means more and more shampoos are making us react. My daughter has been having a lot of skin problems due to shampoo, so we've been a bit desperate lately.

Which leads me to here: cleaning my hair without shampoo. I know people do this. I hear about it; I read about it. So I decided to give it a try.

Lavender Lemonade

Lavender Lemonade, from UseRealButter.com 

Our lavender, hiding among the allyssum

Homemade bouillon

There are a lot of foods that I can't eat, obviously, but I come across so MANY awesome looking recipes that I hate to just leave them to languish in the depths of my bookmark folders. Who knows, maybe someday I could even eat these!

So I'm going to start listing some here, for my potential later use, and for the use of anyone who may be able to enjoy these today.

First off, homemade bouillon, from 101cookbooks.