Pumpkin bread, gluten, dairy, sugar-free

 Yesterday was my six-month anniversary of going gluten-free. On June 2, I got a phone-call from my doctor, going over the results of some bloodwork, and was told I should stop eating gluten as soon as possible. I resolved myself to a life without gluten, and hopefully some relief from almost-daily joint pain, which on a bad day made it hard even to walk across campus. Now, months later, I have learned a lot and feel amazing compared to where I was in June. Like, I can go on hikes and don't need to spend two days recovering. I have more than two hours of energy each day. Not all of my symptoms are gone, but I am very happy with where I am at compared to just a few months ago. Cooking gluten-free still isn't intuitive, but I think I have gotten a lot better at it. There are very few things the Man has deemed inedible, anyway. So in conclusion, life is pretty awesome right now.

But gluten isn't the whole story. I am dairy-free now too, and I was a lot less dignified when I found that out in July. There were tears, and anger. Now, though, when someone finds out that I am gluten and dairy-intolerant, the reaction tends to be “That sucks, what do you eat?” I am happy to say that there is a lot I can eat. I just have to be a little more creative now. Creativity was part of what inspired this bread recipe.

This particular bread was my response to trying to accommodate a family member with a more limited diet then myself, so that she could eat some bread at our Thanksgiving gathering. There are a lot of good reasons to limit one's sugar intake, and if you make this using the stevia as a sweetener, then the only sugar in the bread is the little bit naturally in the pumpkin. When stevia-sweetened, the bread is almost savory. With the agave or honey, it is only slightly sweet. I enjoyed it both ways.

Pumpkin Bread

Gluten, dairy, and sugar-free

2 Tbs ground flax seed

3 Tbs near-boiling water

15 oz pumpkin puree

2 eggs

3 Tbs agave nectar or honey (see below for stevia substitution)

2 Tbs vegetable oil (or olive oil or melted butter)

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup almond flour

½ cup brown rice or sorghum flour

½ cup buckwheat flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ginger

¾ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large glass bowl, mix together the flax and hot water until they form a paste. Allow it to sit for a minute or two.

Flax seed paste replaces the need for xanthan gum, and adds structure to the bread.

Add in the pumpkin, eggs, agave, oil, and vinegar, and whisk together with an electric beater for a minute.  

Wet ingredients together. I know this is a whisk and not an electric beater; using the latter helps the bread rise more. A whisk works, though!

 Add the flours, salt, spices, baking soda and baking powder and stir together. The batter should be like somewhat fluffy muffin batter. Add a little extra water if needed.

Finished batter 

Grease a baking pan (or line with parchment paper) and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, and allow the bread to cool before slicing, otherwise it will crumble.

Modifications: if you have a nut allergy, the almond flour can be replaced by another flour like sorghum or quinoa. An extra teaspoon or two of oil may be needed, though, as almond flour has a lot of fat in it.

To make this truly sugar free, replace the agave with two or three teaspoons of steavia powder, and add an extra egg white in with the wet ingredients.

Toasted squash seeds

On the left are acorn squash seeds. On the right are pumpkin seeds. Both are amazing.

I made some squash for dinner the other night, and pondered at the seeds as I cleaned it out.

“Gosh” you must be thinking, “Is this the gluten-free radical or the squash-radical?” I have been posting about squash a lot. But, dear reader, squash is wonderful. And good for you. It is like some sort of miracle food.

So are the seeds. Pepitas, or roasted pumpkin seeds, have lots of fiber and vegan protein. When I made a jack-o-lantern of sorts on Halloween, I made pepitas following this tutorial, so as to not waste the deliciousness. I tossed them in olive oil, salt, and Italian seasoning. They were amazing.

So when I was cutting open an acorn squash that same night I wondered, why don't we eat seeds from other squash besides pumpkin?

That is why I ended up roasting squash seeds.

I started followed the pepita tutorial from Pioneer Woman (basically how to clean and dry the seeds), but made changes. With the squash, I tossed the seeds in melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little salt. I roasted them for about 8 minutes at 400, which was a little too hot, but I didn't want to wait to remove dinner from the oven. You can make these at the same time you are making the actual squash!

These were really good. I don't plan on wasting squash seeds again.

 Pumpkin innards

Italian-seasoned pepitas

 With the squash seeds, I dumped a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar, a little salt, and some cinnamon on top of the cleaned and dried seeds.

Then pour on about two melted tablespoons of butter. To make it vegan, use coconut oil or vegan "butter."

I mixed everything together on the parchment paper with my hands.

After baking.

So tasty!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

A wonderful, seasonal soup.

I love pumpkin-flavored everything. Normally this time of year, I would be getting pumpkin-spice lattes, pumpkin bread and muffins, and anything else pumpkin-flavored at the store or coffee-shop.

But this is my first fall with food allergies. And neither the bread nor the lattes are necessarily safe for me to have. Last month, I drank a soy pumpkin-spiced chai tea that made me sick for a couple days. I was told later that chai sometimes has gluten in it. Today I went up to the counter at Starbucks and asked if there was gluten in their pumpkin spice flavor. Thankfully, the barista knew that there was, so I did not order that. My fall is not ruined by the lack of pumpkin spice, however!

I made a big batch of pumpkin puree (following this tutorial) and with it I have been making my own pumpkin baked goods. The best thing I've made so far, though, is curried pumpkin soup. It is delicious, filling, and just happens to be gluten free and vegan (unless you use chicken broth). It has just the right touch of coconut and curry flavors. My squash-ambivalent spouse liked it a lot, too. I consider that a success!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

2 Tbs olive oil

3-4 peeled garlic cloves

1 medium carrot

1 medium yellow onion

2 cups broth or water (chicken is good, use vegetable to make it vegan)

1 pound pumpkin puree (a 15-ounce can of puree is fine)

½ can of coconut milk

1 ½ tsp curry powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

a sprinkle each of nutmeg and cinnamon

Heat the olive oil at medium in a saucepan. Roughly chop the garlic, and saute in the oil for about three minutes. 

Briefly saute the garlic

Give the onion and carrot a rough chop, and add them to the saucepan. 

Carrots and onions

Stir the vegetables for about a minute, then add the broth (or water) to the pan. Bring it to a boil on high heat, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer the broth for 20-30 minutes, until the onion and carrot are soft.

Turn off the heat, and let the pan cool at least five minutes. Add the vegetables and broth to a blender, but avoid filling the blender more than half full. You may need to do this in batches. If you are using homemade pumpkin puree and you have not previously run it through a food processor, add it to the blender too. Blend the contents until the soup is as smooth as you prefer.

This was probably a little too full, as I have heard that blending hot food can cause explosions if the blender if full. That is one reason to let the soup cool a bit.

Pour the blender contents back into the saucepan. If you have a compulsion not to waste the food on the sides of cans, blenders, etc. like I do, swish a little bit of water around the blender to help remove the pureed vegetables and pour it into the saucepan.

Add the coconut milk and spices to the saucepan. Heat over medium for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle. You may want to add a little bit of water to the soup if it is too thick at this point.

Mixing in the coconut milk. You can use lite coconut milk if you are worried about calories.

 I had to add probably a half cup of water to make it my desired consistency.

It is a delicious soup. Make it now!