Special Holiday Treat! Cranberry / Strawberry Dairy Free Gluten Free Cake with Chocolate Brownie Nut Crust

If you have any type of dietary restriction, you know what it's like to stare with longing at a trans-fat-laden chocolate-covered high-fructose-corn-syrup infused monstrocity being devoured by relatives/friends/significant others and having none.

It sucks being the "special one," while everyone is eating to excess in drunken holiday mirth, even though it's pretty clear the cake won't be very good if you have it. And after that, you will either be suffering from a belly ache, headache, depression or other symptoms of sugar overload.

This gluten-free/dairy-free cake masterpiece is a favorite in any house I bring it to. Make it and become the brilliant cook instead of a weirdo with a dietary restriction. And then, of course, you can have it for breakfast, if there's anything left, that is...

Recipe
1/2 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 or 2 fresh apples
3-4 tablespoons of agar agar
2 tablespoons of kuzu starch
1 package of gluten-free brownies
1-2 cups of nuts
cinnamon, allspice and dried mint
1 tablespoon of honey or agave syrup


Make the nut shell:
Combine brownies and nuts in a food processor until mixture is even and easy to work with. (should be like play-doh consistency, or a bit stickier. Line a mold or some kind of pan with wax paper (or aluminum foil) and spread the mixture over the paper, forming a shell.

Alternatives for the nut shell:
Another (vegan) option is to skip the pre-made brownie, and try combining nuts with dried fruit, like prunes, apricots, dates or soaked figs. You can also add raw chocolate for that chocolate kick.

Make the mousse filling:
Boil strawberries, cranberries and apples in a pot. Add spices to taste or until a nice smell has traveled through the whole kitchen. When cranberries are cooked, add agar agar. Add kuzu to cold water to dissolve and then add kuzu water to the pot.

Take out half of the fruits and puree them in the food processor. Add it back to the pot. Stir. Pour into your brownie shell.

Stick it in the fridge to set. Should set in 2-4 hours.

For other brilliant variations, see

Passover Blueberry-Prune Cake
Raw Hazelnut Carrot Cake

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Garbanzo Wonder Salad

My favorite breakfast. It is. This salad has a lot of complex carbohydrates and protein, so instead of falling prey to the mid-morning "feed me!" stomach grumble, I last until lunch.

It's also chock full of amazing nutritious properties -- take dill, for example. Did you know that it contains oils that help neutralize benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke? If you're living in the city, this breakfast will help protect your body from free radical damage.

Chickpea Salad Recipe
2 cups cooked chickpeas (also known as garbanzo bean)
1/2 onion
1 cup red cabbage
1-1/2 cup fresh dill or parsley herbs
sesame seed oil or olive oil to taste

Combine chickpeas with diced onion, cabbage and herbs. Sprinkle oil. Eat. Enjoy. Delicious, right?

makes 4 servings
total cost: $2

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Warm Healing Breakfast: Pumpkin Soup

Cold winter days bring wind and snow and sneezing. Lots of it. But I'm not worried -- I have this soup to soothe me on the days I have a sore throat, warm me on the days the icy winds blow and heal me with its immune-boosting Vitamin A, C, beta-carotine and potassium.


Simple Pumpkin Soup Recipe
1/4 of a pumpkin
1 onion
enough water to cover the chopped pumpkin (around 1.5 quarts)
cinnamon, sea salt, pepper to taste

Sautee onions in pan. Peel and cut pumpkin, and throw into a pot with water on high heat. Boil. Add browned onions to the pot with pumpkins and reduce heat to medium. Let it percolate on the stove for 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is falling apart.

Puree the ingredients, add cinnamon or other spices and slurp the sweet deliciousness.

This is a simple recipe of course. You can spice it up, add more vegetables for a more complex flavor or substitute pumpkin with other winter squashes for variety.

Pot of organic pumpkin soup was around $6 and lasted 3 days.

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