This week I made my food and overall it looks quite good in my opinion, I also made a small little presentation that talks about things that I already have in my blog

This week I talked about my reasons for choosing this project and what the project is for and what kind of food I’m going to bring with me to my class to let everyone try

I’m going to make gluten and dairy free mac n cheese using gluten free noodles and some of the Daiya cheese that I recommended to give the mac n cheese a cheesy consistency, and I was going to make dairy free cake using coconut alternatives, the type of cake I’m going to make is chocolate.

Well actually this blog is for a school project called Genius Hour where we are supposed to pick out a topic that is important to us and we have to create a project off the topic we chose, I chose gluten and dairy free and as my product for this project I was going to make a three course meal that I was going to serve to my class and also create a small power point that talks about alternatives and some recipe sheets.

Well I chose to talk about these specifically because me and my parents went on a gluten and dairy free diet for a month and got the chance to experience what having to live with no bread and cheese was like, and for me it was overall okay and a good experience. One thing that was extremely hard to do was eat out because most foods have so form of gluten or dairy in them, so we really didn’t eat out that much. I did get to eat a Taco Bell once during the diet and I had to get tacos with only meat in them, but I did use some of the Daiya cheese. Actually after the diet my Mom decided that she wanted to continue doing the gluten free diet and she rarely eats any bread unless if we go out to a restaurants.

Main ingredients

•  3/4 cup potato starch 
•  1 and 1/4 cups ground almonds
•  1 cup sugar
•  1 teaspoon Haddar Baking Powder
•  1 teaspoon Gefen Baking Soda
•  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•  1 cup oil 
•  4 eggs
•  1/2 cup maple syrup 
•  2 small zucchinis, peeled and shredded

Prepare Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
2. In a large bowl, combine potato starch, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, and maple syrup together.
4. Stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened. (Do not overmix, as this causes settling.)
5. Fold in the shredded zucchini.
6. Fill lined muffin tins almost to the top.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.

Note: Make sure that the maple syrup is kosher for Passover. Instead of muffins, this recipe can be made in a single 9×13 inchpan or two nine inch round pans. For a 9×13-inch pan, bake for one hour, and a little less for a nine inch round pan.

Variation: For a lower fat version, use 1/2 cup oil with 1/2 cup applesauce instead of a full cup of oil. 

Main ingredients

•  4 chicken leg quarters, thighs and drums separated
•  1/2 cup Gefen Honey
•  4 cloves garlic, crushed or 4 cubes Gefen Frozen Garlic
•  2 scallions, sliced
•  2 teaspoons Haddar Kosher Salt
•  1/4 teaspoon pepper

Prepare the Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Wash and dry the chicken pieces. Arrange them in a 9- x 13-inch pan and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the honey, garlic, scallions, salt, and pepper. Spoon the mixture evenly over the chicken pieces.
4. Bake uncovered for one hour, until nicely browned.

This week I did some more research and found another good alternative to gluten which is the brand Enjoy Life which makes gluten free baked goods, also on either side of this post I have also found 2 recipes that are gluten and dairy free

Enjoy Life is a bakery brand that makes foods that are both vegan and dairy free such as cookies and even pancake mix, me and my family quite regularly eat their products so I would highly recommend them especially the cookies.

Filling

•  5-6 pink lady apples, peeled and chunked
•  3/4 cup Haddar Unsweetened Applesauce
•  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Crumble

•  1 cup Gefen Almond Flour
•  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
•  1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
•  1 teaspoon Gefen Vanilla Extract
•  3 tablespoons coconut oil, at room temperature

Prepare the Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine chunked apples with applesauce and cinnamon.
3. Place in a lightly greased 10-inch round casserole dish or glass Pyrex dish (I do not suggest using an aluminum pan).  You can also divide the mixture into ramekin cups.

Prepare the Crumble

1. Mix all crumble ingredients together with a spoon until the mixture gets crumbly.
2. Sprinkle over apple mixture and bake uncovered for one hour.

Main ingredients

•  2 tablespoons (1 ounce or 25 grams) margarine (use soy-free, if needed)
•  4 tablespoons oil 
•  1/2 cup potato starch 
•  2 large onions, chopped 
•  1/2 cup Gefen Light Mayonnaise
•  3/4 teaspoon salt 
•  3 and 1/2 cups water 
•  2 tablespoons onion soup mix 
•  5 large potatoes 

Prepare Scalloped Potatoes

1. In a medium saucepan over a medium-low flame, heat together the flour, onions, mayo, salt, water, and onion soup mix.
2. Stir constantly with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and it thickens.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
4. Slice the potatoes in a food processor.
5. Layer into a 9×13-inch pan as follows: a layer of sauce, a layer of sliced potatoes (try to overlap just minimally), sauce, potatoes, and sauce (five layers altogether).
6. Sprinkle the top with paprika and pepper.
7. Bake uncovered for about one a half hours, until the potatoes are crispy.
8. If necessary, put under the grill for a few minutes.

Note: Flour can be used instead of potato starch. 

Variation: Use half white potatoes and half sweet potatoes (see photo). I tried this without margarine and just with oil and it was fine. It’s very creamy from the other ingredients. Also, you can use chicken soup powder instead of the onion soup mix.

This week I researched another alternative called Daiya which as I explain is a dairy free plant based cheese product I also talked some about why this is important to me

Daiya is a product made from cassava and arrowroot and is a really good alternative to regular cheese, it is known for its cheese like consistency and melting properties . The product is made without animal products, soy, lactose, wheat, gluten, barley, and nuts.

Me and my family personally really recommend this product because it was the closest to cheese that we had and was also quite good.