Rice

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

photo by recipe author

Adding just a bit of oil to this recipe made it closer to the viscosity of Italian sauces using olive oil. I used Virgin Coconut Oil which lent to the sweetness of the fruits in this recipe without tasting “coco-nutty.”

Servings: 4 pints
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes

3 lbs rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium red onion (size of a baseball), diced (about 3/4 cup)
2 cups raisins, chopped or run through food processor
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup raw honey – could use 3/4 cup raw honey & omit syrup, but this is what I had.
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
2-3 cloves garlic, ran through garlic press
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 teaspoons all seasons salt

If canning, prepare canner, jars and lids.

Combine all ingredients in a medium stockpot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Lower heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened, about 30-45 minutes. Once the fruit has softened enough to crush easily (about 20 minutes), blend the sauce with an immersion blender, or by transferring to a blender or food processor.

When sauce has reached desired thickness (leave it a little thinner than you want, as it will thicken on cooling), taste and adjust seasonings. Note: original recipe called for no garlic, but a habanero, so feel free to adjust the heat!

Ladle hot sauce into jars and allow to cool completely before labeling and storing.

When using from the fridge, please let set at room temperature about 15-20 minutes and stir before using.

Recipe submitted by Sandra, West Point, NE

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Garlic Ginger Coconut Rice

Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy

Servings: 8 to 10 side dish servings
Preparation Time: 25-30 minutes

2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 cups soft or brown Jasmine Rice, rinsed
3/4 cup coconut milk*
2 1/2 cups water (adjust as needed)
Salt to taste

Sauté garlic and ginger in oil briefly. Add rice, stir well. Add coconut milk, water and salt.

Bring to a boil, stir quickly, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 minutes or more.

Note: Very good with chicken breast added to it while simmering. Makes great leftovers. Yum!

* For the freshest coconut milk make homemade coconut milk. (See video at this link.)

Recipe submitted by RuthAnn, Key Largo, FL

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Frozen Chocolate Coconut Banana Bites

This is the thing to make when all you want is a little sweet treat with chocolate that won’t take much effort to make. All you do is melt, dip, freeze, wait impatiently, poke bananas to see if they’re fully frozen yet, lick the melted chocolate off your fingers, wait some more, poke again, wait, forget about it, come back and enjoy an amazing little bite bursting flavor.

The chocolate freezes over like a chocolate ice cream shell. The coconut provides little more then something to make it prettier (unless you really load it on) and the banana freezes and becomes like a little bite of ice cream.

It’s a perfect summer treat. Not to mention fairly versatile. Try it with different nut butters (coconut cream concentrate might work really well here!), different dried coconut cuts, chopped nuts and different chocolates. It’s all good.

Enjoy!

Sarah:)

Frozen Chocolate Coconut Banana Bites

Frozen Chocolate Coconut Banana Bites

Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy

Serving: 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

3 oz dark chocolate (or other chocolate of choice)
1/4 cup coconut peanut butter
1 tablespoon brown rice syrup (optional, but recommended if using dark chocolate)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
2-3 bananas, sliced to desired thickness
shredded, dried coconut

Melt chocolate over very low heat or double boiler with coconut peanut butter, brown rice syrup and vanilla until melted and smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir a few times to cool.

Dip banana slices into chocolate. Spoon a little extra over the top if desired. Sprinkle with coconut.

Freeze until fully frozen and enjoy!

Recipe courtesy Sarah Shilhavy

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Chewy Crispy Rice Bites

This is a great snack.

It’s chewy, crunchy and buttery with a pleasantly mild sweetness, as well as being naturally gluten and dairy free.

You can play around with this recipe a bit, but make it “as is” first. The almond butter can be swapped and/or combined with other nut butters, like peanut, coconut cream concentrate, or coconut peanut butter. But my favorite is almond. It’s so creamy and buttery!

Other mix-ins are great as well: chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, more coconut, less brown rice cereal, a little coconut oil – have fun with it! This recipe isn’t super fussy.

But the best thing is that you could be stuffing your face with these tasty little bites in under 10 minutes.

Make them now.

Enjoy!

Sarah

Chewy Crispy Rice Bites

Chewy Crispy Rice Balls

Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy

Yield: approximately 2 dozen small balls
Preparation Time: 5 minutes

1/2 cup almond butter (or other nut butter of choice)
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups brown rice cereal
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Mix the almond butter and brown rice syrup together in a medium saucepan. Stir and heat until melted and bubbly; approximately 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.

Roll into small balls with oiled or wet hands to prevent sticking and chill in the refrigerator or freezer.

Eat!

Recipe courtesy Sarah Shilhavy

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Stracciatella Chocolate Coconut Gelato

photo by recipe author

The unique texture of this ice cream is created by a thin drizzle of chocolate added near the end of the freezing process. Therefore, you need an ice cream maker with an opening in the top to add mixings while freezing. (These makers usually have a base that goes in the freezer, so if you keep your ice cream maker frozen all the time, a healthy treat is always just a few minutes away.)

Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Base:

1/4 cup coconut cream concentrate
4 cups cream, half-and-half, or milk. (Note: For a dairy-free version of this recipe use almond milk or coconut milk*)
1/3 cup sweetener (organic whole sugar, honey, or brown rice syrup)

Drizzle:

2 tablespoons coconut oil
8 oz dark chocolate

Put all ingredients except coconut oil and chocolate into a blender and blend thoroughly. Add mixture to ice cream maker according to normal directions to freeze.

Drizzle:

While freezing gets started, melt coconut oil and chocolate in a small saucepan on low heat. Do not cook! Just barely melted is perfect, so remove the saucepan from the burner before the chocolate is finished melting. (If you cook it, it burns the chocolate, and it will be too hot and melt your ice cream when you add it. The coconut oil lowers the melting temperature and makes it a wonderful texture in the next step.)

When the ice cream is starting to harden and “turn over” in the mixer, very slowly drizzle the melted chocolate into the mixer while it is still mixing. The chocolate will freeze into small strands/striations (Italian: stracciatella) and chunks.

Finish freezing, serve and enjoy!

Recipe submitted by Jeff, Eagle, ID

* For the freshest coconut milk make homemade coconut milk. (See video at this link.)

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Roasted Broccoli and Purple Cauliflower

photo by recipe author

Servings: 6-8
Preparation Time: 35 minutes

2 crowns broccoli
1 purple cauliflower
3 tablespoons melted Virgin Gold Label coconut oil
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Wash broccoli and cauliflower. Chop to uniform bite sizes and place in 9 x 13 pan. Drizzle with coconut oil (and lemon if desired), sprinkle with crushed garlic. Stir well.

Bake 25 minutes or until fork tenderness is achieved.

Serving suggestion: serve with brown rice and salmon. This is also great with salad, avocado, burgers, and fried potatoes.

Recipe submitted by Linda, Woodland, WA

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Gluten Free Banana Avocado Quick Bread

photo by recipe author

Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 8 minutes

6 ripe bananas
3 ripe Haas avocados
4 cups rice flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 1/2 cups whole sugar (adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
pinch o’ salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mash bananas and avocado with a potato masher in a food processor or with a fork. If really soft, you can use a hand or stand mixer.

Add remaining ingredients, sifting in baking powder and baking soda so that there are no clumpies.

Combine using whisk, mixer or food processor.

Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper.

Evenly divide mixture into loaf pans. Mixture will be thick.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees and insert loaf pans into oven.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Lift bread out of pan by edges of parchment. Cool on wire rack and then slice and serve.

Recipe submitted by Deva, Alachua, FL

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Gluten Free Navajo Fry Bread & Navajo Tacos

Gluten Free Navajo Fry Bread and Navajo Tacos

photo by recipe author

Servings: 4-6
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Navajo Fry Bread:

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup sweet white sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon organic evaporated cane sugar
1 tablespoon organic butter (or shortening)
3/4 cup water (or more as needed to moisten to workable texture)
oil for frying (expeller pressed coconut, or palm oil)

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in butter (or shortening) using a pastry cutter or fork until it is fully assimilated into flour mixture.

Add water and stir with wooden spoon until mixture is fully incorporated. You should be able to squeeze it and have it stick together. Add in a small amount of water, if necessary. Let dough rest for 10-15 minutes.

Heat 2″-3″ of oil in a deep heavy pan to approx. 350-360 degrees F. Test oil by dropping a tiny amount of dough into it and see that it begins to sizzle and cook immediately, but not too hot or it will burn quickly.

Take a golf ball (or slightly larger) size piece of dough and place in between two pieces of wax paper, then flatten with a rolling pin or press with your hand until it is no thicker then 1/4″ and approx. 5″ in diameter (the thinner the better!). Handle dough carefully as it is delicate and will break apart easily.

Peel away dough disc from paper and lay in your palm, then gently slide it into the hot oil. Fry for approx. 1-2 minutes on each side, flipping carefully with a spatula while using a fork to steady the flip so as not to splash hot oil on yourself; then drain on paper towels. Keep warm in 250 degree F. oven until all fry bread is cooked.

Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or honey for a sweet treat.

For Navajo Tacos: Top fry bread with seasoned beef or chicken, pinto beans, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, sliced green onions, salsa, olives, and sour cream, if desired.

Recipe submitted by Deanne, Glendale, AZ

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