The Very Best Gluten-free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Guys, stop what you're doing because I made the absolute very best gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies in all of the world. I have very little experience with gluten-free baking and up until now I've avoided it at all costs. I had my jar of all-purpose wheat flour, so why would I go out and buy 10 different gluten-free flours to make a cookie that would more closely resemble crumbly cardboard than a cookie? Now that my cupboard is full of all sorts of flour alternatives and my husband was craving some chocolate chip cookies, I figured I'd give it a try.

I decided to start off with my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and make substitutions rather than find an existing recipe online. Mostly since I knew I've perfected my chocolate chip cookies to exactly suit my tastes. I threw in all sorts of gluten-free flours in a somewhat educated manner and oddly enough, my concoction worked on the first try (which never happens) and the cookies turned out great.

This recipe makes super soft, non-crumbly, perfect cookies that you wouldn't even know were vegan, let alone gluten-free. They have even been likened to a "chewier Chips Ahoy" (direct quote from my husband).

Heart Windowpane Cookies - Gluten-free and Vegan

You could make a simple jam thumbprint cookie and call it day, but why would you do that when you could make painfully adorable heart windowpane cookies instead? Assuming you're not too sick of Valentine's Day mush yet, I think these cookies would make a perfect gift for anyone on any day. That is, if you don't eat them all before they make it out your door, which tends to be my problem.

More than Gluten-free Mac n Yease

When we started this elimination diet, one of the first things I thought of making was Mac n Yease. Veggie Grille and Plum Bistro here in Seattle both make a pretty delicious gluten-free Mac n Yease, so I figured making the soy-free version would be a cinch, as long as I could find some gluten-free pasta that wasn't mush. Plus it's fun to say Mac n Yeezy instead of Yease.

After a little research and some grocery aisle scouring, I found maybe my most favorite gluten-free pasta to date, Tinkayda's Brown Rice Shells. Like the package very proudly boasts, this pasta is "not mushy" has a "good texture" and cooks "al dente"! I haven't checked at Whole Foods, PCC, or some of the other health markets, but I just found it at my local Safeway and you can also definitely get it online.

As for the recipe, I adapted a copy of Plum Bistro spicy Mac n Yease recipe I found from Vegan Richa. Her recipe comes pretty close to tasting like Plum Bistro's, and it was a great starting off point for figuring out how to make a gluten and soy-free version.

Vegan Black Beans and Rice

As a vegan I get a lot of questions about my protein. How do you get protein if you don't eat meat, dairy, or eggs? The thing is though, yes, meat and eggs by themselves are complete proteins, meaning they have the nine amino acids our bodies can't produce on their own, but meat and eggs aren't the only way to get complete proteins. We don't need every essential amino acid in every bite of food. Even though beans and rice by themselves are not complete proteins, when paired together they have all the nine amino acids our bodies need. Which is great, because they make a delicious pair!

Vegan Raw Berry Pie with Almond Crust and Coconut Cashew Cream

Lunch Break - Wednesday

COCONUT THAI CURRY / vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, paleo / Delicious leftovers from last night's dinner. I couldn't find a Thai curry paste that met all the restrictions, so I kind of winged it and it turned out great! I'm going to try to recreate it and write down what I do this time so I can share the recipe.

GRILLED CHICKEN / gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, paleo / Just some free-range, organic, local chicken for the ol' husband.

WHITE RICE / soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free / I know brown rice would have been better, but I have a Costco-sized bag of Jasmine rice, so you know...

BERRIES / fresh and raw / Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Lunch - Monday

CHICKEN FRIED RICE with BUTTERNUT SQUASH and PEAS / gluten-free, sugar-free, soy-free / Another repeat of last week's lunches. Who knew 2 cups of rice would last so long?!

PISTACHIOS / vegan, paleo, gluten-free, sugar-free, soy-free /

APPLE COBBLER / vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, soy-free / The real star of today's lunch, since it was the only one that required any sort of effort. I experimented with three different toppings. Mostly because the recipe seemed to make about 1/4 of the cobbler that I felt should be on my 9x11 pan of apples and by the time I realized the disproportions, I was too lazy to make another batch according to the recipe, so I took the opportunity to wing it. All three versions were okay, but still definitely had that somewhat powdery, not substantial taste gluten-free flours tend to have.

Lunch Break - Wednesday

This lunch took about 10 minutes to put together. Leftovers, fresh fruit, and crackers for the win!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO // This is actually a pre-packaged mix from Costco. It takes forever to make, but it is tasty. Which is a good thing, because we have about 10 lbs of it.

TUNA AND PICKLES // This is real tuna since it's for my husband, but I just found some vegan "toona" at Whole Foods made from pea protein, that I'm pretty excited to try.

RICE CRACKERS // By the people who brought you wheat thins, the saltier, less addicting cracker. They're great with things though. Such as tuna. Or chickpea tuna.

APPLES // Nothing fancy here, just apples.

Italian Bean Balls and Spaghetti Squash

This meal is a family favorite and probably one of the easiest so far to convert to adhere to all the rules of the elimination diet. I made the tomato sauce from scratch, as I usually do. If you're more of a canned type of person, I think there are a few brands that don't have sugar, but you're going to have to look a bit. As for the bean balls, this is one of our favorite recipes. I've made it in the past with white beans and regular oats. But since oats are banned, I used gluten-free all purpose flour instead and because I had no kidney beans or white beans, I used black beans. I haven't tested this theory yet, but I'm pretty sure you could use any type of beans or nuts that you like and they would still be amazing. I did puree the mixture a bit too much since I was being lazy and trying to make it all in one batch in the food processor, so ignore the consistency in the pictures. One of those do I as I say, not as I do sort of situations.

Lunch Break - Tuesday

From left to right:

CHICKEN FRIED RICE // Includes broccoli, carrots, peas, Cocnut Aminos, sesame oil, and a teeeeeensy amount of chili garlic sauce. Also some chicken, because my husband eats chicken on occasion and with this diet he's eating whatever he can, but you could easily leave the chicken out for a vegan fried rice. It was decent, but I still need to figure out a better mixture of sauces. Coconut Aminos is good, but it doesn't deliver the same flavor punch as soy sauce.

CHIA SEED YOGURT PUDDING // Unsweetened coconut yogurt, which I sweetened with agave syrup and vanilla extract. This is easily kind of gross if you don't add some sort of flavor to the yogurt. So you must add flavor. You must! Almond extract and maple would also probably be pretty tasty. Chia seeds left to soak overnight making a nice pudding consistency. And blackberries on top.

VEGGIES AND HUMMUS // Grape tomatoes and carrots with homemade hummus. Most store-bought hummus - including our usual favorite, Sabra - add soy ingredients, or sugar, or who knows what else...womp womp.  After some research I've found that to up this to Sabra level, I maybe should have creamed the tahini and lemon separately before adding to the chickpeas. Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased with how this turned out. I event went through the trouble of taking the skins off of every single little chickpea! Despite my inexperience in the art of hummus, this was definitely above average. I will post a recipe later!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Some weeks start off perfectly normal and you can tell that it's just going to be another week where the only goal is to get to Friday. This week though, this week was not one of those weeks.

My husband may or may not have a food allergy. After about 30 gallons of blood drained and the whole gamut of tests, he saw a new doctor on Monday who suggested an elimination diet for 3 weeks to completely clear his system. Which, in a nutshell, is the you-can't-eat-anything-that-you-usually-eat diet. You get rid of all the common trigger foods and then at the end of the three weeks, start re-introducing them back to your system and see which ones accompany the return of your symptoms. When he came home and handed me the list of ingredients he couldn't eat anymore, I basically resolved that all I could make for him was salad, hold the dressing. Three weeks of lettuce.

Thanks to Pinterest, Google, my mom, my sister, friends who have gone through similar troubleshooting, and the mega-popularity of gluten-free and paleo diets, we have a plan and it doesn't completely revolve around lettuce! We're a few days into this thing and we're not completely starving!

If you ever get in a rut with your cooking, try to plan a meal that adheres to this diet. This diet changes everything. Do you even know how much corn, soy, and sugar is in everything? Because I didn't. It does take a lot more thought and planning since everything has to be made from scratch. Grocery trips also take longer and you spend a lot of time reading every single ingredient on every single label. Finding a can of tomatoes that don't have added sugar is a struggle.

So far I'm still having fun thinking up new recipes and re-working old ones. I don't know though, check back in after the three weeks is up and I might be singing a different tune.

Anyway, here it is, the comprehensive list of all the no-no foods:

Corn
Wheat
Barley
Rye
Oats
Bulgar
Couscous
Durum
Einkorn
Emmer
Faro
Graham
Kamut
Somlina
Spelt
Triticale
Oranges
Grapefruit
Shellfish
Processed meats
Canned meats
Hot dogs
Sausage
Eggs
Dairy products
All soy products
All animal milks
All cheeses
Ghee
Butter
Cream
Kefir
Yogurt
Casein
Whey
Soy yogurt
Soy cheese
Creamed vegetables
Peanuts
Peanut oil
Corn oil
Soybean oil
White sugar
Brown sugar
Corn syrup
Barley malt
High fructose corn syrup
Evaporated cane juice
Honey
Chocolate
Artificial sweeteners
Coffee
Tea (excluding herbal)
Hot chocolate
Alcohol
Soda pop
Soy sauce
Mayonnaise
Most ketchup
Teriyaki sauce
Pepper products (Tabasco, hot peppers, etc.)

See what I mean? What is there left to eat? Well. Here goes three weeks worth of ideas. The good, the bad, the amazing, and the downright inedible.


Image source: The New Yorker