1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1/4 cup rolled oats
6 cups chopped zucchini (3-4 medium zucchini)
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/8  teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2  tablespoons tahini
2 teaspoons umeboshi or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

In a large pot, layer the onions, oats, and zucchini. Cover with the water and bring to a boil. Add the salt, dried basil, and black pepper. (If using fresh basil, see below.) Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes.

In a blender or food processor, puree the zucchini mixture with the tahini, vinegar, lemon juice, and fresh basil until well blended. Return the mixture to the pot, reheat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

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It is significantly cheaper to grind your own specialty flours but you need a grain mill to do it.  A bag of organic quinoa flour from Bob’s Red Mill is $6.19.  You can buy a pound of organic quinoa at Trader Joe’s or even Whole Foods for $1.00.  So at 25% of the cost of buying the flour you can grind your own - with the added bonus that the flour is completely and absolutely fresh.  Just about any specialty flour: amaranth, coconut, almond, barley, brown rice, black bean, corn, spelt, millet, oat,  and rye to name some can be quickly and cheaply made yourself.

A good grain mill isn’t cheap though so a purchase of this type probably makes more sense for someone who plans to use non-wheat specialty flours on an ongoing basis.

The grain mill can also be used for other things including, of course, grinding your own wheat.

Back when I ate soy - I ground up soy beans and made my own homemade tofu using the recipe from The Farm cookbook.  The mill easily handled the soy and worked perfectly for tofu making.

We bought the Jupiter Family Grain Mill 8 years ago and are very happy with it.  You get quite a bit of control over the coarseness / fineness of the flour grains and the machine is sturdy, simple to put together and take apart, and clean.  I see that some website are selling it for around $200 and that sounds about right given inflation and what we paid for ours.

This recipe is from The Greek Vegetarian by Diane Kochilas

1 cup wild rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 minutes
1 cup baby lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium-sized carrots, washed, peeled, and diced (or grated)
2 celery ribs, washed, trimmed, and minced (optional)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (or pressed)
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 to 6 servings
1. Drain the rice and place in a medium-sized pot with 4 cups of salted water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Remove and drain.

2. While rice is cooking, place the lentils in a medium-sized pot and cover them with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until tender but al dente, about 20 minutes. As the lentils simmer, skim the foam from the surface. Remove, drain in a colander, and rinse under cold water.

3. While the lentils and rice are simmering, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the carrots (if diced) and the celery (if using) for 6 to 7 minutes, until tender but al dente. Add the garlic and cumin seeds and stir for another minute. Remove from heat.

4. Place the wild rice, lentils, and vegetables in a medium-sized serving bowl, and toss to combine. Season with remaining olive oil, salt, pepper and rice vinegar. Let stand for 1 hour before serving.

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This is the best tasting gluten free flour mix I’ve found.  There’s no predominating strong flavor that takes over the mix so the baked goods taste like . . . baked goods - not bean flour or quinoa or buckwheat.  Not that those are bad it’s just sometimes a good old fashioned tasting pancake or muffin is just what is called for. 

The basic idea for these came from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Use 1 batch of baking mix for each recipe below.

BAKING MIX
1/4 c. tapioca flour  
1/3 c. almond meal/flour
2. T. ground flax seed (or your choice of gluten free flour)
1/3 c. brown or white rice flour
1/3 c. sorghum flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/4 t. salt

FOR CUPCAKES
1 c. almond or rice milk
1/3 c. walnut or canola oil
1/2 c. xylitol
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract
1 egg (optional)

Mix these ingredients on medium speed and then mix in the baking mix above.  Mix well - there’s no gluten so there’s no danger of overmixing.
Preheat oven to 350F
Oil muffin tin
Bake 20-25 minutes

FOR PANCAKES
1 c. almond or rice milk
1/3 c. walnut or canola oil
2 eggs, separated

Beat the egg whites and set aside.  Whisk milk, oil and egg yolks.
Mix in the baking mix above.  Fold in the egg whites.
Make the pancakes over medium heat in a saute or frying pan.

Good with blueberrries sweetened with Xylitol.

FOR COOKIES
1/2 c. butter or Earth Balance
1/2 c. xylitol
1 1/2 t. Stevia
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract
1 egg (optional)
1/3 c. coconut

Mix these ingredients on medium speed and then mix in the baking mix above.  Mix well - there’s no gluten so there’s no danger of overmixing.
Preheat oven to 350F
Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet
Bake 12-15 minutes

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This is my favorite soup.  It has an excellent combination of flavors and a lovely texture.

1 2 lb. butternut squash ( comes out well with pumpkin or acorn squash too)
4 T. butter
1 large onion, chopped in big pieces
2 leeks (white part only), sliced
4 c. water
Sea salt and pepper

Peel and remove seeds from squash, slice squash, onions and leeks.  Saute onions and leeks in 2 T. butter for 2 -3 minutes.  Add the squash and water, bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until squash is tender.  Blend and eat.  This soup freezes well - although it’s most delicious completely fresh.

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Try this on roasted vegees, rice or omelets.  It’s REALLY good!

modified from Deborah Madison’s recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

1 jalapeno chile, seeded
1 large bunch cilantro, stems removed
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. water
juice of 1 lime
1/t. ground cumin
sea salt to taste

Coarsely crop the chile, cilantro and garlic, puree with 1/4 c. water and oil.  Add lime juice and cumin.  Salt to taste.

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These are sweet, tender and buttery.  The brown rice flour has more weightiness (in a good shortbready sort of way) then almond meal or oat flour.

1 1/2 cups  Brown Rice Flour
2 t. crushed ginger
3/4 t. cinnamon
1 T. lecithin
1/2 t. sea salt
1/3 c. xylitol
1 egg

Beat butter and xylitol together, add egg, lecithin and ginger.  Stir in flour, sea salt and cinammon.  Roll in quarter inch balls. Flatten with hand.  Criss cross with fork pattern if desired.  Bake 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

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Put 1 1/2 cups of mixed frozen blackberries and strawberries in a food processor with 1 1/2 T. Xylitol.  Blend, slowly adding unsweetned almond milk until desired sorbet consistency is achieved.

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