Happy Anniversary to The Pocky Campaign!

In July 2011, The Pocky Campaign was formed. What started as a humble petition to manufacturer, Ezaki Glico to create Gluten/Allergy-Free Pocky has grown into a movement. The campaign has created several Gluten/Allergy-Free versions of this favorite treat, and there's still more to come. To celebrate their 1 Year Anniversary; they've baked special edition Gluten/Allergy-Free Pocky!

Presenting...[Drum Roll].... Gluten/Allergy-Free Pocky Cupcakes ^.^
Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

The Good Stuff Spotlight: Mexican Coca-Cola!

In the US, Coca-Cola is made with HFCS( high-fructose corn syrup) and corn syrup. For those who have a Corn Allergy, we've had to give up drinking our iconic soda. It turns out Coca-Cola in Mexico is made the old fashioned way, with sugar. Folks, hold off on buying a plane ticket to Mexico!

The Good News: Mexican Coca-Cola is sold on the West-Coast!

The Taste Test:

It's exactly the same as US Coca-Cola.The only difference is it Corn-Free and it costs $0.99 a bottle. The only questions are: Why must Coca-Cola continue to discriminate it's US customers who have food allergies? Why can't there be one Coca-Cola, made the old fashioned way, with sugar instead of corn? It's time to end this discrimination now!

The Good Stuff Rating: 5/5

Want to make a difference? Join here

The Good Stuff Cooking Tip: The Lemon Saver!

       Avocados are good for you and a healthy source of protein. There's one catch: Oxidization! After pealing one, they will start to turn brown with in a few hours. How can you prevent this? On the first segment of The Good Stuff Cooking Tips, we've devised a method that will not only slow down oxidation, but will add classy touch to your avocado dishes.

The Lemon Saver!

Ingredients:

- 2 Lemons

- Guacamole

-  A bowl 

Directions:

1) Wash the lemons

2) Slice then lemons in half

3) Cut medium thick lemon slices, make sure they're circular

4) Begin by lining the bottom of the bowl with the circular lemon slices.

5) Depending on the shape of the bowl, cut some of the lemon slices into half circles, and line the sides of the bowl.

6) Carefully fill the bowl with Guacamole.

7) Cover the Top of the Guacamole with the remaining slices.

8) Place in fridge to store.

Serving right away? Then save the top slices for afterwards. 

Only eating 1/2 an avocado? Then slice 1/2 of a lemon. Put the lemon slices on top of the avocado your saving; wrap it in foil and store in the fridge.

Last, but not least our Super Easy Spicy Guacamole recipe.....


Super Easy Spicy Guacamole

Ingredients:

- 2 avocados

- 1/2 red onion

- 2 green onions

- your favorite chill pepper

- 1 medium sized tomato

- 1/8 of a cup of lemon juice

- 1 tsp of pepper

- 1/2 tsp of cumin

- 1 clove of garlic

- 2 tsp of red pepper flakes

Directions:

1) In a mixing bowl, cut and scoop out avocados, and mash into a paste.

2) Add lemon juice and mix

3) Wash red & green onions, tomato, chill pepper, garlic, and chop them.

4) Mix everything together

5) Add spices, and mix again.

Viola! Super Easy Spicy Guacamole ^.^

Fantastic Meat-Free Deli Slices

Last, but not least,  it's time to bring on Deli Slices. Finding Meat-Free Deli Slices which are allergy-friendly is very rare. The majority are made with soy or wheat gluten or both.  Our inspiration for Fantastic Meat-Free Deli Slices came from the Vegan Dad.  These Meat-Free Deli Slice are the first of their kind, they're Gluten/Allergy-Free- A major break through in allergy-friendly cuisine.

Presenting.....

Fantastic Meat-Free Deli Slices

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup white beans
- 1/4 cup of red kidney beans
- 1 lemon

- 1/2 cup of water

- 1/4 cup grape-seed oil

- 2 tsp salt

- 2 tsp paprika

- 2 tsp onion powder

- 1 tsp garlic

- 1/4 tsp turmeric

- 1 tsp ground fennel

- 1 tsp sage

- 1 tsp pepper

- 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

- 1/2 tsp agave syrup

- 1/2 TBSP of xanthan gum

- 3/4 cup of brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup of teff flour

DIRECTIONS

1. After opening bean cans, place them in a strainer and rinse in water. Cut half a lemon and squirt on beans and rise.

2. Place beans, spices, oil, water, balsamic vinegar, and agave syrup in food processor and blend until smooth.

3. Pour in a bowl, and slowly add the flours and xanthan gum. Mix until firm, add more xanthan gum if necessary.

4. The cut and piece of foil and parchment paper. Lay foil on the bottom, and parchment on the top. Get the water steaming in your steamer.

 5. Take the "meat" dough and place it in the middle of the parchment paper.

 6. Shape into a log, then wrap like a tootsie roll. Try to make the roll as thick as possible.

7. Place in steamer, and steam for 1 hour.

8. In the last 15 mins of steaming, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove from steamer and bake for 45-60 mins. The "meat" is done when it swells and presses against the foil.

9. Cool in fridge for around 20-30 mins, then slice as needed for sandwiches...

Viola! Fantastic Meat-Free Deli Slices ^.^

Store in fridge, in an air-tight container.

Eurkea! Behold:Sensational Gluten/Allergy-Free Strawberry Pocky!

We've done it again! In 2011, The Pocky Campaign developed the recipe for Gluten/Allergy-Free Pocky. This memorial day, we have perfected the recipe for the second most popular Pocky flavor: Strawberry.

[Drum-Roll]....Presenting:

Sensational Gluten/Allergy-Free Strawberry Pocky

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 teaspoon honey/agave nectar/sugar
1/2 cup of brown/white rice flour combine
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon arrowroot starch
1 egg white
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 Tablespoons grape-seed oil (plus 1/2 teaspoon for the baggie)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
1/4 cup of Strawberries
1/2 cup of soy-free white chocolate chips
1 medium Ziploc bag

 Directions:

1. Heat water until medium hot. Add honey and yeast and mix together. Set aside, while you mix the remaining ingredients.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. 





3. Stir wet ingredients together (egg white, vinegar, oil) then dry ingredients and mix. (This mixture will be a bit lumpy, this is OK. Just mix well, and get rid of as many lumps as possible)
4. Check the yeast mixture. If it has risen, then add this to the dry and mix together.



5. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of oil into a medium Ziploc bag. Smooth the outside of the bag around to spread the oil around inside. (This prevents the dough from sticking to it.)




6.  Scrap the dough into the bag. Snip one of the corners slightly. [ For Regular sized Pocky, cut a small snip in the bag. For Large Pocky cut a large snip.] Squeeze the dough out the corner on to a piece of parchment paper. Squeeze you Pocky dough into long lengths and leave about 1 1/2 inches in between your Pocky sticks to allow a little room for rising.
7. Set the Large Pocky aside to rise for 2-4 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 425F.
9. Then place parchment paper on a baking sheet, and slide into the oven.
10. Bake for 9 – 15 minutes or until golden.
11. When the Pocky are done, let them cool.

   12.  Chop the strawberries and place in a food processor, and puree.

   13.  Pour the puree into a bowl and set aside.

   14.  Using a double boiler (a bowl over a pot of boiling water)  melt the white chocolate.
   15. When the white chocolate is almost melted, add 3 TBSP's of strawberry puree and mix.

   16.  Voila! Strawberry-White Chocolate.
   17.  Remove bowl from double boiler. Take Pocky sticks and dip until their half-way covered, or use a knife to spread the Strawberry-White Chocolate.
   18.  Place Strawberry covered Pocky on parchment paper.
   19.  When finished dipping, place Pocky in the fridge for about 10-15 mins; so that the strawberry coating will harden.
   19. Note: This Pocky is best enjoyed within 1-5 days 

There you have it: Home-made Strawberry Gluten/Allergy-Free Pocky ^.^




     
  

The Super Meat-Free Hotdogs

  There's nothing more American than the mighty hot-dog; juicy, plump and delicious. For Memorial Day, we've developed a unique recipe. These veggie dog's are not only gluten-free, but free of: soy, corn, dairy and potatoes. The cooking process is the same as manufacturing regular hot-dogs, except on a smaller scale. They can be baked, fried, or just steamed; Ball Park has nothing on these hot-dogs ~.^

The Super Meat-Free Hotdogs

Ingredients:

1 16 oz can of pink beans
2 chopped sticks of celery
4 chopped mushrooms
1 Red Fresno chill pepper
1/4 of a red onion
1/2 lemon
1 clove of garlic
2 Tsp of paprika
1 tsp of mustard seed powder
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
1/4 Cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp of salt
dash of ginger root powder
1/4 of Quinoa
1/4 cup of brown rice flour
1/4 cup of white rice flour
1 TBSP of xanthan gum

1-2 tsp of olive oil ( for parchment paper)

Directions:

The "Meat" 

1) Cook 1/4 cup of Quinoa and set aside.

2) Clean/chop celery, mushrooms, red onion, garlic, and red fresno chill pepper and set aside.

3) Open the can of pink beans and rinse.

4) Place washed pink beans in a food processor, and squeeze 1/2 a lemon; then blend. 

5) Then add chopped celery, mushrooms, red onion, garlic, and Red Fresno chill pepper, Quinoa and blend until pureed.

6) Add spices, and then puree again.

7) In large bowl, add the bean puree and flour + xanthan gum mixture.

8) Mix until it's hard and sticky.

9) Place mixture in fridge for 1 hour.

"The Hotdogs"

1) Take parchment paper and cut into pieces.


2) Grease paper with olive oil.

3) Take pieces of the mixture, place on parchment paper and shape into hotdogs.

4) Wrap hotdogs in parchment and twist the ends.

5)Then wrap with foil and twist the ends.

6) Place Hot-dogs in a steamer. Steam for 1 hour. Hot-dogs are ready when  plump and firm.

     Now, just like regular hot-dogs, these are ready to be baked, fried or frozen for future use.


Baking Time: 1 hour on 350F.


Note: Why did we wrap the hot-dogs in foil?

 Traditionally when hot-dogs are made, they're enclosed in casing made of small intestines of animals, or an artificial casing made of cellulose.(these are known as "skin-less" hot-dogs) Using the parchment and foil mimics the job of the casing, by giving our hot-dogs their shape.

The Amazing Black Bean Burger

Order Up! We've created the Ultimate Burger. It's so good, you'd never believe it was meat & allergy-free. There are many black bean burgers recipes out there, but ours had the right taste and texture. Go Head and Enjoy "Meat" Again ^^

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of red Quinoa
1 16 oz can of Black Beans
1/4  of a medium yellow onion
1/8 of a cup of lemon juice
2 green onions
3 mushrooms
1 red chill pepper
1 clove of garlic
3 stalks of cilantro

1 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp of basil
1/4 tsp of turmeric
3/4 of a tsp oregano
1/2 of red pepper flakes
a dash of ginger root and thyme

Olive Oil and Thyme- to coat the burgers

Directions:

1) In a rice cooker or pot prepare 1 1/2 cup of Red Quinoa (follow the directions on the box) and set aside.

2) Open 1 can of black beans, drain, rinse and place in food processor.

3) Then add Lemon Juice and blend.

4) Rinse and Chop: the yellow onion, green onion, mushroom, chill pepper, garlic, and cilantro. Then place in food processor, and blend.

5) Add spices and blend again.

6) When finished, place the blended beans in a large bowl, then start adding the Red Quinoa, the mixture should be nice an thick- an even ratio of beans to Quinoa.

7) Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or longer.  This will make sure that our "meat" is nice and firm.

8) After the mixture has become firm, remove bowl from the refrigerator.

Now it's time to make the patties:

1) Take a small handful of the mixture and start shaping into burger patties.
   (Don't make them too thin)

2) Coat the top of the patties with olive oil either with a brush or rub with fingers.
(Optional sprinkle tops with thyme)

Baking:

1) In a non-stick baking pan, coat with oil or spray. Place the patties in the pan.

2) Bake patties at 350 degrees for 1 hr. Flip at sides at 30 mins, or when the top gets crunchy.



When finished- Take your favorite Gluten-Free Buns, add mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato and onion  Voila, Burgers ^.^



Stay tuned for homemade gluten-free buns, hotdogs, and much more....


(Patties can be stored in the freezer for future use.)