Wheat free thin mint substitutes

Start with the chocolate wafer recipe, which is wheat free.  It could be gluten free by substituting rice flour for the oat flour.

Chocolate Wafer Recipe

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 cup sugar (use agave next time add some flour to compensate)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup potato starch

• 1/4 cup tapioca starch

• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat butter until creamy and smooth.
Add sugar. Cream together.
Add the egg. Beat together again.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (the flours, cocoa powder,  baking soda, baking powder, and salt).
Add dry ingredients to sugar/egg/butter mixture. Mix together until the dough comes together. This takes a while, but don't worry, just keep mixing.
Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Pinch the dough off in small bits (teaspoon size) and roll in to a ball. Place them on the parchment paper. Place another (small) piece of parchment paper on top of the ball and press with a flat-bottomed glass to aprox. 1/8 inch thickness. Continue placing balls and flattening them but be sure that the flattened cookies have enough space between them.

Bake ~8-9 minutes until done.  Allow to cool, then put in the freezer to harden while preparing the coating.

There are so many variations for this cookie - fill with peanut butter icing, fill with vanilla icing, make an icebox cake out of them, etc.

While the cookies are chilling, Melt 1 1/2 lbs. of bittersweet chocolate and ~1/2 tsp. of peppermint oil in double boiler.  Taste chocolate and add peppermint until desired flavor is reached.

Remove the cookies from the freezer and dip them one at a time in the melted chocolate.  Lay them on a parchment covered pan and put them in the fridge or freezer until set.

Enjoy!

Tomato corn chowder

Tomato corn chowder with a side of parmesan toast.  

Saute chopped onions and celery until soft.  Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of tomato sauce, 2 bags of frozen corn and a couple of potatoes, chopped.  Add a whole carrot while the stew simmers (pull it out before serving).  Season with a spoon of Worcestershire sauce, a spoon of agave nectar and a dash of cayenne pepper to taste.  Once the potato pieces are cooked through, use an immersion blender to process ~ 1/2 of the soup, so that it is thickened.

Family favorite but beware the corn hangover!

Bacon and eggs for dinner

This is turkey bacon wrapped around parmesan polenta, then topped with a baked egg and gouda and a sprinkling of lemon thyme.  It is served on a bed of greens and drizzled with a blood orange vinaigrette.