Of Bread and Tomatoes

Yes, you can grow tomatoes on the Northern Oregon coast! I just harvested my last and largest one. I took it in a little on the under ripe side because the plant is all but dead. The days are shorter and colder as well so I didn't think it would finish ripening on the vine. Here it is next to my keys to give an idea of scale:

Container grown, organic tomato. Grown on the Northern Oregon coast!

I have to confess, I gobbled all the cashew cheese I made in the previous post without taking pictures of the finished product. I will try to do better next time. The cheese was delicious!
I believe I have mentioned that I am gluten free too. I will have been gluten free for 2 years next month. I admit, going gluten free has not been easy for me. I didn't slip, but I did twice deliberately try to reintroduce gluten to see if I could eat bread again. Both times I had negative reactions not long after consuming the gluten product. I seem to be getting even more sensitive than before.
After failing the last gluten tolerance test, I resigned myself to the idea that I will have to get used to being gluten free. Fortunately, I have found a wonderful blog by Laurie Sadowski with a lot of yummy sounding recipes that are not only gluten free but vegan too! I have been so impressed with her recipes and blog that I have purchased her two books, The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread, and The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Cakes and Cookies. I don't make or eat a lot of desserts but, the holidays are coming and I wanted to expand my gluten-free horizons. So far, I have tried three recipes from the AFC Bakes Bread book. I haven't tried the recipes in the other book yet but will soon.
The first recipe I tried was the Wholesome Flax Bread. It is delicious! Now, I am not going to lie, it doesn't taste exactly like homemade wheat bread but, like the cashew cheese, it satisfies all the same points that wheat bread and cheese from cows does. I sliced the bread up and put it in the freezer. I pull out what I need and pop it into the toaster oven. OK, I also acknowledge that I am not the best food photographer, I will have to work on that. I didn't use a flash on this and the light was low. I ran it through Photoshop to get the color looking like it should.The low-light picture is a bit blurry.

Wholesome Flax Bread

One wheat item I really and truly miss is flour tortillas. I always made my own. I was pleased to find a tortilla recipe using buckwheat, which in case you didn't know, is not a wheat and doesn't have gluten. They had just the right feel and taste! Yesterday I made chickpea bannock to accompany a veggie and GF noodle soup and salad. I made spicy maple baked tofu as well. The tofu recipe is my own riff on many such recipes. The Allergy-Free Cook recipes also use minimally processed sweeteners such as maple syrup, molasses, and dates.
To sum it all up, yum! I am going to enjoy these cookbooks. I am putting the links to her blog and website in and will state that I am in no way affiliated with The Allergy-Free Cook brand. I am just a new fan!
I am slowly finding my footing on the Northern Oregon Coast here as a gluten-free vegan. I think I will feel I have truly arrived when I am able to have my own garden to grow my own food. I am looking forward to that one day.
I will do my best to get pictures of the next batch of vegan cheese I make!

Do you have a favorite gluten-free, vegan bread recipe?

Happy eating,
-Renee