Gluten-free Gourmand

I love cream.  However, I sometimes go through phases of lactose intolerance that prevent me from eating it.  This leads to an issue when I drink coffee: what do I add to it if not cream? I've tried all kinds of non-dairy creamers: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk.  I didn't like any of them.  If they didn't taste chemical they were just too... well, milky.  I started drinking my coffee black.  I'm doing the lactose-free thing right now, so I thought it was a perfect time to experiment with something new: coconut cream.  It's what I use for most of my other cream substitutes, so why not coffee creamer?  I use it in my gluten-free vegan scone recipe and it works beautifully.  It's the only thing I've found that has all the properties of cream that I like: the richness, the smoothness, the slight sweetness. Well, I'm here to inform you that it works.  It doesn't whiten the coffee as much as I expected, and it thickens the coffee ju...

Today was one of those glorious days. I woke up to sun and a blue sky, but when I stepped out to go to the farmer's market the sky turned black. It dumped rain for hours. I never made it to the farmer's market. Around 3:30 the rain came with renewed vigor. The sky was again dark as though the sun were going down. Then, all of a sudden, it was sunny and warm. I made pesto. I started taking out my garden once it warmed up today. My basil had never done as well as I wished, but there was enough of it today to make one last batch of my favorite sauce. I never measure anything for this recipe, but if it's your first time making it, or you just like measuring things, you can start with this recipe: 2 C fresh basil from your garden 1/3 C pine nuts or walnuts 1 clove garlic 1/4 C grated Parmesan (if you can't do dairy, I've subbed pancetta to get that full flavor, or a little bit of dry gluten-free bread for texture) 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil 1/4-1/2 tsp ...