Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger: Elana of Elana’s Pantry

by Valerie on March 5, 2011 · 9 comments

elanas bars 006

I love these bars.  They are Elana’s Almond Power Bars.  These bars immediately became a favorite for both my husband and I. In fact, they are such a good representation of Elana’s recipes at Elana’s Pantry – simple, scrumptious, with lots of protein and healthy fat.  Like Elana, I stay away from anything overly sweet – and as a result, have not tried any of her recipes that require a lot of agave.  Nevertheless, Elana provides plenty of recipes for those of us that prefer to focus on a low-glycemic diet.  And also important, Elana’s recipe also appeal to my husband, who does not have to eat gluten-free or dairy-free, but who does as a default because of me.

These Power Bars do not rely on dates to stick together.  Instead they rely on roasted almond butter.  I only had raw almond butter at home, but the recipe still worked out perfectly.  While we are on the subject of substitutions, I replaced the chocolate with some basic coconut oil chocolate (coconut oil + raw cacao + a bit of agave = chocolate).  The result was truly wonderful.  A hint of sweetness, but nothing more. I like how Elana includes sea salt in this recipe. It makes the chocolate and almond flavors pop.  These bars are also nice and portable – I brought a bar sliced in thirds to be part of a lunchbox.

lunch with elana's almond power bars

I love all of Elana’s cracker recipes. I have successfully made several in her book by replacing the egg with chia seeds and water.  That said, on her blog, Elana has a recipe for Vegan Herb Crackers – they are light and savory and excellent as part of lunchboxes:

 Almond flour crackers in lunchbox

In addition to the power bars and the crackers, which I made specifically for this month’s Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, an event created by Sea of Book of Yum and hosted this month by Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen, I have been cooking and baking from Elana’s cookbook regularly since last December, when I started to explore more grain-free baking. 

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook [Paperback]

Elana uses large chicken eggs in her recipes, so I usually attempt to substitute first with chia seed eggs (which works well for recipes calling only for one or two eggs like crackers) or use duck eggs.  I love the pizza recipe in the book and have successfully made it using either a chia egg replacement, or a small-ish duck egg.  Whichever egg I use,the recipe turns out excellent. Elana’s pizza also pairs beautifully with her kale chips:

 Elana's pizza crust

Here, the pizza is topped with Elana’s Pizza Sauce recipe from the cookbook, as well as nutritional yeast and herbamare.  The pizza crust is crispy and holds up well to toppings. 

cookies

Another great recipe from the cookbook, which I realize now also happens to be on Elana’s blog, are her Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made them back in January when I was just starting to get into grain-free baking as a gift to meet a fellow blogger, and she really enjoyed them.  My favorite part – you can totally eat the dough!

You really cannot go wrong with cooking from Elana’s cookbook or blog. All the recipes I have tried so far (including several more of her cracker recipes from her book and both her Simple Bread and Bread 2.0 from the blog) have turned out beautifully.  As I write this, I have a batch of Elana’s Banana Blueberry Muffins in the oven, which are another one of my favorite recipes from the Almond Flour Cookbook.

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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Elle March 7, 2011 at 12:44 am

It has been awhile since I have commented on your blog but every time I read, I just want to eat up every thing that you make. Thank you for sharing and showing me it is possible to live gluten free and vegan and thrive.

I am currently doing the adzuki bean + rice + nori combo daily much to the chagrin of my specialist who wants me to be eating rice and chicken. The point of that is to say that your blog gives me hope that I can be vegan and gluten free and healthy :)

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2 Carrie March 7, 2011 at 1:29 am

You are absolutely right, you CANNOT go wrong with Elana's recipes!! Every recipe I've ever tried from her collection has been absolutely fabulous!! :-) Lovely post! I'm honored you made my recipes along with hers this month!! Thank you!!

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3 elizabeth.speck March 7, 2011 at 3:15 am

I am a fairly new reader to your blog and have really been enjoying all of your lunchboxes. I read Elaa's blog but had not seen this recipie. I made it today, and it was delicious! I am tryig to cut back on sugar and I love that these bars only rely upon a minimal amount of agave nectar.

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4 Valerie @ City|Life|Eats March 7, 2011 at 3:21 pm

@Elle – thank you for stopping by my blog. It is always a pleasure to see you. Most of my diet is vegan, but as you can see from my post on Elana's recipes, I do use duck eggs on occasion. I do feel better eating a mostly vegan diet, but my cholesterol is so low (and I have other mineral deficiencies) that at times I do supplement with duck eggs, some wild salmon or sardines, or the occasional grass-fed chicken breast.

@Carrie – thank you for commenting. Cooking from your blog at the same time as Elana's was wonderful since I have been focusing on grain-free or low-grain baking and cooking since December.

@Elizabeth – Welcome! It is always so nice to hear from a new reader :) I am so glad you enjoy the lunchboxes. I found the power bars recipe totally by accident – Ellen/Gluten-Free Diva made it on her blog last month when she adopted Elana and I immediately wanted to try it. Elana posted the recipe three years ago so it was so nice to find it. I do love how so many of Elana's recipes rely on minimal amounts of agave.

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5 gfe--gluten free easily March 9, 2011 at 12:06 pm

Yum on all, Valerie! Love Elana's recipes and you did a great job on your adoption. :-) Now I'm wanting that pizza and those power bars, oh and the crackers. Of course, I wouldn't turn down her cookies either. I've been fortunate enough to enjoy her own cookies at blogging conferences. They are the best! I didn't realize that you used duck eggs. I know some folks react to chicken eggs, but not duck eggs. Is that why you use duck eggs occasionally? Just curious.

Shirley

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6 Valerie @ City|Life|Eats March 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm

@Shirley – Thank you for your kind comment. I do occasionally eat duck eggs. I am really intolerant to chicken eggs (I found that out through an elimination diet, but it was later confirmed through food allergy testing that I was highly intolerant to egg whites) but seem to tolerate duck eggs well. From the research I have done, they are pretty different to chicken eggs. Furthermore, in my situation – I tested as intolerant to egg whites – I think that duck eggs work for me because they are both different to chicken eggs, but also more yolk heavy.

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7 Jeanette March 11, 2011 at 3:56 am

I love Elana's recipes, and these almond power bars look delectable! I've made her almond scones as they're amazing. This Gluten-Free blogging event has been so much fun, a great way to meet other gluten-free bloggers and try other people's recipes.

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8 glutenfreespinner March 11, 2011 at 10:44 pm

Yum, those power bars look amazing! Great post…good to meet you and Elana!

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9 Tasty Eats At Home March 16, 2011 at 4:41 pm

Great post! I love love love that vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's so good.

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