samantha lives free.

It’s fall. that means that all I want to be eating right now is pie, preferably of the pumpkin and sweet potato varieties. a gluten- and dairy-free compromise? 

5-minute (healthy!) Sweet Potato Pie

You will need:

• 1 sweet potato, baked
• lemon juice, squeezed from about 1/8 of a lemon
• a few generous shakes of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Peel sweet potato and mash with a fork on a microwavable plate.

2. Add vanilla extract, lemon juice, and a few shakes of cinnamon, to taste. Using a fork, mix it all together.

3. Microwave for two or so 30-second intervals. Really just until it’s your desired temperature. 

4. Garnish with cinnamon and EAT.

So easy, and it tasted like sweet potato pie! You don’t even need sweetener because baked sweet potatoes are sweet enough on their own. And okay, yes, it’s missing essential pie-like features, such as crust and whipped cream, but it’s 5 minutes and it’s healthy! I’ll take it.

What are your favorite quick and easy sweets?

Boring salads, get out of here! Gluten- and dairy-free (and corn-free!) salads can be amazing. The trick is in the ingredients. For lunch today, I chopped up 1/2 a baked white potato, 1/2 a baked sweet potato, tossed with 1 tsp olive oil on top of a bed of lettuce. Afterwards, I dropped poached egg over the whole thing. Turns out a runny yolk and some olive oil is as good a dressing as any. 

Herbed Tilapia with Steamed Broccoli & Cauliflower

Hey, friends. This is not a vegan recipe, but it is gluten- and dairy-free. I sauteed tilapia but you can choose your own protein—this would work similarly with a soy protein like tofu or tempeh, as well as different kinds of meats. 

I never knew that making fish would be this easy. I bought individually vacuum-sealed frozen tilapia filets at the grocery and put one in the fridge to defrost overnight. 

You will need:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• herbs du provence 
• 1 filet tilapia
• broccoli and cauliflower, frozen or fresh
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce

1. Heat the oil in a small pan. While the oil is heating, coat one side of fish in herbs du provence. Once the oil is heated, place the fish into the pan herb-side down. You can now coat the other side in herbs!

2. While the fish is cooking, place veggies in a steamer (or just boil them in water) and turn the burner up to high. Once the water boils, remove the veggies from the heat, cover them, and ignore them. 

3. Check the fish and when it’s done cooking on one side, flip it. Housemate Madeline says it should be “opaque.” For those of us with unsophisticated cooking skills, this means whiteish and not raw-looking. It also means “ask someone who knows better, when in doubt.” Yeah. 

4. Heat tomato sauce in a small saucepan for a few mins on High. I used Newman’s Own Organic Tomato Basil sauce, but you can use your favorite! I prefer sauces that do not have corn syrup or any of that fake stuff listed as an ingredient. I use organic when possible, also. 

5. And the best part:  put it on a plate and eat. 

I swear I eat things other than chocolate! I’m just getting over being sick and today was my first real day of having an appetite. And I wanted chocolate! So I made this:

(non-dairy!!) Milk-Chocolate Rice Cake

you will need:

• dark baking chocolate 
• unsweetened almond milk 
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• gluten-free rice cake

1. In a small saucepan, melt dark chocolate. Quantities are kinda hazy here, so bear with me. I believe I used about 5 small squares/half a serving (120 cal.)

2. Once the chocolate is mostly melted, add a few splashes of almond milk. Stir stir stir. 

3. Add agave nectar. Stir! 

4. Continue stirring/cooking on medium heat. You have to be sure to keep the chocolate moving around so it doesn’t burn. (Is burned chocolate better than no chocolate? Discuss.) 

5. Once it gets to a thick-ish, syrupy-but-not-too-liquidy consistency, it’s probably ready. Remove from heat and spread over a gluten-free rice cake of your choosing. I used Mother’s unsalted whole grain plain rice cake. 

6. Put rice cake in fridge; wait. Once it’s cooled and the chocolate holds it shape, it’s ready! Enjoy! 

Notes: You can, of course, use whatever kind of non-dairy milk you like best. If you use a sweetened non-dairy milk, you may want to omit the agave. Additionally, you can use any type of sweetener, or no sweetener at all. The liquid chocolate can be poured over anything and can also be used as an vegan icing for cakes or cupcakes! Go wild. You deserve it, you gluten- and dairy-free chef. 

Totally Unrelated (but decidedly gluten-free) Note: leave me some looove in the form of questions & comments yall. If you’re gluten and/or dairy-free I wanna hear all about your cooking adventures and misadventures, and why you decided to go -free, and how long, etc., etc.