CHICKPEAS: 1 can chickpeas, drained 1/4 cup sesame seeds 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspon garlic powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon coriander 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 1/4 teaspoon turmeric 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add drained chickpease to a large mixing bowl. Mix in all spices, sesame seeds and olive oil with sea salt and pepper. Use your hands to make sure chickpeas are evenly coated with mixture. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until crisp and browned. Set aside to cool. SALAD: 3/4 cup cashews, raw 1 teaspoon yellow miso 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 2 garlic cloves, whole 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon nori, chopped 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast 2 tablespoons coconut cream 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon tamari, gluten-free 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 head of kale, de-stremmed and chopped 1/2 avocado, diced 1. Add the first twelve ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. 2. In a large bowl, add kale, avocado and dresssing. Mix together with your hands until well combine. Top with roasted chickpeas and enjoy!
All you need to make the kale salad even more special is some spices and homemade dressing. I'm obsessed with any kind of "warm" salad, especially since it's not quite warm enough to pretend it's Spring. Needless to say, this salad is an in between and it's damn good.
GLUTEN-FREE CINNAMON ROLLS
I did a little research to see what recipes already existed for such a thing like vegan and gluten-free cinnamon rolls, when I found a blog called Cooking with Dia. She makes amazing comfort food, and cooks mostly (if not all) gluten-free and vegan. I took a look at her recipe, and the wonderful photos, and I barely adapted a thing. The recipe was amazing as is, and my family loved it, too.
DOUGH: 4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 teaspoon unrefined sugar 1 cup warm water 1 cup non-dairy milk 2/3 cup raw cane sugar 2/3 cup butter (or Earth Balance) 2 teaspoons sea salt 3 cups oat flour 1 cup corn flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons xanthum gum 1. Mix together yeast with 1 cup of warm water and 1 teaspoon of unrefined sugar. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together oat flour, corn flour, salt, baking soda, powder and xanthum gum. By then, the yeast should be foaming. Tip the yeast mixture into the flour and combine. 2. Add in 1 cup of non-dairy milk and mix thoroughly until dough forms. Knead the dough for 20 minutes, or use a stand mixer with dough hook for 8-10 minutes. 3. Once dough is done, place on a floured surgace and cover with a warm towel for 1 hour. Once dough has risen, roll out to approximately a 16x20 rectangle. FILLING: 1/2 cup butter (or Earth Balance), melted 1/3 granulated sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons cinnamon Mix both sugars with cinnamon and combine with melted butter. Drizzle mixture evenly over the rectangle of dough. Begin rolling up dough from the longest side, being careful to keep the filling in tact. Once you have a long, rolled dough, use a serated knife to slice into 12 even pieces. 1/2 cup butter (or Earth Balance), melted 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons maple syrup Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, mix melted butter with sugar and maple syrup until well combined. Pour mixture into 15" rectangular pyrex pan. Place each 12 cinnamon rolls into the pan and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool. FROSTING: 1 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup non-dairy milk Place the powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in milk until thick icing begins to form. If too dry, add more milk (or if too wet, add more sugar) until you arrive at the desired consistency. Once icing is formed, drizzle over cooled cinnamon buns and serve! 
concord grape & blackberry LEMONADE
Since summer is actually over, and I'm starting to eat things like mushroom stuffed pumpkin, it's about time I posted my lemonade recipe. This post is long overdue, as my schedule seems to be more and more insane as the hours pass (but no excuses!). Regardless, this recipe was a special one I concocted for my trip to the gluten-free potluck in honor of Shauna and Danny's new book, The Gluten-free Girl & The Chef.
16 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
34 oz. filtered water
1 carton blackberries
1 carton concord grapes
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 agave or maple syrup
1/3 cup apple juice
1. Add concord grapes and blackberries to stove top and heat on low until they release their juices.
2. Strain through a sieve (use the leftover fruit as a compote). Set aside to cool.
3. In an extra large ball jar, combine lemon juice, water, syrups and apple juice. Mix well.
4. Add cooled blackberry & concord grape syrup. Add a few fresh concord grapes into glasses when you serve over ice.