Beet Hummus and Beet Dip

     Replace garbanzos with beets to make hummus? This sounds like the desperate ploy of a hummus fan with a newly diagnosed allergy to garbanzos but is actually a surprisingly tasty dip. Beets work well with lemon juice and garlic, after all, and the tahini and olive oil help turn them into a rich, creamy dip that you don't need food allergies to appreciate. 

     If you're allergic to (sesame) tahini, you can substitute sunflower seed butter; you may need to add a little extra water to get the hummus to blend properly, as sunflower seed butter is a bit thicker than tahini. As always, read the ingredient label: Some sunflower seed butter has added guar gum or other ingredients; some is sweetened, which you may find disagreeable in a savory dip.

     Even if you're not allergic to both sesame and sunflower seeds, try the beet dip; it too is surprisingly smooth and delicious.

Beet Hummus

Beet hummus made with sunflower seed butter

     6 oz. roasted beets 
     1/2 c. water
     2 cloves of garlic
     juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon (See Juice in the Glossary)
     1/2 c. olive oil (See Oil in the Glossary)
     1/2 c. tahini (See Tahini in the Glossary)
     salt (See Salt in the Glossary)

     Put the beets, water, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a good blender and blend until thoroughly smooth and creamy. Add a small amount of extra water if necessary to get the mixture to blend properly. Add the tahini and blend until thoroughly mixed. Add salt to taste. Refrigerate.

Beet Dip

Beet dip

 

     6 oz. roasted beets 
    1/2 c. water

     1 clove of garlic

     juice of 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon (See Juice in the Glossary)

     1/2 c. olive oil (See Oil in the Glossary)

     salt (See Salt in the Glossary)

     Put all ingredients except salt into a good blender and blend until thoroughly smooth and creamy. Add salt to taste.

Roasted Beets

     Roasting turns beets surprisingly sweet and intense without any need for dairy, gluten or other allergens.  

     beets
     olive or other oil (See Oil in the Glossary)
     salt (See Salt in the Glossary)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel some beets and slice them into rounds an inch thick or so. Put them on a cooky sheet, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and toss. The beets should be thoroughly coated with oil so that they don't dry out. Bake for 30 minutes or so and start checking on them once in a while. They are done when they are soft all the way through. Turn the oven up or down by 25 degrees if necessary and cook until done.

Ready for the oven

*Some cooks prefer to peel beets after they're cooked because the peels slide off so easily then. I prefer for them to be ready to serve when they come out of the oven.

Hypoallergenic Oat Cookies

These delicately flavored, tender little cookies melt in your mouth. 

     1 c. palm oil shortening
     1 c. powdered sugar (See Powdered Sugar in the Glossary) 

     1 Tb. vanilla extract 
     3 c. gluten-free oat flour

     pinch of salt (See Salt in the Glossary) 

     powdered sugar to roll the cookies in

     Melt the shortening. Stir in the one cup of powdered sugar and the vanilla extract. Stir the salt into the oat flour, and mix the flour into the shortening. Shape into one-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cooky sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake 15 minutes or so, until cookies just start to brown. Move cookies to a rack to cool. Roll in powdered sugar while still a bit warm.

Hypoallergenic Lemon Ice

     Commercial sherbet generally contains dairy as well as ingredients made from allergens such as corn and soy. This lemon ice has only 3 ingredients including sugar and water. If you're o.k. with citrus, this lemon ice is safe. 

     It is also intensely lemony and not overly sweet.

     4 cups sugar (See Sugar in the Glossary) 
     2 cups water
     4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (See Juice in the Glossary)

     Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and all the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the lemon juice. Refrigerate until chilled. Put the container for the ice cream into the freezer (so it won't melt any of the ice cream when you scoop it into the container).Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker.  Immediately transfer the ice cream to its prechilled container and either serve it immediately or get it directly into the freezer to harden.

     Garnish with fresh mint leaves if you like.