Flower Philosophy

I used to think flowers were frivolous.

I even told Ben when we were poor(er) and courting to just send me pictures of flowers instead of forking out money for something that would die.

Or even better, spend that money for pizza!

But now I have a different criteria: flowers are beautiful, but I’d rather have some that I can plant.

Seeds or plants with roots create a seasonal beauty that I really appreciate.
Living in deserts and cities has really amped up my love of nature.

I suppose my dream would be to one day be able to settle somewhere I could have a garden, both flowers and vegetables.

When I saw these bursts of color on my visit to Texas during Pchum Ben, I had to take pictures.

Children and flowers fill my phone memory now. I suppose that’s a good thing.

In the Incheon airport in South Korea, there were orchids all over the place.

It was a nice combination of beauty in a sea of functional; like the morning glories I saw climbing up a stop sign. 

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Layered Pudding.... Mmmmmm!

I know there are some people who completely disregard the fact that some actually have very real symptoms when they consume gluten or dairy. It would be nice if we lived in a world where pesticides and genetic engineering of food, hormone injected cows and the protein from Holsteins, didn't cause reactions in some people. Especially my sister. When my sister eats something containing gluten or dairy, her body is in so much pain she can't get out of bed on her own. My sister is one of the strongest people I know, not to mention considerate, generous and creative. One of her favorite desserts used to be layered pudding. (I've heard it called Four Layer Delight and Possum Pie as well.) Unfortunately, that contains.....

Flour, butter, cream cheese and milk! So, I was determined to create a version that didn't contain gluten or dairy for our early family Thanksgiving when I visited home. I had to start with the base:

For the base, I ground up enough oats to get 1 cup of oat flour and combined that with 1/2 cup of coconut oil and a cup of cut up pecans. I added a dash of almond flavoring.

Of course, coconut oil cooks differently than butter, as it bubbles up a lot more when it bakes, but it came out ok:


The next layer was tricky, a cream cheese layer. I decided to go with a cashew cream cheese. First I soaked the cashews overnight. The next day they were ready to use.


I followed this recipe to make the cheesecake flavored layer. It calls for:

• 1 1/2 cup of soaked/drained cashews
• 1/4 cup of lemon
• 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 cup agave/maple syrup/honey

 I then blended it to the smoothest consistency I could get, gingerly spread it over the brittle crust and let it chill in the freezer while I worked on the puddings.

I searched through the brands of pudding looking for one that didn't have diary or gluten. Most of them were gluten free, but many contained milk powder; especially for the vanilla flavor. Jello was the brand that didn't have either of the unwanted things. I was planning on making a home-made version with corn starch and coconut milk if I couldn't find one. This is just such a multi-step process, that I was running out of time! However, with the Jello mixes, I used cold coconut milk and let them set. I layered the chocolate pudding over the hardened cashew layer and then returned it to the freezer to chill. When that was hardened, I added the vanilla layer on top. Repeating the freezer step each time proved to be important as they never got all the way firm without it.

The top layer of layered pudding is the whipped cream. I thought store-bought whipped cream was probably just made out of junk and not real milk, but I was wrong. They actually used milk! So, I used this recipe that turns coconut cream into whipped cream. Yummy!
 
It called for:

• 1 14 oz. can of (refrigerated overnight) unsweetened coconut milk (I used what we could find in the picture above)
• 2 Tablespoons of sugar (I omitted this step because what we had was already a bit sweet)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

This was really tasty! I spread it on top of all of the layers and added a few crushed pecans.


There you have it! My dairy-free, gluten-free layered pudding!




I love my sister. I was happy to make something so that there would be a dessert she could eat too. Let me know if you find a better way to make this, but this one turned out really good! It definitely tastes like coconut, but in a delicious way.