The Happy Gluten Free Vegan

Posts Tagged ‘diy’

We love sparkling apple cider, but many commercial products are made with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. It’s actually quite easy to make your own with your at-home soda machine, or store-bought carbonated water. This is perfect for New Year celebrations, or any other celebration where you’d like a little non-alcoholic bubbly to sip.

Homemade Vegan and Gluten Free Sparkling Apple Cider

Ingredients:

12 apples
Soda Stream or other soda-maker, or, 3 liters bottled carbonated water

Directions:

Peel and core the apples, then cut them into small cubes. Put the apples in a large pot and add enough water to cover the apples by about 1/4 inch (the apples may start to float, so use your best
estimation). Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow the apples to simmer until they’ve become mushy, stirring constantly to avoid burning. This could take up to 20 minutes, so be patient.
Once the apples have completely broken down, strain them into a large bowl, pressing down on them until all the juice is squeezed out. Place the juice back in the pot (ensure that all of the apple chunks are
out) and simmer until reduced by half. You now have apple concentrate.

To make sparkling apple cider, simply carbonate water as you would to make any soda. In a pitcher combine the sparkling water with the apple concentrate in a 3:1 measurement. If you like a stronger taste, simply add a little more of the apple concentrate.

For a fun and elegant presentation: fill champagne flutes with the sparkling apple cider and add a few berries of your choosing to the glasses.

Did you know that it is really easy to make your own peanut butter? It is! And best of all, you can control what does, or doesn’t go into it. While we are going to give you an easy recipe to make a basic peanut butter, there is a lot of room to get creative and play around with what you add!

Vegan and Gluten-Free Peanut Butter

16 ounces of dry roasted peanuts
4-6 tablespoons peanut oil
Sea salt to taste (optional)

Grind peanuts in a food processor until they are finely ground. Keeping the processor running, slowly add the peanut oil until desired consistency is reached. Mix in the salt to taste.

Store peanut butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

You should plan on using this delicious peanut butter within a few weeks as, like an good unprocessed food, it has a short shelf life!