I drink a Matcha Latte almost daily, made with home made nut milk and ceremonial grade Matcha tea. My mother-in-law used to teach green tea ceremony from Japan and gifted me, years ago a large can of ceremonial grade matcha. It is difficult to drink anything else. So naturally when I thought about creating this tapioca pudding dessert, I used the same tea. But honestly, don’t feel the pressure or necessity to use ceremonial grade, I am sure other matcha’s will do the trick

I have always loved the crumbly and buttery shortbread-like texture of a Mexican wedding cookie, the melty and soft sensation of the powdered confectioner’s sugar in my mouth, has carried me to new heights. The reality now is I can’t really eat flour, sugar, butter, as a combo deal, not if I don’t want to feel crummy later. Behold the challenge of how to achieve this mouth sensation dairy, gluten and sugar free. I am certain we have achieved an as close as you can get to the real thing cookie and maybe even better then the real thing.

Last year I lent this recipe to the lifestyle site Flaura Wellness, so many of you missed seeing it. And with the growth of Amalgam Kitchen I have decided to post it here on the site for you to enjoy this year, because it is just so darned good.

Nothing speaks to the holidays more than pumpkin pie. I am a sucker for a good pumpkin pie. And now that I don’t really do gluten flour or refined sugar I have struggled. What to do when one does not want to bake a pie? When one craves a grab and go pumpkin pie kind of situation? A sweet treat days before Thanksgiving? Well you bake pumpkin pie bars.

I find figs to be such a sensual fruit, juicy with robust flesh. In the 16th Century Baroque master Caravaggio’s painting Basket of Fruit there are four figs, all four plump, luscious and bursting with ripeness. They are the fruit of the ficus tree which to my surprise is part of the Mulberry family. Cultivated for centuries, the fig, historically, symbolize unity, truth and universal understanding.They are on my list of top 5 favorite fruits, they satisfy my occasional sweet tooth craving, since I have cut out refined sugars from my diet. I snack on fresh figs often when in season and love to include them in an arugula salad with walnuts and fresh goat cheese.  Figs are high in fiber, so they make a great natural laxative.