As you can probably guess by reading this blog, I love to cook. I also happen to have quite a few people in my life with various food allergies and sensitivities and preferences, so I often find myself modifying recipes so that everyone can eat what I make. I am also fascinated by the science of it—using the properties of the ingredients to predict how they will react with each other under various cooking techniques is so much more fun to me than the stuff in my chemistry textbook! I’d rather talk about food than methane.
For a school project, I recently had to adapt a recipe to make it appropriate for someone following the TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change) diet to lower the risk of chronic heart conditions. I chose pumpkin pie, as it’s one of my seasonal favorites. But who am I kidding? I would eat pumpkin pie in July.
I found the easiest way to lower the saturated fat and cholesterol in the pie was to make it vegan, and then I remembered that my friend Leah, who is vegan and sensitive to gluten, was having a birthday celebration today and that I had offered to cook some vegan, gluten-free goods.
Hence, a gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie! Chris suggested the pecans on top—beautiful!