(No pictures because we ate it too fast!)

Ingredients:

1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
5 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup plain almond milk with 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar added (let sit)
2 eggs
1 TB agave nectar
3 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 cup currants or raisins
1/2 cup pepitas

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease an 8-9 inch round cake pan.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until a coarse texture is reached.

Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry until fully incorporated, then add the caraway seeds, pepitas and currants.

Scrape and spoon out the dough into the prepared cake pan; and use wet hands to flatten and smooth the dough into a round loaf.

Bake for about 30-45 minutes in the center of a preheated oven, until the loaf is golden and it sounds hollow when tapped. A toothpick should come out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes before slicing. It will crumble a little.

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This is the sixth annual restaurant week here in Brooklyn. Like in other cities, the deal here is that lots of great local restaurants offer prix fixe lunch ($20.13) and dinner ($28.00) specials. Check it out March 11-21.

More info via PDF flyer, here.

Map of participating restaurants here.

Bon appetite!

The post Brooklyn Restaurant Week Starts Today! appeared first on 3B.

We’re looking forward to hosting lots of new faces as well as getting to see some of our past guests again. You’ll be stunned when you see how beautiful the shower is now, as well as freshly refinished hardwood throughout the space and new art in the stairwell. (Pictures are coming!)

The post We’re open again! appeared first on 3B.

Are we moving out? No sir, not by a long shot. On Valentine’s day of this year we’ll unveil a beautiful a fully-renovated bathroom, restored hardwood floors in the hallway, a totally redesigned and re-lit stairwell, as well as freshly painted bedrooms.

The eerie quiet upstairs and the massive to-do list both remind me of all the work we did in 2010: the garbage hauled, the endless design meetings, the etsy wormholes, and the gallons and gallons of white paint. We’re deeply grateful to the guests we’ve hosted since then & we hope you’ll come visit again so you can marvel at the gorgeous new shower and revel in a more beautiful and welcoming stairwell.

The post 3B closed for renovations until February 14, 2013 appeared first on 3B.

This morning I invented a gluten-free, dairy-free pancake that is maybe the most perfect thing I’ve ever put together last minute and on so little sleep. The result is a truly wholesome Almond-Buckwheat pancake that is virtuous enough to have any day of the week. Our guests this morning were very pleased!

2 c almond flour
1 c buckwheat flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon

8 eggs
1.25 c almond milk (more for thinner pancakes, less for thicker ones)
2 TB agave nectar
1 TB vanilla

coconut oil for greasing the pan.

Mix up the dry ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another then combine and mix completely. The good thing about not using wheat flour is that you can’t really over mix the batter– it won’t get tough since there is no gluten. Heat some coconut oil in a nonstick or cast iron skillet on medium (you may need to turn it lower at some point, but starting on medium is good.) Pour 1/5 c portions of batter for medium pancakes, 1/8 c for silver dollar. Flip when one side looks like the above photo.

Makes about 30 medium pancakes or a ton of silver dollar ones.

The post Almond & Buckwheat Pancakes! (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free) appeared first on 3B.

Inigo and Shani on their wedding day.

Back in February, we were graced by the presence of Inigo Kennedy, a DJ and electronic musician, and his awesome girlfriend Shani. Inigo’s promotor had booked him a room for the weekend, since he had a gig nearby. Based on Shani’s review of our labor of love, they enjoyed their stay.

We loved it so much that we got engaged in our room!…Room Tip: If you’re a couple, the “engagement room” at the end of the hall is the nicest.

Matt snapped this photo of the happy couple in our dining room back in February, where they were drinking celebratory champagne. (And ever-so-kindly coerced him into having a glass, if we remember correctly.)

Inigo and Shani were not the first couple to get engaged within the walls of our bed and breakfast. (We’d like to think it’s the love we put into the food, the rooms, the air — combining with romantic love to form a LOVE EXPLOSION.) But they were the first to send us photos from their wedding, and an update:

Subject: Some Months Later (A 3B B&B Love Story)
To: info@3bbrooklyn.com

Hey 3B!

I don’t know if Shani dropped you a line but I thought I’d let you
know that after getting engaged one sunny happy morning back in
February in the 3B B&B we got married in London on the summer
solstice. Doesn’t happen every day so thought you might like to know
that the story continued! Photo attached in case you don’t remember us

Hope all is good in Brooklyn!

Inigo.

All IS good in Brooklyn, Inigo. Notes like this make us smile like loons.

Three cheers for Brooklyn Love.

The post A 3B Love Story appeared first on 3B.

But long before the word chia was used to abuse the ears of television viewers, it referred to the nutritious seeds indigenous to Mexico. Wikipedia informs us that:

The word chia is derived from the Nahuatl word chian, meaning oily. The present Mexican state of Chiapas received its name from the Nahuatl “chia water” or “chia river.”

Fascinating. But wait, oily? That doesn’t sound nutritious. Ahhh, but these bad boys are packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, the one thing healers and nutritionists of all modalities and traditions seem to agree we need more of in our diet. Specifically, chia seeds contain a high concentration of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), the same vegetarian source of omega-3′s that is found in flax seeds, and which I believe the human body converts to EPA and DHA (found in fish oil) as needed. They also have lots of protein and fiber.

So it would be great to find ways to sneak more of this superfood into our diet. The best way that we have found is to make a chocolate chia seed pudding. It is vegan, raw, super nutritious, has a fun texture, and is delicious. Oh, and it is easy to make and requires no cooking. I think kids would especially love this – if you catch them before they’re fixed in their fussy ways.

When you mix chia seeds with liquid they gel up like tapioca. It creates an odd consistency: a little gooey, a little crunchy. The closest thing I can think of is caviar. But open yourself up to a totally new experience that is chia seed pudding.

You can get chia seeds at health food stores, but hunt around for lower mark-ups. We found a great source for around $5/lb at an import/bulk food store in the neighborhood.

Here is the recipe I use to make batches of pudding for our house:

Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup     Chia seeds
3 tablespoons     Raw Cacao Powder or Processed Cocoa Powder or a mix of the two
1 teaspoon     Ground Cardamom
32 ounces     Almond Milk
14 ounces (1 can)     Coconut Milk
1/3 – 1/2 cup    Agave nectar
1/2 heaping teaspoon     Salt

Directions:

In large sealable container mix chia seeds, cacao and cardamom. Mix up well, get rid of clumps in cacao powder. You can add more cacao/cocoa to taste, but you probably want to up the sweetener accordingly.

Add almond milk, coconut milk, and agave nectar. Mix well with a spoon and/or shaking if container allows. Let settle for a few minutes and then stir/shake again to remove any lumps.

Let sit for at least an hour at room temperature. Then add salt and mix well. The theory behind waiting on the salt is to allow for osmosis to do its work as the chia seeds absorb the liquid. In my experience salt inhibits the gelling.

Finally, put in fridge at let sit until it has all been devoured.

Rinse and repeat!

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The other night we had a lot to celebrate. I got a new job, my boyfriend got into an awesome graduate program and a bottle of cava had somehow managed to survive in the fridge since New Years. We opened it to toast our accomplishments but the next morning we realized it had been left out overnight and had gone flat. I hate to let anything go to waste, even flat champagne, but what to do with it? I googled Mimosa Cake and didn’t find what I was looking for, so I came up with this new recipe. (By the way it’s free of dairy, refined sugar & gluten.)

Clementine Mimosa Cake

6 Clementine oranges (or 2 navel oranges)

4 eggs

1/2 cup agave nectar

2 cups almond flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup flat sparkling white wine (champagne, cava, prosecco, or whatever)

Another 1/2 cup agave

Wash and remove any stems from the clementines then boil them for about half an hour or until a knife slides easily to the center. (Navel oranges will take about an hour or more. This isn’t an exact science and the oranges don’t need to be totally cooked.) Puree the oranges in a food processor and allow them to cool. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Add the eggs, agave, almond flour, and baking soda to the orange puree. Pour the mixture into a round cake pan. (Don’t overfill. The cake will rise a little.) Bake for about 40 minutes to an hour, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. (cooking time varies with your oven and your cake pan.) The center of the cake will be faintly orange and the sides will be darker.  Allow the cake to cool in the pan for an hour and a half.

While the cake is baking, combine the other 1/2 cup of agave and the champagne in a sauce pan and simmer for about 10 minutes. Slice the cake into wedges, then pour 1/4th-2/3ths a cup of the champagne syrup over the cake, depending on how sweet you want it to be.  (I made it a little less sweet since it was served for breakfast. There will be leftover syrup, which can be used just like simple syrup.)

Enjoy!

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