Having food allergies makes life very interesting in a way that cannot be appreciated by those who don’t have food allergies. I’m not saying that in a disparaging way, just as a fact. Anyone with food allergies is nodding their head at this point.
Given soy and milk allergies, finding a coffee creamer that works is a challenge. In researching creamer alternatives I found a recipe using water, vanilla, raw cashew butter and medjool dates. My recipe is an outtake of that recipe.
In trying the above recipe there were a few things I didn’t care for. Using water instead of coffee as the liquid made no sense. It waters down the coffee which to me is counter-productive. I didn’t find the vanilla added anything. If I’m adding anything extra it is organic cacao powder with another date to counter the bitter.
My most pleasing recipe, sans cacao powder, is 1/3 cup raw cashew butter (organic), 3 medium to large medjool dates (organic) and about 1/2 cup fresh coffee as the liquid. Mince the dates and blend it all together until the dates are liquefied. According to what I’ve read this should stay fresh and viable in the fridge for 3 days. I use about 1/3 of the above in my gigantic cup with fresh brewed coffee. Mmmmm.
I like soup. If I make it in bulk I can freeze it in pints and have lovely soup when I feel like it. I’m currently on a split pea kick. Today is my fourth batch in the last couple months only today I added a new twist.
It looked so yummy . . .
The first time I bought ham for split pea soup I got the perfect ham with lovely flavor and not too much salt. The resulting soup was eaten up REALLY fast. Ooo, it was lovely.
I was less fortunate with my second ham purchase. It was a named brand loaded with salt which pretty much ruined the soup. I still have some of that ham in the freezer and it took quite a while to get the soup eaten. I will have to figure out what to do with it.
The last two times I made split pea soup I used a smoked sliced pork shank. It is the perfect flavor. The bone and skin add to the flavor of the soup. You have to remove the bones and skin before serving the soup . . . or not. Last time I just left the bones and skin in and we ate around them. I’m not so sure I could do that feeding kids or guests.
This time I replaced half the water with Pacific Natural Food’s roasted pepper and tomato soup. From what I can tell from taste testing as it cooks, this is going to be AWESOME soup! <grin>
Okay, ingredients . . . 2 cloves elephant garlic, diced. Use regular garlic if you prefer. One medium onion (not a sweet onion, use a good strong flavored make-you-tear-up yellow) diced. Two carrots, peeled and diced. Two celery stalks including the leafy tops, diced. Two bay leaves, some crushed peppercorn, some crushed allspice berry (I get them whole at the local market – use 3-5), a teaspoon of thyme, a sliced pork shank (~2 lbs). Add a package of split peas (rinse them really well), a package of the aforementioned soup and a quart of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the split peas meet your standard of done-ness. I like them falling apart but YMMV.
Add milk or heavy cream or a dab of sour cream to the bowls if you’d like just before serving. Add some crusty garlic bread and you’ve got a great meal.
Variations . . . going on the principal there is no such thing as too many veges, add half a fennel root bulb. It adds a really nice flavor. Leeks are good as well. Enjoy!
Update: The soup was absolutely fabulous. I bet none of it makes it into the freezer . . .
The new productYou will notice how closely (NOT) the content matches the product on the box
The result, a good representation of what pizza should look like
When you have to live gluten free, life is a series of experiments trying to replicate the experience of “real” food. Anyone who has a food allergy knows what I mean. You search for that perfect approximation of whatever the food is that poisons you. For me, the ultimate is sour dough bread, though I haven’t yet started on that quest. For now I’ll settle for decent pizza.
If you don’t have a gluten issue, you probably don’t realize it’s gluten that holds bread together while you spread peanut butter on it. It’s the stickiness or stick-togetheredness in baked goods. Without it, baked goods fall apart.
In my quest for better pizza I’ve tried a new product, a gluten free cheese pizza by Glutino.
In all fairness, I don’t think pizza is pizza if it doesn’t have stuff on it . . . I mean something more than just sauce and cheese. And because I’m a “must have meat” girl, it’s gotta have sausage and/or pepperoni. I also want peppers and onions and olives . . .
So here’s the latest in the pizza experiments.
This is the first Glutino product I’ve purchased. After opening the package, I was a bit dismayed to find the content in no way resembled the image on the box. At that point, I considered putting it back in the box to return to the store, but I soldiered on.
After tipping off the grated cheese and jellied “sauce”, I added a rich garlic and basil laden pasta sauce, sausage, chopped green and red peppers, chopped onions and a small mountain of shredded mozzarella. After 20 minutes in the toaster oven I had a reasonable facsimile of what a pizza should look like.
As far as taste goes, it’s okay. My body didn’t object (most important thing). The crust sticks together well (contrary to the splay-footed appearance when the crust came out of the box) and has an unobtrusive flavor. My only objection was a slightly slick texture I didn’t find appealing. though the slickness made removal of the factory added sauce and cheese effortless. The pizza is large enough for two meals (for me, YMMV).
Is this a good buy? For me, no. I think it’s too expensive for what I got. There’s a gluten free crust from another manufacturer that comes in 8″ squares, 4 to a box for the same price. Each square is big enough to feed me a serving of pizza 2 to 4 times depending on whether I add a salad or consume it alone. That’s potentially 16 meals for the same price. The crust flavor is good, though because there’s no rim to corral the goodies, the same content-falling-off problem exists.
I’d love a thin gluten free pizza crust with a nice hefty rim to hold in all the content. Sans making it myself (SO not happening), I think I’m in for a long wait.
Wadly gets to eat pastry and baked goods all the time and I don’t. <pout> Occasionally I manage to come up with a keeper recipe that’s gluten, sugar and soy free. This one’s a winner.
1½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix
1 cup cold coffee
2 eggs
¼ cup real maple syrup (not that fake corn syrup stuff)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
¼ cup real maple syrup (not that fake corn syrup stuff)
2 tbsp butter
chopped pecans to cover a 9×9 dish (¾ cup, more if you want it really nutty)
Preheat the oven to 325°. I use my toaster oven so you’ll have to adjust your time/temp accordingly if you’re using a “real” oven.
Topping – In a small (I use the smallest available) cast iron frying pan melt the butter. Add the maple syrup, stir it into the butter and turn the heat down. While you’re mixing the body of the cake shake the pan occasionally. It doesn’t need stirred, it just needs slopped around in the pan. You’ll know it’s done when it moves like gelatinous slobber (I can’t think of any other description or I’d use it). If you undercook it, no biggy. You’ll have a runny caramel topping. If you overcook it the topping will be chewy . . . I like it that way. I use this topping (same ingredients) for mixing into popcorn instead of just using butter. It’s heavenly.
Cake – Beat the eggs. Mix in vanilla and maple syrup. Stir in the coffee. Add the baking mix and baking soda mixing until smooth.
Spread the topping evenly into the bottom of a 9×9 pan. Spread the pecans over the top of the caramel mix. Pour the cake mix over that.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. You can let it cool before you eat it if you’d like. I don’t. <grin>
I spent last weekend with my brother and his wife doing geeky things. Dan fixed chicken and rice soup for me that was totally delicious. With the exception of the celery, carrots and peppers, this is his recipe. It’s not fast but it is dead easy and the tastiest chicken and rice soup I’ve ever had.
If you’ve been following my recipes you know I can’t do soy. I don’t like using bouillon cubes because most commercial bouillon cubes have way too much salt and don’t taste that great . . . and usually have soy. That means making soup is problematic because most commercial meat stocks have soy. That means if I’m going to make tasty soup I have to order soyless stock online or making stock from scratch. Hello? Ms. Lazy here . . .
There’s a new product on the market that doesn’t have soy. It’s called “Better Than Bouillon”, it’s a paste and our local Safeway carries it. How cool is that!? I think Dan and Vala do most of their shopping at their local Fred Meyer and the organic meat market, so the product must be available in lots of other stores as well. I can tell Dan and Vala have been thinking about me because they found a product with NO soy to add to my repertoire. Isn’t it wonderful to be loved?
For this recipe you’ll need 1¼ cups of rice. I used long grain white but you can use whatever floats your boat. I’ve tried rice mixes and I think the flavor of the long grain white is best. Brown rice adds a discordant flavor. Adding some wild rice in with the white would probably work.
You’ll need a family pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs. Dan used whole thighs and I pulled the skin, bone and fat when I cut them up partway through the cooking process while Dan skimmed off the fat. I’m lazy. I don’t want to have to do that much work so I’m advocating the lazy man’s way . . . boneless skinless thighs. There are about 10 thighs in a family pack and that will make 5 quarts of nice meaty chicken and rice soup, enough to eat now, enough to put in the fridge for tomorrow and enough to freeze a couple meals for when you haven’t got the time to cook. Freezing fractures the cooked rice, so expect that.
You’re going to need three big stalks of celery, half a big onion (I bet a red onion would add color that would be nice – I’ll have to try it next time), three good sized carrots, red and green pepper and a stock pot.
Fill the stock pot ½ full of water. Stick it on a big burner and turn the burner on medium. Add the following in any order:
half a bottle of low sodium Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base. Trust me, this soup is so flavorful it doesn’t need the salt . . . and neither do you.
half an onion, diced (see the quick dicing instructions at the bottom of the potato soup page here)
diced celery – 3 big stalks
half a diced red pepper
half a diced green pepper
chicken thighs
Give it a quick stir. Put the lid on.
The goal is to get the chicken fall-apart tender so it needs to simmer for a while. Once you’ve got the pot simmering good turn the heat down just enough to maintain the simmer. Stir occasionally until the chicken is tender.
Fish the chicken thighs out and set them aside to cool a bit. Peel and dice the carrot and chuck it in the pot. Add the 1¼ cups of rice. Stir. Dice the thigh meat and chuck that in the pot. Stir occasionally. When the rice is done the soup is done.
No kidding, this is THE most awesomely simple and tasty chicken and rice soup. Serve it with a fresh green salad or some steamed veggies and you’ve got a great healthy low fat meal. This soup has my mom’s seal of “good.” I’ll make her a pot of it when she goes in for surgery. A bit of microwaving and it’s a meal! She should be able to manage that with one arm!
Note: This recipe was updated 3/10 to reduce water and rice and add peppers.
By now you’ve figured out I like dead easy one dish foods. I want to spend half an hour in the kitchen, not two hours and I want things to be de-lish! Wadly’s very much a meat and potatoes kinda guy. He has bread and apple sauce with just about every meal, so simple foods work really well for him. This pan of soup will last us a couple meals and is excellent reheated, even frozen. It doesn’t keep well in the fridge more than a day, so plan to use it or freeze it.
Potato soup . . . but SO much more.
So here’s my fav potato soup. The recipe uses kielbasa or smoked sausage, whichever works for you. I use the Safeway brand beef smoked sausage as it has no soy or gluten. Safeway’s been coming out with more processed meats without soy, for which I am thankful.
Hillshire Farm and Morrel, eat your heart out.
Put 2 tbsp of butter in a saucepan. Turn the heat on medium to medium-low. I’m currently cooking on a small propane camper stove so I have the burner on high which translates to medium on any “real” stove. You want to sauté, so adjust your heat accordingly. If things are burning and sticking, your heat is too high.
Dice some onion. I’d say half a medium onion or a bit more. I can’t say exactly how much as I don’t measure. I’ve added an onion dicing tip at the end of this recipe.
Add the diced onion to the melted butter. Give it a quick stir.
Dice up some green and red peppers. You don’t need a lot, say 1/3 to 1/4 of a large green pepper, same for the red. Add these to the butter and onions. Give it a quick stir.
Dice up most of the sausage, all of it if you want your potato soup really meaty. Add it to the sauce pan and give it a quick stir.
Peel and dice a couple carrots. Add them to the mix in the sauce pan, giving a quick stir.
Peel and dice three small Yukon Gold potatoes. Continue to give the sauce pan contents an occasional quick stir as you work.
Once all the potato is diced add it to the saucepan. Give it a quick stir. As you’re washing up the cutting board, knife and peeler, continue to give the pan an occasional stir. Once the potatoes start sticking to the bottom of the pan and they look like the outside of the cubes are starting to crumble away, add just enough water to fill in the gaps between the lower layers of bits and pieces in the pan. Don’t rush adding the water. You want the potatoes to absorb the taste of the other veges and the meat which it won’t do as well once the water’s been added. You also want it to absorb as much of the free butter as it can before you add water. DO NOT add so much water it comes over the top of the bits. You should be able to see the water if you tilt the pan about 20 degrees but not see the water if you’re holding the pan flat.
Once you’ve added the water, give another stir, turn the heat down to low/simmer and cover the pan.
From this point on you can stir occasionally or not. Once the potatoes are cooked through the mess will look more like an odd white stew rather than soup. Turn the heat off and add some milk. You want to add just enough to make it a nice THICK soup but no more. Give the mix a thorough stir, scraping the bottom really well and put the lid back on. Let it sit about 20 minutes before serving. If you’re going to serve it later and want to keep it warm, leave it on the stove on the lowest setting.
Wadly really likes this soup. I like it because it’s darn tasty and he’s actually eating veges.
Onion dicing tip.
Cut off the stem endCut top offCut in half lengthwiseRemove skinSlice starting at topStack with smallest slice on top
Slice it like cheesecake
If you want an easy way to dice onion, this is it. The first time I need chopped onion from an uncut onion I prepare it by cutting the top off the onion and just the roots off the bottom. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and peel the skin off.
Set half the onion cut side down on your cutting board and cut slices crosswise starting at the top of the onion. Stack three or four slices in a stack with the flat side toward your knife hand and the smallest slice on the top. Hold the stack with your free hand and cut down through the slices like you’re cutting the wedges of a pie. You’re done. That’s diced onions. Dead simple and really fast. I only dice the amount of onion I need. I store both halves of the onion in a ziplock bag in the fridge. It takes about 10 seconds to have usable diced onions this way.
For me this is a no-tears method of cutting onions. Since I adopted this technique I haven’t shed a tear chopping onions and I use LOTS of them when I cook.
Unless I’m having a bad day I usually have one large cup of coffee before breakfast. Because it’s the only cup I’m going to have, it’s gotta be good. I’ve discovered a new treat that satisfies my chocolate craving along with my java fix.
Safeway puts out a nice ice cream they call “Select”. It’s great for people like me who have soy and/or cane sugar issues and can’t eat just any ice cream. Sometimes I don’t know why I can’t eat an ice cream. Nothing leaps off the label and screams “BAD”, but my body rebels. I like, and can eat, Select Chocolate ice cream well enough to know better than to buy it in the half-gallon size. If you’re a woman, you know exactly what I mean. Fortunately, Select Chocolate is one of the ice creams packaged in single serving cartons. A single serving carton has enough ice cream for three mochas.
Add a couple heaping tablespoons of Select Chocolate to an oversized cup. Add coffee. Add a teaspoon of real maple syrup (I can’t eat cane sugar, fructose, stevia, yada yada. Maple syrup works great. No pancreas issues, no glycemic issues, no yeast issues).
You’re probably going to need to pop it in the microwave to heat it back up. It’s like desert in a cup. Nummy.
I’m the queen of fast and easy cooking. I love to eat but I have better/more interesting things to do than cook, so when I come up with a fast and easy, I use it fairly often. Wadly like really plain meals, no fancy spices or complicated dishes. This is one of his favorites and easy enough for the beginningest of cooks.
This recipe makes enough for three or four depending on the size of the portions. This recipe can easily be scaled up or down.
Preheat your oven to 350º. I use a toaster oven which makes this dish very practical to cook.
Cube a pound of pork and layer it in the bottom of a baking dish. The kind of pork doesn’t matter. Using exactly a pound doesn’t matter. Make sure the dish is deep enough to have ½” of head room once all the ingredients have been added or you’ll be scraping burnt white sauce off the bottom of your oven. If you think there’s a chance it might bubble over, stick some foil under it when you pop it in to cook.
Peel, halve and slice two medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes. These are my favorite potato but you could use reds or russets or whites. I think the Yukon Gold have more flavor, so I use those when I can get ’em.
Dice ¾ cup onion.
In a sauce pan melt half a stick of butter over medium heat. Once it’s melted and has stopped bubbling (butter actually has water in it and it’s the water that needs to cook off) throw in a heaping teaspoon of thickener. I use Red Mill Baking Mix (gluten issues). It has a lovely flavor which enhances both the pork and the potatoes. You probably don’t have it on hand, so use flour but consider buying it the next time you go shopping. I know both the health food store and our local Safeway carries it and it makes a much lovelier sauce than flour. It also makes awesome fluffy pancakes.
If you’ve got it, add a teaspoon of ground flax seed. It adds fiber and a lovely nutty flavor and is generally good for your health. Ditto for where to buy . . . I use this in a lot of things for the flavor and health benefits.
Stir this mix until it bubbles. Pour in about a cup of milk stirring until it bubbles and thickens. Turn off the heat. Stir in the potatoes, peppers and onion and a modest handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Pour this mix over the top of the cubed pork, distributing it evenly.
Spread another modest handful of Parmesan cheese over the top. Grate about a cup of Pepper Jack cheese over the top of that. This is your crust and it will cook to a crispy gold/black and will be delicious.
Pop this in the oven for an hour and maybe a bit more (potatoes need to be fork tender). Serve it with a nice green salad and some steamed broccoli and you’ve got a wonderful healthy meal . . . if you ignore the butter, potato carbs and pork fat. <grin>
This dish reheats excellently. It also travels well if you need a casserole to take to a get-together.
Last night I added diced red and green peppers to the mix and it was excellent.
I’m still playing with cookie recipes. I’ve tried a new recipe with almond butter, apricots, almonds and pumpkins seeds and they’re pretty darned yummy, but I think I can do better. Next iteration will have no butter and half the almond butter. Tentative recipe is:
1/2 cup uncooked rolled or crimped oats
1/4 cup flax seed (ground)
1 1/4 cup water
dash of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup maple butter
12 diced apricot halves
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup pumpkins seeds
Cook the oats and flax seed 15 minutes on med in the salted water stirring occasionally, cream the baking soda into the almond and maple butters, stir in the apricots, nuts and seeds, spread on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet, bake at 325 for 35 minutes.
I made these changes because I prefer almond butter to peanut butter and almond butter is pretty oily which renders the butter unnecessary. I’ll pour the oil off the top of the almond butter next time around instead of stirring it in. That should improve things.
If you’re wondering about the title, it just seems to fit this cookie recipe . . . fruit and nuts.
There are some foods I really have trouble with. The biggest/worst are gluten (wheat is the worst), soy (try and find any prepared food without soy . . . ) and cane sugar. I can get stuff at the health food store that’s okay, but it just lacks that “you’re going to hell” good taste of indulgence food.
Kristen the Cookie Queen makes a good gluten free cookie bar, but at $2.89 per bar it’s outside my budget for anything but an occasional indulgence and it falls apart fairly easily.
The following recipe is my answer. It took some fiddling and taste testing, but the result ROCKS.
THE Most Awesome Gluten Free Cookies
This recipe has some strange ingredients, but the result really is the most awesome gluten free cookies I’ve ever had, and unlike other gluten free recipes, these hold together really well. One cookie with tea or coffee for breakfast is a full meal!
½ cup uncooked rolled oats (not quick oats). If you’re gluten sensitive, be sure to use certified gluten free oats. I order mine online from Azure Standard.
1¼ cup water
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup flax seed (can be found in the refrigerator at the health food store – tastes great and replaces the stickiness of gluten)
½ tsp baking soda
1 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
½ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup mixed dried fruit (I use halved dried sour cherries and whole dried cranberries)
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth to your taste)
1/3 cup maple butter (with the preserves and jams at the health food store)
4 tbsp butter
Put water and salt in sauce pan. While waiting for the water to boil, put flax seed in a blender or coffee grinder, process on high for 1 minute or until coursely ground.
Slowly stir oats and ground flax seed into boiling water. Cover and cook on low/med for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it starts looking and stir like sticky lumpy snot, it’s about right. When done, remove lid and set off heat to cool.
In a large mixing bowl add maple butter, peanut butter, baking soda and butter. Cream until completely mixed.
Add oatmeal/flax (does not need to be completely cool). Mix thoroughly.
Add mixed fruit. Mix thoroughly.
Add sesame and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly.
Add chopped almonds. Mix thoroughly.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Drop cookie dough globs on the cookie sheet and squash ‘em flattish. These cookies will rise, so make sure they have enough room.
Bake at 325° for 35 minutes. Do not over bake. The cookies should be just a bit darker than golden brown. Use a spatula to move the cookies to a rack to cool.
These cookies are a healthy indulgence I truly enjoy.
