Meal In Progress

Gluten Free German Chocolate Cake

2010-07-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

I used this recipe for the cake and the recipe for the frosting from the package of German's chocolate. The only change I made to the cake was I used a mix of GF flours, rather than just rice flour. The cake was delicious! The cake moist and the frosting so rich. Very yummy!

Unexpectedly, Unintentionally Gluten Free - Apr 3

2010-04-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Some Easter ready dessert recipes:

From Martha Stewart:
Ricotta Cake
Almond-Coconut Macaroons
Coconut Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Vanilla Custard

Coconut Macaroons from Eagle Brand
Chocolate Coconut Macaroons from Cooks.com

From EverydayFood:
Almond Torte
Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cups
Poached Pears with Vanilla Cream

From Epicurious' Passover guide:
Mock Chestnut Torte

Unexpectedly, Unintentionally Gluten Free - Nov 8

2009-11-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Some mouth-watering unintentionally gluten free recipes from the web:

From Canelle et Vanille:
Macarons
Brioche and Poached Egg Salad
I must try this bread! Poached eggs on toast are my #1 childhood comfort food. The soft, mushy eggs just aren't as good without crunchy, scratchy toast to soak up the juices.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage from Recipe Girl

Lentils and Potatoes with Curry from Boots in the Oven

From Bitten: Mark Bittman on Food:
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Figs
Polenta

Patatas Bravas from One Perfect Bite

Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat Cheese Salad from The Bitten Word

Meatloaf with Gorgonzola and Caramelized Onions

2009-10-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the Father's Office hamburger, a delicious creation topped with blue cheese and caramelized onions, I created this meatloaf.

Notes on what I made:
Start by caramelizing the onions. Chop 2 medium onions, to make long strips. Heat 3-4 T canola oil in a pan. Cook onions, covered, over medium heat stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until onions are brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add 1.5 T brown sugar and 3 T balsamic vinegar to the pan. Continue cooking for about 20 minutes while covered, stirring occasionally to loosen the onions and sauce. Remove onions from heat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, combine 1 lb. ground beef, salt, pepper, 1 egg, dry parsley, 2 cloves crushed garlic and 2 T caramelized onions. Gently stir in 2 T crumbled gorgonzola. Put beef mixture in a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven. (At this point I poured off the liquid fat. I wonder if adding GF bread crumbs would absorb the fat and make for a juicier meatloaf). Top the meatloaf with 1/3 C crumbled gorgonzola cheese and the caramelized onions. Bake for another 15 minutes.Serve with greens and roasted potatoes. Yum!

This turned out quite well but a little over cooked and not quite sweet enough. I think next time, I'll cook it for less time, use more cheese and more sugar with the onions.

Here are some recipes for inspiration:
BBQ Blue Cheese Meatloaf
Easy Does It Meatloaf (GF and very simple)
Buffalo Steak and Onion Confit

Unexpectedly, Unintentionally Gluten Free - Oct 18

2009-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

Cooler weather always makes me want to cook more and eat more. Here's some inspiration:

Roasted Apples with Almond and Muscovado Crumble and Marizpan Ice Cream at canelle et vanille Not only does this post have gorgeous photography but the crumble is made with rice flour.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies at The Bitten Word

Lebanese-style stuffed eggplant at Smitten Kitchen

Spinach and Lentil Salad at love & olive oil

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken & Sweet Potatoes at What We're Eating

Tomato, Bacon, Corn Pasta

2009-09-14T21:06:00.001-07:00

The only really perishable part of this recipe is the bacon. Everything else came from the pantry or freezer. I think this would also be tasty with white beans or garbanzos beans added in. Also, if available, fresh vegetables and basil would be delicious.

Tomato, Bacon, Corn Pasta

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen green beans
4 slices bacon
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can chopped, stewed tomatoes
1 crushed clove garlic
1 cup rice pasta, uncooked
sharp white cheddar or parmesan (optional)

Directions:
Thaw corn and green beans. Meanwhile, cook pasta being careful not to overcook.
Cook bacon in a large pan. Drain bacon on a paper towel. Reserve bacon fat. In the pan in which the bacon was cooked, saute onion and vegetables with a some bacon fat, if needed. Add tomatoes and garlic. Cook until thoroughly heated. Season to taste. Stir cooked pasta into sauce and remove from heat. Garnish with bacon and cheese (if desired).

with cheese

Unexpectedly, Unintentionally Gluten Free - Sept 12

2009-09-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin and
Cannellini Salad with Goat Cheese and Mint both on The Kitchn

Cuban Black Bean Stew with Rice on Martha Stewart

Interesting article on substituting eggs with flax seed

Spicy Sauteed Fish with Olives and Cherry Tomatoes on Love and Olive Oil

Easy Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce on The Bitten Word

Pommes Frites with two dipping sauces on Coconut & Lime

Matcha and Peach Pate de Fruits Macaron on Tartelette

Substitution required:
Granola Bars on Smitten Kitchen
These look so tasty! They do call for oats so do what you will there. I think the wheat germ could be substituted with ground flax seed.

Garlic Cheese Creamed Corn

2009-09-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

I bought some ears of corn over the weekend and had tired of eating them off the cob. So with two ears remaining, I decided to do something with garlic. Inspired by this article about creamed corn, I used this recipe as a guide to make a cheesy garlicky creamed corn.

Disclaimer: This is an approximate recipe that I made up as I went along. All measurements are approximate.

Garlic Cheese Creamed Corn

Ingredients:
2 ears of corn
2-3 T butter
1 1/2 t frozen minced garlic
about 1 cup half & half
2 T GF flour mix
salt
pepper
1/3 C grated sharp cheddar

Directions:
Peel back the husk of the corn and remove the silk. Rewrap the cob in the husk and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Cut corn off the cob. In a pan, melt butter with half & half and garlic over medium heat. Add corn, salt and pepper. Add flour and stir until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Top with additional cheese and cayenne pepper.

Corn on the Cob

2009-09-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is a really easy, delicious way to make corn on the cob.

Peel back the husk and remove the silk. Replace the husk around the corn cob and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Peel back the husk and remove it or tie it in a bundle with a piece of husk. Watch your fingers! It will be very hot! Rub the corn with butter and sprinkle with salt, pepper, chile or cayenne pepper and grated cheese. The butter and cheese will melt on their own.

Unexpectedly, Unintentionally Gluten Free - Sept 7

2009-09-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

Lobster with Chevre Grits from What We're Eating
This looks impossibly delicious. I never think it eat grits, probably because the texture bothered me as a kid.

Zabaglione from Martha Stewart
looks like a creamy, soft pudding. Pudding has become one of my favorite foods, especially tapioca with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese and Honey from Epicurious
I know I posted a fig recipe last week but they still look sooo yummy!

Italian Parsley and Beet Salad from Epicurious

El Torito Sweet Corn Cake from The Secret Recipe Blog
I never would have expected this sweet little cake to be gluten free. Of course, I don't know if the cake served in the restaurant is actually GF, but now you can make your own at home!

Osso Buco with Risotto Milanese from Nook & Pantry
This is looks so delicious!

An interesting article on cooking Asian food with cornstarch on Serious Eats.

Unexpectedly, Unintentially GF

2009-08-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Oftentimes I think the best GF food is naturally that way, not trying to simulate something that is best done with gluten. Eating gluten free, it's hard enough just walking among the cookie-bagel-pizza munchers of the world without reading all the amazing food blogs full of food one can not enjoy. Check out these recipes from blogs not dedicated to being gluten free.

Veggie Quiche with Potato Crust by For the love of cooking
GF quiche! Instead of a standard crust, this one has a layer of sliced potatoes to line the bottom of the pan.

Proscuitto and Cheese Wrapped Figs by Chaos in the Kitchen

Arepas with cheese and corn from The New York Times (video)

Steamed Potatoes with Salsa Verde by Orangette
parsley, lemon juice, potatoes

Chirashi from Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn
beautiful Japanese meal composed of rice, vegetables and fish

Bacon-Chipotle Twice Grilled Potatoes by Coconut & Lime
my mouth is watering...

Requires a substitution:
Arancini by Cream Puffs in Venice
Fried balls of arborio rice stuffed with mozarella. They look sooo good that I can't resist posting a link. I think these will work equally well made with GF bread crumbs or cracker crumbs or cornmeal.

Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese by Mark Bittman
So simple, yummy and perfect for the season. Skip the sprinkling of soy sauce or substitute with a GF variety.

Lemon Ring Cake

2008-10-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend I intended a dinner party and brought this Lemon Ring Cake, made using Bette Hagman's recipe from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert (page 75). I followed the recipe exactly using her GF flour mix, walnuts and a bundt cake pan. The batter was easy to put together and came out beautifully.

The cake went over well with the guests and was nearly gone by the end of the night. The texture was perfectly cakey and the flavor nicely lemon. Don't skip the glaze. It makes the cake super-delicious, tangy and sweet at the edges! I think I baked it a couple minutes too long because it was slightly dry. I baked 37 to 38 minutes but probably would have been fine with 35 minutes. It's beautiful, easy and I'll definitely make it again.

Lemon Coconut Muffins

2008-10-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

I whipped up these Lemon Coconut muffins last weekend using a recipe from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts. The recipe (page 22) uses a brown rice flour mix. Coconut and lemon zest are used for flavoring. The texture of the muffin is very good although a little crumbly. I would have liked the flavoring to be more forward. Next time, I'll try using lemon or vanilla extract. I'm excited to try more recipes from this book. Most of them use brown rice flour, which I had not used before. Now that I have the mixture made up and the weather has cooled down, I'll likely do more baking.

Ranger Cookies

2008-06-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

My great-aunt gave me this recipe for Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies. She calls them Ranger Cookies and adapted a standard wheat flour recipe to make this one GF. I whipped up a batch this weekend and it turned out just like the ones I sampled at her house. I believe they can be frozen with no ill consequences. If you don't eat oatmeal, perhaps you could substitute quinoa flakes.

Ranger Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C shortening (I used half butter, half shortening)
3/4 C white sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1+1/2 C rice flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
3/4 t xantham gum
2 C GF oats
3/4 C chocolate chips
1/2 C chopped nuts
1/2 C dried fruit (if desired)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugars.

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Combine dry ingredients and mix into sugar and shortening mixture.
4. Stir in oats, chip and nuts.
5. Drop spoonfuls of dough on greased baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until light golden.Cookies are crunchy and very tasty. Just right for my lunch box.

Gluten-Free Menu Swap - May 5 Potatoes

2008-05-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Gluten-Free Menu - Potatoes

Monday

Salad Nicoise
(Boil extra potatoes for Tuesday night's salad)

Tuesday
BBQ
Family Secret Potato Salad

Wednesday
Potato & Caramelized Onion Tortilla
(courtesy of Meet Me at Mike's)

Thursday
Roasted Vegetables
Lentil Salad

Friday
Potato Tacos

Recipes
These recipes are general outlines and can be adjusted to suit taste and quantity.

Monday
Salad Nicoise is a beautiful composed salad with tuna, potatoes, boiled eggs, green beans, capers and green beans. Add and subtract ingredients to suit your taste. Save some time at the stove and boil extra potatoes to use in the potato salad Tuesday night.

Tuesday

Family Secret Potato Salad
The family secret part of this recipe is the sweet pickle juice. My family loves sweet pickles and including it in potato salad tastes just right to me. Use the potatoes you boiled for the Salad Nicoise for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Boiled Potatoes, chopped
Boiled Eggs, chopped
Boiled Eggs, sliced for decoration
Sweet Pickles
Sweet Pickle juice (the liquid from the jar)
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Salt & Pepper
Paprika

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and stir gently, seasoning to taste.

Wednesday

I saw the recipe for Potato & Caramelized Onion Tortilla on the blog Meet Me at Mike's. In this case, a tortilla is a crust-less quiche, perfect for a gluten-free menu. I had a similar tortilla when I was in England earlier this year and I'm really excited to try it.

Thursday

Roasted Vegetables
Chop potatoes, carrots, sweet onions and combine in a shallow baking dish with garlic cloves, sage, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil. Bake at 475 degrees (F) until tender.

Lentil Salad
Combine cooked lentils and fresh herbs.

Friday

Potato Tacos

Ingredients:
Potatoes, sliced thinly
Onion, sliced thinly
Bell Pepper, sliced (optional)
Chile Powder
Cumin
Salt
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream (optional)
Salsa
Corn Tortillas, warmed

Directions:

Heat oil in a pan. Cook potatoes and onion until half way done. Add bell peppers and spices. Cook until tender and heated through. Fill corn tortillas with potato mixture and top with cheese, sour cream and salsa.

See all the menus at Cooking, Illustrated.

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix Review

2008-05-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Trader Joe 's has been introducing more and more gluten-free products recently. Just a month or two ago they introduced a brownie mix (click here for my review) and now they have a pancake and waffle mix. I'm very pleased that they are becoming more aware of the need for GF products.

The pancake and waffle mix costs $2.99 for an 18 ounce bag. The mix contains: sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, rice milk powder, cream of tartar, xantham gum, baking soda, sea salt, ground vanilla bean. It makes about 12 pancakes or waffles. The package includes a recipe for Cinnamon Coffee Cake on the side. I didn't try the recipe but it looks tasty.

The biggest drawback of this mix for me is that the recipe requires using the entire package rather than say one cup. With only myself to feed, I prefer making fewer than 12 servings at a time. If I make a whole package I have to eat waffles for the next two days!

I chose to make waffles with the mix. I followed the directions, adding 3 eggs, 3 T oil and 1.5 cups water. The mix was pretty runny. I had problems a couple of times with the batter running over the sides of the waffle iron. It cleaned up really easily but getting the right amount of batter on the iron was tough.

The waffles cooked up to a beautiful golden brown. The texture and flavor were good, although a little eggy. I would buy this mix again (particularly to try the pancakes and coffee cake). If I use for waffles again, I'll use less water or one less egg.

Gluten Free Menu Swap - April 14 Cornmeal

2008-04-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Corn is such a versatile food that it wasn't hard to think of things to make. I tried to re-use things from one meal to the next because I hate to let leftovers go to waste, it saves prep time and reduces how many items must be purchased for the week.

Gluten-Free Menu - Corn

Monday
Sweet Corn and Red Pepper Salad with Wild Rice
(Use leftovers Wednesday night.)
Gluten-Free Corn Cakes
(Use leftovers Tuesday night.)

Tuesday
Black Bean Soup
Corn Cakes with Sliced Oranges

Wednesday
Tamale Pie
(Use ingredients again Friday night.)
Green Salad

Thursday
Super Nachos with Guacamole
Green Salad

Friday
Polenta with Puttanesca Sauce
Spinach Salad with Walnuts

Recipes
These recipes are general outlines and can be adjusted to suit taste and quantity.

Monday

Sweet Corn and Red Pepper Salad with Wild Rice
Make this Sunday night and store in the fridge so the flavors will have a chance to be absorbed. Add other vegetables such as carrot or zucchini, if you wish.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn
2 bell peppers, chopped finely
1 small bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 cans black beans, drained (15 oz)
2 cups cooked wild rice
Vinaigrette of your choice

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except for the rice and vinaigrette. Set aside half of the vegetable and bean mixture to use in the tamale pie on Wednesday. Add vinaigrette to vegetables and bean mixture. Stir to incorporate and chill until ready to serve.

Makes 3-4 servings plus leftovers.

Tuesday

Gluten-Free Corn Cakes Adapted from Deborah Madison's Lacy Buttermilk Corn Cakes (page 630) in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Use any leftovers for dessert tomorrow night.

Ingredients:
1 C cornmeal
1 C boiling water
3/4 C frozen corn
1/2 C GF flour mix
1/4 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 eggs
3 T brown sugar (optional)

Directions: In large bowl, stir together cornmeal and boiling water until smooth. Add frozen corn and dry ingredients. When mixture is cooled, add eggs. Cook as you would pancakes. Spoon approximately 1/4 C of batter on to hot griddle. When edges appear cooked and bubbles have appeared on the top of the cake, turn over. Cook until brown on both sides.

Wednesday

Tamale Pie
The ingredients for the filling of this pie are flexible. Add or subtract vegetables and beans as you wish. The more vegetables you add to your leftovers from the night before, the more spices you should add. Recommended spices include cumin, chile pepper, paprika and of course salt. You can use the rest of the purchased polenta for dinner on Friday night.

Ingredients:
Reserved vegetable and bean mixture from Monday's salad
1 cup uncooked spinach or 1/2 C frozen spinach
Additional cooked vegetables such as zucchini, bell peppers or potatoes
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked (optional)
1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
1/2 roll purchased polenta

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Mix vegetables, beans, spinach and ground beef in 2 quart casserole dish. Top with slices of polenta. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole.

Makes 4-5 servings.

Corncakes with Sliced Oranges
This recipe uses cornbread leftover from Tuesday night.

Before dinner, slice the oranges over a bowl to collect the juice. Drizzle oranges and juice with honey or agave nectar. Let the fruit sit during dinner and serve over toasted corncakes, allowing the cakes to soak up the syrup. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream or plain yogurt mixed with brown sugar.

Makes about 16 corncakes.

Thursday

Super Nachos with Guacamole
Layer warm refried beans or meat, corn chips, black olives and grated cheese on an oven proof pan. Broil in oven until cheese is melted. To make guacamole, mash ripe avocado with lime juice and salt.

Friday
Use the polenta and spinach from Wednesday night to put this meal together. Also, if you made ground beef for Wednesday or Thursday and it was not seasoned, it can be used in the pasta sauce.

Black Bean Soup Two Ways

2008-04-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Soup can be a quick and hearty meal if you have the right ingredients and an immersion blender. It can be hard to find GF soup at the corner grocery store. (I know I've spent quite a lot of time standing in the soup aisle reading labels.) So knowing how to make your own is the answer for those times when only soup will do.

Here I detail two versions of Black Bean Soup, one basic and the other deluxe. Make the super simple soup first and use it as a base to make a hearty chile style a day or two later. Or, just make one or the other. Feel free to add or subtract ingredients depending on what you have on hand. I never make anything exactly the same way twice. While making the deluxe version of the soup, I took the opportunity of having the stove running and dishes dirty to make extra ground beef and vegetables to use at a later date in spaghetti sauce.

Super Simple Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes (substitute tomato sauce if necessary)
approx. 1/3 cup salsa
garlic
cumin
chile pepper
paprika
salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a pot and heat over medium.

2. When bubbly, take off the heat and blend to desired texture using an immersion blender.

Serve warm and save the leftovers to make Black Bean Soup Deluxe.

Makes about 2 servings.

Black Bean Soup Deluxe

Ingredients
1 cup Leftover Super Simple Black Bean Soup (see above)
Vegetables such as zucchini, onion, tomatoes, corn (I used 2-3 medium zucchinis, half an onion, 6 roma tomotatoes, 1/2 cup frozen corn)
Ground Beef (about 1/2 lb.)
Canned beans such as kidney or pinto (optional)
garlic
cumin
chile pepper
paprika
salt & pepper

Instructions

1. In a pan brown ground beef. (Use this opportunity to cook more than you need and save the leftovers for another meal.)

2. Meanwhile, saute chopped vegetables and garlic in a large saucepan with low sides. (As with the beef, you can cook extra vegetables and freeze them for later.)

3. When everything is cooked through, set aside extra beef and vegetables you want to save for other meals. Add cooked ground beef to vegetables along with leftover Black Bean Soup and additional spices to taste.

4. Cook on medium heat until warm. Blend lightly with immersion blender, if desired.

Makes about 2 servings plus leftover ingredients.

Serve the Black Bean Soup topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream (or a substitute such as plain yogurt), avocado or salsa. Good accompaniments are tortilla chips, quesadillas or corn bread.

Buckwheat Groats (Kasha)

2008-04-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've had a bag of buckwheat groats (aka kasha) sitting in the cupboard and decided to finally try my hand at cooking them this week. I followed the basic instructions on the Bob's Red Mill site. They are cooked in water with a proportion of 2 to 1, water to buckwheat, then let to sit. The method is much like cooking rice. The groats themselves are little, triangular and seed-like. Traditionally, as I understand, they are made into a hot cereal and may be eaten either sweet or savory.

When cooked, they soften, expand and break open. The flavor is nutty, grainy and mild, an easy accompaniment to many other flavors. The groats are larger than quinoa and cous cous, giving one more to chew; plus the groats are less likely to fall off the fork.

Tonight, I used the buckwheat groats as a substitute for pasta. While the buckwheat was cooking, I sauteed zucchini with a clove of garlic until they were soft and a little brown. I then added some prepared marinara sauce, leftover ground beef and fresh basil.

I topped the groats with the vegetables, sauce and some shavings of parmesan cheese.
It was really very tasty and I didn't miss the pasta at all. I've also frozen some of the cooked groats and hope to give you a second recipe and a the results of the freezing.

Master White Cake recipe review

2008-03-30T19:10:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, I made the Master White Cake recipe from The Gluten Free Gourmet Makes Dessert by Bette Hagman. My wheat-free friend E has a birthday coming up so I thought I'd test a new cake recipe, just in time for Easter.

The only adjustment I made to the recipe was I used butter instead of Butter flavored Crisco. It mixed up easily with my hand held beaters. The only odd ingredient is citrus flavored carbonated beverage. It fizzed a bit when mixed in but I could not detect it upon tasting. I made the small size cake and baked it in a 11 inch by 6 inch Pyrex dish.

As I recall, it baked for the recommended time and a toothpick came out clean when I removed it from the oven. It looked beautiful when it came out of the oven, brown on the edges and rounded on top.

Upon cooling, it flattened unevenly (as shown above). The final product had a nice vanilla flavor and a dense texture. The texture was rather too dense for me. I've made better cakes from the same cookbook. The cake retained the same texture and flavor when frozen and later thawed. It's a decent cake but I was a bit disappointed. I'll just keep trying more though. Happy eating!

Super Simple Onion Soup

2008-03-26T20:21:00.001-07:00

Driving home tonight, I decided I want something for dinner that was rich and oniony. I quickly came up with this Onion Soup. My Dad makes a similar soup, in the French Onion Soup style, with crusty bread and Parmesan cheese on top. Skip the bread and it's totally GF.

Super Simple Onion Soup

Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
olive oil and/or butter
dried thyme
1 clove garlic, sliced thinly
Gluten Free broth or boullion (I used Trader Joe's liquid concentrate broth.)
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
Directions

Step 1:
Heat oil and/or butter in a saucepan. Saute chopped onion and thyme until they start to soften. Add garlic and continue to cook over medium low heat until onion is softened and a little brown.

Step 2:
Add broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to desired temperature.

Step 3:
Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Brownie Baking Mix Review

2008-03-19T21:13:00.001-07:00

Trader Joe's seems to have a new Gluten-free product every week. (Yea TJs! Thank you!) The latest one I tried is the GF Brownie Baking Mix.

The ingredients of the mix are:
Organic Evaporated Cane Juice (Sugar)
Sweet brown rice flour
Cocoa
Tapioca flour
Arrowroot flour
sea salt and xantham gum

To make the brownies, you combine the mix with one egg, 1/2 C vegetable oil and 3/4 C water. The package also suggests adding chocolate chips, dried fruit or nuts, if desired. The mix was easy to combine by hand.

I did not add anything to the mix but did put a few walnuts on the top for a sort of decorative effect. I baked mine about 20 minutes, 5 minutes longer than recommended (I was on the phone). The texture came out just perfect though, not too fudgy, not overdone.

So, texture was perfect, just like the "real" thing. To me, the flavor was not perfect. I detected a flavor not found in normal brownies. I couldn't pinpoint it but I think it's maybe the brown rice flour or the arrowroot. Bites of brownie with walnut covered up the mystery flavor. So, adding extras is recommended. I must say that other people did not detect the mystery flavor. My Aunt M, who has celiac disease, also made brownies from the TJ's mix. Her brownies had the same flavor (to me) and unlike mine the top of the brownie had a distinctly crunchy layer. My friend E (also wheat free) raved about the brownies she made (with walnuts). She took them to a party where they were the most popular of three different brownies and no one knew they were wheat free.

I'd give these brownies a 3 out 5. In summary, the flavor is a little weird to me but not to any of the people I polled. One out of three attempts had a crunchy top layer. When frozen and then thawed, the brownies retained the same texture and flavor as before freezing.

Welcome back!

2008-03-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hello? Hello? Anyone out there reading my abandoned cooking blog?

This week, apparently yes.

First the stats:
Date of first post: 10/25/2006
Total number of posts: 31
Date of last post: 2/19/2007
Total number of comments: 3

The two latest comments are from this week. One today from the inspiring blog Design For Mankind. The other, more odd, spurred to get going again. (More on that later.) It's been more than a year since I abandoned the blog. I explained in this post why I did so.

Lately, I've been thinking about starting up again. See, my diet and thus my cooking has changed pretty drastically since last May. During the summer I discovered that my body is gluten intolerant. Gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye. That means no bread, cake, cookies, pasta, etc. There are substitutes for these foods but they are often not at all the same. They are substitutes plain and simple.

But sometimes the substitutes are pretty amazing and deserve to be shared. I was always a pretty good cook and baker but gluten free baking is a completely different beast. (The chemistry of the baked goods is different sans gluten.) So why have I been thinking about returning to the cooking blog? Well, I've been doing a fair bit of experimenting and a GF cooking blog would be a great way to record and share my experiments. Part of why I abandoned this blog was that I thought it would be easier to post of cooking on my craft blog along with all of those projects. But gluten free cooking is pretty specific and not of interest to most people. It deserves its own place, a place where people looking for GF recipes and reviews won't have to wade through sewing and knitting.

On Monday, I received this comment to a post about Bran Muffins (something I can't eat anymore):

krok69 said...: Betty,

Can you make yellow cupcakes wtih chocolate frosting?

Also, are you a Scientologist?

I found so many things about this comment to be strange. First, Betty? Not my name. Then the Scientology bit. What does that have to do with bran muffins? Finally, can I make yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting? Yes, krok69, I can.

The bigger question for me now is, can I make gluten-free yellow cupcakes that taste just as good as the real ones? Well, maybe. I don't know. I've had some success with GF cakes and if I succeed with GF yellow cupcakes, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, here is a Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake (details here)

Bran Muffins

2007-02-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

A while back a made a couple of batches of bran muffins and stuck them in the freezer. I wanted to make the kind of batter that keeps in the fridge and is found in old church cookbooks. I couldn't find the exact recipe I wanted so I used a few different ones as inspiration and created my own.

Both versions were pretty good. The first was a little crumbly and the second was spicy but in a good way.

Brownies and Sugar

2007-02-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

I made brownies for Valentines day. Mostly so that I could sprinkle them with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is so much fun to shake on things.

Pesto

2007-02-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

White Bean Dip topped with Pesto

Pasta Shells and Pesto

Pesto was made with parsley, basil, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. White bean dip made with 1 can white beans, touch of pesto, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. Just blend everything up. So easy.

Pan de Queso

2007-02-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

I was very hopeful about this quick, boxed cheese bread. It was very fun and easy to make.
The result seemed a little doughy which I think is because it is a gluten free product.

Tasty with a little salt and some cheddar cheese.

Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

2007-01-31T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

one roasted acorn squash
3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in small pieces
1 small potato, cut in small pieces
2 small onions, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and cut in small pieces
2-3 cloves garlic
6 oz. silken tofu, drained of excess water
cumin
cinnamon
cloves
coriander
cayenne pepper
salt
oil

Directions:

Boil sweet potatoes, potato, and carrots until tender. Reserve water. Meanwhile heat oil in stock pot and saute onions and garlic. When soft add cooked vegetables and water. Add spices and salt to taste. Cook for 20-30 minutes. Break tofu into pieces and add to soup. Blend until smooth.

Notes:

This is a pretty good soup. My version is rather thick which makes it filling. Add water or broth to thin it. The soup is sweet which I actually don't really prefer. But, if you like a sweet soup it's not bad at all.

Quick and Cheesy

2007-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

Parmesan and Pasta

Ingredients:
Butter
Leftover pasta
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Melt butter in a non-stick skillet.
Add pasta and cook until warm.
Sprinkle pasta with cheese.
Cook until cheese is brown.

Notes: This is unbelievably good and very likely addictive.

This was inspired from a recipe in a kids cookbook I had growing up.

Apple Cheddar Open-Faced Sandwich

Ingredients:
tart apple, thinly sliced
bread
cheddar cheese, grated
cayenne pepper

Directions:
Toast bread.
Arrange sliced apple on toast.
Sprinkle with cheese and pepper.
Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Notes: The original recipe used a bagel instead of bread, making a nice springy contrast to the crunchy apple.

I might be a blog slacker but I have soup!

2007-01-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have excuses too but who wants to hear it? Soup is my new favorite food. I received an immersion blender for Christmas and it is so much fun and so efficient for blending soups. It's much handier than dumping batches into the standard blender.

Below is a pumpkin soup. I based it on this recipe at epicurious.com.
I skipped the sweetened condensed milk and celery but I did use a banana and the coconut milk. The result was really pretty good. Not too sweet, the way I like it.

I also made a very very quick and easy black bean soup recently.

Ingredients
oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can black beans, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes, not drained
cumin
cayenne pepper
salt

Directions
Heat oil in a pot. Cook onion and garlic until soft and aromatic. Add beans, tomatoes and spices. Cook until heated through. Blend part way with immersion blender. Add salt to taste.

That's it! It's so easy and really good.

Afternoon Tea

2006-11-29T22:58:00.000-08:00

There may be nothing better than afternoon tea,

an opportunity to take
a little time for tea and cookies, a piece of fruit
or cake if there is any.

assorted cookies
black tea with a wedge of sweet orange

Sometimes, afternoon tea can be an entire meal.
The Empress hotel in Victoria, BC has a lovely, fancy and filling tea. My mom really loves tea and whenever we travel in England or Canada (the more common travel destination), we seek out opportunities to indulge in an afternoon stop. We found tea here in southern California once, at the Huntington Museum. It was nice break after walking through their beautiful gardens all morning.

Traditionally, afternoon tea was a humble meal, perhaps like this:
hard boiled eggs
crusty bread
and
orange wedges

Sometimes, tea comes amid piles of work yet, it is never less satisfying.
black tea with whole milk, cookies and chocolate chips

I have tea quite often because obviously I like to be fed regularly and perhaps less obviously it's a time to pause, take a slow breath, make an aromatic steaming brew and have a little something sweet.

Leftovers with OKRA!

2006-11-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've never cooked okra before tonight. Sure, I've eaten it fried or in gumbo and it's okay. I see it all the time in grocery stores around here and I felt compelled to give it a whirl. First, I looked up okra in my vegetable bible, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. She writes, "By any name, okra is slimy, and rather than try to ignore this fact, perhaps it's best just to admit that's how things are. Okra has its virtues - thickening gumbos or stews and binding vegetable juices into a sauce - but crisp texture isn't one of them."

True to her word, when I sliced that okra it was slimy. I became worried that it had gone bad (and as far as I know it hadn't). I went back and reread the passage in the book to double check that okra is supposed to be slimy. It is.

Chunky Tomato Sauce with Okra, Cannelini Beans and Pasta

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
about 12 okra, sliced
1/2 can cannelini beans (or white beans)
leftover chunky tomato sauce
penne pasta

Directions:

Cook pasta and set aside. Heat olive oil in pan and add okra. Cook okra about 3 minutes. Add 2 large spoonfuls of last night's chunky tomato sauce and leftover beans. Cover and cook about 12-15 minutes. Add pasta to pan and cook 2 minutes longer.

NOTES:
I considered adding some milk to the mix but I was too scared. Maybe next time. I'd really like to try my hand at a vodka sauce sometime. I ate it with parmesan cheese and it was pretty tasty. I don't think I'll eat okra very often, maybe if I felt like frying it though.

Tomato Sauce and Bean Mash

2006-11-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

It takes a long time to make tomato sauce from scratch but it's worth it. And it's easy. It just has to cook for a while and it feels longer when you don't start cooking until 7:30pm.

Here's my little tip for the day. Light a candle while you are chopping onions to prevent teary eyes. It seems to work.

Chunky Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
dried rosemary
dried bay leaf
dried thyme
dried basil
dried tarragon
crushed red pepper flakes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
5 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cheap red wine
3 T. chopped flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper

Directions:

Cook onion olive oil about 4 minutes, until it starts to soften. Add dried spices. Continue cooking about 2-3 minutes. Add tomato sauce and garlic and continue cooking over medium heat. (I also added about 5 oz of water but it wasn't necessary.) Add tomatoes and red wine. Bring to a simmer. Cook until vegis are soft and liquid reduces, about 30 minutes. Add parsley part way through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Usually I would eat the tomato sauce with pasta but I had some fresh bread on hand and didn't feel like eating pasta. At the last minute I decided the meal would be more balanced with a mashed bean side dish. (Yup, that's okra up there. I decided to save it for later.)

Mashed White Beans

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1/2 can Cannelini Beans (or white beans), drained and rinsed
3 T finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
juice of 1/2 small lemon

Directions:
Heat oil in pan. Add beans, garlic and parsley. Cook until warm. You may want to add 1/4 cup of water to soften the beans.

Lightly mash the beans with the back of a fork or a slotted spoon. (Shown unmashed above.) Sprinkle with lemon juice and a little more olive oil.
The final meal, crusty bread, spicy tomato sauce and elegant mashed beans. Quite tasty if I do say so myself.

Banana Yakisoba

2006-11-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

I went to the local asian supermarket tonight and picked up a few things including fried tofu, yakisoba noodles, saba (?) bananas, soy sauce and rice vinegar.Isn't this a pretty bottle?

The best teriyaki I've ever eaten had fried tofu flavored like sweet orange. I wanted to replicate that taste but didn't have any oranges or orange juice. So, I decided I'd try adding a banana. I got these bananas that I think are called saba bananas.

I was really skeptical about the banana in the yakisoba but decided to go for it. It wasn't half bad because the yakisoba spices are already a little sweet which worked with the banana. However, the tofu turned out pretty bland. That can easily happen with tofu but adding flavor to it isn't hard if you cook it long enough with lots of spices for it to absorb.

Banana Yakisoba

Ingredients:
One small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots
1 crown broccoli
1 small saba banana
soy sauce
rice vinegar
pinch of dried ginger
one package yakisoba noodles with spice packet

Directions:
Chop vegetables as you cook. Saute onion in oil. Add carrots and garlic. Season with soy sauce, rice vinegar and ginger. Add broccoli. Remove vegis from pan. Add more oil to pan and heat tofu and banana. Season with soy sauce and rice vinegar. Remove tofu from pan and add noodles to bananas. Cook according to package instructions. Put vegis back in pan and season with spice packet.

Garlic Garbanzo Pasta

2006-11-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

After working ALL DAY LONG, I pitched right into making a quick pasta dish for dinner. It's inspired by a recipe in Deborah Madison's amazing Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone.

I cooked some pasta.

Chopped lots of garlic and sauteed it with red pepper flakes in olive oil.

Added a can of drained garbanzo beans and some leftover green beans from lunch.

Add the pasta and cook a little more.

Serve with parmesan cheese. Salt to taste.
Then I ate and ate and now it's time for bed.
Goodnight.

A simple soup

2006-11-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight's meal is a great example of improvised cooking.

Chicken Noodle-Spinach-Lemon Soup

I began by heating a generic can of condensed chicken noodle soup. The original plan was just the soup without embellishment.

When the soup was heated, I decided I could add some frozen spinach.
After the spinach thawed, I decided to add some dried parsley, lemon pepper and cayenne.
Then I decided some lemon juice would complete the creation.

The result was really quite good. I probably added too much lemon (about half a small lemon) because it overpowered the chicken broth. There was probably also too much spinach but it's a good way to eat your vegetables. My parents used to make ramen noodles with frozen corn and peas and tofu cubes. All in all it's a cheap and easy meal made a little healthier with some frozen vegetables.

Vintage Cookbooks

2006-11-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

I love old cookbooks and have unintentionally developed quite a collection. I found a few new ones today at the local St. Vinnie's. In the picture below is one I bought today (on the right) and one I already had in my collection. They are different editions of the same book published in 1941 and 1945. I thought the edition I already had was from the thirties and I'm interested in seeing what has changed but it turns out they're both from the forties. Maybe I'll give the one I bought today to somebody as a gift. They have these cool tabs on the inside like an address book but for food categories.The other cookbooks I bought are two bbq cookbooks from Sunset magazine. I love the design of them particularly the one with the faux wood cover. The one on the left was published in 1972 and the one on the right was published in 1952. Again I was interested in seeing how the two versions differ.

The fourth book I bought is a cookbook targeted towards men also put out by Sunset in 1967. Cookbooks for men are rare and it has some really fabulous illustrations.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2006-11-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

I didn't post at all this week but I did take some pictures.
So, I'm going to put them up now.

One night, I made pasta with spinach and lemon squeezed on top. I sauteed onions and garlic then added frozen spinach. When it was nearly ready I added the cooked pasta with some pasta water because I was clumsy and the pan was getting dry anyway. I ate it with cottage cheese because I love cottage cheese with pasta. It probably seems like a really weird combo but the cottage cheese is a litle bit bland and not at all sweet so it fits in nicely with savory pasta dishes. The end result was satisfactory. I would have liked to use peas instead of spinach. Green peas and lemon just sounds so perfect, a little sweet and a little sour.

The other thing I tried this week was an open-faced quesadilla with parmesan cheese.
The first try is shown below with breaded chicken strips.

The next night I had some zucchini soup and more parmesan quesadillas. It wasn't quite right before so I used more cheese, added a dab of butter and let it cook longer in the toaster oven. (Note: The toaster oven is a great place to make little quesadillas on corn tortillas.)

The quesadillas look beautiful but even with a sprinkling of salt, chile powder or garlic powder they fell a little flat. I figure there's just no replacing good old cheddar when comes to flavor. Parmesan is really meant as a garnish anyway.

A Dutch Baby Morning

2006-11-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

A little like a Chelsea Morning, except the sounds of traffic seem less romantic and the breakfast is slightly more elaborate than "milk and toast and honey/And a bowl of oranges, too".

Ah, Saturday mornings. The day open before you with no requirements, no obligations. After crawling out of bed and doing some yoga, I absolutely had to make a Dutch Baby. For the unintiated, a Dutch Baby is an eggy puffed pancake baked in the oven. I've also heard this dish called a German pancake or puffed pancake.

It's a favorite weekend breakfast dish in my family. I remember eating it on Sunday mornings as a child, watching reruns of Flipper and the Lone Ranger on TV. My family usually serves it with cooked blueberries that are warm and burst in your mouth.

The pancake is a simple mix of eggs, milk and flour whipped together. When baked, it puffs up and turns a golden brown color. It's puffy goldenness is impressive coming out of the oven, making it a great dish to serve to guests. Beware, it will quickly deflate. So, have everyone waiting at the table when you bring it to the table.

My family uses a recipe from a Sunset Magazine cookbook titled "Sunset Breakfast and Brunch Cookbook". It's very easy to do. Preheat the oven. Put some butter in a pan. (We always use a pie dish but any baking dish will do.) Put the pan in the oven to let it melt. Meanwhile, in a blender mix eggs and milk. Add flour and blend well. Remove pan from oven. (The butter should be melted and bubbly.) Pour the egg mixture into the pan and return to oven. Let bake until puffed up and golden, about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the pancake.

Today, I improvised the proportions of egg, milk and flour. I used three eggs, 1/3 cup milk and about 1/4 cup flour. I then whisked vigorously by hand. It turned out great but maybe could have used more milk. Some people add sugar to the mixture but I just add sugar on top after it's baked.

It's very important to melt the butter in the pan because it greases the pan and makes the bottom and sides of the Dutch Baby very buttery and a little crunchy.Serve the Dutch Baby with lemon and powdered sugar. I like to add fruit and sometimes plain yogurt. I've also seen a version of a Dutch Baby made with apples cooked in the bottom of the pan. It's incredibly sweet and just amazing!

Ode to Buttered Toast

2006-11-17T21:59:00.000-08:00

A simple breakfast of cinnamon toast, plain yogurt and apricot preserves.

I remember my parents eating creamed tuna with buttered toast when I was a kid. I think it was a parents-only dish because the kids weren’t supposed to like it but I often liked the un-kid friendly foods (like smoked oysters and brussel sprouts). I was about six years old and mostly I remember being excited about the buttered toast. This particular time the butter had melted onto the bread so perfectly. It tasted so much better than when toast is buttered after it cools and the butter doesn’t melt. I didn’t know the melting of the butter made it that way and I couldn’t articulate it. I just knew it was better. These days if toast is going to be buttered it must be done quickly or not at all. The melting of the butter sinks the flavors into the bread softening the toasted edges making a little bit of everyday ordinary perfection.

Cone Filters – to buy or not to Buy

2006-11-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve been planning on buying coffee filters for a while but keep forgetting. So I was very pleased when I remembered during my last trip down the coffee and tea aisle. I stood perusing my coffee filter options and was annoyed to learn that the cone style filter cost four times as much as the regular basket style. How could this be? It must be that little seam running up the side. It makes them harder to produce and thus more expensive.

The extra expense caused reluctance on my part. Keep in mind that this is a new-to-me coffee maker and I have never purchased the more expensive, fancy-pants cone style filters before. A few questions (you may call them doubts) about the purchase came to mind. First, does my coffee maker really require a cone filter? I should check before making a commitment. Second, does every store have such a discrepancy in price? I should check before making a commitment. Third, could I use the cheaper basket style filter and squish it to make it work? Possibly, but let’s not go to the trouble. Ultimately I decided that I could keep using the french press until I get this filter thing figured out.

The larger issue here is that I’m cheap. Really cheap. The basket style filters cost 1 cent each and the others about 4 cents each. That’s a pretty big difference. But the total cost for 40 cone filters is only $2.49. I’m thinking I should have just bought the stupid cone filters and I’d be having coffee now. It’s a sickness really, being cheap.

A thought just occurred to me though, another option. I’ll call my Dad (the one who passed on the cheap genes and taught me how to read the price per item in the grocery store) and ask if he has any cone filters (since he gave me this troublesome coffee maker and is sending me a package soon) or if squishing the basket style filter works? Would the ultimate savings on filters from using the squishing method be moot because the filter is thicker and one must use more coffee to create the same satisfying brew?

Oh, the complexities of life. How does one survive?

Looks so gross? Tastes so good.

2006-11-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

This meal might look kind of gross but it's good comfort food. I purchased some milk so I was finally able to make the mac and cheese from a box. I also had a hankering for creamed tuna, believe it or not, and I needed to use up some vegis, currently taking up long term residence in the fridge.

The Menu

Macaroni and Cheese
Creamed tuna and spinach
Toast

Creamed Tuna and Spinach

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach, stemmed and washed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ C milk
1 can tuna, packed in water, drained

Directions

Cook spinach in pan until bright green and wilted. Add 2/3 can of mushroom soup and milk. Cook a little then add tuna and more milk if needed. Cook until warm and bubbly.
Serve with toast and a sprinkling of pepper. (Extra salt probably not needed.)

Notes

The unusual thing about this dish is the spinach. (At least I haven’t seen it that way before.) I like to add vegetables whenever I can because they’re easier to eat when mixed in with other yummy things than just sitting there on their own. The macaroni and cheese I'm sorry to say was disappointing. Probably that is because I have made mac and cheese from scratch in the not too distant past. It just wasn't cheesy enough. If you're feeling brave, mix the creamed tuna with the mac and cheese. It's been done before and it's not terrible.

Another Plan B Meal

2006-11-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Still feeling stuffy and not entirely well, I decided to make some macaroni and cheese, Kraft, from a box. I put the water on to boil and started to gather ingredients, the few that are required. Well, the milk had gone sour. Such a disappointment and annoying because I didn’t realize until too late that the sell by date was very soon to when I bought it.

So I looked in the fridge and decided on eggs and potatoes. More complicated but still easy and available. I would have made fried eggs but the yolk of one broke, so I scrambled them. Make it work, right?

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 small white potato
salt and pepper
oil
paprika for decoration

Directions:

Wash and thinly slice potato. Pan fry potato in oil until cooked through and toasty brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from pan and add eggs. Cook eggs. Arrange on plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cold Cures

2006-11-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

I have a cold, stuffy nose and sore throat included. I'm determined to fight it though. It will not ruin my entire weekend. So the answer was chicken noodle soup and orange juice and lots of it. I got the family size can of condensed chicken noodle soup and heated it up.

Dose 1 is shown above. I couldn't let the soup just stay the way it came out of the jumbo sized can. So I added some chopped herbs (already chopped, I wouldn't have gone to trouble of washing and chopping) and lemon pepper. Dose 1 worked really well. I felt better. I ate it on the couch with some movie in the VCR and promptly fell asleep. I awoke an hour later ready for dose two.

For dose 2 I added more herbs, turmeric and cayenne pepper. It was fine but I think dose 1 had a stronger impact. But the result was the same. Eat, movie, sleep.

This morning I ate the rest of the soup for breakfast. I've also been drinking tea and the OJ is almost gone. I'm still sniffly but I'm awake, moving, showered and I'm going to get dressed and go to a wedding this afternoon.

PS It's November so a cold is part of the late fall territory but right now it's 86 degrees outside. That's not right. I could potentially get a sunburn at the same time that I have a cold.

Sweet Potato Goodness

2006-11-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

This is a sweet fall meal that comes together quickly with just a few ingredients.

Sweet Potato Goodness

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato
1 apple, cut in pieces
½ C orzo pasta
3 T butter
3-4 T brown sugar
cinnamon
ground cloves
cardamom
freshly grated ginger
plain yogurt

Directions:

Slice sweet potatoes in rounds and boil until tender. Remove sweet potatoes from water and add apple to boiling water. Remove apples when tender. While apples cook remove peel from sweet potatoes and cut into cubes. Cook orzo in the same water with a little salt added. While orzo cooks, melt butter in pot with sugar and spices. Mix sweet potatoes, apple and orzo with butter and spices. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Beans and Pasta

2006-11-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

So good and so easy I've been known to eat it for breakfast. People don't eat beans for breakfast very often in the states (just heuvos rancheros) but they are staple in other parts of the world.

I think beans deserve more credit than they receive. As a vegetarian for a number of years, I discovered how versatile, affordable and tasty beans can be. Beans can be made into dips and spreads, added to soups and salads or combined with other ingredients for a savory main dish. One of my favorite ways to eat beans is with pasta. I think I was mostly inspired by Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (my all time favorite cookbook) to try beans and pasta together.

This dish is a quick to throw together with a few leftovers or just made ingredients. It’s simple and delicious.

Pasta and White Beans with Fresh Parsley

Ingredients:

Cooked pasta
White beans (or Great Northern Beans)
Fresh Italian Flat-leaf parsley
Butter or oil
Salt
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

In a pan, heat cooked pasta, beans and small handful of chopped parsley with a little butter or oil. Sprinkle with salt and parmesan and eat!

Notes:

This is a soft mild dish that is ready in literally five minutes. It would be a good dish if your stomach is feeling finicky. Add some cottage cheese or use garlic salt, if you like. You could also try garbanzo beans (chickpeas) or basil for a variation.

Paula Deen, Martha and Cake

2006-11-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

I just love watching Paula Deen on the Food Network. I love her charming accent and how much fun she has while cooking not to mention that her food always looks so tasty! Today Paula was on Martha making a Hummingbird Cake. I was very pleased that Paula and Martha seemed to get on quite well with no hint of rivalry.

The cake had three layers with lots of frosting and pecans sprinkled on top. The batter is made with bananas and crushed pineapple. I remember another Hummingbird Cake that Martha had in her magazine. I found the recipe online but there is not a picture. It was a beautiful cake topped with dried pineapple flowers. The magazine detailed how to make the flowers but I didn't find it on the website.I did however find the article in my archives. Martha's cakes are always beautiful but sometimes so complicated and time-consuming! In the top of the picture shown below, is a carrot cake of hers with strips of carrot adorning the sides. It reminded me of the pineapple flowers and decorating the outside with the ingredients on the inside.To make the flowers , in short, peel a pineapple and cut out the eyes. Slice it thinly and bake the slices on silpat baking sheets at 225 degress until the tops look dried, about 30 minutes. Flip and bake the other sides another 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight for up to 3 days.

Pretty Yummy Cookies

2006-10-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

Today I walked down the street to the local bakery. My neighborhood has a large Armenian population and there are a lot of small Armenian grocery stores and bakeries. I love it. It's so much fun to see these foods that are very exotic to me. When I go to the bakery, I stand and gaze at the delectable goodies housed in the glass cases, trying to decide which I would like to eat. Often I just end up getting more than one. Today I intended to get one each of four different kinds of cookies. Somehow, the box had four of one kind in addition to the others. Oh well, more cookies for me.

Much to my surprise, all of the cookies were sandwich cookies filled with apricot jelly. For a moment I was dissapointed but ended up loving every morsel. I think the walnut one was my favorite (seen in the center of the group photo at the top). The walnuts added a nice crunchy element and additional flavor to the chocolate, apricot and cookie.

I wanted to duplicate these cookies on my own for a quick no-bake but still made at home cookie. So, I bought some simple tea biscuits, chocolate chips and apricot jam. I melted the chocolate and spread it on the cookies. It was a little too thick but it's chocolate, what's not to like?

I waited for the chocolate to harden and opened the jar of jam. Well, it wasn't jam. It was preserves. Beautiful, affordable apricot preserves from a local Armenian grocery. A regular old jar of Smuckers preserves is essentially jam but that is not the case with Armenian preserves. They actually have whole pieces of fruit! Great, unless you want to spread it.

The thing that really bugged me was that I had bought a jar of cherry preserves made in Armenia and it tastes great but the cherries still have pits! So, I tried to be careful when I bought the apricot jam. I turned the jar upside down, debated buying a simple American jar but I was pulled in by the exoticness and the lower price of the preserves. Foiled once again.

Anyway, I didn't make the sandwich cookies as I had intended because the jam part of the preserves was too runny. I suppose I could cook it and try to condense it but then the whole process wouldn't be quick and that's the point of a no-bake cookie.

So, I just ate the cookies. All of them. By myself.

I plan to try again when I find some actual jam.

Zucchini Soup for Halloween

2006-10-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

The first time I ate this soup it was made by my friend Kara. I was blown away, it was so good! She says her recipe was originally Katharine Hepburn’s! I know it uses curry powder but I’ve never been able to get a copy. I’ve also made a version in which the main spice was rosemary.

This can be a very versatile soup by adding other vegetables and playing with the spices. The recipe here is the version I made tonight since I make it differently every time depending on what I have on hand. The soup is pureed before eating so you can use almost any vegetable and you’ll never be able to tell. Other vegetables to add could be greens, bok choy, leeks, carrots, or yellow summer squash to name a few. This soup is a good way to use up those extra large summer squash that can sneak into the garden. The potato helps thicken the soup so I recommend using it but the soup will be fine without it.

This is a good soup to serve to people who don’t eat dairy. For a vegan meal, you could serve it with vegan bread or another grain and white bean dip or hummus. Cheese is also a nice accompaniment.

Ingredients:

Cooking oil
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
6 medium Zucchini
2 small white potatoes
Spices:
Salt and pepper
Cayenne pepper
Lemon pepper
Cumin
Rosemary
Thyme
Turmeric
Celery salt
Dried basil

Directions:

Chop onion and sauté until translucent in large stock pot. While the onion cooks, chop garlic finely and cut up potatoes and zucchini in ½ inch pieces. Add garlic to onion and sauté a few minutes more. Add potatoes, zucchini and 6 cups water to pot. Bring to boil and add spices to taste. The flavors will increase as the soup cooks and over the next few days. Reduce to a simmer and cook until zucchini is translucent and potato is soft. (The photo shows the soup before it is done. If yours looks like this, keep cooking.)

Use an immersion blender to puree or blend in batches in the blender. Eat!

Notes:

My version tonight turned out pretty spicy. A few times when I’ve made this soup it’s been too bland but tonight I just through in all the spices. I think I was inspired to use so many because I just organized them and they were all so accessible that I couldn’t help myself. Oh well, I think too spicy is probably better than bland.

Did I mention that this freezes really well? Just throw it in a Ziploc bag and freeze. It’s still tasty when defrosted. Sometimes I’ll make this soup to use up extra vegetables with the plan of freezing the rest for later.

Meal Three - Eggplant Redux

2006-10-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

I went to IKEA today and bought essentials that were making cooking difficult. I managed to escape without too much damage to the credit card.

Tonight is a leftover night. I’m going to remake last night’s eggplant dish with tomatoes and white beans to give it a new flavor. The beans and tomato sauce expand the leftovers so in my case I unfortunately still have some left. I recommend doing at least part of the salad before starting the eggplant.

Menu

Eggplant Redux

Green Salad with Avocado and Ginger-Cilantro-Yogurt Dressing

Strawberries and Meringue Cookies

Green Salad with Avocado and Ginger-Cilantro-Yogurt Dressing
Ingredients
Romaine lettuce, cleaned and cut into bit-size pieces
½ avocado
¼ C plain yogurt
3 t. cilantro, finely chopped
2 t. grated ginger
1 t. oil
1 wedge of lime

Directions:
Mix yogurt, cilantro, ginger, oil and juice from lime wedge in a small bowl. Arrange cut avocado on lettuce and pour dressing on top.

Eggplant Redux

Ingredients
Last night’s leftover eggplant dish
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 can white or Great Northern beans
1 clove garlic, chopped

Directions:

Reheat leftover eggplant in pot. Add tomato sauce, garlic and beans. Heat thoroughly.

Notes:
This meal is really easy to cook. Even making the dressing doesn’t take much time. If you don’t like the sour tang of plain yogurt you probably won’t like this dressing. I love plain yogurt. I’ve been in a plain yogurt phase for a few years now. It took some getting used to but now I can hardly eat sweetened yogurt because it’s too sweet for my taste buds now. I guess taste buds are trainable.

Anyway, if you have parmesan or romano cheese you can try that on the pasta. I would have if I had some. The pasta was good. I have done a similar dish, without the beans, and baked it with cheese in the oven.

I made more pasta but I realized too late that I really didn’t need to. I also have leftover beans. Those can be mashed up and made into a dip or sandwich. Mix the mashed beans with oil or lemon juice for moisture and garlic, herbs and spices for some flavor. A food processor makes making the dip quick and easy.

Dessert:
Meringue Cookies with Strawberries and Honey

This is really simple and really good. Put some strawberries and meringue cookies in a dish and drizzle with honey. The meringues are airy, crunchy and melt in the mouth; think crunchy marshmallows. (I, btw, love crunchy marshmallows. As a kid, I put marshmallows in the microwave until they puffed up really big. Then I took them out and let them sit for an hour so. The marshmallows quickly deflated and over time became hard and crunchy. Ah, the joys of a microwave.) The honey provides a different kind of sweetness than the cookies and goes perfectly with the berries. To expand this dessert a little you could put the berries and cookies on a mound of whipped cream and garnish with mint. Go the extra mile and flavor the whipped cream with the mint or a drop of almond extract.

Ginger Passionfruit Pluots

2006-10-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

This turned out really tangy but oh so yummy! I ate mine with plain yogurt, which was a nice compliment to the sweet plums and tangy passionfruit. The soft fruit contrasts nicely with the rough texture of the toasted breadcrumbs. You can pick out the ginger pieces for a little less bite or leave them in for more extreme eating. I recommend a mild herbal tea (such as mint-chamomile) because the flavors of this dessert are so strong the tea will mellow the palate. If you have leftover fruit save it for breakfast and eat it with oatmeal, granola or yogurt. To serve more than one person just multiply by the number of people you have. If your guests are particularly gluttonous (or if your fruits are small), you may want to use more than one fruit per person.
Passionfruit Ginger Pluots (1 serving)

Saute in pot until lightly toasted:
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 T butter
Remove from pot and set aside.

In same pot simmer until liquid is reduced and fruit is soft:
1/3-1/2 C passion fruit juice
1 pluot
1 T sliced ginger

Put fruit in bowl with breadcrumbs on top. Eat with vanilla ice cream, plain yogurt or sour cream, if desired.

Notes: The more unusual thing about this recipe is that the fruit is cooked in juice instead of butter and sugar. It may be lower calorie. (I’m not a nutritionist so don’t take my word for it.) The point is you can use things like juice in unexpected ways. In this case the juice provided a cooking medium and additional flavor. If you don’t have fresh ginger, try adding some ground cinnamon or cardamom.

The breadcrumbs I used for the Passionfruit Ginger Pluots were torn pieces of bread from the flat bread used in yesterday’s dinner. The loaf I bought was really large and only $.99. I’ve eaten about half of it and froze the rest tonight. I tore the bread into serving size pieces so that I’ll be able to defrost just as much as I want.

The Second Meal - The Best Laid Plans...

2006-10-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. I had planned to make Sauteed Eggplant and White Beans with Pasta. I gathered the ingredients. I made notes about my plans; why I'm not sure. I chopped things. I started to cook. The time arrived to open those cans and add them to the pot. It was only then that I realized that I DO NOT HAVE A CAN OPENER! I don't have a can opener?! (I just moved.)

So, I did what all improvisational cooks must do. I worked with what I had going, boiling pasta and eggpland and onion sauteeing. Below is the revised menu.

The Menu – Version 2

Eggplant and Pasta (serves 2-3 without leftovers)

Passion Fruit Ginger Pluots (serves 1, but easily increased)

Eggplant and Pasta

Ingredients:

Oil
Half medium onion, chopped (Use the other half of the one used yesterday.)
1 small eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1½ T Dried Thyme
1½ T Dried Rosemary
¼ C Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley
Penne Pasta
Salt
Queso Fresco

Directions:

Set large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When it boils add 1 T salt and cook pasta until just tender.

Saute chopped onion in oil over medium heat. Meanwhile cut garlic and eggplant. Add to onion with ½ cup water. Cover and simmer 8-10 minutes. Add thyme, rosemary, parsley and 2 T salt. Continue to cook until water is evaporated and eggplant is soft.

Serve eggplant on bed of pasta with queso fresco on the side.

Notes:

I was concerned about having enough flavor but it was pretty good. The spices are essential to this recipe. The thyme lends a nice sweetness that complements the eggplant (which I think can be rather bland). To be honest, I’m not very experienced cooking or eating eggplant. I have probably cooked it a total of 3 times and each time I made it with tomato sauce. The queso fresco is a crumbly Mexican cheese with a salty taste. I plated it on the side but after some tasting mixed it all together.

Tomorrow I’m planning on buying a can opener. I will then use the leftover eggplant and canned tomato sauce to make a new meal!

The First Meal

2006-10-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight is my first night in my new apartment. I went to the grocery store and bought some essentials, mostly produce, and a knife. This dinner had some technical restrictions because I was not working with a full kitchen complete with appliances, utensils and spices. I did what I could and I must say it turned out quite delicious.

Currently in Stock: (used items in italics)
Protein: ½ lb. tofu, canned beans: white, black, garbanzo, dried red lentils

Produce: broccoli, bananas, limes, nectarines, Gala apples, yellow onions, romaine lettuce, green pepper, assorted summer squash, eggplant, yams, avocados, strawberries, pluots, small yellow potatoes

Pantry: corn tortillas, canned tomato sauce, canned diced tomatoes, penne pasta, rice, flat bread, sandwich bread, lemon ginger cookies, flat bread

Spices: garlic, fresh ginger, fresh cilantro, fresh flat leaf parsley, dried thyme, dried rosemary, ground cumin

Beverages: black tea, passion fruit juice

Dairy: cheddar cheese, queso fresco, milk, plain yogurt, butter, eggs

Freezer: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, frozen vegetables

The Menu
Hard Boiled Eggs Thick Flat Bread Topped with Onion and Herbs Summer Squash Queso Fresco

Cook the items in the order shown above. First boil the eggs (make extra for later, if you like) and while they’re cooking, start the flat bread. While the flat bread is in the oven, cook the summer squash and cut up some queso fresco. If you have salt and pepper on hand (and you probably do) feel free to add it to any or all of the dishes. I would have used it but did not miss it at all. The summer squash is cooked in milk, a technique I picked up from a recipe in Deborah Madison’s amazing cookbook Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone.

Flat Bread (serves 1-2)
Ingredients:
Purchased thick flat bread
Half of one medium sized onion chopped
2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
3 T Fresh Parsley
3 T Fresh cilantro
Butter (I didn’t have any oil but it can be substituted.)

Directions:
In pot 1 T melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and fresh herbs. Meanwhile heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put flat bread in cake pan and dot with butter. Make holes in top of bread to let butter soak in. Spread the cooked onion, garlic and herbs over the top of the bread and put it in the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Variation Idea: Cut the flat bread open and put the cooked onions and herbs inside. (If I had had a bread knife I probably would have done this.)

Summer Squash (serves 1)

Ingredients:
One small zucchini (which I’ve seen called Italian squash in LA), cut in ½ inch pieces
One small Mexican squash (a light green zucchini), cut in ½ inch pieces
1 clove garlic, chopped
¼ C milk

Directions:
In the same pot that you used to cook the onions and herbs, sauté the squashes over medium heat. After 3-5 minutes add the garlic and the milk. Cook for another 8-10 minutes.

To Serve: Slice a hard-boiled egg and arrange on a plate with the bread, squash and some queso fresco.

Dessert was Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with Strawberries. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Introduction

2006-10-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new cooking blog! I just moved into a new apartment and I don't have all of my things yet. You can see in the photo that the kitchen is very GREEN and rather empty. However, despite my limited kitchen I am going to make some fabulous meals for myself. And, I'm going to tell you how I do it.

I’m not a professional chef, just a regular cook that loves cooking with fresh, affordable ingredients. I’m inspired by produce and plan meals around what is currently in season. Cooking can be a creative, spontaneous activity if you allow it to be. I hope that this blog will help you develop the ability to open the fridge, decide what needs to be eaten and build a meal around those ingredients. I am going to tell you what foods I have available to me, what I plan to cook for dinner, if it worked, how the plan changed and how to do it yourself. I’ll also give suggestions on recipe variations, how to use leftovers, how to shop for food and other useful cooking tips. Enjoy!