Going Gluten Free

I am embarking on a food adventure (of epic proportions), so I figured I might bring back my foodie blog.

About a month ago, I started researching the Paleo/Primal/Caveman/What-have-you Diet. I'd been running to lose weight since September/October, and making healthier, or so I thought, food choices to help. But I wasn't really getting anywhere, so I wanted to see what diets were out there. The primal diet was the first one I checked out, because Weight Watchers, etc, where one has to count points or calories or weigh food just seem like overkill. Anyway, in my readings about the primal diet, I realised that I (and probably a great number of people) have a gluten intolerance.

Mostly, I came to this realization because the book I was reading at the time (Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf) mentioned gall bladder disease as something possibly caused by Celiac Disease. "Huh," I thought, "I had that!" So I jumped online to confirm his numbers; found a great number of studies showing a high incidence of gall bladder disease among Celiacs. Then I thought about my kidney stones. Same thing (though not quite as statistically significant as the gall bladder disease). Combine those two with my IBS and, well, it was kinda self evident.

Anyway, the first day of December I said goodbye to wheat. On the 14th, I ate some Campbell's Tomato Soup, which I love. EVEN THOUGH it lists wheat flour as an ingredient. I thought, well, maybe I'm NOT a Celiac. Maybe I'll be okay. Nope. I felt like shit for five hours after eating (and really enjoying) that bowl of soup. And since I was sick anyway, I had my last saltine cracker. Gods, it was good. Since then, I haven't purposefully eaten wheat. I've been tempted! I'm at my parents' house for the holidays and my mom made poppy seed bread, which has long been a favourite of mine. Even knowing it's delicious, though, I can't bring myself to eat it, because I know it will just make me sick.

After I get home, I plan on cutting refined sugars and all grains from my diet and following the primal diet, more or less. (I think, for now, I won't worry about the corn in baking powder or other small things like that.) The most difficult thing to cut will, of course, be Mtn. Dew. I know it's crap. It doesn't make me feel any better; sometimes it makes me feel worse. There is nothing REAL about it. But the SUGAR! and the CAFFEINE!

I'll be making a (refined) sugar-free and grain free pumpkin pie for my Xmas dessert. Will be taking pictures (via my phone, so they'll be pretty crappy. oh, well) for my first primal/GF recipe post. YAY!

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Okay, so this recipe is pretty straight forward. Take some cooked chicken and coat it in BBQ sauce. I used chicken breast, but it could be chicken from a rotisserie chicken, drumsticks, thighs, or whatever your preference/available chicken parts is. For BBQ sauce, I used KC Masterpiece, but again, feel free to use whatever you have/like. (Or super brave/not-quite-so-lazy-as-me people can make their OWN BBQ sauce. Ingenious!)



For the buns, I used wheat rolls from the Wal-Mart bakery. I was going to just buy some regular wheat hamburger buns, but everything I found had HFC in it. And while I'm not super-duper-anti-HFC (I mean, hell, I'm addicted to Mtn Dew and HFC is the second ingredient listed) but it's something that I might, in the future, look to avoid in foods. So I figure I'll start keeping track now. Anyway, the rolls worked just like tiny buns, which made these sammiches a lot of fun to eat. Served with seasoned fries and cooked carrots (nom!).

Fun snack

This is just a fun easy treat I made for Camden. A bowl of applesauce, strawberries cut in half, and a maraschino cherry. I arranged the strawberries and cherry in a starburst pattern for a little more excitement (I think it looks like an octopus, but Camden was adamant that it was a sun).

Veg Burgers!

In my quest to transition to a more veg-oriented diet, I decided to try making my own veg burgers. I suppose I could take the easy way out and just by Boca burgers, but they're prolly gross. Not to mention the fact that they're packaged with how many layers? A cardboard box plus plastic wrapper, most likely.

Ingredients:
1/2 a green pepper
1/4 (or more if you like onion, which I really don't) small onion
1 can black beans
1 can chick peas



Finely chop the green pepper.



And the same for the onion.



Rinse the beans and put them in a bowl to dry. Apparently this makes them stick better?



While the beans are drying, saute the pepper and onion with a little butter.



Throw the pepper and onions into the beans, and mash with a fork! This was hard work, and it sooo does not look delicious.

After everything is mashed into oblivion (or mostly into oblivion, like mine), form into patties. Then you can either grill (for an undetermined amount of time?) or bake at 350 for 10 minutes on each side.



I ate mine with a side of seasoned fries (I'm so addicted to those things) and sauteed zucchini (butter + zucchini + Lowry's seasoning salt). I also toasted the bun. I should have had some lettuce and whatnot on there too, but someone(me) forgot to buy it when grocery shopping. Oops!

All in all, I thought they were a little bland. Lettuce and tomato on top might make all the difference, though. Next time I make these, I'm going to try adding in some spices to the mix, or maybe liquid smoke or Worcestershire sauce or something along those lines. I know it will never taste like a delicious, grease filled hamburger, but I'd like it to taste like something! Aside from the blandness, though, the texture was not at all bad; actually, it was pretty close to a normal hamburger texture, since I didn't completely mash up the beans.

This recipe made 6 burgers, and four of them got frozen. Hopefully they'll cook alright after being frozen. Guess we'll see!!

Cravings

Every so often, I find myself craving a food. And that craving sticks with me (for months, sometimes) until I give in to it. Well, lately, I've been craving some chocolate chip cookies. But I didn't want to deal with making a batch, because of the time involved, the mess it makes, the clean up, and I didn't want to deal with having 36 delicious cookies living him my house (because they wouldn't last long; I have no willpower). So when I stumbled upon a recipe to make two cookies, I thought it was a gift from the gods!



Chocolate Chip Cookies (the little version)

Ingredients
1 T white sugar
1 T brown sugar
1 T butter
1/8 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
pinch of baking soda
1 T water
1/4 cup + 1 T flour
1-2 T chocolate chips



Mix together all the ingredients. The best part of this recipe is that the order doesn't matter--no need to cream the butter with the sugars or anything of that sort. Just throw it in a bowl and mix!



Delicious cookie dough! If you prefer, you can just eat this. No eggs, so no worries about disease or whatnots.



Form it into however many cookies you want/can. I ended up adding a bit more flour than the recipe calls for (because I like cakey cookies NOM!), so my recipe ended up making two good size cookies. But you can make one large cookie, or several smaller cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are brown and enjoy!

Tofu

I've been an avid meat eater most of my life. Because, well, I love me a good steak. But in recent years, I've been striving for a healthier lifestyle. Not just for me, but for the earth, too. Meat is a healthy food, it has stuffs we need: protein, iron, etc. But too much meat is not so healthy. And, as for the earth, meat farms are absolutely terrible for the environment (not to mention the poor animals that spend their lives there). So, while I don't think I'll become a strict vegetarian, I am trying to cut back on my meat consumption. Enter: tofu.



Tofu has always scared me. I mean, it's bean curd. Gross. And then there are those people who tell you that it doesn't taste like anything, that it just mushes in your mouth, and it's terrible. And I let all that talk prejudice me against tofu. Well, I decided to be brave. (Of course, I've decided to be brave in the past. Bought the tofu... Then let it sit my fridge for a month before throwing it out because I was too afraid to try cooking with it. Oops.)

I bought some cubed extra firm tofu. Does this make a difference? I honestly don't know. But I do know that I didn't want it to mush too badly. Ick. So, extra firm. Marinated it in a mixture of soy sauce, honey, minced garlic, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Then I fried it in a pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Normally my pan-frying happens over high or medium high heat, because I am impatient. But, having done my homework on tofu... Cook it over medium-low heat. Something about giving it time for the water to evaporate from the inside out... Or something. Anyway, it makes it less likely to mush. (Because that's gross.) I don't know how long I cooked it (oops), but it was until it turned a nice golden brown.

I removed the tofu (and tasted a chunk.. it was pretty good and didn't mush badly at all) and put some frozen veggies in the pan. Turned the heat up, stir-fried them. Then, following the recipe I had, I put the marinade in with the veggies (along with some cornstarch for thickener). And... OH MY GOD, WHY DIDN'T I THINK???? Ugh. A marinade made almost solely from soy sauce is not your friend if you use it as a sauce for a stir-fry. WAAAAY too salty. I really wish I had thought about this, before ruining my not-so-bad tofu and veggie stir-fry.

Anyway, if I'd just marinated the tofu, then made an entirely new concoction for the sauce, it would have worked out perfectly. I'm definitely going to play around with tofu again, hopefully the next recipe will be kinder to me!

Reasons I shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen

Okay, just one.

I was going to boil some potatoes. So I washed the potatoes, cut them up, covered them with water, sprinkled it with salt, set it on the stove. I turned the right knob for the right burner. But, I turned it a bit too far... Closer to medium than to high. So I turned it back to high and went off and did something else. About ten minutes later... I'm wondering why I haven't heard the water boiling. I go check... I overshot again.

Yep. I turned the burner off. And the grumblies were not so happy with me at that moment! lol

Happy Monday.

Cashew Chicken (kinda)

I adore Chinese food. And I usually make some sort of stir fry/Chinese-inspired dish a week. One of my favourite Chinese foods is cashew chicken, but I've never gotten around to trying to make it. (Although I have used the Wanchai Ferry boxed cashew chicken dinner before, and that is delicious!) So when I came across this recipe I figured it was about time to give it a try (with a few changes, of course).



So, I decided to add some veggies. Chopped up a double handful of carrots and two stalks of celery.



Sauteed them in some oil. When they were partially done, I emptied them out of the pan, and put the chicken (I only used one small breast, as opposed to the 1.5 pounds called for in the recipe, and I also, obviously, decided to forgo breading the chicken, though maybe I'll try that if I make this again) in to cook.



When the chicken was cooked, I put the carrots and celery back in and added some broccoli.



Then I added the sauce, which I halved from what was called for in the recipe. I didn't realise it when I was writing down the recipe, but these sauce ingredients are exactly what I usually put in my stir fries, just with less soy sauce, and more oyster sauce and sugar. Interesting!



Finished product! Oh, yeah. I didn't have any cashews, so this was just cashew chicken (sans cashews). haha!

I think if I had breaded the chicken and hadn't added the veggies, this would have tasted exactly like the cashew chicken I remember getting from restaurants when growing up. (Places here in the 'ville have cashew chicken closer to what I made: unbreaded chicken, carrots, celery, and water chestnuts.) So if I was going for a meat-filled dish, that would have been perfect... But I like my veggies! Regardless, though, I liked the balance of the flavors in the sauce, so I might start using these proportions as opposed to my other ones... So many choices!

Nanny Noodles!

When I was a kid I looked forward to family reunions for one reason and one reason alone. The food!! Yes, even as a child the grumblies had me firmly in their grasp! And among the many many dishes cooked by my family, my favourite was what I called "Nanny Noodles". Nanny was my dad's mother, and she was an AMAZING cook. Well, she was amazing at everything she did; I wish I had gotten to know her better. Anyway, her noodles were chicken and (egg) noodles, made from scratch. If you've never eaten egg noodles made from scratch, you are MISSING OUT!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to master the art of making egg noodles (my dad says they're just eggs, flour, and salt. But surely it's harder than that?) so I use store bought ones. (Don't tell!! But go for the frozen ones or the dried ones that are really thick-looking, not the "extra wide" egg noodles that look like flattened spaghetti.) My dish never tastes like hers, but I've made a few changes: store-bought noodles and vegetables. lol

Nanny Noodles

(I don't have actual measurements on ANY of this. Sorry!)
Chicken-Depending on how many people you're feeding, use a whole chicken, or just bits of one. Bone-in is best, for that added flavor, as is a piece with some dark meat. (For myself and Camden, I used two bone-in chicken breasts. More than enough)
Carrots
Celery
Bay leaf
Salt and Pepper
Noodles! (I used Ream's frozen)



Chop up your carrots and celery (use as many or as few as you like) and put in a pot. Add your chicken. Throw in a bay leaf or two, and season with the salt and pepper.
Cover with water; then bring to boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until chicken is cooked.



Once the chicken is cooked pluck it out. Now's a good time to take the bay leaf/leaves out. Because, seriously, if you don't, some unlucky soul will get it on their plate. And, just so you know, it will ALWAYS be the SAME PERSON. Every time. Whatever the dish; if there's a bay leaf used to cook it, THAT PERSON will get the leaf. Guess who that person was in MY family? Yep, me.

Bring the water to a boil, and add the noodles. Cook according to package directions.

While the noodles are softening, you should dissect the chicken. Use two forks and break the chicken up. If you're smart, you can do this when the chicken has cooled off. If you're like me, you can just jump right in and start pulling it apart. Really, though, the choice is up to you!

When the noodles are finally cooked, throw the chicken back into the pot and mix it up!



I like mine over mashed potatoes. Yep that's a lot of carbs. But I normally only make this in the winter, so it's okay. (This recipe also works well with leftover Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey.)

Dreaming of summer

With 6-24 inches of snow on the ground, I've been dreaming of summer. And with dreams of summer come dreams of BBQ!! Last summer I bought my first charcoal grill (my family always used propane, so charcoal was an entirely new concept and was kinda scary!), and I ended up BBQing several times a week. I'm thinking the first day it gets up into the mid-high 40's or warmer, I'll be pulling my little grill out of storage and firing it up! But not before I set the meat to marinating. (I'm drooling just thinking of it, not kidding.)

Meat marinade
(goes well with chicken or steak)

In a large ziplock bag (or glass bowl) combine

1/4 cup soy sauce
3T honey
2T white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Add your meat, seal the bag, then squish it about to make sure everything is covered. (Or, if using a bowl, swish the meat around in the marinade, then cover with lid/plastic wrap.) Marinate for around 4 hours.

Just gonna say... I usually forget to marinate the meat, or I'll be at school/work all day, get home, and decide I want to grill. So, it also works if you only have 30 minutes to an hour to marinate.

And now that you're thinking of summer... Here's what we're actually dealing with!!

Celebrate the Snow!

Yesterday and last night we had a blizzard. It was... Nothing much. Sure it was lots of snow, which meant I had to spend an hour digging my car out today, and lots of wind and all of that.

And with all that extra snow just laying around, I thought Camden and I would do something with it... Make ice cream!! I hadn't done this since I was a kid, and it was lots of fun.



Get your snow! About 4 or 5 cups, unpacked. Scoop it up now then store it in your freezer until it's time to add to the mix.



One cup milk! Real milk or fake milk, it seems to work just fine.



1/2 teaspoon vanilla



1/2 cup sugar



Stir until the sugar has dissolved into the milk



Add snow to the milk/sugar/vanilla.



Stir! Quick, before it all melts!



We added some chocolate to ours, about 1.4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup. It looks like malt-o-meal and has an odd texture... But it's still yummy!

Herbs and Spices

I do most of my cooking from recipes. (At least until I've learned the recipe, then I just do it from memory). While I have some idea what herbs or spices can go with what foods, I don't really know. For my meats, I generally go to my "secret seasoning," which isn't really a secret at all. I use Cavendar's Greek Seasoning on beef, chicken, and pork. My parents used it when I was growing up, and I've continued the tradition. But... now I have a food blog! So I need to start branching out a wee bit, and hopefully learn some stuff about flavoring foods.

So I've been researching a bit about herb and spice families. What herbs/spices go together and what herbs/spices best go with what foods.

Foods

Beans (dried) — cumin, cayenne, chili, parsley, pepper, sage, savory, thyme

Beef — basil, bay, chili, cilantro, curry, cumin, garlic, marjoram, mustard, oregano, parsley, pepper, rosemary, sage, savory, tarragon, thyme

Breads — anise, basil, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, dill, garlic, lemon peel, orange peel, oregano, poppy seeds, rosemary, saffron, sage, thyme

Cheese — basil, caraway, celery seed, chervil, chili, chives, coriander, cumin, dill, garlic, horseradish, lemon peel, marjoram, mint, mustard, nutmeg, paprika, parsley, pepper, sage, tarragon, thyme

Chicken — allspice, basil, bay, cinnamon, curry, dill, fennel, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, mustard, paprika, rosemary, saffron, sage, savory, tarragon, thyme,

Corn — chili, curry, dill, marjoram, parsley, savory, thyme

Eggs — basil, chervil, chili, chives, curry, dill, fennel, ginger, lemon peel, marjoram, oregano, paprika, parsley, pepper, sage, tarragon, thyme

Fish — anise, basil, bay, cayenne, celery seed, chives, curry, dill fennel, garlic, ginger, lemon peel, mustard, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, saffron, sage, savory, tarragon, marjoram

Fruits — allspice, anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mint

Lamb — basil, bay, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, curry, dill, garlic, marjoram, mint, mustard, oregano, parsley, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme

Potatoes — basil, caraway, celery seed, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, marjoram, oregano, paprika, parsley, poppy seed, rosemary, tarragon, thyme

Salad Dressings — basil, celery seed, chives, dill, fennel, garlic, horseradish, marjoram, mustard, oregano, paprika, parsley, pepper, rosemary, saffron, tarragon, thyme

Salads — basil, caraway, chives, dill, garlic, lemon peel, lovage, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, thyme

Soups — basil, bay, chervil, chili, chives, cumin, dill, fennel, garlic, marjoram, parsley, pepper, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme

Sweets — allspice, angelica, anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, ginger, lemon peel, mace, nutmeg, mint, orange peel, rosemary

Tomatoes — basil, bay, celery seed, cinnamon, chili, curry, dill, fennel, garlic, ginger, gumbo file, lemongrass, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme

Herb/Spice families

Bouquet Garnis — basil, bay, oregano, parsley
Herbal — basil, marjoram, rosemary, thyme
Hot — chili peppers, cilantro, cumin, garlic
Pungent — celery, chili peppers, cumin, curry, ginger, black pepper
Spicy — cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, star anise
Sweet — allspice, anise, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg

Mashed potato enchiladas and Spanish rice

I first started making these enchiladas about two years ago when I was trying to add more vegetarian dishes to my diet. These quickly became my favourite vegetarian dish, and when combined with Spanish rice (I like my carbs, what can I say?) and refried beans, it becomes a delicious meal.

Mashed potato enchiladas
Ingredients:
a portion of mashed potatoes (1-2 cups)
1 8.5 oz can of corn
1 14.5 oz can of black beans, rinsed
shredded cheese
seasoning of choice (I use plain ol' taco seasoning, but feel free to use your own combination of spices like chili and cumin)
flour or corn tortillas
1 10oz can enchilada sauce

For the mashed potatoes, you can either use the left overs from last night (or two days ago; I don't judge) or make some new. If you like, feel free to add some sour cream to the potatoes.

In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, corn, beans, cheese, and seasoning. Pour enough enchilada sauce into a baking dish (I used an 8x8 for four enchiladas) to just cover the bottom. Spoon potato mixture onto tortillas, roll, and place into baking dish seam side down. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over enchiladas; sprinkle more cheese over the top. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

(Side note: if you have left-over filling, it freezes fairly well. The only issue I've had with it is when it thaws it's a bit runnier than it should be. A few flakes of instant potatoes work to thicken it up though--just don't add too many)

Spanish rice
If you don't want to use a Spanish rice box mix, or if you happened to forget it when you went shopping, here's an easy alternative.

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 cups cooked rice (I used boil-in-bag brown rice)
1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes with green chilis
Chili and cumin seasonings to taste

Saute the onion and pepper in a medium frying pan until soft. Add rice, tomatoes, and seasonings. Heat until toasty.

Snack Wrap

After getting gas bills for over $100 two months in a row, I've turned the heat down in my house. Not a lot. But instead of being a toasty 72, it's now a chilly 68. And while one wouldn't think this would make such a big difference... Well, it does! So I've been wearing a jacket and sweat pants and knee socks just to stay warm. And somehow my son still manages to run about in his undies--I don't get it. In addition to additional clothing, I've also upped my calorie intake. Not on purpose. But because I'm constantly hungry. Something to do with my body using more energy trying to stay warm or some such.

So last night I decided to have a snack, but I didn't want the usual cheetos or potato chips. So my options were:

Make some tomato soup (but I have no crackers!)
Cook up a stirfry
Bake some cookies
Eat a too-sweet orange
Make a sammich



I went with make a sammich, because I love me some sammiches! Except I didn't feel like fussing with the bread, so I pulled out a fajita sized tortilla shell instead. Spread on some Miracle Whip; threw on some ham; gently placed some lettuce; topped it off with some sharp cheddar. Then I rolled it all up and voila! A wrap. Actually, my first wrap. (Unless you're counting all the Mexican sammich wraps I make, but normally people just call those burritos or some such.)