Sad but true, oh, and summer, hurry up...

My food life has been terribly boring and sad lately. My family moved in October, and we're still not totally finished with the old house, so everything has been very busy and up in the air. I feel like I'm not getting much in the way of real nutrition, which is not good since I'm seeing a nutritionist and have to turn in food logs!

One good thing is that with spring here we're **GARDEN PLANNING**, so the summer should be "ripe" with possibilities :)

Part of our garden plans include making this one a raised bed garden. We're using a pair of kits from a hardware store to create it, and it is supposed to be good for your crops in that it allows the roots to grow deeper in good soil as well as allowing proper water drainage. So far the definite plans are zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, but there is always room for more tasty additions. Our new house had a potted herb garden already going, but I'm not sure what all will come back. So far, the chives are doing well (I used them in a chicken breast dish last week) and I can see rosemary remains, so perhaps that will return. I transplanted my large sage bush from the other house, and it seems I got in the ground in time, as it is thriving in its new home. I've got a few food-ventures to share with you, I've still been taking foodographs of the few yummy things I've made. Coming up, a budget friendly Sbux alternative, taco salad, french toast muffins and vampire cupcakes... Stay tuned!

These Burgers Ooze Deliciousness... Literally!

     Mom and Dad were having a dish I couldn't eat tonight, with pasta and ground chicken, so I used similar ingredients to make my own dinner.
   
     I settled on a Mozzarella filled Italian Chicken Burger with GF macaroni and cheese. A bit of a twist on a simple feel good meal.

     The cheese inside the burger kept the meat moist all the way through, giving it more of a meatball texture. The  firm but tender texture combined with the Italian herbs and the gooey cheese melting from the center came together beautifully. I added some marinara, but if I was serving it to other others I think I would use a few slices of Roma tomato. (I'm not really a fan of raw tomatoes). I recently saw a GF focaccia bread recipe, and I'm thinking this burger would be awesome nestled into a freshly bakes focaccia roll.

     For those of you interested, the mac 'n' cheese is Annie's Homegrown GF Rice Pasta & Cheddar.

Besides my area health food stores, the local Super Target sells these at a reasonable price. I've tried other GF Mac 'n' cheese options, but this one is the best in terms of texture and flavor.

Chickpeas in cake?

Photo from recipe site, not my results

Chickpea Chocolate Cake
(Recipe courtesy of Northern Pulse Growers Association)

• 1-1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (minor substitutions here can make this CF as well as GF)
• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas aka garbanzo beans (or equal amount rehydrated dried chickpeas)
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 c white sugar
• 1/2 t baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9 inch round cake pan 
2. Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, stirring occasionally until chocolate is smooth
3. Combine chickpeas and eggs in food processor or blender and process until smooth; add sugar and baking powder, blend
4. Pour in melted chocolate and blend until smooth
5. Transfer to prepared cake pan and bake for 40 min or until tooth pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean
6. Cool on wire rack

Makes 9 servings

I know it sounds weird to put beans in a cake, but it's much healthier than packing it with oil, and it removes the flour, making the recipe instantly gluten free. The same little bean that makes the main component of one of my favorite snacks, hummus, makes for a new and different cake. Grandma saw this recipe on The Saturday Evening Post's website and passed it on to me. I had enough chickpeas, so I decided to double the recipe, which gave me a LOT of batter.

To use all the batter, I tried it out in a mini-muffin pan, regular muffin pan, and springform pan. Unfortunately, I didn't spray the pans, so the muffins wouldn't come out neatly, but that's where new ideas come from. I decided it would be great as a "worms and dirt" dessert since it crumbled, or make a great brownie blend in ice cream. The tops of the regular sized muffins came off neatly, so I filled them with marshmallow creme to make whoopie pies.

The spring form cake, made from the remaining batter, is only about 1/8-1/4 in thick, perfect for a crust. I frosted it with a buttercream with just a hint of cream cheese, add sliced strawberries and drizzled of caramel and chocolate syrup to make a brownie pizza. I left 1/4 of it strawberry free for a picky eater in the family, but in my opinion, the strawberries made it SO much better.

Party in your mouth

The other day while grocery shopping, I saw lemons on sale 3/$1. I figured I could always find something to use them with so I bought some. I picked three bright yellow, very fragrant lemons and set them on the counter for future use.  Yesterday I decided to use them with chicken, so I hunted up a recipe online. I found the 15 Minute Garlic Lemon Chicken from Food.com, which called for cooking the chicken then making a roux-like¹ sauce by adding to the pan with which you cooked. I've linked the original recipe for your convenience (and to give credit to the original poster), but it is also below so you don't have to go hunting around for it.

       15 Minute Lemon Garlic Chicken                 
       Prep Time: 3 mins            Total Time: 15 mins

       Ingredients:

Servings: 4

·        4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

·        4 teaspoons flour

·        salt and pepper

·        2 teaspoons oil

·        1/2 cup chicken broth

·        1 teaspoon minced garlic

·        2 teaspoons lemon juice

·        1 teaspoon butter

       Directions:

1. Flatten chicken slightly.
2. Dust with flour and season to taste.
3. Fry in hot oil 5 minutes each side and remove from pan.
4. To pan add broth, garlic, lemon juice and butter. Cook 2 minutes.
5. Pour over chicken.

I doubled the sauce recipe so I would have enough to add on top of the polenta I served with this chicken. It was my first attempt at polenta, and it wasn't quite what I expected, but I did enjoy it with the garlic lemon sauce. If you haven't had polenta before, it is basically a clean slate, flavor-wise, to which you can add a multitude of tastes and textures. I made it with the very basic recipe which just calls for boiling the precooked corn meal until it absorbs the liquid and then baking it for a bit to form a crust. When I have the time, I'll experiment with variations and share them with you.

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¹A true roux is the base of many sauces and gravies. It is usually made with equal parts flour and fat (butter, oil, lard) which is cooked.

Layers of love

I've been wanting some warm, layered, melty, delicious lasagna. On a recent trip to Sunrise Health Food Store, I picked up some DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles, and collected my other ingredients on various grocery trips around town. When I make gluten free lasagna, I prefer to make miniature ones, individually sized just for me. If I make a full pan, then I have to cut and package it for the freezer in an extra step.

In the past I've used mini loaf pans for this job, but since I was stopping at GFS, I meandered through their foil pan section and found some really cute little ones which work out better. They have the fold down edge so you can add a cardboard lid, which makes for easier storage. Unfortunately, they didn't have an lids in the right size, but I bought the next size up then used the pans as a template to cut them down. The pans and the lids were 19¢ each, so I was inclined to make it work. The recipe I've shared below is merely a template, change and adapt it to meet your own tastes. Don't like eggplant and mushrooms? Use the ground meat of your choice. Prefer spinach to broccoli? Go for it. The best part of making any meal is making it your own.

Ingredients:

• a few teaspoons of olive oil
  
• ½ of a large eggplant, chopped into small pieces (¼ inch or so)
  
• 2 c broccoli florets, chopped
• 10 or so average to large mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cans (28 o.z.) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 c shredded mozzarella + 1c to sprinkle on top
  
• 2 c ricotta cheese
• ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2 boxes DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles (or equal amount)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
   
2. In a large pan, sauté the vegetables in olive oil until soft
3. Add tomatoes and simmer about 10 minutes to reduce some of the liquid
4. In the mean time, combine the cheeses and eggs in a bowl until well mixed
5. Spoon some of the liquid portion of the tomato/vegetable mixture into the bottoms of your pans (or one large pan) so the noodles with not be in direct contact with the bottom
6. Line the pan(s) with UNCOOKED noodles, breaking and fitting them in as needed
7. On the noodles, spread a layer of the cheese mixture, then some tomato mixture
8. Add a second layer of noodles and repeat, topping with a final layer of noodles
9. Cover the noodles with some tomato mixture, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella
10. Cover the pan(s) with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes (1 hour for a full pan).

My yield was 10 mini pans, yours will depend on the pan you use and how thick you make your layers. If you make a full pan, make sure you leave enough cheese for the second layer and enough tomato mixture to cover the top. If you do not put some of the tomato mixture (or other sauce if you choose) on the bottom of the pan and covering the top, the noodles will not cook properly. The bottom ones will burn a bit to the pan and the top ones will not soften where they are not covered. If you don't want to use the canned tomatoes, you can substitute a couple jars of pasta sauce and cut the simmering to five minutes.

Happy eating, Friends!

The most important meal of the day

Dear blogger friends,

I am terribly embarrassed by my lack of posts. Here we are in February 2011 and the last time I fed your appetite for information was August 2010! I will do my best to catch up with you, including posting a pizza sauce recipe that I made at the end of the summer with homegrown tomatoes. I took lots of pictures and as soon as I can pull them off the camera for you I'll get that out.

As for today...

This post finds me in the middle of my breakfast. I stopped by the new Food4Less on Western Avenue and Route 30 (worth checking out) and browsed for a while to get a sense of the place. My main curiosity involved whether or not they had a gluten free section, and if the prices were competitive. I took some looking, I but I found it, tucked in the area with seasonal items on one side and soy milk on the other.

I was pleasantly surprised that while the section was small, the prices were fairly good. I got a box of Glutenfreeda Apple Cinnamon with flax instant oatmeal for $3.88 while I usually see it at least $3.99, but usually over $4.00. On the way home, my stomach grumbled and I imagined what my first bite of oatmeal in a year and a half might be like. Would it be chalky like some instant oatmeal? Overly sweet with artificial flavors? Thick and paste-like or a nice blend of clumpy oats and creaminess? (At this point you might be asking why was at Food4Less so early today, if you've been paying attention to the timeline. As it happens, I took a friend to the airport at 3:30 this morning and made it back into the area around 5:30. Since they just opened, and we had no milk, I decided to wait for 6 to have a look)


Before making the oatmeal, I preheated the oven to 350°F and put in two slices of Udi's GF White Sandwich Bread to toast for a few minutes. While my bread toasted, I added the water to the oatmeal, following the packet directions, which call for ½ cup of boiling water for each packet. I had two, like I said, I've been waiting for breakfast since around 3:30 a.m..... I let the oatmeal fully absorb the water before adding 2T of half and half, spreading my toast with unsalted butter and gearing up for a delicious breakfast.

My somewhat anxious musing did not prepare me for the understated flavor and wonderful consistency of this quick and easy breakfast. While not something I'll eat on a daily basis as I can get make breakfast more cheaply each day, I will definitely buy more. (A quick check of amazon.com's gluten free grocery section shows it to be fairly equal pricewise, so no sense in waiting for it to be shipped)

While we're talking breakfast, did you hear about Post Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles? They are now labeled gluten free! While there is some disagreement over whether their verification process is good enough, Post asserts they "followed a gluten free validation procedure that included certification from all ingredient suppliers, outside laboratory testing of all ingredients, testing the production line, and outside laboratory testing of the finished product. In addition, Post has instituted process controls to ensure there is no cross-contact with gluten containing products." (taken from an email cited in that last link).

Not being a scientist, medical doctor or nutritionist, I can only tell you what I have experienced. I have gone through two boxes of Fruity Pebbles since they went gluten free, and have had no apparent symptoms. Personally, I feel that a company like Post would not risk it's reputation if it had not covered all the bases, but use your own discretion when deciding whether to eat this cereal or feed it to your gf child.

Another great breakfast option which I regularly enjoy are Van's WF GF Waffles. You make them in the oven, so they take a little more prep time, but they come out just right and are well worth the wait. 400°F for 10 minutes give you golden, crispy waffles just like you'd get from Eggos or other toaster waffles. If you lack a waffle iron, patience for making homemade waffles or time to do it, this is definitely the next best thing.

I feel somewhat better about my long absence after filling you up with so much information today, while it was only product reviews, I hope it helps, and will be getting back to recipes and meal evaluations soon. Happy eating!

Peace, love and (gf)cupcakes,
Meaghan

Quinona, it rhymes with Winona

We've been both using things up from the freezer in anticipation of what Dad refers to as Mom's "Mother Hubbard" tendencies, as well as trying out a few new things. In the fall, Mom begins stocking up the cabinets, the stairway pantry and the freezers. Through winter, we are nearly always stocked for a blizzard. Anyone who doesn't know, living just a little south of Chicago, most winters, there is the very distinct possibility of being stuck for at least a day if God decides to bless us with some snow days. Now, of course, around here, it takes a heck of a lot more snow to constitute a "snow day" than some where like North Carolina, so if we get there, we do need to be prepared.

More often than not, however, the weather is burdensome in terms of going out shopping, but nothing more. That said, Mom still begins gathering nuts like a mother squirrel, stocking a tree for winter. In order for that to happen, we have to use up the old to rotate in the new.

One of the things in the freezer are packages of pork chops, which come from a farmer from whom Mom and Dad have bought 1/2 a pig each of the last few years. We had so much pork in the freezer we could have started a barbecue joint. For some reason, this year they seemed to eat less, so we are still working on it. Mom and Dad had pork chops tonight.

While they ate from the farm, I looked to the sea. A while back I was at Ultra Foods and found some individually wrapped salmon fillets. They were a reasonable portion at a great price so I put some away for easy lunches of dinners. I used the last one for my dinner.

I was thinking about making some tomato sauce the other day, so I was reading some tips for getting the best flavor. One of them mentioned cooking up a bit of tomato paste to add to the mix. The author said that by cooking the paste for a bit, letting it darken, you cook the sugars, sweetening and enriching the flavor. I am a big fan of sun dried tomato flavor, and I have learned that cooking tomato paste this way produces a similar flavor if you use a bit of olive oil. While perusing the freezer and discovering my last salmon fillet, I thought I might try this flavor with the fish.

I sauteéd some tomato paste in a splash of olive oil until it turned from bright read to a deep burgundy, adding a bit of stevia and some crushed garlic. The sweet flavor and heavenly smell consumed my senses when I sampled a bit. I put most of it away, leaving only enough to have a bit of a tomato crust across the fish when I added it to the pan.

With the proteins taken care of, we turned to the sides. Mom and Dad picked up several new things last time they ventured out to Costco. I'm sure you've seen those microwavable bags of rice, 90 seconds in the microwave to steamed, sometimes flavored, rice. Almost all of the flavored varieties are off limits to me because they use some form of flour in the seasoning. The plain ones and the buttered flavored ones are okay, but plain brown rice can become boring if you have too much. While shopping, the parents discovered a similarly package product which is a mix of brown rice and quinoa, with garlic seasoning.

I read the label carefully and discovered, gleefully, that it does in fact appear to be gluten free*. This seemed like the perfect night to give it a try, alongside some steamed vegetables. This great product, Seeds of Change Unyuni Quisnoa and Whole Grain Brown Rice, did not fail to please. It still tickles me to hear Dad talking about eating quinoa. He still can't pronounce it (he calls it Quinona, it rhymes with Winona), but a year ago, I'm not sure he would even have tried it.

All in all, the meal was beautiful on the plate and on my tongue. The salmon, tender inside and slightly crisp with a tomato crust on the outside, had a sweet, smoky flavor of sun dried tomatoes gathered from a far off Italian vineyard. The rice was tender, the quinoa slightly firm, the combination accented by a wonderful garlic flavor cooked soaked into each grain. While I'm not giving them much column space, a dependable frozen vegetable medley, upped the nutritional content and had a slightly buttery flavor, cooked simply by steaming them in the microwave. Stay tuned to see what else finds its way to the table from the freezer.

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*On the website (linked above), it lists this food as Dairy Free, Vegetarian appropriate, and whole grain. It is NOT listed as Gluten free, and this is one of their labeling options. Perhaps they do not use a dedicated facility and do not want to risk labeling it as such. I based my decision to eat it on the ingredients listed on the package, and suffered no reaction. I have contacted the company to ask about the labeling and will update when I hear from them.