Ham and Bean Soup

In a large soup pot saute in olive oil
  1 small onion, chopped
  2 stalks organic celery, chopped
  2 cups chopped nitrate free ham from Trader Joe's
Add
  2 cans organic black beans or white beans
  Organic chicken broth to balance thickness
  Sea salt and pepper to taste
Cook 1/2 hour or so.  Serve with Udi bread and a green salad.  Top soup with lemon slices and a drizzle of olive oil.
Enjoy!



  

Green Eggs & Ham Scramble

You know the story..."Sam I am, I am."   Dr. Seuss was my favorite author when I was four.  Now I read him to my grandson.  Still fun...
 
So...as a young woman, I raised Araucana chickens.  It was the late 70s.  I lived in Yakima on one acre--a mini farm where I raised my own vegetables, kept a milk goat and chickens.  Araucanas are small colorful birds that lay green and other colored eggs. My daughter was three then and together we collected eggs in our shirt fronts--you hold up the hem of your T-shirt, making it into a bowl.  She had a favorite hen she called Blackie that she carried around under her arm.  Chickens can make great pets, if you feel inclined to be friendly with them.  But that makes it harder to retire them to the stew pot later.  Try stopping at one of the "fresh eggs" signs along the highway and buy farm fresh eggs.  The flavor of a real free range chicken egg is amazing.

Recipe:
Beat until frothy:

4 farm-fresh eggs
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 Tbl. water

In a heated oiled pan add egg mixture.  Toss in chopped ham.  Trader Joe's has a non-nitrated ham that is very good.  You could use instead their Apple Smoked Bacon, crumbled.  Stir mixture until it is cooked through, but not dry.  Serve with Udi toast.  Enjoy, Nan, I am.


  

Goulash

My mother was from Balston, Virginia, which had a regional influence on her cooking.  One of the dishes we loved the most was goulash.  The recipe has been passed down from daughter to daughter, and on to friends, too.  And now it is modified for gluten-free diets Please enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean organic ground beef
• 1 1/2 cups rice macaroni
• 1 16 oz. can organic stewed tomatoes
• 1 sm. can organic tomato sauce
• 1 Tbl. chili powder or to taste
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Sea salt and pepper

Brown the beef together with chopped onions and minced garlic.  Pour off grease and set aside.  

On the stove, boil brown rice pasta, leaving it a little firm, as it will cook more when you bake this dish.

Add pasta to beef.  Stir in tomatoes and seasonings.  

You could serve this from the stove top--or sprinkle with dairy-free cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Serve with green salad and red wine.



   

Edamame

Edamame are green soybeans eaten by squeezing beans out of pods with fingers. It makes a great appetizer. 

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh edamame in pods, or frozen (thawed) edamame in pods

2 Tbl seasalt

Preparation:

Cut off the stem end of each pod. Wash edamame well and put in a bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and mix. 

Boil water in a large pot. Add the rest of the salt (from 2 Tbsp) in the boiling water. Put edamame in the boiling water and boil for 3 to 4 minutes, or softened. Drain in a colander. Correct saltiness.  Spread the boiled edamame on a flat tray to cool. Serve as appetizer. 

Deep Dish Apple Pie

Pare 6 to 8 Granny Smiths and pack into buttered baking dish.
Season with 1/4 to 1/2 C. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbl. rice flour (if apples are juicy)
Dot with 1 Tbl. butter or ghee

Cover with a top crust and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

Crust:
1/4 C. ghee
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3/4 C. brown rice flour
1 tsp. baking powder

This non-gluten dough is very tender and crumbly.  I'd add more flour to get it to a handling texture, then try rolling or pressing between waxed paper.  Carefully lie crust over apples and bake until apples are tender.
Serve with coconut ice cream.

Drummond's Holiday Eggs

This is the first time I've made this dish--haven't really ordered it out at restaurants either.  The main thing is it is full of butter.  If you can't eat butter because of lactose, perhaps try it with ghee.  I imagine the clarified fat would still work, as it thickens like mayonnaise with the egg yolks.

Fry up some bacon.  Two slices per slice of rice bread or non-gluten English muffin.  Set aside.

Hollandaise Sauce:
In a double boiler--I stacked a smaller pan inside a bigger one with water enough to boil but not spill over--
add three egg yolks.  Whisk them and then stir in 2 Tbl. fresh lemon juice.  Add !/2 cup ghee or margarine, 2 Tbl hot water and 1/4 tsp salt.  If you like, ad a pinch of cayenne.  Now heat this over medium heat until thickened.

Now poach two farm fresh eggs.  While they are simmering in hot water, toast two slices of rice bread from Trader Joe's.  

Now assemble.  First the toast, then bacon, then the poached egg, then the sauce.  Lovely and delicious.
Made a great birthday breakfast for a friend.

Double Baked Potatoes

Wow, this used to be one of my favorite dishes.  I quit eating potatoes, not entirely, but cut way back because they have a high glycemic index.  If you want to loose weight or if you are insulin sensitive, here is one place to consider keeping control of your sugar intake to help your body process sugars more slowly.  Look on-line for a list of low glycemic index foods.  Then use the chart to help you plan the number of carbs you eat each day.  That said, once in awhile, splurge on a Double Baked Potato.

Four Servings
Bake two medium to large potatoes in 350 oven for about 1 hour.  Remove and cool for 10 minutes or long enough to handle.  Slice lengthwise in half.  Carefully scoop out potato, saving skins, and  mash and mix in a bowl until creamy, adding salt and butter and liquid (chicken broth or water) until the texture is correct.  Once mashed smoothly, refill the skins with this mixture and sprinkle with non-dairy cheese or (if you system can handle it) hard goat or sheep cheese.  Return to oven on a baking sheet and cook for another 10 minutes or so.  Serve with a protein dish and vegetable.  

Enjoy!

DeMars' Vanilla Cupcakes

My grandson asked me this morning if we could make vanilla cupcakes.  Here's the delicious cupcake recipe for you to enjoy!

Set a 350 oven and place cupcake papers in an 8 cup tin.

Beat in a bowl
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C almond milk (or enough to make a drippy batter)
1 Tbl melted ghee                                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                        Photo by Rosie Tulips
Stir in
1/4 C coconut flour
1/2 C rice flour
1/4 C xylitol
1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Once batter is smooth and mostly lump free (coconut flour is lumpy) spoon into cups.  They should be 2/3 full.  Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Ice with coconut icing or vanilla butter icing.  Enjoy!

Deviled Eggs

Mama always made the best potato salad and deviled eggs.  Really, the seasoning is the same flavor.  So here is the deviled egg "recipe."  Actually, we just throw together the ingredients and taste as we go along.  Fresh eggs from the hen house are the best.

6 eggs hard boiled
     Place eggs in pan of cold water to cover.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook 10 minutes.  Cool in cold water.  When cooled, peel.  Slice in half and carefully remove yokes into a small mixing bowl.  Place whites on a decorative plate--some plates have dips for egg halves.  I use a flat cut-glass candy dish.

Now mix the yolks with fork until smooth.  Add enough mayo to make the yolks creamy as icing.  Add enough yellow prepared mustard, perhaps as much as two tablespoons, sea salt and pepper.  Mama added a sprinkling of onion powder--I do not.  The seasoning should be tangy, but not too tangy--salty, but not too salty.  Carefully spoon mixture back into eggs.  Sprinkle with fresh ground paprika.

Enjoy,
Nancy

Dairy Free Diet

Here we are at the "Ds" already, which will have fewer recipes, I think, since I can't think of many recipes that start with "D".  I might have to name things, Dang Good Dinner or Darling Egg Omlette.  Anyway,  I haven't eaten much dairy in over 25 years.  It's been fairly easy for me to take it out of my diet, although it has taken many years, perhaps most of my life, to realize I am dairy intolerant.

Now I eat a little goat and sheep cheese.  Recently I've discovered that I have far worst allergic symptoms from eating wheat than from eating dairy.  The problem with starting up again with goat cheese is that I really can't eat much of it without getting symptoms and it's so yummy, I forget and have it for a snack or in burritos or scrambled eggs more often than I should.  I always know when I've had too much as my nose begins to run and my head starts hurting around my eyes.  For me this is sinus related.  I also have digestion problems, and sometimes dizziness.  The dizziness was very pronounced as a child.  Also skin eruptions, dry patches that itch mostly on my face.  Curious--these showed up when I was pregnant with my daughter.  Even then, the docs didn't relate it to food allergies, they just said, get more protein, a cup of cottage cheese everyday, and don't forget several glasses of milk.

After my daughter was born I moved onto a mini farm and raised goats for milking.  My husband was a fan of drinking gallons of milk. He loved the goat milk. I didn't care for it much, so stopped drinking milk.  This is how I began to discover I had an allergy.

If you want to quit all milk products--be sure to read labels because whey, lactose, casein, skim milk, powdered milk, etc. is listed on the label and is in many more products than you realize.  Just say no to dairy for 2 weeks--then add it back in.  See how you feel.  You'll know what to do.

Now how to eat out with a dairy intolerance.  Ask the wait-person to check with the chef to see if there is dairy in the soup and don't forget to ask for no cheese on your salad.  Oil and vinegar dressings are the safest.  I like Mexican food, and I can eat corn tortillas and ordering without cheese is fine with me as the sauces are picante and I still get a lovely dinner.  Italian is a little harder--sides usually work: meatballs, salads, clams, red sauces.  No bread, of course, which is such a disappointment.  Some towns are more hip to serving customers non-dairy and gluten-free meals.  I'm lucky I live in one, so I have more choices than some. Perhaps take along your own gluten-free bread sticks when you eat Italian out.   Not sure the restaurant will allow this, but it's worth a try.  Some Italian places serve rice pasta.  We've come a long way. 

Okay, good luck with this new way of eating.  If you have questions, write them in a comment.  I'll comment back...Cheers!  Nancy

Chicken with Artichoke Hearts

Place in a lightly oiled medium-hot frying pan cook Trader Joe's Organic Chicken Thighs (about 8), one chopped onion, 5 cloves garlic, and salt to taste.

While chicken is cooking, start rice in separate pot.  I like to use Jasmine Brown Rice.  Cook enough to serve four.

When chicken is nearly done, add 9 ounces frozen artichoke hearts, thawed.  1/4 C. chopped fresh dill, cayenne pepper (optional) and 1/2 cup white wine.  Correct seasonings.  Serve over bed of rice.

Cobbler with Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Prepare 2 Cups fruit:
     Peeled and sliced apples, peaches, and/or pears.  Also you can use blackberries, blueberries, or sweetened sour cherries.

Add:
     Pinch of salt
     Sugar to taste
     1 egg, well beaten or 1 tbl. quick tapioca, or 1 tbl. rice flour.  I use flour.

Spread  in a buttered baking dish and dot with ghee.  Spreed over the top, Cottage Pudding.  (see next recipe)
Bake at 425 about 30 minutes.  Serve with Coconut Milk Ice Cream.

Coconut Blondies

Okay, I bought coconut flour and am testing a new recipe.  It's baking right now and the batter was delish! soooo, I can imagine the cookie also being fabulous.  So here's the recipe:

Melt 1/4 pound butter.
Add
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup walnuts or other nuts, if desired

Mix until smooth.  Spread into 8 x 8 inch pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Coconut flour needs more moisture, thus, the extra egg.  I'm thinking of putting a chocolate icing on this.  Sounds yummy.  I'll let you know how folks like it at a New Year's gathering later today.

Happy New Year!
My resolution: Fearless in 2011

Bloody Mary (Just for fun)

Makes 2 Drinks

1 cup good tomato juice
1/3 cup vodka, or to taste
2 tsp prepared horseradish
Tabasco sauce to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Juice of 1 lime
Cucumber spears or celery sticks for garnish

Combine the tomato juice, vodka, horseradish, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, and lime juice in a pitcher.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve on the rocks in large bubble glasses.  Garnish with spears of cucumber or celery.

From: The Martha Stewart Cookbook

Broccoli Raab

2 pounds broccoli raab
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
salt & pepper

Bring to a boil, salted water. Add broccoli raab and cook for a few minutes. Drain and transfer to ice water. Drain and dry.

To a skillet of heated olive oil, add garlic and fry until golden. Add drained greens and season with salt and pepper. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Arrange greens on serving dish. The recipe says to discard garlic, but I love garlic and broccoli, so I mince it and leave it in.

I like to grow broccoli raab. It grows quickly and isn't prone to bugs like regular broccoli.

Picture: Brooklyn Farmhouse
Recipe: Tuscany: The Beautiful Cookbook

Braised Carrots

Warm 1/3 cup olive oil in iron skillet.  Add 4 oz. pancetta, 1 chopped onion, 1 minced garlic clove and cook until onions are translucent.  Add 2 pounds peeled whole carrots and 1 Tbl chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley.  Stir well.  Cook gently for 20 minutes, adding up to 1/3 cup organic veg stock to keep moist.

This is a very pretty dish, with peeled slender carrots with a tiny bit of stem left on.  Very nice.  I've made this one without the pancetta and baked instead of sauteed.  Serve with chicken, or like Tuscany: The Beautiful Cookbook suggests, lamb or rabbit.

Enjoy!
.

Braised Onions

Slice 2 pounds purple onions.  Cook in 1/3 cup olive oil  until they change color, about 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup dry white wine, 1 Tbl fennel seed, & 1/2 Tbl sugar.  Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook over very low heat until all the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes.

Spoon onions onto serving dish and serve hot with Angus Burger or other main dish.

Recipe from Tuscany: The Beautiful Cookbook

Buckwheat Bread by Gordana

Here's a bread recipe shared by Gordana.  Thank you for sharing!  Enjoy!  Nancy

"Since I’m from a different culture with a long tradition of making “real” bread, I could call this cake rather than bread. I have one more example of wrong names concerning bread; any toast bread here in US would not qualify in Sarajevo’s bread category, more like soft foam-cardboard that only looks like bread. Our stomachs couldn’t make pace with these breads. So, we had to start making our own bread during the first years here in B’ham, ah what the trouble. At that time (18 years ago) we didn’t have so many good bakeries in town as now.

That all aside, this is a good substitute of bread for me. I have borrowed and tweaked the recipe from a local nutritionist’s blog, to be as simple as possible to make. I buy organic buckwheat (bulk @ Food Coop) and grind it myself with a coffee grinder. I have noticed that if the grinding process is long, the bread turns out a lighter in color. I do grind it for a shorter time (here you have to experiment), the result, a coarse flour as result, see the photo. Original recipe calls for “roasted” buckwheat, but I do not like the taste. Also, original recipe calls for a xanthan gum.  I have read that it is not very good for you at all, so it’s not in this one.

I have stop using rice flour, but if you do it will make the bread more “spongy” and less coarse ( more room for experimenting J) When I add rice flour, I do make my own by grinding organic medium grain brown rice that I buy bulk in our Food Coop.

In this recipe backing soda, vinegar, and agave syrup together act as a baking powder. If you add more flour to make this bread thicker, more of baking soda is needed. 

2 ½ -3 cups organic buckwheat flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

½ cup organic rice flour-optional

about ½-1 tsp salt

1 ¾  to 2 tsp baking soda

1 TBS organic apple cider vinegar

about 3/4 TBS organic agave syrup (or honey)

¼ cup organic olive oil

1 ½ (about) warm water

Combine dry ingredients and mix.

Combine the rest of the ingredients with water. Pour water mix into dry ingredients and mix with a spoon for a very short time. The dough is better to be little bit “runny” than dry. Have a lightly oiled pan ready and pour the mix in it. Have your hands coated with oil and press the dough evenly, see the photo. The dough needs to have oil on top.  Preheat oven to 390 F, and bake the bread about 15 min, or until it is brown. It’s easy to over bake buckwheat bread. It needs to be little bit soft when it’s done, since it will get harder after cooling.

Then, enjoy eating it J…."  Gordana

Black Bean Chili

Sauté in olive oil:

1 Onion, finely Diced
1 or 2 Green Peppers, finely diced  (I used a can of green chilies instead of fresh)

2 or 3 cloves Chopped Garlic, or more, or less.
2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 or 2 tsp olive oil


1 28oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes
2 cans Black beans 
1 package turkey meat
Salt and Pepper to taste

- Heat the olive oil in a big enough pot to hold all the ingredients
- Saute the onions and the garlic over medium heat until they're soft and the onions are just starting to brown.  Add the turkey meat and saute until cooked through.
- Add the diced tomatoes, beans, and spices and let it simmer over low heat for about an hour, or until the chili has reached the desired thickness. 

Serve with cilantro, avocado, and coconut milk yogurt. 

Basic Gluten-free Flour Mix

Combine:

• 2 cups rice flour (or 1 cup rice and 1 cup sorghum flour)
• 2/3 cup cornstarch (or potato starch)
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch (*or almond meal or buckwheat or quinoa flour for more protein)
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (or guar gum)

Note: Subbing denser flours such as almond, buckwheat or quinoa will result in a heavier, denser product. Experiment and find the formula and texture you like best.

From Karina Allrich

Note:  If you want to make your own flour, you can grind rice or buckwheat at home.  Bob's Red Mill sells Brown Rice Flour & Buckwheat Flour in most grocery stores.  See www.bobsredmill.com for more gluten-free flours and mixes.  In my town, Bellingham, the food co-op sells gluten-free flour, including almond flour.  I would love to collect a list of stores you love to purchase from and your favorite products.  Send my way via the comment box.  Thanks, NC