Yesterday I went to the Holistic Expo in Allentown. I've been wanting to go for a couple of years, but something always happens to prevent it. So anyway, this year I got to go and I'm really glad!
I bought a bunch of pretty rocks, got a reading and had a foot detox. While sitting for the detox, I got to talking with a couple of people. One of them said she'd heard of this blog & I was so happy! I really didn't think anyone was reading this and I'd been considering giving up. The other woman seemed very interested in the blog, so I gave her the web address. I'm so happy to know that people might actually be reading what I write here!
Before the Expo, we went to the local farmers' market in Emaus. I love it there! Always such wonderful, local grown food! Anyway, we got some eggs, asparagus, kale, ground beef, lettuce and zucchini. I had hoped someone would have fresh basil, but no such luck. Oh well. If that's the biggest disappointment that I have to face all week, I'll be in good shape!
I plan to dry some of the zucchini and stuff the rest. Stuffed veggies freeze really well and make a nice dinner or lunch on those days when I don't have time to deal with cooking or can't decide what to make.
The stuffing will be made of sausage (if I were serving a vegetarian, I'd use the spicy sausage crumbles), onion, brown rice, probably some pine nuts or almond slivers and whatever seasonings I decide to throw in. I may also include some spinach, but haven't decided yet. Before the allergy results, I would've used breadcrumbs instead of rice and added parsley and cheese, but wheat, parsley and dairy are all off the menu, so I've tweaked the recipe a bit.
One of the things I miss most about the new allergy-free diet is that we can't have spring rolls or egg rolls anymore. They contain a lot of cabbage, which I'm not supposed to have, and the wrappers are wheat based. I got the kale in the hopes of creating an acceptable substitute. On a trip to a gourmet-type health food store, I found rice paper wrappers, so I'm hoping to use them instead of the standard egg roll wrappers.
I'll let you all know how it turns out!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Spring has Sprung!
Well, yesterday was Mother's Day. My only children are of the 4-legged, furry variety- 1 dog and 2 cats. I hope that all the moms had a lovely day, spent doing whatever they enjoy best. And if your kids cooked for you, I hope that it was good and nothing too crazy. (One friend mentioned that her daughter made her a special drink involving milk, yogurt, peanut butter and several varieties of ice pop, LOL)
Anyway, since my mom lives way too far away for a day visit and his mom and dad came on Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day, we had Sunday to do with as we liked. It was really nice to have a day with my hubby. He's been away for work so much lately and I've missed him. But I digress...
Every Sunday from May through November a nearby town has a really great farmers' market. This particular farmers' market requires that the food sold there all be locally grown, and most of the vendors stick with organic practices on their farms. The prices are reasonable and the foods they sell are wonderful- fresh, tasty and beautiful. It's really one of the things I enjoy most about the warmer months.
So that's where we went yesterday morning.
It's very early in the growing season, so there wasn't a huge selection of foods to be had. There were the non-seasonal food sellers- bread baker, chicken & egg seller, cow & pork seller, 2 goat cheese mongers and the honey guy. The veggie sellers had a few things available- we got some nice green onions, asparagus and baby zucchini. Most of the veggie vendors were selling all sorts of wonderful varieties of seedlings, though.
I am so excited to be able to report that we will have several varieties of heirloom tomato, as well as green pepper, cubanelle pepper (aka banana pepper) zucchini, yellow summer squash, standard basil, lime basil, cilantro, thyme, savory and marjoram. There were a few other things I had been hoping to plant, but, according to my husband, that's all we have room for in the current garden bed.
So this morning's breakfast is to be a locally grown egg sandwich on a millet roll and tonight's supper will consist of pork chops, roasted veggies from the farmers' market and either rice or potatoes. (I'll figure out something for lunch.) I truly love that my farmers' market is open again!
Anyway, since my mom lives way too far away for a day visit and his mom and dad came on Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day, we had Sunday to do with as we liked. It was really nice to have a day with my hubby. He's been away for work so much lately and I've missed him. But I digress...
Every Sunday from May through November a nearby town has a really great farmers' market. This particular farmers' market requires that the food sold there all be locally grown, and most of the vendors stick with organic practices on their farms. The prices are reasonable and the foods they sell are wonderful- fresh, tasty and beautiful. It's really one of the things I enjoy most about the warmer months.
So that's where we went yesterday morning.
It's very early in the growing season, so there wasn't a huge selection of foods to be had. There were the non-seasonal food sellers- bread baker, chicken & egg seller, cow & pork seller, 2 goat cheese mongers and the honey guy. The veggie sellers had a few things available- we got some nice green onions, asparagus and baby zucchini. Most of the veggie vendors were selling all sorts of wonderful varieties of seedlings, though.
I am so excited to be able to report that we will have several varieties of heirloom tomato, as well as green pepper, cubanelle pepper (aka banana pepper) zucchini, yellow summer squash, standard basil, lime basil, cilantro, thyme, savory and marjoram. There were a few other things I had been hoping to plant, but, according to my husband, that's all we have room for in the current garden bed.
So this morning's breakfast is to be a locally grown egg sandwich on a millet roll and tonight's supper will consist of pork chops, roasted veggies from the farmers' market and either rice or potatoes. (I'll figure out something for lunch.) I truly love that my farmers' market is open again!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Product: MimicCreme
Last week I went to Maryland. While I was there, I saw a cute looking organic grocery store, MOM's Organic. So of course I just had to pop in there and investigate.
I found a few products they don't stock at my local markets, so I purchased some of them. One of those products is something called MimicCreme. It is a nut-based cream alternative, and the package says it can be used anywhere you'd use cream. This really piqued my interest, since I have always been a dairy lover and that is one of the things that we both came up highly sensitive to. (Oh cheese and yogurt, how I miss you!)
So anyway, I cracked the package a couple of days ago. The first thing I did was add about a teaspoon to a bowl of cereal with almond milk. (I find the mouthfeel of almond milk isn't right for cereal; it's too thin for my taste, so I had given up cereal for breakfast.) The MimicCreme gave the almond milk that extra dairy milk-like quality that had been missing, without adding a weird flavor. I was very pleased!
Next, I tasted it straight up. Some people might think that's weird or gross, but I used to drink the little half and half cups they give you for coffee at a restaurant, so it was no big deal for me. Like I said, I really love dairy! Anyway, I felt I needed to taste it plain so that I could ensure I wouldn't try to make something with it where the undertones of the creme clashed with the dish.
It does taste of almonds and cashews, but the flavor is mild enough that combining it with almost anything I can think of would mask the nuttiness.
Last night I made rice pasta florentine with it. It came out really well and is definitely something that will be added to the menu plan. Tonight I plan to use it as a base for homemade ranch salad dressing. It really is fantastic stuff!
So yes, I highly recommend MimicCreme!
http://www.mimiccreme.com/
I found a few products they don't stock at my local markets, so I purchased some of them. One of those products is something called MimicCreme. It is a nut-based cream alternative, and the package says it can be used anywhere you'd use cream. This really piqued my interest, since I have always been a dairy lover and that is one of the things that we both came up highly sensitive to. (Oh cheese and yogurt, how I miss you!)
So anyway, I cracked the package a couple of days ago. The first thing I did was add about a teaspoon to a bowl of cereal with almond milk. (I find the mouthfeel of almond milk isn't right for cereal; it's too thin for my taste, so I had given up cereal for breakfast.) The MimicCreme gave the almond milk that extra dairy milk-like quality that had been missing, without adding a weird flavor. I was very pleased!
Next, I tasted it straight up. Some people might think that's weird or gross, but I used to drink the little half and half cups they give you for coffee at a restaurant, so it was no big deal for me. Like I said, I really love dairy! Anyway, I felt I needed to taste it plain so that I could ensure I wouldn't try to make something with it where the undertones of the creme clashed with the dish.
It does taste of almonds and cashews, but the flavor is mild enough that combining it with almost anything I can think of would mask the nuttiness.
Last night I made rice pasta florentine with it. It came out really well and is definitely something that will be added to the menu plan. Tonight I plan to use it as a base for homemade ranch salad dressing. It really is fantastic stuff!
So yes, I highly recommend MimicCreme!
http://www.mimiccreme.com/
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
rice pasta
It's been almost a month since my last post. Wow!
Today's post will not be some long critique of a product or even a recipe. It's just a simple tip.
When preparing rice pasta, rinsing it with cool water at the end of the cooking process is crucial:
I've been eating rice pasta for several years. Prior to the food sensitivity testing, I knew that eating wheat in excess gave me problems, so I tried the different rice pastas over the years. Thank goodness they've improved!
One of the things I never liked about rice pasta is that it gets mushy if you cook it according to the cooking time on the package. I was raised around people who knew what good Italian food was, and 'al dente' is imperative for decent pasta.
But I digress. It never occurred to me to read the package on the rice pasta beyond the cooking time. After all, it's pasta- just dump it into the boiling, salted water, cook it till it's done, drain it and sauce it. Right?
WRONG!
I was waiting for the noodles to cook the other night and reading the package to pass the time, when I noticed that it instructs you to rinse the noodles after cooking. Since I was only cooking for myself, and I don't mind my noodles being cold, I decided to do it.
I was absolutely delighted to find that my pasta, which was quite mushy prior to rinsing, firmed up after the cool water rinse!
I don't know the 'why's or the 'how's, but I do know that I will not be skipping that last step again anytime soon!
Today's post will not be some long critique of a product or even a recipe. It's just a simple tip.
When preparing rice pasta, rinsing it with cool water at the end of the cooking process is crucial:
I've been eating rice pasta for several years. Prior to the food sensitivity testing, I knew that eating wheat in excess gave me problems, so I tried the different rice pastas over the years. Thank goodness they've improved!
One of the things I never liked about rice pasta is that it gets mushy if you cook it according to the cooking time on the package. I was raised around people who knew what good Italian food was, and 'al dente' is imperative for decent pasta.
But I digress. It never occurred to me to read the package on the rice pasta beyond the cooking time. After all, it's pasta- just dump it into the boiling, salted water, cook it till it's done, drain it and sauce it. Right?
WRONG!
I was waiting for the noodles to cook the other night and reading the package to pass the time, when I noticed that it instructs you to rinse the noodles after cooking. Since I was only cooking for myself, and I don't mind my noodles being cold, I decided to do it.
I was absolutely delighted to find that my pasta, which was quite mushy prior to rinsing, firmed up after the cool water rinse!
I don't know the 'why's or the 'how's, but I do know that I will not be skipping that last step again anytime soon!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
what's for lunch???
There are 2 things that my husband refuses to eat: mushrooms and seafood (other than canned tuna or anchovies).
I, on the other hand, love both. Crabmeat stuffed mushrooms are one of my favorite foods.
However, I don't usually cook with mushrooms or seafood because it's easier to just keep ingredients we both like on hand. Most of the times that I've gotten something like that just for me it's ended up going bad before I got a chance to use it, so I've given up. There are only 3 sets of circumstances where I really get to have them- when we go out to eat (which is rare ever since we've found out about the allergies/sensitivities), when we have company for a big deal meal (holidays, barbecues, etc) and when my husband is away on business for a week or more (which has not happened in a few years).
So anyway, my husband started a new job about a month ago (and he loves it). The new position requires him to work in the field some of the time, and those field locations are, on occasion, too far for him to do a daily commute. That means he stays at a hotel near the job site, and I'm left to my own devices (unless I decide to drive out to see him).
About 2 weeks ago he was sent to a job site for a 7-day gig. He came home for an overnight, and was sent to another job the next day, with the understanding that he'd be gone for another 7 to 10 days. The day after he left, I needed to go to the grocery store to restock a few staple items. Of course while I was there I just had to check out the seafood and mushrooms!
I came home with scallops and portabella caps (both on sale for a very nice price), as well as some asparagus, zucchini and the items on my list. I had the scallops for dinner that night, cooked scampi style and served over rice. The vegetables sat in the fridge. Until yesterday, that is.
On a normal day, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner before I go to bed the night before. Yesterday's plans got changed several times over though, and I forgot to eat breakfast. So by lunch time, I was really hungry and had no idea of what to make. As I gazed into the depths of the refrigerator, I glimpsed the asparagus and mushrooms hiding behind a carton of orange juice.
Inspiration hit me, hard. Grilled veggies... balsamic vinegar... over rice... YES!
Now, it's not really grilling season here, so we have no charcoal, and I don't have a grill pan for my stove. I do have a George Foreman grill, which hasn't been used in over a year. I pulled it out of its hidey hole and was absolutely disgusted by the amount of dust and yuckiness on it. It really needed a good, thorough scrub-down. Since it's an electric appliance, it needed to thoroughly dry before being used, which rendered it useless for lunch making.
I was not daunted, though! I determined that rather than find something else to eat, I would just use one of my giant frying pans. The plan changed from grilled veggies to veggies that were sauteed in oil & balsamic vinegar. Sooooo gooood!
The players: baby carrots (cut into 2 pieces to shorten the length and then each half cut into 4 long pieces each), celery (coarsely chopped), sweet onion (diced), asparagus (each spear but into 2 or 3 pieces, for fork-friendliness), zucchini (cut into thick coins which were then halved), potabella mushroom caps (sliced); also a drizzle of olive oil, a bunch of balsamic vinegar and spices including basil, garlic salt and thyme (all dried).
The basic concept: pour a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil into a large frying pan. Add enough balsamic vinegar that it and the olive oil generously cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium high. When hot, add onion, stir and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, allowing the pan to heat back up. Push the onion to the edges of the pan and add the carrots and celery. Stir to coat everything with oil & vinegar and cook for another minute or 2. When the onion begins to look translucent, add the asparagus, zucchini and portabella. Stir well. Add more balsamic, if needed, and stir to distribute. Put a lid on the pan, reduce heat to medium and walk away for about 3 minutes. Remove lid and check if the asparagus is tender enough for your taste. Continue to cook without the lid until it is. Serve over the starch of your choice (rice, pasta, baked potato, bread, etc)
It's seriously tasty stuff!
I, on the other hand, love both. Crabmeat stuffed mushrooms are one of my favorite foods.
However, I don't usually cook with mushrooms or seafood because it's easier to just keep ingredients we both like on hand. Most of the times that I've gotten something like that just for me it's ended up going bad before I got a chance to use it, so I've given up. There are only 3 sets of circumstances where I really get to have them- when we go out to eat (which is rare ever since we've found out about the allergies/sensitivities), when we have company for a big deal meal (holidays, barbecues, etc) and when my husband is away on business for a week or more (which has not happened in a few years).
So anyway, my husband started a new job about a month ago (and he loves it). The new position requires him to work in the field some of the time, and those field locations are, on occasion, too far for him to do a daily commute. That means he stays at a hotel near the job site, and I'm left to my own devices (unless I decide to drive out to see him).
About 2 weeks ago he was sent to a job site for a 7-day gig. He came home for an overnight, and was sent to another job the next day, with the understanding that he'd be gone for another 7 to 10 days. The day after he left, I needed to go to the grocery store to restock a few staple items. Of course while I was there I just had to check out the seafood and mushrooms!
I came home with scallops and portabella caps (both on sale for a very nice price), as well as some asparagus, zucchini and the items on my list. I had the scallops for dinner that night, cooked scampi style and served over rice. The vegetables sat in the fridge. Until yesterday, that is.
On a normal day, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner before I go to bed the night before. Yesterday's plans got changed several times over though, and I forgot to eat breakfast. So by lunch time, I was really hungry and had no idea of what to make. As I gazed into the depths of the refrigerator, I glimpsed the asparagus and mushrooms hiding behind a carton of orange juice.
Inspiration hit me, hard. Grilled veggies... balsamic vinegar... over rice... YES!
Now, it's not really grilling season here, so we have no charcoal, and I don't have a grill pan for my stove. I do have a George Foreman grill, which hasn't been used in over a year. I pulled it out of its hidey hole and was absolutely disgusted by the amount of dust and yuckiness on it. It really needed a good, thorough scrub-down. Since it's an electric appliance, it needed to thoroughly dry before being used, which rendered it useless for lunch making.
I was not daunted, though! I determined that rather than find something else to eat, I would just use one of my giant frying pans. The plan changed from grilled veggies to veggies that were sauteed in oil & balsamic vinegar. Sooooo gooood!
The players: baby carrots (cut into 2 pieces to shorten the length and then each half cut into 4 long pieces each), celery (coarsely chopped), sweet onion (diced), asparagus (each spear but into 2 or 3 pieces, for fork-friendliness), zucchini (cut into thick coins which were then halved), potabella mushroom caps (sliced); also a drizzle of olive oil, a bunch of balsamic vinegar and spices including basil, garlic salt and thyme (all dried).
The basic concept: pour a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil into a large frying pan. Add enough balsamic vinegar that it and the olive oil generously cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium high. When hot, add onion, stir and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, allowing the pan to heat back up. Push the onion to the edges of the pan and add the carrots and celery. Stir to coat everything with oil & vinegar and cook for another minute or 2. When the onion begins to look translucent, add the asparagus, zucchini and portabella. Stir well. Add more balsamic, if needed, and stir to distribute. Put a lid on the pan, reduce heat to medium and walk away for about 3 minutes. Remove lid and check if the asparagus is tender enough for your taste. Continue to cook without the lid until it is. Serve over the starch of your choice (rice, pasta, baked potato, bread, etc)
It's seriously tasty stuff!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thoughts and concepts...
I have not been posting here because I haven't really done much playing in the kitchen. Despite the lack of cooking, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to try making next. I thought I would share those thoughts with you.
In my last post, I shared the revamped breakfast bar recipe. I truly love the results of that recipe, but as often as we eat breakfast bars, it would be really nice to have a few different flavors. I also think that the recipe might work better as a muffin, since it's very cake-like. A muffin might be a little more travel friendly.
The flavors I have been thinking of are:
tropical- replace the pumpkin seeds with chopped macadamia nuts and use dried pineapple, mango and papaya for the fruit
pumpkin- use pumpkin puree instead of banana, replace 1/3 of the ground almonds with ground pecans, and maybe use
raisins or currants for fruit
apple 1- use applesauce, diced apples and currants; maybe with a cinnamon crumble topping
Fluffernutter- eggless marshmallow fluff, replace ground almonds with ground peanuts, replace all fruit with diced apple
I'm also thinking that quick breads, such as carrot cake and zucchini bread would be good flavor bases to investigate. I've been considering doing one involving Nutella and hazelnuts, but I'm not sure what kind of fruit to incorporate.
I've also gotten the most recent issue of Living Without, a magazine for those with food allergies and sensitivities. This issue contains several recipes for cakes and a couple of different icings. At some point in the next week, I will be making one of the cakes, though I haven't decided which one yet. I have time to decide, though, since before I can make it I need to buy some xanthan gum.
What I really like about this issue is that they have a page of substitution suggestions. I'll cover that in a future post, though. I'd rather wait until I've tried some of them before discussing them in depth.
And that is a peak at what some future posts will involve.
Keep it simple, and keep on cookin'!
In my last post, I shared the revamped breakfast bar recipe. I truly love the results of that recipe, but as often as we eat breakfast bars, it would be really nice to have a few different flavors. I also think that the recipe might work better as a muffin, since it's very cake-like. A muffin might be a little more travel friendly.
The flavors I have been thinking of are:
tropical- replace the pumpkin seeds with chopped macadamia nuts and use dried pineapple, mango and papaya for the fruit
pumpkin- use pumpkin puree instead of banana, replace 1/3 of the ground almonds with ground pecans, and maybe use
raisins or currants for fruit
apple 1- use applesauce, diced apples and currants; maybe with a cinnamon crumble topping
Fluffernutter- eggless marshmallow fluff, replace ground almonds with ground peanuts, replace all fruit with diced apple
I'm also thinking that quick breads, such as carrot cake and zucchini bread would be good flavor bases to investigate. I've been considering doing one involving Nutella and hazelnuts, but I'm not sure what kind of fruit to incorporate.
I've also gotten the most recent issue of Living Without, a magazine for those with food allergies and sensitivities. This issue contains several recipes for cakes and a couple of different icings. At some point in the next week, I will be making one of the cakes, though I haven't decided which one yet. I have time to decide, though, since before I can make it I need to buy some xanthan gum.
What I really like about this issue is that they have a page of substitution suggestions. I'll cover that in a future post, though. I'd rather wait until I've tried some of them before discussing them in depth.
And that is a peak at what some future posts will involve.
Keep it simple, and keep on cookin'!
Friday, March 19, 2010
breakfast bar recipe, perfection!
So, one of my first posts was about gluten-free, egg-free, milk-free breakfast bars. The original recipe I used was too greasy for my taste. The next 2 attempts each had their own problems. This morning I made another batch, slightly tweaked to fix the problems. They came out perfectly, IMHO. Very muffin-like. Texture was similar to a quick bread, not overly greasy, dense or sweet. I am very pleased! I think I'm going to use this as a model for some different flavors of quick breads and muffins in the near future.
Anyway, here's the recipe:
dry:
2 c ground almonds
1 c rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 c dried blueberries & cherries, combined
1/2 c finely diced candied orange & lemon peel, combined
1 c pumpkin seeds, lightly chopped
1 c sunflower seeds, lightly chopped
wet:
3 very ripe bananas (should be mushy)
1/2 c agave syrup
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
Preheat oven to 325
Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl, sealable container or large zipper food storage bag and mix well.
Put the bananas into a large mixing bowl and use the mixer to liquefy them. (If you're using a Kitchenaid-type mixer, use the paddle attachment.) Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix well.
Line a 9x13-inch pan (Note 1) with parchment, and grease any portion of the inside of the pan that the parchment is not covering.
Working quickly, mix the dry ingredients into the wet, just until combined.
Pour batter into pan, and bake for approximately 30 minutes, till the top begins to brown. (Note 2)
Cool and cut into 10 pieces.
Note 1- next time I make this, I'm going to use a muffin tin instead of a big pan.
Note 2- all of the ingredients in this recipe are safe to be eaten raw, therefore, you only need to cook it long enough for it to 'set up'
Anyway, here's the recipe:
dry:
2 c ground almonds
1 c rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 c dried blueberries & cherries, combined
1/2 c finely diced candied orange & lemon peel, combined
1 c pumpkin seeds, lightly chopped
1 c sunflower seeds, lightly chopped
wet:
3 very ripe bananas (should be mushy)
1/2 c agave syrup
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
Preheat oven to 325
Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl, sealable container or large zipper food storage bag and mix well.
Put the bananas into a large mixing bowl and use the mixer to liquefy them. (If you're using a Kitchenaid-type mixer, use the paddle attachment.) Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix well.
Line a 9x13-inch pan (Note 1) with parchment, and grease any portion of the inside of the pan that the parchment is not covering.
Working quickly, mix the dry ingredients into the wet, just until combined.
Pour batter into pan, and bake for approximately 30 minutes, till the top begins to brown. (Note 2)
Cool and cut into 10 pieces.
Note 1- next time I make this, I'm going to use a muffin tin instead of a big pan.
Note 2- all of the ingredients in this recipe are safe to be eaten raw, therefore, you only need to cook it long enough for it to 'set up'
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