May 2012
2 posts
3 tags
Tsukune
After a long hiatus of not reading Bon Appetit, I’ve been frantically catching up (going to yoga = not going to the gym = not reading on the elliptical). Anyway, the latest issue is a travel issue. At first I was miffed. Food & Wine this month was also a travel issue, and having picked it up at the airport on my way home from a business meeting, I was all travel fooded out.
But tucked...
6 tags
Radish Pea Pasta
I overheard someone raving about Heartland pasta recently (it’s gluten free). After eating burgers the last two nights, I decided to tone it down with something… non-meaty. I also forgot to buy chicken at the grocery store which foiled my plans of fried chicken. Here’s what you need -
2 cups dry pasta
1 tbsp butter
10 radishes, scrubbed and sliced
1 shallot, sliced
1/8...
April 2012
2 posts
3 tags
Homemade Oreos
First off, I have to apologize for the hiatus. It was unintentional but I do have a fairly decent reason - I was completing my first ever 30-day bikram yoga challenge. What’s this? Oh I just go to bikram yoga once a day, every day for 30 days. For those of you who don’t know, bikram is a hot torture chamber. The room is a minimum of 105 degrees (but we’re looking at usually 112 -...
March 2012
4 posts
3 tags
Deep Dish Pizza
One of the things I miss most being gluten free is PIZZA. Luckily, we no longer live in close vicinity to good pizza, but this doesn’t change the fact that I crave cheesey goodness. Yes you can order a GF pie, but first you have to find a restaurant that actually does this. And since that is no where near my residence, I either have to eat it there or bring it back and risk it getting cold.
...
3 tags
Gluten Free Gnocchi
It’s been three months since I cracked down hardcore on my gluten consumption. First of all, my knees feel amazing. The swelling went away, and whether this is a direct result of my diet or a milder winter, I’ll take it. Secondly, I FEEL better. I have to be more creative, really think about what I want to eat, and my friends have been really great in supporting my crazy food finding...
2 tags
Funfetti fudge
It was recently James’ birthday and his favorite dessert of all time is funfetti cake. Given the gluten free diet, and the fact that we have always had trouble finishing a box of the cake in years previous, I decided to make it with a twist - in fudge form!
I found an awesome recipe on Pursuit of Hippieness, which I catered to my own needs. Here’s what you need:
1 14oz can of...
5 tags
Lemon Basil Risotto
Fresh basil. There is nothing that even compares. After pining over the recipe for more than a year, I decided to finally embark on a lemon basil risotto. Here’s what you need -
1 lemon rind, grated
1 cup of basil, shredded by hand
1 1/2 cups of risotto rice
5 cups of chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, baked and cubed
1/2 onion, minced
1/3 cup white wine
1 tbsp of olive oil
In a...
February 2012
4 posts
2 tags
Gluten Free Donut Holes
I can’t take credit for this one - check out the recipe here - thanks Baby Cakes!
3 tags
Twice baked sweet potatoes
Ugh. I know. I’m a horrible blogger at the moment. But I promise, I have recipes.
Recently I decided to make twice baked sweet potatoes. The original recipe I came across was Asian inspired with miso paste and sesame seeds. But I love baked potatoes for butter and sour cream and bacon. And I would not do it any injustice.
Here’s what you need -
3 -4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3...
1 tag
Pulled Pork
Shout out to my little bro who pulled this together (no pun intended!). His recipe? A lot of brown sugar, Frank’s hot sauce, 3 lbs of boneless pork something and a dutch oven. Oh, and lots of time.
3 tags
One Pot Beef Stew
Although I assume, that many beef stews are one pots. Unless you are making Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon. Which I have a done. And it took five hours. Maybe longer. I cant remember. It was good, but five hours good? I don’t know…
Anyway, we had some leftover steak in the fridge. Not enough to warrant a meal on its own though. So I decided to make beef stew. This recipe is...
January 2012
5 posts
2 tags
Steak & Rosemary Potatoes
This is more about the potatoes. I didn’t do anything interesting to the steak. I didn’t need to (we splurged on a nice cut). Nice cuts of steak mean salt, pepper, a little olive oil or butter and a hot pan.
Rosemary potatoes on the other hand - need a bit more attention. Here’s what you need -
1 lb of potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1/2” pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1...
3 tags
Carrot Cake
My mom’s favorite cake in the whole wide world (or one of them at least) is Alton Brown’s carrot cake (recipe here). So I know you aren’t supposed to alter Alton’s recipes. They are perfected. They are science. But we’ve changed things out due to allergies and diets. Spelt flour for wheat flour. Egg replacers for eggs. You get the picture. Given my new experiment, I...
4 tags
Bahn Mi
I love bahn mi’s. The pickled carrot. The pork. The cilantro. The spicy mayo. Inspired by a bunch of cilantro I bought yesterday (and already starting to wilt!), I decided to try the bahn mi route. Here’s what you’ll need -
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup grated radishes
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
...
4 tags
Cardamom Crescents
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Bon Appetit’s December issue was filled with recipes for delicious holiday cookies. One recipe in particular, the cardamom crescents, had been calling my name. A cookie that could be perfectly paired with tea. Dusted lightly with powdered sugar. Oh, divine!
Original recipe is located here. I halved mine and made gluten free, but the instructions below are...
6 tags
Peanut Sauce Stir Fry
Day one of being back to gluten free and I would say it’s been a success thus far. I had a burst of creative energy in the kitchen (something that vanished over the holiday season) and spent hours concocting recipes - gluten free crescent cookies (yum), gluten free bread, gluten free ice cream. You name it.
Tonight we went back to the basics - stir fry. I made a lot of stir fries back in...
December 2011
4 posts
1 tag
Gluten Free
We are approaching the end of the year, which to many means making a resolution or compiling a list of activities to complete by the year’s end. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I can’t stand resolutions. I am not against them. I don’t despise them. But I am not very good at following through on them. Too much pressure. However, this year, I am using the...
5 tags
Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
Our CSA has finally come to an end, but each week we received more spinach than humanly possible to consume. For example.
This isn’t spinach you can just wash and be done with. No. It’s covered in dirt. And the stems need to be snipped off. One bag took us two hours to wash, snip, cook and package to freeze. But regardless, we still needed to use it up.
Another item we had in...
3 tags
Homemade Nougat
The holiday season pretty much prevented me from finding time to blog. Too much wrapping and shopping and cleaning to do. But rest assure, I continued to cook as much as I could (though I’ll admit, we ate a rotisserie chicken all last week). The December issue of Bon Appetit was filled with wonderful cookie recipes, including one for homemade nougat.
As a child, we use to eat nougat from...
5 tags
November 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Cider brined chicken
This recipe was inspired from Bon Appetit. But I omitted things I didn’t have, thirded the recipe and well, used a chicken instead of a turkey.
But - this is the best damn chicken I have ever had. Hands down.
Here’s what you need -
3 cups cider
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup of brown sugar (packed)
4 whole black peppercorns
3 whole star anise pods
2 cloves of...
4 tags
Stuffed Peppers
A few weeks ago, we received about 6 green peppers in our farm share. I’m all for peppers. I like eating them raw, added to sauces and stir fries… but what do you do with six?! The answer is simple - you stuff them and make a meal out of them.
Here’s what you need -
4 medium to large peppers
1 small pepper, cored and chopped into small pieces
1 cup rice, cooked
1/2 pound...
2 tags
Beet Salad
I have tried (unsuccessfully I might add), to make anything with beets other than risotto, salad and red velvet cake. First off, beets taste like dirt, so whatever you add them to, will taste like dirt as well. Take the beet pasta James and I made a few months ago. We barely forced it down.
But roasted beets, with goat cheese, toasted almonds and balsamic vinegar on a bed of arugula, is...
4 tags
Pumpkin Sweet Potato Risotto
We started the late fall share for our CSA, which means mutant sweet potatoes, squash and a plethora of beets, radishes and turnips. Mutant is referring to their size, which massive. I have never seen vegetables so large before.
Anyway, I need a way to use up some of these veggies, and risotto is always a favorite go to.
Here’s what you’ll need -
1 cup arborio rice
4 cups chicken...
October 2011
5 posts
3 tags
Chicken Masala
I’m not a huge fan of Indian food, but once in awhile I get a huge craving for tofu tikki masala, so I decided to experiment. Here’s what you need -
2 chicken breasts, sliced
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp curry
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 small onion, sliced
1 sweet potato, baked
1 cup broccoli florets
2 cups rice
Boil...
6 tags
One Can of Pumpkin
I love pumpkins. The flavor. The color. The texture. How it can transform anything instantly into autumn. The task? Use one can of pumpkin in one weekend without making a pie.
First up - pumpkin pancakes! Other than the fact that these are amazing, one is only 60 calories, about half the calories of a “regular pancake.”
Here’s what you need -
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp...
3 tags
Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
It’s a little early for gingerbread, but I had no cans of pumpkin, and I wasn’t about to roast the sugar pumpkin I picked up at the farm for my raviolis. I’ve been into warm, spicy foods lately (can’t get enough chai!), and so I went in search for a gingerbread whoopie pie recipe (adapted from here).
For the pies:
3 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground...
3 tags
Roasted Pumpkin Soup
It’s pumpkin season! I made this soup over the course of, oh, three days, but it’s really quite simple. Things like traveling for work, yoga and The Office got in the way.
Here’s what you need -
3 - 4 lb sugar pumpkin, cut in half
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
1 gala apple, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1...
3 tags
Potato Frittata
Ever open your fridge and realize the meat you meant to defrost the day before was still in the freezer? Still need protein? Egg time!
I love making frittatas because you can basically put anything in it. You can go vegetarian or add sausage or shrimp or anything else that suits your fancy. Really, you can be super flexible with what goes in this, so use this recipe as a guide by have fun:
What...
September 2011
5 posts
3 tags
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Have you ever wondered how bakeries are able to get chocolate chip cookie dough in the middle of a cupcake without it baking and/or poisoning you? In short, milk instead of eggs and the freezer is your friend.
For the cookie dough:
2 sticks softened butter (buy high quality butter, people will taste it!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups...
3 tags
Apple Bacon Risotto
We have approximately 30 pounds of apples hanging out in our living room and kitchen. Eating them raw is fine, but that can only take you so far. Same with apple pie. How much of it can you really eat before getting sick of it?! So I decided to pair my apples with bacon… in a risotto.
Here’s what you’ll need -
1 cup risotto
1 tbsp butter
4 cups of chicken broth (vegetable...
2 tags
Chili (and Evil)
Last weekend was mine and James’ anniversary (we’re talking six years here, not six months). We had planned lots of activities - hiking, apple picking, SOWA open market, eating out…
Saturday we decided to tackle the hiking and apple picking part and me being a planner decided to throw a chili together in the crock pot to come home to. That week, we received numerous hot peppers...
3 tags
Pasta
There is nothing better in this world than a giant bowl of homemade fresh pasta. Having made fresh ricotta last week, I decided to try out raviolis again. I made meat raviolis a few weeks ago, but was not in love with the dough. This time, I armed myself with a different pasta recipe, and a fresh perspective (and a better rolling pin!).
Here’s what you need -
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3...
August 2011
12 posts
3 tags
Ricotta Lemon Pancakes
Hurricane Irene has kept me indoors today. So we’re having a cooking marathon. Seriously. First up was ricotta lemon pancakes (original recipe here). I decided to make my own ricotta last night, something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. We’ll start there.
4 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp salt
In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients...
4 tags
Eggplant Fries
Eggplants and zucchinis have taken over our CSA. A few months ago, James and I had an atrocious eggplant experience, resulting in ice cream for dinner (which isnt’ so bad). Since then, I’ve been determined to reinstate my love of eggplant. It started with a ratatouille like dish. Eggplant chopped up small. We move into grilling eggplant with garlic salt. And last night, we prepare...
1 tag
Lily's Brownies
These are my favorite brownies of all time. They are so simple to make, and amazingly chewy and soft.
Every time I want to make them, I have to call my mom, beg her to find the recipe (even late at night!) and then I never write it down. So here it is. I’m writing it down!
Here’s what you need -
1/4 cup butter
6 oz chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking...
3 tags
Tomato Pie (Yes, Tomato Pie)
“Why don’t you just make a pizza?”
Because a pizza doesn’t have a flaky buttermilk biscuit crust, layers of fresh herbs like dill and an overwhelming amount of fresh tomatoes from the farm (which would sog out pizza crust).
Welcome to our lives, tomato pie. Based on a recipe from Bon Appetit, of course. Mine is slightly less caloric, and I used mozzarella instead of...
3 tags
Dressing up
Chicken.
This probably doesn’t evoke any wonderful feelings does it? Chicken is… good. And you can’t beat a wonderfully prepared whole roasted chicken served with corn, mashed potatoes and gravy. But still, chicken can be dry, chicken can be bland, chicken can be boring and tiresome.
So I decided it was time to dress it up a bit. Inspired by the July issue of Bon Appetit of...
2 tags
Forbidden Rice Salad
One of my favorite bases for a cool, summer salad (that’s not lettuce) is forbidden rice (also called purple rice, black sticky rice, etc). Our farm shares have been out of control as of late, and we had the perfect makings for a forbidden rice salad.
Here’s what you’ll need -
1 cup of dry forbidden rice
1 - 3 scallions (if they are monster scallions like we are getting in...
10 tags
Smörgåsbord
Yesterday was a whirlwind of cooking and baking. Unfortunately, I only took one photo of some cookie batter. This is what happens when you make four or five different dishes at once. Priorities!
To start, I made and canned two jars of pickles, two jars of dilly beans and three jars of mango salsa. (See canning post for pickle recipe, which I used for dilly beans, but with green beans instead of...
5 tags
We Be Grilling
James and I recently acquired a grill (thanks, Mel!). I had grand plans to pull it out last night, but I was gas-less and hungry, so I settled for the stove.
Grilled eggplant, zucchini, summer squash and scallions. Prepared with some salt and garlic powder and a smidge of olive oil.
The shrimp were marinated in soy sauce, grated ginger, red pepper flakes, olive oil and garlic for about 30...
2 tags
Veggies Galore
It’s official. We’ve hit our CSA stride. Which means a lot of vegetables each week. This week’s box contained:
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tomatoes
6 pickling cucumbers
3 zucchini
1 summer squash
1 head of lettuce
1 bunch of scallions
1 egg plants
4 green peppers
2 - 3 hot peppers
1 lb green beans
1 bunch basil
Seriously, what do you do with that many vegetables?...
3 tags
Organic Beef
Lately we’ve been frequenting SOWA (south end open market). This is mostly to get our grilled cheese fix/fill, but last weekend James and I decided to check out the farmer’s market portion. Since we have a CSA, we rarely buy vegetables, so we gravitated toward the meat stands. Best beef I have ever had, hands down.
The meat came from John Crow Farms and next time I’m in the SOWA...
July 2011
7 posts
6 tags
Canning
Challenge of the weekend? Canning. Oh, and pickling. Having a slew of pickling cukes, zucchini and summer squash from our CSA means having to be creative with preparing and preserving.
I had never canned before, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole process was. I’m sure the more practice you have, the quicker it goes too.
I was inspired by an article in the August edition...
1 tag
CSA Box
As everyone promised, our CSA drastically improved this week, thanks to the mid-summer crop. We received:
5 ears of corn
1 head of lettuce
1 bunch of mustard greens
2 zuchinnis
1 turnip
1 summer squash
1 bunch of basil
1 bunch of cilantro
green beans
2 onions
1 bunch of baby carrots
3 cucumbers
(Please forgive photo quality!)
I’m looking forward to making pesto, and possibly...