Posts Tagged ‘Home’

Eat n Park’s the place for Gluten Free buns

I love, love, love that Eat n Park has a clean, separated, easy to follow menu for just about everyone. Turn it over and you’ll find senior options, allergen-friendly items and calorie concious dishes in a cleanly designed, easy to read page that covers it all. I love it. Have I said how much I love it?
This said, Husband took me after work one day to the Waterfront Eat n Park so I didn’t have to cook dinner (how sweet :) ). I settled down for my usual perusal of the salad bar and saw some yummy looking soups on the bar. Unfortunately every one of them was packed with pasta. Husband urged me to ask if they had any soups included in the GF menu and eventually I did. The server went to fetch the manager and he appologised profusely but they did not have any GF soups and he would mention it at the next team meeting to see if something could be added on to the menu. I was impressed- enough to try the hamburger with GF bun.
Now the bun was more like a roll than a bun. Tasty, heavy, good with butter and probably some jam. Almost like a scone. With the hamburger it was just too heavy. So I’m wondering if Eat n Park could just bring some smaller versions of these buns to the table if requested just as they do their sticky buns. Perhaps they could serve them with coffee and jam as a breakfast offering. And perhaps Eat n Park could maybe maybe maybe bring out a GF version of the Smiley cookie. Get together with Gluuteny and whip some up for the holidays. They could even just be offered during the winter season when even wheat-free dieters want a little something warm and soft after skating.
Tasty Factor: Very tasty, soft and yummy– would recommend to everyone!
Poopy Factor: just a little heavy to service as a sandwich bun but there could be endless uses for these guys.
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Rose’s Mallow Potatoes

I was originally going to use a recipe from a book of Southern Foods I got from the library for Miss Alma’s best sweet potatoes (And I cant locate the exact title online to give it a link, sorry) but went off on a tangent and modified the recipe to get rid of a lot of the fat. (Yes I know, give me a southern slap for trying to undermine the cuisine). If you can find that book, it was heavenly.

Rose’s Mallow Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped small
1/3 c evaporated milk
good-sized knob (1/4 c approx) margarine
splash of vanilla essence
1/2c- 3/4 c marshmallow fluff
1/2 c lowfat soured cream (I always use Breakstone’s)
chopped pecans- optional

Place chopped potatoes in a pot with water and leave on the boil 15 min or until almost mushy. Drain and place in a small buttered casserole. Add the evaporated milk and margarine and mash together until very smooth. Bake uncovered at 350F for 20 min approx. and let to cool. Separately, mix together 1/2 c soured cream and 1/2 c marshmallow fluff. If you’d like the topping to be thicker, increase the fluff by 1/4 c at a time. Beat until pourable and pour over the potato bake, which will also be thick and creamy. Serve warm or refrigerate- this is great cold. You can also sprinkle chopped pecans over the fluffy topping just before serving.

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Rose’s Happy Accident Tea Biscuits

Firstly, let me apologise for the long wait between posts but Husband and I went to Niagara Falls last month and broke the camera while there, so I’ve felt like without the photo accompaniment, my posts were best left saved for the holidays when I knew I’d be a busy bee in the kitchen. The camera has not yet been fixed, however, so bear with me.

This was my first gluten-free Thanksgiving and I thought instantly of my home cuisine of the south (which is a complete lie- the words ‘gluten-free’ are like ‘fat-free‘, ‘low-cal’ or ‘diet’: these do not exist in the southern vocabulary and certainly not in any reference to cooking, bebe). However, I figured if I stuck to some simple standards I’d be okay and not have to do a lot of screwing around with substitutions and this bore true- it was a pretty straightforward deal and I’ll be posting my recipes in the coming days so others can use them for their holidays. My one caveat was the pie, however. I was going to attempt a gluten free, not a zillion calories pecan pie.

This was my first time making GF pie crust, something I’ve dreaded since the doc told me to cut the gluten out. I had looked at several recipes and settled for this one onCooks.com from Libby’s Pumpkin, substituting the flours it calls for with a ready mixed flour from Bob’s Red Mill. Of course there is a story with this and of course the stove went wonky and half the pie bubbled over and congealed in a petrified state on the bottom, but I only used half the crust. The other half I hopefully rolled out and added a little sugar to to cut and bake and hopefully have some sort of biscuit-y thing for breakfast. Actually, I do’t know what the heck I was thinking but it turned out really well.

Here is my variation of this recipe and the ‘accidents’ that turned it into a really excellent tea biscuit!

Rose’s Variation- Happy Accident Tea Biscuits
1 1/2 c. pre-mixed GF flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 c cold margarine, cut into small pieces (I froze it first and then cut it)
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbs red wine vinegar
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water (I didn’t end up using this at all)
Gram flour to dust
4-5 tbs caster sugar

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and cut the margarine pieces into the flour with 2 knives. In a separate bowl beat the egg and vinegar and make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour in the egg/vinegar and mix inward from the outside of the bowl until mixed, using ice water if needed to mix completely. Use hands if necessary until a soft dough forms. Divide dough in half. Dust a surface with a generous amount of gram flour and place a piece of waxed paper over the 1st ball of dough. Roll out the dough underneath the waxed paper to about 1/4″ thick or more if you prefer and cut in rounds with a biscuit cutter. Repeat with second ball of dough.
Bake on sheets lined with parchment paper on 350F for 10-15 minutes, checking after 10. Biscuits are done when bottoms are golden-brown. Remove and cool on the sheet 5 minutes before removing. These have a nice solid texture and slightly sweet flavour and the gram flour toasts a little on the bottom which is really quite nice!

Tasty Factor: thumbs up- we thought the accident of my putting in too much vinegar for the recipe and the wrong kind would really mess this up but it came out pretty well.
Poopy Factor: None for the biscuits. The crust took a bit too long to bake as opposed to the pie filling but we think this was due to the type of pan used.

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Mushrooms in tomato and onion sauce

yummy mummy mushroomsI’m still on my Indian food kick and tonight I made a simple vegetable side dish called Mushrooms in a Rich Tomato and Onion Sauce. Very easy recipe, gluten free and pretty darned tasty. This one is also from Cooking School: Indian from Barnes and Noble.

Mushrooms in a Rich Tomato and Onion Sauce

10 oz (280g) white button mushrooms
4 tbs sunflower or olive oil (I used about half the amount of oil)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green chili, chopped
2 tsp garlic paste (I used garlic/ginger)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tbs tomato paste (I used 2 tbs tomato sauce)
3 tbs water
1 tsp snipped fresh chives (I used chopped green onion)

Thickly slice the mushrooms.

fry up the onion and chiliHeat the oil in a  pan over medium heat. Add onion and the chili and cook, stirring for 5-6 min til onion is soft but not yet browned. Add the garlic paste and cook, stirring, 2 more minutes.

add some spicesAdd cumin, coriander, chili powder and cook 1 more minute. Add mushrooms, salt and tomato paste and stir til everything is blended.

toss in the vegSprinkle the 3 tbs water evenly over mushrooms and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. The sauce should have thickened (if not, uncover and cook another 3-4 min to the consistency desired).

Serve w/chives as garnish.

Tasty Rating: Could have been spicier. Great for the likes of Husband who hate spice but for myself, I would have liked to have had a little more hot. This recipe is great on rice.

Poopy Rating: just doesn’t look very nice – but it tastes great!

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Kheema Matar- my first real Indian dish

Kheema dish-finished I absolutely adore Indian cooking and a good deal of it is either gluten free or can be made gluten free easily if you’re good at it.

However. 1. I suck at cooking it mainly because it seems like I can make even a Lassi a mystery  2. Husband hates it because he equates all things hot-spicy with it.

So, I’ve always shied away from making ‘real’ Indian dishes, which is a complete shame because up til a couple of months ago I worked right up the street from Bombay Mart and a few blocks from Kohli’s. Since then Husband has bought me a lovely little Barnes and Noble book to experiment with: Cooking School- Indian. I made a trip back through Oakland to Kohli’s to pick up some essential spices I didn’t have on hand and got to work on Kheema Matar, veg-style. I halved this recipe and replaced the ground beef with lentils and we had more than enough for 2 w/leftovers.

ingredientsKheema Matar, for 4-6

2 tbs ghee (Clarified butter. The recipe says you can also use peanut or veg oil)
2 tsp cumin seeds (I used ground cumin)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbs garlic/ginger paste (don’t substitute for this, it’s great)
2 bay leaves (I omitted)
1 tsp any strength curry powder
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2-1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
pinch sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb 2 oz (500g) lean ground beef or lamb (I substituted red lentils)
2 1/4 c frozen peas (don’t defrost)

 ghee and cumin1. Melt the ghee in a skillet w/ a tight fitting lid. Add the cumin seeds and cook, stirring 30 seconds or until they begin to crackle. (Rose’s note: I cooked the ground cumin for the same amount of time)

2. Stir in onion, garlic/ginger paste, bay leaves and curry powder and keep stir-frying until the fat separates. (Rose’s note: Right after this step I added in 3 small peeled, diced red potatoes and cooked 2-3 min more)

 

potatoes and onion3. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in coriander, chili powder, turmeric, sugar, salt/pepper and stir for 30 seconds.

4. Add the beef and cook for 1-2 min. until browned and break up with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Rose’s note: instead of beef I added 1/2 c. red lentils and 1/2 c water. During the 10 minute simmering I added approx. 1 more cup of water as the lentils started to cook but you can adjust this as necessary)

spices and veg5. Add the peas and continue simmering for another 10-15 minutes until peas are thawed and warmed. Add more water if necessary to prevent sticking or if you end up with too much, allow to simmer until it absorbs.

 

 

peasred lentilsI really liked this recipe and would serve it with rice or wrapped in corn tortillas. It’s spicy but not hot and was quite good with fruit chutney.

Tasty Factor: Thumbs up by all- mild enough for everyone but you could certainly taste the spice. Not a lot of complicated ingredients and was relatively easy to throw together.

Poopy Factor: This could just be user error but the recipe wasn’t very clear about how long it would be until the fat separated in step 2. I gave up after a while and went on to step 3 but I wonder if I was supposed to do something else….?

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Coleslaw w/peanuts

When I got married a few years ago I felt I ought to be grown-up and own real cookbooks rather than a drawer-full of hastily scribbled recipe copies from friends and family. I ended up picking up one of those Barnes and Noble markdowns at the front of the store called simply Wok. I had put it away in a cupboard above the stove of all places and just found it again after cleaning the other day.

The easy, well-photographed recipes are divided into the following sections: Vegetarian, Noodles and Rice, Meat and Poultry, Fish and Seafood. Most of the recipes are gluten free (just remember to substitute GF soya sauce and check your other sauces for wheat/malt/yeast) and those that aren’t can be easily modified with rice noodles, etc.

Right on page one of the Vegetarian section I came to Coleslaw with Peanuts. I am an avid hater of coleslaw but the picture looks really good and there’s nothing creamy in this Asian take. Let me announce that this recipe was the bomb and even I liked it.

slaw ingredientsColeslaw w/Peanuts- Wok, Barnes & Noble

1 1/4 c white cabbage
1 large fennel bulb (I omitted this)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 tbs sesame oil (I just used olive oil)
2 red chilies
4 tbs soya sauce
4 tsp honey
salt
szechuan pepper (I used plain old black)
4 tbs roasted peanuts, coriander leaves

1. Wash and dry cabbage; cut or shred into fine strips. Wash and dry the fennel and shred finely. Wash, core and seed peppers and cut these into fine strips.

cabbage and peppers2. Heat a wok and pour in the oil. Stir-fry the cabbage and fennel for 2 minutes w.o browning. Leave to cool. (Rose’s note: the recipe actually doesn’t tell you what to do with the red/yellow peppers so I threw them in with the cabbage. Since I didn’t use a fennel bulb, I also tossed in a small piece of peeled ginger and discarded this at the end of the 2 minutes.)

3. Wash and seed the chilies, chop finely.

letting the dressing mix4. Make the salad dressing by combining the soya sauce, chilies, honey, salt and a pinch of pepper. (Rose’s note: I cooked this for like 1 minute over low to melt the honey)

5. Combine cooled cabbage and fennel strips with the dressing and leave in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to marinate. Scatter over the peanuts before serving. (Rose’s note: the book’s photo of the finished recipe included fresh coriander leaves but the recipe doesn’t call for them. I put them on- they rock.)

6. Variation to this recipe: you can omit the cooking steps and replace with cabbage with zucchini and the red pepper w/ a large red onion cut to strips.

finished slaw!Tasty Factor: yum, yum, yum in my tum. Goes great with the Vegetarian GF Beany Burgers.

Poopy Factor: None. It refrigerated well and stayed crisp and even trumped veggie-hating Husband

coleslaw with beanie burger

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Veggie GF Beany Burgers

Though we’re not vegetarians, we’re also not big meat eaters in my house so burgers are a bit of a rarity. However, the other day I checked my inbox and sitting there in my BACN was a newsletter from eatbetteramerica with new recipes. The Spicy Chili Bean Burgers caught my eye and since I didn’t have any buns, gluten-free or not, in my house, I figured I’d just make up the patties and figure it out from there.

Then of course I looked around in my pantry and realised I didn’t have half the ingredients on hand. Undaunted, the queen of substitution soldiered on of course.

crushing chickpeascrushing corn chexThe main ingredients for this recipe are bran cereal, spicy chili beans and cooking oats. As always, I leave it to you, dear reader to decide if you’re going to chance oats or not but I had them on hand and added them in. I was not going to use bran cereal so I grabbed the end of a box of Corn Chex and spicy chili beans would have caused an uproar in my house even if I did have them laying about so I grabbed a tin of chickpeas instead and crushed those up.

There isn’t much else to this recipe really- since I wasn’t using already spiced chili beans, I was a little concerned about spice and added in some chopped fresh coriander, salt and pepper. You can mix up your patties any way you want but frankly I have an aversion to meatballs and meatloafs because of all that slippery, eggy-mess you end up palming into shape so I put my ingredients in a ziplock and mashed them up.

mixing up the pattieslittle beanie patties ready to fryThe patties came out ok but I would have liked them to be  a little sturdier. Ah well, I fried them in olive oil and served on corn tortillas with sliced grape tomatoes, green onions and a drizzle of sweet chili sauce. Beware- if you’re going to use sweet chili sauce for anything make sure you check the label- some have yeast in the ingredients.

I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe even though I ended up taking all of the kick out of it. The patties browned up nicely and solidified and tasted awesome.

finished beanie burger on a corn tortilla

Tasty Factor: thumbs up from everyone!

Poopy Factor: just a little- the patties can be a little brittle and are definitely messy to make.

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Rose’s asian noodle wannabe recipe

I say wannabe because I’ve been on an Anthony Bourdain No Reservations kick lately and was home sick the other day catching up on his adventures in the orient. So many yummy things to make! And of course those street vendors in Hong Kong and Singapore always make it look so easy. Let’s just say I did my own whipping up last night and I apologise for the lack of photos but I didn’t end up eating until 10 o’clock so I was more focused on stuffing my face than photodocumenting…!

Rose’s wannabe asian noodles

1/2 clove garlic
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 green chili pepper
sliced green onions
1/2 c sliced mushrooms
small knob of peeled ginger
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c thin rice noodles (rice sticks)
splash of: GF soya sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce
1 boiled egg
garnish- chopped fresh cilantro leaves

In a saucepan, skillet or wok (someone who shall not be named ruined my skillet last night and my wok is long gone so for this amount my saucepan worked just fine), coat the bottom w/olive oil pam or similar spray and cook peeled sliced garlic, onions, ginger knob and a handful of green onions til soft.

Add a tablespoon of rice vinegar and cook a little longer, then add sliced mushrooms. Cook on low 1-2 min til mushrooms start to soften and then add the water, equal parts fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, and soya sauce (about a tbs each or less to taste). Turn heat down and let simmer while you prepare the egg.

For the egg, bring water to the boil and boil your egg 8-10 minutes. When done, plunge in cold water to cool and peel. Slice into 4 equal slices.

Add your rice noodles to the broth and cover; cook 3-4 minutes til soft and translucent and transfer to a bowl. Top with chopped coriander leaves and the egg slices. If you wish, splash on a little more soya or sweet chili sauce for flavour.

As I said, these are wannabe noodles. The dishes I’m trying to teach myself to cook are Hainan Chicken Rice and Vietnamese Pho soup (I’ll let you know how that goes…. ;P) and honestly I can never quite get the water ratio right. So basically, this recipe is more like noodles in a sauce rather than an actual soup. Hopefully I’ll ge the hang of this soon but it was pretty tasty anyway!

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Labor Day barbeque? Only if you can puree it!

pbbj ingredientsIt’s Labor Day weekend and poor Husband has had his wisdom teeth removed just in time to not enjoy any picnic food.  This isn’t helping his weight any- I have the unenviable fortune of being a woman married to a man who can’t gain weight to save his life. Not being able to open his jaw for more than to pass a straw through has put the challenge to me to get hoardes of calories through his lips without clogging up the straw.

So I had to be somewhat creative with the blender.  Yeah, yeah, we do ensure and boost and all of those but sometimes you just need actual food. So I pulled out the tried and true rib stickers and made what I thought turned out to be a really nice little smoothie that makes your belly suck in when you think of just how many calories are in the cup. This is a gluten free recipe and you can always substitute low or fat free ingredients to bring down the calories. Or if you’ve had your teeth out too, suck it up as is.

Rose’s PBBJ Smoothie

1 banana

4 or 5 large strawberries (I used whole frozen from a mixed fruit bag)

4 oz. strawberry fibre yoghurt (I used Wal-Mart brand, comes in a 4 oz container and is nonfat)

3 tbs smooth peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural)

2 tbs sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free Wal-Mart brand)

1/4 c milk

splash of vanilla essence

banana and condensed milk

banana and sweetened condensed milkCut up the banana and stawberries into 1/2″ chunks. There’s no need to thaw your strawberries if you use frozen. Liquify the banana and 1 tbs sweetened condensed milk.

strawberries added inAdd chopped strawberries to the yellow mix and remaining tablespoon of condensed milk.

Add peanut butter and 1/2 of the milk and blend well.

Add yoghurt and a little more milk and blend. Add a splash of vanilla essence and pulse to blend.

My husband liked his smoothies thin so if you need to, add more milk and blend again to thin it out. This smoothie is a good gluten free way to get fruit, protein, calcium and calories and it’s not heavy on the taste. I say this because my British husband thinks peanut butter is a heresy and you really can’t taste it here under the fresh strawberry taste.

yummy fruity smoothie! Tasty Factor: Nice consistency with big fruity flavour and not much peanut butter taste.

Poopy Factor: What?! You put peanut butter in this? How could you!

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Sunday Lunch with John Baxter

apples and pork w/boiled potatoesMy mother, while a good cook from a long line of women who showed their love through their steady supply of working class suppers, did rely on Duncan Hines and Pillsbury quite a bit during the years she was raising me and putting herself through nursing school. One particular dinner I remember as being ’sophisticated’ was her pork and apples.

This wasn’t really a supper I looked forward to because it was too bland for my palate. However, give yourself 20 years or so and everything your mum made suddenly seems completely different. Then I began to read John Baxter’s Immoveable Feast and his witty and loving tribute to the things fine and mundane which make up a meal. I had completely forgotten about mum’s apple pork until I hit page 122 where Mr. Baxter describes making this simple but satisfying dish. Bingo- I had my Sunday Lunch.

Sunday Lunch is usually comprised of something adapted from Gordon Ramsay (and thank you Mr. Ramsay, we have re-instated Sunday lunch in the Quayle house) but I decided to grab some things on hand and see if I could bring out a taste I could live with as a grownup. As it turned out, I ended up with a Sunday lunch that pleased both American and Brit just as it did both Australian and French in the book.

apple, pork, butter, onion, potatoesImmoveable Feast speaks of three ingredients: pork, butter and Clochard apples. I used marg, pork, half a vidalia onion and one fuji apple.  I prefer fuji apples to any other because of their sweetness and you can get the biggest ones at either Lotus in the strip or Seoul Mart on Atwood Street (S. Oakland).

I cut up the pork first into bite sized pieces and fried it in a decent knob of marg and added the diced onion and sliced apple (skin on). As Mr. Baxter suggested, I turned the heat down very low and let it cook 20 minutes. Accompanied by boiled red potatoes, this dish was a crowd pleaser as the pork sweetened and tenderised with the apples and I found myself proud that I’d pulled off my mum’s ’sophisticated’ dish.

porkadd in apples and onionAs for Immoveable Feast- I just finished it a few minutes ago and it’s a must read for anyone interested in French culture, food or just a good honest story.

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