Amazing resource list!

I stumbled across this awesome resource while trying to figure out if Milky Way Midnight bars are gluten-free since their regular Milky Way brethren are not. It turns out the Midnight version (dark chocolate) is safe! Woot!

Check out this resource for some great ideas on sharing condiments (squeeze bottles for mayo, anyone?) without cross-contamination, as well as a list of products such as candy that are safe to consume:

http://www.venturaceliac.org/glutenfree-basics.htm

Enjoy!

Chicken Soup, redux

This is my go-to when I feel sick. I tweaked my original recipe from lat year to be less labor intensive. It looks intimidating, but the only real work here is just to run to Whole Foods, chop some stuff, and throw it into a pot while you veg on the couch.

Shopping list:

1 rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods, most varieties are safe but check the ingredients
1 c wild rice, rinsed
4 TBSP “Better than Bouillon” chicken variety (I buy this at Whole Foods, seriously the best soup stock I have found – adjust concentration based on personal preference for saltiness)
6 c of water
1 bunch of chard, coarsely chopped or just torn by hand (stems and all)
1 medium-sized bulb of fennel, chopped
1 bunch of carrots, chopped
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
1 small package of fresh rosemary springs


Pull all of the meat off of the chicken and throw into a large pot with all of the above. Cook covered on medium heat on stove top for about 45 min to an hour or until the wild rice and carrots are tender. You should be able to use that time to wrap up in a blanket and veg on the couch. Leftovers from this recipe are even better a day or so later, so you should be set for food in case you feel worse over the next few days.

Salmon, kidney bean, avocado and olive salad

Sounds a bit weird, but this was super easy and made for a very tasty lunch. Lots of great fats, too.

2 oz fresh mozzarella
1/2 c black olives
1/2 c. kidney beans
1/2 - 1 whole avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 oz smoked salmon

melt the mozzarella over the kidney beans and olives. Add avocado and salmon, mix together and serve. Enjoy!

My Greek yoghurt gets an upgrade.

I started with some of my granola, greek yoghurt and raspberries and went from there...


1/2 c greek yoghurt - I love the Fage 2%
handful of fresh raspberries
1/3 c Deb's gluten-free granola (can be found at www.debsglutenfree.com)
2 TBSP maple syrup, I recommend grade B for stronger flavor and more minerals
1-2 TBSP pumpkin seeds

Layer the granola, fruit, yoghurt and pumpkin seeds and top with maple syrup. Enjoy!

You can substitute peaches for the raspberries and I found this is even better when you sprinkle about 1/8 tsp of high quality cinnamon over them before combining with the other ingredients.

A great alternative to the classic egg salad sandwich.

I was racking my brain for a nice recipe for a vegetarian friend who does not do eggs. This one makes for a great substitute for classic egg salad.

1 ripe avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 c black olives, mostly drained but still wet and halved or coarsly chopped
1/2 c. heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 c. goat cheese crumbles
Udi's multi-grain gluten-free sandwich bread

Mix the avocado, goat cheese, olives and tomatoes together. Toast 2-4 pieces of the bread and heap on as desired. Enjoy.

Optional - top with a little bit of coarse salt and/or pepper if desired.

Feeling a bit more adventurous? Sprinkle some red chili flakes on top.

Peach and Tomato Salad

Peaches and tomatoes are at their best right now and this recipe makes for a nice light summer salad with great contrast between sweet and tangy.

3 ripe peaches, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved - these have the most flavor typically
3-4 oz of goat cheese
2 TBSP honey plus 1 TBSP reserved.
1 sprig fresh mint, finely chopped


Combine peaches, tomatoes, mint, goat cheese and 2 TBSP honey. Mix well. Drizzle remainign honey over and serve. Serves 8.

Bring on the iron! Quinoa and wilted greens salad

Due to some recent dietary constraints (yes, in addition to be a celiac and perhaps because of it), I have had to rethink the way that I eat. It turns out that if you consume calcium and iron at the same time, they cancel each other out. What I have been doing is trying to give myself 3 hrs between eating food with a lot of iron and food with a significant amount of calcium. Additionally, raw greens are actually a bit harder to digest so I have been told to try cooking my veggies, even just gently, to be sure that I can absorb all of the nutrients. Here is a tasty, iron rich recipe that can be eaten as is or would benefit from some grilled chicken or salmon served alongside.

1 1/2 c sweet peas, shelled
8 oz baby salad greens (preferably a mix of greens bitter and sweet)
1 1/2 caramelized onions
5 c cooked Quinoa ( 2 1/2 c uncooked quinoa and 5 c veggie broth)

optional: grilled chicken or salmon to top

First off, if you don't have caramelized onions, you will want to make them. Caramelized onions take a long time, and for this recipe you will need about 6 small to medium size white onions, sliced, and 1/4 c olive oil. I prefer to use a 10" cast iron skillet as I find that a non-stick just doesn't allow the onions to caramelize and having a slightly larger skillet means the onions caramelize a bit faster.
Start by pouring your olive oil into the skillet on medium to medium high heat. Watch the oil to be sure it doesn't smoke, and when you start to see very gentle waves forming on the surface of the oil, you're ready to place your onions in the pan. Do not stir them. Sounds odd, but what you want to do is let the onions cook for a while until the very bottom layer begins to turn brown (and not burn). IF you find the onions are burning, turn the heat down by a little bit. Otherwise just poke a wooden spoon under the bottom layer and check for browning. When they begin to brown, then you can stir the onions around, but then you want to leave them alone for a while as before. Repeat until you have caramelized your onions.

For the quinoa: add uncooked quinoa and veggie broth to a saucepan, cover and bring to boil before reducing heat and allowing to simmer for about 20 - 25 min. You may need to add in a bit more broth (water works in a pinch) if the liquid disappears before the quinoa is completely cooked (when cooked it looks like lots of transparent disks and little broken rings). Pour quinoa into a good sized serving dish, like a 9" glass pyrex bowl.

In a skillet, even better if it is the same one you caramelized your onions in, add the peas and stir until they are tender. Next, add the greens and give it a few stirs until they reduce in size and everything fits in the pan (warning: 8 oz of salad takes up some space so you will probably have salad on the stove, counter, etc.) Take off heat. Empty all veggies into bowl containing quinoa. Enjoy!

Variation - really good with roasted sweet potato or butternut squash either in addition to the caramelized onions or instead.

Afternoon snack

Since there seem to be fabulous strawberries in the market lately, and given that I am trying not to eat the candy that is so readily available around the office, I found that this is a good alternative:

1/2 c Fage 2% greek yoghurt
1 TBSP honey
1 handful of strawberry slices

Drizzle honey on yoghurt adn top with strawberries - pretty simple and tasty. A good alternative is to top with walnuts if berries aren't readily available or in season.

Warm Grape Tomato and Feta salad

I had most of a pint of grape tomatoes left over from last week. They sat long enough that they were very sweet, but not long enough that they had started to go bad. The tangy flavor of the feta complemented the sweet tomatoes so well that I felt there was no reason to add anything else to them. Be sure you store your tomatoes on the counter so the flavor can develop; they never taste as good or have the same complexity of flavor coming out of the fridge.

1 4 oz container of feta crumbles
1 dry pint of grape tomatoes, halved; the sweeter the better

Mix the tomatoes and feta together, microwave for about 10 - 15 seconds just to warm the tomatoes up a bit and then mix again, thoroughly. Serve immediately while slightly warm.

Yummy Quinoa and Veggies

I pulled this together using random bits of things... definitely need to make it to the store, work has just been too crazy.

1 c of canned kidney beans, rinsed
8 oz of mini portobellos or really any mushroom of your choosing
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 c frozen spinach
1 decent size sprig of fresh rosemary
2 or 3 decent size stalks of fresh thyme
1 medium size white or yellow onion
1 tsp of Better than Bouillon, vegetarian beef flavor
2 TBS dried chives
4 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 c water

In a small saucepan, combine the quinoa, water and bouillon. Add in 1 TBS of the chives. Cook covered on medium heat until the quinoa is done (quinoa will shed these little ring-looking things when it is cooked). Remove from heat and let stand.
Add the olive oil to a skillet on medium heat. Slice up the mushrooms and onion and add to the oil. Grasp the stalks of thyme between your thumb and index finger of one hand, and strip the leaves off by sliding the thumb and index fingert of the other hand gently along. Do the same with the rosemary and add to the skillet. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are reduced in size and have a fairly meaty texture. Add the cherry tomoatoes, spinach and kidney beans. Cook until everything is heated through. Serve with the quinoa.

Spring Wraps

As the weather warms up, I'm a fan of lighter fare. One of my favorite things to eat is a melted cheddar and a nice tart apple, like a juicy granny smith. This actually ends up making a pretty tasty wrap. Sometimes I switch up the cheese (brie!) or add in a little prosciutto or grilled chicken to get a little bit more protein.

1/2 med/large granny smith apple, cut into slices
1 Enjoy Life brown rice tortilla
a few slices of cheese, such as sharp cheddar or brie

Place cheese on tortilla, microwave until cheese is melted, top with apples and roll it up. Enjoy!

Note: the awesome pears that have come through the grocery lately make a really nice substitution, especially with goat cheese. In this case I would microwave the tortilla first (maybe 20 seconds, just until soft/pliable), smear on the goat cheese and top with the pear slices. If you have some walnuts and honey handy, you can drizzle a bit of honey on there and throw a few walnuts in.

Another yummy variation, and perhaps one that is a bit more seasonally appropriate, is a cucumber and hummus wrap. I am huge fan of the Wild Thyme Commissary black olive hummus. The cumin in it is really nice.

3 TBS Wild Thyme Commissary black olive humus
1/2 cucumber, sliced into discs
1 Enjoy Life brown rice tortilla

Microwave the tortilla 20 seconds or so until soft, smear on the humus, top with cucumber, roll up, etc.

Edamame, caramlized onion, basil, tomato, corn and sweet pea salad

I had a few cups of caramelized onions leftover from last weekend and a bunch of shelled edamame and peas. The addition of corn, cherry tomatoes, lots of fresh basil and TBSP of rice vinegar yielded a yummy salad that is great hot or cold.

1 c edamame, sheeled
1 c sweet peas
1 c fresh corn
1 c caramelized onions
1/2 dry pint grape tomoatoes
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 handful fresh basil leaves, chopped

I started by dumping the caramelized onions into a skillet and due the bacon fat that I caramelized them in last weekend, they had a very high smokepoint and the excess fat was perfect for giving the corn a bit more character. I cooked the corn with the onions until the corn got a nice caramelized flavor on its own, at which point I added the edamame and peas. I covered the skillet and let that go for about three minutes while I halved the tomatoes and added them to the mixture along with the basil adn the rice vinegar. I cooked this for a few minutes while the basil softened, then turned off the heat adn left this covered for about ten minutes.

Pretty tasty.

Stuffed red peppers with lentils, spinach, parmiggiano reggiano and caramelized onions

I had a few odds and ends in my kitchen last night, notably a very juicy and sweet red pepper, several onions that needed to get used quickly,and some spinach. I also happened to have a bit of parmiggiano reggiano and a can of lentils.

3 medium sized onions, chopped coarsely.
4 TBS olive oil
1 15 oz can lentils
3 red peppers
2 handful of spinach (about 1 c.)
1/4 c finely grated parmiggiano reggiano

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Start by caramelizing the onions; put a cast iron skillet on medium heat or just a bit under as you want to be really careful not to burn the onions. Place the oil in the skillet and add another TBS or two if the bottom of the skillet is not covered. Err on the side of more oil, rather than less. If you're worried about the extra calories, dance around in your kitchen while the onions caramelize. If you can't manage to bring yourself to dance, have a glass of wine, pull down the shades... and jump around. When the oil begins to get ripples, dump the chopped onions in and let them go for a while until they just begin to brown. When this happens, stir them around. Stir every 10 or 15 minutes or so until all pieces of onion have been browned (but not burnt!). Definitely turn the heat down if the oil looks like it is smoking as this is a sure indicator that the heat is too high.

While the onions are caramelizing, cut the tops of the red peppers off and remove all of the seeds. Stuff some spinach leaves around the outside of the cavity. Drain the lentils and mix in a bowl with the grated parmiggiano. You can go heavy on the cheese if you prefer. When the onions are done caramelizing, mix the onions in with the lentil and parmiggiano mixture and spoon into the red peppers, filling or overfilling as you prefer. You can sprinkle some extra parmiggiano on top if you like. When the peppers have been stuffed,place them in the oven in a glass bowl or other oven proof dish and bake for 35 min or until peppers look pretty wrinkly on the outside (may be more than 35 min depending on how your oven holds heat, etc.).

Enjoy. :)