It's a Thing!

 

As if life around here isn't complicated enough, now I have a new challenge: finding delicious gluten free and dairy free recipes.

I just recently learned that Bubba is gluten intolerant. We were already dealing with his casein allergy (a milk protein), and his peanut allergy, and my soy allergy. Yes, with each additional allergy, entire food categories are eliminated.

If you have ever been quoted as saying: "I just love pizza. I can't live without it, " watch out, you just might find yourself having to cut gluten (pizza crust has that) and dairy (um, hopefully I don't have to mention that cheese is a dairy food item) from your diet.

But I digress. What in the world is xanthan gum? That is the question. At our house, we spend a lot of time reading food labels, ingredient lists, nutritional information, recipes, and we do a lot of cooking from scratch. It's partly because we're concerned with eating a healthful diet, but mostly because we need to watch out for allergens in our food. While reading food labels we frequently would encounter xanthan gum. We would laugh about it, wonder what it was, joked about how delicious it was and about how we were all out of it and needed to add it to our shopping list. Little did we know that it was "a thing." Yes, you can walk into a store and actually buy xanthan gum.

And how do I know this? Because I found myself in the position of having to bake gluten free/dairy free brownies, and I learned that you need to use xanthan gum when you bake with wheat flour substitutes. It has something to do with having to make up for the elasticity that is lost when gluten is taken out of a recipe. Now, I can't speak for other recipes, but the first gluten free/dairy free brownie recipe I tried did not turn out too well. The brownies ended up being dense, crunchy, and not very chocolaty. And since I used oat flour, they sort of tasted like really bad oatmeal cookies.

However; being one to not give up so easily, the adventure will continue. I will explore strange new ways of baking, I will seek out new recipes and new ingredients, I will boldly bake what I have  never baked before.

Let's hope that it's yummy!

Fighting Over OIAJ

Would you believe that there was once a day when I didn't know what OIAJ was?  Yes, I remember that day. Of course, at the time, I didn't know that it was one of the most amazing inventions in the food world. I was at the gym that day, running on the treadmill, when two of my running friends were talking about how much they liked Oatmeal in a Jar.  They were going on, and on, and on about this thing until I finally said, "Okay, what in the world is Oatmeal in a Jar?"  They looked at me like I was crazy.  They couldn't believe that I didn't know what it was.

They explained that they heard about it from Kath Eats Real Food and that it was an amazing and easy way to eat oatmeal.  All you do is take an almost empty jar of nut or seed butter, add some oatmeal and other goodies, shake it up, and put the full jar in the fridge overnight.  Then, when you wake up in the morning, you just take the jar out and eat the now ready oatmeal. No need to cook it.  No kidding!

I seriously thought they were crazy.  Really? Because eating uncooked oatmeal did not sound yummy to me.  Time went on, as it usually does, and lo-and behold what do I have in my hands?  An almost empty jar of peanut butter, and, of course, like the rational person that I am, I immediately think of Oatmeal in a Jar.

So there I was, holding an almost empty jar of peanut butter, having the urge to make OIAJ, but there was one problem.  I had no idea how to make OIAJ.  Sure, I knew that it involved putting oatmeal in a jar, silly, but it couldn't be that simple, right?  There had to be a recipe or a special technique or something.

So I Google it.  I go back to Kath Eats Real Food. I Google it again and decide, "What the heck.  I'll just make up a recipe with things that I have laying around the kitchen."  So in the almost empty jar of peanut butter, I added:

• 1/2 cup of old fashioned whole oats
• 3/4 cup rice milk
• 1 tablespoon of raisins
• 1 tablespoon of sliced almonds.  

I shook the jar up, and put it in the fridge.

The next morning, I added some sweetener to the jar, stirred it up, and ate it. It was really yummy. It was so yummy that everyone else in the house that was listening to me going on, and on, and on about how yummy it was, wanted one too.  Well, it's not like we have a whole lot of almost empty jars of nut or seed butters laying around in the refrigerator. So I had to promise that we would take turns eating OIAJ each time we had an empty jar of nut butter.

Everything goes fine with the next two jars, but only if you consider fighting over OIAJ as everything going fine.  Googie gets one. Bubba gets the next one. Then, the third jar. Not to be left out, Hubby wanted his own OIAJ.  So I made one for him with dried cranberries, milk, and crushed pecans.

Next morning comes along and as the kids and I are leaving the house, Googie is frantically pointing and yelling, "Mom, Mom, Mom look what Dad is doing. Look now. Look!"  So I look and see Hubby emptying the OIAJ contents into a microwave bowl.  "He just doesn't get it, does he, Mom?"

"Honey, it's called Oatmeal in a Jar not Oatmeal That Was in a Jar Then Dumped Into a Glass Container, Microwaved, and Eaten Out of a Bowl.  You just don't get it! Yikes, I could have just made "normal" oatmeal for you and given the OIAJ to someone that really appreciated it."

So, now, we are back to fighting over the next OIAJ. I'm not sure who will get the next one, but I'm certain I know who won't be getting OIAJ for quite some time...

The Circular Package Beckons Me

I used to be a soccer mom, you know, the type of mother that lives in her minivan while driving her children around town from soccer game to soccer game.  After years of being a soccer mom, I gave it all up to be, instead, a taekwondo mom.  Now, instead of driving around from soccer game to soccer game, I get to spend my days at the taekwondo training hall. 

Most of the time I like to wait inside the building talking with the other parents, reading a book, and watching the children train.  It sure is boring waiting in the parking lot alone in a minivan during a thunderstorm, wondering if I should wait it out in the van or run for refuge inside the air-conditioned training hall and get soaked.   But that’s just where I found myself the other day.

Stuck in the minivan during a violent thunderstorm, waiting for my son’s taekwondo class to end, unable to open the doors or roll down the windows of the van for fear of ruining the interior by allowing a burst of torrential rain into the van, fearing the gas tank nearly empty and the battery dead, suffocating in the stale heavy air in the van, the allure of a circular pack of mints with the name Ice Breakers® was too strong.

Ice sure would be amazing. Wonder how it would feel in this stifling air to have just one of the tiny mints inside the package actually be made of ice: a tiny ice chip to cool me, to settle the unsettled, to quench the thirst, to help me forget the lack of a breeze in this self-inflicted prison cell inside my van. 

Popping the lid of the package open, I find a dozen tiny ice chips.  I violently and quickly throw one into my mouth.  The coolness was immediate.  The thirst is gone. The rain slows down long enough for me to open the door and feel a strong cool blast of a thunderstorm breeze blow on my face, or so it seemed.

Yes, I’ve gone certifiably insane, I decide.  It’s time for me to either make a dash for the building, go to the gas station to fill the tank, drive around town for awhile to make sure that the battery is charged, or continue to suffer in the van, being taunted by a package of mints.

Guess which one I chose.

 
 

First Harvest

I know, I know, it's been a week since my last post, but it's just been crazy, crazy, crazy at our house these past few days.  Not only has the weather improved (no more rain, no more tornadoes, and finally warmer weather), we're getting to the end of the school year.  And not to be outdone, the garden is off to a great start.

Here you can see our first planting of radishes ready to be harvested.  

And here you see them right after being harvested.

I was never a fan of radishes, that is, until I started gardening, now I love radishes.  They are one of the funnest vegetables to grow, mostly because they can be planted in the early spring, they grow quickly, and they don't get diseases or pests like some of the other vegetables do.

These radishes were amazing in a radish salad of radishes (obviously, right?), orange segments, red onions, fresh mint, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Yum!

I can't wait for the next crop of radishes to be ready so I can have that salad again.
 
 

CSA Challenge

Normally, I like to plan about a week's worth of dinners ahead of time, go shopping for the ingredients, and cook nutritious dinners for my family all week long; however, we now belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program through a local farm, and my original way to plan our week's meals has been turned upside down.

So, instead of picking a recipe and then shopping for the ingredients like I've been doing, I now have the ingredients and must pick out a recipe.  This whole process makes my brain hurt!  Thankfully, Hubby is the type of person that sees an ingredient and immediately gets inspired; he's a walking, breathing, living cookbook, and that's a pretty handy thing to have around the house.  Soon, with all this experience, I should be able to do the same thing too.

Every week, we get a box of organic produce delivered directly to our house. Since it's too early in the season to get a bountiful supply of locally grown produce, the CSA supplier supplements the boxes with organic produce from outside the area until enough local produce is available to fill the boxes.

This week, in our CSA box, we received the following:

• Green Garlic
• Spinach
• Mustard Greens
• Dill
• Bananas
• Apples
• Tomatoes
• Celery
• Carrots
• Lettuce (Romaine)
• Strawberries
• Zucchini
• Mangoes
• Lemon
• Lime

The challenge is to use all the produce from the box before it spoils. So far we've already made a spinach salad with strawberries, sautéed zucchini, Caesar salad with the romaine lettuce, sautéed mustard greens with green garlic, and some of the carrots.   Today, in order to use the dill, we will be having Greek spinach pies made with phyllo dough and feta cheese.  I also have plans to make a vegetable beef soup, which is a great way to use up miscellaneous vegetables.

Let's see if we're successful in using all the produce before it spoils, but, if not, I guess we'll just have really expensive compost for our garden.  Let's hope for the former rather than the later.

 
 

No More Whine

Quit your whining and complaining.  And stop that temper tantrum right this minute.  Okay, so I couldn't resist this one, it was too good to pass up.  I was at the wine shop today for their Saturday afternoon wine tasting and came across this bottle of wine.  Pretty clever way to sell wine, and, seriously, with a label like this who cares if the wine actually tastes good, right? I didn't get to try this wine, but it might be fun to go back and get a bottle of this to save for a special occasion, that is, as long as I remember not to throw a Tempra Tantrum.  What a mess that would make!

Anyway, if for some reason I were to throw a Tempra Tantrum, I would end up needing a:

 

 
 

Salmon Patties

Here's a great recipe for Lent.  It uses canned salmon which is frequently on sale during Lent and it's a nice change from tuna casserole.  We like to eat them on buns like burgers.  This recipe makes about 8-12 patties.  I based it on a recipe from the Food Network, but made a few changes.

Ingredients

• 3, 6oz cans of salmon
• 1 1/2 cups of crushed saltine crackers (about 1 row of crackers)
• 1/2 red bell pepper chopped, stem, seeds and membrane removed
• 3 green onions sliced, whites removed
• 2 tablespoons of fresh or freeze dried dill (or 2 teaspoons of dried dill weed)
• 1-2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (more or less to taste)
• zest of 1 lemon (juice reserved)
• 2 teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning 
• 2 large eggs
• oil for frying

Start by getting all your ingredients ready.  First, crush about one row of saltine crackers.  You can use a food processor like I did here or you can put the crackers in a closed plastic bag with all the air removed and crush them with your hands or a rolling pin.

The crushed crackers will look something like this.  You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups of cracker crumbs.

Next, wash the red pepper and cut it in half.  You will be using one of the halves so you can save the other half in the refrigerator for later use.

Remove the green stem, the seeds and the white membrane from the inside of the pepper.  I usually just tear out the stem, seeds and white membrane with my hands.  It seems to work fine.  If you like, you can always use a small knife to carefully cut out the stem, seeds and white membrane.  Your pepper should look something like this.

To chop the pepper I like to first slice it long ways and then chop it by cutting the slices into smaller pieces.

Thoroughly wash the green onions. Since you will only be using the green parts of the green onions, cut the white part of the green onions like shown here and discard.

Then, thinly slice the green onion like this.

Scrub the lemon well with running water and a scrub brush. To zest a lemon, I like to use a microplane like the one shown here.  A microplane is a type of grater that works great for zesting because it only grates the peel without getting into the bitter white part of the lemon.

After the lemon is zested, you can juice it.  Save the juice to use on the patties after they're cooked or you can use it in the recipe to adjust the moisture level of the mixture.

Open the cans of salmon and drain the juice well.  Put the salmon into a bowl and flake it with a fork.

 

Beat the eggs.

Now that all the ingredients are ready, you can start to assemble the patties.

Add the red pepper, cracker crumbs, green onions, dill, lemon zest (not the juice), Old Bay seasoning and Tabasco to the bowl in which you have the canned salmon.

Mix everything up really well with your hands and then add the beaten eggs. Mix everything really well again with a fork or with your hands so the mixture holds together.  It it's too wet, you can add more crushed crackers and if it's too dry, you can add some of the lemon juice.

Now, using your hands, you can start to make your patties. Press the mixture into balls and then flatten into patties.  These are about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter.

Now it's time to fry them.  Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot and bubbly, turn the heat down to medium and place some of the patties in the skillet.  Make sure not to crowd the patties.  The skillet I used here is a 12 inch cast iron skillet and I was able to fry three patties at a time.  If you use a smaller skillet or frying pan, you might not be able to fit three patties at the same time.  Fry the patties for about 3 minutes per side or until they are nicely browned.

When the patties are cooked, remove them from the skillet and place them in a plate lined with paper towels.  Continue to fry the patties until they are all cooked.  To keep the first batches of patties warm as you continue to fry the rest, you can put the plate with the already cooked patties in a warm oven set to about 150-200 degrees.

Serve them on buns like burgers.  They're really good with a thousand island type sauce, lettuce and tomato.  

It's Day 23, How is Lent Going?

This Lent I thought that I would give up something meaningful, so I gave up tortilla chips.  As a normal person, you may think that giving up tortilla chips is a crazy thing to do.  Who gives up tortilla chips?  Yes, I know that most normal people give up things like candy, chocolate, soda pop, T.V. or Facebook, but I’m not normal so I gave up tortilla chips because I was eating them all the time. I would eat them with my meals, I would eat them between meals, I would eat them in a house, I would eat them with a mouse, I would eat them here or there, I would eat them everywhere. And, I couldn’t figure out why I was never hungry.  I just thought that I had a small stomach, but apparently I hadn’t realized how many tortilla chips I was eating.

The first week without tortilla chips was really hard.  I stopped eating them, and all of a sudden I was always hungry.  It was an unbearable hunger that I couldn’t figure out what to do about. What was I going to eat now that I wasn’t eating tortilla chips?  It wasn’t until the second week of Lent that I realized that I probably should eat something else instead of continuing to obsess over how I couldn’t eat tortilla chips. I tried eating apples (yum), and carrots (yum!), and pears (yum! Yum!), and even grapefruit—I never thought that I would see the day that, instead of eating tortilla chips, I would be eating a grapefruit and like it.  Last Sunday I decided to eat a few tortilla chips, since Sundays are not officially part of the 40 days of Lent, but the chips just didn’t taste as good as I remembered them tasting.

Now it’s day 23 of Lent and I’m beginning to think that I wasn’t hard enough on myself.  Maybe I should give up something else; on the other hand, getting over the obsession I was having with tortilla chips by fasting from them has given me more time to focus on the other aspects of Lent, such as prayer and almsgiving.  For me, giving up tortilla chips has been actually good for the soul.

Now, how is Lent going for you? 

Give Me This Day My Daily Tortilla Chips

Of all the crazy things I’ve done in my life, giving up tortilla chips for Lent has been the craziest thing I’ve done.  Running a marathon, homeschooling my children these are nothing compared to giving up tortilla chips for Lent.  I thought I would stretch myself, force myself to focus on sacrifice, be a good Catholic and give something meaningful up for Lent.  For me, that would be tortilla chips.  The bargaining has already begun and it’s only Day Three.

“Fritos are not tortilla chips, right?”

“Crunchy crackers are not tortilla chips.”

“I know! I can eat Pringles, pretzels or Sun Chips.”

“What if I put cheese on top of the tortilla chips? They would then be nachos.  Nachos are not tortilla chips.”

This is not going very well at all.  I’m hungry all the time. Exactly how many tortilla chips was I eating?  Seriously, I’m eating the same amount of food.  How could I be so hungry? I also realized that giving up tortilla chips means that I can’t walk into a Mexican restaurant with their endless baskets of tortilla chips.  It will probably take me some time to figure out something else to fill the void created by the tortilla chips, something healthy, such as, celery sticks, but all I can think about is tortilla chips.  Obviously, this is a serious addiction.  Right now I’m wondering, if I should continue with the idea of giving up tortilla chips or think of something else.  How is constantly thinking about tortilla chips helping me to focus on my relationship with Jesus?  I’m working on this. Never would I have thought that something this simple could be so hard.

Chicken Piccata

I've had a few people ask me for this recipe. It is one of my favorite weekday recipes because it's easy, it's fast to make and always tastes good.  It serves about 3-4 persons.

Ingredients:

3-4 pieces skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
3 Tablespoons butter (or more for flavor)
3 Tablespoons olive oil (you might need more depending on the type of pan you use)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (you could use bottled lemon juice but it won't taste as good)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup capers, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper to taste

This is very important: Before you start, get all the ingredients ready.  This is what the French call mise en place or everything in place.

• Measure out the flour and put in a flat dish or pie plate.  
• Get the butter, olive oil, salt and pepper ready.  
• Squeeze the lemon juice and have it ready in a measuring cup or small container. 
• Open the bottle of wine (I like to pour myself a small glass of wine to drink while I cook). 
• Measure out the capers, put them in a colander and rinse them well.  

Now you're ready to start.

First, pound the chicken breasts until they are an even thickness.  This helps the chicken to cook quickly and evenly.  I like to wrap the chicken breasts with plastic wrap and use the flat side of a meat tenderizer like the one pictured here.

Second, salt and pepper the chicken breasts

Next, put the flour in a plate or shallow pie plate (if you haven't already) and dip the chicken breasts in the flour to lightly coat with flour on both sides.

In a large 12-inch skillet set to medium or medium-high heat, pour half the olive oil (about 1 1/2 Tablespoons) and melt half the butter ( about 1 1/2 Tablespoons).  You can add more if needed.

Once the butter is bubbly, you can add the lightly floured chicken breast pieces to the skillet.

Cook the chicken for about 3-5 minutes or until brown on that side and then turn to brown the other side.  Cook until both sides are browned.

Remove the chicken pieces to a plate. Add the rest of the butter and olive oil to the pan and cook the other pieces of chicken the same way as the first two pieces. Remove them from the pan and put them in the plate with the other two pieces.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the lemon juice and white wine. Scrape up the brown bits from the pan.

Add the capers to the pan.

Check the flavor of the sauce and add butter, salt or pepper if needed. You might also need to add a bit more wine. Put the chicken back in the pan, cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens a bit.

Now you're ready to eat! I like to serve this with brown rice or noodles and steamed broccoli or a salad.

Bunny Brains & Green Snake Tails

We are happy to say that Googie is finally eating "real" food, and he sure had fun eating dinner the other day. Hubby had made a dinner of lamb shanks, asparagus, and wild mushroom risotto. We expected Goggie to put up a fuss over eating dinner (like usual); however, Junior had warned him ahead of time that Dad was fixing bunny brains for dinner. Googie was so excited, he couldn't wait to eat it. Hubby put a lamb shank on Googie's plate along with a few asparagus tips and mushroom risotto while Junior kept telling him that the lamb shanks were bunny brains. Well, let me tell you he ate a total of five "bunny brains" with "blood" (ketchup). Then he proceeded to eat all his "green rattlesnake tails" (asparagus tips) washing them down with a tall, icy glass of "saliva" (water), and he ate the risotto. How's that for creative parenting?