Gluten Free- I guess?

I just threw this together as a last minute contribution to the blog. I get all my "diets" confused. I am even confusing the eating raw. So, this is my way of saying...I will always try. I am so happy to be introduced to so many awesome new recipes. I also feel more educated about all this.

At any rate...here is what we had for dinner...with a salad of course:)

I broiled some pork chops after marinating them in EVOO, sesame oil, soy sauce, and some dry seasoning. Then, I made some rice pasta that I got in the Gluten Free section:) I sauteed some onions and garlic, then put in a little butter and salt and pepper. Is that gluten free?

Anyways, I know its not great, but I did try:)

Indian Style Chickpeas

You will have to forgive me.  I had thought that I would just be having a quiet dinner alone this evening but thankfully my daughter and her delightful family wanted to come over - last minute.  I had enough food for everyone, but the thought of taking pictures slipped my mind completely.   I'm pretty sure this qualified for my second vegan dish but may be wrong.
Indian Style Chickpeas
 adapted from meatlessmonday.com
1 large onion, chopped coarsely 4 cloves garlic, minced  1 chili, finely diced (optional)   I didn't have a fresh chili so I added a tablespoon of canned diced chilies)
1/2 teaspoon cumin 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, reserve half the liquid   - I saved all the liquid and used most of it juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons peanut butter
2 cups cooked Basmati rice
1/4 teaspoon or more red pepper flakes (optional)


Directions:
Saute onion, garlic and chili in nonstick pot until slightly browned (I used a tablespoon of olive oil since I don't use nonstick cookware).  Add cumin and cook about 30 seconds or until spices start to give off wonderful smells and turn slightly brown.
     Add chick peas and half of the reserved liquid.  Add lemon juice and tomato paste.  Cook for five minutes.  Place half of the chickpea mixture in a blender and blend for 15-20 seconds (It was so thick I used the remainder of the reserved liquid but that was my personal preference).  Add it back to the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until heated through.  Stir in peanut butter and cook a few minutes more, until peanut butter is blended throughout.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve over basmati rice.
   On a side note.... My daughter thought it needed more heat and would taste great in tortillas.  She also felt that perhaps adding a few tablespoons of chopped cashews would be a delicious addition.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

This is from Kerri's Greatest Hits and from Moosewood Cookbook. This recipe can also be found on the Internet. I love this recipe and always make double and then freeze a bunch of enchiladas because you can take them out one by one. I was talking to Kerri and she was all, "You know those are Vegan right?" and I was all, "What?". So, I decided to include it so I could contribute this month....This is my Vegan contribution:)

Indian Cauliflower Curry

I made this recipe for Indian Cauliflower Curry. Everyone really liked it except C...he's picky. I also added more salt:)

It may be time to retire my camera. I got it when I was 30 from my mom(THANKS MOM!) and do you see...I took one picture with the flash and one without and it merged them into one picture...weird...

Here is a close up of the final dish. This is right up my ally...I loved it!!!

Broccoli Curry Udon (vegan)

It looks like something similar has been posted already, but this was the one intentionally vegan recipe that I singled out for this month from the Post Punk Kitchen. Now that I've "rediscovered" this blog, I intend on cooking from it more often.

It was pretty good, especially since I've been craving Asian noodle dishes lately. I love the chewiness of udon noodles. This recipe would also be good with soba noodles (vegan because they are made from buckwheat, as someone else mentioned) or rice noodles.

Black bean burgers

Ha! Try saying that five times fast!

I was just looking for a generic vegan burger recipe, so I turned to my latest and greatest...AGAIN. If I was looking for a super duper vegan recipe I would have choosen something different, but it had been a busy day and these came together pretty quickly. This is one that is vegan AND gluten free thanks to the oat flour. I didn't have any oat flour, so I made my own by blending some oats in my blender.



Since my blender was already out and dirty, I used it to chop up the mushrooms and onions as well. It didn't go all that well, I wouldn't do it again.



Meanwhile, you mash up the black beans by hand and add the processed oat flour and onions and mushrooms.





I cooked on my nonstick skillet for about 8 min on a side. Easy peesy.



I served like regular burgers (not gluten free) with sweet tater fries from Trader Joe's (I have really come around on Trader Joe's...I love it).

Spicy Tortilla Casserole With Roasted Poblanos

I made the Spicy Tortilla Casserole with Roasted Poblanos from the book Viva Vegan!. (there is an exclamation point in the book title, lest you think I am overly excited about the first sentence).

It is vegan and gluten free and takes about 2 hours to make. Overall - I liked it, as did the husband. The kids didn't touch it, as I expected. They had rice and produce for dinner.

I halved the recipe, since I knew the kids wouldn't eat it. I also only put the Pine Nut crema (pine nuts, tofu, corn starch, nutritional yeast) on my half, as my husband is deathly afraid of all things tofu. I'm actually not a huge tofu/processed soy eater myself, but wanted to try it in this recipe.

Chunky Vegetable-Lentil Soup

Yay! I have a picture for this one! (Courtesy of BHG.com)

I found this recipe in the January Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and finally tried it out tonight. Jury's still out.

This was the first time I've ever tried lentils (gasp!). I mostly like it. Has a very "fresh" taste to it, which I really like. Not crazy about the onions the way they're cut, but that can be easily remedied. Hubby doesn't like mushrooms and is picking around them (we're eating this soup as I type), and suggested that we try it again with either a beef or chicken broth. Oh, and I left out the celery and put in some extra carrot. The napa cabbage on top is a nice texture touch. I think we'll be making this one again.

Chunky Vegetable-Lentil Soup
(You may get asked for you email address since it's a brand-spankin' new recipe, so I'll post it below just in case. It has the nutritional info on the website.)

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, cut into thin rings
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup dry green (French) lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 lb. whole small mushrooms (halve or quarter any larger mushrooms)
• 4 medium carrots, thinly sliced (2 cups)
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 cups water
• 1 14-oz. can vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 of a head napa or red cabbage, sliced into strips (2 cups)

Directions

1. In a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in lentils; cook and stir 1 minute.

2. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery, water, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 25 minutes or until lentils are tender.

3. Divide among soup bowls; top with cabbage. Makes 6 (1-1/2-cup) servings.

Oven-roasted veggies

Yep, nothing to look at here. (The one picture I took didn't really turn out...)

I made a batch of roasted veggies the other night, which turned out to be an experiment-gone-right for a change. Easy-peasy.

I cut up potatoes, red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, and cauliflower, put them in a baking dish, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, shook out some garlic powder, ground ginger, ground sea salt, and ground pepper over it, and tossed to coat every thing. Threw it in the oven for, oh, 35-40 minutes at 400*, stirring a few times to keep everything from sticking to the pan.

Super easy, gluten free, and vegan.

Black Bean Tacos

Nothing too revolutionary, but this is an easy vegan and gluten free dinner that we seem to eat once a week.

Make Your Own Tacos or Taco-Salad

Black Beans - simmered in taco-style seasonings if I'm feeling ambitious, plain if I'm not

Lettuce

Avocado

Rice - I made a cilantro-lime version and a plain version

Salsa

Taco Shells

Cheese (de-veganizes it)

Supper Club

Since the inspiration for this challenge was my supper club, I thought I should tell you about my supper I hosted. Unforuately, the above picture was the only one I took, there was just too much going on!

For my dinner, I served fajitas. I marinated and grilled steak, chicken, and portabella mushrooms. I also served sauteed peppers and onions, mexican rice, and black beans. I had the other members bring an appetizer (7 layer dip), a salad (avacado feta), magaritas (skinny girl), tortillas (flour and corn, corn is gluten free!), mexican beer, and dessert (margarita cupcakes!).

There are twelve people in this supper club. Do you have an idea how many people twelve people are? It is a lot. It is all our matching plates, we were short one fork, and don't even get me started on the wine glasses. Luckily we all fit at the table, but just barely.

Supper club is really less about the dinner and more about the company. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. For the first time I have leftover meat, but ran out of the veggies. The mushroom fajitas were probably the best! Mexican is great for something like this becaus everyone can pick and choose depending on their own diets. However, I think next time I will do shrimp and grits...don't tell!

Bree's Lentil Soup

I am so behind.

I made this recipe about two weeks ago. No, actually I made it years ago, wasn't all that impressed, but after hearing some recent glowing reviews about it, decided to try it again. I am on this vegan kick and I love making a bit pot of soup at the beginning of the week and eating it for lunches after that. This recipe makes a lot so it would be perfect. I made it the night before our snowy day. One major change I did from the original is that I backed way off the heat. The first time I made it I remember it being unbearably hot, and I like heat! This time I used no red pepper and half the chili powder. Results this time, eh, it was ok. I think the problem is that I have another lentil soup that I liked better. For lunches, I added more chili powder and purreed the whole thing up. Glad I did. This one is actually vegan/gluten free.



Oh, but a key component of lunches is some great bread:



And honestly, it was just screaming for a dollup of greek yogurt, so not vegan either:



We ended up being stuck at home for about a week. We traded lunches with the neighbors and I fed this to a few different people. They all said it was good, but again, I felt it was just ok.

Udon Noodles with Veggies

This is an really easy and quick recipe. My kids don't like any of the sauce, so I leave some noodles and veggies out plain for them. I used whole wheat udon noodles (simply because they were on the shelf at the grocery store), but you could use buckwheat udon noodles to make it gluten free.

http://www.onefrugalfoodie.com/2009/04/19/easy-udon-for-veggie-lovers/

The Post Punk Kitchen

I finally got around to checking the blog for the first time in a couple of months. I'm not vegan, but I am vegetarian, so I'm pretty excited about this one.

A long time ago, I needed to modify my baking for a vegan coworker and came across The Post Punk Kitchen. It is a great resource for recipes and, even better, it has tips on how to modify existing baked goods recipes to make them vegan. I experimented with a few of these methods, and by far the one that worked best for me was subbing silken tofu (emphasis on silken, not regular tofu) for eggs in brownies and quick breads. My go-to brownie recipe also used melted butter, which I swapped for vegetable oil (worked much better than vegan butter). I haven't had time to make/post anything specific from this website for the challenge, but I will before the month is out. I just wanted to share so others could check it out before the end of the challenge!

Vegan Cassoulete

I combined two challenges.... time with my grandsweetie is demanding more of my time and I'm loving it!  She is growing up so fast.  Anyway, I made a vegan cassoulete and it turned out pretty good.  I also made some garlic confit (see my blog for that recipe) and that is yummy as well.

Vegetarian/Vegan Cassoulet
Vegetarian Cassoulet by Gourmet Magazine, March 2008
Ingredients:
3 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only)
3 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch-wide (25 mm) pieces
3 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch-wide (25 mm) pieces
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
4 thyme sprigs
2 parsley sprigs
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon (2/3 ml) (1 gm) ground cloves  (next time I would omit this... I'm not big on the taste of cloves)
3 (19-oz/540 gm) cans cannellini or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 qt (4 cups/960 ml) water
4 cups (960 ml) (300 gm) coarse fresh bread crumbs from a baguette
1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (12 gm) chopped garlic
1/4 cup (60 ml) (80 gm) chopped parsley

Directions:
1. Halve leeks lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch (13 mm) pieces, then wash well.... leeks are quite filthy. I knew that I would be cutting my vegetables in smaller pieces to accomodate my vegie hating husband so I just separated the leeks. Remove from water and pat dry.
2. Cook leeks, carrots, celery, and garlic in oil with herb sprigs, bay leaf, cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon (2½ mm) each of salt and pepper in a large heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in beans, then water, and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender but not falling apart, about 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with rack in middle.
4. Toss bread crumbs with oil, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon (1¼ ml) each of salt and pepper in a bowl until well coated.
5. Spread in a baking pan and toast in oven, stirring once halfway through, until crisp and golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
6. Cool crumbs in pan, then return to bowl and stir in parsley.
7. Discard herb sprigs and bay leaf. Mash some of beans in pot with a potato masher or back of a spoon to thicken broth.
8. Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, sprinkle with garlic crumbs

Curried Quinoa with Apples and Chickpeas

Vegan + Gluten Free

I copied this recipe from Natural Health Magazine and modified a bit. It's really good if you like curry. Which means my husband won't touch it. Some college roommate/neighbor totally ruined him on anything containing curry. (not naming names, Will and Brian).

I like this because I can eat make it on Monday and then eat it for lunch or snacks for 3-4 days. Oh, and it's much better with granny smith apples.

Curried Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Apples

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin

Bring all ingredients to a boil and cover, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

When cool, toss with:

• 1 green apple, diced
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 c diced cilantro
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/4 c diced green onions

Mix up and stir in dressing:

• 3 Tbsp EVOO
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp lime zest
• salt and pepper to taste

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

michelleshedoesn'tmeananythingtomeiwasthinkingofyouthewholetime!

In my attempt to get back on track with my eating, I have stopped buying those Quaker chewy granola bars. Not that they are really that awful, but we have just been trying new things. When I saw this recipe on a vegan blog I couldn't wait to try them! This is a really great blog. I even asked her a question and she answered me! The question was about whole wheat pastry flour. I have looked for it, and couldn't find it anywhere. Well, according to MamaPea whole wheat pastry flour = white whole wheat flour. Michelle, is this true? I want to believe, but am not sure... I just so happened to have a bag in my pantry:



Now, this is a vegan recipe, but I didn't quite make it vegan. I don't have vegan butter, or vegan chocolate chips. I am still new at this and all these new ingredients cost money. This one box of cereal cost $4.99!



You combine the dry ingredients:



And the wet ingredients:



Another confession, I could not find brown rice syrup and just used corn syrup which I know goes against everything that I was trying to do, but I was desperate! Mix the two together:



Put in a pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips and press down. This is because the chips will melt, but I wonder since I wasn't using vegan chips it I could just mix them in. Next step, bake!



These were pretty good. They reminded me more of a rice cripsy treat than a granola bar, but that might be due to my corn syrup switch. I may try them later this week with honey/molasses instead. I got 12 bars and they were actually pretty big. I would divide and wrap them individually next time...lest mess!

Egg white and sun-dried tomato fritatta

This one is gluten-free. For the most part.



I actually made this one back in December. The recipe caught my eye because I have all these dried tomatoes from the summer in the freezer and it seemed like a good way to use some of them.



When I made it the first time, it looks SO AMAZING coming out of the oven. I turn the oven off and put it back in to keep warm...and it fell. It was awful. Well, egg white frittata, you are going to get the better of me.

I orginally saved the yokes to make creme brulee on Christmas Eve, but turns out, they went bad by the time I needed them. I used fresh egg yokes to make the brulee and froze the whites until I was read to make this again. Yes, you can freeze egg whites and they whip up just great:



I tried to time everything perfectly, but alas, it still fell. :(



I was ok, but not great. I served it with kale chips:



Oh, and bread, which is why it wasn't really gluten free:



But I really needed something to bulk up that meal. Otherwise it would only be like 200 calories and I needed more!

Supper Club Challenge aka Vegan/Gluten Free

Now this is a challenge!

I joined this supper club in the fall. What is a supper club? Well, it is just a group of adults, all of us who have young children, plan that a certain night of the week we will have dinner together with no kids. Our night is the the third thursday of the month. Each month we take turns hosting. The host is responsible with organizing that month and providing the main dish. The rest of us volunteer to bring different courses. It has been a really good thing to be a part of mainly because this is really the only way we would get together without kids. It is so nice to actually be able to sit and talk for a little while every month. There are 5 couples in our little club. Of these 10 people, one has celiac's disease. That just means this person is gluten intolerant. No wheat products (aka bread and pasta) and you would be surprised how many things gluten is in! Another couple are vegans. They eat this diet for health reasons (The China Study), not necessarily based on moral issues. I try to take both of these things into account when trying to decide what to make and let me tell you, it can be difficult. It is the worse suppper club ever! Thankfully, both are pretty easy going. The vegans are okay with eating meat sometimes and the gluten free person just eats around certain things.

It is my turn to host in January, so if I have to come up with something, I am making all of you participate as well. Here is your challenge:

1. Join or start a supper club.
2. Make one gluten free meal.
3. Make one vegan meal.
4. Make one gluten free/vegan meal.

Try to do any one or all of those listed above. Happy new year everyone!