Category Archives: gluten-free

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4-6 as a main.

Ingredients

4 medium to large sweet potatoes
1 1/2 C diced red cabbage
1 1/2 C diced red bell pepper
3/4 to 1 cup diced red onion
1/2 to 3/4 cup pitted, chopped black olives
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 to 1 cup goat or sheep’s milk feta, as you like (skip this to be a.e.d. friendly and dairy free)
1/2 to 1 lemon
1-3 cloves of garlic (we embrace garlic on a deep level! suit yourself), minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place clean sweet potatoes on foil or pan and bake until a knife slides easily through the flesh. This will depend entirely on the size of your potatoes, but plan for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare all vegetables, herbs, and cheese. Dice can be small, medium, or large depending on your texture preference. Place together in bowl
If you have time, toast spices in a dry pan. In a small bowl, combine spices with garlic and lemon juice (and olive oil, if desired). Stir, whisk, or shake to combine.
Pour dressing over veg, and fold until ingredients are well mix and evenly coated.
Pile mounds and mounds onto your piping hot sweet potato, and dig in.

Vegetable Khichuri-Curry or This Thing I Made Up

2 Replies

I first read The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni about eleven years ago. The most vivid and lasting impression was not of a great story (though it is fair) or of any particularly endearing characters, but of the feeling of having feasted on her words. I’m pretty sure this woman loves food. The story, in which the characters travel a vast swath of India, is absolutely saturated with mouth watering descriptions of hot, crispy onion pakoras, creamy mango lassi, dal, sparkling sugared candies, aromatic tea, and on and on. One of the meals that has a starring role is a khichuri, a meal made in poverty that becomes touched with a bit of magic, and has stuck with me (obviously) until now.

Let me stop right here and say I have no experience with Indian food. When I first read the book, I’d never even had the Anglo-Indian version, the generic curry. The Japanese steak house was about as exotic as things got growing up in my household. I’m calling this recipe a khichuri because the base is a mix of rice and lentils and a curry because I’ve whacked in a load of things like coconut milk, tomatoes, and spices, but it really is just this thing I’ve smooshed together.

I started as I would a risotto: oil, aromatics, and rice, and built from there. Again, making zero claims to cultural authenticity in either ingredients or technique. If you are doing an allergy elimination diet similar to mine this recipe is a great option (if you are testing for a nightshade allergy, this is not for you). I feel like this should be almost infinitely adaptable. If you try any different combinations, substitute in different ingredients, let me know in the comments.

Have you ever read a book that left you jonesing for a special food? Another of mine is The Pickwick Papers (Dickens); it always makes me want a picnic with cold chicken and cheese and pickles and things (basically, Feast). What are some of yours?

Vegetable Khichuri-Curry

serves 4-6 depending on how greedy you are

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 small or 1/2 large onion
1 1/4 C rice (we used brown Basmati rice)
3/4 C green lentils, rinsed
1 large tomato, cubed
1 large zucchini (courgette), cubed
1/4 C tomato sauce or puree
2 C vegetable stock
10 oz coconut milk
1-2 C spinach leaves
1 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (you’ll be surprised how far it goes!)
salt
parsley, chopped
1/2 lemon

Directions

In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat oil, garlic and onion until fragrant and onion is releasing some moisture.
Turn on hood fan. . .seriously. Add spices and a generous sprinkle (1/4 tsp or thereabouts) of salt. Cook off until onions have softened and spices are toasted.
Add rice, and stir to incorporate with spiced onion/garlic mix.
Add zucchini and tomato, and another 1/4 tsp of salt, and stir, scraping up as many of the good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan as you can.
Add veg. stock, coconut milk, and tomato paste, and give it a good stir. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add lemon juice, lentils, and spinach. Cook for a final 15-20 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding salt (or other things) as you see fit)
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Rainy Day Picnic

2 Replies

Hello! I am so glad to be back; I have really missed being here, chatting with you. Both of my surgeries went well and I’m about five or six weeks in to physical therapy. The hip arthroscopy, which I expected to be shattering, was actually the easiest in terms of the surgery itself and the initial home recovery. My biggest concern was getting home and up the stairs on crutches after being released (hip arthroscopy is a same day surgery around here). That concern was seriously heightened by the trip home following the ovarian surgery. I won’t be graphic but. . .so sick, so. many. stairs. However, amazingly, for the first time ever, I wasn’t even the slightest bit nauseated following the hip surgery!! That really does deserve gratuitous use of exclamation marks. The long term lack of mobility and general inability to do for myself have gotten me down a bit at times, but overall it has been so much easier than anticipated. The last three months have also allowed me to see, yet again, how amazing my family is. I feel absolutely soaked in love and uncomplaining care.

To celebrate being back on my wobbly pins, and to kick off our twelfth wedding anniversary weekend, I thought I would throw together a Friday night picnic. We were both going a bit stir crazy being trapped inside all day, so an evening in the out-o-doors sounded just right. Things didn’t turn out exactly as planned, as you will see, but it was a pretty great night nonetheless. Scroll down past the video to find links to the inspiration recipes, as well as to see the changes I made. If you would like to see how the rest of the night went, click over to Jason’s video.

Garlicky Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

Changes I made: zest of 1 lemon added to dressing

Changes I would make next time: the only kale I could find at the shop this time was red kale. Next time I would definitely hold out for lacinato kale, or switch to spinach or arugula. I did not have three hours to massage the red kale into submission (the ten minutes I did put in just didn’t cut it)!

Farmer’s Market Cornbread

Sean Brock’s Cornbread Recipe

and, my version. . .

Garden Cornbread

base-

5 Tbs melted, unsalted butter

2 cups of medium grind cornmeal (I used this)

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C goat’s milk yogurt

1 C almond milk

1 tsp vinegar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 C corn kernels

1/4-1/3 C grated cheese (I used a firm sheep’s milk cheese whose name I do not know, but you could use just about anything you find tasty)

toppings-

1 pint (more or less) cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 red onion, sliced

basil, chiffonade (fancy way of cutting up; do what you want)

crumbling cheese (I used some cojita that was hanging out in the fridge)

directions-

heat cast iron skillet in 450 degree oven while preparing ingredients
combine dry “base” ingredients in medium bowl
combine wet “base” ingredients, stir into dry mix
add shredded cheese and corn kernels, stir until evenly distributed
removed skillet from oven, place on burner over medium heat (you will definitely want to turn on your fan)
pour base batter into pan, sprinkle with toppings
turn off burner
return skillet to oven, cook for 20 minutes
check for color (you are looking for a golden brown; the edges of your cheese will be picking up some color as well.
eat lots!

Happy Herbaceous Grain Salad

As I said, for the dinner party I made this dish with quinoa as the base. My intention was to do the same for this post however, my inattentiveness led to a happy accident. I had grabbed, soaked, rinsed, and drained my quinoa before I realized it was not quinoa at all, but millet. Good news: equally delicious, so I continued on as planned. A quick note if you decide to do millet instead of quinoa, my inadvertent soak and rinse didn’t hurt anything, but usually when cooking millet, I would just toast the dry grain before adding liquid, as in the recipe from this post.

Doing the Allergy Elimination Diet? By changing the feta into avocado, the pistachios to seeds, and the raisins into chopped grapes (or sulphite-free raisins), you can totally embrace this salad!

serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 C quinoa or millet

2 bay leaves

kosher or sea salt

1/2 cucumber

1 large carrot

zest and juice of 1 to 1 1/2 lemons

1 1/2 C tightly packed herbs, chopped ( I used flat leaf parsley, cilantro, and mint. Basil or oregano would be really nice too.)

3 TBS – 1/4 C golden raisins

1/2- 3/4 C crumbled feta

1/2 C kalamata olives

*banana peppers (I couldn’t find any at the store, but I think they would be fantastic)

Directions

Soak quinoa, rinse and drain. Place in saucepan with 1 1/4 cups of water, two bay leaves, and 1/4 tsp salt. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low. Cook undisturbed for 15 minutes. Check to see that all water is gone and quinoa fluffs dry with fork. When cooked, spread in tray or platter to cool.

Quarter lengthwise, and slice carrot and cucumber. Zest and juice lemon. Roughly chop herbs. Pit and chop olives. Cube feta.

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and fold to incorporate. Taste for seasoning. I know everyone hates to be told that, but I can’t possibly know how salty your olives or feta are, so you are just gonna have to taste as you go! Top with chopped pistachios.

*If it will be some time before you serve, consider adding the herbs just before eating. The acid of the lemon juice and the bruising of being chopped can cause the herbs to change color.

catching up over chocolate-ginger granola with buckwheat

2 Replies

Hello again. Given my record of inconsistent posting, it no longer even makes sense to apologize for/explain being away so long; I’m going to assume the privilege of an old friend and pick up where we left off.

We are in Tampa! We have been living here for two and a half months now, and the change has been really good. In fact, aside from discovering new depths of incompetence in a certain government contracting company that shall remain nameless, and missing a few very dear friends, it has been a great experience. We are roosting in a sun-filled apartment within walking distance of the bay. A quick glimpse from our windows would easily fool you into thinking we live in a tropical jungle.Every chance we get we stroll down to the water to watch sting rays, manta rays, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, and dozens of fish whose names we don’t know. Yep, in case you have been wondering, runners of Tampa, we are that annoying couple walking really slowly, hanging over the balustrade, soaking it all in, while you are pounding the pavement. Give us time. We may eventually become jaded to 70 plus degree November days, and seeing the sun glint diamonds off of the waters of the bay. . .but I hope not!We spent a disappointing month shopping the local grocery stores to find them filled with really expensive produce that is often already going bad on the shelves, or, alternately, completely under-ripe and flavorless. I’m not just talking one store, I’m talking every store (yes, I’m talking about you Whole Foods, Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Fresh Market). We were throwing away a shameful amount of food because it was spoiling before we could use it. In the last two weeks I finally made it a priority to seek out some alternatives; the results were surprising! There is a farm hidden away on a cul-de-sac in south Tampa where you can get fresh eggs, raw milk, fresh from the hive honey, and so much more, on the honor system. I want to do a full post on this place soon, but if you are in the Tampa area and want to see for yourself, it is South Tampa Farm at 6101 s. 2nd st. Tampa, Florida 33611. there is a produce wholesale shop that welcomes retail customers (Sanwa Farmer’s Market) and a pretty cute veggie stand just down the road on Swann.

My mom came for a visit and took us to the 5th annual veg-fest, after which we went to a nearby power plant to see the manatees that collect in the heated waters at its base.I had a whirlwind day at Disney with one of my very best friends and her kids, and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it more than any of the littles! I have no shame in being an adult disney lover. . .the magic is real. Thank you J.S. for sharing the nugs with me; it was wonderful being Aunt Brandy again for a day!

And, finally, I made a recipe I would love to share with you today. Based on the fantastic Sarah Britton’s Chunky Chocolate Buckwheat Granola, this version is lighter on oil, and has a kick of heat courtesy of my spicy friend, ginger .

Chocolate-ginger granola with buckwheat

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup buckwheat (I found this in the bulk bins at whole foods)
1 1/2 cups coconut flakes
1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 dates, pitted and soaked in 1/4 cup milk of choice or water
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
In a blender combine dates and their soaking milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract, ginger, and cocoa powder. Combine until mostly smooth; thin with extra milk of choice if needed (warm before adding).
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, mixing to evenly distribute.
Pour chocolate mixture over dry ingredients and fold until evenly coated.
Press evenly onto parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in oven
Cook for 30 minutes, check and turn/stir as needed if outer edges begin to burn. As sarah b. says, tasting the hazelnuts is the best way to tell when this granola is ready.
Cool completely before storing in air tight container.