Category Archives: dairy-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.

Stone Fruit Crumble

2 Replies

The other night we finally had our first dinner guests. Some very good friends of ours graciously accepted our invitation despite it meaning that they had to drag their children out at night into our quite blatantly not child-proofed home. We had a blast! We still don’t have proper dining chairs or a baby gate for the stairs, or rug pads to make more easily (and safely) runnable areas, all of our furniture seems to have sharp corners and none of our floors are level–great combo–, but they overlooked all our deficiencies. Their children are fantastic and we always have a good time with them; it was a wonderful way to christen this home!

So, the grub: I made bbq using my dad’s secret recipe (which includes no measurements), sauce from Jason’s dad’s recipe, cabbage-kale coleslaw from. . .well, my brain, and corn with lime wedges and sea salt. Not so funny story- cooked properly a pork butt takes hours to cook, I mean, hours and hours. Well, roughly three quarters of the way through we must have had a brief power failure without my noticing it; by the time I found out the oven had cooled! So, add an extra 6 hours cooking time to the hours already gone by!! Lesson to take away- check on your oven even if it is not time to open your oven :). Amazingly, the Q still came out just fine.

For dessert we had what I think of as a “say goodbye to summer” crumble. Stone fruit season, for me, is the time when I begin transitioning from summer with all its sweet, hot languor to autumn, brisk, radiant, and a wee bit magical.

I used this dish as an opportunity to try a new-to-me ingredient: coconut sugar. I’ve been hearing good things about it for some time now, and thought I’d have a go. I really liked the results. It gave a rich, caramel-like flavor without the excess liquid you would get from maple syrup. This crumble is not only gluten-free, but dairy-free and vegan as well.

What is your favorite end of summer dish? Or are any of you in complete denial that the seasons are changing, holding on to every last minute of sunshine? If so, what is your favorite summertime dessert? Tell me about it in the comments; I’d love some good ideas!

P.S. Left over crumble makes a fantastic breakfast!

Ingredients

9×13 baking dish
blender or food processor
zester or grater
approx. 10 stone fruits (I used a mixture of plums, pluots, and nectarines)
2 Tbs. corn starch
1 Tbs. water
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cup blond coconut sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or make it all coconut. . .or honey or maple or just plain cane)
2 cups g.f. whole rolled oats
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds ( I used almonds, walnuts, pecans, hemp and flax because that is what I have on hand)
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Wash and dry fruits. Cut into 1 inch chunks and place directly in baking dish. Combine corn starch and water in small bowl until smooth; pour this mixture over the fruit. Add lemon juice and zest, and 3/4 c. coconut sugar. Mix to thoroughly coat fruit.

(Note: if you like your topping very chunky you can skip processing the oats. I find that this helps to make the topping slightly more cohesive (and a nicer texture to me).)

In food processor combine oats, all remaining sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Pulse until a very rough meal forms. You don’t want to break the oats down completely, just rough them up a bit. Remove mix to large bowl. If using almonds in your nut mix, pulse those all by themselves until broken up into chunks (almonds are harder than many other nuts and if you try to process, say, almonds and pecans together, the pecans will turn to dust before the almonds are properly chunky). Add almond chunks to large bowl. Pulse remaining nuts and add to bowl. Stir to combine, pour coconut oil over the lot, and then mix until all ingredients are thoroughly coated.

Spread topping out evenly over fruit. Bake in oven for approx. 50 minutes. The crumble should be beautifully brown with gorgeous juices bubbling round the edges. Cool for at least 45 minutes to and hour before eating so that it may “set”.

Soup of the Day: Summertime Black Bean Soup

2 Replies

I don’t know about you, but growing up in the south soup was not a summer food. At least not in my house. We ate cold food whenever possible, and my mother did her best to forget that we owned a stove (not a judgment, just the facts: she is the best mother in the world and she will be the first to tell you that she gets “hurmpy”– hot grumpy). Given that background, I was surprised to find on our recent trip to Mexico that soup was served every day. Yes, in Mexico, during their hottest season, delicious, delectable soups were offered every evening: beet soup, lentil, vegetable, chickpea, onion. . .they were varied and, despite the heat, perfect.

Well, I suppose Jason took a liking to the idea; in spite of the 90 degree plus weather here in Virginia he has requested soup a few times since we came home. The one I’m going to share with you today we eat as a full meal, rather than a soup course, but I imagine you could make it fit beautifully into a larger menu.

This recipe is inspired by a long time favorite from the Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon, Cuban Black Bean Soup Santa Fe. If you are on the lookout for a fantastic and healthy cookbook that you will turn to again and again, I highly recommend this one. Beyond that, I suppose both our recent trip and the beautiful, abundant produce available at the market just now are responsible for the evolution of this soup. Doing the Allergy Elimination Diet? This soup is a great option for you. Enjoy. (Please forgive the rotten pictures; I just can’t seem to work the camera properly these days :S ).

Summertime Black Bean Soup with Roasted Corn and Avocado Salsa

makes 5 -6 main course servings

Soup Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans, rinsed, picked over, and soaked in water to cover

2 bay leaves

2 Tbs cumin seeds

1 large jalapeno, chopped with seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large white onion, medium dice

2 green bell peppers, medium dice

6 cloves garlic, sliced or uniformly chopped

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

Soak beans overnight in enough water to cover (four cups is a good starting number). In large pot or slow cooker, combine beans with soaking water, cumin seeds, jalapeno, bay leaves and 1 tsp of salt. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and bring to a simmer, cooking, partially covered, until beans are tender, roughly 2 hours.

In a large skillet add olive oil and garlic and turn to medium heat. When garlic becomes fragrant, add diced peppers and onion. Season with salt and pepper (start with no more than half a tsp of salt. . .you can always add more, but you can’t take away). The goal here is to sweat the vegetables, not brown them, so keep the heat gentle as you sautee then until softened.

When the beans are tender and the vegetables are softened, using an immersion blender or food processor, blend half the beans (being sure to include the two bay leaves) and 1/4 to 1/3 of the vegetables together until thick and smooth. Add this and the vegetable mixture to the remaining beans in your large pot. Stir thoroughly to combine and taste for seasoning. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve garnished with roasted corn and avocado salsa.

Roasted Corn and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients:

2 ears of corn

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

lemon or lime

1/8 tsp. chipotle chili powder

Directions:

Set oven to broil. Line baking sheet with foil. Remove husks from corn; cut avocados in half and remove seed. Rub corn and avocado lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil, turning as needed until uniformly charred. Avocados will finish before corn. When cool enough to touch cut corn from cob, remove avocado from skin and cube. Combine corn, avocado, cilantro, chipotle chili powder and the juice of 1 lemon or lime.

Melon Salsa

4 Replies

And we’re back! Greetings, y’all. Last month I shared with you that, in the wake of losing a dear friend, my husband and I were taking some time to simply enjoy life and each other. As we were experiencing all of these tumultuous emotions and trying to make sure we were being intentional about living life to the fullest, not allowing days and opportunities to slip away, we decided it was time to take the vacation we have been saving up time and money for. So, for a large part of the last month, while silence has reigned supreme here, we have been in Mexico (or fighting an epic battle royal with our internet service). We met some incredible, wildly creative, and interesting people, and had an overall fantastic experience. If you are interested in hearing about our trip to Playa Viva, in Julachuca, Mexico (near Zihuatanejo. . . yep, that clears everything right up, huh?) head over to Jason’s site, Good Brown Gravy. Part 1 and Part 2 are already posted; look for more to come in the days ahead. Since he has that covered (and I don’t want to lay out any spoilers), I’m free to get back to food.

Hot weather has me wanting light, refreshing foods. In the town where we went to college there was a cafe called LeAnn’s. For the few years its doors were open, LeAnn’s offered wraps, a few light salads, and a melon salsa unlike anything else available in that small southern town. LeAnn’s is long gone, but this stuff is too good to be lost in oblivion. Serve with tortilla chips, or try it as a topping for fish, shrimp, chicken. . . heck, even pork.

Melon Salsa

make a lot, a whole lot (unless you are having a party, cut down recipe or prepare to share)

1 small cantalope in small cubes (size of medium dice)

1 small honeydew melon cut same as above

1/2 red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 Tbs to 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (this is largely a matter of preference)

juice of half a lemon (feeling crazy? try half a lime instead)

Cut melons into small cubes in whichever way is easiest for you. I like to halve mine, scoop the seeds, halve again (now I have a melon, quartered). Cut through the flesh, but not the rind, lengthwise, then crosswise. Then, running the knife through the flesh (parallel to the rind, if that makes sense) at 1/2 inch lengths, slice off perfect little cubes! As you get into the deeply curved part you can even turn the melon quarter inside out to make the remaining flesh easier to cut. Combine all ingredients in a very large bowl, folding well to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Want to add a little kick? Mince up half of a jalapeno and toss in the mix.