Celiac Shiksa

Nutty Coconut Granola Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:28:00 +0000

I've been meaning to try to make my own granola from scratch for a while now, but for some reason it always seemed so intimidating. Part of it had to do with the massive amounts of sugar involved. I just can't get myself to make something with over a cup of sugar in it. I have no problem consuming mass quantities of store-bought items, like the ridiculously sweet GF toaster pastry that I bought and devoured because I hadn't had one in ten years. To be honest, it wasn't even that good.

The difference here is that I have no choice but to look at the ingredients because I'm making it. I can't hide and pretend it doesn't exist.

This morning, I found a great recipe with loads of helpful pictures on The Pioneer Woman Cooks site. And once again, I couldn't add the cup of brown sugar. I had the brown sugar ready to pour, shook the bag a little, and then stopped and put the bag away.

The recipe below is what I came up with. It's still got plenty of sugar, so I wouldn't go and call it a health bar, but I felt a little better about myself as I helped myself to the second bar. One does have to taste test. There's still plenty of butter and honey in there to make it crunchy and sweet.

Oh, and the ginger beer was totally an accident. The original recipe called for apple juice, but I didn't have any. I happened to be drinking some ginger beer, so I just poured it in and hoped for the best. It fizzed a little in the saucepan, but that was about all the excitement it provided.

This was so easy that I have sworn off ever buying my own granola bars ever again. Plus I feel better about myself for making myself a somewhat healthy snack.

Nutty Coconut Granola Bars

6 cups gluten-free rolled oats
4 Tablespoons butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)
1/4 cup rice bran oil
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Reed's Extra Ginger Brew
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp brown rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1/2 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Stir the oil and melted butter into the oats. Spread the mixture on two baking sheets and toast for 15-20 minutes.

Combine the sugar, honey, molasses, brown rice syrup, and ginger beer in a saucepan on low heat and stir until it is all nicely melted together. Add the vanilla.

Combine all the other dry ingredients and toss together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients. Stir.

Spread everything out onto a well-greased cookie sheet, pressing down firmly and reshaping when necessary. Bake for 20 minutes or until the granola is golden brown. Let it cool.

Here's the fun part. Take a large knife and cut the granola bars into whatever sizes you want. You can eat the bits that break off or save them for cereal.

Eric demos the knife.

I did manage to save some of the leftover bits for cereal, even with all the taste-testing.

Pot o' gold brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:09:00 +0000

These brownies aren't names "Pot o' Gold Brownies" just because it happens to be St. Patrick's Day--they also happen to be the most ridiculously expensive brownies I have ever made.

I found the recipe on Epicurious. I couldn't resist a brownie that claimed to be healthy and insanely good. It even had the broccoli icon next to it, so it had to be good for you, right?

This morning I got everything ready to bake and realized I had forgotten one of the key ingredients--8 oz. of dark chocolate. Eric had to go to school for something anyway, so he volunteered to stop by West Point Market and pick up some chocolate.

I pity him when he goes to the store. I know what the sales people see: a confused man wandering the aisles with a blank look on his face holding a shopping list written by his wife . They target him right away. "Your wife needs this," they say, holding up the most expensive version of whatever the list says I need. They know he'll say yes, no matter what the price, because he just wants to get out of the store and back to his dog.

This is how we ended up making brownies with $15.00 worth of dark chocolate. They are moist, decadent, delicious. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are healthy, but they're healthier than other brownies. Chocolate is supposed to help with coughs, so maybe this will help me get better.

The Almost Challahpocalypse--or Challah 3, The Final Battle

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:31:00 +0000

Several hours ago, I cleaned the kitchen and got everything prepped for the third attempt at making gluten-free, dairy free challah. I decided give the first challah recipe that I tried two weeks ago another chance with a tougher mixer and the right yeast. That recipe at least tasted really good, even if the end result was dense and chewy.

It started off well enough. All the ingredients were at hand, all the bowls and measuring cups in the right place. Everything was great until I had to combine the wet and dry ingredients.

And then I remembered how much I hate mixing GFDF dough.

Mixers weren't made to deal with substances that resemble like a mixture of sticky taffy and slimy wet clay. The dough, if you could call it that, kept trying to ride up the beaters. I had to stop the machine every minute or so just to scoop the dough off them and encourage everything to mix together. GF dough is incredibly sticky--most of the dough ended up stuck to the spatula or my hands. Some ended up on the coffee pot, the stove, my sweater, my hair. Towards the end, the beaters were completely stuck to the dough and I couldn't get them out without brute force and harsh language.

When it had finally all mixed together, I was so irritated with the whole process that I decided that today would be the last day I'd ever make GF bread. Ever. The whole process is just too ridiculously messy and complicated. As I washed the slimy dough off my fingers again, I considered going off bread entirely.

slimy dough

So instead of just finishing the challah that I'd actually started on, I decided to make another challah from a bread mix in the bread machine to see if that could do a better job of it. Then I'd call it quits. When Eric came downstairs he found me cursing like a mad sailor underneath the table, trying to find an extension cord for the bread machine.

But even the bread machine was having a bad day and couldn't mix it well enough. Once again, I had to mix it all together with my hands. Even so, the dough stuck to the sides of the container and wouldn't come off. I gave up, closed the lid, and let it do whatever it wanted to the bread.


more slimy dough, but in a bread machine

After about an hour, I started rethinking my decision to give up bread, because the kitchen started to smell amazing.

And it actually came out okay, after all that.

Of course, I had to try out a piece or two. This time it was much softer, a little fluffier. I'd say this is the best one I've done yet. It's still gluten-free, still not exactly challah, but I'm not making any more of this for a while, so this is as good as it's gonna get.

Oh, and the bread machine version was okay, but I wouldn't make it again. Not only does the rectangular shape make it look too much like it's trying to be real bread, but it was also fairly boring. It'll be fine as thick toast for breakfast. Or maybe challah French toast? I've heard that's really good.

The challah saga may have ended, but I haven't given up the fight. I'm just resting for a while.

GF DF Challah, Take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:24:00 +0000

The last challah recipe I tried was high in protein, but very dense. By the second day I felt like I was biting into chewy hard tack.

The recipe I tried today is from Gluten Free Canteen.

While the last recipe had all sorts of ingredients, this one seemed a lot less complicated. It's true that it didn't take long to put everything together and mix it, but it took 4 hours to get the dough to rise properly. I had to cover it with parchment and let it sit in the oven for two hours over a pan of water, then take it out, punch it down, mix it again, scoop it into a baking pan, then let it sit for another two hours. The mottled texture on the top is from the parchment paper sticking to the dough after the second rising.

The four hour wait was definitely worth it. The finished product was light and fluffy, if a bit dry. Butter helps. This one definitely tasted more like a bread--almost like a sweet sourdough challah, if that makes any sense.

GFDF Challah, Take 1

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:09:00 +0000

A couple of people have asked me over the years if I knew a decent recipe for challah. I kept promising I'd work on something, but the recipes were always so daunting. Eventually I just forgot about it. But this week Eric decided that he wanted me to take the risk and make gluten-free, dairy-free challah. I'd tried challah a few times before I gave up gluten, but it was so long ago that I have no idea what it's supposed to look, feel, or taste like.

This weekend I decided to give it a go. I found four different recipes on the web and chose the one that looked the prettiest and most like challah from Living Without (If anyone wants the recipe, just ask and I'll email it to you).

Right from the start, things went wrong. Even though it was right on my shopping list, I'd managed to forget to buy rice flour. Luckily, Eric was on his way back from the gym and picked some up for me. He called me from the store to see if there was anything else I needed, which was just about the time that I noticed that the packet of yeast I found in the cupboard had expired in 2008. I don't bake a lot. While I was waiting, I spilled potato starch all over the floor and the dog tried to eat it while I was sweeping it and I had to threaten him with the broom before he backed off. Who knew dogs liked potato flour?

As soon as Eric got back, I was ready to begin. Sort of. It was only after I got all the ingredients together that I realized why I hadn't tried to bake bread for years. Making GF bread is complicated and confusing. Sometimes it's just easier to bite the bullet and spend the extra money to buy it at the store. Let the professionals deal with complicated mixes of expensive, hard-to-find ingredients. But I'd promised Eric I'd try, so I did. I'd already bought rice flour, tapioca flour, chickpea flour, Dari-free powder and potato starch just to make this thing. No point in wasting it.

Then I realized that Eric hid my mixer. He has a habit of putting things away, which is nice, until you realize that what he really does is hide them somewhere in the basement, which involves washing the cobwebs out. I was in no mood to deal with cobwebs. Out came the hand mixer, which worked for five whole minutes until the thick sticky mass that was trying to become bread broke one of my beaters in half. Luckily the dough was so sticky that it didn't fly off and hurt anyone, although it did take a couple of minutes to extricate the half-beater from it. I bet regular challah with gluten in it never broke a beater.

I soldiered on. Out came the plastic wrap and olive oil for the dough-rolling, which felt like making one of those slippery water snake toys. It was too sticky for braiding easily, so I took the tubes that I'd made and wound them around the springform pan, twisting them a bit.

Not counting all the waiting time, it took at least an hour just to prepare the dough, then another 30-40 minutes to wait for the yeast to rise, then another hour to bake the thing. I'm ready for a nap.

End result? Eric said, "it tastes just like challah, but well, you know, it's still gluten-free." I'll admit it was pretty dense. He still ate two slices of it, so I know he appoved.

Compressed Rice with Smoked Salmon

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:54:00 +0000

I found a recipe for compressed rice with smoked salmon in a Japanese cookbook that I've been keeping. I didn't have the special equipment, so I put saran wrap over the top and put jars on top. Eric says that since it came out uneven, I should practice every week until I get it right. Maybe I'll buy the equipment. Maybe I'll just try out bigger jars.

You can find a similar similar recipe here.

Crock-pot pumpkin oats and more

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:51:00 +0000

Today, everything is pumpkin.

Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal


Pumpkin Beef Stew with GF bread

Yesterday we realized that our neighborhood was celebrating Halloween in just a few hours, hastily bought and carved a few pumpkins, and bought way too much candy for the 10 or so groups of kids who dared knock on our door. We don't have any kids, so we don't think of these things until it's almost too late. One year we forgot completely and went out to dinner. We came home to smashed pumpkins in our yard.

After Eric and I eviscerated and knifed three innocent pumpkins, we threw the insides into a bowl stared at the mess, trying to figure out what to do with all that pumpkin. Jor-El, our trusty pumpkin-pie colored dog, stole a few bits of carved-out mouths and eyes and gnawed on them, but that still left me with a large bowl pumpkin bits.

Later, when trick-or-treating was over and the dog had settled down and stopped barking at everyone, we just wanted to sit down and enjoy being childless adults, so we covered the pumpkin parts in plastic wrap and went downstairs to watch James Bond and drink beer.

Today was a little more productive. I started the day off with pumpkin hot chocolate, then fished out all the seeds from the pumpkin brains and toasted them in tamari and ginger. The dog liked those too, but I only let him have the ones that dropped on the floor. Then I started the soup and the oatmeal, baked some GF bread (from a mix), and curled up in bed to read Cloud Atlas while Eric raked leaves in the rain. I told him not to, but he did anyway. By the time he came back inside, freezing and complaining of aches and pains, the soup was ready for him. I sent him upstairs for a long winter's (okay, autumn's) nap.

Crockpot Pumpkin Oats
1 cup steel-cut oats
2 cups fresh pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup almond milk
2 tsp chia seeds (optional)
2 tsp sprouted mung beans (optional)
1/4 cup honey
1 cup of dried berries/nuts (cranberries are good)
2 tbsp ginger syrup (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and put in well-oiled crockpot. I put it on high for an hour, then low for two and a half hours. By then it browned a little on the bottom. This will be my breakfast for most of this week. If anyone sees me look a little orange, it's just pumpkin overload.

Pumpkin Beef Stew
I used a recipe for Beef and Sweet Potato Stew from Joy the Baker, substituting pumpkin for the sweet potatoes. I'm pretty sure I poured a lot more than 1/2 cup of GF beer in there, but I drank the rest, so I couldn't tell. I also found a couple of sites that cooked the whole thing in the pumpkin. I might try that next week if I'm feeling adventurous.

Grilled beef negimaki and tamari green beans

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 23:31:00 +0000

Beef negimaki with sprouted brown rice and grilled green beans

Eric got a charcoal grill as an early birthday present last weekend. He's been wanting one for a long time but for some reason he never could get himself to buy one. If you want to know his opinion on charcoal vs. gas grills, just ask him--but make sure you don't have anything else to do for the next half hour or so.

Last week we started off with the simple stuff--hot dogs, barbeque chicken, grilled asparagus. It all tasted wonderful, especially since I didn't have to cook.

This weekend we decided to put our grilling skills to the test. I think we passed.

Here's the recipe for the negimaki: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Beef-Negimaki-With-Broccolini-and-Rice-365831

The main difference was that I marinated mine in sake and tamari sauce for about an hour. The butcher told me I should put the beef in the freezer for an hour or two before cutting it, which made it much easier to get thin slices that held together. I also gave up on the foil packets and just cooked them straight on the grill. Nothing fell apart.

As for the green beans, I tossed them with tamari sauce, minced ginger, srichacha sauce, and a dash of oil. Eric used the grill basket and they were ready in no time. Here's a link something similar I found while browsing on the web instead of typing out the recipe: http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vegetarian-forum/1304117-veg-grill-soy-grilled-green-beans.html

This means I don't have to cook tomorrow night, as there are plenty of leftovers for lunch and dinner. We also grilled some chicken thighs and eggplant, so we might even make it until Tuesday night. I think I'm going to love this grill.

Sweet potato black bean nachos

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:49:00 +0000

Last week I finally started making my own meals again, after a month-long hiatus. We'd been getting prepared foods at Mustard Seed, which was a nice treat, but I was beginning to miss my own cooking. I still don't have the energy to do much and have been smart enough to rely on recipes I know by heart that don't require much planning or thinking. Lately any time that I've planned to do anything too difficult has resulted in disaster, or even worse, spoiled food in the fridge because I was too lazy to cook at all.

So it has to be easy.

This recipe fulfills all of my requirements: 1. It's simple. 2. Measurements aren't required. 3. Eric likes it. 4. It's relatively healthy. 5. There's enough for leftovers for lunch the next day.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Nachos
1 lb. ground turkey
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 cup of diced tomatoes (I used Pomi, the kind in the tetra pak)
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cilantro
hot pepper flakes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb. spinach
corn tortilla chips

Cook the turkey. Add the sweet potato, the diced tomatoes and spices. Simmer for about a half an hour until the potatoes are soft. Stir in the black beans and cook for a minute or so. Stir in the spinach, adding gradually as it wilts.

Serve over tortilla chips with guacamole. Eric had his with sour cream and cheese.

It can get pretty messy, particularly with the thin chips that I like to use.

Option: They also taste really good baked. Just crumble tortilla chips and add them in a layer to a greased 9"x 7" in. pan. Pour the mixture on top. Sprinkle fake or real cheese over it and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the cheese melts and browns.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:14:00 +0000

In January, after a nice long winter break, I lost my cooking mojo. During the break, I had my whole year of blogging planned, cooking escapades plotted on a chart, cookbooks dogeared, meal plans prepared for the rest of the month, and a list of restaurants to try out. I even bought a new camera and started updating the pictures on my blog.

Maybe I had too much on my plate.

There were moments where I had enough energy to come up with a decent recipe, but something always happened. On Valentine's Day, I thought I'd try something simple, like making chocolate molds, but I bought the wrong kind of chocolate and got sticky fudge instead. Disasters happened all month. My cakes fell apart or stuck to the bottom of the pan (or fell apart because they were stuck to the pan).

It got so bad that I actually started getting scared when I was cooking, doubting myself, second-guessing when I shouldn't have. Of course, things just got worse. After a while I didn't even want to cook because I knew it would just get messed up.

This weekend I vowed to get my mojo back. Yesterday I made quiche with broccoli and a potato crust, with the support and hand-holding of Julia Child and three cooking websites, just in case I forgot what I was doing. It came out a little dry, but otherwise very good. It didn't fall apart or burn or have some weird ingredient that made it taste like glue, which was a really good sign. Eric had two large slices. We had some for lunch this afternoon and it was still good. I was ready for the next step. I don't really have a recipe for this one since I was too stressed to remember what I was doing, but here's a link to something similar. I used fake cheese.

Yes, it really was that green.

Then I made blueberry muffins from a recipe I found in Yoga Journal (no, I'm not doing yoga, unless using a recipe from Yoga Journal counts) this morning. Once again, I still wasn't confident enough to trust my instincts. I knew it needed more liquid, but I doubted myself. The result was still tasty, but it didn't rise at all. Eric liked them. That's all that matters. The recipe can be found in the magazine or online at Fitness Pearls by Jill.

This afternoon I made cookie dough balls covered in chocolate. I've never dipped balls in chocolate, so it was a learning experience, but nothing terrible happened during the process except a couple of mistakes, which I ate. The cats helped me take photos in the sunlight. Recipe and instructions are at fitsugar.com.

I think I'm back. Let the cooking begin!

P.S. Nikos looks great, too.

French Toast and food prep on a snowy day

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Today's the last day of winter break for me. I know the next few days are going to be hectic and crazy and the last thing I'm going to feel like doing when I come home will be cooking. I'll likely be so exhausted that the most I'll be able to do is grunt a hello at Eric and tell him to heat something up in the microwave.

So I'm prepared. Yesterday and today I've been chopping, slicking, baking and cooking like crazy so that I don't have to worry about anything at all. Friday's my birthday, so there won't be any cooking that day, unless it involves chocolate.

The supplies in my fridge are packed up and ready to heat and serve: french toast for tomorrow's breakfast, beef stew for lunch, shepherd's pie for dinner. Tuesday we'll probably have shepherd's pie for lunch and beef stew for dinner, just to mix things up a bit. We get bored easily. I've also baked some yummy pumpkin cranberry muffins for mid-day snacks, chopped up fruit for smoothies, and prepared the sauce and chopped everything for the lettuce cups with stir-fried chicken that I'm hoping to be feeling well enough to make on Wednesday. On Thursday, if there are no more leftovers, I'll make black bean pumpkin soup with the pre-browned turkey that I popped in the freezer. All I'll have to do is open a couple of cans and stir everything together.

I'd also planned to have bread for breakfast in my bread machine, but we pretty much ate the entire loaf before it even had time to cool down. There's something about freshly-baked bread still warm that is irresistible. This is why I don't bake it that often. I'll just eat it. Even Eric, who claims to hate carbs, can't resist its charms.

This morning I found the thick heel of leftover bread staring at me, telling me that what it really wanted was to become french toast. So I obliged it, and ate the bits that fell apart (with gluten-free breads, smaller is definitely better) and watched the snow accumulate on our deck. Comfort food is even better when you know you can just curl up with a good book and not worry about anything. Tomorrow I'll venture out in the snow and go to work, but not today, not today.


Bob's Red Mill GF bread right out of the bread machine.

Beef stew with carrots, flavored with a tasty sachet from Meagan.

Shepherd's pie (turkey, peppers, celery and smashed garlic potatoes)

The husband cooks lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Eric is upset because I told all of our facebook friends that he couldn't cook. I apologize and would like to clarify: Eric can cook some things quite well, but these are limited to eggs (poached, sunny-side up, scrambled, you name it), bacon, and mashed potatoes (done with a ricer). He is also good at making home fried potatoes. Honestly, when we have people over for breakfast, he's the one who does all the cooking. Stuart makes special requests for Eric's perfectly-cooked slices of bacon.

And don't get me wrong, he's tried. There have been days when I come home exhausted and grumpy and he's whipped up something entirely edible. It was easier when I could eat cheese, because everything tastes better with cheese. But the fact is that he just doesn't like cooking, or even see the point in cooking other than to put something in his stomach. If he were offered a pill that would offer all the nutritional value and fullness of a meal, he would take it. Cooking, to him, is just something that takes up his valuable time when he could be doing something more important. He has this in common with my father. I'm sure their eating habits would be even more similar if Eric didn't have me around to cook for him.

So today he insisted on making lunch. I couldn't refuse, given that his facebook reputation was on the line. Once I couldn't help myself and offered him a tiny bit of advice, but he snapped that he was going to do this all himself and so I kept myself busy by taking pictures of the food.

I was quite proud of him, actually. I realized that he has learned a thing or two about cooking since we met--like how to brown, not burn, the meat and cook onions so that they aren't crunchy. He also seems to have realized that there are advantages to cooking the ingredients separately instead of throwing everything together in a pan and hoping for the best. Or maybe he just got tired of mush.


Some of the ingredients (the sour cream and Guinness were for him)

A perfectly decent, easy, gluten-free meal, compliments of my guest chef, Eric.

Ingredients: mild italian turkey sausage, minced garlic, black beans, a little bit of onion, and a dash of black pepper
Directions: Brown the sausage, then the onions. Add garlic and black beans and cook for about five more minutes. Season with pepper to taste.

Add a dollop of sour cream and drink with a Guinness.

Sausage with cabbage and apples and some home improvement

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Sausage and cabbage for New Year's Eve with a wonderful Spanish wine from Jinny.

I bought way too many apples last week and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them that didn't involve a dessert. This is actually really easy to make, particularly after drinking the rest of the cider. That made pretty much everything easier to handle.

Eric has been upstairs in the attic for the past several days, making loud banging noises mixed with either the sounds of NPR or '80s rock, depending on his mood. On Christmas day Eric tore up the horrible gray carpet that Nikos (our sickly cat) has graced a few too many times with his own personal way of communicating his displeasure at not feeling well. Now Eric's working on installing some beautiful faux-wood waterproof (cat-proof?) flooring. I didn't dare go up there while Eric was working, so I'm not sure which radio station corresponded with which mood. Tonight Eric has moved on to the '90s, gracing the house with the sounds of Paul Westerberg, a clear sign that the project has gone well and that he's almost finished. By tomorrow he should be back in this decade and the floor will be done. For a peek at our flooring project, jump to the end of this post.

So it's been noisy around here. When the banging and cursing get too loud, I either retreat to the basement to watch TV or find myself in the kitchen trying to create something to eat that will improve Eric's mood. Needless to say, we've had a lot of meat this weekend.

This stuff is good-mood food. It's got enough umami that Eric smiled while he was eating, the floor upstairs forgotten for the moment. There was something about the combination of sweet and tart and savory that made it comforting and satisfying all at the same time. An extra bottle of cider for me and a beer for him didn't hurt either.

Sausage with cabbage and apples
4 medium Italian sausages
1 small onion, cut in half circles
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup apple cider (the kind with the alcohol)
1/4 cabbage, cut into thin strips (about 2 cups)

2 apples, cut into thin slices

Brown the sausages. Remove the sausages and saute the onions until golden brown. Add the sausages again along with the apples and cabbage. Pour the cider over everything. Cover and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the cabbage is translucent.

Apple Pear Noodle Kugel

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:48:00 +0000

The first time I ever had a kugel was at a funeral. The whole affair was a whirlwind that I don't remember much of anything except taking pictures of paintings in order to avoid listening to Eric and his brothers argue. This was also, I should mention, the first time I met most of Eric's family. This made me eat a lot, nervously grazing through the deli and cookies that must have been there, even though I have only vague memories of what was on the table, except for tongue. It was a revelation to me that people actually ate tongue, and, apparently enjoyed it. I tasted the tongue. I wasn't impressed, even if it was one of Grandma Jan's favorites. Maybe you had to grow up with it.

What did impress me was the kugel. I'd never heard of such a thing. Pasta with cottage cheese and cinnamon? Was it a dessert or a side dish? All I knew was that I wanted more. I kept wandering back to the kitchen for another bite, partly because it was such good, hearty comfort food that it made everything better, at least while I was eating.

Months later, Hillary sent me a recipe for her noodle kugel, which had so much cheese and eggs in it that my arteries hardened while I read the ingredients. I chickened out and put the recipe in my "to cook" folder on my computer, where it remained for several years.

Then I found out that there was such a thing as an apple kugel. This could be made, with only a few alterations, into something relatively healthy. Not exactly good for you, but not as bad for you as the one with all the cheese. It also makes a good breakfast meal.

I tried this recipe with a couple of different kinds of gluten-free noodles, and they all taste good, thick or thin. If you're going for a wide-noodle look, then Amazon sells a couple of different kinds of GF "egg" noodles, some of which are even kosher. The original recipe is from Whole Living Daily.

Warning: Eric really, really likes cinnamon. Adjust the amount of cinnamon according to your own preferences.

GF DF Apple Pear Noodle Kugel

10 oz. package of GF wide noodles (I used Seitenbacher Gluten-Free Golden Ribbon Gourmet Pasta)
4 tbsp buttery spread
2 pears, grated
2 apples, grated
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup golden raisins
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp golden flax seed meal
4 tsp hot water
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
more cinnamon and butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix the lemon juice with the grated pears and apples so that they don't brown while waiting. Cook the noodles.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, grease a regular-sized pie pan or 11x7 baking dish with 1 tbsp of the buttery spread. Next, make a flax seed slurry by combining the flax seed meal with the very hot water. Let this sit for at least five minutes or until it thickens.

Drain the noodles in a colander, then mix in the rest of the buttery spread.

Stir the agave, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon into the pear-apple mixture. Add the flax seed slurry, then the coconut milk and stir to combine. Be gentle, as the noodles break easily. Transfer to the pan.

Combine the maple syrup with a half teaspoon or so of the maple syrup and spread the mixture over the top of the kugel. Dot with butter.

Bake for one hour or until the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbling. Cool for another hour to set.

Serve warm.

Bright orange for Hannukah! Sweet potato and carrot latkes.

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:13:00 +0000

I love my potato latkes, and so does Eric, but I always feel that there are so many options to play with besides the old stand-by, Mr. Potato. Each year, Eric sits in our breakfast nook, peeling 10 pounds of potatoes, then has to stop because he is sure that he has dislocated his shoulder from excessive grating. At this point I console him for a few moments before handing him a couple of pounds of carrots, zucchini and sweet potatoes. He's a really good kitchen assistant, too. When he cut his finger, he made sure to not bleed into the grated potatoes. I thought that was really considerate of him.

In case anyone thinks I am a horrible person for demanding that he do so much work, I should point out that it was his idea to buy the 10 lb. bag of potatoes. He actually put another 10 lb. bag in the cart when we were shopping "just in case." I'm convinced he still thinks he's back at his mother's house and we are trying to feed a party of 50.

This time I made vegan zucchini latkes (not so good--they fell apart), carrot brown rice latkes with ginger and cilantro, and sweet potato black bean latkes. These were by far my favorite. But if you'd like to try the carrot ones, I've included that recipe below. Or, try the traditional potato ones from an earlier festival of lights post.

GF DF Sweet Potato Black Bean Latkes
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 14 oz. cans organic black beans
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped and drained
2 eggs
1 cup oat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp vegetable broth

Combine ingredients in a bowl. The latke mixture should be moist enough to form into a patty easily. If it is too wet, squeeze the excess liquid out between your hands. Scoop the latke mixture in your hands, pressing to shape into a nice-looking patty. Be sure not to make them too big or they will fall apart more easily.

Cover the bottom of the pan with oil. Drop a small piece of the mixture into the pan. When it starts to sizzle, it's hot enough to fry a latke. When the pan is full of sizzling latkes, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the undersides are browned (about five minutes). Turn the latkes over and cook another five minutes or so until each side is a nice, golden brown.

Serve with a choice of applesauce, sour cream, or even cranberry apple relish. It also tastes wonderful topped with pulled beef brisket.

And then have some carrot latkes, which look almost exactly like the sweet potato ones. They're just a brighter orange. They also taste amazing with cranberry apple relish.

GF DF Carrot Brown Rice Latkes
3 lbs. carrots, peeled and grated
1 cup brown rice, cooked
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1 orange pepper, finely chopped and drained
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp cilantro
1/4 tsp salt

Combine the brown rice and a handful of grated carrots in a food processor and blend until a paste forms. Add to bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients by folding them together with your hands.

Follow the same directions for the rest of the process as above.

GF DF Chocolate Walnut Rugelach

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Sadly, I don't think I had the opportunity to taste a rugelach until I was in my twenties, when I was working in a coffee shop. There was a little display case with fresh muffins and three or four different kinds of rugelach. Sometimes, if we were lucky, a piece would get too crumbly to sell and one of us would be forced to eat it. Sometimes, if one of us was having a rough day, several of the rugelach would have "accidents." This was how I discovered that although I liked the apricot rugelach, the chocolate nut was my favorite. From then on, the other flavors were relatively safe.

Years later, I met Eric, moved to Los Angeles and discovered the world of Jewish delis. So many rugelach! Even after we were done eating, there was still an opportunity to shop for sweets while waiting in line to pay our bill. After 2005, all I could do was window-shop or watch other people enjoy the treats now forbidden to me. I never thought I'd actually be able to make them myself. It looked so difficult.

I've made them twice now. The first time was a little rough because I had no idea what to expect, but after a little practice, it turned out to be fairly easy. My mom and step-father taste-tested and approved them, although Stuart kept forgetting whether it was a kugel or a rugelach or a latke. All those new words can get a little confusing if you throw them at an unsuspecting person all at once. I think, in the end, he settle on calling them rugels. Close enough. (A quick google search revealed that he's sort of right. Rugal=folded.)

The original recipe calls for potato flour, but since potatoes don't like my friend Amy, I try to keep the potatoes away when I can. I'd like to try the recipe with something else besides cornstarch, because I have another friend who doesn't eat corn, but I didn't have time to experiment too much. Maybe next week.

GF DF Chocolate Walnut Rugelach (adapted from Gluten Free Girl)
For the dough:
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp kosher sea salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
4 oz. coconut milk (the thick part)
4 oz. buttery spread
1 egg
1 tbsp water

For the filling:
1 1/4 cup walnuts
1 cup DF GF chocolate chips
1/4 cup apricot spread

Combine the dry ingredients by putting them in a food processor and pulsing a few times. Add the coconut milk and buttery spread and mix until it starts to form giant curds.

Divide the dough in half and shape each into a ball. Cover each dough ball with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes so that they are hard enough to shape more easily.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and blend until it forms a paste.

Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper. Try to roll it out in the shape of a rectangle, but if the dough decides to go in different directions than planned, just tear off the offending pieces and smoosh them where they were supposed to go. Even it out again with a rolling pin. To make a nice rectangular shape, cut off the rough edges with a knife and save the extra dough bits for later.

Spread the filling over the dough, leaving about a half inch of space at the ends. To roll the dough, lift up the parchment paper a bit and encourage the dough to roll forward. Once the edge has lifted off the paper, use your fingers to gently roll the dough. Be careful not to roll too tightly or the dough might separate and leave little holes (which can be patched up with the reserved dough).

Make an egg wash by mixing the egg and water together. Brush the logs with the wash and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden brown. When the logs have cooled, cut them into slices. Tip: Run a sharp knife under very hot water. This keeps it from flaking so much when you slice them.

Share with friends.

GF Banana Fritters

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:50:00 +0000

Once again, I bought too many bananas. We're leaving to visit my mom and step-dawg for ThanksHanuMas tomorrow and I couldn't leave them to rot. But I've made enough banana bread this year to last for the next two, and the thought of making another one, even to give to my mom, made me want to throw the bananas away "accidentally" just so I wouldn't have to bake them.

Luckily for me, endlesssimmer.com had more than enough options in their post "100 Things to Do With Bananas." Don't worry--all of the options involved cooking, so you don't have to block the site from your kids. When I saw the banana fritters, I had my solution to the curse of banana bread. Not only did I not have to make another baked good, I also had solved the problem of what to eat for brunch.

I'd made them before with glutinous rice flour, but it made the mushy bananas even mushier and slightly elastic. This time I tried regular rice flour, which gave them a normal banana consistency. My advice: make the fritters as small as possible, especially if you're not using a deep fryer, which I don't have. Eat it as a snack or have it for breakfast smothered in maple syrup. Yum!

The original recipe is here: http://www.camemberu.com/2010/03/kuih-kodok-or-godok-pisang-banana.html

Some stuffing, a casserole, and yams

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:07:00 +0000

Tomorrow's Turkey Day, so I prepared some of the dishes that can be reheated easily tonight. That way the turkey can have the oven all to itself. I only had a couple of rules. The sides had to be relatively healthy, be gluten-free and dairy-free, and also be something that Eric would eat. That meant that the yams couldn't be too sweet, the green bean casserole couldn't be very creamy, and the stuffing had to have something that would distract him from his most feared enemy: the carb. Eric always likes to make sure that my job of cooking everything doesn't get too easy.

The only thing that was difficult about any of these dishes was waiting for them to cook. I wish I had better pictures of them. Maybe Santa will get me a really nice camera for Hannumas (Eric, are you reading this?)

Today I had a whole dinner of sides and I am completely stuffed (no pun intended). Tomorrow--turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes (made by Eric) and pumpkin pie. Then off to see Hugo and then have a long winter's nap. Happy Thanksgiving!

Maple Yams and Pecans

3 large yams, peeled and chopped
3-5 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp buttery spread
1 tsp pureed ginger
1 cup chopped pecans

Fill a small casserole dish with the yams and stir in about 3 tbsp maple syrup, the cinnamon and ginger. Dot with 2 tsp of buttery spread. Cover and bake at 350º for 1 hour. Meanwhile, heat the pecans in a pan with a tsp of butter then stir in a half cup of pecans. Add more maple syrup to taste. Sprinkle the other half cup of pecans on top. Bake uncovered for another half hour.

Cornbread Stuffing with Chicken Sausage

3 chicken sausages, cut into small pieces
2 cups of cornbread, chopped into cubes
3 celery stalks, diced
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp fresh sage
1 tsp fresh rosemary
salt and pepper

(For a great cornbread recipe, go here. I used almond milk instead of soy milk and it came out great.)

Bake the cornbread cubes on a greased baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, or until cubes are crispy on all sides. Meanwhile, combine all the other ingredients in a large pan and cook in a bit of butter and a couple of tablespoons of broth until the celery is soft. When the cubes are ready, stir them into the mixture along with the rest of the chicken broth. Put the mixture in a 9x13 and cook, uncovered, for about a half an hour. The stuffing should be crispy on the top and soft and mushy (the way it should be) on the bottom.

Green Bean Casserole (gluten-free and dairy-free)

1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup almond meal flour
1/2 lb. green beans, cut in small pieces
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup walnuts, ground
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion slices until soft and golden. Set aside. Cook the beans, mushrooms, and walnuts in a little olive oil until soft. Add the mimcreme and broth. Continue cooking on low heat while preparing the almond flour.

Toast the almond meal flour for a couple of minutes until it browns (be careful--it burns quickly!). Toss the toasted almond meal flour with the cooked onions. Stir in about half of the almond flour with the vegetable-broth mixture and pour into a small casserole dish. Cover the casserole with the rest of the onions. Bake at 350º for about a half an hour until bubbly and thick.

Joy Bauer’s Food Cures

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:21:00 +0000

gluten-free mini gingerbread muffins

I recently received a copy of Joy Bauer’s Food Cures. Not only is the book on the New York Times Bestseller list, it is also written by the Today Show’s nutritionist and food expert, Joy Bauer.

Naturally, the first thing I looked for when I opened the book was the section on celiac disease. By a strange coincidence, my sister-in-law called me later on that day to tell me that my husband’s brother had just been told by his doctor to go off gluten for a month to see if it helped with his chronic stomach problems. She was at the grocery store, suddenly overwhelmed by the fear that she would buy something with gluten that would harm her husband. She read the labels of some of Todd’s favorite foods to me, and I opened the Food Cures book to the section on “avoiding foods that contain gluten.” Even though I’ve been gluten-free for over six years, I’m still not able to be absolutely sure that something is safe. When I’m at the store, I check the list I bring with me (there is also one available at the Mustard Seed customer service desk), just to be sure. So when Jill called, I was happy to have a list in front of me that I could trust. In fact, one of the items that Jill listed, food starch, was on the “maybe” list, so I was able to warn her before she bought it.

A book such as Food Cures practically caters to someone like me, who probably has about half the conditions she describes in her book. All of the diets revolve around the guidelines given in the beginning and in the weight loss section. There is wonderful, encouraging advice in each section, from mood to PMS to IBS. Even when Joy gives common sense guidelines that usually just make me feel guilty because I know these things but still don’t do them, she’s so encouraging and upbeat that you almost want to try to do a little better, just for her.

The only problem I had with the book was that it was difficult
to find all the recipes, as there was no section with just recipes or a recipe index. Although I did find several appealing recipes in the section for celiac disease, such as gf apple-cinnamon pancakes with lemon yogurt topping and gf gingerbread muffins, I still had to through all of the sections to see if any other recipes interested me. For example, I had to look under “Mood” to find a lovely recipe for vegetable oatmeal bisque, which also happened to be gluten-free. However, many of her recipes are also available on her website, which makes finding just the right thing a lot easier.

I would definitely recommend this book to people who want to try to take charge of their relationship with food and find ways to make it work for them. It is particularly useful to people who have just discovered they have a certain condition and need an encouraging person to guide them through the often confusing and intimidating path of food lifestyle changes.

I would definitely recommend this book to people who want to try to take charge of their relationship with food and find ways to make it work for them. It is particularly useful to people who have just discovered they have a certain condition and need an encouraging person to guide them through the often confusing and intimidating path of food lifestyle changes.

Note on the muffins: I used almond yogurt instead of real yogurt, which is why I think they came out a little dry.

Best polenta ever from The Splendid Table

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:22:00 +0000

Chowhound's October 2011 Cookbook of the month is The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. It's Italian food, which means lots of pasta and breads, but I got the book from the library anyway to see what all the fuss was about. There had to be something in there that a GF DF girl could eat.

In the end, I found less than 10 recipes that could be adapted to my diet. Tonight I tried two of them that looked tasty (Creamy Polenta and Bolognese Ragu), even though the total cooking time was 2 hours. That kind of cooking time is what weekends are for. Weekdays are for meals like stir-fry. Or mac & cheez.

The other reason I chose meals with such a long cooking time is that Eric and I are going through our semi-annual thermostat war. He has decreed that the heater won't go on until November 1, and I'm doing my best to stand by him on this because he's gone a little crazy since the water heater had to be replaced. Nevertheless, it's cold and I'm female. My hands and feet have turned to icicles even though I've got on a sweater, fuzzy socks and a snuggie. The only way to get through this weather is to keep on cooking until it gets warm again or I can turn on the heat.

Creamy Polenta (adapted from The Splendid Table)
3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal
2 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup vegetable stock

Fill a large pot with three-quarters full of water and bring to a boil.
In a stainless steel bowl, whisk the hot water with the cornmeal until there are no lumps. Whisk in the vegetable stock. Cover the bowl with foil.

Set this on top of the pot of boiling water, making sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Reduce heat to medium so that the water bubbling more slowly. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every half hour or so. Reseal the foil after stirring.

Ragu Bolognese (DF)
2 oz. pancetta
4-5 carrots, cut into small pieces
4-5 stalks of celery, cut into small pieces
1 onion, minced
1 lb. ground sirloin
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
3/4 cup vegetable stock
1 cup almond milk

Saute the vegetables and pancetta for about 10 minutes, or until onions and celery are translucent. Add the ground sirloin and cook until meat is browned, about another 5 minutes.

Stir in the wine and tomato paste. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 hours. The liquid mixture will reduce slowly this way. Add in the almond milk about 1/4 cup at a time. After 2 hours, the ragu should be moist, but not runny or have too much liquid.

The result is a rich, flavorful sauce that tastes wonderful over polenta.

Green Tomato Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:13:00 +0000

It's the end of the summer and Eric and I have had so many tomatoes that we can't even stand to look at them. We've been sneaking over to the neighbor's house and putting little tomato gifts on their lawn furniture. When they asked, we blamed the cats.

This weekend I decided to pull up my tomato plants and pick all the green tomatoes and be done with it. The gardening season is over, I thought. Let the snow begin.

Fortunately for my plants, autumn decided to wait a bit and give my tomatoes just a little more sun and another few days for them to grow. I couldn't get myself to pull those healthy, innocent tomato plants from the ground while they still had a chance to enjoy the sunshine a little longer. Gardening is not for the weak. You've got to be strong and do what is necessary, no matter how the plant looks at you. I guess I'll never be a real gardener. I'm planning on doing the dirty work tomorrow. Maybe if I explain to them that frost is coming and I'm really trying to protect them, they might understand. I have a feeling my tomato plants will be stronger than I am in this matter.

Even so, I still managed to pick a whole pot of tomatoes, two peppers, and an eggplant that was so cute I almost had trouble chopping it up. The green tomatoes have been staring at me for two days, taunting me. What can you do with a green tomato that won't taste like a green tomato?

The answer is soup. The creaminess of the coconut milk and lemongrass complement the tart flavor of green tomatoes and lime juice, making it filling and light at the same time. The best part? It didn't taste like tomatoes.

Green Tomato Lemongrass Soup
1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk
1 1/2 cups chopped green tomatoes
1/4 cup cashes
1/4 cup brown rice flakes
1 tsp garlic
2 tsp lemongrass
1 tsp cilantro
1/4 tsp kosher sea salt
1 tsp lime juice

Combine all ingredients and cook on medium heat until tomatoes are tender, about 5-7 minutes. Pour into blender and blend until smooth.

Pumpkin Coconut Pie with a Sunflower Seed Rice Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:16:00 +0000

It's week 3 of the Elimination Diet. I admit that I've cheated a couple of times, but I regretted it almost immediately--either my face started to itch or my stomach felt uncomfortable. It just wasn't worth it.

Summer's already gone. It's the time of year where I want comfort food. Lots of soup, lots of carbs, and as much spicy pumpkin pie as I can get.

My diet really doesn't allow for anything in a traditional pumpkin pie except for spices and pumpkin. No eggs, no milk, no wheat. Each year it seems that I take away one traditional ingredient, have a disaster, and then move on. Two years ago I figured out how to make a delicious nut crust from almonds and butter. Last year I started using coconut milk instead of condensed milk, and this year I've decided to go without the eggs. Just because.

The first pie I made this year was a disaster. Even after it baked for an hour and a half, the filling still dripped out of the shell. It tasted great, though, and the crust added a nutty, crunchy bite. Not one to waste perfectly good ingredients, I added a piece of it to my hot rice cereal and mixed it in until the pie disappeared. Now that was a good breakfast.

The next time I made pumpkin pie almost gave in and used eggs. Luckily, our refrigerator is still broken, so we didn't have any. I'll thank it later for keeping me on my diet.

I'm glad I didn't use the eggs. I got to make a slurry, which not only sounds cool, but also has a few meanings that have nothing to do with cooking. I felt like I was adding very naughty ingredients. I'd recommend that anyone try making a slurry just for the hell of it (a chia slurry is even more fun--it looks like baby worms in a bowl).

This one isn't as firm as a regular pumpkin pie, but when chilled, it can stand on its own. Eric says it's one of my best yet because it's not too sweet, and he hates sweets.

Pumpkin Coconut Pie with a Sunflower Seed Rice Crust

For the crust:

3/4 cup brown rice flakes

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1 ¼ cup sunflower seeds

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tbsp chia seeds

2-3 tbsp water

For the filling:

2 tsp golden flax seeds

4 tsp hot water

1 cup coconut milk (thick part only)

4 tsp cooked brown rice flakes

1 can pumpkin

½ tsp orange peel

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp nutmeg

¼ cup maple syrup

For the crust:

Use a food processor to combine all the ingredients. It should resemble a sticky meal. Press the "crust" into a greased pie pan to cover completely. It's hard to mess this up--just make sure that it is even.

For the filling:

To make the slurry, pour the hot water over the flax seeds and let it sit for a few minutes. It should have a goopy consistency.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until completely mixed. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Cook for 1 hour until the top is brown and the filling doesn't jiggle much. Chill completely. Serve cold.

Tzimmes.

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Cat in the hospital. Fridge on the fritz.

And it's only the first day of the new year. Happy Rosh Hashanah.

Last night I made a gorgeous chicken sweet potato curry with enough leftovers for both of us to get through the day. I'm not supposed to eat chicken right now, but I wasn't going to waste a whole bird. I also made tzimmes for myself.

Then the fridge broke. Now I have a whole pot of rotten chicken with sweet potatoes. The dog wouldn't even eat it, not that I would have let him. I took pictures of the curry, but I was so grossed out this morning that I deleted all pictures so there wouldn't be any evidence.

All of have left are my tzimmes.

Eric refuses to eat them, but when I press him for a reason, all I get are evasive answers. I think he's afraid of the prunes. Hilarie warned me that he wouldn't eat them. She told me she never even bothered to make tzimmes because she knew that her husband and sons would turn up their faux-goy noses at something so healthy.

I've had tzimmes for breakfast, tzimmes for lunch. If I have them for dinner, I think I'll turn orange. I was a bit intimidated about using cooked prunes at first, but they add a rich, gooey sweetness to the mixture that just melts in your mouth. They're actually a perfect breakfast food.

End of day note: The fridge will be fixed in 5 days. The cat has nothing wrong with him, as far as the vet can tell. However, I have to make him gain a half a pound in the next two weeks or else he'll have to go through another round of tests. This is my chance to be a real Jewish mother. I can complain every day as prepare tasty treats for my cat, "Nikos, you look so thin!"

Roasted Sweet Potato Carrot Tzimmes

1 large sweet potato

1 lb. carrots

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup prunes

1 tsp lemon juice

3 tbsp agave nectar

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Peel and cut sweet potatoes and carrots into small cubes. Toss with olive oil and spread evenly on baking sheet. Roast for 1 hour.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large pot and simmer for about five minutes. Add more water if necessary. Add roasted vegetables and mix until thoroughly coated with prune-spice mixture. Cook for a few more minutes until excess liquid is cooked off.

Another week of beans and rice

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:31:00 +0000

I lasted until Saturday before seriously cheating on my diet. This wouldn't be that surprising since I am a stress-eater and use that excuse to eat just about anything I'm craving. This time was different. I'd actually started to feel good for the first time in several weeks since giving up coffee.

By Wednesday I noticed that my body felt a little lighter. Not because I've lost weight, which I haven't, but because my body felt less weighed-down. My brain is still foggy, but I did have a few moments of clarity throughout the week, which hardly ever happened without coffee before. There is also a huge benefit to being able to get up in the morning and function without needing an addictive substance to jump-start the day. Another odd side-effect is that I've had some really vivid dreams that were so intense I kept going back to sleep just to keep the plot moving in the morning.

The best part? Someone hadn't seen me for two weeks and knew that I'd been suffering from a cold, but when she saw me yesterday she said I looked so healthy and radiant that she couldn't believe I'd just been sick. Me? Healthy and radiant? I haven't heard that in years.

So, queen of self-sabotage that I am, I cheated on my diet.

When I started the diet last week, I'd completely forgotten that Eric's brother was coming into town for a long weekend and that we'd be going out to dinner almost every night. I had a few mishaps here and there over the week where I'd eat a little bit of chocolate, but I consoled myself by the fact that I'd still managed to avoid meat and coffee, which are the biggest offenders.

I got through two restaurant visits without cheating. I munched on salads while I watched Eric and his brother polish off grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas and tater tots.

But last night was barbecue night. Unfortunately, it was my job not only to buy the steaks but also to marinate them. My willpower just wasn't strong enough to withstand the primal call of barbecued meat.

This morning I woke up exhausted. I've been exhausted all day. I can't say for certain that this was because I consumed a large portion of not-easily-digestible meat, but the evidence does seem to point in that direction, unless it was the excessive humidity that did me in.

So I'm back today. We went to Corky & Lenny's for lunch today and I got vegan sushi from Whole Foods while the men ate huge hot pastrami reubens on rye bread.

And I still haven't had any coffee, even though we went to Starbucks afterwards.

Here's one of the many rice and bean meals I've had this week.

Toasted Mung Beans and Brown Rice in Coconut Milk

The original recipe can be found here. I just substituted agave nectar for the sugar and short grain brown rice for the sticky rice. And I added peaches on the side.

Eric and Ryan and me with pastrami and sushi.

I survived Day 1.

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:41:00 +0000

I survived Day 1. It wasn't that bad, considering that I have a cold and feel like shit anyway. I felt hungry most of the day, but I think that was because of the cold, not the diet.

I came home and cooked Eric his meal, then made myself some soup. I am such a good little wife.

Day 2.
Eric posted on Facebook that I had given up coffee and someone said I wouldn't last a week. It's been a week and two days, and although I wouldn't say I feel great about it, I don't want to kill anyone (except maybe the guy who made that comment), so it's a step in the right direction.

Eating crappy food is so easy. It's everywhere, right at your fingertips. Making all your food and preparing all your snacks takes time and effort. Honestly, if I weren't cursed with stomach problems I would probably just eat like everyone else and drink as much coffee as I wanted.

So now I'm trying to make my stomach happy. I prepared breakfast and lunch last night so that I wouldn't have to get up early in the morning to worry about it and risk breaking my diet. This morning the bag I brought to work was so heavy I felt like I was moving into the office. I brought my tea, a bottle of water, rice porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and some chopped apples for a snack.

Since I'm so busy being healthy right now, I just took pictures of what I ate instead of typing out the recipes. They're fairly self-explanatory anyway.

Breakfast -
Rice porridge with figs and apricots

Lunch -
Cauliflower Carrot Soup

Dinner -
Nori Rolls with brown rice and avocados (no vinegar or sugar)

Eric had his with tamari sauce.

I confess, I cheated just a little. I had a small amount of chocolate, but only because a nice person gave it to me as a gift for doing her a favor. Eating it was the polite thing to do.