Mostly Adventurous Eating

Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Goat Cheese Pasties

2012-01-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

If you are anything like me, you eat breakfast one-handed while you drive, dress, or otherwise frantically make your way out the door in the morning. Breakfast should be finished, neat, and ready to go - all things I am not in the morning. I like more savory items first thing and most breakfast pastries are too sweet, so I created something that fit the bill. These are a nice mix of sweet and savory, while providing a good mix of carbs and protein for the morning. Feel free to adjust the sweetness to your liking. Or hey, add some peppers in with the cayenne and start your morning off with a trip to the hospital. Whatever floats your gravy boat.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Goat Cheese Pasties
makes about 30 pasties if your pastry rounds are about 3" in diameter before filling and folding.

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes
6-8 ounces goat cheese (strength it up to you - I like mine bold and tangy)
1 can black beans (I only used about 3/4 of the can, but I think all would have great too)
1-2 tsp garam masala (I like mine a bit sweeter and stronger. Taste as you go)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I used more because mine is OLD)
1 tsp salt (or more if you want a more savory filling)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp cumin
4 refrigerated pie crusts (the pre-rolled kind or make your own if you're just that good)
1 egg, beaten

Bake your sweet potatoes with your preferred method until soft or cheat and use canned. Remove skins, then mash with all other ingredients except the last two.

Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out rounds of dough, roughly 3" in diameter.

Fill rounds with 1-2 tablespoons of filling, but don't fill them enough to overflow or break when sealing. Fold over, use your beaten egg to seal the crust. Crimp and place on parchment paper or foil covered baking sheet. You can do all many of fancy eggwashes, sugar glazes, or butter basting at this point.

Bake at 425F for 25-ish minutes. They're done when pastry is baked and lightly golden brown. Cool on rack and pack for the next day. These were good both hot and cold and reheated well in the microwave.

Vegetarian Shepards Pie

2011-11-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

I never thought something as simple as shepards pie would be so damn time consuming. I guess because I never made one before. Make broth, then stew, then mashed potatoes, then bake together. Not to mention all the chopping, shredding, timing, and cooking. To be honest, I never actually made it to the pie part. I just plopped stew and potatoes in a bowl and called it a day. Pie be damned!

I don't like parsnips. Don't. I've tried them roasted, stewed, and turned into french fries. Don't. Funky. No. However, the broth... the BROTH. So worth it. So.Worth. It. Worth it enough to spend extra time typing in caps with periods after every word. That takes time, yo. Also, celery root! Man, I don't like celery but this root business might have something to it. It did taste nutty and delicious like promised.The problem, however, was the one I got was obviously old because it wasn't crisp and shreddable, it was spongy and tough. Sigh. Still, I know now that it tastes great, so I just have to find better ones.

This recipe is pretty flexible with substitutions and that's probably a good thing since some items might be hard to find in your area. Just do the best you can. Who cares, right? For example, I couldn't find pearl onions or anything close, so I used frozen pearl onions in a cream sauce. No biggie. I think I'll try this again with winter squash and sweet potatoes for a winterized version. Doesn't that sound lovely?

Vegetarian Shepards Pie

from Epicurious

Cherry Pepper Cobbler with Spiced Oatmeal Topping

2011-10-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Kay, so remember cherry season? It's a while back now. Well, there's this place, you see, where you can pick your own cherries. And I picked them and made them into a cobbler, you see? Then it got eaten and I was too full to blog about it, see? Yeah.

It's called Cherry Hill Orchards. I've actually been twice now and, yes, I will totally get around to telling you about the other one. Some day. Anywho, it was me, two co-workers, two kids, and a truckload of Amish people. It was a warm, breezy morning, spent petting farm cats and getting things stuck to my sticky fingers. I would just like to let the world know that I am a trooper. I was so far up in there picking cherries that I wore the tree as a hat. Seriously, I was picking cherry stems and bugs out of my hair hours later. Very cool experience and picking them yourself is CHEAP. Plus, compared to all my other "farming" experiences, this was a piece of cake because I wasn't dying in the South Georgia sun for hours. Check it out if you're in the area.

Also, can we take a break and talk about pitting cherries? I could buy a cherry-pitter, but they were soft enough that I just squeezed and they popped out. Took forever. My point here is that it took about an hour. This was an hour in which my mind went freaking WILD and tried to come up with every inappropriate comment possible (thinking about it for the rest of the week was just me). I popped about 200 cherries. By hand. I sang some tunes by Cherry Poppin' Daddies for good measure. I sang "Strange Fruit". I thought about forbidden fruit. Juicy flesh. Cleft. Cleft. Cleft, okay I'm done.

So, I bought this jam once. Hang on, totally related story coming your way. It was a cherry pepper conserve and tasted like sweet heaven. Once I got a boatload of cherries in my grubby mitts, I decided this needed to be replicated on a larger scale. With crumble topping.

I compared quite a few cherry cobbler recipes, looking for common threads that could be applied to an all-purpose recipe that is tweakable. My note taking skills are very low in this department, but I made a concerted effort to measure and do all that fancy, fiddly stuff. The end result was fantastico. It was sweet, but not overly so, with a little bite from the peppers and crunch from the topping. I think next time, I would try to thicken the cherry filling a bit more, since it was a tad runny for me. I'm also discovering that I'm not a huge fan of cardamom. Maybe it's situational, but more and more I don't like the taste it brings to foods. Look, you're reading MY foodblog. That means you can change recipes all you like to suit your tastes. I sure do. So go have fun with it!

Cherry Pepper Cobbler:

5 generous cups pitted cherries
1 T cornstarch
1-2 T flour
scant 1/2 cup sugar (or more if you like a traditional sweet cobbler)
1-2 diced hot peppers of your choice (Optional, but come on. You wouldn't make this recipe unless you wanted to add peppers)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Spiced Oatmeal Topping:
3/4 cup oats
3/4 cup flour
scant 1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
6 T melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 F.

1. Clean and pit all your cherries. Mix with the flour and corn starch. Set aside.

2. Dice and seed all your peppers. Or leave the seeds in if you're one of those crazy hot-heads. Wash your hands! I fear the day I forget this step.

3. In a small sauce pan, cook the sugar until it melts, then lower the heat to simmer. Add the diced peppers, cayenne, and vanilla. Stir until the peppers are slightly cooked and warm. This infuses the sugar with spicy flavor and dulls the peppers a bit. I think.

4. Mix into cherries and plop into baking dish. I would use a 9x9, but anything you've got that's big enough. Let it cool a bit then test the flavor and consistency. Add tasty or thickening stuff as you see if.

5. Note: most crumbly topping call for cold butter. If you can get that to work, then go for it. For me, it's just an exercise in futility adding cold butter to oats. Whatevs. If you're like me, melt your butter in the microwave.

6. In a small bowl, fumble all the topping ingredients together with the butter until you've got a pastey crumble.

7. Smooth crumble on top of cherry pepper mix and pop in the oven for about half an hour. Check after 20-25 minutes and bake until it's bubbly, thickened, and the topping has lightly browned.

Attention: Chocolate Makers

2011-10-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Adding pop rocks to your crappy chocolate does not make it "champagne" flavored. It just makes it noisy. Please address this. K thnx.

Lightened-Up Buckeyes

2011-07-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

My best friend's mom always makes these for christmas. They sound like a great idea, but even I (Ms. I melt candy bars on cookies) can't choke down the sweetness. It's too much sugar, too little actual taste, and no texture. Plus, after a hard search for saltine truffles left me feeling unsatisfied, I felt this might be the perfect way to sneak them into candy.

I think saltines are the bee's knees. They provide texture, a salty kick (I used unsalted here though), and they add bulk that doesn't come from sugar. Plus, add crushed peanuts for a party in your mouth. This solves some of the problems I have with normal buckeyes. Still, the peanut butter filling is very sweet to me. That's where the chocolate comes in.

Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed a lot more as I get older that I'm using dark, heady chocolate to "unsweeten" desserts. I know, my life sucks right? How awesome is it that adding chocolate can temper the sweetness of a dessert. It's a topsy turvy world. I was worried that the chocolate wouldn't taste good if that's the only part you took a bite of, so I added a little milk chocolate. When I say a little, I mean 1/4 cup to the 4 oz of unsweetened. Barely sweet and perfect.

Together, they make a buckeye that still have flavor, but isn't too sweet, has some texture, and is practically a health food compared to a normal recipe. You're welcome, pancreas.

I made two batches. The one for the office looked like typical buckeyes. For these, shove a toothpick in the top and use it as a handle to dip them in the chocolate. I thought they looked funny with their one-armed toothpick salutes. Then of course they look like crazy cyclops eyes after the toothpicks are removed. Creeeepy. For my batch, I just plopped then fully in the chocolate for a richer truffle. I'm worth it.

Lightened Up Buckeyes

Truffles:
1 1/2 c peanut butter
1 c butter, room temperature

4 to 4 1/2 c confectioners sugar
1 cup crushed saltines

1/2 to 1 cup crushed peanuts
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Coating
8 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate
1/2 cup semi-sweet chips
(really, any chocolate you want works here)

Mix peanut butter and butter together thoroughly. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for half of the powdered sugar. Keep mixing well until you get the taste you like with a thick texture, adding more sugar until you're happy with the result.

You can refridgerate the "dough" until it firms up, then roll it into balls. I found the cold dough hard to work with, so just get it pliable without being too hard. Roll into as many balls as you like. Mine made about 40 medium sized truffles. Push in your toothpick handle then freeze until they're hard- at least two hours.

Once hard, start your chocolate. You can temper it the old fashioned way, or you can cut corners like I did and microwave it for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring between. It should take about 1 to 2 minutes for the choclate to melt.

Use the toothpicks to carefully dip and swirl each truffle until they're to your liking. If you are doing the entire batch at once, I suggest melting your choclate in a small bowl or cup and making 2 to 3 batches of the chocolate. The truffles cool the chocolate quickly so this will make it easier to work with. Once all the truffles have been coated, return to the freezer for another hour or so, until you can't wait anymore.

Dig in. Or, take some in to work for strategic favor garnering. I place my work treats in this tub.

Works every time.

Broccoli Soup

2011-06-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Or, where can I get a field of broccoli to make this soup so I can bring about world peace. It's that good.

If you wondered whether broccoli soup without the cheese is not only something that might taste good, but also something you could serve to other people at an event, let me assure you that YES OHMYGOD YES you can. Actually, I'm not sure I ever want to eat broccoli and cheese soup again now that I know this is an option. It's easy to make, cheap, and over the top good.

If you love broccoli as much as I do, you will love this recipe. The taste is so clean and honest, in your face broccoli that's also creamy and comforting. Forget the biscuits. Forget the garlic bread. Hell, forget the rest of your meal. Just whip this up and you'll be happy as Larry. However happy he is.

The only substitution I made to this one was replacing real cream with a nut creamer I had in the fridge that needed using. It turned out perfectly, so I think this would take well to any substiutions for a vegan-friendly recipe you'd like. And, you know, it might also be good with cheese.

Broccoli Soup
from the Neely's on FoodNetwork

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli

1 large onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

Homemade Croutons, recipe follows

Directions

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in heavy medium pot over medium-high heat. Add broccoli, onion, carrot, salt and pepper and saute until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, until the flour reaches a blonde color. Add stock and bring to boil.
Simmer uncovered until broccoli is tender, about 15 minutes. Pour in cream. With an immersion blender, puree the soup. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and then replace the lid back on the pot.

They also have a recipe for homemade croutons if you're into that kind of thing. Enjoy!

Thai Peanut Seitan with Broccoli and Pineapple

2011-05-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

Let's just get this out of the way. The cubed seitan I bought looks like dog food. Kay? Moving on. I'd never worked with it before, and it tastes like tofu after it's cooked. Not so scary. Plus, every time I've seen it spelled phonetically it's say-tan, which is too funny because I love saying I just ate Satan with broccoli. I'm very easy to please. (The taste of say-tan compels you!) If it's s-eye-tan, I don't want to know.

Aside from my adventures in fake meat, I almost made it without because there's broccoli! and pineapple! in thai peanut sauce! I was excited from the get-go. This recipe is great because it's just as easy and flexible as a stir fry for when you're sick of stir-frys and can't eat another one. You probably have the basics on hand and you can sub in any vegetable or meat combo you'd like to good results. It's a winner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures because it went fast. I guess that's a good sign.

You may think the cookbook is familiar. There was another one I checked out ages ago that was the Go Vegetarian sister book. Both are excellent, though I think I'm a bit more partial to the vegetarian cookbook.

Seitan Saute with Pineapple
from Student's Go Vegan Cookbook

2 tsp oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 c chopped red bell pepper (used green with good results)
2 1/2 c bite-sized broccoli florets
4 oz finely chopped seitan (compels you!)
10 oz can crushed pineapple, unsweetened
1 T peanut butter
1/4 c light coconut milk
salt and pepper
roasted peanuts, garnish
chopped cilantro, garnish

Saute onion in the oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic and garam masala and saute another minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in bell pepper, broccoli, and seitan!, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add pineapple, peanut butter, and coconut milk. Simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender crisp and sauce begins to thicken slightly.

Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish if you like. As a side note, the sauce is beige. Satan! is beige. The pineapple and onions look beigey. Your broccoli will be your only stand-out if you use green pepper. I'm not one to turn my nose up at ugly food, you know me, but a dash of red bell pepper is nice here. Just fyi.

Vegan Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2011-04-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

You heard right. We're back on whoopie pies chez Z and we're doing it vegan-style this time. Whoopie pie remix.

If you thought I'd had enough of them last time, you were wrong. Once I figured out that they tasted so much better without gobs (heh) of filling, I'm ready for more. Plus, this is an excuse to buy vegan cream cheese. Oh fake cream cheese, can you be as satisfying as your namesake?

Quick answer is no.

But it does have it's only qualities that don't make it suck. For instance, in this filling you can't tell it's not cream cheese. When mixed with other things, including lemon juice which gives it that nice tart cream cheese flavor, you wouldn't know it's vegan. (I decided to add some raw cacao powder to this batch, because pumpkin and chocolate are made in heaven.) On it's own, it's a different story. It doesn't taste bad, but it's not something I'd smear on a bagel and eat on it's own. However, you throw some chives and toasted sesame seeds on the same bagel with it and it's a party. Plus, it's easier to work with straight from the refrigerator since it's not as hard.

Overall, these whoopies were EXCELLENT. I loved the texture of the pies. One thing that may have made these so deliciously moist was replacing the oil with apple sauce and using more, you guessed it, buckwheat flour. I also cut the sugar in the pies in half. These are so decadent, I couldn't tell the difference. So can you make vegan whoopie pies that are the shit? Yes you can. And you should. If you are so inclined to try, check out the recipe I used here. Happy dairy-free baking.

Roasted Chickpea Crunchies

2011-04-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just find a recipe that's so awesome you fall in love and have to share. Then you share until it's annoying for the people around you and they tell you to shut up. This is that new recipe for me. All I wanted was a little snack, something to tide me over. These recipe challenges so often end up with lots of real food but no munchies. To remedy that I decided to make these.

And proceeded to get annoying.

These things are too easy. I've made them twice now and I'm about to start branching out and trying them with other beans. The recipe calls for canned chickpeas which was great. I think I like them from dried beans better though. I can't tell a difference in taste, but I love the texture difference. Also, if you're not into the corn-nut kind of crunch that these can get, just cook them a few minutes less for a less intense crunch and lovely chew.

Plus, these are crazy flexible. You can try any combo of herbs and spices you can dream of. The only one I've tried so far (because I love it as much as these) is a smoked sweet paprika, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, and brown sugar. Oh, touch me.

Throw out those potato chips! What are you waiting for? Click here to get the recipe and go wild.

Vegan Garlic Naan

2011-04-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

I was little hesitant about this. I made naan previously for a potluck and it was kinda suck. They were flat, too hard, and not helpful with the scooping of delicious things. Approaching this recipe with an open mind was a bit difficult, but I had a few new ideas. One reason my last batch didn't do so well was because my oven was too low and they cooked too long. Now, I could try it again with higher heat, or I could go the pan route. I chose Saute Pan as my weapon of choice.

This was a very wise decision, indeed. Maybe a hearty, toothsome, almost chewy naan isn't to your taste, but oh crap was it to mine! I had no idea that's what I wanted until I took a bite. This is no piddling bread to go with better food. This is NAAN. Not only was it delicious ripped apart and eaten alone, but I loved making open-faced sandwhiches with my stewed tomatoes and lentils on top. The coriander made this a much more flavorful, savory bread then I was expecting, but it really raised the bar. It goes suprisingly well with many more food combinations that you'd imagine.
Drawback: my pan looks like I tried to kill it. Anything cooked on my stovetop looks like that now. I think a heavy bottom skillet with more oil than the smidge I used would work wonders. Or, I bet a cast iron skillet without oil would work too. I'm sure there's a way to get them puffy in a skillet, but I haven't gotten there yet. Let me know if you have any tips.

Here is the base recipe. I went ahead and added the minced garlic, but about half of the recommended. I could have handled more since I used a mix of whole wheat and buckwheat for these, and the flour gave it a darker, more robust flavor. Also, I left out the vegan sour cream because I couldn't find any. I just substituted a little more almond/coconut milk with a tad of lemon juice. Does anyone have a favorite recipe for naan?

I know I'm all kinds of behind on vegan recipes. Ugh. What's up with this? I'll try harder, especially since I've found some amazing ones. Next time.

Vegan Stewed Lentils and Tomatoes

2011-04-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ugh! I know I'm slacking again on recipes. I've made a bunch of stuff with more on the way. Long, boring story that you don't want to hear, so let's start of easy. Actually, I meant to tell you about this forever ago. Once upon a dinner party, a friend from work and I made this Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was fabulous. The end.

Seriously, I made this at home in the same week and have been dreaming about it since. Vegan month is a great way to explore some new bean and rice dishes. I held off making them for gluten free so I wouldn't get sick to death of them. But it's vegan time! No guilt in making them now, so please join me and believe me when I say they're perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike. Word.

I've had them a little different every time. The first time, my friend put the carrots in hers. Of course, I don't do carrots, so I left them out the second time around, along with the food processing step. But this time, oooh this time! It could be that the anticipation made them taste more phenomenal than ever. Or it could be that I processed my onions, garlic, and tomatoes after sauteing then topped with a double dose of black pepper for a slightly spicy, tangy masterpiece over rice. Whatev.

Please make these. Seriously. I might cry if you don't.

To make this awesomeness, go to Smitten Kitchen.

March Gluten-Free Challenge Recap

2011-04-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the last month has really opened my eyes. The general public is becoming more aware of gluten intolerance, especially if they're avid food blog readers. What I couldn't have guessed before is that nearly everyone either knows someone who has Celiac disease or is a friend of a friend. It's amazing to me because it's almost the perverse new trend. With everything I've been reading about wheat and processed foods lately, I guess it shouldn't be too much of a shock.

Speaking of food intolerance, my April challenge is vegan recipes. Since I've started gearing up for that and winding down with gluten-free, I've never been so aware of the growing number of people with special dietary restricts - both voluntary and not. It's made me so much more grateful that I decided to take this challenge in the first place. Word to the wise, if you don't know someone with a special diet now, you will. Soon. Now more than ever, there's a huge, delicious world of "alternative" recipes. Why don't you try out a few and pin them down so that next time, when it's actually necessary, you won't be the person to show up to dinner with some inedible health food that you thought might be okay for weird-eating people. You don't want that and neither do they. /off soapbox

This leads me in to thinking about flour. I love trying new kinds and have more than my fair share on my pantry shelf. However, most of the time I get stuck thinking about them as novelty items. This relegates them to once-in-a-while recipes that are "special" and further segregates them in my mind. What is even more amazing is that most of these flours have been around for a long time. Either they weren't big in my part of the world, or we forgot how to use them, or we've succumb to the brainwashing that is advertising, believing wheat is the only flour. So to help straighten my mind out, I've had to learn how to work with them. My major three were sorghum, brown rice, and buckwheat flour.

I find sorghum flour to be a bit mealy and it doesn't seem to hold moisture as well. Buckwheat has an almost dirt-like flavor (as you've guessed by my last posts), but seemed to grow on me. Brown rice is by far my favorite. It was versatile, moist, not too crumbly, and cheaper than some of the others I've seen. This is only a small sampling and I've got more to try. I can't wait.

Now, for those of you who wondered about me cheating: I did. After the first week and a half, I realized that I was about to throw away or give away perfectly good food just to do this challenge. That seems silly to me, especially on a stipend. It made me reassess why I did this in the first place. I was bored cooking the same types of things. I wanted to try new recipes. Bam. Let me eat my leftovers and bits in peace, but expand my horizons. This was a perfect balance for me and one I intend to carry into April.

Overall: This month was really rewarding. Even after a rocky start and a lot of frustration with eating out (free bread everywhere!), I started to get into the groove. I've got a growing list of gluten-free foods that are appetizing, satisfying, and easily adaptable to lots of food allergies. Plus, I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve than before. What more could I ask for?

If you'd like to venture on a similar journey or could use more sites to help you along, I recommend these, in no particular order:

Gluten Free Girl and The Chef
Gluten Free Goddess
Simply Gluten Free
Gluten Free Mommy

GF Batter Fried Fish and Mushrooms

2011-04-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Totally.

I could go into a bunch of backstory and crap, but let's cut to the chase here.

1) I used buckwheat flour so it looks like mud.

2) Whoever came up with this recipe is a GENIUS! No struggling to create a crushed Chex-mix or cornmeal batter, just smooth sailing and good results.

I am a staunch fried seafood fan, but I don't make it at home. Why? You can't get crazy puffy batter fried to a greasy crisp fish like a fast food restaurant at home. Until now. Oil spill, why must you be so far away! I could put you to good use!

I guess I should also add 3) I ran out of oil and couldn't use my deep fryer. So I used less oil on lower heat and got totally greasy, greasified, Grease Fish. Which is fine with me.

Try. Fry. Eat with gluten free tartar sauce and Hooter's sauce. You were totally gonna forget the Hooter's weren't you. It's okay. I remind you. Don't worry that you've eaten nothing nutritionally sound and focus on the fact that fish is healthy! So are mushrooms! Win!

GF Graham Crackers

2011-03-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

Graham crackers are one of those classic snacks that I never think of unless I want a s'more. Seriously, there are quite a few things that everyone else seems to eat that are not in my lexicon'o food. In light of this, I'm not quite sure what inspired my hankering for some good old fashioned crackers. Whatever the case, I set out to make them.

And totally failed.

Now, my interpretation of failure is different than yours might be. See, the main ingredient flip was in the flour. I ran out of the last tiny bit of brown rice flour and subbed in buckwheat flour. Don't let the name fool you, it's gluten free. It's also dark brown and sort of makes everything look like dirt. It also has an earthy taste to it that makes some people think it tastes like dirt. Great start. Add to the fact that I'm LAZY and couldn't be fucked to properly roll them out and you have one recipe that has all the makings of graham crackers but is certainly not.

Now my first bite made me cringe a bit. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. Hilariously, I made a friend try them. At first she was intimidated to try them, then absolutely scared after she took a bite and let out a half-terrified "Ew!" Thanks, Julie. However, these grew on me in ways I couldn't have imagined. For one, I'm not fond of the graham cracker taste, to a point that I refuse to use it as pie crust and scrape it off. But after you get used to the buckwheat, it allows you to enjoy the sweetness of the honey and sugar without being overwhelmingly sweet.

Also, by not making these cracker-thin, they turned out soft with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb feel that is so addicting for me- very similar to a scone. I think this might be a base for an amazing cookie bar or something. Either way, my fail probably turned out for the best, since this is yet another recipe I wanted to make that I figured out later I'm not quite fond of. Such is life.

If you'd like to try your hand at the actual recipe, you can find it here. If you're looking for something a bit different, I originally wanted to make this graham cracker recipe, but didn't have all the ingredients. Or you can do it my way, by not following a recipe and ending up better for it.

Just saying.

GF Cinnamon Swirl Bread [Now with banana!]

2011-03-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Yes you can have totally tasty quickbreads! Knew it. Few quick notes, I used 3/4 sorghum flour and 1/4 buckwheat flour for this and it turned out well. Also note that the 3/4 and 1/4 don't refer to cups, just proportions. Plus, the usual applesauce for oil deal and a banana that was ripe and waiting. Mixy-mixy, bake, and pack for lunch.

Got to run for the day, but I've still got a few gluten free recipes to cram in, so stay tuned.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

taken from here

GF Chicken, Lentil, and Corn Enchiladas

2011-03-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Does anyone cook Mexican food on a regular basis? I mean, it sounds like a good idea. Lots of corn and tomatoes and rice and... jazz or whatever. But Mexican food never tastes as good as it should, you know? Why is Taco Bell near the top of my Tex-Mex food list?! When I want a quick meal, especially if I need it cheap, I fall back on Italian, Southern food, Indian. But not our Southern border cuisine.

Fine, I thought. Damn it. I've got a handful of stuff that needs to be used, including chicken and way too much cheese (vegan April, remember?) and I've never made enchiladas. They sound good. They fit the bill. But will they really give me what I want? I vowed to find out.

So, lets bake all the chicken that needs going until it falls off the bone. Check. Rip off crispy skin and eat as a snack. Check.

[Edit: What the flippy-floppy? I was trying to add the pictures I'd taken, but can't find them. I suspect I only took them in my head. Okay, picture a cassarole dish smothered in cheese. Bam.]

[P.S. Edit: Flippy-floppy is my new favorite phrase. Thanks Julie.]

Scrounge up everything in kitchen that's about to die. Check. Add some protein filler with lentils. Check. Grate cheese until I have filled my workout quota for the week and break my cheese grater to holy hell. Double Check. Assemble. Eat.

Let me also note that this is a many person recipe, not a one person for dinner/lunch thing. Do you guys remember the episode of I Love Lucy where Ricki and Fred decided that most people could eat a pound of rice, so multiplied that by the number of people they were serving? Or the time Lucy made BREAD and nearly suffered from BREAD DEATH? I'm that guy. So I used the full amount of filling and toppings to too few tortillas in a too small 8x8" dish. Don't be me.

But what would you know? This was really tasty. Did I overcome my total predjudice against corn tortillas? Nope. Not even with frying. They fell apart and had a funny texture. But enchiladas with flour tortillas... I long for you.

Come to me now.

Bring salsa.

Chicken Enchiladas

3 cups cooked chicken
1 cup corn
1-2 cups cooked lentils
chopped green onions
Many corn tortillas- as many as you need. Or more. Go crazy.
1 1/2 cup enchilada sauce*
1/2 c cream sauce (or something creamy. I used a few dollops of raw cheddar spread and some horseradish dipping sauce because I had it)
3 cups cheese (I used a colby, cheddar, goat cheese cheddar mix. Yep.)

Lightly fry tortillas seperately in a dab of vegetable oil. Set aside.

Mix chicken, corn, cooked lentils, and any other fixins you can dream of. Or anything that needs to be used before it goes bad in the refrigerator. Put a few tablespoons of the chicken mix in each tortilla, wrap, and place in baking dish. Smother with sauce then top with cheese.

Bake at 350-400 F for 15-25 minutes, until cheese melts and you can't wait any longer.

No-Cook Make-Do Enchilada Sauce
Inspired by this recipe

1 (14.5 oz) can of tomatoes, mine already had onion and garlic
1-2 T of flour (sorghum for me)
Cayenne and cumin to taste.

Toss everything and whiz in a food processor. Um... I'm not sure why you add the flour except to thicken it. Meh. Tasted good anyway, plus I'm sure it's much healthier than store bought.

Done. How can a recipe be better than that?

GF Mushroom, Olive, and Double Cheese Pizza

2011-03-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yep yep yep. I tackled gluten-free pizza and I won. Of course, like with mac and cheese, I think any bread with tomato sauce and cheese can't fail, so maybe I'm biased. I flirted with this pizza dough recipe for a while, but didn't want to buy more ingredients. Instead I stole a dough recipe from this blog to start. My only problem with it was my own fault. I should have split it into two dishes instead of one (for double the pizza!) because the crust was very thick and took longer to bake then I would have liked.

Next top with homemade pizza sauce. For mine, I cracked open a small can of tomato sauce and simmered with onion powder, basil, chopped garlic, salt, and a crack-ton of black pepper. It was perfect and spicy, ready to be topped with cheese. In case you missed the double part, I topped the sauce with slabs of colby jack, mushrooms, black olives, and then TOPPED the top with sharp white cheddar. Cheese sandwich on crust, yes sir.

As baked, it was like a deep dish tangy, cheesy, satisfying slice of pizza heaven. Then again, I've never met a pizza I didn't like. Hmmm.

GF Mac and Cheese of Ultimate Awesomeness

2011-03-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, this post is not meant to show you the definitive mac and cheese recipe, though this one was damn good. This is to clear gluten-free pasta of it's bad name. So far, I've had quinoa and corn, brown rice, and white rice pasta. They all had tiny quirks, but overall I've been hugely impressed. So when it comes to one of America's favorite comfort foods, don't be afraid to cut the cheese. *snort*

For my mac, I decided to try a brown rice twist pasta. The recipe I used called for a bit of parboiling, which I thought would be safer. You know what? My pasta didn't fall apart. If you overcook any pasta it will get too soft, so don't be overzealous. Just treat it like normal pasta and you'll be cool. For the cheesy bits, I used mostly medium cheddar with some colby, feta, and parm. Use whatever you have, though personally I stay away from sharp cheddars. Whatever your preference, use a ton of it.

I've heard a lot lately about the sub-par... ness of gluten free pasta. Maybe I'm not experienced enough with it. Maybe I have no clue about what I'm saying. But why don't you give it a try for yourself. Perhaps you'll look at the starchy stuff in a new light or find a new favorite everyone can live with. Mkay.

Food for Zombies!

2011-03-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Srly. We had a zombie themed potluck since I've been telling my friends about the awesomeness that is Shaun of the Dead and we've yet to watch it. And we still haven't. I brought it, but we ended up just talking instead which is probably better. I did dress up as Shaun's cousin, Bam Bam, the zombie killer. One day...

Anyways, they're good sports so everything was not only zombie-themed, it was also vegan and gluten-free. We are all about the challenge. For my part, I made a blood and gore dessert. Rice pudding with hemp milk for the base. Throw in some banana chunks, blueberries, and cover with a bloody strawberry sauce. Now play with green and blue food coloring, mix, devour.

We also had scabby zombie fingers consisting of green beans, dried cranberries, and black food coloring. For the main course, bloody mushrooms over lemon-garlic pasta. I mean, brains and intestines. Zombie-lickin' good, yo.

And yes, I'm aware that I've passed the two week market. I considered doing another daily meal thing, but decided that it probably wasn't necessary. Still, I'm really starting to hone in on why I picked up this challenge. Sure, it's be cool to test for a gluten sensitivity, but mostly I was bored. I wanted a new recipe challenge. Of course, I could be saying this to make myself feel better about cheating... Don't judge me.

Anywho, I'm trying to get over my total ~~eclipse of the heart~~ predjuidce of corn tortillas, so I've got a few things coming up. Aside from making them myself, do you guys know anything good to do with them. You know, so they don't taste like cardboard that rips apart with a look? Ugh.

Gluten-Free Eats: Mexican Pumpkin Soup and Cornbread

2011-03-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Thank the heavens for awesome bloggers, because they've saved my little gluten-free butt. I was really starting to worry that I might not make it with what I had on hand. Not only did I find delicious recipes, I also got to use up some of my pantry left-overs.

It all started with the goodness that is spicy pumpkin soup. How can you not want that? It's savory and surprisingly healthy. Plus, this is something you can feed to carnivores and vegans alike. I love food that is so tasty and versatile that no one can refuse. Instead of the jalapeno, I simmered the soup with one chipotle in adobo sauce. It turned out smokey, creamy, flavorful, and so satisfying. I highly recommend it no matter what your dietary preferences.

Mexican Pumpkin Soup
from Gluten Free Goddess

What goes better with a spicy soup than cornbread? Well, if you're gluten-free, worry not. I found this cornbread recipe that tastes EXACTLY like my normal cornbread. Sweet, light texture, goes with anything, and super simple. Of course, if you're weird and not into sweet cornbread (for shame!), simply omit the sugar and add your own favorite spices. Don't tell me and I won't hold it against you. And if you're wondering, I substituted brown rice flour and it turned out great, so don't be afraid to experiment.
Gluten-Free Cornbread
from Gluten Free Mommy

Week 1: Gluten Free

2011-03-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well, here's how we did. This is especially targeted towards anyone starting new to this diet and needing ideas on what a weekly menu might look like. For a single person with little previous experience, this is what I came up with broken down roughly by meals breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you will see, there's not always a whole meal going on- just lots of snacks.

Day 1

Breakfast: GF chocolate zucchini muffins, coffee
Lunch: GF chicken teriyaki, orange
Dinner: GF pasta with my new favorite tomato sauce
Snacks: Swiss Miss hot chocolate, hot tea, homemade trail mix, Honey Nut Chex (HNC)
Verdict: Pasta saved the day. Plus, craving carbs like crazy.

Day 2

B: muffins, coffee
L: pasta with sauce
D: lemon-butter snow peas
S: trail mix, hot chocolate, tea, HNC, grapes, olives, GF crackers with horseradish cheese dip, flourless chocolate cake

Day 3

B: muffins, HNC, coffee
L: pasta with sauce
D: rice and soy sauce
S: hot chocolate, tortilla chips and salsa, lemonade, trail mix, GF crackers with toasted marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips (smores)

Day 4:

B: hot chocolate, muffins
L: pasta with sauce
D: spinach salad
S: trail mix, HNC, lime popsicle, grapes, stovetop popcorn, smores
Day 5:

B: tea
L: a handful of chex
D: Tobias frog- tomato and roasted red pepper soup, salad, and scallops (cheated with half a garlic bread stick and roll)
S: trail mix, tea, HNC with chocolate chips
Verdict: I was out most of the earlier part of the day. Eating out is hard.

Day 6:

B: cheese omelette, tea
L: muffins
D: cornbread, pumpkin soup, lemonade
S: trail mix, homemade popcorn, smores

Day 7:

B: Peanut butter cookie, coffee
L: spinach salad with GF dressing, pumpkin soup with cornbread
D: lemon-garlic tilapia with zucchini and rice, lemonade
S: hot chocolate, tea, banana, smores, lime popsicle
Verdict: probably the best day so far.

Overall I think my first week went well. I cheated a total of three times: once to try a bite of guava-cheese pastry, once at Tobias frog for a dinner roll and half a garlic breadstick, and once for a peanut butter cookie. I don't think that's half bad.

Other than that, I'm realizing how hard it can be to eat out like this. On Saturday, it took me forever to decide on a place because nearly everything has bread. Even ordering a soup and entree without either, they still bring you bread as a side. There's no noticable difference in how I feel, or so I think. Too early to tell. Plus, it's really weird to look back on my week and see what I've eaten.

Let's try another week out and see where this goes. There are some recipes I made this past week that are coming up soon as well. Any gluten-free recipes out there you think I should know about?

Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

2011-03-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

Starting out this month's gluten free challenge, I hopped on the muffin train. Since becoming obsessed with bran muffins, it's pretty much my everyday breakfast. However, bran is from wheat is from can't eat it. So, I got to pick up some new and exciting flours to play with. Plus, there's chocolate. How bad can it be?

Not at all bad as it turns out. These muffins were ridiculously moist and light and so flavorful. My one caveat was that they were sort of gritty. I thought maybe it was just the batter, but they baked up with the same texture. Could it be the zucchini skin or is that just how gluten-free baking goes? Still, this made a lovely double batch and will supply a little over a week of breakfast and snacks.

Update: Since writing this earlier in the week, I've discovered that these muffins are so moist, so chocolatey, so awesome, they've started to remind me of fudgey brownies. Really. Also, I don't notice the grittiness anymore. Either it went away with the moisture or I'm too busy shoveling them down that I'm not paying attention. I would make these again once I'm back on the gluten train.

For you baking pleasure: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
I substituted 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 3/4 cup of applesauce to the mix.

Whoopee Pies!

2011-02-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

"Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble..."

That’s one of the things that’s so great about this country of mine. The right to public assembly and peaceful protest. So obviously you’re thinking whoopee pies now, right?

Wait, what?

If you thought the above somehow linked protests and whoopee pies, you’d be right. Nutshell: Maine is thinking of making the whoopee pie their state dessert. (link) PA goes, “say, what?” = Protest (link). I’m not even from here, but I know how near and dear the WP is to Pennsylvania’s heart. Naturally, I had to see this rally in Penn Square, just outside Central Market. Small to be sure, but it had plenty of delicious looking signs waving in the ohmygodCOLD breeze. And a news crew. Yep.

"You shall never take my Whoopie Pies!" cried man.

Most signs proudly displayed the WP icon, though one said “God hates Gobs” in reference to what some called the Pennsylvania Dutch term gob for whoopee pie. No one I know has ever heard them called that, but hey. My favorite sign, which sadly I didn’t get a picture of, retaliated by proposing we claim the Maine lobster as the PA state seafood. In your face, Maine.

So of course I had to make whoopee pies. Are you crazy? I had two recipes in mind and went full speed ahead. It also worked out nicely because they both called for shortening, and I’ve got a ton leftover from my Christmas molasses cookies.

Whoopie Pies!
From here

These tasted great. I was expecting the cookies to spread and round out as they baked, but be aware that they stay pretty much the same size. Also, if you want that perfect round top, you'll have to shape them. I just did the drop method and you can tell. Instead of all-purpose flour, I substituted all whole wheat and they came out great. Anywho, they were soft and STAYED soft, which is perfect.

Now, I was a bit leery in regards to the filling. It tasted like nothing more than sweetened Crisco. Granted, that's what it is, but that's not really tasty. However, once you sandwich those babies up, you won't regret it. I went easy on the filling because I'm really not into gobs (no pun intended) of icing, but it's up to you. Personally, I divided the icing in half and flavored one half with peanut butter and the other with an espresso/cappuccino mix. Another word to the wise, there's a ton of this stuff, so if you're going to go light, only make half the filling recipe.

Now, as awesome as these are, I've got to finish eating them now. Starting tomorrow, I'm taking a one month gluten-free challenge. Wish me luck!

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli

2011-02-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

Everyone has those days. You know, those days. The days you just want to order pizza and veg for a while because life never runs smoothly. Well, I had a car accident the night before I made these. Nothing dangerous, just a little "welcome to Pennsylvania, oh yeah, we have snow" sort of thing. So I was trying to take care of all those things that fall by the wayside since I was too afraid to drive in snow again and took the day off.

Still, the thought of someone bringing food to me sounded way too good. Until I remembered that I didn't want to do that really. Okay, well maybe I was just trying to convince myself that I didn't. Long story short, I had the stuff and the idea for buffalo chicken stromboli got lodged so deeply in my brain that I had to make it right that second. Plus, it'd be faster than delivery.

First step, make the dough. I decided that a quick pizza dough like this recipe was my jumping off point. So let's start here.

Stromboli Dough

1 .25 oz packet of yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour (they suggest bread flour, I've only got AP, whatever)
1 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1-2 T italian seasoning

Dissolve sugar in warm water and add yeast. Just make sure it's not hot enough to kill it. Let sit for 10 minutes, until frothy and cloudy.

Measure the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Once the yeast is ready, dump in and knead into a smooth dough. Let sit 5 more minutes.

While you're waiting for the yeast and stuff to marinate, start on your filling.

Buffalo Chicken Filling

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast
1 cup grated or chopped cheese (Monterey jack here, but any cheese would be good)
4 T Hooter's sauce or wing sauce of your choice
1-2 T chopped chives, optional
1-2 T chopped banana peppers, optional
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped celery, optional

Mix the above together in a bowl. If you're using Hooter's sauce, melt it before you try to mix it. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Now roll out your pizza dough into a vague rectangle. This will make roughly a two person stromboli. Or calzone. What's the difference? Spoon filling in the center of your dough. Fold over sides to tuck in a seal the filling on all sides. If you have left over dough, I suggest parmesan breadsticks.

Slap in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until dough is baked through and filling is warm.

Slice, eat, veg.

Mom's Cheeseball

2011-01-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

And I mean that in the literal sense, not the corny joke sense. I was forced invited to a Christmas party this year. Now, I'm a good Southern girl and I'm terrified to show up to some one's house without food in hand. Now this was after my two day cookie bake-a-thon, so I wanted something low key and easily snackable. Plus, I don't think the holidays are complete without a cheese ball.

My mom has a trusty recipe that I remember from way back when. Since it only has a few key ingredients that are simple and leave lots of room for playing with additions, I chose that route. Her recipe starts with 8 ounces of cream cheese and half a cup of butter, both softened. I added a bit more. After you mix the crap out of them, I threw in a few tablespoons of powdered ranch dressing then spooned it into a cling-wrap bedecked bowl. Once you've shaped it into a ball (or log, or swan, ect), pop in the refrigerator overnight covered well. And yes, I totally bragged to people how brilliant I was to put it in a round shaped bowl. Shaped and stored without fuss. I'm awesome.

Next day, coat with softened sharp cheddar spread and cover with nuts, bacon bits, jelly-beans, whatever your heart desires. Here's the loveliness after the wolves descended.

My mom says she's got a great recipe from my aunt for another cheese ball. Since I think cheese balls should be a year round thing, I may have to try that soon. Do you guys have any favorites?