Sushi - Easier Than You Think

     Sushi can be ridiculously expensive when you eat out, even at the cheap little sushi-go-round places that are becoming more popular these days. To combat this dilemma but still get our sushi fix, I’ve been making it at home for probably 5 or 6 years now. When talking to friends or family about dinner options and I mention sushi, they often wonder if I’m being serious about making it at home or if just referring to ordering take out.

     It seems when you mention making sushi, people often conjure up images of a serious-faced man behind the counter in a white ensemble with a ridiculously sharp knife and decades of experience. While I do not dispute this is probably a badass sushi spot to imagine, the reality of making it at home is super easy and much less intimidating than this imagery.

     Just to be clear, we still go out for sushi every great once in a while. We usually go out so I can enjoy the salmon or tuna rolls and Thomas can enjoy some tempura vegetables. Saki is usually a given, as well. Being pregnant, however, the raw fish and Saki is off limits to me for a while, so we pick another fare to grub on.

     Making sushi at home requires only one essential tool: a very sharp knife. We find that using a serrated bread knife, not a steak knife or serrated utility knife, is the magic trick for us. We use the Victorinox 10-1/4-Inch Fibrox Wavy Bread Knife . Thomas does the cutting and I do the rolling, but the handle on this knife is made of Fibrox, a great material to keep your hand from slipping around if it is wet or has some grease on it. Our go to kitchen set of knives all feature this handle and we love them.

     Beyond the sharp knife, you need to know how to cook some sushi rice. No brainer here, you can search around for some tips and tricks, or if you have a rice cooker, it is super easy for you. Otherwise, I’ll give you my sushi rice cooking rundown. Water to rice ratio should be 2:1, so 2 cups of water for 1 cup of dry rice. We just make one cup of rice for the two of us and usually get about 5 or 6 rolls. Bring your water to a boil, dump in your rice, stir it well and turn it way down to low-medium and put a lid on it. I have an electric stove with a 1-10 dial system and I put it around 2.5. Don’t peak at your rice. Don’t do it. You might have a little bubble over or some spitting from around the lid, but this is normal. If it’s pouring out, I’d turn it down even more. Low and slow is the key here. It takes about 10 minutes or so, give or take a couple to finish the rice. Turn the heat off when it has finished.

     If you want to season your rice, do it when the cooking has finished. For one cup of rice, I use 1 tablespoon each of rice vinegar, tamari (gluten free soy sauce), and sugar. Swirl this around in a bowl or cup to help dissolve the sugar then dump into the rice and fluff with a fork. Let the rice sit with a lid on it while you finish up the rest of the prep work.

     Rolling the sushi seems to be what intimidates folks the most. I use a cutting board or my counter. No fancy bamboo mats or paddles, just my hands and a clean, dry flat surface. Get out a sheet of your nori (the seaweed wrap for the sushi) and lay it down on the working surface. It usually comes as a rectangle, and you’ll want a short side toward you. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop rice out for consistency. Spread your rice around to almost the edges with a fork, leaving about a 1” – 1.5” space at the side closest to you for placing your fillings.



     Once you have your filling in place, place your fingers near the top of your fillings and scoop up the edge of the nori with your thumbs. Now that you’ve got the roll started, just use your fingers and thumbs to walk the roll up the rice covered nori, tucking in any loose filling that shoot out the ends. Transfer seam side down to a plate or another cutting board for cutting.







     Filling options are fairly open-ended here and where your creativity (and random leftover veggies) comes into play! We’ve used cream cheese (vegan or regular), match-stick sliced carrots, cucumbers, pickles, green onions, red onions, avocado, sesame seeds sprinkled on the rice, lettuce, spinach, kale, hot mustard smeared on the nori under the fillings, and radishes just to name what I can think of right now. It really is open to whatever you want to put in there.

Generic Sushi
Serves 2

Ingredients
Toasted nori - look for this in the International food isle or in a specialty store if you have one nearby. Amazon also has good options.

For the rice:
1 cup dry sushi rice
2 cups water
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs tamari

For the filling:
(Filling options are endless, but here are some suggestions based on my favorite fillings)
Cream cheese
Green onions
Avocado
Red onions
Cucumbers
Pickles
Carrots
Sesame seeds
Lettuce
Spinach
Kale
Radishes

Method
First... Boil water, add rice, stir, reduce heat down to low and cover. Cook for around 10 minutes. Mix the tamari, vinegar, and sugar in a bowl before adding to rice after cooking is done. Fluff with fork and let sit for a few more minutes while you finish prep work.

Then... Prep your filling choices, cutting them into match-stick shaped pieces. They don't have to be uniform or pretty, just a general shape so they roll easier.

Finally... Place a sheet of nori onto your working surface, place 1/3 cup of rice in the middle, and smooth out to near the edges, leaving around 1" - 1.5" at the bottom end to place your ingredients. Roll the sushi, using your fingers to stabilize the filling and your thumbs to flip the end up, and walk the roll to the top of the nori. Transfer seam side down to a plate for cutting.

     One of the things I didn’t mention here is how great of a couple’s activity making sushi is. There is a good bit of prep work involved with all the cutting and various little things to do. It is something that I look forward to making a couple times each month with my spouse, even though we almost always make dinner together. We both really enjoy the meal, thinking of new filling ideas, or just noshing on sushi and Saki while we watch a movie together.

Enjoy!
- Patricia

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Artichoke & Lemon Pasta

     There isn’t too much more that I love than a simple bowl of pasta dressed up just slightly with a little something special. It is the ultimate in comfort foods for me and I could eat pasta almost every day for lunch at work with no regrets. I would make it more often at home, but the spouse isn’t the biggest pasta fan and tires on it rather quickly, so I try for maybe twice a month or so.

     This pasta dish is a quick throw together lunch for one, or you could easily double or triple it for dinner for the family or for several lunches during the week. It comes together so quickly, that I’ll sometimes make it in the morning while I’m scurrying around the house getting ready for work. I try to heat up my lunch and store it in a thermos so I can avoid the lines at the microwave in the break room and the awkward conversations that brings. It is also super convenient to just grab my thermos and walk over to a local park and eat lunch outside – it makes for a great change of scenery.

Artichoke & Lemon Pasta
Serves 1 hungry person

Ingredients
1/3 – 1/2 Jar of marinated artichoke hearts
1/4 bag Trader Joes Brown Rice Pasta
1/2 Fresh lemon

Optional Toppings
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can zest a bit of the lemon into the pasta
For a creamier pasta dish, add a bit of non-dairy salad dressing. I like Drew's All-Natural Salad Dressing and 10 Minute Marinade, Roasted Garlic & Peppercorn, 12-Ounce Bottle

Method
First... Boil your pasta according to bag instructions, drain, and return to pan. If you want this to be a cold dish, which is equally delicious, rinse your pasta in cold water for a minute or two.

Then... Remove the artichoke hearts from the jar and cut into quarters. Separate the layers and add to pasta. Squeeze the lemon, being careful to avoid seeds, into the pasta.

Finally... Stir well, adding any optional toppings you want, before serving immediately or packing away for lunch.

- Patricia

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Baked Avocado

     One of my all-time summer favorites to make is my Southwest Salad. It requires zero cooking, very little prep time, and provides an excellent refreshment to hot summer afternoons. The star in that salad is a ripe avocado.

        You see, the plan was to make this salad for lunch last weekend. After our breakfast and coffee were finished Saturday morning, I ran out to grab a few things from the store including the avocado I needed to make lunch. While choosing my avocado, I sneakily used that trick where you remove the little brown stem-thing and see what color it is underneath. Green is perfect and brown is too ripe, supposedly. I got a green one, first grab. Super score.

        What ended up happening as I excitedly cut into the avocado was encountering something like a force field below the skin. I did manage to get it halved with all of my fingers intact, but the mother of all unripe avocados was now sitting before me. Ugh.

        I searched around trying to find some quick fixes, but none were feasible considering I wanted cubes, not mush. I asked my spouse for input and he suggested baking it. I resisted at first because I’m eating as little milk as possible these days and he doesn’t eat eggs, and most baked avocado recipes out there are all about sticking an egg in the middle of it and adding cheese. We decided to just slice up the avocado, bake it, and eat it alongside pintos and some leftover Mexican Rice.

        I was over the moon with this new dish after my first bite! The avocado was quite firm prior to cooking and it developed a delicious outside skin and a smooth, warm inside that was still just a little firm to the bite. I paired this lunch with 2Towns BrightCider and it was an outstanding accompaniment to the baked avocado. I have been raving it about it every few day since we ate this. I highly recommend you try it. We topped this with diced sweet onions and he added some shaved smoked cheddar.

Baked Avocado
Serves 2

Ingredients
For the rice & beans:
1 ¼ C water
1 C salsa
1 C white rice
1 can beans of choice (pintos, black, or red would work really well here)

For the avocados:
1 firm avocado
Drizzle olive oil
Black pepper
Salt
Cumin
Chipotle powder
Paprika
Thyme

Optional toppings:
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Diced green/white/red onions

Method
First... Preheat your oven to 350* and line a heavy baking sheet with parchment or foil.

Then... Slice a halved avocado and remove the skin. Place avocado pieces into a bowl and top with a drizzle of olive oil and a few dashes of each of the seasonings. Toss around to coat evenly, transfer to the lined pan, and bake for around 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven. Test doneness with a fork periodically.

Finally... While the avocado is busy in the oven, get the rice and beans started. Bring water and salsa to a boil, then add rice and stir. Open can of beans and drain in colander, rinsing well. Cook rice until water is absorbed, add beans, and fluff with fork. By this time, the avocados should be about to come out of the oven. Take care of any toppings you want, such as shredded cheese or diced onions.

- Patricia

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Southwest Salad

     Today marks the first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere and temperatures are starting to heat up here in Oregon. While the heat is not what I endured in Texas, it does seem to be compounded by the lack of indoor air conditioning. In addition to making the house uncomfortable during a good part of the afternoon and early evening, the heat often makes cooking a laughable notion.

     Genuine no-cook options for dinner are scant, so I mostly stick to low-cook or slow-cook foods that keep the heat output to a minimum. Soups made from canned beans or frozen vegetables are good, as are tacos or homemade pizza.

     One of the very few no-cook recipes I make on a regular basis is inspired by cowboy caviar, a salad of black-eyed peas, tomatoes, corn, onions, and the like, that I would often have at office parties or family events down south. I’ve been making this updated version for about two years now, about as long as I’ve lived away from Texas, and one of the reasons I go back to it time and time again is the versatility. Half-used bell pepper in the fridge? Toss it in! One jalapeno and some sad looking cilantro? Perfect additions. This is a great salad that can help you use up produce odds and ends.

Southwest Salad
Serves 2-4

Ingredients
1 Ripe avocado
½ Red onion
1 Can black beans
Frozen or fresh corn
1/3 Bunch cilantro
½ - 1 Jalepeno
Ranch dressing (I use Drew’s Roasted Garlic & Peppercorn Salad Dressing)
½ Lime
Paprika
Cayenne
Cumin
Salt


Method
First... Peel and cube the avocado, dice fine the red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro, and rinse the black beans in a colander. If you are using fresh corn, now would be the time to cut that away from the cob. Don’t worry about defrosting the corn, just toss it in as is. Toss ingredients into a mixing bowl as you chop your way through.

Then... Pour 2 or 3 tablespoons worth of the ranch dressing into your bowl, then sprinkle around 1 teaspoon each of the paprika, cayenne, and cumin on top.

Finally... Stir well to combine all ingredients before adjusting the seasoning to taste and salt and lime juice.

- Patricia

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Perfect Pizza.

     Ladies and gentlemen, I have done it.

     After months of tweaking various recipes I've found all over the internet and trying pre-made mixes, I have settled on a pizza dough recipe that we both enjoy. I have made dozens of pizzas with this recipe. There are air pockets in the dough, it takes plenty of toppings without getting soggy, and is crispy on the bottom. It's good.

     During this experience I have truly seen the light when it comes to baking by weight. Because two flours weigh differently (sometimes drastically different), using ½ cup of a 'similar' flour or starch interchangeably will result in a different end product. It can really screw things up – prevent your crust from browning, make the crumb too doughy, or cause too little moisture for a dry dough that is hard to work with.

     This recipe is heavily based on the trial and error of both myself and others. I studied recipes, poured through books that explained the fundamentals of baking with gluten free flours and starches, and started with a dough recipe that was already highly rated by others in the gluten free world. Because Thomas and I are pretty picky about what we eat, I modified the recipe quite a bit to get it to our preferences. Feel free to do the same. Experiment until it tastes good. You'll still have pizza in the end, and pizza is good. Homemade pizza is ten times better.

Perfect Pizza
Serves 1 or (2)

Ingredients
For the crust:
15 g dry yeast
40 g melted vegan butter
1 3/4 Cups mildly hot water, around 110*F

120 g potato starch
120 g tapioca starch
120 g millet flour
120 g corn flour
dash salt

Optional crust add- ins: crushed red pepper, herbs, basil, sun-dried tomatoes

Pesto or tomato sauce

Toppings: spinach, artichoke, cheese, onion, mushroom, basil, tomato, pineapple, olives

Method
First... Prepare ingredients by melting butter over low heat, weighing out flours and starches into a large mixing bowl along with salt and crust add-ins, and preheating the oven to around 200*F.

Then... Mix 1 cup hot water into the melted butter, sprinkle yeast over the mixture, stir to remove any lumps, and set aside for 5 to 7 minutes.

Then... Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring well to incorporate. Sprinkle the remaining water into the dough as needed to obtain the proper consistency.
***You want dough that holds together, but is slack like warm silly putty. You won't be able to make a ball that holds a smooth shape with it, but it's not watery and does not stick to your hands. The mixing bowl shouldn't have anything in it but some oil residue at this point.

Then... Let dough sit in middle of mixing bowl for one hour, draped with a towel, near the cracked oven door.

Then... After rising, increase the oven temperature to 425*F, remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto one sheet of parchment with another on top before rolling or patting flat. Slowly peel back the top layer of parchment in the opposite direction. Leave the crust on the bottom parchment paper and transfer this to a heavy baking sheet or a pizza pan.

Finally... Add toppings and bake for 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

     During the tweaking of this recipe I discovered several nuances about it. Too much sauce can keep the crust from crisping on the bottom, so roll it out a bit thicker than normal to keep the sauce from making the dough soggy. Using foil is a bad idea. You'll be picking foil chunks out of the underside of the pizza for several minutes before eating. However, if you don't have parchment, you can roll the dough on foil, just transfer it to a lightly floured pan. The flour might burn in the oven with the high heat, so keep the vent hood on if you have to do this. If we use a baking pan that is not heavy bottomed, the crust does not crisp as well.

     Like I said before, I've made dozens of pizzas with this recipe. I've really made it mine and we are both happy with it every time I make it. We don't change the toppings much from one pizza to the next, but we do change the cheese and sauce which gives us just enough variety. Onions, spinach, artichoke hearts, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and cheese are our standbys.

     Pizza was my last gluten meal. I had a Papa Johns on the way to the house when I found out I had Celiac. I cried, ate the pizza, and got over it. That day I really thought I was giving up all bread, beer, and pasta forever. It was the very first day for me and I had no clue that sorghum flour or millet flour existed, much less what sorghum or millet was to begin with. I've come so far since then. This January is four years gluten free and I've never felt better. The first couple of years of baking were difficult for me, but with patience and persistence I've really been able to conquer gluten free baking.

     If your first pizza is a flop, don't give up! Just make notes, put the bad experience behind you, and keep tweaking and adjusting until you find what works for you. There are books and websites devoted to help you and guide you, take their advice and build on it.

- Patricia

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Here's to 2012!

     2011 went by much too fast, don't you agree? I accomplished most of what I wanted to and enjoyed the time I was able to spend with family, but I was so busy most of the year that it was hard to enjoy the moments as they happened. 2010 was kind of a miserable year for me that was capped off with a shitty end, so I was determined to make 2011 much, much better. I think it was a success.

      Not only was I able to come back to work for my old employer in February (the one I quit so that I could move to Portland, Oregon at the end of 2010), but I landed a great job with them in a department that I have wanted to work in for a while now. I started that position in November and am enjoying the new challenges and increased customer interaction.

      During the summer I was able to travel around Texas a bit with Thomas and his family. We visited Colorado Bend State Park, Longhorn Caverns, Inks Lake, and went tubing with friends in Gruene.

      I started school up full time this past fall and pulled in all but one A for the semester. This past fall we even had a new kitty join our household! She adds spice to the mix and is always looking for mischief. She's a beautiful cat. 2011 was the year I was determined to make it happen, and I did. I'm even saving for retirement!

      With January 1st rolling around, I have been thinking of ways to make 2012 just as successful as last year. Two clear goals came to mind. The first is to break 1,000 miles on my bicycle this year. I was just shy of 900 miles for 2011, so I think with a bit of effort I could do the 1k! I'll keep you updated on my progress for that goal. The other goal is finding ways to trim our grocery budget this year without trimming out fresh produce, the most expensive part of our diet. This one will be more challenging for me because in the last year I have seen the price of a half gallon of soy milk rise from $2.10 to $2.89. We use just shy of one gallon per week. That's an extra $5.53 per month in milk from one year ago. Add that to the extra few cents per item here, a bad peanut crop there, and the next thing you know your grocery budget has risen by $50 per month. It's just two of us and we can feel it, I can't imagine what it's like for a family of four or five. I'm having to come up with different strategies for saving.

      One of the ways I've already been able to cut down on grocery costs is keeping a spreadsheet of prices. This may seem odd, but knowing where to get the best price on a pound of rice or a loaf of gluten free bread is a powerful piece of budgeting. Buying some things in bulk on Amazon, like my favorite cornbread mix, is nearly $1 cheaper per item than in the store. I would not know this had I not had a record of what I've paid for the item in the past. This accounting method also makes you aware of any price changes. The cookies Thomas likes are $2 cheaper at the grocery store down the street rather than the Walgreens across the street.

      Another way I've been able to cut down on prices is to reduce the amount of produce I purchase per week. I think this is another way of saying 'only buy what I am really going to use.' I hate to waste produce, but sometimes it just goes bad before I (or the rabbit) get to it. I combat this by planning my meals to incorporate the items sold in bunches (carrots, spinach, green onions, herbs, leeks, etc) several times throughout the week with the single-use items (broccoli / cauliflower head, bok choi, avocados, tomatoes, etc) to be used close to the start of the week. Because I was already used to meal planning, with just a little extra planning, this was no sweat. I still have my weeks where I am tempted to just eat soup or tots every night, especially with full time work and school, but I know that will just make my body feel tired and run down with low energy intake.

     These strategies and some others that will really save you money on a grocery store trip are found in a book by Jennifer Maughan called “100 Meals for $5 or Less.” You can find the book here. This is a great book that has tips for everyone including the first time 'serious' grocery shopper and the avid couponer. There really is something for everyone in this book. It's a weekend read that you'll want to keep around for reference and future ideas. The first half of the book is tips and advice (bring a list and stick to it!) and finishes with tons of recipes. While the book is not geared for vegetarians or the gluten free, it does have the basic tips that we can all incorporate to make a cheaper trip to the grocery store. With just a few simple substitutions in the recipes, many of them become workable. If you've been vegetarian or gluten free for any period of time, you're used to substitution in cooking.

      I already have several food and recipe books lined up to share with you in 2012! I got Thomas a Kindle for his birthday last summer and we've been reading constantly since then. This year Thomas is challenging himself to read 52 books. He read 22 since getting the Kindle in July, so I think that is a do-able goal for him. This year I am also going to try and stick to being as dairy-free as possible. I have always talked about how unhealthy it is for Celiac patients to be off their diet. I know that milk can be tolerated again after a period of time, but my body just doesn't do well when I intake large amounts of it. Say, a pint of ice cream or a pound of giant holiday-themed candies. I've got a weakness, what can I say?

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my goals throughout the year. I'm hoping to tackle this semester with grades just as good as last semester, cut down on the dairy, increase the miles on my bike, spend less on groceries this year than we did last year, and spend more time enjoying the time in between all that. This is going to be a busy year!

What are your goals for the year?
- Patricia

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Traveling and the Importance of Easy Meals

     One of the only downsides about biking everywhere is the lack of long distance transportation. I can easily ride 10 miles on my bike to go somewhere, but that is about the upper limits of my abilities when time is taken into consideration. It's not too convenient beyond that. 

     The end of this past week and the beginning of the weekend were spent mostly in San Antonio with my lovely niece I had not seen in three years. She was able to catch up with her boyfriend and his family while Thomas and I were able to take in the sights of San Antonio. It truly is a beautiful city with a bit of old world charm. Because we had to be in town so early we were able to see it as few people get to, nearly empty.

     By the time we got home, we were all exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than go straight to bed. Dinner, however, needed to be dealt with. Two bags of 10oz frozen corn and a couple of potatoes to the rescue!

Corn Chowder with Roasted Potatoes
Serves 3

Ingredients
For the chowder:
2 - 10oz bags of frozen sweet corn
Handful of cilantro, washed, stemmed, and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Olive oil for frying
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp chili powder
2-3 cups water
1/4 - 1/2 cup soy milk
Salt, to taste

For the roasted potatoes:
2 or 3 small to medium potatoes
1/2 onion, chopped
Olive oil for coating
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne

Optional Toppings:
Shredded cheese
Diced green onions
Sour cream
Diced cilantro

Method
First... Preheat your oven to 350*F while you prep the potatoes by washing them well, then dicing into bite sized pieces. Nothing fancy here, just keep them a uniform size. Toss together in a bowl with the diced onion, coat with the olive oil, then add the salt and cayenne before mixing well. Toss the potatoes in the oven on a foiled or parchment-lined baking sheet for around 25 minutes or until fork tender.

Then... While the potatoes are baking, you'll make the corn chowder. Start by heating oil in a soup pot and adding the onions to fry for around 5-6 minutes. Add the salt and other dry seasonings and mix well. Add the frozen corn and enough water to cover before bringing to a simmer. Carefully transfer around 1/2 of soup contents to a blender and blend, using the remaining water for easy blending. Return contents of blender to soup pot, add cilantro, and continue simmering. After 10 minutes of additional simmering, add the milk and turn heat off.

Finally... Remove the potatoes from oven. Ladle soup into bowls, top with roasted potatoes and any optional toppings desired.

     Because this recipe is so basic, there are many ways that you could make it your own. Try adding some salsa or chili garlic paste to the blender for a spicier touch, a can of chopped tomatoes with green peppers, or use a can of black beans instead of the second bag of corn for a slightly different soup. Make it yours!
- Patricia

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How to Meal Plan, Made Simple

      My seasonal job has started back up for the year and as a result I've been a bit extra busy these last several weeks, so posting has been a bit sparse. I've been trying to keep posts scheduled so that things aren't too barren around here, but that's just how it goes. 

With my new, mostly nocturnal, schedule I've been keeping the cooking down to simple one-dish meals that are easy and quiet to prepare at 2AM. Here's a sampling of what I've been cooking as of late:

The top right photo features Corn Chowder with Roasted Potatoes. This is a new dish I am making that is inspired by the method I use to make black bean soup. I have not posted about that black bean soup because the pictures of it seem to come out poorly, but I won't let that be an excuse to keep such a simple and quick recipe from you. Both the corn chowder and the black bean soup are very simple and can be made in under 30 minutes! Bottom right is the beginnings of Lentil & Brown Rice Soup, with just an onion, seasonings and a lentil blend in the pot. The final picture is of Berbere Mixed Vegetables which I featured last month, along with what is pictured in the top left photo, Kale and Zucchini Stir Fry.

I'll be posting the recipes for the Lentil & Brown Rice Soup as well as the Corn Chowder with Roasted Potatoes over the next week or so. Also coming up will be a Wokin' Stir Fry Recipe! One of my birthday gifts this year included a wok and I couldn't have been more surprised. It was used within the week and we took lots of pictures that I'll post along with the recipe. 

The thing about making these 'easy' meals is that it is make possible with a meal plan diligently created each week before we grocery shop. While meal planning isn't exactly exciting - it's quite far from it, actually, and can start arguments you wouldn't normally have about broccoli vs cauliflower - it does need to be taken care of. I've made a small system to help with that time of the week. First, I made a document on my computer that includes dishes that I make on a regular basis broken down into pasta, rice, and vegetable based dishes. When it's time to meal plan for the week I open up this list, grab a cookbook or The Flavor Bible, and maybe open up a few good websites to browse (I like Open Source Food as of late). I use some loose leaf paper to make three line sections where I'll fill in a rough breakfast/lunch/dinner schedule as follows:

As you can see, I've got kale, zucchini, and lentil soup, chili & corn bread, Mexican casserole, pesto & white bean quinoa (seen in this months' Vegetarian Times), lasagna rolls, pizza, and a black bean avocado taco superevent on the menu for this week. I don't really worry about making Thursday's meal on Thursday, we're pretty flexible on when that happens and sometimes you just don't feel like what's on the meal plan, and that's okay. The real point of having all this is so that I know that when I go to the store with the list based off this meal plan, that I will be purchasing enough food to theoretically feed myself and the boyfriend for however many days I've planned for. 

It might be a bit overkill. Do I really need to fill in oatmeal, waffles, and eggs for breakfast every day? Yes, I do, because I will forget to put them on the grocery list to buy. Sometimes we'll shop for just dinner stuff and think we have some extra money to splurge on a bottle of something and then we realize we have no lunch or snack stuff available during the week. Lame.

So pictured above is my meal plan for this week, my grocery bill at Whole Foods came out to $68.50 and we bought juice, cookies, and a couple of personal items that weren't on the list. It is possible to shop healthy on a budget - even with a special diet!
- Patricia

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Morning Rice

By the time the boyfriend and I get our coffee going and morning started, we've already been in the kitchen for about half an hour. I find it odd that considering this, I hardly ever make breakfast for myself. The boyfriend will toast these amazing-smelling toaster pastries we get him to hold him over, but I'm often left roaming the kitchen like some half-crazed, half-starved loon.
 
I've written before about how breakfast is that one meal I still struggle with to get some sort of consistency with. I understand that this is, technically speaking, not a difficult task to do. Bananas, cereal, oatmeal, eggs; there are tons of different foods available for breakfast time that are gluten free. For me, it's a combination of being a broke college student with a crappy part time job and a slight failure in the meal planning department I seem to be having. When I do my weekly meal planning, I often forget to get items for other meals besides dinner, so we'll end up eating the pasta I was saving for Wednesday night on Sunday afternoon.

The same thing goes for breakfast - I forget to pick up groceries for it. This is an exceptional pickle to place yourself in because it's a bit more difficult to convince yourself to eat pasta for breakfast. This got me thinking about a satisfying breakfast I could make with just what we had on hand.

We have rice. Mountains of several kinds of rice, and enjoy them all. We truly love rice. The grocery store nearest to our home has a great deal on 5lb bags of un-enriched Jasmine rice from Thailand we buy once or twice a month. So, this morning when I was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, I naturally reached for the rice.

Hot Jasmine Rice Breakfast
Serves 1



1 C water, brought to a boil
1/2 C Jasmine rice
3 Tbs cane sugar
Cinnamon, to taste
1/4 C soy milk
1 Tbs vegan butter


Add rice to boiling water and stir well. This will cook a little faster than a normal serving of rice will, so watch it carefully to prevent scorching. When the water is around half absorbed add the sugar and cinnamon and stir well. 
When the rice has finished cooking add the milk and butter, stir well, and enjoy!

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Cookbook Review: The Allergy-Free Cookbook by Eileen Yoder

     Eileen Yoder has serious experience dealing with food allergies. She states in the preface to her second edition of *The Allergy-Free Cookbook*, her family has five generations of known food allergies. Some allergies are the same for one or two people and other allergens vary. As you can imagine, this cookbook came about out of sheer necessity.

     Yoder's cookbook is laid out so that information you might be searching for is easy to locate. There are two parts to the book. Part one is planning. Here, a section on replacements for the common allergens such as eggs, milk, and soy can all be found in one place, a section for dealing with children and food allergies has its own chapter, and easy ways to start and maintain an allergy-free diet can be found in another place. Part two is the recipes and begins with menus and lots of tips with shortcuts and time savers. Part two ends with listings of foods and their families, a very handy chart for those who are allergic to whole families of foods such as nightshades or

     The only unexpected thing I noticed in *The Allergy-Free Cookbook* is that while the front cover states “How to avoid the 8 major food allergens and eat happily ever after”, some of the recipes include these very ingredients. I had assumed when I got the cookbook (which I got here, by the way) that all of the recipes would be free of these allergens.

     Its not a big deal at all, and the cookbook is still an invaluable resource that can save your sanity if you are trying to meal plan and avoid more than one or two food allergens.

     While not all of the recipes are gluten free, many are gluten free naturally or can be easily adapted. There does seem to be quite a few recipes that call for wheat, rye, oats or oat flour, and barley. While these grains are usually easy to substitute out with other grains or a gluten free oat in most of the recipes, there are a few recipes that might prove more challenging to convert than others.

Happy cooking!

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Gluten Free News From Israel

     Hey guys! This will be a quick posting - I'm a bit under the weather and I've got to work tomorrow so I'm trying to stay rested.

     I know that many people travel to and from Israel quite often for religious, travel, and family reasons so I decided to share this. Israel has recently put the gluten free cut off at 20 parts per million for products that are labeled gluten free. Many people here in the United States feel that 10 ppm or lower should be the cut off while Australia has adopted 5 ppm as their cut off for gluten free labeling.

     I hope everyone's holiday went well and a good new year is upon you!

     See you in 2011!

     **UPDATE**
     I wanted to site the news article I read this information in. I've been a little out of it lately and I couldn't believe that I didn't include a link to the article I found this information in!

     The Jerusalem Post was the one to publish the article "Products with harmless levels to be labled ‘gluten-free'" on 28 December 2010. Read it here.

     Thanks again for reading and I'll see you guys (for real this time) next year!

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This Quesadilla Brought to You by Daiya

The tiny town in Texas that I grew up in had a stellar Mexican food restaurant that was ran by a local family. Being the creature of habit I am, I ordered the same thing every time our family ate there – cheese enchiladas. The dish came three to a plate with a side of refried beans and Mexican rice. Add sweet tea and it was one of my favorite eats in town.

I'm still a fan of cheesy goodness of any kind, but the whole dairy-free thing can really hinder that for me, as you could imagine.

A couple years ago I posted about casein-free cheese and my experiments with them. It wasn't that good. In 2009 Daiya took the vegan cheese market by storm and has been picked up as the vegan cheese standard by hundreds of pizza outlets, frozen dinner brands, and restaurants across the country. It's still a bit pricey at around $4 and some change for a standard sized bag of shredded goodness, but it's worth it every once in a while to change up the meal plan around here.

This quesadilla, for instance, was made with Daiya. Delicious and quick breakfast for one this morning when I was up before my boyfriend and room mate.


Quick Quesadilla for One
(vegan & gluten-free)

Ingredients:
2 corn tortillas
baby spinach
½ small onion, chopped
1 baby portobello, chopped
shredded carrots
Daiya

Place small skillet over medium heat. While heating, place one tortilla in skillet, add Daiya, and top with half of the spinach. Add onions, mushrooms, and carrots then top with remaining spinach. Sprinkle liberally with Daiya and place final tortilla on top. Once cheese on the bottom is beginning to melt flip the quesadilla and brown the other side.

If you would prefer the stuffing cooked a bit more, you can brown the vegetables together and then assemble the quesadilla to prevent burning the tortillas from continued cooking.

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Commitment Free Lasagna

      Making traditional lasagna is a commitment of at least three hours. I don't know about you, but I don't even have kids running around, unless my cats and rabbit count, and I find it hard to come up with three hours to make dinner on most days. Sure, there are some lazy Sundays with afternoons just begging to be used by the oven, but most days are full of better things to do than stand over a counter and stove for the good part of an afternoon.

     Now there comes a problem into sight: I love lasagna.

     I have always loved lasagna. I was not raised in an Italian family with tables filled with foods and family, so it's not that kind of love, but my family would rock the frozen lasagna from the grocery store. Plate it up with salad and garlic bread, and you have one of my absolute favorite meals in the galaxy. That lasagna was the epitome of Italian for me. Rich tomato-y sauce, firm, frilly noodles with four or five kinds of cheese, and slightly well done to make the cheese extra crispy on the top layer.

     After I went gluten and dairy free my cravings for lasagna did not subside. My food tastes have developed a bit since the days of frozen-in-box and I still long for deliciously rich lasagna. 98% of the time when I'm converting a recipe to suit our food habits I do not have a problem, but once in a blue moon I will have a bit of a challenge put before me when I'm trying to figure something out. Lasagna was one of those moments for me. Most of you know that my household is vegetarian, so meat and meat sauce are both out, and I can't do dairy, so cheese is also out.

      “So what's left” I would tell myself; I pretty much gave up on the idea before I even tried it and went lasagna-less for about a year and a half or so.

      I dabbled in lasagna for a while before I came up with this recipe that I follow pretty closely now. It's right at an hour start to finish for me to prepare, cook, and serve. This cut in time made it a very accessible recipe for me to incorporate into the rotation of meals. With most of my cooking I do not use recipes for exact instructions but for ideas and inspirations. With that theory, I hope that you use this recipe as a base for you to spring from.

Commitment Free Lasagna
6 lasagna noodles
½ pound baby spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
1 jar artichoke hearts, chopped
½ C water + stock cube or ½ C liquid stock
tomato sauce to taste
shredded basil

Bring large pot of water to a boil and add lasagna noodles one or two at a time until al dente. When the noodles are done, lay them out on a plate to cool. While this process is going, heat skillet over medium heat and add artichoke hearts and onions, cooking until onions are translucent. Add stock, tomato sauce, and basil to onions and mix well. Place spinach on top of onions and place lid on pan until spinach has wilted and can be easily incorporated into the onion mix.
Once the spinach is incorporated, the stove can be turned off and the oven preheated to 350*F. Using a spoon or fork and starting about half an inch from the start, line the center of a noodle with a small amount of filling. Roll the noodle up starting from the end with no filling and place into a baking dish. Continue in this manner until all the noodles have been used and top the dish with the remainder of the filling.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling and noodles are hot and any cheese added has melted.

Served with garlic bread and a salad, this will generously serve two or three people, depending on appetites.

      For variations, try making a white sauce or pesto sauce to use in place of the tomato sauce, adding zucchini or mushrooms, experimenting with shredded carrots, or using vegan cheese to give it some extra body.

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No Fuss Hashbrowns For One

*Vegan and gluten free.
This is an easy-as-it-gets recipe. I would let a 12 or 13 year old do this on their own, with limited supervision – not that I have children or know any 12 or 13 year olds. Seriously, though, it's a fast and easy recipe that calls for very few ingredients, quick prep, and instant gratification.

What you need:
1 medium potato½ sweet onion
3 or 4 sprigs of thyme
Fresh ground pepper
Dash of saltOil for cooking
(You can easily adjust the ingredients for more than one serving)

(I'm eating this as I write the recipe!)
How to do it:
Chop up the onion into smallish pieces. They don't have to be perfect and uniform, just smallish so they'll soften up while cooking. Bag the other ½ of the onion and throw it in the fridge for a later use. Dump the onions into the bottom of a small mixing bowl.

Take your handy-dandy grater and grate that potato, baby! Only after you've washed it and picked off the bad spots with a knife, of course! I prefer to just stick the grater in the bowl so I don't have to transfer it over later, but if you do it elsewhere, put the potato in with the onion.
Pick the thyme off the sprigs and do your best to chop those little guys up a bit. Nothing fancy, just get the job done. Dump that in with the onion and potato and add some fresh ground pepper and some salt to the top before digging your hand in and mixing it all up. You could use a fork to do the mixing, but what's the fun in that?


Coat the bottom of a medium or large skillet with olive oil (use a spray bottle or a paper towel moist with olive oil) and heat it up to medium heat. Once hot, dump in the potato mix and scoot around to form to potato blobs. Again, nothing fancy, just makes it easier to turn two smallish hashbrowns than one large hashbrown. Cook for about 3 or 4 minutes per side, or until your desired crispiness is achieved. I topped mine with Daiya and Braggs and flipped them over, Daiya side down, to help melt the cheese. The cheese doesn't stick too bad in the skillet, so just about 30 seconds should do the trick.

Eat and enjoy. Sharing optional.

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Vegan & Gluten Free Meal Plan for 19 July – 24 July

     I try to create a meal plan each week.

     This is much easier said than done, however. Between the boyfriend and I, there is no dairy, egg, or gluten in 99% of what we eat for dinner. We also avoid processed foods and aim to only eat real foods or prepared dishes that only incorporate real, whole foods in them. We lean towards organic when we can to help avoid GMOs and for the less environmental impact their conventionally grown counterparts. He doesn't like tofu or pasta all that much, either, and we rarely eat out – like five times a year. We do this for about $80 to $120 each week and manage to get plenty to eat for dinner, lunches, breakfasts, snacks, coffee, and juice.

     When Friday night rolls around, it means meal planning night. The boyfriend usually has the guys over for game night on Fridays and I usually get a bit of time to myself to read or piddle around on the internet. Nothing too serious gets done as the noise level is not conducive to studying or creating, but it is an enjoyable time for me. Almost forces me to just veg out for a bit, something I do not like to do normally. Early Saturday mornings or late evenings are usually our time to ride down to the farmers market and grocery store, so it is imperative that I meal plan on Friday night or at least before we go.

     When meal planning does not occur, the grocery store trip is a bit disorganized and we often buy things that we do not use right away. No meal plan also means me stressing out when it comes time to start making dinner during the week. Me and stress do not go well together. No meal plan also means tater-tot tacos for two or three days a week, lots of chips, salsa, and guacamole, and random vegetable risotto.

     Meal planning is the way to go, folks. Keep your sanity and help keep your dinner time as stress free as possible. You're making food to nourish your body with and the better that you feel about what you're making and how you're making it, the better the dish will be for you and your dinner mates to enjoy. This being said, here is the meal plan for this coming week:

Meals:
Potato and Onion Soup
Burgers with Lemon Pepper Quinoa
Chili & Cornbread
Stir Fry
Tacos
Spaghetti & Garlic Bread with Salads

Grocery List:
Curry Paste
Onions x3
Chips Lemon x1
Salsa
Lettuce
Rice Noodles
Cabbage & Parsley (for the rabbit)
Chili Mix
Diced Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cereal
Potatoes ~ 1.5lbs
Ice Cream
Daiya - White
Burgers (We buy Sunshine, check them out – best veg burgers you can find, hands down!)
Pasta Sauce
GF Bread
GF Spaghetti
Soups for Work Lunches
Bell Pepper x1
Bread
Flavored Salt (almost out!)

     I will be doing an ongoing series of posts about these meal plans as I create them, but I will also be posting older meal plans that I have created as well. While I have been meal planning regularly for about eight months now, I only begin to keep track of them after I realized that there were almost no vegan, vegetarian, or gluten free meal plans available that I really could use and enjoy. Too much crispy tofu and grilled vegetables. Or if they were semi do-able for me, like the one over at Vegan Health, they were too short at only three days. Regardless, I hope that this makes it a bit easier for someone out there searching for a decent veg friendly and low allergy meal plans that aren't too boring.

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Vegan & Gluten Free Meal Plan for 24 May - 29 May

Here's this week's meal plan:

Sunday:
Pizza Night! (I bought Udi's gluten-free pizza crusts – pre-made and frozen, delish! He used Naan bread out of the package to make pizzas on.) Toppings: artichoke hearts, spinach, black olives, potatoes, pizza sauce (Mur Glen's), and Daiya.

Monday:
Cornbread Stuffing
Potato Wedgies

Tuesday:
Indian Food

Wednesday:
Lasagna Rolls

Thursday:
Lentils of Doom

Friday:
Tacos (probably potato and onion, but we'll throw in whatever we've got laying around)


Grocery List for the week:
Indian food
pizza crusts
samosas,
tomato & pizza sauce
quinoa (bulk)
white potatoes
salsa
pablano peppers
cornbread mix
frozen corn
spray oil
juice
olives
Naan
spinach (bulk)
basil
black pepper
bread
artichoke hearts
baking potato
tortillas
Daiya

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Vegan & Gluten Free Meal Plan for 16 May - 22 May

     Here's an old week's meal plan. We spent about $83 at Whole Foods. That's really good for a week's worth of organic, whole foods for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. We also ate a lot of potatos this week. A lot.

Meals:
Burgers w/ Quinoa & lemon pepper broccoli
Canned Indian Food
Roasted vegetable pasta w/ Potato wedges
Risotto & Polenta
Potato & Leek Soup
Potato, bean, and onion curry
Potato & Onion Tacos

Grocery List
Sunshine Burgers
Yellow Onions (2)
Zucchini (2)
99c herbs (I got lemon thyme)
Leeks
Toaster pastries
Poultry seasoning
Lunch for work (soups & rolls)
Salad dressing
Tortillas
Baking potato (1)

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Vegan & Gluten Free Meal Plan for 03 May - 08 May

     Here is another week long meal plan that I made back in May of this year. I no longer do it by the day as it seems that I begin to feeled obligated and tied down, even guilty if I do not follow the meal for the day.

Sunday
Risotto with Mushroom and Kale Polenta

Monday
Mexican Baked Potatoes with Broccoli and Cheese (Daiya)
Salad

Tuesday
Canned Indian Food

Wednesday
Potato Soup

Thursday
Fetuccini Alfredo with Vegetables
Salad

Friday
Red Lentil Curry
Salad

Grocery List:
Daiya
Baking Potatoes
Avocados
Green Onions
White rice – bulk
Salad Dressing
Indian Food
Red Potatoes
Zucchini (1 large)
Bread
Carrots (2 bunches/$3)
Coconut Milk (small can)
Mushrooms (4 or 5 buttons and Shiitake)
Onions (2 large)
Fettuccine
Juice
Silken Tofu

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Indian Inspired Spinach and Red Lentils

      One of my favorite ingredients to cook with when I have no clue what to make for dinner is red lentils. They're flatter than normal lentils, cook fairly quick making, and they go really well with just about anything else making them perfect for using up the rest of whatever you have. Just like in this instance where I threw in the remainder of various leftovers into this. It turned into a tasty and satisfying dinner for me and the boyfriend.


Indian Inspired Spinach and Red Lentils

1 C Chopped Spinach
½ C Red Lentils
3 Shallots
2 tsp Butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 C Vegetable Broth
½ C Water
Salt, Cumin, Coriander and Turmeric to taste

      Heat skillet over medium high heat and saute shallots until softened and slightly browned. Add lentils and stir until lentils are evenly coated in oil then add liquids and stir well. Add spices plus salt and spinach and let cook until most of the water is gone. Taste to see if anything needs to be adjusted and continue cooking until lentils are soft – about 15 minutes total. Serves 2.

      Also, I just got my Vegetarian Times subscription in my mailbox yesterday evening and was thrilled to see it. I've been on a cupcake baking binge recently and little real food cooking has gone on (like cupcakes aren't real food?), but this issue gave me tons of new ideas to help get me back in the mood for real food again. Really, there is nothing wrong with two days of cupcakes.

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Creamy Pasta Dinner

Just a quick post this evening to give you an equally quick recipe to make tonight. Yesterday's post where I raved on and on about Sabra's Hummus, I said that I would give you a great idea to use up the rest of the hummus once all the carrot sticks and chips in the house are gone. Hope you enjoy this soon, it's well worth it!



Ever since I stopped eating dairy I've missed pasta with cheese sauce of any kind and have tried various replacements for this craving. I tried doing the nutritional yeast route, but I purchased it from the bulk section of Whole Foods and it was contaminated from being near the flours and I would break out in rashes any time I ate a dish with the nutritional yeast included. I've also tried those almost unpalatable soy cheeses that turn gritty once they begin to cool down on the plate, but one my absolute favorite way to get that cheese fix I'm looking for is to add about one to two tablespoons of hummus right before I serve the pasta. It sounds so simple, but the creamy texture of hummus lends itself nicely to giving the pasta that cheesy texture I'm looking for.


Creamy Pasta Dinner

2 C cooked pasta shells (I use Tinkyada)
1 Tbs butter
1 clove garlic
1-2 Tbs Hummus
Italian Seasonings of choice
olives
cherry tomatoes

Once you have boiled your pasta, set it in a culinder to drain while you use the pot the pasta was boiled in to get your 'sauce' ready. Turn the heat off on your stove top and place the pot back on the burner. Add the butter and garlic to the bottom of the pan to melt and throw in the hummus once the butter is good and melted. Toss the pasta back in the pan and stir until all the shells are coated evenly. Sprinkle on any seasonings you might want and add five or six olives and a couple cherry tomatoes for good measure. Serve and enjoy!

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