Cajun Orange Pork Chops

I really love this Diabetes Family Friendly Cookbook magazine we picked up. The best recipe we had yet was the Cajun Orange Pork Chops. I can't wait to have it with some salad tomorrow as left overs. It was so good, I'd like to share the recipe with you, and you can find it here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Cajun-Orange-Pork-Chops thanks Patricia Harmon from Baden, Pennsylvania. So if you want to check out the magazine I think they're for sale online at tasteofhome.com and some of the recipes are there as well.

I was worried about trying this one because I'm not big on spices usually, but I've been trying out new recipes. Turns out, the Cajun Orange Pork Chops weren't that hot after all. Just a nice spice to go with the intense orange flavor. DEEEELICIOUS! The orange juice, marmalade and seasonings made a really great marinade. Who knew!?

It's really worth trying new things. Food can be delicious AND healthy. And the left overs are so much more awesome when it's home made.

Vegetarian Burrito

Recently we got out the gluten free vegan cookbook. This is a great thing to do right before making a shopping list, because it usually requires ingredients which don't last long. In this case, as usually, it turned out to be delicious. I did have to make a few modifications due to my personal preferences and allergies, but I tried things I had thought I was allergic to and been avoiding my whole life like tomatoes. Turns out, they're delicious in a burrito! (duh)

These can be vegan depending on what tortillas you use and how you cook your beans, or of course you could add meat if you're a raging carnivore. But they were delicioius as is, so I recomend you try them as are unless you're allergic or intollerant to something on this ingrediant list. Also, they are gluten free if you use

large rice or hemp tortillas (gluten free)
1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yam or 2 small yams
1 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 seeded and chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 cup seeded and diced tomatoe
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

prick yam all over and and cook through (5 to 6 minutes on high in microwave or 400 degrees for 20 minutes in the oven) rinse, strain and cook pinto beans
while the yams cook put olive oil in a skillet on medicum high heat and sautee chopped onion, then add bel pepper and then add garlic. Sautee them all well and then add the cooked, chopped yams. Finally add the rest of the ingrediants and mix together.

We put some of the ingredients into tortillas, had 2 burritos and saved the rest of the mixture in the fridge in an air tight container till later. It was delicious for the next 2 days whenever someone wasn't around to help and I wasn't up to the task of food prep. So it would probably be a great thing to have in the fridge for a pre-teen to pop in the microwave the next day. I just put some in a tortilla and heated it for 1 minute. Wallah! Lunch!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Obviously you can tweak the recipe to your own tastes, but we loved them just like this. Even Patch and Carlie admitted to loving them. We also love this with black beans as the original recipe called for.

Yam and black bean tacos

This is going to sound either very simple or very strange depending on your experience with the ingredients. It was inspired both by one of my favorite snacks (sweet potato chips and black beans) AND by a recipe we read somewhere for vegetarian tacos.

bake one sweet potato or yam and cube
mix with 1 can black beans (Strained) and heat until black beans are heated through
add feta cheese and 2 tablespoons lime juice
serve in warm corn tortillas.

YUM!

Polenta with Goat Cheese and Capicola

1 cup polenta
2 cups beef broth (fat and gluten free)
1 1/4 cups water
3 oz goat cheese
1 oz grated Parmesiana Reggiano
1 oz Capicola

Preheat oven to 350.
In baking dish, mix 1/4 cup water into polenta creating a slurry and stir well to help eliminate lumps. Then slowly mix in remaining liquid striving to avoid clumping of polenta. This helps ensure a smooth final product without requiring you to constantly stir.  Bake in oven for 50 minutes.
Chop goat cheese and Capicola (delicious, very thinly sliced Italian meat)
Remove Polenta from oven and stir in chopped ingredients
Sprinkle on Paremesiana Reggiano in thin layer over the top
Bake for 10 more  minutes

Creates 12 small or 6 larger servings. You can eat immediately as a soft polenta or place in refrigerator and cool until firm. Firm product is also delicious when reheated, but I do recommend eating some straight out of the oven (careful there's hot cheese in there!) because there's a thin crispy layer of Parmesiana Reggiano over the top and it's a great combination of textures. But it's great reheated and the Capicola was like tiny crispy surprise bits of joy sprinkled throughout.   I ate it as a side with leftover Carlie-made Lasagna, and then in the morning I had 2 small servings for a quick and easy breakfast before heading off to the doctor. I couldn't wait for it to heat up and tasted a bite of it while still cold which was yummy, but when reheated it had this great texture ... something between cheesy cornbread and polenta.

You've got to try this if you like Italian food. If you're used to Southern Italian meals like the food from Cicily, you may not be used to polenta. It's a corn meal and can be served in all sorts of ways most of which are vegetarian or vegan. This particular way is really tasty, but does have both meat and milk products in it so is obviously neither.

Carlie-made Gluten Free Lasagna

Carlie made some amazing lasagna. She always does. We did have a little problem with the gluten-free pasta... it said there was no need to boil it. In fact the instructions said not to boil it, simply to put it into the lasagna layers. We were worried it would still be mushy however when the lasagna was ready, the pasta was still hard. DOH!

It was better today after reheated, and I suspect it will be perfect tomorrow. Which is something to remember. Next time we're planning to SLIGHTLY soften the pasta before putting it into the layers.

Otherwise, delicious! So much so that Patch says it is delicious both ways and she doesn't notice the pasta being "too hard" It's not uncooked, it's simply a bit overly hard to the more critical pallets in the house. I found it much better today, and Carlie (self critical perhaps?) felt it was still a bit too hard. Like I said tho, I suspect tomorrow it will be the perfect consistancy. If we'd boiled it, it wouldn't last. Something to remember for the future. Maybe make 1/2 as much or make it when we have twice as many people to eat it? Still a work in process. I'll share the recipe and details once we get the details down pat and IF Carlie allows her recipe to be put out there. Family secrets to protect you know!

Shopping success and failures

After my last lab tests for the week, which FINALLY included the celiac panel I have given 18 vials of blood, had 130 allergens scratched onto my back, 24 allergens injected under my skin on my right arm, been poked, prodded and generally observed, but I believe I am closer to knowing what is wrong with my health and how to improve it than ever before in my life.

To celebrate, we went to AJ's deli at 56th Street and Ray Road in Chandler, AZ. I wanted to go to their sushi bar, but wasn't sure which fish count as shellfish and which would or wouldn't cause an allergic reaction so even tho I had an EPI pen on hand, I thought I would go the safer route.  Chef Roger helped point out which of his meals I would not be allergic to. What a great guy taking the extra time! AJ's should be grateful to have such dedicated employees who give excellent customer service. As someone who is finding he is allergic to and intollerant of several different foods, it can be overwhelming to eat anywhere outside one's own kitchen but at AJ's I felt perfectly safe. We ended up deciding on Terriaki Salmon with a Verry Berry Salad. YUM!

After my visit to the deli, I stopped by the candy section to buy a small desert. A roller girl named Chachi was there. Yes, roller girls have day jobs. And she was kind enough to point out a desert which I could eat without becoming sick, and which turned out to be a unique and wonderful flavor which I had never tried before, Orange Chili Chocolate. Patch and I shared it and we both very much enjoyed the tasty little pyramid of creamy citrus with spicy hot overtones. I do not usually like hot things, but I risked it knowing that Chachi would not stear me wrong. Once again, customer service to die for. That's why AJ's is a great place to celebrate. And knowing I can get gluten-free treats there, is a bonus!

Obviously all of the above was shopping success. What followed next during our shopping trip at Bashas was not. Don't get me wrong, Bashas' staff was wonderful, and the meal that we had tonight based off our shopping trip was good. But I made a newbie mistake in the gluten intolerant world. The shelf said gluten free, and I saw 3 for 3 dollars, so  I grabbed three boxes of organic pasta. Unfortunately the gluten free pasta was NOT the organic pasta....it was below it. YIKES! When Patch unpacked the groceries and lay out the ingredients for a gluten free spaghetti, she realized my mistake. I am grateful she read the labels, because I was looking forward to going 100% gluten-free for the first time today. I am looking forward to feeling better and better as I believe I will when I'm living gluten-free. Thankfully, we happened to have a box of brown-rice spaghetti left over from our previous gluten-free shopping trip at Fresh and Easy. YAY!  The italian sausage left over from a previous list of ingredients was perfect in the spaghetti sauce...and the only difference I would want next time would be to try cooking the spaghetti for a shorter amount of time. I'm big on al dente pasta and this was more the consistency of chow mein. NOT what my pallet was expecting with an Italian meal, although I could see this being good with a Chinese meal. Lesson learned... next time I am shopping for pasta I will pay closer attention. Still, I'm grateful we had been keeping our eye open on previous trips and knew we would be wanting gluten-free spaghetti at some point. PHEW! The whole family enjoyed dinner tonight, so don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, it simply can be better. I know we'll hit the nail on the head next time!

Happy eating all, please feel free to share your gluten-free favorites, tips and tricks for pasta, I'm a big pasta eater and am still hopeful.

Home Cooked Italian YUM

I LOVE Italian food and Carlie makes some mouth watering pasta dishes. She has lived with Patch and I for the last 8 years and our stomachs are forever grateful. She comes from a family that is half Irish, and half Italian but she is one of those that looks 100% Italian, and from the way she cooks, you would believe it. After I read some of the recipes and comments in the "Gluten-free Italian" cookbook to her, she mentioned that if we could get the hang of cooking with gluten-free pastas we could make just about any of the meals she usually makes because there is no gluten in tomato, cauliflower, nor meat. 


True, although I have noticed the occasional use of wheat-flour in some strangely unexpected places, so we'll keep our eyes open for ways it might try to sneak into our diet. It will depend on how intolerant of gluten I am, but I have read that as little as a tablespoon a day can cause flare ups in some people and we may therefor have to be super vigilant about the ways gluten sneaks into our foods. I believe our new grocery store mantra will be, "When in doubt, leave it out!"


Other than being vigilant by reading the ingredients on pre made and packaged foods, she's right! Preparing Italian food should be pretty much the same as before. 


I found premade gluten-free lasagna noodles at Whole Foods and picked a box up. We are likely to end up making our own pasta some time soon, because frankly, home made is almost always better than pre-packaged, but it's a lot more work to make your own, and we don't have a pasta machine so we will be using prepackaged most of the time. Thankfully the Gluten-free Italian cookbook I bought on amazon does have a pasta recipe that looks like it will make great ravioli. Mmmmmm I can't wait to make interesting fillings for ravioli.

Tonight we made brown rice risotto with chicken. We LOVED IT! And want to make it again. Makes enough for 6-8 people depending on if you serve it as an entire meal as we did, or a hearty side dish.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion
1 small red onion
1 tsp garlic powder (0r 2 cloves of chopped garlic if you ahve them)
10 - 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast cubed (1 inch cubes)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
4 tablespoons diced bacon (or prosciutto if you have it)
2 cups brown rice
2/3 cup cooking sherry
3 cups gluten-free chicken broth, heated (I use swansons 100% natural)
3 cups hot water
6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons grated parmigiano-reggiano
fine sea salt
black pepper 

in large skillet, on medium heat cook chicken with 1/2 herbs till no longer pink in 1 tablespoon olive oil
in large saucepan, on medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Cook chopped onions and garlic until soft, but before browned. (about 5 minutes) add the rest of the herbs and the bacon or procsciutto. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Add the rice and stir until well coated with oil. All the grains will appear shiny. Stir in the cooking sherry and bring to a boil. Stir and bring down to a strong simmer cooking until all the sherry is either soaked into the rice or evaporated, then stir in 2 cups of the hot broth. Simmer and stir often until the liquid is almost absorbed. Repeat with remaining broth a cup at a time. Repeat with 1/2 the hot water, and cook until rice is tender to the bite (about 35 minutes) adding the rest of the hot water as necessary until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy with a slightly soupy consistancy. It should not be dry or sticky.

Turn off the stove, stir in the parsley and 2 tablespoons butter. Taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary. I added more pepper and garlic powder, but not more salt to mine. Seperate into bowls and sprinkle a tablespoon of the parmigiano-reggiano on top of each. Buy a good cheese, it makes all the difference in the world.

We put the leftovers in a sealed container into the fridge so we wouldn't eat it all up in one sitting. It was tempting, but portion control is part of losing weight while still being able to enjoy delicious food. When split into 6 servings, this ended up being 9 points on weight watchers.

Fried Polenta Sandwhiches

Yesterday Carlie opened the fridge and noticed a tube of polenta. What shocked me was that she had never tried polenta before. What kind of Italian has never tried polenta?!? I teased her about it, but insisted she had to try the stuff and she agreed.

It was such a nice day. I had several delicious gluten free meals. In fact, a friend asked if I'd gone 100% gluten-free. I haven't, because I'm hoping to get tested for gluten intolerance and celiac disease along with food allergies this coming Wednesday. But I had almost no migraine all day, and was able to sit outside in the shade on the patio enjoying time with Carlie and some educational reading.  She admitted that she had been avoiding my gluten-free cooking because she knows we're going to go gluten-free soon and she's enjoying the "bad stuff" as long as she can. I told her I had been trying to ease us into this new lifestyle and that I was worried it would be even harder for her if she didn't start eating gluten-free now and then.  


I opened up The Gluten-Free Italian by Jacqueline Mallorca and read parts of it to her.We enjoyed some of the ideas so much, that we couldn't help but put together our own version of her fried polenta sandwiches. Here's what we ended up making:


Fried Polenta Sandwiches:
1 tube ready-made/formed polenta
Thin slices of Italian cheese (we have some amazing cheese selections on hand due to Patch working at AJ's deli) 
deli sliced ham
gluten-free flour
1 egg
gluten-free bread crumbs 


You can buy pre-made gluten-free bread crumbs or you can make your own.


Slice Polenta into 1/4 inch slices. slice cheese into thin slices with a mandolin slicer or potatoe peeler. lay cheese and ham slices on a piece of polenta then lightly press another piece over it, and repeat until several sandwiches are put together.

Dip each mini sandwich into gluten-free flour. Beat the egg and then dip each flour dusted sandwich into the beaten egg mixture, and then into the panko-style gluten-free bread crumbs. Then fry till each side is golden brown.


This recipe left us with an awesome crispy outside, and a warm and soft inside to the polenta. It made me think of a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich somehow. Next time I'll have to try this with the cheeses and prosciutto recommended in the book! Meanwhile Patch bought the ingredients for an Italian recipe I thought we'd all like, and Carlie has decided to go through the book herself and mark the recipes that call to her. Plus we're in the search of a good gluten-free lasagna so that she can make her family recipe of lasagna which is SOOOOOOO good.


Obviously this is not a vegan nor even a vegetarian meal, but it could easily be made into one by replacing the ham and/or cheese in the recipe with some sliced vegetable you like such as tomatoe, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. 

By the way, I loved these fried sandwiches so much I could see them becoming a frequent fixture on the dinner table. I'll have to take a picture of them then, because they smelled so good that when Carlie handed me the plate I just wolfed them down without stopping to take a picture of their golden-brown goodness.

Corn Chowder for a Rainy Day

Despite the aches and pains I get, I love the rain. More accurately, I love staying in on a rainy day and eating comfort foods like corn chowder. However corn chowder, as much as I love it, does not love me back. Until today that is.

Today we pulled out the Gluten-free Vegan Cookbook by Susan O'Brian and made her corn chowder recipe. YUM! It was pretty labor intensive what with chopping up potatoes, butternut squash, leeks, onions, garlic and more, but Lauren filled me in on the tips and tricks to which produce can be bought at Trader Joe's already chopped up and ready to just toss in the pot. Next time I may do that, because WOW, if Lauren hadn't helped me chop veggies I would not have been able to make this meal. Patch or Carlie could, but for me just walking around the kitchen  was pretty much enough to wipe me out even with rests sitting on the island chairs. Luckily for me, by the time I ran out of energy the food was ready to kick back and enjoy.

It was tasty, warm, slightly salty, slightly sweet goodness. Still, we both agreed it was missing something. For one thing, protein, plus we wanted just a bit more green and a bit more bite. We would add lentils and green onion stalks to the recipe. I think it would really make it perfect. I'll try it out in the near future before it gets too hot for a good chowder and let you know.

Still, I could see using this recipe as the base for many a good meal to come. Later this morning I am making buttermilk pancakes with fruit for my friends, and some baked red potatoes and butternut squash on the side. I think they'll be pleasantly surprised at the vegan, gluten-free faire. 

Side note, I have had an itchy red rash on my face for DAYS and it's really annoying. I'm going to try a cold compress with some baking soda on it see if it calms down a bit. Hopefully it will be less bothersome in the next few days, but perk back up in time for my appointment with the doctor so she can actually see it in action. this is one of those weird symptoms I get that doctors rarely see the damn rash or hives or whatever it is. Much like a car no longer making that weird noise when you take it to the mechanic, it likes to fade away in time for doctor appointments. I'm hoping the changes of diet I'm starting to implement will eventually take care of this annoying symptom.

Tuberous Treats

Recently a friend of ours took us up on the offer to come over for a visit. She happens to be a vegan who is gluten intolerant with latex allergies. For those who don't know, latex allergies coexist with a slew of food allergies including peanuts, bananas, melon, mango, and more. I have never been able to cook a meal for her, because there are so many things she can't eat that she usually finds it safer to bring her own food with her. 

Still, I know there are many things she can eat, and I have felt deprived of being able to feed a loved one. So when she said she might be coming over, I became excited. Maybe this could be an opportunity to play with recipes from The Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O'Brian. I ran off a list of ingredients in some meals i'd been thinking of trying, found out which things on the list were out, and adjusted the menu. I'm not vegan myself but several of my friends are so I've been doing research. Here's an article from Weight Watchers and getting proper nutrients as a vegetarian. If you're wanting a bit more protein tofu or seitan could easily be mixed in to Patch's Amazing Tubers.

I decided to make various Tuberous Treats* including Patch's Amazing Tubers, Corn Chowder, and maybe Stuffed Butternut Squash. Just sounds like a hearty, warm, meal of comfort food doesn't it? 

* Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction.^[1] Two different groups of tubers are: stem tubers, and root tubers. http://www.foodsubs.com/Tubers.html

Amazing Tuber  Recipe:
Ingredients:

olive oil

2 cloves garlic

sea salt 

pepper 

sage 

savory

6 carrots

2 red potatoes

2 purple potatoes

2 sweet potatoes or yams

1 parsnip

1 leek

1 white onion

1 red onion

1 zuchini

1 small butternut squash

1 sunchoke

1 celery root

Cut tubers and roots (except the onions and potatoes) into chunks, boil in lightly salted water for 5-10 minutes, until slightly soft and flavors have partially combined. 

Slice onions, mince garlic and caramelize with leek in 1 tablespoon olive oil 

In large mixing bowl, combine olive oil, sea salt, pepper and sage to taste. peal and cut potatoes and add to bowl. Strain tubers and add to large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 garlic onion and leek mixture, and stir all together till all is well coated with sage mixture. 


Spread the coated "Tuberous Treats" in a baking pan and bake at 425 for 35 minutes stirring 2 or 3 times to keep mixture coated. When all tubers are tender, mix in remaining garlic onions and serve warm. This is a great way to use up those locally grown CSA vegetables because you can put in whatever produce comes in  that week's share!


*note: Seitan, while delicious in vegetarian meals, is not gluten-free. Thanks Lynn for pointing that out :)