Eating Possibly

Let's call it "crombler"

2011-08-06T21:10:00.009-04:00

Is it a cobbler? A crumble? I'm not sure, because I pretty much improvised as I went along. But, when I was a houseguest of friends in Ohio and they had a glut of fresh peaches needing to be enjoyed, I was happy to take on the challenge of making some yummy, gluten-free desserty thing.

I had a successful second run at the recipe this weekend at my parents' house, with the variation that we substituted some of the peaches with my dad's favorite, blackberries. Both versions were pretty awesome, especially when served warm with a little vanilla or butter pecan ice cream.

PEACH or PEACH-BLACKBERRY "CROMBLER"

2 lbs. peaches (about 4-5) OR 1+ lbs peaches (2-3) plus 1 pt blackberries

1/4 c. maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. almond meal, divided

2 T butter or butter substitute, plus additional for greasing

1/4 c. sweet rice flour

1/2 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

Optional: pecans, walnuts or almonds, chopped into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8"x10" glass baking dish and set aside.

Peel and slice peaches into a mixing bowl. Add blackberries, if using. Stir in maple syrup, vanilla and 1/2 c. almond meal. Pour mixture into baking dish and spread into an even, shallow layer. If using nuts, sprinkle a thin layer over the fruit. (I didn't measure these, but I'm guessing about 1/4 to 1/2 c.?)

In a small bowl, combine the other 1/2 c. almond meal and the sweet rice flour. Add butter (or substitute) and pinch it in with your fingertips to form a coarse meal. Add brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt and mix well, using the same pinching motion. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit layer.

Bake 40 minutes, or until thoroughly bubbly. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. A scoop of ice cream is a very nice addition.

Pantry Creativity

2011-07-15T16:55:00.008-04:00

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Earlier this month, I received my vehicle excise tax bill, and even the quarterly payment was a whopper. Ouch. And you know how gas prices are skyrocketing? Suffice to say, I'm on a seriously constricted budget for my grocery expenditures for at least a little while. I still have milk delivery each week, and I'll shop for a few, inexpensive vegetables and fruits (bag of carrots, frozen broccoli or spinach) to keep real nutrients in my diet. But basically, this means being reeealllyyy creative with what's in the pantry (and fridge/freezer).

I did have one strike of luck, in that a good friend of mine who is also vegetarian and gluten-intolerant recently moved across the country and had some pantry items she didn't want to ship. I "inherited" some GF pasta, a large jar of nopalitos, and more rice-paper wrappers than I believe are currently available in the entire country of Vietnam. All of these have played roles in my recent inventions.

I'll tweet more successful results (and probably the not-so-successful ones, too) under the #pantrycreativity hashtag until I get around to writing another post here.

Invention #1: Mac&PB&J

What can I say? I was feeling lazy and was out of bread.

56 g dry Tinkyada gf macaroni elbows

28 g peanut butter

14 g jelly (I used blueberry)

Boil macaroni in salted water as usual. While it's cooking, mix peanut butter and jelly in a bowl until well mixed. When pasta is ready, drain well (rinse if desired), then stir into PB&J mixture.

It's better than it probably sounds to some of you, not quite as good as it may sound to others.

Invention #2: Spring Rolls

Like I said: "more rice-paper wrappers than I believe are currently available in the entire country of Vietnam." I didn't have any of the usual fillings, like cellophane noodles, fresh spinach or lettuce, tofu or basil leaves, so I had to simplify.

6 "triangle" (1/4-round) shape rice paper wrappers

1 small carrot

28 g peanut butter

a splash each of rice vinegar and wheat-free tamari

85 g frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped smaller

Combine peanut butter, rice vinegar and tamari in a bowl. Grate carrot with the fine side of a box grater, then mix into PB mixture. Add broccoli and mix.

Have ready a shallow, heatproof dish (like a pyrex brownie pan), a large dinner plate and the smaller plate on which you plan to serve the spring rolls. Place one wrapper in the heatproof dish. Boil water in a kettle, then pour just enough over the wrapper to cover it. Gently poke it around in the water to make sure it stays covered and softens; this will take just a few seconds. Remove from water with bamboo tongs or your fingers if the water has cooled fast enough.

Carefully spread wrapper on the large dinner plate and immediately place the next wrapper into the still-warm water and poke it until submerged. Add about 2-3 Tbs of filling to the wrapper on the plate, and carefully wrap it by folding over one side, then the right-angle corner, then the round edge, and rolling toward the loose side as tightly as you think it can handle. Rest the roll at the edge of the plate to drain a little before transferring it to the serving plate. Meanwhile, the next wrapper should be ready. Repeat until all wrappers and filling are used, adding boiling water to the heatproof dish as needed.

These, I liked. I've repeated this a few times. I thought I had a photo, but unfortunately I can't find it.

Invention #3: Nopalitos Corn Bread

That was one ginormous jar of nopalitos my friend gave me. After a few days of nopalitos tacos and huevos con nopalitos, I just wanted to get rid of the things. This inspiration turned out to be very successful.

1 recipe "Southern Corn Bread" from The Joy of Cooking (p. 777 in the hardcover edition of the 1998 revision)

1 c. drained nopalitos, including the jalapeño from the jar, minced

Prepare according to the recipe omitting the sugar and cutting back the salt to 3/4 tsp (1/2 tsp might have been better), stirring in the nopalitos and jalapeño just before transferring batter to a preheated, 10-inch cast iron skillet. By the way, I substitute buttermilk powder and water for the buttermilk in the recipe, and only used half the water indicated (1 c. instead of 2, I think it was).

I ate it with some huevos con chorizo de soya (that's Trader Joe's soy chorizo, which is gf and vegetarian), to which I had added some Narragansett Creamery queso blanco, and a Redbridge. (Yes, it was a "treat" day.*) Yum!

Invention #4: Veggie+ Mac&Cheese

Normally, I like my mac&cheese unadorned, but I am trying to eat healthier, so here's what I did:

1 box gf mac&cheese (Annie's, Trader Joe's, Pastariso, whatever)

1/4 c nonfat milk

1 Tbs butter

1 carrot, grated fine

85 g frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped smaller

Boil macaroni in salted water. Combine sauce mix and milk in a measuring cup and stir well until smooth. When macaroni is ready, drain, rinse well, and leave in colander. Rinse pot and return it to stove over medium-low heat. Melt butter and add carrot, then cook while stirring regularly until a little soft. Add broccoli and cheese sauce, stir to combine. Add cooked macaroni and stir well over medium heat until sauce thickens a little, which takes at least a few minutes.

This made three generous portions, two of which I froze for later consumption. They reheated nicely in the microwave.

Invention #5: Carrot-Yogurt Salad

I make my own yogurt using a Deni yogurt incubator, so I usually have some on-hand.

6 oz. plain, nonfat yogurt

dill, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

28 g pistachios, chopped

1 carrot, shredded fine

2 Tbs ground flaxseed

Mix yogurt together with seasonings until well blended. Add pistachios and flaxseed and mix well. Mix in carrot. Ta-da! Very satisfyingly crunchy.

Invention #6: Pasta Salad

A friend of mine is having a potluck party this weekend, and is providing ice cream so she prefers that people not bring dessert. I have a lot of gf baking supplies on hand, but not much for baking savory things. She did say it was ok to show up empty-handed, but I felt embarrassed to do so.

Fortunately, I had an idea.

1 small onion, chopped (or 1/2 onion; I think I had a little too much)

1/2 c. plain, nonfat yogurt

1 tsp dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1-2 Tbs olive oil

1-2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 medium carrot

7-8 oz. dry GF pasta

leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh mint

salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion, separate the pieces well and soak in a baking soda solution (1 Tbs : 1 c water) for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse well.

Combine yogurt, dill, garlic powder, olive oil, and vinegar in a small bowl. Add onion after soaking/draining/rinsing. Cover and refrigerate overnight (optional).

Boil water in a large pot. When it reaches a rolling boil, stir in pasta and a generous shake of salt. Stir regularly, especially in the first couple of minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile, grate the carrot into a large bowl, using the coarsest side of a box grater. Add yogurt mixture and mix well.

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse briefly, shake out extra water, then add to bowl while still warm. Stir well to combine ingredients thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Snip mint leaves into small pieces over bowl, then stir to combine completely. Transfer salad to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve (preferably in the next day or so).

* After successfully reaching the "normal" BMI range, I fell into summer slothfulness (and travel-eating) and gained back some of the weight I'd lost. I decided that it's not worth berating myself over every cookie, but there had to be a way to balance rich snacks with healthy eating habits. My solution? First of all, treats are one small desserty-snack and one richer meal per day; second, I only get to have those days if my weight is down when I do the Wii Fit "body test" in the morning. If it's not down, then it's healthy-eating-only that day. So far, it's working fine (and I've re-lost about half the weight I'd re-gained).

A couple of days ago, a new friend was surprised to hear that I'd had a donut for breakfast that morning. Specifically, she asked, "How do you look like that, if you eat donuts?" I explained my treat-day system. But also thanked her: no one had ever before implied that I looked like someone who didn't eat donuts. I guess anything's possible. :-)

How possibilities can change ...

2011-04-03T19:17:00.007-04:00

It has been over a year since I've updated this blog, but I think about it regularly. It's hard to find time to post, yes, and even harder to find adequate time to take good photos of the things I cook (even when there is time to cook). But, I invented a recipe this morning that I'd like to share, and I have some thoughts, in any case.

When I began this blog, nearly four years ago, it was my assumption that my body type was pretty much set for life, whatever changes I might make in my habits. But last summer, I decided I wasn't happy enough with my habits and needed to make more lasting changes.

I was exercising too little, eating too much, too frequently, too unhealthily. I had lost the habit of going a few days between servings of sweets, and of cooking up good food that I could grab for a meal when I was in a hurry. I needed better motivation. So, I decided to try Wii Fit.

It was a significant initial investment, so I saved my money by quitting my YMCA membership and using my second-hand exercise bike for exercise for a few months until I had enough money for the Wii and the Wii Fit. I quickly discovered that I don't like the Wii Fit's reliance on the BMI as the only measure of the user's health, and the fat-shaming it gives you if you're outside the "normal" range. And was I outside the "normal" range? Oh yeah, I was "obese." Which is just a lovely thing to be told every morning.

But, I did like the activities themselves, and found it cathartic to yell at the Wii when it called me "obese" or "unbalanced." After all, it is a gaming system, so I made it a game. I decided to stick with it, did different combinations of exercises every day that added up to 30 minutes, and built up my will power to skip desserts and bring my portion sizes back down.

And, lo and behold, and really at least somewhat to my surprise, I actually did start to lose weight. And kept losing it. And losing it. I went from a BMI of something like 32.25 to my current 24.75. That's nearly 40 lbs, on my 5'2" frame, and puts me within the "normal" range for the first time in over half my life. More importantly, I have more energy than ever, and I can actually run. I'm planning to participate in a 5K race in June.

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and I have started observing Lent much more, well, observantly in the past few years. I've decided that my health is a gift, and I should show my thanks by adhering strictly to my healthiest habits during Lent: 30 min aerobic exercise every day; meals made up of small portions of healthy foods like plain, nonfat yogurt, whole grains, vegetables, beans, and the occasional natural peanut butter and unsweetened jelly; no coffee or tea (except herbal); no alcohol; no sweets at all; no snacks. I also give up shopping for anything I could live without until Easter, so I end up doing a lot of creative cooking and rummaging through my pantry and freezer. I've eaten a LOT of various kinds of beans with brown rice.

And today, I made up a muffin recipe, thanks to the mashed roasted peaches I found in the freezer. (Note: I totally don't remember how I roasted the peaches and am too lazy this evening to find that recipe. If you don't want to try faking it, you can probably get the same effect by buying a can of peaches packed in juice without sugar and mashing them up with a potato masher.) This recipe is actually vegan! And decently tasty, although the muffins break pretty easily. But they contain no fat other than flaxseeds, are sweetened with brown rice syrup (Lundberg Farms is GF), and probably have at least a little protein in them.

I used Annalise Roberts's Gluten-Free Baking Classics as a guide for some of the quantities.

PEACH GINGER MUFFINS (GF/Vegan)

Dry ingredients:

3/4 c. ground flaxseed meal

1 c. millet flour

1 c. garfava flour

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Wet ingredients:

5/6 c. brown rice syrup

3/4 c. mashed, cooked peaches, in liquid

1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, whisking to combine thoroughly.

In a smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients and stir well. The syrup is heavy, so you will need to stir thoroughly.

[The above steps can be done the night before, if you want to be able to make fresh muffins quickly in the morning—although, I actually was able to do this whole process pretty fast. Just close each container well and store in the fridge.]

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 12 muffin cups with olive oil (I use a set of silicone baking cups arranged on a cookie sheet; if using a metal muffin tin, I'd suggest lining with paper).

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well incorporated, then spoon into muffin cups, distributing evenly. The batter will not quite fill the cups.

Bake about 22 minutes, or until firm and slightly golden on top. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool. The first one was tasty when cooled just slightly.

I've frozen the rest for future breakfasts. Hoping they reheat well!

How to make a cream sauce with no flour and lots of flavor

2010-01-24T17:13:00.013-05:00

Yes, it's sometimes going to be a long time between posts. And I mean a loooong time. Sorry 'bout that. Also? This is totally not one of those healthy-eating posts, in the sense that even reading about this quantity of butterfat might just raise your cholesterol about 10 points. But there is some pretty good nutrition here, too, and it's not like I'm suggesting we eat this way every day.

When I was a graduate student in Chicago, I worked at a cafe in Rogers Park called Ennui Café. One of my coworkers was a culinary student who told me her approach to cream sauces: instead of starting with a roux, start with equal parts heavy cream and white wine, and reduce it down about 50%. Finding myself with some extra cream on-hand after making ice cream (more on that later), I decided to give it a try. Another person I met recently had a good rule of thumb for vegetarian meal-building: "a grain, a green and a protein," so I added canned navy beans and frozen, chopped spinach. Knowing that (a) vitamin C increases iron absorption from leafy greens and (b) tomatoes are yummy, I added some canned crushed tomatoes.

I'm still doing my best to use local ingredients, but since I spent most of last summer scuba diving instead of prowling farmers' markets and putting up veggies for the winter, there are a lot of supermarket goods in this one.

By the way, I've decided that there is no point in eating any brown rice pasta other than Tinkyada, ever again. Fin.

Brown Rice Fusilli and Navy Beans with Spinach-Tomato-"Atwell's Gold" Cream Sauce

makes 2-3 servings

2 c. light or heavy cream

2 c. white wine (I used Newport Vineyards Pinot Grigio)

Combine in a medium saucepan over medium heat and simmer to reduce. This will take bloody forever. Try being braver than I was, and turn up the heat a little more to speed up the process.

Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil for pasta, and ...

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

6 cloves garlic (or less, if you're not quite as insane for garlic as I am)

1 c. canned navy beans or cannelini, drained and rinsed

generous pinch of salt

1/2 c. canned crushed tomatoes, lifted out of the sauce with a fork to get as high a tomato:sauce ratio as possible

2 c. frozen spinach

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, then crush and add the garlic. Stir for a few minutes until garlic is fragrant and a little bubbly. Stir in beans and salt and cook for about five minutes to allow the starchy beans to soak up the flavors. Mix in tomatoes to deglaze pan and stir until warm. Add spinach and sauté, stirring occasionally, until warm and well distributed, then set aside.

When the pasta water is boiling, check to see whether the cream mixture is at least down to 2 1/2 cups volume. If not, turn the water to low or off and wait. Once it is, ...

2 c. (dry) brown rice fusilli or other short pasta (penne, etc.)

Add to rapidly boiling water along with a generous amount of salt, at least a couple teaspoons. Stir for the first couple minutes, then occasionally until desired tenderness. Drain, rinse and return to pot and toss with spinach mixture, and set aside.

When sauce is reduced to 2 c., reduce heat to low and start adding cheese:

1/2 c. freshly grated Atwell's Gold, asiago or pecorino romano cheese, plus additional for serving

Over low heat, add cheese a small pinch at a time, stirring after each addition until completely incorporated. When all cheese has been added, pour cheese sauce over pasta and spinach and combine over low heat, stirring gently until warmed through.

Serve in a warmed pasta bowl, topped with additional cheese and freshly ground pepper. Mwah!

** If you're dining alone, you can eat possibly deliciously for two nights! The whole thing might reheat well, but I didn't try it. What I did do was the following: Boil only 1 c. pasta and shred only 1/4 c. cheese (+ a little). When the spinach is all thawed and distributed, put half the mixture in a lidded container and refrigerate. When the cream mixture is down to 2 c., put 1 c. in a separate lidded container and refrigerate that, then proceed as above.

When it's time for leftovers, start the pasta first and shred the cheese while waiting for the water to come to a boil. As soon as the pasta's in the water and boiling happily, start warming the cream concoction over low heat. It will look like it's separating and bad things are happening, but I promise it's fine; I just did it. The pasta should be done just before the sauce is warm enough to add the cheese; drain, rinse, and return the pasta to the pot along with the cold spinach mixture. Heat the two together over low heat. Next, start adding the cheese to the sauce, slowly as above. As soon as all the cheese is in, pour this over the pasta mixture and heat thoroughly.

And about dessert ...

I'm feeling downright smug, because I succeeded in making tartufi, or scoops of ice cream encased in a coating of chocolate so that they look like big truffles. I used David Lebovitz's recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style, and his recipe/instructions for tartufi (except that I substituted brown rice syrup for corn syrup because corn syrup makes me cringe), and it was downright easy. Using my brief training as a helper at the now-defunct Ursula's, I drizzled them with white chocolate (which I thinned with whole milk, which I'm not sure was a good move but it made it drizzlable). And then served them over a small pool of raspberry sauce à la Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Plus, I made moose-munch-only-it's-not-moose-munch-because-that's-a-copyrighted-name from Patrick Evans-Hylton's Popcorn book, again substituting brown rice syrup for corn syrup and also mixing unsweetened chocolate about 50/50 with the milk chocolate for a richer flavor. I got a Whirley-Pop recently, and have been giving it a real workout because I loooooove popcorn. I was feeling very intimidated by toffee-involved recipes, and this was messy but overall pretty easy. And it made a lot.

Roasted butternut squash over pecorino grits

2008-02-21T12:11:00.003-05:00

Q:

What happens when two Southerners meet and get married in the North, and raise two Yankee children, one of whom ends up going to college in northern California?

A:

Dishes like this one.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH OVER PECORINO GRITS

This is one of those meals that came out of the thought process of, "hmm, how can I use all those bits of leftover ingredients already in my kitchen?"

I had a few slices of roasted butternut squash, a small quantity of caramelized red onions, a wedge of pecorino cheese, a container of "quick" grits, a jar of pre-minced garlic, a bottle of homemade balsamic vinaigrette, a plastic boxy-thing of pre-washed salad greens, and a bag of walnuts.

I boiled a little more than 1 cup of water, stirred in 1/4 cup grits and about 1/2 tsp of minced garlic, then covered the saucepan, lowered heat to med-low and cooked (stirring occasionally) for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I shredded a whole bunch of cheese and found my bottle of ground cayenne pepper, and in a separate bowl, tossed a large handful of greens with a small amount of dressing. When the grits were about done, I mixed in the cheese and cayenne, then covered it again and turned the heat to lowest. Meanwhile, I microwaved the squash and onions for about 30 sec, and toasted a small handful of walnuts in a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat.

To assemble, I made a small mound of grits in the middle of the plate, arranged the butternut squash slices on top, then scattered the caramelized red onion over that. Next, I scattered the vinaigrette greens over that and topped with the toasted walnuts. Yum!

So, why do I like grits? Because I come from a Southern family. Why do I like them with cayenne pepper in them? That'll probably be the Baton Rouge side of the family. And the pecorino cheese? That'll be the years in California. And the butternut squash and walnuts? Pretty sure that's the Yankee in me.

Buckwheat Blueberry Bread

2008-01-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

Um. Hi.

Back when I introduced myself, I believe I mentioned being a teacher. Which may explain my complete lack of posts since before September 1. Still, wow, that's embarrassing. I had such grand plans! But I am still trying to keep to the philosophy, if not the posting, so there's hope. And I have a big backlog of photos of projects that didn't get posted back in the summer. Keep peeking in here from time to time, and I'll try to keep putting something up from time to time.

Like today.

So, how've I been doing? Well, I've trained myself to feel full on much smaller portions, to eat more variety and less cheese, to snack less frequently and to eat ice cream and others sweets much less frequently. I've been taking yoga classes weekly since mid-September, and even practicing on my own sometimes. I've been wogging (alternately jogging and walking on a loop around my neighborhood) sporadically and have taken to ice skating weekly on Thursdays. I've given blood successfully, so my iron count must be fine, and my blood pressure is still nice and low. I haven't gotten around to going to a doctor yet, so I don't know any stats about my cholesterol, but I'm optimistic. And I finally called the office of a new doctor just before sitting down to write this, so I should be back on track with regular health care soon. (Okay, I need a dentist, too. I'm hoping the new doctor might have advice about local dentists who get the gluten-free thing.) I don't own a scale and haven't weighed myself, but I'm wearing one size smaller than I was last summer, and am getting comments from friends at work. I'm working really hard not to let my self-image get tied up in my weight, but I do feel better about myself, nonetheless.

A lot of my healthier eating has taken place through variety and portion control, more than through avoiding fats and sugars. I'm saving money by eating less and making my groceries last longer (and buying fewer of them when I shop).

So the recipe I invented today isn't exactly heart-healthy.

BUCKWHEAT BLUEBERRY BREAD

This is a sweet, almost toffee-ish bread with a crisp, chewy outside and soft inside. It's the descendant of my previous experiments with buckwheat-cornmeal pancakes, which I started doing when I had too much cooked buckwheat porridge and couldn't begin to face eating it anymore.

1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp egg replacer
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup cooked buckwheat porridge
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan and dust the bottom and lower sides with cornmeal.
2. In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and egg replacer. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon. Add the brown sugar and cream well to combine. Mix in the egg and vanilla, stirring well until smooth. Add yogurt and mix thoroughly. Add buckwheat porridge, using back of spoon to mash if it has become solid from sitting, and mix until well combined.
4. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients until the surface is just coated, then mix them in. Repeat until all of dry ingredients have been added to wet, and the batter is uniform.
5. Fold in blueberries until well distributed. Pour batter into pan and use spoon to level top.
6. Bake about 1 hr, 10 min, or until bread is firm and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan about 10 minutes (which I didn't - oops!), then run a spatula around the edges of the pan before turning bread out onto a rack to cool completely.

Frozen Macaroni & Cheese dinners for those busy nights

2007-08-28T16:54:00.000-04:00

Just ask anyone who's ever lived with me - macaroni & cheese is my go-to, default meal. When I was little and would hardly eat anything? Macaroni & cheese was one of my favorite foods. (As was broccoli. True story.)

Until I had to stop eating gluten, Annie's shells and cheddar was approximately my favorite thing on the planet. Their GF version doesn't thrill me as much, although I do like it. I find that DeBoles rice pasta and cheese dinner is much closer to the flavor of the original Annie's (for some reason, Annie's uses a different cheese in their GF dinner than in their original).

Just last night, I decided I needed to cook up that box of DeBoles that had been sitting in my pantry. Remember that broccoli-love I mentioned? Mmm, they taste great together.

But what I really loved when I was a kid was the Stouffer's frozen macaroni & cheese entrée, and since the start of my gluten-free diet, I've been a fan of Amy's rice macaroni & cheese. The problem is, a frozen entrée sells for upwards of $3 at my local Shaw's, and also it's not the best nutritional choice out there.

So, a week or two back, I pulled out my Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods, and did a little calculating. If a 9"x13" casserole makes 8 servings, what size stoneware dish do I need for an individual serving? Then, I went online and bought eight 16-oz ramekins with fitted rubber lids, and got ready to cook.

Let me take this moment to send my thoughts to the family of Bette Hagman, The Gluten-Free Gourmet herself, who passed away recently. She has given us all a great deal, and will truly be missed. Although I didn't follow her recipe exactly in this case, and haven't technically baked any of it yet, this one is

I mostly followed Bette's recipe for macaroni & cheese casserole, with two ingredient changes: in place of the butter, I used olive oil; and for the cheddar cheese, I used Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar. I tasted the sauce, and trust me, nothing's missing.

I combined the cooked macaroni with the sauce back in the boiling pot (after rinsing pot and macaroni well with cold water), stirred them together, then spooned the mixture into the ramekins. I covered each with its lid, then stacked them in the freezer. Stoneware can go from freezer to microwave or oven to dishwasher (if I had one), so it's perfect for homemade frozen dinners. Looking forward to quickly grabbing one of these on a busy night when I want something yummy and don't have time to cook it!

Fresh corn and zucchini salad alla Al Forno

2007-08-28T16:37:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, my parents were darling enough to take me out to dinner with them at Al Forno, one of the truly finest restaurants in Providence. One of the dishes I enjoyed there was a salad made from fresh, local corn and zucchini. Having come home from the farmers' market this week with the same two vegetables, I decided to try my hand at duplicating it:

To make this salad:
1. The secret to the pretty curls of zucchini? A vegetable peeler. I started with a smallish zucchini, maybe 8" or 10" long, and used the peeler to skin off the very outside and one more layer, going over the same "stripe" of the zucchini. I discarded those first two passes, then kept going, making more and more pieces. I had about enough by the time I hit the seeds. Then I curled and arranged the slices of zucchini in my salad bowl.
2. Shuck 1/2 cob of fresh corn (I pulled the leaves down only halfway, and broke the cob in half with my hands, then wrapped the remaining part back up). Using a sharp knife, slice the kernels off, then sprinkle them over the zucchini curls. I ended up pulling a few of the zucchini pieces back up so they showed through the corn, for a more balanced appearance.
3. Drizzle with good olive oil.
4. Using that vegetable peeler again, make curls of parmesan or pecorino cheese (anything sufficiently hard and salty will do). I barely had any left, so I didn't get as pretty, big shavings as the original had had.

Done! Yum!

To serve leftover pizza

2007-08-26T19:22:00.000-04:00

Catching up on some meals I'd meant to post:

When my sister visiting a couple of weeks ago, we were both too tired to think about cooking at home, so we went to one of my favorite restaurants: Twist on Angell, in the Wayland Square area of Providence's East Side. I love Twist for its funky atmosphere, extremely friendly and helpful waitstaff, and most especially for its gluten-free menu that includes pizza and beer. Hooray!

A small pizza would be no challenge for my pre-possible-eating appetite, but as I'm trying to get by on less food, I forced myself to stop at half-done and take the rest home. (I did have the crème brulée. It was delicious, and I'm not sorry.)

With a salad for a centerpiece, the four remaining squares of pizza made lovely accompaniments for two further meals. For this one, I mixed some torn-up fresh spinach and romaine lettuce and topped them with a handful of blueberries (all of the above being from the local farmers' market), almonds and I think a drizzle of apple cider vinegar.

Now, place the reheated pizza (which had sundried tomatoes, a mixture of smoked and shredded mozzarella, slivers of fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic reduction) alongside, and serve with a glass of red wine, because hey, yum.

Even Charcoal was looking for a taste!

Summer Peach Bread Pudding

2007-08-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the long silence! Many thanks to new commenters theresa and sea for their compliments, and of course to hilary for her constant support. :-) This is a post I wrote a long time ago, when I actually was making this dish, but didn't get around to finishing until now because I was too lazy to upload the photos. Ah, the last days of summer.

Speaking of which, I do intend to keep posting once I'm back to the teaching grind (in, ergh, a few days), but please understand that it will be much less frequent than my intial flurry of posts. I'll try to be reasonably regular with adding things here, though.

On to the food!

Peaches are in season, and the ones from my neighborhood farmers' market are sweet, juicy and scrumptious. I honestly believe that the best thing to do with ripe, in-season fruit is to eat it raw, all by itself. Yum! It also inspires me to try new recipes - and occasionally to improvise, which I've done here.

I had most of a loaf of GF bread in my freezer, of a type that I don't particularly like for toast or sandwiches. This is what gave me the idea of making a bread pudding. I honestly don't know exactly how much I had, so I'm guessing it was about ten slices. If you try this yourself, you may find you need more or less to complete two layers in the dish. I would recommend the softest/airiest bread you can find, and giving it a good, long soak before baking (longer than the 30 minutes I did). My experience was that the peaches and bread all floated up to the top when I poured in the custard, and the bread stayed very dense and chewy, rather than incorporating the custard, which forced me to bake this far longer than the recipe indicates. It was still very tasty, but should definitely be considered a 'work-in-progress.'

Some of the proportions in this recipe were based on the Apricot Bread Pudding recipe in Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking. Although it will go without saying on the slighest glance at the ingredients list, this dish falls securely under the heading of 'treat.'

SUMMER PEACH BREAD PUDDING

about 10 slices gluten-free bread, thawed and crusts trimmed off
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 ripe peaches, pitted and skinned
cinnamon, nutmeg and powdered ginger
6 Tbs dark brown sugar, divided
5 eggs
1 Tbs or more vanilla
1 1/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 c. skim milk
[2 3/4 c. half-and-half can be substituted for the above two ingredients]

In a 6-cup Pyrex dish, make a single layer of bread by cutting slices to fit like a jigsaw puzzle. Drizzle with half of the butter. Slice one of the peaches into very thin slices, placing it to cover the bread layer completely. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, slightly with nutmeg and moderately with ginger. Sprinkle 1 Tbs brown sugar over that. Repeat all of the above steps to create a second layer each of bread, peaches, spices and sugar.

Heat cream and milk in a saucepan over low heat, until very hot but not yet scalded. Meanwhile, beat eggs with a whisk in a medium-sized, heat-proof bowl, then whisk in remaining 4 Tbs brown sugar along with vanilla (I slipped at this point and added at least 2 Tbs worth; luckily, I like vanilla). Whisk in hot cream, gradually, then strain mixture over bread and peaches. (Top layer of peaches may float to the surface.) Allow to stand 30 min.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Place a roasting pan (or other pan large enough to allow your baking dish to sit in it) in the oven, place pudding inside it, and fill the roasting pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the pudding dish. Cover dish with buttered parchment paper (or foil). Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove the pudding from the hot water bath (careful - water is very hot and can burn you). Serve warm, or try room-temperature or cold, as you prefer. I found this to be too rich to be enjoyable with any sort of accompaniment (e.g., ice cream), but that may change if the bread is soft enough to get a more classic bread pudding texture than I did on this try.

Blueberry Scones

2007-08-09T09:18:00.001-04:00

My second recipe from Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking has been as successful as the first! With my sister staying over and a basket of farmers'-market blueberries in the fridge, I decided to take a shot at making scones. One of the nice things about getting used to baking GF from scratch is that I've started to find that I have all the ingredients already at my house, usually with not more than one or two exceptions. In this case, I didn't have any heavy cream, but I needed some for a frosting recipe that I plan to try later this week, so I didn't mind going out to grab some. (If I'd known I'd need some for this recipe, and that my local Shaw's also only sells cream in pints [not half-pints], I would have ordered some from Munroe for this week's delivery. Ah, well.)

These were really easy to make, and came out very well. My sister, who can eat gluten, told me she thought they were tasty enough to serve to gluten eaters outside the family ... and even to Mom!

Indulgence, within 'limits'

2007-08-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

So many people who really love food, who love to make truly gourmet meals, appear to hold the opinion that meat is necessary for a truly rich gastronomic experience. One of my favorite cousins, the sommelier, has said to me on a couple of occasions that he wishes I'd eat meat, so that I could taste something he thinks is an especial treat. A friend of mine from college, who has the wonderful initials A.Z., said to me at our last reunion that, "I really just feel that you're missing out."

My response? That I think he is, too. Not that he shuns vegetarian cuisine nor the panoply of fruits, vegetables and grains it offers, but that I have heard it said that eating meat reduces the tastebuds' capacity for appreciating the subtleties of flavor that vegetarian meals can provide.

Hey, maybe I'm biased.

It is a challenge, however, as someone who really adores good food, to convince friends and restauranteurs that exquisite meals can be had from vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and eggs. Even more so, now that wheat, rye, oats and barley have to be crossed off the grains list.

I suppose that's one of my reasons behind this blog. I hope that my cooking and my photography make the food look appealing enough that someone who reads this who can eat gluten and who does love meat will still look at one or more of my dishes and say ... I've gotta try that.

I think it's possible. If I may boast a little, I can at least say that my dinner guests never have complaints. :-)

Sour Cream Coffeecake

2007-08-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

As is probably obvious by now, I sometimes take a detour from the purely healthy, to try new baking (or other cooking, but mostly baking) projects. The aim is to expand and improve my GF-from-scratch baking repertoire, so that I know I can offer at parties - or bring to school gatherings - things that I can eat and my non-GF guests/colleagues will (and will want to) eat.

Luckily, I have the perfect taste-tester: my mother. She has been very unenthusiastic about some baked goods I've brought home in the past, so if she likes one of my creations, I know I'm on to something. It's like having an in-house Mikey.

She liked this one.

SOUR CREAM COFFEECAKE from Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly

After trying only one recipe, I can already say that I wholeheartedly recommend this cookbook to everyone I know. I won't reprint the recipe here, other than my modifications/improvisations, but I do have photos!

This was also my chance, finally to try the silicone tube pan my friend N. and her parents gave me as a housewarming gift. Here it is, all greased and floured (with GF mix) and ready to go.

Notice the old baking sheet sitting under it: a must for silicone bakeware, which is very floppy.

The recipe calls for the streusel topping to contain walnuts, shredded coconut and mini chocolate chips, in equal measure. I wasn't in the mood for coconut or chocolate in my coffeecake (although I love both!), so I substituted almond meal for the coconut and more walnuts for the chocolate chips.

The walnuts I had on-hand were raw, so I toasted them in a dry skillet after chopping.

I then set them aside on a saucer until they were cool enough, so they didn't melt the butter in the streusel. Speaking of which, I was a bit confused at first about the direction to "pinch" the butter into the streusel. I decided to try in literally, by pinching off bits of butter from the stick (with very clean hands, of course) and dropping them into the flour. It worked nicely! It also seemed to work best to use my hands sort of to massage the ingredients into each other. The finished streusel was quite well blended.

The one other change I made in the streusel was to use crystallized fructose in place of sugar, because I had some in my pantry that I was trying to use up. Fructose is sweeter than sucrose, so I had to work out the correct amount to add, relative to the amount of sugar indicated in the recipe. This made a great example to use with my math tutee a couple of days later. Try it yourself: if 1 tsp fructose = 1 1/2 tsp sugar, and the recipe calls for 1/2 cup sugar, how much fructose did I use? (Answer below*.)

Next, of course, came the batter, which was pretty straightforward. Here it is, as I was just adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Have I mentioned that I love my mixer?

The batter is so dark because the only sugar in it is dark brown sugar. Yum!

Once the batter was mixed, it was time to layer it into the pan, alternated with the streusel. Partway into the second batter layer looked like this:

And then I baked it! The recipe gave different baking times for a bundt pan v. a tube pan, and I wasn't sure which way to go, especially since I'd never used silicone before. I ended up compromising, and went a little longer than the tube pan time, but not quite as long as the bundt pan time. I also did the toothpick test, and it came out clean.

The result:

Now comes the neat part about silicone bakeware, especially for gluten-free baked goods, which are often more fragile than their gluteny cousins. You can peel the pan away!

The center was a little harder, especially because the whole thing was still quite hot. In the future, I will probably wait more than the indicated 15 minutes before trying to remove the coffeecake from the pan.

Still, almost a clean getaway!

And it looked fine, once it was flipped over (impressions from the cooling rack notwithstanding).

When sliced, it looked almost perfect, imho …

… And it made for a very tasty breakfast.

I cut the cake in half and packaged up half of it to give to my friends L. and H. I then wrapped and froze one of the remaining quarters for later. The final quarter, I sliced into four pieces: ate one, gave one to Mom, and put the other two in a container in the fridge for the next two mornings' breakfasts.

* I used 1/3 cup fructose.

New York City! (long)

2007-08-02T12:33:00.000-04:00

My long silence here has been due largely to traveling and to intermittent internet access. I've been in NYC (Brooklyn and Manhattan) since Friday, and have been having a great time! The eating has been spectacular, too ...

I have to admit, although I know the best idea when eating out as a gluten-intolerant person is to call ahead, talk to the chef, etc. But I'm generally too shy/disorganized/spontaneous to do that. So, I rely on recommendations from other people, personal experience, and "safe" dishes like simple salads. One great resource was these posts on Wheat-Free, Meat-Free, about their family's experience traveling to the city.

Also: I'm trying not to be ridiculous about suspending my healthy-eating plans while I'm here, but I'm not skipping dessert when it's my only chance to try something really special.

Most of my dining experiences on this trip have come from places my sister thought might work, places my friend Y. (who is an omnivore) wanted to try while in NYC, and one place I'd eaten before. So far, so good.

Friday night: Chiles y Chocolate, 7th Ave. near Flatbush, Brooklyn. Very helpful server, fantastically tasty food. There was a little confusion that resulted in my initially receiving a plate swimming with rice and beans that I'd already been told were not vegetarian (I think because two servers were sort of tag-teaming our table), but they very nicely replaced it with a new plate that had a heap of steamed/sautéed spinach in place of rice or beans. The main dish was a chile relleno with Oaxacan cheese - a dish which is sometimes batter-fried, but in this case was roasted. Dessert was pan-fried bananas covered with chocolate mousse, and a cup of the house chiles y chocolate (chipotle-spiced hot chocolate) drink! ¡Qué rico!

Saturday: Started the day with a couple of the snack bars I had along, and went to Park Slope Food Co-op mid-morning (where my sister is a member, and could buy some food for me, her houseguest). Managed to get some breakfast and lunch food - yogurt, bread, cashew butter, jelly, some more snack bars - so that we'd only need to eat out for dinner.

Saturday night: Nana, 5th Ave between DeGraw & Douglass, Brooklyn. Most East Asian foods other than Chinese are usually safe, and this was no exception. The server understood my requirement that I be served no soy sauce, and my summer salad rolls and vegetarian maki platter were both excellent, and very fresh.

Sunday night: Long Tan, 5th Ave between Union & Berkeley, Brooklyn. One disappointment in that the fresh vegetarian rolls contained wheat noodles, but I'd rather be informed than get sick! Another excellent meal, starting with heirloom tomato salad with Thai basil, continuing with vegetarian yellow curry, and finishing with mango with coconut sticky rice, all of which were delicious.

Monday lunch: Uncle Vanya, 54th St near 8th Ave, Midtown Manhattan. This was the first meal with my friend Y., at one of the restaurants she really wanted to try. We drank hot tea with cherry preserves (awesome!), and I ate the vegetarian stuffed pepper, which was liberally garnished with fresh dill. Very delicious.

Monday night: Le Souk, Avenue B between 3rd & 4th, East Village Manhattan. Moroccan restaurant with friendly server who knew exactly what I was talking about when I launched into my gluten-free spiel. I had to remind him when he came around with the dessert tray ("oh, um, I guess you can't eat any of this, then"), but still, he took very good care of me. Y. and I shared a very yummy, fresh salad, although I can't remember the details ... and then my main course was a halloumi cheese salad with baked eggplant bits in among the greens. SO good. Since I couldn't have dessert there, we went in search of gelato, and found some in a place (whose name I, alas, forget) at the corner of Houston and Allen.

Tuesday lunch: Risotteria, Bleecker St & Morton St, Greenwich Village Manhattan. The Mecca of gluten-free dining was mercifully quiet Tuesday afternoon around 2pm, when Y. and I finally got back from a long morning of ferrying and line-waiting on and between Liberty and Ellis Islands. Tuesday is pasta day, and we luxuriated in a large, shared salad and giant bowl of penne pesto, and I drank a Bard's Tale beer and ate too many breadsticks and had to take my cupcake and fudgie to go. Simply and plainly, some of the best food I've ever gotten to have in a restaurant. Y. was surprised and pleased at how good gluten-free pasta can be.

Since lunch was late and huge, I just snacked on my dessert things in the evening, rather than having dinner. They were entirely delicious.

We did have some gelato from Ciao Bella, after failing to find the gelato place we'd been seeking, in the late afternoon.

Wednesday lunch: Les Halles, Park Ave between 28th & 29th Sts, East Side Manhattan. Anthony Bourdain's Manhattan restaurant offered some truly delicious food, and the one place I felt a little as though I may have accidentally ingested some gluten. My server didn't seem to have any idea how to deal with gluten intolerance, although he made a good effort. I had a delicious sweet potato soup, served at room temperature with slivers of parsley, followed by salade d'auvergne, which included mixed greens, sugared walnuts, apple (pear? can't remember) and one tiny piece of bleu cheese. My understanding is that most bleu cheese is no longer made with bread mold, but it's possible that this was the exception. In any case, it was shortly after that course that I had some minor belly cramps. I did stay for chocolate mousse (and was feeling better by the time our server remembered us to ask about dessert), which was delicious - very rich and dense.

That afternoon, we tried again and succeeded in finding Il Laboratorio del Gelato. It was well worth the search! Some very slow service (and one inept counter person) notwithstanding, the gelato was definitely the best we had this week, and probably the best I've had outside Tuscany. Around the corner was Babycakes, where I totally bought too many baked goods, then we stopped back by Il Laboratorio so that Y. could get a second helping of the honey lavender gelato. I'd had a medium the first time, and ate a chipwich at Babycakes, so there was no possibility of my eating anything else.

Wednesday after-show supper: Havana Central, 46th St. between 6th & 7th Aves, Theatre District Manhattan. We saw Mamma Mia! on Broadway, and were still full of gelato, so saved supper until after the show. In the playbill, we read about a place around the corner from our hotel, which sounded tasty, so we headed over there. Live Cuban music greeted us as we entered, and I immediately ordered a Moradito (blackberry mojito), then shared small plates of maduritos (fried ripe plantains) and moro (black beans and rice), and a "vegetarian cobbano" salad, which was delicious but way too huge to finish.

Thursday brunch: Park Plaza Restaurant, Cadman Plaza West at Pineapple Walk, Brooklyn Heights. After crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, Y. and I met my sister at the Park Plaza Restaurant for brunch. The iced coffee was refreshing in this hot weather, the "la guadelupe" omelette was quite tasty, and the grits were excellent. Also the server honored my request not to bring me toast. Turned out to be a lot of food for me, even after a week of expanding my appetite with vacation-portion eating, but very good.

After such a big breakfast, we decided to miss lunch and plan for an early dinner. In this hot weather, we spent most of the afternoon resting, but decided to venture out after some fine chocolate around 3pm.

Thursday afternoon snack: La Maison du Chocolat, 49th St near 6th Ave (NBC Studios building), Diamond District Manhattan. A selection of chocolates and a perfect single espresso were a lovely treat.

And finally, Thursday dinner: Dervish, 47th between 6th and 7th, Theatre District Manhattan. After a week of heavy, rich food, I was most interested in some light plates at this fine Turkish restaurant. Our server seemed a bit taken aback at my dietary needs, but suggested that I name the dishes that interest me, and he would confirm whether I could eat them. I ended up with two appetizers: a stuffed baby eggplant with onions, garlic, pine nuts and parsley, and a plate of stuffed grape leaves (dolma). The dolma had a sort of sweeter spice blend than the Greek version I've had more recently, and were delicious; the eggplant was excellent, too. For dessert, I had a poached pear in berry coulis with a dusting of ground pistachios, and also some of Y.'s milk pudding with almonds, which was rich and mild. A perfect ending to a really good week of eating.

Which brings us to now, the night before I return to Rhode Island. I don't have big plans for tomorrow's breakfast, so this is it for the gastronomical madness.

Coming soon: my long-overdue post on the sour cream coffeecake I baked last week.

Risotto con melanzane, spinaci e noci

2007-07-23T18:25:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things to make and eat is risotto. It's one of the few Italian dishes that can be both vegetarian and gluten-free in (a version of) its original form, and it's incredibly satisfying to eat. Plus, as I've discovered as I've gotten used to making it, it can be made with a wide variety of fresh vegetables, as long as the basis ingredients are on-hand.

What I know of making risotto, I owe to The Joy of Cooking and to Risotto, by Ursula Ferrigno. The proportions in the recipe below come mostly from the Joy of Cooking recipe.

To make this recipe, I started with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup steamed fresh spinach and about 3/4 to 1 cup cubed eggplant that had been sautéed in olive oil and garlic. I also toasted about 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw walnut pieces in a dry, cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, until just fragrant, then set them aside on a saucer.

1. Bring 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover.
2. Finely chop 1/2 medium white onion. Heat about 1 Tbs olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat and add the onion, sautéing until soft and translucent. Mince and add three cloves of garlic.
3. Stir in 1/2 cup arborio rice, until rice is coated and turning translucent. Add 1/8 cup white wine (I had some Pinot Grigio open in the fridge) and cook, stirring, until liquid is mostly absorbed.

4. Add a ladle-full of the broth to the rice, and cook, stirring, until mostly absorbed. Repeat this step until most of the broth has been used and the rice is creamy-looking and al dente. This will take about 1/2 hour. When risotto is getting close to the right consistency, add the broth in 1/2-ladle increments.

5. Add eggplant and spinach, stirring to combine thoroughly, along with another 1/2-ladle of broth.

6. If eating alone, remove all but one serving-worth (there are about three to four servings there) to a storage container. Then sprinkle walnuts over portion that remains in skillet, and grate in 2 Tbs pecorino cheese. Drizzle remaining broth (should be less than a ladle-worth) into skillet, then stir gently to combine.

As served, with a green salad and one of the spinach-pecorino Chebe twists:

Mangia!

Spinach-pecorino Chebe twists

2007-07-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

This is more a method than a recipe; a lot of things didn't go exactly as planned, and I had to do a lot of fiddling. But the outcome was YUMMY.

Here's what I did:

Start with a package of Chebe focaccia mix. Preheat oven and mix as directed.

Divide the dough into two parts. Add an additional 1 Tbs milk and about 2 Tbs grated pecorino toscano cheese (or other pecorino or parmesan) to one part, and set aside. Add about 1/4 cup steamed, chopped fresh spinach to the other part.

Here's where it got dicey: the spinach wouldn't combine with the dough in my mixer, and when I went to knead it in by hand, I discovered that the dough was WAY too sticky. So, I pulled out my bag of tapioca flour and started adding, bit by bit. I added quite a few times, and quit while the dough was still pretty sticky, because I know Chebe isn't as good when it's too dry.

Next, I divided each dough ball into 12 smaller balls (see above). I then picked up a cheese-dough ball and rolled it into a thin 'worm' between my palms, then did the same with a spinach-dough ball and set it beside the first. I twisted them together, gently; they stuck easily, and were pretty delicate.

I repeated the process with six more pairs of balls, because that's as many as would fit on my pan.

I froze the rest of the dough for later.

As suggested on the package, I baked the twists at 375°F for 25 minutes.

And, I ate the first one with a little olive oil and some wine. Yum!

Spinach salad with balsamic strawberries

2007-07-22T18:03:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted in a few days, as those of you who are following this will have noticed. The main reason is that I've been eating mostly the same thing: yogurt with (berries,) almonds and honey for breakfast, focaccia sandwich for lunch, stuffed tofu, roasted potatoes and a salad for supper.

Last night, my parents took me out to dinner at one of Providence's top restaurants (which is seriously saying something - yes, we're the smallest state, but we've got some of the best chefs, thanks to Johnson and Wales), Al Forno. I was worried: could I find something to eat? Could I find something healthy to eat? Could I avoid over-eating? The answers: Yes, yes and mostly. I probably would have been fine with the spectacular local zucchini and corn salad for my entrée, but the plate of roasted and grilled vegetables on the side really didn't hurt. There were no appealing desserts that were completely gluten-free (the flourless chocolate cake has its pan dusted with flour, and I wasn't in the mood for granita), so I was going to settle for a capuccino, but then my mom's special dessert came with its dulce de leche gelato piled into two little demitasse cups. I snagged one. It was very yummy, and really a nice size.

Tonight, I'm celebrating the spoils of my weekly farmers' market excursion, which was yesterday morning.

I managed to spend a great deal less this week, probably due to my skipping the nime chow. I couldn't skip the strawberries, though; they were far too pretty!

To make this salad, I sliced three strawberries into the bottom of a bowl and covered them with balsamic vinegar, about an hour before supper. Later, once the corn was in its boiling water, I spun the spinach dry, lifted the strawberries out of the vinegar with a fork, sprinkled on some almonds and used a vegetable peeler to make little shavings of that pecorino toscano I still had in the fridge. I drizzled on a little of the balsamic, but didn't add salt because I remembered how strong the cheese is.

I have always loved my corn on the cob bathed in butter. Tonight, I tried it unadorned, and it was delicious. Much less messy, too.

I think I'll try the other cob-worth off the cob. I have a 2-kg bag of masa harina in my fridge (where I keep all my flours, to protect them from bugs), a bit of quesadilla melting cheese, and a green bell pepper from the farmers' market. I think quesadillas con elote y pimiento verde might be in order, some night this week. But first, I need to make a risotto to use up that third portion of eggplant, the one I sautéed in cubes.

Wouldn't it be pretty to serve risotto in a steamed bell-pepper shell? I'll have to try that, in the future.

Summer vegetable sandwich on Chebe focaccia

2007-07-19T21:37:00.000-04:00

Chebe (pronounced 'chee-bee,' according to the back of the package) is one of my favorite mixes for pizza dough, focaccia, and several other applications. It comes in various flavors, and has this great, chewy inside, in the way really good bread sometimes does, while being pleasantly crispy outside.

In this simple sandwich recipe, I bake the focaccia mix in four sandwich-size pieces, slice them open, and layer them with yummy summer vegetables and a pesto mayonnaise. Yum!

1. Slice half of a medium-large eggplant into thick slices the long way, salt generously and set aside in a colander to sweat and drain. After 30 minutes, pat or spin dry. Grill on an electric grill (e.g. George Forman grill) about 7 minutes, until soft but still staying (at least mostly) in one piece. Brush lightly with olive oil and layer in a storage container; can be made a day or more ahead of sandwiches and kept in refrigerator until desired.

2. Prepare one package of Chebe focaccia mix as directed, with the following modifications: add 7 Tbs milk instead of 5; add about 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano (or similar) cheese after milk has been added, mixing well to incorporate; divide and form dough into four round, flat loaves instead of one large one. Bake as directed and cool completely.

3. Mix mayonnaise and fresh pesto sauce, two parts to one. (Adding minced fresh basil, garlic and a little olive oil to mayonnaise will also probably work.) I used Nasoya soy mayonnaise, because it's what I had on-hand. I recommend it: it tastes exactly like regular mayonnaise, but is cholesterol-free.

4. Slice cooled focaccia in half, like hamburger buns. Spread both cut faces thinly with pesto mayonnaise. Layer in one slice of grilled eggplant, two pieces of roasted bell pepper (I had a jar in my pantry, but they're easy to roast yourself), two thin slices of fresh tomato, and about 3-4 leaves of fresh spinach. Close sandwich and cut in half (if desired), for easier eating.

Warning: This is one juicy sandwich! Have plenty of napkins ready! Or, pat eggplant, pepper pieces and tomato slices dry with a couple of paper towels before assembling sandwich. This makes it a lot neater.

Variations on the theme of breakfast

2007-07-19T21:31:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before, one of my favorite breakfast standbys is plain yogurt with almonds and honey. When berries are available, they're a must-add for this morning treat. One little muffin is a nice accompaniment, too.

In my ongoing quest to get as many of my foods from local sources as possible, I've started having my dairy delivered. The yogurt, though delivered by my local dairy, is still Stonyfield, which is ... from Vermont, I think? Two states away, but as I like to say, they make states little around here. The milk, however, is from right here in RI.

How cool is it that I can place my milk-delivery order online?

Eggplant-and-sundried-tomato-stuffed tofu "steaks" -AND- Balsamic roasted red potatoes and onions

2007-07-17T19:18:00.000-04:00

As promised, for dinner tonight I baked up one of the stuffed tofu "steaks" that I prepared last night, and I also roasted some farmers'-market red potatoes and red onion as a side-dish. The meal, in addition to being strictly gluten-free, would have been entirely vegan if I hadn't given in to the impulse to put a little reduced-fat cheddar on my salad.

Eggplant-and-sundried-tomato-stuffed tofu "steaks"

NOTES: Since tofu takes the flavor of anything it touches, it really is best to assemble this a day ahead of time. This recipe gave me my first opportunity to use my new food grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I think I'm in love! A food processor fitted with the sharp blade would probably also work, or if you're really determined, you can chop the filling by hand.

1. Drain a block of tofu (usually around 1 lb) and place it between two large, flat plates with something heavy on top such as a textbook. Leave for 30 minutes to press out excess water.

2. Meanwhile, cut two 1/2-inch-thick round slices from a medium-large-sized eggplant. Salt slices thoroughly on both sides, and leave in a colander 30 minutes, to sweat out excess moisture.

3. Place about six sundried tomatoes in the bottom of a small, non-reactive bowl, and cover with boiling water, then place a plate over the bowl to keep in heat and steam. Wait five minutes, then drain.

4. Feed sundried tomatoes, five peeled cloves of garlic, and 1/2 white onion (peeled and cut into small chunks) through food grinder. When eggplant has sweat sufficiently, pat it dry (or spin it in a salad spinner), cut it into chunks and feed it through grinder.

5. Heat about 1 Tbs olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add ground eggplant mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until just starting to dry out and stick to pan. Deglaze pan with dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio), about 1/4 cup, and continue to cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has cooked off.

6. Drain tofu and place on a cutting board. Slice into five thick slices, then cut a pocket into the long side of each one. Use a teaspoon to fill each tofu "steak," gently pushing as much filling into each as possible. I used about three spoonfuls per "steak," and had only a little filling left over.

7. Place "steaks" in a container with a tight-fitting cover and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Spoon any leftover filling into the container, as well. Close tightly and refrigerate overnight.

8. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F, lightly coat a pan with olive oil, and place desired number of "steaks" on pan. Bake 45 min. Serving size: 1 "steak."

(appearance before baking)

Balsamic roasted red potatoes and onions

NOTE: This dish has the same baking temperature and time as the tofu "steaks" above, and can be cooked simultaneously. All measurements are approximate, and estimated after the fact.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a (preferably Pyrex) 9"x13" baking dish, combine 1-2 Tbs olive oil, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 red onion (chopped into chunks and layers separated), 2-3 Tbs balsamic vinegar, 3 cubed red potatoes, and about 1/2 tsp each of oregano and salt (to taste). Stir gently with a wooden spoon to coat potato pieces thoroughly.

(appearance before baking)

3. Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes with a long-handled wooden spoon.

As pictured above, I rounded out these two greenless dishes with a nice, fresh salad. Portions for the tofu and potatoes were decently small, and the salad made the plate look full without adding too much additional weight. In the future, I'll probably go easier on the serving size for the potatoes - I'm totally stuffed, even about 30 minutes after finishing my supper!

Eggplant extravaganza!

2007-07-16T21:05:00.001-04:00

One of my original goals, in starting this, was to get more of my food from local sources. The reasons for this are two-fold: first, I know I need to make vegetables and fruits a bigger part of my diet, and since locally-grown produce is usually fresher and riper, it is usually more tasty and therefore more appealing, to lure me away from my heavy-starches-and-fats habits. Second, small-scale farming is better for the environment, and local produce uses a lot less fuel in carting produce from farm to consumer. This is the reasoning behind my weekly farmers' market sprees.

The next step, of course, is actually to eat the food before it spoils. This has often been a stumbling-block for me. Luckily, I'm a teacher, so my greatest free time coincides with the greatest availability of fresh, local produce.

Two items in my refrigerator this week have been a block of tofu (grocery store, not farmers' market) and an eggplant. I'd been thinking about how I might like to prepare the tofu, and decided to try stuffing tofu "steaks," similar to the way Japanese chefs stuff tofu with spiced meat. Being a vegetarian, I tried to think of other things, and settled on eggplant, among others.

I think the recipe for the "steaks" shown above, currently raw, will appear after I bake and eat one, probably tomorrow night. But can I just say? I love my Kitchen Aid mixer!

The problem was, I knew I was only going to need a small amount of eggplant for this recipe, and that the eggplant would spoil more quickly once it was cut. What else could I do? I went ahead and cooked the rest, two ways: grilled slabs that I will make into sandwiches on Chebe foccaccia, with fresh tomato and basil, and small cubes that I sautéed in olive oil and garlic and will put into a risotto at some point.

I love my Forman grill, too, incidentally. :-)

I used to hate eggplant, by the way. The turning point, for me, was when I learned to salt it and let it sweat before cooking it. Cuts the bitterness and brings out the sweetness beautifully. If you're worried about your salt intake, you can rinse it gently after it has finished sweating; otherwise, just pat or spin it dry. I used my salad spinner, which I also love.

Sometimes, you gotta have starch

2007-07-16T20:57:00.000-04:00

One of my very favorite foods is fusilli al pesto. I just love the spring of the twisty noodles and the perfection of basil, garlic and olive oil. Having bought a new brand of rice pasta at Spezia the other day, I decided last night that it was time to try it. I also pulled out a couple of the "garlic knots" that I'd bought, frozen, at Risotteria last February. I was sadly disappointed by th garlic knots ... they were supposed to be baked for 10-15 minutes, but after 30 minutes were still unpleasantly doughy.

This is one of the shortfalls of saving heavier foods for "treats." Sometimes they ... aren't.

But, the pasta was delicious. I really like this brand, and will buy it again. Eventually. My next pasta, though, will be of my own making. (I mean, other than the pasta already in my pantry, which I may eat before I get around to trying my hand at homemade GF pasta.)

I feel an ode to my Kitchen Aid mixer forthcoming. I seriously love that thing.

Cheese grits, and giving blood

2007-07-15T14:47:00.000-04:00

I'm kicking myself, right now, for not taking a photo of breakfast before we sat down to eat it. I had the table so nicely laid-out, with a pretty table cloth and everything. *sigh* C'est la vie, I suppose.

My friends T. and R. were visiting (my first houseguests at my new house!), and I made us all breakfast this morning. Really, I just rewarmed some of the zucchini muffins from the other day, rinsed and put out some blueberries I got at the farmers' market yesterday, and made cheese grits, because T. loves them.

Adapted from the recipe on the Quaker Quick Grits package, here's how I made the grits:

1. Heat a very small pat of butter on medium low heat. Add 1 clove of garlic, pressed, and heat until fragrant. Add a dash of oregano.
2. Stir in 2 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
3. Once the water is boiling, slowly stir in 1/2 cup Quaker Quick Grits (or similar), then reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes, until thick.
4. Add 4 oz. shredded cheese (I used Hunter's Seriously Sharp Cheddar from Cabot Creamery), and stir to blend. Stir in a dash of ground cayenne pepper.

I probably should have added a pinch of salt, to bring out the other flavors. I was afraid the cheese would be too salty, but it really wasn't.

Makes 4-6 servings.

***

The big breakfast happened for two main reasons: company, and my plan to give blood today. We had also made plans to meet up with our friends N. and K. for ice cream, which I usually consume in large quantities after giving blood. I need the calories and blood sugar, and it's a great opportunity for a much larger portion of treat than I would normally (these days) consume.

Trouble was, people who have lived in Mexico are not currently allowed to give blood. Apparently, there's a newly-discovered blood-borne illness, and the RIBC isn't set up to test for it yet, so they're not accepting blood from anyone who has lived in Mexico or Central or South America. Wah. So much for my plan to give blood and then gorge on ice cream! Well, I still had ice cream, just a little less of it. (And, I've been told, I should be able to give blood again starting next month.)

I've only had ice cream one other time this week (gelato, actually), so I'm still making progress at eating more healthily overall. And darnit, this isn't about having to justify every bit of fat and sugar I eat (I tell myself ... but it's still hard to believe, sometimes).

It was a really nice day for sitting in the gazebo in the park with our ice cream, I have to say.

When portion control meets the race against the rot

2007-07-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

Tonight, for dinner, I had three large salads. That is, I had the same type of large salad three times. I just had too many greens to finish, and the farmers' market is tomorrow morning, again, already! I think it was still decently healthy because I used apple cider vinegar for "dressing" (which is what I usually use), and kept the scattering of almonds and shavings of reduced-fat cheddar to a minimum.

I hope this isn't rationalization. I hope that eating three servings of mixed salad greens is actually a good thing.

As expected, I haven't noticed any difference in my waistline. But, I remind myself, that wasn't supposed to be the point.

My friend N. left me a bar-cookie or cake-like sweet thing she'd baked, when she left the GF beer bread. I think it will go nicely with a glass of milk, as a bedtime snack.

(I'm trying not to eat dessert every night, but I feel like separating it from dinner is a good move, somehow, so I've been sticking to something small, if anything, at the very end of the evening.)

Spinach and basil egg-white scramble

2007-07-12T23:22:00.000-04:00

I had a performance tonight, in a faculty recital for a summer camp where I'm teaching this week. It was the first time that I'd performed a solo (not as part of a chamber or larger ensemble) since ... maybe my master's recital in 2000? Wow. It went really well, fortunately, but I was very nervous all day and indeed all week.

When I know I'm going to need my strength, I tend to turn to eggs. Tonight, I decided to give egg whites a chance. I haven't really liked them scrambled, only hard-boiled, but I hoped that adding enough mix-ins would improve the situation. I washed and chopped the last of my farmers' market basil and not-at-all-the-last of my farmers' market spinach, and also mixed in a little garlic, salt and pepper, and some grated pecorino toscano from my Federal Hill foray yesterday.

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten how salty the cheese is when I added the salt, but fortunately, I had some GF rosemary beer bread from my friend N., which made a perfect accompaniment. (The sweetness of the berry punch I was drinking also provided a good balance.)

Conclusion? I'll definitely try this dish again later in the summer, but if I use a similar cheese, I probably won't add any additional salt. And I'll do a better job of separating the eggs: a little yolk ended up in there, after all.

Zucchini muffins!

2007-07-12T23:08:00.000-04:00

I like to think there's a difference between obsessively thinking about food all the time, in a compulsive overeater sort of way, and thinking about food frequently because cooking creatively is a hobby and a joy. Sometimes, especially when I have perishable ingredients on hand, I like to daydream about how to use them best.

As I've mentioned, I went a bit overboard at the farmers' market last weekend, so I am now frantically embroiled in what my friend L. calls "the race against the rot." I've been eating salad at such a frantic pace that my broccoli - my favorite vegetable, as long as I can remember - is lying neglected at the bottom of the crisper.

Which means, of course, that the zucchini hardly stood a chance. Until I remembered about zucchini muffins.

I've never made them before, but luckily I had all the ingredients on-hand for Bette Hagman's recipe (from The Gluten-Free Gourmet), except the raisins, which I don't really like in zucchini muffins, anyway.

They came out very small, but toasty/crispy on the outside and moist/spongey on the inside. Absolutely lovely.

Despite having used organic white sugar, and the recipe calling for oil rather than butter, I decided these probably fall under the category of 'treat,' so I filled up most of the way with a bowl of brown rice, first, and then had my one muffin with a small glass of milk.

There's something really fantasic about fresh-from-the-oven muffins for breakfast. But, wow, is summer a rough time for having the oven turned on to 400°F (204°C)! Something to remember, as I plan other baking experiments for the rest of the summer.

Salads ... and salads.

2007-07-12T22:54:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, my parents and I drove from Massachusetts/Rhode Island to the Florida panhandle for our annual family reunion. For me, the trip means two main things: (1) a valuable opportunity to keep in touch with my cousins, most of whom live more than a thousand miles from me, and (2) very few good food options. It starts, of course, on the road, where lunch tended to consist of a Wendy's side salad and a plain baked potato. Don't get me wrong: Wendy's salads tend to be decently fresh and crisp, but they also tend to consist mostly of that tasteless, nutrient-lean, pale-green stuff known as iceberg lettuce.

When I make a salad for myself, the story is quite different:

I like to buy a mix of different lettuces/greens, then adorn them simply, in this case with a few shaves of that 75%-reduced-fat cheddar I've been enjoying so much, a smattering of walnuts, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

It looked so good, even my cat wanted to check it out!

Hey, Charcoal: what do you think about becoming a vegetarian?

... yeah, that's what I thought you'd say.

Well, to quote my dad, "More for me!"

A little bit of junk-ish food

2007-07-11T16:59:00.001-04:00

One of the keys to making this healthier-eating plan a possible one is that I never tell myself, "you can't eat that ever again." Unless it's, you know, meat or gluten. I can still enjoy barbeque-flavored kettle corn from Popcorn, Indiana, but now I'm trying to eat it kernel by kernel, not handful by handful.

Luckily, I already prefer 100% juice blends (like Apple & Eve berry punch) to cokes. Actually, after all the water I've been drinking this week, I was afraid the punch would taste too sugary. It was mostly just nice, though.

A little popcorn, a little juice, a little TiVo. A nice way to take a break from a hot, sticky afternoon.

Pecorino, honey jelly, basil and pinot grigio

2007-07-10T23:38:00.000-04:00

In Europe, or so I hear, it's common to follow meals with cheese instead of sweets.

I was feeling a bit hungry after the brown rice/spinach/tomato extravaganza from earlier this evening, so I thought I'd finish up with a bite or two of the pecorino I bought this afternoon.

(note to self: the red plate is pretty, but it doesn't photograph well)

This is, alas, not the cheese I hoped it would be. (Somehow, that sounds to me like the basis for a Saturday Night Live sketch. But I digress.) I was entranced with the soft, mild pecorino I had the fortune to eat in Tuscany a couple of summers ago, but this is a hard, crumbly, salty cheese.

Nonetheless, it's very, very good. And its saltiness makes it lend itself well to very small portions.

Something I learned in Tuscany was to eat pecorino with honey. I happen to have some "Lemon Crest" from Magnolia Honey Jelly, so I thought I'd try that. Then I decided the plate needed some green, so I tore up a basil leaf to arrange artfully around it. Finally, I poured myself a small measure of some pinot grigio that I was given as a thank-you gift for playing in a master's conducting recital, which was open in my fridge. Normally, I prefer red wine, but the sweetness, saltiness and crispness of the honey, cheese and basil seemed to want to be paired with white.

Perfection! The jelly balanced the saltiness of the cheese, and the basil cleansed the palate between bites of richness. (And the wine, of course, didn't hurt one bit.) It only took a very small quantity to make a very satisfying end-of-day snack.

How do you like your brown rice?

2007-07-10T19:30:00.000-04:00

When my friends J&J and I all lived in Chicago, they had me over for dinner one night and introduced me to the wonder that is brown rice. Before that evening, I'd never really liked it before. But at their house, it was served family-style, where we could each help ourselves to a scoopful or two, and surrounding the bowl were plates of cheese cubes, chopped tomatoes, probably some salad greens, herbs, and other summertime delicacies.

Clearly, this was the way to enjoy brown rice. Not as an apologetic stand-in for white rice, under a stir-fry, but as a centerpiece all its own, paired with crisp, fresh flavors that complement it.

Dinner tonight is a plateful of color, with brown rice, fresh spinach topped with shaves of that 75%-reduced-fat cheddar I mentioned (Cabot), and a fresh farmstand tomato, all sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.

So pretty! And so yummy.

Eating Treats Possibly

2007-07-10T18:10:00.000-04:00

I'm lucky enough to live in a place where there are some WONDERFUL gluten-free treat options. One of my favorites is Ursula's European Pastries in Cranston, RI, for the cakes-and-pastries type of treat. Twist on Angell is excellent for the pizza-and-beer (or pasta) type of treat. I used to frequent both, well, frequently, partly because of the novelty of having such an abundance of options, and partly out of a desire to keep GF-friendly businesses doing GF-friendly business.

Since moving into my new house, and since the summer started, I've been spending a lot less time at both. Partly, they're not cheap, and partly, those are some rich/caloric/high-fat treats. Staying on a gluten-free diet, it's very tempting to try every new product that comes along, to reconnect with old "friends" that have been lost to me because of the evil grains they contain (I say, tongue firmly in cheek). Until about a month ago, I was living on cheese and starch, eating ice cream and cookies and cakes at least daily, which I knew was not a pattern I should be preserving.

As I develop my "possible eating" philosophy, my question for myself becomes this: how do I see the role of treats in my diet? As I try to get away from my emotional eating habits, I want to stop thinking about treats as something I "earn," but I still want to enjoy them on special occasions. I am serious about not wanting to deny myself these treats entirely; the solution seems to be, in fact, the word "treat." I want to divorce cakes and cookies and pizzas from the value judgements of "bad" or "good" and from loaded words like "indulgence," that make them sound like a surrender. I can eat rich, sugar-and-butter-laden baked goods, and still be eating, overall, in a healthy manner. The key, I think, will be frequency and quantity. I am ready to pass by gluten-free goodies in the market, knowing I can try some later. "Moderation in all things," as a friend of mine from the Catholic choir at my university said, "including abstinence."

So, how do I feel about my plan to stop at Ursula's this afternoon being thwarted by their two-week summer vacation? Was I saved from my temptation to 'cheat'? I don't think so. I haven't been there in over a month. Plus, by getting off the bus at that point, I ended up having to walk the mile-plus home from there.

I had stopped earlier at Spezia market on Federal Hill, which has a decent selection of gluten-free products, some of which I hadn't seen before. I bought three items I haven't found elsewhere: Orgran amaretti-style cookies (very low percent of calories from fat, I discovered to my delight, and the sugars are unrefined), Scotti Pasta Riso fusilli (a brand I've been curious to try), and a sliver of Pecorino Toscano (D.O.P.) cheese. Once I discovered Ursula's to be closed, I decided to enjoy a couple of the amaretti on the walk home.

A good compromise, I think. And quite a tasty treat.

Breakfast

2007-07-10T08:11:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I went to a farmers' market for one of the first times ... definitely the first time I've gone alone. Predictably, I went a little overboard, got a little overwhelmed and carried away. Among other things, I came home with a pound of fresh spinach AND a ginormous bag of salad greens. Add to that the fact that I'm teaching this week at a program that provides lunch, and I'm eating salad three meals a day just to keep ahead of the wilting.

Yesterday, I had a spinach salad, consisting just of a huge pile of rinsed, torn up, fresh spinach, a drizzle of apple cider vinegar, and a few thin shaves of 75%-reduced-fat cheddar cheese. Also a glass of water and, when it was ready, a small bowl of brown rice.

Today, I'm a bit sick of salad. So I've gone back to an old favorite: plain yogurt (about 8 oz), topped with a small handful of raw almonds and a drizzle of local honey (bought in my hometown, which I suppose makes it my hometown honey!). YUM.

I'll probably end up having some salad before I head over to work, just out of obligation.

Tarator

2007-07-09T20:18:00.000-04:00

Whew! That introductory post was a bit tl;dr, wasn't it? Sorry.

Now that that's out of the way, here's a recipe I made this evening. It's wonderful in hot weather, because it requires no cooking and is cooling to eat.

This is a Bulgarian dish called Tarator. A couple of Bulgarian colleagues taught me how to make it, when I lived in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2000-2002. The garlic is apparently a variation that is preferred in the eastern city of Burgas, where one of my friends originated. I like it, so I use it. The walnuts were pecans when they taught me, but walnuts were not common in Mexico, so it's possible that they were the intended nut all along. Also, they're much cheaper, and have lots of Omega-6's in them.

Proportions are approximate. Feel free to eyeball it. Sorry that they're all in English units.

1/2 of a 1 qt container of plain yogurt
about 3-4 Tbs dried koper or dill weed
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 tsp sea salt, to taste
1 medium-sized cucumber, peeled
small handful (1/2 cup?) walnuts, chopped coarsely
cold water

I usually just mix this in a 1-qt plastic container. Fill it up about halfway with yogurt, then add koper or dill, minced garlic, and 1 tsp salt. Stir. Cut the cucumber into small pieces (I use a paring knife, cutting right above the container so the pieces fall in). Stir, making sure to distribute the cucumber as evenly as possible. Add walnuts and stir again. Add a little bit of water, maybe 1/4 cup, and stir, then check consistency. Add more water and salt as desired. I usually end up adding enough water to fill to near the top of the container.

Flavors meld with time, so I recommend letting your "soup" stand for about 1 hr before serving. Depending on freshness of cucumber and yogurt, this should keep at least a few days in the fridge, tightly covered.

Много добре!

Introduction

2007-07-09T20:03:00.000-04:00

I love to cook.

I grew up cooking, because my mother invited my sister and me into the kitchen with her, and when I became a vegetarian at age almost-14, she 'invited' me to cook all my own meals, if I wasn't going to have what she and Dad were having. (My sister was in college by then.)

When I was 25, I was diagnosed with a mild resistance to wheat; I changed my diet somewhat, but really kept 'cheating' by eating cookies, cake, fresh-baked bread, Krispy Kremes … Within the past few years, I've reduced my gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats) intake dramatically, and finally entirely, as my sensitivity has increased.

I enjoy walking, swimming, and riding my bike; all three of these tend to take back-seat to my other favorite activities of reading, watching my TiVo/Netflix entertainment, and LiveJournaling. And have I mentioned cooking?

First, a little (more) about me: I'm 32, as of this writing, and I recently bought a house in Rhode Island. I'm single and live alone, and carry the mortgage alone. I've been playing the oboe for nearly 25 years, and currently freelance professionally and give private lessons, in addition to teaching at a girls' independent school, mostly in the high-school division.

I have never had an eating disorder. I am neither thin nor extremely heavy, although I am definitely on the high side of what the BMI considers my "ideal" weight. I may even be quite a bit on the high side, depending whom you ask: some charts would classify me as "overweight," others as "obese." But if you happen to spot me on the street while I'm waiting for my bus, my nose in a book or an NPR podcast in my earphones, you'd be more likely to think of me as pudgy, or maybe stocky. Oh, and short. :-)

To me, this is beside the point. I'm trying to love the way I look, because I'm pretty much stuck with it. Despite what popular culture would have us believe, I might start exercising 30-60 minutes every day, eat perfectly balanced and portioned meals with only small, healthy snacks between, and never lose a pound. The point is, I know I've been eating unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities, and spending too much time on the couch.

There is nothing dramatic or angst-ridden here. I refuse to flagellate myself over a slice of cake, or to deny myself all the foods I find yummiest. I'm simply a (relatively) normal person, with the (relatively) normal food issues that one tends to have, having grown up in the Western world.

And I've got a few habits I'd like to change.

***

Let's review: I'm a new, single homeowner, living on the schedule and salary of an almost-but-not-quite-full-time private school teacher plus freelance oboist/teacher, so budget and time are huge issues. I have a diet restricted by choice (vegetarian, ovo-lacto) and by health (gluten intolerance). Time is much less of an issue during summer, and it is no accident that I'm starting this now. I also find a new home to be a good opportunity for new habits.

Therefore, my eating goals need to be:
1. staying within my dietary restrictions
2. keeping my grocery budget reasonable
3. eating more naturally gluten-free foods, and fewer gluten-free substitutes (like pasta and bread), which seem to have a less-healthy effect on my diet and are very expensive
4. eating out as infrequently as possible while still having a social life

I'm also interested in:
5. getting as much of my food from local sources as possible
6. cooking from scratch as often as possible
7. experimenting more with baking gluten-free foods from scratch, understanding that this will create sweet/rich treats in the house and the above-mentioned gluten-free substitutes, so sharing and portion-control will be key
8. eventually growing some of my own produce
9. composting (note: most of it would have to go elsewhere; my backyard is about 1/8 acre, or 1/20 ha)

Psychologically, I'd like to:
10. train myself to enjoy fresh, healthy foods as much as I enjoy sweets and processed snacks
11. break the habit of emotional eating
12. develop a non-adversarial relationship with food, including occasional sweets and processed snacks
13. get comfortable enough with all of the above that I spend less time thinking about food

Also, there is the all-important:
14. get into the habit of getting more exercise, more regularly

***

What will be here? Mostly recipes/accounts of foods I have eaten and enjoyed. Other food-related topics will also probably appear, and hopefully exercise as I get into it. My approach is to understand that I need to change gradually if I'm going to stick with it, which may mean attacking only one or two goals at a time.

Wish me luck!