Hiatus over

Its been a long time since I wrote anything on here but life just took over I'm afraid.
The move went OK. Had lots of fun and games with Comcast but I've pretty much come to expect that. Then we had a week to get everything vaguely organised before the in-laws arrived on the 22nd. It was great them being here as they helped a lot.They were barely off the plane before they started unpacking boxes. They spent their first day buying a christmas tree, going to IKEA for furniture, putting up said christmas tree and assembling furtniture. Bless 'em. Christmas Eve was spent in about 4 different supermarkets getting all the food for Christmas Day. We had a traditional Turkey dinner. I made a lovely soup to start though. Completely endo friendly and it was a hit. The main meal was Roast Turkey, loads of veg, gravy. Then we had a Gluten free Black Forest Gateaux for dessert which I found in Trader Joes.. Its the brand 'dolce senza grano' (sweet without wheat). Very delicious and authentic.

We had a boxing day party on the 26th. For those non-British of you, this is also a holiday in the UK and it involves basically seeing the family you didn't see on Christmas day and eating cold turkey. It apparantly comes from days gone by when the servants of the house would get the day off and the masters of the house would box up the leftovers and give to them. We decided to combine it with a bit of a housewarming party. I made loads of food but no-one really ate anything. I made a huge pasta salad but used normal pasta so I couldn't even eat the leftovers of that.
The day after that we got invited to some friends house (bear in mind these are friends that know I don't eat wheat). We weren't the only people there - they had visitors too, and some other friends were there, but I walked in and saw them cooking pizza! I thought, oh well I'll just have to grin and bear it. Being a nice polite British person I didn't want to cause a fuss. So, David was my knight in shining armor. He made sure he was sat next to me and discreetly took all my dough off me when I was done eating the topping.I think we got away with it too. I basically ate loads of salad and luckily had had a big lunch so wasn't really hungry. You may wonder why not just say "I'm sorry but I can't eat pizza". The answer is I have no idea, except for this ingrained sense of British politeness in me. It is easier said than done when you know your host has gone to a lot of trouble to make this dinner for you. I think it would have been a different story if it was just us at the dinner table but there was about 10 people many of whom I didn't know very well and I guess I just didn't want them all to know my business. It would be a lot easier if I could just say, sorry I'm coeliac! But I'd have to go into the whole story, and really didn't want to. The next few days passed in a not very exciting culinary adventure. Turkey curry, bean burritos, pasta pesto. New Years Eve I stayed in with my in-laws. David had to leave for Iowa (he's a cameraman so is on the campaign trail now until whenever) on New Years Eve. We were going to go out but we were all pretty exhausted and couldn't really be bothered. So, we made a nice dinner. Celery Soup, roast chicken, loads of veg and cheesecake (I didn't eat the base) and watched TV before going to bed just after midnight. I took my in-laws to the airport yesterday so all is back to normal now.

Here is the recipe for the soup I made on Christmas Day. Its not my own and is taken from a book called 'Soups and Breads' by Bay Books.

Chilli, Chickpea and Coriander Soup
30g (1oz) butter (olive oil can be substituted)
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
425g (14oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1/3 cup (20g/3/4 oz) chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and stalks
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 1/2 cups (600ml/20 fl oz) chicken or vegetable stock

1. Heat the butter or olive oil in a large pan. Cook the onion, garlic and chilli for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not browned. Add the spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the chickpeas.

2. Process in a food processor until smooth. Add the coriander and lemon rind, pour on the stock and process until smooth. Reheat gently for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, but do not allow the soup to boil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Holiday madness

I haven't posted for a while but thats because its all been rather hectic in the Baker household. We are not content with one major stress over the holidays but we are undertaking 2 at the same time. We are in the process of moving house and undergoing IVF treatment. Well, I should say undergone as the embryo transfer was yesterday. I have another blog called http://wheresourbaby.blogspot.com which details the whole process as I didn't think this blog needed all that.
So, I am in the 2 week wait. Pregnancy test is on Christmas Eve of all days.
We are moving house this weekend and the Dr. has basically told me I can't do anything related to the move so poor David has to do it all. There's so much packing to do - and I just have to look at it, and feel helpless. So, needless to say there has not been much cooking malarky going on the last couple of weeks. Last night was take out from the Whole foods hot bar which was lovely but I think they must use a lot of salt as I woke up really thirsty early this morning.

I had a great plan to cook loads of food at the weekend to freeze so we could pull it out for quick suppers but that was not to be. I did manage to cook a Sheperds pie on Sunday night which was nice and we had it with loads of veg and gravy.
I also have some pesto in the fridge that I made that day, as I needed a few leaves of basil for a Rachel Ray dish I made but Whole Foods only had basil in industrial size containers (typical) so I had to use it up somehow. I have tried following recipes for pesto but have never really found one I like so end up just making it up. Its basically, lots of basil, toasted pine nuts (just heat in a skillet for a couple of minutes until golden and oils start to release), olive oil and parmesan cheese. I usually adjust quantities to taste.

I also made a lovely 'Three sisters casserole' from Vegetarian Times. It freezes well too.

I will post here my recipe for Shepherds pie. This is a rough recipe and I change it all the time but it will give you an idea of how to make a vegetarian one. Its a lovely thing to have on a cold Sunday evening with a glass of red.

Vegetarian Shepherds pie

1/2 cup green or brown lentils. (you can use red though at a push but I find they go too mushy)
1 1/2 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 large potatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp oregano
3/4 cup vegetable stock or water
1 tbsp vegetarian worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn (optional)
1/2 cup of frozen peas (optional)
1 tsp of ketchup (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cook lentils in water until tender. Add more water if necessary.
Boil and mash potatoes.
Sautee onion and garlic in oil until soft.
Add stock, tomato puree, oregano, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and simmer until flavors combined.
Add lentils, corn and peas. Add more water or stock if necessary. It should be slightly runny but not watery.

Season to taste. If you want a bit more tomatoey flavor, you can add the tsp of ketchup at this stage.
Put lentil mixture in a casserole dish.
Top with mashed potato
Bake until the filling is kind of bubbling through the potato at the edges and the top of the potato is golden brown. About 20-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and serve. You can eat as is or serve with any vegetable and some extra gravy if required.

Another option. You can use less lentils and add some Quorn mince aswell (aka TVP) if you eat that. I like the Quorn better if I have to eat this as its soy free.

The rest of this week I think we will be trying to use up the contents of the fridge and freezer to save moving it so some interesting concotions may follow.....

Pancakes, lovely Pancakes!

Oh, I'm so happy. After over a year of a pancake-less diet, I finally had some on Thanksgiving morning. So Thankyou, Thankyou Bobs Red Mill GF Pancake Mix! Whoever Bob is - not sure if he is the little old man on the packet or not, he deserves a medal.
Now, being a good English Girl, I love a good British breakfast as much as the next person but there is something about American pancakes that just hits the spot for breakfast and I've missed them. If you've never had a good english 'fry-up' it basically consists of fried: eggs, bread, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, and some baked beans. A healthy combination I think you'll find!

So, before discovering Bob the Wheat free God, I have looked longingly at recipes to make your own Wheat free pancake mix, but never seem to have the inclination to try to bother with them. It pretty much feels the same as trying to make Gluten free bread. But now with Bob on my side I feel I can do anything. Yay!!

They were so tasty, even David liked them. We ate them with lots of maple syrup and fresh fruit. You do have to use an egg and milk in the mixture but you can use soy, rice or almond milk if you don't want to do the dairy. I also used a pancake maker (griddle thing) that I got as a gift and has never seen the light of day. It worked really well.

Experiments

I had a huge bag of organic veg delivered this week. When I ordered it I was obviously in a bit of an experimental mood as there were a lot of things I had no idea what to do with. There was Broccoli rabe which I had never used before but I know Rachael Ray uses it a lot so it must be OK! Also, some white turnips. I hardly ever even cook regular turnips so I was at a loss with the white ones. So, on a chilli sunday evening I thought I'd try to recreate those sunday dinners from back home. These are usually meat, loads of plain cooked veg, roast potatoes and gravy. Of course we can't have the meat part so I searched through every single recipe book in my collection (thats quite a few) to look for a simple vegetarian entree to fit the bill, something like a nut roast but I didn't have any nuts and I wasn't going back out in the cold. I'm not sure why but nothing inspired me from those books. Not a dang thing. All the 'loafs' required flour and egg and I wanted a vegan one. But then an overwhelming sense of creativity came over me and I decided to make one up. Usually these attempts don't come out all that well. Anyway this one was a bit of an exception - it was literally thrown together from the pantry. I call it 'lentil loaferole' as its a cross between a loaf and a casserole but tasted pretty nice.

Lentil Loaferole
Ingredients

1 cup green lentils
2.5 cups water
1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme finely chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup oats

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cook the lentils in water - simmer until tender - add more water if necessary. They should be tender but not mushy.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, chopped rosemary and thyme.
4. When lentils are cooked and cooled, add to the oat mixture.

5. Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add to lentils. Stir in the tomatoes.

6. Transfer to a loaf tin, bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes until the top is brown and has formed a crust.

So, after all that experimentation I wasn't ready to tackle the strange veg so I served it with Steamed Brocolli, carrots and mashed sweet potato. I also made some gravy, as otherwise it could have been a bit dry. I don't have a recipe for gravy though as we use vegetarian instant gravy from the UK out of a box. Its yummy.

So, I still had the problem of what to do with the strange veg, so last night I made a soup. I love making soup as you can just bung it all in a pot with some stock and voila! So, we had White Turnip, Broccoli and Brocolli Rabe soup. Very tasty. I also made Burritos. However, I used the rice flour tortillas which are usually OK but I have now discovered that they don't hold up well to being put in the oven. They basically came out of the oven with the texture of a taco. But, they were rescued by dollops of Toffuti sour cream and salsa to moisten it up a bit.
Essentially the burritos were nice I just won't put them in the oven next time.

Vegetarian Bean Chilli Burritos
Ingredients

1 can kidney beans
1 tbsp chopped pickled jalepenos
1 tsp olive oil
1 zuchinni - sliced into half moons
1 green pepper - diced
1 onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
4 rice flour tortillas

Method

1. In a small saucepan, cook the beans and the chopped jalepenos in the oil for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to stand
2. In a skillet, fry the onion and garlic in the oil with the cumin and coriander for about 5 minutes until starting to soften.
3. Add the zuchinni and pepper and continue to fry until all the vegetables are soft. Add the beans to this mixture and stir over a low heat to warm through.
4. Spoon the mixture into the tortillas but don't overfill. Wrap them into parcels.
Serve with Tofutti Sour Cream and Salsa.

A few food disasters this week

This has been a strange week. Not least because we have had visitors around since the 26th, so it has been a vacation from the norm. We have therefore been eating out a lot / getting takeout and having wine. The take outs haven't been too bad though - I've been sticking to Thai and Indian instead of pizza, for example.

We also went to Savannah for the weekend with some friends. It was great but of ourse you have no control really over what to eat. Its hard then to stick to the diet when you are eating out a lot - especially somewhere like that where a lot of the food is fried and there's not a lot of vegetarian options. I just try to make up for it by having healthier sides like rice or potato salad instead of fries and I had a greek omelette yesterday which had spinach and feta cheese, instead of the veggy one stuffed with regular cheese. Its not much but makes me feel better about having an omelette instead of the oatmeal I probably should have had.

In between visitors and going away I have experimented with some more new dishes but have been fairly disappointed by the results.

I have a Jamie Oliver recipe book that I hardly use as there's a lot of meat dishes in there but he had a recipe for Sweet & Sour squash. The picture looked lovely. Needless to say my version did not turn out like mr olivers. I definately cooked the squash too long and it came out rather mushy. So, not content with ruining that I decided it would be great to eat it with some rice noodles. Well, you couldn't have gotten 2 textures that went together least! I am lucky that David will pretty much eat anything I put infront of him and rarely complains.

Then a couple of days later I made some Chilli Bean Burgers. I love making burgers as you have complete control over what goes in them. Bean burgers are especially nice. This was yet another recipe from the Moosewood low fat book. They were really nice. They have mustard and ketchup in them though so may not be for you if you are really trying to cut out all processed food.
The book said to have it with their Brazilian rice which sounded lovely but was in fact pretty tasteless, so much so that I didn't even bother saving the leftovers. There is one burger left though that I will be eating for lunch...

Chili Burgers

1 cup chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup peeled and grated carrots
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
3 cups cooked pinto or kidney beans (2 15-oz cans, drained)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup or 1 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in the oil for about 5 minutes until the onions begin
to soften. Add carrots, chili powder and cumin and cook on low heat for 5
minutes. Set aside.

Mash the beans in a large bowl with a potato masher or the back of a spoon.
Add the mustard, soy sauce, ketchup or tomato paste and the sauteed
vegetables. Mix in the oats. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Form the burger mixture into patties. Cook burgers in a nonstick skillet on
medium-low heat for 5 to 8 minutes on each side.

Squash for Fall

I think Fall is my favorite season. One of the main reasons for this is Squash. There are so many varieties and ways of cooking it and it is so tasty that I can't help experimenting. Its also nice to get away from salads and mediteranean food which I tend to make a lot of during the summer.

Growing up in the UK, pumpkin was something we would carve once a year (maybe) but we wouldn't really dream of eating it. I don't think I'd even tasted a butternut squash until a couple of years ago.

This week I have had some wonderful squash dishes mostly thanks to the Moosewood recipes. I tried my first acorn squash the other day - yummy and then ordered a DELICATA squash from the organic farm which was also nice. I even - shock horror - made a dish up myself and didn't use a recipe. It was using sweet potatoes and beets.

So here are a couple of Fantastic Fall recipes.

Chilean Squash
Serves 4-5
This one actually adds cheese and then bakes in the oven. However I left out the cheese and didn't bake it. I will write it up this way.

4 cups cooked squash or pumpkin, mashed or pureed
1 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 tsp salt
2 small bell peppers (one red and one green, if possible)
4 or 5 medium cloves garlic
black pepper and cayenne to taste
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander (optional)
1 tsp chilli powder
2 cups corn (frozen/defrosted OK)

1) Place the mashed or pureed squash in a large bowl
2) Heat the olive oil in a medium sized skillet. Add onion, and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add salt, bell peppers, cumin, coriander, chilli powder, corn. Saute about 5 more minutes, or until the peppers begin to get soft.
3) Add garlic, black pepper, and cayenne, and sautee a few more minutes
4) Add the saute to the squash and mix well.

I served with brown rice.

Adapted from : Moosewood Cookbook

Squash and Kale risotto
Serves 4

4 1/2-5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup minced onions
2-3 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (May use white grape juice) (optional)
2 cups peeled and cubed winter squash (3/4 to 1 inch cubes)
3 cups stemmed and chopped kale, packed (about 1/2 pound before stemming, May use other greens)
1/8-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemons, rind of
salt & fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese or parmesan cheese

1) Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer.
2) Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan, preferably nonstick, saute the onions in 2 teaspoons of the oil for about 5 minutes, until softened but not browned. Add more oil, if necessary, to prevent sticking.
3) Using a wooden spoon to avoid breaking the grains, add the rice and stir until it is well coated with oil.
4) Add the wine, if using.
5) When it is absorbed (it won't take long), ladle in 2 1/2 cups of the simmering stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently for 2 to 3 minutes between each addition, until the rice has absorbed the liquid.
6) Add the squash and the kale and stir.
7) Continue adding 1/2 cup of broth every few minutes for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until all of the stock has been added and the rice is tender but firm.
8) Add the nutmeg, lemon peel, and salt and pepper to taste.
9) Remove the risotto from the heat, stir in the cheese, and serve immediately.

Variations:.
In addition to or in place of kale, add any of the following:.
chopped Swiss chard, cabbage, radicchio, or fresh fennel, chopped celery, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, green peas, green beans, or even seedless black grapes.

NB: I did find however that the Squash took a long time to cook in the risotto. I used the Delicata squash so it could have been that but I would suggest dicing it really small or steaming it until it is almost tender first and then adding it.

Source: Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites

And finally my own creation:

Roasted Beet and Sweet Potato Salad
Serves 1

2 small beets
1 medium sweet potato
Tofutti Sour Cream
1 Tbs chopped parsley
1 Tsp Red Wine vinegar

1) Preheat oven to 400 F
2) Wash the beets and sweet potato and cover with foil.
3) Place on baking sheet and roast for about an hour. The potato may not take this long so put it in later than the beets
4) When they are cooked - (you will be able to pierce with a knife) remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly
5) Remove the foil and peel the beets and sweet potato and slice to about 1/4 inch pieces
6) Arrange vegetable slices on a plate, beets underneath and sweet potato on top.
7) Drizzle with red wine vinegar and sprinkle chopped parsley.
8) Place a dollop of sour cream in the middle.

This is a pretty tasty simple supper or could be a used as a side dish

Japan

Well we've arrived back from Japan. Got back on friday and its taken until now to feel vaguely human again. Jet lag was severe - its a 13 hour time difference.
We had a fantastic time. If my PC wasn't broken I could post some photographs but alas, the only 2 year old computer needs a new motherboard. This sounds incredibly technical and expensive to me, but luckily we are still in Warranty.

The Japanese wedding was amazing and an experience I will never forget, especially when the whole wedding party ended up in our own private Karaoke room! It was great to forget about everything and really let my hair down, not literally as the Japanese hairstylist did a lovely job of putting it up.

The food on the whole was fine.....for me. The less said about Davids vegetarian experience, the better. Needless to say, he's actually been a vegetarian for about a week, not 14 years as first thought. I existed on rice and fish - oh and some chicken elbows one night but they weren't the best! Probably did wonders for my Omega levels but I was paranoid about fiber as there's only so much white rice you can eat. So I've been stuffing myself with the stuff since being back: beans, fruit and veg and loads of brown rice.

I must just mention a couple of vegetarian 'moments':

- 'tofu and cheese' - came with a sausage underneath
- 'vegetable lasagna' - (in a british pub no less), had beef.
- he was halfway through a salad once when he was brought a substitute salad "without fish"!

A couple of fantastic food moments though:
A restaurant serving nothing but tofu done many different ways, although the highlight of the plate was a big bowl of.....tofu!
Just tofu, in all its white slimy glory. Oh and actual soy milk - without the sweeteners we get here. Couldn't quite stomach that.

Also, the vegetarian wedding breakfast was a feast like I've never seen. Food just kept coming and coming.
David was in his element. I hadn't ordered one, but I was happy with my whole dried fish and octopus!

It was just very hard work being a tourist there and not speaking the language as you have to just point to a picture and eat what you're given. The rice for breakfast thing in the hotels was a bit hard to swallow, too. Along with miso soup, some kind of meat and fish casserole and tofu at 8am was not exactly tempting.

So, its back to Oatmeal and flax seeds in the morning. I even found some high fiber gluten free/wheat free/dairy free bread in whole foods the other day AND its actually do-able. I have previously had a couple of failed experiments into making my own wheat free bread so gave that up very quickly, and have bought a couple of loaves before (aka bricks) but this is by far the best one I have tried. I have only had it as toast and as an open sandwhich with both mashed banana and a pre-made tofu salad (not at the same time). Its called ENERG High fiber loaf.