On Being Spontaneous

The best results sometimes come from spontaneously throwing something together out of what you have. We do that a lot in my house - one because I like to make things up to feel like a real chef, and two - I'm not one to run to the store over slight imperfections in ingredients on hand. It may be the only place in my life where I am truly spontaneous. ::wink::

So this is based off from my favorite mac and cheese recipe, which I have yet to share. I will post that here soon. I just wanted to get this up. I'm really wanting to share my food with others since the interest is high right now. This version substituted traditional Gruyere and Parmesan with what was in my cheesebox - Aged Gouda and Parmesan.

The GF pasta dish turned out SO well - I even used GF breadcrumbs and it was very hard to tell the difference from my original recipe. Yay for GF individuals everywhere.

The dish is plated with a version of my favorite salad as of late. That too shall come...

Seared Salmon on Coconut Spinach

In my world there is no better way to start off a year than to cook a new and delicious meal for my love. So I settled on a surprise meal of Seared Salmon rested on Coconut Curry Spinach. I adapted this recipe from a few recipes, but worked mainly from Donna Hay's gem. I enhanced her version with more vegetables for me and cooked up some spiced brown rice to serve it over. I hope you enjoy.

Get yourself a big ol' fresh piece of salmon. Pop it into a shallow dish with 2 tsp. fresh grated ginger, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and 2 tablespoons Tamari (or soy sauce for those of you okay with wheat). Marinate this about 5 minutes on each side. When ready, cook in a high heat frying pan - 1 minute on each side or toss whole deal into the oven/toaster oven for about 20 minutes at 350 or until you are happy with the pinkness.

Onto the curry.

A small pot will do to boil up a couple yukon gold potatoes. Once soft, cube and let cool.

If you'd like some rice, cook up what you will. I made brown rice according to instructions on the package.

Grab a pan out and pop in 1 small diced onion, fry until translucent. Add in 2 cloves of crushed and minced garlic, 2 small red chilies, seeded and chopped and 2 tablespoons Asian chili or red curry paste. Cook for around 2 minutes and then add one can of coconut cream (not milk) the potato cubes and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add one bag of pre-washed spinach, mix until it wilts.

To plate, put a bit of rice down, slide the salmon next to it and smother with the coconut spinach mixture.

Go back for seconds. And thirds.

Wild Rice & Dried Cherry Soup

That's right, you heard me. I know you're thinking...a vegetarian wild rice soup? Yes. With cherries? Oh yes! And it's fabulous. I'd even go as far as more fabulous than the original deal with chicken and flour base. Yay!

Let's get down to bid-ness.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add one carrot, one celery stalk and one medium onion, all finely chopped to the pan, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender. This should take around 8 to 10 minutes. Once this is ready, add 3 tablespoons of flour (I used GF, but you can use regular) and mix well. Add in 3 cups of vegetable stock (or chicken if you wish) slowly until all lumps are gone. Let soup continue to cook for about 5 minutes so that the base can thicken. Add in 2 cups of cooked wild rice and 1/2 cup of dried cherries. Turn down your heat to low, stir occasionally and simmer soup for about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of heavy cream or half-and-half. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fried sage leaves if you wish.

Eat all of it because it is delicious.

Finding Neverland

Sometimes we're thrown curveballs that we think will devastate our existence. Maybe it's losing someone we love. Maybe we are losing the love itself. And sometimes it is something smaller and more superficial - but just as maddening and disheartening. Recently I lost wheat. And right along with it I lost the local pizza joint, fresh baguettes, a good sandwich on crunchy coated chewy bread. There were lost opportunities in social aspects. The loss of Cheez-Its. Where does the madness end and the new beginning start?

Now.

I introduce to you the best bread I've had in almost 5 months.

Maybe, a little backstory.
Since I am a vegetarian and now avoiding wheat due to severe migraines, my Dad was wondering just what the hell I was going to eat for Thanksgiving this year. No turkey, no stuffing, no fresh baked bisquits and even no green bean casserole (the onion topping stuff)!
Enough to make one crazy mad right? And to be honest with you all. I didn't care. I kind of had given up. In fact just nights before Thanksgiving, I had decided to try homemade GF pasta dough in a Roasted Butternut & Shallot Ravioli recipe I found. it didn't go so well. Let me just conclude that story and move on with one sentence that sums it up. After working for about 1.5 hours on the prep and dough - I fast-pitched it into the floor and punched a cutting board. (I am not really prone to violent anger - but this was just too much). No fresh pasta, no fresh bread, no convenience foods. I felt like I was destined to a life of mediocrity in food. And food is my passion. MY PASSION PEOPLE!

Anyways my Dad is a pretty swell guy and decided on what he could do to make Thanksgiving special for me. He went to the store, found a bread mix and read up on making it in his breadmaker. Fast forward... I show up and see a very mischievious and happy Dad who urges me to go unwrap the towel in the kitchen. I do. In it, is the most fantastic tall loaf of bread. But I'm hardened to the game of deceiving appearances. I grab a serrated knife, slice off a piece. Slather it with butter and bite. And bite. And bite. Oh my GOD! It most definitely is not artisan bread, in fact it's not even like wheat bread. What it's most like is Wonderbread. Now, I have to be honest here. I haven't eaten white bread for over half of my life. But I am in lurv with this bread. And here's why... GF bread is tough. It's smaller than a real loaf of bread. I've had about a zillion varieties, from the GF bakery in town, to the frozen varieties...it's either a dense brick, or so crumbly it doesn't hold together, or gummy. But this, this bread was good crumbly. It was tall. It smelled like bread. Real bread. So I guess you could say I've come full circle on bread. And isn't that where it all begins? With bread?

So, Brian, being the most loving and wonderful man I know secretly ordered one along with an Allergy Cookbook. He's so good to me. Upon reading the manual we discovered the reason the bread comes out so good is because the Breadmand TR2500BC Ultimate has a Gluten Free program. So it cooks the loaf of bread differently. Wonderfully. And it comes with a handful of recipes for GF bread. Yay! Brian made the first bread - Pumpernickle. And it tasted like sweet, earthy goodness!! Love love love it.

I'm making the Onion Dill Bread now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Pokey Grits

Okay, so I didn't have any images for you of yesterday's dinner, so I'm making it up to you with breakfast grits today. Jalapeno Sharp Cheddar Grits-Cakes with Pokey Egg and just Plucked Pear Tomatoes to be exact. It was decadent.It's days like this that remind me how much I enjoy cooking. I woke up and wondered (again) what I can eat that would be healthy and comforting at the same time. (Those two go together like repelling magnetic poles generally). I remembered the extra grits in the fridge from last night, that I had rolled out into a flat circle about 3/4 inch thick. I had four little pie-chart pieces. I took the two and threw them into a pan with a scant 1/2 tsp olive oil. I was hesistant that they would hold together, but walking away does wonders for an anxious mind. So, walk away I did, until I could smell them gaining crust. I flipped them over and put a decadent bronze over the other side. I slid them out onto my plate and slid an egg into the small warm pan and began to make a Pokey Egg. I call it a Pokey Egg because well, I honestly can't keep the styles of eggs retained in this brain. And I'd hate to end up with something other than I want at a restaurant, therefore Pokey Egg — gets it right everytime. Kind of stuck I guess.

Holy Mother of Mary

I do believe the gods have been holding out on me. I'm from the midwest, or moreso, the Northern state of Minnesota. So once I found out I needed to branch out and try new grains... I was happily tempted by the goldenrod colour of Stone Ground Grits. Woo me, they did. Especially when I found out people make cheesey-jalapeno style ones.

These were fantastic! I mean, truly far better tasting than any macaroni and cheese dish that's passed my lips. I made them alongside a French Onion & Leek Soup. Unbelievable. I was so excited to eat tonight that I forgot to take a snapshot of them for you. But — worry not, I'll be making them again very soon and will take a wondrous shot of me spooning them into my mouth.

Betty Crocker, Get To Work!

I'm sure most people in this community of cuisine know who Elise Bauer is. I've known about her site for years. It's a solid place to find scrumptious recipes. Imagine my newfound glory in seeing that she has provided recipes skewed for people just like me — and you, who have wheat sensitivity issues. Elise, thank you. After a full day of baking multiple baked goods for the first time, I saved yours for last, because I had a bit of a gut feeling that they'd work out.

It was a hard afternoon. The few recipes I tried for bread, left me low. Seriously, can't they generate something similar to gluten in a laboratory somewhere? I mean, I know we've got bigger fish to fry with curing disease and saving lives, but couldn't we at least get Betty Crocker to work on this?
The bread was like a yoga brick,with a lot less flavor. It smelled off to me too. The texture was like a really really dry crumbly (not in the good way) corn muffin — again without the yumminess that IS cornbread (love love love the cornbread). It was a horrendous colour too, somewhere around a dry and cakey mustard that was sitting out all day at a picnic. (You forgot, I'm a Designer, I think in colours first). I tried it with butter, then with jam, feverishly trying to mask it's tainted flavor. There must be better out there.

Enter Simply Recipes, my saviour for the day. My rainbow after the rain. Okay, bit sappy, but you didn't eat the bread, did you. ::wink::

I mixed up these muffins from Elise in no time. I had to modify a little bit, well - because I'm a cook and we all know that we as Artists (in whatever fashion) need to feel like we contributed. (Actually, I just dislike raisins. Oh! And I'm not a fan of nuts messing the consistency of my moist and airy muffins - so they went on top) Putting the nuts on top also works out for keeping some nut-free for others with sensitivities. I'm more of a rustic cook by nature so this aesthetically pleased me as well. Yay! I also had trouble locating my standard muffin tins. Shoot! Mini-muffins it is - they are quite fun actually. Yay!

So, here we go, Wheat Sensitives and Wheat Lovers Unite! This is what you can expect.


Date & Pumpkin Cupcakes
Simply Recipes original ingredients in parentheses.

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin purée
2 cups Bob's Red Mill's Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup buttermilk*
1 cup chopped dates (raisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (pecans)

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

*Note to make your own buttermilk, combine 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 Tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice. Stir and let stand 10 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 350°F, and place rack in the center of the oven. Measure out a cup of dates and fill the cup with very warm water, set aside. Using your Kitchen Aid or your own two hands, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add in molasses and honey, mix for about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the pumpkin purée and vanilla and beat until fully mixed in. Drain dates and chop finely, set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the pumpkin batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Add the dates to the mixture and fold in.

Set paper cupcake holders in a muffin tin. Spoon the batter into the cupcake paper cups, close to the top of the cups. Bake approximately 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before popping out or frosting - they need to set up.

To Make Yummy Frosting For Cupcakes

Using an electric mixer, mix together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add maple syrup and confectioners' sugar and mix to combine. Once cupcakes have cooled, apply frosting. Top each with sprinkled walnuts.

Makes 24 mini cupcakes and 6 large muffins (16 regular cupcakes)


These cupcakes were devoured by Brian as you can see above he was two in before I even got to frost the suckers. He claims that no one would ever know because they tasted so good. He doesn't lie. He said the bread sucked. Boys are good like that. Let me know what you think, and make sure to stop by Elise's and check out her site.