15 May 2011

Buckwheat and Broccoli

It has been a really long time since I've posted a new recipe so I've decided it's time to start posting again. I just put together the strangest bunch of ingredients and somehow it tastes really good. I've had to cook for myself for the past months so I've learned to make something out of whatever I have in the cubard at the moment. Today I realized that I had a lot of mustard in the fridge so I was looking for something to put it on. I also had some broccoli that I bough last week that needed to be cooked. So I cooked up some buckwheat hulls in water with a bit of parsley flakes. Then I sauteed the broccoli in some butter and Fre (alcohol free brand) White Zinfandel wine, paprika, and celery salt (feel free to use whatever spices you have and like). Then I put the broccoli in a bowl with the buckwheat some rice cheese and put some dijon mustard on top. I mixed it up and took my first bite feeling quite unsure of how this concoction would turn out but it is really quite tasty I must say. So if that sounds appetizing to you go ahead and try it. I hope you enjoy my creation as much as I did.


Ingredients:

Broccoli (I used a handfull of broccollette which makes about two servings)
Buckwheat (you could also use brown rice because it has a slightly more nutty flavor than white rice)
Rice Cheese
Dijon Mustard
Which ever spices you have and like :)

11 May 2010

oatmeal cookies

The other day I was at my local health food store and I bought a bag of gluten free rolled oats with the idea of making oatmeal cookies. So today I decided I really wanted those cookies so I searched for a recipe and came across this one on the Bob's Red Mill site. I have to say the cookies are quite delicious; everyone in my family likes them. I did make a few modifications to make them diet friendly for everyone (replaced butter with applesauce, maple syrup for brown sugar and maple sugar for granulated sugar. I also added about a cup of buckwheat flower because the batter was kind of runny after replacing dry ingredients with wet ones).

Here is the recipe exactly as I found it on the website:

Ingredients

* 1-1/2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
* 3 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
* 1 cup Butter (softened)
* 1 cup Brown Sugar
* 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
* 1 tsp Vanilla
* 1 tsp Baking Soda
* 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
* 1 tsp Cinnamon
* 2 large Eggs*
* 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
* 1 cup Raisins (Unsulfured)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter and sugars together until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. In a separate bowl, blend flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and Xanthan Gum. Stir flour blend into wet ingredients. Add oats and raisins and mix well. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool one minutes then transfer to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

*Eggless Option: Mix together 2 Tb. Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tb. of water and let sit for a minute. Add to recipe as you would the eggs.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size: 1 Cookie - Calories 100, Calories from Fat 40, Total Fat 4.5g, Saturated Fat 2.5g, Cholesterol 20mg, Sodium 50mg, Total Carbohydrate 15g, Dietray Fiber less than 1g, Sugars 9g, Protein 2g.

08 May 2010

new recipes coming soon

So I've pretty much failed at keeping this up to date and haven't added any new recipes for a few months. I've gotten back into my baking mode so I'm going to add some new recipes soon. The longer I'm on this diet the more I realize I can eat and also the less I realize I can eat at the same time. Things I thought were gluten free aren't :( like some oatmeal and 'wheat-free' items. I've been scouring the shelves of my local health food store and have been having lots of luck finding gluten free cereals (which is something I thought I wouldn't be able to eat at all) and lactose free cheese (that tastes good and has a nice texture). I never paid attention to these things before. So if you're new to this diet go check out your local health food store or even grocery store and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Enjoy the new recipes coming soon and feel free to ask questions if you have any.

29 October 2009

Baked Kale Chips

Here is the delicious kale chip recipe. It is very simple and quite tasty (I ate a whole batch in one sitting!).


Ingredients

* 1 bunch kale
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (this makes clean up easier but is not necessary).
2. With a knife or kitchen shears or your hands carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. In a bowl, drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt. Mix and then spread out on the baking sheet.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Halloween Hash

An intuitive counselor told me I should eat more big leafy greens like kale so I decided to look up some kale recipes. I found two that looked good. I went to the store and bought the ingredients (keep in mind that I had never eaten kale before today so I had no clue what it tasted like). First I made kale chips which were amazing (recipe in the next post). Then for dinner I made a Winter Vegetable Hash which we renamed 'Halloween Hash' because Halloween is only a few days away. I had no idea how it would turn out but my family loved it. We mixed it with ground beef and rice, but we also thought it would go well with chicken.


Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
* 1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced
* 1 bell pepper, diced
* 1 small acorn squash, diced
* 1 shallot, finely chopped
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1 pinch salt
* 1 pinch ground black pepper
* 1 cup chopped kale
* 4 sprigs fresh sage (about four leaves)
* Add whatever spices you feel are necessary (thyme and rosemary are good)

Directions

1. Place oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Melt butter and mix in potatoes, mushrooms, pepper, squash, and shallot. Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and squash are tender.
2. Mix kale and sage into skillet. Continue cooking 5 minutes, until kale is wilted. Don't cook the kale too much or it will become bitter. Serve and enjoy!

28 October 2009

spagetti and leeks

I was in the local health food store a few days ago and saw some leeks. I decided to get a couple because I felt like eating them. After buying them I had to find a recipe to put them in. I found one on foodnetwork.com. I had to change a few things to make it gluten free and to use things we had in the house. Here is what I did:

I cooked some corn spagetti noodles and soba (buckwheat) noodles (because that is what we had, you can use whatever kind of noodles you want. If you use soba noodles make sure the are 100% buckwheat cause sometimes there is wheat flour mixed in). I recommend cooking the corn and soba noodles separately because the corn noodles take longer to cook. While you are waiting for the water to boil, heat up a frying pan with a good amount of oil in it (I used Safflower oil, but you can use any oil designed for high heat). Cut and wash the leeks (I used two). Don't use the leafy top part or the bottom with the roots on it. Toss these into the hot oil and cook them until they are a bit soft. (I also added a couple drops of sesame oil) When the noodles are done strain and rinse them and pour them into a bowl with some balsamic vinegar and tamari(wheat free soy sauce). You can also add chopped radicchio or cabbage and hazelnuts if you so wish (I would have if we had any in the house).

Well, I hope you will enjoy this dish as much as my family did :)

23 October 2009

Sugarless (white refined sugar free) Cornbread

I was going to make the honey banana bread but then realized we had not bananas so I went to another recipe of Kathy's. I haven't tried it but it looked delicious when I took it out of the oven. We'll see how people like it tomorrow at the gathering I made it for.


Kathy’s Wheatless, White Sugarless, Cornbread Recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1/4 cup maple sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy milk
1 egg, unbeaten
2 Tbsp corn oil
1 cup plain yogurt

Non-stick Cooking Spray

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk briskly to mix thoroughly.
Combine soy milk, egg, and corn oil in a small mixing bowl. Mix together thoroughly with a fork.
Add yogurt and soy milk mixture to dry ingredients. Whisk briskly to mix
Pour into 8 or 9 inch greased baking dish. Level top with spatula. Or drop into a muffin tin.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 min, until top is nicely browned and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake 15 -20 min for muffins or until toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.
Serves 10-12 people

For Honey Cornbread Recipe:
Use 1/3 cup honey and reduce yogurt to 3/4 cups