Skinny "Potato" Salad

When I was in Los Angeles last week, I overheard someone saying that she replaced her potatoes in her potato salad with cauliflower. Huh? Genius!!! So I tried it. Here is an approximation of what I did. I just threw stuff together and tasted as I went along. Loved it!!! It was every bit as creamy and sinful as the hi-cal stuff you get in the deli.

Skinny "Potato" Salad

Skinny "Potato" Salad

 Cauliflower "Potato" Salad

• 1 head cauliflower, steamed and chopped, cooled.
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp mustard powder (optional)
• 1 ripe large avocado
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise (optional)
• 1 tablespoon gourmet mustard
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish (or chopped sweet pickles)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• whatever other fixings you like - bacon, chopped boiled eggs, jalapenos, etc. 

Mix it all together and chill!

I didn't use any of the "other" fixings at the bottom but I did think they would be very good added in. I love mayo so I didn't leave it out entirely but it's healthier if you do. The cauliflower is much lower on the glycemic index so it won't mess with your blood sugar. The turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiseptic so be sure to include this. The red onion is a fat fighter and a good source of vitamin C. The avocado is a source of very healthy fats and is just wicked good. The avocado is what gives this salad the sinfully creamy mouth feel. We ate it for dinner last night with some nitrate free chicken links and we really, really felt like we were blowing our diets *eating this. I need to see if I can fool the kids with this next!

*Chris and I are in our third week of the Fast Metabolism Diet. I have lost about 4 lbs so far but Chris has been losing 5 lbs every week. He seems to be on track to lose the 20 lbs in 28 days that they advertise. His body was definitely working in starvation mode. If you have a history of yo-yo or crash dieting, I highly recommend this diet. I don't so my results aren't as drastic. Plus, on this diet, you eat a lot. Like, a LOT! Love that! And, no, I have not been approached or asked to endorse this diet. I saw it on Dr. Oz.......

Vegan Cashew Cheese - YUM!

This is seriously amazing. I called it "nut cheese" to the family and I got all of those um, really? faces. Ha! :-/

Anyway, I sort of mixed two recipes (okay, three) to get what I got.

The recipe for the cheese I found on Pinterest, from Vegan Nom Noms. Her instructions say to let cheese ferment a few days. Ha! I am way too impatient for that. Maybe when the newness fabulousness wears off....

Raw Cashew Cheese

- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews (or cashew pieces)
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice (fresh squeezed is the best)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Put the cashews in a bowl and cover with enough water to cover the nuts by about two inches. Let soak for 2+ hours and then drain.

Combine the soaked + drained cashews, water, lemon juice, garlic cloves and sea salt in a food processor and blend. Scrape down the sides and blend again until completely smooth, a couple minutes or more depending on how good your processor is.

Vegan ranch flavored cashew cheese

Then I added a tablespoon of ranch mix. I found this on Pinterest also, brought to us by The Crafty Blog Stalker. If you need want the full recipe for ranch dressing, go check her out.

Ingredients:

Black Pepper ¼ C
Parsley Flakes 1 1/2 C
Garlic Salt ½ C
Kosher Salt 2 T
Granulated Garlic ¼ C
Granulated Onion 3/4 C
Dill Weed 2 T

Vegan ranch flavored cashew cheese

I blended 1 tablespoon of the dry ranch mix with my cashew cheese and put it in the fridge to set. This recipe was already thick enough that there was no cheesecloth draining process required.

Vegan ranch flavored cashew cheese

I did say there were three recipes mixed here. The third is for my gluten free bread. I did this one all wrong today and it turned out super flat. Oh, well, it's still a pretty good vehicle for this cashew cheese!

Vegan ranch flavored cashew cheese

Vegan ranch flavored cashew cheese

Okay, now I'm hungry. I'm so gonna run and finish off my nut cheese and yesterday's leftover lentil burger. Stay tuned, I will show you how to make those soon :)

Lentil Tacos

Sometimes I have a hard time photographing food. Not 'cuz it's hard, no. Because I am usually hungry and I want to shove it all into my face. But, noooooo, I gotta prep, make sure I have the right lens on my camera, get the mirror so I have good light and all that. It's worth it to get good photos. And if I don't get good photos, then I am outta luck because I eat before I look at what I took.

Okay, let's get to the real story. Lentil tacos! I will just tell you how I do it because, let's face it, I don't "do" recipes well. Maybe it's a Gemini thing, maybe it's just a Christine thing. But, here goes:

• Rinse and sort 1 cup lentils. Add to pot with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and let 'em go for about 45 minutes.
• After they are cooked, shake some cayenne pepper into the pot. Dump some taco seasoning and salt in too. However spicy or not spicy you like it, add seasonings appropriately.
• Mush it together.
• Add to a warm tortilla with some lettuce, avocado and whatever else you want. Like hot sauce? Add that too. I used La Victoria orange sauce. Yum!
• If you use avocado, make sure you add a citrus too. Squeeze some lime or peel an orange for the side. Because Dr. Oz says that eating avocado and citrus together is a fat busting combo. I am all about busting my fat!

Lentil tacos

 It looks like ground beef in the photos, doesn't it?

Lentil tacos

But the lentils are so much cheaper. And they are heart healthy. Win-win!

Lentil tacos

It's a great and healthy way to stretch the food budget for non-vegetarians. Eat veg for breakfast and lunch and just have meat at dinner. Aaaand, do some all vegetarian days.

Lentil tacos

Heck, do some vegan meals too. This meal is vegan.

Lentil tacos

It's got it all.....whole grains in the corn tortillas, fiber and vitamins in the lentils, healthy fats and nom-nommy taste. Oh, and it's gluten free too!

Dutch Baby with Apples - Gluten Free!

Oh, YUM! I did this one two days in a row, it is so good. Its a dutch baby with apples or a german apple pancake. Call it what you like....it doesn't matter. So good........

Dutch baby with apples

I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course, and I just modified it to make it gluten free.

 Big Apple Pancake from Alexandra Cooks
**1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 large sweet apple such as Gala or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-wide wedges
**1/2 cup whole milk
**1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioners sugar for dusting
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Melt butter in skillet over moderate heat, then transfer 2 tablespoons to a blender or food processor. Add apple wedges to skillet and cook, turning over once, until beginning to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. (They don’t need to caramelize, just soften.)
3. While apple is cooking, add milk, flour, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt to butter in blender and blend until smooth. (Do do this step — I didn’t the first time around and the batter was really lumpy.)
4. Pour batter over apple and transfer skillet to oven. Bake until pancake is puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately.

** Here are the replacement ingredients:

• Olive oil or palm shortening, enough to coat the bottom of the pan instead of butter
• All purpose gluten free flour instead of flour. You might want to add 3/4 teaspoon of guar or xanthan gum. I didn't and it was fine but I do plan to in the future.
• Any milk replacement. I used sour raw kefir. Just use what works for you.

Dutch baby with apples

Dutch baby with apples

I cannot eat just white carbs or my blood sugar will go through the roof.  I would definitely add a protein. I made a "this and that" fritatta, just using what I had in the fridge, haha. It was sauteed chopped onion and celery and some spicy barbeque rub shaken on the eggs.

Fritatta

Chopped vegetables (and meats if desired), enough to cover the bottom of the pan
Olive oil
eggs
any desired spices

The amounts depend on how many you are feeding. Use 2-3 eggs per person. Add oil to pan on heated on a medium high burner. Saute chopped veggies until caramelized. Vigorously whisk eggs and spices and add to pan. Let cook for a minute or so then put pan in the oven with the dutch baby. Let cook until eggs are set on top and not wet.

Dutch baby with apples and fritatta

In my home, pretty much everything is consumed with coffee!

Dutch baby with apples and fritatta

Cute Kitties

     Here are some of the kitties being silly. Beethoven is stalking one of the others. He really has an evil streak.

There are birds in the front yard and Honey wants them so bad.

Here is Bandit.

Checking out the birds.....

Tag team "hunting".

And an invitation to play.

Gluten Free Cornbread Hamburger Buns

I'm always looking for a good, easy (and cheap!) gluten free bread recipe. While I like the gluten free hamburger buns, they can be expensive and I cannot find them within 40 miles of my home.
I love cornbread and I found that if I cook them like pancakes, I can cut them open like a pita and use them as a bun!! Here is how I do it:

1 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free cornbread mix
1 egg
milk (I use almond), just enough to give the consistency of thick pancake batter

Mix the egg with the cornbread mix and just slowly pour milk while stirring until you reach desired consistency. Cook on a medium low pan as you would cook pancakes (just keep in mind, it won't bubble like pancakes). Let the pancake cool enough to handle, cut in half and enjoy!

Gluten free cornbread hamburger bun

 I coulda-shoulda made it pretty with lettuce leaves, tomatoes and red onions but, lets face it, I am lazy. I just wanted a burger without all of the produce this time.

Gluten free cornbread hamburger bun

 Forget about the blackened part, my cast iron was a bit too hot. Guess what? It didn't affect the taste at all. It was DELISH!

Gluten free cornbread hamburger bun

The above recipe made three decent sized cakes/buns.

Amazing Gluten Free Pasta

O. M. G. This is not your run of the mill brown rice pasta. I have been wanting to make homemade pasta for a while but it seemed pointless because I am gluten free. I finally got on Pinterest and searched out the best looking gluten free pasta recipes. The recipe I used is here. I did not make the special flour on this site, though, I just used Bob's Red Mill all purpose GF flour. And I cut the recipe in half. I was just feeding two of us for this recipe.

2 cups GF all purpose flour plus additional flour for dusting
2 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 t guar gum or xanthan gum
pinch salt

Pour flour into a mound in a bowl and make a well in the mound. Add salt, guar or xanthan gum and eggs. With a fork, break yolks then slowly blend flour into egg mixture, stirring flour in from the outside into the well. Keep mixing until it becomes easier to mix with hands. At this point, begin kneading your dough on a well floured board. Keep kneading and sprinkling flour until all tackiness is gone. Wrap dough in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Split dough into 4 portions and work with one ball at a time while keeping other dough balls wrapped in plastic. Place on a well floured board and sprinkle flour on ball. Roll dough while keeping dough liberally sprinkled with dough. When dough is as thin as you can get it, use a knife or pizza cutter to cut your shapes. I just did nice, fat noodles and didn't pay much attention to uniformity. Ya, I'm lazy like that.....

Home made gluten free pasta

Home made gluten free pasta

Keep the noodles in a bowl, covered with a damp towel until you have all noodles cut. (If you don't cut all of your dough, keep wrapped in plastic and store in fridge. It will keep a few days.)

Home made gluten free pasta

Home made gluten free pasta

Boil water and cook noodles for 3 minutes. I used a large stock pot for this because the water BUBBLES OUT. A lot. When cooked, drain and top with what ever you fancy. Today, for me, its olive oil, sea salt and pepper. YUM!

Home made gluten free pasta 

Home made gluten free pasta

Do ya love my new dishes? Walmart. They're nice and heavy and cute. And $39 for six place settings! Yay! I really needed a grown up, matched set.

Home made gluten free pasta

Anyway, these noodles are amazing. I honestly don't know how they compare to regular noodles, I haven't eaten regular noodles in almost 5 years. But Christopher, who is not gluten free, says they are just the same and if I don't say anything, I could put these in front of the kids and they will never know. Sshhhhh, I think I might.......

Cornbread in the Waffle Iron

Prepare to be amazed. Especially if you are gluten free. I made cornbread and instead of baking it in a bread pan, I cooked them in the waffle iron!
I have been so into savory waffles lately. I get my bread fix without having the loaf be too gummy or, alternatively, have the texture of a brick. To make savory waffles I just make my favorite waffle recipe, omit the sugar, and add some herbs. But back to the real story, the amazing cornbread waffles.

Gluten free cornbread waffles

I followed the recipe on the back of the cornmeal can. My changes are in red.

Ingredients

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour *or use gluten free flour*
3/4 c Quaker Corn Meal
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 c skim milk ( I used almond milk ) plus an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 8-9" pan. Heat waffle iron. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm. 9 servings  Prepare in a hot waffle iron.

When you have the recipe mixed, it will be thick. Add just enough milk to make the mix look more like pancake batter and less heavy. My first two waffles didn't spread on the iron well enough, thinning the batter a bit worked really well.

Gluten free cornbread waffles

Check it out, aren't they gorgeous?

Gluten free cornbread waffles

Gluten free cornbread waffles

I've been in a real spaghetti mood lately. Not as in pasta but as in sauce, lol! I love a chunky, meaty sauce but I'm trying to stretch our food dollars so I omitted the ground beef and used cooked lentils instead. While I love the taste and mouth feel of ground beef in my sauce, I was more after heartiness and chunkiness here so the lentils worked really well.

Lentil spaghetti sauce

Lentil spaghetti sauce on cornbread

I do love using spaghetti sauce as a dip. Mmmmmmmmm

Lentil spaghetti sauce on cornbread

We are going to a potluck at the barn on Saturday. I expect there will be lots of cowboy food there. I think I might bring these, gluten free and regular varieties. Wouldn't these be just awesome dunked in chili? Hmmmm???

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope that all of my American friends are having a great Thanksgiving weekend! And that everyone else is having a wonderful weekend too :)
The broderie had a mild catastrophe on Thanksgiving day. I was preheating the oven for my turkey when POP!, the oven died. Ummm, WHAT? I had a twenty pound turkey, 13 guests (plus a couple of kids) coming over and a dead oven. So, what does any self respecting girl do after recovering from her panic attack? Roast the entire dinner on the grill! Yep, turkey and the fixings on the grill and mashed potatoes in the crockpot. I dare say, it was my tastiest holiday dinner to date. I do highly recommend grilling a turkey. We used our gas grill and I kept my turkey in its own pan, I didn't set it on the grill itself. It cooked very quickly though, in just under four hours. We had to keep it to rest for another two hours, the thing was done before my first guest arrived. It was a great time, I had done most of my prep work the day before so there was no slaving in the kitchen (or over the grill) and I got to enjoy my company.
The next morning there was turkey frittata and pancakes on the grill for my company who stayed over. And Saturday morning was turkey, broccoli and bok choy frittata and roast potatoes. It turns out so well that we might use the grill much more often. The potatoes are so much better on the grill than oven roasted.

Frittata and potatoes on the grill

Potatoes on the grill 

Frittata on the grill

Grilled frittata and potatoes

Grilled frittata and potatoes

So we still have no oven. And no heat. Turns out that it is our main circuit breaker is going bad. We are quickly losing the ability to use our appliances. The dryer shut down the house last night. Can't use the hot tub (major sad face here). And we are pretty much powerless until the specialty electricity parts store opens tomorrow. This is a weekend to remember for sure! I am so relieved that we will be able to fix this ourselves. Christoper and I were worried about a giant electrician bill.
So, besides becoming novice electricians in a hurry, we got some good shopping in too. And some awesome relaxation time at the bookstore. And we got our tree!

Italian stone pine potted tree

Isn't it the cutest?!? I'm going to decorate her up real special. I can't wait to decorate the house. But it might be sans giant Christmas tree this year.
How has your weekend been? Any good stories?

Thanksgiving Prep

I'm baaack! I have spent the entire past week getting ready for my first craft fair. I sold exactly two items, one of which I actually made while sitting at my booth. But it was a great way to get my feet wet. I shared space with Red Sky Enterprises and their daughter, Erin, who crochets some wicked cool hats and scarves.

Scarves by Erin ~ Longbottom Manor is her store. 

Tom of Red Sky and I have been trying to talk Erin into branching out with a web presence. I also got to trade some items with lovely artists who also don't have a web presence, lol!

So now that this craft fair is over I can concentrate on getting ready for Thanksgiving, which I am hosting at my house. Tom and Amber from Red Sky will be here as will my cousin, her two sons and her three grandchildren and my daughter as well. This little broderie will be full! And I cannot wait *smiles*. So of course I have been thinking about what to serve. I am so surprised that when I search Thanksgiving on Pinterest I get lots of crafts and very little food. Still, there are some lovely things there. 

I found a site for skinny appetizers. This has a lot of great ideas. No one will be blaming their 7 holiday pounds on me. 

Parmesan Spinach Dip from Skinny Taste

And check out Martha's kale crisps!

Kale Crisps from Martha Stewart

I have never tried brining a turkey before but I think I will try Martha's dry brine this year. Looks easier than a wet brine and won't take up so much room in the fridge!

Martha Stewart's dry brined turkey

I was reading an article and someone mentioned serving macaroni and cheese as a side. I laughed and snickered, thinking about Kraft mac and cheese. But then, I remembered tasting my sister's baked macaroni and cheese. This is on the menu now. I think the kids will appreciate it, lol!

Macaroni and Cheese from Ezra Pound Cake

For desserts I want to do mini versions. Then everyone really can "have a little of everything" without trying to slice teensy tiny pieces of pie. 

Mini pecan pies by Elegantly Gluten Free

Christopher keeps seeing commercials on TV for Thanksgiving dinner at The Golden Corral. He is jokingly trying to talk me into going out for dinner. At least, I think he is joking......