I love soups. I make a big pot of soup almost every Sunday and that is what we have for lunch throughout the week. Soups are economical and good for body and soul. Here is one that is fast and easy to throw together. I like making a Crock Pot Chicken and saving the leftover broth to put into soup.
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 15oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 15oz can drained white beans (such as as Great Northern)
1 cup cut green beans or petite peas, fresh or frozen
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup small cooked GF pasta
4 cups chicken broth (or leftover broth from Crock Pot Chicken plus water to equal 4 cups liquid)
1 tbsp. lemon juice, if desired
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Cook until just soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, drained beans, chicken broth, basil, pepper, salt and green beans or peas. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10 - 15 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and heat through. Turn off the heat and add lemon juice if desired. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve soup hot with French Bread and a salad.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
GFCF Chocolate Layer Cake
This is another one of those recipes I have on a tattered 3x5 inch index card. I don't remember its origin...it might be a Hershey's recipe. It's been my go-to recipe for chocolate layer cake for many years. Since it has converted to being gluten and casein free just perfectly, it will continue to be my go-to recipe for many years to come.
Megan's birthday cake...with strawberry jam between the cake layers.Served with Strawberry Lime Ice Cream.
1/2 cup palm shortening or casein and soy free margarine
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups GF flour blend (I used 1 1/2 cups All Purpose Rice Blend plus 1/4 cup sorghum flour)
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder (not dutch - I use Hershey's cocoa powder)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cup dairy and soy free milk alternative (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease two 9 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
Cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat well.
Sift together the flour through the salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition (begin and end with the flour mixture).
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the sides pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely on wire racks. Frost with Mock Buttercream Frosting.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Duck Soup
No, this is not a recipe. Duck Soup is the title of a book I ran across while shopping for umbrellas the other day (in Kohl's the book is just $5). Normally I don't get sidetracked like that, but the book looked cute. I picked it up, read a few pages, then started laughing out loud right there in the middle of the store. So I bought it. Any kid's book that can make me laugh, I buy. The last time I embarrassed myself in the kids section was before Christmas. I picked up Skippyjon Jones and started howling in laughter. I bought the book and left my pride back in the store.
Warning: Spoilers! So, Duck Soup is about a duck that disappears while creating his masterpiece of a soup. His animal friends think he has fallen into the soup. They drain the soup hoping to find him. They mistake various vegetables for body parts ("Ahhh, his head! His eyeballs! His feet!"). The facial expressions on these animals is great (hilarious!). Anna knew what the animals were feeling right away - "Worried! Sad! Happy!".
Megan is not too sure about this book. She thinks the onions really might be eyeballs. She didn't peep once while I read the book to her. In fact, her eyes were large the until the end of the book. Anna, on the other hand, loves the book. She laughs and laughs at the eyeballs and the feet with an evil scientist kind of laughter. She wants me to read it over and over and when I'm done, she'll read it to herself and snicker every time she comes to the body parts section.
DH mentioned we might be raising a little mad scientist. I told him "like father, like daughter". Lucky me!
Warning: Spoilers! So, Duck Soup is about a duck that disappears while creating his masterpiece of a soup. His animal friends think he has fallen into the soup. They drain the soup hoping to find him. They mistake various vegetables for body parts ("Ahhh, his head! His eyeballs! His feet!"). The facial expressions on these animals is great (hilarious!). Anna knew what the animals were feeling right away - "Worried! Sad! Happy!".
Megan is not too sure about this book. She thinks the onions really might be eyeballs. She didn't peep once while I read the book to her. In fact, her eyes were large the until the end of the book. Anna, on the other hand, loves the book. She laughs and laughs at the eyeballs and the feet with an evil scientist kind of laughter. She wants me to read it over and over and when I'm done, she'll read it to herself and snicker every time she comes to the body parts section.
DH mentioned we might be raising a little mad scientist. I told him "like father, like daughter". Lucky me!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Slacking Off
I have a pile...no wait, make that many piles...of recipes waiting to be converted. Recipes like Blueberry Boy Bait and Hershey's Chocolate Cake and Blackberry Pie. Recipes to try like donuts and english muffins and crumpets. I even bought special english muffin rings, but they've been sitting in my dish drainer for weeks. They are a constant reminder of how tired I am, how hard it is to keep up lately with all the things I need to do at home, all the therapies I need to coordinate, and all the ways I get to feel bad that I'm not doing more. More for both my daughters, more for myself.
In addition to being dog tired (a consequence of a constantly churning mind, day in and day out), I've been fielding migraines for the past several weeks. This is an anomaly. Since going gluten free and more recently casein free, my migraines have really been tamed. Maybe it's the constant stress I feel. Maybe it's the sleep I don't get (the girls have been up a lot at night lately, and I find it harder and harder to shut my brain off at night to go to sleep and stay asleep). Maybe it's the insane pollen that's been floating in the air, provoked by seemingly constant rain. Maybe it's the barometric pressure fluctuations as storms have rolled through one after the other for weeks on end. Maybe it's the anxiety these storms produce. Maybe it's anxiety about the future. Maybe it's all of the above. But when my head hurts, the rest of me shuts down. I can't get anything done. Hence the sparsity of posted recipes lately.
I've also wanted to do some writing, not just convert recipes. But the task of organizing my thoughts seems too monumental to even begin. It's hard enough to get through my daily tasks with a headache always demanding attention. It's been nearly impossible to collect the various thoughts that have been floating around and put them to paper, which is surely adding to my stress. I have important issues to consider, paths to explore, choices to make. Piles of books and papers and scribbled notes lie littered around the house. Hopefully soon they'll piss me off enough to sit down and deal with them, once the string of migraines breaks.
My dreams have been vivid lately. It must be the stress. Last night I dreamed that we were driving home to see family. A day into the trip and on back roads that did not look familiar, I realized that I had been following the wrong directions. I didn't even know what directions they were. I had not taken the time to print out the correct ones, and I was following some random printout I had not looked over before embarking on our trip, and now we were lost in the woods far from home.
I had another vivid dream last week. We were moving to a new place after DH found a new job. It was far away and we didn't know anyone. I had to choose one of three available apartments in a complex - a transitional space until we could find a house to call home. One was on the first floor. It was noisy, but there were children playing outside who could easily become friends for my girls. That was a practical choice. One was on the third floor, where other families with children lived, where I could make friends with the mothers of the children my girls played with. Another practical option. But in my dream the place I wanted most was on the second floor. It was quiet. I could hear myself think. I could look outside the windows and see vibrant green trees that looked suspiciously like the trees where I grew up. It looked like home. It was peaceful. It was not practical. But it was what my heart really wanted. I chose the apartment on the second floor. The promise of peace and security, of love and home, of clarity of thought was too strong to resist. I looked outside at the peaceful trees whispering in the wind. I tried to explain and justify my decision to someone unidentified - and then I woke up. The lingering guilt and ache in my heart has not left me for days.
In addition to being dog tired (a consequence of a constantly churning mind, day in and day out), I've been fielding migraines for the past several weeks. This is an anomaly. Since going gluten free and more recently casein free, my migraines have really been tamed. Maybe it's the constant stress I feel. Maybe it's the sleep I don't get (the girls have been up a lot at night lately, and I find it harder and harder to shut my brain off at night to go to sleep and stay asleep). Maybe it's the insane pollen that's been floating in the air, provoked by seemingly constant rain. Maybe it's the barometric pressure fluctuations as storms have rolled through one after the other for weeks on end. Maybe it's the anxiety these storms produce. Maybe it's anxiety about the future. Maybe it's all of the above. But when my head hurts, the rest of me shuts down. I can't get anything done. Hence the sparsity of posted recipes lately.
I've also wanted to do some writing, not just convert recipes. But the task of organizing my thoughts seems too monumental to even begin. It's hard enough to get through my daily tasks with a headache always demanding attention. It's been nearly impossible to collect the various thoughts that have been floating around and put them to paper, which is surely adding to my stress. I have important issues to consider, paths to explore, choices to make. Piles of books and papers and scribbled notes lie littered around the house. Hopefully soon they'll piss me off enough to sit down and deal with them, once the string of migraines breaks.
My dreams have been vivid lately. It must be the stress. Last night I dreamed that we were driving home to see family. A day into the trip and on back roads that did not look familiar, I realized that I had been following the wrong directions. I didn't even know what directions they were. I had not taken the time to print out the correct ones, and I was following some random printout I had not looked over before embarking on our trip, and now we were lost in the woods far from home.
I had another vivid dream last week. We were moving to a new place after DH found a new job. It was far away and we didn't know anyone. I had to choose one of three available apartments in a complex - a transitional space until we could find a house to call home. One was on the first floor. It was noisy, but there were children playing outside who could easily become friends for my girls. That was a practical choice. One was on the third floor, where other families with children lived, where I could make friends with the mothers of the children my girls played with. Another practical option. But in my dream the place I wanted most was on the second floor. It was quiet. I could hear myself think. I could look outside the windows and see vibrant green trees that looked suspiciously like the trees where I grew up. It looked like home. It was peaceful. It was not practical. But it was what my heart really wanted. I chose the apartment on the second floor. The promise of peace and security, of love and home, of clarity of thought was too strong to resist. I looked outside at the peaceful trees whispering in the wind. I tried to explain and justify my decision to someone unidentified - and then I woke up. The lingering guilt and ache in my heart has not left me for days.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A Birthday Directive
Today is Megan's birthday. First thing this morning I gave her a birthday hug. She's so excited about her birthday and I'm not sure why, because we never do anything grandiose. We have old friends and their son over for cake (they are not old, they've just been friends for a really long time), we turn on the sprinkler, we have some cake. Presents get opened in private with just family. And I'm putting all of this off until the weekend, when it's more convenient to have a party (and I use that term loosely). This is the way we've always done birthdays. This is how I grew up doing birthdays. I hope to continue doing birthdays like this for a long time, because I can't handle the expense or the stress of throwing a big birthday bash.
When I said "Happy Birthday, Megan! You are 4 years old today!", her face lit up. Her hands went up in the air and she exclaimed "Yes!" (she's a hand-talker). I gave Megan a big hug and then Anna walked into the room. She started talking about something off-topic, which is clearly not as important as acknowledging Megan's status as Birthday Girl, because Megan's hands immediately started moving up, down and sideways and she said:
"Anna, stop talking! It's my birthday!"
What a hoot. I love that girl.
When I said "Happy Birthday, Megan! You are 4 years old today!", her face lit up. Her hands went up in the air and she exclaimed "Yes!" (she's a hand-talker). I gave Megan a big hug and then Anna walked into the room. She started talking about something off-topic, which is clearly not as important as acknowledging Megan's status as Birthday Girl, because Megan's hands immediately started moving up, down and sideways and she said:
"Anna, stop talking! It's my birthday!"
What a hoot. I love that girl.
Monday, May 11, 2009
(Gluten-Free, Casein-Free, Soy-Free) Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
The other day I ran across a recipe for 36 Hour Chocolate Chip Cookies at Gluten Free Girl. Boy, did they look good. And I loved that there was amaranth flour in the recipe. Amaranth is high in fiber, protein, calcium, iron and vitamin C (for nutritional content see here) and if you combine it with rice or corn flours, you get a complete protein as high in food value as fish, poultry and red meat (see here). If I find a recipe with amaranth flour in it, then I want to try it.
I fully intended to make the cookie dough and stick it in the refrigerator for at least a day before baking, as suggested by the original recipe. But the girls had been without cookies for a few days already and I couldn't hold off the poor dears any longer. I whipped up the dough and baked the cookies right then and there. And they ended up being more than super delicious - these are easily the best chocolate chip cookies I have eaten in my life. The girls ate one in silence and then immediately asked for another (they would have eaten the whole batch if I had let them!). Four other taste-testers immediately demanded the recipe after trying these cookies. Well, here it is (by way of Gluten Free Girl and modified slightly by yours truly).
I think it's the margarine in this recipe that makes these cookies even better than my old recipe. I used a kosher soy-free margarine, but Earth Balance now has a dairy-free, soy-free margarine that will work too. Go ahead and refrigerate the dough before baking if you please (read the reasons for doing so here) - it supposedly makes the end product drier and more crisp. I like my cookies chewy and soft so I won't be refrigerating my dough. To each his (or her) own!
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
scant 1 cup (8 oz) dairy free, soy free margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10 ounces dairy free, soy free chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together the sorghum flour through the salt, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, beat well. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as necessary. This will take a bit of work if you do it by hand - don't worry if it looks dry at first, it will come together and look perfect in a minute. You don't want the mixture to be too wet, or the cookies will flatten out and get crisp in the oven. (If you like flat, crispy cookies, then increase the margarine to a generous 1 cup.)
Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by generous teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake about 12 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges of the cookies are very lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 30 seconds before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
I fully intended to make the cookie dough and stick it in the refrigerator for at least a day before baking, as suggested by the original recipe. But the girls had been without cookies for a few days already and I couldn't hold off the poor dears any longer. I whipped up the dough and baked the cookies right then and there. And they ended up being more than super delicious - these are easily the best chocolate chip cookies I have eaten in my life. The girls ate one in silence and then immediately asked for another (they would have eaten the whole batch if I had let them!). Four other taste-testers immediately demanded the recipe after trying these cookies. Well, here it is (by way of Gluten Free Girl and modified slightly by yours truly).
I think it's the margarine in this recipe that makes these cookies even better than my old recipe. I used a kosher soy-free margarine, but Earth Balance now has a dairy-free, soy-free margarine that will work too. Go ahead and refrigerate the dough before baking if you please (read the reasons for doing so here) - it supposedly makes the end product drier and more crisp. I like my cookies chewy and soft so I won't be refrigerating my dough. To each his (or her) own!
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
scant 1 cup (8 oz) dairy free, soy free margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10 ounces dairy free, soy free chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together the sorghum flour through the salt, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, beat well. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as necessary. This will take a bit of work if you do it by hand - don't worry if it looks dry at first, it will come together and look perfect in a minute. You don't want the mixture to be too wet, or the cookies will flatten out and get crisp in the oven. (If you like flat, crispy cookies, then increase the margarine to a generous 1 cup.)
Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by generous teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake about 12 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges of the cookies are very lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 30 seconds before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
A Way with Words
A woman's ears turn into radars when she has children. These new, ultra-sensitive ears pick up the slightest sounds of distress, real or perceived, even from great distances. This takes a little getting used to...it's not possible to shut off these radars, even in sleep. These subconscious fine-tuned radars are always on alert. For me this has proved to be useful, as Anna has a tendency to wake up at night yodeling for one reason or another.
Tonight I was baking cookies an hour after the girls went to bed when I heard crying and carrying-on from the other end of the house. I thought it was Anna, but it was getting closer to the kitchen (Anna is prone to sitting in bed and screaming instead of traveling and screaming). In walks Megan, sobbing that she was afraid of a "chipping" noise in her room. We walked back to her room together to find everything was perfectly quiet. There was no "chipping" noise to be heard. She crawled into bed and I asked her why she was crying.
She said "because I wanted you to give me a hug".
Simple. Eloquent. Those words nearly knocked me off the bed onto my butt right then and there. Nothing can prepare you for having a child on the spectrum. And nothing can prepare you for having a sibling of a child on the spectrum.
I gave Megan a hug and a kiss, tucked her in and said goodnight with a silent thought of gratitude for this beautiful, strong, vulnerable child who told me exactly what she needed. I want to fine-tune my radars to hear what she's telling me as well as to hear what she's not telling me, so I can meet her needs even when she can't quite find the right words to say.
Tonight I was baking cookies an hour after the girls went to bed when I heard crying and carrying-on from the other end of the house. I thought it was Anna, but it was getting closer to the kitchen (Anna is prone to sitting in bed and screaming instead of traveling and screaming). In walks Megan, sobbing that she was afraid of a "chipping" noise in her room. We walked back to her room together to find everything was perfectly quiet. There was no "chipping" noise to be heard. She crawled into bed and I asked her why she was crying.
She said "because I wanted you to give me a hug".
Simple. Eloquent. Those words nearly knocked me off the bed onto my butt right then and there. Nothing can prepare you for having a child on the spectrum. And nothing can prepare you for having a sibling of a child on the spectrum.
I gave Megan a hug and a kiss, tucked her in and said goodnight with a silent thought of gratitude for this beautiful, strong, vulnerable child who told me exactly what she needed. I want to fine-tune my radars to hear what she's telling me as well as to hear what she's not telling me, so I can meet her needs even when she can't quite find the right words to say.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Skillet Flatbread
While searching for socca recipes that looked good, I came across this recipe here for skillet flatbread. It's made the exact same way as socca, but it uses different flour. Now that looked intriguing, so I tried it, using cornmeal instead of chickpea flour. It turned out really good, crispier than socca and reminiscent of a cracker. This recipe is easy and fast and definitely a keeper. Unlike the socca which I prefer to make on the stovetop, I prefer to make this particular flat bread in the oven because it gets a little more crisp that way. It's good eaten plain and hot right out of the skillet or after it has cooled. I chose to use two 8 inch cast iron skillets for cooking, not one 10 inch skillet, as this flat bread is best when it is thin. I offered this to the girls as "Cracker Bread" and they gobbled it right up - score for Mommy!
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
Whisk together the cornmeal and the water. Add the olive oil, salt and chives. Set aside for about 30 minutes to let the cornmeal soften slightly.
Method #1
Place two 8 inch skillets (or one 10 inch cast iron skillet) in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take hot skillets out of the oven. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to each, swirl to distribute. Divide batter between the pans (about 1 cup of batter per pan) and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Broil for 1 minute if desired to crisp the top slightly. Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate to cool for one minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Method #1
Heat two 8 inch cast iron skillets over medium heat. Pour in 1 tbsp. olive oil into each pan and swirl to distribute. Divide the batter between the two pans, swirling the batter as needed to distribute evenly. Cook about 10 minutes or until bottoms are crispy brown. Flip and cook on the other side until crispy. Remove to a plate and let cool for 1 minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot, seasoned with salt and pepper as desired.
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
Whisk together the cornmeal and the water. Add the olive oil, salt and chives. Set aside for about 30 minutes to let the cornmeal soften slightly.
Method #1
Place two 8 inch skillets (or one 10 inch cast iron skillet) in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take hot skillets out of the oven. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to each, swirl to distribute. Divide batter between the pans (about 1 cup of batter per pan) and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Broil for 1 minute if desired to crisp the top slightly. Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate to cool for one minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Method #1
Heat two 8 inch cast iron skillets over medium heat. Pour in 1 tbsp. olive oil into each pan and swirl to distribute. Divide the batter between the two pans, swirling the batter as needed to distribute evenly. Cook about 10 minutes or until bottoms are crispy brown. Flip and cook on the other side until crispy. Remove to a plate and let cool for 1 minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot, seasoned with salt and pepper as desired.
Socca (Chickpea Flat Bread)
I recently ran across a recipe for chickpea flat bread, also known as Socca. I made it, thinking it would be something like foccacia but I was wrong (the recipe advised baking it in a pan in the oven which threw me off). I didn't like it too much. There was too much going on with the recipe - garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt. I might like it if the recipe were more simple. So I did some searching and found a simple recipe here that looked good. I tried it, and I liked it.
Apparently there is some argument over the way socca should be made...only with a certain kind of besan flour and a certain kind of olive oil and a certain copper pan and a certain kind of wood-fired oven to be truly authentic. But I'm not trying to be authentic, I'm just trying to feed my family good food. This is good food. I chose Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour and extra virgin olive oil. I cooked the flat bread in cast iron skillets. The end result should be crispy on the outside and softer on the inside, and it's good hot right out of the skillet, plain just the way it is without further ado!
I tried two cooking methods - one on the stovetop and one in the oven. I like the stovetop version better as the flat bread gets a little crispier that way. Also, it's going to be too hot to turn on the oven soon...anything I can make without turning on the oven in the summertime is a plus!
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Combine the chickpea flour and the water, whisking well until smooth. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside while you prepare your skillet.
Method #1 Heat two 8 inch cast iron skillets over medium heat. Pour in 1 tbsp. olive oil into each pan and swirl to distribute. Divide the batter between the two pans (about 1 cup batter each), swirling the batter as needed to distribute evenly. Cook about 10 minutes or until bottoms are crispy brown. Flip and cook on the other side until crispy. Remove to a plate and let cool for 1 minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot, seasoned with salt and pepper as desired. For a thicker flat bread, use one 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Method #2
Place two 8 inch skillets (or one 10 inch casat iron skillet) in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take hot skillets out of the oven. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to each, swirl to distribute. Divide batter between the pans (or pour all into one 10 inch skillet for a thicker flat bread) and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Broil for 1 minute if desired to crisp the top slightly. Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate. Let cool one minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Apparently there is some argument over the way socca should be made...only with a certain kind of besan flour and a certain kind of olive oil and a certain copper pan and a certain kind of wood-fired oven to be truly authentic. But I'm not trying to be authentic, I'm just trying to feed my family good food. This is good food. I chose Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour and extra virgin olive oil. I cooked the flat bread in cast iron skillets. The end result should be crispy on the outside and softer on the inside, and it's good hot right out of the skillet, plain just the way it is without further ado!
I tried two cooking methods - one on the stovetop and one in the oven. I like the stovetop version better as the flat bread gets a little crispier that way. Also, it's going to be too hot to turn on the oven soon...anything I can make without turning on the oven in the summertime is a plus!
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Combine the chickpea flour and the water, whisking well until smooth. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside while you prepare your skillet.
Method #1 Heat two 8 inch cast iron skillets over medium heat. Pour in 1 tbsp. olive oil into each pan and swirl to distribute. Divide the batter between the two pans (about 1 cup batter each), swirling the batter as needed to distribute evenly. Cook about 10 minutes or until bottoms are crispy brown. Flip and cook on the other side until crispy. Remove to a plate and let cool for 1 minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot, seasoned with salt and pepper as desired. For a thicker flat bread, use one 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Method #2
Place two 8 inch skillets (or one 10 inch casat iron skillet) in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take hot skillets out of the oven. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to each, swirl to distribute. Divide batter between the pans (or pour all into one 10 inch skillet for a thicker flat bread) and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Broil for 1 minute if desired to crisp the top slightly. Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate. Let cool one minute. Cut into wedges and serve hot. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Moroccan Soup (Vegan)
I found this recipe by Brittany Rice in a magazine recently. The sweet and savory elements in the soup intrigued me but I was not sure how I'd like it. So I invited some guests over (they are such wonderful test subjects) - if I didn't end up liking the soup then at least I would not have a whole pot of it left sitting around. Well everybody ended up loving the soup! In fact, to my slight chagrin, there was not much left over at all. I will just have to make it again.
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 leeks, halved and thinly sliced - white and pale green parts only
1 tbsp. minced ginger root
4 large basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, minced
1/2 cup dried figs, minced
1/4 cup dried prunes,minced
1 package baby bella mushrooms - cleaned, stemmed and chopped
2 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
1 can black beans, drained
1 can chick peas, drained
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, ginger and basil, cook 2 minutes. Add dried fruit and mushrooms, cook 5 minutes. Add spices, cook 1 minute. Add the wine and the vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer, let reduce slightly for 30 minutes. Add the coconut milk, black beans and chick peas. Simmer another hour. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve warm. Serves 4 - 6.
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 leeks, halved and thinly sliced - white and pale green parts only
1 tbsp. minced ginger root
4 large basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, minced
1/2 cup dried figs, minced
1/4 cup dried prunes,minced
1 package baby bella mushrooms - cleaned, stemmed and chopped
2 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
1 can black beans, drained
1 can chick peas, drained
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, ginger and basil, cook 2 minutes. Add dried fruit and mushrooms, cook 5 minutes. Add spices, cook 1 minute. Add the wine and the vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer, let reduce slightly for 30 minutes. Add the coconut milk, black beans and chick peas. Simmer another hour. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve warm. Serves 4 - 6.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Skeksis and Other Scaries
When Anna was 6 months old she received her first video - Baby Einstein's Baby Bach. I thought 6 months was a little young to watch a video, but it was for made for babies so we put it in the DVD player and sat Anna in front of it to see how she reacted. It was scary. She looked like a Podling getting the life juices sucked out of her. DH and I were the Skeksis that sat her in front of the Dark Crystal and she was being zombified right before our eyes. I turned the TV off and didn't let her near it again until she was 20 months old. Even then, it took a lot of mommy peer pressure to sway me - all the other little 2 year olds knew who Dora was and it was time to fall into line. Even now, another child and years later, I limit TV viewing in the house. It is a treat the girls get a a few times a week, preferably no more than an hour at a time.
I remain very protective of what my girls watch on TV. This makes me feel very old fashioned, but if you had seen what I saw that day you'd be scarred too.
Speaking of being scarred, I've been a little slow to catch on to the fact that Rice Dream has gluten in it. It's a small enough amount that the manufacturer is allowed under federal law to declare it "gluten free", but trace amounts of barley protein remain. And that could be why Anna and I have been having symptoms of gluten ingestion. So two weekends ago I got rid of the Rice Dream and you know what? A few days later Anna turned into a complete lunatic. She was stark raving mad, throwing herself on the floor and throwing tantrums and screaming like a hyena for no good reason. DH and I were beside ourselves with frustration - what was going on?! And then I put two and two together. It was gluten withdrawal. That eensy weensy bit of gluten in the Rice Dream was big enough to her to cause a withdrawal reaction. Can you believe that? It makes me totally crazy...she has "gluten sensitivity" which is supposedly not as big of a deal as having celiac disease, but this is the reaction she has to a little amount of gluten. News flash - this is a big freaking deal to us. I will no longer let people tell me what should or should not be a big deal to us. The gluten is a big deal. Period.
So we've switched to drinking Pacific Foods Hazelnut Milk. All three of us girls like it. It's good in my coffee, even. Megan also likes the So Delicious Coconut Milk (in the refrigerated section), and it's good to bake with too. I might even go back to making my own rice milk for baking. But Rice Dream is right out.
And lastly, speaking of gluten sensitivity, apparently those with gluten issues are more susceptible to parasitic infections (this whole article is good, but for the parasite part scroll down to near the bottom of the page). Now that is scary. Scarier than Skeksis. It gives me the heebie-jeebies to even type this, but go ahead and google the term "gluten sensitivity parasitic infections" and do some reading. Our introduction to this issue comes in the form of the girls being waylaid by some nasty little protazoa they picked up from somewhere. Yuck. They are on their second round of antibiotics to kill the little buggers. I really, really hope this time it clears up.
I remain very protective of what my girls watch on TV. This makes me feel very old fashioned, but if you had seen what I saw that day you'd be scarred too.
Speaking of being scarred, I've been a little slow to catch on to the fact that Rice Dream has gluten in it. It's a small enough amount that the manufacturer is allowed under federal law to declare it "gluten free", but trace amounts of barley protein remain. And that could be why Anna and I have been having symptoms of gluten ingestion. So two weekends ago I got rid of the Rice Dream and you know what? A few days later Anna turned into a complete lunatic. She was stark raving mad, throwing herself on the floor and throwing tantrums and screaming like a hyena for no good reason. DH and I were beside ourselves with frustration - what was going on?! And then I put two and two together. It was gluten withdrawal. That eensy weensy bit of gluten in the Rice Dream was big enough to her to cause a withdrawal reaction. Can you believe that? It makes me totally crazy...she has "gluten sensitivity" which is supposedly not as big of a deal as having celiac disease, but this is the reaction she has to a little amount of gluten. News flash - this is a big freaking deal to us. I will no longer let people tell me what should or should not be a big deal to us. The gluten is a big deal. Period.
So we've switched to drinking Pacific Foods Hazelnut Milk. All three of us girls like it. It's good in my coffee, even. Megan also likes the So Delicious Coconut Milk (in the refrigerated section), and it's good to bake with too. I might even go back to making my own rice milk for baking. But Rice Dream is right out.
And lastly, speaking of gluten sensitivity, apparently those with gluten issues are more susceptible to parasitic infections (this whole article is good, but for the parasite part scroll down to near the bottom of the page). Now that is scary. Scarier than Skeksis. It gives me the heebie-jeebies to even type this, but go ahead and google the term "gluten sensitivity parasitic infections" and do some reading. Our introduction to this issue comes in the form of the girls being waylaid by some nasty little protazoa they picked up from somewhere. Yuck. They are on their second round of antibiotics to kill the little buggers. I really, really hope this time it clears up.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Cuban Black Bean Soup (Vegan)
This black bean soup is refreshing and light. Serve it with Marinated Rice and a salad, and you have a filling dinner that is simple but worthy enough to serve to guests. The original recipe for the soup can be found here.
1 pound dried black beans
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium bell pepper, chopped (red, orange, yellow or green)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 - 4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup mojo sauce, or juice of 1 orange and 1/2 lime
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and chopped
Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and rinse. Place beans in a soup pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until the beans are soft. Drain beans and set aside.
In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion through the bell pepper and cook until soft. Add the cumin through the tomatoes and cook another 3 minutes.
Puree 1/3 of the beans with 1 cup of the water or vegetable stock (as much as you like to make the soup thick or a little thinner). Stir into the vegetables in the pot. Add the remaining beans, water or vegetable stock and mojo sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook until heated through. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve over rice or alongside Marinated Rice with the cilantro and avocado as garnish.
1 pound dried black beans
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium bell pepper, chopped (red, orange, yellow or green)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 - 4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup mojo sauce, or juice of 1 orange and 1/2 lime
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and chopped
Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and rinse. Place beans in a soup pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until the beans are soft. Drain beans and set aside.
In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion through the bell pepper and cook until soft. Add the cumin through the tomatoes and cook another 3 minutes.
Puree 1/3 of the beans with 1 cup of the water or vegetable stock (as much as you like to make the soup thick or a little thinner). Stir into the vegetables in the pot. Add the remaining beans, water or vegetable stock and mojo sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook until heated through. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve over rice or alongside Marinated Rice with the cilantro and avocado as garnish.
Marinated Rice
Okay - this rice dish is so good I could eat it plain, all by itself, with nothing else to accompany it. It's supposed to go with Cuban Black Bean Soup, and I did indeed serve the rice with the soup, but the rice is a great stand-alone dish as it is. I've never really cared for rice too much, but I really like it prepared this way. The original recipe for the rice can be found here.
1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. olive oil
pinch salt
1 1/2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
4 large scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1 tsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Bring water, olive oil and pinch of salt to a boil. Add the rice. Cover and simmer 45 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool to room temperature.
Combine the diced tomatoes, scallions, olive oil and vinegar. Pour over the rice and toss well. Serve at room temperature. This is a good accompaniment to Cuban Black Bean Soup.
1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. olive oil
pinch salt
1 1/2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
4 large scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1 tsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Bring water, olive oil and pinch of salt to a boil. Add the rice. Cover and simmer 45 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool to room temperature.
Combine the diced tomatoes, scallions, olive oil and vinegar. Pour over the rice and toss well. Serve at room temperature. This is a good accompaniment to Cuban Black Bean Soup.
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