"Tannenbaum" (Rosemary-lime) Dressing/Sauce

Apparently we can't have a Christmas tree of any kind (even plastic), as Dave's feelings of pines is tainted from his roommate experience of a bug-infested tree a few years ago. They smell so nice though, see how happy it made us girls!

I don't know about you but I could use more time this month (still two more people to shop for and haven't gotten the cards written yet). So during the busy-holiday (and other crunch times) I think the most useful recipes are sauces, because you can just try them on anything after their original recipe.  Like this dressing recipe from Food.com I tried at my folk's place after I saw they had a giant bag of limes from Costco with the green beans as originally meant.

Side-tangent, but speaking of Costco, on trip last week, at the Mission Valley location, I noticed they started carrying Rudi's gluten free bread in the fridge/freezer section. I don't think it is dairy free, and like Udi's, they use sunflower/safflower oil which won't work when I start the detox. But gf bread that you can eat without toasting is like a Christmas miracle. Also in the fridge section I spied some gluten-free, dairy free pre-made cookie dough! (it did have soy).

 A week after coming back from my visit with mom and pop, my co-worker had filled the basket near her cube with limes.  Recipe re-cycle time! Instead of basil, I ended up using about 1/4 cup of the rinsed leaves from fresh Christmas-tree like rosemary (did you know you can take an unused sprig and stick it in a pot of dirt to grow your own herb? Thank you old roomie, Jeff.) I guess that is a close as I can get to having a tree this year.

 

2 tablespoons lime juice  (about 1-2 limes, roll them on counter before cutting for easier juicing)
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed 
1/4 cup (or to taste) of fresh rosemary leaves
1 dash salt and pepper

Put all ingredients in a blender. Spoon over anything that needs some zip! See my examples of use below.

• Try it as a taco sauce. Worked great on a white fish.
• Make a bean (I tested chickpea) and roasted celery salad.
• Tossed with chickpeas, quinoa and steamed escarole (looks like lettuce but bitter when raw, pictured above)
• Works fine as a salad dressing too! Complemented the smoked salmon, dried cranberries, beans and toasted squash seeds (yes, sometimes I save my winter squash seeds for consuming)

 Have you ever tried fruit cake and is it as bad as it seems to be?

Holiday Crunch time-Quick Macaroons, Ethiopian Cabbage & Tomato Paste Fish

Sorry for a delay in posting. After getting sick AGAIN after just 3-ish months,  I'm just trying to catch up with holiday and day to day activities...the annual card making, gift brainstorming, decorating the living room/cubicle, shopping for Toys for Tots drive,  practicing for the holiday concert, whipping up food for holiday parties (if you like coconut,  you must try this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie! A nice soft, chewy, quick vegan macaroon cookie recipe). Cooking for myself I used cabbage from the CSA box in an Ethiopian veggie/dairy-free and gluten free way-just two spices and a few cheap chopped veggies thrown in a pot with water or broth. Excellent busy-times meal.

I was well enough on Friday to go to December Nights at Balboa Park with Danny, Vietca and Dave.We had never seen the San Diego History Center (huge murals from the government sponsored art time and other items from gold mining days, and I learned San Diego had fishing camps for Japanese...had no idea) and the stellar hand bell ensemble was playing there. Dave and I looked at each other both thinking the same thing, Winston on New Girl. It's hard to find gluten-free, vegetarian eats at the event, but I settled with a big cheese papusa with the pickled cabbage and snagged some of Dave's kettle korn. I would have been hungry if I was on my detox.

I wanted to use up some of the tomato paste I had opened for the Ginger Beer baked bean recipe I tried out (he rest I stuck in the freezer and made a note in my Out of Milk App with the date-I reduce what gets forgotten this way and it helps with meal planning. Check out freezer food storage times and defrosting tips from Oprah's interview. ) My go to tomato paste user-upper is an enchilada sauce, but I wasn't in the mood for Mexican last week.

CREAMY TOMATO-COCONUT SAUCE for BAKED FISH
Adapted to be dairy-free from Yummly's database.

2 cups plain, unsweetened Coconut milk (found in refrigerated section, sold in half-gallon cartons or in alternative milk section quart cartons)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 small onion, grate/finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
salt to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 lb fish fillets (used a firm cod)

Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

Heat all ingredients except fish on stove in a saucepan over low until yeast flakes melt and use a whisk to break up the tomato paste.

Put into an oven-safe casserole dish with fish.

Bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes.

Notes for improvement: I might add one more tablespoon of tomato paste and also pre cook the onions since they were still crunchy. Though...I did not have the will power to get teary over grating, so I only chopped them.I guess not finely enough.

Notes for serving: I ate mine in a bowl and mixed in some squash-potato gratin for extra texture. This saucy dish seems like it would go nicely over quinoa or another grain. Or pasta as I think Yummly uses.

Are you bringing an old favorite or a new dish for any holiday parties? Have you found any wonderful gift ideas you're willing to share?