Half an index finger-high bread made with a machine: gluten and egg-free

Baking used to be an easy thing for me, always making cakes and cookies to share with friends and co-workers while I was in school. I even hosted a cookie swap with fellow APO brothers-still have the recipes in my notebook. But then came being an adult, and replacing worry-free dining hall meals with home-cooked food which requires planning, shopping, making and clean-up. There is also less time for baking when working with a 45 minute commute each way and nine hour work days.

 Then add in finding out being allergic to wheat. Often times I am asked to have a rainbow of gluten free flours available for some recipes-and sometimes I just can't get out to the right store to get them or decide to be brave and try to use what I have on hand. It's a lot of about experimentation and not being afraid to fail (or being willing to turn your turn-to-dust chocolate shortbread rice-flour cookies into an ice cream topping). I think if I want to have better success rates I need to try try again and keep a notebook like this baker Alice (thanks, Karen for sharing this with me a year ago!) I'm not ready to get that serious about baking. I tried weighing the flours to be equivalent to the white/wheat flour for the recipe book that came with the bread  machine but had big flops.

My friend, Yanny, shared with me some gems from a book by glutenfreegirl : "gluten-free baking usually requires a mix of 3 GF flours. One should be a whole-grain (sorghum, brown rice, garfav). Second a starch to lighten up the mix (potato starch, tapioca starch/flour, cornstarch, arrow root). Last should have a personality you want to add. Amaranth has soft texture, slight malt flavor (cookies, cinnamon rolls). Almond for protein and a bit of fat. Coconut flour, but it sucks up moisture. Millet for crumb. Quinoa is savory (quiches). Teff is the finest texture so it almost melts during baking and helps bind muffins and quick breads." For pancakes and cookies I find using a gluten free blend  (2:1 parts of whole-grain to starch and xantham gum, for this blend 3 cups of flour needs 1 tsp xantham gum) and then to add some nutrition no more than 25%-33% of personality flour. I really wish I could do almond flour-darn allergy! Elena's Pantry blog uses it for many of the baked goods.

So, I'm still in search of a magical bread machine recipe that comes out great every time-and still puzzling over what I can swap in for powdered milk to get in line with trying to reduce soy in my diet. I haven't seen powdered oat milk or anything at the stores yet. Mayhaps I just need to swap in the warmed liquid milk substitute and use less water...but one thing to change up at a time. I made two loaves these past two weeks, experimenting with making it eggless and the amount of yeast.

Loaf #1 I was warned by Gluten-free Goddess that eggless loaves don't rise as high. Visit her site and site some of her bread machine tips-like using a spatula to do extra mixing.

Loaf #1 is from Food.com.
I left out the egg and used 2 tbsp ground flax seed as suggested by people who tried the recipe on food.com. I used powdered soy milk and 1 packet of rapid rise yeast as that is what I had on-hand. It was very dense, not fluffy like people who followed the recipe raved, but they probably used eggs. The loaf had a slightly sweet flavor though enough that I ate it plain. I selected the quick loaf setting (2 hrs) as suggested and decided to add extra water when I saw it wasn't mixing well.

Loaf #2 was the same recipe but I doubled the yeast that I used. Let me say, it was so ugly I don't want to post a picture. The it ended up almost being a crescent moon shape (fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight...uh,what, no, I never used to watch silly Japanese animes!) But it tasted good-such a good breakfast with avocado slices or nut butter and honey.

Perhaps I'll try with the recipe specified amount of yeast next time. And make sure the dough is more like banana bread batter consistency so it fills the pan evenly like Loaf #1 during mixing phase.

What dish are you trying/would like to master at present? And what was your guilty pleasure cartoon after school?

My lovely little bumps: 3 fresh black eyed peas recipes

As a kid, dinner was a much simpler affair. It consisted with helping with dinner by setting the table-I might have done cups and plates, and my sister had to place the napkins and utensils. Occasionally we might be asked to shuck some corn in the summer. We would sit out on the porch and strip those babies clean, making a naked cob pyramid on the cute-sy melamine plates with sis/my artwork on them. Then after dinner it was a matter of helping to load the dishwasher or dry the pots and pans.

Once I had my driver's license, I offered to start cooking a couple times a week for Mom since I could go pick up the groceries myself. I started with Betty Crocker and 30 Minute Desperation Dinners cookbooks (favorite pesto recipe in the latter). When she arrived home on those nights, she gave me a big squeeze with a "thank you, hon" with a look of relief in her eyes. I began to see how much thought, time and love had to go into making a meal--even if using short cuts like pre-made spaghetti sauce or canned beans!  No shame in taking a little help when you need it. So thanks, Mom, Dad and anyone who has cooked a meal with or especially for me.

This week I got fresh black eyed peas in my box, so shelling those bumps out made me think of the summer days of corn shucking. Takes a fair amount of time, but the taste of fresh compared to canned or dried is a suitable reward (I cannot say the same for fava beans though with two layers to peel off, at least not the one time I tried them fresh-can anyone vouch for them?) Apparently if you pick black eyed peas before they are dried, yellowed and spotted (which is said to be the right condition for drying and storing longer term), you can eat them cooked in their pods 6" long, slightly thicker than matchstick wide also...but with CSA, there is no choice and I wanted to try eating them fresh.

1 gallon sized Ziplock bag 3/4 full probably took me 30-40 minutes total (I did half one day and half another) and yielded about 3 cups of raw beans. I cooked all of them in boiling water for 10 minutes before draining and rinsing them. They had a little snap to them-not mushy. I made three dishes with them, with the prep times on all three, I would do planning ahead and make in stages or wait until you have a non-time constraint day.

First, I portioned out 1/2 cup of cooked beans and ate them with a dollop of the roasted lemon chutney tested by 101 Cookbook (stumbled upon the recipe in Sept 2012).

Second, I decided to try out another 101 Cookbook's tested recipe, New Year Noodle Soup using 2 cups of these beans instead of borlotti beans. I used 2/3 cup dried chickpeas instead of canned as I sometimes try to keep sodium lower, which required an overnight soak. I overestimated a tad had a 1/3 cup of cooked beans left over since they expand with cooking. I left out the noodles...if I was a runner and carbing up I would add them in a heartbeat. But I am only doing 2 miles, twice a week if that.

Last, I fried up half cup of onion with olive oil and Emeril's essence to mix with the remaining cup of black-eye peas to make Vegan Lunch Box's Tamales (recipe ingredients modifed slightly below), I found the recipe listed on Chow.com. I have added a note as I steamed them differently, swapped out refried beans and made them vegetarian instead.

Ingredients for Tamales

Yields 8 Tamales

• 4 ounces dried corn husks*
• 2 cups instant masa harina**
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• About 1 1/8 cups warm vegetable broth, plus more as needed
• Bean Filling (recipes below)
• Salsa

 * Try a Mexican food market, Albertson's or, if you live by a Filipino market get the frozen banana leaves.
** This is corn flour, different from cornmeal, it's very fine. Store securely in real snap shut containers, we have a moth problem in San Diego and my last bag got invaded :( 

Tools you need
1 steamer basket  or 2 layer bamboo steamer .
1 medium bowl for mixing
1 small bowl for dry ingredients
1 large pan for soaking husks (or use sink as author suggests, I was too lazy to clean my sink)
Electric mixer

 

Instructions for Tamales

1. Start the dried corn husks soaking in a sink full of warm water about 15 minutes before you begin so they can soften (put a lid or plate over the husks to keep them submerged).
2. In a small bowl, mix together the masa harina, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a handheld beater or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the shortening until it is light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the masa to the shortening, alternating with the broth, until a light, nonsticky dough is formed. Use only as much broth as needed. Continue beating for 1 minute more.
4. Divide dough into 8 balls. To shape the tamales, pat a large corn husk dry and lay it out with the tapered end facing you. Spread each ball into a 4-inch square in the middle of the husk about 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the husk.
5. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of  beans down the center of the masa dough. Pick up the sides of the corn husk and fold them in, closing up the beans in masa. Fold up the tapered section of the husk to form the sealed bottom of the tamale (the top remains open). Tie up the tamale loosely using kitchen twine or a strip of corn husk.
6. Set all the tamales upright on their folded bottoms in a large steamer basket with a bit of room between them for the steam to circulate. Steam over boiling water for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tamale dough pulls away easily from the corn husk. (Sara's note: tamales will be set on their sides if you use a bamboo steamer. In either case, be sure to check your water level every 10 minutes or so and add more if needed.)
7. Serve tamales with salsa.
8. Tamales refrigerate and freeze well. Reheat by steaming them for a few minutes or popping them in the microwave.

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.

Yield: about 2/3 cup

Bean Filling

1 cup cooked black eyed peas
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 regular spoonfuls of Emeril's essence
about 2 tsp Olive oil

Heat olive oil over medium high. Add a bit of onion and when it sizzles, add the rest. Cook 2-3 minutes so the onions begin to soften and become translucent. Add the Emeril's essence. Take off heat and mix in the black eyed peas.
 
When/why did you first start cooking?

Bored of Oatmeal-Cornmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal will always have a place to nestle in my heart, ever since on those early-school day mornings Dad showed me to mix half the flavored-packet with plain quick oats so it wasn't sickly-sweet. You can have it warm or cold (Overnight Oats were what Yanny told me about via this fabulous lady's blog, Fit foodie Finds). You can add in lots of different toppings that may even make it taste like a dessert. But lately I've craved other textures-pancakes and blintzes (the latter to come later as I need to test out dairy-free ricotta cheese recipes)!

Going out for breakfast and brunch isn't as fun anymore being gluten-free since I am limited to eggs or oatmeal (trying to get away from the lovable mush, plus I feel oatmeal has too little clean up and is too easy to order out). Most places don't have gluten free toast, english muffins or batters. I know Original Pancake House has a gluten-free batter for pancakes that is enjoyable but it seems to leave a residue on my teeth. Snooze in Hillcrest also has gluten-free pancake batter but I have not been able to try that restaurant (very long waits). Nashville, TN had an all you can eat/cook it yourself pancake restaurant Pfunky Griddle, but I didn't get to go there either.  But not to be discouraged, I will settle for making my own and having to deal with doing dishes.

I found and made some modifications to a recipe found on  Go Dairy Free’s website called Pillowy-Whole Grain Pancakes-Vegan and Gluten Free. My modifications for a different GF flour blend, adding cornmeal and a substitute for oil, are found below and I've pretty much just copied their directions for preparation and cooking. It takes some time to do all the measurements, which is why I think this is a non-workday recipe. 

 Fluffy Cinnamon-Cornmeal Pancakes

• 1-3/4 Cups Plain Milk Alternative of Choice
• 1/4 Cup Applesauce or blended veggie/fruit pulp + water for apple sauce consistency
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed
• 2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar or Honey 
• 2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Land O’ Lakes pumpkin whoopee pie flour mix* (see recipe below)
• ½ cup more nutritious gluten-free flour (I’ve been using sorghum flour)
• ½ cup corn meal
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Measure the milk alternative in a glass measuring cup. Stir In the 1/4 cup of apple sauce or veggie/fruit pulp mixture, flaxseed, agave or honey, vinegar or lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside for moment. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the milk alternative mixture and mix well. Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Using roughly 1/4 cup per pancake, pour the batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes until the outside edge begins to look dry, and bubbles break on the surface of the batter, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook the other sides for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until light golden brown. Serve with maple syrup, fresh fruit, or your favorite whipped “cream” topping.

*Land O' Lakes GF flour blend: 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup white rice flour, 2/3 cup corn or potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca flour, 1 tsp xantham gum

Hint #1 I found cheaper tapioca flour at the local Chinese market than compared to a health food store and cheaper potato starch (katakuriko) at the Japanese market...kind of like chickpea flour, my sister says its a better deal at Indian markets. It's wonderful how much other cultures use such a variety of flours made from grains other than wheat! 

Hint #2 Fruit and vegetable leftover pulp was from juicing .I had kept it in the freezer in baggies and defrosted small 1/2 cup portions for baked or bread-like recipes calling for oil, butter or apple sauce. I felt bad throwing all of it away since I don't yet have a red-worm or compost system.

Is your favorite breakfast food sweet or savory?

 

Monthy List-Sept 2012

Aug-Sept 2012 Recently Discovered Treasures

Coming up to the end of the month means drumming up a list of my favorite discoveries for the last 30-ish days.

TOP 5 MAKE IT YOURSELF

1. Easy snack: Microwaved plantain (thanks, Mercy!)

2. Easy side: steaming summer squash with a squeeze of half a fresh lemon-no need for salts or oils!

3. Fresh and Easy-Rice crisp crackers sesame flavor-no soy and no sunflower oil. Make your own nut butter sandwiches with them or just dipped in fresh guacamole.

 4. Fresh and Easy-Strawberry Rice Crispies Cereal (makes good rice crispy treats), I made the marshmallow dessert with butter so not dairy free.

5. Lemon Chutney recipe tested & shared by by 101 Cookbooks Gluten & dairy-free.  Such a wonderful, flavorful spread. I put it over salmon and a Moroccan veggie stew & then I also had it spread on a fried egg like Heidi suggests.

TOP 5 OUT  & ABOUT

1. Portland, OR-food pods make for easy vacation meal  planning for a collectively diverse group of eaters! Lots of menus marked gluten free and vegetarian.  

2. Dominoes does a gluten-free crust pizza! (Thank you, Dennis)  Unfortunately for celiacs, they don't guarantee cross-contamination (https://order.dominos.com/en/pages/content/nutritional/nutrition.jsp). I think that is true of many restaurants still that they don't have a gluten-free oven/area for prep-some have designated fryer for no breaded items. Some places will change their serving gloves for you also (like Chipotle, if you ask).  Always a good idea to double check-restaurants sometimes change things up. 

3.  Pampas Argentine Grill on Aero Drive (pictured above) was able to accommodate me for gluten free Restaurant Week experience. A romantic night out with my Shades, debating about sustainable food. All while having choices of free Free-range, Grass-fed meats and sustainable salmon for entree options. They humored me and put the sausage bruschetta type dish on lettuce for me instead. The flan they offered off the RW menu was velvety and had cinnamon and caramel sauce swished across the top. Shades enjoyed the cheesecake and NY steak. They are hoping for next January to create a special gluten free menu for RW!

4.  Del Mar has a Gourmet McDonald's-same menu (supposedly gelato, but none when we went), swanky seating and what Abby dubbed Vegas worthy bathroom. This was an entertaining visit, but not an edible one.

5. Jimbo's having such a huge vegan and/or gluten free section. At Carmel Valley seemed like half the pastry case was one of those two! Other sections of the store continued to make me feel normal, that deprived feeling fading.  Maybe I didn't notice when I used to live in Escondido near one because I was just focused on the bliss of being in an AC building and buying some thirst quenching fruits. Or maybe gluten-free is just becoming more prevalent. 

 What kind of food makes you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Weekend Appetizer: Trio of Zippy Summer Veggies for bread or lettuce cups

Although fall is beginning to creep in (though you could not tell with 103 degree weather) as evidenced by swim suits banished from store racks, temporary Halloween stores moving in, e-mails about Restaurant Week, and a sign at the farmer's market "we still have peaches", I am still delighting in the challenge of the seemingly never ending supply of peppers, cucumbers, squash and lettuce. That is the beauty of the CSA box-when you get the same things multiple weeks in a row it really gets your noggin going about different ways to try eating the vegetables. 

This week my challenge was lettuce-I do salads (today was tuna sashimi with bean sprouts, japanese seaweed salad and some mae ploy sauce to combat the warm weather), spring rolls, Vietnamese noodle salad (bun), Japanese somen noodle salad (using a rice noodle now of course), tacos and bedding for enchiladas. I even tried doing a baked lettuce dish once a few years ago (I pretty much took the whole thing home from the potluck I brought it to).  Even with this variety I get to the point where I do not want to order salad out at a restaurant.

So what to do with the dreaded iceberg-my least favorite as it tastes like nothing. My train of thought: What goes well with "nothing"?  Something really flavorful that needs a partner that lets it shine. Then the light bulb, ohhh-Eggplant tapenade that I made a couple years back! Buttery soft eggplant when cooked right, hob nobbing with Italian herbs and zesty tomato, could be lovingly plopped into lettuce cups. Or if you happen to have a fresh batch of bread (I really adore this bun recipe . You must use a scale, but has worked magically with whatever combo of gluten free flours I have in the pantry.)

Eggplant tapenade, roasted peppers and marinated mushrooms-made 3 light servings

This makes for a fine appetizer or light meal. Plan to make this on a weekend when you have lots of time or grab some helping hands for prepping and measuring ingredients.

 

 To start get your oven preheated to 400F OR You could probably try putting this on the grill if you want to avoid turning on the oven in the summer heat (not sure what the cooking times are like) but use foil on the eggplant to keep the sauce in and if you have one, a metal cooking basket on the peppers.

 Eggplant tapenade adapted from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

1.5 tsp salt*

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tbsp minced garlic

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp tomato paste

     

      1.       Peel and dice the eggplant. I chopped up the skin and saved it to add in later.

           2.   Remove bitter juices from eggplant. *See options below if sodium is of concern to your diet.

Option 1: sprinkle with ½ tsp of salt and place on paper towels (or tea towel for lint free-no-paper-wasting) to drain.  This will help remove the bitterness from eggplant.

Option 2 (low sodium)  I researched online and BDL at cheftalk.com says you could try using less bitter eggplant such as Japanese variety   or younger, smaller Italian eggplant  

 

Option 3 (low sodium) BDL also says  you can cook twice to remove the bitterness. For this recipe you can sauté the eggplant a few minutes and drain on a towel/tea towel and then add into the tomato sauce in the next step. 

     3.        Heat the oil over medium high heat in a medium saucepan (oven proof it you have it), adding the onion (and eggplant skin chopped up if you like), stir often and cook about 1 minute.  Add remaining salt, basil and oregano. Continue stirring and cook 1 minute more. Add in the tomato paste and eggplant. Cook until eggplant begins to soften about 3 minutes.

    4.       Transfer into a baking dish if your sauce pan isn’t oven proof. Place in the oven to bake uncovered about 30-35 minutes. Stirring once or twice during this time, checking to see if eggplant is completely softened.

Roasted Peppers from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

1 red and 1 yellow sweet pepper, cut into ¼” thick slices

½ tsp red wine vinegar

1-2 tsp olive oil

    1.        Mix the red wine vinegar and olive oil together. Drizzle over the peppers in a bowl and toss to coat evenly.

    2.       Spread out on foil atop a baking sheet. Keep in the oven about 25-30 minutes with the eggplant, until tender and some charring on the peppers occurs.

Marinated Mushrooms-from Vegetarian cookbook edited by Nicola Graimes.

8 ounces brown cremini or white button mushrooms, washed and quartered

2 tsp ketchup

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp milk substitute (I used hemp milk)

While your eggplant and peppers are roasting in the oven.  Put mushrooms into a small saucepan with ketchup, lemon juice and milk. Simmer for 5 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are tender.

What are you going to be doing for Halloween? Have you ever been a food object?

Summer Sniffles-Remedies & Chipotle Vegetarian Chili

The dreaded summer cold has found me. Snuffling around, building sinus pressure and having my normal "Daria" voice drop to an even lower pitch makes me slow down and take care. Things that make me feel better:

1. Light exercise-Consider what kind of symptoms are present. With symptoms limited to the neck and above and without fever, I have the energy to still move about this time. Monday at the gym was wearing work out gloves, not coughing or sneezing so hopefully did not spread any germs (at the time I thought it could be allergies and wanted to motivate my friend to go this week).  I'll use sanitary spray now that symptoms have been lingering. Tuesday, I found some gentle yoga poses here that felt nice. Wednesday was resting. Thursday just breaking a sweat doing an easy jog in the cooler evening seemed to help my nasal congestion. No pressure to push it.

2. Wellness Formula-Shades swears by it. And so do I. He got it from a holistic minded practitioner. If you get take it early enough it can prevent. But otherwise, seems to reduce the severity. They have it on bodybuilding.com or if you need it right away, their website lists stores who carry it . In San Diego I have got it at Sprouts and Whole Foods before. A little pricey taking 3 tablets every 3 hours when sick but I think feeling 10x better is worth it. They are horse pills so get a big glass o' water!

3. Restful activities-an obvious treatment but I still know a lot of people who just plow on through pretending like their body isn't crying for rest. I like being propped up with pillows of all sizes on the couch for reading (a touch of practical, some for fun like Game of Thrones or Dead Beat about obituary readers and writers, some for inspiration like Food Truck cookbook/stories), cracking up over Project Runway, and going to bed early.

4. I know you want the edibles. My buddy Karin recommended a hot drink (ingredients pictured) to stave off a cold and/or its symptoms. I like to put it in my favorite pretty big mugs. Pretty things for when you're not feeling pretty inside.

5. Apparently heating foods like onion and garlic are good for when you are sick. I heard this taking a series of yoga weekend workshops this year. Supposed to be part of ayurvedic medicine. So the thought is to use less of them when you are healthy and use it to help your body fight. I would like to learn more about Ayurveda. I hear it often around yogis but embarrassingly don't know much except each person has a dominant element or type of energy..something like that. I bet the yoga studio I attend has a good book, but can anyone have experience or on the contrary does anyone poo-poo this?

6.  Spicy foods-I like making the Korean instant spicy soups (another recommendation from Karin back in the college days) to numb itchy or sore throats, but to be honest I cannot tell what is in the "kimchi powder"-it could be ingredients I am not supposed to have. So I made an adapted vegetarian version of Rachel Ray's turkey chipotle stoup (stew/soup) with bountiful summer peppers and canned chipotle. On my ALCAT results I am not supposed to have chili powder, chipotle or paprika...but I have not started yet. Getting used to dairy and soy. I think it's easier to let go/reduce of a few things at a time, while I finish off the perishable no-no items before starting the detox anyway.

Chipotle Vegetarian Chili

This recipe can turn into a weekend (aka time intensive) if you don't use short cuts. You may need to plan ahead. You could do chopping, the stock and beans on a leisurely day and make the rest on a busy though-it cooks together in under 20 minutes. It makes about 4 servings.

3 cups home-made or store bought veggie stock
1 cup dried kidney beans-soaked overnight, then cooked (~1 hour) or about 2 cups canned kidney beans rinsed
1/2 cup diced red onions
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp olive oil
2 canned chipotles, chopped finely
2 cups chopped sweet peppers
1 cup chopped tomato
pinch of smoked (or regular) salt (to taste)-got mine at Little Italy's Saturday market. (my friend Jeff says it's easy to make, but my little test tube has lasted a couple years so I haven't got around to trying)

1. Heat a pot that can hold at least 5 cups of liquid on medium-high. Add the olive oil allowing to heat up for a couple minutes. Then add onion, garlic, chili powder and chipotles to cook about 5 minutes.

2. Add your stock, tomatoes and beans. Bring to boil and then  reduce heat. Simmer 10 minutes.

3. Slurp and sooth your throat with this fiery concoction.

What are your best activities or consumables for when you're under the weather?

What to do with tomatillos?

Caring for an unfamiliar produce

The small green tomato-looking orbs wrapped in papery brown husks came in my CSA box last week. A friend of a friend had made salsa for tortilla chips once, but that was all I knew of tomatillos.

My first question about new produce, "how do I store them?" I had no idea until I started buying food at farmer's market that some produce deserves better than just being thrown into the fridge drawers. Tomatoes should never go in the fridge (they get mushy) and some leafy herbs do best if you keep them in a cup of water in the fridge or wrapped loosely with a damp paper towel.  After seeing mixed reviews with trusty Googling the answer about tomatillos, I decided to just go with the leaving them loosely on the counter. They fared fine in San Diego humidity (80-ish degrees when no one is home) for about 2 weeks.

Next was "what am I supposed to do with these guys?" I found out they have a refreshing tangy flavor-in the two recipes I tested (not dairy free but may be adaptable once I do some experimenting), they get cooked in some way before consumption.


Tomatillo Recipe #1 (untested possible adaptation for non-dairy, naturally no soy!): I Googled "tomatillo mac n' cheese" as I have bleu cheese I am desperately trying to mow through so I can start my detox. Last time I ever ask Shades to pick me up a bag of cheese at Smart & Final (or as my sis fondly calls Fart n' Smile). I've been working on this cheese since spring time -it's been residing in the freezer and I think it has been breeding. Hoping I can experiment and try to vegan-ize the recipe with nutritional yeast and perhaps some toasted nuts in place of dairy-stay tuned in! Here is the original recipe at What's Cookin'

The substitutes I made were 1) 1 cup of bleu cheese and 1 cup Mexican blend cheese shredded and 2) used olive oil for half the butter. 3) I left off the tortilla chips and green chiles and instead put in probably half a cup of chopped hot assorted peppers, seeds in (depends on how hot you like it). 4) I used cornstarch in place of flour to make it gluten free. 5) Also because it's summer, I didn't want the oven on so I didn't do the baking step.  I had one serving with chicken and one vegetarian. Either way delicious! It yielded about 4 servings.

Tomatillo Recipe #2 (untested possible adaptation for non-dairy, naturally no soy)

Adaptation of Sunset Magazine's Tomatillo Salsa for Halibut
Thanks for the recipe, my Lisa!

Modifications made for tomatillo salsa: 1) still used butter but imagine for dairy free I could just use an equivalent amount of oil.  2) used mint instead of cilantro-worked well for cucumber pancakes but a little fun-kay with chicken taquitos. 3) fresh  lemon juice instead of lime  4) used greek yogurt for the sour cream (to make this dairy free eventually, I am hoping to try making a nut-based "sour cream" that I have seen on some blogs, but I need a food processor)

Served the tomatillo salsa with Cucumber pancakes (dairy-free, soy-free) from One Hot Stove's blog. They are so quick and easy-ready within the half hour! They remind me of zucchini pancakes that my mom only used to make for dinner whenever my dad was on a business trip ("breakfast is eaten for breakfast" must have been how daddy-o felt). She'd have me and my sister help grate up the squash and then we mixed it with Bisquick while she fried up some sausage links.

Since the recipe called for 2 large cucumbers, I just estimated 1.5 cups of grated cucumber would be sufficient and did half white rice flour and half brown rice flour. I got the white rice flour from Fresh & Easy and brown rice flour likely came from Sprouts, Whole Foods or Jimbo's (go SD for healthy store options).

See, I think I made my batter too thick as I had to use the ladle to spread it and it only yielded 3 pancakes instead of the 5-6 it was supposed to make.

 So next time, I will add more water and perhaps grate more cucumber so it doesn't get too thick to turn and fall apart like my second cake did. That's right, I cook just for myself so many times I don't have beautiful presentation...what is the opposite of food porn?

What  kinds of foods do you enjoy eating outside of their traditional meal times ?