Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Back-up Plan: Thai Curry Sauce

This morning my daughter started screaming that she poked herself in the eye. She came down and got kisses and then went back to her room. We had snow last night so the morning was chaotic with a school delay, shovelling etc. I never really looked at her eye again. This afternoon, I got a call from the school nurse, E was complaining of pain and her eye was still red and watery. The nurse thought she may have scratched the cornea and needed to be seen by a doctor. By the time I picked E up and then L at her school and drove to the doctor is was 4pm. Two hours later we confirmed a scratched cornea and received our prescription. It took two pharmacies to find one that even carried the eye drops. We got home just as my husband was arriving home. I fed the girls left-overs for dinner.

So I figured I would share one of my favorite dinner in a flash recipes. We have made this at least a dozen times and E regularly claims it is her favorite food. This sauce also freezes well.

Thai Curry Sauce - PDQ Vegetarian

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Tamari Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Corn Starch
1 14oz can of Light Coconut Milk
1/3 c Vegetable Broth
2 teaspoons Thai Curry Paste (We use the red)
1/2 teaspoon Basil
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

Directions:
Combine soy sauce and corn starch until smooth. In a small sauce pan, bring the rest of the ingredients to a simmer. Add the corn starch and soy sauce mixture. Stir until the sauce begins to thicken.

Serve over rice and vegetables or chicken. Sometimes I just serve it over rice and make a side salad.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Mushroom and Snow Pea Stir-fry

We rarely eat meat in our house. For flavorful stirfrys, we often use tofu in place of meat. For this dish any protein can be used. Where appropriate chicken or pork can be substituted for the tofu. I served this over plain rice but rice noodles would also be tasty!

Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

Marinade:
3 tablespoons Tamari Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Honey
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Stir-fry:
1 cake Firm Tofu, cut into small squares
12 oz fresh Snow Peas, trimmed
6-8 oz Mushrooms, I prefer cremini or shiitake
4 Scallions, diced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 inch of fresh Ginger, minced
1 teaspoon Corn Starch
Olive Oil

Directions:
Stir together the marinade ingredients. Marinade the tofu or other protein for 25-30 minutes. While the tofu is marinading chop the other ingredients. Strain the tofu from the marinade. Add 1/4 cup of water and the corn starch to the reserve marinade. Heat the olive oil in a wok or large skillet. Add the tofu and cook until brown (4-6 minutes). Remove tofu with a slotted spoon. Add mushrooms to the wok, cook 2 minutes. Add snow peas and cook another 2 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic, scallions and ginger, cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add reserve marinade and tofu to the wok. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until sauce is thickened. Serve over rice or rice noodles.

Review:
The marinade provides a ton of flavor. My youngest complained slightly about the amount of ginger and garlic. If you have children who are sensitive to strong flavors I would recommend decreasing the amount of both slightly. The sauce thickened nicely and clung to the rice noodles well. I would think that other vegetables like broccoli would be a nice substitute.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Do Ahead Tuesday: Winter Stew with Corn Bread Topping

On Tuesday's I have a night class and we have a sitter come in to watch the girls between when I have to leave for class and when my husband gets home from work. Soon my work schedule will shift and I will leave the house at 10am and not return until after my children are in bed. Since my husband regularly gets home late this time a year some creative dinner planning is needed. One of the toughest problems in a gluten free house is that I can't just have the sitter order pizza but need to prepare a dinner each night so I know it's gluten free. Bring in the crock pot. It allows me to have a hot dinner waiting for the sitter and my girls and still leave the kitchen clean!

This recipe is an adaption from several sources.

Ingredients

Winter Stew:
1 Medium Onion
Black Eye Peas ~ heaping 1/2 c dried or 1 can drained
Kidney Beans ~ heaping 1/2 c dried or 1 can drained
1 Bay Leaf
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Marjoram
1 14oz. can Diced Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Water/ Broth
1-1 1/2 lbs Root Vegetables (Carrots, Potatoes, Parsnips, Celery etc)

Corn Bread
1 c Corn Meal
1 c Gluten Free Baking Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 c Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 c Milk
2 eggs
1/4 c Melted Butter or Margarine

Directions:
Soak Bean overnight if using dried. Mince onion and saute in olive oil for 7-8 minutes until beginning to brown. Add dried spices and cook for 1 minute. Toss into crock pot with beans and 2-3c of water or broth. Chop root vegetables into 1-2 inch pieces and add to crock pot. Cook on low for 3 hours. Add diced tomatoes and stir. Add corn bread topping if doing so. Cook for ~30 minutes or until hot enough.

Corn Bread:
Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg slightly. Add wet ingredients and mix until just combined. In the oven, bake at 400 degrees in a 9x9 lightly greased pan for 25-28 minutes. In the crock pot, spoon over stew, bake on high for 1 hour.

Evaluation:
When I am home I make the corn bread in the crock pot. It makes a crust about 3 inches deep that mixes in to the stew when you serve it in the bowl. My daughters love it that way. When I have to work I make the corn bread ahead of time and serve on the side. The stew is a very gentle flavor. If you like spicy food I recommend doubling the spices. Overall, it is a great stew for a cold night and holds up well on the warm setting for several hours!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Salmon Bulgogi

Tonight's dinner is from Epicurious.

Salmon Bulgogi with Saute Bok Choy and Mushrooms with Rice

Ingredients:
Salmon:
Salmon Fillets
1/4 c Soy Sauce *Tamari is usually gluten-free, check the label*
2 Garlic Cloves
1/3 c Green Onions
1 tablespoon Sherry
1 3/4 inches Ginger Root
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
3/4 teaspoon Chili Garlic Sauce *In the Asian section of the grocery store*

Saute:
1 Head Bok Choy - Chopped
4 oz Shiitake Mushrooms - Chopped
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Chili Garlic Sauce
1 Garlic Clove  - Minced

Rice

Salmon:
Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Blend all ingredients except the fish in a mini processor. Marinade fish for 5 minutes. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.

Saute:
Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. Add all ingredients and stir-fry until the bok choy is wilted. Serve over rice.

Review:
The fish is delicious but salty for my taste. I would suggest using less soy sauce or a reduced sodium soy sauce. The marinade is excellent and would be good served over the saute and rice as well. The dinner took about 25 minutes to prepare including rice cooking time and chopping. We put the rice on first then prepped the marinade. While the fish sat, we chopped the bok choy. The fish went into the oven while we sauteed the vegetables. Both girls ate it and asked for more so it was a winner in this house!

Introduction

When I got married I hated to cook. I believed I was a baker and had a reputation in my family for incredible desserts. I would wait until my husband got home at 8pm for him to prepare dinner rather than do it myself. I felt uncomfortable just winging it in the kitchen and loved the orderly baking process.

After I had children though dinner had to be on the table at a reasonable hour so I began to cook. I would spend time looking at recipes, looking for something easy that I could follow strait from the book. Eventually, I started to figure out what spices tasted like and what could be substituted. I began measuring with my hands and using the measuring spoons less and less. By the time we relocated cities and I stepped back from my job I was at least competent in the kitchen but I still saw myself as a baker. I cooked from necessity and wanted the cooking over quickly. Then my children were diagnosed with Celiac's and we became a gluten-free household. So many of the wonderful baking recipes I had stores away were useless.

In response I through myself into cooking. We ate something new almost every night and my family loved it. But I never saved the recipes and I could never repeat anything I cooked. This blog is designed as my digital cookbook, where I will share the recipes I have tried and my family's sucess in cooking quick gluten-free foods!