Chocolate chip coffee cake

This was one of those recipes that seemed too-good-to-be-true easy.  And, it skirted the woods of yeah-it-was-too-good-to-be-true-it-wasn't-very-awesome, but managed to stay out of them.

Here's the recipe over at The GFCF Experience.  Go look at their picture.  That there is an awesome looking of piece of coffee cake.  Especially given how simple this recipe is.

The cake I made didn't quite look like that.  I take all responsibility for that.

My all purpose GF flour mix was "mystery flour".  I'm pretty sure it was Bette Hagman's all-purpose flour blend, but we are not good about properly labeling the random shit containers of leftover flours in the fridge.  So I don't really know.  One of the containers was marked "corn starch", but I'm really pretty sure it was an old label.  I comparison felt the flour in that container with the one labeled "cake mix".  Honestly, they both felt equally starchy, which was actually very starchy.  But, I was fairly certain there was no sugar or xanthan gum in the blends and so ignored the extra starchy feel and forged on.

I also used soy milk, of which I had an open container, rather than the recommended almond milk.

I did not bother with the spice topping since I was making this for our common meal potluck (whenever there is a 5th Wednesday we do a potluck) and I decided to keep it simple since half of the eaters were going to be kids.

The first sign of un-awesomeness was that once the batter was mixed, it was incredibly sticky and gloppy.  It took some work to spread it out evenly in the cake pan.  Once it was somewhat even, it was decidedly mountain-rangey with lots of peaks and valleys.  I didn't see how I could smooth it out without using a well-oiled spatula, so I decided to leave it.

Interesting.  I had a perfectly good idea, but didn't try it out.  Rather, I thought: maybe it'll smooth itself out once it hits the hot oven.  You know, kind of melt into a smooth surface.

It didn't.  It came out of the oven very...textural.

It tasted good.  But, you really can't go wrong with chocolate chips, especially if they are still warm enough that they are a touch gooey.

The consistency was very dense yet spongey, so it was light.  And really moist.  Not overly so, but distinctly so.

My cake did not rise as much as theirs did.  Maybe because I doubled the recipe and used my 11x14 cake pan.  (Which, if my math is correct, means the cake had more area to cover, more shallowly, than it would have in two 8x8 pans.)

I have no picture of the cake because I forgot to take one when it came out.  Friends were starting to arrive and there was a flurry of getting serving utensils, condiments, etc.  And, despite my goings on, the cake was good enough that the twelve of us eating tonight polished the whole thing off.  In about 15 minutes.  :-)

So, though it wasn't perfect, I guess it was pretty awesome.

Braised cabbage

Braised cabbage makes me think of my dad and maternal grandmother.  My dad loves it and I remember my grandmother making it with cabbage from her garden.  I didn't come to appreciate cabbage until pretty recently...sometime in the last 5 years or so.

One of the four things that factored into my sudden love for cabbage: learning how to make my own stock and realizing how perfectly suited stock and cabbage are.  (The other three things: Jamie's mom's Cole slaw recipe, how inexpensive cabbage is, and how faithfully fresh it will remain in the crisper for a long time.)

Today's version is made with a red cabbage I bought last week, intended for a dish that did not get made.  I have a slight preference for green cabbage (and do like Savoy cabbage, too, though I think of that as a special occasion cabbage :-) and my family associations are with the green stuff.

Today's beef "stock" is not a true stock.  It's the braising liquid from a short ribs meal I made ages ago.  The braising liquid has lots of beef essence, garlic and ginger in it.  And it's been waiting patiently in the freezer for a very long time to be loved and appreciated.

Heat oil in sautéish pan.  My pan is not a sauté pan, I don't know what you'd call it.  It's wide and flat and has sides that come straight up a few inches.  And two fat handles.  I bought it at TJ Maxx or Marshall's a long time ago, before I knew what I was doing, really, but knew that I wanted to begin the journey of slowly replacing our non-stick pans with stainless that did not have non-stick coating on them.  This pan came with a lid which comes in handy.  I love this pan.  (I think it's All-Clad.)

Also, I used safflower oil.  But, you should use whatever oil you want and see how it tastes.  Safflower is good for high heat and being on the more flavorless side.  (I'm not sold on canola oil.)

Add an onion to the heated oil/pan.  I like to slice mine thinly, in "half moons" (halve the onion and then slice lengthwise).

Remove the outermost leaves and chop up the cabbage.  I used just about the whole head today.  See how much room you have in your pan.  Keep in mind that the cabbage will cook down somewhat.

Add the cabbage to the onions which should be quite soft by now.  Stir and stir.  Let cook for a few minutes on medium-high heat.

Add the stock.  Beef, chicken, veggie, whatever you have.  Even water (if I were using water I would season the cabbage with salt and pepper).  Fill the pan so there's an inch or two of liquid.

Clearly, this is not an exact measurement type of recipe :-)

Turn up heat to get the braising liquid bubbling.  Cover loosely, turn heat down to medium-low and cook at a low bubbling for 10 minutes or so.  

Periodically check to make sure the liquid doesn't evaporate during cooking.  Check the texture or "bite" of the cabbage.  If you want it crunchier, you want less time, if you want it softer, increase the time.

To slow down the cooking towards the end to better fine tune the "bite" of the cabbage, turn heat down further, or better yet, "loosen" the lid even more so more steam gets out.

This dish is good hot, warm, at room temperature, or cold.  It's all about your taste and mood.  I've had it as a side, with rice and on toast with, everyone all together now, mayo.  :-)

Thai curry and a realization

I made Thai curry for dinner tonight.  A kind-of staple here which may become more of one.  The kids both tried it.  The Omnivore liked it, GFCF Kid said, "it's not bad".  It was pretty sweet tonight, with only a hint of heat.  (I kept in mind that the kids might try it and I want to ease them into spicy foods.)

We use Thai Kitchen's Red Curry Paste and follow the recipe on the back of the jar to make our Thai curry.  Today I sautéed half a yellow onion and a green pepper and added to that leftover tofu and a bit of the chicken from the chicken stock pot (most of the chicken will be used to make a chicken salad for tomorrow night's dinner: chicken salad tortilla wraps).  I then poured the coconut milk over that and created the sauce.

By the time I remembered to take a picture I was down to the dregs of my second bowl which did not look appetizing any which way you cut it.  The kitchen was dark, our light is on the fritz, so I took a shot of the curry left in the pot dimly lit by the light of the stove.

coconut creamy goodness.

My realization, which it occurs to me, will sound perplexing to some in its obviousness, but my mind is really good at talking to me...and listening to me.  I am as gullible to the words of my own mind as I was once to the words of everyone.

After I finished my first bowl of rice and curry, I sighed with pleasure and contentment.  And instead of being with that moment...truly becoming one with it, I immediately began to think of a second bowl.  And, probably there were a few things that went through my mind, and I don't remember it all.  But, I do remember thinking: it would be better to have a second bowl of rice rather than have the rice go to waste.

Our rice cooker is on the fritz, too.  And where pre-fritz it cooked rice perfectly (for 16 years!) and then kept it warm and perfectly edible for 24 hours, as of a month or so ago, it is cooking the rice unevenly and the rice becomes wet and soggy after a few hours.

(And, yes, we can take the rice out of the cooker and put it in the fridge to reheat, so it wouldn't go to waste, per se.)

So, I had a second bowl.  It was a small portion, and I enjoyed it, but it didn't satisfy in the same way.  At all.  Because I didn't really want the food.  I wanted that delicious feeling of utter satisfaction.  And I was so driven towards that that I failed to recognize that I had that feeling already.  It. was. right. there.  Instead, I dropped it to chase it.

This is where eating mindfully can help me.  If I can slow down and savor to the very last bite, chew and swallow, bliss is there for the experiencing.

I love food.  And derive great pleasure from eating delicious food.  Eating mindfully can help me re-train my habit of thinking that eating more food will get me the pleasure I seek.  I can get a lot of pleasure from just one bite.  I know, because I've experienced that.

There's a flipside to this with two parts.

One is that maybe I have a fast absorption rate of pleasure (however that plays out biochemically...)  So, where someone else would experience the pleasure for longer, I burn through my pleasure quicker and it literally dissipates in an instant, leaving me eager and even a little edgy, for more.

The other is that I have a deep and unknown emotional (and/or possibly chemical) need for extending my experiences of pleasure (or having them at all).  This need extends its long fingers at the faintest whiff of pleasure and grabs at it, refusing to let go.

I know that I can achieve some balance through practicing Qigong.  And being more mindful and present in everything I do.  And hopefully, if there is some mystery emotional garbage down in my subconscious weighing me down, I'll be able to unearth that and get rid of that, too.

Kale chips

Making kale chips is kind of ubiquitous in some circles and I knew it was only a matter of time before I tried it myself.  I followed this recipe, offered up at Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

I found it hard to season these.  What do other people use to 'sprinkle' spices or sugar on things?  I use a spoon and these babies were seasoned very unevenly.  I've since noticed that in another recipe the seasoning happens in a bowl before the kale is placed on the baking sheet to go into the oven.

The result was good.  Not as 'chippy' as I had imagined they would be.  I liked how the flavor concentrates in the shrunken leaves.  The big surprise, though, was that my kids did not like them.  This is supposed to be one of those fool-proof ways to get kids to eat veggies.  I guess there's no foolin' my guys :-)

Because the kids didn't like them, there were leftovers.  I added some yesterday to my last bowl of pasta alfredo.

And today, I added the last of the kale to my scrambled egg with sautéed grated onion (leftover from the making of the alfredo sauce) which I had over fresh bread with mayo.  A very yummy lunch.

Liquid gold

I'm making chicken stock today. 

I use the recipe from Nourishing Traditions.  I bought this book when we lived in Sacramento.  It was part of my Waldorf experience at the time.  The book is interesting and has a lot of recipes and information.  As much as I appreciate the philosophy behind these recipes, I haven't used it much except for this stock recipe which is my tried-and-true.

So, my morning began with, among other things, chopping celery, onion and carrots, and cutting up a whole chicken (with gratitude to the chicken and Havenwood Farm).  It was a meditation.  Especially cutting the chicken which I do not have down to an art yet.  It pulled me right into the moment.  Quietly alert, awake and aware.  Alone and yet connected.

I can still smell the celery, onion and carrot on my fingers.

P.S.  I think it's going to be quiet here this week.  I've been under the weather and not so much in the mood to test new-to-me recipes, am wicked behind in other things, and will be going away for the Easter weekend.

Weekend breakfast

You can bet that if it's the weekend and breakfast-time, the unmistakable aroma of pancakes and waffles will waft out of the kitchen.  Red Sox Daddy's pancakes and waffles.

Our go-to pancake and waffle flour mix comes out of a bag.  We've talked about finding a recipe we could mix up at home (like we do for bread and cake), but somehow, this mix is has so entered our culinary muscle memory that I think it may be here to stay despite its hefty price tag (which, to be fair, we haven't exactly done the math on).

(Speaking of price tags, yep, we do love our "the good stuff" maple syrup...)

The Omnivore is a pancake guy.

GFCF Kid is a waffle man.

Red Sox Daddy: waffle iron master.

Leftover love

I sometimes think about opening a café.

When I see someone take a bite of something I made, and experience a moment of pure pleasure, it sends a wave of Delight coursing through me like practically nothing else.

Often, I think about a GFCF café.  Sometimes I think about a place where one can sample home-y (and my personal) favorites from around the world: okonomiyaki, empanandas, Haitian Creole rice and beans, fondue, latkes, Thai curry, potato salad, huancaína sauce, etc.

But, then I have a meal like this morning (it is often breakfast) and think my style in the kitchen would never translate to operating a successful eatery.

the alchemy of leftovers.

Red Sox Daddy's 'ketchup rice' seasoned afresh with salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic and cumin reheated in the pan that made The Ominvore's grilled cheese sandwich (grilled with Earth Balance).  A pastured egg added in and scrambled.  Placed atop this week's red leaf lettuce and dressed with this week's green goddess dressing.

As long as these leftover creations continue to nourish me, a significant chunk of my culinary repertoire will fall under 'leftovers'.  Not something I can put on a menu in print.  But, something that I would totally want to have on my café menu in spirit, to feed folks with flavorful and repurposed love.

Alfredo sauce, the next day

The tri-color rotini with Alfredo sauce reheated the next day was AWESOME.  It wasn't as pretty to the eye, but the texture and flavors melded wonderfully and I had seconds for lunch yesterday.

Ranch dressing

peppery.

This dressing makes my tongue sing!  You can find the recipe at Sally's over at 60in60.

• Munching on dates as I made this dressing took me back to my years in Sacramento.  Dates grew locally (and organically) there and it was there that I discovered these food gems which might as well be called Nature's candy.

• Putting this dressing together, I realized anew how crucial spices and herbs are in providing the foundation of how something tastes.  Yes, the creaminess and tang of Ranch dressing are significant components, but for a super smeller like me, when the scents of black pepper and dill hit my brain, I thought: yes, this is what makes Ranch, Ranch!

• I didn't follow the recipe to the letter.  I omitted the chives (because I was still in my jammies and my chives grow out in the backyard) and the parsley (because I'm lazy and was pulled into a wave of instant gratification-need and the parsley was in the fridge unwashed and unchopped).  I intend to include these in a future making of this recipe.

• I had the scrapings of the dressing on my salad yesterday for lunch (satisfying my need for instant gratification).  And it was good.  But, the recipe calls for the dressing to spend time in the fridge before serving to thicken it up and for the flavors to meld.  It is recommended once this has happened, to thin the dressing with a bit of hemp milk, as desired.  I did not do this this morning.  I have a cold and wanted the full punch of flavor.  And this dressing is flavorful...it is so delicious.

• You could put this dressing on a lot of things.  I've already had it on salad and eggs.  I could see enjoying this with so many things: toast, crudité, rice, chicken wings, and even pizza (which I may not have thought of had Sally not mentioned it in her post!)

Chickpea miso

If you like miso and/or are soy-free, do not walk, but run and get this chickpea miso.  It is the bomb.  The Omnivore was eating it by the spoonful this afternoon.  (Umami in a jar :-)

Thanks to Sally for using it in a recipe which is how I learned of it!

Alfredo sauce

So, Alfredo sauce.  This is a sauce I have not thought about in a long time.  I remember liking it when I was a teenager.  I would sometimes order it when my family went out for Italian.  Whenever we had pasta at home, it was prepared with tomato sauce or clam sauce.

Sally recently posted a recipe for Easy Dairy-Free Soy-Free Alfredo Sauce over at 60in60.  I was intrigued because I hadn't had Alfredo sauce in so long and because it was a "quick" meal.

The verdict?  It was good.

• GFCF Kid and I both felt that the sauce could have benefited from a touch a sweet.  Obviously, this is a matter of personal taste and I do not fault the sauce for this.  I will also note here that we are not accustomed to savory cheesy flavor GFCF style.  (He eschews casein-free cheese and I've enjoyed casein-full cheese my whole life.)  It may be the case that once our taste buds adjust to the flavor of, say, nutritional yeast, that we may not need added sweet to balance our palates out.

• I could not quite manage to whip up the sauce while the pasta was cooking.  I had some other things going (preparing turkey bacon and peas as sides), but also, I just move more slowly than the average person.  And as much as I desire '20-minute meals', I no longer value multitasking as I once did.  So slow and steady is how I move, concentrating on one thing at a time.

• I was very bummed that I forgot to save some of the pasta water.  I simply couldn't keep the detail in my head.  I even had the Pyrex cup out as a visual cue, but I missed it :-)

• I have a feeling that this sauce is going to be even better tomorrow.

• I love having an alternative pasta sauce to our staple turkey marinara sauce.

• I think this sauce might work well with rice, especially brown rice.

• It was very fun having the kids guess the ingredients of the sauce while we ate.  They both thought it tasted like hummus.  Bingo, one of the ingredients was chickpea miso (which, by the way, is really tasty!)

Spicy chili sauce and eggs

I love eggs and since I've discovered a local source for pastured eggs, I am over-the-moon in love.

so good in every way.

A favorite breakfast for me is eggs on toast.  One of the best things in the world is when Karen makes me her eggs on toast.

nothing better.

I haven't asked her to teach me how to make this dish because I don't want to know.  I only ever want her to make it for me.

When I'm in the mood, when my body chemistry calls for it, when I am in the need for a quick protein fix, I make eggs.  Scrambled, poached, fried, egg salad...always on toast slathered with mayo.

This morning, I was in need of a quick protein fix.  I remembered the Spicy Thai chili sauce I impulsively dropped into my basket when I went back to the market to get some bread-baking flours the other day.  (Sticking to weekly planned food shopping really helps me to reduce impulse buying.)

I toasted a slice of Erin's GFCF Sandwich Bread, scrambled two eggs in olive oil (we're running low on safflower this week), mayo-ed the toast, plopped on the just cooked eggs and dolloped some sauce on top.

Yum.  I think I prefer the sweet chili sauce, but this was plenty good.  The color kicks ass, too.

'Tamari' almonds

Technically these are Bragg's almonds.  Our household soy sauce is Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  We buy it in the big bottle and transfer it into our little Japanese soy sauce dispenser.  We also keep the small spray bottle handy for meals out.

I don't remember where I got this recipe, I've had it for so long.  It's so basic and so "here" it feels fine to share.

3 cups raw almonds

3 Tbs Bragg's (or whatever you use for soy sauce)

Place almonds on a baking sheet and put into a preheated 375º oven for 8 minutes.  (Keep an eye on these as you figure out the best temp/time for your oven, you don't want the almonds to burn.)

Remove from oven and immediately transfer to a mixing bowl and pour the Bragg's on.  Stir the nuts to coat.

Shake the Bragg's coated almonds back onto the baking sheet to cool and dry.

Store in airtight container in the fridge.  (Nuts should always be stored in the fridge, most nuts have a high oil content and go rancid if let out.  This article explains this all much better than I can.)

These are so yummy.  We eat them as a snack at home and on the go.

Soy-free peeps, what do you do to jazz up your almonds?

Fruit salad

festive.

Today the kids and I were supposed to go to the home of friends for play, conversation and food.  Our plans were foiled.  The Omnivore has a lingering cold and our friends have a young baby and plans to travel for Easter.

I had planned on making fruit salad and made it anyway.  Ripe raspberries wait for no one.

Believe me when I say I know there is a place for sugary sweets.  I love chocolate, I love brownies, I love cookies, I love pies.  I really love ice cream.

But, whenever I make fruit salad I am truly struck once again at how wonderfully celebratory it is.

I especially love it when my food has a lot of color.  And is fresh to the senses.  And is simple to make and a pleasure to experience.  Yup, fruit salad runs those bases with flourish and this crowd cheers every time.

When making fruit salad for a crowd, my general rule of thumb is one luxe fruit allowed.  Today that fruit was raspberries.  I chose the berries because they looked exceptional.  Additional pluses: GFCF Kid loves them and they would provide excellent color to the dish.

Apples, pears, bananas and oranges are staple fruits in our kitchen and I ended up using a Gala apple, a Bosc paper and a navel orange in this salad.  I had made smoothies with banana earlier in the day so left the banana out.

I remembered to defrost the bag of frozen mango (I love mango and it also has a nice bright color) but then forgot to use it :-)  I'm going to search for a recipe for something that calls for defrosted mango for tomorrow...suggestions welcome!

So simple.  One apple, one orange, one pear and a generous handful of raspberries.  And another beautiful thing about fruit salad is that you can make it to order.  Whatever you have on hand, whatever calls to you as you shop, whatever is in season, whatever sparks your imagination and taste buds, the possibilities are truly endless.

Sally's giveaway

Sally is giving away a cool looking/sounding book over at 60in60.  I hadn't heard about the book, or its author, but who doesn't love the chance to win something free? 

I'm interested in learning more about subbing ingredients in recipes, and, dare I say it?, eventually decreasing my use/consumption of sugar.  So, this book is going on my list, either way.

If you haven't already, do check out Sally's blogs.  Aprovechar made me feel like I had discovered a kindred spirit and 60in60 is now and exciting :-)

Fried rice

Fried rice is an unsung part of my repertoire.  It uses up leftovers, inspires creativity, and because it's rice, is often comforting.

A great tip for fried rice: use cold cooked rice.  I don't know the science of it, but suspect it has to do with the starch bonds not breaking down as easily if you start with cold rice, which leaves you with fried 'rice' rather than fried gooey blob.

This morning's scoping of the fridge was downright easy and pleasant because of the refrigerator reorg I performed yesterday.  I was hankering for pastured eggs (I love love love our pastured eggs), but wanted to keep it light and have only one (but one egg is so lonely whether it's scrambled or poached).  I saw the leftover 'ketchup rice' and my breakfast was born. 

I seasoned the rice with cayenne, smoked paprika and garlic powder and once it was heated through added the egg and scrambled it in.  I remembered the spring onion in the crisper a bit late and so tossed them in after the rice was off the heat (I prefer my eggs 'just' cooked).  The spring onion was pretty strong but the added color was crucial and I wasn't going to be facing any strangers in the next few hours so it worked :-)

Burritos

Having lived in California, I have a deep love for, and specifically fond memories of, burritos.  When I lived in San Francisco, my local taquería of choice was La Cumbre.  During that amazing year I ate a lot of burritos, mostly from this spot around the corner from my apartment.

Returning to California for our two years in Sacramento, I found "my burrito" at La Favorita Taquería.

I have yet to find the NoCal burrito of my dreams in northern Jersey or its environs.  Which is fine...and as it should be, really.

In the meantime, thanks to Red Sox Daddy's perfecting of Bette Hagman's Bean Flour Tortillas from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy, and the kids gradual and now full blown love of homemade burritos, we enjoy this staple meal three to four times a month.

I had mine with "ketchup rice", refried beans, salsa and green goddess dressing.  Yum.

(There's nothing wrong with ketchup rice, but I do have visions of someday enticing the family with a delectable "Spanish rice" formulation...)

Popcorn

Red Sox Daddy's popcorn is a fantastic GFCF food.  He makes it in a sturdy pot on the stove top with "a lot" of oil (usually safflower).  He tops it with melted Earth Balance and salt, I like it just as much with only the salt.

Lunch

soup and salad.

The Omnivore was in the mood for miso soup so I made some for his lunch and had some, too.  He also had a tiny leftover turkey burger with a slice of Muenster melted on top.

I made some more salmon pasta salad for GFCF Kid (he ate this for lunch yesterday, too).  Leftover GFCF rotini (we like Tinkyada) and leftover broiled salmon mixed with a dollop of mayo and seasoned with salt.

Cuke for one, corn for the other and they were vegged up.

I added the rest of the corn (from frozen) and toasted pine nuts to my basic salad (red leaf lettuce, cuke, grape tomatoes, sunflower seeds) and topped it with the green goddess dressing which was even tastier today than it was yesterday.

If you've never toasted your pine nuts before consuming, do so.  You won't regret it.

I love my Zyliss salad spinner.  I wash my lettuce, spin it, shred it and store it thus prepped in large quantity so that the lettuce is ready to go when I make a salad.  I am the only one here who likes salad, so it's handy to be able to grab a handful of lettuce at-the-ready.

Vegan jasmine rice pudding

Cheap Healthy Good is a new-to-me blog.  I picked it up via Sally's 60in60 blog.  (Which is so fabulous and inspiring and wonderful...I'll be reporting on her Ranch dressing and Alfredo sauce later this week :-)  Then, I found out that Shannon was familiar with Cheap Healthy Good, which was totally cool :-)

I spotted this recipe for rice pudding and wanted to give it a whirl.  I've long felt that rice pudding would be a good dessert for us.  GFCF Kid loves rice.  Yet, we've never made it.  Until now.

the way the kids wanted it.

the way I had mine.

This was simple to make and I stirred it while eating dinner with the kids.  We eat most of our meals in the kitchen so this was easy to do.  I also chose to time the preparation of the pudding so that we could eat it warm.  There are some leftover ramekins so we'll try it cold tomorrow.

The Omnivore found it "too sweet".  He kept saying he didn't like the texture of the rice as he ate about half of his serving.  He finally stopped eating and said it was too sweet.  I'm wondering if he was using the word "texture" to describe the dissonance he was experiencing between feeling the familiar texture of rice while tasting a very different (for him) flavor profile.  That it wasn't that it was too sweet, just weirdly sweet.

That being said, this is sweet.  It hovered right on the edge of being too sweet for me.  But, it worked.  The vanilla acted as a nice complement to the sugar, the cinnamon was a hint of counterpoint, and the crunch of the almond was really nice.  

Flavorful and comforting...a nice way to end dinner on a rainy night in the earliest of Spring.

Turkey soup and corn bread

This turkey soup recipe from Karina's Kitchen is a keeper.  (Karina=Gluten-Free Goddess...she of the fab brownie recipe :-)

• The Omnivore ate his whole bowl, GFCF Kid ate most of his.  This is nearly unheard of when they are trying something for the first time.

• GFCF Kid complained that there was too much turkey.  The recipe called for 1 1/2 lbs.  The butcher gave me just over that.  Next time I will reduce the turkey to as little as 1 lb.  (Which will make this meal lighter on the wallet, too.)

• This was an experiment in getting to know our crock pot a bit better.  I can't remember the last time I used it.  I cooked the soup on "high" for 5 hours (the suggested time is 4-5 hours).  Next time I will cook it for 4.  The turkey tonight was very well done.

• I subbed celeriac for the butternut squash for two reasons.  The first is that I hate dealing with butternut squash when it is uncooked.  It is such a freaking pain to cut and peel.  The second is that I remembered we still had the celeriac from our CSA winter share (which ended right around Thanksgiving) still rolling around in the crisper.  I think this worked well...I'm thinking the soup would be sweeter with the squash.

• I love a crock pot recipe that requires no pre-cooking of ingredients.  This is truly a one pot recipe.

• A crock pot cooking tip: cover the covered crock pot with a folded bath towel when cooking.  This prevents excess steam from escaping (the seal on these things is not tight).

• This was a hearty and deeply warming and satisfying soup.  I baked a corn bread in the cast iron skillet to have as a side.

it was a particularly lovely loaf.

delicious with green goddess dressing.

• Red Sox Daddy is not home yet.  I'll let you know how he liked this meal.

Green goddess dressing

Today is day one.

(I wasn't sure if Red Sox Daddy and I were going to go out alone yesterday afternoon, but we were able to, thanks to the kids' immune systems and our friends, Mountain Mama and son.  We went to Marshall's where I looked in vain for a Le Creuset dutch oven, but where we did find a game and a book for the kids.  We had time for lunch so went to Terra where I had a veggie burger with mayo and avo on a whole wheat challah bun and a tall Thai iced coffee.  Yum.)

So, yeah, today is day one.

I made a Green Goddess dressing from Delectably Free this morning (click on the link for the recipe).  It is very yummy.  I used the canola mayo I had in the fridge rather than buy Vegenaise since I am not egg-free.  For a soy-free version, it may work to sub avocado for the tofu.  (And use a mayo with no soy ingredients, which would make it no longer egg-free.)

I am looking forward to having some dressing with a salad for lunch.

Oh, a fun side note.  The one ingredient we couldn't find at Whole Foods yesterday (our date consisted of Marshall's, lunch and food shopping...I found it oddly and satisfyingly romantic) was chives, which was for this dressing.  I wondered, in a far off tiny corner of my mind if the chives had come up in my container "garden" (which has lain fallow for well over a year now).

This morning, I went to check and this is what I saw:

life rocks.

I only snipped half of what was growing out there, and was a bit short for the recipe.  Flavor-wise I knew the spring onion we had picked up in lieu of the scallions would make up for it.  I do think the dressing would be greener with more chives.  (I think I used only half the amount called for.)

I have a turkey soup going in the crock pot which I will blog about tomorrow and am planning on making rice pudding for dessert.  There is something about starting something new, and Mondays, which get me going.

Getting organized

Thank you to my friends who have made book suggestions.  I am a lover of books and confess to feeling a twinge of excitement to have a new reason to buy some books.  For, you see, neither suggested title was available through the library.  I had a recently rediscovered Amazon birthday gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so ordered the two books and half the price was knocked off.  Thank you, Jamie :-)

One Bowl by Don Gerard

recommended by Sue

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

recommended by Jamie

I am also choosing new recipes for the week while I meal plan and make a food shopping list.  Although my body is tired, my mind is energized.

Peace and love.

The why

I have a GFCF kid.

He has only ever had casein (the "C" in GFCF) as part of a milk challenge or by accidental ingestion (some swiped bites of cheesecake as a toddler and some GF cookies which had butter in them about six months ago after which he did not have his usual reaction).  Oh, he had plenty in utero and through my breast milk before I temporarily eliminated it from my own diet when he was a few weeks old (when he started to have bloody poops).

He used to like these wheat-free teething biscuits as a toddler.  Red Sox Daddy remembers us giving him these because they didn't have casein in them (not because they were wheat-free).  We didn't catch on to GFCF Kid's gluten issues until he was about 2 1/2 (by then he was enjoying pasta and baguettes on a regular basis).  

He was diagnosed with Celiac Disease shortly before turning 3.  His sigmoidoscopy biopsy came back inconclusive, but removing gluten from his diet showed fast, dramatic and positive results in his poops, mood and physical appearance/symptoms.  This was good enough for our team: him, us (Red Sox Daddy and me), and his pediatric GI doc at Boston Children's Hospital.

GFCF Kid has never looked back.  It is a no-brainer for him to be GFCF.

My relationship with GFCF has been more complicated.

GFCF Kid is almost 10.  I've learned a lot about cooking/eating GFCF and parenting a GFCF kid.  I have thought about going GFCF myself, first in solidarity, later on as a conscious health choice.  But, I never commited.

The reasons why now:

• I cannot consume casein foods in moderation.  I love cheese and ice cream in particular and when I eat these things, I eat a lot of it.  At 44, I think cutting casein out of my diet is a way in which I can care for my body and health, keeping an eye to the prize of physical longevity.

• I have long tossed this idea around in my mind.  I want to know what it's like to be GFCF Kid, at least in this aspect: what is it like to be GFCF in a gluten and casein filled world/culture?  If not now, when?  Synchronizing with the start of Spring feels good.  It's also a relatively new Moon...up in the sky and within my cycle.  (I've noticed that in the later part of my cycle I tend to crave casein foods.  Not a good time to start not eating them.)

• I have improved personal well-being in the last couple of years through traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).  I think going GFCF for a year will increase productivity in this area by increasing available Qi/energy, as well as, flow of Qi/energy.

• I have been trying, less successfully, to bring our household finances to order.  I am attempting to create more structure around time and money spent on food/food preparation.  My going GFCF will help me dig out of the money trap of getting take-out/eating out.

• Related to the above point, I want to strive towards preparing meals which hit upon the dietary needs/choices of our family in a balanced way and to minimize the amount of food I am preparing for a single meal (or Red Sox Daddy who cooks half of the family dinners).

• Related to the above point, I am energized and excited to check out some new-to-me blogs and search for new recipes.  I am planning to feature a new-to-me recipe once a week on this blog.

• By starting now, I am hoping to more fully engage with our CSA share when the fruits and veggies start rolling in right before the start of the summer.  I believe in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with all my heart and look forward to using more of the produce that comes and enticing the rest of the family to eat up what I make.

• My relationship with food is my elephant-in-the-room.  The one I don't talk about much, the one I have not been able to look deeply in the eye.  I love food, I love to eat, I come from a family of food lovers and eaters.  But, I also eat for comfort.  I am, most of the time, blind to the fact that I am not hungry.  I eat to satisfy my mind and my taste buds, not to nourish my body.  Nourishing my soul?  The jury's out on that one.  Because when I eat, it often feels like it is nourishing my soul.  That's intuitive in a way that I have felt comfortable with for a long time.  But, could there be more awareness around the intuition?  I think this is one way to find out.

I am going to treat this odyssey as a retreat of sorts.  Going GFCF for a year will simplify my eating life in an effort to create space which I aim to fill with awareness and clarity.  I am choosing to hit pause on the cycle of my eating.  I am escaping from the every day and visiting a place that is more quiet, more calm, and has some ground rules.

I'll let you know how it goes.