Easy chana masala and kale

The "easy" comes from the fact that I did not make this chana masala.  Here's a recipe for chana masala that looks good.  It is one of Red Sox Daddy's fave Indian dishes.

I bought some yesterday morning during a solo week's food shopping trip.  It was early and I was alone at the deli counter at Whole Foods which never happens.  While I was waiting for the usual slow cooked ham and roasted turkey, I had a clear view of the big, pretty (read colorful...orange is a color that just makes me happy) vats of chicken vindaloo and chana masala.

The chana masala was vegan and GF so I went off-list and bought a pint container for Red Sox Daddy.

Fast forward to lunch today.  RSD did not like the texture of the chickpeas so there was quite a bit of the chana masala leftover.  There was also leftover white rice in the rice cooker.  I had some kale calling to me so I made me a chana masala-kale rice bowl.

I reheated the chana masala, sautéed the kale with garlic, and added both to a bowl of rice.  Yum.

Sautéed Kale

1 bunch kale, washed and torn into bite-size pieces

1 large/2 small cloves garlic

extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of a sauté pan

Heat olive oil and press garlic into pan. (I love my garlic press, you may do with your garlic what you will)

Add kale.  Stir well.

Lower heat and cover so kale wilts.

Snack

This blog and my knitting blog have been suffering from some serious neglect.  

I'm in a big decluttering phase right now and energy is definitely going towards unhitching myself, and my family, from environmental (and emotional) baggage.  I sense that as we get deeper into Fall, and certainly by Winter, that I will be more focused on nourishing through food and fiber.

Apple season has arrived in the Garden State.  Our CSA fruit orchard has plenty of apples and we've been enjoying a variety of flavors and textures.  Lately, snacks are an apple and something salty/crunchy.

Today, the kids and I cleaned out and reorganized the pantry.  We found the Chinese rock candy we picked up at an Asian market over the summer.  It rounded out the snack offerings nicely :-)

Hummus-avocado open-faced sandwich

Things have definitely been quiet on the kitchen front.  I mostly go in to fix quickish, routine meals these days.  I am a woman of many passions and don't have enough time and/or energy to juggle all of them at once.  Well that, and it's not in my nature.  I abandoned thinking of multi-tasking as a good thing a long time ago and have never looked back.

I was happy to see that one of my avocados was ripe today.  (Locals, organic avocados on sale at Whole Foods...a bag of four for $4!)

My body has been insistent on being fed protein lately, so rather than my usual avocado on toast with mayo, I decided to swap some hummus in for the mayo.  (My hummus of choice is the Whole Foods house hummus in the "original" flavor.)

I shook on some salt pepper and drizzled the delectable Falconero olive oil over the whole thing.

Oh.  My.  Freaking.  God.  Soooooo good.

I tried not to moan too loudly as I ate since GFCF Kid was sitting across from me enjoying his lunch of something else (he thinks avocados are gross.)

With a couple of bites left, I came somewhat back to earth and thought I'd take a picture.  For you :-)

Now, I know this is not an original sandwich.  And, it's quite likely I've had this combo before.  But, when you're ADDish like me, it is a pleasure of life that wonderful experiences feel completely new because past experiences have been forgotten.

So I present to you, the new-for-me-today: hummus-avocado open-faced sandwich.  Use your most delicious olive oil for this.  It can really make the sandwich sing.

Wraps

It's been all about wraps, or, if we'd rather (because sometimes I would), breakfast burritos, for me in the mornings lately.

Scrambled pastured egg(s), veg and/or aromatic from the farm, Daiya cheese or mayo, seasonings, in some wonderful (and sometimes magical) combo rolled up in a brown rice tortilla.

My breakfast wraps are quick and easy.  I slap a tortilla on a cast iron griddle and heat it over medium to medium-high heat.  The tortilla is so thin I don't even bother turning it, it heats through right nice.

I then sauté/scramble whatever I'm having inside the wrap in a swirl of olive oil: sometimes thin crescents of onion, this week more often than not leftover braised cabbage, this morning it was just two lovely eggs.  (I like my eggs just this side of cooked, so I keep an eye on them so they don't hang out in the hot pan longer than necessary.)

If I'm having cheese, I sprinkle Daiya cheese onto the tortilla when I put it on the griddle.  Placing a lid to cover will help melt the cheese faster, but it's usually not necessary (the heat of whatever goes on top before wrapping always suffices to finish the melting process before the first bite reaches my mouth).

By the time the eggs are approaching ready, the tortilla is heated up and I slide it onto a big plate.  This morning, I spread some mayo on the tortilla, gently nestled the eggs on top of the mayo, and shook on some salt and black pepper (I've been kind of nuts for red pepper flakes the last few weeks, but didn't feel like it today).  Then I spooned on the sublime tomato salad Cap made, leftover from dinner last night.  (Tomatoes delivered from the farm yesterday, farm garlic, farm basil, olive oil.)  

These wraps are big and I've learned to be generous with the stuffing.  More tomato salad?  No problem.

I'm not fancy with my wrapping.  I roll it up and start eating.  As things fall out the end(s) I just eat them off my plate or stuff them back in with my fingers.

So good, so quick, so nice to look forward to every morning.

Farm fresh

We're knee deep in tomatoes from the farm and peaches form the orchard (the veggies in my lunch all came from our CSA share).  

For lunch today, I tossed together some leftover corn (sliced off the cob), cut up tomato, finely chopped onion, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and Falconero evoo.  Toasted up some Udi's multigrain sandwich bread, spread it with mayo, and had me an open-faced salad sandwich.  Summer had a party in my mouth :-)

Carrot tofu scramble

This is a longtime favorite of GFCF Kid's. The recipe came to us via my sister who got it from The Vegetarian Times Cookbook. If you have a food processor it's pretty quick to put together. It's great over white rice. This is the only way, so far, that GFCF Kid enjoys tofu. I've made this for various people who have always really liked it.

Carrot Tofu Scramble

2	Tbs vegetable oil (I use safflower oil)
1	lb carrots, grated
1	lb extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1/3	cup Bragg's
1/3	cup sesame seeds
1	tsp dark sesame oil

Directions

1. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the carrots, stirring, for 15 minutes.
   
   
2. Add the tofu and cook, stirring, until the carrots are soft, about 5 minutes more. (I put the block in whole and mash with potato masher.)
   
   
3. Add the Bragg's and sesame seeds. Cook 1 minute more.
   
   
4. Stir in the teriyaki sauce.
   
   
5. Serve hot.
   

Sweet banana crumpets

Let me start by stating that I am not a crumpet person. I don't think I've ever had one homemade. I vaguely remember trying a store bought one at the home of a child whose family I used to provide respite care to, twenty or so years ago.

When I saw this recipe for Sweet Banana Crumpets, this was what caught my eye:

"They are delicious warm from the oven as shown-- but truly sublime when sliced in half and grilled in a touch of olive oil till golden."

Gluten-Free Goddess knows how to eat :-)

I bought these muffin rings to make this recipe. I like cute gadgety things...and I love these.

Beautiful.

These crumpets were easy to make. They are cooling now and tomorrow, I plan to serve them grilled with homemade strawberry soy ice cream. Yum :-)

Seasoned nori

Until fairly recently, I had no idea that nori had the nutritional richness that it does. (Huh, it contains protein?!)

I grew up eating the stuff and the kids have been eating it since they were wee, mostly as a wrap for sushi or onigiri.

I remember eating ajitsuke (flavored) nori when I was a kid. The seasoning changed the quality of the nori experience, for sure. Japanese seasoned nori is flavored with soy sauce, which contains wheat. So, GFCF Kid has not been able to try this savory treat.

About a month ago, we were over at Melody's house and she made us lunch. She served us Korean seasoned nori and I was delighted to see that the ingredients were just nori, sesame oil, corn oil and salt. I tried it and loved it. I can't remember if the kids tried it or not. They tend to not eat very much when we are at someone's house. They want to get back to playing.

Last weekend Cap and I had some kid-free time and we used part of it to make our first trip to H Mart, a Korean supermarket. One of the items I was on the look out for was seasoned nori. And I found it :-) The kids cannot get enough of it, they absolutely love it. They've been wrapping rice with it and eating it unadorned as a snack in the car.

Natto

Natto is one of those foods people either love or hate. Natto is fermented soybeans and you can read about them here.

I hated the way natto looked, more than anything, when I was kid and my parents would eat it. But, somewhere along the line, I tried it again as an adult and discovered that I really liked it. The added bonus of its healthful properties push it over to a must-eat food.

Because I eat it uncooked, and soy is not on-list, I have not been drawn to eating it during this semi-Dragon's Way time. But, I did have some the other day. Partly because we've been eating a lot of rice thanks to our new rice cooker, and partly because I was in the mood for having a pastured egg raw.

My favorite way to have natto is with a raw egg, soy sauce (I tried it this time with coconut aminos but didn't love it...will go back to Braggs next time), grated daikon pulp and chopped scallion. Sometimes I add shredded nori. Yum.

Natto freezes really well. I usually buy a bunch whenever I go to an Asian market and toss them in the freezer. They defrost overnight in the fridge or in about an hour on the counter.

Teriyaki-ish chicken

The photo is not very appetizing. This was one of those instances where the magic of what I was doing removed any thoughts of archiving from my mind. By the time I realized I wanted to take a photo, all the nicely browned pieces were eaten and the day's natural light was fading fast (I much prefer shooting in natural light than the flash.)

I'm sorry to say that there isn't much of a recipe to speak of in this post, either. I wing this dish, based on experience. I hope you can give this idea time and repetition, too. It's worth it. Promise.

Ingredients:

* skinless boneless chicken breast (no reason you couldn't use skin-on chicken here)
* safflower oil
* garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar
* Bragg's or coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
* mirin

Heat a pan that you will be able to cover, add oil.

Slice into the chicken breasts, but do not cut through. Alternately, you could pound the chicken. (The point is to allow the chicken to cook through in less time.)

Season the chicken with garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar, to taste. I usually season just one side and let loose with the garlic powder, in particular. The sugar is critical for that teriyaki flavor.

Once the oil is hot, place chicken in pan. Tongs work nicely to place them gently, minimizing hot oil splash.

Add mirin (about 1/4 cup for about 1 lb. of chicken) and soy sauce substitute (2-3 Tbs) over the chicken, into the pan.

Cover and steam/braise/cook over a medium to medium-high for 5 minutes. The liquid in the pan should be bubbling merrily.

Uncover, flip the chicken over, cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let sit for about a minute or two.

Serve sliced, with rice of choice and a veggie.

The chicken should be remarkably tender and moist, the flavor yummy. Tweak your seasoning and cooking time/stove top heat to your liking next time, if it doesn't quite do it for you the first time.

Pasta with bread crumbs

Sometimes what the heart wants is double starch super carb.

Since mentioning pasta with bread crumbs in yesterday's post, the idea has been lodged in my mind. Firmly.

And I had a hankering for it tonight, so here it is:

• GF pasta of your choice (Red Sox Daddy made tuna pasta salad for dinner tonight so I had him set aside some rotini for me)
• GF bread crumbs
• veggie(s)/aromatics of your choice, or, choose no veggie(s)/aromatics at all (tonight I added plum tomato and scallion)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper (if I wasn't using any aromatics I would definitely add garlic powder here)

Heat the olive oil in the pan. Add chopped scallion and sauté. Add chopped tomato and sauté some more. Add bread crumbs and sauté some more (if you prefer crunchy bread crumbs, toast them in a separate pan before adding...tonight I was in the mood for a one-pan meal). Add pasta and mix thoroughly and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and/or the seasonings of your choice).

Enjoy.

Namaste spice cake mix

We had two birthday celebrations to attend this weekend and I was looking for a time saver. I pulled out the bag of Namaste Spice Cake Mix I had picked up at Nature's Pavilion a couple of weeks ago (for nostalgia's sake...GFCF Kid used to love this cake before Red Sox Daddy and I became more adept at baking GFCF cakes).

GFCF Kid okayed bringing along Spice Cake cupcakes to the shindigs as an alternative to birthday cake.

The cupcakes were incredibly flavorful and tasty though, for me, they border on too sweet. He didn't want frosting so we skipped that.

My sister called the next night singing the cupcakes' praises wanting to know which mix we had used. She has plans to add in nuts, coconut and maybe raisins. The mix can be converted to make carrot cake, as well. It's versatile.

Garlicky pureed chickpea dip with cucumber and yogurt

...the subtitle of this post: Rookie Mistake.

Tomorrow I will be joining some friends for Sacred Singing.  I already knew I wanted to make the poppyseed crackers Tiina made for me yesterday, this week.  I thought I'd make hummus to go with them, but then found this recipe in my binder and decided to make it instead.

(In a bit of ADD distraction I reorganized my recipe binder while meal planning...punched holes in a bunch of sheets and went through all of them to see if there were any I wanted to get rid of.  Of course there weren't, I'm a bit of a pack rat by nature.  But, I pat myself on the back when I veered away from looking for dividers to organize the recipes further, into categories.)

The recipe is from a book called The Instant Bean.  I borrowed it from the library back in Sacramento.

Garlicky Pureed Chickpea Dip with Cucumber and Yogurt

Makes about 2 cups.

2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup rinsed and drained canned chickpeas
1 fresh jalapeño or serrano chile, seeded, deveined (wear rubber gloves), and chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 large cucumber (preferably Kirby), finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup plain yogurt

In a food processor, puree the garlic, chickpeas, jalapeño, cilantro, cumin, and salt, stopping to scrape down the sides, until smooth.

In a bowl, stir together the cucumber and yogurt, add the chickpea puree, and combine the mixture well.

The dip can be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled.

My rookie mistakes:

• I like garlic.  I always put more garlic than what's called for in a recipe.  My dip came out too garlicky, especially for a lunch following an activity called "Sacred Singing".  When making a new recipe, or one I haven't made in a long time, I really should try to remember that you can add seasoning, but it's pretty impossible to take it away.  I also did not pay attention to the actual name of the recipe.  They're already calling it "garlicky"...which means you probably don't need to kick it up a notch...

• I don't work with chiles.  But, the idea of some heat appealed to me, so I subbed cayenne pepper.  And used too much.  You can see it in the pictures.  (The dip is so green and yet you can see the red flecks...kind of like fire ants!)

Other stuff:

• I used about 2/3 of an English cuke rather than a Kirby.

• I subbed plain, unsweetened coconut yogurt for the yogurt.

• I made this the night before I plan on eating it.  I like to do this when I can so the ingredients can get all friendly...becoming more than their sum, so to speak.

• I may add lemon juice to this in the morning.  It might benefit from a little brightening.

• Every single time I need this much cilantro, I wish I had a sous chef in my back pocket.  I hate washing, drying and plucking cilantro leaves off their stems.  This particular bunch of cilantro was a sad one with some brown spots throughout and so the task was even more arduous than usual.

• The name of this recipe is so cumbersome...especially for a dish that is really fast to make.  Prepping the cilantro was the most labor intensive step of this recipe, by far.

• I am curious to see whether the crackers, which are amazing, will elevate this batch of dip (the mistakes being all mine).  I'll post about the crackers soon.  I'm making them in the morning.

just call me 'hot stuff'

embiggen for fire ants.

Rotini with turkey sausage, tomato and asparagus

Asparagus recipes are abundant in my corner of the blogosphere this Spring.

I made this very simple recipe plucked from Cheap Healthy Good for dinner tonight.

I subbed Tinkyáda brown rice spirals for the whole wheat pasta the recipe called for.  The sweet Italian turkey sausage came from the butcher at Whole Foods.  The asparagus was nice and thin as they tend to be early in the season.  The diced tomatoes came from a can.  I opted not to add nutritional yeast (a sub for the Parmesan cheese) because it was plenty salty and flavorful already.

It's almost a one pan meal (you need a second pot to cook the pasta).  It is remarkably tasty for something that takes so little effort and time to prepare.  It hit all the bases of veggie, protein and starchy carb for a nice homerun :-)

I forgot I wasn't eating meat till my second to last bite!  I ate them last bites :-)