Enchiladas

I love Enchiladas. At a Mexican restaurant, 9 out of 10 times I eat enchiladas. B and I make them at home on ocassion and a few weeks ago I was getting an enchilada craving. We haven't been eating out much lately and decided we'd make some at home. Here's the downside: I went shopping and discovered that canned Enchillada sauce is not gluten free. I went home very disappointed because I had to rethink my whole meal plan for that week. I began researching how to make sauce at home. In the mean time, Bob decided to go shopping and pick up some sauce. Living gluten free is still confusing to me, and I'm the one living it. B tries so hard by reading labels and helping me imagine new recipes, and it broke my heart to see the look on his face when I had to tell him that the sauce he brought home had hidden gluten in the ingredients. He was trying to take care of me and I don't blame him for being confused. I love that he tries.

Before Gluten Free (or BGF) one of my favorite places to eat was a Mexican place called Jose O'sheas. Bob and I would often go their with his sister Allison and her husband Tad. My favorite dish there was the Spinach Enchiladas, but then those bastard went and discontinued it about a year ago. Who does that? Anyway, the Spinach Enchiladas were stuffed with spinach and mushrooms, and then topped with a cheesy spinachy spicy sauce and melted jalapenocream cheese. They were amazing, so I decided to make my own spinachy sauce for my enchiladas.

Defrost a package of frozen spinach. Put in food processor with some jalapenos and blend/process well. Then heat it up on the stove with some milk or EVoo to thin it out. Pour over enchiladas and bake. 

Good and spicy. We stuffed these ones with cheese and ground beef. We used corn tortillas. We always like to top our enchiladas with black olives. 

GF flours

I am so excited to be stocked with Gluten Free flour...I just had to take a picture!

A bit about Celiacs

Guess how I spent Valentine's Day...

Holding hands with my love?

Kissing my love?

Going to work? 

Eating wonderful food?

Nope. Sitting on the couch with a tummy ache. 

Last night, B and I went out with his family to celebrate his mom's birthday. We went to a pizza place near us that has gluten free crust. Their crust was actually very good, but the GF crusts only come in small, so B and I each got a salad to start. When our salads arrived, mine had a piece of bread on the plate. I am not super assertive yet with my dietary needs, I'm just scared to be. Naive me thought that I could just pick up the piece of bread, give it to Bob, and be ok.

About 45mins later I started to get the tummy rumble. Gluten attack!

It lasted the rest of the evening. I was able to hang on for all the festivities, but then I just went to bed with a heating pad on my tummy and the worst headache ever. The symptoms continued today, causing me to call in sick to work. I described the way I felt as food poisoning.

There is now no doubt in my mind that I have Celiacs, and that my body cannot handle gluten. I never want to experience a night like that again. 

All the books say that even one crumb of bread can cause a reaction. I believe it.

My Valentine has been nursing me back to health. I love him.

Valentine Mudslide

My special to treat to my beloved wife this Valentine's day was let her experience the mudslide. This is an alcoholic concoction which is so delicious I don't mind that it diminishes my manly drinking street cred. The ingredients are Kahlua, Vodka, Ice, Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce, and Bailey's. There are debates on whether Bailey's is gluten free so I excluded it to be safe. I also used orange Vodka because that's what we had available. It actually adds a nice layer of flavor. On my second go around I added a few Bananas to smooth out the flavors even more. Don't ask me amounts. This is all on gut feeling. Pour alcohol (Vodka, Kahlua) about equally until you are satisfied that you will feel it and taste as you are drinking. Don't skimp on the chocolate, that should be a dominate flavor.

Turkey Cranberry Meatloaf

Bob loves meatloaf. (Come to think of it, Bob loves a lot of things...) 

My hard working husband put in a 12hr day last week. Class in the morning, 8 hrs of work, and no time to come home for lunch. All why I sat around the house watching soap operas.

To cheer him up, I surprised him with a Turkey Cranberry Meatloaf and some Rosemary Potato wedges.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Mix the meatloaf. Take 1lb of ground turkey and put it in a bowl. Add some mustard, poultry seasoning, an egg, and breadcrumbs. I have been making my own gluten-free bread crumbs by saving the crumbs from the bottom of the cereal, corn chips, and cracker packages. Saves me money and saves my tummy. I then mixed in a spoonful of prepared cranberry sauce. I bought some in a jar a while ago that we keep in the fridge, and it is a great topping on turkey burgers. Mix everything well.

Form. I don't use a bread loaf pan for my meatloaf, I just free form a loaf on a cookie sheet, then spray it over with some olive oil.

Bake. At 400 for about 35mins. use a meet thermometer to test the internal temp. You want it to be 165.

About 10mins into the baking, I tossed some prepared potato wedges onto the cookies sheet. I like the Alexia Foods brand. (http://www.alexiafoods.com/)

This was really good. We ate it all, there were no leftovers.

Roast Chicken

Bob loves roast or baked chicken. In an attempt to cut back on the amount we spend on food, and to simplify our meal planning, Monday night at our home is 'chicken night.' I do not work on Monday's, and roast chicken is something that I can easily toss in the oven and leave to bake while I work on cleaning the house or doing some of my other projects. Bob works Monday afternoons and evenings, and a few weeks ago when he came home for his dinner break, he told me that he could smell the food from his parking spot outside our home and was so excited that those yummy smells were coming from his home.

I am almost embarrassed to post this, because it is really, really easy. Also, I like B to think that I have slaved in the kitchen all day to create the meal for him.

First, preheat the oven to 450. I always use a quartered chicken, but you can roast a whole chicken, just cook it a little longer. I season the chicken skin with various spices, depending on our mood, but one of our favorites is a lemon garlic poultry blend that we buy at our local spice shop - Savory Spice shop (http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/)

Then, I put the pieces in a roasting pan and place them in the oven. I let them bake 45mins, then test to see if the pieces reach 165 on the meat thermometer. If so, they are disease free and safe to eat!

I usually pair this with a quick side, like a tossed salad or some veggies.

Steakhouse dinner

Bob loves a good steak. And I love him. I recently recreated out Valentines dinner from last year, which is posted here. And the results....

Seasoning the steaks

Boiling the Potatoes. We subbed Sweet Potatoes in for the regulars.

All four burners going at once. I'm always amazed and a bit anxious when this happens in my kitchen.

The finished product. Rosemary seasoned steak. Creamed spinach with warmed tomatoes. Mashed sweet potatoes with horseradish.