Because I need more projects.....

I was roving around work the other day and was struck with an idea. At work, we call walking 'roving' so it sounds purposeful. I often choose to rove in the 'cooking and entertaining' section of our library. I was putting cookbooks on display in that area when I grabbed this book:

 

How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition:) 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food

By Mark Bittman

Bob and I received a copy of this book for Christmas 2008 from my mother. Aside from last summer, we haven't really used this book. Last summer, when we were participating in our CSA, we received produce that we had no idea how to prepare, and this book came in hardy - yet I don't think we have discovered its full potential yet.

While flipping through this book, I came up with the idea of doing my own Julie/Julia project, but more appropriately named the Elizabeth/Mark project. Also, I'll be making everything gluten free.

Tonight, I made the first recipe in this 1,065 page book: Five Minute Drizzle Sauce.

Heat 4T of oil in a sauce pan. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and sauté. Add 2T of water and 2T of lemon juice. I then chose to add fresh herbs from our window box garden. I minced parsley, chives, thyme, and basil.

I then drizzled this over steamed rice. Bob and I keep a mixture of rices on hand. I buy whatever kind of rice is on sale at the store, add that bag to the container in our pantry, and then shake the container to mix it all up. I grew up on instant microwave rice and rice made in a rice maker, so when I moved out on my own I purchased a rice maker, because that is what I knew. However, I don't like having too many kitchen appliances around, so when Bob and I moved, we decided to get rid of my old, cheap, small rice maker, and instead we decided to learn how to cook rice on the stove top. Frankly, I was surprised at how easy it was.

I'll be honest, I should have looked up Mark Bittman's rice recipe to fit with the theme of this post, but I already had the rice cooking before I decided to make a sauce from the book.

Here is the recipe I use to make rice:

1. Put rice in a pot with a lid. Add water. Use the ratio of 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice.  
2. Set the heat to high, and bring the pot to a boil uncovered.  Then put the lid on the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Let the rice simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.  

This is not food, but it is a good cause

Hi. I'm Leto


I am participating in the Denver Dumb Friends League's 2010 Furry Scurry with my friend Bob and my friends at the Arapahoe Library District. The Denver Dumb Friends League helps homeless pets find good homes. Without their help, I would have never met my fur siblings— Penny and Duncan.

 Penny, my guinea pig sister, was brought to the DDFL after being found in a parking lot, during a snowstorm, in 2006. My mom adopted her and gave her a great home and lots of love.Penny passed away last spring. I want to help animals in her honor.

Duncan, my dog brother, was sent to the DDFL from a shelter in Wyoming that didn’t have room for him. He was skinny and shy when we met him, but now he’s healthy and fun to play with. He is my best friend and I am glad that he is part of our family.





To sponsor me, Bob, and the Arapahoe Library District, please click
here



Small donations go a long way to helping animals.

Guacamole

The best thing that a person can make without doing any cooking is guacamole. By cooking I mean nothing is every heated, just mixed together. This is considered a "raw food" for that very reason. I'm not quite sure where I am on the whole raw food movement, not having had a chance to read much literature on the topic, but I do know that well made guac is delicious and quite healthy. Here's what you need to make it.

4 large avacados diced (I occassionally do more to make extra because it lasts for a while and is great to snack on)
2 Roma Tomatos diced (I like the Roma because it doesn't turn to much when you cut it up)
4 Cloves of garlic minced
4 Jalapenos diced with seeds removed
1 Cup of Cilantro finely chopped (total guesstimation here, I generally use half of what they sell at the grocery store)
2 Limes juiced
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 Tbspn ground jalapeno (this is the biggest variable to make it as spicy as you like. If you don't like spice at all, I'd just drop this. If you're a big fan like I am than go wild)
1/2 onion finely chopped (I put this at the end because I don't usually put onion in my guac, but traditionally you would.)

At this point you have everything piled in your bowl. All you really need to do is get something to mix it together. I wouldn't use a food processor because you want your guac a little chunky, not smoothly blended. My go to tool is a potato masher. This does a really effective job of getting the consistency you want and mixing it together. Once the avacado has been mostly turned into green sludge then you may just want to take a spoon and stir everything to more evenly distribute the ingredients, but the mashing does the majority of the work for you.

A couple of tips when preparing the different ingredients.

1. You definitely want to get riper avacado. If you're slicing an avacado for a sandwhich or in a salad you can lean to less ripeness because you want it to hold its shape well. When making guac your life is easier if it mashes easier, so you can get away with the riper avacado. A good rule of thumb is when you are in the store picking out the avacado is to give it a squeeze. If it hardly budges you may want to let it sit out a couple days to ripen or pick a different one. If it is soft underneath the skin then it is ready to go.

2. Score the avacado. Slice the avacado in half and then pick out the pit with that knife. You then want to draw lines in a grid with your knife on the avacado without going through the skin. Then take a spoon and scoop out the rest. It will save you from making a huge mess.

3. Be wary of the jalapeno. You may want to wear gloves when dealing with these guys. The oils that come from the jalapeno will get on your fingers and burn for a couple of days if you don't prevent it from getting there are get rid of it afterwards. They make a metal bar (shaped like soap) to remove garlic smells by drawing out the oils. This works pretty well but doesn't get under your fingernails. If you forget you will go to bed dreaming of your hand being on fire.

The taste is much better than anything you can get in a store because it is fresh. It is healthy because of the natural ingredients and the good fats that the avacado provides. This whole process probably takes under an hour and is well worth it.

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.