Sweet and Sour Pork

I remember going to my grandma's house every year for my mom's birthday and drooling over a giant turkey platter piled full of homemade sweet and sour pork.  Bite sizes of crispy pork and chunks of luscious pineapple swimming in a golden sauce that was perfectly sweet yet perfectly sour.  I always looked forward to mom's birthday dinner, so I could eat some of my favorite foods!  

When you have to change your eating due to food allergies, it's not like being on a diet.  You can't have your once a year/month/week binge and make up for it by working out extra hard at the gym or having lettuce for dinner.  If you have your binge, you are left with consequences far greater than an extra pound on the scale. You can become violently ill or break out in a rash, or even worse, suffer an anaphylaxis reaction.  Often times, the reaction you have to the offending food can last much longer than your initial reaction, lasting for days, weeks, or even months, leaving you suffering with headaches, body aches, digestive issues, and countless other issues.  For me, if I eat foods with gluten, I wake up the next morning feeling like I am extremely hungover.  I'm tired, nauseous, irritable, and achy.  Each time I eat gluten, it leaves me wanting more gluten, starting that entire cycle all over.  

It can be frustrating to try to convert your favorite family recipes to a gluten-free version.  The flours generally don't work on their own, the suggested make-your-own kinds can be costly, and the pre-made "cup-for-cup" all-purpose flours just don't always seem to work out in your favorite cake or cookie recipe.   Plus, many of those pre-made blends have other ingredients I can't, shouldn't, or won't eat.  Luckily, this recipe only calls for a small amount of flour, and I found substituting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour that worked just fine. As always, make sure that all ingredients are free of any allergens you need to avoid.

I think the key to this recipe is frying the pork twice to achieve that truly cripsy batter.  It's a little bit of extra time, but totally worth it! 

Since this is a special occasion dish for us, and it's usually made for a family get-together, I tend to double or quadruple the recipe.

Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Pork

1 lb pork tenderloin, visible fat trimmed, cut into 1" cubes

Your favorite high-heat oil for frying

Batter:

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1/2 c. organic cornstarch

1/4 c. gluten-free all purpose flour (I'm really liking this brand right now)

1/4 c. chicken broth

1 tsp. grated ginger (fresh or powdered)

Sauce:

1 tbl. organic corn starch mixed with 1tbl. water till smooth

1 8oz. can chunk pineapple in 100% juice (not syrup)

1 TBL gluten free soy sauce/liquid aminos/coconut aminos

5 tbl rice vinegar (not seasoned)

5 tbl organic sugar

1/2 bell pepper, cut in small chunks

Preheat oven to 250*.  Set aside an oven safe shallow dish (like a jelly roll pan) lined with a  couple paper towels. 

Heat a dutch oven or deep heavy skillet to 350* with approximately 2" of oil. 

Mix together egg, salt, cornstarch, flour, chicken broth, and ginger until batter is smooth. I like to use the blender for this.  Place cut up pork in a large bowl and pour batter over the pork.  Make sure to coat each piece of pork completely with batter. 

Working quickly, carefully place pork, one piece at a time, into hot oil with tongs and dry to a light golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.  Work in batches and be sure not to crowd the pork, or it will clump together and the yummy batter will fall off.  When you take your first pieces of pork out of the oil.  Place them on the oven safe baking dish layered with paper towels.  Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, adding each batch of pork until you are finished frying all the pork.  Leave in the oven until a few minutes before serving.

Use a candy thermometer to make sure your oil is the proper temperature.

In a medium sized saucepan, mix together cornstarch water mixture, vinegar, and soy sauce.  Add the juice from the can of pineapple into the sauce pan as well, reserving the pineapple chunks.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Add pineapple and cook for one minute.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until ready to serve.

Sauce waiting to meet the crispy pork

While the sauce is cooking, reheat the oil back to 350*.  Add the pork back to the oil and fry once more until a medium golden brown and it's extra crispy.  If you need to fry in batches, make sure to keep the pork in the oven so it doesn't get cold and soggy.

Place twice fried pork in a large serving dish.  Pour sauce over the top.  Serve immediately.   

So much yummy goodness, you won't want to share! 

Homemade Chinese Food

My mom's birthday fell on Chinese New Year's this year and my sis and I decided that she needed a homemade Chinese Food Feast for her Birthday dinner.  I remember my grandma used to always make Chinese food for my mom for her birthday...sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli, and egg rolls.  All of mom's favorites! 

I think I get my food allergies from my mom.  She has anaphalaxis reactions to shrimp, which pretty much eliminates going out to many restaurants.  She can't even eat something that has come into contact with shrimp or she could die. Super scary! 

Of course, I decided that I would make the stuff Grandma used to make...sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli...plus noodles, fried rice, lemon chicken and three other chicken dishes. And of course, they would all be gluten free so I could eat them.  And, because it would be a feast with leftovers for the week to come, I would make double, triple, or even quadruple of each recipe.  

Did I mention that I have slowly been recovering from pneumonia lately?  

That I hosted a Super Bowl Party the week before while I was just getting over the worst of being sick and was totally exhausted for days afterwards?

  That there was going to be 13 people for dinner at my house?  

That I got totally overwhelmed looking at all the groceries and the menu I planned that I started to have an anxiety attack?  

 You could say that I tend to take on too much...  I'm slowly learning that the hard way....

Luckily, my mom, being the sweet angel that she is, volunteered to come help me cook her own birthday dinner. We spent 4.5 hours chopping, stir-frying, boiling, baking, and deep frying a feast that, that when it was all done, would have fed a small country. Dave was amazing and totally cleaned up the house to make it "company ready."

One thing I did do, was cheat and buy a few pre-made seasoning packets for the chicken dishes.  I did my best to find ones that were free from MSG, visible gluten, and all the gunk you usually find in pre-made foods.  They tasted good, but they aren't a part of our diet and are something I only would buy when having a big dinner party like this.  The did taste EXACTLY like your local take out.

I did, however,  make sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli, noodles, and fried rice all from scratch.  

First, I made the beef and broccoli from this yummy recipe from Iowa Girl Eats.  In my haste, I forgot to marinate the meat, so I just added some Braggs Liquid Aminos (gf soy sauce replacement) while the meat was cooking and it still turned out fantastic.  

I also made Iowa Girl's fried rice.  It was great and tasted just like takeout. Minor changes....I used white rice instead of brown, frozen peas and fresh diced carrots in place of the frozen mixed veggies, and liquid aminos in place of the soy sauce.

Then I made my version of Garlic Noodles from Crepes of Wrath.  I'll post my version of that soon! 

And finally, I made my  grandma's "famous" sweet and sour pork.  Mom and I figured out how to make the batter gluten free.  It was so tasty, exactly like Grandma makes it.  That recipe will be coming soon as well! 

In the end, everyone loved the food, the family had some quality time together, and my mom had a great birthday.  And to top it all off, my mom snuck over to my house the next day while I was at work, and finished cleaning up the kitchen.  Who does that?

Mom, next year, I think I'm going to scale back dinner, or just take you out for a steak and let the professionals take care of everything.

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Before I started on my journey for a healthier diet, I used to think sweet potatoes were reserved for Thanksgiving dinner and were only to be eaten with scorched marshmallows on top.  I never cared for them because they were too disgustingly sweet.  I think there was more sugar in the dish than actual sweet potatoes.  

As I began to learn more about cooking, especially after beginning my food allergy journey, I began to realize that there was a beautiful world of sweet potatoes out there beyond the marshmallows.  

Baked Sweet potatoes with butter and maple syrup.  

Sweet potato fries. 

Sweet potato tots.

Sweet Potato hash. 

Roasted Sweet potatoes.  

Now that I've found that I need to limit my consumption of potatoes (and all nightshades), sweet potatoes (not nightshades) are my new favorite menu items.  

Lately, I love preparing them roasted.  Theres something about roasted veggies that just a staple of winter-time meals.  Plus, turning on the oven also gives the house an extra boost of heat to the chilly house. 

This recipe is great served any time of day. For breakfast with a side of bacon and topped with a fried egg.  For lunch topping a salad with a leftover chicken apple sausage.  For dinner as a side to roasted chicken.  Mmmmmm! 

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes


2 large sweet potatoes
1 tart apple (I like pink lady or Arkansas Black)
1tbl coconut oil melted
Salt, pepper, and cinnamon
2 tbl maple syrup

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into small cubes.  Core apple, peel if desired, and cut into cubes.  Melt coconut oil and toss with sweet potatoes and apples.  Season with salt, pepper, and cinnamon to taste.  Spread onto a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Roast at 400* for 25-30 minutes until soft and slightly browned (or desired level of done-ness).  Drizzle with maple syrup and serve immediately.

Homemade Ghee

I don't know about you, but I have always had an aversion to all foods "diet."  

Diet sugars taste like chemically dirt. 

Diet milk tastes like white water. 

Diet butter tastes like the plastic tub it comes in.

Diet cream cheese tastes like paste. 

Diet desserts taste like their cardboard packaging. 

It just never made sense to me....

Why eat a bunch of diet foods, when you can just eat a small bit of the real food?  If you eat 2 boxes of diet cookies, you are still overeating...

But like every young, overweight girl, I fell prey to the media marketing of girls needing to have a body that looks like an 8 year old boy.  I ate my fare share of everything diet, sugar free, and fat free.  Those foods never satiated my appetite and always left me hungry and craving more food, as well as craving REAL food.

As I got older and started to have so many health problems, I always knew that my problems were somehow connected to diet despite what my doctors were saying.  I spent hours researching about all the harmful pesticides on and in our foods, the genetically modifying of crops, the chemicals, preservatives, and additives that are in so many of our foods.  I really started becoming mindful of what we ate, choosing organic over conventional, as well as drastically reducing the amount of processed foods we ate.  We started eating real foods. 

I found that eating a small portion of real food kept me energized and full for much longer than a large portion of diet foods.

One thing I have always had a love affair with was butter.  Real butter.  

Mmmmmmm!  

Paula Deen has it right on the butter part for sure. 

Butter became a staple in my kitchen once again.  However, it was used in moderation, just like everything else.

But then the food allergy/intolerance tests came back and I had to eliminate dairy.  

I have felt so much better since going dairy-free, and can definitely tell a difference in my overall health if I have dairy.  Bleh.   I miss cheese and butter. 

But then I hear about ghee. It's butter that has been clarified, thus removing all the milk solids which contain the lactose and casein, which most people are allergic and intolerant to.  I gave it a try and was happy to find out that I was able to tolerate it.  YAY!!!  I could have butter back.  

If you have ever purchased organic ghee from grass-fed cows, you know it can be pretty expensive.  I was paying $7 for an 8 ounce jar at the grocery store.  Ouch! I figured that it couldn't be that hard to make, so I found a recipe and tried it on my own.  

It turned out just as good as the store bought stuff!  I was so happy.  

I followed the DIY Ghee Recipe from Nom Nom Paleo exactly and will make it over and over again. Because I'm so busy and ghee keeps for a long time, I tripled the recipe, using 3 pounds of organic grass-fed butter.  It make a quart size jar, plus filled up my little 8 ounce jar from the grocery store.

Supposedly, you can keep it at room temperature, but I keep it in the fridge just to be safe. 

I was surprised how easy it was to make.  This is one DIY project that is worth the minimal time and effort! 

Making comfort foods allergy friendly (and healthier)

Just like every other kid that was born in the 70's and early 80's, you probably had red-labeled condensed cream of something soup based casseroles make frequent appearances on your dining room table.  Those soups were great dinner starters/helpers.  

Mom even had a cookbook published in the mid '70s dedicated to soup based meals.  My sister was helping mom reorganize the house recently and found this recipe and texted it to me.  I'm so glad mom never made this recipe.  Instantly, the old Sesame Street song came to mind..."One of these things is not like the other...one of these things just doesn't belong..."

Besides the traditional green bean casserole, mom made two cream of mushroom soup dishes that us kids ate without too much complaint and we even requested that she make them.  The first was "pea patch chicken."  It was a one skillet meal of chicken pieces, a can of soup, and a bag of frozen peas.  Let that cook for a while and serve on top of rice.  Another was hamburger gravy.  Same concept, just hamburger and soup served on top of rice. 

Those two meals are a couple of my favorite childhood dinners.  Maybe it's just the memories associated with the dinners, but occasionally I find 
myself craving them now, especially after a rough day at work, or when I'm sick.

I don't buy the condensed soup anymore because it's full of things I'm allergic to, as well as preservatives and additives that I choose not to eat anymore.

One day, while surfing around on Pinterest for allergy-friendly recipes, I saw a recipe for "Homemade Cream of Something Soup" with many different options to make it allergen free, vegetarian/vegan, etc. I was so excited when the pin took me to a legitimate website and I ended up at Once a Month Mom, a website dedicated to once a month freezer cooking.  I was pleased to see that there were so many options for making all the cream of something soups I had grown up eating.  

I decided to make a cream of celery soup.  Because this recipe has several steps and can take a bit of time (and I am always pressed for time), I decided to quadruple the recipe, and freeze the equivalent of one can of soup into a Ziplock.  

Make sure to use a large pot if you quadruple the recipe, because you will outgrow your standard sized sauce pan...not that I know this from experience or anything...

Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
from Once a Month Mom

1 tbl of coconut oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 small onions, diced
2 cup celery, diced
1 cup Earth Balance Coconut Spread
1 cup brown rice flour
1 quart rice/almond/coconut milk
3 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
salt and pepper
1 tsp dried thyme

Heat a large, deep skillet or dutch oven over medium heat.  Add about 1tbl of coconut oil and heat.  Saute garlic, onion and celery and set aside. Melt coconut spread over medium heat. Whisk in brown rice flour. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add “milk” and stock/broth. Add sauteed garlic, onion and celery mixture and thyme to the milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring regularly, until it reaches desired consistency (about 20-30 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Makes the equivalent of 4 cans of cream of celery soup.  Each can is approx. 1.5 cups of soup.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.  You can also divide into separate portions and freeze in freezer bags.   

looks better than the stuff from the can!

Mac & Goat Cheese with Bacon

My #1 favorite food of all time is mac& cheese.  Like if I was choosing my last meal, it would be mac & cheese.  (Followed by risotto and cheesy garlic bread...notice the carb and cheese trend?) Nothing says comfort food to me like a bowl of creamy, cheesy goodness.  My grandma makes the most amazing homemade mac & cheese on the planet, and passed her recipe on to my mom, who in turned has passed it on to me.  When I was first living on my own, boxes of mac &cheese were a regular staple in my kitchen.  I would eat any kind of mac & cheese, from the generic box, the blue box, frozen tv dinners, homemade, all the way to fancy lobster macs.

A few years ago I heard about a trend of "item specific" restaurants that were opening.  Instead of a varied menu, they would focus the majority, if not all, of their menu to variations of one item.  A restaurant that specialized in cereal.  Another in Peanut Butter Sandwiches.  And another that was nothing but french fries with many different sauces for dipping.  And then I heard about S'Mac.  An entire restaurant that serves nothing but mac & cheese. That place sounded like Heaven.

Sadly, I have never been to NYC, and have never got to experience S'Mac.  When my sister went to NYC a couple years ago to visit her friends, I couldn't convince her to bring it back with her on the plane (not sure it would pass security either...).  

Is it bad that I want to go on food-centered vacations? 

When I had to start eating gluten-free, I was sad to no longer eat much of the foods I love, but relieved that, with a few modifications, I could still make homemade mac & cheese.  

In early 2011, a friend told me that a mac & cheese restaurant called Homeroom had just opened much closer to home.  It was only about in hour away in Oakland, CA.  Even better, they serve gluten-free versions of all their mac & cheese!  Dave and I went and I was hooked.  It's so adorable inside, decorated like an old school, complete with a card catalog file and a giant blackboard.  The menu is based around varieties of mac & cheese as well as a few of your childhood favorites like buttered peas, homemade Oreos, and homemade root beer.  We have been there several times and have always had amazing mac & cheese and great service every time we have visited.

Then, this year, I found out that I had to start eating dairy-free.  Don't get me wrong. I love feeling better, and sacrifices are really worth it, but I miss cheese.  And you can't have mac & cheese without the cheese.  Yes, yes, I know there are dairy-free, gluten-free mac & cheeses out there.  But have you tried them?  Most of them are SO GROSS.  Amy's makes one that's the best of any I have ever tried, but it's still nothing like the real stuff.  I could try to make my own, but I'm not super happy with the taste or texture of dairy free cheeses.

As I've been experimenting with my diet, I have found that I can tolerate goat milk and goat cheese pretty well.  Goat milk/cheese is one of those things you either love or hate, and luckily for me, I love it!  

We ended up going to Homeroom on our way home from Santa Cruz a few weeks ago, and I tested my stomach out to try their Mac the Goat mac & cheese.  It still has some cows dairy in it, but much less than a normal bowl of mac & cheese.  I opted for the gluten free noodles, no toasted breadcrumbs, and added some yummy bacon to the mix.  It was amazing.  And it didn't hurt my stomach at all, which made me very happy! 

Mac the Goat with added bacon.

Menu at Homeroom

Unfortunately, I do live an hour away from Homeroom, so I can't go there as often as I'd like (B,L,&D - 365), so I challenged myself to make my own version at home. 

I started out by chopping up some pastured bacon and frying it up until it was crispy. 

Mmmmm.....Bacon

Then I started out making a cheese sauce, just like my mom and grandma had taught me to make.  Melt butter in a saucepan (I used Earth Balance Coconut spread), whisk in flour and cook briefly (I used brown rice flour), add milk (goat milk) and cheese (goat cheese) and cook over low until thick and creamy.  

Then I cooked some gluten-free macaroni noodles and mixed it with the cheese sauce.

  

  

I topped it with the bacon and green onions and gave it a taste.  It was delicious!  It was very close to tasting like Homeroom, but saved me a long car ride! 

 

 

And then I decided to get fancy and sauteed some crimini mushrooms in the bacon fat and put them on top of the mac n cheese.  It was so heavenly and I'm pretty sure I saw Dave's eyes roll back in his head as he took his first bite. 

 

Mac & Goat Cheese with Bacon 

(inspired by Homeroom's Mac the Goat)

4 slices bacon, chopped

8 oz crimini mushrooms, slices

12 oz brown rice macaroni noodles

3 tbl Earth Balance Coconut spread

3 tbl brown rice flour

2 cups goat milk

6 oz soft goat cheese

4 green onions, sliced thinly

Fry bacon.  Drain on a paper towel.  Set aside. 

Saute mushrooms in bacon fat.  Drain on a paper towel and set aside.

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse.  Set aside. 

Melt Earth Balance Coconut Spread in a sauce pan over medium low heat.  When the spread is completely melted, sprinkle in rice flour and mix until its completely combined.  Cook for a couple minutes, stirring constantly.  Add milk and cheese.  Cook over medium low until cheese is melted and sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes.  Stir in noodles.  Spoon into serving bowls and top with bacon, mushrooms and green onions.  Serve immediately.  

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Ginger Green Onion Noodles

Somehow I ended up with several bunches of green onions in my fridge that were begging to be used.

  (That's what happens when you go out to Larry's and they were 4 bunches for $1).  

I love green onions and their flavor.  A little sprinkle of them just really seem to add that "little somethin' extra" that seems to be missing when you finish a dish.  

But today, because I had so many to use, I needed something where the green onions  would be the star of the dish.  

I turned to Google, and one recipe caught my attention:  "Ginger Scallion Noodles." Doesn't it look tasty???

I really liked the sound of the sauce and the noodles, but I wanted something that would be a stand alone as an entire meal.  I thought of one of my favorite noodle salads and decided to make my own creation that would still taste as good as the real thing, but still fit within my dietary restrictions.

Ginger - Green Onion Noodles

3 large bunches  thinly sliced green onions (greens and whites)
1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
Juice of 2 limes
2-3 tbl Fish sauce
2 tbl coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
2 tbl rice wine vinegar
1lb brown rice spaghetti noodles (or regular if not GF)
4 small heads Baby bok choy chopped
12oz fresh Bean sprouts
1 can Bamboo shoots, drained
1 can water chestnut slices, drained


Combine green onions, ginger, grapeseed oil, lime juice, fish sauce, coconut aminos, and vinegar.  Set aside.

Prepare noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse.

In a large bowl combine noodles, bok choy, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts.  Add the green onion mixture.  Toss to combine.  Serve at room temperature or refrigerate until serving and enjoy cold. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"A pediatric surgeon."

That's what I would have answered when I was 5.  I was born with a bilateral vesicoureteral reflux and had to have a couple surgeries as a toddler to correct it.  My first memory is sitting in a bed looking up at a lady in surgical scrubs.  I was probably 1 or 2 at that time and I still remember her face.  I spent so much time at doctor's appointments and hospitals that I wanted to help kids that were sick like me.  

Over the years, I changed what I wanted to be when I grew up as often as the seasons changed.  I wanted to be an actress, an auto mechanic, a journalist, a pilot, a teacher, a nurse.  You can be anything you want when you grow up.  

I've always loved cooking as long as I can remember.  I have vivid memories of spending hours reading my mom's series of Time Life's The Good Cook series. I was always helping out in the kitchen, making meals for the family, experimenting on recipes, and learning everything I could about cooking.

When I was 17, I took my SAT's just like every other high school senior.  While most kids are sending their scores to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Davis, I had mine sent to a famous culinary school in San Francisco.  I even spoke with an admissions counselor, but the $40k tuition wasn't even a possibility.  I ended up settling for the local community college and got a AA in Liberal Arts because I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I bounced from job to job...retail, warehouse, nanny, popcorn maker, auto parts cashier, massage therapist, office worker...nothing suited me.  They paid the bills, but there was no passion.  

When I moved out on my own, I was broke just like every other girl in her early 20s.  My boyfriend (now hubby) and I lived on ramen, Hamburger Helper, Rice A Roni, and all the other cheap foods you tend to eat when you're young and broke.  But I always tried my hardest to make them "fancy".  I'd add chopped up veggies, more spices, and whatever else I could find to make it edible.

Then I started watching the Food Network.  Hours on end of watching people teach me how to cook.  It was like free culinary school.  It was also at this time that I had started getting sick and was trying to lose weight, so knowing what was in my food was becoming my central focus.  Sometimes I'd ask myself if this was what I was supposed to be doing.  Was I supposed to be a chef and not working in a store or at a desk?  

Armed with a couple cookbooks, a TV station dedicated to cooking, a Weight Watchers Points Guide, and the vast resources of the internet, I began to search for ways to cook my way to weight loss and health. Soon, I started venturing out on my own - making meals completely from scratch (without the aid of a box, package, or can) - for about the same price as the boxes, packages, and cans.  Hubby's friends and family were always raving about the foods I cooked.  Everyone kept asking when I was going to open my restaurant.  I think I am the only person in the world that owns the main CIA textbook/cookbook that isn't and never was a student. 

I always knew there had to be a correlation between the foods I ate, and the health problems I was experiencing.  I searched high and low, but I could never pinpoint it.  My doctors didn't seem to know how to treat me if it couldn't be fixed with a pill.  The pills weren't working, so I knew I had to keep looking.  I never gave up and continued to search for answers, trying to cook my way to health.  I couldn't get myself to like artificially sweetened things....they tasted like DIRT.  I couldn't get myself to try fat free chips that could make me have stomach cramps and worse.  I never understood how food made with unnatural chemicals was better for you than "real" foods.  Why not just eat the real thing, and just not gorge yourself on it?  Quality over quantity.  Moderation.

We began to eat very healthy.  Whole grains.  Fat free dairy.  Lean meats.  Lots of organic fruits and veggies.  Water.  Sweets in moderation.  We stopped eating fast food.  We stopped going to cheap restaurants all the time.  We ate at home and we ate healthier and cheaper than any restaurant could provide.  I was constantly searching for recipes to cook better and healthier.  If we weren't eating out, I wanted my food to taste like it.  Dave's overall health was improving.  Mine was getting worse.  I didn't understand what I was doing wrong, even though I was doing everything right. I dabbled in every kind of diet out there, but I always came back to eating a healthy, well balanced diet full of fresh, wholesome foods.  

One day, Dave and I were watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was hooked.  Here was a guy, about my age, who lived his dream as a chef, yet was trying to save the world by his cooking, one school lunch at a time.  That show shocked me.  Families that ate nothing but fast food, takeout, and frozen dinners.  Children that didn't know what fruits and vegetables were.  Watching that show made my heart ache.    

I remember telling Dave that I wish I could do what Jamie Oliver was doing.  He's famous and has a following. He can tell people to do things and they will happen. I sit at a desk and push papers and occasionally make my (and Dave's) coworkers jealous with leftovers from last night's dinner.  I have no following.  I have no voice.  I have no training, no experience.  Jobs like that aren't posted on Monster or Career Builder (I checked) and even if they were, I don't have any qualifications. Just desire to help.  Desire doesn't usually get you hired on its own. 

Source

Over the following months, more and more people kept coming into my life that didn't know how to cook. I kept hearing stories of friend of friends who don't cook.  A mom that fed her children fast food three meals a day.  Another mom who couldn't prepare a scrambled egg and toast for her kids' breakfast.  Families that ate cereal for dinner because no one knew how to cook.  Families that think that having a home cooked dinner is a Stouffer's lasagna. Husbands and wives that got into fights over cooking responsibilities and the amount of money being spent eating out because neither of them knew how to cook.  Heartbreaking.  

I take it so much for granted that I grew up with a mom and grandma that are amazing cooks.  We didn't eat frozen pizzas or lasagnas.  Store bought cookies were a special treat.  Restaurants were for special occasions.  We ate foods were make from scratch.  We always ate vegetables with every meal.  My little brother was shocking restaurant staff at 3 years old when he ate a side salad on his own.  My mom insisted that all of us kids knew how to cook for ourselves by the time we were teenagers.  I just can't comprehend not knowing how to make a basic dish like scrambled eggs or marinara sauce or even a simple, healthy meal like baked chicken, steamed rice, and a side salad.  I understand the laziness factor of not cooking, but I don't understand how you can NOT know how to cook.  I thought it was just one of those things you learn as a kid, like tying your shoes, or washing dishes.  

Last October, after lots of encouragement from some friends, I finally decided to start a blog.  I didn't exactly know what my direction was going to be, other than it would be about healthy food and recipes, and probably about gluten-free foods as well.  I didn't really tell anyone about it.  I figured it would be just for me until I was satisfied with the contents. 

The holidays came and went, and by January, I was really sick.  I was exhausted.  Being sick for years is exhausting.  Inconclusive doctor's appointments are draining.  Dave's new job was taking him all over the state except for home.  We were in the midst of short selling our {bad} investment house.  We were trying to catch up from months of un/under-employment.  I was physically, emotionally, and mentally at my breaking point.  My final act of desperation before I officially gave up on my health and ever having a "normal" life, led me to a life changing appointment with my Naturopath.  Food allergies?  Really?  8 years of tests and medications and it was FOOD ALLERGIES?  Shouldn't that have been the FIRST thing that I was tested for?  The past six months have been an amazing journey that I wouldn't trade for all the cupcakes in the world.  However, my cooking world was turned upside down and I was lost.  I didn't know what to do, how to cook, what to cook.  Nothing.  It was AWFUL. 

In April, I decided to write down my experiences about how things were going with my food allergies.  It was a very difficult adjustment for me and journaling my struggles helped me in the past, so I decided to try it again.  Instead of keeping it hidden behind a heart shaped lock and gold key, I decided to put it out there in the universe.  If I could let one person know they are not alone while going through a similar struggle and help them out somehow someway, it would make me feel like all my struggles weren't for nothing.  

As I started to write down my new ways of cooking, I started to gain the confidence back in the kitchen that I had lost.  Cooking started being fun again.  It was like a game trying to find recipes I could eat or modify recipes so I could eat them.  I found my passion again for cooking.  I also rediscovered my passion for writing.  

Last week, while I was searching for recipes, and I came across a link to an awesome website called Not Eating Out in NY: Consuming Less, Eating More.  It's an awesome read full of great pictures, and yummy looking recipes.  The author, Cathy, has a series of posts called "Reasons for Not Eating Out #{x}."  My eyes drifted to the reason for July.  "Reason for not eating out #51: To Be a Home Cooking Advocate."  She started out by discussing the recent passing of a culinary legend. 

She wasn’t a five-star restaurant chef, and didn’t graduate from a culinary school.

 She was Marion Cunningham, author of several cookbooks (including the revised Fannie Farmer Cookbook), cooking instructor, and cooking television show host. 

As the New York Times put it in the title of her obituary, she was a “home cooking advocate."

A Home Cooking Advocate?  

I didn't realize that was an actual career.

Cathy continued her article: 

 Anyone can “advocate” by just cooking, for your friends, family or yourself. You can also busy yourself doing unprofitable things like volunteering at a soup kitchen, teaching a bunch of kids how to make sushi rolls (which I was doing Wednesday at a day camp), or writing a recipe blog. There are ever more creative ways to step out in this field, like producing an online cooking show or throwing a themed potluck. I’d like to think they’re working, giving people a new outlet for creativity and passion for food. Little by little, anyone can be the next Marion Cunningham, and reap the reward of simply knowing that you’re making a positive impact.

"...anyone can be the next Marion Cunningham..."

I could be the next Home Cooking Advocate.

(Is that some sort of reality show contest?)

And then it hit me.  That's what I want to do.  I want to be a home cooking advocate.  In fact, I'm doing it daily already.  I cook at home.  I share with my friends, family, and coworkers constantly about cooking and healthy eating.  My passion is food and I want to share that with everyone. 

My heart is sad for kids that grow up without eating a home-cooked meal around the dinner table.  It makes me depressed to go to the grocery store and see families shopping and carts full of boxed dinners, frozen pizzas, chips and sodas, yet not one fruit, vegetable or remotely healthy food item.  

I know that I want to be a Home Cooking Advocate.  I want to help that mom be able to feed her babies wholesome, home-cooked meals so they don't have to eat fast food three times a day.  I want to help that couple learn to cook healthy meals for their family and save money so they aren't always broke and fighting about it.  I want to help the food allergy newbie how to work with their new restrictions and overcome that challenge and still eat delicious foods.  

I don't really know how to become that person yet.  I actually don't think anyone really knows how to become that person.  It just sort of happens along the way of doing what they love to do.  Right now I'm at the beginning of my journey.  I have a general idea of the direction I want to head.  I just haven't found the path to get there just yet.  So for now, I will do the only thing I know how to do.  I will cook and I will write and I will share.  I will keep my eyes, ears, and heart open to the signs from the universe guiding me down the path I need to take.    

Source

  

How I Learned to Love Breakfast ~ Homemade Breakfast Sausage

I never ate breakfast growing up.  I despised most breakfast foods.  I didn't like eggs, bacon, pancakes, cereal with milk, toast, sausage, or danishes.

There were a few exceptions:

Donuts

Waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream

Apple cinnamon walnut pancakes with butter and cinnamon sugar

Biscuits and Gravy  

Hash Browns

Pilsbury Cinnamon Rolls in the pop tube

Those were special occasion foods reserved for Birthdays, vacations, and Holidays. I only ate breakfast when those were on the menu.  And even then, it wasn't until mid morning, hours after I stumbled out of bed.

I am not a morning person AT ALL.  It takes me a while to roll out of bed, and even longer before I'm functional.  The thought of food or coffee within the first couple hours of me waking up was nauseating.  I used to get sick on car trips as soon as dad cracked open his green thermos full of coffee.    

Once, when I was about 7, we were visiting my Grandparents in Washington, and they took the whole family to a super fancy brunch at a restaurant overlooking Snoqualmie Falls. Rumor has it that the breakfast was very expensive, even for children, and that I only ate a few strawberries.  My Grandparents were NOT happy with me.  

Most mornings I skipped breakfast.  My mom was always on me about eating breakfast.  Sometimes she could get me to have a poptart or a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast.  But most times I'd just wait till I got hungry around lunch time.

I know, I know. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day blah, blah, blah. 

As I got older, I still couldn't really eat until I had been up for a while.  But I had started to like some breakfast foods.  Bagels and cream cheese?  Yes, please.  Leftovers from the day before?  Sure.  A grilled cheese sandwich or a quesadila?  Always.  But still no eggs or "traditional" breakfast foods. Eventually, I learned to like an egg breakfast casserolle my mom made for Christmas breakfast every year.  It barely tastes at all like eggs and is full of bread, sausage, cheese, and a mushroom sauce. 

Mom, I can't wait for Christmas breakfast.  I look forward to it all year long.  We'll make an allergy friendly one again this year! 

When I met Dave, he was a breakfast person.  I'd want to go out for an early Sunday lunch.  He would want a big, Sunday breakfast.  Most places won't serve lunch until 11.  But every Sunday morning hangover needs a filling, greasy meal to make you feel better.  I usually ended up getting a side of hash-browns or a side of biscuits and gravy.  Sometimes I would order a meal and ask for the eggs on the side and give them to Dave.   I always wanted to order the fruit bowl, but they always have melons, and I'm very allergic to them.  Sometimes I timidly asked if they would make an exception to their lunch service times and ordered a sandwich or a burger. I got mixed responses.  I never went hungry, but I didn't understand the obsession with breakfast. 

As slowly as I introduced him to new foods, like cheesecake, he introduced me to breakfast foods, like bacon and cheese omelets .  Then suddenly breakfast became my favorite meal of the day.  I couldn't get enough of omelets.  Fluffy eggs stuffed with veggies, meats and cheeses.  A pile of hash-browns.  A side of gravy.  Sourdough toast slathered in butter.  Then came the love of bacon.  Glorious bacon. 

I could eat an enormous breakfast Sunday morning and then not eat again till dinner, or even Monday morning. 

As I've gotten older, my body has decided that it functions much better on a protein heavy morning meal.  I am more awake and less hungry throughout the day. It just makes me feel better.  

Last year, Dave started working and living out of town, so I ended up cooking scrambled eggs for myself most nights.  It was quick, easy, and filling.  I was loving breakfast so much, I was now making "brinner."

Then in February, I found out I was allergic to eggs.  The food that I had grown to love, ripped away from me.  

Once again, my dear friends, who both eat a paleo diet, found me recipes that didn't have eggs, or could be made without eggs, but were still filling.   One of the recipes was a root vegetable hash topped with meat and avocado and a fried egg.  Leave the fried egg out of the recipe, and I would have a tasty breakfast! 

My local grocery store makes amazing homemade sausages.  They have so many flavors, including an Italian breakfast sausage.  Right now, I can't eat it because it contains bay leaves and some other ingredients that I tested positive to.  

The other day, I really wanted some sausage on my breakfast hash, so I decided to figure out how to make it myself.  

I am a lazy cook, I admit it.  So instead of starting out with a whole pork roast and pork fat and grinding it myself, I decided to buy plain, organic ground pork and just season it for myself.  I added salt, pepper, some of my fermented garlic cloves, and a chopped up red bell pepper.  I mixed it all together and browned it in the skillet.  I could have stuffed it into casings or even made patties, but that's so much work, and I was hungry! 

I ended up roasting my sweet potatoes in the oven only because they end up using so much fat when you cook them in a skillet and they get a bit too greasy for my taste.  I know that one should get plenty of healthy fats in their diet, and I would already be eating lots of other healthy fats in this meal. 

 Everything in moderation, right?!?!

While the sweet potatoes were cooking, I added a diced up onion and added it to the browned sausage.  I let it cook until it was soft and translucent.  When the potatoes were done, I added them to the skillet with the cooked sausage and tossed it.  I served it with sliced avocado on top.  You could definitely add a fried egg or two on top.  I was getting low on veggies when I made this, but I will add more veggies in with the onions, like some chopped baby spinach or some shredded zucchini.  And with any breakfast, it would be great topped with some hot sauce.  But the eggs and hot sauce will have to wait for me right now.  But you should try it and tell me how it was!  

Homemade Breakfast Sausage 

2 lbs organic ground pork

2 tbl salt

2 tbl of pepper

1 red bell pepper, minced

4 tbl fennel seeds

10 (fermented - opt.) garlic cloves, minced

Mix all ingredients together until just combined.   Can form into patties first if desired.  Brown in the skillet or use in your favorite recipe! Always cook pork thoroughly until no longer pink in the middle. 

Crockpot Shredded Peperoncini Beef

Ever had a week so jam packed that it feels like you go to work to relax?  Me too. 

Every.single.week. 

Being on a restrictive diet complicates things so much.  No longer can I grab take out and skip cooking.

But what about when you don't have time to cook, but you want to eat more than a Larabar?

You cook with your crockpot!

I love my crockpot so much.  It frees up so much of my time.  Who doesn't love coming home to a hot dinner waiting on the counter?

It's so hard to find recipes for the crockpot that don't involve cream of something soup or a bunch of packaged mixes.   When you have dietary restrictions like I do, you have to stay away from most prepared foods. Not to mention those soups and mixes are terrible for you, full of nasty ingredients like MSG.

In 2008, when Stephanie O'Dea started her 365 days of crockpotting blog, I was excited!  I found her early into her adventure, and was excited to see recipes that weren't full of the soups and packets, but actual real recipes.  Her family eats GF, too, so I knew it would be a little bit healthier than most recipes I typically see. 

When I started eating GF, I already knew a little bit about eating GF, thanks to her blog.  It made it seem less overwhelming and I eased right into the new lifestyle.  Now that I'm even more restrictive, I can still find some recipes that I can eat! 

This recipe is great because it takes about a minute to prepare before you leave for work.  And if you are like me, that one minute is a huge deal.  It's 2 ingredients, and the leftovers can be used multiple ways.  I usually use a 4-5lb roast and 2 pints of homemade pickled peppers. i usually just serve it alone with a couple veggie sides or a big salad.  Thank you, crockpot 365, for such an awesome recipe!

 Shredded Peperoncini Beef

1 chuck roast, about 2 lbs
1 16 oz jar of peperoncinis

Place roast in the crockpot.  Leave the fat on the roast while it cooks.  You will discard the fat after it cooks.  If you trim off the fat now, the meat will dry out in the crockpot.  Add entire jar of peperoncinis, including liquid.  Put lid on crockpot.  Turn on low.  Set timer for 8-10 hours.  When you are ready to serve, shred the meat, discarding the fat, and peppers, if desired.  Add some of the juices to keep the meat moist. 

 

Pre-cooking.  I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture when it was done.  My peperoncinis are red and green because they are home grown and home canned.  The peppers actually turn red at full maturity...and are way spicier too!

Dairy-Free Pesto

I've always been a picky eater since I was little.  When I was 3 or 4 years old, I supposedly told my Grandma "I CAN'T like liver."  I remember nights sitting at the dinner table for hours because I refused to eat my dinner.  Mom would wrap it up and try to get me to eat it the next day.  I would go on a hunger strike until it was deemed inedible.  

Beef stew 

Chicken and Dumplings

Peas 

Asparagus 

Brussels Sprouts

Canned peaches in sugar syrup 

Sloppy Joes  

***GAG***

I would have rather eaten dirt. 

I also had this weird thing about foods touching.  It wasn't like I couldn't eat spaghetti and meat sauce.  I just didn't like two foods that shouldn't be together touch.  For example, when I was about 7, I was served a plate with a Sloppy Joe and canned peaches.

Together on the same plate.  

Nothing separating those two items.

The sugar syrup from the peaches flash flooded my plate and drowned my Sloppy Joe.  It made the bun soggy, and the Sloppy Joe had a sickeningly sweet canned peach taste to it.  I was grossed out.  I politely feigned a stomach ache and went hungry. 

Partly as a joke (but mostly not), my mom now keeps a plastic divided child's plate in the cupboard for me when I come over for dinner.

 

Amazingly, one thing that I actually did like as a kid were sauces.  They made food more delicious.  And they made icky food semi-tolerable.

One of my favorites was a "mock hollandaise" sauce that we ate on green veggies. A little bit of mustard stirred into some mayo.  Man, did I smother that on asparagus, brussel sprouts, and broccoli.   And gravy...I could eat that on EVERYTHING.

Now that I'm older and my taste is more refined (or it's dead taste buds from getting "old"), I find myself liking things that I didn't as a kid.  I love grilled or roasted asparagus.  I will eat peas if they are in risotto.  I still don't like canned peaches or Sloppy Joes, and I still don't like my food to touch when it's not meant to touch (Sorry for all the extra dishes)

I still love sauces and try to make them often.  I feel like they add so much to food. A piece of fried chicken is delicious, but add a rich tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top and you have chicken parmigina. Chicken and mushrooms are good, but add some sweet wine, butter and stock and you have Chicken Marsala. 

Even the names sound more appetizing.  

I've heard that you can tell a person is a good cook if they can make a good sauce.  I've made it my personal cooking goal to become good at making sauces, stocks, and soups.

Pesto is one of my favorite sauces I've learned how to make.  I love it so much that I planted 10 basil plants in my garden this summer.  I love to make it all summer long, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then use it all winter long when Basil is out of season.

When I found out I couldn't eat dairy, at least for now, I was so bummed because so many sauces are dairy based.  Most of them have butter, cheese, or cream in them.  Pesto has a generous amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in it, giving the sauce a salty, sharp, nutty flavor.  But lucky for me, one of my friends who eats a Paleo diet, informed me that she made a dairy free pesto and it was great!  She just took her regular recipe, left out the cheese, and it was perfect.

I pruned back my herbs this past weekend and had so much basil.  I knew it was time to make a big batch of pesto! 

I started out by toasting some raw almonds briefly in the skillet.  Just a couple minutes because you don't want them to burn.  You could also use walnuts or the traditional pine nuts, but all I had in the pantry was almonds.  

 

I washed my basil, discarded the stems, keeping only the leaves, and put the leaves in the food processor with the almonds, and a few cloves of fermented garlic cloves.

I pulsed the food processor a few times until it was chopped up into fine pieces. 

After everything was chopped up, I turned the food processor to the "on" position and very slowly began adding in the olive oil.  Drizzled it in very slowly until the mixture reached a "sauce" consistency. 

Finally, season to taste with salt and pepper.

You can use it immediately in your favorite recipe, freeze in ice cube trays (store in a container or ziploc so they don't absorb the freezer smells), or store for a few days in the fridge.  When I store it in the fridge, I like to pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top to prevent it from drying out and turning brown. 

Dairy Free Basil Pesto
 
2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
+/- 1/2  cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3-1/2 cup toasted nuts (pine nuts, almonds, walnuts)
3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the basil, garlic and nuts in a food processor and pulse until everything is chopped.  Slowly drizzle in olive oil until it reaches desired consistency.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Use immediately, store in a sealed container in the fridge for about 7-10 days, or freeze.