What are Street Lemons?

If you drive around my town these days, especially in the older, established areas, you will find citrus trees loaded full of lemons, oranges, and other citrus fruits.  Our climate is ideal for citrus and it seems every house has at least one fruit-bearing tree.  

My sister told me that she recently made some lemon bars out of "street lemons."  

"What are street lemons?" 

"Oh you know, when you are on a walk, they are the lemons you get from trees that are hanging into the street."

(Don't worry, she didn't trespass, just "gleaned" from neglected trees that were already dropping fruit everywhere) 

Because I have several grocery bags of lemons generously given to me by my family from their over-abundant trees, I am trying to incorporate lemons in our meals as much as possible.

This day, I was craving a pasta dish, so I decided to make a creamy lemon pasta.  I served it with a side of baked salmon seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. 
 

Creamy Lemon Pasta with Spinach and Artichoke Hearts 

16 oz brown rice spaghetti
2 tsp coconut oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly (I love this new gadget I got!)
Juice from 2-3 lemons
8oz cream cheese (organic or non-dairy)
2 tbl capers
1 can artichoke hearts
8oz baby spinach chopped
Fresh ground salt and pepper

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.  Drain, rinse, and set aside.  

In a large, deep skillet, heat coconut oil over medium.  Add garlic slices, and cook for about a minute, taking care not to let the garlic burn.  Add lemon juice and cream cheese, and heat until cream cheese is melted, being careful not to let it boil, reducing the heat as necessary.  Add capers and artichoke hearts and heat thoroughly, about 3 minutes.  Add pasta and spinach and toss until sauce completely coats pasta and everything is mixed throughout the pasta.  Season to taste with fresh ground salt and pepper.  Serve by itself or with a side of your favorite seafood (baked salmon or sauteed shrimp and my favorite choices).

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. 

"Clean out the kitchen" veggie pasta

One of the most difficult things about being on such a strict elimination diet is that if I don't plan out my meals or I'm too busy/tired to cook, I don't have the option to go out and grab something. Usually I try to plan out a basic meal plan and do some cooking for the week on Sundays, but this week I slacked.

This past weekend was so much fun, but exhausting. We hosted a mini fundraiser at our house for my friend Zara who is going to be competing in Iron Canada with Team in Training. We did a "Redneck" themed BBQ, with lots of cheap beer, hot dogs, and deep fried Twinkies to go around. It was so hard to avoid those things, but I stayed strong. It was so much easier for me to eat right because I had a buddy! Zara is in full on race training mode and is eating a very clean Paleo diet right now. We ate our own "taco salad" while everyone was eating "tacos in a bag" and we had our own organic grass fed all beef uncured hot dogs while the others were eating mac n cheese chili dogs.

By Monday night after work, I was exhausted. I hadn't planned out my meals for the week, but I had done my grocery shopping and had a fridge full of yummy fresh veggies waiting to be eaten. I wanted so bad to get take out, but that's not an option right now. I could have snacked on a Lara Bar or some nuts, but that didn't sound appetizing.

I'm a cooking show junkie (man do I miss cable), and one thing that I've learned from Rachel Ray is that the quickest homemade meals out there are burgers or pastas. Since I had so many veggies on hand, I decided to make a veggie pasta. I have many of her cookbooks and love to gather ideas for my own takes on her quick meals. One of my favorite things she does in many of her pasta dishes is to melt a tin of anchovies in with the garlic and onions when starting the base of some of her sauces. I based this "recipe" off all the veggies I had in my house and what I can currently eat at the moment. The best part about this is that it made a ton of food, so I can eat it throughout the week and not have to worry about cooking for a few days! You could totally adjust this recipe to use up whatever veggies you currently have at home. Spinach, kale, frozen peas, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers...all of these are fabulous additions to pasta.


"Clean out the kitchen" veggie pasta

1 package brown rice pasta
2tbl coconut oil or olive oil
1 small tin of anchovies in olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
2 carrots, diced
2 zucchini, diced
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped

Prepare 1 package of brown rice pasta (I like Trader Joe's brand) according to package directions. Drain and rinse, reserving 1c of cooking water.

In a large deep skillet, melt oil over medium high heat. Add anchovies and allow to melt. Add onions and cook about 5 minutes until soft and starting to brown. Add garlic and stir, cooking about 2 minutes. Do not allow garlic to burn! Add asparagus, zucchini, and carrots and cook until soft, about 7 minutes. Stir often so veggies don't stick or burn. Toss veggies with pasta, using a little bit of the pasta water if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
(While I was eating this, I decided that it would have been fabulous with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese, basil, and some grilled shrimp on top...)