Shrimp Civeche

One thing that I really love about living in Northern California, is the access to such a wide variety of fresh foods.  Within a 100 mile radius, this area produces almost every fruit, vegetable and meat one typically eats.  Olive groves for fresh olive oil.  Fields of artichoke plants.  Acres of citrus trees. Miles of pasture lands for animals.  Tomato fields.  Fresh and salt water fish.  Rice paddies.  Dairy farms.  You can even grow some varieties of bananas! If I were to go on a strict locavore diet, I don't think I would really miss out on anything at all.  Everything I love is grown around here. 

I'm still surrounded by bags of fresh lemons, so they are making their way into almost everything we eat.  And, even though it's only mid March, the temperatures have been creeping their way into the mid to high 70s!  When it starts to get warm outside, I only want to eat cold foods.  I decided to make my take on a shrimp civeche.  It was great eaten as is, but I also enjoyed it on a bed of butter lettuce leaves and scooped it up with organic tortilla chips. 

Shrimp Civeche

1 pound very small cooked shrimp, rinsed (I used 100 count shrimp)
2 Tbsp salt

Juice from 3 limes 

juice from 4 lemons
1 red onion, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, large stems removed and chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and diced

1 bunch of radishes, diced

Green Tobasco to taste
1-2 avocado, peeled, seed removed, cut into small chunks

Fresh butter lettuce (optional)

Organic corn tortilla chips (optional)

 

Place shrimp in a large glass bowl (do not use metal). Mix in the lime and lemon juice, red onion, cilantro, cucumber, and radishes. Refrigerate until ready to serve (at least 1 hour)  Right before serving, add the Tobasco and avocado. Serve chilled on a bed of fresh lettuce or as a dip with organic corn tortilla chips.  Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days.  

Never Cry Over a Forgotton Lunch

Early on a recent morning, I arrived at work, and nearly broke down and cried.  I am by no means a morning person, and on that particular morning had woken up in a good deal of pain, most likely caused by something I shouldn't have eaten over the weekend.  But, the cause for my almost-tears wasn't just the bad morning, but also because I discovered that I left my lunch at home.  It was shaping up to be one of those days that I wished I had called in sick, slept for the next 24 hours, and tried again tomorrow.

The saddest part of realizing that I left my lunch bag (full of all my healthy food for the day) at home was knowing that the leftovers from one of my favorite dinners was going to sit on the counter all day and spoil and all that yummy deliciousness was going to waste.  Not to mention I would have to go out and buy lunch for the day, and it wouldn't be as healthy or tasty.

Of all my favorite dinners, this is probably my favorite.  It's based off the  Chicken, Mushrooms, and Artichoke Hearts in a Roasted Lemon Sauce recipe from For The Love Of Cooking.

Usually I serve this over gluten-free pasta or rice, but this time I served it over spaghetti squash.  I liked it better than over rice, and it was a healthier choice than rice or pasta.  If you don't know how to cook spaghetti squash, my friend Mo has a great tutorial on how to cook them.

Lemon and Artichoke Heart Chicken

1.5 lbs organic boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 4-6 pieces)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
Salt and pepper to taste

2-3 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 cup white wine (or substitute with 1c. chicken stock)

2 cups chicken stock

1 can of artichoke hearts (in water, drained) cut in quarters

1 can black olives, drained

1 cup grape tomatoes

1/4 cup capers

Juice of 2-3 lemons

Fresh cooked rice, pasta, or spaghetti squash for serving

Place brown rice flour in a shallow bowl or a pie plate.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Rinse the chicken, and pat dry with a paper towel.  Coat the chicken completely in the seasoned flour.

 Heat a large deep skillet with coconut oil over medium high heat.   Cook chicken until browned and cooked all the way through, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. 

Add mushrooms and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of the remaining seasoned brown rice flour over the mushrooms and stir to coat.  Add wine and stir to de-glaze the pan.  Slowly stir in chicken broth, allowing sauce to thicken to desired consistency. Add artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, capers, and lemon juice.  Continue to stir about 3-5 minutes, until heated throughout. 

Serve immediately over fresh cooked rice, pasta, or spaghetti squash.  

Get Well Pho

While I was sick, I wasn't doing too much of anything, except sleeping.  I slept 12-14 hours a day. During the times I was awake, I barely had the energy to make it to the couch to watch TV.   When I ate, food was quick and easy.  I lost my taste, and most days nothing sounded good.  If something actually sounded good, I ate it, only to be disappointed because it had no flavor.

A couple years ago, I had a bad winter cold.  My friend insisted I need a big bowl of chicken "fuh" to feel better. 

Ummm, what?  

You know, "fuh" from that place over by that market. 

Oh, that's what that is?  "Pho" is pronounced "fuh"?  Gotcha.

So I went with her and got a big bowl of pho. 

It was steaming hot and smelled amazing and tasted even better.  You could tell the broth was homemade and simmered from bones all day long.  There was an assortment of bits and pieces you could get in your pho like tendons and tripe, but I stuck with something "safe" and got thinly sliced steak. 

After the first bite, I was hooked.  Don't tell anyone, but I like it better than my mom's chicken noodle soup she made when we were kids.

 
Now, since I have been sick, I have been lazy and using lots of shortcuts.  

 Yes, I know it's way better to cut up a chicken and simmer it for hours and make a rich, nourishing stock.  But when you are only out of bed for 2 hours a day (that's a generous number, too), you don't have time to simmer a stock and make a fancy meal.  

So this is the shortcut way to make a big bowl of pho.   

Get Well Chicken Pho

1-2 carton(s) Chicken Pho Soup Base
1lb seasoned ground pork sausage (once again, I cheated used "Potsticker" flavor fresh made sausage from the local market...but use plain, add 2 finely chopped green onions, 2tbl finely diced red bell pepper, and salt, pepper, soy sauce and freshly grated ginger to taste)
1/2 of a 14 oz package rice noodles, prepared according to package directions, drained (I use the Taste of Thai stir fry noodles)
A handful of dried Shiitake mushrooms, prepared according to package directions
1 package fresh bean sprouts, rinsed
1 Lime cut in wedges
1 bunch basil, roughly torn
1 bunch cilantro, roughly torn


Preheat oven to 400*.  Shape pork into walnut sized meatballs.  In a heavy oven safe skillet, melt coconut oil over medium high heat.  Brown meatballs on one side for about 2-3 minutes.Carefully turn meatballs over, turn off stove, and place skillet in the oven for 10-15 minutes until meatballs are cooked completely (165* internal temperature). 

In a pot heat soup base until it starts to come to a boil. Don't let it boil away for too long, you just want to get it to serving temperature. 

In a deep soup bowl, place a portion of the noodles in the bottom, followed by a small handful of bean sprouts, a few meatballs, and a bit of the shiitake mushrooms.  Ladle hot broth over the top.  Top with basil and cilantro and a lime wedge.  Serve immediately. 

Chicken lettuce wraps

I love my crockpot.  I really do.  I have two full size crockpots, a mini crockpot for dips, and now I have a small lunch crockpot for my desk.  I love the fix it and forget it method of cooking.  I love that I can put something in when I leave for work and when I get home, it's ready to eat. 

(Except the other night.  My work day plus commute is fairly long and a tomato sauce based recipe that cooks 

for 6-8 hours on low ended up burnt and inedible and my house uninhabitable after an 11+ hour day...)

When I discovered the website Crockpot 365 , I was really excited to find many new recipes so I could expand the use of my crockpot.   Even better that all of the recipes are gluten free! 

The hardest part of eating gluten free is no more Chinese food, so I was very excited that she put up a few make your own takeout recipes.  And even better yet, they were all for the crockpot.  It's practically exactly like takeout, but waaaaaaay cheaper and healthier. 

I know many people (especially me) look at their favorite over or stove top recipes and try to figure out some way to make it a crockpot recipe.  But for ones, I was looking at a crockpot recipe and wondering if I could make it a stove top recipe.  I was desperately craving lettuce wraps, and wanted them NOW (along with a golden goose) and I didn't want to drive the hour to the closes PF Changs and didn't want to wait the 4+ hours it would take for them to cook in the crockpot.  So I looked at the ingredient list and cooked the old fashioned way, slaving over a hot stove. 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

(Adapted from Crockpot 365)

1lb of ground chicken
1/2 onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
Fresh ground black pepper
1 bunch of green onions, sliced thin
1 head of butter lettuce

Brown chicken in a large deep skillet.   While cooking, break chicken into small pieces.  I love to use my PC hamburger chopper for these kinds of jobs.  When the chicken is almost done, and sufficiently broken up into small bits, add the diced onion and cook for about 3-5 minutes until the onion is soft.  Add the garlic, ginger, and water chestnuts and cook for about a minute.  Add soy sauce, wine, and vinegar.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce is reduced by about half.  Season with pepper to taste.   Spoon a bit of the chicken mixture into a lettuce leaf.  Sprinkle with green onions.  Serve while chicken is warm.  Makes a great appetizer or light dinner!

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! 

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I discovered this adorable tiny little farm stand out in the country when I went to pick  up the last of the chickens from the now closed Soul Food Farms.  

Can we please have a moment of silence?  

I had a nice conversation with the farmer, Michael, and got a little star struck when I found out he sells his produce to Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. The little stand is set up on the honor system complete with a scale and a money jar. Love love love! I was so excited to find that they sold organic winter squashes for a really good price. Usually organic anything is expensive, so I had to stock up and walked away with 3 giant spaghetti squashes.

I, like so many other people, have a bad habit of buying winter squashes and letting them sit on the counter until the bottom rots out.  I love them, but they can be time consuming.  I do not have the patience to cook a squash for an hour after I get home from a 12 hour work day.  But not this time.  I immediately cooked it up, ON THE WEEKEND, using my friend's tutorial as a guide.  It came out perfectly and we ate it that night with spaghetti sauce.  

But I still had a ton of squash leftover and no sauce left.  What to do, what to do.  

Normally, I would just put butter and parmesan cheese on the top, but the pesky dairy allergy is keeping that from happening.  Booooo.  

So I searched on all my favorite cooking websites and blogs and finally came across this yummy sounding Spaghetti Squash Casserole from Peas and Thank You.  Doesn't it look mouthwatering? 

I changed it up a bit to fit our tastes and added some organic, grass fed and finished hamburger because it just sounded good.  It was so yummy and made a huge dish.  I made this on the weekend, covered and refrigerated it and then cooked it during the middle of the week.  The leftovers were even better, and I portioned out half of it into single servings and froze them in microwaveable containers for work lunches.  

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Yum!  I want to make this every week!!!

1 large organic spaghetti squash

Coconut oil

1lb organic, grass fed and finished hamburger

1lb sliced mushrooms

15-16 oz tomato sauce (home canned or organic brand)

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

8oz non-dairy cream cheese (organic cream cheese if not dairy-free) 

1/4 c. nutritional yeast (Parmesan cheese if not dairy-free) 

2 c. non-dairy shredded mozzarella cheese (organic mozzarella if not dairy-free) 

Prepare spaghetti squash and set aside.  

Preheat oven to 350*.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add coconut oil and melt.  Add hamburger and cook completely and crumble.  Remove hamburger from pan to a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, add a little bit more coconut oil, if necessary, and cook the mushrooms until they are completely cooked but not yet beginning to caramelize.  Add the hamburger back to the pan with the mushrooms.  Add the tomato sauce, non-dairy cream cheese, and nutritional yeast.  Cook until the cream cheese has melted down and the sauce is warmed throughly.  Turn off heat.  Mix in spaghetti squash and parsley.  Transfer to a large oven safe baking dish (like a 9x13) that has been greased.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is bubbling in the middle.  Makes 6-8 servings.  

If you are making this ahead of time, do not bake.  Just cover and put in the fridge or freezer.  If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge.  Then bake for about 45-60 minutes until bubbling in the middle.  

Lime & Coconut Chicken Legs

Organic chicken legs were on sale, and in my effort to keep my menu from staying in a rut, I looked for a fresh new idea on how to prepare them.  

I found this yummy sounding recipe by Rachel Ray and I knew I had to make it.  It had many of my loves in it:  Lime, coconut, and green onions.  

I had all the ingredients on hand, AND it fit within my restrictions, so I didn't need to make many adjustments to the recipe!

I served it on some brown rice that I had tossed with cilantro and lime juice and a side of sauteed squash.

 

I didn't have to make many changes to the recipe (which is shocking considering all my restrictions)!  Hope you enjoy it!

Lime & Coconut Chicken Legs

from Everyday with Rachel Ray

3 cloves fermented garlic  
1/2" fresh ginger, peeled
1 bunch green onions, white and green parts, ends trimmed
1 bunch cilantro, large stems removed
1 tsp sriracha
2 tbl coconut aminos
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbl toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup raw local honey 
1 cup light coconut milk 
juice and zest of 2 limes
salt and pepper to taste
8 skin-on chicken drumsticks

In blender or food processor, combine all ingredients except chicken; puree. Marinate in coconut milk mixture overnight. Transfer chicken to rack placed on foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 30-45 turning chicken every 15 minutes so that it does not burn.  (I think this would be really great grilled as well.  Just be careful of the flare up from the faty chicken skins!)

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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Fresh Foods Link Up

Pesto tuna salad

I was looking for new ways to use up all the spinach pesto that I made and I found this cool list from the Food Network called "50 Ways to Use Pesto."

I'm always looking for new ideas for lunch and #25 caught my attention: Pesto Tuna Salad. 

I'm not a huge tuna fan, especially when I was a little kid and my mom let me watch 60 Minutes sometime, and once they had a report about bugs in your food and tuna, ketchup and peanut butter were the top three buggiest foods on the market.  I stopped eating all three right then.

***GAG***

But since I'm on such a restricted diet, I'm giving some old foods another chance to earn their way back into my diet.  Tuna is really good for you, so I'm really trying to learn to like it.  I can't eat tuna the way mom used to make it with mayo and pickle relish, so I'm searching for new recipes that fit in my restrictions.  

I made the recipe, but found that it was still too "dry" for my taste.  I kept adding pesto a tablespoon at a time and ended up adding between 1/3-1/2 cup of pesto.  I ate it with gluten free rice crackers and cucumber slices, but this would be delicious on top of a salad.  It was really good, and I would definitely eat it again.

Pesto Tuna Salad

2 cans drained tuna

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/4 cup diced red peppers

1/3 - 1/2 cup spinach pesto

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Salt and fresh ground pepper 

Mix all ingredients together. Can be chilled.  

Before adding the pesto

 

  

Italian "Salsa"

My cherry tomato plants will not quit.  They keep producing like there's no tomorrow.  I finally had to start coming up with new ideas because I am so burnt out on all my standby recipes.   I made kalua pork in the crockpot over the weekend and was tired of having it in tacos or over plain rice and shredded cabbage like we always do. 

Don't you just hate when you get in a cooking rut? Ugh! 

As I was looking at the cherry tomatoes and was getting ready to throw them in the food processor once again for lazy salsa, I had an idea.  Couldn't I add similar, yet different ingredients and make an Italian style "salsa" instead of a Mexican flavored salsa?  A few minutes later, the Italian "salsa" was born.

Italian "Salsa"

4 cups of fresh tomatoes

1 bunch of basil, large stems removed

1 can of black olives, drained

1jalapeños, stem removed, seeded (if desired...seeds=spicy)

Juice of 1-2 lemons

Salt, to taste

Rinse off all your veggies.  Place all your ingredients, except salt, in the food processor and chop until desired consistency is reached, about 5-30 seconds.  Add salt to taste.  Can be served immediately, or chilled to let the flavors develop.  Stays good in the fridge for a couple of days. 

If you aren't eating GF, this would be great served with those crunchy toasts you would use to make bruschetta.

 

I served the salsa on top of some polenta rounds I baked in the oven until they were crispy and the leftover shredded pork.  It was really yummy! 

Shared on Southern Sundays 

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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.