Music

When I was first engaged to the husband I had an opportunity to to tag along with his family on a road trip to Idaho for the wedding of his little brother. We got to help out with some of the wedding preparations. (Which was a huge learning experience!) 

One of the things we did was help create a playlist of ambiance songs and a playlist of dance-y type songs. We had so much fun making that list. It came in handy when our turn came around for a reception as well. 

Now that everything is said and done, can I tell you how fun it is to listen to these playlists while studying or dancing in the kitchen with my husband?

It's pretty cool.

Simple Gluten Free Pizza Crust

When I first became gluten free and tried making things like bread dough I quickly became disillusioned about making traditional foods ever again. There were so many things I needed to add to the recipe just so it would slightly resemble the same type of dough I could easily make with wheat flour. It was sad. I think I went for at least a year and a half stubbornly refusing to make or pay outrageous prices for the gluten free version.

Now that a few years have past (ok, like 2) and the domestic gene has hit. There's now two mouths to feed rather than just mine so it's a good time to learn how to make more filling gluten-foods for cheap.

Here is a link to the original recipe. It turned out more greasy than I'd like and almond flour sometime hurts my stomach--yes, I'm weird. I changed the recipe just a little and we love it around here. This recipe works really well. By really well I mean the husband has mentioned it 3 times since dinner and told me that it should be a staple in our household, he does this every time I make it:

Simple and Easy Pizza Crust
1 1/2 to 2 Cups shredded cheese (a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar is best, but I also like how crust of cheddar only tastes like a cheez-it sooo you should try it both ways and tell me which one you like)
1-2 TBSP of cream cheese
1/4 Cup flax seed meal, or ground flax seed--it's the same thing
1/4 Cup Pamela's baking mix or a mixture of potato starch, brown rice and tapioca starch if you have all of those on hand
1-2 teaspoons of water (optional and only there to help with consistency if your dough is dry)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Melt the cheese. The original recipe uses the microwave, but stove-top works too. Be sure melt it like you would chocolate--in a bowl that's in a pot that has water in it. You'll thank me later.

Once the cheese is melted and cool enough to touch add cream cheese, flax meal and baking mix; knead together with your hands until you get a good consistency. Here you may need to add a little bit of water if your dough is dry.

Spread the dough out on a baking sheet--we spread our pretty thin but just about any consistency will work. Pop the dough in the oven and bake until the edges start turning golden-brown. It usually takes my oven 5 minutes or less but that will vary.

Once the edges of your crust are golden-brown pull your pizza out and throw some toppings on there! You'll want to put the pizza back in the oven for 3-4 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese and warm the toppings.

The crust taste is pretty neutral so it will work with just about any sauce you want to use. The recipe in the picture is a creamy basil pesto sauce with extra garlic and chicken, spinach, Parmesan and cheddar. We like it.

Clearly I am an inspiring food photographer. Trust me, this is good!

SCHOOL!

The semester is in full swing here and wow! 

It's going to be a busy one. 

I'm learning first hand how important it is to plan ahead if I want healthy-good-for-me food. Luckily I have an amazing partner in crime to help out on days that seem to go on for forever before I'm able to get home and cook. 

A hint: being gluten free, brown rice and other grains have become a staple in our house but take FOR EV ER to cook, especially when I'm hungry. Solution: Make a weeks worth of rice at a time and save the extra in the fridge. It will cut down on time it takes to cook food and warms up nicely on the stove or microwave. 

I use this rice cooker some lovely person gave us for our wedding. I just dump everything in there and turn it on and go back to reading, it beeps when the rice is done; it's so choice!

Spring Rolls

I find that spring rolls are a great way to enjoy the taste or feel of spring/summer even as autumn ushers it's way in. I love mixing cucumbers, carrot peels (or long-thin slices), spinach, avocado, some cilantro, and sometimes garlic together in these wraps. It's a great place to add almost any vegetable you need to use up before it goes bad.

I like to mix my vegetables together beforehand so it's faster/easier to make a lot of spring rolls all at once.

After everything is mixed here comes the tricky part: working with the rice paper. You need it to be wet in order to make it work how you need to, but it can't be too wet because it will fall apart quickly.

A hint to working with the rice paper: Rice paper gets really soft very  quickly when left in water. Dip in a shallow bowl, pie tin, or plate long enough to fully saturate the under side and mostly wet the top side; then quickly move it to an awaiting plate. From there pile on all the fixings.

Once everything is properly moistened I like to pile on some vegetable mixture and roll it like I would a burrito. Start with small quantities at first and build up from there as the rice paper can only hold so much at one time. 

Enjoy!

I like butter

I was just thinking about food to make for tonight 

(also known as absentmindedly scrolling through pinterest). 

When I came across a recipe for brussel sprouts my mind flashed back to when I learned from my friend Alexis the perfect way to eat/make them. 

Butter. 

That's the key. 

Lots of good fat is what helps that vegetable, coconut oil may work, but butter just has that traditional taste to it, ya know? 

As a bonus butter helps your body absorb certain nutrients from your food. 

I think that's neat

We're back!

We're back from our amazing Hawaiian adventure! 
It was so nice to sleep in and relax on the beach without worry of any wedding stuff looming over us--which by the way the wedding was fantastic! It was beautiful thanks to the many helpful hands of my friends and family. 

Now that the wedding planning is behind us and we're settling in together as newlyweds I would like to try more recipes and chronicle them here, mostly as a way to keep track of what recipes worked and why we liked them.

Dear Chocolove

Stop being so delicious with your perfect blend of crunchy, nutty, dark chocolate (which means you can have way more before you get a sugar overload compared to milk chocolate), with your sweet-but-not-too-sweet-because-there's-salt goodness; with all of that combined, there's no stopping you.

Or stopping me from eating you.

Seriously,

and you're on sale. 

Stop.

I can munch on you all day (and have).
Everyday.
Except for the day I shared you and ran out. 
 
I need to go eat a vegetable now to put balance in the world, or my stomach. 

Homemade Kimchi

Kimchi or Kim chee in an over simplified nutshell is a traditional Korean dish made of fermented or pickled vegetables and spices. 

Usually the base is cabbage, though that might change depending on what is in season. I've seen cucumber, radish and cauliflower used as well. 

I personally love the texture of the cauliflower once it has been pickled.

The spices in Kimchi are great for if you may be dealing with anything sinus or mucus related as it is traditionally quite pungent. 

The fermenting/pickling process is also good for your digestion, 

and it's a great way to add more vegetables to your diet. 
You can add this condiment to just about anything. It can spice up any meal. 

*How to make kimchi: 

combine spices and vinegar-lemon juice mixture(see below) in a mixing bowl or in your mothers large glass measuring cup you've been telling yourself you'll return any day now, sorry Mom!

if you had access to this, would you give this back right away? 

Next add your vegetables and let it all sit out on your counter for at least an hour, maybe an afternoon or longer. Don't be afraid of letting it go bad, this is where the pickling process begins--beware the comforting smell of garlic and cayenne. 

Then pack everything as tightly as you can into a jar--use your hands, it's better that way. 

You'll want to see the juices just barely cover the top of your vegetables. 

Refrigerate when you're not enjoying!

 The spices I like to use are:

• cayenne pepper, 
• salt, 
• garlic, 
• red pepper flakes 

Sometimes if I want to curb the spice-level and change the taste to something more savory I'll add both

• nutritional yeast and 
• cumin 

Also ginger is traditionally used, but I prefer the taste without it.


The pickling agents I use are:

• apple cider vinegar--I like the Braggs because it still has the 'mother' in there which means there's more enzymes to help you with the pickling process, and more digestion benefits! The taste is better too.

• fresh squeezed lemon juice-pulp and all

• olive oil, just a splash, if you want, I find this helps stabilize everything and keeps the vegetables from fermenting too quickly. 

• An added probiotic. It helps with the fermentation process and is great for your digestive health. There are plenty to choose from (liquid or take a capsule and open it up) it doesn't change the taste too much (pungent spices, remember?). This is helpful but isn't completely necessary if you give it enough time to pickle and use a vinegar with plenty of enzymes in there.

*I hope I'm not adulterating this traditional dish too much. I found what works for me and I want to share it!

Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies with Cocoa

Today's recipe is a slight variation of the classic "Easy Peanut Butter Cookies"

The original recipe has 3 ingredients:

1 c sugar

1 c peanut butter

1 egg

To this recipe I added:

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c cocoa powder*

2 TBSP olive oil

Mix everything together and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

et voila!

 

I think next time I'll add chocolate chips as well. 

*I have a major soft side for chocolate, 

in reality you could probably get away with putting in as little as 2 TBSP cocoa powder and  therefore might even be able to skip oil all together depending on the texture of your dough.

I added oil to mine because the extra powder made the dough thicker than I wanted it to be, also it can't hurt to add a little extra sugar. 

A note on the parchment paper I used to line the baking sheet: 

I eat gluten free and some of my housemates do not. We often share cookware and sometimes those dishes can be contaminated with that stomach-ache producing gluten protein-molecule-thing. Parchment paper is simply a precaution to try to protect against cross contamination. This is my own theory but results have been good thus far!

A Welcome.

I've joined the ranks of my specific age and gender demographic and started a blog about food and cooking! 

Congratulate me while I congratulate you on making it here.

I want to use this blog to catalog the recipes I try in one central location.

I promise to bravely talk about awkward topics including but not limited to food and digestion. 
Most importantly,
 I hope to share recipes experiences and to bring joy or humor where ever I can.  

Welcome.