Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin Filling

This is my salute to hot lettuce wraps, to which my family loves, but to which I am not a particular fan. I like my lettuce wraps cold and refreshing or a bit offbeat, as in Thai lettuce wraps, composed of toasted coconut, peanuts, chilies, and other toppings. However, this is far less time consuming, is perfect for a weeknight meal (or a snack), and can be varied in many ways. If you happen to have baked tofu, as I did, this meal comes together in about 15 minutes. The sauce is assertive, so if you don't have any baked tofu lying about, pan fried tofu, steamed tempeh, fried tofu, or even chickpeas would work here. If you are not vegan, I imagine any light protein of choice would be good here.

Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin Filling

Ingredients
Half a block of Baked Tofu
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 small knob ginger, grated
2 Tbsp sake or mirin
1 tsp agave or other sweetener
3 tbsp GF Hoisin Sauce, storebought or homemade
2 tsp smooth dijon mustard, like Grey Poupon
4-5 iceberg lettuce leaves
chopped mint & cilantro (optional)
small handful salad greens (optional)
mung bean sprouts (optional)


Directions:
Prepare baked tofu or protein of choice. Dice into small bite sized morsels. Bring a small pan over medium-low heat, and add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, and ginger (grated directly into the pan). When the onions are softened, add the sake and agave and let it reduce until most of the liquid has absorbed or evaporated, about 1-2 minutes. While it is reducing, mix together the hoisin sauce and the dijon mustard in a small bowl and add to the pan. Incorporate the sauce into the vegetables and remove from heat when they are appropriately glazed.

Add the baked tofu to the mixture and let sit while preparing your lettuce leaves. Into each leaf and some salad greens, a bit of the mint and cilantro mixture, and mung bean sprouts. Top this with the hot filling. Serve immediately

Makes 4-5 wraps.

COST BREAKDOWN

Tofu $1.25 (Half of a $2 box of tofu + Soy Sauce glaze)
Onion $.20 ($.40/lb)
Red Pepper $.50 ($1 each)
Garlic $.05 ($.50 for 3 heads)
Ginger $.05 (guestimation)
Sake $.20 ($3.79 for a large bottle)
Hoisin Sauce $.05 (GF storebought clearance, guestimation)
Dijon $.10 ($3 clearance for large bottle)
Lettuce $.40 ($1 per head, 4 leaves used)
Mint $.50 ($3 for a small organic package. Ouch)
Cilantro $.03 (3 bunches for $1)
Salad Greens $.23 ($3 for a large container, guestimation)
Mung Bean Sprouts $.20 ($.79 for package, small amt used)


TOTAL=$3.76 ($2.80 bare bones), $.75-$.94 per serving

Read More

Perfect Blueberry Pancakes

Pancakes are easy. For regular gluten eating people and for gluten-free people. You see, my theory is that gluten-free people over think the humble pancake. They start messing with a bunch of different flours and add eggs and then they begin to wonder if they need extra leavening and before you know it, the uncomplicated meal becomes way too complicated. First rule--you don't need a lot of flours to make pancakes work. You just need a relatively high starch ratio (I use my own semi-all purpose mix). Second rule--don't mess around with eggs. Go vegan here even if it's not your inclination. Vegan pancakes are beyond easy and don't require any egg replacer. Third rule--for this recipe, keep it simple. I used blueberries, but you could use any fruit you want. Or skip the fruit altogether. I guarantee they'll taste like the pancakes you used to have pre-diagnosis. Fluffy, light, and absolutely delectable. I'll post more specialized pancakes in the near future. Because, really, I eat a lot of pancakes. Brunch is kind of my thing. Go make some pancakes!

Note:If you don't have the GF mix already pre-mixed, try using 1/2 cup sorghum, 1/2 cup tapioca starch, 1/6 cup millet and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (or guar gum). This should equal 1 1/6 cup. Reduce the milk to 3/4 cup (keep vinegar the same) and if the mixture is too thick, add more milk 1 tbsp at a time until you reach the right consistency.

Perfect Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup GF Flour Mix
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup non-dairy milk + 1 tsp mild vinegar (or use buttermilk if not vegan)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 1 cup blueberries

Directions:
In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and all the wet ingredients. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth and well-incorporated.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium low to medium. Using a 1/4 cup, pour pancakes one at a time onto the skillet and cook until the pancake puffs and bubbles form and the top looks semi-dry. This should take 3 -5 minutes depending on your heat source. Flip the pancake and cook for approximately anotther 1 -3 minutes. Remove from heat and smother in pure maple syrup, fresh fruit, or whatever your fancy.

Makes 6-10 pancakes

COST BREAKDOWN
GF Flour $2.25
Baking Powder $.10
Granulated Sugar $.15 (lazy guestimation)
Sea Salt $.001 (also not typo--$3 for 5lb bag )
Oil $.04 ($2 bottle has 95 tbsp)
Milk $.16 ($1.30 for half gallon *total score by the way*)
Vanilla $.15
Blueberries $.83 ($2.50 for 12 oz

TOTAL=$3.68, $.36-$.61 per pancake

Read More

Chorizo Soup with Black Eyed Peas

This is a warm, comforting and flavorful soup to soothe your winter blues. And I'd guess, that most of us are pretty much full of winter blues. With record snowfall all across the country, airports being closed, and people being stuck in historical interstate closures, I think we all need a bowl of soup. While I don't usually recommend commercial products, I did make this vegetarian by using Trader Joe's soy chorizo. It's gluten-free as well as vegan and actually tastes pretty good and even better, it's affordable. In fact, this entire dish cost me about $3.46, which makes this $.43-$.58 per serving! Count this one as an affordable dish! You can also make this dish vegan by omitting the added cheese.

Start with this: soy chorizo. Or use real chorizo. It's a free world, man.

Mexican chorizo comes in a non-edible casing. Especially the vegetarian kind. This is plastic. And you don't want to eat plastic!

See? Unwrap to get to the goods!

Now dump it in your pan of choice.

Now cook it over medium-low heat. If you're using the real stuff, it will give off a lot more fat. If you're using the vegetarian stuff, it won't give off so much. The point is to warm it up and get as much stuff in the pan as possible here.

Now while the chorizo is doing it's thing, grab an onion.

And dice it up.

Now remove the chorizo from the pan and set it aside. My kitchen pretty much smells divine at this moment. Avoid the urge to eat the chorizo.

This is what you want in your pan. This is the delicious, beautiful aftermath of chorizo. Again, if you're using true chorizo you'll have quite a lot more fat at the bottom. But no worries. Fat = flavor.

Now throw in that diced onion. The onion will sweat and absorb all that wonderful flavor. That'll take around 5 minutes.

While the onion does its thing, grab a few cloves of garlic and a few jalapenos, if you're opting in for some heat.

Dice 'em up.

Now throw the jalapeno and garlic in with the now caramelized onions. Let that cook for a little it, just don't let the garlic burn.

Now either grab the jar for your blender, or, if you happen to have a stick blender, a nice large container to blend your veggies in.

Put all the veggies from the pan into your container or your blender.

Grab a 15 oz can of tomatoes. I used the fire roasted variety here.

Put the tomatoes in the container or blender too. But wait! There's more...

We've gotta have cumin. This looks like a half teaspoon or so.

And some Mexican oregano. If you don't have the Mexican variety, you can just throw in the regular stuff too. Doesn't taste the same, but I got alone fine for years. This is about a teaspoon of whole Mexican oregano, but otherwise use half a teaspoon.

Now blend it up until it's relatively smooth.

Like this!

Now add it back to your original pan along with the cooked chorizo.

Add in 4 cups of water + base OR broth.

Add in your black eyed peas. Mine were obviously frozen.

Now grate up some cheese. This is about a cup of cheddar. But pepper jack would be good too. Or some smoked gouda...actually that sounds really good. Maybe next time.

Throw the cheese into the pot. Stir it around and let it melt into the wonderful soup.

Then pour into a dish and devour. Mmmm...this was smokey, chunky, and really, really good. Try this! Serves 4 -6 hungry adults.

Chorizo Soup with Black Eyed Peas (Vegetarian) PDF printer friendly version

Ingredients
12 oz. Vegetarian Mexican Chorizo, removed from casing
1 onion, diced
2 jalapenos (optional)
3 cloves garlic
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp Mexican oregano
4 cups water (or broth)
1 tbsp no-chicken vegetarian base (omit if using broth)
2 15 oz. cans of black eyed peas or 2 cups cooked from scratch
1 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:
Add chorizo to pan over medium low heat. Remove from pan once it has released any oils and is heated through. Remove chorizo from pan and set aside.

Add diced onion to pan and cook until caramelized. Add chopped jalapeno and garlic to pan for 30 seconds.

Remove vegetables to a blender or a container for use with an immersion blender. Add tomatoes, cumin and oregano, and blend until smooth. Pour mixture back into pan, adding the chorizo back to the pan and adding the water or broth. Finally, add the black eyed peas, the cheddar cheese and heat through.

Serves 4 - 6

COST BREAKDOWN
Soy Chorizo $1.99
Onion $.30 ($.40/lb)
2 jalapenos $.16 ($.88/lb)
2 cloves garlic $.09 ($1.30 for bag of 4 heads, approx 10 cloves per head)
1 Tbsp no-chicken base $.10 (guestimation--each jar was $2.50)
2 cups cooked black eyed peas $.32 (dried price $.96/lb, guessing 1/3 lb)
1 cup cheese $.50 (guestimation--each 2 lb block was $4)

TOTAL=$3.46, $.43-$.58 per serving

Read More

Perfect Sugar Cookies

You can stop looking for the perfect sugar recipe--gluten free or otherwise--this is the best. This cookie is tender, crispy, and soft all at once. This is the drop and squish kind, not the roll out kind, but that suits me just fine. I'm a lazy cook and in this case, a lazy baker. I need instant gratification and sometimes, all that rolling and flouring and punching of shapes is way too fussy. Because that leads to more rolling, flouring, and punching of even more shapes. And when all is said and done, doesn't anyone else feel like you did a lot of work for not so much payoff? After an hours work, all you've got is 20 cookies! Gimme a break. Fuhgettaboutit. Ain't gonna happen. Not to mention the whole no gluten thing gets in the way of such a dough to exist. So instead, I'll give you 15 minutes of work and a bowl of dough that you can take out of the fridge whenever you feel the craving for cookies. And trust me, your cravings will start the moment the first batching is out of the oven. But hey, you're only making them for the kids...right?

Mmmm....cookies....

Perfect Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
2 medium - large eggs
1 cup oil
2 sticks butter
1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for pressing cookies
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups gluten free flour mix

Directions:
Mix together the eggs, oil, butter, and both sugars. Add in remaining ingredients, putting the flour in last. Batter will be a little "soft". Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. If chilling more than 3, make sure to wrap dough well to prevent drying out.

Using a cookie scoop, drop the balls of dough at least an inch or two away from other on the pan. Next, grease a glass with a flat bottom. Put extra granulated sugar in a small bowl. Dip greased glass into sugar and flatten each cookies lump. For softer cookies, keep pressed dough slightly thick. For crunchier cookies, press dough thin. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-12 minutes.

Makes 30 - 40 cookies.

COST BREAKDOWN
Eggs $.17 ($.99 repackaged eggs)
Oil $.22 ($2/large bottle)
Butter $.75 ($1.50/lb)
Sugar (Granulated) $.08
Sugar (Powdered) $.51
Sea Salt $.001 (also not typo--$3 for 5lb bag)
Baking Soda $.003 (that's not a typo--$.50 box has 94.5 tsp)
Cream of Tartar $0.22 ($7/lb, assuming 1/2 ounce is around a teaspoon)
Vanilla $.15 (total guestimation)
GF Flour Mix $4





TOTAL=$6.10, $.20 - $.15 per cookie

Read More