you know, i was wondering why my email box lately was so quiet -- my pop setting for gmail were wacky, thus i though no one loved me or was reading this. d'oh!
besides, i'm still way behind in posting the latest in food adventures. at the moment, i am fighting the creeping crud that has been ravaging the office. silly me thought going gluten free and feelnig better meanty i could instantly stop taking my super-duper auto-immune support vitamins. uh uh. not with this crud! i trippled up last night, and am feeling much more human today than i was yesterday.
so a briff look at what last weeks culinary adventures for al-desko dining.
sometimes the amount of cooking that needs to be done for this whole gluten free thing is just daunting. and then sometimes you don't care about the volume or mess because damn, it's tasty!
this is what the lunches will look like this week. on the left: lemon and mustard marinated chicken, and lemon scented quinoa salad with garbanzo beans. on the right: balsamic-honey roasted root veggies.
i spotted the root veggie recipe first this week. seeing as i have a couple (yes a couple) bottles of aged balsamic vinegar in the cupboard i am never remembering to use, it was a go. no rutabaga in my version, as the three turnips i had were huge (Baldrick would have been jealous), but i even used beets. something new for me (my mom hates beets, so never experienced them other than those day-glow things from a can they served as hot-lunch in junior high). of course, my delight at scoring all the veggies at WF at bargain prices meant i forgot to pick up the rosemary. and i had not dried in the cabinet. so, i just started puling out jars and sniffing and tossing them in. ended up with cardamon, marjoram and a little bit of thyme. it works.
the lemon scented quinoa salad had my mouth watering as well. i already figured i would make up some quinoa this week (two weeks is far too long for me to go without quinoa). but this was perfect to go with the veggies. and even though it already had garbanzo beans in it, i knew i would need a little more of a protein kick to pass the combo off as lunch.
so i marinated up a chicken breast to go with the salad. toss some extra virgin olive oil in a zipper bag (about 2 to 3 Tbs i think), then pour in some lemon juice (1/4 c?). add a healthy couple squirts of mustard (i chose a german mustard), and a more than generous sprinkle of lemon-pepper. add a dash of salt, and give it a quick fondle from the outside to get it mixed, drop in the chicken, massage it around a bit more and pop in the fridge for few hours.
being lazy, i didn't break out the grill. i decided i'd just cook it up in a fry pan on the stove. but decided to add a healthy bit, probably a 1/2 c. of the marinade to the pan, so i could pop a lid on and let it steam in as well. most flavorful, juicy chicken ever.
yes, i'm still here, still cooking, and still on a tight budget. last week, the challenge was to dig through the pantry and freezer and see what i could create. easiest option for lunches that week was certainly chili. i didn't feel like following any of the couple dozen recipe's i've tried, so instead, i stood at the stove and winged it.
best. chili. ever.
kelly's pantry chili
heat up about 2 T of olive oil in the bottom of a large dutch oven. turn off heat and drop in 2 jalapenos (i did seeds and all for a real kick) and 4 cloves of garlic finely diced to infuse the oil while you finely chop 1 very large red onion.
turn the heat back on to high so that the chiles and garlic start to sizzle and drop in the onion. give it a quick saute until the onions start to become translucent. add 1 pound ground beef and break up with a wooden fork. add salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and a healthy splash of worcestershire sauce. continue to stir and break up beef until pink is few and far between.
add:
1 can tomato paste
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomato
1 can each black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans, all undrained (or drained if you want a really thick chili)
about 1/2 a can of refried beans. i used amy's refried pintos with chile and lime.
get fun with the flavors by grating in a healthy dose of cinnamon. chop up some extra bitter (82% pure cocoa) chocolate. have no idea how much i added -- enough to darken the red tomato base and give just the faintest hint of sweetness before the heat starts to warm around the tongue.
bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. check seasons and adjust to taste let simmer as long as you can stand before grabbing a quick bowl and getting all warm and cozy with some corn chips and the leftover refried beans.
since reading up on gluten intolerance/celiac, there have been tons of "lightbulb moments" of my life and experiences suddenly being explained. everything makes sense, and that feeling that i have always had, that all these unrelated problems and illnesses HAD to somehow be connected were now being strung together like a string of beads.
i've not had a chance to document a lot of these moments, but another one fell into place this morning, and made me chuckle, and really puts this back to always being there: night-sweats are a common cealic reaction/symptom.
i have always had horrible night-sweats. but after countless decades, it is just normal to have to get up and change nightclothes in the middle of the night (i always keep an extra nightshirt by the bed) and to actually have to change the sheets in the middle of the night at least once a week. it's so routine and 'normal' for my life that i never mention it.
my mom documented this phenomenon of the soaking wet infant on a nightly basis in my baby book. no doctor seemed concerned when she mentioned it, so they just figured it was one of my quirks, and hey, mom occasionally gets night sweats as well, so why worry.
so gets added the earliest bead to the string.
and did you know that Skittles are actually listed by name as a food to avoid? my eating Skittles in college used to be entertainment. everyone would gather around and watch my face immediately blossom with bright purple splotches. i used to love those things. go figure. . .
i know, i know, i've been quiet. but things have been rolling along mostly without incident.
mostly. last week, i was getting glutened everyday at lunch. which is annoying because i MADE my lunch (my favorite sante fe chicken soup) and knew there was no gluten. the only thing i could put my finger on was perhaps the high amounts of corn -- both in the soup and the tortilla chips it is served over. i've been known to have a corn sensitivity in the past. and now with wheat out of the picture, i was going to get might cranky if corn has to go, too.
yet when i had the soup on the weekend (both sunday night when i made it, and the last bit on saturday), no stomach problems. so i'm befuddle by it.
but on top of the stomach issues, the fatigue was back big time.
this week's lunch was a cheapo, not my fave by any measure fare: veggie enchilada caserole. basically, lots of canned tomatoes, beads, some corn tortillas cooked in the slow cooker. again, i allowed myself a scant helping of corn chips on the side (because this recipe is just 'mere sustenace' -- not my usual 'i love food' foodie fare).
stomach is still rather fritzy, but with no prediction.
so i'm trying to plan out groceries for tonight (money still squeaky-tight) and seeing if i can kill the corn for a week. so i think i'm going to do a risotto. mmm, creamy with cheese and i have peas and pancetta in the freezer i can toss in there. i'll see if any meats are on sale that i can pick up, but if all else fails, i picked up some pork loin fillets last week on sale. i was hoping to save them for katsudon (japanese style pork and rice bowl).
my favorite from last week was the mix of romaine and baby greens salad with a new dressing (cindy's kitchen roasted garlic and rosemary vinaigrette -- yum!), shredded roast chicken and crumbled goat cheese. i cannot tell you how anxious i was to get home each night, run on the treadmill and then settle down with a big plate of salad.
The Gluten Free Pantry continues to rock my socks. another batch of brownies for my treat each night (perfect will Eddy's limited edition peppermint ice cream), and i made up some corn muffins (to try and torture my stomach more). as will most gluten free bread/cake items, the muffins are crumbly, but very good. i also ordered a case of their coffee cake mix on amazon since my WF doesn't carry that flavor mix. that will be cooked up this weekend.
still searching for a GF chocolate chip cookie recipe that doesn't involve 33 ingredients. i'd rather it be a mix when it comes to baking. cooking is one thing, but baking is a pain in the butt IMO.
