Diet Changes

I have been struggling lately with the gluten free diet. For the past 2 years I have tried to be good but I never felt better. Last fall, I forked out the $400 to get lab work done at an independent lab. They confirmed that I did have a gluten intolerance so I strived to be better. I blamed my lack of conviction. I would occassionally make a mistake or fall off the gf wagon and have a little bread or pizza. It's a really hard choice to be gluten free. I now have medical insurance and saw a doctor last night for the first time in a long time. I brought him my lab results and my concerns. Going over my symptoms and my history, it looks as if gluten is not my problem. He couldn't say for certain that I did not have a gluten intolerance but he did say that I should have seen dramatic results within 2-4 weeks of being gluten free. We talked about what my health was like before the fire that send our life spinning out of control. I felt fairly good. I ate a whole grain diet. I was regular. I had energy to exercise. I had a few symptoms of unhealthiness but most of the time I felt pretty good. After we lost our house to the fire several things happened. We moved away from our country home. I started working more regularly since I had more opportunity in the large town we moved to (or small city - I never know what constitutes city vs town). But most importantly we had lost our home - it was a really stressful time. I would say it was honestly the worst year of my life. I felt awful so the idea of a diet that would make me feel better was really appealing. It's been just over 2 years since the fire and suddenly I find myself thinking I should feel better by now. The last year was a little rough but I tried hard to take care of myself. I found that I gained 20 pounds over this last year and yet if I was really gluten intolerant I should have been losing weight on the diet. I developed GI problems that I hadn't had before. I started wondering why things were not coming together. Well now I know. I plan on keeping this blog and sharing recipes. The focus will only move away from gluten free but still work on finding ways to make good food not cost a lot of money. I am glad I can add more grains into my diet and get our health back on track.

Fruit Salad

I was craving fruit but the selection at the store was so poor that I ended up in the canned fruit aisle. My family has traditionally made a fruit salad with mixed canned fruit, cool whip, cottage cheese and jello. I have always hated mixed canned fruit and no one was especially excited about this salad for dinner. However, I really like the mix of fruit with the cool whip and cottage cheese.
My son and I stood in the canned fruit aisle trying to find something that would ease my fruit craving. We opted to buy pineapple which we all love and then we found something else - locally grown, no sugar added canned cherries. It was a shocker. The can of cherries was a little spendy at $3.50 but I figured it was less than what I would spend on fresh cherries. The ingredients were cherries, water and cherry juice so I figured it was worth it. We got some fresh bananas to round it out and made the family salad.
Here's how it went
2 cans chopped pineapple, drained
1 can cherries, drained
4 bananas, sliced into coins
1 container of cool whip
1 container of cottage cheese (both the "normal" sizes)
orange jello
Mix together the fruit. Fold in the thawed cool whip and cottage cheese. Sprinkle on about 1/3 of the package of jello to add flavor (or to taste). Chill and serve.
I saved the juices, mixed them together for the dinner drink.

Pork and Rice

One of the few things my father made as we were growing up is a Kraft recipe for Pork Chops and Rice. Things have changed but we still love this concotion. My father's original recipe uses regular rice and bakes in the oven. I found a new version of this recipe that makes it on the stove with minute rice. The original recipe also calls for creamed soup but it is not gluten or dairy free.
Here is how we revamped the recipe for last nights dinner.
4 pork chops
2 cups minute brown rice
2-3 cups liquid (we used a combination of soy milk and water)
1/2 stick Nucoa
1 onion chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
1 package instant dry soup mix (we used onion and later realized it had barley yeast - which I have no idea what that is but we are not sure it's gluten free. There are plenty of soup mixes out there that are though)
Melt Nucoa in a deep frying pan (we have something called a chicken pan which is a cast iron skillet-like pan that is about 3 inches deep with a lid). Brown pork chops in Nucoa. Remove pork chops and place in an oven at 300 - 350 to keep warm and cook more of the center. Fry onion and celery until tender. Add liquid and bring to a boil. Add soup mix and rice. Top with pork chops from oven (it seemed like it took awhile for the veggies to saute but then we were cooking slowly). Cover with lid and cook until rice is tender. Serves 4 very comfortably.
Using the brown rice does mean it needs to cook slightly longer than white rice and requires more liquid.

Potato Soup

Potato soup is one of those super easy recipes that I often forget it is a recipe. I, often, treat this as a stone soup sort of recipe because I use whatever I find.
The basic formula is onions, potatoes, milk.
I have made a dairy free version of this with mashed potatoes and a little chicken stock. Personally, I prefer a dairy version even if I have to use soy milk.
For the basic recipe (feel free to double, triple etc)
6 potatoes scrubbed and cubed (keeping the peels on will help the pieces retain their shape and not get as mushy)
1 onion, diced
2 cans evaporated milk (or about 3-4 cups milk of any type)
1/2 stick nucoa
Melt Nucoa in pot (you don't need a very big pot if you are just making this amount). I discovered that making this in cast iron will cause the bottom to stick horribly so I recommend something not cast iron - or stay attentive so it doesn't burn). Saute onion in butter. I prefer a light saute so that the onion doesn't get too brown. Add potatoes, stir a little to coat the potatoes in butter and onions. Pour over milk. Let simmer until potatoes are soft but not mushy. This should take about 15-20 minutes depending on the heat. Stir often to prevent burning.
When I made the soup this week, I added a little chicken gravy that I had made to give it a little depth and to use up some of the gravy.
I like to season the soup with nothing but pepper but that's just me.
You can add bacon to this dish (you can actually use bacon to fry the onion if you like) or clams/oysters. You can top with cheese and green onion. Let your imagination run wild.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is an adaptation of yesterdays peanut butter cookie.
2 sticks nucoa
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups peanut butter (again I use a whole jar of 15-18oz peanut butter)
2 eggs
2 teas baking soda
1 teas vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
1-2 cups chocolate chips
Cream nucoa, sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mix thoroughly. Add baking soda and vanilla. I did all this in a mixer which made the batter really light.(if using remove bowl from mixer at this point and stir rest by hand). Mix in oatmeal. Add chocolate chips. I have made this with 1 cup chocolate chips and in thinking about it - it could really use more.
Drop by tablespoonful onto baking sheet (I always use a silpat). This is a really sticky dough so you may need to use the two spoon method (scoop dough with one spoon and push it onto baking sheet with other spoon). Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. These are really good cookies and have a more oatmeal feel to them than peanut butter. I am considering making them with dried cranberries and a little cinnamon next time to see how they come out.

Peanut Butter Cookies plus variations

I found a cookbook at the library that was something like 50 cookies from the same cookie dough. It got me thinking - is there a way I could make 50 different cookies from my peanut butter cookie recipe since it's a family favorite and a super easy gluten free cookie. I have played with a few ideas and made them yesterday.
The basic recipe is what I call the 2 peanut butter cookie (this is not original to me but I have made it for so long I can't tell you who originally made the cookie).
This particular recipe I found when I had a hospice client tell me her last helper would make her peanut butter cookies but they weren't like anyone else's. I found this recipe in a cooking for kids cookbook (something like One Bite Won't Kill You). She didn't think they were the right cookies but my family really liked them. So when the time came to make cookies for a family reunion - I offered to make these. My aunt complained that I wasn't going to make the right cookies so I ended up making 2 batches - these and the traditional peanut butter cookies. The traditional cookies were left practically uneaten.

Peanut Butter Cookies
2 cups peanut butter (I use an entire 16-18 oz jar because it's just over 2 cups)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teas baking soda
1 teas vanilla
Cream peanut butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add baking soda and vanilla. Mix until everything is smooth and creamy. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Flatten on baking sheet - these spread so you want to keep a good inch or so all around them. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. I always bake my cookies on a silpat lined baking sheet. They will come out of the oven really soft so be careful to not over bake. Let cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing. If they absolutely fall apart while transferring then they need to be cooked a little longer (it's fine to put them back in the oven at this point so long as you didn't let them sit too long). They should be firm but crumbly.

This weekend I tried making them into thumbprint cookies. The cookies don't really hold their shape so they were not cute thumbprints but the raspberry jam was a great compliment to the peanut butter cookie. What I did was made an impression in each cookie prior to baking and filled it with about 1/2 teas jam. A full teaspoon might be fine since the cookies spread.
Another variation and one we use often is to mix in chocolate chips. This time I made the cookies as I would normally and pressed chocolate chips into the dough after laying it out on the cookie sheet.
This is the first 2 variations I made without changing the dough. I will post soon the oatmeal peanut butter cookies I created - so good.

Peanut Chicken

One of our staple sauces is peanut sauce on chicken. For me, this is a simple and tasty recipe. I don't put a lot of fuss into peanut sauce and it always turns out well.
Normally, I brown the chicken in a deep skillet. Add a can of coconut milk and a couple of dollops of peanut butter. I use a basic, cheap peanut butter. Sometimes I add a little sweet chili sauce for a bit of a kick.
Last night I put the chicken (usually boneless, skinless chicken breast but any chicken will do) in a 9x13 baking dish with any juices from the bag. I drizzled on sweet chili sauce and then dolloped the peanut butter here and there. About half way through I flipped over the chicken and stirred the peanut butter into the chicken juices. I had envisioned the peanut butter melting into everything making a sauce but it didn't until I stirred everything together. My father said it was the best peanut sauce he has ever had which just goes to show that simplicity is always better.
I serve this chicken over rice with a gluten free soy sauce.

For another twist you can add crushed pineapple to the coconut milk for the skillet chicken (and then make the peanut butter optional - for an island kick add a little rum).