Sunday, July 31, 2011

Tonight's dinner

Dinner:


Chicken, white beans
white wine, balsamic vinegar
spinach, carrots
seasoned with thyme, bay leaf, garlic.

(with brown rice)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Pasta with creamy pesto-ish sauce

IT'S EFFING HOT.

I overheard somebody call these the dog days of summer. Everyone's seeking solace in air-conditioned havens, myself included. You think I'm going to heat up my kitchen? Don't think so. It's been lunchmeat and cereal city over here. For a while.

But my belly is hungry, and getting tired of mediocre meals. So in one simultaneous move, I cranked the AC on full blast and turned on the stove.

The only thing to survive in my herb garden this year is a basil plant. Apparently this particular plant loves the drought and 100+ temperatures. In fact, it's going pretty strong. If it looks droopy I just water it and it perks right up.

This was inspired by leftover spinach that needs to be eaten soon. No, I can't eat another freaking salad. Was going to make a pesto but I also had cream cheese to use up. So I changed the plan a little, with great success.

I give you, this.


Okay, I'm not a food photographer.
Please, it tastes much better than it looks.

Have you seen that cooking creme? It's like that, but better.


Heat up your skillet to medium-high heat, salt & pepper your chicken, throw it in the pan and cook it until it's done.

Meanwhile, bust out your little tiny food processor that's cracked and old but still works.

Add to it:

1/2 block of softened cream cheese (or neufchatel cheese)
a splash of milk
a dash of garlic powder
1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese
1 handful each of fresh basil and spinach leaves
as much pepper as you like

Process that until it's relatively smooth, and pour it into the pan. Remove it from heat, and toss with your favorite gf pasta.


Then have ice cream for dessert, kuz it's just too darn hot not to.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Black Bean... Cake!

We've all heard of the chocolate cake or brownies made using black beans instead of flour. After trying one of these cupcakes that a friend made, I was amazed and finally decided to try it.

It's so freaking easy, and I have to admit I was skeptical as I was mixing the batter together. It's very wet. And even though I pureed the heck out of the beans, there were little bean skin pieces floating around in it.

However, when they came out of the oven and eventually made their way into my mouth, I was a believer all over again.

I used the recipe provided at Chocolate and Carrots (darling blog). Instead of all the embellishments, I made the basic cake recipe and added store-bought german chocolate icing for my sister's favorite birthday cake.

Unfortunately, the only picture I took was one with my crappy camera phone, sent to her with a note: Come over after work. (She did.)


They are moist, a bit dense, and perfectly chocolatey.

I fed them to my family, watched them eating, and asked, "You wanna know what's in there??"
They stopped eating and their faces became skeptical. When I told them, they were all, "No way!" and polished them off. You really can't tell there are beans in the batter.

One thing to note: they don't rise very high and get that traditional domed cupcake shape; I suppose it's just the nature of the recipe, but it's ok because you get to put more icing on that way. :o)

So, whether you make the surprise cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (which are, by the way, AH-MAY-ZING) or just use the plain chocolate cake recipe, it's all good.

Just make them.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

GF Expo in Dallas

Hey! Spotted at simply sugar and gluten free, a GF expo in Dallas!



I've seen other bloggers posting about expos, and have been waiting for one to come to Houston, but Dallas is close enough! I could totally go up there for a weekend. How fun would that be?? Road tripppp.

I'm pretty darn excited about this.

Friday, July 1, 2011

GF Rice Krispies!

I finally found the new Gluten Free Rice Krispies on shelves!



At first I was excited to see them, but then the price tag kinda put a damper on it. $4.19 for a  box of the gluten free stuff, and $2.88 for a box of the regular stuff. I was looking forward to mainstream cereals being a little cheaper than the specialty stuff. Especially since the website advertises that they're the same price! Still, I bought them. At least it was a big box, unlike most GF cereals that are like 5 bucks for a tiny box.

I had a big bowl for breakfast today, complete with bananas, just the way I like it.

I don't remember how regular Rice Krispies taste, but these are pretty good. They even snap, krackle, and pop. So you don't miss out on the Rice Krispie experience.

All in all, another win for GF awareness, and my tummy.