Stuffed acorn squash

This dish was so good.

You need:

1 acorn squash
1 chicken breast
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 chopped onion
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1/2 c. chopped kale
1/4 c. cranberries, fresh or dried
1/4 c. cooked brown rice
1/4 c. chopped mushrooms
2 Tbsp slivered almonds
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp ground thyme
dash of cinnamon
salt and pepper

Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Bake at 400 degrees, cut side up, for 40 minutes.

Chop the chicken breast up into small pieces and sautee in olive oil with the onion and celery until cooked through. Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook until the kale is wilted and everything smells nice.

Spoon the mixture into the squash and bake at 375 for another 15 minutes.

Tuscan chicken

Adapted from this recipe, here's my dairy-free take on Tuscan chicken.

What you need:

olive oil

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bag of sundried tomatoes

2 c. chopped spinach

1 c. chopped kale

1 c. almond milk

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil, chicken, seasonings, and tomatoes until the chicken is browned and cooked. Add the spinach and kale and cooked until it's wilted. Stir in the almond milk and let it simmer until the sauciness is to your liking. Top with lemon juice and parsley.

Serve with your favorite GF pasta. 

Pumpkin pie, dairy free

For years I have happily made my pumpkin pie using the directions on the can, which calls for evaporated milk. This year, at the start of pumpkin season, I am still avoiding dairy (with great results). Which means this recipe had to be re-thought. 

Good thing it was easy. I used a little bit of almond milk in place of the evaporated milk, and added a little extra sugar and spice to the crust.

The crust:

1/2 c. gf flour mix

1/2 c. almond flour

1/8 t. salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp turbinado sugar
3 Tbsp olive oil

Mix everything up and press it into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan, or an 8-inch cake pan.

The filling:
1/2 c. loosely packed brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. nutmeg
1/8 t. cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1/2 c. plain unsweetened almond milk

Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl. Mix in everything else really well and pour the filling into the prepared crust. Bake it at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 and bake it for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center is clean. Cool to room temperature and then stick it in the fridge. 

No noticeable difference in taste or texture from the dairy version. 

Between the 2 of us it was gone in 24 hours.

Breaded baked white fish

This fish was so delicious. We both kept going back for a little bit more.

All it is, is fish + cornmeal + seasonings:

1 c. cornmeal

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp celery salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

Mix that all up on a plate. Take a piece of white fish (tilapia, sea bass, cod, whatever is on sale at the grocery store) and lay it on top of the mixture, flipping it and patting the cornmeal onto each side with your hands. Place the fish on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

Serve with carrots and a simple cabbage/ zucchini slaw. 

Shrimp Scampi with mussels

This is such a good, simple dish. Shrimp, mussels, garlic, wine, and parsley. A few sweet peppers for a flavor boost, and some peas because that's how I like it. Served with some GF pasta. 

Ingredients:

12 frozen mussels

1/4 lb raw shrimp

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. olive oil

3 small sweet peppers, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

white wine (I don't drink a lot of white wine so I used those little single serving bottles of pinot grigio)

1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

1 lemon, juiced

salt and pepper

1/4 c. frozen peas

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. In the meantime, heat a pan to medium-high heat. Sautee the peppers and oil until they are soft and have a little char. Add in the garlic and heat that for a minute. 

At this point the pasta water should be boiling. Add your favorite GF spaghetti noodles. 

Pour the bottle of wine in the pan with the peppers and add in the mussels. Cover the pan. Set a timer for 10 minutes. When 3-4 minutes are left, add the shrimp and leave the lid off. Stir in the red pepper flakes, parsley, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the timer goes off, it's done. At this point I like to add frozen peas. Drain the noodles and toss them into the pan with everything else. 

Discard any mussels that did not open. 

Serves 2.

red beans and rice with sausage

We accidentally used up the green bell pepper that I had bought to use in this recipe. You know what was in the fridge? Half of a poblano pepper. Ooh, cuz. That kicks up red beans and rice real nice.

Red Beans and Rice

1/2 chopped onion

1/2 chopped poblano pepper

1 stalk of chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

cayenne pepper

rubbed sage

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 can of red beans

1 link of andouille sausage, sliced at an angle

Sautee the onion, pepper, and celery in a little bit of olive oil. When the veggies are soft and charred, add in the spices, herbs, and beans. Simmer on low heat while the rice cooks, about 15 minutes.

My pan got full and I like my sausage nice and charred, so I heated that in a separate pan and added them in at the end.

Yum.

breakfast quinoa bowl

Usually I eat the same thing for breakfast. An egg, some greens, and fruit.

Last night we had some leftover quinoa that doesn't really incorporate well into the rest of the meals planned for the week, and I didn't feel like making it into a side salad, so I figured I'd work it into my breakfast. 

I made a bowl with the following:

kale, torn into small pieces

finely sliced red cabbage

quinoa

olive oil

salt and pepper

fried egg, over medium and chopped up

diced avocado

It was pretty good, and has kind of inspired me to try some other variations of quinoa for breakfast. 

Not sure how a sweet version would taste, with cinnamon, peanut butter, or fruit, like instead of oatmeal? 

Eh, I might just stick to savory.

Blake's GF chicken pot pie

I had to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights last week and I found this great gluten free section in the nearest grocery store. I always, always have to try the chicken pot pie, so when I saw Blake's gluten free pot pie (and dairy free, from what I could see on the ingredients list) in the frozen section, I grabbed it.

Not expecting it to be great, I popped it into the microwave after a long day and poured a glass of wine.

When it was done, it seemed to be all pale crust and minimal filling, which disappointed me. But, it was dinner, so I ate it with a salad.

And it was actually good! The crust was so good that I wished there was more of it. The filling was good, too. Nothing weird, no strange aftertastes, just yummy.

Would definitely buy this again.

beef quesadillas

You know what's good? These quesadillas. 

I'm all about quick and easy lately, and these happened when I had some ground beef thawed with no idea what to do.

Here's what you do:

Heat some chopped onion in a pan with the ground beef until it's brown. Add in taco seasoning. 

Spread some Kite Hill Cream Cheese (the best dairy free cream cheese I've tried) onto a corn tortilla and top with the ground beef and some sad spinach. Place another tortilla on top and cook on a hot pan until each side is crispy. 

Serve with mexican rice, black beans, and sliced avocado. Instead of sour cream I tried Forager plain yogurt. It was a little runny but the taste was good.

Popovers

Of course I find myself with a hankering for a sandwich right in the middle of a quarantine situation. I usually keep a loaf in the freezer, but I ran out a while back and never replaced it. Sure, I could go out and search for gluten free bread in this virus-y world (and may or may not find any), or I could stay safe at home and improvise.

I experimented with gluten free bread recipes back when I was first diagnosed, and after many terrible loaves made their way into the trash can, I decided not to waste my time and ingredients anymore. By that time, several brands made a decent gf bread and I was happy to give them my money.

Quarantine or not, there's no way I'm going to attempt making gluten free bread again. However, there are these popovers... they look unremarkable but are actually kind of magical.

The first time I had popovers, my sister made them for Thanksgiving years ago, and they were so good. 

No yeast, no fuss, just quick and easy and... fun.

Once you split them in half, they make the perfect little slider-sized bun. They are also phenomenal with butter and jam. 

I was skeptical after reading the recipe she used, because there's no leavener-- how do they rise?? I pulled a chair and sat in front of the oven to watch and... they do.

Popovers

1 c. gf flour mix

1/8 tsp salt

1 c. almond milk

3 eggs

Mix the salt and flour in a bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk in a separate bowl and pour it into the flour mixture. Mix well and pour the batter into a muffin* tin sprayed with cooking spray. You want to spray the entire inside of each well so that they rise evenly. Fill each well about 2/3 full.

Place into a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. They will drop as they cool, but that's okay.

*If you use an actual popover pan they will be taller, but a muffin pan does the job.

Makes 9 popovers.

P.S. If you think of Little Women (1949) when you hear the word, "popovers," then we can be friends forever.

Black bean enchiladas

I am in the process of cleaning out some of the older stuff in the pantry. A can of enchilada sauce caught my eye and it's been a while since I've had enchiladas, so I put them on the menu.

I really thought I would miss the cheese in these dairy-free enchiladas, but I didn't! They have lots of flavor and texture and I will be making these again.

Black bean enchiladas

1 can of black beans

1/2 c. frozen corn

1/2 of a shredded zucchini

1 can of enchilada sauce (I used Hatch)

Put the beans, corn, zuccini, and 1/4 c. of the enchilada sauce into a pan. Heat until the mixture has thickened. Smoosh some of the beans with the back of a spoon if you like.

Spoon some of the mixture into a corn tortilla (I use these) and roll them up. Place them seam-side down into an oven-safe dish sprayed with cooking spray. I used a 7-inch square glass pan. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until everything is heated and bubbly. 

Top with some shredded kale for crunch and color.

Makes 5 enchiladas that are sooo good. 

PSA: Knife sharpener

FYI: If you're in the market for a great little knife sharpener, I've been using this one for years and I love it.

It's compact, it's under $5, and it does a really great job.

Hotel room eggs on the mini griddle

I bought the cutest little DASH mini griddle (in pink).

Measuring around 6 inches round by 3 inches tall, it fits really easily into my suitcase and totally changes my hotel room cooking game.

This morning, I used it to fry an egg in less than 5 minutes.

1. Plug in the griddle and let it heat up until the light on top turns off.
2. Crack an egg on it.
3. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Close the lid and let it cook for 3 minutes. I like my egg yolks mostly firm and slightly runny, so adjust the time according to your liking.

4. Serve.

I also used it to make an omelet with onions and spinach. All it takes is 2 minutes on the griddle.

How awesome is this??

This week's menu

For future inspiration, this week's menu:

 

Monday- Steak, broccoli, and potato
Tuesday- Black bean nachos that morphed into a layered bean dip.
Wednesday- Meatloaf + green beans
Thursday- Pizza
Friday- Stir fry with chicken

layered bean dip

I love beans. I love chips and dip. This is the best of both worlds.

No gluten, no dairy, no meat, but a really satisfying meal. Yes, I called chips and dip a meal. The dip is basically veggies and beans. I could do worse.

Layer in the following order in a glass container:

1. Black beans: Place a saucepan on medium heat. Add in 1/8 of a chopped onion and 1 minced garlic clove with a splash of olive oil. When they are browned, add in 1 tsp of GF taco seasoning, and 1 can of black beans, undrained. Turn off the heat and mush the beans. Don't let too much liquid evaporate, you want the beans to be somewhat spreadable.
2. Frozen corn, prepared according to package directions
3. Drained canned jalapenos (or fresh chopped jalapenos)
4. Fresh diced tomato
5. Fresh diced avocado
6. Finely shredded lettuce

If you're feeling 7 layers, you could also add salsa or some mexican rice.

Serve with your favorite gluten free chip.

Grilled steak with broccoli and potato

I was so hungry and excited about dinner that I did not take a picture of my plate. I did take a picture of the leftovers, though!

Here's what you need to get excited about dinner... and leftovers:

1 petite sirloin steak, cut into 2 pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper. Put it on a hot grill (400 degrees) and close the lid. Flip after 5 minutes, and after another 5 minutes check it with a thermometer. I like mine medium well to well, so 155 degrees is done.

1 potato, washed and pierced with a fork, and microwaved for 5 minutes. Slice into the potato as if you're cutting it into rounds, but not cutting all the way through. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add a dollup of dairy free butter.

1 cast iron pan filled with frozen broccoli, cooked until there's a nice char.

I enjoyed this meal outside on this cloudy, 73 degree Monday. It was awesome.

Sheet pan Salmon and Broccoli

The best part about this meal is that from start to finish, it took about 30 minutes.

Not counting the overnight thaw/marinade.

If you're interested, here's what you do.

Take some salmon out of the freezer and place it into a bowl meat-side-down with the following:

2 T. maple syrup
2 T. gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp fresh ground ginger (keep a peeled knob in the freezer for instant access)
1 minced garlic clove

Let it thaw in the fridge while soaking in the marinade.

When you get hungry for dinner, preheat the oven to 375 and line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray.

Place the salmon on the sheet, then dump some frozen broccoli next to it.

Note: Do not pour the extra marinade onto the salmon because it will burn in the oven. Ask me how I know.

Bake it while you watch an episode of Parks and Rec, about 20 minutes or until the salmon is 145 degrees.

So delicious and easy.

this week's menu

Hi, I don't have to travel this week. My cat is thrilled!

My own bed, a full kitchen, a full fridge, and time to cook in the evenings... I am thrilled!

Here's the menu.

Breakfast- Pretty veggie-ful omelets.

I have the veggies all prepped and ready to toss in the pan to streamline these early mornings. Very grateful that my coffeemaker has a setting so that it starts brewing exactly when I push the snooze button for the first time.

Lunches- Leftovers or pretty salads

Dinners-

Monday: Chicken pot pie
Tuesday- Crock pot beef (with venison)
Wednesday- Salmon and veggies
Thursday- Veggie stir fry
Friday- Grilled steaks

Snacks- GF pretzels and larabars

Chicken pot pie

I love me some chicken pot pie. It's just so good. Savory filling with lots of veggies, a flavorful crust... yum.

I like putting seasonings into the crust for that extra layer of flavor, and I like being able to customize the filling so that everything I like is in there. Plus, unlike previous versions of this recipe, this one does not contain dairy. It also doesn't use leftover chicken, because I didn't have any.

The only thing I would change for this recipe is to use a smaller diameter pan, so that the pie is deeper and has a higher filling-to-crust ratio. I used a standard 9-inch pie plate but would use a 7-inch round cake pan next time.

Chicken pot pie

Filling:

1 chicken thigh

1/4 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped into small pieces

olive oil

1 big handful of frozen broccoli, thawed in the microwave and chopped into smaller pieces

1/2 c. frozen peas

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp ground thyme

1 sprig of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Put a pan over medium heat and add in the chicken, onion, and carrot. Drizzle in some olive oil and stir. Let cook, stirring every few minutes and flipping the chicken, until the veggies have gotten soft and the chicken is cooked. 

Remove the chicken, cut it into small pieces, and add back into the pan. Add in the broccoli and peas.

Splash about 1/2 c. water in the pan and gently scrape the browned bits from the bottom. 

Whisk 1 Tbsp GF flour into 1/2 c. cold almond milk. Pour it into to the pan and mix well. As it comes to a boil, the mixture will start to thicken. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook until the consistency is right.

In the meantime, prepare the biscuit crust:

1 c. GF flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground thyme

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp pepper

3 T. vegan I can't believe it's not butter

1/4 c. cold almond milk

Mix the dry ingredients together and use a pastry blender to cut in the "butter" until the mixture looks like little pea-sized balls. Stir in the almond milk to make a soft dough.
Split the dough in half and press one half into the bottom of a greased pie plate. Pour the filling into the pan. Gently roll out the other half of the dough on a piece of wax paper and place it biscuit-side down on top of the filling. Slowly peel off the wax paper to leave the dough perfectly placed on top. I used a fork to roughly seal the edges together and poke holes.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes about 4 servings.

travel meals without a fridge or microwave

I think it's really annoying that our hotel room in Vegas didn't have a mini fridge or microwave. Sure, I could request that they clean out the mini bar for a fee, but I think that's ridiculous.

So, I adapted! I bought a cooler and filled it with ice from the ice machine. I can live like that for a couple of days.

Here's how I survived:

Breakfast: boiled eggs, fruit, chopped veggies, and room service coffee (I won't pay the fee to use the minibar, but I will spend an absurd amount of money to have coffee delivered to my room so I can enjoy it in my bathrobe)

Lunch:
-Meat roll ups (lunchmeat, salad greens, avocado, mustard, mayo rolled up into little burritos), plus veggies and crackers

Dinner:
-Tuna salad
-Meat roll ups with hummus and veggies
-The Good Kitchen frozen dinner (I was at my brother's apartment and was able to use a microwave.)

Snacks: GF pretzels + peanut butter, nuts, larabars, cuties, apples. Basically anything I could stuff into my purse.

As always, I brought my travel kit, tucked into my checked bag.

For reference, the grocery list:
boiled eggs
cuties
apples
salad greens
avocado
baby carrots
cucumber
individual hummus
mayo
mustard
mixed nuts
lunchmeat
pretzels
crackers
tuna salad kit
individual peanut butters
wine
water bottles
sandwich bags
cooler

Travel meals, this week.

Raise your hand if you love last-minute travel plans.

*looks around*

Actually, they're not so bad. I've gotten pretty good at adapting and packing. The hardest part of last-minute travel is planning what I'm going to eat.

(And also since I recently had Lasik, having to pull over every hour to apply eye drops.)

This week I am in a small town, in a hotel room with a mini fridge and a microwave. I decided not to bring the crock pot.

Meals have to be simple when you're in a town with a tiny Walmart grocery section and you do not have a kitchen.

Here's what I came up with:

     

Breakfast: The standard microwaved scrambled eggs bit. It's getting a little routine, and this week I looked for already-boiled eggs at the grocery store, but they didn't have any. I also picked up an apple... and a cucumber as big as my forearm. Really.

Lunch:
Tuesday- Travel day. Packed a kale + cranberry salad with some avocado and leftover chicken on top.
Wednesday- Frozen Amy's meal, heated up in the break room microwave
Thursday- A can of soup, heated up in the break room microwave
Friday- Chopped salad with ham and crackers

Dinner:
Tuesday- Frozen Amy's meal because it was a beautiful day for a drive, but it was too long to cook.
Wednesday- Tuna salad. Because it's so easy.
Thursday- Chopped salad with ham
Friday- Travel day. Chili and cornbread from the freezer.

Snacks: Orchard Valley Harvest Antioxidant mix, plus a cutie :)

Brought from home:
Travel kit

The grocery list:
eggs
kale
salad greens
ham
cuties and apples
2 amy's frozen meals
soup
tuna salad kit
gf crackers
jug of water
wine

This weekend I'm going to Vegas and there is no mini fridge or microwave in the hotel room. Should be interesting.

chopped salad with ham

I've been on kind of a salad burnout lately. Salads are so boring! I'm tired of them! So I've been trying different things.

For some reason, chopping everything into little bitty pieces has made them more appetizing.

This salad, scrounged from whatever I had in the hotel fridge, was really good!

Chop into little pieces:
3 pieces of kale, torn from the stalk
1 big handful of spinach/baby spring mix
1 little pouch of Orchard Valley Harvest antioxidant mix, pounded with the bottom of a wine bottle to get little pieces
Some of the giant cucumber I picked up at the store
2 slices of ham

Put the lid on the container, shake it all up, and you've got yourself a yummy salad. I put half of it into another container and drizzled it with olive oil for dinner and ate it with some veggie straws. I saved the other half for lunch tomorrow.

Tuna Salad Salad

This is my life now.

Tonight's gourmet meal in a hotel room is tuna salad and crackers. There's no cat asking for tuna nearby, which makes me a little sad.

A fresh salad with decent wine... I've had way worse meals while traveling.

This is actually one of my go-to travel meals because
1. Hotel rooms do not always have microwaves/refrigerators, and this requires neither if you pick up the stuff on your way home.
2. It's a well-rounded meal of protein, carbs, and veggies.

Here's what I used:

Tuna salad kit
GF crackers
Salad greens
Cucumber

Chop up the veggies. Mix up the tuna salad (throw away the crackers from the kit). Plop the tuna salad on top of the veggies. Eat it with some crackers on the side.

It's that easy. Happy GF Hump Day.