Monday After Christmas- soup

So it's the Monday after Christmas. These are the conditions, snow storm, stomach still full from weekend stuffing sessions, need to go grocery shopping (badly). Yesterday I did I turkey breast, so being snowed in, today was a good day to make stock. The next step is to turn it into soup. Hmmm, not much in the fridge. I actually have no veggies after using the one carrot and the almost past celery in the stock. I do have onions. Soup is nothing without onions. I also have plenty of beans and dried lentils and, of course, a can of diced tomatoes. I can do this. Looking through my recipe collection, I find a likely guide for a tomato lentil soup. Looks interesting, some spice to it as well a bit of balsamic vineger. I actually have most of the ingredients, but a recipe is just a suggestion anyway.
Lentil soup makes a great meal in a pot. Got the vegetables, got the protein, got the fiber. Add a bit of Parmesan cheese and that's enough. Especially after almost three days of too much food.
It's healthy, it's low fat, it's low sodium (especially with the homemade stock), it's simple and easy. Oh- gluten free too.

Tomato and Lentil Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 cups reduced sodium chicken stock (used homemade turkey stock)
for vegan could use vegetable stock or just water.
1 1/2 cups dried brown lentils
1 tsp dried dill
1 bay leaf
1 tsp chipotle pepper flakes (or to taste)
1-8 ounce can diced tomato - no added salt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper to taste
shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in large dutch oven. Add onion and cook for 10 minutes until soft and slightly browned. Add garlic and stir.
2. Add stock, lentils, dill, bay leaves, chipotle pepper, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes until lentils are tender.
3. Stir in vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust seasoning as needed.
Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.

Cookie mix

Yesterday was Christmas, and it's not Christmas without cookies. Being a bit cooked out, I decided to throw together some gluten free cookies from a mix. In the cupboard was one from "King Arthur" - yes the flour company. This mix is made using tapioca starch and rice flour. the other nice item was, that it was a plain cookie base. What was added in was up to me and what was left in my pantry. I added in chocolate chips and slivered almonds.
The dough came out very soft. The mix took 1 cup of butter, 2 eggs, 4 tbsp of water and then the chips and nuts. As it cooked they really spread out alot. Even though I had them spaced about 3 inches apart the cookies still ran into each other. I made the cookies smaller than the dirrections specified. The other thing that I did was to make the whole box. Why?? #1 to have more cookies. #2 the directions said to use 1/2 the contents of the box, but did not give a measurement to use. Hmm, actually, now that I think about it, could have figure out 1/2 by weight - it would have been 8 ounces of mix.
The cookies themselves were very tasty. The non-gluten free family member liked them too.

Chinese at home

We love Asian food. When we get take out it is usually Chinese or Thai. American style Chinese can really pack in the calories, so I really prefer to make it at home. I can cut down on the sugar, fats and add more veggies. Tonight I did a Kung Pao Chicken adapted from a recent Cooking Light Magazine recipe. Restaurant Kung Pao can go up to 600 calories and 17 grams of fat for a 12 ounce serving. The sodium, I don't even want to think about. The other problem with restaurant Chinese is that the soy sauce used contains gluten.
At home I can use a gluten free soy sauce. I even modified the Cooking Light recipe to add more vegetables and added a bit more heat - we like that.
This is a quick week day meal (It took 20 minutes to make) and can be adapted to be vegetarian by substituting tofu for the chicken. I think I'll try that next time.

Kung Pao Chicken

2 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper
1 pound chicken tenders
3/4 cup water
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp bottled minced ginger
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 package steam bag sugar snap peas - microwave one minute less than package directions
1/4 cup unsalted cashews

1. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and red pepper to pan, saute 3 minutes, add chicken and saute for 3 minutes on each side.
2. Combine 3/4 cup water, soy sauce, corn starch, brown sugar, ginger and red pepper. Wish together until sugar is dissolved and corn starch in mixed in well.
4. Add sauce to pan, bring to boil and add sugar snap peas.
Heat through. Add cashews.
Makes 4 servings- about 1 cup each. Serve over jasmine or brown rice. About 275 calories, 11 grams fat. 500 mg sodium.

Ginger Pudding with Bananas

Two entries in one day!!! This must mean that 1. I am so dedicated to my blog. 2. Nothing much going on. 3. It is a nasty rainy day. So, like I said in the last blog, I had a crazy cooking day, because it was a nasty rainy day. One of the items I made was a ginger pudding. Had some milk that would turn if I didn't use it. Not many people realize that pudding is pretty easy to make from scratch. It's almost as easy as opening the box of Jello Pudding mix. Really. Pudding is just sugar, cornstarch, milk and flavoring - that's it. What makes this dessert is the add ins. Just a basic vanilla pudding, add crushed gingersnaps (used Mary's gluten free), a bit of ginger paste, chopped pecans and sliced banana. Very yummy. The original recipe had all the ingredients mixed in to the main pudding, but I like the idea of adding the cookies, nuts and bananas right when serving, so everything does not get all mushy. The other advantage is that is some one does not like one of the ingredients - and that is bound to happen- that item can be omitted.
This is a fairly health dessert,

So for the pudding:
1. combine- 1/2 cup sugar, 5 tbsp cornstarch, 1/8 tsp salt. Gradually wisk in 3 cups of skim milk. Heat to about 180 degrees, just below boiling.
2. combine 1 cup skim milk, 2 egg yolks and 2 tsp vanilla. Gradually add to milk mixture. Whisk constantly until it comes to a slow boil. continue cooking for 2 more minutes until the pudding becomes thick. This takes about 20 minutes.
3. Cool in refrigerator with plastic wrap right on top to keep skin from forming.
4. Slice 2 bananas. Turn 12 ginger snaps (gluten free) into crumbs. Chop 1/4 cup pecans.
Mix 1/2 tsp ginger paste into each serving of pudding - 1/2 cup. Stir in 1/2 a sliced banana, 1 tbsp of cookies and 1 tbsp of pecans. top with whipped cream if desired - i found the whipped cream to be overkill.

Mexican and Healthy

On a rainy, windy, dreary winter day in Connecticut what is better to do than to play in the kitchen. Nice, warm and cosy. Yummy too. I started with some spiced nuts and then made some vanilla pudding. For lunch I brought out a filling for Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos that I made a few weeks ago. Do not be afraid - it came out of the freezer.
"American" Mexican food is notorious for beeing high in fat. With all the cheese, sour cream, and other added fats it can pack a diet killing punch. A restaurant burrito could be as much as 1000 calories. The trick is to reduce the amouts of the animal and saturated fats and increase the amounts of the vegetables and the beans. Salsa is a good low fat, vegetable based addition. Guacamole, while being high in fat, is vegetable based and full of good monounsaturated fats. These burritos are filled with mashed sweet potatoes and black beans, with a nice spicey kick. They go well with a topping of salsa (15 calories for 2 tbsp) and guacamole ( (45 calories for 2 tbsp) and a bit of sour cream (49 calories for 2 tbsp of light- 50 calories for 2 tbsp of full fat) to smooth out the spice. For the guacamole I like to use "Holy Guacamole", found in the produce section. It has a nice fresh taste and people think it is homemade.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

5 cups peeled, cubed sweet potato
3 tsp canola oil
3 1/2 cups diced onion
4 cloves garlic, mince
1 tbsp minced fresh green chile (do this with gloves on)
4 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp ground coriander
3 - 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp lemon juice
10 corn tortillas ( warmed in non-stick skillet spray each tortilla with cooking spray- this makes the tortillas soft, so you can wrap them without them tearing)
Salsa and guacamole

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place sweet potatoes into a medium saucepan with water. cover and bring to a boil, simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, heat medium skillet, add oil and saute onion, garlic and chiles until soft and tender. Add the garlic toward the end to avoid burning. Add cumin and coriander, cook for 2-3 minutes more. Set aside.
4. With a potato masher, mash together the sweet potatoes, black beans, lemon juice and a bit of salt. Add cooked onion mixture.
5. Lightly oil a large baking dish. Prepare the tortillas. Spoon 2/3 cup filling into the center of each tortilla, roll and place, seam side down in the baking dish. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Serve hot topped with salsa and guacamole on the side.

Lemon Bread

This is a quick one - not feeling very creative today, just tired and sad. In an effort to get back into the groove, I am forcing a blog.

This is an adaptation for gluten free, from an old favorite. My mom made this moisty, sweet bread for years. It is really more like a cake. I find that any really moist cake can be easily converted, just by substituting gluten free flour mix one for one with all-purpose flour. How easy is that.

Mom's Lemon Bread.

3/4 cup trans fat free margarine, softenend
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk - skim is fine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup gluten free flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup walnuts
grated rind of 1 lemon

1. Cream the margarine with the sugar. Add milk and 2 eggs.
2. In medium bowl mix flour, salt, baking power, walnuts and lemon rind.
3. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients with hand mixer.
4. Pour into loaf pan prepared with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.
5. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Top with sugar/ lemon glaze. Juice of one lemon and 1/2 cup of sugar.

This bread freezes well. Also makes great mini loaves - bake for about 40 minutes.