Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Meatloaf

I have no picture today.  Let’s blame it on how good this was, how fast it went.  No leftovers!  I usually take pictures BEFORE I sit down to eat.  Alas, the four vials of blood drawn from my arm this morning are taking their toll.

 

Meatloaf usually isn’t my thing, but this had just the right flavor.  I also wanted to post something to prove (to two people in particular – you know who you are) that I’m human, and I don’t make every single ingredient from scratch.  Maybe someday, eh?

 

Why the need for a gluten- and dairy-free meatloaf recipe?  Well, normally I use breadcrumbs to bind with the egg, and before my daughter came along I added parmesan cheese.  This isn’t a dish I make too often, but it was Husband’s request, and I like to cook only one dinner.  It’s just easier that way.

 

Meatloaf (gluten-free, dairy-free)

 

1 egg

1-2 tbsp brown teff flour

1 ½ lbs ground beef

¼ cup green bell pepper, diced

½ cup onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup ketchup (organic, no HFCS)

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

2.  Whisk egg in a bowl, then add teff flour and combine.  Add meat to the bowl and fold the egg mixture into the meat.  I used my fingers – disgusting, but more effective.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and combine well.

 

3.  Press the meat mixture into a greased baking dish.  At this point, you can add some more ketchup to the top of the meatloaf if you wish.

 

4.  Cook until a meat thermometer inserted in the middle reads 155 degrees.

 

I hope you enjoy this!

 

Oh, and you know how I said I thought the menu plan would end up getting changed?  Well, I remembered today that we’re travelling this weekend.  So next week will have lots o’ repeats again.  But at least I should have some fun pictures to share!

 

Part of the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Menu Plan

For the past few weeks I’ve been really bad about sticking to the menu plan, so the same stuff keeps showing up.  If you see something on here that I mentioned sometime in the last few weeks, it’s probably because I didn’t get around to making it.  My trip to the Dekalb Farmers Market yesterday with a friend probably won’t help that any, though, since we bought lots of fun new stuff!  So here’s this week’s menu, with some repeats:

 

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, braised fennel

Lubia Polo (with substitutions)

Sesame ginger chicken and rice

Black-eyed pea soup

Carnitas, refried pinto beans, Mexi-millet

Hamburgers with sweet potato fries

Adzuki bean soup

 

I have the feeling that this week is going to get changed up a bit as it goes, but that’s okay.  Whatever happens, I’ll try to post some recipes anyway.

 

For more menu plans, go here.

Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon and Pepper

 

Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, you name it – just about any vegetable is great roasted.  In The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters sings the praises of roasted vegetables when she explains her guests’ astonishment that all she did was “toss them with a bit of oil and salt and throw them in the oven.”

 

A couple years ago, Husband and I ate dinner at some friends’ house we had just met (shout out to JW!).  I was pregnant with my son, and they made Indian food – a reliable indicator that we would get along well.  Roasted cauliflower was one of the side dishes, and it made such an impression that now my preferred method of preparing cauliflower is roasting.  I wish I could remember how theirs was seasoned, but (unfortunately) the pregnancy fog takes over from there.  Some kind of curry?  I wonder if she remembers. J

 

I usually go Alice Waters’ route when roasting vegetables – tossing them in olive oil and seasoning with sea salt.  Really, it’s a foolproof method for veggie success.  Tonight I mixed things up a bit with fresh lemon and pepper, but this is still so simple that I shouldn’t even be calling it a recipe.  If you try it, though, you will enjoy it.  Because roasting is the formula for gustatory awesomeness.

 

Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon and Pepper

 

1 head of cauliflower, washed

Olive oil to coat

Lemon wedges

Freshly ground pepper

Sea salt

 

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Chop the cauliflower into equal bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl.  Toss in enough olive oil to coat, but not so much that it pools up at the bottom.  Squeeze a couple of lemon wedges on the cauliflower, add in some freshly ground pepper and sea salt to taste, and toss again.

 

2. Spread the cauliflower out on a baking sheet and roast until the edges start browning (20 minutes? I’m terrible about timing).

 

3.  Serve as a side dish with salmon and millet pilaf if your toddler doesn’t eat it all first!

 

 

Part of Fight Back Fridays and the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Beginning the Spring Garden

Most of my garden-savvy friends have already started their spring gardens, but I’ve only just started seedlings the last week or so.  I’m doing well this year to have even started seedlings before the last frost date, though, which is in line with my 2009 gardening goals.  So this is how exciting everything looks so far:

 

 

That tray has four sets each of green bell peppers, red bell peppers, Marconi sweet peppers, Roma tomatoes, eggplant, sweet basil, sage, and something else that I can’t remember because I lost the diagram.  Cayenne pepper, maybe?  I’m sure I’ll figure it out when/if it decides to grow.

 

There are still many seeds to start, and some will be direct-seeded when the days are consistently warmer.  These are some of the seeds I still have laying around:

 

Zucchini (2 varieties)

Lettuce (Lolla Rossa and a mix)

Cucumber (one variety for eating, the other for pickling)

Golden California Wonder Bell Pepper

Watermelon

Honeydew

Various beans, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs

 

I also planted five bare-root raspberry bushes, but I’m not sure if the conditions are just right.  They’re supposed to be in well-drained soil, so I put them in raised mounds at the highest point on my property.  If one survives, I’ll be happy!

 

I’ve chosen these particular fruits and vegetables because they can be pricey when buying the organic versions.  I’m also hoping to can lots of tomatoey things so I don’t have to buy them in cans lined with BPA.  Most of all, it’s exciting to eat food that was grown a few steps away from my house. 

 

Hopefully I’ll have some seedling pictures to share soon.  What are you planting this year?

Buckwheat Pancakes

 

Alas, the long-awaited buckwheat pancake recipe!  I really wanted to post a gluten-free pancake recipe, but this is all I’ve got.  Maybe next time I’ll try coconut flour instead, since I’ve had good results with it so far.  Meanwhile, no pancakes for me. L

 

The flour is soaked overnight with milk, sweetener, and yeast to form a sponge.  We had this batch for dinner, though, so it only sat around for about six hours.  Strangely enough, we usually only have pancakes at dinner.  Do you love breakfast for dinner as much as I do?

 

Buckwheat Pancakes

 

Start with the sponge:

 

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups warm milk (I used almond milk)

1 tsp sucanat or honey

½ tsp salt

1 ½ cups freshly ground wheat flour (I used hard white)

1 cup buckwheat flour

 

1.  Pour ½ cup of milk into a cup and stir in yeast and sweetener.  Let stand until it is foamy (about 15 minutes). 

 

2.  Combine the yeast mixture, the remaining 1 ½ cups of milk, salt, and flours in a large bowl until everything is well-mixed.  It should look like this:

 

 

Let sit on the counter overnight for breakfast, or start the sponge first thing in the morning to have for dinner.  You want it to look sort of like this:

 

 

3.  When it’s time to eat, add to the sponge:

 

2 tbsp sucanat or honey

3 tbsp melted coconut oil or butter

2 eggs

½ tsp baking soda

 

Here’s my little tip: melt the coconut oil in the skillet you plan on using, then pour it into the batter.  This way, you’ve already greased your pan!  Now you’re ready to make the pancakes.  You already know how to make pancakes, right?  Just in case you don’t…

 

4.  Pour a full ladle of batter in the center of a hot skillet.  (The heat, however, should be at medium.)  Turn when it’s nice and bubbly and cook until slightly crispy on the other side.  Enjoy with your favorite toppings!  We’re simple maple syrup or fruit kind of people.

 

 

And do you see those blueberries in the picture?  Those are the VERY LAST of my freezer stash.  I’m pretty sure I said I was using these up like a month ago, but I love my blueberries, so I held onto them as long as possible.  I guess I’ll have to wait 3-4 months to get some more!

 

Do you have a favorite pancake recipe?  If it’s gluten-free, please share!

Menu Plan: Week of March 23, 2009

I’m off to celebrate my friend CF’s birthday (one week late), so I put some baked beans in the oven for the family and I’m attempting to tie up any other loose ends.   Before I forget, though, this is what we’ll probably be eating this week:

 

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower

Chili verde, refried pinto beans, Mexican rice or millet

Black-eyed pea soup

Hamburgers (wrapped in lettuce for me) and sweet potato fries

Buckwheat pancakes, sausage patties, fruit

Turkey pumpkin chili (must use up the last of the pumpkin so spring can officially start!)

 

Menu-planning has been more difficult lately, because in addition to the usual dairy-free limitations for my daughter, I’ve also been trying to be very strict about my own wheat allergy.  I’ve been pretty successful avoiding wheat, but I haven’t eliminated all gluten-containing foods (like oats), so I will move in that direction once I feel like I have the hang of being simply wheat-free.  

 

And maybe this week I can actually get around to posting the pancake recipe!

 

Find more menu plans here.

Belated Birthday Thanks

 

 

I just got these awesome books in the mail from Amazon – Bruce Fife’s Cooking With Coconut Flour and Sandor Ellix Katz’ Wild Fermentation – thanks to my friend Heidi!  I can’t wait to start using these!

 

I’ve already purchased some other food-related things with birthday money from all of my parents and my husband’s grandfather, so I can get to work right away with everything.  Yay!  Thanks again, everyone!

Seasoning Salt

What a crazy week!  Monday through Wednesday is always a roller coaster, but this week it spilled into Thursday.  At least we’re only about ten weeks away from Husband’s summer vacation.

 

The kitchen fun, however, never stops.  Never.  In addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I’m working on growing a kombucha SCOBY using this method.  (Not much to look at right now — it’s wrapped up in that jar next to the stove.)

 

 

And I made a batch of these low-carb egg, bacon, and cheese coconut flour muffins.  What a great grain-free discovery!  They definitely do not taste gluten-free.

 

 

For the kids, I made this granola, swapping muscovado sugar for the brown sugar.  Thanks for telling me about this awesome recipe, CF!  There’s no picture because it disappeared before I could get the camera.

 

Now for a recipe I’ve been meaning to post for awhile – seasoning salt.  I have only ever used seasoning salt for one thing – potatoes – but it is quite essential when I make fries or hash browns, which seems to happen almost every day (usually at breakfast).  The commercial versions have a variety of unsavory elements – MSG, refined sugar, “natural” and artificial flavors and colors, and fillers.  It is super easy, though, to make your own version that is inexpensive and tailored to your tastes.  The recipe below works well for us, but you may want to play around with it until it is just right for you.

 

Seasoning Salt

 

3 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp onion powder (make sure it’s pure onion, no additives)

¼ tsp ground sage

¼ tsp ground mustard

Dash of achiote powder

 

Combine all the ingredients and store in a spice jar.  Yep, that’s it.  Is that too easy to be a recipe?  Maybe, but it had to be shared.  If you have a combination you like better, let me know about it!  A lot of people add a sweetener, for instance, but one time I forgot and it still tasted fine. 

 

 

This is the only spice combination I throw together to keep on hand; everything else I like to do as a dish is being prepared.  Do you have a spice combination you like to prepare at home?

Part of the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap and the Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Swap.

Electronics Recycling at Best Buy

I tend toward skepticism when big business tries to wave the green flag, but electronics retailer Best Buy offers free recycling on a variety of items.  There are a few items (small televisions, computer monitors) they charge $10 to recycle, but they offset that with a $10 gift card.  It’s clearly a way to get people to come in and buy stuff, but it doesn’t seem so bad since recycling is part of the deal!

 

More details here.

 

P.S. Does anyone know how to check up on their accountability – like do they really recycle this stuff, and how?

Sausage, Potato and Apple Skillet Dinner

This is such an easy, flavorful meal, but it’s a bit of a splurge (on account of the sausage), so we only have it occasionally.  It’s also best eaten right away – not as leftovers – but you probably won’t have anything left anyway.

 

The original recipe came from one of my husband’s students.  Husband is a high school English teacher and apparently talks about food quite a bit in class.  A few years ago, one of his students brought in a recipe for Sausage Skillet Dinner – reportedly, her dinnertime favorite at home.  Beyond that, I’m not sure of the recipe’s origins, but we’ve doctored it a bit and made it even better.

 

This recipe makes four servings, but it’s easy to adjust – sometimes I just add more potatoes to stretch it.  It’s also not entirely a skillet meal, so I hope that part isn’t deceiving.  It looks like a lot of steps, but it comes together quickly, especially after you’ve made it a time or two.

 

Sausage, Potato, and Apple Skillet Dinner

 

2-3 russet potatoes (or more if using smaller potatoes)

Olive oil (enough to coat potatoes)

Seasoned salt (I will have a recipe for this next week)

1 kielbasa sausage

1 small onion

1-2 small red apples

2 tbsp butter

¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp sucanat

½ tsp caraway seed

Parsley to garnish

 

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cut two large potatoes into wedges and toss in enough olive oil to coat.  Whether you leave the skin on is your preference – I peeled mine because I wasn’t using organic potatoes.  Throw in enough seasoned salt to your taste, and toss to coat.  Bake on cookie sheets, evenly spread out and not overlapping, until desired crispiness is reached.  Don’t let them go too long, though, or they will be hard – remember that they will still continue to cook once you take them out of the oven.

 

2.  About 15 minutes into the potatoes’ baking, chop the kielbasa into diagonal, bite-sized pieces.  We use sausage with no nitrates, preservatives, etc. – Wellshire and Applegate Farms are the brands we usually go with. 

 

 

Brown the sausage in a cast-iron skillet for about ten minutes on medium heat; since this sausage is already cooked, we’re really just heating it through and giving it enough of a browning to make it look mouthwatering.  Yeah!?  Meanwhile, cut onion and apple into wedges.  I left the skin on the apples because these are organic.  Then combine vinegar, sucanat, and caraway seed in a measuring cup and set aside.

 

3.  When sausage is done, remove to a warm platter.  Melt butter in skillet, then sauté onion and apple until apples are just tender.   If potatoes aren’t done yet – which they might not be – just turn off the heat on the skillet until they are.

 

4.  When potatoes are done, add them, along with the sausage, into the skillet.  Give the vinegar mixture a stir and pour over the skillet mixture, tossing it to coat.  Garnish with some parsley (fresh or dried) and serve!

 

 

I will try to get my seasoned salt recipe up sometime this week, but as usual, I make no promises.  So often, life gets in the way — but thankfully so.  After all, I would have no reason to write if it weren’t for the sweet, quotidienne toils of earthly existence.  Every day is a blessing, and I’m blessed with the everyday.