Brining... who knew?

Okay... so I VERY last minute asked myself what the heck brining is. Fast forward and as I type, this Alton Brown brining recipe (using ground allspice instead of allspice berries) is cooling on my front porch (which is cold and concrete--so it can't be destroyed by a hot pot). I'll make the rest of it replacing the apple in the turkey with a pear.

I am currently cooking my turkey/chicken Italian flavored sausage with white navy beans, swiss chard and garlic in EVOO while the rice pasta cooks. That's tonight's dinner.

I haven't made the pumpkin pie yet. Nor the Yellowberry sauce. I'm going to make them tonight and just stay up late. I'm also going to bake my sweet potatoes (they take FOREVER) and do whatever other stuff I can do tonight.

Hot cocoa

It seems almost a right of passage for a child to have "Snowman Soup" (hot cocoa with little marshmallows floating in it).

No different in my house.

I warm up some vanilla flavored coconut milk (because I happen to have it, not because the vanilla flavored version is actually necessary).

We are not anaphylactic allergic, so getting cocoa where the label says "May contain trace amounts" is currently acceptable for us. As a result, we are using Lake Champlain Chocolates "All-Natural Traditional Hot Chocolate" (which "may" contain trace amounts of a lot of our "no" foods). We also have in the house some Ghirardelli "Natural Unsweetened Cocoa" (which "may" contain trace amounts of soy).

Ah!laska makes a completely safe syrup. I just picked some up at the store. Score--no chocolate powder "bubbles" when using syrup, either.

I put the required amount of cocoa in the bottom of the cup, and because I hate those little chocolate bubbles, I add a TINY, TINY, TINY bit of the coconut milk to the powder and stir it up for almost a full minute. You'd be shocked at how far those little drops go. And by having more powder than liquid in there, you allow the liquid to soak into the powder instead of overpowering it and creating those little bubbles of powder. Once all the powder is wet and kind of creating a "slime" of chocolate, you're safe to pour in the rest of the milk. :)

We're using cut pieces of Whole Foods 365 brand of vanilla marshmallows. They now contain corn starch, so I'm actually going to find out how to make my own damn marshmallows. It also contains dextrose and after researching dextrose (this is a great article about it) I'm glad we only do this once or twice/season given the spike to insulin levels that this whole delicious snack will cause. :/

Menu plan for the week of 11/21/2010

Sorry about last week! :( It was really rough. And without a menu plan, we definitely suffered. WAY fewer vegetables consumed, and although we didn't eat out any more than usual (our Saturday morning breakfast), I gained 2 lbs. So I'm back to being dedicated.

HERE'S A PDF DOCUMENT FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU TO HANG ON YOUR FRIDGE! (I moved this to Scribd on W-11/24 because there were more options on how to download/view/alter it)

Sunday, 11/21 (I'm posting at 3:13pm on Sunday and would like you to know that this did not go as planned because pretty much, nobody ate all day due to illness)

• Pre-breakfast: banana (he ate maybe half)

• Breakfast: Mike and I eat leftovers from Saturday morning out. The kids eat scrambled eggs. Water and coffee for drinks (this actually happened, but we haven't eaten anything since)

• Morning snacks: pear slices (baby did eat these)

• Lunch: totally skipped... kids ate breakfast around 10:30am and have been sleeping since about 12:30pm. :/

• Afternoon snacks: coconut milk yogurt, sunflower seeds

• Dinner: Is going to be some of that canned, safe, rice noodle chicken soup. I sent my husband out to get it.

Tonight I will cook the remains of a whole chicken that I roasted for dinner Friday night and make some broth--possibly some soup.

Monday, 11/22

• Pre-breakfast: melon cubes (cantaloup, honeydew & watermelon)

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with pieces of Applegate Farms chicken & apple sausage (which is not Feingold-safe due to the apples). Water and coffee for drinks

• Morning snacks: celery with peanut butter, pear slices, baby peeled carrots

• Lunch: tuna on gluten-free bread with some salad.

• Afternoon snacks: coconut milk yogurt, sunflower seeds

• Dinner: Red lentil chili (from freezer) with white rice.

Take out enough hamburger meat for a meatloaf, lunch burgers and empanadas for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, 11/23

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: Eggs for Mike and the kids with zucchini & onions. Half of a broiled grapefruit with some honey & Sucanat on top for me. Water and coffee for drinks

• Morning snacks: Nuts (cashews or peanuts), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin or flax), and yogurt (protein stuff)

• Lunch: kielbasa with sauerkraut and mustard for mommy & daddy. Matthew might opt for more canned chicken noodle soup from Gluten-free Cafe.

• Afternoon snacks: Veggies (carrots, celery, zucchini, etc.), and fruit (pears, melon, etc.)

• Dinner: Italian "peasant food": some chard with white beans and crumbled sausage over some rice pasta with EVOO and garlic. My grandmother used escarole, but chard is fine.

Prepare oatmeal made overnight in the crockpot

Wednesday, 11/24

• Pre-breakfast: melon cubes (cantaloup, honeydew & watermelon--this should finish them up).

• Breakfast: Oatmeal made overnight in the crockpot. This is controversial where gluten is concerned, but we're going to go on it being gluten-free. I'll add some sunflower seeds (shelled, of course), honey and cinnamon to it. And I'll be eating the same broiled grapefruit as yesterday. Water and coffee for drinks. Eggs will be on standby in case the kids hate oatmeal. :/

• Morning snacks: crackers, potato chips, banana w/peanut butter.

• Lunch: Hamburgers on GF bread with frozen, organic string beans.

• Afternoon snacks: Veggies (carrots, celery, zucchini, etc.), and fruit (pears, melon, etc.)

• Dinner: Meatloaf with oven-roasted potatoes and collards.

Bake pumpkin bread for rest of the week.

Thursday, 11/25 - Thanksgiving

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: Leftover crockpot oatmeal (assuming it went alright last time). Water and coffee for drinks. If they hated it, we'll just make scrambled eggs and I'll have my grapefruit.

• Morning snacks: pumpkin bread made from Breads by Anna.

• Lunch: Leftover meatloaf on GF bread with salad.

• Afternoon snacks & Dinner: See my post about our menu.

Prepare GFCF breakfast casserole for tomorrow morning.

Friday, 11/26

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: I'm going to make this GFCF breakfast casserole with some frozen organic hash browns and some of the leftover kielbasa (or Applegate Farms safe sausage) or leftover turkey.

• Morning snacks: if there are leftover appetizers, we'll have those. Otherwise, we'll have some baby carrots. Oh--or leftover pumpkin pie (if there is any!)

• Lunch: Hamburgers with green beans on GF bread.

• Afternoon snacks: Veggies (carrots, celery, zucchini, etc.), and fruit (pears, melon, etc.)

• Dinner: LEFTOVERS!!!

Prepare breakfast Bread Pudding and lunch GF pizza dough.

Saturday, 11/27

• Pre-breakfast: pumpkin bread

• Breakfast: I'm testing myself today. Instead of going out, we're going to stay home and I'm going to attempt making this Savory Ham Bread Pudding using some of my GF bread, unflavored coconut milk and unflavored coconut yogurt. Wish me luck!

• Morning snacks: Nuts (cashews or peanuts), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin or flax), and yogurt (protein stuff)

• Lunch: I'm thinking some variant of pizza... maybe pesto pizza. I loved it pre-gluten-free and I have a jar of pesto in the pantry. Thinking I'd need more, though.

• Afternoon snacks: Veggies (carrots, celery, zucchini, etc.), and fruit (pears, melon, etc.) Maybe I'll try a hard-boiled egg yolk with the baby. Or some deviled eggs--we LOVE them.

• Dinner: Gluten-free empanadas minus green peppers and raisins.

Hosting for Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving week and we will be hosting a formerly only-online friend and her 12yo son. They have no food allergies and also have no family in the area. I'm hoping it goes well! Since they asked what they could bring, I told them beverages. I'm realizing that this is an area that we totally fall short on. It's now been so long that we haven't had traditional/mainstream beverages in the house that I no longer know the best stuff, and frankly, I don't want to waste my money on something that won't get used if there's left over after company leaves. So I generally tell people to bring beverages that their family would drink--and I tell them that we have water, lemonade, coconut milk and wine... nothing else. This has really worked out well.

I like to host because then we control the menu. That being said, we occasionally offer "unsafe" foods. In the case of Thanksgiving, I'm serving an "unsafe" soup by Matthew's standards--and I feel okay doing this because Matthew hates all soup except for chicken noodle. So I don't have to worry about restricting him because he will naturally restrict himself. :)

Same goes for appetizers. There was one that I'm actually ordering because I couldn't resist. But I can do that because the rest will be "safe" foods.

We're ordering two other sides (assuming Mike finds they're completely safe when he goes to order--I've listed our alternatives if they're not) just to make life easier. I'm typing this in my bed as my almost-7yo sleeps off a fever. So I'm not anticipating having a ton of time this week. :/

There will be 3 adults and 3 kids (12, 6 and 2)

So here's our menu (with some suggestions & other recipes in case you want to do some other stuff at that bottom):

Openers:

• "safe" potato chips
• celery & carrot sticks
• garlic flavored hummus
• unflavored coconut milk yogurt with safe, dried Italian dressing to make a "dip" (or onion if I can find it)
• Crostini with roasted balsamic pears and gorgonzola cheese (this is being ordered from Whole Foods and mimics Mike's favorite of my own figs & gorgonzola on crostini)

Dinner:

• Squash bisque (this is also being ordered from Whole Foods and has cream in it)

• Salad (which is just lettuce, EVOO, some white vinegar and salt)

• Turkey (coated with EVOO and seasonings)

• Green beans with shallots & fresh herbs (also ordered from Whole Foods as long as Mike confirms that they're either steamed or cooked in EVOO--otherwise, I'll make fresh or frozen steamed green beans or this recipe with carmelized onions using EVOO instead of butter... or better yet, this one with some bacon - no alterations necessary!)

• Stuffing made at home (see recipe below)

• Roasted winter veggies (parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, carrots, brussel sprouts--ordered from Whole Foods as long as any oils are "safe"... otherwise, I'll make baked acorn squash with maple syrup if I'm strapped for time, or Roasted vegetables with rosemary :) )

• Mashed sweet potatoes (although, if I'm making the acorn squash, I'll switch to making some greens wilted in EVOO with garlic & pine nuts with whatever greens I can find... chard, spinach, kale, collards... whatever)

I'm going to actually make a "Yellowberry" sauce for Matthew in lieu of cranberry sauce, but I may offer up cranberry sauce also for our guests. That might get tricky. Here's the recipe for the "Yellowberry" sauce:

1. Drain well a can of crushed pineapple, pouring the juice into a little saucepan. Add enough water to make one cup.
2. Sprinkle on 2 packages of unflavored gelatine.
3. Heat and stir until dissolved (not long). Refrigerate

My stuffing will "Sheila's Stuffing" from an old Feingold newsletter that I found freely online. :) She offers up a rice version, so if I can't find "safe" GF bread squares, that's what I'll be doing. That link is also where I got the "Yellowberry Sauce" recipe as well.

For dessert, I'm grabbing a gluten-free frozen pie shell and making this pumpkin pie recipe with coconut milk and replacing the cornstarch with Arrowroot. Obviously not using the pie shell in the recipe. WAY too lazy for that. I could go with this recipe, too (which doesn't need altering)

We'll also have some coconut-milk ice cream available, and some cubed melon (cantaloupe, honeydew & watermelon).

Okay, but here are some really awesome recipes I found in my hunt, btw... I'd totally be making all of this if I had a lot of company this year! Most are from Woman's Day!

Roasted fingerling potatoes & shallots with herbed salt (salt is super easy make-at-home)

Brussel sprouts with pancetta & onions

Spice-roasted carrots & parsnips

Have I mentioned?

That I quit Jenny Craig? I did. I was feeling so horrible. I was losing weight slowly, but man, did it take a toll on me. For one, it SO clogged my system from all the dairy. For another, I was just getting sick over and over. I was fighting it off with my remedies, but I don't think I've been so chronically fighting something off. In reality, that could be being in a new place around people getting FluMist (our neighbors)... whatever. I couldn't handle the ingredients.

It was a learning experience, none-the-less. I did learn that my portions were way too big. It was reinforced that we should be eating way more veggies as a portion of our plate than anything else.

So, I'm off of Jenny Craig. I have managed to lose another pound in the week since I've been off of it by just eating MUCH smaller portions--like so small that my 6yo son actually eats more (and admittedly, he can challenge my husband). But I'm eating "real" food now. ;)

Menu plan for the week of 11/7/2010

Sunday, 11/7

• Pre-breakfast: banana (for Matthew--age 6, who gets up way too early)

• Breakfast: Mike and I eat leftovers from Saturday morning out. The kids eat scrambled eggs with bacon. Water and coffee for drinks

• Morning snacks: celery with peanut butter, pear slices, baby peeled carrots

• Lunch: sushi out (lunch will be late because we're trying a new church with service at 11:45am)

• Afternoon snacks: coconut milk yogurt, sunflower seeds

• Dinner: Rice pasta cooked. Take some of the frozen shrimp and set it in warm water to defrost. Fry up some minced garlic in olive oil and then add fresh spinach until wilted. Mix everything together. Voila--dinner!

Monday, 11/8

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: I'm actually going to make rice congee with "safe" chorizo and some sweet potatoes.

• Morning snacks: cashews, sunflower seeds

• Lunch: tuna fish in steamed potato halves hollowed out a bit. Served with raw zucchini sticks (minus "dip"--which wasn't a big winner)

• Afternoon snacks: pear slices, celery with peanut butter (if you're not Feingold, add a few raisins for "ants on a log")

• Dinner: Grassfed-beef from the freezer steaks with kale and some Acorn squash broiled with maple syrup. I didn't make all the squash like I meant to last week, so I'll make the rest now and then just mash and freeze what doesn't get used.

Tuesday, 11/9

• Pre-breakfast: coconut milk yogurt

• Breakfast: eggs with nitrate/nitrite and all other allergen-free sausage from Wellshire Farms. I will have half of a red grapefruit broiled with some honey because I still have some left. Mike can't have citrus in the morning (grapefruit is actually Feingold safe) because it counteracts his ADD meds.

• Morning snacks: pear slices (we're overrun with pears), carrots

• Lunch: hamburgers with salad. No bun.

• Afternoon snacks: celery, sunflower seeds

• Dinner: A slightly altered recipe for "Chicken with Confetti Rice":

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbl. roasted garlic butter with olive oil (we'll be replacing this with plain ole EVOO)

1 pound chicken tenders (we'll be using boneless thighs cut into strips)

1/4 cup sliced green onions (we'll be replacing this with diced yellow/sweet onions)

1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1 (14-1/2 oz.) can of chicken broth

1-1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1-1/2 cups uncooked instant white rice

DIRECTIONS

1. In a 10-in skillet, melt garlic butter (or rather, heat the EVOO) until sizzling; add chicken and onions. Cover over medium-high heat, turning once, until chicken is no longer pink (6-8 minutes). Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.
2. In same skillet, combine mushrooms, zucchini and carrot. Cook over med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until tender (3-4 minutes). Add chicken brother and Italian seasoning. Continue cooking until mixture just comes to a boil (5-7 mins).
3. Stir in cooked chicken and rice. Reduce heat to low. Cover; cook until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (5-6 mins). Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Wednesday, 11/10

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs. Mommy will probably finish the grapefruit.

• Morning snacks: pears, melon

• Lunch: deli ham and turkey rolls (Hormel Natural Choice is safe) with some carrots

• Afternoon snacks: coconut milk yogurt, nuts & seeds

• Dinner: I'm going to bake a whole chicken and serve it with steamed asparagus plus potato wedges baked in the oven coated with some EVOO and salt... mmmm. The bones from the chicken will make chicken soup.

Thursday, 11/11

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: pancakes (Bob's Red Mill Biscuit & Baking Mix with some honey in it)

• Morning snacks: coconut milk yogurt, melon pieces

• Lunch: pea soup from the freezer. This was a big hit with the boys.

• Afternoon snacks: pear slices, celery with peanut butter

• Dinner: Red lentil chili from the freezer over rice with some broccoli on the side.

FRIDAY, 11/12

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: I'm thinking congee again, but this time with sweet potatoes and possibly some squash and cinnamon.

• Morning snacks: coconut milk yogurt, carrots, melon

• Lunch: Chicken salad made with leftover chicken from Wednesday night's roast and safe mayonnaise (canola-based from Whole Foods or Spectrum brand). I'm going to throw some celery in it and maybe I'll overcook some broccoli and throw that in it, too. Serve with salad.

• Afternoon snacks: pear slices, nuts, seeds

• Dinner: Ooooo.... we're going to try Filipino Ponsit with some bean thread noodles I found at Whole Foods on sale!! And I'll use my mock soy sauce recipe find! Can't wait!!!

SATURDAY, 11/12

• Pre-breakfast: banana

• Breakfast: Either scrambled eggs with some sausage or bacon if we don't eat out at our "safe" place

• Morning snacks: coconut milk yogurt, carrots, melon

• Lunch: maybe some rice pasta with pesto. Or aglio oglio minus the cheese (and with soft pasta--can't stand al dente!)

• Afternoon snacks: pear slices, nuts, seeds

• Dinner: Grassfed beef roast in a crock pot with onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes; served with some broccoli and mock mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower).

• Dessert: PUMPKIN PIE!!! I found this awesome whip cream spray made with rice ingredients called "Rice Whip" by Soyatoo that I'm hoping will be delicious enough to make my grandmother's pumpkin chiffon pie. I'm going to start with this GF/CF recipe (that happens to be safe all around for us) and then I'm going to add the rice whip into the filling until it's light and fluffy. Hope it works! I love pumpkin pie!!!

Renee's Rockin Red Lentil Chili

I have to tell you that I am VERY much a carnivore, but even I will eat this. As do most of the people I know. In fact, I make it with veggie broth if I need a vegan-friendly potluck dish. :) I'm not sure how it's going to taste minus tomatoes, so we may just make it with tomatoes and suffer. I'm not sure.

Kind of spicy, but you can also modify that to taste. It's a different kind of "chili" (don't think beans and hamburger), but so incredibly hearty and yummy.

Red Lentil Chili

1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
1/4 c vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (I use cayenne pepper and add to taste--maybe 1/4 teaspoon.)
5 cups chicken broth
2 cups lentils (I use orange split lentils.)
28 oz. diced tomatoes, in juice
2 red bell peppers
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

In a heavy pot, cook the onion in oil for 10 minutes over low heat. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, thyme, paprika, and pepper flakes; cook, stirring, for 3minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, lentils, and tomatoes; simmer for 40 minutes; add up to 1 cup water if the mixture becomes dry.

Add the peppers and celery (I ran them through a food processor first) and simmer until lentils are cooked and veggies tender, about 30 more minutes. Stir in the brown sugar toward the end.

Serve over basmati rice. It’s even better as leftovers!