Gnocchi Time!

Last night we had a guest cook, good company. Our friend Darien came over to experiment with some gluten free gnocchi. We used yet another Flying Apron recipe, that alas we had to alter. I thought that I had buckwheat flour a plenty, but the majority of my stock was infested with little moths of some sort. They were deceased, and now they found a semi final resting place in our compost pile. Darien picked up a buckwheat flour mix at Kroger, but it had soy in it, and Brian cannot do soy. So.... we did a combo of buckwheat flour and some Bob's Redmill gluten free baking mix. Here we go..... I'll call this...

Farewell Friend Gnocchi

5 small to medium sized russet potatoes

2 Tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground

3/4 c. buckwheat flour

1/2 c. Bob's Redmill gluten free baking mix (or just use all buckwheat flour)

1/4 c water

Peel and steam potatoes till soft. Mash in bowl, add olive oil, salt and nutmeg... keep mashing.

Slowly add the flour, once it's incorporated add the water, and kneed dough till fully combined. You can add more water to achieve a nice consistency. Liberally flour your work surface using brown rice flour. Divide the dough into 6 portions, roll each portion into a 1/2 inch thick rope. Slice each rope into 1 inch segments and press the top of each segment with a fork. Transfer pieces to a floured plate.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, place an oiled baking sheet in the oven. Place one layer of gnocchi in a steamer and steam about 10 minutes, remove from steamer and place on oiled baking sheet in the warm oven. Repeat this step until all the gnocchi are in the oven. Leave in oven for 6-8 minutes, remove and cover with your sauce of choice, we made a pesto of sorts that was amazing! I'll call it...

If The Garden Could Sing Pistou

3/4 c fresh basil

1/2 c. fresh Italian parsley

2 Tbs fresh thyme

1 Tbs fresh Rosemary

1 Tbs fresh oregano

1 large clove of garlic peeled

1/2 c olive oil

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

sea salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a blender, puree, add more olive oil if needed. This is a mouth watering sauce, I highly recommend trying it, even with regular pasta and veggies it would be grand.

For dessert we made a Mexican chocolate cake with chocolate ganache icing, it was yummy, but thats a story for a different day. Well good times, good friends and another successful meal!

One Day We Will Have Goats And Chickens

It's hard to believe it's still snowing, I'll tell you one thing I am going to take spring very seriously, hiking, adventuring, dancing in Pittsburgh. All this sitting around is nice but I can't wait to play in the woods, I guess if we had a more snow worthy vehicle we'd be out there in all weather, but alas Pam can't hang with ice and such, vespa isn't even an option, and I don't really feel comfortable taking the Karmaan Ghia out either. So it's feet.

Well, we have been cooking like crazy... making all sorts of gluten free breads, cookies, and delicious meals! The recipe I share today was given to me by Gale, the mother of my co-worker Darien. It's for the most amazing granola I've ever had, I'm not exaggerating, it is so good, and so easy, if you can make a cup of tea, chances are you can make this.

My man doesn't like nuts, too bad Granola

4 cup oats (I used gluten free oats)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup dried coconut

Mix above ingredients in a large bowl.

1/2 cup safflower oil

1/2 cup honey

Heat Oil and honey until warm

add tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Spread onto cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven and stir it up. Bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and return to large bowl. Let it cool, stirring occasionally. Once it is cool you can add your choice of dried fruits, about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups in all. I added chopped dates, currants and montmorency cherries, a fabulous combination! I am storing mine in a big zip lock bag, though I wish I had a big yellow container like the one Grandma Ann has always stored her homemade granola in.

While I'm at it I'll share yet another recipe worth trying, this is a Flying Apron recipe, slightly altered.

Who Wouldn't Like A Scone For Dessert Scones

2 3/4 cups brown rice flour

1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbs garbanzo bean flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup safflower oil

1 cup sucanat sugar

1 cup rice milk

3/4 cup frozen blueberries

Combine brown rice flour, garbanzo flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir. In another large bowl use your hand beater to blend the sucanat and the oil. Slowly add the flour mixture to the oil mixture, alternating with adding the rice milk. Once well mixed, refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours, I did 6.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a floured (rice flour) surface kneed the blueberries into the dough. Once the blueberries are evenly distributed, shape the dough into a 2 inch think disk. Cut the disk into 8 peices. Place evenly on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes until the tops are slightly browned and a bit firm to the touch. It took my oven about 35 minutes. These scones are soooo good, we ate them for dessert and Brian had another for breakfast. They were actually super easy too, just mix the dough at night, then pop them in the oven in the morning for hot fresh scones!

StOrmY CoOkInG

Coconut curry with mushrooms, broccoli, yam, potato, carrot, onion and garlic rocked our world tonight. Paired with a giant organic salad with fresh greens, pea shoots, avocado and pears! I don't feel in the mood for writing recipes, I didn't pay all that close of attention when I added the goods to my cauldron.

Brian and I were talking about cooking fears the other day, perhaps not fear but just general aversion to cooking. I think that when people start to look at food as something that they have to do, another chore, it really takes something out of the experience. It's also a task that very often gets placed on one person in a home, thus causing a bit of resentment I imagine. It would be different if someones passion for cooking overruled any resentment or if one person worked full time and the other stayed home. But in a dynamic like ours, and like so many households it just doesn't make sense for one person to have the responsibility of feeding. Brian and I both work, we both are gone most of the day and when we get ready for dinner it's a shared desire. The fact that both of us put the energy and thought into creating meals and nourishing ourselves makes us happy and makes our mealtime a thing to look forward to, not another chore to be completed with grumpy faces.

That is my rant for the night, thank you.

p.s I am maybe getting a little tired of the snow.

WilL You bE My VaLenTine?

It's Valentine's Day, and I have slacked in updating the past weeks fabulous meals. We had a noteworthy improv chili one night, and Brian made a fabulous baba ganoush on Thursday evening, fresh eggplant, tahini and garlic, sooooo good! Anyhow, I'll let you in on the amazing Valentines dinner we just had, really so good, so much love. We paired chickpea pancakes with a split pea dahl dish that we borrowed and altered from Flying Apron's cookbook, a true party of flavors.

Valentine's Day Dahl

5 c. organic vegetable broth

1 and 1/2 c. split peas

1 yellow onion diced

1 yam diced

1 russet potato diced

1 carrot diced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 and 1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds

3 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp turmeric powder

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 and 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger root

sea salt to taste

In a large soup pot heat veggie broth and split peas. Bring to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add yam, potato, onion, garlic, carrot and can of tomatoes, return to boil. Reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. While dahl is simmering, in a skillet on medium heat, heat oil and add mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, ginger, curry powder, cayenne and turmeric. When seeds begin to pop remove from heat and add to dahl, stir. Let simmer for 3-5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, have your partner in kitchen crime start the chickpea flat breads.

Heavenly flat bread

2 Cups chickpea flour

1 + 1/4 to 2 cups H2o

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cumin seeds

a little olive oil for frying

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and cumin seeds in large bowl. Pour the water in the mixture and stir while pouring. Stir to remove any lumps and continue adding water until you have a consistency similar to chocolate syrup. (err on the thick side)

Heat oil in skillet, medium heat, add a healthy Tbs of the batter to the pan. When small holes start appearing on top it's time to flip! Once the other side is cooked place in a warm oven. Serve warm with any soup or bean dish. I can't begin to tell you how awesome this dinner was! Brian ranked it in our top 6 meals we've made yet, and that is something, we've made some mouth watering meals.

For dessert we will have a very special Diana DeLuca chocolate cake, with some of my own modifications, as usual. With a frosting that has yet to be determined.

Dancing in the kitchen, tonight it was to groovy blues jams playing on my lap top. Brian is sporting a vintage sheer cream colored apron that Candi bought me when I was home for Christmas!

We have been snowed in for two days now, we are trying to entertain ourselves indoors, which means, internet, cooking, movies, and cleaning. Yesterday we played outside a bit, but with over a foot of snow and snow still falling it didn't make for the best play day. I really wish we had a hill that was good for sledding. A giant tree fell over onto our neighbors back porch yesterday. It took out the whole porch and part of the roof. It was pretty scary.

Anyhow, I baked ginger cookies, and they were awesome.

Shoveling snow ginger cookies

2 1/8 c brown rice flour

3/4 c garbanzo bean flour

1/2 Ts baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 Tbs cocoa powder

3/4 c. coconut oil melted

3/4 c organic sugar

1/2 c. molasses

1/2 Tbs fresh grated ginger root

1/2 c. hemp milk

1/2 c. chopped candied ginger plus whole pieces for garnishing

preheat oven to 360 degrees. Combine dry ingredients, minus sugar in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients including sugar in a medium bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, mix thoroughly. Place pingpong sized balls on cookie sheet, press down slightly and top with a chunk of crystallized ginger. Bake about 15 minutes... so yummy. Enjoy with loved ones, or even by yourself.

I wish we lived in the tropics mango salsa/tacos

Special guest blogger tonight, Mr. Brian Eberly!

Hi everybody, if you were all thinking that I do not do any cooking, you're mistaken. Tonight, Nat worked late and she wasn't feeling all that great, so I took it upon myself to create a marvelous meal. Since we had a mango in the house, I decided to make one of my specialties....mango salsa.

I-wish-we-lived-in-the-tropics mango salsa.

1 Mango (I used a direct trade organic mango)

1 kiwi

half clove of garlic

half a lime

sea salt

Sqeeze the lime juice into a bowl, mince the garlic and let it soak in the lime juice while you move on to chopping. Dice the mango and kiwi into tiny pieces. Mix with the lime juice/garlic and salt to taste. Your are all set to enjoy. You can add chopped onions, cilantro or papaya, you can also use a blender if you like smoother salsa(i did tonight).

Try it with chips or fish tacos.

You can't exactly eat just salsa, so for the rest of the meal, we had refried bean from scratch, arborio rice, sprouted corn tortillas and homemade guacamole. Pile it high.

You CaN't Go wRonG With nuTmEg

Last night I attempted my first quiche. Being that I made up the recipe, I was pretty pleased with the results. I used a blue cornmeal, pine nut pie crust recipe that I didn't follow close enough, the crust ended up.... too crumbly. It had amazing flavor, but I don't think I'll share that recipe until its perfected on our part. As far as the quiche itself goes, I'll tell you what I did.

The Final Five Quiche

4 local eggs

1/2 c. hemp milk

1 c. loosely chopped water cress

1 small red onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

3 small red potatoes sliced

2/3 c. crumbled chevre

1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1 tsp sea salt

olive oil for sauteeing

Prepared pie shell of some sort

Sautee onion, garlic, and potatoes in olive oil. 10 or so minutes until softened. In large bowl scramble eggs, add the remainder of the ingredients. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, ours took around 60, but I would check it at 45. Just make sure the center doesn't jiggle when you wiggle the pan. When you wiggle it shouldn't jiggle! I like that!

As both Brian and I were home yesterday and snow makes me want hot cocoa, I made us a couple of mugs. I really love the size and shape of the Campbell's soup mugs for cocoa, and I guess they are cute even though Campbell's soup is gross. So here's the way I do it...

Fit for Adama Cocoa

Enough hemp milk to fill both mugs

1 heaping Tbs 100% cocoa powder

1 and 1/2 Tbs Agave nectar or maple syrup

1/8 tsp ground chipotle pepper

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp sea salt

Fresh ground nutmeg to sprinkle on top

Whisk all ingredients (minus the nutmeg) in a pot on med heat, whisk frequently, until hot. Pour into mugs, add nutmeg, and savor!!!