The Best Gluten Free Waffles

One note for anyone recently diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance: you'll want to buy a new waffle maker. It's not as crucial as getting a new toaster (ever tried to clean one of those?) but why risk the contamination?

Ingredients:

2/3 cup rice flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/8 cup white bean flour
1/8 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tb butter
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 tb sugar

1. Mix the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a saucepan, warm the milk, and add the butter. Warm the milk so it just melts the butter.
3. Separate the eggs. Remove the milk from the burner, whisk in the yolks and set aside.
4. Beat the whites of the eggs. Once they thicken, add the sugar and cream of tartar. Continue beating until peaks form, but not stiff.
5. Pour the milk into the flour, and quickly stir with the whisk. Let sit for a minute or two while you fiddle around getting the waffle iron ready, warming the syrup, and whipping the cream.
6. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, gently swirling around until pretty well mixed.
7. Follow the instructions for your waffle maker. These will cook just like wheat waffles, although they don't darken quite as easily. If you like a darker appearance, you can add a tablespoon of milk powder to the flour mix. However, try it first according to this recipe, as they really are fantastic!

Sweet Omelette for Sushi

4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce or equivalent
3 tbsp cooking wine (or, if you have it, sake)

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and salt.
2. Beat eggs a little, then add the tablespoon of water, and beat until frothy
3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, and wine.
4. Add the wine mixture to the eggs, and stir.
5. Lightly oil a non-stick frying pan and heat on medium.
6. Pour half of the egg mixture into the pan. Let the bottom of the omelette cook pretty firm. If there's too much egg mixture, you can lift it up and let the runny part on top run underneath. Once the bottom is firm and the top is not runny, flip it over....good luck!
7. Cook until the other side of the omelette is firm, and repeat for the second half of egg mixture.

Blanched Carrots for Sushi

Cut a carrot into matchsticks. Bring water to a boil in a small pan. Drop the carrots into the water and boil for two minutes. Drain them immediately, and stick them in the fridge to cool. They should wind up being a little soft, and a little sweet!

Easy Gluten-Free Tomato Soup

Did you know that regular tomato soup has wheat flour in it? We keep the ends of gluten-free bread in a bag in the freezer, just for recipes like this.

Ingredients:

1 can whole peeled tomatoes
1-1/2 cup gluten-free broth or bullion
1 small carrot
1/2 onion
1 slice toast, chopped into cubes
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt


Directions:

1. Chop up the carrot & onion.
2. Dissolve 1-1/2 tsp. bouillon powder into 1-1/2 cup boiling water (if using bullion)
3. In medium saucepan, pour in the can of tomatoes. Using a potato masher or a pair of scissors, break the tomatoes into smaller pieces. You don't need to be too precise, because it's all going in the blender at the end.
4. Add the bullion or broth and the carrots, onions, spices, and toast.
5. Bring to a boil, then let simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
6. Pour the whole thing into a food processor. You might want to use a ladle to start with, because getting splashed with boiling hot soup is no fun.
7. Blend for about 20-30 seconds until smooth.
8. Some people like pepper, sour cream, parsley, butter, or other toppings on top!

Ham+Cheese Soup

Since everyone in our family has been down with a cold, we decided a warm soup would be nice.  My mom found this recipe from the blog My Gluten-Free Kitchen, and it is a favorite.

Ingredients:

1¾ cups water
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes (cubes about ½" to ¾"), we like red potatoes but any works
½ cup sliced carrots 
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
¾ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ cup butter
¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (cubed or shredded)
2 cups frozen or fresh corn
2 cups cubed ham (cooked)


Directions:

1.  In a large pot, bring water, potatoes, carrots, and garlic to a boil. Stir in salt, garlic salt, and pepper.
2.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the ham cubes and frozen corn. Reduce heat to lowest setting.
3.  Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the cornstarch.  Add the milk to the butter/cornstarch mixture and whisk together.
4.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Add cheddar cheese cubes or shreds and stir until melted.
5.  Pour creamy contents of medium saucepan into the large pot of ham and vegetables. Heat through over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until read to serve. Taste a little to see if you would prefer additional seasonings.

Sushi-o-rama: Making the Sushi

After you cooked the sushi rice and, if you wanted, the cucumber salad, you can start making sushi! A lot of sushi making if finding the toppings you like and figuring out good combinations.  You do need some basic ingredients and supplies, though.

Necessary Ingredients

seaweed, in sheets, or rice paper (most are gluten free)
some kind of sushi rolling device, we have bamboo place mats that work great.
saran wrap
sushi rice (see my sushi rice post to see how to make it)

Then you need fillings.  There are tons of different foods you can use, here are the ones we use.

Fillings

--We have used these--
Cucumber sticks, plain or Japanese cucumber salad sticks.
baby shrimp (we buy them cooked)
avocado
fake LOBSTER- do not use fake crab, it has wheat! For some reason, lobster does not. *UPDATE: we recently bought gluten free fake crab!  Just check the label when buying fake crab/lobster*
smoked salmon
cream cheese
mango or papaya

--We haven't used these, but they would be yummy--
real crab
fish eggs
asparagus
shredded carrots
red bell pepper
Feeling adventurous?  Try raw meat, but it's not my fault if you get sick.

Again, decide on a few toppings that taste good so you don't have tons of shopping to do.

Making the Sushi

--Prep--
1.  Prepare sushi rice and cucumber salad.
2.  Put all the ingredients in little bowls for easy access.  Lay out the sushi rolling mats and cover with saran wrap.  Get rice vinegar to put in little bowls.  If you are handling the rice, you need your fingers wet with vinegar so it doesn't stick to you.

--Sushi--

1.  Lay out sushi seaweed (or rice paper, I am going to say seaweed) on the saran-wrap covered mat in front of you.  The seaweed has a shiny side and a matte side (I don't know how rice paper works).  Lay the matte side up.  Also, there are lines on the seaweed, make sure they are vertical.
2.  Get a spoonful of rice and put it on the bottom of the seaweed.  Spread it on the bottom 3/4 of the seaweed.  Leave a "groove" just above the first quarter.  The groove will be where you put the ingredients.  Try to spread the rice more than squish it.
3.  Choose your fillings, I recommend three ingredients.  Lay them horizontally across the groove, making sure they go all the way to the edges.
4.  Roll the sushi.  This is the "hard part", but once you get the hang of it, it is really easy.  I am ok at it, but my rolls turn out really fat.  My mom has ninja-sushi rolling skills, we don't know how she does it so perfectly.  She has a strategy to her rolling. Here are her instructions:

• Pull sushi down to the very bottom of the mat.  Then, grasp the sushi, saran wrap and mat and push it forward in a rolling motion.
• Once the sushi folds over, pull back the mat and saran wrap in a kind of flicking motion.  
• Continue to roll the sushi, also continuing the flicking.

To watch the rolling, skip to 2:00 on the video above. 

5.  Get a sharp knife and cut the roll into inch-and-a-half slices.  Ta-da! Sushi.

Coffee Cake

I'll make this short so you can bake this as soon as possible (because you NEED to)~ this is the best coffee cake I have ever had.  That includes before GF diet.  I know I have said before that "this doesn't taste GF", but this takes it to a whole new level.  It is really, REALLY good.  My mom says, "Seriously, best coffee cake [I've] ever had, even before gluten free.  Loved it!"

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sour cream and/or plain yogurt
3-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups Baking Flour mix (see ATK flour recipe)
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 stick butter (unsalted), cut into pieces & softened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  In medium bowl, whisk eggs, then add 1 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla and whisk again.

2.  In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, except the spices, together. Add remaining half-cup of sour cream and the butter. With an electric mixer, mix for one or two minutes. Use a pastry knife to break up big pieces if you have any. Slowly add the egg mixture, mixing on high for another minute.  Batter should end up thick but fluffy.
3.  Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan (round cake pan with tube in middle).
4.  Put one cup of the batter into a small bowl, and pour the rest into bundt pan.
5.  Add in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, the tablespoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg to the cup of batter in the small bowl.  Stir well to make a nice dark batter!

6.  Drop a tablespoon of the cinnamon batter onto the top of the batter in the bundt.  Continue around in a circle, probably making 8 blobs of the cinnamon batter around the top of the regular batter. Using a butter knife, swirl each blob so that it gets mixed up in the column of batter directly below it. It doesn't matter too much how messy you are because this will be covered with the toppings. Basically, you want pockets of cinnamon within the cake. Do your best!

7.  Bake cake for about 50 minutes on bottom rack, until skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven, and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack. Then remove from pan (carefully), and let cool another hour.
8.  While cake is cooking, get the nuts ready. Chop the walnuts finely, mix with the cinnamon, sugar, and softened butter. Spread on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Stick this in the oven for about 10 minutes on the top rack while the cake is baking. Open & close door quickly to keep oven hot! Stir after five minutes.
9.  In small bowl, mix the cup of powdered sugar with the milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

10.  Once cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the top.  It's good to have it drip off the sides!
11.  Spread the nuts on top.
12.  Let sit for 20 minutes or until glaze is somewhat set.

(This recipe is based on the America's Test Kitchen How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, p. 56.)

Spicy Baked Chicken

This is my mom's go-to chicken recipe, so I figured it should be posted!  This chicken always turns out great and isn't super dry like a lot of chicken.

Ingredients

1 3-pound broiler-fryer chicken, cut into pieces 

1 chicken bouillon cube 
1/2 cup boiling water 
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
1 tsp. curry powder 
1 tsp. dried oregano 
1 tsp. salt 
1/2 tsp. dry mustard 
1/2 tsp. paprika 
1 teaspoon Tabasco pepper sauce (for less spice: 1/2 tsp.)

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to  375°F.  Place chicken pieces, skin side down, in a large, shallow baking pan.  
2.  In a measuring cup, dissolve bouillon cube in boiling water.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
3.  Spoon mixture over chicken and bake for 30 minutes.  Turn chicken over and baste with juices (pour juices on chicken) in pan.  Bake another 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is done.

Classic Sandwich Bread

This bread is just the best, no doubt about it.  Before I talk more about it, let's take a second and appreciate how our bread looks like the picture in the book (America's Test Kitchen, the How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook). 

Impressive!

This morning for school, this is the bread I ate.  No embellishments, like you need with Udi bread; just butter.    

My mom says, "It's the first bread that has reminded me of the bread we used to have.  It's not as starchy as a lot of the other breads".  My sister, a girl of few words, says, "Yummy."  My dad, the baker, says, "One of the easiest GF recipes I've tried."

As you can see, this bread is a winner!

Ingredients:

2 cups of warm water (110° F) 

2 large eggs 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted         

   and cooled 

1 1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup millet flour 

1/4 cup quinoa flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1 1/3 cups gluten-free oat flour 

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder 

3 tablespoons powdered psyllium husk* 

2 tablespoons sugar 

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1.  Spray 5 x 9" (about) loaf pan with vegetable oil spray.  Whisk water, eggs, and melted butter together in bowl.  Using a mixer, mix all the flours, potato starch, milk powder, psyllium, sugar, yeast, baking powder, and salt together on low speed until combined.  Slowly add water mixture and let dough come together for about one minute.  Increase speed to medium and beat until sticky and uniform, about six minutes.  (Dough looks like cookie dough, but does not taste like it.)

2.  Cover and let rise at room temperature until dough has risen by about a third in volume.  This takes about an hour.

3.  Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350°.  Spray loaf with water.  Bake until top is golden brown, crust is firm, and loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 1 1/2 hours, rotating pan halfway through baking.

4.  Move pan to wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack, about two hours.  Eat with butter, honey, or jam.   

*Psyllium husks are tricky to find.  We found ours in a Natural Grocers type store in the bulk section.

How to Cook Quinoa

Quinoa is world-renowned for being a healthy superfood.  In fact, it contains all nine amino acids (amino acids are essential in most bodily functions).  My family cooks quinoa (keen-WAH) pretty often, and every time we go to cook it, we forget how to make it.  It's a nice, healthy break from rice, which is at practically every meal.  Here is the basic how to for making regular old quinoa.

Directions:

For every one cup of quinoa, use two cups water. (1-2, 2-4, 3-6, etc.)

One cup of dry quinoa makes about three cups when cooked. 

1.  Combine quinoa with double the amount of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. 

2.  Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.  

Note: you can rinse the quinoa first, it makes it less bitter. 

Sushi-o-rama: Sushi Rice

This recipe is essential in sushi making.  Sticky rice is not only yummy but also, sticky!  This will keep the sushi together.

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked white rice (short grain rice is best, but we used jasmine, which wasn't as good)
3 cups water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 Tb vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1.  Put rice in a medium sized saucepan.  Fill with water until the water is just over the rice.  Massage rice, stirring it around.  When the water becomes milky, dump it out and refill, making sure the water is just over the rice.  Repeat this process about 3-4 times.
2.  Remove all the water, and fill the saucepan with the rice in it with three cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Rice should be edible-looking.
3.  Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan.  Heat until sugar has dissolved.
4.  Stir vinegar mixture into rice.

Sushi-o-rama: Cucumber

Before gluten-free dieting, we would have pizza night where the whole family would make pizza.  After we went gluten-free, this obviously didn't work as well.  I really missed this make-it-yourself food, and I also missed going to sushi restaurants (My mom and I would both get sick), so the obvious solution to my problem was to make sushi!  This cucumber salad was a perfect side dish to our Japanese-style meal, and we also cut cucumber sticks for the sushi.  

Ingredients:


2 English seedless cucumbers (Japanese cucumbers preferred, but harder to find in a small town like ours.)
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tb rice vinegar
1 Tb sugar
1/4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

1.  Slice strips lengthwise down the cucumber.















2.  Thinly slice cucumbers into circles, or chop into sticks for sushi, or both.

3.  Put cucumbers and salt in a large plastic bag and shake vigorously to coat cucumbers in salt.                Place salted slices in colander and put a weight on top of them.

Let drain for five to ten minutes.
     Rinse cucumbers.

4.  In a small bowl, mix rice vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce together until sugar dissolves.
5.  Add vinegar mixture and sesame seeds to cucumbers and mix well.

Aebelskivers

This is a traditional Dutch breakfast that we enjoyed before going gluten-free.  We found a recipe that is GF, and now it is a favorite breakfast.  The only problem is that it takes a long time to cook them.  Also, you need an aebelskiver pan, shown above.  But, in the end, I think all the trouble is worth it.  If you plan to make aebelskivers often, you can make a "dry mix" jar with all the flours, baking soda, etc.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/8 cup potato starch
1/8 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 Tb sugar
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, separated
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup milk, warmed
jam or fruit or apple butter for filling
powdered sugar for garnish (optional)
skewers

Directions:

1.  In small bowl combine dry ingredients. Set aside.
2.  In small saucepan, warm milk and butter until butter just melts.  Add egg yolk, but be sure milk is cool enough that egg won't cook.
3.  Beat egg white until stiff.
4.  Stir the dry mix and the milk mix together.  Fold in egg white.
5.  Heat aebelskiver pan over medium low heat.  Put about 1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon oil in each cup. Place about 1 tablespoon of batter in each well, add 1 teaspoon of filling to the center of each, then cover with about 1 teaspoon more of batter over the top.  Cook until lightly brown on the bottom, and then get the skewer and use them to turn it over.  It takes some practice and is pretty hard to do.  Make it so the uncooked side is underneath.    Cook until light brown all over.  Serve with fresh fruit, powdered sugar, or fruit syrup.

Gluten Free Meatloaf

Not only is this incredible meatloaf deliciously yummy, but it makes the best leftovers ever!  I have been having this meatloaf for lunch for many, many days, and I am still not even close to tired of it!  Even though thiss recipie doesn't have it, if you love ketchup then you can take the meatloaf out of the oven ten minutes before it is done coooking and spread some ketchup on top, and then continue coooking.  This will make a slightly crispy ketchup sauce on top.  We don't do this because my mom and I are not  big fans of ketchup, but I have tried it before and it is very good, at least for ketchup.

dad's comment:

  We weren't sure if GF bread would work as a substitute for wheat bread in meatloaf.  Apparently it does.  Note, this contains eggs and egg replacer would not work.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 pound mild sausage

2 sliced gluten-free bread, stale or toasted till rather dry, diced

1/3 cup Kellogg's Corn Flakes Crumbs (or equivalent)

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil or parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

half an onion, diced

half a carrot, shredded

some spinach, kale or other leafy green (not much, and optional)

miscellaneous other veggies (not much, and optional)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

few dashes Tabasco (or equivalent)

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.  You are supposed to do this with your hands, but my dad can't stand the way it feels so he just uses a big fork. Whisk the eggs well, add the liquid smoke and Tabasco, then pour into the bowl with the meat mixture.  Mix very well until mush.

Plop into a bread pan, or form into a loaf-like mound on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour, or until the internal temperature reads 155 degrees. Remove from oven, then let rest for 10 minutes.

Fish Wrapped in Banana Leaves

The only thing that makes the dish cool and tropical is the banana leaves.  It is just your everyday, normally cooked fish, but because it is wrapped in banana leaves, it is like opening a present.  Banana leaves are cool; but the fish is just normal.  So, if you like normal fish, you will have no problem at all with the taste of this recipe!


1 lemongrass stalk (or about a tablespoon of the kind that comes in a tube)
2 green onions (chopped)
2 garlic cloves
1 Tb cilantro (fresh, or 1 tsp. dried)
1 Tb ginger (fresh, the wet kind in the jar)
1/2 tsp hot sesame oil
1 Tb lime juice
1 Tb salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
4 fish fillets
banana leaves

Marinade:
Put everything except the fish & leaves into a food processor and blend until fairly smooth.  If using lemongrass stalk, just use the bottom few inches & bulb, tearing away the outer leaves.

Put the fish in a tray (see picture above).  Score the fish, spread the marinade over it, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

How to wrap:
With two pieces of the banana leaf, make a cross, like this: + and then put the fish on top of the cross.  Each of the ends sticking out from under the fish should be about 1 foot long.  Then, fold up the vertical part first to make a little package out of the fillet.  Then wrap that part up in the horizontal sticky-outy parts.  You want to wind up with a package that is several layers thick, so that it's hard for the juices to escape.


Cooking:
Heat a grill to medium-high (whatever that means for your type of grill.)  Cook on one side for five minutes.  Flip over (this can be tricky; we've used both tongs and spatulas--neither one seems better than the other, but the main point is to do it quickly so that you don't spill too much juice.)  Cook for another five minutes.

Unwrapping can be a little messy to do on a dinner plate.  We usually unwrap it in a baking dish (but at the table so people can see how cool the leaves are) and then serve it up.

Daikon Apple Slaw

This was a very flavorful dish!  For those who don't know what a daikon radish is, here is a very simple definition: a special kind of radish that is larger than normal.  I liked this, especially the apple pieces.


1 large red apple
1 daikon radish
1 T toasted sesame seeds
3 T rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce or substitute
1 T sugar
1 T oil
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp hot oil or Tobasco
1 tsp salt
2 green onions

Sauce:
Grind the sesame seeds with mortar & pestle or electric grinder (my dad uses a coffee grinder for seeds like flax & sesame.)  In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients except apple and daikon.

Peel and core the apple.  Slice it into sticks about 3" long and 1/4" wide.  Dump these into the sauce as you slice them so that they don't brown.  Peel the daikon and chop it into sticks roughly the same size (or make them different so they are easily identifiable by picky eaters!)  Add to the bowl, stir it all up.  Refrigerate for a while so that it's cold when served.

(adapted from Roots by Diane Morgan.)

Chicken Chichen Itza

This is a really good meal that is made from a lot of leftover ingredients!  It was a little mushy as a leftover, but still very good!


1 chicken, or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 tomatoes
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 T oregano
1 T cumin
1/4 cup butter or margarine, plus more to saute
Banana leaves (or aluminum foil)
Rice, brown or wild


Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag.  Stick the chicken in and shake to thoroughly coat.

Heat some butter or margarine in a skillet and brown the chicken on both sides.  Cover and continue cooking on low for 20 minutes, until done.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.  Heat a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of oil in a pan.  Chop up the tomatoes, onion and garlic, and throw them all in.  Saute for 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with the oregano and cumin, cover the pan and cook over moderate heat for about ten minutes.  Uncover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Finally, put it all into a food processor and blend.

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat 1/4 cup butter into the tomato sauce.

Place a piece of chicken either on a plus-sign shape of crossed banana leaves, or in the middle of a square of foil.  (Foil is certainly less messy, but leaves add a nice flavor and look very cool.)  Spoon at least 1/4 cup of tomato sauce over the chicken.  Wrap it up.  Repeat with the other pieces of chicken, place all of them in a baking pan (in case of leakage), and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Any leftovers are excellent as taco meat for tomorrow's dinner!

Rainbow Salad

This salad was really cool looking!  Also, it tasted good because it wasn't one of the lettuce and one piece of carrot and one olive salads.  Also, if you find something blue to put in the salad, please post a comment and tell us what it is!



RED: Tomatoes & red bell pepper
ORANGE: Orange bell pepper
YELLOW: Canned corn & yellow bell pepper
GREEN: Lettuce & spinach
BLUE: Good luck.
BURGUNDY: Red quinoa, boiled about 15 minutes in 2 parts water for 1 part quinoa.
VIOLET: Red onion
BROWN: beans (these can actually be a variety of colors!)
BLACK: Olives

Dressing: Mix vinegar, oil, Tobasco, sugar, herbs, and bullion powder as desired.

Chicken Satay

This is an unlikely place to find a really amazing recipe, but we got this from the Family Fun magazine!  It is my mom's big achievement because it is a recipe that she made that was a big hit!  I think it is the best meal that I've had since September.  My sister, who now will comment on all recipe posts says: "It is very yummy, but it is chewy."  

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless chicken breast

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

2 Tb light brown sugar

2 Tb fish sauce

1 Tb ground coriander seed

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. turmeric

Wooden skewers, soaked in water for 1 hour (this actually really helps the meat come of the stick easier.)

Directions:

1.  For easier slicing, place the meat in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes.

2.  Combine coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, coriander, cumin, and turmeric in a large bowl and stir well to dissolve the sugar.

3.  Slice the meat into thin strips about 3/4 inch thick and 3 inches long.  Add the meat to the coconut milk marinade and refrigerate covered for at least 2 hours.

4.  Preheat the broiler or the grill.  Thread 1 or 2 pieces of meat onto each skewer.  Grill or broil the meat for 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until it's cooked through.  Makes about 10 skewers.

Shrimp Cocktail in a Pineapple (Pineapple Monte Carlo)

 Another weird recipe from Vincent Price's cookbook.  I don't know why, but my dad always goes for the weird, tropical recipes.  Pineapple, banana leaves you name it!  I really liked the apples in this one.  The shrimp was a little tough, but that might have just been our old in-the-freezer-forever shrimp.  My sister says: "It looks awesome but it doesn't taste good."  Don't listen to her, she doesn't like shrimp or fruit!

 Ingredients:

1 pineapple (refrigerated)

2 pound salad shrimp

2 apples

1 T tarragon

1 T fresh parsley

3 T mayonnaise

6 T ketchup

1/4 ounce Cointreau (brandy, rum, or white wine)

1/4 ounce port

Directions:

1. Cut the top off the pineapple and save it.  Scoop out the meat, toss the core, chop up the rest, saving the hollowed-out pineapple in the fridge.  (This is harder than it sounds, be patient.)  Peel the apples and chop them up. Put the pineapple, apple, shrimp, tarragon, and parsely in a big bowl and toss to coat with the pineapple juice.  Put the bowl in the fridge.

2. Prepare the sauce.  Mix the mayo, catsup, Cointreau (or whatever), and port.  Pour this over the fruit mixture, and put back in the fridge.

3. When you're ready to serve it, put the mixture into the hollowed-out pineapple.  Put the lid back on top.  The Rivoli in Mexico City (from where this recipe originates, via Vincent Price) twines fresh flowers amongst the leaves.  You can do that, or just serve it up as-is.  You will probably have extra which you can use to refill the pineapple after the first course.

The shrimp becomes totally nasty as a leftover, so eat everything!  Delicious, but only when fresh!