Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

This year I finally had a good tomato crop. I grew mostly heriloom varieties and some tomatillos. Lots of cherry varieties too. This sauce could be all tomatillo or a combination of cherry tomatoes and tomatillos.

1.5 pounds tomatillos or a mixture of tomatillos and cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded
handful of cilantro sprigs
salt

Roast the tomatillos and tomatoes in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 30-40 minutes until they are starting to brown and break down somewhat. You can also roast the garlic and jalapenos along with them if you desire. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Then add all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Yum! Serve over something : ) This would be great in a mexican dish or just over some fish.

Asian Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs is a big favorite in my house, but all I had were flat rice noodles for Pad Thai. So...Asian Meatballs it is! This turned out better than I expected. Bonus! I made a stir fry with carrots, fennel, broccoli and rice noodles, then mixed in about half of the sauce. But you could just make the meatballs as an appetizer too and skip the stir fry.

1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup fine gluten-free bread crumbs
2 lbs ground beef
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
5 Tablespoons Tamari
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons agave

Mix together the milk, breadcrumbs, ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, cilantro, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Form into balls with about 1 or 2 Tbsp of meat mixture each. Place in baking dish and cook at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until cooked through and starting to brown.

Make sauce by mixing together 4 Tablespoons Tamari, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 2 Tablespoons lime juice and 2 Tablespoons agave.

When meatballs are done, remove from oven and drain fat. Toss meatballs with the sauce.

Serve with rice, a stir fry, or a rice-noodle stir fry. You can reserve some of the sauce and mix it in with your rice or stir fry if you wish, then top with the meatballs.

RICE NOODLE STIR FRY
3 medium carrots, sliced
1 bulb fennel, chopped
1 small head of broccoli
1 package rice noodles (8 oz), soaked in hot water for 10 min
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp grapeseed oil

Heat oils in wok or sautee pan. Sautee the carrots, fennel and broccoli until tender. Drain rice noodles and add to the wok. Stir fry a couple of minutes, then add a few tablespoons of the meatball sauce. Taste and add more if you desire. Save the rest of the sauce to flavor the meatballs or drizzle over your stir fry. Top the noodles with meatballs.

A great dish for adults and kids!

Heirloom Tomato Salsa

3 heirloom tomatoes, chopped (can use a variety)
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 Fresno pepper, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 lime, juiced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
10 sprigs cilantro, chopped

optional: 1 chopped avocado

Mix together and keep in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors blend.

Use a manual food processor if you have one or put in a regular food processor and pulse. Stir in the avocado (if using it) at the very end. This will thicken the salsa.

This was fresh and tasty, but not very hot and spicy. If you like it hot, add more jalapenos and use the membranes and seeds, or throw in a habenero!

Pancakes!

I just purchased a large amount of blanched almond flour. So now I need to create some recipes. Elana's Pantry has been a great starting place. So I tried out her revised pancake recipe. I added blueberries to the last part of the batter and liked them that way much better.

2 eggs
1/4 cup agave
1 Tbsp vanilla

mix in blender, then add...

1.5 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

...reblend then *add water

+Blueberries
....reblend again for 1 second

let it sit for 15 minutes to thicken up

*I had to add water to the batter before adding blueberries to thin it out a little...it didn't look like it would pour out of the blender.

mmmm....pretty good. and lots of protein, fiber, omegas : )

Mexican Chocolate Cake

I just love it when I can take a regular recipe, change one thing, and make it gluten-free! This Mexican Chocolate Cake was really yummy. I served it with Coconut Gelato...yum! I found the recipe in Cooking Light magazine. Here is my gluten-free version...

1 cup gluten-free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill all-purpose)
1/3 cup Dutch Process cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 large egg whites
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used greek yogurt)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 ounce Mexican chocolate, chopped (I just used chocolate chips because that was all I had)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 deg.

Spray an 8 inch round cake pan with cooking spray and line with wax paper. Coat wax paper with spray and dust with flour (if desired.) (I just used a springform pan and didn't bother dusting it with flour. It turned out fine.)

Mix dry ingredients well in a bowl.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg whites, 1 at at time, beating until blended. Gradually add flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan, tap on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a cooling rack. Place a plate upside down on top of cake, invert. Carefully remove wax paper.

Combine milk and chocolate in a small saucepan and heat gently on stove. Use a small whisk to blend it together as the chocolate melts. Cool slightly and drizzle over cake. Let glaze set and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Sandwich Bread

I just bought a breadmaker. I had been avoiding them, not wanting to deal with yet another appliance on my counter. I don't mind baking gluten-free bread in the oven. But sometimes it is great to be able to put it in there and leave the house. I spend enough time in the kitchen as it is.

There are some pretty good store-bought breads here in Boulder. But they are $5.50 per loaf and the loaves are small, verging on tiny. Also, the ingredients are not the healthiest. You can eat unhealthily as a gluten-free person if you rely too much on processed food. I like to know what is in my food anyway.

I am experimenting with my bread recipe. I have tried a lot of different ingredient combinations, but what seems to be most important is the ratio of the ingredients. Try subbing for what you have on hand or whatever sounds like a good combo to you. Let me know if you come up with one you like.

Here are the general instructions:

SANDWICH BREAD
Wet ingredients:

1 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup applesauce (or sour cream)
3 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup, or agave)
1/4 cup oil (canola, olive, sunflower)
2 eggs


Dry ingredients:

3 cups gluten free flour of your choice
2-3 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp sea salt
2.5 tsp. active dry yeast


Get your ingredients out ahead of time and allow them to come to room temperature before starting. This will make a huge difference in the success of your loaf!
Whisk together the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients well. Pour the wet ingredients into the bread maker. Scoop the dry mix into the bread mixer. Run through a gluten-free cycle in your breadmaker if you have one. If there is no gluten-free cycle, see if there is one with just one rise instead of two. Newer models tend to have a gluten-free cycle. My breadmaker is a Cuisinart.

Note: it helps sometimes in the first 20 minutes or so to check on your dough and use a spatula to scrape the sides if necessary.

When its done, leave it in the Breadmaker for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing or storing. Can be frozen. Slice first and put in a ziplock freezer bag.