The Easy Coconut Banana Bread with Chocolate

 Here's the link.

Ingredients

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• ▢4 medium overly ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cup mashed)
• ▢1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• ▢1/4 cup honey
• ▢2 eggs
• ▢2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• ▢1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
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• ▢1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢1/2 cup shredded sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

• ▢2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• ▢1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter, at room temperature
• ▢1 cup powdered sugar
• ▢1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢1/4 cup canned coconut milk

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper.

  2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, coconut oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, mix until just combined. Fold in the coconut flakes. Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until center is just set. Remove and let cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

  3. To make the frosting, add the cream cheese and butter to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat another 2-4 minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Beat in the coconut cream until combined. 

  3. Spread the frosting over cake. Slice, snack, and enjoy!

Notes

To Make Gluten Free: Use an equal amount of your favorite gluten free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I recommend Cup4Cup gluten free flour. 

To Replace Coconut Oil: use an equal amount of olive oil, melted butter, or canola oil.

Storing: this cake keeps well for 3-4 days at room temperature. 

To cool cake quickly for frosting: place in freezer for 15 minutes. Remove and frost.

Gluten Free French Crepe Recipe

Makes 6-8 crepes about 9 inches in diameter. The original recipe is double this amount below.

So, I just tried out this recipe here making some substitutions. I also left out the sugar and the crepe batter cooked up with a good solid structure.

1 C Bob's Red Mill Baking Flour 1 to 1 (in the blue bag)*. 

2 eggs

2 cups of whole milk

1/4 C melted butter

pinch of salt

I grew up eating crepes for Shrove Tuesday aka Fat Tuesday. We mostly ate them with jam and white sugar and could eat quite a few per person. My friend Geneve insisted that the "real" way to eat them was with sugar and lemon juice. But I've not made savory ones in a long time, and it seemed like something my mom could eat though she doesn't have that many teeth anymore.

Put the flour in a bowl, whisk in the salt. Make a well in the flour and add the two eggs. Whisk the eggs in the middle, and slowly add the milk while you keep whisking the eggs. Slowly incorporate the flour from the sides of the bowl until you have a really smooth mixture. Slowly stream in the melted butter. 

The recipe says to allow it to stand for 30-60 minutes until bubbles form. This is standard with all crepe batter, but I'm not gonna lie, my mother was hungry and we're on a kind of a serious routine, so I just made three to see, and they came out fine. We ate them for dinner with some Gruyere/Swiss cheese melted and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and a little pat of butter inside. Miam.

Enjoy!

*Note: I've tried to use other gluten free flours for crepes and they are pretty close to rice pancakes from Asian cuisine, but with an even more delicate structure (read: fell apart in multiple places) so I'm happy this one worked so well.

Very Best Gluten Free Pie Crust

Just as an experiment I used this GF flour mix to make a pie crust and it came out amazingly good--like it reminded me of a Crisco flaky crust for a fruit pie from when I was a kid. As a person who eats GF, not because they like it, but for their health, this was a revelation!

1 cup + 2 T set aside of Bob's Red Mill Biscuit and Baking Mix

1 stick butter unsalted

pinch of salt

1 t apple cider vinegar

1/3 C chilled water

half a beaten egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and get out a glass or ceramic pie plate

1. Put baking mix, salt, and stick of butter in a medium mixing bowl. Chop the butter up with a pastry cutter or two knives that you're using to slice all the butter into smaller and smaller pieces. Once the butter pieces are down to smaller chunks, start mixing the butter through with your hands, making the butter globs about the size of peas surrounded by the floury mix--don't keep pressing your fingers on the bare butter (it will get too soft). Keep rolling the little butter bits through your fingers (as if you are actually trying to get dough off your fingers by rubbing your thumb on the rest of your fingers), until the mix looks like coarse meal and none of the butter bits are bigger than say a pea.

2. Stir this mix up with a fork while pouring in the vinegar, mix it up, then add the half an egg, mix it up. Take the chilled water and pour a little bit of it in streams over the flour mixture, stirring after maybe every teaspoon or so, keeping the mealy texture but getting things damp. If the dough is clumping partly together, stop adding water and see if you can get it to be mostly a clump with some crumbs: if you can, you're really finished with the water, even if the dough seems too crumby to you.

3. Dump all this dough into the pie plate. No need to grease. Spread it out as much as you can and if it's sticking to you (too much water) sprinkle a little of that extra 2 T of biscuit and baking mix on top so you can shape it to the pan. There is no rolling out here. That's just the path of sadness. Make sure the dough goes up the sides of the pan as much as you can. Use the heel of your palm to smoosh the dough from the center to the edge, then turn the plate and smoosh the dough from the center to the edge. You get the idea.

4. Bake for seven minutes. If you do the foil thing, or the foil and bean thing, cool, but I do not.

5. After the seven minutes at 350 degrees F, put the par-cooked crust on a rack to cool while you make your filling.

6. This crust lasts pretty well through a baking time until about 40-45 minutes and then you probably need to make a little collar of foil to put around the pie to keep the showing crust from burning.

ENJOY! I haven't made a double crusted pie with this (like a lattice topped pie or an apple pie). It could work, but you'd have to be patient.

Tips on eating in Iceland Written 082117

I headed to Iceland for an artist residency this past summer for a whole month and then camped along the Ring Road with my boyfriend for a week. I knew Iceland´s tourist influx had doubled since 2016 but wasn´t prepared for the news that the Reykjavík airport had a million people pass through it in July.

I knew tourists had been exhibiting bad behavior, some of it caused by the fact that Iceland doesn´t have an infrastructure for this amount of people coming in, and a nature tax and steep fines for littering are being debated. Who throws a pizza box on a lava field? Seriously, I´m going to some northern territory of Canada next time I need to camp and let Iceland have a rest. All regular cultural, artistic, and educational efforts in Iceland are battling with and losing space to tourism. If you´re already going, here are some ideas for how to shop for food and minimize any negative effects your presence may have on Iceland.

1. Buy from Icelandic groceries. This article by Foodie Baker saved our life. As did a kilo of Whole Earth peanut butter from Krónan, a grocery store slightly more expensive than Bónus but also very comparable to prices at home, probably even less expensive. Krónan has a lot of special foods for people with allergies. (Why would you shop at Costco when they are eating into Icelandic profits?)

2. Buy from local fisheries, mutton jerky makers, dry fish and cod. Smoked fish, mutton jerky and dried fish are all items that keep without refrigeration for at least a day or two which is great for camping or sightseeing. Here´s a favorite smoker of trout in the Golden Circle, Reykhúsið Útey. To get to this smokery, start in Laugarvatn, head south on 37 (on the circle road or roundabout intersection, follow the sign toward Selfoss). You´ll see a sign for Útey 500 meters further down the road...don´t forget that means almost 1500 feet or half a kilometer...turn left. 

3. Enjoy local restaurants. If you´re broke, it´s fine to share a soup and have fries. A lot of restaurants give you free bread and butter with the soups. I found it so fascinating in Reykjavík to see people in fancy cars (locals) eating Dominoes, which is at least 25 or 30 per pie.

4. Picnic areas...the humor of seeing a picnic table on a sign and showing up to a gravel circle with no table and no trash can! It´s a great way to make sure tourists take their garbage with them and don´t litter. If there is a table, take the opportunity to chat with people from either Iceland or some other travelers. Or learn how to balance food on your knees as you sit partway out of your car or attempt to sit on a rock without touching bird poop.

5. A closet with a heart on it...this sign means there will be a port o potty and may be a bit new on the N1 route, but how glad we were to take advantage of this whenever we saw it so we wouldn´t have to do anything drastic. You also might just take some ziplocks with you in case of a real emergency. 

6. Pack a garbage bag. I mean, it´s that easy.

Keto Pizza from Quitters Lose on YouTube

 INGREDIENTS:

3/4 to 1 Cup Almond Flour (90g) (replace little with coconut flour for more crisp) 1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese 1 Egg 3 tbsp Cream Cheese 1 tsp Italian Seasoning (optional) 1/2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Salt DIRECTIONS: 1. Place dry ingredients together in a bowl (almond flour, mozzarella cheese, seasoning). 2. Microwave dry mix for 32 seconds just to soften the cheese. 3. Lightly mix the egg and room temperature cream cheese together. Cream cheese chunks are ok. 4. Mix both dry and wet ingredients together to form a dough ball. 5. On parchment paper apply a thin layer of olive oil big about 12 inches in diameter and place your dough ball on it. 6. Place another sheet of parchment paper (or heavy freezer paper for wrinkle-free rolling pin action), and press down with your hand on the dough before using the rolling pin to get it started. Lightly press with a rolling pin to spread the dough. 7. If you want a nice round shape, use a frying pan lid to shape it 8. Remove the top sheet of paper and place the dough into the oven at 390º F for 10 minutes. Keep in mind we don't want to fully cook the crust because we still need to add the sauce and toppings. 9. Remove from oven and add sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Pear Pie

3 perfectly ripe pears, peeled and sliced thinly 

3 eggs, beaten with a splash of oat milk

candied ginger

prunes

2-3 pats of butter

pie crust

pie plate/8 by 8 inch baking dish

*

Put one pie crust into a plate and bake 7 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from oven. While it's cooling, keep oven on.

Cover 3-6 prunes with plastic and smash very thinly with a can, lay over bottom of pie crust.

Layer in slices of pear as tightly as possible. Instead of fanning them out so the pie is more of a tart, pack them in, thin end of the wedges pointed down at the crust.

Put small pieces of candied ginger between the pear slices.

Gently pour the egg and milk custard between the slices.

Bake at 350 until bubbly and golden 30-45 minutes (depends on...a lot of things).

Enjoy!

Vegan Cabbage Rolls, Easy!

This is adapted from Jenny Jones' recipe for Cabbage Rolls. I made them without a few of the ingredients (thanks coronavirus) and they still turned out delicious! She has a youtube of herself making this recipe, a great help if you're not sure how to trim the stems or roll the leaves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Get out a glass 9 by 13 pan.

Make sure you have foil or a way to tightly seal the pan while it's baking.

Ingredients:

1 can crushed tomato puree
1/2 veggie boullion cube
1 head of cabbage, cored
3/4 cup jasmine/basmati rice
1 can lentils
2 carrots
sage
oregano/basil
one clove minced raw garlic (the garlic had started to go bad...but this one still good clove made the house smell great nevertheless)
salt
pepper

(we didn't have mushrooms, parsley, or onion...some other day)

Put entire head of cabbage in Dutch oven of boiling salted water and let simmer for 10 minutes. (The head of cabbage was so huge, I just let it in the water for 5-7 minutes, peeled the outer leaves off, and let them boil without the rest of the huge head of cabbage for another 3-5 minutes...I'm saving the rest of the head of cabbage for another batch in a few days...only one glass pan).

Pour one cup tomato puree into 2 cup measuring cup. Add half a cup water and half a vegetable broth bouillon cube, crumbled.

In a bowl, put two very thinly sliced carrots, 3/4 cup uncooked jasmine rice, lentils and spices. Mix.

Let cabbage cool in a colander. Peel off outer leaves carefully so as not to tear them. Flip over and cut the thick part of the stem with a sharp knife so that the stem part that sticks up and is bumpy has been shaved away.

Mix up the tomato sauce and put about half a cup in the bottom of the pan and spread it out a little.

Put 2 T (heaping) of the mix into the center of a cabbage leaf and fold over, just like an egg roll, but don't seal it.

Put in glass pan seam side down.

Tuck the rolls into the pan until the pan is fill. We ran out of mix so we put already cooked rice in two cabbage rolls and they were fine.

Mixing the tomato sauce carefully, pour it over the finished rolls. Sprinkle/distribute the minced garlic on top of them all.

Put little thin pats of (unsalted or salted) butter/Earth Balance on each roll.

Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Uncover and add some more of the sauce, then let bake 20 more minutes.

I think, honestly, next time I will put more sauce in the bottom of the pan, pour it over the rolls, and *not* pour more sauce on after 50 minutes...I want to see what happens if I allow the tops of the cabbage rolls to be uncovered during the last 20 minutes so that the butter can make the tops of the rolls golden and brown mmm--it started to happen...

Serve with beet salad, or borscht, or whatnot. Jenny Jones browns the leftover rolls in butter and that is amazing!!

Green Potato Pizza

First off, make sure you do not use potatoes that are green under the skin. That is actually a dangerous mold. Don't eat that.

You will need:

To preheat oven to 425 (or whatever you cook your pizza at)

pizza dough
pesto
a potato peeled and very thinly sliced (Yukon Gold is best) (one fills a 9 x 13 pan)
olive oil or butter
herbs ("Italian seasoning" is fine)
mozzerella

I think olives or sardines would be pretty good on this, or even sauteed leek or fennel, but you do you!

Make the dough. Let it rise. Etc.

Line a pan with dough. Let it be kinda thick but not pan pan thick.

Cook for 7 minutes at 425.

Take out and put a layer of pesto on (I probably used 3 T on the whole thing).

Tile one layer of potatoes, really thinly on there. I've seen Roman pizza where the potato is like overlapping like a deck of cards but I didn't do it that thick on mine.
Drizzle with veggie oil or olive oil (I actually didn't use that cos it smokes at too low a temperature)...butter might work, but idk.
Salt
Pepper
Herbs to taste

This is why poets don't write cook books. Soooo subjective.

Turn oven to broil and put the pizza pan under the broiler (like 3 inches away)
for 3-5 minutes. Watch it carefully until the potatoes look golden around the edges and bendy.

Take out from under the broiler. Sprinkle on mozzarella. You know. Enough mozzarella.

Put oven back on 425 and cook for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool for 7-10 minutes because you don't want to burn your mouth.

Mmm!!!

banana oatmeal cookies, gluten free

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use non-stick pan or lightly grease baking sheet.

You can multiply this recipe pretty easily--I usually double it and make a dozen cookies with the batter.

Mix together

1 mashed banana
1 C oats + a little more if batter seems too soft
handful of blueberries (optional)
handful of walnuts or whatever you feel like (optional)
1/4 C Bob's Red Mill gluten free cornbread mix (optional)

Let the batter rest for five minutes so the oats absorb the moisture from the bananas.

Drop in 2T heaps and pat down with clean fingers :-)

Bake 12 minutes at 350.

Take out and let stand 2-3 minutes then move to cooling rack.

Mmm! A good snack for at work--really tides you over.

Baguette Bread Pudding/Pain Perdu

My mom was born in France and I always heard her refer to French toast as pain perdu. And she made it for us too. But then I saw that pain perdu is a Louisiana dish made with baguette and custard and a whiskey sauce, I think. Not sure which came first. Anyway, we got baguettes at Panera that neither of us can eat (she can't eat things that are hard and I don't eat gluten stuff).

Here's a recipe that worked out to use the two baguettes and soften them up.

10 inches of a baguette, pulled into little pieces (2.5-3 C bread cubes)
2 eggs
1 cup almond milk
1 cup half and half
1/3 C sugar
3 T honey
1 t cinnamon
2 T butter
half a cup of blueberries or raisins (ugh raisins)

Get a glass loaf pan and heat the oven to 350. When oven is hot, put in glass pan with the two T butter and wait five minutes until the butter is melted.

While the pan is heating in the oven, whisk two eggs together with the milks (as long as it's 2 C milk, I don't think it matters what you use and cream is sooo heavy). Add the sugar and the honey. Whisk well until the sugar is not longer settled at the bottom of the bowl. Add cinnamon.

Put in the bread and let it soak for a minute until it's not all floating around on the top of the custard.

Take pan out of oven and swirl butter around the bottom of the pan, taking care that the butter reaches and covers the corners. Pour bread and egg mixture into hot pan. Stuff the blueberries evenly into the bread mixture (if you're like that...otherwise just throw them in the batter).

Red Lentil Dal

This is one of my favorites to have around the house when it's cold outside.

Into a medium sized saucepan put:

1 cup red lentils
4 cups water
1 t salt
2/3 T minced peeled ginger (optional, I never put this in actually)
1/4 t tumeric
4 cardamom pods
a quarter t cayenne (don't over do it)
2.5 T earth balance or olive oil
1/2 t. cumin

Simmer for 50 minutes stirring occasionally.

Tracy Page Chickpea Spinach Soup

Ingredients : 2T olive oil; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tsp cumin; 2 tsp coriander; 5 C vegetable stock; 1 1/2 C potatoes; 1 T corn starch; 2/3 C heavy cream; 2 T tahini; 7 oz. spinach; salt; pepper; cayenne; 1 can (15 oz.) chick peas.

Heat oil. Cook garlic and onions 5 minutes until soft. Stir in cumin and coriander. Cook another minute. Pour in stock, add potatoes. Bring to boil. Simmer 10 minutes. Add chick peas. Simmer 5 minutes more (until potatoes and peas are tender.) Blend corn starch, cream, tahini, and other seasonings, then stir them into the soup with the spinach. Bring to boil, stirring. Simmer 2 more minutes. Add more seasoning as desired.

Chef John's Fisherman's Pie

Recipe By: Chef John


"My Fisherman's Pie gives you flaky cod mingled with spinach in a garlic and lemon-scented sauce underneath a
browned crust of creamy, buttery potatoes on top. It really does taste fantastic." 

I don't know who Chef John is.

Ingredients

3 Potatoes Russet
Horizon Milk Organic, Whole

For potato crust:
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 3 tablespoons butter
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 cup milk

(see directions below)

For the spinach:
2 teaspoons olive oil
12 ounces baby spinach leaves
For the sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
Directions

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cold milk, divided
2 teaspoons lemon zest

For the rest:
1 tablespoon butter
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 pounds boneless cod fillets
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives for garnish

1. 1  Bring a large saucepan of salted water and to a boil; add russet potatoes to boiling water and cook until very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well. Mash in 3 tablespoons butter until thoroughly combined. Season with nutmeg, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Mash 1/2 cup milk into potato mixture until smooth.
   
2. 2  Drizzle olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add spinach, and season with a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach has wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl lined with paper towels to wick away excess moisture.
   
3. 3  Heat 3 tablespoons butter and flour in a saucepan over medium heat; whisk mixture to a smooth paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture has a nutty smell and is slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add chopped garlic; whisk until fragrant, 10 to 20 seconds.
   
4. 4  Whisk 1 cup cold milk into flour mixture; cook until thickened. Whisk in remaining 1 cup milk and lemon zest. Bring white sauce to a gentle simmer, whisking constantly; season with salt. Turn heat to very low and keep sauce warm.
   
5. 5  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease an 8x12-inch casserole dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
   
6. 6  Season buttered pan with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Lay boneless cod fillets into the pan in a single layer. Season tops of fillets with more salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Spread spinach evenly over fish and drizzle with lemon juice. Spoon white sauce over spinach; give casserole dish several taps and shakes to eliminate bubbles.
   
7. 7  Drop mashed potatoes by heaping spoonfuls over the casserole and spread smoothly to cover. Place dish onto a rimmed baking sheet to catch spills.
   
8. 8  Bake in the preheated oven until bubbling, about 40 minutes. Turn on oven's broiler and broil until potato crust has a golden brown top, about 2 minutes. Fish should flake easily. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with a sprinkle of chives. 
   

Roasted Italian Sausage and Fennel Salad

I made this a few summers ago and it's really good if you hate salad, or even find it hard to get enthusiastic about. My guess is this serves 2 people.

a container of arugula or spinach or red leaf lettuce, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
1 large head of fennel aka anise
2 potatoes (or one head of cauliflower in one inch florets)
1 avocado
1 ripe large tomato (or two little ones)
half a pound of sweet italian sausage
one lime
cumin
chili powder
oregano
garlic (optional)
olive oil
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Cut the stems off the head of the fennel bulb, cube the bulb in half inch dice.
2. Peel the potatoes and cube them in one inch dice/break the head of cauliflower into one inch florets.
3. Get a glass pan and toss the fennel and cauliflower with: 2 T or more olive oil, salt and pepper, 2 t cumin, 2 t chili powder, and half a teaspoon oregano (crush it with your fingers over the veggies). Toss. Roast for 20 minutes, then stir, roast another 20 minutes, take out of oven, let cool on the stovetop while you do the rest.
4. In a pan, heat olive oil at medium high/7 until it's a got a little haze on it. Turn on stovetop fan. Saute the sausages in their skins 3-4 minutes a side, then lower heat to medium low and put a cover on it with 1/4 cup water to really steam the pork all the way through. Set aside on a paper towel.
5. In a container you can shake up, put 1/4 olive oil, juice of one whole lime, a clove or two of garlic minced, 1 t cumin, 1 t chili powder, a pinch of oregano, salt and pepper. Shake! Taste and add salt if you need to.
6. Slice up the tomato and avocado.
7. On each plate: make a bed of lettuce, put the tomato and avocado on one side all decorative-like, and then put the potatoes/cauliflower on the other side and put the sausage on top.
8. Pour dressing on with a spoon. It's easy to get too much, so be careful.

Mmmm.

Curried Chickpeas and Cauliflower

I recommend playing CSNY album Deja Vu for full effect. I was supposed to go to the Catskills this weekend to write, but not feeling it. Instead I needed to stay home and perform a syllabus miracle.



 2 cans garbanzos drained
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic smashed and minced
2 T olive oil
2 T butter or ghee
1 t cumin
1 t tumeric
1 t garam masala
1-2 t curry powder (optional)
a few dashes of cayenne pepper
half t coriander half
t of cardamom
1 large head of cauliflower in florets
1 large Russet potato peeled and cubed smallish
1 T tomato paste half a can of coconut milk
1 t cornstarch
2 cups water

 1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put cauliflower in glass pan. Drizzle generously with olive oil, then salt and pepper. Add a little dash of cumin. Roast for 35 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Set aside.

2. In a Dutch oven, heat oil and butter, then add garbanzos and stir on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add onion and garlic and spices and tomato sauce. Let cook until you can smell the spices develop, turn heat down to med low.

4. Put two cups of water in a container and add the cornstarch. Stir until dissolved. Add water and coconut milk to Dutch oven.

5. Add potatoes. Turn heat up to medium high, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then cover and continue to simmer for another 7 minutes.

6. Add the cauliflower florets. Serve over rice. If you leave the butter out, this is vegan and gluten free.

Chipotle Rice Copycat

There are a lot of copycat recipes for Chipotle's chili lime rice. I often wondered how it was made and assumed there was cilantro and maybe some lime in it. I've looked up recipes by wonderful cooks who suggest adding a bay leaf to the rice when it cooks, who suggest using basmati rice instead of long grain (which is what Chipotle seems to use). One recipe even suggests using two parts lime juice and one part lemon juice (used on 2 cups of cooked rice). Lots of rinsing, etc.

This summer I saw the line chef make the white rice. Twice! She made two batches so I watched her like a hawk. She dumped the hot rice (which did not seem wet, which did not seem like it had been rinsed) into a big metal bowl, added oil, added a decent amount of what looked like kosher salt or salt, cilantro and lime. If I were going to guess, she was mixing about 3-4 cups worth of cooked rice with

1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 T kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
FRESH limes, maybe two hole ones for this much rice.

She tossed it all together pretty seriously for a minute or two. Then she shouted "RICE READY" and everyone said "THANK YOU!!!" to her. That was nice, even if it was their corporate policy to say those things, probably.

*

I do not have a lime, my lime died RIP.

So I made basmati rice and put in olive oil, kosher salt and chopped cilantro. Definitely the lime is missing, but this was pretty great. Has a good consistency and flavor and takes up my black beans well.

I did go to a mexican restaurant in a small town and it was so awesome, carrot and sweet potato and green pepper hash and so on. And then there was a bunch of sides but the lime cilantro rice was parboiled brown rice that had gotten hard. :-(

Beans and Wine

2 cans cannellini, Progresso
One yellow onion minced
2/3 stick of unsalted butter
butter
oregano
bay leaf
1 cup of white wine
dashes of cayenne
salt
pepper
half a cup of water
a pound of brussels sprouts trimmed and split in quarters


Brown onion in the butter. Add beans and let roast. Add wine before beans get too dry, and spices. After alcohol has boiled off, add brussel sprouts and water and let simmer for 20-25 minutes. Let stand. Serve over pasta or rice or whatever.

Serves 6

Smoked Salmon Mac and Cheese (Gluten Free)

Simplified version of smoked salmon mac and cheese originally conceived by Super Nummy .

5 cups 2% milk (4 C will work but not be as creamy) (organic, not Horizon brand or you’ll have a sweet mess on your hands)

1 entire package (6 oz) Applewood smoked gruyere grated (or cheddar if you can't find it)

1 package Tinkyada GF pasta (brand with bunnies on it)

4 oz smoked wild caught salmon (smoked trout also works)

two handfuls of fresh arugula or spinach (optional)

little dash of cayenne 

dash of freshly grated nutmeg

salt

pepper

Put dry macaroni and five cups of milk into a casserole or cast iron pan and bake at 325 for half an hour. 

Take out pan, increase heat to 375. Into hot macaroni, mix the shredded cheese, salmon broken into chunks and stir. Add the arugula or spinach, stir. Put it back in the oven with no cover for 20-30 minutes.

Think about things.

Take it out and let it stand for 10 minutes as it will be very hot.

This should thicken up really well and not require cornstarch or flour. It makes a gooey mac and cheese, not dry or runny.

The original calls for dry mustard and buttered bread crumbs, but it was very tasty without these.

Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad

This is the original, but the one I brought to class was a bit different:

http://www.theglutenfreevegan.com/2014/03/quinoa-roasted-yam-pepitas-with-cumin-lime-dressing/

First, I used a very plain dressing: one part lime juice, two parts olive oil, black pepper, salt, cumin, a little coriander and chili powder. I wish I had this in amounts, but I just eyeballed it. I think you can use a lot more cumin than you might think. It's good to add a tiny bit of water to all these dressing ingredients and then shake them up in a jar or container. I did put a little minced onion in, but the green onion is kind of better I think.

I boiled 6 cups of water, and put in 3 cups of quinoa.
I let it simmer for maybe 20 minutes and then turned it off when a little water was left to let it really absorb the last bit without burning.

I peeled and cubed two yams. I told Dan Arra from our class I normally buy my yams from some farmers that set up a market in my neighborhood, but the yams I used in your all's were exceptionally good and from Target (!). I roast them at 400 with cumin, coriander, chili powder and lots of olive oil until they are soft. I can't tell you how long this is. It might be 35-45 minutes.

I took about a half a cup or raw pepitas/pumpkin seeds and roasted them in a pan dry until they popped for a while. I shook the pan around while this was happening.

I put the dressing in the bottom of a big bowl, put in the quinoa, the yams, the pumpkin seeds and the dressing. Then I cup up a really ripe avocado and put it in. It's better when it's either room temperature or cold. Sometimes it tastes weird when it's still warm. I put lentils in a different one. That should be pretty good too, though technically, quinoa is very protein heavy. (This is what a recipe looks like when written by a poet, sorry to say).

Welcome to some family recipes

I just want it publically known that you asked for these in 2008. I put them on the internet at kingfamlyrecipes.blogspot.com. At the time you had said you were going to be going on the internet more having realized it was not a fad. But six years have passed and I respect that you are not an internet person and may never be. I do feel bad it has taken me this long to make you a book of the recipes. I've ferreted out some ones not previously published on the blog, so I think you can think of this as the second edition.

No one of us can hold a candle to your lasagna, your hashbrown casserole, and probably just about anything you cook. But you know the power of nostalgia and childhood dishes. Here they are. I love you so very much. Thank you for being the kind of person who cared enough to ask for these, who makes me feel like my family is with a big-hearted person. You are a special one. I'm sure you'll make these your own as well. As mom likes to say, "With Alanna, there is always a solution." ;-)

Love,

Cindy
Christmas 2014
Philadelphia PA to Evansville IN