Everything But The Kitchen Sink Turkey Pot Pie

I watched Jamie Oliver's Christmas Special last week when he made a delicious looking turkey and leek pie with leftover turkey meat. He rolled sage and chestnuts into the pastry and I thought this would be a fantastic Christmas splurge. It inspired me to make my own version. I was hoping to make the chestnut sage puff pastry but the chestnuts I bought were spoiled. So I decided to put the sage leaves right in the pie filling. I made a rue with butter and flour and added the drippings I saved from the turkey and some milk, simmering it until it thickened. If I had any leftover gravy I also would have added it. I like a pot pie with lots of veggies and since I didn't have any vegetable side dishes left I roasted some cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and onion. I added the roasted vegetables to a greased 9x13 pan along with the leftover stuffing and cut up turkey meat. This is where the 'everything but the kitchen sink' part comes in - whatever is left from the turkey dinner can go in the pie! I'd venture to guess that almost any side dish, green beans, turnip, mashed potatoes, etc, would go great in the pie. I wouldn't recommend any jello molds or cranberry sauce though. Then I tore up some thyme and those sage leaves, poured the sauce over top and covered the entire thing with puff pastry, tucking it in at the edges. It was baked for about 30minutes at 375, until the pastry was golden. Meanwhile I sauteed some mushrooms with some thyme and white wine to spoon over top. Cooking like this made me miss use of unlimited ingredients so best to enjoy every bite ;) Perhaps the issue is that I still feel like I'm 'living without' when I'm on the anti-inflammatory diet...

Excuse Me, Could I Have a Minute Alone With the Stuffing?

I made a decision to make a 'normal' turkey dinner with all the trimmings this year. As I mentioned before I have not been as strict with this diet as I have in the past when I had to make food changes - which has been a good thing for my mental health! I also think that my dedication in the past, without seeing any noticeable improvements in my skin, has made me less inclined to be 100% this time. If I'm being honest I lack confidence that the anti-inflammatory diet will improve the psoriasis. Easing into it this time was a good plan and I'm now more ready to be more committed. But not until I enjoy a few more holiday dishes! My favourite was my sage, pecan and walnut stuffing. mmmmm.....

And They Called Him Macaroni

I attempted a cheese sauce with tofu cheese the other day to make mac and cheese and it was not pleasant. We had to disguise the taste with ketchup to be able to eat it. It had great potential without the ketchup because it completely fit the anti-inflammatory guidelines. Oh well. I didn't eat too much ketchup. But then I cheated again and ate tomatoes when I made a tofu "chicken parmigiana". That, on the other hand, was quite tasty!

I began my pressing and marinating the tofu, then slicing it into squares. Just like the other time I pan fried tofu I made a crispy coating with millet cereal and spices, fried it in a non stick pan with a little oil (we're not deep frying here!) until it's brown and the breading is crunchy. Then I put the tofu slices into a baking dish, covered it with pasta sauce and cheese (tofu or regular) and broiled it until it was browned and bubbly. This time with the extra tofu slices I crisped them back up and used the leftover gravy I had from the roast chicken I made a couple of days ago. I wasn't sure how it would fare but it was really tasty. Oh, and I also meant to mention in my last post that I just added an arrowroot powder slurry (put the powder in a small amount of liquid before you add it to the chicken drippings otherwise it makes lumps) to the chicken juices once I'd taken the chicken out to rest before cutting. I whisked it until the arrowroot powder started to do its job and thicken up the gravy. The important thing with arrowroot powder is to remove it from the heat right when it's thickened otherwise it loses it's thickening ability as it continues to cook.
Now, for my second attempt at a mac and cheese type deal. While I was making Kevin a steak in my new grill pan I needed to figure out something for myself. I made a few adjustments and it worked out just fine. No ketchup needed.
I began making a rue by melting Earth Balance soy butter, adding a few tbsp brown rice flour, whisking it together and cooking it for a minute to get the flour taste out. Then I whisked in plain almond milk and discovered what a great thickener brown rice flour is! I had a very thick, creamy white sauce base in seconds. I added some spices and a touch of dijon mustard. I have seen recipes that use nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavour but given my experience trying to make a fake cheese sauce with nutritional yeast months ago and using the tofu cheddar (which uses nutritional yeast as a flavouring ingredient) I decided to leave it out. (I do like nutritional yeast on my popcorn though, which I also had to give up *sigh*) Meanwhile I boiled some rice pasta and added them to the sauce. (The one thing I did like about my first mac and cheese was the quinoa macaroni noodles!) I had some tofu mozzarella in the fridge I was going to try this time but I decided not to add any tofu mozza to the sauce but rather grate it on top and put it under the broiler. This cheese melts but isn't stringy like real cheese. It browned and bubbled away though.

Just Give Me A Cheeseburger

It really has been tough on the food front lately. I've been tempted to throw in the towel but I won't. It just gets overwhelming and exhausting to always have to create new ideas and to be so limited by ingredient choices. I started a group on facebook to help other people with their dinner inspiration but I can't use any of the recipes myself! And many of these inflammatory foods are great healthy ingredients that I used to use so it's difficult to switch gears when I had been cooking well-balanced, healthy meals. I'm attempting to cut myself more slack with this adventure as my 'all-or-nothing' personality can lead to unneeded stress. All I can do is my best, without needing to be perfect, and that is a lesson I'm still learning...
So, check out my creations over the last few days!

Here are my Double Carob Chip cookies, once again from "The All Natural Allergy Cookbook". I added about 3/4 tsp of xanthum gum to the recipe. They don't have the same smell while they are baking as regular cookies but they taste pretty good. A little on the dry side so I needed something to drink nearby to wash it down. And then I made some tasty squares. These date squares were easy and turned out better than I had hoped! Begin by cooking down 500g of dates in a saucepan with 2/3 cup of water at a low temp until they are softened and spreadable. I didn't have the energy to finish them that night so I put the cooled, softened date spread in an airtight container and left it on the counter for the next day. The crust was made with rolled oats, oat flour, maple syrup, maple sugar, fruit juice and oil. And the filling was simply the softened dates. To make it super easy to get the dates out of my pan I lined it with parchment paper and let two of the ends hang out so I could grab it easily. They came out in one lovely square and stayed together while cooling. And even without butter they sure smelled buttery in the oven. mmmm... I don't miss the "real" thing at all with this recipe. I think I'm going to go get one right after I finish this post ;)

Five Spice Dutch Oven Chicken
whole organic chicken
Chinese five spice
onion
garlic

Cut up half an onion and peel a few cloves of garlic. Put them, along with a generous sprinkle of five spice into the cavity of the chicken. Place the chicken in a dutch oven and rub more spice all over the outside of the chicken. Bake at 350 for 2 hours. I like to check how well browned the skin is and take off the lid for the last 15 minutes to help get a little more colour on the skin.
Serve with baked yams and onion rings.
Baked Onion Rings
(adapted from the "Everyday GrainFree Gourmet")
onion, sliced into rings
1 egg
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp miso
1 cup almond flour
1-2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper

Separate onions into individual rings. Beat one egg and dijon and miso. Mix well. In another bowl combine dry ingredients. Dip each onion ring into egg mixture and then into the dry mixture. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Now, where are those date squares?

Fish Tacos with Chickpea Flour Crepes

Tortillas are usually made from either wheat flour or corn and both are a no-no on the anti-inflammatory diet. I did come across a recipe for Chickpea Crepes in the cookbook I've been using the last while, "The All Natural Allergy Cookbook", that indicated these crepes could be used in savoury recipes so I gave it a shot. The crepe recipe was 1 cup of chickpea flour, 1/2 cup of water (although I used a lot more to get the batter to a runnier, crepe consistency), 1/4 cup soft tofu and a pinch of sea salt. While I was making the crepes I had two pieces of halibut grilling in my sweet new Le Creuset grill pan (thanks Mom and Dad!). Then all I had to do was make a sauce (I simply combined mayo, dijon mustard, garlic and onion powder), cut up some lettuce and shred some tofu cheese. A quick, healthy meal.

Three Cheers for Tofu

Tofu chili was Friday's food adventure. I began by freezing firm tofu a week ago as freezing the tofu gives it a more meat-like texture. Then I thawed it out, pressed it and squeezed out as much moisture as I could before crumbling and marinating it in some red wine, garlic, dijon mustard, parsley and if I had some wheat free soy sauce I'd have used that also. Tofu takes on whatever flavours you add to it as it's pretty much tasteless on it's own.
Then I sauteed onions, mushrooms and garlic until the onions were softened, adding them to a slow-cooker filled with a variety of beans - navy, pinto, kidney and black beans. Next I added some sugar free ketchup (not too much as tomato is a food I'm supposed to avoid), chili powder and the tofu. Then I turned it on low and let it simmer in the crockpot for hours. Grate a little tofu cheddar cheese on top if desired.
The next tofu recipe was a caesar salad dressing made with soft tofu, miso paste, rice wine vinegar, anchovy paste, garlic and a pinch of pepper.
This tasty cake was attempt #2 Friday evening. A gluten free, refined sugar free carob cake from "The All Natural Allergy Cookbook". Carob is a caffeine free, fat free, naturally sweeter substitute for chocolate. Don't expect the same taste as chocolate though. After the first attempt at another dessert recipe flopped I was hoping that this one would turn out and it did. Finally a recipe where the batter looked like regular cake batter. It rose in the oven like a regular cake and smelled wonderful. It was easy to cut, didn't stick in the pan, it had a pretty good cake-like consistency for a gluten free recipe and it tasted delicious!
The icing was made from a tofu "cream cheese", agave nectar and a bit of soy "egg nog". I was surprised how similar tofu cream cheese tasted, smelled and looked like the real thing. I love finding good substitutes.
Don't these cupcakes look lovely?! And they tasted even worse than they look. Ugh. Rubbery, tasteless lumps of something masquerading as food. That's the risk with trying new recipes, especially using new ingredients. But I tried to let go of my disappointment and remember that there is going to be a learning curve in gluten free baking just like with everything else. And even with the flops I can learn something about how certain ingredients work together, which elements of the recipe were successful, and which things didn't work at all. Besides this cupcake recipe I was definitely pleased with how tofu helped me to create substitutes for some comfort foods I enjoy.

Another Crack At The Bread Issue

I think I may have found a bread recipe that actually resembles bread! Hooray! The recipe for Oatmeal Bread was pretty quick to whip up and smelled amazing while it was in the oven. My students would walk in the door and remark on the yummy smell. :) It looked a little dark and still had cracks in the top like the rice breads but it was less dense and held together much better. And then, the taste test... it was good! Although it is a bit on the crumbly side it wasn't the dry, get stuck in your throat crumbliness like the rice breads I made. This loaf was moist, sweet and tasty. This recipe called for the use of liquid lecithin and I substituted lecithin granules instead. I believe that lecithin is used to help hold it together but I've heard that liquid lecithin can be a real pain to work with (suuuuuper sticky and nearly impossible to clean off surfaces, including the spoon you used!) so I thankfully had only bought the granules. I wonder what would happen if I added xantham gum too? Or added both lecithin and xanthum gum to a rice bread recipe...
(I'm posting this by memory so I'll have to double check it later)

Oatmeal Bread
(The All Natural Allergy Cookbook)

1 1/2 cups nut or soy milk
1/2 honey
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp liquid lecithin (I used 1 tbsp granules)

1 cup oat flour (I ended up adding another 1/2 cup as the dough was very runny)
3/4 brown rice flour
1/4 soy or oat flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon (I may leave out depending on what I'm making it for)
4 tsp baking powder (check b.p. ingredients)

Add dry to wet ingredients and combine. Lightly oil a loaf pan, pour batter/dough into pan and bake for an hour at 375.

Tonight we had the oatmeal bread with a roasted squash soup. It's a quick and tasty soup that has lots of flavour without having to add salt.

Creamy Roasted Squash Soup
1 butternut squash
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic (leave skins on)
1 granny smith apple
unsweetened, plain almond milk

Wash, cut up and peel squash. Place in baking dish flesh side up. Quarter onion and apple (remove core from apple) and place in dish with squash. Toss in the garlic cloves and drizzle all with grapeseed oil. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 375 until squash is fork tender.
Place the roasted squash, onion and apple pieces in a blender, squeeze out the roasted garlic and add it to the blender also. Puree it all together, slowly adding almond milk to help get it started. When the mixture looks pretty smooth continue to add more almond milk while liquifying it. Continue to add almond milk until you reach the consistency you like your soup to have. Pour the soup into a saucepan or microwave safe bowl to bring it back up to temperature.

Lasagna For You, Tofu Cheese For Me

This past weekend I made a fudge pie, a lasagna, a cake and a smoked gouda cheese ball for other people. It certainly didn't help my feeling frustrated with my food limitations. The good news is that my food was enjoyed by the folks that ate it!




I was particularly delighted with my cheese ball. My friend was having an Alaskan themed birthday party and I was asked to bring a veggie tray. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it "Alaskan" when I thought about trying to make a bowl for dip out of sugar cubes and make it into the shape of an igloo. Then I googled 'edible igloos' and saw an igloo shaped cheese ball. Then I found a recipe using smoked gouda and went from there. Isn't it cute? :)


And my suspicions about my oat crust holding together better after a night in the fridge proved true. The second night I steamed parsnips and made a puree to go with the chickpea and mushroom tourtiere. Once the parsnips were cooked I sent them for a spin in the food processor with a tbsp of Earth Balance soy butter and enough soy milk to get it to the consistency I wanted.

And the smell of the lasagna wafting through the house made me want to throw all my efforts out the window and just enjoy all that cheezy yummaliciousness. (By the way yummaliciousness isn't highlighted by the spell check! Hilarious!) Anywho, while I dished up lasagna, caesar salad and warm bread sticks to Kevin and his guests I experimented with tofu cheese and rice bread.
I had started a yeasted rice bread recipe that morning and it took something like 5 hours to get this rock hard, pale, cracked loaf. It didn't rise at all and I felt like it was a waste of ingredients. But I will find uses for it, like croutons and bread crumbs. (The rice bread without yeast was much more successful.) But I was able to salvage a couple of pieces to attempt a grilled tofu cheese sandwich.

It looks like a grilled cheese sandwich doesn't it? It's made with the yeasted rice bread, soy butter and tofu cheddar. The tofu cheese had a pretty good cheddar flavour but that dry bread is just not pleasant. I'll just have to keep trying new bread recipes until I find something that works. And the recipe below is tonight's creation, turkey meatballs.

Turkey Apple Meatballs

ground white meat turkey
1 granny smith apple, grated
2 tsp miso
2 cloves garlic, minced
splash soy sauce
2 tbsp flax meal
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup apple juice

Combine all ingredients and shape into balls. Brown in skillet on all sides.
Then add apple juice and cover skillet for a few minutes.
Remove lid, simmer meatballs in juice and let liquid reduce to a glaze.
Serve with rice and maple roasted squash.

Wheat Free Pastry Just Isn't The Same

Tonight I miss flaky, perfect pastry. In my cooking adventures I attempt to find substitutions for certain foods I really like so that I can still have them and not feel like I'm missing out. But tonight I didn't fall for it. I wanted to make pastry that would work for a meat pie (well, a meatless version) and although it tasted good and had some perks it was definitely not flaky and fell apart.I knew that it wasn't going to be the same but I secretly hoped I'd find a perfect substitute. I'll have to play around with adding guar gum or xantham gum next time to see if that helps keep it together a little more. So, let's get to the recipe of attempt #1... I adapted it from Bob's Red Mill Oat Flour crust. I decreased the oat flour to 1 cup and added 1/2 cup of tapioca flour. Then I rolled it out between two sheets of parchment and carefully placed it in the pie plate, pressing together the pieces that separated. I tried substituting soy milk for some of the water when I made the top crust and it didn't fall apart at all when I put it on. The unexpected perk was that it didn't stick in the pie plate at all but it wasn't very strong at all and fell apart when I tried to take each piece out. I suspect that it will be easier when the pie has spent a night in the fridge. The other thing that I noticed was that the crust did not brown like regular pastry but I'd give it another shot and tweak the recipe more. The more I experiment with these 'new to me' flours, the more I'll understand how they work and hopefully I'll be able to get one step closer to a great substitution.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Boiling a carcass happens often in this house. After we've enjoyed a roasted chicken its time to make stock with the bones. I pick off the best remaining bits of chicken then toss all the bones in a large pot, cover with water, add a couple of carrots, bay leaves, cloves of garlic, an onion and stalks of celery (leaves too), and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few hours, the longer the better.
Strain the liquid and you've got some tasty, healthy stock that you can use in a bazillion different ways. Chicken noodle soup being one of the most obvious.
Add some steamed veggies, the reserved chicken bits and some quinoa noodles for a hearty, wheat free meal.