Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Recipe-palooza!

I was just thinking the other day that I have a bunch of recipes I've tweaked or made-up or discovered to be fantastically GF, but I've neglected to share. Shameful, I know. ;) Well, let me remedy that with the great..


Recipe-palooza!! 

sweet! Here goes:


This soup is a family favorite and can be easily modified for GF/DF individuals and back again. It is also delicious with a little cheese on top for people not sensitive to dairy. :)

Gluten-free/Dairy-free Cream of Chicken Soup

4 cups Coconut milk (dairy, soy, and almond work as well for non GF/DF)
2 tbsp Earth balance soy butter (or butter for non GF/DF)
2 tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free all purpose flour (or wheat flour for non GF/DF)
2 cups cooked chicken (I use 3 breasts of boiled/shredded chicken)
1 can white beans and 1 clove garlic blended in blender (use a little milk)
½ tsp salt
½ ground black pepper
½ tsp curry
¼ tsp turmeric
1. In saucepan melt butter. Gradually stir in flour. Let this form a paste or roux and gradually stir in the milk and continue until thickened (FYI it does not thicken much without dairy milk)
2. Add chicken to the white sauce mixture. Add white bean mixture (used for thickening), salt, pepper, curry, and turmeric. Mix well and cover and simmer over low heat for 20 mins.
3. We add steamed broccoli to this as well. Asparagus or spinach are also delicious in this soup. 6 servings.
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We love Mexican dishes at our house and what a shame it is that most packaged taco mixes contain dairy. Not to worry though, it's really easy to make :)

Easy Taco Seasoning

 4 tsp granulated onion
3 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne
1. Mix together all ingredients in small air-tight container or place in baggie and shake well. May be stored up to a month.

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I crave this soup frequently, especially in the cold winter months. So, so good!


Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin
1 cup light coconut milk

1. Heat the coconut oil in a deep pot over medium heat. Stir in onions and garlic; cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 mins. Mix in the vegetable broth, curry powder, salt, coriander, red pepper flakes, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a gentle boil, about 10 mins. Cover, and simmer 15 to 20 mins more, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the pumpkin and the coconut milk, and cook another 5 mins.
2. Pour soup into a blender (or food processor), filling only halfway and working in batches if necessary; process until smooth. Return to pot, and reheat briefly over medium heat before serving. 6 servings.

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Unfortunately, we don't only have an issue with Gluten and Dairy and our house, we also have a peanut allergy to contend with as well. Good thing this recipe is soooo darn good, because you can't even tell. :)

Thai Peanut-free Chicken

2 cups cooked rice
3 tablespoons soy sauce (La Choy)
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter alternative (Soy-nut butter)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 breast cooked and shredded chicken
3 tablespoons garlic
1 teaspoon ginger
3/4 cup onions
2 1/2 cups broccoli florets

1. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, peanut butter alternative, vinegar, and cayenne. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in skillet or wok over high heat. Add chicken, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, about 5 mins.

3. Reduce to medium heat, add onion, broccoli, and the peanut butter alternative mixture. Cook stirring frequently for 5 mins, or until broccoli is tender. Serve over rice. 8 servings.

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What's better than a bowl of hot tomato soup on a cold evening? Not much, that's for sure!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons soy butter (Earth Balance)
1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill All-purpose Gluten-free flour
1/2 cup coconut or soy milk
1 can low sodium V8 vegetable juice
1 can diced basil, garlic, & oregano tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 can no salt added tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 1/2 cups of baby spinach
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Blend diced tomatoes, V8 juice, Spinach, and clove of garlic in blender until smooth. Set aside.
2. In your large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir to form a smooth paste. Gradually add milk and tomato sauce stirring constantly. Add blended tomato/spinach mixture and bring to boil, stirring constantly for 2 mins or until it starts to thicken. Add sugar and salt and let simmer over medium heat 5 mins. 6 servings.

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Don't these all sound delish? I'm thinking tomato soup ought to be on the menu this evening...mmmm, don't you? :)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

"I never saw a discontented tree...."

Love for Ms. A
I have two beautiful friends with birthdays at Christmas-time. Can you imagine having a birthday during the holiday season? Yeah, I'm sure there are people who forget intentionally or wrap your presents in Christmas paper or give you the dreaded Christmas/birthday combo gift...um, yeah yuck. Anyway, I kinda know how they feel (my birthday is on a major holiday as well) and I like to send them something homemade each year. In the spirit of full disclosure here, I was very late this year...poo, but I have a valid reason, honestly!

It's no secret that I love felt and wanted to make something great with my favorite medium. I also love to make pillows and decided I would incorporate both loves into something beautiful. Now for the inspiration...hmmm, what should I use for an image? I actually had the idea for a graphic leaf design in the back of my head when I purchased my materials, but no concrete image to use. During a break at work I reused a couple of post-its and drew a picture of a tree branch for my co-worker. Ah! Inspiration comes from everywhere I suppose! ;) I knew the end result would be beautiful, but it did require a lot of patient sewing behind my machine.

A little love for Ms. H
I found a free image:
and drew a branch freehand onto my felt and patterned one branch from the other. I knew the body of the pillows would be tan and I wanted a graphic pop of the branches, so I used my colored felt and made stripes behind the branches. The leaves I cut from pieces of scrap felt from the branches just with my scissors in rough leaf shapes (to be more natural looking and not so uniform). Lots of gluing down and very slow moving machine work later and they turned out so beautiful! This was one of my more involved projects and even though I was annoyed it took so long, I can't help but to love the result. :)

"I never saw a discontented tree.  They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do.  They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!"  ~John Muir