Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a couple months, but the holidays got me, and only now am I getting back to a somewhat normal routine. During that time I made gluten-free pumpkin scones twice, and they were sooo disappointing. I made them a couple times last year, when we lived in Portland, and they were fabulous — couldn't even tell they were gluten-free! But when I made them here in Minnesota, they just didn't turn out right. The dough wouldn't come together (the air is terribly dry here in the winter-time), so I added a little extra liquid to get it to work for me. The flavor was good, but they wouldn't brown and the texture was heavy and slightly doughy. Simply under-baked? I don't think so. I can't figure it out, so if you have any thoughts or advice, please share.

Also during the holiday season, I made this apple crisp a few times, and each time it turned out great. Once, however, I made it with a dairy-free substitute instead of butter, and rolled oats instead of quick oats, and it wasn't quite as good.

There's really nothing complicated about gluten-free apple crisp. You just have to make sure you use gluten-free oats and a gluten-free flour blend in place of all-purpose wheat flour. Since there's no pastry or dough of any kind, you don't need to worry about details like xanthun gum to thicken and bind. (Although the flour blend I use happens to contain some xanthun gum, I doubt it has any effect on the crumble topping.) So, if you have a favorite recipe already, just go with it.

This is the recipe I use, which I've adjusted to my liking. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and has a little lemon juice added for tartness. On different occasions, I've used Fuji, Honey Crisp, or  Granny Smith  apples. (Granny Smith are pretty tart, so you can probably leave out the lemon juice if you use those.) Once I even threw in a pear because I was short one apple.

Sometimes I make my own gluten-free flour blend, but my favorite pre-made one is Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend. It recently became available at Costco in a 5-pound bag, and it's much more affordable than the same product (in a smaller bag) at either my local natural foods store or what the people in my area call the "gluten-free store."

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp PRINTABLE RECIPE

6 apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup gluten-free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Quick-Cooking Oats)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (I use Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter - cut into small pieces

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°.

2. Toss apples with lemon juice, white sugar, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Pour into a 9-inch square baking dish.

3. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, oats, GF flour, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter or fork to mash the cold butter into the oat-flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Spread over the apples to the edges of the dish and pat gently until even.

4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the sides are bubbling.

Chicken Enchiladas Deliciosas

Of course, my inspiration for making enchiladas was salsa – what else? I had a bunch of tomatoes that needed to be used and thought, the easiest, quickest way to use them up was to make a batch of salsa fresca. And to go with it, I decided to make enchiladas for a change.

For Halloween night, however, I didn't want to go to too much effort, so as I searched for a recipe, I decided to go for one with canned enchilada sauce. I also used canned green chiles and picked the mild versions of both the sauce and the chiles, hoping my kids might like the dish. But, alas, they did not go for it. If anyone has ideas for how to get my kids to like spicy food, I would really appreciate it. I've tried adding just a little pepper in hopes of gradually getting them to accept the heat, but no luck so far. I'm getting pretty tired of keeping the spice on the side all the time and/or making a separate meal for them.

So anyway, back to the recipe search... The one thing that frustrated me was, most of the recipes I found called for flour tortillas. Now, I thought enchiladas were supposed to be made with corn tortillas. Is that just a personal preference or is that true? Well, obviously, I googled it and a lot of people out there really think flour is the way to go for enchiladas, but it looks like, for authentic Mexican enchiladas, it's corn tortillas. So, I don't know how authentic the rest of my recipe is, but I went with corn. Besides, corn tortillas are gluten-free (although you should check the ingredients list to be sure). I found a tip online for prepping the corn tortillas too – probably not the traditional way of doing it, but it worked and brought out that wonderful corn flavor and aroma.

Here is my (probably) unauthentic recipe for chicken enchiladas with corn tortillas. Substitute flour tortillas if you must. Use left-over pre-cooked chicken, rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, or cook up a couple chicken breasts just for this. Anything should work. I like to squeeze a little lime juice over the chicken for extra flavor, but that's optional.

Chicken Enchiladas  PRINTABLE RECIPE 
Makes at least 6 servings

1-1/4 lbs pre-cooked chicken - shredded
Non-stick cooking oil spray
1 medium yellow onion - chopped
2 to 3 garlic cloves - peeled & minced
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
2 cans (28 oz each) red enchilada sauce (I used Las Palmas)
2 cups shredded cheese (M. jack, cheddar, pepper jack, Asadero, or a blend - you pick)
18 corn tortillas

1. Spray a pan with cooking oil and heat to medium. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often for about 10 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize.

2. Mix shredded chicken with 1-1/2 cups enchilada sauce, one cup cheese, diced green chiles, and the cooked onions and garlic. Set aside (refrigerate if it's going to be awhile) while you prep the tortillas.

3. Preheat oven to 425°. Spray both sides of 6 corn tortillas at a time with cooking oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 4 minutes. You can then roll enchiladas (see step 4) using the first six while the rest bake.

4. Pour some enchilada sauce into a large glass casserole dish – just enough to cover the bottom. Fill each tortilla with about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture.  Roll up and place seam side down in the dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Once you have filled up the dish completely, pour over another cup of enchilada sauce and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

5. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes in the pre-heated 425° oven. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

6. While the enchiladas bake, heat up any remaining enchilada sauce to serve on the side. Also serve with salsa, avocado slices, and sour cream, if you like.

Thai at On's Kitchen

Meing-Kum from On's Kitchen
(photo by Tom Wallace, StarTribune)

I'm lucky to have a sister here in the Twin Cities who shares my passion for Thai cuisine. She knew right where to take me for a fantastic Thai dining experience: On's Kitchen in St. Paul. She recommended practically everything on the menu, but we narrowed it down to the Meing-Kum, Haw-Mok, Tom Yum, and Panang Curry.

Meing-Kum is definitely a new favorite for me. It's a plateful of Thai flavors: diced ginger, lime, red onion, chili peppers, peanuts, dried shrimp, toasted coconut, a sweet-salty sauce, and lettuce leaves. Our server showed us how to make a small cone with a lettuce leaf, which we then filled with a little bit of everything from the plate. The idea is to pop the whole thing into your mouth (I did it in two bites, which was probably a lot messier than the single-bite method) for a burst of flavors – sweet, salty, spicy, and sour – exactly what Thai food is all about!

The Haw-Mok was the only thing I didn't really care for. It's steamed fish with curry flavors and a kind of custardy texture. It was fine, but I wouldn't order it again. My sister, however, really enjoyed it, so it's worth a try if it sounds like something you might go for, plus the presentation – in a banana leaf – is quite nice.

The Tom Yum was excellent. I loved the flavorful mushrooms and fried tofu in the soup (you can get it with your choice of meat or tofu) and the hot & sour broth was wonderful, although I'd request it a little spicier next time. They have a scale of 1 to 10 and we got a 3-4, so there's plenty of room for more heat.

Panang curry is one of my stand-by favorites and On's did not disappoint. Again, I'd like more heat, but it was rich and delicious with perfectly cooked chicken and vegetables, mostly bell peppers. I ate the left-overs for dinner that night... Thai twice in one day makes this girl very happy!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of our food. I copied the Meing-Kum photo, above, from a review in the StarTribune, which can be found here: On's Kitchen Restaurant Review. The review is from April, 2011 and mentions the road construction in the area, which over two years later is still there and still a hassle, but On's Kitchen is worth it. I can hardly wait to go back and taste more!

Ghost Peppers

These are Trinidad Ghost peppers (Minnesota-grown) and they are HOT – about four times hotter than a Habañero pepper! I don't know how the heck I'm ever going to use them all... I made a batch of salsa fresca the other day and used just half a pepper. Seeds and membranes (the hottest parts) were carefully removed, so actually, it was a little less than half a pepper. Honestly, I can take it pretty hot and I could go for a little more ghost pepper next time, still, not a whole one.

Other than the use of Ghost peppers, it was my standard salsa recipe: tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. It tasted pretty good. The tomatoes were home-grown (a local goat farmer gave us the tomatoes and a variety of peppers, including the Ghost peppers) providing dense tomato flavor, unlike a lot of store-bought tomatoes. Unfortunately, I think the unique flavor of the ghost pepper was masked a bit the rich tomato and by the pepper's own heat. As I got to the bottom of the salsa bowl, however, I found a little more heat, and also a subtle flavor similar to a Habañero.

My husband was in charge of grilling chicken, tortillas, onion, and bell peppers (including some purple ones – you don't see those too often), while I made some guacamole. The grilled elements turned out to be the best – they really made the meal. I sprinkled a little cheese on a corn tortilla, topped that with chicken, bell peppers, and onions, and of course, some salsa. It was delicious!!

Quick Dill Pickles

Experiment #1

The next pickle experiment probably won’t happen until August or September of next year, when there’s a surplus of cucumbers again. This time, my bunch of Kirbys had already been in the fridge for about a week, so I needed to come up with a use for them before it was too late. Hence, the first pickle experiment – not canned and preserved like my grandma used to make, but something simple and quick. I skimmed a few recipes I found online, but nothing was quite what I had in mind. So, I winged it.

I cut up the cucumbers, as you can see, and put them in a large glass bowl. I poured in some cider vinegar (because I didn't have any standard white vinegar at the time), added some roughly chopped garlic, several sprigs of fresh dill, kosher salt, a few chili peppers (I just slit them open as I didn’t want to add any major heat), and water to cover the cucumbers. Then I covered the bowl and put it in the fridge.

The next day, I tasted and decided they were a little bland and slightly sweet (which was not what I was going for). So, I added some salt – I couldn't think what else to do – and put them back in the fridge.

Today, they have a pretty good flavor: The salt is about right, as is the dill and the garlic. The heat is very mild (maybe a little too mild, for me). The only problem is, there’s still a subtle sweetness to the pickles. I can only attribute that to the cider vinegar. Distilled white vinegar would have been a better choice, I think.

I hope they’re still crisp and tasty when my husband gets home tomorrow, so he can try them too. I’d like to know what he thinks of them, and they’ll only keep about a week. In the mean time, we’ll be having them with ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight – an easy, picnic-style dinner for, what may be, our last hot day before the cool fall weather begins to creep in.

Any suggestions for experiment #2? Please send them my way… anytime over the next year. Thanks!

Today is Meatless Monday and Earth Day. Eat green and spread the word! Meat has more of an impact on the environment than any other food we eat. Show the planet some love today and every Monday by going meatless. 

Quiche with Bacon, Cheese, & Green Onions

I felt like quiche this weekend and found a Quiche Lorraine recipe online, but really, I just used it as a guide because I wanted to use up what I had on hand, like a few slices of turkey bacon, jack cheese, and green onions. Also, I love thyme with eggs and I had some, so I added that too. I didn't have cream, so I substituted a combination of half & half and nonfat milk for the cream, using 1/2 cup less liquid than called for, and throwing in an extra egg.

The quiche turned out delicious and perfectly set, so either quiche is quite the flexible and forgiving recipe or I got darn lucky with all my substitutions.

I've often made quiche with broccoli, asparagus, or mushrooms, but there's so much moisture in the vegetables that my quiche ends up kind of watery. I'm sure there's some trick to resolve this problem, but for me, it works better to leave it out and serve some nice asparagus or a green salad on the side.

As for the crust, I didn't make it myself. I used to make my own pie crust sometimes, but since going gluten-free, I just haven't wanted to deal with it. Besides, both Whole Foods and Bavaria Mills gluten-free frozen pie crusts are great. My family can't tell the difference between those and a traditional crust. In fact, as we were eating the quiche, my husband asked me, "How is it that you are eating this crust?" He had no idea it was gluten-free!

So, here you go... I hope my recipe is lucky for you too!

Jen's Lucky Quiche  PRINTABLE RECIPE 

1 pre-made (store-bought or make your own), unbaked, 9-inch single pie crust

5 slices turkey bacon - cooked until crisp, then coarsely chopped

3/4 cup shredded Montery jack cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup minced green onion

5 eggs - lightly beaten

1 cup half & half

1/2 cup non-fat milk

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 tsp tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1. Place a baking sheet in the oven on the bottom rack to catch any egg spills or drips. Place the other rack in the center and preheat oven to 425°.

2. Sprinkle bacon, cheeses, and onion into the pie shell.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.

4. Carefully, place quiche on center rack and bake at 425° for 15 minutes.

5. Lower heat to 300° and bake for 30 to 40 minutes more, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

6. Let the quiche set at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.

Chicken Divan (Gluten-Free)

A friend of mine, an American living in England, was looking for a chicken divan recipe recently. Lots of variations can be found online and in cookbooks, but most Americans use a can of condensed cream soup for the base of the sauce. Since that isn't readily available in England, my friend was looking for a substitute. I don't know if she ever figured it out, but it got me to thinking about chicken divan. My mom used to make it when I was growing up, and I've made it myself from time to time too. It's pretty easy to prepare, and comforting and delicious to eat.

Since the canned cream soups all seem to contain wheat flour, I decided to do my own search for a substitute and I found it on The Gluten-Free Homemaker. With that, and the recipe for chicken divan I grew up with, which includes sour cream, lemon juice, and paprika, I created the recipe below.

You can use leftover chicken or turkey, or a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. You could also include some cauliflower, along with the broccoli, if you like. My mom used to do that sometimes. I like to top it with at least 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, but I've also used cheddar or jack – you can use whatever you have on hand. And don't worry about being precise with the measurements. I just do it "by feel" every time and it always turns out good. I like to serve it with wild rice on the side. It's a great combination.

Chicken Divan  PRINTABLE RECIPE

8 oz sour cream (I use low-fat)
1 prepared cream soup recipe (see below)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp paprika
garlic salt to taste (optional)
1 Lb broccoli florets - steamed until just tender
2 cups shredded or cubed skinless, cooked chicken (or turkey)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan (or other cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Stir together the cream soup, sour cream, lemon juice, and paprika until well combined. Adjust the lemon juice and seasonings to your liking. Sometimes I add a little Lawry's garlic salt.
3. Place the steamed broccoli in a 9" x 13" casserole dish and top with the chicken. Pour the sauce over and spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with the cheese.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and light brown.

Gluten-Free Cream Soup Substitute  The Gluten-Free Homemaker
Use this soup in recipes in place of one can of condensed cream soup (like cream of chicken soup).

1 cup milk (I use non-fat)
3 Tbsp sweet rice flour or 2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
1 cube chicken bouillon (Knorr bouillon is gluten-free)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
black or white pepper or to taste (I like to use white)

1. Whisk the sweet rice flour into the cold milk in a saucepan.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and heat to a boil while whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer, while whisking constantly, for about a minute until nice and thick.

 

A Taste of Radicchio

I've made this chicken dish three times now, and finally decided I ought to write about it. The fennel-mustard butter along with the capers and anchovies is delicious. But, it's all about the radicchio. The bitterness can be off-putting and after making the dish once, I thought I probably wouldn't prepare it again, but I found myself craving it – bitter radicchio and all.

I've been asked about radicchio: Is it a type of cabbage, or what? I looked it up, and although it looks a lot like red cabbage, it's actually in the chicory family. Most of us have heard of chicory root, which is baked, ground, and sometimes added to coffee. Radicchio, however, is a leaf chicory also know as Italian chicory.

It's supposed to mellow when cooked, but I have to say, the flavor is still pretty peppery and bitter (not kid-friendly). I keep it on the side, so my kids can have plain chicken. Also, I've learned not all heads of radicchio are alike. I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, but the very small oval-shaped radicchio I got the first time was very bitter indeed. The next time, I got a large round head and it was not nearly as intense, but then, it was way more than I needed for the recipe.

On the side, I was trying to come up with something gluten-free other than rice or potatoes and thought I'd give polenta a try for a change. And – who knew? – the creamy taste and texture was just right with the pungent, salty, peppery, bitter flavors of this dish. I'm still looking for the right vegetable side. I guess, technically, radicchio is a vegetable, but I feel like I need to have something green on the plate too. As in the photo, I've served it with baby broccoli, but it wasn't quite right. Maybe next time I'll try green beans.

I found the recipe on epicurious.com – one of my favorite recipe sources. It was originally published in 2004 in Bon Apétit: Chicken Breasts with Fennel-Mustard Butter & Radicchio. It's a flavorful and interesting dish. I hope you'll give it a chance and like it as much as I.

Fast & Fabulous Soup You'll Love

I made this, so-called, 7-Minute Soup from Food & Wine magazine last evening. It's made with roasted red pepper, hummus, and chicken. And while, from start to finish, it took me a bit longer than seven minutes, it was indeed, fast and easy. Plus, it was delicious!

I think once all the ingredients are prepped – peppers drained and sliced, chicken boned and shredded, etc. – from that point on, it's probably about seven minutes. I also made rice specifically for this soup, so that took some time, but since the recipe only calls for half a cup, leftover rice would be a perfect solution.

I didn't shop around for piquillo peppers, but used a jar of roasted red bell peppers instead. I also used brown rice instead of white; store-bought broth instead of stock; and I omitted the black pepper.

Pepper is a huge turn-off for my kids lately, so for most things, we just add pepper to taste at the table. In the end, however, I didn't even add pepper to mine – it didn't need it. Same with the hot sauce, which is suggested for serving. I did, however, top the soup with red pepper strips, olive oil, and chopped parsley. While the red pepper is mostly for color (there's already plenty blended into the soup itself), the parsley and extra virgin olive oil added wonderful flavor that I wouldn't want to go without.

If you're needing a truly fast week-night dinner, prep your ingredients in advance, then start blending and cooking just seven minutes before serving time. Here's the recipe from Food & Wine: Creamy Piquillo Pepper and Chickpea Soup with Chicken.

Chocolate Chip Blondies (Gluten-Free!)

One of the last, delicious baked treats I remember eating before going gluten-free was chocolate-chip blondies (AKA butterscotch brownies) made by my neighbor. They were so darn good! And I knew I was about to phase out gluten, so I suppose I enjoyed them even more because of that.

Occasionally, I get a craving for these blondies, and I've looked for gluten-free recipes online, but they all seem kind of odd to me. For example, one recipe calls for almond flour, which is out at my house because of my son's nut allergy. Another – a no-bake recipe – calls for pre-made vanilla wafer cookies. Other recipes claim to be wonderfully cake-like, but I don't want cake-like. I want moist, a bit chewy, brownie-like. I finally found a fairly standard recipe (standard for gluten-free, that is), but my results were just OK, not great, and worst of all, they were dry and crumbly.

I decided to take the traditional blondies recipe from one of my cookbooks, a recipe I know to be excellent when made with regular wheat flour, and make the substitutions myself. I used a gluten-free brownies recipe as kind of a guide... Three eggs? No, too much – that would make them cakey. I decided on two.

They real key, I think, is the bake time. Over-baking makes the bars too dry. Under-baking leaves you with gooey cookie dough. Check them often, as ovens vary; the changing weather seems to affect things; and other mystery factors do too. Mine were just right, this time, after 25 minutes.

Blondies with Chocolate Chips  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
3/4 tsp xanthun gum
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet - your choice)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8" square baking pan (mine is glass) with non-stick spray.

2. With an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and sugar until smooth; then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the salt, flour, and xanthun gum and mix until well combined.

3. Stir in the chocolate chips; then pour the batter in to the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until just set in the middle - do not over-bake!

4. Cool completely (be patient) before cutting.

Jen Cooks Curry

I tried out a new curry recipe last evening and it was one of my more successful attempts at this type of dish. I know I should just stay away from cooking Thai and curries at home, but I love the flavors of these foods so much that once in awhile I have to take a stab at it.

Anyway, for curry, it was a fairly simple recipe. And, for a curry made by me, it tasted pretty good too. It was beautiful to look at as well, so I just had to post a picture.

I used mint and cilantro, but didn't make it to the Asian grocery for curry leaves or Thai basil (both optional). Also, no palm sugar – I used brown sugar instead.

I loved the fresh herbs and the shallots, but overall, it was on the mild side for me. I like a lot of spice and more pungent flavors. If you're more of the mild type, you might like to try it. The recipe is from Sunset Magazine: Fresh Herb & Tofu Curry.

Summer Into Fall: Salmon Chowder

It was the last week of summer, and we wanted to make Northwest salmon on the grill one last time, before the cooler weather and rain arrived. I prepared a huge side of wild-caught salmon, using my favorite cedar plank salmon recipe. We enjoyed it, but it was way too much food for just the four of us.

Leftover salmon is good on a crisp salad, in a pasta dish, or just re-heated. But the forecast predicted the beginnings of fall weather. Salmon chowder, I thought, was the way to go. I've made chowders before, but never with great results, so I looked for a new recipe. I found one that looked promising, which actually called for canned salmon, but of course, I was looking for a way to use our leftovers, so I made that substitution and a few other changes. I wasn't sure about the idea of using creamed corn, but decided to give it shot. The chowder turned out delicious and just in time for the first cool, drizzly day we've had in months. Perfect!

My recipe is below. If you decide to try it with canned salmon, let me know how it turns out. I'm a little curious.

Salmon Chowder  PRINTABLE RECIPE

3 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 cups diced red potatoes
2 carrots - diced
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dill weed
15 oz can creamed corn
12 oz can low-fat evaporated milk
1 Lb (at least) cooked salmon - broken into small pieces
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional)

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, celery, and garlic for a few minutes, until onions are tender.

2. Stir in potatoes, carrots, broth, salt, pepper, and dill weed. Bring to a boil; then cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.

3. Add corn, evaporated milk, salmon, and cheese to the pot. Stir often, until heated through. Ladle chowder into individual bowls and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Avocado Love: A Salad

When buying avocados, I always get an extra and give a half to my six-year-old daughter. She loves scooping the fruit out of the peel with a spoon and eating it up. She's determined to grow an avocado tree, and there are a number of pits buried in our backyard in random locations. Unfortunately, I've never heard of an avocado tree growing in Oregon.

If you love avocados too, you'll enjoy this salad. It's super simple and quite delicious. It can be a nice alternative for those who like Caesar salad. It's made with tender butter lettuce, lime citrus instead of lemon, red onion for bite, and avocado for creamy richness.

Salad with Avocado, Onion, and Lime Dressing  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1 cup thin slivers of red onion (about half an onion)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups torn butter lettuce
1 cup sliced avocado (about 1 avocado)

Combine the onion, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a salad bowl. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Add lettuce and avocado and toss gently.

Cleaned-Up (Vegetarian) Dirty Rice

Here's a little something for you, for Meatless Monday. Be sure to check out the Meatless Monday website if you haven't already heard about this movement.

I got the latest special issue of Cooking Light recently, called Dinner Tonight! (Yes, there's an exclamation point in the title.) And dinner the other night was Cooking Light all the way, except that I made slight modifications to, I think, yes, all the recipes: blackened chicken, dirty rice, and salad.

My husband kept asking me, "What is dirty rice anyway?" Well, I've always thought of it as a leftover rice dish – rice, dirtied up with Cajun seasonings, onion, celery, and bell pepper. But I googled it, and Wikipedia explains: "Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun dish made from white rice cooked with small pieces of chicken liver or giblets, which give it a dark ('dirty') color and a mild but distinctive flavor. Similar to a pilaf, it also includes green bell pepper, celery and onion...."

So, I didn't exactly make dirty rice, because in addition to using a mixture of leftover brown and wild rice, instead of white rice, I also omitted what turns out be the defining ingredient of dirty rice: the chicken livers. Another thing I did was to use smoked hot paprika (instead of standard paprika), which definitely added some heat and, of course, smokiness. Lastly, I kept the hot sauce on the side, thinking it would make the dish too spicy for the kids, but it was too much for them anyway. Maybe our dirty rice wasn't technically correct (shall we say it was clean dirty rice?), but it was flavorful and we really enjoyed it.

The chicken was quite good too, even though, mainly by accident, I altered that recipe a bit too and forgot to make the sauce at the end (we were hungry)!

The best of all, however, was the salad with lettuce, onion, avocado, and lime dressing. Again, accidentally, I altered the original recipe. But my only mistake was to use double the lime juice it called for – nothing major – and we really liked the limeyness (? liminess? limyness?). Anyway, we liked all the lime flavor – especially good with the avocado and onion.

Following is the recipe for my cleaned-up version of dirty rice – perfect for Meatless Monday. Watch for the salad recipe later this week.

Jen's (Vegetarian) Dirty Rice  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 garlic cloves - minced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
3 cups pre-cooked (leftover) rice (any kind - white or brown, with a little wild rice mixed in if you like)
2 tsp smoked hot paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
kosher salt
hot pepper sauce (like Tobasco)
2 green onions - thinly sliced

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper and sauté about 4 minutes.

2. Add garlic, thyme, then rice, paprika, and crushed red pepper and stir together. Stir rice occasionally over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until rice is warmed through. Season with salt and hot pepper sauce to taste.

3. Keep rice over low heat until ready to serve. Stir in green onions just before serving.

Stick to the Specials: Sawatdee Thai Cuisine

I visited my local Thai restaurant again yesterday. The only one in the town of Sherwood, the one where I haven't had the best luck overall, but where I've tried a couple very good dishes.

Today, I picked the first item on the specials board, Yum Apple, and got it to go (as you can see in the photo). This salad is not on their regular menu, so it's a real special, not just on special. It was made of tart green apple slices, lettuce, shredded carrots, shallots, mint leaves, cilantro, toasted coconut, and a nice lime dressing with, I'd guess, a little fish sauce. It was quite delicious!

I've had good luck with other specials at this place too. The one that comes to mind is some sort of crispy papaya salad I tried over the summer. It was great! Because their specials seem to be better than their regular menu items, and because it'll keep me trying new things, I think my strategy with this place, from now on, will be to stick to the items featured on the specials board.

In case your wondering, the place is Sawatdee Thai Cuisine. The people are friendly and polite, and they seem to really care about the food – presentation is always lovely. Be sure to try something from the specials board outside the front door. I think you'll find the best selections there.

In Season: Homemade Salsa

Tomatoes are ripe and delicious right now, and so are many kinds of hot peppers. That makes it the perfect time to make fresh salsa.

Just take the four main components of salsa: tomatoes, onion, chile peppers, and garlic. Then create your own basic or designer salsa using: hot peppers or mild ones, lots of onion or just a little; add optional ingredients like cilantro, lime juice, mango, cucumber....  A little salt is always a good idea too.

This salsa is made with a variety of heirloom tomatoes, shallots, habañero, cilantro, lime juice, and kosher salt. I used shallots, which have a mild onion and garlic flavor, because that's all I happened to have on hand. Lucky me – it turned out great!

By the way, avocados are also in season now, so make some guacamole too, and enjoy the best of the season!

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free!)

I got this recipe off a bag of Namaste Foods gluten-free Perfect Flour Blend. They call it "Best Banana Bread" and it really is the best! No one would even guess it's gluten-free.

I recommend Namaste Foods flour blend as well as the recipe, but in the interest of saving space in my pantry and not having a bunch of different flours and mixes in there, I adapted the recipe ever so slightly to use a homemade brown rice flour blend that I like to keep on hand.

If you like, you can add half a cup or so of chopped nuts or seeds to the batter.

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas - mashed
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325° and lightly spray 9" x 5" loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour blend, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together sugars and oil. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla, and stir until well blended. Fold in dry ingredients.

4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack.

Thai In The Suburbs: Sawatdee Thai in Sherwood

The suburbs have always kind of turned me off. I like the diversity found in cities, the liberal thinking, the unique neighborhoods, and the independent businesses. Nonetheless, we moved last year, out of the city and into the land of strip malls and soccer moms.

Although there are certainly things I miss about Portland, I actually like it here a lot. And yes, it's exactly the stuff you'd expect: more house for the money, better schools, great parks, and peace & quiet. But in addition, there's a quaint little downtown with a handful of independent businesses, an outdoor Saturday market in the summertime, and a nice library. Overall, I'm really happy here and it was a great move for our family.

That said, one thing I do miss are the great restaurants of Portland. Of course, they're not out of reach; the city isn't that far away. But the selection of places that are nearby and handy – that don't require at least a brief road trip – is quickly getting boring. I've especially missed Thai food, which I love to eat, but am not very good at cooking. There is a Thai place here, but I've been pretty disappointed with their food. Even so, I've gone back on several occasions, trying something different each time in hopes of finding a dish they're really good at. It's certainly far from terrible, but the curries are unexciting, the pad Thai is a bit sad, and the stir-fries are over-seasoned. I gave up.

But then, my husband suggested we go there for lunch the other day, and I thought, why not? I'll give it one more chance. I picked something I hadn't yet tried, the tom yum noodle soup from the lunch specials menu, and finally, I was not disappointed. In fact, I loved, loved, loved it! I expected it to be similar to tom yum, the hot & sour soup I've had at many Thai restaurants. But it was really quite different – not just because of the addition of rice noodles, but also ground chicken and crushed peanuts. I requested a spicy version and it was just the right amount of heat for me. Two days later, I was back for another bowl. I told myself it was to get a photo for the blog, but actually, I was just craving that soup! Maybe eventually, I'll try something else, and I'll let you know if I find another dish I like, but I'll be sticking with that delicious soup for awhile.

So here's the deal, if you ever find yourself down in Sherwood, and feel like Thai for lunch, it's the Tom Yum Noodle Soup at Sawatdee Thai Cuisine. Fantastic!

Pizza Night

We made individual pizzas for dinner the other night. I have to admit, they were not homemade, but build-your-own pizzas. I went shopping with different intentions, but found I just wasn't motivated to put much effort into our dinner and went the convenience route instead: pre-made pizza crusts, pre-made marinara sauce (which I thickened with a little tomato paste), and even pre-shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. I also got a few basic toppings that please my family: mushrooms, black olives, turkey pepperoni, and jalapeno slices.

I don't know how the other pizzas with their gluten-filled crusts tasted, but my pizza with its thin and crispy crust was pretty delicious. I used mushrooms and pepperoni, plus lots of oregano and some crushed red pepper flakes. Then, after baking, I topped it with a bunch of spring greens. I'm sure it was more than a single-serving's worth, but I ate the whole thing and enjoyed every bite.

This was a fun, easy dinner, that we'll definitely be doing again. And I look forward to changing up the ingredients and trying some different types of salad on top – my new favorite way to enjoy pizza!