Lebanese Lentils and Rice

This is a quick and tasty side.  I like having it with falafel, and tsatsiki*.  

I realized I had to figure out how to make yummy lentils and rice because I am such a huge fan of it at Sultan's Market.

I have been making the following recipe, and really enjoying it.  I am still working on the "perfect" falafel, so I am not ready to post that one just yet :)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground garam masala
• 2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup dried green lentils, rinsed, picked over
• 3/4 cup long-grain white rice
• 
  

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and next 3 ingredients; sauté , about 3 minutes. Add broth and lentils; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Stir in rice; return to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice and lentils are tender, about 15 minutes longer.

* Tsatsiki

• 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

Toss cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a colander and drain 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mince and mash garlic to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon salt, then whisk together with olive oil, yogurt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Squeeze out any excess water from cucumbers with your hands, then stir cucumbers into yogurt mixture. Season with salt.

Banana bread, gluten-free

This recipe was super easy and tastes exactly the same as when I made it with "regular" flour.

I basically used the original Fannie Farmer recipe, tweaked for gluten-freeness :)

3 ripe bananas

2 eggs

2 cups of flour (I used Pamela's baking & pancake mix, and was able to substitute 1:1, however this uses almond flour, so if you can't use nuts, Whole Foods has a gluten-free flour that also works amazingly.  Pamela's can be found at most grocery stores in their organic or gluten-free section)

1/2 cup sugar (I used raw sugar)

1 t baking soda

Mix the 3 bananas in a bowl, mash well, and add the eggs and beat until light.

Sift together the flour, sugar and baking soda, and add to the first mixture.

Stir Well.

Pour into a buttered bread pan, 9 x 5.

Bake for one hour at 350'F.

Going gluten free....

Wow, it has been 3 months since I have posted, and what an interesting 3 months it has been.  Soon after my quiche post, I discovered I have Celiac.  It was a huge shock to me, and not one I would ever of expected.  I went in for my annual check-up, and found out a week later I had to cut gluten from my life.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, and many oats.  I was just floored!  I have always loved to bake and had a stomach that could handle anything (or so I thought), so this was really devastating news.

I decided to wait until after Zoë's birthday, so I could enjoy pizza and the elaborate princess cake we made her.  The day after her birthday, I went completely gluten-free.  I cleaned out our kitchen, got rid of possibility contaminated items, like my Krups Belgian waffle iron, strainers, cookie sheets, silicon measuring spoons and cups.

It was tough at first, and I shed many tears.  I mean, I love baking, I eat Triscuits like they are going out of style, so how could this be possible??

I bought a few gluten-free cookies and such, and was even more depressed by how awful they tasted.

Then one day, my great friend, Julie, and I checked out Rose's Bakery in Evanston, and for the first time since my diagnosis had a huge smile on my face!  Everything looked amazing and was 100 & gluten-free!  I couldn't decide so I took some of everything to bring home and test out with the family.  I brought home eclairs, cup cakes, snicker doodles,  sprouted bread, granola (with certified gluten-free oats), cheesecake brownie.  It was all amazing, and honestly better than any gluten versions I have had.

Since then, I started feeling better and became more adventurous and started baking again, but this time gluten-free.  Cooking meals is the easy part, since I have always cooked from scratch, nothing really changed, except the type of pasta I am using in pasta dishes. And let me say, my favorite by far is Tinkyada...you can't even tell the difference!  

Baking is the tricky one, since it seems like rocket science when substituting alternate flours for wheat flour.  You can just say....replace rice flour for wheat/white flour 1:1.  You have to use a flour, a starch and binder.  So, just to replace wheat/white flour, you would need to use brown rice flour, combined with potato starch, combined with xanthum gum.  Sounds exhausting, right?

In these 3 months, I have been learning, and found some of my favorite stores to find some of these hard to find ingredients.  Woodman's and Whole Foods (not to forget, their web site has awesome recipes!) have become my favorite places to shop...and dangerous too.  Why does Whole Foods really have to be so expensive?  Why can I not leave without spending at least $50?!

I am trying to build up my baking confidence, and do everything from scratch again, but in the meantime, I am in LOVE with the gluten-free bakery Whole Foods!  It is such an indulgence to buy from there, but SO good!  I buy their prairie bread, pie crusts, cookies, muffins, apple pie and hamburger buns, and they are all so much better than the gluten-filled alternatives!

It is funny, I was never a real bread person before finding out I couldn't have "regular" bread, I would usually pick out the middle part, and leave my bread in pieces in my plate.  Maybe this was trying to tell me something?  And now that I have discovered gluten-free bread, I am eating more bread than ever, because it is so good!  I always felt the bread in the bread aisle was just styrofoam full of preservatives, and it had no appeal to me at all.  But the good bread..is the stuff in the freezer section, and that is where the gluten-free bread is found as well, and those breads are the good stuff!

Now, I have toast every morning with butter and honey!

I am definitely still learning, and there is so much out there to learn, but have discovered some great resources and people on the way.

From here on out all of my recipes, as my house, will be gluten-free and just as tasty!

**The quiche pictured is using the same recipe is the last post, except using asparagus and cheddar as the filing, and a pie crust from Whole Foods, and wow, was it good!!

PLEASE READ

All posts made pre-May 2009 may contain gluten.  Those recipes are from my pre-gluten life, and are not gluten-free.  Some may be naturally gluten-free, or may be easily converted, but be warned the ingredients have not been checked and could easily contain gluten somewhere.

However, many dishes that are not desserts are indeed naturally gluten-free.

Just a friendly warning :)

The most delicious quiche!!

After enjoying quiche for years, I finally made my very own.  And it tasted like I was eating it straight from a French patisserie.

I found this recipe on epicurious.com, and after reading all the rave reviews, I decided to try it for myself.  This is a recipe for a basic cheese quiche, but you can add any fillings.

This has easily become one of my new sure-fire dishes to serve for guests for breakfast/brunch, and just for the three of us for a yummy lazy weekend morning.

I cheated a bit, and used a store-bought frozen crust...shhh, don't tell anyone.*

Preheat the oven to 425'

6 large eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche
1 cup milk (preferably whole)
8 ounces gruyère, emmenthal, or other Swiss-type cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and the milk until thoroughly blended. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the cheese and stir until it is blended,

I added some fresh, chopped spinach, and added it to the bottom of the crust before pouring the egg mixture.

Turn the mixture into the pre-baked pastry, and spread out the cheese evenly over the bottom of the pastry.

Sprinkle the top with nutmeg if you've used a Swiss-type cheese, and bake in the center of the oven until the filling is golden and puffed, and is completely baked through, about 30 minutes.  I actually mixed the nutmeg into the egg mixture.

To test for doneness, shake the quiche - if it is solid without a pool of uncooked filling in the center, it is done. You may also stick a sharp knife blade into the center of the filling and if it comes out clean, the quiche is baked through. Remove the quiche from the oven and serve immediately.

I think next time I will add some caramelized onion. If I was a meat eater, I would definitely add some prosciutto or chopped, crispy bacon.

Enjoy!!

*If you do want to make the homemade crust, try this recipe.

Do the following before mixing the egg mixture:

Roll out the pastry to fit a 10-1/2 inch glass or metal pie plate (not removable bottom). Crimp the edges, poke the bottom with a fork or the tip of a sharp knife, and place the pastry in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line the pastry with aluminum foil and pastry weights and bake in the bottom third of the oven until the pastry is golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the aluminum foil and pastry weights. Return the pastry to the oven to bake until the bottom is golden, an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve

Buttermilk Belgian Waffles

I woke up this morning craving waffles, so this is what I did:



2 cups flour (1/2 white, 1/2 wheat)
2 T sugar
1 1/2 t baking soda

1 3/4 buttermilk
2 eggs, separated

4 T butter, melted
1/2 t vanilla

First, mix the dry ingredients.

Mix the buttermilk with the egg yolk, add the butter and vanilla.

Combine the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl whip the egg whites until the form peaks.

Fold the egg whites into the batter.

Ladle the batter onto the waffle maker, and let cook for 3 minutes.

Top with whatever you have on hand. Today, it happened to be powdered sugar and strawberries.

Enjoy!