Toddler food

Because I forget which things he eats:

Sweet potato, chicken, pineapple curry. in the crockpot. with brown sugar, curry powder, and coconut milk after it was done.

Sesame Ginger beef - marinate beef in sesame oil, salt, brown sugar and powdered ginger. Fry beef, remove. Put in snow peas (he did not eat those) and water chestnuts (called those crunchy potatoes) and made sauce with a little bit of soy sauce, a little bit of lime, a little bit of beef stock & some water/cornstarch. Also added white sugar, a tiny bit of garlic and onion powders, I think. Added meat back in, lid on, steamed. Added more veges he likes. Served over rice.

Vege chili - can of chili beans, extra black beans. Fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic, onion flakes, worcester sauce. Carrots, shredded zukes, green bell pepper. - mixed with corn tortillas in oven as casserole; he liked the tortillas & carrots best.

Stuffed Chix breasts - stuffing was spinach, egg, gf bread crumbs. (could have used parmesan but kept it DF). Marinated in fresh lemon juice. Sauteed for brown. Braised with more fresh lemon juice, fresh oregano, and chix broth. Added frozen broccoli, then +cornstarch to thicken sauce. Green beans on the side, served with rice. He liked the chix & broccoli & rice.

Pizza, pizza toast, jam toast (pbj), pasta w/vege-sauce.

Fried rice with diced zucchini, fresh green beans, turkey. liked the sesame oil.

Hamburger and fries. Potato pancakes w/ketchup. Zucchini w/flavor flavor. Baked Beans (bush's). Chili beans w/elbows, ham, carrots, tomato, gbp, corn. Michael's salsa. Indian chicken w/veges & quinoa - tomato based sauce w/coconut milk. Flavored beef.

pizza crust Michael

jamie oliver

Ingredients

• 7 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour or 5 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour, plus 2 cups finely ground semolina flour
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
• 2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Sift the flours and salt onto a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands - this is called punching down the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straightaway, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas - this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though - if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator

piri piri chx

Recipe: Piri piri chicken with dressed potatoes, argula salad, and quick Portuguese tarts

Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

• Chicken
• 4 large chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
• Cilantro leaves
• Potatoes
• 1 medium potato
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 fresh red chile
• A bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 ounces feta cheese
• Piri piri sauce
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1–2 bird’s-eye chiles
• 2 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
• 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (such as Lea & Perrins)
• A large bunch of fresh basil
• Salad
• 1 x 5-ounce package of prewashed arugula
• 1/2 lemon
• Seasonings
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt & black pepper
• Tarts
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 large sheet all-butter puff pastry (14-ounce package), thawed if frozen
• Ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract
• 5 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 1 orange

Preparation

To start, get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Turn the oven on to 400 degrees F. Put a large grill pan on at high heat. First, put the chicken thighs on a plastic cutting board, skin side down, and slash the meat on each one a few times. Drizzle with olive oil and season, then put on the griddle pan that is heating up, skin side down. Cook until golden underneath, then turn over. Wash your hands.
For the tarts, dust a clean surface with flour. Unfold the sheet of pastry and cut an 8-inch square from the pastry. Put the trimmings into the refrigerator for another use. Sprinkle over a few good pinches of ground cinnamon, then roll the pastry into a jelly roll shape and cut into 6 rounds. Put these into 6 of the cups in a muffin pan, and use your thumbs to stretch and mold the pastry into the cups (just like in the picture) so the bottom is flat and the pastry comes up to the top. Put on the top shelf of the oven and cook for around 8 to 10 minutes (set the timer), or until lightly golden.
For the potatoes, wash the potato and sweet potatoes and halve lengthways. Put them into a large microwave-safe bowl with 1/2 lemon. Cover with plastic wrap and put into the microwave on full power for 15 minutes.
Turn the chicken over.
Returning to the tarts, spoon the crème fraîche into a small bowl. Add the egg, vanilla paste or extract, 1 tablespoon of superfine sugar, and the zest of 1 orange. Mix well.
For piri piri sauce, peel and roughly chop the red onion and add to the blender with 4 peeled cloves of garlic. Add the chiles (stalks removed), 2 tablespoons of paprika, the zest of 2 lemons, and juice of 1 lemon. Add ¼ cup of white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, a good pinch of salt & pepper, the large bunch of basil, and a slug of water. Blitz until smooth.
For the chicken, slice the bell peppers into strips and add to the grill pan. Turn the heat down to medium and keep moving the peppers around.
Take the muffin pan with the tarts out of the oven, and use a teaspoon to press the puffed-up pastry back to the sides and make room for the filling. Spoon the crème fraîche mixture into the tart cases, and return to the top shelf of the oven. Set the timer for 8 minutes.
Pour the piri piri sauce into a snug-fitting roasting pan. Lay the bell peppers on top and put aside. Add the chicken to the roasting pan with the sauce. Scatter over the sprigs of thyme, then put the tray into the middle of the oven.
For the tarts, put a small saucepan on high heat. Squeeze in the juice from the zested orange and add ¼ cup of superfine sugar. Stir and keep a good eye on it, but remember caramel can burn badly so don’t touch or taste.
Returning to the potatoes, finely chop the chile and most of the cilantro on a board, mixing as you go. Add the feta and keep chopping and mixing.
Take the tarts out of the oven and move the chicken up to the top shelf to cook for around 10 minutes, or until cooked through. Pour some caramel over each tart (they’ll still be wobbly, but that’s good). Put aside to set.
For the salad, quickly dress the arugula, still in its package, with extra virgin olive oil, a good pinch of salt & pepper, and the juice of ½ lemon. Tip into a bowl and take to the table.
Check the potatoes are cooked through, then use tongs to squeeze over the cooked lemon. Add the cilantro mixture from the chopping board and mix everything together. Season, then take to the table.
To serve, get the pan of chicken out of the oven, sprinkle over a few cilantro leaves, and take straight to the table.

Gluten free zucchini bread

My own invention, but inspired by internet recipes, including GFG.

Melt 1/3 c margarine. Blend to incorporate. Add 1/4 c milk. Would have been better for milk to be room temperature so it didn't just harden up the margarine right away.

Add 3 egg whites (large). Add 1 c brown sugar and 1 tsp fresh lemon juice.

Grate 1 c zucchini - 2 small ones is what I had. Then squeeze out ALL THE WATER. This takes a long time. Try using a towel instead of paper towels? I used lots of paper towels and they just soaked through so easy. The towel I had to do a few times, but felt like I got a tighter squeeze.

For the flour - I was going for 1 1/2 cups. I started with 3/4 c Pamela's pancake baking mix. Added about 1/2 c sorghum flour and 1/2 c tapioca starch/flour. Topped it off with a little more baking mix.

Added 1 tsp b powder and 1/2 tsp b soda. Added 1 tsp cinnamon.  Would be better to add chocolate chunks here so they get coated.

Could have added vanilla, but I forgot.

When I mixed it all together, the zucchini totally disappeared. I added chocolate chunks, and they sunk straight to the bottom.

It still looked a little too wet, so I sprinkled in some coconut flour, maybe 1/2 T? Then another little bit... Probably could have used more. It did help though.

Baked at 350 for about 45 minutes. Although to be fair, the oven was hotter than that when I started and cooled down probably to about 325 by the end of cooking. The toothpick came out clean, but it still sunk a little. Oh - and I sprayed the glass loaf pan with canola oil & dusted it with white sugar.

Sweet Potato Casserole

I had cooked ham in the pan, but didn't use it or any meat in the recipe. However, I left the brownings in the pan and added a little bit of regular onion, minced to a paste. Let it soften. Added a little olive oil and 2 cloves garlic, then about 3/4 tsp cumin and should have added 3/4 tsp chili powder then also. (I added it later)

Next added black beans. I mushed them up with my (clean) fingers so they made a paste. Added water to thin it out a little. Let it simmer.

In the meantime - microwaved a peeled sweet potato and cut it up. Melted butter into it and mashed it with some milk, salt, and pepper.

Cut up red bell pepper very fine. Added to beans. Cut kernels off roasted corn on the cob, added to beans. Blended a yellow squash with water in the Vita-mix. Added to beans. Take off stove when less watery, and add 1 tsp soy sauce.

For the casserole - corn tortillas torn into strips. Layer of bean mixture. Layer of squash. Layer of cheddar cheese - don't be afraid of using it. Repeat. Put in oven at 350 to warm through.

It could probably use salt, but the cheese had some bite to it, so that was ok.

Fondue

We went to the melting pot on free cheese fondue week & got the only non-alcoholic gluten-free cheese with vegetables fondue they had. Spinach-Artichoke flavor. I loved it. So I made it at home. Here's what I did:

Use a double boiler
1 part vegetable broth
2 parts cheese - used 1/2 Fontina and 1/2 Butterkase, shredded and tossed in cornstarch
Stir until goopy
Add 1 large clove garlic, minced, and lots of fresh spinach, chopped small, and artichoke hearts from a can, also chopped small. Stir.

Serve with raw baby carrots, raw broccoli florets, and green apple chunks. And bread for Michael.

So simple! I love this recipe. I ended up using about 2/3 c vege broth, and it was colored brown instead of clear, which changed the color of the fondue but it still tasted good. I used about the right amount of cheese, but a lot of cornstarch, so as it heated up, it really thickened up and I had to add broth. It was a trick to balance how warm but NOT HOT the double boiler was getting. I wish I'd used more spinach. It cooked well in the cheese. and I used 3 artichoke hearts. Again, could have used more.

One thing to add maybe next time: Parmesan cheese. The restaurant added grated stuff, but I only have the can, so I left it out. I didn't notice it missing, and the hubby was fine without it, so we let it go. Also the restaurant wanted to add hot sauce. I declined then. I similarly declined this time.

I don't want to know how many calories/fat it has. Its all from the cheese - the veges were perfectly healthy. We ate it for dinner. Michael ate almost a whole roll, although I wish I'd had different flavors of bread for him like the restaurant did. He says its heavy, and just sits there. Which is true. We ate a lot of watermelon later that night. But we didn't need any meat or other veges for dinner. I probably could have eaten a whole other batch. And made myself really sick in the process, so I guess its good that we ran out. But somehow I just love this gooey-ness. Its good the cheese is expensive so we won't have it every week. I might, otherwise.

Now I think I'm going to have homemade pizza for dinner. What is it with me and this cheese-kick?

Quinoa chicken casserole

Used minced yellow onion (from the freezer), about 2 T.
Diced 1/2 Green Bell Pepper and 1 stalk celery.
Used corn oil & olive oil to soften those 3. Took them out. Added 1 can chicken, and Canadian Chicken seasoning.Let go for awhile to soak up the extra can chicken water and get good & spicy.
Used leftover steamed broccoli, about 2c.

Boiled 1/2 c quinoa in 1c+ of water. I let it go until there was just a little water left, but it wasn't sticking to the bottom of the pot. Then I let it sit to soak.

Glass bowl: about 1/2 c mayonnaise with 1% milk, nonfat milk powder, and half-&-half with salt, pepper, and 1/4 c parmesan cheese. 

Mixed veges & chicken into sauce. It should be wet - I had to add more milk. Added quinoa in, and some more milk. Poured it all into a wide dish. Topped with pecan pieces, onion flakes, and more canadian chicken seasoning. Cooked at 350 for 25 minutes until warmed through.

Notes - make more of everything. Use big bowl for making sauce so adding ingredients is easier. Spray sides of roating pan. Cook at a lower temperature.

Chicken Fajitas

Soak chicken breast in brine (a little sugar, lots of salt) and garlic clove chopped up.

Slice 1 green bell pepper.
Mince 2 green onions
Mince 1 clove garlic
Slice 4-6 tomatoes
Mince to make 1/3 cup cilantro.  (+ garnish)
Thinly slice chicken, drain.

In medium hot oil, add bell pepper. Let start to soften. Add 1/2 green onions. Let finish soften. Remove all.
In remaining oil, add garlic and green onion - get fragrant but not brown. Add chicken. Add 1/2 cilantro.
add 1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin
*forgot to add 1/2 tsp coriander
add in black beans & corn. Could also add cooked carrot.
Return green bell pepper to pan.
Add tomatoes and remaining cilantro (except garnish)
Sprinkle lemon juice.
Add 1/2 c chicken broth with cornstarch (more liquid for more sauce)
Let simmer. Add salt/pepper to taste.
Eat with rice to soak up sauce.

Gluten free Roast

3 lb tri-tip roast in string. thawed in microwave. rub with salt/pepper/garlic powder. Brown in HOT oil so it gets a good crust. Place in oven at 225 (250 for 30 minutes, then 225) with...

2 c beef broth
1/2 onion, sliced (yellow)
onion flakes, salt, pepper, garlic cloves minced

For cream of mushroom soup:
4 oz can portabella mushrooms, drained, heated in pan with butter so the water comes out a little more. Or use fresh mushrooms and wait for water to come out & they cook down. Added some more onion flakes. Added cornstarch, a little bit of rice flour, and potato starch. Stir (off heat) to thicken and make roux. Added some 1/2 and 1/2. Then added 1% milk until it looked like soup. Put back on the heat - it thickened pretty quickly, so I had to add more milk. I was going for the volume of a 11-14 oz can.

Option 1 - add to roast as is. This is what I did. It worked out ok, but then we had gravy w/stuff in it. I finally blended up the gravy, and YUM.

Option 2 - blend as it comes off stove. Add creamy mixture to roast pan. I think I want to try it like this next time.

Cover roast in pan. I felt like it got dry where it wasn't submerged in the juices, so maybe it would be better to baste it? I let it cook for about 7 hours. Could go in a slow cooker too.

I added carrot sticks for the last 1 1/2 -2 hours. They were plenty done. Tasted great. Used 8 carrots. Should have used more.

If putting potatoes in with roast, which might be better than mashed potatoes, then double the gravy. Would need a really deep pan though.

cheesy ck broccoli rice

1. Put 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer, cook for 20 minutes or until tender.

2. Cut up 2-3 stalks of broccoli crowns into florets, discarding stems. Place in a covered casserole with one tablespoon of water. Cook in microwave for 7 minutes or until tender-crisp.

3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Add two tablespoons of cornstarch and stir until thick. Add one can of chicken stock and simmer until thick. Add one can of drained chicken or 1-2 cooked cubed chicken breasts. Add one cup of your favorite shredded cheese, like monterey jack, colby jack, cheddar, swiss, or gruyere. Add 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and stir to melt.

4. Layer rice, broccoli and sauce on a plate and eat it all up.

Soft rolls

Soft and Chewy Rolls
1 1/4 cups hot tap water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil (I used canola)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend (mine is a blend of rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, gelatin)
1/2 cup corn starch
Pre-heat oven to 415F.
Sprinkle the yeast over the hot water and stir gently to incorporate. Add sugar and oil and let stand a few minutes.
In large mixing bowl place the egg and the other ingredients. Add the yeast mixture and beat until well-blended, approx 1 minute. Dough should be thick and sticky.
Scoop out 1/4 cup at a time of the dough and with well-greased hands, roll into balls and place on lined cookie sheets (I use silicone sheets but you can use wax or parchment paper). Place approx 1.5 inches apart and flatten into thick discs. Set aside in warm place to rise for 15 minutes.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and the wafting smell of fresh-baked bread causes the insane urge to reach into the hot oven and grab a roll to shove into your drooling mouth.
Let cool 10-15 minutes and serve with butter and your choice of jam/jelly/honey/apple butter, etc. You can also cool completely and slice through the middle for an amazing bun.

I used 1/2 c less flour, but then added more to make dough thicker. It did not rise as much as I would have liked. They came out flat and too much xantham gum texture. I was estimating how much to put in because I did not use a prepared flour mix. I used 1 1/2 c white/brown rice flour, 1/2 c sweet rice flour, 1/2 potato starch, 1/2 tapioca starch, then added more tapioca starch. I sprinkled gelatin and xgum. I used only 1/2 tsp salt, probably could have used more because 1/4 c sugar made these taste sweet. I let the yeast proof without the oil. I added egg and oil into dry mixture, cut in, then added water/milk/yeast. The dough looked good, but I think I'd rather use an extra egg and leave out the xgum. Oh well. next time. It made 13 rolls I think. Might have been better to put them in a muffin tin.

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flourless chocolate nut brownie torte

 1 1/2 c granulated sugar.
8 oz butter
8 eggs, separated, at room temp.
16 oz chocolate, in small pieces
6 T nuts
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c pow sugar
350 degrees.

Lightly butter springform pan. combine 1 c sugar w/ butter on med speead to yellow ribbons. add egg yolks one at a time until all incorporated. set aside. Melt chocolate in double boiler, stir occasionally - water simmering not boiling. Remove from heat, stir into butter. stir in nuts. set aside. Whip egg whites at hight until soft peaks. Add 1/2 c sugar and whip to firm peaks. Stif 1/3 of whipped whites into choc mixture to  loosen base. Fold in remaining whipped whites and pour into pan. Center oven bake to toothpick clean 45-50 min. Whip cream with vanilla. Remove cake from oven & let cool 30 min before unmolding. open hinge, sarp knife to loosen. transfer to serving platter, dust with pow sugar and served with whip cream on topp.


Michael Lomonaco'ds from cheuf sthoustring

Beef Tomato stir fry

marinade steak: 2T salt, 1 T soy sauce, 1 tsp whiskey, 1 tsp cornstarch, 2 T peanut oil, 1lb steak.

sauce - 1 T black beans w/salt, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 3 T water - mash.

Hot skillet - oil. minced scallion (1) 30 sec, bean sauce 15 sec, meat 2-3 min until losing pink, set aside.

oil. tomatoes, until lose shape 1-2 min, sprinkling with 1 1/2 tsp sugar.

Add 1/2 c chicken broth, cover, cook 2 min. Return meat and add oyster sauce, for 1 min.

from linda west eckhardt's recipe in chef shoestring book.