Guacamole

I have to credit my good friend Nicole for the inspiration for this recipe. Two years ago we were at the cabin and she made guacamole, I said I don't like guacamole, I'll just eat chips. She encouraged me to eat it and I've been hooked ever since...I have adjusted this recipe to fit my tastes so I'll describe what I put in and how I make it with where you can make adjustments to taste. This is the best recipe. I get hungry just thinking about making it!!!

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados
2 jalepeno peppers
1 tomato
1 onion
1/4 fresh lime
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp cilantro

1) Cut the avocados in half, scoop out the avocado meat.
Throw away the seed, however I'm going to try to grow an avocado tree.. we will see how that goes.
Put these into a medium mixing bowl

2) Slice up the jalepeno's - here's the to taste part, I use the full jalepeno's seeds and all go in. Some think that is too spicy so they only use the seeds from one pepper and others take all the seeds out. This is your discretion.
Toss these into the mixing bowl and give it a stir

3) Dice up the tomato. This is also to taste. I don't love tomato's so I only use 1/2 a tomato, others use the entire tomato. However you do it, make certain to dice it up and throw the meat and juice on the cutting board into the mixing bowl. Give the mix a stir. It should be starting to get to the consistency you are used to seeing in the restaurants

4) Dice up the onion. Again using as much as you like. I use 1/4 of the onion because raw onion to me is gross but the guacamole without it is bad too so don't omit but but dice it up good if you don't love raw onions. Throw that into the bowl and stir again.

5) You have to use fresh lime. The stuff in the bottle just doesn't taste as good and come on a lime is what 50 cents, totally worth it!!! Just cut quarter off and sqeeze and of course stir the mixture up.

6) Peel the three cloves of garlic and put them in the press. Just press them right over the bowl and stir it in the mix.

7) Cilantro for me is hard to keep on hand, so I bought the frozen cilantro at Trader Joe's already frozen in the 1 teaspoon measurement. I pull one out and put it in the mix, stirring vigorously.

That is it...all you need to be able to do is chop and stir to make this guacamole. It's delicious, fresh and nutritous!! Grab some corn chips (making certain they are for sure just corn) and enjoy!

Bon Appetit!

Sweet Corn Chowder

When the temperature was dipping below freezing, I wanted something warm to eat. I must tell you that along with my husband's allergies, I am a vegetarian. So when I say dinners are a challenge, they truly are a challenge. But this recipe is amazing. I have made it twice to ensure I wasn't just fooling myself, it is amazing!

I pulled the original recipe off Allrecipes.com and changed a few things which have been noted below. Also, note that this recipe involves a lot of chopping. If you have the Pampered Chef chopper it will be easier but if you don't the prep time is longer than I would say is easy. It's worth the extra time but wanted you to know before you start this recipe that it will be a little more time than you first imagine.

INGREDIENTS
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon corn oil (I used canola oil)
salt and pepper to taste

1 (12 ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup water
1 tablespoon corn oil (again canola oil)
1 1/2 cups finely diced celery
1 cup diced red onion (white or yellow work here too)
1 clove of garlic minced (you can also use a shallot minced)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3 cups vegetable broth (Roundy's Organic broth is gluten free)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
3 potatos, peeled and cubed (if you use a baking potato, 1 will be enough but this is truly to taste)


DIRECTIONS
Preheat an oven to 425 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes into a 9x13 inch baking dish, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of corn oil, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat the sweet potatoes in oil.

Roast in the preheated oven until the sweet potatoes are golden and tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally as they cook so the sweet potatoes cook evenly.

Meanwhile, measure out 1 cup of corn kernels and set aside. Place the remaining corn into a blender, and puree with the water until smooth; set aside.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of corn oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the celery, onion, and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and dried thyme leaves; cook 1 minute more. Pour in the vegetable broth, corn puree, bay leaf, salt, and cubed potato. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potato is tender, 25 to 35 minutes.

Once the potato is tender, remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir in the whole corn kernels and sweet potato. Return to a simmer and season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

It is fabulous reheated also. Great for lunches during the next week.

Hope you enjoy!

Bon Appetit!

Pizza Dough

Okay, this was one of the hardest things I was giving up so I thought I should share it right away. When my husband told me of his wheat allergy I thought garlic bread, pasta and then it hit me, no more pizza. Well that was truly unacceptable...really how unAmerican is that. So my quest was to find a pizza dough that would work for both he and I. The packaged doughs just were not good. They would come out hard, like I'm going to break my teeth off on this crust hard. But this past weekednd I found it, the holy grail of pizza dough for those suffering from celiac disease or a wheat allergy. Here is the recipe:


2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Baking Flour
1 (1/4 ounce) envelope yeast
1/4 cup of Potato Starch (Bob's Red Mill is what I used)
1/4 cup of White Rice Flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups hot water

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients together (Flours, Yeast, Starch, Sugar, Salt) in a large mixing bowl. I actually stirred them up with a wooden spoon.

Add Oil and Water

With a mixer, scraping the sides of the bowl, mix the ingredients until they have thickened up. I did have to add a few more tablespoons of starch and flour but if you do this, add it slowly because it thickens up quickly.

This won't get like pizza dough you can throw in the air but it does thicken

Grease a cookie sheet and pour in the dough

Cook for 15 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven or until slightly browned on top

Add your toppings and cook an additional 15 minutes

Whala, you have pizza that has a chewy dough center, wonderful toppings and easy to make.

Now I haven't tried making the dough and freezing it. I will try that soon and let you know because that would make for an easy mid week dinner with a salad and a glass of wine!!!

Bon Appetit and God Bless!

Why this blog was created

They say you can't choose who is the one true love for your life. I would never have guessed that my true love would have allergies to the outdoors and to food. He has a wheat allergy and a dairy allergy so my cooking passion must change to accommodate. At first I was at a loss, what can I cook, what will make him sick, what type of diet do we go on, it was very stressful. I was scared that anything I would cook would send him over the edge and into migraine headache world and in fact I learned that there are many things that cause the allergy to flare up. Yes, I learned the hard way and it was hard on both of us, my guilt and his pain. But I think we have it down now, only when he doesn't know about foods will he get a flare up. For instance, meatballs that look perfectly round mean they are probably the frozen kind, thus filled with fillers that have wheat. We basically are eating the diet for Celiac Disease with the added bonus of no dairy. However, thanks to soy, we have soy cheese, milk and yogurt to be able to cook with also. What you will find in this blog are recipes we have tried and liked. We will share what we liked about the recipe and what we changed from the original recipe. We may also share that which didn't work for us and why. You may have some ideas to make it better and help others along the way. We are excited to share our journey with you. We hope you will gain a new lease on life and be able to enjoy eating again.