Domestifluff : Food, Craft, Etc. » Food

Warm Green Bean and Potato Salad

Kristen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:40:34 +0000

Alright, so I know that I should ban bacon from my diet. It has sugar and all those nasty nitrates, but I just can’t (or won’t) give it up because it’s just too tasty. If I knew that eating bacon would bring dire consequences, then maybe I’d consider giving it up, but for now I stick to using it sparingly in dishes where I feel the flavor is truly enhanced by its presence. And sometimes I just munch a whole piece or three.

I love simple, flavorful side dishes, and this warm green bean and potato salad is tasty and pretty quick to make. A bit of bacon adds flavor, but I think the salad would still be quite good without the bacon. The only issue that I have with the original recipe is that it contains no mention of draining the bacon fat from the pan before adding the other ingredients, but I had to soak up most of the fat because, otherwise, I felt that the entire dish would be swimming in it. I like bacon fat, but even I have my limits.

Warm Green Bean and Potato Salad
adapted from Everyday Food, November 2009

Ingredients

1 lb. red new potatoes
1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
kosher salt and ground pepper
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, cover potatoes with at least 2 inches of salted water. Bring to a simmer and cook about 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are just fork tender. Drain.

2. In a large nonstock skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add the potatoes and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, mashing potatoes slightly with a spoon or potato masher, until golden brown in spots, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and keep warm.

3. Add bacon pieces to the skillet and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat from the skillet, and add the green beans. Cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat. Return the potatoes and bacon to the skillet, add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and toss gently to combine. Return to serving dish and serve warm.

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Thumbprint Cookies

Kristen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:16:07 +0000

Cookies have been one of my biggest challenges since I started a gluten and sugar free diet. Cakey cookies are usually no problem, but crunchy, crispy, or chewy cookies? It just hasn’t been easy for me to replicate these textures with the ingredients that I use. I’m sure it’s down to chemical makeup and reaction or non-reaction, which I’m certainly finding out more about as I go along, but I’m no expert … yet. However, I am starting to get better cookie results, so I guess I must be learning something. Or it’s dumb luck. Either way, I’ll take it.

My gluten and sugar free take on one of my favorites, thumbprint cookies, comes pretty darn close to the “real” thing. I’ve always enjoyed the balance of the subtly sweet, shortbread-like cookie, covered in toasted walnuts, with a sweet burst of jam in the center. My favorite jams to use are raspberry and strawberry, and I’ve also seen them with chocolate frosting or ganache in the center.

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Thumbprint Cookies
recipe yields 12-16 cookies

Notes: Instead of chopping the walnuts with a knife, I place them into a zip top bag and use a can of something from the pantry or a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces.

Ingredients

1 stick (4 oz.) butter, unsalted
1/3 cup xylitol, powdered (I use a coffee grinder to powder the xylitol granules)
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend (the blend I use can be found here)
1/8 tsp. xanthan gum
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
1 egg (for egg wash)
¾ walnuts, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup sugar free jam, any flavor

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum, and salt. Stir with a fork until combined.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand held mixer, beat the butter and xylitol until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, one third at a time, and beat on low until incorporated. Cover and chill dough for up to 1 hour.

4. Separate the egg, placing the egg white into a small bowl and whisking until frothy. Place the chopped nuts into a separate bowl.

5. Roll chilled dough into 1 inch round balls. Roll the dough balls in the egg white until thoroughly covered. Shake off any excess, and roll the dough balls in the chopped walnuts until covered. Place onto a cookie sheet and, using your thumb, gently press down on the center of the dough ball until an indentation is formed. If the dough cracks around the edges, reshape until rounded. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of jam into the indentation.

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Cool and serve.

Ye Olde Beef Stew

Kristen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:38:09 +0000

This winter, so far, has been more than a little unusual. It’s been strange to be in New England looking at weather maps and watching everywhere from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., and even the deep south get inches upon inches of snow as we sit here looking at bare earth and brown trees. But I can’t complain too much, as the roads have been perfectly clear! And, hey, it’s still cold, so perfect beef stew weather.

This recipe from Paula Deen has been my go to beef stew recipe for a while, and I think it’s great because it’s pretty hands off. I usually get the beef simmering, cut up the vegetables to add later (wait to cut the potatoes), and then go do whatever for an hour and a half. I have found that I need about twice the liquid called for in the recipe because the two cups originally called for boil almost completely away by the time I add the vegetables. This may be my stove (ick, electric), so you may find that you need to do this, too, or you may find that there’s no need. Instead of water, I use beef stock for added flavor — Kitchen Basics is my favorite brand. And I add extra veggies, too, because I was finding that we’d run out of veggies well before the beef. The recipe calls for Worcestershire sauce, which does typically contain high fructose corn syrup, but you can leave it out if you’re not comfortable with it and use liquid aminos, instead, to add flavor.

Old Time Beef Stew
adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients

2 lbs. stew beef, cubed
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (or liquid aminos)
1 clove garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. sweetener (xylitol, sugar, etc.)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
a dash of ground allspice
4 large carrots, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
2 Yukon Gold or new potatoes, cut into large chunks
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Instructions

1. Add vegetable oil to a large Dutch oven and brown the meat over medium high heat.

2. Add 2 cups of the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

3. Remove the bay leaves and garlic clove, and add remaining beef stock, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Cover and simmer for another 30-45 minutes.

4. To thicken the gravy, remove 1 cup of hot liquid. In a separate small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water and stir until smooth. Mix with the hot liquid and return the mixture to the pot. Stir and cook until bubbly and thickened.

Sun Cups

Kristen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:24:07 +0000

This was my first adventure in molded candy land, and though I made a mess with the chocolate because I’m impatient, these sunbutter cups still turned out quite well.

From start to finish, which includes making the sunflower seed butter, the entire process only took me about 45 minutes, so this is a pretty quick food project, too. You could also fill these with peanut butter, almond butter, marshmallow, or a little jam. Or you could do a combination of two fillings, like peanut butter and jam or jam and marshmallow. The possibilities are endless!

In this recipe, I use mini candy bars from Hershey’s sugar free line. Ideally, I would’ve made my own dark chocolate from scratch, but I haven’t quite perfected this yet, and the Hershey’s bars will do in a pinch. Just be sure that you eat these in moderation if you use the Hershey’s sugar free bars, as they’re filled with sugar alcohols, and the situation could get ugly if you eat too many.

Sun Cups
makes approximately 18 individual cups using Wilton’s Peanut Butter Cups candy mold

Notes: If you’re not on a sugar free diet, you can substitute sugar 1:1 with the xylitol and use any milk, dark, or semi-sweet chocolate that you like.

Ingredients

1 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. xylitol
16 Hershey’s Sugar Free Special Dark Mini Candy Bars (or equivalent), about 1 1/2 bags

Instructions

1. Add the sunflower seeds to the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely ground, about 2-3 minutes. Add the xylitol and canola oil and continue to process for 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture forms a thick paste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Unwrap the candy bars and place them in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high in 30 second increments until almost completely melted, about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes total. Stir the melted chocolate until smooth.

3. Dip a pastry brush into the melted chocolate and use it to coat the inside of the individual molds, making sure not to coat them too heavily. When you’re finished, tap the mold repeatedly on a hard surface until the chocolate is more evenly distributed. Place the mold in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, or until the chocolate is set.

4. Remove the sunflower seed butter from the refrigerator and add approximately 1 teaspoon of the butter to each individual cup. I rolled mine into balls and flattened them before placing them into the cups, but this isn’t necessary.

5. Spoon the remaining chocolate over the top of the sunflower seed butter, spreading it around until the top of the cup is completely covered. Tap the mold on a hard surface to redistribute the chocolate, if necessary. Place in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes, or until the chocolate is set, and pop the finished cups out of the mold. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Sugar Free Cinnamon Ice Cream

Kristen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:58:28 +0000

This scoop of cinnamon ice cream was supposed to be sitting on top of a lovely gluten and sugar free apple pie. Alas, I have not yet mastered the art of making an apple pie. The pie tasted great, but I baked it a little too long and the apples were mushy, so I’ll have to try again and will hopefully be posting the apple pie here soon. Now, about the ice cream…

There’s just something about cinnamon ice cream – when I have it on top of apple pie, I’m transported back in time to high school evenings spent catching up with friends at King’s Restaurant, a hangout which may be familiar to you if you’re from somewhere in western Pennsylvania. Warm apple pie with cinnamon ice cream is the restaurant’s trademark, or it used to be, and sometimes I wanted to go to King’s just for this. No appetizer, no meal, just the apple pie a la mode with cinnamon ice cream. Probably not the healthiest thing, but I wasn’t really thinking much about nutrition when I was a teenager. Boy, do things change!

Instead of using arrowroot starch to thicken the base, as I did with my original sugar free ice cream recipe, I went back to xanthan gum, which was my first choice in the ice crystal formation prevention department when I still used agave nectar as a sweetener. I had some concern that the texture wouldn’t be as nice as it was in combination with the agave, but I guess that the agave wasn’t as much of a factor as I thought it was because I was very happy with the result. I used half dairy cream and half lite coconut milk, and the finished ice cream was scoopable, with a great texture. It tasted pretty awesome, too! And the xanthan gum is a much better option for those of you counting carbs. Both arrowroot and xanthan gum have 7 grams of carbs per tablespoon, but instead of the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot starch that I used in the original recipe, I only use 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum here with very similar results.

Sugar Free Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients

2/3 cup xylitol (or 1/2cup xylitol plus 1/4 cup erythritol)
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
1 can (13.5 to 14 oz.) lite coconut milk
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the sweetener(s) and the xanthan gum until the xanthan gum is evenly distributed. This step is important, as adding the xanthan gum after you add the wet ingredients will leave you with gummy lumps throughout your ice cream base.

2. Add the heavy cream and coconut milk to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until the xylitol is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cinnamon and vanilla. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes to cool, then transfer the base to an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator at least 8 hours, or overnight.

4. Before you put the base into your ice cream maker, you may want to give it a good shake to redistribute the ingredients. Make the ice cream according to your ice cream maker instructions and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

Sugar Free Sunbutter (Sunflower Seed Butter)

Kristen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:56 +0000

Sunbutter — the name alone just sounds friendly, doesn’t it? Actually, Sunbutter is a registered trademark, so I think that I have to call my version sunflower seed butter or something that isn’t Sunbutter.

I initially thought that I might be able to find the unsweetened version at Trader Joe’s, where lots of people on the interwebs said that the regular, sweetened type could be found, but my local Trader Joe’s only had the sugar-filled version, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $10+ (with shipping) per jar from the Sunbutter website. So, I picked up some roasted sunflower seeds — at around $2.99 for a pound, I think it was — and set out to make my own.

I am now a total sunflower seed butter convert. Not only was it easy to make, and much more economical to make myself, but it tastes totally yummy. If you haven’t tried sunflower seeds or sunflower seed butter before, then it’s difficult to describe the flavor. It’s kind of like peanut butter, but not really. As B said when I had him taste test my first batch, “it’s really a different kind of flavor, isn’t it?” Yes, it is, and it’s delicious with some of that sugar free jam, slathered on a banana, or just eaten with a spoon.

In addition, sunflower seed butter is rich in Vitamin E and Thiamine (B1) and is a great source of protein. It’s a great alternative to peanut butter, too!

Sunflower Seed Butter
recipe yields approximately 3/4 cup

Notes: You can use raw seeds, which may retain more nutritional value, or buy the seeds raw and roast them yourself. If you’re using unsalted seeds, then you may want to add a bit of salt to taste. I’ve sweetened this version, and you can easily leave the sweetener out completely or add more if you want a sweeter result. Use coconut oil in place of the canola oil for a different flavor profile.

Ingredients

1 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp. canola or other light tasting oil
1 Tbsp. xylitol (optional)

Instructions

1. Place the sunflower seeds into a food processor and process on high until finely ground. Add oil and sweetener (if using) and continue to process until the mixture comes together and starts to stick to the bottom and sides of the processor bowl. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator between uses.