Blush Spaghetti

My house was about to be crammed full of guys. We occasionally host a game night at our house, but I didn't know until they started arriving that my brother had promised them food. What do you feed a bunch of hungry guys, and quickly? Spaghetti. It's easy, tasty and I usually have everything I need to make it.

I ran into the kitchen, gathered my ingredients and realized I had heavy cream, I was going to make my favorite spaghetti, blush spaghetti. Why? Because I love the creaminess from the heavy cream and how it mellows out the acidic bite from the tomatoes. If it's an option I always make it over regular spaghetti.

Here's a run down on the ingredients. 

Ground beef, tomato sauce, brown sugar, red wine, garlic, onion (leeks), parsley, cream (not pictured) and Parmesan cheese. Also have your favorite Italian herbs, I just added a pinch of Marjoram and Thyme to this sauce.

 First start a pot of water to boil. I add a little salt and some olive oil to mine before I begin making the sauce.

Now that your noodle pot is getting ready, brown that beef and pour off the extra fat. Once that's done add in your onions and garlic. Let it cook for a few minutes so they soften. Then add your red wine, only a 1/2 cup or so and let it cook down before adding in the tomato sauce.

At this point you can add your brown sugar (to taste, I like a little more in mine to add depth and to  counter the acid in the tomatoes), also add in your Italian spices. The basic spaghetti sauce is now done. You could just serve it as is over noodles, but there's only one more step to make this a blush spaghetti and your taste buds will love you for it.

Pour in the heavy cream...I did around a 1/4 of a cup worth.

Mix it all together, so the red becomes pink.

I let this stay at a low simmer until the noodles are done. I had very little actual spaghetti noodles so I used rice noodles instead. Once they were cooked al dente I drained them, tossed them with the sauce, and made sure everything got thoroughly coated.

Grate some Parmesan cheese over the top, sprinkle with fresh parsley and you're done. Everyone got second helpings (I also made a salad) and the only complaints I got were they were too full to eat anymore (but somehow polished everything off). Silly boys.

Gluten Free Stuffing for the holidays

The holiday season is closing in fast, are you ready for it?

The holidays can be hard when you have to eat gluten free and are visiting relatives and friends (Mr. Beams family still doesn't get it entirely) but if bringing or making your own food is an option, I've got a recipe that you might enjoy.

I keep my gluten free bread in the freezer and I know I can't be the only one that gets slices that break into pieces or the ends are too thick for sandwiches. I keep these odd ball pieces in the side pocket of my freezer door and use them to make stuffing, bread crumbs, and anything else I can think of. If you don't have any of these laying around, you can use a fresh loaf. 

I arrange all my  reject sandwich bread on a tray to thaw. Most of these are end pieces that were volunteered for stuffing duty. They don't all fit on my tray and I've over lapped them a bit, but I make sure to move them during the cooking process to make sure everything gets nice and toasted.

Here's a close up of my broken bread, it's perfectly good, save for the fact that it broke into a smaller piece. The bread is mostly thawed at this point (you can see the melted puddles of frost on the tray).

I heated the oven to 300F and put them in.

After 10-15 minutes they should be nicely toasted (for thicker pieces you'll have to turn them over half way through baking or one side will be crunchy and the other will be soft). When they were cool to the touch I broke them into smaller bite size pieces.

 While you're waiting for the bread to toast, prepare your other ingredients.  Stuffing recipes vary greatly, some add dried fruit, while others add the gizzards from the turkey, my recipe however, is on the plain side, and I never have any leftovers.

Chicken stock, diced celery, chopped leeks, minced garlic, chopped parsley, and spice mixture (salt, pepper, celery seed,  ground coriander, garlic powder and onion powder).

When the bread has been cooled and crumbled, combine with the other ingredients, Making sure the bread absorbs the liquid (I show having just over a cup of chicken stock, but while I was mixing the bread I added water to insure there was enough moisture). When it's all mixed together lightly pack it into a baking dish and bake at 350F until golden brown.

Once it's golden, set it on the counter to cool. I usually serve mine warm but it's also great cold.

I make two batches every thanksgiving. One for Mr. Beams side of the family and one for mine (we eat like hobbits during the holidays).

Happy Holidays and Good Eating!

Chicken Chowder

Mr. Beam doesn't like soup, unless he's sick and needs chicken soup or the rare occasion we have grilled cheese and tomato soup.
I have a problem with this because love making and eating soups. My solution? I call soups chowder and make it a bit thicker. I might get a little complaining (just that one time I made cauliflower chowder, but that recipe didn't work out the way it should have).

On the menu today we have a Chicken Chowder.

I love prepping my recipes. I just put some music on and get everything ready to go in their separate bowls or plates. I mince my garlic and shallots, cube my chicken and potatoes, chop my carrots and celery,  prep my corn and mix together or thaw my chicken broth.

I didn't have any homemade chicken stock, so I used my trusty fall back. I love Better Than Bouillon and have both their Organic chicken base and Organic beef base in my fridge at all times (Costco sells them in the big jars!). They are life savers in a pinch and can even give your homemade stock a little boost if needed.

I put my cast iron pot on medium and spooned some bacon fat into it. You can use your favorite oil or butter, but I always have a cup of bacon fat on the stove for things like this. Waste not want not, and it adds more flavor and makes the kitchen smell even better.

The potatoes! If you look closely you'll see they are not all uniformed. I like cutting to various sizes for a chowder. The smaller potatoes will breakdown and help thicken the broth, while the bigger ones will keep most of their shape for eating.

When the pan is hot enough, throw in the shallots and garlic, let them get nice and soft  before adding in the chicken.

I keep this cooking until the chicken is cooked all the way through, but you don't have to, I just like doing a taste test before the next steps.

I add in the potatoes, carrots, celery, and corn, tossing it all together. Then I add the stock, filling it to within an inch of the top of the pot. I add in my spices, salt, pepper, celery seed, and coriander. I'll also add some garlic and/or onion powder if it needs it. Then we wait, and let it cook down.

Until it's thick and looked like this. Adjust any last minute spices and serve. I like mine with a slice of gluten free toast, buttered, on the side.

I make so much of this that I should have leftovers but I hardly ever do. Mr. Beam gobbles up 2 or 3 servings in no time...now if only I can get him to like soup, the dinner possibility would grow into even more delicious things.

Quick, two pan Chicken Alfredo

I've been working long hours lately and have no desire to cook when I get home, let alone do the dishes afterwards. My solution for nights like these? A quick pasta. If I count all the prep dishes and my bowl and spoon to eat with, I get under 10 dishes to wash. (I'm talking  cutting boards, prep knife,  cooking spoon, pasta pot, sauce pan, serving bowl, and spoon to eat it all with). Which I think is pretty impressive considering its a well rounded meal with a vegetable.

  We've got a chicken breast (later cut into cubes), asparagus (later chopped), shallot (later minced), garlic (later crushed in a garlic press), whipping cream, Parmesan cheese, and my favorite noodles (at least for the month).

 First things first, I turn on my pans. First is the pot for the noodles, filled with water and a pinch of salt. Then it's my sauce skillet. Once the skillet is warm, add a little oil or bacon fat (I keep a cup of bacon fat on the stove just for this purpose). Add in your cubed chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook over med-high heat until golden brown. 

When your water is boiling, add the noodles and cook as directed on package, or until al dente.

 Back to the skillet -reduce heat to medium and add your minced shallots and crushed garlic toss for a minute, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add in the asparagus and toss for another minute. Now add 3/4 cup cream (or something close to that amount, I eyeball it depending on how much sauce I want), let it bubble for a bit.

Once your noodles are done drain them. I'm spoiled and my pasta pot lid has a built in strainer so I don't have get out the stand alone strainer or try draining it with a normal lid (which I always loose noodles with).

Add the pasta to your sauce and toss it together. Throw in a handful or so of cheese and mix it all together, so the cheese melts and incorporates.

Plate up, sit down, and eat (the dishes can wait till later).

Fish tacos

I've been having Tacos a lot lately. I've always had at least one Taco Tuesday a month for as long as I can remember. Not only are Tacos easy, they are versatile, you can pretty much fill them with whatever you want.  When you have Tacos as often as I do, you can get board with the same old fillings. So every now and then I spice things up a bit and try something new.
 After an experience with some pretty bland fish tacos at a pub, I decided to make my own, and they would be flavorful.

I was playing off the fish tacos from the pub, which inside a corn tortilla was Cod, sauteed onions and peppers, topped with dry cabbage... it fell short of my expectations and really lacked in flavor.  I decided that I was going to turn those ingredients up a notch. I have Cod, bell peppers, shallot, garlic, lettuce, celery, carrot, cheese, sour cream, and lime all prepped and ready to turn into something yummy!

I chopped my Bell peppers up small along with the garlic and shallot. I find that if peppers are kept in long slices (think Philly cheese steak style) they are harder to eat and more of them end up forgotten on my plate than in my stomach.

I had Tillamook Cheddar cheese on hand. Otherwise I would of gone with a feta or something more pungent, I really like pungent cheese with my tacos.

In this bowl I have some leaf lettuce cut into shreds, celery thinly chopped, and grated carrot. This is the veggie base for my slaw. I did not have any cabbage on hand so I used the lettuce instead.

I set up the ingredients like this not only so I can get good pictures, but also because it is easier to cook this way, and defiantly easier when it comes to clean up. 

I sauteed the peppers, shallot, and garlic with some oil until everything was tender and the flavors had a chance to merry.

Decide on how many tacos you're going to be making and set aside the amount of corn tortillas. I put a skillet on high and I brown each side. They will get a little stiff and crunchy, don't worry, as you stack the ones you've already done the moisture content will soften them again, allowing you to fold them into tacos.

In this picture my tortillas are browned, my fish has been cooked and broken down into smaller pieces, my pepper mixture is done, cheese is grated, and I made my slaw. I mixed some sour cream in with the vegetables and added some spices.

Here's a close up of my fish and sauteed veggies. I decided it would work better if I completely mixed these two together before assembling my tacos.

One taco complete.

Looks like dinner is served!

Banana Muffins with Gluten Free Flax & Ancient Grains All-Purpose Flour

Lately I haven't had a lot of time for breakfast, my mornings are just to busy to make a good meal, and I know I'm not alone on this.
Breakfast is an important part of the day and shouldn't be forgotten, so what do I do?
I binge bake.
That's right, on a non-super busy day I binge bake, making way more muffins and mini loaves of bread then I need. My favorite to make? Banana bread. Mr beam and I sometimes can't eat all the bananas we get before they start to over ripen, so they go in the freezer until I make banana bread muffins.

Muffin recipes make a dozen or more muffins and even though I might be able to stuff my face full of most of them doesn't mean I should. So I divide them into pairs of 4 and put the extras in plastic freezer bags. I can take a bag out the night before a busy day and Mr. Beam and I have two muffins each for the mornings breakfast. It works our wonderfully.

I've been playing around with different banana bread recipes, none of which are the same, so you don't get a recipe today. But I can share a Gluten Free flour mix that I've discovered and love. It's  Gluten free Flax & Ancient Grains All-Purpose Flour by Flax Premium Gold.  I found it at Costco and have used it in just about everything,  You could say I'm in love with it.

Making banana bread is really easy and there are a ton of recipes out there to get you started, just find one that sounds good to you. Do you like walnuts in your banana bread? How about chocolate chips? Want it more lite and fluffy or dense and squishy? I personally like walnuts AND chocolate chips, and for it to be dense and squishy (I also like adding cinnamon to my mix). Feel free to be creative, as long as it's something you'd want to eat.

It takes me less than 10 minutes to mix up the batter and throw the filled muffin tins into the oven, it's the cooking and cooling that take forever. When its all done I have  some warm muffins to eat and 2 sets of muffins for those busy morning.

A side of Fennel and Beets

I needed a side dish for dinner, something that was on the healthier side, and my fridge was kinda empty. I threw something together for the sake of having a vegetable on my plate.

It turned out pretty tasty.

 I had beets and a bulb of fennel. I chopped them up, tossed them with oil, salt and pepper, and put it all in the oven.

The beets would of looked better if they solid red or golden, but they're earthy flavor was complimented with the flavors of the fennel. I ate all of mine and then some, Mr. Beam on the other hand, wouldn't touch them because it 'Has beets'.

Smashed red potatoes

This is quickly becoming my favorite way to have potatoes. It's like combining French Fries and Mashed potatoes into one dish. Who doesn't love that idea?

Start with small red potatoes.

Cover generously with oil, salt, and pepper.

Place on a baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once soft enough, remove from oven  and smash with a flat object, I used a glass cup.

 Smash each of the potatoes

 Once they are all smashed put them back in the over for another 5-10 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want the edges.

Bad picture, but they are done, and delicious.

Accidents and feeling betrayed....

My day job had me working longer hours than normal, I wasn't eating as well as I normally do and the heat was taking it's toll on my body. They sent me home early one night, knowing that I wasn't  feeling well, and I went to the store and got electrolyte powder and a probiotic to help me bounce back, I needed to take better care of myself. I walked like a slug around the store, my head was pounding and I couldn't think straight on what I wanted, I ended up walking down all the isles twice. The next day I felt worse, my joints hurt, I couldn't look at bright lights, and my stomach wasn't happy, but pushed through it and worked anyway. The next morning I could hardly get out of bed and had slept 9+ hours. Something wasn't right. I grabbed my probiotic and while pouring myself a glass I read parts of the label. Funny, it didn't say gluten free like it used too. I stopped pouring and turned the carton around, it stated that it was dairy-free, soy-free, and vegan. My head was foggy and I squinted at the tiny print below (and I mean tiny, it's the smallest print on the entire carton, I don't need glasses but found it hard to read), "This product contains low levels of gluten from organic oat flour and barley malt".

When I thought I was taking care of myself I was actually poisoning myself.
I was so angry. Yes, it ultimately was my fault, I should of read the label and it's teeny tiny print, but I felt betrayed. I had bought this probiotic before and it had been gluten free. In my foggy state at the store I grabbed things I recognized as being safe, I just wanted to feel better.

In the tiny print, just below where if informs you of the gluten is also states 'Try our new gluten-free quarts with green caps!"

Sorry, I don't think I can ever trust your product again. Even if it has a green cap this time.

Kitchen visit, trout, calamari and sauteed beets

In my last post I shared the wonderful Ice Cream Cake I make with my cousin Emily while I was on vacation. In this post I will share the rest of our meal. Just keep in mind that we shared cooking duties so I don't have as many pictures of the cooking process... actually I'm missing a lot of photos I would normally have, but I was on vacation so we're making due with what we have.

The second day of my mini vacation Emily and I decided to take it easy, lounging around the house watching movies and cooking. To some people I'm sure cooking on their vacation is out of the question. Your relaxing, why not order a pizza, right?

Emily and I both enjoy cooking, even more so when we are together, sharing recipes and new ingredients. As kids we were always hanging out in the kitchen during the holidays, not only to sneak into food, but it was our hangout spot. It's where the magic happened. The kitchen was always loud, most of it from laughter. Cooking is a comfort for us and not necessarily because we get to eat it afterwards.

A whole rainbow trout.

Emily loves fish but had never prepared one whole before, or grilled it on a BBQ, so I decided to show her my favorite way to make rainbow trout. We started out with the whole fish, like in the picture, I showed her how to trim the fins and made sure it was clean on the inside. I raided her cabinets for Italian spices and salt and mixed them together in a little bowl. It had basil, oregano, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and ground pepper in it. I got it as close to the Italian salt rub I had at home (which I got at whole foods last year and love, But I haven't been able to find it again), It smelled like the beginnings of a pizza. I sprinkled my herb mix inside the body cavity of the fish and then wrapped the whole thing in aluminum foil. It was put on the grill while we cooked the rest of our meal. Sadly this is the only picture of the trout. We got so hungry by the time everything was done that we forgot to take pictures. It was perfectly cooked and I showed Emily how to remove the bones while keeping  as much of the fish intact as possible.

Sense being diagnosed with Celiacs Emily hasn't had some of her favorite foods. Most are not pre-made gluten free or are very time consuming to make yourself. Emily had not had Calamari in over 4 years. I was going to change that.

The hardest thing about making Calamari? 

Finding the squid. Most local stores have certain seafood staples and squid isn't usually one of them. Thankfully Whole Foods  tends to carry it, both the whole head/body (for stuffing) and pre-sliced into rings, which is perfect for Calamari.

You make it just like you would breaded chicken, dip it in the egg mixture, then rice flour, then back in the egg, then to the bread crumbs. Make sure it gets a nice coating of each layer.

All breaded and waiting for the fry oil to be hot enough.

Golden, delicious, and cooked just long enough. If you cook then too long they get really chewy.

Now I can't have Calamari without tartar sauce,  it's just wouldn't seem right to me without it.

The problem? Emily doesn't use mayo, she doesn't like it. Thankfully she had a vegan-mayo substitute. Normally I don't touch stuff like that, I prefer having as minimal processed food as possible, the ingredients in this stuff is processed before it is even processed into a vegan-mayo.  Anyway, I stubbornly wanted my tartar sauce and used it. We had gotten young garlic at the store, the kind with the bulb and the green stalk. I had never eaten it before and wanted to try it, so I chopped some up and put it in the vegan-mayo, along with some dill and pickles. It was oh so yummy with the Calamari. 

With all the seafood, we needed our vegetables, so I chopped up some golden beets, more of the young garlic and added the leftover Italian spices from the trout and I sauteed it all. The picture above is from before it all was cooked, once this was done we became ravenous animals and no more pictures where taken.