Lo Mein

I love when the Bountiful Basket has the "Asian Pack" option.  It means bok choy and subsequently lo mein for dinner!  While not originally a GF recipe, just sub in some GF spaghetti (I prefer the Ancient Harvest quinoa/corn blend) and you are good to go!  Just be careful that your asian sauce ingredients are GF as a lot of brands are not.  Credit for this one goes to my aunt who actually introduced our family to a GF way of thinking!  Thanks J!

3 tablespoons soy sauce (La Choy)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce (Panda Brand)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (Sun Luck)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 pound pork loin chops, sliced into 1/8 inch pieces (I've also done with chicken as shown in the picture.  Both are delicious!)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons grated ginger root
olive oil
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (sometimes I sub snow peas, I happened to have both this time so used both!)
2 bunches scallions
1 head Chinese cabbage or bok choy (happend to have bok choy and some asian cabbage so used both!)
8 ounces GF pasta noodles
1 tablespoon Asian chile garlic sauce

Whisk soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and five-spice powder together.  Place 3 tablespoons of mixture in a large ziplock bag, add pork.  Seal bag and squish around so all pieces are coated with marinade.  Refrigerate at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour.  Whisk broth and cornstarch into remaining soy sauce mixture.  In separate small bowl, mix garlic and ginger with 1/2 teaspoon oil, set aside.

Heat 1 tsp oil in skillet over high heat until just smoking.  Add half of pork in single layer.  Cook until browned on all sides.  Transfer pork to medium bowl and repait with remaing pork and more oil. 

Return skillet to high heat, add more oil.  Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown.  Add scallions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are wilted.  Transfer vegetables to bowl with pork.

Add more oil and cabbage/bok choy to now empty skillet.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to wilt.  Clear center of skillet; add garlic/ginger mixture and cook.  Return pork/vegetable mixture and broth/soy mixture to skillet; simmer until thickened and ingredients are well incorporated.

While cooking pork and vegetables, cook pasta noodles.  After draining noodles, transfer back to pan and add cooked stir-fry mixture and chile garlic sauce.  Toss noodles constantly until sauce coats noodles.  Serve immediately.

Bone Broth

One of the best things I have started to do since going gluten free is making my own bone broth.  It is so easy.  Once you get used to using this delicious homemade stock, it is hard to use anything else.  I just save the carcass from chickens I cook, or from rotisserie chickens we get from Costco or Sam's Club.  I also used my leftover turkey carcass from Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My sister, Jenette, and daughter, Natalie, buy beef marrow bones from a butcher or rancher and use those as well.  Just throw the bones in a stock pot with water, onion, carrots and celery.  Cook on low--all day!  At the end of the day, strain the liquid off and freeze in containers, or store in the fridge to be used.  Some in our family drink a cup of broth each day and swear by its health benefits.  I love using it in soups and any recipes that call for chicken stock. 

Taco Pie

A friend of mine posted this recipe on Facebook a while ago and I thought I would give it a try.  Time went by and when I finally decided to make it, I couldn't find her post.  I went on line and found that many people had posted this recipe and many people had commented on it saying how they had made it and it was so easy and great.  People lie on the internet. . . really.  Not that it isn't good--it is, but if they used the same kind of potato flakes as I did (how many different kinds are there?), it was not quick and easy.  Because it has potato flakes and it is a taco pie, K.C. dubbed it "Potaco Pie."

Potaco Pie

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 1/2 cups mashed potato flakes (you could also use left over mashed potatoes and omit the butter and milk)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Sour cream, optional

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter. Add milk and 2 tablespoon taco seasoning. Remove from heat and add potato flakes until incorporated. Press mixture into the bottom of a 10-inch pan.
2. Bake for 7-10 minutes until it just BARELY turns golden brown.
3. In a medium skillet, cook beef and onions until beef is browned and cooked through. Drain. Add Salsa and remaining taco seasoning. Cook until bubbly.
4. Pour into crust. Bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
5. Let cool for 5 minutes. Top with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Cut and serve with sour cream.

Important Notes: 

 I was using the potato flakes that you get at Costco.  They come in little pouches that make enough for your family.  I opened one up and measured how many potato flakes came in one pouch--1 1/4 cup.  Perfect!  I would need two pouches to equal the 2 1/2 cups called for in the recipe.  I melted my butter and added my milk and then added one pouch of flakes.  As I mixed it I thought--"Hmm, this looks like the right consistency for pie crust right now.  What will happen when I add another 1 1/4 cups of flakes?"  Wanting to follow the recipe exactly, I added the rest of the flakes.  I ended up with a big bowl of taco-flavored dust.  Not very crust-looking.  I put it in the pie plate and it filled the entire plate, no room for anything else.  This is when I started to doubt the honesty of many people on the internet.  Maybe I just had the wrong flakes.  I melted more butter and added more milk and essentially doubled the crust recipe.  I divided it in half and it worked perfectly in my crust.

Also, I added some refried beans that I had in the fridge to the meat mixture. I think it helped keep the pie together.

We actually really like our "Potaco Pie," which is lucky because I have an extra batch of taco-flavored crust sitting in my freezer in a Ziploc bag!

Hot Stuff

On Saturday we went to Sam's Club and I bought a 6 pack of beautifully colorful bell peppers.  Now, 6 is kinda a lot of peppers, but I like to have them on hand to through into pasta, salads, eggs, etc.  Fast forward to Tuesday when I picked up my produce basket.  It is like Christmas day going through the basket and to my surprise (and dismay) there were 7 beautiful bell peppers in it.  holy. crap.  What is a girl to do with 13 bell peppers!!! I don't even like them that much.  They make me sooo burpy (more than usual :) ).  Luckily, I split my basket with a friend at school, so that got rid of 4 of the bell peppers. What to do with the rest of them?? Make this:

Stuffed Bell Peppers (adapted from 3-4 recipes I looked at from allrecipes.com) :

4 green bell peppers (or any color I guess. Mine were huge so I only used 4, but if you have smaller ones you could probably fill 5-6)
1 pound ground beef (I think turkey would be really good too)
1 cup cooked rice (the original recipe I looked at said 1/2 uncooked rice which made me excited because I thought "oh good, it will just bake in the oven and be so fast" wrong.  The first step is to cook the rice.  So, I thought I would be upfront about the rice and its preparation. )
1 onion, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
mozzarella cheese, one handful and another handful.

Preheat oven to 400. (cook the rice if you haven't already)

Slice off the top of the peppers and pull out the seeds and ribs.  Place in a baking dish that has a little bit of olive oil at the bottom to keep them from sticking.

Saute onions in a pan with olive oil for a few minutes.  Add ground beef and cook until brown.  Drain. stir in the rest of the ingredients and the rice, except the mozzarella cheese.  Once it is all combined, toss in a handful of the cheese.  (I didn't originally do this when I made them yesterday, but I wish that I had.)  Stuff into hollowed out peppers.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven, uncover, and generously apply a layer of mozzarella cheese on the top.  Bake for 5 more minutes, or until cheese is melted. They are super filling and so delicious.  But watch out for the pepper burps! Enjoy!
                                         

Before going in the oven

Hot out of the oven

Coconut Shrimp

I love coconut shrimp. End of story. Well, almost.

Now for a picture walk, followed with the recipe!









Easy Baked Coconut Shrimp (original recipe here)

18-24 medium to large raw shrimp (original recipe said to butterfly them, but I didn't)

1 cup dry shredded/flaked coconut (baking type)
2-3 eggs

Breading (flouring?)
1/2 cup coconut flour

2 T ground flax seed1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. dried crushed chili

1 tsp. white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix breading ingredients together in one bowl. Place coconut in a second bowl, and beat the eggs in a third bowl.

3. Dip shrimp in this order: egg, breading, egg, coconut. Lay shrimp onto parchment paper. Repeat. 

4. Bake shrimp for 15 minutes, turning halfway through. 

5. Let them cool slightly, smother in sweet chili sauce, and eat all of them.

*Note* I used Panda Express's Sweet Chili Sauce. I read the ingredients and while nothing seemed gluteny, it did not say gluten-free...so I don't really know. I do know that I had planned to make my own sauce, but it contains fish sauce, which was about $5 at my Kroger. The sauce I got was only $4.30. So that and the convenience made the decision pretty easy. However, these little guys would be delicious dipped in just about anything, or on their own!

Chicken Curry w/ Spinach and Tomatoes

I love this meal.  It is quick and easy to make, and my 3 year old will clean her plate and ask for seconds every time.  What's not to love!

coconut oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 13 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup canned diced tomatoes - I have also used fresh ones
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins, cut into bite sized cubes
3 cups packed baby spinach

In a large skillet heat coconut oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and salt.  Cook until softened, about 7 minutes, stirring often.  Add the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Stir in coconut milk, tomatoes, and tomato paste.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Add the raw chicken, stir well, and cook 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Stir in spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until wilted.  Season to taste with salt.  Serve over a bed of sticky rice.  Eat it until you are stuffed.

Asian Lettuce Wraps and Garlic Roasted Butternut Squash

Yesterday was a beautifully sunny day in the mid 70's and I was getting ready to go lay out by the pool.  We wanted to eat something light for lunch because it is hard to feel cute laying out in a swimsuit when you have eaten a big heavy lunch.  I pulled out a head of iceberg lettuce from our weekly farmer's market produce bag,  some spinach, cabbage, and assorted vegetables for the salads.  As I went to unwrap the beautiful head of iceberg lettuce, on the front it said "Have you tried our Asian Lettuce Wraps?" Well no, I hadn't, but they sounded good! So I went to dole.com to find the recipe but it was so hard to navigate and find the recipe on the ipad so I gave up.  I then preceded to read about 15 different asian lettuce wrap recipes, none of which I had all the ingredients for and I was not about to run to the grocery store again (we had already gone that morning).  So I decided to save the lettuce for Monday and pick up the extra ingredients on my way home from work.

So today, I was really craving those asian lettuce cups and thought to myself, I am just going to make up my own recipe of lettuce cups with stuff I already have, based on what I had read on all those different recipes.  So this is what I came up with:

*Disclaimer: I really just made it up as I went, so I apologize if you think "wtf is this?"

Coconut oil
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
some mushrooms, diced
1/3 cup soy sauce
a splash of rice wine vinegar
ginger ( I just sprinkled in some powdered since I didn't have fresh, but I would definitely recommend fresh ginger for this)

1/4 a head of cabbage, diced up

Iceberg lettuce, rinsed, and pulled into separate leaves.  

Saute the onion and bell pepper in some coconut oil for 2-3 minutes.  Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink.  Drain.  Add a little more coconut oil to the pan and put the meat mixture back in it.  Add the mushrooms, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and cook on medium low for 5 minutes.  

Scoop into lettuce leaves and eat it up. nom nom nom. I think it is good.  I am not sure. haha I kept asking Taylor what he thought about it and he said it was delish and proceeded to eat about 6 leaves full, but I couldn't tell if he actually liked it or was driven to binge due to the fact we had been fasting all day. So try it and tell me what you think! Or if you have a good asian lettuce wraps recipe you have tried and liked send it my way! 

As for the squash.  I had it so I made it like we would make roasted potatoes, carrots, or sweet potatoes.  

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into cubes

1-2 cloves minced garlic

salt

pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.  Lather squash cubes in olive oil and sprinkle with S&P and garlic.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Delish!