Weeknight Cioppino...

My husband and I are not stew or soup people. I'm not sure why...but we just aren't. Its one of the things that we are in complete culinary agreement on. So, I don't make soups or stews. But, the other night, on a whim for no reason at all really, I decided to make cioppino. I had two fishes in the fridge that I accidentally defrosted together, and wanted something other to do with them then steam or pan sear. Oh, and I needed something interesting to do with eggplant...its in season here you know, and if you read my blog, you know I cook in season what comes from the farmshare each week.
I hear this dish comes from fisherman on the docks in Italy. A working man's food. It makes sense to me, in the old village ports of Italy, that one might take what was left in the bottom of the boat at the end of the day, carry it home to his wife who would brilliantly, yet effortlessly make this incredible stew from scraps.
Whatever its origins, cioppino is a dish that is not often seen on menus in the American Southwest. Back east more perhaps, but not really here. It seems like a dish that could intimidate, taking hours to stew on the stove. But no, not this time. I created this for a weeknight meal. Pick up some fish this weekend and put on a pot.
This stew has a rich and thick tomato-y broth, that is earthy with that mild sweetness that comes from tomato, and a hint of warmth from the red pepper. The vegetables and the thick, flaky chunks of fish really leave you satisfied.

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced or diced
• 1 small eggplant cut into small dice (about 2 cups)
• Fresh or frozen green beans or peas (about 1.5 cups)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs. garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes (for medium, use less for less heat)
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 4 cups stock or broth
• 3/4 pound fresh (or from frozen) salmon fillet cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound fresh (or from frozen) wahoo or cod fillet cut into 1-inch cubes (or any firm white fish, like halibut)

Directions

Heat the oil in a large, deep pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, and eggplant and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and sauté 2 more minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices and the stock. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the chunks of fish to the pot and cover and cook until the fish is cooked through, about another 5-7 minutes. Add the green beans or peas. Simmer for another minute Season generously with salt and pepper to taste..

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with GF crackers or toasted GF bread. I garnished with diced celery, a dollop of sour cream and cilantro.

Morning Banana Bran Muffins...

Just ask my husband, I am always trying out new recipe for a morning breakfast on the go. Something that packs a bigger nutritional punch than you might expect, in a small and healthy package, oh--and that tastes mighty good. Why? Probably because I am the ever-multi-tasker...never settling for doing one thing, when I can do three at the same time. That is why I like these. Nutrition (full of good stuff)+fast-food (my version anyway, I made them Saturday and they last me all week.)+yumminess (they taste really good)+convenience (it fits in my purse with my yogurt and plum!).
This muffin is my latest invention, and it's delicious! I pair it with a homemade yogurt and a piece of fruit and I have a morning breakfast that is about 400 calories (just right) full of nutritional goodies and goodness and--I dont even think about food till well into the lunch time hour (it keeps you satisfied for a long time.)

 

And the nutritional value--more goodness than usual for such a small, but mighty little muffin!
It gives you good fat, potassium, fiber, and protein! And about 192 calories per muffin.

 

These muffins are dense, yet super moist and chewey. The almonds give crunch, the coconut a satisfying chew, and the chocolate chips and 'just sweet-enough' edge to these. when you eat one, microwave for 15-seconds if right from the fridge, and they will taste right from the oven. Use raisins if you prefer not to have chocolate in your breakfast muffin.

Ingredients:

•  ¾ cup oat bran
• ¼ cup ground flax meal
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1.5 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 2 small eggs
• 2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
• 2 large bananas, mashed
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup GF flour blend
• ¾ cup coconut (not sweetened)
• ¼ cup molasses
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (at least 60%, more is better for more you) (or use raisins if you dont want to use chocolate)

Preheat oven to 425F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a whisk attachment. Blend together until well mixed. Spoon mixture into muffin cups filling almost full. Bake 15-17 minutes.

Faster than take-out Shrimp in Mushroom Sauce

This is a dish that took me 28-minutes end to end. That is faster than takeout any day! Its delicious and hearty, without being laden with meat...shrimp is the protein here.
Don't be daunted by the ingredients list, its mostly items you have, and just a few you will need to add to your grocery list for the week to pick up so you can make this next Monday night.
We use shrimp in this, because it lends itself perfectly to the flavors. Since we only buy domestic, wild shrimp (when it is on sale), we don't get this treat often, so when we do—we want to do something really great with it. Tomatoes are an unexpected ingredient in this stir fry dish, but they add a delicious tangy-sweet component to the dish. The cool and crunchy, raw cucumber is a wonderful cooling contrast to the slightly sweet, and earthy-rich mushroom sauce.

Main dish:

• 1 lb. raw (or frozen) shrimp
• 1 oz. package dried shitake mushrooms (check your Asian food isle)
• 2 cups (or so) grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup edamame beans (not in the shell)
• 1 cup cucumber, chopped into large pieces
• 1/3 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
• About 4 oz of GF rice noodle (like Thai Kitchen brand)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Sauce:

• Water
• 1/4 GF Tamari (GF soy) sauce
• 1/4 cup GF Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 2 tbs corn starch
• 1 tbs vinegar (any kind)

Start a teapot with about 4 cups of water until it boils. Place rice noodles and dried shitakes in a large glass bowl. When the teapot boils, pour the liquid over the noodles and mushrooms. Using a wooden spoon, push the noodles and mushrooms underwater to submerge. Cover with a dishtowel and let sit. In a large saute pan, over medium-high heat, add 1 tbs olive oil and saute the edamame, tomatoes, and red bell pepper until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Return to the noddles. The water will have taken on a brownish color and flavor of the mushroom, creating a mushroom broth. Using tongs, retrieve the mushrooms from the bowl of noodles and add to the saute pan. Cover the noodles again. Saute the vegetables another 2-3 minutes. Then, add the raw shrimp. Cook the shrimp until they are about 1/2 way cooked (you can still see some grayish part, and they are not all the way pink). Return again to the noddles, they should be soft by now in the water. To the noodle water and noodles add the brown sugar, Worcestershire, GF soy sauce and corn starch. Stir to mix. Add the noddle mixtrue to the pan of vegetables and mushrroms. and stir to combine. The liquid will begin to simmer and as soon as it does, it will thicken into a thick glossy sauce. Season generaously with salt and pepper (to taste.) When the sauce is as thick as you like it, dish it into bowls. Top the hot rice noddles and sauce with the raw cucumbers and cilantro. Serve.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I was raised in what I call the Betty Crocker kitchen. My mother, being an exceptional wife to my dad and and even better mother of young children in the '70s and '80s made dinner each and every night. ...And we sat around the table as a family and had dinner! (A lost art it seems.)

While not a gourmet cook, my mother was an excellent cook. And many of her dishes were the quintessential ‘Betty Crocker’ recipes. You know, the ones that came out of the red and white checked, wire spiral bound book? The ones that included two descriptive adjectives connected with an ‘and,’ or that often ended in a ‘bake.' Cheese and bacon get-togethers, chicken and broccoli casserole, Louisiana shrimp bake…and these gems—sweet and sour meatballs.

I loved these growing up. Coming home from school to meet the sour-sweet smell coming from the Crockpot, wafting through the door when I would walk in.

My mom made these with beef and served it over white rice. I use ground chicken or ground turkey or a mix—use what you like. While there are not a lot of ingredients, and some come from a can, as most of Betty's did in the day, you can choose to use fresh ingredients if you choose.

This is so easy, all the ingredients into the Crockpot and, come dinner time you have a sweet and sour and savory dish with a luscious sauce full of caramelized pineapple and juicy meatballs. Its childhood heaven in a bowl. I garnish with cilantro, something my mother didn't do, but it plays well off the Asian flavors of the dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground meat (lean beef, chicken, turkey or mix)
• 1/2 GF cracker crumb, or bread crumb (use GF crackers, or even GF pretzels-whatever you have to crush into crumb)
• 1 small egg
• 1 15-oz can crushed pineapple with its juice
• 3 tbs vinegar (any kind)
• 3 tbs GF soy sauce
• 1/3 cup (not packed) brown sugar (or use agave, but use 1/4 less)
• 3 tbs. corn starch 
• 1 medium bell pepper cut into large dice
• Salt and pepper

Blend ground meat, egg, bread crumb and salt and pepper (few pinches of each) until mixed. Form into meatballs the size of golf balls. Set aside.
Into the Crockpot add: the pineapple with juice, the GF soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch, and bell pepper. Stir until blended and the cornstarch is mixed in. Lay the meatballs on top of the sauce and lid the Crockpot. Cook on low for up to 8 hours. Cook on high shorter.
Serve over a brown rice or other grain, like millet or quinoa.

Eggplant and Artichoke Penne

Vegetarian night came early this week, Sunday lunch. Its eggplant season with my farmshare, so we have it in abundance! We had no meat defrosted, so lunch was this. The eggplant and onion, when sauteed on high heat take on a caramelized, nutty, roasty note. This recipe will serve 4, or 2—with leftovers enough for lunch at work next week.

Ingredients:

• 1 box or bag of GF penne pasta
• 1 medium eggplant, cubed or diced small (about 4 cups)
• 1 medium onion, any kind, diced (we used a combo of shallot, white, and Italian red onion, because we had them, use what you have and like.)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded or chopped
• Pats of butter, or olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to package directions. While its cooking, in a medium or large saute pan add 2 tsp. olive oil and over high heat saute your onion, garlic, artichoke and eggplant. Salt and pepper to season it. Stir often as it cooks. It will begin to caramelize and brown, then after a few minutes some of the moisture will come out and the vegetables will begin to become soft. Continue to cook until soft. If it looks too dry, add 1 tbs water to the pan to deglaze and prevent burning. When soft, turn off the heat.
To serve, dish a serving of penne into a bowl, and add a pat of butter (use olive oil if you don't want to use butter, about 1 tsp.) Toss the butter or oil with the penne to coat. Then top with the eggplant saute mixture. Add a sprinkling of basil, and we like to add Parmesan cheese to the top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten Free Monday Night Cornbread...

Cornbread is gluten free, naturally. Did you know that? I didn't for years. I thought that cornbread had to be a blend of wheat flour and that the corn meal was there merely as an accessory to the wheat. Well, the truth is cornbread can be made solely with corn meal! I was enlightened one evening a year or more back when Alton Brown on the food network made a cornbread this way.
My recipe is inspiration from his. And its so easy, easy enough that it can be a Monday night side dish to whatever you have going on. It doesn't even take a mixer, just your grandmothers wooden spoon and a bowl. If you have all the ingredients in the pantry (and you should), it takes literally 6 minutes to combine, then it bakes for 20 while you prepare anything else you are having.
The corn meal gives the cornbread an incredible corn flavor that is very pronounced. The corm meal alone lends a crumbly chewiness to the bread, while some of the corn meal bits have a satisfying crunch. The corn kernels in the cornbread offer a sweet pop as you enjoy it dripping (or lightly) buttered. The bottom is golden and crisp with that chewy browned goodness you only get from a cast iron skillet (more on that in a minute).
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have, use milk)
• 2 eggs
• 1 can creamed corn. Or use kernel corn-drained.
• 4 tablespoons oil (olive or canola), divided
• 1 tsp. black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet into the oven to heat. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk, 2 tbs oil, eggs, and corn, whisking together to combine. Then add the cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and stir to combine.
Open the oven and bring the hot cast iron skillet out and place on top of stove. Add 2 tbs oil to the hot cast iron skillet. Immediately pour the batter into the skillet. Immediately return to the oven and bake until the cornbread is golden brown and springs back in the center upon the touch, about 20 minutes.

About cast iron skillets: invest in one. Nothing makes a perfectly charred, golden, brown crust better then a cast iron skillet—on everything. From asparagus to steak to chicken breast, the cast iron skillet cannot compare to any other cooking vessel. It goes from stove top to oven, is naturally non-stick once seasoned, and makes the best crusts on the underside of corn bread.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies...

These peanut butter cookies are a treat, they do after all have sugar in them. But factor in the high protein value from the peanuts and the eggs, and we could call these good for you.

These are super simple, and turn out really delicious. They come together in 10 minutes, and bake in 15! They are not quite like your traditional peanut butter cookie—these possess a soft, chewy interior, with a crisp outside—I recommend, make a double-batch.

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of Gluten Free Flour (any blend you prefer, I use Tom Sawyer)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (use the larger amount if you like super chunky)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Using a mixer, blend together peanut butter and sugar. Slowly add the eggs beating well after each one. Mix in the vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Finally, add the peanuts. This dough will be firm and sticky.

Place balls of dough about 1-inch in diameter on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press the balls flat with the palm of your hand dipped in white sugar (this keeps your palm from sticking to the dough, and form a nice sugary crust on the top of he cookie.)

Bake for 15-minutes until the edges just start to slightly brown. Remove from oven, and then immediately remove from parchment on to a rack to cool.