Menu Plan Monday March 8th

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

Just a heads up, I am hosting a menu plan give away…
Manda is our hostess this week with a theme of “red carpet specials”. She’s got a great post up and is doing beautifully, which is wonderful to hear! So my red carpet meals… hmmm. Well, red pepper sauce is my favorite fancy food dress up, so that should count!

I have a post up on gluten free Passover foods, which is a great way to broaden your GF selection, and at least near us they’re in the store.

Monday:
Turkey with red pepper sauce and broccoli

Tues:
Tuna in lettuce cups with apple

Weds:
Beef stew with roasted cauliflower

Thurs:
avocado and lemony quinoa

Friday:
leftovers

Baked goods: um…should be a crazy week, so I really don’t know.

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A Menu Plan Give away

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

I’ve had a few unexpected things pop up so this brief: I’ve had very few hosts for Menu Plan Monday lately. So in the spirit of making things more interesting, there’s a giveaway from now until March 18th. Leave a comment below telling me why menu planning is helpful to you (one entry) or for two, sign up as a host and email me cheryl(at)eharrishome DOT com and let me know desired date and ingredient. I will announce a lucky winner on March 20th.

I’ll be giving away the items in the picture There are Enjoy life bars and cookies, a (soy free!) Dagoba chocolate bar, Bob’s Red mill pancake and certified GF cornmeal (All are GF, CF, soy free and vegan) and a big old bottle of Salba which isn’t pictured. US winners only due to shipping costs (sorry!) If you’re allergic to something let me know and we’ll work something out, yes?

Our hostess this week is Heather of Celiac Family and we have a fish theme. My cats approve, and so do I!

Wishing you all a wonderful and peaceful week!

Posted in menu plan, news | 15 Comments

Daring Bakers: Tiramisu!

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Ah, time for the monthly Daring Baker indulgent delight. Whew, what a lot of work.  We made ladyfingers, mascarpone, zabaglione, pastry cream, whipped cream, and then assemble and decorate, too!      It looked lovely and was gobbled down.  Largely by my DH, and he kept trying to justify it, too.  I haven’t made a tiramsu in 10 years or so, I guess I (he) was due! Obviously I made it GF, just using GF flour instead of cake flour, but I followed everything else as written, except I dipped the lady fingers in a strong chocolate concoction rather than espresso (DH hates coffee).  My major gripe was with the mascrapone-you can’t get it up to 190.  You just can’t.  Or I couldn’t, and I stirred and stirred for 45 minutes each time.  So if you do opt to give a go, do ignore the temparature part of those directions.  I confess, it is so unusual for me to follow directions that to follow them verbatim (3X) and have them not work as anticipated was frustrating.  It DOES work, just the temps don’t jive.

I used some of the extra filling to make little tiramisu-lettes, which were well appreciated. I did it over 5 days which worked just fine.   And as directed, the original recipes are on the DB site.

As always, do check out the other DB creations–they are always works of art.  And I can’t wait to find out what’s next in store!

Posted in daring bakers, dessert | 9 Comments

Menu plan mini

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

It’s a crazy day of running around, but here goes a mini meal plan.  Manda is our kind hostess with her pick of radishes…I’d love to hear how people use them, I’m afraid I’m not very experienced in that department.

And again, calling all hosts! yep, you. Let me know when you’d like to give it a roll.

Monday:

Baked rosemary salmon and baked potatoes

Tues:
hummus and peppers

Weds:
Garlic chicken in a ‘cream’ sauce with broccoli

Thursday:
buckwheat noodles with Malaysian sunbutter sauce

Friday:
leftovers!

Baked goods:
strawberry tart with mascrapone

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Feb 15th Menu Swap: Soups!

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s day celebration.  As you can see, there was a lot of snuggling all around. We had a nice celebration, complete with Tuxedoed Strawberries!  And of course I’m delighted that most of the snow is melting around here and life is headed back to normal–keep your fingers crossed that we don’t get anymore tomorrow.  And if you are in the Mid-Atlantic region, please consider putting out sunflower seed for our little friends…this weather is hard for them.

This week’s ingredient is soup, one of the very best parts of winter!  Here are a few of my old favorites:

African Inspired Almond Collard Stew (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan)

Asian Style Gingery Soup (GF, CF, EF, SF, vegan and sugar free)

Celeriac and Broccoli Soup (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan)

Red Pepper Soup (GF, CF, EF, SF, sugar free and vegan)

Plus a new one I posted this week, Yummy Red Lentil Dal.

If you haven’t hosted lately or if you’re new and are interested in hosting, please drop me a line with the week you’d like and a food (or theme).  Muchas gracias!

Monday:

Malasian sunflower curry

Tuesday:
Coconut beef curry with cauliflower

Weds:
Yummy Red Lentil Dal.

Thursday:
Turkey with celery and chestnut (didn’t happen last week)

Friday:
TBD

Baked goods: I will make the Daring Baker challenge this week, or at least that’s the plan. vegan bean brownies, if there’s time

And everyone else?

Angela is a big soup fan and join us with Chicken and wild rice soup, especially since they’ve gotten hit with the snow, too.  But it was the walnut thyme scones that really caught my eye…hopefully we’ll hear more soon!

Heather of Celiac Family is having some snow drama–she’s shoveled out, but there’s more on the way.  Chicken has been heavily on the rotation this week, and she’s got White bean chili planned, which is really yummy.

Posted in menu plan | 6 Comments

Tuxedoed Strawberries

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

A simple, easy, Valentine’s treat! There’s still time to make these babies. I must say, I like eating seasonally and we were in Santa Barbara a few years back for Valentine’s Day and got HUGE luscious organic strawberries and the scent alone was intoxicating…we’re not as lucky here in VA but they’re still an impressive treat to delight the ones you love.

If you have cocoa butter, it makes the white chocolate spread much better and keeps it from burning. If not, just dip ’em in chocolate and call it a day!

  • 1 lb of organic strawberries, preferably the bigger ones
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate or, if you’re dairy free, parve white baking chips (check label)
  • 1 inch cube cocoa butter*
  • 4 oz good quality dark chocolate

Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.

Melt white chocolate and cocoa butter over a double boiler or you can microwave them, stirring at 20 second intervals in a glass bowl.

Hold onto the green tops, and submerge most of the strawberry in the chocolate mixture. Place carefully on the cookie sheet and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes or until hardened..

Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler, or it takes about 1.5 minutes in the microwave. Dip horizontally for both “shoulders” like a tuxedo, and draw on assorted ties and buttons.

If you want to use Enjoy Life’s mini chips, put them on RIGHT after dipping the white chocolate.

Allow to cool on wax paper, and do not cover or they will get sticky.

* I know cocoa butter is hard to come by, and you can make it without the cocoa butter, but the white chocolate is much more likely to burn.

I’ve submitted these to Amy’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesday roundup.  Go on and check out the other treats there!

Posted in dessert, recipe | 7 Comments

Yummy Red Lentil Dal

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

As I was looking through my recipes, I realized that the number of of (well, mostly) wholesome desserts to food had gotten skewed more toward the dessert side. Which isn’t so much a problem, but I like balance. Since we have 10-20 inches of snow on the way, it’s a perfect time to post one of my very favorite, easiest, yummiest, recipes. I love it, and love even more that it’s just like a hug on a cold winter day. Try it, you won’t be disappointed, I promise!

And, of course, it’s allergy friendly and vegan.

I use blended young coconut meat and broth, I’m sure you could replace some of the broth with coconut milk. This is a very basic recipe that is totally open to artistic expression! Add in a dash of cayenne or other spices to taste.

1 chopped onion
1-2 Tablespoons olive or coconut oil
1 cup red lentils
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala (or 2 tsps for milder version)
most of carton (3-4 cups) broth (I enjoy Pacific foods)
meat of a young coconut blended with the broth OR 1 can lite coconut milk
salt to taste

Saute onion in oil until translucent. Add in the curry/garam masala, stir for a minute then add in lentils. Add broth/coconut blend and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are well cooked. Add salt to taste.

And that’s it. Serve with roasted cauliflower, purr.

Posted in main meal, recipe, soup | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Menu Plan Monday: Garlic!

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

Gluten Free Menu Swap Monday - Garlic
Happy snowy Monday! We’re under 2 feet of snow, or thereabouts, and fortunately DH is on shoveling patrol and my main responsibility is to make hot chocolate. I can handle that!

I have been doing way too much baking since I’m stuck home: meringues, croissants (yep! they are beautiful, but I did roll them too thickly), an apple crisp, brownies, and more. Now I just need to get to posting!
Angela of Angela’s Kitchen is our kind hostess and garlic is her theme. I love the sound and the name of her Thai Thighs, so check it out! We are having garlic chicken and broccoli for lunch today, so we’re all set.

And please let me know if you’d like to host.

Monday:
Garlic Chicken and broccoli for lunch and probably dinner–we haven’t ventured out yet.

Tues:
Chai chicken with broccoli–a cinnamon/cardamom/cloves seasoning blend that I made ages ago. We’ll see how it works out.

Weds:
Turkey and celery in chestnut sauce

Thursday:
Red lentil Dal and cauliflower

Friday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Red Pepper chicken!

Treats:
there will be chocolate covered strawberries, as always, and who knows what else. I guess it depends on how many days I’m home!

Posted in menu plan | 4 Comments

Adoption of Simply Gluten and Sugar free

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

As someone who is gluten and sugar free, it seemed quite natural that I’d want to adopt Amy. Amy is quite an impressive chica, just starting out in culinary school with a variety of recipes that she churns out regularly! I’m impressed, especially since I’ve fallen off the posting wagon as of late.

When I got Amy’s e-book to raise money for St. Jude’s walkathon, the granola bars caught my eye for 3 reasons.
1. A good friend died of leukemia when I was in elementary school
2. a year ago next week my labs and symptoms seemed to suggest leukemia. Thankfully I didn’t, but the weeks of fear, poking and prodding and hospitalization made it an abjectly miserable and memorable experience.
3. DH loves granola bars

DH eats a plethora of sugar/HFCS soaked granola bars, and it drives me bonkers. I’ve made him home made granola bars in the past, but alas, he’s complained that they’re sticky or don’t hold together well. However, Amy’s bars were a hit! I made them as directed except I used hazelnuts since it was a snow day and we were out of walnuts. They were study and flavorful, and kept well for weeks in a sealed container, which was a great plus. And most importantly, they passed the picky husband test. I made them again, even, and used cherries, chopped uncrystallized ginger and orange zest. Yum!

So thanks, Amy, for the recipes and inspiration. And I’m sure if people still want to donate to St. Jude’s through Amy or otherwise that they’d be gladly accepted.

This adoption is hosted by the fabulous Sea of Book of Yum. Check out the other adoptions and/or join in on the fun!

Posted in adopt a gf blogger | 4 Comments

Nanaimos–A Daring Baker challenge

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Cheryl Harris

Nanaimos=Canadian for bliss

No one was more delighted than me to see this month’s DB pick!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

A dear friend kicked off my Nanaimo obsession during my Berkeley days. They were uber addictive, and the joke with my roommates was that one of us would creep to the freezer in the middle of the night, grab one and scurry away…and then creep back 30 seconds later and grab another. So Michelle, Adrien and Hayley–these babies are for you! Come raid my freezer.

Good thing for me that these were pretty easily gluten-freeable, but I’m also menos dairy, eggs, corn, soy and most importantly, sugar. I made a version last year and they were good–I like these even better.

So this is my grain and sugar free, vegan and massively delicious new and improved version. They do not taste just like nanaimos, but they are luscious.

One word of warning–they’re dense. As in like, very, very rich. And so a small piece does wonderfully, or at least it would if I didn’t go back for the 2nd small piece…and the 3rd…

Base:
2 cups almonds
¾ cup walnuts
½ tsp stevia powder
¼ cup agave
2 T water
1 tablespoon whole chia seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut
½ tsp salt

Filling:
2 cups raw cashews and macadamias
2 teaspoons whole chia seeds
pinch stevia
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (or more
1.5 cups water
.5 cup agave nectar

Top
8 oz chocolate mass (unsweetened)
¼ cup cashew mac butter
1 cup agave
2 tsp stevia powder
2 Tablespoons mesquite or carob powder
½ tsp vanilla powder

For the base: soak chia in the agave. pulse nuts in the food processor, add in the wet and pulse until combined. Press down into 2 lined 8X8 pans (or a 9X11). Bake at 350 until starting to brown. Allow to cool or put in the freezer

For filling: I put all in the vitamix and throughly blitzed. With a normal blender, you’d absolutely have to soak the nuts. Pour on top of the base, and freeze until hard

For the topping: melt the chocolate, add in other ingredients and whisk very thoroughly until well blended. Pour mix quickly onto of frozen filling, and smooth down with out making a mess.

Store in the freezer, chop with a very sharp knife once hard. Enjoy! I’ve only had them straight from the freezer, I do think they’d ooze at room temp.

Please do check out the other DB Nanaimo masterpieces!

Posted in daring bakers, dessert, recipe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments