Beans, Beans...

We talk and think a lot about food in our household (a surprise, right?). We have conversations over the dinner table, talking about what we want to make next. We discuss what our weekly farm share will bring, what enjoyment it brings us, and how we want to cook the fresh provisions it contains. We glowingly dream about all the berries and fruit in season right now and all the cooking, baking, and preserving possibilities they present us.

Ben’s eyes will grow wide, his speech will become a bit faster, and I know he’s hooked on a particular idea. These ideas take various forms, from gluten free doughnuts with lemon cream filling (which, we still haven’t done, so I continue to hear about it) to gluten free onion rings (which we did last weekend with sweet walla walla onions). He was, in fact, the impetus behind our strawberry-jam-making session last month.

For the past two weeks, he has talked about beans. Beans, beans, the musical fruit… (sorry, I can’t talk about beans without hearing that childhood song in my head). We received a generous bag of dried pinto beans in our first farm share this summer and that started his wheels turning. The wheels got stuck on home-made baked beans. He envisioned slow-cooking them in the crockpot with bacon and sweet walla walla onions.

I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve had baked beans since I moved out of my parents house, but there is something so very Americana about them – something that reminds me of summers and fourth of July family gatherings with corn-on-the-cob, paper plates, soda and beer in the cooler on the deck, and lawn chairs in the grass. And, I have certainly never had any other baked beans than Busch’s baked beans from a can.

So Ben set about pulling together the ingredients and threw them all into the crockpot Monday morning before he left for work. We were greeted at home later that evening by a mingling of sweet and savory aromas…and well, the rest is history. Delicious, sweet, salty history. We ate them with gluten-free bratwurst and my home-made gluten-free bread rolls.

Baked beans:

1 pound dried pinto beans

1 pound raw bacon, cut into small pieces

½ sweet onion, diced

¼ cup raw sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard

The night before, rinse and sort your beans. Place them in a large pot of water and bring to boil for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit overnight (this is called “heat-soaking” and removes a larger amount of the sugary starches from the beans, which reduces their musical tendencies :) )

When you are ready to assemble the ingredients, rinse the beans well with cool water and place in the crockpot. Add the rest of your ingredients and stir to mix.

Turn your crockpot on low and cook for about 10-12 hours.

Enjoy!

New Cascadia Traditional Bakery opens in Portland!

It's been HOT here the past few days. So hot, we haven't had much of an appetite for food - if you can believe that. Lauren, the person who gives people the "food tour" of Portland to whomever comes to visit, doesn't feel much like cooking or even eating.

Yesterday, around 1:30pm, as I biked perhaps the mile or so to the New Cascadia Traditional Bakery and coffee shop, I realized that I had eaten breakfast around 8am and completely forgot to eat lunch. That never happens to me. Forgetting to eat is against my religion (well, that is, if I had one). Regardless, I had planned on getting a delicious gluten free baked good from my favorite gluten free bakery and enjoying it with a stumptown coffee while I got some work done.

How surreal it was to walk into a coffee shop and to be able to select ANYTHING I wanted from the menu without worrying about gluten. Not even a speck. They are a dedicated gluten free facility. I felt normal again.

(For those of you who don't know, New Cascadia Traditional has opened their own bakery/coffee shop in SE Portland. Check out their website for more details.)

I picked out a delicious-looking berry muffin and an iced coffee. The muffin turned out to be a blackberry muffin with struessel topping, just like the bakery-style muffins I remember from my gluteny days. It was ridiculously good. I realized in that moment, in that first bite, that I had almost forgotten what regular muffins were like. This one jolted me back to gluteny days gone by...and I have to admit I quickly realized the "muffins" I make at home are not really muffins. I'm sure they are more nutritious than what I ate yesterday, but they are indeed something other than muffins.

I already can't wait to go back.

Today all I could think to eat was something cold, like a fruit smoothie. We had just bought a couple of pints of blueberries and I had thrown a couple of uber-ripe bananas into the freezer this week, so I made a banana-blueberry smoothie for Ben and me. It was our lunch, or snack, or something. In any case, it was good. Those of you in Minneapolis might recognize the glass from my old stomping ground...

We're also getting really excited because our plants seem to be doing really well. We have already harvested and re-planted spinach once this summer. We also have an abundant-looking crop of carrots growing expediently and about five figs developing on our fig tree (see picture below). Our blueberries have not done so well this year...partially because of an air-conditioning mistake (long story) and partly because I don't think bees get this high up to pollinate. We just planted our brussels sprout starts in their larger containers today (see picture above, with carrots in background). Think good sprout-thoughts!


Banana-blueberry smoothie:
When your bananas start to over-ripen, toss them into the freezer, skin and all. To use them in a smoothie, or bake with them, set them out for a few minutes and then peel with a knife. The skin sort of falls off them.

1/2 cup milk (I used hazelnut, but often use coconut in my smoothies)
1/2 cup ice
1 cup blueberries
1 banana, cut into pieces (a great use of frozen bananas, but regular ones are okay too)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed

Dump all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. Yep, it's that easy.

Enjoy! and feel refreshed!

As American as...beets?

Last week I baked something with rhubarb for the first time in my life and, yesterday, I cooked beets for the first time in my life.

Beets. They had been on my forbidden foods list this time last year. I was following an anti-inflammatory diet to help my body heal itself during those first few months of being gluten free. It felt big and restrictive and psychologically painful at first. I refrained from eating the usual suspects: refined sugar, alcohol, dairy, soy, corn, chocolate, and coffee. I also avoided many things one wouldn’t expect: potatoes, tomatoes, beets, eggplant, peas, shellfish, and so many other things.

Compared to the years of physical pain, however, those few months of careful eating ended up feeling like nothing.

I started this blog about a year ago. I started it because I wanted to pass on information I found about eating and cooking gluten free. I also wanted to be another example, another story, for those wondering if they, too, might be gluten intolerant or have Celiac disease. Reading myself in other people’s stories helped me figure out my own story.

I also had an intense desire to prove to people that you can eat gluten free and really enjoy food – that life in the kitchen didn’t have to be “good enough,” but blissfully epicurean. I wanted a record of all of the wonderful things the gluten free community could enjoy.

I think I also wanted to prove to myself that there was still plenty in my kitchen to get excited about.

With the need to eat gluten free came an increased desire to eat well and to feel even more appreciative of the food I enjoy. So, here I am, with an almost obsessive relationship with food. What a good thing.

My CSA is making me even more aware and appreciative of every bit of food presented to me. I am learning to use the whole plant, to see the leaves of the broccoli as salad greens and the stems of beets as stir-fry ingredients. To simply throw any part of the plant away feels like I am dishonoring all of the time, attention, and care that went into growing it.

I know this isn't a very "Independence day" themed food, but, hey, it's got the red and the white, right? ;) Serve it on a blue plate like I do and you are all set!

Beet and walnut salad

This salad makes use of the beet root and its leaves. You can chop up the stems into small pieces and add them to a stir-fry on another night. This serves 2 people.

1 bunch beets

2 cups spinach

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

½ cup toasted walnuts

goat cheese

olive oil

Wash the beet roots and slice off the stems. Pull the leaves off and wash as you would lettuce. Set the leaves aside.

Place the beet roots on a piece of aluminum foil with a little olive oil and wrap the foil up and around the beets to make a closed pouch. Place the pouch in the oven at 400F for about 40 minutes, until tender. With pouch still closed, set aside while you cook the leaves.

Saute the onion in some olive oil and add the garlic. Stir for about a minute, then add the greens (beet leaves and spinach). Stir until greens begin to wilt. Divide between two plates.

Slice the beet roots into bite-sized pieces and divide between the two plates, placing them on top of the greens. Top with the walnuts and a few pieces of goat cheese.

Enjoy!

Gluten free strawberry-rhubarb crisp

It was a tad quieter around here this weekend, relative to the past couple of weeks…

Parents came to visit (both sets), I was hooded and called “doctor,” we ate good food and drank good wine, and houses were looked at and discussed…and discussed again.

The time flew by so fast, though we certainly enjoyed every minute of it. And, in the end, we were sad to see our parents go.

I turned around and suddenly the farmer’s market is filled with ripe hood river strawberries and Chelan cherries. If you have never had a hood river strawberry, you have never eaten a strawberry – believe me.

No white centers here, just deep red and dripping with juice.

We woke up excited Saturday morning – it was the day we got to pick up our first harvest box from our CSA. Despite the threat of rain, we happily walked down to the farmer’s market. Our share box was filled with strawberries, kohlrabi, butter lettuce, pinto beans, rhubarb, a calendula plant, and an onion.

We picked up another half-flat of strawberries and made jam. And a strawberry rhubarb crisp. And a strawberry salad with red onion, feta cheese, and balsamic vinegar.

Heaven.

As Ben and I ate the dinner he made us last night, we agreed: we eat pretty darn well.

I wonder now what my life had been like before I became used to telling the time of year by what fruit or vegetable was in season; before I knowingly grew excited in the weeks before berry season; or before I had a place in my kitchen where I hung my cloth market bags, stained red with hood river berries. Without realizing, it has all become so very much me.

It can be some of you, too!

Strawberry-rhubarb crisp (crumble)

Crisp or crumble? I really don't know the difference!

For the topping:

1 ½ cups Gluten free oats

1/2 cup tapioca flour

¼ cup millet flour

¼ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp salt

1 stick of butter

¼ cup agave nectar or honey

1 tsp vanilla

For the filling:

2 pints strawberries, hulled and larger ones sliced in half

1 ½ cups chopped rhubarb (about ¾ to 1-inch pieces)

4 tablespoons raw sugar

3 tablespoons tapioca flour

sprinkle of lemon juice

Heat oven to 375F.

Start with your filling. Mix filling ingredients in a glass 8-inch baking dish.

Then make your topping. In a medium-sized bowl, mix your dry ingredients until well-blended. In a small saucepan, melt your butter over low heat and stir in agave nectar and vanilla. Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Spoon the topping over the filling and pop it in the oven. I recommend placing a foil-lined baking sheet under your baking dish to catch over-flow once the berries begin to bubble.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top and edges of filling are bubbling up to the top.

Enjoy!

Star sightings, a thunderstorm, and a greek salad, oh my!

It was certainly an exciting week in Portland. It started with talking to Kerri Russel and Brendan Fraser Monday morning and ended with a pretty powerful thunderstorm that resembled only those seen in the Midwest.

My co-worker and I were walking through one of the main hospital buildings Monday morning, on our way to drop off some paperwork to our supervisor and then head to the health food store to pick up some food. Outside the elevator, we saw signs indicating a motion picture was being filmed in the area, instructing us to not walk through unless we agreed to be unpaid extras.

This isn’t the first time I have seen signs like this around Portland; the day I defended my masters thesis, “The music within” was being filmed in the park blocks near school and I had to wait while they shot a scene (I was clearly not dressed to match the time period they were attempting to create!). Portland has become a pretty popular spot for filming the past few years, but every time I see filming happening, I don’t see anyone particularly famous. Until Monday.

As we made our way down the hall, we were pretty impressed with the numerous props, equipment, and people lining the narrow hallway. Then, we turned the corner and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Brendan Fraser was walking towards us, followed by Kerri Russel. My co-worker turned to look at me and we stopped on the side of the hallway, almost arms-length away from Brendan Fraser, and she said she couldn’t let this opportunity pass her by. I followed her down the hallway to where Kerri Russel had taken a seat on a folding chair and my co-worker asked for her autograph, telling her she was watching “The Waitress” all weekend. I looked at my co-worker and thought, “ALL weekend?”

She was relaxed, easy-going, and didn’t seem phased at all that we had interrupted whatever she had been doing on her iphone. She wore denim pants, rolled up at the bottom and a light-weight grey sweater. She was beautiful and not as overly done-up with makeup as I would imagine actresses to be. Neither one of us had a pen, nor did Kerri Russel, but one of the guys directing people and props handed my co-worker a pen and Keri signed the back of some of the paperwork meant to go to our supervisor. Needless to say, he never got that paper back! As she signed, addressing her message to my co-worker by name, I asked her what they were filming. “The new untitled Crowley project with Harrison Ford,” she replied, as if she and Brendan Fraser were not also stars in the film, “It’s a medical drama,” she explained. The guy who had lent us the pen began talking to my co-worker more about it, as another guy came up behind us, ushering us along, saying, “Thank you folks, thank you.”

We thanked Kerri and moved along and my co-worker stopped at Brendan, who was using a portable air-conditioning unit to cool himself off, directing the output tube right at his face, his hair blowing up and back. He was dressed in dark charcoal dress slacks and a light, almost white, button-down dress shirt with thin, widely-spaced, grey vertical stripes. My co-worker asked for his autograph and he asked for a pen. She didn’t hear him right and asked again for his autograph. It was pretty comical. As he signed next to Kerri’s signature, the woman standing next to him (we actually interrupted their conversation) asked what we do at the hospital. She explained our research and they were pretty impressed. She said it was really exciting work, but not as exciting as this!

Me? I couldn’t really talk. I clammed up and shut down, wondering what he would do if I reached out and touched his arm.

The “Thank you folks” guy came by again, ushering us to leave, and we obeyed this time. It wasn’t until we were back at our office that my co-worker realized she still had the pen! We told our supervisor what happened and even he was super excited. My co-worker scanned in the page with the signatures and emailed it to him.

We, of course, had to make another trip through the hospital about an hour later because we didn’t actually get food the first time – we were too distracted. During our second trip through, they had actually begun filming and we had to wait until they finished the scene. We saw our friends Kerri and Brendan again and a little girl being wheeled down the hall on a gurney. No sign of Harrison Ford, though.

On Thursday the winds picked up and a big thunderstorm blew in as I was walking home from work. Now that I’m thinking about it, it doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as our brush with the stars… But, for this Midwestern girl, it was pretty neat to see big winds, rain, and lightening in a city that so rarely gets wicked weather. I came home to our fig tree laying flat against its dirt and I had to use twist ties from the kitchen to re-attach it to its support post and I had to re-cover its roots with dirt.

The rain was also a welcome relief from the hot sunny weather we’ve been having. I seriously thought I would never say anything like that, but I guess I just did.

It’s been so warm, I haven’t wanted to cook or bake much. It’s becoming the season of quinoa salads, egg salads, pasta salads, and whatever-else-you-can-think-of salads.

I came up with this Greek quinoa salad on the fly one day to bring over to a barbecue with friends and it has become a favorite around here. It’s easy to put together and feeds a crowd if needed.

Greek quinoa salad:

I like to use English cucumbers because their seeds are smaller and they are not as watery, but if you can’t find an English cucumber, use a regular one. Just cut it in half length-wise and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds before slicing. Dairy free? Just leave out the feta cheese. Sometimes I throw in some coarsely chopped spinach and/or cooked chicken.

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 English cucumber

1 pint cherry tomatoes

½ small red onion, diced finely

20 or so kalamata olives, sliced

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 tsp oregano

2 cloves garlic, minced

Freshly ground black pepper

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Rinse your quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Combine rinsed quinoa and water in a large saucepan and heat over medium-high heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover, simmering for about 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Set aside and allow to cool (placing it in the fridge helps this along).

Meanwhile, slice your cucumber in half length-wise, then slice each half length-wise again. Slice each piece along the bias, making thin triangular pieces, about and 1/8 of an inch thick. Toss into a large bowl.

Cut each cherry tomato in half and add to the cucumbers. Add the diced onion, olives, oregano, garlic, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice and mix well.

Once the quinoa is cool, add it to the other ingredients, along with the feta cheese (if using), and mix well. Taste and adjust olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, etc to taste.

Enjoy!

Gluten free lemon-scented white chocolate cookies

I think I died and went to heaven. Lemony, white-chocolate heaven.

I started experimenting a couple of months ago with quinoa flour. Timid at first, worried about its bitter scent, I would think of adding it to a batch of muffins and then back out. Surely sorghum flour would work better here, I would think to myself. After all, sorghum flour has become my staple. My go-to flour as a base in almost everything.

I finally used my quinoa flour in a bread recipe and was pretty darn impressed.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, a co-worker of mine came back to the office with an enormous lemon white chocolate chip cookie. It was a flavor combination I had never really thought of before – but it sounded delicious. I imagined it lightly sweet with a hint of lemon scent and creamy sweet bits of chocolate. Perfect as a summer cookie.

And suddenly, I was thinking of all kinds of lemony sweets. Lemon bars, lemon scones, and lemon sorbet – just to name a few. I picked up a bag of sweet lemons and set to work this past week.

Feeling particularly saucy as I began creating the cookie recipe to replicate the lemon white chocolate cookie my co-worker had purchased, I decided to throw out my old ideals of using sorghum or brown rice flour and went straight for the quinoa. I was thinking texture and thinking the bitter flavor might work particularly well with the lemon in these puppies. And my instincts were right.

By far, the texture of these cookies is better than my previous cookie concoctions. They are sugar-cookie-like, delicate and slightly sweet, melt-in-your mouth, without any graininess. And, in case you were wondering, no quinoa-induced bitterness detected.

Go ahead, give ‘em a try. But don’t blame me when you can’t stop eating them!

Lemon scented white chocolate cookies:

The secret to great cookies, imparted to me by a good friend back when we lived together in college, is to have your butter just slightly soft. I microwave it for 5 seconds at a time, rotating it each time, until I can just put a dent in the side with my finger. Also, after your dough is all mixed and you are in the baking process, stick the dough in the fridge in between batches. If it’s warm in your home, the butter might melt!

1 cup quinoa flour

1 cup tapioca flour

½ cup coconut flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup butter

1 cup raw sugar

½ tsp baking soda

2 eggs

6-12 oz white chocolate chips or chunks, depending on your preference for chocolate (I used the Whole Foods 365 brand of white chocolate chunks)

Zest of one small lemon

Juice of one small lemon

Begin by mixing your flours and xanthan gum in a bowl. Blend well and set aside.

Zest and juice your lemon into a small bowl.

In a large bowl, cream together your butter and sugar, then add the baking soda and mix well. Add in your eggs and stir until well-incorporated.

Add the lemon zest and juice. Then add your flour mixture about a third at a time until your dough forms. Add the white chocolate and stir to evenly distribute.

Scoop rounded spoonfuls and place one inch apart on your cookie sheet – flatten slightly. I was able to roll these into balls with my hands and flatten slightly after placing on the cookie sheet.

Bake in a 350F oven for 18-20 minutes.

Let cool a couple of minutes and remove to cool completely on a wire rack. (Be sure your cookie sheet cools before re-loading with new dough.)

Enjoy!

Coconut rice pudding

Growing up, I ate more granola than pudding snacks.

I have vague memories of hearing about such things from friends at school and on the television from Bill Cosby, well before I had ever seen one in real life. They were like whisperings in the wind, things of which urban legends were made.

I didn’t realize this was abnormal until high school when I realized many of my classmates didn’t eat granola for breakfast EVER.

Well, these aren’t your childhood pudding cups. Thank goodness.

Have I mentioned before my obsession with coconut? The flavor is what gets me, but it is also good for you - check out Gluten free for good’s post on the health benefits!

Coconut rice pudding:

1 can coconut milk (lite or regular)

1/3 cup Aborio or Carnaroli rice (Italian rice you would use for a risotto)

1-2 tablespooons agave nectar (or more for sweeter pudding)

Toasted sliced almonds for garnish

Optional add-in ideas:

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

¼ cup dried fruit

1 tsp vanilla extract

Top with fresh fruit, such as strawberries, a cooked fruit-compote, or jam

Bring coconut milk to boil in a large saucepan. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for about 30-40 minutes, until most of the milk is absorbed. Stir a few times during cooking.

Remove from heat and stir in the agave nectar. Add any of the add-ins suggested above or simply serve in small bowls with toasted sliced almonds sprinkled on top. I usually dish this up into 4 small jam jars and take one with my lunch. The one I have pictured here is with cocoa powder stirred in and cherry jam on top.

Enjoy!