Curry Coconut Shrimp with Basil & Rice Noodles

This is easy, fast and super duper yummy. Like -"Hey let's make this again tomorrow" kinda yummy. Like as in "you will spend the entire meal discussing how delicious the meal is", kinda yummy. From my favorite noodle book.

Ingredients:

6 ounces of thin vermicelli rice noodles, softened for 15 minutes in hot water and then cooked for about 3 minutes in boiling water until just tender. Rinsed under cold water and drained.
1 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
500g medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 cup fresh Thai basil, cut into thin strips (you can use regular basil as well)
2 red onions, sliced thin

Seasoning Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, tough outer eaves discarded and chopped into fine pieces
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

- process all of these seasonings to a coarse powder in a blender. Set aside.

Coconut Sauce Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups coconut milk
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sucanat

- mix these coconut sauce ingredients together and set aside.



Directions:

1. Arrange your cooked and cooled rice stick noodles on a platter or serving plates.

2. Heat a heavy skillet (or a wok) over medium/high heat. Add the oil and heat for 1/2 minute. Add the seasoning coarse powder and the onions, turn down heat to med/low and stir fry for 3 minutes until onions are tender. Add the coconut sauce and cook for 3 more minutes.

3. Add the shrimp, turn up the heat to med/high and cook for about 3 minutes (until the shrimp turn pink). Add the peas and basil, toss and spoon over the rice vermicelli stick noodles. Serve immediately.

Maple Walnut & Breakfast Sausage Roasted Acorn Squash

I made my fellah breakfast. Normally I roast my acorn squash and eat it plain, but since it is Valentines day, I made it extra special for him.

Ingredients:

Acorn Squash, sliced in half, seeds removed
walnuts
maple syrup
lean gluten free breakfast sausage
butter
salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Place your acorn squash upside down in a shallow baking dish with 1/4 inch water. Bake for about 30 minutes (until tender). Remove squash and baking dish from oven, move rack up and turn on your broiler.

2. Add some salt to your squash halves. Combine some melted butter and maple syrup and spoon it over your baked acorn squash halves. Add some broken raw walnut pieces into the centers. Return your squash to the oven (flesh side up this time) and broil until lightly browned, basting a couple of times with your syrup/butter mixture.

3. While your squash is baking, cook your breakfast sausage in a skillet on med. high, turning frequently. (Our sausage is lean grass fed beef, directly from the family ranch.) When your sausage is nicely browned, remove from heat and slice into small pieces.

4. Add your sausage bits into the center of your baked and broiled maple squash. Serve as is, and while your at it make him a nice poached egg and some toast if he asks for it (he did)

Miso Turkey Burgers with Southern Cornbread

Soft, fresh bread and a delicious savory burger. !!!!!
Oh gluten free friends, you are gonna love this.

Cornbread-

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp melted butter and 1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 cup stone ground organic gluten free cornmeal
2 tsp. sucanat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position & heat the oven to 450°F. Set an eleven and a half inch cast iron skillet (with the melted butter and oil inside) in the oven as it heats.

2. Measure 1/3 cup cornmeal into a med. size bowl. Set aside.

3. In another smaller bowl, mix the remaining cornmeal, sucanat, salt, baking powder & baking soda together. Set aside.

4. When you are sure your oven is up to temperature- Pour the boiling water (must be boiling!) quickly into the 1/3 cup cornmeal med. size bowl. Stir to make a thick mush. It should stir up to resemble a soft polenta. Whisk in the buttermilk gradually, breaking up any lumps, then whisk in the egg. Stir the dry ingredients into the mixture until "just" moistened. Remove your skillet from the oven and carefully pour the melted butter/oil mixture into the the batter, stir to incorporate and quickly pour the entire batter into the heated skillet. Put that back in the oven for 15 minutes (until golden brown). Remove from oven and turn onto wire rack to cool immediately. let cool for 5 minutes and then cut into "bread" slices for your burgers.


Miso Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

400g ground turkey thigh
1 tsp. soybean (gluten free) miso thinned with 1 tsp. water
salt & pepper to taste


Directions:

1. Mix your miso mixture with the ground turkey, add salt and pepper for flavor (about 1/2 tsp each). Form into about 4 medium sized burgers.

2. Preheat a stainless steel skillet (or cast iron skillet) on med. hot, swirl in some vegetable oil and add your burgers. Brown well for about 5 minutes on each side. Turn temp. down a bit and continue cooking until the inner temperature of the burgers reads 165°F.

3. Serve on slices of fresh cornbread with lettuce, onions, ketchup, tomatoes and anything else you like on a burger.

a healthy Chocolate Cake

My mother in law has been making me this cake for my birthday for a couple of years now. I adore it. I have adjusted the recipe to be less sweet because as I get older, the less sweet I seem to want my treats. Besides, I know you. You will serve this with say, coconut ice cream. Or you will make a ganache and pour it over the cake. Or some raspberry sauce.

Garbanzo beans are really high in protein. Go lift some weights now.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups organic gluten free dark chocolate chips (I like DAGOBA 73% chocolate drops)
1 (19 ounce) can organic garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 eggs
1/2 cup sucanat (you can use white sugar if you insist but I like the deeper taste of sucanat)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp cocao nibs- raw chocolate (I simply crushed up some cacao beans and removed the skins)
Dark chocolate for curling and garnish
a bit of gluten free all purpose flour and some butter for greasing the pan

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 inch spring form pan.

2. Melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth (Or you can melt them in a microwave on medium heat for a couple of minutes stirring, frequently).

3. Place the rinsed beans in a blender and blend until all the beans are broken up, add the eggs and blend until smooth. Add the sucanat and the baking powder and blend. Pour in the melted chocolate and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender to be sure all the chocolate is combined.

4. Pour into your spring form pan and bake for 40 minutes (until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean). Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove spring form sides and transfer cake to serving platter. Sprinkle with Cacao (raw chocolate) nibs and toss some chocolate curls on top just before serving.


5. Serve with almond milk and coconut milk ice cream to your sweet honey bunny on Valentines day.

Pineapple & Sweet Potato Madras Curried chicken

first make your own madras curry powder- (I made a huge typing error at first and omitted several spices when I wrote down the recipe, which I have now corrected)

Ingredients-


8 tbsp coriander seeds
6 tbsp cumin seeds
4 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp whole cloves
2 tbsp tumeric
1 tbsp fennel seed
8 tbsp peppercorns
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp ground ginger (powder not fresh)
1 tbsp ground cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. In a dry skillet over very low heat, place the coriander, cumin, mustard & fennel seeds. Roast the seeds gently, shaking the pan occasionally, until they begin to pop. Add the cinnamon, peppercorns, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, turmeric, ginger & cayenne pepper.

2. Continue to heat & stir gently until the mixture is quite hot but not burnt. Grind in a mortar & pestle to a fine powder. Pour into a clean, dry jar, seal, & let cool before using.

Next- make your delicious curry!

Pineapple & Sweet Potato Madras Curried Chicken

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp Madras curry powder
1 tsp. tumeric
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground ginger
4 large chicken legs, skin on, thighs & drumsticks separated
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 pineapple, peeled, cored & cut into 1 inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 cans (400 Ml each) coconut milk
1 cup gluten free chicken broth
1 cinnamon stick
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the spices in a small bowl, in a shallow container, coat the chicken with 2 Tbsp of olive oil & 1/2 the spices, & salt & pepper. Marinate, covered, for 2 hours in fridge.

2. Preheat oven to °325F. Warm the remaining olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the legs & thighs in a single layer (batch if required). Brown on both sides, remove & set aside.

3. Saute the pineapple, garlic & 2/3 of the coconut. Stirring frequently until brown (about 4 minutes).

4. Add the pineapple juice, coconut milk, chicken stock, cinnamon stick, remaining spices & sweet potatoes. Stir to combine. Arrange the chicken evenly on top. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat & transfer to oven, uncovered. Cook for 45 minutes, basting the chicken with the liquids a couple of times.

5. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving, adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve on top of curried jasmine rice. Garnish with cilantro & coconut flakes.


Curried Jasmine rice-

follow cooking instructions for jasmine rice but add 1 tsp. madras curry powder to water.

Shrimp Cocktail sauce

I had some precooked shrimp in the freezer but nothing to dip them in! Well this cocktail sauce is ready in a flash and it's extra yummy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup thai chili sauce (be sure it is gluten free before buying)
1/2 cup organic ketchup
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1/2 to 3/4 Tbsp gluten free Worcestershire sauce (see my recipe on previous blog post)
1/4 tsp. hot chili paste
salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve as dipping sauce with cooked, cooled shrimp.