(Source: theabhorsen)
We wanted a quick-ish meal today, and this took maybe 20 minutes- the longest part was the quinoa, and everything else was easily chopped and cooked with just enough time to toss it all together at the end.
INGREDIENTS:
1 c quinoa
2 c chicken broth [we used low sodium organic pacifico broth. use veggie broth for vegetarian.]
2-3 limes
1/2 purple or red onion [chopped, sliced, or diced]
1 yellow pepper, diced.
1 can of corn [we used sprouts supersweet corn], drained.
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed.
romaine lettuce, washed and dried and sliced into small enough pieces to eat.
a few sprigs of parsley, chopped fine.
1 corn tortilla per person eating.
sour cream [optional, but seriously it’s amazing.]
avocado [optional]
cheddar cheese [optional]
salt [optional]
pepper [I highly recommend this, also optional].
SERVES 4-6.
DIRECTIONS
[Stovetop, no rice cooker here]
Place 1 c quinoa and 2 c chicken broth in a medium pot that is fairly tall; if you only have a short one then I recommend using a larger pot for less dishes. Cook on high until it is brought to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer until cooked. [Quinoa is done when you can fluff it with a fork and it isn’t crunchy when you eat it.]
While that cooks:
Chop/dice yellow pepper, onion, and parsley. Set aside.
Drain corn, drain and rinse black beans, combine and place in microwave safe bowl/steamer and heat for 2 minutes.
Cut lettuce into strips or bite sized pieces and line the plates/bowls with them.
If adding, cut avocado into bite sized pieces.
Heat 2 tortillas at a time in the microwave- take 2 [unbroken] sheets of paper towel, place them inside like a taco, heat for about 45 seconds. Rip or cut into tiny pieces.
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When quinoa is cooked, fluff up with fork and squeeze in all the lime juice from one lime. Toss in yellow pepper, onion, parsley, and the bean and corn mix. Mix [but don’t crush!] well. Place quinoa salad on top of the lettuce. Add on ripped tortillas, pepper, salt, extra lime, and/or avocado if desired.
Serve with a scoop of sour cream.
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My rating: 8/10 - it’s missing like one flavor. Salsa might remedy that, but I didn’t get a chance to experiment.
Kaelyn’s rating: 6/10 - she didn’t like the yellow peppers.
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This recipe can be made dairy free if you don’t use sour cream.
This recipe is vegetarian if you make it with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
I apologize that I let this blog fall completely wayside, but I stopped eating well for a while, living from friends couch to friends couch and barely ever cooking for myself, and never experimenting. I also started other blogs that have taken much more precedence over my life.
However, my new job as a nanny includes making gluten free dinners nearly every weekday, homemade. I’ve already done a couple experiments with homemade mac and cheese, lemon chicken, pot roast, etc.
Assuming I can continue to keep up with this blog, it will now be both recipes and meals and about how many servings it’s made.
I can’t guarentee it’s going to be exact measurments- my style of cooking is very “suit to taste.” but my food is being eaten by a young lady who is allowed to have real gluten food, so these recipes will also be kid approved!
Also, many of these will be dairy free or have a dairy free alternative, as I don’t eat very much dairy either.
This is a variation of my warm peaches and apple dessert, I’ve never tasted anything so delicious in like five months.
Ingredients
One yellow peach, cut to remove pit.
about 2 tsp of butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
about 1-2 cups of gluten free rice krispies
whipped cream or vanilla ice cream [optional, but definitely worth it.]
Put the pitted peach, butter, and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper plate, and cook for about three minutes. Remove from microwave. Put in rice krispies until it seems significantly less soupy and has absorbed all of the liquid.
Top with whipped cream or ice cream, and wait until it cools to serve!
This tastes like some sort of peach pie, it’s seriously breathtakingly delicious!
So, I’m house sitting and low on ingredients, and I don’t have the wherewithal to make a whole brownie mix or something like that. A while ago I remember Dr Oz doing something about microwaved steamed apples, and I have a recipe I’ve been doing for a while that I will post later. Anyways, I decided to change up the recipe, so this is what I came out with:
Ingredients
1 peach [I used yellow]
1 apple [I used green]
nutmeg, to taste
butter, to taste [but don’t use a lot, that’s gross. It just adds a desserty taste]
about 1 tbsp of brown sugar
Chop up or core out the apple and but the peach around it, throw everything in a microwave safe strong dish or steamer, and microwave it for about 3-5 minutes until soft. Add whipped cream, wanilla ice cream, strawberries, honey or agave, oatmeal [my favorite], or just enjoy plain!
I was reading your “Dining out, Gluten free” post, and I wanted to add that Chick-fil-a has a lot to offer. You ask them, and they will clean the grill and grill your chicken, and it is VERY GOOD. And Red Robin has a amazing selection too. The one by where I live even has fresh gluten free buns! Just some options :)
__________________ My extra comment: ___________
I knew about Chick-fil-A, but I wouldn’t recommend eating there- the place is absolutely lousy with MSG, and I don’t put that stuff in my body anymore, so I don’t go there. Red Robin, on the other hand, is a fantastic add, I just haven’t had a chance to give them a try!
It’s been a while since I blogged, but hopefully this summer I’ll have less of a life [because thaaats what every teenager says]. Anyways, I’ve been thinking a lot about weight things lately, mostly because I thinned out quite a bit after I stopped being bloated with gluten. Obviously, anyone who really researches gluten free knows that even if you’re doing gluten free right, it’s not necessarily healthier, just more expensive.
So instead of spending a dollar on mac and cheese, I now spend between 2.50 and 5 dollars, and it’s not even really healthier for me! But I couldn’t give up my mac and cheese! So now I’ve decided to start jazzing my things up.
I started with sometrader joe’s gluten free mac and cheese, and cooked it normally. While it cooked, I chopped up some broccoli and steamed it in the microwave. Then when I drained the pasta, I threw in the broccoli and added the cheese as directed.
It was pretty good, I think next time I’ll even add some steamed carrots :] Voila, healthier mac and cheese that means less guilt. And the broccoli tastes better!
So, I went to my doctor today to discuss a couple things with her that are mostly unrelated to my gluten intolerance, but naturally as she had previously been one of the first to shunt me from doctor to doctor for nausea, it came up. I told her that I had been GF for several months and I was feeling loads better. As doctors do, she asked me several questions that I feel are necessary to state here for noobs that don’t know. Keep in mind that I knew several but she expanded upon them in ways that have confused and concerned me, and it will lead to some interesting solutions and problems.
FIRST OF ALL- I knew this, but if you were GF when you were tested for Celiacs, your test means nothing. I had been eating gluten regularly so it would have shown up, so this wasn’t my issue. What she said that expanded upon that is that if I did not test positive, that means I don’t have an “allergy” but an “intolerance.” I had never understood the difference between the two, which leads me to my second point.
SECOND- She claims that with intolerance, it is treatable with probiotics. I have never heard this before in quite a bit of research, but that’s pretty interesting to me. Yogurt has made me kind of sick in the past, so I stay away from most of it [except lately I have been doing fine with greek yogurt several times a week], but she says that taking a once-a-day supplement of probiotics will help my digestive system and allow me to eat gluten.
THIRD- She was pretty irritated that I hadn’t gotten an endoscopy before I went GF because now we have no evidence that gluten is my problem instead of casein, dairy, yeast, soy, etc. I’m pretty sure it’s gluten, and it’s certainly not my fault I didn’t get one- my GI doctor said I didn’t need one.
SO all these things lead me to thinking. She gave me some probiotics, but I don’t know if I want to be on supplements like that for my whole life. I have to have one EVERY DAY or I throw up from food? Our bodies weren’t meant to take everything- we have allergies, and that is our body telling us to get away from that food! Under consideration, I’m strongly considering not even trying the probiotic route. My body doesn’t like gluten, I don’t want to force it to do anything, and what happens if I skip a day? Also, my gluten free diet is so much healthier and less bad carb-y and calorie-y than it used to be, and I’m healthier! I think that I personally will stick with my gluten free diet unless someone can give me a better solution.
So that’s all, I’ll update with some product lists soon as promised. I just thought that there might be a couple GF people or people considering it who could potentially benefit from this information.