Gluten-Free Spaghetti - Easy Does It

The Recipe: Spaghetti

All you have to do is cook the gluten-free spaghetti noodles according to the directions and heat up some tomato sauce and frozen vegetables. It's helpful to measure out how many noodles you need to use with a spaghetti serving size measurer. Remember to test the softness of the noodle before turning your burner off - it's generally been taking me a few minutes longer to cook gluten-free pasta than its directions say. Piece of cake! Peace out.


The Easy Evidence

Swedish Meatballs, "Take that IKEA!" Edition

Swedish Meatballs

• My Grandma taught me how to make this specialty of hers. She is 100% Swedish, so she should know. She uses the recipe from the cookbook by Wickstroms's, Chicago, Clark Street.
• Makes 36 meatballs, about 6 servings.
• Idea: make extra mashed potatoes while making the mashed potatoes required for the meatballs, then serve the extra potatoes as a side with dinner.
• This recipe is made gluten-free with a few easy substitutes, as noted below.

The Ingredients:
1 lb. beef, pulsed smooth and silky (we just mixed it in the bowl with our hands)
1 lb. pork, ditto
1 beaten egg
½ c. mashed potatoes
½ c. gluten-free bread crumbs (we used a brand that made them with corn)
3 tbsp grated onions
½ tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ginger
3 tbsp butter

(Sauce)
2 tbsp gluten-free flour (we used all-purpose gluten-free flour that you could hopefully find in the flour section of your local grocery store)
1 c. broth
1 c. half and half
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg


The Directions:
Mix beef and pork until silky and smooth. Then add in mashed potatoes, onions, brown sugar, salt, pepper, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ginger. Roll the mixture into meatballs the size of walnuts. Roll meatballs in a bowl with a beaten egg then in a bowl with bread crumbs. Sauté in a 10" skillet or an electric frying pan at 250 degrees F in butter until brown.


Make roue: Stir flour, salt, and nutmeg in a pan on high heat until it steams. Slowly stir in broth and half and half. Add meatballs to the pan. Cover and cook 10 min. 

*Alternatively, if you don't make the sauce in a 10" pan, as we didn't: preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Put meatballs into pan and cover with sauce. Bake 10 min. Stir meatballs in thickened sauce and serve.

The Homeland Hearth

My Take on the Bake
The meatballs stuck to the pan excessively, so you might want to toy with the type of bread crumb substitute to make it easier on yourself. It might've also worked better if we had used a mixer to "pulse [the meat] silky and smooth." As is it was, it took some muscle to fry the meatballs. But it was worth it! This tasted so amazing, definitely a comfort food and a delicacy all in one. After being told that the Swedish meatballs at IKEA probably had gluten in them, so I couldn't order them, I was determined to make them and enjoy this famous food from my homeland. And I did! Score for my taste buds' to-do list! They are now enjoying a new stage of happiness, and so could yours if you try this dish!

Home-made Yogurt and Freedom from the Man

The Recipe: Plain Yogurt

• My cousins also taught me how to make home-made yogurt. They've tried out the oven method and the towel method, but finally decided on the cooler method to insulate the yogurt overnight. Learn from their wisdom.
• My cousins recommend Brown Cow and Stonyfield plain yogurt over Dannon and Yoplait for the starter yogurt because Brown Cow and Stonyfield put more healthy bacteria in their yogurt.
• It's easy to make this before going to bed, then wake up in the morning to put the jars in the fridge.
• Serve with jam, honey, fresh fruit, and/or nuts.
• Makes 5 Mason jars worth of yogurt. 

Ingredients:
gallon of whole milk (grass-fed and organic if possible :) )
1/2 carton of Brown Cow or Stonyfield plain yogurt, or some of the last batch of this yogurt

The Directions:
1. Pour the milk into a large pot and set on med-high heat. Warm the milk up to 180 degrees F, monitoring with a meat thermometer. Continually scrape the bottom of the pot with a spatula so the milk doesn't burn. At the same time, set a kettle of water to boil.
2. Fill your sink with really cold water, put the pot of milk into the sink,  and cool the milk to 120 degrees F.
3. Use the boiling water to sterilize 5 glass jars, their lids, and a large spoon. Then pour this water into the cooler. Make another pot of boiling water and pour it into the cooler also.
4. Put a few spoonfuls of starter yogurt in each jar.
5. After cooling down the milk, cool the water in the cooler down to 120 degrees F by adding cold water.
6. Pour the milk into the jars and stir together the milk and starter yogurt, then close the jars and place them in the cooler.
7. Let sit in the cooler with the cooler lid on for 5-8 hours, with 8 hours being ideal. Then put in fridge. Ready to eat when cooled.

The Bedazzling Breakfast

Yep, I treat my plain yogurt as a plain canvas for amazingness!

My Take on the Bake
The yogurt turned out great when we made it with our cousins! They said it takes practice to get it just the right texture, but I'm sure I'll get it right in the future because I plan on practicing this dish a lot. Yogurt is a very healthy and filling breakfast that can be decked out with whatever you feel like - perfect for adding variety to your daily morning routine or for placating a picky family. Don't forget about all of the friendly bacteria this dish is adding to help your gut out :) It's also insanely cheap to make - you can  make 5 Mason jars full of plain yogurt on just one gallon of milk and half a carton of industrial yogurt. Take those 5 jars and multiply by the number of batches you make using your home-made yogurt as starter, and wham! You've got yourself a deal! My cousins called it freedom from the man because cereal is so expensive, and this helped them break "the habit."

*Note on using home-made yogurt as the starter: my cousins have only made batches from their old batches for 2-3 consecutive batches before getting lazy or forgetful and not perpetuating the (practically) free yogurt train. So I don't know if the quality of the yogurt diminishes if you perpetuate the yogurt batch train forever.

Fusion Dinner: Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Greek Casserole

The Recipes

• My cousins let me look through their array of world cookbooks, and I couldn't pick one country's cuisine to stick with, so I decided to make a fusion Vietnamese-Greek meal.
• The spring roll recipe is from Authentic Vietnamese Cooking by Corinne Trang. It makes 40 rolls if you use small triangular rice papers, but all we could find were larger circle ones that made 30 rolls. The fish dipping sauce comes from the same cookbook, and it makes about 2 cups, which was exactly how much we needed for all of the rolls.
• The Greek casserole recipe is from Greek Cooking by Rena Salaman and Jan Cutler. It serves 4 as the main dish - we had leftovers.

"Nuoc Cham"/Fish Dipping Sauce

The Ingredients:

5 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp water

1/3 c. fish sauce

1/2 c. lime or lemon juice (about 3 limes or 2 lemons)

1 large clove garlic, crushed, peeled, and sliced or minced

1 or more bird's eye or Thai chilies, seeded, and sliced or minced (optional)

1 shallot, peeled, thinly sliced, rinsed, and drained

The Directions:

1. Whisk together, or shake in a jar, the sugar, water, fish sauce, and lime or lemon juice in a bowl until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the garlic, chili, and shallot, and let stand for 30 min before serving.

"Cha Gio"/Spring Rolls

The Ingredients:
2 oz. dried cellophane noodles (aka bean noodles, Chinese vermicelli)
1 oz. dried cloud ear mushrooms (we used shiitake)
1 lb. ground pork (70% lean)
1 med yellow onion, peeled and minced
1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 carrot, peeled an grated
1 large egg
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
40 triangular rice papers (or 30 big round rice papers)
vegetable oil for deep frying
1 bunch mint, leaves only

The Directions:
1. Soak the cellophane noodles and cloud ear mushrooms in lukewarm water to cover until re-hydrated, about 15 min. Drain and squeeze the noodles and cloud ears to get rid of the excess water. Finely chop the noodles and cloud ears and put them in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the ground pork, onion, garlic, carrot, and egg and season with salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients with your hands until evenly combined.

3. Pour lukewarm water about 1" deep into a square or rectangular dish. Separate and soak 4 rice papers at a time until pliable, about 5 min. Place a clean kitchen towel on your work surface, then place each triangle, rounded side near you, on the towel. With another kitchen towel, blot each wrapper until it is no longer wet but remains sticky. Place about 1 tsp filling 1" from the rounded edge. Fold the wrapper once over the filling, then fold in the sides and continue rolling tightly to the pointed end. Repeat this process with the remaining rice papers and filling. *If using larger circular rice papers, don't soak beforehand. Instead, dip one into a bowl of water for about 5 seconds, set on a plate, then put about 1 tbsp filling 1" from an end and continue as above. Try to roll as tight as possible or air bubbles in the wrapping will form and make it hard to turn the rolls over in the pan.*

4. Heat the oil in a wok or a deep pan to 360-375 degrees F over med-high heat. Test the heat of the oil with one roll; the oil should sizzle around the roll but not so vigorously as to destroy the spring roll. Fry a few rolls at a time, turning them once immediately to prevent them from sticking together, then turning them occasionally until golden on all sides, 3-5 min. *If using larger rolls, it may take longer. Check to make sure the insides of the pork are cooked after the first batch.* Drain on paper towels and serve with mint and dipping sauce.

*Variation: Substitute 8 oz. fresh shredded crabmeat or minced shrimp for half of the ground pork amount and follow directions.

*Hint: As you make the spring rolls, stack them, covering each layer with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out, and refrigerate.Serve them freshly fried the next day. Freeze leftover rolls for up to a month; reheat them in a 375 degrees F oven for 15 min, turning once.


Potatoes with Feta Cheese and Olives


The Ingredients:
2 lb. potatoes
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
 sprig of fresh rosemary
10 oz. feta cheese, sliced and then crumbled
1 c. pitted black and green olives
1 1/4 c. hot vegetable stock
salt and ground black pepper

The Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the potatoes in plenty of boiling water for 15 min, or until soft. Drain and cool slightly. Peel the potatoes and cut into thin slices.
2. Brush the base and sides of a shallow 6 1/4 c. / 2 1/2 pint rectangular oven-proof dish with some of the olive oil.
3. Layer the potatoes in the dish with the rosemary, cheese, and olives. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and pour over the stock. Season with salt and plenty of ground black pepper.
4. Cook for 35 min, covering with foil to prevent the potatoes from getting too brown. Serve hot, straight from the dish.

The Diverse Duo

My Take on the Bake
This was an intense dinner to make, and luckily I had lots of help. As the hint suggests, you could prepare the spring rolls the night before and fry them the night of the meal. The Greek casserole wouldn't have been the hardest all on its own to make. This was a very tasty meal. The two different dishes actually went well together. The casserole was a bit strong. It called for black and green olives, but we decided to use Greek kalamati olives rather than the black olives you might find in the store. Man do baked kalamati olives stink up a kitchen! Let's just say they were a bit strong. Definitely not a comfort food dish, but has a strong taste of Greek - I would serve it with lamb. Or just with regular black olives if I made it alone next time.

Cabbage Curry and Hummus

The Recipes

• My cousins taught me how to make these.
• We dipped carrot sticks, slices of yellow bell peppers, and tortilla chips in the hummus as an appetizer to appease our stomachs while we worked on the curry.
• The hummus recipe came from Greek Cooking by Rena Salaman and Jan Cutler. It serves 4 to 6.
• The curry recipe came from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi, a cookbook I'm told is like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Indian food. The recipe actually uses cauliflower, but my cousins decided to use cabbage instead. It serves 4 to 5.
• The curry goes well over basmati rice with a little plain yogurt or raita added on top of the curry to cut the spice if needed. The curry also goes well served without rice.

Hummus


The Ingredients:
14 oz can of chickpeas, drained
4 tbsp tahini
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
juice of 1/2-1 lemon
salt and ground black pepper

The Directions:
0. To make fresh chickpeas instead of canned, soak chickpeas overnight in a pot with an extra few inches of water above the chickpeas (they will expand). Then put the pot in the fridge to make later or cook for two hours, bringing to a boil then simmering.
1. Reserving a few whole ones for garnish, coarsely mash the chickpeas in a mixing bowl with a fork. If you like a smoother puree, process the chickpeas in a food processor (we used a processor) or blender until a smooth paste is formed.
2. Mix the tahini into the bowl of chickpeas, then stir in the chopped garlic cloves and lemon juice. Season to taste and garnish the top with the reserved chickpeas. Serve the hummus at room temp.
*Variation: Process 2 roasted red bell peppers with the chickpeas, then continue as above. Serve sprinkled with lightly toasted pine nuts and paprika mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Spicy Cabbage with Braised Tomato


The Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp ghee (purified butter) or vegetable oil
1" piece of fresh ginger root, scraped and cut into thin julienne (we just scraped then grated)
1-2 jalapeño chilies, cored, seeded, and slivered (VERY optional :) )
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large cabbage, cut in half then in long layers of strips
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
3 large tomatoes, each peeled and cut into eighths (we might've used more tomatoes, and we used canned)
1 tsp garam masala
3 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh coriander or minced parsley
butter (optional)

The Directions:
1. Heat the ghee or oil in a large nonstick casserole or saute pan over med-high heat. When it is hot but not smoking, drop in the ginger, chilies (optional), mustard and cumin seeds. Fry until the mustard seeds pop and turn gray and the cumin seeds turn brown. Mix the ground coriander, turmeric, and salt in a little bowl, then stir into pan. Stir in tomatoes with sauce (if you used whole tomatoes from a can, put them in then break into smaller pieces with a spatula), stirring for a few minutes. Then add cabbage strips, cover pan, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15-20 min, shaking the pan occasionally to keep the vegetables from sticking, or until the cabbage leaves are just tender.
2. Uncover, raise the heat and stir-fry to evaporate all the liquid. Just before serving, sprinkle with the garam masala, fresh herb, and add a knob of butter, if  desired.
*Note: If using cauliflower instead of cabbage, brown the flowerettes with the spices and then put in the tomatoes.

For the basmati rice, if using: cover rice in pot with water, boil, then turn to low and heat for about 20 min.

The Evidence

My cousin-in-law pretending to be a strict supervisor.

My Take on the Bake
I'm beginning to love Indian food (and I already was in love with hummus). I didn't use the chilies and it was still spicy enough/cool enough for me, but I added the yogurt to cut it just a little and for the texture effect. This meal was yum-diddly-scrumptious!


We used canned whole tomatoes instead of ones from the grocery store because my cousins said the ones at the grocery store are picked green, shipped, then sprayed with ethylene to change color. But canned tomatoes are picked ripe and preserved that way, so they preserve more of the tomatoey flavor. They pointed out to me that canned products have salt in them, so if you use canned tomatoes, you should readjust the amount of salt you add (as in none for this recipe). So they recommended buying fresh tomatoes at a farmer's market in the summer and using canned ones in the winter. They also recommended the use of iron pans instead of Teflon because the coating eventually rubs off and gets in your food, and then the chemical in the coating never leaves your body.

Pizza Party!

The Recipe: Pizzaaaaaa!

• This is what I did for a pizza party with my friends. I used gluten-free personal pizzas for me and normal pizza dough for everyone else.
• The two large regular pizzas together fed 8 people with no leftovers.
• *College Cooking Alert* The rolls of pizza or gluten-free personal pie crusts make this an easy meal to make in the dorm, as long as you have a cooking sheet or an aluminum pie pan. 

The Ingredients:
Glutino brand gluten-free pizza pie crusts
2 cans of rolled up pizza dough, I forget the brand
shredded mozzarella cheese, a whole bunch
tomato sauce, about one can
orange peppers, cut into bite size pieces
onions, diced
capers, drained
black olives, sliced
heated up slices of spiral cut ham, cut up into little squares (most of the time)
bacon, about a lb.
pepperoni

The Directions: 
Set out gluten-free pizza crusts to defrost. Next cook up the bacon, then prepare the other toppings in bowls on a large counter or table. Roll out each can of pizza pizza dough onto a greased pan. Spread gluten-free crusts with tomato sauce first to avoid contamination, then add tomato sauce to dough, leaving about an inch clear around the edge. Sprinkle enough mozzarella cheese on crusts and dough to fully cover tomato sauce. Preheat the oven. Add toppings as preferred. Add a bit of mozzarella cheese over toppings. Crimp the sides of the dough to make a crust. Put into oven using the setting and timing suggested on the pizza roll cans/bag of gluten-free crusts. Take out and cut gluten-free pizzas first to avoid contamination, then use the pizza cutter on the other pizzas. Enjoy!

Pizza Paparazzi

3 scrumptious pizzas fresh out of the oven. The two on the right are gluten-free personal pizzas.

The MAN pizza, pre-baking. The guys piled on lots of meat, including a large uncut square of ham and whole bacon strips. Protein for those muscles!

My sous chefs framing the toppings table.

My Take on the Bake
If you're having a party, at least if you're a teenager, you're probably going to order pizza for dinner (even if you're gluten-free, I heard you can still order appropriate pizzas at some places). Why cash out so much dough when you can make it right in your own home? Making the pizzas was a fun activity we all enjoyed! And it was easy to make both gluten-free and glutenous options. I'm definitely doing this again sometime. Plus you have the bonus that you can section off the pizza or use personal pizzas and everyone can choose their own toppings instead of have to agree. Yay! I <3 everything pizzas!

I also learned a bit about using the oven. If you're putting more than one dish in or putting it in near the top or bottom, the cooking time will probably change.

Autumn Quinoa Casserole

The Recipe: Autumn Quinoa Casserole

• From Complete Gluten-Free Cookbook, by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt.
• Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meats or poultry, or on its own. We served it with salad.
• The recipe book says makes 6 servings, but I would say only if it's a side. It makes about 4 meal servings if served with side dishes.

The Ingredients:
1/4 c. long-grain brown rice
1/4 c. quinoa
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. diced peeled butternut squash
1 cup diced carrot
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 c. orange juice
1 1/2 c. gluten-free vegetable stock
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried savory
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper

The Directions:
1. In a large skillet, over med-high heat, cook brown rice and quinoa, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 min, or until lightly toasted and browned. Remove from heat.
2. In an ungreased 8-10 c. baking dish, combine onion garlic, squash, carrot, orange juice and stock. Stir in rice, quinoa, sage, and savory.
3. Cover and bake in preheated oven (375 degrees F) for 50 min. Uncover and bake for about 10 min, or until grains and vegetables are tender and liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. Stir in parsley and orange zest. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The Austere Autumn Evidence

My Take on the Bake
You better not be too hungry when you start preparing this meal! It takes a while to prepare, and then you have to wait 50 min. It was worth the wait though. The sage and savory really gave this casserole an interesting taste, something out of the ordinary that will wake up your taste buds. The toasted rice and quinoa also added a nice crunch to complement the squishy squash. Not a comfort food dish, but definitely something to liven up the dead of winter.