Sunday Cooking Projects

Kula Country Farms Strawberries

I feel like I do a lot more cooking on the weekends than during the week. Basically I just cook one more meal, but I do tend to plan the more complicated cooking for the weekend.

This morning I made Strawberry Buckwheat Pancakes. I used the Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes from The Gluten-Free Vegan as a guide, but I made my own changes to the recipe.The strawberry flavor isn't extremely strong, so if you'd like more strawberry flavor, try pureeing some strawberries and replace the apple sauce with the puree. The strawberries were locally grown. Here's the recipe, they're definitely worth making.

Strawberry Pancake Breakfast

Strawberry Buckwheat Pancakes

adapted from The Gluten-Free Vegan

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3 tbsp strawberry guava syrup
• 1 egg or substitute for 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup milk or non-dairy milk alternative
• 7 medium strawberries, hulled and chopped into 1/8 inch pieces

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Combine the rest of the ingredients, including the strawberries, in large bowl.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until it is thoroughly combined and smooth.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add oil or butter to prevent sticking, if necessary. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and heat until bubbles form and pop. Flip the pancake over, and cook until the pancake is cooked through. The pancakes should be a nice brown color.

Serve with more strawberry guava syrup, and if you love peanut butter and jellies use peanut butter instead of butter on the pancakes.

For dinner we had Grilled Chicken Tostadas. These were pretty healthy, and very delicious. We like our Mexican food spicy, so if you don't like too much spice you should use half of the jalapeno and less of the cayenne pepper if you use either at all. The tomatoes and lettuce were locally grown. We didn't have sour cream or yogurt, so we left that out. You could replace that with avocado if you have them readily available.

Grilled Chicken Tostadas

Grilled Chicken Tostadas

AmandaonMaui

• 1 1/2 tsp goya adobo seasoning
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and minced
• 2 cups tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
• 4 cups crisp lettuce, chopped
• 9 corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 grilled chicken breasts
• Cilantro, minced
• Green onions, sliced
• Salsa
• Sour cream, dairy or non, or plain yogurt (optional)

Grill 2 chicken breasts either on an indoor or outdoor grill. Chop into small pieces.

Empty the refried beans into a pan and add the adobo seasoning, red pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and jalapeno pepper. Stir well, and keep over low heat until the rest of the food is prepared.

Heat the oil over medium low heat and add one or two tortillas at a time (depending on the size of the pan) and heat until they are crispy and partially browned.

Remove the tortillas and place onto a platter with paper towels to help absorb some of the oil from the tostadas.

When everything is ready, top the tostadas with beans, lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, cilantro, green onions, salsa and sour cream/yogurt.

Coming Soon: The beauty of pasture raised, not uniform, local eggs.

Easy Gluten-Free Ameri-Mexican

Grilled Chicken Quesadillas

with

Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad

Last night I served up grilled chicken quesadillas with Tillamook vintage sharp white cheddar on corn tortillas, with a side of black bean, corn, and tomato salad. This was a quick, easy, delicious, and light dinner. The Black Bean Salad made more than enough for 2, and we'll be eating it for days, but it's good enough that I won't mind a bit!

Perhaps you've noticed my love affair with the Tillamook vintage sharp white cheddar in previous posts. I seem to use it exclusively. Well, it's aged for 2 years which means that the lactose levels are very low in comparison to other cheese (Yes, Kraft shredded "cheeses" often say they contain 0g lactose per serving, but that's not cheese to me), and the flavor is sharp just how I like it. I did consider picking up another package of the Tillamook mild cheddar cheese at Costco, but the budget didn't permit it, and I think the vintage white is able to be used on just about anything that requires cheese. I'd even put it on apple pie if I had an apple pie. That gives me an idea for another post sometime soon. Looks like a bag of apples goes on this week's shopping list.

Going without dairy for nearly 10 years, and now being able to have it again is a wonderful thing to me. I've worked so hard this past year to keep myself healing. I've stayed away from so many delicious gluten containing foods in hopes of healing up and feeling well; and then I learned that some people with a gluten intolerance, or Celiac disease, who have lactose intolerance can eat dairy again after a long enough healing period. Well, I'm one of those people.

So, why on earth after all of that hard work would I eat cheap dairy products? I only eat the good stuff now. Why buy cheap champagne to celebrate something wonderful when you know it's a special treat you won't be having all of the time? It's the same thing for me. Getting to have dairy again is so special to me, that I'm going to buy the best. And, I do treat it like a special occasion when I pull out the Tillamook.

If you have a love affair with Tillamook cheese like I do, check out the Tillamook Fan Club.

Grilled Chicken Quesadillas

with Tillamook Vintage Sharp White Cheddar

8 corn tortillas

2 cups of shredded Tillamook Vintage Sharp White Cheddar

1/2 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts

Crisco for the pan, or other high heat cooking fat

Grill the chicken breasts either on an indoor grill or on an outdoor grill. Slice into pinky finger sized pieces.

Heat the Crisco, or other fat, in a large skillet (I used cast iron) over medium heat until the fat has melted and coated the bottom of the pan.

Place one tortilla into the pan and put about a golf ball sized amount of cheese in the center.

Put as much chicken as you'd like in the quesadilla on top of the cheese, fanning it out toward the edges of the tortilla. Top with about half the amount of cheese put onto the bottom tortilla to make the chicken and top tortilla stick together.

Cook until the bottom tortilla gets crispy, but not burnt, and flip the quesadilla over carefully.

Cook until the other side is crispy. Remove from the pan and repeat the process with the rest of the tortillas, chicken, and cheese until you run out of one of the ingredients (in Chemistry this would be your limiting reagent; I told you all I'd been studying too much...).

If you like your tortillas not crispy, then just cook until the cheese has melted, then flip and repeat. I like mine more like tostadas than soft quesadillas.

Serve with salsa and non-fat plain yogurt, or sour cream.

Note: I used Crisco because a friend of mine said that when she cooks Mexican food she always uses Crisco because it can stand the heat and makes the tortillas nice and crispy. She's been cooking a while longer, than me, and I respect her cooking knowledge. She was definitely right on this one. Normally I wouldn't recommend Crisco as it is a hydrogenated fat (it stays solid at room temperature) which isn't healthy for your body, but if used sparingly it can be included in your cooking.

Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad

adapted from vegweb.com

2 cans of black beans (organic preferably) drained and rinsed

2 large ears of corn (organic preferably, I used local), shucked

1 can of diced tomatoes, drained

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 green onions, green parts only, sliced

2 tablespoons dried parsley (or 4 tablespoons fresh, chopped)

1 tsp cumin powder

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Fresh cracked pepper

Break the ears of corn in half and boil for 8-10 minutes until the corn is bright yellow and the kernels are tender. Remove any bad kernels carefully using a paring knife.

Cut the kernels off of the corn cobs using a sharp knife. Place the cob on one end, holding it in place with your fingers at the top of the cob, and the ball of your hand on the side opposite from your cutting point. Slice down the cob, starting at the top, or near the top, and cut all the way down. Turn the cob and continue this procedure. Repeat with the 3 other corn cobs.

In a large bowl combine the minced garlic, green onions, parsley, cumin, vinegar, oil, and pepper. Whisk together well.

Dump the beans, corn, and tomatoes into the bowl, and toss with 2 spoons until the beans, corn, and tomatoes are coated with the spices.

Chill in the fridge while you're making the rest of your meal.

Note: For an extra refreshing kick, add some fresh cilantro and use lime juice instead of the vinegar.

Saturday Info and Contest Info

Saturday I spent the whole day out, and that meant eating every meal but breakfast out. For breakfast we had strawberry buckwheat pancakes with strawberry guava syrup made here in Hawaii. I used the recipe for blueberry buckwheat pancakes from The Gluten-Free Vegan and instead of adding blueberries, I added fresh strawberry pieces. I cut the strawberries up pretty small so they would be distributed nicely throughout the pancakes.

On top of my pancakes I also added some tsubushian(sweet red bean paste) that I had leftover from the ichigo daifuku I made on Thursday night. Oh, I didn't post about those because they were a disaster in their appearance. They tasted quite nice, but the mochi became too cold by the time I could get the strawberries semi-coated in in the tsubushian and into the mochi to be wrapped. However, everyone ate their treats happily. Thank goodness a guest brought some more strawberries and some whipped cream for dessert.

Today I am posting about a contest that is being held over at $5 dinners. You could win a fifty dollar gift card to use at Home Depot. They are promoting the spring planting season, and are giving this away for people to start their own home gardens. I wish you all, and myself, luck in winning!