Let's Catch Up

Mothers Day Rhymes with Parfait

I think it's about time for us to catch up, considering it's been a few days since I've posted.

Thursday night we had our weekly dinner, and that went quite nicely. We had the Hawaiian Style Chili. It contained both local beef, and local portuguese sausage. We really have to be careful when buying sausages as they often contain some sort of gluten as a filler, and if dairy is an issue too then that's something else to watch out for in the ingredients list as well. If you're still unsure, try contacting the company. The brand I've been eating without any problems is Gouveas, but I've received no response to the e-mail I sent to the company in which I asked about whether or not their sausage contains gluten. This may be a company I need to call. As I said though, I've experienced no symptoms after eating the product, but this is something I need to get better about. I admit it. Sometimes I do take small risks, but I would never cheat purposely.

I read over at Gluten Free in Georgia and Florida that in her book "The G-Free Diet" Elisabeth Hasselback takes cheating very lightly, and in no way do I want to be associated with that kind of thinking.

Channa Masala

Friday night the Nerd and I dined at home on some delicious chickpea curry. It's based on a recipe for Channa Masala on Seriouseats.com. I couldn't find Garam Masala at Foodland or Pukalani Superette, but I do know that it is available in the bulk spices at Mana Foods. However, I think this dish is quite delicious with Madras Curry powder. This dish has a very spicy, comfort food quality that I can't get enough of. Because there is a little lemon juice, the dish also has just a hint of sourness that enhances all of the spices coating every inch of the chickpeas and that have soaked into the rice. Served alongside a nice salad, or some steamed vegetables, this is a delicious and healthy well balanced meal. I do suggest bringing a large pitcher of water to the table, you might need it.

A Delicious Hot Breakfast for Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day. My moms aren't here with me, but I was able to honor the Nerd's mother by getting up early to make a big, beautiful, and scrumptious brunch. I really only needed 2 hours to prepare everything for this breakfast. The Nerd's brother, the Hunter, and his wife CJ came over for brunch as well. CJ brought me a beautiful jade plant, and they presented his mother with a lovely bouquet.

The Hunter said that he normally needs to put ketchup on his scrambled eggs, partly because of how bland and dry they are, but he felt no need to do that with the eggs I whipped up. I made scrambled eggs that I found the recipe for through Food.com and the recipe is from Foodandwine.com. I had never made scrambled eggs over a double boiler, but I think it is now the only way I will do it. I left out the truffle oil and brioche rolls(of course).

Whisk your eggs up in a bowl with some water while bringing a pot of water up to a simmer. Once the water reachers a good simmer, place a metal bowl on top of the pot and add in a little butter or margarine. Let the butter melt and then add the whisked eggs. Drop the temperature just a bit, and use a heat resistant rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl as the eggs cook. Just before they are completely set up, add some more butter. Keep scraping and stirring. The eggs should come together in a curd like consistency. Cook the eggs to the firmness you like, and then remove the bowl from the pot and turn off the heat. Add in your seasonings at this point.

Roasted zucchini, onions, and garlic were also a delicious hit. With a little salt and pepper, they were a nice addition to a savory hot breakfast.

I followed a recipe for buttermilk biscuits from Bobsredmill.com, but they didn't turn out as they should have. I may have rolled the dough too thin, but if I hadn't then I don't believe the recipe would have yielded as many biscuits as it says it will. Despite being thin, I think they worked well with the amount of food served. We topped these biscuits with Poha jam. Pohas are berries that are also known as Cape Gooseberries, Goldenberries, and some other names. I found out from CJ that she's been eating some berries called Incan Goldenberries, and they are highly nutritious and full of antioxidants. She was excited to learn that they are also Poha berries and grow wild here on the island. The jam slightly reminds me of very sweet gold cherry tomatoes with sugar. I will happily eat some more.

It was worth a second shot!

Finally, we had a breakfast "dessert" of strawberry, blueberry, and banana yogurt parfaits. These caused some "Oo's" and "Ah's" from the family. Deliciousness was inspired by the local fruits available at the farm stand. The strawberries, bananas, and blueberries were all local. The yogurt was organic. Mary, at Kula Country Farms, let me run in and buy 2 boxes of berries on Saturday while they were closing up. Thank you for the berries Mary!

To make these tasty treats:

Hooray for Parfait!

AmandaonMaui

• 3-4 small bananas, sliced
• 1lb of strawberries, rinsed and diced
• 1 pint of blueberries, rinsed
• Nonfat vanilla yogurt

Layer 4 slices of banana on the bottom of the glass, top with a few tablespoons of yogurt, add in a couple tablespoons of strawberries, add more yogurt, add blueberries, add more yogurt, top with more strawberries and banana slices.

In fact, here's a list of the food in this breakfast that was local:

Eggs

Zucchini

Onions

Strawberries

Blueberries

Bananas

Poha Jam

Here's what was organic:

Butter

Soy Milk

Yogurt

Sugar

If not for the biscuits, then everything would have been local or organic. That's amazing, and inspiring!

Go out to your farmers market or farm stand and get inspired too!

Wednesday and Thursday Breakfasts

No Rice Fried Rice

As I posted a while ago, breakfast is a great meal and shouldn't be overlooked if it can be helped. I especially enjoy a hot breakfast, and a healthy breakfast is very important too. I've often wondered how to get more vegetables into the morning breakfast, and I've been able to do that this week. With the leftover zucchini I simply reheated it and topped it with an egg. The same type of breakfast occurred yesterday with an egg on top of kale sauteed with spinach. And, this morning it was a no rice fried rice. I wanted to make fried rice to use up more of the vegetables before I go to the farm stand today, so I thought that this was a great idea. Unfortunately I didn't have any leftover rice in the refrigerator. That's sacrilege living here in Hawaii and dining on a great deal of Asian style foods. I also think that having pre-made rice around is a good idea for those on a gluten-free diet. Some people stop getting enough grains, especially whole grains, in their diet when they go gluten free; but, if they kept a container of brown rice in the refrigerator they could warm some up in the microwave to have as a side dish or part of a main dish anytime.

So, no rice fried rice was born. Instead of using rice or noodles I used washed and drained mung beans as the base.

Thursday's Breakfast:

No Rice Fried Rice

(see above picture)

• 2 cups of rinsed mung beans
• 1 cup of of sugar snap peas, ends cut off and then cut in half
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 green onion, white part sliced and dark green part sliced
• 3 eggs, beaten
• Braggs, or gluten-free soy sauce to taste
• Crushed Red Pepper to taste
• Medium-heat Oil (optional)

1. Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Add a little bit of oil if needed to keep the vegetables from sticking.
2. Add in the diced carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Then add in the whites of the onions and cook for another 1 minute.
4. Toss in the snap peas and cook until they start to get slightly blackened on the edges.
5. Incorporate the mung beans and cook for 5 minutes or until tender.
6. Push the vegetables to one side of the skillet and add in the eggs. Start scrambling them, and mixing them with the vegetables. Cook until the eggs are cooked through, and the eggs sticking to the vegetables are cooked completely.
7. Spritz in some Braggs, or pour on a little gluten-free soy sauce and sprinkle in the red pepper.
8. Stir well, and serve hot.

Wednesday's Breakfast:

Sauteed Kale and Spinach with Toasted Pine Nuts

Topped with a Fried Egg

Sauteed Kale and Spinach with Toasted Pine Nuts

adapted from vegweb.com

• Greens and nuts:
• 1 bunch of kale, leafy part only, torn into bite size pieces
• 1 bunch of spinach (about 2 cups of leaves, compacted)
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts
• 1/2 a medium onion, julienned and diced
• 1Tbsp Grapeseed of other medium to high heat oil

• Dressing:
• Olive Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat and add in the pine nuts. Let them cook, but watch them carefully. Do not let them burn. They should be a golden color when they are done.
2. In, or over, another medium pot steam the kale and spinach for 3-5 minutes (depending on level of squishiness desired). Remove from the heat.
3. When the pine nuts are done place the kale, spinach, and pine nuts in a medium bowl. Top with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to your desired level of coating. This is where you really get to experiment and learn your palate.
4. Top with a fried, or poached egg, or serve as a side for any other dish like fish, chicken, tofu, etc. It's very versatile.

Monday's Breakfast

Eggs and Pan Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar

I'm wanting to get back into working out again, and so I thought to start the day off right I'd make the Nerd and I fruit smoothies with kale hidden in them. Well, let me tell you, that kale wasn't hiding anything. Down the drain it had to go. I made it through a 1/4 of a glass, but the Nerd only managed two sips while making "disgusted cat" faces about the salad like taste.

Breakfast instead became something quite beautiful and delicious, and pretty healthy too.

Last night for dinner I whipped up two pan and oven roasted chicken breasts with butter, rosemary, thyme and the old alae sea salt and pepper. I slightly overcooked them because I was off dealing with the zucchini, but they were still moist enough and delicious. It's a good thing though that they were a little dry, because the zucchini was not.

I pan roasted the zucchini while following a recipe in Think Like a Chef. The zucchini took quite a while because I could only do it in one layer at a time, and I was using 4 jumbo zucchinis from the farm stand. They were 3 for $1, how could I pass up that deal? So, I made a ton of pan roasted zucchini. It's very good, seriously. The flavors of the olive oil, sea salt, and pepper mix together so beautifully. They're all such simple flavors, and make simple flavors, but pairing them with the zucchini makes my mouth think it is dining on something rather expensive. I'm learning that it's all in the techniques.

So, after the major "Fail" on the smoothie front, I reheated some leftover zucchini and topped it with a fried egg and some balsamic vinegar (the good stuff, not the stuff I hide in spaghetti sauce). I think it would have been worthy of an elegant breakfast had I made poached eggs, but I didn't think about it until afterward when I saw the zucchini piled on the plate.

This was a beautiful, and very ono breakfast.

Easter Sunday Brunch Pt.3

Two eggs, over easy. Charoset, over pureed. Potato Pancakes, just right.

Bigger view.

The Nerd and I each had 2 eggs over easy, 2 potato pancakes, and some charoset. His mother had 2 eggs scrambled (not dry), 2 potato pancakes, and charoset.

The charoset was still good despite being pureed within an inch of its being. I tossed in a few broken up walnuts and some golden raisins to help with the texture. The walnuts gave it a bit of a metallic tang in my mouth, but I would eat it again. I might try it with pecans in the future, or maybe almonds. I'd add them last to help keep the crunch more pronounced.

The potato pancakes were the hit of the day. Ketchup was offered, but was not necessary. They were terrific plain. I switched the dill for fresh rosemary from the back yard, and I used grape seed oil in them and to cook them in instead of vegetable oil. I accidentally overheated the oil and it smoked and sputtered for a few seconds, but I removed the pan from the heat immediately. I am still getting comfortable with how quickly the cast iron heats up, and how well it holds heat.

Breakfast was yummy, and I was very tired right afterward, but now I have a cup of genmaicha (green tea with toasted brown rice) and all is well.

My mom just called, so I'm going to go talk to her. Hoppy Easter to you all!