At the Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving was a week ago and I still haven’t posted my Turkey Day recipes. Even with the oven going wonky on our four pies, the turkey itself turned out as amazing as we’d hoped it would, and our other oven-based delights were baked in our “small” convection oven instead. My vacation from school and work was filled with love and great food, with traveling and new experiences, with wonderful lessons and deeper friendships made. It’s the kind of thing you will remember for the rest of your life, something you will always be grateful for specifically. 

Now that’s my kind of Thanksgiving. (If you are interested, click here to for a glimpse of last year's Turkey Day round-up.) 

As always, Uncle R brought his infamous pot of collards to share. Meanwhile Mama Dazz made a delightful cranberry sauce (some of which was stevia sweetened for Grandma D and me), sweet potato biscuits (not gluten free, sadly), a large dish of cornbread stuffing (also not gluten free), and three of the four pies I mentioned (pecan, coconut macaroon, sweet potato). I focused my energy on three things: the turkey, stuffing I could eat, and my pumpkin pie.*

Is it worth brining your own turkey and making your own stuffing from start to finish? Yes, my friends, it is. There is something similar to pride to know that you bought your bird from a farmer you know and respect, and seeing how beautiful the end result is to have a perfectly cooked and flavorful turkey. I can safely say I don’t intend on buying turkey from the store in the many holidays to come.

In fact, this reminds me of a funny scene from the show Portlandia, taken from YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

Holiday Bird Brine (Inspired by this recipe)

1 Small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 Celery stalk, coarsely chopped
3 Garlic cloves, halved
3 Bay leaves
1 tbsp. Black peppercorns
1 tsp. Yellow mustard seeds
130 g (or 1/2 c.) Sea salt
Filtered water (1 gallon to start the brine, and then enough to submerge your bird)**

Place the ingredients in a large cooking pot and cook on medium heat until steam and slight simmering is visible.
Turn off the heat and let it come to room temperature before doing anything at all with the bird.
Prepare your bird by removing the organs and neck*** and placing it in a very large cooking pot that enables you to completely submerge it in brining liquid.
Carefully pour the brine over the bird and continue to add more water until the brine covers it completely.
Cover the pot and place it in a cold environment (either your refrigerator or a tall cooler with plenty of ice) for a period of 12 – 24 hours.
When finished with brining, remove the excess vegetables and spices from the bird and roast in the oven as usual.****

Makes over 1 gallon of brine.

*Although this year's gluten free pumpkin pie didn’t turn out as I had hoped, the grain-free pie crust was delicious (with enough left over to make another pie with in December). You can find a recipe that did work here.
**The bird we enjoyed weighed around 14 lbs.
***We use the organs and neck to help in creating tasty gravy, and also add it to our stuffing for additional nutrition.
****We didn’t do it this year, but I think cooking the brine along with the carcass would make an excellent stock. Has anyone ever done this before? I’d love to hear how it turned out.

As I said, I made stuffing I was very satisfied with. I wasn’t in a mashed potatoes sort of mood, so at the last minute (and by last minute, I mean three hours before the feast itself) I decided I wanted to make stuffing I could eat. After my not so pleasant experiences my body dealt with going Primal for three weeks, I’ve been eating grains and other sources of carbohydrates at practically every meal. I could have easily made this a grain-free delight, and perhaps for Yule I will, but I was craving cornbread something fierce. The cornbread itself was solely made for the stuffing, so when it came out of the oven it was a tad dry and unappetizing and something I wouldn’t recommend as a finished product. As part of a stuffing, however, I’d say it was the perfect component to a moist yet sturdy spoonful of dressing.

Cornbread Stuffing

For the cornbread:*
240 g Coarse corn flour
1 Large egg
250 ml Filtered water
42 g Butter, melted**

Remaining ingredients:
200 g Pulsed turkey organ and neck meat***
1 Celery stalk, finely chopped
1 Small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 Large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. Powdered or rubbed sage
1/4 tsp. Rosemary powder
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper
240 ml Filtered water

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Pour into a greased small cast iron pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done.
Take the pan from the oven and begin cubing the bread with a knife.
With a large spoon or spatula, remove the cubes from the pan and pour them into a large mixing bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and fold carefully.
Pour the dressing into a 8x8” baking pan and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature has reached at minimum 165°F.
Remove the pan from the oven and slice or spoon onto the plates
Serve hot.****

Makes 4 – 6 servings.

*If you happen to have cornbread or any gluten free bread on hand, use about 600 g and cut into bite-sized cubes.
**For a dairy free version, replace the butter with your preferred baking oil of choice like olive oil, coconut oil, and various nut/seed oils.
***Should you like to keep this vegetarian or you don’t have organ meat on hand, I’d recommend pulsed walnut/cashew pieces, left over mashed potatoes or pumpkin/sweet potato/butternut squash puree.
****Stuffing is a lot like pizza, in that it’s a great leftover food eaten hot or cold.

Self-Evolution with Primal Eating

In the two weeks I’ve experimented with Primal eating, my body shifted. It was a slow shift, mind you, but a shift it was. And with two more weeks to go, I wanted to share my experience.

It’s not as difficult as you think it is. The people who know of my eating habits (gluten, soy, and cane sugar free) were concerned with the additional “restrictions” I was putting upon my diet, particularly with my past disordered eating in the forms of orthorexia and anorexia.

“But you need legumes, Morri!” one lamented.

“What can you eat then?” asked many in exasperation.

 “A lot more than you think I can,” I replied.

For one thing, there is a difference between “Paleo” and “Primal” eating, though both lifestyles stem on similar evolutionary science. Mainly the difference lies with saturated fats, and how primal eating is all about enjoying grass-fed humanely raised meats and products (butter, eggs, full-fat milk and yogurt). Grains and sugars are limited (if not removed completely) as the consumption of vegetables and protein increases. Fruit is eaten in moderation, and dairy is promoted by some while discouraged by others. There’s also a fundamental difference in the two dietary lifestyles with the role of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners. But I agree with Mark (from Mark’s Daily Apple) when he says: “If you aren’t getting anything positive from the meal or drink, you shouldn’t be taking the risk of the artificial sweetener.” Finally, what drew me to going Primal instead of Paleo was treating it “as a broad, holistic approach to living and not simply a list for eating.” 

The list for eating is quite delicious, however... 

There will be some among both the Primal and Paleo community that do not eat what I eat and vice versa. For instance, I loved the food list on Mark’s site as well as the following food pyramid and decided to create a hybrid. I do use honey on occasion, and I eat quinoa, wild rice, and tuber vegetables throughout the week. I’m fairly successful at eating protein and vegetables at every meal, though I have noticed cravings for more servings of fruit. I don’t miss rice, nor any other gluten free grain. For the most part I’ve been dairy free also with the exception of some cheese or kefir, but after receiving raw milk (among other dairy delights), my body was so happy to have the nutrition.

(source)

Being Primal also means a different food/fitness culture for everyone. As my ancestry is almost exclusively from the British Isles, my body will respond better or worse to certain foods and exercise regimens than someone from the Amazon or Pakistan. Perhaps someone from China can eat more grains with some protein and vegetables and excels at martial arts while I can eat more protein and vegetables with some grains and excel at leg-oriented sports or climbing. Maybe fish calls to you over chicken, or fermented vegetables over stewed or roasted. Maybe you can eat fruit at every meal or none at all to feel your best. Maybe nuts and non-animal derived fats/oils keep hunger at bay when it makes someone else famished thirty minutes later. It’s all about what works for you, experimenting by adding and/or diminishing foods as you go. 

In the first week of going Primal, I was literally hungry all the time. As I, like many, used fiber in the sense to be *ahem* regular, there were days it felt like my IBS had reared its not too pretty head in the form of constipation, lethargy, tenderness, and irritability. By the second week, the hunger subsided and the symptoms lessoned. And now, entering to week three, regularity is still to be desired and I’m practically never hungry. I’m tired all morning, but I think that’s something else entirely.

Primal eating and food substitutions aren’t as daunting as I thought they’d be. Instead of spaghetti with meat sauce, try cooked spaghetti squash or sautéed julienned zucchini and carrots with meat sauce. Instead of fajitas, try making fajita bowls with your favorite meat and vegetable combinations. Substitute rice for quinoa or wild rice, or white potato for sweet potato or a winter squash. Eat humongous salads with whatever Primal foods you happen to have on hand in your pantry or fridge. If you are hankering for bread or something of that nature, there’s plenty of almond/coconut pancake, quick bread, dessert recipes out there for you to try. It’s all about substitutions, people, and you’ll feel like Primal gods once you get the hang of it.

We all know how much I love chili, right? There’s something about that delicious, meaty stewp (I still don’t know if chili is a soup, a stew, or a combination of the two) that I can’t get enough of. Highly adaptable with the potential of never being made the same twice, I wondered what happened if I went the Texan way. You know, without beans. Legumes are a no-no on the Primal eating list, so I thought of possible substitutions for it that would make sense. Potatoes? Nah. More meat? Nah. Vegetables? Sure, but which one?

The beauty of going Primal in November was the inspiration to use winter squash with my turkey chili. And let’s just say, it’s now a dinner table favorite.

Autumn Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1.25 lb Ground Turkey
560 g Butternut squash, cubed
410 g Diced tomatoes (from 1 can, or by hand)
425 g (1 can) Pumpkin puree
1 Red onion, coarsely chopped
1 Green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
200 g Kale, finely chopped (fresh or frozen)
3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Ground ginger
1/4 tsp. Powdered sage
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. Paprika (Spanish smoked)
1/8 tsp. Chipotle

Place a large pot or pressure cooker on medium to medium-high heat, grease the bottom with your preferred cooking oil (coconut oil or ghee is mine).
Once it has reached its smoking point, drop in the ground meat and, with a wooden spoon, stir and break apart the meat until completely cooked and separated.
Add the spices to the meat until thoroughly mixed, and then add the remaining ingredients.
Cover the pot and let sit over medium heat for at least an hour.*
Garnish each bowl with your choice of sour cream, cheese, diced onion, avocado, or all of the above.

Makes 6 – 8 servings.

*I like using the pressure cooker, as it cuts the time for chili in half. If you are cooking with a regular pot (or even a slow cooker), it will take longer for the smoky flavor to sink it. It will be good regardless.

Goodbye April Woes

The hardest thing after being sick is getting back into your old routine. Running two miles proved to be a lot more winding than I remember, and I could only rock climb for twenty minutes before getting frustrated and tired. I still haven’t done much yoga (not at all, actually), and I was at least able to complete seventy-five percent of my core workout, but I feel like my two week hiatus has completely thrown all my hard work out the window. Now, a week later, and I’m almost back to where I was, running three miles and climbing for an hour.

April was going to be the month of recipes and thyroid information galore. It was going to be the month I would be running at least nine miles per week. It was going to be the month I could rock climb V1s with ease. I was going to be Morri, Super Duper Gluten Free Blogger Extraordinaire, making The Perfect Recipe for this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

By the way, we made bagels.

On the other hand, I did set out what I wanted to accomplish for the week: I did exercise; I did go out into the world specifically to be social; I did make recipes; and I have been studying extensively on the culinary arts and the business behind it. My goal was to ease my way back to where I was before getting sick, and I think I did a fairly good job at it, despite not posting here every day. There’s even a new page on Meals with Morri, one I am particularly excited to make a place of information and growth.

In between my moments of angst, frustration, and little pity parties, this is probably the best week of sleep I’ve had in… months? Years? I can’t even remember the last time I’ve slept past 5:30 in the morning. But this week, I’ve been waking up after 6:30, a personal triumph in my sleep maintenance insomnia.

For now, I want to talk about comfort, and fulfillment, and presentation.

There are some foods out there that don’t look particularly glamorous or are especially difficult to photograph. I personally have the darnedest time taking pictures of beverages and condiments. Maybe it has to do with the settings on my camera that I haven’t fully mastered quite yet, or maybe it has to do with the containers I put them in, but some foods need some help in looking delicious.

Beverages, dressings, and condiments aside, pilaf is the perfect example of this.

Pilaf is a class of rice (though not always) dishes found all over the world. It is found in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and terms for [rice] pilaf are found in Mandarin, Danish, and Greek. It’s the sort of One Dish Wonder food that can have all the fixings: grain (typically rice), meat (at least, a protein), fat, fruits, and veggies. It is closely related to the Spanish paella and Creole Jambalaya, two dishes that are definitely on my “To Make” list. Oh, and biryani, how could I forget?

Pilaf is the ultimate comfort food: nutritionally balanced, texture and flavor diverse, and able to feed a ton of people in one batch. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, I know, but it’s one of the most adaptable and economical dish there is. Pilaf is the sort of dish you could have every day and every day it would be a little different, one that could feed a family that needs that kind of security.

This recipe is all about its personality, and not necessarily how it looks on a plate. So go on, make some pilaf/plov/pilav/pilafi. I guarantee a feeling of contentment, fullness, and leftovers for the next few days. 

Turkey Quinoa Pilaf

252 g Dry white quinoa
750 ml Water
20 g Dried parsley
20 g Fresh basil, finely chopped
1.25 lb. Ground turkey
120 ml Pino Grigio (or water, if you prefer)
30 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar
1 White onion, finely diced
1 Carrot, finely diced
1 Celery rib, finely diced
4 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 Ginger chunk (about the size of a garlic clove), finely chopped
113 g Canned fire roasted green chiles
1 tsp. Sea salt   

Prepare the quinoa with the 750 ml water and cook as you normally would prepare it, either in a rice cooker, pressure cooker, or a large pot.
Fold in the parsley and basil with the cooked quinoa and then set aside.
In a large skillet pan on medium heat, generously grease the bottom with your cooking oil of choice (I used coconut oil), and cook the ground turkey until it is browned.
Add the remaining ingredients to the skillet until softened and remove from the heat.
Fold in the turkey mixture in with the quinoa thoroughly.
Serve warm as part of a salad with lettuce, tomato, feta cheese, avocado, hot pepper, cracked pepper, and your choice of an acidic vinaigrette.

Serves 6 – 8.

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving. A holiday focused on food, family, food, getting together, food, telling stories, food, and more food. I mentioned the food, right? 

My Leftovers Day Plate

Good.

I only had class on Monday this week, so much of my time was spent cleaning, cooking, and nervously awaiting the arrival of our other guests. We were eight around the table: Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, Uncle Rich, myself, and the boyfriend’s father and brother. He came later in the evening, back from his five-day excursion in Mexico.  The energy at the table was enormous, and food was plentiful and beyond delicious. It wasn’t completely Morri friendly, and being grain-free and sweetener free made it slightly more difficult (I indulged with a sliver of pie), but the food that I could and did eat did not leave me wanting. Plus, it was my first Thanksgiving back from Sweden, so I was just tickled pink to be there.

First and foremost, the Turkey, a bird named after the country the English believed it originated (The Turks called it the Hindu, I think, though the bird comes from Northern America). We typically buy the all-natural Trader Joe’s turkey each year, which came with its own brine. Only, upon further inspection, I realized that the brine wasn’t Morri friendly because of the sugar, so we ended up getting the smaller and yes, more expensive Kosher bird. 

Regardless, it was totally worth the extra few bucks, because not only did it taste amazing but it occurred to us that maybe the bird was raised and fed differently due to its, uh, Kosher-ness. It wasn’t some hulking, too-big-for-its-own-legs, obese thing. It was smaller, with some of the feathers in the skin, and juicier than I remember turkey ever being. Next year, I’m going to look in buying a Morri friendly bird online and see where that goes.

As I was going grain-free, I decided not to make a gluten free stuffing which, until I got sick earlier this month, I was making it with a spoon bread base. Instead of putting it in the bird it was baked like a huge bread pudding and a whole onion was put in its place. The onion was my “stuffing”.

There were two kinds of greens, my Uncle Rich’s infamous collard greens, cooked with salted fatback, water, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, and I made green beans with a delish twist, and whose recipe will be posted shortly.

Like many Thanksgiving dinners around the United States, our menu was rather heavy on the carbohydrates, but I think we did rather well in bringing color and balance to the table. Instead of mashed potatoes, we went with “small” sweet potatoes, baked at 400 ºF for 1.5 to 2 hours. The result is a caramelized and sticky exterior with a gooey middle that melts in your mouth. 

We had two sauces, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade, grain-free, and definitely not out of a can. I'm doing my best not to brag too inanely, but our cranberry sauce was beyond amazing, and I wish I had written down the recipe (we used this one for inspiration). Mama Dazz started off with two bags of fresh cranberries, used two cups of orange juice instead of water to cook them, and finished it off with fresh orange pieces and walnuts. Before adding sugar to the whole thing she poured a bit into two ramekins, one for me and one for Grandma D, who has diabetes. I personally liked it unsweetened, but she used a sweetener for hers.

Except for the turkey and Uncle Rich’s collards, I was surprised that most of the things I put on my plate (and made) were vegan. Then again, since everything was mixed into a tasty jamboree of flavors, I guess it wasn’t so vegan after all. Oh well…

As for drinks, I made two kinds of ice tea, Irish Breakfast (caffeinated) and Green Rooibos (non-caffeinated), and poured them into wine bottles for a change of pace. We also had chilled white wines, a 2010 Da Vinci Chianti Big Sergey brought (along with pink roses), and sparkling apple cider. 

Mama Dazz's Apple-Quince Pie (Not GF)

Mama Dazz's Sorghum Pecan Pie (Not GF)

Dessert was a Thanksgiving feast in its own right, with four (count 'em, four) different pies, vanilla ice cream, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and lots of coffee. Mama Dazz made Grandma D her own special single-serving berry pie as one, but she also made pecan pie and an apple-quince pie for the gluten eating crowd. I made a gluten-free pumpkin pie with a dairy free filling, using the second half of the pie crust recipe I made for last month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Grandma D's Three Berry Pie

My GF Pumpkin Pie!

It was weird having pie, with its not-so-much grain-free crust and honey sweetened filling, not to mention eating more than one fruit serving a day (the cranberry sauce was my second serving). After we picked him up from the airport, I ate a tiny sliver of my pie while he ate a reheated plate of amazing deliciousness. I felt loopy and slightly intoxicated after that, and my stomach didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though I did feel off. I think having a grain-free/sweetener free/limited fruit servings diet for a while may help, but it may end up becoming a long-term thing. FiveLac has been helpful; I just don’t want to take 3 – 6 packets every day for the rest of my life. And as long as I have garbanzo bean flour, I'm golden.

All in all, this Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for; you know, besides being thankful for the family I have. For my birthday I have this idea that, for every year after my birthday that’s the number of hours I give to doing community service (i.e., I’m twenty-two, so this year I do at minimum twenty-two hours). I am thankful that my lifestyle enables me to do that. I am thankful for the world I live in, for the people in it, and for the life I lead. I am thankful for every experience, every lesson, every mistake, and every success. I am thankful for my education, for my job, and for my bright today and the tomorrows that follow.

I am thankful for this year’s harvest, whatever that may be.

I end this post with a Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you all. May you have food in your cupboards and pantries all year long, a roof over your heads and a fireplace to keep you warm and dry, and finally, an open heart that grows with each passing day.

Dijon Green Beans with Almonds and Mushrooms (adapted from this recipe)

1 lb 8 oz French-cut green beans, preferably frozen
10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 oz Almond slivers
1 oz Coconut oil
5 Garlic cloves, left whole
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper
Dash nutmeg
2 oz Dijon mustard

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil.
Sautee the mushrooms, almond slivers, and the garlic cloves until thoroughly cooked and browned (careful, though, the almonds can burn if you are not watching).
Add in the green beans and stir until the ingredients are completely integrated.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to medium or medium-low for up to three minutes.
Pour in the spices and Dijon mustard in the final minutes of cooking (i.e. the green beans are still a vibrant green and lukewarm).
After it has cooked, let it sit for five minutes before serving.

Serves 8 – 10 people as a side dish, with a very likely chance of leftovers.

The Bento Box Snapshot: Turkey, White Bean, and Quinoa Chili Verde

Yesterday my evening class was canceled, so I was able to come home for dinner and my Bento box was lovingly put in the refrigerator. It just meant I had a lunch already prepared for today, which is great because I tend to get hungry between 10:30 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. (the same time as my three-hour CAR Integration class). And since I’m feeling significantly better than I did this time last week, I think I’ll be going to the gym for an hour afterward. Along with the chili I cut up some veggies and corn tortillas and packed my daily apple and spirulina-nut butter spread combo (as well as a can of wild salmon in case I'm still hungry).

Despite my being a week behind schoolwork, everything is still merging into something wonderful. For one, I can see the floor of my bedroom and my desk is almost completely cleared off. For another, my life after college is coming into focus. At this point, because some crucial grades from my time in Sweden have still not transferred, applying for Grad school may have to wait. I had intended on starting immediately after graduation, but I think the Cosmos is trying to tell me something, and it's something along the lines of taking things slow and to enjoy the ride. Maybe I’ll apply to the various research assistant positions at the USIP or work at a restaurant to learn the tools of the trade. Maybe I’ll join the ranks of some bangin’ NGO or create my own non-profit. If Grad school wasn’t meant to be in January, I’m sure August will be a different story. It’s all about adaptation and timing.

I do my best to stick to other people’s tasty recipes (heck, my own), but sometimes I either don’t have a particular ingredient or don't have enough of it, and I tend to add and subtract others as I go. Sometimes it doesn’t go as I expected it to, but usually the result is extremely delicious and post-worthy. The philosophies found in cooking can be relative to those in life. So if something just isn’t going to happen no matter how hard you try or want it to, find something that will. You can always go back to it when you’re ready.

This Bento Box Snapshot comes with a recipe. It must have been Monday (getting sick turns days into one consecutive day) when I decided to try my hand at white chili, but ended up adding more chili powder than I had planned to and turning it flamingo pink. So it wasn’t white chili by definition, but it was very different than the chili we usually make. It wasn’t exceptionally spicy though there was a nice kick from the jalapeño and green chile, and there was a delicate sweetness the cut-up apple provided to balance it. The tomatillos that I replaced the tomatoes with gave it a green undertone beneath its pinkish coloring, and the ground turkey made it light but still comforting to the tender stomach. It also was a great dish to use up all that leftover quinoa we had.

Turkey, White Bean, and Quinoa Chili Verde

 3 tbsp. Olive oil
1.25 lb Ground turkey
2 lb Tomatillos, coarsely chopped
24 oz Water
1 can (15 oz) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (4 oz) Fire roasted diced green chile
1 Jalapeño, seeded, veined, and coarsely chopped
1 Red onion, julienned and finely chopped
11 oz (2 c.) Cooked quinoa (you could also use rice, millet, pasta, etc.)
1 Sm. Granny Smith apple (about 4.5 oz cored), finely chopped
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tbsp. Crushed garlic
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper

In a large mixing pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high and separated the ground turkey into chunks as it cooks.
Add in the remaining ingredients (or cook up some quinoa if you don’t have any on hand and put it into the pot when it’s done), and let it simmer on medium heat for thirty to forty-five minutes.
Serve in your favorite large drinking mug or soup bowl, and garnish with your choice of cheese, fresh salsa, herbs, and finely chopped sweet onion or shallot.

Serves 6 – 8.

Moon & Stars Noodle Soup

I can’t remember the last time I prepared pasta. The first time I made it from scratch was back in 2009, but it wasn’t the gluten free kind. Despite that, there was something therapeutic and magical about making pasta from scratch. Why I don't make it more often is beyond me.

July’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally, hosted by the lovely Jenn of Jenn Cuisine, was pasta. I was so bummed to miss out, especially since noodle making seemed like the perfect challenge for an aspiring gluten free cook like myself.

Most gluten free pasta is made with rice or corn, though it’s usually the former. Sometimes you find quinoa or buckwheat, but it can be rare and rather expensive. In fact, I’ve wanted to work with soba noodles, the Japanese-style noodle that is part buckwheat, and I found a gluten free version that cost eight dollars. Eight dollars… for eight ounces.

Is it me, or is that just ridiculous?

Actually, I feel that most gluten free pasta (heck, most products) is absurdly priced. And when you make it from scratch, it is not only fresher but also more economical for you.

I’ll be honest; working with fresh pasta was difficult for me. I’m used to knowing when dry pasta is done after boiling in water. Mine seemed al dente after cooking, but I think that had more to do with the buckwheat and not cooking it long enough. Next time I’m going to try various flour combinations, but I think this was a great start.

Buckwheat Pasta Dough

9 oz Buckwheat flour
6 oz Eggs (Or 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk)

Combine the flour and eggs in a food processor (or by hand) and pulse until a ball of dough is formed.
Remove from the food processor and place it onto the counter, forming the dough into a manageable disk shape.
Wrap it in plastic and let it rest for an hour in the fridge. (Can be refrigerated for 24 hours and frozen for up to a month.)
Cut into four equal pieces, around 3.75 ounces, roll them to the desired thinness, and cut.

 

Moons & Stars Noodle Soup 

1 c. Chicken broth
2 c. Filtered water
1/2 Yellow Zucchini, shaved into long “noodles”
1 Carrot, shaved into long “noodles”
1 Celery stalk, shaved into long “noodles”
1 Shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1 Garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1 – 2 tsp Ginger, finely chopped or shaved
2 oz Turkey deli slices, torn into manageable pieces
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
3.75 oz Buckwheat pasta, rolled out thinly and shaped with moon and star cookie cutters
1 tbsp. Olive oil

Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water halfway (with the olive oil), and place it on medium-high heat for the pasta.
In another saucepan, add all the ingredients except for the pasta on medium-low heat.
Roll out the buckwheat pasta dough thinly, and cut into moon and star shapes with a cookie cutter.
When the water has come to a boil, cook the pasta until soft.
Pour the soup into one or two bowls depending on the meal and top it with the noodles.

Makes up to 10 noodles. Serves 1 or 2 people.

Celebrating Summer with Good Intentions Chili

I’ve been wanting to blog since Wednesday, when it was my first official day of summer. It seemed, however, the Universe had other plans. I spent Wednesday moving out of campus housing (which I thought I had until Thursday, but then the RAs came and said I was to have moved out four hours ago), thanks to a friend who’s working for the Burt-man, driving one of the company’s delivery vans. By Thursday, I had made a great meal, but was too tired to do anything but take a photo or two. On Friday, we were expecting a great family friend to stay with us for the weekend, so I had to haul all of my unpacked college life into my bedroom and clean as thoroughly as eight hours would allow.

Naturally, I had to cook something fantastic simultaneously, but the consequence of crashing was not how I envisioned my first days back home would be like.

For the majority of the past few days, I’ve been in the reality between the waking and dreaming worlds. My head ached, my stomach and digestive system were topsy-turvy and tender, and I found myself lying on my stomach just so I could sleep through the discomfort. I was sneezing, lethargic, and all I wanted to do was curl up with the cats and read a Neil Gaiman classic or cook. When I cook, I feel more than useful; I feel needed, a respected member of the household, contributing to those who come under our roof in search of comfort and love.

Cooking, as I’ve discussed, is more than science, but a combination of magic and art and time that can have a repeated outcome if done properly. Cooking is just as therapeutic to the one in the kitchen as it is to those eating the meal. The emotions and mindset you have while preparing a meal is just as important as the individual ingredients going into it. A meal made with good intentions, with love and happy thoughts, tastes significantly better than a meal made with someone who puts their bad day into their food.

Trust me, you can taste the difference.

The reason why I love soups and stews, specifically the chili I’ve known since I was a toddler, is because you can turn it into a meal filled with so much love that whomever eats it will feel a sense of belonging and ease. For each bay leaf or garlic clove or individual spices I use, I like to think of something that I feel the household wants and needs. As I drop ingredients into the pot, depending on the day I imagine with all my being whatever comes to mind: prosperity, a happy home, inspiration, and countless others. By the end of it, not only will the meal taste amazing, but also I feel so much better than I had when I started. 

Good Intentions Chili

16 oz Ground turkey (or whatever ground meat you have on hand around that weight)
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 Red onion, coarsely chopped
15 oz (1 can) Black beans, drained
15 oz (1 can) Pinto beans, drained
28 oz (1 large can or two regular cans) Diced tomatoes
8 oz Filtered water
2 oz Cabernet Sauvignon (or any other dry red wine)
1 Red bell pepper, finely diced
1 Green bell pepper, finely diced
2 Medium carrots, peeled and sliced into small pieces

For the Spice combination:
1 tsp. Chipotle powder
1 tsp. Cumin powder
1 tsp. Paprika
A pinch of Saffron
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Sweet basil

Pour the olive oil (or whichever oil you prefer) into a large pot over medium-high heat.
Place in the ground meat and, with a wooden spoon, stir and break apart the meat until completely cooked and separated.
Add the spices to the meat until thoroughly mixed, and then add the remaining ingredients.
Cover the pot and let sit over medium heat for at least an hour (I like the smokiness of cooking it for a period of 3 – 5 hours).
Garnish each bowl with your choice of sour cream, cheese, diced onion, avocado, or all of the above.

Serves 4 – 6 people.