the mystery of the disappearing dinner

now you see it...


now you don't!


for those of you who don't know, i'm a huge nancy drew fan, so the title of this post just came to me--flashed in front of my mind's eye with a spanky yellow binding :)

anyway, if you recall, about a month and a half ago, we had dinner with our friends drew and jessica. they were very kind to try some new, gluten-free gnocchi that we had made. EW... it was made from sorghum flour and was not so successful. this is where i apologize to drew and jessica and tell them that they are invited over for the rest of this gnocchi! it is just lying there, in a bag in my freezer, waiting for you to have spare time! SEE?!?


so here it is: tasty, gluten-free gnocchi

2 1/4 pounds potatoes (i used organic yukon gold)
1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (my flour of choice is namaste brand)
1 tsp. salt
large pinch of nutmeg
pepper to taste
1 egg

1. pierce potatoes 4-5 times and place into pre-heated 400 degree oven. bake for approx. 45 minutes. when they are done, let cool for about 10 minutes and then peel--no peeler necessary! just pinch the skin and pull back with your fingers. if it's too hot for you, hold potatoes with a pot holder.
2. put about 1 cup of flour into a large bowl. using a food mill over the bowl, puree the potatoes right onto the flour.
3. sprinkle the top with a little bit of flour--i used about 1/2 cup here. using a dough hook, slowly incorporate some of the flour until the mixture is a little crumbly.
4. add salt, nutmeg, pepper and egg. mix until well combined and everything forms a neat dough. it should not be sticky.
5. divide dough into quarters. roll out into long strips onto a lightly floured surface (i used plain sorghum flour for this step).
6. cut the gnocchi into 1/2 inch pieces. you can create the cock's comb here if you like, but i didn't. place gnocchi onto baking sheets and put into freezer until cold. then you can store in freezer bags and they won't stick together. just keep them all in one layer in the bag.
7. if cooking right away, place gnocchi into lightly salted boiling water. boil until they float to the top. don't crowd the pot or they might stick together! i only cook a handful at a time.

the sauce i made for these was a spicy green pea and butter sauce. it was basically butter (i really used smart balance). then i sauteed some garlic in the butter and added a handful of frozen green peas and a tablespoon of pine nuts because that's all i had left. when the peas were almost cooked and the pine nuts were a little toasty, i sprinkled with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, some black pepper, some parsley and i added a splash of vodka (i didn't have any white wine!) i finished with a small ladle of the gnocchi-cooking water. the hot sauce was then poured over the platter of gnocchi.

served with balsamic roasted brussels sprouts.

DELISH!

dessert: a gingerbread sheep that lee made yesterday after a minor gingerbread cookie making catastrophe. it all ended well, though, you see... well, for me, not the sheep. it's covered in cherrybrook kitchen dairy free icing :)

xmas 2009

lee and i passed a very nice xmas together this year. we were off the hook because lee's parents went to montreal and, well... i don't spend the holidays with my family. we had a lovely 2 days off together. my work was closed on xmas eve, so lee took the day off, too.

first, we went snowshoeing at walden pond.


we had never been there. i don't know that i'll go back--it was pretty, but i don't know what all the hubbub is about. it's a small place, and i can't imagine visiting in the summer when it's crowded. we pretty much had the place to ourselves. plus, as far as snowshoeing is concerned, the trails are very poorly marked (we spent a fair amount of time searching for the trails rather than just hiking), and it's not very challenging. but it was good for essentially "in the city" snowshoeing.

then we went to portsmouth, nh, on a whim. we had a delicious linner (lunch/dinner) there at a place called popovers. i had the conrad's grilled vegetables sandwich on gluten free bread (HEAVEN!), a coconut macaroon, and chocolate mint rooibos tea. here i am in the square after our amazing meal.


then we went to zoolights at the stone zoo in stoneham, ma. it was fun in a very kitch-y way!


on xmas day, we went to see a movie, as per our tradition. this year, we saw sherlock holmes. it was very entertaining and enjoyable, but i don't like how the ending left it wide open for a sequel. can't people just end movies anymore? if you haven't seen it, i do recommend it, though :) it was definitely fun.

then we came home and cooked our terrific meal: cioppino with garlic, basil millet bread, served with a side of leeks parmesan. perfetto! look at that pile of seafood that went into the stew! 2 pounds of haddock, 1/2 pound of each scallops and squid, and there are 2 pounds of mussels in the bag.


i started the cioppino with 1 diced red onion and 2 sliced stalks of celery. when those were cooked down, i added 2 whole sardines, plenty of salt and pepper, a couple of bay leaves and at least a 1/2 cup of white wine.


when the wine didn't smell too alcohol-y anymore, i added about half a container of pomi strained tomatoes, 2 cups of vegetable broth and about 2 cups of water. then the squid went right into the pan to simmer for about 25 minutes or so while i prepared the leeks.


then the fish went in to cook for about 3 minutes, followed by the scallops. then we realized that there was no way the mussels would fit into the pot. so they had to be cooked separately. oh well! the finished product was still delicious and looked lovely on our table :)


buon appetito!

and for the leeks, it was about 1 pound, cleaned and sliced into 1-inch pieces. they were simmered in about 1 1/2 inches of water for 6 minutes. then put into a buttered pie plate and baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes--covered in a little more than 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese. i'm salivating just thinking about it again!

my holiday pet peeve

some people hate carolers. many like to complain about the xmas letter, in which the sender tells you all about what they've been doing the past year. (i actually don't mind these, and want to give a shout-out to my friend beth who usually does an interesting one every year!)

i hate the holiday text message greeting!

do any of you do this? i won't hate you if you do. just kindly never send me one. here's how it goes: someone types a text message into their phone. they then select "add all contacts" or if they're being a little more selective, perhaps only "add (whatever) group." then they push send. and i get a terribly impersonal text message that just makes me want to throw my phone as soon as i hear my little beep telling me i have a message!

i got TWO yesterday. TWO! two meaningless messages that were a waste of the time it took me to read them. one was from a childhood friend that i had spoken to only a couple of weeks before. we don't speak very often--she has a one-year old and our lives don't overlap as much as they used to. we still see each other whenever i go home, or if she happens to be traveling to where i live. but over our phone conversation, we had already wished each other our very personal and heart-felt holiday wishes. the text message was one measly line, no picture of the kid, nothing. just something like "happy holidays to all our friends and family. love, (her name, husband, son).

the other one i got came from a former friend out in colorado, where i used to live. i say former friend because over the 4 years that i have lived here in boston, she cannot be bothered to communicate with me. i have called her numerous times, emailed, written on her wall on facebook, tried to connect with her in so many ways. (i have tried SUPER hard, because right after i moved here, she asked me to be the godmother to her oldest child. i took this seriously! but she can't really mean it with this behavior...) all i get are these generic holiday greetings which always end with something like "we love you!" hmmm... it's time to take me off your list, really. my feelings are that if you can't be bothered to talk to me throughout the year, i don't really want your silly, impersonal mass text message!

am i a scrooge? to me, text messages are about as meaningless as you can get...

an amazing dinner

special thanks here go out to my super great friend, kara! kara is a former college roomie who lives far away in chicago ;( but she sent lee and i a wonderful festivus gift. it was a gift box of asian spices from the spice house, and it's amazing!

so last night after opening this wonderful gift, this is what i made:


chinese 5-spice tofu with ginger sake gravy
roasted sweet potatoes
apple salad

the tofu was breaded in brown rice flour with a nice dosage of 5-spice. once the tofu was crispy, i removed it from the pan, added some leftover sake from the fridge (to pick up all that wonderful 5-spice that fell off the tofu!), swirled in some grated fresh ginger and fresh ground black pepper, added some cornstarch to thicken and voila! a delicious and warming dinner on the longest night of the year. and it was washed down heartily with some great st. peter's sorghum beer from the uk.

it was sublime... thank you, kara!

snow day!

too bad it was sunday... but i still had fun stumping around all bundled up! i can't wait for snowshoeing on xmas eve :)

good food to eat :)

i've been cooking up a storm recently--cookies that i can eat, good dinners, crepes (which is one of my favorite foods!), and wanted to share some pictures.

breakfast crepes: at first, the pan was too hot and they were coming out thick and a little gluey. but once we learned how to work with a batter that had xanthan gum in it, this was the result. what a beautiful crepe!


i made these cookies, which were supposed to be macaroons, the other night for a cookie exchange. the reason they're not really macaroons is because i had almond paste on hand and didn't want to make the appropriate amount of almond flower. the almond paste was for a different cookie that i wanted to make and then couldn't get all the ingredients. but it worked well here! lee calls these meringueroons, because they are more like almond flavored meringues.

so delicious... here's the recipe:

1 7oz. tube almond paste, crumbled well (i did this in a food processor)
3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
pinch of salt

1. beat egg whites until you have medium stiff peaks.
2. add the salt and almond extract and beat in quickly. continue beating and slowly add sugar.
3. fold in the almond paste.
4. chill for about 15 minutes.
5. fill a pastry bag and using a standard round tip, pipe cookies onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. bake at 325 for about 20 minutes, or until set and lightly browned.

(alternatively, you could use 2 cups of almond flour and would likely get a cookie of a different consistency. but i am in love with these little cuties! look at this one--this piping mistake looks like africa!)

these cookies are the same recipe for the chocolate chip cookies i made a while back (i made the modifications I said I would--rice flour & honey if you read it again). just minus the chips, flattened and with blueberry jam in the center. i can't lie. i prefer the chocolate chip variety. the cookie isn't very sweet, so the chocolate seems to help it out.


and a 5-star dinner here! tofu marsala with mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. the tofu was breaded and cooked in a mix of brown rice flour and cornmeal. it was perfect. and the gravy was thicked with a bit of all-purpose gluten free flour and it also game out delectably. sigh!


happy cooking to all you out there as well :)

17 degrees at the bus stop this morning!

yay! this is a photo from the local weather caster's blog. i looked much like this, as well, this morning:


and here's a link to today's weather. high of 21--chilly!

jane austen

well folks, my year of jane austen has come to an end. (i just have to watch that bbc jane austen movie series to be complete...) really, it was a year of british literature written by women, but who's being picky?

mostly, i decided to read these books because i had a very poor education in british literature. my continental european literature knowledge is quite thorough... i had only ignored what was written in english! i had an english literature class in high school, but remember nothing about it except that the teacher was not that great or inspiring. i'm sure i read no austen or chaucer. i think we only read some shakespeare. so this year, inspired by a fun woman named jennifer that i met whilst living in savannah, ga, i started to read austen. i first read pride and prejudice because then i wanted to read pride and prejudice and zombies. that book was terrible! but austen herself got me hook, line and sinker.

my favorite austen book is either pride and prejudice or mansfield park. my least favorite, in fact i might even hate it, was sense and sensibility.

i also read jane eyre, by charlotte bronte. i also hated this one. everyone my whole life has been raving about jane eyre, jane eyre, i love jane eyre. i couldn't have cared less about her as a character and was so saddened by the ending--it just seemed like she was still doing what she felt pleased others. she just wanted the right person to please. but on a bronte kick, i read wuthering heights (emily this time) as well. i loved it! it might be one of my favorite books of all time. but it's so dark and brooding, for those of you who know me this is probably no surprise :)

a final book that was so much fun and a great find in the genre was the scarlet pimpernel by baroness orczy. here was a crossover for me: she was a hungarian baroness relocated to london that wrote a ton (in english). this book was great, and there are more in the series that i think i will investigate once i head back to the athenaeum in a couple of weeks.

currently, i am reading the chronicles of narnia (i have also never read these...). he's irish, but i'll count it here! and a couple of years ago, i read shelley's frankenstein. in that vein i think i'll kick off 2010 with bram stoker's dracula. but i am also looking for other quality british literature to read for the year. furthermore, my american literature knowledge and education might just be worse than my british. any suggestions?

thanksgiving in nyc, and nieces in maine

this year, lee and i decided to spend thanksgiving on our own. last year, i was in savannah, ga and we didn't spend any holidays together. so we thought we deserved it and it was nice :) we stayed right on times square, in the edison towers hotel. not great, pretty basic, but clean and cheap. it really just allowed us to stay there--they "lost" my reservation, even though we had called to confirm only a week before and shut the water off from midnight to 6am one night. oh well.

our itinerary ended up being jam-packed! this is unfortunate--lee and i always do this and then get so tired from our trips. here's what we did:

day 1
travel to nyc
new york public library steven a. schwarzman research branch (arts & humanities)
bryant park
grand central station

day 2
rockefeller center
st. patrick's cathedral
museum of the city of new york for the eero saarinen exhibit
vosges chocolate store on madison ave. (where i inadvertantly bought exotic caramels i couldn't eat due to wheat starch!)
guggenheim for the kandinsky exhibit
comedy show at the comic strip live

day 3
moma for the tim burton exhibit
the highline
babycakes for gluten free baked goods (!!!)
storefront for art & architecture
risotteria for gluten free italian food (also !!!)
central park west for inflation eve (the floats for the parade are view-able from 3-10pm the night before the parade)

day 4
macy's thanksgiving day parade
travel back to boston

but it was fun. first, i must also say that babycakes are some of the best cupcakes i've ever had. i had gluten free brownie one and shared a gluten free banana with lee later that night. lee had spelt vanilla with strawberry frosting. then the next day we shared some gluten free ginger cookies. AMAZING...


the risotteria, in greenwich village, also might be some of the finest italian food i've enjoyed in a long time. the breadsticks, which are always gluten free, were to-die-for, and lee agreed that no one would know that they were not made of wheat. then we split a caesar salad with safe-for-me croutons and a gluten free pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, portobello mushrooms, and truffle oil. i had gone to heaven :)


now for some shots of what we did other than eat.

rockefeller center.


times square.


guggenheim.


the highline.


inflation eve in front of snoopy.


the parade.


then after nyc, we went to maine to see lee's parents and his brother's family who had flown in from portland, or. our nieces are 5 and 3 and we hadn't seen them in 2 years because lee's brother doesn't believe he should have to bring his family to see us. so they always go to buffalo to see his wife's family, but won't go to boston to see us. why you might ask? probably because we don't have kids... but that's another story and for the brief time that we were there in maine, we had a good time. here we are dancing to salsa music:


then i made a very allergy-friendly feast for a 2nd thanksgiving dinner. i have no pictures, but this was a challenge! lee's mom is allergic to shellfish and salmon. lee's dad has some kind of reaction to scallops only. his brother's wife cannot have cheese or beef for a specific health reason. i eat vegetarian 90% of the time and was recently told that i must be gluten free. sheesh! so here's what i made:

haddock in foil packets, baked with parsley, salt, pepper, lemon & pimentos
tofu & potato stew with miso gravy from my favorite vegans at the post-punk kitchen (the recipe is in vegan with a vengeance)
biscuits
root vegetable mash
green bean casserole (the vegan, gluten free recipe i used was not so successful...)
chocolate banana cream pie

also while in maine, i discovered a gluten free market and bakery in brunswick. if you go to maine or live in the state, you must go. the place has so many things and the staff is wonderful. it's called wildflours. i will definitely be going back--the breads and pastries looked just delicious. i did try a chocolate peanut butter rice crispy treat and bought some stuff to stock up on at home. it was great.

YAY!

a lot of catching up to do!

first, i'll start with another gluten free meal. this time, we went over to our friends' house for a lovely fall-inspired meal before thanksgiving. drew and jessica were game to try some gluten free sweet potato gnocchi. gnocchi is one of my favorite foods, and i don't want to miss out on it. so we used our normal gnocchi recipe but substituted sorghum flour for the white flour. it didn't really work... with a little xanthan gum, it probably would have been fine. but i think sorghum was the wrong texture and flavor anyway. the flavor was okay, but the texture was waaaay off, and it didn't look too pretty either...


but with the gnocchi, we had some butternut squash soup, some sauteed chard, and for dessert a chocolate peanut butter silk pie. so, besides the gnocchi it was pretty successful.


and it made their dog smile :)


here is our normal favorite gnocchi recipe. i will continue working on it to make it safe for me to eat and get back to you with those details as they emerge:

2 1/4 lb. sweet potatoes
1 tbsp. salt
2-2 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
black pepper, to taste

1. peel, cube, and boil sweet potatoes in salted water. cook until tender, but not mushy.
2. on your work surface, spread out a layer of flour. puree the hot sweet potatoes with a food mill right onto that layer of flour. sprinkle with about half of the remaining flour and work lightly into the potatoes.
3. break the egg into the mixture. add the pepper and knead lightly, adding more flour as necessary. when the dough is light and no longer sticky, it is ready to roll. DO NOT OVERWORK.
4. divide dough into four parts. form each part into a roll about 1/2 inch in diameter. cut into pieces slightly less than an inch long. use a table fork and create that lovely cock's comb pattern on the surface of the gnocchi.
5. to prevent the gnocchi from getting sticky as the dough warms up, place on cookie sheets and freeze until all the dough is made into gnocchi.

after this step, you can boil water to cook the gnocchi you want for dinner tonight. take the rest of the gnocchi on the cookie sheets in the freezer and put them in freezer bags in ONE LAYER ONLY. this will take a couple of bags, but it prevents the gnocchi from sticking together and creating a large ball of gnocchi when you want to boil up the rest.

for the ones that you are making right now, once the water boils, add the gnocchi. they are done when they float to the top. i like to serve them with a little sauce that consists of equal parts butter, white wine (such as chablis or santa margherita), basil and garlic. then top with toasted pine nuts. yum!

chains of love, gotta hold on me...

...when passion's a prison, you can't break free.

can you name that tune? some more:

whoa, oh, you're a loaded gun!
whoa, oh, there's no where to run,
no one can save me,
the damage is done!

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, AND YOU'RE TO BLAME
DARLIN', YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!
(bad name)

I PLAY MY PART AND YOU PLAY YOUR GAME,
YOU GIVE LOVE, A BAD NAME
(bad name)

my favorite song of all time. slippery when wet was the first cassette tape i ever owned. and now, i will see bon jovi on july 24, 2010, on their circle tour when they play foxboro. my life will be complete :)

a novel moment

i'm writing a novel for national novel writing month. check it out. the goal is to produce a 50,000 word novel by november 30. i won't make it--i'm kind of a lazy writer. but the point for me is to just have fun and get writing again. i'll let you know how it goes. but sorry, i won't share details yet... bad for my mojo.

and also a new diet...

my friends know me as a baker :) in fact, i might be known in some circles for my delicious vegan cupcakes. unfortunately, a fly has gotten stuck and is gooping up my proverbial batter.

when i got my new job here in boston, i got new health insurance. and then i decided to change doctors because i was so damn tired of the crappy service i got at my local health center. i had a great np there, but it didn't matter. i usually waited for her for 2 hours--even though i had an appointment. and the rest of the staff at the place were deplorable! so at the first visit with my new doctor, she looked through my past medical records. by the way, she was only looking through what i've had done since moving to boston. that's medical records for only 3 1/2 years. and guess what? IT'S 57 PAGES LONG! you might say i've had some issues.

anyway, as she was looking at this and looking at all the tests, symptoms, and mumbo-jumbo that's been going on in my life, she says, "i think you have a food allergy. i'm sending you to see our nutritionist."

fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago, after multiple lab tests and elimination diets, i have discovered that i have ncgs, or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. this basically means i can no longer have gluten which is found in: wheat, barley, rye, spelt, triticale, and commercial oats (due to cross-contamination). i've probably left something out. but now my eating world, and my baking world, has been shaken upside down.

now, i may be able to re-introduce some wheat gluten in the future, in small amounts. because i don't have celiac disease, i may be able to eat some wheat as long as i feel ok. we'll see. for now, i'm on a pretty strict diet--or at least i'm trying to be.

now, back to baking. i made some gluten free cupcakes for halloween that were delicious! but i don't have pictures of them. they were made from sorghum flour, white rice flour, and some cornmeal and i made them marbled vanilla and chocolate (with cocoa powder added to about 1/3 of the batter). no one knew they were gluten free! they just asked about the texture and i said i was experimenting with some cornmeal in the batter. YAY!

but today i was home from work (i love having mondays off), and decided to make some cookies. here you go...

gluten free, dairy free, egg free...


chocolate chip cookie crisps (i heavily adapted a wheat-free cookie recipe from Great Good Desserts Naturally by Fran Costigan)

1 c sorghum flour
3/4 c cashews, toasted and cooled
1/2 c cornmeal
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp canola oil
1/8 c honey
1/8 c white sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
4 tbsp vanilla almond milk
vegan chocolate chips

1. put the cornmeal in a food processor and pulse. this can make it a little finer to take the toothy grain down a bit in the cookie. place in a large mixing bowl.
2. put the cashews in the processor and create a fine meal or flour. add to the cornmeal. then add the sorghum flour, salt, and spices. mix well.
3. in a small bowl, mix together canola oil, honey, sugar, vinegar, and extracts. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. you should be able to form little walnut-sized balls of dough that stick together nicely, but aren't too sticky. if the mixture is a little dry, add the almond milk, one tablespoon at a time. then add chocolate chips.
4. place the balls on a baking stone (or a cookie sheet with parchment). flatten and bake for about 12-13 minutes at 350 degrees.

the next time i make them, i will use 1/4 c of honey, not split honey/sugar. but i ran out of honey half way through! i would also use rice flour rather than cornmeal and almonds rather than cashews. the cornmeal is a texture thing, the almonds are a taste thing. but i have to say that i successfully made a chewy and yummy cookie without any gluten! moderate improvements and i might have something perfectly delicious :)

A New Day, A New Blog

hey all,

this is my second attempt at creating a blog. i quit the last one because it detailed the trials and tribulations of my life in savannah, georgia--away from everyone and everything i knew. but now i'm back at home and getting on with my life, so we'll see how this goes!

i'll do my best to post things to do, pictures, recipes, etc. as they happen. and friends, if you have any requests, let me know!

cheers,
ms. ann