the end of my challenge

so, for those of you who have been following, i had a 90-day challenge to eat only homemade. this began on january 1 and ended march 31. some notes on my challenge:

1. it was a lot harder than i thought. mostly because my husband did not really support this challenge. so on friday nights, instead of being creative about going out and doing something, he just complained that we "didn't go out anymore," by which he meant we didn't go out to eat anymore. basically, he was a pain in the ass. but the other reason why it was more challenging than i thought was because i love to cook complicated things, and sometimes when i came home from work, i didn't want to cook complicated things. we were often eating at 8pm due to my challenge.

2. i couldn't really do it. by this, i mean that there were a couple of times when i actually had to eat out. i will explain them here--a) i did a lunch time talk for lee's company for an academic group that some people are trying to get off the ground. they wanted someone to come in and talk about university and/or research libraries and their needs and trends. the crux of this presentation was that they took me out for a nice lunch. i couldn't exactly avoid that. b) i went to maine for a day to see lee's parents. when we do this we meet in portland, not at their house because their house is too far for a day-trip. they took us out to lunch and dinner during that day. again, no choice unless i wanted to carry a cooler around. there is only so much food that you can pack and it's not really suitable to do so for full meals. c) at the end of march, i went to visit my family in ohio and again went out once for a nice dinner with my sisters. my parents also don't cook much, so i did all of the cooking for family meals except on our last day when they ordered us pizza, from an awesome place that had gluten free pizza, gluten free fried chicken, and gluten free jojos! i love jojos! (the entry says that the term originated in ohio--but is also used elsewhere in the united states for those potato wedges that are fried together with the chicken. interesting....) and the pizza was AMAZING! it's hands down the best gluten free pizza i've had. thank you, altieri's! anyway, i didn't want to be too difficult, so i couldn't complain there either. to them, i am already enough of a problem because i am vegetarian and now gluten free...

in any case, my parents were pretty happy (and so was the rest of the family) when we went to the west side market in cleveland and went to the handmade hungarian sausage place. here we are, buying something like 6 pounds of spicy hungarian meats :) no, i didn't eat them, but smelled, smiled, and remembered, and had a lovely conversation, partly in hungarian. the guy's family came to cleveland in 1956, right after the failed hungarian anti-communist revolution. my family came before his, between the two world wars.


3. i learned a lot. i remembered how much i love cooking as much as i can homemade and i will continue to do this. i already did before, but had been used to buying more convenience food than i used to--part of this was leftover from my georgia days when i was only cooking for myself. so maybe lee will still complain that we don't go out anymore, but i just think he needs to get over it and find something other than eating to do!

challenges and the blahs

so i haven't been really good with my 90-day challenge recently. no, i haven't eaten any pre-packaged food or in a restaurant, but i've wanted to.

trouble is, lee and i have been super busy recently. so we've been having dinner very late at night, sometimes at 9pm. we've been really run down. so sometimes i come home from work and i throw some pasta on to boil and i have pasta and tofu and cheese. then i eat that for dinner, lunch the next day, and dinner again because i'm too tired to make anything else. that's not exactly what i imagined when i set this challenge for myself. i was really trying to make great, wholesome food everyday.

the other interesting thing is that i've realized i may not be able to keep my "no restaurant food" vow. mostly because lee's office has invited me to come in and talk about library design to them. there will be a corporate lunch out thing afterward, and i can't really not do that. sigh...

i've been a little in the "blahs" because of all this, but tonight's dinner was a sure way to cure that! i encourage you to make this and eat it yourself. we almost ate the whole pot :)


tofu beer stew

1 lb. tofu
1 onion, diced
1 celery rib, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 tsp thyme (dried)
1/2 tsp oregano (dried)
1 tsp parsley (fresh, chopped)
black pepper, to taste
10 oz. vegetable broth
1 bottle brown beer of your choice (if your bottle is a big bottle, use only 350 ml)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp cornstarch

1. preheat oven to 350. slice tofu into about 1 inch cubes. heat a pot on the stove top with olive oil. brown tofu.
2. put in veggies and herbs. saute until onions are translucent.
3. add all other ingredients, EXCEPT cornstarch. stir well and place into preheated oven.
4. bake for about an hour. dilute cornstarch with some of the cooking liquid. add to pan and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
5. serve immediately.

we ate it over mashed potatoes and nearly drooled on ourselves. plus, it smells up the house so nicely. it's perfect for a chilly day! oh, and share with friends--they'll thank you :)

challenges to the new 90-day challenge!

okay, it's day 3 of the 90-day "make everything homemade" challenge that i set up for myself. here is what i've noticed will be challenging so far:

1. there are still a couple of pre-made things in the house. so i guess i've resolved to finish them before i make the same thing homemade. example: bread mix--i just bought a bread maker (to assist in the making of gluten-free bread, and also handy for this challenge). but about 3 weeks ago i bought a bread mix from whole foods, expecting that i would make it before my challenge kicked in. i never had time to make it, but decided that i would use it as the inauguration batch for my bread maker, rather than letting it sit for 90 days and buying the ingredients to make bread from scratch.

2. i don't have complete buy-in. my husband is apparently bent on thwarting me when he can. we went grocery shopping and he bought yoghurt and sorbet--both are things on the list that should be made homemade. next week, i won't let him go off on his own at the store!

3. my friend trinity asked me about quickie meals. my solution: on sunday, i am cooking up a big batch of something and eating it for the whole week for lunch. so this week i am making sweet and sour tofu. i will package the veggies, tofu and sauce in one tupperware and the rice in another and just scoop out lunch portions every morning until it's done. for quickie dinners, we often make big stuff at the beginning of the week and then eat the leftovers later in the week. we will continue to do the same. so eating only homemade stuff doesn't dis-clude leftovers. (THANK GOODNESS!)

4. snacks are proving to be a problem. still thinking about this one... i bought some blue corn tortilla chips for lunches and snacks this week--i wouldn't be able to make these homemade anyway, but i struggled to think of other things for snacks that aren't pre-packaged junk food. i can make fruit-nut mixes, of course, but does anyone have other suggestions?

otherwise, we're off to a good start. on new year's day, we went to our neighbor's house for dinner and they made a beautiful home-cooked meal of roasted tomato and mushroom soup, white beans and chard, and a fennel and radicchio salad. for dessert, we had chocolate tofu mousse with jellied fruit on top. yesterday, lee and i had the leftover cinnamon rolls for breakfast, along with picking at some leftovers for lunch. then for dinner, we had a wonderful baked pasta dish. here is the amended recipe (how i'll make it next time, because the sauce was a little too runny):

smoked salmon baked fusilli

6 oz. brown rice fusilli
4 oz. wild smoked salmon
1 tbsp butter
2 celery stalks, diced
4 scallions, sliced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 cup plain, unsweetened rice milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp dried dill
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp gluten free breadcrumbs or cornflake crumbs

1. preheat oven to 425.
2. cook pasta according to package directions, leaving a little under done. drain, rinse and toss into bowl with chopped up smoked salmon.
3. saute onions, scallions, and celery in butter. season with pepper and dill. add rice milk, broth, and frozen peas. bring to a boil. scoop some of the liquid back into a measuring cup. add cornstarch and mix well. pour back into pan. bring to a boil to thicken.
4. once thickened as desired (add more cornstarch if you like it thicker), pour over pasta and salmon in the bowl. toss well.
5. place in buttered 8x8 baking dish. mix together parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. coat top of dish evenly. bake for 20 minutes or until brown on top and bubbly.

it was very delicious and smelled divine baking. if you don't like fish, smoked tofu or tempeh would do the trick just as nicely. i can't wait for the leftovers!

new year, new 90-day challenge

i never make new year's resolutions. but this year, i was inspired by many things (including julia child!) and also thinking more about my health and how i can make 2010 the year that i finally feel like i think a normal person feels like. so this year, i have a resolution--and i think it will be easy to fulfill because it only requires being diligent for 90 days.

i have resolved to make virtually EVERYTHING i eat homemade until march 31, 2010.

EVERYTHING includes:
bread
pasta sauces
pasta (when possible)
yoghurt (for lee, not me--i hate yoghurt)
bbq sauce
any pastries, sweets, etc.
some alcohol, such as hard cider

EVERYTHING does not include:
things that are not easy to make when one has a full-time job, such as:
tortillas
crackers
other alcohol, such as beer (because i do not know how to make gf beer)
cheese
butter
soymilk

i think you get the picture.

i will try to get as much as i can locally and/or organically, but i already do, so that is not the focus of this project. this project is meant to inspire me and prove that living without wheat is a wonderful thing. when i was a chef, even though i worked in a kitchen all day, i still made almost everything homemade. every week, i made bread, yoghurt, granola, cookies and snacks for our lunches, you name it. i'd like to get back to that. i do not need to eat out as much as i have started to. i do not need (nor do i really like) pre-made mixes. it's about taking time to prepare everything i eat, and making it WITH LOVE :)

obviously, if friends want to go out, i will go out for a drink of wine (or what have you), but i will not eat food out. also, if friends want to have us over for dinner, we will do that as well. but our friends will also have to make the dinner from scratch--NOTE: this is not a problem at all with our friends. whenever we have dinner together, we all cook together anyway. this will not be an undue hardship.

so to start the year off right, i made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. i modified a recipe from here which apparently came from a book called The Gluten Free Kitchen by roben ryberg. here it is:


gluten free cinnamon rolls (TO DIE FOR)

2 tbsp vegan shortening
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup room temperature vanilla soymilk
1 packet yeast
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup namaste all-purose gluten free flour
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup roasted and crushed hazelnuts

glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
milk, to taste to make spreadable or drippable glaze

1. preheat oven to 375.
2. cream sugar and shortening.
3. dissolve yeast in milk. stir well and add to sugar mixture.
4. add rest of ingredients and mix well until there are no lumps.
5. grease 2 large pieces of wax paper with some oil. place dough on one piece and lightly sugar the top, then lay the other piece on top and roll out dough to desired thickness between the two sheets. i made mine about 13 inches by 12 inches.
6. remove the top piece of wax paper. spread filling on the dough. leave about 1/4 inch on both the top and bottom of the dough--some of the filling will squeeze out as you roll. also leave a couple of inches on the one side. you want the dough to stick on the one side so your rolls will close.
7. using the bottom piece of wax paper, slowly roll the dough into a jelly roll shape. cut into 8-10 pieces. put pieces into a greased pie plate. bake for about 20-25 minutes.
8. while the rolls are baking, make glaze. drizzle glaze over warm rolls before serving.

the next time i make these, i will not use nuts. the hazelnuts tasted fabulous, but they pierced through the dough in a couple of places, which made the rolls difficult to cut and transfer to the pie plate. and i really don't think the rolls needed them. i'm kind of a purist when it comes to cinnamon rolls.

these rolls are delicious and they made my year! 2010 is off to a great start. i have been in heaven since consuming them :) ta da!