Foodie PenPals - April

I'm not saying that I have low expectations for Foodie PenPals, because nothing could be further from the truth. BUT, our monthly limit is $15, so I don't expect much - just a little something delicious and fun. Well, my April delivery blew me away. Seriously.

First of all, Leah is from Brooklyn and so was everything in the box. Love that. Local stuff is great because that means it's new to me! Second of all, it was all gluten-free and completely up my alley! She sent a 73% dark chocolate bar, 72% dark chocolate hazelnut balls, organic sea salt popcorn, salty peanut taffy, and an all natural hearty snack blend. Lastly, the stuff is delicious. So much so that I've been hoarding it. I don't want it to end (though in writing this post I realize that most of it can be ordered online!

Check out all of these wonderful Brooklyn eateries and order something. If you need a suggestion, see any of the above listed items!

nutbox
Pret
Mast Brothers
Salty Road

Thank you for being amazing, Leah!  I couldn't love this haul anymore than I do! (If you're interested in seeing what I sent out this month, check out the Jogging Concierge!)

If you're interested in Foodie PenPals program, here are some details:
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. Contact Lindsay to sign up!

fried chicken...gluten-free!

Before going gluten-free I didn't eat fried chicken very much, but it was one of those dishes that I would really crave from time to time. Maybe once every two months. There are no restaurants that sell a GF version of fried chicken, so when I realized I hadn't had any in 8 months, I knew I was going to have to try some at home.

My brother had recommended my sister-in-law's recipe for Paleo fried chicken, but I waited until I was literally DYING for a fix to attempt it. I didn't have all of the ideal ingredients (and I really don't know how to fry chicken), and it was STILL deliciously amazing, and also amazingly delicious.

How-to:
Split chicken breasts and season as normal. Take three bowls and put coconut shreds in the first, coconut flour in the second, and a few whipped eggs in the third. Coat the chicken in egg, dredge in flour, coat in egg again, and roll in loose coconut. Fry in coconut (or olive) oil until golden brown and fully cooked.

I think I might try bone-in chicken next time...and I might start it in the pan and finish it in the oven. I might need to invest in a cast-iron skillet. Oh the (golden, fried) possibilities...

bell pepper stuffed burgers

Sometimes I just want a good burger. It isn't often at all, but when the craving is there, it's real. My stuffed Greek burgers were so good that I thought they could never be topped. But then...

Last month we were getting a crazy influx of bell peppers in the garden and we could hardly cook them fast enough. Side note: it's so frustrating how the bounty seems to come in waves. Anyhoo, we were going to grill the peppers and add them to the top of the burger and I suggested grilling and stuffing them instead. We topped the burgers off with crispy bacon and creamy gorgonzola, and served them with a side of an old childhood favorite - tater tots.

As another side note, Udi's gluten free buns are pretty delicious (especially when toasted on the grill). So much more satisfying than going bun-less.

This was just one day's harvest. I think we picked just as much the next day:

sofrito...fresh from the garden (kind of)

The ultimate goal of the garden is to provide ingredients for some of the dishes that we make/eat the most. We planted the cubanelle peppers for the sofrito that we use in rice, beans, marinades, stews, etc. etc. In the past we've had to use anaheim peppers in their place, so we thought it would be cool to get the real deal out of our very own garden.

Imagine my excitement when, just about the time that our frozen supply was running out, our plant yielded the peppers needed for a full batch! So...fulfilling, so...delicious. Garden win #5,716.

cave woman soup

Do you know how hard it was to find enough cave women to make this soup? Alright, not funny. But seriously, I've had several friends recommend the caveman or "paleo" diet to me, since it is the height of healthy, gluten-free eating. I checked out Health Bent, one of the recommended sites, and right away I spotted the carmelized three-onion and cauliflower soup. I vowed to make more soup this year, and even though it's really too hot for it, I whipped it up last week.


What's that green stuff on top? Why that's the most important part - basil oil. I made a bigger batch than what they recommended - probably three handfuls of basil, and 2 cups of olive oil. In addition to topping the soup with it, I dipped my gluten-free cheese and (fresh from the garden) tomato sandwich in it. Oh good grief. Stellar.


What would I do differently? Well, I would probably add an extra shallot for sweetness. I would have some crisp, lean bacon handy for an additional topping. But the most serious alteration I will make is to the cauliflower. Even though I let it simmer as the recipe said, there was a mealy texture to the soup. After brainstorming with my cook-genius friend Scott, I think next time I will lightly steam them, then chop in the food processor, then simmer, then re-process. Stay tuned for the commentary on that. It's cauliflower, how could it go wrong?

pizza pizza!

Since going gluten-free, I have really really really missed pizza. Really. I've tried a couple of restaurant and pre-made pizzas and they just don't add up. Now we've moved on to buying various GF crusts and testing them at home. Our first attempt was SO superior to these other pizzas, so fantastic. It can only get better from here and that makes me happy.

It started with Udi's personal-sized crusts. We topped them with:
tomato sauce we made with pan roasted zucchini*, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes*, and onions
basil pesto*
fresh mozzarella
basil leaves*
tomato slices*
feta crumbles


before...

I forgot to take an after photo until I was down to my last slice. Not the most beautiful slice, but if you could have a bite, you would taste the beauty :)

*ingredients fresh from the garden

pico de gallo

Pico de gallo is a favorite, but it has to be fresh to be delicious. I never make it, but after a few instances of having pico with lackluster tomatoes recently, I decided to stop being lazy and make a batch myself.

The recipe that I threw together was super delicious and I'll continue using/tweaking it in future batches. Also, SO easy. Sure, there's 10-20 minutes of chopping involved, but it's completely worth it. Now I'm wondering if I could can some for wintertime. Canners - thoughts?

Ingredients:
5 roma tomatoes, cored, seeded, diced
1/4 to 1/2 red onion, diced
2 tspns chopped cilantro
1/2 jalepeno, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
juice of three limes
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients and add a pinch or two of salt (to your liking).

It's hard to say how many this would serve. I guess you could say 4? We snacked on it while cooking tacos, then used it for our tacos and still had a serving left over. If I were taking it to a party, I would double or triple it.

holy guacamole!

Over the past several years I've definitely put more of an emphasis on making things from scratch as opposed to buying them pre-made or going out for them at a restaurant. This is probably mostly due to my interest in learning new techniques and skills. In the past month though, I've really ramped up my efforts to make things fresh because that's the best way to ensure that they don't contain gluten. So yeah, extra effort and extra money, but also extra flavor. Win-win-win.


Not shockingly, I read several recipes and then finally made up my own.

Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
1/2 red onion, diced
1-2 roma tomatoes, cored and diced
1-2 serrano peppers, minced
1-2 limes, juiced
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh salt and pepper, to taste

Juice the limes and set juice aside in a medium-sized bowl. Slice and peel the avocados into 1/2" slices and toss them in the lime juice. Once the avocados are well coated, set them aside and save the remaining lime juice.

With a fork, mash the avocados to desired texture and fold in the onions, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. Add one or two teaspoons of the remaining lime juice (depending on your taste preferences). Season with salt and pepper.


Serve with UTZ gluten-free corn chips.

You're welcome.

roasted corn and bell pepper salsa

We went to a July 4th cookout where the theme was "summer". For my dish, I immediately thought of corn and then subsequently, my favorite non-traditional salsa - roasted corn and bell pepper.

I never write down my exact calculations and I always swear that I'll remember what I did, but I never really do. So this time, I did my best to remember it all for next time.

4-5 ears of corn (or 2 cans)
2 bell peppers, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
2 serano peppers, minced
2-3 limes, juiced
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt

Heat olive oil in pan and add corn. Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, remove pan from heat and add salt to taste. Set aside to cool.

When cooled, mix the corn, bell peppers, onion and cilantro and toss with the lime juice, vinegar, and sugar. If desired, add more salt to taste. Serve immediately (and watch it disappear).

mojito cupcakes

I've been fired up and ready to bake gluten-free cupcakes for over a week now, and the 4th of July seemed like the perfect time to start. With 50 recipes in my new cookbook, choosing the right cupcake was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Ultimately, I chose mojito cupakes because I could use mint from our garden. Plus, the theme of our friends' July 4th celebration was "summertime" and what says summer better than a mojito?

Before I could even start the baking, I had to use 6 different gluten-free flours and starches to create the flour mix. It was really frustrating that I couldn't just pull down a bag of white or wheat flour and get to work, so my attitude was definitely poor.


The authors of the book did a great job of preparing me for the work that would go into making these cupcakes the best they can be, and I truly appreciate that. But I still found myself a little bitter about the added work, especially since this was my first GF baking experience.

I had to dip my fingers in ice water and smooth the top of each cupcake, because the batter doesn't settle the way your typical batter would.


I was complaining, complaining about the added hassle of GF baking and threatening to give up baking altogether...then I peeked in the oven at the rising cakes and I was back in.


They turned out very well and tasted great, even without the icing.


My (non-existent) decorating skills left a lot to be desired, but the taste was undeniably delicious.


I strayed a bit from the recipe when it came to the icing....the authors suggested buttercream, but I don't have a candy thermometer...so I went for a regular frosting favorite, with a twist.

2 sticks butter, room temperature
3.5 cups confectioner's sugar
zest from one lime
the juice from that lime
2 teaspoons orange mint, minced

I put all ingredients in the bowl and mixed on medium-high until it was thick enough to decorate with.

GF cupcakes

I have completely come to terms with my new gluten-free lifestyle, now I just need to learn to make it the best it can be. At the American Library Association conference in New Orleans, two of the premier gluten-free chefs were demonstrating cupcakes from their new cupcake cookbook. Although I wasn't able to make the demo, my friends made sure that I got a (signed) copy of the cookbook and a cupcake sample.

The sample was delicious and the book looks amazing! I can't decide which cupcakes to make first...S'mores, chocolate peanut butter, bananas foster, snickerdoodle? So many options...and I'm excited about the possibility! My new life is looking sweeter all the time...