Tuna Casserole

 

I've had a craving lately for comfort foods.

What's more comforting than tuna casserole?

Although I don't remember my magnificent mamma making this,

it brought home to me feelings of downright bliss with each bite.

As usual, I tweaked it to my liking, but

my version is loosely based on this recipe.

I used egg noodles and dairy-free cheese

instead of the traditional elbows and standard cheddar.

Next time I make it I will add more veg,

maybe peas and carrots or some kale.

Of course, it can easily be made gluten and dairy free,

by swapping out with gf pasta and olive oil

in place of the ghee.

 

Every mouthful fed my spirit as well as my hunger.

This one's a keeper!

Tuna Casserole

Half a bag of egg noodles

3 T ghee

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 C almond milk

2 T arrowroot powder

1 can tuna (I use this brand)

few slices of daiya cheddar cheese

1/2 t garlic powder

salt/pepper to taste

1 slice Deland oatmeal bread

 

Cook noodles until al dente.

In a skillet, sautee the onion in 2 T of ghee.

Once the onion is soft, add  arrowroot powder.

Cook a few minutes, just until it is covered with the ghee.

Add milk of choice and whisk until smooth

and thickened.

Add tuna and seasonings,

then transfer to a casserole dish.

Combine with cooked noodles.

Add ghee to crumbled bread slice,

then top the casserole with this mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti

Baked spaghetti is one of our favorite dishes.
In fact, it replaced our traditional lasagna at Christmas.
For one thing, it's just as scrumptious,
but requires a lot less work.
Here, we have two versions,
one allergy-friendly,
and the other Big K's chosen concoction.

It starts with noodles.
Pretty much any pasta will do,
but in this case,
we used brown rice noodles.
C has multiple sensitivities,
so we substitute where needed.
His pasta was cooked and then slathered in tomato sauce.

We also add a bit of gravy (tomato sauce)
to the bottom of the baking dish,
to keep things from sticking.

We layered pasta, sauce, and browned ground chicken
and topped it with his shredded rice cheese.
(He must avoid wheat, gluten, dairy, corn and a few other things.)
It gets baked at 350 degrees (covered), for about 20 minutes.

For someone who doesn't care for his plate components touching,
he gobbles this stuff up.
This will be one of the meals I hope to teach him,
so that he can have a hot meal during these cold, winter months.

Big K's version is similar,
with gravy on the bottom, noodles and loose meat
(what we call browned ground chicken or turkey)
alternated.

For this standard recipe,
we used angel hair pasta and a cheese mixture.

The cooking time is the same as C's version,
350 degrees (covered) for 20 minutes.
Basically, everything is already cooked, 
it's just to melt the cheese.

I usually make a big batch of this for Big K,
as he doesn't mind eating it for a few days.
My version is a combination of the two,
with traditional pasta, non-dairy cheese and no meat,
but a few veggies thrown in the mix.

Three different renditions of one mighty tasty dish.
This simple recipe may just become a family favorite 
at your house!

Baked Spaghetti 
(Traditional)

1/2 box angel hair pasta
1/2 C tomato sauce
1/2 lb. ground chicken
1/2 C shredded cheese
1/2 t salt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t Italian herbs

1.  Cook pasta according to package directions, 
drain, then set aside.
2.  Brown ground chicken, seasoning with salt, 
garlic and herbs, then set aside.
3.  Add some sauce to bottom of casserole dish.
4.  Layer noodles, meat and sauce, repeat.
5.  Top with shredded cheese. 
6.  Bake at 350 degrees, covered for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

(The noodles, cheese and meat can all be altered,
to accommodate dietary preferences.)

Grain-Free Paleo Cupcakes (gf, df, sf)

 Yesterday marked the end of my self-imposed grain-free diet.

I was interested in finding out if going grain-free

would improve the annoying dermatitis on my hands.

After a month, I do see a difference,

but no definitive answers were obtained.

This has been a long,  

long 

month

without my favorites of bread, pasta, bread, rice and,

did I mention bread?

Wow, what a challenge for a bread worshiper lover like me.

One thing I realized though, is that I am able to live without it,

not happily, but I managed.

I have decided to continue to limit grains,

but not eliminate them completely.

After all, what is life without bread?

I'm beginning to research sprouted grains,

and may head in that direction in the future.

*******

I've garnered a few really tasty grain-free recipes 

that I would have otherwise never even considered making.

This one is not only grain-free, but dairy and sugar free as well.

For the most part, baking gluten-free treats that aren't dry is almost impossible,

but these were so moist that frosting wasn't necessary.

And using local honey instead of processed sugar

was truly the deciding factor to give these a go. 

These scrumptious treats will be added to our family recipe notebook.

It's not often I find something that we all like 

and can safely indulge in.

Grain-Free Paleo Cupcakes (or muffins)

(Paleogrubs.com)

2 1/2 C almond flour

1/4 C melted coconut oil (we used light olive oil)

1 T almond milk

1/2 C honey

4 large eggs

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Add to 12 cupcake liners 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes,

turning pan halfway through baking time.

Frost if desired (or not)!

Enjoy!

Homemade Corn-Free Ketchup

Our son has been plagued with food sensitivities since he was a wee one.
Gluten, dairy, pineapple, coconut (and all dander) 
are a few of the things he must avoid to maintain good health.
Last year, during his annual checkup,
we decided to retest him for food allergies.
Although he no longer tested positive for soy and apples (yippee!),
he had developed a corn sensitivity.
Ugh.
It's mighty hard to avoid corn, it's in almost everything!
Now, you need to know that he was thrilled when he could eat mayo, 
having avoided eggs earlier in life.
And ketchup is a staple.  

He continued eating store-bought mayonnaise and ketchup, 
even though he knew about the sensitivity.
(Sometimes we have to learn the hard way.)
I even called the companies whose products we use,
and sure enough, they informed us 
that the vinegar used in making the condiments was indeed corn-based.

It caught up with him a week ago, when he had a reaction.
He decided to take himself off of his two favorite condiments
and see what happened.
Nothing did, so we found our culprit.
Thankfully, apple cider vinegar can be used
in anything that requires vinegar,
without the interference from corn. 

Can I just say how amazed I am 
that he could just quit cold turkey?
I wish I had such fortitude.

 We already have a corn-free recipe for homemade mayo,
so the challenge was to find a substitute for his all-time favorite, 
the red stuff.
 The bonus is that it's also sugar-free, using only honey as the sweetener.
Our version is adapted from the recipe posted here.

We left out a couple of things and used honey instead of agave,

and it turned out just fine.

 Forty minutes of simmering on the stove

thickened it up nicely.

Another allergy-friendly substitute!
Bring on the burgers and fries!

Homemade Corn-Free Ketchup 

1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 T local honey
1/2 T garlic powder
1/2 T onion powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 C water

Bring all ingredients to a boil,
then simmer for 40 minutes.
Let cool and store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Makes 2 cups.

Note:  T=tablespoon
        t=teaspoon

Updated Recipe Pages

Some time was spent last week
updating our recipe index.
(It can be found under our header.)
The recipes are divided into two separate pages,
one for allergy-friendly and the other for everything else.
I was hoping to create a page with a photo of each finished recipe
and the corresponding link,
but couldn't figure out how to do that.

The allergy-friendly recipes contain no gluten,
but may have other allergens such as eggs, nuts or sugar.
Since beginning this journey of food sensitivities with C,
much has been learned, and tweaked along the way.
It's not easy preparing food for someone with multiple sensitivities,
but it does spark a bit of creativity in the kitchen.

The page of scratch recipes is made up of mostly original fare,
although there are a couple of dishes that I found and just changed to our liking. 
The ingredients are free from colorings, preservatives,
and packaged products,
because we prefer to eat "cleanly".
Most of the baked items are also fairly low in sugar.
The best part of this list is that most of the recipes 
take 30 minutes or less to whip up. 

My hope is that you find something delicious and satisfying
that you can fix for your family,
whether or not allergies are a consideration.
(Here's a post on our Family Recipe Binder.)

Let me know what you think!

Crockpot Turkey Breast

With the holidays looming,
turkey is on the menu for a lot of folks
who can't get enough of the stuff at Thanksgiving.
Our Thanksgiving meal is usually pretty simple.
As it's just the three of us, (and one of us doesn't eat meat),
it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to buy a whole turkey,
so we make a few side dishes and enjoy the day together.
To make the preparation even easier,
we have enlisted the assistance of the crock pot.
It couldn't be simpler to make a moist, juicy turkey breast
with enough leftovers to satisfy the natives.

The turkey breast is washed and dried,

then placed into the crockpot.

A dry rub is used to coat the bird.

No water is added to the pot,

but it comes out moist and tender.

This meal is so easy,

it's worth making more than once a year!

Crockpot Turkey Breast

One 3-5 pound turkey breast

2 t salt

1 t onion powder

1 t Italian seasonings

1 t paprika

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Place turkey breast in crock pot

and season with dry rub.

Add garlic cloves to pot.

DO NOT ADD WATER OR BROTH

Cook on high for 6 hours,

or low for 8-10 hours.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Blackbean Chili (vegetarian)

We are SO enjoying this fall
with the changing colors and cool temperatures.
Having been in Florida for the past forty plus autumns,
it's so refreshing to experience the world the way Nature intended it.

One of the best things about cool evenings is being able to eat 
warm, comforting foods.
Here's a twist on chili that I fixed last week.
Since I don't eat meat,
I often use beans as a stand-in for beef or poultry,
although you could certainly add those to this dish.
Rice is usually a staple with chili,
but this time it was paired with quinoa
and the results were fantastic!
We were out of of chili powder (how did that happen?),
so I substituted cayenne pepper instead.
Beans are cooked ahead and placed in the freezer
for just these types of meals.
Here's the way we do it.
This could easily be made in the crockpot,
but I cooked it in a soup pot on the stove and let it simmer for a while.
Mmmm, mmmmm!

Quinoa Blackbean Chili

1 C cooked black beans
2 t olive oil
4 carrots, sliced 
1/2 onion, diced
cumin
cayenne pepper
salt to taste
3-4 C homemade veggie stock
1/2 C quinoa 

On medium heat, drizzle olive oil in medium sauce pan.
Add veggies and saute about 5-6 minutes.
Add spices, then beans and stock.
Let simmer on low (mostly covered) for at least 30 minutes.
Add quinoa and continue simmering another 10-20 minutes.
(The longer the quinoa simmers, the thicker your stew will be.)
Adjust salt to taste.
Enjoy!

Homemade Vegetable Broth
Easy Beans
Barbecued Lentils
White Bean Ragout
Ever Heard of Quinoa?

Homemade Mayo (corn-free, df, gf, sf)

We recently had C retested for allergies.
It had been about 10 years since he'd had one
and we wanted to see if there were any changes.
Turns out, a new allergy popped up-corn.
Ugh.

Do you know that corn is pervasive in most store bought items?
Another culinary challenge is not what I needed,
but thankfully, there were options available.

The perfect addition to any sandwich or salad dressing.

Since the brand of mayo we usually use is made with distilled vinegar,
we called the company to find out if it was corn-based.
It was.

That meant that I needed to find an alternative.
This recipe is made using apple cider vinegar
and so is safe for corn-free diets.
And since it was revealed that he was no longer sensitive to apples, it was the perfect choice.
The bonus is that it tastes so much better than store bought.
Enjoy!

Homemade Corn-Free Mayo
(Cooking God's Way)

1 egg yolk 
1 whole egg
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 1/2 t sea salt
1-2 t honey or maple syrup
pinch paprika
pinch garlic powder
1 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil 

Add yolk, whole egg, (both room temperature) lemon juice, 
ACV, salt, spices and honey to food processor.
Pulse a few times to incorporate.
Turn on processor and begin adding oil in a small stream
while machine is running in order to create an emulsion.
Once you see the ingredients melding together,
(the processor actually makes a different sound),
continue adding oil until all is incorporated.
Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
Transfer to a glass jar and store in refrigerator up to 1 week.