Gluten Free Cravings

There's something about being on a diet that makes one HUNGRY. I mean, I get home from school to what appears to be an empty kitchen. There's a pot of beans in the fridge, but I ate that for lunch yesterday and today. I will not also eat it for dinner. But what else is there? I've cleaned out the rice cakes. Matt finished off the lamb leftovers. Only the giant vat of granola promises substance. I excavated my freezer and found the turkey bacon and ate four slices of that. You wouldn't know it. I'm still hungry. After an hour of Middle Egyptian, epiphany strikes. Cornbread! A bread that should be possible to make without flour! I hunt down the internet for my prey and arrive at Cornbread Deluxe, a promising recipe (besides the fact I'm still scratching my head at xanthum gum). It's in the oven now, hopefully with better results than last night's baking attempts. I don't have time for all this baking, but I'm enjoying it!

The resulting cornbread....good, for the most part!

A Birthday Cake Flopped

The Cake. I decided to bake myself a birthday cake and my wonderful husband stopped by the store for last minute ingredients and I threw them together and dropped them into the oven. And well, 45 minutes later, I decided it was done. One recipe said flip the cake out onto a rack to cool. NOT a good idea. You see the indentations resulting, and only half the cake came out. So I tried to put the cake back into the pan. Also NOT a good idea. Now the cake resides halfway up the side of the pan, and refuses to appear cooked. I threw it back in another half hour. Still not cooked looking. I gave up and pulled it out and will put it in the fridge. We'll see what it's like in the morning!

(ps. Matt and I are gluten free for two weeks, seeing if it helps my stomach, allergies, life in general. So any good flourless chocolate cake recipes are welcome!)

Birthday Flowers

My wonderful mom and dad and sister and dog and cat surprised me with a beautiful bunch of birthday flowers this afternoon (my birthday is tomorrow, but this way I can enjoy them all tomorrow as well as on the eve of my birth). Thank you! They provide a sprig of spring to get me through this Chicago winter!

Of Orange Foods (and more)...

Pickled Lemon (In progress)

This seems to be an essential part of most of the recipes in this book, so I decided to try making my own! The recipe seemed easy: wash, salt, and store lemons, a few days later, add fresh lemon juice, let sit for a month. Well, I forgot to wash first, and salted and cut, and then had to wash and start over again, thinking of strange bacteria growing along with the pickling. They look beautiful in the jar in the window for now! I'm not so sure about when the "harmless" white mold starts growing.

Slada Batata Halwa (Sweet Potato Salad)

Golden sweet potatoes, slivered translucent onions, a dash of ginger crystals... This recipe was a combination of opposing tastes. I would never think to combine sweet potatoes and green olives, onions on top. But strangely enough, it worked. The flavors balanced out, the tart green olives and the soft, yielding flesh of the sweet potatoes. The lemon and the ginger brought it all together, while the cumin and the paprika worked to fill in the tapestry behind. The onions absorbed flavor and distributed it throughout. Delectable smelling in the pan, delicate on the tongue. This one gets four stars and a smiley in my book...

Simmering on the stove...

Slata Bortokal Bil Zaytoun (Orange, Olive, and Onion Salad)

I know, it's strange, to combine the fruitiness of oranges with the sweet of an onion. Especially when you add kalamata olives. But I threw them into the bowl nevertheless, the tempting picture in Arabesque assuring me it would be alright. Oranges sliced small, kalamata replacing black, and half of a red onion snowed across the top. The lemon and paprika worked well, and even the teaspoon of Aleppo pepper blended well. The taste test results were that yes, this recipe, surprisingly enough, worked. The immediate heartburn upon rising from the table, did not. But does it go into my lunch bag for the week? Yes.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

A party given in honor of an Italian ceramicist. A party with an Italian theme. My focaccia fit in perfectly. The mashed potatoes stirred into the dough (along with the extra helping of yeast) raised it to a perfection of bready texture. That oily yet crunchy yet soft and light. But with a heaviness as well. It was perfect. The rosemary, potatoes, and garlic (with a dash of sea salt) basting the top drizzled inside and out, creating a welcoming flavor to the tongue. The warmth, moisture, and garlic (lots of garlic) made this a perfect bread. Next time, I would include some of the flavored oil and rosemary and salt on the inside of the bread as well, with the mashed potatoes. Spreading the rich flavor throughout.

The fresh rosemary and garlic in olive oil steeping....

The day of potatoes

Arabesque

Here's to a new cooking adventure, probably to be tromped on and well trodden, through the pages of a delectable feast of a book.

Patella

Basically, the kneecap. However, in the red deer, or the cow, the patella is located above the belly line, and instead it is their tarsals that act as knees. In humans, the tarsals are in our ankles.

Folksonomy

A taxonomy created by nonprofessionals. Basically, social tagging.