Shepherd's Pie (Gluten and Dairy Free)

One of Troy's absolute favorite dishes is Shepherd's Pie. With all of our eating restrictions it is one dish that I had avoided making. I have been thinking about it for a few days and decided to try it tonight. Since I last blogged Troy and Anna have gone off of dairy. So now most things I make are gluten, dairy, egg and bean free :-)

I have been using a lot of coconut oil and coconut milk in my recipes. I use virgin coconut oil as opposed to the hydrogenated kind. I order it here.

So here is the recipe:

Filling:
4 Tbsp virgin coconut oil
2 1/2 Tbsp sweet rice flour
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
dash of garlic and onion powder
splash of gluten free soy sauce
1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey breast)
Peas or other veggies (about a cup)

Topping:
4 Yukon Gold Potatoes
coconut oil
coconut milk

Wash and cut up potatoes (I leave the skins on). Place in cold water and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain and mash with beaters adding a little oil and milk until they are the consistency you like.

While the potatoes are boiling make a white sauce. Melt the oil in a saucepan or skillet over medium heat. When it is melted added the rice flour and whisk together. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly. Slowly add coconut milk and whisk together. Add seasonings. Bring to a boil. Add the cooked ground beef and the veggies you desire. I used to use green beans but they are on my don't eat list so I substituted peas. You could use frozen mixed veggies as well. Heat through and then put in a 9x11 baking pan. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top and bake in a 350 degree oven until bubbly (about 20 minutes) If you are not dairy free a little cheese on top is very good.

Next time I would probably add some onion as well if I was cooking the beef as I was making it. I had already cooked meat and it was in the freezer so didn't think about the onion.

We all enjoyed it and there is some left for the kids lunch tomorrow.

Check out my sister's dairy free Mounds Bar Ice Cream recipe on her blog.

Strawberry Pie - Gluten, Egg and Dairy Free (and Good!)

I found this recipe this week and decided to try it. On our way home from grocery shopping we passed a strawberry stand and bought a couple pints. We got home and I washed them and ate a couple and put the kids back in the car and drove back for a half flat! They are soooo good! Oregon strawberries must love the rain because these are some of the best I have tasted!
Anyway, on to the pie. I will give you the recipe as I found it and then note my changes:

Strawberry Pie

Crust:
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, crushed
1/4 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut

Filling:
2 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup raw cashews
2 Tbsp vanilla extract (no, that is not a typo)
1/2 cup raw honey
1 pinch salt
1 cup coconut oil, melted

Grind crust ingredients in food processor and press into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan building up the sides slightly.
Place all filling ingredients in blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Carefully pour on top of crust and refrigerate 3 hours.

Serve and enjoy!

This pie really was very good. I used walnuts in the crust because that is what I had and I am not a big walnut fan. Next time I make it I will use pecans. The crust tasted bitter to me.

I did not have honey so I used agave nectar (I am trying to get away from agave but have a couple of bottles left so used it in this) I used the expeller pressed coconut oil as it does not have the coconut taste. I am not sure what the creator of this pie intended but I used the one that did not taste like coconut. I buy my coconut oil from here. This is also where this recipe came from.
I need to do some more investigating on this site as it looks like a lot of good recipes!

So, my take on this pie is it is really good and worth the little time and effort to make it! It is also one that everyone at our house can eat! Yeah!

Menu Planning

I used to be pretty good about menu planning - (when I had only one little girl who took long naps and went to bed really early) but since my life has gotten busier and our eating has changed so much I have fallen out of the habit. I need to menu plan - I know it would make my life less stressful and I would not be sitting here at 5pm wondering what in the world I am going to fix for dinner (I usually manage to come up with something but it is stressful)
I like paper and fun things so when I saw this tonight I had to print them out and hopefully they will help me begin to get back on track - check out these fun summer menu planners and grocery lists and print some for yourself or give them to a friend - they're free!

I found a recipe for a no bake, gluten free, egg free and dairy free strawberry pie. I am going to get the ingredients this weekend and try it and if it turns out I will share the recipe :-)

Pizza - Gluten Free and Low Carb (but not egg and dairy free)

On this journey of reinventing my eating I love that I have friends and family who look out for recipes I may like to try. This is one such recipe that a friend saw posted by another friend and passed on to me. I made it for dinner tonight and everyone liked it. Troy was not home when I was making it and I pulled it out of the oven and served it to him hot - he could not tell what the crust was made from. It really was quite tasty. I will give you the recipe as is and then talk about what I did differently to accomodate my eating.

This would be a great recipe to try if you are looking for a low carb way to enjoy your favorite pizza toppings even if you don't need to eat gluten free.

I don't really have a name for it - but here is the recipe

1 cup of grated, raw cauliflower
2 egg whites (or 1/8 cup of egg beaters)
1/2 cup grated cheese (mexican blend or whatever you like)
dash of italian seasoning

Mix together and pat flat on parchment paper

Bake in 425 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes until edges are brown

remove from oven and put on sauce and any toppings you like. Return to oven and bake until cheese is melted

Eat and enjoy!

For my pizza I used my EngerG egg replacement. It did not hold together quite as well as the egg ones but it was still good. I am finding more things that I can sub for eggs so I may try it again with something different.

It is a good recipe but honestly one that I will probably not make too often because of the amount of cheese it uses and trying to go dairy free with the kids.

In all the changes you have to decide what things you want to substitute and what you want to just do without. Cheese is one thing that I am trying to decide about - I am not really excited about to many of the cheese "substitutes" so so far have just gone pretty much cheese free with the kids.
However, it does make me think of the different ways I can continue to find to use cauliflower. I am finding it is very versatile!

Rhubarb Recipes (not gluten free)

With my offer to give away some rhubarb from my garden tonight I thought I would post a couple of REALLY good rhubarb recipes. I am sad I cannot eat them this year but my body will thank me in the long run. Besides these recipes not being gluten free it takes a lot of sugar for rhubarb to not be too sour (unless you are my husband and eat it straight from the garden) But - if you can eat them - it is totally worth the sugar in this case!!

This first recipe for Rhubarb Crunch is awesome! It is a family favorite. When I make this and any of my nieces and nephews are around I can count on it not lasting to long. If they are going to be around I double it because it only makes a 9x9 pan. Ok - enough of the chatter. It is actually my sister's recipe but I checked her blog and she hasn't posted it so here goes: (and don't forget to have some vanilla ice cream on hand when it comes out of the oven!!)



Rhubarb Crunch

Crumb Topping

1 cup sifted flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp cinnamon


Fruit Mixture:

4 cups diced rhubarb

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Mix crumb topping together and press half the mixture into a 9x9 inch greased layer pan. Cover bottom layer with rhubarb. Combine sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla in small saucepan. Cook, stirring, until thick and clear. Pour over rhubarb. Top with remaining crumb topping. Bake at 350 (325 for glass pan) for 1 hour. Cut in squares and serve warm, plain or with whipped cream or ice cream! Makes 8 servings.


This next recipe is from my sister's mother-in-law and she says even rhubarb haters will like this one!

Rhubarb Cake

1/2 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, sliced

1 tsp vanilla



Topping:

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

Cream together margarine, brown sugar and egg. Combine buttermilk, soda and salt in 2cup measure. Add flour alternately with buttermilk to sugar mixture. Mix in rhubarb and vanilla. Pour into greased and floured pan (9x13 inches) Combine topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top of cake. Bake at 350 (325 for glass pan) for 40 minutes.

For apple cake, substitute 2 cups apples and only 1 cup brown sugar.

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower is a very versatile veggie. Back when I began to watch my carb/gluten intake my sister told me about a friend that used cauliflower in place of spaghetti. I began to use it for my "rice" and other pasta dishes as well. Last year I did a cooking class with some vegetarian meals using garbanzo beans as a base and made a yummy Indian Cauliflower Stew (the recipe is here) I have played around with roasting cauliflower before but finally got a recipe we love! I usually do a whole head of cauliflower with a meat and that is our meal. The kids love it and ask for seconds even before they eat their meat. Did you ever wonder how to cut cauliflower so there are not little while shavings everywhere? I did - so before I taught the class I did some investigation on the internet and found a video on how to cut cauliflower :-) Basically you start with your whole cauliflower and put your knife into the stem part and split it rather than cutting through. You continue to do this until you have the flowerets the size you want them. If you are confused do a search for how to cut cauliflower :-)

This really has nothing to do with cauliflower but I just have to show you one of my favorite pans in all the world. We bought this 25 years ago in Germany and it is the best. It cleans up like a dream - so I never worry about making something in it that may be messy in the pan because I know it will clean up without any effort - besides being so cleanable I think it is darling!

So here is the finished product and the recipe - I made this last week and a friend came by for a meeting after dinner and we were still eating - she finished off the pan and asked me to post the recipe so here it is T.

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower split into flowerets

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

2-3 cloves of garlic

Parmesan cheese

Put the cauliflower in the pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Crush garlic and stir all together. Bake at 450 for 25 minutes - stirring occasionally (1 or 2 times) Grate parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the cauliflower. Place under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

As promised in my last post here is the recipe for the Chicken Salad. My brother found this recipe and we made it at my PC party. I have made it several times before and since, including this morning for our playgroup. As usual it was polished off very quickly. So here it is - I will give it to you as it is written and then I will tell you my revisions:

Dressing

1/2 cup canola oil

3 Tbsp smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup juice from 3-4 limes

2 Tbsp water

Table salt

3 small garlic coves, minced or pressed

2 tsps very finely grated ginger

2 Tbsp light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsps hot red pepper flakes

Salad

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch by 1/4 inch matchsticks

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

4 scallions, white and green parts sliced thin

3 Tbsps minced fresh cilantro leaves

5 cups shredded roast chicken, room temperature

1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts

1. Puree oil, peanut butter, lime juice, water, 1/4 tsp salt, garlic, ginger, brown sugar and red pepper flakes in blender until combined. Transfer to large bowl.

2. Add cucumber, carrot, scallions, and cilantro to vinaigrette, toss to combine. Add chicken and toss gently to combine. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and sprinkle with peanuts. Serve immediately.

Now for my changes:

I used a little over 1/3 cup of olive or grapeseed oil

juice from 2 limes seemed to be plenty of lime

I used palm sugar instead of brown sugar

I have not used the red pepper flakes as I serve it to my children but imagine it would be very good if you like a little spice

I use a whole English cucumber or equivalant and 2 carrots. We decided we like it with more veggies and a little less chicken. I probably only use 2 cups of chicken.

The dressing makes way more than you need - I use about half the dressing even with revisions and then save the rest for a regular lunch salad the next day.

Today I knew that our hostess did not care for cilantro so I left it on the side for people to add if they liked.

You can roast your own chicken or a store bought roasted chicken for an even faster meal. I have done it both ways.