Okay, sorry but no pictures today. I can't for the life of me find my battery charger for the camera. Welcome to the world of an ADD, OCD mom. FRUSTRATING. I bet the fairies hid it, either that or my husband's theory of time slips is possible. Fairies is oddly more understandable unless you've been drinking too much.....ANYWAY!
I better find the charger soon. I am leaving on Wednesday for a real, live adventure. Not just in my head either! But that means some prep work. The aforementioned male in the house (the only one poor thing) does. not. cook. PERIOD. He will also eat anything that comes out of the fridge if it "looks okay" no matter how long it's been in there. So today I decided to clean out the fridge, use the edibles and toss the rest so as to restock it with items that he can microwave but are still acceptable to me and safe for Pom to eat. Good thing for me it was all stuff that could easily be made into a yummy Chinese lunch. :) No dinner tonight, it's my birthday and I am not cooking!
Okay, here goes (use your imagination for the pictures... this is TRUE Chinese restaurant fare here....
2 cups leftover white rice
(this whole 'leftover' word is very important ...the rice won't fry right if it's warm)
2 Tblsp oil ( I used Canola but Peanut is good too )
2 eggs
2 Tblsp (or so) oyster sauce, divided (Gluten FREE)
Soy sauce (this is one of those use your own discretion times, and use GF soy sauce of course)
Any veggies you want. Mushrooms, onions and celery work well.
Heat the oil in a pan, preferably wok-shaped, over med high heat.
In a small dish whisk the eggs and half the oyster sauce, add to the pan. Cook, scrambling, for a minute or so then add the veggies. Stir for a minute or so, then add the rice. Stir to break up and add the soy sauce. Commence stir frying until heated through and cooked well. YUM.
Serve with a stir fry of some sort. I used leftover chicken, green beans, onions, mushrooms and celery in a little oil with garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce and a splash of rice wine vinegar. Again I say...YUM!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Mushroom Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Herbed Quinoa
When I began this blog, one of my intents was to help others who are going through the gluten free adventure. Whether it was a decision made from necessity or a desire to be healthier, it seems difficult to eat and cook gluten free with all of the processed food choices in the market, at least it did to me.
Turns out that with the exception of bread, gluten free cooking is pretty easy. Take, for example, this meal. It's one of our favorites, but it's super easy, healthy and pretty economical too.
A note about my recipes. I say organic for two reasons. 1) Who the hell decided that it would be good for humans to consume all of those chemicals?! 2) Things like tomato sauce should be naturally gluten free right? Naturally yes, but most canned tomato sauces are NOT all natural. And many are not gluten free. Organic foods are though. Well, organic wheat bread or organic barley obviously is NOT gluten free but organic processed foods, aka tomato sauce, chicken broth and the like, do not add all of the chemicals and preservatives like MSG.
I haven't mastered the whole uploading pictures thing yet...bare with me please.
Ingredients first!
Mushroom Garlic Chicken
3-4 chicken breast halves
2 shallots
3-4 garlic cloves
10 (or so) mushrooms, sliced
2 tblsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded (as much or as little as you desire ... YUM)
Green Beans
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 (or so) fresh, trimmed grean beans
salt and pepper to taste
Herbed Quinoa
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup quinoa
onion powder
garlic powder
herbes de provence
10 leaves fresh sage, torn roughly
1-2 Tblsp butter
OKAY now, first things first, when there aren't any amounts, it means that I didn't measure. Use a few shakes. I love garlic and herbes de provence so I use more of those. Use your own tastes. :)
To the process!
1. Melt 2 Tblsp butter over medium heat in a heavy frying pan. Mince the garlic and shallots, add them and the mushrooms to the butter in the pan. Saute about 7 minutes then add Chicken. Cook for 10 minutes on each side.
2. In the meantime, boil the water with the butter, onion and garlic powders and herbes de provence for the quinoa.When it's done boiling, add the quinoa, cover and simmer 12 minutes. Add sage, turn off stove, re-cover and let set 5 minutes.
3. Remove (only) the chicken from the pan and place on a plate. Sprinkle mozzarella over the chicken. Cover so the mozzarella melts. While that's melting, add green beans and broth to the chicken pan. Let simmer 10 minutes or until green beans are as done as you want them. Last but not least, serve and ENJOY!!
Turns out that with the exception of bread, gluten free cooking is pretty easy. Take, for example, this meal. It's one of our favorites, but it's super easy, healthy and pretty economical too.
A note about my recipes. I say organic for two reasons. 1) Who the hell decided that it would be good for humans to consume all of those chemicals?! 2) Things like tomato sauce should be naturally gluten free right? Naturally yes, but most canned tomato sauces are NOT all natural. And many are not gluten free. Organic foods are though. Well, organic wheat bread or organic barley obviously is NOT gluten free but organic processed foods, aka tomato sauce, chicken broth and the like, do not add all of the chemicals and preservatives like MSG.
I haven't mastered the whole uploading pictures thing yet...bare with me please.
Ingredients first!
Mushroom Garlic Chicken3-4 chicken breast halves
2 shallots
3-4 garlic cloves
10 (or so) mushrooms, sliced
2 tblsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded (as much or as little as you desire ... YUM)
Green Beans
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 (or so) fresh, trimmed grean beans
salt and pepper to taste
Herbed Quinoa
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup quinoa
onion powder
garlic powder
herbes de provence
10 leaves fresh sage, torn roughly
1-2 Tblsp butter
OKAY now, first things first, when there aren't any amounts, it means that I didn't measure. Use a few shakes. I love garlic and herbes de provence so I use more of those. Use your own tastes. :)
To the process!
1. Melt 2 Tblsp butter over medium heat in a heavy frying pan. Mince the garlic and shallots, add them and the mushrooms to the butter in the pan. Saute about 7 minutes then add Chicken. Cook for 10 minutes on each side.
2. In the meantime, boil the water with the butter, onion and garlic powders and herbes de provence for the quinoa.When it's done boiling, add the quinoa, cover and simmer 12 minutes. Add sage, turn off stove, re-cover and let set 5 minutes.
3. Remove (only) the chicken from the pan and place on a plate. Sprinkle mozzarella over the chicken. Cover so the mozzarella melts. While that's melting, add green beans and broth to the chicken pan. Let simmer 10 minutes or until green beans are as done as you want them. Last but not least, serve and ENJOY!!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Introducing....Pom.
My oldest daughter is a bit of an .... interesting child. She has been a challenge and a joy from conception. With her I was on bed rest. She was challenging to birth. She was mildly colicky from day one, and didn't sleep at all. She was diagnosed with a sleep disorder at 4 months, never potty trained, diagnosed with ODD at 4 years, a tethered spinal cord that she had surgery for at 6 years and Celiac disease at 8. At 9 years of age, she now self catheters , gets migraines at the very mention of gluten and is mouthy and obstinate to the point of ridiculous.
With all this though comes the joy. She is bubbly and outgoing. She knows who she is and has zero fear. She is helpful (when she wants to be) and focused. She was lifting her head off my shoulder at two days old and speaking in sentences by 10 months. If I need help with something, this is the child I go to. If I need to laugh though, it's Diva all the way. Pom is much more serious. She is a cheerleader and not at all afraid of the spotlight.
Where Diva was my shadow for much of her life, Pom has been pushing me away for much of hers. Don't get me wrong, she swears she can't sleep if I don't sing her our song. She wants to cuddle and loves attention. But she does her own thing. She wants to shave her legs and has been talking about moving out since she was four. FOUR!
I am proud of her for this, but I admire the man who will put up with her and not hold her back. AMBITIOUS is an understatement for her and she has already made it clear that she doesn't need a husband. "When I get married, Mommy, he'll live with me only because I want him to. I don't need a man for anything." Apparently I have unintentionally created the same monster that my Momma created. Like Mother, Like Daughter.
With all this though comes the joy. She is bubbly and outgoing. She knows who she is and has zero fear. She is helpful (when she wants to be) and focused. She was lifting her head off my shoulder at two days old and speaking in sentences by 10 months. If I need help with something, this is the child I go to. If I need to laugh though, it's Diva all the way. Pom is much more serious. She is a cheerleader and not at all afraid of the spotlight.
Where Diva was my shadow for much of her life, Pom has been pushing me away for much of hers. Don't get me wrong, she swears she can't sleep if I don't sing her our song. She wants to cuddle and loves attention. But she does her own thing. She wants to shave her legs and has been talking about moving out since she was four. FOUR!
I am proud of her for this, but I admire the man who will put up with her and not hold her back. AMBITIOUS is an understatement for her and she has already made it clear that she doesn't need a husband. "When I get married, Mommy, he'll live with me only because I want him to. I don't need a man for anything." Apparently I have unintentionally created the same monster that my Momma created. Like Mother, Like Daughter.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Adventures Indeed!!
I must begin with an apology to all my readers (all 2 or3 of you). I have not been keeping up my end of the bargain to type in this little box. Let me explain why.
The Diva Monster and her older sister (whom you have yet to meet but isn't nearly as diva-ish...a bit emotional perhaps, but no diva. We shall call her Pom) have been sick. Diva tested positive for strep throat with no symptoms but her sister still has a sore throat, 5 days into the antibiotics.
This all came 2 days after Diva's best friend (whose family is very close to ours) and her baby sister were both diagnosed. So now we have 4 sick little girls ages 2 - 9. Whine is their friend while wine helps me cope.
Pom has been the worst. This child is an intriguing creature. She borders on brilliant (and yes I am biased but really. She's nine and making clay models of molecules) but she screeches like a wild banshee whose head is getting removed by a dull spoon if you even MENTION the word "medicine". Which sucks. For all of us. OF COURSE she would be the one to run fevers of 104 degrees combined with a throat so swollen that she has trouble swallowing spit. Naturally. People wonder why I buy ibuprofen in bulk at Costco. This is why.
She insisted that we stick with our planned camping trip over the weekend. I discussed it with the doctor, who said (basically) "on antibiotics, not contagious...why not?" Let me tell you why not. The child screeched so loudly when it was time for her meds that I think she killed a few fish..and some of the algae that the place was apparently farming. I am certain she killed some of the bugs and maybe made a dog or two deaf. Otherwise she enjoyed herself and didn't make anyone exceptionally miserable. I was almost glad that we could only stay one night though.
LESSONS:
1) never take Pom anywhere if she needs medicine.
2) I really do mean ANYWHERE
3) It is an unspoken rule...if she likes it, she never needs it. If she hates it, it's a staple of life.
I promise to introduce you to the screechy one and explain her nickname. I also promise to write in this box more. I thirdly promise to give you recipes (all gluten free) soon. As soon as I remember to take pictures of said recipes.
2)
The Diva Monster and her older sister (whom you have yet to meet but isn't nearly as diva-ish...a bit emotional perhaps, but no diva. We shall call her Pom) have been sick. Diva tested positive for strep throat with no symptoms but her sister still has a sore throat, 5 days into the antibiotics.
This all came 2 days after Diva's best friend (whose family is very close to ours) and her baby sister were both diagnosed. So now we have 4 sick little girls ages 2 - 9. Whine is their friend while wine helps me cope.
Pom has been the worst. This child is an intriguing creature. She borders on brilliant (and yes I am biased but really. She's nine and making clay models of molecules) but she screeches like a wild banshee whose head is getting removed by a dull spoon if you even MENTION the word "medicine". Which sucks. For all of us. OF COURSE she would be the one to run fevers of 104 degrees combined with a throat so swollen that she has trouble swallowing spit. Naturally. People wonder why I buy ibuprofen in bulk at Costco. This is why.
She insisted that we stick with our planned camping trip over the weekend. I discussed it with the doctor, who said (basically) "on antibiotics, not contagious...why not?" Let me tell you why not. The child screeched so loudly when it was time for her meds that I think she killed a few fish..and some of the algae that the place was apparently farming. I am certain she killed some of the bugs and maybe made a dog or two deaf. Otherwise she enjoyed herself and didn't make anyone exceptionally miserable. I was almost glad that we could only stay one night though.
LESSONS:
1) never take Pom anywhere if she needs medicine.
2) I really do mean ANYWHERE
3) It is an unspoken rule...if she likes it, she never needs it. If she hates it, it's a staple of life.
I promise to introduce you to the screechy one and explain her nickname. I also promise to write in this box more. I thirdly promise to give you recipes (all gluten free) soon. As soon as I remember to take pictures of said recipes.
2)
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