Book of Yum

Recently I’ve been experimenting with some pantry staples in the effort to come up with dishes that don’t bother sensitive Baby Yum’s allergic tummy. I think other Mom’s with babies that have this issue with protein in their milk and newly diagnosed Celiacs with multiple allergies may find this kind of recipe useful. It uses few ingredients, most which are commonly available in any grocery store. One reader found my notes for this recipe in my recipe files and said “Hey! Where are the directions?” One thing you may not know is that before I blog a recipe, I usually take notes for it and save it in my recipes to complete later- and this is one such recipe. But, I couldn’t resist posting it for you all when it had garnered such interest- before it even had a pretty picture to accompany it! Hope you all enjoy. This is a good recipe for those on elimination allergy diets as well..

Allergen-free shepard Pie recipe Main Course  Potatoes  Vegetables  American

Ingredients 2 large potatoes salt, pepper dried herb mix olive oil to taste 1 small onion, diced 3/4 can red kidney beans 1 carrot, diced 1/4 spaghetti squash, baked and cubed 1/2 of one bundle of chard, chopped 1 tbsp. brown rice flour 1 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 tsp. sage 1/2 tsp. thyme smoked paprika to taste water or vegetable broth- enough to make a sauce Directions Preheat oven to 375. Bake potatoes (or microwave until done) and put through a ricer, drizzling generously with olive oil and seasoning to taste. Heat olive oil in a non-stick fry pan or cast iron skillet. Add diced onion and as it turns translucent, add your kidney beans and carrot. Eventually add cubed (peeled) baked spaghetti squash and chard and saute until chard softens. Make a space in the center of the pan and add olive oil. Sprinkle with brown rice flour and let toast slightly before mixing into the rest of the dish. season and add water or vegetable broth in enough quantity to make a sauce. It will thicken slightly more later upon baking… Take a nice baking dish and fill with your vegetable mixture. Top with olive oil mashed potatoes and add any additional seasonings if you like. Bake in 375 oven for 30 minutes or until top gets nicely tinged with golden brown bits. Enjoy! Notes *Sorry to those who are allergic to potato… it isn’t one of the major eight, though, and happens to be an ingredient that agrees with my (and baby yum’s) tummy.

Rating:  7 Original Source:  Contents of my brain. Please do not replicate without permission. Thanks. Recipe ID:  1463 Added:  October 8, 2009 Last Modified:  October 30, 2009

This week I thought I’d share a really unique salad recipe with you- one for herb or arugula gnocchi on a bed of fresh arugula that I drizzled with a (bottled) balsamic vinaigrette. I couldn’t resist making it with the fork tin decor on top, even though it doesn’t really end up showing in the final product.

This week the gluten-free menu swap is hosted by Cheryl at GF Goodness with vegetarian meals as the theme. Don’t forget to check out more menus at Org Junkie. In the meantime, here’s my gluten-free menu of the week- Cheryl should be very happy with me as every single meal is vegetarian!!! heheh.

Sunday: Vegetarian
Roasted beets and root veggies
Pan Fried Oregano Okra
Beans
French Rice in the Rice Cooker

Tuesday: Chinese
soy-free Mushroom Broccoli stir-fry

Wednesday: Thai
Vegetable Green Curry
Jasmine rice

Friday: Indian
Red lentil fritters (Masoor Dal Vada)
Bette Hagman flatbread
Vegetable curry

Saturday: Irish
Vegan pot pie

I recently came across an intriguing recipe for arugula gnocchi in a magazine and was inspired to convert it to be gluten and dairy free. I’ve become obsessed with arugula as a zesty alternative to lettuce since Trader Joes started selling a mild organic arugula. I thought it was a great idea to treat arugula like spinach. Further, it serves as the perfect foil for neutral floury potatoes. Although the arugula becomes quite muted by the starch in the recipe, if you don’t like arugula or don’t have any in your area, you can always substitute spinach or use a nice fresh herb (without blanching it). I have made gluten-free gnocchi several times and had the best results not with gluten-free cookbooks (the author used potato flour along with the fresh potatoes and it gave it a dreadful, heavy flavor) but rather by adapting gluten based recipes. I made a yummy kabocha pumpkin gnocchi once, and a gluten-free ricotta cheese gnocchi, and I even made novel buckwheat gnocchi recipe, but I hadn’t adapted a plain potato gnocchi recipe before until I found the inspiration for this recipe. We thought it was delicious, and the treatment with balsamic vinegar was intriguing. Next time I think I’ll saute the gnocchi in a pan with fresh herbs… What’s your favorite way to enjoy gnocchi?

Read about Cupcake Kitteh’s Gluten free gnocchi recipe

Don’t want to make your own? You can try Conte’s Gluten Free Gnocchi *I haven’t tried their gnocchi yet but have ordered their perogies and ravioli and they were pretty good*

Gluten Free Arugula Herb Gnocchi recipe Main Course  Potatoes  Italian

Ingredients 1lb. unpeeled yellow potatoes 4 oz. fresh arugula or your favorite herb or green 1 cup your favorite gluten free blend (i used brown rice based Rebecca Reilly mix) 1 tsp.xanthan gum 1/2 tsp. salt 1 egg *2 tbsp olive oil, or some oil from oil packed sundried tomatoes 1/2 cup julienned sundried tomatoes 1/4 cup minced onion 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (white preferred) 3/4 cup water salt,pepper to taste 8 ounces Fresh arugula or more, for salad *this is for a whole recipe. If you freeze half of the gnocchi to make later, reduce these ingredients by half. Directions Boil potatoes in water in a medium saucepan about 40 minutes or until done. Drain and cool. Blanch your arugula. If using another more delicate herb do not blanch but simply add to gnocchi dough. Drain arugula, squeezing water out if necessary, and chop. Reserve. Remove potato skin and press potato through a ricer or use a potato masher to mash into a large bowl. Add chopped arugula, flour blend, xanthan gum and salt to the bowl and gently fold ingredients together. Add egg in well in the center. Whisk egg to combine egg white and yolk, and stir into the rest of the ingredients. Create a dough ball and form into five balls. take each ball and make it into a 3/4 inch thick log. If ready to make now, slice log to make gnocchi ovals. Otherwise, freeze and use later. Bring salted water in a saucepan to boil and add your gnocchi. Boil until it floats to the top, and then gently fish out with a metal strainer. Leave to drain. Heat olive oil in a nonstick frypan on medium and add your gnocchi and let it start to brown. Turn and once the second side has browned, add onion and sundried tomatoes, drizzling the gnocchi with your balsamic vinegar. As the onion starts to soften add water and cook for a few more minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on bed of fresh arugula. Enjoy!

Rating:  9 Original Source:  Adapted from DeliciousLiving april 08 to be gluten free and tosuit our household. Please do not replicate without my permission. Thanks. Recipe ID:  1451 Added:  September 4, 2009 Last Modified:  September 25, 2009