Stop 3 - France (Provence)

In this culinary trip around the globe, i decided that one needed to be done via the slow cooker.  There really something to having your dinner ready the second you walk in the door, isn’t there?  Last summer my low cooker (crock pot) got a major workout along with the grill.  The problem I found though is that boneless, skinless chicken breasts really didn’t work for us.  The meat was rubbery and never really held the flavor of the ingredients in there.  Now beef, I’ve never had issues with.  It’s only been chicken.  Chicken with bone in/skin on does ok, but I still wasn’t a big fan of it.  But being adventurous as always, I decided to give it a new lease on life.

I wanted to add some lamb to the rota.  We’ve been eating a fair amount of lamb recently and I’ve really grown to like it.  I found the perfect trial recipe for the slow cooker attempt - Lamb Stew Provencal from my 200 Low Carb Slow Cooker recipe book.  The only thing in there that I wasn’t sure of was the fennel.  I’d never had fennel before so I wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not, but why not give it a go.  This morning was the “dump and go” maneuver.

It was extremely tasty!  The lamb fell off the bones, the veggies were all done and the sauce was thick enough that I didn’t even bother trying t thicken it more.  The one thing I will say is that this is one of those stick to your rib stews, so I wouldn’t want it if I was in the mood for a light dinner or during the hottest part of summer.  This is the perfect cold, rainy night meal.  One note - make sure you know how big your crock pot is!!  I only had 2.5 lbs (including bones) of meat and it *barely* fit.  Feel free to adjust the recipe to your slow cooker

Lamb Stew Provencal

3 lbs (1.5 kg) lamb stew meat (I did bone in shoulder, but go for the cubed, deboned meat)

3 Tbsp (45 milliliters) olive oil

1 whole fennel bulb, sliced lengthwise

1 medium onion, sliced lengthwise

4 cloves of garlic, crushed (I did 6 and sliced)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried rosemary, whole needles


15 oz (425 grams) canned black soybeans, drained (I used a cup dried black beans due to the soy allergy.  You can use canned beans if you want.)

1 cup beef broth (Again, I substituted chicken both (that’s what I had on hand) with a gf “beef” vegan bouillon cube and some red wine)

1 tsp chicken bouillon concentrate (this got left out - didn’t see the point since I was already using chicken broth and added a large bouillon cube already)

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried majoram


1/2 tsp dried savory

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Guar or xantham (if needed)

Season the lamb with salt and pepper.  In a heavy skillet, heat the oil and brown the lamb on all sides over medium-high heat.

Place the fennel, onion, and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker, Add bay leaf and rosemary.  Dump the beans (whichever you are using) on top of that.  When the lamb is browned, put it on top of the veggies.

Add the one cup broth to the pan to get all those nice browned lamb bits off the bottom.  Transfer that to a bowl and stir in the bouillon, and the herbs.  Pour the mixture over the lamb.  Cover, set to low and let it cook for 8-9 hours.

When it’s done, (if needed) thicken the liquid to the texture of heavy cream with the guar or xantham.

Tomorrow we are setting off to Vietnam.  I’ve already got the chicken marinating and the dipping sauce is all prepared.  All I have to do tomorrow is cook the chicken and prep the salad.  Man, when did I get so organised?

Stop two - China

Tonight was probably one of my best meals ever.  Tonight was chinese sweet and sour chicken.  Again, the craving for takeout comfort was intense, so sweet and sour chicken seemed to fit the bill.  But it was so funny.  I was all organised to the point that all I had to do was dump everything in.  I found this one off of Recipezaar, with my own modifications.  I made sure to season the chicken with plenty of salt and pepper.  I also added a bit more vinegar than recommended, and made sure to use cider vinegar.  Also I de-glutened this by using cauliflower “rice”.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe #141131

YUMMMMM!

1/2 head cauliflower

1 Tbsp oil

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes (about 3/4 lbs.)

1 small green bell peppers, cut into strips

1 small red bell peppers, cut into strips

3 Tbsp vinegar


1 Tbsp cornstarch

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce substitute

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 (8 oz) can chunk pineapple in juice

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. For the rice, put the shredded cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and cover.  Add a few tablespoons of water and microwave for 6 minutes or so.


2. Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in hot oil in large skillet until brown. Add peppers; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes. Stir cornstarch and soy sauce in small bowl. Add soy sauce mixture, pineapple in juice, vinegar, sugar, ginger and garlic powder to skillet; bring to boil.  Enjoy.

Trip around the world

Ok, so I honestly can’t go on a trip around the world, but here lately I’ve been craving ethnic food something fierce… Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, and especially Ethiopian.  Before going gluten-free, I used to have all of these on a regular basis, especially the Ethiopian.  There was an awesome place in BackBay called Addis Red Sea which had the most incredible food.  Lots of wonderful chicken, beef, lamb and vegetarian dishes, all perfectly spiced.  A great Mexican place I used to go was Fajitas N Ritas.  The food was good, but it had the best margaritas anywhere.  The sour ones were superb.  There were several nice Thai and Vietnamese places I used to frequent.  I’ve missed all of that.

Until now.

I’m getting more and more away from the bland steak and chicken that I first started out making and have really started coming into some prety good food.  I know when I was first diagnosed, I thought all I’d be able to eat was meat and veggies.  I’ve since learned that meat and veggies aren’t so bad, and can be very versatile with the aid of spices.

But I digress.

My Ethiopian adventure is on hold for the moment, pending a trip to the spice store.  There’s this awesome spice place in Lexington that my friends have raved about but I’ve yet to go into.  I could just go to Whole Foods, but there’s something about *fresh* spices that appeals to me, especially for something like this.  But this new food rota is full of ethnic food.  I’ve got Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai.  Have you ever had those days where you just crave take-away?  The easy food for life on the run?  I have.  So this rota is just for that.

Last night (see below for pics) was Thai Beef in Lettuce wraps.  I made my own soy sauce substitute, which was really good!  It’s not as dark as the real thing, but has all the flavor, and little of the fat (no oil in it).  That recipe can be found here.  The only things I’d change in this is I would spice the beef up more.   Not so much with more heat, but with more spice.  Cumin and or chili powder would’ve suited this nicely.  I also didn’t add the whole amount of chili flakes, since the DH isn’t that keen on hot foods.  i just took the shaker with me and added for myself.  For the rice in this dish, I used half a head of cauliflower shredded in the Cuisinart and then microwave it in a covered bowl (Ok, I used Saran wrap and a glass bowl. ) and microwave for 6-7 minutes.  It makes a darn good rice substiture.  The DH, who hates rice, liked this.

This recipe, btw, comes from 500 More Low Carb Recipes.  Low carb tends to marry well with gluten free.

Thai Beef Lettuce Wraps

1 lbs (455 g) ground beef (Use ground round or sirloin if you can)

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup (80 ml) chopped onions

1 clove garlic


1 medium yellow pepper diced (or whatever colour you have on hand)

1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice

2 tsp chopped fresh mint

1 tsp gluten free beef bouillon granules (I actually use a vegan “beef” one that is wonderful)

1/2 head cauliflower, shredded

1 Tbsp (15 ml) fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla)

2 tsp soy sauce substitute


1/2 cup (60 g) chopped peanuts (OPTIONAL)

1/2 cucumber, diced small

16 lettuce leaves (I’d recommend either Romaine or Butter lettuce over iceberg)

In a big skillet, break up and brown the beek with the pepper flakes (I’d also recommend cumin and/or a pinch of chili powder, salt or seasoning salt and pepper.  A pinch of coriander would work nicely too).

When the beef is browned, tilt the pan and spoon off any fat that’s accumulated (with round and sirloin, there’s barely any).  Stir in the onion, garlic, pepper, lemon juice, mint and beef bouillon granules.  Stir until bouillon dissolves.  Turn burner on low and let the whole thing simmer.

Now you can start on the “rice”.  Put the shredded cauliflower in a microwavable casserole dish with a lid (or do the “ghetto” method of a glass bowl and Saran Wrap or wax paper) add a couple of tablespoons of water, and microwave for 6-7 minutes on high.

By the time the “rice” is done, the peppers in onions should be tender.  Drain the “rice” and stir into the beef mixture.  Stir in fish sauce and soy sauce substitute too. 

Put your peanuts if using and cucumber in small dishes.  Arrange 4 good sized lettuce leaves on each of four plates and spoon a mound of the meat mixture next to them.  To eat, spoon some of the meat mixture into a lettuce leaf and sprinkle with peanuts and cucumber.  Wrap in the lettuce and eat as you would a burrito.

Moblog Entry

This entry was posted via email.

Moblog Entry

This entry was posted via email.

Moblog Entry

This photo was posted from my cell phone.

Guess what these are?

If you guessed gluten-free doggie cookies, you guessed correctly.

Play time!

The photo below was me playing “Iron Chef” tonight.  The “secret” ingredient?  Blood oranges!  These were beautiful too.  Gorgeous orange and red on the outside and almost red wine/burgandy on the inside.  And suprisingly sweeter than usual. 

I decided tonight was a play night.  No recipe, no planning, just what’s in the fridge that I can do something with involving blood oranges and chicken (that’s what I had thawed).  I decided to zest the orange, then slice it into thin slices.  The chicken was salted and peppered, then had hte zest rubbed on it.  From there, a couple of sprigs of rosemary and 2 cloves of garlic made it in.  I wrapped the chicken in little foil pouches and stuck them in the oven at 375 for about a half hour or so.

Then I decided to make a simple Cointreau sauce.  I started with some sugar and let it melt in a saucepan, followed by another blood orange with zest, salt, pepper, and cointreau with a bit of cornstarch dissolved in it. 

For veg, as you can see I blanched the asparagus.  I let it go a bit longer than I normally do, so it was tender crisp rather than really crisp.

I thought it turned out extremely well.  The DH liked it, but the cointreau was a bit too much for him.  I’m now thinking up a combination involving some apples for the next try.