Mom of three, cooking good food that happens to be gluten free
Please forgive the appearance as I make some changes to the blog! More blogs, more often, are on the way. Send any requests for recipes or questions about meal planning or going gluten free to mammascooking@gmail.com.
In the meantime check me out on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter (@mammascooking) and Facebook!
I have been very busy cooking and coming up with some new recipes and simplifying the old.
Thank you!
Marie
I know, I know, some of you still think gluten free is a fad and many think it doesn’t taste good. For us that is definitely not the truth. It has not changed my menus as much as I thought it would. It just changes the preparation and how I shop. I don’t use the same ketchup for example or hot dogs or soy sauce, but I still use all those items. They just have a gluten free version. Some gluten free versions of things are the same but some are not. By process of elimination and good advice 🙂 we are figuring out what works for us. Betty Crocker’s gluten free brownie mix…Goooood! Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix…not so good.
Tonight we had some delicious (if I say so myself) grilled chicken, green beans and potato salad. I marinated the chicken (drumsticks and thighs) in one part olive oil, one and a half part balsamic vinegar (Trader Joe’s told me that theirs is gluten free), one garlic clove (minced), teaspoon onion powder, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary from our garden or a 2 tablespoons of dry. Throw them on a hot grill to sear on both sides then move to top rack of grill to cook on indirect heat. Use a meat thermometer to make sure its cooked through to 170-180. Takes about 20-30 minutes.
For the green beans Karina, Tim and I cleaned them by snapping off the ends. I tossed them with 2 Tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp onion powder and a dash of garlic powder. Made an envelope out of foil and enclosed the green beans in them and put them on the grill. On direct heat for first 3-4 minutes then turn burners off and grill for another 5-6 minutes.
The potato salad was leftover from the 4th of July party we went to a friend’s house yesterday. Hannaford’s cleverly put the bags of small potatoes next to each other. One was yukon gold (white), other was red potatoes (red) and lastly purple potatoes (or blue). Of course I fell for that marketing ploy and bought a bag of each 🙂 I boiled them in salt water and then tossed with one 4 oz Fage plain greek yogurt (GF) with a couple of squirts of Stop and Shop Honey mustard (GF) and a couple of chopped sprigs of dill from our garden. Even better today. I kept a small bowl of the potatoes without dressing aside, because my kids don’t like it.
Nice way to end a beautiful day. Sunny and low 80s with a nice breeze. Wish everyday could feel like this. Summertime 🙂
Only one more post to go to my 100th post on this blog. I am excited to keep this up as long as there are readers 🙂 Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have a happy new year.
I finally finished my 2012 cooking bucket list yesterday, just in time! Here’s a recap:
Cooking Bucket list for 2012 – COMPLETE!
Bread
I know, I know, I have been absent for the last couple of months.I’ve been doing some soul searching on my next professional move, physically moving to a house down south of Boston and now moving heaven and earth to unpack with 3 kids under 6, under foot and prepare for the holidays! Lucky to have such problems though 🙂
We are traveling about an hour and 45 minutes north on Thanksgiving and I’m responsible for the turkey, gravy and stuffing. Luckily I have found my roasting pan and bought a large bucket to brine the turkey in. My husband’s new company has a very nice perk. They give free farm fresh turkeys to each employee! When I get that turkey tomorrow I will butcher it and throw it in the brine overnight. Still haven’t figured out if I should cook it at home and bring it up or cook it at the house we are going to. Nothing like the last minute. I am going to base my turkey preparation on Kate’s Turkey recipe from Our Best Bites. The women over at Our Best Bites have amazing recipes. I have never made one I didn’t like. Check it out. Here are a couple of my favorites that may help your thanksgiving meal:
Easy Pumpkin crumble
Pretzel Rolls
Here is a round up of Mamma’s Cooking Thanksgiving posts:
Lessons Learned from Thanksgiving
My Thanksgiving Menu
Pre and Post Thanksgiving Ideas
Happy Thanksgiving
Have a great holiday everyone! I’ll let you know when I’m going to pick up the pace again and start posting more.
Take about a pound of tilapia, cod or other white fish and 1st coat with mixture of 2-3 tbs melted butter with juice of 1/2 a lemon and then coat with mixture of about 1/3 cup corn meal, thyme, zest of one lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Put the coated fish into a baking dish and into a 375 degree oven, after spraying it with olive oil cooking spray, for about 15-20 minutes or until flakey.
I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted zucchini. Kids loved the fish! I know, I know, all the butter probably doesn’t make it the healthiest in the world, but you could use slightly heated olive oil mixed with the lemon juice or lemon zest (heat allows the lemon juice to permeate the olive oil a little more than if cold) or even try egg white. I make my mashed potatoes with a couple of tablespoons of low fat cream cheese and 1% milk and roasted the zucchini with salt, pepper and olive oil spray.
Tip: On occasion I actually implement the tips I find on Pinterest and this one definitely helps so that you don’t have to spend money on cooking sprays anymore. Make your own cooking spray. So far the olive oil one has worked well for me.
Creative healthy lunches for daycare, school, on the run, at the office or at home can be stressful to make. As the school year starts we all start to get busier and need easy, healthy lunches. I admit I have fallen into a lunch rut for myself and have been eating leftovers or Lean Cuisines so that I have time to cook dinner, job hunt, write this blog, shower or maybe clean my house while the boys are napping 🙂 I’m a stickler at dinner and breakfast for us all eating the same thing. Not quite sure why that is different at lunch? Maybe because we have different schedules and it always seems rushed.
Here is a sample lunch menu for our family for the week:
Mondays, I have all 3 kids at home with me while my husband goes to work. Tim gets leftovers for lunch, the kids eat Annie’s mac-n-cheese mixed with peas and bananas on the side. I have a sweet and sour chicken Lean Cuisine.
Tuesdays, Karina is in school so I pack her lunch: 2 ham and cream cheese roll ups, a plum, crackers and a yogurt with water. Tim takes leftovers again or a ham and cheese sandwich with a banana. The boys will eat chicken nuggets with roasted broccoli and sweet potato fries. While I’m baking the nuggets and fries, I put a couple of frozen broccoli spears on the same sheet pan and just roast it along with the other frozen foods. Easy! I eat mac n cheese from Lean Cuisine (with a pinch of cayenne for more flavor).
Wednesdays, same schedule as Tuesdays. Karina’s school lunch: cream cheese and jelly on a multigrain bagel thin, grapes and a cheese stick with water. Tim takes leftovers (sensing a pattern? Luckily he likes them). The boys will eat the same as Karina but with peanut butter and jelly. If I have the energy to make sometime for myself, it usually is a salad with handful of black beans, blueberries, a little leftover meat from last night and a little shredded cheddar or feta or even a cut up cheese stick if that is all I have in the fridge. Add a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and it is a tasty little salad.
Thursdays, same schedule again. Karina’s school lunch: leftover pasta primavera (cold) with yogurt and water. Boys, leftover pasta and yogurt (I try to match Karina and the boys’ lunches and make them all in the morning so I don’t have to do it twice). Tim, leftover pasta and me, probably another lean cuisine 🙂
Fridays, All 3 kids are home with me again. Kids and I will have tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat with peaches and carrot sticks with hummus.What does Tim take to work? You guessed it, leftovers.
Saturdays and Sundays, If we are all home or some of us are, we usually eat leftover homemade pizza from Friday night’s dinner and some fruit or carrots or in the fall we often have soup and a grilled cheese sandwich or quesadillas.
Here are some lunch recipes from me or blogs I like to follow:
Quesadillas you can get very creative with. The link will take you to quesadilla recipes I’ve previously mentioned.
Tomato tart from Michael Simon over at the Chew. This one requires actual cooking, but I did it the other day when we spent a rare morning at home and the kids actually were playing nicely together. I didn’t have as many tomatoes as he suggests, but it was still delicious. I also happened to have some pastry dough leftover from making the Quiche Lorraine around Julia Child’s 100th birthday. We had a little picnic with it. My kids, I don’t know how, but do not really like tomatoes, so weren’t huge fans but I loved it!
Pinterest of course has many ideas as well. My kids’ favorite one is hot dogs with pasta. Take dry spaghetti noodles and stick through cut up hot dogs. Boil it all together until the pasta is cooked. I sometimes serve it with perogies and edamame.
Catherine over at Weelicious posted some sandwich ideas recently.
Red Tricyle also has some ideas for school lunches today.
I try to make the lunches balanced with a protein, grain, dairy, fruit and/or vegetable. What do you make for you and your family for lunch? We all could use ideas!
Summer is still in high gear around here, but everywhere you look there are back to school specials and even Christmas ornaments at a certain card store in the mall! To gear up for the fall, school and activities, here is a week of dinners to you from me.
Sunday – Mussels with brown rice and peas. Remember the bread to soak up the sauce! I forgot and was so sad to pour that delicious cooking liquid down the drain 🙁
Here is my best recipe I’ve tried. The rice I just made in the rice cooker with chicken stock (you could use veggie as well) and added a couple of handfuls of frozen peas after the rice was cooked.
Karina loved them! She ate so many more than the 2 I put on her plate. The boys were not so interested. This is a great cheap meal. These Prince Edward Island Mussels were $1.99/lb and one pound was more than enough for us.
Monday – Cheese quesadillas and a blackbean and corn salad.
I used the leftover rice and peas and mixed in some canned beans and a little canned corn, diced up a tomato and tossed it with a splash of white balsamic vinegar (you could use lemon juice or lime juice, even orange juice, white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar) and seasoned with salt, lemon pepper and cumin.
The quesadilla is a whole wheat tortilla with shredded cheddar and a little shredded carrot on the inside, sprinkled with chili powder. Bake for 5-10 minutes at 375. Perfect for Meatless Monday if you do that. Add in left over chicken or beef if you have it and want some meat or put shredded chicken in the non-vegetarian’s of the family.
Top with sour cream or plain greek yogurt and salsa and you are ready to eat!
Tuesday – Baked Ziti. The one pictured below is one of my favorites I made recently. It is based on this recipe from Mario Batali that he cooked on The Chew. Basically it is a layered pasta bake, like lasagne but with your favorite type of noodles. You make your favorite mac-n-cheese and your favorite red sauce (or buy the jars at the store if you are short on time). Put one layer of mac-n-cheese on the bottom, sprinkle with ricotta, layer with sauce and repeat. Not exactly the most low cal meal, but it is delicious!
Karina used to love spaghetti squash, but wouldn’t touch it this time. Luckily she ate the rest of her dinner. The boys ate everything but the meat.
Thursday – Shrimp, Harvest Blend Couscous (from Trader Joe’s) and Corn
Still using up some of the canned corn, but you can use whatever vegetable you have on hand. I used frozen already cooked shrimp that I just defrosted and heated after tossing in a vinaigrette (olive oil, white balsamic, salt, pepper and garlic). You can use store bought or make your own. The Harvest Blend Couscous from Trader Joe’s is one of my favorites. You can cook it in water or use chicken or veggie broth. It has lentils, quinoa and Israeli couscous. It is a favorite around our house. Only costs a couple of dollars and half a bag makes more than enough for one dinner for our family of five.
Friday – Slow cooker pork tenderloin with mango, potatoes and yams and “pink” milk.
Pork tenderloin was on sale at Market Basket last week. I bought a small one, just over a pound that cost under $3. Perfect size for our family. I know it won’t be the same when the boys are teenagers, but for now its cheap 🙂 I made a rub for the tenderloin out of salt, pepper, coriander, garlic powder and onion powder. For the liquid I used about a cup of chicken stock and a couple of splashes of apple cider vinegar. Cooked it on low for about 4 hours. About 45 minutes before dinner time, I peeled and cubed a couple of yams and a couple of potatoes and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and coriander and baked for about 30 minutes at 375, mixing them a couple of times during baking. I diced up a mango and served it on top. The kids actually loved it!
The special “pink milk” the kids got was a recipe I saw on a blog I follow called Weelicious. The milk was a big hit. Fresh strawberries, milk and honey, healthier than the syrup that we usually use for pink milk. I’ve even made “blue” milk with blueberries and “yellow” milk with bananas since and the kids LOVE it (and my husband did too)! Here is a link to the recipe.
Saturday: Chicken apple sausage, carrots, zucchini and baked polenta.
Such a simple meal. I bought the already cooked polenta in a tube at Trader Joe’s. I have found it is much cheaper than the tubes at the grocery stores here in Massachusetts. Made from scratch corn meal polenta is definitely much better, but I don’t have the time to stand at the stove and babysit it. Sometimes I make it in the crockpot, which takes 6-9 hours, but you don’t have to mix it. You just set it and forget it 🙂 Anyway, I got sidetracked…I used the tube and cut it into about 1/2 inch slices and placed them on a greased cookie sheet (sprayed with olive oil spray) and then sprayed the tops with olive oil. Add a little shredded parmesan to top if you would like. I put salt, pepper and a little coriander on top of the olive oil. Bake according to instructions on package, about 20 minutes.The sausage is already cooked, you just have to heat it. I first sauteed the zucchini and carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper and when it was almost cooked added the sausage. (If you have both vegetarians and non vegetarians in the house, cook the sausage in a separate pan while you make the veggies and then just toss together for the non-vegetarians). Top with a little shredded cheese (I used cheddar) and it is a delicious, quick, easy meal!
Bucket list update:
How are you going to celebrate Father’s Day? We are going to enjoy a relaxing day (I hope)! I am letting my husband sleep in and have no responsibility for the morning, while I entertain the kids and my daughter and I make chocolate chip pancakes for him, to be kept warm until he wakes up. Lunch will be sandwiches and fruit. Then we are going to the local farmer’s market, where I have pre-ordered some seafood to make a good old fashioned clam bake for dinner. If you are in the Wilmington, MA area, check out Seafood Express. They were running a special deal if you pre-order, so ask for it!
When making a meal for a special occasion be it Father’s Day or birthdays or anniversaries, keep it simple! Don’t go out of your comfort zone. Make something easy and delicious. If the person you are celebrating really loves Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, make Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. If they want steak and potatoes, cook steak and potatoes.
Last year on Father’s day I made steak, sweet potato salad and roasted corn on the cob. First marinade the steak (whatever cut you are using) in:
1-2 minced cloves of Garlic (depends on how much you like garlic)
pinch of Salt
couple grinds of Pepper
1/4 cupWorcestershire sauce
1/4 cup Vinegar (Balsamic, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar – whatever you have on hand)
1/4 Soy sauce
Marinade for 30 minutes to 4-5 hours. Dry off with paper towel and cook however you usually cook it. Grill it, sear in a pan and then cook in the oven, however you want.
Serve with a sweet potato salad. Bake equal amounts of sweet potatoes and white or yellow potatoes, cube, mix with miracle whip, mustard, salt and pepper) and roasted corn on the cob.
You could also use your slow cooker to make a delicious meal. That way you can spend the day with your family and not have to slave over the stove. Here is a recent post from Stephanie over at A Year of Slow Cooking with some delicious looking rib recipes!
If its in your budget, go out! Enjoy a nice meal outside the house so that there are no dishes for anyone to clean 🙂 Just have fun with food and get your kids involved! If you don’t have a favorite family restaurant (and you are in the Boston area) check out Hidden Boston, if you haven’t before. Great resource! I’m really excited to try a new (old) restaurant soon. My family didn’t go out to eat much when I was growing up, but one restaurant we went to for special occasions or when we had visitors, was The European in the North End. Sadly, when I moved back, I found out it had closed. However, the owners have reopened up in North Chelmsford, MA. It is now called Aprile’s European Restaurant. Can’t wait to check it out!
I am keeping myself occupied with laundry, preparing presents for pre school teachers and others, laundry, last minute shopping, laundry, seeing old friends, laundry and doctors appointments. I’m being way more domesticated this year than usual. Karina and I have made Christmas cookies, fudge and pretzel chocolate bites, I actually got holiday cards out this year and I hosted a Christmas party for my brother, niece and nephew full of South African food my mom used to make!
We started the Christmas party off with something simple (this part is not traditional). I put out cream cheese shaped like a christmas tree with a little Trader Joe’s sweet chili sauce poured on top and served with crackers. So good and so easy!! It was based on this idea from Betty Crocker.
Then I put out a bowl of grapes. Easy, easy appetizers!
Next I made bobotie, a traditional South African meat dish. I make it with coriander, curry, chutney, ground beef and an egg and milk mixture. I’m still figuring out amounts for my recipe, so I will let you know. But here is a close enough version (and some interesting info!). I served it with some chutney and brown rice. Alongside we had a salad of shredded carrots with pineapple chunks. To make the salad, I just shredded about 1/2 a bag of small carrots in my food processor and poured in a can of pineapple chunks, juice and all. Mix and serve!
Lastly for dessert I made something my mom used to always make. I don’t know if its technically South African, but my mom is South African and she made it all the time 🙂
Andes Mint Caramel Delight
Ingredients:
1 can of sweetened condensed milk, caramelized (I poured it into a pie plate, covered with foil and put in a roasting pan with water about 3/4 way up the pan and cooked at 425 for 2 hours)
1 container Cool Whip
1 package of any type of plain cookie you like. (Traditionally my mom would make it with Marie Tea biscuits or tennis cookies but you can use British digestives or even lady fingers. Just don’t make it with a cookie that is too sweet since the rest of the dessert is already sweet)
1 package of Andes Mint Candies, chopped
Directions:
Frost a cookie with the caramelized condensed milk and place it in a casserole dish. Keep doing that with the cookies until the bottom is covered. Then top with 1/2 of the cool whip, spreading it out to cover the cookies with caramel. Sprinkle half of the chopped Andes candies over the cool whip. Repeat. Put in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
This was one of the most stress free dinners I’ve made in a long time and it was comforting, nostalgic and shared with family on top of that! We enjoyed our Christmas crackers too! Only the adults really liked the hats for some reason 🙂 The kids just wanted the toys inside.
How it already got to be December 14th, I have no idea!!! This month is passing by way too fast! Holiday parties are in full swing, presents are being bought (and made!) and planning for special holiday dinners is well underway.
Cooking dinner during all of our busy lives is challenging as it is but add in all the holiday pressures (and good times!) and it becomes next to impossible! I have been relying on my crock pot to help have a warm and delicious dinner ready after all the running around all day. Thanks to winning a giveaway on one of my favorite blogs, A Year of Slow Cooking, I now have a new fancy slow cooker! I love my 10 year old crock pot and will continue to use it from time to time, but I love this new one! It is a 6 quart oval shaped one from Hamilton Beach. You can set the temperature, it has a warming function and the lid clasps shut. Now I don’t have to tape the lid shut, like I did on my old one when taking it somewhere 🙂
Last week I made a pork roast with butternut squash and parsnips.I put a 3lb pork roast in the crock pot with 2 parsnips (large chunks) and 1 medium butternut squash (large chunks). The pork roast was rubbed with flour, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper and placed on top of the veggies. I topped the pork with a sliced apple and one medium onion sliced. For the liquid I used about 2 cups beef broth with a little balsamic vinegar. Cooked on low for about 8 hours. It was melt in your mouth delicious!
I also made a vegetarian chili and french onion soup. My crock pot has been busy. For the chili I just added a can of tomato soup, can of tomato paste, 1 medium onion (diced), garlic, chili powder, cumin, can of corn and a can of black beans. Cook on low until heated through. Sometimes I add a little apple cider vinegar too and leftover chicken, beef or pork once its heated. This only takes 2-3 hours, so its perfect to put in during the kids afternoon nap or while they are occupied with an afternoon snack, and then its ready in time for dinner!
Monday I made my Coconut Curry Sweet Potato soup. I made it for a recipe exchange party, which ended up being dinner for me and Andrea. Andrea if you’re reading this, thank you! I had fun! The chicken and quinoa was delicious!
Today I made apricot bbq chicken. This was roughly based on this from a Year of Slow Cooking, but crossed with the sauce I make for meatball appetizers. I added in about a 1/4 of a jar of apricot jam, some bbq sauce, couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce and white balsamic vinegar. Add 1 medium diced onion, clove of garlic and 1/4 cup of brown sugar.
The chili and the chicken I’ve made in the last week have really helped to clear out my pantry and fridge a little. Always nice to do before the holidays to make room for the the holiday food!
Outside of my crockpot, I made a baked cheeseburger ziti. I have been craving baked ziti. Maybe it is because we have been watching the first season of the Sopranos. This recipe is amazing! Try it!
I am making some gifts for our maintenance men, neighbors and others. I have found some great ideas on Pinterest. I’m only making one this year (that I also made at Thanksgiving), but have “pinned” others for the future.
These are the treats I’m making:
Sugar Cookies (I buy the premade dough and frosting. Its enough work to get a 4 year old to press the cookie cutters in and stay focused!)
Homemade Salsa: 1 large can of whole or diced tomatoes, 1 jalapeno (take out seeds and chopped), about 1/2 a red onion roughly chopped, cilantro (to your taste – I usually grab a handful), salt, pepper, about a clove of garlic, minced. Put ingredients into a blender or food processor. Mix until it is the consistency you want. Less if you like it chunky and more if you want it smooth.
Good luck staying sane during the holidays and if you have a question while you are getting ready, feel free to ask Mamma!
