Fish for dinner

One of my favorite and also very easy meals is grilled fish. My husband is not much of a fish eater, so he will pick up a steak for himself, and I will get fish. I like to mix it up, I love tilapia but also like Salmon, shark, mahi mahi. I love fish!

On this particular night, I chopped a sweet potato and roasted it in the oven. I quickly brushed the pieces with olive oil, salted with sea salt and fresh crushed pepper. I roasted in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. (It will depend on how big your sweet potato is and also how many of them you are roasting at a time. This was just 1 decent sized potato) I sauteed some green beans. (Frozen to save time) I sauteed these in olive oil and seasoned with the same salt and pepper. (I have a thing for olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper.) For the fish, I again brushed with olive oil, topped with fresh chopped garlic, some dry dill, and yep you guessed it a sprinkle of more salt and pepper. (I use just a dash of salt when I am seasoning my food. Don't go overboard!)To grill the fish, sometimes I will use planks, but on this particular night, I made a foil pouch (make sure and spray with a cooking spray so the fish doesn't stick!) and I covered the fish with the foil. Make sure and loosely cover it and leave an opening so that steam can escape. It will take about 8 minutes to cook on the grill again depending on how much and how big your pieces are. I also like my fish pretty cooked. If you don't own an outside grill you can easily do this on a George Foreman grill too. Just omit the foil pouch. Make sure you spray with a cooking spray!

This is such a fast and easy gluten-free meal. Obviously you can adjust any and all of this, these are just a few of my favorites. Make sure with any seasonings that you decide to use to check for any hidden sources of gluten.

Gluten-free quinoa recipe

I have grown to really like quinoa. (pronounced keen-wa) I eat a lot of rice and decided one day to try this instead. It is chewy in consistency and reminds me a lot of brown rice. The funny thing is I am not a huge fan of brown rice. One of the first ways that I tried it was by adding it to a chicken soup instead of rice, which was really good. For my lunch this week I decided to try a recipe that I found online at savvy vegetarian Although, I am not a vegetarian I prefer to eat a lot of veggies instead of meat. This recipe is full of vegetables and with the added quinoa it becomes very filling and nutritious as well.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 cup quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups cold water
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 cups cooked black beans. If using canned beans, drain and rinse well
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* Optional: 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced thin diagonally
* Optional: 1 cup chopped fresh yellow or green beans
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced OR 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
* 2 garlic cloves, minced, OR 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 red pepper, sliced thin
* 1 green pepper, sliced thin
* 1 tsp cumin powder
* 1 tsp coriander powder
* 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or basil
* 1/4 cup chopped scallions
* Optional: 1 large ripe tomato
* Optional: 1/2 cup sliced olives
* Dressing:
* 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 tsp salt
* Fresh ground pepper
* Pinch cayenne or chili powder

Directions

1. The quinoa can be made ahead of time and refrigerated
2. Soak the quinoa 1/2 hour in cold water
3. Rinse very thoroughly in water several times. For each rinse, pour off most of the water and finish draining through a large fine mesh strainer
4. Place in 2 qt pot with 1 1/2 c. water and 1/2 tsp salt
5. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, cover tightly, and cook for 15 minutes
6. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes covered
7. Fluff gently with a fork and set aside to cool.
8. Saute jalapeno, fresh garlic, in 2 Tbsp oil until garlic is browned, pepper and celery are softened
9. Add the green and red peppers and saute briefly
10. Add the cumin and coriander, cook and stir 5 minutes
11. Blend dressing ingredients with a whisk or shake in a jar
12. Gently combine sauteed veggies, tomatoes, black beans, quinoa and dressing in a large bowl
13. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cilantro and scallions, and serve warm or cover and chill for later


This is so good! I cannot wait to enjoy this meal for lunch this week.


Here is a picture. It is already packed up and ready to take to work, so excuse the throw-away tupperware!

Pamela's gluten-free brownies

Yeah yeah I know long time no post. Sorry, if anyone out there is reading this, I got sick for a few days and it has been hard to get back in the swing of things. For that I will post 2 new posts tonight.

I have already raved about Pamela's chocolate chip cookie mix in a previous post. The brownie mix is really good too. I made these brownies to take to a baby shower. I was asked to bring a desert and decided gluten-free brownies are something that everyone will like. They were a hit. Pamela's mixes are so easy, even if you are not a baker. You mix a few ingredients together and put them in the oven. It's that simple.

Now for the pictures..

Udi's gluten-free foods

My husband and I went on a little road trip last weekend to Austin. My mom and my brother are also diagnosed celiac's so it's nice to get together with them and have lots of gluten-free treats. My mom picked up some muffins, blueberry and lemon, from Central Market. The brand was Udi's These are hands down the absolute best muffins I have ever had. Sorry, I didn't take a picture, but I can assure you that I will be repurchasing more of these so I will have a picture in the future. We ate them much too fast this time! The texture of these was very surprising. They are the most moist bread that I have ever eaten gluten free. Very springy texture. We carried a couple of these back to Dallas with us and after sitting in our refrigerator for a week (we were kind of muffined out) I had one this morning for breakfast and they tasted exactly the same! I could not believe it. Normally it would have dried out. I have done a little bit of exploring online with this company, and I do believe you can order online, but you may have to call them to place the order. I did not see an online order form. Trust me on this, please order from them or find a local store that carries their products. If you don't have a Central Market or Whole Foods in your area ask your local grocer to carry them. Lots of stores will do this! Gluten free is so popular now that many people that don't even need to eat this diet do because it is so healthy. Please, please, PLEASE trust me on this one and get your hands on these products. If you live in Denver or are visiting stop by and try them in person. You won't be sorry!

pasta, pasta, pasta!

I will admit, I am not very adventurous when it comes to trying different gluten-free pastas. I have heard horror stories about a few brands. The one I liked the most and would eat pretty often after I was diagnosed was the tinkyada brand. You can view the website here This brand tastes pretty much exactly like regular wheat pasta. You have to be careful not to overcook gluten-free pasta or it becomes mushy and gross. I have never had that problem when using this brand. The only grocery stores that I have found it at are the more upscale, specialty-type stores like Whole Foods or Market Street.

One of my new favorite brands that I find myself buying a lot now is Mrs. Leepers. There are so many different types of pastas with this brand. The only thing so far that I have tried is the spiral rainbow colored pasta. So good. This brand also offers many quick-fix type pasta dinners, similar to hamburger helper. I personally have never had them, but they look good.


Another favorite of mine is the gluten-free mac & cheese. I eat this stuff all the time. My absolute favorite brand is the Annie's brand. It is a little more expensive, but when it is on sale I stock up. The other brand I buy (which you will see in the picture) is the Debole's brand. This one is more like a white cheddar style mac & cheese. This one is good too, just not my favorite.

I have a new pasta that I have not had the chance to try yet, but when I do I will post a review of it here. The brand is bionaturae I have heard from a few people that this one is the best.




and a picture of my mac & cheese

Gluten-free pancakes

All I can say is wow! These are so good. I have gotten myself used to not eating many bread products in the mornings now. Face it, if you are a celiac or eat gluten free just because, breakfast is not an easy meal. On the weekends I take more time preparing breakfast than I do during the week. I am a huge fan of Pamela's products. Everything I have tried is very good. (see my previous post about the cookies/cookie bar.) Pancakes have endless options too, try them with blueberries or cinnamon apples. YUM!

Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie is a great comfort food. Potatoes, ground beef, and veggies make this a satisfying meal. It is easily made gluten free which is even better! It is up to you on what veggies you put in it. I chose to use carrots, onion, corn, and green peas. I use the leanest ground beef I can find. (97/3)

Now for the recipe-

1 1/2 pounds of extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of your choice of veggies (carrots, celery, corn, peas, etc.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2-2 cups potatoes
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken gravy


Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking coat large frying pan with olive oil.

Saute onions in olive oil. Add vegetables according to cooking time. Carrots first, then softer vegetables after carrots are mostly cooked.

Add ground beef and brown until no longer pink. Add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. (I add quite a bit more Worcestershire sauce than this recipe calls for because we really like it. I use more like 2 tablespoons.) Add 1/2 cup of beef broth and cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Gradually begin adding cornstarch (dissolved in water) to thicken the sauce into a gravy. I didn't thicken mine quite as much as I would have liked, but it still tasted fine.

Mash your potatoes. (I use a stand mixer for mine, but you can easily do this with a potato masher that you can find in a grocery store if you do not have a stand mixer.) I throw in 2 teaspoons of unsalted butter and salt and pepper in mine as well.

Place beef and veggies in a baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes evenly over the top.

Cook in a 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown. (about 25-30 minutes) Broil for the last 5 minutes to brown the potatoes.