Tomato Coconut Soup

Simple, quick, and dairy free. Just a note - when I say a 19 oz can or a 14 oz can of something in my recipes, that's not an exact requirement, that's just the size that these things typically come in. The amounts can vary. This isn't like baking where you need to be fairly precise. And you can leave the onion out if you don't like it or can't eat it.

Ingredients:
2 19 oz cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil or butter (but don't use butter if you're making it for someone who doesn't eat dairy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh or dried basil (optional)

Directions:
In a large sauce pan over medium-low, sautee the onion in the olive oil or butter until it is nice and translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the canned tomatoes and coconut milk and heat through (you don't have to boil it), stirring frequently. Serve sprinkled with dried basil or with with a few fresh basil leaves on top.

Macaroni and Cheese

I actually don't make this very often because I've always thought macaroni and cheese was kind of boring, but I know some people really miss it after they have to stop eating gluten, so I thought I would post my recipe. When I do make it, it's usually because I'm going out of town and I have milk and cheese to use up, so I mix it up and freeze it in small portions (and I usually also add any random vegetables that are hanging out in the fridge - the last batch had kale, red bell peppers, celery, mushrooms, and onions in it).

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon (plus extra in case it doesn't thicken right away) sweet rice flour (also called sticky rice flour or glutinous rice flour - don't be alarmed by the word "glutinous", it just means sticky. It's made from the same rice they make sushi out of and it's really good for thickening)

2 cups milk

2-4 cups grated cheese (I use cheddar usually, but use whatever you like or a mixture)

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional, leave it out if you hate blue cheese, but it tastes really good if you're a fan)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 16 oz package gluten free macaroni

Feel free to add random vegetables if you want to be a freak like me. If you're feeling really adventurous, bake up a spaghetti squash and use that instead of pasta.

Directions:

While you're making the sauce, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

To make the sauce: In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the sweet rice flour. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Heat the mixture almost to boiling, stirring almost constantly. Make sure you don't burn it. It should start to bubble and thicken. If it looks like it's not going to thicken, whisk in a tablespoon or so of more sweet rice flour. When it starts to get thick, add the cheese and stir until the cheese has melted uniformly into the sauce. Mix the sauce with the pasta and serve. You can also put it in a casserole dish and top with more cheese and broil it if you want to be fancy like that.

Squash Soup

A good way to use up those random squashes that have been sitting on your counter since September.

Ingredients:
1 large squash, roasted and scooped out of its skin
3-4 cups broth (I've been using turkey broth that's been in the freezer from Thanksgiving, but you can use whatever you like. Just remember to use veggie broth for vegetarians and make sure that packaged broth is gluten-free - many aren't!)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced (also optional, but I'm really in love with fennel right now)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 oz cream cheese (leave out if you're making it dairy-free - I know that's really obvious, but I feel like I have to say that so that people don't feel the need to inform me that cream cheese has dairy in it)

Directions:
Combine the cooked squash and broth in a large sauce pan. Before you heat it up (because cold stuff splattering everywhere is better than hot stuff splattering everywhere), blend with an immersion blender or mash with a potato masher to get the lumps out of the squash. Add the fennel, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat until the fennel is cooked (30 minutes to an hour, but you can keep simmering it as long as you want). About 10 minutes before serving, add the cream cheese if using and stir until it has melted into the soup.

Turkey Curry

This is what you can do with some of your leftover turkey. You can change up the vegetables to use whatever you have around. Happy Boxing Day!

Ingredients:
Leftover turkey, chopped
Chopped onions
Chopped celery
Chopped carrots
Frozen peas
Olive oil
Coconut milk
Curry powder
Shredded coconut

Directions:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the vegetables and curry powder to taste, and cook until the vegetables are soft. Add the turkey and coconut milk, and simmer until the coconut milk reduces down a bit (it won't thicken very much, so don't add too much if you don't like a very liquidy curry). Serve over steamed rice topped with shredded coconut.

Baked Quinoa (or Rice) and Lentils

This recipe was loosely inspired by that casserole that people used to make that had rice, chicken, cheese, and cream of mushroom soup in it. It's a vegetarian (vegan, actually, if you don't use cheese), gluten-free, vegetable-full, healthy, and cheap alternative that's pretty easy to make. Merry Christmas!

Ingredients:
Leftover cooked rice or quinoa, about 2-3 cups
1/3 cup uncooked red lentils (don't worry, they'll cook in the tomato juice)
Chopped or shredded vegetables - I like to use chopped onions (about 1 whole onion), 4-5 stalks of chopped celery, and 2-3 shredded carrots, but you can vary the vegetables according to what you have in your fridge
1 19 oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes, NOT drained
Grated cheese - optional

Directions:
Shredded vegetables can be put in raw, but if you're using chopped onions or any kind of root vegetable, I recommend steaming/boiling/sauteeing them first until soft. Once the vegetables are ready, mix all the ingredients and spread into a casserole dish that looks big enough to hold everything. If you're using cheese, you can either mix some in or sprinkle some on top (or both). Bake at 350 F, uncovered, for 40-60 minutes, until the water has been absorbed and the lentils are soft.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Hey kids! I'm back with some more recipes. I'm trying an experiment - since I actually have some time to write blog posts right now, I'm going to schedule them to post on different days so I don't have a million posts all on one day and then none for months. We'll see how this works.

First up, spinach and artichoke dip. This is very easy and doesn't have a ton of ingredients. It also has a fairly high vegetable to cream cheese ratio. I hate how sometimes you get spinach and artichoke dip and it's basically a pile of mayonnaise with a few token pieces of spinach in it. If I wanted to eat a pile of mayonnaise, I would eat a pile of mayonnaise. In fact, my recipe doesn't even have mayonnaise in it.

You can serve this hot as a dip for vegetables or gluten-free crackers or tortilla chips, or cold as more of a spread. It's really good with celery.

Ingredients:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
Approximately a pound of fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (or a 1 pound package of thawed and drained frozen spinach)
1 small jar of artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup diced onions (optional - I know some people hate onions)
A bit of olive oil or butter (or cooking spray)
A few tablespoons of milk
Optional - shredded cheese, whatever kind you like (old cheddar or parmesan is good)

Directions:
Heat the oil or butter in a large (you'll want a lot of stirring room) frying pan to about the medium setting on your stove (or just spray the pan with cooking spray). Add the onions and spinach (along with salt and pepper to taste), and cooking, stirring frequently, until the spinach is starting to wilt and the onions are getting a bit translucent. Add the cream cheese and chopped artichoke hearts. You can cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces ahead of time to help it melt, but even if you throw the block in whole, it will melt eventually. Stir the mixture until everything has melted evenly into the cream cheese, adding a bit of milk if necessary to thin it out. At this point you can scoop it into your serving dish as is. You can also melt in some extra shredded to cheese to play with the flavor a bit, or you can scoop it into an oven-safe dish, top with shredded cheese, and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. If you want to be extra-festive, top it with some smoked paprika.