Springtime Smoothies

When the weather starts to warm up, it seems I can no longer bring myself to make hot cereal every morning, but neither do I want to eat processed cold cereal that my body will burn through in about an hour, leaving me hungrier than before. So as the spring greens and veggies start to come into season, I start working out my blender and trying some delicious smoothie recipes.

Ruby Red smoothie with beets, carrots and celery

The first breakfast smoothie I ever made was sometime back in the late 1980s. I got the recipe from an issue of Vogue or Cosmo. One banana, a cup of vanilla yogurt and a cup of orange juice. That was a very basic recipe, and although it was pretty tasty (and easy) I wouldn't make it now. Too much sugar--especially with the sweetened vanilla yogurt.

Today, I try to use more whole fruits and organic vegetables as close to in-season as I can. I love to slip in some fresh greens (baby kale mix, baby spinach, etc) but sometimes their color turns the smoothie a shade I call "Incdredible Hulky." They still taste pretty good, though, thanks to the ever-present banana and orange juice that help to sweeten the mix.

As a standard base, I start with one banana and about 1/2 cup of orange juice. The banana provides some body as well as sugar and the juice helps liquefy the rest of the smoothie. You could also use half a banana and any other kind of juice, or even a different kind of liquid, like a different juice or some variation of milk (cow, goat, coconut, almond, soy).

I usually use plain Greek yogurt for protein, as long as I have it on hand. You could also add a scoop of protein powder if you wish. I would recommend not using sweetened or flavored yogurt, even if it's sugar-free. If you are accustomed to the standard American diet that is packed with hidden sugars, these smoothies may initially seem rather tart, but rather than using a pre-sweetened packaged yogurt, try a plain yogurt and a little bit of honey so that you control how much sweetness you add. You can also skip the yogurt altogether if you don't have it, but to me, smoothies without yogurt seem thin and watery.

I have included a few basic recipes, ranging from a fruity flavor to more seriously veggie. You can always play with the fruit and vegetable combinations, and add honey or agave nectar for sweetness if you need it.

Basic smoothie 
1/2 cup frozen fruit (unsweetened strawberries, mangoes, blueberries, or a combination)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 banana
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 easy-peel mandarin oranges (peeled)
Place the frozen fruit and orange juice in the blender first. Pulse 3 times, then add the remaining ingredients. Pulse again, and then turn the blender on to the smoothie setting. Check the consistency, make sure everything is well blended, and enjoy.

Carrot-top
Use the basic smoothie recipe above, but add with the frozen fruit
1 full-sized organic carrot, cut into 1/2-inch rounds

Place the frozen fruit, carrot and orange juice in the blender first. Pulse 3 times, then add the remaining ingredients. Pulse again, and then turn the blender on to the smoothie setting. Check the consistency, make sure everything is well blended, and enjoy.

Incredible Hulk
Use the basic smoothie recipe above, but add with the frozen fruit
1 full-sized organic carrot, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
2 handfuls of organic greens (baby Kale mix, baby spinach)

Place the frozen fruit, carrot and orange juice in the blender first. Pulse 3 times, then add the remaining ingredients. Pulse again, and then turn the blender on to the smoothie setting. Check the consistency, make sure everything is well blended, and enjoy.

Ruby red
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice
2 full-sized organic carrots, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
1 stalk organic celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 raw organic beet, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 banana
2 easy-peel mandarin oranges (peeled)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Place the frozen fruit, vegetables and orange juice in the blender first. Pulse 3 times, then add the remaining ingredients. Pulse again, and then turn the blender on to the smoothie setting. Check the consistency, make sure everything is well blended, and enjoy.

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

This was the dish that destroyed my gluten-free resolve when I was in Paris. I had been there for about five days when I tried it. I had been dutifully eating salads, skewers of meat and other dishes that had a 98 percent chance of being gluten-free, but the saucy deliciousness of beef bourguignon as I know it in the states is one of my favorites. Since I know enough about cooking to understand that most stews with a thick, gravy-like sauce are made with flour, I really should have stayed away. But I rationalized: at least this iteration was served with steamed potatoes instead of noodles. Maybe, just maybe, it would be okay.

It was delicious. It was one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. I ordered it at the sidewalk café of a restaurant whose name I will never remember, somewhere on a back street a few blocks from the right bank of the Seine, near St. Michel and the Latin Quarter.

Our server brought me my own little copper pot, with its own lid, filled with this insanely delicious stew. The beef came in larger chunks than you would expect to find in a stew, but they were so tender, you could cut them with the side of a spoon.  Two whole, steamed potatoes swam in the broth along with the meat and some sliced carrots, but there were no other discernable vegetables. Even if you could not see the other veggies, you could taste them. They were in there, but the chef had gone to the effort of straining the sauce or possibly pureeing it before replacing the beef and potato in it.

I can’t describe the level of food ecstasy we experienced with this dish. It was everything we strive to avoid in our daily healthy living efforts: fatty, salty, and red-meaty. Not only that, I knew that velvety texture was achieved through wheat gluten. And I ate it anyway. I confess that the luscious sauce was so addictive that I did the unthinkable—the thing I actually have nightmares about—I ate a half a slice of authentic, wheat-laden, wonderful bread in an effort to ingest every particle of sauce that remained in the copper pot.

Did I pay for my transgressions? Of course I did. I will spare you the details.

But fortunately, now that I am home, I have returned to my test kitchen and have been able to produce a delicious facsimile of that utopian meal, with no harmful after-effects.

This dish takes time. Of course it is possible to find short-cut beef bourguignon recipes. But if you’re going to do that, you might as well just buy a Lean Cuisine out of the freezer section. In this case (as in many others) it’s worth it to go big or go home. We can’t reproduce every flavor of this dish in the US, because we don’t have the same French cows raised on the same diet, or even the same tap water, but my home-made rendition was pretty delicious, anyway.

For full flavor, start this dish a day ahead of time. Marinate the meat the full 24 hours in the fridge before cooking. Choose a good-quality, luscious red wine like a pinot noir or Beaujolais. Follow each of the steps, browning the meat separately, straining the vegetables, and sautéing them separately.

Although this is slow food, most of the time is hands-off, so you can be reading, sleeping, working out, learning to dance, or watching Game of Thrones.

Gluten-free Slow-Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

2-3 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into 2-inch cubes

Place the meat in a 13x9 in. Pyrex/glass cake pan deep enough to contain the meat & marinade. Add:

2 cups dry red wine. (I used a California Pinot Noir)

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped (I used a Vidalia)

1 carrot, chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed or chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp salt

Stir the meat to combine the meat & marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 24, turning the meat and stirring once or twice during the process.

Gluten-free beef bourguignon marinade

About 6 hours before you plan to eat, remove the beef from the marinade (SAVE THE MARINADE AND ALL THE VEGGIES) and place the beef cubes on a stack of paper towels. Turn the meat to pat dry. This will help the meat brown better.

Set a strainer over a bowl, and pour the marinade through the strainer, reserving the vegetables and liquid separately.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook

4 ounces bacon, cut into 1-inch slices

Remove and reserve the bacon. Leave the fat in the pan. Over medium heat, brown the beef on all sides, working in batches and being careful not to overcrowd the pan. When the beef is browned, place it in your slow cooker. Once all the beef is browned, sautee the reserved vegetables from the marinade until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables to the slow cooker.

To your reserved liquid marinade, add

½ cup good-quality beef broth

2 tbsp gluten-free corn starch

Whisk quickly to combine. Pour the liquid into the medium-heat pan, and stir until the sauce begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any burned bits. Pour the liquid into the slow cooker. Add:

2 cups small boiling (pearl) onions, if you can find them. I could not, so I used a chopped Vidalia onion.

Cover and set the slow cooker on low if your choices are low/high. Medium if you have that option. Allow to cook for about 5-6 hours, until the meat is fork tender. Add:

2 cups sliced button mushrooms

Cover and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, while you prepare mashed potatoes to catch all the delicious sauce. When ready to serve, add ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley and salt and black pepper to taste.

5 Swingin' Ways to Eat Spinach, in honor of Julia Lee

In 1949, Julia Lee did a song with her band, the Boyfriends, called "The Spinach Song," or "I didn't like it the first time." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax4tVzuN52U)

Not only is this song fun to dance to, but it is a cunning extended metaphor for either marijuana or sex, depending on how you interpret the lyrics:

Spinach has vitamin A, B and D, but spinach never appealed to me

But one day while having dinner with a guy, I decided to give it a try

I didn’t like it the first time, it was so new to me

I didn’t like it the first time, I was so young, you see


I used to run away from the stuff, but now somehow I can’t get enough


I didn’t like it the first time, oh, how it grew on me!

I didn’t like it the first time, I had it on a date 


Although the first was the worst time, right now I think it’s great


Somehow, it’s always hittin’ the spot, especially when they bring it in hot


I didn’t like it the first time, but oh, how it grew on me 

I didn't like it the first time, I thought it was so strange

I wasn't getting much younger, so I just made the change

No longer is the stuff on the shelf, ‘cause now I make a pig of myself

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me 

I didn't like it the first time, when I was just sixteen

I didn't like it the first time, guess I was mighty green

But I stocked up, cause I've gotten wise, I've got enough for two dozen guys

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me!

In honor of the clever Miss Lee, I have put together a few of my favorite ways to eat actual, garden-variety spinach. I hope you will enjoy them while dancing to this song in your kitchen.

• Spinach salad: Best with baby spinach leaves slightly chopped up. I like mine with some kind of fruit, like dried cranberries and/or sectioned oranges and pecans.
• Wilted, with bacon: Don’t tell my fitness friends about this one, but when I am feeling rather naughty, I chop up a few slices of real, authentic pig bacon, cook it until crispy, then dump an entire bag of spinach into the skillet right on top of all that bacon fat. I wilt the leaves, tossing them carelessly around in the pan for about a minute, then add a half-teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and a sprinkling of black pepper.
• Wilted, healthier-style: This is the recipe I do tell my fitness friends about. In a nonstick skillet, I heat up about a tablespoon of low-sodium, gluten-free tamari mixed with about ¼ cup of water. Then, over medium heat, I stir-boil one clove of crushed garlic, and then add a bag of spinach and a dusting of red pepper flakes, stirring until wilted, about one minute.
• Spinach omelet: First, I chop up about a half an onion and sautee that in a nonstick skillet until it is translucent. Then I add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a handful of chopped fresh spinach, stir long enough to wilt, and then pour in two scrambled eggs (or egg whites if you are being very virtuous). After a minute or two, I stir the eggs to break up the curds and add about a tablespoon of crumbled feta cheese, then allow the omelet to finish cooking.
• Spinach in tacos. I wouldn’t really want an all-spinach taco/burrito, but we do use spinach instead of lettuce sometimes. It adds that extra boost of dark green leafies.

You can sautee a little spinach right along with your eggs for breakfast.

Luscious GF Quiche

Spinach, red pepper, onion and feta quiche

This is a luscious, crumbly-crust, whole-egg, cheesy and satisfying quiche that works great with a wide variety of fillings, is very forgiving of mistreatment, and can be cooked ahead of time. It's a nice dish to take for a lunch, brunch, breakfast or tea. It holds up relatively well, but the exposed parts of the crust will shatter easily, so pack it protectively in a pie box if you are taking it somewhere.

I strongly recommend using the food processor for this crust, but you can also use a pastry blender to cut in the fat.

For the crust
You can use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pie crust mix OR, you can make your own pie crust with the following recipe (makes two pie crusts. If you are only making one quiche, halve the recipe).

2 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
15 tablespoons cold butter (that's two sticks minus one tablespoon). Cut each stick of butter into about 16 cubes

6 tablespoons ice water

In the bowl of a food processor with the cutting blade at the bottom, combine the rice flour, salt and butter cubes. Pulse about 10-15 times until the mixture takes on the texture of small pebbles or coarse sand.

Pour 6 tablespoons of ice water into the food processor bowl, one tablespoon at a time.

Pulse the mixture until it comes together in a ball.

Turn out the ball of dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper. Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for half an hour.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Shape each into a disk about five inches in diameter. Working with one disk at a time, place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll it out until it's about 10 inches in diameter, or large enough to cover your pie plate.

Peel off one sheet of plastic wrap, and place the dough exposed-side down in a pie plate. Remove the other sheet of plastic wrap and fit the crust into the pan. Flute the edges with your fingers. Prick the bottom of the crust about 15 times with a fork, and precook the crust in a 425F oven for about 15 minutes. (Note: I would ordinarily line the pie shells with tin foil and fill with pie weights or beans when I pre bake, but the foil tends to stick to a GF crust. If you do line the crust with foil, be sure to grease it first)

For the quiche
You can fill a quiche with just about anything, but below are a few suggestions. If you are using fresh vegetables, be sure to cook them first or they will shed their water into the egg mixture, preventing it from setting properly.

Lay the filling in the bottom of the crust, then pour the egg mixture on top.

• Spinach, red pepper, onion and feta cheese: Sautee one small diced onion and a small diced red pepper until the onions turn translucent. Add about 1 cup fresh chopped spinach and cook until the spinach wilts. Pour the vegetables into the bottom of the crust. Add about 1/8-1/4 cup feta cheese.



Ham & Cheese Quiche

• Ham and cheddar: dice about 1/3 cup ham and place in the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle on about 1/8-1/4 cup cheddar.

For the egg filling:

In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 2 cups of milk (or half and half, or cream) and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the filling in the pie crust.

Bake

Pop the quiche into a 350F oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic (No knife required)

This evening, I injured myself while attempting to cut up a small chicken. I was working on a how-to video, and then my husband came in, not realizing that I had the camera on. I was giving him the “quiet, please,” face, instead of watching what I was doing. The knife slipped…and there you go. And now I have the whole thing on video. Fabulous.

Roasted Brussels sprouts

Inspired by my mishap, I decided to share an extremely easy and knife-free recipe that uses only 5 ingredients (plus one optional), and is quite healthy.

Two out of three of my kids even like these. That’s about as good as we ever do in our house, since the youngest is the pickiest person I've ever known.

These sprouts are very forgiving. I have put them in the oven right before going out for a run, and returned later than I expected to find them darker than I anticipated, but just as delicious. They pair well with anything robust or tomatoey. However, in our house, we normally eat them right off the roasting pan as soon as they are cool enough to touch. 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

1 lb. Brussels sprouts

(I like the pre-washed bag, but the long stalks with the sprouts still attached also look very cool).

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Dried flaked red pepper

Optional: 4-5 whole cloves of garlic with the papery peel still on

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400F

Set out a broiler pan, roasting pan, or other large, shallow pan.

Place the sprouts in a mixing bowl. Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil over the sprouts. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (probably about ¼ tsp each, depending on your tastes). Add the dried red pepper flakes to taste. I like my sprouts spicy, so I use about ¼ tsp.

If desired, add the whole, unpeeled garlic cloves. Swirl the bowl around so that the sprouts roll about in the oil and seasonings. Pour the sprouts onto the baking sheet. Roast them in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, until the outer leaves turn very dark and are nearly black. They might look close to burned, but the olive oil should keep them from drying out.

When the sprouts are done, remove them from the oven. Pull out the garlic cloves, and squeeze the gooey roasted garlic out of the papery skin and onto a small cutting board. Roughly chop/mash the garlic goo, then return it to the pan with the sprouts, stirring the two together before placing them in a nice serving dish and taking them to the table. (Or eating all the sprouts right off the pan like vegetable addicts)

Note:

This is not a good dish to make the first time you have a new guy/girl over for dinner. The sprouts will make your house smell like farts for the first 20 minutes they are roasting. I know that’s not very ladylike, but I thought you should know. 

Homemade gluten-free apple pie with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust

I recently received a “hot off the press” package of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust. I have been waiting for inspiration to arrive ever since. Today, I made a homemade apple pie and the reviews from the family were: “Ultra-delicious” and “I was A-ok with the pie-crust.” I am the only GF person in the house, and I do like it when even the wheat-eaters enjoy what I’m making.

Bob was generous with this crust: it filled out the pan nicely. The finished product wasn’t really flaky like traditional wheat crusts; it was more crumbly, like shortbread. But it did shatter at the touch of the fork, it wasn’t dry, heavy, doughy or soggy, and it tasted delicious. I think it would make a great base for any pie. I expect to try it as a quiche crust next.

Comments & Notes:

• The recipe on the bag calls for 20 tbsp of fat (a mix of butter and shortening)--not exactly health food. You wouldn’t want to eat like this every day, but it’s okay for a special occasion, and when you have a lot of people to share it with.
• After adding the ice water to the mix, the dough will need to be mixed with your hand (not a wooden spoon) to get it to come together.
• Do roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. As a rice-flour-based mix, this dough is very crumbly and it would never survive rolling and direct contact with both the pin and work surface. The plastic makes it neat and easy to work and place in the pan. 

Recipe

Rolling the dough

Pie Crust

1 bag Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pie Crust Mix

12 tbsp butter

8 tbsp shortening or coconut oil

Prepare the crust per package directions. Separate dough into two disks, wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.

Roll each half of the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap until it’s about 10 inches in diameter.

Peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap and gently invert the bottom crust into a 9-inch pie pan, then gently remove the second sheet of plastic wrap.

Roll out the second half of the crust to about 9.5-10 inches in diameter. Remove the top sheet of plastic and cut four steam vents in the crust (each about 1.5 inches long and near the center).

Prepared bottom crust

Preheat the oven to 425F and prepare the filling.

Filling

6 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

½ cup sugar

2 tbsp gluten-free cornstarch

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tbsp butter, cut into 4 cubes

Sugar for sprinkling

Place the sliced apples in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Mix well. Pour the fruit into the prepared bottom crust in the pie pan, compressing the fruit slightly with a wooden spoon, and mounding the apples higher in the center.

Drop the 4 cubes of butter on top of the apples.

Handling gently by the one remaining sheet of plastic, place the second crust on top of the pie and remove the plastic wrap. Cut off any excess, overhanging crust and crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Dust the top crust of the pie with sugar.

Ready for the oven

Bake the pie in a 425F oven for 30 minutes, and then lower the heat to 350F and bake for another 30 minutes. The pie is done when the crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling up.

Serve warm, maybe even with ice cream if you're feeling really naughty.

Decimated.