Marinated Portobellos and SunGold Tomatoes over GF noodles

Farmers market season is in full swing, and our new place has a huge market just north of us.  This past weekend, we picked up 4 portobello caps for $2 (!!) and some fresh sungold tomatoes.  So I marinated and cooked them up on our new grill!

Marinade

1/4 cup olive oil
Few shakes of soy sauce (tamari or GF)
Few shakes of red wine vinegar
Anise seeds
Small amount of smoke flavor (I used Trader Joe's South African Smoke Spice Grinder)
Pinch of Thyme
Pinch of ginger
2 Garlic cloves, smashed or chopped finely

I poured the marinade over the portobellos and left them in the fridge for a few hours.  About 30 minutes before cooking, I sliced the tops off the sungolds and tossed them in there too.  Then I threw the mushrooms on the grill:

While all of this was going on, I cooked my favorite Gluten Free pasta--Tinkyada.  It's cheap and tastes good.  It takes about 18 minutes to cook, so I put it on about 6 minutes before I threw the caps on the grill.

While the mushrooms were cooking, I put the tomatoes and a little bit of marinade in my tiny new Le Creuset dish:

I cooked the mushrooms for around 12 minutes, and 6 minutes in I put the tomatoes on the grill too.  My serving dish is grill friendly, and having them in there allowed them to get heated up but not fall apart.  I left the mushrooms gills up the whole time, so they would stay soaked in marinated.  

At the end, it was absolutely delicious!  The mushrooms were so tender they almost melted in your mouth.  The tomatoes were definitely my husband's favorite part--fresh tomatoes are so much better than store bought.

The Decision to Become a Gluten Free Vegetarian...

A lot has happened in the year and a half since my last post (graduation, moving, new job, husband...just ordinary stuff :).  I don't even remember eating that Bailey's Fondue, but it sounds like a great idea...

One of the biggest events was after I returned from a class trip in Saint Lucia.  While working on someone's computer one day, I looked down and saw hives crawling up my arm and then disappearing.  Thinking it was nothing, although slightly freaked out, I ignored it.  It continued to happen at random intervals all summer long.  Then it got to the point where I could barely touch my skin without it breaking into hives.  Google told me I had chronic uticaria and dermography--I could literally write on my skin.  It also told me that there was no cure, so I avoided doctors.  At first, it was just hives and I couldn't feel them.  Then, I started to itch constantly.  All day, every day.  Pure itch, with or without hives.  I wanted to tear my entire body off.

One thing I kept reading was that going gluten free may help.  I had already stopped eating avocados and nutritional yeast and at points alcohol and anything else I could think of, so I decided...why not?  I committed to a month of a gluten free diet to see if it would help.

I went to an allergist at this point, and she saw my symptoms and diagnosed me with chronic uticaria and dermography.  I kindly mentioned to her that Google did the same thing, and asked her to actually test me for allergies.  She told me that food wouldn't give me these symptoms, but rolled her eyes and tested me for food allergies anyway.  All of them came back negative, and she gave me an "I told you so" look and told me to take Allegra every day for the rest of my life.  She definitely reminded me why I didn't go to the doctor to begin with.

This is a good time to back pedal to my early teens...I remember being 14 and sitting in a chair feeling the most awful pain in my abdomen and ignoring it, because I was a teenager and I didn't want to talk to my parents.  These cramps would come a couple times a month and be so overwhelming I just wanted to go to bed until it was gone.  At age 24, I was out with friends and my fiance, and I made him go home with me because I was in so much pain.  I rolled around on the floor until it went away, assuring him that it happened every so often and I would be fine.  (I wish I had typed this out earlier in life, because this sounds so ridiculous.  Why didn't I go to a doctor?!)  I also would put on my pants every morning and they would be loose around my waist.  By mid afternoon, they no longer fit.  Every. Single. Day.

Back to the present...within the first week, I was no longer bloated by mid-afternoon.  The first time it happened, I was so confused, but figured it was just a good day.  After about a week of no pain and no bloating, I mentioned to my fiance that I think my stomach issues may have been gluten...  It was so weird not being in pain--I had gotten so used to it!!  My hives also started to disappear, although my dermography did not.

Fast forward about a month and a half, I decided I should try to eat gluten to make sure it wasn't a coincidence.  I ate a thing of lasagna my friends mom made, because I didn't want to be rude.  I got a few hives on my hand, but thought it was probably a coincidence.  So when my student brought me a cupcake, again, I didn't want to be rude.  So I ate it.  When I went to dinner with my friend, I ate breaded mushrooms.  Everything went great!!  Until I woke up at 4am so itchy that I was almost in tears.  I drove home at 6am and took 2 Benedryl and a Claritan and slept all day.  That situation pretty much was all the proof I needed that gluten is not my friend.

It is now a year since I've been gluten free.  I'm hive and itch free, and my dermography is almost non existent.  I still have to pop a Claritan every couple of weeks when I eat out or eat in someone else's kitchen, but much better than every day!  My stomach is still completely pain free and non bloated.  I used to have a pile of pants at my front door because they hurt so bad, but now I forget to take them off some nights and just wear dress pants around all day.  Who would have thought that my super healthy, whole wheat diet was actually really hurting my body?!?!

So from here on out, I'm going to start blogging again & this will be a gluten free, vegetarian blog. 

Important disclaimer: Gluten is not my friend.  My body very clearly despises it.  However, going gluten free "to lose weight" or because it's "healthier" is not a good reason.  If you aren't gluten intolerant, then a GF diet will not be healthier for you or make you lose weight.  Eat more vegetables and go on more walks.

Bailey's chocolate fondue

So obviously the whole keeping a blog and going to graduate school thing didn't work out...  But I am determined to keep this going if for nothing but my own records of things to eat!  At the end of the semester I ended up cooking A TON, but all other people's recipes.  I've become obsessed with soups, especially in the slow cooker. 

Lately I've been reading Get it Ripe by Jae Steele (and about 5 other books).  She takes a fairly non judgemental (for a vegan nutritionist) stance on health, which I love.  I've been drinking lemon water twice a day, and I feel soooo energetic.  I think my liver may love me for the first time in my life.

So in my quest to be healthy, I ate tons of vegetables yesterday, and then topped it off with a Bailey's Irish Cream fondue.  With butter cookies from Trader Joe's, Pringles, and a banana and apple.  Hey, Jae says you have to change in small steps!!

Bailey's Chocolate Fondue

12 oz. bag of chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
1/4 cup of Bailey's
3/4 cup of milk
1 tsp* of vanilla

*my 1 tsp turned into "Omg the bottle has a huge opening and it all poured out!"  It was still delicious.

Pour the Bailey's and milk and vanilla into a fondue pot (I got an electric one for Christmas...I love it!).  When it starts to barely simmer, pour in the chocolate.  Stir in a figure 8 style until it is all nicely blended and melted (about 3 minutes).  Now eat that stuff up, we don't waste Bailey's around here!!!!

We had leftovers so I saved it for someone to pour on ice cream or eat with a spoon!



No picture this time, but I did get my fiance an actual camera (instead of my phone), so I may actually be able to have a semi-okay looking picture of food soon!

"It's Like a Party in My Mouth!"

Tonight's dinner was a party in our mouths, according to my fiance!  These Indian-inspired stuffed mushrooms were melt in your mouth, and easy to make! 

Stuffed Portobellas (feeds 2)

Ingredients

1/2 c. brown rice
1 1/4 c. vegetable stock (I used Not Beef Bouillon)
1 tbsp butter/olive oil
1 1/2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tomato, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tbsp cumin
dash of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded Colby/Monteray cheese

Procedure (I write too many research papers..)

Bring the broth to a boil.  I used boillon, so I brought water to a boil, and then added the cube.  When you have a pot full of boiling broth, add in the butter (or olive oil, or nothing depending on your commitment to being healthy!) and the rice.  Bring back to a boil and simmer until cooked.  My rice is from target and says it will be cooked in 35-40 minutes.  Target is a bunch of liars (I may also be cursed by the inability to cook rice).  55 minutes later, my rice was mostly cooked. 

While the rice is cooking, heat up the oil over medium heat in a frying pan.  Add the onions and cook until carmelized.  This takes about 10 minutes. 

During this time, de-stem the mushroom caps and chop those up.  Then add the peas, mushroom stems and tomato to the onion pot, after the initial 10 minutes of course.  Add in salt and pepper to taste (my broth had enough sodium to kill me, so I laid off the salt), garam masala, curry, red pepper flakes and cumin.  Cook until peas are un-frozen and tomatos are mushy, about 5-7 minutes.  Enjoy the aromas!

While the onion mixture is cooking, put the mushrooms gill side down on a baking sheet and brush olive oil on them.  After the rice is done, put them under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.  Meanwhile, add the rice to the onion mixture and mix in the cream cheese. Stir for about a minute. 

Take the mushrooms out (leaving the broiler on!), and stuff with the mixture.  If your mushrooms are older, you may need to scrape out the gills before the mixture will fit in!  Top with the colby/monteray jack cheese, and put under the broiler until the cheese melts.  Keep a careful eye on them, so they don't burn!

Enjoy!!

Butterbeer and Tomato-Ginger Bean Salad

Well, almost six months after this blog was created, I decided to be brave enough to post.  Unfortunately, I decided this would be a great idea after I ate the meal I want to post about!  I would also probably not suggesting drinking butterbeer while eating this meal.  I never said I was organized.

Butterbeer!

Butterbeer is the most delicious thing you will ever drink in your life.  It also vaguely makes you feel like you're in Hogwarts. 



Ingredients (serves 1)

1 cup Cream Soda
1 shot Butterscotch Schnapps

Directions

Pour about half of the soda into a glass, and then add the schnapps (you can add more than 1 shot and will not taste any alcohol--I love schnapps!).  Follow with the rest of the soda.  Enjoy!!

Tomato-Ginger Bean Salad (serves 1)



       This recipe is probably best suited for a lunch, but you could always serve it as a side!

Ingredients

1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp honey (you can use another sweetener here if you don't eat honey)
1 clove garlic smashed or finely chopped
1/4 inch ginger, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tomato chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (I used a roma because I had it)
1 can of beans (I used great white northern beans, would taste great with garbanzo beans)
Dash of soy sauce
Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
1 tsp ginger powder
Sea salt to taste (or garlic salt if available)

Preheat a small stir fry pan to medium-high.  Mix the soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, oils and tomatoes together.  Saute for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture boils.  Then cover and simmer for 7 minutes on low heat.

In the mean time, rinse off the beans and mix with a dash of soy sauce, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes(to taste), ginger powder and the salt. 

When the mixture is done, mash the tomatoes a bit (they will not fully mash), and mix in with beans.  If you have big chunks of garlic you may want to strain those out.  Enjoy!