Last night was 'clean out the refrigerator' night. I had some left over pureed butternut squash and pumpkin that I had used in different recipes last week and a piece of red onion. I chopped up the onion super-fine (if you have gastroparesis and don't tolerate onion, just leave it out) and tossed it into a pot with some minced garlic and olive oil. I sauteed that until the onion was translucent and then added my squash and pumpkin (there was more squash than pumpkin). I added vegetable broth until it was the consistency that I like and added some salt. I served it with a dollop of greek yogurt and a slice of sourdough bread! It was yummy!
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October 2012
10/27/2012
Soup: Squash & Pumpkin
Last night was 'clean out the refrigerator' night. I had some left over pureed butternut squash and pumpkin that I had used in different recipes last week and a piece of red onion. I chopped up the onion super-fine (if you have gastroparesis and don't tolerate onion, just leave it out) and tossed it into a pot with some minced garlic and olive oil. I sauteed that until the onion was translucent and then added my squash and pumpkin (there was more squash than pumpkin). I added vegetable broth until it was the consistency that I like and added some salt. I served it with a dollop of greek yogurt and a slice of sourdough bread! It was yummy!
10/22/2012
My weekend: Sourdough Pretzels and Apple filling
My boys came home from college for the weekend. I didn't have any pressing activities, so the weekend was free to do things that we enjoy doing. I've wanted to try this sourdough pretzel recipe. This is a very time consuming recipe, but the pretzels turned out very good! If I ever make them again, I won't bother 'shaping' them into pretzel shapes, as that was the most time consuming!
Then the boys both helped me make apple pie filling. I still have quite a few apples from our apple picking trip a couple of weeks ago and need to get them processed (although apples do last a long time refrigerated). I made a cinnamon simple syrup first:
2 1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups sucanat
10 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 cup tapioca or potato starch (I don't use cornstarch for anything!)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Tb lemon juice (I used the juice of one lemon)
Put everything except the lemon juice into a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly - stir in the lemon juice. I took my sliced and peeled apples and put them into quart jars and poured the syrup over the apples, leaving about an inch of room in the jar. Put the lids on and into the freezer! I had a lot of syrup left over, so I'll probably be making some apple pies and cobblers with the fresh apples still in the fridge. I guess my husband will just have to suffer! The next time I make this, I will use all sucanat and skip the white sugar altogether.
The weekend ended with me whipping up a quick loaf of gluten-free pumpkin bread for the boys to take back to school with them. I use this recipe for my gf pumpkin bread and you would never know it was gluten free!
10/17/2012
Homemade Applesauce
I don't know why I never knew how easy it was to make applesauce! I grew up with a mom who canned everything (and we had a huge garden, too!). I don't recall ever doing too much helping with all her canning - so I never learned how. However, one thing I learned about canning is that if you have a ceramic cooktop, canning is not recommended and often times unsuccessful. So.......... I made my applesauce, put it in jars and FROZE them! Problem solved!
So - just how easy is it to make your own applesauce? Just peel, core, and slice your apples. I purchased one of those cool apple/corer/peelers and it made the work go very quickly. Put them in a big pot with a bit of lemon juice and a tiny bit of water - just enough to keep the apples from burning. Add cinnamon. Cover the pot and stir every once in a while until they cook down into a mush. You can then just use a potato masher for chunky sauce or a blend it up for a smoother sauce. Isn't that easy?
10/02/2012
My first "perfect" loaf!
So, I made a loaf of sourdough this morning. This is the very first time I can honestly say it turned out PERFECT! What did I do differently? Well, I used a combination of all purpose flour and white wheat flour - roughly half and half (although I can't be totally sure because they are mixed together in my storage container). I also took my starter out of the fridge and fed it a few hours before I mixed the dough. I watched it very carefully on the second rise and as soon as it was 'puffy' looking, in the oven it went (the second rise was only about 2 hours). The texture is wonderful, and it is hardly sour tasting at all! I'm thrilled to have a loaf of bread this good and good for me!