Monthly Archives: December 2016

Not for FB

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My love calls FB brag book and he is right. Cute kids, clean houses, perfectly presented food and filtered selfies cover my Facebook feed. Here is a little story not going on FB. I don’t post much anyway.

Today was going to be a great day. I woke up early and did my workout. I made pancakes for the kids. I was planning on taking my daughter downtown for a doctor’s appointment then to a donut shop for GF donuts for her and vegan donuts for me.

Reality: Oldest daughter hated the pancakes. We were running late for the appointment and it took me three tries to get our Suburban into a downtown parking spot. We get to the doctor to find that this appointment was cancelled three months ago and scheduled for next month. I was getting a little flustered by this time. I drove right past the donut shop, in the wrong lane. I decided I didn’t want to go around the block and try to park again anyway. We did have success at the post office, at least as far as I know. It only took a few tries to get everything in boxes, addressed and paid for. On the way home I got stuck in an intersection. I was turning left and couldn’t see that the cars weren’t moving where I needed to go. I got honked at. Like I didn’t know that I was in the way? I hate getting honked at. When we got home my sweetie asked how things went. When I told him about the appointment mix up, he rolled his eyes and went back to his office. I was really glad that he didn’t want to talk. Or lecture me about my calendar or “help” in any way.

I went to our closet and cried. Nothing was really wrong. No one was hurt. I was hungry. Being hungry can make a big difference in how you feel. After I left the closet I sat down by myself and read for a little bit. I was feeling better. My husband came in and sat down next to me. Asked if I was alright, and I gave a curt reply. He asked if I was mad. No.  “Are you sad?”

“Yes.”

“Well, let’s start drinking. We don’t have anything to do or anywhere to be.” He looked sideways at me and grinned. “Aren’t we supposed to spend our anniversary hung-over, puking our guts out?”

I couldn’t help smiling. “That was actually New Year’s Eve.”

Neither of us drink often, but we both get horribly sick when we do drink.  Eleven years ago, the day after our wedding we went to a party. A fighter pilot party. The Jeremiah Weed was passed around. I vaguely remember drawing on someone’s face with a Sharpie. As we were walking to our friend’s house where we were crashing that night we slipped on the ice and didn’t feel a thing. We just laid in the snow and laughed. That was the fun part. Then there was the puking part. My brand-new husband had a hangover that lasted three days.

Eleven years later it is easy to laugh about. I am so blessed to have someone in my life that can lift my spirits with a shared memory from over a decade ago.

Happy Anniversary! Let’s see what we can laugh about eleven years from now.

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How-ya-like-it Halibut Chowder

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How-ya-like-it Halibut Chowder

  • 1/2 pound bacon
  • 2 cups cubed ham (optional)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 ribs celery, diced
  • 6 potatoes, pealed and cubed
  • 1 carrot, shredded (optional)
  • 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk beverage
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2-1 cup white wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp dill weed
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne (to taste)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons potato flour
  • 2 pounds of halibut or other fish
  • 2 cups broccoli, steamed
  • parsley

Preheat oven to 400°. Lay bacon flat on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until it is done to your preference. Set bacon aside, use 1-2 tablespoons of drippings to saute onion and celery in a large pot. When the onion is translucent stir in the chicken broth, milk and wine. Add potatoes, carrots and spices. Bring to a simmer, cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. While soup is cooking put halibut skin side down in a baking dish. season with salt and pepper. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until fish flakes. Back to the soup- stir in potato flour, don’t be too worried about lumps, just keep stirring. Make sure to taste the soup and see if it needs more salt or spices. Serve soup with broccoli and halibut arranged on top. Sprinkle with parsley.

 

One of my children loves fish and broccoli, the other child acts as if I’m trying to kill her when I even mention fish. Serving chowder this way means that my husband can have as much fish as he wants and the children can have theirs on the side if they want. I also like that I don’t have to skin the fish first. Baking is the easiest way to make fish. AND I only cook bacon in the oven. I got so tired of fat popping on me that I decided to never make bacon on the stove again. I made this soup in the crock pot. So, I didn’t saute the veggies, I  just dumped everything in the pot and turned it on. About an hour before dinner, I turned on the oven and cooked the bacon. Then I baked the fish. While the fish was cooking I prepped the broccoli and set it to steam. I added the potato flour last. It sounds like a lot of work when I write it all out, but it was really easy.

I love the way the wine and spices compliment the fish in this recipe. If I could order chowder in a restaurant, this is the way I would want it to taste. So yummy served with sourdough bread.

Holiday Baking! And…GO!

Posted in Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized by

GF DF Chocolate Cream Pie

Crust:
Adapted from Minimalist Baker

3/4 cup gluten free rolled oats
3/4 cup  raw almonds
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar, plus more to taste
3-4 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4-6 tablespoons cocoa powder* (depending on taste)
3 cups unsweetened dairy-free milk**
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons vegan butter, dairy-free margarine

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 350°. Blend all ingredients in blender, except coconut oil, to a fine crumb. Gradually add coconut oil while blending. I used all 4 tablespoons and my crust was a little too wet. Add oil until the crumbs can hold together. Pat crust into pie plate, cover the bottom of plate and go up the sides as much as you can. Bake for 15 minutes then raise oven temperature to 375° and bake for 5-10 minutes longer, until lightly browned. Let crust cool on wire rack while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:

In a large sauce pan whisk all the dry ingredients together. Mix egg yolks and milk together and gradually add to the pan while whisking. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add in vanilla and vegan butter. Pour into pie crust, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Serve topped with coconut whip.

*I used 4 tablespoon of cocoa this year to make the pie a little more kid friendly. 6 tablespoons of cocoa makes a rich, dark pie, a little more suitable for grownups.

**As with any custard/pudding the fat content of the milk that you use matters. I had half a can of coconut milk left over in the fridge that I used. I made up the rest of the three cups with a coconut almond blend. Just be sure to use unsweetened milk or the pie will be too sweet.

For some reason my husband doesn’t think that chocolate pie is Christmas-y. Chocolate was a regular at our house for holiday dinners. Then again we rarely had apple pie for holidays. My mom made fabulous apple pie, but it was an every day dessert, not fancy enough for holiday feasts. We always had pumpkin and pecan pie and then a chocolate pie or pumpkin cake roll or my Aunt Bonnie’s French Cherry Pie. (I’m still working on making that one dairy free!) I saw a Thanksgiving post on FB that showed three pies for six people. My first thought was that is not near enough pie, but my friend was thinking that was too much pie. Only three pies for six people? All families are different. Our family is a bit food centric, sweet centric to be more specific and we like it that way.