How does your palate grow? Or how I learned to love lemon bars

I grew up in a fairly adventurous home when it came to food.  My parents loved to eat slices of avocado dipped in Kraft Russian dressing, snack on Halva, or toss okra into a stew.  Okay, this would seem adventurous to a kid in the 70s whose friends were dining on Hamburger Helper and Ragu.  My parents always encouraged my sister and I to try new things, if it be oysters, chanterelle mushrooms or jicama; however, you can lead a horse to water - but if the water isn't processed and has a snappy label on it....good luck.  I found avocados slimy, couldn't get past the sight and smell of oysters to even attempt a taste, and Halva just seemed bland and chalky. Why anyone would eat such things were beyond me; and I couldn't understand why, despite my constant needling and moaning, my mom wouldn't buy Hamburger Helper (or Shake 'n' Bake for that matter).  Looking back, I realized I had a deprived childhood.  Damn my parents for feeding me fresh food without a prepackage and/or expiry date!

My limited palate also caused me to be prejudice against foods without rhyme or reason.  For example, lemon bars.  Yes, those small tangy-yet-sweet little squares that have been served along side of tea for decades-I had never had one in my life until a few months ago.  Why?  Partially, I think, because they tend to look boring - I mean, if you have a choice between a bland conservative just-like-gramma-makes lemon bar or a robust sexy gooey brownie.....hmmmmmmm, tough choice, I know.  Also, I grew up with a lot of lemon meringue pie being served - homemade and store bought-and both equally loathed.  Any family dinner seemed to result in the offering of lemon meringue pie for dessert (unless it was Thanksgiving, which would then mean pumpkin pie-equally hated, or Christmas, which meant plum pudding, also disliked).  Lemon meringue pie = lemon bars to me. Thanks but I think I'll pass.

And then a few months ago, I was looking around my favourite recipe site (allrecipe.com), and I came across "Bake Sale Lemon Bars" and thought, uh.....I wonder if those would be good gluten-free?  So I whipped up a batch (with a few adjustments) and I was hooked.  The lemon bars are just the right combination of sweet and tart; and the layers were perfect with a flaky base and creamy center. A convert was created!  I added  lemon bars to my expanding list of  foods I once shied away from but now embraced-avocados, oysters, lentils, etc etc etc.

Now that said, I still dislike pumpkin pie, plum pudding, rice pudding, and date bars.....oh, and rhubarb in general- but that's a whole other blog.......  The irony?  My favourite meal as a child was liver and onions....I kid you not.

I think there is crack in these cookies

My gal pal Ang just dropped off a precious gift-3 loaves of gluten-free bread and half a dozen cookies from this little European bakery up in Campbell River, called Steiner Bakery and Coffee Shop.  Of all the gluten-free bread I and my son (aka my guinea pig) have tried, Steiner's makes the best (in my opinion).  The bread is rice flour-based and seems lighter (dare I say, fluffier?-a word you normally don't associate with gluten-free).  It is the closest I've found to tasting like regular bread AND my son seems to enjoy it...well, he eats it for the most part (have I mentioned he is a bit of a picky eater?).

But the cookies....OMG.  I am not a huge cookie eater-given the choice, I would much rather waste the calories on a cupcake or something as equally gooey/sweet; however, these cookies are pure bliss.  My father-in-law brought me half a dozen when he made a bread run for me; and I have been hooked every since.  I think they are made with almond flour.....with cinnamon and maybe a bit of applesauce?  The cookies are incredibly chewy and have a yummy almond glaze....and they are like crack -highly addictive. 

I love that of all the gf products, it is a small family bakery that makes a superior product as it gives me hope that other bakeries will dip their toe into the gf arena and offer more choices.  No longer do we have to be satisfied with eating hard dry cardboard or Styrofoam!  Until I find something of equal taste and quality that is made locally, I will continue to have my family and friends make bread/cookie runs to feed my addiction. The hardest part?  Making the cookies last....near impossible.

Vegan Red Lentil Soup

*found and adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 med carrots-peeled and diced
• 3 celery stalks-chopped
• 1 small yam-peeled and diced
• 1 cup dry red lentils
• 2 cups butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 cups chicken broth 
• 1 (14 ounce) can lite coconut milk
• 6 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch cumin
• 3 cups spinach
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onion, ginger, garlic, carrots, yam and celery until onion is tender.
2. Mix the lentils, squash, and cilantro into the pot. Stir in the broth, coconut milk, and tomato paste. Season with curry powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, cumin,salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until lentils and squash are tender. Add spinach and cook for another 5 minutes and serve.                                                   

I am a cruel bitch (or How I made my husband eat curry)

When Dave was an impressionable young man of 14, his class was in charge of making a grad dinner; and for some bizarre reason, it ended up being chicken curry (I say bizarre as it was in the mid-80s in a very small town-what, no spaghetti?).  Dave's job was to cut up vegetables and stir a huge heaping pot of the heavily pungent dish-and it was a smell he could not escape.  No amount of scrubbing, bleaching or soaking could diminish the odor that was now permanently burnt into his nasal cavity; and it is why Dave has vowed never EVER to eat Indian curry-until I cruelly tricked him, that is.

I know I should have given Dave the heads up what my intentions were -to make a spicy lentil soup that happened to have curry as a seasoning ( wasn't attempting some radical intervention, honest); however, when I was brutally rebuffed for wanting to make a tuna casserole (what can I say? I have a weird fetish for '60s-inspired food), Dave told me that if I wanted to try a new recipe, to just do it -don't give him a chance to talk me out it....so I simply followed his instructions like a dutiful wife (wink wink).

Now, once he got over the initial shock and smell, Dave kept an open mind and ate the soup (that alone is impressive as he easily could have pouted and made bacon and eggs for himself).  Instead, Dave sat down with a big bowl of Vegan Red Lentil Soup and dug in..... and quite enjoyed it.  His only criticism was that the soup needed more heat; however, Dave has given me the green light to make it again. Let the healing process begin!  Amen and pass the Tabasco.....

Crap-I got glutened!

I have come to think that Celiac is like any condition in that some suffer more than others as some are more sensitive than others; and I think that I have a  fairly "light" sensitivity (I am not a doctor, this is just my own experience/opinion).  For example, I defiantly do not feel well if I eat gluten directly (symptoms included bloating, gas, painful bowel movements, anxiety, fogginess etc etc etc) but I am not buckling in pain, violently ill as some are. 

I am not the most careful Celiac-I admit it.  I do read labels (d'uh!) but if there is a warning that the food item is made in a factory that handles wheat-I will still eat it (some will not).  I always ask at restaurants, delis, wherever I am purchasing prepared food-is this gluten-free?  If the person cannot confirm or leaves a lengthy pause before answering "I think so" - forget it. One place we love to shop at is the Red Barn Market as they have a great selection of gluten-free food as well as an amazing selection of fresh fruits and vegetable-and their deli counter.....OMG!  Pepperoni, bacon, ham - oh my!  We ask and are told if items are gluten-free; and if the counter person is not sure, he or she will go to the back and ask someone who knows.

So, the other day I got into the car after Dave had been out at Red Barn; and I notice a stick of pepperoni....so I pick it up and take a bite as Dave tells me he isn't sure what the meat is (we have had both pork and turkey) but its teriyaki and isn't it good?  I am mid-chew/swallow when it dawns on me.....teriyaki tends not to be gluten-free.  Crap.  And then it dawns on Dave.  I slowly put the offending food down and wonder, what have I done?  And how long will it take me to feel the results, if any?  Won't this be a "fun" experiment.....like a ticking time bomb?

It took approximately 8 hours and it wasn't terribly pretty.  I will save you the gory details; however, needless to say, I will be a little more cautious before popping random meat products in my mouth. (I know, that's what she said.....)  Ah, just another reminder of why I need to be on my gluten-free game!  The diet really is a life-long commitment that I can't willy nilly cheat on when the mood strikes, or when I am taunted by fat slabs of chocolate cake or brimming bowls of pasta.......damn it!

Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins

*Found on the allrecipes site and adapted

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash
• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
2. In a medium saucepan with enough water to cover, boil squash 20 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, drain, and puree in a food processor.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, white sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
4. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together milk, egg and butter. Stir in squash. Fold the squash mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.  Add raisins and chocolate chips.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack. 

 **176 calories per muffin

Gluten-free muffins - or how to make your own tiny boulders

I am not a fan of gluten-free recipes where the first five ingredients are what is needed to replace "regular" flour.  When I was a gf newbie, I was eager to try and make things from scratch to the point of purchasing the various abstract flours to make "real" flour: potato, tapioca, rice (brown and/or white), xanthan gum , etc etc etc.  $60.00 (or so) later, I attempted to make pancakes ..... three times.  Never again.  I now am a firm believer/supporter of  ready-made gluten-free flour mixes that most health food stores sell (I like to use a mix from  Planet Organic).

Negatives I have noticed about gf baking: bake goods tend not to rise as well as their gluten counterpart, they tend to be heavier in weight and do not stay fresh for long (am I selling gf to you yet?).  For example, I made Butternut Squash Spiced Muffins the other day (recipe to follow), and they were absolutely delicious fresh out of the oven....few hours later-boulders.  Hard dense hit-your-enemy-in-the-temple boulders.  Helpful hint-briefly microwave the offending bake good as it should perk up.  You also might want to store the goods in a zip-lock bag or container in the fridge or freezer.  (Again, am I selling it yet?)