Category: gluten free

Whitewater Glory Salad Dressing

trust in kim - glory dressing

Yum! A friend recommended the Whitewater cookbook to me, so while waiting to get it out of the library, I did a search online.  I found this salad dressing recipe and made it up for my salad tonight.  I love the creaminess of it, and recall tasting a dressing like it once before in a restaurant, but couldn’t figure out how to replicate it.  I know that not everyone has nutritional yeast sitting around, but if you buy it you can also put it on popcorn (recipe to come!)

I find making salad dressing to be so easy, even one like this that requires a blender.  I like knowing exactly what is in the dressing, and I can add more or less of some ingredients if I want.  It always tastes better than the store-bought ones, doesn’t have preservatives in it,  and is way cheaper.

What you need (for a half recipe):

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon tahini

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

What you do:

1. Put all the ingredients except the oil into a blender and give it a good mix.  I used an immersion blender, so feel free to do the same.

2. In a steady slow stream, add the oil until it is all blended in.

Ready to go, although it’s great if you can let it sit a bit, or keep it in the fridge overnight.  A jar of it should last a few weeks in the fridge.

 

Honey-Ginger-Lemon Healer

trust in kim - honey lemon ginger healer

When my sweetheart was suffering from bronchitis, and everyone else around me seemed to be getting sick, I concocted this hot drink.  It soothes a sore throat, with the honey acting as an anti-inflammatory, fighting infection and tasting great.  Ginger has antibacterial and pain-killing properties, and warms you up. The lemon has vitamin C and boosts the immune system. Black pepper can help ease a sore throat and is an appetizer. The warmth of a hot drink itself makes you feel good, and drinking liquids is important, and since this is so yummy you should have no problem getting it down.  You can also add whiskey, which will numb your throat a bit, and might make you sleepy so you can get the rest you need when you’re sick.

What you need:

a knob of ginger

black peppercorns

honey

fresh lemons

whiskey (optional)

What you do:

1. Slice the ginger and put it in a small pot with some water and 8-10 peppercorns. Let this boil for at least 10 minutes.

2. Boil some water.

3. Put about 1/3 cup of the ginger liquid into a mug.

4. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 a large lemon, or one whole small lemon.  Pour this into the mug.

5. Add about a teaspoon of honey, or more to taste.

6. Add a shot of whiskey if you are using it. Top the mug up with the boiling water, give it a stir, and it’s ready to go.

Lentil Bacon Soup

trust in kim- lentil bacon soup

I’m not usually a fan of canned soups, but my friend Sarah recently introduced me to Baxter’s Lentil and Bacon soup, and I thought it was pretty yummy.  It inspired me to make up my own lentil bacon soup.  I’ve made lentil soup before, but I like that in this one the lentils are pureed, and the little bit of bacon adds a lot of flavour.  It’s pretty easy to make, and just takes a bit of time to cook the lentils.

What you need:

3/4 cup green lentils, uncooked

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2-1 cup dry white wine

about 1-2 cups water

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, in about 2 cm chunks

1 large potato,  in about 2 cm chunks

1 leek, sliced into rounds and rinsed

4 whole cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

5-6 slices of bacon

What you do:

1. Put the lentils in a large pot with lots of water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 50 minutes.

2. Fry the bacon and let it cool on paper towel. Chop the bacon once it has cooled.  I use a cast iron pan with a large capacity so I can add a lot more ingredients to it after frying the bacon.  If you don’t have a frying pan large enough just do the next steps involving the vegetables, then transfer to the pot that you cooked the lentils in, which should be large enough to hold everything.

3. Remove most of the bacon fat from the frying pan. Chop the carrot, celery, leek and add it to the frying pan.  Add the whole garlic cloves .  Cook for about five minutes, stirring from time to time.  Add the chopped potatoes.  Now add the chicken stock and wine, along with enough water to cover the vegetables, and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. When the lentils are very soft you can drain them and add them to the vegetables and broth.  I actually pour it all into the pot that the lentils were cooked in. Continue to simmer until all the veggies are tender.

5.  Puree everything with an immersion blender or wait until it has cooled a bit and whiz it in a blender until it is smooth.

6. Stir in the chopped bacon, then add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup freezes well!

Pickle Skewers

pickle skewers - trust in kim

Here’s a yummy, pretty and easy party appetizer.  There’s a mixture of sweet and salty pickles and olives, and a sweet grape to finish it off.

What you need:

pitted olives

sweet pickled onions

dill pickles, sliced into rounds

sweet grapes

wooden skewers

What you do:

Skewer everything starting with the grape.  That way the last flavour will be  sweet one.

Mennonite Cabbage Borscht

Mennonite cabbage borscht - trust in kim

A little while ago I posted a recipe for my Mom’s borscht.  While this is a great soup recipe, I recently found out it’s not actually her recipe.  Oops!  So this is really my mom’s borscht recipe; it’s on the same page of  The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, the bible of Mennonite cooking.  The real difference is that this one has a can of tomato soup; not very old-world traditional, but it’s the yummy soup I grew up with.  A lot of people think borscht has beets, but the beetless version is part of the Mennonite culinary tradition.

My mom makes a few changes when she cooks it: she doesn’t always use potatoes, and she usually adds some carrots. As well, she doesn’t use cream, but adds yogurt while serving.

It is best to make the broth a day ahead of time so it can cool, and the fat can be removed.

What you need:

2 lbs of beef meat and bones (or a combination of beef and chicken)

1 large onion, chopped

1 small head cabbage

3 carrots, chopped

a few tablespoons of fresh dill

1 can tomato soup (I used Campbell’s)

salt to taste

plain yogurt for serving

What you do:

1. To make the broth, cover the bones and meat with cold water and bring to a low simmer.  Simmer for 2 to 3 hours.  Strain the broth and let it cool.   Remove the meat and pull it into bite-sized pieces.  Put the meat and broth in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

2. Remove the cold fat from the top of the broth and discard it.  Pour the broth into a large pot and bring it to a low boil.

3. Add the chopped onions, meat, cabbage, carrots and dill and let it summer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Add the tomato soup and let it heat, then add salt to taste.

5. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

This soup freezes well, and makes a big batch for leftovers or for sharing.

Mennonite Treasury of Recipes -Trust in Kim

Brown Rice, Veggies and Ground Turkey- Meal in a Bowl

I made way to much rice the other day, so I bought a bunch of veggies to cook up with the leftover rice to make a great new meal.  I love making a big meal and then having leftovers for lunch for a few days, and this works perfectly for that.  It’s easy to make, and the only part that takes a bit of time is letting the onions brown, which is key to the flavour in this dish.

I took this picture before adding the kale; it’s really good without kale too, but I added it because it’s so good for you.

What you need:

leftover brown rice, about 2 cups (okay, you can use white if that’s what you’ve got)

400 or so grams of ground turkey (or not, for a veggie option)

one large sweet or red onion, sliced

1 leek, thinly sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, sliced

red bell pepper, thinly sliced

carrot, grated

a bunch of kale, finely chopped

olive oil

pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, unless you like it really hot, in which case add more

soy sauce

What you do:

1.  Slice the onion into strips that are just less than 1cm wide.  In a large frying pan, heat the oil on medium high, then add the onions and cook them until they are slightly browned.

3.  Cut peppers into strips similar in size to the onions.  Add to the onions, along with the sliced garlic and leeks, and cook for a few minutes.

4.  Grate the carrot and add to the other veggies.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the onions are quite brown.

5.  Place the veggies in a bowl, then cook the ground turkey until it’s not pink any more.

6.  Add some olive oil to the pan, then add the cooked rice to the turkey and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, for several minutes.  Now add the veggies, the chopped kale and some soy sauce to taste, and cook for a few minutes.  Season with lots of pepper.

Another Beautiful Veggie Platter

 

I’ve posted once before about making a veggie platter, but I thought I’d do another, since this one features an idea from my friend I-Wen, her pepper bowls.  You just cut the tops off of some bell peppers and use them for bowls for the dip and other veggies.  This one also has some edible flowers on it; they look pretty, but I tasted them just to see what they were like, and I can’t say I thought they tasted very good.  But they are safe to put on your platter, in case anyone does want to try them.

What you need:

several large bell peppers, in a variety of colours, preferably with flatter bottoms so they can stand)

assorted veggies, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and more peppers (I never buy the pre-cut mini carrots because I find they don’t taste like much, and I’ve heard that they rinse them in bleach to keep them from turning white)

radishes with greens still on

edible flowers, such as chrysanthemum, violet, snapdragon, or marigold (I found a package at a produce store)

your favourite dip

a large platter

What you do:

1. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds.  If you need to, cut a little off the bottom of the peppers so they are level and can stand up.

2. Cut the other veggies and put some of them into the pepper bowls; I found carrot and pepper sticks work best for this.

3. Fill one of the peppers with your favourite dip, and put a small spoon in it for serving.

4. Arrange the veggies around the platter, and put a few flowers on top.  Keep some veggies on hand to refill the platter as parts of it get eaten up.

So pretty you almost don’t want to eat it!

Awesome Ouzo Prawns

For my mom’s 70th birthday party last weekend we made many appetizers, but I think this was my favourite.  The sauce is really yummy, and the prawns were so fresh and huge that they popped when bitten into.  Even if you don’t like ouzo, you’ll probably still like these, as the anise taste is quite subtle.

I served these as an appy, so I just put a toothpick in each one.  They would also work great on pasta.  Mmmm, makes me want to make them again!

What you need:

about 1lb fresh prawns, cleaned and shells removed

3 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, finely diced

1/3 cup cream

1/4 cup ouzo or sambuca

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Cook the garlic in the butter for a minute or so, but make sure the garlic doesn’t brown.

2.  Add the cream and cook for a few minutes, stirring, until it has thickened up a bit.  Add some salt and pepper.

3.  Now you have two options:  you can either add the ouzo to the cream and cook it off, then cook the prawns, which is the way I did it.  Or,  you can cook the prawns, then add the ouzo to them and set a flame to them, then add the cream mixture.

4.  If you chose the adding the ouzo to the cream choice, you may now heat some butter in a large frying pan, add the prawns and cook on each side only until they turn pink.  Over-cooking will turn them into tough, unpleasant things.  Once they are cooked, add the cream and ouzo sauce, give it a good stir, and serve.

 

 

Chorizo and Lime Appetizer

This idea comes from my good friend, Sarah.  It’s so simple and so delicious.  I bought the chorizo at Oyama Sausage at Granville Island; I particularly love the red wine chorizo.

What you need:

chorizo

lime

toothpicks

paper towel

What you do:

1.  Slice the sausage.

2.  Heat a frying pan.  Put the sausage in it.  Fry on each side until slightly browned.

3.  Use the paper towel to soak up the fat.

4.  Squirt lime over the sausages, then put a toothpick in each one.  I served them right out of the cast iron frying pan so they would stay hot.

Roasted Butternut Squash, Cauliflower and Onions with Tahini Sauce

Roasted butternut squash, cauliflower and red onions with tahini sauce, za’atar and pine nuts: otherwise known as my new favourite meal.  And it’s vegan and gluten-free, and it’ll make you feel good on a rainy fall evening – at least it did for me!  And I’m really looking forward to my leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  I got the idea for the recipe from a  Yotam Ottolenghi recipe.  I added the cauliflower because I think it is perfect with tahini sauce, and I changed the cooking method a bit, cooking the squash before cutting it, because it’s easier to cut when it’s soft.  I also used my tahini recipe instead of his.

I served mine on quinoa to make it a filling meal, but it would be great on a bed of greens too.  Feel free to leave out the za’atar and pine nuts if you want, and garnish with some fresh pomegranate or parsley.

What you need:

1 butternut squash

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 red onions, cut into large chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

For the tahini sauce:

1/4 cup tahini

1/2 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of hot sauce

1/4 cup of warm water, or as needed

For the za’atar: (there are so many ways to make this, so make it up as you go along)

1 tablespoon ground sumac

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground anise or fennel seeds

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.  To roast the veggies, first cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place the two pieces face down on a baking sheet and roast for about half an hour or until you can pierce it easily with a knife.

2. Put the onions and cauliflower pieces on another baking sheet, and toss them with the olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Put them in the oven with the squash for about 25 minutes.  About half way through the roasting, give them a stir.  The cauliflower should be a little browned when it is done.

3. Combine the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt and hot sauce.  Add the warm water gradually, adding enough until the sauce is a consistency you like.  I like mine pretty liquidy, so I can drizzle it.  You can also adjust the lemon and hot sauce to your liking.  I usually add a little more lemon.

4. To make the za’atar just combine all the spices.  If you have them whole and want to grind them, it’s going to be even tastier.

5.  To serve, cut the squash into chunks and serve it on a bed of quinoa or greens, then top with some onion and cauliflower.  Drizzle with the tahini, pretty liberally, then sprinkle on some pine nuts and za’atar.

Enjoy!