DIY Hummus

I absolutely love hummus, even though I can only have a little bit before I react. However, I know that many folks may not be able to enjoy store-bought hummus due to issues with sesame or garlic, and so I wanted to put here a couple quick recipe 'bases' that you can use to enjoy some hummus for yourself!

Hummus (most basic recipe)

ingredients:

Dried chickpeas
olive oil
salt
lemon juice (or another sour liquid or semi-liquid)
(optional) any spices or seasonings of choice (chili powders and cumin are popular)
(optional) any aromatics (roasted peppers, roasted chiles, and/or garlic are popular and tasty)
(optional) tahini or other seed/nut based 'butter'

Directions:

1. Soak the chickpeas in water, overnight at minimum.  If you want a kind of different flavor, you can soak the chickpeas for a day or two and change out the water a couple times; they will start to ferment and develop a kind of pseudo-cheesy scent that can be pleasant with certain seasonings.
2. Decide if you want 'cooked' hummus or 'raw' hummus.  Either one will be fine, but the taste and texture of cooked is a bit less strong in taste and smoother in texture.  If you choose 'raw' hummus, a 12 hour soaking time total, at minimum, is helpful. 
3. For cooked hummus - drain and rinse the chickpeas, and cook in boiling water (not salt) for a few hours, until very soft.
4. For raw hummus - drain and rinse the chickpeas.
5. Put the chickpeas, salt, and any potential spices or aromatics (or tahini/seed butters) into a food processor (or large mortar and pestle, if you only have that) and blend/mash until chunky-smooth.  Then add in lemon juice and blend a little more. Then, while blending/mashing, slowly add in olive oil in a steady stream until the hummus is the desired texture.  Done!

Notes:

1. Why does this have no ingredient quantities?  Mostly because it's quite varied, how much you need, depending on what is added, if chickpeas are cooked, etc...  And how much or little is added in terms of spices and aromatics is highly dependent on taste.

2. Isn't it weird without tahini?  Nope.  Making hummus without tahini was actually a technique I got from an acquaintance from the Middle East. He mentioned that where he lived, tahini was really cheap, but olive oil less so, so using ONLY olive oil and no tahini became a bit of a status symbol.  I don't know how common this practice is, but it works quite well, even if tahini does make the hummus a bit smoother.

3. Is it safe to eat raw chickpeas?  Yeah, no problem for most folks. If you have any digestive issues, though, especially with any kind of raw foods or beans, however, you probably want to go for the cooked chickpeas rather than raw.

4. I can't use lemon juice; what can I use for a sour taste? This one is a bit tricky.  I have tried vinegar when I couldn't tolerate lemon and while it is 'okay,' it does have a distinct taste that is not necessarily a good match for chickpeas.  I have considered taking plain yogurt and draining it for a few hours, and using the liquid as a good souring agent. Haven't tried this yet, but I've used that as a lemon replacement before and it sometimes works.

Faux, dairy-free, beef stroganoff-ish sauce

It has been quite some time since I've posted anything. I have a loooong list of pinterest recipes I've explored, but it's been a tough year all around and I've not had the energy to put a lot up.

However, I've so enjoyed this little sauce that I wanted to share. It's pretty tasty, a pale white to gray-white color, and I have used it like I'd use stroganoff sauce.

Stroganoff-ish sauce

yellow onion
white button mushrooms
salt, rosemary, or other seasonings
water


Directions-
1. Blend up onion and mushrooms, with enough water to help it blend, in a blender until smooth-ish. I usually do 1 onion and maybe 1/2-1 small package of mushrooms, but this is honestly to taste.
2. Add seasonings - I do fresh herbs like rosemary, mostly.
3. Add this sauce to any beef dish you are cooking in a frying pan, to cook on a low simmer for at least 10-15 minutes. I have used this with both ground beef and beef cubes.  It will stay relatively thick, and is relatively nice if the beef-sauce mixture is poured over rice, mashed root veggies, cauliflower rice, etc...


This is, obviously, not as nice as a real stroganoff sauce. But if you're in need and have very few ingredients, this works well in a pinch for something nice. ^_^

Throwing Things Together 2

I am literally SO happy right now with how this dish is turning out! 

Spicy Potato-Chicken stew (photo coming...when my camera stops acting like a jerk)

Yeah, a lot of my thrown together stuff is soups or stews, because it's easy. I don't even care. 

First in, cubed, unpeeled, potatoes in a skillet. Because I was going to make fried potatoes and realized the one oil I can use, I'm out of. So I put in a little water with the cubed potatoes. Which looked lonely and sad, so I added two tiny chopped radishes from my garden.

Then one small chicken thigh, chopped.

And then two slices of chopped leftover onion, because it was there. And then I remembered I had about 1/4 cup of left over 'green soup'* and added that, too. 

Then the color was kind of 'meh' - an odd grayish green sort of thing - so I grabbed a couple tomatoes and grated them into the pan, too. They looked really pale until they started cooking and then reddened right up.  

I added some fresh grated ginger and turmeric as well, at that point, and a small handful of chopped cilantro stems, and a couple slices of chopped jalapeño, too. 

Then put in some dried oregano and tiny bit of dried thyme from the garden, as well.

This stuff is finishing cooking as we speak, just the potatoes need to finish, and I can hardly wait. So far, the sampling I've done tastes amazing.  Much more flavor than I thought I'd get, honestly.  I will have to try this again with the green soup added to it and see if that is what makes the difference, because I don't often get this level of flavor to similar recipes. 

The color is not quite that lovely red-orange you see so often in various Indian dishes, but still a nice color. The smell is great, the texture looks like it's going to be awesome.

In the future, I'd likely start things off with the onions and some herbs first, maybe the tomatoes, so the flavor is a little heightened, even, but so far...this one is a winner!

I could totally see this being served over rice (if you can have that) or even cooked down to lower the liquid content and maybe used in a sandwich or on a bun, Sloppy Joe style.

Not how I'm gonna eat it, but it could work that way!

*Green soup is a recipe from one of the Low Histamine Chef's cookbooks. My own version this time around had included water, salt, one white onion, the chopped stems and a few leaves from a bunch of parsley, 1 1/2 zucchini, 1 fennel bulb, one head broccoli, 1-2 jalapeños, a good amount of fresh thyme and savory, and salt - all blended up after cooking until soft.

Day 11 - Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

Pinterest Day 11

The Pinterest recipe I looked at today was Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili at Alida's Kitchen. 

Whole30 Chicken and Zucchini with Green Chile Sauce

For foods that are, likely, whole30 compliant, I'm pretty much just throwing things together, for the most part. Every once in a while I might have a 365 days of pinterest recipe, though.

For right now, though, so I can remember what works, here is the first one.

Sweet potato chip nachos

I came across this recipe on pinterest, for 'Loaded sweet potato nachos.' I had never thought of nachos using sweet potato chips before, so I figured I'd give it a try!

Sweet Potato Nachos.

There's those tiny chips, waaaay underneath the toppings

The best cheesecake ever

This recipe was made by a person who obviously LOVES their cheesecake. And after making it a few years back, I can see why. It is quite literally the best cheesecake I ever had in my life, and it's one I made myself, which makes it even better. I can't eat it anymore, of course, but that doesn't matter.

I'm sharing this because frankly, it needs to be shared for everyone who can eat it. Seriously - so amazingly good. I'm not even talking about it more than this, just sharing.

Cooking Debauchery's cheesecake
EDIT: Sadly, this website is no longer with us. But thankfully, I copied the recipe itself because it was so awesome, so I'll share this genius' awesome cheesecake with others so it will not be lost.

"Best cheesecake ever
By kitarra

THE Cheesecake
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

2 pounds cream cheese (4 8 oz packages), softened
4 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup Kifir Cheese [2]
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Zest of one small lemon, finely chopped
Butter and additional sugar for the pan

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees.

Set oven to middle rack and slide into it a large roasting pan.  Fill the bottom of the pan with boiling water and allow to heat with the oven to create a little steam.  Bring another pot of water to a boil.

Removed the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Line it with a large piece of tin foil, folding the edges under so that they do not interfere.  Replace the bottom of the spring form pan into the hoop and lock into place.  Carefully uncurl the tin foil from the bottom and bring it up around the edges of ring, crumpling at the top to create a water tight seal.

Brush the insides of the pan with melted butter making sure to coat every nook and cranny.  Once the pan is coated, pour in 3 tablespoons sugar, shaking it around to evenly coat the bottom and sides.  This will prevent the cheesecake from sticking.

Evenly distribute the cream cheese in the food processor.  Turn to on and slowly add the sugar through the feed tube until the cream cheese loosens and becomes smooth.  You might have to scrape down the sides a couple of times.  Add eggs one at a time, scrapping down the sides between each addition if necessary.

Stop the processor.  While it is stopped add the zest, vanilla and kifir cheese.  Pulse until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared crust [3], resisting the urge to lick the mixer bowl.  Shake the pan, taping it against the kitchen counter to get out any errant air bubbles.

Place into the middle of the roasting pan and add enough water to come up a little more than half way up the sides.

Bake at 500 degrees for 12 minutes.

Open the oven door and reduce the temperature to 200 degrees.  Keep the oven door open for a few minutes until it cools slightly.  Close the oven door and bake without opening for 1 hour.

The cheesecake will look done at this point and be jiggly in the center.  It will want to come out.  Don’t you believe it!  To prevent cracks, run a thin knife between the edge of the cheesecake and the pan.  It should retract readily.  Close the door and bake for another hour to 75 minutes or until the whole cheesecake move in a slightly rubbery way when gently shaken.

Bring the temperature up to 350 and bake until the top is golden and puffed.

Remove to a wire rack and cool, tearing away the tinfoil to allow heat to escape.

Chill in the refrigerator over night.  DO NOT be tempted to cut into it right away.  This is very hard, I know, but the texture will not right until it has chilled thoroughly.

[1]  Cheesecake Nirvana is currently located in my freezer where it will sit and await my birthday on the 16th.
[2]  Kifir Cheese is sometimes called Lebnan and can be found in Persian or Arabic markets.  If kifir cheese is not available, substitute with Greek Yogurt, preferably drained for a few hours in a coffee filter.
[3]  The first hint I had that I was on the right track is that this cheesecake was nearly half an inch shorter than the cheesecake mousse horror!  The pan should be about half full, maybe a little more.

Originally from http://www.cookingdebauchery.com/cooking_debauchery/2007/02/the_cheesecake.html"

As for allergens - It's gluten free, can be grain free (depends on some brand names), peanut and tree nut free, but it contains dairy, eggs, sugar, and lemon or vanilla.

Sweet Potato Cakes

I finally got these suckers to work!  I saw that the gluten free girl used yogurt to make an egg-free sweet potato latke, and that finally pinged a connection with the cashew cream I've been using, and this is the result. Inspired by her recipe.

Yummy!

Socca part II

I have found a much easier way to make Socca (original recipe here), or at least something that resembles it. Good enough for Gov't work and all that.

This is a VERY cheap and easy way to make this, for those who are gluten free but don't want to break the bank by buying lots of chickpea flour, and don't have a grinder to make it themselves.

Socca with hummus, cucumbers, and dill

Cauliflower Rice

This stuff was AWESOME! Pictures coming when I can get the camera and computer talking to each other again.

Cauliflower Rice

Yummy!

Spicy Roasted bell pepper and tomato soup

Quick and easy.

Combine 1 part roasted red bell pepper sauce with 2-3 parts tomato sauce (without herbs is how I had it), add 1-2 parts broth (veggie, beef, chicken, whatever), and heat.

That's all it takes. Very nice, good soup by itself or a nice base for more. :-)

Mini Italian-style Meatballs

Our new bentos have been working out great so far, and I've been doing more with small foods in order to add a little something fun to the bento. Originally, I wanted to try to make a sort of mini-meatloaf but ended up with mini-meatballs instead. I like them a bit sweet and spicy, and these did the trick. I'd add crushed chiles to really give them a kick next time, but with one child who isn't so fond of the spicy, that'll have to wait a few years.

Mini-meatballs in their mini-muffin tins

Carb Ideas for gluten or grain free diets

I always hope to find a grain we can use for our meals, especially now that we're trying to make bento lunches, but since we can't do that yet, we're going to be working on some substitutions for our carbohydrate needs. For a 600 mL bento, according to Justbento.com, there's usually around 1 cup of rice, which has 43 grams of carbs and is around 200 calories.

If we use potatoes, like we did in this bento:

our bento with potatoes rather than rice

Taco Seasoning Mixture

There was a soup that I used to make years ago called Taco Soup. I loved this stuff, but a major component of the mixture was the cheap and easy taco spice mix packet that you would add.

This one, actually

Yesterday, I figured that I'd try to recreate this spice mixture, and I think I came pretty close! Don't know why I never did it before.

Sources of Grain Free Carbs

If you are grain free and struggling to get enough carbs, I hope this might be of use. I've collected information from around the web on the carbohydrate levels of various foods and used that for some calculations that might make it easier to decide what to eat to get enough carbs.

Super tasty potato carbs!

Pasta Substitutions

Pasta is such an easy dish to make that it's always been kind of a bummer that myself and my daughter can no longer have it. For anyone else in the same boat, here's some ideas to substitute for your pasta dishes, posted from my 'dead' buffalo blog.

Socca Pizza

Gluten free, Grain free, sulfite free pizza!  I am SOOOOO happy!

So, I've been making socca a lot lately, and finally decided to try it as a pizza crust. I baked the socca, made some homemade tomato sauce and spread that out over the top, and then cooked the toppings separately.

The first time the topping was ground bison - tasted great.
The second time it was ground bison and cooked red bell peppers - also great.
The third time it was ground bison plus roasted bell pepper sauce and ground up chiles from the yard - REALLY great. I think that blending up roasted red bell peppers and using that as a sauce would go well with this.

The kids got some mushrooms mixed up in their meat, too, and loved it.

The grin on my son's face when he got to hold up his 'pizza' and eat it - I was close to tears. It's so hard to express how much something like his means to us, just to find a food that we really like, that we can all eat, that we can MAKE. We were all grinning like loons.

So awesome.  I'll put up a more detailed recipe for this later, when we don't eat it so fast that it's completely gone before I even get out the camera for pictures, but for right now?

Socca bread + tomato sauce + toppings = awesome pizza dish.

Kale Chips

I just haven't made these in a while and kind of forgot about them. Wish I hadn't! They are SO easy to make, and the kids will eat them which is always a plus, just like the cauliflower.

A warning for the sulfite sensitive. If you react to anything in the brassica family, this may be problematic for you, so take care. I could eat it when I was reacting a bit less, so I hope that some day I may be able to eat it again. :-)

Socca - A French Flatbread

Socca is a completely grain free flatbread that comes from France. It's even a traditional grain-free flatbread, so no weird substitutions to alter the taste, woo hoo!

This stuff is SO easy to make, it's awesome. And it tastes good, too. My kids tell me it reminds them of the batter around a corn dog; I assume that's a positive review, heh.

How to make your own chickpea flour

This is really easy. It takes a bit, but it's really easy. I don't have a grain grinder or nut grinder, so I have to use my blender. I'm sure it's even easier with a grinder!

Making Chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour: