Lunches for the week of november 7th

Hi!

I’m back after a long break from writing here. The reality is that I started university this fall and have had very little time to just cook and write posts. I decided I was going to find a way to post something at least once a week, so I started taking pictures of my weekly lunches. I only have 3 days of school, so that’s 3 lunches a week. I know it seems like nothing to some, but I’ve recently started a new gluten-free diet. I’ve found that every time I eat pasta, bread or other wheat and gluten-filled products, I get a stomach ache. So, I’m trying to avoid eating wheat or gluten, therefor, discovering a complete new way of eating. I had never realized how much pasta, bread and crackers I eat on a weekly basis. As a way of keeping myself inspired and developing a habit of posting on here weekly, I thought I should start taking pictures of my lunches. I hope this can also help people who have discovered a wheat or gluten intolerance and are lost as to what they can eat.

Here we go!

Monday, november 7th, 2011

Monday’s lunch was nothing special, I was still trying to figure out what to eat.

Clockwise from the top: Red pepper strips and carrot sticks. Pickles. Deli turkey meat, baked tofu and cheese-flavored rice crackers. I added a chocolate milk to my lunch when I realized I didn’t pack enough food.

Tuesday, november 8th, 2011

From left to right: Oïkos Greek yogurt with honey (takes me back to Greece every single time). Peanut butter and chocolate chip gluten-free bar from Bakery on Main. Quinoa salad with greek dressing, corn and tilapia. V8 veggie juice. Deli turkey meat, broccoli, cheese and baked tofu.

Wednesday, november 9th, 2011

Left to right: Popcorn. V8 veggie juice. Oïkos greek yogurt with honey. Gluten-free tortilla style wrap with turkey deli meat, cheese and lettuce, broccoli and baked tofu. Once again, this was pretty basic, but tasty.

So there it was, my first week of gluten-free lunches. I’m still trying to figure out what to eat on a day to day basis but I think I have a few ideas for next week.

If anyone’s wondering, I made the baked tofu for the very first time this week and really liked it. It’s super simple, but yummy. It kind of tastes like beef jerky…and I LOVE beef jerky. So here’s how to make it: Cut your tofu into 1/2 inch slices. Lightly press it to get the excess water out of it. Brush it with soy sauce or a sauce of the sort (make sure it’s gluten-free, if you have an intolerance. I used Bragg’s sauce, which is fermented soy beans.) Let the marinated tofu sit for 10-15 minutes. Bake it at 375° for 30-35 minutes, flipping the tofu half way through your cooking time. Enjoy!

 

Constance

Cheese Crackers

Hey.

Today I want to talk about those cool snacks our parents (or at least mine) wouldn’t get us when we were kids because they were not good for us. I always asked my mom for fruit roll ups or cheese crackers, even though I knew I wasn’t going to get any. That was okay though, because I got to eat tater tots, fruit roll ups, cheese crackers and that sugar-filled juice that had Jell-O in it when I stayed with my grandmother for the weekend.

When I found this cheese cracker recipe on 100 Days Of Real Food, I saw it as an opportunity to make myself some yummy and healthy cheese crackers that I can eat all the time. Ok, I’m 20 years old, so my mother doesn’t actually have anything to say about what I can and cannot eat, but hey, I can finally be that cool kid with the cheese crackers in her lunch bag. Yes, I’m rejoicing about the fact that I can now bring cheese crackers to University. Yes, I’m that easy to make happy.

SO! Enough rambling! Here’s the recipe. Oh, and I promise your house will smell of nice sharp yummy cheddar and your nostrils will thank you.

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Easy Cheesy Crackers from 100 Days Of Real Food

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into tablespoon size chunks
• 4 oz. or 1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese…the sharper the cheese the cheesier the crackers

(Yep, that’s it…only 3 simple ingredients!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine all three ingredients in a food processor and blend. The mixture will eventually turn into one big ball chasing itself around the bowl. Be patient because it can take a few minutes.
3. Roll the ball into a log about 1 ½” in diameter. At this point you could refrigerate the dough until later. (I refrigerated mine overnight)
4. With a sharp knife slice ¼” thick pieces off the log and place each one flat on an ungreased baking sheet. Try to rotate which side you are cutting down on because the top of the log does start to flatten a little. It is like your very own homemade slice and bake! (My log didn’t come out so great, so I decided to make a big ball of dough, roll it out and use a little biscuit cutter to make my circles. It’s a little more work, but it came out really well.)
5. If you want your crackers to look a little fancy, take a fork and gently mash down the top of each one before baking.
6. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes or until golden brown.

These crackers can be stored in the freezer so double the recipe and save some for later!

Yield: Two dozen

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There you have it! Nice, crispy, cheesy, yummy crackers. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love these.

Enjoy!

Carrot-Flecked Diner Rolls by 17 and Baking

Hey everyone.

For the past couple of weeks…or months…I’ve been spending hours upon hours going through food blogs. One of them in particular caught my eye: http://www.17andbaking.com. Elissa, now 19 years old, started this blog when she was, well….you know…17 and started baking. I don’t think I need to paint you guys a picture or anything; it’s all pretty clear!

Elissa specializes in baking (duh!) and so her blog is full of wonderful ideas that make you want to jump in the kitchen and get out of it covered in flour a few hours later. You have no clue if what you decide to do is going to turn out remotely as nice as her version, but you sure want to give it a try anyways!

Like I usually do, I went through 17 and Baking and saved a bunch of recipes that where making me drool just reading them. I got stuck on this particular recipe that her mom makes: Carrot-Flecked Diner Rolls, adapted from The Bread Bible.

My family rarely eats diner rolls and I’ve always been jealous of those TV families that always have a basket of freshly-baked diner rolls every night. So, I took it upon myself to be an awesome kid and make a fresh batch of lovely, warm and delicious diner rolls. Since my dad is really specific about what he eats (strict workout diet), I thought these rolls would be perfect because they have carrot in them. Having to take M. Muscle’s dietary demands into consideration can sometimes be a pain in the….let’s just say neck, so when I find simple, yummy and healthy recipes like this one, I’m a happy camper.

Now if you’re telling yourself that this recipe isn’t too interesting because of the time it takes and the different steps you need to go through, trust me when I say it’s SO worth it!

So here we go!

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Carrot-Flecked Diner Rolls
from 17 and Baking

Adapted from The Bread Bible

Makes 12 rolls

2 tsp dry yeast

1 1/4 cups water

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp salt

1/2 lb carrots, grated (I used about 4 medium-sized carrots)

1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

Poppyseeds

Sprinkle the yeast into 1/2 cup of the water. Sit for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast. Add the grated carrots and melted butter and mix all together. Stir in the remaining water to form a moist, crumbly dough.

Knead the dough until smooth but still sticky on a lightly floured surface, about 10 minutes.

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let rise until it’s doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Shape the dough into 12 balls and arrange, just touching, into a pan. (We put 8 rolls in a 9″ cake pan and the remaining 4 in a small, square pan.) Proof until the balls double in size, about 30 minutes. Brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg, then sprinkle poppy seeds on top.

Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

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The final step is the best:

Take a roll, open it, butter it and stuff the entire thing in your mouth. Best. Decision. Of. Your. Life!

Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Hello again!

This past Sunday was my 20th birthday. On saturday, my dad brought me to Indigo/Chapters to buy me a new cookbook.

There was this one book I had been dreaming about: Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson. I had read about it on The Kitchen Generation (a food blog written by five young bloggers that are a great inspiration to me). Heidi Swanson has a few books so far and is also active online with her blog 101 Cookbooks. Super Natural Every Day is completely vegetarian, as are all of Heidi’s other publications, which made it perfect for me because I don’t eat meat (with the exception of fish and sea food and the rare chicken sandwich).

Tonight, I decided I’d try her Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and put them over some pasta. I was hungry just looking at the photograph in the book and imagining it on pasta.

All I have to say is that once you try this, you’ll understand.

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Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

from Super Natural Every Day

1 pint basket cherry tomatoes, stemmed (about 2 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon natural cane sugar or maple syrup (I used syrup)

Fine-grain sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C with a rack on the top third of the oven.

Slice each tomato in half and place in a large baking dish or rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sugar, and a scant 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour the mixture over the tomatoes and gently toss until everything is well coated. Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up and roast for 45-60 minutes, until the tomatoes shrink a bit and start to caramelize around the edges.

Makes about 1 cup/ 6 oz/ 170 G

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One thing to say: YUMMY!

Okay, I have more than one thing to say! Seriously, I am not usually a fan of cooked tomatoes, but these taste just like delicately sun-dried tomatoes that are still plump and juicy and sweet and just oh so incredibly delicious.

Constance

Metaxa strawberries

Every family has some favorite “go to” recipes that they do over and over again. Usually, there are recipes for every season, as the ingredients available change with the weather. At my house, you can be sure that, as soon as spring starts to turn into summer and the strawberries look better and better, we are making this particular recipe.

It’s something we’ve been eating for the longest time; I honestly don’t even remember the first time I had it. The only thing I’m pretty sure about, is that my dad brought this recipe into the house because it’s one of the few things he makes perfectly (sorry Dad! haha). I guess he learned how to make this in Greece, when he was a kid, because he’s now an expert at it. I give you: Metaxa strawberries!

It’s pretty much the easiest recipe there is and it’s a perfect way to use up strawberries that are starting to look a little old.

So, here it is:

4 cups of strawberries

A scant 2 cups of orange juice

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 and 1/2 tablespoons of Metaxa or any other cognac you have.

 

Cut your strawberries into chucks or slices of the size you want. Just make sure to make them thick enough to absorb the liquid they’ll be in.

Put them into a bowl.

Add the orange juice.

Add the sugar and mix.

Add a little Metaxa or cognac and mix.

Taste it to make sure it isn’t too strong for your taste.

Mix everything together really well, cover and refrigerate for a few hours so the flavors seep into the strawberries.

This is great with EVERYTHING. I mean, you can eat it on ice cream, on cake, on pancakes, on waffles….ANYTHING!!!!!!!

YUM! And this is coming from a girl who barely eats strawberries and barely drinks orange juice.

Easy peasy bean salad

Hi everyone!

A few weeks ago, my friends and I planned a picnic and I couldn’t stop thinking of what I was going to make. I knew I wanted to make a salad but I had no clue what kind of salad I wanted to make. I thought of pasta, then quinoa, then bean, then antipasto. Being the last minute person I am, I decided, the day before the picnic, that I had to chose the salad and make it that day in order for the flavors to come together in time for the picnic.

I finally settled on bean salad. I figured it was a safe choice and I wouldn’t have to make a fuss over it. I was right. This recipe is so un-exact that I’m actually struggling with how I’ll write it out. I basically threw everything together and hoped for the best. So here it is!

You’ll need:

Beans (you can use canned [I did] or rehydrate some), rinsed and drained. This part is pretty much up to you. You can put any type of bean in this salad and it’ll work. I just took what I had in my pantry: white kidney beans, red beans and black turtle beans. The quantity is also your choice. If you’re making this salad for one or two people and don’t mind having leftovers, only use half a can of each type of bean.

Tomato, seeded and diced. Once again, quantities depend on how much salad you want. Just try and balance the bean and veggie ratio so your salad isn’t too dry.

Cucumber, halved, seeded and diced. Just like the tomato, you’ll have to guestimate this part according to your quantity of other ingredients. It’s not an exact science, just try to have a little balance.

Green onion, chopped. You’re still guestimating this part.

Artichoke hearts, drained and chopped. Yep, still guestimating.

Mini corn, drained and sliced. And again….guestimating.

 

How to do it:

When I say this salad is really easy, I really mean it’s EASY. All you have to do is put everything in a big bowl and mixed it up to see if it looks balanced. If it you find you have too much beans for your veggies, cut up some more of the latter and add it in.

Now this salad would be really dry without some dressing. I know this might be annoying, but we will still be playing the guestimate game for this part. The dressing is also really simple: olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, oregano, salt and pepper. Throw a good quantity of oil in a bowl, add a little less vinegar, a nice spoonful of mustard, some oregano, salt and pepper and wisk it up nicely. Now the best way to know if your dressing is correct is to taste it, then, you won’t have a doubt. Just dip a finger in that bowl of goodness and taste. If you find the vinegar is not present enough in your mouth, add a little more. If you find the entire thing too oily, add a little mustard. You’re basically painting a picture; just go with how you feel and you’ll eventually get a dressing you love. The thing is, even if I wanted to give you a precise recipe, the truth is nobody but you knows what you like best; so trust yourself.

You’re now ready to finalize your bean salad. Add your lovely dressing to your mix of beans and vegetables and toss it together nicely. I suggest refrigerating at least a few hours (I leave it overnight) to let the flavors mingle together, but if you’re in a rush or simply too hungry, a mere 30 minutes will do.

Enjoy!

 

Constance

A little change goes a long way

Hi.

First of all, you probably noticed that this post is in english. I created a new category for english posts, as I would like to have the possibility to write in both english and french on this blog. There’s a really simple reason for that. Most of the food related stuff I read, watch or follow is in english. I’m fully bilingual so this does not bother me at all, but I’ve found that I tend to think about food in english and I just found it would only be natural to write some of my articles in english. Honestly, I’ve also been leaving this url on blogs I read and thought it would be a good idea if these anglophone readers could actually understand what the heck I write about on here. It’s going to be simple, don’t worry. You’ll only have to click on “ENGLISH” in the side bar to access all the english posts.

Pour les francophones, j’ai mis une catégorie “FRANÇAIS” et une catégorie “ENGLISH” sur le côté de la page. La raison  principale de ce petit changement est que je lis surtout des blogues culinaires anglophones, donc je pense plutôt à la nourriture en anglais. Étant bilingue, ce n’est pas un problème pour moi, mais je me sent parfois plus à l’aise à parler de nourriture dans la langue de Shakespeare. Bref, si l’idée de lire des articles en anglais ne vous plaît pas trop, vous n’aurai qu’à clicker sur la catégorie “FRANÇAIS” et vous aurez accès à tous les articles écrits en français.

À bientôt et merci encore de lire ce blogue qui est encore tout jeune.

Constance