Rice, Spice and everything nice

We picked up our local pig from the butcher and enjoyed some pork chops and bacon this weekend. I’ve had great pork chops before, but probably never bacon of this caliber. Holy moly it was good. The bacon fat was totally different than store bought bacon. I threw out our old bacon fat and started a new container. Yum, can’t wait for some tamales with a little bacon fat in the masa.

I’m on a spicy Asian food kick lately too so we’ve been employing our CSA green beans and eggplants and zucchinis in spicy dishes. Good thing too because we’re at the peak of the season and our CSA pick-up gets bigger every week. We’re drowning in zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes. Going to make freezer chili this afternoon.

I experimented with making zucchini bread by using the Joy of cooking recipe and just substituting Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free all purpose flour. Not sure why I decided this was a good idea but I added an extra egg. It was kind of bland and tasted pretty oily, but it actually grew on me after a while (kept telling Tom, this bread is terrible, then I’d have another slice), and since I’d just made a big batch of jam from the blackberries that we picked at our CSA, I needed some bread to slather it on, so it worked out well. Juniper liked it as a jam delivery device as well.

I also got the Gluten-Free Almond flour cookbook from Elena Amsterdam. Unfortunately I live in Portland and she recommends NOT using Bob’s Red Mill Almond flour. This town has nothing but Bob’s Red Mill, so I mail ordered a bag. In the meantime, I tried her pizza crust using my Bob’s Red Mill Almond flour and it was… pretty good. I can see how I could work with it. It would make a good deep dish crust. It’s definitely got it’s merits as a thin crust too. I bet with a finer flour, it would be downright tasty. So fingers crossed on that one.

I tried a grilled cheese sandwich on Rudy’s sandwich bread. Their stuff is all awesome. The hamburger buns are so delicious, I think I’d prefer them over wheat buns. You can usually find their stuff in the freezer section. Shoulda taken a photo of the grilled cheese because it looked pretty sexy. It wasn’t the world’s most delicious grilled cheese, but it was good.


How to make fried rice:
About a cup and a half of leftover rice, a little bit of sesame oil, some fresh green beans and a sweet or mild pepper like bell peppers. Saute a minute or two, add some tamari and a little bit of stock. Add a small spoonful of garlic chili sauce. To scramble the egg, you can either push the rice aside, add a little more sesame oil to an open side of the pan and scramble there before incorporating back into the rice, or you can scramble in a small non-stick pan with some sesame oil and add into the rice.


FYI Most Chili Garlic Sauces are Gluten Free, but be sure to check the label (avoid ones with soy sauce). This is the one I use:

How to Make Spicy Green Beans and Tofu
Note: I don’t measure my sauces and oils when I do stir fry, I just chuck them in, so don’t sue me it yours has too much or too little of something. Taste for yourself and adjust.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package fried bean curd (tofu) cut into bit-sized pieces
  • a bunch of fresh green beans, cleaned and cut into 1.5″-2″ pieces
  • About 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Tamari (or soy sauce)
  • 1 Tablespoon Mirin (a sweet Japanese cooking wine)
  • 1 Tablespoon Garlic Chili Sauce
  • a bit of chicken or veggie stock as needed

Saute green beans in sesame oil over medium-high heat until the green beans start to turn bright green but not overly soft, they should still be a bit crispy. Add , garlic and ginger, Tamari (or soy sauce), mirin, and tofu and cook until aromatic. This is the point where I pull out a portion for Juniper and pretend she’s going to eat it. Then add garlic pepper sauce, toss until incorporated and heated through. Server with medium grain white rice.


Black Eyed Pea Salad:

Combine these ingredients:

  • Cooked black eyed peas
  • Diced crunchy veggies like celery, bell pepper or zucchini
  • Parsley

Then make a dressing of:

  • Some good, grainy mustard
  • Lemon juice
  • Olive oil
  • Salt, white pepper (or black works too)
  • Dash of red pepper flakes

Super yum at room temperature or cold.

P.S. I love being gluten free. This is TMI… totally TMI, but I basically haven’t pooped regularly in like 12 years, actually maybe never. It’s all or nothing as far as my butt as been concerned. It’s week three of being gluten free and it feels like food is moving and digesting the way it’s supposed to. To all those doctors that made me feel like it was my fault because I wasn’t eating enough fiber or drinking enough water. You can suck it.


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