Cornless Corn Bread

I may have done it! I tried cooking this on the stove-top, like a big pancake, because I'm lazy, but it didn't like the idea of flipping over, so I got stir-fried bread batter. But it was so tasty I figured I'd better try again. I didn't use any measurements either time, but I did write down an estimate. Quick breads are pretty forgiving, though, right?

I have been fermenting a flour mix I found at India Bazaar called "dhokla flour" - so I call it my "sourdhokla starter." I tried making it into a sourdough bread loaf, and boy, does that recipe need some work. It made great crumbs for the top of my Thanksgiving Day butternut squash casserole, though! 

The starter does not end up smelling or tasting very sour, but it bubbles beautifully - especially when I leave it in the oven with the light on overnight. When I get up in the morning and see it thriving, I can't wait to feed it or use it in pancakes or devise a new recipe for it. So it keeps me eating, which is good...

Besides not being very sour, it is not very fine. The texture of the flour is very course - like cornmeal - and the fermentation process does little to break it down. Which is why it's perfect for Cornless Cornbread!

This recipe came together the way it did partly just because of what I had on hand or problems I anticipated needing to solve. The Nug had abandoned a bowl of pumpkin puree, so I dumped that into my mixing bowl. The starter has proven in the past to do very poorly with holding together, so I made a gel out of psyllium husks and water... And so on.

So here's what I did to produce the bread you see pictured above: 

Preheat oven. (I set mine at 375•F, but there is no reason to believe the old gal actually baked my bread at anything resembling that temperature...)

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine 1tsp psyllium husk with a couple tablespoons water; set aside (roughly five minutes).

In a medium to large mixing bowl, plop in a few heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup), add a capful of unfiltered apple cider, a glob of ghee (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup), plenty of starter (1 to 1-1/2 cups), 2 eggs, the psyllium gel, and enough full-fat coconut milk to achieve a batter-like texture (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup).

Grease the vessel in which you are to bake your Cornless Cornbread. I used a Pyrex I found in the cupboard, but I'm thinking next time I'll use my Pampered Chef fluted stoneware so the middle isn't too gooey.

Add salt, baking powder and baking soda. I have no clue how much of these I used. I shook the salt shaker seven times, dusted the surface of the batter with a few shakes of baking powder and tossed in a pinch or two of baking soda. Sorry I can't be more helpful there...

Mix it up, pour in the batter, bake the stuff. Mine went forty minutes and a toothpick came out clean, but I wish I'd done at least five minutes more. 

Regardless, it was a great way to start the day (and an unpleasant surprise for my mom, who was not expecting a sour taste)!

You Had Me at "Pigeon Peas"

The Nug knows "pizza." I know, the best-laid plans...

I've been fermenting a flour I found at India Bazaar called "Dhokla Flour." It's actually a blend of flours and might go by the name of "Handva Flour," depending if your local Indian grocer caters to those with a background in the north or the south. In this case, the blend is 64% rice,16% chickpeas, 10% pigeon peas, and 10% lentils (probably the split and skinned version of the lentils known as "udad" or "urid"). It is somewhat coarse, like cornmeal, and has cultured beautifully in the last few days. 

The "Gluten Free Girl and the Chef" blog recommends a ratio of 60% starch to 40% whole grain for an all-purpose flour mix. Noticing the similarities (64% rice to 36% beans, peas and lentils) I thought, "Hey, two pounds for $2.69? Might want to see what I can do with this!"

I tried a recipe for coconut steamed buns the night I bought it, but they were much too dense to enjoy without some ghee and spices to liven them up (ghee is technically a dairy product, but is produced in such a way that it eliminates the top three allergens: lactose, casein and whey). I think I've got to play with the recipe a bit. 

I like the fermented version of this flour so much better! All the little granules that made it seem like cornmeal at first (and that made the steamed buns so dense) soak up the moisture and soften, losing their individual identity and working together to form a cohesive, pillowy batter with a mildly tangy aroma.

Traditional dhokla is a fermented food, but it's achieved using curd or yogurt; so until I find a recipe that doesn't involve dairy, find a non-dairy yogurt cheap enough to experiment with, or feel comfortable enough approximating without dairy on my own, I will have to find other uses for my sourdhokla starter. Get it? Sourdough, sourdhokla? =D

Enter the pizza my son begged me to make today. I took a scoop of starter, a little extra besan (chickpea flour), an egg, a drizzle of soy sauce, and a pinch of baking soda and mixed them up while my wok heated to pancake-cooking level. Yes, wok. It's a Green Pan I got on clearance with Kohl's Cash and I love it so much I use it for everything! 

I brushed a little ghee onto the nonstick surface, poured all the batter into the pan, smoothed it into a circle with the wooden spoon I'd used to mix it, grated some aged sheep's milk cheese (Pecorino Romano) into a bowl, and added fresh-ground black pepper to that. By that time, my pizza crust was ready to be cooked on the other side; once I'd flipped it, I ladled pasta sauce on and then topped it with the cheese and pepper (to those who can't eat byproducts of sheep and goats, I apologize - if it's cow-free, it's good enough for me!), and then I covered it with the lid of my bamboo steamer for something under a minute - just long enough to melt the cheese. 

It's not that this "pizza" would fool anyone besides my toddler - but it was another successful experiment in cooking that filled me up at mealtime and satisfied the Nug, so I thought I might as well share!

I Got the Moves Like Jaggery

The most commonly used sweetener in our house right now is jaggery. I used to buy it in powder form, but when the local Indian grocer ran out, I started buying it in "fresh," cake-like form. (Actually, a visitor to our home reportedly bit into one, thinking it was a cookie! Uh, yeah, a cookie made entirely of evaporated cane juice...)

Fresh jaggery was a lot harder to use at first. The powder was easy to swap 1:1 for brown or even granulated sugar - assuming we were okay with a more "earthy" tasting finished product (generally, we were). The cakes of jaggery were a bit perplexing. If you've ever bought a cone of chancaca, panela, piloncillo, raspadura, atado dulce, empanizao, papelon or panocha at a Latin market, you know the struggle. The stuff can be hard as a rock!

I started out trying to grate the necessary amount from each cake. This was effective, but not at all efficient (and quite humorous to the cashier when I told him upon my next trip to the Indian market)! The blender was a complete disaster. The shaved ice contraption was shot down before we even gave it a try. I found that one cake was just about right for a batch of rice cooker oatmeal, so I would just plop it in with the rest of the ingredients and let it melt as they cooked.

Remembering this as I prepared to make an experimental batch of brownies for The Dude's birthday, I measured out the proper amounts of coconut oil and fresh jaggery (two cakes) and set them to mingle in a non-stick pan over low heat while I assembled the rest of the recipe.

BAD PLAN.

It melted into a delightful, earthy, caramel-y substance... but then what?! Long story short, I ended up with a "baked good" not at all resembling the thing we like to call "brownies," you and I.

Only later did I remember that The Dude and I had already found the answer to this dilemma. Apparently, the traditional method is to crush the cakes, grinding them as finely as desired using a mortar and pestle. Another handy tip is to soften them in the microwave for a few seconds first. We have yet to acquire a mortar and pestle or to repair our broken microwave, so we made do with a rolling pin and a zip-locking sandwich bag. This method obliterates the bag, but is in all other ways a perfectly reasonable solution. I have no idea how it could have slipped my mind just in time for The Great Brownie Catastrophe of 2014...!

Luckily, I remembered before I attempted to bake the official birthday brownies. Taking what I'd learned from the first batch, I made a few adjustments and ended up with a recipe I described on Facebook as a "gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat, low-glycemic, super-fudgy pumpkin coconut pecan brownie."

It may not be a One-Bowl Meal, but here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 350•F. 

Beat 2 eggs in large bowl. Add 1t vanilla extract, 6T pumpkin puree, and 3T coconut oil (should be melted or at least soft - I left mine on the stove while it preheated and took the opportunity to chop 1/2c each of pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips). Beat well. 

Crush 3/4c to 1c worth of fresh jaggery; mix in another bowl with 21g desiccated coconut, 42g besan, 42g mung bean starch, 1/4c cocoa powder, and the aforementioned pecans and chocolate chips. Add dry ingredients to liquids, stir till smooth.

Grease 8x8 glass pan with coconut oil left over from measuring spoon; pour batter in, top with another 1/2c chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes; cool at least 5.

NOTES 

1. The chocolate chips I use are from Costco; they are not made with milk-derived ingredients, and are ethically sourced. You can easily make this recipe healthier by leaving the second 1/2c off the top, and substituting nuts, coconuts or nothing at all!

2. Desiccated coconut is available at Asian and Indian grocers. It is like unsweetened, shredded coconut, but is dehydrated to a much greater degree and will therefore absorb much more moisture - kind of like coconut flour. If you use the shredded coconut, you may need to reduce - or even halve - the amount of pumpkin used. 

3. Besan is a flour of many names. The ones I'm familiar with include gram (not to be confused with graham), chickpea and garbanzo bean. The Indian word for split chickpea is "chana dal," so you might also run into that. It's available in different grinds, and there is a darker version known as "black." Mine is a pretty standard one, not a super coarse or fine grind, and relatively yellow in color.

4. Mung bean starch is not the same as mung (or "moong") bean flour. The flour is coarse, with dark flecks. The starch is a fine white powder just like corn starch, arrowroot, etc. I buy mine at an Asian market run by a Hmong family, but I've used it to make Korean recipes, and the language on the package looks like a mix of Thai and Chinese, so I have high hopes that it is readily available. I love this starch for GF all-purpose flour mixes!

5. Jaggery is made from either cane sugar or palm; I'm pretty sure the stuff I'm using is from cane sugar. If you can't find it, try any of the Latin alternatives mentioned above. It is lower-glycemic than most other sugar came products, as it contains more of the plant's original vitamins and minerals. It imparts less sweetness per unit than its refined counterparts, so bear in mind that while this brownie is rich and chocolatey, it is not nearly as sweet as one might expect on looking at it. 

6. This brownie crumbles, as there are no gums or binders other than eggs. If you need to transport it without it falling apart, you may want to add a bit of psyllium husk (I get mine at Trader Joe's) to the liquid bowl before attending to the dry ingredients.

And Sometimes We Microwave

I've been living off of the drive-thru these days. An old mountain biking injury has caught up with me, and I'm on bed rest. In the morning, The Dude piles our family into the car; I take him to work, get breakfast burritos for him and The Nug (and hash browns for myself, if I'm too hungry to wait for something better), and then pick up my neighbor and run her on errands while The Nug naps in the back of the car. At some point, I usually hit up the Starbucks drive-thru for soy milk and oatmeal. Then I don't eat again till The Dude gets home and makes something for me. This is how I avoid standing and walking at home, so that I can avoid exerting myself except in cases where I'm needed by The Nug. 

I've run out of disposable income, though, so some standing and walking a bit today was inevitable; enter the microwave.

Here we have corn tortillas (this particular brand has no gums or preservatives added) spread with garlic hummus, sprinkled with brown rice and Pecorino Romano (aged sheep's milk cheese - like Parmesan, but not from cows), seasoned with dried basil and cumin, and microwaved for 20-30 seconds apiece. Garnished with prepared spring greens mix and mild kimchi. Coconut water and pumpkin spice tea on the side (prepared several days ago and also microwaved, that last one) - still harder on my body than drive-thru, and a mess if I let The Nug try to feed himself, but the only thing easier would have been microwaved vegetable juice (once I heat it, I call it "tomato soup") and I will probably have that later anyway, so... I'll take it. Sitting down. ;)

"Rice Cooker, You're My Only Friend, Rice Cooker"

With summer heat comes an increased awareness of every degree contributed by kitchen appliances. Some folks beat the heat by grilling outside (I knew one family that made everything - even pizza! - on their grill from June to September). Others eat microwave dinners for most of their meals, while still others dedicate themselves to eating only what they can prepare without any heat at all. Smoothies, salads, etc. 

Not bad choices, really, those last few, but I personally enjoy my food warm (okay, hot) year-round. The tiny house community is abuzz about toaster ovens, slow-cookers and portable hot plates, but honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with them if I had them. 

No, there's room in my heart and my kitchen for one cook-a-whole-meal-without-turning-on-the oven-or-the-stove type appliance, and that is my rice cooker. The one I have is slightly fancier than the basic model you might find for $20 at the average big box store. I got it at Costco on the day after Thanksgiving for something under $30, thinking I was getting away with something by buying it then. Turns out it often drops to that price, and that's fine with me, because I just know I'm going to wear the poor little thing out and have to buy another one!

This one is an Aroma cool-touch machine. The lid locks shut, a steamer basket fits into the top of the non-stick basin inside, it came with a rice paddle and a ladle, and the features are as follows: Keep Warm, White Rice, Brown Rice, Quick Rice, Smart Steam, Slow Cook Low, Slow Cook High and Delay Timer. 

I recently attended a camp where I knew all the meals would be wheat-based (pancakes at breakfast, burgers at lunch, pasta at dinner, cookies for dessert, and so on). I knew I would have to make my own food, but would have to stay out of the way while the "standard" meals were being prepared. I also wanted to experience camp, not stay in the kitchen all day. I wanted to "set it and forget it," if you will, but I didn't want each meal to take 4+ hours like it would in a slow-cooker.

Enter the rice cooker. ("Laaaaa!" <-- cue angelic chorus sound effect.)

I hope to share all the meal ideas I came up with for that weekend (it really went swimmingly), but for now I leave you with the late-night snack I'm eating RIGHT NOW: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal!

I happen to use Silver Palate Oatmeal, a somewhat thicker rolled oat than the usual. So if you don't have boxes and boxes of thick rolled oats lining your shelves like I do, you may be obligated to make some adjustments as you see fit. This meal is not the most expensive nor the most difficult to achieve, so I expect you will have few to zero consequences if you go about experimenting.

Cut up an apple. Or two. Why not?

I like the pieces small, but my husband once cut them twice as big and they turned out fine.

Drizzle in some coconut oil. Oatmeal begs for a good fat to round it out, and coconut oil is just the thing. If this is winter (a great time to eat such a comforting dish!), your oil will probably not be drizzlable - so what? Just plop in a chunk. It'll melt and get stirred in by the end.

Heap in the cinnamon. Cinnamon reduces the need for quite so much sweetener, and it helps keep your blood sugar level. Win-win! Use less if yours is Saigon, like mine is and forever will be (curse you and your bulk packaging, Costco!) because apparently Ceylon is the safer stuff. 

Sweeten it. Use a little or a lot, depending on your dietary needs/restrictions. Obviously, you're going to want to use a healthier alternative to processed sugar. I use either maple syrup or jaggery powder, and if I were ever to unearth the jug of honey I have stashed away somewhere, I would probably use that on occasion (although I'd be more likely to add it afterward to keep the nutrients intact).

Salt it. Salt intensifies other favors, including sweetness, so again, you have something that helps you keep the sugar content down. A little goes a long way, and I hope you know I'm not recommending synthetic table salt. We get our Himalayan pink salt and our sea salt (where else?) at Costco. (There's another kind of salt I get at the Indian store that supplies my jaggery powder, and it smells like egg because of its high sulphur content. I don't use that in my oatmeal.)

Add the oats. A cup is usually enough to feed me a couple of times throughout the day, especially if I add soy milk to each serving; or it's enough for a light meal for me and The Dude. We both sort of just shove spoonfuls into the mouth of The Nug whenever appropriate; we're not really a sit-down-at-the-table-together-and-eat-what's-on-your-plate kind of family.

Add water. You could follow the directions on your oatmeal; you could follow the directions on your rice cooker. I sort of just pour in the amount that feels right and look forward to finding out how well it worked. This time I filled the basin to the "2 'cups' of rice" line. (I say 'cups' like that because, as you may be aware, the standard "cup" for rice cookers is actually 3/4 cup, or 150g.) 

Start the cooker. If you have a porridge setting, by all means, see how that works for me. I make out quite nicely with just the "White Rice" button. 

If you need more to eat, steam something on top while the oats are cooking below. (Keep in mind that the food steaming on top will probably flavor the food below it to some extent.) Tonight, I threw in chunks of sweet potato. I'll have to save them for another time, however, because this oatmeal is gooooooood!

Making vs Eating vs Cleaning

Today I'm looking forward to cleanup more than any other part of the nourishment process. The sink is empty, and my One-Bowl Meal is really only going to need to be rinsed out of said Bowl. It's gonna be easy-peasy, and I'm going to be so proud of myself for accomplishing something today.

I have a migraine, so after I nursed The Nug to sleep, I moseyed around the kitchen gathering items I figured I could throw into a bowl without wanting to lobotomize myself in the process. The result: a prewashed organic Super Greens mix of chard, kale and spinach, a dollop of hummus, a container of organic short grain brown rice, a handful of shredded organic baby carrots, Korean red pepper flakes, mustard seeds, and a drizzle of Gluten-Free soy sauce.

Easier to make than to eat, in my condition. Tasty and filling nonetheless. 

Mama out.

Using What You Have

Mitch Hedberg joked that potatoes take so long to bake, he'll throw them in the oven when he's not hungry - because "by the time they're done, who knows?!"

Beans are my baked potatoes, man. I used to have shelves full of beans daring me to cook them, and I was always one to back down - until I found a recipe for cooking them in the oven. I'm sure it's better to soak them first, but since I'm never going to plan ahead well enough to soak my beans, I'm going to venture a guess that it's still better to have cooked beans on hand than dry ones.

It's a good sign when your One-Bowl Meal is too hearty to finish in one sitting. 

Today's Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Mostly Meat-Free One-Bowl Recipe for Busy Stay-At-Home Moms Who Also Intend To Feed This To Their Toddlers is an exercise in using what you have. I had wilted mixed greens and mushy chopped onions and limp celery. So I simmered them, covered, in a heavy-bottomed pot all day.

Sometime that evening I got around to remembering to turn off the stove, and I just left the pot, still covered, to cool overnight. In the morning, I grabbed the salad spinner from the dish drainer and poured the broth and the veggies into the colander part while it rested in the bowl part. To get enough to cook my beans in, I picked up the colander with my left hand, fended The Nug off with my left leg, and squeezed the living daylights out of the greens with my right hand. I poured the liquid back into the heavy-bottomed pot (a Le Creuset enameled cast iron, for those who are wondering), and dropped the colander back into the bowl to await A) the moment I wash a medium saucepan and turn it into pesto, B) the minute someone else needs the salad spinner and tosses my unrecognizable green goo, or C) the more likely event that it turns into a mass of moldy mush. We shall see...

Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 325, rinsed the beans in their bag and added them to the pot, topped them with a strip of kelp (kombu in Japanese, dashima in Korean), popped them into the oven and took The Dude to work. I ran some errands, came home, sniffed the air, decided the beans were fine, took care of the garden and the baby, came back and turned off the oven. Put brown rice in the cooker, tried to get The Nug to nap (failed), came back and put the relatively cool beans in a glass container to store in the fridge.

The broth, the beans that didn't fit, some of the rice, and a splash of veggie juice comprised my One-Bowl Meal - and there you have it!

Milk, And What It Means To Me

Milk

Why do I eat "Dairy-Free?" More than anything else, it's to keep my marriage healthy. My husband and I are flippin' awesome together. We'll celebrate our 8th anniversary this year,  and look forward to many more. But there's a dark period in our past we must never forget.

People laugh when I say there was a time in our lives when I was physically and verbally abusive of my husband. He's tall, strong and confident, so I get why that's hard to imagine, but it really happened and it was really bad. My husband felt like he was trapped with a rabid honey badger, and wondered what in the world had become of his spunky college sweetheart.

In many ways, The Dude and I are the same kind of weird.

Milk. Milk was the problem. Milk is like heroin to me; all dairy products are, to some degree. I have an allergy/addiction, so dairy consumption is followed by an intense high, which is succeeded by a super crazy low. So I guess you could say I suffered mood swings.

All I know is, a bowl of cereal was never enough. If I had one, I had to have at least two more, and often I continued having more until there was no more to have. When I was done, I could barely move, nor would I want to; I just wanted to sit there loving life and enjoying the high. Soon after, though, the crash would come on, but I wouldn't even realize it. I'd get quite sleepy and very, very cranky. Suddenly,  everything seemed like a personal attack, so I subconsciously lashed out in "self-defense."

If I'd seen a video afterwards, I wouldn't have recognized myself!

So now I don't drink milk, and the addiction has no foothold in my life. I have plenty of options I can turn to, depending on what I need.

Milk Substitutes

I live in a small town where not much is available; sure, we have a supermarket with a "health-food" section, but I am not convinced that "health-food" and "healthy food" are synonymous phrases. The boxed "milks" with added stabilizers and gums and sugars and flavor-enhancers... I don't react well to those, so I find other ways to get what I need. The substitute I use is determined by the intended application. 

For cereal?  A banana and water in a blender make a quick solution.

Knockoff Rice Chex (Also Marked Gluten-Free), Chia Seeds and Banana "Milk"

I like tahini and water blended to a delightful state of frothiness if I'm planning to add something to my coffee. (More often than not, I don't add anything, as I prefer "coff-tea," myself. Maybe I'll tell you about it some time.)

In fact, many nut butters blended with water make excellent milk substitutes.

When I do buy boxed "milk," it's organic soymilk from Trader Joe's (in a big city far, far away), because the only ingredients are soybeans and water. If I need it to taste like vanilla, I add vanilla. If I need it sweeter, I add something sweet (fruit, frozen apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, or an Indian sugar cane product called gur shakkar).

The Nug, Enthroned on High, Requesting "Milk," Which in This Case Means the Bowl of Qi'a I'm Stirring

Several mornings this week, the One-Bowl Meal I've shared with The Nug at breakfast time has been this hot/cold bagged cereal my mom picked up for me at Costco: Qi'a. It's got chia seeds, hemp and buckwheat groats, dried cranberries and sliced almonds. The baby's spoonfuls don't contain a lot of the last one there, but when he gets them, he handles them like a champ.

This particular bowl was made with soymilk, water, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and maple syrup.  Another was recently made with banana "milk."

Maybe It's The Hunger Talkin', But...

Holy Mamba Jamba, this dish was good.

Not a mac n' cheese substitute by any means, but it hit the mac n' cheese spot for me today - and I didn't even know I was craving it!

I'll grant you that this shouldn't count as a "One-Bowl Meal," per se. Pasta with oil and spices, gluten-free though it may be, is by no means an exemplary dish as far as nutrition goes.

But hunger is hunger, and I promise you, it could have been worse!

I finally got The Nug to bed and had set about completing my To Do list (by which I mean forwarding 60% of the tasks to another day, delegating one to my husband, circling two as urgent/important and doing nothing toward accomplishing them, and leaving several blank in the hopes that they'd fall into place after the priorities) when suddenly I realized that Mama's gotta eat. They do, from time to time, you know?

I told myself I had too much to do to come up with anything "fancy" (I bet you can guess what my standard is there), so I boiled half a package of corn/rice pasta I'd had stashed away since a trip to Target a couple of months ago.

I wasn't sure what I was going to add to it by the time it was done, but I was aware I was getting stupider by the minute. That hunger had hit me like a bus outta nowheresville!

By the time it was done, I had decided no tomato sauce. If I used a new jar, I'd have to find a place for it in the fridge! If I looked for an old jar, I'd have to stand in front of the cold fridge, rearranging cold, ugly leftovers, and it would probably be moldy anyway (Aesop style, son!).

I ate about a quarter of the noodles bare, right from the pot, as I thought about my options. Finally, I decided on just a light coat of oil and a green herb, like basil. Or a mix, like Italian seasoning.

But once I got the olive oil evenly distributed, heavens to Betsy, my hand made for the nutritional yeast flakes instead. And then the granulated garlic, and then the smoked paprika. Some Himalayan salt followed shortly thereafter, grinding smoothly and calmly over the dish as though it never once believed I would leave it behind.

I ate it so fast I had to take a picture of the corner of the bowl because there were no more noodles left in the rest of it!

So I know it's not super healthy, but there are some things going for it: yeast flakes, garlic and paprika are more than just flavor enhancers; each has its own nutritional benefits.  And just think of all the terrible things I didn't put in there!

So if you try it (as part of a balanced meal, perhaps), let me know: was it just the hunger talking, or is this a mighty tasty munchie?

Guys, I Just Ate The Best Avocado

Like, life-changing good.

If you grab a spoon and eat straight out of the skin, it counts as a "One-Bowl Meal," right?

Excuse me while I go figure out how many avocado trees I can plant in my yard...

Free avocados taste that much richer. These were a gift from generous family members in Southern California. 

Single-Ingredient Sourdough

If you want a hands-on beginner's course in lactofermented flours, I personally suggest you start with garbanzo bean flour. Known by many other names, including gram and chickpea, it's the ingredient that makes The-Gluten-Free-All-Purpose-Flour-Mix-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named taste so terrible.

A starter is like a baby... but you can give up and start fresh anytime you want, no strings attached. Come to think of it, it's more like Tamagotchi.

I know, I know, who could refuse such a glowing recommendation? Well, let me tell you something. It's also the ingredient that makes the best gluten-free sourdough starters. I don't know if it's the protein, but for whatever reason the cultures love it. And here's the thing: souring it makes all the difference in the world.

For ages, other cultures have been making a very simple flatbread out of soaked chickpea flour (sounds so much cuter than "garbanzo bean," right?), so I took it a step farther and used the soured stuff. I borrowed ideas here and there from recipes for socca and farinata, but never ended up with an exact recipe.

I keep my starter very thick (for one thing, this saves space, and for another, it allows the cultures to metabolize the flour more slowly, giving you more time between feeding the starter and more time between... well, feeding you!) Maybe you wanna eat this stuff every day. I dunno, I think I'm happier with my poops when I stretch it out to once a week (the eating, not the pooping).

It's Movie Time Somewhere...

Sure, we may not be the ones watching anything at the moment, but are we going to let that stop us from enjoying a bowl of "Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Mostly Meat-Free" deliciousness?  I think not.

#likemotherlikeson 

For us, the particulars are as follows:

We use an old-fashioned stovetop Whirley Pop with a couple of teaspoons coconut oil, a dash of sea salt, and a third cup of organic popcorn from the bulk bins at Raley's*.

If you've never had coconut oil on popcorn,  you need to hang out with me. You hold the Nug, I'll wash the Whirley Pop (what, you thought it was already clean?), and we'll have ourselves a popcorn party to remember. Just be prepared to navigate around grabby little hands that move like lightning!

I read somewhere that popping corn actually preserves a lot of the nutrients.  I haven't looked into it since then... because if that's wrong, who wants to be right?

*If you're worried about gluten cross-contamination, do not buy your popcorn from bulk bins. 

Because Why Not Me?

I posted today on Facebook. After several days in a row with very little of either sleep or food (you know, in other words, life as a mom), I had had enough of navigating the complexities of my special diet, my toddler's schedule, and my messy kitchen. Wearing the kid out everyday is enough to wear me out - so how am I supposed to make sure Mama gets fed?

Mama's Little Bundle (of energy and willfulness)
A.K.A. "The Nug"

I knew exactly what I needed. So I posted:

Okay, who wants to write a cookbook entitled "Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Mostly Meat-Free One-Bowl Recipes for Busy Stay-At-Home Moms Who Also Intend To Feed This To Their Toddlers" for me?

Several of the comments were all, "Why don't you write one?" And I was all, "Because I don't have time." Duh.

And then one guy was like, "If you cut out wheat, dairy and meat, what else is left?" And before I knew it I had described exactly the kind of meal that would show up in this magical, mystical "cookbook" of which I dream.