Category: Blog

Buckwheat: Delicious, Easy, and Gluten Free

As I’ve cut back on rice (and I promise you, this has been hard!), I’ve been looking at other options for my lunches. Since I got my pressure cooker, beans, especially black and garbanzo beans, have been on the menu. It’s really easy to cook up a batch on Sunday afternoon for lunches and to add to meals during the week.
But what has really captured my tastebuds is buckwheat. In the same amount of time it takes to make stovetop rice, you can cook up buckwheat groats. They have a nice chew and amazing flavor — earthy and warm. As an added bonus, they are super-versatile.

Continue reading “Buckwheat: Delicious, Easy, and Gluten Free”

Meatballs: The Easiest of Comfort Foods

Meatballs are one of the world’s great comfort foods. And they’re one of the world’s most versatile foods. You can work with any type of ground meat, beans, or grains. Add seasonings to suit your mood. Bake, grill, pan roast, or simmer in a sauce. Eat.

Meatballs are also quick to make. The hard part is getting your ingredients lined up (ye old mise en place). Still, since meatballs generally cook up in about 15 minutes or so, it’s not hard to get them done in under thirty minutes. This makes them an attractive option for weeknight meals. Continue reading “Meatballs: The Easiest of Comfort Foods”

Scrambling Some Eggs

When my husband switched to a lower carb diet, I joined him. Since I’m gluten free, it wasn’t a huge dietary shift for me, and, frankly, it helped me cut back on the rice I’d been using as a crutch since quitting so many other foods. Since this diet modification, I’ve been experimenting with lots more vegetable-based meals. And, we’re eating a lot more eggs.

One Sunday, we had a scrambled egg tutorial (this was followed by basic poached eggs and simple fried eggs). Since then, I just avert my eyes when he makes his scrambled eggs. It’s painful. Apparently my process was too complicated for him. Continue reading “Scrambling Some Eggs”

Under Pressure

As I think I’ve mentioned about a thousand times, I use a lot of chicken (and vegetable stock). And years ago, I realized that I was spending a small fortune to buy stock. I much prefer to make it myself, and it really doesn’t take that much active time.

In the past, I’ve set a pot on the back burner of the stove, added some aromatics like onion and garlic, tossed in some seasoning like salt and peppercorn, added the chicken carcasses I’ve bagged and tossed in the freezer. And for the next couple of hours, the stock or broth or whatever you prefer to call it would simmer away. I put the liquid in one-cup size containers and freeze them until needed. Continue reading “Under Pressure”

Really Big Salads

I said, feeling virtuous, “Let’s just have a really big salad for lunch.” My husband, feeling less virtuous, required a bit of persuasion, but eventually conceded a really big salad was just what he wanted. Mostly because all other options would require him to make his own lunch.

He is a wise man. Continue reading “Really Big Salads”

Gluten-Free Collard Green Wraps (Plus a Few Other Options)

The longer I’ve been gluten free, the more I realize the thing I miss most about sandwiches is the stuff that goes between the bread. I was reminded of this when I had a great tuna wrap, using a collard green, at Real Food Daily. The mix of tuna salad and veggies made my mouth and stomach very happy.

And the timing was perfect because I’d purchased collard greens just that week to make wraps for my lunch. Collards are great for wraps because they are large, flexible, and sturdy enough to wrap around a good amount of food. They’re also low carb, something my household is very conscious of these days. Continue reading “Gluten-Free Collard Green Wraps (Plus a Few Other Options)”

More on Specialty Diets

 

When a family member with diabetes was told her diet adjustments weren’t working and that she needed to both change her diet and starting taking shots, she, understandably, worried. Not so much about the shots, but about the dietary changes. It seems, for the first time, she really considered how the foods she’d been eating impacted her life.
She realized that many of her favorite foods, from her morning bagel to snacking-favorite saltines, were contributing to her problem. And she started wondering what in the world she could possibly eat. Sounds familiar.

Continue reading “More on Specialty Diets”