Roasted Carrots with Cumin Seeds

For the past few Easters we've gotten together with friends for an Indian-themed Easter pot-luck. This year I made tomato chicken curry and roasted carrots with cumin seeds as my contribution. The roasted carrots are quite easy and a nice complement to Indian food. I based the ingredients on this Bon Appetit recipe, but I looked to Cook's Illustrated for how to cook them. For my first batch I followed the Cook's Illustrated instructions, which involves covering the carrots with aluminum foil for the first 15 minutes in the oven and then roasting them after that. Since I was running out of time to make the second batch, I decided to try a short cut and pre-cook the carrots in the microwave before roasting them in the oven. Fortunately, that way turned out just as well.

Roasted Carrots with Cumin Seeds
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. baby carrots (1 small bag)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt

Instructions:

Take the baby carrots out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the carrots and dry them with a towel. If any of the carrots are thicker than your pinkie finger, cut them in half. Transfer the carrots to a medium-size bowl and pour the olive oil over them. Toss them with the olive oil and then sprinkle on the cumin seeds and black pepper. Toss the carrots again and spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Cover the baking sheet tightly with aluminum foil and put the pan in the oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake until the carrots are browned and tender, stirring them every 10 minutes. This will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

If you are pressed for time, move the tray to the upper-middle rack position and increase the temperature to 450. Then it should take less time, but check the carrots more frequently to avoid having some get charred. The other trick for reducing the preparation time is, while the oven is preheating, to microwave the oil-covered carrots until they are tender. Then stir in the cumin seeds and black pepper and roast the carrots uncovered on the upper-middle oven rack.

When the carrots are done, transfer them to a serving bowl, sprinkle on the salt, and gently toss. Serve immediately.

Egg-free Baked Oatmeal #2

This is my second version of egg-free baked oatmeal. It's not an improvement over the first version as much as the creation of a different flavor. Instead of using maple syrup, this recipe calls for brown sugar and applesauce. As you can see from the picture, I like to pour heated blueberries over mine. I just never seem to get tired of blueberries. Fortunately, the girls are happy to eat lots of blueberries, too, although for them it's almost as much because of the purple color as it is because of the taste.

Egg-free Baked Oatmeal #2
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free rolled oats.
  
• 1 1/3 cups almond milk. I use Blue Diamond brand because it has added calcium.
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of sea salt (no more than 1/8 tsp.)
• frozen wild blueberries, if desired

Instructions:

The night before, measure the oats into a small bowl. Warm the almond milk in the microwave and pour over the oats. Stir and cover the bowl with a plate.

In the morning preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the brown sugar, canola oil, applesauce, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt to the bowl and stir until combined. If desired, stir 1/2 cup of frozen wild blueberries into the oat mixture. Pour the mixture into four 7-ounce ramekins. (If you don't add the blueberries, it's a little more than 1/2 cup per ramekin.) Place the ramekins in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the oven and let the oatmeal cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Slide a knife around the edge of the ramekins to loosen the oatmeal. Then gently shake each ramekin upside-down over a bowl to transfer the oatmeal.

You could also try baking the oat mixture into an 8"x8" Pyrex pan if you don't want to use ramekins. You may need to decrease the oven temperature and increase the baking time, but I'm not sure since I haven't tried baking the oatmeal this way.

Potato Cheddar Soup

This is a comforting soup, especially in the winter. I know it's not winter anymore, but we still have had some gray rainy days that qualify as soup days in my mind. Michael and I ate this soup a lot in our early married days, and I had missed it since needing to reduce our dairy intake. However, I've been doing some research and food tests, and the great news is that the girls and I can eat small amounts of extra-sharp Cheddar cheese.

Did you know that all cheeses are not created equal? Hard aged cheeses, like extra-sharp Cheddar, contain no lactose or whey. (It's best to buy the extra-sharp, not just sharp, Cheddar and to buy a brand like Cabot that says "no lactose" on the label. I've read that another clue is to look on the nutrition label to see if the cheese contains any sugar. If so, it still contains some lactose.) The only possibly troublesome milk ingredient left in the cheese is the casein, but since the girls tested negative for a milk allergy, I don't think the casein bothers them. Hooray!

Potato Cheddar Soup
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 2 medium to large yellow onions
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper (or more if you like a bit more kick to your soup)
  
• 2 1/2 cups Imagine Organic chicken broth or Trader Joe's Organic chicken broth.
  
• 1 1/2 lb. potatoes. I recommend either Russet or Yukon Gold.
• 1 lightly packed cup (2 oz.) of shredded aged extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (This might be 2/3 cup if tightly packed). Do not buy pre-shredded cheese, which is coated with corn-products to prevent the cheese from clumping.
  

Instructions:

Place a medium-size pot over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Finely chop the onions and add them to the pot. Saute the onions until they have softened. Add the black pepper and beef broth to the pot and increase the heat to high to bring the broth to a boil.

While the broth is heating, rinse and peel the potatoes. Then cut them into 1/4-inch cubes. When the broth has come to a boil, add the potatoes to the pot. Cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat down to medium or medium-low so that the liquid simmers. Cook the potatoes for 20 minutes, until they are soft. Remove the pot from the heat and mash the potatoes in the soup using a potato masher. Stir in the shredded cheese and serve.

Tomato Curry Chicken

I've been wanting to learn how to make more Indian dishes, but the difficulty with a lot of Indian food is that it contains significant amounts of either cream or yogurt, which doesn't work so well for us. In my search for dairy-free Indian food I stumbled across the following recipe for Indian Tomato Chicken. It got great reviews and didn't look too difficult to make, so I thought I would give it a try. Let me tell you, this recipe is really easy and it tastes great! The hardest thing about the recipe is making sure that you have all of the spices. I modified the spices a little bit in my version to suit our taste, and I added some peas for color. I'm so excited that now I'm going to try to find some more Indian recipes that are dairy-free.

Tomato Curry Chicken
serves 3 adults, maybe 4?

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts that are organic or kosher
• 14 oz. crushed or pureed tomatoes. Try to use tomatoes without citric acid, such as Pomi strained tomatoes.
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice (or use more rice if you prefer)
  

Instructions:

Place a medium-size pot over medium heat and add the canola oil. Finely chop the onion and add it to the pot. Saute the onion until tender. While the onion is sauteing, measure the cumin, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and salt into a small bowl. Thoroughly rinse the chicken and cut each chicken breast into about 8 cubes.

When the onion is soft, add the minced garlic and spices to the pot and stir for about 1 minute. Transfer the chicken to the pot and stir so that the onion mixture coats the chicken. Saute the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the outside of the chicken has cooked. Then pour the tomatoes and bay leaves into the pot, stir, and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to low so that, once the tomatoes heat up, the liquid will be barely simmering. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, until the chicken is done and the flavors have melded. A couple of minutes before serving, remove the bay leaves and stir in the frozen peas.

To make the rice, bring 5 cups of water to boil in a medium pot. Thoroughly rinse the uncooked rice using a sieve or strainer. Add the rice to the pot and stir briefly. When the water returns to a boil, turn the heat down to medium so that the water simmers vigorously. Partially cover the pot with a lid and cook the rice for 10 minutes. Drain the water from the rice and then return the rice to the pot. Let the rice sit in the covered pot until ready to serve.

Mexican Ranch Dressing

What kind of salad goes well with Mexican food? In need of something to go with a Mexican-themed main dish, I came up with this modification of my regular ranch dressing. It's similar to ranch dressing but has a bit more of a kick to it, due to the chili powder. I also like the addition of some lime juice and chopped cilantro. I didn't have any tomatoes when I took the picture of the salad above, but tomatoes or other vegetables would be great as well.

Mexican Ranch Dressing
serves 2 to 3 adults

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Hellmann's Real mayonnaise (not the light version). I recommend Hellmann's because it's labeled gluten-free.
  
• 2 Tbsp. Lactaid milk
• 1 Tbsp. sour cream (not low-fat). I recommend Daisy brand, which contains just cultured cream.
• 1 tsp. lime juice (or 2 tsp. if you want a bit more of a lime flavor)
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
  
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional)
  

Instructions:

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. Serve over Romaine lettuce and other salad toppings.

Banana Brownies (egg-free)

Since it's still been so cold here, I've been craving baked goods. And because chocolate baked goods are the best kind, I decided to experiment with egg-free banana brownies. After some tweaking, I think I like these egg-free brownies even better than the original ones. They are nice and chewy with a great chocolate flavor. This time I sprinkled the chocolate chips on top, but it would also work to stir the chocolate chips into the batter.

Banana Brownies (egg-free)
makes an 8"x8" pan of brownies

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (approximately 2 large bananas)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. The two kinds I use that do not contain milk fat are Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8"x8" Pyrex pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease the foil with canola oil.

Chop the unsweetened chocolate and place it in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the 3 tablespoons of canola oil to the pan and stir. Stir frequently until the chocolate has melted; then remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sea salt.

Returning to the pan with the melted chocolate, stir in the sugar, flax seed meal, and vanilla. Mash the bananas using a fork or a food chopper and stir the mashed banana into the pot with the chocolate. Pour the chocolate banana mixture into the bowl with the flour and stir just until no traces of flour remain. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter, if desired.

Pour the batter into the Pyrex pan and spread to smooth. If desired, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the brownies cool in the pan for at least 1 hour before cutting them.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

Since buying a jar of fish sauce and a bottle of Thai red curry paste, I've been looking for ways to use them. This soup recipe uses both ingredients and tastes great, especially on a cold, rainy day like today. I started off with the following recipe for coconut curry soup. However, I modified the recipe to use red curry paste, which gives the soup more of a Thai flavor. So if you like Thai food, you should really try this soup. The coconut milk gives it a creamy taste, something that I miss since going mostly dairy-free. I also like the fact that the soup does not call for all that many ingredients, and it's really quite easy to make. Even better than that is the fact that Michael and the girls all think it's great.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 "rice-cooker" cup of long-grain white rice, like Thai jasmine, to make about 2 cups of cooked rice
  
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 lb. (to 1.25 lb.) boneless skinless chicken breasts that are organic or kosher
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 to 3 medium carrots (to make 1/2 cup chopped carrots)
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. red curry paste. I use Thai Kitchen brand because it's gluten-free.
  
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce. I use Thai Kitchen brand because it's gluten-free.
  
• 2 cups Imagine Organic chicken broth OR Trader Joe's Organic free-range chicken broth
• 1 can light coconut milk. A can with guar gum is okay, but avoid any other additives.
  
• 2 broccoli crowns or 1 small bag of baby spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Instructions:

Place 1 "rice-cooker" cup of uncooked rice in the rice cooker with the appropriate amount of water and start the rice cooker. Chop the onion and carrots and set aside.

Place a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Thoroughly rinse the chicken breasts and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Pour 1 tablespoon of canola oil into the pot and let the oil heat up. Then add the chicken to the pot. Let one side of the chicken brown before turning the cubes so that another side browns. Toss the chicken pieces until all of the sides have browned, about 2 minutes in total. The chicken should not be fully cooked inside since it will cook some more later on. Transfer the chicken and any chicken juices to a bowl.

Pour another tablespoon of canola oil into the pot and lower the heat to medium. Add the onions and carrot to the pot and saute until they have softened, stirring occasionally. When they are soft, add the coriander, red curry paste, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Stir for 1 minute. Then pour the lime juice, fish sauce, chicken broth, and coconut milk into the pot, and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high to bring the liquid to a simmer.

While the liquid is heating, cut the broccoli crown into approximately 4 cups of bite-size florets. If using baby spinach instead of broccoli, measure about 4 packed cups of spinach and chop the spinach into bite-size pieces. When the liquid has come to a simmer, add the chicken with its cooking juices and the broccoli florets to the pot, cover the pot with a lid, and reduce the heat to low. Let the soup barely simmer for 15 minutes. (If using spinach, just add the chicken to the pot.) After the 15 minutes, add the spinach, if using, the cooked rice, and the peas. Stir and serve.