Best Marinated Flank Steak (or flat iron steak)

This recipe is so simple that it's hard to believe how good it is, but it's my new favorite way to prepare beef before grilling it.  I found the recipe here, but I modified it to use fish sauce instead of oyster sauce, to which I may be allergic.  You might be worried that the beef will end up tasting fishy, but it really doesn't.  Somehow the fish sauce, combined with the other ingredients, just gives it a great depth of "umami" flavor.  And in addition to loving the taste, I love the word "umami," don't you?

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. flank steak or flat iron steak
• 1/4 cup fish sauce.  Buy one that is labeled gluten-free, like the Thai Kitchen brand.
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. grainy mustard or Dijon mustard
• black pepper -- to sprinkle on before grillin

Instructions:

Cut any excess fat or silver skin off of the steak.  Whisk together the fish sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and mustard in a small bowl.  Place the steak in a gallon-size Zip-loc bag and pour the marinate into the bag.  Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the steak.  Place the steak in the refrigerator and marinate for at least 4 hours, but up to overnight.  Remove the steak from the bag and sprinkle it with black pepper.  Grill until medium done.  Let the steak rest 10 minutes before slicing it thinly against the grain.

Egg-free Pizza with Homemade Sauce

I already have a recipe for pizza on this blog.  However, I posted that recipe before Sabrina's egg allergy was diagnosed, and before I realized that the citric acid in store-bought tomato sauce comes from corn.  Since then I've started making pizza using the same Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza mix, but without egg.  I've also developed my own homemade pizza sauce using a can of tomato paste, since tomato paste is one of the few canned tomato products that usually does not contain citric acid.  The great thing is that my family likes the homemade sauce even better!  An additional bonus is that, for the cost of one small can of tomato paste, I can make enough sauce for two pizzas.  One bag of the Bob's Red Mill pizza mix makes enough dough for two pizzas, so the whole meal ends up being pretty economical.  In the summer when I grow basil outside, I can even throw on some fresh basil for practically free.  :)

One last note is that so far I have only made pizza on a metal pizza pan, so my instructions are for that kind of pan.  The main thing I've learned is that the pan has to be on the bottom oven rack for the crust to bake completely and get crispy.  Maybe someday I'll get a pizza stone and then work on instructions for baking a pizza on that.

Egg-free Pizza with Homemade Sauce
(1 pizza feeds 2 adults, or 2 adults and a couple small children, if the adults are willing to share)

Ingredients:

• half the bag (8 oz.) of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza mix
• 1 tsp. of yeast from the enclosed yeast packet
• 3/4 cup water, warmed in the microwave to 105 degrees
• instead of an egg:  1 1/2 Tbsp. flax seed meal mixed with 3 Tbsp. hot water
• 1/2 tsp. white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 can Lindsay Naturals sliced black olives.  (I just discovered that some of the cans of sliced olives at Whole Foods are also safe since they contain just olives, water, and salt.)
• Hormel Natural Choice original uncured pepperoni
• 2 oz. aged extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, grated by hand (not pre-grated)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, grated by hand (not pre-grated)

Ingredients for the sauce:
(This makes enough for 2 pizzas.  On one pizza I use half, which is 6 oz. or 3/4 cup, and I freeze the rest for another time.)

• 1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 3/4 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper 

Instructions:

Heat 3/4 cup water in the microwave until it reaches 105 degrees.  (This takes about 45 seconds in my microwave.  The water is hot enough to help activate the yeast but isn't so hot as to kill it.)  Mix the yeast into the water and let it sit.  In a separate small bowl heat 3 Tbsp. of water and 1 1/2 Tbsp. flax seed meal, and stir.  After letting the yeast water and flax seed water sit for a couple of minutes, transfer them to a mixing bowl.  Add the white sugar and olive oil and mix on low until combined.  Then add the flour and mix on medium speed for 1 minute.  Cover the bowl with saran wrap and set aside for 30 minutes for the dough to rise.

Move the oven rack to the bottom position and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Pour 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil onto a metal pizza pan and spread around using a paper towel, OR spray the pan with an olive oil spray.   Place the dough onto the pan and use a spatula to spread it until it is a 12-inch diameter circle.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes on the lowest oven rack.  Add the sauce, cheese, and toppings.  Then return the pan to the lowest oven rack for about 10 more minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven when the cheese is melted and golden.  (If you add more cheese, you might need to cook the pizza longer once the toppings have been added.  You might need to place the pizza on the lower-middle rack so that the crust doesn't burn before the cheese is melted.)  Let the pizza cool for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Zucchini Apple Muffins

Here is my latest muffin recipe!  Since it's now summer and zucchini is inexpensive and plentiful, I thought I would come up with another way to use it in muffins.  The grated zucchini and apple keep these muffins nice and moist.     

Recently I have discovered another method that helps cut down on preparation time when making baked goods:  weighing flour using a kitchen scale.  I had read that one cup of white flour is 125 grams.  After measuring and weighing the Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour, I confirmed that one cup of it also is equal to 125 grams.  So if you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing the flour instead of trying to scoop it out of the bag.  Weighing the flour is more accurate and takes less time, too!  (One caveat is that other gluten-free flours do not weigh the same amount, so be sure to measure other flours using measuring cups or according to the recipe.) 

Zucchini Apple Muffins
makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. rice milk
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small apple
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar 
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.  Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin with canola oil.  Mix the rice milk and flax seed meal in a cup, heat it in the microwave until hot, and stir.

Peel the skin off the zucchini and apple.  Grate the zucchini, pack it firmly into a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and pour the grated zucchini into a small bowl.  Then grate the apple, pack it firmly into the 1/2 cup measuring cup, and transfer it to the bowl with the zucchini.  Be sure to firmly pack as much zucchini and apple into the measuring cup as you can.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a different bowl, mix the flax and milk mixture, white sugar, canola oil, cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.  Stir the grated zucchini and apple into the liquid ingredients.  Then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients.  Stir until completely combined.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin using a level 1/3 cup of batter per muffin.  Bake for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Loosen the sides of the muffins with a knife or thin spatula to help the muffins come out of the tin.

Pink and Orange Smoothies

We've gotten on quite the smoothie kick here.  On most days I make a smoothie for Sabrina and myself when she gets home from school.  For a while Naomi didn't prefer smoothies because they're cold; however, I think she's coming around and is starting to like them after all.  I decided recently to try my hand at smoothies with an orange juice base.  Sabrina wanted me to make smoothies of different colors, so the two varieties below are for our "pink" smoothie and our "orange" smoothie.  Both flavors are great, so take your pick depending on which you're in the mood for.

Pink and Orange Smoothies
serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 small children

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 medium to large ripe banana
• for a pink smoothie:  1 cup frozen strawberries and 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• for an orange smoothie:  1 cup frozen mango pieces and 3 ice cubes  

Instructions:

Add the orange juice, water, and honey to a blender.  Blend until the honey is combined.  Cut the banana into pieces.  Then add the banana pieces, frozen fruit, and ice cubes (if making the orange smoothie) to the blender.  Blend until smooth.  Serve immediately.   

Pastitsio

Well, I meant to post this recipe back in May, but somehow the time got away from me.  Here it is, better late than never.  I hope you enjoy!

I had never heard of Pastitsio until seeing a recipe for it on a blog.  Apparently it's a common Greek dish.  It looked intriguing, so I decided to try to make it gluten-free, egg-free, and mostly dairy-free.  Once I also adjusted the spices to our liking, the whole family thought it was great.  (We needed to tone down the cinnamon quite a bit so that we tasted something other than cinnamon when we ate it.)  I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for pasta and meat sauce but want to try something different from the typical Italian varieties.  The version below is for an 8"x8"  Pyrex pan, but you could easily double the recipe and bake it in a 9"x13" pan.  Just be sure to use larger pots for cooking the pasta and meat sauce (instead of almost overflowing the meat sauce pan like I did).

Pastitsio
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste.  Get a can that contains just tomatoes and no citric acid.
• 1 1/2 cups (about 13 or 14 oz.) tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup Burgundy wine
• 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) brown rice penne pasta
• 1/2 cup plain almond milk
• 1 cup chicken broth.  Use Imagine organic chicken broth or Kitchen Basics original chicken stock.
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan.  Buy a block of aged Parmesan, not pre-grated, which usually contains corn products to prevent clumping.  Use a zester or the small holes on a grater to grate the cheese.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place a large 12-inch pan over medium heat and add the olive oil.  Chop the onion and saute in the pan until softened.  While the onion is sauteing, place a 4-quart pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil.

When the onion is softened, increase the heat to medium-high, add the ground beef, and cook until browned.  Drain off the excess fat.  Add the minced garlic, cinnamon, oregano, rosemary, black pepper, and sea salt, and stir for one minute.  Add tomato paste, tomato puree, and wine; stir.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer covered.

When the pot of water has come to a boil, add the dry pasta and a teaspoon of sea salt to the water.  Stir and let boil for 6 minutes.  Then rinse the pasta in a colander with cold water.  Transfer the pasta back to the pot.  Stir 1/2 cup of the meat sauce into the pasta.  Cover the bottom of an 8"x8" Pyrex pan with 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil.  Spread 2 level cups of pasta in the bottom of the pan.

To make the bechamel sauce, heat the almond milk and chicken broth in the microwave until they are very hot.  Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in the flour to make a paste.  Then pour in the almond milk and chicken broth mixture, whisking constantly.  Whisk frequently until the sauce thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the nutmeg, black pepper, sea salt, and grated Parmesan. 

Now return to the Pyrex pan.  Pour the meat sauce over the pasta that is in the bottom of the pan.  Transfer the remaining 2 cups of pasta to the Pyrex pan and spread evening on top of the meat sauce.  Pour the bechamel sauce on top of the second layer of pasta.

Cover the pan with foil and place in the oven.  Bake for about 20 minutes (or 30 minutes if doubling the recipe), until the center is hot.  Then remove the foil from the pan and turn on the broiler.  Broil until the top of the pastitsio is golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

These muffins are great to make in the winter when fresh fruit isn't as available or affordable.  They are also great when you haven't been to the store in a while and the only fruit in the house is applesauce.  And finally, they are great because the spices and applesauce make them taste like apple pie in muffin form.

Ingredients:
makes 5 or 6 muffins

• 3 Tbsp. hot water
• 1 Tbsp. flax seed meal
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin with canola oil.  In a small bowl mix the hot water and flax seed meal, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.  In the small bowl containing the flax mixture, add the white sugar, brown sugar, canola oil, and cider vinegar.  If the applesauce has been refrigerated, warm it in the microwave and then add to the small bowl.  Stir the liquid ingredients together and then pour them into the bowl with the dry ingredients.  Stir until completely combined. 

Pour the batter into the muffin tin.  Use a level 1/4 cup of batter per muffin for 6 muffins or a level 1/3 cup of batter for 5 muffins.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Lentil Ragu with Pasta

 
I like this recipe because I usually have all of the ingredients I need, even when I haven't been to the grocery store in quite a while.  So if I'm running out of food in the house, or if I've forgotten to take the meat out of the freezer, this recipe comes in handy.  This is also a nice recipe for those nights when I don't want to cook, but I still have to feed my family something for dinner.  Even though the recipe requires chopping vegetables and getting several pots dirty, making this dinner feels easier to me because I get to use jarred marinara sauce.  Feel free to use whatever brand of marinara sauce you prefer.  I use Bertolli Vineyard marinara sauce because it's the only one I've found so far that doesn't contain corn or soy and doesn't have large tomato chucks, which aren't preferred by all members of my family.  I especially like the sauce with Burgundy wine because the Burgundy flavor pairs well with the lentils.  In fact, I like the flavor combination so much that I even add some extra Burgundy.  Isn't it great being the cook and getting to do things like that?

Lentil Ragu with Pasta
serves 3 to 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried brown lentils
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 medium-size carrots
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup Burgundy wine
• 24-ounce jar of Bertolli Vineyard marinara sauce with Burgundy wine
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 can of Lindsay Naturals sliced black olives (optional)
• 8 to 12 oz. brown rice spiral pasta

Instructions:

Place the lentils in a small bowl and fill with water until the lentils are covered with water by at least one inch.  Place a small pot with 2 cups of water on the stove and bring the water to a boil over high heat.  When the water has come to a boil, rinse the lentils in a sieve and add them to the pot.  Simmer until the lentils are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a 4-quart pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.  Dice the onion, celery, and carrots.  Add the vegetables to the pan and saute until softened.  Add the minced garlic and stir for 1 minute.  When the lentils are tender, add them to the pan as well.  Then pour in the wine, marinara sauce, and salt.  Simmer, covered, for at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour.

While the ragu is simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.  Add about 1 tsp. of sea salt and the rice pasta.  Boil for 10 to 12 minutes, until the pasta is the desired texture.  Pour the pasta into a colander and then rinse thoroughly with water to wash off the excess rice starch.  (This prevents the pasta from sticking together in one big glob.)

Before serving, stir the olives into the ragu.  Serve the ragu on top of the pasta, or stir the pasta into the sauce and then serve.