Tomato Tart

I was reading an old Martha Stewart and came across a recipe for tomato tart. Martha's recipe was full of great tips...and like her magazine, full of things I did not have readily available to me. Not only that, but her recipes are rarely Sueann Friendly. So I take it upon myself to take her ideas and make them my own. Take Tomato Tarts! I do not have all those great heirloom variety tomatoes, or an enormous tart pan the size of a bike wheel. But I do have a cute tart pan and some garden tomatoes! So here we go ladies and gents, a Sueann Friendly Tomato Tart!

Recipe: Pie crust (sueann friendly recipe coming soon!)
Two medium tomatoes sliced evenly.
Chopped up basil, pinch salt and pepper
Put this all together! BUT to make it even better, add cheese to the botom of the crust BEFORE you put tomatoes in it. This will keep the crust grom getting soggy. For a sueann frienndly version, use oven roasted garlic cloves and mash this into the bottom of the crust.

Bake 355 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Fish Balls and Thai Salad

I have been on a Thai food kick lately. I also wanted to add more Omega Fattys into my diet so here we have a marriage of the two! Fish Balls and Thai Salad! The Balls can be deep fried, or fried in a pan in a patty.
Recipe: Fish Balls
Canned fish - salmon or mackerel debone if you can.
couple pinches of salt and pepper
2 tsp. of Cumin, coriander, granulated garlic (or one clove fresh)
1 egg
1/2 cup flour

Mash it all together then drop by the spoonful or make into patties and fry!

Recipe: Thai Salad
1 cucumber
2 Serano chilies diced
half an onion
Chopped up cilantro
Add other salad veggies that you want - ones that are crisp though. No tomatoes.
Dressing: 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 Tb. sugar

Add it all together and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Impress Dates with These Dates!

Our favorite appetizer to bring to parties now are these pecan stuffed dates wrapped with bacon! I would like to take full credit for the recipe but I got it off of Paula Deen Cooking from the Food Network. These are so delicious! It is like breakfast in your mouth! But...so much more because of the full bodied flavor of the date and pecan. The sweetness of the date is a perfect companion to the salty bacon - the pecan adds good texture. I have baked these in the oven several ways. You can bake at 375 and turn them over until the bacon crisps. I have turned up the heat to 500 and found the cooking time is half but the likelihood of black bacon bits is high. I have also grilled them in an aluminum disposable pan. That really helps with the grease and cleanup but you have to baby sit the grill. But with a beer, or very sueann friendly Mike's Hard Apple, that is not a problem! By the way... Aren't the men suppose to be the grill masters? I guess I got a liberated grill master because I do the grilling.

OH! One time we wanted to eat these appetizers for dinner - just make a nice salad and these...nice "light" meal! But I was out of bacon! So I free bird it and took out some pork, smashed it thin and spread pureed dates and pecans on it. I wrapped the pork, toothpicked them and baked at 350 for 15-20 minutes. FABULOUS! I do recommend adding a little salt to make up for the bacon effect but otherwise bon apatite!

Pecan Stuffed Dates Wrapped with Bacon

Get whole pitted dates, stuff it with a pecan. Set aside. Take all the bacon out of the package and cut into thirds. This should be enough to stretch around the date. You can use tooth picks to fasten but usually the bacon sticks to itself. Put on baking sheet fold side down to keep bacon from unraveling.

CHERRIES!

So...sick of...eating cherries. I tried this BBQ Cherry sauce recipe. It was gross. I tried making Cherry juice. It was OK. So I got frustrated and pitted all my cherries. All 20 lbs. of them and froze them. I'll think what to do with them later. Oh, I know. You can eat them fresh right? I did, for two weeks. Let's say, I was very regular and on toilet duty.

I AM PUMPED!

My husband wanted something chocolate one night. He was half joking that I should whip something up. Well, it was a good thing I had energy because I "discovered" Sueann Friendly Chocolate Fudge ice cream! OHMYGOD it is the best chocolate ice cream I have had.. I mean... if it had real brownie chunks in it then it would be the absolute fave! The recipe is very simple!
Beat 4 egg whites into stiff peaks - Then in another bowl add 5 Tbl. hot water, one cup cocoa powder, 1 cup sugar and 4 egg yolks - mix well. Then fold in the egg whites - freeze or add into your ice cream maker. YOU WILL LOVE THIS! 100% milk and soy free!
If yours comes out too watery I suggest adding 1 Teas. of xanthan gum or guar gum!

Mayo

I didn't like any of these recipes. Well... it just didn't work out for me and I prefer the Best Foods Canola Mayo. It has a wonderful, full flavor. My Mayo was very light - a little lemony. I used Emeril's recipe which was the best of the two so here it is:
1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a food processor or blender, blend the egg and lemon juice for 10 seconds.
With the processor running, slowly pour in the oil through the feed tube. Mixture should thicken. Add the pepper and salt and pulse once or twice to blend.
Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using. Best if used within 24 hours.

On the subject of mayo - it is amazing how soy oil is the most brands. Start looking at the ingredients of your favorite foods and you will realize how much soy you are eating!

Fairies Are Alive! And Taste Good Too!

Yes, I know...I am way too into this mushroom thing. Well, just so you know, I am getting a little fatigued by it too! But I want to draw you attention to that Fairy ring of mushrooms in your yard! You can eat it! Of coarse, you should check to make sure the species is edible, and that pesticides are not used on that patch of grass. Then pluck the caps and saute with oil or butter for a chicken like flavor of goodness! We had ours with eggs - later I added them in fried rice! The stems are too tough so stick with the caps! Bon Appetite!

Nothing Really

I have been eating, just not taking photos of my meals!
Here is Mochi...He says this blog is Sueann-friendly and Mochi approved!

Cranberry Rolls

I took a recipe for coffee cake and turned it into cranberry cinnamon rolls! My substitutions were bacon fat for butter, and almond milk for milk. It worked out very well! I also had a lot of dried cranberries so I pulsed them with some walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and a jigger or two of lemon juice. The filing is wonderful! I would recommend pulling these from the over a little early to get a more gooey texture!

Recipe:
2 packets quick rise yeast
1/3 C sugar
1 Tea. Salt
4 1/2 C flour
1 C almond milk
6 Tb. Bacon fat or lard or Canola shortening
3 large eggs

Mix first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Warm up milk and bacon fat to 120 Degrees - add to flour mixture and blend. Separate one egg yolk and save to brush tops of rolls. Add 2 eggs and 1 egg white and mix - scrape bowl, add remaining flour reserving some for kneading. If using Kitchen Aid throw it all in with the dough attachment and relax! Beat 10 min. and let rest 30min. Prepare your filling. Roll out dough into lard rectangle, spread filling, roll up and cut into 1 inch pieces (or bigger) bake 350 degree oven for about 19 minutes.

Almond Milk Ice Cream is Better

This recipe is better! Has that ice cream texture AND melts better in your mouth.
Recipe:
3/4 C sugar
2 1/2 C almond milk
2 tsp. Xanthan Gum
3 egg yolks
Mix all ingredients before putting into the ice cream maker.

I Made Ice Cream

I am so excited! I made coconut ice cream! The star ingredient...Xanthan Gum! Amazing stuff that prevents ice crystals from forming AND creates and creamy texture. I added a little too much Xanthan Gum and my ice cream was a bit Pudding Pop-ish but fantastic!

Recipe:
1 Can coconut milk
1 Tbl. Xanthan Gum ( try 1/2 Tbl.)
2/3 C Sugar
4 egg yolks
Mix all ingredients before you put it into your ice cream maker.

Guess What I found?

That's right! More Field Mushrooms! I was walking to work and there they were! A whole family! I picked one and took it to work to show my co-workers. My boss was a little worried about me eating for lunch - but I was 100% sure I would not die! Toasted the cap and had it in my ham sandwich. (With Conola based mayo and sueann friendly english muffin bread!) It was superb! I got a call from my husband, who was walking home. He said there was a mushroom massacre! The spot where I found the crop was shredded! NO! Note to self: Pick them when you see them. On my way home I stopped by to pay my respects to my lunch's relatives. From a distance I could see large bits of their caps mangled on the freshly mowed lawn. I thought that if only the gardener knew what he was missing. Then I saw the survivors! 4 large caps that barely made it under the mowers blades! YES! Further down the street I came upon another crop! I asked the home owner if I could have them. She said yes and wished me well. She said she took mycology years ago too! But she obviously forgot about these fine edibles! I brought home at least 10 large portobella sized mushrooms! We grilled them up and had a side of steak! I made this chinchilli sauce. Love the name.

Chincilli sauce:
1 C olive oil
1/2 C parsley
4 cloves garlic crushed and diced
2 Tbl. Lime juice
salt, pepper and crushed chili peppers to taste.

I marinated the steak in the sauce and they were great! I also made a fresh batch of chinchilla sauce for the potatoes! The mushrooms were fabulous grilled!

Alive and regular!

Hi! I am 100% sure those mushrooms in my backyard were field mushrooms! And guess what? I think they help regulate your system cause I was doing two a days when I ate them! hehehe. Make sure to correctly identify your mushrooms!

Still Alive

5:44pm and I am still alive. Loved those mushrooms! Gonna look online for other wild things we can eat!

98% Sure I Won't Die

It had been raining for several days and I hadn't been in my backyard for a while. The yard is a mess. Grass, or something like grass, up to my knees and fallen tree branches scattered on the ground. Well. after a few days I was tired of waiting for the rain to stop so I headed out to do some chores. That's when I saw them. Papa Mush, Mama Mush and Baby Mush; I knew they had to be field mushrooms ( or meadow mushrooms, or horse poo mushrooms or Agaricus - something Latin here) because they were...in my grassy "field." There was a huge, beautiful specimen with its cap fully open. The gills had turned a deep brown and the cap was beginning to change from white to brown. Next to him was a Mama mushroom with its cap still white and pink gills. Then there was Baby Mushroom with the cap still closed and the veil attached at the stem. This Goldilocks was THRILLED! I had heard that wild field mushrooms have a stronger flavor then the store bought ones. What's this? You didn't know that button mushrooms, criminis and Portobellas are related to field mushrooms? They are!
So off I go to identify this mushroom to make sure I am not eating a poisonous one. After lots of reading I was 98% sure I would not die. Every website has this warning of death so I was 2% unsure of what I was doing. The field mushroom is often mistaken for the Death Cap Mushroom, lovely name huh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Cap This guy is responsible for several Political murders back in the B.C. times. One recent survivor says they taste wonderful...but after a full liver transplant I am sure the taste is better left in memory.

Well, how do you tell the difference between the kind and pleasing field mushroom and the wicked Death Cap? 1. Death Cap has a white cap, and white gills its entire life cycle. Field mushrooms have a white cap early with pink gills the cap changes to brown and so do the gills. That is the major difference. 2. The Death Cap has a vulva (this makes it sound very un appetizing) at the base of the stem - field mushroom does not.
Since my guys had pink and brown gills and I saw no vulva on the stem - 98% sure I will live. Plus they had this nice almond scent.

So I fry them. Half my family passed. My husband said he would wait until tomorrow to see if I lived. Our Korean exchange student was game. There must be a biological reason why the Koreans jumped into this. After all, we do eat acorn jelly. Ate the mushrooms at 5pm last night. Fantastic flavor! It was like an entire cream of mushroom soup in one bite! The normal mushroom flavor we are used to was intense with these wild mushrooms. I loved it! I ate them with shredded raw cabbage, some raw tuna and pickled eggs. The salad dressing was Sueannfriendly soy sauce, rice vinegar and a little sugar!

7:35am this morning and I am still alive.

V for very Good

I saw V for Vendetta. I liked the movie so much I saw it twice at the theater. Evening show. Both times. Total $15. I liked it that much. Besides the applicable warning in the move about governments freaking us out over nothing and taking complete control of our lives - I liked the (Spoiler ahead)

cooking scene in the movie. When V is making breakfast for Evey. He made this Egg in Toast thing that my Dad calls flying saucer. V used real butter to fry this - something not SueannFriendly. However, I was craving this thing! Not only will I be a watchdog of our government but I will eat that egg toast thing for breakfast everyday! Here's the SueannFriendly version:

Sliced Sueann Friendly bread - found some "Old Fashion Farm" Bread at Safeway. Made with flour and chemicals - non of which were soy derived.
Cut hole out of bread.
In pan get bacon fat, or Sueann Friendly oil nice a hot. Throw bread in, crack egg in hole - fry. Fry until it is crispy brown and artery ripe! I flipped mine for extra fat intake! If you use bacon fat you get this amazing crunch and texture with a slight meaty flavor!

People should not be afraid of their government; Government should be afraid of their people.

Potato Flour

What the heck do you do with potato flour? My Mother gave me this huge bag full and said it was good. Usually, she tells me what to do but I was in a hurry to leave. My Mom always throws extra things into my car after a visit! I love her! So potato flour is...a flour made from potatoes. It has no gluten so is great for those Celiacs in your life. Hmm. Celiacs and Celicas can't eat what! hahaha.

Where was I? Thank the Lord I can eat wheat. That is a hard disease to live with. Now, back to potato flour. So in one of my Freebird moments I decided to use potato flour for a pizza dough recipe. Yes, I was out of wheat flour. The result was a wonderful, tasty bread. It was dense because of the lack of gluten in the flour but it was so good! Here is my recipe:

Potato Flour Sticks
2 C Potato Flour
1 pack quick rise yeast
1 teas. salt (little more)
2 teas. Olive Oil
3/5 C warm water
Combine flour, yeast and salt and stir in warm water and oil until blended. Knead dough until smooth. Let rest for 15 minutes. (yeah right... get to rolling!) Roll portions of dough and cut into long strips, braid, spritz with olive oil or egg wash. Bake 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
SWEET: when braiding spread some jam in and sprinkle with sugar
SAVORY: sprinkle granulated garlic onto braided sticks. Maybe some black pepper too...try curry powder...even paprika! FREE BIRD COOKING!

Morelistic1

I took a mycology class in the spring and it was very interesting! Fungus is everywhere! Did you know that 80-85% of plants have a symbiotic relationship with fungus? Most mushrooms are not poisonous, but when they are you will most likely die or be severely compromised. For example, if you eat the white angle of death cap mushroom you will die of liver failure. I hear it is a slow death. Then there are the LBMs - little brown mushrooms. Some like to boil them in teas and get "high." But most of the time they boil the wrong mushrooms and get stomach cramps and gas. Of coarse, they could also be "high" but I imagine that is not the best chemical of choice. The LBMs go into the category of "not really edible but let us know if you live" mushrooms. The Vikings used to take the toadstool, that pretty red cap mushroom with white polka dots, and make some drink out of it. The side effects were acid-like followed by intestinal problems and perhaps impedance- oh wait, we call that E.D. now. There are tons of mushrooms in this category - not E.D. mushrooms, but ones that are not tasty and probably won't kill you. Finally, we have the mushrooms we love to eat. Button mushrooms - which are meadow mushrooms commercially cultivated. Did you know that when you let a button mushroom grow up it turns into a $7lb. Portobella mushroom!? Shitakis, oyster...uh...that's sorta it for commercially grown mushrooms that I can think of. Then there are the expensive ones: Chantrells, Morels, Truffles. These have a unique relationship with tree roots. I think that is why they have not been commercially cultivated. If someone can figure out how to grow these they would be RICH! So for now, people hunt these mushrooms and it is a real sport! I had the opportunity to go on a hunt with my professor. It was amazing! I collected 6 morels in 4 hours! Yes. That is sad but it was about the process, the patience...getting lost and running madly in the woods (which you are not supposed to do) and communing with nature. Some lucky SOB found a patch of 30 morels in 15 minutes. That made me look harder...only to find some coral mushrooms which looked edible but are not. Funny thing, when I was madly running through the forest I found more morels - about 4 of them! The other 2 took about 1 hour each to find. But they were worth it! At the store they go for $20lb. Just yesterday, we were camping in Idaho and guess what? We found a patch of 16 morels at our site! LUCKY!

MORELS and EGGS
Slice morels length-wise (as many as you want or can afford!)
Fry morels in bacon fat or live oil, lightly salt
Add about 4 - 6 scrambled eggs and mix of flip when ready.
Eggs and morels are a good combo!

Chapche (Jap-Chaye) - Korean Rice Noodles

After making all that Sueann-Friendly soy sauce I decided to make Chapche. These rice noodles are different than the Thai kind and can be found in the Asian (Oriental- if you still say this) store. When my mother would make this, I would imagine we were eating worms! But unlike other kids, I wasn't grossed out, but found this thought entertaining. I am a Free-Bird cook. Meaning, I follow the basic structure of a recipe but add ingredients I have at home. For this Chapche I put in two jalepenos for some spice and left out many veggies because...they weren't in my fridge.
I was told that this is normally a side dish - Wha??? This is a one dish meal to me!

In a large pot:
Korean Style rice noodles - boil in water for about 5 minutes then eat one to see if it is cooked through. Unlike dry pasta, these cook fast. If you boil them too long they lose their texture and taste like paste. Run under cold water and grab some scissors because these noodles are long! I pretend I'm attacking an alien creature (of coarse it attacked me first) and I stab and cut in many directions!

Take the same pot and FRY these with some soy free oil - DO NOT fry in sesame seed oil because it has a low heat...fat something... and will burn: Tastes awful.

Thinly sliced beef
Shredded carrots
Shredded green pepper (not too much-kinda overpowering)
One thinly sliced onion
Now add these towards the end of your frying.
Shredded Shitaki mushrooms (or Button mushrooms - or canned)
Leaf spinach (do yourself a favor and buy frozen-defrost before adding to pan)
Now add the sauce to the pot and turn the HEAT OFF (Just enough heat to lightly fry noodles -be careful because they stick to the pot!) then mix.

1/2C Sueann Friendly Soy Sauce
2 T sesame oil
3 T Brown Sugar (or a little less of white sugar if you are out of brown)
Garlic - I use about 1 T granulated garlic but do this to your taste - not too much though!
Black pepper
I usually add a little more sugar until you get a nice balance of sweet and salty. You are going for a terkiyaki flavor. Mmmm worms!

Soy Sauce

I am half Korean and grew up eating delicious Korean foods. The main ingredient of which is soy sauce, the nectar of my ancestors. It was very frustrating to me to avoid soy sauce. In fact, I didn't believe the signs my body was giving me for a long time. I was in denial. The hardest part about this allergy is that soy is in EVERYTHING! 99% of processed foods have hydrolyzed (hydrogenated) soybean oil, soy flour (WHY??) or shortening, most of which is made with soy. Chicken in a Bisquit-out. Tim's Cascade Chips-out. Sliced bread-out. Starbursts-out! See why I was in denial? I love food so much this was the hugest breakup ever! It was hard because here I was, willing to give all these foods my attention and appreciation, only to be rejected. Thank goodness for those Brits and Aussies! Vegemite and Marmite to the alternative rescue!


Here is my recipe for a soy sauce alternative. Please keep in mind that nothing is as good as the original. This has a slight sweet flavor so add lots of salt to make it soy sauce sodium super!

1Tbs. Marmite or Vegemite
1Tbs. Molasses
1/2Tbs. Fish Sauce
1/3 or 1/4C Water
Salt, Salt, Salt! Wisk together into a sauce.

Kizy and Limpy

In my early twenties, the only thing I KNEW I was allergic to were cats. But that didn't stop me from getting 2 of them. I kept the allergens down by bathing them regularly. Sure my nose was always runny but that was a small price to pay! My Allergist advised me to give up the cats. But I couldn't. Today, my cats live in our sunny basement. After they pissed on our brand new couch, their fate was sealed. Don't worry, they have a posh life! What's funny is that the boy cat, Limpy, the one not looking into the camera, has food allergies.
Since I have been controlling my food allergies, my tolerance to my cats is very good. My skin doesn't hive when they lick me, my nose runs a little but not nearly as much as before and I don't sneeze as much. They still get bathed, we vacuum often and brush them.