Author: Angela Drake

Angela Drakehttp://AWorldWithoutWheat.wordpress.comElementary school teacher, circulation desk clerk at my local library, mother of Kasey, Nonna to Aiden and Liam, volunteer at Musikfest, gardener, potter in stoneware, quilter, gf baker, hiker, camper, birdwatcher and addictive reader.......
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Zingy Chicken Coconut Stew

Cold winter, sniffles, chilly fingers: all great reasons to make soup, especially chicken soup.  But I found myself wanting something more, a big bowl of soup with a ton of flavor and some zip in it. So I threw together a quick soup using some broth I made the other day in my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker; to make the broth I put in the roasted chicken carcass and a bit of celery and carrot plus lots of water on for 30 minutes on high pressure and after straining I had a nice container full of rich chicken broth.  I added lots and lots of veggies as well as some great aromatics: slivered fresh ginger and a big clove of garlic. To pull the flavors together I poured in half a can of light coconut milk and added a handful of broken up raw rice noodles (any brand of wide rice noodles will work). Added some cubed roasted chicken and in no time at all I was slurping down this excellently flavored chicken coconut stew. It was like I was eating at a beach soup shack in the islands feeling the warm sea breeze through my hair…  Light zingy flavor and tender chicken with lots of fresh vegetables.  Man, was it yummy and healthy!  Totally guilt free and naturally gluten free if you are careful in choosing your broth.

chicken-coconut-soup

Not the greatest picture but you can see it is chock full of rice noodles and veggies.

Angie’s Chicken Coconut Stew

2 medium sized carrots cut on diagonal into thin coins

2 celery stalks, cut on thin diagonal slices

1 onion cut down the top to bottoms, peeled and cut into long strips

1 tbsp. mild olive oil

1 large garlic clove minced

½ cup chopped green cabbage

2 baby bok choy cut into one inch lengths, bases cut in quarters or eighths

1 quart chicken broth; preferably homemade

4 rounds of thinly sliced fresh ginger cut into narrow strips

½ a can of light coconut milk

1 cup pea pods

½ cup crushed rice noodles

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1-2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I used leftover roasted chicken breast)

Directions: Sauté carrots, celery and onion in large soup pot in the hot oil on medium heat: about 4-5 minutes, do not brown, add garlic; cook 1 minute, add bok choy and then the broth.  Heat to nearly boiling and add the ginger and cabbage, cook 1-2 minutes. Add the coconut milk, rice noodles, red pepper flakes and pea pods.  Turn heat down to very low and cook 7 to 9 minutes until noodles are cooked through.

Notes: The amounts of veggies are as fluid as you want to be; leave out something you dislike or don’t have or use more/less of any veggie. I used frozen snow peas as I couldn’t find fresh in the store.  My coconut milk was organic, thin and wasn’t too strongly coconuty. Perfect for this stew. lt-coconut-milkI used baby bok choy but a couple stalks of regular will work just as well; might need to cook slightly longer than the baby choy. If you use store broth: Kitchen Basics has really good gf chicken broth; one 32 ounce box container should do it.  I used home roasted chicken breast but you could use a rotisserie bird, although I suggest you check for gluten free before choosing that route as some stores make their birds with ingredients that make it not gluten free so not safe for those with celiac disease.

Enjoy!

Topped Omelet Easy Peasy!

Personally, I love an omelet for a quick lunch or supper.  They are so versatile. Breakfast too on weekends. You can pair them with any sort of cheese you have on hand.  Add some veggies to that for more nutrition and flavor.  Don’t overcook it and you have a delicate masterpiece of a meal.   The only trouble I have is trying to fill it and get it whole onto the plate. A few disasters have occurred.  The omelet still tastes fine but looks a mess. That step when I fill it and slide the whole bundle full of veggies and cheese onto a plate is a tricky step for sure.  The other day I did it differently.  When the omelet was nearly cooked I folded it and put the thinly sliced cheese (from Aldi’s) on top of the soft eggs.  Then I topped it with the sautéed veggies I had cooked to go in side.  Carefully I slid it on the plate and there it was; perfect!

Eggs are cheap and good for you, full of protein, no sugar or preservatives.  A great start for the day or for lunch or supper.  Quick to make, delicious and no tricky efforts needed!

veggie-omelet

Angie’s Topped Omelet

3 eggs

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup sliced and chopped cabbage

1 small red onion

½ a carrot shredded on the large holes

2 tsp. butter

1 or two thin slices Gouda cheese (I used 1.5)

Directions: Heat a medium sized frying pan; add the olive oil, then the cabbage.  Cook for 4-5 minutes stirring to keep it from burning.  Add the shredded carrot and  the onion which you sliced top to bottom into long strips. Cook 4-6 minutes until all is softened but not browned.  Keep warm.

In a Teflon pan (I keep one just for making eggs so it never gets all messed up) heat the butter until it is hot but not browned. The butter adds flavor and keeps sticking to a minimum.  As that butter heats crack the eggs into a small bowl, add about 1-2 tbsp. water and beat with a whisk briefly. This whipping makes for a fluffier omelet. Add to the hot pan and as the eggs cook, lift the edges pushing them toward the center and allowing eggs to run out and fill the empty space you have created.  Keep doing this until there is no more runny egg.  Turn off the heat and fold to make an omelet.  then add the slice of Gouda cheese.  Cover the omelet with the hot veggies you just cooked.  Gently slide off the pan onto a plate and enjoy! omelet-on-plate

Make whatever omelet filling you like. I do broccoli and provolone, sautéed onions and peppers with provolone, or mushrooms and cheddar are a few of my favorites.

Flavored Kombucha Tea: for Your Good Health

Some of us feel we have been over-indulging for the holidays.  January is a good time to make a fresh start working towards a better life style. Here is one great tip for you; get probiotics into your tummy.  There are probiotics in pills.  You can also drink kefir which I do or eat raw sauerkraut or kimchi. And then there is kombucha tea. Last year in June I posted about my kombucha tea adventures: it is a fermented beverage that has been a favored health drink for thousands of years and no, it doesn’t taste like tea once it ferments.  I’ve been drinking some daily for almost a year now.  I have to say my tummy loves it.  People with celiac have tummy/gut issues and generally need to take a probiotics every day. People on antibiotics should also take probiotics. This is a natural probiotic; you can buy it bottled in the refrigerated section of your health food store or even regular grocery store in the health foods aisle.  But, you can also make your own.  I find it easy to make and really cheap. I drink some most every day; about a cup a day, more or less.  Here is the link to a really great article on tummy/gut health that you might want to read: https://www.verywell.com/how-to-have-healthy-gut-bacteria-1945326?utm_campaign=health_tod&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=8689384&utm_term=bouncex3

Check my old post on it for directions on making your own. https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/kombucha-tea-for-great-health/  I find making it to be so easy; here is my current recipe – ingredients: 1 big quart black tea bag, 1 regular tea bag, filtered water and a heaping half cup of sugar.  Directions: heat 2 cups of water to a boil, add the tea bags, let it brew for ten minutes.  Remove the tea bags and add a heaping half cup of granulated sugar. Stir well to dissolve it. Then add enough filtered to make 4 cups of tea.  I bottle up the just finished batch of kombucha while it cools, reserving a cup of tea; usually from the bottom of the glass jar.  Add the 4 cups of room temperature sweetened tea to your kombucha jar; the scoby and cup of tea are already in it. Add 4 more cups of room temperature filtered water.  Put a fresh paper towel on the top and secure with a rubber band.  Put in a dark warm place for a week and taste; it should be fairly strong in flavor.  I pour it into glass pint containers and put a lid on.  I put it back in the dark spot overnight and then I like to flavor each bottle; some of my favorite ways are:

  1. half a vanilla bean; take it out after 24 hours, dry it off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  2. a small cinnamon stick; remove after 12-24 hours, dry off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  3. 1-2 ¼ inch wide slices of fresh ginger; remove after 12-24 hours, dry off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  4. a 1-2 inch section of lemon peel; just wide enough to easily fit in your bottle; remove after 12-24 hours;
  5. fresh fruit juice; about ¼ to 1/2 cup; what every flavor you like.  I have even used fresh grape juice.

Let me know your ideas for what you use to flavor your kombucha tea.  Enjoy and be healthy!

 

Snacky Treats Recently Taste Tested

I love it when friends give me new gf products to try.  This week I am sharing two treats that were gifts and three snacks I bought myself.  First up: Tate’s Bake Shop Gf Chocolate chip cookies.  They are 7 oz in a waxed paper bag and in two plastic bags in a plastic tray inside.  I found them to be large, thin, crisp and somewhat addictive.  For those of us who adore chocolate chip cookies, anyway! I believe they came from Giant Grocery Store. I give these cookies a 4.5 on my zero to five scale.  Leaving room for homemade cookies; mine are a 5; see my blog post on chocolate chipperscrunchy-rice-sticks

tates-cookies

 

 

 

 

Second item is Crunchy Rice Sticks; round columns; 3.2 ounces and 8 sticks to a bag.  Fairly bland but not bad at all has rice syrup to hold it together and render them faintly sweet; the sticks are about an inch in diameter and five inches in length.  Great crunch and low calories: 50 to a stick!  I think they came from Giant.

Next up: Cashew Brittle from Aldi’s.  Not my favorite.  Way too sweet for me and not that much cashew in them.  Still, if you like cashews and sweets this might be up your alley.  Made by Crazy Candy Company.  7 ounce bag.

skinny-pop

Popcorn aisle: Skinny Pop Dusted Dark Chocolate Popcorn.  Non GMO, GF, 43 calories per cup.  I believe I found this at Giant Foods. Decent tasting if slightly drab: I have been spoiled by the drizzled with chocolate popcorn I found at Aldi’s this fall.  Now that was freaking amazing!  Can’t find it at present; hopeful it will return to the stores very soon.  There is a drizzled with chocolate and white sugar topped popcorn at Giant but it was a very small bag for nearly $4.  Crazy price for that itty bitty bag.  Time to research and product test my own homemade drizzled popcorn!

 

Final product: Veggie & Flaxseed Corn Tortilla Chips.  They were pretty decent; 10 oz bag purchased at Aldi’s; store brand chips.  Organic and in several colors and flavors although they tasty pretty much alike.  Good with a dollop of hummus.  Salsa works too.  Only thing is, I re-read the label and they are manufactured in a facility that also uses wheat products.  Rethinking this one….bummer.veggie-chips

 

I don’t recommend eating gf snacks all day long but some of these are fairly healthy and not that expensive.  We all enjoy a bit of a treat.  Enjoy!

Vietnamese Sour Shrimp Soup

Soup, beautiful soup.  When it’s cold I like a big bowl of steamy hot soup. So does my mom whom I regularly cook a meal for.  In the search for new things to try, I purchased a packet of Vietnamese sour soup.  No idea where but possibly the Asian grocery store on Stefko Blvd. in Bethlehem.  The packet was in my cupboard for a while and the other day I pulled it out, read the recipe, the ingredients and decided to give it a chance.  This was slightly risky as there was no mention of gluten free status regardless of the ingredients.  Celiacs like me have to be so careful; just a touch of cross contamination from shared processing equipment and I feel terrible.  So I try  harder these days not to buy things anymore that don’t say gf. Case in point: I got sick 2 weeks ago from some Korean red pepper flakes I used to make homemade kimchi.  I had to give the entire batch away.  Everyone said it was delicious.  I tasted it and agreed but that taste was enough to ruin my day due to probably cross contamination.

vietnamese-sour-soup-packet

Anyway…I have to say this Vietnamese soup was fantastic.  I sautéed briefly some onion; one small one cut vertically into long threads, some diagonally slice celery and carrots; one carrot and one big stalk of celery plus some of the greens.  In about three minutes I added the packet and water per the directions and after that got hot I added the baby bok choy cut into 1 inch lengths including the green parts and a handful of snap peas, which I cut in half after trimming the ends. After 10 minutes I added a handful of small shrimp which I shelled first, maybe 18-20 shrimps and about a quarter cup of bamboo shoots. Cooked it five more minutes and Bamm I had me a pot of zingy delightful soup.  A major ingredient in this soup base is tamarind juice. I have bought and used tamarind paste, sure adds the tangy sour that is a delight.  Honestly I burnt my mouth the first two times I ate this soup; do darn good I ate it a bit too hot for comfort.  Try to let yours cool a few minutes….if you can!  The spicing is not too hot, just refreshing and infuses the vegetables with it’s zing.  Not weird or off flavored if you were worried about trying a packet from a very different food culture than that of most Americans; just light and delightful.  If you are not a fan of shrimp sub in your favorite protein.  I am sure most anything even tofu will work.

vietnamese-sour-soupThis picture is from pinterest.  I was too hungry to take a picture. Sorry; next time I promise to stop and shoot before I slurp! This soup snap is sort of similar although I didn’t have the thai basil leaves that they put on top nor did I use big pale green pepper slices or tomatoes. Well, I Thought it was kinda similar…  I just ordered my seeds and did choose some thai basil so I can be even more authentic this summer when I make this soup again. It sure is a keeper.  Maybe I will try to make it from scratch in the coming weeks.  I will let you know how that experiment goes.

Vietnamese Sour Shrimp Soup:

1 packet Vietnamese sour soup

1 tbsp. mild olive oil

1 medium onion

1 large stalk celery

1 large carrot

1 large baby bok choy or one stalk of regular bok choy

1/2 cup snap peas

1/3 lb (about 20) medium or small shrimp

1/4 cup bamboo shoots

Directions: Saute the veggies (onion, carrot and celery) in oil; 1 1/2 quart sauce pan.  Add water according to the packet and the packet.  Let get hot, add the  bok choy and snap peas.  After ten minutes add the peeled shrimps and bamboo shoots.  Cook five more minutes.  Can put long diagonal slices of scallion on top.