cheeseburger soup

I got (and adapted) this recipe from a cookbook.  I can't remember the book name, so if anybody knows where I got it, please let me know--I mean no thievery. 

Ingredients:
2 c potato, cut into even pieces
2 T oil
1 lb ground beef
1 cup onion, cut up
1 cup bell pepper, cut up
1/2 c ap, gluten free flour ( I used Bob's)
1 T italian herbs
1 T salt
pepper
pinch cayenne
1.5 quarts beef broth
@2 c *cheese*

Directions:
In a large saucepan, put the potatoes and enough water to cover them by about 2 inches.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Lower the heat to medium/high and simmer about 15 minutes.  Drain, return to pan and cover to keep warm.
In a large stockpot,  heat the oil over med-high heat. When hot, addt he beef and cook, breaking up the meat, until the beef begins to brown.  Add the onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring, for another few minutes.  Add the flour and spices.  Cook, stirring, until well mixed and thickened--2-3 minutes.
Add the broth, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring until heated through.  Add the cheese, stirring until melted and the soup is creamy.  Add the potatoes, and cook until warmed through.

GK's notes:  I use Daiya cheese, and I use about half cheddar and half pepper jack.  The original recipe called for stuff like jalapeno peppers and two whole pounds of meat.  That was waaayyy too much for my family, and I never have hot peppers around, so I use spicy cheese and a dash of cayenne to spice it up.

Squash with cranberry stuffing

Ingredients

• 2 medium acorn squash*
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons butter flavored Spectrum brand shortening
• 1 medium tart apple, peeled and diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup Pacific brand jellied cranberry sauce

Directions

• Cut squash in half; discard seeds. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of squash halves so they sit flat. Spritz with oil and place squash hollow side down on a cookie sheet. Cover and bake at 400° for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small skillet, saute celery and onion in butter flavored shortening until tender. Add the apple, salt, lemon juice and pepper. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat until apple is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cranberry sauce.   Cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens a bit.
• Turn squash halves over; fill with cranberry mixture. Cover and bake 10-15 minutes longer or until squash is tender. Yield: 4 servings.
  
  Ugh.  I'm not good with formatting.  Ok, the original recipe called for acorn squash.  I had one, but it wanted two.  I also had a large squash of mysterious kind (it may have been a blue hubbard squash).  I had never seen such a squash, and had no idea what it would be like, but it was of approximately the right shape for the dish, and the right amount of food--it would surely be ok, right?  lol!  Fortunately, it worked perfectly, so I'm going to be brazen and say that I think just about any squash would work in this dish.  Two acorn squash, one hubbard squash, a butternut squash...whatever floats your boat!  Ok, maaaybe not spaghetti squash.... It was pretty simple to make, and so delicious--the tart cranberry offset the rich squashy flavor so nicely!

Fish Chowder

So our basement dehumidifier shorted the outlet that our freezers were plugged into, and we had to emergency eat a whole bunch of food.  Fun.  So we had a bunch of fried fish, but there's only so much fried anything you can eat, right?  I thought maybe some fish chowder sounded good.  Found a recipe with only one thing I *had* to sub, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Here's my version, which the hubby and I thought was pretty darned good.  Finally, toward the end of his bowl, the chitlin conceded that he thought it was pretty good, too, though he's been known to speak less than truthfully about my food, cause he thinks I'm delicate or something.  =P

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 lb fish fillet 
  2 tablespoons oil1 medium onion, sliced1/2 cup celery, diced
  2 cups raw potatoes, diced
  1/2 cup carrot, sliced
  2 cups vegetable broth1 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons old bay or seasoned salt1 cup milk (dairy or non)

Directions:

1. 
   
   Cut fish into bite sized pieces.  Melt margarine in large saucepan and cook onion and celery until onion is tender and translucent. Add potatoes, carrots, broth, salt and old bay.  Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Add fish and cook 10 minutes longer. Add milk.  Reheat, but do not boil.  Serve hot, with freshly baked home made bread or rolls and butter if you like.
   
    
   
   The original recipe called for water instead of broth and pepper instead of old bay, but I thought that sounded boring (YAWN), and didn't regret the changes.  Just be aware that if you use broth, it will NOT be that beautiful, snowy white you might expect from chowder.  If you use non-dairy milk, it probably won't be anyway.  We used rice milk, so it was also not terribly creamy or thick.  I might try coconut milk one of these days, but that might require some curry powder, too...
   I didn't specify what kind of fish to use, because I'm doubtful it matters a lot.  If you like the fish taste a lot, use a stronger tasting fish.  If you don't, use cod or tilapia and it doesn't taste very fishy at all.  The original recipe called for cod, but tilapia is what I had on hand.  Also, it called for a whole pound, but I only had half a pound.  We thought it was actually just the right amount of fish, but if you LOVE your fish, go for the whole pound!  =)
   
   
   

Apple butter

Ingredients

    5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
    4 cups white sugar
    2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
    1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

 Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.   Cover and cook on high 1 hour.   Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown. Puree with a stick blender.   Continue cooking uncovered on low at least 1 hour--probably 2. Let cool in crock pot to room temperature.  Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.  Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.




GK's notes:  I was very unsure of this recipe--it smelled so strongly of cloves the whole time it was cooking, I was sure it was ruined.  Nope!  It turned out amazingly delicious.  It was as good as or better than the best apple butter I've ever had.  I even forgot to mix the dry ingredients--I just dumped stuff in as I measured, and it turned out fine.  I don't think that step matters much, because you stir occasionally as it cooks, so it will get all mixed up.  The sugar liquifies, and the apples release juice, so after a couple of hours, it is REALLY liquidy/soupy, but it's ok.  You blend it, and let it steam a while at the end, and it turns out just right.  Nice and thick and delicious.  =)

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

The original recipe for these is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romano.  I make a few changes to make them safe for our food allergy requirements.  I'll post the original method,  and then list my changes.  In general, I have found these recipes to be so forgiving and flexible, I've been able to change pretty much anything I need to to make them safe, and they still turn out delicious!  The vegan community has saved our lives in this regard, especially and particularly Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  Her cookbooks and recipes are amazing, and I wish we could eat more of her food--but being nut, soy and gluten-free, a lot of vegan food is off-limits for us.  Fortunately for us, cupcakes are quite safe!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

1/3 c coconut oil
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 c coconut milk
1/4 c soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 T lightly packed finely grated lime zest
1 c ap flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cupcake pan with liners.

Get all your ingredients/tools out and ready  to go ahead of time, as this makes it easier to work with the coconut oil at the right temperature.

Melt the coconut oil in a medium bowl.  Mix in the sugar, then add coconut milk, soy milk, vanilla, coconut extract, and lime zest.  Combine well.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Mix until smooth.  Add the coconut and mix to incorporate.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Lime buttercream frosting

1/2 c shortening
1/2 c margarine
3 1/2 c confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c fresh lime juice
1 tsp finely grated lime zest

Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined well and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.  Add the vanilla and lime juice, beat for another 5-7 minutes or so, until fluffy.  Add the zest and mix to distribute.

Ice the cupcakes generously, and roll in flaked coconut.  Place a decorative lime slice on top.

All right.  Those are the instructions as written.  Seriously, these are so flexible.  I didn't have any coconut extract, or enough shredded coconut, but I had coconut flour, so I subbed some in for the regular flour to increase the coconut flavor, and added it to the cup of shredded coconut to make up a full cup.  *shrug*  It worked!  Also, I have to use gluten-free flour, so our ap flour was Bob's Red Mill ap gluten-free flour.  I can't use soy milk, so I just used 1 1/4 c coconut milk (the full-fat, out of a can kind, not that crappy coconut milk "beverage").  Also, I didn't have any limes, so instead of lime zest, I just used a teaspoon of RealLime lime juice.  Again, it worked.  The cupcakes came out great!

I learned something about baking when I made these.  I had 8 of the cups filled when I noticed I hadn't gotten the bottom stirred in well enough, and there was still quite a bit of dry ingredients unmixed-in down there.  I just went ahead and stirred it in to the last bit, and put that batter in the last 4 cups.  Those cupcakes rose much better than the others.  Turns out you do need to have a minimally-thick batter to make the cupcakes rise appropriately.  I kind of thought this was the case, because if I follow regular recipes as written with my gluten-free flour, the batter is too thin, and the cupcakes come out concave.  I have been boosting the amount of flour in cupcake recipes for a long time, but this was the proof I needed to be certain that that was the difference!

So, the way I normally make these is basically the same, but all coconut milk and 1 1/3 c flour.  I do recommend replacing a small percentage (like 1/4 cup or so) of your flour with coconut flour--it actually makes for a lovely texture, as well as adding to the coconut flavor.  Also, I only use shortening (Spectrum brand) in the frosting, because there aren't any safe margarines for us.  It's just fine--in fact, I think I like it better than with a "butter" flavor.  Also, we usually halve the icing recipe--Isa apparently LOVES frosting.

Tuna Casserole

8oz pasta
1/2 an onion, diced
1 T garlic, diced
1 1/2 cup frozen peas
3 oz butter/sub
5 tbsp flour
1 cup beef broth
1/2 c water
1 cup milk/sub
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese/sub
2 cans tuna, drained and flaked
Panko bread crumbs, sautéed in butter until beginning to brown

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cook spaghetti as directed on package.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.  Melt butter in a large saucepan and add onions.  Sauté for a few minutes until beginning to soften.  Add garlic, and saute another minute or two.  Add peas.  Sauté for another minute or two.  Add in flour and cook for a further two minutes.  Slowly stir in the broth, then the milk.  Bring up to a boil until thickened, then remove from heat.  Stir in tuna and cheese. Season with salt and Mrs. Dash.

Add pasta to the pot and stir to coat.  Place in buttered casserole dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs and a little additional cheese on top.  Bake for ten to fifteen minutes until top is golden.  Alternately, you can skip the bread crumbs on top and just top with additional cheddar cheese, which I like to do often.

Chocolate Tapioca Pudding

We can't use Minute brand tapioca, because they put soy lecithin in it, and we can't make regular pudding, because we can't do dairy.  Pudding has been a rare treat, and the only non-dairy milk that works besides soy is coconut.  We can't do soy, so coconut it is.  Normally, pudding is too much work for me to find it worth-while, but I was having a bit of a craving, so when I saw Let's Do Organic tapioca granules in the store, I thought "Sure, why not?" and made the recipe on the back for chocolate tapioca pudding.  It took just over 10 minutes--I didn't end up having to cook it quite as long as it said, I think, so it was quick, easy AND tasty.  Not bad for a whim purchase!

3 c coconut milk--full fat stuff out of a can, NOT the "beverage"
1/4 c granulated tapioca
1/8 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1/2 c chocolate chips

In a saucepan, simmer the coconut milk, granules and salt.  Cook 12-15 minutes, stirring often, until tapioca is completely transparent.  While this is cooking, melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave.  Remove tapioca from heat, stir in sugar and chocolate until completely blended.  Refrigerate to room temperature.  Stir pudding well to break up the tapioca before serving.

I used more like 2 T of sugar...and it's just barely sweet enough for me.  This tasted like real pudding...just a hint of coconuttiness, which we're accustomed to, anyway, because we eat the So Delicious coconut milk ice cream.  The box suggests that you can serve it with shredded coconut, which wouldn't be bad, if you like the texture.  It also suggests sliced bananas, which *I* think would ruin it...lol!