Cream of .....

Broccoli soup. In the past I've made some different variations of cream soup. I've tried everything from chicken to onion and in between too. The basic-ness of the recipe lends itself to lots of variety. It's really simple to make and the taste is wonderful. It's great on a cold day and on a warm day you can change up the ingredients. Years ago, I bought one of those hand held blenders that turns everything in its path to mush. The original idea was to make my own baby food. It did the job nicely. Well my baby is not a baby anymore. She eats everything right along with the rest of us. So the hand mixer has changed careers. It has gone on to make smoothies, milk shakes, bread crumbs (they are really nice), and a whole bunch of other things. It's also really wonderful to put into a pan of hot soup and turn it into a nice pulverized blend of good flavors. I really like that because I don't have to pour a hot soup into the blender and risk burning myself or spilling any and wasting that lovely soup. Today's recipe is broccoli but you could use cauliflower, asparagus, carrot or whatever you'd like. I used chicken stock but you can use any stock you prefer. Also, get fresh or good quality frozen vegetables. Use the flowers and not the stems. Stems are fibrous and don't mush well.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Serves 4
1/2 cup servings

2 cups broccoli florets

1 cup water

3 cups chicken stock, check the label to be sure it contains no wheat.

1 tsp each of the following: onion powder, granulated garlic, sea salt and ground black pepper

1/2 tsp tapioca flour


1. Add liquids and spices to saucepan. Then add florets.
2. Cook over medium heat until fork tender and liquid is reduced (about 1/3 less).
3. Add tapioca flour and stir, cooking 1 minute more.
4.Using your hand blender, pulverize the broccoli until smooth.
5. If you want more creaminess, you can add a touch of cream, almond milk, cashew cream, or sour cream at the end and just stir it in.

If it's Vegan........

.....can you really call it ice cream? I know, I'm just supposed to be going gluten free and sugar free and less eggs. So I really don't have to be giving up everything but it's always nice to try something else. Besides I told my family that it was vegan and I didn't have to share. My husband tried 1 bite. He said it wasn't bad tasting which might even be a compliment. I thought it was wonderful. It was even better when I went back on the 4th day and found that there was still some left. It didn't make it to a 5th day. I will make more very soon. This one started out as vanilla and then I decided to go decadent. So I added chocolate, well carob, and then I added carob chips. I have got to work on making caramels with agave syrup. Then I can really have decadence. Perhaps on a snow day when I can't drive anywhere. I know how pioneers did all that cooking. They drove to church once a week and most of the rest of life revolved around home. You can leave the stove on if you're only out in the yard or in the other room doing chores. So back to this century. I've been playing with all these great foods and today I'm sharing the carob frozen concoction but to keep it simple and easily searchable I will just call it....

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

1/2 cup servings
Serves 4-5 depending on how much you 'taste test' before it's done


13-`14 oz can Coconut Milk (Use full fat for this)
1/2 cup carob chips
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (pick one that's smooth without grassy flavors)
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
dash of salt

1/4 cup carob chips


1. In large saucepan over medium heat mix together the coconut milk, olive oil and agave syrup. Bring to a simmer. Look for bubbles on the edge but not boiling. Add carob chips and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and salt. Stir. Pour into container and chill in fridge. Add to ice cream maker. When about halfway frozen, add carob chips.

Don't have an ice cream maker? Don't panic. You can use a glass or stainless steel container and make do. Pour the mixture into your container and put it in the freezer. Every 2 hours, remove and scrape down the sides of the container and stir together. It will freeze and start to look grainy. Once it's mostly frozen, you can use a hand mixer to break up the bigger chunks and make it smoother. It's not going to look like commercial ice cream. Even when you use an ice cream maker, it's not going to be that smooth. Once you like the consistency, you can freeze overnight or for at least 4 hours. This will improve the flavor. I really thought it tasted best on the 3rd or 4th day but I couldn't wait that long. Maybe you can but probably only if you don't taste test it along the way.

My New Favorite Thickener

I love Tapioca Flour. It's a big mess because it's thinner than cornstarch. Yes, that is possible. It flies everywhere when scooped but I still love it. It adds no taste, cooks up nicely, and looks good when done. I like cornstarch too but tapioca flour is nicer for gravy, fruit filling and sauces. I used tapioca flour yesterday on my Rosemary Chicken. It thickened the sauce nicely and without the clumps you sometimes get with cornstarch. Unlike cornstarch, you can add tapioca flour to a liquid that is already warmed. In the recipe I used it as a light dusting so my chicken would brown. It did and very nicely too.

Yes, You can have nicely browned chicken

I was thinking that I'd never be able to enjoy some of my favorite recipes anymore. I tried one today with a little twist and the result? Awesome! Who needs wheat anyway? Speaking of my wheat allergy, I'm not surprised. I've been reading labels on everything for a month. I'm surprised I'm not allergic to a bunch of other stuff too. Wheat is in tons of stuff, not just breads and breading and things you'd think of. They put it in chicken broth, it's in some ice creams, Starbucks has it in some of the coffee drinks. It's everywhere. Sometimes they come right out and say wheat. Other times they try to hide it by calling it 'modified food starch' or 'hydrolyzed wheat protein'. If you don't know semolina flour is also known as durum wheat flour. That's the main ingredient in pasta. Another thing I have seen on tons of food labels is high fructose corn syrup aka super sugar made from corn. Somewhere somebody decided that 3 things make food taste good. Those are sugar, salt, and fat. If you take out one, they put in more of another. So reduced sugar and sugar- free foods are higher in fat and sodium. Low fat and fat-free foods are higher in sugar, etc. I've been eating whole foods for just a short time and, already, my taste buds are coming back to life. So I was able to reduce the salt in today's recipe. I'm really starting to enjoy food. I'm sorry I missed out on a lot of really good food over the years while I ate that stuff that most of this country continues to eat.

Gluten Free Rosemary Chicken

4- 6 oz boneless chicken breasts
1 Teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil (the original recipe called for all butter but olive oil is better for your heart)
2 Tablespoons Tapioca Flour
1 large Spanish onion; halved and sliced (about the thickness of a drinking straw)
1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp sea salt; divided
1/2 cup water plus 1/4 cup additional water
1/4 cup good stock (I like Kitchen Basics if I can't make my own)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary leaves, crumbled
1 tsp sage


1. Melt butter over medium heat in large deep frying pan. Add olive oil and stir.
2. Season chicken with a pinch of the salt on each side. You should have a little left to season the sauce. Coat in the tapioca flour. Brown in the butter/oil mixture. Cook on each side 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan.
3. Add onions and red bell pepper to pan. Stirring occasionally, cook the onions until translucent and just starting to brown.
4. Add the spices to the onion mix. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the water and the stock. Let it cook down slightly. Then return the chicken to the pan. Stir to coat the chicken with the onion mix. Add the additional water and stir. Cook for 4-5 minutes while sauce thickens. If you'd like thinner sauce, add more stock or water.
5. Remove bay leaf and throw away before serving. You might notice that I took a picture of mine with the bay leaf intact. Bay leaves are not edible.

I served mine with a nice jasmine rice and steamed green beans tossed with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

My new favorite grain, Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah)is a grain. It's brown and it cooks up just like rice. you use one cup of grain to 2 cups of liquid. So far I've eaten it plain (that was okay), as a pilaf (that was really good), and as an ingredient in a soup (that was also really good). It looks really cool after it's cooked. The germ (the outer layer of the grain) gets little lighter in color. So it looks like a tan dot with a lighter tan circle around it. The flavor is a little nutty but not strong. It's nice enough for adults and yet my picky 10 year old will eat it. It will go well in a lot of recipes. The grain is about half the size of long grain rice. Today's recipe is the pilaf I have now made twice. The first time I didn't have slivered almonds so I used whole. The second time I just chopped the whole almonds. That was much nicer so I suggest that. This photo also has baked salmon and steamed snow peas.

Quinoa Pilaf
Serving size 1/2 cup
Serves 4

2 cups cooked quinoa; I used stock to cook it
1 medium carrot, diced
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips. Then cut the strips in half so they are shorter.
1-2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, I prefer Extra Virgin. Buy something nice from a Greek or Italian store
1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped
2 Tablespoons stock, veggie or chicken
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a saute or frying pan over medium heat until warm.
2. Add the veggies and cook until the onions are almost see-through.
3. Add the almonds. Cook 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the cooked quinoa and the stock.
5. Cook for 2-3 minutes and season to taste.

Leave me a comment on what you ate with it.

Berry Nice Fruit Salad

Wednesday January 5, 2011. I went to a lovely restaurant in Chicago called Cousins. They are a Vegan raw food restaurant. They had loads of options for lots of diets, including gluten free. They offer sampler plates of their appetizer selections. I went with the 3 choices option. You can get up to 6 choices. I chose Fakin' Bacon Poppers, Spinach Frittata, and a Tropical Fruit Salad. The fake bacon was made with eggplant and was stuffed with a salad made of kale. It was pretty good but not my favorite of the 3. The top picture is of one of the poppers. The Spinach Frittata looked so amazing that I ate it first and took a picture later. I ordered a fresh squeezed lemonade and they made it with agave syrup instead of sugar. I just love when restaurants are willing to take the next step to accommodate people. The Tropical Fruit salad was also amazing. I knew what fruits were in it so I went yesterday and bought the ingredients that I didn't have on hand. I played with the flavors and came up with a wonderful rendition of a tropical fruit salad with berries. That's the recipe I will share today.

Berry Nice Fruit Salad
Approx 4
1/2 cup servings

2 medium apples, chopped into bite sized pieces. I used 2 varieties; Gala and Fuji but you can use whatever you like.
1 tangerine; peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut (flakes or shredded)
1/4 cup pineapple. I used fresh and cut it up into small pieces.
2 oz assorted berries. I used a blend of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon agave (optional if you want extra sweetness)


Mix all ingredients together. Chill for 1 hour to let the flavors meld. Enjoy!

The bottom picture is of my fruit salad :)

Cheesecake Bites

I wanted to make a quick and easy cheesecake so I went looking for recipes. Lots of gluten free ones, lots of sugar free ones but nothing that was both. So I went into the kitchen and created my own. These are awseome. I made chocolate cheesecake bites with agave syrup and carob chips. I used reduced fat cream cheese too. It was pretty quick and easy. Total time to make: Approx 30 minutes. I used a mini muffin pan too. Here's the recipe:

Gluten Free Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

2 8 oz packages Neufchatel Cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup Dutch Process Cocoa

1/4 cup Agave syrup

1/3 cup carob chips



1. Set oven to 350. Make sure cheese and eggs are room temp.

2. Beat cheese until soft and smooth.

3. Add eggs 1 at a time and beat until smooth

4. Stir cocoa into agave syrup until blended.

5. Mix into cheese mixture.

6. Spoon into mini muffin cups. You can line the pan with mini cupcake papers or not.

7. Tap pan until mixture settles. Put a small portion of chips on top of each mini.

8. Bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes. They should look a little poufy and not wet.

9. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan.

10. Try not to eat them all at once