I know, I know... tofu pudding...work in progress...

Bad, bad, bad gluten-free blogger....

So I've been working on getting healthier.   And I was having pudding cravings.   I had tofu in the fridge, frozen organic strawberries in the freezer.  Plopped them in the blender with lots (LOTS) of almond and vanilla flavoring, a dollop of sugar, a dollop of maple syrup, some gluten-free oats, and some almond meal.

Really, not bad.   Still a little tofu-ey, but had the right texture, and was enough to beat the cravings...

I know I'm going to be giving up cheese for Lent, and possibly most dairy, except for some milk for my morning coffee...   so i'm trying to come up with some healthy dairy alternatives that aren't processed gunge.  It doesn't help me to give up something and then just replace it with a more processed alternative....

I don't do well with highly processed foods.  Even the milk really makes a difference for me.   I drink raw milk during the summer to fall, and every year, when I switch back to organic milk from the supermarket, I get health issues.   This year I had some issues, and decided to try a grass-fed organic milk, supposedly from NY (although how it is organic grass-fed in winter?  you got me).  And it seems to have helped.   I'm feeling better with it.  And I don't drink that much milk...

anyway.  I'm going to play around with the tofu pudding idea for the next few weeks...I suspect it needs stronger flavors, but I'm not a big fan of chocolate pudding...  maybe raspberry, or a mango-butterscotch?  hmmmm

The best fish I ever ate...

Although actually, the fish itself wasn't that great, because I could tell from the flavor that it was a farmed fish...but the seasoning, the prep, YUM!  I wanted to lick my plate, it was that good.  It would have been superb if the fish had been a wild-caught fish.  (and, with the exception of the fish and the scallions, it was all local from my wonderful CSA)

Anyway, I'm sorry I don't have pictures, for two reasons.   The battery in my camera is kaput.   And once I started eating, I couldn't stop, and I didn't think you wanted a pic of just an empty plate with a fish head and tail.

So anyway, here is what I did:

Took one 1/2 pound trout.  Whole trout, cleaned.   put fresh dill, chiffonaded sorrel, and chopped scallions inside.  Put it in an oven-safe skillet, on top of a bed of fennel fronds.   Added about 2 cups of white wine, and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven.  

When the fish was cooked, I removed it from the pan, put it on a plate.   Removed the fennel.  Then cooked the juice down with a little more scallion and dried dill, then finished with a pat of butter.

Oh man, so good.....

End-of-summer salad....

So, I had a CSA box to use up, and I had an ear of corn left over from dinner the other night.   So I made a lively, fresh little salad....

I cut the corn off the cob, chopped up some cuke and peppers, and a smidge of onion.   Dollop of yogurt, a smidge of mayo, and some buttermilk ranch mix from Penzeys....   and voila, dinner.

Quick saag paneer salad.

So, I have spinach from my CSA.   And its a little too tough for just plain salad, but I didn't want completely soggy spinach.   I was also in the mood for something vaguely Indian (been reading Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook for ideas).

I'd been to Trader Joe's and picked up some of their Frying Cheese earlier... (among other things)

So I washed the spinach.  And washed it again.  

Then I sauteed a little of the cheese in some oil, with some Maharajah Curry Powder from Trader Joes.

Turned off the heat, added the spinach and tossed it enough so that it wilted and picked up some of the spices, and had for dinner....

nice, healthy, simple.   Not real saag paneer, but good enough...

Spring Rolls with CSA produce...

So:  I wrote the previous blog post, then started my morning surfing of the 'net, and found a wonderful post on Spring Rolls.

And I have lettuce, and spinach, and chard, and peppers, and the base mix for turnip salad....  hmmmmm

And you could use smoked salmon or langoustines instead of the crispy shrimp.  

So I made them.  (and again, sorry, no pics, I was starving, but it was amazing how quickly they came together).

I had the rice paper wrappers, a bowl of water to soften them in, a plate to assemble them on.

I pulled out some miso from the fridge to use too.   You could also toss the turnip salad with a little bit of fish sauce, if you wanted, I didn't want to get another bowl dirty.

I used smoked salmon, lettuce and the turnip salad.  

Dip the wrapper, you don't want to soak it, but just make sure it is completely wet and just starts getting flexible...

Put it on a plate.  smear a little miso on.   stack lettuce, salmon and turnip salad on top (trial and error, and whatever you want to show through, on the bottom....)  and then start rolling it up, kind of like a package...

Make as many as you want.

Eat.

CSA, hooray, hooray, AKA Turnips in Spring.

So.  My CSA just started, and I am DETERMINED to actually eat all the produce, have lots of lovely salads, etc.   I think item one on my list has to be a new food processor, unless anyone has tips on why the bowl of mine sticks so badly that I have to lay it on the floor and use my foot to get it off?   (and get your minds out of the gutter right now!)

But We got some lovely lovely little white turnips in our share, so I've grated them in the previously mentioned cuisinart.  Along with a sweet onion and a couple of carrots.  And then doused it all in white balsamic vinegar so it wouldn't turn brown.

 I'm making up a salad recipe because the only, only, ONLY recipes I've found in my go-to cookbooks all involve roasting or braising or some other preparation more suited to fall than late spring/early summer.   I don't want to turn the oven on more than I have to.  Nor the stove.

So anyway, back to the 'recipe', I'm actually going to use this as a base for a couple of variations.

Variation 1:

Morroccan/Middle Eastern:

Add some red pepper, some ginger, a little bit of cumin, and top with golden raisins or chopped dates...  You could also throw some parsley in there, if you so desired.... or replace the raisins/dates with some good feta cheese....

Variant 2:
Bacon and pecans:
Toast a few pecans, cook a strip of bacon per person.   Crumble the bacon, toss with a mustard vinaigrette....   put pecans on top....

Variant 3:
Scandanavian:
Light sour cream dressing, maybe with some cukes or radish added in.

Snack Balls of Goodness....

So I needed some kind of snack for work yesterday, but didn't feel like chocolate.   Otherwise I would have made THESE.

So I riffed off of the recipe.  Left out the cocoa powder, the chocolate chips...  and this is going to be more of an "Elizabeth David" type of recipe, because it has to do with humidity, ingredient moistness, etc.

Dollop of almond butter
Dollop of sunflower seed butter
gluten-free oatmeal
maple syrup
raisins
dried cherries
coconut "flour"
flaxseed meal (golden)
vanilla

mix mix mix mix, add a little maple syrup to moisten. mix mix mix.    Taste.  You could add sugar if you wanted, they were sweet enough for me with just the maple syrup.

Roll into balls and toss in a little bit more of the coconut.

The one thing I would have added is something with a little bit of sourness...  It needed a little bit of acidity to counteract the texture, so if I had had it in the fridge, I would have used some lemon zest or orange zest to give it that brightness... (which would also work in a chocolate variation too).

It gave me that nice little pop of energy to get through the rest of the day...