Cherry Tomato Salad

I am a raw tomato addict. It runs in the family.

The story goes that all my mother ate when she was pregnant with me was raw tomatoes so the lust for them must have been transferred to me while still in the womb. And for as long as I can remember the ushering in of summer in my childhood home involved finding massive amounts of tomatoes, taking them home, slicing them, and standing around in the kitchen eating them. All of us looming around a puddled cutting board of juicy red tomatoes, the liquid running down our arms while we devour these succulent bits of red tomato flesh.

There were also a lot of tomato, Miracle Whip and white bread toast sandwiches involved. Which has consistently been one of my favorite things to eat. I could have one everyday for weeks and never get sick of them. When I read Tom Robbins essay about tomato, mayonnaise and white bread sandwiches being the best food on earth I fell a little in love with him. Its called Til Lunch Do Us Part and you can read part of it in the book preview on Amazon if you want to thoroughly understand the term “food porn.” Then you should read Skinny Legs and All or one his other novels because hes a genius.

Tom Robbins was the first person outside of my family Id ever heard talk about the joy of raw tomatoes, almost everyone else Ive encountered finds eating them as if they were candy an unusual thing. Its something the fella and I tease one another about on a regular basis. He hates them, I love them, how can we possibly stay together with such opposed views on such an important issue. Somehow we soldier on, obviously we just stay together for the dog.

Sadly bread, white or otherwise is not part of this French diet so Ive been feeling the lack of my favorite sandwich for some time now. I do still have tomatoes however which our CSA share has been providing us in great abundance. There are pounds of them in the kitchen at the moment and more keep coming every week. I finally hit the too many tomatoes point this week, when I started dreading just eating them raw and had to start finding things to put them in.

Luckily Mark Bittman has a very handy recipe for easily taking care of large amounts cherry tomatoes in a yummy way. It seems too easy to be that good but it really is. And yes I will eventually start posting something other than salads soon. Ive just been short on free time and not feeling up to turning on the stove now that summer here in Wisconsin has finally decided to start. So for now here is another salad sans lettuce.

Cherry Tomato Salad

2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 large dash dark sesame oil
1 sprig cilantro

Cut tomatoes in half. Place in bowl.

Whisk together soy sauce and sesame oil. Pour over tomatoes and toss thoroughly.

Garnish with coarsely chopped cilantro.

This is even better the second day after it has sat chilling out in the fridge over night marinating until the tomatoes are little salty tart bombs that explode on your tongue.

Recipe from Mark Bittman in The New York Times.

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25 Weeks

Life in general has been moving along like normal for the most part. I have been keeping busy with work as usual and trying my best to prepare for this transition period that is about to happen. There has definitely been some major changes taking place around our neck of the woods lately.

My pregnancy has been pretty easy, which Im extremely thankful for. I really cant complain about too much. I am amazed with how much body is changing. Right now our June Bug is the size of an ear of corn and weighing in at about 1 1/2 lbs. However, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball which is a little freaky. My cravings are all over the place... from fast food one week to all veggies the next. Im just going with the flow.

I have been wearing maternity pants for probably over a month now. When I finally switched over to them all I could think about was why didnt I do this a LONG time ago. It is so nice to actually feel like I can breathe! Also, my cousin, Leslie, gave me all her maternity clothes since she just had a baby recently. How sweet of her to do and a true blessing. I feel like I may make it through this pregnancy without spending hardly any money on clothes Ill only wear for a few months. YAY!

Remington has definitely been realizing that changes are happening and I have tried to make it very clear to him that he is more than welcome to explore those changes. Any new baby stuff we purchase goes straight to the floor for a few days for him to sniff out and discover what they are all about. I have read that keeping your dog away from baby items only makes the transition harder when the baby comes, so he has had free reign of almost everything. He has also become very clingy to me lately... always following me around and during therapy dog visits leaning his head up against my belly. All my residents are amazed at the changes they have seen in him toward me lately.

Dan and I have been hard at work shuffling our house around and getting the nursery ready. I have felt a little badly because Dan has kind of lost his space in our house, but he has been a trooper during every minute and has done nothing but try to make me happy and do exactly what I want. Im definitely the stressed and anxious one about the baby coming and he is my rock as usual. I am so blessed to have him as my partner... so so blessed.

The most amazing thing I have seen and felt these past few weeks is the amount of movement happening! I am truly shocked at how strong this little human is at just 1 1/2 lbs! One night I was sitting watching TV and our little June Bug was kicking really hard so I decided to try to catch it on video to share with Dan. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched this over and over again in pure amazement!!!

Crazy right! And just FYI... I dont have three belly button holes... two of them are from when I use to have a belly button ring :)

Anyways... more updates to come in the following weeks. Time is flying by so fast that it is hard to keep up, but I will try my best!!!! Hopefully this was a nice little update to keep everyone in the loop!

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Crockpot White Fish and Artichoke

Would you believe this meal came completely out of the crockpot with recipes that involve absolutely no measuring? Well wrap your mind around it because its true.

The night before I threw some pesto and cheese on the fish, wrapped it in foil and put the fish packets in the fridge over night. I washed and trimmed the artichoke and got out the crockpots so that in my pre coffee haze I could manage to get this cooking quickly before going to work.

The fish went into the crockpot with a timed setting. This way the fish could cook for 3 hours and then be kept warm until I got home. It was perfect and flaky and not at all over done or fishy. Sometimes I love technology.

The artichoke went in the smaller old school crockpot with some water and lemon juice. When I got home the house smelled green and welcoming. There are few things I love to eat more than artichokes so coming home between jobs to pull the leaves off a perfectly cooked artichoke was a dream come true.

None of this is the fellas favorite thing in the world so I made it while we was in Boston a couple weeks ago and was a very happy girl. Sometimes cooking for one can be thrilling. I can do something as crazy as dual crockpot cooking without getting any funny looks. It was thrilling.

I highly recommend crockpotted artichokes. Not that it takes long to boil them regularly but there is something really nice about coming home to ready to eat food especially something as esoteric as an artichoke.

Crockpot Fillet of Sole with Pesto


1 to 2 pounds of white fish (I used sole)
bottled pesto
shredded Parmesan cheese
foil

Spread out a layer of foil on the counter top. Put a piece of fish in it. Cover it with a spoonful of pesto. Sprinkle on some shredded Parmesan.

Fold over the foil to create a little packet. Put the packet in the crockpot.

Continue to layer in foil packets until you run out of fish.

Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. You really should check it after 3 hours. The fish is done when it is fully white and flakes nicely with a fork. The stuff on the bottom will cook the same as the stuff on the top.

Original recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.

***

Crockpot Artichokes


artichokes
crockpot
water

Clean and prep the artichokes however you like to do so.

Put the artichokes in the slow cooker with liquid. I put the artichokes stem-side down in my big slow cooker and sprinkled them with a little salt, pepper, and fresh-squeezed lemon. Then I poured over about 2 cups of water (adjust to the size of your slow cooker; you may need a little less) and a drizzle of olive oil.

Cook on low for 6 hours or until the leaves can be easily pulled away. The final cooking time will depend on the actual heat of your slow cooker and the size of the artichokes.

Idea from the kitchen section of Apartment Therapy.

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Vegan Mac and Cheese

 Its tasty and its the right color but it still didnt cure my mac and cheese craving.

Anyone on this crazy French Diet is familiar with figuring out diet friendly substitutions for the forbidden foods you crave.  Pureed cauliflower takes over for the super carby mashed potatoes.  Almond flour becomes your best friend when you crave naan or pizza.  And ribboned vegetables make a great stand in for pasta.  But sometimes the thing you are craving is just out of your reach because it just might not be possible to make with the dietary restrictions youre working with.

 Just this sort of culinary failure is plaguing me today.  All I wanted was some macaroni and cheese.  I have no idea why.  When I could have eaten all of it I wanted it never occurred to me to eat it because it was never a favorite of mine.  But true to my contrary nature the second my body decided to was totally intolerant to dairy my brain went on a frantic quest to try to convince me I needed to eat mac and cheese immediately or the world would end.

I put off the craving as long as possible but today I gave in and looked into the ridiculous possibility of vegan cheese.   Ill try anything once so I gave it a shot with what was touted as the "worlds best recipe for vegan cheese" on many a food blog.  Turns out making vegan cheese is a time consuming, soul killing, messy process with a very strange end result.  The sauce I made was cheddar cheese colored and tasty but it was not at all cheese like or cheese flavored but I continued on hoping that once it mingled with my gluten free pasta and breadcrumbs and got toasty it would be amazing.

It was not meant to be so.  After being baked, what little moisture was in sauce had disappeared, Im assuming because I omitted the potato from the original recipe and was having a hard time reading the original recipe due to it being in an oddly ordered and so put in the wrong amount of margarine.  However for a dry distinctly uncheesy pasta dish it is really good and Im not just saying that.  If someone presented it as yummy noodles I would be very happy eating it.  It was only my strong desire for mac and cheese that made it not a totally satisfying experience.  Out of the context of cheese its tasty.

So I rearranged the recipe for (I hope) ease of preparation in the hopes someone else will try this with better results to let me know if I should try to make it again.  If  you want to give it a go with the potato from the original recipe then take out one cup of the carrots and use a small red potato then let me know what happens.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

NOODLES

4 quarts water

1 tablespoon sea salt

8 ounces macaroni

Just in case you dont know how to make pasta:  In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Return to pot and set aside.

BREADCRUMBS

4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces

2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine (I used Shedds soy margarine)

In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Put in a bowl and set aside.

“CHEESE" SAUCE

1 medium shallots, peeled and chopped

1 and 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped  (about 3 medium carrots)

1/2 of a small onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup water

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup raw cashews

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

In a food processor, blend the garlic, cashews, salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, mustard, margarine, and  lemon juice. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.

Pour “cheese” mixture onto the pasta and toss together until pasta is completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

Original recipe from Veg News food blog.

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Chickpea Crepes With Smoked Salmon

Apparently Im on a bit of a crepe kick. Probably because they are the only vaguely bread like food I can have on this elimination diet. 

This time I went savory with chickpea flour crepes, pesto, and smoked salmon.  The fella and I were both really surprised by how delicious I was able to make these while still keeping them hypoallergenic.  The crepes themselves were ridiculously easy and a nice compliment to the salmon.  The pesto which I used pumpkin seeds in instead of pine nuts rounded out the flavors nicely.  Best of all this recipe is totally weight loss phase friendly for the French Diet.  Since it involves bean flour you can put whatever youre in the mood for in these.  So go crazy!

Since Im only cooking really simple foods that dont usually require any sort of recipe Im going to try to stop neglecting this blog so badly and just post pictures of my food to prove that I really am eating well while on such a restrictive diet.  Well see how long I can keep up that promise.

Chickpea Crepes 

1 cups chickpea flour (easily found in Indian groceries)

1 1/4 cups water

dash of salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk together all ingredients.  Heat a large non stick pan over medium heat.  When hot, spray with cooking spray and drop 1/4 cup of the crepe mix into the pan, quickly sliding around  the pan to spread out the crepe as thin as possible.  Cook for 30 seconds.  Flip and cook for 90 seconds on the other side.  Repeat with the rest of the crepe batter.

I topped my chickpea crepes with a handful of spinach, a slice of avocado, some sprouts, a drizzle of pesto, and a couple pieces of smoked salmon.  This would also be amazing with cream cheese or creme fraiche, smoked salmon, watercress, and cucumber.  (Someone eat that version and tell me all about it since I will never be able to.)

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Chickpea Fries

Just because Im on a crazy diet doesnt mean I cant have an urge for a burger and fries.  And because Im highly motivated to satisfy my cravings while sticking to the parameters of the diet I made it happen in a weird and wonderful way.

For burgers we had the very hearty and healthy Quinoa and Mung Bean Burgers from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen blog.  They are the people whose elimination diet Im on so I figured they knew what they were doing.  With some avocado and sprouts they did the trick though without citrus they were a little bland.  Apparently I need to come up with a citrus substitute that doesnt lead to migraines.  Hmm.

Since Im testing chickpeas to see if they cause a reaction (so far so good...yay!) I found a recipe for chickpea flour "fries" that seemed way too interesting to not try.  They are a little labor intensive but as a potato substitute, it is well worth the effort.  Next time I would mix something interesting directly into the batter though because they were hard to season after cooked.

This diet also has had the odd side effect of me craving odd things like Brussles sprouts which I was never a fan of before.  So I threw together some pan braised Brussles sprouts with some butternut squash thrown in to make then even tastier.   This randomly chosen flavor combination is one I keep recreating week after week.  I even got the fella to eat one Brussles sprouts while calling me "mom,"  I dont even think he tried to feed it to the dog.

Chickpea Fries

2 cups water

1 cup chickpea flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

oil for frying

Put 2 cups of water in a medium pot on the stove to bring to boil.

Grease a small baking sheet with a rim and set aside.

When the water is boiling turn heat down to medium low and, slowly begin adding the flour in a bit at a time whisking well so no lumps form.  Continue this process until all the flour is combined with the water and you have a very thick polenta like paste.  Stir in the oil and salt and pepper at this point, mixing well.  Keep stirring as you let the mixture cook for one minute.

Turn the mixture out onto the greased baking sheet.  Careful its super hot! If you have what I call "barista fingers" that can handle the heat, begin flattening out the mixture until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick.  If you are like my fella  and have lily white programmers fingers you might need to press this mixture out with a barrier (like a silicone mat or greased parchment paper) between you and the hot goop because you really do need to work with this while it is still quite warm.

When you have it flattened out into a sheet of chickpea goo place the baking sheet in the fridge for 30 minutes or over night. 

When youre ready to eat the "fries" take them out of the fridge and use a pizza cutter to cut them into your preferred shape, the recipe suggests triangles but I wanted mine to cook faster and look like fries so I cut them thin.  Pour about 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom of a frying pan and bring up to temperature.  Fry the pieces of chickpea batter in small batches for about 3 to 4 minutes.  When they are slightly golden brown on the edges remove from oil to a plate covered with paper towel.  While they are still warm, sprinkle with salt or rosemary for added flavor.

Original recipe from Mark Bittmans How To Cook Everything.

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Its Been Rough

Do you ever get to that point in your life when it is like EVERYTHING imaginable starts to pile up on you all at once. You try and try to keep up with all the demands that are facing you, with a huge smile on your face of course, and then suddenly right before your eyes the demands disappear and youre at the point where you are sitting there wondering... what now?

That is how these past few months have been for me. It seemed like at one point I was asking myself how I was going to make it through everything that had appeared on my plate and today Im a little shocked they are no longer there.

So as I slowly get myself accustomed to blogging again like I use to (Im sorry I fell off the face of the blogging world recently)... I hope to fill you in on what has been happening these past couple months which took so much of my energy and attention that you may have asked yourself what happened to me. Its been rough... a roller coaster of emotions... from shock, to happiness, to sadness, and everything in between... and Ill fill you in on everything in the posts to come.

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Sweet Chili Shrimp

This meal looked super simple to make so I decided to take a stab at it. It would be nice meal for a family if you were in a hurry thats for sure.

Sweet Chili Shrimp (www.budgetbytes.com) $7.17

Ingredients

• 1 lb. raw shrimp
• 20 oz. can pineapple chunks
• ½ cup sweet chili sauce
• 2 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 cup white rice

 

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with non-stick spray. Drain the pineapple chunks and spread them out on the cookie sheet. Place them on the top rack of your oven under the broiler. Keep an eye on them and remove from the oven when they have browned on the edges (about 10 minutes). This will caramelize some of the natural sugars and give the pineapple a great flavor. When they are finished broiling, set them aside.

 

 

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. When the skillet is very hot (but the oil is not smoking), add the shrimp and stir-fry (just stir it around as it cooks) until the flesh is white and they have a pink blush on the outside (this will only take a few minutes). Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the pineapple letting a little bit of their juices release from the pan’s radiant heat.

 

 

Stir in the sweet chili sauce and you’re done!

 

 

I served ours over white rice.

 

 

Dan rated this meal a 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. It was good, but nothing special.

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Eggplant and Chickpea Stew

Instead of writing a novel in November Im going to try to put that same sort of frantic writerly spirit into getting back to blogging about food. Im hoping to write something here everyday in November. Horrible foodie that I am I have been eating, cooking, and generally carrying on in the kitchen plenty lately I just havent been posting about it. And Ive been eating such amazing things its wrong of me to not be talking about them. Somewhere along the line since the last time I wrote there was chocolate bacon cake which the world needs to know about.

Im starting with something something simple but tasty. Its hearty and warm so its perfect for the chilly fall weather when I know all I want is soups and stews, bonus points if there are copious amounts of beans involved. There are a lot of ingredients but they all come together easily. The only hard part was frying the eggplant which I would skip all together when cooking this again, it didnt contribute anything to the dish other than extra fat.

Eggplant and Chickpea Stew


3/4 cups dried chickpeas

8 tablespoons ghee, or a mixture of butter and olive oil
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 green chillies, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder

2large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 cup water
1 pound fresh spinach, trimmed and coarsely chopped

small handful fresh cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water with a drop of lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour or until the chickpeas are tender. Drain and set aside.

Preheat an oven to 325°. Meanwhile, heat 6 tablespoons of the ghee or butter and oil mixture in a large, deep saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the eggplant and fry, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the cubes are well-browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the remaining ghee or butter and oil to the pan. When hot, add the ginger, chillies and cumin seeds and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the seeds turn dark brown. Toss in the asafoetida, wait a few seconds, then stir in the tomatoes. Add the coriander, paprika, cayenne and turmeric and cook until the tomatoes reduce to a thick sauce, about 10 minutes.

Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the chickpeas, eggplant and spinach. Remove to a casserole dish, cover, and put in the preheated oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, garam masala, salt and pepper just before serving.

Recipe from Lisas Kitchen Blog.

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Cannellini and Chickpea Pottage

 Even with the appearance of warmer weather there is just something about a big pot of well seasoned root vegetables and beans that is still really satisfying.  Then again Im the type of person that has been known to suffer over a boiling pot of soup and cook a loaf of bread when its 100 degrees so I might be biased.  I think we can all agree that a tasty one pot meal is pretty amazing regardless of the weather.

The fella and I have been making this all winter and had it again yesterday and it still retains its yumminess no matter how many times we cook it.  The only problem has been trying to find gluten free chicken sausages here in town.  Amys Organic are the only ones Ive been able to find and sadly they are precooked without a casing which results in a slightly less appealing texture since the sausage refused to crumble into the beans nicely.  But if you can handle any ole chicken sausage you are in luck because raw crumbly sausage ups the delicious scale of this meal.

Ive also found that I prefer giant white lima beans in this recipe instead of the cannellini beans from the orginal recipe.  The lima beans hold their texture much better during the baking process.  This was another one of those surprising discoveries, finding out that lima beans done right are out of this world.  More proof that just because you hated it when you were a kid doesnt mean youll hate it later in life now that you know how to cook.

First beets, then kale, now lima beans.  Soon Ill find a way to make kohlrabi edible.  Now that will be the day.

Cannellini and Chickpea Pottage

1 tablespoon oil

4 chicken sausage links, casings removed (the only gluten free variety Ive found in town is Amys brand)

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 cup chicken stock

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon agave nectar

4 cups giant lima beans

2 cups chickpeas

3 tablespoons fresh thyme, divided use (or 1 1/ 2 tablespoons dried thyme)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 bay leaf

1/ 4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Heat a  Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add about a table of oil and the sausage, breaking it up with a spoon as it browns. Once meat is browned, add the onion and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes or until both the carrots and onions look like they are beginning to soften. Add the garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes.

Stir in chicken broth, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits stuck to pot.  Add the tomato paste, agave nectar, lima beans, chickpeas, one tablespoon of thyme, a pinch of salt and pepper, bay leaf and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese evenly over the pottage and transfer dish to oven (uncovered) for 20 minutes or until the top becomes brown and bubbly.

Remove from oven, sprinkling any remaining thyme and Parmesan cheese over the top.

Original recipe from Food52 Blog.

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Chickpea Blondies

Finding diet safe desserts to ease the void left from losing chocolate, ice cream, pastries, cakes, and all the other yummy things I used to bake to treat myself to on the weekends has been difficult. But Im determined. I also have enough friends with food allergies that Ive become skilled at finding crazy substitutes for desserts that wont harm my loved ones.

Black bean brownies taste almost exactly like the real thing but have no flour so they they make celiacs really happy. Ive found ways to alter cookie and cake recipes, removing all traces of gluten and had the gluten free desserts taste much better than the real thing, to the point that even kids at the party refused to eat the desserts that contained wheat because they werent as tasty. So now I think of altering desserts as a fun challenge.

I do celiac friendly desserts at all my get togethers because when person who is used to going places knowing they wont be able to eat anything because it might be contaminated finds out there is bakery that is safe their face lights up with the biggest smile. It only takes a few minutes research and buying some brown rice or spelt flour to bake gluten free, its worth that to see someone happy and I get to play with baking something new. Treating a certain celiac friend Q (whom I see to seldom now that she moved) to safe baked goods is especially enjoyable because there is dancing and cooing and clapping involved. I love rewarding people who love food with food I know theyll like.

The interesting part this time around for this weekends movie party was doing celiac safe and French diet friendly. No wheat, no added fat, and no sugar. That doesnt leave much. Thankfully I have experience cooking without flour because all my dessert have to be flour free from now on. And hank goodness for vegans. Especially the insanely delicious things at a blog I just stumbled on called Have Cake, Will Travel which is a very cute site with bunches of vegan treats.

On the very first page there was a recipe for faux blondies which I knew I had to make since Id already had great results with the faux brownies recently. Making these was quite interesting and taxed my poor food processor as it required it to puree garbanzo beans and peanut butter together into a nice even paste. This was more difficult than one might imagine. And getting the super sticky batter into the pan almost taxed my patience. It wasnt pleasant to work with and it wasnt pretty.

Once in the oven however they smelled heavenly. They had a nice constancy that made them feel like biting into a real blondie. Of course they were no where near as sinful as the real thing but they were nicely reminiscent of blondies. Its like eating soy yogurt, you have to be ready for something new and not think about what youre missing because neither soy yogurt nor these “blondies” taste like what theyre named after but they fill a void.

People stuck mostly to the hummus and vegetable platter at the party, deeming the “blondies” to have a nice texture but tasting mostly like chewy peanut butter. Thats okay with me, that means more left over ones for me to eat. And these taste even better after a couple days in the fridge as they get all gooey in the middle. Ill be eating another one tomorrow and thinking about the silly noises Q would make if she was here to share them with me because only certain people understand the importance of dessert.

Chickpea "Blondies"


1 15-ounce can, garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup raw sugar (I used 5 tablespoons fructose)
1/2 cup strawberry all-fruit jam
1/4 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flax meal
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (I just added this much more flax meal)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I used 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar)


Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.


In a food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until perfectly smooth, scraping sides often.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 26 minutes.


Best enjoyed after being in the fridge for a bit.


Original recipe from the Have Cake, Will Travel blog.

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Soupe Aux Amandes Almond Soup

Last weekend the fella and I had a couple of friends over for a ridiculous French dinner. Apparently it was such a good meal that we may have tempted them over to what they called our wine and cream diet. If anyone I know could handle the rigorous nature of this diet its them, theyre foodies who dont mind making things from scratch and like to experiment with new things. Hopefully we reeled them in, it would be nice to have some one else to talk about living in a world without bread and as the fella and I have learned this crazy diet does work.

This soup may have blown their minds a tiny bit. Its basically almonds, eggs and heavy cream cooked in a fussy way. It doesnt seem like it could be legal on any diet not even a strange French one. But alas it is and it was pretty tasty. It was tasty even though I screwed it up a little bit.

Having dipped into the cooking wine before dinner—purely for the purposes of testing which one was driest of course—I apparently was unable to read the recipe correctly. Admittedly the original recipe is poorly written so in this case Im not taking all the blame. I missed the tiny side note near chicken stock in the ingredient list that calls for it to be warmed and waiting before starting to cook anything else. Of course, thats pretty important why wouldnt you make “warm the broth” the first step in the recipe? That would be too easy.

Neglecting this step was probably what caused the almond mixture to settle to the bottom of my soup. In my retyping out of the recipe I made the directions more clear so that no one else has to make the same mistake. Not that we noticed, the soup was still lovely the way it was. Very subtle and rich. The cream and nuts made it a heavy soup but the flavors were very soft. It went nicely with the Riesling I served with dinner. The sweet wine makes you salivate slightly and the cream satisfies your open taste buds. It was quite the experience.

Other recipes from the Riesling Feast:
Roasted Cauliflower and Fennel
Saras Braised Leeks
Riesling Chicken
Beet Torte

Soupe Aux Amandes

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
6 ounces almonds, shelled and peeled
3 hardboiled eggs, yolks only
3 cups heavy cream
2 egg yolks
slivered almonds

In a large sauce pan put the broth over low heat to warm through as you prepare the other ingredients.

Put the almonds and the yolks of the hard boiled eggs in a food processor and process until you have a smooth paste.

In a pot combine the almond mixture and 1 1/2 cups of the cream. Slowly add the heated broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

In a large pot, not over heat, whisk together the raw egg yolks and the remaining 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. When the almond and cream mixture has cooked pour it slowly into the pot with the egg yolk mixture, and whisk while over medium heat for about 2 minutes. DO NOT BOIL.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve when soup is just heated through. Top with slivered almonds.

Original recipe from The Lutece Cookbook.

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