Italian Love Affair Soup

Annette here: One of my roommates' from college mom used to make a huge pot of Tortellini Soup and bring it over to us sometimes.  It is delicious and very filling.  Since I've yet to find gluten free Tortellini and I like to limit the dairy, I used meatballs instead. Also, my visiting brother requested it.  So it's not quite Italian Wedding Soup....instead... it's am Italian love affair! Vegetarians, feel free to ignore the meatballs and use the original Tortellini instead. Vegans can do it with vegan Tortellini or just add in more Quinoa for balanced protein.  YUM! 

Italian Love Affair Soup
Ingredients: 
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 Tablespoon Grape Seed Oil (or other medium-high heat oil of your choice)
5-6 stalks of celery, chopped
1 1/2 cups of carrots, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt (the Hawaiian red salt is my favorite!)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 15oz can of cannellini beans
1/2 cup Quinoa (just dried....not cooked)
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
Fresh herbs*: basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley--about 1/2 cup total
2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
3 cups water
48oz broth (veggie, chicken or combo)
Optional: 1 package Tortellini
Lots of leftover tomato products!  (I used 16oz of tomato soup & 16oz of crushed tomatoes.... the original recipe from  my roommate's mom says: "It's now time to clean out your fridge. Anything tomato based you have in there can go in the soup."  I have yet to try ketchup....and I'm thinking it's a good idea to stay away from it for this. :)  V8 is good in here if you're a V8 drinker.)

* I started growing my own herbs this spring so I have lots of yummy, FREE herbs!  It's really easy if you have a sunny spot.  You just have to water them.  I probably wouldn't go buy a package of all of these...they're expensive.  Just use two more Tablespoons of the dried Italian Seasoning.

For the meatballs:
1/2 cup GF Italian bread crumbs (I love Gillian Foods!)
1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tablespoon dried)

Directions for Meatballs
In a medium bowl combine all the ingredients.  Roll in to small quarter sized balls and fry in a skillet over medium heat until they become a little browned on most of the sides.  DO NOT EAT...they are still raw and will finish cooking in the soup.
 
Directions for the soup: 
Chop, chop, chop lots of veggies.  Toss chopped cabbage, onions, carrots, celery, garlic and Grape Seed Oil in a large stock pot.  I'm talking large here.  Saute until soft, about 15 minutes.  Toss in salt, fresh herbs, Italian seasoning, green onions, diced tomatoes, tomato products, broth, and the meatballs.  Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for an hour or more.  The longer and slower you cook it the better it tastes.  I cooked my pot today for 4 hours.  As your cooking, watch the liquid level.  I added about 3 cups of water, but you might want less or more depending on how long you're cooking it.  Thirty minutes before calling it done add in the beans, Quinoa, zucchini, and uncooked Tortellini if you're using it.  Serve it up with some nice whole grain bread and dinner is served!
For my brother's ranking: tasty, good, so good, SO good, SOOOOO good... this got a SO good!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

My favorite item in the kitchen is my wonderful, amazing Kitchen Aid mixer.  Seriously, everyone should have one if you bake or make lots of doughs.  Best purchase I ever made.  Below is the Quaker Oats "Vanishing  Oatmeal Raisin Cookies" recipe.  But I don't really like raisins much, so I make them with dried cranberries instead.  I also make half with chocolate chips for Marcie, my favorite sister.*  And finally, thanks to my cousin Josie for sharing the secret to great cookies--cake flour instead of regular flour.


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip or Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 Pound of butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c flour (I use cake flour-thanks Josie) (For Gluten Free try Better Batter Flour)
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 cups oats (For Gluten free use a GF certified rolled oat)
1+ c chocolate chips or
1+ c dried cranberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat together the butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, mix well
Stir in oats and chocolate chips/cranberries, mix well
Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet
Bake 10 minutes or until you likeness
Cool 1 minute and move to wire rack
about 4-5 dozen depending on size.

Enjoy!
Christine

*I do not have a favorite sister--I was just checking to see if they were all reading...

Pierogies

From the kitchen of Christine: 

My mother bought me this amazing cookbook "The Heart of Pittsburgh" A Cookbook from Historic Pittsburgh.  One of the best recipes is for Pierogies, though time consuming, well worth the effort.  I modified the directions and the filling.

Pierogies


Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups of flour (Use Better Batter if Gluten Free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup very hot water

Potato Filling:
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 medium onion finely chopped, sauteed in butter until soft
1/3 pound shredded cheese (I use Boar's Head Cheddar)

Directions:

Put potatoes on to boil.  Let boil 10 minutes.

Dough:  Mix the flour and salt.  Beat together the egg and oil.  Make a well in the flour mixture, and pour egg mixture, and using a fork, begin to mix the dough.  Add the hot water; continue mixing until a soft dough forms.  On a floured surface, lightly knead dough until no longer sticky.  Add flour as necessary.  Cover dough with plastic wrap; set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Mash the potatoes.  In a large bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, onion and cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Put a large pot of water on to boil.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness.  Using a biscuit cutter, or inverted glass, cut dough into 3 or 4 inch circles.  Spoon filling into center of each circle.  Fold dough in half over top of filling to form a semi-circle.  Using wet fingers, dampen the edges and press together to seal.  Crimp edges with a fork.*

Working in batches, place pierogies in boiling salted, water.  Boil for 4 to 5 minutes.  Pierogies will float to top when done.  Remove with a slotted spoon.  Let sit for a minute or 2.

Heat some vegetable or olive oil in a frying pan.  Place 4 or 6 pierogies in pan.  Fry until golden brown.  Turn once.  Serve warm.

*You may freeze pierogies at this time.  Put on a cookie sheet and do not let them touch.  Once frozen, you can put them in a bag.

Enjoy!
Christine

Food & Wine Steak with Herb Nut Salsa

Keri here with a review of a recipe and wine pairing!

Tonight, the man & I had steak with an herb nut salsa. The recipe came with our Food & Wine Adventurer Club wine shipment.

Aside: Food & Wine introduced two wine clubs last Fall/Winter: a collector edition & an adventurer edition. They ship us 6 bottles with a recipe booklet that pairs each wine with a primary recipe (& 3 alternates). Some wineries also do the same, which is pretty awesome.

The wine was really good for a cheapy wine, & it paired really well with the recipe. Good job, Food & Wine!!

Wine: Domaine de Baumard - Logis de la Giraudière - 2005. Fancy name for a red table wine... but it is really nice. Don't pay over $20 for it. Rating: 3.5/5

Recipe: Hanger Steak with Herb Nut Salsa Rating: 3.5/5

The salsa was salty herby goodness - So, I made very simple sides: roasted potatoes & onions with very little salt & some pepper and halved grape tomatoes with leftover herbs, basil, & shallot. Both cleansed the palate nicely after bites of the steak/salsa & sips of the wine. We made a few minor modifications: no tarragon, no chervil, anchovy paste in lieu of anchovies, less oil.

Also, ignore the recipe's note about 12 minutes for toasting the hazelnuts. Toast until fragrant, & don't wander away. Otherwise, it's a mad dash to open the door, turn on the fan, & cover the smoke detector.

Overall, the dish was very good together. We will probably make this again when the vegetable & herb garden is in full force. I recommend the wine & recipe together as a semi-fancy meal.

(This item was cross-posted to Twice If It's Nice.)

Granola Goodness

In my quest to find a granola made with gluten free oats I decided to make my own.  I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com but added my own changes to make it a bit healthier and sugar free.  However, this recipe uses a few controversial ingredients.  Scientists and nutritionists are continually making changes on what "healthy" means.  After growing up with the "It's okay! It's Fat Free" of the 80s and then the "Anything Low-Carb" of the 90s and 2000s, I've become a huge fan of the Michael Pollan's school of thought and just my general idea that things are okay in moderation provided that it's something natural as opposed to derived from science. (Not that I'm against science by any means!  Go Darwin!)  So bring on the controversial ingredients featured in the granola:

Coconut Oil:  Killed in the press in the 1980s because of it's high saturated fat content and because of the over processed version, coconut oil is regaining popularity because some believe that it's actually good for you.  Search online and find articles about this tasty oil (and fruit and milk...) and make up your own mind. 

Coconut Palm Sugar:  This recipe is the first time I've ever cooked with this sweetener but I'm starting to experiment with it as a sugar alternative.  Really any sweetener in large quantities is bad for most of us humans so I try not to eat too much of my drug of choice.  However, I'm trying to find the best one and this on has good reputation.

Agave Nectar:  This sweetener caused major controversy in the land of "fru-fru" sweeteners. First it was the wonder sweetener, then it was bad, then it was good, and now....who knows?  So, again, I use it in moderation.  I know that when I eat things made with it, I want more of the baked good later but I don't CRAVE it like I do when I eat thing made with regular, old sugar.

Ground Flax Seeds: Okay, no one has a problem with this one these days but I have heard/read that it's best to eat these freshly ground and not to cook them. So, if you want the most Omega 3's from these tiny seeds, buy them whole and ground them yourself then sprinkle them on the just out of the oven granola. 

Are we done with the theory? Let's get on to the tastiness! Be aware...this makes a ton and it's also delicious!  Gluten Free Friends--you might want to start off slow and work your way up to a real portion of this because sometimes even gluten free oats are a bit much for our tummies to take on.

Granola Goodness 

Adapted from Megan's Granola

Ingredients

• 8 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups Quinoa Flakes
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup palm sugar
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup molasses 
•  2/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the oats, quinoa flakes,  sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, palm sugar, agave nectar, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through.  Once out of the oven sprinkle on the ground flax seeds and stir.  After about 20 minutes out of the oven it will become crispy. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.  

Fagioli

About a year ago I downloaded a pdf of The Vegan Culinary Experience--Dairy Free Italian but never really cooked from it.  The other day I opened it up and picked out this recipe to make for dinner.  An hour before dinner I read the recipe more carefully and because of time and my desire to eat carrots & celery... made some major modifications...and came up with this:

Here's the original recipe:

The Vegan Culinary Experience – Education, Inspiration, Quality * www.veganculinaryexperience.com   February 2009
Recipe by Chef Jason Wyrick
Fagioli

Type:  Main Dish, Italian (Tuscan)   Serves: 4
Time to Prepare: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 bay leaves
4 cups of water (should reduce to 2 cups)
1⁄2 cup of tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. of chopped sage leaves
2 tbsp. of olive oil 
1⁄2 tsp. of salt
1⁄2 tsp. of freshly ground pepper
3 cups of cannellini beans, rinsed 
1 bunch of spinach, chopped
4 slices of Tuscan (or other Italian) bread, toasted

Instructions
Chop the onion, celery, and carrots and smash the garlic.
Simmer the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaves in the water for about 40 minutes.
Drain and reserve the liquid, discarding the veggies.
Mince the 2 cloves of garlic.
Chop the sage.
Mix the liquid with the tomato paste, garlic, sage, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Mix the tomato sauce you just made with the beans.
Place this in a baking dish and cover it.
Bake it on 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
While the beans bake, wilt the spinach leaves in a dry pan over a medium heat.
Once the beans are done, mix the spinach in with them.
This should be served with a side of Tuscan toast.

Here's what I did:


Quick Fagioli

Ingredients: 

1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14oz can of plain tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. of olive oil 
1⁄2 tsp. of salt
1⁄2 tsp. of freshly ground pepper
3 cups of cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained & rinsed 
1 bunch of spinach, chopped

Directions: 

 Chop the onion, celery and carrots (or use the food processor to do it for you like I did).   Adding olive oil, sautee the veggies and the garlic over medium heat in a pan until soft.  Pour into a casserole dish.  Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, water, drained beans, and Italian Seasoning.  Cover and cook in the oven on 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  Wilt the spinach leaves in a pan over medium heat and add to the bean mixture when it comes out of the oven.  Serve with some GF bread sticks.  

 Easy Gluten Free Bread Sticks

Follow the directions on the back of the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust.  However, instead of rolling it into a pizza crust, flour your hands and roll them into bread sticks.  I put them on a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil and dump tons of garlic powder and Italian Seasonings on top.  Bake in the oven at 425*F for 15-18 minutes.  YUM!  (Just looked at the top picture closer and realized I ran out of time to make bread sticks. Instead we had this baguette.  Don't want to confuse you if you're bread sticks don't look like the picture!)


We also ate this meal with a quick Strawberry Salad--Red leaf lettuce, sliced strawberries, pecans, olive oil, balsamic vinegar*, and a quick grind of pepper.

*If you're a balsamic vinegar fan like I am you might find this very disappointing.... 

Ultimate Chili

For Valentine's Day I gave my man a beer-making experience.  He and a friend went to Shenandoah Brewing Company and brewed their own beer.  After about 6 weeks it was bottled and ready for drinking.

 To celebrate, we threw a "Release Party" with a ton of chili.

When I make chili I don't really measure anything so it never turns out exactly the same.  Feel free to increase or lower the amount of things in here to fit your taste buds.  But whatever you do, make sure to include the secret ingredients... it makes all the difference!

Ultimate Chili
Ingredients

1 28oz can of whole tomatoes, slice them up a bit
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, (w/green chilies or w/o)
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)*
1 can black beans*
1 can dark red kidney beans*
*OR you can do 1/2 cup dried beans and let them soak overnight in water.  Then dump out the soaking water and cook them on the stove in fresh, boiling water for 10 minutes.  Drain.
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow or orange pepper, chopped
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic (or more, or less...)
1 pound browned & drained ground beef or turkey
1 package spicy sausage (My Favorite Cajun  Style Andouille found here)
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder (or more, or less...)
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin  (or more, or less...)
1/2 teaspoons sea salt (or more, or less...)
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
Secret Ingredient: 2-4oz of good quality unsweetened dark chocolate (YUP! That's right... I said Chocolate!)  (Ghirardelli, Dagoba, or Scharffenberger do actually taste & look different....)

Easy-have-a-lot-of-time-Directions: 
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey).  Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--I've read something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

Dump everything into a crockpot, stir and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5-6.

Got-to-get-to-a-Beer-Party-Soon-Directions: 
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey) in a large stockpot.  Add in veggies & spices to the ground beef (you could drain the fat before adding veggies if you wanted.)   Cook covered for about 7 minutes or so, just to soften everything up.  Add in all the other ingredients: tomatoes, beans*, chocolate, sausage.  Stir and cover.  Simmer for the next 1.5-3 hours on low, stirring about every 20 minutes.  The slower you cook a chili the better it will get.  If it ends up being too watery, take off the lid and/or add some cornstarch.  (To add cornstarch, spoon out about 1/2 cup of the liquid and add a Tablespoon of cornstarch to it.  Mix it up so there aren't any lumps and pour it back in.  In about 20-30 minutes you'll have a thicker chili.)  Serve with some tasty cornbread (GF cornbread Represent!) and some homemade Nut Brown Ale (although....that's not gluten free!) 

*Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--there is something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

 Vegetarian/Vegan Option: 
I've made this plenty of times before without meat and it's just as delicious.  Certainly with all the beans it's packed with protein and fiber!  I would however:

Increase the spices (Chili Powder, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper)
Cook in the crockpot so the beans break down a bit more and make it thicker
If you're a soy-sausage fan I'm sure it would taste great in this.
Sometimes I also add some frozen corn.....but it does make the chili sweeter. 

Enjoy!

Emily's Vegetarian Curry & Hummus

Last night was generic* Middle Eastern Night at our house!  I made this vegetarian curry recipe given to me by my friend Emily.  She blogs about her poetry and photography here.  It's awesome!  You can go and check it out... I'll wait.

(Insert hold music here.)

See? I told you it's awesome!  Anyway!  I combined the curry with homemade hummus and blue corn tortilla chips.  Overall, a delicious generic* Middle Eastern supper.

*Not sure which country this particular kind of dish would be made.   

Emily's Vegetarian Curry

Ingredients

¼ cup oil (I used a bit less..)

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves

1 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 ½ Tablespoon curry powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

14oz can diced tomatoes (no need to drain)

½ tsp salt

2 ½ cup diced potatoes

3 small med zucchini, sliced*

¾ cup dry roasted, unsalted cashews

1 TBsp lemon juice

Rice (whatever kind you like. I used a Texmati Blend)

Plain yogurt ( I used a plain, unsweetened soy yogurt)

*The zucchini in the store looked gross, so I opted for the asparagus that was on sale.  It worked well.  

Directions: 

Begin cooking your rice according to the package. I just throw mine in our rice cooker. 

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and saute 5 minutes.  Mix in curry powder and cumin and cook two minutes to toast spices.  Add tomatoes and 1 cup water and bring to a boil.  Stir in potatoes and cover pan.  Cook at a gentle simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove the cover of the pan and add zucchini and cashews.  Cook uncovered until zucchini are tender, about 10 minutes.  Mix in lemon juice. Serve over rice with a spoonful of plain yogurt on top.  YUM.  (You might notice that there is no yogurt on top in the picture.... I forgot it until I took my first bite!  Then I hopped to add it....it makes a big difference in the taste.) 


Homemade Hummus
Adapted from Hummus III on All Recipes

Ingredients  2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained 1/3 cup tahini 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup Extra Virgin olive oil paprika

Directions: 
 Cook the garbanzo beans (chick peas) in water on the stove for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are softened.  Cool them in a bowl of cold water.  Drain. Toss beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic and olive oil into a food processor or manly blender.  Process away until smooth! I like to add some water or olive oil as it processes to help it come to a smooth constancy.  When it's the way you like it, spoon it out into a bowl and make a well in the middle.  Pour a little olive oil in the center and sprinkle paprika around it for the full Middle Eastern Restaurant effect.  Enjoy!

Beef & Leek Potpie with Chive Crust

It makes for a bad picture, but an excellent meal!

A few years back I subscribed to Cooking Light.  I love their recipes.  They are frequently labor intensive and often have many unusual ingredients.  However, every recipe I've tried from them tastes delicious!  D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.  But after about a year of receiving the magazines, I had quite a messy pile of them waiting to be cooked from.  There had to be a better way.

Enter the Annual Recipes Collection.  At the end of each year, Cooking Light publishes a book with all their recipes from the year.  One of my favorite parts is that they are organized by month so it's easy to find recipes that match the season.

Okay...I just have to interrupt this post for a second.  As I write this there is a frantic squirrel on my deck digging through my flower pots.  I was watching it, totally confused as to why it was digging through two geraniums that had been inside all winter and thinking it has lost its mind.  Then I realized, that those two plants were not in that exact spot last summer/fall.  However, the geraniums that were there, both mysteriously sprouted oak trees this spring.  Looks like my squirrel hid two acorns inside my geraniums but I messed up its plan by bringing them inside.  Wow....to have the memory of a squirrel.  Sorry... I digress!

So, this recipe was listed in the March section.  It's a great cold weather dish for those days when you want to curl up with a cozy, hearty meal.  It made a lot for us (about 9 portions--I poured some of the filling into a smaller container and froze it to be eaten later.)


Beef and Leek Potpie with Chive Crust
Adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2009

(This can be easily made into a hearty vegetarian meal.  Just take out the beef and substitute veggie broth for the beef broth.  Maybe add some green beans to mix up the veggies in the filling.) 

Ingredients: 
Crust: 

• 1 1/4 cups Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour but Better Batter would work better! I just didn't have any.) 
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Shortening
• 1/4 cup ice water (I ended up using more.... GF flour is thirsty!)

Filling: 

• 1 1/2 pounds lean beef cut into 1-inch cubes (I just get whatever is low in fat & on sale!) 
• 4 thinly sliced leeks (How to slice a leek video)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 1/4 cups beef broth (low-sodium or not...your choice) 
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups cubed potatoes (I used yukon gold) 
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• ground pepper to taste
• cooking spray

Prepare the Crust: 

1. Mix flour, chives, salt in a medium bowl with a whisk or fork.  
2. Cut in shortening with two knives or a pastry blender until it's crumbly.  
3. Sprinkle ice water over flour mixture a little at a time and mix with a fork until it's crumbly but moistish.  (Yes.  Mositish is a technical term.) 
4. Press into a ball, cover, and put in the fridge to chill. 

Make the filling: 

1. Preheat oven to 400*F for later when the pie is ready to cook in the oven. 
2. Heat a large saute pan (I have a nice one with tall sides) or Dutch Oven over medium heat on the stovetop and coat with cooking spray.  Add in beef and cook until browned on all sides. 
3. Toss in leeks, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until softened. 
4. Add in rosemary, thyme, wine, beef broth, and potatoes and bring to a boil.  
5. When it boils, turn down the heat so the mixture cooks at a low simmer and cook covered until the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes). 
6. Add in the peas, salt and pepper. 
7. Spoon out about a 1/4 cup of the liquid and mix with the cornstarch until smooth.  Then pour back into the pan and stir.  
8. Remove from the heat and keep covered until you're ready to assemble. 

Assembling the Pie:

    For all you gluten eaters out there you'll find this step easy.  You roll out the dough as normal, easily move to the top of the filling and you're done.  Us, Gluten Free Fans begin to sweat when the thought of having to move GF dough from one surface to the other.  (Or is that just me?)  For some tips on a GF pie crust see Amy's blog here.

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and put it on a long piece of parchment paper with some (GF) flour sprinkled underneath the dough.  
2. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and roll it out using a rolling pin to a size where it will fit whatever size pan you're using for the potpie. 
3. Take the top layer of parchment paper off carefully. 
4. Pour your filling into your pan.  (I used a Corning Ware oval baking dish.) 
5. Carefully take your parchment paper with the rolled out crust and flip it onto the top of your potpie filling.  
6. Then peel off the parchment paper and you should be good to go.
7. Cut 5 slits for the steam to escape (or maybe all the holes in your GF dough are there on purpose!) 
8. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until browned.  

FYI: I ended up having enough dough for my large potpie (5 servings)  but not my small one. I just froze the smaller one (4 servings) sans crust and will make the crust before I eat it again.

We ate ours with the leftover red wine and a nice garden salad.   Enjoy!

Thai Peanutty Noodles

The first time I ever went out for Thai food was the first (AND LAST) time I came down with a case of the drinking flu. Long after college, after a failed attempt to go to West Virginia and go skiing, a few friends consoled ourselves by having a fun night at our apartment filled with peppermint patty shots.  You know what I'm talking about right?  Pour some Hershey's syrup in your mouth and chase it with Peppermint Schnapps.  Anyway, later the next day, when I was able to eat again, we went out for Thai.  Perhaps it was because it was the first thing I ate all day, or maybe it was just because it is amazingly delicious, but I was a convert of the flavors right away.

By far my favorite dish is Pad Thai, and this recipe is the closest I've ever come to recreating the flavors of that first experience.  (The good flavors/experience...not that bad one.... )

Thai Peanutty Noodles
Adapted from: All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, 2006.  Pg. 280.


Ingredients: 
1 pound uncooked rice noodles
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 Tablespoon Canola oil
2 teaspoons grated, peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth (feel free to use lower sodium)
1/2 cup natural style unsweetened peanut butter (ex: Smucker's)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (I use GF Tamari) 
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha Sauce (This particular brand
                                            MAY be contaminated with Gluten but it works for me) 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in strips or bite-sized chunks
Cooking Spray
2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 pound snow peas or sugar snap peas (I like the sugar snap better.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:
      Cook the noodles according to the directions (minus any salt or fat), drain, and set aside.
      Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet with high sides (so you can fit lots in later!) on medium heat.  Add in ginger, minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so.  Add in chicken broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and salt  and stir until it's blended.  Add in your cut up chicken, cover and simmer over low--ish heat until the chicken is cooked through.  If you have room in your pan add in your veggies--carrot strips, peppers, & peas--and cook until they are still slightly crisp but not raw.  (Or you can cook them to death like my Grandmother does....your choice!) If you don't have room in your pan, then just saute the veggies in a separate pan and mix in later.

Mix in the cooked and drained rice noodles and you're good to go!

Serve topped with crushed peanuts, cilantro, and green onions.   Yum yum yum! 

Feel free to play around with this one.  Take out the chicken, use veggie broth instead and it's vegetarian/vegan.  Mix and match your stir-fry veggies all you want. You could use shrimp instead if you're a seafood fan!  Experiment and make it your own!