Deliciousness at Every Turn

Hello there! Sorry I've been gone for a few days, this week was just a bit crazy. As I said in my last update Logician's family was briefly affected by the storm, though for the moment things seem to be okay. Things have calmed down a bit this morning and we are returning to our regular schedule.

This post is going to be a bit long as I have several things I want to post. The first thing I must remind you of is that though I often link to a lot of things (I like to show the love) I am in no way compensated for my opinion and that it is just that - MY opinion. I can't even be entirely sure that Logician agrees with me on most things, so please take what you like and leave the rest.

One of the first things I want to do in this post is let anyone who is anyone who wants to eat something tasty in Gainesville know about Falafel King. This is a tiny restaurant/Middle Eastern Grocer that we must have passed every day for the entire time we've lived in Gainesville. We'd often discuss going in and then just drive on by to some other less delicious place before finally giving in just before we began our second Reboot. We were very sad we had waited so long. The couple that seem to run the restaurant are really friendly and seem to flow seamlessly around each other as they work. The food is always delicious, handmade, and even though it varies because it is handmade we have yet to be disappointed. They sell their own tahinni, tabbouleh, and hummus - as well as kosher meats, domestic and imported feta, olives, etc. It's an amazing little place and we love to eat there. Though we also like to watch what they do as they work and I worry we're starting to creep them out a bit! But seriously if you're looking for homemade authentic Middle Eastern food - go there. It's good.

Now to get to the main part of today's post - today is Saturday which means Farmer's Market! Currently due to our schedules we can go to only one of the in town market's a week, so we choose the Haile Plantation Farmer's Market. This is our first time going every week, so we don't have as much experience with the ebb and flow. But we have resolved to go each day and take time to walk the length before we purchase anything. We have come to know several of the families that bring their items and are always intrigued when a new stand pops up.

Today was one of those days. Today we met the family behind The Root Cellar. What initially intrigued us was their banner which spoke of jams with flowers involved. We see the words flowers, herbs, jams, jellies, or honey and immediately must investigate. We were astonished to be provided an excellent tour through the five offerings - A hibiscus with orange/raspberry flavors, Strawberry Basil, Strawberry Lavender, a blueberry with an anise back flavor, and a jalapeno (which I let Logician try). We ended up buying one of each and the promptly delegated two of them to breakfast duty.

We went to our local Earth Origin's market where we picked up some Gluten (and Dairy) Free Sourdough Bagels made by a relatively local company, Sami's Bakery, and some Vegan Cream Cheese Alternative (this was after a suggestion of eating some of these tasty jams on Sourdough bread). We then stopped by Gainesville's newest coffee shop (which - thank goodness - is on our side of town. FINALLY!) CYM Coffee Co. The name is from the Sister Hazel Song Change Your Mind. Sister Hazel is a Gainesville, Fl band and this coffee shop ties right into the idea of Cymplfy. Seriously - I am very much in love with this place right now.

In fact, with no offense meant to our other wonderful coffee establishments, this one is definitely becoming my favorite. It's got a nice cozy, curl up and read with a cup of coffee feel. The first day we went Tropical Storm Debby was drenching us and I could have sworn we some how teleported to the Pacific Northwest. It was amazing. So far I have tried their Mint Mocha Latte, an iced White Chocolate Mocha, and an iced Caramel Mocha. Logician has tried their Chai (which I just found out today is the powder form of my most favorite Chai ever) as an iced Latte, their Chemex blend, and really likes the way that the owner (Brad) and their awesome Barista (Tom) make their espresso.

They have so many great things going on that if I don't get to my point here I'll bore you to death. One of the cool things that we've found pulls us in each morning is that they sell travel mugs ($2.49 plus tax, their really decent mugs for being plastic) and a refill for the mug only costs $1.00. Logician likes to get a straight up espresso and add it to his mix. The coffee's have been really tasty and enjoyable.

So we stopped there and refilled our mugs. Then took our haul of jams, bagels, not cream cheese, and coffee and went to Logician's work where we had a breakfast picnic - and now for the best part, pictures.

So here's the spread. Each of us put each type of jam on one half of our bagel over the vegan cream cheese and then drank our coffee.

The names of everything aren't as clear as I would like them to be here but oh well. The Vegan cream cheese was not very good in my opinion as I didn't really like the heaviness from the oil. But it worked enough to provide a contrast in flavor and make the jams pop out more.

So after devouring all this tastiness we came to several conclusions:

1) The Hibiscus Jam could double as a tea concentrate - seriously. A cup of hot water, a dash more honey, and a spoon full of that deliciousness would make one heck of a cup of tea. An idea I got from the numerous Asian inspired tea concentrates we've seen at our local Asian markets.

2) The Hibiscus Jam is going to go into a tasty dinner I am making for tomorrow night (that Logician came up with on the spot as we drove from the market to the grocery). It is going to be a stuffed Zuccini/Courgette that is about as big as my forearm (we got it for $3.00!!! at the Farmer's Market, seriously... Insane). More on that when I post it's delicious pictures tomorrow!

3) We cannot wait to feature the Jalapeno Jelly on some delicious fish for our 4th of July dinner. Seriously - the very thought of it's deliciousness makes me want to just stay home a cook today.

4) Gluten Free and Dairy Free Sourdough bagels might just be one of the best inventions ever. I can't wait to learn to make them on my own.

5) Breakfast Picnics rock.

6) Our kitchen is about to see more cooking than it has in awhile.

And lastly we live in such an awesomely inspired local culture here. I am so glad we're exploring so many different things these days. I think that by sticking to the Farmer's Market each week we're going to find new and exciting things that will lead to all sorts of awesome adventures.

I promise the Reboot/Juicing Post has been started, and it will eventually make it up. I have a little more free time this week due to the holiday so I am hoping to get it up in the next few days. Tomorrow I will make myself take pictures of the process as we make the Stuffed Zucchini, and I will try to get it up ASAP. Until then, eat well!

Hello!

It's been a little crazy here the last few days with Tropical Storm Debby lurking off the coast near us. Some of our family was affected by the winds, rains, and a tornado so we haven't been as focused on food as before! But that's okay because tomorrow will be a chance to really get into What's on Hand Thursday. I am really looking forward to digging through the pantry to see what I can find!

I will also try to get my next Juicing/Rebooting post up soon!

What's on Hand Thursday #1

Well to be honest, I did not make this challenge happen yesterday but for good reason. There was a lot of running about town yesterday and we ended up stopping by one of our favorite more health inclined restaurants for lunch fairly late. So when it came to dinner time, we simply weren't hungry. I wasn't going to cook just to see the food sit - so no dinner.

Instead while trying to decide what to eat for breakfast this morning we came across a slight conundrum. Logician really wanted muffins. None of the places we have previously explored around us sell Gluten and Dairy Free muffins, and we are trying to save money by cooking at home. So we started thinking about what we could do, and I turned to Google for help.

Alas we only had limited baking supplies on hand. We only had one full stick and just under half of another of EarthBalance Butter, we only had two eggs... We have brown rice flour and xanthan gum but weren't sure how to use them together.... So I looked and looked until it occurred to me that really I should look for a Vegan Muffin recipe. I found a list of several recipes and chose the one here. 


I was quite happy to find it because suddenly we had a recipe that fit what we had in the house, though the recipe only says to use flour -Which now that I am thinking about it, is likely regular flour - and does not specify type we decided to use it. We did make some alterations/adjustments as follows:

Flour: We combined the remaining bits of Bisquick Gluten Free (also Dairy Free) Pancake mix with what we had left of Bob's Red Mill Gluten and Dairy Free Pancake mix. This was just enough flour to meet the recipes requirements (ideas for next time - add some applesauce or change the flour mixture).

Sugar: We are trying to do away with white and refined sugars and to switch to more natural and organic sweeteners. This is especially important as we're trying to avoid family history of diabetes. So instead of white refined or other misleading sugars we used a new find, Madhava Oranic Coconut Sugar (Blonde). It tastes like evaporated molasses and looks a bit like rough crystals or finely shredded coconut. In the final product we didn't even know the difference.

Eggs: We didn't have any egg replacer on hand, and honestly we are not trying to become an egg free household. Instead we're trying to be more conscious about the eggs we buy. So we used cage free, antibiotic free, vegetarian fed organic brown eggs (store bought as our Farmer's Market eggs didn't last long).

Other than that we stuck to the recipe using Almond milk and the other ingredients stated. Here's the result:

They were delicious, especially with a little bit of Earth Balance whipped buttery spread on top. Logician even decided to be nice and take a few to his coworkers.

My thoughts - change the flour. Both of the flours we used were based solely on brown rice flour and so these had a drier, grainy texture that I want to experiment with. Next time I will either try to make and use our own all purpose flour mix, or I will add some applesauce (unsweetened) to see if that will give them a bit more moisture. They came out of the pain really well, thanks to a nice spritz of baking spray and held together fairly well so I don't want to up the moisture content too much or else that will negate the result.

They also needed to bake only about 12 minutes not the full 20-25. I put them on a timer for 25 with the light on so we could keep an eye on them as they cooked. I'm glad I did!

All in all these were a tasty breakfast, that was indulgent but also made from more wholesome and healthy ingredients without setting off our allergies. I would definitely make them again just as we did and it was fun to stretch our pantry to see what we could bake with!

My Reboot/Juicing Post #2 should be up in the next day or two! Tomorrow is the Farmer's Market, I can't wait to see what's fresh!

Lessons Learned: A Juicing/Rebooting Guide Pt 1 Getting Started

Since Logician and I decided to begin Juicing or as we prefer to call it Rebooting our life, many people around me have asked for more information, tips, and tricks we have learned along the way. In fact that was the reason I initially started posting pictures and recipes of the juices we made on my other blog. But I've realized that while some of our juicing ideas are there, there was no real post that pulled together all the things we have learned. So here it is, from me to you, what I learned about Rebooting.

Again the inspiration for our Juicing Fast came from Join the Reboot.

This is a long post, so feel free to scamper off and enjoy the outside and come back to it from time to time!

Super Secret Tuesday #1

So this is a hodgepodge post catching up from where The Adjacent Shelf Rebooting Days 3-5 left off and including my new Tuesday blog: Super Secret Tuesday.

We have gotten a bit off track with the Reboot, substituting too many store bought juices and green super food powder for freshly made juices, and eating more non-Reboot foods such as eggs and chicken. We're on the path back away from that, but were still more mindful of our choices as we made them.

I don't have as many juicing pictures as I would like but we've recently tried some new ingredients:

Fennel - new to use this go round, it's nice in small quantities.
Jalapenos - Very tasty, but easily overpowered as a strong flavor.
Sprite Melon - we were told it's the taste of a pear with the crunch of an apple, but all we got was honeydew.
Fresh Herbs - this wasn't entirely new as we have used mint before, but this time we branched out and have added Dill and Rosemary, as well as the Fennel
Mango - we added some fresh mango to a juice we made for our friends this past weekend, and it was very tasty.

Tomorrow afternoon I plan on sitting down and typing up a Reboot post that will help those who have asked me, learn from the many things we have learned in this process. But for today this posts main focus is my new adventure in allergy free cooking:

Super Secret Tuesday and What's on Hand Thursday

Not very catch names, I know but that's not the point. The point is to expand my chef-i-ness (yes I just made that up) and my overall culinary skill around allergy free eating since this house is made of foodie gourmands. So here's the parameters:

Super Secret Tuesday:
1 - New ingredients may be purchased within monthly food budget.
2- Recipes from the Web or cookbooks may be used.
3 - Food must be Dairy, Gluten, and if possible Soy Free. Preference is for Vegan or Fish based dishes only.
4 - Try to use only whole grains if necessary, staying away from processed grains and using Quinoa, Brown Rice, Wild Rice, etc. if needed. If necessary white rice may be used sparingly.
5 - Smaller portions!!!!
6 - Dessert included, but see Rule #5

The idea for Tuesday is to allow myself to find recipes and explore, which I did (you will see below) - learning from the many other Vegan and Allergy Free pioneers that have come before me. This will give me new techniques and tricks to use for Thursdays.

Why is it called Super Secret you ask?

Because Logician, my food guinea pig, who must suffer through my cooking will not know what dinner is until it happens. He had no idea what dinner truly was until it was set before him last night. It was a lot of fun.

What's on Hand Thursday:

1 - Only necessity based ingredients that will be used for more than one meal may be purchased (i.e. if I've run out of Quinoa, Brown Rice Syrup, Vinegar, etc).
2 - No cookbooks or web based recipes may be used unless recalled from memory. Cookbooks and Web are only allowed to be used for measurement conversions or substitution tips (i.e. dried herb for fresh)
3 - Food must be Dairy, Gluten, and if possible Soy Free. Preference is for Vegetarian, Fish, or Free Range Local Farmer purchased Chicken or Eggs.
4 - Only whole grains may be used and are limited to Quinoa and Brown Rice.
5 - Smaller portions!!!!
6 - Dessert may be included but is not necessary. Refer to Rule #5.

The idea of Thursday is to really use the food we're bringing into this house. We have a pantry full of stuff and too often find ourselves going out to eat because we're too (Insert status here) to cook. NO MORE! In our move to a conscious kitchen it's time to be in the kitchen more.

Super Secret Tuesday #1: 06/19/2012

Crackers and Hummus

So yesterday I tried out some new crackers - Back to Nature Multi-Seed Crackers. They contain Sesame, but do not have soy, wheat, eggs, or dairy. I had them with some locally made hummus that was organic and contained no soy, wheat, etc.

These crackers were quite tasty. They are very crunchy and solid and went well with the hummus. It would be very easy to eat a whole box without a thought, so be careful!

We haven't been so good about juicing lately (he's been better than me), in that we've had breakfast juice but then lunch for me has been V8 (processed, I know) and then salad for dinner. I should have some tasty treats to follow tomorrow night!

Hello and Welcome to a Food Adventure

Hello there and welcome to a new blogging adventure for me. Earlier this year my companion Logician and I joined the "Reboot Nation" after watching the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. We did a fifteen day juice and veggie diet consisting of only juice, raw veggies, fruit, beans, and nuts. Afterwards we discovered that both of us have an intolerance or allergy to certain food. We had suspected, following a serious bout of heart burn, that Logician might have a gluten intolerance. After rebooting his reactions began to be more severe now that the general tolerance he'd built up his whole life was reset!

The same thing happened to me, with dairy. I am still working out whether or not my allergy is to all lactose ever, to cows milk, or to casein. It seems to be leaning towards lactose in general (which makes me very sad because I LOVE cheese, seriously love) so I am looking forward to expanding our kitchen into a more allergy free, Earth conscious, and health loving space.

We have been in the process of switching to gluten and dairy free for awhile, but it wasn't until after rebooting that we really began to understand just how much our bodies needed to not have to fight to process the things that make it sick. Part of that switch included me developing a love of all things Bento Box (check out Just Bento or Adventures in Bento Making for my original inspirations), something that still sticks with me though I got out of the habit of making Bento for awhile. I have some Bento box recipes and posts up on My Other Blog, which also has a lot of our Reboot juices from our first Reboot and some of our second (we are on day 15 of hopefully 30 days juicing and eating).

A lot change has come into our food life because of the reset our bodies went through during the Rebooting process. This time around we're trying to switch to mostly organic or locally grown fruits and veggies, most of which we pick up at a local independent grocer or the Saturday Farmer's Market. We've also been toying with veggie recipes to have at night. So far they've been good but nothing to really write down and record. But I do have some that are just awesome, that I have gotten from the internet and tweaked slightly.

The most recent experiment included the following three recipes:

GF, DF, SoyFree Crepes (one version of the recipe is here) Makes approximately 6-8 Crepes

Dessert Version:
1 Cup Brown Rice Flour
3 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Non-dairy Plain Flavored Unsweetened Milk (I used Almond Milk, but any milk would work)
1 teaspoon Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Savory Version:


1 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1 1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Non-dairy Plain Flavored Unsweetened Milk
1 teaspoon Vegetable or Canola Oil
1-2 teaspoons dried herbs and spices

1) Mix flour and sugar. Add milk, eggs, and vanilla (or spices). If batter is too runny add flour 1 Tablespoon at a time.

2) Oil skillet or crepe pan, cook 1-2 minutes, flip when bubbles pop. Cook another minute. Remove and cover with paper towel to cool.

--
Cow's Milk Free Tzatski Sauce: Made Approximately 1 1/2 cups


I paired these crepes with a Tzatziki sauce recipe I found online, but for the life of my I cannot find the website. I will keep looking so that blogger can get the credit due to them!

6 oz Goat's milk yogurt, Plain Flavor (the original recipe used regular yogurt I believe)
1 Clove Garlic
2 Sprigs Fresh Dill
1 Large Cucumber
1-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper to taste

1) Peel and seed cucumber. Cut into 1/2 inch slices. Place in colander over a bowl. Toss with salt, gently massaging the salt into the cucumbers. Let stand 30 or more minutes to drain excess moisture.

2) Place a yogurt filter or two basket style coffee filters into a colander over a bowl. Place yogurt in the filter(s) and let stand for 20 or more minutes to drain off excess moisture and thicken the yogurt.

3) Place cucumbers, garlic, dill, and pepper into a blender or food processor. Mix while adding just enough oil to blend well. Mix yogurt and cucumber mixture together in a fridge safe container. Cover and chill at least two hours.

** I used Goat's milk yogurt but seemed to still have a reaction to it, next time I will try nondairy yogurt. **
** I also placed the plastic wrap down over the sauce when covering, just in case it decided to try to make a skin **

--

And both of those were served with a Veggie Hash I whipped up myself:

Veggie Hash: Makes 4-6 large servings

1/2 Spring or White Onion cut into strings
3 Cloves Garlic, cut into sticks
2 Carrots, cut into sticks approximately no more than 1 inch long
1/2 Green Bell Pepper, cut into sticks
2 Medium Russet Potatoes, grated with a large hole grater
1/2 12-14oz Can Spicy Diced Tomatoes, drained with liquid reserved
1 Small Can Mushrooms (or 4-5 fresh mushrooms, I just used what was on hand)
Salt, Pepper, Rosemary to taste
Nondairy Butter Stick (I use EarthBalance)

1) Sautee garlic and onions until onions are translucent.

2) Add carrot, bell pepper, and if using fresh mushrooms, cooking 3-5 minutes to soften carrots.

3) Add salt, pepper, rosemary and tomatoes. Cook another two minutes to allow flavors to meld.

4) Add potatoes, a pat of nondairy butter, and tomato liquid. Stir to mix then let brown before carefully flipping in quarters. Cook until most of the potato has crisped/browned.

--

We ate this by putting a crepe down on our plates, putting some hash over it, and the sauce on top. Then eating with a fork. The Hash made A LOT of food, so be prepared to get inventive with leftovers if you're only feeding two people!

I am pulling together several recipes for the next cooking adventure night, which I will post about soon. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all!

Till next time!