thanksgiving wrap-up -- cranberry breads!

Our internet was out most of the day on Wednesday so instead of telling you about the cranberry breads I planned to make, or telling you that I posted a Thanksgiving article at Gluten-Free Works, I spent the day making a This-Isn't-Really-How-Pilgrims-Dressed dress for Muffin:

So now I will give a summary of my Thanksgiving cooking: Yum.

We were invited to a potluck dinner with some friends and our contribution was rice and cranberry bread. I cheated a bit and had my housekeeper make a rice pilaf (from the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook) while I made the cranberry breads.

Earlier in the week I tried a cranberry apricot nut cake from Anja's Food 4 Thought. There's no flour in it and if you use unsugared dried fruit then it's sugar-free as well. I had to substitute some of the nuts and I used cranberries that I'd brought back from the United States with us last summer. Ocean Spray Craisins can be found here sometimes, but I didn't want the expense and the inconsistent supply chain to keep me from making cranberry bread at Thanksgiving so I've been saving them to use since September. Anja calls for a mix of pecan and hazelnuts, but I haven't seen hazelnuts here in months so I used all pecans -- which hadn't been around for a few weeks and miraculously arrived on the shelves last Sunday. I bought enough to get me through Christmas. You could fool around substituting different fruits and nuts. (I bought some amazing dates this week, too, that would be good.)

Muffin and I ate most of that cake, which was evidence enough that it would be a good Thanksgiving dish. I had chopped and pre-measured the fruits and nuts when I made the first loaf so on Thursday morning I could make a fresh loaf in less time.

For my second bread I went back and forth on whether I should add cranberries to either the Pamela's baking mix banana bread or zucchini bread recipes. I went with the banana bread. I know the recipe by heart so it was quick to make on Thursday morning. I made it as muffins to ensure it cooked evenly and to save time and mess from having to cut it up.

Muffin tossed all breads and muffins aside once she got her first taste of turkey. Last Thanksgiving she was too young for real food. This year she inhaled the turkey off my plate and took a few bites of mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, and broccoli as well. We thought giving her a turkey leg to play with would make a funny photograph and we were surprised to see her bite right into it. She is definitely a Thanksgiving eater.

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Note that not every product on this page is gluten-free, so read descriptions carefully.



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Our Dinner Guest of Honor

(First published at Where in the World Am I? on 26 December 2010.)

After Thanksgiving Mike read the Facebook status of one of our friends who had enjoyed a succulent duck for dinner (We've had her duck. It's amazing.) and Mike wondered if we could get duck here. Well, with the help of our driver, Mohammed, my Christmas present to Mike was a duck for dinner.

On Tuesday Muffin and I went to the bird market in the Old City, where there are all sorts of live birds for both dinners and pets. We were surrounded by blue and green parakeets (budgies), geese, turkeys, blackbirds, guinea hens, and chickens. Ducks were scarce but Mohammed assured me we'd find some. First I was offered geese. They looked good, but they weren't what I wanted. And they looked too big to fit into our tiny oven. (I'd been instructed to buy the biggest duck I could find, but I was thinking of the biggest duck that would fit in our small oven and small selection of cooking pans.) The first ducks I found were mallards. They were cheap, but covered in flies. In an outdoor market like this, there are going to be some flies, but I wanted to shop around see what my other options were.

We walked down the street, peeking into every storefront. The parrots and parakeets where beautiful and I wanted a cage full of little blue ones to bring home for our terrace. There were also some beautiful ornamental hens and I wish I had a yard for keeping some in. I saw two of the biggest turkeys I've ever seen in my life. Mohammed said that if Americans want a big turkey they must wait for Christmas; at Thanksgiving time only small turkeys are available. There are enough Christians in the city to demand big Christmas turkeys, but not enough Americans to warrant big Thanksgiving turkeys. (Not that the big ones would fit in our oven anyway.) We passed by dozens and dozens of guinea hens, small turkeys, and geese but after several storefronts we still hadn't seen any other ducks.

Just when I was resigning myself to the possibility of guinea hens instead of duck we came to one of the last vendors on the block, the one Mohammed buys the Americans' Thanksgiving turkeys from. He happened to have two big ducks as well. They were pricier than the first ducks I'd seen, but the conditions seemed cleaner. No flies, less smelly. And the right size -- the biggest I could find and the biggest that would fit in our oven. We made a deal for the three kilo male duck, the larger of the two, for 1200 rupees (about $26). It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but honestly I have no idea how much a duck should cost. He tried to sell me the pair for a bargain price and it didn't occur to me until the ride home that I could have bought them both and put one in the freezer.

Many Americans get excited over buying fresh meat but then make a mistake, only once, about delivery of the animal. After seeing friends have live turkeys and other live animals dropped off at their houses, I knew to ask for the duck to be prepared for us. Plucked, cleaned, no neck, take out the organs, for an additional 100 rupees ($2 -- probably the best $2 I've ever spent).

On Thursday Mohammed went back to the market with a cooler full of ice, picked up our prepared duck, and brought it home. Our housekeeper cleaned it off and wrapped it up to sit in the refrigerator. Mike had his Christmas duck.

Mike did all the cooking yesterday. I'm not confident in my meat-roasting skills, but I was able to stock the kitchen with all the groceries he needed, plus keep Muffin out of the way, tidy up the presents-opening mess, and set the table while Mike went to work with his bird.

Muffin helped a little.

It was delicious. It wasn't perfect, but that's due to us still figuring out the nuances of the oven and the toughness of the bird had to do with the life it led before it met me. But it was tasty and something we'd like to do again. The potatoes and carrots roasted in duck fat were amazing and if duck fat is readily available to you I highly suggest you try it. With some seasoned rice and a cranberry log our friends brought over, dinner was complete.

Note the cranberry log standing upright on the plate...

We had a great dinner with some of our new friends and we couldn't have asked for a better day. I hope everyone else celebrating yesterday had as happy a Christmas as we did.

what I eat while pregnant

I have celiac disease, I live in Africa, and now on top of that I'm navigating the world of eating for two. The gluten-free part is easy. The lack of variety here is my big challenge. I haven't really had cravings, but I've had some very strong aversions, which makes the lack of variety even more challenging. Like every expectant woman I want to make sure the baby and I are getting enough of everything that we need.

A friend here gave me her copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting and I immediately turned to it for dietary guidelines. Most of the foods on the list are either unavailable here or inedible for me, which didn't surprise me. What surprised me was the gigantic amount of food that they want you to eat in one day! I'm working hard to gain the weight I need to with the proper nutrition, but I can't get anywhere near the daily calorie recommendation. (My husband looked at it too and was amazed. He doesn't even eat that much, and he's a fit, athletic guy who consumes mass quantities.)

I have a gluten-free prenatal vitamin. I'm eating a lot of quinoa and quinoa pasta, which has protein and folic acid. I'm also eating a lot of rice and beans, another good source of protein and folic acid. I try to get one serving of meat per day, but sometimes meat is my greatest aversion. I started making my own yogurt and I found a nonfat powdered milk that I can tolerate, so I'm getting plenty of calcium and my healthy yogurt bacteria. Every morning I start my day with a tropical fruit smoothie. (Sometimes on the weekends I make a banana-chocolate milkshake instead for a treat -- with my yogurt and nonfat milk of course.) I can get broccoli, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers here for my veggie intake. The baby craves carbs more than anything so I'm baking my own bread and eating cereal like mad. And my ultimate comfort food is Annie's gluten-free macaroni and cheese.

Besides the nonfat milk, I also drink a ton of water. Most of the other beverage choices here are too sugary for me and even before the pregnancy I drank them sparingly. I occasionally have caffeine-free coffee or tea. I gave up caffeine and alcohol as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and within two weeks my blood pressure plummeted from borderline too high to the low end of normal.

I know my efforts are paying off with every visit to my local nurse, who checks my blood pressure and does a urinalysis every other week. Without adequate medical care here (for anything more in-depth I have to go to Nairobi, South Africa, or even Europe or the States), my diet has to be my primary source of health maintenance. As you can see, I'm eating good stuff, but I am dreaming of the day several months from now when I will be back in the United States and can walk into any grocery store to face a huge variety of food.

onigiri

A few days before moving to HotelLand I decided to try making onigiri, or rice balls. I'd bought some onigiri wrappers at Daiso Union City and was anxious to see what they were all about. Also, I thought it would be a good food to have on hand in my hotel.

Between the instructions on the package and the tutorials from Lunch in a Box, I ended up with some pretty decent little rice balls.


See the instruction figures on the bottom left corner? There were more detailed figures on the back, but they still weren't that helpful. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong because the wrapped onigiri just didn't look as nice and neat as I expected them to. (Click the image to be taken to the full size on flickr.)


Spread the cooked rice on a flat, foil-lined surface to cool. Toss with some rice vinegar while it's cooling. Short grain rices work best, but you don't have to use specifically sushi rice. Anything with a little stickiness to it will be fine.


There's a triangle diagram on the wrapper to let you know where to place the mold. The wrapper opens in back and I think you spread the opening and place the onigiri on the inside.

As you're working with the rice, keep a dish of warm water nearby. Rinse your fingertips to keep the rice from sticking to them.


Remove the mold and figure out the best way to wrap and seal the plastic.


One of my hotel feasts. I found that the onigiri had to be removed from the wrapper and microwaved for the best taste and texture. So I'm not sure how well a wrapped onigiri would work in a bento if you're not microwaving the rest of the lunch. But they are awesome to have for adding to steamed veggies or leftover-based meals.

kapa maki

kapa maki
Originally uploaded by girl_in_bleue

On Christmas Day night we were feeling lethargic and bloated and we knew we needed healthy vegetables and rice for dinner. I mustered the strength to try making something I'd only ever eaten in restaurants before.

A couple weeks ago I'd bought some nori, the dried seaweed sheets used in Japanese cuisine. I'd been wanting to make maki, the rolls with rice and, for me, veggies, but for some others, fish or crab, like California rolls. Kapa maki is the basic cucumber roll.

From several different web sources plus my own experience in eating maki, I pieced together a how-to.

First I made the rice. I made the smallest amount my rice cooker allows, which is 4 cups prepared. Once the rice is cooked, spread it on a rimmed baking sheet so it will cool evenly. Sprinkle some rice vinegar and toss--doing this while it's still warm will help reduce clumping. You want it sticky, but not totally clumped together.

While the rice cools, slice the cucumber or other fillings you plan on rolling. I did cucumbers and red peppers. You want long, thin slices. Peel the cucumbers, quarter them lengthwise, and slice out the seeds. Then slice them lengthwise again into 4 or 5 strips.

This is where I started following the directions on the nori package. Lay a piece of nori, shiny side down, on your sushi mat. Place one cup of the prepared rice on the nori, spreading it evenly over the two-thirds of the nori that is closest to you. Keep a bowl of water handy to wet your fingertips while you're working to make it easier to handle the rice. Make an indentation in the middle of the rice, along the thirds line. Place 3 or 4 strips of cucumber in the indentation.

Start rolling. Use the mat to apply even pressure as you're rolling. As you roll, tuck the bottom edge of the nori in behind the cucumber, then keep rolling with medium pressure. Moisten your fingertips to close and secure the top edge of the nori to the roll.

Place on a cutting board and slice evenly, wetting the knife every couple of slices to keep the rice from sticking to it.

Four cups of rice yielded 4 maki. We made 3 with cucumber and one with red peppers. We added a dash of water to powdered wasabi. (This wasabi was much stronger than we've had in restaurants!)

Maki turned out to be so easy, we can't believe we hadn't tried it before! I can add all sorts of fruits and vegetables for the filling. It would be great appetizers for a party. And it's so good for you! Rice and veggies, that's basically it.

stuffed grape leaves (dolma)

Stuffed grape leaves are one of those foods I never got around to trying until recently when Mike and I were starving for a quick dinner, came across a Mediterranean cafe, and it was the only menu item that appeared to be gluten-free. I was hooked. And according to Mike, who eats them all the time, the ones at that restaurant weren't even very good.

Where do I go to figure out these ingredients and make stuffed grape leaves on my own? What's in the stuffing? Where do I get grape leaves? First stop, Moosewood. Mollie Katzen has a recipe for a rice pilaf that she uses for stuffing grape leaves, artichokes, and eggplant. (It's also great on its own.) You can buy grape leaves in a jar (I found them at both Whole Foods and Safeway).

Mollie Katzen's Greek Pilaf
1 1/2 cups raw brown rice (long- or short-grained)
2 1/4 cups water
1 to 2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 cups mince onion
1 small stalk celery, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup lightly toasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts
black pepper, to taste
4 to 5 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup freshly minced parsley
1 Tbs dried mint (or 3 Tbs fresh, minced)

1. Place rice and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender (about 40 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a small skillet. Add onion, celery, and salt, and saute until the vegetables are tender (5 to 8 minutes). Add sunflower seeds or pine nuts, black pepper, and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes.

3. Stir the sauteed mixture into the cooked rice along with lemon juice and herbs. Mix well.

This rice pilaf is so totally delicious on its own, it's hard not to eat it before you've rolled it all up into the grape leaves. We aren't huge onion fans, so I use about half of what the recipe calls for. Also, Mike has an irrational hatred of celery so I leave it out entirely. I've used pine nuts and haven't tried sunflower seeds yet. I always add salt and pepper to taste at the end when I mix in the herbs rather than saute it with the onion mixture.

I've had trouble with rolling the leaves, but Mike figured it out quickly, so I like to put him to work doing this. Lay out a leaf on your work surface. The leaves should be between 3 and 4 inches wide. Place a spoonful of rice pilaf near the stem end. Fold in the side and roll toward the tip. You can heat these up in the oven for about 20 minutes to warm through (the way I like them) or eat them cold and slimy (the way Mike likes them). I mix a little plain yogurt* with lemon juice for dipping. You can also make a quick tahini-lemon dip that's also tasty with them.

These are also great to make ahead and keep in the fridge for a few days. For storage I drizzled a little olive oil over them to keep them moist.

*For vegan or dairy-free, omit the yogurt sauce.

squash, rice, veggies & tofu: convenient and in one pan

I read on the back of my Imagine Creamy Butternut Squash Soup carton that it should be poured over rice for a delicious side dish. I started thinking that if it can be poured over rice, then it can be poured over rice + other stuff to make a curry-like concoction.

First I quartered and cooked 2 purple potatoes in a small saucepan until soft. (I was cooking just for me tonight, so a small saucepan was plenty.) When cooked I let them sit in a strainer for a few minutes in the sink. In the same small saucepan I mixed in some soup, leftover rice, and cubed tofu. I added some garum masala, salt, fresh ground black pepper, a pinch of crushed red pepper and a dash of cumin. (All the spices were "to taste" and I added more of some things as the cooking went on.) I kept this on medium on the stovetop for a little bit. Then I put the potatoes back in and added some red pepper slices and string beans (both from farmers' market this morning). When it started simmering I turned the burner down to low. I just let it sit and kept tasting until everything seemed hot enough. I wanted the peppers and beans to be warm but crisp.


I don't know a lot about Indian spices and cooking. It didn't taste complete and I'm not sure what else I should have done. It was pretty tasty but something definitely seemed to be missing.

I'm not a huge soup fan, but I started eating some of the Imagine soups last winter when Mike was away from home and I was lonely and just wanted easy, fast, warm food. The gluten-free ones say so right on the back of the carton. You have to watch out for cartons and cans of soup. Often wheat flour is used as a thickener. What's so stupid is at my Safeway they don't have the Imagine soups on the same shelf as all the other soups. You have to go down the health food/gourmet aisle. Why must they segregate the foods like that?

(Sorry for the poor photography. I am without the good camera for a bit.)

stuffed peppers

We wanted a light dinner tonight, made from things we already had in the cupboard and fridge, and something warm since it's unusually chilly today. I came up with stuffed peppers. I made rice in the rice maker and for the last few minutes it was cooking I added some frozen shelled edammame. I halved a red bell pepper and filled the halves with the rice and edammame. For a crispy topping I sprinkled some shredded parmesian cheese* and Gluten-Free Pantry Herbed Crumb Coating. Placed in a glass baking dish and baked at 350 for 20 minutes. Yummy.

I love the herbed crumb coating. It's a great ingredient for some of the comfort foods you miss on a gluten-free diet. I use it for breading pork chops and eggplant before baking. I bread little cheese balls for frying. Mike uses it for weinerschnitzel. I sprinkle it on baked mac-n-cheese and stuffed peppers. I always have some in my cupboard, especially once it gets chilly enough for all these baked and fried comfort foods. You can also use it in meatballs and meatloaf in place of bread crumbs, so I've heard. I don't really like meatballs and meatloaf so I haven't tried it.

*Omit the cheese to make this vegan, obviously.