Category Archives: gluten free

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.

December 6, 2015

I love that quote.  Author Chaim Potok said that.  And I have to agree. What is more fun and happy than afternoon tea?

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My mom and I have this tradition where we go to the Drake Hotel in Chicago every year and have tea at the Palm Court.  It’s an opportunity to have some mother/daughter time and talk about Christmas lists, when to bake our holiday cookies and what to serve for Christmas, all while being served a beautiful tea service with little finger sandwiches and sweet treats and lots and lots of tea.

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Tea is an experience.  A process with very specific rules.  Therapeutic tea I call it.  Your tea pot arrives with the tea of your choice.  Then they pour hot water over the leaves and you sit there waiting like a lady for your tea to infuse.  You just sit.  And wait.  No one to rush you.  Nothing to do, but chat and enjoy the other person(s) you are with.

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Then you pour it slowly in your cup, using the little tea strainer of course.  See that up there?  Use the tea strainer!  I implore you.  Don’t ask how I know this.  Just trust me on this one.

Our favorite tea is the Orange Dulce.  It’s naturally sweet with citrus flavors that I could drink all afternoon.  And I do.  If you look away for one second, you will miss the perfectly dressed wait staff scurrying around with silver carafes full of hot water to magically fill your little tea pot, over and over and over again.  And then again.  Did I mention I end up drinking a lot of tea on this day?

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The best part about tea at the Drake is the little pots of jam and clotted cream that they serve to have with your scones (they even have gluten free scones and finger sandwiches, yeah!).  But what exactly is clotted cream?  Sounds like cream gone bad right?  But it’s not, it’s this divine, sweet, creamy spreadable yumminess that makes any plain bread instantly better.

Do you drink your tea with milk?  I don’t.  Should I?  Tell me.

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My favorite time of year to go to the Palm Court is during the holidays.  They change up the fountain with white, sparkly twigs, okay branches (the thing is giant), decorated with pretty ornaments.  It kind of looks like the water from the fountain froze in mid-air.  The little cherubs are still there, riding these water-spewing fish.  I am a little disturbed by them, I’m not going to lie.  First of all there are four of them and they all seem to look really happy with this evil stranglehold on the fish…never mind.  Forget I said anything.

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That’s my mom enjoying her tea and finger sandwiches.  The finger sandwiches are dah-rling.  There are itty bitty lobster rolls, mini spinach and cheese quiches, and small chicken sandwiches with a swiss cheese and strawberry jam topping.  Also, tiny smoked salmon sandwich and of course, what is high tea with out wee little cucumber and dill cream cheese sammies?  Look!  No crust.  That’s fancy.  🙂

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And yes everything is small, and dainty, and cute.  I almost don’t want to eat them.  Look at my gluten free chocolate cupcake?  Isn’t it darling?  Okay, maybe only I get excited about miniature chocolate cupcakes.  Yeah, didn’t think so.  You want that cupcake don’t you?  The Drake also has managed to serve the softest, best gluten free chocolate chip cookie as well.  I don’t know how they did it, but it’s super delicate.

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Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors. – Alice Walker

I also, appreciate the Christmas carolers that walk around the Palm Court serenading everyone. How cute is that?  And let’s not forget the harpist.  Come on!  A fountain?  A harp?  Carolers?  Miniscule sandwiches?  Who am I?  I am having so much fun.

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Go, have tea at the Drake.  It’s a fun tradition.  Have a tea at home and make a cucumber sandwich, but make them small and speak with an English accent, that’s fun too.  What traditions do you keep?

-Kallie

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A red sea of cranberries…

November 29, 2015

A couple years back, I was driving to Wausau, Wisconsin.  Usually, there is not very much traffic on the road to Wausau, so I found it very odd when every car on the road came to a screeching halt.  As I slowly inched my way into town, I finally saw what the “gawkers” were looking at.  A trailer truck split open down the center, sacrificing its contents onto the road.  An enormous red seas of tiny red cranberries had made their escape.  That was a sight to behold.  Along with snow, ice and fog, Wisconsin can now add cranberries to the list of hazardous driving conditions.

So cranberries, that under appreciated fruit…

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Okay, it’s the day after Thanksgiving and you brined and roasted the turkey.  You candied the sweet potatoes.  You grilled the brussel sprouts, mashed the potatoes and topped them with gravy.  And then, chased it all down with pumpkin pie.  It’s official.  You have a Thanksgiving Cooking Hangover.  You don’t want to cook ever, ever again.  Solution:  Leftovers!

I for one, LOVE left over Thanksgiving fare.  All the hoopla leading up to Thanksgiving will yield several days of easy dinner meal planning.  It’s like a power-Sunday cook-up, but on a Thursday.  So, I am sure you all have ideas of what to do with left over turkey.  Turkey hash, turkey tetrazzini, turkey enchiladas.  Left over sprouts?  Stick them in an omelette.  Left over sweet potatoes?  Mash them in between a couple of corn tortillas with cheese and black beans and you have a fall-like quesadilla.  The list goes on and on.  But what do you do with left over cranberry sauce?

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We all know that cranberry sauce is a very important but sometimes under appreciated part of Thanksgiving.  It’s the colorful pop on a plate full of brown, orange and green.  It’s the cool sweet treat to lighten up your mouth after a heavy, gravy-laden roast dinner.

So what do I suggest you do with these little glimmering jewels of leftover sweetness?  Here are a few easy things you can do with cranberry sauce especially when you don’t want to cook anything serious until next year!

  • Turn your turkey sandwich into a “leftover sandwich” with sprouts and mashed potatoes and a smear of cranberry sauce.
  • Do you like brie and preserves?  Top your brie with cranberry sauce instead.  Or better yet a grilled brie and cranberry sandwich.
  • Cranberries are not just for dinner anymore.  Have you ever thought of making a yogurt and cranberry sauce parfait topped with a pistachio coconut crumble?

Here’s the recipe I love:

Orange-Scented Cranberry Sauce, adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 bag (12 ounces) fresh cranberries

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup of water

2  strips orange zest

Directions

In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, water, orange juice and zest. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce to a simmer and cook until thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate until needed.

To make a parfait, just layer yogurt, crumble and cranberry sauce in a small glass or Ball jar.

So don’t knock cranberries.  They travel far to get into your belly.

Enjoy!

-Kallie

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I have been thinking a lot about Paris this week…

November 21, 2015

I have been thinking a lot about Paris this week.  It’s been a little over a week since last week’s tragedy.  Les mots me manquent pour exprimer ma tristesse, mais mes penseés sont avec vous.  I have never been to Paris, but I have felt a connection to this city ever since I was little and for the craziest reasons.  And so when Paris is in the news, I can’t help but think about other things too…

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Photo credit: How Sweet Eats

Few people know that my mom’s hometown in Greece, Filiatra has a miniature “La Tour Eiffel” at the entrance of the town.  And that her town is also known as “mikro Parisaki”…mini Paris or micro Paris, if you will.  Oui, c’est vrai.  Those that know it, know that it’s NOTHING like Paris, except maybe for the ornate, antique bronze fountain in the town’s square, but we love it anyway.  It’s a small, rustic town about a kilometer and a half away from the sea, in the southwestern Peloponnesian prefecture of Messinia.  You’ll find tractors parked in the street as easily as you will find a Peugeot.  The sidewalks might be a little cracked but the cafes are plenty.

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La mini Tour Eiffel de Filiatra

How might you ask does a miniature Eiffel Tower end up in a small agricultural town in southwest Greece?

Well, I’ll tell you.  An old doctor named Haralambos Fournarakis, was so enamored with the French language and culture, that he changed his last name to Fournier and gifted to his hometown of Filiatra this replica of the Eiffel Tower.  Back in the day, it used to sit in the courtyard of the foreign language school. Later, when the school closed, they moved the pint size Eiffel Tower to the main entry of the town, so that there would be no doubt where you were as you drove in…”we’re in mikro Parisaki now!”  Of course there is a sign that says “Filiatra” just so you don’t worry that you drove way too far and ended up in France.  Very kind of them.  😉

  
Adding to this absurdité the miniature Eiffel Tower of Filiatra has even claimed it’s 15 minutes of fame by starring in a Gorden’s Space Drink commercial too.  I’m not kidding, look!  Click here!

But let’s get back to Paris.  Let’s celebrate all the joy and bon vivant they have been generous enough to share with the world.  I love their language, their food, their style and their cafe lifestyle.  They gave us le camembert, le cafe au lait, la boeuf à la Bourguignonne, le vin, la champagne et la bouilliabaisse.  Oui!  And they gave us the le Renaissance, la Revolution et la Reverie.  They are the city of lights and l’amour.  A city of thinkers and philosophers.  So in my “micro-way”, in honor of Paris and it’s Eiffel tower, this girl whose roots stem from a micro-Paris in southwest Greece, I offer to them, and to you, a twist on the classic French recipe, Croque Madame Egg Cups.

Mais oui!  Allons-y!

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Croque Madame Egg Cups – Adapted from Rachel Khoo’s “Little Paris Kitchen”

Makes 6, serves trois 😉

Ingredients

6 eggs

6 slices of sliced bread (I used Udi’s gluten free)

6 oz of swiss cheese

3 tbsp of melted butter

3 slices of Virginia ham

For the béchamel sauce

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour (I use Dove’s Gluten Free White Flour)

8 oz of milk

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 oz of grated gruyere cheese

salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Start by making the béchamel sauce.  in a small sauce pan, melt a tablespoon of butter, then add the flour.  Slowly add the milk, whisking the whole time so that you avoid clumps.  Then add the dijon mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Take the sauce off the heat once it’s thickened and add the gruyere cheese.  Set aside.

Cut the crusts off the slices of bread and then roll them flat one at a time.  Once you have done that, brush them with melted butter and fit them carefully into a muffin pan to form the toasty “shells” of your crock madame.

Next, tear pieces of ham into each egg cup and then carefully crack open an egg into each muffin.  I like to use small eggs for this recipe, but if you have large ones you can pour out some of the whites so that your muffins don’t overflow.

Once you have each muffin filled with the bread, ham and egg, spoon a couple of tablespoons of béchamel sauce over each one and top with the remaining swiss cheese.  Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

And in the wise words of Julia Child, bon appetite!

-Kallie

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Le jambon

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Les ouefs

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Le sauce béchamel

Au revoir =)

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Feeling Crabby? These Crab Cakes Will Make You Smile

April 5, 2015

We all have bad days, crabby days. Rainy days and Mondays always get you down?  Well, I have the solution: Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes. Look! =)

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Feeling Crabby?  These Crab Cakes Will Make You Smile

Most people cheer themselves up with some shopping therapy in a clothing store.  Not me.  I cheer myself up at Whole Foods.  A brand new Whole Foods just opened up my neighborhood.  I can walk there!  And I do.  Almost. Every. Day.  To celebrate their grand opening, I made these Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Cabbage, Carrot and Kohlrabi Slaw.

What’s kohlrabi you ask?  It’s in the “wild mustard” family, and kind of looks like a turnip, but tastes like broccoli stems or the core of a cabbage.  What craziness has nature created???  It’s the Frankenstein of vegetables.  Just try it, it’s good for you.  Adds a nice texture to your slaw too.

Let’s cheer you up…here’s how:

Crab Cakes & Cabbage, Carrot & Kohlrabi Slaw (serves 4 very hungry or crabby people)

Crabcakes (makes 8 cakes)

1 pound lump crab meat

1 egg

2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise

1 & 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stalk celery, diced

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup bread crumbs (gluten free works too)

Open and rinse a can of jumbo lump crab meat.  Pick through it just to be sure there are not broken shell pieces, however unlikely.  You don’t want to bite down on something you may have missed.  In your bowl of crab meat, add the mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay Seasoning, salt, celery, parsley and bread crumbs.  Mix gently so that you don’t break the lumps down to much, you want to keep it on the chunky side.  Shape into 8 crab cakes and put in refrigerator for 30 minutes before cooking.

When you are ready to cook, heat up a cast iron pan with some olive oil and fry up your crab cakes until nicely browned on each side and heated through.  Serve with slaw (recipe to follow) and a wedge of lemon.

Cabbage, Carrot and Kohlrabi Slaw

1/2 small cabbage thinly shredded

2 carrots shaved

1 large kohlrabi (spiralized)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon

salt/pepper

Shred, shave and spirals your veggies.  Dress at last minute with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and serve.

Enjoy,

Kallie =)

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Shakshuka…Or how to be more exotic for breakfast.

March 29, 2015

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Shakshuka.  Or how to be more exotic for breakfast.

Remember when I told you a few weeks ago how vongole sound better in Italian?  Well it turns out eggs also sounds better in foreign languages too.  Why say baked eggs, when you can say:

Shakshuka.

I love the way that word sounds. I love saying it over and over again.

Shakshuka.

Shakshuka.

Try it. You’re feeling more exotic aren’t you? What I love more than how this dish sounds, is how this dish tastes! It’s basically a classic North African version of eggs baked in a sauce.

Almost every country in the Mediterranean has a variation of this sexy, little dish.  In Italy, you break a few eggs over tomato sauce and top with some shaved parmigiano reggiano and call it Uova al Purgatorio. The Greeks make Kayiana in which you scramble your eggs in a tomato sauce base, served with “pasto”, a salt-cured and fat-preserved pork with some fried potatoes mixed in. And the Spanish Pisto Manchego take fried eggs which will sit over a base of bell peppers, tomatoes and zucchini all topped with manchego cheese.

Shakshuka is one of my favorite versions. I like the mix of Spanish Chorizo, Greek feta, and wilted greens (for that extra veggie kick) and roasted red peppers for a truly Mediterranean amalgamation of baked eggs.  Here’s how:

Shakshuka – serves 2

2 Spanish chorizo sausage

1 handful or cup of baby spinach or chopped swiss chard

2 small garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup red pepper sauce* (recipe below)

2 eggs

2-3 oz. crumbled feta

pinch of red pepper flakes

pinch of paprika

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 400 F.  First, start by slicing your chorizo sausage and rendering it down in a hot pan.  When the fat from the sausage has been released, that’s your cue to add a handful of spinach and chard and wilt the greens.  Add crushed garlic cloves, a pinch of red pepper flakes and a cup of the red pepper sauce.

Divide the mixture between 2 individual sized baking dishes, or ramekins.  Crack an egg carefully over each one and top with some crumbled feta.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or to preferred level of egg doneness.  When you remove from the oven sprinkle a pinch of paprika over each dish and serve with some toasted pita bread to break your yolks and mop up that sauce.  Enjoy!

-Kallie

Red Pepper Sauce (adapted from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar Cookbook)

This red pepper sauce can be made in advance and refrigerated for a week (but it’s too good to last that long).  To make the sauce, you will need:

6 red peppers

4 cloves of garlic

425 F oven

40-45 minutes roasted until skin is blackened

Pre-heat oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and roast peppers for 40-45 minutes, until blackened.  You will want to turn the pepper half way during the cooking process. Also on your baking pan, you can make a small foil packet of garlic cloves, topped with olive oil and let that bake during the second half, after you have turned your peppers.

Remove roasted peppers from oven and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let cool.  The steam will help loosen the blackened skin from the peppers and make cleaning them easier.  Once the peppers have cooled, peel the skins off the peppers and remove the stems and seeds.  Place your cleaned peppers in a food processor with the softened garlic cloves (skins removed) and blend.  Put in a mason jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

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