Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

I shared this forever ago to my friends online, but had completely forgotten that I don't have it on this blog. Baby preparations have kept me super busy, so sorry for not posting much recently or getting pictures taken of these yummy cookies. This is a great recipe for any time of year as applesauce works great in place of pumpkin. My bunch loves to top these with peanut butter, but they would be really cute with black frosting in spider shapes for Halloween or pumpkin and leaf shapes for Thanksgiving. These freeze very nicely and can be stored up to a month (but are usually gone sooner than that).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1 ½ cup homemade brown rice flour

1 cup potato starch

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

3 teaspoons Gaur gum

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup cane sugar

1 cup pre-cooked pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin (may need to add water to canned as it is thicker than homemade)

½ cup oil or spectrum shortning

1 Tablespoon flax seed meal and 3 Tablespoons hot water set aside for 10 minutes or 1 egg

2 teaspoons GF vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

potato starch, for kneading

Preheat oven to 350F. I also preheat my baking stone at this time.

Mix flax and water and set aside. Mix dry ingredients first, including brown sugar. Mix oil, pumpkin, flax mix and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Whip until too thick for beaters then knead with hands. Move to the table dusted with potato starch. Knead about 2 T to ¼ cup of potato starch into the ball of dough depending on the texture until it is workable and doesn’t stick (similar to regular sugar cookies).

Cover and store in refrigerator for at least half an hour. This helps the dough to rest and firm up, making it easier to roll out. Because of the vegan shortening/oil they just come out better if they are colder.

With some potato starch on your hands, make the dough into a ball and roll out onto a potato starched surface. If the dough is too sticky, just knead in more until you have reached a desired sugar cookie consistency (basically, you don't want it to stick to everything, but still be a big sticky to the touch). Roll to 1/4″ thickness. Cut into shapes using your favorite cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheet at bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (my baking stone is usually about 20 minutes for a nice golden brown). Cool on rack. Decorate and enjoy!

Brined Zucchini Chips

It is Celiac Disease Awareness Day here in the U.S., and even though I've been thinking about posting this for a while, today seemed like a good day to share a recipe with you that I've been playing with lately.

Ever since I got my dehydrator, I have been putting it to use as often as I can. Most of the time it is drying herbs, okara (paid for itself already there), and fruit leather (OK, I really just throw a jar of apple sauce on the fruit leather tray and wa la), but I decided that I needed to try playing around with it more and making veggie chips seemed the next logical step in my dehydration learning process.


We have a neighbor that has had a bumper crop of zucchini and this has allowed me to play with my dehydrator to find my preferred method of seasoning zucchini chips. There are a lot of recipes out there for dehydrator chips (kale, zucchini, potato, etc.) but when I tried it with salt and oil, my chips were just too salty or greasy for my taste. I guess that is what happens when you haven't eaten a bag of Lays in a while.

I like to brine my cucumbers before I make pickles, so I decided to try brining with my dehydrator chips. This method allows the food to take up just the right amount of salt and the flavor is more even than when the salt is sprinkled on top. I also don't have to use any oil, which my dehydrator directions actually strongly suggested NOT using when dehydrating food. I'm planning on trying this with potatoes and kale next to see if this is something that can be used universally, but if you get to it before me, feel free to share your results in the comments. I'll warn you, this is one of those recipes that uses dump and pour versus scientific measurements. This is set to our families level of saltiness. Don't feel bad if you need to add more or less to get what you want. Think of this as a guideline instead of a recipe.

Brined Zucchini Chips

1 medium zucchini
1 palm-full of salt (I use kosher or sea salt)
enough water to cover the veggies (about 1/2 gallon or 2 liters)

Slice the zucchini about 1-2 mm thick. I used a mandolin the first time, but sometimes this makes the slices too thin and the zucchini sticks to the dehydrator trays, so thickness depends on what type of tray you have (no problem with thin slices on silicone).

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and place this in the refrigerator. I leave it in up to 24 hours or at least overnight.

Remove the zucchini slices from the liquid, rinse, and either spin dry in a salad spinner or let them drain for a few minutes over the sink in a colander.

Spread them out on the dehydrator trays. Try to lay them out in a single layer as that will affect the drying time.

I dry them for 24 hours at a 135 degree setting on my Nesco dehydrator. Our apartment stays humid for some reason, so this can be more or less depending on your local conditions. I wouldn't go any less than 12 hours.

Remove your chips and place them in a air tight storage bag or container. One zucchini can fill my entire dehydrator, but my three boys can easily eat it in one sitting. Enjoy.

Chocolate and Black Bean Brownies

I've seen bits and pieces of black bean based brownie recipes over the internet throughout the past year, but I've only now had the chance to play with my own version of this recipe. I had one recipe that worked OK, but it was too sweet for my tastes and although I like a good sticky brownie, this one was too sticky. Since that one was made with more traditional gluten free flours, I started to wonder if all the grain free hype about the black bean brownie would live up to my expectations. After a little playing, I ended up combining a grain free recipe and the OK recipe that I already had on hand. These brownies are a lot more cake like than I thought they would be and I traditionally like the gooier variety, but these went over well with the kids so it is worth sharing with you all.


Ingredients: (by volume)

1 cup/235ml walnuts
2 cups/470ml precooked black beans, rinsed if from a can
1 cup/235ml brown rice flour (milled in coffee grinder)
1/4 cup/60ml cocoa powder
1 tsp/5ml guar gum
1 tsp/5ml salt
1 1/2 tsp/7.5ml baking soda
1 tsp/5ml cream of tartar
1 tsp/5ml cinnamon
1/2 cup/120ml brown sugar
1/4 cup/60ml corn free powdered sugar (or more brown sugar)

1 tsp/5ml vanilla
3 tablespoons/45ml light cooking oil
2/3 cup/160ml no sugar added applesauce

1 tablespoon/15ml flax seed meal plus 3 tablespoons/45ml hot water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Oil (or spray with cooking spray) sides and bottom of brownie pan (9 X9 ish).

Combine the flax meal and hot water in a small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes while combining the other ingredients.

Chop walnuts, in a food processor, into very small pieces. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients, plus beans, and blend well.

Add in all other ingredients and combine until well blended. Dough should be stiff and slightly sticky.

Spoon into prepared baking dish and spread with a spatula until the top is level and all the corners are filled.

Bake for about 25-35 minutes. Mine took about 35 minutes at high altitude.

Cool the entire pan on a baking rack. Cut and serve warm or store in the freezer for a later date. Makes about 16-24 depending on how you cut it. Enjoy.

Scottish Inspired Walnut Scones

It has been months since I've had a chance to sit down and blog about food, much less life on the side. If you follow me on Facebook, you would have caught glimpses of what I've been up to in the kitchen. Unfortunately, glimpses were all I could afford with as busy as this summer ended up being. Our family didn't go anywhere, but there were classes and gardening and just me keeping the family fed in general that kept me away from my blog. Being pregnant with our third child certainly didn't help, but I must say that this pregnancy has been pretty routine and nothing major to speak of except for lack of energy. I will get to being gluten free and pregnant in another post, but for now I wanted to share a recipe I played with just the other day that turned out great.

I've been playing with adding walnuts to most anything I bake lately. Mostly for the added nutrition, but also for the taste and texture it adds to bake goods. I usually grind mine up until it is pretty well mincemeat and add this to the dry flour mixture. I like the texture that it adds to baked goods, not to mention that it is easier for my kids to get the added nutrition. When there are chunks of walnut, I can't get them to touch the cookie or muffin and I can't say that I blame them. We all have textures we shy away from and I guess this is one I'm guilty of as well.

About a year ago, I went looking for a traditional scone recipe. I had heard that scones were originally made from oat flour and I wanted to try my hand at it in a gluten free fashion. I did find one that worked really well in being converted over to gluten free and I love using that whenever I need a quick bread or snack food.

The one thing that I have been having trouble with eating this pregnancy is oats, gluten free and all. I've backed off completely for now, but I'm hoping that after baby is born that I will be able to eat oats again. So this recipe has both an oat free and an oat option. With the walnuts it ended up with a great nutty flavor that wasn't overbearing and the outer crust is just a tad crispier than usual. I love eating this with fruit spread or honey, but that is entirely up to the eater to decide. I hope you enjoy this easy recipe as much as I do, and its good for you too.

Scottish Inspired Walnut Scones

Ingredients: (by volume)

1 cup/235ml walnut pieces-ground fine in food processor
1 cup/235ml of brown rice flour-milled (in a coffee grinder)
1/2 cup/120ml potato starch (not flour)
1 cup/235ml of gluten free oats*-milled
1/4 cup/60ml brown sugar
3 tsp/15ml cream of tartar
1 tsp/5ml baking soda
1 tsp/5ml guar gum
1/4 tsp/1ml salt

1/3 cup/80ml light oil
1/3 cup/80ml applesauce
1/3 cup/80ml non-dairy beverage of choice (I use hemp milk)

1 tablespoon/15ml flax seed-milled
3 tablespoons/45ml hot water

1/2 cup/120ml raisins (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix flax seed meal and hot water in a small bowl and set aside to be added with the other wet ingredients.

Grind the walnuts in a food processor until small, but don't run it too long or you'll have very tasty walnut butter.

Add in all the dry ingredients into the food processor (or bowl) with the walnuts and mix well.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend until well combined. The dough will be VERY sticky.

Optional: Mix in raisins (currants or dried cherries would be great too).

Turn out onto a floured 9” pie plate and shape into a 3/4 inch thick circle. Cut into 8-10 wedges, using a pizza cutter or knife. Transfer to a greased baking sheet.

Another option if you have a baking stone: Once the stone is preheated, place all the dough in the center of the stone, wet your hands slightly before shaping the dough into a 9" round circle, being careful not to touch the stone as it is hot. Cut the dough with a pizza cutter before placing it in the preheated oven.

Bake 12 minutes or until light brown. Cut them apart on lines already defined before baking and separate the pieces. Bake for 3-5 minutes more depending on how well done the inside is. Place on a cooling rake to prevent the bottom from getting soggy.

Serve warm. They can be prepared a day or two ahead or stored in the freezer for later. Enjoy.

*For an oat free option, I used dried unsweetened okara that I had left over from making tofu. (I lightly salted it and dried it in the dehydrator for about 12-15 hours at 135 degrees Fahrenheit.)

In Celebration

Today, many of you may be celebrating Cinco de Mayo and rightfully so. I would like to introduce you to the holiday that my family celebrates on the 5th day of the 5th month. Kodomo no hi, is Children's Day in Japan and it became a national holiday celebrating all children in 1948. We personally celebrate Tango no Sekku, which is Boy's Day and the original holiday celebrated by Japan on this day; which originated sometime around 593–628 A.D . The reason we celebrate the Boy's Day tradition is that we have two boys and what little kid doesn't want to have a special day?


This holiday is to celebrate the health and strength of boys, symbolized by the Kobuto or samurai helmet that you see pictured above (that is not a full sized helmet, but a model of one). It is also a day seen as an expression of gratitude for the mothers, since Mother's Day is an American idea. I usually set up the samurai helmet at least a few weeks earlier than May 5th and we hang our carp wind socks. We were lucky enough to be in Japan before Boy's Day last year and were able to find a carp for each family member. Traditionally these are put on a pole in order from the father to the youngest son, the colors corresponding to the birth order of each son (mom has the next place after dad). Ours hang on our porch and they have been waving like crazy with the amount of wind we have been experiencing this spring.

Carp wind socks before they got put up this year.

There is also a traditional sweet that is eaten on this day. It is a rice flour dumpling filled with adzuki bean paste and wrapped in an oak leaf, kashiwamochi. The oak leaf is for decoration only. Today I'm making my first attempt at the dumpling, so we'll see how that goes. It is very similar to dango, just with a different shape.

Pictured is a commercially made variety.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you may have caught the hint I dropped yesterday. Next year we need to either get another carp for our new addition, or start celebrating Boy's Day as Children's Day. Apparently, all the diet and exercise has paid off and the barren body I once thought I had after my 2nd son was born is now fertile. We will be expecting our third child sometime this winter and I hope to feel well enough to share some tidbits about being pregnant and gluten free.

That is part of the reason that I haven't posted nearly as often as I would have liked in the last month. One of the bonus' about knowing all your food sensitivities is that many of the foods that they tell you not to eat during pregnancy are already removed. I have had some morning sickness, which really manifests itself as all day sickness, but I haven't had the same aversion to certain foods due to the fact most of the ones that turned my stomach before are gone from my diet. I'm hoping not to crave Taco Bell this time around (especially now that I've read the ingredients, yuck!), but only time will tell.

As for running and exercising, I plan to continue but not with P90X or any serious race training. I'm no longer planning on any races at all this year (even just for fun), but watch out for me next year. Will see if I'm brave enough to post prego pics as I'm still in shock a bit myself and haven't even filled out my jeans enough to feel the need to go shopping.

Well, that is it from the Gluten Free, It's A Lifestyle home-front. I hope that you all have a marvelous Boy's Day (or Cinco de Mayo).

Kelly

Goma Miso Chicken

It seems like it has been a while since I posted my last recipe, so today I'm posting two. Things have been a bit crazy around here the past couple of weeks. It hasn't helped that the computer has been acting up, causing the drive that holds all my recipes to be unavailable. Plus, I've been fighting morning sickness, which doesn't help my blogging about food when food just doesn't sound good at all right now. Let's just say my plans to run the Boulder Bolder are on hold for at least another year. OK, more on that life change later.

Now, back to the Japanese home cooking.



One of my favorite flavors in Japanese cooking is the combination of miso and toasted sesame seeds. You can put it on anything from vegetables to fish to chicken. I've been playing around with this sauce lately since I've had a craving for miso. As I mentioned in my last post, my family loves miso and toasted sesame seed sauce on their green beans and we eat that variation at least once a week. I had not seen anyone in the family use it on chicken yet, possibly because my father-in-law doesn't even like chicken. Anyway, I decided to play around and this is what I came up with.

Goma Miso Chicken

2 chicken thighs, cut up in bite sized pieces

2 tblsp/30ml sesame oil

½ cup/120ml of water

2 tblsp/30ml aka miso (any miso will work, red is preferred in our family)

2 tblsp/30ml toasted white sesame seeds - milled

In a skillet or heavy saute pan, add in the oil and heat it until it is smoking hot. Take the cut up chicken pieces and saute them until cooked through.

Add the water and get all the pan juices up from the bottom of the pan before adding the miso.

Turn down the heat to medium low so as not to overcook the miso. (Miso contains probiotics and cooking it at a high heat will distroy those good bugs.) Stir until the miso is disolved.

Add in the milled sesame seeds and continue to stir until the sauce thickens. It is now ready to serve.

Serve on bed of quinoa (rice or GF pasta would work too). One variation of this dish that can make this a one dish meal is to add some frozen vegetables at the same time you add the water to the chicken. Enjoy.

Green Beans in a Tofu and Miso Sauce

This dish is based on a recipe for shiraae sauce. Our family loves to have green beans with goma miso sauce (pictured below) which is just miso and toasted and milled sesame seeds, so I thought I'd mix in tofu with the miso and sesame seeds as they do for shiraae sauce. Shiraae is typacally sweeter and is often flavored with umeboshi (salted plums) but this version is a quick and easy version using ingredients that can be found at your local grocery story or health food store.

Shiraae - Vegetables in tofu flavored with miso

1 block firm or extra firm tofu

3 tablespoons/45ml toasted white sesame seeds, milled in a coffee grinder

1 tablespoon/15ml aka or shiro miso (any miso will do)

1 tsp/5ml mirin

1 tsp/5ml wheat free tamari

3 cups frozen single or mixed vegetable (green beans are pictured above)

If you are unable to find toasted sesame seeds (usually in the Asian isle) place sesame seeds in a dry saute pan and toast over very low heat until toasted. Be careful, they will jump out of the pan if it is too hot.

Boil the vegetables in salted water according to package directions (ex. 5-7 minutes for beans). When the vegetables are tender, drain and rinse in cold water or place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

Blend together the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add water if it is too thick and adjust miso amount if needed, but it will be a little on the salty side at this point.

Mix in vegetables, refrigerating any leftover tofu mixture. Makes 4 side dish servings.

Gluten Free and Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

With all the craziness of the Easter Holiday (mixed in with Earth Day and school activities with the kids) I've been a little behind in my blogging. My youngest son turned 5 the day after Easter, so not only were we up to our ears in Easter candy, but I had to make a school worthy birthday treat (thank you Gluten Free Goddess for that one) and he wanted strawberry shortcake for his special birthday treat.

Well, I grew up on the Bisquik version of strawberry shortcake where the dried out dough sucked up the juice of the strawberries, so I wanted to find a more gourmet version of what I grew up on. I happened to have a version in my Better Homes and Gardens Baking Book that I tried a gluten free lifetime ago, so I pulled it out and proceeded to put this recipe together. It is a long list of ingredients, but I really only changed the flour part of the recipe and it worked out splendidly. Instead of the applesauce and oil, you could use Spectrum shortening, but I never seem to have any on hand when I need it. I served it with a recipe for Orange Whipped Topping that I picked up out of a Thanksgiving edition of Optimum Wellness for their pumpkin pie, but I figured that if the shortcake had orange, that this would work well here. I sliced and layered mine, but this is one desert that needs no direction on assembly. Enjoy.



Shortcake: (all ingredients are measured by volume and before milling)

1 cup or 235ml brown rice flour-milled in coffee grinder
1/2 cup or 120ml gluten free oats-milled in coffee grinder
1/2 cup or 120ml potato starch
1/2 cup or 120ml finely ground walnuts (original recipe called for pecans)
1/4 cup or 60ml brown sugar
1 tsp or 5 ml cream of tartar
1/2 tsp or 2.5ml baking soda
1 1/2 tsp or 7.5ml guar gum
1/4 tsp or 1ml salt

1/4 cup or 60ml oil
1/4 cup or 60ml applesauce, unsweetened
1 tbsp or 15ml flax seed plus 3 tbsp or 45ml hot water mixed
2/3 cup or 160ml unsweetened hemp milk or non-dairy milk of choice
1 tbsp or 15ml fresh orange zest (about 1 orange or 3 clementines)
1 tsp or 5ml vanilla

Directions:

Mill flax seed and mix it with hot water in a small bowl and set it aside.

Place walnuts (or preferred nut) into food processor and mill until fine, but not super fine. Add in all other dry ingredients and blend until well combined, making sure to scrape the inside of the bowl just in case any of your nut bits are stuck on the bottom and sides.

Add in flax mix, oil, and applesauce and pulse a few times until the dough resembles course crumbs. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until moist, but don't over blend. The dough should be moist, but you don't want smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit along with your baking stone (if using). Spoon out the batter on the stone so that you make between 6-12 mounds of dough, depending on desired serving size. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown with darker brown peaks. Cool immedietly on a wire rack and serve warm or store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.



Topping:

1 pint of strawberries
1/4 cup of brown sugar

Mix together and let it set for at least 20 minutes before serving. The longer it sits, the more juice will come out of the strawberries to form the sauce.


Orange Whipped Topping:
Adapted from Optimum Wellness' magazine

1/2 block of store bought tofu or 1 block of homemade tofu
1 container (single serving) So Delicious plain coconut yogurt
2 tbsp or 30ml maple syrup or brown rice syrup
1/2 tsp or 2.5ml fresh orange zest (1 clementine's worth)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cut open shortcake and layer if so desired and serve.

This recipe is also a part of Real Food Weekly for the week of April 28th, 2011.

Putting the Dehydrator to Use

My new toy

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I got my first dehydrator the other day. It was an exciting event around here and my husband and I started rattling off recipes that we wanted to try in our new machine. My husband loves beef jerky (but what meat eating male doesn't?), so that was an obvious item on the list of things to try. I wanted to try out just some of the basic fruits and veggies so that I could send them off with the kids for school. I would love to send healthy snacks that are light weight and not as messy as say...applesauce. There are also all the goodies I've seen lately with the April in the Raw event hosted by Real Sustenance that require an hour or four in a dehydrator.

So my first day of playing with my new machine started out with a pint of strawberries that my husband 'just happened' to pick up on the way home. (I can't tell who is more excited, him or me.) Fruit is easy, just wash and cut up into desired size. I love that I have several different tray options in my machine, so I used the flexible trey for the strawberries. This was a bit of luck on my part. I don't know if I could have removed them otherwise as the flex trey made it easy to peal the berries off. These turned out really well, except for my poor planning that ended up with me having to get up at 5am to check on them.



I had also saved a sweet potato last week in hopes of turning it into sweet potato chips when the dehydrator arrived. I peeled, sliced, and blanched the slices for three minutes in my steamer before setting these on the treys. I don't know if blanching is allowed in the raw diet, but since I'm just playing with the option of raw food, I figured I'd follow directions first before attempting completely raw chips. These also turned out well, but next time I need to cut them thinner on the mandolin for a crunchier chip, as these were slightly chewy. Live and learn.



I also had to make tofu today, as Tuesday has ended up being the best day in my schedule to make it. This meant that I had okara (soybean mash) that I had to do something with. I usually toast it in the oven, but figured that since my other two experiments were done, I'd try okara in the dehydrator too. That turned out beautifully and it was much dryer than I get it in the oven and took about the same period of time. I also saved some soybeans from my tofu to make soy nuts. I cooked these all the way through before salting them and drying them for about 6 hours. They are still a little chewy, but the boys like them so it's all good.


I did throw a little applesauce on the fruit leather trey somewhere in between all the other trey fulls of foods. I don't know how long it took, but being a commercially made applesauce it was on the watery side and took longer than homemade applesauce would. It made perfect fruit leather and if I don't try anything else in the dehydrator, that alone makes this machine money well spent.

I like the fact that even with the machine running almost a full 24 hours, the house wasn't uncomfortably hot like it gets when I'm baking granola or okara all day. I was a little worried about a machine that was just a stack of treys and not a solid unit (much like the ones that look like miniature ovens with multiple treys), but this feature actually came in handy when the strawberries and fruit leather were finished quicker than their companion foods. I still have plenty of ideas to try, but as of right now I'm just experimenting with the recipes of others or playing with whole foods. I have at least one recipe in mind for beef jerky, but I'm sure my husband will have the final say on if it works or not before I post it to share. Until then, I plan on filling up my freezer with all sorts of dehydrated treats.

Gluten Free Pan-fried Chicken

If you have been gluten free for any length of time, you know that finding the perfect breading to use for fried chicken, chicken nuggets, fish, or anything that has dredging as part of the cooking process isn't easy to come by. I'm sure many of you, as I did in the beginning, struggled with finding that perfect combination of gluten free flours that worked as a replacement for wheat flour and breadcrumbs. Most commercial companies use corn meal and it is a great substitution, if you're not allergic to corn. Since my oldest has a hard time with corn, that meant that I had to be creative and come up with my own solution.

Potato starch is something that the Japanese use in deep frying their tofu, so I decided to start with that. I played around with just taking chicken and using potato starch for dusting, much like flour is used for chicken picatta in Italy. It was OK, but something was missing. As I mentioned in the My Pantry article, I settled on ground toasted white sesame seeds to add to the potato starch. The toasted seeds give the coating a nutty flavor and sesame seeds are high in iron (which I needed a couple of years ago when I battled anemia). I also use this mix for breaded fish, chicken nuggets, and just about anything that calls for bread crumbs. This is also a good way to go if you can't use egg in your cooking, as the potato starch does a good job of sticking to pretty much everything and doesn't need the help of an egg. This is an easy recipe to alter if you need just a little or a lot.

Enjoy.

Pictured above are two adult servings and several nuggets for the kids.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, butterflied (can be cut up into bite sized pieces for nuggets)

1 tsp/5 ml salt

¼ cup/60ml potato starch (by volume)

¼ cup/60ml toasted white sesame seeds (goma), milled in a coffee grinder

oil for frying, at least 1” deep in a heavy pan

Rinse the chicken breast and pat dry before butterflying it. Cutting it in half helps it to cook faster and more evenly. Salt all sides.

In a separate dish, such as a pie plate or low bowl, mix together the potato starch and sesame seeds with a fork or whisk. Coat all sides of the chicken with the potato starch/sesame seed mixture.

Make sure the oil is smoking hot, about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place chicken gently in the oil, be careful as it is very hot and can splatter easily.

Cook the chicken for about 3-5 minutes until the breading is golden brown. Turn and repeat on the other side for about 3-5 more minutes. Remove from oil and drain. Serve warm.

Makes 4 main course servings.

Adzuki Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Served bunless (not a GF thing, just me) with sauteed snow peas and onions and homemade potato fries.

To start off with, there are two spellings for this lovely little red bean that is common in Japanese cuisine, Adzuki and Azuki. I don't know why, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with dialect differences that have showed up in the Romanized version of the word when people immigrated to this country. Adzuki is what is written on my bag of beans and that is the spelling I tend to stick with.

Adzuki is traditionally used in sweet dishes from oshiruko, a sweet bean soup that is eaten over mochi as a snack, or made into tsubu-an, which is a sweetened paste that is used in various ways, but mostly in some kind of dessert or sweet treat. It is also common in the form of red beans and rice, known as sekihan, during the New Year celebration as red is a symbol of happiness. My search for uses for this little bean started when I became pregnant with our first child and my mother-in-law handed me a bag of beans and said they were good for the baby. Looking back, I think of how ironic is is that it took me a year to get through that first 1/4 pound bag of beans. They don't last quite so long around here now-a-days.

At least once a week I like to fix a meal that is meatless so that I can add a little variety to my families diet. As I mentioned in my Picky Eating post, my oldest son doesn't really like the texture of meat anyway, so getting him to eat a traditional hamburger is a struggle. I had tried to make veggie burgers from adzuki beans before with mixed results. My old recipe would just end up too heavy and they were OK when made fresh, but any leftovers ended up not being eaten. I got this idea from a fish patty recipe and went from there. My picky eater loved it and even asked for seconds. I think this may be our new favorite burger.

Adzuki beans actually don't need to be soaked overnight, but I like to anyway as I think it just brings out the flavor of the bean better, but it is up to you if you do a quick soak or a long one. I usually make 1 cup of dried beans in 4 cups of water and that cooks for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on the bean and if more water is added to the pot half way through the cooking process. I then portion out one cup of cooked beans for this recipe and save the rest to make oshiruko later. (Oshiruko is one of those recipes that you just toss in sugar and salt until you reach the flavor you desire, so I still need to measure it first before I can post a recipe.)

As far as flavor goes, they have a richer flavor than most veggie burgers and having the quinoa is an added bonus in both texture and protein content. The texture can be very crispy on the outside layer, but the inside stays soft and tender. Try them out on your next burger night and see what the family thinks and I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does.

Ingredients:

1 cup precooked adzuki beans prepared using directions on the bag

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 tbsp/15ml dried parsley flakes

1 sheet of toasted sushi nori-broken up into smaller pieces

1 tbsp/15ml wheat free tamari

2 tbsps/30ml flax seed-milled

2 green onions-chopped or ½ small yellow onion

2-4 tbsp of adzuki cooking liquid

Directions:

Cook the adzuki beans and quinoa according to the directions on their respective packages. They do not need to be cooled before working with them. Using a slotted spoon, measure out a cup of beans and reserve the cooking liquid for later.

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until it reaches a thick and sticky consistency. This may take several minutes depending on your variety of food processor. Add more cooking liquid if the mixture is too dry. This will make the food processor work easier, but don’t overdo it as too much will cause the patties to fall apart.

Spoon hamburger sized portions into your hand and form into patties much like you would with hamburger. Place them in a smoking hot and oiled pan (just enough oil to cover the bottom) Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until they are easy to pick up and brown and crispy. Cook on the other side for 5 minutes. Serve hot with the regular burger fixings. Makes 5 large burgers.