Put It On A Stick!

This blog comes to you by request - fancy that!  Want to make some mouth watering-summer aromatic GF/DF food?  Go buy yourself some sticks!  Ok, well the proper term would probably be skewers, however, sticks just sounds so much more.... "rustic."  I love rustic food, rustic cuts of food... mostly because my chef in culinary school made sure our julienne cuts were to perfection or you failed!  Let me tell you how hard it is to cut carrots into perfect little rectangles- let's repeat carrots -- rectangles (oh right) - picture orange blistered and cut up fingers.  And WHO CARES if your carrot is in a perfect little rectangle?  I certainly don't - I just want to eat.  Alright, back to summer - food - yum.  

So, go get some sticks/skewers.  Then get your protein of choice - beef, chicken, tofu. shrimp, etc... - marinade it for an hour or try a dry rub.  I chose shrimp with a 5 Chinese Spice Rub (you can buy or make your own).

Next, you're going to want some serious vegetables.  I picked zucchini & yellow squash because they're in season, on sale, and taste fantastic.  I did a tiny coat of olive oil, lightly kissed with salt & pepper.  (HINT- put the skewers through the skin, not the meat part of the zucchini/yellow squash so it doesn't fall off!)

Grilled tomatoes are also quite amazing and they look pretty.  Here's a couple tips to eating well 1.  Your food should never all be the same color!  Why?  Because you eat first with your eyes.  Pretty things taste better.  AND when you have a good mix of colors you know that you are getting in a lot of good food groups.  2.  Choose foods that are in season!  Why?  They probably weren't trucked in from some other region of the world - like strawberries in winter - let's be serious.  Your carbon footprint is smaller and you're getting food that is more fresh.

Start up your grill to a medium heat.  Put the zucchini & yellow squash first, because they will take the longest.  After about 7 minutes, flip them over.  They should have strong grill marks.  After about 2 minutes, add your shrimp.  After another minute or two add your tomatoes!  Flip the shrimp and tomatoes briefly.

One minute more and ta da!  All done!  Now you have a perfectly healthy GF/DF summer meal.  With, hello!!, no dishes!  (Who likes doing dishes!?!?!)  Now that's perfection.

Tuna Puttanesca Anyone?

Not running to the grocery store today made my brain work in creative ways of what to figure out to make for dinner.  After a long trying day I decided on simple yet filling spaghetti know I had a GF noodle and a can of tomatoes at home.  Then, after a much needed break from my day, I decided that that was way too simple and needed to figure out how to get more veggies and protein into my dinner.  After running through my Rolodex of food & recipes in my head (again, it helps if you devour food magazines & cookbooks)  I realized I had all the ingredients I need to make Puttanesca.  Now, if you've never heard of this dish, don't freak out - you probably have all the ingredients you need to make this in your fridge right now- go open your fridge and pantry.

Pull out a clove of garlic, an onion, olives, tuna, olive oil, pepper, tomatoes (fresh or canned), and quinoa or whatever GF noodle you have available.  If you have capers grab those too!  I also just happened to have hearts of palm in my fridge and thought huh - yup, they're going in there.

Now, start your water for your GF noodles.  Then start a medium-sized sauce pan at medium heat.  Meanwhile (FYI - meanwhile is the secret to cooking- you should always be doing something else while other things are already started), so meanwhile you'll want to get started on the chopping.  Start with the garlic, then the onion and cut your olives in half (pieces go better in the sauce than whole, but that's a personal preference.) Now your frying pan should be hot enough to add the oil.  When you can smell the aroma of the oil go ahead and add the onion and garlic.  

Your water should be close to boiling for the noodles so go ahead and add those as well.  MAKE SURE you watch them as GF noodles are finicky.  Meanwhile (see how that works!?!?) you'll want to get your can opener for anything you grabbed in a can (like the tomatoes or tuna) and get those opened.  Stir your onion mixture and add in the olives, tuna, capers (hearts of palm).  Mix together well.  Now add the can of tomatoes & stire again.  CHECK YOUR NOODLES!

Ok, so turn the tomato mixture to low so it doesn't splash up all over everything (including you)!  Now, when you drain the noodles try to save some of the water they were boiling in.  Dump the noodles back into the pot and add the tomato sauce mixture.  Then add a little bit of the noodle water to loosen the dish up a bit.  Stir.  Done. Eat.  Ta Da!  You just made GF/DF Tuna Puttanesca, and I'm guessing that took you less than 30 minutes.  Add a good pinch of pepper.  The capers & olives should give you enough salt so there is no need to add any more.  Enjoy!