Elana’s Pantry

Salmon with Cucumber Chile Relish

The salmon series continues, as does my love affair with Cook’s Illustrated. The recipe below is another one that I have adapted from this fantastic magazine.

On the comments front, my cup overfloweth. I am so happy with the participation, support and community that is developing on this site. Recently, one of my favorite readers, Courtney, asked a question about meal planning. If any of you have suggestions, please feel free to offer them to her in the comments section. You may also notice that I have recently added a feature whereby the most recent comments are posted on the bottom right side of the page (towards the end of the navigation bar). This is a good way to stay current on all the chat that is happening over here between readers. A wonderful way that we can all learn more from each other.

I like cooking salmon this way as it takes away the fishy flavor; adding relish completes the process of de-fishing the fish! This dish is great all year round, though particularly lovely for a spring dinner served with asparagus.

Thai Chicken Soup

I have to give full credit for this photo to my boys. They helped me stage the shot and then sat with me at the computer to crop and size the photo. They are becoming such little artists, having far surpassed me in this arena.

The delicious Thai soup above is based on a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. My friend Deb got me hooked on this magazine last year when she gave me a subscription. The recipes in Cook’s use fresh interesting combinations of ingredients and often are not overly complicated.

We ate this soup for dinner tonight; I downed the bowl in the photo above as soon as I finished snapping the pictures; it is sweet, rather spicy and very comforting. After he finished his, my younger son said, “it was good; this is a happy, happy, happy soup.” That is a direct quote!

I am hoping that with more soup we can build more community. Many people have been leaving comments over here of late which is wonderful. I also want to take a moment to encourage people to respond to each others comments.

Jeanne, one of my regular readers, asked a question here. I hope that any of you who have experience in figuring out which foods work best for you will feel free to jump in and respond to her comment, it’s great when we can support one another…Now, back to soup!

This soup also works very well with leftover chicken. Leftovers are a great thing in so many ways. They save us trips to the store as well as time in the kitchen.

Other uses for leftover chicken? I use it to make a simple Mexican salad for dinner (salad greens with black beans, guacamole and salsa) and to add an extra hit of protein to this sesame noodle dish.

As you can see from the recipes on this blog, while I don’t eat the SAD (Standard American Diet), I do not feel deprived. I focus on the foods I can eat, create as much variety as possible and savor every morsel I put into my mouth! All in all, I feel happy and grateful to have access to the beautiful fresh foods that nourish me day in and day out.

Passover Round Up

Passover is this Saturday! I have been cooking up many Pesach dishes of late and am happy to provide a round-up below.

A couple of notes:

I did not include a vegetable dish in the above list. Generally, I like to serve steamed broccoli or broiled asparagus with our Passover meal. I have linked to a squash pie recipe that I use during Passover as our squash “kugel.”

As you will notice, matzoh is conspicuously absent from the above list. I purchase a gluten-free oat matzoh for my boys, however, I do not eat grains, so I create an almond flour matzoh for myself to use as a vehicle for the Hillel Sandwich. My husband says the matzoh that I make is so bad, that I have deemed it unworthy of ‘blogage’.

Happy Pesach to you and yours!

Elana

Chipotle Orange Chicken

As some of you know, I write an op-ed column for The Daily Camera, covering political, economic and environmental issues. As we face increasing food prices and shortages worldwide, food becomes a more important aspect of such aforementioned matters.

This week, my column was called, The Politics of High Fructose Corn Syrup. In it, I discussed our government’s gigantic corn subsidy and our country’s growing waistlines. When I awoke this morning, my husband asked if I had received any online comments to the article. Here is a portion of the only response I have received thus far:

“Ms. Amsterdam is wearing blinders”

Such remarks make me think of Dooce. She prints out all her nasty comments and runs over them in her driveway. I won’t be doing this. I don’t have a driveway.

Besides, things are actually looking up; spring is here (for today at least). The sun is shining. My children are on a street corner shouting their heads off selling lemonade (that they made themselves while I was still lollygagging in bed reading the paper) and hawking their ultra-expensive, politically correct, wooden Waldorf toys to increase profit margins.

I myself am on a baking marathon this weekend. Yesterday I made Kelly’s Bars three times. My baseball team (I’m coaching little league) gave their tacit seal of approval, devouring bars 2.0 even though they were a bit underdone. When I came home, I made bars 3.0 and am probably just one trial away from posting them here.

Today, however, I am sharing my roasted chicken recipe with all of you. This dish, which is my children’s current favorite entrée, will be the main course at our Passover Seder. Its sweet flavors are just right for a festive celebration.

A while back, after posting my Rosemary Apple Chicken recipe, one of my favorite readers (she comments frequently under the name ~M), asked if I had other suggestions for roasted chicken recipes with fruit; she inspired me to come up with this tasty dish. Happy Pesach ~M!

Chili Chicken

I have discovered a great new website, myfeasts.com. I found it through tastespotting.com, my all time favorite site. If you ever find yourself in a “dinner quandary,” I highly recommend a visit to tastespotting; the photos are gorgeous and provide much meal planning inspiration!

Alas, I digress, this post is about myfeasts. The site is a bit of a mystery, as I could not find an “about” page. Was I just missing it? Or is this excellent chef to remain an enigma? Regardless, the recipes are incredible and have been the catalyst for me to take a dinner detour from Italian; we have been in a pasta, pesto and chicken parm rut. Asian food here we come!

This Chili Chicken recipe goes well with the veggie stir-fry recipe below. For the chicken dish, I switched out some of the ingredients, such as sugar, cornstarch and soy sauce to suit my dietary plan, changed the directions and added some garlic. Either way, this Chili Chicken is amazing; as I devoured it, I was transported back to my days of gluten-filled eating in New York City Chinese restaurants!

This stir-fry recipe for Napa Cabbage with Shiitake Mushrooms is my own; I hope you enjoy it!

This high-protein, low carb Chinese food makes for a good gluten-free, grain-free, mighty delicious meal. My husband, who has no food restrictions whatsoever, enthusiastically ate it for dinner last night.

Dinner Round Up

That troubling question, “what’s for dinner?” troubles no more! Of late I’m feeling quite confident about answering this question, having built up a decent repertoire of main dishes for the family.

Here’s a list of entrées that are getting us through the dinner hour with ease:

I can see that the seafood department needs a bit of work, we are definitely chicken heavy. However, this chicken “heaviness” probably reflects the fact that my favorite taste tester (husband) loves chicken and eats seafood mostly under duress. He is basically a meat and potatoes kind of guy and has been amazing about compromising and eating more kid friendly foods and things that work well for me.

I make adjustments as well. When we have chicken parm, I bake mine in a separate dish, omitting the cheese. While this might not seem monumental, it is for me, a former cheese-a-holic. I’ve now been completely dairy-free for almost a year.

Even the boys compromise, eating their share of “adult” foods. How does that work? I usually argue and negotiate with them for a bit, until ultimately they try what is in front of them. They are great sports and actually have learned to like the foods I serve.

Of course, there are nights when I simply make them a big bowl of mac-n-cheese with a side of broccoli while we eat salmon. However, if I can get my younger guy in my lap, he will usually try anything on my plate (food always tastes better when it’s on mom’s plate), then he’ll scoot back into his chair and ask for a helping of his own. That’s what happened recently when I made the dish below.

Adding one more option to the dinner menu, I recently converted my chicken piccata recipe into cod piccata. The capers and parsely complement this mild fish quite nicely and I often find myself slurping up the sauce and last slivers of fish with a soup spoon.

Cod Piccata
1½ pounds cod
½ cup blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon all purpose chef’s shake
5 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup brined capers
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

1. Cut the cod into 6 pieces
2. Mix together flour, salt and chef’s shake
3. Rinse the cod pieces in water, then dredge thoroughly in flour mixture, until well coated
4. Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil in a large skillet on medium high heat; add half of the cod pieces and brown well, about 3 minutes per side
5. Transfer from skillet to a plate, and repeat with remaining cod
6. Place plate of cod in warm oven while preparing the sauce
7. Add chicken stock, lemon juice, and capers to skillet and use a metal spatula to loosen the browned bits and incorporate them into the sauce
8. Reduce the sauce by half then whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of grapeseed oil
9. Plate the cod, pour the sauce over it and sprinkle with parsley
10. Serve

Serves 4 to 6

My original piccata recipe is based on one from simplyrecipes.com, a favorite site of mine. So to give credit where it is due, I must thank Elise! I love her recipes and ideas.

Tastespotting.com also keeps me creative during the dinner hour. I check out the beautiful photos on this blog daily. It is constantly updated, featuring the best recipes and pics from food blogs around the globe.

All in all, I am so thankful for the creativity of other bloggers and the abundance of organic, delicious food in my home!

Parsley Pesto with Sundried Tomatoes

Traditionally, pesto is made with basil. This time of year, it’s not so easy to find organic basil at a reasonable price. Really, the time for basil is summer. And we’re definitely not there yet. Not even close, out here in Colorado.

And yet, I love pesto. All those good greens ground up into delightful, fresh flavors.

Last night, in the mood for something delicious and healthy (in that order), I made pesto using parsley. I always keep parsley in the fridge –it’s a staple for me, as are lemons and garlic. I consider these types of ingredients the building blocks of good food; hence, keeping these items in my kitchen is a must!

Further spurring me in the parsley direction? I ate at the Kitchen recently and this fabulous restaurant has been using copious portions of this herb in several of their salads and main dishes. They recently rolled out a new menu which is completely inspired. If you’re ever in Boulder, I highly recommend this restaurant!

In the meantime, here’s my parsley pesto –a delicious way to get your greens in the winter.

If you want to use the spaghetti that is shown in the photo above, you can order it directly from Papadini over the phone –they do not have online capability as of yet. I am a big fan of their high protein pasta from lentil beans. Such a good thing, to eat pasta sans the high-carb hangover afterward!

Top your high-protein, gluten-free pasta with this power packed parsley pesto –parsley is considered a superfood– and you have a dish that not only tastes good, it’s good for you too! Enjoy.

Fish Sticks

For some reason, I can’t get out of my winter funk. We’ve had a few beautiful sunny days, yet I still feel as though I need to go into a small cave and hibernate. I feel such a stunting of my creativity during these dark days (we’ve had a lot more dreary ones than sunny) and a complete lack of drive. I think part of it is all of the illnesses that my family has been through during the past month and our time in familial “retrograde” –we seem to be emerging slowly (emphasis on the slowly more than the emerging). Life these days just feels like walking through glue.

To give myself some energy, I’ve been continuing my protein streak and also trying out variations that the boys might eat. Tonight I made these delicious gluten-free fish sticks and served them with steamed kale on the side. The fish sticks are very kid friendly, as is just about anything fried. Given that they’re rather high in protein, I find them adult friendly too, and quite tasty.

Make sure to serve this heavier dish with some steamed veggies (broccoli or kale work well) or a big salad to balance out the meal.

Chicken Piccata

It’s been almost a week since I last posted something here. It seems my entire family has gone into retrograde and I have been nursing everyone back to health for the last month –including myself. The nasty flu that blew through Colorado had me down for ten days straight. I haven’t had one that bad for quite a long time.

On a food note, I continue to be inspired by Elise over at simplyrecipes.com. Last week she posted a delicious looking chicken piccata recipe. Once I found the time, this motivated me to come up with my own gluten-free, dairy-free version. If you decide to make this, please comment below and let me know how it turns out, as well as any suggestions that you may have.

This chicken piccata recipe adds one more protein dish to my family’s dinner table–we have been in a bit of a chicken parm rut lately, not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Before I even finished taking pictures of this dish, I began to “sample” it. It is deliciously lemony and refreshing, quite tangy with the capers; while the parsley adds a nice subtle flavor to it as well.

Shrimp Cakes

After preparing a plethora of Valentine’s sweets, I once again have post-holiday “dessert burnout” syndrome. Thus, I now find myself constantly craving protein –for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks.

I will be eating a lot of these tasty little seafood patties in this new faze of protein craze. Hence I am delighted to share one of my favorite recipes with you –this one for simple, savory shrimp cakes.

This gluten-free, high protein recipe for shrimp cakes is one of E’s favorites and also my husband’s. J won’t eat it unless under duress, preferring grilled cheese and quesadillas to just about anything I make these days. Alas, we had a good run for so many years where he was completely adventurous in his eating.

Now he is a pure carbo-holic asking me to pack him a lunch of sweetened, flavored yogurt with fruit leather. I have defied this wish of his and lunch comes home untouched day after day. Yesterday, after another virgin lunch came in the door, I asked him what was up and he said, “Mom, if you’d only pack me something good, then I would eat it!” Ok, yogurt and fruit leather, here we come. Can’t starve the boy.

As for myself? I’m sticking with the shrimp cakes.