Showing posts with label Dairy Free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dairy Free. Show all posts

Friday, July 1, 2016

Oven Poached Halibut with Spinach, Parsley, and Capers

 

Living at the beach we have some fabulous opportunities to get our little hands on fresh fish.  I mean really fresh.  Like walk across the street, drop a line, and fish.  The other option is driving 2 minutes to the boat docks and buying from our local fishermen and women.  If that does not work, then we can walk across the dock and buy from our local seafood vendor.  Yeah, we have a lot of ways to buy and fish for, well, FISH.

It won't come as a surprise then that you may find a fishy tale or two here once in a while or a few recipes that include fish.  This recipe was me messing around with a bunch of spinach I had sitting and giving me the stink eye.  I buy spinach and sometimes it gets shoved to the back of the fridge and I forget about it.  Not today buddy!  Get your spinach and halibut and let's start cooking.




Halibut can be expensive.  If you need to use another fish that's okay but keep in mind that halibut also is a mild-flavored fish.  Using a fishier type fish might alter the flavor of the dish slightly.  Little things to keep in the back of your mind when you start changing recipes.

I usually buy 1.5 pounds of fish to feed the 3-4 adult people in my family.  This leaves enough for a small portion as leftovers for the next day.  I don't eat the fish but I don't mind making it for my family.

I served the fish with a curry sauce I made. I will include the recipe.  I had leftover coconut milk and hated to waste it.  I believe the fish and sauce worked well together.



The above picture is before I baked it and the below picture is afterward.  I poached the fish in coconut milk. This process makes the fish creamy.  I don't like when my fish is overcooked and dried out.


There's a close up of the curry sauce. The green spinach topping is filled with flavor and goodness.


Oven Poached Halibut with Spinach, Parsley, and Capers 

1 can of coconut full-fat milk (use 1/2 here and 1/2 for sauce recipe below)
1-2 lbs. of fresh halibut
1 1/2 cup diced fresh spinach
zest of 1 lemon (save a bit for curry sauce)
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and left whole
2 teaspoons melted Ghee or your favorite cooking oil
1/4 green onion
2 tablespoons fresh parsley


This curry sauce might frustrate some because it's not EXACTLY measured.  Sauces are touchy and they need to be made with finesse.  For me, it's a lot of add and taste.

Curry Sauce:

1/2 can coconut milk
pinch of fresh parsley
pinch of salt
1-2 teaspoons yellow curry
extra zest of lemon from above (1/2 teaspoon)
lemon juice to taste
cayenne to taste--this goes a long way, start with a dash
about 20 raw capers, minced well

1.  Using an ovenproof baking dish (mine is a vintage Le Creuset), pour in 1/2 can of coconut milk. Add fish.  I usually remove the skin.  I also will cut the fish up into the portions beforehand. This is optional.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Position this over the fish.

3.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  The fish will release juice and thin the sauce.  This is the poaching juice that will keep your fish from drying out.

4.  While fish is cooking, prepare the sauce.  Over a stovetop in a small pan, combine sauce ingredients.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer.  Serve with fish.

NOTE:  I pooled the curry sauce on the bottom of a small plate and then gently laid the fish with spinach topping in the middle.  If you are not careful with plating you could end up with quite a messy dish.  Just go slow and your presentation with be excellent.


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Tomato Soup #dairyfree #vegan


If I have to pick one recipe that has quickly become our favorite for this year it is this tomato soup.  My entire family LOVES it.  I make it at least once a week.  

We have named this Isabella's Tomato Soup because she is the one that request it the most.  Last week I taught her how to make it as part of our Friday Cooking Class.  Isabella is becoming quite the culinary student.  I have enjoyed teaching her about the basics of cooking, the health benefits of cooking from scratch, and the time together in the kitchen.

This recipe is dairy free and I have made it with all types of dairy free milk: rice, almond, soy and coconut milk.  We really like the coconut milk the best.  I use the full fat and the soup is very creamy and dreamy.


We use a combination of fresh and canned tomatoes.  I think the texture and flavor from using the two benefits from having a variety of tomatoes.  

It is quick!  We whip this soup up in about 20 minutes.  I try to let it simmer for a few minutes but I usually have a handful of people asking me, "is it ready yet?" every few minutes.  The soup is great the next day too.

Tomato Soup #dairyfree #vegan
Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup red onion, diced small
1 tablespoon Italian Parsley, finely minced
2 teaspoons oil of your choice, to sauté onion
2 tablespoons flour
2 cans Organic Diced Tomatoes
2 cans Organic Coconut Milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder or garlic paste
salt and pepper to taste


 1.  Heat a small pot with oil.  Add onion and cook for 3 minutes.  Add garlic and parsley, salt and pepper.  Cook over heat for 1 minute.

2.  Add tomatoes and coconut milk.  Do not drain juice from tomatoes.

3.  Stir together.  Using a hand held blender stick, puree soup until smooth. See picture below.  It will be light pink and as it cooks, the color will change to a beautiful orange red.  If you don't have this, then add to a blender and puree and return to pot.


4.  Heat soup until thick.  I don't usually boil this soup.  Once the soup is thick, I turn the heat down and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  Taste and season according to your family's needs.

5.  We serve this with homemade croutons.  Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.














Saturday, September 6, 2014

Wedge Salad with Dairy-Free Herb Dressing


I try to recreate recipes for dishes, sides or condiments that I cannot have anymore.  This is one such recipe.  I miss Blue Cheese.  It's true.  I don't sneak or even attempt to convince myself that I can eat it anymore.  I used to.  Then I would pay the price and be sick for a week.

Age and experience has a way of making your mind listen when your taste buds say it's okay to sneak or cheat.  I make all of our salad dressings.  I wanted a creamy version of something that I could enjoy with some basic salads like this wedge salad.  I like wedge salads.  I like the combination of bacon, tomato and bright crisp green lettuce.

This salad dressing is an attempt to recreate a recipe I enjoy with a similar flavor profile.  Now lets be honest: Blue Cheese is strong.  It has a distinct flavor.  It carry's it's own weight in any recipe. So no this will not taste anything like Blue Cheese dressing unless you add the Blue Cheese.  It does have a creamy herb texture and I feel that if this is how I need to eat a wedge salad to feel like I am experiencing something that I have missed, then this is the recipe I will be using from here on out.

The pictures that are posted do include the Blue Cheese because my family has no issue with this cheese.  It is just me with the food issues.  I keep a small amount of the dressing for myself and make the rest the way they like it.

This is how my family functions while living with my food triggers and intolerances.  I try my best to allow them to eat as "normal" and "healthy" as possible but sometimes they want the real deal. Well, with this recipe they get a dairy free base and a snippet of Blue Cheese.  They couldn't tell the difference until I told them.

My kids will never let me live down the fact that I use coconut milk for almost everything.  It is probably true but when you have food issues you use what you have to.



Wedge Salad with Dairy-Free Herb Dressing
Dressing makes about 1/2 a cup

1 head of iceburg lettuce, quartered
1 small tomato, diced into small pieces
4-6 strips of bacon, fried and cut into thin pieces ( I buy turkey bacon)

Dressing:
1/4 cup of coconut cream (from the top of a can of full fat coconut milk-do not shake before opening)
1/4 cup of mayonnaise or Vegannaise
1 tablespoon of fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (more might be needed to adjust flavor)
salt/pepper to taste
3-4 drops of Coconut Aminos
2-3 capers, diced fine (optional)

1/4 cup Blue Cheese crumbles (This is not dairy free.  Only use if dairy is not an issue.  Pictures are with blue cheese because my family likes this addition.  I cannot eat the blue cheese so I leave my portion blue cheese free.)

1.  Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Whisk together until blended.

2.   Cut head of lettuce into four quarters.  Place on a side salad plate.  Sprinkle with bacon pieces and diced tomatoes.  Add salad dressing.

3.  Serve cold and store leftovers in the refrigerator.


After the photo shoot I chopped all of the salads and threw them into one big bowl. 

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Stained Glass Jello with Coconut Milk Panna Cotta #SundaySupper


We are celebrating summer and July 4th in our Sunday Supper group this week with things to take on a picnic, to the beach, your favorite neighborhood BBQ or simply to enjoy at home.

I have wanted to make this dessert for a while and decided to try my hand at a homemade version that would have less refined sugar and made from homemade ingredients.  

I recently bought beef gelatin and set out to make several things.  I first made my own jello.  The red jello you see is made with three simple ingredients: unsweetened pomegranate juice,  raw honey and beef gelatin.  It was really easy!  I have included the recipe down below.

The second thing I wanted to make was panna cotta.  I love the smooth, yet set, feel of this dessert. My only concern was the dairy.  We are trying to cut back and so I wondered if I could use coconut milk.  I discovered that you can and it works like a charm.  I added a bit more beef gelatin to the recipe to make it more "jello-like" so it is firmer than a regular panna cotta.  Recipe is also shared below.

So--you basically get three recipes for the price of one!  





A funny side note about the panna cotta.  I have a schedule each day.  The schedule is centered around nap times.  If you have kids and work from home you might relate to this issue too.  When nap times happen I know that I have exactly 92 1/2 minutes and 39 seconds (roughly speaking, of course) to get about 4 hours of work done.  

It is a race in my kitchen of grabbing, cooking, slicing, picture taking, cooking, washing--yeah, I am sure you are starting to get the picture--so imagine my complete and udder frustration when I have to deal with a malfunctioning piece of ---- (won't say that out loud).  

My husband, for 26 years, has held his tongue about owning an electric can-opener.  I cannot stand these things and have forbidden the purchase of one.  Well, I caved a month ago.  If he wants one, then fine--buy one. 

He did.

It has worked okay. Not great but I have suffered through it. I even put my hand-held can opener out into our trailer (by the way, that is a pop up and the kitchen is not close to the door).

Rye had a follow-up appointment with her oral surgeon and Cory drove so that during nap time I could make this dessert. Everything was fine and on schedule until it came time to make the panna cotta.

Two cans of full fat coconut milk are needed and outside of gnawing the tops off I had to use the electric can opener. I mentally prepared myself and hoped for the best.

Well, I fought with that dang thing for 30 minutes trying to get it to work. I won't repeat the thoughts that were going through my mind but it involved the use of my windows and possibly a huge sledge hammer.

I am trying to be zen like and not get too excited about little things like this and so I decide its not worth it and get my knife and hammer out. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME--unless you are desperate and need to work while your baby is asleep.

To make a long story short, I got the cans open, made the panna cotta and made my husband stop by the store for a manual can opener on his way home.

I think that peace will once again return to the Watson home.  

You will notice that I have included two pictures that are not stained glass. This is how I used any of the leftover ingredients. I made individual portions to see how it would work.  I loved that they slipped out of the little pyrex bowl and made these cute little desserts.  Next time I will serve them with some berries and whipped cream.



Isabella thought they were really fun to play with and slurp.

Do you remember slurping Jello as a kid?

Please visit my fellow Sunday Supper contributors to learn, discover and find a few more delicious recipes for your summer fun.  Links are at the end of this post.




Stained Glass Jello with Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

Makes one 7X11 baking pan

1 box of blue Jello, prepared for the Jigglers
1 batch of homemade red beef gelatin Jello, recipe below
1 batch of homemade coconut milk panna cotta, recipe below

NOTE:  I used a store bought Jello box because I could not find any true blue juice at my grocery store and in order to do a red, white and blue theme--I had to use this product.  You can also make this using any color gelatin and name it "Broken Glass"  or  "Sea Glass".

1.  Take prepared Jello's and dice them into small pieces with a sharp knife.  Mine ranged in size from a half inch to smaller.



2.  Place all of the blue and red jello pieces in the bottom of a baking dish.  If you use a larger or smaller version than what is recommended your dessert will be either thinner or thicker.

3.  Prepare the coconut milk panna cotta and pour over the red and blue pieces.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until solid.  About 2-3 hours depending on refrigerator.

4.  When set, remove from refrigerator and slice to serve.  I sliced mine into bite size rectangles.  They can be cut using your favorite cookie cutter too.

5.  Store left overs in an air tight container and refrigerate.


Homemade Jello

1 cup of unsweetened juice.  I used pomegranate to get the red.
1 tablespoon beef gelatin
1 tablespoon raw honey

1.  Add juice and gelatin to a small sauce pan.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  The gelatin needs time to soften and expand.

2.  Place sauce pan on medium heat and warm.  DO NOT BOIL!  Boiling will ruin the gelatin.

3.  Once the juice is warm.  Remove from heat and add honey.  Stir until combined.

4.  Add juice-gelatin mixture to a small bowl.  My bowl was square 4X4.

5.  Let set in refrigerator.  At least an hour.

6.  Remove from refrigerator and serve.  Cut into small pieces, slabs, shapes, etc...



Homemade Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

3 cups (or two cans) of full fat coconut milk
3 tablespoons beef gelatin
1/3 cup raw honey
2 teaspoons of vanilla

NOTE:  A traditional panna cotta is served with berries or has berries in it.  I used the red and blue jello in place of this in the pictures above.  This panna cotta will set very firm.  To make it softer but still set, use 2 tablespoons of gelatin instead of 3.

1.  In a medium sauce pan add one can (1.5 cups) of coconut milk and gelatin.  Let sit for 10 minutes.

2.  Place sauce pan on medium heat and warm coconut milk.  DO NOT BOIL.  When steamy, remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.

3.  Let cool slightly--if you don't do this part--then you will see some of the jello bleed into the dessert.  This did not bother me but you may think differently.  I suggest wait about 10 minutes.  If you are not adding it to a dish full of jello pieces, then go ahead and add to your serving dishes (large or small) and wrap with saran wrap.

4.  Let set for 3 hours.  Serve with berries and whipped cream.


LOOKIE HERE---LOTS OF DELICIOUS PICNIC RECIPES! 

ENJOY

Are you looking for picnic recipes? Look no further than this fabulous list by Sunday Supper contributors. It is everything you need for a scrumptious day in the great outdoors.

Beverages
Orange Blossom Iced Tea by girlichef
Red, White, and Blue Sangria by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Rosemary Nectarine Sparkling Cocktail by Food Lust People Love
Best Picnic Wines by ENOFYLZ Wine Blog

Appetizers
Baked Garlic Parmesan Wings by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls by Daily Dish Recipes
Peppadew Dip by Confessions of a Culinary Diva
Savory Red, White, and Bleu Truffles by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Mains
Asparagus and Cheddar Quiche by Mess Makes Food
London Broil with Caramelized Red Onions by Crazy Foodie Stunts
Stilton Potato and Stilton Pies by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Waffle Batter Fried Chicken Tenders with Maple Mustard Dipping Sauce by Kudos Kitchen by Renee

Sides
Mushroom and Gruyere Cheesecake by Peaceful Cooking
Scotch Eggs by Small Wallet, Big Appetite

Salads
Caprese Pasta Salad by La Bella Vita Cucina
Farro & Walnut Salad by Foxes Love Lemons
Fruit Tortellini Salad by Jelly Toast
Gluten Free Potato Salad by Gluten Free Crumbley
Japanese Noodle Salad by Noshing With The Nolands
Kale and Quinoa Tabbouli by Healthy. Delicious.
Layered Chicken Salad by Nosh My Way
Lightened Up Macaroni Salad by Peanut Butter and Peppers
Loaded Potato Salad by Granny’s Down Home Sassy Southern Cooking
Mexican 3 Bean Salad by Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen
Old Fashioned Potato Salad by Life Tastes Good
Orzo Salad with Kale Pesto by Cooking Chat
Pizza Pasta Salad by Curious Cuisiniere
Red, White and Blue Fruit and Cheese Salad by Shockingly Delicious
Tomato Bean Salad by Family Foodie
Tuna Noodle Salad by Hot Momma’s Kitchen Chaos
Vegetable Salad by Magnolia Days
Veggie Pasta Salad by Pescetarian Journal
Watermelon and Feta Salad with Verjus by The Wimpy Vegetarian

Sandwiches and Wraps
Pan Bagnat by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
Panino con la Salamella by Manu’s Menu
Roast Beef Wraps by Cookin’ Mimi

Sweets
Banana Pudding Cheesecake by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
Berry Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups {#glutenfree option} by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
Cherry Chip Blossom Cupcakes by NinjaBaking.com
Cherry Pie Crumb Bars by The Girl In the Little Red Kitchen
Chocolate Chunk Brownies by What Smells So Good?
Chocolate Syrup Brownies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Chocolate Zucchini Cake by Killer Bunnies, Inc
Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies by Alida’s Kitchen
Flag Cake by Pies and Plots
Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies by Feed Me, Seymour
Red, White, and Blue Berry Angel Food Cake Parfaits by Neighborfood
S’mores Crumb Bars by The Redhead Baker
Stained Glass Jello with Coconut Milk Panna Cotta by Simply Gourmet
Strawberry Banana Oat Muffins by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter each Sunday. We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET and you do not want to miss out on the fun. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. Check out our #SundaySupper Pinterest board for more fabulous recipes and food photos.



Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? Click here: Sunday Supper Movement



WRITTEN BY SHERRON WATSON





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