A Good Run on Recipes

Gong Xi Fa Chai..Happy (Chinese) New Year.  We have a day off of school today, and our family is spending a lot of time just relaxing.  It's been nice to have a long weekend, eating supper leftovers and the last of the Christmas baking.  Although we've had a lot of chocolate and Christmas treats, there's always room for just a little more.  We've also been finishing off some of the best recipes I've tried yet this last year.  Flourless chocolate cake is still on the top of my list, but there's a new topper that I found on another blog.  It's Fresh Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Cake from justpinchme.com, and although that recipe uses wheat flour, I substituted a popular flour mix that I got from the "Cooking For Isaiah"cookbook. After following the very specific instructions for a "fluffy cake",  I ended up with a DELICIOUS cranberry cake that didn't even hint at gluten free.  Note:  what a treat it was to find a kilo of tiny, frozen cranberries at a grocery store in Jakarta.  I picked up some frozen raspberries, too, and we've been eating like it's summer in Canada almost every day since!

The other to-die-for recipe that doesn't taste at all like the dry, crumbly cookies I often end up with is Land O'Lakes gluten free chocolate chip cookies.  Another great treat that looks great in a glass cookie jar on the shelf, tastes great, and freezes well.  

Finally, hallelujah for a gluten free pie crust recipe that actually works.  All my life I have loved to make pies, starting with the little jam tarts that I'd make with my mom's pie crust remnants, to freezing up to 12 autumn apple pies for the winter months when my kids were little.  For months after my diagnosis, I put off trying to make a pie, and when I finally attempted it, my pie flopped.  Thankfully, since then I have found a recipe for Pie Crust on gfzing.com that has worked for me, and tastes wonderful.  It's flaky and isn't mushy on the bottom when I make a fruit pie.  I even tried it as a chicken pot pie crust and breathed a sigh of relief when it came out beautiful.  My greatest achievement was when I found some HUGE frozen blackberries (when I found the cranberries) in Jakarta, and made my husband his traditional blackberry pie for his 45th birthday.  We have had to settle for cake these last few years, and so the berry pie was a wonderful treat.  He was even able to perform our "only with blackberry pie" tradition of licking the dessert plate clean.

It's good to start the year with good news, and my good news is that I don't have to follow the advice of a well-meaning friend, who suggested I find a new hobby.  Instead, I've turned my hobby around and found a way to make it work.  I'm thankful for people who share their recipes online, and hopefully one day I'll have more delicious recipes of my own to pass on.

Thanks for reading.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Hot off the stove! I have a favourite soup recipe using coconut milk, and today I decided to tweak it a bit by mixing it with a pumpkin soup recipe that we tried during the holidays.  Not sure what to call it, but the closest thing would be a curried Thai pumpkin soup.  Regardless of the name, we ate it for lunch and it was a hit.

ingredients:
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1 red chili, slit lengthwise, seeded, chopped (I use finger long red chilis...not too spicy)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp red Thai curry paste
2 cups steamed, mashed or pureed pumpkin
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 c canned corn niblets
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 tbsp fish sauce

top with chopped cilantro
flavour with salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, garlic, ginger and chili in oil until onion is almost translucent.  Gently stir in curry paste. Add the coconut milk, pumpkin, stock and spinach, then turn down the stove to a medium-low simmer.  Stirring with a wooden spoon, allow heat to blend the flavours for about 10 minutes.  Lower heat to lowest simmer and add niblets and fish sauce.  Simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serves 4 for a meal, 6 for an appetizer.
Pour into bowls and top with cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper if needed.  I find the fish sauce makes it salty enough.

This is a great recipe to serve with Thai lemongrass iced tea.
Enjoy!

1 Year Today

One year ago today I was standing in a cold German hospital, putting on the 2nd of my 4 layers of warm clothing, when a doctor handed me his card with "Coeliac Disease" written on it.  He told me that he didn't speak my language enough to explain the disease, and that I was to go home and do the research on how to live with it.  Ever since then, I've been researching and learning to deal with it.  

Christmas Day 2011:  my son caught me unaware

My husband reminded me this morning that late last December I had told him that I didn't know why, but 2011 was going to be a significant year for me.  I had been "discussing" life with God, and that's what the final verdict was that we came up with.  I told my husband so that he could be my witness, and true to his role, he reminded me this morning.  He also reminded me that I made it a whole year, and that I survived.  I did.  I threw out a lot of failed baking, I threw up a lot of what I thought was safe to eat, and I grew up from a baby Celiac to one who is able to advise with confidence.

white water rafting in Nth Sulawesi

My annual Celiac highlights?  Our family trip to North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where I discovered that I could indeed travel beyond the comforts of my own home.  I just need to bring a long a few of my own foods and snacks, and to communicate well with those who are feeding me.  Heading home to Canada was huge for me.  I found a bit of heaven there in both restaurants that cater to those with specific food needs, and in the grocery stores built just for people like me.  Mostly, I've found incredible joy and encouragement through friends (and family when in Canada) who know I'm coming to an event and they bring something with me in mind, or they invite me over for a meal of some kind.  I grew up surrounded with the theme that 'food is love', and I think it's something I'll never be able to unlearn.  I have just had to alter the delivery a bit.

my family 2011

I'm thankful for the challenges I've gone through this year.  I may not be stronger physically, but I believe I am emotionally.  There are days when I want to just curl up, and there are others where I live in denial, waiting for the day I can just sit down to a regular meal with my family, or order up some burgers and fries for delivery.  Mostly, though, my days are full of thankfulness that I know what to avoid, that there continues to be a growing number of options available for me here in Indonesia, and that I am alive and healthy.