Eggplant and Beef Green Curry

For me, curry is a quick meal that tastes like I went to a restaurant.  One of the great things about curry is that you can toss in almost any vegetable and it is very forgiving.  Salt and lime are essential to making it taste good.  Also, if you can’t find some sort of curry paste, I would hesitate to make this recipe.  We tried it last night without the curry paste and tried to piece together our own, but we were missing about half the ingredients and well…let’s just say, use the curry paste unless you know what you’re doing with seasonings!  With the curry paste, it’s great!

Eggplant and Beef Green Curry

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1-2 T. oil or grease from ground beef

1 eggplant, peeled and diced

3-4 medium potatoes (I used golden potatoes with skins on), diced

1 zucchini, diced

1/2 onion, diced

 

2 tsp minced garlic

2 inches fresh ginger, minced

1 jar Thai Kitchen green curry paste

1-2 cans coconut milk

2-3 limes, zested and juiced

salt to taste

Directions:

Brown the ground beef and set aside.  Add some oil or grease back into the pan.  Cook the potatoes over medium heat with lid on until they are softening a little.  Add the rest of the veggies, ginger, and garlic.  Cover and stir occasionally until they are all getting a little soft.  Add curry paste and cook for about 1 minute.  Add the cooked meat.  Add coconut milk, lime zest and juice, and salt.  Serve over rice (I make mine in a rice cooker.)

 

 

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Peppermint Ice Cream

Nothing tells your mouth it’s Christmas like the taste of peppermint.  I love peppermint ice cream, but there are only a limited number of flavors of dairy free ice cream on the market, so I started looking into how to make my own.  I came across this recipe and thought I’d share.  It happens to be gluten free also!

Peppermint Ice Cream

2 cans of coconut milk or coconut cream (unsweetened- 14 oz each)

1/2 c. honey

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (so crucial to making it taste like the stuff from a carton!)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp peppermint extract

1/2 c. crushed candy canes (some stores sell crushed candy canes next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle)

 

Freeze ice cream bowl a day ahead of time (as per your ice cream maker directions.)  Stir together all ingredients except the candy canes.  Refrigerate for a few hours.  Pour ice cream liquid into the frozen bowl as it is turning.  Allow to turn for about 20 minutes until it begins to thicken.  Add crushed candy canes and allow to spin a few more minutes.  Ice cream will be soft.  I usually take a bite and then put the rest of it in a plastic tub in the freezer to harden.  There are a lot of gluten free cones on the market now, so check your store to see if you can find some!

I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker with the bowl that you freeze ahead of time.  Theoretically this recipe should work with any ice cream maker, but I haven’t tested it with others.  Merry Christmas!

Adapted from: http://www.acouplecooks.com/2011/12/easy-peppermint-stick-ice-cream/

 

 

 

Golden Sweet Cornbread

Here is a cornbread recipe that tastes delicious and yet has several replacements.  Don’t be scared!  It’s easy.  I usually serve it with my mom’s chili.

 

Golden Sweet Cornbread

 

Ingredients:

1 c. brown rice flour (if you don’t need to be gluten free, just use regular       all-purpose flour)

1/4 tsp xanthan gum (essential if making this gluten free- prevents crumbling)

1 c. yellow cornmeal

2/3 c. sugar (just regular, white granulated sugar. I recently tried it with just 1/3 c. sugar and thought it was even better.)

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 flax egg (mix 1 T. golden flax seed with 3 T. water and let sit for 5-10           minutes- or you can just use one regular egg)

1 c. milk (I usually use original coconut milk from the carton.  You could also use almond milk, soy milk, etc. or just regular milk.)

1/3 c. oil (I usually use canola or vegetable but you can use something fancier if you want.)

Directions:

Make the flax egg and set aside for 5-10 minutes).  Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Add the wet ingredients including the flax egg.  Stir well.  Bake in a greased 8×8 pan at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  It is finished when a toothpick comes out clean or when you tap the top and it doesn’t leave an imprint.  It should spring back to the touch.

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See how beautifully the top cracked in the pan?

Mom’s Crockpot Chili

Sometimes people think eating gluten free is so complicated.  It doesn’t have to be.  You also don’t have to eat weird things.  This recipe of my mom’s is naturally gluten free.

 

Mom’s Crockpot Chili

 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef or deer, browned

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

4 carrots, chopped (optional)

3 cans tomato sauce (8 oz each)

3-4 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne red pepper

1/8 tsp paprika

1 can of beans (I cooked pinto beans in another crockpot because that’s what I had on hand, but normally we use kidney beans.)

 

Directions:

If using dried beans, soak overnight and then cook in a crockpot all day.

Brown the ground beef.  Chop all the veggies (I usually dice them into about 1/2 inch squares).  Add all ingredients to the crockpot and set on low all day.  See?  Isn’t that easy?  And no special modifications had to be made.

I usually serve with my Golden Sweet Cornbread.

If you are cooking for someone who is gluten free, always make sure your ingredients are gluten free.  If you are unsure, please ask the person so you make sure they can eat it :-).

Here is the progression:

First the pepper and onions
Then I decided to toss in some carrots
Add the meat
Add the tomato sauce and spices and stir
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