drunk blondies!?

Hey did you guys have a snowstorm? We sure did. You know what goes awesome with snowstorms? Making sure you have delicious treats xto eat while you're snowed in. We've got 36" here in Connecticut and I haven't seen a single plow yet. Looks like we're trapped! At least this storm we have electricity. I was afraid we'd lose power and be very very cold like the last big storm.
This is a delicious snack and makes a bunch, so is a good treat for when you're snowed in for a while or have a bunch of people around.

Drunk blondies
From the Back in the Day cookbook via Serious Eats, slightly edited

2 c rice flour mix
1 t baking powder
3/4 t xanthan gum
1/4 t salt
2 sticks melted butter (we used 1 1/2 and 4 T olive oil)
2 c packed brown sugar
2 room temp eggs (run them under warm water)
2 T vanilla (we weren't messing aroung)
2 T whiskey (or booze of your choice)
a package of good chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9x13 pan with foil or parchment and grease. Mix together the flour mix, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt. In another bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and whiskey, then stir in the flour mix and the chocolate chips. Spread into the pan and bake 20-22 minutes. The top will get all delicious and crackley and the insides will be a little gooey still, like great chocolate chip cookies.
Cool completely and devour.

Coconut custard pie

As you guys all know, we had a hurricane yesterday. I didn't want to be stuck without pie during a hurricane, so I threw together this little baby. This may be the easiest pie I've ever made, with four ingredients that get whisked together and poured in a par-baked pie crust. Then you bake it for about an hour and ta-da! Delicious pie! Oh, and in the last 10 minutes, toss some coconut onto the baking sheet holding the pie and toast it up to toss on top. 

Coconut custard pie

From Real Simple

1 pie crust

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can coconut milk

a pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

a big handful of coconut flakes or shreds

Par-bake your pie crust based on the instructions on the package. I baked mine for 35 mins at 400 covered with foil and weighted down with weights. 

Turn down the oven to 325. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients. Pour into your pie crust, and bake 50-60 minutes. In the last 10 minutes, scatter the coconut on the cookie sheet to toast. The pie is done when the center is set but its still slightly wobbly. Sprinkle coconut over the top, and cool completely before serving. This is best served cold or at room temperature. 

sugar pie

Thanksgiving is coming soon, you guys. Like in a month and a week. Are you ready? 

Because it's fall and I'm fattening up for winter like a bear, I wanted to make a pie yesterday. But, because I'm lazy, I didn't want to go buy anything. We don't have any fruit or any nuts for any regular pies, or any cream for a cream pie, so I found this recipe for sugar pie. I didn't make the crust, there's no way I can flute a pie crust like that. I use the Whole Foods gluten free frozen crusts- they're something like $5.99 for two, and they come frozen so you don't have to use them both at once. 

So I whipped this up real quick, and oh wow. I'm making this for Thanksgiving (spoiler alert, family). With the nutmeg and cinnamon it tastes similar to a pumpkin pie, and is similar in texture too. It's sweet, so I'd whip up a plain whipped cream (no sugar, maybe some cinnamon) to top it. I didn't because I am lazy and didn't feel like going to buy any. This is good cold, room temp, or hot. Eat this pie!

Sugar Pie
Recipe from Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories via Joy the Baker 

1 c each white and brown sugar
4 T cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/2 t cinnamon (I used a bit more) 
1/4 t ground nutmeg
3 eggs + 1 yolk
2 c evaporated milk (I used whole)
3 T room temp butter
1 T vanilla extract (or rum??)

Thaw out your pie crust and preheat your oven to 350. 
Combine the sugars, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the milk until well combined. Turn on the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until bubbles and thickening. Stir in the butter and the vanilla until fully mixed, then pour into the pie crust. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, mine took closer to an hour. It's done when it looks a little set when you jiggle it. Cool most of the way and then EAT!

apple cider coffee cake

Hi. It's fall. No, really, it is, even if it was 75 degrees today for some reason. I've been drinking cider and eating fall things like brisket and mashed potatoes and apple pie and the other day I had a craving for coffee cake. You remember, the one I made a while back, that's like those delicious coffee cakes you get in NYC?

We were going to a pig roast where we had to bring a dish that was slightly seasonal, so I put in some apples and cider into the recipe. It was delicious, but make sure you eat it the same day you make it or else the apples will sog through the cake. It'll still taste delicious but be a little soggy. 

Apple cider coffee cake
From America's test kitchens best-ever recipes, previously blogged about here

Crumb topping
8 T melted unsalted butter, still warm
2 T apple cider
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 t cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1 3/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum

Mix together butter, cider, sugars, cinnamon and salt together, then stir in the flour and xanthan gum. Set aside to cool and harden a bit.

Cake
1 1/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
6 T softened butter, cut into slices
1/3 c greek yogurt
1 whole egg plus 1 yolk
2 t vanilla

1 apple, cut up into hunks
1 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Whisk the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in the bowl of a mixer. Add the butter, one slice at a time until mostly incorporated. Add in the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium-high until batter is light and fluffy. Scrape into the pan, and smooth the top with a spatula. Toss the apple with the brown sugar and cinnamon and spread over the cake. 
Break up the crumb mixture with a fork, leaving as many pieces that are about the size of a dime as you can. Spread the crumb mixture over the top of the cake, and bake for 40-45 minutes on the shelf on the top third of the oven. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 9 servings

Caramel cookie bars

My sisters are here, and my littlest sister likes to bake stuff with me. I was flipping through the things I've starred in google reader and came upon this recipe for salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars by gourmet girl. Ok! Looks good! We used caramels I had bought and I tossed in white chocolate chips since we didn't have enough milk chocolate chips. So good, dudes. Have people coming over? Make this. I halved the recipe since the recipe was huge and there are only three or four of us eating these, but feel fee to double.

Caramel cookie bars
Adapted gluten free from gourmet girls recipe

2 c gf flour mix
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk
1 T vanilla
a 12 oz bag of chocolate chips (or about a cup of each white and milk chocolate chips)
about 15 salted caramels or regular ones

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Beat together the flour mix, xanthan gum, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugars. Stir in the eggs and vanilla, then the flour mix. Dump in the chocolate chips and stir. Spread half of the cookie mix on the bottom of the pan. Spread out the caramels over the top, then scoop the rest of the dough on top, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool mostly before cutting, because the caramel is molten lava.

Stuffed grape leaves (from foraged grape leaves!)

We have wild grapes growing in the backyard, and when I was doing some internet research to figure out what kind they were and if they would be delicious, I figured out that grapes have grape leaves. DUH! What do you use grape leaves for? Stuffed grape leaves! Good idea, internet!

So I rushed out to the yard and picked a whole bunch, then tossed together some rice and stuff, blanched the leaves to soften them up, rolled them up, and cooked them off. YUM.

Stuffed grape leaves (dolmas)


A bunch of grape leaves (you can use canned or jarred ones if you don't live in New England have have invasive grapes all over)
1 c rice (I used risotto rice, use a short grain rice)
1 c cooked, crumbled sausage (omit for vegans)
two onions, one diced and one sliced into rounds
a small pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
one lemons worth of juice
a small handful of mint (or bee balm), chopped
salt and pepper

Bring a pot with a few inches of water to a boil. Drop the leaves in a small bunch at a time (about 10) and swirl around for about a minute. Pull them out and rinse under cold water, repeating until all leaves are blanched. Now slice off the stems. Combine rice, sausage, diced onion, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, mint, and salt and pepper. Line the bottom of a dutch oven with a few layers of leaves, place the rounds of onion in the bottom of the pan. Now, roll the dolmas. Lay the first leaf shiny side down and place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold up from the bottom, fold the sides over, then roll. Don't make them super tight because the rice will expand with cooking.

Place the first roll seam side down and repeat with the leaves until the filling is gone. Cover with more leaves, then pour in about a cup and a half of water and bring to a light boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover loosely, and cook until rice is done. Depending on what kind of rice you use, this can take up to an hour and a half. Cut one in half to check for done-ness. Serve hot, or straight from the fridge with some sort of yogurt sauce.

Tomatoes with bee balm

We have a lot of tomatoes. I planted 20-something plants of all sorts, so we have plenty. The good thing is that all the different plants are coming out with tomatoes at different times. First we had a million little tiny tomatoes, now we are starting to have black Russians and Oxhearts. Homegrown tomatoes are just so much better than ones you buy. 

Oxhearts are in the top left and bottom left. Black Russians are the three on the right. Also pictured: Hungarian hot wax peppers, pole beans, yellow pear, sungold cherry, and sweet 100s. Because these tomatoes are just so good, we've barely been doing anything to them besides lightly dressing them. This week I've been cubing up the large ones and tossing them with olive oil, garlic, and bee balm. Do you know about bee balm? It's only my favorite plant ever.

Bee balm is also called bergamot and horsemint, and tastes like a mix between mint and oregano and a little bit of basil. All of our basil has flowered and is past its prime but bee balm is going strong. The plants product these amazing wacky flowers that come in different colors, most of mine are red and pink. Butterflies and hummingbirds love them. I do too.

Bee balm is a little spicy but pairs really well with sweet, fresh tomatoes. You can also use it chopped up on pizza, or in salads or iced tea. I love it!!

Tomatoes with bee balm
a few tomatoes, preferably home grown
8-10 bee balm leaves
olive oil
a clove of crushed garlic
salt and pepper

Cut your tomatoes into cubes. Cut up the bee balm and mix with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a little bowl. Let sit for a few minutes to blend (or, don't) and toss with the tomatoes. Let sit for a few minutes (or don't). Eat!

Hot sauce from peppers I grew in the garden

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA, it's been hot and busy and lots of things have been happening. We tore apart our bathroom, have been sweating a lot since it's so hot, and I got a new job! It should be good. Anyway, now it's summer (deep, hot summer) and I've got plenty of vegetables! I tried to grow Hungarian sweet peppers this year for Alex but accidentally bought Hungarian hot peppers instead. Since we've been picking them, I decided to make hot sauce. 

I also grew cherry bomb peppers in addition to the Hungarian ones. The Hungarian peppers are interesting because they're super hot when they're green (like, tongue and lips numb hot) but when they turn orange, they mellow out. I think this is the opposite of how other peppers work. 

This isn't an exact recipe, but more of a general guide. 

Homemade Hot Sauce

a bunch of peppers (I used 4 cherry bomb and 5 or 6 large Hungarian hot peppers)

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

a pinch of salt

a cup or so of water

1/2 c vinegar

a little handful of honey or brown sugar

Cut up your peppers and scrape out the seeds. You can leave a few if your peppers aren't super hot. Chop up the onion and the garlic. Toss the peppers, onion and garlic into a pot, add a pinch of salt and a coup of water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. Make sure the fan is on because this smells spicy! Next dump the whole mess into the blender, add vinegar and some sweetener. Blend until smooth, taste, and add more sweetener or vinegar if you need to. Cool and bottle, keep in the fridge. 

Cochinita (Brooklyn tacos)

Hey, you know how I love tacos? Oh you didn't know that? Well, I do. I love tacos. I love tacos so much that if I wasn't already married, I might marry tacos. And have little taco babies.

One time a few weeks ago I went to visit my sister, Dana, who lives in Brooklyn. We went out for lunch at this cute taco place near her apartment called Cochinita. When we asked the guy behind the counter (the owner, who's name I forgot) if anything was gluten free he said "Everything! Except some of the beers." I had beef and pork tacos, and horchata. Dana and I split the tortilla soup and it was good. No one complained when we lingered there for hours after we finished eating, everything was gluten free, and it was delicious and not terribly expensive. Check out their review in the NY Times tomorrow! Yay. Tacos for everyone!
Check them out if you're in Brooklyn:
922 Fulton St, Bklyn

Bran muffins with raisins

Hi! I bought rice bran like a million years ago and have been meaning to make bran muffins for months and months and months. Apparently it was muffin day today, my sister and one of my friends both posted about making muffins on Instagram. Alex was mostly in charge of dinner (shrimp and olives, like this but without feta and cooked on the stovetop) so I whipped these up. Quick and easy and wicked delicious. I packed a few for breakfast tomorrow and froze the rest. They're not too sweet, they're moist, and I love them. Next time I might add in a tablespoon or two of molasses just for flavor. 

Bran muffins with raisins

adapted from epicurious.com 

1 c rice bran

2/3 c rice flour mix
3/4 t xanthan gum
1 1/4 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk (or, 1 1/4 c milk soured with 2 t vinegar)
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c applesauce
1 egg
1 1/2 T oil
2 t vanilla
3/4 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a muffin tin. Combine rice bran, rice flour mix, xanthan gu, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix well. Set aside. Beat buttermilk, sugar, applesauce, egg, oil and vanilla together until frothy (I used my Vitamix, but you can use your hands or a mixer). Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and stir together, then fold in raisins. Pour batter to fill muffin tins about 2/3 full, then bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean (mine baked 23 minutes). Cool in pan for a minute or two, then remove to a cooling rack. Serve with butter or eat plain.
I used a regular 12-muffin tin and had leftover batter, so I used a mini-muffin pan and made about 6 mini muffins. I'm not totally sure how many I made because I immediately ate a few of them so I lost count. Then Alex (who "doesn't like" muffins) ate a few too.
Sorry for the not-so stellar photos, I was in a rush.

Grapefruit, carrot, grape smoothie/juice

Hi! Alex and I got a Vitamix. You know, one of those stupid expensive blenders. We've only had it a few days, but it's pretty sweet. You put whatever you want in it, and then it turns into juice or sorbet or soup, depending on what you put into it. We got it with out sweet health care credit card, which our company puts money onto for medical use, which apparently a Vitamix is. Yay! I've been experimenting and this is my favorite drink so far.

Grapefruit, carrot and grape Vitamix drink


2 grapefruits
2 big handfuls of baby carrots
2 big handfuls of frozen grapes

Cut the top and the bottom of the grapefruits and cut the skin off. Cut the peeled grapefruits in half and put them in the Vitamix. Cut all the carrots in half. Toss them in the blender. Dump in all the frozen grapes. Put the top on, and turn the blender on low, then turn up slowly and then flip the switch to high. Blend until you can barely see any more pieces, about two minutes. Makes about 5 cups.

sticky bbq tempeh

Hi! I sure love sticky saucey things. You should too. So we're kind of eating healthy, so no desserts or anything. Sadfaces. The good news is that I made this tempeh and it was delicious. Remember last time I made tempeh and posted about it?

Tempeh is kind of boring by itself, but crisp it up in a pan and coat it with a sticky sauce and it's a delicious thing you should eat. This is Lightlife brand garden veggie tempeh. This is a super easy recipe. All you do is crisp the tempeh and pour over an easy quick bbq sauce that can be whipped up in 1 second, let it cook for a minute or two or five to thicken the sauce and make it stick, and you're done. I served it over rice, with a side of kale chips. 

sticky bbq tempeh

1 package tempeh (I bet this would be good with tofu too probably)

oil for cooking, 2-3 T or so

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c ketchup

4 T cider vinegar

2 T mustard

1 T hot sauce

Slice the tempeh about 1/4" thick. Heat enough oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan you're using over medium-high heat, and toss in the tempeh. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until well browned and crispy looking. While that's happening, whisk together the brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, mustard and hot sauce. When all the tempeh is crispy, pour over the sauce mixture and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for a minute or two or three until the sauce thickens. Serve over rice, or on a sandwich, or whatever. 

Those same noodles, with shrimp and greens and mushrooms

HI! I've been eating these noodles a bunch of times because they're so good. Look! Here they are with kale and mushrooms and shrimp! Also they're easy and fast and cheap and easy.

Look how healthy. Vegetables!

Noodles with vegetables and shrimp


Follow the recipe for these noodles, but cook a few big handfuls of chopped mushrooms until browned, then add some chopped kale in with the noodles. Add cooked, peeled shrimp instead of the crab, and add a teaspoon or two of chili sauce because spicy is delicious! Yum. I will be making these with variations, they're so easy and good and fast.

Crabby noodles with snow peas, from The Gluten Free Asian Kitchen

Hi! Happy New Year! We're trying to eat healthy this month, like everyone else in the world, but it's not going so great. Alex has a cold so we're on a strict chicken noodle or dumpling soup diet. Before he got sick, though, I made these awesome noodles from this cookbook I for got Christmas from my dad, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. I've made a few recipes from it so far and it's pretty great. These noodles are easy and delicious and fresh. I tossed in some leftover shrimp, and put more cilantro and scallions on the table for serving.

Crabby noodles with snow peas
from  The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen

1 package mung bean noodles (otherwise known as jellyfish noodles)
4 T veg oil
6 scallions, chopped up (plus more for the table)
4 cloves minced garlic (I used 6)
1/4 lb chopped up snow peas
8oz real crabmeat, picked through for shell pieces
1/2 c chopped cooked shrimp
1/2 c clam juice
2 T fish sauce
1/3 c cilantro (plus more for the table)

Pour boiling water over the noodles and let them sit for a minute or two until soft and stretchy (the book says to use hot tap water but I let mine soak for half an hour and nothing happened, so boiling water did the trick almost immediately). Drain the noodles and chop them up with scissors.
Heat half of the oil over medium heat and cook the scallions and garlic for a minute, then add the snow peas and cook another minute. Add the rest of the oil and the crab, shrimp and noodles, stirring well. Add the clam juice and fish sauce and cook a few more minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and toss with cilantro. Serve with more cilantro, scallions, and hot sauce if you wish.

Here is a photo of my puppy, who is growing up very fast.

Our trip to Europe

Remember when we went to Europe? That was over the summer. I promised to write about it, and never did. Oops! Here are some pictures. 

First we went to London. 

Great architecture

We didn't go up on the London Eye

We did a lot of touristy things like take photos in front of everything

We ate gluten free fish and chips at the Mermaid's Tail in Leicester Square. It was ok, but not the best ever. 

Horses may bite

Then we went to Hungary and Slovakia to visit Alexs family. 

As always, I was fed extremely well. Pictured here - gluten free bread, keilbasa and a weird rice and liver and blood sausage (delicious), and little pickles and apricots

We made something called 'Spanish Bird' which is beef pounded thin, filled with salami, bacon, hard boiled egg and pickle, then cooked in the pressure cooker. Deliciously. 

A relative of Alex's made me this giant loaf of gluten free bread. His son has Celiac, so he brought this over for me and I devoured the whole thing. I've never had anyone give me fresh baked, warm bread before. 

This is lecso (lech-o), a mix of tomatoes and onions and peppers and bacon that you eat for breakfast in Slovakia. 

Slovakia

I made friends with this little spot-faced dog (sure didn't think I'd have a spot faced dog of my own soon after we got home!)

We went to an 'adventurepark' where we went on a ski lift up a mountain and then rode a roller coaster and did a ropes course thing

We cooked fish and chips for Alexs parents (using my recipe)

We went to the Budapest Zoo, which is my favorite zoo. I touched a sloth. 

We went to the Vasarcsarnok Market, where there are a million stands of vegetables and meats and things. 

We went to a great flea market in Budapest and I bought some cameras (what else)

We ate a lot of delicious salamis

Then on the way home we stopped in Iceland for 24 hours because a flight was cancelled. This was my favorite part of the trip. We saw a friend of mine from summer camp (really, in Iceland!) and ate a ton and explored and loved it. I want to go back. 

We ate the best lobster soup of my life at this awesome seafood restaurant, the Sea Baron. I obviously didn't eat the bread. 

We had two different kinds of fish and whale, and it was all delicious. 

This is the Sea Baron. He came around offering samples of things like fermented shark (what he's holding there, it was not delicious) and whale blubber (so delicious). 

Iceland was cool. I bought a really expensive, perfect sweater. 

Alex bought a great hat. 

The end! Vacation was great.