Sunday, July 4, 2010

Week One Successes and Recipes

Well, we survived Week One of the UltraMind Solution's eating program, something I wasn't sure I could do when I first considered trying the program. We tried so many new products this week, that I think I will make another post after this one dedicated just to them. This post will focus on just the dinner recipes and what we thought of them. We ended up switching the menu a bit because of time constraints, so sorry that it doesn't follow exactly what we did this week.

Monday night we had Shrimp Scampi w/ Corn Spaghetti, frozen peas, and GFCF breadsticks, as originally planned. It was fantastic! We got a pound and a half of fresh, cooked shrimp from United (it was on sale last week) and it was really great.

Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients:
  • 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • 1-1/2 lbs. shrimp (thawed, if frozen, and peeled)
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/3 cup chicken broth
  • 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Recipe:

Saute garlic and olive oil for 1 minute over medium heat. Add shrimp, oregano, salt and pepper and saute an additional 4 minutes. Combine chicken broth and cornstarch in bowl with whisk; add to shrimp. Heat until thickened. Serve over pasta.

Notes:

We doubled the chicken broth and cornstarch so there would be more sauce and it turned out really well. I'm not sure where this recipe is from, it was written on a recipe card in my mom's cookbook.

Tuesday we had Sesame Honey Drumsticks with rice, frozen corn, and watermelon as planned. It turned out well too, although our drumsticks were pretty big, so they needed to be cooked a little bit longer as they weren't quite done after 30 minutes.

Honey Sesame Drumsticks

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. soy sauce (wheat free tamari)
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 8-10 chicken drumsticks, skinned
  • 3 Tbsp. sesame seeds.

Recipe:

Combine the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and ginger in a bowl, pour into zip-close plastic bag; add the chicken. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Turn to coat the chicken. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally for at least two hours, or overnight. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a roasting pan or shallow baking sheet with foil, and spray with non-stick spray. Spread the sesame seeds on a plate. Remove chicken from the marinade, discarding the excess marinade. Dip each drumstick in the sesame seeds to coat one side. Place chicken seeded side up in the pan. Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Notes:

Make sure to read the recipe long before it's time for dinner so that the chicken has time to marinade. (I almost learned that the hard way) I believe the recipe is from a Weight Watchers magazine, but I don't know which one because it was cut out in my mom's recipe book.

Wednesday didn't work out quite as planned, so we cooked some turkey hot dogs on the grill and wrapped them in lettuce leaves or half of a brown rice tortilla. We also cut up some cantaloupe. Not very fancy, but everyone ate and was filled.

Thursday we made the San Francisco Chops with mashed potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli and frozen corn that we had intended on making Wednesday. I started working on dinner a few hours before I was hoping to eat, but it was still not done until around 8, so I would suggest starting early and not having people come over in the middle of cooking so that you have to stop what you are doing for half an hour (like I did).

San Francisco Chops

Ingredients:

  • 4 pork chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, about 1-1/2 pounds
  • 1 Tbsp. oil (we used olive)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced

For sauce:

  • 2 tsp. oil
  • 4 Tbsp. broth (we used chicken)
  • 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2 tsp. cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp. water

Recipe:

Trim pork chops of fat. Heat oil in skillet. Brown chops on both sides. remove and add a little more oil if needed. Saute garlic for a minute, being careful not to burn it. Combine oil, broth, soy sauce, and honey. Place chops back in skillet. Pour sauce over them. Cover tightly. Simmer over low heat until chops are tender and cooked through; about 30 minutes. Add a little water, 1-2 tablespoons if needed to keep sauce from cooking down too much. Turn chops once while cooking. Remove chops to platter. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Pour cornstarch mix into sauce. Cook until thickened. Pour over chops and serve.

Notes:

Make sure you have a skillet large enough to hold all of the chops if you are doubling the recipe, we didn't so I had to finish making the rest after dinner, which was a pain. The original recipe is from a Great American Recipes card, I made a few slight alterations.

Saturday we made the "Penne" with Mushroom Sauce recipe that we were supposed to have on Thursday. Dad did most of the cooking while Mom and I shopped for food and things for this week. It turned out to be delicious.

Penne with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. GFCF margarine, divided
  • 1/8-1/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1/8 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 (10 1/2 oz.) can beef broth
  • 1 (8 oz.) package mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp. water
  • 1 tsp. cornstarch
  • 4 cups hot cooked penne pasta (8 oz. uncooked)

Recipe:

Melt 1 Tbsp. margarine in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot; saute 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup beef broth; cook 10 minutes until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in thyme, pepper, and can of beef broth. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1 cup (about 3 minutes). Keep broth mixture warm. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in separate pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute 5 minutes. Add reserved broth mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Combine water and cornstarch in a bowl with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute. Combine sauce and pasta, tossing to coat.

Notes:

We didn't completely follow the recipe that was originally posted in a Cooking Light magazine. The original recipe has you strain out the onion, celery, and carrot from the broth, we left it in. We also didn't reduce the liquid nearly as much as was suggested, so we had to add more cornstarch. It still tasted great though. We also used rice spirals instead of penne.

Sunday we thought we might have someone coming over to lunch that is a practicing Hindu, and we weren't entirely sure of his dietary restrictions, so we came up with a vegetarian meal, but then he didn't come over, so we just grilled burgers instead and will be having the pasta dish later this week.

Hope you enjoy the recipes as much as our family did!

Namaste,

Mel G.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Gluten Free Frenzy's Shopping Guide Book Giveaway

The Gluten Free Frenzy blog (www.glutenfreefrenzy.com) is having a great giveaway this week. It's not food this time, but a book that lists over 30,000 gluten free foods, while still being small enough to fit in a purse or shopping bag. The book is sold at Cecilia's Marketplace (http://www.ceciliasmarketplace.com/) for around $25 dollars, and we have the opportunity to win it for free! Cecilia's Marketplace also has a Gluten Free Casein Free Shopping Guide that could be very helpful on the UltraMind Solution. I encourage you to check it out if reading labels is as difficult for you as it sometimes is for me.

Good luck!
Mel G.