September 2016 – NourishingWhole

Peanut Noodles

I love Thai food.

Mr. Wonderful, not so much.

Years ago, I found this recipe that was so simple, Thai inspired, and Mr. Wonderful would eat! I have long since lost the recipe, but it is one we make regularly, and it an easy pantry stable dinner. We have changed the original recipe to fit my needs, gluten and soy free.

This is a good meal that is quick, a kid pleaser, and gets everyone to eat some vegetables. Mr. Z is a good vegetable eater, and this dish is one he loves. If you like the Thai spring rolls with the peanut sauce, you will love this recipe.

One thing to know about getting the rice noodles for this dish, if you want to just go to your local grocery store and get some in the Asian/Ethnic food aisle, you can. Or if you have one, go to an Asian market. You will have a wider selection and usually the price is much cheaper.

As written this recipe is not vegan, but that is simple, just use 2 TBSP soy sauce for Coconut aminos and Fish Sauce. If you are a soy free vegan (How? Tell me your secrets!) you can try using 3 TBSP of just Coconut Aminos.

Want to add a little more protein to it? Poached chicken is great, or if you are a shrimp fan toss some in too.

For the Peanut Butter, be sure to use a natural peanut butter, the sauce will not work with the “cheap” stuff. Make sure the ingredients are just dry roasted peanuts and salt.

For the Peanut Sauce:
130 g (½ cup) Creamy Natural Peanut Butter
1 ½ TBSP Coconut Aminos*
1 ½ TBSP Fish Sauce*
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
¼-½ tsp Chili Garlic Sauce
⅛ tsp ginger powder

Rice noodles, pad thai type, about half a 16 oz package
Frozen vegetables, 16 oz bag
Fresh Basil, optional
Cilantro, optional
Lime wedges, optional

In a large pot boil about 3 quarts of water. While waiting for the water to boil mix of the ingredients for the peanut sauce.

Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and set a timer for 3 MINUTES continue to keep the heat at high.

After the timer goes off add the bag of vegetables and continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove about ½-1 cup of the cooking water.

Slowly add this to thin the sauce, it should be thick, but not runny, think thick white school glue.

Drain the noodles and vegetables, and rinse under cold water. Rinsing the noodles stops the cooking so they don’t over cook and become brittle. Mix sauce noodles and vegetables, with desired amount of sauce.

Serve immediately, and if desired garnish with fresh basil, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Printable recipe link here.

Don’t Cry Over… Potato Salad

On Friday, our church had a “get to know you” activity for the congregation. We live in a congregation heavily populated by college students. We are new, and here for school, so it was fun evening, plus I didn’t have to cook!

We were asked to bring a side dish, salad, or a dessert for the BBQ provided by the church. I signed up to bring a potato salad: simple, cheap, easy, and my favorite BBQ side. The only problem, I couldn’t remember my mom’s recipe, and that is what I really wanted. My Mother’s potato salad.

When, I couldn’t remember the recipe, I picked up my phone and started to call my mom. That is when it hit me. It’s been just over 4 years, and it doesn’t get any easier. The last few months there has been many times I have want to call, but couldn’t. This time was different. Knowledge, I needed from her, was completely inaccessible.

After pulling myself back together, I texted my two sister’s. Surely, one of them would remember, or at least we could remember enough together to figure it out. My younger sister told me to just go to the store, cause she doesn’t know. The other, told me that I was just missing mayo and mustard.

But when I had it all made, it was just missing something.

It is moments like that, that just make me realize I need to be writing down my recipes and the other things that we do. I hope that for someone, it either helps them find a new food or helps them to grieve a loss too.

Egg Yolks

Last week I shared with you my basic gluten free bread recipe. If you got a chance to try it, you got left with 3 egg yolks! I hate having wasteful recipes. I know that eggs are not that expensive of an item, but 3 yolks is a lot just to toss.

One great use for egg yolks is homemade Mayo. I do not have some amazing recipe. But I have a few I love:

The Kitchn: Immersion Blender Mayo (uses 2 yolks)

Nom Nom Paleo: Mayo (uses 1 yolk)

Our Paleo Life: Lime Mayo (uses a whole egg, but I think next time I bake bread,I am going to try using all three with this technique.)

These three recipes, are similar, but use different processes. I haven’t made mayo in my vitamix, only because I don’t really want to clean it afterwards (I am lazy, and it doesn’t go in the dish washer.)

I know this isn’t my own recipe, but I think everyone should know, or at least attempt to make their own mayo! It just adds something extra to anything you us it for.

Tears and Joys

Moving to Texas has been H. A. R. D. Moving in general is not easy, it zaps just about every single resource. And then, just because life isn’t already hard enough a curl ball gets thrown right at your face.

Our first month was alright. We arrived at our new place and instantly wanted to demand our money back. Actually, I did. But they promised to fix the water, even though it was out of their control, and promised to replace the nasty disgusting, I wouldn’t even wash my pet dog in that tub, which they did.

We got our stuff on time and we only lost a few things from poor packing. Shipping our stuff was most definitely the BEST DECISION EVER! Then we spent the rest of the month getting used to the Texas heat and humidity (Still not used to it).

OD delivery

June turned into July and we thought life was going well. We visited our farmer friends, The Dragon’s! We celebrated Mr. Wonderful’s birthday and had a fun 4th setting off fireworks.

Dragons

August came, and we just pretend August 2016 didn’t happen. The domino of events last month were devastating and heart breaking. As I heal from the roller coaster, I will share all the bumps and pits of August.

Now, we are in September. The floods of August receded but left some pretty deep wounds. As we try to pick ourselves up, we have had some hiccups (Budget? What budget? You mean, crap what did we spend our grocery budget on…)

But moving to Texas, hasn’t been all “OMG WHAT DID WE DO?!?!” We have had some really wonderful moments.

Like taking Mr. Z to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Visiting my mom’s parents in San Antonio.

Grandparents

And frog catching in Dallas, at my cousin’s son’s birthday party.

Frog catching in Azle

Right now, we are holding on to the things that bring us Joy here in Texas. Like slowing down and making cookies with Mr. Z.

Basic Gluten Free Bread

Let’s start with some basics. Bread! If you are gluten free you know the struggle to find a good bread replacement. A lot of the time, you just go without, or you eat cardboard that has been artfully made to look like something edible.

Honestly, I would much rather go to the store and buy bread, but I do not like paying $6 plus for a loaf of bread shaped cardboard. I also really wanted a bread that was not only gluten free, but soy, dairy, and corn free. This is hard to do.

I started looking for recipes, and a lot of gluten free recipes use dairy to help them have more taste. But with a milk protein allergy, I really needed a dairy free recipe. That is when I found this recipe. It was amazing! But I can not bring myself to use 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar in a loaf of bread! So I started playing with the recipe and created this recipe.

A couple of notes, I have a stand mixer, so please don’t ask if you can make this by hand! I do not know. Plus the dough is NOT like a wheat dough, you are really going to want to use a mixer of some kind.

USE A KITCHEN SCALE!!! I have included the volumetric measurements, but please, please, please, use a kitchen scale. your bread will turn out so much nicer.

Start by separating 3 eggs, and setting aside the yolks. (Next week I will post a recipe where we will use them!) Add the whites to the mixer bowl and whisk to stiff peaks.

Next add together 3/4 C warm water, 2 Tablespoons Honey, and 1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast to proof.

Measure out 260 g (2 cups) Tapioca Flour/Starch, 74 g (1/2 c) Millet Flour, 95 g (1/2 c) Potato Starch, 2 teaspoon xanthum gum, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/2 tsp baking powder into a separate bowl and stir together.

When the yeast is bubbly and the whites have stiff peaks, slowly whisk in the yeast mixture and add 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar.

Now, switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment, and add in the flours mixture. Beat on medium (4 on a kitchen aid stand mixer) for 5 minutes. Be sure to scrap down the sides occasionally to make sure everything gets mixed together. The final “dough” will be more like a think quick bread batter.

Scrap the batter into a 2-pound loaf pan, BE SURE to spray it with a gluten free kitchen spay or grease before adding the batter!!! Carefully spread it out to fill in the bottom of the pan.

Cover and set in a warm place to raise for about an hour. I like to put it in the window and to cover it with a warm damp tea towel. I then set the timer for 45 minutes, so that I can pre-heat the oven for 15-minutes before baking.

Place the risen loaf into a 400 Fahrenheit degree oven to bake for 30-45 minutes.

Let cool before slicing, and then store in a freezer bag in the freezer if not planning on eating the whole loaf today!

NOTE: The flat top of this loaf is because I let it over raise. I should have placed it into bake after a 30 minute raising period, but my oven wasn’t ready. It doesn’t change the bread much, like it would with a wheat loaf. I just have some bigger holes.

Here is a link to a printable recipe.

Food is Love

I love food, and after a year of trying to figure out how to keep my SIBO away, I have come to learn that I love recipe testing. I mean, I love food, and eating, so it just comes naturally that creating and perfecting recipes is amazing.

My little notebook of recipes is quickly filling, and people are always surprised to hear my food is gluten, dairy, soy, and usually corn free. Maybe it is because we are in the south now, and finding good gluten free food is impossible, at least compared to Washington, but making my own is saving me.

My recipe notebook

A few weeks ago I was talking to some new friends and we were talking about gluten free cooking. I have always seen food blogging to be something that almost every stay at home mom does. I don’t want to be the next “mommy blogger”, but I do want to share my recipes.

I have been typing up and editing my recipes and am going to start sharing them with you! Look for a new recipe every Friday! I think you will enjoy them, I know we do.

We moved!

About 3 months ago, I FINALLY got to say “Peace out, Pullman!” with a mic drop.

I moved there in Aug 2005 for school. I HATED it here, and I let people know. Washington State University was not my first choice or my second choice for school. It wasn’t even on my list. But it was the only school my parents would help pay for. In an alternate universe, I went to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, wasn’t medically disqualified for Air Force ROTC and graduated with an Aerospace engineering degree.

Instead, I moved about 300 miles from home into a small dorm room with another girl on a floor with about 120 other girls. For 6 years my life revolved around getting an engineering degree. In 2011, I graduated with a Material Science and Engineering degree.

In 2009, I married a local boy, and Pullman, became our home. For 7 years, we lived in our large one bedroom duplex. We have seen many people move out of the basement apartment, and from the other rentals on our street.

In 2013, we welcomed home a beautiful baby boy. That house, was all he has ever known, and asks to go back.

This year, 2016, we celebrated 7 years of marriage, our baby turned 3, and we moved.

To another country.

Texas

Well, basically. 2,500 miles away to Texas, the Lone Star State, where everything is bigger.

Many people who leave Pullman, do so sad. This is their first home away from home. But for me it hasn’t been that. For me, this was my home. My bank teller, knew my name, our struggle with infertility, she was a friend. I know the cashiers at the local grocery stores. I came to Pullman with definite end. Then it changed.

Now, that our house is in shambles and there are stacks of boxes on every free wall, I am excited! We, as a family, are getting to experience something new and yes, scary!

This process has been a whirlwind of events. We thought for sure we would only be moving to Oregon. I know when the decision was made, Mr. Wonderful was heart broken. I remembered that feeling from 2005 when my parents said no to my dream.

This time, together, we have come to be excited for this change. And now that it is our turn to leave Pullman, we do so without looking back on the heartbreak this town has had for us and we look forward to the possibilities College Station, TX has to offer.