Tempeh Too Good For Words Burgers

Have you ever seen the movie Waitress? It's one of my all time favorites. The main character names all of her baking creations. In homage to her, I present you with Tempeh-Too-Good-For-Words Burger. I've been looking for a good Tempeh Burger recipe. Oh, I've tried, trust me. I've thrown out my share of "you couldn't possibly think I'm gonna eat that" burgers. But this one is a keeper. Thank you to Beverly Lynn Bennett for the inspiration. Her recipe for Too-Tempting Burgers was posted on the Veg News website. These are the five changes I made:

soy tempeh instead of multigrain tempeh which isn't gluten free
button mushrooms instead of crimini mushrooms
added sea salt
chickpea flour instead of whole wheat or spelt, neither of which is gluten free
wheat-free tamari instead of regular tamari

These are the three additional changes for the next time I make them:
I will use dried basil and oregano and eliminate the thyme and rosemary
I will add one clove fresh, minced garlic
I will add a little bit of Dijon Mustard to the mixture before forming them into burgers

Tempeh-Too-Good-For-Words Burger
adapted from Beverly Lynn Bennett
(Printable Recipe)

One 8 oz pkg soy tempeh (with no gluten-containing grains in it)
3/4 cup onion, diced small
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup button mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried basil, thyme, and rosemary (see note below)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup chickpea flour (or other GF flour)
2 tbsp wheat-free tamari

Cut the tempeh into 1/2 cubes. Steam for 15 minutes. Remove from steamer basket and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Saute the onion in olive oil for 3 minutes.

Add mushrooms and saute for another 3 minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar, dried herbs, garlic and onion powder, black pepper, sea salt. Saute another 2 minutes.

Remove mixture from skillet and put in a mixing bowl.

Using your fingers, crumble the steamed, cooled tempeh and place in a separate bowl. Add the sauteed mixture, chickpea flour, and wheat-free tamari. Stir well to thoroughly combine. Form into 4 burger patties.

Cook burgers on heated bbq grill for about 5 minutes or until browned to your liking; flip the burgers and cook on the other side. I put the burgers in a separate grill tray (with holes in it for drainage) which I put on the bbq grill. I think this is essential to the burgers not burning.

These can also be cooked in a skillet on the stovetop.

Serve with your favorite GF bread or rolls. Slather with ketchup, top with a few onion slices and crisp romaine lettuce. Or do like I did and serve between two flour tortillas (I froze a whole batch of them specifically for this purpose).

Like I said, too good for words.

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Stir Crazy!

There is a Chinese restaurant my husband and I used to patronize regularly, pre-Celiac days. Everytime we drive by it, we both sigh. We fondly remember walking into the dimly lit restaurant, sliding into a booth - seemed that every single one of them had electrical tape filling up the cracks in the vinyl. And when the waitstaff came to take our order, we would rattle off exactly what we wanted, without even looking at the menu. We had the same thing every time and we knew the number of each dish by heart.

No more sighing for us. Granted, we can't waltz into the restaurant and order off the menu. Way too risky. Even if the food were inherently gluten free, the waitstaff don't speak much English and the chances of cross contamination are way too high for us. So, instead, when we find ourselves craving Chinese food, we roll up our sleeves, pull out our wok, and stir fry like crazy.

Our homecooked Chinese meal was almost exactly like what we used to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Except that tonight's menu was gluten free and vegan. It included Sweet & Sour Tofu, a recipe I adapted from Ginger Lemon Girl's Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe, Fried Rice, and yes, "W6" (the number of the broccoli dish we always used to order). I know I'm bragging, but lemme tell you, it was finger-licking good. In fact, being the little piggy that I can sometimes be, I displayed a huge amount of restraint in allowing myself one plateful. My husband, on the other hand, went back for seconds and then for thirds. He moaned after he took the last bite, but said it was totally worth it! I think he was partially trying to distract himself from the movie we'd rented (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) which we both thought was really stinky.

If you want to make this entire meal, it requires some skill to pull it off so that everything is ready at approximately the same time. If it's your first time, perhaps you might want to try making the Fried Rice and the Broccoli either the day before or earlier in the day (assuming you'll be serving it for dinner). But if you're good at multi-tasking, heck, go for it.

Sweet & Sour Tofu

I will explain how I prepped the tofu. For the rest of the recipe that I used, please go to Ginger Lemon Girl's Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe.

Drain a one pound package of extra-firm tofu (I love Trader Joe's - it's really firm). Place on a flat plate, cover with another flat plate, cover the top plate with a heavy weight (I use a cast iron pot). Let it sit for a minimum of one hour (more is better). When you're ready to proceed, drain off the water that pooled underneath the tofu. You might want to pat the tofu with a wad of paper towel, just to make sure that it's as dry as possible.

Cut tofu into desired shape. I cut my tofu into cubes. Then follow Ginger Lemon Girl's recipe. I chose to bake my tofu cubes, but after 15 minutes, I removed them from the oven and then pan-fried them in a little bit of peanut oil, just to crisp them up.

Fried Rice (no eggs)
(Printable Recipe)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2" piece of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 cup cubed carrots
1 small red bell pepper (or yellow or green), diced
1/2 cup snow peas, sliced at an angle
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 cups uncooked jasmine rice, cooked until done and cooled
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup wheat-free tamari

Heat a wok or large non-stick large skillet over high heat. Add oil to the pan. Add garlic, ginger, carrots, pepper, snow peas, and scallions. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add cooked cooled jasmine rice and combine with veggies. Stir fry for 2 minutes, until rice and veggies are coated in oil and everything is evenly combined. Add frozen peas (they will defrost) and tamari. Stir fry for one more minute.

Broccoli in Sesame Garlic Sauce
(Printable Recipe)

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florettes
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp wheat-free tamari
1/4 cup sugar, honey, or agave
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 minced garlic clove
2 tsp Asian Chili Garlic Paste
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup peanut or other vegetable oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Steam the broccoli and quickly dunk in ice cold water bath to stop the cooking. Drain.

Whisk the rice vinegar, tamari, sugar, ginger, garlic, chili garlic paste, and sesame oil. Slowly drizzle in the peanut oil and continue to whisk. Pour over the broccoli. Top with toasted sesame seeds.

Grab your chopsticks and enjoy!

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Gluten Free Flour Tortillas - EASY PEASY!!!

For the most part, I eat a very healthy diet, under strict orders from my nutritionist. But every once in awhile, this Gluten Free Diva strays off the path. Though I know full well that white flour (whether from wheat or rice) is stripped of much of its' nutrients, when the "runs-with-scissors" side of me comes out to play, this recipe totally does the trick. Thankfully, the white rice flour is a little bit offset by the chickpea flour (we do like to justify, don't we??!!). They are great with Mexican food. Heck, they're even great for making sandwiches.

I have to thank the Vegan-and-Gluten-Free listserve for this one. This recipe was posted by Kim, one of the regular people who posts to the list. Kim - these are one of my faves. Thank you Kim!!!

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas

3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour (besan/garbanzo bean)
1/2 cup potato starch flour (arrowroot works also)
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp guar gum (or use all xanthan gum)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp GF baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil (original recipe lists coconut butter but I used olive oil)
3/4 - 1 cup very hot water

1. Mix white rice flour, chickpea flour, potato starch flour, tapioca flour, guar gum, xanthan gum, sea salt, and baking powder.

2, Add olive oil and blend until crumbly.

3. Add 1/2 cup of very hot water and knead.

4. Gradually add more water, a few tablespoons at a time, until you can knead the mixture into a ball with your hands. The first time I made these, I remember thinking that it didn't seem like the dough was coming together, but no worries, it worked perfectly. I would be careful not to add too much water. You only want to add enough water to allow the mixture to come together into a dough that you can knead. Too much water and you'll have a gloppy mess.

5. Split into balls. The original recipe says 8 - 10 balls, but I made them smaller and was able to make 11 balls. Cover with a damp towel and let sit until the skillet or griddle is hot.

6. If you don't have a tortilla press, I would highly recommend that you invest in one. Here's an example of the one I have. I bought it at a local Hispanic grocery store. I've also seen them at large supermarkets in their International Food section. See note below regarding their use.

7. If you don't have a tortilla press, Kim suggests that you roll each ball into the size of a commercial corn tortilla, about 6" (15 cm) wide. For a neat tortilla, cut around a small plate with a sharp knife. For best results, Kim suggests rolling the dough onto a sheet of baking paper, cutting around a plate and then flipping them off the paper into the pan. My edit: if you use a rolling pin to roll the balls into tortillas, I would suggest that you flour the rolling pin with some gluten free white rice flour. Otherwise, the dough might stick to the rolling pin.

8. Place on hot skillet or griddle until bubbles appear and then flip over. Toast for a few more seconds.

NOTE: These freeze beautifully. When they cool, lay them out on a large baking pan and slide into the freezer. After they're frozen, put them into a ziplock freezer bag.

NOTE: If you spring for a tortilla press (highly recommended), there is a trick to using them. Open the press and lay a piece of saran wrap down so that it covers the top and bottom plate. Brush the saran wrap with oil (or you can use spray oil) before pressing down on the first dough ball. Open the press and gently peel the uncooked tortilla from the saran wrap. You might have to lift the saran wrap from the press before peeling the tortilla from it. Don't skip this step - it really keeps the uncooked tortillas from falling apart into pieces.

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Gluten Free Travel Once Again

Learning to live gluten free while you're at home is a big enough challenge as it is, but add traveling gluten free to the mix and you take it to a whole other level of challenge. I've talked about this often on my blog, but I think it bears repeating (again and again and again). First of all, in the 3 1/2 years since my Celiac diagnosis, the world of gluten free has changed enormously, for the better. There is a plethora of GF products available in places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's - and the "regular" (um, you know what I mean) supermarkets are stocking GF products. And it seems that we see more and more restaurants jumping on the bandwagon and offering GF menus (ya' still gotta be careful, though - each one is unique in terms of its' compliance - IMHO).

For this post, I am going to share our experience while being away from home for a week in Phoenix, AZ. Doing some online research prior to the trip, we found a Town Place Suites by Marriott very close to where our work would be for the week. This hotel offers the perfect place for those who want to cook while staying in a hotel. The room/suite has a small (but full) kitchenette, complete with a sink, a small stove (four burners), dishwasher, microwave, and refrigerator. And here's the best part - when I made the reservation a month before our trip, I spoke directly to a reservations clerk at the hotel and asked if they would restock the kitchen with new pots and pans and a new toaster, and they agreed! No worries about cross contamination.

After landing at the airport in Phoenix, we went to a Whole Foods and then to Trader Joe's, in order to buy food for the two meals a day I would be preparing in our hotel room. We planned on eating either leftovers for the third meal or eating out (lots of restaurants in Phoenix with GF menus. My pre-planning made food shopping quick and efficient. As it turned out, we could've done much of our food shopping at a supermarket not far from the hotel, but we still would've had to go to WF and TF's to get some of the things that aren't usually sold at "regular" supermarkets (wheat-free tamari, etc.).

I could give you the whole menu and grocery list, but instead, what I'd like to do is give you the highlights with the hope that it will help you when you next travel and need to eat gluten free on the road. BTW, when we travel and have the option of doing any cooking (a lot or a little), we always bring enough kitchen toys to facilitate prepping and cooking food. If we're flying, we try to pack as much of it as possible into our luggage (heck, we're paying for the luggage anyway!). For example, we brought a folding plastic cutting board, a large knife, a smaller serrated knife, a mandolin (for grating ginger, a must for us!), carrot peeler, garlic press, large wooden spoon, large stainless steel spoon, can opener, folding colander, a few kitchen towels, and sponge. Though it might seem like overkill, we always bring our blender. My husband packs it very carefully with bubblewrap. We like to have green smoothies every day, plus I can use it to make, for example, hummus or pesto or soup.

During our grocery run, we bought, among other foods, several containers of extra-firm tofu. When we got back to the hotel after food shopping, I sliced the tofu into about 8 slices and marinated them in wheat-free tamari, grapeseed oil, minced garlic, and freshly grated ginger for about 15 minutes. I sauteed some of the slices for dinner that night - we had sandwiches with the crispy sauteed tofu slices and sliced avocado on toasted Glutino Flax bread (from the freezer at Whole Foods). I let the rest of the tofu marinate overnight in a ziplock bag and then baked them the next morning in the oven for about thirty minutes. After they cooled down, I put them in the frig and used them all week for sandwiches, salads, and general noshing.

The Gluten Free Diva part of me that likes to make everything from scratch has to let go of that drive when we travel (great pun, huh?!?). WF and TF's both have frozen brown rice that microwaves in a few minutes. We heated a can of organic beans to which we added some water and freshly minced garlic, S&P and voila, a quick Mexican meal. TJ's has some of the best sweet little grape tomatoes. I quartered them, added some garlic, freshly chopped cilantro, lime juice, finely chopped jalapeno pepper, S&P, and had delicious salsa to go with our feast. Oh, yeah, we also had brussel sprouts (to which I had added some oil and S&P) which I'd roasted in the cute little oven in our cute little kitchen. Made great leftovers.

We had green smoothies every single day. The basic formula: core a pear and an apple and throw into a blender with the insides of a kiwi, the juice of one lemon and one lime, and a cup of water. After it's blended, add a big ol' handful of baby spinach, one full cored head of romaine lettuce, 1/2 of a peeled cucumber, and 2 celery sticks. Blend some more. Then add 1 frozen banana, a cup of frozen berries (your choice), and a cup of frozen mango. Blend again. Voila. We took it with us to the studio and sipped on it throughout the day. NOTE: before the frozen fruit gets added, the smoothie is a lovely shade of green. The frozen fruit turns it into more of a muddy, rather unpleasant color, but it tastes fab.

Breakfast consisted of GF boxed cereal and homemade granola which we'd brought from home. We picked up a container of organic unsweetened rice milk from TJ's. Done!

So, it's possible, if you're away from home and have access to a hotel that has a small kitchenette, you're golden. One caveat - while I deplore throwing away food, before flying back home, some of the uneaten food had to be tossed as well anything leftover that contains liquid like the wheat-free tamari, oil etc. But in the end, we still spent far less money than if we went out to eat for all of our meals. Not to mention how much safer our eating was.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. I've gotten really good at staying GF while traveling. And if you have any additional hints or tips, let me know.

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