Chicken Tikka Masala

For reasons unknown, most Chicken Tikka Masala dishes in restaurants are on the bland side. This is great if you’re introducing someone to the idea of Indian food, but these dishes are not palate-pleasers.

This recipe, based on Madhur Jaffrey’s, is full of flavor. Ginger, garlic, cumin, and various other spices bring tons of flavor. Grated tomato melts into the dish, adding even more flavor. I love serving this at parties or dishing up for leftovers during the week. It just gets better with time!

Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix

With an exception of gluten, with its myriad side effects, I pretty much have a cast-iron stomach. Hot, hot, hot chiles? Love ’em. Highly acidic foods? No problem. Pretty much the only food I won’t ingest are those foods I simply don’t like (looking at you, calamari!).

As a runner, however, I have a more complicated relationship with food and beverage. I’m not a morning eater, so struggle to find something that my stomach will tolerate while it’s still waking up — because I need *something* on those long run days. Since the obvious carb-heavy choices are a bit of challenge for me, I, well, let’s just say, ingest some pretty weird stuff. But it works. Continue reading “Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix”

Buckwheat: Delicious, Easy, and Gluten Free

As I’ve cut back on rice (and I promise you, this has been hard!), I’ve been looking at other options for my lunches. Since I got my pressure cooker, beans, especially black and garbanzo beans, have been on the menu. It’s really easy to cook up a batch on Sunday afternoon for lunches and to add to meals during the week.
But what has really captured my tastebuds is buckwheat. In the same amount of time it takes to make stovetop rice, you can cook up buckwheat groats. They have a nice chew and amazing flavor — earthy and warm. As an added bonus, they are super-versatile.

Continue reading “Buckwheat: Delicious, Easy, and Gluten Free”

Meatballs: The Easiest of Comfort Foods

Meatballs are one of the world’s great comfort foods. And they’re one of the world’s most versatile foods. You can work with any type of ground meat, beans, or grains. Add seasonings to suit your mood. Bake, grill, pan roast, or simmer in a sauce. Eat.

Meatballs are also quick to make. The hard part is getting your ingredients lined up (ye old mise en place). Still, since meatballs generally cook up in about 15 minutes or so, it’s not hard to get them done in under thirty minutes. This makes them an attractive option for weeknight meals. Continue reading “Meatballs: The Easiest of Comfort Foods”

Chicken and Ginger Meatballs

I love meatballs — there’s something, well, fun about round food. And meatballs are easy to make, even when you’re gluten free. I made these meatballs — with tasty ground chicken and a lot of ginger! — for a party at a friend’s house. There were actually three kinds of meatballs (I was feeling overachieve-y that day), but these were the hands-down favorite.

Since then, I’ve made them whenever the mood strikes (and whenever ground chicken is on sale). They’re delicious with chicken wraps or on top of rice noodles. I mix up a quick chile sauce with a bit of lime juice, chile paste, and fish sauce to pour over the noodles or as a dipping sauce. Of course, my gluten-free ponzu would work just as well!

Gluten-Free Ponzu

There is something absolutely refreshing about chilled soba noodles with a few crisp, cool vegetable piled high, served with a tangy dipping sauce called ponzu. Gluten-free ponzu can be purchased, no doubt about it. But it’s a bit pricy. As with many sauces, I find the effort involved with making my own to be so minimal that it’s worth the time. Plus, this recipe uses many of the ingredients I keep on hand for other dishes, so no special purchases are required.

For general cooking like this, I purchase restaurant-sized containers of gluten-free soy sauce from Amazon. I also purchase fancier GF soy sauces for those dishes where the flavor of the soy sauce needs to shine — in those instances, a little goes a long way, making it easier to justify a higher price point. Bonito flakes can be bought online or at Asian grocery stores (some major chain stores and Whole Foods also stock them).

Scrambling Some Eggs

When my husband switched to a lower carb diet, I joined him. Since I’m gluten free, it wasn’t a huge dietary shift for me, and, frankly, it helped me cut back on the rice I’d been using as a crutch since quitting so many other foods. Since this diet modification, I’ve been experimenting with lots more vegetable-based meals. And, we’re eating a lot more eggs.

One Sunday, we had a scrambled egg tutorial (this was followed by basic poached eggs and simple fried eggs). Since then, I just avert my eyes when he makes his scrambled eggs. It’s painful. Apparently my process was too complicated for him. Continue reading “Scrambling Some Eggs”