Food, Glorious, Food Part Deux

Previously on playdates and peanutbutter I posted all about my amazing guacamole. It really was delicious. And I hope that you and your family love it as much as I did. Otherwise that post could be quite embarrassing for me.

I also mentioned how much I like to experiment. And sometimes my family doesn't appreciate that. What my husband does appreciate is my willingness to copy restaurants. With our little guys not able to gorge themselves on all the fried wonder that can be sweet and sour chicken, we do not often go to Chinese buffets. Because I just can't let the boys only eat pudding for dinner. And have you been to a buffet recently? They are just plain gross! Anyways, as I was saying. Our boys also don't get to eat things like chicken nuggets or fish sticks because I am cheap.

So, the husband and I have a desire to give our kids the best possible food experience we can. We don't want them to miss out on anything related to an American child's diet. Thus, we have found recipes for making our very own batter to make our own chicken nuggets. And I also found a recipe for gluten free spring rolls. I love my kids so much, I even drove around for ninety minutes on Saturday trying to find gluten free soy sauce and original rice paper wrappers. And I found them! And oh the feast we had!

We had sweet and sour chicken, Vietnamese spring rolls and fried rice. The man recreated the Thai fried rice he has had at a local restaurant here in town. He makes fried rice as usual and then adds the pineapple, raisins and cashews. Again, absolutely incredible!

Here is the recipe for the frying batter and the GF spring rolls. You can use non gluten free products if you want, but our house tries to stay gluten-free. Because that's how we roll.

Frying batter for sweet and sour whatever can be found at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-and-Sour-Chicken-I/Detail.aspx

The gluten-free spring rolls are as follows:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 package coleslaw mix
2 cups bean sprouts
1 pkg rice paper wrappers
2 Tbsp oil, plus more for frying
STIR FRY SAUCE
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp. sugar

Place 2 Tbsp. oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium to high heat. Add garlic. Stir fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add coleslaw mix and sauce. Stir-fry 1-2 minutes, until veggies have softened. Remove from heat and add bean sprout. Tossing to mix in. Do a taste test for salt, adding 1 - 2 more Tbsp. of fish or soy sauce.
To assemble the rolls: Place one rice wrapper in a pan of water, letting absorb the water for about 10 seconds. Remove and place on clean working surface. Put one tbsp of veggie mix at the top of the wrapper. Fold over the top, pinching along the spring roll mixture so that it is tight around it. Fold over the left and right sides of the wrapper and continue rolling. Keeping the wrapping tight.
To Fry: Place some oil in a wok or a deep frying pan over medium-high heat. When bubbles arise, or when the oil begins to form snake-like lines across the bottom, the oil is hot enough. Using tongs, place spring rolls in the oil, allowing them to fry about 1 minute on each side. They are done when the wrappers have a slight brown tinge to them. Remove from the pan with tongs and place on a paper towel lined plate.

These instructions are from two different places. One is wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com. And the other is thaifood.about.com. There were many other Asian dishes to try out as well.

I look forward to hearing from you about these!

Food, Glorious, Food

I love food. I grew up in a family of eaters. We liked food, and we still do! My mom was an experimental cook. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't so good. I, too, have an enjoyment of experimenting in the kitchen. Thankfully, after 4 years of tantrums about the fact that no one in my family seems to appreciate my culinary skills, my family is willing to try out my experiments. I love those boys of mine!

With two little guys that have an allergy to gluten, we eat a lot of Mexican and Atkins (i.e. meat) friendly meals. Over the weekend I made some wickedly delicious sour cream enchiladas. (Don't worry my foodie friends, recipes are to follow.) I also got crazy with some avocados.

Normally, I don't buy avocados because they can be expensive and I am the only one in my family that really enjoys them. But the older son saw some on a display, thought they looked cool, and they were only a buck a piece. And since we were having the above mentioned enchiladas, I thought guacamole would be a suitable accompaniment. Also, I always like to offer new foods to the boys, help expand their palates for their future wives.

Now, I have had guacamole before. Usually at a restaurant. And I have always liked it. This creation I made at home, was so.... much.... better. It was like ambrosia! I ate about 1/2 a cup with some tortilla chips on Sunday night. And then on Monday, for lunch, I finished the rest. It was fantastic. I could go on and on and on and on about how amazing my guacamole was. MMMMMMMMMMM. I am starting to salivate again just typing about it. Ok, I am done. Maybe. Just give me a second..... Wipes drool off of keyboard.

Any ways, suffice it to say that I love food, and my new favorite dish is guacamole. Home made. No more store bought stuff for me. Unfortunately, the men folk were not as into it as I was. They did try it though. Maybe next time.....

Here is the recipe for my Sour Cream Enchiladas:
Serves 4
1 can chicken breasts
1 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp. salt
12/16 corn tortillas
4 oz can chopped green chiles
2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1/2- whole white or yellow onion chopped up finely
1 jar green salsa

Combine the canned chicken, sour cream, salt, green chiles, 1/2 c Monterey Jack cheese, garlic powder, cumin and onion. Mix well. Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel, microwave one minute on high. Place tortilla on a clean working surface. Place 1 1/2 tbsp of chicken mix on tortilla near the top. Fold over the top and roll tightly, down. Place in greased baking dish. Top with green salsa or just the rest of the cheese if you don't like things to spicy. I do about half and half.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden on the edges.

Guacamole
1 ripe tomato
2 avocados
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mash together the tomato and avocados. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with chips or warm tortillas.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try these out!