Fried Swai Fish with Saffron Pasta

The two year old loved this one.

1. Cook brown rice pasta in water with salt
2. Press fillets into rice flour and Goya Adobo mixture
3. Fry on high in skillet with olive oil
4. Flip once and grill other side on high
5. Remove fish from pan and set aside
6. Drain pasta and rinse well
7. Add to same skillet that fish was in, thin sliced onion and salt
8. Add more olive oil if necessary
9. Saute on med-high heat until slightly brown, stirring constantly
10. Add minced garlic and a pinch of saffron and keep stirring
11. Add a few splashes of white wine vinegar
12. Add noodles and keep stirring (add more oil and white wine vinegar if necessary)
13. Add fresh diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
14. Keep stirring until everything is incorporated and warm, then serve

Potato Leek Soup

About as simple as it gets. Inspired by a recipe from SimplyRecipes.com and ideas from trying other things.

1. In skillet, cook 5 - 6 slices of bacon until crisp
2. Remove and place onto paper towel

In same skillet on medium heat...

1. Add 1 Tbsp of dairy-free margarine
2. About 4 cups of chopped leeks (white and light green part)
3. Add 1 tsp dried parsley (if you have fresh, then shop it and add it after soup is blended)
4. Add pepper to taste
5. Saute about 5 minutes
6. Add 2 cups of chicken broth

Transfer to large pot

1. Add 2 more cups of chicken broth
2. Add three large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3. Add one small strip of bacon
4. Bring to boil
5. Simmer for about 40 minutes or until potatoes have softened
6. Blend
7. Add salt to taste and stir

I didn't feel any need to add rice milk or anything. The soup turned out to be the perfect consistency. I'm curious how it might be with some finely diced carrots. Adding cubed ham may be nice, as well.

Crockpot Roast and Vegetables

Searing and glazing is the secret. Just falls apart when done and the meal is savory.

1. Douse roast with Goya Adoba on all sides
2. Sear roast in pan on high heat in 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil until browned on all sides
3. Place in crock pot (turned off)

The following steps to be done in same skillet that your seared in:

1. Stir sliced onion into saute pan and add salt - 2 min
2. Stir in 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3. Stir in diced tomatoes (drained) - stir 3-4 minutes
4. Add chopped celery and carrot and stir until well coated
5. Saute and stir about 2 minStir in 1 tbsp honey
6. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons tomato paste
7. Add several splashes of Worcestershire sauce
8. Saute and stir 1 min
9. Turn off heat under skillet

Now, on to the crock pot:

1. Throw potatoes (4-6 large cut into large cubes) onto roast
2. Empty contents of skillet on top of roast and potatoes in crock pot (so as to coat them)
3. Pick up roast and set it on top of vegetables (now it is nice and glazed and the veggies and potatoes are under the roast)
4. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken broth
5. Cover set crock pot to low for 8-11 hours (depending on size of roast) and just turn off when meats easily falls apart when pulled

Cumin/Sage Chicken Stuffed Zucchini

My mother-in-law just made this up today and it was simply outstanding. I think it's the combination of cumin, sage, and cilantro that really gave it a different twist. I don't have all the details, so this post will be edited later once I ask abuelita a few questions.

1. Make Goya rice (this means saute 2-3 cloves garlic in olive oil, then saute rice; then add water and salt and cook down and add more water and cook a bit more before covering and setting heat to low until rice is soft.)
2. Grind chicken breasts
3. Cook chicken breast with a little sweet italian sausage (casing removed) with cumin, sage, paprika, salt and pepper. Then remove from skillet.
4. To skillet, add olive oil, diced onion, Goya Adobo, and tomatoes and saute
5. Slice a very large zucchini down the middle and scoop out the seeds
6. Mix meat and rice
7. Pour some of the tomato sauce in an oven dish, lay the zucchini down and stuff with rice mixture
8. Pour remaining tomato sauce over stuffed zucchini
9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes
10. Remove foil and bake 20 more minutes

Fresh, Unbelievable Tomato Soup

This is seriously easy and amazing...

1. Cut one red pepper in half and seed, then set on aluminum foil and broil
2. Finely chop in food processor...
3. 1 large onion,
4. 3 garlic cloves,
5. 2 med carrots,
6. 2 med celery stalks,
7. And saute on medium with
8. Goya Adobo, and
9. sea salt
10. in olive oil until soft
11. Rough chop a ton of tomatoes and add (with seeds and all) to pot (should be about 4+ lbs). I use a mix of heirloom, cherry, grape, roma, and other tomatoes from the garden
12. Once skin is blackened, remove red pepper from oven (about 10 minutes) and cover with more foil for about 10 minutes.
13. Once cooled, the skin will be easy to peel off the red pepper
14. Then rough chop the pepper and add to the soup
15. Bring to boil and simmer for about 1 hour, until tomatoes have softened and flavors have incorporated
16. Add more salt/pepper to taste
17. Use a food mill to separate skins and seeds from soup in batches
18. Done!

Rich Squash Soup

1. Saute 1 large onion,
2. 4 garlic cloves,
3. 2 med carrots,
4. 2 med celery stalks,
5. Goya Adobo, and
6. sea salt
7. in olive oil until soft
8. Add tablespoon of tomato paste (optional, but good) and saute two minutes longer
9. Add diced tomatoes (one large can if no time for chopping fresh ones)
10. Add 16 oz pre-soaked red beans
11. Add diced zucchini and or squash
12. Add tyme, a dash of cumin, a dash of sage, and pepper
13. Add water to desired consistancy
14. Bring to boil and simmer for about 30-45 minutes

Sweet Potato Crock Pot Pork Roast

I love this recipe found on RecipeZaar.com

http://www.recipezaar.com/crock-pot-sweet-potato-apple-pork-roast-388695

2 lb pork roast

sweet potatoes

onions

apples

brown sugar

black pepper

sage

Crock Pot low 7-9 hours

Garlic Portobello & Roasted Pepper Rice Pasta

1) Boil water and get the penne rice pasta cooking - I like Trader Joe's brand!
2) Broil red peppers, seeded and cut into halves or thirds, skin side up, on top oven rack (about 10 minutes)
3) Cut tops off portobellos and marinade
* marinade ideas (1 cup or so):
a) balsamic vinegar
b) white wine and thyme, marjoram, and oregano
c) marinade from jar of marinated artichokes
4) Chop stems
5) Dice a few cloves of garlic, to taste
6) Saute stems and garlic with some white wine
7) When red peppers are roasted, remove from oven and immediately cover with aluminum foil. After 10 minutes, you can easily peel the skin off then slice into strips
8) Scrape the steps and garlic to the side and place the caps in the middle of the pan. Add some diced tomatoes and some water (or the juice of the can if using canned tomatoes)
9) Simmer until mushroom tops are cooked then remove tops and slice or cube
10) Add the marinade to the pan (if you used balsamic, then only add about half)
11) Add capers (unless you used balsamic) and reduce
12) Mix the drained penne in a large bowl with the sliced red pepper, portobello tops, and sauteed stems
13) Add a little EVOO and chopped parsley if you like
*Serve hot or cold

Savory, Stewed Monkfish

Ingredients:

• Monkfish
• Lemons, sliced thin
• Marsala wine
• Grape tomatoes (or any sliced or diced tomato)
• Onions, sliced
• Sage or Rosemary (fresh or dried/crushed)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Goya Adobo

1. Spray cooking spray or wipe shortening into a deep casserole dish.
   
2. Add all ingredients in order listed above.
3. Cover and cook in 350 F oven for about 20-30 min, until internal temperature of fish is 150 F

Recipes I Plan to Try or Convert to Elimidiet Recipes

1. Pork Roast with sauerkraut and tomatoes - delicious
2. Potato Skins - this will be ambitious
3. Roasted New Potatoes with Truffle Oil
4. Ropa Vieja

Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

Tomorrow, I'm planning to try this recipe from SimplyRecipies.com.  I'll post the results and comments on any variations I decided to make to the recipe after tasting the dish.

Click for Roasted Red Skin Potatoes recipe.

Roast Pork Shoulder Picnic w/ Brining Instructions

My mother-in-law is making a traditional Colombian pork roast for Easter dinner, and I've been asked to brine the pork shoulder. While researching how to brine, I found a recipe that is likely close to how she'll prepare it, knowing her typical spices and ingredients. This recipe looks extremely simple, so worth posting. I've seen some that require a ton of ingredients and prep work, but who needs all that when the family is hungry and you have to cook all your meals yourself to eliminate allergens.

Click for Pork Shoulder Picnic Roast recipe from Timothy Dzurilla.

I shorten the cooking time at 300 because I did a 9 lb roast for less than 9 hours and it was slightly overcooked. I'd say about 8 hours for a 9 lb roast. I'll use the meat thermometer next time.

I learned the pork shoulder picnic is especially tender, more so than the shoulder blade cut - which is probably what I've usually purchased. Brining helps preserve the meat, but also give it deeper and richer flavor.

Information from the Pork Picnic Shoulder on AskTheMeatMan.com here.

Simple: Roast Leg of Lamb

I'm going to try a recipe that I just found as the top Google result on the internet.  It has no allergens and looks simple.  Hope it comes out good.

Here's the link to Elise Bauer's SimplyRecipes.com recipe.

INGREDIENTS
Marinade:
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 Tbsp of fresh chopped rosemary or 1 Tbsp of dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
Blend ingredients in a blender, just a few pulses until well mixed.

Lamb Roast:
1 (6-pound) leg of lamb, bone-in or boneless. If boneless, the leg should be tied up with kitchen string by butcher.
Marinade
Salt

Things to do with leftover rice: Stuffed Red Peppers

This is sweet and savory, and there are a few ways to do it.

1. Cut red peppers in half, lengthwise and remove seeds and ribs.
2. Stuff with your cooked rice.
3. Place in long oven dish 1/3 filled with your choice of beef broth or water + a few splashes of worcestershire sauce.
4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 30 min
5. Spoon liquids over all the peppers, and cook another 20 min, covered.
6. Serve.  Add toppings like cilantro, parsley, and/or avocado if desired.

This is good with spanish rice, or chicken rice, rice with ground beef and always best if there are some diced up vegetables in there, like carrots, onion, zucchini, olives, and/or capers. 

Plantain Soup

I found this recipe on the FoodNetwork website by Ingrid Hoffman.  I have experimented with yellow and green plantains, and both turn out fine.  I haven't tried with super-ripe plantains because it would probably be too sweet and have an unpleasant consistency.  If you don't have chicken stock around, then just using water works...but chicken stock will be a little more savory.

I add one or two extra plantains because my family enjoys it thick, almost like a hearty potato soup.  Especially for someone who doesn't get to eat wheat or dairy, making it thicker makes for a more satisfying lunch or dinner entree.

Here's the link to the original recipe.

1. 2 TBSP olive oil, or cook 3-4 strips of bacon in a large pot until crispy, then set aside bacon.
2. In same pot, saute finely chopped 1 medium onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, and 2 garlic cloves with several shakes of salt and Goya Adobo seasoning.
3. Add about 4 cans of chicken stock, 14.5 oz each, or water or a mix of both.  More for thin soup and less for thick soup.
4. Add 3-4 thinly sliced plantains, green or yellow, but not too ripe.
5. Add two bay leaves and 1/2 to 1 tsp of cumin and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, until plantain is fork tender.
7. When ready, allow to cool then blend, leaving some chunks of plantain.
8. Serve with chopped cilantro and a wedge of lime.

Portobello Quickie

When the midnight craving occur, a portobello mushroom is a lifesaver.  Get it done fast using the toaster-oven, microwave, and saute pan to get components done simultaneously.  I just whipped up this balsamic portobello with spinach and bacon for my wife before heading to bed.  Here's how to do it:

1) Preheat oven or set toaster oven to bake at 375 F

2) Clean the mushroom and marinade it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar bottom side down

3) Toss the frozen spinach in the microwave for 4 min with a little water

4) Fry a strip of bacon until crisp, med-high

5) Put the mushroom into the oven/toaster-oven

6) Plate the cooked bacon and saute roughly chopped onion in the same pan

7) Add salt and Goya Adobo to the onion and stir frequently

8) Transfer as much of the spinach into the saute pan as you wish to top the mushroom with

9) Add a splash of red wine vinegar, stir frequently

10) Plate the portobello, top with bacon broken into bits, the top with spinach and onion

* Note that omitting onion and Goya seasoning is recommended if you wish to eliminate all gassy foods.

Breakfast Turns Dinner = Budget Conscious

After frying up some bacon, I am always compelled to do something with the savory bacon grease.  I'll either saute some chicken breast for later in the day/week or will immediately toss in some diced onion and garlic and see where it goes.  Typically, I end up making some sort of rice using whatever is lying around the kitchen.  It gives my wife something to snack on and takes the time, and pressure out of preparing later meals.  It also consolidates cleaning.  I also love that it saves me a lot of money on the olive oil I would have used and provides the opportunity to make use of any underused food items.

Chorizo Rice

1 tbsp Olive Oil*

1 med onion*

Salt*

1 carrot

4 garlic cloves

1-2 chorizo sausages (or any sausage)*

2 tomatoes (or 1 14oz can diced tomatoes)

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 c. Rice*

2 c. water (and/or chicken or beef stock)*

4 shakes of Goya Adobo seasoning*

1. On medium heat, saute diced onion and salt in olive oil until soft, stirring often
2. Add diced carrot, diced garlic and saute 3 more minutes, stirring often
3. Add tomato paste and stir for 1 minute
4. Add tomatoes and saute for 2 minutes
5. Add rice and saute for 2 minutes, stirring
6. Add water and/or stock and Goya.  Stir then heat to boiling.
7. Cover and simmer low for 20 minutes (until rice is tender)

Optional: Mix in more vegetables, like asparagus, peppers, or zucchini after adding water.

Toppings/Garnish: Cilantro, Avacado, Tomatoes, etc. can make this a main dish.

Essential Snacking

Having allergy-free snacks is essential.  The following are my wife's go-to snacks.

• Plantain (very ripe), just slit lengthwise and nuke for 2 minutes
• Avocado, plain or with salt or add a little lemon
• Sweet potato chips
• Potato Chips, salt or some bbq brands
• Rice cereal, cold or hot, with blueberries, cinnamon, and sugar
• Hot tea with raw sugar and rice milk (vanilla or plain)
• Chicharrone (fried pork rinds)
• Bananas 
• Banana chips (from Trader Joe's)
• Pears
• Apples
• Left-overs (always have on hand!)

Foods I Avoid

My son is allergic to and/or intolerant of, the foods listed below, so these recipes avoid all of them.  Patch testing confirmed a dozen allergies, while intolerances were found via the elimination diet process.

Foods Omitted in All Recipes:

1. Dairy
2. Wheat/Gluten
3. Soy
4. Egg
5. Peanut
6. Tree Nut
7. Corn
8. Oat
9. Beans (including peas)
10. Caffeine
11. Chocolate
12. Salmon
13. Shellfish
14. Acidic fruits

Renovate Your Pantry

This is the most important step in any diet change, renovate your pantry.  Don't keep food around that you cannot eat.  I first removed everything from the kitchen that I couldn't cook with.  It is freeing to look in the fridge and pantry and know everything is an option.  It also highlighted gaps in our nutritional variety.  Below are the main staples of our allergy-free kitchen.

• Capers
  
• Peppers
• Avacado
• Potatoes (Idaho and Sweet)
• Rice (white and brown)
• Rice Pasta
• Plantains
• Onions
• Celery
• Tomatoes
• Artichokes
• Heart of Palm
• Lettuce
• Spinach (including frozen)
• Apples
• Bananas
• Pears
• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Roasted Sesame Seeds
• Meat
• Chicken
• Fish
• Lemons
• Carrots
• Asparagus
• Risotto
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Goya Adobo
• Cumin
• Balsamic and White Vinegar
• Potato Chips (standard and sweet)
• Tea (decaf)

Elimination Diet Process: Finding food allergies or just intolerances

It's a slow process and requires a lot of patience.  The difficulty in pinpointing the offending foods is that symptoms can occur within the hour or after days and days.  Finding the foods that cause immediate reactions first is easiest; by getting those out of the way it is easier to gauge which foods cause more delayed and subtle reactions.

Starting the process involves several days, up to three weeks, on a completely allergy-free diet.

*TIP for nursing mothers: Extra time = time cleaning out your system, followed by time replacing your breast milk with allergy free milk, then the baby's system getting cleaned out.

1. You stick to a completely allergy-free diet for several days or weeks, until you see a significant reduction in symptoms.  
2. Then you choose what you suspect to be the most offensive food and add it back to your diet and log your reactions, noting times of ingestion and time of onset of symptom.  
3. Between food tests, go back to the allergy-free diet you choose until symptoms are gone for a few days, then introduce the next suspected food.  
4. It's a long process, but results are great!

You can research ways to follow your own allergy-free diet, but we went with the following foods:

a) Turkey breast

b) rice

c) potatoes and other starches like yucca and plantains

d) oatmeal (replaced with plan rice cereal because we later found oatmeal was affecting the baby)

e) soy milk (replaced with rice milk because we later found that he was allergic to soy)

f) fish (only salmon caused a bad reaction - we have no idea why)

g) non-acidic fruits, like bananas

h) tea (decaf)

i) pears

Thing you want to avoid:

a) gassy foods & spices, like onions, beans, garlic, peppers, cumin, etc.

b) eggs

c) nuts

d) candy

e) all processed foods (or anything with more than a few simple ingredients on the label)

f) caffeine and coffee

g) chocolate

h) acidic foods, like orange juice, grapes, etc.

i) wheat/gluten

More info on GI issues and gassy foods: 

• Diet Detective - Food and Gas
  
• Colic Calm - The Cause and Treatment of Infant, Newborn, and Baby Gas Problems
  
• About.com - Food Allergy or Intolerance?

ElimiDiet Blog: It's about identifying allergies

How I became an elimination diet chef:

To determine why our four week old baby boy could not stop crying or lie comfortably in his bassinet, we first visited the pediatrician.  It wasn't until the second visit to the doctor when our son offered a visual aid to express his discomfort.  Immediately, the pediatrician ordered a blood test, prescribed an acid reflux medicine (infant Zantac), and suggested that the nursing mother stop eating all dairy and eggs.  Within a about four days the constant crying subsided, which meant our baby was finally not enduring constant pain in his throat and stomach.  We were relieved and life felt manageable once again.

As time went on we eliminated foods from the mother's diet, one at a time, until our baby appeared 100% comfortable.  Within months, we had a very healthy baby no longer on medication who didn't cry or even spit-up.

Eliminating foods from my wife's diet uncovered some food intolerances of my own.  I learned that intolerances and allergies can manifest in very subtle ways, including.  Has your nose ever seemed to be stuffy, your skin turn slightly red, or your eyes water  for no apparent reason?  Do you have eczema or frequent gas or bloating?  All of these things can be symptoms of food allergies, or intolerances, and can be helped by avoiding certain foods or ingredients.

Through personal experience and some research, here is a list of benefits of eliminating allergy foods from your diet:

1) Increase sense of taste  -  since your nose isn't stuffy, you experience more smell/flavor

2) No more gas  -  I never feel gassy or burpy after eating, ever!

3) Comfort  -  I feel noticeably more comfortable in the abdomen region.

4) Avoid disease  -  Subjecting your digestive system to foods it is allergic to can increase the risk of various diseases as your GI tract either cannot process these foods or your system overreacts to them, taxing your system unnecessarily. Consult a physician or medical resources for more information.

I hope blogging my family's experience with the elimination diet and allergy-free eating, we may help other people learn how to get through such a life change in a manageable way and without sacrificing flavorful, savory meals (and certainly without starving).