Souper Sunday - Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and Versatile Cream Sauce

I tried something a few months ago that has opened up a lot of cooking possibilities.  I made a cream sauce with cauliflower!  Sounds a little weird but it's surprisingly good and very easy to make.  It's an incredible substitute for creamy sauces since I can't eat dairy anymore.  And, it's a lot more healthy! 

It's made by simply cutting up and steaming a head of cauliflower until it's soft, putting it into a blender with milk (we use coconut/almond but any milk or unsweetened milk substitute will work) and blending it until it's smooth and creamy.  I season it during the blending process.

If I'm making it to use as an Alfredo sauce, I season it with garlic, salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne to add an extra level of flavor and some warmth but not enough to make it spicy hot.  Here's a picture I snapped a couple of nights ago when I used it like Alfred sauce and layered it with sauteed spinach with onions and red pepper flakes, gluten free pasta, the sauce, some diced tomatoes, and baked and crumbled prosciutto.  It was delicious!

I've also seasoned this amazing sauce with lemon juice and had it with rice, veggies, and chicken or fish.  It's delicious with lemon!  It gives it a light, bright, fresh flavor.

Another way we like to use this sauce is to make one of our old favorite chowder recipes.  The recipe originally called for a cream sauce made with lots of milk and cheese.  Since I can no longer eat dairy, this has become and amazing substitute and we don't even miss the cheese or dairy.  It's that good!  This isn't the best picture but to give you an idea of how good it is....hubby raves about it every single time, has seconds, thirds, and gets every drop out of the bowl that he can.

The original recipe was called something like, "Cheddar and Ham Chowder".  Here's my new version with no milk, no cheese, and no gluten....

4 cups of peeled and cubed potatoes

1 cup of sliced carrots

1 small to medium onion chopped

2 cups of fresh or frozen corn cut off the cob

Put all of the above ingredients into a large pan/pot and add just enough water to cover the veggies.  You can also add celery, if you like.  I leave it out because we don't like it.  Cook until the veggies are fork tender. DO NOT drain the water when it's done.

In a separate pan, steam a large head of cauliflower that's been rinsed and cut into large chunks.  Cook until soft.  When it's done, add it to the blender with enough "milk" to blend it smoothly.  I also add a bit of "butter" (I use Earth Balance spread) and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a dash of Cayenne, paprika and a bit of chili powder.  I also add some Turmeric because it makes it look cheesy with the red of the chili powder and paprika and it's a healthy spice.  Use the above ingredients in amounts that work for you and your taste.

When the sauce and veggies are ready, pour the sauce into the pot that has the veggies and water and stir it together.  Also, add ham that's been sliced into bite sized pieces.  One of those flat, round slices you get at the store that's wrapped in plastic is the perfect amount.  Cook it all on low heat until the ham is heated through.  Double check to see if the chowder needs any additional seasoning.  Enjoy!

I'm so excited about this delicious, creamy, cauliflower sauce and I'm trying to think of other ways I can use it.  I think it would be great in other soups like clam chowder!  Can you think of other ways to use it?  I'd love to hear about them and I'd love to know if you try it and what you think.

Elimination Frustration

Our daughter developed some health issues over the past couple of months that suddenly became worse about a week ago.  She became concerned and went to see a doctor.  He feels that it could be a food intolerance and put her on an "Elimination Diet".  

We've made significant changes to our diet over time and especially over the past year.  We've even experimented with eliminating or cutting back on certain foods that could possibly not be agreeing with our bodies.  We found that dairy is one of those foods and have cut it out of our diet completely.  It was hard at first but we don't miss it now that we feel so much better and know what it can do to us.  We have less headaches and sinus troubles and DD also has less stomach troubles too.  But, that must not have been enough.

We've decided to go on this diet with her to support her and see if removing any of these items might improve our health as well.  The elimination diet is NOT easy.  So many things have to be eliminated and it leaves so few choices that planning meals and shopping have become a very big challenge.  The foods that are eliminated are common allergens or can cause inflammation in body.  The things we have to eliminate are:

Red meat, processed meats, eggs and egg substitutes

Dairy

Strawberries and Citrus

Gluten

Soy

Corn

Yeast

Canned or creamed soups

Coffee, tea, alcohol, citrus drinks, sodas, caffeine

Margarine, shortening, butter and spreads

Peanuts, pistachios

Brown sugar, sugar, honey, fructose, molasses, corn syrup

The "allowed items" are...

Meat - chicken, turkey, lamb or cold water fish

Non-dairy "milk" - rice or nut

Legumes 

Fruits and veggies (except corn, strawberries and citrus)

Breads and cereals - made from rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, teff, millet, potato or arrowroot

Soup - clear, vegetable based

Beverages - unsweetened fruit or veggie juices, herbal teas, filtered water

Oil - cold/expeller pressed, unrefined light shielded canola, flax, olive, pumpkin, sesame or walnut

Nuts - almonds, cashews, pecans, flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower seeds and butters of these nuts

Sweeteners - brown rice syrup, fruit sweeteners

The frustration we've run into is that just about every food label we read has at least one of the elimination items in it.  That basically leaves a few kinds of meat, most fruit and veggies, and very few other things that we're lucky enough to find that fit into the limitations of this diet.  Even gluten-free items often have eggs, dairy, yeast or corn products.  And, many other products that seem like they'd fit into the rules, don't.  We were label readers before but this puts a whole new spin on things.  

We're also running into road blocks with finding recipes.  Even in our vegan cookbooks and our Forks Over Knives cookbook, which is all plant based, aren't helping much.  We've been searching on the internet too.  Many of the recipes we've found on there have items we can't have.  DD tried to bake some muffins from one of the recipes she found yesterday.  They were edible but were dense, didn't rise, and didn't have much flavor.  We'll keep searching for recipes and trying though.  Our meals aren't always fabulous but they're healthy and we're figuring more and more things that we can cook.  

We've been on the diet for a week now.  DD just started feeling a bit better yesterday.  Hubby said he's feeling a lot better and his weight is going down.  My weight has dropped below my goal (I was close before we started) and my psoriasis may be improving.  After two weeks, we'll go through a process of adding one food back for a day, removing it, waiting a couple days, and removing another one.  Hopefully, we'll know in a few weeks if we need to remove anything for good.  We're hoping we won't have to eliminate anything that's a big part of our normal diet that we love or that's an ingredient in lots of things.  The doctor also advised that DD take probiotics.  I'm hoping that will be the thing that helps her.  It would be so much easier than having to remove something like gluten from her diet.  

Have you ever been on this diet?  How did it work out for you? Or, do you know someone who did this?  What was the outcome?  I'd love to hear from others that have experienced this.

Simple Ceci Salad

Our occasional vegetarian eating habits have us always on the lookout for ways to add protein to our meals.  That often includes beans, which I've grown to love.  I recently came up with a simple salad idea that is super yummy.  In fact, we've had it several times in one week!

In my usual style...there's no measuring.  But, here's what's needed to make it...

1 - 15 ounce can of ceci/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 - medium sized tomato, chopped
onion - white, purple, green....whatever you have, finely chopped - a couple tablespoons + -
olive oil
vinegar - I used red wine vinegar but use what you have...be creative!
salt
pepper
garlic powder or fresh, finely chopped (optional)
fresh herbs - basil or parsley would work great, finely chopped (optional),

Simply mix the ingredients in a bowl... the beans, tomato, onions (add according to your taste), herbs (optional), a drizzle of olive oil, a few splashes of vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and garlic to taste (optional).  We usually eat it right away but it can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten later.

Don't be afraid to experiment.  Be creative!  I've tried it with and without herbs.  I think I liked it better without herbs but both ways were good.  I've even tried it with finely chopped spinach to add color.   I've also tried it with finely chopped brown onion and with green onion.  I think I liked it best with the brown onion.  I plan on trying it with different flavors of vinegar.  Even a mustard vinaigrette might be yummy on it.  But, no matter how I've made it, it's always been soooo good!

If you decide to give it a try, let me know how you made it and how much you like it.  :-)