Crockpot Roast Beef and Chimichangas

My sister cooked some beef in a crockpot while I was visiting. We really liked it. I had told her that my girls love meat cooked fresh, but then don't eat it leftover. Not necessarily, I learned afterwards. My sister boiled, seasoned, and shredded the beef(to use for tacos), and my girls LOVED it! They ate it plain, and lots of it!



Crockpot Roast Beef

1/2 - 1 tsp salt per pound of beef
garlic cloves(3-4 for a big roast)
onions
mushrooms, if desired

Deliciously simple!

The next day, use leftovers:

Chimichangas

2 lb. stew meat(can cut into chunks to speed tenderizing)
1 1/2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1/4 tsp. powder
2 Tablespoon chili powder(or 1 1/2 -2 tsp if powder is hot)
1 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper

Bring meat and spices to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours or until tender. Shred with two forks. Eat with tortillas; can add guacamole, lettuce, tomato, etc. Or, let your kids just eat the meat plain, with potatoes, or rice.

Note: You can homemake some wheat-free tortillas. I have an oat tortilla recipe that tastes really good and is really wholesome. One drawback: it hasn't rolled very well for me. It still can be eaten with the meat and toppings, though. Sometime I hope to try out a few other recipes for tortillas and find one that rolls well! Let me know if you have a recipe for a good tortilla.

Baked Beans

2 c white beans
1 tsp salt
1 onion, chopped
1/8 lb bacon, diced
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c catsup(watch for wheat)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 T soy sauce

Prepare beans, cook until tender. Drain all but 1 cup of the water. Add other ingredients. Place in casserole and top with bacon. Bake 275 for 6-8 hours.

"Cream of Chicken" Soup

This is a pretty good non-dairy, no soy, no wheat "cream of chicken" soup. It has more dimension than a chicken base/water/cornstarch mixture.

6 c boiling water
1 c fine white bean flour
1 c diced chicken pieces
2 T chicken or vegetable soup base

Over medium heat, whisk bean flour into boiling water and add base. Stir, cook 3 min., blend 1-2 min. in blender. Add chicken.

Fruit Muffins

These muffins have excellent texture and good flavor. They are wholesome and satisfying. Not too sweet, for those of you looking for a recipe with less sugar. Actually, there's no table sugar involved.

The recipe is from the from "Freedom from Allergy Cookbook," by Ronald Greendberg, MD, and Angela Nori, 1996

Fruit Muffins

1 1/2 cups pear or apple juice
2 Tbs. arrowroot flour(you can use tapioca flour or cornstarch)
2 Tbs. oil
1 1/2 cups oat flour or light buckwheat flour(make your own by blending rolled oats or buckwheat groats in a blender)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup prune spread*
1 cup chopped almonds(optional- I did not use these)

Mix wet ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients together, then mix into wet ingredients. Bake 350 for 20 minutes.

*Prune spread: Blend prunes and water together, until desired consistency is reached. May need to soak or boil the prunes in the water before pureeing in blender. May add apple juice instead of some of the water, and also cinnamon or cloves.

Note: when I made this recipe, I omitted the almonds. The consistency of the batter was too thin, so I ended up adding more oat flour, probably 1 cup more than called for. The muffins worked better when I added extra flour. The ones with the really thin batter did not rise. The ones with extra flour added seemed to use a little more sweetener. I figure I can just make the juice I add a little more concentrated next time(I mix my juice from concentrate). Or, I could add extra honey. But only if I intend to have no sweet toppings added to the muffin. Once toppings are added(some honey and sometimes a little jelly), the sweetness is just right. The muffins are wholesome and satisfying.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I just adapted my mom's recipe of choc chip oatmeal cookies to be wheat, dairy and egg free. It doesn't have nuts, either. I encourage you to experiment in turning favorite recipes into something you can eat without the allergens you react to. It's very satisfying and inspires hope! I'm beginning to feel that most any recipe is adaptable. Some more than others.
It looks to me that oatmeal cookie recipes are good canditates for adapting to be wheat free. Rice flour and oats bake well together, especially when additional ingredients help to lighten, moisten, and flavor the mix. I use canola oil instead of margarine, rice flour instead of wheat flour, 1/2 very ripe banana instead of egg, and add a couple teaspoons tapioca flour to help make up for lack of gluten in the rice flour. I get a nice chewy cookie with a slight banana flavor that complements the vanilla and oats. Enjoy!

3/4 cup canola oil(or other vegetable oil)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 extra ripe banana
1/4 c water(may not need this, check consistency of dough and add this at the end, testing consistency after a tablespoon or two at a time, if the mix is too dry or falls apart too easily)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup quick oats
1 c rice flour (I use brown rice, it's much more nutritious than white rice flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 oz. non-dairy choc chips

Cream sugars and oil. Add banana and vanilla and beat. Mix together oats, flour, b soda and salt, then add to the sugar mixture. Add water if needed. Dough won't be as thick as most cookie doughs, and is a little prone to falling apart. Just drop dough into little mounds on baking sheet. Bake at 375 8-10 min. Cookies will be crisp if baked longer. Take out the cookies when they still appear slightly "wet." The taste and texture are very delicious! Amazing they are wheat free.

Quinoa-basil bell pepper stir fry

Quinoa is a very nutritious grain, and also has low allergenticity, meaning that few have reported to be allergic to it. It can be used in meals as rice is. I've enjoyed it in vegetable stir fry with chicken and soy sauce. I've also enjoyed a dish that was on the back of a Trader Joes package of quinoa. I've altered the recipe.

Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a sieve or colander, until water runs clear. Cook the quinoa in chicken broth or boullion and water. Meanwhile, cook chicken separately in a frying pan, in strips. You can add oil if desired. You can saute garlic cloves or onions as well. (I usually just add garlic and onion powder instead, after the chicken is cooked). When chicken and quinoa are each cooked, add red, yellow, and green bell peppers to the chicken. Cook until tender, but not limp. Then throw in fresh basil leaves and let them wilt. Or, as I do, you can just use crushed basil leaves earlier in the recipe, and not use the fresh stuff(I ought to try the fresh basil, I'm sure it'd be really good). I cook the quinoa or the chicken, or both, with onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and crushed basil.

Simple bouillion-free variation from Nov 2010: cook boneless, skinless chicken thighs first, covered. Then use broth from thighs for cooking quinoa, adding as much water as needed for broth. Add salt(try 1/2 tsp per cup broth). No chicken boullion needed. Instead of bell peppers, try shredded cabbage.

Garbanzo-Oat Waffles

One of my favorite waffle recipes actually has bean flour! I got it from mrbreakfast.com. Below is paraphrased and includes my own versions.

Garbanzo-Oat Waffles

1 cup oats, old fashioned or quick
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 and 1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Grind oats in blender to make flour. Add other ingredients and blend. Let sit for a few minutes, then blend again for a couple seconds. Pour into heated, oiled waffle iron.

I've found that you may replace the garbanzo flour with home-ground lentil or yellow split-pea flour. Simply grind dry legumes in a blender to make the flour. Each legume has a slightly different flavor, but each of the ones I've tried are mild (yellow split pea, red lentils, green lentils). You can make several small recipes and see what you like best. The waffles made with lentils or split peas aren't as creamy and light as the garbanzo flour ones. They are more heavy, and the lentil ones are more nutty. More wholesome is how I describe them. I have found, however, that if I decrease the proportion of bean flour to oat flour, it lightens the waffles. Updated note: I now routinely use lentils rather than garbanzo bean flour. I love the yummy wholesome-ness of these waffles, and the practicality of using lentils! I've adapted the recipe; see my post "Deliciously Wholesome Oat-Lentil Waffles."

These waffles, no matter what bean/legume flour you choose, offer a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates. Top them with fruit, fruit purees, or syrup. The girls and I have them often with applesauce on top, or simply with drizzled honey. Simply pureeing strawberries or peaches is delicious. Just put fruit, fresh, frozen, or canned, in a blender. Add liquid(water or fruit juice) if needed to puree. You can thicken the puree with fruit jel(modified cornstarch) if you like. For extra special waffles, you can have strawberry or peach puree, topped with blueberries and coconut. Or some other yummy variation. : ) Try prune spread(see the previous oat waffle post). I like prune spread mixed with strawberry sauce that I keep in my freezer. I also like bottled apricots and pineapple, together with coconut and some of the juice thickened with fruit gel as a topping for waffles. I haven't tried it with this particular kind of waffles.

We enjoy waffles several times a week. I make a big batch at a time, and place waffles on a cooling rack as they're done. Then after breakfast, I put extra waffles into a gallon-size freezer bag and freeze. During the week, I can just gently microwave the waffles to reheat them(it takes just a few seconds). You can also place them directly into a toaster.