Always check to make sure your ingredients are gluten free!
The Soup That Was: GF Speedy Potato Soup
No photo for the soup today. Seems the battery was dead on the only camera within reach when the soup was done. AND… if there is one thing I have learned with TWO little ones at home it is this:
Eat when you can because someone is bound to need something as soon as the spoon heads toward your mouth.
Yesterday was one of those days… and today is not looking much better. I think maybe I’m just wiser. (Or wishful?) By the time I had the Chicklet settled down, the Peanut was up and ready to parrrrrtay! Needless to say, neither their naps nor their activities seemed to be on the same schedule yesterday. And while that is helpful when it comes to feeding time for THEM.. .it means there isn’t much time for me to think about what I might need to be eating.
When my mom was here helping out, she mentioned the importance of convenient foods. And then she realized that most of the foods she was thinking of are hardly convenient for people who are gluten-free, not to mention inexpensive if they do exist. (Or tasty, I should add while I’m at it.) So, when we hit the grocery store after she left, I made sure to throw some things in the cart that are truly convenient, healthy and easy to keep on hand. I have Oikos Greek Yogurt in the fridge, some cheese sticks, GF pretzels, Nutella, a huge array of fruit/veggies,etc. To make it even easier, I made sure there was some pre-prepped stuff that normally I would do myself to save money and enjoy fresher flavors. For example, I bought a jar of pre-crushed garlic cloves in olive oil and some Pacific Foods GF broth/soups. I knew this stuff would come in handy when I was cooking for just me.
I even had hidden a little chocolate treat in my purse for the Chicklet and I to have nibbles from in the afternoon. (It was probably more for me, admittedly, as she truly prefers to munch on fruit first.) I knew I was in trouble yesterday when the girls bothhad about 15 minutes of overlapping sleep and I noticed how freakin’ hungry I was! It must have been 2:30PM and the last time I had eaten was 6:20AM when I had a banana before the day got rolling. While I had been drinking coffee and water, that was just not enough. I wanted food….. NOW!
I actually contemplated the nutritional value and pay-off/costs of eating the chocolate treat for my mid-afternoon lunch. I wondered if the sugar-high it would provide would last until my Love got home from work after 5:30pm. I had convinced myself that the calories were a non-issue as I would have been consuming the same (or more!) with a “real lunch”. And then I realized I was contemplating the nutritional values of the lunches I see my high school students eating. Yeap. Time to make something to eat. But it had to be fast.
Enter Stage Right: shredded refrigerated potatoes. I thought about scrambling an egg and tossing in some potatoes, but really I was craving soup, not breakfast. So out of the need for food in under 15 minutes, I made the best soup ever. The quantities listed below are COMPLETE ESTIMATES as there was no time for note-taking nor measuring. I was hungry! (Even the photo was sacrificed for sustenance while the battery charged.)
So the next time you are in a hurry for food, just open your fridge. It will be there. Yes, there are more elaborate meals you can make. But sometimes there is nothing more satisfying that a good bowl of soup. Even the Chicklet would agree with that statement. She’s the one who polished this bowl of soup off when she awoke from her nap.
Please be sure to check your ingredients. All of mine are gluten-free. (Even the cheese – Sargento’s Pepper Jack – is gluten free.)
Gluten Free Pepper Jack & Potato Soup
Serves 1.5 people for lunch
Ingredients (quantities are estimated)
2/3 cup shredded refrigerator potatoes (Simply Potatoes are gluten free)
1 1/2 cup + chicken broth (Pacific Foods is gluten free)
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 slice pepper jack cheese (Sargento’s is gluten free)
2 – 3 Tablespoons half and half
OPTIONAL: Bacon bits (Hormel is gluten free), ham or turkey slices/chopped, chopped green onion or scallions or parsley, etc
Directions:
- Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, potatoes, minced onion and garlic. Stir until fragrant (or 1 – 2 minutes).
- Add chicken broth to cover potatoes plus a little more (about 1/4 cup more). The potatoes will absorb the broth while cooking. Too little broth will make for a pasty potato soup. Keep your broth handy. You can always add more as the cooking continues.
- Simmer the potatoes until tender. Drop pieces of the sliced cheese on top of the soup. Stir in completely. Use an immersion blender or small blender to cream the potatoes/soup.
- Add a couple spoonfuls of hot soup to the half and half (to avoid heating the half and half too fast and curdling it) and then add it back into the soup. Stir until smooth.
- Sprinkle your soup with crumbled bacon bits or chopped green onion, etc
- Try to eat it all before your toddler spies you munching and smells the goodness. She’s going to want some too! (Or maybe just be smarter than I am and make enough for the two of you to begin with!)
Happy Gluten-Free Eating!
~Kate
GF, low fat & still delicious: Potato Salad
GF, low fat & still delicious: Potato Salad, originally uploaded by Kate Chan.
My mom makes the best potato salad, hands down. She will tell you that it’s “just potato salad” but no matter what I do to try and recreate her salad, I fail at the flavor somehow. Maybe it’s just another one of those things that needs a Mom’s touch to be successful and delicious.
To be honest, as a kid, I didn’t much care for her version as she mixes in crunchy celery etc with soft potatoes and eggs. In my book, at the time, ne’er should the two textures intermingle. I mean, what was it supposed to be: crunchy or soft? Oh, it bugged my kid-tongue to think I was getting something soft for my palate and then wind up with a chunk of crunch. I can see the same texture aversion happening with the Chicklet as she sorts her morning blueberries, strawberries, plums or whatnot.
In her case, however, I haven’t quite figured out why some of the poor little fruit nuggets wind up in the rejected pile. They appear to be the same as the one she popped into her mouth not moments before. At this point in my toddler observation, I think she is separating by firmness/texture. But who knows. She’s much like the Willy Wonka Egg-Dicator machine – she KNOWS what she is doing, but it’s a mystery to the outside world why THAT particular egg (or fruit in her case) has been rejected. Thankfully, the Chicklet is NOT a Veruca Salt about her sorting and needs. =)
Instead of trying to match my mom’s potato salad, I just decided to go my own direction. The latest of my potato salad creations uses Fage Greek Yogurt (2%) and mayo to cut the thickness (and fat) that using mayonnaise alone creates. (Oh…. yea… I don’t care for pasty potato salad either. See? The Chicklet and I are completely related. LOL) (A SIDE NOTE: I have been using the Greek Yogurt to replace sour cream too without any detection by either the Chicklet nor my Love. And no, I have absolutely no affliation nor financial connection to Fage… I’m just a fan.)
While there are still the vestiges of summer hanging on and at least one more decent BBQing weekend (Labor Day!) ahead of us, I thought this might be a good time to finally share this recipe. My Love thinks the only thing he would change/add to this recipe is some diced apple to give it a bit more sweetness. I have listed the apple as an optional ingredient as it does taste great, but I am perfectly content with this salad without the apple bits.
I would love to know your riffs on potato salad. If you are wiling, will you please share your favorite potato salad recipe in the comments? We are always on the hunt for a good potato salad here!
Here’s our recipe:
Gluten Free Low Fat Potato Salad
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1 1/2 pounds of thin-skinned potatoes (we used baby red) or small fingerling potatoes
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 – 2/3 cup Fage 2% Plain Greek Yogurt (or other low fat plain yogurt)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons wasabi paste (optional)
1/2 cup chopped apple (optional) (1 apple – we use Gala or Pink Lady apples)
2 Tablespoons – 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
salt/pepper to taste
Directions:
- Hard boil your eggs. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Pour off the hot water and cover eggs with cool water until completely cooled. Once cooled, chop eggs and set aside.
- While your eggs are simmering, cut your potatoes into 1″ chunks (or leave the fingerlings whole if using those). Place the potatoes into a large saucepan and cover with lightly-salted water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer, covered for 15 – 20 minutes or until just tender (a fork should insert easily without mushing or breaking apart the potato). Drain and cool for 10 minutes in a strainer.
- Whisk together mayo, yogurt, olive oil, salt/pepper, and wasabi (if using) until smooth.
- Toss cooled potatoes with vinegar and salt. Add chopped bell peppers, onion, celery, parsley, chopped eggs, apples (if using) and mayo/yogurt mixture. Toss to coat/mix well. (Don’t stir too vigorously or you will break about your potatoes and obliterate the eggs!)
- Cover and refrigerate until chilled (at least 30 minutes) before serving.
Serve with your favorite BBQ fare…. or just eat it on the run. That’s what I’ve been doing lately!
Happy GF Eating, All!
~Kate
G & G leave the scene
Grammy & Grampy’s last day with the girls, originally uploaded by Kate Chan.
It’s official. Well, wait. A couple things are official and they are as follows:
- We are a four person household.
- There is no one else in the house who drinks coffee…which means no matter WHAT time I get up… I get to make it.
- I am suffering from Mom-Withdrawal. Seriously. It’s rather heartache inducing and painful.
- My mom and dad have left my girls with HIGH expectations for laugher, love, attention and parenting. Here’s hoping we can live up to it.
- No one can meet your needs like your Mom can. (Well, okay.. my Love usually can…but he has been back at work since week 2.)
- Zoe has adopted Grammy-speak for many things. Namely the fleece blanket is now called “The Toasty” as in “bundle up and stay toasty”.
- It will make your heart sing and you nostalgic mind reel when you see your 2 year old running for hugs and kisses from her Grammy and Grampy.
- Grampy’s itchy beard is a FAR second to Grammy’s sweet kisses in the mind of a two year old.
- Hauling two kids, groceries, diaper what-nots, etc is NOT going to be easy. But I can do it. (It will be easier when I am healed from surgery, I hope!)
- I love my parents and so does my Love, the Chicklet and the Peanut. Oh, we are so very thankful for the help my mom and dad have been able to provide for the last six weeks. Truly. Thank you, guys.
What have you learned?
Reading Together, originally uploaded by Kate Chan.
It’s 1:30 in the morning and here I sit with a laptop on my knees, a baby snorgling (really…she already has a cold) next to me and some bad reruns on TV to entertain my brain while I wait for the imp to completely crash. Somehow, in the last two and half weeks, I have lost complete control over any “free time” that used to exist in my life. Somehow? OH YEAH! Babies will do that to ya, huh? Truthfully, the bigger hurdle for me has been the very painful and not-so-smooth recovery from my c-section. It means I can’t pick up anything heavier than our now 7 pound little one… nor walk far… nor do the stairs in our house… etc. THAT is killing me. More than anything in the world, I miss carrying and playing with Zoe. Now, since I’m relatively confined to a minimal movement lifestyle, I have begun to relish my mornings waking up with Zoe in bed with me and the baby in the bassinet nearby. At least when we wake up together, I can cuddle her, tickle and play a bit more. We sing songs together (now we are making up songs about the two sisters), count fingers and toes, and decide on breakfast. (She typically wishes to opt OUT of breakfast for more toy-time with Buzz Lightyear and Grammy who is here to save the day while I recover.) Thank goodness for slow waking mornings, no work (yet) and a happy souled child.
And since my writing time is limited (mostly by Zoe’s desire to help me type….not so helpful, actually), I have found that this time of night (or the last night feeding) has my brain working overtime. I have found myself revisiting writing topics and thoughts that I had when teaching writing. When time moved slowly enough that everyone stopped to just write for 15 minutes. I miss that time. I think writing helps me organize my world and learning. While I don’t consider myself “a writer”, writing comes from the heart and soul of who i am and I have always found myself writing or doodling my world around me. It helps me think about the lessons life has taught me and the ones I am still trying hard to learn. In fact, I found this site: Plinky.com that gives people writing prompts just to get started. The one I found tonight was “Share what you’ve learned lately”. Oh, I had to cover my chuckle a bit so as not to wake the household up. What have I learned lately? OH MY. Here’s my list. I hope you will share yours too. Truly! I want to know what you are learning lately too!
- When baby and toddler naps coincide, EVERYONE in the house is happy and napping. And when they don’t, it makes for a long day.
- There is no way I will wake up for the first few hours of the early morning…which is perfect as there is NO way my love WON’T wake up then. (And conversely, he can’t seem to wake in the early morning when I can. I’m telling you…match-made-in-heaven!)
- My local CostCo (thank you, Mom, for the first outing NOT to a doctor’s office in almost THREE WEEKS!) carries frozen GREEN garbanzo beans!?!?! Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of a monster-sized bag of these little babies. My brain is whirling with ideas. now.. if only my body will have the energy to pull the ideas together. I know the Chicklet will munch on a few for lunch a la edamame (like she LOVES) but am not sure just what I will do with the rest. Have any ideas to share?
- If there is ONE diaper to change…. there will definitely be another at the *exact same time* as the first. That’s just the way it is around here.
- There is no better cure for slow healing than your Mom. No matter how old you are. I almost snuck in to bed with her at 5:30 in the morning yesterday just for a cuddle. :D
- I have no idea how I arrived at the girls’ pediatrician appointments on time as I have been unable to organize any other outing in any timely manner since. (It must have been Divine Intervention.)
- You can read a story 8,000 times in a row. You will still be asked to read it again and the giggles will still come – as will the screeches of delight and terror (the Chicklet is currently freaked out by gloves…long story about a high school kid stocking milk and thinking it would be funny to reach his gloved hand out over the milk jugs and growl “ROAR” at my barely two-year old daughter who was traumatized.) Who knew that “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
” could provide such a wide range of emotions repeatedly? :)
- There is nothing sweeter than holding my Love’s hand as we cuddle the two little sisters together. Nothing.
- There are so many more things I need to learn – and will learn – as this parenting adventure continues, Part of me is completely exhausted at the mere thought of the adventures to come and the other parts of me tingle with curiosity and intrigue. I want to cherish every second with my girls while they are young but I long to know them and see them when they are bigger. i wonder what they will be like, what will make them laugh, what will drive them, where they will go/travel, what adventures we can share, etc. but I don’t want my wondering about their futures to speed up their present or make me miss the beauty of the moment with their little hands in mine. OH LIFE is unfair. Somedays I just want it all to continue for an eternity for us all.
- I am blessed to have BOTH of my parents able to meet and love my children. Children I never thought I would be blessed enough to hold, love and have. Children who I never thought would have the chance to know my Dad’s scratchy beard-kisses, warm hand caresses or silly songs that he sings. Or maybe they would miss out on my Mom’s sweet touches, tender loving games, joyful support or their dreams and imaginations. Maybe I just think that by watching my girls interact with my Mom and my Dad, I am able to relive the moments I hold dear in my heart of being little within my Mom and Dad’s loving protection. I am a lucky girl. That much is true.
- I have learned that I need to write. That I love to write. And that writing brings my peace.
What about you? What have you learned this week or recently?
Back again when I get time to type with a recipe for a Fresh Peach Dutch Pancake and/or a low-fat apple-sweetened scrumptious potato salad.
Happy GF adventures and life learning!
~Kate
