A couple of weeks ago I was at a loss for what to have for lunch and pulled gluten free pizza dough out of the fridge, then I added tomatoes, peppers, and thought to myself, “I need protein.” so I added chickpeas.  It didn’t quite feel complete so I added olive oil and curry powder.  The result? O.M.G. I’ve now made this pizza multiple times and it’s been requested for a party.  I thought I’d share with y’all.

Ingredients:

-GF pizza dough (I like Udi’s)
-1 cup stewed chopped tomatoes
-1 cup rinsed chickpeas
-1 small bell pepper, sliced, or 5 mini bell peppers, sliced
-10 kalamata olives, sliced
-1 TBSP olive oil
-2 tsp curry powder
-Salt to taste

Instructions:

-Preheat oven according to pizza package.

-In a bowl, toss together all the ingredients, except the dough

-Place mixture on the dough.

-Bake until the dough is crisp (about 10 minutes)

-Enjoy!

Next time I may add some chopped up fresh cilantro after I remove it from the oven-YOM!

As amazing as my husband is, he DOES NOT cook. When we first met, his refrigerator had ketchup, tarter sauce, and beer in it.  That’s it.  The freezer had pot pies, tater tots, and fish sticks. YUM! I did teach him how to make Mrs. T’s perogies-you know, boil water, put them in, wait for them to float, drain them, add some butter, and seasoning salt. I also taught him how to make scrambled eggs.  He was REALLY proud of himself when he made his first egg.

We’ve been together for 7 years.  If I don’t cook, we go out.  Since we’re trying really hard to save money, that means that I cook A LOT. I love to cook.

BUT.

Quite frankly-I’m exhausted.  I NEED SOME HELP!  One of the problems is that I have so many food allergies that we can’t just throw a pizza in the oven and Shaun can’t make eggs or pirogies for me.  We’ve talked about me teaching him to cook but we never do.  Well…

Last night was the night! Look at what my hubby made me!

(These are all phone pictures since I was too lazy (Yes I am THAT exhausted) to go downstairs and get my camera.)

I picked what I would teach him (and he freaked out and said it was too much too soon) and then I told him how to make it.  He did it ALL himself. 

Here’s the recipe, so that he can make it again.

Ingredients:

(He took this picture for himself-the idea for a post came when he said he’d never remember how to make this.)

-2 TBSP olive oil (a turn or so around the pan)
-1/2 onion
-5 cloves (pieces) of garlic
-1 pound frozen shrimp
-1/2 cup wine
-Juice of 1 lemon
-The greens of green onions, chopped
-1/2 tsp salt
-A few grinds of pepper from the pepper mill
-Half a box of pasta
-Quinoa, rice, or rice pasta for your wife

Instructions:

-Put the frozen shrimp in a colander and soak in cold water.

-Put water in a big pot on the stove and turn on high.  It needs to boil for the pasta. Once it boils, cook the pasta according to the package.

-Get a big skillet (the one with the big sides) and put the olive oil in it.

-Chop the onion (a Slap Chop is great for this!), put it in the pan.

-Chop the garlic, put it in the pan.

-Chop the green onions. DO NOT PUT THEM IN THE PAN.

-Cut the lemon in half. DO NOT PUT IT IN THE PAN.

-Turn the stove on to Medium High.

-Stir the onion and garlic mixture until it starts to look a little slimy-about 3 minutes.

-Add the defrosted shrimp.

-Add the wine and the lemon juice.

-Stir occasionally until the shrimp is pink-about 5 minutes.

-Once the shrimp is pink, add the green onions, salt, and pepper.

-Stir and turn off the stove.

-Serve over pasta, rice, or quinoa.  Microwave some frozen broccoli for a side.

Viola!

Lucy loved it!

It was fabulous!  Thank you honey!

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? I’ve just been really busy at work and well work unfortunately takes precedence over the blog.  To remind you, every Thursday until Thanksgiving 2011, I will be posting something I’m thankful for.

Today?

This town and all the people in it:

[source]

It took us nearly three years in California to build up a good friend base, feel a connection to where we were living, and to feel like it was home.  We’ve lived in Boise for almost 5 months and I already feel like it’s home.  I absolutely love it here.  The only thing I miss about the Bay Area are the friends we left but thankfully I go back for work and can visit.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday.  I LOVE birthdays.  Birthdays are my favorite holiday (no joke) and I can remember most everybody’s birthday.  My birthday used to be my favorite holiday but now Lu’s is .  Anyway, on Shaun’s 30th birthday I gave him a huge party.  I had a 6 week old but I thought it was important to celebrate the big 3-0.  He promised me that he would do the same when I turned 30.  Tomorrow night is MY big party.  We’re having margaritas and gluten free, meat free, and dairy free appetizers and cake!  Over 20 people are coming!  And they’re awesome people-they’re my friends!  The fact that I have over 20 quality friends after only living here for 5 months is amazing.  I’m not normally the type of person to have a ton of friends either but it’s different when you live in a small town and yes Boise IS a small town!

Then, next week, I’m hosting Thanksgiving.  Originally Richard and Elaina were going to drive down from Pullman, WA but that didn’t pan out and it makes me sad but I understand.  I’m still going to have 10 adults and 2 toddlers at my house.  WOWZERS.  I’m so excited to host my friends and family for Thanksgiving.  I can’t wait! Here’s the menu:

That’s:

-Turkey (organic and hormone free-holy expensive!)
-Ham (local and organic-I can’t wait to get it at the Farmer’s Market  on Saturday) with a pineapple glaze
–Ma’s corn bread stuffing (this is one my most favorite things in the world and I’m so sad I don’t get to have some )
– Mashed Potatoes (both dairy free and the real thing)
-Gravy
– Megan’s Dad’s Green Beans (aka Green Beans with Onion Paste from Madhur Jaffrey’s book An Invitation to Indian Cooking)
– Crockpot Butternut Squash Risotto (my main dish since I can’t eat anything above except for the green beans and dairy free mashed potatoes)

Others are making:

– Cranberry Sauce
– Sweet Potato with Kale
-Homemade (and evidently awesome) Macaroni and Cheese
-Rolls
– Green Salad
-Pumpkin Pie

If I have time, I’m making an Apple Pie too-just because I like to.

I’ve stared everything that is both gluten free and vegan.

For appetizers I’ll have hummus and veggies and Luke is bringing his “Sausage Bread”.  I may have to bust out something from this too:

I just got it in the mail from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  I’m excited to see what’s in there (even though I can’t eat it).

YOM.

For some reason, I always thought that making granola was really difficult.  When I ate the last of my Mom’s secret recipe yummy granola this week I thought to myself, “I should try to make some granola.”

Today, I was on a roll-we got up and cleaned the entire house, I made Shaun’s lunch for the week, I had lentils stewing away on the stove, I had a chicken in the crockpot, and I thought, “I SHOULD make granola.” I searched for “granola” online and Alton Brown’s recipe came up.

Here’s my take on it.  It seriously took me 10 minutes or less to put together.

Ingredients:

-3 cups GF oats
-1/2 cup slivered almonds
-1/2 cup roughly chopped raw almonds
-1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans
-1/2 cup sunflower seeds
-1/4 cup chia seeds (optional)
-1/4 cup flax seeds
-1/4 cup sesame seeds
-3/4 cup shredded coconut
-1/3 cup palm sugar (you can use brown sugar)
-1/3 cup maple syrup
-1/4 cup coconut oil
-3/4 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

-Mix oats, nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, and palm sugar in a large bowl.

-In another  bowl heat up the coconut oil and then add the maple syrup and salt.

-Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well.

-Spread mixture out on two large cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

-Stir mixture every 15 minutes for even baking.

-Let cool and ENJOY! YOM!

Lucy, Tessa, my sister and I all gave this a 5 out of 5 stars!  Shaun isn’t a granola kind of guy, so he hasn’t had any yet-he doesn’t know what he’s missing!

I won’t say vegan because I will still eat honey and I will eat fish about once a week (fish on the safe list and that is wild caught). What happened this week  happened to me back in 2005.  It wasn’t as painful but it sucked all the same.  I went on this diet for about a year and it helped tremendously. I’m sad because I really do enjoy meat (sorry veggies out there!) but I think it will help me and I’m up for anything at this point.  I will have to make Shaun (my meat LOVING husband) and Lucy meat most nights, but that’s okay.

I still don’t feel 100% but I do feel 100% better than I’ve felt in a week.  I am not mad at my body anymore and I’m ready to tackle this thing!!!

This morning Lucy and I went with Lissa and Tessa to the Farmer’s Market and I went a little crazy.  It felt so good to be out but I went veggie overboard.  We’re leaving for PA in a few days and I definitely didn’t need to buy so much.  I threw most of it in a pot and I’m making veggie soup that I can enjoy until we leave and I can freeze for when we get back. Win! Win!

I’ve been horrible about taking pictures lately.  I will remedy that!  Thank you ALL for the support.  I can’t tell you how much it means to me.

We decided to have everyone who has been hosting us over for a BBQ.

I made a Carne Asada feast!  With limited kitchen supplies it surprisingly turned out really well!  The girls liked it!

Here’s the gluten and dairy free version:

-Bed of lettuce
-Carne Asada
-Rice
– Black Beans
-Salsa
–Tapatio
-Un-pictured yummy guacamole, courtesy of the wonderful Aunt Megan!

The others had flour tortillas, cheese, and sour cream. 

Our $25 grill from Craigslist, did it’s job!

After dinner, the boys moved my $15 Craigslist desk (can you tell we’re LOVING Craigslist?) into my office.  It was heavy!!!

Dropping it:

Getting it up the step!

Well, maybe…

It made it!

I LOVE my old school, metal desk-it’s exactly what I wanted.  I just need to get some Goo Gone (oh wait, I have a gallon sitting in San Francisco) to clean it well.

While the guys moved the desk, Lu, Megan, and I played “cheese” (taking pictures of Lu while she tries to put the lens cap on my camera).

Another wonderful day in Boise!