Chai Spiced Banana Oat Pancakes (Gluten Free!)

OMG.  I think I found something good here.

I've been working on homemade gift ideas for Christmas, and I was hoping to make things that didn't require refrigeration and could sit for a few days, since coordinating among different houses and different days can be a problem with that stuff.  I've also been looking for gluten free food ideas, and I didn't want to do all chocolate or other candy.  There are a lot of variables here lol.  I figured some sort of baking mix might be a good idea.

My sister has Celiac disease, which means she can't process gluten.  This takes wheat, barley, and rye off the table.  Some celiacs can't process oats, but more often the problem is that oats are contaminated by other grains.  But, you can buy gluten free certified oats (I buy Bob's Red Mill).  This is really a big deal, because I find that oats are the best gluten free baking medium.  Have you ever looked at gluten free recipes?  They have like 5 different kinds of flour in them, because no one flour is able to mimic the taste and texture of wheat flour.  Rice flour alone gets too gummy.  Others get too crumbly.  You have to add things to take the place of the gluten like xanthan gum.  Gluten free baking is hard.  It requires a very delicate balance of flours for each item (taking into account the shape of the item even).  And baking times are really delicate too, because GF baked goods go from raw to dried out dust in a matter of seconds sometimes.  Plus, you have to invest in multiple kinds of flour, some of which are not cheap or are only sold in stores that are not cheap: sorghum, rice, arrowroot, buckwheat, corn, millet, tapioca, soybean, almond, etc.  And in the end, your baked goods often STILL end up with a grainy, crumbly texture.

But oats.  Oats are awesome for GF baking.  First, they have a bit of chew to them and they set up well, meaning things don't fall apart as easily.  Also, oats already have a pleasingly rough texture, so any textural issues with other GF baked goods are not a problem with oat-based recipes, because they're meant to be...textury lol.  That's why, I find, oat-based gluten free baked goods are often VERY close, if not indistinguishable, from their non-gluten-free counterparts (even when you have to use other flours in conjunction).  GF oatmeal cookies are amazeballs.  Sometimes I make this recipe (without the raisins) and then sandwich them with some sort of flavored buttercream in the middle.  It's awesome.

Also...bananas.  Bananas are really great for baking, because they keep things moist and can take the place of a lot of added fat.  (Applesauce is also great for that purpose.)  Plus, bananas are the shit.

Anyways, I got this idea in my head that I wanted to make a gluten free pancake mix to give as gifts.  Since pancakes are basically baked goods that are done on the stove, a lot of the same rules apply.  There are lot of GF pancake recipes out there, but most of them either looked really boring, or they required all kinds of hippie ingredients I don't keep around or don't intend to.  (A lot of gluten free recipes out there are ALSO vegan, for example, because gluten free diets are also sort of a health conscious fad now.  This is good, because it means that more and more gluten free options are becoming available in grocery stores, but I'm still gonna use butter and eggs, damn it.)  Also, I wanted to get as much of the recipe as possible into the mix so that it required as few add-in ingredients as possible for the person receiving the gift.  So no agave syrup or soy products or lemon juice or various extracts.

By cobbling together ideas from a bunch of different recipes, I think I found the right mix.  I got it down to only 3 added ingredients, all of which I know my sister has around at all times: butter, eggs, and bananas.  So I can package all of the dry ingredients as a mix and just include instructions on adding the other items.

I tested these out today, and they were really, really good.  Plus, they don't have to be just for your gluten free friends.  They're just oat pancakes.  You can use regular (non-GF-certified) oats if you don't have to worry about gluten.  (Regular oats are a bit cheaper, and you probably already have them around.)

A note about oat flour: You can buy already-prepared oat flour (like Bob's Red Mill brand, available at Whole Foods for sure, but regular grocery stores like Jewel often carry it).  But, I actually prefer the texture of taking whole rolled oats and pulsing them in the food processor myself.

A note about the spices: As written, the spices are subtle but definitely present.  Feel free to increase any or all of them if you want the spice to be more pronounced.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup oat flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp butter, melted (or margerine, or even coconut oil if you're a hippie like that)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 bananas, well mashed
(Plus more butter or oil for cooking the pancakes.)
Whatever syrup or topping you desire.

Makes 6-8 medium-sized pancakes.

1) Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.  At this point you can package this as a dry mix or continue with the wet ingredients.

2) Combine the melted butter, eggs, and bananas.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients.  Fold it all together until just combined.  Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to let the oats absorb some of the moisture.

3) Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  Butter or oil the pan and drop a few tablespoons of batter at a time, shaping into a circle or whatever shape you want.  (Note, if you want to, you can thin the batter with a bit of water.  I tried it both ways, and both are fine, so whatever you're more comfortable with.)  Cook the first side for about 3 minutes, or until bubbles start forming on the surface.  Flip and cook another two minutes.  (As you can see from the photo, I may have overcooked these a tad, but they still tasted awesome.)

4) Serve with butter and maple syrup, any other flavored syrup, fruit compote, etc.  I think these would be great with a ginger syrup (1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, approx. 2 tbsp water) or like a peach chutney or something.

Hooray!

Media pairing:

Mac Lethal rapping about pancakes (among other things) while making pancakes.

Corn Chowder with Chipotle Shrimp and Bacon

I'm on a mission to use up all the stuff in my freezer and pantry.  This is made rather difficult by my neurotic tendency to replace things as soon as I use them, especially staples.  I'm trying to resist that tendency.  My stock of canned beans and tomatoes is dwindling, and it makes me nervous lol.  BUT WHAT IF I HAVE TO MAKE EMERGENCY CHILI AND THE STORES ARE CLOSED!?  Anyways, I cleaned out/reorganized my freezer yesterday and found that I had 3 separate bags of corn in there.  Half a bag of grocery store corn, a bag of shucked farmers' market corn from last year, AND a bag of shucked farmers' market corn from this year.  Too much corn.  Plus I wanted the space, because I wanted to make a bunch of meals and freeze them.  (Exams are coming up next month, and I'm getting into super-prep stockpile mode.)  Also, I get into these moments when I realize I literally have weeks worth of food in the house, so I try to get creative on how to fit it all together into semi-coherent meals.  It's like a puzzle.  For neurotics and overplanners.  Hooray!

So anyway, I had this corn.  And I had some bacon (made corn and bacon hash last week...omg.  http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/07/17/bacon-corn-hash/).  And also some celery from my epic roasted chicken --> chicken stock --> chicken soup extravaganza last week. And oh look, a carton of fat free half-and-half that needs to be used this week.  Hey, scallions!  Half a yellow onion leftover!  OMG do you know what this means?  Corn chowder.  I was taking a walk and doing errands this morning and walked by Whole Foods.  Know what would be good on this corn chowder?  Those fancy chipotle shrimp from the seafood bar.  Huzzah!  This is clearly the stars alligning in favor of corn chowder.

I realize I'm a weirdo for making all kinds of soups during this sweltering hellbox of a Chicago summer, but no one said I had to make sense all the time.

I basically adapted a recipe from Cooking Light (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-corn-chowder-shrimp-50400000114422/).  (BTW, I ordered this year's Cooking Light cookbook, and I totally feel awesome about that decision.)  The original recipe actually wasn't so light, so I changed a few things, but it's still awesome.  Do this now.

INGREDIENTS:
4 slices bacon, chopped into lardons
1 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup celery, chopped (I just used one large rib, so just use however much works)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp fresh thyme, minced (I used 1 tsp and it was pretty faint, so you could add more if you like thyme)
4 cups corn kernels (thawed if frozen)
2 cups chicken broth (I use fat free, reduced sodium...all the homemade stuff was already frozen...oops lol)
1/3 cup half-and-half (I used fat free, and it worked great.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooked shrimp (However many you want - I think 3 per bowl is plenty.  Like I said, I just bought the pre-cooked chipotle shrimp from Whole Foods.)
Chopped scallions, for garnish.


Get all this fun stuff chopped, along with the bacon:

Brown the bacon in a Dutch oven or stock pot over medium or medium-high heat.  (I have kind of a gimpy electric stove, so I usually have to kick it up a bit to medium-high, but you know your stove).  Remove bacon bits with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

I love this part...add the onions, celery, garlic, and thyme to the bacon fat.  Cook 3 minutes until softened, stirring frequently.

Add the corn and cook 4 minutes, stirring periodically.  (Note, I decided to leave some of the liquid from the corn, since I figured there was delicious corn flavor in there.  The tradeoff is that your corn won't get any color on it, so if you want some char, you can squeeze all the liquid out.  I'm not sure how worth it that is though, since there's a lot of corn and it would take forever to brown, especially because it lowers the temp in the pot initially.)

Add the broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce and simmer about 5 minutes.  (Note: You'll probably want to eyeball the broth.  Start with 1 1/2 cups and see if you need more, because too much liquid makes the puree and reblend step sort of hard, and you want the soup to be chowdery, not watery.)

Put about half, maybe 2/3 of the corn mixture into a blender or food processor and pulse until blended but still a bit textury (it's a word).

Put the blended mixture back into the pot and stir to combine with the non-blended mixture.

Remove the pot from the heat and add the half-and-half, stirring to combine.

Chowder!  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I actually didn't add any extra salt because the flavor of the corn was so awesome and the bacon and shrimp had salt, but do what your heart desires.  Ladle chowder into bowls.  Now top with shrimp and garnish with the bacon and scallions all purty-like.

(Note: The Cooking Light recipe calls for using raw shrimp and cooking them in the soup for a couple minutes, and it also uses more bacon and incorporates some into the soup itself.  You could totally do those things.  But I like my way better, so there.)

This makes 4 first-course servings, but if you're looking for this to be dinner, it more realistically makes 3 servings.  Double the recipe if you're serving more people or want leftovers.  (And why wouldn't you want leftovers!?)

And today's media pairing:

You knew it was coming.  Yes, it's the Ipecac/Who wants chowdah? segment from family guy.  Actually, you probably shouldn't watch this anytime near dinnertime or anywhere near chowder lol.

Sopa de Albóndigas...with a little Swedish thrown in

So I've had this bag of IKEA meatballs sitting in the bottom of my freezer for...I don't know how long, but I'm pretty certain it's more than a year and a half.  Yikes.  I totally would have gobbled those suckers up by now, but I started this whole Weight Watchers thing about a year ago, and my eating habits have changed a lot.  The meatballs themselves aren't that bad, but the sauce you put on them, the carbs you put them over, etc....I just didn't fit it into my plan, and then I forgot I had them.  So anyways, meatballs in serious need of being used.  I also had some zucchini that was probably on its last day or two of acceptable usage.  Combine that with the fact that I've been a little nostalgic for the food I used to get in Los Angeles, and now I'm starting to get ideas.  Sopa de albóndigas, aka Mexican meatball soup!

You could obviously make your own meatballs for this, and here's an interesting recipe for the whole shebang: http://www.food.com/recipe/best-albondigas-soup-107281

But, I had these things around, and they saved me a lot of time and ingredients.  The fact that they're already cooked helps not only with time, but also with avoiding meatball disintegration.  So I approve of this shortcut...just don't call me Sandra Lee, because I'll cut you.

I know, I know, it's totally not kosher to use Swedish meatballs in a Mexican soup.  (Oh no, look what I did there, throwing a third cuisine into the mix!)

Ingredients:

1  1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow or white onion (about half large one)
2 ribs celery, chopped (works out to around 3/4 cup)
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped (works out to about a generous cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin (I'm a cumin fiend, so I use a lot, but you could reduce it to 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp dried oregano (If you've got fresh, go ahead and use that, but you'll need slightly more)
1/2 tsp chili powder
64 oz chicken broth (That's 2 of the cartons.  I use fat free, reduced sodium.)
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes (I like to use no salt added)
32 small meatballs (approximate - use as many as you want)
1 large zucchini (zucchino?), quartered and diced (works out to around 1 1/2 cups)
Juice of 1/2 a lime (or more if you want...I just had half a lime leftover from something else)
Hot sauce to taste (probably around 20 dashes, depending on what sauce you use)

Heat a large Dutch oven or medium stock pot over medium high.  Add olive oil and allow to coat the pan.  Add onions, celery, and carrots.  Cook while stirring for 30 seconds, then add garlic.  Sweat veggies down for a few minutes (6-8 minutes?), then add cumin, oregano, and chili powder.  Stir and cook for 30 seconds or so.

Add chicken broth and tomatoes (with their juice) and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Increase heat to about medium and add meatballs to soup.  Let heat through for about 5 minutes. (Note: I increased the heat at this stage because the meatballs were frozen and would lower the temp of the soup really quickly.  You'll reduce the heat again after the 5 minutes.)

Reduce heat and add zucchini.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.  (Note: You really don't want to overcook the zucchini, and it will continue to cook as the soup sits, with reheating, etc., so don't overdo it on the time here.)

Remove the soup from the heat and add the lime juice and hot sauce.  I used Louisiana hot sauce, because that's what I had.  It's not as spicy as some other hot sauces, so I used about 25 dashes to make it on the lower end of medium spicy.  You'll just have to add however much you want of whatever hot sauce you have.  I trust you.

And here's the finished product:

Om nom nommmmm....

This recipe will make about 8 first-course servings, with 4 meatballs each.

And, for your viewing pleasure, today's media pairing is a live-action 60-second remake of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs:

Stew of Thrones. Er, well, little tiny carrot ottomans and barley floorpillows and celery chaises, maybe.

NO, I didn't read the books. Nor do I bloody intend to! Man! I just finished one popular fiction series and already the peer pressure from the nerd squerd to start another? I can't. Not when HBO makes the adaptation so you know it's randy and sumptuous. Winter is coming. Yeah, and so is everybody else, in ever other scene, practically.


Yep, I just started Game of Thrones. And to commemorate the occasion, I had a friend over for two back-to-back episodes of lusty, crusty, surely syphillitic scandalousness, and a suitable meal drawn from the stories of George R. R. Martin.


A few other versions of these meals are floating around online already. These interpretations are very much my own, however, and so medievally easy to make!


For the main course, stew! The books speak often of venison, stewed with barley, beer and carrots. Sounds easy enough. Only, I really don't care for venison, and we have lamb nowadays in this realm, in abundance. So, that.


Chop into small pieces:
2 ribs celery
2 large carrots
1 red onion


Add these, a box of sliced mushrooms, and about a cup of pearled barley to a pot, with two cups water. And then... BEER! About 2 cups. For now. More as you go along.

Two pours for you, one for me. Two for you, one for me. Two for me, one for me,


Separately, brown half a pound of ground lamb, separating it into fine mince. You can do this first in the same pot to which you then add the veggies. I did mine separately so we could have some vegetarian stew alongside the lamb, for Handsome Consort.

When the lamb is browned, deglaze the pan with... guess what, BEER! Turn down to a low simmer and cover to soften.


When the stew carrots and barley are soft, add half a cup of meal. If you have barley grits on hand, fabulous, Altonate Brown. I didn't, so I just used cornmeal.  Now is a good time to salt and peper the stew too. Plenty of black pepper and a scant teaspoon of salt. Be sure the stew is kept at a bubble so the cornmeal gelatinizes, or whatever, fully. Gets gluey-good. If too thick, beer.


Once the cornmeal has thickened the stew to a less-than-porridgey consistency, add a big dollop of bacon fat and the lamb. Simmer and add beer or water until ready to serve. Garnish with minced herbs. Marjoram, Thyme and Parsley are ideal.

This turned out exactly as I wanted. Incredibly savory and filling. It was definitely bordering on a savory porridge, but without a starch to accompany it, that was just fine. By the next morning, it was breakfast congee for sure!

To accompany the stew, a salad as light and refreshing as the stew was hearty, likewise inspired by the food of Westeros: Salads of sweetgrass and spinach and plums, sprinkled with crushed nuts. 


Wellllllll.... there are actually hardly any edible grasses, you know. Corn, bamboo shoots... lemongrass if you don't actually eat it... so I decided none of those sounded very tasty with plums, nuts and spinach. I improvised.

This is a toss of finely julienned spinach and sorrel, tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Add to your "grass" some thinly sliced plums. After that, with the sorrel, plums and lemon, it was quite tart. So I added a generous helping of currants and some honey to the dressing. Perfect! Sweet, tart and fresh. Top with a load of chopped pecans. Now we feast!


Obviously, the accompanying media was Game of Thrones. Here's a favorite still which should chill you to the bone and make the stew all the more needed to warm you, sirrah:

*dribble dribble* mmmmm stew's good.