Adventures in Gluten (and Sugar) Freedom from a southern blogger chick!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Shoutout (a Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday Blessing) and a recipe to boot

It has been a good couple of days.

•I got back from Wal Mart, which I loathe, and I got a beautiful box of cookies in the mail today from Gluten Free Steve and the Artist, and I am so excited. I ate ONE cookie and OMGOMGOMGOMG. They are amazing. Steve, you know how much I love you already, and David, your cookies are wonderous AND your art is beautiful! I am a lucky girl! (P.S. At Wal Mart, I stuck to the revolution, if you're keeing score. But what I did need ended up costing a lot, and Jeffrey bought groceries.)

•I've made a new friend today. Shoshana Ginzburg. She's an amazing woman, the wife of the man we've been doing the research on (when we were in Indiana). She is a goldmine, and is so warm and lovely. I always knew in my heart she had a large part in his work, and I was right -- and now she will be a part of the research, too (and is willing to help us, which is great). I have had the best time today getting acquainted with her today on email. And it makes me even more eager to continue the research Randy and I are working on. WOW.

I have always gotten very lucky in my historical research, and let me just say, finding Shoshana last night, well, it will make this research something spectacular!


•Jenn Hill Watson had a beautiful baby boy yesterday, named Tyler Reed Watson. I am so happy for Jenn and Danny, even though she went through 14 hours of labor before the Csection. I've seen one picture (been trying to get it off my phone so Joy could post it, but damn the new phone...) and he's amazing. It makes me happy to have new babies in my circle of friends. And this one is much loved, to be sure. Here's a pic Joy just sent me. Isn't he beautiful? Looks like the perfect blend of his mama and daddy.

•A Recipe for a cold day when you need Chinese Food.

I was so seriously craving Chinese food the other day, I coudn't stand it .

I dragged out an old Chinese cookbook (it was my Mom's) and found that most of my old favorite recipes have cornstarch in them, so I converted/created a great recipe for GF Beef and Broccoli. Since I can't transfer pictures from my new phone (POC!) you can't see how yummy it looked. But this is adapted from Madame Chang's Chinese Food. This is my own combination, but an adaptation of one of her sauces.

GF Beef and Brocolli
Serves four

One pound beef steak, sliced thin (I used rib eye, but you can also use sirloin and flank steak)
One egg white
One T. cornstarch
1 inch canola oil for deep frying

One large crown of broccolli, cut into smaller florets
One t. chopped ginger
Two cloves garlic, chopped
One onion, sliced thin
Three green onions, chopped (optional)
One can of water chestnuts, rinsed and drained
One can of sliced bamboo shoots
One package sliced mushrooms, or one large can, drained

Sauce:

1 T. sherry
2 T. GF steak sauce or GF stir fry sauce (I used a GF La Choy Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce)
2 T. GF soy sauce or wheat free tamari
2 T. GF Worchestershire sauce
1/2 t. sugar (Omit if you use Teriyaki Sauce)
3 T. water and one GF Beef Bouillon Cube, mixed
1 t. cornstarch
1.2 t. Chili garlic paste OR red pepper flakes (optional, or add more!)

Mix sauce and set aside.

Blanch broccoli in water in the microwave for three minutes, drain and set aside

Slice meat and mix with egg white and cornstarch; set aside while you chop the veggies.

Put drained broccoli, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms in a bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in wok until it ripples and add beef. Stir fry (it’s like a deep fry) for about three minutes until the crust is brown. Remove beef to its bowl and set aside (don’t worry, you will reheat it sufficiently).

Drain all the oil from the pan except 2 T. Add onion and stir fry til fragrant; add garlic and ginger for a minute.

Add remaining vegetables and stir fry them for about 3 minutes til the mushrooms are limp (or until all the veggies are warm and crunchy. Stir, then add the sauce and bring to a boil. Add the meat back and stir it all together for two more minutes.

Serve on rice or rice noodles.

Much, much love,
Ging

5 comments:

a kelly said...

I have been seriously craving Chinese, especially Dim Sum. That was one of our Sunday Blessings. We called it our new religion...Dim Sum-ism. We would meet family and friends, the communion came around on trays and then we would leave our offering. And we were filled with the spirit...
It may have been irreverent but it made us laugh. And I miss it.
So I gotta start cooking some serious Chinese...THANKS for the recipe!
I'm so glad you got cookies!Yea!
alex

Cassandra said...

Did the cookies make it okay - not too much breakage? I didn't think it would be possible to send cookies in the mail. My boxes usually come from the post office full of holes and squashed. :( Well, I might have to mail some cookies after all.
Hey, if you're keeping score - Braden came via 37 hours of labor, an hour and a half of pushing, and THEN a c-section. He's still causing me trouble, lol.

Ginger Carter Miller said...

Alexsandra, I would happily convert to dimsumism. The recipe would work well with chicken, too. It was the sauce that worked out. The addition of the worchestershire sauce made the GF soy thicker, zestier, so it was a good mix.
Cassandra, he packed them in a plastic glass and rolled it in peanuts. So they made it great. These are HUGE thick sandwich cookies with a York peppermint patty in the middle.

And I never went into labor -- God knew what he was giving me, and saved the labor for later :-)

Melanie said...

Gee, must be the time of year. I have been craving something with peanut sauce. So I bought some rice noodles and pea pods. I forgot the fresh ginger :(I must say the beef and broccoli sounds pretty good too!

Carrie said...

sounds DELICIOUS ginger!! I LOVE chinese!! That's one beautiful little baby!!