Quinoa Cheese Bites (gluten free)

Quinoa Cheese Bites

The boys could not agree how to eat these cheesy little dumplings: G-man smothered his in tomato sauce and the Cadet carefully dipped each bite. Does it really matter? They were eating quinoa. Voluntarily, cheerfully even.

Quinoa Cheese Bites started with Elle's recipe for Vegetarian Meatballs, and quinoa stands in place of crackers. A few more tweaks, and voila! Gluten free and oven baked, you can serve them as an entree or as a perfect take-along snack for a party.

1 cup quinoa, cooked*
1 large (or 2 small) eggs
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (I have not tried it, but I bet non-dairy cheese would work well.)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp basil

Cook the quinoa. (I added two cups of boiling water to the quinoa, stirred it until it came back to a boil, put the lid on the pot and left it for half an hour.)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a large baking dish (or two, 12" square dishes) with coconut oil or olive oil.

Mix everything together. Form one-inch balls, gently press them together and place them onto the baking dish. If you dip your hands in water first, and again every so-often, it will be easier to form the balls. Bake, uncovered, for about forty minutes, until the tops are golden.

Serve with your favorite tomato sauce, or blend the following together:

16 oz unsalted tomato sauce
small onion
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic



[For anyone who is paying attention: yes, this is a repost from 2012. :) ]

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www.stealthymom.com

Garlic and Cheddar Bagels

Garlic and Cheddar Bagels

Bagels are easy to make, and a great project for the kids to help with in the kitchen. Twice this year, G-man has taken Garlic and Cheddar Mini-Bagels when it was his turn for preschool snacks. I based this recipe on one by John D Lee which turn out chewy on the outside and soft on the inside.  The cheesy, garlicky variety are as great fresh from the oven as they are toasted the next day for breakfast. Yum.

For eight doughnut-shop sized bagels, or sixteen mini-bagels:

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp oil (avocado or olive work well)
4 cups unbleached flour or whole wheat flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup grated cheddar

In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water, salt, and sugar. Gently stir in the yeast and allow it ten minutes to wake up and start to bubble. Stir in the oil, then three cups of the flour. (If you are using whole wheat, two and a half cups might be stiff enough.)

Turn the dough onto a floured board, and spread it out with your hands. Sprinkle the garlic and the cup of cheddar on top. Fold the dough over, and knead for five minutes, adding flour as needed.

Let the dough rest for ten minutes, then cut into eight (or sixteen) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

Shape the balls into bagels: Poke a hole in the middle, and gently enlarge the hole with your hands. Alternatively, you can stick your finger in the hole and spin the bagel on the board, enlarging the hole. (The kids like to help with this.) Make the holes ridiculously large, and the dough will shrink back a little.

Allow the bagels to rise until doubled, about half an hour, longer if it is cool in your kitchen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425F, and set a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Boil the bagels in batches: Gently drop the bagels into the boiling water, leaving enough room for each to expand and float. After a minute, flip the over and boil for another minute. With a slotted spoon, gently remove the boiled bagels and place them on greased cookies sheets.

Bake the bagels for nine minutes, then turn them over and bake for another nine or ten minutes. If you are making minis, bake them for only eight minutes on each side. Allow them to cool at least fifteen minutes before you tear into them.

(An illustrated recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bagels can be found here.)

www.stealthymom.com

Fresh Ricotta and Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Rolls (with the whey!)

Fresh Ricotta and Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Rolls

Fresh Ricotta (or Paneer) cheese is so easy to make. The challenge is to find a good use for the leftover whey. About a year ago I started to use the whey for making bread and it is now a routine. The whey is not a "leftover" any more, but part of the process since I generally make them at the same time. Sometimes we save the ricotta for pizza, pasta or kale paneer, and sometimes we smear it on the freshly baked rolls and call it a meal. Either way, it is a delicious way to spend an afternoon. The bread recipe makes enough to last us for two weeks if we pop most of it into the freezer right away.

Start with the cheese:

Ricotta (or Paneer)

1/2 gallon whole milk- (non-homogenized if you can get it)
1 cup plain yogurt (optional, but adds flavour)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp salt

Cheesy Lentils and Greens (gluten free)

Cheesy Lentils and Greens (gluten free)

"Super Really Good," said five year old G-man, when I asked how to describe Cheesy Lentils and Greens. While that endorsement makes me smile, I'll have to tell you myself that it is like a grown up mac'n'cheese. Minus the mac, with lentils and added bites of kale. Is it a side or an entree? Yes.


1 cup red lentils
2 cups water
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 small mushrooms, finely diced
1 bunch kale, ribs removed
1 cup grated cheddar

In a lidded saucepan (an Ultimate Pan if you have one) gently heat the lentils, water, milk, and salt to a low boil. Turn the heat down, put the lid on and simmer until the lentils are al dente, between twenty minutes to half an hour.

Meanwhile, finely chop the kale and mushrooms. Add them to the lentil mixture, and continue to simmer until the kale is softened.

Stir in the cheddar, then serve.

I shared this recipe with Fight back Friday and Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love,  Empty Your Archive (veggie collection),  Homestead Barn Hop,  Fat Tuesday,  Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Hearth and Soul Blog Hop,  Gluten Free Wednesday,  Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday,  Thriving on Thursday and the HomeAcre Hop.

www.stealthymom.com

Kale Paneer (gluten free)

Kale Paneer

Saag Paneer is a creamy, spicy dish of greens (saag) and homemade cheese (paneer). It was one of my favourites when dining out in college and a rarely seen delight here in the Midwest. The March 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Saag Paneer using fresh spinach. It looked really good, but I could not help but to adapt it to kale, simplify it, and tweak a few more ingredients. The result? Scrumptious. (And gone. Next time I'll double the greens so we have a few leftovers. ) For a really authentic experience, there is a great looking recipe for Naan (flatbread) at Plus Other Good Stuff.

This is not a spontaneous kind of dish but the homemade paneer can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and brought out when you are ready to enjoy it.  Our version is as mild as you can possibly make a curry, so feel free to double (or triple!!) the coriander and cumin and even add hot peppers if your family likes a little heat.

Homemade Paneer  (about half a pound, recipe below)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup flour- wheat or rice (gluten free) for dredging
1 small red onion, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp coriander, or more for a spicy dish
1/2 tsp cumin, or more for a spicy dish
1/4 tsp tumeric
(optional: chopped or dried chili, jalapeno, or other spicy pepper)
1 large bunch kale, stem removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp tapioca starch


Heat the oil on low to medium heat in a wok or ultimate pan. Cut the paneer into cubes, about three-quarters of an inch. Dredge them in the flour, then fry them until golden in the olive oil. Fish them out and set them aside.

In the same pan and oil, sautee the onion. Add the salt, and spices, then the kale and water. Cover the pan and simmer until it bubbles. Stir in the yogurt, butter and tapioca starch and cook, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, about five minutes. Stir in the cheese cubes and cook just long enough to heat them back up.

Serve right away over rice, couscous, or quinoa.


Homemade Paneer 

1/2 gallon whole milk- (non-homogenized if you can get it)
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp salt

Heat the milk up, stirring, until it just starts to bubble. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the salt, yogurt, and lemon juice.

After a few minutes, large curds will form. Strain the contents of your pot through a clean tea towel or handkerchief. (Not a terry towel.) The leftover whey can be used elsewhere, like for soup or bread. Gather up the corners of the cloth into a bag and gently squeeze out more of the whey. Either secure the end of a pouch with an elastic or tie a knot through the ends, and hang the bag over the pot with a wooden spoon. After ten minutes of dripping, you will have a delicious, lemon ricotta. Twist the bag again to get out more of the whey, then place it between two plates to compress. You won't be able to reshape it once it is hardened, so flatten it out an smooth the edges while it is still warm. Place a can over the top plate for weight, then stick it in the fridge for an hour to harden. Take it out of the tea towel an store in an airtight container.

www.stealthymom.com


I shared this post with   Fight Back Friday,  Foodie Friends Friday,  Foodie Friday, the Homestead Barn Hop, Fat Tuesday, the Hearth and Soul Hop, Scratch Cookin' Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday,  Gluten Free Wednesdays,  Simple Lives Thursdays, Thriving on Thursdays and Empty Your Archive (veggie collection)

Thirty Minute Pizza (from scratch!)

Thirty Minute Pizza

Delivery pizza takes forty-five minutes. Homemade can take thirty. Delivered can cost twenty bucks a pie, including the tip. Homemade, even with high quality ingredients, costs a fraction of that. We typically have more choices for vegetable toppings than the local pizza joints.

Our secrets to a great pizza crust- crispy on the bottom yet tender and soft- without kneading or long proofing, are whole wheat flour and olive oil. (If you have only white flour, see this recipe.) Pans without holes in the bottom are essential.

While buying big blocks of cheese and grating it myself would save money, I wait for eight-ounce bags of grated cheese to go on sale so I can pop several in the freezer for occasions like pizza. In the summer, we make tomato sauce to freeze in eight-ounce containers. Small cans of plain tomato sauce also work in a pinch, so are useful to keep on hand.

For one large fourteen-inch pizza crust:

Fast and Cheesy Veggies (in ten minutes)

Fast and Cheesy Veggies

Broccoli and cheese. When you are short on time, that is when the cheese sauce comes out of the jar in the fridge and gets popped into the microwave... Don't do it!  Don't "Whiz" on perfectly good vegetables! You know what's in that stuff? (Me, neither. I have heard rumours, and have attempted to read the tiny print of the ingredient list many-a-time.) 

You can make a cheese sauce from scratch, using real cheese and real milk, in a few short minutes. As an entree or as a side, vegetables in this cheese sauce are a win at our house. 

Fifteen Minute Mac 'n' Cheese Dinner (gluten free option)

Fifteen Minute Mac 'n' Cheese Dinner

"If I had a million dollars,
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner
But we would eat Kraft Dinner
Of course we would. We'd just eat more..."
      - Barenaked Ladies, If I had a Million Dollars

K.D. That's what we called the stuff in school. It was cheap, fast, and, well... fast. What if you could make real macaroni and cheese from scratch in the same time, or less? Our boys would eat this every day if we let them.

Gather up two pots- one to boil the pasta and one to make the sauce- a mixing spoon, a silicone-coated whisk, and a colander. Fetch these ingredients:

2 tbsp flour (sweet rice flour for gluten free*)
2 tbsp butter
2 cups milk (whole works best)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 12oz package of macaroni shells, elbows, or alphabets. Use gluten free if you wish.

Ready, set, GO!