Homegrown Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil Makes Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

This year my tomatoes have taken over.  Maybe it is the mild summer with a few spurts of hot weather.  Maybe it's where I planted the tomatoes this season in the garden.  Whatever it is, all my tomato plants have become bushes.  They are huge and keep giving and giving.  This is my third batch of the season.  Luscious heirloom tomatoes. 

I decided to use some tomatoes to make a different pasta sauce.  And since my basil has continued to grow even now, I decided on a tomato basil sauce.  Here's what I came up with:

2 italian sausage links

8 small/medium sized tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/4 cup water

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1. Cook italian sausages in sauce pan.

2. Toss in the tomatoes and stir until they begin to fall apart, ~5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add the basil, olive oil, garlic salt, salt, and pepper.

4. Slowly stir the corn starch into the mixture and cook until it begins to thicken, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. Add water. 
6. Mix garlic into the sauce and simmer another 5 minutes.

And viola!  Topped over some quinoa pasta (for the gluten free diet).  Hmmm...

Cheeky's Part Deux

Since we were back in PS, we decided to go back to Cheeky's for Sunday morning brekkie. We found this place last year and remember it mostly for the bacon flight!

We had gotten there slightly before they opened at 8 am. There were already people lined up but they had a sign-in sheet which made things easy. We had a nice outside table again. The weather was warm, the sun wasn't in my face, and it was great for people-watching. :)

We started with coffee and tea ($2.50 each). I love the interesting dishware.

Of course we had the flight of bacon ($4):

From top to bottom, it's Jalapeno, Applewood, smoked, Xtra Thick. The side piece is maple. I had a few bites of each. Maple and jalapeno were my favorites.

R was banned from getting the Eggs Benedict. So he opted for the pecan brioche French toast ($10):

I had a few bites and it was very rich but he enjoyed it. 

I love the maple syrup "house":

Even though San Diego does Mexican mighty well, the huevos rancheros ($10) were calling my name.

Those are 2 poached eggs over tortillas and peruano beans. Not a healthy choice, but absolutely a delicious choice.

A very good breakfast before our drive home.

Jake's Ready to Eat

We were looking for a fun place to have dinner that wouldn't break the bank. We were also dressed in hiking clothes so a $$$ place wasn't going to cut it. There seemed to be no shortage of high-end fancy smanchy restaurants in Palm Springs but we found one listed as $$ instead of $$$ or $$$$! Jake's it is!

The atmosphere is casual but comfortable. There is a larger outside patio which looked romantic and a handful of smaller tables inside. We arrived slightly before 6 pm on a Saturday evening and even though the place looked empty, the host asked whether we had a reservation because he was booked for the entire evening. Luckily he found space, and they were able to seat us inside. The service was awesome... not pretentious, attentive and always friendly. They seemed genuinely concerned with whether we were enjoying our meal.

Shrimp cocktail was offered as an amuse-bouche:.

Tasty! Out came our server to deliver a warm dinner roll shortly after.

I started with the Mixed Organic Greens salad with lemon vinaigrette ($6.50). It had a nice variety of vegetables and everything was fresh, but of course, I could have easily eaten 3 plates of this. :)

R had the filet mignon with blue-cheese (are you surprised?). It came atop roasted garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus ($24). It was so delicious he ate everything cleanly - even the vegetables!

Because they couldn't make the Tower of Eggplant without cheese (apparently it is pre-assembled), I opted for the sea bass. It was crusted with hazelnuts and came with garlic mashed potatoes and not enough broccolini ($21). Although it was rich, it was perfectly cooked and excellent.  And even though it may look like a tiny portion in this picture (and I did think so when I first saw the dish), I was surprisingly full after I was done.

After gaping at the display case when we went in, I was determined to have a dessert. I mean, look at them!

This picture doesn't really do them justice (R took the picture - hah!).  The cakes are HUGE layer cakes and the brownies and bars (lower shelf on right and left) are as big as my face!  Okay, not really... but close!

It was tough choosing, but the peanut butter lover in me had to go with the peanut butter cupcake ($5):

It was a giant-sized, moist chocolate cake filled with a little peanut butter and topped with peanut-butter buttercream and roasted peanuts. Although I LOVE peanut butter, I shortly realized this probably wasn't the wisest choice as I also detest buttercream (too sweet!), and am generally not a cupcake fan. I can't really complain because there was nothing wrong with it (wasn't dry or flavorless), but I should have chosen something else!

R had the "hostess" cupcake ($5):

His response: Mmmmmmmmmm.

To top things off, they gave us a couple of complimentary bites of pecan bars:

I definitely left with a happy, full belly. This place is phenomenal AND good value. A similar dinner would have cost us much, much more.  We will be back.

Whisknladle

For my birthday, we went to Whisknladle in La Jolla. I was interested because I had heard good things about the place and they seemed to have some "different" items on the menu (bone marrow and sweetbreads, anyone?).

I like that their menu changes seasonally, they us local produce, and that most items are in small portions so you can sample quite a few. However, this can add up quickly and a few small plates can make for a hefty price tag.

We started with the chorizo date fritters ($11.50):

These tasty morsels were probably my favorite of the evening. They are dates stuffed with chorizo and served with parsley and a spicy tomato sauce. Very tasty!

For the main entree, I had the conchiglie. It contained shrimp chorizo, sweet potato, rapini and piquillo “sofrito.” At $24, I wouldn't describe it as "good value" but it was tasty, if a little too greasy for me.

R opted for the flat iron steak ($29.50) which came with fries, watercress and a béarnaise sauce (soooo rich).

I noticed there were no salt and pepper shakers on the table to been seen and I wondered what the reaction would be had we asked for ketchup. Heh. The service was very attentive, if slightly pretentious.

For dessert, we tried the pumpkin bread pudding ($10). I had read they made their ice cream on the premises and the butter rum ice cream served with the bread pudding was delicious! The bread pudding itself was a little too "bread-y" for us though.

 

I think we'd go back and try a few other items but would have to save our pennies for next time.

Gluten Free Chinese Sesame Chicken

For my last post of the gluten free and dairy free weekend, we have Sesame Chicken and Broccoli over White Rice. Mmmmm....

I followed this recipe at Gluten Free Mommy but would made a few changes to her recipe and would still make a little more. Don't get me wrong, the dish was delicious and it's a recipe keeper. But I'd have less seasame seed and less sugar, even though I already cut her sugar in half. So doing this all over again, here's what I would do.

Gluten Free Chinese Sesame Chicken
4 servings

2 large chicken breasts cut into large chunks
1 tbsp of Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
1 tsp of white rice vinegar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cornstarch

Mix soy sauce and rice vingear in a bowl and marinate chicken for about 20 minutes. Once marinated, add egg whites and cornstarch. Mix until well-blended. This gives the chicken a crispier coating.

Cook chicken in a wok. When cooked, remove chicken and set aside in a bowl.

Sauce:
1/4 cup Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
2.5 tbsp white rice vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 - 1/4 cup of sugar
[The original recipe called for 1/2 a cup. I took it down to 1/4 cup and still thought it was a bit sweet. Hubby and I decided to cut the sugar next time but maybe not down to 1/8 cup.]

Sautee 1 diced garlic clove and 1 tsp of hot peppers (optional) in wok. Add the sauce and let ingredients incorporate. Stir in 2 tsp of cornstarch with a little bit of water to thicken the sauce. Keep stiring until the sauce thickens and bubbles. Add the chicken and 1/8 cup of sesame seeds. Stir until chicken is well coated with sauce and seasame seeds. Top with green onions and enjoy!

Yogurt and Honey Quickbread

I haven't had bread or any form of bread for at least 2 weeks. I have been craving bread. So one of my BFFs gave me a recipe for Honey Yogurt Quickbread but her "recipe" was basically only the ingredients and said bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 mins and then cool in pan for 10 mins. That didn't really tell me much. I could make a guess at what to do like put the dry ingredients first. But when it comes to gluten free baking recipes, I'm not quite the "baker" or even close to it yet... considering this is my first weekend of testing the baking waters. I looked up the recipe on the web and I found it on this forum though it's called Yogurt and Honey Quickbread.

I followed the recipe mostly but made a few changes to the ingredients. So here's my version of Yogurt and Honey Quickbread.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups Four Flour Bean Mix (2/3 cup garfava flour, 1/3 cup sorghum flour, 2 cups cornstarch)
1.5 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tbsp sugar

Wet Ingredients:
3 eggs plus 1 egg white
3 tbsp Earth Balance vegan organic shortening, melted
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup water

1) Mix together dry ingredients in bowl.

2) Combine eggs, shortening, honey and vinegar in a mixer and blend well. Add the yogurt and water and beat until smooth.
[Note: I was concerned about this recipe because I used shortening versus butter. I am allergic to cow's milk so butter is out of the question. While mixing the shortening in Step 2, the shortening started to solidify. I wasn't sure how the recipe would turn out.]

3) Slowly incorporate the dry mixture and mix thoroughly.

4) Pour into a lightly greased and floured bread pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.
[Note: I baked it for 30 minutes on a convection oven.]

The finished product looked as so. The dough doubled in size from the pan while it was baking. I thought the bread was getting too brown at the top around 20 minutes in. So at 30 minutes, I tested and it was surprisingly done.


The first slice. It looked like any other regular bread.

Inside

The bread was moist and slightly sweet. A great bread for jam and preserves. I am excited to have bread in my tummy again - gluten free and dairy free.

Decadent Dark Chocolate Brownies

Hurray for gluten free and dairy free dark chocolate chip brownies! A success!! After being a cranky for 2 week because I couldn't bake or eat "real" desserts and breads, I decided this weekend I would venture off into the gluten and dairy free baking world.

Let me start off by saying, it is expensive to bake gluten free. These 4 ingredients alone cost ~$25 and the xanthan gum was $12.50. I only had to use the brown rice flour for the brownie recipe but that's besides the point...

Regardless of price of ingredients, I decided to bake this weekend. It's my stress relief outlet and makes me feel good. And did I mention that I LOVE to eat! I have often been told I should be 200 lbs relative to the amount of food I eat and I should be 300 lbs relative to the amount of times I talk about food. Going gluten free and dairy free is tough but I keep hearing from others that it gets easier. I'm still waiting for the day...

Dark Chocolate Chip Brownies

Ingredients

5 oz of dark chocolate (I used Trader Joe's.)

1/2 cup Smart Balance Organic shortening (I preferred margarine over shortening but they didn't have it at the market. You can substitute the shortening for margarine or butter if you please.)

2 eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup almonds, ground into a fine meal

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1) Melt dark chocolate and shortening and set aside.

2) In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs on medium high until frothy. Add the brown sugar and beat until mixture is smooth.

3) Add melted chocolate mixture a little at a time and beat until chocolate looks smooth and glossy.

4) In a separate bowl, combine almond meal, brown rice flour, sea salt and baking soda. Add dry mixture into chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and beat for another minute or so.

5) Stir in nuts. Pour brownie mixture into pan and press chocolate chips into batter. (I do this so the chocolate chips don't all fall to the bottom.)

6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes and viola...

Gluten free dark chocolate chip brownies