Tag Archives: #grainfree

Recipe: Zucchini Noodle Veggie Lo Mein

08 Sunday Jan 2017

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Need an idea for Meatless Monday? Eating less meat is one of our goals for the new year, and we plan to accomplish that by cutting out meat on Mondays. Since I cook extra for leftovers it may turn out that most Tuesdays are meatless too! I stumbled across this Zucchini Noodle Veggie Lo Mein recipe when making the Mango Noodle Bowls for our Tapas Party on NYE. Another great, low-carb and grain-free recipe from Get Inspired Everyday. At the start of 2016 I cut out gluten from my diet, but any grains in general are a form of carbohydrate and thus get converted to sugar when digested. As many researches have shown that cancer LOVES sugar, I’ve decided to go completely grain free in 2017! This will make eating out much more difficult as even gluten-free crusts, breads, or buns will have to be avoided unless I am fortunate enough to find a paleo restaurant (paleo diet is grain-free) like Hu, where we frequent when in NYC. And we just so happen to be going there this weekend to see my specialist! I have no doubt that I will have more energy and less inflammation due to this decision, which is so key for me given my almost constant sacrum pain. Fun fact: did you know that eating an anti-inflammatory diet can drastically reduce joint pain?

This recipe was so easy to accomplish with our KitchenAid spiralizer attachment. We had beautiful noodles made from both zucchini and carrots in just minutes! Check out this short video as proof!

After not being able to eat lo mein in over a year, this recipe changed all of that. And I didn’t miss a single thing about not having real noodles. As a little girl who grew up LOVING Chinese takeout out, I am a very happy camper!

Zucchini Noodles Veggie Lo Mein

Athour: Get Inspired Everyday!

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Total time: 38 mins
 Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 Tablespoons avocado oil, or olive oil
  • 12 crimini mushrooms, 6 ounces, washed and sliced
  • 2 baby bok choy, 6 ounces, thinly sliced and thoroughly washed
  • 1 large red bell pepper, 8 ounces
  • 1 large carrot, 6 ounces, peeled and ends cut off
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Tablespoons ginger, minced
  • 1 bunch of green onions
  • 4-8 zucchini, depending on their size, weighing 2 pounds, spiralized into noodles
Sauce:
  • 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
  • 3 Tablespoons gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos
  • 1 Teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 Tablespoon mirin, optional but nice for more authentic flavor
Instructions
  1. Make sure all your veggies are prepped before starting the stir fry.
  2. For the bell pepper, cut out the core and remove as many seeds as you can. Thinly slice it or spiralize it by place the core side on the blade side of the spiralizer and pushing the pronged side into the bottom end of the pepper. Then turn the handle and spiralize it. Spiralize the carrots, or if they’re too small, thinly slice them. For the green onions, thinly slice the whole bunch, both the green and the white part. Reserve the green part for the end of the stir fry and keep the white part with the garlic and ginger.
  3. Preheat a very large skillet (at least 15″) over medium high heat. While the skillet heats, make the sauce by mixing together the tapioca starch and soy sauce until the tapioca has completely dissolved, and there are no lumps. Mix in the sesame oil and mirin if you’re using it, and set the sauce aside.
  4. When the pan is hot but not smoking, add 1 Tablespoon of the oil into the pan along with the mushrooms, bok choy, bell pepper, and carrots. If you’re comfortable cooking over high heat, increase the heat from medium high to high for a more authentic seared flavor. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the veggies are starting to soften.IMG_0504.JPG
  5. Add the garlic, ginger, and the white part of the green onions and stir fry for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until it’s fragrant and the green onions have wilted. Transfer the stir fried veggies to a large serving bowl and place the bowl in the oven at a low temperature to keep warm (150ºF) while you finish cooking.
  6. Place the pan back over high heat, and add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the zucchini noodles to the pan and stir fry just until the noodles are barely beginning to soften, 1-2 minutes. Add the sauce mixture and the reserved green part of the green onions, and immediately remove the pan from the heat.
  7. Add the noodles to the veggie mixture in your serving bowl and toss to completely combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings by adding a bit of sea salt if necessary.
  8. Serve immediately.
  9. The leftovers keep well for this dish, and I like to eat them cold for lunch the next day. The zucchini noodles will shed water, but you can just pour off the extra liquid, the taste is still great.
Notes
You may need to add sea salt to taste, especially if you use coconut aminos which is generally less salty than soy sauce.
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Veggie Lo Mein!

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For added crunch we topped this dish with sesame seeds and sweet pea sprouts!

Recipe: Sweet Potato Gnocchi Topped with Ground Turkey in a Maple Dijon Sauce

22 Thursday Dec 2016

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IMG_0207.JPGI’m always searching for creative ways to be able to enjoy pasta dishes and still eat relatively clean. My last post featured a zucchini noodle dish, which we loved, but I wanted to try something new. I’ve often found gnocchi (potato based pasta) offered as a gluten-free option at some restaurants, but with my diet I stray away from all potatoes, with the exception of sweet potatoes. Figuring that there must be such a thing as gnocchi made from sweet potatoes, I took to Google to find such a recipe using flour that was both grain-free and gluten-free. Thanks to Heartbeet Kitchen for providing me with this winner!

5 Ingredient Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Author: Amanda Paa, adapted from Fork and Beans 
Serves: 2-3 servings

 INGREDIENTS
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons of mashed & smooth, roasted sweet potato (157 grams)
  • ¼ cup millet flour (30 grams)
  • ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon almond flour (38 grams)
  • ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon tapioca starch (38 grams)
  • heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
 INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Whisk the flours/starch and salt together. Put the mashed sweet potato in a large bowl and add half of the flour mixture. Lightly need it in with your hands, then add the other half and knead just until no flour streaks remain.
  2. Pull it together into one ball – the mixture should not be too sticky. If it is, add another tablespoon of almond flour and ½ tablespoon tapioca starch.
  3. Then flatten into a disc. Cut the disc into fours. Dust a clean surface with millet flour. Roll out each piece with your hands & fingers on the surface until you create a snake-like piece about 6 inches long, and ½ inch wide. Then with a knife cut individual gnocchi, about 1 inch long. (You don’t want them to be too big or they won’t cook through). Press the tines of your fork lightly into them to make the indents.
  4. Repeat for each piece of dough. Coat the surface lightly with more of the flour mix just so it doesn’t stick when you cut it.
  5. In a medium pot of lightly boiling water, pour half of the gnocchi in. Wait until they begin to float to the top, then let cook for a minute or two. Remove with a slotted spoon and lay on a cutting board.
  6. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi. Put gnocchi in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, then add 1½ tablespoons olive oil to a skillet. Saute gnocchi for 5-6 minutes on medium heat, stirring, until they are crisp on the outside. Sprinkle with a bit of salt (this is key!).

Now it was onto deciding what to serve over top of the gnocchi. We recently had a cooking demo at work that featured a pasta dish with a maple Dijon sauce. Since I couldn’t eat it with the past I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try it out with this dish and had the notion that it would pair well with ground turkey simmered in garlic, sage, and thyme. But what veggies to throw in? Kale and asparagus seemed to be the perfect savory accompaniments to the sweetness of the maple and sweet potatoes. If you are avoiding naturally sweetened dishes, and the maple syrup is throwing you off from trying this dish, I suggest experimenting with a sage pesto sauce. I haven’t tried it yet, but this one from The Suburban Soapbox caught my eye to try out next time.

We made this meal with friends for a fun date night in! It was certainly an experience making pasta from scratch. Hint, hint: next time I think I’ll be buying canned (BPA-free) sweet potato puree to skip a few steps. Luckily we had some delicious Ithaca Hummus, rainbow carrots, and Plentils to hold us over until dinner time! Side note: Best. Hummus. Ever. (and made right in my town!).

IMG_0196.JPGHere is the recipe for the maple Dijon sauce adapted from food.com, along with my recipe for the ground turkey and veggie topping:

INGREDIENTS
Maple Dijon Sauce
  • 185ml pure maple syrup
  • 125ml Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (heaped teaspoon)
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper

Ground Turkey Topping

  • 1lb organic ground turkey
  • 1 medium sized onion chopped
  • 10oz asparagus cut into pieces (fresh or frozen if not in season)
  • 2 cups chopped kale
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil (olive oil works too)
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground sage
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste

Optional Garnish

  • Shaved raw milk organic Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Bring the maple syrup to the boil and boil keeping it bubbling. When the bubbles start to go from small to big and the mixture is thickened it should be ready ( about 4-5 minutes).
  2. Remove maple mixture from heat when thickened and let cool
  3. While maple mixture is cooling, heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat
  4. Add in chopped onion until and cook for 3-5 minutes until it begins to become translucent
  5. Now add in the ground turkey and cook until no longer pink, break up the pieces of meat as you cook
  6. Sprinkle in garlic, sage, thyme, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. Cook for one minute longer
  7. Add in the kale and asparagus to the mixture and cook until the kale has begun to wilt and the asparagus is fork tender. (if using fresh asparagus you may want to add it in a few minutes ahead of the kale.IMG_0187.JPG
  8. Once the maple mixture has cooled, whisk in the Dijon mustard, seeds and pepperIMG_0200.JPG
  9. Serve turkey topping over sweet potato gnocchi and drizzle with the maple Dijon sauce.
  10. If you aren’t avoid dairy, garnish the dish with fresh shaved raw milk Parmesan. We found this tasty option at our local Wegmans.IMG_0191.JPG
  11. Enjoy!