Fall Is Here!!! October 14, 2013

                                  

     Fall is here and it’s glorious!  The trees are turning, nights are chilly, days are magnificently perfect. We all need to enjoy and appreciate them while they’re here. I’ve been watching "Alaska: The Last Frontier" on Discovery Channel, and believe me, those people know how to take advantage of any and all good days to get things accomplished, enjoy the
day, and be outside before the eight months of winter shuts them in and cabin fever isn’t an “if” but a “when”.  We took Guayo for a walk

The great Lizard Hunt

around our neighborhood and took some photos of the glorious colors coming out just blocks from us. I would love to take a little road trip (certainly not 3 months again!!!) for a couple days up to the White Mountains, Flagstaff, and Oak Creek Canyon areas and check out the fall foliage. It’s not as spectacular as the Northeast part of the U.S., but it’s still glorious and the drive is so beautiful and relaxing. We’ll have to see if we can make it next week.

Dining Room Decked Out for Fall

While in Silverton, BC Canada this summer during our road trip, I met neighbors of my friends Bill and Priscilla.  They were all wonderful, fun, great people. One neighbor had a reportedly amazing recipe for a Gluten Free Chocolate Cake…the name she gave me was Moist Gluten Free Chocolate Cake, and while that is true, the title is much too simple. It should be Gluten Free Moist Decadent Delicious Amazing Chocolate Cake! 

I have, of course, messed with the recipe a little, and have given

substitutions to make it not only gluten free, but dairy free, sugar free, espresso flavored, and blood orange flavored.  All have been tried by family, neighbors, and friends, and they find it difficult to make a decision as to which one is tastier.

So for all those watching your gluten and/or dairy intake, here’s a winner you can serve any time to anyone and no one will be the wiser, and it will command oohs and ahhhs from everyone who tries it. Enjoy, and do go enjoy these short days of perfect autumness!

MOIST GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Substitutions/changes are in parenthesis () for Espresso Mocha and Blood Orange variations.

2/3 c. golden or white quinoa

1 1/3 c. water  (add 2 T espresso powder to water for Espresso Mocha Torte)

1/3 c. milk (for dairy free use 1/3 c. vanilla almond milk)

4 large eggs

1 t. vanilla extract (for Blood Orange variation substitute 1 t. orange extract)

¾ c. butter, melted and cooled (for Blood Orange variation, substitute ¾ c. blood orange olive

oil—for dairy free variation substitute ¾ c. olive oil)

(For Blood Orange variation, add ½ of a peeled whole orange)

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/3  c. sugar (for sugar free substitute equal amounts of TruVia or Stevie in the Raw…others

have a bitter taste)

1 c. unsweetened coco powder (I use organic cocoa powder, and when I can find it, dark organic

cocoa powder)

(Add 2 T. espresso powder for Espresso Mocha Torte)

1 ½ t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

½ t. salt

Bring quinoa and water to a boil. Cover reducing heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave on burner for 10 more minutes. Fluff with a fork.  (For multiple batches, make a large batch of quinoa and then use the 2 c. cooked quinoa for each batch…leftovers are great with some onion/garlic/veges sauted in olive oil with herbs and stirred into the quinoa).  Cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease 2 8” round or square pans (or one 13x9 pan) Line with parchment paper (VERY IMPORTANT so bottom does not stick—I use baking spray on the pan, put in the parchment or waxed paper circle, then spray that also). 

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, melted butter and 2 cups of the cooked quinoa in a blender. Blend until smooth. 

Whisk together the dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add blender contents to dry ingredients and mix well with whisk (if a little too stiff, add a little more milk/almond milk) . 

Pour into greased/lined pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is firm and sides are pulling away from pan.  Remove from oven and cool completely. 

Can be served as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar, with ganache frosting, or with an orange glaze for the Blood Orange Torte.  

3D Movies, Friends to Dinner, and a Polo Tournament...What a Great Weekend So Far!

     It's been such a great weekend so far, and we still have Sunday to go!!!
     Today and yesterday were absolutely gorgeous--in the low 70's with a slight breeze, clear blue skies, and everything you could want for a warm autumn day...including a day at the polo matches!!!

     This is the 2nd year we have been invited by our friend Dezie Lerner to be her guests for the Skull Valley Polo Club Players Cup Tournament and Texas Barbecue. The venue is the beautiful Van Dickson Ranch in Skull Valley, and hosted by Paul and Carolyn Harris.  It is such great fun to sit beside the gorgeous green polo field, watch the magnificent polo ponies and their riders maneuver around the field while assaulting the chukkar (that's the ball) and trying to take it from the other team or get it through the posts for a goal. The Arizona Polo Team won, with Skull Valley coming in second...a round robin was played with the three teams.     

Coming right at us...

     Then after all of the excitement of watching these three teams (Skull Valley vs Texas vs The Arizona Polo Club, all sanctioned and part of the U.S. Polo Association) play, visiting with the wonderful attendees and sharing the food brought by everyone for their lunch by the field, you then get to enjoy a traditional Texas style brisket bbq with bbq sauce, salsa, rolls, potato salad, coleslaw, corn salad, green salad, and a myriad of desserts.  And sit at tables set up in the park-like grounds under the trees, with green grass, flowers, and even two friendly loving dogs adding to the joy of this feast. This is our 2nd year going to the tournament, and we decided that this is a new tradition for us the first Saturday of each October.   We met new people, found friends made last year, and could not have enjoyed ourselves more.   
     Plus I brought home a gallon zip bag of marigold seeds that Carolyn had dried and had many bags sitting in a box for anyone to take free of charge.  They'll look great among the iris in the front, and will be used around the vegetable gardens come spring as a natural insect deterrent. Plus, the javelinas don't eat them!!

     Last night friends Jeff & Darla Holtke came over for dinner, prior to our going to the movies to see "Gravity" in 3D, and everyone enjoyed my new creation. My local CSA box this week included a multitude of     green bell peppers. After using as many as possible in salads, as  scoops for dips, in rice pilaf, etc. I came up with this recipe for a Stuffed Bell Pepper SW Style.  Hope you enjoy.  Sorry there's no photo of the entire pan filled with this deliciousness but my camera battery was dead and my company was not willing to hold up the eating of this meal until I could get a money shot!!!  So, had to take one of the leftovers today!

     SOUTHWESTERN STYLE STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

  (Substitute cooked quinoa in equal parts for the rice to amp up the protein level and give a nutty flavor)

6 medium bell peppers (red or green)

1 ½ lbs ground beef

2 c. cooked rice (brown or white)

1 c. diced onion

¼ c. diced bell pepper

¼ c. diced celery

2T.olive oil

1 t. cumin

2 t. menudo mix spices

1 ½  cup corn (frozen or drained from a can or fresh from the cob)

1 T. Cholula sauce

2 cups shredded jack, cheddar or pepper jack cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

2 c. red or green chili salsa

1 c. grated jack, cheddar or pepper jack cheese.

     Put 1 T olive oil in a large Dutch Oven and heat over medium high heat. Brown ground beef until no longer pink. Add onions, diced bell pepper, diced celery and cook until softened. Add rice, cumin, menudo mix, corn, Cholula sauce and heat through.  Add 2 c. cheese , turn off the burner, and stir mixture together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

     Split 6 bell peppers in half lengthwise, removing the seeds, stem and ribs. Use 1 T. olive oil to grease 13x9 inch pan. Lay halved bell peppers in pan, cut side up. Using a spoon, scoop ground beef mixture into each shell, filling as much as possible. Spoon a large spoonful of salsa over the top of each filled pepper, and sprinkle cheese over each one. 

     Cover with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour.  Remove foil, broil top to brown if desired. Serve with a nice salad and some garlic Parmesan bread for a complete and delicious meal. 

Using The Abundance...SW Stuffed Bell Peppers October 3, 2013

         My local CSA box this week included a multitude of green bell peppers. After using as many as possible in salads, as scoops for dips, in rice pilaf, etc., I came up with a fabulous recipe for a Stuffed Bell Pepper SW Style.  It’s always satisfying to make a recipe using what you have in abundance. And as always, feel free to “mess” with it and make changes which use alternate choices for things you have, use, or your family particularly enjoys. To amp up the protein, use cooked quinoa instead of rice...gives it a special nutty flavor plus more protein!

Stuffed Bell Pepper SW Style

6 medium bell peppers (red or green)

1 ½ lbs ground beef

2 c. cooked rice (brown or white)

1 c. diced onion

¼ c. diced bell pepper

¼ c. diced celery

2T.olive oil

1 t. cumin

2 t. menudo mix spices

1 ½  cup corn (frozen or drained from a can or fresh from the cob)

1 T. Cholula sauce

2 cups shredded jack, cheddar or pepper jack cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

2 c. red or green chili salsa

1 c. grated jack, cheddar or pepper jack cheese.

Put 1 T olive oil in a large Dutch Oven and heat over medium high heat. Brown ground beef until no longer pink. Add onions, diced bell pepper, diced celery and cook until softened. Add rice, cumin, menudo mix (or use oregano, onion flakes, garlic, pepper flakes mixture), corn, Cholula sauce and heat through.  Add 2 c. cheese , turn off the burner, and stir mixture together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Split 6 bell peppers in half lengthwise, removing the seeds, stem and ribs. Use 1 T. olive oil to grease 13x9 inch pan. Lay halved bell peppers in pan, cut side up. Using a spoon, scoop ground beef mixture into each shell, filling as much as possible. Spoon a large spoonful of salsa over the top of each filled pepper, and sprinkle cheese over each one. 

Cover with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour.  Remove foil, broil top to brown if desired. Serve with a nice salad and some garlic parmesan bread for a complete and delicious meal.

Road Trip Is Over and We're Home!--October 1, 2013

           We’re home!   After our fabulous road trip of three months, through California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, we are back at our casa and glad to be home. As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home”.  

           Prescott had a terrific amount of rain this summer, so we came back to weeds.  The back patio/yard is covered—in between all of the flagstones and along all of the places that are not cemented over, as are any garden beds that were not covered.  It’s hard work as the biggest invader is Bermuda grass, a nasty invasive grass well known in the SW United States. If there is water, it will come!  So digging that out is proving to take time and energy.

           But alas, when you get out the weeds in the garden beds, I am finding beautiful dark, crumbly soil, filled with worms, and a real pleasure to the eye and nose. Plus, as pulling the weeds, I am getting needed exercise, some wonderful autumn warmth from the not so hot sun, and I am listening to quail peeping in the vacant lot behind our backyard, the buzzing of bees, the sound of yard work going on in other sectors of the neighborhood, and feel a real peace with the world.

           So stay tuned as I get back into the swing of things, and get into the routine of retirement, as I have gleaned some fabulous recipes in my trips, many of which are gluten free (self serving with my gluten intolerance), such as the Decadent GF Chocolate Mocha Cake, revised from a recipe from Rochelle in Silverton BC Canada.  Hope your mouths are watering just reading about it.

            

The 2012-2013 Hiatus from DuJour

    Well, as you may have noticed, Du Jour has been neglected since October 2012.  A devastating leach line replacement pretty well annihilated the garden, and so it lay dormant through a long cold winter. And during that time, life has changed.

    This year there will be no gardens. This decision was made with the decision to retire from my 11 year job.  An early retirement means financial worries, but those are less stressful than the daily job stresses at this time, so the decision was made, and May 30 will be my final day at work. On June 10, we will leave on a 4 month road trip, taking photos of all of the lighthouses on the West coast of the United States from the border of Mexico to the Canadian border. And then in to Canada to visit friends. We will return home around October 10.  During this time, our home has been rented out as a vacation rental.

     We will be visiting friends and family along the way, and camping with our Teardrop Lil Guy in between. The three of us...me, Roy and Guayo, will be learning as we go, and hope everything goes well.  I am hoping to be able to use Blogspot for The Retirement Road Trip blog to keep everyone apprised of our adventures, but seems to be some new format on Blog Spot that may have me migrating elsewhere. Will let you all know.

     So, until next fall, DuJour will be on hiatus.  See you all then.

FALL IS COMING BUT STILL A FEW MORE MEALS AVAILABLE JUST OUTSIDE THE BACK DOOR.

fresh green beans with herbed cheese sauce, composed salad from garden cuttings

            The first day of October, and while the garden is waning, it is not defunct. After trimming back over-grown zinnias, cutting oregano and drying it, picking yet more tomatoes, and moving pots away from the end of the garden where the septic construction is going on, and then taking a nap (still fighting the bronchitis), it was time to make Roy dinner.

       So since he was going to have leftover pasta and sauce (yes the sauce was homemade a couple days ago, but leftover no less), I decided to make sure the rest of the meal was fresh. It is so satisfying to be able to go out the back door, and within a couple minutes have two beautiful fresh side dishes to serve your family.

       I cut a handful or two of baby arugula, some basil leaves, and fresh parsley--also a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes (which are still going crazy), and a big handful of green beans.  After blanching the green beans, I put a dollop of dip/sauce made from cream cheese, goat cheese, mayo, sour cream, dill, onion, garlic and cucumber on top of the hot beans and stirred it into them.  Washed up the greens and tore them into small pieces, and topped with grated carrot, tomato halves, some raspberry vinaigrette and a bit of cottage cheese with a sprinkle of lavender pepper. Roy approved of all whole-heartedly and that is my best and most critical reviewer. 

       Even though the fall is coming on and the garden is waning, there will be a couple more weeks where harvesting fresh items and turning them into wholesome, organic, GMO free side dishes still comes just a few steps out my back door and without having to spend a dime at the grocery store.  Makes me smile.

Sourdough…Bubbles and Boisterous Flavor

          I am on a quest to make a sourdough starter (or two or three) that works, that is easily fed and maintained, and that makes fabulous chewy crunchy-crusted bread that I can once more enjoy. This jar full of bubbly strange-looking goo, is my new starter. I began it 62 hours ago, and it is now going into the refrigerator until I can use it to make bread. I’d do that tonight, but bronchitis and laryngitis from the coughing has taken over and there is no way I am doing much of anything other than barking like a seal, trying to breathe, drinking hot tea to soothe my throat, and taking antibiotics and cough syrup.  My friend Kelly suggested warm bourbon, lemon juice and honey…I believe I may be taking her up on that advice.

          The reason I began this quest? I have problems digesting wheat. It took years to diagnose the problems I was having as this particular problem. But once diagnosed, then came the hard part---finding wonderful foods, especially bread and pasta, that were gluten/wheat free. Most gluten free breads are so dry they suck the saliva out of your mouth and are so tasteless you might as well eat sawdust.  While I found a pretty good gluten free bread recipe, it has tons of ingredients, and while it makes delicious toast, it’s heavy and breaks up when you try to make a sandwich. So the quest continues.

          Recently hubby Roy read an article about an artisanal bread maker in Santa Monica CA, Jack Bezian, who contends it is NOT gluten that’s the problem, but fast acting yeast. When fast acting yeast was made available to the public commercially 50 years ago, that began the rise of gluten intolerance.  At least that’s Jack’s contention.  And from all of the people who buy his bread and eat it on a regular basis (even people with celiac disease) with no problems, I felt it was certainly worth a try, because I so miss the taste of fabulous, chewy, crunchy bread the most.

          I found out that Jack has been baking traditional sourdough bread since 1966.  NOT the stuff you get from the grocery store, but made from a LIVING sourdough starter. Sourdough starter is the traditional way of making bread. It’s how everyone used to make bread prior to the commercialization of yeast.   Most modern bread is made with baker’s yeast. There are many advantages to eating naturally fermented bread instead of modern bread made with yeast. While it may But it’s not only the starter, but a slow rising and lots of kneading that helps break down the gluten in the bread, and thus make it more easily digestible.

          So I did a little searching on the internet and came across an article for a sourdough starter and came across the 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough starter.  This starter and the sale of the dried starter began by a man named Carl Griffith.  If you go to http://carlsfriends.net/source.html you can read about the beginnings of this starter, why it is FREE (yup you got it right), who Carl Griffith was, and print out recipes and support documents. You see the Oregon Trail Starter foundation is staffed by volunteers and to receive the starter you send a self addressed stamped envelope with your address and receive your starter with instructions.  I did this two weeks ago, and my starter is now working and waiting in the frig for me to make my first loaf of bread.

          If you cannot find the web site, please email me and I’ll get the information to you. As soon as I make the bread, I will send photos and report on the results. I LOVE sourdough bread, and it’s anywhere close to the deliciousness of San Francisco sourdough, if it bakes with a crispy crunchy crust, and if it doesn't annihilate my stomach I will be the happiest camper on the earth and be making lots of sourdough starters. And YOU will be the recipient of this information and recipes!  Keep your fingers crossed and keep watching for updates.