Tomato-Free Ketchup!

Believe it or not, I tried a recipe for tomato-free ketchup today!  When we test for food sensitivities, we sometimes find that clients react to solanine.  Solanine is a naturally occurring food chemical that is present in many of the foods we eat, especially tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants.  Clients who are sensitive to solanine often say that they miss being able to use ketchup on their foods, and I had a tomato-free recipe I'd been wanting to try.  I was curious about it, because traditionally tomatoes are the main ingredient! 

Here's the recipe:

1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
1 (16 ounce) can pear halves, drained
1 (16 ounce) can sliced carrots, drained
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup white corn syrup
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Process all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.


It only took a couple of minutes to prepare. (The part that took the longest was finding the Karo syrup in my Kroger, which was recently renovated and completely rearranged!)









The recipe makes one pint (4 cups), so if you try it, I hope you LOVE it!

I served it for dinner with hamburgers and french fries.  I know, a dietitian has no business serving hamburgers and french fries for dinner, but it was grass-fed organic beef on whole wheat buns with sweet potato fries, so I think it's ok every now and then! 

The taste?  Well, it wouldn't be mistaken for regular ketchup.  But, I have to say that it had a satisfying combination of the sweet/sour/salty/spicy flavors that I expect from ketchup.  Overall, it had a great flavor!  I highly recommend this one, if you are sensitive to solanine.

Next, I'd like to try a recipe for gluten-free bread, made with spelt.  I've never cooked with spelt.  Have you?

Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese

Today's experiment was all about making a good roux with something other than wheat flour.  I did a little research on the internet and discovered that sweet rice flour was a good choice.  I picked some up at Whole Foods (love them!) yesterday, along with some gluten-free macaroni.  I figured as long as I was making a roux, I could turn it into cheese sauce and make some comfort food!

Here's the recipe I created by blending several old favorites:

3 T Butter
3 T Sweet Rice Flour
1 C Skim Milk
1/2 C Whole Milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
8 oz Gluten-Free Macaroni

I used a combination of skim and whole milk to lower the calories while still enjoying a little bit of the flavor and consistency of the whole milk.

First I started the macaroni boiling so it could be working while I made the sauce.

For the sauce, I melted the butter in a pan, then added the flour and whisked to blend.  I let it boil for 5 minutes to make sure the flour was cooked well.  Then I slowly added the milk while whisking, and when mixed, I let the sauce boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  As soon as I started adding the milk, I could see that it was going to thicken up nicely (see the picture).  The picture looks like oatmeal, but the sauce smoothed out nicely as soon as I whisked it.  I gradually added the shredded cheese, allowing it to melt completely.

Once the macaroni was done, I added it to the sauce, mixed well, and poured it all into a casserole dish.  It baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 


Here's what it looked like when it was done.

Some gluten-free bread crumbs would have been great on top, but I didn't have any. Oops! If you'd like to make it a little healthier, you could try adding some veggies. Most kids won't mind some veggies when they are smothered with mac and cheese!

For the macaroni, I used Orgran rice and corn pasta macaroni. My family and I thought the flavor and texture were very good. Other websites have recommended Jovial, Schar and Ancient Harvest for good gluten-free pastas. I'll have to try them another time.

I didn't tell my husband or mother-in-law that it was gluten-free when I served the dinner. They both liked it and didn't know the difference. I figure that's the best endorsement possible!

Now that we have a good roux recipe, there's all kinds of things that we can make! I'll try converting some more recipes soon.

What have you been cooking lately?

Gluten-Free Chicken in Sherry Sauce

Tonight I made dinner for my family from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods, by Bette Hagman.  Her cookbook had been recommended to me by several other dietitians, so I thought I'd try one of her recipes and see what my family and I thought.  I made her Chicken in Sherry Sauce.  I figured it would be hard to go wrong with a recipe that included sherry wine!

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to make the dish.  First I had to mix up a batch of her Creamed Soup Base, which is a dry, powdered base that can be used in a variety of her recipes.  Then it was just a matter of browning the chicken breasts in some olive oil, adding the soup base mixed with water, fresh mushrooms and sherry, and cooking until done.  It was delicious!  My husband and mother-in-law enjoyed it, and they never even knew that it was gluten-free! 

I think it would be easy to make without the soup base if I learned a gluten-free way to create a roux (maybe the rice flour?).  I'm going to work on that next, because once I know how to make a roux without wheat flour, then I can take a lot of recipes and make them gluten-free.  I paired the chicken with mashed potatoes, per her suggestion, so they could soak up some of the sauce.  Then I added roasted asparagus with grated parmesan cheese on it, because that's what my MIL likes.  Here's a picture of the dinner all put together.

The chicken dish is only 215 calories per serving, with 18 grams of fat.  Not bad at all!  That's good news for anyone who is working on losing a few pounds (and who isn't these days?).

Have you tried making anything gluten-free lately?  What suggestions do you have for cooking family favorites without wheat?

American Heart Month

February is one of my favorite months, because it includes Valentine's Day.  That day is extra special for me because it's the day I got engaged!  But February isn't just about celebrating love, it's also American Heart Month, when we focus on heart health. 

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but experts say that following a healthy diet can reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke by 80%.  That's HUGE!  So, what is a heart healthy diet?

If you search the internet for a heart healthy diet, you'll get thousands of suggestions.  My clients tell me that they get overwhelmed by all the information that's out there.  I find that it's best to start with some simple changes that can make a big difference in your overall health.  If you'd like to improve your health by improving your diet, start with the following:

1.  Reduce and/or eliminate saturated fats and trans fats.

2.  Eat whole grains.

3.  Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

4.  Avoid salt and processed foods.

Learning to eat a heart healthy diet is going to mean changing some habits.  It's helpful to learn to read and interpret food labels.  And cooking at home is always going to give us more control over how healthy our meals are.  But with a little knowledge and some perseverence, we can make big improvements in our overall  health.

Life is the sum of all your choices.

                       - Albert Camus

Make the right choices for a healthy heart!