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?