Do we need to buy anything before the hurricane? With a bread machine in the house? No.

Hurricane Sandy closed down the Federal Government on Monday and Tuesday in Washington, D.C., as well as the bus and subway service.  Dear Husband and I stayed home those two days also.  DH asked me over the weekend if we should join the stampede to the grocery store but we decided not to--we had water, eggs, milk, toilet paper, and enough food to last a couple of days except bread.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I love my bread machine and with one in the house, as long as you have electricity you can have bread. Sunday I made half-whole wheat bread, which more than lasted us through yesterday, when we finally did lose power for 3 hours.  Today the power is back, and Sweet Potato Half-Whole Wheat Bread is kneading in the machine. BTW, we almost never bake the loaf in the machine because it's a funny shape and the crust is too hard.  We shape the dough, put it in a regular bread pan, then bake it in the oven.  You only need a basic model bread machine if you use it like this--essentially as a kneading machine.  (You can get one at WalMart for about $40.)

The whole wheat bread recipe is mine, from trial and error over many years.  The sweet potato bread is a recipe adapted from the Irish Potato Bread recipe in Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg & Lois Conway.  I use (much) less salt, sometimes cut the water by 1/4 cup and put in an egg, substitute mashed sweet potato for the potato, and brown sugar for the white sugar.

The recipes for both breads follow:

Half-Whole Wheat Bread from the bread machine

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (may need more later; see *note)
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (we like King Arthur brand)
1/4 cup dry milk powder
2 tablespoons canola oil or melted butter (see second **note)
2 tablespoons honey or molasses (can use more honey but decrease water by an equal amount)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (depends on your taste)
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order specified in your manual.  Process on dough mode.  Grease (or spray with oil from a Misto sprayer) a 9" x 5" bread pan.  Flatten the dough to approximately 9" x 12" with your hands or a rolling pin, then roll it up like a jelly roll.  Place in pan and allow to rise until doubled (1/2 hour to 1 hour, depending on the weather and how warm your kitchen is).  Preheat oven to 375F.  Bake the bread 35 minutes.  Cool slightly (10 minutes?) then tip the loaf out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.  Try not to cut the loaf until it is cool, because it tears.

*note: You have to get used to looking at your dough in the machine to see if it needs more water or more flour.  Once the kneading really gets going, the dough should make a smooth ball.  If it is a rough ball (or won't cohere into a ball at all), you need more water.  Add it a tablespoon at a time until you get the ball shape.  You can also tell if there is not enough water if the bread machine sounds like it's working too hard.  If the dough is gooey and won't shape into more than a flattened ball, you need more flour.  Add it a tablespoon at a time until the dough looks right.

**note: It's very convenient to measure the oil first (a coffee measure is 2 tablespoons, or eyeball half a quarter-cup measure); then the honey slides right out.  If you want to use butter, and your butter is even a little soft, you can put it directly in the machine without melting it.  Just measure the 2 tablespoons then cut in smaller pieces before you add them. 

Sweet Potato Half-Whole Wheat Bread
(photo will be added when the bread is done)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water OR
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water and one egg
1/3 cup mashed sweet potato
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (we like King Arthur brand)
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Follow the same instructions as above.

***note: if you want white bread from either of these recipes, you can just use all bread flour.  You will probably need to cut the water back by 2 tablespoons.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none.

Seared Scallops and Spinach with Shallots and Bacon

A Soy-free Kitchen Original
(This cooks up very quickly in one pan.)

1 lb sea scallops
1 bag  (6-9 oz) baby spinach
2 slices bacon
2 medium shallots
1/2 cup hard cider

1. Cut bacon crosswise into 1/2-inch strips. Using a 12" skillet, fry until just crisp; remove to a paper towel.  Remove bacon grease from pan, reserving for later.

2. Meanwhile, cut scallops in half crosswise and mince shallots.

3.  Put a teaspoon or so of the reserved bacon grease (maybe a little more if the skillet is not non-stick)back in the skillet.  Sear scallops over high heat, approximately 2 minutes per side.  Remove to a plate and tent with foil.

4. Put another teaspoon or so bacon grease back in the skillet and saute minced shallots briefly.  When they are just starting to turn a little brown around the edges, add the cider and deglaze the pan.  Add spinach, cover the pan, and cook until the spinach is wilted but not mushy.  Add the bacon pieces and toss.

5. Serve the scallops over the spinach. 

Serves 2-3.  Possible accompaniments: Orzo or rice pilaf.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none

(c) 2012

Vaguely Mexican Fish Cakes

As I have said before, I am originally from New England.  We ate fish sticks, fish cakes, fish patties, fried fish, etc, etc.  Usually cod.  And always with tartar sauce. 

Today I went to use some cod my husband had bought and found myself without white bread to use as filler.  (I know, I know, traditional cod cakes use potato as filler, but traditional cod cakes are made with salt cod, too.)  I did, however have some leftover corn tortillas.  My original recipe used thyme, but we had cilantro, and cilantro goes with tortillas, so.  . . .

[Update:  the original recipe had 4slices homestyle white bread (no milk) instead of the tortillas, 1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried instead of the cilantro, and 1/4 cup minced celery.  You could put some fresh parsley, too.]

Vaguely Mexian Fish Cakes

4 corn tortillas, ripped up
1/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup green onions, cut in 1/2" pieces, white and some green
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, packed
1 egg
1 - 1 1/2 lbs cod or other white fish, cut into about 8 pieces
1 tsp ground cumin
salt
pepper

1. Put the torn tortillas in the bowl of a food processor and let sit a few minutes. 

2. Add the green onion pieces and cilantro and pulse until the tortillas are in crumbs. 

3. Add the egg, fish, cumin, about 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and pulse until egg is combined with fish, but not until the fish is pureed. 

4. Divide the fish mixture into 8 portions and roughly shape into balls.

5.  Heat about 1/4 cup canola oil in a 12-inch skillet on medium high until it just begins to shimmer.  One by one, place the cod mixture in the skillet and press flat with the bottom of a pancake turner. 

6.  Cook until brown on one side, flip, and brown again.

7.  Serve with some kind of salad, and of course tartar sauce.  You might put some chopped cilantro in the tartar sauce and a couple of shots of lime juice.

8.  Serves 4, two cakes apiece.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Check the tortilla ingredients for soy, but this is generally not a problem with corn tortillas.

Say Hello to GirlEat

A great post from GirlEat, a relatively new blog from someone with a relatively new soy allergy:

http://girleat.com/2012/01/01/thank-you-restaurant/

Vanilla Chai Spice Cupcakes

One of my colleagues' birthday is tomorrow, so I am making cupcakes.  If I don't make them, I don't get any because if you don't know all the ingredients, you can't eat it if you have food allergies. 
It's a new job (since August), and the cupcakes have made me somewhat popular because we generally have 1-2 birthdays a month.  So far we have had Banana Nut with Vanilla Frosting (recipes from Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook), Orange with Chocolate Frosting (a request, also from Betty Crocker) Pumpkin with Sour Cream Frosting (same recipe as Banana, with canned pumpkin substituted for the mashed banana), Individual Cheesecakes, Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (also a request, from Betty Crocker), and some Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls (original--coming soon). 

The Vanilla Chai Spice Cupcake recipe comes from the website The Novice Chef, whose food choices are rather sophisticated and don't seem "novice" at all.  I substituted Stoneyfield vanilla yogurt for the buttermilk because we never have buttermilk around.  I did make a little goof--I made 18 cupcakes instead of 12 and sort of forgot to increase the amounts of spices. They still taste wonderful.

Note about the cake recipes in Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook:  It was originally published in 1950.  My mom got one as a wedding present and I grew up on those cake recipes.  But I find they work just as well or better if I cut the amount of salt in half.

Note 2 about the cake recipes in Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook:  If the recipe calls for shortening, sometimes I use Spectrum brand palm-oil shortening and sometimes I use butter.  No rhyme or reason as to the choice.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none

Cliche Onion Dip for New Year's

Once in a while you want to go back to your food roots--what you ate when you were a kid.  Onion Dip made with Lipton Onion's Soup Mix is out (I check the ingredients every time I see it).  Try this instead:

2 cups sour cream or light sour cream
2 tsp soy-free beef bouillon powder, or 2 soy-free bouillon cubes
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp grain-based coffee substitute, for color (optional)

Crumble the bouillon cubes, if using.  Stir all ingredients together.  Let sit 5 minutes and stir again.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Soy-free beef bouillon: I used Knorr, but their "cubes" are the same as 2 normal cubes.  Also, check the ingredients because sometimes they are soy-free, and sometimes not.

NOTE:  For grain-based coffee substitute, I use Postum, but they don't make it anymore.  There are other brands, like Pero, but I haven't tried them.

ANOTHER NOTE: as of this posting, Lay's Ruffles and Lay's Light Ruffles potato chips are soy-free.

We're back. Follow us on Twitter

Coming back to blogging after a hiatus.  Also, follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SoyfreeKitchen

Eggplant Parmagiana from Cooking Light

I heartily recommend this recipe from Cooking Light magazine. We had it tonight, with a few changes:
- I didn't have any fontina cheese, so we went with all mozzarella
- I used 8 oz of mozzarella instead of the 6 oz of mozzarella/fontina a half recipe should have used.
- I didn't have any whole-wheat panko (which often has soy, anyway) so we used homemade dried mixed (whole wheat, rye, oatmeal bread, whatever was on hand) bread crumbs.
- We used a whole 24-oz jar of sauce for a half a recipe
- It said a whole recipe served 10, but we got 6 servings out of a half recipe

My (dear) husband liked it and asked that it be made again. Since the kids never liked eggplant, and I am officially an empty-nester as of 24 August, I suspect he may get his wish.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Homemade breadcrumbs instead of whole-wheat panko
Misto sprayer with canola oil, instead of commercial cooking spray
Jar of commercial sauce carefully checked to make sure there is no soy or soy oil in it

Devilled Eggs for Summer

Back from hiatus--had a new job and it was a tough adjustment.

Every time I have ever made devilled eggs, it has been a crapshoot--too much mayo or not enough. Well, I happened upon the right proportions, so here you go:

Devilled Eggs

9 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup soy-free mayonnaise
2 Tbsp grainy mustard
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seafood Seasoning (or celery salt)

1. Shell the eggs and cut in half. Put the yolks through a sieve or potato rices. Stir in the mayonnaise, mustard, and Old Bay.

2. Spoon the yolk mixture back into the egg halves. Garnish with paprika, chopped chives, small parsley sprigs, or the like.

SOY FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Soy-free mayonnaise--canola, safflower or olive oil (without lecithin!)

Orange-lemon Cranberry Relish

If you don't like the cranberry jelly with the ridges from the can in it, the Soy-free Kitchen presents:

Orange-lemon Cranberry Relish

4 cups cranberries, washed and sorted
1 large orange, cut into chunks
1 lemon, cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves

1. Put the cranberries, orange pieces, and lemon pieces in the food processor and pulse until the cranberries are cut up but not a smooth puree. Transfer to a large bowl, with a cover, that you can put in the refrigerator.

2. With a large spoon or a rubber spatula, mix in the sugar and spices.

3. Refrigerate at least overnight. The longer it sits, the redder it gets and the better it tastes.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none

(c) Copyright 2010 Karen Hubachek

Two Washington D.C. Restaurants for People with Soy Allergies

Brasserie Beck, on 11th Street, NW:

http://www.beckdc.com/

We've eaten there several times. The staff is very nice about checking for soy if they're not sure. They use canola oil to make their Pommes Frites, which are thin and sprinkled with salt and dried parsley, and served with a trio of house-made flavored mayonaises. The three flavors are garlic, tomato, and curry--and the mayo is made with canola oil, too!

Pete's New Haven Style Apizza (2 locations, and soon to be a third across the river in the Clarendon section of Arlington):

http://petesapizza.com/

"Apizza", pronounced ah-BEETS, is a dialectical word for pizza, and it's used in the New Haven, Connecticut area. (If you want to read about New Haven-style apizza, go to the Wikipedia page here; it is a good explanation.) I emailed Pete's Apizza and asked about their pizza--it is made with pure olive oil and their sauce is house-made and also soy-free. We ordered sausage and mushroom and it was heaven. Make sure to try the Foxon Park white birch beer; they get it shipped from East Haven, Connecticut, where it's made and bottled. (I grew up in East Haven and the next town east from there, North Branford, and I vouch for the authenticity of the apizza and love the soda.)

I can't vouch for the rest of the menu, but they were nice to me when I asked about the pizza, so I have high hopes for the other menu items also.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Happy Hallowe'en, everyone, and how about some Pumpkin Bundt Cake with a Rum-Brown-Sugar Glaze?

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree (a one-pound can)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or soy-free margarine
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze
3 Tbsp dark or light brown sugar
1 Tbsp (or more, it's up to you)
1 tsp milk (skim is fine)
3 Tbsp confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with soy-free cooking spray or brush with melted butter and coat with flour.

2. Combine dry ingredients, from flour through salt, in a bowl (or sift together onto a piece f waxed paper). Combine pumpkin with applesauce.

3. Cream sugar and butter or margarine together in the large bowl of a mixer. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat some more. Add flour mixture alternately with pumpkin-applesauce mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Mix again for 1-2 minutes until everything looks combined.

4. Pour (or spoon, it's kind of thick) into your greased pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove cake to a rack.

6. While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.

7. Glaze: Combine brown sugar, rum, and mild in a small pan. Cook over low heat until the brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the confectioner's sugar, stirring with a wooden spoon or a small whisk. Spoon over the warm cake and let run down the sides. (Note: if you want a stronger rum flavor, brush some rum over the top and sides of the cake before you drizzle on the glaze.)

8. Serves 12-16

Note: Sometimes I use a 6-cup Bundt pan and a 8"x4" loaf pan, and freeze the loaf for later. Bake the smaller cakes 35-40 minutes.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Soy-free margarine, if you use margarine instead of butter; soy-free cooking spray if you decide to grease the pan with spray.

Austrian Recipe Blog and Letscho

Just added a new entry to the "Blogs I Like" column over to the right: Austrian Recipes.

Elder Daughter spent July in Vienna taking 6 credits of German, so I took advantage of it to visit Vienna for the first time since I was about her age. (Vienna is wunderschoen--crazy beautiful--by the way.)

I ate my way across Vienna for 6 days and never had a soy problem once. Probably, like Germany, they mostly use sunflower oil the way the U.S. mostly uses soy oil. I read an article a couple of weeks ago that approximately 20% of all calories in the American diet comes from soy oil . . . scary. . . but I digress . . . .

The Austrian Recipes blog is very nice, and I plan to try some of her recipes, but there is one recipe I like that I didn't find: Letscho, also spelled Lecso. The original is from Hungary but it is now part of the Austrian repertoire. It is similar to the French ratatouille.

Letscho
8-10 servings

3 slices thick-cut bacon
1 1/2 lbs green peppers (Hungarian peppers if you can find them, otherwise green Bell peppers)
1 lb ripe tomatoes
3/4 lb onions
1 clove garlic
2-3 Tbsp oil or bacon grease
2-3 Tbsp tomato paste
1-2 Tbsp Hungarian paprika (don't use American paprika for this, the Hungarian is much better)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the bacon in 1/2-inch pieces and fry until it is just crisp.

2. Cut the peppers in 1/2-inch slices, discarding the ribs.

3. Blanch the tomatoes, then slip off their skins. Cut in quarters if they are small, or 6ths or 8ths if they are large. Strip out the seeds.

4. Cut the onions the long way in 1/2-inch or slightly narrower slices.

5. Peel and mince the garlic.

6. In oil or bacon fat, saute the onions until glossy. Add the garlic and slowly continue to saute until the onions are just beginning to turn color. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika.
7. Add the peppers and tomatoes and stir in. Cover. Simmer about a half hour. Add the tomato paste and salt and pepper near the end. Sprinkle with the bacon pieces just before serving.

Serve with meat, roast chicken, fish steaks or by itself with a fried or poached egg on top. Or use as an omelet filling.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
If you are using oil, use canola or another soy-free oil.

Update to Oil-and-Vinegar Cole Slaw

Found a new recipe for it this week, and more simple you could not find:

Put in the bottom of a large bowl:
2 Tablespoons honey
Whisk in:
3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
And then whisk in:
2 Tablespoons canola or other tasteless oil
Toss in:
1 (8-10 oz) bag preshredded coleslaw or broccoslaw mix
Add:
Salt and pepper if desired.

Gooey Butter Cake Mistake: Sticky Toffee Pudding

Thinking I was going to check off another entry on Cakespy's The Sweet 100, I made Cook's Illustrated recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding. Oh. My. (Goodness.) It was so-o-o good, but it had so-o-o much butter and sugar in it.

Well. I went back to the Soy-free Kitchen blog entry on The Sweet 100 to update it, and guess what? Sticky Toffee Pudding is not on there. What *is* on there is Gooey Butter Cake. So next week, we try that, from a New York Times recipe here. Actually, the two are similar, in that you make a cake, and saturate it with a sugary, buttery sauce--white sugar for the Gooey Butter Cake and brown sugar for the Stickey Toffee Pudding.

(photo to be inserted here)

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING: SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none

Ham Salad

If you have soy-free mayo, you can have ham salad:

Ham Salad

8 ounces ham, cut into chunks
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 stalk celery, cut into 1" chunks
1 Tbs sweet relish (or more, to taste)
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp grainy mustard
1/8 tsp ground pepper

Process all in the food processor until ground but not mushy.
Serve as a sandwich filling.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS
soy-free mayonnaise

Old Hellmann's Sheet o' Salad Dressings

I can't find my sheet around the house, but here is a link to the one I was talking about, posted on RecipeCurio.com

It has recipes for Green Goddess, Creamy Italian, Creamy Tart French (!?), Russian, Creamy Roquefort, Thousand Island, Fresh Strawberry (!?), Tangy Buttermilk, and Parmesan Cheese dressings. There are also links to other salad dressing recipes at the bottom of the page.

Two notes:
--I have not tried any of these recipes.
--I usually use Hain Light Safflower Oil Mayonnaise, but I will use Hellmann's Canola Mayonnaise if I can't find Hain.

Eating Well Magazine has a Cucumber Dressing Recipe

This month's Eating Well magazine has a recipe for Cucumber Herb Vinaigrette.

It only keeps three days, though.

Kosher for Passover Often Means Soy-free

Passover is starting March 29th.

In the days running up to Passover, don't forget to look for soy-free foods in the Kosher-for-Passover sections in many supermarkets!

Some Jews do not eat peas, beans, soy, or other legumes during Passover, so it is a great time to look for soy-free groceries, especially soup mixes and chocolate, especially chocolate chips. I discovered Israeli chocolate one year that way.

But, as always, read every label, every time.

Soy-free Salad Dressings

Got a question the other day on soy-free salad dressings. Our number one salad dressing here in the Soy-free Kitchen is Good Seasons, made with extra-virgin olive oil and red-wine vinegar. I called the Good Seasons company to make sure there was no soy in the ingredients. It makes a great Cobb Salad (for our Approximate Cobb Salad, see below).

When you buy salad dressing at the store, remember to read every label, every time. We have gotten fond of a certain kind of soy-free dressing, only to find out that they have changed the recipe and used soy oil at a later date. (I used to love Ken's Light Creamy Italian, but it started using soy oil.)

Right now our favorite store-bought dressing is Drew's All-Natural Kalmata Olive and Caper. We buy it at Whole Foods. One of these days I will hunt up a bunch of recipes from the 70's all made with Hellmann's mayonnaise--funky recipes like Green Goddess. You can make them with Hellmann's Canola mayonnaise or other soy-free mayo (we like Hain Safflower Light mayo.)

Approximate Cobb Salad
serves 2

2 cups (packed pretty well) mixed baby greens
1 small tomato, diced
2 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 hard-boiled egg, diced
2-4 oz cooked chicken, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
2 oz. bleu or roquefort cheese, dice or crumbled
chopped chives or scallions, if you have them

1. Arrange the greens on two large salad plates.
2. Arrange the tomato, bacon, egg, chicken, avocado, and cheese in attractive stripes over the greens.
3. Sprinkle with chives or scallions and then with Good Seasons salad dressing, made with red-wine vinegar and olive oil.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none