dairy free – Page 26

vietnamese pickled carrots + daikon

Published on August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach11 Comments

if you know me at all
you know that i can’t make coffee
to save my life
or dw’s
i laugh when i think i
used to argue,
vehemently,
with nuria about my coffee making skills
to be fair, she’s a coffee
aficionado
i think she’s been drinking the
stuff since being weened
off the boob

anyway,
i’m not a fussy person
i don’t require a fancy contraption
to brew my cup
nor do i need the best
java
i’ve tried measuring the
amount of grounds to water,
it’s usually too strong,
still
and um. honestly
i’ve been going with the
is the coffee looking super
dark & sludgy? method

all this to tell you:
i’m capable of putting
crap in my body,
that i can consume
sub-par tasting stuff
like a champ
and that not everything i make
comes out golden
or perfect

when i started this space i
promised myself that i would show
the good stuff
the bad stuff
and the ok stuff
today it’s the ok stuff
pickled carrots & daikon
is yet another condiment
that’s added to banh mi
to vermicelli noodle bowls
to summer rolls
i made this for a catering
thing i did last month,
my first!,
i used it to accent
banh mi bruschetta

it came out ok
not the best
certainly, not the worst
just not right
which is ok
consumable
edible
thank goodness i only
have 3 more jars of the stuff left

again, i adapted this recipe.

vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl

Published on August 15, 2013August 11, 2015 by Lan | MoreStomach24 Comments

dw & i participated in our
local neighborhood
trivia night recently
we summarily got our
asses kicked
never mind that we are
devoted Jeopardy viewers,
our collective knowledge of
randomosity be damned,
the floor was wiped
with our asses

for staunch introverts
it’s something short of a miracle
to get us out of the house
if it’s not an actual
gathering with dear friends,
or a private 1:1 meal,
but there we were,
admittedly on the fringe,
right at the edge of the crowd,
quietly observing other trivia-buffs
i suppose we could’ve
responded more warmly to others
who attempted conversation with us
(do you really think we should
name our team elephantitis??)
i could’ve been wittier
(i have nothing witty to say
between these parenthesis)
we could’ve mingled
gawd, we are so awkward!

in the end, we came in
second to last
i take comfort in knowing that we were
the lone 2 person team,
everyone else being 3+ or more,
one team totaling about A DOZEN

i also take comfort in knowing
that our illegal rooftop
herb garden has been fruitful
not having to rush home with store-bought
basil or mint
trimming the stems & dunking it
into water to stave off wilting
now i can just turn to dw to
harvest a handful
and 10 minutes later
our meal is all the better tasting
we can’t be victorious in everything we do
i’ll take a victory at home herbage
over trivia anytime

Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl
{bun thit ga nuong}

for the marinade:
2.5 TBL fish sauce (use the red boat brand)
1.5 TBL sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 stalks of green scallions, diced
1 whole organic chicken, chopped up

for the dressing (nuoc mam cham):
3 TBL fish sauce
3 TBL rice vinegar
2 TBL sugar
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 TBL freshly squeezed lime juice
1 bird’s eye chili

mix all completely, can keep in clean jar in fridge for weeks.

extras & garnishes:
vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions
cucumber, sliced
handful of washed & dried mint and basil leaves
pickled carrots/daikon (do chua)
crushed roasted peanuts
green scallions/onions chopped & mildly cooked in a bit of olive oil
spring rolls (which i always buy, ain’t nobody got time to make these from scratch)

treat this like a salad. in a bowl add in however much noodles and vegs you want. top with the grilled meat, garnish with green scallions oil and finish with the crushed peanuts. season with the dressing. you’re aiming for a sweet, sour, salty and spicy mix in your mouth.

other vermicelli noodle bowls:
angry asian creations – with grilled lamb
wandering chopsticks – with pork + shrimp

diy homemade goldfish crackers

Published on August 12, 2013August 9, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

we went to get dw fitted for a few suits
this summer
doing the grown up thing,
chatting with a proper
tailor
dw standing in front of a
3-way mirror
being tucked and nipped
and damnit, me kissing him silly
cus he is just so dang c u t e
(fyi: making out in public,
in a men’s fancy schmancy suit store
is only entertaining for me,
everyone else gets all flustered)

pda aside,
i always equated getting clothes specially
fitted and tailored
to be oh so grown up,
adult,
and well, i realize i am a
grown ass woman,
i feel so (not to mention, act) adolescent
does this feeling ever go away?
i hope not

when i was younger i wasn’t
much of a snacker
sure we had the random dorritos
or triscuits in the house,
sometimes,
however that was later, when my
sisters grew up and for
convenience sake there were
nibbles available
but when it was pretty much
just me in the house,
with my gparents,
there was never enough in the grocery
fund for cookies or fruit roll ups
as a result, i’m awful with
remembering to pick up
snacks
and even with the means to buy
them now,
and even when it’s on the list
i draw blanks with what to buy
so poor dw’s lunches are
always bland:
(he’d be the kid in the cafeteria
with nothing to trade)
the leftovers from the previous
night’s dinner
maybe a piece of fruit
and
that’s it
i know, right?

goldfish crackers are a
childhood staple,
not my childhood,
but you know,
~~the white folk~~
i could buy them now
i suppose, but they’ve been on
my radar to attempt,
and since i’m a grown up without
little ones to mind
i spent a sunday morning rolling the dough,
cutting the fish shapes
no lie, they’re adorable
they taste like the real stuff
i think i would just rather
re-learn how to grocery shop
for snacks

homemade goldfish crackers
adapted from she wears many hats

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded. i used cabot’s seriously sharp cheddar
4 TBL cold coconut oil, Cut Into Cubes
1 cup spelt flour
pinch of salt
2 TBL ice cold water

in a food processor pulse everything but the water until the mixture looks like coarse sand

add in the water, one tablespoon at a time. resist the urge to add more. just don’t.

divide the dough into 3, wrapped in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.

preheat oven at 350F.

remove dough from fridge and allow for the cold edge to warm a smidge. remember, coconut oil is finicky, it gets hard at a lower temp but also melts real easily.

roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. for the first 3 dozen i made little goldfish and then i got over it and just cut the rest of the dough into little random shapes with a pizza cutter. it all tastes the same, trust me.

place crackers on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. bake for about 15 minutes. store at room temp in air tight container.

2 ingredient chocolate mousse

Published on August 8, 2013January 31, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach24 Comments

last week we had a breakdown,
and then we had chocolate mousse.
this was a treat that dw whipped up
so quickly that he literally got a blister on his finger.
the mousse made sense,
we like our dessert after supper,
and we had the ingredients already
(all two of them)
the breakdown, though,
well,
that didn’t make sense.
we can attribute it to
wedding dementia
and other introverted stuff
that i suffer from
and the thought of
more than a handful of people at the wedding
that SET ME OFF

i’m not proud of my behavior
i can be such a petulant asshole sometimes
brusque
dismissive
unreasonable
you know, all that stuff

like a trooper dw not only
gave me space for 24 hours
but he gave me this,
a reminder of sorts
that with just two ingredients
something wonderful can be created,
just like when two people love each other
as much as dw & i love each other
everything else is just
chump change

2 ingredient Chocolate Mousse
from Cafe Fernando who got the recipe from Herve This & Heston Blumenthal
*note: for the love of gawd, don’t go skimpy on the chocolate, buy the good quality kind, with a minimum of 70% cacao. regular chocolate chips won’t work, we learned that the hard way. also, use a hand mixer, you don’t want a blister on your finger. last, if you want, play with some flavorings. the latest play was 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper added and topped with grey sea salt. divine.

265g good quality bittersweet chocolate (like scharffen berger) (minimum 70% cacao solids), hand chopped
1 cup water

important step:
fill a large mixing bowl with ice & cold water. think like you’re gonna shock-stop veggies from cooking to retain its pretty color. have a smaller mixing bowl, one that fits in this bowl, on hand as well.

in a small sauce pan, mix the chocolate + water over medium heat until well incorporated.

pour chocolate mixture into the smaller mixing bowl, place it in the bigger ice water bowl and start mixing with hand mixer, or risking blisters, by hand. the mixture will start to thicken. don’t get overzealous, apparently it will get grainy, which would then require you to re-heat the mixture and start again.

divide into 4 ramekins. best served immediately but if not, keep in fridge, well covered. take out 20 minutes prior to consumption to take the cold edge off.

chocolate + coconut macaroons

Published on August 5, 2013August 3, 2015 by Lan | MoreStomach26 Comments

you guys.
it’s August.
which means Summer is drawing to a close
school starts in a few weeks,
and the traffic jams will return
it means that before you know it
it’s September,
it’s Autumn,
it’s mustard yellows
and tweed
and cowls
and of course, for me + dw,
it means our Union

i confess that this post will not be
the funnest
it might even come off as whiny
but i’m tired
that’s it,
i’m just feeling fatigued
what should be so simple,
so incredibly easy,
is kinda turning out to be a downer
there is always 2yen dispensed
advice doled out
and the worst —
oh the worst
everyone else’s expectations & requests
(i could never make it as a customer service representative)

so, for now i am wallowing
it’s an immature indulgence, i know
but it’s all i am capable of right now
but when i get back, people:
Zero. Fucks. Given.

chocolate + coconut macaroons
adapted from the Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper & Sally Swift
yields 13 heaping TBL-sized cookies, or 39 small tsp-sized cookies

*note: dw & i like to have dessert after dinner and well i needed a really quick, one dirty bowl sweet recipe. this was it. i previously made coconut macaroons that used only egg whites. this recipe, thankfully, let me use the whole dang thing and it came out just lovely.

2 large, organic eggs
1/4 cup organic sugar
generous pinch of salt
1 estimated tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes
chocolate melt, amount per your discretion

preheat oven to 350F

prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper

in mixing bowl mix everything, except for the chocolate. you’re not aiming for a batter, it’s more like clumps of moistened coconut.

form macaroons as you want, into balls, or drop them via tablespoon on sheet. bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

transfer to rack to cool.

when cool, dip in melted dairy free chocolate, and drizzle over top. allow to cool.

who else has made coconut macaroons?
felicia of dish by dish, pyramid shaped!
wendi of bon appetit hon, with egg whites only
shanna of food loves writing, lemon almond coconut macaroons