Sweet curry squash

2 chopped yellow onions
entire butternut squash, diced (1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 cup cashews or macadamia nuts
oil
garlic
salt
sweet curry powder and other Indian spices
cardamom
red pepper flakes
lemon peel (or orange peel)

1/3 cup raisins
orange juice
honey

scallions to top

Cook onions with oil, salt, and Indian spices to transluscent, and set aside. Cook squash with oil and all spices to just short of soft (and definitely not mushy) and nuts to browned. Add onions back in, add raisins and splashes of orange juice, and drizzle on a bit of honey after orange juice has reduced. Sprinkle chopped scallions on top when serving.

Spaghetti squash biryani

1/4 roasted spaghetti squash
2 large onions, chopped
1/8 cup raisins
1 cup cashews
1 peach, diced
oil
salt
1 T sweet curry seasoning
1 T tandoori seasoning
1 T ground cardamom

Saute onions and cashews in oil with salt and half the spices until browned, and set aside. Heat up roasted spaghetti squash and raisins in the pan with salt and the remaining spices, stir in onions and cashews, and add the diced peach. Serves 4.

The spaghetti squash and fruit will add plenty of sweetness, so you don’t need any honey or sugar in the dish.

Summer "Pasta" Salad

I finally figured out how to replace the starch in my favorite summer food!

Summer "Pasta" Salad

All measurements are approximate.

1 head cauliflower
4 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
freshly grated parmesan and/or romano
salt/black pepper to taste

Chop the cauliflower into small bite size pieces. Steam until tender. Drain well.

Chiffonade the basil leaves (roll leaves into a cylinder using a big leaf as a wrapper, then use a good knife to chop into thin strips). Chop the tomatoes.

Mix together the warm cauliflower, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, vinegar. Salt to taste, but not too salty. Serve with a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan.

Optional: add leftover chunks of cooked chicken or other protein

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

This is out of season, but Robin asked for it. Meyer lemons are special: they have a more floral scent than regular lemons. I suppose you could use other types of lemons, but I recommend organic if you can because you're eating the whole fruit.

This recipe is adapted from one found in The Gourmet Cookbook. This takes two days: on the first day you prepare the lemons; on the second day you cook and jar the marmalade.

1.5 pounds Meyer lemons
3 cups water
2 cups honey (preferably a mildly flavored honey: your basic clover is fine)

Cut the lemons in half and remove (and save!) the seeds. Tie the seeds in cheesecloth---the seeds will provide the pectin which will make your marmalade gel. Cut the lemon halves into quarters and slice each quarter into thin slices. Combine the lemon slices, the bag of seeds, and the water in a covered pot. Let the pot stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Chill 2 small plates for testing the marmalade. Bring the lemons to a boil over moderate heat. Simmer, uncovered, until reduced to about 3 cups (about 45 minutes). (Now is the time to sterilize the jars: see below.)

Add the honey and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam. The marmalade is done when a spoonful placed on a cold plate remains in a mound after a minute in the refrigerator rather than running. Test for doneness after about 15 minutes. It may take up to 30 minutes. The marmalade will set further in the jars, so don't worry if it's kind of runny.

Drain your sterilized jars on a clean kitchen towel for a minute, then turn right-side up. Ladle the hot marmalade into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch space at the top. Run a knife around the inside of the jars to eliminate air bubbles. Discard the cheesecloth bag of seeds. If you have a partial jar, don't try to can it---just use that one first.

Use a 10-minute water bath to seal the jars (see below).

Canning supplies: You'll need 6 pint jars, new lids, and the bands that screw on to hold the lids in place, and a canner or heavy pot (with a lid) that is large enough to hold the jars in a single layer with 2 inches of water over the jars and room for the water to boil.

Sterilizing the jars: First, wash the jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water, then rinse well. Put the empty jars in the canner, fill with water so there is 2 inches of water above the jars. Bring the water to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Then turn of the heat, but leave the lid on to keep the jars as hot as possible. Separately, heat the lids in water until a thermometer registers 180 degrees: don't boil the lids or they won't seal properly.

Water bath: Wipe the rims of the filled jars. Put a lid on and use a band to screw it in place. Put the sealed jars on a rack in the canner (if you don't have a rack, you can place a folded kitchen towel on the bottom of the pot in the water---this helps to keep the jars from banging against each other when the water boils). Add enough water to cover the jars by 2 inches. Bring the covered pot to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Transfer the jars to a towel-lined surface to cool. (Use tongs!. Use a dry towel if you have to handle the jars!) As the jars cool, you will hear the lids ping. After the jars have cooled, check whether the lids have sealed: they should be concave and they shouldn't pop if you press the lid. If a jar doesn't seal, put that one in the refrigerator to use first. The others can go in your pantry with or without the screw bands.

Currant Scones

Looking for a change from muffins?

Currant Scones (around a dozen)

5 tablespoons butter, room temperature or melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup currants
2 cups almond flour

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a large baking sheet or use parchment paper.

Mix all ingredient thoroughly.

Drop batter onto prepared baking sheet in 2- to 3-inch circles, leaving enough room between for some spreading. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until edge have turned golden brown.

Chopped Salad

The trick to this salad is to cut everything into very small pieces. I aim for 1/8 to 1/4 inch cubes. You want to get some of all the ingredients in every bite.

1 small cucumber (peeled if you prefer, Armenian are nice: use 2 if you have them)
1 medium tomato
1/2 very ripe avocado
1/4 pound feta
watermelon about the same volume as the tomato
salt to taste (start with 1/8 tsp)
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
(if you have lemon flavored oil, use that instead of the lemon & olive oil)

Cut everything into cubes of about the same size. Stir it all together, and eat it up, yum.

Curried potatoes and eggs

2-3 medium onions, chopped
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 cups cooked fingerling potatoes, sliced 1/8 inch thick
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
grapeseed oil
salt
black pepper
garlic powder
Penzeys garam masala (coriander, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, charnushka/kalonji, carroway, cloves, ginger, nutmeg)
Penzeys tandoori seasoning (coriander, cumin, paprika, garlic, ginger, cardamom, saffron)
Penzeys sweet curry (turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, white pepper, cloves, cardamom, black and red pepper)
1/2 Tbsp honey
splash orange juice
finely chopped fresh dill
Optional: 1/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds, or 1/2 cup toasted cashews


In a hot pan, fry onions with oil, salt, and spices. Set aside onions when transluscent. Add oil to the pan, and fry potatoes with salt, spices, and orange juice. When potatoes are starting to brown slightly, add yogurt, tomato sauce, eggs, onions, salt, spices, honey, black pepper, and optional nuts. Mix together and cook until sauce is slightly reduced, adding water if sauce reduces too far. Stir as needed to prevent scorching. When ready to serve, sprinkle dill on top. Can be served hot, warm, or chilled.

Salt and spices should be added at every stage, since the onions, potatoes, eggs, and yogurt will all tend to mute the spices. The honey is not to make the dish sweet, but to counteract the sour flavor added by the yogurt.

Baked Kale Chips

Kale doesn't show up in my house very often, but every now and then some sneaks through the door. And after discovering baked kale chips, I might invite it in more often!

The short version:

Wash and dry kale. Dry it again. Get it really dry. Now drizzle it with olive oil and mix it around so the leaves are coated. Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees on a foil lined pan. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika (or whatever savory blend of herbs you have and like). Enjoy the crisp of potato chips with the thrill of eating your dark leafy greens.

If that sounds good, but you want better written details for the process, I got the recipe from glutenfreegirl.

If you bake, and if you eat gluten free but not grain free, or if you just like reading someone who really enjoys life, you'll like glutenfreegirl. Though I'll admit to being rather envious since my problem is carbs not gluten, so I can't try most of her recipes.

Banana-nut muffins at Rockland B&Bs

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipes/search/onerecipe.php?number=17868

When we're staying at B&Bs, I send an email in advance explaining that I don't eat grain and asking for a simple meal of eggs and fruit and meat. I'll also include a link to SCD recipes online, just in case the owner wants to experiment.

One experiment that went over extremely well was at the LimeRock Inn in Rockland Maine. I can never remember whether Frank or PJ is the baker, but he made the most fabulous almond-flour muffins which have become such a staple that a variant of the recipe (using pecan flour, which is easier to make in your food processor) is one they chose to highlight in a Yankee Magazine article about the Inns of Rockland!

Squash latkes

2 cups roughly grated butternut squash
1 cup roughly grated onions
2 eggs
3 Tbsp almond flour
salt
optional: garlic, cinnamon, cayenne

After grating squash and onions, let sit for 15 minutes and then press out the excess water. Mix all ingredients together. Fry pancakes (3" across, 3/8" thick) in oil until brown on each side. Serve with applesauce.

This is a standard potato pancake recipe, with the grated potatoes replaced by a mix of squash and onions and the wheat flour replaced by almond flour. You can change the ratio of squash to onion to suit your taste.