Category: Dairy-free

Pin Real Life

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This week I tried out a couple of new techniques inspired by discoveries on Pinterest. For better or worse, here’s what happened….

Breakfast Bread Bowl

Here’s the original recipe, but my attempt (cooked in a full baguette with almond milk in place of cream) took 45+ minutes to cook the eggs thoroughly, and I adjusted the heat from 350 to 400 degrees midway through.

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One Dish Potato & Sausage Bake

Inspired by pins that showed a casserole dish with a colorful collage of meat and veggies baked to glistening perfection in the oven, I decided to give it a whirl with potatoes, chicken apple sausage and green onions. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Delicious and easy for weeknights!

Crock Pot Short Ribs for Dummies

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I desperately needed to find a new meat technique to take me out of my weeknight rut. So when I came across slow cooked Asian-style short ribs on Pinterest, I decided to give it a whirl. But there was a catch: all I had to go off of was a list of ingredients, and a leap of faith. As hoped, the meat fell off the bone about 5 hours in. And the results were deceivingly decadent!

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In the crock pot goes:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 cloves of garlic, diced or thinly sliced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sake
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients together in the crock pot, and then arrange 4 pounds’ worth of beef short ribs in the sauce. Cook on low for 6 hours. Flip about half way through cooking, and then again towards the end if you plan to leave it on warm for extra time like I did. I served the ribs over salad that had been mixed with Asian vinaigrette, but rice or noodles would work well too.

I’m a convert and just pinned about 20 new recipes for my new weekly staple. Welcome to the family, short ribs!

Boiled Chicken, All Grown Up

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In the early days of Dinner with David, I spent a fair number of nights boiling chicken to make enough shredded, juicy meat for several dinners. Nutritious and satisfying, it was about as exciting as, well, boiled chicken.

So, with a generous bunch of green onions in the fridge, and inspiration from Pinterest, I took some liberties with two nights of leftovers.

Soba Noodles Cooked in Chicken Broth, with Peas and Green Onions

Simply boil leftover broth along with two cups of water. Add 1 tbsp each of soy sauce and fish sauce, and green onions. Add soba noodles and cook until nearly tender; then add leftover chicken and frozen peas, and stir until peas are cooked through.

Shredded Chicken with Spanish Rice, Topped with Green Onions

This attempt was a little more dicy. Inspired by Pinterest, I decided to give the ol’ rice cooker a try at making Spanish rice. Add one can of diced tomatoes (I used tomato sauce), 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 cups of rice and 2 tbsp of taco seasoning to the rice cooker. Be prepared to force your rice cooker’s handle to stay in the on position like I did (mine wanted to stop a couple of minutes in). But, unlike me, don’t let it cook so long it chars the bottom of the pot. 🙂 Serve with leftover chicken, broth and green onions.

Taco-Ready Crock Pot Pulled Pork

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It bothers me when I pile a bunch of delicious toppings into a taco shell while propping it straight up, and as soon as I let go, all the toppings fall out. This crock pot recipe solves that problem.

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I’ve seen similar shredded chicken recipes, but I’m a fan of the low maintenance pork tenderloin, so that was the nexus of this recipe:

In a crock pot, mix 1 large can of crushed or diced tomatoes with 4 tbsp taco seasoning and 1 bag of frozen corn. Add pork tenderloin and stir to cover loins with sauce. Cook on low for 6 hours. Pull meat apart with two forks and stir until blended.

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Since corn and tomatoes are already included, you technically don’t need to add toppings. But, we had ours with fuss-free shredded cheese and green onions.

The results were so delicious, I kept sneaking bites before dinner, David had spoonfuls on a plate for seconds, and Indy wouldn’t stay out of the kitchen all night.

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice Crock Pot Pulled Pork

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The Sunday crock pot chronicles continued with a pulled pork that was heavy on the cinnamon, but easy on the kitchen.

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Inspired by this pin, I combined 1-1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 tbsp olive oil, and 1 tsp cinnamon in a bowl. Meanwhile, I diced the remaining half of an onion from dinner last week. I also coated the bottom of the crock pot with a thin layer of olive oil, which turns out the aforementioned 3 tbsp was for (but you can’t really OD on olive oil, so no worries). Then I placed the two pieces of a pork tenderloin in the crockpot, sprinkled the onions around the sides and poured the mixture over the top. I cooked it on low for 6 hours, then shredded the extremely tender meat, and stirred it around to sit in its gooey goodness on the warm setting until I was ready to serve.

David not only went back for seconds, but definitely thirds and potentially even fourths. If you have a sweet tooth like he does, it’s a winner! For more savory-leaning palates like mine, I recommend serving it with plain rice to cut the sweet.

Lesson learned: beaucoup de olive oil equals ridiculously tender pulled pork.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

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Autumn is in the air, so it was a perfect Sunday to throw a pork tenderloin in the crockpot and fill the house with heavenly smells, while we toiled away outside on home improvement projects. Inspired by this pin, I mixed together 1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 tbsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce. I poured the mixture over the two loins in the crockpot, and cooked on low for 6 hours. So easy!

When we were ready to eat, I pulled the meat apart with two forks and stirred it in the sauce. It was delicious served over leftover rice and pad Thai from last night’s takeout (beg, borrow and meal bonus).

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Almost #Fail Almond Milk Pancakes

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One of the reasons I hardly ever bake is that I’m not good at following step-by-step directions with precise measurements. Instead, I prefer to wing it or rush it. I made that mistake this morning with the first batch of pancake batter. Lesson learned: don’t combine all the ingredients willy nilly; it’s not a salad!

My next rookie move was to cook the pancakes too quickly. Once I finally slowed down and let them sit much longer in the pan, they had that pretty golden color. (The first few were 50 shades of ivory.)

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Adapted from a blueberry pancake recipe first attempted here. (And minus the blueberries, unfortunately.)

Mix in a medium bowl:

  • 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (note: recipe simply calls for sugar, but I didn’t have any)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Separately, mix together; then gradually incorporate into the dry mixture above and whisk until the lumps are gone:

  • 2 cups almond milk
  • 2 eggs

Cooking in 1/4 cup spoonfuls over medium heat seemed to be slow, but less accident-prone. Makes about 8 pancakes in a smallish frying pan.

Seafood: To Can or Not to Can

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Since I always struggle with stocking meat and using it before the expiration date, I decided to experiment with canned seafood. The smell is pungent and not for the fish-averse. But adding shrimp or crab to a meal is incredibly easy when it’s stored in the pantry for dinner emergencies.

Breakfast can benefit too. I made baked eggs with almond milk, spinach, and canned crab meat. For the recipe, see New Year’s Resolution-Worthy Baked Eggs.

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I also made a simple “fried rice” dish by sauteeing the canned shrimp in a pan and adding frozen peas towards the end, while cooking the rice separately. Mix it all together and serve. (Even better, try adding the shrimp to a Caesar salad.)

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Pulled Pork Pappardelle: Oscar Dinner Flashback

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Four years ago we lived in San Francisco and “Dinner with David” was born in our tiny little kitchen. On Oscar night that year, I tried a milk-braised pork recipe. The following year, we feasted on fiber-rich turkey meatballs and pasta. Things haven’t changed all that much. So tonight I decided to revisit the pork recipe, this time using almond milk and pappardelle noodles.

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  • Place two halves of pork tenderloin in baking pan; sprinkle with salt, pepper, fresh nutmeg and 2 diced garlic cloves
  • Pour almond milk over the mixture until the liquid reaches the midline of the pork
  • Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 2-3 hours, checking and rotating every 30-60 minutes
  • Once the meat falls apart at the slightest touch, then remove it from the oven
  • Cook pappardelle noodles separately; drain
  • If meat needs more moisture or sweetness, then stir with olive oil and maple syrup
  • Serve a spoonful of pork over a bed of noodles
  • Be thankful that you can eat carbs and meat without having to worry about squeezing into a red carpet gown

Ramen for a Modern Woman

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Us modern girls like to have our cake and eat it too. Why not squeeze in a workout while making dinner?

Lately I’ve been putting this theory to the test, courtesy of our makeshift home gym. Here’s how to make ramen inspired by Everyday Food‘s Asian-Style Chicken Soup, while doing four sets of three exercises.

It may sound crazy, but if you’re a multi-tasker like me, you’ll eat it up (pun intended). And if all that juggling makes it hard for you to remember to defrost the chicken ahead of time, no worries – this version uses straight-from-the-freezer tenders.

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1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Put 5 frozen chicken tenders in pan; cover with foil. Fill large pot with water.

Do a set

3. Put chicken in oven and set timer for 20 min. Turn stove on high; put pot of water on.

Do 2 sets

4. Put Chinese-style ramen noodles in the boiling water for 3 minutes; stir to separate.

Do a set

5. Check on chicken; set timer for 15 more minutes, if needed. Remove noodles from stove; drain and leave in colander.

Do 2 sets

6. Put drained noodles in bowl with 1 tbsp of oil to avoid sticking.

Do 2 sets

7. Remove chicken from oven to cool. To make the soup base, combine 10 cups of chicken broth, 3 tbsp fish sauce, 4 tbsp soy sauce, and a dash of ground ginger in the same large pot you used for noodles; bring to boil.

Do 2 sets

8. Shred chicken with forks

Do 2 sets

9. Add noodles, chicken, and any veggies you like (I used spinach and radish slices) to the broth. Bring back to boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Season as needed.

Enjoy your ramen with a side of endorphins.