Mediterranean Ragou with Gluten-Free Couscous

I first saw this recipe in a cookbook many years ago while living in West Africa, but lost the source. This is my best attempt to duplicate it, with a few of my own changes. I added the couscous (gluten-free brown rice couscous), because it just goes really well with this recipe. I always enjoyed real couscous before I went gluten-free, so this version of couscous was a nice treat. This recipe feeds about 6-8 people.

Mediterranean Ragou

Ragou Ingredients:
1 lb. stew meat or ground beef
1 large cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
6-10 large Roma tomatoes, diced
3-4 carrots, sliced in rounds
2-4 Tbsp.  Mediterranean spice
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2+ tsp. salt

Couscous Ingredients:
20 oz. Gluten-Free Brown Rice couscous (I used Lundberg's brand)
6 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 Herb-Ox MSG-free beef boullion cubes
4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. curry powder

Instructions:
Ragou: Cook up beef in small amount of vegetable oil in a skillet and set aside.  Dice vegetables and stir-in large skillet. Add cooked beef and remaining ingredients and cover with lid for about 5 minutes on low heat until vegetables are tender.

Couscous: Add all ingredients into a pot with a lid, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring every few minutes, until couscous absorbs all the water.

Serve ragou on the couscous. Serve with side of sliced fresh apples. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Soup with Homemade Gluten-Free Noodles

Creamy Chicken Soup with Homemade Gluten-Free

Noodles

2 Tbs. coconut or vegetable oil

3 Tbs. butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

3 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

5 cups water

2 tsp. garlic powder

4 Herb-Ox chicken bouillon cubes (MSG-free)

3 Tbs. dried parsley

2 tsp. each salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

Egg noodles:

2 cups gluten-free flour mix

2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

¼ cup water

Instructions: Add 1^st 7 ingredients to small stock pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer till carrots are tender.  

While pot is simmering, mix ingredients for egg noodles and kneed together with hands until a ball of dough forms. Roll out flat on surface floured with gluten-free flour (tapioca flour works well). Cut into noodle shapes of choice.

Add garlic powder, bouillon cubes, parsley, salt, pepper, cream and milk to boiling mixture, and bring to boil on medium heat. Add noodles a few at a time, breaking apart loosely as they are added, and let cook in boiling mixture for at least 2 minutes. Stir gently only.  Cool and serve.

Gluten-Free Twinkies? Yes Please!

Ok, so I know most of the food on this blog is healthy, but as a kid I used to love Twinkies, and like many who have had to switch to a gluten-free diet, some of the time I crave the things I can't have.  So when I found out Hostess came out with a Twinkies maker, I just had to try it. Thankfully I was gifted one for Christmas this year, and so naturally I had to try the recipes out with gluten-free ingredients.  The appliance comes with a small recipe book with the original Twinkies recipe, as well as Chocolate Twinkies, even Red Velvet Twinkies, and a variety of fillings, including the classic marshmallow fluff filling, that all sound like fun to try. They only took 7 1/2 minutes to cook. This time I substituted flour with Glutino's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and they turned out pretty good. For the recipe, well, you'll have to buy the appliance yourself and try it, since the booklet is copyrighted. But for Twinkies lovers, whether you have to be gluten-free or not, it's easy and fun to use.