Spanish Rice

 Have you ever craved a random food from childhood without even knowing it until you ate it? That is exactly how I felt when I took one bite of this Spanish Rice. When I was younger, we didn't have a lot of money so Hamburger Helper was a treat. So was mac and cheese with hot dogs. This was gourmet for me back in the day! Boy have my tastes changed!
 As I started eating this rice I felt another kind of "fullness." It was as if it was some kind of comfort food for me. I did not even realize it until I ate it. It was like Hamburger Helper all over again, but in a good way. Childhood food, particularly my Grandma's, is a comfort food for me.
 Oddly enough, this is a recipe from my boyfriend's family so to me the recipe is barely a year old. They call it Spanish Rice. Not sure where the name comes from, but it's pretty tasty. AND it's a One Pot Wonder. I LOVE those. You only need one pot to cook everything in. It's.... in a word.... Amazing.
 I realize by now that you may be thinking this is some weird dish that's a cross between hamburger helper and hot dogs. SO NOT TRUE. This is a spicy rice dish sauced with tomato juice and ground meat. And trust me it's spicy, if you don't like spice tune the spices and hot sauce down some. I've tweaked the original recipe from my boyfriend a bit, but it's delish. Trust me, some crazy internet blogger chick, you'll love it.

 The first thing you want to do is chop two shallots into a small dice, but not super small. You could also use regular onions, I cannot. That and I just wanted to be fancy.

Oh look how fancy pants we are

 Then you want to get a large pot on the stove, put it on med-hi heat, and put in oil. Once the oil is heated, it looks more "runny," add the shallots and saute.

Once the shallots have gotten a bit steamy, add in an old friend- some minced garlic. You want to continue cooking until the shallots are translucent, and the garlic isn't getting too dark. That's always the trick. Burnt garlic is not cool. Just ask a vampire.

Happy Happy!

 Now you'll want to add your ground protein of choice and chili powder, cayenne, and cumin. The original recipe calls for ground beef, but this time around I'm going with ground turkey. I wanted something different and healthier, sue me.  

raw turkey, not very handsome, so cook it

 Brown the ground turkey and make sure it's cooked all the way through. Nobody likes raw poultry. Not sure who to ask on that one, maybe the CDC? Trust me, ok? Cook all poultry! (that was a dragon voice on that one)

oh yes much better

 Now you'll want to drain the fat. But I used turkey so there's like zero. Oh yeah. After you've drained the meat, pour in the tomato juice. This is pure genius in action and you are a part of it!

cooking rice in tomato juice, who woulda thunk it

 I like to crank that heat up all the way and let it boil. I have a gas stove, so I can be impatient with it. Thank goodness. You'll want to add in the hot sauce at this point. Whenever I use hot sauce I use the wing sauce from Red Hot. It has a great flavor and the spiciness is toned down a bit.

I like to put rice in my little babushka's head

 Once the tomato juice has come to a boil, add the rice. I know this seems like an absurd amount of rice and food in general. The tomato juice I had came in an enormous can. But you can freeze this and reheat with a little more tomato juice. If you wanna scale it down, I just use a small can of tomato sauce and water it down with an equal part water for tomato juice.

this is gonna blow your mind

 When I'm adding the rice I like to keep my burner on. If you have an electric stove I'd suggest turning it off, but you can leave it on the burner. Just stir it up and put a lid on it. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed, and then enjoy. Or rather, Be Amazed. At how easy, simple, yummy, and comforting this can be.

please do not eat your screen

Spanish Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 large shallots, diced
• 2 TBSP oil
• 2 TBSP minced garlic
• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 3 TBSP chili powder
• 1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 Tsp cumin
• One 46 oz can of tomato juice
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of hot sauce (wing sauce) depending on your spicy tolerance
• 5 cups instant white rice

Directions:

1. Heat large pot on medium-high heat on stove with oil. Add shallot. Saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic, saute until shallot is translucent and garlic just browning, about 2 min.
2. Add turkey to the pot with shallots and garlic. Add chili powder, cayenne, and cumin. Cook until turkey is browned. Drain fat.
3. Add tomato juice and hot sauce and bring to boil. Add rice and stir. Turn off heat. Put a lid on the pot and keep covered for 10 to 15 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed.

Potato Salad with Green Onion and Dill

 This is my very first recipe on my new blog. How exciting! For me AND for you because this is simply delicious.

 It's Memorial Day weekend and what could be a better time than now for potato salad?! I've had quite a hankerin for some tater salad and I just had to make me some.

 Store bought potato salad has so many ingredients that I don't even have to patience to read them all. So I thought I'd make my own, with some healthy modifications of course. I subbed out half the mayo with plain nonfat greek yogurt. I also added green onions instead of regular white onion as it has tyramine and is a migraine trigger. Oh yes, I added some Love in there too.

 First, I bought the potatoes at Aldi, and ran into my Aunt Jackie. Random, but relevant. I got the "premium" potatoes. They're a size B. Yep there is a sizing range for potatoes, but not like bra sizes it's way off. They are little adorable potatoes with a thin skin so I decided to leave the skins on. The skins contain a lot of nutrition, and I was not trying to peel all those little suckers. Here they are:

Aren't they cute? I knew you'd think so

  Another awesome part is that I only had to quarter them. I'm not a fan of cutting potatoes, you can thank culinary school for the never ending potato cutting scars.

no literal scars, just emotional scars so it's ok

Then I put them in a large pot, covered them with water, and waited for them to boil.

you can't watch them or they won't boil, they're shy

 While I was waiting for my potatoes, I chopped my green onion into little slices. Use that white end too, it is an onion after all- a baby sized one.

they're like green onions on steroids, they're huge!

  Then I chopped my celery into small slices.

 After that I got my sauce for the potato salad together. It's got the mayo, greek yogurt, dijon mustard, vinegar, salt, sugar, black pepper, dill, and hot sauce. You will see hot sauce in a lot of my recipes. I have an addiction.

I used rice vinegar and think it's fantastic, but you can use white if need be

 Once that was good to go I threw in the green onion and celery.

 I put the sauce in the fridge while I was taking care of my potatoes. I drained the potatoes and put them in a large bowl. I then put that bowl in the freezer to cool for about 10 minutes. Like I said before, I'm a woman with no patience. The potatoes should not be hot when you are mixing, that's all. So when ready I poured the sauce on the potatoes.

 Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator until it's cold. Then, voila! Heaven in a bowl my friends. It's THAT good.

Potato Salad with Green Onion and Dill

Ingredients

• 3 pounds small potatoes, quartered
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt, plain
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dill weed
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• dash of hot sauce
• 2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
• 2 bunches green onions

Directions

1. Cover potatoes with water in 4-quart saucepot; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and cool slightly.
2. Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper, dill, dijon, and hot sauce in large bowl. Add potatoes, celery, and onion and toss gently. Serve chilled.

Welcome to my new gluten free recipe blog

 Hi my name is Samantha, but my friends call me Sam. A select few call me Sammy so that one is off limits. I have three brothers, the best boyfriend ever, and a silly cat named Fandango, renamed Kitten. This is my first time blogging, so be gentle. I'm gonna bring you into my world of gluten free (and my attempts at being migraine free) and share some recipes while I'm at it.

 I've been sensitive to gluten for a very long time. But it wasn't until my mother found out that she was allergic to wheat (oat, corn, and white potato too) that I thought I may have some issues with wheat myself. Two of my brothers are on the autism spectrum and I heard those letters GFCF get thrown around a lot. People have called it a "cure." I thought maybe, just maybe this could work for migraines too. I'm still working on the CF part though. It's hard to cut casein out completely too when migraines limit even more food choices, like CHOCOLATE. Sad face.

 Last year I told my neurologist, who I'd been seeing since about 2006, that I feel like I get migraines when I have wheat. She said that it was highly unlikely. I did not agree. If anyone knows my issues it's ME, and perhaps my boyfriend. So, at my mother's behest, I began to cut wheat out of my diet.

 My mom had been gluten free for a while, and I hate to admit it, I made fun of her a LOT. Now that I've eaten my crow, without any wheat of course, I feel SO much better. Gluten free is not a fad, it's a way of life. While I may not be celiac, I know that a lot of my health issues are caused by gluten.

 I've been gluten free since March 2011 and believe me it's been no fun and games. It is hard, but not impossible. We just have to get awareness out there more. I'm gonna do my part and share with you my thoughts and recipes.