“Brawndo’s got what plants crave! It’s got electrolytes!”
“Look, what are electrolytes, do you even know?”
“It’s… what they use to make Brawndo.”

Okay, so let me demystify: electrolytes are salts. Not only straight table salt, but the group of salts according to the periodic table. They’re necessary because your body needs to maintain the proper balance of salts and water in your cells, and when you sweat or urinate a lot — or more notably, when you have the loose/frequent bowel problems commonly associated with autistic individuals — you lose salts faster than you can take them in from food, and your whole metabolic process works less efficiently. But in the end, yes, it’s all just a form of salt water.

So why would you want to pay a ton of money for the privilege of having a bunch of artificial dyes and chemical sweeteners added to your salt water? I certainly wouldn’t. Oh hey I know, let’s make our own!

First, take an empty water bottle, preferably with a lid so you can shake it up when it’s ready. Then add 1/16 of a teaspoon of Potassium Chloride. For the accountants out there, note that that’s $4 for 648 servings. You can get tiny measuring spoons here, and while they give them useless names like “pinch” and “smidge,” the five spoons are actually 1/4 tsp, 1/8 tsp, 1/16 tsp, 1/32 tsp and 1/64 tsp. Alternatively, you could make it in larger batches so you could use the larger measuring spoons you already own.

Next, add 1/16 of a teaspoon of baking soda, AKA sodium bicarbonate. See, salts! Again, this ingredient goes for less than $1 for 1,612 servings.

Fill the drink bottle with about 8 ounces of water, which should hopefully leave you with some space at the top, unless you have a particularly undersized container.

Fill that remaining space with the fruit juice of your choice. And that’s it! You’ve just made your own Pedialyte/Whatever-ade, with no extra junk and for only a few pennies (including the cost of the juice — not counting the juice, it’s a small fraction of a penny.)

Of course you could always add a little more juice if they don’t like it so watered down. You could also use 1/2 Tablespoon of honey instead, or even a bit of granulated sugar. But it is important to use some form of sweetener, not only to cover the mild salty flavor, but also because a small amount of glucose is actually necessary to help with absorption. It’s all about the chemistry, baby.

Happy Rehydrating!

Electrolyte Drink

8 oz. water
1/16 tsp potassium chloride
1/16 tsp baking soda
2 TBS fruit juice, or more as desired

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We start with 3 cups of water in a small pot.

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Next, add 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Please note this is not quite the same as balsamic vinegar, though you could probably use the latter if you prefer. Both are made with grapes, but balsamic vinegar is made immediately with fresh grapes, while red wine vinegar calls for the grapes to be fermented into wine first, and only then turned into vinegar. The flavor of both varies wildly across brands, so the question of which type you use is probably less important than choosing a quality brand. As always, make sure it is a pure vinegar, and does not contain the word “malt” anywhere on it, as this will indicate the presence of gluten.

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Add 1/4 cup of honey…

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1/4 teaspoon of black pepper…

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…and 1 teaspoon of salt.

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Now add 1/4 teaspoon each of minced garlic and ginger. A real chef would prep their own, of course. My goodness I’m lazy.

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Bring the mixture to a boil, and allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, until it’s been reduced to about 1/2 cup. (That’s about one-seventh of what it started out as, if you’re trying to eyeball it.)

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Pour the remaining liquid into a small jar or bottle, and you’re set for any soy sauce recipes that might come your way! This mixture will keep in the fridge almost indefinitely, especially if you close the lid while the sauce is still hot and let the cooling air form a vacuum, just like in real canning. You can strain the garlic and ginger solids back out if you really want to, but I don’t bother. Makes it more rustic and authentic, I think.

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Happy Eating!

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Soy Sauce Substitute

3 cups water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp minced garlic

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A lot of GFCF families also have to avoid soy, and this Coconut Aminos is a fantastic substitute to use if that applies to you. It tastes just like soy sauce, and nothing like coconut. It’s a magical little nut, I’m telling you. Of course if you do use real soy sauce, you’ll still need to choose carefully — La Choy is one gluten-free option. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

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So put 1/4 cup of either soy or not-soy sauce in your bowl, then add 3 Tablespoons of dry cooking sherry. It should be 100% wine, and contain no malt or grain alcohol.

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Add 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar…

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and 1 Tablespoon of honey. Because two kinds of sweetness are better than one!

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Now add 1 Tablespoon of minced ginger, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon of Five Spice seasoning. Like any spice blend, you’ll want to double-check that your brand is not mixed with flour to prevent caking.

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Next, chop up two green onions. A pair of kitchen shears will take care of that even faster than a knife.

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Now throw the whole sauce plus the green onions into a ziplock bag with your two pork tenderloins, and let it marinate overnight in the fridge. If it only gets a few hours that’s not the end of the world either.

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When you’re ready to cook, line a pan with foil and place your tenderloins on a raised rack. But don’t throw out that little bag of marinade! First, scoop out one Tablespoon of the marinade, and set the rest aside for a second.

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Add 3 Tablespoons of honey, and brush the mixture over the tops of your tenderloins. This will lead to a fantastic carmelized glaze on the surface of the meat that will have you falling out of your seat in flavor ecstasy.

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Stick a fork into the marinade bag and scoop out the ginger, garlic, and green onion solids, spreading them evenly over the meat. You couldn’t do this a second ago because then your honey brush would have just wiped them all off again, you see?

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Pour enough water in the bottom of the pan so that it’s just beginning to creep up the sides, but not so much that it’s touching the bottoms of the tenderloins. Then carefully place the pan in a 450 degree oven, and cook for 30 minutes.

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Meanwhile, pour the remaining marinade into a bowl, and mix in another 1/3 cup of honey. This ratio of honey-to-marinade is much lower than that first little bit of glaze we made, so the final sauce will have a lot more of those wonderful savory flavors.

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Now this step is important: you must sterilize your sauce, since it just spent a very long time hanging out with raw meat. You can either bring it to a boil in a small pot on the stove, or microwave it for a couple minutes, either way. I know which way leaves me with fewer dishes to wash.

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Drizzle across your cooked tenderloin slices, and clear the area of any loose toys or furniture. You wouldn’t want to injure something when you fall out of your chair like I promised.

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Happy Eating!

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Chinese Barbecue (Char Siu)

2 lbs pork tenderloins
1/4 cup Coconut Aminos (or La Choy soy sauce)
3 Tbs sherry
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs + 3 Tbs + 1/3 cup honey
1 Tbs minced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
2 green onions

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Of course you’ll want to start with peeling and roughly chopping 4 medium sweet potatoes.

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Boil those suckers for about 25 minutes, until they are very soft.

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After they’re drained, I like to mash them up just a little so that things go easier with my hand mixer later on, but you can skip this step if you don’t mind huge chunks of sweet potato being violently flung around your pot.

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Now the important part. Add in 1/3 cup of Minute Maid orange juice (and sadly, yes, the brand is important. There are brands of orange juice with gluten in them, horrifying as that is…) In general, you may or may not need to avoid orange juice that has been fortified with calcium in the form of calcium lactate. What it boils down to is, most calcium lactate sources in the US are derived from non-dairy sources, but foreign-sourced calcium lactate could very possibly be made with whey, and some food manufacturers in the US do use the whey form as well. The only way to be sure is to contact the manufacturer, and always check your labels!

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The second key ingredient is 1/4 cup of honey. And that’s it! Now all you have to do is get out your hand mixer and whip those sweet potatoes into oblivion.

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Now why, I ask you, would you ever restrict something so scrumptious to just one holiday? Aside from being tasty, sweet potatoes are also very healthy, and deserve to be eaten year-round. Some people prefer to make them a little less healthy and melt a layer of marshmallows on the top. I’m morally opposed to it myself, but only because I don’t particularly like marshmallows. If you go that route, I believe Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows are gluten-free, but like I said, I don’t have occasion to check up on that particular food product very often, so you’ll want to double-check before you buy. 

By the way, you see that other colorful pile in the background? That’s nothing but a bag of frozen “fajita vegetables” (i.e. red peppers, green peppers, and onions) with a couple handfuls of frozen corn thrown into the mix. Instant side dish! I made this post a two-fer to try to make up for my sporadic summertime posting. It’s a busy time of year, and I’m sure some of you out there are looking forward to Back to School time just as much as I am.

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Happy Eating!

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Sweet Potatoes

4 medium sweet potatoes
1/3 cup 100% orange juice
1/4 cup honey

Pepper Medley

1 bag frozen fajita vegetables
1 cup frozen corn

But what is peanut butter, really? It’s peanuts, ground up, with a little extra oil. Grind up those peanuts just a little less, and you have a nut flour instead of a nut butter. So it should be no surprise that what is essentially an almond-butter cookie comes out delicious and moist, just like its peanutty counterpart. The advantages of working with almond flour instead of just buying a jar of almond butter are that it’s cheaper, you can use the almond flour for drier baked goods like pie crusts, and the final product has an authentic “crumb” feel to it while still being moist and chewy.

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When you’re baking with almond flour, there’s simply no better source than The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. This one’s got everything from the basics all the way up to the ridiculously-named clafoutis. Most recipes are dairy-free, and the ones that aren’t are very easy to substitute with coconut milk or almond milk. Anyway, this cookie recipe came from that cookbook, in case you hadn’t guessed. Start with 2 1/2 cups of almond flour…

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Then mix in 1/2 teaspoon of pure baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

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I use this powdered vanilla, but the Adam’s Extract liquid vanilla also says gluten-free right on the label. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!] Of course if you’re using liquid, you’ll want to add it to your wet ingredients instead of your dry. Either way, it’s 1 Tablespoon.

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For your wet ingredients, blend together 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil (or another kind of oil, but grapeseed is very healthy…)

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And 1/2 cup of either agave nectar or honey, your choice. I’ve made it both ways. The agave is more expensive, but the honey has a more distinctive flavor that you may or may not want in your final cookies.

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Add your wet ingredients to your dry, and mix together very well.

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Don’t forget to fold in your chocolate chips. Enjoy Life is one brand of GFCF chocolate chips, or you can do what I did here and just chop up a dairy-free organic chocolate bar I happened to get at my local health food store. (They were giving them away as part of a promotion, which is actually what inspired me to make this batch of cookies in the first place.)

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You’re not going to be able to roll this batter into balls with your hands; just glop it onto the cookie sheet with a spoon. The recipe claims you can get 30 cookies out of this batch, but at the size I make them it’s usually more like 12, so adjust your spoonful size as necessary.

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They should melt out flat in the oven, but I usually feel the need to primp them into more of a cookie shape anyway.

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Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. The recipe calls for 7-10 minutes, but my somewhat gigantic cookies take more like 12-15. Make sure you let them cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet, because they’re extremely soft straight out of the oven. Now if you’ll excuse me, I can’t look at this picture anymore, I have to go make another batch.

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Happy Eating!

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup agave nectar or honey
1 TBS Adam’s Extract vanilla
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

You can make your own! Seriously. It’s way easy, and costs about 1/3 as much.

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This isn’t a recipe so much as it is a process, which is to say, having the right kitchen equipment is key, including a yogurt maker. But before we get to that point, you’ll need a double-boiler. (If you’ve never heard of one, that’s a special kind of pot that is actually two pots, one nestled inside the other. You put water in the bottom pot, and this allows you to warm things in the top pot extremely evenly and carefully without scorching. It’s generally used for melting chocolate and other delicate things like that.)

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Anyway, pour in two cans of coconut milk, turn on the heat, and watch the temperature with a thermometer until it gets to exactly 180 degrees. Don’t forget to stir occasionally so you’re getting an accurate reading.

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Meanwhile, get out your yogurt starter. This is the polite name given to the living bacterial critters that make yogurt what it is, also known as probiotics. But be careful! Anything that is officially sold as “yogurt starter” almost certainly has dairy in it. If your kid already takes a good probiotic supplement (and they probably should be,) you can just open up one of those capsules and use it. Or if they don’t, and you’re not sure where to start, Culturelle is a good brand that is gluten- and dairy-free, and comes in individual packets you can use for each batch of yogurt.

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Just as the temperature is right at 180, pull the top pot off of the double-boiler. You just want to graze that upper limit; any higher and it might start boiling, which we don’t want. The only reason we’re heating it up at all is not to cook it, but to sterilize it. Making yogurt involves creating an ideal environment for bacteria to grow, so we have to make sure that there are absolutely no bad bacteria hanging out anywhere near our coconut milk before we start.

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Now it’s sterile, which is great, but it’s still so hot it would kill our good bacteria too if we put them in there, which is not so great. So we have to let it cool down again, to 110 degrees, which happens to be the perfect temperature for making little buggies happy. (The same goes for when we’re baking bread with live yeast, you may recall.) You could just set the pot aside and be very patient, or you could be like me and dip the pot in a large bowl of water to cool it down faster.

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Once you’re back down to 110 degrees, scoop a small amount out of the pot and mix it with your probiotics. Make sure all the powder dissolves thoroughly.

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Then mix the dissolved concoction back into the pot.

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Pour the whole thing into your yogurt maker’s inner container…

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Then close up the outer container around it and let it hang out on your counter for 24 hours. Some instructions might tell you that you only need a few hours, but in my experience that just doesn’t give the bacteria enough time to flourish unless you’re using multiple doses of probiotics. Ideally, when you open that container up, it should be noticeably thicker than it started, and that’s how you’ll know the probiotics have really multiplied. If it’s still completely runny, you may need to use a double-dose of your probiotic, or you may have accidentally killed it at some point, perhaps by adding the bacteria in while the milk was still too hot, or by using a questionable brand of probiotics that was mostly dead to begin with.

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But even the heartiest of probiotic colonies probably aren’t going to result in the kind of yogurt thickness you’re used to buying at the store. To achieve this, you have to strain the yogurt, also known as dripping it. Your yogurt maker should come with a bag of cheesecloth (so named because it’s what you use to make cheese!) Set the bag inside a large bowl, pour the yogurt in, and then lift the bag and hang it by the strings, allowing the clear liquid to drip out.

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I usually tie mine to the microwave door handle. If we were making yogurt out of milk, that liquid would be what’s known as whey, but as it is, it’s just coconut water.

How long you let it drip depends on how thick you want it; at some point enough liquid will come out that you’ll move beyond yogurt into the consistency of cream cheese, which may even be something you want to try to make sometime. I’ve never been able to get it anywhere near a truly firm, grate-able cheese consistency, but I suppose it might be possible if you let it sit long enough. Some people also prefer to drip it in the refrigerator rather than out at room temperature, but my refrigerator doesn’t have nearly enough space for that.

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Ultimately, you’ll have to turn the bag inside out and do a fair bit of scraping to get the yogurt into a storage container. Make sure you make a big mess while you’re doing that. It’s what I would do.

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And I figure, if I’m going to all this work just to have yogurt in the house again, I deserve to be downright decadent in enjoying it. That right there is a banana, topped with coconut yogurt, drizzled with honey. I could eat that for breakfast every single day, y’all.

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Happy Eating!

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Homemade Coconut Yogurt

2 cans coconut milk
1 packet/dose of GFCF probiotics, or more as necessary
banana (or other fruit as desired)
honey (not optional!)

Making your own jello — er, excuse me, your own flavored gelatin — is so incredibly easy, y’all. Also, it’s cheaper. Oh, and healthier, too. Did you know gelatin is good for digestion? Jell-O used to advertise that on their products back in the 50s, but then their devious marketing guys figured out they could sell more if they promoted it as fun for kids! instead. No offense to Bill Cosby, I’m sure he’s not devious.

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Most people don’t even know you can buy this stuff, but every grocery store will have it in the baking aisle. It’s just plain gelatin. Basically, it’s a box of Jell-O, but without the chemicals, dyes, and artificial sugars. Well, actually it’s like four boxes, since it comes with four envelopes. And yet it costs less. Crazy, huh?

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And here I have a bottle of Not Artificial Flavoring. Look how sneaky I am, tricking my kids into eating vegetables yet again! That’s another advantage of making it yourself, you can put in whatever blend of juices that you want. And every drop of real juice you put in is a whole drop more than that Jell-O box would have had. Just because they put a picture of a cherry on the box doesn’t mean there’s a single molecule of actual cherries in there.

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Pour one cup of your juice into a decent-sized bowl, and sprinkle one packet of gelatin all over the surface. Let it sit there for a minute. Meanwhile, heat another cup of plain water in the microwave. About one minute ought to get it to boiling, conveniently enough.

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Notice that I’m holding the glass with an oven mitt, because it does contain boiling water, after all. So be careful. This is exactly what you’d be doing with a box of Jell-O, by the way: put the packet in the cold liquid, then pour in the boiling liquid. You are expending zero extra effort by making your own, and getting a whole ton of benefits.

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Now, if you’re making your gelatin with a fruit juice, there’s no need for extra sweetener. But if, like me, you’re secretly foisting purple vegetable juices upon your kids, you may want to add a Tablespoon or two of honey just to make it convincingly dessert-like.

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Once everything is thoroughly stirred together, just pour the whole bowl into a 9×9 glass baking dish. I’m proud to say I do not now, nor have I ever owned a jello mold — but if you do, hey, go for it!

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Place it in the fridge for 3 hours, and voila! If you want, you can go all crazy with fun cookie cutter shapes, or you can just cut the whole thing into cubes like boring old me.

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This recipe actually makes a pretty firm gelatin, because I like to pop several of these cubes into my kids’ lunchboxes, and I don’t want them reduced to slush by the time they’re ready to eat. If you want a softer result, just add another 1/2 cup of juice to the recipe, or even a full cup if you’ve misplaced your dentures, or had your wisdom teeth pulled recently. Of course, you could also pour them directly into tiny serving cups before chilling, so they’d be ready to throw in a backpack or purse at a moment’s notice.

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Happy Eating!

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Non-Branded Gelatin Dessert

1 envelope plain Knox gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1-2 cups fruit or vegetable juice
1-2 Tbs honey, if desired

First we mix the dry ingredients. Stir together 1 cup of white rice flour, and 1 cup of corn meal, being sure to select a brand of corn meal that isn’t mixed with wheat flour.

Then mix in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon of Argo baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

And of course the magic fairy dust of gluten-free baking, xanthan gum. If you haven’t made the leap yet to doing your own baking, don’t be scared of this stuff. It’s just 1/2 teaspoon of magic fairy dust, that’s all. No biggie.

Now for the wet ingredients. First, melt one stick plus another two Tablespoons of Fleischmann’s Unsalted Margarine (not Original) in a large bowl in the microwave.

Then we’re going to add two cans of corn. But one will be a normal can of corn, drained of its extra liquid…

And one will be an undrained can of cream style corn. Note the word “style:” this is a case where a cheap generic brand will be to your benefit, because it will not actually contain any dairy. Mine is pretty much just corn, water, and salt, partially blended to resemble… something creamy, I guess.

Break two eggs into the bowl. One-handed is not a requirement, it just makes you look cool. (You could also substitute 4 Tablespoons of potato starch mixed into 2 Tablespoons of water, if you wanted to make it egg-free.)

Then mix in one container of plain coconut milk yogurt. Or you could go with soy instead, if that’s what you’re into. But I’m definitely not into that, myself.

And finally, 1/4 cup of honey. See that funky measuring cup I’m holding? It’s part of this awesome set I got for Christmas, which are designed as a collection of nesting Russian dolls. Cool, huh?

Finally, mix the wet with the dry, and stir vigorously.

Scrape it all into a well-oiled 9×13 baking dish, and smooth everything into place. Unlike the majority of gluten-free batters, this one is wet enough that you can just use a spatula instead of pressing it into place with your hand. Lucky you!

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees, and you’ll end up with something like this. Firm enough to be cut into squares like corn bread, but richer and sweeter: corn casserole!

Happy Eating!

The GFCF Lady’s Corn Casserole

1 cup white rice flour
1 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBS GF baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/4 sticks Fleischmann’s Unsalted margarine (NOT Original)
1 can corn, drained
1 can cream-style corn
2 eggs
1 container coconut milk yogurt
1/4 cup honey

First, of course, comes the honey. 1/4 cup of it, to be precise.

Then, 1 Tablespoon of orange juice. Can orange juice contain gluten? Why yes, yes it can. How sad is that? Minute Maid is one safe choice. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change their formulas without notice. Always check your labels!]

Then add in one Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

And this trio of spices! 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic powder and thyme, and just a pinch of cayenne pepper.

And a half teaspoon of salt. Isn’t it interesting how the garlic powder spreads all over the surface and avoids the oil, while the thyme just sinks and sits there in a mound? I’m sure there’s an elementary school science project in there somewhere.

Ruin the aforementioned science project by vigorously stirring all the substances together, then marinate your pork chops in your sauce for anywhere between 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on how your schedule works out. (Of course make sure to place the marinating bag back in the fridge while it sits–I’d be so sad if any of you died of trichinosis on my watch.)

When you’re ready, just dump the whole bag into your pan, extra marinade and all, and sautee them until they’re cooked through. You’ll need anywhere from 5-10 minutes per side, depending on how thick your pork chops are cut. My little digital meat thermometer is one of my favorite kitchen tools. No guessing, no cutting the meat to check… just stab it in, and when it reads 165 degrees, they’re perfectly done. If only all cooking were that easy.

And hey, by that time your marinade will have reduced to this awesome glaze. Man, I think I’m going to cook these again tomorrow night…

Happy Eating!

Honey Orange Pork Chops

2-4 pork chops
1/4 cup honey
1 TBS Minute Maid orange juice
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Our sauce base today is this organic, gluten-free hoisin sauce by Edward & Sons. (They also make great instant potatoes, by the way, as well as all-natural GFCF sprinkles for cupcakes.) [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

Note that not all of the Edward & Sons sauces are gluten free, just this one and their teriyaki sauce. And if you look closely at the bottle, you’ll also learn how to say “gluten free” in French! Actually, that may be “without wheat,” I’m not sure. Either way, “bleh” is an appropriate syllable for it, don’t you think? If you want to have a go at making an approximation of this sauce yourself, it’s mostly soy sauce (make sure yours is GF!), apple cider vinegar, sugar, orange juice, sesame oil, and Five Spice. An Asian-y barbecue sauce, really.

So pour out 1/4 cup of the hoisin sauce, and add 2 Tablespoons of honey…

…and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Lea & Perrin’s worcestershire sauce.

Now, cut up about a pound of beef steak into bite-size pieces, and mix them in the bowl with the sauce. Give them as much time to marinate as you can, but don’t sweat it if it isn’t that long. Usually I end up just letting it sit long enough for me to cook the mushrooms. What mushrooms, you ask?

These mushrooms! Sautee 8 oz. of fresh mushrooms in some olive oil until they’re mostly cooked, a good 8-10 minutes.

While you wait, get out 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, and soak them in some water. I know I use cranberries a lot, but if you don’t like the taste you could always use dried cherries or even golden raisins instead.

Meanwhile, start cooking your rice. 1 1/2 cups of rice is a good complement for the amount of stir fry we’re making, but of course you could do more or less depending on how many people you’re trying to feed.

Man, I always forget how much mushrooms shrink when you cook them. Dump in your meat-sauce concoction and let the meat brown, stirring occasionally. I know it isn’t truly a stir fry unless you have it over very high heat and are stirring constantly, but that’s a bad idea here because it will burn off the sauce too quickly. I won’t tell if you won’t.

And just for a little crunch, let’s toast 1/2 cup of almonds and throw them in there too. I always stock both almonds and cranberries in the pantry, not only for cooking but for sprinkling on salads as well. If your preference is for walnuts, or cashews, or pine nuts, those are all fine and dandy too. It’s a stir fry, do whatever you want! The easiest way to toast the nuts is to microwave them in a bowl one minute at a time, tossing them gently in between, until they crunch when you bite them (instead of squeaking.)

We’re almost there! Drain the cranberries (or other dried fruit of your choice,) and dump them in the pan along with the almonds.

And that’s it! Serve over rice, and sit back and watch the smiles on their faces. Well, don’t sit back too long, you’ll want to eat your own before it gets cold.

Happy Eating!

The GFCF Lady’s beef stir fry

1/4 cup Premier Japan (Edward & Sons) Hoisin sauce
2 TBS honey
1 1/2 TBS Lea & Perrin’s worcestershire sauce
1 lb. beef steak
8 oz. mushrooms
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 1/2 cups rice