cookie link (& love)

Kim here again.  Guest posting, uninvited, on my sister's blog.  (Watch out, Kate! Although I just started out with the occasional comment and random 'like' on Patrick's Facebook, well, you can see where gradual beginnings got me . . . Just so you know, I never intended to take over.)

My husband, Patrick, doesn't really bake. He's great on the stove top, can roast a bird, and like many men before him, is a grilling master. You can imagine my surprise then, when he executed these gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free chocolate chip cookies.

Here's the link to his recipe:

  Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Patrick's g.f. flour blend, based on ingredients available to us here locally, is 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, and 1&1/4 cups white rice flour.

 
This is our gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free daughter Keturah awaiting her made-especially-by-daddy cookies.  Keturah has big issues with milk, but no reaction at all to butter, so at this point we have no need to find a butter replacement in our kitchen.  (Yay!)

 

Are these masterfully baked cookies not one beautiful representation of the love of a daddy for his daughter?

Patrick scored double on this labor of love, though, because his g.f. wife not only appreciates the lengths gone to for our second-born, but for me as well.

 

You'll have to head on over to my blog to read that version of cookie-love, though.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies - gluten free and vegan

My obsession with whoopie pies has taken a new turn and today I pulled out my Whoopie Pies book and tried my hand at the classic Fall flavor- Pumpkin. I made my typical conversions to gluten free but then took it one step further and went egg free as well. Why? Well, I'm intrigued by vegan baking as I'm working on cutting out dairy 100% (damn you, pizza from The Rack- why must you call to me?) and wanted to go the extra mile with egg-less baking.

Pumpkin Whoopie (gluten free and vegan)
adapted from Whoopie Pies

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees and blend flax seeds with water
Blend in a bowl:
2 and 1/4 cup Gluten free flour (Artisan Blend)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

In mixer:
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 cup brown sugar


Blend above then Add 
1 1/2 Cups Pumpkin (Libby's is gluten free)
1 egg or Flax seed *
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* mix 1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds with 3 Tablespoons warm water- stir then let rest for 5 minutes- stir aging before adding


Combine Dry with Wet and mix until just stirred in 
Drop 2 tablespoon sized piles onto baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove- cool and enjoy with a cream cheese frosting but don't tell Dave that it's a cream cheese frosting- even if it's Tofutti and Earth Balance he still doesn't want to know this but will enjoy it anyhow.

Artisanal Brownies

Our food bill has been insane this winter. It seems like prices have gone up at the store but also we've been eating more partly due to the cold weather and additional exercise with skiing, Dave's snow making and playing in the brisk mountain air with the pups. We're working on cutting it back without depriving ourselves of good food. Instead of buying a mix for upwards of $5 we're baking more from scratch and using real food. I pulled out the Bronski's cookbook and gave the brownie recipe a whirl. I have made homemade brownies before- years ago when I was a gluten eater and made the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook a few times. I really need to start marking the book with all the things I've tried, last month we were enamored with the snickerdoodles and I am now smitten with brownies.
See....

Next time I'm going to pull them a smidgen earlier as I like a gooey brownie....
I'm also trying to go back to being 96% dairy free. I've been cheating with Dairy during the holidays- eating real butter for cookies, gluten free pizza loaded with cheese and sour cream in mashed potatoes- and I feel it. My energy is low and I've gained back a few pounds... blah! So back on track I go which is going to be hard as my baking was happier with butter and the pizza has become more accessible thanks to Crazy Elk. I've started to clean it up but had pizza last night and felt the congestion hitting soon after leaving me to wonder- is it really worth it?

gluten free, dairy free ice cream

Last week I felt like it was my birthday when Udi's sent me a box of goodies to try. I've been enjoying Chocolate Muffins for breakfast and took the 4-pack of  bagels to Merle's Brown Bag to try to win Shawn over. (How can you not LOVE a gluten free bagel that tastes good un-toasted? Great for breakfast and lunch. I've really been digging my Udi's with Merle's bacon, turkey, mayo, pickles and onion... I may have to grab one for lunch tomorrow)

Tonight I'm making gf, df ice cream for my real birthday and it's gonna be so good that Ben and Jerry will be jealous... plus it matches the kitchen aid mixer that was my big birthday present two years ago. I found my base here and devised my own mix ins... the Udi's Chocolate muffin and coconut flakes. yum. I was pretty inspired by Marlow's tweets and blog post about her ice cream adventures and it spurred me to motivate and make my creation.

Waiting for the strawberries to defrost was painful so I cut the muffin into little pieces and put it in the freezer to chill out.

The strawberries had become soft enough and I used the immersion blender on them and then mixed with the coconut milk, vanilla and agave nectar before pouring into the ice cream maker.

After 30 minutes I spooned it into a container and mixed in the coconut flakes and my last chocolate Udi's Muffin. I still had ice cream leftover so grabbed some homemade gluten free frozen cookie dough and chopped that up for the second container.

Now I'm working on my patience and letting the ice cream set up overnight... this may cause me to eat ice cream for breakfast...

birthday cake

my friend Brianne celebrated her 30th birthday today and I was happy to bring a chocolate cake to the office to help mark the occasion. The Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Cake is fairly simple and made a great treat for all.

I made two 8" rounds and they came out very pretty. I didn't frost it until I got to work this morning as the pans made for easier transport. I did use canned frosting that contained some milk but the cakes were dairy free thanks to Earth's Balance and soy milk. 

 We've reached the point in the spring where it's warm enough during the day to melt the snow a bit and cause some runoff that then freezes at night. It makes for a slippery walk to the gondola in the morning. That's right, I ride a gondola to work in the morning and usually my monster comes with me. It's actually a chondola which is chairlift and gondola on one cable. Chaos and other dogs are welcome in the cabins and it's his favorite thing to chase (after skiers).

From think outside the breadbox

strawberry whoopie pie recipe

I just finished a very successful first batch of Strawberry Whoopie Pies. This time I defrosted frozen strawberries and used the puree for flavoring. The pies came out so much lighter the the jello batch and I didn't even wait for them to cool properly before testing, shooting and tasting.

the new kitchenaid pulverizer works great...

Whoopie Pies Test Batch #1

First mix 1.75 cups gluten free flour (artisan blend used here)

with .5 of each baking soda, salt and xantham gum

set aside

then puree strawberries and set aside. I let frozen ones defrost and used the berries and the juice.

In a separate bowl mix .25 cup of butter (Nature's Balance for me!)

.5cup of sugar when it's blended add 1 large egg, .5 cup milk (soy for this batch) and .5 teaspoon vanilla

Blend well by hand or with a mixer.  Add in .5 cup of strawberry puree.

Mix in flour blend and chill for 10 minutes in the fridge

and let your oven preheat to 375 degrees

this seems to help the batter set up so don't skip the chill time

make even dollops of dough

bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (this is for 9,400 feet above sea level- you may want to go with 350 for 13 minutes then test for doneness)

let stand until cool (or get impatient because they smell so good and get one ready for a photo shoot)

Looks pretty but how's the flavor?

SUCESS! To test the recipe I made them again with two slight changes,

food coloring for added pink color and .25 cup less flour for a density test. 

Batch #2 Batter

Batch #1 on the left and Batch #2 on the right

Batch #2 used 1/4 less flour and added food coloring

which resulted in a fluffier and pinker cake

I had a few folks test both pies and grade them on taste, texture and color. Batch #2 (with less flour) won on 3 votes on taste and texture and 2 on color. I had one tester who preferred the natural look... which one do you think is more appealing?

Camper's Strawberry Gluten-Free Whoopie Pies

(makes 12 cakes, 6 pies)

1.5 cups Artisan Flour

.5 teaspoon of each- xantham gum, salt and baking powder soda (whoops!)

Mix above and set aside

In a separate bowl mix

.5 cup sugar

.25 cup butter (Earth's Balance)

Then mix in

.5 cup milk (soy has been tested)

1 egg

.5 teaspoon vanilla

Then puree

.5 cup defrosted strawberries in their juice

and add to the wet mix.

Slowly combine wet and dry mixes

Optional- 6 drops of red food coloring

Chill dough for 10 minutes or more while the oven preheats to to 375 degrees

Bake for 15 minutes

(this is for 9,400 feet above sea level- you may want to go with 350 for 13 minutes then test for doneness)  

I'm suffering from sugar shock after all this whoopie pie testing. I'm hoping the jitters go away eventually...

strawberry whoopie pies... a work in progress

When a friend mentioned Strawberry flavored whoopie pies to me I become obsessed. Two batches later I've learned a bit but have a ways to go. I've been experimenting with strawberry jello mix for flavor and I think it's time to go another route.

My first batch came out very firm and the second batch I managed to dial in the baking time but had very dense pies.  It's the same basic whoopie pie recipe I've been playing with but with 2 tablespoons jello mix instead of cocoa powder. I think the next round I'll try some pureed strawberries...

I've also been busy cheering on my favorite olympic athlete... Seth Wescott. He won in 2006 at the first Olympic snowboardcross race and took gold this Monday. This year Telluride hosted a World Cup SBX race and we were able to cheer on our fellow Mainer.

my version of street noodles

One of my favorite restaurant meals is the simple street noodles from PF Chang's but since 7 hours is not a reasonable drive for take out I've been working on making them at home. We have these at least once a week and make a large batch so that I can have leftovers for a lunch or two.

This is my recreation of PF Chang's Street Noodles.

Prep:
Boil water for noodles in a pot that can also have a steamer placed on top
Cut veggies. Use at least 1/2 cup of mixed veggies plus 1/2 medium onion and 3 cloves of garlic. I like 'em all small and uniform. Take your pick- broccoli, carrots or something else fun. I saved a lot of time by getting sliced carrots the size of matchsticks from the food store. I'm kind of an OCD carrot cutter and was spending at least 20 minutes cutting them into matchsticks.
Cut chicken (thin slices) and marinate in a gluten free Asian sauce (1-2 breasts) I usually make up a bunch and freeze in packets for future meals in the marinade. San- J has a good selection of Gluten Free sauces or sometimes I just use La Choy Soy if I'm out of marinade

Cook:
Steam veggies (but not the onion or garlic) on top of boiling rice noodle water until desired tenderness then drain and set aside
Saute onions and garlic in 2 Tablespoons of toasted sesame oil (TSO)  then cook chicken.
Boil Mai Fun noodles for 4 2-3 minutes, drain then rinse with cold water. (6oz will feed 2 people and have leftovers for lunches)
Add 1-2 more tablespoons of TSO and add noodles and veggies
Add 2-3 tablespoons of gluten free soy sauce to the noodles and cook on a high heat.
More TSO and Soy Sauce may be added for more flavor. The noodles will absorb a lot a flavor and high heat is recommended.

the perfect whoopie pie and seven fun facts

In my few and far between days off this winter I am working on perfecting a gluten free whoopie pie. This is no easy task and it's been further complicated by aiming for the perfect gluten free, dairy free whoopie pie. Sub one thing and the flavor and texture can change...

This week's whoopies were made with almond milk and artisan gluten free flour. I've been using soy a lot in my baking but have friends that are sensitive. The Artisan flour blend is denser then the Featherlight blend and has less of a gluten free taste to it. The last two batches have also been made with Crisco instead of butter. I think the next batch is going to go to Earth's Balance as I miss the butter but can't compromise my dairy intake. I also whipped up a frosting with egg whites, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla. It wasn't as sugary as I like it but everyone else has enjoyed it thus far. The frosting also held shape better then a canned version.

Why the whoopie pie fascination? Why not just enjoy each batch for what they are? I need to perfect my recipe so someone else can make them and everyone can enjoy them at our event next October.  Count this as the first fun fact about me!

Marlow from Gluten Hates Me has shared the beautiful blogger award and now you get to learn seven fun facts about me-
1} I want to make the perfect GF/DF whoopie pie so then someone else can make them for our wedding next October... it will be in Maine and it's a great New England treat that I can enjoy like everyone else. I might not even tell people that they're gluten free. Our goal is to have a wedding that's fun, casual and gluten free except for the keg of beer.
2} As much as I miss D'Ellies Anadama bread I'm glad that I'm GF.  For me eating gluten was like wearing a 20 pound weight and grey colored glasses and not realizing it.
3} I love watching a TV series via netflix. It starts out tame but by the end I'm watching until 2am trying to finish but then find myself devastated by the end of a good run. I've done this with Felicity and now Grey's Anatomy. I'm really mad that just as I finished Season 5 that Hulu pulled the middle episodes of season 6.
4} I once lost a bet and had to shave my head- good news- I don't have a lumpy head. I was 17 and it was very liberating to break out of my shell. When it grew back I even dyed it blue then fuschia.
5} My idea of a good vacation is driving 2,600 miles (each way)- just so my dog, Chaos can travel with us and we can stop at every Whole Foods even remotely close to our route. Audio books and cheesey music make for a great trip.
6} I'm addicted to Steepandcheap.com. I love good gear at great prices. I hate paying full retail for anything now. I have more backpacks then most small gear stores but wouldn't have it any other way.
7} I hate when people on the chairlift ask me where I go to school. I graduated from college 9 years ago... is it wrong to hope for wrinkles?

holidaze

Living in a ski town means that the holiday week is far from a vacation... I am on day 11 straight and am not sure when I can break that streak. And by 11 days I don't mean ski days in a row... that's work days in a row. Thankfully I got ready for the holidays early and began mixing my flour blends before the madness hit.

Good thing too because I'm really messy at flour blending....

Lately I've been keeping Artisanal Flour Blend in addition to the Featherlight. I like both for different things. The artisanal makes a great pizza dough and the featherlight is great for crepes. 

I had picked up Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking and I have to say that I really liked their pizza recipe... ok they have a few but so far I've enjoyed just one.

my gluten free, dairy free, pinapple and peperoni pizza

Did I mention that? I gave up dairy for the holidays and am feeling good. The breakout on my chin as also disappeared. I had some small amounts earlier this week and it is thinking about returning. It was a lot easier to give up gluten then dairy. It once again changed my eating habits. I've been subbing in almond and soy milk. I can't have a lot of soy milk but it's great for baking.

I also tried my hand at a frosting... it was pretty good all things considered! Thanks to Marlow for the idea and to my nautral food store for having "fake people" cream cheese!

Plus here's a few shots of the donuts we made... and need to make again... these were from

The Gluten Free Gourmet as was the frosting.

I think the poor kitchenaid is going to take issue as we got an immersion blender and I'm hoping to use that when I make my next foray into the kitchen again... someday soon when the holidaze are over....

plus I got the 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes and that's a lot to go through....

Happy Gluten Free and Mostly Dairy Free 2010!

off season fridays

the thing about living in a town that has an incredible summer festival season and a ski season that averages 300+ inches is that when "off season" hits I am so ready for it. I love the quiet days and Fridays spend at home watching bad tv and occasionally a good video like this:

Yup, it's hard work living in a town like Telluride and it makes me appreciate a good quiet Friday night at home.

Tonight I made a quick version of the puppy chow from chex mix. Tonight I mixed up the puppy chow and used some Rice Chex and some EnviroKidz Leaping Lemurs which are peanut butter and chocolate balls. I did like the cereal but found them a bit hard. Yes, I like kids cereal more then grownup cereal- I've always had a sweet tooth.

This came from the Chex Box... more can be found here
In mirowaveable mixing bowl combine 1 cup chocolate bits or chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter and mirowave on high for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave for 30 more seconds and add 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir quickly until smooth.

Add in 8 cups of your favorite gluten free cereal and fold into the mix.

In large bowl place a cuo of powdered sugar  then add part of the chocolate covered cereal. Coat well and add more powdered sugar as needed.

Spread onto wax paper to dry. Add in M&M's for some color and added sugar rush. Enjoy along with some cheesy tv on a quiet night at home.

 

whoopie! (pies) and a contest....

I needed a little Maine flavor today and made a small batch of my gluten free whoopie pies. I converted the recipe back in February and have kept it mostly the same but am now going for the dairy free version.

It's also pretty cold and wintery here in Telluride and was a great day for a slow cooker meal from Make It Fast Cook It Slow and we're almost ready to have a late dinner before Dave heads off to make snow tonight.

 

I've always made my whoopie pies with butter and this version came out more dough like and made neat looking patties before the went in the oven.

They baked up well and had good volume.

I'm looking for a good frosting so for now I cheat and use a can.... which is GF but not DF so I can't eat many of these as the dairy tends to bother me.

I'm lucky to have some great baking stones that work well for my whoopie pies... if you're needed some new bakeware then you should pop over to Gluten Hates Me and see the giveaway.  She's partnered up with CSN (who carries everything from this Rachel Ray Bakeware set to this dog bed that Chaos would love and things I heart like this) Just pop over and check out the giveaway. Marlow is another gluten free blogger and has some great recipes posted.

a little protein after ski conditioning

I love pizza. I miss pizza. It's been tough find a good dough. Today I was short on time and did the chebe bag mix. It's yeast free which means that I don't have to contend with that at 9,000 feet above sea level.
I made the dough at lunch and had a quick calzone then rolled the rest and stuck it in the fridge before dinner. I got home late after my ski conditioning class down in town.

Thai chicken pizza has been my go to now since I'm having dairy issues. I'm working on my peanut sauce. Today's version came out well but needed a lot of cornstarch to thicken it.
Peanut Sauce For Thai Chicken Pizza
4 T peanut butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 T cider vinegar
1/2 T Sugar
1/2 T GF Soy Sauce
1/2 t salt
1/4 t garlic powder
cayenne to taste
1 T lemon juice
Combine and whisk well.
Add cornstarch 1 T at a time until desired thickness is obtained (I believe I was up to 4)
Spread on crust with cooked spicy chicken, carrots and onion. Fresh cilantro is best added a few minutes before done. (I didn't have fresh so suffered with dried. It's ok... I had a redbridge to help make up for it)  Bake according to crust directions...

I think next time I may modify my peanut sauce to be more like the one in my gabo gato angel hair. I first had this gabo gato when I went backpacking with my rec class 10 years ago in college. I loved it and often come back to this.... now I just use a GF pasta!

Gabo Gato Angel Hair

1/2 lb angel hair

3T Peanut Butter

3T GF Soy Sauce

1/4 Lg Onion chopped to desired size

1 GF chicken broth cube

3T + 1t oil

3T Brown Sugar

3T Vinegar

2T Sunflower seeds (optional)

Cook Pasta. While pasta is cooking mix in everything but the chicken broth cube into large mixing bowl. Mix well  to combine the peanut butter. When pasta is cooked and drained add chicken broth cube. Then add pasta to mix and combine. Sauce will thicken on standing.  Feel free to to add ins... in the photo I had added in spicy buffalo chicken. Veggies would also be good.

Two very similar sauces and I'm eager to try the pizza sauce again to make it more like the gabo gato.

cookbooks and pumpkins

Somehow these last few weeks have been spent browsing new GF cook books. I ordered Make It Fast, Cook It Slow and Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking, Dave went back east for the weekend and brought me home The Gluten Free Gourmet Makes Desert and I checked out 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes from my local library.

I worked 11 days straight and started a ski conditioning class two night a week so didn't find much time to cook. Dave's also been reading the books and we've got some great one's pick out. Today we made Barbeque Pulled Pork in the slow cooker. I have to say that my favorite part about Stephanie's recipes is that we have almost EVERYTHING already on hand. The pork came out perfect and was the hearty meal Dave needed before going out to make snow. (it was so good that we didn't take photos)

Dave has really enjoyed the recipes in Peter and Kelli's Artisanal book and we're looking forward to playing with some of these later in the week. They also have a neat flour blend that I may try since it's almost time to make up a new batch of featherlight. I really have enjoyed reading their blog and was excited to order the book.

We had a friend stay over last night (also named Dave) and I made the Dave's my gluten free crepes this morning while they watched ski movies to celebrate the 4 inches of fresh snow. These crepes are sooo yummy and a great way to eat peanut butter and jelly again. I made a double batch today so that I could have some before work tomorrow. It should help me ease into the work week!

GF Crepes from 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes
2/3 C Featherlight Flour Blend
1 T sugar
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/8 t salt
1 C milk (I used Silk Vanilla Soy)
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla
Add all of the above to a blender putting liquids on bottom (this is my blender theory- I think it works better this way) Blend until smooth.
Heat your favorite pan with 1-2 tablespoons oil. I then wipe the pan out and set the paper towel aside.
Pour 1/4 cup into hot pan (water drops should dance) and spread out until thin and even. I just did a pan swirl.
Let cook until bottom is lightly browned. (I live at 9,000 feet and this takes me longer then everyone else!) Flip and cook until other side is lightly browned. Place crepe on wax paper. Add another piece of wax paper between each crepe so they don't stick. The wax paper also works well to reheat with. Take your oily paper towel and swipe in bottom of pan before pouring more batter and repeating cooking process.
I'm also trying to use less dairy (butter) and topped my crepes with a cinnamon & sugar blend or confectioners sugar or my favorite peanut butter and jelly. This last one I would do while it was almost done and still in the pan so the peanut butter melted a bit. Since Dave still eats sandwiches we have a no double dipping policy (with the exception of the crunchy since I don't eat that) to keep all jars safe from crumbs.

We also hit a pumpkin carving party this weekend. I'm very lucky to have friends who ask questions and make things safely. Cheers to Jim for making a separate chili with a Green's Discovery Gluten Free Beer, Elaine for thinking of rice crackers and to Jess and Jared for making these GF cupcakes! I made a GF apple crisp and appletinis and was a very happy camper.

noodles and off season

I've always been the type to find something new and have an instant addiction... my new meal is street noodles. The noodles first made a blog appearance when Dave was out of town and I did a small batch with sauteed spinach.

The latest version has broccoli, carrots, onion and spicy chicken. It's all stir fried with sesame oil, garlic powder and soy sauce. It's not quite PF Chang's but tastes pretty good when it's 7 hours away! It reheats well so I make a large batch to ensure lunches for the next day.

We just entered our off season which means it's the lull of tourists in between summer gondola visitors and skiers that will soon hit town. My thai food place is closing for a month at the end of this week and I'm trying to get my fill before that happens. I actually had to wear my down jacket to walk Chaos this morning and I'm off to my ski conditioning class tonight. The local physical therapy center puts it on which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since this is preventing me from becoming their client later in the season. It's been almost a year since I went wheat free and I'm curious if the class will work better this year since my body isn't fighting gluten anymore. I haven't lost a ton of weight in the last year but easily dropped a pants size when I lost the gluten bloated belly. 

Homemade carrot squash soup

yums...my soup this evening came out great.

I baked a squash by cutting it in half, placing in a baking dish cut side up, adding .25" of water, covering with tin foil and putting it in a 375 degree oven for about an hour until the knife blade slid in easily.

The rest goes as follows:

Dice a quarter of an onion and saute in bottom of pan with 1 tablespoon of evoo or butter

add 1 cup chicken or veggie stock and 1 cup of water in the same pot with 3 sliced carrots

boil carrots until desired tenderness is reached (I also wanted a thicker and creamier soup and boiled out half the liquid)

scoop out 1/2 the cooked squash and puree in a blender with some of the broth and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, salt & peper to taste then add the cooked carrots with all the remaining liquid and puree.

Add 1 cup Vanilla Silk Soymilk to the blender for a creamy, dairy free soup. Veggies should be hot enough to warm the soymilk without reheating

Enjoy!  I have a huge sweet tooth and loved the vanilla tones in the soup. I also added more brown sugar but realize that normal people may enjoy the toned  down version. The blender added a frothy element to my soup this evening and I am curious to see if it continues in my leftovers. I was going for dairy free but used butter instead of evoo when doing my onions. A small dose of butter doesn't seem to bother me- it's more a smattering of cheese. In my past life I would have loved some parm cheese to garnish with. I use vanilla soymilk as I am a chicken and needed to hide any soymilk flavor. It's really good in cereal!

The soup was labor intensive but worth it. This made enough for 3-4 portions so I'll be enjoying this vanilla veggie montage for the next few days.... like I said- Dave's out of town and this is what happens when I play chef! I'm wondering if I'll get around to eating any meat while he's gone. I had to use a small pot as normally my soups fill what ever pot size I use and I made a big effort to keep my veggie and liquid portions small.

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