Southwestern Kamut Pilaf

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. Brown rice would be a great substitute for Kamut in this pilaf.**

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love wheat berries. I figured I would like their grain siblings, but hadn't yet tried them. But then last week The Perfect Pantry inspired me to experiment with Kamut. Kamut is an ancient wheat variety, and the berries are somewhat bigger and lighter than those of traditional wheat. I already had some in my pantry and easily found a wheat berry recipe that could be adapted for this adventure.

Southwestern Kamut Pilaf (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

1 cup Kamut, picked over and rinsed

2 Anaheim chiles, cut in half lengthwise and seeded

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 small jicama, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 medium onion, diced (use a red onion if you have it)

1/3 cup cilantro, minced

juice of 2 limes

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 2/3 cups (or 15 oz. can) cooked black beans

Combine Kamut and 2 1/2 cups water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and set aside. Put the chiles skin side up on a baking sheet and press down to flatten. Broil them for 8 min, or until blackened. Then put them in a paper bag and let sit for 10 min. Peel the chiles and dice. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour. Serves 5.

The verdict? Kamut is possibly even better than wheat berries. It has more of a subtle flavor that almost hints on buttery. But, all in all, it's very similar. And this salad is great. I rarely use jicama, but love the crunch that it adds to things. If I were to make any changes, I would add another chile because it's a really good flavor that is a bit too subtle for me. Hmmm... I wonder how this would be with a tomato chopped up into it. And maybe some corn! Ok, so this could be tweaked a lot, but it's really good as is. This is going to make me look forward to lunch all week!

Corn souffle

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

I wanted to try something different tonight... something that I had never made before. I've seen about a million recipes for chocolate souffle this week as people prepare for V-day, so I got the urge to make a savory one. But then what do I do? Asparagus? Broccoli? Corn? Cheese? Corn seemed to be a good option because it would still allow me to taste the souffle flavor, and this felt important for my first one. I won't lie, I was nervous. Souffles have this reputation for being impossible to make. You hear stories about them falling if you simply walk through the kitchen. But recently I've read a lot of articles about how they're really not that bad - you just have to be careful about a few things. This gave me some sense of relief, and I was no longer afraid that I would look at my oven funny and ruin my dinner.

Corn souffles (adapted from A Mingling of Tastes)

butter for coating dishes

breadcrumbs for coating dishes

2 Tbsp butter

4 green onions, finely chopped

3 Tbsp whole white wheat flour

1 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

ground pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

4 large eggs, separated

3 Tbsp cheddar, grated

1 1/3 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed (or use fresh if it's in season)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 375 (it's really important that the oven is hot immediately after you're done assembling the souffle). Grease 2 (500 ml) ramekins with butter and shake breadcrumbs around until bottom and sides are lightly coated. Melt the butter over medium heat in saucepan. Add green onions and saute for 3 min. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 min, whisking constantly. Add milk and cook until slightly thickened, while continuing to whisk. Add salt, several grinds of pepper, and cayenne, and remove from heat.

Lightly beat the egg yolks in a small bowl. Add a spoonful of the milk mixture to the yolks, stir, and then add the yolks back to the big pot of the milk mixture. Stir in the cheese and corn. Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar in a metal bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (this part is also very important - don't use plastic, and make sure you whip them enough). Fold egg whites into souffle batter very gently in three batches (it's okay if they're not completely mixed). Pour the batter into the ramekins, place ramekins on a baking sheet, and put in the oven immediately. Cook until tops are golden and they're set all the way through (about 40 min). Serves 2-4 (depending on whether you're eating it as a side or main dish).

You could also use more smaller ramekins or one big souffle dish, but of course this would affect the cooking time. My 500 ml dishes were both filled to the very top, so take that into consideration when picking your dishes (this is okay - they won't overflow). Ideally you want something with straight sides so that it can easily climb the dish.

Obviously it worked wonderfully. I'm not sure why one souffle turned out taller than the other, but I don't really care. I was so happy the first time I looked in the oven that I didn't know what to do with myself. I even took them out of the oven a few times to check to see if they were set, and that didn't seem to affect them. So, I don't believe all of the hype. Perhaps sweet souffles are more difficult, but this one is completely doable for a souffle novice. And it tastes great! It's sort of like a combination of spoonbread and an omelet... two fabulous things that go great together.

Now that the other one has cooled, it's fallen a lot, but that's fine because all I was asking was for it to survive the original baking. I'm sure it will still taste good, even if it is flat.

Mission accomplished.

Butternut squash and onion pizza

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. Use your favorite gluten-free pizza crust instead.**

It's pizza time again! When I first made the pizza dough I was imagining that I would use it to make more traditional pizzas, but lately I've happened upon a number of new and different recipes. So, here's another pizza that will keep your pizza taste buds on their toes (if only we really had pizza taste buds...).

Butternut squash and onion pizza (Adapted from "Vegetarian Planet" by Didi Emmons)

1/3 butternut squash, peeled and sliced very thinly

1 medium onion, sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp dried sage

1 ball (6 oz.) whole wheat pizza dough

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Take the pizza dough out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you plan to use it (preferably more like 2-3 hours). If using frozen dough, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight before taking it out to come to room temp.

Combine squash, onion, oil, and sage and spread onto baking dish. Cook at 400 until squash is tender and onion begins to brown (about 25 min), stirring occasionally. Spread the cornmeal out onto a baking sheet. Pull the dough out into a circle (about 12" in diameter) and put onto cornmeal. When squash is done, increase oven temp to 450 and cook dough by itself for 3 min. Then put squash and onion mixture on top of dough and bake for 8-10 more min, until dough is done and begins to brown. Grate/shred parmesan cheese on top. Serves 2.

The frozen dough worked great, but I did things a little differently with it this time. First off, I let it sit at room temp for 2.5 hours, and that gave it more time to rise and gave me a thicker crust. Also, instead of oiling the back of a baking sheet, I used the cornmeal method on the correct side of the sheet to keep the dough from sticking. This worked a lot better and was easier to clean. And I liked cooking the dough for a few minutes before adding the toppings. In this case I wasn't dealing with juicy toppings, but I think it still helped the crust have more life to it.

I really liked this combo. After eating a ton of cabbage salad yesterday afternoon, I wasn't too hungry when dinner time rolled around, but I was determined to eat a little piece of this pizza. Before I knew it, half of it was gone. I'm having fun trying out new pizza creations, and I'm very excited that there are 4 more balls of dough in the freezer!

Chinese cabbage salad

I spent a lot of time with my dad's parents when I was growing up and, as a result, ate many meals with them. For some reason there are several dishes that Mammom used to make that really stand out in my mind, while I can't remember others to save my life. The ones that I remember are luffa (ok, that was only one time, but it was definitely memorable), spaghetti pie, eggplant casserole, and fumi salad. Perhaps I remember them well because they were some of my favorites (except for the luffa experiment). Fumi salad is one of those great things that you can make in massive quantities (I remember her huge tupperware container that seemed to hold endless amounts of it), and it only gets better as time goes along. I'm sure there's a limit to that, but it was always gone before we got anywhere near testing the limit.

A few years ago, I tried to recreate fumi salad. The basic idea is to combine lots of shredded cabbage, green onions, crushed up ramen noodles, almonds, and chicken (if you want), and a dressing based on vinegar, oil, and sugar. I made it several times, and it was always delicious. It's a great thing to take to events, especially if you need to prepare something in advance. This week I had a head of cabbage, but no real plans for it, so I decided to make a fumi-like salad with a few tweaks.

Chinese cabbage salad

3/4 head shredded cabbage (go ahead and use the whole thing if you want - it wouldn't all fit in my bowl so I boiled the rest)

3 green onions, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp soy sauce (use wheat-free tamari for gluten-free)

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp honey (or agave nectar)

Combine cabbage through sunflower seeds in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Taste the dressing and add more of something if necessary. Add dressing to cabbage mixture and stir well. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight before serving. Serves 4 (unless you sit down with the bowl and eat half of it, like I might have done...).

This was pretty good the day after I made it, but really good yesterday and today. I like the addition of the jalapeno - it adds a subtle kick to it without being overpowering. The peanuts and sunflower seeds are also good and crunchy - I don't miss the ramen noodles at all. I eat a lot of boiled or roasted cabbage, but this is another great way to eat it and keeps things interesting.

Fast creamy chicken stew with parsleyed dumplings

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

I copied this recipe in late summer, but then promptly forgot about it. For some reason it came to mind the other day, and put it on my menu plan for the week. It's so nice to have recipes that start with whole wheat flour instead of trying to adapt things and hope they work!

Fast creamy chicken stew with parsleyed dumplings (adapted from "The New Whole Grains Cookbook" by Robin Asbell)

2 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped (I cut mine in half before making thin slices)

1 celery stalk, chopped

4 oz. cooked chicken, cut into chunks (I used the meat from 2 legs that I roasted earlier in the week)

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp dried marjoram

2 Tbsp half-and-half

1/2 cup frozen butter beans, thawed

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 large egg (whisk white and yolk together before using half)

3 Tbsp plain yogurt

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium pot. Saute onion, carrot, and celery until tender. Add chicken, stock, thyme, marjoram, half-and-half, and butter beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer while you prepare dumpling mixture. For dumplings, mix flour, parsley, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Mix in egg and yogurt. If it's stiff, add more yogurt. Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto stew, turn heat up to medium-high, cover, and cook for 7 min. Check to see if dumplings are done, and cook for several more minutes if they're still doughy in the middle. Serves 2.

Holy crap this is good. I'm glad that something made me remember this recipe because this stuff needed to be a part of my life. Next time (and believe me, there will be a next time) I'll add more liquid. I halved the recipe but ended up using more veggies because it was more convenient. As a result, there was hardly any liquid at the end. I think this also made my dumplings take longer to cook because there wasn't much steam created. Anyway, the flavor was all there. I'm somewhat sad that I halved the recipe now, but it still remains to be seen how this will taste reheated.

I was planning to make a birthday cake for Darwin tonight (he's 200 today!), but I'm so full that the cake will have to wait. Perhaps he would appreciate a Valentine's cake...