Within Limits

I have made batches of cold cucumber soup many times, following various recipes, having first experienced this refreshing delicacy at my favorite restaurant in Cape May, NJ, aka Louisa's! In fact, I bought the Louisa's cookbook and made use of it to use up the bounty of my better half's summer garden. Today, with the temp up to 90, I needed a quick and dirty lunch that would cool us both down after we spent the morning at the Colonial Fair at Banneker Park in Ellicott City. The BH (Better Half) proposed cold soup. Here is what I made, and it was everything I hoped for: fast and refreshing and healthy. Cold Yogurt-Quinoa Soup for two 3 mini cucumber, skins included 1 medium zucchini (or summer squash) skin included fresh chives, about 1/2 cup chopped Fresh fennel, about 1/2 cup chopped 2 cups veggie broth 1/2 cup plain lowfat Greek yogurt salt and pepper 1-2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice Buzz it all up in the blender until s...

"It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east Where you should be, no one's around I need a phone call I need a raincoat I need a big love I need a phone call..." --Counting Crows Woke up today feeling blue. Sometimes you start the day that way, for a million reasons, none of them all that awful in and of themselves. But the colors of beautiful paintings and fresh veggies always cheer me up, I guess it is color therapy! Also, the big brown eyes of my George Clooney dog, Mondo, help get me out of my funk. I decided that sharing some "oh, wow" discoveries might buoy my spirits, so here goes. Found a cool new cable program on cooking healthily called Hemsley and Hemsley. Two sisters, Brits, who love to create healthy recipes. The show I saw first featured kid-friendly fish fingers and little pizzas made from chickpea flour, so I definitely want to try those. They have a great website and a new cookbook. It is fun to learn the English words for zucch...

It has been some time since I posted here. Been very busy getting ready to exhibit four paintings for a fundraising event, and preparing for a family celebration. All that behind me, today was my birthday. Not telling how old I am, but you can guess because I was humming a certain Beatles song all day long. My best friend and spouse took me to lunch at a vegan restaurant in Clarkesville, Maryland called Great Sage. We dined al fresco on veg reuben sndwiches made from tempeh and organic saurkraut, with sides of coleslaw, and topped it all off with shared desserts: spouse had blackberry cheesecake and I ordered coconut ice cream. Great coffee and appetizers of kale juice. I am still full and it is dinner time! The weather was lovely and afterwards, we shopped at a gift store in the same shopping center called Nest (very cool items, highly recommend it) and Roots organic grocery. It was my favorite sort of celebration. Not only was the food delicious, I FEEL great! No negative after eff...

    My niece, Lucy, gave me a wonderful cookbook called Love Soup, by Anna Thomas. I remember being given cookbooks by this author in 1978 and being mystified and impressed by the idea of vegetarianism as a life choice. I have to confess that those books were a bit too advanced for me at the time, but I still have them and I'll be delving into them soon and sharing my experiences, I promise! Back to Love Soup: I adapted her recipe for Green Soup, using items I had on hand, and of course, eliminating non-permitted foods (you recall that I am sensitive to foods, including wheat and corn, lettuce and broccoli, lemon and maple, etc). The results were so fantastic I had to share the recipe! When the weather gets cool again, give this a try! Ingredients: 1/2 sweet onion chopped kale, spinach and arugula (about a handful of each) 1 TBLSP dried cilantro (if you have fresh, even better!) 1/2 tsp salt grind of pepper 1 cup veggie broth 2 TSPs Better Than Bouillon veg...

    Yesterday, I tried a new recipe for homemade pizza crust using spelt, buckwheat and gluten-free baking mix from Bob's Redmill. All in all, I deem it a success; the crust, after baking for about 20" at 475 degrees F, was nicely crispy and flavorful. Then I tried something new (and risky, cause my husband is a pizza traditionalist!) : I put hummus on the crust, followed by chopped sweet red pepper, olives, and tiny chopped asparagus spears (on just half, because it's a no-no for me). I finished it with some parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and baked it. For the second pizza, I covered the dough with ricotta, followed by veggies including some arugula. They both came out really delicious, though next time I would not bake the arugula: I would wait and add it after the pizza came out of the oven, as some of the nice tang was missing after baking. A little drizzle of grapeseed oil on top kept the arugula from drying out.  What really surprised me was how tasty the hu...

 to my new blog, which I've tentatively entitled Within Limits. As time goes on, I may come up with something snazzier. I created this blog to share my experiences cooking for myself within the limits of food allergies, recently uncovered. I have had digestive troubles for years, and, learned from blood test results that I am sensitive to wheat and corn, among other things. Living as a pescetarian (veg except for fish) for the past 15 years has already limited food choices, so the newly uncovered food sensitivities have narrowed the scope of allowed items even further. Or has it?  Very recently, it has begun to occur to me that there are lots of options out there, even tastier ones than those I can no longer indulge in! For example, I am now experimenting with my newest gadget, a spiralizer, to make veg noodles. Yesterday I managed to make them from butternut squash! Got a book out of my local library called Spiralize This , by Martha Rose Shulman, whose books I had already ...