Tomato-free Bolognese Sauce (an update to the first one)

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that one of the first recipes that I posted was a "Nomato Sauce". For a beginner like I was back then, it was an OK start, but I have been tweaking the recipe here and there, and I think that I have a sauce worth posting now! In the first sauce, I told you to use more beets than carrots, that was wrong, and I am sure that you guys have been turning out some rather funny colored sauce. I also added roasted peppers and oil into the sauce, that too is a no no (for me that is, nightshades bother my stomach, you can add them if you want to), the oil will turn your sauce pink. I could go on and on about what I did wrong in the first recipe, but that will not help you much, so let's get this party started! Oh, shout out to my little sis, she was the one who found that using more carrot than beets was the key to good color. Thanks Olivia!

What you need:

1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 Celery stalk (finely chopped)

1 Courgette (cubed)

1 15 oz can of beets

2 15 oz. cans of carrots

1/8 cup rice vinegar (or any other gluten free vinegar you can use)

1 tsp sugar

Olive oil

1 lb Ground meat (I use all natural grass fed beef)

salt and pepper

What you need to do:

1. The first thing you will need to is chop your vegetables, you could use the food processor to do this, but frankly, I don't like to clean more dishes than I need to, and I am pretty good at chopping anyhow.

2. Open your can of beets and RINSE and drain them. Don't and  I mean don't, like DO NOT boil them. The beets are already cooked, so you need not boil them; all they need is a good rinsing. Just rinse them until they water runs almost clear.

3. Blend up the carrots and the beets in a blender, a food processor will not do as good a job as a blender (I use a Nutribullet), although puree is more like what I do.

4. Now is a great time to cook your meat and saute your veggies, I generally do this at the same time. Make sure your meat is well done, fry it until all of the moisture is cooked out, and it is sizzling away nicely.

5. Season your meat with your spices, use as much as you desire.

6. Now is the time to pour in your carrot and beet puree, and add the vinegar.

7. Now you have a red sauce worthy of a plate (or bowl) of noodles!

I tried this recipe with meatballs, and I feel that I received better results with my sauce. For this variation I fried the meatballs only partially (I just seared them), and I poured the sauce over them and let them finish cooking that way.

Enjoy!

Cooking For a Family

Feeding a family can be challenging, feeding a family and dealing with food allergies is very challenging. Of course we all have to deal with the occasional picky eater, but when eating becomes life-threatening...we need a new set of tricks up our sleeves. If you have a family of your own, you can pretty much dictate what everybody eats since, I am assuming, you are the main cook. You can, if you so desire, have everyone in your household eat the same allergy-safe menu as your allergic child (or as you, if you are the allergic one), and you should have no trouble about it. You should, if you do, don't come after me; go after them.
    For me though, and people like me, cooking is not a simple process. It can be a challenge to plan six meals a day; two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. That can grate on the nerves. I have been doing it for ten years, and I have been able to somehow cook for myself and my family to some successful degree (my mother has taken over the cooking again, so that makes it a lot easier for me to cook my meals).
  First of all, what I made sure of is that I prepared meals that where allergy friendly. For example, I usually prepared beans, which are rather allergy safe, just add meat, and you have a nutritious meal.
Although this worked, I have family members who would complain that it lacked flavor (cheese, bread, and whatnot), so what I learned to do is employ help.
 I am blessed to have many siblings who love to cook, and who are more than willing to help in the kitchen; so while I made something allergy safe (like a meat sauce), I would recruit as brother or sister to shred cheese and boil noodles; all it takes is careful planning, and willing helpers. Hopefully this post was helpful to you guys!

Fish Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Carmelized Onions (What I ate for dinner)

This is what I ate tonight, it was very good. It was also my first successful attempt at sweet potato fries. This may be a long picture post, so I will cut my conversation short.

Here is what you need:

1 sweet potato (peeled)

1 onion sliced into circles

spoonful of  strawberry preserves (or brown sugar)

1 recipe for Salmon cakes (go ahead and do this first)

slice up your sweet potatoes like this:

Sweet potato is quite starchy, so it may take a little bit of muscle.

After you've sliced it into circles, slice the rounds into 'sticks', make sure they are roughly the same size, and look more or less (preferably more) like fries.

You will now want to toss them liberally with oil

and season generously with salt and pepper

Spread these babies on a cookie sheet so they have plenty of space (I used two sheets)

pop into a 425 degree preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes flipping half-way through so that both sides are browned nicely

While the potatoes are cookin' away, you can work on your onions. If you have already fried your Salmon cakes you can put the onions in the leftover oil, and cook on medium heat. Low and slow is the key here.

After a bit (make sure you check on your fries!), they should look like this:

When the onions have reached the coloring you desire (salting your onions will keep them brom burning too quickly), put in spoonful of strawberry preserves or brown sugar.

Stir this up to combine the ingredients...

And serve it up!

Please don't judge me, this was good. I hope you enjoy!

Three Ingredient Salmon Cakes (UPDATED)

From the time I was a child, I have loved and yet hated salmon cakes. Momma made them at least once a week, and I enjoyed watching her make them. So why did I hate them? Bones. Momma always left the spine bones in the fish, yuck! I hated to feel the bones in my mouth, and the soft crunch as I would chew a bone in my fish cake. Often, I would pick over my fish cake pulling out as many of the bones as I could find, and give them to my younger brother and sister. I am older now, and I cook for myself mostly, so I have had the pleasure of being able to debone my fish. Lately though, my mother has told me something which I think is the reason why she always left the bones in despite my protesting: They are a good source of calcium. So today, for the first time in years (don't ask how old I am), I left the bones in. But I have had another dilemma when it comes to making fish cakes (I know, everybody else call's them "salmon cakes", but this is what I have been calling them since I was a youth, and everybody in my household call's them the same), the issue of them holding their shape when cooking and not falling apart. I have hit upon a solution that fixes both the bone issue and the stability of my cakes: the food processor. The food processor breaks everything up, so I don't taste the bones, and it mixes everything to perfection! On to the recipe!

Slam on the brakes! Please read BEFORE you proceed (A very good friend of mine has let me know that this recipe did not work for them, I looked to see what step I missed, and behold! It was the most important step: you must drain the fish. So, Thank you Dr. Allan!)  O.K. you can continue :)

What you need:

1 13 3/4 oz can of wild caught salmon (drained)

1/2 a red (or any other kind) onion

ground oats about 1/4 cup

I did not take pictures of each step like I usually do, but it is pretty straight forward.  You can grind your oats (I forgot to mention: make sure you use gluten free oats! The brand I am using is Bob's Red Mill) in a clean coffee grinder.
Making sure you have the "S" attachment in your processor, pulse your onion, and dump in your drained can of fish (save the juices as they can be used for cooking), pulse until combined.
As you pulse your fish mixture, dump your oats in one spoonful at a time. Your mixture should have a fine consistency, and be a bit wet and sticky.
The next step is not entirely necessary, but it may help in forming your patties, wet your hands and make your patties.
Although I did not mention it, you should have a skillet or a pan heating up with a good amount of oil in it.
Carefully place your cakes onto the hot pan/skillet and fry until golden on one side, flip and fry on the other side. Your time will vary, so keep an eye on them!

The end result is about 6-7 beautifully golden Salmon cakes.

Enjoy! I know I sure did.

Simple Summer Salad

Although summer is almost over, it is not gone yet! And now is a great time to show you a salad that I enjoyed over the past weeks.  It is a very simple salad, with only 3 ingredients, 6 if you include the ingredients to the dressing, which, by the way is divine. Here is how I made it:

What you need for the salad:

Spinach (as much or as little as you desire!)

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

Leftover chicken (tuna or salmon will do too)

What you need for the dressing:

Half a ripe avocado

1/2 cup of rice vinegar

1/2 cup oil of your choice

What you do:

Toss the ingredients for the salad into a bowl, mix, and plate

throw the ingredients for the dressing into a blender, blend and pour into a jar

pour dressing over salad, and enjoy!

BTW, this was good.

Why Skinny Girl Big Plate?

When I initially started this blog, it was for the purpose of blogging about food that is allergy safe, and to some extent, sharing my own story of allergy. The name was nothing special, it did not mean much more than it said; I was (and still am) a skinny girl, and my portions are (were) rather large. If it had been any other situation it would have been titled accordingly (Fat Girl, Bitty Plate comes to mind... if I was a big girl on a weight loss journey), but now I have been thinking about what Skinny Girl, Big Plate really means to me, and for you, this is what I have come up with: The meaning of the blogs title is very symbolic (at least for me), the skinny girl is a realization of the restrictions that I/we must deal with in life, these restrictions are constricting, and not conducive of weight-gain (for that, I dare say some of us are glad). Yet, on the other hand, there is a big plate, which is the alternate reality of all of the possibilities that are available to me/us. Having multiple food allergies has forced me to look beyond the regular ingredients used in cooking and helped me to be creative. So, go ahead! Embrace your restrictions, and say "Hello!" to the world of possibilities that is now open to you!