Tag: Gluten Free

Authentic Beef Pho

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We love phó in our house. We used to get it at the local vietnamese restaurant, but we found out that it has MSG in it and so we stopped. Well I didn’t let that stop me from learning how to make it myself. I usually make a large batch and freeze the extra broth for whenever I feel like pho! This recipe I will warn you has a lot of inactive time, which is why I make the larger batches. If you are having guests over this is the perfect broth to make a day ahead. The large bowls of soupy phoey goodness are sure to impress your guests! So go ahead show everyone how multi-cultural you are and make this soup! If you are in the Houston area there is an asian market called Super H Mart at the corner of Blalock and Westview and they sell everything you need to make this soup! You will need a 16 quart stock pot so keep that in mind. I bought a cheapie at walmart for $12.

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Authentic Beef Pho

Broth:

2 large yellow onions sliced in half, leave the skin on

1  4-6 inch piece of fresh ginger sliced in half, leave the skin on

5 lbs beef bones, you can use any you like, I like to use neck bones but have used leg bones. (Super H Mart sells bags of bones already ready to go)

5 whole star anise

6 whole cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 black or 1 green cardamom pod

3 tbsps salt

8 tbsps fish sauce (Three Crabs Brand is Important!)

1/4 c sugar

water (lots of it)

Bowl toppings

Thinly sliced beef (Super H-Mart sells this already sliced and its superb!) you could also use flank steak cut across the grain, about 3-6oz per person

1 white onion thinly sliced with a mandolin on 3

1 thinly sliced jalapeno

mung bean sprouts

sliced green onion

limes

cilantro

sriracha

Asian basil and mint leaves, if you like it, I omit

thin rice sticks size S

Gluten Free Hoisin Sauce (Get it here)

Directions

Step 1: Place onion and ginger under the broiler for a few minutes. You want them to get a little charred around the edges.

Step 2: Place bones in pot and cover with water. Boil the bones, then dump off the scum, and gross water, and wash the pot and rinse the bones.

Step 3: In a cloth spice bag put all the spices, except the sugar and tie the bag off. Drop the bones and bag of spices back into the pot. Add the sugar, fish sauce, onion, ginger and salt to the pot. Fill the pot with water nearly full. Probably 14 quarts.

Step 4: Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the broth to simmer on the stove for 4-6 hours.

Step 5: Remove the bones, vegetables, and spice bag, discard. Send your broth through a strainer to get any bone pieces or spices out.

If you like you can chill the broth after it is done and remove the disk of fat from the top, but I usually don’t.

Pho is usually served with raw beef that kind of cooks in the boiling hot broth once you pour it in your bowl. If you like you meat cooked (like I do) Drop your beef slices in the boiling soup for about two minutes. Also the neck bones leave a fair bit of meat so feel free to eat it.

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Dipping sauce

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I have a quick and easy dressing and dipping sauce for yall!

 

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Dipping sauce

2 tbsp olive oil of choice

1/2 c Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

1/4 c Kirkland aged balsamic vinegar, it has a sweeter flavor

2 tbsp raw honey

2 tsp minced garlic, I use the jar kind

In a skillet heat the oil, add the rest of the ingredients. Reduce for about 3-5 minutes until the vinegar aroma no longer causes you to choke when you taste it. Lol vinegar….

Allow to cool for use as a salad dressing or serve warm as a dipping sauce when you overcook your chicken 😉

Hey I’m not perfect ^-^

Mexican Salsa Verde-Vegan

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Super simple blender recipe for you. It is the same salsa verde that you can get in most Mexican restaurants here in Texas. My version is not too spicy, though you can make it more spicy depending on how many chiles you put in. The best part? This only takes about 5 minutes and has only a few ingredients!

Mexican Salsa Verde

2 small avocados

1/2 small white onion

1 jalapeno with seeds, you can also use serranos and use more if you want it hotter

10 sprigs of cilantro

2 tomatillos

1/2 cup water

1/2-1 tsp salt

Cut the ingredients into large chunks. Toss all the ingredients into the blender and puree until smooth! That’s it!

This goes very well with all tacos, tostadas, flautas, chips, and whatever else!

 

Mexican Restaurant Style Shrimp Cocktail with Vegan Option

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This is a pretty easy one for you guys. I really like to eat this to help top up on my veggies. This shrimp cocktail is almost exactly like they sell in mexican restaurants here in Texas and it a great way to eat a bunch of raw veggies. This will serve two people, but I’m a Texas so I usually eat it all myself, so plan accordingly if you are feeding a Texas sized crowd.

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Shrimp Cocktail

Serves 1-2

3 roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 white onion, diced

1 jalapeno, finely diced

a small handful of cilantro

juice of 1/2 a lime

tabasco sauce to taste I use probably 1/2 tsp

ketchup a bunch of it

6oz cooked frozen shrimp, thawed (leave out for vegan:) )

1-3 avocadoes

Dice up all of the veggies in a large bowl, minus the avocado. Squeeze the lime juice and shake in your tabasco. I usually give the tabasco a few good shakes because I like it spicy. Then add the shrimp. Next ketchup, use any brand you like, but I always use Heinz from Costco. You want the mixture to have enough ketchup that the cocktail looks nice and saucy but not too much. Top with sliced avocadoes and serve with tortilla chips

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Mexican Pozole Rojo con Pollo (Red Chicken Pozole) in the InstantPot

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Hola,

Buenas dias, tengo una receta para ustedes. Es una receta que me encantaba cuando trabajé en el restaurante Romeros Las Brazas. Siempre la comi cuando trabajaba los sábados y domingos! Es una sopa de pollo con hominy y una caldo rojo. Son las chiles que la hace rojo. Buen provecho!

Hello,

How are you all today. I have a recipe for yall. It’s a recipe that I loved  when i worked at Romero’s las Brazas. I would always eat it when I worked on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a soup with chicken and hominy and a red broth. The broth is red from the chili peppers. Enjoy!

Esa receta tiene dos partes. Primeramente la salsa y segundo el caldo. Voy a enseñarte como hacer los dos partes.

This recipe has two parts. Firstly the sauce and second the broth. I will teach you how to make both of the parts.

Forgive me, I am working on my spanish writing and translations. So I am trying to write in spanish for my spanish speakers and english for the english speakers, since this is a traditional mexican recipe.

Sauce-Salsa

8 Guajillo chiles

2 Ancho chiles

6 cloves of garlic (dientes de ajo)

1/2 a white onion (cebolla blanca)

2 cups boiling water (tazas agua caliente)

2 tbsp oil (dos cucharadas de aceite)

Broth-Caldo

2 lbs chicken breast (dos libras de pechuga de pollo)

2 quarts water (dos cuartos de agua)

1 Tbsp salt (una cucharada de sal)

2- 28oz cans hominy drained (dos latas de hominy, agotado. 28 onzas)

1 white onion cut in quarters (una cebolla cortado en cuartos)

Directiones

Quitarles el rabo y las semillas del interior. Romper las chiles y tostarlos en un comal caliente y seco para tres minutos. Sacarlos de comal y se ponen en la agua caliente. Deja los chiles para diez minutos. Después, poner los chiles en una licuador con el ajo y cebolla. Puré para dos minutos. Caliente el aceite y cocina la salsa para cinco minutos.

En su olla de presión (yo uso Instant Pot)  pones el pollo, la agua, la cebolla, el hominy y el sal.Usando una colador, pasar la salsa sobre el pollo en la olla. Me gusta poner una cucharada de la salsa en el caldo también. Cubrir la olla y presione el botón de sopa para 40 minutos. Cuando  se ha terminado de cocinar, desmenuzar el pollo.

Sirves la sopa con repollo rallado, rábanos, tostadas, y limas.

Directions

Take the seeds and stems out of the peppers. Break up the chiles and toast them in a dry pan for about three minutes. Take them out and soak them in the hot water for ten minutes. Then put the soaked chiles and water in the blender with the garlic and onion. Puree for two minutes. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the sauce for five minutes.

Into the pressure cooker, put the chicken breasts, salt, onion, hominy, and water. using a strainer, strain the sauce over the chicken in the pot. You may pour water over the strainer to get more juice out. I like to put a spoonful of the sauce in the soup also. Cover the instant pot and push the soup button for 40 minutes. When it is done release the pressure and shred up the chicken.

Serve with shredded cabbage, sliced radish, tortilla chips, and limes.

FRI-YAY CLEAR THE CUPBOARD MEXICAN CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE SOUP WITH VEGAN OPTION

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FRI-YAY SOUP

Fri-yay clear the cupboard Mexican chicken and vegetable soup with vegan option

2 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon
2 Tsp salt
2 cups water
Pressure cook on poultry 20 minutes
Shred in kitchen aid mixer
Omit this step completely for vegan

2 zucchini roughly chopped
6 carrots mine were thin you could use four fat ones roughly chopped.
2 sweet potatoes. Peeled roughly chopped. (I used one red yam and one Korean yam. Regular potatoes also go well, but my husband is allergic so I have to use yams.)
1 jalapeno
1 white onion small to medium size
1 cup corn
½ tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
4 cups water

If doing vegan version add 2 tbsp. vegetable bouillon, a can or two of drained and rinsed black beans or navy beans, and additional salt to taste.

Place all ingredients into instant pot pressure cooker and push soup button adjust the time to 10 minutes. Quick release pressure and add ¼ cup torn cilantro leaves as a garnish.

Can be served with carb of choice including tortillas, bread, or rice.

Fresh finely shredded green cabbage would also go nicely.
* You can use anything you have in the fridge really, so bell peppers, asparagus, green beans, white potatoes, kale. It’s all good here

Comforting Vegan Potato Soup

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Hi there,

I have another quick and easy recipe for you guys. This one is vegan! What? Traditionally potato soup would be made with milk and lots of it. I found a recipe the other day for a vegan alfredo sauce. While it was a yummy recipe, when I tasted it, it screamed potato soup! So today, I opened up a bag of cut cauliflower from Costco and decided to try and make vegan potato soup with the ideas that I got from the alfredo recipe.

Vegan Potato Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Equipment needed: Blender of some sort ( I use a Nutribullet
)

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter (Earth Balance is a good vegan one)

1 large yellow onion – sliced

4 cloves of garlic – sliced

1 pound cut cauliflower ( I get mine at Costco because it’s like 4$ for 2lbs already cut up)

3 smallish russet potatoes or 1 large baking potato

2 cups unsweetened plain almond milk, plus a little more if you want it thinner ( I love HEB brand, it’s thin and mild tasting) .

1-2 tsp himalayan sea salt

pepper to taste (I probably used 1/4 tsp)

Directions

Heat butter in a skillet and add the sliced onions and garlic. You want to caramelize them very well. It will take about 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile boil your cauliflower for about 10 minutes until very nice and soft, but not completely mushy. While those are working, peel and cut your potatoes into nice chunks. Boil potatoes in a separate pan from the cauliflower until soft, almost very mushy. When the cauliflower are finished, drain the water and set aside to cool. If you use a Nutribullet like I do you want the cauliflower to be very cool because you are not supposed to put hot things in the Nutribullet. Once the onions and garlic are nice and light to medium brown pour them in the blender with the cauliflower, the salt, the pepper and the almond milk. You want to puree this until very smooth. If your soup is too thick you can add more milk. Drain your potatoes, then add the soup base to the potatoes.  You will want to bring this back up to a boil for just a second to warm through. Adjust your seasoning to suit your taste. Then serve hot!

Enjoy