I used to love vegetables with garlic sauce. I’d order them, especially eggplant or green beans, whenever I went to an Asian restaurant. A friend recently saw a TikTok video showing how to make them and forwarded it to me. Of course, I had to change a few things to make it suitable to those of us with allergies but it’s a very simple, easy, quick recipe. Enjoy!
Next, cut them in half and set aside. In a 12″ high sided skillet, heat over medium high heat:
1 tablespoon olive oil
When the oil is shimmering, add:
1/2 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic OR 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Reduce heat to medium and saute until just starting to brown. Add the string beans along with:
1/4 cup soy sauce substitute (see recipe under Sauces)
1/4 cup stock (vegetable, chicken, doesn’t matter unless you want to keep it vegan)
1 teaspoon sriracha (optional)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cover and simmer over medium low heat for about 5 minutes until the string beans begin to get tender. If you like your string beans a little crunchy, cook them a little less and if you like them soft, cook them a little more. Remove the cover and put the heat back up to medium high, stirring the beans constantly until most of the liquid is absorbed and reduced by at least half. It will thicken considerable as it reduces. Serves 4.
Here’s another recipe amended from the CHICKEN BIBLE, modified a little since I don’t like really hot and spicy foods. Once the vegetables and turkey are diced, the recipe is very fast and simple to put together. It only took me about 15 minutes to put together, after about 45 minutes of cutting and dicing! Be sure to follow the temperature instructions or it will take longer to cook and the turkey breast meat may get dried out.
In a small bowl (2 cup) combine the sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
5 teaspoons date sugar
1-4 teaspoons sriracha*
1 tablespoon soy sauce substitute
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon arrowroot, tapioca (or cornstarch)
1 minced garlic clove
Whisk to combine and set aside. In another small bowl (1/2 to 1 cup size), combine the garlic mixture:
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon grated (or minced) fresh ginger
Mix to combine and set aside. In a medium bowl (or I used a gallon food storage bag) combine the seasoning mixture:
Mix to coat the turkey with the season mixture. In a 12″ (or larger) high sided skillet (or a wok if one if available), heat over medium heat:
2 teaspoons olive oil
When shimmering, add half the turkey and stirring constantly over HIGH heat, brown for 3-4 minutes. Remove to a bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel and repeat with the other half of the turkey, removing the second portion to the same bowl and recover with towel. Into the empty skillet, heat over medium heat:
1 tablespoon olive oil
When shimmering (this will only take a second since the pan should already be sizzling hot from the turkey), add:
1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut on the bias into 1″ pieces
Cook, stirring constantly over medium high heat for a minute or two. Add:
8-10 ounces sliced shitake mushrooms
Stir constantly until mushrooms start to brown and beans are slightly crunchy. Move the beans and mushrooms to one side of the skillet and add the garlic mixture and heat until you can smell the garlic, about 30-45 seconds. Mix into the vegetables then add the turkey and any juices back into the skillet. Whisk the sauce mixture and pour it into the skillet. Stir constantly until it thickens, about 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with more sesame seeds if desired or sliced green scallions. Make 4 servings. Serve over rice or quinoa.
*Most Sriracha sauces contain cane sugar. If you, like me, wish to avoid cane sugar, I found one sriracha sauce at Whole Foods, YELLOWBIRD Blue Agave Sriracha Sauce which has no sugar in it but uses Blue Agave syrup instead. If like me, you prefer your food to be on the mild side with just a little spice, use 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce. It gave me just a hint of heat in the back of my throat. I might increase it just a little in the future, especially if I make the dish for my grandson who likes things, the hotter the better!
I know, you don’t have to say it! Another chicken recipe. This one can be fairly quick and easy. It’s a chicken stew with mashed potatoes (or in my case, mashed celery root and parsnips) on top with a few French-fried onions on top, baked for an hour (less if the stew is already hot). Again, like many of my recipes, feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand that your family prefers.
Grease or spray a casserole dish large enough to hold the stew and toppings. This will depend on the amount you need for your family, for me, I made a 4-serving size so used a 2-quart casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a skillet over medium heat, add:
2 tablespoons olive oil
When shimmering hot add:
12 ounces of chicken breast, cut into bite-size chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown the chicken turning after about 2 minutes to brown on the other side(s). When chicken is fully browned, but not necessarily fully cooked, remove from the skillet and add to the skillet:
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot slices
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup peas
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or parsley, or herb of choice [I really like sage in my chicken dishes]).
Sauté, stirring frequently, until onions are transparent, reduce the heat and cover for 5 minutes or until the green beans and carrots are tender. Remove the vegetables from the pan. Whisk into the remaining fat:
2 tablespoons gluten-free all-purpose flour or enough to absorb all the fat in the pan
Cook the flour for several minutes and then add:
3/4 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (anything EXCEPT soy)
Whisk to combine with the flour and get out the lumps and then stir frequently until gravy comes to a bowl and thickens. If it’s too thick, add a little more stock or milk. If it’s too thin, make a slurry of another tablespoon of flour and a little milk and add to the gravy.
Mix in the chicken and vegetables. Top the casserole with:
2 cups mashed potato (or 2 cups celery root puree (see recipe under side dishes)
Sprinkle the top with French-fried onions or paprika. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 30-60 minutes depending on if you bake it immediately or put it together to bake later as I did.
Far easier to make than eggplant with garlic sauce, string beans with garlic sauce is a much more commonly found Chinese dish. It’s just as tasty, sweet and tangy but since the string beans are not deep fried, don’t need to be salted and let sit to lose their bitterness, or dredged in corn starch, the dish is so easy to construct, taking just minutes. Pre-steaming the beans or using frozen ones makes it even quicker to prepare. Many vegetables lend themselves to this process – broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
First prepare the beans by steaming or thawing them – any color string beans works equally well:
1 pound fresh or frozen string beans (I used yellow [or wax as my father always called them])
Remove the stems and steam for approximately 3-5 minutes until starting to tenderize but still have a bite, like al dente pasta. In a 12″ skillet, over medium high heat:
2 tablespoons olive oil
When the oil is shimmering hot, add:
6 ounces mushrooms
Sauté the mushrooms until lightly browned and tender. Add the string beans and remove from heat. In a small saucepan (2 cup size), heat over medium heat:
1 tablespoon olive oil
When hot add:
1 small shallot, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 small can mild green chilis
Cook until the shallot softens before adding:
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup soy sauce substitute
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon date syrup
Stir to combine. Make a slurry of:
2 teaspoons corn starch or arrowroot
1 tablespoon water
Add to the sauce and stir until the sauce thickens. Reduce heat to low and let cook for 5-7 minutes. Add to the string beans and mushrooms and reheat the vegetables over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Garnish with scallion greens and serve.*
*I actually only used half the garlic sauce so put the other half into a 1 cup jelly jar and stuck it in the freezer for the next time I need it.
I made some Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken today (see my second blog of the day) and had a little substitute soy sauce left over so thought how about some fried rice. One of my favorite dishes, my mother always made it with bacon and eggs but of course, not able to do that anymore. So this one is fairly easy and quick if you use frozen brown rice (I love the packets from Trader Joe but many markets now carry frozen pre-cooked brown rice, just don’t use the instant – all the good stuff is gone and you’re left with just carbs!). Checked the freezer and the pantry and sure enough had a nice variety of vegetables so decided to give it a try. Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you have in your pantry or freezer.
In a 10″ skillet heat:
2 tablespoons olive oil
Add:
1/2 medium onion sliced
3 stalks celery sliced on the bias
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 cup frozen French cut green beans
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 small can, drained bamboo shoots or sliced water chestnuts
Cook over medium heat for several minutes, stir once or twice to make sure vegetables cook evenly. Then turn heat down to medium low and cover. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add 1 1/2-2 cups cooked (or frozen) brown rice, stir to combine and cover to heat the rice another 3-5 minutes. Add:
2-4 tablespoons soy sauce substitute
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon red chili flakes or hot sauce (optional)
This is a very easy recipe for a delicious side dish. I just love green beans any way I can get them and this is a recipe that happened because I had a half red onion left and a bag of fresh green beans and decided to put them together. The sweetness of the onion pairs very well with the savory green beans. I used fresh green beans but frozen would work just as well. And of course, if you have yellow (or wax as we called them in New Hampshire) beans or even purple string beans those could also be substituted.
You need:
1 pound fresh or frozen string beans, any color
1 medium red onion (or if your family likes lots of onion use a large one)
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
If you’re using fresh string beans, prep them by cutting off the stem end; wash and dry thoroughly. In a 9″ saute pan, heat the olive oil and then add the onion and garlic. Saute several minutes until onion starts to soften then add the string beans. Cover and cook 10-12 minutes over medium heat, stirring several times. If your family likes “crunchy” string beans like my grandson, you can uncover when the beans are tender, increase the heat to high and saute them for a few minutes, leaving them alone, to brown.
Another thing we always did with leftovers was make a stew and then either serve it with dumplings or put it in a pie crust and make a meat pie with it. And you could easily do it with a rotisserie chicken or turkey breast from the store. And you can adjust the vegetables to your taste, i.e., add some cooked diced turnip, parsnips or some lima beans, etc.
In an 8-quart dutch oven mix:
2 cups diced chicken
1 cup cooked peas
1 cup cooked green beans
1/2 cup cooked diced onion
1/2 cup cooked diced celery
1/2 cup cooked diced carrots
1 cup cooked diced sweet potato
Add stock until the pot is 2/3 full; this should take 3-4 cups and needs to cover the meat and vegetable mixture. Mix up your dumplings in your food processor:
1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
Pulse in:
1/4 cup vegan margarine OR 1/4 cup avocado oil
Once there are pea sized crumbs, add in 3/4 to 1 cup of non-dairy milk depending on if you used the margarine or the oil (I use rice milk but soy would work as well; you want a milk that doesn’t have a strong aftertaste). Pulse until well mixed and the batter is smooth. If your like your dumplings more flavorful, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of an herb mixture OR 1/4 cup fresh parsley to the sifted dry ingredients.
Drop by tablespoons into your boiling stew. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes and then cover and cook an additional 10 minutes or until dumplings look dry on top. Makes about 12 smaller dumplings or 6 large dumplings (the larger ones will take longer to cook so I usually make them smaller for ease of cooking and my husband usually eats 2-3 of them.
Remove the dumplings into a dish and keep warm in the oven while you thicken the stock. Mix 1/4 cup of brown rice flour into 1/2 cup of cold stock until its smooth without any lumps. Add to the boiling stew, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. If its too thin, make another slurry of brown rice flour and cold stock (a tablespoon at a time) until it reaches the desired thickness. Be sure the gravy boils before you add more flour slurry since it will thicken more as it boils. And be sure to stir scraping the bottom of the pot so that the gravy doesn’t burn on the bottom (also reduce the heat; you don’t want to do this on a high heat).
Return the dumplings to the pot and serve. Makes 6-8 servings.
One of my husband’s favorite dishes is a pot pie. This one has lots of tender chicken or turkey for my husband along with plenty of vegetables to satisfy me. If you pre-bake the bottom crust, it won’t get as soggy from the gravy while baking. Feel free to change up the vegetables — lima beans, mushrooms, garlic, etc. can be added along with greens like kale or spinach (chopped of course). I had some leftover mushrooms that I sautéed, cut up and added to my stew. Some diced sweet potatoes would also do well in a stew or any diced and cooked winter squash.
First make some chicken or turkey stew:
1/2 medium onion diced
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup cooked peas
1/2 cup cooked string beans
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 cup cooked chicken or turkey diced
3 cups chicken or turkey stock
1/4 cup brown rice flour
Herbs, salt and pepper to your taste
Cook the onions and celery in a little oil under tender, about 3 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the stock and herbs. Whisk the brown rice flour into the other 1/2 cup of stock and add it to the stockpot and whisk until the mixture thickens. Add the cooked meat and vegetables and cool in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make the pot pie or whatever you want to do with the stew (you could also use this for chicken and dumplings or a chicken casserole with a cauliflower crust).
If you don’t cool the stew before adding it to the pot pie, the bottom crust will get too soggy, even if you pre-baked it.
You can either make your own gluten-free crust (see my recipe for pie crust), use a mix (Bob’s Red Mill makes a very tasty mix) or purchase a ready-made gluten-free crust.
Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Pre-bake your crust per package directions. When cool, add the cooled stew to fill the pie crust. Add top layer and bake approximately 40 minutes until pie bubbles and top crust is browned.
A Thanksgiving classic, this is a side dish I had to give up years ago because of the milk and gluten. Here it is revisited and so delicious with the home-made cream of mushroom soup along with the onion and bread crumb topping. I like to use the mixed string beans — green and yellow. It takes a few more steps than your old fashioned green bean casserole but it tastes just as good.
Steam 1 pound of green beans. While they’re cooking, cut half a large sweet Vidalia onion into slices and then cut the slices in half (or use all of a medium size onion).
To a medium skillet, over medium heat, add:
2 tablespoon olive oil
the onions
Cook until soft and starting to caramelize. Stir in:
1/2 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Grease a 5×8″ casserole dish. Mix the string beans and 2 cups of cream of mushroom soup (see recipe under soups and salads). Add to the casserole dish and top with the onion mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for a half hour and then, if you want it browner, stick it under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.
cookingwithoutallergens 