Go Craize!

Looking for a snack that’s light, flavorful, and actually interesting? Craize crackers take the Latin American arepa and turn it into a crisp, modern bite that’s vegan, gluten-free, and completely addictive.

Every so often, a new snack sneaks into my pantry and promptly refuses to leave. That’s what happened with Craize, a line of crisp corn crackers that somehow bridge the gap between wholesome and wildly addictive. Made from corn and olive oil, these wafer-thin rounds are inspired by the Latin American arepa. The result is a cracker with real personality: snappy, flavorful, and just a little bit different from anything else out there. 

Gonna come clean here: I actually tried Craize a few years ago, back when the crackers were larger and came stacked in plastic containers. I wasn’t impressed. The texture went soft far too soon, and the flavor didn’t have much punch (though coconut was tasty). But this new version is a major glow-up: the crackers are smaller, lighter, and packaged in resealable bags that keep them crisp far longer. It’s the difference between “meh” and “where have you been all my life?” 

Craize bills itself as vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and kosher, which covers a lot of bases for today’s snackers. Even better, there are no seed oils or mystery ingredients involved, just a short, pronounceable list that keeps things simple. And yet, “simple” doesn’t mean boring. These crackers come in flavors like Sweet Corn, Guava, Coconut, Everything, and Jalapeño Lime, each one distinct and surprisingly well-balanced. Sweet Corn tastes like summer, buttery and toasty. Guava walks that fine line between sweet and savory and makes a terrific partner for soft cheeses. Coconut is practically dessert on its own: slightly sweet, lightly nutty, with an almost cookie-like crunch. Everything is self-explanatory and universally snackable, and Jalapeño Lime has a real kick that pairs perfectly with hummus or black bean dip. Or snack them as-is. (I find this flavor to be the most addictive and ate almost the whole bag in one sitting.)

So addictive. And SPICY. Jalapeno pepper puree is the 2nd ingredient.

They’re sturdy enough to dip but delicate enough to nibble on straight from the bag, which makes them one of those rare snacks that feel just as appropriate on a charcuterie board as they do next to your laptop at three in the afternoon. I’ve topped Guava Craize with a smear of brie and a drizzle of honey, Everything Craize with mashed avocado and chili flakes, and Coconut Craize with Greek yogurt and mango for a quick almost-dessert. They also make a nice accompaniment to a handful of chocolate chips. There’s really no wrong move here.

Taken from the Craize website. I am so going to feature these crackers on my Thanksgiving table.
(Yes, we feast on cheese and charcuterie on Thanksgiving, not turkey.)

Craize feels like a snack that belongs in 2025. It's thoughtful, inclusive, and genuinely good. It’s got roots in tradition but fits neatly into modern eating habits, and it’s easy to see why people are a little obsessed. You can find them online at gocraize.com  or in select stores, and I’d suggest starting with the Variety Pack. Because once you taste one, you’ll want to taste them all.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mightylicious Cookies

I was gifted a box of Mightylicious cookies and I want to tell you about them. 

I always get excited about gluten free products. I don't have celiac, but I try to avoid gluten because I'm addicted to products made with wheat. I eat them, can't control myself, and get fat(ter). If I avoid gluten, I really don't crave bread, pasta, pastries, cookies, or pizza, and I can lose weight. Honestly. I think about them from time to time, but I don't need them. But if I have one piece of good bread or a cookie, I have to have a second or third or even fourth piece. So it's just best that I avoid products that have gluten in them. It works for me; it might not work for you. 

Back to getting excited about gluten free products. I heard about Mightylicious gluten free cookies when I was planning my trip to the Summer Fancy Food show last year. I wasn't able to attend the show, but the company was kind enough to send me a bag of each variety of their cookies, plus bags of brownie mix and their gluten free flour. It was a real embarrassment of riches, and I am appreciative. 

This post is only about the cookies; the brownies and flour will have their own post sometime in the future. 

The Salted Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Coconut, Oatmeal Raisin, and Brown Butter Shortbread cookies are excellent. I loved the flavor and the texture of each of them. The Salted Peanut Butter was very much like good old-fashioned homemade peanut butter cookies, made with peanut butter, sweetener, and salt. Mightylicious also adds eggs and vanilla, but no flour of any kind. They are crazy rich and were my favorite of the bunch. One cookie was a perfect snack. Both the Oatmeal Cookies also had great flavor and texture--these are somewhere between soft-baked and crispy cookies--and this raisin-hater even enjoyed the Oatmeal Raisin cookies (though I preferred the Oatmeal Coconut). The Shortbread Cookies were little miracles. Smaller in diameter but fatter than the other cookies, these tasted just like gluten-y shortbread. Maybe not as crumbly as the real thing, but damn close. Highly recommended.

Then there were the Chocolate Chip, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip, and Double Dutch Chocolate Chip cookies. They were also that texture somewhere between soft-baked and crisp cookies--they were fairly moist--but they just didn't have the depth of flavor that I'm used to with a home-baked, gluten-flour, chocolate chipper. They just seemed...sweet. However, all three of them made excellent ice cream sandwiches because they were much less-likely to crack when smushed on either side of a blob of ice cream. And they ate well as an ice cream sandwich component as well. They didn't get soggy, nor were they overly crunchy when they came out of the freezer. I preferred the Double Dutch Chocolate Chip variety for this use, but the other two worked just as well.

Would I eat these cookies again? Absolutely, particularly the peanut butter and shortbread varieties. And I would not be averse to double dutch chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches again. In fact, I could go for one right now....

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Otto's Naturals Grain-Free Ultimate Cookie Mix

cookies and oat milk

Here at Casa Minx, the annual Baking of the Holiday Cookies has long been one of our favorite Christmas traditions. We make rolled sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies, and a double batch of chocolate chippers. Sometimes I add an oddball, like biscotti, or last year's chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons. My brother helps out and gets to take half home, the rest we nibble into January or February or however long we can make them last. In recent years, they've lasted a good long time, as I've taken to wrapping about 1/3 of them in foil and tucking them in the freezer for a rainy day. I know you're thinking, "how do they have the strength not to snarfle up ALL the cookies right away?" It does take some willpower, believe me. Also, we tend to start Whole30 sometime in early January. It's the only diet that works for me, and it doesn't allow wheat. Or sugar. Or dairy. By packing up the cookies, I reduce temptation to cheat.

I'm not sure if it's related in any way, but after several years of giving up dairy periodically, I am now lactose intolerant. I must have perpetrated some real evil over my lifetime to deserve this punishment. Even semi-sweet chocolate morsels contain milk, as do most chocolate candy, cake, and cookies. And as mentioned above, cookies also contain wheat. Rather than give up on the joy of cookies entirely, even when dieting, I have found a work-around for my problem: Otto's Natural Grain-Free Ultimate Cookie Mix, which can be found in the fancy organic/special diet/gf aisle in many grocery stores. It's made with cassava flour, which makes a pretty darn good substitute for wheat flour in many things, plus the usual brown and white sugars and baking soda called for by a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. It only requires an egg, a soupcon of vanilla, mix-ins like chips or nuts, and a fat. The traditional fat for cookie baking is butter, but I know many families use margarine. I grew up in a no-margarine-ever household. To my palate, the butter substitutes of my youth were nasty. Today, however, there are a few tasty faux butters on the market. My personal favorite is Earth Balance, which comes in stick form as well as the usual tub. So not only can I have gluten-free cookies, they can be dairy-free as well. I even found non-dairy chocolate chips in the form of 72% cacao from Ghirardelli. (They also make 100% cacao chips, but they don't have any sugar in them. While they're not particularly bitter, they might still be a rude surprise in a chocolate chip cookie.)

If by some miracle there are cookies left by January 1, I still need to tuck them away as they contain the very non-Whole30 sugar. A bag of Otto's cookie mix only makes about 4 dozen small cookies, however, which are pretty easy to destroy in 2 weeks. In fact, I don't know how well they freeze, so I'm not even going to try. 

raw dough

Chocolate Walnut Cookies (non-dairy, gluten-free)

You may make these cookies at any time of the year. I make them for Christmas. They're not super sweet, and they taste great with an ice cold glass of oat milk (or the milk-like fluid of your choosing).

1 large egg

1 4-ounce stick Earth Balance, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 bag Otto's Naturals Grain-free Ultimate Cookie Mix

1 tablespoon pure cocoa powder

3/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (I used 72% cacao Ghirardelli)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium bowl, beat the egg into the cooled margarine with a fork until combined. Stir in the vanilla, cookie mix, and cocoa, and mix well. The dough will not hold together in the same way as standard cookie dough and will appear a bit loose. Stir in the chips and walnuts. 

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Scoop a heaped half tablespoon of dough at a time, pressing into a ball. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly with your palm. They won't spread very much, if at all. 

Bake 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool several minutes on the sheets before moving them to racks to cool, as they are somewhat fragile while warm. Cool completely before storing in a lidded container.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Charcuterie Platters

Who, except vegans, doesn't appreciate a good charcuterie platter?

It's a perfect lazy meal, and fantastic for those sultry summer evenings when the thought of hot food is unappetizing. And I'm not the only one who thinks that. Not only do more and more restaurants offer assortments of meats and cheeses, I've noticed that some entrepreneurial folks are starting businesses that revolve around creating and selling attractive charcuterie platters. A small amount of decoratively arranged salumi (the Italian term for cured meats) and brie adorned with a sliced strawberry and six almonds can sell for $30-$40. At that price, you're better off going to a restaurant. But make one at home, instead.

Sure, the initial outlay for homemade salumi suppers might be a little spendy, but a $6 jar of cornichons will last through multiple platters, as will boxes of crackers, jars of jam, and bags of nuts. Columbus brand salami and capicola, or similar, in 5-oz packages, run $6-7 in grocery stores. The meats seem expensive, and they kinda are compared to others sold by the pound. Keep in mind that cured meats are fatty and salty and rich, so one only need eat a few slices. Particularly if there are also some even more-fatty cheeses at the party. The last time we had a charcuterie plate for dinner, I purchased two packages of Italian meats, three kinds of cheese, and a jar of cornichons for about $35 and used it for three dinners for 2, with cheese and tiny pickles left over. 

Cheese can also be expensive, so don't go overboard. Buy a couple of your favorites; ideally there should be one soft and one firm or semi-firm, like a brie or goat cheese log and a cheddar or Manchego. If you have more than two diners, buy another cheese for every two people. But expect leftovers. In fact, it's probably best to cut a portion of the cheese off and put it on your platter or board, and stash the rest in the fridge for next time. That way, uneaten cheese doesn't sit out too long, and there's one less thing for you to tidy up afterward, especially if you've been hitting the wine.

You may, of course, enjoy your meats and cheeses with your fingers, but it's much neater to use bread or crackers. Thin slices of crusty bread--toasted or not--are perfect if you are extra fancy and have included a pate in your selection of meats. It's also nice with very soft brie. Otherwise, crackers are the way to go. Use whatever you like. Ritz or Club crackers are just fine, as are water crackers or hell, saltines. I try to eat gluten-free as much as possible and have discovered some truly excellent GF and grain-free crackers, which I will list at the end of the post.

In addition to the three essentials--meat, cheese, and bread-like substance--a good charcuterie platter should include other flavor elements. Olives and cornichons are typical accompaniments, but one needs other items to balance out the salt. I like to add sweet things, like a fruit spread or jam, and fresh or dried fruit, including grapes, figs, and mini tomatoes. Nuts, preferably unsalted, add extra crunch. Mustards are nice, as are roasted red peppers, pepperoncini--honestly, whatever suits your fancy. You may choose to arrange items artistically on a platter or board (I use a large bamboo cutting board), or simply place items randomly. For hard or medium-firm cheeses, I like to cut them into serving size cubes or wedges. I put soft cheese like brie or chevre on the board in one large chunk and supply a separate spreader for each type of cheese. Toothpicks are nice for picking up individual cubes of cheese, especially when there are more than two diners, but fingers are fine otherwise.

I enjoy charcuterie boards so much, I've made them for Thanksgiving dinner. As in, the entire Thanksgiving dinner was one big, coffee-table-sized, spread. Lest you think I jest, see below (ignore my reading glasses in the lower right).

It was perfect for three of us to nibble on for the entire day while we watched football and drank copiously. We did this three years in a row, until my brother determined that it was mildly sacrilegious not to have hot poultry on Thanksgiving. So last year I made chicken legs and roasted brussels sprouts to follow a much-scaled-down selection of meat and cheese. I plan to do the same this year.

------------------------------

Most of these fine gluten-free and grain-free crackers I've discovered via the Specialty Food Association's annual Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. While grocery stores have better and better selections of food for special diets, it's difficult to stock absolutely everything available, so I have supplied links for ordering the products online.

Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers - I'm a big fan of these, particularly the Rosemary and Sea Salt variety. They are available in many grocery stores, but can also be purchased online. 

Hungry Bird Eats Nordic Crisps - incredibly crisp and delicious crackers that I will happily eat out of the box like potato chips. They can be purchased online from their website. 

Cabin 11 Bakery 5-Seed Grain-Free Crisps are similarly delicious crispbread-like crackers made with 5 seeds. Their website is down currently, and I'm not sure where to buy them. Hopefully they'll be back up and running soon, as I've run out and need more crackers!

Quator Crisps Yuca Chips - I also like using crisp yuca chips with charcuterie platters. Quator Crisps might be a bit too slender to put cheese on top, but they still work great to nibble on the side. They are available in a handful of shops right now, but you can order them from their website.

Nova Crisp - these crispy air-popped cracker/chips are made with cassava and come in a handy bowl shape that makes them perfect for scooping. The rim also holds in runny stuff like mustard or jelly perfectly. They come in a few flavors, but the sea salt is my fave. They are available in stores like Safeway, Aldi, Lidl, H Mart, and Weis Market but also at Amazon.

Lark Fine Foods, which are not gluten-free but still worth mentioning, makes a bunch of tasty cookies and biscuits that are both savory and sweet. Their Pizzetta biscuits work pretty nicely with soft cheeses, especially if you're into the idea of a cookie that tastes like pizza. They are available in gourmet shops, primarily in the eastern US. Igourmet stocks some of their biscuits, and multi-product samplers can be ordered from Williams-Sonoma.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Nova Crisp Grain Free Cassava Chips

Another of my favorite products from the 2021 Fancy Food Show is Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps. I have been eating (almost entirely but not quite) gluten-free for two years now and find myself craving crispy things all the time. I love potato chips, but there are only so many chips this gal can eat! I already love cassava, and use cassava flour in baking all the time, so when I found these chips...wow! I was so excited! Nova Crisps are gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO, vegan, and air-popped, not fried. And they taste so good.

They are indeed crisp, and have a cool dish-shape, which  makes them the perfect vehicle for dips and
toppings. I've even used them to make mini ice-cream sandwiches! (I recommend the Sea Salt flavor for this...not sure the Maui onion, BBQ, or Vegan White Cheddar would work.) 

I've also used Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps on a charcuterie plate, as they are great with cheese, cured meats, and whathaveyou, but my favorite application has been as a vehicle to get things like tuna or egg salad into my mouth. 

I call these little guys, "Banh Mi Bites" because the flavors and textures reminded me a bit of one of my all-time favorite sandwiches, the Vietnamese banh mi. The tuna is spicy, with the natural fishiness of the fish standing in for fish sauce; the broccoli slaw provides a similar texture to the customary pickled carrot and daikon. You could probably use plain tuna mixed with mayo with added lime juice, garlic, and a bit of sugar to mimic the flavors of Vietnam's favorite dipping sauce, nuoc cham. Add fish sauce, too, if you want more umami, and hot sauce or a slice of fresh jalapeno for heat. A little diced cucumber wouldn't be out of place on these, either. 

Banh Mi Bites

1 pouch Starkist Tuna Creations Bold Red Curry with Coconut, Thai Chili, or Sriracha style

handful broccoli slaw or cole slaw mix

mayonnaise

lime juice

salt

cilantro

cherry tomatoes

8 - 10 Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps, sea salt or Maui onion flavor

Put the tuna in a bowl and add the broccoli slaw mix. Stir in a teaspoon of mayo or so to make the mixture creamy and season with lime juice and a pinch of salt. Throw in a little chopped cilantro if you like. Mound the mixture onto the Nova Crisps, garnishing with a quarter of a cherry tomato and a little cilantro. 

Serves 1.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Clementine Cake

I love oranges, particularly sweet navals, but so often they have more pith than flesh. What really irritates me is when the orange flesh is dried out. Those babies are expensive, and I hate feeling like I wasted my money. So when those small crates of sweet, easy-to-peel, clementines started appearing in supermarkets, I was happy that I could get my citrus fix consistently and at a somewhat more reasonable price. At least I could back in the 90s and early 00s. Nowadays, the little fruits, while still easy to peel, are often tart and have a few pips. The only routinely sweet ones I've found are the "Cuties" brand, which are more expensive than the rest. I'm guessing that when the demand for these little guys increased, producers started cutting corners or obtaining fruit from countries with less-than-optimal growing conditions or practices. The only consistency now seems to be in my disappointment.

But clementines aren't completely useless. They make a pretty great little cake, one that is super moist, keeps fairly well, and is absolutely gluten-free, though you would never know that from the flavor and texture.

I've made this cake many times over the years, using a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. The recipe below has the same proportions as the one in her book, but the photos are from a cake half the size. Why? Because I only had 3 eggs available to me, and the recipe calls for 6. I also was pretty sure that while I seemed to have quite a lot of almond flour, it was surely not 2 1/3 cups. It was entirely reasonable to me to cut the recipe in half, or half-ish. And you know what? Four small clementines, 3 eggs, 1 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder made a fine cake in a 7" round springform pan.

Nigella's Clementine Cake

4 to 5 clementines (about 1 lb total)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 eggs
2 1/3 cups ground almonds
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Put clementines in a pot with enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Turn temperature down so the water is at a hearty simmer and cook for 2 hours, adding more water if the pot looks like it's running dry. Drain and allow fruit to cool. Once the fruit is cool, tear them open, remove the stem bit from the end and any seeds.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place the clementines--skin, pith, and all--into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Add the sugar and puree. Add the eggs and pulse to combine. Add the almonds and baking powder and pulse until completely incorporated.

Line an 8-inch springform pan with a circle of parchment and coat bottom and sides of pan with butter or release spray. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes then check doneness with a toothpick. If the pick comes out with moist crumbs, it's done. If it comes out with batter on it, add more time. At this point, the cake will start to get very brown, so cover the top with a piece of foil for any remaining time in the oven.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool completely on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or not. I used Trader Joe's dried and sugared lemon slices as a garnish.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Baked Oatmeal

I started a diet in March that involved giving up wheat, sugar, and dairy. It wasn't as difficult as it sounds, actually. I suppose the worst of it was giving up sugar. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and eat entirely too much chocolate, pastries, and ice cream. That's why I have been a fatass pretty much my entire life, apart from a handful of slimmer years that resulted from starvation dieting and some pretty intense cardio in the form of country line dancing (it was the 90s).

I love bread, too, but with no wheat allowed, I couldn't have my usual breakfast sandwich. So I had to resort to eating a lot of oatmeal. Muesli (or "overnight oats") was my go-to work breakfast. I could mix it up the night before and by morning it would be all ready to eat. But a month of muesli is a bit much. I decided to try baked oatmeal as an alternative. The texture would be quite different and I might even be able to fool myself into thinking I was eating a piece of cake for breakfast. Well, that didn't work, but I still enjoyed it.

My favorite version of baked oatmeal involves oatmilk or hempmilk, Earth Balance margarine in place of butter, with a nice handful of fresh blueberries (or juice-sweetened dried blueberries) and almonds mixed in for texture. An 8" square pan makes enough breakfast for an entire week, plus more, so it's pretty economical, too.

Baked Oatmeal

2 cups quick rolled oats
2 cups milk (dairy or non-dairy)
2 tablespoons melted butter (or Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or agave or maple syrup)
2 eggs, beaten
Pinch salt
Pinch cinnamon (can also add cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, etc.)
Fruit and nuts of your choice (bananas, dried berries, almonds, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine oats, milk, butter, sweetener, eggs, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in fruit and nuts. Pour into a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes, until set.

Serve hot, warm, or even cold. If you're feeling decadent, mash it up a bit while it's hot and pour over some half and half, add fresh sliced apples cooked in butter and brown sugar, or sliced peaches, or whatever fresh fruit you have on hand.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gluten-free, Sugar-free, and Dairy-free Mexican Pasta and Meatballs

One of the drawbacks to being food writers is that it is all too easy to overindulge and put on weight. It's especially bad when we are working on projects where we have to go to a lot of restaurants in a short period of time and sample all manner of food and drink which is so delicious but so detrimental to our physiques. The Minx decided that she was overdue for a curtailing of her naughty foods intake and put herself on a month-long boycott of wheat, sugar, and dairy. I was not willing to go quite that extreme, but I certainly wanted to help by creating dinners that would suit her dietary restrictions.

The biggest challenge for me was to find a way to work my favorite food, pasta, into a meal that we could both eat. We remembered that, several month ago, we tried gluten-free pasta made from corn. It was tasty enough, but for me it didn't quite work with an Italian red sauce, my mind being too conditioned to the taste of semolina in relation to Italian cooking. I tend to associate the flavor of corn with Mexican food. That's where the idea came to me to create a red sauce with Mexican flavors.

I was going to make a meat sauce, but Kathy really had a craving for meatballs, so I had to not only bring Mexican flavors to the meatballs, but also find a way to avoid bread crumbs. Kathy suggested oatmeal, which worked perfectly. The recipe that follows is a low-and-slow, all-afternoon, labor-of-love kind of affair, but everyone should make a meal like that now and again. There's a real sense of accomplishment when you take the time to create something really flavorful and satisfying.

Mexican Pasta and Meatballs

For the sauce:

28 oz. can tomato puree
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste

For the meatballs:

1.5 pounds of ground beef
1 chipotle chopped
2 cloves garlic smashed
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

For the pasta:

1 pound corn pasta
4 teaspoons kosher salt

Start your sauce by sauteing the onions in a large sauce pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the onions have sweated and are slightly caramelized, pour in your tomato puree and diced tomatoes, Add the garlic and tomato pasta and stir to combine. Then stir in the chili powder, cumin, salt, and ancho chili powder. Bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat and cover. Let it continue to simmer with the cover on for two hours, stirring occasionally. Add cilantro.

After two hours, you can create your meatballs. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mush it all together with your hands until everything is thoroughly integrated. Form the mixture into golf-ball-sized meatballs. Heat a frying pan until a drop of water will sizzle in it and add the meatballs. Regularly turn the meatballs with tongs until all sides of the meatballs are nicely browned. Then add the meatballs to your sauce and allow them to simmer in the sauce for at least another half hour.

To cook your pasta, bring five quarts of water to a boil and add four teaspoons of kosher salt. Pour in your pasta and stir. Use the instructions on the package as a guide, but use your own judgement. I find that the instructions for cooking corn pasta tend to overstate the cooking time. After about ten minutes, check a piece for doneness.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, put some in a bowl, set two or three meatballs on top, and then ladle sauce over the whole dish. The flavors will remind you of a Mexican restaurant while the textures and the visual with make you think of an Italian red sauce joint. There's also the added comfort of knowing that you're not eating wheat, dairy, or added sugar.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze

Since the Fancy Food Show, we've been getting lots of tasty products to review. One of my favorites is Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze. Part cereal, part smoothie, completely delicious, Munk Pack is a great snack to throw in your bag and take with you to eat at work or on the road.

There are three flavors: raspberry coconut, blueberry acai flax, and apple quinoa cinnamon. My favorite is the raspberry coconut, which definitely tastes of raspberry, but also has banana and apple in it. (All three flavors have apple, the Blueberry Acai Flax has banana, too.) It's hard to describe the texture of the stuff....it's not thick and gloppy like oatmeal, nor is it runny like applesauce, but perhaps somewhere in between. Mostly smooth, with bits of grain. And bits of coconut in the raspberry flavor. It's really quite tasty, and at 100 calories or less, a lot better for you than a candy bar (but, I understand, not chocolate).

Munk Pack products hit all the right buzzwords du jour: gluten-free, non-gmo, kosher, vegan. The products have no added sugar, 3-4g of fiber, and are packed in a BPA-free pouch that lets you squeeze every drop of goodness right into your gullet.

You can purchase Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeezes at Eddies on Charles Street and on Roland Ave and at Wegman's. Or at Amazon, which of course has everything.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gluten Free Gnocchi Verde

I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for gnocchi. And not the typical, chewy, stick-to-the ribs, potato-based gnocchi, but rather the light airy kind made with cheese. I made the potato ones once, long ago, and they turned out so badly and were so dense, I haven't tried again. (There is a new potato ricer in my life, however, so another attempt at potato gnocchi may be in my future!)

I saw this recipe for gnocchi verde on the very excellent site, Food 52, and thought I needed to give them a try. There's a ton of spinach in them. So much, I'd say they were primarily greens. And only 6 tablespoons of flour, basically a binder to keep them from falling apart. It was very easy to make this dish a gluten-free one - just replace the all-purpose wheat flour with an equal amount of some other gluten-free flour with a neutral flavor. There just happened to be oat flour in the pantry, so that's what I used. If you don't have oat flour on hand, just put a cup or so of dry rolled oats in the food processor and whiz to a fine powder.

Besides the oat flour, I also monkeyed with adding some onion to the mix. Everything is better with a bit of sauteed onion in it. I also cut back on the fat, using olive oil instead of butter to saute the spinach and onion, and less butter to finish the dish. Really--you won't miss it.

Don't despair if when you plop your gnocchi into the boiling water that the water is soon full of floating scraps of spinach--it happens. If you've added the proper amount of eggs and cheese and binder, and have refrigerated the mixture before cooking, your balls will stay together.

We ate our gnocchi as is, with an additional sprinkle of grated Parm, but you can serve them with a tomato sauce if you'd like.

Gluten Free Gnocchi Verde (adapted from Food 52)

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
6 tablespoons oat flour
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons melted butter, divided

Defrost the spinach and squeeze it dry. Chop finely to make about 1 1/2 cups.

Cook the onion in the olive oil with the salt over medium heat until translucent. Add the spinach and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated, 2-3 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Stir in the ricotta, flour, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the spinach and onion mixture and combine well. Refrigerate for about an hour, or until firm(er).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season well with salt. Shape the gnocchi mixture into 1 1/2" balls. Drop them into the water and cook until they puff slightly and are somewhat firm, 5-8 minutes. Transfer cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Preheat your broiler.

Put 1 tablespoons of the melted butter into the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish or baking sheet with sides. Arrange the boiled gnocchi in one layer across the bottom. Dribble the remaining butter over top, then sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parm. Broil until cheese melts and is golden brown.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Book Review: Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook

Doesn't that look good? It's a dish of Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, pecans, and sorghum.

I've seen quite a few gluten-free cookbooks come across my desk recently, but none have been as comprehensive as Camilla Saulsbury's new Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes. While 100 percent of the recipes in this book are gluten free, it reads more like a primer for incorporating ancient grains (oats, amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, etc.) into one's diet. The whole gluten-free aspect is more of a happy bonus. In other words, this book is a great kitchen tool for everyone who wants to switch up their diet a bit, not just for the gluten-intolerant.

Unlike other gluten-free cookbooks, Saulsbury doesn't resort to using gums and stabilizers to give her recipes more familiar textures. Instead, she sings the praises of whole grains, many of which are completely foreign to most Americans.

It's not a vegan cookbook, nor diet-y in any way. Every dish looks really terrific, so of course we had to try a few ourselves, just to make sure.

The first dish we tried is a dressing of Brussels sprouts, pecans, dried cranberries, and whole grains. We chose to use sorghum. Sorghum takes a heck of a long time to cook. Even after one hour, the little round grains were still on the chewy side. But the combination of flavors in the dish, while fairly simple, were really delicious. We ate it as a warm salad entree, but you can serve it as a side dish. It would make a perfect addition to a roast chicken dinner, and would actually work really nicely as a Thanksgiving side, too.

Next we tried spiced bar cookies made with oats and dates, because we had all of the ingredients on hand: dates, coconut oil, teff flour (left over from our attempt at Ethiopian injera), and oatmeal. The flavors were terrific - malty teff and cardamom played really nicely with the sweet and chewy dates - but the bars are a bit dry and crumbly. They're pretty good crumbled over a dish of ice cream, though, and would make a nice combination of flavors to top a fruit cobbler.

Though neither of us are gluten intolerant, we're really enthused about Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook overall. We've even invested in some amaranth and quinoa so we can try more whole grain eating.

If you can't find Bob's Red Mill products in your local grocery store (we've found some, but not all), you can order them online from Bob's, or even at Nuts.com.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Minxeats Best of 2014, Part 2

Every year, we try to recap some of the best food we've eaten during the past twelve months. In Part 1, we mention all of our favorite restaurant dishes. This time, it's our own home cookin' that gets the spotlight.

February - Nutty Bars

April - Rice Salad with Chinese Sausage and Roasted Broccoli

May - Coconut Macaroon Cake

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

Korean Pork Meatball Tacos

July - Blackened Carrots with Harissa Yogurt and Carrot top-Mint Pesto

August - Gluten-free Green Tomato Caprese

Three Cheese Ravioli with Raw Tomato Sauce

Nectarine Soup with Crab Salad

September - Gluten-free Stone Fruit Crisp

Swiss Chard Gumbo

November - Tomato Garlic Parm Soup

December - Caramel Apple Cobbler

Chinese Cassoulet



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gluten-Free Green Tomato Caprese

Once again our garden is inundated with tomatoes. Green tomatoes. The few that have started to turn red have been attacked by a plague of squirrels. Those furry little bastards take one bite of the reddest, ripest tomato and then leave the rest of it on the vine. If they're going to eat it, I'd rather them take the whole damn thing and save me the disappointment of finding tiny toothmarks in the side of one of my beautiful Black Krims.

(Our next door neighbor told us a funny story about squirrels in our tomatoes. He said he watched one of the critters climb down into the garden, take a tomato, and fling himself skyward onto a branch. He then proceeded to smack directly into a tree trunk and fall flat on his back. With the tomato still in his jaws. He eventually picked himself up and ran off. With the tomato.)

I can't wait for the tomatoes to ripen, so I picked a bunch of green ones. The most obvious thing to do with green tomatoes is to fry them, but I hate the whole messy plate of flour-bowl of egg-plate of breadcrumbs routine and then having to clean up all of the flour and breadcrumbs that inevitably drop onto the floor between the counter and the garbage can. So I thought I could batter the tomatoes, instead of crumb them. I did some googling and found a couple recipes, all of which involved frying in at least half an inch of oil. F that. If pancakes can cook in a haze of PAM, then batter-dipped fried green tomatoes can, too.

Ok, so I didn't use PAM. I used vegetable oil. But only about a tablespoon-full in my big 12" skillet. And see from the photos how purty and brown they turned out?

I thought I'd make a cornmeal batter, but the bag I thought contained cornmeal actually had oat flour in it. Next to it in the pantry was a bag of rice flour, and seeing the two of them together made me flash back to the truly awful gluten-free donuts I made some months ago. I almost sat down and cried again right on the spot; instead I put on my big-girl panties (yes, right there in the kitchen) and took a deep breath. I didn't really want to reach up to get the big heavy barrel of flour off the top of the cabinet, so I used the oat flour and rice flour, bad memories and all, since they were in my hands. Yes, I am lazy, but that makes this recipe gluten-free. And honestly, I couldn't tell that I didn't use wheat flour. (You can use wheat flour, if you're not as lazy as I am.) I kinda didn't want to use milk for the batter, but using beer would have defeated the whole gluten-free thing, and the closest thing to club soda I had on hand would have been some diet raspberry fizzy water. Milk it is, then.

I bought some Buitoni pesto because our basil is really kind of lame this year. Originally I was going to use straight pesto, but I like a mayo-based sauce with my fried green tomatoes. Then I thought mayo and cheese together? Maybe that will be too rich. As if there's any such thing as too rich. So I made a vinaigrette, too, with pesto in it, and a pinch of sugar for balance. (I didn't use oil because pesto already has oil in it.)

What I liked best about this dish was that the hot tomatoes made the cheese melt. It had all the right things going on - crusty, creamy, gooey, tangy, herbaceous, and fried. Mmm.

Gluten-Free Fried Green Tomato Caprese

For the tomatoes:
3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough milk to make a thick batter
2-4 green tomatoes, cut into 1/4" thick slices
Vegetable oil, for frying

For the pesto mayo:
2 tablespoons pesto
2 tablespoons mayonnaise

For the pesto vinaigrette:
2 teaspoons pesto
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Salt

To assemble:
Fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into thin slices
Basil, for garnish

To make the tomatoes: Combine batter ingredients in a large bowl.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Swirl the pan so the bottom is coated.

Put several tomato slices into the bowl of batter, turning them with a fork to make sure they are well coated. Using the fork, lift slices and allow some of the batter to drain back into the bowl before putting them into the hot pan. Don't crowd the pan - just put 5-6 slices in per batch.

Cook tomatoes until bottoms are nicely browned. Flip slices and cook an additional few minutes until the other side is brown. Remove to paper towel-lined plates to drain and give them a dusting of salt. Cook remaining tomatoes the same way, adding more oil to the pan for each batch.

To make the pesto mayo: Combine the ingredients in a small bowl.

To make the pesto vinaigrette: Combine the ingredients in a small bowl.

To assemble dish: Place a small blob of the mayo in the center of a plate. Top with a slice of tomato, then a slice of cheese and another blob of mayo. Repeat once more, then finish with a third tomato slice and a blob of mayo. Garnish with fresh basil. Drizzle the vinaigrette around the stack.










Posted on Minxeats.com.

Quinoa Milk

We went to the Natural Foods Expo at the end of September but have been so busy we haven't had an opportunity to go through our bag of brochures and business cards and sit down to write about some of the more interesting products at the show. Still haven't gone through that bag yet, but as I'm currently finishing up a glass of Suzie's Quinoamilk, I thought I should talk about it while it's on my mind.

For a while there in the summer I was attempting a vegan diet, at least during breakfast and lunch. That means no animal products of any kind, so I was left with using non-dairy milk in my coffee and cereal. I have always disliked soy milk, plus I have a mild allergic reaction to it. Rice milk is an abomination. Almond milk is much better, but I only like the stuff made by Blue Diamond. Coconut milk is ok, if you like coconut. But I find all of them leave an aftertaste.

Enter quinoamilk. As we were finishing up at the Expo, I noticed a table with little cups of off-white liquid. I was thirsty, saw that the product was made from quinoa, and thought why not? And it was very, very good. Not at all like cow's milk, of course, because it lacks that fatty mouthfeel, but much much better than all of the other non-dairy milks I have tried. And it doesn't have an aftertaste. The Suzie's rep was encouraged by my reaction and gave us a quart each of the original unsweetened and vanilla sweetened flavors to take home.

Suzie's Quinoamilk is great for people who have soy or nut allergies, and it's gluten-free, too. And while it's great in coffee and cereal, I enjoy a glass of it on its own, cold from the fridge. I would never do that with cow's milk, so I'm thinking that rather than drinking a glass of cold water with my chocolate chip cookies this Christmas while Mr Minx and MinxBro are drinking milk, I'll have me some Quinoamilk.

The stuff should be available at Whole Foods and other fine retailers nationally, but if you don't see it, ask for it!



Posted on Minxeats.com.