Monday, June 30, 2008

Recipe Lamb Meatballs

These meatballs are still a work in progress, but here's where I'm at. As is, they are amazingly yummy and the quinoa adds a lot of nutrition.

1 - 1.5 lb boneless lamb shoulder
1 organic red bell pepper
1 organic zuccini squash
1/4 yellow onion
1/3 cup cooked quinoa
salt
1/4 cup ketchup (we use 365 organic because they don't have corn syrup)

Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 organic red bell pepper
1/8 yellow onion

SAUCE
Put pepper and onion through the grinder. Set aside.

MEATBALLS
Preheat oven to 350. Trim fat from lamb shoulder. You're going to grind the lamb twice, and as you put it through the second time, you're going to grind all the vegetables (except for those listed in sauce). Mix in the cooked quinoa, ketchup, and a dash of salt. Roll into little meatballs. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet, pour 1/2 of the sauce over them. Bake for about 5-8 minutes. Then turn them over and bake for another 5 or so minutes.

They are really yummy. And my very picky son actually likes them.

Recipe Quinoa Cupcakes

This recipe at first tasted like peanut butter cupcakes to me, although I'm not sure what a peanut really tastes like anymore given that I won't even touch them.

These are extremely flaky - but travel great.

1 cup Ener-G Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flour
1 1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup extra light olive oil (we use Bertoli)
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream coconut oil and brown sugar. Stir in the 1/3 cup olive oil. Stir in apple sauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Then add to the wet mix, stirring until well combined. Finally mix in the chocolate chips.
Pour into cupcake holders (we use the 'if you care unbleached ones' that we put into a metal cupcake dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Shelton's Turkey Burgers

Amidst all the home prepped meals - I never thought I'd get so excited about a turkey burger. We tried the Shelton Turkey Burgers (available at Whole Foods) and I briefly fried in pan and bam - pretty much instant meal.

I called the company - and they we're extremely helpful and knowledgeable about their product.

Turkey Burgers - manufactured on shared lines with Beef. The lines are broken down and sterilized and between beef runs and turkey runs.
They also have Ground Free Ranged Turkey (Aka Turkey Chub...hmmm). We haven't tried it but it's basically a tube - hence chub, I guess (must be industry lingo) of ground turkey that is produced on lines that are exclusively turkey.

I haven't tried their other products but here is their website.
Shelton's Poultry Products

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Lundberg Rice Noodles

We eat their rice noodles. We've had, on one occasion, a bright yellow noodle tumble out of the box - and we've been eating it for the last year. I immediately called, and got a the same info as below.

Dear Denise:
Thank you for taking the time to email us. It is very important to us to hear from our consumers with their comments, concerns, and suggestions.
Our brown rice pasta is made in a facility that contains corn and is made on shared equipment with corn. We do our best to prevent cross contamination, but we could not guarantee that there would be none. In addition, there is dairy in the facility in the form of powered cheese, but it is not on the same equipment as our brown rice pasta. There are none of the other allergens you listed in the facility or on the line.
Thank you for your time and interest,

Consumer Response
Lundberg Family Farms

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Bertoli Olive Oil - Shame on You

This is an email I received after filling out an online form. In the form I requested info on their Light Tasting Olive Oil. I also listed all the allergens we are avoiding.
I must admit it's a really disappointing response - which really - to me does not answer or address my questions.

Hello Denise,

Thanks so much for writing!

It is important to know that Unilever takes a proactive role in managing
all food allergy issues.

Unilever also follows good manufacturing practices. These are
established procedures to identify potential risk areas to prevent
"cross contact" between allergen and non-allergen foods.

Filling lines are not necessarily cleaned/washed after filling one type
of sauce (e.g. Old World Style Plain, then Marinara), but will be
flushed between varieties (e.g., Old World Style and Chunky Gardenstyle)
Every precaution is taken to protect against components of one product
mixing with another, and to ensure accuracy of ingredients listed on the
label.

Unilever has both accurate labeling and good manufacturing practices.
Unilever focuses of the eight most common allergies identified by both
U.S. FDA and the Food Allergy Network. These allergens are eggs, milk
and dairy products, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish
as well as any ingredient that may contain gluten.

Unilever takes great care to be certain that the ingredient statements
of all of our products are accurately labeled and are in full regulatory
compliance as outlined by the FDA/USDA guidelines.

As always, if you cannot determine whether the product contains the
ingredient in question, you should not use it.

Kind regards,

Your friends at Unilever
dfp


Then when I called their information number I was told by the woman on the phone that if I wanted more information than the limited info she was providing, I would need to have my doctor (YES, THAT'S RIGHT MY DOCTOR) write a letter to some Unilever department. She could not tell me anything in regards to sesame, but simply seemed to read off the above email. If you've ever asked your busy doctor to do anything like this - you can imagine the feat that these people at Unilever are requesting.
We use Bertoli, but I am looking for an alternative. The don't value their customers as far as I am concerned.

Any reco's in olive oil - someone mentioned Trader Joe's California Olive Oil - can anyone confirm?
Thanks

Monday, May 26, 2008

Fortune Cookies

Does anyone have any leads on 'safe' fortune cookies?
Thanks

Oils - Wesson, Mazola, President's Choice

I called the makers of Bertoli awhile back. They told me that they do not process treenuts or peanuts on the lines with the olive oil, but she couldn't tell me anything about sesame. Apparently, they have a list that only includes the basic eight allergens - sesame not included.

What other oils: olive or canola do people recommend?