There's no picture that I know of, but for brunch with my family after my birthday celebration, we made some delicious Huevos Rancheros in Tortilla cups following this lovely recipe from Epicurious. To make them dairy free for me, we used Daiya cheese on some of the cups instead of Monterrey Jack, and as my family is not known for their spice tolerance, we limited the use of the Chipotle Hot Sauce. My family still raves about them, so it was a success!
Then there was a delicious Shepherd's Pie that I made for Chris's birthday dinner, as he said it was one of his favorite meals. I tried to find ground lamb, but after two grocery stores and no luck, I grabbed some ground beef, and luckily it was still delicious. I also forgot to add the peas before it went into the oven, but luckily you can microwave them, and mix them in when serving. Almost as good.
To make it dairy free, I subbed Earth Balance for the butter (best dairy-free butter sub out there in my opinion), and Almond Milk for the regular milk. I personally don't think you could tell a difference in the mashed potato topping, but I did have to add more Almond Milk and Earth Balance than called for to get the creamy mashed potatoes I wanted. My mom sometimes uses some chicken broth in with the "milk" to help with a creaminess.
My proof that they were good? Chris's roommate put his frozen meal back in the freezer to eat with us, and all three of us got second helpings!
Over the holidays we discovered that our customary Pepperidge Farm Stuffing mix now includes dairy so we made our own this year, but I found that some of the Stovetop brand stuffing mixes are dairy-free, so there's still a quick option out there!
Some good allergy news arrived after Thanksgiving when we found out that my life-threatening shellfish and mango allergies are not life-threatening after all. I have oral allergy syndrome for those, so I get all the swelling, itching, and tingling in my mouth and tongue, but it won't progress to anaphylaxis. That was a huge anxiety relief, because while it's annoying to have those symptoms, and I still have to avoid those foods, I don't feel like I'm going to possibly die every time we go out to eat. However, because most restaurants (and let's face it, most people) don't understand the difference, I'm still going to use "Severe Allergy" at restaurants to avoid cross contamination and contact so I'm not having to take a Benedryl and thus a nap with every meal.
After visiting Ohio to see Chris's family, his parents gave us a bag of frozen flounder fillets that they had accidentally bought, so we had to find a flounder recipe! Thus we made Baked Flounder Fillets in Lemon-Soy Vinaigrette the other night, following the directions to a doubled-T, plus some lemon zest.
The verdict? They were ok, definitely mild in the flavor category. Lesson learned, read the reviews of the recipes before choosing. Next time I would add more garlic, pepper and lemon, and maybe some ginger, cut back on the salt. One reviewer even said to cook in a foil packet, so maybe that would help add more flavor, or even marinate the fish. Not our best meal.
Lastly, for tonight before we head out with friends, I have a beef & stout stew going in the crock pot...more on that later! Happy New Years!
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