Gluten-Free, Egg-Free Meatballs, Version 1

I’m tired of burgers and beef tacos. That’s what I usually do with ground bison when I cook it. Today, I was inspired to make meatballs, but of course, I couldn’t include bread crumbs or eggs.

I did some research and found others were including a variety of binding ingredients in their gluten-free meatballs: tapioca, coconut flour, ground rice cakes, gluten-free bread crumbs, gluten-free oatmeal. The closest I could come was ground up rice crackers, which I ground myself in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin.

Everyone used real eggs in their recipes. I recently bought some “powdered egg substitute” and used that instead. I used this recipe as my main guide.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground bison
• 20 rice crackers, ground into meal (I probably could have gotten away with less)
• 1 egg or equivalent egg substitute
• seasoning and spices (I used a seasoning mix from Penzeys and a mix of pizza herbs from a local vendor)
• salt
• grated parmesan or romano cheese
• olive oil
• 1 sliced garlic clove
• 1 quart diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• crushed red pepper
• 1 bay leaf

I mixed everything from the bison to the salt together and formed the meatballs (I forgot to add the cheese at this stage and added it later instead). I sauteed the meatballs in olive oil until they were browned on all sides (about 5 minutes).

Meanwhile, I heated more oil in a dutch oven and sauteed the garlic for about a minute. I added the tomatoes and as everything started to come to a boil, I added the remaining ingredients.

When all of the meatballs were browned, I added them to the simmering sauce, covered it and reduced the heat to low. I simmered everything for about an hour, stirring it occasionally to coat the meatballs in the sauce. Then I sprinkled on the forgotten grated cheese.

These came out pretty good for a first try. I didn’t have any onions on-hand and they would have been a nice addition to the sauce and to the meatballs. I could have used less of the cracker crumbs.

I want to try a different kind of meatballs next time — not Italian style, but the kind that has chili sauce and jelly in the sauce.

Ooh, Lookie!

I just happened to visit the web site for Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and found that they’ve done a sweet redesign. Check it out!

In case you didn’t already know, this is the book that started it all for me. The gist is that Kingsolver and her family decide to try and raise, grow and trade for everything they eat for an entire year. It is quite an endeavor, but it inspired me to put more thought into what I buy and where I buy it.

Since reading the book, I’ve participated in farmshares and spend more money at local farmer’s markets than I do at the grocery store. I started growing my own herbs and vegetables, bought and started using a chest freezer and dehydrator, and started this blog.

If you haven’t read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle yet, I highly recommend it. Kingsolver is a wonderful writer and the trials and tribulations of her family during that year are both inspiring, funny and eye-opening. You can purchase the book (and support this blog) on Amazon or at your local book seller.

The Bison Jerky Experiment

I finally hauled out the huge cut of bison I bought during the final farmers market of the season and sliced off some slivers to make jerky in my dehydrator. I wanted to make jerky completely free of preservatives and found advice on the Internets (thank you, Pinterest). I learned how to trim the meat here and gained inspiration for the marinade recipe by perusing Google.

The whole process was really easy. One of the best tips was to slice the meat while it was still partially frozen. This made it easier to get really, really thin slices.

The marinade contained:

• Chesapeake Old-Style Sauce (I probably could have gotten away with just using this)
• Chili powder
• Chinese mustard powder
• Ground cinnamon
• Crushed red pepper
• Tabasco
• Honey

I eyeballed all of the measurements for the marinade and let the strips of meat marinate in the fridge overnight. I was surprised that most of the recipes said the meat would be dried after only a few hours in the dehydrator. When I dry fruit, it can take 10 hours or more. I guess it makes sense — there’s so much water content in fruit. Sure enough, after only about 2.5 hours in the dehydrator, we had jerky! Nice and spicy too.

Since this recipe has no preservatives, I have to keep the dried jerky in the fridge. I read that mason jars are preferable because they are less likely to trap moisture (as opposed to plastic bags), which could cause the meat to spoil faster. Bison is very lean meat so the lack of fat also will help it keep longer.

The rest of the cut of bison (I can’t remember exactly which cut this was) is now in my crock pot with some wine, stock and veggies. I will be feasting later today and the rest of this week!

Butternut Chorizo Tostada

During the fall, I bought some butternut squash. Typically, I would have made them into soup or pasta dishes by now. However, I kind of od’ed on butternut squash soup and I don’t really eat pasta anymore.

I remembered that Closet Cooking had some yummy butternut squash recipes and selected this one for Butternut Squash and Chorizo Tostada for tonight.

I omitted the refried beans because I don’t like those. I had dry chorizo, so I prepared that mixture a bit differently. Cheddar replaced the queso fresca and I put guacamole on mine. Parsley replaced the cilantro, because that’s what I had available.

This was really good and I’ll definitely make it again! I also have plenty of squash leftover.

Gin and Ginger Toddy

I’ve been battling a sore throat since yesterday afternoon, mainly by drinking lots of hot liquid. The effects of hot tea and honey cannot be discounted when you are sick. Then there is the hot toddy. I’m not exactly sure what the benefit is of adding alcohol to tea, but far be it from me to question years and years of home remedy knowledge.

Most hot toddy recipes also call for adding lemon juice to the tea. I’m not the biggest fan of this. But then I came across the instructions for a concoction in Washingtonian Magazine that sounded pretty palatable and gave me inspiration for the following.

Gin and Ginger Toddy

• 1 cup water
• 1/4-1/2  tsp freshly grated ginger
• tea of your choice (I used mint for this)
• 1 tbsp honey
• squeeze of lime juice
• shot of gin (or your spirit of choice)

Boil the water and the ginger together (I nuke mine; sneer if you will). Steep your tea. Stir in the honey, lime juice and gin. Sip and inhale the vapors.

I chose gin for this because I have Tanqueray with lime in more abundance than I do whiskey or rum right now. I wouldn’t normally have thought to put gin in a hot beverage, but found precedent for it while doing a bit of hot toddy research yesterday.

Chesapeake Baked Sweet Potato

(aka the best baked sweet potato I’ve ever made)

Multiply the following measurements by the number of sweet potatoes you plan to bake (tweak these to taste if you want a stronger savory flavor):

1Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp Old Bay
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Bake the sweet potatoes for 30 minutes at 375 or until they can be pierced easily with a fork. Cut each potato lengthwise and add a pat of butter. Sprinkle on approximately one tablespoon of the above mixture. As the butter melts, it will mix with the spices into the best sweet potato topping you’ve ever tasted.

The Best Wings I’ve Ever Made

Seriously.

Okay, so I’ll admit, this was actually the only time I’ve ever made wings. But they came out really damn good.

I sprinkled the washed and dried wings with 33rd & Galena spice rub (from Penzeys) and some salt. I baked them at 375 for about 22 minutes, flipping them a couple times. Then, I coated them with the honey bbq sauce detailed here. At first, I was afraid that the sauce would be too tomatoey, but it was really, really good. I didn’t have yellow mustard, so I added a bit of dried mustard and apple cider vinegar to the sauce instead.

Stay tuned for details on the best baked sweet potato I’ve ever made.