Complete Pizza Geekout!!!

I am one very happy gluten free glutton! I sached over to Mother’s Market in Brea, CA for a pre-made gluten-free pie crust from the deli cooler (that’s right, boxed mixes eat your heart out!) and then upon emptying my wallet on their checkout stand I bopped over to the fairly new ZPizza location. I began to order a gluten-free pizza and the charming young man at the counter asked me if I wanted a LARGE or small pizza. I said, “excuse me?” He repeated himself. ::begin internal monologue:: ZOMG. ZOMG… ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!! ::end internal monologue:: and then I did what any savvy person would do. I ordered the large and I split the toppings like normal people get to do on big pizzas! That’s right! And I ate all but two pieces that very night… Then (oh how glamorous the mundane can get) I had cold pizza slices for breakfast the next day. ZPizza for the win! <3 Kattus P.

Tags: cold pizza for breakfast, delicious, gluten-free, overpriced gourmet nonsense that rocks

Have you been over to Pinterest yet?

A delicious bite of the inspiration pie on Pinterest.

If you have not checked out Pinterest.com yet, you are seriously missing out. Not only is Pinterest a wonderful way to organize your inspirations for just about any project (I am using my account to compile photos of all kinds of things. I’ve got a board dedicated to built-in designs, a board for pictures that are inspiring my wedding, a board for fashion that I like, and one for my favorite type of Halloween – an elegant one, obviously) but it is the world’s most endless resource for pictures of delicious food!

Since that is what we are all about here at the Altruist’s Cookbook, I thought your should go and play there. Start by checking out my boards (click the picture) and then build your own and post a link here as a comment. Who knows, you may find yourself newly inspired to eat better, eat more, or eat now!

<3 Kattus

Tags: food pics, Pinterest

Take that, Epicurious!

How do real people cook? We take a recipe, get really hungry, and then realize that we have NOTHING on the ingredient list. Right? Some people then stop, deterred by fear and that dark swirling unknown… They think “What will happen if it says bacon and I only have goose liver? Will I destroy the recipe if I am supposed to quarter the pepper, but I only have these slices of cucumber from my cousin Mimi’s baby shower last Saturday? Why is it that when I want to make Ragut, I only have the ingredients for Ratatouille? Why, God, why!?!” But I say, never fear, be not daunted! Carry on – cook with brilliance and brazen creativity!

I recently had my bestie over for a party. I made (by made, I mean doctored up) some creamy tomato soup and some gourmet grilled cheese sammies. The best comfort food in the world and I completely let my friend down by not checking the ingredients of the soup that I “made.” My bestie is a vegetarian with lactose intolerance, equaling vegan by default. My poor friend, what was I going to do!?! And it hit me! Carry on – cook with brilliance and brazen creativity! I made homemade tomato soup out of high quality Bloody Mary mix, organic ketchup, and mushroom stock! F@&k yeah!

You can do this as well and I bet you’ll be better at it than me. However, do not, under any circumstances mix balsamic and curry for any reason. Not that my fiance has ever done this, I’m just sayin’.

Anywho, what I wanted to share with you today is the major success of a recipe I pulled from Epicurious. I am doing low-carb (best eating plan ever in my humble gluten-free & phat opinion) which means that what mama (me) wants, mama (me again) gets! I wanted Quiche and I wanted it now!

Here is the recipe (lovely) and then I will show you what I did to it.

Crustless Quiche Gourmet | March 2008

Lillian Chou

(photo by: Romulo Yanes) Getting rid of the crust for this clever play on Quiche Lorraine is a win-win: The cooking process is simplified, and you’re left with the very best part of the Quiche. Yield: Makes 4 servings Active Time: 10 min Total Time: 30 min (not including cooling) 1 1/2 tablespoons fine dry plain bread crumbs 1 cup frozen chopped onions 1 cup diced cooked ham (1/4 pound) 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 (8-ounce) package shredded Swiss cheese (2 cups) 4 large eggs 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup whole milk Equipment: a 10-inch Quiche dish or 10-inch glass pie plate Accompaniment: green salad Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Butter Quiche dish, then sprinkle all over with bread crumbs. Cook onions with ham in butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 5 minutes. Spread in dish, then evenly sprinkle cheese on top. Whisk together eggs, cream, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and pour over cheese. Bake until top is golden and custard is set in center, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly before cutting into wedges.

Doesn’t that sound nice? Love it! But what do you do if you have no milk, no swiss cheese, no cream, the wrong amount of everything else and you are a hungry, low-carbing, b*tch? Check this out!

I do my best work under pressure!

1 1/2 tablespoons fine dry plain bread crumbs
No way! First of all, not bread in this Atkins home, second of all gluten-free bread just doesn’t behave the same way, so… I mixed a little rice flour into the wet ingredients instead.

1 cup frozen chopped onions
Right. I always keep frozen chopped onions around. NOT! But I did have 1/2 a package of Trader Joes diced onions for wimps! In it went!

1 cup diced cooked ham (1/4 pound)
Why use ham, when you can use a package of pancetta and 1/2 a package of Trader Joes “bacon ends and pieces”? Do you see a trend here?

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
No butter needed when you have that much bacon going on!

1 (8-ounce) package shredded Swiss cheese (2 cups)
I only had some unknown white cheese (maybe cheddar, but not strong flavored) and i only had 1 cup of it. Good thing I had bacon.

4 large eggs
I have 4 eggs!

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
I have 2 cups of half & half!!! Same thing, right?

1 cello of baby bella mushrooms, thick sliced
4 small leeks, thin sliced
Yes, I added these. I like them and they were in my fridge looking at me.

Now onto the massacre of the preparation that Epicurious so lovingly gave us!

Cheese please!!!

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Check!
Butter Quiche dish, then sprinkle all over with bread crumbs. Oops, I am already sautteeing the onions and bacon in my oven proof scan pan…
Cook onions with ham in butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 5 minutes. Well… I added the mushrooms and leeks to the bacon-onion goodness.
Spread in dish, then evenly sprinkle cheese on top. I spread it all out (next time I would let it cool a bit and pour off some liquid, but I was too hungry to think ahead like that then) and added my 1 cup of cheese.
Whisk together eggs, cream, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and pour over cheese. Check, but I used the half & half instead, and naturally… only fresh cracked pepper will do.
Bake until top is golden and custard is set in center, 20 to 25 minutes. Mine took the full 25 minutes and could have used 25-30 because it was overly wet due to the veggies.
Cool slightly before cutting into wedges. Or not! I didn’t because I needed to eat, but because of all the ingredients, it improved significantly once I chilled it overnight and had it again for breakfast (and lunch, and breakfast, and lunch, and I have one more slice left!) Had I actually chilled it before I cut it, it would have sliced up beautifully like they do in fake kitchens!

Now, in honor of La Fete Nationale in France (Bastille Day if you don’t know), bon appetit!
Bisous, Kattus

Time for a new avatar.

My best advanced approach to wifey-ness.

You may or may not know that I’m getting married in December, and this domestic goddess is so grateful for someone to help me make and clean up double the mess. So in honor of starting a new life with (he who shall be henceforth called) Mr. Wonderful, I thought I’d change my avatar to something that more clearly represented my actual set of domestic skills. I love to cook, wash dishes, wash clothes, reorganize huge stacks into other huge stacks, move clean laundry from the top of the dryer to my bed to the desk to my bed to the desk to the ::aaaah I dropped it all on the floor:: dirty clothes pile to the washer to the dryer… and repeat! But the most hated of all my tasks is the returning of anything clean to its rightful cabinet. Maybe I’m just so excited that it is clean that I want to keep it out and stare at my accomplishment or maybe we do teach what we want to know, but I definitely can say that if there are not dishes in the sink, clean or dirty… I am incomplete. How about you?

Tags: clean, dishes, marriage, wedding

Les crudites pour la diner!

It has been the longest and most unforgiveable hiatus… Please excuse me because I got distracted. I guess that happens when you get ENGAGED!!!!

So please forgive me and take this little recipe as a sign of forward momentum!!!

I will try not to just put up pictures of wedding dresses instead of discussing food! I will try… Really… Anyway, voila!

Meal aux Crudites

Substance:
Fresh tomatoes
Fresh mozarella
Fresh avocado
Little capers

Dressing:
3 tblspn olive oil
1/2 tblspn truffle oil (yum)
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1 tblspn balsamic vinegar
Splash of lemon juice
Enough Parmesan Cheese
Fresh oregano
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Gerkin pickles
Ginormous capers
Dry italian sausage

Bust it all out onto a plate and eat it!!! Letting the salad sit for a few hours (refrigerated) is a delicious option too. Feel free to replace or remove dairy items, for a vegan approach. (um… Take out the sausage too.) The key is to embrace the puckery capers while enjoying the sweetness of the balsamic!

Nom and love!

Tags: capers, fresh mozarella, gluten-free, green tomatoes

Food Truck Cluster #$@&!

This past weekend was the first OC Foodie Fest, or as I shall now call it, Food Truck Cluster

You-Know-What. The parking lot of the Honda Center became a swarm of enthusiastic eaters as 49 food trucks filled bellies and emptied pockets.

I printed the list of trucks the day before the event, checked out their menus online and

highlighted which ones I needed to devour and which I could wait on. My gameplan worked, arriving just before the gates opened, and I was able to hit several trucks before the

hour-long lines started.

The good:

The pamphlet handed out to everyone listed all the trucks by name, noted their cuisine type, and if they had vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. It was a nice touch and saved those with special diets the frustration of waiting in a line to ask a truck what they could offer. With so many options, I could only hit a few before I was broke,

stuffed, and sunburned. So here’s what I hit:

Nom Nom Truck

A super long line kept me away from this truck most of the day, but after they ran out of pork it dwindled down and I braved the wait. Everything from their lime green truck, with anime

character mascot, to the name of the truck is borderline twee, but their food makes up for the over-the-top cuteness. As I sunk my teeth into their tofu Bahn Mi, I could see why they keep destroying the other teams on The Great Food Truck Race. The baguette was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The veggies were fresh and crispy, marinated carrots with daikon radish, cilantro, cucumbers, and sliced fresh jalapenos. I skipped the mayonnaise and was afraid it would leave the sandwich dry and lacking flavor, but I didn’t miss the evil stuff at all. They use fried tofu, which is brown and wrinkly and has a chewy texture, instead of the boring white packages tofu most stores sell in blo

cks. They also serve their chicken, pork and tofu in tacos for gluten-free dudes and dudettes!

http://nomnomtruck.com/

Get Shaved

Hawaiian shaved ice is nothing like the sad snow cones from the continental US. It’s light and fluffy, just like real snow, which is pretty amazing coming from a state that’s so damn hot. I had a small, which is a generous serving size, at a modest $3 price. I had POG (shout out to anyone who played POGS in the 90’s!), coconut and watermelon. The list of flavors was long but I liked all three, so I’m sure you can’t go wrong. As happy as this vendor made me, I would be willing to get shaved any day of the week.
http://www.getshavedice.com/

Vizzi Truck

This truck has a ton of style, from flat-screen monitors to a sweet-ass paint job, and luckily a ton of substance too. I had a chickpea slider, a tiny but powerfully flavored garbanzo patty with chimichurri in place of the dairy-based crème sauce. It was served with spicy fig popcorn, a combo I was hesitant to like but loved when I tried. They definitely have the “visionary” cuisine they’re aiming for.http://www.vizzitruck.com/

Frysmith

I’ve been lusting after Frysmith for almost a year but their vegan chili-cheese fries have eluded me. No longer! Even at their “reduced” size I couldn’t finish this hot mess of fried potatoes covered in love. The vegan chili was spicy, beany, but not fake-meaty, which was fine with me. They topped it with Daiya vegan cheese, which isn’t perfect or exactly like real cheese but still keeps me alive.

http://www.eatfrysmith.com/

Other trucks in attendance I would recommend, from past experiences but didn’t try at the fest:

Seabirds

Crepes Bonaparte
Dos Chinos

The Lime Truck

The meh:
Calbi Fusion Tacos
I applaud taco trucks for at least trying to serve something to vegetarians and vegans. Really, thank you for not ignoring us. But if you’re going to serve tofu, please do a little more than cut open a pack, scoop it out of water, and heat it up. You don’t do that to meat, and tofu is 98% flavorless. Making something hot and topping it with overly sweet “secret sauce” is not “cooking.” So if you want to cook like a grown up, please try using “seasoning.” I’m also sick of the term fusion. K thanks bye.
If you must: http://calbi.com/

The bad:

Nana Queens failed just as badly as they did on the Great Food Truck Race, losing the first challenge and being the first truck sent home. Their line was 1.5+ hours long, then customers waited a rumored 45 minutes after paying to get their food. 45 minutes for chicken wings and pre-made banana Nilla wafer pudding? There’s a Hooters within walking distance, and that would have saved customers some time.
This vegan was glad she didn’t wait for that BS. My mom tried the pudding and said it was so gross that she needed to drink water to get the overly rich, sickeningly sweet taste out of her mouth.
I don’t know why you’d want to click this. http://nanaqueens.vpweb.com/

The ugly:

The shortage of trashcans, seating and shade. Every time I needed to throw out a napkin or plate, I had to wander a bit. The only recycle bin was provided by the Seabirds Truck, since the organizers did not place separate bins which was truly disappointing. Standing in line my ankles were barraged with trash blown around the asphalt like tumbleweeds in the desert. I was able to sit down only once. Most of the food was easy enough to eat standing, but my feet were very sore at the end of the day. Only the shaded VIP area ($50 ticket price, compared to $12 for regular tickets) had a tent with plenty of seating. Hopefully next year they just have one price and offer shade and seats to everyone.

And lastly:
A shout-out to http://www.roaminghunger.com/ for the free tickets. If you’re like me, your twitter feed has devolved into a mess of trucks, people, and stupid funny stuff and you need a better way to keep tabs on your fave mobile eateries. Their site helps organize food trucks by city, type of food, and has a blog with upcoming events.

My Cup Runneth Over If Properly Filled

My dear readers,

I am very sad to announce that I will not be seeing you at the OC Foodie Fest tomorrow… a family emergency has come up and needs my energy. So this post is intended to tide you over until a guest poster can catch everyone up on the yumminess of the Food Truck Blitzkrieg!

These are from Cafe Metropol in Los Angeles and it is a very fun excusrion to make. They bring in really amazing jazz groups to perform and they have fancy cups. I’m happy with that!  I would say that their salads are puny and overpriced (tons of lettuce and a few slivers of meat on an entree salad…) but otherwise, a good value and tasty food.

This is a delightful cup of coffee from Cafe Metropol in LA.

Sweet Potater Fries, also courtesy of Cafe Metropol.

I don’t know where this is from, but I am such a food geek that I’m sharing it anyway!

Whiskey!!!! from Branigan’s in Fullerton!!!

Mwah!!!!!!
~Kattus

Seabirds Food Truck Review

A vegan and a wheat-intolerant foodie walk into a bar. No, it’s not the setup for a joke, it’s an average night out for Kattus Petasatus and myself. As if being lactose intolerant, vegan, and attempting to eat mostly organic weren’t enough of a challenge, try having a good friend who is allergic to wheat and soy. Miss Petasatus can’t eat at my favorite restaurant, Native Foods. I can probably eat a salad at hers. Strangely enough, we manage to make it work. Cooking each other dinner has become an adventure. But eating out is another story.

Allison Wonderland, left, and Kattus Petasatus sample the goods.

Yet I confidently brought her with me to Bootlegger’s last weekend to have dinner at the Seabirds Truck (http://www.seabirdstruck.com/), knowing we could sufficiently stuff ourselves before watching several episodes True Blood. A relative newcomer, this truck has stolen my heart and that of many other Orange County food truck groupies. Their entire menu is vegan, and gluten free items are clearly labeled. Seabirds also sources local produce and recently added magical water to their production. No really, magical water. They use Aquae A.M.O.R.E. Alkaline water, which is “charged with sound vibrations at 528 Hz- the LOVE frequency.” It could be a load of hippie hoo-haw, but I loooove this truck so apparently it works.

Jerk Jackfruit taco, left, Tofu taco, right. Avocado taco, gone.
We could barely snap a photo of my tacos before I inhaled them. The Tofu taco with barbecue sauce was a bit over salted but the sauce had a nice homemade, smoky taste. The Jerk Jackfruit taco was a complex but ridiculously tasty mixture of the starchy fibers of the Asian fruit mixed with a spicy sweet jerk spice rub. It was also gluten free! My hands-down favorite, the Beer Battered Avocado taco. A wedge of avo, deep fried but not overcooked and mushy, is layered with shredded cabbage and a creamy tequila-jalapeño sauce. I could easily eat ten of those tacos, bathe in the tequila-jalapeño sauce and call it a night. Miss Petasatus had a burrito bowl (gluten and soy free of course) and sweet potato fries with a side of ketchup and Seabird sauce, a vegan thousand island dressing.

Then we headed inside Bootlegger’s (http://www.bootleggersbrewery.com/) to wash it down. Mr. Petasatus and I tried the Nitro Black Phoenix. I’m not sure what the “Nitro” meant but it was creamier than the regular version of the chocolate chipotle coffee stout. I think that means they charge it with sound vibrations. Try saying chocolate chipotle coffee stout five times after drinking a few pints of it. Since Miss Petasatus can’t drink beer she settled for more sweet potato fries. You can’t go wrong with more sweet potato fries.

On our way out I bought a vegan cupcake from the Seabirds Truck. At $3.75 it was a gamble and actually cost more than my half pint at Bootlegger’s. Made by Luscious Organic Desserts (http://www.lusciousorganicdesserts.com/), and are vegan and refined-sugar free. Their website also boasts gluten-free fare, so hopefully Seabirds starts carrying those as well. I ate my chocolate peppermint cupcake during our True Blood marathon (team Eric!). It was moist and had the perfect level of sweetness, the two most important factors in cupcakery.

I hope you all enjoyed my guest blog. Love me or throw rotten tomatoes in the comments, please.

Farmer’s Market

Dear reader,

I am such a fortunate girl. I’m not trying to brag but how can I help it? I live in a city with 2 Farmer’s Markets. What could be better? If only my work schedule allowed for attending both!!!

Please see below for the treasures that I was hunting at the Thursday Night Market in Fullerton.

Apples!

This fruit looks like it is radioactive, but I assure you it is just my marginal photography skills at work.

I wish I were eating these right now.

Cherry heirloom tomtoms.

I’ll get you, my shallot, and your complex taste too!

These beautiful peppers had it comin’.

Then I arranged the rest of my loot on the dining room table!!!

Happiness = Mayur

One of my family’s favorite spots to gather for awesome cuisine is Mayur in Newport Beach. We gathered there recently to welcome my little sister back from her 1st year of college, and stuffed our fat little faces to the brim! The flavors are amazing there, everything except for a few items are naturally gluten-free (so I don’t have to annoy my family by ordering this on the side, or that without such and such.) The ambiance is delightful, and we always have a good laugh about the reflection of a statue horse’s posterior in the mirror above our favorite table. See, this place has everything: great food, built-in trashy jokes, wonderful service, and even a little bit of parking. Check it out!!!

1st Course – Onion Fritters

2nd Course – Mulligatawny Soup

3rd Course – Everything!!!! But this is Palak Paneer and Baigan Bhartha.

4th Course – Pistachio Ice Cream with Edible Silver on top, whoa!!!!!