Friday Night Fish Fry

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

First a confession—I made this meal last Saturday (was too tired last Friday) and then didn’t get around to writing it up . . . better late than never.

Lent has had me craving fish fillets, so I looked for some recipes and found a couple that looked like they might work. One required GF breadcrumbs, which I was all out of (will try this one next time) . . . the other was a rice-flour-based batter which I adapted to be dairy-free as well. I put some clean oil in my Fry Daddy and put together a GF Fish Fry.

Menu Note: Due to my CFS (which greatly limits my ability to cook for a long time and/or do more than one thing at a time), I prepared everything except the catfish nuggets earlier in the day. The slaw & guacamole need to chill. The beans and rice can be reheated while you are cooking the fish.

Catfish Nuggets

Ingredients

1 pound catfish nuggets (or other white fish like tilapia; catfish nuggets come already chopped up and are cheaper than buying a fillet and cutting it up yourself)
1-1/4 cup rice flour (or other GF blend), divided
1-1/2 tsp chili powder, divided
1 egg
1/2 cup soy milk (or other dairy-free “milk”)
salt & pepper
oil for frying

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°F (for keeping the nuggets warm after they are fried)
Combine 1/2 cup of the flour and 1 tsp chili powder in a shallow dish for dredging.
In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, the remaining 3/4 cup flour, soy milk, salt & pepper, and 1/2 tsp chili powder. Add extra “milk” if the batter is too thick.
Heat oil (I’m guessing the Fry Daddy heats the oil to somewhere between 350°F & 400°F, but the beauty of the Fry Daddy is it keeps the oil at an even heat . . . the original recipe tells how to do this in a fry pan instead)
Dredge 3-4 nuggets in the seasoned flour, then run through the batter and carefully place the nuggets in the hot oil. Stir gently to make sure the nuggets don’t get stuck together. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until golden.
Remove nuggets from oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel-covered plate. Sprinkle with kosher salt and place in a warm oven to keep warm as you fry the remaining nuggets.

NOTES

If I made this recipe again, I would try it without the dredging step. I’m pretty sure the batter would stick without it and it made the coating too thick. Another option would be to make the batter thinner.
If you are frying on the stove or using a different type of fryer it would be wise to “test fry” a single nugget to see what the optimum frying time is for your setup.
If you have access to decent GF tortillas you can turn the above into delicious Fish Tacos. Warm a tortilla, top with rice, beans, a couple of nuggets, some slaw & a spoonful of guacamole. Fold & Enjoy! (I prefer just piling everything on a plate or in a bowl.)

Broccoli Slaw

Mix together:

10 oz bag of cole or broccoli slaw mix
1/3 cup GF mayo
1 Tbls white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Chill at least one hour, stirring occasionally.

Guacamole

1 avocado, diced
1/4 medium red onion, diced
2 T cilantro, minced
1 large spoon diced tomatoes (fresh or saved from beans recipe)
1 T lemon &/or lime juice

Mix together and chill.

Strange Bedfellows

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Okay, so the really big “Gay News” of the day was that Martina Navratilova will be appearing on the next season of Dancing With the Stars!! Mark your calendars, Live 2-hour Premiere Event on Monday, March 19, 8/7c. And no, she will not get to dance with a girl . . . that would be too much to hope for on live prime time TV.

But that’s not what I’ve been thinking about today . . . (well just a little).

Most nights I go to sleep listening to the audio podcast of the night’s The Rachel Maddow Show . . . no cable here, so that’s how I “watch”. If something catches my ear, sometimes I’ll watch the video clip the next day via the interwebs.

Last night’s show was a gem . . . in a very thought-provoking way. Two segments dealt with prominent/rich GOP supporters who also support gay rights.

The interview with Frank Rich (the second clip above) was so good that this morning I looked up his piece “Whitewashing Gay History” in New York Magazine. Turns out the article is much less about unexpected GOP support for gay marriage and gay rights (Rich sends us to this NYTimes article from May 2011 for much of that). Rather, the article details how our “liberal” supporters haven’t been consistent in their support . . . which only serves as a reminder that you/we really don’t know who might support us (even based on their past actions).

I also was reminded of the Civil Discourse Training “Talking About the MN Marriage Amendment” I attended at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church last month. One of the main points was to be brave enough to talk to people who disagree with you or who haven’t decided yet. Afterall, these are the votes we need the most if we are going to defeat the amendment! (There were many other excellent points made in the presentation, but this is the one most related to the discussion above. Listen to the podcast of the event if you get a chance. Or this excerpt at the Episcopal Story Project)

SO, all of the above is just my way of saying that I’m still thinking about the Ash Wednesday call to be “repairers of the breach” . . .

Ash Wednesday . . . May You “Be Called A Repairer of the Breach”

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Returned earlier this evening from the Ash Wednesday service at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN. A lovely service ending with a favorite hymn: Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling . . . (“Come Home . . . Come Home . . . Ye who are weary, come home!”)

Most people (okay, people who think about it at all), probably think of Ash Wednesday in terms of ashes and repentance and “what are you giving up for Lent this year” . . . and indeed the service contains those elements . . . from the opening “lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness” through “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” to the Litany of Penitence (more on that soon).

Yet, despite these familiar notions of Ash Wednesday and Lent, the Bible lessons for the day are cautionary tales about resisting the urge to wave our fasting in front of the world and think that God will be pleased. We are reminded, first by Isaiah, then by Matthew, of a different path through Lent.

Isaiah 58 asks

“⁶Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”

By following this path, according to Isaiah,

“¹². . . you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” [NRSV]

Similarly, Matthew 6 cautions against “performing” before God and others:

“⁴When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively.”

and recommends

⁶“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense [God’s] grace.” [The Message]

My “favorite” part of the Ash Wednesday service is the Litany of Penitence, a longer form of the “Confession”. Tonight, the youth of Saint Mary’s added pictures to each of the sections to illustrate the presence of these “sins” in all of our lives. May this list provide a sort of “TO DO” list of things to think about and try to remedy during Lent. [emphases in bold are mine]

Litany of Penitence
[from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979]

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

May praying on the above “list” allow each of us to become, to paraphrase the words of Isaiah, repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in.

Thanks to St. Mary’s Rev. LeeAnn Watkins for emphasizing this verse in her sermon tonight.

Fat Tuesday

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Happy Shrove Tuesday everyone!!

In honor of “Fat Tuesday” I planned a GF Pancake Dinner of Cranberry-Walnut GF Pancakes, bacon, and pan-fried potatoes (cooked in the bacon grease, of course 🙂

Well, at least the bacon and the potatoes were YUMMO!!

Unfortunately, I tried a new recipe for the pancakes. And I should have followed my instincts when I saw the 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum AND 1/2 teaspoon of guar gum. I checked the recipe I had tried previously (which was good, but bland) and saw that it used NO gums at all. Then I checked another recipe and it used gum, but much less than 2-1/2 tsp (for less than 2 cups of flour). Even so, I decided to try the recipe “as written” (which is usually recommended the first time you try a recipe). Afterall, this recipe was from a popular cookbook by a popular GF blogger, not just some random recipe off the internet. BIG MISTAKE!! The batter was so thick that it didn’t spread at all when it went in the pan. I thought it was because I used walnuts and cranberries (instead of the recommended fruit compote), so I added some liquid. But I ended up needing several CUPS of liquid (far more than should have been necessary to compensate for the fruit difference) before it was of a “normal” pancake batter consistency (and I like my pancake batter rather thick!). I’m certain the problem was that the gums kept binding the batter together, despite the liquids.

I managed to cook three pancakes that were edible, but still rather gummy. I tried making a few more pancakes to freeze, but decided it wasn’t worth the time and energy, so threw out the rest of the batter . . . what a waste of ingredients . . . at least it didn’t use lots of expensive flours (mostly tapioca flour) . . . but I went through most of a quart of soy milk trying to thin out the batter!

But, like I said, at least the bacon and potatoes were good!

And tomorrow Lent begins, which for me means trying to stick to more grains, fruits, and veggies . . . I’m thinking there may be lots of quinoa in my Lent this year 🙂

Blessings!

Lightening the Load for Lent—UNSUBSCRIBE

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Today’s effort at lightening the load (of distractions and things demanding my attention) for Lent was to UNSUBSCRIBE from the sources of much of my daily email . . . mostly businesses and activist mailings. I kept the mailings from local theaters, arts organizations, and churches . . . but unsubscribed from almost THIRTY other mailing lists . . . WOW! I feel lighter already!