In Celebration

Today, many of you may be celebrating Cinco de Mayo and rightfully so. I would like to introduce you to the holiday that my family celebrates on the 5th day of the 5th month. Kodomo no hi, is Children's Day in Japan and it became a national holiday celebrating all children in 1948. We personally celebrate Tango no Sekku, which is Boy's Day and the original holiday celebrated by Japan on this day; which originated sometime around 593–628 A.D . The reason we celebrate the Boy's Day tradition is that we have two boys and what little kid doesn't want to have a special day?


This holiday is to celebrate the health and strength of boys, symbolized by the Kobuto or samurai helmet that you see pictured above (that is not a full sized helmet, but a model of one). It is also a day seen as an expression of gratitude for the mothers, since Mother's Day is an American idea. I usually set up the samurai helmet at least a few weeks earlier than May 5th and we hang our carp wind socks. We were lucky enough to be in Japan before Boy's Day last year and were able to find a carp for each family member. Traditionally these are put on a pole in order from the father to the youngest son, the colors corresponding to the birth order of each son (mom has the next place after dad). Ours hang on our porch and they have been waving like crazy with the amount of wind we have been experiencing this spring.

Carp wind socks before they got put up this year.

There is also a traditional sweet that is eaten on this day. It is a rice flour dumpling filled with adzuki bean paste and wrapped in an oak leaf, kashiwamochi. The oak leaf is for decoration only. Today I'm making my first attempt at the dumpling, so we'll see how that goes. It is very similar to dango, just with a different shape.

Pictured is a commercially made variety.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you may have caught the hint I dropped yesterday. Next year we need to either get another carp for our new addition, or start celebrating Boy's Day as Children's Day. Apparently, all the diet and exercise has paid off and the barren body I once thought I had after my 2nd son was born is now fertile. We will be expecting our third child sometime this winter and I hope to feel well enough to share some tidbits about being pregnant and gluten free.

That is part of the reason that I haven't posted nearly as often as I would have liked in the last month. One of the bonus' about knowing all your food sensitivities is that many of the foods that they tell you not to eat during pregnancy are already removed. I have had some morning sickness, which really manifests itself as all day sickness, but I haven't had the same aversion to certain foods due to the fact most of the ones that turned my stomach before are gone from my diet. I'm hoping not to crave Taco Bell this time around (especially now that I've read the ingredients, yuck!), but only time will tell.

As for running and exercising, I plan to continue but not with P90X or any serious race training. I'm no longer planning on any races at all this year (even just for fun), but watch out for me next year. Will see if I'm brave enough to post prego pics as I'm still in shock a bit myself and haven't even filled out my jeans enough to feel the need to go shopping.

Well, that is it from the Gluten Free, It's A Lifestyle home-front. I hope that you all have a marvelous Boy's Day (or Cinco de Mayo).

Kelly

Goma Miso Chicken

It seems like it has been a while since I posted my last recipe, so today I'm posting two. Things have been a bit crazy around here the past couple of weeks. It hasn't helped that the computer has been acting up, causing the drive that holds all my recipes to be unavailable. Plus, I've been fighting morning sickness, which doesn't help my blogging about food when food just doesn't sound good at all right now. Let's just say my plans to run the Boulder Bolder are on hold for at least another year. OK, more on that life change later.

Now, back to the Japanese home cooking.



One of my favorite flavors in Japanese cooking is the combination of miso and toasted sesame seeds. You can put it on anything from vegetables to fish to chicken. I've been playing around with this sauce lately since I've had a craving for miso. As I mentioned in my last post, my family loves miso and toasted sesame seed sauce on their green beans and we eat that variation at least once a week. I had not seen anyone in the family use it on chicken yet, possibly because my father-in-law doesn't even like chicken. Anyway, I decided to play around and this is what I came up with.

Goma Miso Chicken

2 chicken thighs, cut up in bite sized pieces

2 tblsp/30ml sesame oil

½ cup/120ml of water

2 tblsp/30ml aka miso (any miso will work, red is preferred in our family)

2 tblsp/30ml toasted white sesame seeds - milled

In a skillet or heavy saute pan, add in the oil and heat it until it is smoking hot. Take the cut up chicken pieces and saute them until cooked through.

Add the water and get all the pan juices up from the bottom of the pan before adding the miso.

Turn down the heat to medium low so as not to overcook the miso. (Miso contains probiotics and cooking it at a high heat will distroy those good bugs.) Stir until the miso is disolved.

Add in the milled sesame seeds and continue to stir until the sauce thickens. It is now ready to serve.

Serve on bed of quinoa (rice or GF pasta would work too). One variation of this dish that can make this a one dish meal is to add some frozen vegetables at the same time you add the water to the chicken. Enjoy.

Green Beans in a Tofu and Miso Sauce

This dish is based on a recipe for shiraae sauce. Our family loves to have green beans with goma miso sauce (pictured below) which is just miso and toasted and milled sesame seeds, so I thought I'd mix in tofu with the miso and sesame seeds as they do for shiraae sauce. Shiraae is typacally sweeter and is often flavored with umeboshi (salted plums) but this version is a quick and easy version using ingredients that can be found at your local grocery story or health food store.

Shiraae - Vegetables in tofu flavored with miso

1 block firm or extra firm tofu

3 tablespoons/45ml toasted white sesame seeds, milled in a coffee grinder

1 tablespoon/15ml aka or shiro miso (any miso will do)

1 tsp/5ml mirin

1 tsp/5ml wheat free tamari

3 cups frozen single or mixed vegetable (green beans are pictured above)

If you are unable to find toasted sesame seeds (usually in the Asian isle) place sesame seeds in a dry saute pan and toast over very low heat until toasted. Be careful, they will jump out of the pan if it is too hot.

Boil the vegetables in salted water according to package directions (ex. 5-7 minutes for beans). When the vegetables are tender, drain and rinse in cold water or place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

Blend together the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add water if it is too thick and adjust miso amount if needed, but it will be a little on the salty side at this point.

Mix in vegetables, refrigerating any leftover tofu mixture. Makes 4 side dish servings.