Mushroom Pie and Chutney's Indian Restaurant

I've got a 2-in-1 post for you today...I've been slacking a little. I'll say this, breaking up is hard to do.

BUT, as the old saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get cooking! I may have changed that just a bit ;-). I'm glad that I can make people happy through food!

First off, I want to review Chutney's Indian Restaurant. This little spot is right off SE 164th, so really close to my house. I've driven by it countless times, but I've honestly never been to an Indian restaurant, or had real Indian food for that matter. My mom and I had been wanting to try it, so, with my dad out at a golf tournament all day, Wednesday night seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

I'm happy to report that almost their entire regular menu is gluten free, with the exception of the naan dishes, since naan is an Indian bread. My biggest downfall there was tomatoes, but the server was so helpful and knowledgeable that it made it a lot easier on me. Then, the owner came out and told me he'd put together something special that combined what I wanted with what I could actually have.

The result was fantastic. They made me a rice crepe filled with a mixture of lamb, bell peppers, onions and spices. Oh my gosh it was so good. Plus you get lentil chips as a precursor to the meal, and those were awesome and edible for me as well. Everything seriously rocked. I was so happy with it that the owner asked if he should add the dish to the menu. I hope he does, I'll go back for that anytime! You've gotta check this place out, I had absolutely no complaints. They were fabulous.

Since I knew I'd be working all day Thursday and had Wednesday off, I decided to make dinner early to eliminate prep time on Thursday evening. I'm glad I did because this recipe takes about an hour to put together. I actually found this recipe in Living Without magazine probably a year ago. There was a profile on jenny McCarthy, who feeds her son a gluten and casein free diet to help with his autism. At the end, she shared a recipe for mushroom pie. We've been eating it ever since, but its not exactly the healthiest gluten free meal out there (rings in at about 571 calories a slice...yikes!!), so I decided to give it a Vitortarian makeover.

Mushroom Pie, my way

Namaste pie crust mix
8 cups chopped crimini mushrooms
1 cup chopped walla walla onion
1 tbsp. safflower oil
1/2 cup arugala
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1/2 container Tofutti soy cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the pie crust mix according to the package, and set it aside, uncooked. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Saute the onions for about 1 minute, then add the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add basil, arugala, and cream cheese and heat until cream cheese melts. Pour the filling into pie crust and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Blueberry Pie experiment

Today is my last day interning at E! Entertainment in Los Angeles. My supervisors and the other interns have seriously been so amazing and inspiring during my time here and thanks to that, I leave a more mature, ambitious and driven person. And more than that, I have a goal. And so help me, I'm never letting go of my dreams. They WILL become a reality.

So naturally, I wanted to thank them in the proper foodie fashion, by baking them some goodies! I had a frozen gluten free pie crust in my freezer at home and a bag full of frozen blueberries I needed to get rid of, so I looked up a blueberry pie recipe.

Naturally, the recipe's main ingredients were corn starch and sugar. So I substituted arrowroot starch and agave nectar into the recipe and voila! Out came a gorgeous, and delicious, blueberry pie.

I took it to work hoping people would like it. Once you've cut certain things out of your diet, you get used to the substitutes so you never know what other people will think of the things you eat.

Luckily, everyone loved it! Like, beyond loved it! I'm so proud of myself and it gives me an extra push knowing that I may be able to change people's eating habits if they realize that there are perfectly good substitutes right at their fingertips!

Unfortunately, my camera died so I couldn't get a picture of the finished product. But its cool cause I'm actually going to hold off on sharing the recipe. First of all, the crust is made with milk and eggs, and my slice of pie did not make my stomach too happy. Therefore, I need to learn to make my own pie crust. Also, my favorite dessert as a kid was my mom's blueberry cream pie, so I'm going to change this recipe from plain old blueberry pie to wheat free, vegan, sugar free blueberry cream pie. I promise you, that creation will be a masterpiece. So hold your horses on that recipe, I promise what I'll give you will be even better than what I gave them!

Thanks for reading, and Live Free!