Norwitz Notions

I was inspired by a trip to Han Il Kwan, a Korean restaurant in San Francisco. They had a huge spread of fermented dishes, including glorious crisp and sour turnip pickles. My attempt was simple and only partially successful. I can tell you straight out that I used the wrong kind of turnip. What I […]

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Most of our Thanksgiving dinners are in the community room of Ecology House, an 11-unit government (HUD) complex for people disabled with chemical sensitivity. Every year, with the help of the Environmental Health Network, the residents there host a (supplemented) potluck dinner for the entire chemical sensitivity community. It’s great fun. I share the disability […]

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One of my favorite recipes but one I can’t have any more (I can cheat with the dairy, but not the eggs). Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking by Michael Norwitz For the regular versions (with sugar) see cheesecake and pumpkin cheesecake Ingredients: 2 well-beaten eggs 3/4 lb to 1 lb firm cream cheese (softened […]

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This cake came from a mix: Sylvan Border Farm Gluten-Free Products Lemon Cake Mix 1 lb, 10.7 oz (762.6 g) Mendocino Gluten-Free Products, Inc. P.O. Box 277, Willits, CA 95490 (800) 297-5399; Fax: (707) 459-1834 http://www.sylvanborderfarm.com/ INGREDIENTS: Sugar, Potato Starch, White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour*, Aluminum-free Baking Powder, Amaranth Flour, Quinoa Flour*, Xanthan Gum, […]

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A rich alfredo sauce you’ll swear has eggs or dairy…but it doesn’t… Sauce Ingredients: 1 lb tofu (silken (I like Nasoya) is best but even firm is okay–it must be completely bland tasting) 1 cup raw cashews (unsalted–I store them in the freezer and use them without defrosting) 1/2-2/3 cup lemon juice (fresh or in […]

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This recipe couldn’t be easier. Take one head of green cabbage and one head of red cabbage. Cut in half, remove the core, and slice into long strips. Toss in a baking pan with olive oil and salt. Bake at 350*F until very soft with intense flavor. Stir every 15 mins or so to release […]

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This is so easy it’s not really a recipe. But it’s one of my mainstays and I refer to it so often that I might as well put it on “paper.” My basic recipe is as follows: Cut up a bunch of vegetables, mostly root veggies that do not release a lot of water, toss […]

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This review was written February 15, 2006 as a letter to local restaurant reviewer Jeff Cox who promoted this place in the Press Democrat on January 22, 2006.  Note that we went there before discovering our food allergies, so the review doesn’t speak to that. CHEAP EATS Authentic means good Here’s what I look for […]

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So easy and so good. These cultured onions are great on burgers, wraps, or anyplace you might think of adding onions.Thinly slice (I use a mandolin) peeled red onions into rings. They should be quite thin, so they don’t hold their shape well. Add salt to taste. Let sit and/or knead a bit with one […]

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I am slowly starting to make my way through the big bag full of product samples and information I got at last year’s Expo West. If I’m lucky, I’ll do most of it before I go again this year. Stem Ginger Cookies Sunstart Bakery “Cookies made from ingredients naturally free from gluten and wheat” “Sunstart […]

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A newer version (2013) of this post is now up: http://norwitz.net/blog/2013/03/18/spaghetti-squash-2/ Sorry, no pictures with this one. No measured recipes either. Spaghetti squash is a type of winter squash that gets its name from the fact that, if you cook it just right, it will fall apart with a fork into long spaghetti-like strands. Okay, […]

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I was looking for a nut loaf recipe that was vegan, high in protein, gluten-free, and not soy based (I can eat soy just fine, but wanted to have some non-soy dishes in my repertoire). I only found one that looked adaptable for my needs in a search. http://www.recipenet.org/health/recipes/veggie/nut_roast.htm Many thanks to Lorraine Picot for […]

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Sweet and Natural: More than 120 Sugar-Free and Dairy-Free Desserts Meredith McCarty St Martin’s Press, NYC 1999 (this review was written October 8, 2006) The first thing about the book is that the title is misleading. The recipes are actually vegan, not just dairy-free, and most of them are full to the brim with sugar […]

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(This review was written September 1, 2007) I got the recommendation for Alive last year, when Michael and I were planning a special dinner for our first wedding anniversary. But I got very ill and we canceled. This year, our second anniversary, we found ourselves needing to be in San Francisco the day after our […]

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Why is this recipe listed under Chanukah? Because my daughter can’t have chocolate and I wanted an alternative for dreidle gelt. I promised her we’d made cookies for Chanukah (we eat very few traditional sweets). The cookies are gold like gelt with golden raisins and jeweled cranberries. It was too messy to actually use cookies […]

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