I have a kitchen!  More or less…. I’m just missing some crown molding and countertops.  I have the old countertops sitting on the new cabinets so I’m not completely topless. 🙂

Living in the RV worked great for our situation, but I’m really happy to have room to move around again…. and a real kitchen.  I missed my kitchen.  I’m so excited to be able to really cook again!  We’ll keep using the RV for work and travel, but I don’t see full time RV/Tiny House Living in my future.

We’ve been super busy getting things organized and settled for the past few weeks.  To celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary Brian and I decided to skip town for a couple of days and celebrate at Disney.

I love pretty much everything about Walt Disney World, but as a foodie who can’t eat gluten, Disney is food heaven.  Brian makes reservations at as many of the Signature Dining restaurants as he can and we eat, walk, ride a few rides, walk, eat some more…. waddle to the next ride… wait in line… ride…. eat again.   It know it sounds unhealthy…. I’m not recommending this as a diet plan or anything, but its fun for a few days.  (I actually lost a pound instead of gaining the ten I expected!)

One of my absolute favorite places to eat in Disney is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Boma – Flavors of Africa – “Resembling a lively African marketplace, this restaurant features all-you-care-to-enjoy buffets at breakfast and dinner.”

Now, I know we GF people hear “buffet” and think “certain death,” but Disney is really pretty good.  I’m not going to die if I get into gluten, I’ll just wish I would, but I know there are some people that end up in the ER after being glutened.  I wouldn’t risk a buffet if I was them, but I personally feel pretty safe at the Disney buffets.  The gluten foods usually seem to be fairly separated from the GF items and the staff behind the buffets keep an eye out for spills and potential cross-contamination with spoons.

Even though Brian and I have eaten at Boma several time, I still ask to have the chef walk us through the buffet.  Each time there has been something that caught me by surprise as being GF or NOT being GF.  It’s always better to ask… and the chefs are so nice!

My favorite dish at Boma is the Bobotie.  According to Wikipedia, Bobotie, pronounced ba-boor-tea, is a well-known South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping.  This time I remembered to snap a picture of the tag with the dish so I could remember what to google when I got home.  I found this recipe on Mad About the Mouse.  It seemed pretty close, so I decided to give it a try as soon as I got home.

Okay, hear me out… I know you’re going to take one look at the ingredients and think I’ve lost my marbles… but you’ve just gotta trust me on this one.  It’s delicious.  I know, I know… Sugar?  Raisins and ground turkey?? Together?!  I swear…. it’s delicious.  The curry, cinnamon and coriander combine with the eggs and meat for a delicate sweetness that you can “smell” in the back of your throat.  Much like Thai food, its not so much of a “nose” smell, as a “throat” smell.  That sounds weird, but there’s no better way to explain. You’re just gonna have to trust me on this one.

The following recipe, as I’ve said, is from Mad About the Mouse.  I decided to actually follow the recipe once before I started messing with it.  The Bobotie that I had at Boma last week had red and green peppers in it…. I’m sure because Brian picked them out and left a pile on my plate.  The sign said there were mushrooms and I don’t remember any raisins or almond slivers.  Most of the recipes that I’ve seen call for crumbled up slices of bread, but it is definately GF at Boma, so they’re either using GF bread or not using bread at all.  The bread is crumbled up, so I can’t say for sure one way or another, but I’d think that the eggs and meat might need the bread to help bind everything together.  I used Canyon Bakehouse GF bread.  Next time I’ll try leaving the bread out and see how it goes.  I’ll also omit the raisins and almonds (Brian doesn’t like them either) and add one cup of diced red and green peppers instead.  I think the peppers added a lighter sweetness that I liked better than the raisins.  (The raisins were good, but my tastebuds really wanted the peppers since that’s how it tasted before… you know how it is.)

Bobotie

Ingredients: 

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup minced carrots
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 pounds ground beef or lamb (I used ground turkey)
• 3 slices white bread, crumbled into pieces (I used Canyon Bakehouse GF bread)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup seedless raisins
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325º.

Heat oil and cook onions, carrots and garlic in a large pan over medium-high heat, cooking until caramelized, around 5 minutes.  Once caramelized, reduce heat to medium and add cinnamon, ground coriander and curry powder.  Stirring well to coat the onions.

Using the rice wine vinegar, and simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze.  Add ground lamb or beef, cook breaking the meat into smaller pieces.  Continue cooking until meat is done, spooning out the excess grease, leaving about 1 tablespoon.  (Since I used the ground turkey there wasn’t enough grease to bother.)

Pour the meat mixture into a 13″ x 9″ casserole dish and let cool slightly.

Add crumbled bread and 1 cup of cream, stirring to mix well.  In a small bowl, combine sugar, raisins and almonds.  Add mixture to the meat.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, remaining 1/2 cup of cream, and milk.  Pour the custard mixture over the meat mixture to form the topping. DO NOT MIX.

Bake 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

Let me know if you try it and what you think!