My Favorite Recipes - Meet Eliza Teague, Albion

Raised on the Palouse, Eliza is a farm girl surrounded by fields of food she cannot eat.

When Eliza was young her mother, Rebecca Dark, a home economics teacher, discovered she was allergic to dairy products. For many years, Eliza continued to suffer symptoms from unknown food allergies. Years later, she discovered she is also gluten intolerant.

“I would be so hungry but so overwhelmed by what I could and could not eat,” Eliza said, “I would go to the fridge and just eat a carrot.”

Eliza said most prepared foods have gluten or dairy products in them. To purchase groceries, Eliza shops at many different stores just to find the things she can eat. She prefers to shop locally but has had to turn to mail order for many of the ingredients she uses when cooking meals. Eating out is always a challenge for Eliza.

“When we go to a convenient store, the only thing I can purchase to eat is water,” Eliza said.

Eliza has had to find ways to attend social gatherings without feeling out of place. She has found and created several recipes she makes to take along.

“I feel like an alien because food is so integral at all social gatherings,” Eliza said.

Eliza and John, her husband, and daughters, Isabelle, 16, and Grace 12, have all tried many changes in the way they eat. The Teague family has been vegan, vegetarian, and raw foodies. Now, after years of experimentation and study, they seem to have put it all together. However, they are also home for three South Korean high school exchange students. Because their foreign students do not love vegetables, Eliza has had to go back to the recipe books for meals they can enjoy.

“It’s the first time in years we have had milk in our house,” Eliza said.

With all the changes their home has been through, Eliza has had a long-time dream of opening a store that provides for people with food allergies. She said since 2004 she has been actively preparing to open the “Healthy Nut.” She wants a place where she and others on the Palouse can purchase all their food and health needs locally. She envisions the store to be a year-round, indoor farmers market. Eliza also wants the “Healthy Nut” to be a place of support for all residents on their own paths of health and healing.

“I mother everything in sight,” Eliza said, “and want to put that energy into the store and community.”

Community service is not new to Eliza. She and her mother, Rebecca, have co-chaired the Lentil Festival several times. She said by the end of the festival, she is tired of lentils, and it takes a few months before she can cook them again.

Eliza enjoys cooking. Using her decades of experience, she often cooks meals without recipes. She grows a large garden and has even tried milking her own goat. She said goat’s milk is not something she could become used to and now uses almond, soy or coconut milk as an alternative to dairy products.

Eliza has lived in Pullman, Endicott, St. John and New York. While attending Columbia University in Manhattan she realized she was a farm girl and returned to finish her degree in psychology at Washington State University.

“There was a time I was persecuted for being a farm girl,” Eliza said with a smile. “Now I’m chic.”

Thai Style Tomato Soup with Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles

1 two-ounce packet cellophane (mung bean) or thin rice noodles

7 cups rich chicken stock simmered with shrimp shells for 5-10 minutes

2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce or Sriracha hot sauce

3 cups canned, diced tomatoes in juice

1-2 pounds green beans

1 cup green onion, sliced diagonally and thinly

1 yellow onion, sliced and quartered

2 teaspoons hot pepper sesame oil or plan sesame oil

1 pound white fish, cubed in 1-inch pieces

1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

3 tablespoons finely sliced garlic, crisply fried in vegetable oil

1 inch fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced

Place the noodles in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak until softened for 20-25 minutes. (Can substitute noodles with rice.) Drain the noodles and dump into a tangle on a cutting board and cut through crosswise and lengthwise to form roughly 4-inch lengths.

Strain the shells from the stock and return to the pot. Bring to a boil. Stir in the fish sauce, chili-garlic sauce, tomatoes with their juice, green beans, green onions, yellow onion, hot sesame oil, and white fish. Add the noodles and shrimp. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes.

To serve: Ladle into warm bowls and top with cilantro, crisp garlic, and ginger. Serve immediately.

*Garlic can be fried up to a day ahead and stored airtight. To fry garlic, heat approximately 1/4 inch of oil over moderate heat. Add garlic and slowly cook until golden brown (approximately 5 minutes). If oil is too hot, garlic will burn and become bitter, so try a “tester” slice first.

No Flour Chocolate-Glazed Fudge Cake

Prep: 30 minutes. Ready: 2 hours 10 minutes.

Cake:

1 cup butter

16-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 eggs, lightly beaten

Glaze:

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-ounce package semisweet chocolate, chopped

Garnish:

2 tablespoons chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in 8-inch round cake pan.

1. In microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and 16 ounces chocolate on medium heat for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla. Gently stir in eggs until well combined. Pour into greased pan. Place cake pan into 13x9-inch pan; add warm water until 1 inch deep.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is set. Remove cake pan from water; place on wire rack. Cool 40 minutes. Carefully run knife around edge of pan; invert cake on wire rack. Cool another 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine whipping cream, corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove. Add 3 ounces chocolate; stir until melted and smooth.

4. Place cake on serving platter. Place pieces of waxed paper under cake to catch drips. Slowly pour glaze over top and sides of cake to cover. Sprinkle with nuts.

Corn Bread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1 cup yellow corn meal

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk (rice milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or any combination of milks)

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Mix egg, oil, milk, and xanthan gum in small bowl. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Pour into greased 8-inch square pan.

Bake 400 degrees for 25 minutes (20 minutes usually does it), or until inserted wooden toothpick comes out clean.

For Muffins: Spoon batter into 10-12 greased or paper-lined cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake 400 degrees for 15 minutes (6-8 servings).