Pomegranate Vegetable Pork Stew

Ok. I get it. I'm now fully convinced that basil and xanthan gum are conspiring against me :)! Just a few days ago, I talked about giving the September Iron Cupcake Challenge another try (using Basil, this month's special ingredient). Tonight, I did. Except...I forgot the xanthan gum again!!! You'd think my muffin-turned-pudding recipe from last week would've taught me a lesson, but I still managed to forget about the xanthan gum. As a result, I've decided to enlarge this photo; it's going on my refrigerator in the morning:

If you're wondering what that icky stuff in the middle of the cupcakes is, it's lemon curd. I was going to refrigerate the lemon basil cupcakes with the lemon curd filling and give them a 'cream cheese' (tofutti) frosting...but when I tried taking them out of the pan, they crumbled...sigh. The good news is, I added enough lemon to counteract the basil taste. Bad news is, I don't taste the basil at all. This month, I'm going with the Cupcake Hero challenge instead. I've decided to give basil a break and move on to more exciting flavors...like coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla :). Stay tuned for Flour Arrangements' (xanthan-loaded) September cupcake hero entry!

Though the sweet mixed with the savory didn't seem to work with the cupcakes, I'll tell ya what it did work with: a Pomegranate Vegetable Pork Stew. Inspired by the delicious, very drool-worthy Braised Pork Shoulder with Quince recipe in October's Bon Appetit magazine, I decided to use the free Pomegranate Honest Tea I received on Saturday (when the hubby and I were checking out Boston's South End). I am a huge, huge fan of Honest Tea. My favorite flavor is Black Forest Berry, but the pomegranate tea is also very delicious. Bon Ap's recipe sounded soooo tasty, but I'd never heard of Quince (I'm ignorant, I know) and I didn't have some of the ingredients, so I just used some of their spice recommendations and the pomegranate juice idea (but I used tea) then experimented with the rest.

Have you seen the cover of next month's edition? (I get it in the mail, that's why I'm talking about the October issue. :) I want to dive right in to that pot of chili with autumn squash. The Autumn squash part really got me, of course. I'm pretty much counting every orangey-red colored leaf that falls off the tree a few feet away from my apartment building. Check out these Fall/foodie photos I took when we were exploring the city this weekend:

So when I got home after a mildly cold and rainy day of grocery shopping with Jose (and it was a day of grocery shopping, we went to 3 stores!), all I wanted to do was curl up under a blanket, watch Masterpiece Theatre's version of Jane Eyre, and eat a bowl of stew. But if I want stew, I have to make it! No complaints here. Though cold, rainy weather does put me in a slow and sleepy mood, it also makes me want to cook warm, savory comfort foods (especially stews)!

The stew was delicious. It's also healthy; loaded with protein and veggies, it'll hit the spot. It did take some time to put together (all that chopping), but the whole cooking process was really relaxing. I even managed to make the stew 'gravy' gluten-free by using rice flour. Oh, that reminds me. A few of you have asked how I've been feeling after starting the diet. Well, I am better. I notice I can eat more desserts than before, and that's always a good thing :). Though I'm not 100% where I want to be, I'm having a food allergy/sensitivity test done next month and also undergoing a few other tests. I'm optimistic, though. Thank you for your concern, I really appreciate it :).

I'll be back in a few days with the mystery cupcakes! And, yes, they'll contain xanthan gum ;).