You MADE That?

Gluten Free Fudgy Oatmeal Bars

2010-01-25T17:06:00.001-08:00

Oats used to be a complete no no in the Celiac world. However a study published in 2007 showed that oats are safe for most celiacs. Unfortunately most of the worlds oats are grown in rotation with wheat and stored in the same silos and hence are contaminated with gluten. If you call Quaker, they will tell you that all of their products, including oats and cornmeal are contaminated with wheat.

But now there are several companies that sell "pure" oats that are tracked from farm to packaging and are guaranteed to be free of wheat. So, I've been incorporating them into my baking more and more. Here is a recipe I tweaked from the gluten world that came out ridiculously good.

3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
4 tsp. vanilla
1 c Pamela's baking mix
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 3/4 c. pure, gluten free oats
6 oz dark semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 can (7 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8x8 pan with parchment or foil and spray with canola oil.

Combine oats, Pamela's and coconut flours and mix together.

While you are mixing up the oatmeal mixture: Heat chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk salt and 2 tablespoons butter in 2-quart saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate chips are melted. Remove from heat stir in 2 tsp vanilla.

Cream 1/2 cup butter in a heavy duty electric mixer until soft. Add the brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy stopping frequently to scrape the bowl.

Add the egg and 2 tsp vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, again stopping several times to scrape the mixture.

Stir in oat mixture on low until combined. The dough will be very thick.

Press remaining oatmeal mixture into the pan and reserve about 1/3 of the oatmeal mixture.

Spread over oatmeal mixture in pan. Drop reserved oatmeal mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto chocolate mixture. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

While warm, cut into bars. It's even better the next day!

Walnut Cookies

2009-12-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

I made these today and they were wonderful: both chewy and crispy at the same time. You can make them as little sandwiches between two cookies or just spread some melted chocolate over the top.

Ingredients All Ingredients added to shopping list!

1 3/4 Cup walnuts 1 1/2 cups ground walnuts
1 cup white sugar
1 egg and 1 egg white 1 cup white sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 egg whites

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C ). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a cuisinart grind the walnuts until the are fine, but be careful they don't become nut butter. Stop the Cuisinart and put in the eggs whites, sugar, and pulse until blended. Drop dough by small teaspoonfuls, three inches apart, onto the lined cookie sheets. They spread a LOT.
3. Bake 10 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should be lightly browned. Let cool slightly before removing from sheets. If the cookies are stuck, they need to be baked a little longer.
4. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or over very low heat. Spread a drop of chocolate over the top of each cookie and freeze for a few minutes, just long enough to harden the chocolate
Enjoy!

Gluten Free Buttermilk/Oatmeal Scuffies

2009-11-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

These are a nice combination between a soft cookie and a scone.

Ingredients

1 cup pure rolled gluten free oats
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 TBSP vanilla
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 Pamela's Baking Mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

In a bowl, soak oats in buttermilk for 15 minutes. Stir in eggs, sugar and oil and vanilla. Combine Pamela's, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into oat mixture just until moistened. Drop golf ball sized batter onto parchment paper about an inch apart. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-18 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Orange Herb Roast Chicken with Potatoes

2009-09-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

2-3 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes

2-4 Large carrots (or about 1/2 lb baby carrots)

1 4-7 lb chicken

1/3 cup olive oil

2-3 TBSP chopped herbs (I usually use the fresh “poultry mix” available at the grocery store, which is sage, rosemary and thyme) OR 1-2 TBSP dried poultry seasoning such as “Bell's Seasoning”

1 Orange

1-2 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. You want to start this chicken with a VERY hot oven.

Finely chop the herbs and put into a small mixing bowl.

Add the salt and pepper.

Use a microplane or grater to zest the outside of the orange into the herb mixture and set aside the orange.

Add Olive oil to the bowl and stir. Set aside. Or, puree herbs and olive oil with an immersion blender or small food processor and add orange zest afterward.

Line a roasting pan with foil (I recommend Reynolds no stick foil. It makes a HUGE difference at the end, if you don't clean up is difficult, or you're scraping tin foil bits off the potatoes).

Rough peel the potatoes to get rid of any yucky bits and chop them into 1 inch pieces.

Peel and chop the carrots into 1 inch chunks as well.

Mix the potatoes and carrots into the bottom of the foil lined roasting pan.

Drop in about a tablespoon of the herb mixture and mix it with your fingers to coat.

This is where your hands get (temporally) very messy. Arrange the chicken onto a roasting rack directly over the potatoes and carrots breast side up and separate the skin from the meat and insert the herb mixture between the skin and the meat and coat the outside as well.

Flip the chicken over and separate the thigh skin from the meat and coat the meat and skin liberally with the herb mixtuer until the it is gone. Insert the zested orange into the breast cavity. This will help flavor the meat and keep it juicy and tender at the same time. Put the chicken breast side down on the roasting rack into the 500 degree oven for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes drop the oven temperature down to 350 and continue to cook about 20 minutes per pound (including the 10 minutes at the higher temperature).

About a half hour before it's finished you can take it out and flip it over to crisp up the skin on the breast side. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before carving.

Decant the potatoes into a serving dish with a slotted spoon to leave the oil from the chicken in the pan.

Yucca Buns

2009-07-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

These are great. These rolls from Brazil have always been made with Tapioca Starch, so it's not an adaptation of a gluten recipe. You can put fresh rosemary in them and make them as dinner rolls, or a make them a little larger and use them as hamburger/sandwich rolls.

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1 cup tapioca flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons double acting baking powder
2 cups mozzarella, finely grated
2 large eggs
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream, if necessary

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil, and coat with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine the tapioca flour and baking powder together in a large bowl. Stir in the cheese and eggs. Mix until the dough forms a ball. Knead the dough with your hands until the dough is smooth, even-textured, and not sticky. Add the cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it comes together and feels supple.

Divide the dough into 10 even pieces and with your hands, roll each into a ball. Shape the balls into ovals and place them 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the rolls are pale gold (not browned), about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes and serve while still warm. Serve with Pineapple Marmalade, if desired.

Lemon Poppyseed Coconut Muffins

2009-06-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

A lot of kids don't like the taste or texture of shredded coconut, but they do like the flavor. I've been messing around with coconut flour for these last few days and I came up with these and they were a HIT.

Makes 12 muffins

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups Pamelas baking mix
1/2 cup coconut flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp lemon extract
zest from 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 350

1 TBSP Brown or Muscovado sugar and 1 TBSP shredded coconut for topping.

Combine the brown sugar and shredded coconut in a small bowl.

Combine the Pamela's, coconut flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.

In an electric mixer, mix the eggs and sugar until they are light yellow and fairly thick.

While they are mixing, combine coconut milk and poppyseeds in a microwave safe container and heat for about a minute and a half to two minutes to soften the poppyseeds. Add the ricotta, extracts and lemon zest and whisk together with a fork.

Before combining have your muffin pan ready to go, either with liners or greased. You want to get this into the oven quickly because once the warm coconut milk combines with the baking powder it will activate it and they won't rise if you don't get them into the oven right away.

Drop the mixer down to low speed and dump in the flour and coconut/ricotta mixture and blend for about 30 seconds and finish by hand with a spatula.

Divide it into your muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with the sugar/coconut mix.

Bake about 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and watch them disappear!

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

2009-01-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine stumbled on a pizza recipe on this blog. But we don't keep all the flours in the recipe, so she used our usual "food philosopher" Annalise Roberts mix. But then one day we didn't have quite enough for the 3 cups she needed. Rather than mix up a whole new batch of flour, she threw in a cup of Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix and the results were fabulous. It is chewy and light and holds up well to lots of sauce and toppings.

Enjoy!

1¼ Cups Cornstarch
2 Cups GF Flour Mix (3 parts brown rice flour, 1 part potato starch, 1/2 part tapioca starch)
1 Cup Pamela's Baking and pancake mix
1½ Tablespoons Xanthan Gum
1½ Teaspoons Salt
¼ Teaspoon Dried Oregano
¼ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Egg White
1¾ Cups Warm Water (110-115°)

Yield: dough for two 12 inch round pizzas.

Directions

Place Cornstarch, flours, Xanthan gum, salt, oregano, garlic powder and yeast in mixing bowl; mix. Add, vinegar, sugar, honey, oil, eggs, egg white and lastly the warm water; mix. Increase mixing speed to high, and beat for 4 minutes.

Coat your pizza pans with cooking spray. Dough will be a bit difficult to work with (sticky). Work the dough out as best as possible with a spatula. I then spray surface of pizza dough with cooking spray (very light coating). Finish spreading the pizza dough out with hands - if still to sticky, try using a small piece of parchment paper or wax paper sprayed with cooking spray to help spread the dough. Form the dough around the edge of the pizza thicker than the inner region in order to create a nice edge/crust.

Allow to sit in a warm, dry location (free of drafts) covered loosely with plastic wrap for 60-90minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° and pre-bake crusts for 20 minutes.

Remove pizza crusts from oven. Increase oven temperature to 400°.

Add pizza sauce, cheese and any other desired toppings to the pizza crusts and then place back in oven for an additional 20 minutes (note: if using sausage or other raw meat, it should be precooked before adding to pizza).

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Lemon Coconut Muffins

2008-02-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

This is another tweak from Annalise Roberts. But it's changed enough to be legal :-).

2 Cups Gluten Free Flour
1 Cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cups sugar
1TBSP Baking Powder
1tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp salt
3/4 tsp xantham gum
zest of 1 lemon

Wet ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk (or buttermilk or regular milk and 1/2 tsp coconut extract)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with liners, or spray with canola cooking spray.

Mix together the dry ingredients
in a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients

Make a well in the dry and pour in the wet and mix well with a spoon. The batter will be quite thick.

Drop into muffin cups. This should make 12 muffins.

Bake for 18-25 minutes and enjoy. You can sprinkle the tops with raw sugar and/or more shredded coconut. They're really good.

Margaret's Hot Fudge Sauce

2008-02-22T17:45:00.001-08:00

1/2 cup half and half
1- 1 & 1/3 TBSP unsalted butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Boil the cream and the butter together to a full boil. Watch it because it will boil over.
Remove from heat and add chocolate chips.
Let it sit for a minute or two and then whisk it together and add vanilla.

Pour over ice cream. The texture is a little different from a traditional hot fudge, as it thickens to a more fudgey consistency. But it's really, yummy.

Gluten Free Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

2008-02-16T06:33:00.001-08:00

This is my version of an Annalise Roberts Recipe.

Dry Ingredients
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup gluten free flour
1/2 cup almond meal/almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Wet ingredients
1 egg
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (whole milk or skim are both fine)
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 TBSP canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin, or line with muffin liners.

Mix up the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in and mix well.

divide the batter into the muffin tins. The recipe makes 10-11 muffins. Ba

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

They are very good.

Rosie's Award Winning Brownies Go Gluten Free

2008-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

I had been dreading trying this recipe out with my new gluten free techniques. I LOVE the original so much that I just figured I'd sneak out and eat them when I needed them. *I* can have gluten, I just don't ever cook with at at home for fear of cross contaminating something my son might eat/put in his mouth. He's four, and he still puts stuff in his mouth.

I finally made them with very few changes and they taste almost exactly like the ones I made before from the Rosie's cookbook.

Hopefully this isn't a copyright infringement because I changed the ingredients around a bit. Rosie/Judy if you find this, let me know. But remember you used to live downstairs from me on Shepard Street and I used to decorate Babycakes boxes for you in 1976.

Rosie's Award Winning Brownies -- GLUTEN FREE!

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp Annalise Robert's Food Philosopher's gluten free flour mix
1/4 tsp salt

preheat oven to 350 and line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper and spray with canola oil

Melt the chocolate and butter over a low double boiler. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes.

Pour chocolate butter mix over sugar in large bowl of electric mixer and mix on medium until well blended.

Add the vanilla and mix

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each one until well blended About 10-20 seconds each

Put in the "flour" salt and xanthan gum

Mix on low and finish mixing by hand

Put in a 9x9 baking dish

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a soft crust forms over the top. They taste best completely cooled, especially on the 2nd day.

New Cookbook Full of Fatty Goodness

2008-01-14T17:23:00.001-08:00

I bought a copy of the latest gluten free cookbook by Rebecca Reilly. She makes frequent use of almond flour, which adds a lot of taste and texture. But in brownies, it was a big gritty.

She is a Cordon Bleu trained chef and it really shows in the recipes. They are FULL of cream and butter. A lot of the recipes are normal entrees, like quiche and spinach pie. They sound good, but I'd have to cut the fat in half or I think that food would kill me. Normal people who cook a lot, just don't cook that way. I made her corn muffins tonight and they called for a stick of butter, and over a cup of cream. Corn muffins are a staple around here. They make a nice starch for just about any meal and they keep well. But I think we'll all be huge if we make them Reilly style.

I'm all about decadent desserts. But I like to keep the meals around here relatively light. (so the desserts can rock) I have no problem plopping a chunk of butter on our green beans, but this food was beyond heavy. We're talking a POUND of cream cheese in an entree! Who cooks like that at HOME?

But there are some great recipes that I hope to explore. I think I can rework the corn muffins and keep the texture and reduce the fat.

Cross posted to You Made That.

Christmas Dinner - Gluten Free

2007-12-26T10:32:00.001-08:00

I made an entirely GF Christmas Dinner yesterday. It was lovely.

Here are some of the highlights.

I got a spiral ham and made my grandmother's glaze.

It's roughly:
1 cup of brown sugar
1 TBSP of yellow mustard
1-2 TBSP of cider vinegar

Mix it up with enough vinegar to make a paste and slather it onto the ham with a brush. When the ham is done, take it out of the oven and reapply the glaze. Crank the oven up to 475 and put the ham back in for about 10 minutes.

I also made

Easy garlic smashed potatoes

5 lbs yukon gold potatoes
1/2 stick butter
1 head of garlic
1/2 cup 1/2 & 12
1 cup milk

partially peel the potatoes and chop them into 1 in cubes
Cover with water and boil for about 1/2 hour, or until you can easily stick a fork in and they fall right off.

peel the garlic and chop by hand or in food processor

sautee the garlic in the butter until it smells really strong. Add the cream and milk and pour back in the potatoes and mash.

Salt and pepper to taste.
===========================
Also included were
GF Corn bread
Rolls, made from a box of GF Pantry French Bread mix. I just did them in muffin tins instead of a bread pan. They were OK. I'm wondering if I should have let them rise longer. They were a little dense and almost biscuit-y

Who needs gluten? I mean really!

Lissie's Famous Salsa Chicken

2007-10-18T12:26:00.001-07:00

My good friend Lissie has been raving about this easy two minute prep time chicken for years. I finally had a chance to make it yesterday when my husband was out of town (Because Mr. Pickypants does not eat beans or corn)

Lissie's Famous Salsa Chicken

Layer the following ingredients into a slow cooker:

2 cans corn (drained)
2 cans black beans (drained)
Mix them together
Layer on top of that 6-8 chicken thighs
Layer on top of the chicken 1-2 jars of salsa (I used Trader Joe's Peach for this)

Cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8-9 on low

1/2 hour before serving, dump in one brick of cream cheese.

It couldn't be easier. And it's super cheap to make as well.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes

2007-10-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

I've been horribly remiss about posting recipes here for the last few weeks. So here's a new one that I'm particularly pleased with. Proportions are approximate.

1/3 can pureed pumpkin
2 tbsp molasses
3-4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated fresh nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2-3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix

Whisk together the wet ingredients and spices. then Whisk in the pancake mix. You want a thin batter for these, so play with the wet and dry ingredients a bit. The eggs will hold the pancakes together, so lots of pancake mix is not necessary.

I cook them in a hot crepe pan and make large, think pancakes and serve them with hot Grade B maple syrup and plenty of unsalted butter.

They

Worlds Easiest Lemon Chicken

2007-09-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

You will need:
Kosher Salt
Pepper
Bone/skin IN chicken parts
Herbs de Provence (plain dried oregano works fine too)
One Lemon (zest and juice)

preheat convection oven to 400
Arrange chicken on a roasting tray.
Zest lemon over chicken
Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper and herbs
Pour juice from lemon in to bottom of roasting pan

Convection roast for 30 to 35 minutes, or cook in regular oven for 45-50 minutes.

Serve hot. It's juicy, easy and so yummy. This is comfort food at it's easiest and it doesn't get much more allergy friendly than this!

Chicken Curry

2007-08-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here's another dish that has three main ingredients.

I made a coconut curry.

I took 2 lbs of chicken tenders (we were having guests) and browned them lightly.

Then I mixed up:
1/3 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp curry paste

And dumped it over and let it simmer for a couple of hours with a lid on askew.

10 minutes before I served it, I whisked a teaspoon of cornstarch with some coconut milk and chicken broth (about a 1/2 cup liquid in total) and dumped it in to thicken it up.

I served it over coconut rice and it was yummy!

Light Scalloped Potatoes

2007-08-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

These are very cheesy and yummy. Since 'real' scalloped potatoes use cream, these are quite a bit lighter than what you'd eat in a restaurant, but you won't miss the cream.

The original recipe used flour, but I converted it.

1/2 onion chopped
1 tsp herbs de provence
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk
1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch
2 lbs yukon gold potatoes chopped small
2 tbsp butter
1/2 - 1 cup cheese of your choice. I use Trader Joe's 4 Cheese Italian.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Arrange potatoes in a roasting pan

In a small saucepan over medium heat melt butter and drop in the onion
Add herbs de provence and salt and pepper
Simmer for about 5 minutes

In a large measuring cup pour the milk and whisk in the cornstarch until it dissolves. Cornstarch dissolves into cold or room temperature liquids much more easily than into warm ones.

Pour the milk over the onions and stir frequently until it thickens.

Pour the milk/onion mixture over the potatoes and stir to combine.

cover the pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes

Remove from oven and take off foil and add cheese

Return to oven and bake for 10 more minutes

Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

A Fabulous Asian Inspired Meal

2007-08-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

I had friends over tonight and everything turned out just right.

I made:
green bean and bok choy salad with toasted almonds and a sesame dressing
ginger soy marinated flank steak
SubLime Chicken (see entry below)
Coconut rice

It was yummy. Recipes follow.

Green Bean and bok Choy Salad With Toasted Almonds and Sesame Dressing

1/2 lb greenbeans washed with the ends sliced off
1 lb bok choy diced and washed
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Dressing
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (any kind)

Boil water in a large pan. Boil Bok choy for approximately 5 minutes and drain, set aside.
Boil green beans in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Drop slivered almonds into a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until they start to brown. Remove them from heat and keep stirring them occasionally and they will continue toasting. This way you don't end up with such a dangerously hot pan when they're finished.

Whisk together dressing ingredients.
To assemble salad, mix beans and bok choy in a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Sprinkle green beans on top and serve hot or cold.

Coconut rice:
2 cups jasmine rice
1 14 ounce can light coconut milk
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Mix rice, coconut milk and chicken broth ingredients into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Keep an eye on it because it will boil over if you're not paying attention! Drop the heat down to low and cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.

While it is cooking toast the coconut in a dry pan until it starts to brown. Remove pan from heat and continue to stir coconut occasionally for the next 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

Right before serving, mix the toasted coconut into the rice.

Ginger Soy Marinated Flank Steak

1 2 lb flank steak

In a 1 gallon ziplock bag assemble the following ingredients

2 tbsp minced ginger
2 minced cloves of garlic
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp wheat free tamari soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp hot sauce

Put flank steak in bag and zip it up. Mush it around in the sauce and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Grill on a hot grill for about 8 minutes flipping often. Let it rest about 5 minutes before cutting. Serve immediately.

SubLime Chicken

2007-08-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

This is super easy and extremely tasty and oh SO simple. It's a quick marinade, meaning it's ready to cook after about 10 minutes. The lime juice cooks the chicken a bit so you really don't want to leave it on there more than about a half hour or so.

The combination of lime and spice really works in this.

Dump the following ingredients into a bowl or ziplock .

Zest and juice of 2 limes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp Cholulla (or other hot sauce of your choice)

whisk them together until salt dissolves and dump in about a pound of chicken tenders. Grill after 10-30 minutes. It's spicy without burning your tongue.

Lime Basil Dressing

2007-07-09T11:38:00.001-07:00

I had a beautiful bunch of basil and a hankering for potato salad today. I've made a lot of traditional potato salads lately with egg and yellow mustard, and I was in the mood for something lighter. This is what I came up with. And of course, it's gluten free!

1/2 cup fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
3 TBSP cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
sat and pepper to taste

Dump said ingredients in your food processor. Blend until smooth. Dump over bite sized, cooked yukon gold potatoes, or a salad of your choice.. And YUM.

This came out pretty good.

Very pleased.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-07-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

Updated on 7/3/2007

After three attempts. The first, I threw out. The second I ate and marveled at their addictive nature in spite of the gritty undertones. But this one, I think is the keeper. The brown sugar really covers the textures of the flour. I always made my version of Toll House cookies with brown sugar because I thought it lent a more butter-scotchy flavor to the dough.

So, here goes:

1 c. featherlight mix*
1/2 c Sweet Rice Flour
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. brown sugar

12 oz. bag choc. chips

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. I find this prevents them from burning at the higher oven temp required by GF flours.

Have all ingredients at room temperature.
pre-measure flourmix, sweet rice sorghum flour and xantham gum, salt and baking soda into a small bowl and set aside.

Cream butter in eletric mixer on medium high about 30 seconds until it's mushy. Add brown sugar and beat until the color lightens and it is smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating each until well incorporated and the batter is smooth.
Add vanilla
Slow mixer to low and Add dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts by hand.

Refrigerate cookie dough for at least 1 hour prior to baking. This will help the cookies keep their shape, and they will be more chewy.

Use cookie scoop or teaspoon to drop onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.

Bake 9-11 minutes or until done.

*Featherlight Flour Mix (From Bette Hagman's cookbook)
white rice flour 1 cup
tapioca flour 1 cup
corn starch 1 cup
potato flour (not starch) 1 tbsp

Maple Balsamic Marinade - By Popular Demand

2007-06-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

This has been a real crowd pleaser since long before we dropped the gluten from the house. And it happens to be gluten free. So, here goes:

This will do about 2 1/2 lbs of chicken tenders.

Three finely chopped cloves of garlic
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
zest of 1 orange
salt and pepper
1 tbsp rough chopped fresh rosemary

Whisk together all ingredients and pour over chicken tenders in a gallon ziplock bag. Refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.

Grill it up, and discard marinade.

It is fabulous. And it makes a GREAT leftover.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Ginger Muffins

2007-06-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

After I made the batter, I thought these would be a total dud. But was I wrong. The batter tasted soy-like and nasty. But once cooked, they were VERY similar to the 'regular' ones I made a couple of weeks ago. They are a very moist muffin, but they do rise and hold together quite well. If you want to use cupcake liners for these, use the silver-foil ones. They will stick to the paper ones.

You can't put too much fresh ginger in these. So, grate as much as you have the patience to do!

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup Gluten Free Baking Mix (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Mix for this)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3 TBSP grated peeled fresh ginger (fresh ginger is easier to grate if it is frozen first)

preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 15 standard muffin cups (2/3-cup capacity) with nonstick spray. Whisk both flours, sugar, baking powder, spices, xantham gum and salt in large bowl to blend. Whisk pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated (do not overmix).

Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup. Sprinkle walnuts and some raw sugar over the tops if you like. Bake until muffins are golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Turn muffins out onto rack and cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store muffins airtight at room temperature.)

Gluten Free Homemade Bar-B-Que Sauce

2007-06-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (The bottle of Lea and Perrins I have is gluten-free, but check the label, they change the formula from time to time)
1 tablespoon wheat free soy sauce (such as Tamari)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Just mix it up and marinate. It's absolutely fabulous in the slow cooker over ribs.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Turkey Florentine

2007-06-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

This is a nice recipe that I adapted to be gluten free and I cut out a LOT of the fat from the original recipe (it called for 1.5 cups of cream). The cutlets come out crisp and delicious, and the sauce is rich and creamy. This recipe serves 2 adults, but can be easily adapted to serve more.

Gluten Free Lower Fat Turkey Florentine
By Margaret Sanford

2 large turkey cutlets
1/2 pkg. frozen chopped thawed spinach
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup half and half
1tbsp butter 1 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Nutmeg, salt & pepper
1/3 cup gluten free chicken broth with 1 tsp cornstarch whisked in
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/2- c. grated Italian cheese (I use "quattro fromaggio" from Trader Joes)

Combine in large flat bowl flours, salt, pepper and spices (except nutmeg). Dredge cutlets in egg, dip in flour mixture. Really press it onto the turkey to thoroughly coat.

In a pan heat butter and olive oil on medium high heat. Brown 'breaded' cutlets in butter/olive oil mixture about 4-5 minutes on each side until crispy and light brown. Set aside to drain on paper towels. Saute garlic and shallot in same pan until shallot is slightly brown around the edges, then add spinach. Heat through. Add the cream and chicken broth/cornstarch mixture and about 10 scrapes of fresh nutmeg with microplane to spinach mixture; season with salt and pepper. Cook until sauce thickens slightly. ( about 5 minutes)

Place cutlets in 9 x 13 inch baking dish in a single layer. Spoon spinach mixture over top. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Place under preheated broiler for 5 minutes until cheese browns slightly on top and the sauce bubbles.

Woman Makes Muffins and Decides to Tinker with Recipe

2007-06-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kaylee and I went to the Oxford Spa for lunch and I ordered a pumpkin ginger muffin for her.

It was fabulous. The texture was perfect and soft, and it wasn't too sweet like most muffins and scones are around here. Most wonderful of all, each bite had the soft bite of fresh ginger. I asked if they give out recipes, and they did say that it wasn't their own recipe. But then the guy quickly avoided the subject and let it drop.

So, I did many google searches and came up with this recipe on epicurious.com. I made it this morning and I think I'm going to make a few more changes. I did not put the nuts in the muffin and I dropped the pumpkin seeds entirely. I sprinkled a few walnuts over the tops of half of them. The muffins came out lovely, but I want that almost crunch of the ginger, like the one I had yesterday. So, I think I'll use frozen fresh ginger. It grates a lot better than room temperature ginger, and I think I'll be able to get the shred size I want, and I'd use at least 1/4 cup instead of just a couple of teaspoons. The muffins (when eaten way too hot) were slightly custard-like in texture. I may cut down on the pumpkin to get a better crumb.

I'll experiment next week and post here.

Mmmmm.. Ribs

2007-05-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

I made ribs again yesterday in the slow cooker. They were "Saint Louis Style." Next time, I'll definitely spring for the babyback ones, as the "Saint Louis Style" were very fatty. When I made the baby back ribs, most of the fat had melted into the sauce and the ribs were relatively lean.

The sauce was simple to make, a couple cans of plain tomato sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper. Dump over ribs, turn on slow cooker in the morning and you'll have dinner in the evening. I served it with buttered rice and broccoli.

I made another cake today. (Somebody stop me, please?). This one was a chocolate sponge. My sister has a little ceremony for her masters program today and I felt it was an occasion that required cake. It looks beautiful and tall, so we'll see how it tastes later. It has no butter, just 1/3 cup of Canola oil, so it's relatively light and low in fat.

I'll let you know how it goes later...

Scratch Baking

2007-05-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

I have been obsessed with cake baking lately. I long ago mastered the chocolate cake. The batter, is simple and the texture is usually soft and moist regardless of whether I followed the exact directions to the letter.

This is not the case with yellow cakes.

Last March, for my mother's birthday I tried to make a simple yellow 1 2 3 4 cake from the Joy of Cooking. It looked beautiful, but the texture was all wrong. It was dry and had the texture of cornbread. I used regular flour instead of cake flour and did not reduce it accordingly. I'm sure I did other stuff wrong, but that was the main offense.

Then I got some cake flour and made it again for my sister's birthday and was much more particular about the instructions. It was better, it rose, but ultimately it was dryer than I'd like.

I had no idea how difficult it was to make a scratch cake correctly. I've been doing it all my life, but only recently I decided I needed to do it right.

My fourth foray into the 1 2 3 4 cake was almost perfect. I used castor sugar, AKA super fine sugar and it improved the texture immensely. The cake was soft and moist. I think I should have cooked it an extra couple minutes. The cake doubled in volume in the oven, but shrank down about 25% while cooling. It was almost too moist, but I think an extra minute or 2 in the oven would have fixed that.

But. It. Was. Delicious.

Over the weekend I made a couple of recipes from "Great Cakes" by Carole Matthews. I think I've got this thing down, at least with the simpler butter cake recipes.

Basically what I've learned is this: "room temperature" butter is much colder than I previously thought. It should only sit out for a half hour before you start creaming. When the recipe says "gradually add the sugar" they MEAN it. It takes a good 8 minutes of sprinkling it in 1 TBSP at a time to properly aerate the butter.

Also, when adding the flour and the liquid alternately, do it really fast. Shut off the mixer between additions if you can't get it in fast enough. Once it's mostly blended shut off the mixer completely and fold it together. Even on low 'fold' speed, it will bring up the gluten in the flour and make the cake dry if you mix it too much.

I love baking cakes. If we could eat cake every day, I would make one every day.

I'm totally serious. I love to make cake.

And I love to eat it.

Very hungry at the moment... Didn't cook tonight. Waiting for take out.

Crock Pot Style

2007-05-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

A few thing converged within the last few weeks and I decided I needed a crock pot. Or "slow cooker" as they're called these days. My friend L, who also has two small children and not a lot of time to prep her meals, likes hers. My babysitter, LB who is also really into cooking swears by hers and I was randomly watching the Food Network on a rainy day and I happened to discover Robin Miller.

For those of you who have not heard of her, she has a show on the Food Network called "Quick Fix Meals." Unlike her absurdly famous counterpart, Rachel Ray, Robin Miller does 15 minute meals. But she does a lot of prep ahead of time. So, she throws a few things in the crock pot in the morning and throws together a simple salad in the evening and voila! Dinner. She is self consciously skinny like so many 'celebrity chefs', this woman does not look like she has eaten a gram of fat since the Reagan Administration... But I digress. I like her cooking style because it fits my lifestyle. I have a bit of "free" (ie, non kid time) in the mornings when K takes her nap, and then I usually don't get a break until Rich gets home. I am fond of Rachel Ray, but most of the time her meals do not work for me. This is due to:

her penchant for cooking with things that my husband would not touch with a ten foot pole (mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers... the list goes ON and ON.)
the ungodly mess that must be created to actually cook one of those dinners in 30 minutes. I try to clean while I cook. And if I start after he gets home, I'm too hungry and tired.
the diverse and fresh ingredients she uses are seldom things I have on hand.

But Robin Miller makes sauces out of stuff that are generally in my pantry. So, I thought I'd give the whole slow cooker thing a try. I bought this one from Amazon for $30 and so far, it has been a great investment. The first night, I made ribs, and They. Were. Fabulous. The fell off the bone and had a lovely flavor. They were a success. A rib dinner like that a restaurant would have cost us $30 per person, and the baby back ribs I got at McKinnons only cost about $10, and the ingredients for the bar-b-que sauce were stuff I had around, brown sugar, tomato sauce, chili powder, etc.

I made pork roast in the slow cooker last Friday. I invented a sauce with orange juice, maple syrup and rosemary. I had to use the high setting because I didn't start the meal until after two, and I think it made the meat a little tougher. The sauce was a little on the sweet side, but over all it was pretty good.

For tonight, I made a variation of something I saw Robin Miller do. She made a slow cooker chicken with orange marmalade that she thinned with chicken broth, orange juice and added a dollop of hoisen sauce, and maple syrup. I substituted apricot preserves and orange zest, because that's what I had handy. We'll see how it comes out. I put a bunch of rainbow chard on top, which I'm regretting at the moment, because it smells a little skunky. She made another chicken dish with chard in the crock pot and it looked really fine.

So, we'll see what comes out of the pot. Perhaps we'll dump it in the garbage and eat a lovely bowl of cereal, or perhaps we'll pick out the chard and snarf it up.