Gluten Free Expedition

Turtle Brownies (with a little help from Betty)

Another birthday at work - this always means more goodies that I (usually) can't eat.  So I always make my own treats to share.  So far, they've been hits.  Everyone claims they don't taste any different from the "real" thing! 

This time I had to get a little help.  I had the kids by myself (the Husband is traveling this week) and I also wanted (all right, needed) to do a little cleaning.  So I turned to Betty.  Have you tried the new Betty Crocker mixes?  I've only tried the brownies (3 times now - but once was when my friend made them for our girls only movie night).  They are incredible!

But I didn't want to just take in some boxed brownies - even though they are delicious on their own!  So I decided to kick them up a little with some carmel and pecans.  But wait, you know what would be even better - to use homemade dulce de leche instead of jarred carmel.  And you can't get any easier (and safer, considering my attention span!) than making it in the crockpot.  See A Year of Slow Cooking for that recipe.  MMM - it's hard to not eat it straight from the can.

 

Turtle Brownies (with Betty)

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix
1/2 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 can dulce de leche (you only use about 1/4 of the can, but you'll want the rest to eat by the spoonful)
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Prepare the brownie mix per the directions on the box.

Drop blobs of dulce de leche (or carmel) onto the smoothed brownie mix.  Use a knife to swirl the dulce de leche around in the batter.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until desired doneness.

GF Travel: Bethesda, MD

If you are ever in Bethesda there are a few places you really should check out.  The Lilit Cafe is a gfers dream come true.  You can order sandwiches on breadOR a baguette!  What a choice!  They also have pizza, salads, cupcakes, cookies and much more.  Check out their gf menu.  The restaurant has the atmosphere of a neighborhood cafe and deli and a great selection of wines also.  We stopped there on our way to the airport (it's only 4 blocks off the Metro Red Line) and even though we missed our flight because of a time crunch and small Metro snafu (ooops - wrong line!) it was worth it to be able to eat here.  I will definitely return on my next visit to Bethesda!

We also planned on eating at Jaleo - a fun and delicious tapas place - the first night we arrived, but it was closed due to a wedding reception.  We figured it must be a special place if people want to eat there after getting married, so we ventured back down the next night.  Sure enough the food is delicious and they have a great gf menu and some really good sangria (the red is way better than the white in my opinion).  The one disappointing thing was they didn't list their cheeses on the gf menu and I didn't want to miss those.  I think they are normally served with crackers which keeps them off the gf menu, but that is an easy fix.

When we discovered that Jaleo was closed on that first night and another restaurant we had planned on was only seating those with reservations because of "kitchen problems" we decided to try out Cafe Deluxe because of the great outdoor seating.  Plus it was a recommendation from the hostess at the "kitchen problem" place and just up the street.  Cafe Deluxe does not have a gf menu, but our waitress was very confident in the kitchen's ability to serve me a great gf meal.  I had been cravinggazpacho ever since the weather starting warming, so I decided on that with a simple baby arugula salad.  Both were divine!

I may be traveling to Bethesda regularly for work, so if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know!

Italian Bugers and GF Food Review: Bristol's Buns

Doesn't that hamburger bun look good enough to eat?  Well, believe me you will want to order extra of these for all of your summer BBQs!  These are sent freshly made from Bristol Baking.  You do have to order a minimum of 8 buns at a time, but you can get a trial order of 2 the first time you order.  Seriously though, you'll want the 8 or more.  These buns are great with hamburgers, but would also be good for a sandwich piled high with your favorites or for pulled pork.  They are delicious right out of the bag and only need to be thawed if you keep them in the freezer (I've tried them both ways). 

I haven't tried any recipes for homemade gf hamburger buns, but the pre-made ones I've tried before just didn't cut it.  They were very crumbly and had to be toasted; they were just a mess in general.  So I've been eating my burgers without a bun.  Not anymore and I've got a great burger to put on these.  I only wish Bristol Baking would make hot dog buns also!

I don't like plain hamburgers - especially since we buy very lean ground beef.  They always end up a little dry and well, plain.  These Italian Burgers are great, they stay moist and have a wonderful flavor.

Italian Burgers

1 lb lean ground beef
3 Tbls spaghetti sauce - we like garden style
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbls Parmesan cheese
small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
4 thin slices of aged cheddar cheese (or whatever you prefer)

Mix the beef with the spegetti sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese and parsley.  Divide the mixture into 4 equal mounds. 

Put a slice of cheese in the middle of each mound and form the patty around the cheese.  Be sure to completely seal the cheese in the middle of the patty.  Grill until desired doneness.

PS The Bristol Baking buns are also casein free!

Happy Birthday Almond Cake

 It's my birthday, I can bake if I want to...

I've been dreaming about buttercream frosting - well, more like drooling over it - so I wanted to make a cake and frost it with buttercream.  But I wasn't in the mood for chocolate (weird) and I didn't want a plain white cake, so I decided to use one of my favorite flavors - almond.  I was going to put a layer of raspberry in the middle of the cakes, but the Husband stated that he doesn't like "fruit" in his cake.  So I layered it with more buttercream!

I invited several neighbors over to sample - I needed to share the 4 sticks of butter that ended up in the complete final product.  Everyone (all gluten eaters and several children) thought it was delicious.  I was very happy with the final product, it is very moist, but light - and oh the buttercream frosting!

As a starting point, I used this recipe for White Cake from Amanda's Random Ramblings.  I doubled and modified it to suit my almond fancy.

Almond Cake with Buttercream Frosting

1 cup white rice flour
2/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup almond meal
1 1/3 cup tapica starch
2/3 cup potato starch
2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 cup butter (3 sticks - this is not an everyday cake unless you need to gain 50 lbs)
6 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 tsp almond flavoring
1 cup milk

Whisk together all the dry ingredients (white rice flour through xanthan gum).

In a mixer, beat the butter until it becomes fluffy and lighter in color.  Add the flour mixture and stir for 1-2 minutes until completely combined.

In a small dish, whisk the eggs with the vanilla and almond flavoring.  Add that to the mixer and stir until incorporated.

Add the milk and mix until smooth about 2 additional minutes.

Grease and flour (I used white rice flour) two 9 inch round cake pans.  Pour the mixture into the 2 cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until the cakes are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes.  Turn out onto a cooling rack until completely cooled. 

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp almond flavoring
3-4 Tbls milk

Beat butter in a mixer for a few seconds until it is creamy.  Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat on medium speed until fully incorporated and butter gets creamy again. 

Add 1 more cup of powdered sugar and the almond flavoring.  Beat again, adding 1 Tbls of milk to keep the creaminess. 

Add more powdered sugar until it reaches your desired sweetness.  Then add more milk (1 Tbls at a time) if necessary to get to the desired frosting thickness.  Allow plenty of stirring time between each addition of milk.

POM Glazed Chicken Salad with POM-Balsamic Dressing

Two salads in a row, it must be summer!

I received some POM Wonderful juice recently and I thought it would be great in a salad.  I love pomegranates, but they just aren't around much of the year.  And when they are they can be very expensive!  This juice could add that great pomegranate flavor to a lot of dishes.  The juice alone is good, but a little tart for me.  It would probably be very good mixed with ginger ale, or maybe another sweeter juice. 

I wanted to make a sauce to brush over grilled chicken and a dressing for the salad that the chicken went into.  The sauce turned out great - sweet and fragrant with a touch of rosemary and thick enough to brush on the chicken like bbq sauce.  One warning - because of the sugar in the sauce the grill can get a little smokey when you brush it on, leading to watery eyes!

POM Glazed Chicken

For the glaze:
8 oz POM Wonderful Pomegranate
2 Tlbs sugar
1 tsp dried rosemary (a little more if using fresh)

Stir all ingredients into a saucepan on medium-high heat.  Let the liquid come to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the glaze is thick and glossy (about 15 minutes).

Grill the chicken (I used boneless, skinless breasts) until it is almost done.  Brush the glaze onto one side of the chicken, turn and the brush it on the other side.  Grill on each side for an additional minute.

After taking the chicken off the grill, pour any additional glaze onto the chicken.  Let it cool for a few minutes and then cut into bite sized chunks for the salad.

POM-Balsamic Dressing
(makes enough for 2 salads)

2 tsp POM Wonderful juice (taken out before pouring the rest of the 8 oz into saucepan for the glaze)
1 Tbls Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
pinch of salt
extra virgin olive oil

Mix together the POM juice, vinegar, honey and salt.  Wisk in olive oil to taste - usually there is a 1:3 ratio of vinegar to oil, but I like it tangier so I use less.

Quick, Easy (GF) Croutons

  

A while back it seemed everyone was making Caesar salads.  And Brian at Fire and Salt made a delicious looking salad that I was coveting.

And I'll have to agree that although the anchovy paste is quite gross it's way better than using those tinned anchovies.  Those are so disgustingI sometimes leave them out of the Pasta Puttanesca recipe and I know it's way better with them.  I just can't get over the little fishy bodies going into my food - and yes, they do dissolve in minutes (if not seconds) when you add them to a hot skillet, but still - YUCK!  The Husband had to hunt all around the grocery store to find it, but he finally located the tube.

I used to make these croutons with English muffins (in the pre-gf days) and they were just as delicious made with GF French bread. 

Croutons

Leftover French bread (recipe also courtesy of Fire and Salt)
Italian dressing
Parmesan cheese

Cut the French bread into bite sized cubes.  Toss with enough salad dressing to coat all the bread pieces and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and spread the croutons onto the sheet in one layer.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until crunchy and golden brown.

Fajitas

Quick note: the Corona in the picture is The Husband's, but I'm holding out hope that one day it will test at less than 20 ppm and I'll be able to drink it once again!

The weather on Sunday was beautiful and we decided we should take advantage of it and have dinner on the screened-in deck.  The Boy is now old enough to sit in his own chair (outside, inside he still uses the high chair).  So we all sat down to a lovely delicious dinner.   There is something really relaxing and fun about eating outside.

The Husband grilled the steak while the kids and I hung out on the porch.  I had a nice glass of Viognier (perfect summer wine!) and the kids had milk.  Summer is on the way...

Fajitas

For the marinade:
1 1/2 lbs flank (or skirt) steak
1 Tbls chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp salt
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp soy sauce (make sure it's gf)
1 Tbls canola or corn oil

For the veggies:
1/2 onion - sliced
1 sweet bell pepper - sliced into strips
handful of grape or cherry tomatoes - halved
chili powder
cumin
salt

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over the steak in a plastic baggie or large plastic container.  Marinade at least 2 hours (overnight is best). 

Grill the steak to preferred doneness.  Warm corn tortillas in aluminum foil on the grill. 

While the steak is grilling stir-fry the onion and pepper for 2-3 minutes.  Add the cumin, chili powder and salt to taste.  Add the tomatoes and stir-fry for 1 minute more.

Slice the steak and serve with veggies, corn tortillas and all your favorite toppings (sour cream, cheese, salsa, beans, etc).

Gluten Free Lavash Crackers

On a recent trip to my parents I was seriously tempted by some delicious looking lavash crackers dressed up with butter and garlic.  I resisted, but remembered a Daring Bakers recipe everyone was trying a while back for lavash.  The recipe is actually pretty quick (except for the rise time, but you can just play outside and then get the kids ready for bed during that phase) and the gf version is pretty easy since you don't have to wrestle with gluten while rolling it out.  The crackers turned out great, I still have to try the addition that my parent's friend did with his lavash. 

I found that the sesame seeds didn't stick to the finished crackers very well.  The next time I make them I will brush the rolled out dough with either olive oil or butter before sprinkling on the topping. 

GF Lavash Crackers

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup teff
1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbls sugar
1 Tbls canola oil
1/2 cup + 2 Tbls warm water (you may not use all of this)
Sesame seeds, sea salt, etc for topping

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixer (brown rice flour through sugar) and mix well. 

Add the canola oil and mix.  Stir in enough water to make the dough just come together into a ball.  I used the full 1/2 cup and didn't need any more.

Lightly spray a bowl with canola oil and roll the dough around in it to cover with the oil.  Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until doubled in size. 

Place the dough ball onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Flatten the dough out with your fingers to help get the rolling out started.  Then cover with another sheet of parchment and roll out the dough until it is very, very thin - it should measure approximately 12 X 15.

Peel off the top layer of parchment and put the crackers on a cookie sheet (bottom parchment side down).  At this point you can use a pizza wheel or knife to cut shapes into the crackers, or you can bake it whole and break it up when it's finished baking.  Sprinkle on toppings of your choice (I used sesame seeds and sea salt). 

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the crackers are brown on top (mine took about 20 minutes - I think I need to try for a thinner roll out next time). 

OK, I made them again - this time brushing the dough with olive oil and they turned out even better!  I also rolled the dough thinner, which made for a crispier cracker.

 

GF, Vegetarian Baby Shower - Garlic Asparagus Quinoa

  

Cheryl over at GF Goodness is hosting an on-line baby shower for the much anticipated Baby Yum.  The only rules are that the recipe be vegetarian and gf (and yummy goes without saying!)  I've been wanting to recreate that quinoa I had in San Diego, so I thought that would be the perfect dish to bring to wish Sea a very big congratulations and wish her well on the beginnings of her baby journey!

Of course neither of my children wanted to try this dish; they were too busy eating biscuits and honey (recipe coming soon - for the biscuits, the honey I buy).  I think they were scared off by the asparagus, I may have to try this with different veggies!

Garlic Asparagus Quinoa

1 Tbls olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, finely diced or pressed
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth (you could use chicken if you aren't vegetarian)
1 cup water
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a medium size saucepan over medium heat.

Add the onion and cook until it turns translucent (about 4 minutes).  Add the garlic and saute another 30 seconds.

Add the quinoa, broth and water.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 15 minutes, until the quinoa has absorbed most of the liquid. 

Stir in the asparagus for the last 2-3 minutes of cook-time.  Enjoy!

Best wishes to Sea and DH on their expected Baby Yum! 

Adopt a GF Blogger - It's Just Not Dinner

When I was pregnant with the Girl, the Husband and I had a ritual of Sunday grocery shopping together.  And we would always stop in the bakery for a donut.  I looked forward to stepping in front of the display case and picking out a delicious sugary treat.  Now, as a Celiac, fresh donuts seemed to be something of the past.  Little did I know they are incredibly easy to make, especially if you have a great recipe that uses Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix! 

For this month's Adopt a GF Blogger, I adopted Sheri of It's Just Not Dinner Without Cat Hair (cute and catchy, huh?) and made her oh so tempting Cinnamon Donuts.  It's a good thing the recipe only makes 12 and that I have 3 other people I have to share with!  3 other people who really really like these donuts!  We had them again this weekend and devoured them - warm and fresh from the fryer...life is good!

I'm thinking I need to try Sheri's recipe for Brown Sugar Biscuits to use up all the strawberries we bought over the weekend (they we on sale and both the Husband and I bought some on different days).  And I need to try out all the other goodies she has in her recipe vault.  We don't have any cats around here, but I do have a couple of hungry little people running around! 

A special thanks to Sea at Book of Yum for hosting Adopt a GF Blogger again this month!