Thursday, July 28, 2011

Stir Fry on the Fly

This is the easiest stir fry ever.  Actually I am not sure it is really stir fry but I didn't know what else to call it.  We call it Taco Fry because that is what it tastes like.  It is a great throw together dinner recipe.  I use my favorite Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage, Broccoslaw, 1 can of no salt diced tomatoes and sometimes some yellow squash.  You brown the sausage then add all ingredients in a pot and heat up. 
 
It might not look great but it tastes great! And it is full of Veggies.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Dinner Rolls take #2

So I once agian tried some dinner rolls from a box.   This time they tasted great but kids were mistaking them as cookies because they were so flat.  Needless to say not a winner!
  I love the box mix because it makes great bread so you can always impress people with this partially homemade bread using this Gluten Free Pantry mix.  I used the French Bread mix.
 
I followed the directions on the box adding a little extra honey because I like my dinner rolls sweet.  Maybe someday I will be a good enough gluten free baker that I can give you a gluten free version of my favorite pre-gluten free life rolls. (the Hawaiian sweet rolls...I know you know them too...)  Maybe someday

Well, I mixed it...
 
I rolled it...
(using lots of olive oil so ball look smooth when placed on the pan)
 
I put it in the oven for you and me
(at 350 for 20 min)
 
They are flat and taste good but not the look we want for dinner rolls.  We shall try again

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Pancakes

Pancakes are delicious but gluten free ones can be difficult to make.  It took me almost a year to figure out how to make decent pancakes.  I was getting so frustrated!  I wasn't going to let pancakes defeat me so I am proudly sharing my Perfect Pancake Recipe!
Potato Starch is the secret to the fluffiness. The other two flours can probably be substituted for some others but don't leave out the Potato Starch or you might end up with gooey centers like I did at first.  
1Cup Rice Flour
3 Tbs Tapioca Flour
1/3 C. Potato Startch
1/2 C. Sugar ( I use Dehydrated Cane Sugar)
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Xanthum Gum
3 Tbs Oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 C. Unsweetened Almond Milk (any milk product will work but if you use sweetened decrease your sugar to about 1/4 C.)
1tb Vinegar
Your batter will be thick and runny.
 
I use my griddle at about 400 degrees coated with butter for a little extra flavor.  The pancakes should look like this when they are ready to turn.  
 
And then golden brown on the other side.
 
They are delicious!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Bean Enchiladas

I have two different versions of these enchiladas.  This one uses a can of Black beans, chili beans and diced tomatoes.  Add a little extra chili seasoning , wrap them up in some corn or rice tortillas and voila!
 A very simple and delicious meal.
 I got a little lazy because I was in a hurry so I only rolled the first 3 tortillas then the rest I laid out more like a casserole.  I will probably roll them because the tortillas absorb more flavors that way.  You can see below the left 3 that are rolles.  The rest I have tortillas under them and then put one additional layer over before baking.  You bake at 350 for about 25 minutes
 
Here is the finished product.  Sorry about the lazyness but we all know that life gets busy and shortcuts are o.k. when we need them!  To really finishe this off I love to serve them topped with my faviorte salsa, TexasTexas!



Version#2
Instead of Chili beans and tomatoes, I add an entire bunch of fresh cilantro and 2 cans of black beans.  Just as simple different taste.  Also topped with some good salsa!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I LOVE MEATLOAF!!

And I love it even more that I don't have to put my hands in the meat to squish it all together.  This is an excellent meatloaf recipe because you don't have to add much seasoning to get a lot of it.  The secret is in the type of meat you use.  Ground turkey and Jimmie Dean All Natural Sausage.


 
I use the entire package of both of these to make my loaf.  You can just plop them right in you KitchenAid bowl along with 1 cup of milk ( I use Almond milk because we don't do dairy in our house either.  I like that I can get the milk unsweetened also), 1 egg, 1 onion or equivalent of dried onion.  Usually your dried onion packaging will tell you the equivalent.  I used dried onions tonight because of the lack of time or laziness to chop my onion.  1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sage (can be omitted and it still tastes great), 1/2 cup katsup.
Now to make it gluten free you use Gluten Free Oatmeal.  I buy Bob's because it is what is easiest to find at my grocery store.  Oatmeal itself is gluten free but is severely cross contaminated in the rolling process so you want to make sure it is labeled as so.  I only used 1 cup tonight and thought the meatloaf turned out a little soft.  I would recommend using at least 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal with this.  It depends on how you like your meatloaf though so experiment with it and see.  
The last ingredient is the worchestershire sauce.  I don't buy my sauce but make a concoction that is similar in recipes.  I know that there is a GF version but I have yet to find one.  I haven't looked to hard though.  If you know of one leave a comment so others can try it.  So instead I use 1/2 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/4 tsp of Balsamic vinegar, 1tbl cane sugar, 1/2 tbl molasses.  The ketsup that was added ealier was also needed to help make this sauce.  I have used this in many recipes that call for worchestershire sauce and have had sucess.
Once everything is in, turn on the KitchenAid!  Pre-heat the oven to 350.  All ingredients will fit into a regular bread pan. 
Bake for 90 minutes.  As I said mine came out a little soft and I thought it needed more oatmeal.  You can kind of see it this picture of the cooked loaf. 
  
There just seemed to be to much juice in the pan.  The flavoring is absorbed by the oatmeal and this loaf was lacking that.  I don't get to make this very often because my husband refuses to eat meatloaf.  I have to make it when he is gone or I get to buy in dinner out, with out me! 
 
Good when served with steamed yams!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Princess Cupcakes

I thought I would share these delicious Cupcakes and frosting I had made for my daughters birthday.  I will admit that I used BettyCrocker Gluten Free cake mix but the frosting is all mine.  I used an entire package of powdered sugar ( 5 cups or so), 1 cup of tapioca flour (that helps make the frosting a bit thicker) 1 cup of softened butter, 1 tsp of vanilla and 4 tbs of almond milk.  You can put more milk for a melty creamy frosting or less for a thicker frosting.  For the cupcake above I added almost an entire other cup of powder sugar to thicken it and form the swirls.  Once refrigerated it stays thick.  You can make it pink with a little bit of beet juice.  Believe it or not you can't taste the beets!  If you are making this in your KitchenAid the add the liquid ingredients first, tapioca then powdered sugar slowly to get your consistency.  Below is a picture of the thinner frosting I used that same day.  Enjoy the deliciousness!! 

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Dinner rolls on Vacation

4th of July weekend!  Boy what a great weekend we had but baking on vacation is a little difficult.  I couldn't find all the flours that I would use to make dinner rolls so I bought a mix.  This is Bob's Red Mill Bread Mix.  I followed the directions almost exactly with a few changes. 
The recipe calls for butter or oil and because of supplies I used half butter and half olive oil.  I put all the liquid ingredients into a pot to warm them up.  They were straight out of the fridge and I needed to proof the yeast.  The directions said to proof the yeast in just the warm milk but I was worried about there not being any sugar in my almond milk.  I use the unsweetened kind so just to be safe and because I like sweet dinner rolls I added about 2 to 3 tablespoons of honey to my liquid.  The yeast started foam right away.  I let it sit for about 5 minutes and it looked like this.
It then all went into the kitchenaid.  No dough hook just the mixer until you have a thin playdough texture.  Well more in between play-dough and glue.  (I know great food analogies! but that is what it reminds me of)
I then coated my hands with olive oil so I can form the dough into balls.  I had to wash my hands everyother roll and re-coat because of the texture.  
Here they are in as close to a ball as I could get.  I pre-heated the oven to 375 like the directions called for but didn't cook it for an hour.  I only cooked them for 20 minutes and...
Don't they look delicious!  I think the looked better then they tasted.  This mix uses Garbonzo bean flour and I am not a fan.  It leaves a funny after taste.  But good news is the after taste was well hid with honey and butter it the nice fluffy rolls.  So even on vacation you can surprise your family and friends with your gluten free baking!