Gingerbread Men

Yesterday, I made gingerbread men!  It was the first time I made gingerbread cookies in awhile and I made them with my sister :)  I used a Little Bay Baking Mix that I won.  The gingerbread cookies came out excellent.  I would definitely recommend this mix.

Here is a picture of some of our little men:

Lunch Foods

Lunch doesn't have to be a midday bore, it can be grand :)  Here are two great lunch items that I made recently.

Grilled Cheese with Tomato Sauce, Green Peppers and Mushrooms on homemade Potato Buttermilk Bread

Those of us who have to gluten-free for health reasons know that a lot of gluten-free breads on the market can leave something to be desired, hence when I can I bake my bread.  The crisp outside of the bread contrasted pleasantly with its soft insides.  

Pinto Beans on Brown Rice Griddlecakes

I used flaxseed as the binder for my tortilla-like cakes and it gave them a delicious multi-grain taste.  This was a project with leftovers of brown rice and broccoli from the night before.  I left the broccoli in the rice when I made my griddlecake mixture and it added a wonderful flavor.

Merry Christmas

Hopefully this Christmas season finds you with family and friends. May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

I'm a Winner :)

I won a contest from Be Free For Me, a blog that provides information about gluten and allergen free living.  The contest I entered was entited The Little Bay Baking Contest.  The winner of the contest was to receive three mixes.  The mixes I received were their gingerbread cookie mix, their yellow cake mix and their waffle/donut hole mix.  So far my sister and I have baked their yellow cake mix and the results were quite nice.  The yellow cake package also gives information on making the yellow cake into spice cake; my sister and I decided to split our mixture into one half spice and the other half yellow.  Both endeavors came out well and we were sure to frost them with vanilla frosting :) 

Pancakes

Pancakes are a weekend tradition in my home.  During the summer, when I was a summer camp counselor, I made sure that I had enough to last the whole week.  Having pancakes greet you around 6am is always quite nice.

Here is a simple pancake recipe:

1 cup rice flour
1/4 sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk (or a non-dairy alternative such as rice, almond or coconut)
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
2 eggs (or a 2 eggs worth of an egg substitute)

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly.  Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Give the mixture a few minutes to rest.

In the meanwhile,  oil a skillet or a non stick griddle and heat your chosen item to medium heat.  Apply about 1/4 cup of the mixture to the skillet/griddle at a time.  When the edges of the pancake start to dry and the there are bubbles in the middle, it is time to flip the pancake.  The number of pancakes made depends on the amount of batter used at a time.

Companies Producing Great Treats

     Courtesy of my grandmother, I was given the opportunity to try four great products: Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip cookies, Josef's Gluten Free Cinnamon O's, Cherrybrook Kitchen's Gluten Free Chocolate Cake and Cherrybrook Kitchen's chocolate frosting.  While I don't have pictures of the cookies (they're gone), I do have a picture of a cupcake :)  All of the treats were quite good, the texture and the flavor of each product was delightful; I savored every one of them.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

To tell the truth most of the books I've read have been written by people who have been dead for multiple years.  So, this recent book pick is the first one since elementary school that I have read in which the author is still living.

This book made The New York Times Book Review; it is called The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.  As someone who likes to cook, I thought it would be interesting to read what the New York Times Book Review calls a "[t]houghtful, engrossing... explanation of exactly where food comes from."

Shouldn't we know where our food comes from?  Of course, it would seem to be common sense to know.  Apples come from apple trees, chickens come from eggs but technological advances have changed the way in which food is produced and is cared for; not all farms and orchards are created equal.

Should it matter what food items we purchase? If one sees him or herself as a steward of the environment does what a person eat matter and is it possible to be ecologically and budget friendly in accomplishing the above?  While this book may not have all of the answers to the questions I posited, the questions I mentioned may be ones to be considered.

Simplest Bean Burger Possibilities

Below is a picture of the casserole I mentioned in my last post:

Here is the recipe I used:

The Simplest Bean Burgers

makes 4-6 servings
time: 20 minutes with cooked beans

2 cups well-cooked white, black, or red beans or chickpeas or lentils, or one 14-ounce can, drained
1 medium onion, quartered
1/2 cup rolled oats (preferably not instant) (if you are avoiding gluten, please be sure to make sure oats are labeled gluten free, I used cooked rice instead of oats)
1 tablespoon chili powder or spice mix of your choice
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 egg (in place of egg you can use 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal, 1/2 cup cooked short-grain rice, 1/4 cup Vegannaise, 1/4 cup miso, or 1/2 cup tofu)
bean-cooking liquid, stock or other liquid if necessary
 a neutral oil such as olive oil

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse them until they are chunky. Your mixture should be moist but not wet. If you have time let it rest for a few minutes.

With wet hands, shape your burgers and give them time to rest a bit (the burgers hold up better if they rest before being fried).  While they are resting, fill the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat it to medium heat.  Place the burgers in the skillet and cook until brown and firm on both sides (approximately 5 minutes each side).

Variation: Ground Beef-like Crumbles

If you want the ground beef-like crumbles such as illustrated above.  Do not shape the mixture into burgers, do heat an oil filled skillet to medium heat and place the mixture inside it without stirring until it is crisp and brown.  After it is crisp and brown, stir and break the pieces apart and cook until it is done.

Your ground beef-like crumbles can be used to make a similar casserole to  the one above.  Besides a "ground bean" filling, I added carrots, broccoli, tomato sauce, carrots and mozzarella cheese.  There are vegan cheeses that actually melt.  While I can't recommend any good vegan cheeses (because I don't remember the names of the ones that exist), I can admit to trying some a few years ago and it was rather good.

If this recipe sounds exciting, please check out How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food and learn more about what other delicious meals you can make :)

Working with Legumes

Recently, I had the opportunity to pick up How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food.  After flipping through countless recipes I settled upon one entitled The Simplest Bean Burgers. As I read what was required for this recipe, I also looked at the side note which said it could also be made into cutlets and "meat"balls.  After reading the possibilities, my sister and I decided to use this recipe to make three things: burgers, "meat"balls and ground beef-like crumbles which we affectionally called "ground bean".

We used a mix of black beans and pinto beans, brown rice, a seasoning assortment that included paprika, garlic, and onion Considering the large amount of beans we had we tripled the recipe.

Below are pictures of our burgers and of the casserole we made with our "ground bean".

The burgers held together when they were left to rest for a few minutes before frying. 

For the casserole, we added broccoli, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and carrots to our "ground bean" and baked it like a regular casserole.
                              

A Thankful Post and a Delicious Recipe

Thanksgiving has come and gone; Christmas now approaches.  For my family and I, we were blessed to have three Thanksgiving meals and each one was quite delightful.  It was good to spend time with family and friends and to remind each other of what we are thankful for. 

Here are is another recipe I think might be enjoyable for you and yours.

Here is a recipe for pizza crust on Bigoven.com; I have found to be quite good.

Pizza Crust recipe

	2 1/2 c Rice flour
	1/4 oz (1.5 teaspoons) Gluten-free quick rise yeast
	1 ts Salt
	1/2 ts Xanthan gum
	1 1/4 c Warm water; divided
	(120130 degrees F.)
	3 tb Olive oil
	1 tb Honey

Combine flour, yeast, salt and xanthan gum in large bowl. Stir in 1 cup water, olive oil and honey. Use hands to work dough (dough will be soft and crumbly). Add just enough of the remaining 1/4 cup water to hold mixture together. Knead dough in bowl 5 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease 12-inch pizza pan; sprinkle with cornmeal, if desired. Flatten dough into round disk; press dough into pan. Add sauce, desired toppings; sprinkle cheese over toppings. Bake in 425 degree F. oven 20 to 30 minutes, or until crust is brown and cheese melted.

I have made variations of the above by substituting part of the rice flour with potato or doing a half and half of white rice and brown rice flour and both variations proved to be quite tasty. The picture below has toppings of tomato sauce, spinach, broccoli, green bell peppers and mozzarella cheese .

Gluten Free Rice Treats

I haven't had a Rice Krispie treat in while; so when my sister and I discovered Gluten Free Rice Chex in our supermarket, we decided to try our hand at making a delicious rice treat. For our recipe we used six cups of  Rice Chex, one bag of Jet Puffed Marshmallows and three tablespoonfuls of coconut oil for oiling the pot (butter could also be used in place of the coconut oil).

When the pot was oiled, we threw in the marshmallows and stirred them over low heat, until they became deliciously creamy.  After the desired texture was reached, the Chex were added and stirred until every angle was covered in goo.  At this point, the marshmallow covered Chex were placed and pushed into an oiled rectangular pan. The mixture was then left to cool before cutting, then it was cut and enjoyed :)

Let's Eat Pie :)

So, considering that Thanksgiving is right around the corner I decided to attempt my first gluten free pumpkin pie! I made three mini ones with the help of my sister.  We used four small pumpkins, Carnation evaporated milk, sugar,  a pumpkin spice mix we made ourselves, and one egg.  Our crust was a mix of Arrowhead Mills Organic Brown Rice Flour, Ener-G White Rice Flour, Ener-G Potato Starch Flour, and Ener-G Tapioca Flour.  Into this flour mixture, I added coconut oil, xantham gum, and two tablespoons of evaporated milk.  We baked the crust until it was golden brown and then we added our filling.  The result: quite good.  The crust was a little gritty but it held up nicely and the inside was perfect.  If I was giving the recipe stars, I would say 4.5 out of a total of 5.

Trying Indian Cooking

After finding out from my doctor the gluten free options that were available to me; I realized that gluten free dining doesn't have to be bland or boring.  It can be exciting :)

A few weeks ago, I picked up Complete Indian Cooking: 325 Deliciously Authentic Recipes for the Adventurous Cook.  "Mmmm," I thought, "I am adventurous and I like cooking".  So, I picked it up and I like it a lot.  Indian cooking has a few steps, so making sure you have adequate prep time is important.  What the book recommended was to prepare items that you would use for multiple dishes, ahead of the time you would use them.  An item that I would recommend to prepare before attempting any of the dishes would be ginger. Quite a few of the recipes called for fresh grated ginger; the book recommends that since you will use a lot of it, you should freeze some.

Being a gluten free cook calls for being creative and while not not all of the Indian recipes are gluten free (i.e.: naan), there are a lot of good ones to attempt; especially vegetarian dishes.  What I like about Indian food is that the flavor has multiple layers.  Black pepper, lemon juice, curry, tomatoes, spinach, etc tastes amazing when added to chicken.

The first dish I made was called Chicken Saag; it involved all of the ingredients listed above and more.  The second dish I made was a tomato and potato dish.  This dish required some of the same ingredients as the former dish but it is amazing about what a little subtraction and addition of flavors can do to make an amazingly unique dish.

While Indian cooking may not be for everyone, it is definitely worth a shot.  I'm glad I gave it a try:)

Welcome!

Hi,

I'm a girl who hopes you love reading and cooking as much I do, because this blog will have information about that and other things that tickle my fancy :)

Here's a bit that you should know: the recipes I will talk about are gluten free and peanut free, and for the most part will be health conscious. Regarding reading, I will try to be diverse with the genres that I choose. Besides reading and cooking,  I will also mention websites and blogs that I have found to be great :)

All in all, life should be a great adventure; here's to the start of an interesting blog.