Oh Hi

Sorry I've been missing.  I've been pretty busy with stuff I'm not quite ready to share with you yet.  It's big though, just you wait.  I have been cooking and baking up a storm though.

There are two things I'd like to recommend you make.

First, I made this chicken salad last Monday from With Style & Grace.  I mixed it with greens and had it for lunch every day last week.  It was a nice change from whatever it is I usually eat for lunch.  Next time I'll use grapes instead of raisins.

From With Style & Grace

Next, this weekend I made blueberry scones.  I had never made scones before, but I really like them.  Scones often get a bad rap, but they are perfect with a cup of tea.  They are also, as you may remember, a large part of the reason I got fat in college.  Oops.

From Celiac Teen

Lauren used currants, but I don't like currnts so I used blueberries.  This recipe was another reason I needed a food scale.  If you don't have one, I'm sorry, because I have no idea what this would be in cups.

Ok, back to my busy life now.

Gluten Free Oreos

Ok.  I did it.  I broke down and bought a food scale.  I used to be annoyed by all the gluten free recipes posted in grams.  Mostly annoyed because I wanted to make them and couldn't.  And then I asked for 10 different kinds of flour for Christmas and realized that without a food scale I couldn't use the flour in all these recipes that I've been wanting to make.  So now, here's my first recipe in grams.  I'm really sorry.

Oh, it's also my first recipe using sweet rice and teff flour.  There will be many more different flours to come.

I adapted this recipe from the Gluten Free Girl.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
80 grams sweet rice flour
60 grams white rice flour
35 grams teff flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg

For the  filling:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl combine the flours.  Whisk in the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3) On low speed, beat in the butter and egg.  It will look dry, but keep mixing, it will come together.

4) Scoop 2 teaspoons of batter and form a ball.  Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand into a round disk and smooth the edges.  Place on prepared cookie sheet.

5) Bake cookies for 5 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.

6) Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth.

7)  When the cookies are cool spread some frosting onto one cookie and then top with another.  Repeat.

That's it.  Oreos.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are another thing we made in my high school F&CS class that I have continued to make over the years.  As you probably don't remember, when I first went gluten free I was worried I'd never be able to make these cookies again and Richie Fries would take back his marriage proposal, even if he didn't remember making it.  Well, don't worry, I made these last weekend and they were just as good as their gluten filled counterparts.

I used Cup4Cup for this recipe.  It worked really well.  I also used the cream of tartar for the first time.  I usually omit it because I've never had any before.  Quite frankly, I didn't notice much of a difference with it in there, so feel free to go either way on that one.  Remember, this recipe was originally gluten filled, so if you aren't gluten free go ahead and use regular flour.

Ingredients:
Cookie -
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups GF flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Topping -
3 T white sugar
1 T cinnamon

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees (this is not a typo)

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

3) In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

4)  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

5) In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.

6) Roll dough into one inch balls.  Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

7) Bake for 12 minutes - no more.  They will look a little underdone, but they'll crinkle and set perfectly as you let them cool.

Enjoy!  Let me know if these get you any marriage proposals.

Cup4Cup

Developed by Chef Lena Kwak, with the support of Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Cup4Cup is designed to replace regular wheat flour "cup for cup" in gluten free baking.  With such prestigious people behind it, developed exclusively for Williams-Sonoma, and with the claim of doing everything wheat flour can do in most gluten free recipes, Cup4Cup has been getting a lot of attention recently.

Cup4Cup made it onto my Christmas wishlist but I couldn't wait until Christmas morning to open this gift. Cup4Cup is comprised of cornstarch, white rice flour, brown rice flour, milk powder, tapioca flour, potato starch, and xanthan gum.  A three pound bag will run you almost $20.  This is an awfully steep price to pay, but for all the hype I wanted to try it anyway.

With my three pounds of Cup4Cup I was able to make:

This banana bread.

These snickerdoodles.

And this corn bread.

All three turned out pretty well.  The banana bread and cornbread were a bit gummier than I'm used to my baked goods turning out.  I'm not sure if this was a result of the xanthan gum in the mixture, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  My only other critique is the breads dried out within a day or two.  With a little butter in the toaster oven they were still good, though.  The snickerdoodles were perfect.  Overall I was pretty happy with Cup4Cup.  At $20 a bag I'm not sure I'll be using it in my everyday baking, but it is a good mix to have around and for those not as comfortable mixing flours in the kitchen.

Have you tried this?  Is it worth the money?  How'd your treats come out?

Scalloped Potatoes

I love scalloped potatoes.  We had them tonight for Christmas Eve dinner along with some ham, green beans, and creamed spinach.  I wouldn't exactly call scalloped potatoes a healthy dish, but they sure are good.  This recipe is adapted from this recipe found online.

Ingredients: 
1 medium onion, chopped
5 tablespoons butter
5-6 russet potatoes peeled and sliced thinly
3 tablespoons rice flour 
1 1/2 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste 

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1) In a medium pan saute 2 tablespoons of butter and onions until soft.

2) In a small sauce pan, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and blend in rice flour. 

3) Whisk in the milk.  Season with salt and pepper

4) Cook sauce on medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally with the whisk.

5) Reduce heat and stir in onions and 1 cup of cheese.

6) Place a third of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased casserole dish.

7) Pour a third of the cheese sauce over the potatoes, making sure they are all covered.

8) Repeat twice: layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce, layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce.

9) Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

10) Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Here's another picture for you.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

We made these treats in my high school Family and Consumer Science class (Home Ec.).  You should probably also know that in 7th grade Tech Ed (Wood Tech) Emily Warman and I built a tiny wooden bridge that held more weight than Travis Hulbert's.  No big deal.

Back to these treats.  I'm pretty sure these weren't on our curriculum, but Keri Hart brought them in one day and our teacher said we could make them.  I saved the original recipe and used it to make these today.  They aren't technically buckeyes because the entire ball is covered in chocolate, but you get the point.

This recipes makes about 40.  It's very easy to half if you don't want so many.

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 cups peanut butter
3 cups Gluten Free Rice Krispies
12 ounce bag of semi-sweet or dark chocolate (depending on your preference)

Directions:
1) In a large bowl combine the butter, confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, and Rice Krispies.  It's easiest to use your hands for this.

2) Form into tight one inch balls.

3)  Melt chocolate using a double broiler or in the microwave.  Using a fork or spoon, coat the peanut butter balls in chocolate and place on wax paper.  Refrigerate to harden.

That's it.  No baking required.  Enjoy!

The Ginger Exchange

I took an impromptu trip to Boston last weekend to hang out with some friends from college on Saturday and meet the newest addition to my extended family on Sunday.  It was a great 24 hours because babies are adorable and nothing beats hanging out with old friends in your sweatpants for 5 hours talking about nothing.

Saturday night, after finally managing to put some real clothes on, my friends and I ventured out for sushi.  I had already resigned to eating mine without soy sauce, but when we got to The Ginger Exchange I discovered that not only do they have gluten free soy sauce, but they have an entire gluten free section of their menu.  As always, I was very excited.  So excited that I just had to get the gluten free pad thai instead of sushi.  We also split some gluten free fresh rolls to start.  My friends still got sushi and it looked great.

From my friend at Total Noms.

For those gluten eating and drinking folks, they also have $9 PBR beer towers:

With lots of gluten free options for me, and good sushi, dumplings, and never ending beer for my friends, The Ginger Exchange turned out to be a great place to go.  It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised by restaurants you know nothing about.

Christmas Cookies - Gluten Free!

I'm pretty excited about these cookies.  I only like frosted sugar cookies once a year and that's during the holidays.  Well folks, here they are.  Gluten free.  And I'll be damned if they aren't just as good as regular frosted sugar cookies.

I came across this recipe on Gluten Is My Bitch.  I think this lady is hilarious.  She came across this recipe from Good Housekeeping.  Wherever it's from, you need these in your life.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups GF flour (I used 2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour and 1 cup brown rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Frosting and sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
1. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Beat in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2.  Divide the dough into four equal pieces, flatten each piece into a disk, and wrap them in plastic wrap.  Put the disks into the freezer for 30 minutes to harden up a bit.

3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove dough from the freezer.  On a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough to 1/8 inch think.  Using 3-4 inch cookie cutters, cut as many cookies as possible. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Use the excess dough to roll out for more cookies.

4.  Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool before decorating.

5.  Decorate to your heart's content.

I didn't have any cookie cutters on hand so I used the rim of a glass.  It worked just fine.  I was also lacking decorating materials so I used Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting and some nonpareils.  Easy.

These might be my favorite cookies this holiday season.  What are yours?

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

These cookies are intense.  In a peanut butter and chocolate goodness kind of way.  This was my first time making this kind of cookie and it was incredibly easy.  I based it off this recipe on allrecipes.com.  Oh, and it's naturally gluten free.  #winning

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
15-20 Hershey Kisses

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl beat together the sugars, peanut butter, and egg.
3. Roll into one inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss into the center of each warm cookie.  Allow to cool before eating.

The Hershey's people, and my friend over at Total Noms, add a lot more stuff into their version of this cookie.  I'd like to try those as well.  Has anyone tried both versions that could enlighten me on which route to take next time?

Greensquare Tavern

Greensquare Tavern was recommended to me by a fellow Celiac.  While they don't have a dedicated gluten free menu, my friend assured me they have plenty of gluten free options.  I finally got around to trying it last night and was quite happy.

When I asked the waitress about their gluten free selections she informed me that everything on the menu is already gluten free or could be made gluten free except the pastas and bread (i.e. hamburger buns).  This was nice to hear.  My brother and I both ordered the steak.  It came with home made french fries and roasted vegetables.  I hadn't had a steak in a long time and it really hit the spot.

The waitress also informed me that the corn bread muffins were gluten free.  This was very exciting until the bread man came around and all the bread was in the same basket.  As a Celiac, I was horrified.  As a fat kid at heart, I still ate the corn bread.  Don't tell the gluten free police.  This is obviously a giant no no for anyone that is extremely sensitive.  I am moderately sensitive and didn't have a reaction, so yay to that.  Someone a bit more vocal would have mentioned to the staff that it is unacceptable.  I opted for silence and a prayer not to get sick.  It worked.

Despite this snafu, I really enjoyed Greensquare Tavern.  Our waitress was nice, the host came over to check in, and the chef even came out at the end to ask how everything was.  Ok ok, this would have been a good time to mention that you can't keep gluten free corn bread in with the regular bread, but I've eaten at plenty of places with gluten free menus and assurances of my safety and still gotten sick, so you really never know.

Has anyone else been here?  How was your experience?