Sweet biscuits!!

Since I started cooking/baking gluten free, I have been on a search for a good biscuit recipe. I have tried countless recipes and none of them have been even remotely good. I was beginning to think that you just couldn't make a good gluten free biscuit. Think again!! I recently found a buttermilk biscuit recipe in Annalise Roberts cookbook, Gluten free baking classics that I had to try. It was AWESOME. Melt in your mouth goodness. My kids thought they were cookies...probably didn't help that I used a cookie cutter to cut them out. Ha!

I did change the recipe a bit to make it dairy free as well. That didn't seem to affect the taste or texture at all.



Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour Mix (see below)
• 1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon milk (or any milk substitute, I used almond milk)
  
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 5 slices
• 1 large egg white (or 2 small)
• 2 tablespoons water

• Brown Rice Flour Mix

• Brown rice flour (extra finely ground) 2 cups
• Potato starch (not potato flour) 2/3 cup
• Tapioca flour 1/3 cup

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Position rack in center of oven.

2. Mix brown rice flour mix, sweet rice flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in large bowl of electric mixer. With mixer on low speed, cut butter into flour mixture until mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Put mixture into a small bowl and set aside.

3. Beat egg white in the same large bowl of electric mixer until very foamy. Add water, milk and flour mixture all at once, and mix at medium-low speed for 1 minute. Use lightly floured hands to pat out dough into a large 3/4 inch thick round on lightly floured surface. Cut out biscuits with a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Press dough scraps together and repeat.

4. Place baking sheet on center rack of oven and turn oven temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake 15 - 18 minutes or until medium golden brown. Serve immediately.

I used a star cookie cutter to make things more interesting.

Watch out, these will go fast!! There were no leftovers. I better make a double batch next time. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Now that the weather is cooler, soup has been on the menu. Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of our all time favorites. I found this recipe on All Recipes and didn't have to do anything to make it gluten free. The soup is dairy free, but then you can add sour cream and shredded cheese to make it extra good. We have used plain soy yogurt or plain coconut yogurt in place of the sour cream and that worked great.

The soup is good without the extra toppings, but with the toppings it's awesome. You can use any corn chips that you choose, I use corn tortilla chips. Don't skip the diced avocados either, that adds so much flavor.

(I really need to work on my food photography, but you get the general idea.)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

• 4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
• 2 (14.5oz) cans chicken broth
• 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles
• 1 (10oz) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Combine the chicken broth, green chiles, tomatoes with green chiles, onion and garlic into a soup pot. Add the shredded chicken. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.

Add the lime juice, cilantro, cayenne and cumin. Simmer for 10-15 minutes longer.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with shredded cheese, diced avocados, sour cream and crushed corn tortilla chips.

Go to Gluten-free Homemaker for more awesome gluten free menu ideas.

Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes

As a mom to 2 small children, I am always looking for easy recipes. I found this recipe on allrecipes and it has now been added to my stash of recipes. It's easy to prepare and it doesn't have a lot of special gf ingredients in it. We enjoy it, hope you do too!

Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes

• 3 Tbsp butter or olive oil, divided
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp gf flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour, but cornstarch would work well also)
  
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 4 pork chops
• 4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
• dash paprika

Preheat oven to 350F. In sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add salt, pepper and flour (or cornstarch). Pour in the chicken broth, cook and stir until mixture boils. Remove from heat and set aside.

In skillet brown pork chops in 1 tablespoon butter, making sure not to overcook. Grease a cooking dish with the remaining tablespoon of butter and layer potatoes. Pour mixture over potatoes and place browned chops on top. Sprinkle paprika on top. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

German Chocolate Cake

We celebrated my father in-law's 70th birthday at our house tonight. No birthday is complete without a birthday cake, so I happily made one. :) I recently got a new cookbook, Cooking with Coconut Flour which has a gluten free, dairy free german chocolate cake recipe in it. That recipe was what convinced me that I had to have this cookbook. I have been looking for a good gf german chocolate cake for a while, and this is it. This cake is awesome. Everything a german chocolate cake should be. The cake texture was perfect. Nice and moist, not the slightest bit crumbly. There were people at the party that do not eat gluten free, and they were raving about the cake. That's the best compliment ever when baking gluten free!!

I frosted the cake a little too soon, so a lot of the frosting started falling off. It still tasted good. :)

German Chocolate Cake
(Makes a double layer cake)

2/3 cup butter or Earth Balance Soy free buttery spread
1 cup cocoa powder
8 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted coconut flour

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and mix well. Remove from heat and let it cool. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, combine 2 whole eggs, egg yolks, coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Add coconut flour and whisk in until there are no lumps. Fold egg whites into batter. Pour batter equally into 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cake. Let cool. Fill layers and cover top and sides of cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter or Earth Balance soy free buttery spread
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix coconut milk, cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks and butter in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla, flaked coconut and pecans. Let cool before frosting cake. (I doubled the frosting recipe)

Go ahead, take a bite. You know you want to. :)

Gluten free noodles

The weather turned really chilly the past few days, and it seemed like a good time to make some soup. Chicken noodle soup is an all time favorite around here. I used to make homemade noodles all the time, before going gluten free. To me, it just makes the soup better. I found a good gluten free noodle recipe at Cooks.com that has become my standby for noodles.

You can use your favorite chicken noodle recipe, and then just use these noodles instead. The first time I made them, my husband asked me if they were really gluten free. Yay! That was what I was going for. :)

Gluten Free Noodles:

• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons potato starch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1) In a medium bowl, combine flours, salt, and xanthan gum.

2) Beat the eggs lightly and add the oil.

3)Pour the egg-oil liquid into the flour mixture and stir.

4)Work the dough into a firm ball. Knead for 1 or two minutes.

5)Place the ball of dough on a potato starch-floured (rice flour turns noodles gray) breadboard and roll as thin as possible. This dough is tough and, when almost transparent, will still handle well. (I actually used my kitchen-aid pasta roller on the widest setting and that worked out very well.)

6) Cut into desired shape.

7) To cook pasta: Put pasta into the boiling soup and cook for 10-12 minutes.

This picture is a bit washed out, the soup looked much better in person. It definitely tasted delish!! For more gluten free recipes, go to The Gluten-Free Homemaker where you'll find all sorts of wonderful things to eat.

Bon Appetit!

Supper tonight

This is the first time I've posted on What can I eat that's gluten free. It's hosted by The Gluten Free Homemaker and a great place to find gluten free recipes. I'm always looking for new gluten free recipes, so thought I'd join in on the fun.

It's feeling like fall around here, and I use my crockpot a lot in the fall/winter months. This is one recipe that I use quite a bit. It's easy to make and my sometimes very picky kids love it. Win win for me! :)

I adapted this recipe from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. It's pretty much the same, with a few tweaks here and there to make it gluten free and dairy free.

Hungarian Goulash

• 2 lb. tenderized round steak, cubed

• 1/2 tsp. onion powder

• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

• 2 Tbsp Bob's all-purpose gluten free flour, or any flour mix of your preference

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 tsp. pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika

• 1 can tomato sauce, plus enough water to rinse out can, about 1/3 of the can

• 1 cup plain coconut milk yogurt (sour cream or soy yogurt can be used as well)

Mix the meat, onion powder, garlic powder and gf flour together in the crockpot until the meat is coated.

Add remaining ingredients, except plain yogurt and stir well.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Add yogurt about 30 minutes before serving.

Serve over brown rice or gluten free noodles (we prefer the rice).

Makes 8 servings.

Enjoy!

Dairy free Strawberry Sherbet

You can buy really good coconut milk ice cream at the store these days. It's actually AWESOME. But I came across this recipe at Karina's Kitchen and just had to try it. What's not to like about homemade ice cream? The catch is that it's gluten free and dairy free.....but it looked so yummy that I decided to try it. It was a smashing success. I changed the recipe every so slightly, but it's pretty much the same as Karina's recipe. The best part about this recipe is that it doesn't have to be dairy free. If you can have milk, you can use milk and omit the tapioca starch and xanthan gum. I will definitely be making this again.


Without further ado, here's the Strawberry Sherbet recipe:


Macerate your berries ahead of time:

1 pint fresh ripe organic strawberries, gently rinsed, stemmed, and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon
3 tablespoons sugar

Combine the sliced strawberries with the lemon juice and sugar; toss to coat; cover and chill for two hours.

In the meantime:

In a medium-large saucepan, combine:

1 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk well to combine. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the tapioca has thickened the mixture. Remove from heat.

Whisk in:

2 cups ice cold almond milk

Pour the custard base into a mixing bowl and placed it in the fridge to chill. The colder the mixture is before you add it to the freezing cannister of the ice cream maker, the better. In fact, I put it in the freezer and checked on it frequently until the custard base was starting to freeze to the sides of the bowl.

When the strawberries have macerated for two hours, place them in the blender and puree them. Then mix the strawberries into the custard base.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream cannister and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Scoop the sherbet into freezer containers; cover and freeze. For best flavor, soften sherbet slightly before serving.

Makes about 6 cups.

Enjoy!! :)

Sticky sticky sticky buns

Since going gluten free 3 years ago, I've been searching for a good sticky bun or caramel roll recipe. Interesting that with all my looking for a good recipe, there was a great one in a cookbook on my shelf that I just hadn't noticed. This recipe is from this book and is totally awesome. That's the same book I found the bread recipe in and there are a few other awesome recipes in there as well.

The buns are sweetened with banana and honey, so healthy, no? But the glaze on top is sinfully good and totally makes the buns. I used Spectrum shortening in place of the butter to make it dairy free and we didn't miss the butter at all. You could probably use oil as well.


Banana Pecan Sticky Buns

2/3 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp bread machine yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup butter, or Spectrum shortening
2 eggs

Pan Glaze
1/3 cup melted butter, or melted Spectrum shortening
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup raisins

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients together. Mix well and set aside. In another large bowl, using a heavy-duty mixer with paddle attachment, beat water, banana, honey, vinegar, shortening and eggs until well blended.

Add the dry ingredients, with mixer on the lowest speed until combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Then turn the mixer to the highest speed and beat for 4 minutes.

Pan Glaze:
In a 8x8 baking pan, combine melted shortening, brown sugar and corn syrup. Sprinkle with pecans and raisins. Drop the dough by nine heaping spoonfuls on top of the pan glaze. Dough will be sticky, do not smooth tops. Let rise in a warm draft-free place for 40-50 minutes or until dough has nearly doubled in volume. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. Immediately invert pan over a serving platter. Allow to stand for a couple minutes before removing pan. Serve warm and enjoy.

Excellent gluten free bread

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would have kids with food allergies, I wouldn't have believed you. My son has celiac disease and my daughter has a milk protein sensitivity that she should grow out of...just hasn't yet. We have decided that we would all be gluten free, unless we eat out. Buying gluten free items are terribly expensive. We have a gluten free bakery in town that makes some good stuff, but 1 small loaf of bread is over $5. Yikes! I haven't ever baked bread in my life, but have always wanted to so decided maybe now was the time to try. Baking gluten free is as opposite of baking wheat bread as it can get (I know this from watching other people bake wheat bread). I have the hang of it now and bake two loaves a week. The bread tastes really good, it's the closest match to wheat bread that I have found yet. I found the original recipe from this book and is called Brown Rice Bread.

Brown Rice Bread

• 1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 1 Tbsp bread machine or instant yeast
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp liquid honey
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 3 eggs

In a large bowl, combine brown rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, yeast and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, using a electric mixer, like a Kitchen Aide with a paddle attachment, combine water, vinegar, oil, honey, molasses and eggs until well blended.

With the mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the honey mixture until combined and forms a ball. With a rubber spatula, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer on the highest speed and mix for at least 4 minutes (this is a very crucial step. If you do not beat the dough long enough, your bread will be dry).

Spoon into lightly greased pan. Place in oven with oven light and let rise for 60 to 75 minutes or until the dough has risen to the top of the pan. Once dough has risen adequately, leave in the oven and start preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Start your timer for 45 minutes at the same time you start preheating your oven. Bread is done when the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

The bread is best if left on the counter and will keep for a week if your house isn't too warm. Otherwise it freezes very well, but does get a bit dry if you put it in the fridge.

*****If my baking instructions do not make sense, let me know and I will try to explain it better*****

Donut Day

Friday, June 5th was donut day. I guess Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme were giving out free donuts that day. My hubby came home with donuts on his brain and a gluten free recipe in hand. (My hubby switched to a gluten free diet a few months ago and feels much better.) So last Saturday we decided to try to make some gluten free donuts. And who says gluten free/dairy free is no fun?!? Ha. We used this recipe. It's supposed to be for jelly donuts, but we used it for cake donuts. YUM. They turned out awesome. I haven't really had good donuts since I quit working when P was born. Patients would bring in some top notch donuts, guess to keep the nurses fat and happy. :) These ranked right up at the top. I could not tell they were gluten free. They just tasted like an awesome donut, coated with cinnamon and sugar. MMMMmmmmm so good.Since we have a little boy in the house, we decided to use cookie cutters for the donuts. Of course he chose a car, airplane, fire truck and fish. So that's what we made, along with some donut holes and regular donuts. We ended up with a lot of donuts. We actually froze most of them. We had a few this morning and they were just as good after being frozen. We'll definitely be making donuts again.

Here are the changes I made to make these dairy free. For the buttermilk, I used 2 cups almond milk and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. For the butter, you can use any butter substitute or shortening.

Here's some pics for you to drool over. ;)

Ever see an airplane donut? Neither had I.

The car donut

And the fish. No pictures of the fire truck, cuz it ended up looking a little weird. Hard to tell what it was supposed to be.


Mmmmmmm think I'll go eat a donut now.