Over the 4th of July weekend I did a couple different GF recipes. The first was the Hawaiian Sweet Bread recipe from the Aug/Sept issue of Living Without. See the website for the recipe if you don't get the magazine. This recipe worked pretty good. I had some trouble getting my bread to rise. I finally put the bread on my deck in the sun to rise and that worked better than anyplace in our house. Apparently the house was too cool. My loaves rose pretty good but I think they did need longer. They were almost to the top of the pan when I took them out of the oven and then they sank as the cooled. So next time I'm going to focus on fluff. The taste of the bread was good though.
I also made a chocolate zucchini cake for the 4th of July party we had. I used the GF flour mixture and it worked wonderfully! This cake is a good one for substitution. It came out really moist and was as tall as the cake would have been with regular flour. I just got the recipe from a local church cookbook. We served it with homemade ice cream. Delicious!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Zucchini Bread, Cherry Limeades, and Guacamole
Cherry limeades...what an awesome summer treat. These are GF I want to post the recipe because they are just so darn good. The last couple of weeks my husband and I have been making cherry limeades every evening. We got into making our own a couple of summers ago after my mother-in-law made some for us. She used to work at Lo-Mar so she knows all the secrets. Lo-Mar had the best cherry limeades. I'm probably giving away the family secret here but they are so good I just have to share.
Melinda's Cherry Limeades
-2 limes
-grenadine (or other flavoring of choice)
-simple syrup
-club soda
-ice
1. Make simple syrup. We use 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. To dissolve the sugar, heat the water and sugar on the stove.
2. Fill cup 1/3 full of ice. We make ours in a 32 ounce cup.
3. Squeeze juice out of both limes. The recipe says to use 6 ounces of simple syrup. We usually use less. Less syrup makes the limeade more tart, more syrup makes it less tart. You can play around with that.
4. Fill cup almost to the top with club soda. Then add grenadine. Stir. I usually pour in enough grenadine to make the limeade nice and red and then taste. If it's not enough cherry I add more.
TIPS: We tried POM pomegranate juice the other day. It's good but not as good as the cherry version. You can add any flavor you'd like just like they do at a certain drive in fast food place. We get our cups from gas stations. They come with plastic lids most of the time which is also handy if you want to make one and take it somewhere. Instead of using a lime press, we've found it easier to use a lemon press. The lime one was really too small for our limes. We buy those at Sam's. You can get a big bag of them for around $3 instead of paying .50 for one at a grocery store.
My next recipe is guacamole. Also GF but not why I'm posting it. Five years ago I wouldn't have touched the stuff with a 10 foot stick. I don't know why. Probably because I never ate it growing up so I was assuming I didn't like it. But my husband talked me into trying some and I've been a fan ever since. For some odd reason we decided to try making our own the other night. I thought it was awesome! The only mistake we made was buying an avocado that was too firm. It didn't mash well so the guac was kind of lumpy.
Guacamole
-2 avocados
-cilantro
-1 Roma tomato
-2 Serrano peppers
-small white onion
-1 tsp. salt
-lime juice
1. I put the cilantro in a food processor with 1/4 of the onion. I also put in 1/2 the tomato (take out seeds and ribs) and 1 1/2 of the peppers (take out ribs and seeds). I pureed it up as best as I could.
2. I got the avocados out of their skins and mashed them up in a bowl with the food processor mix and the salt.
3. Sprinkle with lime juice and mix some more. This should keep it from browning, at least for a little while.
TIPS: This is also a recipe you can play around with. If you want it hotter, use more pepper or leave some seeds in. The cilantro is something that you'd have to add to taste. We threw in maybe 8-10 leaves. When we were done eating, we put in more lime juice and covered it with plastic that was tight against the dip and put it in the fridge. The next morning the top was brown but the stuff on the bottom of the bowl was still green and good to eat.
This last week I also made gluten free zucchini bread with a homegrown zucchini. It is pretty good. It's even been approved by my sister-in-law. I think that's the ultimate test of a GF recipe. If non-GF people like it then it's good. Here's the recipe I use for that.
Zucchini Bread
-3 eggs
-2 c. sugar
-1 c. oil
-3 tsp. vanilla
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 cup nuts (optional)
-3 c. grated zucchini
-1 tsp. salt
-3 c. GF flour mixture (see here) or regular flour
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.
3. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
This make 2 loaves.
And aren't those the simplest directions ever?
Tomorrow project - gluten free Hawaiian sweet bread. I'll let you know how it goes.
Melinda's Cherry Limeades
-2 limes
-grenadine (or other flavoring of choice)
-simple syrup
-club soda
-ice
1. Make simple syrup. We use 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. To dissolve the sugar, heat the water and sugar on the stove.
2. Fill cup 1/3 full of ice. We make ours in a 32 ounce cup.
3. Squeeze juice out of both limes. The recipe says to use 6 ounces of simple syrup. We usually use less. Less syrup makes the limeade more tart, more syrup makes it less tart. You can play around with that.
4. Fill cup almost to the top with club soda. Then add grenadine. Stir. I usually pour in enough grenadine to make the limeade nice and red and then taste. If it's not enough cherry I add more.
TIPS: We tried POM pomegranate juice the other day. It's good but not as good as the cherry version. You can add any flavor you'd like just like they do at a certain drive in fast food place. We get our cups from gas stations. They come with plastic lids most of the time which is also handy if you want to make one and take it somewhere. Instead of using a lime press, we've found it easier to use a lemon press. The lime one was really too small for our limes. We buy those at Sam's. You can get a big bag of them for around $3 instead of paying .50 for one at a grocery store.
My next recipe is guacamole. Also GF but not why I'm posting it. Five years ago I wouldn't have touched the stuff with a 10 foot stick. I don't know why. Probably because I never ate it growing up so I was assuming I didn't like it. But my husband talked me into trying some and I've been a fan ever since. For some odd reason we decided to try making our own the other night. I thought it was awesome! The only mistake we made was buying an avocado that was too firm. It didn't mash well so the guac was kind of lumpy.
Guacamole
-2 avocados
-cilantro
-1 Roma tomato
-2 Serrano peppers
-small white onion
-1 tsp. salt
-lime juice
1. I put the cilantro in a food processor with 1/4 of the onion. I also put in 1/2 the tomato (take out seeds and ribs) and 1 1/2 of the peppers (take out ribs and seeds). I pureed it up as best as I could.
2. I got the avocados out of their skins and mashed them up in a bowl with the food processor mix and the salt.
3. Sprinkle with lime juice and mix some more. This should keep it from browning, at least for a little while.
TIPS: This is also a recipe you can play around with. If you want it hotter, use more pepper or leave some seeds in. The cilantro is something that you'd have to add to taste. We threw in maybe 8-10 leaves. When we were done eating, we put in more lime juice and covered it with plastic that was tight against the dip and put it in the fridge. The next morning the top was brown but the stuff on the bottom of the bowl was still green and good to eat.
This last week I also made gluten free zucchini bread with a homegrown zucchini. It is pretty good. It's even been approved by my sister-in-law. I think that's the ultimate test of a GF recipe. If non-GF people like it then it's good. Here's the recipe I use for that.
Zucchini Bread
-3 eggs
-2 c. sugar
-1 c. oil
-3 tsp. vanilla
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 cup nuts (optional)
-3 c. grated zucchini
-1 tsp. salt
-3 c. GF flour mixture (see here) or regular flour
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.
3. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
This make 2 loaves.
And aren't those the simplest directions ever?
Tomorrow project - gluten free Hawaiian sweet bread. I'll let you know how it goes.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Passing on a Link
A fellow gluten-free gal passed this link on to me so I thought I'd share with everyone. It's good for people who eat gluten-free and those who are trying to cook for those that are gluten-free. It's how to read labels to tell if something has an ingredient containing gluten in it. I hope you find it useful. I thought it was pretty interesting.
Gluten Free Label Reading
Gluten Free Label Reading
Monday, June 6, 2011
Vacation - Philadelphia
I've been kind of slow on updating this. But I've been kind of busy lately and haven't had a whole lot of new information either. However, we did go on vacation a couple weeks ago to Philadelphia and I have some interesting information to pass on.
First I have to say, we loved Philly (we can call it that because we've been there). We also went to Hershey and Lancaster County. If you're considering it and looking for activities to do (or not do), let me know. I won't post them all here, but it was a great vacation!
I was looking into GF places to eat in Philly before going. I figured since it was a large city with a diverse population there would be more options than you tend to find around Kansas. I hadn't had a whole lot of luck until I found a Facebook page called Living Simply Gluten Free Philadelphia. It's awesome because it has a whole bunch of information about places to go. Since I only found this website about a week before we left, I decided to email them to find out their best suggestions without having to go through all the information. And they came through big time! The creator of the website wanted to know my preferences. Then she sent me a big list of places based on the budget I told her and our favorite types of food and where we were staying. It was so great!
Because of our time constraints, we only got to two places that had GF options. Most of my meals were hot dogs with no bun which is not exciting or healthy. The first place we tried was Giorgio On Pine. It was fantastic! We had a stuffed portobello appetizer. I had the gluten free prosciutto and arugula pizza. My husband took one for the team and had GF spaghetti so that I could try it. It was good stuff! The portobello was probably my favorite. And we had creme brule for dessert.
We also stopped at Sweet Freedom Bakery. I picked up several items to take along and try. I had two different cookie sandwiches, a vanilla cupcake, and a samoa cupcake. My favorite, by far, was the samoa cupcake.
Hershey was, of course, a great place. I love candy and I can eat almost everything they make. Can't go wrong there.
Lancaster County was hard. It's known for it's Amish community so everywhere you go there are homemade pies, breads, whoopie pies, cookies, etc. I managed to avoid most of it. I did have a small piece of bread because I wanted to try the fresh butter at one place we stopped. If you are there, definitely get the Lapp Valley Farm ice cream. I don't think there are words to describe how amazing this ice cream was! We had chocolate marshmallow. If I could have brought it home, I would have!
That's just a quick update. I guess the best thing I learned is that if you are planning on going somewhere and can find some sort of web page like I did, don't be afraid to ask! I would never have found Giorgio had I not asked and it was good!
First I have to say, we loved Philly (we can call it that because we've been there). We also went to Hershey and Lancaster County. If you're considering it and looking for activities to do (or not do), let me know. I won't post them all here, but it was a great vacation!
I was looking into GF places to eat in Philly before going. I figured since it was a large city with a diverse population there would be more options than you tend to find around Kansas. I hadn't had a whole lot of luck until I found a Facebook page called Living Simply Gluten Free Philadelphia. It's awesome because it has a whole bunch of information about places to go. Since I only found this website about a week before we left, I decided to email them to find out their best suggestions without having to go through all the information. And they came through big time! The creator of the website wanted to know my preferences. Then she sent me a big list of places based on the budget I told her and our favorite types of food and where we were staying. It was so great!
Because of our time constraints, we only got to two places that had GF options. Most of my meals were hot dogs with no bun which is not exciting or healthy. The first place we tried was Giorgio On Pine. It was fantastic! We had a stuffed portobello appetizer. I had the gluten free prosciutto and arugula pizza. My husband took one for the team and had GF spaghetti so that I could try it. It was good stuff! The portobello was probably my favorite. And we had creme brule for dessert.
We also stopped at Sweet Freedom Bakery. I picked up several items to take along and try. I had two different cookie sandwiches, a vanilla cupcake, and a samoa cupcake. My favorite, by far, was the samoa cupcake.
Hershey was, of course, a great place. I love candy and I can eat almost everything they make. Can't go wrong there.
Lancaster County was hard. It's known for it's Amish community so everywhere you go there are homemade pies, breads, whoopie pies, cookies, etc. I managed to avoid most of it. I did have a small piece of bread because I wanted to try the fresh butter at one place we stopped. If you are there, definitely get the Lapp Valley Farm ice cream. I don't think there are words to describe how amazing this ice cream was! We had chocolate marshmallow. If I could have brought it home, I would have!
That's just a quick update. I guess the best thing I learned is that if you are planning on going somewhere and can find some sort of web page like I did, don't be afraid to ask! I would never have found Giorgio had I not asked and it was good!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Wild Thyme Cafe & Bakery
I had heard about a place in Wichita called Wild Thyme Cafe & Bakery so I decided to stop by and try some baked goods this weekend. I got a frosted sugar cookie, brownie, and a dinner roll. There wasn't much selection when I got there because it was like 3:50 on Saturday afternoon and they close at 4 for the weekend.
This is half the cookie I got. It was a butterfly. I decided that I should take a picture of it before I ate it all. It is AMAZING! I highly recommend their sugar cookies. The cookie was a basic sugar cookie taste. But the frosting is wonderful. It has a really good flavor with a hint of lemon maybe. YUMMY! I also have to say that I enjoy the cookie being decorated so beautifully. Some things that are gluten free are not appetizing to look at let alone eat. So it feels good to have a place to get beautiful and delicious treats. If you are ever near Wild Thyme you have to stop. I have not had a chance to try my brownie or roll. Both smell good if that counts.
I got a copy of the menu and they have salads that come with gluten free bread. They can also make several types of sandwiches with gluten free bread. It also says that they have cupcakes, cookies, bars, brownies, pies, and cakes they can make gluten free. I'm assuming that since gluten free is just an option and not the norm that most of this stuff is exposed to cross-contamination with regular wheat flour. So be aware of that.
I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying other things.
I also stopped at Whole Foods in Wichita. Not the real Whole Foods but a locally owned chain in Wichita. They have a HUGE selection of gluten free products if you haven't stopped there.
I also read about an interesting product in a magazine this week. They are called No Oodles. They are noodles made from yam flour and are gluten free and apparently have no calories. I'd like to try these too but they are only available at select stores right now. I believe the closest one is the real Whole Foods in Kansas City (not the chain of Whole Foods in Wichita). I'm hoping to get there in a couple weeks. I'm also interested to see what that chain of Whole Foods has available for gluten free products. I've read they have a good selection also.
I got a copy of the menu and they have salads that come with gluten free bread. They can also make several types of sandwiches with gluten free bread. It also says that they have cupcakes, cookies, bars, brownies, pies, and cakes they can make gluten free. I'm assuming that since gluten free is just an option and not the norm that most of this stuff is exposed to cross-contamination with regular wheat flour. So be aware of that.
I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying other things.
I also stopped at Whole Foods in Wichita. Not the real Whole Foods but a locally owned chain in Wichita. They have a HUGE selection of gluten free products if you haven't stopped there.
I also read about an interesting product in a magazine this week. They are called No Oodles. They are noodles made from yam flour and are gluten free and apparently have no calories. I'd like to try these too but they are only available at select stores right now. I believe the closest one is the real Whole Foods in Kansas City (not the chain of Whole Foods in Wichita). I'm hoping to get there in a couple weeks. I'm also interested to see what that chain of Whole Foods has available for gluten free products. I've read they have a good selection also.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
An Interesting Dilemma
Tonight I had an interesting problem. I think it's one of those things only people who eat gluten free food might understand. I don't even know if they would understand.
I decided to make macaroni and cheese for supper. When I started eating gluten free I had some boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese that I couldn't eat anymore but I kept them to use the cheese flavoring with my gluten free pasta. I decided I'd use one of those tonight. I got to the step where you put the cheese packet on and when I dumped it out, three worms fell out into my pasta. Totally disgusting, right? Normally I'd just throw the whole pot of pasta away but now I have an interesting dilemma. First, I spent almost 15 minutes boiling these noodles because gluten free pasta takes longer than regular pasta. Second, I'm starving because it's almost 6:30. Third, gluten free noodles are expensive. I used almost half a bag which is probably $3. They're not 50 cents a box like glutenous pasta. And fourth, I can't just go to Subway and get a sandwich instead so I'm kind of stuck.
So I decided I'd just pick the worms out and make my pasta anyway. I got two out okay but lost the third in the pot somewhere. Now I have an even bigger problem. I was really looking forward to this macaroni and cheese. I finished making the mac & cheese and decided to eat it anyway. I'm assuming that the worm got cooked in the pot, right? I picked around at it tonight and didn't find the worm in tonight's serving so I guess at lunch tomorrow I'll have to look extra close again. I guess if I don't ever find it, I ate it. People in other countries eat insects all the time. It was a tiny worm so it can't be that bad. You're probably alll gagging right now.
After I started thinking about what had happened I realized I probably seem totally crazy for doing that. But that was some goooood mac & cheese. I haven't had mac & cheese in quite awhile so it's worth it. The only semi-good way I can come up with to rationalize this is that the last few weeks have been totally crazy and my brain is fried. How ridiculous has my life become when I decide it's okay to eat macaroni & cheese with worms in it?
I decided to make macaroni and cheese for supper. When I started eating gluten free I had some boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese that I couldn't eat anymore but I kept them to use the cheese flavoring with my gluten free pasta. I decided I'd use one of those tonight. I got to the step where you put the cheese packet on and when I dumped it out, three worms fell out into my pasta. Totally disgusting, right? Normally I'd just throw the whole pot of pasta away but now I have an interesting dilemma. First, I spent almost 15 minutes boiling these noodles because gluten free pasta takes longer than regular pasta. Second, I'm starving because it's almost 6:30. Third, gluten free noodles are expensive. I used almost half a bag which is probably $3. They're not 50 cents a box like glutenous pasta. And fourth, I can't just go to Subway and get a sandwich instead so I'm kind of stuck.
So I decided I'd just pick the worms out and make my pasta anyway. I got two out okay but lost the third in the pot somewhere. Now I have an even bigger problem. I was really looking forward to this macaroni and cheese. I finished making the mac & cheese and decided to eat it anyway. I'm assuming that the worm got cooked in the pot, right? I picked around at it tonight and didn't find the worm in tonight's serving so I guess at lunch tomorrow I'll have to look extra close again. I guess if I don't ever find it, I ate it. People in other countries eat insects all the time. It was a tiny worm so it can't be that bad. You're probably alll gagging right now.
After I started thinking about what had happened I realized I probably seem totally crazy for doing that. But that was some goooood mac & cheese. I haven't had mac & cheese in quite awhile so it's worth it. The only semi-good way I can come up with to rationalize this is that the last few weeks have been totally crazy and my brain is fried. How ridiculous has my life become when I decide it's okay to eat macaroni & cheese with worms in it?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Convention
Yesterday I found the dorkiest thing ever! It's a whole convention about gluten free stuff! And I kind of want to go! Here's a link to the website if you are interested. Gluten Free Expo It's in Dallas in October and I keep trying to convince my husband to go with me but I don't think I'm getting anywhere. It looks interesting. One of the speakers scheduled in Chicago is the Cake Doctor whom I love. And I think the vendor fair would be great. It'd be nice to taste stuff and make notes on what's good instead of having to buy stuff and find out if it's good after baking it. So we'll see. I really think I might go. We'll see if I get my husband talked into going with me.
I found something else I really like. I've been looking for a good pizza crust. I found some Udi's pizza crusts a couple weeks ago at Green Acres and they are really good. They are the best we've had so far. Like most gluten free things they are fairly small and fairly expensive for two crusts but they taste really good. So if you can find them near you, try them out.
We made another batch of confetti cupcakes tonight. They were the first baked good I've eaten in two months. We just don't bake stuff very often because then we have to eat it by ourselves. And people have brought stuff to work or church but I can't eat any of it. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed that cupcake. It's amazing how much I miss stuff like that. I eat a lot of chocolate instead but nothing beats a good cupcake.
I found something else I really like. I've been looking for a good pizza crust. I found some Udi's pizza crusts a couple weeks ago at Green Acres and they are really good. They are the best we've had so far. Like most gluten free things they are fairly small and fairly expensive for two crusts but they taste really good. So if you can find them near you, try them out.
We made another batch of confetti cupcakes tonight. They were the first baked good I've eaten in two months. We just don't bake stuff very often because then we have to eat it by ourselves. And people have brought stuff to work or church but I can't eat any of it. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed that cupcake. It's amazing how much I miss stuff like that. I eat a lot of chocolate instead but nothing beats a good cupcake.
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