Crab Cake Mac & Cheese

One can never have too many baked pasta dishes when you're gluten-free.  Baked pasta is something you just can't get outside your own home.  And they're great to take to parties - no one can really tell gluten-free pasta from the regular stuff in a baked dish.

And every once in a blue moon, a Rachel Ray recipe is worth writing about.  I had the TV on last week or so for noise, and she was making this and the hubby walked into the room.  "Woah, that sounds good," he said.

I agree.

Crab Cake Mac & Cheese

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The more things change.....

So... it's been over a year gluten-free.  The second Thanksgiving dealing with this.

Last year was not so good.  Stuffing in the turkey (which my husband assured me his mother never did) and dealing with everyone not fully understanding just how serious to take this (no, you can't flop the pan de queso I brought into the same basket as the rest of the rolls, since now I can't eat those), etc.

I'm glad to say this year was much better.  Once I asked and explained to my mother in law that I couldn't eat turkey when the bird was stuffed, she was more than happy to make a separate turkey breast, sans stuffing, so I could easily eat.  And it's also very nice that she had become a label-reader when she's making a prepared dinner - she said she was thinking of calling me to see how she could do the gravy gluten-free until she looked at the chicken stock that she used for her turkey stock again, and saw that had wheat in it (happens a lot with stocks, which is why I am a firm Kitchen Basics gal). 

Last year, I had no sweet stuff at the end of my meal for Thanksgiving.  Thankfully, not this year.

While I have done an okay pie crust using a 30/70 ratio of mixed non-wheat flours, it was just okay.  I wanted to be able to do my good old tart crust, the way I used to.

Enter... Cup4Cup flour.

Yes, it is pricey.  Yes, it it worth every cent.

I had already used it to make some wonderful fried chicken....

(um... yeah... the breading kinda fell off that piece, and we had already greedily gobbled up the rest of the chicken by the time I got around to thinking about pictures)

Also used the recipe off the Cup4Cup website to make some apple spice muffins for the husband's birthday (and used cream cheese rather than the goat cheese... we're not goat cheese people).

For Thanksgiving... I got ambitious.

The usual pecan pie...

And a totally new recipe for something I've never even tried with wheat flour... Baked Apple Dumplings.

The dough was a little too wet, honestly, and getting the dough formed around the dumplings was not the easiest thing in the world, but since it's not a gluten-developing flour, I was able to go "oh well" and peel the dough off the apple half, flop it back on my board, add a little more flour, and work it into a circle again and give another go.  Worked out fine in the end.

It was like cooking with wheat flour again.  Just as easy... no special tricks or anything needed.

One fantastic thing about Cup4Cup is that it's not gritty.  Rice flour usually is gritty, and while you may not notice it as much in baked cakes and muffins, it shows in things like breading and pie crust.  Even working with it while making the fried chicken, it felt like "regular" flour.

Out of the single bag of flour, I got the whole fried chicken, the muffins, the pecan pie crust, and what pretty much equals two batches of pie/biscuit dough for the dumplings.  Not a bad haul.  And considering the amount of other things that have ended up going right into the trash with other gluten-free flours.... I'm a convert.

I went to buy a back-up bag before Thanksgiving just in case, and while checking out the sales person told me her family has been gluten-free for years and she absolutely loves this flour (she said she bought eight bags - yikes! - when it first came out).  She said the recipe for plain old Toll House cookies is AWESOME with this flour, by far the best one she's used - she said she likes the flour in the Toll House recipe more than the Cup4Cup cookie mix.  I still have to try that.

In fact, I have a lot of recipes I want to try. 
I can make cookies this Christmas.  And they won't all end up in the trash.  I like the thought of that.

Nuttle Family Pecan Pie

Tart Pastry:

Larger Pan (ceramic pie dish, etc.)	9-inch pan (disposable pie plate, tart pan., etc.)
1 ½ cups flour (210 grams)	1 cups flour (140 grams)
¼ teaspoon salt	¼ teaspoon salt
9 T cold butter, cut into small pieces	6 T cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 egg yolks	1 egg yolks
2-3 T water	2 T water

Mix the flour and the salt. Using a food processor or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course meal or tiny peas. Whisk the egg yolks with the 2 tablespoons of water and add to the flour mixture. Mix or pulse until the pastry is smooth and holds together in a ball. Slowly add more water if needed. Wrap in foil or plastic and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.springform pan, do not remove the sides until you are ready to serve the tart.

Pie/Filling:

Tart Pastry dough	1 cup dark corn syrup
3 eggs, lightly beaten	2 t butter, melted
¾ cup sugar	1 t vanilla
1/8 t salt	1 ½ cups pecans, lightly chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line the pie pan with the pastry dough. Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter an vanilla in a bowl and blend well. Stir in the pecans. Pour into the lined pan. NOTE: You may have some extra leftover syrup filling – the Nuttle way is to pack more nuts into the pan so it's not like a layer of nuts on top of the layer of gooey filling.

Bake for 10 minutes the reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 35 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

Tempura Pancakes

There are some things that can make you very excited when you have a wheat allergy.

Like The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen by Laura B. Russell.  It came out in August.

But doesn't all Asian food stay away from wheat?

No.  Wheat is usually an ingredient in soy sauce and although there is evidence that naturally-brewed soy sauce has no gluten by the time it reaches the end product (a lot of times, fermentation de-natures proteins like gluten), it may still depend on the brand of soy sauce. And when you know soy sauce may cause you problems, that makes a take-out Asian kitchen a pretty scary place.

I've had Chinese food three times since going wheat-free.  Once, they did not pay attention to my "no soy sauce" instruction on some take out (it was a place mid-way between my own home and where I eventually brought the food) and I had an allergic reaction either from that or something else (it was early on in this process).  Another time (the same place) they did listen to my order, and I either had an allergy attack or a panic attack of minor symptoms.  The last time, it was from a place in Wheeling, Illinois (halfway between my work and my home) called the Golden Chef where the wife of the chef is actually a nutritionist so they are pretty "up" on their stuff about food, and they actually have a gluten-free menu.  That experience was great.

It's not just the obvious "don't use soy sauce when making my dish".  Everything is fried in oil that is also used for wheat products, a lot of other sauces use wheat or soy sauce in some form, and a lot of places will have meats marinating in some form of soy-sauce-based marinade before it even makes it to a wok.  Too many possibilities for error for a lot of people to be comfortable with.

I was very, very excited when I heard this book was coming out.  And it has a picture of pot stickers on the cover.  Pot stickers are one of those things that I miss the most.

I do still cook Asian food in my own home.  A basic stir-fry with tamari (wheat-free soy sauce) is not hard to do.  Serve over plain steamed rice.  Ho hum.

This book has a few sections - Sauces, snacks, dumplings and pancakes, noodles, rice, veggies & tofu, seafood, poultry, meat, and drinks & sweets.  I made it as far as the pancakes before I was already changing around menu plans for the week to try the Shrimp Tempura Pancakes.

I love tempura.  But I will be the first to admit, it is a lot of work.  Gotta bring a few inches of oil to a boil, a lot of cleaning/chopping veg, dip, fry, drip, fry, and so on.

But apparently Thai people do it differently and treat it a bit more like a fritter.  In other words... mix up a batter, dump in your ingredients, and cook it more like pancakes.  I'm all for that.

The recipe in the book (yeah... you're going to have to buy it if you want it, sorry!) uses just shrimp and shredded sweet potato.  One of my favorites in tempura is broccoli, so I added about a half a head (and a leftover half stalk) of chopped broccoli in addition to some shrimp and the shredded sweet potato.  I did my shredding in a my Cuisinart - by all means, buy a bag of broccoli slaw if you are too lazy to grate all that and don't have a machine that does it for you.  Shredded carrot would also work well.

The batter is just rice flour, cornstarch, egg and soda water.  You mix that with the chopped shrimp and veggies.  I cooked mine in a skillet with a layer of oil at the bottom (I probably could have even used less oil than I did).  Flip carefully when they are golden on one side and continue to cook.  I served mine with some soy/rice vinegar/Sriracha dipping sauce.  And the only reason I stopped eating was to upload the photos and write this (one more pancake may disappear before the leftovers make it into the fridge).

That is shrimp, sweet potato, broccoli and green onion all in a tasty little cake.  And it is very, very tasty.

And also... being gluten-free... I do not feel bad eating something that is fried in my own home.  Fried food at most places (even french fries) is a no-no since they also cook wheat things in the same oil. I can't decide I want some french fries and pull into the nearest drive-thru.  I can't go "I feel like a doughnut this morning" and stop and pick one up. If I want something fried, I have to plan ahead an usually make it myself.

Next recipe for my to try in this book is the salt & pepper squid.  It has been one of those things I always wanted to try.... and now if I want to try it, I'll have to make it myself.  It may even get cooked for some "first afternoon of watching football" munchies this weekend.

Oldie but a Goodie.... Sunday Gravy.

That is a happy plate.

It's always happy plates when it is Sunday Gravy night.

I originally used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and since the first time I have probably gotten more lazy and just do this on the fly.  It always works.

Buy a package of bone-in country style pork ribs.  By some beef that looks good/is priced right (a small chuck roast, beef shanks, flank steak - whatever looks good at the market and is priced right.  Tonight, I used beef shanks 'cause they were on sale today).  Buy a package of good Italian sausage, and a couple bottles of your favorite spaghetti sauce.

Then look in your fridge.  Have mushrooms you need to use up?  Slice up those. Zucchini?  Also a good addition.

Yes, it is going to better if you brown up your meat (but if you are really lazy, you don't have to).  You can then dump all the meat and the sauce into the cooking vessel of your choice - either a slow cooker and let it simmer all day, or in a big oven-proof pot that you will bring up to a simmer and then put into a 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

At that time, you need to fish out all the meat, degrease the top of the sauce, and then shred up the meat (slice the sausage).  Then dump it back into the sauce.

The hubby like Pappardelle with his.  For me, I did some risotto in the slow cooker.  I'd rather have risotto than most gluten-free pastas, and I can have that going in a rice cooker on the countertop so I'm not juggling stovetop space.

And even if it burns a little on the bottom of your pot, it's all good.

And it makes enough to feed an army.  A good dish if you're having a bunch of hungry people over (We always have tons of leftovers).

When life hands you something unexpected.... pickle something.

So.  Pickle Party.

(No... not that kind of pickle party.  Get yer mind outta the gutter.)

And event of people pickling thing.  Because pickles are good.

Myself, I like "quick pickles".  Things that are not intended to go into jars and storage (I plan to overcome my fear - thank you, Chuck Jones cartoons for making me forever afraid of things like pressure cookers and canning) but you make and you consume quickly.

I did not come from a family where we pickled things.  I was a child of the 80's who grew up in suburban Chicago, and my grandmothers were more than happy to prove that they were more well off than their foremothers and they didn't have to pickle things... they could go to the grocery store and buy the stuff in cans that someone else prepared.  So my parents didn't really know how to pickle anything.  So I never really learned how to pickle or jar anything.

But I do like a quick pickle.  Something that you douse with vinegar and eat while it's still fairly fresh.

I'd planned to touch on some of my top favorites... marinated carrots, pickled cherries to serve with duck, quick pickled red onions for tacos, and Asian cucumber salad.  But then life happened.

I'd planned to do my shopping for that stuff on Sunday.  But late-ish on Saturday night we got a call that my father in law was being admitted to the ER - he wasn't sure if he was having chest pains or just heartburn, and then he started having trouble trying to stand and other things.  We high-tailed it over to the ER.

Thankfully, by the time we got there, they were already 99% sure it was just dehydration and they were pumping him with fluids.  Sure enough, he started to get better fairly quickly.  But he is over 60 and diabetic and when you are that, they are keeping you in the hospital overnight.  We all stuck around until after midnight when they assigned him a room and gave him some meds that were starting to make him sleepy.  We came home.  And of course, needed to chill a bit before heading to bed.

So that shopping planned for Sunday didn't happen.

Father in law is home, has had more test run and while they did find some minor things, there are no big issues, no issues with his heart, and life has resumed a somewhat normal pace.

So at least you get marinated carrots.

I basically use this recipe.  I made it way back when the magazine issue it was in first came out, to bring to a summer party, so the recipe always reminds me of summer (although with the ingredients, you can really make it any time of the year since carrots are pretty much always in season).  I usually bump up the vinegar and ALWAYS use red wine vinegar.  And "up to two days"?  I think it tastes the best after 2 days (and it usually doesn't last much longer than that - munching on this sure beats munching on bagged baby carrots). 

Tonight it got paired with some leftover baked beans and a BLT (I've learned to not toast my gluten-free bread for sandwiches, it tends to make it way too sandpaper-like on the roof of my mouth).

Nothing super fancy and no jars for my cupboard, but for something this easy, you can make it any time you want.

'Tis the season.....

... for ice cream.

Is there anyone who doesn't love ice cream on a hot summer day?

When I was a kid, it was the extra after-dinner treat to hop on the bike and ride to the nearby Baskin Robbins and get a cone, and then try to eat it before it all melted on you.

And there was always only one flavor for me... Chocolate Peanut Butter.  It don't get much better than chocolate ice cream with a ripple of peanut butter that runs thru it.

I did a recent freezer purge.  And of course, one of my first thoughts is "I can buy some ice cream 'cause I'll have someplace to put it!" 

But the amount of times I've reacted to things lately... every major brand of ice cream has some flavor that involves malt or has some type of cone, cake or brownie hunks in it.  My rule of thumb is to not by products that look like they are made on the same lines as anything else that contains wheat.  That leaves me with no choices when it comes to ice cream.

Hey, idiot, what about the TWO ice cream inserts you never remember to put in the freezer?

Oh yeah, those.

But even with the ice cream maker AND extra insert, actually making ice cream involves bowls and pans and measuring cups, etc., etc., etc. 

Or not.

After I flubbed my first batch of plain vanilla ice cream, I was on the web and stumbled upon recipe that don't require an ice cream maker.  But you have one, you just said so!  The whole reason I had a flubbed batch of ice cream was because I did not let my insert get cool enough, so my mixture never turned into ice cream in the freezer.  And it did happen to be an all-cream mixture, and I read that I could just whip that up to stiff peaks in the mixer, I could then just throw that in the freezer and in a longer wait than the ice cream maker (but no need for an ice cream maker) I would have ice cream.

And it worked.  Oh yeah.

A bit stiff, but still good.

For my next batch, I did actually let the insert properly freeze.  And I wanted my chocolate and peanut butter fix.  And I found some recipes that further simplified the ice cream making process... 2 main ingredients.  1 can of sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups of cream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6-7 oz melted dark or semi-sweet chocolate, slightly cooled (I like it very very choco-tastic)
1/2 cup melted peanut butter, slightly cooled

1. Beat the cream to soft peaks.
2. Add the condensed milk and cooled chocolate.  Mix to combine. 
3. If you are not using an ice cream maker, beat that stuff until it is stiff peaks, then place some in your freezing container and then add a layer of peanut butter, then more ice cream, then the peanut butter, etc.  When all the cream is in there, stick a knife in the container to give it all a few swirls. Freeze for 8 to 12 hours.
4. If you are using an ice cream maker, beat it to soft peaks and add that mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions for making ice cream.  When it is a nice soft ice cream, some in your freezing container and then add a layer of peanut butter, then more ice cream, then the peanut butter, etc. When all the cream is in there, stick a knife in the container to give it all a few swirls.  Freeze for 4-6 hours.

Duck Carnitas... again. In case you also want to go to there.

It is always nice when something so awesome good is also so damned easy.

Duck carnitas.  And you don't even have to make it as complicated as the original recipe.

Buy a whole duck.  If you're feeding more than about 3 people, you might also want to hunt down a few more duck legs for more meat.

If you need to section the duck yourself... it's really not that hard.  Most poultry can be broken down using just a good pair of poultry shears, and you cut the risks of harming yourself with a knife.  You need to cut out the spine, then you can cut the bird into halves, and then section out the breast from the leg portion.  And when you're doing it for the shredded meat, it really doesn't matter how pretty it is.

Season with some garlic cloves and a tablespoon or two of oregano, salt, then squeeze a lime over the top of the duck.

I usually let it marinate for at least a day. 

On what is usually the next evening, I will pull out the duck and put it in the slow cooker to cook overnight.  I also add a slab of salt pork.  Pork + duck is actually one of the flavors of a now-forbidden Chinese food favorite - pressed almond duck (sorry, anyone who avoids pork products who may now feel guilty about eating that now).

And hey... if you happen to have a half a quart of duck fat from the last time you made this... throw that in too!

Yeah... when the hubby saw me throwing THAT in there too, he said "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE HOW YOU MAKE THAT AGAIN BECAUSE NOW I KNOW IT IS BAD FOR ME BUT THEY ARE SO GOOD!".  Which pretty much sums it up.

I also do have the duck spine and neck in the bottom of the pot - makes it easier to fish out the cooked bits on top, and you do end up with some duck broth at the end of it all, so might as well use them.  Or just throw them in the freezer and use them (along with the duck bones when you are done) to make some stock.

I let that go overnight, and then as carefully as possible I fish out the legs and the breasts, and throw them in the fridge to deal with when I get home from work.

You should also save all that delicious duck fat... I usually strain off the solids and just throw the whole thing into the fridge.  The fat will come to the top, and on the bottom you have some duck broth.

Next, you need to pull off the skin as carefully as possible, since you will fry that up later.  Then you pull all the meat off the duck and shred that.

And this is the best part.  All that skin you peeled off?

You put a little duck fat into the bottom of your skillet, and then you fry up the skin until it is nice & crispy like good bacon.

The whole recipe would be worth it for that alone.  When I was making these, the hubby walked into the house in a sour mood (had to work late) but he immediately came over to the cooling/draining plate of duck skins, picked one up, took a bite and smiled.  All ills temporarily forgotten.

With the meat, you throw that into your skillet (with a little of the fat leftover from cooking the skins - I usually have to drain off a bit) and cook that, turning often, until it starts to get a little brown and crispy.

Now tell me that you don't want to slap some of that into a tortilla and start eating.  I know I love Duck Carnitas nights.

Yes Wheat-free Etouffee.

I love that commercial.  That is basically my favorite type of cooking.  Last week, it was veal stock (oh, can't run to the store, honey, I've got veal stock reducing on the stove.  Which pretty much means walking past it every 20 minutes, skimming off any skum, and not doing much else).  This week, it was a wheat-flour-less oven roux.

Etouffee needs a brown roux.  And a brown roux is very, very easy to make in an oven.  1 part oil (I also used some bacon fat) and 1 part flour.  I started with what I thought was a sohrgum flour blend, but one hour in went "wow, it smells like popcorn, I think I used my corn flour" so I added another non-wheat flour blend and some more oil.  Cooked it at 350 degrees and stirred it every 20-30 minutes until I got the color I wanted.

Cooked up some onion, red pepper (used my green pepper yesterday, oops!), celery and garlic.  Added a couple cups of shrimp stock I had in the freezer, and a cup of the veal stock from last weekend.  Let that simmer with some bay leaves and thyme, and tossed in some crawfish tails and green onion at the end.

Delicious.  Tasted like any other good etouffee.

I need it.

I haven't exactly been happy with food for the past few months.  My allergy to wheat is apparently extremely sensative.  I can't eat candy that has been made on the same lines where they have used any wheat.  Other things that seem to be fine for people with things like celiac are NOT okay for me.  And last Thursday and Friday I was having a reaction to something... the suspected culprit was a friggin' RICE CAKE.  From a package that labels them as wheat free, says they have no wheat where they make them, etc. etc.  Too bad that when they grow the rice for those cakes, they also use oats as a cover crop, and either the oats are tainted enough to impact folks or it's just a sensativity to oats sometimes comes along with wheat stuff... I donno.

When you can be felled by a rice cake, yeah... you might start to have issues with food.

Which is why I need to get back to doing things that are "so good, so easy".  Veal stock.  I can't recall the last time I made garlic confit.  Oven roux.  Simmered heavy cream for a sauce that can even make gluten-free pasta good.

Happy Cinco de Mayo - Celebrate with Duck Carnitas!

It started with this recipe.

When I saw Rick Bayless do Duck Carnitas on his PBS show, my immediate cry was "I Want To Go To There!" ala Liz Lemon.

And boy, do you want to go to there too.

I did play around with the recipe a bit... I used a single whole duck (I find a whole duck usually feeds about 3 people).  If I wanted more meat,  I'd probably throw in a couple of extra duck legs with the whole duck.

I skipped the pork fat and went with a whole duck instead.  You can get a LOT of fat out of a whole duck, and frankly, with this wheat allergy thing, I was a bit uncomfortable trying to buy pork fat at the market.  I know they have it... they make their own pork carnitas on the weekend.  But I'm just paranoid that there could have been some wheat contamination I didn't know about.  Easier to just do my own whole duck and skip the pork fat.

On Tuesday night I quarted the duck and seasoned it with oregano, half the salt that is listed in the recipe, and some pepper.  Last night, I threw all the duck parts into the slow cooker, along with a handful of garlic cloves, set it to low, and let it cook overnight.

This morning, I fished out the duck parts and drained the liquid into another container, then stashed it all in the fridge.

Got home from work, then as carefully as I could, I peeled off the skin, and then pulled the meat apart into large chunks.  Then the magic really started.

You throw the skin into a skillet with a little duck fat, and let that crisp up.

Oh yeah... that is what I am talking about....

I had to drain off even more duck fat that rendered out of the skin, and then I tossed in the shredded meat and cooked that until it got all nice & brown & crispy on the edges....

Then it is just a matter of putting it on some corn tortillas with your favorite toppings (I went with some queso fresco, green taco sauce and some pickled shallot).

SO GOOD.

Really.... oh so very good.

Even better when washed down with a margarita.

Risotto in a rice cooker. It is that easy.

If I could leagally marry my rice cooker, I might just do that.  I love it that much.

When you're denied pasta... risotto comes to mind.

I suck at risotto.  I've tried.  And usually had to resort to packaged risotto mixes and they've always been just as bad... as just as attention-consuming.  Always too dry or rice too hard  or just not what I expected.

Not so with the rice cooker.

You start off... put some butter and shallots in your rice cooker, and crank it to high/boil.  I was making a mushroom risotto tonight, so I also added some sliced mushrooms.

Let those cook.  Then add a 1 cup measure from your rice cooker measuring thingy plus and extra 2 tablespoons of rice.

Let that cook for a couple of minutes.  Then add 3 cups (using the trusty rice cooker measuring cup) of stock.  I'm a fan of the Kitchen Basics boxed stuff.  Don't use a real measuring cup for the liquid... use the rice cooker measurer. 

Let that boil away.....

I've found I usually need to start checking rice for done-ness around the 15 minute mark.  It might take up to 25 minutes for the rice to be cooked to your liking.

Add some parm at the end. Because parm is pretty much good on anything.

Lovely, not a lot of fuss risotto.  Yes, you need to  do the chopping of the shallot and the pre-stock steps. but it takes care of itself after that.



The things you miss... (and why I love my rice cooker even more)

"Blue box" mac and cheese.

I know.

I know.

It's so not gourmet... it's trash.... but some days, when you have thunk all you can at work and you have to come home and still come up with something for dinner, it is comforting to know that if you bring a pot of water to boil, about 9 minutes later (after mixing it up) you'll have food.

And I think not only is the pasta a no-no when you need to avoid wheat... they might also put it in the seasoning packet.

I was making some for the hubby, and I wanted to make myself some kind of cheesy rice to try and make myself happy.

I've tried a couple of cheesy rice things off the 'net.... cook your rice and add a couple of slices of processed cheese... and they have not been good.

So I thought.  To make a good homemade mac & cheese (which I actually prefer over the boxed stuff) you cook your pasta, make a white sauce, add cheese to the white sauce and then mix it all.

But.... wait a sec.

I can use my rice cooker to make it's OWN starchy white sauce.

One cup plus 2 tablespoons of sushi rice (it was the only short grain rice I had on hand) plus three cups of chicken stock went into my rice cooker.

And after about 25 minutes you get a lovely risotto (seriously... the price of a rice cooker is worth it for a no-fuss risotto alone....)

Dumped some shredded cheddar and some grated parm.....

And OMG... what a reward.....

Lovely rice.  Cheesy goodness.  Unlike the boxed stuff... it was CHEESE.  And some nice starchy rice.  And just awesomeness. 

I will happily buy another 6-pack of the boxed blue stuff so I can make that for the hubby, and have this working its magic on the countertop for my enjoyment alone.  Blue Box is one of his favorite things.  I am more than happy to not share my rice with his.



Happy Fat Tuesday!!! (and why you need a rice cooker)

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

And Happy Paczki Day!

And considering they brought in the most wonderful looking and smelling paczki at work today and I managed to not stab anyone since I can no longer eat them... I consider the day a success.

This is the first Tuesday before lent in probably the 40 years of his life, my husband has not had a paczki.  His mom usually brings us a couple... she didn't this year.  And I am glad, because I would have made the hubby eat them in a different room than I was in.  Or... you know... stabby thoughts.

In any case... I can still make a good Crawfish Creole for dinner.

First part... that used to be the hardest for me... the rice.

 I love my new rice cooker.

Not only is it red, to match my Kitchen Aid and the one wall in my kitchen, it is the best appliance I have purchased in a LONG time.

I suck at making rice.  Dude... it took me ten minutes to make Minute Rice last week.  Seriously.  So I finally broke down, and went and spent $30 on a rice cooker (you can get an off-brand at Target for half that price).

You put in rice.  (And if you are me, you rinse your rice like 4 times just to be extrasupersure there is nothing "wheat" hanging on to it).

You put in water.

You turn it on.

It turns to warm when it is done.

And you have the most perfect, amazing, fluffy rice.

As for the Crawfish Creole.... I sliced some leeks, a red pepper, green pepper and a yellow pepper and got that cooking.....

Dump in a large can of diced tomatoes...

Add some sliced sausage, frozen okra and garlic and let that simmer away.....

Then throw in a pound of crawfish tails and let it heat thru.

Yum.

Gluten-Free (Good!!!) Superbowl Food

So... my team lost yesterday.  But the Bears really didn't have a shot unless the Packers messed up, and they didn't.

So goes football.

So... what does one make for Football Food when you have to eat gluten-free?

Poppers. 

Yes... poppers.

Based off an older Weight Watchers recipe, I have been making these for YEARS because they are good, and easy.

Halve your jalapenos.  De-seed/rib them.  If you are like me, you might want to wear gloves while you do this - I can do one jalapeno without a lot of pain, but if I am doing more than that, I need rubber gloves to deal with them.

Make a mixture of half low-fat cream cheese and half shredded cheddar cheese.  I did five whole jalapenos, which was about 2 oz of cream cheese and 2 oz of shredded cheddar.  I also added some diced/seeded roma tomatoes that I salted & drained.  I like the little bit of tomato.

Fill your jalapenos.  If you have time, stash them in the fridge.

To cook them, beat up an egg (or a couple if you are doing a lot) and then dip the poppers cheese-side-down into the egg, then into some type of crumb-thing (I used Corn Chex - corn flakes also work).  Place on a sheet tray and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

And you have lovely, lovely poppers.

(they also work, sans the crumb crust, VERY nicely on a grill - cook until the peppers are soft and cheese is bubbly)

Chickpea Flour Crepes

One of the things that has been hardest for me, since having to stop eating wheat, is that I am cheap.

And the store-bought wheat-free alternatives are pretty pricey.  As are some of the flours needed for wheat-free baking - not to mention you have to do a bit of shopping to find all the different flours you need.

Enter... chickpea flour.  We have a large Indian population in the Chicago area, so most stores are fairly well stocked at this point with Indian ingredients.  Which inclues chickpea flour, which is less than three bucks for a small bag of it.

Cheap.  And it makes great crepes.

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoonds fine chickpea flour
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup low-fat milk (or water - both work)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Sift together the chickpea flour, all-purpose flour and salt.

2. Place the eggs, milk (or water) and olive oil in a blender, and turn on the machine. Add the flour, and blend for one minute. Transfer to a bowl or a large measuring cup. (You can also use a bowl and whisk together the ingredients. If blending by hand, put through a strainer.) Set aside for at least 30 minutes; if longer, put the bowl in the refrigerator.

*** DO NOT SKIP THE WAIT TIME.  It is honestly better to put the batter in the fridge overnight rather than skipping this step.  It gives it all time to blend - makes it easier to get rid of any lumps in the batter, and the flavors seem to mellow a bit (you get more "chickpea" taste than "bitter").  Seriously.  Waiting is the key.  Let it go for AT LEAST 30 minutes. ***

3. Heat a well-seasoned or non-stick crêpe pan over medium-high heat, and brush lightly with olive oil. For 6-inch crêpes, ladle in 2 to 3 tablespoons batter per crêpe; for 8-inch crêpes, use 1/4 cup, enough to just cover the pan. The batter should sizzle when it hits the pan. Tilt the pan to distribute the batter evenly, and cook on the first side for less than a minute until nicely colored and easy to flip over. Flip and cook for another 30 seconds, then remove from the pan. Stack the crêpes on a plate as they are done. To reheat, wrap in foil and place in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Alternately, reheat individually in a dry pan.

Yield: Eight 8-inch or 10 6-inch crêpes, serving four.


These have become my new alternative to bread.  It is easy to make up a batch of them and stash them in the fridge so I can pull one out to make a quick wrap with some cheese and/or lunch meat for a quick lunch (you do have to be careful though, they can crack on you if they bend while they are cool... they can crack even when room temp since they have no wheat flour, but they stay pretty managable).

Monday Meal on a Sunday

Red beans & rice.

The history goes that on Monday, you'd throw the bone leftover from your Sunday ham into a pot with some beans, let it simmer all day while you did the wash, and then have red beans and rice for dinner.

I can see that logic.  I did mine in the slow cooker, and even though I did this as a "side" for crawfish enchiladas... I think we enjoyed the beans & rice more than the enchiladas.

One of the things that irked me, big time, when I found out I was allergic to wheat was that in all my usual rice mix things, there was wheat.  Really??  REALLY???  You have to go and ruin something I can have like rice by adding wheat to it??

I knew I wanted to make crawfish enchiladas tonight, and I do love some red beans and rice as a side for that.  Time to buck it up and make it for myself.

And holy crap, was it easy.

This was my recipe... which I pretty much followed.  I did throw in both a ham hock and some smoked ham necks.  I used Polish sausage (that I wouldn't eat as part of a cabbage & sausage meal, but it was tasty in this).

The beans....

And, yes, this is one recipe where a ham hock is important.  Ham hocks... if you actually see them at your grocery store you might look at them and think they are odd (I know I did as a kid... until my family started cooking cajun food).  If you don't see them at your grocery store and you want to make this recipe.... seriously.... find them somewhere.  They are cheap, and they are good.  I know at the place I seem to buy most of my meat and produce, the butchers are all Mexican.  But they do a damned fine ham hock (and the smoked necks were pretty good too, must remember those).  They were like $1.29 per pound.  And worth every penny in the final dish.

Ham hocks and smoked pork necks, having done their duty for the beans.

Thank you, ham products.  Thank you.

Christmas Cookie FAIL

Sigh.  Gluten-free baking is, so far, WAY harder than I thought it would be.

I learned at Thanksgiving that if I want sweet treats somewhere, I'd better bring them myself or I'm gonna be screwed.  Sure, at Thanksgiving, we had my crepe cake, but that was about my only option.  So I figured for Christmas, I'd try some gluten-free cookies.

Like these.  DO NOT MAKE THIS RECIPE.  I seriously think it is missing ingredients or something, because as written, it totally did not work.  I've been wanting to try that recipe for awhile - sounds good on the surface, right??

HA.

It has to be missing ingredients, because when you mix it up as written, it is beyond crumbly.

I also tried another recipe that used chickpea flour.

Aaaaaand in both those recipes, I thought I grabbed my chickpea flour. 

Nope... .grabbed the masa harina (corn flour).  And I didn't figure it out until both doughs were made.  So I just sai "F(#@((#&# IT" and went with it.

And both batches of cookies were awful.  So awful, I tried the chickpea flour-chocolate-cashew cookies again with the right flour.

They were still awful.  I think in both recipes, it was the cornstarch.  It does not do good things in a cookie.

I shoulda just made the stinkin' crepe cake again.  Or bought cookies at the store.

I figure I have until Easter to find some recipes that DO work.  The big challenge is also trying to find recipes that do not use almond flour, since the hubby's cousin has nut allergies and it's nice to be able to make something he can have, too.

But he was not lucky on Christmas... all I had to bring was buckeyes (can't go wrong with just peanut butter, powdered sugar and chocolate chips).