Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Best Gluten Free Waffles

Here's another awesome recipe, meaning that it tastes normal and doesn't have a weird texture.

Ingredients:
1 cup white or brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk (more or less to consistency)
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Pour batter into waffle iron and cook until golden brown. Serve with syrup, fresh fruit and whipped cream, or ice cream!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Gluten Free Perfect Pancakes

Wow, these turn out great! Just right, very close to normal ones.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups GF flour blend (see recipe below)
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 3/4 cups milk (more or less to desired consistency)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp oil

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients, then add milk, eggs, and oil. Stir until well blended and no lumps remain. Pour onto pre-heated griddle and cook. Serve warm, or freeze extras to save for later.


GF Flour Blend
2 cups rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour

I usually make up a huge batch of this and store it in my cupboard, because I find it substitutes well in almost any recipe that calls for store-bought GF mixes, or even in most wheat flour recipes.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

All-Around Amazing Asparagus


This is a fantastic asparagus recipe, even better than Aunt Les' (for anybody who remembers the miracle of seasoned salt). My buddy and made this for our dates tonight, and it was pretty incredible, if I do say so myself.

  • 1 bunch asparagus spears, ends trimmed
  • Some butter (enough to sautee mushrooms and onions in)
  • 1 (8 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
  • 1 onion, minced
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  1. Steam the asparagus spears in a basket-style steamer over boiling water until tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain and remove to a serving dish; keep warm.
  2. Meanwhile, some butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted (it's ok if it begins to brown), stir in the sliced mushrooms, and cook until they brown, soften, and begin to release their liquid; pour into a serving dish, and set aside. Melt some more butter in the skillet, and stir in the onions. Cook until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Season with garlic powder, basil, salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped pecans, and cook for a minute more.
  3. Sprinkle the onion mixture with half of the Parmesan cheese, and stir in the reserved mushrooms. Pour over the asparagus in the serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Fresh Asparagus, Tomato and Feta Salad


INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 pound asparagus - cut into 1-inch pieces, cooked and drained

1 (4 ounce) container crumbled feta

1 container grape tomatoes, halved

2 green onion, diced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Whisk together the cider vinegar, white sugar, salt, and olive oil in the bottom of a salad bowl. Add the asparagus, feta, tomato, green onion, and parsley to the bowl with the dressing; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Monday, April 20, 2009

GF Fruiti Sushi


Talk about cute, fun, and tasty! Kids love it. This recipe comes from www.chex.com/glutenfree, and they have lots of other fun recipes that are also GF, so check it out.


1 1/4 cups Rice Chex® cereal (gluten free)
1 cup white vanilla chips
4 rolls Betty Crocker® Fruit Roll-Ups® chewy fruit snack in favorite flavor (from 5-oz box), unwrapped
12 candy worms

1. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with fingers to 3/4 cup.
2. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla chips as directed on package until melted and stirred smooth. Add crushed cereal; stir until well coated.
3. Unroll fruit snack rolls. For each sushi roll, spread 1/4 of cereal mixture on snack roll to within 1/2 inch of one short side. Arrange 3 candy worms, side by side, on cereal-covered short side.
4. Starting with short side topped with candy worms, roll up each snack roll tightly, pressing unfilled short side of roll to seal.
5. Let sushi rolls stand 5 to 10 minutes or until firm. Cut each roll into 4 slices.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Bean and Veggie Soup


I found this one today when I was looking for a tasty veggie soup. It was super easy, because I just put in a bunch of frozen veggies, and it made a ton! So now I have some leftovers. Plus, my kids are both eating it, so that's always a good sign. Try it!

5 cups vegetable broth, (or use water with optional veg. bouillon)
14 1/2 ounces tomatoes -- Italian style
15 ounces canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15 ounces canned cannellini beans, chickpeas, or other white beans, drained and rinsed
2 pounds chopped vegetables (may be frozen)--any combination--try to include carrots, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini
1/2 cup diced potatoes or corn
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon thyme
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco, or other hot sauce
4-6 ounces fresh or frozen spinach

Combine all ingredients except spinach in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until veggies are done (frozen veggies may cook faster than fresh ones. Add additional broth if necessary. Add spinach and cook for 5 more minutes before serving.
Serves 4-8, depending on your appetite

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Gluten Free Strawberry Upside Down Cake


The vanilla cake recipe could be used for a regular vanilla cake, or any other variation.

NOTE TO ALL NORMAL EATERS: This recipe could be made with a regular cake mix. Just be sure to use a 9X13 pan instead, since it will make more cake than my GF recipe. Make cake batter as directed on back of box and then pour over marshmallows. Bake 40-50 minutes.

Ingredients
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 recipe of vanilla cake batter (see below)

Directions
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Spread sliced strawberries on the bottom of a greased round baking pan with tall sides, or a greased 9X9 square pan. Evenly sprinkle strawberries with the dry gelatin powder, and top with mini marshmallows.

Prepare the cake batter from recipe below, and pour on top of the marshmallows. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. (Note: If you stick the toothpick in a marshmallow spot, it will still come out sticky, but the cake part should come out clean.) Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen the sides, and turn the cake out onto a serving tray. Store cake in the refrigerator.


Vanilla Cake Batter

Ingredients
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup corn starch
2/3 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil

Directions
Sift together sugar, corn starch and potato starch in mixing bowl. Add baking soda, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. Add vanilla extract, egg, milk, and oil. Stir until smooth.