Happy New Year all and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! My husband and I were both off starting Christmas Eve, and we go back to work tomorrow. We've enjoyed our relaxing vacation and a lot of fun times with family and good friends, but now it's time to get back into the swing of things - going back to work, eating slightly more healthy (and trying to trim down for an upcoming cruise!) and not skipping as many workouts. :-)
However, I do have to say, I have one complaint about this past holiday (technically, two, but they're rolled up into one). I had not one, but two, incredibly humbling experiences in the kitchen over the holidays. I like to think of myself as a good cook - I may not always cook the healthiest, lightest stuff around but it always tastes good. I haven't royally messed anything up in a long while, but I think it's fair to admit when I do - and see what lessons I can learn for the next time!
The first, was my in-laws' holiday party. My mother in law asked me to bring a couple of things, including my gluten free pepperoni pizza puffs. Based on the number of people we expected to attend, we decided that a double batch would probably be best. Now, I was rushed that day - I came home from bootcamp at the gym and had just enough time to shower and cook before heading out to the party - and I didn't want to cook two separate batches, so I borrowed her mini muffin tins and crammed all four tins in my oven. I cooked them for the usual amount of time, figuring that since more stuff was in the oven I'd check them and see if they needed more time. Unfortunately - I'm guessing due to the fact that the tins were much closer to the side of my oven than usual - I ended up burning about half of them. Not. Cool.
So - lesson one: When doubling a batch of anything, try to keep the amount in the oven the same if possible. And if cramming more in the oven than usual, keep checking on everything starting at the halfway point!
Anyway, the pizza puffs ended up not being quite the catastrophe that they could have been, because the party guest list was halved due to snowy weather. Still, that's so annoying!
The second, was last night. New Years' Eve. A couple of close friends had decided that a low-key night with board games was the best way to ring in 2013. We had a gluten free restriction, a vegetarian (but eggs and cheese were OK), and a white/black pepper allergy. We decided that keeping it low-key was in order, so I decided to make pizzas - I made my favorite white broccoli pizza, along with a half-cheese/half-mushroom pizza and a pepperoni pizza. I also made buffalo chicken dip, Indian relish dip, and put out a cranberry spice cheese with Glutino cinnamon bagel chips (yum - my mother in law found that combination over the holiday, and it's like crack). And I made my champagne punch, as well as a requested toxic party punch (toxic because it doesn't taste like alcohol and goes down smooth, but is extremely potent), so we were all set! We also had macaroons and amarettis from our Christmas baking extravaganza, and friends brought an awesome fruit platter!
First things first - I bought Penzey's pizza seasoning, but when I read the ingredient label I saw black pepper. You know that scene in Bridget Jones' Diary, where her boss catches her on the phone with a friend, and then catches her lying that she was talking to a dead author? .... Yeah, that was my reaction. I texted my friend quickly, asking her if she wanted a pizza with plain marinara sauce, but fortunately her allergy isn't that severe, so she said she'd take a Benadryl and to season away! So I did, but kept it on the light side.
My master plan here was to make the pizza crusts ahead of time, and then just put the toppings on them when everyone got to the house. Sounds good in theory, right? Well, unfortunately, keeping them in the oven on warm for half an hour dried out the crusts so they were hard and rather unappetizing. :-(
So - lesson two: New cooking techniques are better to be experimented on just us, first, And New Years' Resolution: Find out how to make pizza crusts ahead of time, so they can just be taken out and warmed up with toppings, and still taste great!
Ah well. We still had a great time, played games like Cards Against Humanity and Dirty Minds, enjoyed good company and good conversation, and rang in 2013 in style. Even with my culinary mishap.
Final lesson - lesson three: Don't let a kitchen disaster ruin your night!
Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Gluten free holiday party recipes
Happy holidays! I can't believe it's already December 6. Time is flying - and I don't feel anywhere near ready for Christmas!
Anyway - with all of the holiday parties, etc. going on this time of year, I wanted to share some of my favorite go-to holiday recipe bookmarks. These are great if hosting a party, and super-easy to make if bringing dishes over to someone's house as well!
Appetizer: Indian Relish
This is my FAVORITE appetizer recipe. When I'm done following the recipe as-is, I stir in a brick of softened 1/3 less fat cream cheese (I usually use Philadephia, because of Kraft's labelling policy, but the brand probably doesn't matter as long as it's gluten free). Make the night before you want to serve or bring it, and let it chill in the fridge overnight - serve with plain rice crackers. It's delicious in a sweet-then-spicy, addictive sort of way.
Main dish: Chili
This is a nice, simple, not-too-hot (unless you customize it) chili. It's great to bring in a crock pot if you're not sure someone's going to have gluten free offerings, and they'll always go quickly! I serve this chili with Scoops, sour cream, cheddar cheese, diced onions and diced avocados and it's amazing - and always goes!
Dessert: Pecan Clouds
These are a super-yummy, easy and naturally gluten free holiday dessert. I use dark brown sugar for these, and they were also my go-to gluten free "pecan" dessert on Thanksgiving. I use chopped pecans (or chop them myself).
Addictive Snack: Caramel Corn
This is my favorite fall-and-winter recipe. I use light brown sugar for these. It's wonderful, addictive, good for a dessert or a snack, and is guaranteed to be polished off. I usually make these in my turkey roasting pan so I have enough room to stir - it's good hot, but even better once it cools off!
Hope that helps if you're looking for something to make this holiday season!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Gluten Free Pigs in a Blanket
So, this year my husband and I are hosting Thanksgiving for our families. The last couple of years my mother in law has been hosting Thanksgiving while I concentrate on finals, but this year was our turn. Well, one of the things that we had been thinking of for an appetizer were pigs-in-a-blanket: something that we hadn't had since childhood (when we used Pillsbury crescent rolls). I wasn't sure if I could do these, so I tried a trial run yesterday for lunch:
First, I bought a package of Hillshire Farms cocktail weiners (after checking online and finding out that Sara Lee is another company that promises to clearly label gluten in their ingredients list - while I much prefer companies that go the extra mile and slap "gluten free" on their label, I won't complain here). Then, I rifled through my recipe box and found a pumpkin pie recipe that I had made a few years' back (the last time I hosted Thanksgiving).
Here's the pie crust recipe, from Libby's: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/143974/Gluten-Free-Pie-Crust-with-LIBBYS-Famous-Pumpkin-Pie-Filling/detail.aspx I hade made this the last time I hosted Thanksgiving, and used the crust for both a pumpkin pie as well as a homemade apple pie for my husband and mother in law. My husband liked the pie, but my mother-in-law informed me that it was not nearly sweet enough for a pie crust and needed a lot more sugar. So, in the recipe box it went, but I remembered how easy it was to roll out the pie crust and figured it might be an easy way to make pigs in a blanket.
It's a pretty easy pie crust recipe:
- CRUST
- 1 cup white rice flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon apple cider or white vinegar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
- The instructions basically have you combine all the dry ingredients, then cut in the butter and mix until it's crumbly. Then add the egg and apple cider vinegar. After that, just sprinkle the water in slowly until you get to the desired consistency - which is to be able to shape the dough into a ball. Now, be careful with the water here - just a smidge too much water and it's much harder to roll. I dusted my rolling pin with cornstarch, and it was very easy to roll out this crust with a rolling pin.
- I rolled out the dough very thin and cut with a knife. I then rolled up the weiners in the dough and placed them on a greased baking sheet. Don't over-do Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes - until the dough starts to get a little golden brown. Mine never got golden brown on top, just on the bottom. Don't over-cook them and make sure to check the bottoms after 15 minutes.
Serve immediately, with spicy mustard - we like French's. :-)
Friday, July 6, 2012
Apple Cinnamon Chex
That said - I hate to say it, but as soon as I got my hands on a box of Apple Cinnamon Chex? ... Not that big of a fan. There's a very strong apple taste that overpowers the cinnamon flavor, and it doesn't quite go well with milk. I love their Cinnamon Chex, and think that their current Cinnamon Chex would have been a better place to start for an apple cinnamon flavor.
My suggestion: Combine some Cinnamon Chex with Rice Chex to tone down the cinnamon flavor, and add dried apples to make them "apple cinnamon."
That said - I'm glad that General Mills is innovating and creating new products. Now if only Post and Kelloggs would follow suit and add more options than Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles and Gluten Free Rice Krispies!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Nacho Cheese Doritos
Every week, for years, whenever he's been in the chip aisle of the grocery store, he's picked up a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, seen that they still contain wheat, and said "Why!?!?"
... Until last week that is. We went to the grocery store and saw "Contains milk" under the ingredient list - NO WHEAT. Of course, I was immediately paranoid that it still contained wheat and it was a labeling mistake until I contacted Frito-Lay.
I'm happy to say that Nacho Cheese Doritos no longer contains wheat. I still wouldn't feel comfortable buying a bag that said "Contains wheat," and I'd double check the ingredient list to make sure you don't get an old bag, but how sweet - or should I say cheesy ;-) - is this?
Anyway, the response from my inquiry to Frito-Lay is after the jump:
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Sneak Peek at Elizabeth Barbone's New Book!
Anyway, Elizabeth has a new book coming out, How to Cook Gluten Free. I was among those fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at some of the recipes in this book and so far I'm very impressed. One of the recipes that Elizabeth shared with me was for "Powdered Sugar Doughnut" muffins, and I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued. Muffins... that taste like doughnuts? Impossible, I thought. Powdered doughnuts are one of the things that my chocolate-hating husband misses the most since going gluten free, and I knew that if these were even half as good as promised I'd have enough good wife points to score a date to an opening weekend showing of The Hunger Games. :-) So here goes nothing...
Two things I noticed about the recipe right off the bat: first of all, this was a muffin recipe with no butter. Seems almost inconceivable, right? Second, this recipe calls for corn starch (among other ingredients) which I rarely use in baking. Before I continue, I'll offer you a tip: pouring corn starch out of that big plastic Argo container into a small measuring cup? Not necessarily a good idea. Especially if wearing superdark jeans and a black sweater. Moving on... So, I followed Elizabeth's directions ALMOST to a T (I used a regular muffin pan rather than a mini muffin pan) and ended up with a dozen powdered muffins. I let them cool for as long as I could stand it, and then sampled a muffin while still warm. It was good - my husband and I shared the "tester" muffin and left the rest for breakfast the next morning. Let me tell you - don't bother testing the muffin, just let them all totally cool off. Because the next morning the flavor and texture was EXACTLY a powdered sugar doughnut. The only thing that was missing was a big glob of jam in the middle to make it a jelly doughnut (which will definitely be added next time!). Let's just put it this way. If the rest of her recipes are as good as these doughnut muffins, we're all in for a treat. :)
If you decide to make these muffins on your own, one tip: If you think you've put too much powdered sugar on the muffin, add some more. Some of the sugar will get sucked into the muffin after a day or so. And, well, just as I feel that cupcakes are "frosting delivery services" I feel that doughnuts are "frosting/sugar/filling" delivery services and the amount of what is delivered needs to be maximized. ;-)
OK OK, I was going to write a teaser entry and make you all salivate over this, but Elizabeth gave me permission to post this recipe and share it with you.
Ingredients:
Gluten-free nonstick cooking spray
Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking power
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 ground nutmeg (Note from Kat: The piece de resistance!)
Wet Ingredients
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (Note from Kat: I used canola)
1 large egg
1 package (1 pound) powdered sugar
1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and
preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease the
cavities of a mini muffin pan with nonstick
cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry
ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk
to combine. The batter will be thin.
3. Fill the muffin cavities about half full. Bake for
20 to 25 minutes, until the muffins are golden
brown.
HOW TO COOK GLUTEN-FREE
4. While the muffins are baking, fill an 8-inch
square baking dish with the powdered sugar.
5. Remove the muffins from the oven and
working in batches, place them directly into
the powdered sugar. Gently roll the muffins in
the sugar to cover them. The steam from the
hot muffins will make the sugar stick to the
muffins. Remove the muffins from the sugar
and tap off any excess. Transfer the muffins
to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight
container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1
month.
Makes 24 mini muffins
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Cupcake Decorating at Bettie's Cupcakes
This class started out with fondant - coloring and shaping fondant for their bodies, eyeballs, beaks, etc. We hand-kneaded balls of fondant and then colored them with a sort of high-test, thick food coloring. We kept some white, and used green, black, red, yellow, blue, and orange (for beaks).
We used buttercream frosting to fill the cupcakes (just pressing down the pastry bag in the cupcake and slowly squirting filling in - my new favorite cupcake technique) and then as a base for the fondant. Then we used chocolate chips for eyeballs and the pig's snout and ears. Don't these look adorable? (Full disclosure - the tongue on the pig was my creative license and not part of the instructions). The cupcakes tasted GREAT - though unfortunately after a couple of days they got a little stale (in other words, eat quickly or share!). I'd definitely take another class though - it's a fun time decorating these cupcakes and I think I learned a thing or two! Bettie's has a lot of different themed classes announced on their FB page if you're interested!
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