No One Likes Crumbley Cookies

Gluten Free Oreo Cremes

2012-03-14T21:47:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, here is a quick, easy, and delicious dessert using Glutino sandwich cookies and Jello
pudding. Feel free to substitute the cream with 2% milk. The only change is the dessert will have to set for longer.

Prep Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4 ramekins

Ingredients:
1 container of Glutino Cookies
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 3.4 oz package of vanilla instant pudding
1 pint heavy cream

Steps:
Crush one row of the cookies, with the filling removed. Mix with the butter and evenly press into the 4 ramekins.

Leave 4 cookies aside. Take the rest of the cookies, remove the filling, and crush. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pudding and cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the cookies and evenly distribute in the ramekins. Refrigerate for an hour before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and whole cookies.

Gluten Free Fresh Fruit Crepes

2012-03-07T06:02:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Earlier today I posted a recipe for a sweet dessert crepe (Brownie Crepes with Strawberry Wine Sauce) and a savory crepe (Basil and Tomato Crepe with Feta) both of which are gluten free. Here's a simple yet awesome fresh fruit crepe that goes perfect with any breakfast. I love the taste of strawberries and blueberries together, but feel free to substitute with your favorites.

Be sure to go to this link to view my main ratio rally post, which contains a list of all the awesome crepe recipes our group created.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Bake Time: 1 -2 minutes per crepe

Serves: 4 crepes

Ingredients:

Crepes

50g egg (~1 large egg)

50g milk

2 tsp vanilla

10g tapioca flour

15g potato starch

Filling

6-7 Strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup blueberries

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Steps

In a small bowl, combine the berries and the sugar. Stir until the sugar evenly coats the berries. Set aside (and try to avoid eating it until you have no filling like I did!)

Whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Whisk in the flour and starch. Set aside for 30 minutes.

To make the crepes, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add about 1/2 tbsp of butter, and coat the inside of the pan. If there is any melted butter pooling in the pan, discard it before adding the batter, or else you're first crepe will end up greasy (believe me).

Add a small amount of batter ( several tablespoons ) of the pan, and swirl the pan around to coat the bottom of the pan with the batter. Let cook for 45 seconds to 1 minutes. Flip the crepe, and cook for another 30 seconds.

Fill the crepe with the berry mixture, along with whipped cream if you desire.

Gluten Free Basil Tomato and Feta Crepes

2012-03-07T05:46:00.000-05:00

Lesson of the day: Its hard to take a picture of the filling in a filled crepe...

As a part of hosting the Ratio Rally this month, I tried to make a whole variety of sweet and savory crepes. One weekend in February, I hosted a brunch with friends where we had this crepe recipe and a fresh fruit crepe.

This is a great crepe with a fresh tomato and basil filling that is light, healthy, and delicious! I recommend using cherry or baby tomatoes in this recipe, I love the texture of smaller tomatoes over grown ones.

Be sure to check back to this link to see all of the Ratio Rally gluten free recipes posted.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Bake Time: 1 -2 minutes per crepe

Serves: 4 crepes

Ingredients:

Crepes

50g egg (~1 large egg)

50g milk

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

10g tapioca flour

15g potato starch

4-6 cherry or baby tomatoes

4 leaves of fresh basil

1/4 cup feta cheese

salt and pepper

Steps

Whisk together the egg, milk, and powders until combined. Whisk in the flour and starch. Set aside for 30 minutes. To make the crepes, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add about 1/2 tbsp of butter, and coat the inside of the pan. If there is any melted butter pooling in the pan, discard it before adding the batter, or else you're first crepe will end up greasy (believe me).

For the filling, dice the tomatoes into cubes, and place into a small bowl. Chop the basil and add to the bowl with the feta and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir to combine, and use as filling for cooked crepes.

Ratio Rally: Gluten Free Brownie Crepes with Strawberry Sauce

2012-03-06T22:52:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone! Its the first Wednesday of the month, and time for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! This month I had the chance to host, and I was excited to have the theme of Crepes! Back when I went to school in Charlottesville (before going gluten-free), there was this one hole in the wall restaurant that served some of the best crepes I ever had. Because of this, I now associate crepes with college memories of some of my closest friends. That's why I was pleased to come up with a variety of savory and sweet gluten free crepes.

For those who are new to the Gluten Free Ratio Rally, its an initiative that a group of gluten free bloggers started last year. Each month we take a recipe normally made with wheat or other glutenous materials and make it gluten free, based on a simple ratio of weights. If the concept sounds interesting and you would like to join, please contact through my Twitter or contact page. The ratio that I used for my crepes is:

1:2:2

flour : liquid : egg

After some experimentation, I settled on a flour mix of potato and tapioca flours. I found that I had a great texture that didn't easily fall apart. Many other bloggers found great success in buckwheat mixes, so be sure to check all of the recipes.

The most difficult part for me was the baking of the crepes. I own stainless steel pans, so I tried the following combinations:

Using a smaller 4-5″ pan with vegetable oil or butter
Using a 8″ pan with vegetable oil or butter.

From what I found with cooking them, I had the best results baking them in a smaller, 4 or 5″ pan using butter over medium heat. In this size pan I was able to get about 4 crepes out of 1/2 a cup of batter. I ended up on this baking method for 2 reasons:

- with the 4″ pan I had a more evenly baked crepe. With a larger pan the resulting crepes were slightly burnt of the outside and not totally done on the inside. Which goes to reason #2….
- with the 4″ pan I had a much easier time not breaking or ripping my crepe. With a larger pan I was only able to get one, non broken crepe out of 4, while I had a 4 for 4 success rate with the smaller pan.

Another useful tip: let you crepe batter sit 30 minutes before baking them, you'll end up with much better crepes.

Please be sure to check out all of our awesome bloggers and their recipes:

Adina ~ Gluten Free Travelette ~ Breakfast Crepes Three Ways

Angela ~ Angela's Kitchen ~ Savory Buckwheat Crepes with Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Kale Filling

Caitlin ~ {Gluten-Free} Nom Nom Nom ~ Buckwheat Crepes

Caleigh ~ Gluten Free[k] ~ Banana Cinnamon Crepes

Caneel ~ Mama Me Gluten Free ~ Slightly Sweet Crepes with Caramelized Bananas and Nutella Sauce

Charissa ~ Zest Bakery ~ Black Pepper Crepes with Chicken Tikka Masala

Claire ~ My Gluten Free Home ~ Victory Crepe Cake

Erin ~ The Sensitive Epicure ~ Socca with Za'atar & Sumac (Garbanzo Flour Crepes)

Ginger ~ Fresh Ginger ~ Sweet 'n Savory

gretchen ~ kumquat ~ nutella crepe cake

Heather ~ Discovering the Extraordinary ~ "Southwestern" Crepes

Jenn ~ Jenn Cuisine ~ Braised Duck, Fennel and Chestnut Crêpes

Karen ~ Cooking Gluten-Free! ~ Gluten Free Crepes Savory or Sweet

Mary Fran ~ FrannyCakes ~ Gluten-free Peanut Butter Crepe Cake

Mary Fran ~ FrannyCakes ~ Gluten-Free Vanilla Bean Crêpes Sucrées

Monika ~ Chew on This! ~ Dessert crepes with caramelized plantains, toasted coconut and chocolate sauce

Morri ~ Meals with Morri ~ Russian Blini for Two

Pete and Kelli ~ No Gluten, No Problem ~ Key Lime Crepes

Shauna ~ gluten-free girl ~ Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes

T.R. ~ No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ Brownie Crepes with Strawberry Wine sauce

T.R. ~ No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ Basil Tomato and Feta Crepes

T.R. ~ No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ Fresh Fruit Crepe

Tara ~ A Baking Life ~ Breakfast Crepes with Eggs and Kale

Jonathan ~ The Canary Files ~ Vegan Crepes for Filipino Spring Rolls

Rachel ~ The Crispy Cook ~ Raspberries and Cream Crepes

~Mrs. R ~ Honey From Flinty Rocks ~ Crepes - Spinach & Dessert

Brownie Crepes with Strawberry Wine Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Bake Time: 1 -2 minutes per crepe

Serves: 4 crepes

Ingredients:

Crepes

50g egg (~1 large egg)

50g milk

2 tsp vanilla

10g tapioca flour

15g potato starch

Sauce

10 sliced strawberries

3 tbsp white wine

1 tsp lemon juice

1-2 gluten free brownies, cubed

whipped cream

Steps

Whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Whisk in the flour and starch. Set aside for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce, in a small sauce pan, combine the berries, wine, and juice, and simmer over medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes, or until the berries are soft and the wine has become a vibrant red from the berries.

Fill the crepe with brownies and strawberry sauce, and top with the whipped cream. Enjoy!

Greenslove: Gluten Free Balsamic Arugula Salad

2012-03-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I've had a fairly busy past month with all things work and life related, but I'm excited to be ramping my blogging up again, starting with #greenslove. I became overly excited with the theme of greens this month when I walked into my local Whole Foods and saw all the amazing, colorful, fresh produce.

There's already an amazing amount of green recipes thus far, and I'm excited to share my first of the month, an Arugula salad interlaced with bell pepper, topped with london broil, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a balsamic dressing. I just love the combo of the bitter greens, the richness of the beef, the saltiness of the feta, and the sweet addition of balsamic.

Its a great recipe to use if you have left over london broil, and if not it can easily be substituted with leftover chicken.

Thank you to all of the wonderful co-hosts for this month's #greenslove!

Al Dente Gourmet ~ Aldy ~ @AlDenteGourmet

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @astigvegan

Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cheap Ethnic Eatz ~ Evelyne ~ @cethniceatz

Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica ~ @kbelleicious

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

My Twisted Recipe ~ Dudot ~ @mytwistedrecipe

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Queen's Notebook ~ Elizabeth ~ @Mango_Queen

Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~@TAofCRF

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

And be sure to check everyone's post on the bloghop! And feel free to add your own green recipes as well!

Gluten Free Arugula Salad with London Broil & Balsamic Dressing

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1

Ingredients
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder

2-3 handfuls of baby arugula and frisee
1/4 bell pepper
3-4 thin slices (as thin as you can get!) of london broil
sprinkle of feta cheese
2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
dash pepper

Steps
In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, garlic, and onion powder until well combined. Set aside.

Thinly slice the bell pepper into strips. In a single serving bowl or plate, mix together the argulua and bell pepper. Fold the london broil and layer on top of the salad. Sprinkle the top with the feta and thyme leaves. Add a dash of pepper, and hooray! A quick, single serving salad for a dinner or lunch.

Roasted Chicken Stuffed with Rice

2012-02-26T20:26:00.001-05:00

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 80 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

1/2 red apple, diced

1 tbsp melted butter

2 tsp chopped rosemary

2 tsp chopped thyme

1 3lb chicken

2 tbsp butter, melted

salt and pepper

(twine to tie the chicken)

Steps

In a small saucepan, sautee the onion and garlic until the onion has become a translucent yellow.

In a small bowl, combine the rice, onion, garlic, apple, tbsp melted butter, rosemary and thyme.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Remove any giblets from your chicken, and rinse it with cold water. Pat the cavity and outside dry with a paper towel. Stuff the inside of the cavity with the rice stuffing. Tie the chicken legs together by doing the following:

-Take a string of twine, and pull it under the two legs until the ends touch.

-Form an X using the twine, by wrapping each end of the twine over its respective leg, and then under the opposite leg.

-Tie the string with a knot.

Spread the melted butter over the chicken, and liberally season with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered in 375F oven for 40 minutes, and then for another 40 at 450F, or until a thermometer reads 170F.

Remove the rice from the chicken, and carve to serve. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Brownies

2012-02-19T21:19:00.003-05:00

Servings 16 brownies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Bake Time 23 minutes

Ingredients
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
peanut butter and whipped cream for topping

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.

In a small sauce pan, melt the 4oz chocolate and butter over low heat until fully melted. Stir in the sugar and vanilla until the sugar lumps have dissolved. To this whip in the eggs until well combined. Fold in the flours, gum, and powder until well combined. Do not over stir. Stir in the chocolate chips, and pour into the pan.

Bake for 23 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cut and serve with peanut butter and whipped cream. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Cake

2012-02-12T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I hope that you're having a wonderful weekend! To continue the theme of the month, #chocolatelove, here's a delicious recipe that's perfect for Valentine's Day this week. It's a tasty yellow cake filled with a chocolate cherry filling and frosted with a whipped chocolate frosting. For this cake I like to take the batter for a 9in round pan and make 4 smaller round cakes out of it. It's a great technique for making gluten free cakes that cook evenly and don't sink in the middle. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

The cake recipe is based on Ruhlman's Ratio for sponge cake, and the whipped chocolate frosting recipe is located here.

Servings 2 4"inch 2-layer cakes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Bake Time 25 minutes

Ingredients
Yellow Cake
4 eggs and 1 yolk, room temperature
8 oz sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 oz white rice flour
3 oz potato starch
2 oz tapioca flour
2 sticks melted butter, room temperature

Cherry filling
1/4 cup cherries, halved and pitted
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup of whipped chocolate frosting

Whipped chocolate frosting (see recipe here)

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and dust either 1 9inch round cake pan or 4 small 4inch springform pans.

Combine the eggs, sugar, juice, and vanilla. Whisk for a few minutes until the eggs have tripled in volume. In a small bowl, combine the powder, flours, and starch. Fold the flour into the egg mix, 1/2 a cup at a time. Once combined, pour the butter into the batter and fold until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake for 20 minutes in the smaller pans (30 minutes if using a 9inch pan), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a small sauce pan, combine the cherries, white wine, juice, and sugar. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook the cherries for about 20 minutes, or until the flesh is soft and tender. Remove the sauce from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Once cool, fold in the 1/2 cup of frosting. If using 1 9in pan, use a knife to separate the cake into 2 layers. To assemble the cake:

Place the bottom layer onto a plate. Place a sizable amount of the cherry filling onto the cake and spread. You want this layer to be between 1/4 to 1/2 an inch.

Place another layer on top upside down, so that the flat bottom of the cake creates a smooth surface on the top.

Finally frost and enjoy your cake! Keep in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days to preserve freshness.

Chocolatelove: Gluten Free Chocolate Wine Cookies

2012-02-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, Happy Saturday!

I hope that y'alls month has started off well, and I'm excited to co-host #chocolatelove this month! There's already several amazing recipes out today, and I'm contributing my first recipe, gluten free chocolate wine cookies.

This recipe is based upon a red wine cookie recipe that I found earlier this month from this link. Its fairly easy to make, and super tasty! For this adaptation, I use chocolate red wine from a local winery in Virginia. If you can't find any chocolate infused wines, just substitute with red wine and 2 tbsp cocoa. Chocolate wines are fairly easy to find in organic-grocery stores. Also, don't be thrown off if the cookie dough looks gray before baking, it'll turn into an awesome purple color once baked!

I hope you enjoy, and here's a few of my favorite older chocolate recipes:
Gluten Free Chocolate Waffles with Mocha Ice Cream
Gluten Free Blackberry Chocolate Truffles
Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Pie
Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Creme Brulee

Thank you to all my co-hosts, listed below, and check out all of their chocolate recipes in the bloghop! My Chocolate Wine Cookie Recipe will be below the bloghop links.

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl
ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~  @astigvegan
Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl
Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29
Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins
Baking Extravaganza ~ Samantha
BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker
Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth
CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog
Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess
Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue
Cooking with Books ~ Marnely ~ @nella22
Creative Cooking Corner ~ Karriann ~ @KarriannGraf
Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies
Elephant Eats ~ Amy
Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes
Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19
Java Cupcake ~ Betsy ~ @JavaCupcake
Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica ~ @kbelleicious
Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking
Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose
Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar
Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla
Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem
Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition
Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood
Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable
Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil
That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick
The Dusty Baker ~ Jacqueline ~ @dustybakergal
The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict
The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd
The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian
Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack
Vegetarian Mamma  ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma
You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

Gluten Free Chocolate Wine Cookies

Servings 2 dozen cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Bake Time 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate red wine
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup almond flour
2 tsp xantham gum
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Steps
Preheat the oven to 325F

In a small saucepan, reduce the wine and cinnamon down to a half cup, over medium low heat. Let the wine reduce to room temperature.

Its so red!

In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and butter until combined. Pour the wine into the bowl, along with the oil and baking powder. Whisk until well combined.

Mix the flours and gums in a small bowl, and add to the wet mix by the half cup, stirring in between each addition until combined. Once all the flour is added and mixed together, add in the chocolate chips. Spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 15 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges.

Serve with a nice red or sweet wine, and enjoy!

From grey...

to purple!

Favorite Recipe of 2011 and Giveaway Winners!

2012-02-04T05:36:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway, and is part of this awesome online community. Y'all make my days better!

The favorite recipe of 2011 is...

Chocolate Orange Creme Brulee

Which totally makes sense. This is like heaven in a cup. Here's the link!

And onto the winners! The winners for this giveaway are...

@jesshose wins the Immersion Blender!
luckyuva09 wins the cookbook!

Thanks to all who participated!

RatioRally: Gluten Free Sweet Cherry Popovers

2012-02-01T06:52:00.001-05:00

Happy February everyone! I hope your weeks are going well thus far, and what better way to start the month than with another Gluten Free Ratio Rally!

This month's event were popovers, which I wasn't sure what they were before this month.

Popovers are a ratio of 2:1:1 liquid:egg:flour

It's a very interesting batter that, when put into a hot oven, rises heavily and becomes this crispy, crunchy baked good. I also decided to add some xantham gum to the batter after some experimenting to help it maintain its structure. Popovers can be made savory or sweet, but you'll love this simple dessert served with a sweet cherry sauce.

Thank you to Mrs. R from Honey from Flinty Rocks for hosting! Please visit her blog (click here) for the complete list of recipes!

You can also bake them in mini-muffin tins!

Servings: ~8 regular muffin sized popovers

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Bake Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Popover

225g milk

2 eggs

56g white rice flour

28g tapioca flour

28g potato starch

1/4 tsp xantham gum

zest of 1 lemon

4 tbsp butter, melted

powdered sugar (for garnish)

Cherry Sauce

1/2 cup cherries (about 2 handfuls) sliced in half and pitted

3 tbsp sugar

juice of half of a lemon

pinch salt

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and eggs until combined. To this, whisk in the flour, gum, and zest until well combined. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450F, and place the muffin tins in the oven. Once the oven has preheated, carefully remove the hot pans out of the oven, and distribute the hot butter through 8 of the tins. Pour the batter into the tins, and then place back in the oven for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 375F and bake for another 25 minutes or until golden brown.

While the popovers are baking, in a small saucepan combine the cherry sauce ingredients. Turn the burner onto medium low heat, and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cherries will break down and turn into a wonderful sweet and tangy sauce.

Serve the popovers with the sauce and some dusted powdered sugar. I hope you enjoy!

Gluten-free Tips for Restaurant Dining

2012-01-28T19:00:00.000-05:00

Good day to you. I've been given the remarkable opportunity by T. R. Crumbley to post a guest blog about providing tips in regard to gluten-free restaurant dining.

If you're like me, you've had a sense of dread when the prospect of restaurant dining has been mentioned in your presence. Don't despair. With communication and knowledge you can overcome the obstacles celiacs have in regard to dining safely at a restaurant.

As with any other aspect of your gluten-free life, preparedness is essential in regard to restaurant dining. This is inclusive of researching the restaurant's menu and determining if the restaurant has gluten-free menu options. Here's an example of gluten-free menu options via Outback Steakhouse: http://www.outback.com/menu/pdf/glutenfree.pdf .

If you are unable to determine if a restaurant has gluten-free offerings on-line, you will need to contact that restaurant's chef or manager via telephone or in-person prior to your imminent dining experience. How do you do this? Approach the restaurant you will be dining at with the following in mind:

Are gluten-free menu options available?
How are basic menu items prepared? Example: are mashed potatoes a 'box mix' or "made-from scratch, gluten-free?"
Are there croutons in the 'house salad?'
Is the salad dressing made in-house, or bottled with unknown origin?
Are cross-contamination issues addressed so that gluten-free items remain just that?
Are soups based upon fresh-cooked gluten-free stock or canned stock of unknown origin?
Are baked potatoes covered in flour to provide an extra crispy texture?
Is oil used for frying potatoes the same oil used to fry breaded shrimp?

You get the idea. The same "gluten-free kitchen questions" you would ask in regard to your own household need to be asked of the restaurant you will be dining at. While in contact with the restaurant, please be sure to exchange names with the chef or manager you speak with so both of you are familiar with each other once you arrive for your dining experience.

Now, you've done your homework and you've educated yourself in regard to how this restaurant will treat you in a safe manner, gluten-free. The time has come to be a patron of that restaurant. When greeted, you should advise the waitstaff of your name and request the chef and/or manager be alerted of your arrival. Knowledge of your arrival should sharply decrease cross-contamination issues with gluten per your prior research and conversation with the restaurant personnel. Please request confirmation the chef and/or manager is aware of your presence as a patron with the waitstaff. Also, advise the waitstaff independently of your status in regard to Celiac Disease. This is the perfect opportunity to present your gluten-free allergy restaurant card (reference http://url.ie/e1na for additional info) should you have one. Note, no need to go in great detail with the waitstaff in regard to this matter, as most will not know what a gluten-free diet entails. That said, if you state to the waitstaff "I have a severe allergy to wheat and gluten" they should take extra care, along with the manager and chef, to make sure your dining experience is optimal.

I understand what a daunting task eating at a restaurant can be as a celiac. I also understand why some may not want to expend the energy to have such a safe, gluten-free experience. However, social interaction with people sometimes requires us to be in a dining experience in a restaurant. I hope the tools and education I've provided will assist you in such experiences.

With education, communication, and practice, I feel you will thrive with preparedness in a restaurant setting.

Research, educate, and advocate all celiac and gluten-free.

Peace be with you.

If you would like to read more of my gluten-free tips, please check out my blog via www.glutenfreetip.com and on Twitter via https://twitter.com/#!/gfdougie.

Gluten Free Pork Meatballs and Sauce

2012-01-17T21:33:00.001-05:00

Here's a wonderful gluten free roasted tomato sauce recipe with pork and apple meatballs. I hope you enjoy!

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours
Servings: 4

Ingredients
Sauce
3 lbs tomatoes, quartered
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh oregano
drizzle of olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 bayleaves
1/2 tbsp fresh sage, minced

Meatballs
1 lb ground pork
1/4 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 red apple, diced
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp fresh sage, minced
salt and pepper

Steps
Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the tomatoes cut side up on the sheet, and drizzle olive oil over top. Sprinkle with thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Bake for 50 minutes.

Once removed from the oven, press through a fine strainer to remove seeds and flesh.

In a medium pot over medium heat, add a tbsp of oil with the garlic and onion. Sautee until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato sauce, oil, and sage to the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the meatballs are ready.

In a medium bowl, mix the meatball ingredients together until well combined. Form the meat into balls the size of your palms and cook in a pan over medium heat, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, prepare your favorite gluten free pasta to serve.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, sauce, and meatballs, and serve! I hope you enjoy!

Favorite 2011 Recipe and Giveaway

2012-01-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope that y'all have had an enjoyable week so far! I wanted to thank everyone by letting y'all choose your favorite recipe of the past year, while presenting the opportunity to win a prize!

Before January 31st, If you:
- vote for your favorite recipe in the comments of this post, and
- share your favorite recipe on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Google+.

I'll be giving away 2 items:

1. Cuisinart Immersion Blender with Whisk & Chopper - My favorite Food Tool that I've gotten in the past year.

2. The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam

Citruslove: Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlée

2012-01-07T08:46:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! I have participated in the love bloghop event for the past few months (for more information check out last month's #cookielove event). This month we're showing our love and adoration for citrus! Here's my contribution with Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlées.

I want these in my mouth. Right now. All of them.

Citrus is a magical food gift from the gods. Each species of citrus fruit has its own aroma, flavor, and acidity levels. I love using fresh citrus in both savory and sweet dishes to deliver acidity to a dish, and create amazing flavor combinations. My favorite sweet application is the beautiful marriage of chocolate and orange. Infinite Yums. That's where we come to this sinfully delicious crème brûlée.

I made this dessert this past New Year's Eve for a party, and it may be my best decision of 2011. To say this recipe was a hit is an understatement. You know a dish is a success when you lose count of the number of times that people steal someone else's dessert just to get one more guilty bite. If there's anything you try to make on this blog, make this. Believe me, you won't regret it.

NYE one of my friends referred to this as a culinary lightsaber.

A crème brûlée translates to "burnt cream," and is a rich custard covered in a layer of hard, caramelized sugar. (Sounds delicious right?) After cracking through the hard caramel layer of this chocolate orange crème brûlée, what lies underneath is dessert utopia. Each spoonful delivers a smooth, rich bite of decadent dark chocolate infused with the sweet, tart essence of orange zest. The textural contrast is amazing, but nothing can compare to the rich creamy marriage of dark chocolate and vibrant orange. This here is food for your soul.

Also, who doesn't love the opportunity to pull out the blow torch? I know I do...

For those who haven't heard of the terminology "tempering eggs" before, here's a short description vital to the success of the recipe. Eggs can be very temperamental when it comes to sudden changes in temperature. If you were to dump eggs into a warm or hot pot of chocolate, you'll end up with little bits of scrambled eggs in your chocolate mix rather than a smooth, creamy solution. You resolve this by slowly bringing the eggs to temperature. By adding small amounts of a warm liquid to eggs, you'll temper them, slowly bringing them to the same temperature as your liquid. Here's a Food Network video that illustrates (http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/how-to-temper-eggs-video/85017.html). Note that in this recipe once we add the eggs to the liquid, the liquid will not be on the burner (unlike in the video where it stays over heat).

This month's #citruslove co-hosts:

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

Astig Vegan ~ Richgail

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Easily Good Eats

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Food Wanderings ~ Shulie ~ @foodwanderings

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives ~ Lisa ~ @parsleynsage

Peaches and Donuts ~ Sylvia ~ @PeachesandDonut

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

There's sure to be tons of culinary genius across all the blogs for this #citruslove event. Thank you to all the co-hosts and be sure to check out the recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlées below the bloghop.

Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlée

Servings: 8 4" ramekins
Prep Time: 20 minutes before baking, 5 minutes before serving
Bake Time: 35-40 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
11 egg yolks
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 oz unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa powder
1 oz Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate
zest of 2 navel oranges
granulated sugar for caramelization

Steps
In a large bowl, add the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks for about 30 seconds. Set the bowl aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Add the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the cream is warm.

Add the cocoa powder and chocolate to the pot. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the cocoa powder has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool for a little bit. Once the chocolate is warm to the touch, but not hot, it is time to temper the eggs. Add about 1/4 cup of the chocolate to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Once they are combined, add 1/2 cup of the chocolate to the eggs, whisking constantly. Once they are combined, add the rest of the chocolate to the eggs. Add the orange zest to the creme, and whisk until distributed throughout.

Pour the creme into the 8 ramekins. Place the ramekins into a rectangular pan that is about 2 inches high. Create a water bath for the ramekins that comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in a 350F oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until the cremes slightly jiggly when gently moved. Remove them from the oven, and immediately remove the ramekins from the water bath and let cool to room temperature completely. Refrigerate the cremes for 3 hours or until ready to serve.

How they appear out of the oven

Once you are ready to serve, remove the ramekins from the refrigerator. To caramelize the sugar, you have 1 of 2 options:

1. If you have a propane torch: Cover the tops of the cremes with sugar and caramelize with the propane torch until you no longer see white sugar crystals.
2. If you do not have a propane torch: Set your oven to broil. Cover the tops of the cremes with sugar. Place in the broiler and check every 10-30 seconds to make sure that the cremes do not burn. Remove them from the broiler immediately when the sugar has caramelized.

Ratio Rally: Gluten Free Lemon Basil Biscuits

2012-01-03T18:06:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! It's the first Wednesday of the month, and time for a Gluten Free Ratio Rally. This month, biscuits are the food theme we chose to adapt as gluten free. Between hearing commercials for Red Lobster's cheddar biscuits (which I've heard are awful for you, I know they're definitely awful for me!) and avoiding breads at restaurants, I've had some degree of a craving for bread or biscuits. Biscuit ratios by weight are fairly easy to remember, 3:1:2 flour:fat:liquid. Not only that, but this should be a light, savory addition as a side to any dinner with family!

Thank you to Gretchen for hosting this month! Check out her blog kumquat for her sweet buttermilk biscuits. Be sure to check everyone's posts this month:

Amanda | Gluten Free Maui Classic Biscuits and Gravy
Amie Valpone | The Healthy Apple Gluten-Free Wasabi Parsley Biscuits
Caleigh | Gluten Free[k] American Style Biscuits
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free Whole Grain Pecan Drop Biscuits
Charissa | Zest Bakery Eggnog Biscuits with Grated Nutmeg
Erin Swing | The Sensitive Epicure Scallion Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary Almond Coconut Tea Biscuits
Jean | Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes Jammers
Jonathan | The Canary Files Vegan Sesame Shiso Biscuits
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free! Biscuit Template with Dairy Free Substitutions
Lisa | Gluten Free Canteen Fluffy Biscuits, Gluten Free
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes Gluten-Free Espresso Orange Biscuits
Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks Turkey Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping - Gobbler Cobbler
Rachel/ The Crispy Cook Hummus in a Biscuit
Silvana Nardone | Silvana's Kitchen Gluten-Free Sausage-n-Cheddar Bialy Biscuits

Servings: 6 biscuits
Active Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:
4 oz white rice flour
3 oz potato starch
2 oz tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp basil
zest of 1 lemon
3 oz (3/4 stick) of cold butter, cubed
6 oz milk

Steps:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix the flours, powder, salt, pepper, basil, and zest. With a pastry tool or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mix until it has the texture of small pea-shaped balls of flour throughout the dough.

Stir in the milk just until combined, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Line a cutting board with parchment paper, and lightly flour the paper. Remove from the fridge, and turn over onto the board, and roll out to about 1/4 inch-1/2 inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter or a round glass to cut out the biscuits, and place them on the baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, and enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T14:39:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! It's great to be back from vacation (hence the lack of posts in the past week) and I'm excited to share a variety of delicious new recipes this month!

Look forward to the following recipes/events this month:
Homemade tomato sauce with pork meatballs
Gluten Free Ratio Rally - Biscuits
#citruslove (with my Chocolate Orange Creme Brulee)
Guest Blog Posts
4-6 other gluten free recipes

Also, I'll be continuing my Food Blog of the Month event where I share my favorite food blogs. I'll also revive my Culinary Challenge event, where I make gluten free variations of recipes that people request. If you have any gluten free variations on your favorite foods, use the Contact Me form to make a request!

Finally, Thank You to everyone who follows this blog. Its amazing talking to people who've tried recipes I've posted, and getting feedback from the community. Here's to 2012!

Gluten Free Red Velvet Brownies

2011-12-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope you're all excited for the Christmas weekend!

Here's a seasonal colored dessert, red velvet brownies with a green colored whipped topping. Its based on a recipe I found here, but my first attempt of it I found too sweet. So this recipe tones down the sweetness a bit. I hope you all enjoy, and have a fun weekend with family and friends!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 16

Ingredients

1/2 cup room temperature butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs
2 tbsp red food coloring

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup cold heavy cream

3 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tbsp green food coloring

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 8x8 square pan with oil.

In a medium bowl whip the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla, red food coloring, and whip in the eggs. Fold the flours and cocoa powder into the butter mix until well combined. Do not overmix.

Spread the batter into the pan, and bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool completely.

Mix the sugar, green coloring, and heavy cream. Whip until soft peaks form. Cut the brownies into squares and top with the whipped cream.

I hope you enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Quick and Easy Apple Walnut Salad

2011-12-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! So its that time of the year that gets super crazy between end of the year work events, holiday parties, and the rush to get and deliver presents to everyone you care about.

This past weekend I went to a work holiday potluck, so I decided to make a good gluten-free salad that all could enjoy. Apologies for not including a picture, I was in a bit of a rush when I made it this past weekend that I didn't have time to properly take one.

Hope you enjoy the recipe, and be sure to use a gluten-free dressing (yes, there's salad dressings out there that have gluten in them. It's a sad occurrence....

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients
2 bags of pre-washed mixed salad greens
2 apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup of gluten-free honey mustard dressing

Steps
In a large bowl, (preferably one with a lid) add the salad greens. De-core the apples, and slice the apples into 1/8th inch x 1/8inch shoestrings. Add the apples, walnuts, zest, salt, pepper. Toss the salad to mix the ingredients around.

By 1/8 cup at a time, add the dressing to the salad. After each instance of adding dressing to the salad, put the top on the bowl and give the salad a good shake to coat the salad with the dressing. You'll want the salad to be lightly dressed with the dressing, If you think it needs a little more dressing, add a little bit at a time until your desired coating.

I hope you enjoy!

Ratio Rally - Cinnamon Lemon Cookies

2011-12-07T05:46:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, I hope you're having a good December so far, its time for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally again! This month our theme is cookies, and I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful gluten free recipes! For the ratio rally, I wanted to make cookies that tasted like snickerdoodles with a twist. I added lemon zest to the recipe, and it really livens up the snickerdoodle cookies! They're really easy to make and tasty too!

Servings 18 cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Bake Time 18 minutes

Ingredients
200 g sugar
113 g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
zest of 2 lemons
1 tsp baking powder
96 g white rice flour
32 g tapioca flour
64 g potato starch
1 tsp xantham gum
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
cinnamon sugar (about 3 tbsp)

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two baking sheets.

In a small bowl, mix the flours, powder, gum, and cinnamon. In a medium bowl whip the sugar and butter until fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, egg, and zest. Stir in the flour mix, adding half a cup at a time, until fully combined and a dough forms.

By the tablespoons, drop the dough onto the sheets, separated by 1 inch around each cookie. Sprinkle each dough ball with cinnamon sugar, and bake for 18 minutes. Let the cookies cool for a bit before eating, and enjoy!

Cookielove: Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cookies

2011-12-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

Happy December everyone! Is it just me, or is it crazy insane that it's already December? Oh well, at least its that time of the year or Christmas, time with friends and family, and most importantly of all: cookies. I've always associated cookies with the Christmas season, so what better way to celebrate the month of December than with a #cookielove blog hop.

Last month was my first time co-hosting a #love event (catch last month's event, squash, over here), and I'm excited to co-host #cookielove this month. For those who are reading a #love post for the first time, it's a monthly event where food bloggers share recipes of a common theme (i.e. apple, squash, cookies, etc). Its not only a fun way of sharing food blogs, but its a great way of finding high quality themed recipes. I'm excited to see all the creative recipes that come out of this cookie theme. I plan on posting a variety of recipes this month, each as a different type of cookie. So here is what will (hopefully) be my first, a variation on the sugar cookie. Sugar cookies are basically recipes that have a higher ratio of butter and sugar to flour, resulting in a creamy, sweet texture. This gluten free recipe is inspired by cinnamon rolls. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are some foods that you absolutely crave when you're gluten free. For me, cinnamon rolls are one of those things. It's the smell that absolutely leaves me in desperate need for a bite. This cookie gives you that satisfaction. When you bite into it you get the creaminess of the sugar cookies and the crunchiness of the baked sugar, all topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting. Check the recipe under the blog hop to see how to make them!

Thank you to all of the co-hosts this month. Please contact me if you would like to join the bloghop!

Badger Girl Learns to Cook, Baking and Cooking: A Tale of Two Loves, BigFatBaker, Bloc de Recetas, Bon a Croquer, CafeTerraBlog, Cake Duchess, Creative Cooking Corner, Easily Good Eats, Georgie Cakes, Hobby and More, Knitstamatic, Mike's Baking, Mis Pensamientos, Oh Cake,Queen's Notebook, Savoring Every Bite, Simply Reem, Soni's Food for Thought, Teaspoon of Spice, That Skinny Chick Can Bake, The Art of Cooking Real Food, The Spicy RD, The Wimpy Vegetarian, Vegetarian Tastebuds, Vegan Yack Attack

Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Active Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 18 minutes
Servings: 18 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup room temperature butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2/3 cup white rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp xantham gum

For the filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the frosting:
4 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

In a medium bowl, whip the sugar, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Mix in the flours, powder, and gum until a cookie dough has formed. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Prepare a cutting board by covering it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on top of the board. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thickness. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and cover all but a one inch strip of dough with the filling. The bare strip will be used to seal the dough shut when rolled into a log.

To roll the log, start at the end that has the cinnamon sugar, with the bare strip-end furthest away. Tightly roll the dough into a log, using the wrap to lift and roll it. This should minimize tearing of the dough. Roll until the dough has formed a log, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes. While the dough refrigerates, preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a baking sheet, and unwrap the dough log. Cut the dough into quarter inch thick cookies, and lay onto the baking sheets. Bake for about 18 minutes, and let cool completely.

While the cookies cool, whip together the cream cheese and the sugar, adding the sugar by the 1/4 cup. Whip in the vanilla and milk until smooth, and frost the cookies.

I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Food Blog of the Month: Garlic My Soul

2011-11-27T11:13:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope y'all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend!

Over the break, I was thinking of fun new features that I could add to my blog. One of the new features I came up with was a fun idea to share my favorite food blogs with y'all, spotlighting one a month.

First blog I wanted to share is Garlic My Soul, a food blog co-hosted by one of my friends Corelyn. They post recipes on a regular basis, and have some pretty drool-worthy food photography and recipes. Be sure to check it out!

Here's the link! Garlic My Soul

Friendsgiving Part 2

2011-11-27T11:06:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! I hope you have all survived work the past couple days in the week after Thanksgiving. Last year my friends and I decided to have a Friendsgiving (Thanksgiving with Friends) and that was so successful that we decided to hold another one!

Photo courtesy of Mary Ryan

This year I made the turkey and stuffing once again, while everyone else brought something to the potluck (including a delicious gluten free pumpkin pie!) We had a wide assortment from jello salad, delicious brussel sprouts, corn pudding, green bean casserole, and so much more!

Another of Mary Ryan's photos...delicious!

Also, thank you to Mary Ryan for 90% of these photos. They are all amazing photographs that I had to use for this post!

Mac and Cheese Recipe (not gluten free)

Here is a photo from Mary's macaroni and cheese, it looked delicious, and I am determined to figure out how to make it gluten free...as well as Oren's sweet potato hash dish. I could eat the entire dish of them, soooo delicious!

Such a tasty salad. And quite colorful.

As for my contribution, I wanted to share the recipe for my gluten free stuffing. It's easy to prepare, absolutely delicious when stuffed in a turkey (I know there's possible health risks, but you just cannot beat stuffed stuffing. #BestThanksgivingSideEVER). However, you can just as easily bake the stuffing inside of a dish as well. If you have fresh herbs available, I recommend using fresh herbs. Something about the aromatics of fresh herbs elevates the vibrant delicious taste of stuffing.

Serves 6
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time Stuffed, duration of the turkey or chicken it is stuffed within. Dish, 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 loaf of your favorite gluten free white bread. I recommend Whole Foods brand if available, cubed
3 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 Pink Lady apple, diced
2 tbsp rosemary, diced
1 tbsp sage, diced
2 tsp thyme, diced

Steps
Preheat an oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lay the bread out in a single layer. Coat with the oil and oregano, and toast for 7 minutes.

While the bread toasts, sautee the onions and garlic over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the celery and cook for another 3 minutes.

Once the bread is out of the oven, place them into a bowl and combine with the onion, garlic, celery, apple, and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

For a stuffed preparation, stuff the prepared turkey or chicken, and cook the bird as intended, adding another 5-10 minutes cooking time per pound due to the stuffing. Alternatively, bake the stuffing in a greased baking dish for 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoy, and happy December!

Host the Perfect Dinner Party: Start Your Plan of Attack with A Great Grocery List

2011-11-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

We have all been to graceful and chaotic dinner parties: what separates the two? Throwing a dinner party starts with a mound of work that must be whittled down into the perfect spread. From appetizers to dessert, the easy flow of a dinner party starts with the solid base of a complete and efficient grocery list. By building the dinner menu around low-prep or pre-prep dishes, time and effort spent in the kitchen will be cut in half, so you can focus on the much harder work of entertaining your guests!

Part of a great dinner party is keeping everyone’s hands full. Have a drink station set up with ice and glasses for light and easy cocktails and a couple of corked bottles of crisp whites. Set out hors d’oeuvres that give the guests something to munch on while they wait for everyone to arrive, but don’t fill them up before dinner! Provide them with an assortment of artisan cheeses, crackers, bowls of spiced or candied nuts and/or olives and a tray of bite sized assorted fruits such as grapes, sliced apples and pears. All of these can be taken straight from the grocery bag, washed and/or sliced, and then served.

Main dishes that can cook while you work on other things are the best use of your time. Roasting, baking or slow-cooking dishes can free your hands to welcome guests, top off drinks and get the salad course ready without having to juggle too many pots and pans. Make the dressing in advance so you can sprinkle in a few chopped veggies, cheese and possibly nuts. Then toss with dressing to serve. Make it easy on yourself with a simple French vinaigrette, or play with adding a little local flavor to enhance seasonal ingredients.

For the main course, roast pork tenderloin with seasonal vegetables can be put in the oven and left unattended till the buzzer dings. Chili, stew, or roasted winter root veggies in a leek broth can be prepped hours ahead and left to cook on their own till serving time.

After the dinner dishes have been scraped clean, to wind down the evening it is time to serve dessert and coffee or a digestif. Here is where it is acceptable to cheat on preparation. If you don’t have time to bake a cake or other yummy treats, head to the bakery and pre-order or pick up a lovely in-house tart to share with your guests. Brew a pot of coffee, slice and serve. Another course accomplished in under 10 minutes!

Don’t let dinner parties seem daunting; even larger groups are quite manageable if you’re armed with the right grocery list. Lower the work to a minimum with easy to prepare foods that look fancy and taste great, keep the food and drinks coming, and the evening is sure to be a hit!

Sarah W. is a guest writer from the Blog Content Guild who writes on the subject of healthy eating, living, and lifestyles.

Mushroom Risotto

2011-11-16T20:59:00.001-05:00

A couple months ago I tried making risotto out of the box before but it ended up having a horrible texture. After that I decided I would try to make risotto on my own, even though I've heard it is a relatively hard dish to make. That and it always seems to be the one dish that gives contestants trouble on those cooking shows, so it has to be hard, right?

Here's my first recipe for mushroom risotto, I hope you enjoy!

Cook Time 40-50 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Arboria Rice
1/2 cup Reisling wine
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
4 1/2 cups hot chicken stock
2 Portobello caps, cubed
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Steps
In a large saucepan, sautee the onions and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. While they are cooking, heat up the stock in a small pan over medium heat.

Add the rice to the onions, and coat with the oil. Add the wine to the pan, and constantly stir until the wine is absorbed. Add the stock to the rice by the cup as the rice soaks up each addition of liquid, stirring constantly while the rice cooks.

While the risotto is cooking cook the mushrooms and vinegar in a small pan over medium heat until the mushrooms are tender. Add them to the risotto after all the liquid has been added to the pan. Add the cheese as well.

Stir until all is combined, and serve with your favorite protein and leafy green. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Bark

2011-11-13T20:39:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying November so far! This past Halloween, I made a quick and easy chocolate bark for a party, and it was a total hit. This is a really simple bark to make, and is a great recipe to make with children or friends.

If you want to customize for Thanksgiving, add some pumpkin seeds to the bark. For Christmas, include candy cane bits and use Christmas colored m&ms.

Serves 12 squares

Active Prep Time 5 minutes

Inactive Prep Time 2 hours

Ingredients
7 oz dark chocolate
1/4 cup Glutino gluten free pretzels, broken into pieces
1/4 cup milk chocolate m&ms
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Steps
In a microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals until completely melted. Lay parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Once the chocolate is melted, spread it onto the sheet until it is between 1/8th and 1/4th inch thick.

Sprinkle the pretzels, candies, and walnuts onto the bark, and press into the chocolate. Let it cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Cut into squares and serve!

Squashlove: Portobello Spaghetti Squash

2011-11-05T10:07:00.001-04:00

Hey everybody, it's officially fall (now bordering on winter) so what better time to share squash recipes of all variety! Last month was my first opportunity to participate in a #love blog hop, and this month is my first chance to co-host it. #love events are composed of a whole variety of food bloggers who share recipes showing their love for a certain ingredient. Last month the theme was applelove, and this month we are sharing squash recipes. Pumpkin, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, they're all ingredients we're showing respect to this month! Thanks to EA Stewart for introducing me to the blog hop group!

My main contribution to this month's event is my Portobello and Pancetta Spaghetti Squash. As someone who is gluten free, spaghetti squash is a godsend. I don't quite understand how it happens, but spaghetti squash has this amazing texture after its cooked that looks just like angel hair pasta! Even better, a good spaghetti squash has tons more flavor than angel hair pasta, and can provide a delicious taste to an overall meal. I came up with a fairly simple sauce that combines the richness of Portobellos and butter, the salty pork flavor of pancetta, and the aromatics of white wine. For this recipe, be sure to use a white wine you would drink. I recommend the flavor that a Reisling provides, but you can feel free to use whatever is handy. Check out my recipe at end of the post, under the blog hop!

Thanks to all of the other co-hosts for this month's #squashlove event!

Baker Street | Anuradha : @bakerstreet29

Bloc De Recetas | Salomé : @blocderecetas

Bon à croquer | Valerie : @valouth

Cafe Terra Blog | Terra : @cafeterrablog

Elephant Eats | Amy

Food Wanderings | Shulie : @foodwanderings

Hobby and More | Richa : @betit19

Mike's Baking | Mike : @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos | Junia : @juniakk

My Twisted Recipes | Dudut : @mytwistedrecipe

Queens Notebook | Elizabeth : @mango_queen

Simply Reem | Reem : @simplyreem

Skip To Malou | Malou : @malou_nievera

Teaspoon Of Spice | Serena : @tspcurry

The Daily Palette | Annapet : @thedailypalette

The Professional Palette | Regan : @profpalate

The Spicy RD | EA : @thespicyrd

Vegan Miam | Rika : @veganmiam

Feel free to add your favorite squash recipes to this bloghop!

Portobello Spaghetti Squash with a White Wine Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes for the squash in the oven, 15 minutes for the sauce.
Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
salt and pepper
3 ounces Pancetta, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic,minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 Portobello mushroom caps, cubed
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup Reisling
Feta Cheese for garnish

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Slices the spaghetti squash in half, and then scoop out all of the seeds. Drizzle the insides with olive oil, and generously salt and pepper. Place face down on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until the flesh is tender. Once baked, set aside for 5 minutes.

While the squash bakes, sautee the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Remove the pancetta from the pan, and set it aside for later. Add the oil, garlic, and onion to the pan. Sautee until the onion is translucent. Add the mushrooms, butter, and wine to the pan, and cook until the the wine reduces and a sauce begins to form, about 10 to 15 minutes.

With a fork, shred the flesh of the squash into spaghetti-shaped strands. ( see image next to ingredient list ). Empty the squash into the pan, and add the pancetta back to the pan. Over low heat, mix all the ingredients until the squash is coated with sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I hope you enjoy, and feel free to share the squash love!

Mocha Chip Parfait

2011-11-05T00:10:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I hope yall are having a great beginning to your weekend. Last month, through Foodbuzz I received the opportunity to try Godiva coffee. Not only did the flavors smell and taste like they were described, but went wonderful with desserts. Here's my recipe for Mocha Chocolate Chip Parfait!

Serves 8 people
Prep Time 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies of your preference
1 4.5 oz box of chocolate pudding mix
1.5 cups of milk
.5 cup room temperature brewed Godiva Caramel Pecan Bark coffee
Whipped Cream

Steps
In a medium saucepan, stir the mix, milk, and coffee over medium heat. Once the pudding starts to boil, stir constantly for one minute, and then remove it from heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then stir it constantly for another 5 in order to cool it down. It is ready for the next step once room temperature.

In high ball shot glasses or some other dessert presentation, crumble the cookies into the glasses until there is a 1/4 inch layer of cookie on the bottom.

Pipe the pudding into each glass until halfway full.

Add a dollop of whipped cream, then add another layer of cookie. Fill to the top with chocolate pudding.

When ready to serve, garnish with additional whipped cream. I hope you enjoy!

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Godiva Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Pecan Bark coffee.

Gluten Free Ratio Pie

2011-11-02T08:31:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! Its the first Wednesday of the month, and time for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! With the holiday times approaching, we decided to tackle gluten free pie crust this month! For those who are new to the Ratio Rally, it's based upon Rhulman's baking ratios. If you want to know more about these, check out Ruhlman's book on Amazon.

I will admit this Ratio Rally was second in difficulty to the pate a choux Rally a few months back. (That one still ranks as the hardest thing I've attempted from a culinary aspect). The difficulty I've experienced with gluten free pie crust in the past is their delicate nature. Historically for me it's been much easier to tear or break gluten free crust versus traditional wheat crust (curse you gluten). However, with my experiences this month and the knowledge shared between the group, I think I've made my best gluten free pie crust thus far.

Also, thank you to Lisa for hosting this month, and to everyone who shared their tips and methods! Be sure to check out Lisa's post here.

And here are the rest of the posts for this Rally, let me know if you'd be interested in joining!

Jean Layton from Gluten-Free Doctor Cheese Crusted Apple Pie

Charissa from Zest Bakery Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins

Kate from katealicecookbook Kale & Zucchini Tart

Jenn from Jenn Cuisine Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie

Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] Leek and Potato Pie

Rachel from The Crispy Cook Maple Walnut Pie

gretchen from kumquat deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie

Claire from Gluten Freedom Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie

Morri from Meals With Morri Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations

Silvana Nardone from Silvana’s Kitchen Chicken Potpie

Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free Green Tomato Pie

Meredith from Gluten Free Betty Blueberry Pie

Shauna from Gluten-free Girl and the Chef Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping

Erin from The Sensitive Epicure Chess Pie

Mary Fran from frannycakes Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie

Brooke from B & the boy! Pot Pie

Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen Frangipane Apple Tart

~Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks Mock Apple Pie

Serving Size 8-10 people

Active Prep Time 20 minutes

Inactive Prep Time 6 hours

Bake Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Crust:

150 g white rice flour

100 g tapioca starch

50 g potato starch

100 g cold shortening, cubed

100 g cold butter, cubed

100 g ice cold water

1 tsp salt

Filling:

7 oz dark chocolate

2 tbsp sugar

2 cups cold heavy whipping cream

Whipped cream for garnish

Steps

Crust: In a food processor, pulse the salt, flour and starches to mix them. Add half of the shortening and butter and pulse until the flour and fat starts to collect into crumbs. Scrape the sides and bottom of the processor, add the rest of the fat, and pulse until the fat is distributed throughout the flour. While adding small amounts at a time, pulse the water into the flour mix just until a dough forms and is sticky to the touch. This may not require the whole 100g.

For those who've made wheat flour pie crusts before, this dough will feel much stickier than you are used to. Don't worry, that will be normal. Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F. When ready to roll out, place a sheet of plastic wrap onto a counter, and generously cover with tapioca starch. Unwrap the dough and place onto the plastic wrap. Dust the dough with tapioca starch, and cover your rolling pin in tapioca starch. Gently roll the dough out into the shape of a circle, slightly bigger than your pie tin. You'll want a thickness of about 1/8th of an inch. Be sure to constantly dust your rolling pin and the top of the dough with starch to prevent sticking to your pin. When at your desired thickness, carefully put your hands under the plastic wrap holding your dough and invert into the pie tin. Gently tuck the dough into the pie tin, fitting the shape. If there's any cracks, use excess dough to fill them in. Place the dough in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until crispy and slightly golden. Let the pie crust cool completely.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the sugar until the chocolate has completely melted. Remove the chocolate from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. In a large, cold mixing bowl, whip the cream until peaks form. Gently fold the chocolate into the whipped cream, and spread into the pie crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving, and serve with whipped cream. I hope you enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies

2011-10-23T10:25:00.001-04:00

This week I'm hosting a recipe sharing event called #pumpkinparty, where you can see all the recipes people have shared in this post.

For my first recipe, I wanted to share my gluten free pumpkin cookies with crystallized ginger. One thing I love about fall produce is the variety of fresh squash available in the stores. For this recipe I made my own pumpkin puree using a pie pumpkin, but you can use canned pumpkin puree for this recipe as well. Pie pumpkins are smaller than the kind you carve for jack-o-lanterns, and therefore have a smoother, sweeter texture when pureed. Here's an older post of mine detailing how to make pumpkin puree.

I also saw some crystallized ginger in the store, so I decided to use that in the recipe to give it a little bit of a kick.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 18 minutes per sheet
Yields: about 32 cookies

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1tbsp crystallized ginger, minced
Glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp milk mixed together)

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, blend the butter until fluffy. Mix in the sugar until well combined. To this whip in the egg with the pumpkin puree and the vanilla. It should produce a pumpkin slurry as pictured.

Fold the dry mix into the slurry by the half cup until a consistent cookie batter has been made. Scoop by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheets, and top each cookie with pieces of crystallized ginger. Bake for 18 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges.

Drizzle the glaze on top of each cookie, and enjoy!

Be sure to check everyone else's pumpkin recipes here!

Pumpkin Party Blog Hop!

2011-10-23T09:48:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far! Earlier this month, as mentioned in this post, I was inspired by others in the blogging community to host a pumpkin party this week. My hope is that this will be a wonderful opportunity for bloggers to share their favorite pumpkin recipes with each other through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. I hope everyone enjoys the pumpkin party, running from today until the end of the month!

Please feel free to join! To do so:

Add your recipe to the blog hop below.
Please link back any pumpkin recipe to this post so all your readers can easily see everyone's pumpkin recipes!
If you use twitter, feel free to share using the #pumpkinparty hash tag.

Thanks for joining, and feel free to share the event!

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

2011-10-21T18:57:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! I really love making gluten free cake from scratch, and being able to control the texture and taste of it. However, the convenience of cake mix can really make baking go by faster. For this coffee cake recipe, I've used Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix, and it makes it super easy! I hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe for gluten free coffee cake!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 12-18

Ingredients
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix
2/3 cup water
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

Filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped walnut

Topping
1 cup almond flour
1 stick cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a square 8x8 or 9x9 pan. In a medium bowl, mix the cake mix, water, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Pour half of the batter into the pan.

In a small bowl, mix the filling ingredients, and pour over top the batter in the pan. Cover with the remaining batter. In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Work the butter with the flour mix until course and crumbly. Pour over top the batter, and place in the oven for 35 minutes, and remove once an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Pie

2011-10-15T08:42:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody, I hope you're having a good beginning to the weekend! About two weeks ago I found a recipe for Paula Deen's Truffle Pie (original recipe here). After some experimentation, I modified the recipe by doing the following two things:

I made the recipe gluten free by using gluten free graham cracker crumbs. I recommend using kinnikinnick brand graham cracker crumbs. They have a comparable taste, as well as texture to traditional crumbs.

Instead of using cream for the bottom layer of the pie, I used 2% milk and reduced the ratio of liquid to chocolate. This produces a chocolate sauce in between the crust and filling.

I hope you enjoy!

Active Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 8.5 hours
Serves: 8

Ingredients
Crust
1.5 cups gluten free graham cracker crumbs
.25 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted

Chocolate Sauce
.5 cup and 1 tbsp 2% milk
6oz bittersweet chocolate

Chocolate Filling
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
1.5 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

Whipped cream for garnish

Steps
Crust: In a medium bowl, mix together the crust ingredients until well combined. Press the crust mix into a pie pan. Refrigerate the pan until the chocolate sauce is ready.

Chocolate Sauce: In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate with the milk. Stir often in order to prevent the chocolate from scorching. Once the chocolate sauce has a consistent color and all the chocolate has melted, put aside off the heat for 3 minutes to cool. Pour into the crust and place into the freezer until the chocolate filling is ready.

Chocolate Filling: Over low heat, melt the chocolate with .5 cup of the cream. Stir constantly, and continue to melt until the chocolate is consistent and totally melted. (will look like the picture to the left) Pour the chocolate into a medium mixing bowl, and set aside for about 10 minutes or until room temperature. Add the vanilla and cup of cream, and whisk for about 3-4 minutes or until soft peaks form. Pour into the pan, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Serve with either fresh or canned whipped cream, and enjoy! Thank you to Food Network and Paula Deen for the original recipe.

Gluten Free Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2011-10-10T21:18:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! I hope that you've had a good weekend (better than my concussion-filled one, at least...). All this month, EA Stewart (@TheSpicyRD) and a variety of other bloggers are hosting an apple event called #applelove. Search the #applelove hashtag on twitter to find all the amazing recipes collected so far.

For this cupcake, I wanted to take the essence of a caramel apple and turn it into a cupcake. The cupcake is filled with walnuts and tons of apples, then topped with a caramel sauce (the recipe for that located here). I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Also, as a fun alternative, you can bake this as a cake (for about 35 minutes) and drench the top in the caramel sauce. Delicious! Be sure to check out the bloghop below for more apple recipes!

Yields: 3 dozen cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 18 minutes for cupcakes

Ingredients

3 cups gluten free flour
1 1/4 tsp xantham gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1/4 c whipped cream
2 apples, thinly sliced and cubed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel Sauce

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with baking cups. In a medium bowl combine the flour, gum, powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whip the butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugar by the half cup. Once all the sugar is combined, blend the eggs into the butter, one at a time. Add the vanilla to the egg mixture.

Alternate adding the milk and dry ingredients into the egg mix, by about 1/2 or 1/4 cup at a time. Blend until the batter is completely smooth. Fold in the whipped cream until well mixed. Fold in the apples and the walnuts. Distribute these into the muffin tins, and bake in the oven for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Prepare the Caramel Sauce by following the Food Network recipe. To ice the cupcakes, here's a quick and easy tip. Either go to the store to buy a condiment bottle (normally only a few dollars), or clean out an empty ketchup or mustard bottle for reuse. Fill the bottle with the sauce, and use that to create the design of your choice, or give to your kids and let them have fun decorating.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and be sure to check out #applelove on Twitter this month!

Gluten Free Chicken Pizza

2011-10-05T06:59:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Its the first Wednesday of the month and time for another Gluten Free Rally post! Thank you to Karen of http://www.cookingglutenfree.com/ for hosting this month!

And if you couldn't tell by the delicious looking picture above, this month's theme is pizza. I feel like pizza is a comfort food right up there with pasta or hamburgers and fries. The starch from the crust, the grease from the cheese, and all the salty or sweet toppings is one of the best ways of sending yourself into a blissful food coma for a few hours.

Thankfully there is a zpizza near where I live, so as long as I take my supplements, I'm normally able to eat their gluten free pizza with relatively no problem. But there's nothing like the ability to make your own pizza exactly the way you want, which is why I was so excited for this month's theme.

Tip for this recipe: If you don't have time to cook the chicken, use pre-cooked or leftover chicken! It'll cut down the prep and cook time by about 2 hours

Our ratios this month are based off of Ruhlman's ratio of 5:3 flour:water weight ratio. He also recommends to add a small amount of oil to the recipe.

Thank you again to Karen for posting, please go here to view Karen's recipe, along with all the other participants' pizza recipes for the month!

Active Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour for the pizza, 20 minutes for the chicken
Cook Time: 18 minutes for the pizza, 45-60 minutes for the chicken
Makes 1 Large Pizza

Ingredients
Crust
83g gluten free corn meal
83g almond flour
42g brown rice flour
125g white rice flour
125g potato starch
42g tapioca starch
1 tsp yeast
50g oil
210g warm water

Toppings
1 pineapple, cubed
2 chicken breasts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup gluten free teriyaki sauce
1/2 yellow onion
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp chopped cliantro

Steps

If you are baking the chicken from scratch, preheat the oven to 450F. Place the chicken into a rectangular baking pan, and salt and pepper the chicken. Place about 1/2 cup of the pineapple on top of the chicken, and then drizzle with olive oil. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap, and bake the chicken in the oven for about 45-60 minutes, or until it has reached 165F internally.

While the chicken bakes, combine dry ingredients for the crust. In a separate bowl, combine the water and yeast, and let sit for a couple minutes until the yeast activates. Mix the oil and yeast water with the dry ingredients until a dough forms. If the dough is too dry, add a little more water until the dough does not crack. Cover with a damp towel and let it rise for an hour.

Once risen, place a pizza stone or baking sheet into the hot oven. On parchment paper, roll out the pizza dough to the size of the stone or sheet you are baking it on. Carefully transfer the dough to the HOT pan or stone, and bake for 8-10 minutes.

While the pizza parbakes, caramelize the onions on a small pan over medium heat. This should only take about 4 minutes or so. While this caramelizes, shred the chicken into bite size pieces.

Top the pizza with your desired amounts of sauce, onions, garlic, chicken, pineapple, cheese, and cilantro. Bake for another 8-10 minutes until the cheese has melted.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Pumpkin Party 2011!

2011-10-02T11:46:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. Some how it is already October, the weather is getting colder, and pumpkins are popping up everywhere!

Last weekend a couple of friends and I went to Scion in Washington, DC for dinner. Several people grew excited when they told us that they're seasonal special is Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Ravioli (sounds awesome, right?). This got me thinking the past week of all the delicious things you could make using pumpkin.

This reminded me of the #pieparty that Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl held in June. There were so many creative pie recipes that the blogging community shared during that event that I wanted to hold a Pumpkin Party!

As this is in a planning phase, I was wondering if anyone desires to participate in this virtual party? After talking to those interested so far, we'll post the pumpkin recipes from October 23-29th! What are your thoughts? Let me know if there's interest in my comments section or on twitter. Also, if you don't have a blog and would still love to participate, let me know, and I'll host you as a guest blogger for the #PumpkinParty

#PumpkinParty October 23-29th

Share it!

Mortar and Pestle

2011-09-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago my roommates and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond in order to get a new clock. We switched cable companies, and our new cable cox sadly has no clock.

While at Bed Bath and Beyond, I browsed some of the kitchen items. I've been meaning to get a mortar and pestle for a while, and found a relatively cheap ceramic mortar and pestle.

From what I've read, mortar and pestles are wonderful for crushing vegetables and spices, so I tried making some pesto with it.

In order to make the pesto, I first crushed some fresh basil, garlic, and pine nuts. I then blended some cheese and olive oil with it, and made some fresh pesto!

If you have any fun ideas for recipes involving a mortar and pestle, let me know!

Gluten Free Mascarpone Cheesecake

2011-09-21T21:25:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! Here's a recipe that I have for gluten free mascarpone cheesecake. It takes inspiration from these two recipes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mascarpone-Cheesecake-108903 and http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/mascarpone-cheesecake-with-almond-crust-recipe/index.html

This recipe makes 3 4 inch cakes, which is great for portion control! Also, if you don't want to pay as much for the mascarpone, feel free to substitute sour cream for it! I hope you enjoy!

Servings: about 8-12
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: Overnight
Requires: 3 4 inch spring form pans or 1 9 inch spring form pan

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the crumbs, sugar, and butter, and evenly distribute the mix in the spring form pans. Tightly line the perimeter of the pans with aluminum foil, and place them into a 3 inch deep baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the cheeses, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Distribute evenly throughout each pan, and fill the baking dish with water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the pans. This water bath will help the cakes bake evenly. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes, or until the centers gently jiggle when agitated.

Remove the pans from the oven, and let the pans sit on a cooling rack for an hour. Remove the aluminum from the sides, and refrigerate overnight. Serve with fresh whipped cream or your favorite fruit sauce!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

2011-09-18T12:53:00.004-04:00

I hope that everyone is having a pleasant weekend so far. This past week I made some gluten free versions of Tagalongs, and my friends loved them! These are perfect to make for friends on a gluten free diet or for kids! Hope you enjoy!

Makes: 2 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, room temperature

4 oz sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

6 oz white rice flour

1 1/5 oz tapioca starch

3 oz potato starch

1 1/2 oz almond flour

Peanut butter filling:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/3 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

Chocolate Topping

2 cups milk chocolate

2 tbsp shortening

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Slowly add the flours and starches to the butter mix until a dough has formed.

By the tablespoon, scoop the dough onto the sheets. Use your finger to make a small dip into each cookies. These will be used for the filling. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, and let them cool completely.

For the peanut butter filling, combine all the filling ingredients in a small pot, and heat over medium low heat until totally combined. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Scoop spoonfuls of the filling onto the tops of each cookie.

In another small pot, melt the chocolate and shortening. Stir until the chocolate is totally melted and combined with the shortening. Pour the chocolate over top each cookie until coated. Refrigerate for an hour to let the chocolate set.

Pressure Cooker Pork Ribs

2011-09-12T21:38:00.003-04:00

As what seems to be the trend the past few months, life has been super busy. Here's the recipe for pork spareribs cooked in a pressure cooker, to go along with my fritters from last week. With a pressure cooker, they're super easy to make, and take less than 30 minutes. For this recipe, follow the manufacturer's instructions for properly handling your pressure cooker.

Serves 4-5
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients
2-3 lbs pork spareribs
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
2 tsp coriander
1 yellow onion, quartered
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Steps
Place your pressure cooker, without the lid on, onto the stove. Preheat to medium high.

In a small bowl, mix all of the spices. Rub the pork ribs with the spices.

Once the pot is hot, pour a tbsp of olive oil on the bottom, and brown all 4 sides of all the ribs, spending about 1-2 minutes per side.

Add the onion, vinegar, ketchup, and cider to the pot. Cover, and turn the heat up to high. Once the pressure cooker is whistling or pressurized, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 16 minutes.

Carefully release the pressure per the manufacturer's instructions.

Server with fritters or something else that is zesty and delicious, and enjoy!

Sweet Pepper Fritters

2011-09-07T10:11:00.000-04:00

This month for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally, the theme is Fritters and Doughnuts! As I've mentioned in a few other posts this past month, work has been super crazy for me. That's one reason why I always look forward to the beginning of the month, is the great variety of awesome themed recipes.

Fritters use a similar batter to pancakes, and are normally fried. For this recipe, I didn't have enough oil when making them, so I went with the lower-calorie approach of cooking them on a pan (giving them a similar appearance to pancakes).

I served them with some pork ribs that I cooked in a pressure cooker, which I'll post the recipe to later Wednesday.

Thank you to Meg for hosting the Ratio Rally this month! Her site is Gluten Free Boulangerie, which has a pretty awesome looking doughnut recipe.

Serves 12 fritters
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 oz pancetta
1 small sweet pepper
4 oz white rice flour
2 oz potato starch
2 oz tapioca starch
2 tsp chives
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
8 oz milk
2 eggs

Steps
Dice the pepper and pancetta. In a small pan, cook the pancetta until it is crispy. Add the pepper to the pan, and cook for about 3-4 minutes, removing the items from the heat when cooked.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, starches, spices, powder, and salt. To this whisk in the eggs and the milk. Once everything is whisked together, add in the peppers and pancetta.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat. Pour the fritter batter by the quarter cup, and flip after about 2 minutes. Cook for another 2.

I hope you enjoy, and be sure to check the rest of the Ratio Rally posts!

Britt of GF in the City | Blueberry Fritters

Brooke of B and the Boy! | Apricot Fritters

Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Beetroot Fritters

Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Thai Fried Bananas

Charissa of Zest Bakery | Picarones (Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Fritters)
Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Gretchen of Kumquat | Peach Cider Doughnuts
Jean of Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | Cinnamon Apple Fritters
Jeanette of Jeanette's Healthy Living | Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Apple Butter Maple Syrup Doughnuts
Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Raspberries and Cream Doughnuts
Mrs. R of Honey From Flinty Rocks | Jelly Doughnuts
Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Jelly Doughnut Holes
Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Chocolate Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen | Vanilla-Glazed Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl | Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Tara of A Baking Life | Brioche Doughnuts with Italian Plum Jam

Butter Poached Chicken

2011-09-05T20:45:00.003-04:00

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Labor Day Weekend in the U.S., here's a easy way of making some tasty, moist chicken. I like to serve it along with oven roasted potatoes with rosemary and some green kale. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

And apologies for the less frequent posting over the past few weeks, life has been rather busy with work.

Serves: 3-4 people

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

3/4 lb chicken breast

32 oz chicken stock

2 sticks of butter

3 tbsp rosemary

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp sage

salt and pepper

Steps

Pour the butter and stock into a deep pan, and heat over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, check the temperature of the liquid with a thermometer. You'll want liquid that is about 170F.Add the rosemary, oregano, and sage to the liquid. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then immerse them in the liquid. You'll want the chicken full submerged. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the breasts is 165F. Remove the chicken from the liquid and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Roasted Potato Ingredients

10 small red or yellow potatoes

2 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp garlic powder

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Steps

Preheat the oven to 400F, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Quarter all of the potatoes, and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle the rosemary, garlic, and salt and pepper over the potatoes. Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until tender when inserted with a fork.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and have a good start to the week!

Oven Cherry Tomatoes

2011-09-01T21:58:00.002-04:00

This is a great side dish for fall - tasty, quick and easy!

What you need:
- 1 quart cherry tomato
- 2 tbs Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbs Olive oil
- 2 tbs Italian herbs
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 small oven-safe dish
- 1 tupperware container w. lid

Pre-heat oven to 450F.

In the tupperware container combine all ingredients and shake to mix. Pour into dish, ensuring that the tomatoes are in only one layer. Pop into oven for 10 min or until skin on tomatoes begins to crack.

Serve and enjoy =)

Gluten Free Key Lime Cupcakes

2011-08-29T21:53:00.000-04:00

This past couple weeks have been quite daunting for me. I've been working quite a bit, so I sadly haven't had much chance to post recipes or cook. However, I have quite a few uber awesome recipes coming up, so I'm making up for it with high quality.

Now there are a lot of components to this dessert for sure, but all the hard work is worth the delicious pay off.

Here's a really zesty recipe that transforms key lime pie into a cake. It uses a gluten free graham cracker crust, homemade key lime curd, the cake recipe from my Tiramisu Cake, and a mascarpone cheese frosting. I hope you enjoy!

For the key lime curd, I use the following recipe from Allrecipes, "Fresh Lime Curd", and I substitute the lime juice with key lime juice. For this recipe, be sure to carefully temper your eggs, or else you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your curd.

Serves: 18 cupcakes
Prep Time: 35 minutes total

5 minutes for the crust,
10 minutes for the cake,
10 minutes for the curd,
10 minutes for the frosting

Cook Time: 25 minutes for the cake, 30 minutes for the curd

Ingredients:
Crust
1 1/2 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar

Cake
227g eggs (4-5 large eggs)
227g white sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
85g white rice flour
57g potato starch
28g tapioca starch
28g almond flour
28g brown rice flour
227g melted butter

Frosting
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Prepare the Allrecipes version of Fresh Lime Curd. Click here for the link. Like I said before, be sure to replace the lime juice with the key lime juice, and be sure to carefully temper your eggs. At first the curd will look like this:

At the end after cooking, the curd will go from a grey-tan color to a bold golden green:

Refrigerate the curd while preparing the rest of the components.

Crust
Line cupcake tins with paper cups. In a small bowl, melt all the butter. Combine the crust ingredients, and then spoon crust into the bottom of each cup. Spread the crust into even layers.

Cake
In a small bowl, combine all the flours.

Fill a shallow dish with warm water, and place an empty medium-sized mixing bowl into the dish. Add the eggs, sugar, lemon, and vanilla, beat for about a minute. Remove the eggs from the water and beat them until they have tripled in volume, which took me about 5 minutes.

Gradually fold the flour into the batter until fully combined. Pour the batter into the cupcake tines, and bake for 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Place the cupcakes onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

Frosting

To make the frosting, start a double boiler, and add the egg yolks and sugar. Cook over high heat until the sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Once sugar has dissolved, reduce to low heat and continuously whisk for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, remove the custard from the heat and whisk until it has thickened a bit, approximately 1 minute. Fold in the mascarpone until combined. Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until peaks form, and gently fold into the custard until well combined. Refrigerate the frosting until you are ready to frost.

Assembly

Using a circular piping tip, or a knife, cut holes into the middles of the cakes.

Fill a Ziploc bag with the curd, and then cut off the tip to form a piping bag. Pipe the middle of the cakes with the curd.

Then frost the top of each cupcake with the frosting. Top the cupcakes with lime zest for garnish.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Hope everyone has a good week!

Sunday Brunch

2011-08-24T21:28:00.000-04:00

Not going to lie, if I could see this plate of pancakes every morning, I swear that I would have died and gone to heaven. This past weekend my friend Marggie and I decided to have Sunday brunch together at my house. For brunch we made my gluten free pancakes and fried some pancetta.

The panel pictured above I used solely for the purpose of making pancakes. It's a Food Network skillet pan that my mom bought me for Christmas. It's got a non stick surface, and I totally recommend this pan. I barely use any spray oil and the pancakes are able to slide right off the pan.

The recipe that I used for these pancakes is located here: http://tcrumbley.blogspot.com/2010/08/gluten-free-pancakes.html

My greatest tip for these pancakes is to make sure the skillet is not too hot, and to flip them at the right time. To test the skillet, if a drop of water instantaneously evaporates from the pan, then the pan is too hot. You'll know that the pan is hot enough if water droplets dance around the pan before evaporating.

Meanwhile, wait to flip the pancakes when these two things happen:
1. the edges are not longer wet,
2. once the pancakes start to bubble, if you pop one of the bubbles and the pancake holds its shape.

I hope you enjoy these tips, and share some brunch-filled love with your friends and family this weekend!

Gluten Free Smores Brownies

2011-08-21T23:10:00.001-04:00

I will have to say, I love the Scheduled Posting Feature that Blogger has. With my 46 hour work week coming up, it'll be the only way I'll be able to post recipes over the course of this week!

As promised on Google+ (my public profile is located here) I'm posting my adaptation for Gluten Free Smores Brownies!

Chocolate Fountain?

My friend Mary sent me the recipe that I adapted, written by Homemade for Holman. You can find the link with the recipe here. I really didn't deviate from the original recipe, I only adapted it to gluten free. Therefore, I wanted to not only share this tasty recipe, but also how I made it gluten free.

For the crust, I substituted wheat graham crackers with Kinnkinnick Gluten Free Graham Cracker crumbs. Not only are they gluten free, but they taste just how I remember graham crackers tasting.

Ended up with a really cool picture of the milk and the oil separated.

For the cake, I did the following:

Did not add boiling water at the end
Reduced sugar to 1 1/2 cups
Substituted the 1 3/4 cup wheat flour with 1 cup white rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch, 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/2 tsp xantham gum

For me, the boiling water made the batter too soupy, and it didn't bake quite right. Also, I prefer my chocolate cakes a little less sweet, so that is why I reduced the sugar.

Well I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. It was the first time I used a butane torch and now I'm excited to use it in other applications.

Also, I've started to experiment more with my food photography, I'd love to hear your opinions!

Seared Steak and Potatoes

2011-08-15T21:29:00.002-04:00

Once again I have a relatively busy week at work, but I wanted to share this rather delicious recipe and fun presentation of steak and potatoes! Serve it with basil butter for a colorful yet herbaceous presentation!

Serves: 3-4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb london broil
salt and pepper
2 slices bacon
4 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 green onion diced
2 tbsp butter, room temp
1 tbsp milk
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tsp minced garlic

Steps
Preheat a grill pan to medium heat, spraying the pan with non stick spray. Season the steak with salt and pepper, and place on the pan once hot. For medium, let the steak cook for about 8-10 minutes, and then flip and let cook for another 8. Once done, remove from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

While the steak cooks, boil the potatoes in water for about 10 minutes or until tender. If you insert a fork in them without resistance, the potatoes are done. Drain the potatoes, and mash with a ricer or use an immersion blender to puree the potatoes. Add the butter, onion, milk, and some salt and pepper to the potatoes. Cook some bacon on medium heat in a pan, and once both sides are crispy (will take about 5-6 minutes) dice the bacon and mix it into the potatoes.

To prepare the basil butter, dice all of the basil leaves. Mix it together with the butter and garlic in a small bowl. Let it refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

When you are ready to serve, cut the sirloin into equal size portions. Scoop some potatoes onto a plate and place the steak on top. Spoon a small amount of butter (1/2 tsp - 1 tsp) into the top of each steak. I hope you enjoy this!

Orange Onion Pork Roast

2011-08-09T22:24:00.005-04:00

Oh boy. August has been quite the busy month for me. Long work weeks do not work well with healthy diets and gluten free, which is why I like to make meals such as roasts that keep well over the course of the week, so I can cook once and eat it over the course of a few days. Here's a really easy pork roast that has a really tasty orange garlic sauce that I hope you enjoy! Serve with your favorite greens and seasoned rice!

Serves: 4-5

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2lb pork roast

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic diced

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 white wine

2 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp paprika

salt and pepper

Steps:

Preheat a pot over medium high heat and add a few tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the pork, and place into the pot. Let the pork cook for a few minutes, gaining a good sear. Flip the pork and continue cooking for another few minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic. Once the onions begin to turn translucent, add the remaining ingredients. Stir the contents of the pot, reduce heat to medium low, and cover for about 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 140F.

Remove the pork from the pan, and cook the juice down over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the juice reduces to a sauce.

Serve the pork with vegetables and rice, spooning the sauce over top the pork.

I hope you enjoy!

MyCityCuisine Promotion

2011-08-06T10:28:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! A little while ago I wrote about a site called MyCityCuisine, and for the next three weeks they're running a promotion to put their name out there and to get people to check out their site.

MyCityCuisine is giving away a Free City Walking Tour App (worth $4.99) to everyone who Likes them on Facebook. The app provides GPS coordinates and interesting descriptions for not only the main city sites, but for off-the beaten path destinations as well. People can sign up to receive the free city app of their choice by clicking the orange bar at the bottom of MyCityCuisine.org or by visiting their Facebook page.

Feel free to check it out!

Gluten Free Tiramisu Cake

2011-08-03T07:08:00.004-04:00

It is time once again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! This month Kate from Gluten Free Gobsmacked hosted the event this month, and our assignment was WHITE OR YELLOW CAKE! Yum.

Perhaps the greatest thing I love about the gfreerally (other than the really tasty food that everyone creates) is the access to the knowledge of other food bloggers. I love the ability to work with everyone in researching the proper ratios and what actually makes a traditional white or yellow cake.

For this Ratio Rally Recipe, I use a ratio of:

flour : egg : sugar : fat

1 : 1 : 1 : 1

Out of this opportunity, I learned of a completely new way of preparing a cake batter to produce a buttery, tender yellow cake. The nice thing with the texture of this cake was that I was easily able to separate it into a layered cake with minimal cracking or breakage.

The main reason I was excited for the white/yellow cake challenge is that growing up my mom had a small business of sort building and decorating cakes. It was part of what got me interested in cooking, and I'm excited to share this sophisticated cake. Feel free to exclude the rum in order to serve without any alcohol.

Please visit Kate's blog for her Gluten Free Basic White Birthday Cake Recipe, and for the complete list of Ratio Rally Recipes!

Prep Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

Cake
227g eggs (4-5 large eggs)
227g white sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
85g white rice flour
57g potato starch
28g tapioca starch
28g almond flour
28g brown rice flour
227g melted butter

Syrup
1/6 cup strong coffee, chilled
1 tsp rum

Frosting
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

Dark Chocolate for garnish

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom of an 8" round cake pan with parchment paper, and grease the bottom and sides of the pan. In a small bowl, combine all the flours.

Fill a shallow dish with warm water, and place an empty medium-sized mixing bowl into the dish. Add the eggs, sugar, lemon, and vanilla, beat for about a minute. Remove the eggs from the water and beat them until they have tripled in volume, which took me about 5 minutes.

Gradually fold the flour into the batter until fully combined. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once the cake is baked, remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once the cake is completely cool, run a knife along the edge of the pan and invert into a cooling rack.

While the cake cools, mix together the coffee and rum in a cup. To make the frosting, start a double boiler, and add the egg yolks and sugar. Cook over high heat until the sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Once sugar has dissolved, reduce to low heat and continuously whisk for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, remove the custard from the heat and whisk until it has thickened a bit, approximately 1 minute. Fold in the mascarpone until combined. Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until peaks form, and gently fold into the custard until well combined. Refrigerate the frosting until you are ready to frost.

Once the cake is chilled, cut the cake in half so that there are two circle cakes. I have two techniques to recommend for this.
1. If you are scared of dividing the cake, take a long sewing string, and wrap it around the cake. Gently tug the string until it cuts through the cake and splits it.
2. If you feel a little brave, use a really long, sharp knife to divide the cake in half. Be sure to cut slowly for your safety, and in order to allow you time to make the perfect cut.
Once the cake is divided, carefully place the bottom piece onto a plate. I normally use two large knives to get leverage in between the cake layers. It also never hurts to have a friend lend you some hands in order to safely transport the cake.

Using a pastry brush, brush the coffee onto the cakes, and drench them in the coffee. Let the cakes stand for a few minutes to soak in the coffee.

Now, its time to ASSEMBLE THE CAKE!

Mmmmmm creamy goodness. Favorite frosting ever.

Take a nice, large dollup of frosting and place on top of the bottom layer, and spread smooth. Place the top layer on top, and then secure the layers with toothpicks. I like doing this to prevent the cake from sliding everywhere when you frost it.

Frost the top of the cake, followed by the sides. After I frost the sides, I like to run the knife across the side of the cake for an uniform side at the end. If the frosting starts to melt (especially during the summer), place the cake in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up. Once the frosting is complete, use a potato peeler to shave chocolate on top of the cake.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Be sure to check out the other Gluten Free Ratio Rally Recipes!

Thanks again to our host this month

GF Basic White Birthday Cake by Kate @ Gluten Free Gobsmacked

GF Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze (alcohol-free!) by Claire @ Gluten Freedom
GF Boston Cream Pie by Britt @ GF in the City
GF Chocolate Hostess Cupcake Dupes by Erin @ The Sensitive Epicure
GF Chocolate Pistachio Pound Cake by Amie @ The Healthy Apple
GF Coconut Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes by Gretchen @ Kumquat-Blog
GF Confetti Cake by MaryFran @ FrannyCakes
GF Czech Cherry Bublanina by Rachel @ The Crispy Cook
GF Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes by Caroline @ The G-Spot
GF Frangelico Cupcakes with Nutella by Lisa @ Gluten Free Canteen
GF Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Cake by Caneel @ Mama Me Gluten Free
GF Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins by Marla @ Family Fresh Cooking
GF Lemon Tea Cake by Kate @ KateAlice Cookbook
GF Mocha Buttercream Yellow Birthday Cake by Dr. Jean Layton @ GF Doctor Recipes
GF Nina’s Hot Milk Cake by Charissa @ Zest Bakery
GF Traditional Birthday Cake by Karen @ Cooking - Gluten Free!
GF Vanilla Cupcakes by Winnie @ Healthy Green Kitchen
GF White Cake with Apricots & Blueberries by Brooke @ B and the Boy
GF White Chocolate Cupcakes by Caleigh @ Gluten Freek(k)
GF Cake by Ratio by Shauna @ Gluten Free Girl

Gluten Free Pork Burgers

2011-08-01T22:12:00.002-04:00

So I've eaten two burgers in the past two years, this recipe being one of the two. Last summer I went to a cookout in DC where there were salads, burgers, and hot dogs. To avoid eating wheat in the buns, I skewered the burger on a fork and ate it almost like a giant meat lollipop. I can definitely say that I got a few odd looks.

So I was very happy to find Udi's Gluten Free Bagels in my grocery store. All I have to say is I love Udi's, they has such amazing texture in taste in their projects. I fully recommend it to anyone who has to eat gluten free.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 6-8 minutes

Yields: 2 burgers

Ingredients

3/4 lb ground pork

1/4 cup gluten free Italian or plain breadcrumbs

2 oz pancetta, diced

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese

1 tbsp oregano

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp onion powder

salt and pepper

2 Udi's Gluten Free Bagels

Ketchup, onions, baby spinach (and any other condiments of your preference)

Steps

1. Combine the pork, crumbs, pancetta, cheese, oregano, powders, salt and pepper. Divide evenly into two patties.

2. Preheat a grill pan to medium heat and lightly oil. Place the patties on the grill pan, and let cook for about 3-4 minutes. Flip the patties and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

3. Remove the burgers and place the bagels face down on the grill, allowing them to form grill marks. Will take about 4 minutes

4. Assemble the burger, topping with ketchup, onions, and spinach.

I hope you enjoy!

Gluten Free Gooey Fudge Brownies

2011-07-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

Let me start this post with saying that I haven't had brownies in a very long time. Since becoming gluten free (which happened a good 2 years ago) the only other time I've had brownies were some Smores Brownies. So needless to say I was excited to make some tasty brownies.

I feel like brownies can be rather personal, everyone has a type of brownie that they prefer over all others. There can be a wide variety of flavors (chocolate, blondie, peanut butter, etc) but have two distinct textures, cake-like and gooey. For me, gooey fudge brownies beat all others. I hope you all enjoy this recipe like my roommate, who begged me for the recipe before posting it so he could make some more!

Also, does anyone else ever feel like they could eat an entire bowl of brownie batter or cookie dough? Mmmmmm...

Serves: 18-24, depending on how large you cut them
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35-45 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 cup white rice flour

1/6 cup almond flour

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xantham gum

1 cup butter
4 oz 63% dark chocolate
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 6x10 rectangular pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flours and the gum.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate, and sugar over low heat. Stir constantly until well combined and the sugar has dissolved.
4. Remove the chocolate from the heat, and use your finger to test the temperature of the it. The chocolate needs to be warm, not hot. If the chocolate is too hot, you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your brownies, which we definitely don't want. When the chocolate is warm, beat in each egg, one by one until well combined.

5. Slowly add the flour mix to the chocolate until well combined. Stir the vanilla into the the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Gluten Free Sausage and Rice

2011-07-25T22:17:00.003-04:00

A couple months ago, I posted a recipe for Gluten Free Stuffed Bell Peppers. I absolutely love the taste and texture of the filling, so I decided to make a variation of it with Italian sausage. I use mild Italian sausage in my recipe, but feel free to use a spicier variety if you prefer.

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 mild Italian pork sausages
1/3 cup brown rice
2 oz pancetta, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup red wine
2 Portobello caps, cubed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup Marinara sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Steps
1. In a small pan, over medium heat, cook the sausage in a tablespoon of olive oil until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes
2. Cook the brown rice in a rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, boil rice in a small pot with 1/2 cup water. Once the water is boiling, cover and reduce to low heat for 20 minutes.
3. In a medium saucepan, sautee the pancetta, garlic, and onion over medium heat with the wine until the pancetta has browned.
4. To the pan, add the mushrooms and bell pepper, and cook on medium low heat until the mushrooms have reduced in size.
5. Cube the cooked sausage. Add the cheese, sausage and sauces to the pan, and cook together for about 4 minutes. Add the rice to the pan and let it all cook together for about 5 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Lemon Tart

2011-07-23T09:20:00.001-04:00

This a really quick and easy dessert to make that blends the acidity of citrus with the richness of dark chocolate. In my first trial I used only chocolate and corn syrup for the chocolate swirl, but in the end all it left was hard crunchy chocolate throughout the pie. This recipe is the second trial, which uses a simple chocolate ganache. I hope you enjoy!

I hope you enjoy is beautiful yet easy to make dessert!

Serves: 8

Active Prep Time: 10 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour

Crust Ingredients:

3/4 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

1/8 cup sugar

3 tbsp melted butter

Tart Ingredients:

2 cups prepared lemon curd (or use your favorite recipe)

3 oz dark chocolate

1/3 cup heavy cream

Steps:

1. In a small bowl, mix all of the crust ingredients together, and then spread them evenly into a pie tin.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the chocolate and cream over medium heat until the chocolate is melted and a smooth, consistent ganache has formed. Set aside and let chill for 5 minutes.

3. Pour the lemon curd into the pie crust, and place spoonfuls of chocolate onto the top of the tart. Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate through the lemon until a swirl has formed. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

Gluten Free Cherry Apple Cobbler

2011-07-20T21:40:00.003-04:00

This past week I went to the local Farmer's Market and got some beautiful apples and cherries, and decided to make a tasty cobbler out of it.

This recipe is perfect for the summer weather, and is zesty and sweet.

Serves: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cherries, pitted

1 apple, thinly sliced

1/4 cup white wine, Riesling

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp corn starch

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup almonds

3 tbsp butter, melted

3/4 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

Steps:

1. Preheat an oven to 350F.

2. In a small pan, cook the cherries, white wine, and sugar over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.

3. Mix the corn starch into the cherry mixture until combined, and remove from heat.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the cherry mixture with the lemon juice and the apple. Grease a 13 x 9 inch rectangular pan, and pour the fruit mix into it.

5. In a small bowl, combine the almonds, butter, and crumbs. Crumble the mixture over top the fruit mix, and place the cobbler in the oven for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Gluten Free Veggie Stir Fry

2011-07-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

Every now and then, my roommates and I decide to prepare dinner together. Last week we decided upon creating a vegetarian stir fry. Stir fry is a really adaptable recipe since you can add in whatever vegetables or meats you prefer, or have in your pantry at the time. In order to adapt any stir fry recipe into a gluten free recipe, here's two vital tips:

1. Make sure you use gluten free soy sauce. It may sound silly that wheat is in soy sauce, but it is. Gluten free soy sauce is fairly accessible in major chain stores now, so make sure to pick some up!
2. Check the ingredients when you choose your noodles. I recommend a standard white rice Lo Mein noodle for stir fry. It holds up well, and is easy to prepare.

I also tried garlic scapes for the first time in this recipe. I found them at my local farmer's market, and they're a part of the garlic plant. I've been told it has a milder garlic taste, and is good to have in eggs and other mild recipes. This is my first attempt at cooking with them (at first I thought they looked like they belong in a Harry Potter movie) and my next desire is to try them with eggs. Read more about them in this Washington Post article!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Serves: 4 people
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 box Gluten Free Lo Mein noodles
3 inches of a garlic scape, minced (use 3 cloves garlic as an alternative)
1/2 onion, diced
1 head of broccoli, diced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into strips
4 leaves bok choy, loosely chopped
4-6 mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
salt and pepper

Steps
1. Preheat a wok or deep skillet on high heat. Soak the Lo Mein noodles in warm water for about 10 minutes.
2. Cut all vegetables according to ingredient list.
3. Add about 1 tablespoon wok or vegetable oil to the pan, and sautee the garlic scapes and onion until the onion begins to caramelize. Add the broccoli and carrots, sautee for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms and bok choy. Cook until the mushrooms and bok choy have reduced. Will take about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the noodles to the pan, along with the soy, sesame, cardamom, and salt and pepper. Cook until the noodles are tender and the vegetables are cooked. Add soy sauce to flavor.