Sunflower Blossoms!

I remembered to take pictures this time :)

Most of this blog has been written about things being gluten-free. However, I also have to be very careful with peanuts/peanut butter as well (I can have 5 pb m&m's. I'm not brave enough to try more). This may be 'old news' to some out there, but this spring I discovered a product called sunbutter. I didn't see it in the grocery stores around here until probably August or so, but it tastes a lot like peanut butter. SO I decided to make peanut blossoms, substituting Domata Gluten Free flour and Sunbutter for the flour and peanut butter. They look and taste super yummy! (sometimes I have issues with the 'look' part of the yummy).

I used the Better Homes and Garden's recipe, and the only other change I made was using heavy whipping cream instead of milk. They are not quite as sweet as regular peanut blossom cookies, because the sunbutter isn't as sweet as peanut butter, but they are super yummy, and not everything needs to be crazy sweet, right?

Rolling out dough

I baked cut-out cookies last Saturday for a cookie exchange (non-gluten free), and was a little nervous about getting a bunch of (wheat) flour floating around in the room and all over my hands. As I was wondering what to do, I got the idea to use the gluten-free flour to roll out the dough. I decided to try it on the first batch, and if it didn't work, I could just clean up and take the risk...It worked wonderfully, and my dining room table wasn't at risk to be a cross-contamination nightmare!  Success.

Homemade Pizza Night

Gluten-free pizza for me!

Our meal planner for last week read 'homemade pizza' and my heart skipped a beat. I really like pizza, and homemade is the best. Now. I obviously can't eat regular pizza (if I could, I wouldn't have anything at all to blog about!), but I'm also not going to make Tim eat gluten-free pizza. The solution I've come up with is a cross-contamination avoidance system. I almost always do my pizza making the same way, and take special care not to get any gluten in my food. So far, it's worked.

I start out with the regular crust. I typically use a regular loaf of frozen white bread (they come in bags of 2-5 in the freezer section at most grocery stores).  I let that thaw and rise during the day, and before doing any other prep work, I get that crust ready to go, cover it with a tea towel and set it aside.

Regular pizza for everyone else!

Then I wash my hands and clean the counter and get ready to prep toppings while the regular crust is rising. Last night we used ham cubes, italian turkey sausage and pepperoni cubes so all I had to prep was the italian turkey sausage. I season my own turkey so I can control what goes in it, so I browned a pound of plain turkey burger with italian seasoning, garlic and a little bit of fennel.

Then I seasoned the sauce. I also use plain tomato sauce, so that I control what goes in there, and I season that as well with italian seasoning, garlic and a little bit of fennel (fennel is what gives pizza sauce its distinctive flavor).



Then I put sauce and all of the toppings on my gluten-free crust. I usually buy frozen brands, and haven't found one that is a whole lot better than the next, although they do all taste a little different. I like to change it up from time to time too - it keeps things interesting.

All in the oven at once!

After I add all toppings to my pizza, I move it to the table and take the regular crust (which has now had some time to rise) and add toppings to that. If I know I'll have extra sauce, I make sure to pour the sauce so that I don't touch the spoon to the bread and then touch the pizza.

When the regular pizza is ready to go and the oven is hot, I put both pizzas in the oven at once - the gluten-free pizza goes on the higher rack and the regular pizza on the lower rack! This ensures that nothing with gluten in it will drip on the gluten-free pizza...unless gravity breaks while you're baking your pizzas.

Cheesecake!

It's been a while. Welcome back! Know that while I wasn't doing much blogging, I was still baking and cooking and actually remembering to take pictures! A few weekends ago was opening weekend of pheasant season in South Dakota. Don't worry, this isn't pheasant flavored cheesecake, it was just my excuse to make the cheesecake. This particular cheesecake was tested on the Melstad family, and we like our desserts.

This particular recipe uses a Rice Crispy crust and Mom's cheesecake recipe.


Cheesecake:
5 8oz. pkg cream cheese
1 1/4 C sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 Tbsp Domata gluten-free baking mix.

Cream sugar and cream cheese together, then add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and mix.

Add any toppings you want (I personally like chocolate chips and candy canes) or split the batter in half and add cocoa to the mix (to taste - I did a rich, dark chocolate) and marble or layer it together.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn oven to 300 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Do not remove pan from oven while temperature adjusts.

Top with whatever your tastebuds fancy and enjoy!

Squeeze bottles!

This may seem like a no-brainer to some readers, but about a year ago, I discovered the magic, cross-contamination force field of squeeze bottles! It's amazing how many crumbs don't get into mayonnaise when there isn't a place to stick a gluteny knife...When I'm not the only person that eats jelly anymore, I'll have to use a squeezeable jelly bottle as well.

Baked Mac-n-cheese

Really, I need to stop eating my food before I take pictures of it.

Tonight on our menu was mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets. The chicken nuggets were good. I'll make them again, but the baked mac-n-cheese was wonderful!

Here's the recipe for any other gluten-free eaters that just need some down-home comfort food!

Baked Mac-N-Cheese

• 8 oz. uncooked elbow macaroni
• 3 Tbsp onion powder
• 4 Tbsp butter (or margarine)
• 2 Tbsp Domata gluten-free flour (or 1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in a small amount of water)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (plus a little extra for garnish)
• 1 cup american cheese, cubed or shredded
• 1/2 cup real bacon bits

1. Cook macaroni, drain, set aside. I used 4 oz regular macaroni and 4 oz DeBoles Elbow Macaroni made from corn.
2. Brown butter, onion powder, and pepper in medium saucepan. 
3. Stir in flour.
4. Add all milk and stir over medium heat until it starts to thicken and bubble.
5. Add cheeses and stir until cheese is melted. 
6. Split cheese sauce into two separate baking dishes (1 quart each). 
7. Put the regular macaroni in one dish and the gluten-free macaroni in the other. 
8. Add some of the bacon bits to each bowl and mix sauce, bacon bits and macaroni together in each bowl (using separate spoons, of course).
9. Garnish each dish with the rest of the bacon bits and a little more shredded cheddar cheese. 
10. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

It was yummy. I'll have to take a picture next time :)

Meal Planning

This post doesn't necessarily have to do with gluten-free cooking...but I'm going to post it anyway. I just recently started working full-time days. After a very short while, I've found myself not really getting anything ready for supper - creating a rummage pattern to dinner. NOT what we want. I realized that after thinking all day I don't want to come home and think more...what I want...what Tim wants...what I can make without going to the store...

So, in an attempt to plan ahead I purchased a planner - just for the kitchen. Tim and I made a long list of meals we like to keep in the book. It's open on my counter, and I've got about a week planned ahead, and I know I got what I need when I went shopping. If plans change, I just add the missed meal to the beginning of the next week, and can come home and just get stuff ready rather than try to figure out what I'm doing. It also helps me remember if anything needs to be pulled out of the freezer before I head out in the morning too. Hopefully this sticks - because we like to be able to sit down at the table together and enjoy our meals - rather than share them with the TV...

Brownies

Who doesn't want one of these?

Before I was able to readily purchase gluten-free brownie mixes, I was HUNGRY for an ooey-gooey brownie. I also tend to be a bit picky about the flours I use. Yes, I'm sure all-organic diets have their positive sides, but in order to hit a target market, much of the gluten-free food is also all organic and/or vegan, and made of some pretty strange stuff - like stuff that one wouldn't have found 5 years ago in a typical South Dakota grocery store.

SO. I researched flour mixes for gluten-free baking and came up with a recipe that I've been tweaking ever since. Today I hit the jackpot with a rich, sweet, ooey-gooey brownie. Hopefully they last before my company comes tomorrow!

Gluten-Free Brownies:
1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. butter (or margarine, if you must)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (or just vanilla to taste)

2 C. sugar
3/4 C. white rice flour
1/2 C. cocoa (or more if you want)
2 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 bag white chocolate chips

Mix together wet ingredients, then mix dry ingredients separately. Combine and add white chips (or nuts or whatever you like in your brownies).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes.

Eat and enjoy...Maybe mix it with ice-cream?

The first time I did this, I only needed to bake the recipe for 15 minutes. I have not successfully baked them for just that amount of time though, and have good reason to believe that the oven I was using was not working quite up to snuff...

Revisiting Bob

In the past, I've found Bob's Red Mill products to be lacking in the flavor (particularly sugar and fat) department...but I had a mix, and needed a safe potluck option. So I mixed the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix together, and baked it as a cookie bar.

I almost didn't bake it, as Mom always taught me that the cookie will taste like the dough...This dough had a very strong bean flour flavor, and I was scared. I made a quick chocolate frosting (1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 stick of butter and about 2 tsp. Cardamom) hoping to cover some of the bean flavor.

I pulled the bars out of the oven, frosted them, and walked out the door (did I mention that I was also running a little late?) and presented my un-tasted experiment to the potluck. It ended up not being bad. It was still very crumbly (I'm glad I didn't make cookies), and the frosting was great. I probably will stick with my Domata flour for now, but this would definitely be an OK substitute for a graham cracker crust if necessary.

And sorry, no pictures...I finished off the last one last night :)

Chex!

Chex has recently overhauled their box design to show that they are Gluten-Free.  I've been a big Chex fan for a long time, and particularly enjoy the Cinnamon Chex. Check it out next time you are at the store :)

Camp!

I went to camp this week. I want to send a shout out to the CSBC camp staff for being incredibly careful and knowledgable with my allergies. I took a loaf of GF bread (Udi's), a box of cereal, pretzels (I kept those in my cabin for munching), minute rice and some GF pasta (tinkyada) along, and was able to substitute those for anything I wasn't able to eat.

...and I had a blast :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Success! Have I mentioned that I love having an oven that works?  These cookies (recipe here) taste amazing, and are going to be perfect for s'mores, ice cream sandwiches or anything else that's sweet and needs a gluten-free substitute.

Before baking, I usually make sure that all of my gluten-full food is put away (I do have guests from time to time, and a husband that is not gluten-free). Then I wipe the counters and bake ware and clean out my mixer. I make sure to also use a fresh clean plate to set utensils on...Just in case. I have not had issues with cross contamination for quite a while, and the plate actually helps a lot with clean-up. If splitting a recipe (half gluten-free and half regular), I make sure to bake the gluten-free food first and completely cool and store it in airtight containers before starting to bake with the regular flour. I am careful to fold flour mixes before really beating recipes, and this keeps the wheat flour from flying into the air.  

 The hardest part is remembering not to taste-test...

Cookies for S'mores!

Summer is (finally) here in North Dakota, and I'm going to a S'more party Friday night. Since I won't be able to use regular graham crackers, I'm planning on just making chocolate chip cookies instead, using this recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter (margarine if you must)
2/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla (I use Watkins!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup apple juice
4 cups Domata Living Flour (so far, it's my favorite mix!)
1 pkg (small-sized) vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soda
chocolate and butterscotch chips to taste

Mix the butter and shortening together, then add sugars and cream together.
Add the vanilla, eggs and apple juice and mix together.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, pudding mix, salt and soda together. Add this to the batter.
Add chips and mix.
Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

If I don't eat them all first, I'll post pictures of both the cookies and s'mores! I am in my new apartment now - with an oven that shuts and heats properly - so I should be able to post pictures :) Some of the previous attempts at food were yummy, but not pretty enough to post...

Birthday Cake

Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!!  My family loves cake (and all desserts for that matter) and once again there was a dillema about the cake. Some would concede to the fact that cake is not necessary - but not in this family. I have found that making GF cupcakes (and frosting them first) is a great way to mark which cake I can eat. We do not need a whole GF cake when I am the only one eating it.

So we pulled out a local church cookbook and found a recipe for chocolate cake. It tastes delicious, but it fell. I'm going to try it again with additional flour before posting the recipe becuase the cakes fell, but it's delicious and the cream-cheese frosting makes it even better.

Mom says she can't tell, and everyone else likes them too. I told them they had to save a few for me to eat tonight :)

Cake crisis averted successfully.

Now it's time to marinade the steaks.

Sometimes things just don't work...

So, a week ago, I had pizza toppings with no issues at all. Friday, I had them again, but without the luck. I hurt. I have trouble not crying when I ask questions. I want to hide in the bedroom and not come out. I used to feel like this all the time.

Road Tripping!

Thanks to Udi's whole grain GF bread and DiLusso sandwich meats, we were able to make a 3 day road trip and have me arrive in Washington healthy and not feeling like I had a hamburger rock in my stomach. Sandwiches on the road are amazing.

Udi's bread comes from the store frozen, and if you let it completely thaw before opening the bag at all (on the counter overnight), the bread is super soft and moist, and does not need to be toasted before eating! It does not have any preservatives though, so make sure to eat it within 5 or 6 days.

DiLusso does not add gluten, artificial ingredients or MSG to their meats. It is a little more expensive, but so yummy and worth it - especially while travelling.

Rainforest Cafe

I ate at the Rainforest Cafe in the Mall of America tonight on a work trip, and asked for a gluten-free menu. He brought the chef! We had a great chat and he knew exactly how to modify my dish and make it Kristin-safe! I can't vouch for all Rainforest Cafe locations, but this was exceptional service! Props to the chef!

Chinese Fast Food?

And the lightbulb came on...So I was travelling this weekend, and had had enough greasy fast food for a month when I realized that if I asked, the Chinese fast food place at the mall might let me buy just a bowl of plain rice (my system was beging me).

And they did.

And all was right in my world again :)

And I'm surviving travels that aren't to places with Chick-fil-a.

Graham Cracker Crust Substitute

I am a blessed lady to have a whole family making sure that I still get my desserts :) This idea came thanks to one of my dear grandmas.

When she makes desserts that call for a graham cracker crust, she crunches up rice cereal (like Rice Crispies, an off-brand of them, or Rice Chex) and uses them in place of graham crackers in the crust.  It's simple, tastes good (albeit a little different) and best of all, makes it safe for me to eat. It's especially good with her homemade no-bake cheesecake!

Grandma's Refrigerator Cheesecake
Crust:
2 cups rice ceral crumbs*
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together and pack on bottom of 9x13 pan or set aside to layer in parfait dishes
*May use cocoa crispies or fruity pebbles for this crust - depending on what the filling is. Omit extra sugar as the cereal is plenty sweetened.

Filling:
1 box lemon jello
1 cup sugar
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 can evaporated milk or 1 1/2 - 2 Cups whipping cream

Dissolve jello in 4-5 oz hot water and cool with 4-5 oz cold water.
Cool till syrupy.
Mix in sugar and cream cheese.
Beat until smooth.
Whip evaporated milk or cream until fluffy.
Add to cream cheese mixture.
Fold together and pour onto crust or layer with crust in parfait dishes.
Refrigerate and serve when chilled to taste.

Making Muffins

Lately I've been baking using Domata Living Flour.  It is pre-mixed baking flour that can be used cup for cup in any recipe.

So far, things that I have baked have turned out incredibly well. My muffins stayed just as moist as regular muffins, and tasted great! Other GF flours taste good, but still get really crumbly - and cookies are way better when you don't need a spoon to eat them...

I haven't tried breads with it, because my oven doesn't bake evenly (last attempt at angelfood cake left parts of it tasting wonderful and other parts still liquid). I'm not willing to use my flour trying bread until I know I'll actually be able to get it evenly baked. :)

Still haven't tried it for pancakes...but with Pamela's pancake mix, I don't know who would even bother to try making them better!

Even better, both are available in health food sections at our local HyVee.

Think outside the bun

Order things without the bun. Most restaurants leave their meat as meat – and advertise it. Soy and Wheat usually listed for the meal is for the WHOLE meal - bun and all.

Order salads with grilled meat, without croutons, and read the labels on the dressings and sauces. Most of the time, the only gluten in salads will be the croutons. McD's fruit and yogurt salad is fine...until you put the candied walnuts in it.

Ask to see ingredient labels-usually associates will show you…Sometime’s you’ll be surprised (BK Cupcake Shake is gluten-free!).

Swap out fries at grilles. Ruby Tuesday® and AppleBee’s ® both will swap fries with fresh veggies, and I always feel much better…not only am I not getting the MSG, but I’m also not risking the fries being cooked in the same oil as breaded chicken…and maybe getting some good nutrients?  Another good option instead of veggies is to do a baked potato. Usually if you ask, you can substitute.

Somebody is already doing the work for me, so check out Gluten Free Restaurants and find out what they’re finding out. The site lists several national chains (Burger King, Wendy’s, and McDonalds to name a few).

One chain that I did not see on the Gluten Free Restaurants website that offers a gluten-free menu is Johnny Carino's. I know they are located in the great plains region, but not elsewhere.

Test

Make sure to look at the links page for listings of restaurants and things that you can eat! For now, here's the teaser: Godfather's Pizza!  Yes, gf pizza at Godfathers!!! Only certain locations have it.

Getting started here...

I'm working on getting this going...hopefully sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, I'll have my format ready and be up and running.