Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake.

When it came time for my boyfriend's birthday, I told him I would bake him a cake of his choice. The only criteria? I had to be able to eat it as well! The only thing more torturous than having poison cake around, is having to make said poison cake. The good thing? Bob's Red Mill, I think, makes desserts that taste better than the 'real' thing. 

For this yummy cake, follow the instructions as given on the cake mix. For the center filling, simply slice the cake in half and fill the center (see instructions on how to make it below). For the top, melt in a glass bowl 1cup of chocolate chips and mix in 1 tablespoon of whipping cream; drizzle onto cake.

Citrus Filling

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used coconut sugar)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch 
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon orange juice (or citrus juice of your choice)
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• Pinch of Salt

Combine ingredients in a medium sauce pan, beginning with the liquid ingredients, mix together; then add the solid ingredients, mix and melt together. Stir constantly over medium heat until sauce thickens. Cool in refrigerator until a gel consistency is achieved. 

Glutino Crackers

Sorry for the absence  but my life has been full of changes, particularly buying a new car and moving. Still, managed to eat "safe" the entire time, and one of the things that helped me through were my my easy gluten-free snacks. Lately, my favorite snack food is Glutino crackers, which you can throw anything from cream cheese to salmon on--heck, they even taste good on their own. My favorite combination is raspberry jam + goat cheese + cheddar cheese. Just cut a slice off of a block of cheddar, divide it into little "triangles," smear the crackers with jam, add a pile of goat cheese, and 'stick' the cheddar into the goat cheese. Yumm.

Truffle Oil Stir Fry

This evening I did a delicious stir fry with scallops, broccoli, cauliflower and baby bell peppers. Cooking stir fry without soy sauce was at first unrealistic to me, then a friend of mine recommended Truffle Oil. Truffle oil, extracted from truffles, though very expensive, also goes a very long way--you really only need one tiny drop to flavor a full dish.

 

 

Veggie and Scallop Stir Fry

Ingredients

For the stir fry, you will need...

• 1 cup frozen scallops (or fresh)
• 1 cup frozen broccoli bits (or fresh, chopped)
• 1 cup frozen cauliflower bit (or fresh, chopped like broccoli)
• 5 baby bell peppers, seeds removed and sliced thin (or one large bell pepper)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teeny-tiny drop of truffle oil

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan.
2. Skip steps 3 and 4 if you are not using frozen veggies.
3. Add frozen scallops, heat until thawed (about 5 minutes).
4. Add frozen broccoli a frozen cauliflower. Heat until ice is melted (about 5 minutes)
5. Add baby bell peppers (and any other "fresh" veggies you are using) and cook for about 5 minutes.
6. Add the drop of truffle oil, and stir around for about 30 seconds.
7. All done! Enjoy over rice, rice noodles, or in a bowl by itself. 

 

 

 

Gluten Free Lasagna

We made this lasagna as normal, with the exception of using DeBoles Rice Lasagna Gluten Free -- 10 oz noodles, in place of regular noodles. Though these gluten-free noodles don't taste exactly like wheat noodles, we figured that the baked-in flavors of lasagna would supersede that--and it did. Layered bottom-to-top, as followed:

• Spaghetti Sauce
• Lasagna Noodles
• Ricotta
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Lasagna Noodles
• Ricotta
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Lasagna Noodles
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Ricotta
• Parmesan

Bake at 400F for 30 minutes, and wallah:

 

Topped with Parmesan

Sliced and Ready to Eat

Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix


Last week I made some bread for my daily sandwiches, and I must say, of all the gluten-free breads I have tried, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Homemade WonderfulBread Mix is the best tasting! This was my third attempt at making wheat-free bread, after my first attempt at buying it severely failed. Let’s just say….yuck. I won’t trash the name of the brand, but I must say, it is sometimes a lot better to purchase some mix and make it yourself, then to purchase a package that has clearly been shipped from Asia.

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Homemade WonderfulBread Mix

I picked up the package of Bob’s Red Mill, because I had already tried their Brownie Mix and Pizza Dough Mix, which were very delicious, and comparable to the “real” wheat thing.

Let me tell you, this mix is delicious, tastes right, and I actually don’t dread eating it, unlike some of the gluten-free breads I have tried. I followed the instructions as given, and I used Rice Milk, Butter and Eggs (there is an option to use egg substitute, vegetable oil, and cow milk, whatever you’re comfortable with. I wasn’t comfortable with using an egg substitute the first time around, but according to the instructions, you can use that. I was also going to use vegetable oil, but to my dismay; the vegetable oil in my cabinet was 100% soybean oil...).

I highly recommend this bread. Here are some photos of how it turns out:

Fresh out of the oven, on the cooling rack.

Sliced.

 

Delicious ham, cheddar and pickles sandwich.

Sometimes, I just don't know what I ate.

Sorry for the long delay; I spent the majority of this week battling the Google Spam filter, who had deleted this blog because it suspected I wasn't a real person. Either my writing skills are so super fantastic that I appear to be a robot, or my writing skills are so super awful that I appear to be a robot. Anyway, I took a few days to escalate this enough to speak to an actual person, and have my blog turned back on. Either way, I was too exhausted by the end of the week to post. I ate a few meals, but they were just repeats of last week. Stay tuned!

Eating out can be difficult with food allergies, and no matter how hard I try, I still end up having a reaction to something. Yesterday I went out to a delicious gluten-free pizza place, however, I am beginning to suspect they used soy flour and/or almond flour in their pizza dough. I don't know. I should have inquired more.

Anyway, I'll take this time to say this: Be prepared to have an allergic reaction. Take whatever medication your doctor prescribes you, out with you, in case you have a severe reaction. Most of my allergies are fairly mild, however, it didn't take long to notice that I was having some sort of reaction to something when I got home. I started getting a headache, and felt nauseated, so I took some NyQuil and went to bed. I slept it off, slept for about 12 hours. Know your body, and know what you need to do to feel better. Sometimes you just can't avoid it!

Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese

Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free Mac and Cheese with Sauteed Chicken

I oftentimes make this tasty treat on weeknights, after I get home from work. This dish requires minimal prep work, and each portion can be cooked simultaneously. I will usually put the water on boil, start the chicken, then by the time the chicken is done, the noodles are ready to go in the water. Then, as the noodles are boiling, I start the cheese sauce all the while keeping an eye on the chicken. This can all be done on and around the stove top, and requires very little mixing of ingredients. All in all, I would say the prep time is about 30 minutes. Perfect for a late evening meal. 

For the Pasta

For the Pasta I used Ancient Harvest Quinoa Wheat Free Shells. I really like the quinoa noodles, because I know that they are not only wheat-free, but they also are high in protein and high in fiber. If you're following a wheat-free diet, it's important to get your fiber from other sources.

The qunioa noodles also taste 'right,' don't clump together like other gluten-free wheat-free pasta, and keep well if there are leftovers. These also have the capacity to be cooked al dente, just as regular pasta.

Ancient Harvest Quinoa Wheat Free Shells

Prepare these noodles as directed on the box.

For the Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Grated Cheddar
• 1/2 Cup Half-and-Half (or substitute regular milk or rice milk)
• 1/8th Cup Butter (this is a quarter of a stick)
• 1 Tablespoon Grated Parmesan, for topping

1. In a medium sauce pan, heat melt butter of LOW. 
2. When butter is completely melted, add the half-and-half. Heat until simmering.
3. Pinch by pinch, add the grated cheddar while stirring.
4. Once the sauce is completely mixed up, keep over LOW heat until noodles are ready to be added.
5. Add noodles, mix together, and top with grated Parmesan. 

*   *   *

You can of course substitute other cheeses for this dish. I once made this with a mix of mozzarella, Parmesan, and Swiss.  

Half-and-Half adds a rich, creamy taste. If you want a more modest dish, try adding regular milk or rice milk. I like rice milk as a non-dairy substitute because out of my few choices (there is of course almond and soy milk, which I cannot have), this one has the closest consistency to regular skim milk, the taste is comparable  and it works well as a milk-substitute in baking. 

For the Sauteed Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Chicken Breast, thawed (for substitutions, this is about 1/2 lb)
• 1/2 Medium White Onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced (or 2 teaspoons garlic powder)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 Teaspoons Black Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Salt

1. In a medium frying pan, add the olive oil and tip the pan around until it fully covers the surface of the pan.
2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, if you used it, into the pan. 
3. Drop the minced garlic and chopped onion into the pan, making sure it's evenly distributed across the surface of the pan.
4. Turn on MED-LOW heat, and simmer while you are prepping the chicken. This allows the flavors to meld together before the chicken soaks them up.
5. Chicken breast: prep the chicken breast by slicing into 1/2 inch strips, 2-3 inches long.
6. Place chicken into the pan, being careful to slowly lay down each strip, rather than dropping it, as the olive oil will be very hot.
7. Saute the chicken for 10-12 minutes, or until done, stirring every 2 or so minutes. 
8. Serve on top of macaroni and cheese.