Oh, la, la! A really good Oatmeal Rasin Cookie!

I am doing some baking for a MOPS fundraiser tomorrow, and so I made over a recipe I found at Vitamin Cottage. Try it and tell me what you think!



Silly Boy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie



Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a cup of water to boil.

Combine in a bowl:

1 C gluten free flour mix*
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Combine in Mixer Bowl:

1/2 C softened butter (make this dairy free by using the Earth Balance stick butter substitute)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C evaporated cane juice
1/2 C almond milk, or milk substitute of choice
1 heaping Tablespoon ground flax meal mixed into 3 Tablespoons boiling water (let sit for 3-4 minutes before adding to mixing bowl)
2 tsp vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix til smooth, then add:

1 C raisins
1 C chopped walnuts
2 C rolled oats (not quick oats)

Mix to combine, then drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet, giving them plenty of room to spread out. I did 8 or nine cookies per sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes or til your liking. We like our cookies crunchy, so we did the full 25 minutes.

Makes a bakers three dozen: about 38 - 3" cookies

All I can say is...I am getting the stuff out and making another batch, or there won't be any for the bake sale!

* As usual, I use my modified Bette Hageman GF flour mix: 6 C brown rice flour, 2 C cornstarch, 1 C tapioca flour

Savory Chicken Strips

A grown up version of chicken fingers that even the kids will find very tasty!


Marinade:
2 lemons, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
4-6 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, pressed

Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken in shallow dish. Let marinate for 15 minutes to 1 hour.

1 package of chicken strips; pounded to 1/4" with meat tenderizing hammer


Heat additional 3 Tbsp olive oil in skillet. Put in one layer of chicken, let brown just a bit, then turn. They will cook quickly, since they are so thin. Remove from pan and keep warm in oven. Continue cooking til all chicken is cooked. Don't take out last layer, add rest of chicken back to pan. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups white wine, leave uncovered so alcohol cooks off.

We served it over a cooked rice blend, part "wild rice soup blend" and part brown jasmine (ran out of jasmin ;-D), with steamed cauliflower. It was kind of a "beige" colored meal, but the flavors blended well together, and better yet - the kids loved it and it was a quick fix!! It would also be good with steamed carrots or broccoli (we spooned the "gravy" over the rice with a pinch of kosher salt).

Thanks to the "Flavor Bible" for the marinade inspiration!

Nutty Pancakes v.2

This is my Nutty Pancake Recipe, with the eggs removed...It is lighter and fluffier than v.1, and a big hit around here. Also, if you don't do the whipped cream, then it is dairy free!

Nutty Pancake v.2

Mix in a medium size bowl:
1 1/2 Cup GF Mix*
1/2 Cup quinoa flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

boil 1/2 cup water, then:

In a small bowl, mix 2 heaping Tablespoons ground flax seed with 6 Tablespoons boiling water (you can also skip this step and use two large eggs, if you don't have egg intolerances).

2 Tablspoons EVOO
2 tsp vanilla
2 C room temp water

1/2 C ground nuts, if desired (I usually like ground walnuts, but ground almonds are good as well)

Warm your skillet over medium heat, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and cook pancakes. These will not get super 'brown' like some recipes, but you will be able to tell when they are done.

Makes about 20 - 4" pancakes

We had these yummy pancakes topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream this am for Sweet Potatoes Birthday Breakfast.

Strawberry Sauce

One pound fresh strawberries, leaves removed and sliced
2 Tbsp orange juice
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup water

Add all ingredients to pot and stir, simmering til water reduces a little. This is not an artificially red sauce, but it is fresh and good!! You could all a little more agave, if you like it sweeter.

"Whooped Cream"

A family fave!!! They like it on just about anything...I can not make this enough for my kids.

one pint of whipping cream
1-2 tsp sugar

Put whipping cream in mixer bowl, add sugar, whip on high till you achieve the proper consistency (that would be nice and stiff - you could run a knife through it and it would stay stiff).

Kefir-Blueberry-Walnut Pancake

OK, I am truly a believer in the old saying that "necessity is the mother of invention" and to prove it, try this "Mother of All GF/CF Pancakes"!!

My boys are recently dairy free, and one of them is also off eggs, and yours truly is gluten free, so the challenge became...try making a pancake without the trifecta: milk, flour, eggs!

Here is what I came up with on this snowy Colorado Sunday morning, tell me what you think!

Preheat skillet or griddle to med-low

Whisk the following in an 8 cup bowl:

1 1/2 C GF Mix*
1/2 C quinoa flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Cup finely ground walnuts (leave these out, if nuts are a problem for you - I add them to boost the protein)

To replace the two eggs you would usually use, bring a small amount of water to a boil, then whisk together:

6 T boiling water
2 heaping Tbsp ground flax seed (fresh ground is best, but you can buy it ground and keep it in the freezer also)

Let sit for a minute, while you add these ingredients to the dry mix:

2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C coconut milk kefir (I found mine in the refrigerated section at Vitamin Cottage)
1 C water
flax seed/water mixture.

Mix with whisk, then scrape with spatula, and mix again, just til all ingredients are combined.

Stir in 1 C fresh/frozen blueberries



Add bit of olive oil to pan. Scoop onto griddle/skillet with 1/3 C measuring cup. This batter is thick, so you will need to spread it out a bit with the edge of the scoop. Because they are so thick, you will want to cook them at a lower temp than usual. Cook til golden brown on bottom, then flip and cook til done.





Top with butter and syrup (we use "Earth Balance natural buttery spread made with olive oil". In my opinion, you can't tell it's not real butter).

This recipe makes 16 pancakes, here - three pancakes is a serving.

*GF Mix - I use a combo based on a Bette Hageman combo: 6 C brown rice flour (= one 2# bag from Vitamin Cottage); 2 C corn starch; 1 C tapioca flour. Whisk all together in a container and store in the fridge.


March 27, 2011 - I made a few substitutions today that made these even better!

1/2 C fresh ground buckwheat replaces the quinoa
1 1/4 c kefir instead of 1 cup
1 1/4 c water instead of 1 cup
I added two eggs
I deleted the flax seed preparation, but did include two Tbs fresh ground flax seed

Chicken Tenders

I am very blessed to have kids that will eat almost anything. The other day, I made a Thai Coconut Soup, and 5 year old Jalapeno declared it "the bestest soup ever" and claimed the leftovers the next day when we did COTF (a fancy name for 'clean out the fridge'). It had cabbage, zucchini, coconut milk...as I said, so blessed that my kids eat "funky food'!

Today, I decided to make them a special treat. So we bought a package of chicken tenders and tenderized them with a hammer made for that purpose (put the chicken pieces between a folded sheet of wax paper - it will keep the juice from splattering). I took a few pieces of foccacia out of the freezer, thawed them, and ran them through the food processor to make bread crumbs. You can use any bread that you have, or prepared bread crumbs, but if you bake your own gluten free or egg free bread, just save your ends in a ziplock in the freezer to use for breadcrumbs).

In a flat bowl or pie pan, mix bread crumbs (about two cups) with 1 tsp each oregano, thyme, garlic powder, kosher salt, and parlsey. Mix with a fork.

Preheat your a large skillet to medium heat.

Take tenderized chicken strips and coat them well on both sides with the crumb mixture. Add 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil to the skillet (you could also use another oil that you have on hand). Let melt, and then add chicken strips, being careful not to crowd them. Let chicken brown with out turning, on the first side. Then turn with tongs (piercing with a fork will release the juice), cover and let finish browning on the other side.

We ate ours with some brown jasmine rice topped with olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt, and some leftover baked butternut squash. Yummy!

Vegetable broth & Chicken Noodle Soup

I can't get enough of this soup!

The broth takes some time to make, but it is not hard. The soup itself is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!!

Broth -

48 cups (or 12 quarts or 3 gallons) of cold water in a 16 quart stock pot
3 white onions, quartered - don't worry about "papery skin" it will all get strained out
2 whole heads of garlic, cut cross ways, so each clove is cut in half - see above note on onion
1 piece of ginger, about a thumbs length, and the same width; cut in half, up the length of the root
5-6 big carrots (not the baby ones)
3-4 stalks celery (I prefer to use the inside of the celery, if available)
2-3 leeks (depending upon the size). take of the top four inches of green
1 Tbsp salt

Place all ingredients in the pot, and turn on the heat - do not allow it to boil, and don't stir it, just let it simmer for 4-6 hours with the lid on, but tilted a bit, so some steam can escape. Apparently (from what I just learned in an Italian Cookbook), if you boil or stir the veggies, it will make the broth cloudy - who knew?!?

Turn off and let cool. Place a large colander in a larger bowl, and pour the broth into the colander. Lift the colander out, and there you have lots of beautiful, home made vegetable broth! I freeze my broth in quart freezer bags (4 Cups per bag) lay them flat on a cookie sheet to freeze, then you have it on hand for...whatever!

(Do I have to mention that if your bowl is not bigger than your stock pot, that it will flow over?? Just checking...)


Soup:

8 cups of veggie broth
2-3 large carrots, sliced into thin rings
2-3 stalks celery, sliced thin, including green tops
2 tsp dry parsley, or handful of fresh, chopped
1 chicken breast, cooked, shredded (or whatever left over meat you want to add); or keep it veggie, if you like
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (depending on how much salt you like to use)
fresh ground black or white pepper (I use a mix)

1/4 to 1/2 package banh pho rice stick noodles - these are the flat rice noodles, such as you would use for pad thai; they are available at most grocery stores in the asian food section

Put everything but noodles in pot with 8 cups of broth; bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for 20 minutes. Bring back to boil and add noodles; turn off heat, cover pot and let sit for 15 minutes. I use a pair of scissors to cut the noodles once they are cooked, either in the pot, or in the bowl..or you can leave them whole, but they are long ;-))

I pretty much don't measure anything when I cook, so I have gone back and tried to do that for you, but you may need to adjust the seasonings to your taste.

Enjoy!