Pizza Bread...Yum!

I got a hankering for something savory...so I headed to the kitchen to play about a bit. I started out with my version of Karina's Focacia bread, and then the fun began! This might just become a family favorite! This is gluten free, and can be egg-free if you use the flax seed/hot water substitution, and dairy free if you leave out the cheese. The basic recipe is hands down my favorite bread ever!

Pizza Bread

Grease and corn flour a large iron skillet or 9" cake pan. Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Whisk together these dry ingredients:

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup millet flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp dry minced onion
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Add in:
1 egg
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/3 cups plus 2 T HOT water
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Beat to mix, then scrape down and turn mixer to high. Beat til smooth, about 5 minutes. Add in 2/3 cup Feta cheese, 1/2 cup chopped pepperoni and stir through dough with spatula. Dough will be thick; scrape into prepared pan then take two forks and spread dough evenly into pan. Sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt.

Put in warmed oven to raise for 25 minutes. Don't take out of oven, and turn temp to 400 degrees. Let bake for 25 minutes once oven reaches temp or till bread sounds hollow when you tap it.



Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

You could add just about anything to this bread, as long as it is not wet..I am thinking well drained sausage, sauteed mushrooms, etc.

Link to Karina's Focaccia: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/03/gluten-free-focaccia-recipe-with-garlic.html

Keep It Simple!

Sorry, it's been awhile since I posted here...but it is a little hard to cook when you are in bed! I am now almost five weeks post-op, and feeling pretty good, though I still feel it if I am working too hard.

I know that a lot of you have mentioned in the past how hard it is to get a good, filling dinner on the table that everyone will eat. I encourage you to keep it simple! Start a card file or a note book with your family's favorite meals, and start a two week rotation. As you add to the meals you all love, you may be able to break it down by seasons, with your soups, stews and casseroles for the cooler months, and salads, grilling and lighter fare for the warmer months. Again...keep it simple - this is not rocket science ladies!

That said, I wanted to share another COTF meal with you. While I was recovering from my back surgery, a friend brought over a roast for dinner. We had lots in the fridge at the time, so I froze it, and last night pulled it out for a quick-thaw dinner.

We had a good bit left over, so this am I got inspired to play...I diced the roast into bite sized pieces and set it aside. In a large oven-proof pot (my darling, my dear husband bought me a cast iron/enamel lined dutch oven for Christmas...sigh...) I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil and I sliced one large white onion, the heart of a bunch of celery, four large carrots, one leek and four cloves of garlic. I put the lid on this so that it could steam, then added 2-3 T dried rosemary, salt and pepper. Then I dumped in the beef, and covered it with 4-5 cups of red wine. Taadaa!! That's it. Covered it and put it into a 250 degree oven. (*) Tonight, by 6 p.m., we should have a tasty melange (don't you love that word?!) of beef and slow cooked veggies.

The key to a meal like this is to use what YOU have. You could add any kinds of veggies or meats you have in the fridge. This would also have been good with potatoes and acorn squash, or mushrooms and chicken. If you have NO idea of what flavors go together, then check out this awesome book...it is chock full of food combinations, for great flavors every time! http://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

Have fun in your kitchen today, and make some memories with your family!

* P.S. About two hours in, I added two juice glasses of water to the pot. Then about the time I pulled it out of the oven, I did two more juice glasses with cool water and 2-3 T cornstarch per glass, mixing it together well, then added that to pot, stirring all the time. The cornstarch thickened the gravy and I have to say, this was one of the best stews I have ever made!! Served this yummy stew with home baked bread and butter - YUM!

Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole

Have you been missing that creamy, soul satisfying dish of...something, since you stopped eating gluten and/or dairy? I was messing around in the kitchen tonight, and came up with this Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole that will satisfy every fall craving you have had!

You will need:

1 - 8 oz package of rice noodles - I used Annie Chun's brand of pad thai noodles from King's
2 large cans Tuna packed in water, drained well
6 Cups broth - I used a garlic broth from "The Gluten Free Italian Cookbook" by Mary Capone
1 Tablespoon butter, or dairy free butter substitute
3-4 T olive oil
3 T gluten free flour blend
2 T arrowroot powder
4-5 stalks celery, diced fine
2-3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/2 onion minced very fine, or 3 Tablespoons dry, minced onion, rehydrated
1-2 C frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste

* Bring a pot of salted water to boil for rice noodles, but don't add noodles just yet.

* In a large skillet or wok, add a bit of olive oil to pan and sautee onion, garlic and celery. When tender, remove to a plate.

* Add butter and 3-4 Tablespoons of olive oil to pan, melt butter. Add pinch salt and pepper, and then with a whisk, briskly stir as you add flour to oil/butter, you want it to be pretty thick, add a bit more flour if necessary.

* Again, with whisk, briskly stir as you slowly put 5 cups broth into the pan. Try and keep the lumps out, if you can. Take the remaining one cup of broth and whisk in 2 T arrowroot powder, then stir into pan. Guess what? You just made a roux!! Yay for you!! Turn the heat to medium and stir often as the broth mixture starts to thicken. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

* Go ahead and drop the rice noodles into the boiling water, stir, cover and turn off heat. Set timer for 10 minutes.

* Put sauteed veggies, drained tuna and peas into the sauce. Taste and add more salt/pepper, if desired.

* Continue to stir, til sauce thickens nicely. Add drained rice noodles, stir well and check salt/pepper again.

* Serve hot and enjoy!


Garlic Soup Stock
Mary Capone, p 41 in her book, listed above

2 quarts cold water
2 heads of garlic, skinned and smashed
1 large, yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried)
3 T fresh sage leaves (I used 2 T dried, rubbed sage)
3 T fresh oregano or savory (I used dried oregano)
salt to taste
6 whole peppercorns

combine all in large stock pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, with pot covered for 2 hours. Strain into a container and salt to taste.

Pick a peck of peaches...this is NOT a paid advertisement!

Mmmmm...homemade JAM! Is there anything better? I think not, especially when you get to make it with Mom and fruit from your own trees. We have been making lots of jam lately since we are in a "good" year with our peach tree. A few years ago, I discovered a great pectin that does not require tons of white sugar to get a good tasting jam.

I don't know about you, but putting four cups of white sugar into six cups of fruit did not sound good to me at all. So I did some research on my trusty computer (don't you love how easy it is to get info these days?!?...sorry - rabbit trail) and found that there is a product called Pomona's Universal Pectin. Not only can you use honey to sweeten your jam (I mean really, don't we want to actually TASTE the FRUIT?!?), but you don't need much sweetener at all. In a 'batch' (four cups prepared peaches, for example) you can use as little as 1/2 C honey! We have been very happy with the results so far, and am super glad I found this great product.



Another benefit of Pomona's Pectin is that you can double, triple, even quadruple your batch of jam with no ill side affects, unlike the typical pectins you might use. Because the typical pectins can easily overcook, and so not thicken as they are supposed to, you can only mix up one batch of jam at a time, which can really slow down the process. And when you head out to pick a peck of peaches at 4:30 pm, that can be super handy, eh Mom?

Honey Peach Jam

10-12 fresh, ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
1 box Pomona's Universal Pectin (I found mine at Vitamin Cottage)
1/4 C lemon juice (I use the good stuff: Santa Cruz Organic Pure Lemon Juice
1/2 C honey (I love to use local honey for the immune boosting properties)
5-6 clean sterilized pint jars with rings and new lids

Wash and rinse your jars. I prefer pint jars (or smaller) for my jams. Place them on a baking sheet in the oven at 225 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the jars there. This will sterilize them and keep them warm and ready to be filled.

Wash rings, and place lids in a little pot, covered with water. Bring water to a boil, then set aside.



Get your hot water bath ready. You will need a pot with a lid that is large enough to place the jars in and still be able to cover them with one inch of water. Bring water to a boil. I found a dark blue enamel hot water bath at a yard sale for a few dollars and it included a rack (a must as far as I am concerned), a wide-mouth funnel, and the tongs for pulling the jars out.

If your peaches are very ripe, you can just slip the peels off pretty easily. If the skins are on tight, you will need to blanch them to get the skin off. Here's how: http://www.ehow.com/how_2096906_peel-peach.html (No need to remake the wheel, right?)

Halve the peach, take the pit out and slice the peach. You can then hand chop the peaches or pulse them in the food processor, being careful to leave the consistency somewhat chunky, but even. You want to end up with 4 cups of chopped peaches.



The peaches in the back bowl are sliced and ready to go into the food processor.

Mix up the calcium water according to the directions in the Pomona package. You can save what you don't use in the fridge for your next batch.

Combine 4 cups prepared peaches with 1/4 C lemon juice in a stock pot. Stir well.



Add 4 tsp calcium water, stir.

Mix cold or room temp honey (1/2 C) with 3 tsp pectin powder in a small bowl. Set aside.



Bring peach mixture slowly to a boil, then stir in honey/pectin mixture, bring back to a boil and remove from heat.

Fill jars to 1/2" of top. Wipe the top of the jar with a damp paper towel, place a lid from the little pot on top of the jar and hand tighten the ring. You want it firmly tightened, but not super tight. Never reuse lids (rings are okay to reuse, if they are not bent) as you may not get a good seal...and why would you want to go to all this trouble and not be able to line these pretty, jewel colored beauties up on the shelf?

Once all the jars are filled, place them in the hot water bath. You may need to add some water at this time to get your "one inch above the lid" coverage. If so, bring back to a boil, then cover and start timing. At our elevation (we are in the Mile High City) you will want to do the bath for 11 minutes for pint jars.

When the time is up, remove the jars from the bath, placing them on a towel. Cover the jars with a dry dish towel and let sit to cool. Hopefully, pretty quickly, you will hear the joyful pinging of the lids popping down as they seal!! And don't do like I do. I am always pressing on the tops to see if I can "help" them along. Keep getting in trouble with my Mom on that one (and I am forty....something!).

So, this is the way we are making our peach jam these days...thanks to the great directions in the Pomona packaging...I think now we need to bake a loaf of bread!

What are you canning in your kitchen this summer?

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!

Birthday Fun!

Sweet Potato got invited to a Tea Party, and I had this image of chocolate confections dance through my mind...these did not turn out like I had imagined, but they were fun, and relatively easy, nontheless!



I melted chocolate bark for the first layer and poured it into a glass so that it would be deeper. I dipped the pretzel into the glass and then twirled it as I pulled it against the edge, to spin off the excess chocolate.



I laid the pretzels on wax paper on my cooling racks, and then put them in the fridge to harden. They could have used a little more time, because when I came back to do the pink layer, it melted a little...

Second round, I melted white chocolate vanilla bark, added some red food coloring, and mixed it up well. We dipped the sticks into the pink icing, and then add colorful sprinkles. Voila!