Sunday, March 13, 2016

The Best Gluten Free Waffles

One note for anyone recently diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance: you'll want to buy a new waffle maker. It's not as crucial as getting a new toaster (ever tried to clean one of those?) but why risk the contamination?

Ingredients:

2/3 cup rice flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/8 cup white bean flour
1/8 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tb butter
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 tb sugar

1. Mix the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a saucepan, warm the milk, and add the butter. Warm the milk so it just melts the butter.
3. Separate the eggs. Remove the milk from the burner, whisk in the yolks and set aside.
4. Beat the whites of the eggs. Once they thicken, add the sugar and cream of tartar. Continue beating until peaks form, but not stiff.
5. Pour the milk into the flour, and quickly stir with the whisk. Let sit for a minute or two while you fiddle around getting the waffle iron ready, warming the syrup, and whipping the cream.
6. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, gently swirling around until pretty well mixed.
7. Follow the instructions for your waffle maker. These will cook just like wheat waffles, although they don't darken quite as easily. If you like a darker appearance, you can add a tablespoon of milk powder to the flour mix. However, try it first according to this recipe, as they really are fantastic!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Sweet Omelette for Sushi

4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce or equivalent
3 tbsp cooking wine (or, if you have it, sake)

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and salt.
2. Beat eggs a little, then add the tablespoon of water, and beat until frothy
3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, and wine.
4. Add the wine mixture to the eggs, and stir.
5. Lightly oil a non-stick frying pan and heat on medium.
6. Pour half of the egg mixture into the pan. Let the bottom of the omelette cook pretty firm. If there's too much egg mixture, you can lift it up and let the runny part on top run underneath. Once the bottom is firm and the top is not runny, flip it over....good luck!
7. Cook until the other side of the omelette is firm, and repeat for the second half of egg mixture.

Blanched Carrots for Sushi

Cut a carrot into matchsticks. Bring water to a boil in a small pan. Drop the carrots into the water and boil for two minutes. Drain them immediately, and stick them in the fridge to cool. They should wind up being a little soft, and a little sweet!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Easy Gluten-Free Tomato Soup

Did you know that regular tomato soup has wheat flour in it? We keep the ends of gluten-free bread in a bag in the freezer, just for recipes like this.



Ingredients:

1 can whole peeled tomatoes
1-1/2 cup gluten-free broth or bullion
1 small carrot
1/2 onion
1 slice toast, chopped into cubes
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt


Directions:

1. Chop up the carrot & onion.
2. Dissolve 1-1/2 tsp. bouillon powder into 1-1/2 cup boiling water (if using bullion)
3. In medium saucepan, pour in the can of tomatoes. Using a potato masher or a pair of scissors, break the tomatoes into smaller pieces. You don't need to be too precise, because it's all going in the blender at the end.
4. Add the bullion or broth and the carrots, onions, spices, and toast.
5. Bring to a boil, then let simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
6. Pour the whole thing into a food processor. You might want to use a ladle to start with, because getting splashed with boiling hot soup is no fun.
7. Blend for about 20-30 seconds until smooth.
8. Some people like pepper, sour cream, parsley, butter, or other toppings on top!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Ham+Cheese Soup

Since everyone in our family has been down with a cold, we decided a warm soup would be nice.  My mom found this recipe from the blog My Gluten-Free Kitchen, and it is a favorite.

Ingredients:

1¾ cups water
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes (cubes about ½" to ¾"), we like red potatoes but any works
½ cup sliced carrots 
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
¾ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ cup butter
¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (cubed or shredded)
2 cups frozen or fresh corn
2 cups cubed ham (cooked)



Directions:

1.  In a large pot, bring water, potatoes, carrots, and garlic to a boil. Stir in salt, garlic salt, and pepper.
2.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the ham cubes and frozen corn. Reduce heat to lowest setting.
3.  Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the cornstarch.  Add the milk to the butter/cornstarch mixture and whisk together.
4.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Add cheddar cheese cubes or shreds and stir until melted.
5.  Pour creamy contents of medium saucepan into the large pot of ham and vegetables. Heat through over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until read to serve. Taste a little to see if you would prefer additional seasonings.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Classic Pancakes

I was scrolling through my posts when I realized, to my horror, that our classic panckae recipe has never been published!  At long last, here it is.

Ingredients:

1 cup All-Purpose Flour Mix #6.5 (get recipe here)
1 Tb white sugar
1 Tb brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten well
2 Tb vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk, increase amount if necessary

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients.  Mix well, but do not over mix.
2.  Pour batter onto a lightly greased griddle on medium heat.  When bubbles come through to the surface, flip pancakes.  It usually takes a little longer than wheat pancakes.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Growing!

Just an update about me: I am growing! (yay!)  Here's a look at my growth chart thing:

Not only am I growing, but my headaches are almost all-the-way gone.  I still get the occasional headache, but only once every few months at the most.  I feel so much better all the time.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Sushi-o-rama: Making the Sushi

After you cooked the sushi rice and, if you wanted, the cucumber salad, you can start making sushi! A lot of sushi making if finding the toppings you like and figuring out good combinations.  You do need some basic ingredients and supplies, though.

Necessary Ingredients

seaweed, in sheets, or rice paper (most are gluten free)
some kind of sushi rolling device, we have bamboo place mats that work great.
saran wrap
sushi rice (see my sushi rice post to see how to make it)

Then you need fillings.  There are tons of different foods you can use, here are the ones we use.

Fillings

--We have used these--
Cucumber sticks, plain or Japanese cucumber salad sticks.
baby shrimp (we buy them cooked)
avocado
fake LOBSTER- do not use fake crab, it has wheat! For some reason, lobster does not. *UPDATE: we recently bought gluten free fake crab!  Just check the label when buying fake crab/lobster*
smoked salmon
cream cheese
mango or papaya

--We haven't used these, but they would be yummy--
real crab
fish eggs
asparagus
shredded carrots
red bell pepper
Feeling adventurous?  Try raw meat, but it's not my fault if you get sick.

Again, decide on a few toppings that taste good so you don't have tons of shopping to do.

Making the Sushi

--Prep--
1.  Prepare sushi rice and cucumber salad.
2.  Put all the ingredients in little bowls for easy access.  Lay out the sushi rolling mats and cover with saran wrap.  Get rice vinegar to put in little bowls.  If you are handling the rice, you need your fingers wet with vinegar so it doesn't stick to you.


--Sushi--

1.  Lay out sushi seaweed (or rice paper, I am going to say seaweed) on the saran-wrap covered mat in front of you.  The seaweed has a shiny side and a matte side (I don't know how rice paper works).  Lay the matte side up.  Also, there are lines on the seaweed, make sure they are vertical.
2.  Get a spoonful of rice and put it on the bottom of the seaweed.  Spread it on the bottom 3/4 of the seaweed.  Leave a "groove" just above the first quarter.  The groove will be where you put the ingredients.  Try to spread the rice more than squish it.
3.  Choose your fillings, I recommend three ingredients.  Lay them horizontally across the groove, making sure they go all the way to the edges.
4.  Roll the sushi.  This is the "hard part", but once you get the hang of it, it is really easy.  I am ok at it, but my rolls turn out really fat.  My mom has ninja-sushi rolling skills, we don't know how she does it so perfectly.  She has a strategy to her rolling. Here are her instructions:

  • Pull sushi down to the very bottom of the mat.  Then, grasp the sushi, saran wrap and mat and push it forward in a rolling motion.
  • Once the sushi folds over, pull back the mat and saran wrap in a kind of flicking motion.  
  • Continue to roll the sushi, also continuing the flicking.
To watch the rolling, skip to 2:00 on the video above. 
5.  Get a sharp knife and cut the roll into inch-and-a-half slices.  Ta-da! Sushi.








Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Baking flour mix #1 (ATK)

My dad really likes the America's Test Kitchen How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, mostly because of one thing: non-fat powdered milk.  Including this in a flour mix helps the bread's structure, and also helps it brown, giving it a more traditional appearance.

We call this the ATK mix, even though they only use rice flour.

2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup white bean flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1-1/2 tablespoon nonfat milk powder

This gives just under four cups. If you need four cups for a recipe, just add more rice flour. We keep a container labeled ATK, because a lot of baking recipes just use 3 cups, and the extra then goes into storage.

This mix is used in our coffee cake recipe.

Coffee Cake

I'll make this short so you can bake this as soon as possible (because you NEED to)~ this is the best coffee cake I have ever had.  That includes before GF diet.  I know I have said before that "this doesn't taste GF", but this takes it to a whole new level.  It is really, REALLY good.  My mom says, "Seriously, best coffee cake [I've] ever had, even before gluten free.  Loved it!"

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sour cream and/or plain yogurt
3-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups Baking Flour mix (see ATK flour recipe)
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 stick butter (unsalted), cut into pieces & softened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  In medium bowl, whisk eggs, then add 1 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla and whisk again.

2.  In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, except the spices, together. Add remaining half-cup of sour cream and the butter. With an electric mixer, mix for one or two minutes. Use a pastry knife to break up big pieces if you have any. Slowly add the egg mixture, mixing on high for another minute.  Batter should end up thick but fluffy.
3.  Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan (round cake pan with tube in middle).
4.  Put one cup of the batter into a small bowl, and pour the rest into bundt pan.
5.  Add in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, the tablespoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg to the cup of batter in the small bowl.  Stir well to make a nice dark batter!

6.  Drop a tablespoon of the cinnamon batter onto the top of the batter in the bundt.  Continue around in a circle, probably making 8 blobs of the cinnamon batter around the top of the regular batter. Using a butter knife, swirl each blob so that it gets mixed up in the column of batter directly below it. It doesn't matter too much how messy you are because this will be covered with the toppings. Basically, you want pockets of cinnamon within the cake. Do your best!

7.  Bake cake for about 50 minutes on bottom rack, until skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven, and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack. Then remove from pan (carefully), and let cool another hour.
8.  While cake is cooking, get the nuts ready. Chop the walnuts finely, mix with the cinnamon, sugar, and softened butter. Spread on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Stick this in the oven for about 10 minutes on the top rack while the cake is baking. Open & close door quickly to keep oven hot! Stir after five minutes.
9.  In small bowl, mix the cup of powdered sugar with the milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

10.  Once cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the top.  It's good to have it drip off the sides!
11.  Spread the nuts on top.
12.  Let sit for 20 minutes or until glaze is somewhat set.

(This recipe is based on the America's Test Kitchen How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, p. 56.)