Recipe - Spinach Souffle

This might not appeal to a lot of people but I happen to love spinach. Ok so not to a point that I'd eat it every month or anything but when I lived in the USA I use to love the pre-made stuff by Stouffers... mmmMM good! But since I can't get that out here and I'm almost possitive it'd have gluten in them some how.

Again, on my search for stuff I found the recipe at Mr. Breakfast and I have to admit I have tried a couple times at this now and not ever really perfected it at least to my standards. At first I thought the recipe didn't sound like 'souffle' sounds to me. When I think of souffle I think of egg whites with stuff slowly added to it to no reduce the air and such. Not full ages just mixed into other stuff. But since I've now made these with reduced ingredients (try #1), with using egg whites that have been beaten til fluffy (try #2) and then this last time by the recipe. (try #3) I can honestly say, follow the recipe they give you.

I also suggest making these in ramikans (take a look at the site and in the photo there, that dish is what is call a ramikan) because it will mean they might rise more then the pan I did this in. That will be my try #4 :P

Spinach Souffle

Ingredients
2 10-ounce packages frozen leaf spinach -- thawed (I drained mine also)
1 large egg 1/3 cup lowfat milk
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon crushed garlic salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350f or 180c. In a medium bowl whisk together the egg, milk, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold in spinach. Pour mixture into the ramikans or a small baking dish and bake for 20mins in preheated oven until set. For me that means you should see the liquid that sits in the creases turn solid.

An Exciting Break Through

While going through my blog and changing it to a new template as well as tweaking some stuff, I remembered not too long ago my husband had told me about something a Holland Doctor (or team of doctors) has found.

With any luck, they have found away to treat Celiac Disease and not just have it a 'have to stay away from gluten' style disease.

I won't go into full detail here except they have found something that breaks down the gluten so much that it becomes harmless before it reaches the lower gut area.

Please read more about it at the link below... I hope they start doing studies soon! I would LOVE to be part of it bout I hate doctors, tests and the like so I'll just be glad when they come out with it!

Celiac Success - New Enzyme Efficiently Degrades Gluten

New Baking Items

Yesterday I was out shopping with my mother. She wanted to go to a store we have out here called Lidl. It's a kind of half brand name Aldi type store. Every week they have a couple of days that bring in sale/ad items. Yesterday, they already had the sale stuff that was suppose to start the day after (today) already out.

I took advantage of this to get some of the baking items they had on sale. Specifically found a very nice silicon baking sheet. It's meant to be placed on top of a cookie sheet to prevent major sticking and such. Almost all of my cook wear is non-stick coated but there are still quite a number of cookie recipes and such that would/will benefit from this sheet such as my meringue cookies as well as my macaroon one which both call for me to both grease and flour even a non-stick pan. I already have plans to mess with this sheet this weekend!

Now, here is why I'm really posting though. While looking through their on sale baking stuff, I came across something I think will become my newest and most loved baking item of all. It's a 6 place mini-loaf pan... also again non-stick.

The first thing that came through my mind was a recipe (I'll be posting after this) for some wonderful apple cinnamon muffins with crumb topping that I made recently. These were wonderful but because of the small/compact space that the muffin tins have, the whole 'cake' part of the muffin was all but lost... all that really remained were all of these pieces of apple trying to fight for room with the batter. I think that this loaf pan will being a whole new meaning to it without having to make an entire cake that again needs to be cut, stored, kept fresh ect because it has been cut into.

Another thought at the top of the list was that when making gluten-free you loose a lot of that 'bounce' that the gluten gives things. Like where you only have to fill a muffin tin 1/2 to 3/4's full, when baking this style you more need to fill it 3/4 to full instead. When trying to actually make a full cake, there are so many things you have to keep in mind when doing it because 2 things can/most likely will go wrong....

1. the cake is very thin because there is no big raising like gluten style cakes
2. anything you place IN the cake in the way of chocolate chips, fruit, nuts and so forth, will stink to the bottom of the pan ending up either at the top of an upside down cake/bread (which I make the most) or the bottom of your cake all together.

So with this, I'm hoping that I will be able to make some wonderful 'little' cakes instead of always trying to make muffins so that I can counter-act the missing gluten element. Only time will tell :) I will be trying to play with this new item sometime in the coming months. Hubby is due to have LOTS of time off... in fact the rest of the year's time I think he only fully works 4 more weeks and has the rest in vacation time. This will be the prefect time to have fresh baked goods in the house!

Halloween Is Just Around The Corner

It's the beginning of the month of October... there are a lot of us around that are wheat intolerant or have children that are and we're all looking for great ways to entertain the little ones or even that little on inside of you that goes candy crazy when it's Halloween time!

I've searched the web today for great ideas to indulge the adults since I try to cater to the adults here on my blog but also some ideas to indulge the kids as well... I hope you'll find these links and recipes helpful. And remember mom, dads, sisters and any other adults out there, you usually get the left overs from your kids ;)

For The Adults

A couple great ideas to either try to reduce the intake of candy by the kids or something to do with the left over candies that you bought to hand out. These were so good!

#1 - 'The Great Pumpkin'
The idea behind this seems to be that with all the left over candies from Halloween give out of candies (which almost always ends with something left over) is that with all of it, your kids can 'exchange' a certain amount of candies for a toy (that of course you have on stock... nothing expensive, nothing huge... but stuff like you'd find at the walgreen's kids toy section and so forth). By the time that you kids have all the toys, all of the extra candies that you had will be long gone from their wanting minds. Remember, you as adults don't have to eat this candy but instead give it away to food panties or if you have to, throw it away as you also don't need all that sugar/fat!

#2 - 'Toy Vender'
Also a version of 'The Great Pumpkin' but making it so the kids have to use the candies they have collected in their 'trick or treat' run instead of what you have left over. So they buy the toys from you like they would with money at a store but instead a set price of candies instead. This one works well seeing as most kids will keep their favorite candies and instead of just randomly eating the other stuff they really don't care all that much about except 'it's their's' it will go to a better cause.

Pumpkin-Apple Sauce Bundt Cake

Hot Spiced Cider

Harvest Popcorn Mix (great for the football game watchers too)

Caramel Fondue

For The Kids

Nestle Gluten Free Products
Baby Ruth
bit-o-honey
butter finger
butter finger bb's
chunky
goobers
milk chocolate
nips
treasuers
turtles
Oh-Henry
Rasinets
Sno-Caps

Wonka (also nestle)
Bottlecaps
gobstoppers
laffy tafft
lik-m-aid fun dip
mix-ups
nerds
pixy stix
runts
shockers
sweetarts
tart 'n tiny
Nerds rope

Gluten Free M&M Products
All M&M except for M&M crispy
All skittles bite size candy
All Starburst Products
All Milky Way producs except milky way bar
All Dove Chocolate produces except dove milk and dark chocolate covered almonds
munch bar

All Jelly-Belly Beans are gluten free as well.

Recipes

Witches' Fingers

Bug Salad

Witches' Cauldron

Dracula's Bones

Recipe - Perfect Corn Dogs

Looking for more recipes that had corn meal in them so I didn't waste this big bag of corn meal I now had from making corn muffins/bread, brought me to this most WONDERFUL of recipes and ever so easy to make... corn dogs!

Being originally from the USA, these are one of the things I really missed most and I was ever so pleased with these when they turned out. The biggest part of making these perfect were finding big enough hot dogs that didn't have any gluten. I ended up with these hot dogs that were about 9inch long (if not more) and a good inch in diameter... MUCH too big so I settled for the sake of ease and presentation to cut them into 4th's.

Before the recipe though this time, I will bring some tips.... although easy enough recipe, some simple rules should be followed to make sure you have the best experience possible.

Tip #1 - Use a deep fryer. Don't try to make these in a pan as they DO float and when they do you need enough room to be able to turn them around for proper cooking all around.

Tip #2 - Always use a fresh batch of oil with exception if you have just made a batch of corn dogs. Don't mix this with other foods when frying because they will pick up the taste of what ever else was made in the oil before.

Tip #3 - Fry these all at a high temp. I have a temp of 180c (350f) and I used it on full but stood there with them the entire time to ensure I cooked them evenly and didn't burn them. It also ensures that the batter flash seals on the outside while the inside almost steam cooks.

Tip #4 - Make sure you have a plate/baking sheet ready with paper towels to set freshly fried corn dogs on to get rid of extra oil and a bit of a cooling process.

Tip #5 - Make sure when frying that you do not crowd the dogs. Even though you think you will have all this room when placing them in there, you won't. They will expand and you will need room to turn these as they cook. I suggest for the size I will explain below and for a normal sized deep fryer to not cook them more then 5/6 at a time. I used a mini fryer so I only did 2/3 at a time.

Tip #6 - Let the batter sit for at least 10minutes before starting with the battering and frying of the hot dogs. This will allow the corn meal to absorb the liquid much better and make the frying process nicer.

Tip #7 - If you are using FULL length hot dogs (I cut mine into more 1-2 bite sized pieces) I would suggest finding a jar longer then the hot dog you are going to use so that you can batter them with ease. This way you will get a good coating and not worry if a place doesn't have any any.

Tip #8 - Use thin popsicle sticks if your going to make the full size things because using something to thin will just result in you loosing the hot dog in the thick batter (learned that even from the small ones I made in which I used toothpicks for)

Tip #9 - Make sure your using corn MEAL and not something called corn FLOUR or corn STARCH. You want the really course stuff, not the flour/fine style stuff that is meant more for thickening sauces/soups.

Tip #10 - When preparing the hot dogs before the batter process, I suggest using latex or vinal style powder free gloves (like you find at the doctors office) while doing it. It makes for quick clean up afterwards and if you end up with too much moister on them with all the flour, it's easier to clean them off then your hands each time. I suggest this actually any time someone has to batter, bread or flour anything.

Ok with the tips out of the way.... enjoy your new found love (I hope) of the good ol' American style Corn Dog!

Perfect Corn Dogs

Ingredients
1 cup GF flour mix
2/3 cup corn meal
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp GF baking powder
1/2 ts salt (optional)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 TBS oil (other then frying oil)
1 package (10) GF hot dogs
GF flour mix for coating hot dogs

Directions (I will give you this for the way *I* made these)
Combine GF flour mix, corn meal, sugar and salt (if using) and make sure the corn meal is well combined throughout. Add oil, eggs and milk starting at 3/4th cup and add 1 TBS at a time if more is needed... I ended up using a bit more the longer the batter sat. Simply whisk it together until there are no lumps and let sit while preparing hot dogs for battering.

Cut hot dogs about 3inches long. Remember, the ones I used were massive so I had a LOT more then the normal American style hot dog will make. Pierce each hot dog end with popsicle stick or with toothpick if using my method.

Set up your fryer and get it heating so it's nice and hot while you take the next step. Druge hot dogs in gf flour mix but make sure you pull off extra flour... you just want these dusted so that when you go to batter them that the batter will stick to them propely. I suggest laying them all out on foil after your done with the druging... it makes it easier work for you while frying.

When fryer is at temp, take the amount of hot dog pieces on a stick (sorry had to get some comedy stuff in there) and place them stick side up into the batter bowl. Turn and twist hot dog stick until well coated and make sure you get the top part where the stick is as well!

Transfer straight from bowl to the deep fryer. If high enough, the corn dog will be sealed on the outside and actually steam itself until cooked on in the inside. That wonderful 'corn dog' shape will come to it's own very quicky when you start to fry. Make sure you stick near by. You want a light golden brown color but from my experience you will need to turn them and might even have to hold them in place while they fry because they like to float badly. I suggest using heat resistant tongs when doing this as it will give you the mobility that you to keep these cooking correctly.

When you have a nice light to dark golden brown color all around, remove from fryer to prepared paper toweled plate or baking sheet. Let cool slightly and enjoy! I always liked to mix plain ol' yellow mustard with ketup and use it as dipping sauce but I bet the BBQ sauce recipe would go wonderfully with these as well!

Another idea, if you can find them is to use GF cheese hot dogs instead of normal ones.

Recipe - Raspberry Muffins w/ Chocolate Chips

Continuing on the muffin theme the last 24hrs, here is the last one for now. After making the cranberry ones, I thought 'what would it be like to use fresh raspberries?'... so I did. I gave some of these to my mother (who can eat gluten) and she seriously could NOT tell the difference between this and something with wheat based flour! I was so happy to hear that!

I took the basic recipe for the cranberry muffins posted before but omitted any thing orange and changed the half cup of blueberries and cranberries by 1 cup raspberries and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (semi sweet if your in the USA work well).

Raspberry Muffins w/ Chocolate Chips

Ingredients
2 cups GF flour mix
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1 1/4th cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1-2 extra TBS sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400f or 200c.

In large bowl combine GF flour mix, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt if using until sugar is mixed well throughout. Add milk starting with 1 cup, butter, orange zest (or orange juice if using), vanilla and eggs. With a mixer, beat mixture on medium speed until no lumps are left and mixture seems to of lightened a bit. If mixture is too thick, add remaining 1/4th cup milk 1 TBS at a time until desired thickness. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes.

While letting mixture set, prepare your muffin tin. Again with either liners or lightly grease each. This recipe will make over 12 muffins.

After letting mixture sit, give it a good whisk to make sure every thing is still well combined and then stir in the chocolate chips and GENTLY fold in the fresh raspberries... and be extra gentle or you will end up with red mush instead of muffin batter.

Pour mixture into muffin tin about 3/4th full. Sprinkle each lightly with remaining sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20mins or until toothpick in middle comes out clean or if you hit a chocolate chip, retry.

Recipe - Cranberry Muffins

While I'm on the whole 'muffin' thing any how, I thought I'd bring you a couple more muffin recipes I've made recently. Mind you I love cakes and such but why do cakes when you have the ease of fresh baked muffins that you can just grab one and eat it with no worries of dishes or it really drying out quickly?

Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups GF flour mix
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 ts salt (optional... I don't ever add extra salt to be honest)
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
2 tsp orange zest (I used 1/4 cup orange juice instead)
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 tbs sugar (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400f or 200c.

In large bowl combine GF flour mix, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt if using until sugar is mixed well throughout. Add milk starting with 1 cup, butter, orange zest (or orange juice if using), vanilla and eggs. With a mixer, beat mixture on medium speed until no lumps are left and mixture seems to of lightened a bit. If mixture is too thick, add remaining 1/4th cup milk 1 TBS at a time until desired thickness. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes.

While letting mixture set, prepare your muffin tin. Again with either liners or lightly grease each. This recipe will make over 12 muffins.

After letting mixture sit, give it a good whisk to make sure every thing is still well combined and then gently fold in the blueberries and cranberries.

Pour mixture into muffin tin about 3/4th full. Sprinkle each lightly with remaining sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20mins or until toothpick in middle comes out clean (or with blueberry on it!).

Recipe - Corn Bread/Muffins

Hello all you wonderful viewers out there. It's been a week from hell and I sit here nursing myself with a cup of hot soup and sulking because I'm yet sick again *uggg*. So I thought I would come here and type my miseries away!

I made these muffins quite some time ago but also made mention of them on the post before so I thought this was a good place to start in my mess of recipes and photos. I have a lot recently but as usual, I'll get to all of them over time!

This recipe has been almost perfected by me recently. If you read the post before, I tinkered quite a bit with the original recipe which just sucked compared to these... too much liquid for the dry ingredients, 10x's too much rising agent, WAY too much sugar ect. So I hope you enjoy as this is now basically MY recipe for once! I made these in muffin form... I just don't understand the hassle of cutting bread or trying to cover it for later and so forth... muffins are just easier. This is a VERY easy recipe BTW.

Corn Bread/Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup GF flour mix
1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 350f or 180c.

Combine all dry ingredients until cornmeal and sugar is mixed throughout. Add all wet ingredients and WHISK (do not beat with a mixer as you will end up with a hockey puck when it bakes) the mixture until there are no lumps (about 2mins at a good speed). Then let the mixture rest about 10 minutes.

While you wait, prepare your muffin tin. I don't usually use papers because they are hard to get out here (have a few for special occasions!). This recipe will make roughly 12 muffins. Either line your muffin tin or lightly butter them. These muffins will pop up quite easily so liners really are just if you don't want to clean after ;)

After letting mixture set 10mins, give it another really good whisk to make sure every thing that settled is remixed and then pour into muffin tin... about 3/4th full. As said, will yield about 12muffins... less if you want bigger muffins.

Bake in preheated oven 20minutes. Remove from tin right away after remove from oven. Best way so far I have found is by taking a fork and VERY lightly prying a side of the muffin with it while just gently holding the muffin with a oven glove covered hand and transfer to muffin/bread basket or cooling rack. These are best served warm (or even hot right out of the oven).

These go REALLY good with yellow curry rice dishes! Found that out last night :P Honey and butter also go very well on these.