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.

Thought/Tip Of The Day

Ok not every day or even every month but this time I have been experimenting with a lot of recipes (will get to posting them soon) but with it I have also bombed a few things :P (that isn't recently though) so I have come here with a tip of the trade.

Tip/Thought - Let batter style cooking/baking sit at least 10minutes (if folding items in, wait to add these items until after the wait time) and then give a nice good stir to the batter before pouring into baking dish/pan or adding ingredients you have to fold in (such as blue berries into blue berry muffin batter). Then bake as normal. This will allow your batter to absorb the wet ingredients rather then leave them to float to the top while baking, while the heavier ingredients sink to the bottom.

When I 'bake' things with gluten free flour whether it be cakes, breads or other sweets/savories I use to have this problem where all of my 'inside' ingredients would drop to the bottom of what ever it was I was baking before it actually baked. So instead of having this wonderful piece of cake with say blue berries going through it, all I had was this cake with a row of blueberry mush at the bottom.

I had thought about that and wondered what I could do to prevent it. Well the first thought was to go in after I had put it in the oven to bake and stir it just before it started to set but that was not a really good option as it's a good way to cause accidents.

Recently I made the most INCREDIBLE corn dogs (have recipe, have photos, will post!) and I noticed as I made them (made like 2 dozen of these things LOL) that the batter I was using started to get thicker and thicker the longer I let it sit. So my brain went into over drive.

A LONG while ago (last winter I think, might have even been the winter before) I had a craving for gold old American style corn bread. When I made it I took a recipe originally calling for some really odd amounts of wet-dry ingredients like using 3 whole eggs and 1 1/4 cups milk when your only using 2 cups dry ingredients... something else I didn't understand in this recipe was the fact that it called for over 1TBS of baking powder. So, I took the same recipe recently and made it using my editing and it came out wonderfully compared to last time. The BIGGEST thing I did to it though, was let it sit 10mins after it was mixed so it could have time to really absorb some of the wet ingredients. Then I gave it a really good stir, put it into my greased pan and baked it as normal.

Last time I made this recipe and did it as the recipe said, I ended up with a kind of corn custard style pie rather then soft moist corn muffins. All of the 'wet' stuff sank making a kind of sweet custard (recipe also called for 3/4cup sugar) and the corn/flour went to the top and actually created 2 layers to the thing. Although good in itself, it was not what I was looking for. This time it turned out perfectly though.

I'll get to posting more of the wonderful recipes I've been making and the photos to go with it!

Recipe - Cold Pea Salad

We had quite a warm streak here a few weeks back and I wish I had thought about this before but it's one of those dishes you really don't think of when you think 'gluten free'... specially when it comes to veggies. My mother made her attempt at a fresh cold pea salad and it was rather good but we all agreed it was lacking something. So again with thoughts in my mind, the next day I went shopping for ingredients and off I went to the kitchen to see what I could come up with. Below is what I made and it was wonderful but also made a HUGE bowl again so I would suggest for only 2 people and if you want only 1 meal or so out of it, use half the ingredients mentioned. Sorry but no photos this time... will remember next time!

Cold Pea Salad

Ingredients
1 kilo (2pounds) frozen peas
1 cup cheddar, cubed (1/2 inch works best but if you want more bite, cut them bigger)
2 medium red onions
3 large eggs, boiled
1/2 cup - 1 cup gluten free mayo

Directions
This couldn't be an easier fish except that I suggest make it the night before so that it has the night to let all the yummy flavors (like the onion) to meld.

Take the frozen peas and dump them in a strainer. Select a large bowl for mixing the salad in and then place the strainer in it. Fill the bowl with HOT water (not boiling but the hottest your tap will give you works very well). Let it sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

As mentioned in the ingredients, hard boil your eggs and let cool. Finally chop your onion (this again is per taste.... if you like bigger pieces of onion don't chop it so fine... just do what you like best). When eggs are boiled and cooled, use an egg slicer and first slice them normally but then take them out carefully and turn it around and slice it the other direction as well. This will make the egg break into smaller pieces and save work for you in the end. Remember to cube that cheese too!

With all the ingredients prepared, strain peas, empty water from the bowl you are going to use for mixing and place pea without the strainer this time in the bowl :P. Place the rest of the prepared ingredients in with the peas along with the 1/2cup - 1cup mayo. Again this all depending on taste. I don't like over mayo'd items/salads so I only use 1/2 cup and it works just fine but like my father, he likes a lot of mayo so he'd probally use 1cup.

Cover and refrigerate. I suggest again over night but this mixture would be good with just a couple of hours cooling. Salad is good for about 4 to 6 days.

Recipe - Baked Mac and Cheese

It's been ages since I had mac and cheese of any sort. So with my husband's love of pasta with cheese sauces, I started again on another search. Mac and cheese here I come (ok there I went but still!).

This recipe is slightly altered from the one I found... well actually it's altered a lot and I found this works much better since I already had some experience in the making of cheese sauce from the potatoes earlier... I knew that straight cheddar was not going to work well in this nor was the amount of flour and such, so I already started changing it there.

The original recipe I found and went from was at Gluten Free Mom

Here is what I found worked best for me.

Gluten Free Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients
1 pound (16oz) uncooked gluten free elbow macaroni
2 TB butter
1/4 cup gluten free flour
2 cups milk (works well with lactose free milk)
8 oz (250grams) cheddar cheese, 1/4 inch cubed
4 oz emmental (or swiss) cheese, shredded
1/2 -3/4th cup gluten free bread crumbs
1/4th cup grated parmesan

Directions
Preheat oven to 375f or 190c and then prepare macaroni as required and then rinse well to remove extra startch. Butter a large enough baking dish that you can also put in about 3 cups of liquid and then toss in the cooked macaroni.

Mix together the gluten free bread crumbs and parmesan together and set a side.

In medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter. Leave heat on but remove pan for a moment. Whisk in gluten free flour and blend well. Return to heat and slow whist in milk. Bring to a very slow boil. Continue whisking entire time or you risk burning the milk to the bottom of the pan. When mixer starts to thicken, remove from heat entirely (yes turn heat off :P).

Quickly pour in emmental and whisk til melted and then add the cubes of cheddar. Mix the cheddar slightly til it starts to melt but til you can still see small pieces of it through the mixture.

Pour mixer over macaroni that you put in a baking dish earlier and give it a good mix (I sometimes depending on the amount, prefer to put macaroni in a big bowl so I can mix properly and then pour it into the baking dish). At this stage, if you you want to add cut up hotdogs or even pieces of smoke turkey/chicken pieces (lunch meat style) this is the time to do it also.

When ready to place in oven, sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the macaroni mixture and then bake 30mins to 1 hr depending on how done and how crisp you want it.

This works well when a bit of meat is added to it as a full meal but also makes a LOT of mac and cheese. I made 3 meals (I had turkey added to it when I made it) for both my husband and I, with large portions of it even.

Recipe - Creamy Potato Au Gratin

Time to get over those sinfully delicious peanut butter cookies with something at least more nutritional :P

I actually made them last night and I'm impressed. Since I moved out here to Belgium, another thing that I started to miss was au gratin potatoes. So again wondering around looking at potato recipes, I came across a recipe and decided I had all the ingredients already so why not.

I think next time when I make the cheese sauce I shall put 1 cup cheese and 1/2 cup more milk to make it a bit thinner and a bit mellower in the salty cheese taste. But other then that, I loved the recipe and plan to make it again. Got some great photos to place with it too!

Creamy Potato Au Gratin

Ingredients For Cheese Sauce
1/4 cup GF flour
2 TBS butter
2 cups low fat milk (can use whole milk if you want this recipe even creamier)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Ingredients For Main Dish
2 pounds potatoes (what ever ones you prefer)
1 recipe hot cheddar cheese sauce (recipe will follow)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese - optional
1/2 cup GF bread crumbs - optional
paprika - optional

Directions For Cheese Sauce - Option #1
In medium sauce pan, melt butter. Remove from heat and whisk in flour until well combined. Stir in milk slowly while whisking to make sure it is evenly mixed and you have no clumps.

Note For Cheese Sauce If you prefer to have a thinner sauce use 2 1/2 cups milk instead of 2 cups and cut cheese to 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups. Follow all directions otherwise.

Return to a medium/low heat. Whisk continuously until mixer is almost boiling and has turned thick. Again, remove from heat and add shredded cheese, mix until cheese is melted through out.

Directions For Main Dish
Preheat oven to 350f or 175c. Lightly grease/butter/spray rectangular baking pan.

Peel and slice potatoes into about 1/4 inch slices. Boil potatoes on high heat for about 8minutes. This step is needed because your cheese sauce will not fully cook the potatoes until soft before the cheese sauce becomes browned and ready for serving. I usually add a chicken cube to the water as I boil potatoes for an extra flavor.

Place half the semi cooked potatoes in the prepared baking dish and cover with 1/2 the cheese sauce over them. Mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese together if choosing to use and sprinkle half the mixture over cheese sauce.

Repeat the above process with the rest of the potatoes, cheese sauce and bread crumb mixture if using the bread crumbs. Sprinkle top with paprika if so desired but this is purely for looks and not taste.

Bake in preheated oven for about 25minutes or until dish is bubbling and has turned to the dark dish of golden brown.

This dish can sit in the still warm oven with the temperature turned off for another 30minutes if needing it to stay warm with no problems or worries.

Spam Messages

Ok guys and gals... this is enough. I now have changed the moderation of this blog to have to approve, reject or delete comments. Why did I have to do this?? because when I came back here to post in this group, I already had people leaving spam style comments with such stupid crap like for plasma TV's and then last night when my newest posting, I got a couple of people trying to push through dating sites.

Get real people. I wouldn't allow it on my website blogs and I'm certainly not going to allow it on my personal blog either.

Coco, I deleted the post you made before with the dating site, I'm most likely not going to approve another one so don't even try again ok?

Sorry to be this way but I want a CLEAN blog. This is MY blog to share with everyone out there that is wheat intolerant and a bbw (even if your not bbw but still love really good recipes, advice and knowledge)... but it is NOT for dropping random links off that have NOTHING to do with the topic at hand.

Recipe - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

As some of you know, one of my most favorite combos when it comes to sweets is peanut butter with chocolate! When I was still in the USA, I use to LOVE reese's peanut butter cups! Well can't even have those any more thanks to this BUT I can still make peanut butter with chocolate in other ways!

So here is another recipe that I just made this afternoon and they turned out almost better I think then any real flour cookies I could have made!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup GLUTEN FREE flour mix
1 ts baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (3/4th cup) butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky doesn't matter, just what you prefer)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 ts vanilla (optional)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (semi-sweet work well but I indulged and used 70% dark chips)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350f or 175c. In large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter and butter with a mixer on a medium speed. When well combined, add sugars and continue to beat on medium. Keep mixing until mixture becomes light colored and fluffy. Add baking soda and egg to mixer and mix until well blended... that's it for the mixer btw ;)

When creaming process is finished, by hand mix in chocolate chips and then flour 1/3 cup or so at a time until all flour is well combined and chocolate chips are throughly mixed in.

These cookies are so good that you don't even have a reason to 'press them' like normal gluten style peanut butter cookies... they WILL spread out just as a normal 'drop' style cookie will when baking.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet and bake in the 350f/175c oven for 12-15mins. Then let cool about 10minutes before removing from cookie sheet to paper towels to cool before storage. You MUST wait before taking these cookies off as they are so fragile that they WILL fall into almost dust if you don't wait to move them.

Repeat with left over dough/mixture until used. I personally transfer each 'set' of cookies from their paper towel cooling to a bowl every time I take a new sheet of cookies out to cool before moving. It saves on space and paper towels.

These cookies are light and every so tasty. This is one recipe I actually like MORE this way then with gluten filled flour. It's easier to mix, make and even cook and they are so much lighter then their gluten filled counter part!

Edited Later
When making these again after I ran out of 'america' style peanutbutter, I used a version of peanutbutter I could find out here in Belgium at a lower cost then the imported american style. This was not a good choice as the ingreditents are completely different. They had no added sugar to this kind, had more added fat and a different amount of peanuts even. When making this recipe, please use the original style peanutbutter by like Jiff, Skippy and other name brands.

Recipe - Tuna Melts w/ Cheese

This is a very very simple recipe and I even had it today for my lunch. I've made it so many times since I went gluten free that I even didn't think about it being a GF item! Also means atm I also don't have a photo for it... sorry! When I make it again, I'll make sure to grab a photo for you! This time it's my own recipe but yea well it's still something not too original :P

Tune Melts w/ Cheese

Ingredients
1 can tuna in water
2-4 TBS mayo
1 ts dry basil
2-4 slices GLUTEN FREE bread, I use a quite dark one for this as I like the darker breads
1-2 slices of good melting cheese, I use cheddar or a good gouda style cheese

Directions
Drain the can of tuna as well as you can and flake up into a small bowl. Mix with basil and mayo... you don't want this tuna to be too heavy on the mayo as it's going to just turn very soggy in the sandwich when it fries... so be sparing but still make sure the tuna is covered.

In a frying pan big enough for 2 sandwiches at a time (if you are making 2 sandwiches at a time, I make 2 because the bread I use is much smaller then the bread that one that can eat wheat does) drizzle the pan with squeeze margarine or lightly coat with some butter and place 2 pieces of bread down into it.

On top of bread, spoon over as much of the tuna mix as you wish but in general I use 1-2TBS of the mix per sandwich as that is really all that is needed.

Place 1 slice cheese on top of tuna mix and then place the other pieces of bread on top. If using a squeeze or spray style butter/margarine, drizzle or spray the tops of the sandwiches in preparation of turning them.

Fry like you would a grilled cheese sandwich! Medium heat until you hear it sizzling away and then flip but carefully. I usually use a small knife as well when turning so that I can hold the 'top' on while flipping to ensure it doesn't fall apart or move. Then fry until sizzling again... keeping in mind you can fry these to your desire as your just looking for that wonderful golden color you would get from a yummy grilled cheese!

That's it... be careful. If you want to eat them straight out of the frying pan, I suggest a knife and folk as the cheese WILL come out and onto your fingers... this will hurt ;) Otherwise, let sit for 10mins and then enjoy... still warm but then finger food.

Edited Later
As promised here are photos. This time I managed to get 'between' shots of this item. I will try to do this more but sometimes it's not possible depending how 'messy' the recipe is.

Recipe - Savory Potato Pancakes

I have a number of recipes to add today and even one in plan that I haven't made yet! The recipe here I made last night for my husband and my 'monthly' anniversary (hopeless romantic thing). He loves potatoes (well I do too but not as much as he seems to) and so I wanted to make something different then the standard 'bake/boil/fry' style thing so I went hunting! Again coming to my beloved GlutenFreeda site!

I stumbled on 2 recipes that made me think about what I was going to do with this. Looking up 'potato' (have to look up potato when using their search... if you use 'potatos' you will end up with only 1 recipe found) in their search because it's misspelled. I came across a recipe for 'cheddar mashed potatoes' and something called 'boxdy' which seemed to be a type of what in America is considered a potato pancake.

My mind wandering into how I can add cheddar to these made it almost go hay-wire! But I came up with the recipe below. Hope you all enjoy! These are quite hearty and I had mine with some sour cream on top but they work just as well without anything!

Savory Potato Pancakes w/ Cheddar

Ingredients
1 pouch instant mash potatoes, I used about 2 cups of flakes (do not prepare yet!)
1 heaping tsp garlic puree (minced style garlic or you can choose to crush enough to make it)
3 TBS fresh or frozen chives, I used frozen but fresh might have more flavor
1/2 cup very small cubes of cheddar cheese, about 1/2 inch large
4 TBS gluten free flour mix
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
salt/pepper to taste
butter or margarine for frying

Directions
You will need a frying pan able to with stand medium to high heat for about 1 hour of time and preheat this pan.

Prepare the instant potato flakes with COLD water... this is to ensure that when you go about adding the cheese to the recipe before cooking, that it doesn't all melt into the batter... you are going for the 'bites of cheese' not the 'combined throughout' style thing here. Keep in mind to prepare them a bit on the 'dry' side as you will be adding another 1/2 cup liquid and a couple of eggs.

In the prepared mashed potatoes add all other ingredients (couldn't be easier!), mix it all well until you have what looks like your original mash potatoes except now speckled with green from the chives and the nice orange color of the cheddar.

In your pre-pared frying pan, use a VERY small amount of butter on it and then by small soup ladle size, drop batter onto the frying pan. This is where you MUST be patient... you need to leave these sit cooking at least on 1 side for about 10mins untouched! The potato needs to fry enough to keep a hard crust on the one side in order to stay together when you flip it. It also adds to the over dish if you can just leave them cook. I sometimes even use 2 pans at a time so that they get done faster but I still let them sit. Once you can get your spatchula under the pancake and feel that the pancake itself has a resistance and won't fall apart when flipping, then do so. If you feel the pancake give at all when you try to put the spatchula under it, wait and try again in 5minutes. Once this stage is done and you have flipped them, you can then cook the other side just until golden brown if desired or wait a bit longer to have them a bit more crisp on both sides.

Repeat with remaing batter until used... remember to add a bit of butter (only a small amount is really needed) between each fry.

These are really good on their own but also go well with just a small amount of sour cream on top!

Recipe - BBQ Sauce

Hey everyone... I know it's been WAY too long since I did the whole wheat intolerance blog thing but I'm back on track with everything and I'm here today to bring you one of my newest recipes and this time it isn't a dessert one!

Tonight (even as I write this) I have a pan full of chicken thigh/leg pieces (4 big huge ones no less) sitting in the oven just smoothered in BBQ sauce. I know most of the pre-made sauces out there now a days unless specially made for a gluten free diet, have tons of wheat added to them to make them thicker. Well I have been hunting for quite some time and think I have finally found one of the best recipes yet! And it's EVER so simple!

I found the recipe one night while I was talking with my mother about having a BBQ over at her house at least one more time before the bad winter weather set in this year and we started talking about the good ol' days of BBQ sauce slathered chicken on the grill and how upsetting it was that I haven't been able to have it in almost 5yrs now. My hunt this time was short as I went to my favorite GF recipe spot (mentioned below) and behold on the front page no less was a 'how to make bbq chicken'. So naturally this was also for a grill thing but why give it up if you can't grill?? bake or broil it!

Normally the recipe below also comes with a spice rub but I haven't been able to taste the rub yet since the chicken is still baking. Once I have actually tried the chicken I will pass along or edit this post to include or not include the rub. I did put the rub on this time as it is the first time I am trying this out.

Original Recipe from Glutenfreeda

GF BBQ Sauce
(original recipe was altared slightly to include dijon mustard and honey)

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons celery salt
Dash of cayenne pepper
2 cups ketchup
1 heeping Tablespoon honey
1/8 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions - This couldn't be easier if you tried!
Combine the brown sugar and all dry spices in a kettle big enough to hold 4 cups... make sure to mix them very well until you can't tell which spice was which and the brown sugar is mixed through. Then add all wet ingredients.

Heat over a VERY low heat for about 15mins. Then use as you wish! It's great for anything you would put bbq sauce on! My personal favs are chicken and beans! (mmmm beans.... hamburger... bbq sauce... I feel another recipe coming on!).

EDITED - August 24th, 2008
Hello again every one... I just wanted to stop in to let you know that this was a wonderful recipe after I got to finally taste it. I baked the chicken about 2hrs on a low temp so it was just falling off the bone. I am going to edit the recipe next time though. I suggest this recipe to those that love a very spicy style BBQ sauce but for me I think I will reduce the chili powder as it is one of the dominating tastes and I will also exclude the cayenne pepper all together... this should reduce the heat but only the next attempt will tell me for sure!

Here is a photo I manage to get of the final dish and as for the rub, I don't think you really need it. This chicken would come on it's own with just the sauce.