Tis the Season

Nooo not for Christmas ..(well they are predicting snow here tomorrow) but for Pumpkin Bread.  I never really was a fan of pumpkin flavours but I find as I get older my taste buds have matured along with the grey in my hair.  So I wanted to make something pumpkin like and feel like I succeeded.  No really I did.  If you have not tried my pumpkin bread you really really should.  It is yummy!  I will add a picture tomorrow of it.  We all ate it so fast I never got to take one.  I also am thawing my first test loaf from freezer so I will let you know how well it freezes.  For now here is the recipe.

Pumpkin Bread

2 1/3 cup AP Flour ( I use Kinnikinik it has Guar Gum in it so if you do not use it you may have to fiddle with consistency)

1 cup coconut flour

2 cups sugar

2  tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice (recipe to follow)

1/4 tsp guar gum

3/4 tsp xantham gum

4 eggs

1 15oz can of pumpkin pie filling (be careful that its gluten free)

2/3 to 1 cup water

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Mix all your dry ingredients together.  You want to make sure the gums are distributed evenly and you may need to sift the coconut flour as it has a tendency to bind and lump.  Blend all your wet ingredients together and add dry to it.  Your dough will be quite thick.   Add in chocolate chips.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until done.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan and let cool on wire racks.  Do not cut until completely cooled.  It can sit on counter for 4 days.  I will let you know how it thaws tomorrow.

******* This recipe thaws and freezes really well.  Dont hesitate to make ahead of time.********

Carbonara Rissoto a Family Favorite

When we first started going gluten free it was a struggle for anything baked.  I really dont like much of the bread or baked products out there.  Things just dont taste the same.  I worried what meals would be like with the gluten free pastas as we love our pasta.  I did not need to be worried though because we love rice pasta.  I am definitely not a fan of corn pastas.  I find the corn such an overpowering taste and a bit gritty.  I am thankful there are pasta options out there (store bought) and even in some of our local restaurants.  I dont believe I will ever truly love the baking but I am willing to give it a try!  So this leads me to my subject of substitutions and remedies.  I was craving carbonara but did not have any pasta in my pantry and I didnt want to make any dough for my own pasta,  so I decided to make a rissoto instead.  My family loves the pound of fat (or therabouts) that is in that tempting heap of rice.  Im sure even their portion of that fat was added to my hips and not theirs 🙂  So here is the recipe for another gluten free dinner.  Enjoy

 

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

3 Cups chicken stock

1 onion diced

1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh grated parmesean

salt and pepper

6 strips of bacon

1/4c half and half

In a pot warm up your chicken stock or broth.

Cut your bacon up into bite sized pieces and fry in a pot till slightly crisp.  Remove from pan but leave grease and drippings in.  Set aside.

In the bacon pan add in your rice and onion.  Allow onion to soften a bit and stir rice to soak up the bacon goodness.

Add your warmed broth one soup ladle full at a time and allow rice to absorb  the liquid before adding another ladle full.

Remember to keep stirring the rice to allow the starches to come out.  Keep this up until you have used up all the broth.

When you have put in the last ladle full and your rice is tender add in your reserved bacon your cream and the parmesean cheese.

Give a good stir and salt and pepper to taste.  We enjoy this with grilled chicken and asparagus.

Now I’m hungry 🙂

Rhonda

Brought to you by the colour Orange

So I don’t know why I do this but somehow I manage to pick a colour and go with the theme.  Tonights dinner is orange.  My kids never notice they are picky regardless of the colour.  If it does not suit them that day then they are not eating it.  So when I make a meal fashioned around the colour orange it almost always includes turnip smashed with carrots.  So here is the recipe for tonights meal of Balsamic Chicken, Quinoa with smashed Turnips and Carrots.

So the turnips are straight forward peel the turnip dice into manageable pieces to boil along side with an equal portion of carrots also diced or sliced into manageable pieces.  Bring to a boil in salted water and when done to the perfect softness mash with some butter and salt and pepper like you would your mashed potaoes.  This is eastern comfort food at its best.  The quinoa I will get to another day as there are so many variations to make it today I just cooked with some chicken broth and rice together with a handful of cheese thrown in at the end to be somewhat reminiscent of a risotto without all the fat.  Now for the main event the Balsamic Chicken!

Take your thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts and dredge in some ap flour that’s seasoned with salt and pepper.  Place in a hot skillet with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Give the chicken a good a brown on both sides until fully cooked.  Remove from pan and allow to rest.  Meanwhile in the chicken pan add a 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and allow to reduce in the drippings from chicken.  Toss in 5 or 6 fresh chopped basil leaves with 12 cherry tomatoes cut in half.

Slice the rested chicken and plate.  Top with balsamic reduction.  Enjoy!

Balsamic Chicken

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken

salt and pepper

1/4 – 1/2 cup ap flour ( I used Kinnikinik brand)

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

5 fresh basil leaves or 1/4 tsp dried

12 cherry tomatoes halved

2 tbls olive oil

Hint:  When browning chicken brown the presentation side first as it always gets the better tan.

Pet Peeve ~ Ravioli Should Not Smell Like Cigarette Smoke

Hey everyone oh boy do I have a Pet Peeve for you today.  Before our Celiac diagnosis we used to love all things pasta.  You name it any shape or size and the more sauce it held the better.  I could spend hours in The Italian Centre Market browsing the many varieties and flavours.  It was always a nice treat for the kids as well to go in and get a churro from the bakery.  Yes I said churro!  So not Italian but oh boy they are yummy sticks of apple cinnamon at the Italian Centre Market.  We couldnt wait to dig into them.  The reason for my post today is I also missed the yummy ravioli I would get there.  Our favourites were the lobster, aspargus, and artichoke and cheese medallions.  They were heaven.  Now fast forward to GF eating.  I went into my favorite gluten free mart and found home made ravioli in the freezer.  I was elated!  The price for specialties like these is steep but honestly eating pasta this high in fat should be considered a treat and not something one should count on eating every meal like I would if I could.  So I grabbed the bag of ravioli brought it home and went to make it.  I noticed the bag had an odour to it as well as my hands.  It was cigarette!  My home is a non smoking one so the smell was something I should have picked up immediately.  I can sniff out odours like that better than any blood hound.  So dissapointed to see that the expensive meal I had planned was ruined by the smell of cigarette.  This ended up giving me the kick in the butt I needed to get back to making my own pasta (smoke free of course.)   Now before you start making it the one ingredient you will need but is not listed is patience…also quite frankly a shot of tequila could help too.  Enjoy 🙂

Filling

1 cup frozen spinach thawed

3 cloves garlic finely minced

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup parmesean grated

1/2 cup mozarella shredded

Salt and Pepper to taste and a small pinch of nutmeg

Place thawed spinach in a pan with minced garlic and saute till you smell the flavours of garlic.  Drain spinach if any reserved water has not evaporated and allow to cool in a bowl.

Mix 1 egg with the ricotta cheese  and add to the cooled spinach mixture as well as parmesean and mozarella cheeses salt and pepper to taste.  Your mixture should resemble this.

Set aside and get ready to mix your dough

Dough

2 cups all purpose flour ( I used a storebought blend by Namaste)

2/3 cup Corn Flour

1 tsp xantham gum

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 tbls salted butter

2 tbls extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cup – 1 cup warm water

Put the dry ingredients in your mixer or food processor with everything but the water and give it a good work out for about 3 or 4 minutes. If using a mixer do not use dough hook make sure you use the paddle.  The GF dough needs a good blend to get the Xantham gum going and can take more of a beating than regular flours.

Slowly add in warm water while mixing.  The dough should be firm with a leathery feel when rolling.  If your dough is too crumbly add water a tsp at a time.  If dough feels sticky add flour a tsp at a time.  Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out one section at a time.   You can do this on your countertop or your dough roller.  I use kitchenaid dough roller attachment for my mixer and roll to number 4 working my way down slowly. When you have your dough rolled out to thin strips around 1/8 of an inch thick you are ready to fill.  Use about 1 tsp of filling for each pocket.  Leaving enough room for you to fold top layer of dough between and cut.  Seal the dough together by using a ravioli cutter that presses and seals for you or by using a bit of beaten egg and gently pressing dough seams together.

Your finished product should look something like this.

Be sure to shake off any excess flour and cook in a pot of gently boiling salted water for approx 6 minutes.   If you decide to freeze allow to freeze seperately and store in your preferred container or bag of choice.

Hints to better ravioli:  If you find that your dough got a bit dry while rolling out the previous sections dip your fingertips in water and give the dough a quick kneed to loosen up.  Also you can put spinach filling on one side and roll over your other half of rolled dough so you have less sides to seal.  This recipe goes great with Alfredo!  Enjoy