Home Ground Hamburgers with Carmelized Onions

After making my own ground beef from a grassfed beef chuck roast yesterday, I could only do one thing...make hamburgers for supper! There's lots of fancy ways to make burgers, but I opted for simple. Salt and pepper were the only seasonings this flavorful meat needed, although I should have used more salt. But, other than that they were delicious, juicy and tender. Grinding your own beef really results in a more tender burger. Not sure how, but it does. Check out how to grind your own hamburger on my DIY post: Make Your Own Ground Beef Using an Old Fashioned Grinder. 

I topped mine off with cheddar cheese, freshly sliced off the block and caramelized onions, hubby got Swiss cheese, and picky 12 year old daughter got mozzarella. Mister's got cheddar too.  I'm typing this the next morning, and I would love to have a cheeseburger for breakfast right now. They were that good!

Caramelized onions...those are something I am trying to master and I get varying results. One thing I can tell you is that they can go from caramelized to carbonized in the blink of an eye. They are not really something you should try to make while you're doing something else, especially if you have a tendency to be distractible. Not that I don't try to prove that wrong. I should think about making them before whatever I'm going to put them on, but what usually happens is I get some idea for [______] with Caramelized Onions and start making everything. I wonder if I could make a bunch and freeze them in small portions. I think I'll try that.

I cut out an article in the paper years ago about making caramelized onions and it takes forever to do it right. One of these days I'm going to follow those directions instead of doing it my way, I have a feeling they'll turn out better.  Or, I'll try making them in my crock pot, following the recipe I found at food.com, Crockpot Caramelized Onions.  Definitely look through the comments, there's some good tips there. 

How I Make Caramelized Onions, and Sometimes Carbonized...

This is one of those "recipes" that is not really a recipe...I cut up some onion (I prefer Vidalia), melt some butter in a hot cast iron skillet, dump in the onions, salt them a bit, and let them cook slowly. Or try to. Seems like I always end up with the pan too hot. But anyway, stir them around to get them coated in the butter, and stir occasionally. When they start to turn brownish, you have to really pay attention...stir often, and don't walk away from the stove!

Add sliced, sweet onions to a hot cast iron skillet with melted butter.
This was one small onion and 2-3 Tbs butter and a sprinkling of salt.

After several minutes of cooking, they are already starting to brown
a bit. 

And, before you know it...they're getting overdone...sigh...

And now for the burgers...freshly ground, pattied and seasoned
with salt and pepper.

This is how I have to cook our burgers. Cook mine and the kids
first, flip, then add my husband's. He likes his still mooing. YUK.

I drizzled balsamic reduction over my burger, and enjoyed a simple
kale salad with green peppers, onions and homemade ranch dressing
along with it. Oh, and some Mediterranean seasoned potato chips.
Yummy!

Grinding your own hamburger may or may not be more economical. Our local butcher sells ground beef for $3.89 a pound right now, a chuck roast is $4.39. But honestly, I loved the beef I ground myself so much I think I just might be willing to pay a little more and do the work myself, at least if I'm going to make hamburgers. If it's going into chili or some other kind of ground beef dish, I'd stick with the pre-ground hamburger. A big, juicy, delicious hamburger really showcases the tenderness of home ground beef. 

What are your favorite ways to prepare burgers? Have you ever ground your own beef? What's your favorite way to use caramelized onions?

Gluten Free: Chicken, Bacon and Ranch Pizza

Be sure to enter my Giveaway to win a
FREE bag of CC Dolch Gluten Free All Purpose Flour!
See the bottom of this post for more info...

Supper tonight was Chicken, (Turkey) Bacon and Ranch Pizza, and I used the C. C. Dolch Gluten Free Flour pizza crust recipe. I really like that pizza crust...it's not 100% like the "real" stuff...there's no way, really, to get that chewy-ness in a gluten crust without the gluten. Just the nature of things. BUT, it's fantastically easy and doesn't have that weird flavor that a lot of GF flours and pizza crust mixes have because they don't put bean flour in there. Some people don't mind it, I guess. But I really don't care for it...weird flavor and weird texture. Boo.

I didn't have any ranch dressing on hand, and was out of mayo, so I went searching for a mayo-less ranch recipe. The one below was a good starting place, but for my tastes I needed to add some stuff to get it to where I liked it. I added vinegar (would have used lemon juice if I had any lemons), more garlic and onion powder, more salt, and a pinch of sugar. Most likely, it just needed a bit of time chilling in the fridge, but as I made it right before making supper, I had to use it as it was. 

Freshly shredded cheese tastes soooo much better, and today I used a combination of mozzarella and cheddar. It's also cheaper by the pound, unless there is a tremendously good sale. I get lazy and forget that sometimes and buy the preshredded stuff. But really, nothing compares to creamy, melty mozzarella that was shredded directly over your pizza. Mmmmm!

So, here's the recipes...there's several: the crust, ranch dressing, and putting it all together. 

Pizza Crust (from the back of the CC Dolch flour bag or here on their website)

ingredients:

• 1 T. yeast
• 1 1/2 T. white sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 T. oil
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 3 cups sifted gluten-free flour

method:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine yeast, sugar and warm water and let set for 5 minutes. Add oil, garlic powder, salt, oregano and flour. Mix all ingredients and put in a large pizza pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350º. Top with your favourite sauce, topping and cheese. Finish baking until crust is light brown.

Ranch Dressing (on allrecipes.com)

ingredients:

• 1 c sour cream
• 1/2 c buttermilk or soured milk (milk + vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried chives
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried dillweed
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 18 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional) 

method:

In a mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. 

The Pizza

ingredients:

• 1 pizza crust, prepared and baked 10 minutes
• 1/4-1/2 c ranch dressing
• 1-1 1/2 c chopped, cooked chicken
• 6-8 slices of turkey bacon, chopped and cooked to desired crispness
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1-2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1-2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder

method:

Topped with cheese
and ready to bake

After removing pizza crust from oven, spread ranch dressing over the top. Sprinkle cooked chicken, onions and bacon on top. Layer cheddar cheese and mozzarella. Sprinkle garlic powder on top and return to 350 degree oven and bake until crust and cheese are lightly browned, 18-25 minutes depending on your oven.

Mmmm...good AND gluten free!

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

I am giving away a 22 oz bag of CC Dolch All Purpose

Gluten Free Flour!

Visit my CC Dolch Flour Giveaway Post

to Enter. Hurry, giveaway ends April 30, 2013!

GIVEAWAY!! Win a Bag of C.C. Dolch Gluten Free Flour!

I've been extolling the wonderfulness of C. C. Dolch Gluten Free All Purpose Flour in my last couple of posts. I even wrote to the company to tell them how much I loved their flour, and that I recommended it on my blog. I received a lovely reply and they even sent me a couple of bags of flour! 

Today, I made a scrumptious Chicken, Bacon and Ranch Pizza and while I was making it I thought, I should share the love! In fact, I was puzzled about why they sent two bags of flour and two brochures...well duh, so I could share! I made this realization after opening one of the bags, so i just have one to share now. They didn't specifically say that's what I should do with it, but I try to be generous when I can. Besides, I know first hand how hard going gluten free can be, especially at first when you've  been a bread and pasta lover all your life. So, I would love to help someone out with this amazingly wonderful flour!

So, up for grabs is one 22 oz package of C. C. Dolch Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, seen modeled here by my Kitchen Assistants...

Sr and Jr Kitchen Assistants showing off the Grand Prize. I don't think Jr would be smiling quite so much if he understood that mommy is giving away that bag of flour!

Complicated giveaway entries on blogs really irritate me, so I'm going to make it really, really simple for you. 

1. Follow my blog and...

2. leave a comment on this post about what you'd like to make with this flour

Be sure to spread the word, too! 

Giveaway ends on April 30th! 

Good Luck!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

***Purposeful Nourishment is now Oh Sweet Mercy! Come check out the new look! Click the link below to go there, and thanks so much for stopping by!***

Oh Sweet Mercy

Breakfast today was very pumpkiny. Pumpkin smoothies and these amazingly delicious Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins I found on food.com. The poster of the recipe says they are like Starbucks, but honestly it's been so long since I've had one I can't remember well enough what they taste like to say how true that claim is. You'll just have to make them and decide for yourself. Or, just make them anyway because they are really, really good.

 I used the gluten free all purpose flour from C. C. Dolch that I used to make that amazing cornbread the other night, and was not at all disappointed (other than the batter was rather bitter, but the muffins were not bitter at all after they baked). I'm not sure what made it bitter, I'm just guessing it was the flour since I've made pumpkin muffins before going GF and the batter was never bitter. Yes, I sneak a taste of batter with raw eggs in it. Been doing it all my life. Started off with licking the beaters when I was a kid...you know how that goes...at least if you grew up in the 70's and 80's or before people got all freaked out about raw eggs.

I will definitely make them again, and if I'd thought of it when I was making them I would have added ground flax for the extra nutrition. Please see the chef's notes for tweaks, as I made a few.  They really bake up nice with the C. C. Dolch gluten free flour, I think I've found my "forever (GF) flour"! I am not getting any kickbacks for promoting their flour, I am just really, really happy with it and can heartily recommend it!

(Gluten Free) Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins 

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c gluten free all purpose flour, I recommend C. C. Dolch's
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum, if your flour does not already contain it
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 pinch cardamom (optional, but I added it...probably 1/8 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 c sucanat, or sweetener of your choice
• 1 c pumpkin
• 5/8 c light olive oil
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tsp vanilla, divided...more or less to your taste
• 2-3 Tb powdered sugar or sweetener of your choice
• nuts or seeds (such as pecans, walnuts, pumpkin or sunflower) if desired for topping
• demerara sugar for topping, if desired

method:

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until well combined. Using a piece of wax or parchment paper, form cream cheese mixture into a long log (you'll need 12 slices, one for each muffin). Place in the freezer at least half an hour before starting to mix your muffin batter.

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together gluten free all purpose flour, xanthan gum (if using) and spices. Whisk in salt, baking soda and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil, pumkin and remaining vanilla. Mix pumpkin mixture and dry ingredients until combined, being sure not to over mix...a few lumps are fine. 

Fill muffin cups half full. Remove cream cheese log from freezer and slice into 12 pieces. Push one piece into the batter in each muffin cup. Top with nuts and sugar, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin (not the cream cheese center) comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Be very careful, the cream cheese filling is very hot.

Chef's Notes:

The original recipe called for white sugar, which I try not to use any more than I have to. And vegetable oil. I would have used coconut oil but just didn't feel like melting it. I also didn't really measure it (5/8 of a cup...yeah), but eyeballed it. I should also note that the measurements above are half of the original recipe as well. The vanilla is also an addition, but if you know me at all you know I put vanilla in everything, especially since I learned how to make my own vanilla that is out of this world good. I didn't have allspice, and since the substitute for that is cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in equal parts, I just did heaping-ish measurements of those spices. 

Visit the original recipe on food.com and read through the reviews. Some people thought they were too spicy, some not spicy enough. Some added cocoa powder. Even though I "winged" it on the spices, I found it to be nicely spiced but not overpowering the pumpkin. The original recipe said to just use plain cream cheese, but many said it needed sweetening and I knew I would prefer it that way. I think next time I will mix the cream cheese with maple syrup instead of powdered sugar. I love maple, nuts and pumpkin together. 

Be sure to get that cream cheese in the freezer at least half an hour before you're going to need to slice it. I didn't, and didn't want to wait any longer so I just went ahead and cut it and it was very messy. It needs to be fairly solid, but not necessarily like an ice cube.

This could also be made with regular flour. The C. C. Dolch flour is substitutable at a 1:1 ratio so no adjustments in flour measurements should be needed.

The Best Cornbread Ever...Seriously!

My husband is not as "into" food as I am. Food is just something you have to have to live, nothing to get excited about, really...at least for him anyway. I'm just the opposite...it's not just something you have to have to live, it's something to experience. Being a very sense-oriented person means that every aspect of a bite of something to eat is experienced...the way it looks, smells, and feels is just as important as how it tastes. 

If my husband says something is "very good", that is akin to receiving a Michelin Star in my book.  I've learned to not get offended if I just get an "it's good" or "it's OK" when I ask him how supper was. It's just not a big deal to him. I've also learned to relish those rare "very good" compliments and strive to get them more often.

This little number below really surprised me because it garnered a "wow this is really good" (a wordier version of the Very Good), which really amazed me because my husband does not particularly like cornbread. I'm not really crazy about it myself, although alongside a hearty bowl of chili or bean soup it's simply amazing, or can be anyway. I've been looking for "the" cornbread recipe and I think I've found it in this Gluten Free Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins recipe from The Baking Beauties, a site I plan to further explore as the tagline reads "gluten free recipes for everyday living."  While I like a good corn muffin, I just didn't feel like washing my muffin pan so I baked it in my lovely cast iron skillet. Mmmmmm. One of these days I'm going to get a cast iron muffin pan...

I loved this cornbread because it was moist, not dry and crumbly, and just had an amazing flavor. I used butter, "homemade" buttermilk (aka emergency buttermilk because I had none on hand...the old vinegar in milk trick), butter, and gluten free all purpose flour by C.C. Dolch Bakery. It contains millet, white rice and tapioca flours, tapioca starch and xanthan gum. I've been very happy with this flour so far.

GLUTEN FREE CORNBREAD MUFFINS (or cornbread, if you feel lazy)

ingredients:

• 1/2 c butter
• 2/3 c sugar (or less if you want)
• 2 eggs
• 1 c buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 c cornmeal
• 1 c gluten free flour 
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt

method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Stir in sugar.
3. Add eggs and stir to combine.
4. Stir in buttermilk.
5. Add dry ingredients, and stir until few lumps remain.
6. Scoop into prepared muffin tin. (or pour into greased, preheated cast iron skillet)
7. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (30-40 minutes if using a skillet or baking dish instead of muffin pan)
8. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Best served warm.

chef's notes:

I used my favorite and trusty cast iron skillet in which I put about a tablespoon of beef tallow and put in the oven while it was preheating. It baked for about 35-40 minutes and turned out with a lovely crust, a little brown on top, and ooooh so yummy. The only change I would make is to omit the xanthan gum called for in the recipe because my all purpose flour already contained it. This is one recipe I don't feel the need to tinker with! Although I could see myself adding cheese or chilies or something like that some time, but honestly it's just perfect like it is.

Gluten Free Spiced Peach Buckwheat Waffles, Sans Xanthan Gum

Light, fluffy, flavorful and without gluten and xanthan gum!
Our family's favorite waffle recipe

Many gluten free recipes call for xanthan gum...at least the ones that are mimicking their evil gluten-containing twins, like cakes, cookies and breads. Since xanthan gum is derived from corn, that can be an issue for people with corn allergy. I'm considering exploring that possibility here, but just haven't been able to bring myself to that point yet. Going gluten free is challenging as it is, and to eliminate another food that is so helpful in gluten free cooking (cornstarch and tortilla chips!!) is ratcheting it up a notch too high at this moment.

As I rediscovered my love of buckwheat, I began to notice most bread-like things made with it contain xanthan gum. I have a lot on hand, thanks to a friend and a good deal at a local "dented can" grocery store, but if I don't have to use it then I'd rather not. And, since we are Waffle Lovers over here (thanks to my awesome stepson Andrew who got me a waffle maker for a gift) I was trying to find a buckwheat waffle recipe that didn't require the use of xanthan gum.

My mother in law had shared her waffle recipe with me when I got the waffle iron and I thought why not just substitute the all-purpose flour with buckwheat? It has whipped egg whites in it and baking powder so that will make them rise and be fluffy. I tried it and they turned out great, and honestly, I like them better than their evil wheat twins. Like I said, I love buckwheat!

They are a bit more labor intensive since you have to beat the egg whites until moderately stiff, but that only takes a minute or two, and the result is amazing so it's worth it. I also add vanilla, because we love vanilla too, and the aroma while they are cooking is amazing. We also like to have these any time of day, really. I'm planning on experimenting with a "savory" type of waffle for supper time, although we frequently have these waffles and scrambled eggs for "brupper". Breakfast for supper...

Best Ever Waffles (foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 c buckwheat flour (any type)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sucanat (or sugar of your choice)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 c melted butter, coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 3/4 c milk
• 2 tsp vanilla, more or less (;

Method:

Plug in your waffle iron to preheat it. Whisk together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk together egg yolks, milk and vanilla. Beat egg whites until moderately stiff. Combine milk mixture and flour mixture and blend well (I just use a whisk), mix in melted butter, then fold in egg whites. Cook on well greased waffle iron until done, top as desired. 

We usually use butter and real, yummy maple syrup. We also like fresh blueberries and whipped cream...well, any kind of fruit and whipped cream. Today, I made spiced peaches to put on top, which would have been good with whipped cream...had I thought of it in time to make the whipped cream. I'm not a morning person. I'm also not a DST person. The combination has been especially brutal this year. 

Anyway...the "spiced peaches" was not made as ideally as I'd prefer (fresh peaches and juice) but I do the best I can with what I have. Here's my "recipe"....

Spiced Peaches and Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 large can sliced peaches in heavy syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• splash of vanilla

Method:

Drain some of the heavy syrup off the peaches and whisk in the spices until well combined. Add the rest of the peaches and juice and mix well. 

If I had fresh peaches, I would have sliced them and put a little sugar on them to draw out the juice, then proceeded as above. Makes my mouth water to think about it...I absolutely ADORE fresh peaches.

Lightly spiced, no HFCS. Delicious on our waffles!

Allergy-Free* Spice Cake...FINALLY!

Thankfully, we don't have nut or egg allergies here, but I know many do so I'm sharing this recipe I found...and modified to suit our gluten-free needs. We love spice cake, and cake in general, so it's great to be able to have our cake and eat it too even though we're gluten-free. I made this for a family gathering today, and eaters of gluten loved it too.

I found this recipe on All Recipes, it's called Wacky Buckwheat Spice Cake. It's egg and nut free, and with some small modifications also gluten free. The title to my post is Allergy-Free*...but if you have a corn allergy you'll need to substitute for the cornstarch. I know there are people out there that are allergic to virtually everything, but I think this seems like a recipe that would suit many with egg, wheat, gluten and nut allergies. I was so happy to find this, because all the recipes I'd found for buckwheat cake always included almond meal...which I never have because it's kind of pricey. I'd wondered if ground flax would be a suitable substitute and decided that a family gathering was the perfect place to test out a new recipe.

The batter is thin, and seems like it would be too runny but it bakes up nicely. It fills the house with a delicious spicy aroma. And it tastes fantastic. The texture is different than regular spice cake, ground flax is not as fine as regular flour. It also calls for a couple pinches of black pepper, which did not sound good at all to me so I left it out. I topped it off with a creamy cream cheese frosting (add a couple spoonfuls of sour cream and wow is it yummy!), but it would be good by itself or topped with fresh whipped cream or a sprinkle of vanilla sugar, maybe even some fruit. 

I doubled the original recipe and baked it in a 9" x 13" pan. Click on the link to go to the original recipe, what follows is how I made it...

WACKY BUCKWHEAT SPICE CAKE

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flax meal
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sucanat
• 1 cup white sugar (next time I will use all sucanat)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 2 Tb molasses
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 2 Tb white vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups cold water

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix until just blended. Pour the batter into a 9" x 13" baking dish (the original recipe says ungreased, but I missed that and greased the pan with no ill effects). 

Bake in the preheated oven until it passes the toothpick test, 30-40 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Today's Gluten Free Eats

My last post was of my surprising results at GF baking, bread and brownies! That makes me so happy. But that wasn't all we ate of course. Here's our menu for the day:

BREAKFAST:

Pumpkin Pie Millet and apple slices with "chia juice"

PUMPKIN PIE MILLET based on this great recipe at sugarfreemom.com

ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup millet
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 Tbs plain yogurt
• generous splash of real vanilla
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup

method:

Cook 3/4 cup dry millet in 2 cups of boiling water until water is absorbed, about twenty minutes. Add canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, a pinch of sea salt, plain yogurt and maple syrup and mix well.  Serve warm with fruit or vanilla yogurt if desired.

Pumpkin Pie Millet...yum!

"Chia Juice" is a scoop of chia seeds in some home made grape juice I canned this summer. Stir for one minute, then let sit for five. The seeds get kind of gelatinous. Mister loves his chia juice!

LUNCH:

Carmelized Onion Burgers with Secret Sauce, Cottage Cheese, Monterrey Jack cheese slices, fresh broccoli

I had intended on eating tuna salad for lunch for some odd reason, just sounded good. My husband was home and requested a burger, and after making one for him I had a hankering for one myself.  His had Swiss cheese, but I like sharp Cheddar. The "Secret Sauce" started out with mayo and then I added a whole bunch of spices and some nutritional yeast. When I made mine, I kicked it up a notch with an extra dose of Emeril's Essense and a splash of Sweet Thai Chili Sauce. Mmmmm. 

"Dessert" was plain yogurt sweetened with honey, a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

SUPPER:

Chili and Sticky Rice, veggies and homemade ranch dip, GF Brownies

No recipe for this...I grabbed a frozen chunk of leftover chili out of the freezer, dumped it in the crockpot, added some great northern beans and a generous splash of tomato juice and set it on low to cook for a while. Sticky Rice is glutinous rice (but not the kind of gluten that causes problems) and is steamed in a bamboo rice steamer. It's like the rice they use in Sushi. We love to dip it in our chili or just eat it plain. Not really a low glycemic index food, so I don't eat a lot of it, but man is it ever good. The GF Brownies were so delicious! You can read about these yummy brownies here. Then go make some, you won't be disappointed!

BREAD! BROWNIES! Oh My...

One of the things that I mourned at the thought of HAVING to be gluten free (instead of just choosing...very different, you see...) was bread. There is nothing so comforting as the smell of a delicious, yeasty wheat bread baking in the oven and filling the house with wheaty, carbolicious joy. And, God has given me a gift with bread making...I can usually turn out a pretty mean loaf. Then there's cookies, pies, biscuits...sigh...

Of course, I have been searching online for easy, tasty GF recipes and the two I tried today did not disappoint. In fact, I was quite impressed with the GF Sandwich Bread from Serious Eats. Seriously. I read through all the comments and the only changes I made were adding a tablespoon of honey (there is no sugar in the recipe, and someone suggested it to make the gf-ness less obvious, especially for someone new to GF eating) and I used whole milk...not a big fan of powdered milk here. I used 1 cup of water and 3/4 cup whole milk. Be sure to read through the directions and comments before making this, if this is the first time you've tried a GF bread. There is a lot of great information there regarding GF baking. I half expected it to flop, since I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to using GF flours, but it was definitely a success and a keeper as far as I'm concerned!

The taste and texture are slightly different than wheat bread, but not in an offensive way. Sister LOVES it, so you know it's good. Mister likes it too (and so does the dog...he dropped a chunk on the floor).  I'm happy that tomorrow, we can have sandwiches for lunch!  Doesn't it look delicious? It looks like real bread!

We were having my mom over this afternoon, and company for dinner so I decided we needed some brownies. I found a great recipe for Gluten, Casein and Soy Free Brownies at the Bob's Red Mill website. I didn't have unsweetened chocolate, so I used the old stand-by substitute of 3 Tbs cocoa and 1 Tbs oil (coconut) and they turned out great! I prefer a fudgey brownie over a cakey one, and this one was nice and fudgey.  The Teenager asked if I made them differently and when I told him I used a gluten free flour he didn't like them. Oh well, his loss...and more for the rest of us! This made a 9 x 13" pan and I cut it into 20-24 brownies, I should have counted but didn't, and only four were left when I cleaned up from supper.  Really now, do you think you could pass these up?

My daughter said today "Well, maybe this gluten free thing won't be so bad after all." Yeah, I think she's right. I don't know why I had my knickers in a bunch now...

Feeding the Kids While Mom and Dad are Away

It hit me yesterday that someone is going to have to feed the kids while hubby and I are in Phoenix. Normally, that wouldn't concern me too much (the grandparents have been warned not to feed Mister anything with MSG in it...if they do, well, it's their own fault.) because my parents and my in-laws are well experienced in feeding children.  But, when you throw in Special Dietary Needs, well it gets a little more complicated. So, I decided to make some meals and freeze them as well as round up or make some GF snacks to make it as simple as possible for those caring for the kids while we're away for a few days.

The kids and I brainstormed over lunch, and here is the menu plan...which, of course, is subject to change.

Breakfasts:

• eggs and fruit (starting to be our go-to breakfast meal...)
• GF oatmeal (twice, they LOVE oatmeal)
• yogurt and fruit
• Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bake (FINALLY!...only I won't get to try it...boo!)

Lunches:

• GF quesadillas and veggies/fruit (assuming I can pull off making GF tortillas)
• GF sandwiches, either grilled cheese or PB&J (assuming I can pull off GF bread)
• Celery and peanut butter, GF crackers, string cheese and fruit
• Homemade vegetable soup and GF sandwiches or crackers
• Scrambled eggs and fruit or yogurt (my kids LOVE eggs!)

Suppers:

• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole
• Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli
• Millet casserole (containing some kind of meat and most likely broccoli. They love broccoli, too!)
• Noodley beef and mashed potatoes. This is essentially Beef & Noodles, but with ground beef instead of chunks of beef. One of those quick, budget-friendly things I whipped up one day that was a big hit. 

Snacks and beverages:

• Lots of water, some juice
• GF crackers with peanut butter or cheese
• Veggies and fruit
• GF cookies
• Yogurt

This may be a tad ambitious, I don't know. Looks good on paper though, and since the kids had input they are more likely to not have a problem eating "special meals" when everyone else is eating something that might contain gluten. 

This is definitely new territory for me...for one, I've never been away from the kids for five whole days, several states away and for two, we've never really had to deal with a special diet before (aside from NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE MISTER MSG OR RED DYE. EVER.). 

How about you? How do you handle travel, other people caring for your kids, relatives and the gluten-free thing?

Our Gluten-Free Table Today

I have to admit I have not planned well for meals this week...I've gotten lazy over the last several days weeks months to be honest. And I surely wasn't prepared for planning gluten-free meals! What a blessing kind and generous friends are, let me tell you. Each day, I'm kind of "flying by the seat of my pants" and trying to pray about what to make, but it is so easy to just slip into "well, what sounds  good right now?" (along with the new "and how do I substitute the gluten ingredients in it?"). It's a process. 

Today, I am quite certain gluten should not be a part of my diet, and my son's for sure, and most likely my daughter's. I accidentally consumed something with gluten in it last night and I have felt terrible all day...the same way I felt after absentmindedly eating Hidden Valley Ranch - tired and hung-over-ish, no motivation aside from a strong desire to crawl back into bed and sleep. Blech. I don't think there's much gluten-containing foods worth feeling like that. Well, except for cheesecake, maybe. And my mom's Old Fashioned Cream Pie....

Other clues are that my son was, although active and boyish, not "spastic" and driving me out of my gourd all day. His BM today looked more like a normal one, his face looks less bumpy. And, for my daughter, the doctor's office called and said her TSH test was a little elevated and they want to recheck in eight weeks. I so want to save her from ending up like me so if her diet is contributing to the elevated TSH, tiredness, brain fog, etc. then I want to fix it now while she is young! I also need to really watch for soy, although we don't eat as much soy as we used to. Just something else I need to be vigilant in watching for when reading labels.

We ate fairly well today, I think:

• Breakfast was scrambled eggs and fresh apple slices. I like sharp cheddar melted on top and smothered in homemade salsa and sour cream (the eggs, of course!)
• Lunch was Millet Meatballs in Quinoa Rotini Pasta and homemade spaghetti sauce, sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese and a side of fresh veggies. Very tasty! I was a little unsure if I'd like the Qunioa/corn pasta, but it was practically like "real" pasta. I love that it is made with Quinoa!
• Supper is in the oven right now:  A hybrid Tater Tot Casserole. I quit buying canned soups ages ago, so it was a cornstarch-thickened gravy made with beef broth, sour cream  and nutritional yeast, browned ground beef, and green beans.  I am not sure if Tater Tots are safe yet (and I don't have any in the house, anyway), so I made mashed potatoes to put on top. All in one lovely, cast iron skillet too. Love those one-dish meals!

Here's how I made the Millet Meatballs (I just threw it together, so measurements are not guaranteed to be accurate!)

Millet Meatballs

ingredients:

• one free range egg
• 1/4-1/3 cup of leftover cooked, seasoned millet
• 1/4 pound or so of ground beef
• Miss Tink's House Seasoning
• 1-2 Tbs nutritional yeast
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil or fat of choice

method:

Whisk together egg, Miss Tink's, and nutritional yeast. Add millet and mix well, then add ground beef and mix very well. Form into meatballs. Gently heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet and brown meatballs on all sides until cooked through, or brown all sides then finish cooking in a 350 degree oven until cooked through, about 20 minutes. These can be seasoned however you like, of course...more garlic, some spicy hot pepper, even add shredded vegetables like carrot or zucchini. The kids and I loved them and there were none left over! I forgot to count how many it made, but my best guess is about 15 walnut-sized meatballs.

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I can't think of anything to go with our supper tonight, and honestly don't really care to make anything else. I just want to get done with the day and crawl into bed, into my nice, fragrant, freshly laundered flannel sheeties. I just love Fall!

Good Gluten-Free Eats to you!

Gluten Free? What Can We Eat, Then?

My initial response to the Go Gluten-Free directive from on high was not a very becoming one. All I could think about was what I couldn’t eat, how expensive GF products are, and how tight my grocery budget already is. It’s just not fair and it sucks. Fortunately, God has blessed me with wonderful friends who are encouraging and helpful. And, after a few days of not checking my blood sugar, since it was upsetting me too much, I felt a little better about the situation and started trying to look at what I can eat instead. Here’s what we’ve eaten for the last few days…

Our first, official gluten-free meal was...

BEEF STROGANOFF I chose this because my wonderful friend, The Homesteading Hippy, listened to me whine and cry and did her very best to get me to put my BGPs on (Big Girl Panties). Then she stopped by bearing gifts of delicious free range eggs, gf Tinkyada pasta, bone broth, two different Bob’s Red Mill gf flours, millet, quinoa, flax seeds,  and a fun Funky Monkey treat. She is a great monkey. The best. I didn’t make this recipe PRECISELY, and I can’t quite remember what I did that was different, but it was a matter of time…and I already had the stew meat cooked in the crockpot so that eliminated the whole flouring/browning the meat part. It was really good, and I was very impressed with the pasta! I can’t stand whole wheat pasta anyway, the texture is just all wrong. But the brown rice pasta was practically the same as regular pasta, it just took a little longer to cook. The flavor was great and it made me feel a bit better because I LOVE me some pasta and the thought of eschewing noodley goodness forever was quite upsetting.

I also had made some gf Pumpkin Honey Spice cookies to take to my mom’s group at church that evening. They were really good. I highly recommend using xanthan gum for gf baking, as these cookies turned out very nicely, like “real” cookies. I added chopped pecans and they were very delicious.

I had planned on making this yummy-sounding Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bake for breakfast the next day, but when I was out riding on the Harley with my wonderful husband, bless his heart, who hated seeing me so upset but just didn’t know what to do about it (nothing really, unless he’s hiding a magic wand somewhere…) and thought a nice ride on what was probably the last nice day of the year would help, I had a profound…and humbling…thought. For most of my life, I’ve been making my own choices as to what I eat. It obviously has not been working out so well – I’m overweight, have high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Food is integrally connected to all of those issues. So, maybe, I should ask The Big Guy what I should eat instead of relying on “what sounds good.” After all, He created this body of mine and knows better than I do what it needs to work well. As I laid down to sleep that night, I prayed about breakfast and unfortunately, it was not that yummy sounding quinoa dish. It was a fried egg and apple slices. Not what I wanted but it was completely satisfying anyway. I also had some chia seeds and bee pollen (courtesy of another wonderful friend, who has been gf for over 15 years. I had called her too and she gave me great advice and ideas, then also gave me a bunch of stuff that she felt God wanted her to give me. What a blessing!)

The next supper was hamburger patties in a gf brown gravy, cooked millet, and broccoli. I toasted the millet first before cooking it in beef broth, and felt like I should have invited The Road Runner for supper. It was, after all, a big pile of bird seed there in my skillet. I had the urge to put a sign in it and wait to drop an anvil from the cliff nearby.

I didn’t think my daughter would like it, as I found it to be so-so, definitely something to get used to, but she LOVED it. Mister liked it well enough to have two helpings. And, the best part of feeding Mister millet is that millet contains…TRYPTOPHAN!!!! That’s the stuff in turkey that makes you sleepy. Anything to calm Mister down is definitely a plus in my book! I seasoned the millet (which took longer than it said to cook, and I kept adding more broth to it) with my favorite all-purpose seasoning mix, Miss Tink’s House Seasoning, a little extra paprika, some nutritional yeast and parsley. Maybe some other things too, but I can’t remember now. It was good with the brown gravy over it, and the leftovers I plan to use to make meatloaf or meatballs. I cooked the hamburger patties in my big ole cast iron skillet, which left nice browned bits on the bottom, and not gobs of grease since I got them from the local butcher and it’s really good meat. To this, I added beef broth and thickened with a spoonful of cornstarch and a spoonful of the gf all-purpose flour. I had seasoned the burgers with Miss Tink’s, and was delighted to find that I didn’t need to add any other seasoning to this gravy, which thickened up nicely and had a great, browned flavor. Just what I was going for! We also had cottage cheese (read labels!! Apparently anything that says “modified food starch” can be a problem) and cucumbers with homemade ranch dressing. Very delish.

I really wish we could have chickens, we’ll be eating a LOT of eggs, I think. I need to start my day out with mostly protein and a little carbs, so anything that is grainy of any kind probably won’t be a good idea. Scrambled eggs with cheese, salsa and sour cream for breakfast the next day. Lunch was leftover beef stroganoff and fresh veggies for me, leftover millet and a fried duck egg for the little kids with fresh fruit for dessert. Supper was oven baked french fries, fresh carrots, broccoli, celery and cucumbers with ranch dressing, cheese cubes of colby and monterrey jack.

We (the kids and I) observe the Sabbath on Saturday, so that is a no-cooking day for me, unless it’s in the crockpot. We munched on leftover veggies, cheese, and some very tasty fresh pears from a local farmer’s market. I had no idea what to do for supper for most of the day, but then had an inspiration. In my crockpot, I put about 24 oz of already cooked great northern beans and juice, about a cup of beef broth, sliced up a few baby carrots and some onion, and about a quarter of a pound of raw ground beef. Seasoned with a bit of Miss Tink’s and set it on high. It turned out to be a very tasty, hearty bean soup. My family is not as crazy about beans as I am, but we all thought it was pretty good. The fact that my husband said it was “really good” means it was exceptionally tasty. Before serving, I stirred in about two tablespoons of nutritional yeast, some more paprika, a touch more salt and some smoked black pepper. Served with cottage cheese, applesauce and some bbq potato chips that I’m relatively certain do not contain any gluten.

Today, it’s been munchies and leftovers and my best Monkey has invited us over for supper. I’m quite happy to not have to think about what to make, although I was planning a Pizza Pasta casserole with Quinoa/corn pasta that I’ve been wanting to try anyway for a while. 

The best advice I’ve gotten about gf cooking is from my friend who’s been gf for 15 years: “Just think about what you want to make for a meal, then find ways to replace the things that have gluten in the recipe.” Simple, although I’m sure there will be challenges. Like pizza, for example. And tortillas. I found a great recipe for thin pizza crust that is just absolutely my favorite pizza crust now, but I don’t know how using gf flour will work in it. There’s only one way to find out though, roll up my sleeves and give it a shot.

It’s still frustrating though, because I just want to eat without thinking about what I’m eating. I have so many other things to manage, I don’t want one more on my plate…especially one that is expensive, time consuming, and may require eating odd things. But, if our health improves then it is all worth it in the end. It’s the “in the middle of it” part that I don’t enjoy.

I still need to pray about our meals, because left to my taste buds, I’m sure I’ll still make poor food choices. But it is nice to know that a gf diet is not a Death (to enjoying food) Sentence. There is a whole, wide world of foods out there that don’t have gluten, why should I be content to sit in my little SAD box (Standard American Diet…which I have mostly walked away from, but still have a bit of that lingering mentality to cast off)? I should not. And so, here we go…