Gluten Free: Chicken, Bacon and Ranch Pizza

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FREE bag of CC Dolch Gluten Free All Purpose Flour!
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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!

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Gluten Free Flour!

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

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!

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?