Kung POW! This One's a Knockout!

With November comes my husband’s birthday. Since there are many dishes he loves that, frankly, make me gag (think crab, fish, most Chinese food) I try my darnedest to give him a little treat… a little taste… of the things I don’t make for him the rest of the year. (You know, on paper… that sentence sounds incredibly selfish. Huh.)

Anyhoo….

Last year, it was Shrimp Fra Diavolo. *shudder* Nasty stuff, but he loved it. So, mission accomplished. This year, I wanted to go a different route… maybe something in the Chinese food world. But, I knew that I would also be feeding the kids, my mom and my aunt who is visiting us from Ohio. Why is that a potential problem? Tim loves spicy food. The spicier, the better. Why, I’ll never know. Personally, I like to be able to actually taste my food, not melt the inside of my mouth. But that’s another subject.

So typically, I would make him a spicy dish. Since I wouldn't be cooking for just Tim, I needed to keep the spice level down. Way down. This year, I went with Kung Pao Chicken. And by jing, it was quite good! Not spicy, bursting with flavor… and my daughter even liked it! (Truthfully, that’s not much of a shocker. The shocker would have been if my 3 year old liked it, but since he doesn’t like much, I didn’t bother with him. Better to focus on the positive, right?)

I served this up with some sticky rice (…yummmmmmm) and steamed broccoli. It was simple, it was easy, it was delicious. Sorry, by the way, for the slightly blurry picture. It was my hubby’s big day and I just took a quick shot to be able to show you the dish.

Cheesy pun coming your way, courtesy of Katie…

Want a little Kung POW on your tongue? Try this Kung Pao!

Gluten Free Kung Pao Chicken

¼ cup Catalina dressing, divided

¼ cup peanut or almond butter

1 Tbsp GF soy sauce

2 tsp chili sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp minced gingerroot

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces

In a small bowl, mix together 2 Tbsp Catalina dressing, peanut/almond butter, soy sauce and chili sauce until combined.

In a large skillet, add the remaining dressing and warm on medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about a minute. Turn the heat up for medium-high and add the chicken, stirring frequently. Cook for about 2 minutes then add the peanut/almond butter mixture. Cook for about 7 minutes until the chicken in cooked through, stirring frequently to scrap up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Serve over rice with a side of steamed broccoli. Serves 4.

The Dessert That Almost Wasn't

Yesterday was one of those days. My daughter is part of a performance of The Nutcracker with her ballet school and she had a long practice in the evening. My aunt was arriving from Ohio for a visit right around dinner time, so I was in the middle of preparing dinner when it occurred to me that a dessert might be nice to have after dinner, to celebrate my aunt’s arrival.

So with my brain churning away, listing everything I needed to get done before leaving for the ballet rehearsal, I embarked upon an experimental recipe. In the middle of making dinner.

In hindsight, not a good combination.

Things started off well. I took a moment to look over the recipe again, making sure I had my gluten free measurements correct. I smiled, feeling pretty confident that I had things right.

I measured out my dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another. I then added the wet to the dry and began to stir. It was then I realized something wasn’t quite right. The batter was rather… thick. Goopy, really. I thought I would be pouring my batter into the bundt pan, but the way things were looking at the moment, I was going to have to scoop large blobs of it in there.

‘Ah well’, I thought to myself, ‘I’m sure it will be fine. Perhaps being GF makes it… goopy.’ I also vowed NOT to use the word "goopy" in my recipe directions.

I prepared my bundt pan and… plopped… the batter into it. I was just about to place it in the oven when something told me to take another look at the recipe.

Uh-oh.

Sugar. I totally forgot the 2 CUPS of sugar. In my hurry to get things done amidst my tickertape list going around and around in my brain, I just totally left it out.

Sooooo… the batter went back into the bowl, the sugar was added (thus making the batter pourable!), back into the pan and into the oven it went.

And can I tell you…. this recipe ROCKS! My family all agreed it doesn’t taste like gluten free, it doesn’t have the texture of gluten free… it’s really good!

My dessert that almost wasn’t… was a hit! *whew*

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

3 cups Pamela’s Baking Mix

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

4 eggs

1 cup oil (veggie or canola)

1 15oz can solid packed pumpkin puree

Optional: 1 cup of chopped pecans, chocolate chips or raisins

Glaze:

4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the baking mix, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ground ginger.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and pumpkin. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until completely combined. Add optional pecans, chips or raisins and stir to incorporate.

Pour into the prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cook in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze: Beat the cream cheese until very creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Add 3 Tbsp of milk and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake or individual slices.

Taste Buds of Happiness

Ah yes, the changing of the seasons. It brings such joy to my heart to watch the leaves change into the bright colors of fall, knowing that my favorite season, winter, is right around the corner. Autumn and Winter bring with them wonderful smells, sights and tastes.

When you think of Autumn, you can almost smell the cinnamon and cloves of your favorite goodie baking in the oven. Your mind’s eye remembers the bright reds, golds and oranges of the trees. Remember Christmases past and you’ll drift through the taste of your Grandma’s renowned cookies and smell the rich scent of the fresh Christmas tree in your home.

We really do experience the seasons will all our senses.

Today, I had all of autumn in my mouth. Yep. Right there, lying on my tongue. It was pumpkin, it was cinnamon, it was allspice, it was nutmeg. It was happiness! I had autumn in my kitchen. You should have smelled the aroma coming from my oven!

If you are like a lot of my friends who suffer from a lack of appreciation for the colder months (you know who you are!), then this cookie is for you. It takes all that is comforting and endearing about autumn and plops it into one little package. OK, I might be exaggerating… just a hair… but still, you get the point. A cup of tea and this sweet little confection and you, too, will experience the smells and tastes of autumn that bring joy to my heart!

Happy Autumn, my friends! Enjoy all the smells, sights and tastes that makes this season so amazing!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter, softened

1½ cups sugar

1 egg

¾ cup pumpkin puree

2¼ cups GF all-purpose flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

Sugar Mixture:

⅓ cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Roll into balls size of a large walnut and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes.

Mix sugar mixture ingredients in a small bowl. Remove cookies from the fridge and roll cookie dough balls in sugar mixture.

Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes at 400˚ until slightly brown and still soft.

Makes 48-60 cookies.