A Little Light Reading

In case you haven’t noticed, I love to bake. Although cooking is very high up on my list, baking will always been my first love. I still remember the year I received my very first cookbook, “The Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook”. I still have it. And up until my gluten intolerance diagnosis I was still using it now and again.

Thus began my love affair with cookbooks.

I read cookbooks like other people read a good novel – cover to cover. I love the photos, recipes, extra notes… I love it all! I love it for its practicality mixed with creativity. In the same book – in the same RECIPE – you can learn something brand new and be inspired to branch out and create something else. Love it!

I have what some might call… a large collection of cookbooks. There are the ones I keep handy for reference and inspiration. Those are kept in an easily accessible place. But then there are the completely outrageous… or old and sentimental… or professional level books that I keep just for fun. Just to read and soak up and learn new terminology or techniques. Out of most of those – OK, all of those - I will never, ever cook even one recipe. I just love to read them.

A little odd? I prefer to call it passion.

So what is a girl to do with cookbooks full of wonderful recipes that technically are taboo for GF people? Did you guess “play around with those wonderful recipes until you nail a delicious dessert that will knock the socks off of people”? You are absolutely RIGHT!

This one is unbelievable. I made this dessert for a dinner party at a friend’s house and one of the guests who happens to be a good friend gave probably the best possible review of my dessert. She said, “I don’t like cheesecake, Katie. And I don’t really like pretzels. But I love this!” Was she just being nice, you ask? When I asked if she wanted to bring some home her eyes lit up and she eagerly said “yes!”. I’m thinking she was in earnest.

If you love salt and sweet together… this is one dessert you are going to luhhhhhhhh-uhve. Word of caution, though. Use great restraint. If you bake this cheesecake just to have around the house you’ll pick, pick, pick until – voila! – it’s gone. And you and I both know that it won’t really be gone. It will be with you for weeks to come, if you get my meaning. So share the love – bake this one to bring to a get-together at a friend’s house. It will keep your waistline status quo and your friends happy.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cheesecake

1 cup gluten free pretzel crumbs (crush 1 ½ to 2 cups of GF pretzels into crumbs)

3 Tbsp brown sugar

4 Tbsp butter, divided

8oz GF semi-sweet chocolate

4 8oz bars cream cheese, brought to room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp GF all-purpose flour

1 ½ Tbsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 ½ GF pretzels, broken into bite-size pieces

4 oz GF semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover the outside of a 9” or 10” spring form pan with aluminum foil and place in a large, shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, mix together pretzel crumbs, 3 Tbsp melted butter and brown sugar. Press into the bottom of the spring form pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

In small glass mixing bowl, melt the 8oz chocolate in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir and cook for another 15 seconds. Stir again. If needed, continue to cook in 15 second increments, stirring after each time, until the chocolate is completely melted. On a piece of wax paper spread the 1 ½ cups of broken pretzel pieces. Pour the chocolate over the pieces and toss to coat. Refrigerate until set.

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the sugar, GF flour and vanilla. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed. Add the sour cream and beat on low speed.

Remove chocolate covered pretzels from the refrigerator and break up into bite-size chunks by hand. Add to the cream cheese mixture and fold to incorporate. Pour into the prepared spring form pan and smooth the top. Pour enough very hot water (boiling not necessary) into the large, shallow baking pan to cover the bottom half of the spring form pan. Bake, in the water bath, for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Allow baked cheesecake to sit for 10-15 minutes then run a knife around the rim of the pan to help loosen the cake. Allow cheesecake to cool completely, then refrigerate for 8 hours.

To decorate, sprinkle extra crushed pretzel crumbs on top. Melt chocolate chips and 1 Tbsp butter in the microwave on high for 30 seconds, repeating the same steps used to melt the chocolate for the pretzels. Drizzle the melted chocolate-butter mixture over the top of the cheesecake and extra pretzel crumbs.

The Multi-Tasker

I miss sandwiches. I know there are alternative breads out there for me to use, but the truth is I just don’t love them. I will say this, though. Udi’s Sandwich Bread makes pretty good toast. And The Grainless Baker’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread does as well. But to have a good ol’ ham and cheese sandwich on bread just isn’t the same. Rice-based bread is either sweet (and in my opinion, the sweetness works against a deli sandwich) or rather rough. There have been times where the inside of my mouth has actually gotten scraped up from the roughness of the bread.

No thanks.

So, in the quest to find alternatives to the alternative breads, I’ve had to get rather creative. The first attempt was inspired – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – by McDonald’s McGriddle Sandwich. Could I use two small pancakes to make an egg and cheese sandwich? I must say, it wasn’t shabby. Sure, it didn’t taste like white bread… but it was soft and squishy. I love soft and squishy.

After a while, I gave up on anything bread-like and just made ham and cheese roll-ups… complete with a pickle in the middle. It was a nice change for lunches, but rather boring.

Then I stumbled across The Multi-Tasker. Buttermilk Biscuits. Salty, crisp outside… light and soft inside. They can be your “toast with jam” in the morning, or your egg and cheese sandwich. They can be your “english muffin” with peanut butter or your companion for a bowl of beef stew. Yes, they can even be your ham and cheese sandwich!

Explore the world of sandwiches with the buttermilk biscuit. That baby will take on many forms and fulfill that empty, sad place in your heart where you thought only squishy bread could live. Alright, so I’m getting a little dramatic… but you get the point.

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

½ cup potato starch

½ cup corn starch

¼ cup tapioca starch

¼ cup brown rice flour

1 ¾ tsp xanthan gum

1 Tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes

¾ cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray or line the baking sheet with a Sil-pat.

In a food processor, pulse together the potato starch, corn starch and tapioca starch, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly mixed.

Drop the butter cubes over the starch mixture and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Turn the food processor on and pour the buttermilk in as it churns, until well incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of wax paper lightly dusted with white or brown rice flour. Using your hands, pat down the dough to about an inch high. Cut out biscuits with round biscuit cutter and transfer to the baking sheet. (It helps to flour the cutter as well.) Cut out as many circles as possible, then gather up the dough and pat it down again to one inch. Repeat the process until all dough is used.

Bake for 25 minutes. Immediately after removing from the oven, brush twice with melted butter.

My Italian Roots

I grew up in New Jersey where I had the privilege of eating around my Italian grandfather’s table quite frequently. He was a hard-working man who came to this country and loved it for everything it stood for. He was proud to be an Italian – but just as proud to be an American!

Perhaps one of the reasons I still love Italian food as much as I do is because of those times spent around that table. I can still remember the smell of homemade sauce simmering on the stove that would greet us as we walked in the back door. It’s more than just the taste of delicious red sauce over perfectly al dente pasta… it’s the memories that go along with it.

On my refrigerator I have a saying that I absolutely love. When I first found it, I felt as though someone else had reached into my head, pulled the words out and placed them on paper.

“When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It’s also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been and who we want to be.” *

I read it often these days. I hope that one day my own kids will talk of the memories attached to the aromas in their mom’s kitchen… how warm chocolate chip cookies smelled of comfort and how, no matter where they go, the smell of garlic and tomato sauce always reminds them of home.

It would be a lovely legacy to pass on from my grandparents… through me… to my kids.

Gluten Free Baked Spaghetti

16oz gluten free spaghetti (I used Tinkyada)

1 lb ground beef

3 Tbsp dried minced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jar (24-26oz) meatless gluten free spaghetti sauce

½ tsp seasoned salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup parmesan cheese

5 Tbsp butter, melted

2 cups ricotta cheese

3-4 cups shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Boil a large pot of water and cook gluten free spaghetti according to package.

While the spaghetti cooks, cook the ground beef in a large skillet. When the beef is almost completely browned, drain the fat and add the minced garlic and dried onion. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and warm through.

Rinse cooked spaghetti thoroughly with cold water. In the emptied pot used to cook the pasta, add the melted butter and Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Add the pasta back into the pot and stir. Add the eggs and toss to coat pasta thoroughly.

Pour half of the pasta into the 9x13 baking pan and spread out into a thin layer. Top with half of the ricotta cheese (spread ricotta to cover), half of the meat sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Pour remaining pasta over the top and repeat the layers. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

*Excerpt from “A Homemade Life” by Molly Wizenberg

A Love Affair

I love lemon. Anything lemon. I love it enough that 9 times out of 10 I will choose it over chocolate. Yes, you read that right. It is so refreshing and lemon desserts are usually lighter than their chocolate counterparts. I love the pop of the tartness on my tongue mixed with the sweetness. Basically, you can throw anything lemon at me and I’m going to love it.

Enter lemon squares. I want to hug the person that came up with lemon squares. Delightful, buttery shortbread morsels topped with lemony goodness. How can you go wrong? Place a lemon square on a plate alongside a cup of Lady Gray tea and I’ll call it the perfect teatime. After dinner with a glass of milk and you’ve got the perfect light dessert after a rich meal. Heck, put one on a plate all by itself first thing in the morning and I’ll call it breakfast!

Did I mention I love lemon?

Once I decided to go on the quest to create gluten free replicas of “regular” food, I knew lemon squares would be on that list somewhere. It’s not as easy as you think. Mostly, the shortbread is the tricky part. I don’t like the shortbread of a lemon square to be so crispy that is snaps… although there is nothing wrong with a plain old piece of butter-laden shortbread. Nothing at all. A lemon square, though, is a delicate, almost fragile dessert that melts in your mouth. (Are you drooling yet?)

This recipe does a pretty good job of fitting that drool worthy description. Tart-sweet lemon curd on top, melt in your mouth buttery shortbread on the bottom. I highly suggest keeping them in the fridge. A cold lemon square is as refreshing a tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer day!

Did I mention I love lemon? Just want to make sure the subtle theme of this post came through.

I love lemon.

Gluten Free Lemon Squares

2 sticks cold butter

½ cup powdered sugar

2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I used King Arthur)

4 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ Tbsp grated lemon zest

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

1 Tbsp corn or tapioca starch

½ tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

Cut sticks of butter into tablespoon size pieces. In the food processor, pulse together the butter, powdered sugar and flour until the butter is broken down into pea size pieces. Dump the mixture into your prepared pan and press it down with a flat spatula until flat and even. Bake for 20 minutes.

While the shortbread is baking, whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, juice, cornstarch and baking powder until smooth. When the crust comes out of the oven, immediately pour the lemon mixture over the crust and return to the oven. Bake 20-25 minutes until the center jiggles just slightly but is set.

Do not cut until completed cooled. I recommend cooling completely on the counter, then refrigerating until chilled. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

A Very Cherry Discovery

Yesterday I gave my friend a tour of Wegman’s Market from a gluten free point of view. She recently realized she was having issues with gluten and is in that difficult time of figuring out what is safe to eat… and what is NOT safe to eat! It was wonderful to walk along with her, chatting, and sharing my information. She’s a comfortable friend… the sort of person with whom grocery shopping together feels perfectly natural.

As we walked into the produce section, I glanced at the lovely cherries once again (see my post entitled “Cherries, Cherries Everywhere…” for more info), but sighed to myself. My last endeavor was, to say the least, slightly aggravating. The recipe itself was simple. It was the process of removing each and every pit from those juicy cherries that drove me batty. I ended up with a beautiful cherry crisp… and grossly stained fingers and fingernails.

So as I glanced at the cherries with my friend, I quickly dismissed the idea of attempting another cherry dessert. Sure, my husband loves them… and I love to make things he loves. But the labor and staining from the last dessert still lingered in my mind. Slowly, my eyes wandered over to the barrel next to the cherries. There, tucked in the back of the barrel was a sign that read: “Cherry Pitter, $12.99.”

Life is not the same, folks.

I’m not huge on kitchen gadgets. I like a good, sharp knife. Measuring cups and spoons. Once in a while I’ll get out the old garlic press instead of mincing my garlic by hand. But I can honestly say that if you are a cherry lover… you must go right now (wait – finish reading first) and get yourself a cherry pitter.

My handy dandy new little friend pops that pit out like it’s nobody’s business. It literally took a sliver of the amount of time it took me last time to pit and cut up four cups of cherries. In fact, this time my 7-year-old daughter did it for me… and it STILL took only a sliver of the amount as last time.

Run. Now. Buy yourself a cherry pitter… and some cherries, while you're at it. And since you'll need a reason to use your brand new cherry pitter... how about a Cherry Cobbler?

Cherry Cobbler

1 ½ cups plus 1 ½ Tbsp gluten free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur brand)

¾ tsp xanthan gum

1 ½ cups sugar, divided

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

1 ½ sticks butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups milk

4 cups of pitted cherries, cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the 1 ½ cups of flour, xanthan gum, ¾ cup of sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Whisk in the egg, melted butter, vanilla and milk until smooth.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cherries, remaining ¾ cup of sugar and 1 ½ Tbsp of flour. Dump the cherries into the baking pan and spread evenly.

Pour the batter evenly over the cherries.

Bake until slightly browned on top, about 45-50 minutes. Cool 10-15 minutes, then dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream… or plain!

Chinese Food (My Way)

My husband pretty much gave up gluten-filled foods when I did. He didn’t have to, but that’s just the kind of man he is. Sacrifical. Truth be told, he’s pretty darn wonderful, but don’t tell him that… he might get a big head.

He’ll still have toast or a burger at a restaurant… but at home, he’s pretty much taken up the gluten free lifestyle. It’s made things immensely easier for me. I equate it to trying to quit smoking when your spouse still smokes… temptation around every corner! But if you go on the journey together…

Tim loves Chinese food. He’s a General Tso’s Chicken or Chicken and Broccoli kind of man. I only love one thing on the Chinese take-out menu… pork fried rice.

OK, that’s not entirely true. I am a sucker for Sweet and Sour Chicken. The only problem is that I feel so incredibly guilty ordering deep fried chicken in a sugar-laden sauce that I just can’t bring myself to do it. But, man, is it good.

Since I’m on a roll with confessions, don’t even ask about Orange Chicken… another no-no that I would dream about, but not order. I love it more than S&S Chicken.

I guess I should have said the only thing I will actually eat at a Chinese take-out place is the pork fried rice.

There. It feels better to have that all straightened out.

I gave up the pork fried rice, though, since Chinese take-out places are notorious for cross contamination. Good thing it’s actually pretty easy to make. The one problem is that I don’t keep things like bean sprouts in my house. (Do you?) Also, everyone in our family, with my mom being the only exception, hates peas with a passion. My kids didn’t even like pureed baby food peas! There was much gagging and spitting in our house when baby peas were introduced.

So I came up with an “everyday fried rice”, made up from things I almost always have sitting around the kitchen. It’s not super exotic or fancy, but by jing, it’s pretty darn tasty! When I have a craving for pork fried rice… or when I just want to change things up at dinner… I go for this recipe.

I hope it helps with your Chinese take-out craving, too!

Everyday Pork Fried Rice

2 boneless pork chops

¾ cup gluten free soy sauce (I use Kikkoman), divided

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, chopped

2 Tbsp ketchup

2 cups water

1 ½ cups sticky rice (I use Nishiki)

3 Tbsp veggie or canola oil, divided

1 small onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

3 eggs

1 Tbsp butter

2 cups frozen sugar snap peas

3 hours before cooking:

In a gallon bag or plastic container with lid, mix together ½ cup soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and ketchup. Add the pork chops and coat thoroughly in the marinade. Marinate for 3 hours in the fridge, flipping the chops every so often.

To make fried rice:

Remove chops from the fridge, wipe off any chunks of garlic or ginger and let rest on a plate on the counter for 10 minutes. Heat a sauté pan to medium heat, add 1 Tbsp of oil and pan sear the chops, cooking until no longer pink. Remove from the pan and let meat rest for 15 minutes. Cut into bite size pieces and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, stir the water and sticky rice together. Cook as directed on the package of rice. Set aside.

Cook sugar snap peas according to the package (microwave is easiest since so much is happening on the stovetop). Set aside.

Scramble the eggs in butter in a small sauté pan. Set aside.

While the rice is cooking, in a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and sauté until softened. Once softened, add the bite-size pork pieces to the pan. Heat through. At this point, if things seem a little dry, add another tablespoon of oil. Add the rice, scrambled eggs and sugar snap peas. Toss to combine and heat through. Add the remaining ¼ cup soy sauce, a little at a time, to taste. Toss again to combine and heat through.

Serves 4-6 people.

A Culinary Longing

I have found, in the time since being diagnosed with gluten intolerance, that there are very few foods I truly miss. Most things have something comparable to switch to and I try very hard to make them as delicious as possible (or, in other words, just like the gluten-filled version). The one thing, though, that still makes me let out just a little sigh is… pizza. True pizza shop pizza. I can’t help it, I have Italian blood running through my veins. It’s not as though I have a choice. I’m a helpless victim of heredity. It was, in fact, the last gluten-y thing I ate before switching over to the gluten free diet.

It was the “test” meal I had to eat after being off gluten for 2 weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite… savoring it. I did NOT, however, enjoy the consequences of that slice. Oh, that it would be so cruel to attack my body as it did!

I have tried numerous recipes for gluten free pizza crust… all of which have been complete disasters.

Tasteless, flimsy, odd stuff that was insulting to my Italian taste buds.

Until tonight.

Tonight I made a pizza that had a chewy crust. Did you just see what word I used? CHEWY. The outer edge of the crust was crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Yes, I wrote that word again. It had good flavor, it had good texture and everyone at the table, including my picky almost-three-year-old, liked it.

Sure, I’ll probably still sigh a little as I drive past my favorite little pizza shop on the corner, because let’s face it, there is nothing like a piece of real, gluten-loaded pizza.

But no more tasteless, flimsy odd stuff for us anymore! Let’s call it Christmas in July, dear friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!

FOR AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS RECIPE, CLICK HERE

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

1 ½ cups warm water (around 110 degrees)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 packet of yeast

1 ½ cups brown rice flour

½ cup sorghum flour

2 cups tapioca starch

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

To prepare the crust:

In a 2 cup measuring cup, stir together the warm water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the yeast and give a quick stir. Let sit for 10 minutes, until a tan foam covers the top.

In the meantime, mix together (in a stand mixer bowl) the brown rice flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum and salt. Stir to completely combine. Add the yeast water and olive oil. Mix, using a bread dough hook (or the paddle attachment, if you don’t have a hook) until the dough comes together in a moist ball.

Grease the inside of a medium bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a wet paper towel and let sit in a warm place for an hour. The dough should almost double in size in that time.

To make the pizza:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly cover a pizza stone or pan with brown rice flour (to prevent sticking) and place the dough on the pan. Using your hands, work the dough out into a flat circle, leaving a little extra on the outer edge (like a ledge of dough around the circumference of the circle). Bake the pizza crust (without any toppings) for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and add sauce, cheese and any toppings you choose. You can also add a little Italian seasoning over the cheese for more flavor. Bake for another 20+ minutes until the cheese is bubbled up and beginning to brown all over the top. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.