Nuggets of Love

Although my daughter is white potato intolerant, we (thankfully) can still have them in the house. As long as she doesn’t ingest them, she’s good to go. That being said, I don’t serve them up very often. They have almost become a treat around here, especially for my sweet husband… who absolutely loves potatoes. Doesn’t matter how you serve them to him – mashed, hashed, baked or fried - he’ll love them. He worked in a restaurant as a teen and basically mastered the home fries. There is a standard in Tim’s eyes about how the precious potato should be cooked. And though he loves all potatoes, if served a substandard potato, you might catch a slight look of disappointment in his green eyes. It’s very slight, since he would never want anyone – friend or restaurant cook – to have their feelings hurt.

(Truth be told, he’s become a little bit of a potato snob as of late, but don’t tell him I said that. He will vehemently deny it.)

There is one potato recipe that, to me, is cream of the crop. Truly, they are nuggets of love. I say that not only because I love them, but because they are little high maintenance. They are needy.

You need to pay lots of attention to these little guys. They demand center stage. If you give them the attention they crave, I can promise you this… you will not be disappointed. You will end up with crispy-on-the-outside-creamy-on-the-inside-ever-so-slightly-garlicky-with-hints-of salty-goodness potatoes that you will immediately fall in love with.

Are you wondering how I can say that with such confidence? Because my potato expert husband is always thrilled to hear I am making them. There is not one glimpse of disappointment in those green eyes when these hit the table.

If that doesn’t convince you, then I challenge you to a potato cook-off.  Make these, eat them… and let this gluten free girl know if they weren’t as amazing as I said they would be.

Gluten Free Roasted Potatoes

12-16 small red bliss potatoes

6 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil (see below)

Black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (can use the canned stuff, if needed!)

To make garlic infused olive oil:

Warm 6 TBSP olive oil in a small sauce pan. Add 3-4 cloves of garlic that have been smashed open but are still in one piece. Allow the garlic to soften 10 minutes. Remove garlic cloves and  - VOILA! – garlic infused olive oil.

To make the potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Adjust the oven racks to the top and bottom positions.

Place the potatoes on a lipped sheet pan, pour 3/4 cup water over the potatoes and cover tightly with foil. Bake on the bottom rack until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, drain any remaining water and let rest 8 minutes.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the garlic oil over the potatoes, making sure they are evenly coasted. Space the potatoes evenly on the sheet pan and, using a potato masher, flatten the potatoes to about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with pepper. Drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil over the potatoes and roast on the top rack for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and flip each potato over. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Roast on the bottom rack until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Can eat plain or with sour cream, bacon, scallions, etc… use your imagination!

Mistaken Identity

I don’t know what’s going on with me. I used to be a meat and potatoes girl. Now I find myself experimenting with things like hummus…. and today’s ingredient, quinoa.

What is happening to me?

I’m not interested in hamburgers as much anymore. Sure, I’ll enjoy a good burger at Cheeseburger in Paradise (who, by the way, has a rockin’ gluten free menu!)… but when I set out to cook, burgers aren’t anywhere near the top of my list. Ground beef, for that matter, isn’t up there.

I’m married to a meat and potatoes guy. He comes from a meat and potatoes father. My dad was a meat and potatoes man. My brother? Meat and potatoes.

Maybe I’m just stretching my culinary wings. Yes, that’s it.

What scares me is that my mom has one foot firmly planted in the vegetarian world. (The other foot, incidentally, is firmly planted in the bacon world.) For the record, I’m not scared of vegetables. I like them, for the most part. And I’m very interested in experimenting with them, within reason. I just don’t want to make the full leap into vegetarianism.

For some reason, in my little brain, I think I’m on that road. Now, I have plenty of friends who happily live a vegetarian life. They are creative and healthy and make delicious food. I know I’d be happy with the meals.

I think the part that scares me is IF (and I mean IF) I am heading down that road… that means I would be attempting to cook gluten free, peanut free, potato free AND vegetarian food. And that exhausts me just thinking about it.

I think I need a slice of bacon.

Gluten Free Quinoa Patties

1 ¼ cups cooked quinoa, room temperature

2 eggs, slightly beaten

¼ tsp salt

2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 Tbsp butter

½ sweet onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (better to grate your own rather than use the canned)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup gluten free bread crumbs (I pulsed 3 pieces of gf bread in the food processor until crumbs)

1 Tbsp oil

In a small sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and sauté until softened. Remove from heat and immediately add the minced garlic. Stir to incorporate and warm garlic through. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the quinoa, eggs, salt, parsley, onion-garlic mixture and parmesan cheese. Add ½ cup of bread crumbs. Mix together and let sit for a minute. Test the consistency of the mixture to see if it able to be formed into a small patty. If needed, add more bread crumbs until desired consistency is achieved.

Shape mixture into 6 small patties.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the 6 patties and cook until deeply browned. Flip and repeat. Remove from pan.

Serve with a garlic mayonnaise. (1/4 cup of mayo with 3 cloves of chopped roasted garlic.)

One Humdinger of a Hummus!

When I was younger I spoke of certain foods with a certain longing. Why a longing? Because they were foods I hated, but wished I could love. Broccoli is a great example. It’s good for you and it’s just so cute! Sweet little trees. But there was just one problem.

It tasted like dirt.

Didn’t matter if it was raw, steamed, roasted, covered in cheese or dipped in melted butter. Dirt.

It was a little later that I found a determination within me that came out of nowhere. I would learn to like broccoli. So I began the journey to broccoli love.

I wish I could say that a day came when I bit down on that sweet little tree and exclaimed, “By JING! This is totally delicious!”… but I can’t. Do I eat broccoli now? Absolutely. I even enjoy it in quiches and on a white pizza. I thoroughly enjoy a warm bowl of broccoli cheese soup on a cold evening. But I don’t love it by itself.

Alas, my dreams of a broccoli romance have ended. We are, however, good friends. And that’s a big step away from dirt.

I recently decided it would be good to give hummus a try. It’s a dip (I like dips), it’s healthy (I like healthy, most of the time) and people are raving about it (I like the people who are raving about it, though that has nothing to do with me liking hummus). So, on one of my grocery shopping trips I grabbed me a container of sun dried tomato hummus. I brought it home, eager to try something new and to expand my culinary borders.

It tasted like dirt. Not broccoli dirt, but a different variation of dirt. Hummus dirt.

I even tried it on my all-time favorite chip… the corn chip. I can put almost anything on a corn chip and eat it. (I recently dipped a corn chip in melted chocolate…. OH MY.) But alas, my beloved corn chip did not take away from the creamy dirt in my mouth.

On my next grocery excursion, I grabbed roasted garlic hummus. I absolutely l-o-v-e roasted garlic, so how could I go wrong? Just in case, though, I grabbed another bag of corn chips.

Dirt. *sigh*

This hummus was not going to get the better of me. I let the concept bounce around my head for a while. I knew chickpeas didn’t have much flavor, so that couldn’t be the ingredient to blame for the dirt issue. Then it occurred to me… TAHINI. Of course! I researched and researched and as it turns out… I’m not alone! Many people have a problem with tahini.

So here you have it, folks. My version of hummus, sans tahini paste. I LOVE IT. It’s creamy, it’s comforting and it’s bursting with a gentle garlic flavor.

I’m on the hummus bandwagon! I’m part of the Hummus Fan Club! I’m way too excited about hummus!

But I’m thrilled to have conquered another challenge. Hmmm… what’s next? Perhaps avocados. *shudder*

Gluten Free Tahini-Less Roasted Garlic Hummus

15 oz canned chickpeas, drained

3 Tbsp roasted garlic

½ Tbsp lemon or lime juice

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp Italian Seasoning

1-2 Tbsp water

Tiny Pinch of Salt

In a food processor, combine the beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and Italian seasoning. Pulse until smooth. If you prefer a looser hummus, add water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. (I used both TBSPs of water.)

Serve! Makes about 1 ½ cups.

Chocolate, Lickety-Split!

Laundry is threatening to overthrow my room. I’m pretty sure my own house wrote the words “Dust Me” on the TV table. My kids need baths. The kitchen floor is turning everyone’s socks gray. I need to go grocery shopping. The fish tank is looking questionable.

This is the kind of day when my mind should be moving like a locomotive, busting out plans and lists like a mad woman. But alas, it has but one word bouncing around.

Chocolate.

Truthfully, that’s not really a bad thing. Could be much worse, I suppose.

So when I’m having that kind of day, I don’t want to make something that’s going to take loads of time, because frankly, the only loads of anything I should be worrying about are loads of laundry. I have a recipe that is so easy it’s embarrassing. And get this… it’s something the kids can do, too.

It’s sort of a “free form” cookie that isn’t supposed to look very good. It’s easy for kids to help out with, it’s made with everyday pantry ingredients and it only makes about 10 large cookies… so it doesn’t take much time!

Chocolate. In no time.

Sounding pretty good to you? The catch with these is that you need a waffle iron. Yep, a waffle iron. I call this one my Nutella Waffle Cookies.

Chocolate. In no time. Nutella.

Oh, yes.

Little ones can help with the frosting of the cookies, older ones can actually do most of the work themselves with supervision. Heck, go ahead and get your teenager to whip up a batch FOR you!

Chocolate. In no time. Nutella. Made by someone else. Then… make dinner, wash whites, clean questionable fish tank, wash kitchen floor, dust furniture. Bathe kids after dinner. Grocery shop after kids are in bed for the night.

Huh, go figure. My mind seems to be functioning at a higher level since starting this post. I wonder what caused that?

Mmmm…. chocolate………

Gluten Free Nutella Waffle Cookies

½ cup butter, melted

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 eggs, slightly beaten

¾ cup sugar

1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur brand)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp salt

Nutella

Preheat your waffle iron (if you have settings on your iron, choose a medium setting).

In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter and cocoa powder. Add eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla and salt and stir to completely combine.

Spray the waffle iron with non-stick spray. Using a large ice cream scoop (I used the largest Pampered Chef scoop), drop one ball of batter into each waffle square. Close lid and bake for 3-4 minutes, checking after 3 minutes.

Using a fork, gently remove cookies from iron and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Once cooled, frost with Nutella.

Makes (10) 3-inch cookies.

Soup's On!

Since embarking on my journey to embrace more soup (not literally, obviously…. hugging one’s soup leads to much pain and many burns) I have been surprisingly pleased. I have found that soup really is my friend and although I don’t think I’ll ever say something like, “Boy, could I go for a nice bowl of soup right about now!”, I do believe that I may come to a place where homemade soup becomes a regular occurrence in this house.

I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.

It’s recipes like this one that really help move me onward towards that goal. Something hearty, with lots of deep flavor… that’s what is required in order for me to sit down to a bowl of soup. Chicken broth and some spindly noodles ain’t cutting it, folks.

Now… when I add to this equation the fact that it’s a crock pot meal… well, NOW you’ve got my attention! Not only do I not have to do a lot of work, but there is something to smelling your dinner cooking all day that makes you anticipate it. For someone who isn’t a soup lover, that’s a very good thing!

Best of all, you can change things up in this one. Rather than a regular can of diced tomatoes, try using the diced tomatoes with green chilies in it. Add diced jalapeno… or turkey instead of chicken… or whatever else floats your boat!

Most of all, have fun!

(Did I really just encourage to have fun with soup? I must be getting closer to my goal after all!)

Gluten Free Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped

1 (15 oz) can black beans

1 (15 oz) can creamed corn

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 ½ cups chicken stock

2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)

1 pouch taco seasoning of your choice

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Toppings of your choice (optional): shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, corn chips, etc…

Place the chopped onion, black beans, corn, chicken stock, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes in the slow cooker. Add the taco seasoning and stir to combine. Lay the chicken breasts on top of everything, press down slightly to submerge. Cook on low for 5 hours.

Remove the chicken breasts, shred and return to the slow cooker for another hour. Serve with toppings.

Serves 8.

Will Work For... Cookies?

Currently, I’m having some work done on my house. Nothing crazy, just some new windows and doors. I would venture to say the one perk of having home improvements done in the dead of winter is not having to wait very long to get it done. The schedule is light for them… and now I understand why.


Go right now… open your windows, turn off the heat and sit in the living room. Now just wait. The cold will creep in slowly, starting with your nose and toes. The next thing you know, you are bundled in a blanket with a cup of tea, trying not to let them hear your teeth chattering.


Fun times.

We are in the second and final day of work here… and it just occurred to me now that these poor guys do this every day. In the cold, in the rain, in the snow. Sure, I’m mildly inconvenienced with the chill in the air… but in a few hours I’ll bid them adieu, close everything up and flick my heat back on. They will move on to another house and more hours of working in the cold.

I had a moment of sympathy for these guys and decided to bake them some warm cookies. So I fired up the oven (for those of you wondering… NO… making the cookies was not an excuse to warm up my kitchen by turning on the oven, though it was a bonus!) and got to work on some flourless, dairy-free almond butter chocolate chunk cookies. Gutsy, considering it’s a new recipe. Would the guys finish my windows if my cookies taste like paste?

Well, dear friends, they were grand! (The cookies, not the guys… though they are all very nice. Grand would be stretching it, though.)

Whip up a batch to share with neighbors… or the mail man, or your child’s bus driver. Spread some warm cookie love today!

You’ll be glad you did.

Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup almond butter

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 cookies sheets with either parchment paper or a silpat.

In a bowl, stir almond butter and sugars together until well combined. Add egg, baking soda, maple syrup, vanilla; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Using a small scooper, drop walnut-sized amounts of dough about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before attempting to remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Love

What would Valentine's Day be without a little chocolate? OK, lots of chocolate? Alas, for us... most of those lovely red heart boxes filled with a variety of chocolates is a thing of the past. Blast that horrible wheat warning!

Does that mean we have to go without chocolate altogether? No, my friends! NO! This year, I made a dessert that was laughingly called a brownie... but let me tell you now, this is no brownie. This is fudge, masquerading as a brownie. The "cake" is rich and fudgy... yet not heavy. The ganache on top takes the chocolate level through the roof.

You'll see below that you will be using a small 8x8 pan... mostly because this dessert is so rich you'll be able to feed 64 people with that little pan! Small squares... perhaps the size of those lovely little chocolates in the red heart box?... will do just fine. Decadence.

Feeling the love? Good.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies (aka Fudge Squares of Love)

1 cup butter

3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cream cheese (or mascarpone cheese), softened

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur)

1/4 tsp salt

GANACHE INGREDIENTS:

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

6 Tbsp heavy cream

3 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 8x8 pan with non-stick spray.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and pour hot butter over chocolate in a medium bowl. Let sit for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth.

Add sugar and cocoa powder, stir. Add cream cheese, eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Fold in the flour.

Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50-55 minutes until baked evenly (especially center).

Remove from oven.

Place ganache chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream and butter to just below a boil. Pour over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.

Pour ganache over the brownies and spread evenly. Let ganache set for 15 minutes, then refridgerate until set, 1-2 hours.