Friday, November 26, 2010

Crock Pot Stuffing

This was awesome... everyone (including those who could eat gluten) remarked on how good it was. It is based on a crock pot stuffing recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking


1 loaf of gluten free bread, cubed and dried in the oven (see below) 
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup tart apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup walnuts1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1-1/2 chicken or vegetable broth (and maybe 1/4 cup later if needed)
1 T ground sage
1 tsp ground marjoram
1/2 tsp savory
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper


Slice and cube the bread. Spread the cubes on a cookie sheet. Dry the bread in the oven at 200ยบ F for 2 hours. Cool - it will dry more as it cools. I used a loaf of bread made with Pamela's Bread mix.


Put the melted butter in a 6 qt. crock pot and add the celery, apple, onion, seasonings, and broth. Mix in the croutons and toss lightly. Cook on high for 2 hours. Edges will brown and stuffing will be hot throughout. Stir gently and add 1/4 c. more liquid if needed. May be kept warm if necessary for an hour or so.


To make preparation easier, cube and dry the bread ahead of time and store in a sealed bag. Make sure it's fully cool and dried before storing.



Monday, November 22, 2010

Wisteria Corn Pudding

Whenever I am in an airport that is new to me, I always buy the local paper, just to see what's up.

Well in this case, the Atlanta Journal gave me a recipe that turned out to be a keeper. And it just happens to be gluten free.

Wisteria Corn Pudding

From the Atlanta Journal

16 servings

Hands on: 10 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Chef Jason Hill serves cubes of this baked corn puree instead of corn bread in his Southern-style restaurant, Wisteria. The origin is Mexican, he says, "but it could be a Southern dish, easily."

1 cup rice flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 pounds fresh or frozen corn kernels (thawed if frozen), divided

1/3 cup buttermilk

11 tablespoons butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (Oddlyme says you can use parmesan or pecorino too)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the rice flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Set aside. Place all but 1 rounded cup of corn kernels in a blender or food processor with buttermilk; puree until smooth. Stir pureed corn mixture into flour mixture. Add melted butter and eggs; stir until blended. Stir in Asiago and reserved corn kernels.

Spoon batter into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until lightly browned on top, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool slightly; cut into squares before serving.

Per serving: 216 calories (percent of calories from fat, 44), 5 grams protein, 27 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 11 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 51 milligrams cholesterol, 538 milligrams sodium.

Notes: This recipe easily cuts in half, to bake in a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan. You can actually blend the corn, buttermilk AND eggs and melted butter in the blender together, then stir into dry ingredients. It will take AT LEAST 45 minutes to bake, possible 55 – 60, you want some nice color on top. Very very tasty, sweet and fluffy./creamy. No gluten! And it reheats well.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sausage, apple, and butternut squash risotto

This was one of those experiments that turned out super tasty...

Ingredients:
1 lb. Bob Evans maple sausage (bulk roll) - if you substitute, make sure it's GF
1 granny smith apple - cored and chopped into 1/2" cubes
1 med. sweet onion, chopped
2c. butternut squash, (rind and seeds removed), chopped into 1/2" cubes
1/4 t. ground sage
1/4 - 1/2 c. hard cider* (or substitute 2T. apple cider and more water)
5c. hot water
1 gluten free chicken bouillon cube or liquid (TJ's low sodium liquid)
2c. Arborio or other risotto rice

Heat the water in a saucepan. Add the bouillon to the hot water and dissolve. Keep broth mixture warm.
Brown the sausage in a skillet or dutch oven and drain the fat.
Add the chopped onion and stir until translucent.
Add the chopped squash, apple, sage, and 1/2 cup of the broth mixture. Cook about 10 minutes or until the squash is tender and most of the water has cooked away.
Add the rice and stir until well coated.
Add @1 cup of the broth mixture and stir until absorbed.
Add the hard cider (or apple cider/water) and stir until absorbed.
Continue adding the broth 1 c. at a time until it is all absorbed and the rice is fully cooked. It should be firm to the bite - not mushy (al dente). If you have used all the broth and the rice is not fully cooked, add more water as needed - 1/4c. at a time until absorbed and rice is al dente.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

* most hard ciders are gluten free - but check to be sure - Hornsbys & Harpoon ciders are NOT gluten free.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sundried Tomato and Caper Pasta Sauce

From the blog "A Year of Slow Cooking"


http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/08/sundried-tomato-and-caper-pasta-sauce.html

This is a great, easy pasta sauce with a nice tang due to a handful of sundried tomatoes and capers. They say you can (or should) add frozen peas but we did not and I am glad we did not.

The Ingredients.

--1/2 cup sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and rinsed (we got ours at Trader Joes)
--5 fresh tomatoes, chopped (In a pinch, I think you could use good quality, canned diced tomatoes)
--1 medium onion, minced
--8 garlic cloves, chopped
--2 T capers, drained
--1 T Italian seasoning
--1/2 cup frozen peas, optional
--fresh Parmesan cheese, optional (Not optional for me - mandatory!)
--1 pound cooked pasta (The blog author used Trader Joe's brown rice penne, we used regular pasta)

The Directions.

Use a 4-6 quart crockpot for this sauce.

Chop up the tomatoes, garlic, and onion and toss them into yourcrockpot. Add the tablespoon of Italian seasoning. After draining and rinsing off as much of the oil as you can from the sundried tomatoes, add 1/4 cup of them whole to the crockpot. Chop up the remaining 1/4 cup, and then add that. Stir in the 2 T of drained capers.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in the frozen peas 20 minutes before serving. Toss the sauce with hot cooked pasta. Garnish with shredded Parmesan cheese.

My notes? Overall - yummy. My husband is learning to use the crockpot and we were both very happy with the results. Easy enough for him, tasty enough for us both - and the parm cheese at the end is the perfect touch. This makes a good amount of sauce, and it's just the two of us, so... we had it for dinner, a bit topping an omelet the next day - and there was still enough to freeze two small tubs for future dinners. Two thumbs up!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Slow Cooker Ratatouille

Shared by Laura (with some of her variations) - naturally gluten free!


1 small eggplant (~1 pound) cut into 1/2" cubes (they say peel - I didn't bother)
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 medium sized sweet bell peppers, seeded and cut into 3/4" pieces (I only used one)
1 package (10 oz) mushrooms, cleaned and quartered 
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 medium yellow squash, quartered and cut in 3/4" pieces
(I subsituted zucchini as I *love* it w/ tomato, and doubled it to make up for less green pepper)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
olive oil for drizzling (optional)


Combine all down to the squash (zucchini) in a 4-5 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for ~4 hours. Add yellow squash (or zucchini) and fresh basil. Cook 1/2 hour more. Drizzle with oil (if desired). Serve.

Makes about 4 containers for meals to have during the week (lunches for me this week :) 


Enjoy!! :))

Sunday, November 7, 2010

GF Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are actually from Gourmet Magazine (hold me while I sniffle for it's passing) over 10 years ago. A family recipe that just happens to be gluten free (from Amy Fritch) it has become one of my favs.


http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mom-Mom-Fritchs-Peanut-Butter-Cookies-100848


MOM-MOM FRITCH'S PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky - I prefer chunky)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda


Preheat oven to 350°F. and grease (or spray) baking sheets. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together peanut butter and sugar until combined well. In a small bowl lightly beat egg and beat into peanut butter mixture with

baking soda until combined well.


Roll level Tablespoons of dough into balls (small walnut sized) and arrange about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. With tines of a fork flatten balls to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, making a crosshatch pattern. (You'll need to dip the fork in cold water to not have it stick.) Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until puffed and pale golden, about 10 minutes. (Check at 8 minutes, these cookies burn quickly! You want them to be puffed and almost golden. Dark brown is too brown.)


Cool cookies on baking sheets 2 minutes and transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Cookies may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.


Makes about 24 nice sized cookies.

Note: The "right after it is baked" cookie, is gentle and almost bland. If you can just let them cool, pack them up and wait overnight - or even a few hours - the cookie you find in the morning is rich, crisp, VERY flavorful, a real winner.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli (gluten free)

From the blog A Year of Slow Cooking 


Notes: Check Beef Broth and Pasta Sauce for gluten. For the combo of tomatoes and pasta sauce, I used a 28 oz. can of Dei Fratelli diced tomatoes with the sauce and 28 oz. can of Dei Fratelli Italian Sauce (both gluten free). I also used more rice pasta - about 3/4 cup. You could also omit the salt because there is enough in the tomatoes (in my opinion). This has a good kick, so if you don't like spicy cut back on the Tabasco a little (you can always add more to taste!).


The Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice) 
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!) 
1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
 (check label for gluten!) 
2 tsp oregano

1 T Tabasco sauce 
1/2 tsp salt
 
1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time (author used TJ's brown rice fusilli) 

The Directions

Use a 6 quart or larger 
crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.
 

Brown the meat on the 
stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.
 

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty 
crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and 
Tobascosauce. Stir in your meat.
 

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender.
 It will swell quite a bit. Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it.