Quick Pot Pie

I am in love, with Sam's Club. Yes, it's true!(don't tell my husband.)
I am so happy they reformulated their rotisserie chicken, and it is now Gluten Free. I LOVE having this shortcut in my cooking! Here is my recipe for

Quick Pot Pie.

Filling
1-3 lb GF Rotisserie chicken picked from bone, and chopped into bite size pieces(Sam's Club)
2 cans Progresso Cream of Mushroom soup
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet, and add vegetables, saute until onions are soft.
Season with salt and pepper.

Biscuits:

1 cup Gluten-Free Bisquick Baking Mix
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
In separate bowl, mix until combined.

Assembling Pot Pie:

In a 9x13 casserole pan, spray bottom lightly with cooking spray. Layer chicken on bottom of pan, and top with sauteed vegetables. Pour canned soup over the layers, and top casserole, with large scoops of biscuit mixture. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. (biscuits will be browned)

Serve with a large salad. Yum!

the Forkies

I love award shows, so when January/February rolls around, and the re-runs
are on, I still have the award shows to look forward to. The Academy awards, Sag Awards, Golden Globes, and my favorite, The People's Choice(because I get to vote!) This made me think of awarding the best gluten-free products- so here it goes!

For best overall baking mix: Bisquick Baking Mix.
I love this product! at 3.84 a box, it's a bargain in the gluten free shopping world. I use to make cheddar biscuits, (like the ones at Red Lobster) and they are to die for!

For best Pancake Mix: Pamela's Pancake Mix.
I like my pancakes with a little extra something in them. Pamela's does this by adding Almond Meal in its mix. I also use this mix for breading products, such as my knock off Chick-fil-a nugget recipe.

For best Bread mix: Grandpas Kitchen Gluten Free Lactose Free Bread Mix. This stuff is made right here in my hometown, and it produces a nice firm loaf, perfect for toasting for sandwiches.

For best Frozen Ready-to-eat bread: Udi's whole grain bread
Tastes like real bread, and the added whole grains are great for your digestive tract.

For best Pizza Crust Mix: Bob's Gluten Free Red Mill Pizza Crust. This mix is relatively cheap(3.49 a bag) and produces a chewy pizza crust. A also like the the mix makes enough for 2 large pizzas per pkg.

Best Gluten Free Oats: Bob' Red Mill. I have re-discovered no-bake cookies, and granola again thanks to this product!

Best Additive: Auguson Farms Xanthan Gum
Forget the other x-gums. This company gives you double the amount( one pound) for the price of other x-gums( Bob's Red Mill) for the same price 12.99.
You can find it in any Macey's store here in Utah, or order online @ http://www.augusonfarms.com/.

Best Chocolate Cake Mix: King Arthur's Flour Chocolate Cake Mix. Oh my! Tastes just like a regular cake mix. Moist and delicious. Top with Pillsbury chocolate frosting for a gluten free treat!

And lastly, the best Gluten Free Flour Mix. This is a tough one. Twenty years ago you couldn't find GF flour mixes on the store shelves, but today we have many choices. It is a tie in this area. I've separated this category into two different sub categories:Homemade and store bought.

For Homemade mix: The Un-flour mix by Christina Davis. This is a homemade mix using Rice flour, tapioca Flour, and cornstarch. It works really well in recipes, and if you are lucky enough to find these in 25 pound bags, you can mix your own right at home. If interested Christina has her book, Irresistibly Gluten Free on sale www.amazon.com. Would definitely recommend this if you have young celiacs.

And in the Pre-made flour mix: Grandpas Kitchen Flour Mix
Thes make the best Buttermilk Biscuits you have ever tasted, and I have the waistline to prove it! I make a large batch, individually wrap, and freeze them for later use.

Well, there you have it, the first annual Forkies! We'll do it again next year, and I'm looking forward to testing all the new products of 2011!

weighing in

You all know how much I love to bake, so with sadness, due to health reasons,
I stopped baking. If I bake, I eat. Being a Celiac has a dark side too. No one tells you that all of these over-priced, high fat, goodies are loaded with extra sugar and preservatives, to make them taste good. Consequently, I have gained about 30 lbs in the past 6 years.

About 4 years ago, I was watching the Martha Stewart show, and she had a guest that spoke about her GF recipes and bakery called Babycakes in NYC. She was using this sweetener called agave. I did my research online, and found that the agave syrup was from the cactus family , and had a lower glycemic index. It basically means products made with the agave nectar wont cause your sugar levels to spike. Fast forward to 2010, I started seeing agave nectar in the stores, not just the health food store. I bought a jar(this was painful, as it was pretty expensive)It sat on the shelf for about 2 months before I got brave enough to use it.
My first experiment consisted of a taste test. I started getting nut butter from my local HF store, and used the agave nectar on top, as you would honey. I was really surprised how sweet it was. Some people say it has an aftertaste, but I have yet to find it.

Fast forward six months- I was perusing out local library, and came upon a book called "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook" by Elana Amsterdam.
In her introduction she talks about how she developed nourishing gluten free foods.
She uses agave nectar as her sweetener, and almond flour as her main flour in her recipes. I have also read other accounts of celiacs, who substituting agave for refined sugars, have lost weight in the process.

Im anxious to start baking in a whole new way. Today, I tried my hands at banana bread, using the agave. This recipe is from Erin McKenna @ Babycakes in NYC.


Babycakes Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (gotta be Bob's, no sub)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup rice milk
2 tablespoons of good quality vanilla
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush your loaf pan with oil and set aside.


In a medium bowl, measure in flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon and whisk. Add oil, agave nectar, rice milk and vanilla and then mix again. Fold in bananas until nicely distributed.

Pour batter into loaf pan (only halway!) and set in the oven. After 20 minutes, check on the loaf and continue baking until it passes the toothpick test. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes

Gluten free cupcakes in Orem!

Okay, you all,get ready! One of my friends told me that Cupcake Chic in Orem is now making gluten-free cupcakes. Of course I had to go down, and check it out. The owner Trista Millette, said she had customers request them, and after doing some research on gluten free flours, decided to take the plunge. After a couple of tests with different flour mixes, she finally decided on using Utah's Own Grandpa's Kitchen Flour Blend.

I was so excited too see the shop, and that the GF cupcakes are being kept in a different case than the regular ones. I got to the store late in the afternoon- so the selection was limited. I choose(by default) a wonderful red velvet cupcake. The cupcake itself was very tender, no gritty mouth feel, and the cream cheese frosting was to die for!

I was hoping they would have other flavors to try, but someone had came in earlier and purchased the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ones. Trista said that she will bake one dozen of assorted daily, until she gets a feel for what sells. Her shoppe is super trendy, and check out the cute little take-out box.


Price for single gluten free cupcakes are 2.99. Run, don't walk! Go check it out. You can check out thier blog at cupcakechicutah.blogspot.com.

corndogs

It's been about 25 years since I had a corn dog. I miss biting into that lava hot, dog on a stick! I was excited to find that Christina Davis' book
Irresistibly Gluten Free had a fairly simple recipe.

I followed it exactly, but I think I may have needed a bit more liquid, because I couldn't quite get the edges to seal correctly. Otherwise, the taste was right on, and I loved the fact that they were baked, and not fried. Fit right in with some of my New Years resolutions :)

Buffalo Wing Soup

I don't know about you, but I miss the day of going into my favorite restaurant and ordering hot wings. Not only is the deep fried chicken a no-no, but often the sauce and the blue cheese dressing would definitely be loaded with gluten. I have been reading. "Make it Fast, Cook it Slow" by Stephanie O'Dea. It is a great collection of gluten-free slow cooker recipes. I love that it is totally tailored to Celiacs.
In the past 24 hours, our town has received about 8 inches of snow. I decided it was perfect soup weather. I had some left-over GF Rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club, and decided to use that chicken called for in the recipe. The recipe can be found on page 178 of Stephanie's book. I made this as a stove-top version, since my crock is in the dishwasher right now :) If you make this in the crockpot cook it on high for4-6 hours.

Buffalo Wing Soup

4TBSP unsalted butter
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 yellow onion chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup chicken broth(I used Swanson's)
2 cups milk(2%)
1/2 tsp celery seed(I used this to lower sodium content)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup hot wing sauce(Stephanie's recipe called for 1/2 cup-makes it really hot!)
4 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed

In a stock pot, melt butter. Add onions and celery, and saute until tender. Add celery seed, and garlic salt. Add rice flour, and stir to coat vegetables.
Slowly add chicken broth to form a Roux. Let simmer for 1 minute to thicken.
Add chicken, milk, and hot wing sauce. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Add cubed cheese and stir until blended. Serve with tortilla chips or GF crackers.

This really is a most yummy recipe. Try it!

Eggnog doughnuts

It's about time for another recipe test. Today I will be making the donut recipe (pp70)from Christina Davis' book Irresistibly Gluten Free. Her recipe is a simple cake donut, made from her "unflour" blend. For my flour blend I used Grandpas Kitchen flour mix. I love this mix! Not only am I supporting Utah owned business's, but this product is really first rate. No gritty aftertaste, and it makes very tender donuts, and biscuits. The other addition was using Eggnog instead of milk. It really did add a great flavor. Here is the recipe:

Cake Donuts

Dry Ingredients:
2/3 cup UN flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 TBSP baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup eggnog(or milk if preferred)
1 egg
2 TBSP oil

For frying: 2-3 cups vegetable oil
powdered sugar for dusting

Combine all dry ingredients in mixer. While mixing on low, add wet ingredients. Mix until it come together in a ball. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter, or canning lid. Make "hole" by using fingers, or use a cake decorating tip(non decorative end). Fry in grease for 2-3 minutes, flipping donuts halfway through cooking time. Drain on paper towels, and dust with powdered sugar.

I have to say, this is by far the best recipe for cake donuts I have found. Usually the donuts are very heavy, but these were crisp on the outside, and very tender inside. Enjoy!