Back?

I was just looking for an old blog post about green smoothies in order to figure out where/when I should look in my iPhoto library when I rediscovered a post about a wonderful awesome pizza I made back in 2010 that I'd completely forgotten about. It makes me want to blog again - sort of - not sure how this will go but perhaps I'm back. We'll see. No promises k?

Oh and the pizza that inspired my return - the photos make my mouth water and have reminded me of how yummy it was:

http://www.graduateknits.blogspot.ca/2010/05/kale-garlic-tomato-pizza.html

July 21, 2011

Another winning recipe from Celiac Teen - Gluten Free Banana Bread - her recipes always seem to work and taste so yummy :)

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Buns

I've made Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef's cinnamon buns 3 times now and they are marvelous! The second time they were more like cinnamon pieces because the dough was too wet but they were delicious anyways. This last time I remembered to take pictures.





I think I overcooked them a bit and didn't put enough sugar in the filling - but regardless, they were all gone quite quickly.



Verdict: highly recommended!

Gluten-Free French Toast

The other day I made gluten-free cinnamon quick bread which I then used to make french toast. It was ridiculously good and I'll definitely make it again. It was very filling - so I was lucky that the day that I forgot my lunch coincided with the day that I made this french toast. I forgot to take a picture of the bread pre-french toast.



I'll definitely make this again :)

Rosemary (Oregano & Thyme) Crackers

I've struggled with store bought, gluten free, crackers. They either taste like cardboard, are too hard, or taste funny. These don't quite taste like gluten-filled crackers - at least not the mass market ones that I used to eat - but they don't taste like a pale imitation of something I used to eat - they taste like a gourmet cracker.

The recipe is from Elana's Pantry (she seems to use only almond flour) - Rosemary Crackers. The only thing I changed was the herbs because I didn't want to decimate my small rosemary plant.

I'll be making these again!

Kale - Garlic - Tomato Pizza

I wasn't going to post about this meal. I was going to knit on my second Pretty Please sock (no pictures yet, sorry). But as I sat here, looking outside, I kept thinking about how good the pizza was, and how great is the taste that currently fills my mouth (aftertaste? that sounds somewhat negative). And I thought that I couldn't not tell you about it, especially seeing how little I post around here.



It doesn't have a fancy name - Kale, Garlic & Tomato pizza - and it doesn't come with a pizza crust recipe (though there are gluten free crust recipes on the same blog - I used a different one) - but the taste! My only real modification was to use 6 cloves of garlic instead of 3-6 T... It was plenty garlic-y, so perhaps the author meant clove instead of tablesppon. I also used less chilli flakes because I'm pretty sensitive to spice. She isn't exaggerating when she instructs you to pile on the kale - I spread out the kale pretty evenly to start and then added more in the centre, I used 4-5 leaves minus the stems, but my pizza could have handled more. In the future I might add more tomato so that its flavor is more prominent.



I definitely recommend this recipe - for gluten and non-gluten eaters alike.

GF Caesar Salad

Since going gluten free I've been missing Caesar salad dressing. Everything I've seen in the grocery store has wheat. So when I found the following recipe on a box of GF croutons, I had to try it.

From the back of a box of Gluten-Free Pantry Olive oil and garlic croutons was a Caesar Dressing recipe that I tried and enjoyed

Dressing (beat to combine)
125 ml (1/2 c) extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 medium lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
15 mL (1 Tbsp) gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
5 ml (1 tsp) gluten-free Dijon mustard
125 ml (1/2 c) grated parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish
1 anchovy, mashed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Notes: I didn't have gluten-free Worcestershire sauce, luckily I checked the stuff I had and it had soy sauce. I didn't put the anchovy and I may have put extra garlic (which was possibly a bad choice, and I like garlic). So I made it a bit different from the recipe and it was still quite good. It seems to be missing a little something which I'm figuring is likely the Worcestershire sauce so that is now on the grocery list.

The croutons? Not so great, very dense - but they give the illusion of a full caesar salad...

GF Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts - same cookbook that I used for the bread I posted about a month or so ago. Definitely yummy and they tastevery similar to the original glutenous versions I made. The recipe was wonderfully detailed.

I've also tried the Chocolate Chip cookies but those were an epic fail 3+ times... I will try again at least once more, just not right now.

Things Are Looking Up...

I made the Basic Sandwich Bread from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts. It turned out amazing (on my first try!) and I'm hopeful that I will have good gluten-free bread that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

At the start of the cookbook she gives you tips and tricks to help make your attempts successful - and she doesn't just give you recipes, she tells you why the different flours are necessary and what they do for the taste/texture/etc. so that you can, with experimentation, adapt your favorite recipes to be gluten-free.

Personally, I'm going to attempt to make my Grandma Gross' Peanut Butter Cookies and her Sand Tarts. Come Christmas I will miss the Sand Tarts. If/when I do figure out the adaptations I'll post both the original and the adapted versions here.

I'll definitely be trying more from this cookbook, and will let you know how it goes - but honestly, if I only ever make the bread recipe I will still consider this cookbook money well spent.