Quick its time for dinner

So last night I wasn't to sure what dinner might be . Probably fish I thought . Do you think I could find a good recipe for deep fry fish batter . Ummmm no . Or I should say I couldn't find one without a tonne of stuff I didn't have in my pantry . So I decided to be daring and use my dear hubby and myself as guinea pigs . What I did make turned out amazing .

Ingredients :
1 1/2 cup White rice flour
1 egg
1 tbsp Greek seasoning
approx 1 cup of water .
2 large pieces of Basa fish or your favorite and then cut in half

Add enough water so its not too thick but not runny . Dry your fish so the batter will stick . Some people use flour or cornstarch I just patted mine dry and it worked fine for me . If you want a fluffier batter try adding 1 tbsp of baking powder . If you do let me know how it turns out.

Tortilla pie

Before my lactose freeness I made a lovely Tortilla pie . The recipe is simple but making the actual tortillas is quite hard unless you own a press . 

Ingredients:

2 cups masa harina ( fine ground corn flour)
¼ tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups warm water

Mix ingredients together cover and let stand for 30 minutes .  Pinch into a ball and press . Put the tortillas on a preheated hot pan oiled or non-stick. When the edges begin to curl, flip. After half a minute  flip again. When it begins to bubble it's done . Mine were really thick but I actually liked them and so did my hubby . He ate almost the whole batch and he's not GF.  It was almost like a lasagna when I made it .  The other ingredients are what you'd normally put in a taco or wrap . The sky s the limit . 

Not milk !

So I have been pretty quiet on here the last few days . Just been trying to wrap my head around becoming lactose free . As I already knew that many celiacs have this intolerance and I had been hoping this one passed my graces but alas as of last week it became obvious that it was catching up to me . As I am saddened to see this come about I just take it as another glimpse of learning the science of what makes me work . Everyone is different . Some things work for most people and some don't  .

I am also learning more about the ways food effects us which can be really fascinating or really disgusting . I can no longer watch the show unwrapped . It just ruins food for me . I've always been trying to put healthy benefits into my cooking with natural fresh food . Like when I need more antioxidants in my diet hello bell peppers everyone loves a stir fry right ! Or when your sick . Ummmm vegetable soup anyone ( gluten free of course ) I make my own .

So milk is gone . I have found a suitable replacement for my morning coffee already . No way I'm giving up my coffee EVER . Almond milk YUM . I don't like the soy or rice ones I've tried so far so almond it is . If anyone out there has a favorite of either of those please share so I don't waste my time or $$ . Now the recipes I make will be both gluten AND lactose free . Any suggestions for butter replacements ? Will post some recipes soon for all you followers out there . Just need more time in my days ...

Apple Empanada s & pizza to go

Who doesn't appreciate a piece of pie to go . I've been on a pretty big apple pie kick lately and thought that this might be fun to try . You can use this dough recipe for more than just pie . I used mine for pizza too!

I couldn't wait to try the pizza before I took the shot . I topped mine with a home made tomato sauce , gluten free Italian sausage from my local butcher , yellow onion cooked with the sausage , fresh raw yellow pepper slices and mozzarella . The toppings were thick but the crust held up well . It wasn't soggy at all .

Ingredients for the dough
2 cups Knickinink all purpose flour
2 cups White rice flour
3 egg YOLKS
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup water * you may need more

Put egg yolks , sugar , salt , water and whisk . Add the flour and mix . If it isn't binding enough add a table spoon of water at a time until it becomes doughy . Let sit for 10-15 minutes . Dust your rolling area with cornstarch .

For empanadas :

Preheat oven to 325F . Grab a handful of dough roll it out into a circle shape . Put 2-3 table spoons of filling on one side fold over the empty side and press edges closed with fork . Brush top with left over egg whites . Add a sprinkle of sugar on top for sweet empanadas . Place on greased baking sheet . Bake for 20 minutes .*Keep an eye on them as some may need less time .

* Apple recipe is the same one I used in previous pies.

For pizza

Grab a large ball of dough for a big pizza or a handful for small ones . Roll out and place on cookie sheet or pizza pan . Add you favorite toppings and bake for 20 mins .

I might try and use this recipe to make bread or buns too . I will post when I test them out .

Hope you've enjoyed this test kitchen . Happy cooking

Let us eat cake!

* will post recipe later

Cupcakes - Tapioca Delight

I had a strange urge to make cupcakes at 9am this morning . Glad my daughter didn't see a problem with this. She is becoming a great helper always saying "lets get started " and fetching a bowl and some sugar since thats all she can reach . They are sweet and taste like tapioca pudding . Yum

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup White Rice flour

1 cup Tapioca flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 1/2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

Heat oven to 350F . Beat all ingredients on low for 30 seconds then on high for 3 minutes . Pour into medium papered muffin cups . Fill just over half way full . Bake for 15 minutes . Check center with a tooth pick to make sure its fully baked . Pick should come out clean . Remove from pan . If your wondering why its brown on the bottom of my cupcake in the final  picture I snuck pieces of chocolate into mine before baking them . Just cuz .

Creamy vanilla frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth . Ta da!

Cheese biscuit sliders

Originally called Baking powder biscuits in the ol Betty Crocker cookbook .

                      

Nothing like a burger on a nice summer (or sunny) day . I made some cheese biscuits this afternoon for my lunch (mmmm buttery goodness ) and had plenty left over at dinner time so I used them as slider buns because they are small . Plus I just couldn't bring myself to wrap another lettuce burger or eat it with a fork bleck. These biscuits are a bit dense like a cornbread so I might try this recipe using a 3 flour home made mix but I am glad I tried the premixed bag just so I have my options . Another quick note : they turned out a little more salty that I thought they would so make sure you don't use a very salty cheese if you decide to use it .

Ingredients 

2 cups all purpose flour ( from Kinnikinnick )

http://consumer.kinnikinnick.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/consumer.home.html

1/4 cup shortening

1 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shredded cheese ( or more !)

3/4 cup milk * you may not need it all

Heat over to 375F . Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl . 

Cut shortening into dry ingredients until fine crumbs are formed . 

Slowly add milk . Only enough so that the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and can form a ball. 

Flour your surface that you are going to knead you dough on so it wont stick . 

You may need to re flour if it begins to stick . 

Knead dough 20-30 times . Pat or roll into a 1/2 inch thickness .

Cut with 2 1/2 inch biscuit/cookie cutter .

Place on ungreased cookie sheet . 

*Tip : Place inch apart for crusty sides or touching for soft sides

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling rack .

Serve .

Mommy I want pancakes!

is what my daughter said Friday morning . Hmmmmm I thought . I don't have pancake mix in my house but I do have flour . Kara fetched the bowl and some sugar and before you know it we were doing a test kitchen .

They turned out pretty good for my first wheatless pancakes. 

Ingredients 

1cup rice flour 

1 1/2 cup sweet sorhgum flour

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup milk

1 egg

2-3 tbsp oil 

Blend all ingredients together . Let rise then stir again . Drop into an oiled or buttered pan on medium heat . Wait for the bubbles then flip and press down lightly . Smaller pancakes will cook more quickly . Don't make them to large or the batter might not cook properly . 

Happy cooking!

Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup butter or margarine ( I used 1/2 cup margarine 1/2 cup lard b/c thats all I had)

1 medium brown egg

1 cup Rice flour

1 cup Sweet Sorhgum flour

1/4 cup Tapioca flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Blend Sugar , margarine and egg together . Add the flours , baking powder ,  salt and blend. Should be a stiff dough if too runny add more flour slowly . Stir in the chocolate chips . I pressed mine out on a cookie sheet and baked at 325F for 13 minutes . If your making drop cookies bake for closer to 8-10 minutes . 

These cookies have a crisp edge and soft center . Absolutely wonderful cookies . 

*You may want to Ziploc them or put in Tupperware because they tend to dry out .

Another apple pie

Similar to the other pie I made except instead of all Rice flour I used 50% rice 50% sweet sorghum . Instead of a rolled top (which I tried to do but failed terribly at) I just broke the left over dough into small pieces on the top drizzled honey and dusted some sugar and baked for 35 minutes . This was a pie baked for my mom who is also gluten free (go figure) and hadn't eaten a pie in quite a while . She topped it with whipped cream and was in pie heaven! She woke up the next morning and half the pie was gone :) .