7-Layer Mediterranean Dip

Delectable Holiday dip with a distinctive Mediterranean slant.  Serve with chips, flax multigrain crackers, or with my favorite g-f foccacia bread recipe.  

• 1 cup prepared hummus  (Made with a scoop of red pepper pesto for zing.)
• 1 cup shredded mixed greens
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 2 tablespoons chopped red onions
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives

G-F pita chips can be made by slicing Udi's bagels, laying slices onto a cookie sheet and spraying with veg. oil and sprinkling with garlic salt. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Christmas Salsa

Cranberry Christmas Salsa adds such a unique flavor to the season that I find myself eating it by the spoonful.  


 Some people keep nog in the fridge for sneaking/snacking over the holidays, I keep this! And I'm making it tomorrow to take to the GF POTLUCK PARTY and to EAT ALL SEASON!

First Posted 12-10-08, but it is such a tradition that I'm posting it again today.

This recipe has inspired a great tradition. Every year I misplace this recipe and I have to hunt for it. I start looking for it in the most improbable place and work my way to the most likely. It takes a couple of days, but that's how I start the cavalcade of Christmas cleaning.

And, if it doesn't turn out to be where I expected, at least the process wasn't all in vain!

1 Tablespoon. fresh cilantro chopped
1/2 can pickled jalapenos (vary for hotness)
1 red pepper chopped
1 green apple (granny smith)
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
1 bag cranberries chopped (fresh or frozen)

Chop everything, mix together and refrigerate.

This is a spicy and delicious addition to Christmas tradition.

Another entry for the December Dips with "Go For It Honey" at Mrs. Ed's site.

Fresh Cranberry Coulis (Sauce) Paleo! Yippee

This retro recipe is #6 of my top ten for holidays.  

Cranberries are good for me!  I know because Grandma was told by her doctor that she could either take a pill or drink a daily cranberry to improve her thyroid function and prevent UTIs. 

 I don't eat enough because admittedly they are so sour but I always keep bags frozen out of season to pop in my smoothies. 

Cranberry Coulis, A Paleo Sauce/Filling/Topping

One orange whole, peel and all - sliced in fourths
1 apple sliced.  
10 oz. bag cranberries fresh or frozen  (I used two bags) 
1/2  cup sugar (I have used honey and this time agave.)  Add slowly only enough to taste.  

Blend in food processor or blender until smooth.  This stuff is so good that iced a tiny bit in the freezer makes it a delicious addition to any meal.    Lidia made it with me this time and said she could love it atop ice-cream.  
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I scoop it and slurp it up by the spoonful--figuring it adds to intestinal health 'cause raw cranberries are good for me!!!  This recipe I could and would eat daily if I keep it made up in the fridge.  One year it was mid January before I ran out of the big batch I blended up.  

     I wish this dish didn't taste quite so delicious because it is gone so quickly.  I use this coulis atop chocolate because it's such a unique taste sensation.    

Shrimp Florentine

Shrimp Florentine Recipe

A beautiful shrimp and rice platter coated temptingly in a light be'chamel sauce usually screams Beware! Flour! to the G-F'r.

 

But many g-f flours make a nice roux inexpensively and with no extra effort. Add rice flour, cornstarch or even white bean flour to the melted butter and it has the same thickening power as wheat flour.

I could also use the regular powdered mix of my standard cream soup sauce, but today, the bechamel sauce was perfect for a light shrimp and spinach dish.

I found myself slurping it by the spoonful from the pan while I waited for the rice to steam.

**If you are allergic to rice or grains, see HealBalanceLive's site on how to make calirice (cauliflour rice substitute).

Grape Salsa

YAY! Back to great food discovered because of America's holidays! I'm convinced that we Americans have holidays so we can devour great new foods.

Anybody else got a new recipe from our latest holiday? My newest favorite was brought to the holiday brouhaha by Aunt Jan, the great-aunt culinary genius... Grape Salsa!

We ate it again yesterday when the Mom-in-Law brought it and we ate it with corn on the cob and baked potatoes buried deep in the ash of the fire pit--the perfect ending to a country day's work clearing the back slash pile.

2 cups coarsely chopped red grapes

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup diced green chilies

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce

Mix well and let stand at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or GF sliced baguettes.

cilantro.  

GF Devils Food Cake

Bette Hagman's G-F Devils Food Cake taste sensation will Wow Your Palate!  This recipe is a keeper.  There are good devils food cakes, the French cakes that are typically baked without flour (these recipes abound on the internet,) but I also like Betty Crocker's brand of g-f chocolate cake, although King Arthur brand g-f chocolate cake is twice the cake mix with only half the price.

Cranberry Coulis (Sauce) Recipe

But for best ever cake I make Bette Hagman's classic Devils Food.  I wish I could get permission to post that recipe online because it is my absolute go-to-recipe for everything.  It calls for mayo, buttermilk, and dutched cocoa which combine to make a moist delicious cake perfect in texture and taste every time.  I use it for my filled cupcakes, cake balls, everything.

last posted 6-25-08

The best cakes I have found are baked from Bette Hagman's (Praise be her Name) The Gluten Free Gourmet Makes Comfort Food cookbook.

Bette's Devils Food Cake is consumed voraciously at every one of my birthday, social and potluck events.
RAT CAKE
When the cub scout needs a cake to decorate for the Chinese New Year (the Rat) this is the one we use.
NINJA CAKE
I've disguised it as a ninja, by covering 2 nine-inch rounds with chocolate ganauche frosting and used a buttercream fondant for the eyeslit. (I'll post pictures when I find them.)
ICECREAM CAKE
It makes a great icecream filled cake. Bake 2 nine inch rounds and sandwich with icecream in a five-gallon icecream bucket. It dumps out and frosts nicely after freezing.
GOURMET CAKE
I've also filled it with cranberry orange sauce (blend a package cranberries (frozen or fresh) with a whole orange and 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar in a food processor til smooth) and frosted it with chocolate frosting for a gourmet food fest.
PEANUT BUTTER CAKE
Bundt pan baked with ganache and peanut butter balls.
DINGDONGS
These need no intro.  They sell at every bakesale, not to g-f'rs either.
BIRTHDAY CAKE MIX
Sent in a mix to the college roomies to bake for the daughter--turned out great.
SCHOOL BIRTHDAY CAKE
This cake bakes and freezes nicely and can be grabbed out in a pinch, for a child's birthday party or when your own personal devils food cake attack strikes.

It's a keeper and along with that cake is the banana bread and the Angel Food Cake in the same book.

No one can tell the difference between Bette's Angel Food GF cake and the common other. Her recipes are keepers. Get her books, I'm not kidding.

T.

Spinach Artichoke Hummus

Yummus hummus. Warn your party people. It looks like guacamole, but is has tons less fat yet is just as delicious. Tell your kids it's Incredible Hulk dip and set out the veggies. Spread it on a turkey sandwich. This dip makes most things more palatable!

I drain a can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Then blend it up in a blender (mine is a Blendtec youtube Will It Blend) with

1/2 tsp minced garlic (yeah, I use the bottled, pull my chef tag),

1 tbs. of tahini (totally optional)

a dash of salt, pepper and

1 tablespoon of olive oil,

1/2 can of artichoke hearts (what am I to do with the rest of the can, recipezaar?)

a big handful of baby spinach (probably about 3/4 cup crammed)

Then I blend and blend and blend slowly adding a stream of water until it fluffs up and blends nicely.

Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, or wrapbread.

This recipe is dedicated to Ryan, whose family designates him the bountiful dipper, for whom crackers are merely the vessel--the method by which dip is to be savored.

Tapenade/Olivata Recipe

Need an easy, fast G-F hor dourve?    This recipe is delicious. 

This version is delicious on a crusty bread.

 2 cans chopped black olives 

 1 bundle of green onions--I use the onion part and alot of the green stem part too 

 ! can chopped green chilis 

 One  of the large cans of chopped tomatoes 

 garlic to taste 

 1-2 tbsp. of oil 

 1-2 tbsp. of vinegar 

 salt to taste 

Throwback Thursday, 8-26-10,  summer in Montana is chilly, particularly for a girl accustomed to 95 degree low at night, but I layered up and set off to family in Montana. We visited the gold mining ghost town--Bannack, a mining museum in Butte and spent a day touring Helena.

Then we ate at Helena's Mediterranean Grill restaurant and sampled tapenade, and hummus. The place was very amenable to gluten-free options. It was delicious, but I should have brought my own focaccia, wrap bread or crackers.

Yum, tapenade! I've just discovered a delicious new taste sensation for those of us trying to up our fat and sodium levels. Are there none of you out there? Perhaps you have been scrimping on salt and butter just for this occasion, and are looking forward to take a sodium/fat hit for a wonderful taste sensation?

Easy Olivada/Tapenade

I chopped a couple of 10 oz. cans of black olives, drained.

I added about 1/4 cup chopped red onion,

1/2 tsp. minced garlic and about

a tablespoon of olive oil

and chopped the whole mass a little bit more. I threw in five pitted kalamata olives (but be careful, this can quickly overwhelm the flavor).

I served it on homemade crackers and with the spinach/artichoke hummus, it was an appetizer hit at the "welcome-home-for-a-week" party for the college kids (who jaunted back between semesters.)

We also ate baba ghanoush for the first time, and I have just one thing to say about baba ghanoush, but I want to say it ten times because it's so much fun on the tongue.

Baba ghanoush tastes wonderful!!!

Maybe I'll try to make that sometime. Hmmm, eggplant...

Thanksgiving Gravy Oklahoma Style

GF Turkey gravy, mine is typically made with turkey drippings, thickened with corn starch and seasoned with salt. A friend of mine adds a little smoke flavoring to her gravy. But she also presents a smoked bird for Thanksgiving.

In Oklahoma gravy is a work of art and you have to hear about it to believe it!

I tried to find the recipe online to link to, but it's been a few years, just imagine pulling all the skin off the turkey (they must cook two, because the one is too fried to pull apart). Anyway, fry up the skin in a skillet and then cool it and break it apart and include the bits of that crumbled in your gravy. Don't bother to defat, 'cause that's where all the flavor is.

Good luck with gravy, it's the easiest part of a glutenless Thanksgiving.

Oklahoma Caviar

This was a most successful diabetic visitor food. It is full of beans for a low glycemic index and is very filling. This is a dip or a salad and delicious all the same. Beware, people who start, can't stop eating it!!!

Serve alone or with Corn Chips.

2 cans black beans

1 can corn (I used frozen)

1 can olives chopped

1 cup favorite salsa

3 green onions diced

two large tomatoes chopped

1 can green chilis ( I used a big one)

1 tsp cilantro chopped

2 avocados chopped

Combine and refrigerate a couple of hours. Delicious!

GF/CF Cheese Dip

I just found this recipe for cheese dip. I hear it travels well. We'll see.

1 lb velveeta
1 can rotel tomatoes

Microwave and stir until melted and serve with corn chips.

My question? Is Velveeta really dairyless? What is it made of then...or is it better not to know?

I have made a bean dip for travel before. It's delicious even cold and cold beans means I'm getting resistant starches helpful to the gut. (See resistant starch post.) http://gluten-free-reality.blogspot.com/2008/06/hummus.html

I mix a can of refried beans, stir in 1/2 cup salsa and top with grated cheese and heat in the microwave until warm. Can also be chilled and served cold with corn chips.

Crunchmasters Crackers & Tuna Salad

I'm loving these crackers and they are available on and off at Sams Club. If you see them, buy them. They are my new staple.

I hope you feel the same way.

Today I'm serving them with tuna salad and a hummus dip.

SPRING TUNA SALAD

1 can solid white tuna

1/4 cup mayo

dash seasoning & onion salt

1 stalk celery finely chopped

1/2 cup green grapes, diced

http://gluten-free-reality.blogspot.com/2008/06/hummus.html

Hummus

Resistant Starches are good for you! Easy and Yummus! Get your kids to gnosh on this for a healthy snack.

CHICKY DIP

Garbanzo beans, one can drained and rinsed
(or from your freezer where you store beans you have cooked in bulk and divided into ziplocks)
Garlic about a tsp.
Olive oil about a tablespoon
1/2 cup warm water or so.
1 TBS. Tahini if you have it
Salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper

Blend in your blender until white and fluffy and serve with tortilla chips, or veggies.





HEALTH BENEFITS of Resistant Starches for Gut Health

Tulsa World on Thursday, June 19, 2008

Overview: Resistant starches may burn more calories, but more importantly, studies show resistant starch may help protect against colon cancer, control blood sugars, act as a prebiotic, lower cholesterol and increase the absorption of minerals such as calcium. We celiacs are always looking to boost gut health.

Other good news, these starches aren't easily digested, therefore have fewer net calories than rapidly digested starches. Potatoes, corn and rice all contain resistant starch when cooked and cooled as well as beans and legumes, partly milled grains and seeds and underripe bananas.

Resistant starches make it past the stomach and small intestine before settling in the colon. There, bacteria use it as a fuel source, producing butyrate — a fatty acid desirable for its cancer-preventing qualities.

Because bacteria in the large intestine feed on these resistant starches, their digestion promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in your system, similar to live cultures in yogurt and probiotic foods, DeWitt said. Beans and legumes may be the best source of these resistant starches, because they contain the highest amounts of resistant starches, and the least empty calories, with all the protein and fiber they also pack per serving.

Include beans and lentils more often as salad toppings or pasta salad additions. Include a banana daily. Snack on chilled, low-fat bean dip with veggies. Add whole chilled beans to garden salads, or make a cold bean salad. Puree cooked white potatoes to create a chilled potato soup with garlic or leeks. Mix cooked, chilled lentils into tuna or chicken salad. Order your sushi made with brown rice, or try it in a chilled rice salad. Sprinkle cooked and chilled corn into salsa or salads.