Gazpacho - Cold Tomato Soup

 

This recipe is naturally GF, so it's kind of a cheat to put it on this site and call it GF.  It's so good on  hot summer days to feed a crowd. I make up a batch while the gardens are overflowing with produce and we eat it all week. 

32 ounces V-8 Juice 

6 cups tomatoes diced (1/2 blended up with the V-8)  (any type)

2 cups cucumbers diced 

1 cup onions diced 

1/2 cup each green and yellow peppers 

1 cup celery 

2 Tbs. fresh cilantro 

1 tsp. salt 

2 Tbs. rice vinegar 

2 Tbs cider vinegar 

3/4 tsp. pepper 

4 cloves garlic minced 

3-4 drops tabasco (added to taste)

1/2 lb. cooked shrimp (optional) (add right before serving as the acid cooks the shrimp and makes it tough.)

Chop it all and keep four hours/overnight in the refrigerator before serving.  

I reposted this recipe after our Labor Day get-together. Family from Montana, and Utah converge to spend the last days of summer eating and enjoying everyone's company. And what better than a cool bowl of delicious soup?

First posted 8-15-08 and 9-4-11

Vacations aren't really time off, they are just a change of venue. I keep cooking, cleaning, caring and doing all the things I do at home, just in a different place and at a significant disadvantage. 

It's hard to eat GF on vacation so we stay at condos with cooking facilities.   This is one you can make ahead; it travels well and keeps the length of the vacation.

Peanut Butter Cookies

LAST POSTED 6-08-08

Here is the best peanut butter cookie recipe brought to our GF Holiday Celiac Potluck from 2008. Sorry, I don't have the contributor's name, but she is brilliant and her recipe  is delicious!

EGG FREE OPTIONS

I have modified this standard recipe before with an egg substitute for a friend who has multiple dietary allergies. I used 1/4 cup flax meal as an egg substitute (Made by blending or boiling 1 heaping tablespoon ground flax with 4 Tablespoons water--then cool and add to the recipe as an egg.)

STANDARD COOKIE RECIPE

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg (or egg substitute)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend these ingredients until light and fluffy.
Add dry ingredient mixture:

3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum

1 1/4 cup sorghum
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 cup bean flour (I used garfava)  OR,    OR,   OR

Just use  1 2/3 cup of gluten-free flour (I used my wholegrain mix.)

Blend together adding just enough of the flour to make the dough gently pull away from the edges of the blending bowl.  Make balls, (I use a melon baller)  place on cookie sheet, press with fork.

Bake 10 minutes at 375. Cool before moving to rack.

This recipe doubles fine. Today, when I doubled it for another party... I KNOW! I need intervention for party goers...!

 But this time I used 2 cups sorghum and about one cup of my healthier  wholegrain mix.

Easy, Fast Thai Lettuce Wraps

Lei hao,  (Cantonese greeting)

Tonight we're setting our sights and tastes to the Orient!  The daughter comes home after 15 months from Hong Kong this Friday and we are so EXCITED! !  

I fear for all of you if you do not like Asian food because the occidental will have returned and she will have me for a training/testing table for the next few weeks while she acclimatizes back to gluten-free in America.

First day we're heading to NAM-hai asian store here in Tulsa, where it looks like the Orient has blown up inside.  For Americans, the sights and smells are all new, but for an Asian I'm sure the ordered aisles will be culture shock.  Can't Wait!!!

First posted 4-15-09

I had some leftover ground beef, rice and spices, threw them together and served it wrapped in lettuce. It's delicious.

It was a couple cups ground beef, about half as much rice, 2 Tbs. of fish sauce and 1/2 cup GF Hoisen sauce and 2 Tbs Asian sauce. Since I didn't have Asian sauce on hand, I drizzled in about 2 tbs. GF soy, a tbs of peanut butter, 1 tsp. garlic and about 1/2 tsp ginger and a dash of hot pepper sauce.

Everybody loved it! The boys because it was ground beef and the Dad because he was hungry. I, because I love quick and easy!

I topped it with tomatoes, but perhaps should have used cucumber spears to stay Asian. YUM!

G-F Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms

• I spied fresh mushrooms on sale at the store and had to buy them.  Stuffed mushrooms are calling to me but I want to make them without breadcrumbs.  My sister said it's easy when she fries up sausage, drains it, adds sour cream and bakes it in the mushroom caps until it's crispy on top.   So I'm combining two recipes and making some stuffed right now.
• 
  
• Clean and pop the stems from an 8 ounce package of baby portabella mushrooms 
• Fry 1/4 lb. ground italian sausage and drain it. (meat optional)

In a blender jar combine:

• 3 leaves fresh basil (1/4 tsp dried)  'cause I had it.
• 1 inch of fresh jalapino (seeded or used canned, I do it all the time)
• 3 sun dried tomato slices (or half of a firm roma tomato)
• 2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 1 whole clove of garlic (or 1/2 tsp minced from a bottle)
• dash of salt  (sea or land, I'm not picky)
• a splash of  olive oil  (actually, I forgot this)
• dollop of sour cream (1/4 cup) could non-dairy alternative or leave it out entirely.
• Toss the leftover stems of the mushrooms in to chop up too. 
• 
  
• Blend ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Fold in the cooked sausage and spoon carefully over the upturned mushroom caps in a casserole dish.  Bake 30 minutes until the top is crispy.  Serve with salad and Bette Hagman's recipe for breadsticks.  Delicious.  

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Zero Carb, Fluffy, Mashed (and g-f) Cauliflower

 I don't like cauliflower, raw, steamed, roasted, I do not like it Sam I AM!

Yet, the temptation of a g-f cauliflower pizza has been haunting me and I have let two cauliflower heads go bad in my refrigerator while the inner debate wrestles the issue.

Unexpected guests came by yesterday and that is the best time ever to try new recipes!  (That's what the evil side thinks, if only to discourage them from coming unannounced again.)  SO to go with the lemon chicken, I pinterested the recipe for mashed cauliflower.  AND Wow!  I agree that it is as delicious as was promised.  I fed it to the party guests and they had some trouble guessing what it was as they too licked it up.

The swiss cheese and butter addition did conceal the true bitter character of cauliflower and made the entire dish delectable, but I'm sure non-dairy alternatives would be equally delicious.  I'm imagining chipotle spicyness.  Good Luck Experimenting!

Chop up a whole head, nuke it in the microwave for ten minutes (to drycook and avoid too much moisture) and then blend it up in a food processor or my handy-dandy Blendtec blender with one teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons butter.   I put it into a casserole dish, covered with two slices swiss cheese and sat it under the oven broiler for a few minutes.

Reality Bite:  I'm finishing it for breakfast.  Sad.  Now the cauliflower pizza may never make the blog.

G-F Ranger Cookies

It's the dregs of winter coming on and I'm craving the chewy, crisp, texture of a ranger cookie. So for this month's ladies mix-n-mingle I'm taking tapioca pudding and ranger cookies! I hope that a craving comes upon me for something healthy to take too!

Posted first on 3-3-09.

This is the standard chewy ranger cookie filled with oatmeal, coconut and rice crisps, but I've adapted it for our GF/CF needs and it tastes great!

1 cup butter, shortening or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups GF flour (I used my 8 flour mix-but a 1/4 cup less)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes or gf oatmeal
1 cup rice crisps (I use Erewhon)
1 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugars and chilled fat and then add eggs. Add remaining ingredients but fold rice crisps in last. Wait 10 minutes for maximum absorption (is that a word)?

I formed balls and baked for 10 minutes til light brown. These might require a little more flour if they bake too flat for your tastes. Mine did.

**Don't be put off by the strong smell of quinoa flakes. I have found that the flavor bakes off and these really are good! If you want to substitute GF oatmeal, that works too.

Flour Tortillas

Everybody who lives in the gluten free world has to try this once... maybe twice. This is my fourth or fifth time attempting flour tortillas and I think I finally got it--thanks to glutenfreecookingschool.com .

The college girl and I made them last time she was out and I followed the recipe she hunted up off the internet. It went pretty much the same way this time:

When the recipe says to only add enough water to barely form the dough into a ball, they mean it!!!! I mixed it up to a ball stage, then rolled it out, peeled the mangled ball off in pieces, wadded the dough up again, added flour, and repeated, repeated, repeated. Finally, it peeled off the plastic in one piece and I sprayed it with oil and dropped the circle onto the heated cast iron pan.

Ah, traditionally cooking, mom and daughter, and the two of us figuring it out together. What we found out was that once again, homemade does not look like factory made. While ours may not look perfect, they taste delicious with only salsa. (The true test, because all g-f food can be palatable with enough toppings to disguise it!)

The picture depicted on the school's site must be a close-up for a reason. There is a reason food stylists use close-ups--they don't show the "rest of the story."
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Here is another great site for GF recipes. I'm testing this one from GF Cooking School today for GF/CF flour tortillas.

Feeding the Famished

A G-F Menu Plan for the Construction Crew

I'm feeding forty! Okay, not forty, but we're having an old fashioned barn raising (shed) this week and so the family have moved in. The brother, sister-in-law with their two babies and the nephew are already here (professionals) and the parents and in-laws, aunt and uncle come tomorrow.

So how does one plan a week's worth of meals for ravenous construction workers, two vegetarians, a diabetic, and three celiac's? It's gonna be a challenge! The key is enough diversity to keep everyone from starving.

Day One Menu: Enchiladas, salad, chipolte rice, and homemade granola.

Day Two Menu: omelets to order, wrap sandwiches, lasagna, garlic toast, corn, salad, bruchetta, and chocolate chip cookies.

Day Three: cereal, scrambled eggs, french toast, sandwiches, baked potato bar complete with homemade chili, bread sticks, and rhubarb crisp.

Day Four: Barbecue chicken, OK barbecue baked beans, Oklahoma cavier and tortilla chips, potato salad, hummus, peanut butter bars, carrot cake.

Day Five: Waffles and triple-berry syrup, ATE OUT FOR LUNCH!!! Jason's Deli has a book of allergens for all of their foods. Ask for it at the counter. www.jasonsdeli.com

Day Six: Cereal for breakfast and leftovers for lunch and dinner!!!!

Day Seven: Today we're scrounging for food, I'm culinarily exhausted, but we might have Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, right before GRADUATION for college bound boy YAY!!!

My Bread, Sorghum. Millet Molasses Quinoa Bread

Modified from GLUTEN FREE MOMMY and GOBSMACKED

This is the other bread that is my staple. We make this about once a week and it's our staple for sacrament "communion" bread.

Sorghum Quinoa GF/CF BREAD RECIPE

1 cup sorghum flour or brown rice flour

1/2 cup quinoa flakes, or GF oatmeal flakes, or GF oatmeal flour

3/4 cup millet flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour/starch

1/4 flax seed meal

1/3 cup potato/corn/arrowroot starch (or leave it out, I do.)

1 Tablespoon xanthan gum

1 tablespoon GF dough enhancer (optional)

Sift/stir dry ingredients thoroughly together.

Mix water and brown sugar and proof with the yeast while assembling other wet ingredients.

Blend eggs, vinegar, oil and

3 eggs

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon molasses

4 Tablespoons canola oil

1 packet active dry yeast (One tablespoon)

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup water (more or less)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Blend all wet ingredients together and add to sifted dry ingredients. Blend well, leave to sponge ten minutes then add salt. Beat dough on high for four minutes. Scoop into pans (filled 2/3 full only) and raise to the top of the pans. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until loaf reaches 190 degrees. Read GF Bread Hints & Tips for more instructions.

Thankful Thanksgiving

Hey, if you don't think a GF Thanksgiving is daunting enough, this article reminds us of how it was once. Just so you know, Thanksgiving is easier than ever now.

If you were wondering while you are

baking pie crusts that crumble,

eating stuffing that's glue,

rolls that are crumbly and

thin gravy too.

Just remember, it could be worse. Somehow that will make you feel better.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120503651 (The author's recipe for pie crust is Bette Hagman's GF Flour recipe) (In absentia: Bless you, Bette Hagman)

I say make several batches of rolls early and when they go stale quickly, then you will have bread for stuffing! YUM!

CHIPOLTE Rice

I asked the husband to make this Sunday to serve with enchiladas and the smoky flavor of chipolte even goes well with the smoky taste of the husband's overdone-burnt-on-the-bottom rice.

Make it a Great GF Day and give a packet of this to a friend. It's a great make-and-take-mix for gifting.

Mix ingredients: 1 TBS chipolte seasoning, 1 tsp. salt, 2 Tbs. dried green peppers and 2 cups dry rice.

Instructions:

In a Rice Cooker, add packet to 2 cups water and a half of a can stewed tomatoes. Cook until done.

Conventional Stovetop Method: Add ½ can stewed tomatoes and 3 ½ cups water. Simmer 25-30 minutes.

GF/CF Snack Food

What do you toss to the birdie over the seat when driving and the child is hollering that it's snack time? We can't stop in at Sonic for a fry, so we gotta be prepared.

Envirokids have great granola bars, but we can make them from Erewhon brown rice crisps, which are gf/cf and peanut butter, white corn syrup and brown sugar and add any delicious dried fruit we want. See http://gluten-free-reality.blogspot.com/2008/09/quinoa-granola-bars.html

Fritos are wheat and dairy free.
Trix?

What else. Pass on your hints or site links for great GF/CF gnoshing please.

Thanks crimson flame on flickr for internet image.

GF/CF Restrictions

Wheat and Milk allergy? Are you cutting out both? Here are some hints and helps, and links.

Watch for GF/CF (gluten-free for wheat protein and Casien Free for dairy) designations. On my site, check out recipes with the GF/CF labels. Google it! You can read about it til your eyeballs fall out.

http://glutenfreeheaven.blogspot.com/ is my friend in Utah, we lived two miles away from each other and didn't find out until I moved to Oklahoma. So healthy, so smart!

Now the sister has to do the GF/CF stuff and she makes fabulous stuff all safe for her kids to eat.

She taught me to use shortning instead of butter, hemp, almond, rice or soy milk instead of pasturized cow milk. It's really not as daunting as it seems at first. As we live, we learn and we learn to love!

Best wishes, leave questions or notes if I can help.

My new GF/CF friend, Megan and I just made the crackers on my site! They are delicious GF/CF made with shortning!!! YUM http://gluten-free-reality.blogspot.com/2008/09/gone-crackers.html (somehow this could be automatic... sure wish I had time to learn how to blog!)

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.

Chocolate Sundae Brownies

GF Chocolate Sundae Brownies? Wow! I just made a batch -- it is the most magnificent dessert! And it says it's low fat! I am eating as I type one-handed!

My sister (another one from all the other ones) pulled this one off the internet. She needed party food and from cooks.com she decided to modify it for GF by using Bette Hagman's (praise be her name) GF flour blend. She doubled the batch and made it in a 9x13 pan. Worked Great!

I made mine a single batch using my whole-grain flour blend in an 8x8, so it seems this recipe is very forgiving.

Brownie Fudge Sundae
revised for gluten-free by KaReen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 inch pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix

1 cup gf flour
1 tsp. xanthun or guar-gum
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine with the next three wet ingredients, mixing well.

1/2 c. skim milk or coconut milk
1/4 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla

Spoon and spread dough into a greased 8x8 pan
Whisk together the following and pour over the dough.

3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1 3/4 c. hot water
1 T. corn starch
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake for 40-45 min. Remove cake from oven and cool in pan. When served hot with ice cream it is like a brownie with hot fudge. After it cools it is more of a rich chocolate pudding with brownie on top.

When I poured the liquid over the dough, I thought, "Well, here I go again, 'baking without a parachute' and once again, I'm going to land with a splat." But, not this time! It turned out delightful, delicious and delovely.

Hoppin' John

How have I overlooked this traditional New Year dish? This is the first year ever that I have even heard of Hoppin John and that's what happens when one is born in the West and only jaunts as far South as the middle of the MidWest! (I have been woefully ignorant!)

You could just throw everything into a crock pot and set it on low all day. It was delectable!

1 cup brown rice raw

1 cup black eyed peas raw

1 onion diced

6-8 stalks celery diced

1 tbs. cajun powder

1 tsp each basil, oregano, thyme, or 1 heaping tablespoon italian spice.

2 cans diced tomatoes

1-2 quarts of water

ham, bacon, or sausage whatever you have left over

FORGIVE THE PHOTOGRAPH---WHILE I WAS POSTING IT BURNED! I MEAN BIG TIME!!! It is supposed to taste smoky, but not this much! I'll make more another time and take a better photo and then noone will wonder what the thick black threads are or how seaweed was left off the ingredient list?
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Quinoa Delight

I thought about calling it quinoa heaven, but that brings to mind fluffyness, whipcream and marshmellows, and that's so not this. Enjoy it anyway.


This one of those dishes that creates in the tastbuds a gastrophany--an allknowing awareness of the wonderfulness of food.


1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup brown rice
2 cups water


Dry roast the first two grains (I didn't) Bring the ingredients to a boil and simmer over low heat 25/30 minutes.

1/2 cup cooked or canned brown lentils

1/2 cup pinenuts, lightly toasted (I did)

1/2 cup shredded fresh basil (or 2 tsp. dry basil)
1/2 bulb fennel (finely diced)
1/2 cup dried cherries or currants, (I used dried cranberries)
1 T chopped green onion (I used 1 T regular onion)


Cool the grain mix and add all together.


Whisk 3 T. olive oil furiously and slowly add lemon juice until an emulsion is created. Add to salad and mix. Add salt and papper to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled a day or more. Add more sauce when it absorbs it all.

Egg Free/ Dairy Free Miracle Muffins

These are GF/CF Miracle Muffins, because I still can't understand how they work without milk and eggs.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup canola oil
3 bananas
1 tbs. Ener-g egg replacer
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp dough enhancer (optional as a lifter and preservative)

Mix everything together, place in greased muffin tins or paper muffin cups. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes until tops darken and a fork poked in comes out clean. These are said to freeze nicely, but I eat them all instead.

May bake five to seven minutes more in moister climates and I never add any of the water at all.

CD affects other food allergies

50% of Celiacs are also casien allergic? Does that stat surprise you?

See this article. It's informative and gives lots of food for thought. (GF of course)

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/08/food-allergy-madness.html