Gluten-free makeovers

Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the silence, lots going on with school, work, and life. I though for this post I would talk about my gluten intolerance. For the last 4 years or so I have had an intolerance to wheat but only recently decided to cut it out of my diet. I found Gluten-free Makeovers by Beth Hillson to be very helpful.

Beth Hillson was the founder of Gluten-Free Pantry and is currently Food Editor of Living Without magazine and President of the American Celiac Disease Alliance. Beth was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 1976, a time where there were not gluten-free options, recipes, or commercial products. After being diagnosed Beth went to culinary school where she learned that she could turn many of the recipes into gluten-free ones that she too could enjoy. This became the inspiration for this book.

Her book has four amazing flour substitutions that will make you question if they are really gluten free. They take a bit of time to make so I set aside an hour or so where I made large batches of all the flours. I found that this made me more inclined to use them. The flour will keep for a few months in air tight containers, so don't make more than you think you will use in. I found that getting the ingredients to make the flours at the bulk barn cut down on the coast but if you are Celiac or have a severe wheat allergy I recommend getting them from a place that does not have wheat flour.

I've noticed that this year seems to be the gluten-free year. I have seen a great deal of gluten-free cookbooks, magazines, specialty bakeries, and larger sections in grocery stores popping up. I don't know if this has anything to do with a new celebrity diet fad or just a recognition of the amount of people who can not handle wheat, but I know I am enjoying the new options and opportunities. 

Jamie's Food Revolution

This is a little different than my other posts in that this is a review of a cook book. Its one of my favourites and a good cookbook for people to have if they are just learning to cook.

Jamie's Food Revolution By Jamie Oliver is a book about going back to making delicious, nutritious, and easy meals for your family at home. Jamie Oliver has been an advocate for bringing real food back into the homes and schools of England for many years. Jamie looked at the work of Marguerite Patten during the food shortages of the Second World War for his inspiration in creating this book. She taught Brits to survive on the little food that they had and stay healthy at the same time. He took what Marguerite did during the war and used it to teach people today the importance of creating simple, delicious, affordable meals at home by setting up "Ministries of Food" in small towns where he would come and teach a few members of the community to cook on the promise that they would then pass on what they had learned from Jamie.

This book is great for beginners because it has easy dishes that anyone can make in it. You don't have to even know how to chop vegetables to be able to make the meals in this book, he includes a number of images that show you how to do it, and in most cases everything is roughly chopped. Everything from salad dressing to a Sunday roast with vegetables can be found in this book. Many of my favourite recipes are from here like, Roasted chicken and vegetables , Hearty Winter Stew, and my boyfriends favourite lasagna.

I highly recommend this cookbook to both the beginner cook and even the more experienced. It is full of great recipes and will have you going back for more.

This book should be available at your local library.

Best Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

There is nothing better than having a fresh baked muffin in the morning. They are so easy to make and can be eaten on the go if like me, you find yourself rushed in the mornings. This recipe is so great and is always really moist. I found this recipe on Cat Can Cook and just added chocolate chips to it.
3 or 4 large mashed bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bakingsoda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. I find using bananas that are just a bit over ripe makes it easier to mash them and you get a better flavour.

In a mixer combine the bananas, sugar, butter and egg and set aside.

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set your mixer to a low speed and add the dry ingredient mix in two batches. This helps keep the dry ingredients in the bowl instead of all over you.

Line a muffin tin and fill them 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy.

 

Roast Chicken with roasted vegetables

There is nothing better than a good roast chicken with roasted vegetables on a Sunday night. You may think that roast chicken is too time consuming or are afraid you will under cook it but don't worry, once its in the oven you are free to do what you want. As for under cooking the chicken its simple, cook the chicken until the legs move freely in the joint or cook for 20 minutes a pound. I like to use Jamie Oliver's roast chicken recipe as a guide. His method of putting a boiled lemon inside the chicken makes it so moist and flavour full I don't think I would ever cook a whole chicken again without using a lemon in it.
4 1/2 lb chicken
sea salt and black pepper
1 large lemon
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary
butter
Take your chicken out of the fridge about half an hour before you are going to cook it. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil you lemon for about 3 minutes and remove it from the water. Carefully take the lemon in your hand, I find putting a folded tea towel or an oven mitt in my hand first and then picking up the lemon keeps me from getting burnt. Prick the lemon about 10 times with a knife before you place it in the chicken.

Put the rosemary and thyme inside the cavity of the chicken before you put the lemon in. Lift up the skin from the flesh of the chicken with your fingers so that you can get some of the thyme and rosemary under the skin. Rub the butter all over the chicken, this will make it go nice and crispy golden colour.

Put the chicken in the oven and turn down the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes, remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes.

 

If like me you like roasted vegetables with your chicken then put them in the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking. Quarter and parboil all or your vegetables for about 3 minutes before putting them in the over. Put all the parboiled vegetables in an oven safe dish and toss with olive oil, rosemary, thyme and 4 or 5 whole garlic cloves. Crush the garlic with the palm of your hand before putting them in with the vegetables so you get the flavour of the garlic without getting a big chunk of garlic on your vegetables. Once they are all covered in olive oil and in a single layer season with salt and pepper and put them in the oven for 45 minutes. 

 

Once the chicken has sat for 15 minutes carve and serve. I hope you like this chicken as much as I do :) Its really flavourful and never dry. 

Paninis

Paninis are one of my favourite things to make because you can put just about anything you can imagine in them. I love a good goat cheese and roasted vegetable panini or a  Swiss cheese and roast beef panini. Its much easier to make a panini if you have a panini maker but two heavy cast iron frying pans heated will work as well. A good loaf of crusty Italian bread is best but a few day old loaf of sour dough bread will work just as well. Slice the bread into thick slices. 

Put mustard, or mayonnaise on both slices of the bread and remeber to brush olive oil onto the sides of the bread that will be places on the grill. Put your first slice of bread on the grill and put a slice of cheese of your choice, just nothing to runny, onto the bread followed by your veggies or meat of choice.

Place another piece of cheese onto the meat and the other slice of bread. Close the panini press so that it squashes down the sandwich. Leave the paninis in for about 3 to 5 minutes depending on how hot your press gets. When golden brown remove from the press and enjoy :)

 

New Years Resolution or Devils food cupcakes

Clearly my New Years resolution is not to cut out sweets and junk food, not even 3 days into the new year and I've already made chocolate devils food cupcakes. I figure I ran 10K on new years eve I can have a cupcake ..... or 12. For those of you who are not familiar with devils food it is the same as angel food cake just chocolate. I like angel or devils food cake for cupcakes because it is lighter and not as dense as a traditional cupcake, so you don't feel as guilty eating them.

Devils food cupcakes
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
6 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 6 or 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter in an electric mixer untill smooth, around 2 minutes. Increase the speed and slowly add the sugar until light and smooth.

Decrease the speed and add the eggs one at a time making sure they are completely mixed in before adding the next egg. Add the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Bring the water just to a boil and remove from heat. At low speed slowly add the flour mixture into the butter batter in 4 instalments alternating between flour and water.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 of the way full and cook for about 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool fully before icing them.

Chocolate Icing
1/3 cup of butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk

In a mixer beat the butter until smooth and add the confectioners sugar, cocoa, vanilla and milk. When mixed ice away.

Hearty winter stew

When it's cold outside most people like stick to your ribs dinners that will keep you warm for hours. This stew is great for that and so easy to prepare.

1 lb good stewing beef, preferably organic free run but anything will work.
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 carrots
1 or 2 parsnips
2 potatoes
1 or 2 celery stalks if you want
2 medium tins of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
2 bay leaves
olive oil
dried oregano
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a pot or deep frying pan. Chop the onion and put it in the pot when the oil is hot, cook them just until they begin to get soft. Mince the garlic and add it when the onions are soft.

 Roughly chop the carrots, parsnip, and celery and throw them into the pot.

When the carrots are just starting to get soft add your stewing beef. Make sure you pat away any moisture from the meat or it will not brown. Make sure all the sides of the beef are browned before adding any liquid.

Once the meat is browned add the tomatoes and red wine. Chop the potatoes into small just slightly bigger than bite sized pieces and add them to the stew making sure they are submerged. Leave the bay leaves whole and submerge them in the stew. Add the sea salt, pepper and dried oregano to taste. Let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes remove the bay leaves and enjoy.