We're Movin' On Up...

To the Wordpress side.

I've been thinking about it for well over a month, but was very hesitant (obviously). But when I saw that Melanie had moved, and was able to transfer all of her old posts, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Please bear with me as I find a new look for it, and get everything situated properly.

So please join me at my new home http://delightfullyglutenfree.wordpress.com/

P.S. Don't forget to update me in your bookmarks and blogroll. :)

Lunch on the Run

Have you ever been away from home and hungry? Perhaps you don't know the area you are in or don't feel comfortable eating out.

I always advocate having food with you (in a purse, backpack, or briefcase). However, the contents of my purse last week consisted of various Hershey's kisses and fruit snacks. Not exactly a healthy lunch for a mommy and two little boys.
After shopping (while quite aways from home), we stopped in at a grocery store to go to the bathroom and get some lunch. We got a bag of Calidad tortilla chips, some sliced cheese, and some thin-sliced, pre-packaged turkey (we also bought some napkins, but we needed them at home anyways). We spent under $10 (pretty reasonable for an adult and 2 kids). After we started eating them, Braden said "Hey! This is just like a lunchable!" Yes, my dear, that's what Mommy was going for. It went over well, filled us up (with lots of chips to spare, and we left the extra meat at the fire station when we stopped to see Andy - but we wouldn't have had extra if the store had had the little packages of Buddig meats).

While the chips do tend to get little bits on you when you bite into them, it is an otherwise non-messy meal in the car (except for Carter - but he actually works hard to become messy). Some variations: grab a bag of pre-washed, fresh spinach (you can even skip the tortilla chips) or prepared salad greens; experiment with different meats and cheeses. How about roast beef and mozzarella cheese wrapped around a sun-dried tomato?

If you can get to a grocery store, you no longer have an excuse to go hungry. Life is good (it just takes a little bit of work and creativity).

A Healthier Breakfast Burrito

When you think of breakfast burritos, do you immediately feel your arteries clog up? This is not that kind of burrito, but it is really good. I would have eaten two (hey, corn tortillas are small), but Carter got up from his nap in time to eat quite a bit of mine.
I often have leftovers of ground beef in the fridge. Usually when I cook ground beef, I do enough for some leftovers (we love our nachos!). I also usually cook it with dried minced onion added to the beef.

Spinach Breakfast Burrito

Some cooked ground beef
Dried minced onions (could be cooked in the beef, or added later)
Some fresh spinach, cut up in small strips
2 eggs (for one person, or two with small appetites)
A little cheese (or a lot) - I used mozzarella
2 corn tortillas

In a skillet on medium heat, warm the ground beef, onions, and spinach, until the beef is warm and the spinach is starting to cook. Add the eggs, scramble them and stir until cooked through. Turn off the burner and add the cheese (to melt), and place the tortillas in the microwave for about 20 seconds, or until hot. Scoop some of the egg mixture into the tortilla, roll, and enjoy. For an extra kick (and extra veggies), add some salsa to your burrito.

Chunky Applesauce

To accompany our lunch today, we decided to have some apples. I used the peeler/slicer and got a little creative (just a little).
Chunky Applesauce - Quick and Easy

Peel and slice an apple or two (or more!) and place in a microwaveable bowl
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the apples, to your heart's content
Microwave on high for 2 or 3 minutes (or more if there are a lot of apples)
Stir the apples, crushing them as much as you want.


We used some granny smith apples, and not too much cinnamon sugar today, so the sauce was a bit tart (so good). After we ate a little, we thought we might turn it into a dessert. Out comes the whipped cream. This will satisfy a pretty good hankerin' for pie, I think. Some vanilla ice cream would be really good on this hot applesauce, too.

Pizza

We had pizza for dinner tonight. Andy said the crust had a nice taste and texture, and voted it the best yet. It was a thin crust, but flexible. And he liked how I did the sauce. He loves lots of sauce on his, but I find tomato sauce too thin and tomato paste too thick. So, use both and you get it right, lol.

Pizza

For the crust:
Use one recipe crescent roll dough
Roll the dough out and place on pizza pan (I used one with holes in it).
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Add toppings, then bake for another 10 -15 minutes.

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce (I used no salt)
1 can tomato paste
some dried minced onions
some Italian seasoning
some garlic powder
some grated Parmesan cheese (like Kraft jar)
Whisk together the tomato sauce and paste, then whisk in other ingredients. I don't measure the other ingredients, but go by what looks good.
Place a thin layer of olive oil on the crust before adding the sauce.

For our pizza today, we used the Montina version of this dough. Really, it was a very healthy pizza. We topped with part-skim mozzarella and turkey pepperoni (under the cheese). If I had remembered earlier that I had a green bell pepper, I would have used that, too (but it takes me forever to chop vegetables, and I had already started topping the pizza).
My favorite pizza is alfredo sauce, chicken, and mozzarella. Hmmm... I think I will make pizza again soon. :)

Crescent Rolls! / Cinnamon Rolls!

Recently, a crescent roll recipe was posted on the Delphi Celiac group, coming originally from the Better Batter Flour website. It has been such a hit, that I just knew I must try it. Many people on the forum have been tweaking it, and I'm using their good ideas. So, thanks, guys.

Crescent Rolls

1/2 stick butter (note - that is 1/4 cup), room temperature
3/4 cup small curd cottage cheese

1 cup gf flour mix (I used the rice/potato starch/ tapioca blend)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 TBS sugar

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter and cottage cheese. Add dry ingredients. Mix until a ball of dough forms.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 2 hours (I left mine overnight, as I wanted it ready in the morning).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough into a 14 inch circle. Cut into 8 triangles (really easy with a pizza cutter).

Roll each triangle from wide end to tip, turning ends to form a crescent shape. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake 20 to 30 minutes.

Fiber Variation: Use 3/4 cup gf flour mix and 1/4 cup Montina (In this picture of the Montina rolls, I accidentally used a whole stick of butter - oops. They didn't rise like the others, lol.)
This is a very versatile recipe. I have used it for pigs in a blanket (with little smokies), a snuggly dog (lol, using a hot dog), and cinnamon rolls (I like both the regular version and the Montina as cinnamon rolls.). For cinnamon rolls, roll the dough into a rectangle. Mix 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and raisins (1/4 to 1/2 cup), and sprinkle onto dough. Roll the dough into a log, cut 2- to 3-inch pieces, and place them in a pan (with parchment on the bottom). Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Glaze, if desired, with a mixture of 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 TBS milk, and a few drops of vanilla. (These cinnamon rolls are not huge and fluffy, but they are really good, and easy to make.)This recipe is also being used as pot pie crust by some members of the forum.
Find a new way to use it, or just make some great rolls. Enjoy!

Cheesecake Brownies

I thought I had already posted this, but alas, I haven't. I didn't realize there had been such a huge gap in my last two posts.
I thought I was having serious problems with Blogger, but it turns out that something is interfering with running scripts on my computer (I think it's XP). So, I write over here and save, and then I go into Andy's office and edit and add my pictures in there (his computer is slower than mine, so I don't like to type on it - I type faster than it can think).

So I have been wanting to make cheesecake brownies for a very long time using the saucepan method, but I just could never seem to remember to do it. Well, I remembered (finally!)! Andy had to work the Sunday before Christmas (he's a firefighter), so we made the brownies after church and took them up to the station later in the afternoon. They were still warm when we got there, so they really weren't set. But they were quickly devoured.

Cheesecake Brownies

One recipe saucepan brownies, prepared as directed, and poured into 9x13 pan.

*Cream together:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/3 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Drop cheesecake mixture by tablespoonfuls onto brownie batter, then swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until sides pull away from pan and top of brownie parts start to crack.

*The cheesecake portion of this comes from Roben Ryberg's The Gluten-Free Kitchen.