Potato Bread – the best GF bread I’ve tasted

I recently posted this on Facebook and thought I would share it here…

To those of you on a Gluten-Free diet, you MUST, I repeat MUST try the “onion potato bread” and “flax potato bread” made by the “6th Ave Bread & Deli“.

Although this is not an exclusivley Gluten-Free shop, the pans are all sterilized each evening and the bread is cooked first thing in the morning; the staff will caution you if it is your first purchase, to ensure you understand the potential for contamination. All that being said, I have had no problems with this bread and once I realized that, I’ve been eating it like candy.

The loaf looks like a large french bread, the texture is soft and light and chewy, and here’s the kicker, although it tastes delicious toasted it is equally as good without toasting. And if you eat Gluten-Free bread, you know what a feat that is. Oh yes, and did I mention the large and delicious gluten-free loaf of bread costs only $3.99.

This small shop is on 6th ave in New Wesminster, next to the Galloway’s and across from the parkade for Royal Centre (702c 6th Ave, New Westminster).

I’ll try and remember to take a picture to attach here, but no promises.

Seriously, I thought I died and went to heaven when I tried this bread…I’ve already made two trips to New West, infant in tow, for the sole purpose of buying this bread (it freezes well so I buy a lot when I go!).

Finally, last time I was in, they told me they were now making hamburger buns on saturday morning, but they are first come, first serve, so if you live out that way it may be worth a morning trip!

Let me know if you try this bread…and how much you love it!!
HAPPY EATING

 

I know its been forever. It’s not that I’m not cooking and eating and enjoying the Gluten-Free life, its just that I’m now also living the Mommy-life!

My son is 2 months old now and we are starting to figure each other out and get into a little bit of a routine – I’m going to do my best to get back to blogging – I actually have a backlog of pictures to go with recipes sitting on my computer, so its not even like I don’t have anything to write about.

As a new Mom, I’ve discovered I watch A LOT of TV when its feeding time, and as many new Mom’s know, it feels like its always feeding time.  My Dad always used to talk about Rachael Ray and I would scoff, thinking who has time to watch these shows?  She can’t be that great.  I try and tune into the end half of her show as she has so many quick and easy meal ideas, many of which can easily be adapted to be Gluten-Free or that are naturally Gluten-Free.

For example, for the first time since having my baby, after watching her show, I found myself so inspired that I made a trip to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make a special dish.  So incredibly easy, I made Rachael Rays Chicken Parm Pasta Toss using Tinkyada penne and baby spinach (because I don’t like arugula).  I only wish I had taken a picture, because it was absolutley delicious both the first time around and when re-heated the next day.  Nice simple flavours – mmm.

And just the other day, I was inspired by Rachael Rays BLT Bacon, Leek & Tomato Polenta-Crusted Frittata.  Now I haven’t made this one yet, but it looked delicious and with a polenta crust its naturally gluten-free.  It seems to be very quiche-like; I usually make a crustless quiche using homemade GF bisquick-type mix (I actually use an adaptation of this, but I don’t have time to type it right now), which I love, but I think this might be faster if I didn’t already have a batch of mix pre-made.  I’ve also never cooked with leeks (suprisingly), so I think this particular recipe may be on my list to try.

Uh oh – baby beckons.  I’m off.

 

Extra Pumpkin?

After making that delicious pumpkin cheesecake pie, I found myself with a fair amount of pumpkin puree and no recipe to use it. I HATE throwing away food, so instead I decided I would find a recipe to use my leftover pumpkin, fortunately I didn’t have to look far, Donna Washburn and Heather Butt’s “Complete Gluten-Free Cookbook” had a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I had my doubts about how tasty they would be, but my practical side convinced me that it was worth a try.

And I need not have worried, the cookies were soft and cake-like with just a hint of pumpkin flavour – absolutely delicious!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Donna Washburn and Heather Butt’s “Complete Gluten-Free Cookbook”)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sorghum
• 2/3 cup bean flour (I used garbanzo fava, but the recipe called for whole bean)
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 tbsp grated orange zest (I don’t like citrus so I didn’t include it and they were still delicious)
• 1 – 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Mix first 9 ingredients together and set aside.
2. Blend the pumpkin, sugar and shortening together with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until smooth.
3. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, blending well.
4. Stir in orange zest (if using) and chocolate chips.
5. Drop batter by rounded spoonfuls, approximately 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with a fork. Let cookies stand for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease cookie sheet(s).
7. Bake cookies in pre-heated oven for 10-14 minutes, or until set. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
8. ENJOY! Mmmm

 

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s been far too long since I wrote, and I know the posts have been far and few between. For that I apologize; the truth is, I’m pregnant and for the first few months, I was tired and now that I’m in the second trimester, I am just so overwhelmed (in a good way) with the excitement and preparations for the arrival of our little one, that the blog has just slid to a back burner.

Of course, I have still been cooking and eating and enjoying the deliciousness of food. In fact I have pictures on my camera, just AWAITING a post, but we will start with Thanksgiving. Canadian thanksgiving was almost a month ago, but now I can post this just in time for those of you searching the web for recipes.

I have to be honest, this was my best gluten-free Thanksgiving yet, I hadn’t realized how boring it had become for me, until I decided that this year, I was going to make gravy and stuffing and take it along with me to my parents’ and mother-in-laws homes when we had dinner. Why should I suffer through a dry, bland dinner when I was completley capable of making my own seasonings.

Rejoice my friends – it is possible to have an absolutely amazing holiday dinner without feeling sick or deprived!

Stuffing

Since I was going to undertake the task of making stuffing from scratch (a new feat for me) I started off by making some bread from a Kinni-kwick bread and bun mix (which I rarely ever do), which smelled delicious and rose beautifully. Once cooled, I used Shauna’s recipe for Gluten-Free Stuffing which smelled delicious and tastes absolutely divine, especially when smothered with GF Gravy – I thought I had died and gone to gluten-free heaven. The recipe did make a huge batch, so I ziploc baggied the leftovers and popped them in the freezer, hopefully they will still be tasty come Christmas dinner.

Gravy

How I never conceived that I could make my own gravy with a little bit of rice flour roux and chicken stock, I will never know, but now that I am aware of this secret, I shall never go without gravy again. Once again, I thank Shauna’s Gluten-Free Gravy for enhancing my every holiday meal from this point forward.

Dessert

In my books, it wouldn’t be a holiday dinner, without a fantastic desert, preferably with a pumpkin theme. I was also craving cheesecake and found a lovely (and simple, might I add) recipe on the Kraft Canada Website for Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie. The only barrier? Of course, the graham cracker crumb crust.

I replaced the Graham Cracker Crumb crust with Mi-Del Gluten-Free Ginger Snaps, pulsed in the food processor to make crumbs; the ginger was a delicious accent and held up quite well. My only comment, use a food processor, I tried to break these cookies up by hand first (to save myself some washing) and they are much too hard, you need the food processor.

Mmm, pumpkin cheesecake pie was a hit with the whole family, even those who don’t care for traditional pumpkin pie.

 

Carmelized Onion, Mushroom and Artichoke Pizza

As you may know, one of my favourite Gluten-Free treats, is pepperoni pizza. I’ve made it time and time again, never tiring of the simple toppings – until recently.

Surprisingly, I found myself in need of vegetables, the rich mingling tastes of artichokes and carmelized onions and I l knew that Pizza would be my base. I had a landlord when I was in University and occasionally she would invite me upstairs to have homemade pizza – this was literally the best pizza I have ever had. Her secret? ALWAYS sautee the vegetables first to lock in the flavour and prevent watering on your pizza.

Carmelized Onion, Mushroom and Artichoke Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 Gluten-Free Pizza Base, partially cooked
• Gluten-Free Pizza sauce
• ~ 2 cups of Grated Cheese (I like a mix of mozza and cheddar)
• ~1.5 cups of mushrooms, cut into quarters
• ~1/2 can of artichokes, chopped
• 1 medium onion, cut lengthwise into strips
• ~2 tbsp brown sugar
• Oil for sauteeing
• Fresh basil (optional)

Directions:

• Using a small amount of oil, sautee the onions over medium until they become translucent (~ 5 min)
• Sprinkle onions in brown sugar, and continue to sautee until they smell-sweet and have a lovely caramel colour (~10-12 minutes) – place in a small bowl and set aside.
• Sautee mushrooms in a small amount of oil over medium heat, until they have watered and shrunk in size – place in a small bowl and set aside.
• If using fresh basil, chop finely and mix into the pizza sauce for extra flavour.
• If you have timed things right, take your pizza base out of the oven, spread with pizza sauce, spread onions evenly over the pizza, top with sauteed mushrooms, artichokes and then cheese.
• Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
• Allow pizza to cool slightly before cutting, and enjoy!!

 

Pamela Moriarty’s Gluten-Free Hotcakes

As promised (months ago), here is the recipe for easy and delicious Gluten-Free Pancakes. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture as we always scarf them down as soon as they are cooked, but these delicious silver-dollar sized pancakes are so wonderful. Special thanks to my Sister for providing me with this delicious recipe book.

Note this recipe uses Gluten-Free Self-Raising Flour, I just use my Gluten-Free Flour mix with an additional 2 tbsp of baking powder, and it seems to work fine.

Gluten-Free Hotcakes
(From “Sharing Sweet Secrets: Gluten & Wheat Free” by Pamela Moriarty)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Gluten-Free Self Raising Flour (see note above)
• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 tsp GF baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup milk soured with 1/2 tsp lemon juice (or 1/3 cup buttermilk)
• 2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

• Sift flours, baking power and baking soda together. (I just use a whisk in the bowl).
• Beat eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer until thick and creamy.
• Add soured milk and melted butter to egg mixture.
• Fold flour mixture into wet mixture, using “stir” on your mixer.
• Heat your pan, and melt a small amount of butter before adding batter to the pan to cook.
• Add 2 tbsp of batter at a time (they expand) and allow bubbles to appear before flipping over to cook on the second side.
• Enjoy with toppings of your choice!!!

 

Morning Glory Muffins

I often shop at Choices Market, but despite hearing raves about Whole Foods, there are none near my home and as such, I have never visited the store. I also had never visited their website, until a co-worker pointed out to me that they had oodles of recipes on their site. When I typed “gluten-free” into their search engine, I was ecstatic to have over 800 hits.

There are a number of recipes that I want to try, but the one that caught my attention almost immediately was for MORNING GLORY MUFFINS. I have seen “morning glory muffins” in cafes and coffee shops and have always been intrigued by the wholesome combination of fruits and vegetables, but I never expected to find a recipe, already adapted to be Gluten-Free.

I worked from home today and took advantage of that fact; I made some muffins during lunch. I made a minor changes to the flour ratio, as I find Quinoa flour a little overwhelming in flavour (and I didn’t have a cup on hand anyways). Overall I was hugely impressed, these muffins have great texture, great flavour and a pretty high healthy quotient in my books.

I don’t usually re-post other people’s recipes, but the link has changed in the past few days due to some website re-organization and I just don’t want to lose it.

My changes to the recipe:

• Replace 1 cup of Quinoa Flour with:
  1/2 cup Quinoa Flour, 1/4 cup Sorghum Flour, 1/4 cup Brown Rice Flour
• Replace 1 tart red apple with:
  1 granny smith apple

—————————————-

Gluten-Free Morning Glory Muffins

Makes 18 muffins

Gluten-free flours combine with apples, carrots, zucchini, raisins and walnuts in these nutritious and satisfying muffins. You can also try our Whole Grain Morning Glory Muffins.

Ingredients

2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar
1/4 cup natural brown sugar
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 tart red apple, unpeeled, cored, and finely chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put oil, cane sugar, brown sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and whisk by hand for about 1 minute to incorporate air into the mixture. Set aside. Put flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking soda, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt into a second large bowl and stir well to combine. Add flour mixture, carrots, zucchini, walnuts, raisins, coconut, orange zest and apples to the reserved sugar mixture and stir well to form a batter. Scoop batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins and bake until cooked through, about 25 minutes.

 

Busy, Busy, Summer Days

I admit it – Summer is kicking my ass.  I haven’t posted in quite some time, but of course that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating.  My sister got me a great cookbook (I can’t remember the name right now) for my birthday, that had the best pancakes I have eaten since going Gluten-Free.  The icing on the cake?  They were easy to make, they didn’t require any time for the batter to settle, and since it’s summer they were absolutely delicious with blueberries in the batter!!

I’ve made Gluten-Free Egg Bread a few times, and am continually impressed by the moist tenderness of this bread.  Although it is a little dense and definitely eggie, it makes great sandwiches, not to mention fabulous French Toast.  I made a few tweaks to the recipe the last time I made it, which I think were improvements, but I’ll wait until I have adapted it exactly to my tastes and then I can share all the changes at once. 

As an individual of half-Asian descent, a lack of Oyster Sauce in my diet has made a lot of my favourite dishes impossible to re-create.  Of course I have wheat-free Tamari, but there are some recipes that just require some good old fashioned oyster sauce.  In truth, I swear I have read bottle after bottle of Oyster sauce in all the stores, every time hoping that maybe I had managed to miss the one Gluten-Free bottle in the mix all the previous times.  Of course, I continued to be dissapointed, time after time…until last week.  Upon the shelves of Wal-Mart (I’ve also found it at T&T Supermarket), I discovered Choy Sun Oyster Sauce by Lee Kum Kee, a little further investigation on the Lee Kum Kee Website and I also discovered that this particular Oyster Sauce is also MSG-Free!!

Of course I had my hesitations about a gluten-free oyster sauce, but I purchased it and promptly put it to the test.  Now there are many dishes I love, that require oyster sauce such as hot pot and steamed pork, but I wanted to test this oyster sauce, so I made some Gai Lan and spread some oyster sauce on top in the traditional fashion. OMG I thought I died and went to heaven.  Oyster Sauce is back and that means, Chinese Cooking is back.  I am currently thinking about wontons (which were fully not worth contemplation without oyster sauce) I think I’ll try sheets of rice noodles, cut into squares as won-ton wrappers.

To add to my smorgasbord of deliciousness, I went to a wedding for a close friend last weekend, and though I was ecstatic to see roast beef for dinner, I was instantly saddened to see the other meat dishes were a chicken with a wild mushroom sauce and a white fish and shrimp with a light herb and garlic sauce, both of which I assumed were thickened with flour.  Imagine my excitement when one of the cooks walked by and assured me that these dishes were thickened ONLY with cornstarch.  They were delicious and I felt so incredibly spoiled!  Unfortunately, this tidbit of information may have been untrue, or perhaps there was gluten in the salad dressing, flan, mousse or something else that I ate, but I was so disappointed the next day when I realized I had certainly eaten something contaminated.  But those are the chances we take sometimes, and in truth I take such chances so rarely, that this particular time, I would almost say it was worth it.

 

BBQ

After living in our home for over a year, we finally had a few friends over for a BBQ last night. We spent some time cleaning up, I worked in the garden, and of course I had some work to do in the kitchen.

We had BBQ Chicken Breasts (bone-in) and the BBQ rub from my last post won rave reviews. One friend even took home a copy of the recipe.

We also had homemade Maui-style ribs and although I vary the recipe a little bit each time I make it, this time was one of the best; delicious, juicy and of course Gluten-Free. Please note, I generally cook by feel (especially for marinades), so the quantites in this recipe are approximate at best, definitely take the time to adapt the recipe to your families taste buds!

The first thing to note is that I have stopped using my expensive gluten-free tamari for marinade, I am now using the super cheap, non-fermented soya sauce available at Safeway (look for the cheapest bottle at your local store, I was amazed to find that there was no wheat ingredients). I would never use it on its own as it is not all that tasty, but it works great in a marinade.

Secondly, I wanted to point out the addition of 7-up to the marinade. This is something I have long used for Chicken Wings, and although I have often thought of it, this is the first time I actually used it in a beef marinade. I am confident this really helped with keeping the meat sweet and juicy!!

Gluten-Free Maui Rib Marinade

ingredients (amounts are approximate):

• Beef Short Ribs, thin cut (maui-style)
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1.5 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp Braggs GF seasoning
• 2 Tbsp ketchup
• 1/4 cup Gluten-Free Soya Sauce
• 1/4 cup 7-up

Combine all ingredients (except ribs) and mix well. Place in an airtight container with the ribs for 4 hours to a few days. Cook them on the BBQ and enjoy!!

 

Smoked Paprika

In the midst of my food journey, a friend of mine mentioned the secret ingredient of her allergy-free life; smoked paprika. Her battle with foods has been ongoing since I met her and when she described this single spice as smoky and robust, rich and flavourful, a perfect compliment to simple cooking, I knew I had to find some.

I think she got hers at Stong’s, but I was happy to discover some, for only a few dollars, on a trip to my favourite store, Galloways. In truth, my Mom was never much for cooking, and although I’ve learned to bake from cookbooks and can muddle my way through nearly any recipe, the delicate art of spices is relatively new to me. That being said, I have made a number of dished using smoked paprika as the primary flavouring.

I made amazing chicken burgers; home-ground chicken breast, finely diced onions and smoked paprika. Cooked on the grill, these juicy burgers shrunk little, and had the authentic taste of smoke and grill. So easy and so delicious. I think these are all I ate for the first 3 meals of my camping vacation.

I’ ve been enjoying the flavours of rice pasta as of late; complimented on one occasion by a seafood white sauce, complete with shrimp, scallops and the delicious flavour of smoked paprika. More recently, I made a traditional meat pasta sauce, however the addition of smoked paprika to my browning ground meat, added a depth and dimension to the meal that was hard not to enjoy.

Finally, last night, I made a roast, using a recipe I found in a recent issue of Real Simple Magazine for a homemade BBQ Rub. I haven’t had much experience with rubs and this particular one was intended for BBQ-ing steaks, chicken or ribs – but it was incredibly easy and yielded a delicious roast. Unfortunately, despite my best searching efforts, I cannot seem to find the recipe and accompanying article online, but due to the simplicity and wonderful flavour I will post it here.

Barbeque Rub
(Taken from Real Simple Magazine, June 2008 )

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Paprika (I recommend a smoked paprika)
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp ground coffee
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 0.5 tsp pepper

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl – mix well.
• Drizzle up to 2 pounds of meat with 1 tbsp Olive oil.
• Sprinkle rub on meat and press it gently to the food.
• Flavours will intensify if you apply the rub to meat ahead of time.

*note: this made enough rub to cover two small roasts with extra to spare – I froze the second roast after applying the seasoning, and still had a small amount leftover to use on another occasion.

*note: include the ground coffee regardless whether you are a coffee-drinker. It enhances the flavour and provides depth. My husband doesn’t like coffee and he didn’t even notice it was there!