gluten free

Turkey Avocado Salad: Terrific

The turkey is coming, juicy and succulent.  And it is logically followed by a mountain of leftover meat.  Once you have enjoyed a hot gravy covered sandwich the big question is what to make out of the rest of the bird.  The other day I made oven roasted chicken pieces and found myself with one last leftover piece.  I decided to make a salad out of it.  What I created was so tasty I instantly knew what I was going to make using some of my turkey, a fruity crunchy salad that is a meal in a bowl.  It is a riff on that classic chicken salad with grapes which was popular for many years; I updated it with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and slices of creamy avocado. Both add color and great flavor.

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If you don’t like avocado; just leave it out although I think you should try it at least once: avocado is really good for you and you may suddenly decide you like its smooth contrast to the rest of the salad. I much prefer the Hass avocado; smaller with pebbly skin.  Pick one with a slight give, not hard as a rock nor mushy or about to cave in.

hass avocado

The pomegranate seeds are mostly there for the color burst they give and there is some crunch and flavor I enjoy too.  To get at the seeds I usually cut carefully into the skin and peel it back in two places to make a wedge of exposed interior.   Then i break it open and pick out the seeds.  I only pick out what I am going to use and put the rest of the pomegranate in a plastic bag and store it in the fridge.  There are U-tube videos on how to easily get at the seeds if you want to check them out; might be easier. When choosing a pomegranate pick one that feels heavy for its size, the skin should not be dull or damaged, no soft spots and the color is a vibrant red.  Fall is the season for pomegranates; don’t look for them in June.  I have and they are very hard to find after winter ends.

pomegranate

But do leave in the grapes and nuts and the celery.  They are essential to the flavor and crunch of it. I used Light Hellman’s mayo, less calories and I like its texture and flavor.

This is a sort of approximate recipe; everyone has their own idea on how much mayo, how many grapes, and how much mustard. I am giving a middle ground amount in a recipe for one dinner sized salad.  Adjust to your tastes and feel free to double it or triple.

Roasted Chicken/Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

Roasted turkey/chicken; whatever part you like

Dijon mustard

Light mayonnaise

Red wine vinegar

Celery

Pomegranate seeds

Lettuce

Avocado

Directions: Cut up roasted turkey or chicken to make ½ to 2/3 cup of small pieces, half inch to inch sized.  Put them in a mixing bowl.  Add ½ a tsp of Dijon or whole grain mustard, 2-3 tbsp. good quality mayonnaise, ½ to 1 tsp red wine vinegar, one stalk celery cut into small slices, a dozen grapes cut in half, a ¼ cup of pomegranate seeds, 2 tsp. of walnut chunks.  Stir it to blend and meld it.  Tear up 3-5 leaves of romaine or loose leaf lettuce and lay in your shallow big salad bowl.  Top with the chicken/turkey salad and then a few thin slices of avocado and the sprinkle of ruby pomegranate seeds.

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I used some red leaf romaine I got at Valley Farm Markets, great crunch and color. Use whatever kind of lettuce you like although iceberg would be my dead last choice; less flavor and nutrition in iceberg.

This makes a great lunch full of protein and healthy veggies. It is simple to make, elegant looking and very yummy.  Now you have one more turkey option for all those leftovers next week!  Actually this salad is great anytime, not just after the Thanksgiving feast.  Enjoy.

Yam It Up…Fries That Is!

Yams are underrated: some families only eat them one day a year with their turkey later this month.  Yet they are full of phyto-nutrients, vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy. Naturally sweet so there is no need to pour dozens of marshmallows and brown sugar over them.  And they are not just for Thanksgiving.

yams

I like to make baked yam wedge fries.  Spicy ones are my favorite.  They go great with oven fried chicken or homemade gf chicken nuggets.  Yam wedges are totally yummy plus easy to throw together.  Great vegetables don’t have to be full of calories, super fancy or difficult to make.  Carefully prepared fresh vegetables are a great side to any balanced meal.  And yams are naturally gluten free; hurrah!

Don’t pick gigantic yams, small to medium size are easier to cut into decent lengths for these fries.  I like the ones that are deep orange inside; great flavor every time I use them.

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Yam Fries

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

3-4 yams, wash, dry and then cut up into long fairly narrow wedges; 6 to 10 per yam depending on size and place them on a cookie sheet with edges, mound them up in the center

1-2 tbsp. EVOL: Pour on top the pile.

Sprinkle with

1 tsp. paprika

¼ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

A sprinkle of hot chipotle chili powder

A few grinds of fresh black pepper.

Use two forks to stir around the wedges so they get coated with oil and spices. Spread them out over the baking sheet.  If you don’t want them too spicy leave out the chili powder.  Use whatever spices you like if my combination doesn’t thrill your taste buds.

Bake for 10 minutes, turnover with a pancake turner.  Cook 7 to 10 more minutes until a fork pierces a wedge easily. The thicker you make them the longer they will take to get tender.  Watch them closely for the last couple of minutes so they don’t burn.  I find that they cook faster in my pizza oven; my main oven is a tad slower so they need from 10 to 14 minutes after you turn them but that does depend on the thickness you cut them to.

It’s that simple people! My family loves them and so will yours.  Just add more yams and spices to make a bigger batch of fries.

Awesome Instant Oatmeal….GF of Course

Chilly nights are here….snow may be on the way. Yes, that sounds awful but it is the sad truth about fall…it means wintery cold is not far off. The freezing weather we are about to be hit with got me thinking about making more warm breakfasts. Last week I bought a bag of quick GF oatmeal at the health food store.  It was pretty tasty and only took a few minutes to cook up. It got me thinking that maybe I could make my own version which could be cheaper and easily varied from batch to batch.  I looked around on some sites and cookbooks. I found a recipe by the queen of entertaining, she who spent a few weeks in the big house.  No names here! All I had to do was use gluten free oats which are available at Frey’s Better Foods, at Giant and at Wegman’s grocery store.   I added a bit more cinnamon to my version.

rolled oats

There was a bit of prep work; the oats need to be toasted for 15 minutes which gives them a lot more flavor than the ancient grains version I had purchased.  A sheet pan is perfect for this toasting.  Just keep an eye on it for the last few minutes to make sure nothing gets too brown.

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I put some dried cranberries and golden raisins in my version.  Other options could be chopped dried fruits like apricots or apples, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, or any sort of nut you like. I think a combo of two items is really a great idea.  Like some fruit and some nuts.  I also topped mine, once it was cooked, with some hemp seeds which are nutty and kinda like sesame seeds.

The oats were coarsely ground in my small food processor in two batches. If you use a big one you could probably do it in one batch.

2014 november oatmeal 010 I poured the chopped oats into a storage jar with a tight lid and added the sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Then I poured in the toppings.  Easy and it only takes a few minutes to make it in the morning.

Instant GF Cinnamon Oatmeal

INGREDIENTS

2 cups old-fashioned gluten free rolled oats

2 tbsp.  light brown sugar

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread oats on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until lightly toasted but not browned, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Pulse oats in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Mix sugar, salt, and cinnamon, or more to your taste into the oats as well as half to 2/3 cup of a combination of add-ins (see suggestions below), before storing in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  Or freeze it to keep even longer.

Additions: dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, walnut chunks, pecan bits, raisins, dried apricots cut into small bits, cut up medool dates, currants, dried blueberries or cherries, flax seeds, hemp seed hearts: any small seed or dried fruit would be awesome!

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To make: heat 2/3 cup of water, lightly salted, to the boil.  Stir in a heaping 1/3 cup of the oatmeal mixture. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring a couple times. Cover and let stand 2-3 more minutes before scooping the hot cereal into a bowl.  It is already sweet enough for my taste but you can add more brown sugar or some honey to the dish. A fresh topping would be a great addition of nutrients and even more flavor.  Sliced banana, some blueberries or sliced ripe pear and you are about to enjoy a fairly inexpensive yet healthy gluten free hot breakfast that only took 2 minutes to cook.

Note: I like this better than the GF Ancient Grains version; tastes fresher and toastier and has a great oaty flavor.  About to make a new batch; I have been enjoying it a lot on cold mornings.  I love how fast I can make it; my regular oatmeal takes 8 minutes plus the time to get the pot of water to a boil.  Two minutes is an oatmeal revolution!

Sunday Supper: Chicken Fricassee with Herb Dumplings

Chicken fricassee is a long time family favorite. No one ever passes up seconds of it and my mom is particularly fond of the dumplings that are steamed on top of the chicken. I had no clue how to make it gluten free and hence didn’t serve this at any family Sunday night suppers for the past 21 months.  I couldn’t find any savory dumpling recipes that were safe for me as a celiac. Finally, my longing for those homey flavors overcame my fear of extreme experimentation and this recipe was born the other weekend and much enjoyed by all.  The dumplings are not quite as tender as the original ones but are a more than reasonable facsimile!

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Yes, we ate this yummy meal on paper plates…less clean up.

It is a combination of two recipes with a number of additions modifications by me; the dumplings are somewhat based on a recipe from Bette Hagman’s book, More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet and the chicken fricassee recipe is mostly Betty Crocker.

Yes, there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, don’t let that keep you from trying it; there is a lot of dumping together and slow simmering, no fancy cooking tricks or mad kitchen skills are required.

If you don’t want so much flavor in your dumplings cut back on the spices/herbs.  They do need some herbs so don’t go less than half the listed amounts.  If you don’t like all three of those veggies leave out as you wish but each adds seriously great flavor and helps to make this a satisfying one dish meal.

Be sure to check the chicken after 30 minutes and add some water if it is low; mine came perilously close to burning the last time I made it.  The chicken coating helps to form savory gravy with that water. No gravy is not good either so add water so you end up with at least a cup of gravy.

Chicken

4-5 pounds cut up mixed chicken parts, bone in.

I cut the breasts in half for manageable serving sizes. You could buy a couple packages of chicken parts – what your family likes.  I had trouble finding the cut up whole chicken that used to be common at meat counters.  I bought a whole chicken and spent a grisly 15 minutes hacking up the beast into serving pieces.  Not fun, next time I will get a whole breast and cut it up and use a package of chicken thighs/legs.  If you only use breasts cut the cooking time to 30 minutes.

Coating mix:

2 tsp. paprika

½ cup white rice flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

2 tbsp. millet flour

1 tsp sea salt

¼ tsp. pepper

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2 tbsp. canola oil or mild olive oil

4-5 carrots

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2-3 celery stalks

1 large onion

1 large sprig fresh thyme or ½ tsp. dried thyme

1 large sprig fresh rosemary or ½ tsp. dried rosemary.

1 cup water, maybe more

Dumplings

Dry part:

2 ¼ cups white rice flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

1 tsp. baking soda

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. poppy seeds

½ tsp. celery seeds

1-2 tsp. dried or fresh chopped chives

2 tsp. dried parsley

Wet stuff:

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3 tbsp melted butter or canola oil

1/3 cup milk/buttermilk

Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients in a shallow bowl. I take off the chicken skin; up to your preference.  Roll the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour.  Heat the oil in a thick bottomed large dutch oven.  Brown the chicken pieces on all sides; this could take from 8 to 12 minutes.  Cut the carrots into 1 inch lengths, same for the celery.  Chop the onion.  Remove the browned chicken to a large plate, add the veggies and stir for a minute or two.  Add back the chicken on top. Top with herbs.  Pour in cup of water. Cover, cook on low for 45 minutes.  Check after 30 minutes and add another ½ cup water if needed; you want there to be liquid on the bottom or the veggies could burn.

Make the dumplings.  Mix the wet ingredients and then add to the dry mix in a big bowl.   Stir briefly. It will be very wet looking.  2024-11-05 apple muffins 001

Use a large serving spoon to put large glops of dumpling around the chicken pieces.  Cover and cook 25 minutes or until dumplings appear firm (no longer gloppy).  The chicken and the veggies should be done by that time. Enjoy!

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This is the leftovers in the pot. Lunch tomorrow!

You could add a salad as a side dish for more veggies. We had a cucumber salad to round out our meal.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins…Oh so Cinnamony!

I had no portable baked snacks and a bowl of apples so I figured it was time for apple muffins. This is another great recipe out of Annalise Robert’s cookbook; Gluten-Free Baking Classics.  It is very similar to her banana nut muffins. If I had to have just one GF cookbook hers would be the one for me.

gluten free    I use so many of her recipes and her quick breads are outstanding! The apple cinnamon muffins did not disappoint: light, crunchy outside with a great cinnamon apple flavor.  I put some golden raisins in my muffins but if you are not a fan; leave them out.  They are my addition to this easy to make recipe.  I also used half mexican cinnamon; a touch spicier than  regular cinnamon but very good in these muffins.  I ran out of cinnamon and was happy to have a close alternative to flavor these treats.

Do use a baking apple; not red delicious which are solely an eating apple and don’t use a extra firm one like the tasty Granny Smith; they won’t get soft enough during the rapid baking of these tasty little treats.  I got a half peck of mixed baking apples from Bechdolt’s Orchard a week ago and have used them in several recipes– not an apple yet that wasn’t fantastic in flavor and texture.

apples

I enjoyed eating a muffin still warm out of the oven. It is smart to freeze any you won’t eat in 2 days; ziplock freezer bag works great.  They make super snacks.  These apple muffins are kinda delicate; if you want to take them on a hike or car ride put them in a plastic food box – the rigid sides will keep your muffins safe from crushing.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins              2024-11-05 apple muffins 009

2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)

2/3 c granulated sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 c chopped apple; peel and core the apple!

½ c chopped walnuts

¼ cup golden raisins (optional)

2 large eggs beaten

½ c milk, 1 or 2 percent

½ c canola oil

Heat oven to 375, placing the rack in middle of oven.  Spray muffin pans with cooking spray.  One batch makes 12-16 muffins.

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer or big bowl

Add apple, raisins and walnuts; stir to coat them with dry mix

Combine milk and oil, remove 1 tbsp of combined liquid and ditch it.  Beat in eggs.  Add liquids to big bowl; stir until blended.

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Fill muffin pans 2/3 full.  I use a big serving spoon and fill it about half way to dump in each muffin space. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar.

2024-11-05 apple muffins 006      Bake 20-24 min until golden brown. Do not over bake or they will taste dry.  Remove immediately from the pans and cool on a rack.   2024-11-05 apple muffins 008

Freezes well for up to 3 weeks.  Keeps in fridge (well wrapped) a few days.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour