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Salad Nicose; Classic Summer Supper Salad

This dish is a family favorite in those summer months of ripe tomatoes and hot days that feel too warm for a big heavy meal. I know it has cooled down some but this salad is so delicious if you have fresh summer tomatoes which are easily available at farm stands or home gardens. This salad is composed of several vegetables cooked until just barely done, bathed in a simple EVOL vinaigrette and topped with oil packed tuna. Fresh, satisfying and very healthy in that trendy Mediterranean way I keep reading about. This salad is my daughter’s favorite from her teen years; she is 31; I have been making it for decades! My mother loved it too. My guy enjoys it as well. I don’t make it except in summer as the fresh produce is critical to the flavor especially the tomatoes.

First, you start with fresh ripe summer tomatoes, crisp bell peppers, tender zucchini and high-quality small potatoes, preferably red organic ones and the oil packed tuna of your choice. Do not make it with water canned pallid tuna, a total waste of time in my opinion. You can lay it on a bed of romaine leaves or leave off the lettuce, great either way. I use fancy olives sometimes, but inexpensive small canned pitted ones work really well. Please do make the homemade vinaigrette; it is very simple and very effective in creating the perfect flavor of the salad. If you hate one of the ingredients; leave it out. I do want to mention that many recipes use wedges of hard boiled eggs but my version doesn’t usually have that. Feel free to add them in!

Before I add the tuna….

Angie’s Salad Nicose

Ingredients

2 lbs of small red potatoes

2 medium peppers; one red, one green, cut into vertical strips and halved across the middle.

1 medium zucchini sliced in 1/2 inch half rounds

1/2-2/3 lb fresh green beans, tips removed, if long cut in half

2/3 of a 14 oz can of small pitted olives, drained

1 large ripe tomato cut into chunks

2 cans oil packed tuna fillet

Vinaigrette
I use one of those cool modern vinaigrette jars that has a wire metal ball in it to easily mix my dressing in; works really well!

Fill jar with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or to the water line [If using a Good Season’s jar – second line from bottom]

Fill rest of way to oil line with EVOL (I often do half EVOL and half mild olive oil) (about 2/3 cup)

Then add the following:

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp. French Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt; rounded

ground black pepper to taste – cap it and mix it up well

Salad directions

Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and boil on high until just tender. Whie, they cook chop the individual veggies. Steam each kind individually in a pot with 1/2-inch water until just tender (3-5 min) Taste one to be sure., do not overcook them! Carefully drain each cooked veggie and dump gently into a big bowl. On top of each other. Make the vinaigrette as you do the cooking so it can stand 5-10 minutes. When the potatoes are done drain them and set on your cutting board to cool; not touching each other. Peel them and slice thickly. If they are oval, I sometimes just cut into two thin halves, cutting along the long side. Put them in the bowl you will serve the salad in. When all hot potatoes are peeled pour 1/3 of the vinaigrette over them and carefully turn with a big spoon to coat well. They should still be quite warm when you do this step. The dressing soaks into the warm potatoes; doing it warm is very important to the flavor. Put the cooked and drained veggies in there on top. Add the tomato chunks, tuna and olives. add another third of dressing and gently turn the salad to mix well. Adjust the salt/pepper and dressing amount. Serve on a plate or shallow bowl on a bed of torn up crisp romaine leaves. Enjoy!

Peach Crisp with Oat Topping

I rarely make peach crisp and this small pan of crisp I whipped up by lunchtime today made me wonder why that is. It is so peachy flavored and the topping is perfectly crisp; I am just sad that peach season is about over, and I only made it this once. Sigh. Well, I plan to enjoy it even though it is not a huge pan; all the remaining peaches I had after a cobbler and peaches on my cereal every day for a week… Plus, I dislike soggy crisp, so it seemed perfectly sized to be all eaten before any sog sets in. I did poach the peaches 2 minutes in a hot water bath to make the skins slip off easily; I strongly suggest you do the same. Let them cool 5 minutes before you peel and slice them. So much easier than using a peeler and laboriously peeling with it. Plus, now they are nicely warmed from the poaching and ready to make into crisp. Don’t be tempted to use canned peaches; that would be a sad parody of peach crisp. Get fresh ones! There are still peaches at Bechdolt’s Orchard.

Notes: This recipe is a slightly different version of the fruit crisp in Annalise Robert’s Classic GF Baking Cookbook. I like less sugar and I like oats in mine plus I downsized it by approximately one quarter. It is easy to throw together in 15 or so minutes and bakes up golden and sweetly crisp. So peachy I wanted to devour the entire pan full! This hastily taken picture give you some idea of its looks; I was in a hurry to eat some before heading out to an appointment, so my photog skills were somewhat impaired.

Angie’s Small GF Peach Crisp

Fruit filling Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of skinned, pitted and sliced fresh peaches

1/4 cup of sugar

A heaping 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon

3 Tbsp. tapioca flour

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees, put shelf in middle position for baking; I used a 6-cup size glass rectangular baking dish. Next, put sliced peaches in a large mixing bowl, blend the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over the fruit, mix with a spoon and pour into the baking dish that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Make the topping next.

Topping:

3/4 cup gf flour (I like King Arthur’s basic GF blend)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 scant tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 heaping tsp. of xanthan gum

3.5 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 cup old fashioned oats, gf

Directions:

Mix together dry ingredients except oats and pour melted butter over the mixture. Stir briefly and then add the oats and stir until blended and sort of clumping. Spoon over the peaches. Bake 30-35 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving it in dessert dishes. I like it plain but some people I know love all things peach with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Apple Bread Pudding

This is a great take on bread pudding, adding fruit for flavor and added nutritional value. Apples are good for you and knowing they are in the pudding makes me able to rationalize this rich and delicious dessert concoction. I found this recipe online; it had a caramel sauce but honestly it seems sweet enough without that addition. I make a version that is more or less halved the original one. It’s in my fridge calling to me!

I used some Wide pan whole grain Aldi’s gluten free bread that was getting dry; perfect usage for it. I used more apple than the original as I love apple flavor. When in doubt I increase fruits/veggies in most dishes.

This can be gluten free as it was for me or use any bread you want. Enjoy!

Angie’s Apple Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup 2 percent milk

2 small apples, peeled and cored and sliced on the thin side

2 Tbsp. melted butter, melted in a glass ramekin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided

3-4 cups of cubed bread; I used 4 slices plus the end crust

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan or a 9×4 baking pan; I used cooking spray.

Cut the bread into the cubes and get the apples ready. I like thin slices as they go further and cook easily. Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl; whisk briefly to blend, add milk and cream and whisk good. Measure the sugar and set 1/2 Tsp sugar aside; add that to the 2 Tbsp. melted butter and add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon; blend and set aside. Pour the rest of the cinnamon, sugar and the vanilla into the milk and egg mixture and whisk until well blended. Put the bread cubes in the liquid and press into it to absorb the wet into the dry cubes using a large wooden spoon. Then pour half of it into the buttered pan and put apple slices all over the bottom; half of what you cut up. top with the rest of the bread/egg mixture and then with the rest of the apples. Pour the melted butter/cinnamon mixture over the top to cover the apples and bread mixture evenly. Bake about 40 minutes; should still be slightly jiggly when you take it out. Let the pan cool at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

Cowboy Cookie: Crazy Yummy!

My freezer is empty of cookies.  This is Not good.  Cookie baking was a priority for this week.  I saw this recipe 9 years ago on the net. A year or two later I finally had time to throw it together.  These cookies are created just like that; dump and blend and then there is a bit of stickiness in the shaping of them but no matter, just wash those sticky fingers and hands before you put on the oven gloves!

Notes: I like to use all dark brown sugar, I added walnuts, less vanilla and one batch I didn’t have quite enough Better Batter flour mix so I used a brown rice flour mix for the last ½ cup.   I sometimes don’t bother to beat the eggs; added them one at a time though. I got the coconut chips at Freys Better Foods here in Hellertown. I just made them today using Cup 4 cup blend, another good option for flour blend.

coconut chips

Cowboy cookies have been around a long time.  Popular with cowboys I assume! I have provided the recipe revised by it was published by Nicole Hunn in her fabulous blog, a great resource for gf baked goods.

They are sturdy and yummy.  The flavor is a mixture of semi-sweet chocolate chips, cinnamon, brown sugar and oats with a healthy dose of butter.  Totally. nummy. good.

cowboy cookie

I never heard of them before my first batch although apparently, they have been around for decades. I read today that Laura Bush baked a version of them in her smack down with another First Lady wanna be. They are hearty and really big so I am guessing they might well be from Texas!

cowboy cookies

My first batch made 24 cookies, the recipe said 20….  One other time 30 cookies. So, mine were a tad smaller than suggested but still really large.  I ended up baking mine for 14 minutes, so I suggest you do likewise.  If you bake them one sheet at a time they should be done in 12 minutes, but I would rather bake 2 sheets simultaneously.  Some of the sets of six cookies were done on the parchment paper and one sheet was just on a cooking sprayed nonstick cookie sheet.  Both ways worked fine.  They spread some but not a lot so leave some space between them.

I plan to freeze most of them, so they last a bit.  I am guessing success will be my ability to pull one of these big boys out of the freezer and snack down after work next week!

Cowboy Cookies, GF

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (Better Batter works great)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it) *BB does!

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups coconut chips

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 eggs at room temperature, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.

In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and whisk to combine well.

Place about 1 teaspoon of the dry ingredients in a separate, small bowl and add the chocolate chips to the bowl. Toss to coat the chips, and set the bowl aside.

To the large bowl, add the granulated sugar and the brown sugar and whisk to combine, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. Add the oats and coconut chips and mix to combine. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, eggs and vanilla, mixing to combine. Add the chips and reserved dry ingredients, and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout. If necessary to bring the dough together, knead it with your hands. Divide the dough into 20 pieces, each about 2 ounces. Roll each into a ball and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten each ball into disk about 1/4-inch thick with your palm or a big spatula.

Place the baking sheets in the center of the preheated oven, two at a time, and bake until lightly golden brown all over (about 14 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy these fat and tasty big cookies; no one will ever guess they are gluten free!

Postscript: these freaking cookies are addictive! They are subtly flavored by the combination of the above-named ingredients.  My guy and my grandson Aiden loves them too.   Trust me, they are the bomb!

Note to self; follow recipe exactly and they are even better….  I make sure to beat the eggs first before pouring them on top of the softened butter and the vanilla.  I also remembered to add the chips last and watch them closely in the oven.  This batch is so yummy I had to put most of them in the freezer to keep myself from eating more cookies.  Perfect warm out of the oven.  OMG: I am in love with these cookies!

Limoncello Tiramisu Teacups

I wanted a special dessert using some leftover ladyfingers. I only had 4 but honestly, I wanted to try making lemoncello tiramisu and a whole big dish of said tiramisu would destroy what is left of my waistline! I cannot resist tiramisu so making a small test version for a lunch dessert for someone’s birthday treat seemed like a good idea. This will make 3 full-sized desserts. I put mine in antique teacups, so fun and gives me a good shape to create it within. Use whatever cup you have; in 4–7-ounce size.
I used homemade Limoncello using Meyer lemons my brother sent me from Texas. I altered the recipe I liked to make less of it and because it doesn’t have whipped cream and I wanted some of that in there.
Be sure to chill it about 3 hours, bare minimum of 2.

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