Gluten Free Funnel Cake

Those of you out there with GF kids, or who ARE big kids yourself (like me), might want to try out this recipe.
Before going gluten free, I loved getting the occasional funnel cake at a baseball game. Although it isn't the healthiest, all things in moderation, right?
If you're in the mood for this tasty treat, or you're having a circus or carnival themed party, give this a try.
INGREDIENTS:
• Prepared GF pancake mix
• Vegetable oil
• Powered sugar
1. Prepare mix according to packaging, adding about one extra tablespoon of water.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan, about 1/4 inch deep.
3. Pour batter into oil, either in a round, pancake shape or drizzled in a more funnel cake pattern.
4. Fry until bubbles form on the uncooked top, then flip and cook for a few seconds more.
5. Place on plate and sift or sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
6. Dig in!
The key to this recipe is using enough oil. If you use too little, the batter will cook rather than fry, and you'll end up with pancakes. The oil also helps the powdered sugar stick.

Twi-what?

For those of you who didn't know this, I'm a crazy Twihard. Yep, I like sparkly vampires, angsty teen werewolves and the teenage girl with no apparent sense of self preservation. I've read all the book multiple time and seen each of the movies on opening weekend.
This past November, however, I stepped up my game when I went to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn Part 1 with a large group of other crazy Twilight fans like myself. Before going to the show, we met at someone's house and had a party, which mostly consisted of eating and making ridiculous comments while "watching" Twilight. We actually saw both Eclipse and Breaking Dawn Part 1 in the theatre that night as part of a special double feature which let us avoid most of the annoying teen girls who often interrupt the viewing with their giggles and shrieks. I'm getting ahead of myself though, I was talking about eating.

Since it was my first time hanging out with these ladies (I met them through coworker), I wanted to make sure I brought my a game in terms of the food I brought. With that in mind, I made wedding cupcakes, since in Breaking Dawn Edward and Bella get married. I set them out on a cupcake stand for beautiful presentation's sake

The ladies smiled and thought they were so cute, and I was mildly pleased. The best reactions, however, came when I turned the cupcake stand around to reveal the true genius of these cupcakes. They were not only themed around the BD wedding, but also simply Twilight themed, which means, they were..

When the moon hits your eye...

I like trying out different mixes and whatnot for gluten free baked goods, so a while back I bought some Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Dough mix. I made up the dough, separated it into individual sized pizza balls and froze them for late use. This recipe came from one of those dough balls. Keep in mind that like most of my recipes, the amount of most of the ingredients is up to your tastebuds and preference

Ingredients:

• 1 pizza crust (baked or unbaked)
• 1/4 - 1/2c pizza sauce
• 1-2c shredded mozzarella cheese
• Hormel Turkey pepperoni (15-20 slices)
• 1T olive oil
• 1-2T parmesean cheese

If you're using an unbaked crust, follow that crust's baking instructions to firm it up some before adding toppings or you will end up with mushy pizza. Once it is par-baked, brush it with olive oil to add flavor and help it crisp. 

Spoon sauce onto the crust. Sprinkle the sauce with parmesean cheese to help the mozzarella stick once it melts (I learned that on a field trip to a pizzeria in 1st grade!)  

Add half your mozzarella. While you can always use shredded mozzarella from a bag for the sake of time and convenience (and I have on many occasions), nothing beats the fresh, moist flavor of cheese you shredded only minutes before baking. 

Add your pepperoni

Add the rest of your mozzarella

Bake according to crust instructions until the cheese is golden

 

Sad but true, oh, and summer, hurry up...

My food life has been terribly boring and sad lately. My family moved in October, and we're still not totally finished with the old house, so everything has been very busy and up in the air. I feel like I'm not getting much in the way of real nutrition, which is not good since I'm seeing a nutritionist and have to turn in food logs!

One good thing is that with spring here we're **GARDEN PLANNING**, so the summer should be "ripe" with possibilities :)

Part of our garden plans include making this one a raised bed garden. We're using a pair of kits from a hardware store to create it, and it is supposed to be good for your crops in that it allows the roots to grow deeper in good soil as well as allowing proper water drainage. So far the definite plans are zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, but there is always room for more tasty additions. Our new house had a potted herb garden already going, but I'm not sure what all will come back. So far, the chives are doing well (I used them in a chicken breast dish last week) and I can see rosemary remains, so perhaps that will return. I transplanted my large sage bush from the other house, and it seems I got in the ground in time, as it is thriving in its new home. I've got a few food-ventures to share with you, I've still been taking foodographs of the few yummy things I've made. Coming up, a budget friendly Sbux alternative, taco salad, french toast muffins and vampire cupcakes... Stay tuned!

These Burgers Ooze Deliciousness... Literally!

     Mom and Dad were having a dish I couldn't eat tonight, with pasta and ground chicken, so I used similar ingredients to make my own dinner.
   
     I settled on a Mozzarella filled Italian Chicken Burger with GF macaroni and cheese. A bit of a twist on a simple feel good meal.

     The cheese inside the burger kept the meat moist all the way through, giving it more of a meatball texture. The  firm but tender texture combined with the Italian herbs and the gooey cheese melting from the center came together beautifully. I added some marinara, but if I was serving it to other others I think I would use a few slices of Roma tomato. (I'm not really a fan of raw tomatoes). I recently saw a GF focaccia bread recipe, and I'm thinking this burger would be awesome nestled into a freshly bakes focaccia roll.

     For those of you interested, the mac 'n' cheese is Annie's Homegrown GF Rice Pasta & Cheddar.

Besides my area health food stores, the local Super Target sells these at a reasonable price. I've tried other GF Mac 'n' cheese options, but this one is the best in terms of texture and flavor.

Chickpeas in cake?

Photo from recipe site, not my results

Chickpea Chocolate Cake
(Recipe courtesy of Northern Pulse Growers Association)

• 1-1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (minor substitutions here can make this CF as well as GF)
• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas aka garbanzo beans (or equal amount rehydrated dried chickpeas)
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 c white sugar
• 1/2 t baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9 inch round cake pan 
2. Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, stirring occasionally until chocolate is smooth
3. Combine chickpeas and eggs in food processor or blender and process until smooth; add sugar and baking powder, blend
4. Pour in melted chocolate and blend until smooth
5. Transfer to prepared cake pan and bake for 40 min or until tooth pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean
6. Cool on wire rack

Makes 9 servings

I know it sounds weird to put beans in a cake, but it's much healthier than packing it with oil, and it removes the flour, making the recipe instantly gluten free. The same little bean that makes the main component of one of my favorite snacks, hummus, makes for a new and different cake. Grandma saw this recipe on The Saturday Evening Post's website and passed it on to me. I had enough chickpeas, so I decided to double the recipe, which gave me a LOT of batter.

To use all the batter, I tried it out in a mini-muffin pan, regular muffin pan, and springform pan. Unfortunately, I didn't spray the pans, so the muffins wouldn't come out neatly, but that's where new ideas come from. I decided it would be great as a "worms and dirt" dessert since it crumbled, or make a great brownie blend in ice cream. The tops of the regular sized muffins came off neatly, so I filled them with marshmallow creme to make whoopie pies.

The spring form cake, made from the remaining batter, is only about 1/8-1/4 in thick, perfect for a crust. I frosted it with a buttercream with just a hint of cream cheese, add sliced strawberries and drizzled of caramel and chocolate syrup to make a brownie pizza. I left 1/4 of it strawberry free for a picky eater in the family, but in my opinion, the strawberries made it SO much better.

Party in your mouth

The other day while grocery shopping, I saw lemons on sale 3/$1. I figured I could always find something to use them with so I bought some. I picked three bright yellow, very fragrant lemons and set them on the counter for future use.  Yesterday I decided to use them with chicken, so I hunted up a recipe online. I found the 15 Minute Garlic Lemon Chicken from Food.com, which called for cooking the chicken then making a roux-like¹ sauce by adding to the pan with which you cooked. I've linked the original recipe for your convenience (and to give credit to the original poster), but it is also below so you don't have to go hunting around for it.

       15 Minute Lemon Garlic Chicken                 
       Prep Time: 3 mins            Total Time: 15 mins

       Ingredients:

Servings: 4

·        4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

·        4 teaspoons flour

·        salt and pepper

·        2 teaspoons oil

·        1/2 cup chicken broth

·        1 teaspoon minced garlic

·        2 teaspoons lemon juice

·        1 teaspoon butter

       Directions:

1. Flatten chicken slightly.
2. Dust with flour and season to taste.
3. Fry in hot oil 5 minutes each side and remove from pan.
4. To pan add broth, garlic, lemon juice and butter. Cook 2 minutes.
5. Pour over chicken.

I doubled the sauce recipe so I would have enough to add on top of the polenta I served with this chicken. It was my first attempt at polenta, and it wasn't quite what I expected, but I did enjoy it with the garlic lemon sauce. If you haven't had polenta before, it is basically a clean slate, flavor-wise, to which you can add a multitude of tastes and textures. I made it with the very basic recipe which just calls for boiling the precooked corn meal until it absorbs the liquid and then baking it for a bit to form a crust. When I have the time, I'll experiment with variations and share them with you.

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¹A true roux is the base of many sauces and gravies. It is usually made with equal parts flour and fat (butter, oil, lard) which is cooked.