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Showing posts from 2009

Gluten-free Canned Soup

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Continuing on with my quick and cheap gluten-free dinner ideas , I want to mention that Progresso is now labeling some of their soups gluten-free!   According to their website , Progresso has also decided to remove MSG from all their soups.  This is good news!  The MSG was keeping me from buying their soups more often.  Thanks, Progresso!

Another Quick, Cheap Gluten-free Dinner Idea (Low Carb)

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This is one of the fastest and easiest meals I make.  It generally takes about 10-15 minutes, from the time I turn on the stove to sitting down to eat.   There's only one pan afterwards.  This recipe is low-carb, but very filling.  There are only four ingredients: Pork lettuce olive oil salt 1. Turn the stove to medium and heat a cast-iron pan. 2. When the pan is nice and hot, place your cut of pork in the pan.  Let it cook for 2 minutes for a one-inch-thick piece, 30 seconds for a thin piece. 3. Turn the pork over.  Let it cook for thirty seconds to one minute, then turn off the burner and cover the meat with a large lid. 4.  When the piece is just cooked through, salt it on both sides. 5.  Place the meat on a bed of lettuce dressed with olive oil and salt. Or, for another version, prepare this dish with roasted vegetables in the oven as I described in Quick and Easy Gluten-free Soy-free Dairy-free Dinner Idea: Roasted Vegetables. Check out my previous post for mor

Quick and Cheap Gluten-free Meals

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The biggest drawback to the gluten-free diet is the expense.  Wheat is the cheapest food that you can buy, and having it off your list guarantees a higher ticket at the grocery store.  Here's a quick list of the easiest and least expensive gluten-free meals out there.  Some of them are even naturally gluten-free, and they are all delicious! Pasta Carbonara Roasted Chicken and Vegetables with Rice Oxtail Soup   Rice Pasta with Marinara Sauce Roasted Vegetables with Bacon If you have a favorite cheap and easy gluten-free meal, leave a link or a recipe in your comments!

Gluten-free Cornbread Recipe

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Making cornbread gluten-free is easy. Unlike other breads, cornbread does not rely on wheat for any of the properties that make it what it is. The taste and texture depend mostly on the corn. I have had corn bread with lots of different types of flour, and they all turned out well. I use a gluten-free pastry flour mix for a more tender and moist crumb, but feel free to use rice flour, brown rice flour, or your favorite flour mix. Southern corn bread calls for just corn meal, and is more savory than sweet. This is a northern cornbread recipe, which calls for all-purpose flour in the mix and has a more cake-like consistency. Use some corn flour in addition to the corn meal if you want to make the texture even more tender. Gluten-free Cornbread Recipe Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9x9x2-inch pan. Mix together in a large bowl: 1 cup stone ground corn meal 1/4 cup corn flour 3/4 cup  Deluxe Pastry Flour 4 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 t

Gluten-free Buckwheat Pancakes

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When I created my Gluten-free Quinoa Pancake Recipe , I promised to give you a variation on it soon. That was six months ago. Since then I have been diligently trying to come up with a new twist on the recipe. Well, here is my variation: Substitute 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour for the 1/2 cup of quinoa flour. Why did that take me six months to figure out, when I was pretty sure that it would work from the beginning? Buckwheat is a fairly complicated foodstuff. It can be processed and milled in a variety of ways before it hits the shelf. I was trying to manipulate this recipe using a buckwheat flour that I wasn't familiar with, and which had a completely different consistency and grind than what I was used to. The flour kept absorbing too much of the liquid, producing a gummy, thick batter that was nearly impossible to cook. I ended up switching to Bob's Red Mill Organic Buckwheat Flour , even though it is not one of their specially processed "certified gluten

Oxtail Soup Recipe

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The trick to cooking a good oxtail soup is to cook it long and slow. Braising the meat in this manner makes it very tender, and the bones make for a great broth in this hearty soup. This is the perfect food for the season. Oxtail Soup In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat: 2 Tbsp Olive oil Saute: 3 cloves garlic, whole 1/2 carrot 1 bunch green onions, chopped (reserve some for garnish) Brown in the pot on all sides: 2.75 lbs oxtail Deglaze the pan with: 1 1/2 cup white wine Add: 12 Cups warm water 5 large leaves of kale 1 tsp whole peppercorns 2 sticks celery, chopped a rind of Parmesan (optional) 5 leaves fresh sage 3 tsp salt Cook on a low simmer for several hours, skimming off any impurities on the surface, and stirring occasionally until the meat is very tender. When the soup is nearly done, remove the oxtails and strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve or some cheesecloth. Put the liquid and the oxtails back in the pot and heat to a simmer. Add: 1 bunch kale 3

Pancetta Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Due to popular demand, I am now revealing my new Pancetta Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Actually, I only had one vote on the matter in my last post , and it was from a fellow cookie-lover, Jenn from Cinnamon Quill. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, or if you just love chocolate, please go straight to her vegan World Peace Cookie Recipe which looks amazing. If you're really into pancetta , stick around for this post or see my recipe for Pasta Carbonara or Pancetta-wrapped Scallops . As you can probably guess, I'm on a bit of a pancetta kick. While the rest of Portland is devouring bacon by the pound, I'm getting into the more subtle flavor that pancetta lends to a recipe. For something more intense, check out Pete's Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies . He candies the bacon before using. I went a different route with this recipe. I left the pancetta uncooked. Half of it I whipped into the butter to infuse the pancetta flavor throughout the batter. The other half o

Shameless Self-Promotion

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Today I bring you news that has nothing to do with gluten-free cooking. Today I am simply using my blog here at Gluten-free Gourmand as a platform to promote my brand-new blog, Still Life With Bicycle . Here you will find all sorts of interesting fine art and travel photographs taken by yours truly. If you think the photos on this blog are amazing, or especially if you think they are terrible, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the fine art photography I do while I'm not cooking! Stay tuned for my next Gluten-free Gourmand post, which may feature one of the following things: Pancetta chocolate chip cookies , Pork roast stuffed with Porcini mushrooms, Oxtail soup , Buckwheat Pancakes , or Trout stuffed with leeks

Gluten-free Disasters

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I'm writing today to confess that gluten-free cooking is not always easy. In fact, regular cooking is not always easy. Sometimes, mistakes are made. Take, for example, the recipe variation for the quinoa pancakes that I promised you five months ago. So far, my revisions look much like my first attempts - that is, disastrous: There have been some really humorous moments, such as when I discovered that a food processor should never be filled this full of liquid: Seconds after taking this photo, tomato was sprayed over three walls. I was too embarrassed to take photos of the damage, but I assure you it was extensive. The batch of my tomato sauce turned out anyway, although I might have had more if I didn't spill so much. There were also little things, like when I tried to duplicate my Gluten-free Tempura Recipe with a slight modification, but put the tempura bowl on the hot burner, thereby cooking the batter before the vegetables were dipped in it. I had to make a ne

Recipe for My Grandmother's Marinara Sauce

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To my faithful readers who have been patient with me, I'll finally explain why I took a long break from blogging. My grandfather recently died and my life has been in a bit of a frenzy with work, love, family, and a funeral. In memory of my grandfather, who loved this tomato sauce recipe so much, I am going to share with you my version of my grandmother's spaghetti sauce. My grandmother usually used a mixture of stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato puree from a can to make this. However, I have multitudes of fresh tomatoes from my garden to use for this. I have adapted the recipe to call for fresh tomatoes, which was probably the origin of the recipe anyway. You can use a food mill (pictured right) or tomatoes concasse as explained in my gazpacho recipe to make this. For ideal texture, use both. I chose to essentially juice my tomatoes this time, since most of my harvest was made up of small tomatoes which don't produce much flesh after skinning and de-

Garden/Pesto

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Today was one of those glorious days. I woke up to sun and a blue sky, but when I stepped out to go to the farmer's market the sky turned black. It dumped rain for hours. I never made it to the farmer's market. Around 3:30 the rain came with renewed vigor. The sky was again dark as though the sun were going down. Then, all of a sudden, it was sunny and warm. I made pesto. I started taking out my garden once it warmed up today. My basil had never done as well as I wished, but there was enough of it today to make one last batch of my favorite sauce. I never measure anything for this recipe, but if it's your first time making it, or you just like measuring things, you can start with this recipe: 2 C fresh basil from your garden 1/3 C pine nuts or walnuts 1 clove garlic 1/4 C grated Parmesan (if you can't do dairy, I've subbed pancetta to get that full flavor, or a little bit of dry gluten-free bread for texture) 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil 1/4-1/2 tsp

Autumn Garden

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After an entire summer of bountiful tomato harvesting, things have suddenly slowed down. We're really lucky to be having such a beautiful summer here in Portland, but the extended sunny days may end soon and the weather has cooled enough to discourage my tomatoes. Here is my harvest today - literally a handful of produce: How is your garden faring in the autumn weather?

A recipe for Pancetta-wrapped Scallops

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I love pancetta . It adds so much to any dish that you make with it. The rich, savory flavor of it compliments and intensifies any food that it's cooked with. This recipe for pancetta-wrapped scallops is incredibly simple, but very impressive. There are only three ingredients in it. I serve it as an appetizer either on its own or over a bed of sauteed greens. This recipe serves two or four. Pancetta-wrapped Scallops Rinse and pat dry: 4 large scallops Leaving the flat ends open, wrap the scallops with: 4 slices pancetta (one slice per scallop) You can use any style of pancetta. I uncurl it if I'm using a rolled pancetta. If sliced thin, the pancetta will stick to itself at the end of the wrapping process. Heat a cast-iron pan or another pan that can sear your scallops nicely (not a non-stick pan) on medium-high. When it's hot enough to make a splash of water sizzle, add: 1-2 Tbsp olive oil or butter The fat should heat up right away and become

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

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For this week's What Can I eat that's Gluten-free? I've hybridized two of my classic recipes: Forbidden Rice with Chicken and Roasted Vegetables . What you do is follow the recipe for the roasted vegetables but add the chicken to your baking sheet or cast-iron skillet. If you add some cherry tomatoes, too, they make a great sauce with all the other drippings. Cook the black rice as described in my post on Forbidden Rice and serve them together for an elegant, delicious, and simple plate. The rice takes about as long as the chicken and vegetables, so it's really easy! Come join us for the What Can I Eat that's Gluten-free? blog carnival over at the Gluten-free Homemaker.

Gazpacho! A Recipe.

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Gazpacho is a great summertime dish. Gazpacho is a chilled tomato soup from Spain, where it's usually listed under salads on the menu. Although not all versions are gluten-free, this typical one is naturally gluten-free and vegan. If you're like me and you have plenty of garden tomatoes, this recipe is for you! Gazpacho I start out by peeling and seeding the tomatoes. I tried to skip this step once, but found that the tomato skins lend a weird texture to the soup. Some people don't mind the seeds, so you can choose whether you want to seed it or not. Here's the easiest way to do it: take a big pot and fill it with about 2-3" of water (enough to cover the tomatoes). Set to a boil. Cut a small X in the bottom of: 2 lbs tomatoes When the water is boiling, put the tomatoes in. Boil for 30-60 seconds. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. The skins should be well-split. Set the tomatoes aside to cool. In a blender or food processo

Humanoid Carrot

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I just picked my first carrot from the garden. It was a bit of a shock. Does this qualify as food porn? I don't care what anybody thinks. It's gluten-free!

Forbidden Rice with Broiled Chicken

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Called forbidden because it was reserved for the exclusive use of emperors, this Chinese black rice is high in iron, fiber, and other nutrients. Its color turns a deep purple when cooked and the grain holds its form very nicely even when cooked too long. This rice also adds some glamor to an otherwise simple meal. The ingredients of this meal are purposely few in number. This is a dish suitable for a food elimination diet or a simple, nutritious bet elegant family meal. This economical meal is convenient to make because the rice and the chicken each take approximately thirty minutes, so if you start them together they are ready together. Ingredients: Four legs chicken 1 1/2 cup water 1 cup Forbidden Rice vegetable of choice olive oil salt Broiled Chicken: Rinse your chicken legs and pat dry. Rub with olive oil and salt. If you would like to use additional seasonings, apply them after cooking or they will burn. Place the chicken skin-side down on a roasting pan. Set in th