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Showing posts from 2010

Gluten-free Pie Crust Recipe

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I have found that gluten-free crusts aren't too difficult.  What helps to make them easy is, ironically, their lack of gluten. Wheat-based pie crusts are very finicky.  They have to be rolled out correctly the first time or the gluten is developed and the crust becomes tough.  GF crusts don't have this issue. What makes gluten-free crusts tricky is that they tend to crumble and break apart.  However, you can try rolling them out as many times as you like.  If mine doesn't roll out correctly on the first go I just fold it over onto itself and roll it out again.  You can do this many times for a really flaky, layered pastry.  Or, if all else fails, you can just press it into the pan. The hardest part of making pie crusts for me is the timing and the temperature of the ingredients.  You have to keep the bowl, the ingredients, and the blade cold if you don't want to have your dough turn out like this disaster : Don't. There is a lot of waiting and refrigerat

GF Gourmand's Gluten-free Gift Ideas

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Need some gift ideas for a gluten-free person in your life?  Here are some practical suggestions for things to give or read this holiday season. This holiday season, get your friends and loved ones something they can cherish forever: a book.   The Essential Gluten-free Restaurant Guide by TriumphDining . Know someone with a new baby in their life?  Get them the Eco-nomical Baby Guide: down-to Earth Ways to Save Money and the Planet , written by the authors of GreenBabyGuide.com . Not that they need more press in this circle of friends, but this one is on my wish list: Gluten-free Girl and the Chef Have gluten-free friends?  If they are new to the diet, it's likely they will need some new kitchen equipment to help them in their new culinary pursuits.  Here are some things I've always desired: Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer Chantal 8-inch Omelette Pan You can find these and other culinary tools in Portland or online at Kitchen Kaboodle . Or, if your GF friend isn&#

St. Peters Sorghum Beer

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One of the only things I miss about eating gluten isn't about eating at all: it's about drinking beer.  I'm always on the lookout for new gluten-free beers, which is why I was eager to try St. Peter's. I enjoyed drinking this beer.  It stands out against other gluten-free lagers for being higher quality, hoppier, and cleaner.   The hoppiness plays nicely against the inevitable metallic flavor that sorghum imparts on a beer. The description on the bottle reads: "A clean, crisp beer with a pilsner style lager finish and aromas of citrus and mandarin from American Amarillo hops.  Made from Sorghum, not wheat or barley.  Brewed with skill and patience in Britain's finest small brewery." I've found St Peter's Sorghum Beer at various GF-friendly grocery stores in the Portland area selling for $6.99.  When weighing the price, keep in mind these factors: 1) It's gluten-free. 2) It's imported. 3) It's from the UK.  They not only ma

How to Make Soup from Your Turkey Leftovers

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If you're like me, you haven't had a chance to do anything with your turkey leftovers yet.  On Black Friday, I worked all day.  I work in retail, so there was no getting around that!  Yesterday I had a family leftover dinner.  However, I still have plenty of leftovers to deal with, so today I'll be making turkey soup. Use this recipe as a template and make it your own.The ingredients you use will depend on what you have leftover.  Typically you will not need to buy anything extra, which makes this dish very cheap to cook.  Most ingredients in this recipe can be substituted out for something else that you have on hand.  The amount of salt you will need will vary greatly depending on how salty the other ingredients in the dish already are.  Making soup is a very easy way to use your leftovers for a new dish, although it does take some time.  Allow about 4 hours to make this recipe.  Here are the basics on how to make turkey soup and soup stock, which you can use as

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

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Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookie Recipe These cookies are easy enough to work with that you can do gingerbread people, plain circles, or other shapes. In a medium bowl, mix together: 1.5 C  Deluxe Pastry Flour 1/2 cup teff flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your pastry mix doesn't already have it) 1/4 tsp salt 3 tsp ginger 1 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cardamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves In a large bowl, beat for 3-3 minutes: 6 tsp softened butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg Add and beat for another minute or two: 1/3 cup molasses 1 tsp vanilla Stir in the dry ingredients a bit at a time until everything is thoroughly blended.  If the dough is very sticky, add a little more pastry flour one tablespoon at a time and beat or knead it in.  The dough should feel manageable at this point.  Divide it in half and wrap the two dough balls in wax paper.  Let them rest for 2-8 hours at room temperature, or in the refrigerato

Andina Restaurant Review

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It's hard to say what you'll remember the most about Andina.  It might be the service, the amazing Peruvian food, the atomosphere, or the stunning presentation.  For me it was the huge gluten-free menu. One of the things that I have liked about going gluten-free has been that it simplifies my dining decisions.  Before going gluten-free, I had always been the person in the party who would mull a bit too long over the many tantalizing options to order.  Now, in most restaurants I simply find the one item on the menu that I think might be easily modified to be gluten-free.  At Andina I didn't have that luxury.  However, at Andina I didn't mind having so many things to choose from. My gluten-free friend and I got the works.  At least, it felt like it.  First of all, they brought us something to snack on instead of bread.  I'm not sure I've ever been to a restaurant that had a gluten-free bread substitute.  It was a delicious fried yucca dish.  We ordered a Spanis

Apple Pie from New Cascadia GF Bakery

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I've been frequenting New Cascadia Traditional a bit more lately and I've noticed that they have some seasonal pies out.  I've tried their apple pie a few times, and I really like it.  They seem to use the same crust as they do for other pastries such as the sweet gallette. New Cascadia Traditional is a dedicated gluten-free bakery here in Portland.  They take pre-orders on pies for Thanksgiving, or you can stop by and take your chances! Have you tried any of New Cascadia's pies?  What did you think?

Fire and Salt's French Bread Recipe

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Recently I've been obsessed with gluten-free bread.  How does it work?  How do I make it rise?  How do I give it a bread-like flavor?  I've been experimenting with creating my own recipe lately and I've learned a lot.  There are still some things that are a mystery to me, however.  That's why I decided to make Fire and Salt's Gluten Free French Bread for the November Adopt-a-Gluten-free-Blogger event hosted by The Book of Yum . I started with the intention of making the recipe as true to the original as possible.  That being said, I have a hard time restraining myself from putting my own stamp on things, and I love making modifications.  I am also known to be a little haphazard and ill-prepared, so while I double-checked that I had the list of ingredients I forgot to get a French bread pan as Brian (Fire and Salt's blogger extraordinaire) strongly suggests in his blog post.  I even tried to swing by a kitchen store before heading home, but it happened to be cl

Gluten-free Pancake Recipes

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I thought I'd compile a helpful list of gluten-free pancake recipes for your Sunday enjoyment.  Here are two of my recipes: Gluten-free Quinoa Pancakes Gluten-free Buckwheat Pancakes For a vegan recipe, check out I Am Gluten Free's Perfect Gluten-free Pancakes .  Linda at The Gluten-free Homemaker has a Gluten-free Pancakes Recipe that looks pretty good too. Have you tried any new gluten-free pancake recipes?  What is your favorite?  Feel free to post a link or a recipe in the comments!

New Cascadia (Soy Free) Vegan Vanilla Cupcake

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New Cascadia Traditional has a new vegan vanilla cupcake.  I haven't liked all of their vegan pastries, but I've been avoiding dairy so the last time I was there I thought I'd give the new one a try.  I noticed that this one is soy-free, unlike many of their vegan fare, so I suspected they may have tried something new with this recipe.  I got halfway through it before I realized: it's amazing!  So amazing I need to take a picture! It's nice and moist on the inside, with a really delectable crumb.  The frosting is topped with coconut.  Need I say more?

Petunia's GF Pastries in Portland Whole Foods

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Good news!  There are now more gluten-free options in select Portland Whole Foods.  Petunia's Pies and Pastries will be available in the Pearl, Hollywood, Fremont and Laurelhurst locations.  I went to visit the Petunia's booth at the PSU Farmers Market yesterday and picked up a slice of the Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap crust.  This is a gluten-free and vegan dessert like almost all of Petunia's offerings.  I loved the crust, and the "cheese" portion was nice and pumpkiny.  This one was a little on the sweet side for me, but I was not disappointed as far as flavor went.  Petunia's never ceases to surprise me with what can be created without dairy, eggs, or wheat.  Check out my other review of Petunia's here .   I'm really excited to be able to get some beautiful gluten-free desserts right in my local Whole Foods!

Iorio Restaurant Review

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"I had given up on finding gluten-free Italian food in a restaurant," my dining companion said as we both perused the menu at Iorio's.  The server had just finished explaining the gluten-free options, which was practically everything on the menu.  They serve gluten-free pasta as well as gnocchi, and most of their battered dishes were GF as well.  (I apologize for not thinking to ask whether the frier is shared with gluten-containing foods).  It was difficult to choose from the menu.  I'm more accustomed to having only one option per restaurant!  We ended up splitting some dishes so we could try more things. The calamari appetizer was excellent.  It was cooked just right - still tender inside - and the GF breading was nice and crispy.  I ordered the Eggplant Parmesan, which was also breaded with a different crispy breading.  While my pride will not let me say that it was better than my own recipe for the dish, I thought it was good.  My friend Deanna ordered the gno

Lamb Pot Roast with Gluten-free Gravy

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I consider this one of my all-time best recipes.  It's gluten-free and dairy-free, and I could eat it all the time. Recipe for Lamb Pot Roast with Gluten-free Gravy: In a large heavy pot, heat: 2-3 Tbsp oil When oil is heated, brown in the pan: 1/2 lb carrots 1 lb potatoes 1 small onion, halved Remove these to a plate and set aside.  Add more oil to the pan if needed.  Add:   2 lbs lamb shanks, legs, or blade steaks Brown the lamb on all sides.  Add:   2 tsp coriander (preferably whole) 2 tsp cumin (preferably whole) 2 tsp black peppercorns Toast the spices for a moment, then add: 1 cup wine 2 cups chicken stock salt half the potatoes that you've browned Add water or more chicken stock if needed to bring the level of liquid up to an inch or so.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for several hours, covered, turning the meat and potatoes occasionally to cook both sides.  When the meat is fork tender, remove it and the potatoes t

Harvest Time

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It was a rough year for vegetable gardens here in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm finally feeling like I am reaping a good harvest.  I found myself in the vegetable section of the store today, realizing that I didn't have to buy a single vegetable, and I hadn't for over a month.  I stopped by my community garden patch later and harvested this: From the left, there are parsnips, a lemon cucumber, rainbow carrots, a big zucchini, a large crookneck squash, a chocolate bell pepper and some lemon drop peppers, which I've never had before but which are supposed to be spicy. We've been lucky to have temperatures stay pretty warm so far this fall so I'm keeping my tomatoes out until next weekend.  Here are some tomatoes I picked last week: The seeds strewn about are coriander. I'm not sure what to do with these.  It's not quite enough tomatoes to make sauce, but it's too many to just eat in salads.  Maybe I'll roast them to make sun-dried tomatoes

Sunday Waffles

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I'll be making waffles this morning.  I'll try to choose between the following recipes: Quick Buckwheat Waffles: Gluten-free Easy Waffles: A Gluten-free Dairy-free Recipe Gluten-free Corn Waffle Recipe Gluten-free Buckwheat Waffles What will you have?

Teff Sandwich Bread at New Cascadia Traditional

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If you haven't been to New Cascadia Traditional yet, you should go.  If you have gone but you haven't tried their teff sandwich bread yet, you should try it! It was the first full-sized sandwich I made in a long time.  I really liked the texture - it was very spongy and not at all dry.  The flavor is a little different, and very pleasantly whole-grain.  The bread has flax seeds on top which gives it an even earthier flavor.  The best thing about this bread is that it stays good for several days.  It doesn't get completely hard like most gluten-free bread products.  I've heard that it also freezes pretty well, although I tend to eat the whole thing once I get a loaf. Have you tried the Teff Sandwich Bread at New Cascadia?  What did you think?

Hawthorne Fish House Gluten-free Restaurant Review

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 I have been hearing about the Hawthorne Fish House for a long time, and I finally got over there to try some gluten-free fish 'n chips for the first time in August.  Almost everything on their menu is gluten-free! The deep-fried fish is coated with some tasty rice flour.  I got the halibut.    My friend got the Chile-fried Catfish, which was even better than mine, but I didn't have an opportunity to get a shot of that before it was completely devoured.  I really liked the spicy breading.  They have several gluten-free beers in bottles - including all three styles of Green's. Hawthorne Fish House has a very clearly-marked menu that has notes on what is and isn't gluten-free.  The restaurant has a very clever strategy for presenting their fish as not only the healthiest, but also the best in Portland.  Here's a little of what they say about their food: "It's no accident we have Portland's Best Fish & Chips. Besides top quality fish and the bes

Gluten-free Gourmand's 100th Blog Post!

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I haven't been blogging as much this summer due to good weather, but I'm finally here at my 100th post! It's going to get pretty autumnal in Portland so I'll be doing some cool-weather cooking.  Some recipes I'll bring you this fall will include: - Gluten-free pie crust - Gluten-free butternut squash pie - Lamb stew - Home-made bread - New GF pasta reviews - Restaurant reviews - More Gluten-free beer, of course That's right - bread!  I've been baking up a storm and making headway on a new gluten-free bread recipe using my own special blend of flours.  I'm pretty excited about it, but it's not quite ready yet.  This is a teaser: Add caption This loaf collapsed a little; not enough xanthan gum, I think.  I'm trying to do this without eggs, so it's a bit of a challenge. Well, wish me luck! xoxo Gina

Boneless Pork Ribs with Spanish-inspired BBQ Sauce

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  Boneless Pork Ribs with Spanish-inspired BBQ Sauce In a large oven-safe dish, heat up some olive oil on medium-high heat.  Sautee until brown: 1 small onion, cut in large pieces, 1 Red bell pepper, cut in large pieces, a little salt Remove the vegetables from the pan.  Brown on all sides: 2 large strips of country-style pork ribs, salted Remove the pork to a platter.  Reduce in the pan: 3/4 c Red wine Add: 1 cup tomato sauce 3 Tbsp sugar Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cook until the sauce darkens and begins to thicken.  Add: 1 tsp cumin 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp ground coriander  1 tsp lemon juice Mix the sauce well and add the pork back to the pan.  Cover the pork with the sauce.  Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the pork is 160 degrees F in the center.  Is the sauce too sweet, too liquid, or kind of bland?  Remove the pork to a plate again and reduce the sauce on the stove one more time until thick and deep in c

Gluten-free Boule Bread - Second Loaf

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I made the second loaf of the Gluten-free Crusty Boule Bread recipe that I saw on Gluten-free Girl .  This loaf did come out different than the first one , and it was still good.  It had a bit of a sour dough flavor.  The recipe says you can refrigerate the dough for up to one week.  I had it saved for five days.   I had an idea to form and rest the loaf on parchment paper so I didn't have to disturb the sticky mass when I transferred it to the dutch oven.  That worked out splendidly.  I still didn't get the loaf to rise as much as I wanted, but that could have been due to the yeast not being completely fresh.  I also forgot to cut slits in the top of this loaf, which may have impeded rising.  I took it camping so that my gluten-free mom and her husband could share fresh-baked bread with me.  It was a big hit.