GF Killer Fudge

Killer Fudge

4 1/4 c sugar   + 1/4 c sugar
1 can evaporated milk
Dash of salt
1/2 c butter
2t vanilla
3 bags milk chocolate chip
3 c marshmallow


Directions:
add 4 1/4c sugar, milk and salt in a large saucepan. Cook over Med. till a rolling boil. cook for 1 min.   Turn to low and add vanilla, butter, chips and 1/4 c sugar. Stir till chocolate is melted. Then add Marshmallow. stir twice and dump on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap. and let set up

Black Eyed Peas Salsa

 Black Eyed Peas Salsa


1 can Black eyed peas
1 can shoepeg corn (green giant brand)
3-4 tomatoes diced
2-3 avocado's diced
1 bunch cilantro (cut up)
Dressing:
1 packet good seasons italian dressing made to the less oil directions add more vinegar than more water. Use Kano brand red wine vinegar italian flavored. (can buy it at lee's and albertsons.)

Directions:
Add all ingr. to a bowl add dressing and toss. You can eat it whenever but it is best if you let it sit for a while.

Gluten-Free Apricot Chicken

Gluten-Free Apricot chicken

Description:
This is one of our favorite quick and easy recipes. It literally takes minutes to make and minutes to cook.

Ingredients:
½ cup apricot preserves
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. chicken broth
1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. cornstarch
1 tsp.   minced garlic
¼ tsp. ground ginger
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 medium green pepper, chopped
½ cup salted cashews
Hot cooked rice


Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Add chicken and toss to coat. Transfer to a shallow microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring once.
Add green peppers and cashews. Cover and microwave on high for 2-4 min. or until chicken juices run clear, stirring once. Let stand for 3 minutes. Serve over rice. 

Gluten Free Crock Pot Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Homemade GF Chicken Broth)

The chicken is so easy! Buy a whole chicken, rinse in cold water and take out the giblet bag. Place the whole chicken in the crock-pot. Add whatever veggies you have on hand to the pot: Onions, celery, carrots etc. Fill the crock-pot full with water add a Tablespoon of kosher or garlic salt. Cook on low for 6-8 hr. And there you have it. A beautiful moist flavorful chicken and 4-5 cup of homemade chicken broth. The chicken broth can be easily made into a gravy by adding 2T of cornstarch to 2T cold water. Then adding that mixture to a cup or two of broth. Heat it on the stove on Medium heat until thickened. If it is too thick add more chicken broth or if it is too thin add some more cornstarch.  Add some herb, garlic and salt for more flavor. The broth also freezes great.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
6-8 Red Potatoes
4+ Whole Garlic Cloves peeled and stems cut off.

Cut potatoes in half then quarter. Drop all the potatoes and whole garlic cloves in a pot of boiling water. Cook till potatoes are tender. Drain water and mash potatoes and garlic with a potato masher or hand mixer. Add some kosher salt and you have yummy, easy garlic mashed potatoes.

Gluten-Free Cafe Rio Sweet Pork and Rice

Fry the corn tortillas like in meat or bean taco recipe.

RICE:

Ingredients
3 cups Minute rice
3 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 can green chilies
1/2 onion

Chop cilantro, green chiles and onion together in a food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.   

Cafe Rio Pork:

1- 3 lbs. Pork Roast
1 bottle taco SAUCE (found near the taco seasoning things in a bottle)

1 T Cumin
1 C brown Sugar
1 Can Coke


Put roast in crock pot and fill so that water covers 1/2 of roast.   Cook roast for 3 hours on high in crock pot.   After 3 hours- pull pork roast apart with 2 forks.   Dump out water.   Mix taco sauce, cumin, brown sugar, and coke in a bowl and put on meat.   Cook for 3 hours on low in crock pot.

Best GF Bread and Flour Mix

Starting out this diet I tried a million different flour mixes. I didn't like any of them. I found this blog and LOVED this mix. Not only is the flours in the mix cheaper it's not grainy. With 1/2-3/4 tsp of xanthum gum per cup of flour you can replace it in most all of your old gluten filled recipes.


1 1/2 cups Sorghum Flour
1 1/2 cups Cornstarch
1 cup Tapioca Flour


Keep this mix in the Fridge. 


When first starting the gluten free diet, I tried probably 10 different recipe and a gluten free bread machine and false miserably. Every time it would be flat or so over raised and crumbly. I tried this bread recipe from the Blog My Kitchen Gone Crazy. Not only did it turn out the texture was soft and held together great! 


4 3/4 cups Flour (See recipe above)
3 Tbsp Sugar
3 3/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
3 tsp Yeast
1 3/4 tsp Salt
4 Eggs
3 Tbsp Oil
3 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 cups Hot Water

Combine all dry ingredients in your stand mixer and sift with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and allow to mix for a few seconds. Scrape the sides of your mixer well and then mix dough for 4 minutes. Spray two loaf pans well and divide your dough between the two pans. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

This bread is wonderful fresh and keeps well for a few days. If you are going to keep it longer, then slice it up and place it in your freezer to keep it from going bad. Then just pull out the slices needed - thaw them or toast them before use. This bread really does keep well frozen and I love being able to have bread on hand all the time!

Quick Gluten-Free Breakfast

Here is an easy and quick way to eat breakfast. Pamela baking mix is by far the best gluten free pancake mix. They are soft, moist and don't fall apart. I usually make a large batch and freeze them for a quick breakfast. Farmland sausage is gluten free. Fry it up all at once then simply reheat and add some eggs. If you are not into pancake frozen Van's Waffles are really good. Here is a recipe for homemade gluten-free waffles.

OATMEAL CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES with Gluten-Free Option

I got this recipe off the Ocean Spray Website and made it gluten-free.


2/3 cup butter softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups Gluten free old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups  GF Flour mix
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t Xanthan gum
1 6-ounce package Craisins
2/3 cup white chocolate chips


Preheat 375'

 Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs one at a time mixing well. Combine oats, flour, Xanthan gum,baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture slowly. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. 

Drop by spoonful onto a slightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes or slightly under done. Leave to cool on the cookie sheet. 

Gluten Free Breadcrumbs or Croutons

You won't believe of easy it is to make your own GF breadcrumbs. If you have ever bought GF breadcrumb I'm sure you tasted then and through them away YUCK! 


After making bread or buying GF bread I alway keep the butt-end of the loaf or miss shaped pieces in a bag in the freezer. 


Once I have a good size bag I take it out defrost and break the bread into small pieces or crumbs. spread out the crumbs in a single layer drizzle with a little grape-seed or olive oil. Toss until coated. 


Bake at 350' until  the mixture is slightly golden brown. (If you are going to be using the bread crumbs as a chicken coating you don't want the crumbs to be over cook because you will be cooking them again.)
Pulse the cooled bread crumbs in a food processor if you would like a finer crumb.


*This recipe could also be used as croutons. Break larger pieces and sprinkle garlic salt, rosemary and oregano on the bread right after you have coated them in oil.

Gluten-Free Parmesan Ranch Chicken with Brown Rice

 Gluten-Free Parmesan Ranch Chicken with Brown Rice 

13+ Raw Chicken Tenderloins or chicken breast cut into strips

1 bottle Kraft Ranch 

1c or more Homemade GF breadcrumbs crushed rice chex or GF corn flakes

1/2 Parmesan cheese

Preheat 350'

Line the cookie sheet with foil. Place a  cookie cooling rack on top, sprayed with Pam. (If you don't have the rack you can spray the foil with Pam and put the strips on that. The rack makes the chicken crunchy and less soggy.) 

Make a station of two large bowls. One filled with 1/2 of the bottle of ranch, the second filled with bread crumbs, parmesan and a sprinkle of kosher salt. First dip the chicken strip in ranch then roll in the bread crumb mixture. Lay flat of the cookie sheet rack. Have more bread crumbs and ranch ready if you need more. 

I found these racks at dollar tree. It came in a pack of two.  They fit perfectly on a jelly roll pan.

Bake for 20 more or less depending on the size of the chicken.  Serve with brown rice and a veggie.

Gluten-Free Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake with Edamame

Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake with Edamame 

1 1/2 cups Quinoa Rotelle Pasta (or other gluten free pasta)
1 cup cooked sliced ham
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 jar Classico Four Cheese Pasta sauce (or other GF sauce)
1 cup or more of of Mozzarella Cheese


Cook pasta to al dente (Don't over cook or you will have mush). Drain and add pasta back to the pot. Add ham, green onions, couple sprinkles of kosher salt and jar of pasta sauce mix until well coated. Dump mixture into a casserole dish and top with grated cheese.  Bake 350' until heated and cheese has melted about 5-10 minutes. After the cheese has melted broil the top till there is a nice golden brown crust. Serve with cooked edamame sprinkled with kosher salt. 

GLUTEN FREE RECIPE LINKS

GLUTEN FREE RECIPES AND LINKS
Here are some recipes that I have found and loved on other sites and books.


                             Breadsticks or Hot Dog buns
 ( I got this recipe from a friend. I"m not sure where she got it from)

1/4 C shortening

3 TBS honey

2 eggs

1 packet yeast

1 C unflavored yogurt

1/2 C potato starch

1 1/2 C cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients.  Mix well to remove all lumps.

The dough will be quite wet.  Place dough in a pastry bag with a large round tip (or use a plastic lunch bag with a bit of a corner cut off).  Pipe dough into long strips (5-6 inches is nice) on greased baking sheet.  Sprinkle with kosher saltand/or other toppings as desired.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.  Makes 20-30 bread sticks, serves 10.

Chocolate Chip Cookies from

“Gluten-Free Baking Classics” by Annalise G. Roberts

1 C vegetable shortening (not butter or margarine)

1 C sugar

1/2 C dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 TBS vanilla

2 C plus 2 TBS Brown Rice Flour Mix

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp xantan gum

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz. chocolate chips

1 C chopped nuts, optional

Brown Rice Flour Mix:

Brown Rice Flour (extra finely ground - Authentic Foods Brand)      2 parts            2 cups

Potato Starch (not potato flour)                                                                 2/3 part           2/3 C

Tapioca Flour                                                                                               1/3 part           1/3 C

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Position rack in center of oven.  Lightly grease cookie sheet with cooking spray.

2.  Beat shortening and both sugars at medium speed in large bowl of electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

3.  Add flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt; mix at medium speed until well blended.  Mix in chocolate chips and nuts.

4.  Drop heaping teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake in center of oven for 8-10 minutes until light golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack and cool.  Store in an airtight container.

**I added a step.  I refrigerated the dough for 1 hour before baking.  It seemed to help the cookies spread less.

Main Dish

Crockpot Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken (serve over rice)

Crockpot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese (serve over rice)

Easy and Delicious Ranch Parmesan Chicken ( Use Gluten free bread crumbs and kraft dressing

Charlies Famous Chicken Salad with Grapes

Chicken Adobo

Thai Chicken

Thai Chicken Fried Rice (leave out Thai pepper if your family doesn’t like them)

Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

Tex-mex Chicken Bake (use mission corn tortillas)

Double-corn Tortilla Casserole (use mission corn tortillas)

Cheesecake Factory bang-bang Chicken and Shrimp

PF-Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Panda Express Orange Chicken ( I leave out the flour and add 1/8 cup  corn starch)

Sides

Best Baked Potato

Curried Pumpkin Soup (Leave out flour add 1TBS corn starch)

Coconut Mango Rice

Quinoa Black Bean Salad

Desserts

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (I pull these out of the oven a few minutes early, push in a Hershey kiss into each cookie and let the cookies rest on pan for 10-15 minutes (out of the oven)

Cinnabonish Cinnamon Rolls Gluten-Free (A lot of work but worth it!)

Bread

GF Bread

Gluten-Free French Bread

Flour Mix

Flour Mix

My Favorite GF Products

Ancient Harvest Quinoa
They have lots of different pasta shapes that you can buy but  I have found the rotelle to be the best. The other shapes seem to get mussy fast!


Crunchmaster Crackers

These crackers are cheap and good. I still buy these crackers because they are Taylor’s and I favorite.

Pamela's Baking Mix

This is by far the best pancake mix! You can use it to make muffins, cookies, waffles and tons more. Any of the Pamela's products are really good! I would buy it in bulk from amazon.com but you can also buy it at sprouts. Bob mills makes a pancake mix but we didn’t like it.

 Xanthan Gum
 It is vital for all gluten free cooking. It is like putting gluten back in the foods. It’s expensive but you only use a ¼-1 teaspoon here and there so it lasts a long time. (You do not need this if you are buying making mixes it’s all ready in it.)

Glutino Pretzels

 These pretzels are really good.  They are expensive; But I would buy them so he didn’t feel left out at preschool and nursery. You can find them at sprouts, marketstreet or amazon.com

  Glutino Crackers
These crackers are the closest to Ritz crackers. They are expensive; I didn’t buy them very often. You can find them at sprouts, marketstreet or amazon.com

Algo Corn Starch

This is the only gluten free corn starch that I have found. You can buy it at Walmart.


Soy Joy Bars
Lara Bars
These are great on the go bars. You can find this Target or Walmart

Homemade Baby-food from your Bountiful Basket

Making your own baby food  is fast, cheap and most importantly Healthy. The possibilities are endless. I usually make a fruit blend and a veggies blend. If your child is just starting baby food, start off trying each one individually. First I go through my basket and pick out all the fruit that is ripe.
Here is a list of foods that I throw in
  Raw:
Apples (I make applesauce or pearsauce then use it for a liquid in the blending process)
Oranges
Mango
Spinach
Zucchini or yellow Squash (grated)
tomatoes
cucumbers
Kiwi
Pineapple
Flax seed


Cooked (steamed with a little water, drained and cooled)
Turnips
broccoli
cauliflower
carrots
celery
Pears
Apples


Crockpot or boiled 
Potatoes

Sweet potatoes or yams

Pick your selection and add it to your blender, food processor or magic bullet. Make sure all of the produce has been cleaned, peeled, and diced. In the picture above I have mangos, blackberries, blueberries, raw spinach (I add it to everything) and homemade applesauce for the liquid. If you mixture is too dry try adding more fruit that is real juicy or applesauce. I try to add as little of water as possible and try to use as much raw produce as I can. The veggies mixture I steam multiple veggies all at the same time, drain it and throw it in the blender. Sweet potatoes and yams are a great way to add liquid to your baby food and easy to cook. Add your yams and/or sweet potatoes to your crockpot and an inch of water. Cook for a couple of hours. The peels will fall off and the potato will be soft enough to mash with a fork.

When your mixture is done pour into an ice cube tray covered with saran wrap. freeze over night. When the ice cubes are done pop out and put in a freezer bag that has been label with the ingredients and date it was made.

When you are ready to use it pull how ever many you need (my 9 mth old eats 3) and defrost. You can add baby oatmeal, mixed grain, rice cereal or plain yogurt (for babies 9mth +).

Greek Yogurt

Greek Yogurt

1/2 gallon milk (I use fat free)
2 cups instant dry milk powder
1 6-8 oz. container yogurt with active cultures 

• Thermometer
• Large, heavy, pot
• Bath towel and a dish towel
• Sifter
• cheese cloth or a old washed t-shirt (double rinsed) cut into squares.
• Bowl that will hold the strainer up. 

Place milk in pot and add dry milk powder. Stir well.

 Heat milk to 180 degrees, stirring as much as you can to prevent burning. 

Fill sink with ice cold water and place pot inside sink, to Cool down to 110-115 degrees. Add yogurt and stir well (If you add the yogurt while it is above 115 you will kill the healthy bacteria that is in the yogurt and it will not set up). Preheat oven to 100-115 or turn on the oven for 30 sec then turn off. 

 Wrap lid in dish towel, placing it on the pot. Wrap the whole pot in the bath towel and place it in the oven (oven turned off and door shut with the light on)

Yogurt will be "done" in 4-6 hours you can leave it longer but it will make it more tart.

At this time I usually refrigerate the yogurt until it is firm. (I feel like you don't loose as much yogurt when you strain it. If you want just plain yogurt you can flavor it and eat it now)

Place your strainer in the bowl making sure the bottom of the strainer is not hitting the bottom. Line the strainer with cheese cloth or shirt and dump in half your yogurt (or all of it if you have a large strainer.) Fold the hanging flaps over the yogurt so the yogurt is covered. Place it in the fridge for 6 hr, periodically draining out the whey in the bottom of the bowl.

dump the strained yogurt into a airtight container. If the yogurt is too thick add back some of the whey that is in the bottom of the bowl.

Serve plain with any kind of jam, frozen blueberries, granola, honey, sugar and/or vanilla.

Gluten-Free Meat or Bean Tacos with Mexican Rice

Meat or Bean Tacos with Mexican Rice

This is one of my favorite Quick meals! Rice is cooking, fry the shells, slap on the refried beans, add a veggie and dinner is DONE. My kids LOVE this dish.
Tacos
1 Bag of Mission Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil
Salt
1 lb of Hamburger browned (drained)
1 can Black eyed peas (drained and rinsed)
1 packet of McCormick Taco Seasoning
or my favorite.....
1 Can of Fat free Refried Beans
If you have never had a taste for Hard shell corn tortillas this is for you. Yum! Put about a 1/2 of a inch oil in the bottom of a frying pan. Turn heat to med-high and salt oil. Todetermine if the oil is ready for frying put an end of a wooden spoon in the oil. When there is tons of little bubbles around the end, its ready for frying. Drop first shell in oil cook 8-10 sec flip cook 2 sec more. (cook less if you like them softer, longer if you want it like a chip) Take out shell (Invest in a good set of tongs) fold shell in half and let sit until you are able to handle it. Fill it with meat, cheese lettuce whatever you like. Or spread the refried bean all along one side, cheese and squish.
Mexican Rice
1 can (8 ounces) of Tomato Sauce
1 tsp Better than Bouillon (Beef)
2 T Olive oil
1 cup of Long Grain Rice (uncooked)
1 chopped green onion
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp each of salt and garlic powder (Adams Brand)
Directions: Put the bouillon in the 2 cups of water in the microwave for 1 or 2 min to dissolve the paste. Heat the oil in the skillet on med or med high, then add the rice and stir. Continue to stir the rice until its slightly brown. Stir in the water, tomato sauce, onions and spices. Once it begins to boil, turn the beat down to med-low. Then put the lid on the skillet. Do not stir anymore. Let the rice cook for approximately 20 min. When the water has evaporated the green onions will stay on top of the rice.
(Original Rice Recipe from the kitchen of Lisa Cordova)