Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

this is gluten free sandwich bread. pretty amazing huh?! if i hadn't made it myself, i probably wouldn't believe it. the thing about making gluten free breads and baked goods is that there is at least a 50/50 chance it's going to flop. you really just never know...is this the right flour? should i use more or less of that one? and it seems like every recipe is tailored to what the bakers taste buds are and let me tell you, the flavors and textures of the various flours are pretty potent. in general, with gluten free baking, you're not always going to be happy with the end product which is why i'm pretty excited that this bread works for us. beside the fact that a loaf of gluten free bread at the store is a whopping $5. no thanks! not only that, but the brands i have found that taste the best use soybean oil in their list of ingredients and i try to avoid those as much as possible. . . I found this recipe, which of course I tweaked to our taste buds, via Simply Gluten and Sugar Free and if you are looking for other gluten free recipes, she has a wonderful site to peruse.

Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread
makes 1 9″ x 5″ loaf

¾ cup sorghum flour

1 cup garbanzo/fava bean flour

½ cup oat flour

¾ cup tapioca starch (otherwise known as tapioca flour)

2 ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

2 tablespoons sucanat or your preferred sweetener

1 packet (2 ¼ teaspoon) dry instant yeast

1 ¼ c. warm filtered water

2 extra large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sea salt

Prepare a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with butter or oil. Line with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Whisk together the flour blend, xanthan gum, sucanat, and instant yeast. Set aside.

Put the water, eggs, oil, and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients except the salt and mix on low until incorporated. Increase to medium high and mix for a minute. Turn off, add the salt, and mix for two minutes more.

Turn the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Place in a warm place for an hour to rise, or until the loaf just about doubles in size. (Don’t let it rise more than double it’s original size or it might collapse in the oven.)

Score the bread with a sharp, serrated knife if desired. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. Let it cool for 5 minutes in the pan then turn the loaf pan on its side, scoot the loaf forward so the steam can escape – but leave it in the pan. Let it cool for another 10 – 15 minutes the move to a wire rack to cool completely.

To store, place in a ziplock and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or up to 10 days in the fridge. Pre-slice and freeze any leftovers for toast or gluten-free bread crumbs.

*note: i don't normally like the taste of bean flours in my baked goods, but for this recipe it works. i will warn you though, once you have it all mixed up and before it's baked, the smell is quite off-putting. but once baked, the flavor of the bread is superb. also, once you refrigerate this bread the texture isn't as nice. i prefer to place it in the toaster on the lowest setting to soften it up a bit.

Here is the link to the original recipe if you would like to reference it.

Homemade Marshmallows [corn syrup & dye free]

who doesn't like marshmallows?

or treats made with marshmallows?

and especially gmo corn syrup and dye free?

i do!

and i have to say,

this is a wonderful blog full of beautiful recipes, so check it out!

Homemade Marshmallows (Recipe by Emily, but adapted from Grammy)

http://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/2008/09/homemade-marshmallows.html

Butter, for greasing & confectioners' sugar, for coating
2 tablespoons gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups organic granulated sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Butter an 8x8-inch square baking dish. Line with waxed paper, then butter waxed paper, and lightly coat with confectioners' sugar.

Disolve gelatin in cold water, in the bowl of a stand mixer, using whisk attachment.

In a large saucepan, over medium high heat, whisk together granulated sugar, boiling water and salt; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Stop whisking, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 236 degrees F.

Pour syrup slowly over gelatin. Add vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed, for 20 minutes, or until thick and cool.

Butter a spatula, and scrape marshmallow cream into prepared dish; smooth the surface. Freeze overnight, then remove waxed paper from dish, lifting out marshmallow. Peel waxed paper off, then cut into squares, on a cutting board, using a buttered-sharp knife. Lightly dust marshmallows with additional confectioners' sugar.

Makes 36 mallows (This depends on how big you cut them)

now here's the interesting part.

i used fresh beet juice for the coloring. around 1-2 T.

i know, right?

anyway, the initial color of the marshmallows was vibrant and pink. but once they set it was very subtle. because i added such a small amount, you couldn't taste it whatsoever. BUT i would hesitate to add more than that. next time, i plan to add raspberry juice. i know its a little extra effort, but it's worth it to me to keep my kids from eating fake dye.

pretty happy!

see what i mean by the pale color?

this is actually a bit more washed out than they were, but still...

room for improvement.

my sweetie.

Beef Stroganoff

Growing up, I absolutely LOVED my...well now that I think about it, I can't remember if it was my mom or my grandma's beef stroganoff. Regardless, it was my favorite. My great-grandma used to can shredded beef and then give it to everyone as gifts. It sounds kinda weird, maybe even kinda gross but just picture roast in a jar. Pretty easy way to get that tender meat. Anyway, that roast in a jar isn't around anymore...cause i sure as heck don't can and using ground beef just seems wrong. So this recipe using a nice top sirloin seemed perfect and guess what? It was.

Beef Stroganoff

from:Clinton Kelly (from The Chew)

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Beef-Stroganoff-Clinton-Kelly?printable=1

The only changes I made were white wine instead of brandy because that's what I had and I had to cook the steaks much longer.

Nourishing Dumpling Soup (gluten free)

whenever any sort of sickness hits our house i immediately whip up a batch of nourishing chicken broth from one of the blogs i frequent, if i don't already have a few jars stored in the freezer. i try to "change up" the type of soup i make since the kids and hubby get tired of the standard chicken noodle soup. since ryan was the one down for the count last Sunday, i decided to re-create his all time favorite soup from my MIL's kitchen...Dumpling Soup. because i wanted to use the medicinal properties of my homemade broth and didn't have any thin gluten free noodles on hand it came out a little different but he loved it! so another winner to add to the scorecard.:)


Dumplings(gluten free)

1 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. millet flour
1/2 c. potato starch
1/4c. tapioca starch
1 t. xanthan gum
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. sea salt
4 Tbsp. butter, unsalted, chilled, cut into small cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2 T. flax meal combined with 4 T. boiling water as egg replacement

1. In small bowl combine flax and boiling water and let set.

2. In a medium mixing bowl combine flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine with a fork until ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the mix. Add the chilled butter cubes and work the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture has a sandy, crumbly texture.

3. In a small measuring cup, measure the buttermilk and add flax mixture. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixture of dry ingredients and butter and work with a fork until just combined.

Nourishing Dumpling Soup(gluten free)

4 T. butter
3/4 c. finely chopped white onion
2 c. diced carrots
1 T. dried thyme
2 c. cooked chicken, shredded(i threw a couple chicken breasts in when making my broth to have extra meat, but you could cut up a couple thawed chicken breasts into small pieces and saute in with your veggies after the onions have cooked through. it only takes about 5 minutes)


1. Saute onions and carrots in the bottom of your stock pot until carrots are cooked through. I usually throw it all in there over medium heat and cover for about 10 minutes, giving it a little stir here and there. (about 5 minutes in is a good time to add your chicken if it needs to be cooked)

2. Add the thyme and continue to saute for another minute or two...until it becomes fragrant.

3. Add around 64oz. broth or fill the pot around half-way full. ( can you tell my cooking is extremely precise?!) Add shredded chicken. cover and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

4. Drop biscuits in with a cookie scoop, cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes more. Uncover and serve!

I had more biscuit dough than i wanted for dumplings, so i simply scooped the rest on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. serve with kerrygold butter and raw honey!

Pearl Sugar Waffles (traditional and gluten free)

bacon, basil and brie

the waffle window simply put, is a small slice of heaven. a couple weeks back, we spent our sunday morning making the drive, putting our to-go order in(no seating!)and enduring screaming and hysterical Lily until we could get to Barista to quickly devour our luscious little waffles with choice espresso. jericho was in heaven. lily was in heaven. heck we were all in heaven and the people around us were clearly jealous. now, do i want to re-live that venture? not really. mainly because screaming Lily in the car nearly drove us all to kill one another. and the waffle window waffles are not gluten free. and because like all luscious foods i consume, i have this crazy need to recreate it. thursday nights has turned into "breakfast thursday's" with our dear friends, so it was the perfect time, with the perfect people to indulge in this new venture! we found out that you can purchase the elusive "pearl sugar" from none other than ikea! so following are the original "liege" or pearl sugar waffles and the gluten free version which happened to be just as tasty! i also need to not only mention but thank allyson from manifest vegan for her kind help in re-create the gluten free version of the waffles. i emailed her that morning and she responded in just a few hours with her suggestions for flour replacement that worked out wonderfully!


Liege Waffles aka Pearl Sugar Waffles
2 cups flour
*for gluten free mix 1 c. sorghum, 3/4 c. potato starch, 1/4 c. tapioca starch and 1 1/4 t. xanthan gum
3/4 cup pearl sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 package (2 1/4 t) yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Take the lukewarm water and mix in yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt. Let the yeast develop for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile you can melt the butter, but be careful - do not burn it.

2. Now take a large bowl(preferable a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment) and put the flour in, making a hole in the middle. In a separate bowl lightly beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the melted butter to the egg mixture. stir. Add the yeast mixture to that. stir. Add all of that to the flour. beat for 10 minutes. cover and let rise to double in size.

3. Now take pearl sugar and additional 1/4c. sugar and gently fold in.

4. Again, let it rest for 15 minutes, in the meanwhile you can turn on the waffle maker so its nice and hot.

5. Pour the waffle dough into the waffle maker and bake for 3-5 minutes. Because we mixed in the sugar late in the process it will melt and caramelize and give that special Liege waffle taste. Just be careful when you take them out of the waffle maker, caramelized sugar can make them sticky.

6. Enjoy!!

gluten free version before the "dressing" of
chocolate, strawberries and fresh whipped cream

Ice Cream Sandwiches (gluten, egg and dairy free)

jericho and ryan love to have ice cream sandwiches together as a special treat and since j can't have the standard ones ryan always buys, i decided i had to make him his own once allyson over at manifest vegan revealed her recipe for ice cream sammies. you can find her recipe here. the only change i made was to use butter in place of the vegan shortening. i followed the recipe for the cookies and filled the sandwiches with the Naked Coconut flavor of Coconut Bliss. I just let the carton sit out for a bit to soften and then put them together and wrapped them up in saran wrap and put back in the freezer all ready for daddy-son bonding time. we were thinking the cookies would also make yummy homemade Oreos if i can figure out a good filling recipe. oh, and later on, when it was time for my treat, i took a lone cookie, spread a thin layer of peanut butter and then TJ's ultra chocolate ice cream on top. pure bliss!

Fried Chicken (gluten free)

i've had chicken sitting in the fridge for a couple of days and i needed to use it up tonight. none of the usual recipes sounded good...i'm bored of everything and ryan hasn't seemed to want to eat at all lately so i needed to come up with something tempting enough for him before he wastes away. and who doesn't like fried chicken? the problem with fried chicken though, is that i have always been terrible at making it. i mean really terrible. it's either charred on the outside, pink on the inside, soggy or all of the above. yuck. so i was determined to make it right tonight...and also, gluten free. and not just any kind of gluten free...the kind ryan would love and not wish was gluten-full. so i of course started with smitten kitchen. she is a culinary goddess! here is her version of fried chicken which involves brining the chicken for a few hours. i didn't have that kind of time so i cut that step out, although i will definitely try it next time. turns out, ryan LOVES gluten free fried chicken. :)

juicy and oh so crispy!

Fried Chicken (gluten free)

2 large chicken breasts, cut in half

1 1/4 c. white rice flour
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
mix in a small bowl

1 c. buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
mix in another small bowl

dredge chicken in flour mixture, then immerse in buttermilk and back in the flour again.

fill heavy skillet with about an inch of olive oil. heat over medium. place the chicken in when the oil sizzles. cover. cook until bottom is golden brown. turn and repeat. meat thermometer should read 165 degrees when it's fully cooked. place in a warm oven on a wire rack over a cookie sheet until time to serve.

as a added bonus...i'm not a gravy queen, but i am learning slowly and surely how to make a quick gravy.

Gravy (gluten free)

drain most of the drippings from the pan, saving a couple tablespoons.
place pan back on burner.
sprinkle bottom of pan with white rice flour.
whisk around in bottom of pan, allowing it to bubble and make a "roux".
add enough chicken broth for the amount of gravy you need...around 2 cups or so.
allow it to simmer and thicken.
add salt and pepper
add 1 T. white wine
add 1 T heavy cream
If it isn't thick enough, mix a little of the gravy with cornstarch or arrowroot and stir back in.
taste and adjust seasonings as needed.