I Cook Free

Favorite Food Find Friday – Cherrybrook Kitchen Pancake Mix

Sarah — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:05:38 +0000

We love having a couple boxes of Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Pancake and Waffle Mix in our cupboard. I always prefer to mix it up from scratch but sometimes time is of the essence. Cherrybrook Kitchen’s mix is gluten, dairy, and egg free whereas many of the other gluten free mixes have dairy and/or egg. The texture and taste of these pancakes are great.

I also was given a great tip by one of my best friend Michele. I was out of bread and English muffins but needed to make sandwiches for my girls. I thought I had some in the fridge but no. Next I checked the freezer, I always have extras in the freezer. There was nothing and I didn’t have time to make more before we needed to leave but my only plan had been PB&J. No backup plan. I called Michele to ask if she had any bread I could use (she is also gluten free) but she had run out too. Then she asked the question that I will share with you today…”Do you have any pancake mix?” Well I did but wasn’t sure how that helped me any. She said make some pancakes, which take only a few minutes, add some peanut butter and jelly, and roll. What a great idea and quick too. My girls loved there PB&J pancake rolls and I got out of the house on time. Thanks Michele.

Chicken and Dumplings

Sarah — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:46:06 +0000

This is always the requested meal whenever my kids visit Mema. They love her and her dumplings. When the girls had to start eating “free”, she started experimenting with different flours to try to get the dumplings just right. Well, she nailed it this last time. It was so good I just had to share it.

Recipe: Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

8 cups broth
2 stalks celery, sliced
6 carrots, sliced
3 chicken brests, cubed
1/2 onion, diced
Bread Flour Mix to thicken

Instructions

Bring broth to boil.
Add chicken and veggies.
Continue to boil until veggies are almost done/tender.
Drop on dumplings (Follow directions below)
When dumplings are done, remove them to a separate bowl.
Whisk bread flour mix with a little water or broth. Add mixture to soup. Use however much you need to reach desired consistency. We like it to resemble a thin gravy.
Serve over dumplings.

Recipe: Dumplings

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups Bread Flour Mix
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3 Tbsp oil
3/4 cup rice milk

Instructions

Blend dry ingredients.
Blend in oil and milk. Do not overmix.
Drop by spoonfuls onto the boiling broth (not in liquid).
Cook slowly for 10 minutes with pot uncovered. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.
Remove and keep warm while thickening soup.

Diet (other): Gluten free, Dairy free, Egg free

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Favorite Food Find Friday – Corn Tortillas

Sarah — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:01:34 +0000

I’m sure most of you know this already but I wanted to add it for those who are new to “free” cooking. We always keep corn tortillas on hand. They are a “free” food and can be used to make quick meals. Both soft and hard are great and so are tortilla chips. Use them for tacos, fajitas, tostadas, breakfast burritos, and much more. We love the speed of tacos at our house. We eat them or some variation of them almost once a week. I was very excited to learn that my girls could still eat this staple. We serve them with beans, dairy free sour cream, lettuce, olives, and salsa. (Check out our “free” taco seasoning recipe.)

Fajitas

Sarah — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:06:44 +0000

We love fajitas at our house. This recipe is so tasty and easy to prepare. They taste just like the fajitas you order at a Mexican restaurant but you don’t have to worry about what might be in the seasoning. If you don’t have time to marinade, don’t worry. Just cook meat with the sauce and it turns out just fine. If you are looking for another recipe to add to your families list of staples, this may just do the trick.

Recipe: Fajitas

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs chicken or beef, cut into strips
1/4 cup bottled taco sauce
Juice from 1 lime
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, optional
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 onion, sliced
1 Red pepper, sliced
1/2 tsp chili powder
Tortillas
Dairy free Sour cream
Salsa
Dairy free Shredded cheese
Lettuce
Avocado
Refried Beans

Instructions

Meat can be cooked on the grill or on the stove. Just follow the cooking instructions for the method you choose.
In a large bowl, combine taco sauce, lime juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, and cumin. Add meat (presliced into strips if cooking on stove) and toss to coat.
Cover and Marinate, tossing occasionally, 1-2 hours at room temp or up to 12 hours refrigerated.
Preheat grill or pan.
If grilling, Set meat on an oiled grill. Turning and basting with marinade serveral time, until meat is cooked throughout but still moist, 8-10 minutes. Let stand 3-5 imnutes before cutting into large strips.
If cooking on the stove, place meat and sauce in preheated, oiled pan and cook until done about 8-10 minutes.
While cooking meat, place onion and pepper in a fry pan with a little oil. Cook until tender. Stir in chili powder.
To serve, put meat on tortillas and top with beans, veggies, salsa, avocado, lettuce, df cheese, and df sour cream.

Diet (other): Gluten free, Dairy free, Egg free

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Grinding Grains

Sarah — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:33:33 +0000

Have you noticed that gluten free grains are expensive? It is amazing how much they can charge for a bag of rice flour that will only make 2 batches of muffins. When you add that to the fact that you need many different kinds of grains, it can be a budget breaker. But we all know that not only is baking from scratch better for you, it is also less expensive than buying the different premade gluten free items out there.

My solution is grinding my own grains. I now buy all my grains in bulk and grind them as I need them. The grains I use most, like brown rice flour, get ground in larger batches and stored in air tight locking containers. (Note…tapioca is a frequently used flour in our house but should not be ground in most machines.) I grind brown rice, buckwheat, teff, amaranth, millet, quinoa, and much more. Fresh flour contains many more nutrients than flours that have been on the shelf for who knows how long. You also don’t have to worry about rancidity like you do with the pre-ground grains.

I want to tell you about a machine that I believe should be in every gluten free home. The VitaMix is a grinder, blender, juicer, food processor, and much more. (You can read more about my love for this machine and the things we use it for here.) While this machine is not inexpensive, it will quickly pay for itself in many ways. The first of which I mentioned earlier, the amount of money you will save on your flours. Secondly, when you add up the cost of the machines it replaces and/or can substitute for, it is probably less. Next, the VitaMix is industrial quality, has a full 7 year warrenty and lasts for upwards of 30 years. As an example, we have burned through two full size blenders and one magic bullet in our 13 years of marriage. We barely used these blenders because they never did what we wanted anyway. Just the cost of those items was $200. I could have saved that wasted money by purchasing a VitaMix in the beginning. Now add that money to the two juicers and the grain mill and I would have come out way ahead. (By the way, I found the VitaMix on Amazon for the same cost as Costco. Just go to this page for all your options.)

Back to grinding grains with the VitaMix. My dear friend bought her VitaMix with a special dry container for grinding grains. When I bought mine, they didn’t give me that option and I already had a grain mill anyway so I didn’t want to spend the extra money. Next thing I knew, my grain mill wouldn’t turn on (I’m still unhappy about that and hope it is still under warrenty). I figured I’d try putting rice in my standard VitaMix container and see what happened. It worked and I haven’t looked back. You may want to do your own research into the reasoning for the second container but I am happy with just using the one. The flours are just as fine as those I purchase at the store and are much less expensive.

Begin saving your quarters for your own VitaMix and before you know it you won’t know how you lived without it. Then with all the money you’ll be saving on flours, you can treat yourself to a pedicure or maybe a trip to Hawaii.

Favorite Food Find Friday – Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup

Sarah — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:32:03 +0000

While I like to use my homemade dairy free mushroom soup/sauce for most recipes that call for cream of mushroom soup, I am excited to have found a quick substitute that I can keep in my cupboard. Imagine’s Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup may not have the thick consistency of your typical Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom but it has all the flavor. You can adapt the thickness by adding less of your other liquids in a recipe or by adding some rice flour mix. It can be used for your classic chicken and rice casserole for a quick and easy meal. Enjoy.

Favorite Food Find Friday – Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Sarah — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:45:21 +0000

As we changed our eating, there were many things I wasn’t sure how I to replace. Chocolate chips was one of them. We had tried carob chips but they are just very different. I am hoping our palettes learn to like carob but in the meantime what was I to do.

I happened upon a solution as I wandered baking isle of our local natural food store. Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (check out their site for a store location near you). They taste just like regular choclate chips but without the dairy. They aren’t dark chocolate either. They taste like a great semi-sweet milk choclate chip. The dairy free counterpart to Nestle.

We use them excusively whenever we need chocolate chips. No one knows the difference. My girls are so happy to be able to get a little chocolate here and there. What girl wouldn’t be!?!

Chicken Pad Thai

Sarah — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:29:57 +0000

This Thai dish is my girls favorite. Anything with noodles is a winner in their book.

Recipe: Chicken Pad Thai

Ingredients

14 oz Thai Rice Noodles
2 cups chicken, sliced thinly
Marinade: 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tbsp wheat free Soy Sauce
2-3 Tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped (can use other nuts)
1/2 cup chicken stock 1/4 tsp pepper
1 fresh lime, sliced

Pad Thai Sauce

1-1/2 Tbsp Tamarind Paste dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
5 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2-6 tsp chili sauce (optional)
6 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodle. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare other ingredients. Note that you will be frying the noodles later, so you don’t want to over soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but still firm and a little crunchy. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combing the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. Note: this may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind.
Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Pour marinade over the chicken. Stir well and set aside. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp of oil plus garlic and chili if using. Stir fry until fragrant.
Add chicken (with marinade) and stir fry for 1 minute. When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock (1-2 Tbsp at a time), enough to keep the chicken frying nicely. continue stir frying in this way until the chicken is cooked (5-8 minutes).
Add the noodles and Pad Thai sauce. Using two spatulas, immediately stir frying noodles. Use a gentle “lift and turn” method, like tossing a salad, to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir fry in this way 1-2 minutes. You can always add more oil if your wok becomes too dry (don’t use chicken broth as it will make noodles soggy).
Add pepper and continue tossing until noodles are cooked. They should no longer be hard or crunchy but a little chewy/sticky.
Place in serving dish and top with fresh cilantro, green onion, and chopped nuts. Serve with fresh lime wedges to squeeze over top.

Diet (other): Gluten free, Dairy free, Egg free

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Panang Curry

Sarah — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:34:14 +0000

Writing about eating out at Thai restaurants made me think about Thai food…a lot. I thought I’d share recipes for my family’s favorite dishes.

Recipe: Panang Curry

Ingredients

2-4 cups thinly sliced meat, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or any other meat of your choice
2 cans coconut milk
1/2 to 1-1/2 Tbsp Panang curry paste (I used red curry paste as it was easier to find)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced, any color
Any other vegetables of choice, mushrooms, carrots, etc.
Some water (to thin out if needed)

Instructions

Heat skillet or wok to high heat. Stir fry meat and veggies until crisp-tender. Remove from pan. (This step can be skipped and all can just be added and cooked when instructions say re-add)
Bring to a boil, coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, and fish sauce together in the pan.
Then re-add your meat and veggies. Simmer an additional 10 minutes or until meat is fully cooked.
If you find the curry has boiled down to much, just add some water to thin it out.
Serve over rice.

Diet (other): Gluten free, Dairy free, Egg, free

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Nut Butter Balls

Sarah — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:45:28 +0000

These are such a yummy treat. Full of protein yet sweet enough to curb that sweet tooth. My husband and I like to eat one as a sweet bedtime treat after we put the kids in bed. However, beware as they are quite addictive.

Recipe: Nut Butter Balls

Ingredients

1 cup natural peanut or almond butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup ground flax seed
2-1/2 – 3 cups gluten free oats
1/2 cup nuts or seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, or any combination of other nuts)
1/2 cup dried fruit (try raisins or cranberries)
1/2 shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Mix nut butter and honey together well in a medium sized bowl.
Stir in flax seed.
Next gradually stir in oats until the consistency is no longer too sticky.
Add all remaining ingredients and stir well. Roll into small balls and refrigerate.
Keep in fridge or freezer to help maintain shape.

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