Recipe: Sweet & Sour Shrimp

I got this today from my Glutenfreeda.com weekly recipe mailing, and I just knew I had to share it right away. Who among us has NOT craved Chinese food, but really didn't have anything that was safe to eat? My local Chinese place has all of two items on their extraordinarily large menu that are gluten free. My first thought when I saw this recipe was to adapt it to make Sweet & Sour Pork - one of my old favorites! Adapt it to any meat of your choosing - steak would be awesome, too! Be sure to prepare some sticky rice ahead of time so you have a "base" for the shrimp! Now if only I could figure out how to do tempura...

Sweet & Sour Shrimp

Ingredients:

1/3 cup gf teriyaki sauce (click the link at the bottom of the page to go to Glutenfree.com - they carry this!)
3 Tablespoons frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1-1/2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon gf hot sauce, plus more to taste (optional)
1/2 fresh pineapple or one 20 ounce can unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
Salt to taste

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together teriyaki sauce, pineapple-juice concentrate, vinegar, hot sauce and cornstarch. Set aside.
If using fresh pineapple, peel and cut into 1/2" pieces.
In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over high heat until hot. Add ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add shrimp and stir-fry until pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil until hot. Add pineapple and scallions and cook, stirring occasionally, until pineapple is slightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add reserved sauce mixture and shrimp and heat through, about 1 minute. Season with salt to taste.
Serve immediately.

Product Review: Cinnamon Bread Mix by The Really Great Food Company

Boy oh boy - where do I begin? From the complicated directions for bread machine or oven method to the disastrous final product, this was one difficult mix to work with.

The bread machine method only mentions instructions for a Breadman Plus - not any other breadmaker. My model is a bit newer and has a gluten free bread setting, so I took a guess and used that one. The only thing that is clear on the box is that it needs to bake for 50 minutes. Other than that, you are on your own if you are using a bread machine.

The oven method directions are worse - if you have plenty of time to beat, knead, allow rising, build up the sides of a baking pan with foil, etc, then maybe you can hack this one, but for me, this was too complicated.

The cinnamon scent was truly overpowering when the bread was baking. I was baking a loaf of banana bread at the same time in my oven while the cinnamon bread was baking, and I never smelled the banana bread. The cinnamon was so strong, that even three hours later, it smells like it is still baking. That's pretty dang strong.

Lastly was the flavor. This was just terrible. I expected a thick bread with cinnamon flavor, but what I tasted was cardboard with a bit of spice. You would think that the flavor would have come through, as strong as the scent was, but honestly, the flavor itself was weak. Not to mention that even with a 53 minute cook cycle (the box suggests 50 minutes with the Breadman Plus) this was not fully cooked and I had to add 15 minutes of additional "bake only" time to my bread machine. Even that still left some pockets of uncooked bread, but it was better than where we started.

Suffice it to say, I will NOT be getting this product again. What a disappointment, especially from a company called Really Great Food.

Recipe: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

For those of you who LOVE bananas - here is a delectable recipe from glutenfreeda.com for a delicious banana cake with chocolate frosting! The frosting here is a bit time-consuming, so if you have your own recipe for frosting and are short on time, this recipe adapts well to a large variety of frostings!

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups gf flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 mashed bananas

For frosting:
2/3 cup water
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" slices
4 ounces bittersweet gf chocolate, cut into pieces, and cooled to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13"x9" rectangular pan. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat sugar and oil on high speed. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternating with buttermilk until batter is smooth. Mix in bananas. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
For frosting: Pour water into a heavy saucepan and stir in sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar has completely dissolved. Set pan over moderately high heat and boil to soft ball stage at 235 degrees F. Pour hot syrup into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at moderately high speed. Add a piece of butter and continue whipping until it has been absorbed then add another piece. Continue until all butter has been added. Whip in cool, melted chocolate and vanilla; continue whipping until frosting is smooth. Leave cake in pan and frost top of cake.

Book Review: Gluten Free Italian Cookbook by Mary Capone

This review comes courtesy of Glutenfreeda.com - if you have been craving Italian, this book is worth your while! Includes recipes that are both gluten and dairy free! Get your Italian fix quick and easy!

"Love Italian Food? The Gluten-Free Italian Cookbook invites you back to the scrumptious world of classic Italian cuisine. Full of stories and family recipes, author and instructor, Mary Capone combines her gluten-free mastery with her love of the kitchen to create an inspiring cookbook that's simply irresistible. Wake up to tender biscotti and an espresso. Lunch on delicious wild mushroom pizza. Relax in the evening with a comforting bowl of ravioli. Delight in over 140 delicious gluten-free recipes including 135 with dairy-free/casein-free variations. Visit www.wheatfreegourmet.com for free recipes."

Recipe: Chicken Pasta Salad

This is a cold pasta salad, perfect for warmer evenings. It is best eaten right away, as rice pasta is notorious for getting a little bit "stiff" upon setting in the fridge.

Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

13 oz can Chicken Breast

3 heaping Tblsp Mayo

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tsp Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt (or any other rock salt)

1 tsp Coriander

2 Tblsp Fresh Chopped Cilantro

2 Tblsp Fresh Chopped Chives

1 pkg Tinkyada Brown Rice Spirals, cooked per package directions

Directions:

While rice pasta is cooking, combine chicken, mayo, mustard, salt, coriander, cilantro and chives in a large bowl, breaking chicken apart with a fork. After pasta is finished, drain it and rinse it with cold water until completely cooled. Add pasta to chicken mixture and blend thoroughly. This recipe is light on the salt - feel free to add more to taste.

* You can add a drained can of corn to this, or fresh asparagus spears for a little variety. Just add a little more mayo for better consistency.

Product Review: Pamela's Chocolate Brownie Mix

This is one of the first delicious tasting mixes I came across when initially going gluten-free. Pamela's also makes a fantastic pancake mix that even my grandparents couldn't tell was not a wheat flour based counterpart.

Pamela's Chocolate Brownie mix can be made a multitude of different ways - no matter your allergy. It can be made dairy free, egg free, more fudgy, more cake-like, etc.

This is truly a decadent chocolate brownie. The chocolate is rich and the brownies come out dense and chewy. It's an easy mix to make - just mix in one bowl and place it in the oven!

My favorite thing to do with this mix is create my own "Chocolate Thunder from Down Under" - credit Outback Steakhouse for this insanely delicious dessert. I buy my favorite ice cream (or soy ice cream if dairy is bothering me) to top the warm brownie, add hot fudge sauce and whipped cream, and some chopped nuts. I am in heaven with this dessert!

You can add dried fruit, nuts, or MORE chocolate chips to this brownie mix. I am still waiting to try dried sweet cherries with chopped pecans!

Recipe: Chicken Stroganoff with Notta Pasta

Notta Pasta is a fantastic gluten-free rice pasta sold in many mainstream grocery stores, health food stores, and online. This recipe is from NottaPasta.com and can be made for the most finicky of eaters. It's a great substitute for the heavy beef and egg noodle original recipe.

Chicken Stroganoff with Notta Pasta

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1/2-16 oz box (8 oz) Notta Pasta Fettuccine

1 tablespoon olive oil

1&1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced thinly (sub in chicken breast tenders if you are not a fan of dark meat thighs)

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1-10 oz package baby bella mushrooms, quartered

8 oz shitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced

1/2 cup white zinfandel or similar sweet wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet over a high heat. Add chicken and sauté until just cooked through. Leaving as much oil in the skillet as possible, transfer chicken to a plate and cover.

Melt butter in skillet. Add onions and garlic. Cook over a medium high heat, stirring frequently until soft. Add mushrooms and cook until slightly browned.

Pour in wine and bring to a boil, scraping any browned bits from bottom of pan. Boil until wine is almost evaporated. Add tomato paste and cook until dissolved, and very slightly browned.

Add broth and sour cream. Stirring, bring to a boil. Add chicken and any accumulated juices on plate. Simmer until chicken is just heated through.

Boil Notta Pasta in salted water according to directions. Drain and serve stroganoff over rice noodles.

Recipe: Decadent Brownies

In honor of Valentines Day, I present to you this recipe from Glutenfreeda.com for Decadent Brownies. A little time consuming but well worth it! Delicious!

Decadent Brownies

3 sticks butter, sliced

24 ounces semisweet gf chocolate (try Enjoy Life Foods or 365 Brand Vegan Chocolate Chips)

6 eggs

2-1/4 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon gf vanilla

3/4 cup gf flour

3 cups walnuts, roasted & chopped

Powdered sugar as needed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Bring a large pan of water to boil and reduce heat to low. Place butter in a large bowl. Put the bowl over the hot water but do not allow it to touch the water. Add the chocolate chips to the butter. Heat the chocolate until it begins to look glossy. Work the mixture with a rubber spatula. Remove the bowl from the hot water when the mixture is about half-way melted. Continue to work the chocolate while off the heat until smooth and glossy. In the large bowl, beat the eggs at high speed until slightly thickened. Gradually add the sugar to the eggs and beat until mixture is pale and thick, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the cooled chocolate and vanilla to the eggs. Reduce mixture speed to low and gradually add flour by spoonfuls. Blend briefly and stir in the nuts. Pour the batter into a buttered jelly roll pan and distribute it evenly using a rubber spatula. Place pan on the middle rack of oven. Reduce heat to 375ºF. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (for a soft to firm texture) or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center. Watch the brownies carefully towards the end of baking time to avoid burning edges. Place the baking sheet over a wire rack to cool brownies. Sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar. Cut and serve. Or, when cool, you may cover the brownies with plastic wrap and store them overnight. Storing them overnight will result in a more chewy texture.

Tips:

These brownies are wonderfully rich and moist. You can divide the batter in half and spread the batter into a 9x9" baking pan. This results in 9 large, thick brownies. They will keep a couple of days covered with saran wrap.

Product Review: Ian's French Toast Sticks

As much as I want to love this product, it just doesn't do it for me. I used a microwave instead of the oven, cooking it for 3 minutes at 50% power. I figured that since we use the same time for our turkey sausages, that it would probably make this ok. The box suggests oven cooking only, but cooking it in the microwave at the reduced power did not yield a rubbery result - it was just fine texture-wise.

Now, the taste... that's another thing entirely. I was expecting at least a little bit of cinammon flavor, but it really had none. I even added a little bit of butter and my own cinammon-sugar mixture, and it STILL tasted bland. I think maybe the only thing that could save this would be to use maple syrup, and even that is a stretch.

This is really disappointing, because normally Ian's has really good products. But this time, they really missed the mark. The flavoring needs to be more intense - more cinammon, for sure - to bring it up to snuff.

That said, I'd be willing to try it again, and this time maybe use the syrup. If your child does not like strong flavors, this definitely does not have anything in it to offend.

Recipe: Gluten Free Banana Bread

I use this recipe from Glutenfreeda.com religiously. We buy bananas all the time, and if I have a few past the "just right" stage, I save them for this bread. I made two tiny tweaks to the original recipe found at their website - see the * on the recipe and my notes next to them.

Gluten Free Banana Bread

1-1/3 cup gf flour (I use Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Mix exclusively for this bread - click on the link at the bottom of this page to go there to buy some - you won't regret it!)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed (I use 3 medium to large bananas)

3/4 cup pecans, chopped * The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but I LOVE pecans, so I add just a bit more.

1 cup chocolate chips * The original recipe does not call for these, but what can I say? I am a chocoholic!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a loaf pan. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda and powder. In a large bowl, beat together the oil and sugar. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture and beat until blended. Gradually beat in eggs. Fold in bananas and pecans. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool on rack.

Product Review: Simply Organic Carrot Cake Mix

Oh my goodness - I've died and gone to carrot cake heaven! WOW! I bought this mix for my husband's birthday and thought it would probably be just another mediocre cake mix. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of this cake. I could not believe it was gluten free.

Probably the most difficult aspect of making this cake is grating all the carrots - we used organic carrots that were still attached to the tops, but being small in size was what hindered our progress. It took us about an hour to grate 1 cup of carrots! If you have a salad shooter, I HIGHLY recommend using it instead of grating by hand.

I was lucky enough to be able to use a real cream cheese frosting recipe with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, and the outcome was just phenomenal. (There are several dairy free recipies available on the net if you need to Google a frosting recipe, though.) The cake was tender, generously spiced with cinammon, and moist from the carrots. I used the lower cooking time and it came out perfectly - I recommend starting to watch it once it hits the 45 minute mark.

We had to leave nuts out due to our son's allergies, but even without, this cake garnered a "WOW!" from my husband, who normally isn't so vocal about my gluten-free cakes. THAT is high praise. I already have a well-favored banana bread recipe, but now I am eager to try Simply Organic's Banana Bread Mix!

Product Review: EnviroKidz Organic Gorilla Munch

I originally bought the Gorilla Munch because I thought it would be a bit like Cap'n Crunch. It's too bad it really tastes nothing like it - I might have liked it better. For all intents and purposes, this is one boring cereal.

The first taste reminded me of Kix - and I wasn't a huge fan of that cereal as a kid, either. Kix to me were crunchy balls of tasteless, flavorless "nothing". The only thing going for this cereal was that it does have a hint of sweetness to it that was lacking with Kix. This one started crunchy, but got soggy FAST. It is made from corn meal, evaporated cane juice and sea salt. There is a warning on the box that says it may contain peanuts, tree nuts & soy, so if you have additional allergy considerations, please be advised this cereal may not be for you.

Gorilla Munch has no artificial additives or preservatives, and the company donates 1% of sales to wildlife preservation. That alone was a benefit in purchasing, but I wish it had a bit more flavor to it. That said, you could probably add dried fruit or bananas to it to liven it up. I will definitely give that a try to see how it turns out.

Product Review: Glutenfreeda's Peanut Envy Cookies

We all know how hard it is to find satisfying, fresh-baked cookies when working with gluten-free products and ingredients. Glutenfreeda's line of drop cookies has been by far one of the most pleasing to taste-test! It's fantastic to find something that tastes just like the original! I love peanut butter cookies, and I had been craving them when I came across these.

Peanut Envy is one great cookie – the rich peanut flavor is hard to distinguish from homemade. Filled the house with that unmistakable peanut butter cookie scent. I could barely wait for them to cool off – that first bite was salty and sweet, crispy and decadent. These are pre-formed – just drop on a cookie sheet and bake. No trans fats, no hydrogenated oils. Bet you can't have just one!

* Please refer to Peanut, Paul & Mary review for ordering information and where to buy.