Pecan Pie

I have the task of providing pecan pies to our Thanksgiving feast. I have 2 regular crusts, and 2 gluten-free crusts, so we're making 4 pies today. After each is being pulled from the oven, we're using dark chocolate chips to mark an "R" for regular crust, and "G" for gluten-free crust. Gotta do this for the Kid's sake. We're taking one regular and one gluten-free, because this is the Kid's favorite pie, and with all of his food allergies and being so picky, I want to make sure he has a good time there too!

Anyway, here's the recipe I'm using:

Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened (or melted/cooled)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup pecan halves
9" pie shell

Directions:
Beat eggs. Add the corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla, and blend well. Stir in pecans (I use pecans, whether they're halves or broken!). Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 F. degrees for 50-55 minutes.

= = = =

NOTE: (1) I ended up with too much "batter" from each batch so I poured into a little tart shell (or 2) and will bake when I'm done with all of the pies. (2) Always place your pie plate/tin on a baking sheet not only for stability but also to catch any overflows (you'll need to clean the oven less often). (3) My first pie turned out a bit darker than I expected, so the second I baked only for 48 minutes, and it turned out beautifully. (4) For the gluten-free pies, I used pre-made gluten-free pie crusts from my favorite bakery (http://www.debysglutenfree.com/). Use care to not cross-contaminate.

After each was done, I moved from the baking sheet to a nice-sized plate and placed in our garage, where there are no bugs (or mice, thank goodness!) but it is about 40 degrees in there. After it completely cooled, I placed the entire plate/pie in a big baggie, and there it will stay until it's time to take to Thanksgiving dinner.

The Gluten-Free Diet Fad

I was watching TV the other night, when Channel 4 kept giving a teaser for the 10 p.m. news - about the "gluten-free diet fad" - will it really help you lose weight? I waited and waited and finally after 25 minutes of "news and weather", they got to the story. Basically, they said that gluten is found in wheat, and most people don't really need the diet.

Excuse me?

Then I did a search tonight... googled "gluten-free diet fad" and couldn't believe what I read. Some people write about gluten-free people being snobs, and not really needing gluten-free food but just want the attention. Some people write that all poultry is ok, but that is misleading as any poultry or other meat with injections and additives usually have a gluten product in them. .

Here's a link to one of the stories: http://cbs11tv.com/gethealthytexas/Gluten.Free.Diet.2.1279346.html - she barely mentioned oats (a responsible reporter would have mentioned that oats are usually contaminated from wheat being grown nearby but "certified gluten-free oats" are ok for gluten-intolerant people). And it's not true that chips are always ok ... many many times they use fillers that have gluten in them.

Gluten-intolerance MAY be a diet choice for some people, but those people don't really understand the diet. The products aren't made to reduce fat and sugar and cholesterol and sodium and calories, but only take out and replace products made from wheat, rye, oat and barley, including maltro-dextrin, soy sauce and more. So... are these people completely deleting from their food intake sodas? Candy? Sweets of all kinds?

People, come on! A gluten-free diet won't solve your problems; eat less and work out more.

This isn't a joke. Some people need to be on the diet, or they will die. Celiac disease is a serious auto-immune, digestive disease. Why would someone choose to put their kid on this diet if they didn't have to? That means no fast food, no birthday parties with other kids, no cereal with goofy characters on the boxes. Really? Parents would choose to pay extra money for special gluten-free products? Ha! Not likely.

No, my kid isn't celiac, but gluten-products, along with cashews, soy, corn, peanuts, cow's milk, preservatives and fake colors can turn my sweet boy into a hellion... going from nice to unbelievably horrible and suicidal within moments. Plus he's a very picky eater. When we find something he can eat, we stick with it, which he's ok with.

For me, I get a rash all over my body when I eat gluten. It's called dermatitis herpetiformis, and it's absolutely not fun. Gluten also messes up my ovulation cycle (which is why I can't get pregnant), but that's just me and hasn't been medically proven.

Enough of my rant. Input?

Vikki

Throw-Together Soup and Bread

With my fever raging, and the whole family down for the count with this swine flu, I just didn't feel like cooking yesterday. But I could throw things in the crockpot ... so I did. Sorry but I didn't measure - that's why I call it "throw"-together!

white beans (maybe a cup or 2?)
water to cover

Cook until soft. Added quinoa (maybe a cup?) and more water, and cooked until quinoa was soft. Added dried soup veggies (maybe a cup - green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, onion, bell peppers, etc.). Also added lots of dried garlic (good for immune system) and dried onion dices. Pinch of hot pepper flakes.

When it smelled ready, we ate it with some bread I had done in the bread machine (comes in handy when I have no energy to knead).

I'm re-heating leftovers for tonight, after adding a dash of Mrs. Dash's garlic and herb mix, and we'll be adding some goat or sheep cheese to melt in the hot soup. Yum.

Spiced Quinoa

Since I have a gluten-intolerant kid who is also a very picky eater, I experiment with different grains. Here's something I made the other day (yes, in the crockpot again!) that we all enjoyed. PLUS it filled us up! The kid ate a big bowl of this plus some carrots. Made me happy.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, rinsed with fine sieve
3 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:
Add rinsed quinoa and water to crockpot; cook on high for 4 hours. One hour before serving, add the sugar and spices, and cook on low. Served with a bit of butter (lactose-free for Hubby and soy-free for Kid) and a sprinkling of more brown sugar on the top.

I'm thinking next time I'll add with the spices about a teaspoon of tapioca flour to thicken it. Might even add raisins but kid doesn't like them.

Crockpot sausage and cabbage

I'm cleaning out the freezer. My kid's birthday is next week (omg... a teenager!) and need to make room for lots of gluten-free items I've ordered at a special bakery. So... found some breakfast sausage without casing. Did this in the crockpot:

Ingredients:
1 pound breakfast sausage, no casing
1 1/2 cup water
3 baking potatoes, scrubbed and chunked
1 onion, diced
1/3 head green cabbage, sliced
1 cup baby carrots

Directions:
Turned on the crockpot, high. Crumbled the breakfast sausage into the bottom and cooked on high for about 2 1/2 hours (until cooked through). Added the rest of the ingredients, cooked on high for about 3 more hours, or until the potatoes were fork-tender. Stirred before serving.

As you can tell, I don't use spices very often. Feel free to season to taste.

Hubby said he loved it (the garlic and other spices from the sausage added more flavor to the dish), and even took some for lunch today. (I don't like cooked cabbage or sausage, and Picky-Eater Kid wanted gluten-free mac-and-cheese for dinner, so ... yep, I made 3 different dinners last night! That's ok... I'm used to it.)

Native American Goulash

I met a very old man yesterday who was from the Native American tribes of Pima and Punca. He told me one of the dishes he grew up on was goulash. Here's how he explained it to me:

Ingredients:
ground beef (LEAN) or beans
small unripe pumpkins
canned corn
canned green chilies

Directions:
Brown ground beef and drain of fat (or soak and cook beans). Harvest pumpkins while still small and green, peel, de-seed, and cut into small chunks. Add to beef/beans. Add drained corn and chilies. Cook and serve.

I'm thinking he probably missed a step or ingredient, but I'm going to try this when I have unripe pumpkins! Comments?

A quick meal when can't find kitchen stuff!

We've finally sold the horrible house and moved into our temporary place. I've been down with the flu (not THAT flu!) so I haven't really unpacked yet. No idea where the dishes are, and still can't find my clothes!!!

I did just find my small crockpot and a bag of white northern beans so I put 1 cup of beans in the crockpot with 4 cups of water. On high. I'm going back to bed for a while.

Then... an hour before dinner, I'll add another cup or 2 of water, 2 tablespoons of dried carrot dices, half a small can of tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of dehydrated onion flakes, and 2 tablespoons garlic powder (can't find the garlic flakes!!). IF I can find some bacon in our chest freezer, I'll add a couple of slices too. Or maybe 2 tablespoons of jarred bacon pieces.

Now... where's my bread machine?

Recipe: Steak Sauce

Now that you've made ketchup/catsup (see yesterday's post), it's time to make your own steak sauce!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons strained catsup

3 finely minced shallots

1 teaspoon anchovy extract

1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves

1 quart strong vinegar (we use apple cider to be gluten-free)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Place that saucepan in a larger pot of boiling water (keeping the water from getting in the medium saucepan with your sauce), and keep boiling the water until the sauce in the inner pot is well heated but not yet boiling. Remove from the heat. Cover. Let stand 2 days. Strain finely then bottle/jar/can. Should keep for years if canned correctly.

Recipe: Tomato Ketchup

We've been eating tomatoes from our backyard grocery garden since the last week in June. Just this past Sunday, I picked 9 beautiful red tomatoes, and there are another 5 or 6 ready for tomorrow. Now is the time to bring out the tomato recipes! Here's one for catsup / ketchup. I use apple cider vinegar to make it gluten-free.

Ingredients:
1 gallon ripe red tomatoes
2 cups vinegar (cider, wine, etc.)
1 teaspoon red pepper
3 tablespoons white table sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons cloves
2 tablespoons dry mustard
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon mace

Directions:
Cut up and cook until soft a gallon of ripe red tomatoes. Pass them through a medium sieve (to get rid of big chunks of seeds or skins. In a large pot, add the cooked tomato goo, the vinegar, red pepper, sugar and salt. Then in a small cachet or cheesecloth bag, add the black peppercorns, cloves, mustard, cinnamon and mace, tie it up and add to the pot. Boil all for about 4 hours. Remove spice bag. Bottle/can while it is still hot.

Properly jarred, it should last a LONG time on your pantry shelf. I personally can't imagine my son eating chicken or fish without ketchup so it's a staple in my home.

Recipe: Rummed Blackberries

Rum is gluten-free and a great way to preserve those berries that are very available during the Summer. Here's how:

Ingredients:

fresh raw berries (blackberries, mulberries, etc.)

90-proof rum

white table sugar

Directions:

Wash the berries and drain thoroughly. Place in jars that you have a cover for. Add 1/2 cup white table sugar to 1 cup of strong 90-proof rum. Cover the berries in the jar with the sugar/rum mixture. Seal the jar tightly and store in a dark place. Do not use for at least one month for blackberries, two months for mulberries.

How to Use:

Spoon over pound cake or fresh homemade ice cream for a delicious treat.

Rice and Corn Chex are now Gluten-Free!

It's so hard coming up with a gluten-free cereal that my kid will eat. And that I can afford. He loves Panda Puffs but they are so expensive.

As you know, we're packing up so we can put the house on the market. That means pretty much no cooking once the kitchen is packed up. We'll be existing on yogurt, cereal, fruits and veggies. Sounds fun, right? Well, we can do it.

It had been several months since I'd bought cereal that wasn't from the health food store. I just don't eat it that often, and honestly, it's not a good value for dollar spent. But since we'll be eating more cereal over the next month (or god no, two months), I thought I'd look for another. So I was looking in the cereal aisle the other day, hoping to find that a gluten-free cereal has magically appeared on the shelves. And I saw them. Rice Chex and Corn Chex. They actually have "gluten-free" right on the box!

Ok! Now I can collect coupons for them, buy lots, and add them to our stockpile as well as what we'll be eating until we sell the house and move to our homestead.

Anyone got any original chex recipes? Feel free to post them here.

Hello, Chex people! Got any coupons? :) Vikki

Recipe: Walnut Meringues

I love meringues, don't you? They actually aren't that difficult to make, and are a tasty gluten-free, lactose-free snack. Sometimes I add chocolate chips instead of walnuts, and when I do... they don't last the day!

Ingredients:

3 egg whites (I use large)

pinch salt

3/4 cup white table sugar

1/3 cup finely-chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place egg whites and salt in large mixing bowl and beat (either by hand or with an electric mixer) until you have soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar so that the peaks stiffen. Fold in walnuts (or chocolate chips!). Spoon (or pipe) mounds about 1 inch in diameter and 1 inch apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake about 20 minutes or until the meringues are dry to the touch. Let them cool completely before removing from baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Sorghum Coconut Pancakes

We're on a health kick, right? Eliminating all processed foods, going for as organic as possible?

I bought a bunch of gluten-free flours this week because of our new diet. They will store well, unopened for about a year, longer if frozen unopened. Among these are sorghum flour, coconut flour and brown rice flour. I even found gluten-free chocolate chips and organic butter.

Because we usually have chocolate pancakes Saturday mornings, I came up with this gluten-free recipe for this morning. Sorry... they were all gone before I remembered the camera! (Pic to the right is are regular pancakes).

Ingredients:
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 packets stevia sweetener
3 cups water

Additions: chocolate chips, sliced bananas, or blueberries

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Add water 1/2 cup at a time until a little bit thicker than pancake consistency. Add your "additions" if desired and gently mix in. Spray or oil skillet or griddle. Spoon on batter when cooking surface is hot - not too thick though - I spread it around a little bit with my spoon. Cook as regular pancakes. (We drizzle with honey instead of sugar.)

The texture is just a little bit different, but very delicious. Even Hubby liked them!

You will just barely taste the coconut, and the fiber from the coconut and sorghum flours will help you, well, you know!

Copyright (c) 2009 V P Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Amino Acid Cookie-Square

Have you heard of the cookie diet? It's basically cookies that you eat in place of a meal. Looks like 3 cookies per meal, 2 meals per day, with a sensible 3rd meal. The cookie-meals are about $4.20 per meal! Supposedly, the inventor came up with a special combination of amino acids which help ... do something. It's not clear.

This got me thinking about flax seeds. We buy large containers of flax seed meal at Sam's Warehouse, and flax seeds are a wonderful source of amino acids. So I took that and a few other ingredients and created this "amino acid cookie-square". It's gluten-free, lactose-free, chock full of amino acids and proteins, and it's very yummy with cocoa and chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
6 cups puffed rice
1 cup flax meal
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (lactose-free as needed)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pan spray a 9x13 baking dish. In a small to medium mixing bowl, combine the flax meal, sugar, and cocoa powder. Add the honey and water and carefully mix. Let sit until the flax meal absorbs the liquid, turning into a gelatinous goo! In a large mixing bowl, place the puffed rice. Add the flax meal goo and the eggs, and mix well. Incorporate the chocolate chips. Pour into the baking dish and even out. Bake for 1 hour minutes. Cool and cut into approx. 2-inch x 2 inch squares. Snack on once or twice a day, as a snack.

Variations:
When going crazy with making up new combinations, remember that walnuts are also an excellent source of amino acids. Add the walnuts with a heavy hand, and the sugary items with a light one.
-chopped dried fruit (mango, apples, peaches)
-banana and walnuts
-blueberry and chopped pecans
-cinnamon and raisin
-coconut and chopped walnut
-peanut butter
-chocolate and coffee
-almond and butter
-chocolate and orange extract
-chocolate and raspberry extract or fresh/dried raspberries
-chocolate and maraschino cherries
-white chocolate and macadamia nuts

Note:
I'm not claiming that these are diet-cookies-brownies, or that you'll lose weight with these squares. I'm just saying that if the cookiediet.com guy says amino acids helps people lose weight, I thought I'd try it. Let me know if these squares help you lose weight!

Copyright (c) 2009 V P Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Pocket Potatoes

I found these mentioned in one of the "Little House" books, and looked up how it was actually done. They didn't use foil (just roasted in coals), but here's an adapted version for modern days:


Ingredients:
white potatoes or sweet potatoes
aluminum foil
roaring fire


Directions:
Clean potato and wrap in foil. Scrape some of the fire's coals to the side, and bury the potatoes in them. Turn occasionally. Cook about 45 minutes (you may see some steam come out). Check by poking with a clean sharpened twig or knife - the middle will be soft/tender.


Here's the beauty of this. When they are done, don't eat yet. Let them cool just until they can be handled, then slip into your pockets. These used to be hand-warmers. Use while out preparing your garden, or traveling (like they did - horse and buggy), or just out taking a walk. In the 1800's, children who walked those long distances to school would keep one in each pocket to help them stay warm, then eat them for lunch.


Serve with butter, as desired.

Recipe: Wheat-Free Cornbread

This is a real good recipe for cornbread, good for gluten-intolerant people like in our household, and will use that dried corn from your last year's harvest.

Ingredients:
2 cups yellow or white cornmeal (freshly ground)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable (or olive) oil
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray your baking pan. Using a medium mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup of the freshly ground cornmeal and the boiling water. Mix until it turns from mushy to stiff then set aside. In a separate larger bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients.

Beat the egg into the medium bowl that has the cornmeal mush, then stir in the oil. Briskly mix in the buttermilk to make the batter thin. Add this bowl of liquid ingredients to the bigger bowl of dry ingredients. Mix until just smoother. Pour immediately into the sprayed pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the center of the cornbread is slightly rounded and firm. The edges will be golden brown. After taking it out of the oven, let rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Variation: to make muffins or cornpones, bake for almost half the time.

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Mud Fish

Another old-way of cooking. This time, fish! This recipe is adapted from what Native Americans used to do:

Ingredients:
1 fish
thick mud
a roaring fire

Directions:
Catch a fish. Start the fire. Make up some thick mud. Coat the fish with about an inch of thick mud on all sides. When you have a good amount of coals from the fire, scoop some of them to the side. Bury the mud-covered fish in the coals and leave it there for 45 minutes. Then scrape away the coals. Knock the dry mud off the fish - it will take most of the fish scales with it, and the mud will have steamed the fish, keeping it moist and tender.

This mud in the fire process kinda acts like an oven. It can be used for almost anything.

Recipe: Mud Apples

Going back to the pioneer theme, here's a recipe... well, more of instructions ... of how to bake an apple with just a fire and mud. Native Americans used to do this ... more or less.

Ingredients:
1 large apple
thick mud
roaring fire

Directions:
Apply a thick coat of mud (about an inch thick) around the apple. Once you have some coals in the fire, scoop some off to the side. Carefully bury the mud-coated apple in the coals. "Bake" for about 45 minutes - long enough to dry the mud and cook the apples. Carefully scrape away the coals and take out the mud apples. Knock the dry mud off of half, discarding that side of the apple skins. That leaves a kind of bowl. Spoon up the pulp for a delicious treat.

Recipe: Rice Fry-Cakes

This is a quick recipe in which you use leftover cooked rice. Good to make extra rice, and extra fry-cakes!

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 cups cooked white rice
2 scallions/bunching onions

Directions:
Chop the scallions. Mix ingredients together, pat into little cakes, and fry in an oiled skillet until golden brown. Delicious! Make extra for a quick snack the next day.

Cost:
.26 = 2 cups rice
.25 = 1 egg
.26 = 2 scallions
===
1.13 Serves 4 conservatively = $.28 per person

(I posted the cost breakdown for this recipe because I plan to use this in tomorrow's posting for a money-saving menu)

Recipe: Crockpot Beans and Salt Pork

I just discovered this recipe - found it in a pioneer book and modified it to suit me. Before bed on Friday, I placed all of the ingredients in the crockpot and let it simmer on low all night. The house smelled wonderful! Hubby and I ate on it all day; VHTS is a very picky eater and had to be coerced to eat any, but he loved the "bacon" taste.

For this recipe, you need to use a large-sized crockpot, and trust me, it will provide many meals! Well worth it.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dry (picked-through) kidney beans
• 1 ham bone or a big ole chunk of salt pork or bacon
• 5 cups water or broth or red wine or any combination thereof!
• 1/2 cup various spices (you choose from: tobasco sauce, bay leaves, garlic, onion, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, marjoram, etc.)
• 2 cups miscellaneous dried vegetables (bell pepper, celery, carrots, potatoes, etc.)
• Garnish: chopped parsley, grated cheese, chopped scallions

Directions:
Put the beans, pork, spices and liquid in the crockpot on low heat. Cook covered for 8-10 hours. Then check the liquid level - add more if you need, to cover the beans. If it's too liquidy, you could add a half cup of rice or pasta. Add the dried veggies (if you do it at the beginning, they'll be mush!) Cook another couple of hours - beans should be very tender. Remove bones and any bay leaves. Sometimes I thicken it up by adding 2 tablespoons of rice flour (you could use wheat flour but we're gluten-free here) and cook for another 30 minutes or so. Serve in bread bowls or regular bowls, and add garnish just before serving.

This is a really cheap dish. Sometimes we get cheap bacon end pieces for $4.99; we could use a fifth of the package for this, so $1.00 plus $1.27 for the beans, and another $2.00 for the various dried veggies and spices + nothing if you use water instead of broth = $4.27 for a big crockpot that makes 8-10 servings. Add in bread and you have a well balanced meal for around $5.00 for 8-10 people!

This soup can be made so many different ways, just by varying the beans, spices and veggies. Enjoy!

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams