Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish everyone the best during the holiday!!!!!

Will post next week with pics of my gluten free feast! :)

Blog-inspiration

The thing I love about blogs is that you get inspiration for something new every time you click into a new page. I love it!

I have found so many wonderful recipes/ideas/snacks/hints, etc about gluten free eating in the past few months -- what did people do before the internet? I feel lucky that we're gluten free at this time, and have each other & the internet to help us through the process -- it's less lonely, and you always know there are people here that just get it.

Recently I had a comment from Hannah at Gluten Free Garden, and while browing through her site (and gorgeous photos!) she had a simple recipe for Avocado Toast (see it here Gluten Free Garden)... I had a bag of avocados at home, and thought of it this morning - and made my own version. I had just used up all the goat cheese I had in the house for the lasagna I made, so I went with cream cheese. I normally love capers, but this morning it was too much - so it's just toasted pieces of multigrain Schar gluten free bread with cream cheese, sliced avocado, salt & pepper, and some fresh squeezed lemon.

YUM - delicious combo! I even made some for matt on whole wheat toast - and he LOVED it... So thanks for the idea Hannah!!

I also made Liz's stuffed cabbage last week & haven't posted yet... that one is coming - thanks Liz!

Gluten Free Apple Pie

It's my favorite time of year for food! I especially have been loving all things APPLES. We've gone through about 5 gallons of apple cider - I love it hot or cold. We have eaten 4 bags of freshly picked apples from New England, and somehow I only made one pie.

One reason for that - the crust. It intimidates me. Especially now that I'm gluten free. Before, I usually 'cheated' and got the pre-made crust. It was just so much easier - and I never had the time to wait for the dough in the fridge, you know?

Anyway - this time, I was going to try to make a crust from a mix I bought, I believe it was Gluten Free Pantry, but the amount of butter that was too be added scared me, and again, I had to wait for it, and then roll it out. Perhaps when I have a kitchen that has counter space, this will be more fun. Now, I have to re-arrange everything to have space to do that.

So I decided to run out to my local Whole Foods and see if they had any Gluten Free Bakehouse pre-made GF Pie Crusts. Luckily, they did! In my past experience with these, I found that the bottom of the pie crust always stuck to the foil pan and ripped a big hole in what was to be the top crust.  So this time I was very careful to make sure I didn't ruin it - there was no easy way around that, I just used a spatula to get the top crust on... The edges were weird, so I had to do a little bit of arranging - but it came out great!

This pie crust is GREAT. I realize that pie crust is almost entirely butter, but YUM. I do a very simple apple pie - I used Macoun  and Cortland apples for this, sliced very thinly, and I usually add one or two more apples than recipes call for. I don't really follow a recipe, but I always check out my copy of "How to Cook Everything" before I make something... but here's what I used:

Granulated sugar

Brown sugar

Cornstarch

dash of salt

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Allspice

Let me know if you want more specifics & I'll let you know. My only problem, I always wing recipes, and sometimes they don't always work out. In this case - I don't think I added enough cornstarch, and I think I could've used more sugar. Maybe next time I'll use a little all purpose flour mix or some rice flour because it was a tad runny. But who cares really? It was delicious!

I think I'll make an apple crisp next!

PS - I LOVE COOL WHIP - that's what you see added on top!

Quick, Easy, Cheap, Tasty...

Home-made chicken & vegetable fried rice.

I've been making this dish quite a bit recently. It's been getting cold, and I've been wanting warm comfort food, and I always have ingredients in the house to make this. This last time I used brown rice, but I've gotta say - it's better with white rice. Maybe I just didn't add enough soy sauce.

Anyway, here's how I make it, but I change it up every time, and I think you could add anything to this that you like....

Cooked Rice

Chicken, Beef or Shrimp

Veggies - frozen usually, or fresh - I don't like canned veggies in this, because the flavor is too overwhelming

Canned mushrooms (in unsalted water) or fresh sauteed mushrooms

Soy Sauce

1 egg

I usually cook the rice with a bit of bouillon, in a separate pan I add a bit of canola oil, and add the chicken (or whatever you add), cook that through, then add some veggies & some soy sauce to taste (I vary it each time), then add the cooked rice & a bit more soy sauce. Once that is all mixed together, make a little well in the center & add the egg, incorporate it into the rice mixture. 

That's pretty much it! It's very good - and very easy. I usually have all the ingredients in the house, so it's a good last minute option.

ps - sorry for the terrible pic!