Hello Gluten-Free cooking friends
I am looking for a tried and true biscuit recipe using gluten-free all purpose flour.I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.
cooking
To My Tortilla Making New Friends
You will be my new friends if you help me with my homemade tortillas. My daughter-in-law and I spent some time together making our first homemade tortilla. It was really a funny experience. She had broken her glasses and couldn’t read the instructions and I had injured my hand an couldn’t manipulate the dough. We jokingly called this time, the Blind and Maimed Hour. Nevertheless, we made the tortillas. They tasted good and fulfilled the purpose but we were not satisfied. We used the instructions on the Masa Harina bag. It was simply the flour and water. The tortilla press I own did not make them flat enough so we used a rolling pin. Then we placed them on the grill where they didn’t hold together when folded. (We were making tacos)
So to my new friends, how do I keep them moist and held together? If I get this right, I may almost never buy tortillas again. It was really easy. I like easy and quick.
Catching UP
So far behind.
My laboratory experiments stacking up.
Documents I need to read.
Clothes I need to wash, car too
Rooms I need to clean
Groceries to purchase
Meals to prepare
Research for Outreach Center
Making plans, making plans
Rest
When will I ever CATCH UP.
(You all should be laughing now because I know I just described your life, too!)
See, I forgot categories and such.
Back In the Lab 2
If you are like me, long blog posts sometimes get to be tedious. That’s why I broke Friday’s laboratory experiments into several parts. Continuing.
Country-Style White Loaves
I tried to find the link for this recipe but there was only links to the book. It is The Art of Cooking Recipes and Techniques(The Cooking Club). The basic elements were all purpose flour (white), yeast, sugar, butter, milk and water. Those who know me personally, this recipe is healthy sacrilege. I must tell you I paid the price. I believe it was the source of gastrointestinal disturbances and inflammation pain in my joints. The reason I used these ingredients was because I bought the flour for Christmas desserts that we did not make. I decided to use it up and then replace it with oat flour or gluten-free flour. It was okay. Heavy like my great-grandmother’s.
Homemade Ketchup
This recipe is found in The Daniel Plan Cookbook. I used this recipe but I didn’t have enough sun dried tomatoes. Once again I substituted. I used ripe Roma tomatoes. I guess we are so used to the store bought kind that the sweetness was a little much. I don’t know if the tomatoes and honey combination was the source. I will use it and make the next batch with the sun dried tomatoes as instructed. I also checked the ingredients on the organic ketchup I had bought before. It contained more spices. Maybe I will add some of these spices on the batch after that. Continuing to experiment until I get the taste we want. Ketchup
Vitamix Minestrone Soup
I’ve wanted to try making minestrone soup for a while. I found a recipe that appeared to be similar to The Olive Gardens’ Ministrone. Before I had a chance to try it, I discovered a recipe in my Vitamix cookbook. I tried it with a few changes. I used black beans instead of kidney beans and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I guess I blended it a little longer than necessary because my soup looked creamier than theirs. However, it tasted good. My husband and I decided mine would make a good spaghetti sauce. Here is the link for the recipe. It is worth a try. It is a tasty, quickly made soup. Vitamix Ministrone.
Some adjusting and changes will be made to better suit our needs and lifestyle.
Happy Experimenting.
Back In The Lab
On Friday January 15, 2015, I finally re-entered my my lab (kitchen). I have cooked meals but after the holidays I just was not interested in doing any “new recipe” cooking. I awaken quite early but I did not enter the lab until about 6:30 AM. I put the coffee on and moved into action.
The first order of business was to prepare for breakfast before my husband joined the conscious world.
Turkey Sausage I seasoned the ground turkey so that the sausage seasoning would have time to penetrate. This time I made more to freeze for future breakfasts.
Oatmeal and Dried Fruit Muffins
I didn’t particularly care for bran muffins until I made these. Usually, I experience
d very dry muffins. The black strap molasses and unsweetened applesauce make them quite tasty and moist. In stead of purchased applesauce, I put a fresh apple and a little water in my Vitamix and let it rip. The recipe is in Dr.Steven Masley’s 30 days Heart Tune-Up.
I cannot publish the recipe because of copyright laws. I would recommend purchasing the book, especially if you have heart problems. There is a lot of good information for heart health and many tasty recipes.
Mini Potato Corn Meal Cakes
Have you ever had boxed potatoes flakes and didn’t know what to do with them. I never used them and now that I am trying to prepare fresh, unprocessed foods I was at a lost. I didn’t want to throw them away. They were a blessed and appreciated gift in a Thanksgiving basket. While having my first cup of coffee, I noticed a recipe on the box that was interesting. It was Mini Potato Corn Meal Cakes. Why not, I said to me. I followed the recipe and it yielded more than I needed for that morning’s breakfast.You got it. I froze the rest. Here is the recipe with my real time changes.
2 cups Idaho Spuds Classic Mashed Potatoes
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed (I didn’t use)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions (I used yellow onions)
Combine potato flakes, cornmeal, garlic salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stir milk, corn kernels, cheese and green onions.Let stand for 2 minutes.
Scoop into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Flatten into 1/2 inch thick patties. (I skipped this. I went straight to the skillet.)
Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.
Place patties in a single layer in pan. Brown [patties about 4 minutes per side, spraying with additional cooking spray as needed. Repeat with remaining patties.
Serve warm garnished with a dollop of sour cream and green onions or shredded cheese. (I skipped this. It would defeat my healthy plan.)
My husband said the cakes were good. My omissions did not affect the taste. Next time I will use fresh potatoes.
This is getting to be pretty long so I will put the other recipes in another blog. Friday was a busy day.
Happy Experimenting.
Reflective Inventory
A few days ago my son asked me what was the purpose of my blog; why was it “random thoughts.” I told him that I had thoughts about many different things, so I didn’t want to be limited to one train of thought. He then said, “Oh, it’s just your journal.” That stung. Was it the characterization or maybe his perceived tone? Nevertheless, he made me take inventory and that required reflective thought.
From that process I solidified the purpose and structure of this blog. It may not be very marketable but I hope it will be fun or at least memorable. I want to be free to dabble in poetry and storytelling. I want to share insights from my personal bible studies. Who knows I might do a series of teachings on a subject. I want to share information regrading mental health and my rich culture.
I want to share
spontaneous images like seeing a double rainbow or light shooting from a dark cloud. I even want to share a new experiment in my laboratory (kitchen).
Yes these are the kinds of things I want to share.
Now, I know what I want to accomplish with this blog. I want to
- Inform
- Provoke thought
- Inspire and encourage
- Challenge
- Learn from others
- Engage in conversation with people who have different backgrounds and experiences.
It will still be Random thoughts.
It will still be My journal.
Turkey Sausage Revisited
A few weeks ago I tried a homemade sausage recipe that I found. In that post I gave the source credit for the recipe. This time I tried it just as she wrote it except I substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth.
- I bought a turkey breast and a turkey thigh. Using my virgin boning knife I removed the meat from the thigh bone. The breast was already removed from the breast bone. I must admit this process caused me to consider becoming a vegan.
- I used my KitchenAide meat/nut grinder to grind the meat. I used both the light meat and the dark meat believing the dark meat would add a little fat. My hope was that the turkey would be juicier.
- Next I used my mortar and pestle to grind the basil and oregano.
- I added that along with the rest of the spices to the ground turkey.
- I used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Mixed it all up be sure to evenly distribute the spices.
- Finally, into the pan it went. I used a little oil in the pan so the patties wouldn’t stick. I think I used grapeseed oil or it might have been coconut. Either works.
- The results were very good. It was less dry but not what I wanted. Sooooo
Next time, I will bake a turkey part and use the drippings to add a little fat to the mixture.
For the recipe review Making Turkey Sausage.
Making Turkey Sausage
I have re-entered the laboratory(my kitchen). I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time but always got distracted. Several years ago my husband and I chose to stop eating pork, beef or chicken. Turkey and fish are our meats of choice. I like turkey sausage but you can’t always find a brand that doesn’t taste dry. Since my husband’s illness we have been on a low sodium eating regimen.There is always the cost to consider. I searched online and found a recipe submitted by Bonnita Wirth. So here is my experimentation with her recipe.
I did not add chicken broth because I don’t eat chicken. I used olive oil instead. I must say that may not have been a good idea because the salt taste was nonexistent. I suspect Ms. Wirth relied on the broth to add salt.The lean turkey was a little dry that is why I added olive oil.I was very happy with the seasonings.
Ms Wirth’s recipe.
1
pound lean ground turkey breast
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 minced clove fresh garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coriander and/or Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning
(sea salt, mustard seed, black peppercorns, coriander, onion, garlic paprika, chili pepper)
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 c chicken broth and other wet ingredients
Add chicken broth and/or other wet ingredients, mixing well.
Let stand 15 to 20 minutes.
Form turkey into 6 to 8 patties, approximately 3/4 inch thick
Cook patties thoroughly on a nonstick surface
When I repeat the experiment this is what I plan to do.
Replace the chicken broth with either vegetable broth or turkey broth.
Use 85% lean instead of 95% lean ground turkey.
I will try it again. If I am successful then I will try her Italian sausage seasoning. My husband said it sounded like I was going to have a sausage factory.
P.S. To the sausage that I did not cook, I added salt and cooked it the next day. Flavor-wise there was a tremendous taste difference. I will try this again. I like being able to avoid paying for packaging. My next experiment will be using turkey that I ground myself. Gobble, gobble.
Gluten-Free Bread Success
I have been trying to bake gluten-free bread that had the texture and height to qualify as a sandwich bread. The first attempted tasted fine but did not rise to the sandwich bread size standard. I made the substitutions for wheat flour as directed in my bread recipe but the outcome was not completely satisfactory. Since that effort I have searched for a recipe that would give me the desired results. I went to Barnes and Noble to get a book I had found online but they did not have it. I found another called The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook from the American Test Kitchen. I decided to give it a try.
They have several bread recipes but I chose the Classic Sandwich Bread. I used Bob’ Red Mill Gluten-Free flour blend, almond milk, homemade dairy-free butter and agave nectar instead of their blend, sugar, butter and dry milk.
I had to forget all that I knew about baking bread. There was no kneading to be done. The instructions said the dough consistency would be like sticky cookie dough. It was. They said the dough would rise above the pan and advised that you make this aluminum foil collar. It did. If I had not done that it would have spilled our over the pan. I didn’t make it tight or stiff enough because it spilled over a little bit. That made it hard to get out of the pan when it was done. My husband and I were quite pleased with the results. He was too thrilled about the first attempt. 🙂
I am very please with the bread and the cookbook. It is also a teaching aid for novices to gluten free cooking. The recipes are tested and critiqued by home cooks before publishing. Tomorrow is cook day. I plan to try their flatbread and corn tortilla recipes.
Now To Make It Happen
Today’s assignment is to determine three (3) goals that I would like to accomplish with my blog. When I first began blogging it was to find out if anyone was interested in what I had to say. It seems a few people are.
- One of my goals is to learn what people are interested in and to learn how to effectively match my writing interest with their reading interest. I am writing a book but I didn’t know if anyone would buy it.
- The second goal is to increase the number of connections to be inspired by and to inspire.
- Speaking is one of my gifts and I enjoy informing and motivating people. Knowing what people are interested in could give me an opportunity to do something I love.
On that note, I will be speaking at a Black History Picnic celebration here in Perris, CA. It will be interesting because I am asked to speak about healthy nutrition while the listeners are eating soul food. This will be a challenge.The next day I will be speaking at our church for morning worship.I am going to have an exciting weekend.
In the meantime, I am trying new recipes to introduce to our congregation during our health ministry. Tonight it was a Dr. Hyman’s Sun-dried tomato Turkey Burger. This is a recipe in The Daniel Plan written by Pastor Rick Warren, Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman. It was very tasty.
"Black Soil" Living 