Killer Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

Dressing:

• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1⁄2 tsp. paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad:

• 1 cup red or white quinoa, rinsed well
• 1⁄2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1⁄4 cup finely diced dried apricots (or dried mangoes)
• Warm water
• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 green onions, sliced diagonally
• 1⁄4 cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, coriander, cumin and paprika. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a saucepan, combine quinoa, salt and cold water; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender. Fluff with a fork, spread on a large baking sheet and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, place cranberries and apricots (or mangoes)  in a small bowl. Cover with warm water and let stand for about 5 minutes or until plump. Drain and set aside.

Peel avocados and cut into bite-sized chunks. Place in a bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp. of the dressing to prevent discoloration. Place cooled quinoa in a large salad bowl. Add cranberry mixture, avocados, green onions and almonds. Add the remaining dressing and toss to combine.

The dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. The quinoa can be cooked up to 1 day in advance; after cooling, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/food/Killer-Quinoa-Salad-Recipe_2#ixzz2fgVGx56d

Impromptu White Chicken Chili (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

2 - 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 - 2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed or minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 4-oz. cans diced green chilis
2 cans great northern beans
~ 2 cups chicken broth or 2 cups water with 1 Tb chicken flavor base
1 tsp ground cumin (or to taste)
cornstarch (optional)
Butter (optional)

Directions: 

Cut chicken into small cubes and saute in olive oil along with diced onion and garlic.  When chicken is opaque, add the diced green chilies and cook for another minute or two.  Add cumin and stir for a minute, then add broth and beans.  Cook for 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend.  If desired, thicken with a roux of butter and cornstarch (or flour if wheat isn't a problem).  Adjust seasonings and thickness.  Serve.

GF Coffee Cake 1.0

This is my first attempt at gluten free cake, cobbled together from about three recipes online, maybe four. It turned out pretty edible, to my surprise and delight. It took 80 minutes to bake, rather than 50, and was still gummy, but that's what this recipe is for-to tweak. Also, I weigh my flours and brown sugar. The results are more reproducible.

Topping/filling:
2/3 c. (80 g.) oat flour
3/4 c. (6 oz.) brown sugar
3 T. cold butter
2 t. cinnamon
2/3 c. chopped pecans, toasted at 350 for about 10 min, or till they smell good. (Next time I'll use 3/4 c.)

Cake:
1 c. (8 oz.) butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. (8 oz.) brown sugar
2 eggs, added one at a time
1 t. vanilla
------------
2 c. (272 g.) Bob's Red Mill all purpose flour baking mix*
1 1/2 t. xanthan gum
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1 c. (8 oz.) sour cream 

Directions:

Topping: cut cold butter into oat flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix in toasted chopped pecans. Set aside.

Cake: cream sugars and softened butter till light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, then eggs, one at a time. Beat well.  In separate bowl blend all the dry ingredients. A wire whisk does a good job of blending them. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream, ending with dry. I folded them in, trying to not deflate the airy texture of the creamed mixture. Not so sure it worked. 
The recipe says to pour half into a  greased 10" bundt pan, but lacking that I used a 9 1/2" springform pan, then sprinkle about half (half seemed excessive, so I used about 1/3 and wished for more pecans) the topping/filling over it. Spoon in the rest of the batter. Smooth the top and sprinkle with the rest of the topping.

Bake at 350 for "45-50 minutes", but a toothpick came out clean for me after 80 minutes, and the middle fell badly.


Notes to self: 
1. Next time,  use two smaller springform pans (because I have them) and cook for the full 80 minutes, unless the edges burn first. Soggy middles are a letdown. A thinner cake may be the answer?
2. Use more pecans and less oat flour and sugar in the topping. Try 1/2 c oat flour, 1/2 c. (4 oz.) brown sugar, 1 1/2 t. cinnamon and 3/4 c. toasted chopped pecans.
3. Beware of the bean flours, even though they taste lovely once baked. They kick back later.


*Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour Mix contains:
     garbanzo bean flour
     potato starch (NOT the same as potato flour)
     tapioca flour (same as tapioca starch)
     white sorghum flour
     fava bean flour

Another recipe that looked interesting made the cake with:
1/4 c. canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. almond milk
1 t. (or less) almond flavoring
---------------
1 1/2 c. (204 g.) Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour mix
3/4 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Mix wet ingredients well.  Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl, add to wet ingredients.
Pour into 8"x8" pan.
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.
Drizzle with 1/2 c. powdered sugar, 1/2 t. vanilla and 1T. milk.

I would try it with the pecan topping, not the wet drizzle.

Creamy Balsamic Dressing (soy free)

This started out to be Italian dressing, from a recipe gleaned from the internet.  Not what I had in mind at all! What I wanted was a soy free, delicious dressing to eat on the salad I signed up to bring at the church potluck supper, which was in 10 minutes. This was soy free, but the delicious part was glaringly absent. So, I found my bottle of Brianna's Creamy Balsamic Dressing and started adding ingredients I saw on that label. Being in a hurry, I did not carefully measure some of the ingredients. I also ran out of time, so ended up bringing Brianna's and finishing this dressing when I got home. Surprisingly, the dressing ended up tasting pretty good. The recipe is only in its first stages, and may deserve tweaking here and there (like in the amount of xanthan gum! I used way too much), but here it is:

1/2 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar (I'm really not sure how much I used-it may have been less, but more balsamic is usually good)
1 t. garlic, minced (I used the bottled kind. Fresh is always nicer, though)
3/4 t. parsley flakes
1/2 t. celery salt
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. onion powder
Juice of 1 lemon (this may be optional)
1 t. spicy brown (or dijon) mustard
2 T. honey (I really like the honey in this. More may be better, but start with this.)
1 T. or so sugar mixed with
1/2 t. xanthan gum (I used more than this, I think. It turned very thick and had to be thinned with water. Then it was fine.)
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, the kind in a jar
pepper to taste
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together, being sure to mix the xanthan gum into the sugar before adding it to the dressing, so it won't lump. Let sit till thickened, maybe 20-30 minutes, then blend with an immersion blender till creamy looking and well blended. Taste and adjust seasonings. I mixed this up in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup. It made the full 2 cups.

Soy-Free Soy Sauce"

Ingredients:

 4 T beef bouillon crystals or 12 beef bouillon cubes
4 t balsamic vinegar
2 t dark molasses
1/4 t ground ginger
1 pinch white pepper
1 pinch garlic powder
1 1/2 C water

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together all ingredients.  Boil gently until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup, about 15 minutes. 

Notes:

A pretty good substitute if you can't eat the real thing. 

English Toffee

aka  Amy's Toffee from Candymaking by Ruth Kendrick and Pauline Atkinson.

This recipe has been tested against several others and is my hands-down favorite.  It is very close in taste to Almond Roca, and like Almond Roca, to keep it from getting sticky it must be kept away from air by coating with chocolate on all sides and being stored in an airtight container. Wrapping them in gold foil would be nice, but, really... And yes, I still occasionally buy Almond Roca. I love both. Probably too much.

Ingredients:

2 c. almonds, (sliced if possible)  toasted in a preheated 350 degree oven on a baking sheet for 8-10 min.
1 c. butter, grade AA
2 T. corn syrup
2 1/2 c (250 g.) sugar
4 T. water
2-4 T. more water for later (not in original recipe)
 optional: 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
              
Toast the almonds so they are light golden and smell good and toasted. Cool them, then grind them in a food processor until they are fine, but not almond butter yet. Butter a 12"x18" baking sheet. Sprinkle it with the almonds, saving around half out for sprinkling on the melted chocolate at the end. If they aren't sliced and are unevenly ground they can be sifted through a coarse seive if uniformity is desired.

In a heavy 3 qt. saucepan combine butter, water, corn syrup and sugar.   Here's what the original recipe says next: "Stir over high heat till boiling.When it begins to thicken, reduce heat to low and cook to 290 degrees F."  Here's what I did, because I was doing other things in the kitchen and needed extra time: Stir over medium heat till boiling, then cover with pan lid for 2 minutes so the steam washes any sugar crystals back down into the mixture. Uncover and cook on low till the temperature reaches about 250, stirring gently with the thermometer whenever you check the temperature to even out the hot spots. Now stir in 2-4 more T of water, depending on how much longer you want to cook it - the more water the longer it takes. (Also I was hoping the extra cooking would increase the brown color a bit. Maillard reaction and all, you know.)  Now cook to 290 degrees, remove from heat and pour over the nuts. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, let sit 1 minute, then spread the softened chocolate to the edges of the toffee. Sprinkle with reserved almonds. Let cool at room temperature 1 hour. Now you can break it up (which is just fine) OR... flip it over, sprinkle another cup of chocolate chips on that side, heat it with a blow dryer or something to melt them (or melt them first and spread on) and spread and sprinkle with yet more ground almonds. The two sided coating helps the toffee stay fresh longer, even in an airtight container...because they never really are completely airtight, you know. At least mine aren't. When all the chocolate is set up, break the toffee into irregular pieces and store in the closest thing you can get to an airtight container.

With any luck you will never have this toffee around long enough to see what happens to it when it gets old. (As far as I can tell, it gets sticky, loses its texture then finally starts tasting...different.) Try not to refrigerate it, as warming up attracts moisture, and we don't want that. If it's unavoidable, wrap, wrap, wrap to keep the air out! I used to think Almond Roca's gold foil was just for looks. I know better now.

Note about temperatures and thermometers: 

 It's important to test your thermometer right before using it. Altitude, barometric pressure, invisible cracks in the thermometer (yes, it happened to me - SO glad I tested it and avoided mercury poisoning for about 10 people!), can change what temperature water boils at. WATER BOILS AT 212 DEGREES F  at sea level. Where I live it often boils at 208 instead, so I just subtract 4 degrees from the temperature I'm supposed to reach at the end: 290-4=286. Easy. For some reason, though, my thermometer reads higher in the boiling water out of the microwave than from a pan on the stove. Weird! So I use the microwave temp. Really, though, for this recipe I cooked it just barely to 290 and it was great. Cook it too low and the texture is stickier and sad. Cook it too high and it can separate into an oily layer on top, or worse, burn.

Note about problems with oil separating out:

If at any time during cooking the oil starts to gather on the top, just add 2 T or so of water, stir well, and cook to 290 again, and if it happens again, repeat but cook to a couple degrees lower. Also, avoid a lot of stirring. If there are sugar crystals on the pan sides, do the pan lid trick again. 

Note about variations:

This recipe makes good toffee without the chocolate on top. Just pour it on a.) a buttered baking sheet or b.) a buttered baking sheet covered in toasted nuts of your choice, then cool, break up and eat/give away/store.

Triple Berry Pie Filling

Fills a 9" pie with no crowning, or a nice and full 8" pie.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 c frozen berry mix (I used Costco's blueberry-raspberry-blackberry mix)
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. lemon juice
approx. 2 T softened butter to put on top before the top crust

In small bowl mix the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch well. In larger bowl mix frozen berries and lemon juice, then stir in the mixed dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Pour into pie crust. Don't worry if the berries are still frozen. Dot top with butter. Top with crust, crimp edges, make some slits in the crust, protect edges with strips of aluminum foil, put on cookie sheet to catch drips, and bake at 325 degrees F for 40+ minutes. When it is done the filling will bubble a bit through the nicely golden crust. If that is not happening, bake longer. The frozen berries can slow baking down. (It took my last GF pie at least 80 minutes to bake, but it was well worth the wait!)

Note: It might not be a bad idea, when filling a 9" or 10" pie, to increase the berries to 5 1/2 or 6 cups and the sugar cornstarch mixture to around 1/2c. sugar and 1/3 c. cornstarch.
Also, I just figured out that letting the pie cool all the way lets it set up so the filling doesn't run all over the place when cut. Yeah. It takes me a while.