Thai Peanut Chex Mix

Hey guys. I made this Chex mix for the other blog. The wasabi peas have gluten in them, but you can definitely leave them out and use gluten free pretzels if you want. Find the recipe here.

Shrimp Sushi

 So I just posted some sushi on the other blog. Sadly the seafood salad I used to fill those was loaded with gluten and dairy so I decided to make some with shrimp.

This is kind of a play off of a California roll since it has an avocado, but I unfortunately had no crab meat to use.

Shrimp is cool too though.

To make your sushi you're going to need some nori (aka sheets of seaweed... don't freak out)

You'll also want some wasabi to dip your sushi in. It comes in a powder and you just add water. It's very strong so you don't need a lot. 

You'll also need some sushi rice. It has to be SUSHI rice or it won't be sticky enough. 

Place your nori on a bamboo sushi mat and cover about 2/3 with rice. 



Add your shrimp and avocado and roll it up. 

Make sure you have a nice, firm log.

If you want to you can make a little hole with your pinky...

And stick in a shrimp tail. Like so:

Shrimp Sushi

1 1/2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
About 4 sheets of nori
1 avocado, cut into long thin slices and tossed with a little lemon juice to prevent browning
About 16 big cooked shrimps, tails removed (leave some meat on the tail when you cut it off)
Wasabi and soy sauce for serving 

Bring the rice and water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and stir in the vinegar, sugar, and salt.

Lay a sheet of nori on your mat. Place some rice onto about 2/3 of the nori and press with damp fingers until about 1/2 inch thick. Line a thin strip of shrimp along with some avocado in the middle of the rice.

Using your mat, roll into a log and seal tightly. Cut with a serrated knife. Repeat with more nori until you're out of rice. Make a little whole in each sushi and stick in the tail. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce

Homemade Chocolate Covered Coconut Marshmallows

 

Hey guys. Guess what. I just posted these over on Yammie's Noshery and I just realized that they're actually gluten free. You're welcome.

Homemade Coconut Marshmallows 

2 packets (4 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1/4 cup coconut milk 

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup corn syrup

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the gelatin, extracts, coconut milk, and salt. Let this rest while you cook the sugar.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over about medium high heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches 238ºF. 

Pour the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture as you beat it. Beat for about 10 minutes. Pour into greased 8x8 inch pan (it will be very sticky, so don't worry about scraping the bowl unless you want spiderwebs of marshmallow all over your life). Allow to set until firm (maybe about an hour or something). Cut into squares (or cut with small cookie cutters) and toss in a little more powdered sugar. Dip in melted chocolate and toasted coconut if you want.

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas

Greetings my fellow gluten feeders! I have for you today a new recipe for gluten free flour tortillas. They're pretty much the easiest form of bread to make in the whole wide world and they're great for everything from tacos and quesadillas to egg salad. Plus, unlike other gluten free tortillas, these do not break, crack, or crumble.

First you just make your dough. I was making a double or quadruple batch or something here, so ignore the quantity.

The dough should be soft, not sticky.



Roll it out nice and thin on a surface lightly dusted with corn starch or tapioca flour. If you have one of these nifty lifter things, that's a plus.



I think it's called a cake lifter, though I would never try lifting a cake with that.

Your tortilla will now be thin and floppy.



So you shall flop it right onto a hot, ungreased pan.

Once it starts bubbling, flip it. Then when the other side has some nice brown spots, it's done.

Now you have tortillas that are bendable...

 

 
...and tear just like a regular tortilla.

I was gonna say they're tearable, but, well... that sounds terrible.

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas
Makes about 5 big tortialls

1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup water

Mix together the rice flours, tapioca flour, white sugar, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Mix in the shortening with your fingers until well combined. Add the water and mix well. If the mixture is still dry, add a little more water. Heat an ungreased skilled on medium-high heat. Roll out tortillas and cook each one on the hot pan until it begins to bubble. Then flip it and cook until the bottom has some brown spots. They're the best if you stack them on top of each other as they come out (this softens them up a bit). You can also throw a slightly damp towel over the top one. These keep pretty well in a plastic bag in the cupboard. 

Don't forget to follow on Facebook and Pinterest!

Gluten Free Hostess Cupcakes

Whether you've been missing Hostess since they went bankrupt or since you've gone gluten free, you're sure to love this new and improved GF version.

And don't tell the folks over at Yammie's Noshery, but I actually made theirs gluten free too. They'll never know the difference.

Hostess Cupcake Copycat

For the Cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour mix
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup soft butter (or lard, my sister swears it makes it way more moist)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup brewed, cooled coffee or water
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Add the butter or lard and mix for about a minute. Add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like wet sand. Combine the milk, coffee or water, and vanilla and add all at once. Beat for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Fill tins 1/2 full. Bake about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen (I think).

For the Filling:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter (or use a whole cup of shortening if you want it to be dairy free)
6  cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk

Beat together the butter and shortening until smooth. Alternately add powdered sugar and coconut milk. Beat until fluffy.

For the Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup butter (or non-dairy butter or shortening)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 cups powdered sugar

Melt together the butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Stir in the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix until smooth.

Assembly: Cool cupcakes completely. Pipe the filling into the cupcakes with a long skinny cake tip (mine is a Wilton 230). Fill just until the top looks like it's about to crack. Peel off the cupcake liners and dip each cupcake into the glaze. Pipe the a swirl of the filling onto each cupcake using the same tip.

(Cupcakes based on King Arthur Flour)

Pizza Hut Style Pan Pizza Crust {Gluten Free Copycat}

I know, you probably find my lack of cheese disturbing. I don't blame you. I did put on every sort of topping I could find to make up for it though. Besides, this time the crust is the star.

My family is pretty split about crust types. We've got a few freaks that like thin and crispy and a couple fools that like a chewy hand-tossed, but I personally go for a nice deep dish pan pizza. In fact, since going gluten free, Pizza Hut's pan pizza is probably one of the things I've missed the most. That fluffy dough and that blessed, crispy, greasy bottom! It is a miracle among pizzas, I tell you.

So today, we're going to make our own. You start out by beating up some egg whites.



Just till you get some nice peaks, not too stiff.

Meanwhile you'll mix together your yeast and water and stuff and let it sit for a few minutes. When the whites are ready, pour the yeasty mixture into the whites and beat on medium speed until it looks like this...



Kinda freaky, but never fear! Now you can dump the dry ingredients in all at once and beat it for another minute on high speed. The dough will be like a thick batter.

Press your batter/dough into a couple of well greased cake pans. You'll want to get your hands really wet to press the dough in because it's very sticky.  Also, you'll want to use a good amount of oil in the pan if you want it to have that fried quality to the bottom. This makes it kind of hard for pressing the dough in, but you can do it!

 Let it rise for a while now so it's nice and fluffy.

Then throw on some toppings and bake it and you'll be back in the old hut of pizza before you know it. 

Also note: to warm it up, I usually microwave a piece for about 30 seconds and then I turn on the toaster and set it on top of that so that the bottom can crisp back up.

What I do in the name of food.

Pizza Hut Style Pan Pizza Crust
Makes about two 9 inch pizzas*

3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup oil (I used light olive oil)
3/4 cup warm water (somewhere between 105ºF and 115ºF)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 egg whites
2 cups tapioca flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix together the sugar, oil, water, yeast, and vinegar in a bowl, set aside. Beat the egg whites until peaks form (see photo above). Add the yeast mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on low speed until combined and then on high speed for about 1 minute. The dough will be like a thick batter.
Grease two 9 or 10 inch cake pans with at least a few tablespoons of oil (I used vegetable). The more grease you use, the more "fried" the bottom of your pizza will be, but it will also make it difficult to press the dough into the pans. Make sure you get your hands wet before pressing the dough in or else it will stick to your hands.
Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes or until it's about doubled (no need to be too precise). Top with desired toppings and bake at 350ºF for about 45 minutes or until the crust is browned. 

*I had about 3/4 of a cup of leftover dough using 9 inch pans so I baked the extra in a mini loaf pan. If you like your crust a little thinner, you might be able to stretch it into three 8 inch pans. Let me know if you try it!

This recipe was lightly based on this bread recipe

Don't forget to follow on Facebook and check out the other blog!

Crab Cakes

So I know last time I asked you if you were annoyed that I'm always double posting here and on Yammie's Noshery. Well, the polls are in and only a few of you are really annoyed, so... get over it. HA. 

Well, today we're making crab cakes using gluten free cornbread instead of breadcrumbs. Feel free to use gluten free breadcrumbs if you want or try leaving the crumbs out altogether. They might not stick together as well, but that way they could be paleo if that's your thing. Let me know if you try them that way and they work.

Crab Cakes

6 oz. fancy lump crab meat, drained
6 oz. fancy white crab meat, drained
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1 small clove minced garic
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup real mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/8 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon old bay seasoning
A few shakes of hot sauce (optional)
1/4 cup cornbread crumbs (breadcrumbs would also work)

A few tablespoons of light olive oil for frying

Remoulade sauce, lemon wedges, chopped red bell peppers, and chopped green onions for garnish.

Combine all the ingredients for the crab cakes and gently stir together. Form into small patties (the smaller they are, they easier they'll be to flip) and fry in a few tablespoons of oil on about medium heat. Flip them very carefully once the bottom is browned. Continue to cook until the other side is browned. Serve with remoulade and lemon wedges and garnish with more chopped red bell peppers and green onions if desired.

Don't forget to follow on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter!