Bacon, Brie, and Apricot Grilled Cheese

Lunch is served!

White Chicken Chili

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Spicy Fried Chickpeas

This soup is naturally gluten free and on the other blog today. Click here to check it out!

Gluten Free Crispy Oven Fried Chicken

Soooo.... I don't know if you guys realize what an emotional trauma it can be for me to post a recipe for you sometimes. Take this chicken for instance. I had made it about a week ago and stashed the recipe away in my room. But since then, one of my sisters wanted to make it again for dinner, so I let her borrow it, thinking she would get it back to me when she was done. Bad decision on my part.

Fresh Basil Quinoa {With Olives, Tomatoes, Chicken, Red Bell Pepper and Cukes}

Ah, quinoa! So hearty, so healthy, so proteinaceous, so delicious, so easy to pronounce! If you're new to gluten free world, perhaps you're not yet acquainted with it. It's one of the grains you can actually eat! So if you're getting sick of rice, it's about time you give it a try. You can buy it here on Amazon if you can't find it at the store.

By the way, I was lying before when I said it's easy to pronounce. It actually goes against all human reason and even against that video I just linked to. That was just a little joke. Heh. It's actually pronounced keen-wah.



The real reason I made this quinoa though, was to take pictures of my basil. Ain't it purty? I know, I've been talking about making an herb garden for a while and you probably thought I would forget about it like so many of my other schemes. But I bet you weren't expecting this:



Okay, so the dill is a little sad and the sage is not very... sagey, but I still love it. Seriously, I don't know what's up with that sage. I'm starting to think it's actually a weed because it doesn't look like any sage I've ever seen. 

But getting back to the quinoa...

This is just something I threw together with anything I could find around the house. Don't worry too much about exact measurements and stuff. Just make it the way you like it!

Fresh Basil Quinoa

1 cup raw quinoa
1 cup chopped, cooked chicken (I used rotisserie) 
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 can of olives (I left them whole because I was lazy, but you can chop them if you want)
1/2 of a white onion, chopped
1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 of a large cucumber, chopped
 A handful of fresh basil, chopped

For the dressing:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup light olive oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon sugar

Cook the quinoa according the package instructions and chill.  Add all the vegetables and basil and stir it up. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the quinoa. Chill until ready to serve.

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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

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Shrimp and Bacon Salad

Sorry if you've all been starving to death in my absence. In case you didn't hear, my lens go smashed, so I haven't been able to take any pictures for you. But luckily, I just remembered this salad I made about three thousand years ago that I posted on the other blog. I did actually have a really good dressing recipe for it that didn't quite make it to the photos. Pretty much as soon as the dressing touched those shrimpies the vacuum reared into action. The vacuum being... my face. Okay, weird analogy. Moving on...

Anyways, if you want a light healthy lunch that's really easy and delish, look no further. And yes, bacon is healthy. Unless you enjoy having a malnourished soul. Anyways, we have to fill up the bottom of the food pyramid somehow.

Shrimp and Bacon Salad

Frozen precooked jumbo shrimp
Smoked paprika
Garlic salt
Cooked, crumbled bacon
Avocado, tossed in a little lemon juice to prevent browning
Onion
Tomato
Spinach
Catalina Dressing (recipe below)

Cook your shrimp in a little oil or in a little bit of leftover bacon grease. Season generously with smoked paprika and garlic salt. They only take a couple minutes to cook, just until they're warm all the way through. Don't overcook or they will get rubbery. Make sure you flip them halfway through.
Chop up some avocado, onion, and tomato and throw it on some spinach. Crumble on the bacon and put the shrimp on. If it still has tails, you'll probably want to take them off before you eat them.

Homemade Catalina Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar is nice if you have it)
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste

Whisk together until well combined. It's also good warmed up if you want to zap it in the microwave.

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Cucumber Dill Chicken Salad in Tomato Cups

Cucumber Dill Chicken Salad in Tomato Cups

Cooked chicken
Cucumber
Yellow or white onion
Celery
Fresh Dill, chopped
Mayonnaise
A squirt of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Whole tomatoes

Chop up the chicken (I used boiled, but you can grill it or use rotisserie too). Chop up the cucumber, onion, and celery into very small cubes and toss them with the chicken. Add a spoonful of mayo, the lemon juice and dill. Mix it in and add more mayo if you need too, adding a little at a time until desired moistness is reached. Add salt and pepper to taste. Hollow out the tomatoes like you're doing a jack-o-lantern. Cut a whole in the top with a knife, then scoop out the inside with a melon baller. Fill tomatoes with chicken salad. Garnish with more dill or fresh basil leaves if desired.