Potato Leek Soup

Potato Leek Soup

This is one of my very favorite soups. It's simple and easy, and it makes me feel all cozy on a cold winter's night. It tastes potatoey and oniony, salty, and smooth. Mmmm...makes me want to make some even in the middle of summer. 
When I serve this for dinner, it's not quite hearty enough for my husband, so I usually have to cook some meat on the side, but for me, it's great just as it is, with maybe just. a crusty roll to dip in it. It's also great warmed up the next day or the day after that. It's just good food.

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients
:

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 4 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

• 1/4 cup cream or half and half
• Salt to taste

• bacon bits for garnish, if desired (I use the real bacon bits in a jar)

Directions
:

1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, potatoes and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

2 Reduce heat; cover and simmer 25 minutes or until vegetables are very tender. Using a immersion blender, blend until smooth.  (You can also work in batches in a regular blender, but the hand blender is so much easier.)

3 Stir in cream or half and half. Season to taste with salt. Garnish with bacon bits, if desired.

Serves 6.

Adapted from a recipe offered by Jones Dairy Farm.

Crispy Caramel Corn

Crispy Caramel Corn

Another recipe to prepare us for fall...
This caramel corn is dry and crisp, not sticky like some caramel corn I've encountered. It's got a rich brown sugar and butter flavor, of course, and I like to eat it 'til I get sick. If you want the full "Oh-my-gosh-I-think-I-ate-too-much" experience, only use four quarts of popcorn. If you're on a diet, or if are simply more sensible, use the whole 8 quarts.  You can figure out your preference after making it a couple of times.
I think this recipe comes originally from my dear friend Cheryl Tellers-now-Whitney. Thanks, Cheryl!

Crispy Caramel Corn

Preheat oven to 250°.

Combine in a medium to large microwavable dish:

• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/4 C light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Put in microwave on high until butter is mostly melted and then stir to combine ingredients. Bring to a boil by cooking on high for about 2 minutes. Remove and add:
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Put 4-8 quarts air-popped popcorn into a huge bowl. Pour above syrup stuff over popcorn and mix thoroughly. Spread popcorn onto two non-stick cookie sheets. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, rotating pans between top and bottom shelves. Remove from oven; stir immediately. Stir occasionally while cooling. Store in an airtight container.

Caramel Corn made with Tiny But Mighty Popcorn

Mexican Rice

Mexican Rice

Mexican Rice with Enchiladas Suizas and Busch's Fiesta Black Beans

If you're looking for a homemade version of the rice you get at a Mexican restaurant, look no further.  It used to be that when I made Mexican food, I would use one of the Lipton flavored rice pouches and call it good.  The thing was, though, that I was the only one who would eat any of it, and eventually it just ended up in the trash.  This rice, though, gets eaten.  Go figure.
The recipe pretty much came from Allrecipes.com. I made enough changes to it, though, that I feel like I can post it here instead of just providing a link. It's pretty easy to make, and it's delicious.  Use your favorite salsa to personalize it, but know that if your salsa is hot, so will your rice be.  You've been warned.
Half a recipe was enough for Eddie, Ezra, and myself. It tastes good left over too, though.


Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 T canola oil
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp gf taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa (fresh or jarred)
• 2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups water + 2 chicken bouillon cubes)

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with taco seasoning.
2. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook until they are tender.
3. Stir in salsa and chicken broth (or water + bouillon). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Gluten Free French Rolls

Gluten Free French Rolls

 Better Batter Gluten Free Flour,  BetterBatter.org 
I discovered Better Batter Gluten Free Flour last Thanksgiving while perusing the gluten free section at our new fancy HyVee grocery store. My sister-in-law told me she'd heard good things about it, and I'd seen a gf pretzel recipe on Pinterest that called for this gf flour. I went ahead and bought a box, even though it was pricer than most gf flours. I gave it a go with some Gluten Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free Pretzel Nuggets, and what do you know--it was awesome! Once I knew this flour worked, I started looking around their website and found a recipe for French Bread. The bread turned out too gummy, but the next time I made it I tried to make the "dough," which is more of a batter, into rolls. And it worked too! I fell even more in love with Better Batter, and now I'm almost at the end of my second 25 pound bag that I purchased online (half the price of buying it at HyVee).
My son LOVES these rolls, and I've recently started making them bigger to accommodate my growing boy.
These are actually best if they're baked, then frozen, and reheated. I think the freezer dries them out a bit. When you eat one fresh out of the oven, it will look beautifully baked, but the texture is a little gummy. It's less gummy after freezing and reheating. At least that's the way they've been working around here for us.

Gluten Free French Rolls
     --adapted from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal (optional)
• Ice cubes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease it) and sprinkle with the cornmeal. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the water and the yeast. Allow to sit for five minutes to soften the yeast. 
Add the flour and the salt. Beat on low until flour is all wet, and then beat on high for 5 minutes.
Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop batter and then scrape out with a silicone/rubber spatula, making the dough blobs as round as possible. Space blobs about 1 1/2 inches apart. (I fit only 9 on my pan, but I could have made all 12 on one pan.)
With wet fingers, gently smooth out the rough spots on the dough blobs. They don't have to be perfect, just not jagged. 
Allow to rise for about 35-45 minutes. 
Place in the preheated oven and throw four ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to produce some steam. After 6-7 minutes, put in four more ice cubes and bake for another 11-13 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned.
Remove from oven and cool rolls on a wire rack.
Makes 12 rolls

Unbaked dough blob sitting there to rise.

Caramel Apple Dip

Apple quarter going for a caramel dip.

Fall is near, and so of course it's time to start pushing the foods related to that season.  This caramel dip recipe comes from Eddie's Aunt Willa. Now, that woman's got some AMAZING recipes--and she's an amazing award-winning quilter to boot. It takes a lot of elbow grease, or a Kitchen Aid mixer, to get all the caramel chunks to dissolve, but it's worth the effort, of course. Otherwise I wouldn't be posting this recipe.

Caramel Dip 

• 40-45 unwrapped caramels
• 5-8 tablespoons butter (depends on how you feel about butter)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Put all of the above ingredients into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 2- 2 1/2 minutes. You will be tempted to microwave longer, but the caramel chunks will melt after much stirring. 
Now, you can either stir with a spoon or heavy-duty wire whisk by hand until smooth OR you can transfer to bowl of a standing mixer and mix on the lowest setting until smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve immediately, or allow to cool, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. Microwave for a minute on high and stir.

Apple Quarters

• 5-7 Granny Smith apples
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 20-28 fat wooden skewers, like you'd use for corn on the cob
• 1 small melon baller

Wash apples. Scoop out the stem and the bottom end with melon baller. Cut in half and scoop out the core with the melon baller. Cut each half in half. Stick in skewers.
Mix lemon juice and water. Dip each quarter into lemon water, shake, and dry off skin. This should help prevent excessive browning.

A melon baller makes the job easier.

Carnitas

Carnitas taco on a soft corn tortilla w/ guacamole

Nothing says good Mexican street food like a good carnitas taco with its soft corn tortilla "shell" and tender, juicy, salty pork in the middle.  Mmmmm...mouthwatering.  This recipe is sure to satisfy a craving  yummy Mexican food.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com a long time ago. Now that I'm looking at it, I seemed to have veered from the original recipe. It's one of those eyeball-it kinds of recipes for me, so try it a few times and see what works for you. 

Carnitas

Ingredients:

• 1 4-pound pork butt or shoulder, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2-3 cans of chicken broth
• enough water to cover pork in pot by 1/2 inch
• lots of fresh corn tortillas warmed in a hot skillet and kept warm in a tortilla warmer (or in aluminum foil) 

Instructions:
In the past, I've trimmed off a lot of the fat and gristle before cooking, but I've found that leaving all of that on, and then picking it out when I'm "pulling" the pork, makes it much more tender and flavorful. You know, all that fat. So, just cut the butt/shoulder up into chunks, fat and all.
Place pork in a heavy large pot. Add broth. Add enough water to cover pork by 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover partially and simmer until meat is very tender and liquid is absorbed, about 2-3 hours. Cool slightly. Shred meat and remove fat and gristle. Season with salt, if necessary. Cover and keep warm.

Onions & Cilantro: finely dice one small onion (I use yellow onion) and chop a handful of clean cilantro leaves and mix with the onion. Add the juice of a lime wedge and mix. I will sometimes add a dash of hot sauce (like Frank's Red Hot), to spice it up a little. Serve with the carnitas tacos. Mmmmm...

English Toffee

Buttery, crunchy English Toffee

Even though my gluten limited son does not eat this stuff, I think it's probably one of the best things you can eat if you're avoiding gluten. Sweet, buttery, crunchy, chocolatey, and nutty, this is one of my favorite sweets that I try to reserve for the holidays. Any more than that, and I would weigh that 500 pounds people keep wondering about.
This recipe is somewhat difficult, in that it requires a candy thermometer and molten hot sugar. As with a lot of candy making, you always run the risk of not only burning yourself, but ending up with grainy candy. This recipe rarely turns out grainy for me, but I do it in the winter when the weather is cool and dry. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about making this one. If you're up for the challenge, it will be well worth the time and effort.

English Toffee

Ingredients

• 1 cup coarsely chopped almonds or macadamia nuts (roasted & unsalted)
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds or macadamia nuts (roasted & unsalted)
• 3/4 cup packed C & H Light Brown Sugar 
• 3/4 cups  C & H white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 9 ounces chocolate, melted and tempered (I like to use Dove Milk Chocolate)

Directions
1. Line a square Pyrex pan (8X8) with parchment paper (I suppose the non-stick foil might work as well...). Spread coarse nuts in bottom of pan. Set aside.
2. In a heavy saucepan heat butter and sugar to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil over medium heat until it reaches 300° on a candy thermometer. At that point immediately pour and spread over the nuts. Allow to cool 5-6 minutes.
3. With a bench scraper, cut toffee while it is still soft into 16 pieces. Allow to cool to the touch, and break apart. Set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Over a double boiler, melt chocolate until it is 2/3 melted. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Place finely chopped nuts in a shallow pan.
5. Using two forks, completely coat each piece of toffee with the chocolate. Toss in the finely chopped nuts until coated. Return to parchment paper to cool and set.
Makes 16 yummy chunks.

Note: An easier alternative to coating individual pieces is to just pour melted chocolate over the cooled, uncut toffee and sprinkle with nuts. Then when the chocolate has set, break toffee into pieces.

Gluten Free French Sandwich Roll

Gluten Free French Sandwich Roll
I'm still amazed at how beautiful it looks inside.

It's about the size of a hamburger bun.

I started making Gluten Free French Rolls about midway through last school year. I've been serving them to my son in the morning sliced, buttered, sprinkled with garlic salt, and toasted in the oven. We finally realized around May that these rolls are good for turkey sandwiches too. Now my son doesn't have to eat plain rolled up turkey meat for lunch like he has for the past six years--he can have the turkey on a roll. One roll wasn't quite enough,  though, and two rolls was just too much for his lunch, so I decided to start making them bigger and slicing them before freezing. The freezing step is important for these, because it dries them out a bit. They're a little too gummy right out of the oven, although, they are still quite enjoyable that way.
Unfortunately for me, I'm realizing that I will probably have to double the recipe from now on because my son goes through about two rolls a day, and although these are super easy to make, I don't want to have to make these more than once a week. Maybe I need the kid to eat a more varied diet... hmmm... interesting concept.
In the meantime, I'm probably going to keep on baking these. I really only changed the size from my previous Gluten Free French Roll recipe, but since I've got the food blog here, and because the freezing step is important, I decided to go ahead and post this recipe.
I have not tried this recipe with any other type of gf flour, so I don't know if substituting will work. I do know, though, that I love, love, love my Better Batter Gluten Free Flour. It's almost time to purchase my third 25 pound bag. Yep, I bake a LOT. In the end, though, I'm saving not only my son's sanity, but I'm also some money by making my own rolls. Plus, they're delicious. Not a bad combo. Not bad at all.

Gluten Free French Sandwich Rolls
     --adapted from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal (optional)
• Ice cubes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease it) and sprinkle with the cornmeal. Set aside. (You may need two pans, but can probably just use one.)
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the water and the yeast. Allow to sit for five minutes to soften the yeast. 
Add the flour and the salt. Beat on low until flour is all wet, and then beat on high for 5 minutes.
Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop a level half cup of batter and then scrape out with a silicone/rubber spatula. Space blobs about 2 inches apart. 
With wet fingers, gently smoosh and smooth out the dough blobs until they are as round as you can make them, and about 3/4 inch thick. They don't have to be perfect, just not jagged (see pic below) 
Allow to rise for about 35-40 minutes. 
Place in the preheated oven and throw four ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to produce some steam. After 6-7 minutes, put in four more ice cubes and bake for another 12-15 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned.
Remove from oven and cool rolls completely on a wire rack.
When rolls are completely cool, use a very sharp serrated knife to slice them open. The rolls are pretty gummy at this point, so you may need to actually wash your knife between cutting rolls. It's a hassle, but it's worth the effort. When rolls are all cut, place them on a cooling rack or baking sheet and place in the freezer to freeze overnight. Then you can place the frozen rolls in zip top freezer bags in the freezer for storage. 
To thaw, microwave for about 40 seconds at 70% power, give or take 15 seconds, depending on your microwave.

Makes about 9 rolls

This is how they look before rising.
Finger marks disappear after rising and baking.

The gluten free garlic roll (aka breakfast)

These rolls are great for a quick gf pizza. My gluten-limited
son just loves them.

Here We Go

So, I'm in my final days of summer 2013, and I've been trying to make more gluten free things for my gluten limited son to eat. Most of these recipes will also be on my Food Pusher blog too, but I have so many recipes on that blog that are gluten free mixed in with my regular baking that I want a blog that has recipes for people who need to make strictly gluten-free foods. My husband asked why I couldn't just make a gluten free page on Food Pusher, but I want to be able to organize the gf recipes into categories, like Bread, Main Dish, Snacks, etc. A page on the other blog won't allow me to do that. At least I'm not aware of how to make that happen, so here we go with a new blog.
Now, casein free goes along with gluten free for many people avoiding gluten. I will try to ID recipes that are both casein and gluten free, but this blog will still have a lot of butter, cream, and milk in the recipes. Hopefully those of you needing casein free or dairy free have substitutes.
If you are interested in the story behind why we are gluten limited around my house, feel free to send me an email and I'll be glad to tell you. But because this blog is so public, I'd rather not go into personal details on my family out of respect for them. I'm glad to tell the story, but just not in a public forum.
You may notice that most of my gf baking recipes call for Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I do not work for Better Batter, nor am I sponsored by them. It's just the best gf flour I've come across so far for most of my gf flour needs. I do use a couple of Bob's Red Mill products too. Unfortunately, as I'm sure most bakers in my situation have discovered, in gluten free baking, each recipe really requires the flour do behave in certain ways. I try to comment on texture and flavor in my posts, so you know what you're getting into as you go into a recipe. Taste and texture are a bit subjective, though, so my suggestion is, that if you're starting out in the gluten free baking and cooking adventure, go ahead and spend the extra money on smaller portions of flour to get a feel for what you like and what works for you. I still have a huge bag of some gf flour that I didn't like at all rotting in my cupboard. I should probably go and toss it after I finish starting this blog.
At any rate, those are my thoughts, and I will continue to add to them as the thoughts occur to me.