Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

Here's a recipe I was sent from a friend who found this on allrecipes.com. I have yet to try it, but from the reviews on the site, it sounds like most people enjoyed it.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

"Searching for recipes for a gluten-free diet can be challenging during the holidays. Here is a recipe for Irish soda bread that I have adapted over time for St. Patrick's Day. The recipe calls for rice and tapioca flour instead of wheat and it still tastes yummy! Good if wrapped and left overnight, but I think it tastes great right out of the oven. Serve with butter or jam."

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 cups white rice flour
* 1/2 cup tapioca flour
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg
* 1 cup buttermilk (I imagine you can also do 1 cup milk + 1TBSP vinegar to sour the milk)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. Combine the rice flour, tapioca flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk . Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into the cake pan.
3. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Wrap bread in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let stand overnight for the best flavor.

Stuffed Cabbage

Here's another light meal that my family enjoyed the other night.

Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage
1lb. ground beef
1/3 cup rice, uncooked
1/2 jar spaghetti sauce (Hunts is gluten-free)

Directions:

1. Cook up the rice; mix with uncooked ground beef.

2. Heat up electric skillet with about 1.5-2 cups of water (to cover the bottom of the pan) to about 350-degrees (or on the stove, in a large skillet, heat up to med-high). Water should be simmering. You may have to replenish the water from time to time as you are cooking the cabbage, since it steams the cabbage and may steam itself dry.

3. Carefully remove each leaf of cabbage, put a couple of spoonfuls of ground beef mixture into the center of the leaf, wrap leaf around the beef mixture, place seam-side down into water. Continue until all beef mixture is used.

4. Cover and cook until internal temperature is 165-degrees and cabbage leaves are soft

5. Serve with warm spaghetti sauce over the top.

***This can be served along with gluten-free bread or gluten-free rolls on the side.

A great meal to warm you

We had this meal the other night and it was a hit. It warmed our bellies on a cold night and just made us all feel cozy warm.

Turkey and Veggies Over Potatoes

Ingredients:
~3-4 lbs. turkey meat (we prefer dark meat) cooked and shredded
-double recipe of chicken/turkey gravy (you can use the drippings of the turkey and add bouillon if needed)
-2 cans mixed vegetables, drained
-6-7 servings of mashed potatoes (we use Betty Crocker Instant)

Directions:

1. Cook up turkey and shred it by hand (or cut up if you prefer). Add to large pot.
2. Stir in gravy and vegetables. Let simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve over hot mashed potatoes.

Homemade Guacamole

Here's a simple recipe I came across for a simple homemade guacamole that can be used in the taco dip recipe, as a dip by itself, or in any number of other dishes that call for guacamole.

Guacamole Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

2 medium Ripe Avocados, halved, pitted, and removed from peel 1- 2 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice 1/2 cup Chunky Medium or Hot Salsa (Pace is gluten-free) 1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Sprinkle avocado with lemon juice. 2. Mash avocado with fork. 3. Fold in chunky salsa and sea salt. 4. Refrigerate until serving.

Here are a couple more baked goods to try!

Bob's Red Mill has a couple of recipes you can try using their gluten-free oats, if you don't have a sensitivity to pure oats (grown and harvested separately from wheat). I have not personally tried these recipes, so I can't weigh in on how they turn out, or taste, but they are on my list of items I would like to try relatively soon. Although, I don't know that I'll get to them before Christmas. They have a recipe for Oatmeal Banana Bread and a recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Christmas Goodies

My daughter LOVES to bake treats, especially at Christmas time. Since I'm not great in the baking department, most of our treats come from pre-mixed packages of gluten-free treats. You still get to bake, but someone else has figured out the proper ratios of flours and whatnot.

We love making the sugar cookie mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen. The only word of warning is that unlike gluten-filled sugar cookies, these ones don't roll out nicely on your counter to use cookie cutters and then lift them onto the cookie sheet. BUT, fear not, you CAN still make cookie cut-outs with this mix. Just place a bit of the dough directly onto your cookie sheet, flatten the dough with your hand, use the cookie cutter, and while the cookie cutter is still in place, clear the extra dough away from the cutter. Lift the cookie cutter and voila! you have a cookie in whatever shape you want it! Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake, and then frost or add sprinkles. And speaking of sprinkles, my grocery store just started carrying this brand of gluten-free sprinkles! We haven't tried them yet, but I was oh, so excited about them! How awesomely wonderful!

I've also used this cake recipe to make a birthday cake for Jesus...and you can just make your own frosting, or Cherrybrook Kitchen makes a frosting mix (which I've used and found to be pretty much the same thing as making my own, it just costs more because someone else has done the measuring and packaging). You can also make cupcakes from this recipe and just serve those at a Christmas party.

I plan on making some Christmas wreath cookies as well (see recipe below). They were always a favorite when I was growing up and I knew I had to make sure I figured out a way to make them gluten-free.

Christmas Wreath Cookies

Ingredients:
6 cups Nature's Path Honey'd Corn flakes
1 pkg. (approx 40) large Kraft marshmallows
1/3 cup stick margarine or butter
1 tsp. green food coloring (Both Wilton and McCormick have said their colorings are gluten free)
Red colored sugar crystals (again, Wilton and McCormick are fine)

Directions:

1. In large saucepan/pot, melt margarine or butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring.

2. Add corn flakes. Stir until well coated.

3. Using a 1/4 cup dry measure coated with cooking spray or butter/margarine, evenly portion warm cereal mixture. Using buttered fingers, quickly shape into individual wreaths. Sprinkle red sugar crystals on to resemble holly berries.

***This can also be formed into one large wreath and then served on a plate for people to cut portions from.

Gluten free baking!

Wow! It's been over a month since I last posted something here! It's been busy getting ready for the holidays. I'm hoping that I can offer some great cooking and baking ideas for the upcoming holidays.

For now, here are some baking supplies that are gluten free. As always, be sure to read labels to be sure that nothing has changed in the ingredient list, but this list is from the Celiac Forum. Hopefully it will give you a good idea of what is gluten-free in the mainstream baking aisle at your grocery store!