Clam Dip

My mother-in-law makes a clam dip that is fantastic and I made it the other day following her non-specific recipe amounts. I will do my best to put amounts in my recipe, but much of it is "taste-based" and you add more or less of the various ingredients depending on what tastes good to you.

Ingredients:

16-24 oz. gluten-free sour cream (Daisy is one brand that is gluten-free)
1/2 - 3/4 cup Heinz Ketchup
fresh horseradish (to taste) ***
1-2 small cans of Bumblebee canned minced clams or Snow's minced clams, drained

Mix all ingredients and serve with gluten-free potato chips (Lays is a great brand and is gluten-free).

***I used Altman's brand horseradish. I don't know whether that's a local brand or not. But, I looked at the ingredients of all the jars of horseradish and chose the jar that listed the fewest ingredients, and had nothing artificial added. This brand lists: horseradish roots, vinegar, and salt as the only ingredients. I know some are sensitive to vinegar, but this had nothing else added that would be a warning flag to me. It seems to have agreed with my digestive system, as well as my daughter's digestive system.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

My husband's favorite thing in the whole world is Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Since going gluten-free, we haven't made it. It's just been too troublesome and the yellow cake mixes either were too much cake or too involved to make it taste good (and ended up being too expensive to make it worth the trouble). But, Betty Crocker's Yellow Cake Mix makes it SO simple!

Ingredients:
1 Betty Crocker Gluten-free Yellow Cake mix
2 TBSP margarine or butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 8-ounce can pineapple slices, drained and halved
1 TBSP water

Directions:
1. Melt margarine in a 9x1.5 inch round cake pan (I just do this on the stove burner in the pan...use oven mitts to touch the pan as it can get hot).
2. Stir in brown sugar and water.
3. Arrange pineapple slices in the pan.
4. Prepare batter from cake mix according to the package instructions.
5. Carefully pour cake batter over the pineapples.
6. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Loosen sides, invert onto a plate. Serve warm.

Serves about 8.

Egg Nog

It's getting to that time of year for Christmas products. Here are some eggnog brands that are gluten free:

Gluten free Egg Nog brands...
*Upstate Farms
*Silk Nog (soy milk, dairy-free, egg-free)
*Hood
*Ronnybrook Farms (can be found at Wholefoods and other locations - their egg nog is found in the milk section on their website and is included in their gluten-free statement of milk products)
*Byrne Dairy just wrote to me and indicated that their Eggnog AND Holiday Nog are both Gluten-free (see note below****)

If you have another brand of eggnog at your store that is not on this list, please contact the company and ask them before you consume. I could not find a statement on the websites of Land O' Lakes, Parmalat, or Borden that stated for sure that their products were gluten-free, so I did not include them in this list. The listed brands have right on their website that their products, including their eggnog flavors, are gluten-free. Always check on store brands of products. Many times a store brand label is really a national brand that has your store's name/label on it. So, perhaps ask what brand their eggnog is and you can determine in that way whether the product is gluten-free or not.


(****Dear Ms. Mansfield,
I am writing in response to your email received this morning. Both Byrne Dairy Egg Nog and Holiday Nog are gluten free. Thank you for contacting us.

Bill Byrne
VP Quality Assurance
Byrne Dairy Inc.)

2009 Halloween Candy List

It's Halloween again! Here's an updated list of gluten-free candy from Surefoods Living. It was just put up a couple weeks ago, but as always, definitely double check labels and if you're in doubt, then definitely pull it out of the kids' Halloween baskets and either toss it out or give it away to someone who can eat it.

There's so much candy out there that IS ok for our GF kids these days. Halloween doesn't have to be a sad time...just explain to your child that you will separate their candy and give them the kinds they can eat and then perhaps you can take them out for a special non-candy treat in exchange for the candy they can't eat. OR, if you have some left-over Halloween candy that you passed out to neighborhood kids that is safe for your child, you can always trade them a piece of that candy for the candy they can't have.

I wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween!

Beef Minestrone Soup

This recipe is from the Wegmans Menu Magazine, but we've adjusted it slightly to create a gluten-free version for our family.

About 1.5 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup rice flour
2 Tbsp pure olive oil
1-2 potatoes, cubed
2-3 carrots, cut
1-2 celery stalks, cut
1-2 leeks, cut
cabbage, coarsely cut
1 zucchini, cubed
1/2 onion, coarsely cut
salt and pepper
32 oz. gluten-free beef stock (or Herb-Ox beef bouillon)
1 can (14.5 oz) gluten-free diced tomatoes
24 oz. gluten-free smooth marinara sauce
3/4 cup Schar brand Anellini Soup Pasta
1 can (15.5 oz) gluten-free garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg (6 oz) fresh baby spinach

You'll Need: 6-8 qt slow cooker, large braising pan

Directions:

1. Create a pan-searing flour with rice flour, pinch of salt, and dash of pepper.

2. Dust beef with pan-searing flour; pat off excess.

3. Heat oil in large braising pan (or large skillet) on MEDIUM-HIGH until oil faintly smokes. Add beef; sear 10 min until all sides are paper-bag brown.

4. Transfer beef to slow cooker; don't discard pan drippings. Add 4 cups of vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celery, leeks, onion, cabbage, and zucchini) to pan with beef drippings; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, 3 min; add to slow cooker. (Any left-over veggies beyond the 4 cups can be frozen for future use or used for something else.)

5. Add stock, tomatoes, and sauce to slow cooker. Cover, cook 4 1/2 -6 hours on HIGH or 8-10 hours on LOW.

6. Add dry pasta and beans 30 minutes before end of cooking on HIGH (45 minutes before end of cooking on LOW).

7. Add spinach to slow cooker; stir to blend well. Allow spinach to lightly wilt, about 2 min.

Chicken Spaghetti

This meal was a hit tonight with my family. It kind of has an alfredo taste to it, but it's neat that it's a baked/casserole-like dish. It's definitely a recipe that takes some time to put together and then bake, but it's well worth the effort. Probably something you'd want to start preparing about 2 hours ahead of when you want to eat.

Chicken Spaghetti

3-4 chicken breasts or equivalent (I used boneless skinless, but, you can use bone-in or thigh meat)

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces

1/2 large vidalia onion, cut into small pieces

black pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp. fresh minced garlic (or garlic powder, to taste)

1 cup sour cream

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Double Recipe of Condensed Cream Soup

16 oz. spaghetti (I use Tinkyada's Spaghetti)

1 cup broth reserved

1. Bring chicken along with onion, carrots, pepper, and garlic to a boil in large pot of water. Simmer until chicken is cooked. Temp chicken to 165-F.

2. Save broth to boil spaghetti, but reserve one cup.

3. Hand-shred chicken once it's cool enough to handle.

4. Cook spaghetti in remaining pot of broth and drain. Set aside along with chicken.

5. Mix carrots, onion, condensed cream soup, 1 cup broth, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, black pepper in a large bowl.

6. Add drained spaghetti and chicken. Pour into a 13X9 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 4oo degrees. Top with mozzarella and bake about 10 minutes - until mozzarella is melted.

Blondies

While on our vacation to the Boston area last week, we visited a Whole Foods. It was my first time going into a Whole Foods store and my first impression was that it looked like a typical supermarket. How awesome! The only difference was that it was a whole grocery store that carried products that the Nature's Marketplace within our Wegmans grocery store carry...and a whole lot more. We easily spent $60+ grabbing this item and that item off the shelves that I hadn't ever seen out our way.

One of the items we bought and just tried last night were the Namaste Foods brand Blondie Mix. I opted to make the whole package (9x13 pan) all at once rather than breaking it up into two 8x8 pans. I'm glad I did, because I think an 8x8 pan of Blondies would have been completely devoured a day later, so at least I have some for a couple of extra days.

They are super moist and really easy to make. I literally had them mixed up and in the oven in about 5 minutes. I think the only thing that I wasn't expecting was the flavor. They aren't bad tasting, just not what I remember a "Blond Brownie" tasting like. I think it might be the Arrowroot flour used in the ingredients. Again, it's not a BAD flavor, just different than I was expecting. We all love them here and we highly recommend them if you can find them. Namaste Foods has a store locator function on their website and I was able to locate stores in our area that carry some of their products. I just don't know which of their products those stores carry.