Black Bean Smothered Yams

Ingredients:

3 small-to-medium yams (or sweet potatoes)
2 cans black beans, drained
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
pinch kosher salt
sour cream
cilantro

Directions:

1. Wash yams and place into crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Or, pierce yams with a fork and microwave on high for about 12-15 minutes, until cooked all the way through (microwave ovens cook differently, so add or subtract time based on your microwave).
2. In a medium saucepan, combine beans, tomatoes, oil, cumin, coriander and salt. Heat through on medium-high, stirring frequently.
3. Slash each yam and smother with black bean mixture.
4. Top with sour cream and garnish with a sprinkle of cilantro.

Sweet and Savory Quinoa Side-dish

This is a dish I often serve with pork tenderloin that has been lightly seasoned with a little olive oil, Kosher salt, and pepper and cooked on my stove in a skillet. It provides a little bit of sweet and a little bit of savory

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup gluten-free chicken broth (I use 1 cup of water and 1 tsp. Herb-Ox Chicken Bouillon)
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
1 medium to large apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1/3 cup raisins, soaked in water until plump
2 TBSP butter, margarine, or oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp basil

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa and drain. Covered, and on high, bring chicken broth and quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow quinoa to absorb all liquid.

2. While quinoa is cooking, saute garlic, apple, and drained raisins in butter/margarine/oil. Add cinnamon, cumin, and basil (adjust amounts to flavor preferences).

3. Add apples/raisin mixture to cooked quinoa and serve as a side dish.

Chicken Stew

I made this on Christmas Eve for a nice comfort-food meal before our Christmas Eve church events. It was also a way to make an Americanized version of a Ghanaian Christmas tradition (my daughter researched Ghana's Christmas traditions because friends of hers just had their new brother and sister adopted from Ghana arrive home on the morning of Christmas Eve this year and my daughter wanted to make something that was a Ghana tradition). I looked up a traditional Ghana Chicken Stew recipe and it did not look appetizing. So, I looked for an American chicken stew instead. Here's an adaptation of what I found.

• 3 cups red potatoes, cubed
• 3 cups carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 celery stalks, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces.
• 1 cup freshly chopped onion
• 1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme  
•  4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 recipe of condensed cream soup
• salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Place all items into crockpot, stir until everything is coated with the cream soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

**It will seem very thick initially, but as the chicken cooks, its juices will render out and create a little bit of liquid. This creates about 6 servings.

Adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/crockpot-chicken-stew-422135#ixzz1hUibHMGC

Mint Squares

This can be made either with chocolate or with carob.

Mint Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

4 eggs

1 cup Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3-4 TBSP carob powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder) - I used Chatfield's carob powder

1 tsp. vanilla

***

3 cups confectioner's sugar

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

4 TBSP peppermint extract (I used Simply Organic)

3-4 drops green food coloring

***

2 -12oz. bags GF chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips if doing cocoa/chocolate-free)

7 TBSP butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Mix sweetened condensed milk and carob/cocoa powder in a small bowl.

3. Mix sugar, butter, eggs, baking mix, carob/cocoa mixture, and vanilla with an electric hand mixer until mixed well.

4. Bake for 33-35 minutes.

***

5. Once cake portion has cooled, mix confectioner's sugar, melted butter, peppermint extract, and green food coloring.

6. Spread over cooled cake.

7. Put into freezer for about 15 minutes until layer has firmed up.

***

8. Melt chips and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

9. Spread over mint layer. Chill before cutting and serving.

Tilapia Packets with Garlic Cheese Sauce for Crockpot

3-4 Tilapia fillets or other white fish
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann's is gluten-free)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 Tbs. of lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Stir the sauce together (all ingredients except the fish).


2. Put a little sauce on the foil, place fillet on top and then top fillet with more sauce. Then wrap into a foil packet. Repeat with remaining tilapia and sauce.

3. Place all the packets in the crockpot, stacking them on top of each other. If using frozen tilapia, heat on high for about 30 minutes before lowering the temperature to your crockpot's low setting. Cook for an additional 4 hours until fish is flaky.

4. Since you are doing this in packets, you can also add small potatoes to your crock pot to cook, if you have room and would like potatoes with your meal. I'm choosing to serve brown rice with our fish.

Crock Pot Lasagna

Crock Pot Lasagna

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 jar (24 oz) of your favorite gluten-free spaghetti sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese (I think most kinds are GF, but this one says so right on their website)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
6 Tinkyada lasagna noodle sheets
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I use Kraft in the canister)

1. Brown ground beef with onion and garlic. Add tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. Simmer 5 minutes and allow flavors to mix.

2. Mix ricotta cheese and one cup of mozzarella cheese in a small bowl.

3. Combine remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella with parmesan cheese.

4. Spoon 1/3 of ground beef mixture into a 5 Qt. crock pot. Break 3 dry lasagna noodles in half (or into smaller pieces if necessary) and arrange them over the beef mixture. Top with half of the ricotta mixture. Repeat with another layer of beef, noodles, and ricotta. Finish with the remaining 1/3 of beef mixture and top with the mozzarella/parmesan mixture.

5. Cover crock pot and cook on low for about 4-5 hours.

**I have found that if I cook it longer than 4-5 hours, the noodles get kind of mushy, but 4 hours is usually perfect and 5 hours is still OK; 6 hours is really kind of pushing it, though.

Corn bread

Ingredients:

1/4 cup stick butter or margarine, softened
3 TBSP sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix
2/3 cup GF yellow cornmeal - Hodgson Mills is one brand
2 tsp GF Baking Powder (I use Clabber Girl)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425-degrees. Combine butter and sugar in a bowl. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in sour cream and milk.

2. On low speed, beat in all remaining ingredients, just until mixed.

3. Pour batter into a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Homemade GF Chili

Ingredients:

1TBSP vegetable oil
3lbs. ground beef
salt
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4TBSP San-J wheat-free Tamari
2TBSP chili powder (more if you like more heat)
2tsp ground cumin
2tsp oregano
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 bottle (12 oz) Chili Sauce
1 1/2  cups beef stock (I use 1 1/2 cups of warm water and mix in 1 1/2 tsp. of Herb-Ox bouillon)

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil on medium-high. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Season to taste with salt.
2. Add chopped onion, peppers, and garlic. Stir for 3-5 minutes. Add tamari. Cook an additional 3 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add corn, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, chili sauce and stock.
4. Simmer for 30+ minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rice Krispies

Did you know??? Have you seen??? Rice Krispies are now Gluten-free! I was just in my grocery store this week and was wandering in the regular cereal aisle because part of my family really loves Cinnamon Chex. I'm not entirely sure how it caught my eye, but those GF-labeled Rice Krispies caught my eye! We had to buy a box. My daughter was so over-the-moon excited. She had them plain yesterday morning and then added fresh blueberries to them this morning. So very exciting!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:
*3-4 medium sized red potatoes, cleaned and thinly sliced.
*2TBSP butter
*2TBSP corn starch
*2/3 tsp salt
*Pepper to taste
*1 cup milk
* 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Cook potatoes in large saucepan until tender. Drain.

2. Melt butter in small saucepan. Add corn starch, salt and pepper. Stir until well blended. Add milk and 1 cup cheese. Stir continuously over medium-low heat until sauce thickens.

3. Pour cheese mixture over potatoes and stir to coat potatoes.

4. Pour into greased casserole dish or 11x7 baking pan.

5. Bake in oven at 350-degrees for 20-25 minutes.

**Makes about 4 servings.

Quinoa & Chicken

*Serves 4*

1 cup quinoa

2 cups chicken broth

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips.

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tsp. fresh minced garlic

4 TBSP olive oil

1 zucchini, diced

1 tomato, diced (I used a can of diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained, since I didn't have any fresh tomatoes)

4 oz. feta cheese

1-2 tsp. basil

1. Rinse quinoa and place in small saucepan with chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer until all liquid has been absorbed.

2. On med-high, saute onion and garlic in 2TBSP olive oil until onion is translucent. Add chicken and cook most of the way through.

3. Remove chicken from pan, add 2TBSP olive oil, tomatoes, and zucchini. Cook until zucchini is tender. Add chicken back to pan. Add feta cheese and basil. Let flavors mix for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Serve over quinoa.

This is very yummy, very flavorful, and isn't heavy at all.

Quinoa Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup raisins
1 medium apple, cored and finely chopped
1/2 TBSP thyme
1 TBSP parsley
1 pork tenderloin
salt
pepper

1. Put quinoa and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to simmer until all liquid has been absorbed.

2. Mix raisins, apple, thyme, and parsley into the quinoa. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Cut off silver skin from the pork tenderloin. Butterfly (cut) lengthwise. Pound thin, about 1/2-1/4 inch.

4. Spread about half the quinoa mixture on the pork tenderloin. Roll pork tenderloin and tie with butcher twine in about 3-4 places.

5. Season top of tenderloin with a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. On a baking sheet, cook in the oven at 375-degrees for about 20 minutes or until pork is cooked to an internal temperature of 155-degrees.

6. Slice tenderloin and serve with the extra quinoa mixture as a side and a veggie of choice.

Snickerdoodle cookies

• 1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix

• 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons

• 1 large egg

• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (see below)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.

2. Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse once to combine. Add the butter to the processor and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, 15 to 20 pulses. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together in a large ball, 10 pulses.

3. Scoop the cookie dough into 1-inch balls, roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture, and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet, 2 to 3 inches apart. If you want crisp 3-inch cookies, press down on the balls with the bottom of a small glass to flatten them. If you prefer chewy 2 1/2-inch cookies, do not flatten the balls of dough.

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Sugar:

1. To make your own cinnamon sugar, stir 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon into 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

Creamy Dairy-Free, Gluten-FreeTomato Soup

Ingredients:

1 12oz. can tomato paste
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
3 slices of your favorite gluten-free bread, cubed with crusts cut off
1 small cooking onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP sugar
2-3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I made my own stock, but you can use herb-ox bouillon, if necessary)
salt
pepper


Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, mix together tomato paste, diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, 1/2 cup broth, bread cubes, and sugar. Bring to a slight bubble.

2. Pour into a blender, add olive oil, and puree. Be sure to hold the lid on tightly and remove lid slowly when finished pureeing, as the heat can cause pressure build-up.

3. Clean out your stock pot and return the puree to the pot. Add more broth slowly to desired consistency. Add less broth for a thicker soup. Add more broth for a thinner soup. Return to a boil.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can garnish with fresh basil or parsley.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole (Serves 6)

Ingredients

nonstick cooking spray
1 ½ cups uncooked white rice
1 16-ounce bag frozen corn (I subbed one can of corn, drained)
2 cups (8 ounces) low-fat shredded cheese blend
2 cups cooked chicken breast, diced
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 cups nonfat milk
½ cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Spray 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Put the rice, corn, cheese, chicken, and onion in a large bowl and mix together. Combine
the sugar, salt, and chili powder. Sprinkle the chili powder mixture and paprika on top of chicken mixture.

Pour the milk and water into the baking dish.

Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 1 ½ hours or until the cheese begins to bubble.

Remove foil and bake 20-30 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

US Thanksgiving 2010

I just want to remind you all that if you have found a gluten-free frozen turkey, or if you bought a fresh turkey and put it in your freezer, you should be pulling that out of your freezer today and starting the thawing process. The recommendation is 5 pounds per day. So, if you have a 20 pound turkey, it will take at least 4 days to thaw. If your turkey is only about 10-15 pounds, you might have a little leeway if you don't pull it out to begin thawing today, but don't forget to pull those turkeys out of the freezer and give it ample time to thaw before Thanksgiving. If it completely thaws by Tuesday, it will still be good for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

I also have some great recipes here on Gluten-free Beginnings that you might be interested in using for your Thanksgiving meal:

http://glutenfreebeginnings.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving

You can also make up your own mashed potatoes from scratch by peeling and boiling potatoes and using a potato masher. Just a tip: don't use beaters or blenders, necessarily because the starches will combine too much and make your mashed potatoes into gluey potatoes.

If you prefer mashed potatoes "easy style", Betty Crocker has her Potato Buds that are gluten-free. They even state that in large letters on their label!

Our family doesn't do a green bean casserole. We just serve a side of frozen, french-cut green beans heated with a bit of butter. But, if you want to try your hand at a green bean casserole, you can check out this recipe from Gluten Free Mommy.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

1 cup Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix
3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Quick Cooking Oats **
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples
1/2 cup white sugar
1 TBSP cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (McCormick is gluten-free)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a medium bowl, combine baking mix, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Stir until crumbly. Press half the oat mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with sliced apples.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine white sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla. Cook, stirring, until thick and clear, 10 minutes. Pour over the apples. Cover apples with remaining crumble mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden.

**Do not eat this if you are Celiac and sensitive even to gluten-free oats.

Quinoa & Chicken

I wasn't sure I wanted to try quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) a second time. The first time I tried it, it was made for us the way rice is made. It was bland and there was a LOT of it (a lot more of those left overs than anything else). It took me a long time to decide to give it a try again and actually make it myself.

I did a little looking into better ways to prepare it, came across a couple different recipes, I changed them a bit, and made my own meal.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup water
1 large carrot, diced into very small pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1-2 stalks of celery, diced into very small pieces (about 1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic
2 TBSP olive oil
1-2 TBPS minced onion
parsley
salt
ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Rinse quinoa very well in a fine mesh strainer and place in a bowl of cool water for 2-4 hours (if you are in a hurry and can't soak the quinoa for 2-4 hours, at least rinse the quinoa very well - it has saponins, a naturally occurring coating on the outside, which can give a bitter taste, if not rinsed well).
2. In a large skillet on medium to medium-high heat, cook the chicken, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in the olive oil until chicken is cooked through and carrots and celery are cooked, but not mushy.
3. While the items in the skillet are cooking, drain quinoa, place in a small saucepan with 1 cup of water and about 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and once water comes to a boil on high, reduce heat to medium high and simmer for about 15 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed.
4. Stir quinoa into the chicken and vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in a sprinkling of parsley just before serving.

This serves about 2-3 people. You can double the recipe for larger groups.

One recipe I saw added finely diced red and green bell peppers to the chicken, celery and carrots mixture. We left these out, as they are not a favorite item in our house.

2010 Halloween Candy List

For those who are sorting through kids baskets today, here is a list I found that is pretty comprehensive for most allergens. Be careful when looking at each item on the list though. Some are "wheat-free", but not "gluten-free" - some don't contain wheat, but they contain barley malt. So, please read all the information given for the kind of candy you are researching. This list has definitely helped my daughter to have a reasonable amount of candy, but my husband is also happy that he has his own stash that my daughter and I can't touch!

http://www.anewkindofnormal.com/2010/10/halloween-2010-gluten-free-candy-list/

Potato Soup

This is a recipe I got from a friend of mine. It's hearty, yet simple to prepare:

6 cups chicken stock (you can just measure out 6 cups of water and add 6 tsp of Herb-Ox bouillon if you don't have any homemade stock)
5 lb. potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-2 tsp fresh garlic
1 cooking onion, chopped
bacon - Oscar Mayer is a Kraft product and will list allergens specifically on the label (optional)
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Saute onion in butter (2-4 TBSP) in a large stock pot.
2. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil
3. Add potatoes & garlic
4. Simmer until potatoes are cooked
5. Mash potatoes with a potato masher until soup is creamy
6. You can add cooked/crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar cheese to it, if you choose, or be creative with what you'd like to add to your soup.