Homemade Nachos

I was at a loss for what to make for dinner one night that was pretty quick and easy. I started out with some tortilla chips, shredded some cheese, heated in the microwave and then topped with salsa. I've gotten more and more elaborate as I've gone on and found that heating in the oven makes for even better nachos. My family has enjoyed them more and more each time I make them.

Ingredients:

1 large bag of corn tortilla chips (Tostitos and Santitas are gluten-free)
1- 8oz. brick of cheddar cheese, shredded
1 pound ground beef/turkey, browned & drained
1 jar black bean dip (Wegmans brand and Amy's are gluten free)
1 avocado, mashed*
1 jar of salsa (you can use Amy's again or pick a plain tomato salsa of your heat strength)
sour cream
refried beans

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef/turkey and then mix in black bean dip (or leave meat plain, if you prefer).
2. Spread a layer of tortilla chips onto a cookie sheet or on the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Spoon half of the meat mixture onto tortilla chips. Sprinkle half of the shredded cheese on top of meat mixture.
3. Repeat step 2 with another layer of chips, meat, and cheese.
4. Place in 400-degree oven until cheese is melted.
5. Top with avocado, salsa, refried beans, and sour cream.

You can add or remove any of those ingredients on the list to suit your tastes. If you prefer to leave off the cheese or not melt the cheese, that's also possible. It would be a little more like tacos or a taco dip. You can even build your own plates - put out the various ingredients and have people put chips on their plate and add whatever ingredients they would like to their tortilla chips.

*If you prefer to have your avocado made into guacamole, you can make your own, or you can stir in a salsa verde to taste. Herdez is a brand that is made by Hormel, who says they list the top 8 allergens. Wegmans also makes a wonderful salsa verde. Trader Joe's has a salsa verde that is gluten-free as well.

Reuben Sandwiches

My family isn't huge on having corned beef and cabbage in the traditional way (my mother-in-law calls it "boiled dinner" - not the most appetizing name). Being that I don't hold an ounce of Irish in my body, yet I'm half German, we do Reuben sandwiches on St. Patrick's Day. We still get the corned beef and cabbage (in the form of sauerkraut), but in a little different way.

Gluten-Free Reuben Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 corned beef brisket
1 can/package sauerkraut (we use the Silver Floss/Krrrisp Kraut without incident)
Swiss Cheese
Gluten-Free Thousand Island Dressing
Gluten-Free bread (we use Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread)
McCormick Brand Pickling Spices

Directions:
1. Place Corned Beef Brisket into crock pot, fill with water to just cover the brisket. Sprinkle Pickling Spices into the water (as much or as little as you want - I use a lot because it adds fantastic flavor). Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

2. Remove corned beef from crock pot and thinly slice. Build your sandwich on your gluten-free bread (we have a toaster OVEN** that we place our bread slices into with swiss cheese on one side to melt - do NOT use a toaster, as the slices will be vertical and the cheese will melt into the toaster and may cause a fire or ruin your toaster). After melting your cheese, put some Thousand Island Dressing, sauerkraut, and corned beef onto your sandwich. We often will cut our sandwiches into fourths because the gluten-free bread is pretty crumbly and it's easier to pick up a smaller piece of sandwich than a larger piece.


**If you do NOT have a toaster oven, but would like to melt your cheese onto bread, you can use a small fry pan/skillet on the stove. Place your bread into the pan and your cheese on top of the bread. Put the stove burner to medium heat. Place a lid onto your pan and let the cheese melt and your bread toast.

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.