Pancake Mix and Baked Pancakes

I used to make pancake mix and then didn't for awhile which is how things are in our house - I go through cycles. The last pancake mix we had was Mama's Gluten Free Mix which was a great pancake mix. I had 2 bags of her almond blend to use up and thought replacing the pancake mix was a great way to do so. Mama's Gluten Free Almond Blend is the only gluten free flour I have used to make this pancake mix - this is not a gluten free recipe but can easily be altered.
If using gluten free flours - add 1-2 teaspoons of xanthum or guar gum (I use guar gum because it's half the cost of xanthum gum).
I have made this mix with soy milk powder and powdered milk - you can not tell the difference except in the mix its self (soy milk powder is softer than powdered milk).

Pancake mix
8 cup flour
2 cups milk powder
½ cup sugar
2 tb + 2 teas baking powder
4 teas baking soda
Mix together and store in an airtight container

To make pancakes:
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil or butter
2 ½ cups mix

This weekend, my son had his cousin spend the night. They wanted pancakes for breakfast and requested cinnamon to be added to the batter. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use up some of the bananas in my freezer, especially since we are currently out of eggs. I freeze bananas in their peels so I don't have to really think about them. To peel them, I run them under hot water and remove the peels. Sometime the inside of the peel sticks to the banana and I use a knife to scrap it off. Because the bananas were frozen I stuck them in the microwave to thaw them after peeling.
So the recipe:
3 bananas
1 1/3 cups or so water
1/3 cup oil
2 1/2 cups mix
1 teas cinnamon
Mash the bananas, add 1 cup water and the oil. Mix in the pancake mix and cinnamon. Add remaining water a little at a time to make a pourable batter.
Now here comes the tricky part - I could not get the batter not to stick to my pan. To matter what I did the pancakes would not turn out. We were running out of time to eat breakfast before church so I turned the oven onto 400 degrees and poured the batter into a non-stick baking sheet that I rubbed with butter. About 10 minutes later I changed the oven to broil and let the top get a little golden. I'm not sure the broiling really made a difference.
Then I rubbed butter on the top before cutting into pancake sized squares. We ate them with peanut butter to find these were the best pancakes ever made. Each serving was perfectly cooked. I did slightly miss the crispy edge of fried pancakes but they were so good. So much so that my family asked me to continue baking them every time.

Evaporated Milk (dairy and dairy free)

My family has a bug and it's a doosy so my cooking has been rather limited. I hope to take some time tomorrow to rest up and gather my strength and do some cooking in the afternoon.
Last night I made two impossible pumpkin pies. As I am pulling out the ingredients I realize I don't have anymore evaporated milk. I thought this was a perfect time to pull out those substitution recipes I have been holding on to. The pies came out great and you couldn't tell I hadn't used real evaporated milk.
I used powdered milk this time but you can substitute soy milk powder for a dairy free version.

Evaporated milk
1 cup powdered milk
3/4 cup water
Blend well

I just added the milk with the dry and the water with the wet but the instructions for this recipe say to blend in a blender. The milk powder was very visible in the batter but completely gone in the final product.

Ice Cream Makers and Almond Milk Ice Cream

There are two basic types of ice cream makers - the frozen canister and the one that uses ice and rock salt.
The frozen canister type (like we are currently using) has a thick bowl that sits on a motor which you remove and freeze. The bowl is filled with a gel that freezes and thaws as it makes the ice cream. There are some great advantages to this type of ice cream maker. It is often cheaper than it's counterpart, it's quiet and you can use it to make a variety of frozen treats from slushies to ice cream. The disadvantages are you have to re-freeze the canister after every use so only 1 recipe at a time and it doesn't make the best ice cream (but I am working on that).
The type that uses rock salt and ice often has a thin canister for the ice cream that sits in a bucket like structure which is all secured by the motor on the top. You pour a mixture of ice and rock salt around the ice cream canister and turn it on. The advantage is it makes nearly perfect ice cream without having to freeze the ice cream before eating. It's rather low tech. The disadvantages are it's more expensive and horribly noisy. The noise kept us from making ice cream as much as we would have.
I am playing with recipes and I have to say with a little experimenting I think you can get a really good ice cream out of the gel canister maker. I'm hoping because that's what we are using. With these, you need a seperate container to store the ice cream. I find that the Ziplock containers with the twist lids are perfect.
Our first ice cream we made was an almond milk - this is really simple and tasty. This version will make more of an ice milk than an ice cream but for those who can't do dairy it's wonderful.

Almond milk ice cream
3 cups vanilla almond milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Mix together in large measuring cup and carefully pour into ice cream maker. Let stir in make for 25-30 minutes (or to manufacturer instructions). Pour into covered container and freeze overnight.

We did make a dairy version last night with some modifications that look promising so I can't wait to share them with you when I have them more perfected.

Indian Chicken Bites

I love Indian food. The food is so rich in texture and flavor that one falls in love with it. This recipe is an Indian inspired chicken nugget. There is no breading and can easily be made gluten free. The sauce does not and did not sound appealing to me but it complimented the chicken nicely. Here is the recipe as it was written, my changes are after.

Indian Chicken Bites
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
3 boneless chicken breasts (8 ounces each), trimmed and cut
into 36 cubes
1/4 cup Sun Butter
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 – 2 teaspoons hot sauce
Combine molasses, soy sauce, garlic powder, sesame oil, vinegar, cumin and coriander in a small bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade in a medium bowl. Place chicken in a large sealable plastic bag. Pour the remaining marinade into the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. Add Sun Butter, water, ketchup and hot sauce to taste to the reserved marinade and whisk to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use. After chicken is done marinating, place them on a broiler pan that has been lined with tinfoil or on a non-stick cookie sheet. Position an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the broiler. Broil the chicken bites until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Remove from oven and place a toothpick in each piece. Serve with the reserved Sun Butter sauce for dipping and your favorite raw vegetables.

2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
1 tablespoon rice wine (still out of rice vinegar at the house)
1 tbs. garam masala
3 boneless chicken breasts (8 ounces each), trimmed and cut
into 36 cubes
1/4 cup Peanut butter
2 tablespoons ketchup

I created the marinade in a gallon zip-lock back and dropped in all the chicken without reserving any marinade. I let the chicken set for about 30 minutes, turning the chicken every so often. Using a slotted spoon, I removed the chicken and put it on my baking sheet. While the chicken was baking, I poured the marinade into a saucepan and let it come to a boil. I, then, added the peanut butter and let melt. After removing the sauce from the heat I added the ketchup to taste. I had actually scooped out a spoonful of the sauce and added a drop of ketchup for everyone to taste before I added the ketchup - everyone preferred the ketchup added.
I served the chicken with rice and hot veggies.

Sweet and Sour Meat

I opted to title this Sweet and Sour Meat because I make this with pork or chicken. You really could use any meat (or no meat) if you desired. Long ago I used to bread and fry chicken nuggets to serve with this sauce but I really prefer the meat unbreaded and made into the sauce so it absorbs some of the great sweet and sour flavor.
This is one of those recipes that my mom got from the ladies group at church when I was a kid. It was one she made on occassion at home but it was a lot of work frying the chicken (another reason why I don't make little nuggets). Somehow I got the little photocopied booklet and created my own version.
I made this last night with chunk pineapple since the store was out of crushed and it worked nicely. I can't remember the exact size of the can but it's what I would consider a normal sized can (maybe around 14 oz). Also I have found that reducing the vinegar to 1 cup helps cut the bite that my family is not so fond of. I use plain white vinegar but this could be good with rice vinegar.
I serve it over rice with extra soy sauce.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
1-2 pounds chicken or pork, cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, diced
1-2 green peppers, diced
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup vinegar
4 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
4 tbs. cornstarch
1 cup cool water
1 cup ketchup
In a deep skillet or large saucepan (not huge but at about 12 inches across and 5-6 inches deep), heat enough oil to cover bottom of pan. Add meat and brown. Add onions and green peppers. Saute until just tender. Mix cornstarch with cool water until all the starch is dissolved. Add to pot with remaining ingredients. Stir until well mixed and begins to thicken. Remove and serve over rice.

Pork and Rice

One of the few things my father made as we were growing up is a Kraft recipe for Pork Chops and Rice. Things have changed but we still love this concotion. My father's original recipe uses regular rice and bakes in the oven. I found a new version of this recipe that makes it on the stove with minute rice. The original recipe also calls for creamed soup but it is not gluten or dairy free.
Here is how we revamped the recipe for last nights dinner.
4 pork chops
2 cups minute brown rice
2-3 cups liquid (we used a combination of soy milk and water)
1/2 stick Nucoa
1 onion chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
1 package instant dry soup mix (we used onion and later realized it had barley yeast - which I have no idea what that is but we are not sure it's gluten free. There are plenty of soup mixes out there that are though)
Melt Nucoa in a deep frying pan (we have something called a chicken pan which is a cast iron skillet-like pan that is about 3 inches deep with a lid). Brown pork chops in Nucoa. Remove pork chops and place in an oven at 300 - 350 to keep warm and cook more of the center. Fry onion and celery until tender. Add liquid and bring to a boil. Add soup mix and rice. Top with pork chops from oven (it seemed like it took awhile for the veggies to saute but then we were cooking slowly). Cover with lid and cook until rice is tender. Serves 4 very comfortably.
Using the brown rice does mean it needs to cook slightly longer than white rice and requires more liquid.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is an adaptation of yesterdays peanut butter cookie.
2 sticks nucoa
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups peanut butter (again I use a whole jar of 15-18oz peanut butter)
2 eggs
2 teas baking soda
1 teas vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
1-2 cups chocolate chips
Cream nucoa, sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mix thoroughly. Add baking soda and vanilla. I did all this in a mixer which made the batter really light.(if using remove bowl from mixer at this point and stir rest by hand). Mix in oatmeal. Add chocolate chips. I have made this with 1 cup chocolate chips and in thinking about it - it could really use more.
Drop by tablespoonful onto baking sheet (I always use a silpat). This is a really sticky dough so you may need to use the two spoon method (scoop dough with one spoon and push it onto baking sheet with other spoon). Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. These are really good cookies and have a more oatmeal feel to them than peanut butter. I am considering making them with dried cranberries and a little cinnamon next time to see how they come out.

Peanut Butter Cookies plus variations

I found a cookbook at the library that was something like 50 cookies from the same cookie dough. It got me thinking - is there a way I could make 50 different cookies from my peanut butter cookie recipe since it's a family favorite and a super easy gluten free cookie. I have played with a few ideas and made them yesterday.
The basic recipe is what I call the 2 peanut butter cookie (this is not original to me but I have made it for so long I can't tell you who originally made the cookie).
This particular recipe I found when I had a hospice client tell me her last helper would make her peanut butter cookies but they weren't like anyone else's. I found this recipe in a cooking for kids cookbook (something like One Bite Won't Kill You). She didn't think they were the right cookies but my family really liked them. So when the time came to make cookies for a family reunion - I offered to make these. My aunt complained that I wasn't going to make the right cookies so I ended up making 2 batches - these and the traditional peanut butter cookies. The traditional cookies were left practically uneaten.

Peanut Butter Cookies
2 cups peanut butter (I use an entire 16-18 oz jar because it's just over 2 cups)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teas baking soda
1 teas vanilla
Cream peanut butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add baking soda and vanilla. Mix until everything is smooth and creamy. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Flatten on baking sheet - these spread so you want to keep a good inch or so all around them. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. I always bake my cookies on a silpat lined baking sheet. They will come out of the oven really soft so be careful to not over bake. Let cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing. If they absolutely fall apart while transferring then they need to be cooked a little longer (it's fine to put them back in the oven at this point so long as you didn't let them sit too long). They should be firm but crumbly.

This weekend I tried making them into thumbprint cookies. The cookies don't really hold their shape so they were not cute thumbprints but the raspberry jam was a great compliment to the peanut butter cookie. What I did was made an impression in each cookie prior to baking and filled it with about 1/2 teas jam. A full teaspoon might be fine since the cookies spread.
Another variation and one we use often is to mix in chocolate chips. This time I made the cookies as I would normally and pressed chocolate chips into the dough after laying it out on the cookie sheet.
This is the first 2 variations I made without changing the dough. I will post soon the oatmeal peanut butter cookies I created - so good.

Honey Soy Nuggets

I got this recipe in my email the other day. The recipe is for chicken nuggets but last night I tried the recipe with Sea Bass and it was wonderful. As always, I altered the recipe slightly. This is a great meal for lunches since it was just as good cold as it was hot and it was easy to make a large amount.

Make a marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
2 TB fructose
1/4 teas garlic powder
1 TB louisiana hot sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot to taste)
2 TB ginger (the recipe doesn't say ground or fresh - I used about 1 TB ginger juice instead)

Add cubed chicken or fish (the recipe calls for 3 chicken breast at 8 oz each, I used about 6 filets but I couldn't tell you what they weighed). I added the fish to all the marinade, the recipe has you marinate in 1/3 cup of the sauce and then brush the rest on while cooking.

With fish you don't have to marinate long because it just soaks up the sauce, chicken you want to marinate a couple of hours before cooking. Drain and pat the meat dry.
Put 3/4 cup of coconut flour in a bag. Add dried meat to the bag. Shake until all the meat is fully covered.
Bake at 400 degrees.
The fish took about 15 minutes to fully cook in my oven but may take less time in yours. Check a thick piece before removing from oven.
The recipe says for chicken - bake 15 minutes and then brush with glaze (marinade), cook an additional 15 minutes brushing with glaze often. When done transfer hot chicken to bowl and pour over remaining glaze and toss until fully covered.
Personally I can't see me doing this since the fish came out so flavorful. The coconut gives it a nice tropical taste and I fear that the glaze would take away the coconut flavor but who knows - I let you know when I try this with chicken.

Asian Inspired Chicken Legs

Tonight I threw together a rather tasty asian inspired marinade for chicken legs. In equal parts I mixed together dark brown sugar, fish sauce and sweet chili sauce in a gallon freezer bag. Add the chicken, seal the bag and roll the bag gently to marinate the chicken. If you have more time - let it sit and turn it over now and again. Bake at 425 until the chicken reaches 170 degrees (about 30-45 minutes).

With the chicken we served dill cornbread (not gf but from a mix) and candied carrots. To make the carrots - drain 2 cans of sliced carrots (can use fresh, just add to the sauce before heating). In saucepan, add about 2 cups apple juice, 1 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup or more of honey, 1/2 tea cinnamon, 1/2 teas ginger juice. Heat sauce to boil and let simmer until reduced about 1/3 (or until carrots are tender). Add canned carrots just before taking off the burner to heat the carrots.

Pork and Mushrooms

This was a neat little experiment that came out really good. My meat didn't brown the way I would have preferred but it didn't come out tough.

Melt 1/2 cube of nucoa in a deep skillet. Saute 1 chopped onion, 1-2 pounds cubed pork (I had purchased pork stew meat so I am not positive what cut it was), and sliced mushrooms (I buy mine pre-sliced since it's the same price as whole mushrooms - I think it's 8 oz). Cook until the onions are translucent and the pork is cooked thoroughly. Mix 2 TBs cornstarch into 2 cups milk (I used soy just fine). Pour over meat and veggies. Stir carefully until the sauce is thick. Season with gluten-free soy sauce and serve over rice. It wasn't overly saucey so if you want more sauce add 1 TB cornstarch to each cup of milk and mix together before adding to pan.

Zucchini Bread

I learned something very important making this bread - if you freeze your zucchini, measure before it thaws. Otherwise, it's a big mess.
This recipe is from Gluten-free Baking with the Culinary Institute of Art.
Flour Blend #3
3/4 cup white rice flour
4 cups potato starch
5 TB guar gum
1/2 cup powdered egg whites

Zucchini Bread
3/4 cup flour blend #3
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 3 TB oil
2 eggs
2 cups zucchini, shredded
2 teas cinnamon
2 1/2 teas baking powder
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all dry and wet ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend completely until smooth. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean. Cool completely and unmold.
(I made a double batch in a 9x13 pan but took it out too early which caused it to fall so I turned it into bread pudding).

Fruit Cobbler

Well, after a long hiatus and a brief gluten breakdown, it's my goal to get back in the swing of things. Maybe I can keep this up this time.
This past weekend I was a baking fool. I had a box of blueberries that needed to be made into something. Originially I was going to make muffins since the family was eating muffins like crazy but I was running low on muffin ingredients and opted to try fruit cobbler for the first time (we are a fruit crisp family). The recipe calls for a gf glour mix. I used a basic rice flour mix and it wasn't as good as it should have been but I promised the recipe so here it is - from Special Diets for Special Kids.
Fruit Cobbler
5 cups fruit
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tb gf flour
1 Tb Lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
--
1 egg
1/2 cup gf flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tb margarine, melted
1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix together fruit with the next five ingredients. Pour into a 2 qt casserole dish. Mix together topping ingredients and spoon onto fruit, covering as much as possible. Put on cookie sheet to prevent spills and place in a 375 degree oven. Bake 45-50 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

Teriyaki Sauce

Most commercial teriyaki products have gluten because soy sauce is often made with wheat. We use La Choy which does not use wheat. The only problem I have with La Choy is that it's not as natural as other soy sauces - it has corn syrup and caramel color to make up for the wheat but it is cheap where other gluten free varieties are not. We use a lot of soy sauce so I hate to pay $4 for a little bottle when La Choy is about $2 and is a decent sized bottle (we used to buy it by the half gallon but have yet to find a gluten free bottle that size).
I wanted teriyaki chicken and came up with a fairly simple recipe. I used this as a marinade for my chicken so it does not have a thickener. After marinating the chicken I boiled it down and it was a fine sauce. If you want it as a sauce exclusively you will need to add cornstarch to it before cooking.
*note - I made this up as I went along and did not measure so use your own judgment but this is pretty close.

Teriyaki Sauce
1 20oz can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
Puree pineapple in blender until it's the consistency of a smoothie. Pour into sauce pan and add remaining ingredients. Heat over med heat to melt sugar and to give all the flavors a chance to blend. I cooked it over low heat for about 30 minutes while prepared the chicken. Pour over raw chicken and marinate 2-4 hours. Bake chicken at 350 until cooked fully. Heat remaining marinade in saucepan until boiling, boil a few minutes or reduce to low and let cook while chicken is cooking.

Cornbread as a side dish

The hardest part of a gluten free diet is having enough interesting carbs in your meal. A GF diet pretty much ruins pasta (GF pasta is expensive and not very tasty) and reduces bread carbs - stuffings and the like. A lot of our meals center around rice or potatoes and even though we love them they get tiresome. I discovered a cornbread recipe in a Civil War cookbook that doesn't have flour in it. It's a great cornbread - cold or hot.
The recipe as written:
1 TB butter for greasing pan
2 cups corn meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup oil

Grease 9x9" pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine flour and baking powder. Add eggs and mix together. Add milk and oil and mix until combined. Pour into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes.

This is easy to make dairy free by using Nucoa and soy milk. What I do is use Nucoa for the oil - I put a little more than half a stick in the pan and melt it in the oven as it preheats. When it is melted I pour most of it into the batter in place of the oil. I am sure that I leave more than a tablespoon in the pan which creates a buttery salty crust on the cornbread.

Last night we used the cornbread as a base for our meal. I fried ground pork and onions in a deep skillet. Added canned tomatoes (I used ones I canned but you can use any kind that you like). I seasoned it with mexican pepper and we served it over the cornbread. The tomatoes were very wet so the sauce soaked into the cornbread. I also ate some bread with Nucoa and jam. The bread is very firm so it would make a great stuffing and it's a quick recipe so you can use it any time.
It did take a little longer than 25 minutes to cook. I am not sure why but remember that the times are estimates so always start with the least amount of time and check it on a regular basis after.

Lasagna

My son is a huge Garfield fan and the worst part of going gluten and dairy free was the idea that lasagna (well pasta) was going to be a thing of the past. Gluten free pasta is pricey and barely edible but a little experimenting and imagination can make a great dish. Out of my brain came this lasagna recipe.

1 box gluten free lasagna noodles (this is more than regular lasagna noodles but so user friendly that they are worth it) - you may need a little extra depending on your pan size
2 boxes of soft tofu (I always use tofu in the "juice box" because they last longer in the cupboard)
1-2 pounds of sausage and/or hamburger
2 jars gluten/dairy free spaghetti sauce - preferrably one not chunky
1 can diced tomatoes

Pour a little of your non-chunky sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 "cake" pan (or about that size). You need just enough to lubricate the bottom of the pan. Cover with a layer of dry noodles. Drain tofu and crumble over the dry noodles until you have a complete layer. Cover with sauce. Add another layer of dry noodles. Brown meat and drain. Add to pan over noodles. Cover with sauce. Add another layer of noodles. Pour remaining sauce over noodles and add can of tomatoes (and juice). Cover with foil and place in oven at 400-450 degrees. Bake 30-45 minutes.
Sometimes we have a problem with the top layer of noodles not getting soft enough. The real solution is to bake a day ahead of time and reheat but we never have that much patience. You can add cheese if you desire. We found that this does not work with non-dairy cheese because it turns into a rubbery mess. We have served with with soy parmesan and nutritional yeast and found that they were not necessary. The lasagna has good flavor and the tofu helps keep the noodles moist and gives extra bulk to the lasagna without adding any extra flavor. My tofu hating son loves this and has often commented that he doesn't mind the tofu in the lasagna.

Granola Bars

I found a recipe that I love for granola bars. It's simple and just a little bit junky to make it taste good. The original recipe called for rice krispies and oatmeal - along with some other gluten foods. I have omitted everything but the oatmeal and made a new yummy easy to manipulate recipe. If you are oatmeal free - any small cereal will work, experiment on your own.

Granola Bars
20 oz marshmallows (you can use flavored marshmallows but I didn't notice a difference)
3/4 cup Nucoa
1/4 cup honey (if using raw, cook it a little before adding marshmallows)
1/4 cup peanut butter (any nut butter works nicely - we did use sun butter but haven't tried tahini yet)
9 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut, unsweetened (omit if you can't use coconut)
1-2 cups dried fruit or nuts
2 cups chocolate chips

In large saucepan (heavy bottom preferred) melt butter, honey, peanut butter and marshmallows. Stir often to prevent burning. Remove from heat and add oatmeal and nuts and fruit. Stir until everything is mixed together. Add chocolate chips. (Wait 10 minutes or so if you don't want the chips to melt). Scrape everything out into a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with sides. Press to make top smooth (may need to oil hands or tools). Let cool. Cut into bars.
I love to play with this recipe and add all sorts of things.