Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

As I continue to delve deeper into the world of Gluten and Dairy Free life, I am starting to realize something; I could live on the desserts I am baking at rapid fire pace every day.  Unfortunately, my body just does not agree.
 In the past I have spouted the great advantages of cooking with Agave Nectar instead of other sweetners, including the amazing ability this amber colored liquid has of working just like sugar without any funny flavor profiles.  In my sugar-crazed binging I have come to realize that my headaches have returned with avengeance, which can mean only one thing:  I am eating an allergen.  Sigh.  Upon performing a whole series of high tech and intriguing lab test at home (not really, but it sure sounds cool) I realized that I am also allergic to my BFF Agave.  The sugar gods have it out for me.
After spending a couple nights crying myself to sleep. (Sigh... yes another one, this is serious business afterall) I decided that I can probably modify all my recipes, again, to allow for my probable allergy to the Agave Nectar.

Below you'll find the recipe for my personal flour blend (which I use in everything).  You'll notice, unlike others, it does NOT leave that dry sawdust feeling in your mouth. I am also sharing my sugar/snickerdoodle recipe.  I know this one is a hit because my 3-year old (who only eats white rice, I kid you not) loved these.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice Cookies

1 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1 Stick Earth's Balance Butter Substitute
1/4 C Grapeseed Oil
1 Egg
1 tsp GF Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp GF Almond Extract
2 C Amber's Flour Blend (below)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Couple Tbsp Sugar for coating.

1. Preheat the Oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream together the butter, oil, and powdered sugar, until smooth.  Add the egg and both extracts, blending again until smooth.
3. Blend in the Flour blend, cream of Tartar, and Baking Soda.
4. By rounded Tbsp (or with a cookie scoop) roll in palms of hands to round dough, then roll in the sugar granules and flatten with hand before putting on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with grapeseed oil.  (If you don't already own an oil sprayer, I suggest buying any type of spray bottle for the job)
5. After repeating the above process until all dough is used (should make 24 Tbsp size cookies that get pretty big when cooked), bake for approximately 7-10 minutes.  It only took 8 in my oven.  You want the cookies to still look white and not really browned except slightly on the bottom.  This allows for a soft and delectable bite each time. YUM!

Amber's All Purpose Flour Blend
*I'm including the recipe for a single batch, but I make multiple batches usually, so if you want those number just let me know and I can pass them along.*
About 3 Cups Worth

1 1/4 C Rice flour
1 C Almond Flour
2/3 C Cornstarch
1 tsp Xantham Gum

I throw all my flours in a Ziploc bag and shake before using.  Pretty easy and not a lot of crazy flours that cost a fortune.

A note about almond flour:  This flour is my favorite ingredient of all time, as it is very heathy and contains all kinds of nutrients we need.  I try to substitute a portion of any recipe with almond flour when I can.  I am very picky about which brand, however, because it makes the difference of success or failure. I have tried several brands, but the one that I prefer is Honeyville Blanched almond flour.  They produce a GF product that is the finest and highest quality I have found, plus it is the cheapest.  I highly recommend buying from them online.  http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/   Also, if you think I am crazy for spending about $30 to obtain 5lbs of this flour at a time, remember if you buy a lesser brand at the store it cost around $12/lb here in Indiana, while the Honeyville is only $5.34/lb.  Quite the savings.  Since I do use so much almond flour, and it us great for so many things, I would really consider the company above. 
Okay, rant over.

On a separate note this week, I would love comments and feedback about these recipes and any changes you find beneficial.
God Bless,
Amber


*Disclaimer*  All recipes and ingredients used are marked 'gluten and dairy free' at time of blog, but check manufacturers each time, as standards and methods do change.  I hold no responsibility for any food that the reader consumes and furthermore release responsibility of any recipe reproduced for personal use.  The recipes on this site are all created and the sole property of Amber Ross, and any reproduction other than for personal use is illegal.**

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...

I love Indiana in the fall.  The leaves start to show the beautiful colors; all burnished in coppers and oranges.  Even the air changes to this crisp and refreshing entity all it's own.  I truly feel like fall revives me, a new lease on life.  Unfortunately, fall also gives me the munchies for comfort food.  In fact, my cravings for traditional comfort food are so strong, that I wondered for a minute if I might be pregnant, so I took a test.  Alas, there is no gluten free bun in my oven, but there is that hankering for all things delicious and warm, so I decided to pull out all the stops the other night and make homeade meatballs stuffed with mozzarella goat cheese. 
Let me start by saying, I truly love cooking, so making a homeade meal isn't too much trouble, but like most everyone with these allergies it wouldn't matter anyway, because I have to make my food homeade.  So, I started getting all the ingredients out of my pantry and refridgerator to make a delicious, warm and cozy meal.  With my daughter continuously asking for a snack in the background I got the food wheels a turning and concocted this wonderful recipe for all to enjoy. 

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs and Spaghetti

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef (I used extra lean, but you could use whatever you like, even ground turkey)
1/4 block of Goat Cheese, mozzarella style
1/3 C almond flour
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Italian herbs
Celtic sea salt, to taste

Sauce
2 cans Italan stewed tomatoes
3 Tbsp. Tofutti "better than sour cream"
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Italian herbs
1-1 1/2 C Tomato Juice
Celtic sea salt, to taste
1/4 Green Bell pepper, chopped
1Small onion, chopped

• To make meatballs, mix all ingredients, except for the goat cheese, together in a bowl with your hands until completely blended and mixed well.  Take the goat cheese and cut into small little cubes.
• Taking approximately 2 Tbsp of meatball mix, put a cheese cube into middle, then roll ball in between palms to create a nice round ball that completely incases the cheese.
• Repeat this process until all meatballs have been completely made.
• A note about meaurements and my process:  I have found that when you 'eye' measurements and follow directions loosely, you tend to get a better result.  I say that for all recipes.  Very rarely have I found it beneficial to be specific when following a recipe, so loosen up and enjoy this process.
• In a Large skillet place a couple Tbsp of Grapeseed oil/Olive oil, and turn to medium heat.
• After oil has heated, add meatballs and allow to brown on each side, turning only when necessary.
• Drain excess oil from pan, and add green pepper, onion, and garlic.
• Sautee for just a minute or two then add all remaining ingredients.
• Cover pan and let simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes.

When you are finished cooking pasta, I mixed mine in with the sauce so it was easier to serve.  This was a hit with my family and I served it with a chopped salad.

Another favorite I recently created is a Creamy Tomato Shrimp Sauce over Fettucine.  I concocted this on another occasion when I was suffering from lack of pasta.  I'm not sure if this happens to anyone else, but I regulary suffer from the intense desire for all things bad that I shouldn't be eating.  To that I say, God bless DeBoles Rice pasta, without you I might never survive.

Creamy Tomato Shrimp over Fettucine

10-12 prawns, raw, deveined and shelled
2-3 Tbsp Tofutti 'better than sour cream' (or sour cream for the lucky)
3/4 -1 C tomato juice
Few shakes of Garlic Salt
Gluten Free Jerk seasoning
3x or so around pan with Extra Virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 Tbsp. Parkay Squeezeable
1 pkg. DeBoles Rice Fettucine

-Boil large pot of water.  When boiling add noodles.
-Go three times around saucepan with EVOO and preheat to medium-high heat.
-In small bowl, mix 'sour cream', tomato juice, parkay, and garlic salt, and set aside.
-To hot oil add prawns and sprinkle with Jerk seasoning, flipping after about 3 or so minutes.
-When shrimp are just shy of done, add sauce mixture, stir gently, and reduce heat to medium to reduce for approximately 5 minutes. (Use your eyes and just go for what feels right)
-Drain pasta and rinse with cool water.  Mix with sauce immediately and plate.
Enjoy!!

Tonight we had homeade corn tortillas and pork carnitas with mexican rice.  Here is how yummy it looks, but I'm not including the recipes for these.  If you want them, feel free to email me and I will gladly post them for all.

 Happy cooking.

Amber

Let them eat bread...

The other day I was sitting at my kitchen table pondering, natch, drooling and dreaming about a piece of homeade yeast bread, slathered in the creamy deliciousness of butter.  I could taste it's soft chewy texture, and smell the sweet aroma it would give.(You're hating me right now I know)  I am pretty sure I was becoming slightly aroused by the idea, but if you are anything like me, that dream seemed very far from reality.  So far, in fact, that the bread most of us are used to reminds me of that cute snack commercial on T.V. right now.  You know the one, with the cute cartoon woman eating some sort of fiber product and hacking what appears to be sawdust.  Yes, that is the sad truth I have fast become accustomed to; cardboard with a dry and tasteless pallate.  That's a thought that makes you want to commit gluten suicide, and yet I was encouraged, and somewhat challenged (when do I ever pass up competition) to create something truly tasty.  So, upon a recent recommendation from a friend I looked up a recipe on the web site for "Living Without" for a Maple Oatmeal bread, and then modified the fashnizzle out of it to create what I found to be a pretty great thing; a Maple Sandwich bread.
The first time I made this recipe I was happy to see that the hundreds of dollars all those multiple flours I bought several weeks ago might get used, but after substituting several things and throwing some salt over my shoulder for luck, the beep of my bread machine produced a very wonderful thing; bread.  You're thinking, "Whoopy, who hasn't had a piece off decent bread?", but let me tell you this was no ordinary bread.  In fact, it was so good I ate it for every meal and in a day's time, it had somehow dissapeared. Although I can't be sure, I'm betting that somehow my husband or three year old snuck most of it, seeing as there is just no way that I ate an entire loaf of bread in less than a day.  (Although, back in my gluten hay day I do remember a time, or two, that I did eat an entire birthday cake all on my own.)
So, the next day I did what any sane person who had just created bread does; I called every member of my family to talk for hours about my loaf of bread.  Is this telling you just how important my days are? 
Then, after many hours and a tired jaw, I made another loaf.  This one I changed some more, adding a little more maple syrup and a little less eggs, afterall, we all know that refined sugar is so much healthier, er, tastier than the naturally made egg.  That loaf came out with perfection written all over it, and in hindsight (you know what they say about that) I should have taken a picture to frame.  I gave this loaf to my parents to enjoy.  By now I had discovered that it made great french toast, and so I made more!
Alas, after a couple more changes, and loafs of bread, which, yes, I pretty much polished off alone.  I give to the world my recipe for bread.  This is like handing over a gold bar; it's truly one of a kind.  This is a unicorn, we all want to believe they exist but have never seen one.  This my friends, is Gluten and Dairy free bread that actually taste like bread.  I'm pretty sure that when you first taste it you'll hear angels singing, so make sure to savor that moment, and maybe you'll start to have that same feeling I did when I was first day dreaming!  Enjoy.


Gluten Free/Dairy Free Maple Bread
1 3/4 Cups Rice Flour
1/2 C Sorghum Flour
1/4 C Potato Flour/Starch
1 pkg. Rapid Rise Yeast
1/2 Tbsp. plus 1/2 tsp. Xantham gum
1/2 Tbsp. Salt
3 Eggs
4 Tbsp Maple syrup (I eyeball this)
1/4 C shortening
1 1/4 C almond milk (heated in the microwave for about 1 minute)

-Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix by hand until it's pretty much incorporated.
-Scrape entire mixture into bread machine canister and set the machine for a 'sweet' bread.  On my machine that is a 3hour and 50 minute start to finish time.

I found that mixing the ingredients first then adding them to the bread machine makes a better loaf with no leftover dry parts that weren't mixed in the bottom.  Also, the extra mixing the machine does seems to make the bread a little more spongy like that wonderful bread we all miss so much.

A small side note.  I am going to be trying this recipe by substituting a large portion of the flours with almond flour as well as substituting grapeseed oil for the shortening.  I think it may produce a tastier slice, plus it would be far healthier.  I will let you all know in the next week how it turns out; and also add some pictures of my adventure.

Once Upon a Time In a Land Far Away...

Well, actually it's not far away from anything, seeing as I'm stuck in the middle of the US. My name is Amber and this is my fairytale, with the evil plot twisting step sister being Gluten and Dairy! Ugh! Let me start by telling you how I've come here.

I found out that I am allergic to everything. You laugh, but literally when I went to the allergist I got a response to everything, except carrots. That really left me with a bunch of options. What we found was that I am gluten intolerant and very allergic to the two proteins in cow's milk, so long story short, I am now completely gluten free and dairy free. My poor husband and toddler have adjusted amazingly well.

As time goes by you will get to experience the wonderfully hilarious attempts and interesting tidbits that I learn along my journey. I also promise, that according to those who know me, I am witty at times and hopefully this will lend itself to an enjoyable and delirious little moment of your day. I'll do my best to include photos of my attempts, but be patient, as this is a whole new world for which I have just entered.