Easter Egg-stravigance

Leftover Easter eggs? Hungry for a quick and easy lunch?

We have no name for this recipe yet, so feel free to offer up a suggestion. (Since we made these for Easter, Todd wanted to call them "The Empty Tomb-atoes") It takes about 15 minutes to make if your eggs are cooked.

(makes 4 servings)
Peel and chop 6 eggs into a medium sized bowl, reserving 3 yolks in a small bowl

Add to chopped eggs:
I stalk celery, finely diced
1 large pickle, finely diced
1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
1 avocado, diced

Mash reserved yolk and add:
2 heaping Tbls mayo (I use Vegenaise)
2-4 Tbls pickle juice (depending on your taste)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
A dash of dill seed
A dash of celery seed
Mix well

Mix yolk mixture into eggs. Add more mayo if it is too dry for you.

Hollow out 4 medium beef steak tomatoes (or large hot house)
Fill with egg salad
Decorate with tomato cap and or basil
Serve on lettuce leaf
Add a dill spear to the plate

Graciously accept compliments on your amazing food presentation!

Tammy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Disclaimers:
This recipe is not a "healthy" GF recipe. It has no applesauce, it uses SUGAR. It is for serious indulgence.

This recipe is not for the person who wants "a couple of cookies". It uses a 1/4 cup of vanilla - it is for serious quantities of indulgence.

This recipe, developed by my twinny-twin-twin, is beyond a doubt the best GF cookie of all time. It may be because there is so much sugar and fat in this recipe that the type of flour you use is really not of any consequence in the end. Have you been missing your Toll-house? If so, I suggest you get busy and start baking!



Tammy's Chocolate Chip cookies
makes 12 dozen cookies
preheat oven to 375

3 cups butter flavor crisco ( I use spectrum shortning)
2 1/2 C brown sugar
2 1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C milk (I used almond milk, any other milk substitute would work as well)
1/4 C vanilla
4 eggs
7 C GF flour blend of your choice
1 Tblsp salt
1 Tblsp soda
1/2 Tblsp xantham gum
chocolate chips to taste

Combine shortening and sugars. beat until fluffy. Add milk, vanilla, eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl sift remaining ingredients together. Slowly add flour mixture to the sugar mixture while mixing on medium. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper covered pans. do 1 sheet at a time - (trust Tammy on this one, I did not and regretted) Bake 8-10 minutes. Slide parchment off pan IMMEDIATELY and cook cookies some before trying to remove them from parchment.

If this is more than you want to bake at one time, which is probably true for most of us, freeze logs of dough to have on hand. They work just like good ol' whats his name..... ah yes, Pillsbury, the gluteny dough boy! (see tips and tricks below)

TIPS and TRICKS

We usually bake cookies on the stone. These cookies are much softer than most, so I don't recommend using your stone unless you use parchment as well. The best part of using paper with this recipe is that you can simply slide the whole thing onto the cooling rack without disturbing the cookies. You want to get them off the pan IMMEDIATELY so they do not over bake. Once they cool a bit they will hold their shape and you can remove them from the parchment.


This is the look you are going for


If you get something that looks a little more like this - don't panic. My first batch came out really thin and "toffee like". Todd LOVED them, I actually loved the flavor, but this is not the look I was going for. I went back to the mixing bowl and added a few tablespoons flour mix, about a tsp. of xantham gum and mixed well. The next batch was the one you see pictured above.



I don't know about you guys, but if I had 12 dozen baked cookies staring me in the face - I would gain a few pounds...quickly. I have very little restraint for confections of any kind. SO - I baked the cookies we needed, and then plopped some dough onto some parchment, rolled the parchment over it and started to shape it into a log. Once I got a french bread looking roll I simply held onto the ends of the parchment and used it to roll the dough back and forth until it looked like the logs of premade cookies you can buy. Then I rolled it up like you see below and froze it. Once it was hard as a rock, Todd seal-a-meal'd them for me. (note - my logs were so long he had to break them in half to use the sealer machine....oops!) You may want to shoot for smaller rolls than you see here if you are using a machine. If not, you can do them this size and then freeze them in a gallon ziplock.

I pull one out, let it defrost for a bit, slice cookies onto parchment covered sheet, bake at 375 for 8 minutes....mmmmm.....cookies.


Now when I crave these delights again all I have to do is defrost a roll, slice, and bake.

Gluten Free Flour Blends

One of the most overwhelming things about going gluten free is the sticker shock of gluten free mixes and gluten free flours. I remember feeling ill about buying mixes early on that did not taste as good as they ought for the price! The flours are pricey too, but much more cost effective than the mixes. The other obvious solution is to not bake...just kidding. I have not however, baked a lot in the past. I make pancakes or waffles a couple times a month and no one ever complains when I manage to pound out a loaf of bread or a batch of cookies, but it is not a daily or even weekly thing. We mostly just eat meals that are not centered around flour, and usually we don't feel like we are missing out.

I have found myself baking more now that I have a three year old. With parties to go to and events that involve desserts, I bake. We also have started entertaining more. While I have no problem with a dinner that does not involve bread, the hostess in me is sure that everyone else will wonder what is wrong with me if I don't serve hot baked goods!

I realized that I spend just under 4 bucks per pound for my favorite flour blend - ouch. A pound of flour does not go that far. So, I started hunting for ways to cut the cost. Working with my local co-op (the Eagle Rock Food Cooperative) I was able to purchase flour in bulk and saved about 66% over retail. My cost for the batch of flour I will put together this week is $1.36 per pound. I split the order with a friend and we will both end up with 25 pounds of flour. This is great because I won't have to worry too much about spoilage. 50 pounds seemed a little daunting to me - I know I can use 25 pounds long before it might go bad.

My point here is that it pays to shop around. We did a lot of online shopping to see what we could save on amazon, different online stores, as well as direct from Bob's Red Mill. I am proud to announce that my local co-op they was the best deal hands down on every flour. Many times members get great bulk deals, ours is cost plus 10%.

So -- stop into your local co-op, jump online and do a little investigative shopping. You may be surprised by how much you can save!

BTW - when we mix up all this flour, we are going to work on a GF version of Tiffany's super healthy cookies. Your kids will happily gobble up flax seed, applesauce, nuts, and healthy grains.....he he he! I will post all the details as soon as I have them.

GF Fudge Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream

These are SO yummy. They are easy to make and don't require a flour blend. The flour is Quinoa, which has a bit of a nutty flavor. Todd, who is a bit pickier than me (I assume it is because he can still eat a real live Cinnabon), says they taste a little like I made them with buckwheat. He also says they are, "really good". So there you have it - the gluten eaters thumbs up.

These were for Bryce to eat at a little kid birthday party, so I opted to frost them with good ol' buttercream. I made the frosting more "adult" by adding a whole bunch of coconut to it. You could use any frosting that suits your fancy, or do what I did today with the second batch - eat them plain.

GF Fudge Cupcakes
preheat oven to 375

1/4 C butter (or butter replacer)
1/4 C water
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C almond milk (or any milk alternative - or MILK if that makes you happy!)
1 C sugar
1 1/4 C Quinoa Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla

Boil the water and the butter. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and then milk. Set aside. Sift sugar, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and xantham gum into large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks, vanilla and cocoa mixture. Mix well. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Fold into batter. Fill muffin tin lined with paper baking cups. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool. Store these in a Tupperware type container or a gallon plastic bag - it will keep them moist.

Frost or eat 'em up!

For the coconut buttercream - just find your fave buttercream frosting recipe and add a bunch of shredded coconut. You may need a little less powdered sugar than the recipe calls for. I made mine without measuring a thing - so I can not share it with you until I do it again and employ those pesky measuring tools. If I would have known how yummy my concoction was going to be I would have done it so I could share......really!

Ahh the Joys of Spring

You have to love this time of year. My friend Cindy had it right this morning when she was talking about how Spring lends itself to so much hope and then you look out your door on a day like today and feel absolutely deflated. The flowers are up...but often covered with snow. It looks absolutely beautiful outside.....but is cold as hell and even a bit windy. Winter seems over...and then not (ask the folks in eastern WY and western SD about that this week!)

The best way to be prepared for this tug and pull is to arm yourself with a nice mix of recipes. We grilled steak last Saturday and sat outside sipping hot cocoa after dark, it was so lovely. Tonight I am opting for split pea soup, hopefully it will warm our insides and remind us that winter is not all bad, even if it is long.

Speaking of this split pea soup, it is one of those...hmm...what can I fix for dinner when I really need to go to the store days. I am literally looking at one parsnip, 4 carrots, a few potatoes, and a herd of various onions - Oh and a bag of tomatillas and one pablano pepper. What do you do with all that? Well you decide to make soup and then salsa for baked potatoes for tomorrows lunch. All I have to do now is get to the store later to get some food for the rest of this weekend and next week!

OK -- easy split pea soup......

1 pound slit peas (2 cups)
3 small potatoes diced into bite size
2 carrots, diced fairly small
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 shallot , diced (you could use all yellow - or any onion that you have on hand - even dried!)
6-8 Cups stock/broth/or water broth mixture
Thyme (I used fresh because I had some - dried will also work)

saute onions and carrots. You can do this in a small pan or in the bottom of your stock pot - either one. Combine all ingredients in a stock pot

and simmer until peas are tender. (about 30 minutes, although I just keep on cooking it until the peas start turning to mush- uncovered for the last 20-30 minutes until it gets really thick because Todd likes it that way)

Salt and Pepper to taste.

If you are thinking -- I don't have the stuff to make this, then make it differently. You have scallions - use those. No potatoes, no problem - skip them. Add celery if you have it. Leftover ham? That makes incredible split pea soup. My favorite thing about split peas is that they are not picky - they are happy to simmer in a pot with just about anything. They also cook fast and require no soaking so they can be a really great "fast food" dinner. I love making this ahead in the crockpot - but it really does come together in 45 minutes or less, so it can be a great saving dinner recipe to add to your favorite quick dinners.

Serve this with crusty bread or rolls...yummy. Stay warm this week and remember -- IT'S SPRING!

Teaser

We don't have any complete recipe/photo combo's yet, but we will have several very soon. Todd whipped up an amazing dish tonight (Todd's Antipasti Pasta) for a pot luck and we think we hammered out a "normal" size recipe for it. All we need to do is test it out and photograph it.

I am waiting on a photo of some spoons in order to add Mom's pancakes to the blog...don't ask, it will all become clear when we post.

Todd has at least a dozen articles in the works and I have a ton of pics to download and pair up with recipes.

There is so much almost ready. I wish patience with technology and processes were one of my strong suits! We are excited and can hardly wait to share.

Welcome

This site is dedicated to all the people in our lives that are intrigued by the way we eat. We want to de-mystify gluten free living; share our incredibly easy gluten free meals; and encourage others who are striving to move to a gluten free life. We look forward to hearing your comments!