Stroganoff

Wednesday night: Beef Stroganoff. Enough for 2, plus 1 lunch.

This is the first time I've ever cooked with mushrooms.
I used this recipe here, with a few changes:


1/2 pound of ground beef
8-10 mushrooms, washed, dried & sliced
1 t. minced garlic
1 T. butter
1 c. broth
sprinkle of salt
1t. Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins is GF)
2 T. sweet rice flour
1/2 c. greek yogurt

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add butter, and cook mushrooms & garlic for a few minutes; until the mushrooms are somewhere between completely raw and mushy. Place them in a bowl.

Cook the beef in the skillet until it's browned. Stir in 3/4 c. of the broth, salt, and worchestershire. Heat to boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir the remaining 1/4 c. broth into the flour, and stir into the skillet. Add mushrooms. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The sauce will start to thicken. Turn the heat off, and stir in the sour cream.

Serve over your favorite GF noodle.

P.S. I added in chopped spinach, because I have sooo much in the fridge.

fish with garlic wine sauce

For the record, I've been cooking. Nearly every day. I just don't put it in the internet. I've come up with some really great stuff, too!

This is an effort to post more, mostly because I'm frequently thinking, "Man I had a really good meal the other day but I can't remember exactly how I made it."

Tonight I made fish.

For 2 pieces of frozen fish, thawed:

Mix 2/3 c. sweet white wine, 2 t. minced garlic, 1 T. butter, sprinkle of salt & pepper, dash of paprika. Heat in the microwave 30 seconds to melt the butter.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add the fish. Pour the sauce over it and let it cook until the fish begins to turn white & flaky on the edges. Flip and cook until you can insert a fork into the thickest part and the fish flakes and looks like cooked fish.

Take the fish out of the pan and put it on a bed of spinach.

Sprinkle a small amount of sweet rice flour (maybe 1/2 T) on the sauce left in the pan and stir until it's thickened. Pour it over the fish. Sprinkle with walnut pieces.

The sauce is great. Garlic mixed with sweet wine and a little bit of butter to smooth it all out. The spinach and nuts were just because I have to use them up, but the combination came together really well.

Clever Leftovers: Spaghetti Sauce

There are leftover people, and there are not. I am leftover people, but even I get tired of the same thing night after night, especially if I make a big batch of something.

Enter Clever Leftovers: the Spaghetti Sauce edition.

Leftover spaghetti sauce can be easily made into a tomato-based soup. Or baked ziti. The soup version gives you an alternative to just another pasta dish.

Place your leftover spaghetti sauce into a pot.
Take 1/2 of the amount of the leftover spaghetti sauce and add in broth. (make SURE it's GF)

Add in:
frozen mixed vegetables
chopped mushroom
canned beans
fresh thyme or rosemary
even if you leftover spaghetti, cut up with kitchen shears

Pretty much whatever floats your boat. These are leftovers; use up what you can. You can even accomplish this in a microwave- you're just creatively reheating.

Serve with GF crackers & hummus, or a nice spinach salad, and you've got yourself a nice lunch that doesn't even remind you of it's previous spaghetti sauce life.

Good To Go Katy Gluten Free

I have been waiting for a gluten free restaurant in Houston. Not just a bakery, or a gluten free menu, but a restaurant. 100% gluten free.

Today, Missy suggested we eat at Good To Go, mentioning that it was gluten free, and I figured they had a gluten free menu. After looking at the menu I was psyched! The entire menu is gluten free! I called to ask how late we could order, and chatted with the lady for a bit. She said the entire kitchen is dedicated gluten free. Woo!

Previously, I had to wait until my travels took me to San Antonio to get great gluten free grub at Little Aussie (and about 10 loaves of bread).

Now, I can get my gluten free jollies any time I want, worry-free!

So, what did I order? A chicken pot pie. It was DELICIOUS. My only critique is that I wish it had more delicious crust.

I also got a loaf of bread, which is hearty. This is no loaf of white bread, my friends. Spongy, not hard, with a wholesome taste. Yum. It did not knock my current favorite off the shelf, but it's still very good.

Oh, I also got two cupcakes from the display case. Honestly, they were nothing special. Did it bum me out? Not at all. I was super full from the delicious food.

I'm super happy that this place exists, and that it caught Missy's eye. I will be going there again.

P.S. It's currently pick up or delivery only, but the lady on the phone mentioned that they're getting tables soon.

Yogurt Cake/ Waffles

This is a yogurt cake made on a waffle iron.
They are fantastic. Even though they look kinda meh. (That's not almost-burned. That's golden brown...)

There was a tub of yogurt on its' last days in the back of the fridge. I dunno about you, but about halfway through a tub, I get tired of yogurt. And it just sits there.

Fortunately, I found this recipe that uses a cup and a half of yogurt. Original recipe found here at thekitchn.com. Converted to be GF here:

Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 cups strawberry yogurt
1 T. strawberry preserves
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups gluten free flour- 3/4 c each brown rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch
1/8 t. xanthan gum
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Pour ~1/2 c. of batter into a preheated waffle iron and cook for a few minutes- I check to see if they're done when the steaming has calmed down. Don't overfill because they rise and spill out of the sides and it's a pain in the butt.

They turn out soft but the outside sorta caramelizes and it's delightful. Subtle strawberry taste. Awesome with tea.

Makes 12 waffles.

Biscuits, revisited

Back in the day I posted a biscuit recipe that I'd tried and liked. Over the years, however, I've slowly changed and adapted it to a simplified version that I can now whip up without measuring by eyeballing and throwing stuff together until it looks "right." 

Biscuits

1 c. GF flour blend
1/2 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. butter, cut into tablespoons
1/4 c. milk,

Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter until the mixture looks like little pea-sized balls of butter covered in flour. Stir in the milk to make a sticky dough. Drop little mounds onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Makes  6 biscuits.

P.S. Also makes a fantastic crust for chicken pot pie.

GF "Gingerbread" House

I was running late to a gingerbread house party this weekend and didn't have time to make gluten free gingerbread. I DID have some old gluten free rice krispies and two half-full bags of marshmallows, so I made rice krispie treats.

I cut the shapes out of the treats and stuck them together- no icing necessary- and it worked very well! Much sturdier than a house made out of cookie and still edible and gluten free, without spending a lot of time in the kitchen.