Gluten Free Penne Carbonara

Gluten Free Organic Quinoa, Amaranth, Brown Rice Penne. Delicious!

Yesterday was meatless Monday...well we went with 'almost meatless Monday' instead. :)

Gluten Free Penne Carbonara

1 lb GF Penne, cook as directed
1 Tbsp. Oil
1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Cup Bacon Bits
1 Tomato, diced
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese (fresh grated, or powdered)
4 Eggs


Cook pasta as directed (if using gf pasta, do NOT overcook, this can happen quickly so it pays to stay close to the stove for the 6-8 minutes it takes to cook!).
Fry onion in oil until translucent, then add garlic and mix together. Add bacon bits and tomato and fry for 1-2 minutes until tomato softens. Remove from heat until pasta is ready.

Lightly beat eggs in a bowl and add heavy cream and parmesan cheese and mix together.

Strain pasta and put back into pot. Add onion mixture. With pot over low heat, slowly add cream and egg mixture. BE PATIENT! If you try to heat it up too quickly by raising the temperature, you will just end up with cooked eggs on pasta! Stir together and slowly heat through, stirring often.
Serve hot.

This was wonderful! I think next time I would add some spinach in at the end too, just to add some colour, but it was great just the way it was too!

I know it has bacon so it's technically not 'meatless', but I think this will make it into our meatless monday rotation on a regular basis!!

Flourless Buns

Weird huh? All this time I have been trying multiple flours trying to capture the 'real' taste and the best bun recipe I have come across is a flourless one! They have a bit of a different texture, kind of a cross between a popover and a biscuit, but they actually behave like real buns, and by that I mean you can TEAR off a piece rather then crumble off a piece!

I was very skeptical when I came across this recipe at Food.com, but there were enough good reviews that I thought I would give it a shot, and I'm glad I did :)

Ingredients
4 Tbsp. Shortening (Butter works too)
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Yeast
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Potato Starch (or Tapioca Starch)
1 Cup Cornstarch
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
2 Tsp. Xanthan Gum
1/2 Tsp. Salt
3/4 Tsp. Vinegar


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine all ingredients and mix well to remove any lumps.
The dough will be more of a sticky batter-like mess. Wet your hands to handle it. To make buns shape into balls or use an ice cream scoop to make them even. Place on greased baking tin, muffin tin or popover tin. OR if you want to make hot dog buns (which is what I did), shape into rectangle-ish shapes on a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper).
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cool, they will fall a little bit as they cool.

I think I'm going to see if I can get this to turn into some sort of pizza dough since it's something I will actually eat! (I just haven't been able to convince myself to eat gf bread/buns on a regular basis, but these are good!)
I'm also hoping the dough might substitute for my Deep Fried Cheese Balls that I used to make! I think this recipe is definitely worth some experimentation, plus it's a really economical recipe as well requiring things you can find in pretty much any grocery store!

Hot Chocolate with Caramilk Cream Mousse

Wow, and double wow. We are not big drinkers in our house, but we do enjoy the odd treat. When I saw Caramilk Cream Liqueur in the store I knew we had to try it! So far, so good :)
I found this recipe for mousse, and then I made this recipe (slightly modified) for hot chocolate. We put the mousse on top of the hot chocolate and it was soooo good! My husband tasted it first and immediately told me that I wouldn't like it but that he would drink it for me so it wouldn't be wasted lol!

The mousse and the hot chocolate do taste good without the liqueur so if you don't drink, no fear. It does add a wow factor, but it is still very tasty without!


Mousse Recipe
2 Cups Whipping Cream
1/2 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
3 Egg Whites
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Caramilk Cream Liquor(optional)



1. Whip cream to medium peaks.
2. Melt chocolate until it reaches 105°F (40°C).
3. Heat sugar to 240°F (115°C) softball stage.
4. Whip egg whites to soft peaks.
5. Slowly add hot sugar to the egg whites while whisking to form a meringue.
6. Fold meringue into melted chocolate.
7. Fold in the whipped cream.
8. Add Caramilk Cream Liquor, if using

It's a bit of a complicated recipe and I wasn't very good at the sugar part. I ended up burning it a bit and it turned brown and hardened when it mixed it with the egg whites, but I just picked out the pieces and it still tasted great! I also melted the chocolate in the microwave. I made a half batch of the above recipe as well because I had liquid egg whites so it was easy to get 1.5 egg whites!

Make sure you fold the meringue into the whipped cream. Don't beat it in, you don't want to over mix your whipped cream!

Hot Chocolate Recipe
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
3/4 Cup Sugar
Pinch Salt
1/3 Cup Boiling Water
3 1/2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Half and Half Cream
2 Oz. Caramel Cream Liqueur (optional)

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup cream and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and divide between 4 mugs. Add 1/2 Oz. of caramel cream liqueur to each  mug, if desired. Top with mousse and serve! 

Ooey Gooey Mozza Sticks

The yummiest mozza sticks I have EVER tasted and they are gluten free!
Hubby and I ate these for 3 nights in a row. We still have some in the freezer (I made 2 batches!) and I have a seriously hard time not cooking them up everytime I see them in there! Dip them in Marinara Sauce and its a little slice of paradise:) The original recipe is HERE. I made some minor changes

Ingredients
Mozza Cheese Sticks or just cut Mozza Cheese into 1.5-2" long and .5" wide. ( I made 48 at a time!)
2 eggs
1/4 water
GF Bread crumbs or frozen GF Bread ground up in the food processor
1/3 Cup Corn Starch
2/3 Cup GF All Purpose Flour
Garlic Powder or Granulated Garlic
Parmesan Cheese (Powder)
Oil, for deep frying

Bowl 1: Corn starch and flour, mixed
Bowl 2: Eggs and water, well beaten
Bowl 3: Breadcrumbs, sprinkle some garlic powder and parmesan cheese and mix.
(Note for the crumbs: I did my own with frozen bread. Mix your spices into the crumbs, in the bowl, and then use another bowl for breading. Put a bit at a time in this bowl and use until gone. This keeps your crumbs from retaining moisture and becoming useless as far as bread crumbs go!)

(You may need more egg/water mixture as you go and the bread crumb mix amount depends on how many you do.)

Cut your cheese into proper size. Too big and it wont cook properly, too small and you will be doing this forever! (I never buy cheese sticks because it's so much cheaper to buy a block of cheese. And it really didn't take long to cut it either, but if you do buy the cheese sticks cut them in half and you will have the proper size.)
Roll cheese in flour mix. Dip in egg mix. Roll in bread crumbs.
Place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Continue until all the pieces are done.
NOW, start at the first piece and RE egg and RE bread each piece. Seems redundant but trust me its worth it!
Place back on wax paper and freeze until completely frozen.
Heat oil to 375°F. Place a few at a time (my fryer handles about a dozen, but it's a big fryer. Don't put too many in or the oil will cool off too much) in the oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes or until outside is brown and they are soft. But get them out before you lose all the cheese! The re breading and the freezing is what makes these fry so well.
Serve hot with Marinara Sauce and be prepared for a scramble over the last one lol!

I dont think I will ever look at another mozza stick after this. Im sure they wont meet the new standard these set!

I'm thinking of adaptations for next time, perhaps some cayenne pepper in the breading? Maybe some hot sauce in the egg mix? Cheddar sticks? Mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Southwest Breakfast Casserole

Finished and ready to eat!

Before baking.

Our meatless Monday's dish...or this week's Meatless Tuesday lol (we had leftovers that needed eating yesterday).

So simple, so tasty and yes so filling...not to mention economical!

Ingredients
(I have tripled the recipe, and it is enough to feed 3 adults, 2 kids and have 2 lunches leftover (and yes, it reheats quite well! And of course I use more cheese then the original recipe because cheese is wonderful!)


3 Cups Cooked Rice
1 1/2 Cups Salsa
2-3 Cups Cooked Beans
Shredded Cheese (a cup or two)
8-9 Eggs

Mix rice and salsa in the bottom of a casserole dish and press flat. Sprinkle some cheese on top. Spread beans on top. Sprinkle more cheese. Dig 'pockets' in the layers for however many eggs you want to put in. I do 8 or 9 depending on how I space the pockets. Crack eggs into pockets. Sometimes I put 2 in the centre if its a bigger hole :)
Bake at 350°F for 30-50 minutes or until egg whites are no longer runny. Baking time depends on your preference of egg...a little runny yolk or fully cooked. Enjoy!

What's On The Table?

I have finally found a recipe that my husband approves of that doesnt have meat! *squeal of excitement!*
I can finally do Meatless Mondays even if I have to make the same recipe every Monday until I can find another ok'd one!
It's called Southwest Breakfast Casserole. Beans, eggs, rice, salsa and cheese...doesnt get much easier or delicious!

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Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

Fall is upon us, and one of the only good thing about fall (in my  mind, since it leads directly to winter!) is the ready availability of pumpkins!
This is when I try out all the pumpkin recipes I can find or think of!
I was surfing around Budget Bytes website after making Crockpot Taco Chicken and came across Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal! It sounded so good I had to try it right away!!

Very simple, very tasty and very filling!

Ingredients
2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 Tsp. Salt
3/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1.5 Cups Milk (any type of milk will work if you are a dairy free house)
2.5 Cups Rolled Oats (Do not be tempted to use Steel Cut Oats...it turns out awful, trust me!)
Optional: Add 1/2 Cup Yogurt (leaving milk at 1.5 cups), or reduce milk to 1 cup and add 1 Cup  Yogurt. I added 1/2 Cup of Greek Yogurt for some extra protein :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the first 7 ingredients. Add the milk (and yogurt if using) and whisk until smooth. 
Mix the dry oats into the mixture. Grease an 8x10 pan. Pour the mixture in. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-30 minutes. It is cooked when it starts to crack on top and the edges start to brown.
Eat hot right out of the oven, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be eaten cold or reheated. Top with milk, maple syrup, whipped cream or nuts. I like mine heated up with cold milk on top. Sooo good on a cold, damp fall day! 

Egg-Free Bread

Recently my 2.5 year old son has been having a lot of digestive issues and we are frantically trying to figure out what it is in his diet that is causing it. We have had him completely off dairy since early September, and I have been keeping track of everything he eats. Yesterday it seems like a pattern is developing, and the picture coming through is eggs. Sigh. Eggs are in everything! As of today he is on an egg free, dairy free diet until further notice. We are  hoping it's temporary but in the meantime it's the adjustment period around here!
This complicates a lot of baking, and buying products. I have been slacking off this summer and buying bread, and I thought I was buying a dairy free bread only to read the fine print and it says 'may contain traces of milk products'. My regular bread recipe has no dairy, but 2 eggs. So I went on the hunt for a recipe. I find I'm pretty much limited to vegan recipes at this point. Thankfully he can still eat meat, so at least it's only vegan baking and not completely vegan! I find my grocery shopping is taking forever now due to having to read and re-read labels, hunt for unknown (to me) products and try new weird things!
I tried this recipe today from VegWeb, and it turned out pretty good. It's super easy, no waiting for it to rise and it tastes pretty good. It is a dense bread and it doesn't rise too much, but both my kids gobbled it up! I made it pretty much according to the posters recipe, but I upped the yeast just a little on the advice of some reviewers.

Ingredients
6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt
2 Tbsp. Yeast
3 1/4 Cups Warm Water

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the warm water, and mix until it becomes a thick batter. 
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and smooth out the tops. 
Bake at 400F for approx. 45 minutes or until a cake tester/fork/knife inserted comes out clean. I thought they were done at the 30 minute mark but when I stuck a knife in, it came out with batter on it. You might need to cover the tops with foil at about the 30 minute mark as they go quite dark on top in the last 15 minutes. 
Remove from pans and cool on a rack before slicing.  

Even if you are not trying to avoid eggs, this is a great recipe if you want to bake bread but don't have the time for a traditional knead, rise, knead, rise loaf. I think I might try to do 4 cups whole wheat, 2 cups of white flour next time just to see if I can lighten it up a little bit.

I know there are egg-substitute products on the market, I just haven't had a chance to look for any yet. I am starting to appreciate Planet Organic Market in Edmonton a whole lot. They are one of the only places that caters to special diets. I actually managed to get a cream cheese substitute and 'cheese' slices for sandwiches by Tofutti and shredded 'cheese' by Daiya there that taste good! Also powdered Soy Milk which is so handy to have in the pantry for baking. And the staff is very knowledgeable and helpful! Superstore seems to have a decent selection of some things as well. I found plain dairy-free soy yogurt, and a rice vegan cheese that the kids don't seem to mind either.

Anybody have egg allergies/intolerances at their house? Any product recommendations for egg replacements would be much appreciated! I know you can substitute flax and water, applesauce, baking soda/baking powder and a number of other things, but I'm at a loss when it comes to the products sold in the stores for egg replacement!

Hollandaise Sauce

For the longest time I thought hollandaise sauce was some fancy hard to make sauce. I was craving it the other day so I decided to figure out how to make it. Its pretty straight forward and so tasty!!

Ingredients
4 Egg Yolks
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Butter, Melted
A Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Use a metal bowl that can rest on a pot or the top of a double boiler.
Whisk the egg yolks and the lemon juice until they are a bit foamy and have a greater volume.
Bring a small amount of water in a pot to a slow boil. Place your bowl over top.
Make sure you dont let the water touch the bottom of the bowl and dont let it get too hot or you will end up with scrambled eggs!
Whisk continually.
Drizzle in melted butter.
Whisk until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and add cayenne pepper.
Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
If it thickens too much while sitting just add a few drops of warm water.
This is wonderful over poached eggs and toast!
We ate it 2 days in a row after I found the recipe.

Tip: Save the egg whites and add them to whatever type of egg you are making!

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What's On The Table?

Happy Canada Day!!
A wonderful, tasty breakfast of poached eggs on toast with homemade hollandaise sauce to start our weekend!
Have a great long weekend :)

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Quick Tip

A fast tip for when you drop eggshells in your batter etc. Use the remainder of the eggshell to scoop it out. Eggshell sticks to itself and it will scoop it out very easily :)

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Cottage Cheese Pancakes

These are good...honestly! At first glance, the thought of cottage cheese invading my pancakes, I kind of gagged, but thought well I'll give it a try...and I'm glad I did! The cottage cheese melts and provides a wonderful texture and flavour. This recipe is originally from Weelicious, but I have modified it. I'm sure the recipe worked well for her, but for me it turned out like fried eggs with cottage cheese in it :( A couple of modifications later and here we are :) Cottage cheese is full of protein and that's what makes these pancakes great for kids who don't really like to eat much meat (aka my 2 year old!). Normally the rule in our house is everyone eats the same, but if we are eating something I know he can't chew etc. I make up some of these (or take some out of the freezer) and he gets to have a pretty good meal...and one that he enjoys!

Ingredients
3 Eggs
1 Cup Cottage Cheese
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp. Honey
1/8 Cup Milk
1 Cup Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp. Salt

Mix the first 5 ingredients together first, then add the next 3 ingredients. If you batter seems too thick (as it can get if left in the fridge), then just add a little more milk.
Heat frying pan over low heat - medium heat (these can overcook quickly), and lightly coat with oil or butter. Depending on the size of pancake you want, pour 1 Tbsp. - 1/4 Cup of batter for each pancake. 
Cook for approximately 2 minutes on each side or until pancakes are set and golden.

To freeze, let cool  completely and place in a freezer bag/container. They reheat wonderfully :)

Eggs

It's hard for me to admit but until just a couple weeks ago I couldnt boil eggs properly. Its sad but true :(
Everytime I tried the shells would crack the eggs would turn out runny and the few times they were even considered edible there was always a nasty grey film around the yolk.
FINALLY I found a method that works. Im going to share that just in case there are any other closet egg failures out there!
Bring eggs to room temperature. Put in a pot and fill with lukewarm/cold water. Bring to a boil. As soon as a rolling boil starts remove from heat put the lid on and let sit for 17 minutes. After 17 minutes move the eggs to a bowl of very cold/ice water. Once they have cooled down remove and eat or store in the fridge.
The cold water prevents internal cooking from happening. Apparently thats what the nasty grey is! Placing them in cold water also causes steam to build up between the egg and shell and they are SO easy to peel.
So there you have it...my little secret. I finally feel unstoppable in the kitchen now!
I can boil an egg!!