Product review: Trader Joe's Indian Fare, Punjab Choley

I love, love, love this. The flavor is so good. I like spicy....this might be a little too spicy for me. I can usually eat about half of it before my mouth is on fire and I have to stop. It is soooo good.

This is also super easy, you just open the pouch, pour into a bowl and heat. When it's hot, I put it on top of white rice. Delicious!

Restaurant Review: Pizza Luce

Yum! I dined at Pizza Luce in downtown Minneapolis - which now has a GF menu EVERY DAY! They used to offer GF options once a week....but it was so popular they now offer GF pizzas every day! It was delicious. I was a little worried about cross contamination - after all, they are using the same kitchen, counters, ovens etc. for their gluten-filled pies....but I didn't suffer any consequences from this meal. I highly recommend checking it out:

Product review: Udi's frozen pizza crusts

So far, I think this is my favorite gluten-free pizza crust. I wasn't too terribly impressed with Namaste. Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust is also VERY good....but not as convenient. I like that Udi crust is ready to go, I just pop on my toppings (generous amounts of green olives, pepperoni and white onion) and in the oven it goes - for just 10 minutes. It's awesome. Bob's has good flavor and texture...but you have to mix the dough, let it rise, pre-bake and then add your toppings and finish baking. Good, but much more effort.

I love pizza. After first going GF - this was one of my big cravings....it's good I've found a delicious replacement.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

 

This soup was so hearty and creamy and warm and comforting and delicious......yummmm.

Potatoes have become a weekly staple for me, while eating gluten-free....which means you can get awfully tired of potatoes - if you don't look for new ways to prepare them. This soup was really easy, and so good.

Luke had a "guys night" and I made the boys potato skins - I baked 6 small baking potatoes, halved them and scooped out most of the middle, leaving just a little in the skins. I saved all the potato I scooped out and refrigerated it for this soup. 

You could also prepare the potatoes the same day as the soup, baking potatoes just takes some time - so be prepared for this recipe to take a lot longer. You could also cube some potatoes and boil them until tender, drain and use those in the soup.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of bacon,

2 to 3 cups of cubed, roughly cut up potatoes (cooked)

1/2 white onion, diced

10 stalks green onions, diced, divided into 2 bowls

3 cups half and half

s/p

2 cups grated cheese (I used a colby jack mix) plus more for topping.

Directions:

In a large stockpot, fry the bacon until brown and crispy. Remove the bacon strips and crumble, leaving the drippings in the pot. Cook the onions (all the diced white onion and half of your green onions) in the bacon drippings until they are tender. Stir in the potatoes. At this point, I used a mashed to push some of the onion and bacon grease into the potatoes, I think this really blended the flavors well.  Stir in the half and half and salt and pepper. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Add half of your crumbled bacon to the pot, reserving the rest for topping. Make sure soup is heated all the way through.

Serve with green onion, bacon and shredded cheese.

Peanut Blossoms - GF

I'm not big on peanut butter...especially with chocolate, but I wanted to make a traditional holiday cookie this year...one that I could eat! I opted for these, as the recipe I found (on the General Mills' website) looked fairly straightforward. The cookies turned out really well, with only one adjustment to the recipe - baking time. Not sure if this is just a standard issue with GF baking (inconsistent baking times) or if it has more to do with the fact that my cookie sheets are stoneware....anyone have thoughts on that?

So, as I said, these cookies turned out really well. However, I made one big rookie mistake. I topped them with Hershey Kisses....without first checking allergen info about Hershey Kisses......I had a reaction and learned through several different GF blogs and message boards that Hershey's chocolate isn't gluten free. A lot of GF people react to Hershey's chocolate and Hershey's doesn't provide consistent info about allergens (according to these posts I read - I haven't contacted them myself). So, after becoming violently ill, I've sworn off Hershey's.  Next time I make these cookies, I'll be sure to use chocolate that I can ensure is GF.

 Peanut Blossoms
General Mills

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/2 cups Bisquick GF mix
chocolate candies for topping

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg. Stir in Bisquick mix. Cover; refrigerate 1 hour, or until firm.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, place remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll in granulated sugar. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes (I had to bake much longer) or until light golden brown. Immediately top each cookie with 1 chocolate candy, pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around edge. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Restaurant Review: Hazel's Northeast

One word: De-lightful!

Hazel's opened about a month ago (first week in December) and we've been there twice...with plans to go back quite frequently. The restaurant is owned and managed by two brother's from Alexandria (my hometown) that have the restaurant business in their blood. These boys were born for this line of work - and it shows. Hazel's is located on 29th & Johnson in northeast. Here is their website: http://www.hazelsnortheast.com/home.html - they can also be found on Facebook - be sure to become a fan!

The restaurant is cleanly decorated and cozy, with artwork on the wall by famous people - like our high school friend Macaille!

Luke and I visited the second day they were open. They don't yet have a GF menu, but are working on putting one together. They were accommodating, and helped me to find something GF on the dinner menu. I had a giant pork chop with an apple chutney, with mashed potatoes and veggies. Luke had a windy city burger. The food was excellent.

A few days after Christmas, we went back - for breakfast. There were 6 of us (plus Jack) on this excursion and we sampled a hefty portion of the breakfast menu....everything was delicious.

 Bread pudding, made fresh daily:

Hippie cakes (pancakes with granola and fruit):

Mission omelette (corn, black beans, onions and cheese served with sour cream and salsa verde) with potatoes:

Biscuits and gravy:

Smokehaus omelette (three types of pork!) :

We'll soon be back for more!

Gluten-Free musings

I know it's been a long, long time since I've had a post. I've been doing very well with the gluten-free cooking - I love it, in fact. Gluten-free baking has been a disaster, however. I have had so many baking failures, I am almost to the point of giving up. I have always been a fairly adept baker, I had never had anything come out inedible until gluten-free baking. I have a long list of things I've attempted and given up on. I've had a grand total of two items turn out well. Both recipes were for cookies, one made from The Cake Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, the other from a recipe I found online. I guess I need to keep practicing, but I am very frustrated in general.

I am also frustrated with some store-bought bakery items I've tried recently. Today, I was so excited (like, jump up out of bed excited) because last night I purchased some Glutino bagels. I haven't had a bagel since my diagnosis....and I used to eat 3 to 4 a week.....I have missed bagels more than anything else. It was disgusting. I had two bites. Two. Now I've spent $5.00 for 5 bagels and I can't even choke down one of them. Ish. The consistency was all wrong, as was the flavor. It tastes like dense, mealy, dry crap. Blerg.

The other major disappointment (salute the major) was the Udi brand cinammon rolls. I was also very excited about these, I carefully warmed the rolls, and iced it lovingly with the provided cinammon icing. I sat down with my roll and hot coffee....ugh. It was so tough I could barely cut through it with a knife. Even warm, it was dry and too tough. The flavor was okay, the cinammon icing had a red-hot flavor that was delightful, but I couldn't get past the texture of the roll.

Things that are good.

There are also some store-bought treats that are delicious. Udi's Double Chocolate Muffins are pretty good. A little dry - but overall....a good treat. Also, the Whole Foods Bakehouse GF Cupcakes, are pretty tasty.

I love, love, love EnviroKids cereals. Leapin' Lemurs and Panda Puffs are my current favorites. I've always been a big cereal eater - and though I miss Lucky Charms and Cheerios - I'm finding things I like.

Another great find, is the Blue Diamond line of Nut Thins. The plain ones are fantastic. They taste pretty good by themselves, and they aren't overpowering when you pair them with dip, hummus, cheese, etc. I love them with Punch Pizza's Artichoke Dip! Yummmm!

 My favorite gluten-free product is Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta. I would eat this stuff even if I could eat wheat pasta. It is DELICIOUS! I love it. The texture is right, the flavor is better than wheat pasta and it is far superior to brown rice pasta. So good!

I know I'll continue to find good products - and bad ones....as with any food...not just gluten-free. I just feel more frustrated, because my options are limited to begin with - and each item is so expensive, it sucks to have it fail. Stay tuned for more of my own recipes - as I vow to be better about making new posts in 2011.

If YOU have a favorite GF product - be sure to tell me about it! I've been sampling things like crazy - but that doesn't mean I've tried it all.