Cupcakes!

I've made both gluten free chocolate cupcakes from scratch and from a mix. The mix was reeeally good, like better than most regular (non GF) mixes I've used. Since it was so good and easy, it will probably be my go to from now on. It's the King Arthur Flour gluten free chocolate cake mix. Since all gluten free flours are a mix of a bunch of things anyway (soy flour, potato flour, rice flour, xanthan gum...you get the idea) I don't feel like it's cheating.

So there are your instructions for GF chocolate cupcakes. The frosting, which is my favorite vanilla frosting, is as follows. It's called Crispy Magic Frosting and is from Joanne Chang's cookbook, who is the owner of Flour Bakery. 

Ingredients:
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1/5 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 2/3 cups of confectioners' sugar (I don't use quite this much...add gradually and taste so you can stop when it's sweet enough for you)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

In a small heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg whites and the regular sugar. Place the bowl over, but not touching, a small saucepan of simmering water. Let heat, stirring frequently, for between 3 - 5 minutes. The mixture will be hot to the touch and the sugar should be completely dissolved.

Remove the egg/sugar mixture from heat and transfer to a standing mixture with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed for 6 - 8 minutes, until the mixture becomes a light, white meringue and is cool to the touch. Turn down the speed to medium, add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, and let beat between each addition until the butter is fully incorporated. Add the confectioners sugar (see note above), salt, vanilla and milk and beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and satiny. Pipe onto your cupcakes or cake! If you're not using immediately, you can transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge, or let stand at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you refrigerate, make sure to let come back to room temperature before you try to frost your cupcakes.

Here is my batch of cupcakes, ready to be delivered to all of my favorite Valentines!

Mississippi Mud Pie

Who needs flour??? That's the kind of thing I think when I make something like this...a flourless chocolate cake of sorts. Super easy, and a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:
Base:
8 ounces GF graham crackers or GF ginger snaps...I used ginger snaps because I had some lying around that were about to go stale.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
Chocolate filling:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 and 3/4 cups heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350. 

To make the base, put the crackers in a food processor and process into a fine crumb. Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of steaming, but not boiling, water. Here is a blurry picture of my melting chocolate and butter:

Melt the butter and chocolate, then add to the cracker crumbs and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.

To make the filling, do the same thing with the butter and chocolate to melt it. Put the eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl and using a standing or hand held mixer, beat until thick and foamy. Beat in the cream, followed by the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture on top of the cookie crust and bake for around 45 minutes until just firm.

It will harden quite a bit as it cools, though. Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer to fridge. Let chill for at least a half an hour before serving.

I thought it was best with some whipped cream and raspberries :-)

Fiesta Casserole

This is a really easy weeknight dinner. It also makes great leftovers. I served it with Mexican rice for high school girl friends Emily and Julie. And of course, Doug eat his fair share when he got home later that night. The recipe calls for ground beef, but I swap it out with turkey.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cups chunky tomato salsa (any temperature, I used hot because I like spicy things :-) )
1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with their juice
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernals
12 corn tortillas (most corn tortillas are GF, as opposed to flour tortillas, but I use Trader Joe corn tortillas that have the GF symbol right on them)
Shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a little olive oil over medium heat in a nonstick skillet. Add the brown and break up with a wooden spoon/spatula until it's lost its color. Add the peppers and let cook until peppers have softened a bit. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in the salsa, tomatoes and corn. Bring the whole thing to a boil then remove from heat.

Spread a cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish. Top with half of the tortillas, then spoon half of the remaining meat mixture on top. Sprinkle some cheese on this layer, then do it again. I put more cheese on the top of the dish - use however much you choose. Bake, covered,  for 25 minutes or until heated through. Serve with sour cream, avocado...whatever you'd like!

Thai Chicken

My nephew Caiden has been a GREAT couch buddy while I've been injured. We were hanging out, him in his dino outfit and exersaucer and me with my boot and crutches (I know, he's cuter), and I browsed through my sister's crock pot recipe book. The crock pot is awesome for minimizing standing time!

Meredith had this Thai chicken in her crock pot while we were hanging out, and it smelled really good. She told me how easy it was, and being injured, I decided I wanted to make it too. She warned me that the sauce looked kind of like vomit, which it did, but it was delicious. Since we (ahem...Doug) ate it too quickly, I even made more a few days later. I doubled the quantity for the sauce the second time, since we ate it with rice and like extra sauce. This recipe is the single sauce recipe, so double it if you like sauce as we do. I also usually have most of this stuff lying around my house (OK, except fresh ginger), which is always convenient.

Ingredients:
2 - 2.5 lbs chicken breasts
1 cup hot salsa (I used Newman's Own)
1/4 all natural creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon GF soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
Chopped peanuts and cilantro for garnish

Mix together ingredients 2 - 6 in a bowl. Lay the chicken at the bottom of the crock pot, then pour the sauce over (this photo is from when I doubled the sauce).

Let cook on low for 8 - 9 hours. I like shredded chicken, so near the end I went at the chicken with two forks, then let cook for awhile longer. Sprinkle the peanuts and cilantro over the chicken.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

So I didn't take any photos here. This was one of the few things I made on crutches, and I wasn't going to make it more difficult by taking pictures (and having to find my camera). But, since the recipe is from another blog anyway, I'll just share the blog post:  http://comfybelly.com/2010/09/blueberry-corn-muffins/.

Since she provides a few alternatives for recipes, here is what I used:
1 cup GF corn meal
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
4 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter
1 cup of regular (as opposed to non dairy options provided on comfy belly) milk, mine was 1%
1/2 - 1 cup fresh blueberries

These were very delicious, and not even "for being gluten free".

Buckwheat Flour Pancakes

Contrary to how it sounds, buckwheat is gluten free. Crazy, right?

Ingredients:
1 cup buckwheat
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix together dry ingredients, then add egg, milk and butter. I always use my hand held electric mixer for this recipe, since it gets soo clumpy. 

Preheat griddle. Once it's hot, melt some butter over the surface. When making your pancakes, feel free to add whatever you want! I always have some frozen blueberries I can add.

The Best Squash Soup EVER

This blog post is one big shout out to Brenda, who came up with (and thankfully shared) this recipe! It's the best. Don't skip the balsamic glaze, it's amazing.

Soup:
2 tablespoons butter
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (use a fresh one, not the packaged cut up ones)
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 granny smith apple, peeled and diced
4 cups GF chicken broth
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon curry
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
 
Balsamic glaze:
Balsamic vinegar, dark brown sugar, butter

My diced squash:

Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and let cook until softened. Add the garlic and let cook for another 30 seconds. Add the squash, apple, broth, and zest.

Cover the pot and let cook until the squash can be easily mashed with a fork. Turn off the heat and puree with an immersion blender.

Return to heat, and add the salt, spices and sugar. Let cook for another 5 - 10 minutes.

To make the balsamic glaze, add the three ingredients and simmer over medium-low heat until it thickens to the point where you can run a spoon through the pan and the glaze doesn't fill right back in immediately.

Doug and I like to eat everything out of mugs, soup included. So, here are our mugs: 

Just perfect for all of this snowy weather!!