Gluten Free Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

I'd seen a lot of recipes using pureed cauliflower instead of roux for a macaroni & cheese and wanted to give it a try. The bright yellow color of corn & quinoa pasta is sort of nice  I have trouble convincing myself to buy and chop fresh produce to make a puree.

This puree did kill my blender -- the heat caused the rubber pad on the base to soften and break apart, so the motor no longer can spin the blades.  I'll be using a stick blender in a pot the next time I want to puree cauliflower.  Or possibly putting it through a potato ricer.



2 slices of gluten free bread (~2oz), grated into bread crumbs
1 1/2 Tbsp butter


16 oz. corn & quinoa macaroni elbows
24 oz. frozen cauliflower florets

11 oz. medium sharp cheddar (such as Tillamook medium sharp)
5 oz. processed cheese (such as Velveeta Queso Blanco)
2 oz. grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
White pepper (20 cranks of the pepper grinder)
3 dashes of Tabasco
Salt to taste


Put a large pot full of hot water over high heat, and add about 2 Tbsp of kosher salt.

It's a little easier to grate fresh bread if it's frozen.  Use a food processor fitted with a coarse disk, or the coarse side of a hand grate to turn the bread into breadcrumbs and set it aside.  Wipe your processor/grater and then use it to grate the cheddar and Parmesan.  Process cheese is too soft to grate -- cut enough chunks to get the weight you need, and then break it into little chunks with your fingers.

When the water is boiling vigorously, dump in the pasta and stir so it doesn't stick together.  Wait for it to come back to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes.  The pasta should be a little firmer than you want because it's going to be baked.   After the pasta is cool you can hold it in your casserole.  I used a 9x9 stoneware pan.

When the pasta is done, drain in a colander and rinse with cold tap water.  Put 3 cups of water into the pasta pot, and return it to the stove over high heat.  When the water is boiling, add the frozen cauliflower and stir.  Cover until the water returns to boiling, then remove the lid, reduce the heat to medium.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the cauliflower is too tender to be picked up by piercing it with the tip of a sharp knife.   Reserve 1 c. of the water, and drain the cauliflower.  Allow the cauliflower to cool if your blender can't handle hot foods.

Puree the cauliflower with about 1/2 a c. of the cooking water, adding more as needed.  Put the cauliflower puree back into your larger pot, and add the remaining ingredients.  Cook over medium heat until the cheese is melted.  Taste the sauce by dipping a piece of macaroni in it before you decide whether it needs more salt & pepper.  Usually cheese and the salt in the pasta water are enough for me.

Turn off the heat and stir the macaroni into the pot.  Wipe your casserole pan dry, and brush or spray with oil.  Spread the macaroni & cheese in the prepared pan, and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

I'm taking this to a potluck tonight, and I didn't want the cheese sauce to overflow in my friend's oven, so I under filled the pan a little, and saved about 2 servings in smaller dish for another night.

Bake in a 350 F oven until the top is crisp and the cheese sauce is bubbling.

Sunbutter Oatmeal Bites

A friend recently shared pictures of no-bake cookies made with cocoa nibs and some dark chocolate in addition to the usual cocoa.  They looked really good, but I couldn't bring myself to put the stick of butter and 2 cups of sugar into a sauce pan.  I debated making a half batch, and then decided to try to do something with less fat and sugar.


1 c. Sunbutter
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp double-strength vanilla
1/3 c. cacao nibs
1/3 c. salted roasted sunflower seeds
1/3 c. raisins




Preheat oven to 350 F and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix everything together until uniform.  Scoop into 1 Tbsp balls and place on parchment.  Flatten each ball to about 1/2" thickness with a fork or your fingers.

Bake 8-10 minutes.  Cookies will be brown on the bottom but still quite soft & puffy when they come out.  The cool to delicate, crumbly bites, quite filling.

Chickpea bread recipe drift

A few months after giving up wheat, I decided to give away my bread machine and my copy of Beth Hensperger's Bread Machine Book.  I vaguely remembered seeing something about gluten-free in there, so I checked the index, and copied down one recipe before I let the book go.

I picked up some besan (aka chickpea flour) at the Indian Market and tried the recipe.  My boyfriend observed that it was like his mom's Easter Bread - sweet and eggy.

I wanted to try and make an every-day toasting bread out of this recipe.  Over the course of 4 months, I eliminated the maple syrup, and replaced some of the eggs with flax meal.  I also replaced the xanthan gum with ground chia seed and converted to baking by weight, since it's easier to experiment with flour substitutions when you're weighing everything.

The bread still tends to be a little soggy in the center, and is very heavy.  I plan to experiment with reducing the oil (since flax meal and chia seed both contain fat) and try baking it in a narrower (4.5 inch x 10 inch) loaf pan, so there will be future revisions.  Here's the latest.


Chickpea Bread r4

1 1/4 c. water, slightly warm
2 1/4 t. SAF yeast
2 T brown sugar

1 large egg
5 T golden flax meal
water

3 T olive oil
1 1/2 T ground chia seed (measured after grinding)
1 t kosher salt

120 g. chickpea flour (aka besan)
  58 g. teff flour
100 g. brown rice flour
  40 g. tapioca starch
126 g. sweet rice flour
  60 g. Baker's Special Dry Milk


Add the water, yeast, and brown sugar to the mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Break the egg into a measuring cup and beat in the flax meal.  Add enough water to total 3/4 c.
Add olive oil, chia seed, and salt to egg/flax slurry and stir well.

Weigh all the dry ingredients into a lightweight bowl or container.
Grease a loaf pan with butter or solid shortening.

When the yeast begins bubbling, beat in the contents of the measuring cup, and then add the flours.  Beat for about 2 minutes.  Pour into prepared pan, and level the top with a wet spatula.

Allow to rise about 35 minutes before preheating the oven to 350F.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350 F, and then set a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the loaf.
Continue baking for 30 -40 minutes, until internal temperature is over 200F.

Lots of dishes with a little sausage

My boyfriend's family never bought the sage-heavy or sweet "breakfast sausages" when he was growing up. When his mother cooked sausage for breakfast, it was a link of Italian sausage, cut in half and butterflied open to provide lots of brown crispy surface.  He made this sausage and eggs for me and then taught me how to butterfly.

Since our favorite brand of sausage is sold in packages of 4 links (which total 1 to 1.2 lbs), whenever I cook a new package I end up with 8 butterflied pieces.  Sometimes when we find a manager's special, I cook 3 packages up, and toss big bags of butterflied, cooked sausage in the freezer.  Thaw it in the microwave, slice it up into half-rounds and it turns into a dozen different dishes.  OK, they all taste strongly of our favorite Italian sausage, but you can still mix it up.

Today we sausage, browned with a little olive oil.  Then I stirred in 2 chopped tomatoes that were a little too hard to be appealing raw, and sprinkled in a little salt and pepper.  When the tomatoes had softened and given up their juice, I cracked into two eggs, sprinkled an ounce of crumbled feta and the leaves from one sprig of fresh oregano over them, and covered the pan until the eggs were set on top.  We had this for lunch with toast.

Sometimes the chopped sausage goes into a big pot of sauce for pasta, or gets sauteed with zucchini and eggplant and then tossed with pasta. It seasons hash browns, or adds some chew and spice to a veggie frittata.

A butterflied section can thaw and brown in the skillet for sausage and eggs when we're camping, or go on the grill with oiled vegetables for dinner.  When we have a lot in the freezer, I might use 8 oz. to make a big pot of bean soup.

We eat a lot of sausage, but only a little bit at a time.

Sausage Mustgo Soup

Odds and ends go into a pot and are magically converted into soup. While the vegetables soften, the sausages lend their spice to the broth and some beans dissolve to give the soup body.

BEFORE

1 link hot Italian sausage (4~5 oz)

1 link mild Italian sausage (4-5 oz)

8 oz smoked kielbasa

1 medium onion (~2 cups), chopped

3-4 stalks celery, sliced 1/4" thick (~ 1 cup)

1 large (approximately 16 oz.) red skinned yam, peeled and diced into 1/2" chunks

1 quart chicken broth

3 cups cooked small white beans

black pepper, to taste

5 oz. baby spinach

Squeeze the Italian sausage out of the casing into a Dutch Oven over medium heat.  Stir occasionally, breaking the meat into small clumps.  

Slice the kielbasa 1/4 inch thick, and cut the pieces into half-moon shapes.  Chop the onions.  When the sausage is cooked through, stir in the kielbasa and onions, and continue to cook until everything is starting to brown.

Stir in sweet potato and celery.  Add chicken broth and beans.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Skim any scum that has risen to the surface, cover and cook until sweet potatoes are tender.  Taste the broth and add pepper to taste.

Gather the spinach into clumps, and roughly chop.  Stir the spinach into the soup and cook until wilted (less than 2 minutes.)

Chocolate Cereal Treats (Gluten-Free)

Crunchy-chewy marshmallow treats aren't just for Rice Krispies anymore.  This batch used a combination of two gluten-free cereals that have great crunch and more fiber than Rice Krispies or Rice Chex.  If you can eat gluten, regular CheeriOs are also great in marshmallow treats.


3 Tbsp butter, plus a little extra for pan
1 oz. Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or 1 oz. chocolate chips)
10 oz. miniature marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 oz. Enjoy Life Crunchy Flax cereal
9 oz. Nature's Path Organic Whole O's cereal

Butter a 9 inch square pan.
Melt 3 Tbsp of butter and the semi-sweet chocolate in a Dutch oven or a large non-stick stir-fry pan over medium heat.  When the chocolate is fully melted, stir in the marshmallows.  Continue to heat, stirring occasionally, until the marshmallows melt.  Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla and cereals.
When the cereal is evenly coated, pour into the buttered pan and smooth the top, pressing down.  I find that it won't stick to my fingers if my hand is wet.

Allow the mixture to cool completely, and cut into chunks.

Spring Turkey Meatball Soup

I had a 20 oz. package of ground turkey, so I made a big batch of meatball mix.  24 little meatballs made 4-6 servings of soup for lunch, and 20 larger meatballs are in the fridge, waiting to be cooked for dinner.  You could double the soup recipe, and use all the meat balls in it, but I'm going to brown the leftovers and serve them with pasta and tomato sauce.

I used scarified wild rice, which is scratched so it cooks faster than plain wild rice.  It cooked in about the same time as the thinly sliced carrots.  If you want to use regular wild rice or brown rice, give the rice a 20 minute head start before adding the carrots.  I like the aspargus to have a little crunch.  If you like it very tender, cook a little longer at the end.

This recipe did take advantage of two special kitchen toys : a fine microplane, and a Microplane 35009 Medium Ribbon Grater.

For the soup:

1 quart unsalted chicken stock
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 cup scarified wild rice
12-18 green onions
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4-5 small carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch of asparagus (~ 1 lb)


For the meatballs:

20 oz of 93% lean ground turkey
1/2 c. golden flax meal
1/2 c. grated Parmesan, Romano, or similar hard cheese
1 c. grated, zucchini (~ 3/4 of a small zucchini grated with the ribbon grater)
1/2 c. grated carrot (1 small carrot grated with the ribbon grater)
1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg

Pour the chicken broth and rice into a 4 - 5 quart pot.  Place the pot over medium heat while you clean and slice the green onions.  Set aside the green parts of the onion aside, and add the white parts to the pot.  Using a fine microplane grater, grate the garlic into the pot.  Peel the carrots, and slice them thinly.  Add them to the pot.  When the broth begins to simmer reduce heat to medium low and cover.  Snap off the tough bottoms of the asparagus, and slice the stalks into 3/4 inch chunks.   Keep the tips separate -- they cook faster and will be added to the soup last.

Now you have time to make the meatballs.  Put the ground turkey in a medium sized bowl.  Measure the flax meal and cheese into the bowl.   Grate the carrot, and measure 1/2 a cup into the bowl.  Grate the zucchini and measure 1 c. into the bowl.  Discard any extra carrot or zucchini.  Add Aleppo pepper, white pepper, salt and egg.  Have 2 large plates, and scoops or tablespoons ready to hold the meatballs.  Mix all the meatball ingredients until thoroughly combined.   Make 24 one tablespoon meat balls for the soup.  Roll the remaining meatball mixture into whatever size you'd like for the leftovers, and refrigerate.

Wash your hands and taste the rice in the soup.  Depending on how fast you work, it might already be tender.  If not, give it a few more minutes.

When the rice is tender, turn the heat up to medium-high, and carefully place the meatballs in the broth.  Cover the pot, and reduce the heat to medium.   Cook 5-7 minutes until meatballs seem to be cooked through.  Uncover the pot, and add the asparagus stems and green part of the onions.  Cook for 5-7 minutes, and then add the asparagus tips.  Cook 2 minutes, remove from heat and serve.