Better Than the Original

Just look at that! Fabulously light and fluffy with delicious flavor - you'd never guess that it's gluten free, but it is! For Christmas, I finally received a set of English muffin rings which allowed me to at long, long last try Bette Hagman's crumpet recipe from More from the Gluten Free Gourmet. The description describes the crumpet as worth the price of the book. And let me tell you, I'd pay a lot more than the list price ($20) for these little GF gems. I made just one little change to Bette's recipe, Bette promotes a GF flour mix with bean flour and, since I do not care for the taste of bean flour, I've used my own flour blend for this recipe: 1/2 cup sweet rice flour, 1/2 cup tapioca starch and 1/2 cup potato starch. These crumpets are wonderful warm with a little jam, used for a sandwich or, possibly my favorite use, the foundation for Eggs Benedict. Fun fact: did you know Eggs Benedict finds it's origins at the turn of the Century at Delmonico's in New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Benedict were regular customers and one day complained there was nothing new on the brunch menu. The chef whipped up a combination of buttered toast, poached eggs, ham and hollandaise sauce and the dish was born. At least according to Betty Crocker.


To create this scrumptious Eggs Benedict I used one crumpet sliced in half and toasted, topped with two slices of Canadian bacon, two poached eggs and a generous slathering of hollandaise. I also received Mastering the Art of French Cooking and tried Julia's recipe for hollandaise. My review: delicious, but too much work and too much butter for breakfast. I prefer Betty Crocker's version (I feel a little better about one stick of butter compared to Julia's two), you can find the recipe here. You'll have to purchase a copy of the Gluten Free Gourmet for the crumpets, Bette Hagman deserves every royalty she gets for those.

* In other news, I've begun my quest to master the art of gluten free French cooking with a couple naturally GF recipes, I'll post those soon!

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday I turned the big 2-6.

Up until a few years ago there was this Italian Restaurant in Portland with delicious food and huge portions called the Village. It was a common birthday dinner destination. I would always order the veal parmigiana and would eat it for about a week. Since I'm gluten-free now and the restaurant has closed I haven't had veal parmigiana in a long, long time.

This birthday I decided to change all that. Since Joe and I plan to go out tonight to celebrate, but I still wanted something for my birthday. I've developed great GF recipes for both chicken and eggplant parmigiana and while I some conscience twangs about the treatment of veal cows, I decided to give myself a treat and an ethical pass. After all, it was my birthday. It was delicious. Perhaps not as good as I remember the Village being, but for something from my own kitchen - it was awesome and easy.

Veal Parmigiana

• veal cutlets
  
• Italian seasoned GF breadcrumbs
  
• Tomato sauce (whatever you like and have on hand should work fine)
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• salt
  
• pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• Olive Oil
  

Once again, not really any measurements- I like to eyeball ingredient amounts when I'm cooking. Season the veal with salt and pepper. Dip each piece into the egg and then dredge with the breadcrumbs. Fry in olive oil for 1-2 minutes per side and stack the pieces in a small glass casserole, 2-3 pieces of veal per stack. If you like a lot of tomato sauce, put it between each piece. Or, if you're like me and think less is more, just put tomato sauce on top along with the cheeses. Bake for about ten minutes for medium rare. Serve with pasta.

There is Popcorn Everywhere . . .

Really. The floor of my car, under my desk, on my desk and I keep finding little pieces in my sweater. The cause of this sudden infestation of kernels? Little Lad's highly addictive Herbal Corn. Wow, this stuff is amazing.

I've been noticing this stuff in natural food stores for years and I was always a little skeptical. Popcorn with dill? It sounded a little weird to me. But, this Monday on our way back from Bethel and Portsmouth at the mandatory Portland Whole Foods stop to stock up on gluten-free chicken nuggets (me) and beer (Joe), it was a time to throw caution to the wind. We got the medium-sized bag of Herbal Corn. I think it was half gone by Freeport.

Little Lad's has locations in Cornith, Portland and, oddly enough, New York City. But, if none of those are convenient it can be recreated at home:

At Home Herbal Corn

• 3/4 cup popcorn
• 2-4 tablespoons of soybean oil or light vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (make sure it's GF!)
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
  

Coat popcorn with oil. Toss with yeast and then dill. Enjoy!

It Was A Lovely Evening

It was pretty much a perfect evening. Here's a photo recap:

Today, I made it home from work before 5:00 (gasp!) to this cuddler:


I love the tangy flavor of goat cheese, Joe's not so wild about it. Since he was out for the evening, I had chicken stuffed with goat cheese (keeping scrolling for the recipe) - yum!


Then I was super-productive. I did a load of laundry, painted my toenails bright pink and did some reading for my research paper.


While watching the Office, I made some excellent progress on my Christmas knitting.


And then, this dashing man came home!

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese

• One chicken breast, butterflied
• about two ounces of herb goat cheese
• one clove of garlic, minced
• one handful of spinach, chopped
• three basil leaves, chopped
• two slices of sundried tomato, cut into small pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Combine the goat cheese, garlic, spinach, basil and tomato in a small bowl. After seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper, stuff it with the goat cheese mixture. Secure with toothpicks, if needed. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Delicious, quick and easy.

If I Blog It, I'll Do It

Theoretically, of course.

I'm well into my second week of training for my first half marathon - 13.1 miles. Which is also, incidentally, the longest distance I've ever raced (5K being the old record) and training for it will mark the first time I've ever run more than 5 miles at once. Gulp.

Disclaimer: I'm not going to run it fast, I'm going to finish it. I never have been and never will be a fast runner.

The plan is to run the New Bedford Half Marathon on March 21, 2010. I'm using Hal Higdon's training regime, with a few repeated weeks since my marathon is more than 12 weeks away. I figured a slow start was a good idea. November has, surprisingly, turned out to be a good month for running. Relatively warm and, so far at least, no snow. So far, I'm really enjoying my training and, of course, the company of my running partner, Joe. November might seem like an odd time to set a major goal like running a half, perhaps better suited to a New Year's Resolution? Well, that's not how I roll. I've found that when I commit to a goal when the mood strikes me, rather than waiting for a prescribed holiday, I'm more likely to keep them. I'm feeling stronger and faster with each run, hopefully this trend will continue!

Things have been very busy the past few days and keeping me away from my blogging, but fortunately . . .


. . . we've enjoyed a series of spectacular sunsets. This one enjoyed from my front steps . . .


. . .and Madison has been supplying plenty of research help. Here she is making herself comfortable on my notes.

His & Hers

Or, gluten-full and gluten-free.

Internet, Joe and I are cohabiting. You may have gathered this from his constant presence in this blog, but now I'm confirming it. The Madison-cat seems to approve of the new arrangements. She enjoys lazing on the sofa, spying on birds and squirrels in our postcard-sized yard and carefully watching dinner preparations from atop the cabinets. A perch she does not expend her energy reserves to reach. Oh no, she informs us of her desire to lounge on the cabinets and we lift her onto the refrigerator - spoiled. She does, however, jump down of her own accord.

Living with someone you aren't related to presents certainly challenges, but the most obvious challenge for Joe and I is diet. And, it hasn't really been all that challenging. When we cook together, it's gluten-free. We have a lovely arrangement where he chops onions and cleans dishes while I handle the more complicated (and more fun!) aspects of cooking. Joe is very conscientious of my special diet needs and eats gluten-free without complaint. Sometimes we're cooking something that can easily be made gluten-free and gluten-full and since some GF products are so expensive (and it's easy, so why not?), I'll make two pots of spaghetti or two pizza crusts. Recently, we used this technique for spaghetti and meatballs. Just be careful to keep your gluten-full cooking separate from your gluten-free cooking!

Gluten-Free Meatballs

1/2 lb ground turkey
GF breadcrumbs (Gillian's are a good choice)
minced onion
minced garlic
very finely chopped fresh parsley
a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

No measurements, throw in the amount that looks good to you. Mix until just barely combined - don't overwork your meat! Shape into balls and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Pour a small amount of water over the meatballs and cook for 20-25 minutes (depending on the size of your meatballs). Remove from oven and add to a saucepan of simmering pasta sauce. Let simmer 10-15 minutes and serve over pasta. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Joe's whole wheat pasta version

And my rice pasta version.

Product Review: Schär Pizza Crust

Moms are pretty great.

I'm especially appreciative of my Mom this week for discovering a new brand of gluten-free pizza crust, Schär is, according to the package labeling and I'm inclined to believe them, the number one producer of gluten free products in Europe. This pizza crust, which I have decided is the best pre-packaged GF pizza I've enjoyed, proves that claim. The crust has good flavor, but doesn't compete with the sauce, cheese and toppings. The texture is also very pizza-like and while it gets nice and crispy in the oven, it doesn't resemble biting into a piece of cardboard smoothered with cheese and toppings. It also gets extra points for convenience: the box includes two individually wrapped, shelf-stable pizza crusts. It doesn't need to be frozen! If you forget to defrost your crust in the morning, no big deal!

Here's a visual to aid your shopping and explore their website, it has great recipes, tips and more information about their products.


I paired it with sausage and fennel and I'm planning another pizza night for next week: carmelized onions, yum!