Penne with Walnut Cream Sauce

I love Italian food, but it is so hard going out to dinner!  We enjoy rice noodles with tomato sauce, but this recipe was truly different! 

I tried some new penne noodles from Henrys and made a "cream" sauce without milk!  I also learned how to soften walnuts to make into a cream.

You have to cook 2 - 1/4 cup walnuts in boiled water for at least 15 minutes.  In a food processor, you have to grind the walnuts, 1 - 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stream in 1/2 cup Olive Oil.  Now, let me just say, it was a little bland and needed either more salt or garlic....



Chicken Rice Tetrazzini with Mushroom Gravy and Mustard Crumbs

I ate mushrooms for the first time with this recipe and really enjoyed them!  This was such a yummy recipe that made excellent lunch leftovers. 

You spread uncooked rice in a baking dish and top with chopped rotisserie chicken. 

The mushroom gravy consists of softened mushrooms cooked in olive oil, 2 Tbsn of flour, 1/2 cup white wine, 1/2 cup milk, 2 cups of water, 2 Tbsn parsley, and salt and pepper. 

The crumbs on the top are rice cereal crumbs, 1 Tbsn Dijon mustard and 1 Tbsn parsley.

Apple-Brown Sugar Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup and 2 tsp Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Chopped Walnuts

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Peeled and Chopped Apples

While the oven is heating to 375, grease a round cake pan or spring-foam pan.  Whisk the 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.  In another bowl, mix the 2 tsp of flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon.  In a third bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, oil, and vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture.  Pour half the batter in the pan and top with half the apples and chocolate chip mixture.  Repeat the process.  Bake for about 45 minutes.

Sloppy Joe Stuffed Potato Skins

I LOVE potatoes!  Mashed, Baked, Roasted, Au-Gratin...you name it, I will love it!  This receipe, even though it is considered an appetizer, was plenty for us for a meal.

Cook 6 potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

After they cool, half them and scopp our some of the insides. Rub with olive oil and bake for another 20 minutes.  Fill with the "sloppy joe" mix.

"Sloppy Joe" Mix:

Saute a chopped up bell pepper and 1/2 an onion in EVOO.  Add in 1 pound of ground beef until brown.  Pour in 3/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1 Tbsn of worcestershire sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.  Simmer.

Grilled Peach BBQ Chicken Wings

Alex and spent New Years Eve night together enjoying these Chicken Wings and Potato Skins (next post).  I had spent the day baking and later in the afternoon we walked took Porter for a walk at Fashion Island.  We rang in the new year in the middle of watching The Sound of Music. 

For this recipe I was able to use some homemade Peach Jam from one of my students!

In a food processor (on my list of kitchen items to get now), combine 2 cups of BBQ sause, 1 garlic clove chopped, 2 peaches (peeled and chopped), and salt and pepper.

Marinate 24 chicken wings for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

In a sauce pan, cook the 1/2 cup peach jam, 1 garlic clove chopped, 2 Tbsn of apple cider vinegar, and 1 Tbsn of hot sauce.

Grill the chicken wings basting with the recerved BBQ sauce and serve with the warm dipping sauce.

Cinnamon-Toasted Belgian Waffles

Here is a yummy twist on French Toast!  Make sure you have a waffle maker for this recipe.

Topping: 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1-1/2 tsn cinnamon

Waffles: 2 cups of Panckae Mix, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, 1 Tbsn of vanilla, and 1-1/2 cups of milk. 

Pour the batter into the waffle iron and sprinkle the topping over it!

Pancake Mix

Another of Silvana's "Basics" to keep in the cupboard is her Pancake Mix, which I used to make waffles (see tomorrow's post).  We love making pancakes and waffles!  She uses 9 cups of her All-Purpose Flour, 1 Cups + 2 Tbsn of Sugar, 3 Tbsn of Baking Powder, and 2.25 tsn of salt.

Mashed Potato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is a wonderful recipe if you love potatoes and chicken...and also very easy! 

The potatoes have such a yummy lemony flavor to them and the chicken came out so soft and flavorful even with using just salt and pepper. 

The recipe called for olive oil and rice milk to make the mashed potatoes....and for being dairy-free...sooooooo good!

Boil 1 pound of potatoes (cut into small chunks).  Drain and add 1/4 cup of rice milk, 5 Tbsn of EVOO, and Lemon Zest.  Split open the chicken breasts (4) and stuff with the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.



Pumpkin Muffins

Alex and I love having Pumpkin Bread for breakfast, but of course...it's not "Alex -friendly".  So, you can imagine how excited we were to make Gluten-Free Pumpkin muffins. 

I decided to make a batch a couple of days ago so we could have enough for breakfast this week. 

I was so excited that I missed read an ingredient and instead of using 1 cup of Pumpkin puree, I used the whole can....Well, that batch was thrown out and my sweet Alex went to the store to get me another can. 


Ingredients for the Topping:
1/4 cup of Silvana's All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 tsn Pumpkin Pie Spice

 4 Tbsn All-Vegetable Shortening

(Mix all those ingredients together in a small bowl).

Ingredients for the Muffins:
1-3/4 cup of Flour

2 tsn Baking Powder
2 tsn Pumpkin Pie Spice
3/4 tsn Salt

(Mix those ingredients together).

2 Eggs

1 cup of Canned Pure Pumpkin Puree

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsn Vanilla Extract

Mix the 5 ingredients listed above together, then mix in the flour mixture.  Pour the batter into muffin cups and top with the crumbles.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Following the receipe correctly, they turned out just GREAT!  They are expecially yummy with the crumble on top sprinkled with powdered sugar.

 

Bread - Finally!

Have you ever tried white rice bread or brown rice bread? Gluten-free bagels? It's bland, hard, and crumbly. 

Here is what I discovered as I made my first batch of bread slabs for sandwich making:

1.  Parchment paper really is a better option than wax paper.

2.  You MUST put flour all over the parchment paper to roll out the dough, otherwise, it STICKS!

3.  When I do this again, I will roll out the dough in one long rectangle, and cut it AFTER it bakes.

4.  Less SALT!

WOW!  This bread is sooooooo yummy!!!!  We are so excited to have "normal" tasting bread now!

Here are the ingredients: 2 cups of Silvana's All-Purpose Flour, 1 package of active dry yeast, 1 tsn of salt, 1 tsn of sugar, 2 large egg whites, 2 tbsn of EVOO, and 3/4 cup of warm water.

Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar.  Add the egg whites, EVOO and water.  Mix the dough and roll it out onto lightly floured parchment paper.  Let rest for 30 minutes before baking at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes.

The Basics: Flour

Flour: the key ingredient to most recipes (breads, waffles, muffins, pancakes, desserts). 

In the past I tried eliminating all foods that contained flour or would buy pre-made food that was labeled gluten-free.  We didmanage to find cereal, oatmeal, pizza crust, and waffles that tasted somewhat decent.  I experimented with Soy flour, which not only smelled terrible but tasted just as bad.  My creations would fall apart, lacking "stickyness" and were such a disappointment.

Silvana came up with a Flour blend that uses White Rice Flour (6 cups), Tapioca Flour (3 cups), Potato Starch (1.5 cups), Salt (1 Tbsn), and Xanthum Gum (2 Tbsn).  My first endeavor was to make two batches! 

Cooking for "Alex"

I love to cook and I love to cook good food for my husband.  However, because he is intolerant to gluten and dairy, cooking is not only challenging but not very tasty...  I recently received "Cooking for Isaiah" by Silvana Nardone, a mom with a son who shares my husband's food intolerances.  Being an Italian chef, she has come up with a variety of yummy receipes (after much trial and error), so that her son still enjoys eating as much as he did before the diagnosis.  I, like Silvana, want to cook food that we both get excited about and say "yum"! 

I have decided to blog about my journey through "Cooking for Isaiah" and other gluten-free/dairy-free cookbooks I come across.  My goal is to share the process of cooking various recipes through my discoveries, mistakes, and ideas.  Hopefully I can pass along what I learn each time I step into the kitchen and be able to learn from readers who also are going Gluten and Dairy Free!