Gluten Free Artichoke Spinach Dip

This warm, creamy dip is bursting with flavor! I posted this recipe back in 2011 on my low carb blog, but it's gluten free as well. It is so good, I just had to share it with you today. I prefer this dip baked in the oven, but it is equally delicious served cold. If you choose not to bake it, cover the dish and place it in the fridge for several hours to ripen the flavors. This dip pairs very well with homemade pita chips. They were just meant to be together. I found a great recipe for gluten free pita bread over at Faithfully Gluten Free, formerly The Baking Beauties. I sliced the pitas into wedges, sprayed them with olive oil then sprinkled on little salt and pepper and baked for 10-12 minutes at 350F until golden brown. They will crisp up as they cool. They keep well sealed in a plastic bag or airtight container. Now on to the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 6 oz of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 -14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach thawed, drained and chopped or 2 cups fresh, chopped
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese 
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Soften cream cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds in a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Add the yogurt, garlic, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese, then stir until well blended. Stir in the spinach, artichokes and about 1/2 cup of the pepper jack cheese. Put the dip into an oven-safe dish and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of the cheese on top. Bake at 350 for approximately 25-30 minutes until heated through and the cheeses melt. Serve with gluten free cracker or pita chips. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pasta Primavera Wth Grilled Chicken

Pasta night! We love Italian dishes, mainly pasta dishes covered in a rich sauce. I wanted to do something a little different tonight, something a little lighter and not coated in a heavy sauce. Pasta Primavera was the obvious choice. Traditionally, Pasta Primavera is made with Spring veggies, but I have a very limited supply of veggies in the fridge. We are going on vacation in a few days and I've been trying to use up the produce before we leave. Below is a list of Spring vegetables, pick any that you like. This dish can be suited to anyone's taste or preference. Just make sure you saute your vegetables in stages, firmer ones first, then tender veggies. Nothing worse then soggy veggies!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of gluten free pasta
• 2 chicken breasts, grilled 
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1 small zucchini sliced
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped artichoke hearts
• 1 vine ripened tomato, seeded and diced or a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 teaspoon Italian herbs
• 1/2 cup white wine or Marsala
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Season chicken with salt and pepper, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil then grill until cooked through and no longer pink. Place the chicken on a plate, cover it with foil and set aside for 5 minutes, then slice into bite sized pieces. You could leave the chicken as is and serve it on the side instead.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, stir in the pasta and cook according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add the carrots and saute for 1-2 minutes to give them a little color. Stir in the remaining vegetables, except artichokes and tomatoes, and continue to saute for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the vegetables from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Pour the wine into the hot pan and reduce the liquid by half. Marsala is my favorite wine to use in sauces. Add the chicken broth and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. 

Add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and Italian herbs to the pan.

Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Return the veggies to the pan along with the chicken and toss to coat with the sauce,

then remove and place into a large serving bowl.

By now the pasta should be done, drain and add it to the serving bowl.

Sprinkle the Parmesan over the pasta and toss everything together.

Taste again and season if needed.

 

 

Gluten Free Yeast Doughnuts, Round #2

Look at those mouth watering yeast doughnuts! Would you believe that they are gluten free? I haven't had a "real" yeast risen doughnut in years! Between 2006 and 2009 we lived a mere five minutes from a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. What a thrill it was when the "Hot Now" sign was lit! We had to drive up and get a dozen. Who could resist warm glazed doughnuts?! Man, I have missed them!

Gluten Free Sourdough English Muffins

Here is the sourdough version of my Gluten Free English Muffins that I promised you. These are probably the best muffins that I've had since going gluten free years ago! The tang of the sourdough and buttermilk makes these oh so good! The texture is on the money too, toasty on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Gluten Free Calzones

Calzones are so easy to make and a nice change to our once a week pizza night. You need to shake things up a little every now and then. They are basically a large pizza pocket made with regular pizza dough and stuffed with all of your favorite pizza toppings. I like to brush them with an egg wash before they are baked, this gives them a nice shine and helps the Parmesan cheese stick to them.

Gluten Free English Muffins

I love English muffins with cream cheese and jelly. Almost like cheesecake for breakfast! I've made my own gluten free muffins before in an attempt to save money, store bought gluten free items are so expensive! While they were pretty good, the flavor was lacking something. I didn't know what that something was until I stumbled upon a blog yesterday called, Beijing Survival Guide. The author, Sarah, added yogurt to her recipe, brilliant! Why hadn't I thought of that?

Gluten Free Pineapple Upside Cake

Today is Memorial Day and I would like to say thank you to all of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom! They may no longer be with us, but they will never be forgotten!!

I made this amazing looking cake is for our cookout tonight. I am using a new yellow cake recipe that I have been working on. It rose beautifully in the oven and is very moist and tender. I love pineapple upside down cake, always have. My mother's was the best! She made it from time to time when I was a kid and it was always delicious! Hopefully this gluten free version will be as good as hers. Love you Mom!

Gluten Free French Bread or Baguettes

Who doesn't love sinking their teeth into a crusty French baguette? Pasta night at our house wouldn't be the same without it! We love dunking chunks of this bread into a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and Italian herbs, Mmmm! It doesn't get any better than that.

Gluten Free Oat Bread

I absolutely love this bread! It always rises sky high for me. Adding oat flour to bread recipes really helps bind everything together, yields very tender loaves and keeps them moist longer than recipes without it. I buy gluten free whole oat groats online and grind them into flour myself, I save quite a bit that way.

Gluten Free Sun Dried Tomato and Herb Focaccia

This Focaccia is so delicious, just bursting with flavor! The loaf pictured above is destined to become an amazing Muffaletta sandwich for my husband and I, well half of it anyway. Here is a link to my Muffaletta recipe. This bread is soft and tender, speckled with tomatoes and Italian herbs, Yummy! Focaccia is so easy to make, if you have a pizza crust recipe that you love you can use that as well.

Gluten Free Muffaletta Sandwich

The Muffaletta is a sandwich that originated in New Orleans, LA. For those of you who haven't tried this amazing sandwich, I strongly urge you to do so, it's that good! It is piled high with Italian cold cuts, cheese and a delicious spicy olive topenade. Even if you don't care much for olives, you will love this sandwich!

Gluten Free Sourdough "Rye" Style Bread

Here's another multi-grain bread recipe using my gluten free sourdough starter!
This time I decided to make a "rye" style bread. Although rye bread is not gluten free, you can mimic it's flavor using teff flour and caraway seeds. Some people like to throw in a little cocoa power, instant coffee granules, orange zest or onion flakes, but I wanted to keep this recipe simple. Feel free to throw in any of those additional flavorings to suit your own taste. The flavor of this bread is pretty darn close to what I remember rye bread tasting like. The addition of sourdough starter just kicks it up a notch!

Mango Mousse and Blackberry Parfaits

I love a good parfait. They are very versatile and can be made with practically any fruit. We love tropical fruit and berries, so that's what I chose for this tasty treat. Using frozen mango chunks made this mousse set up pretty fast. If you're not a fan of mangoes, frozen strawberries could be used instead. This recipe is so delicious and couldn't be simpler.

The Making of Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

I am a bread lover! I can't help it! However, my bread eating days came to a screeching halt after a realization that gluten was the reason for several chronic health problems that I was having. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed out. In the beginning, gluten free bread was just depressing for me. A far cry from the wheat bread I loved and made several times a week. I thought that I would never again enjoy a sandwich made with tender, flavorful bread. Though, as time went on, I learned to make pretty good gluten free bread. Mastering this art had become an obsession for me. Everything that I knew about bread baking had to be relearned. Gluten free bread is nothing like wheat bread. I tried in vain to create a dough that could be kneaded, yet still produce a soft loaf of bread that was edible the next day. That never happened!

Gluten Free Artisan Sourdough At Last!

Since starting a gluten free diet several years ago, I have longed for a great loaf of sourdough bread! This is one of my favorite types of bread. I attempted to make sourdough bread in my early gluten free days, but never made what I would call "good" sourdough. Several were very tasty but the texture was another story. Not even close! I simply didn't have enough experience baking gluten free bread back then. After years of relearning how to make bread, I figured I would give it another shot. After all, I have gotten pretty good at making gluten free bread.

Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

A gluten free sourdough starter isn't much different than wheat based starter. Both start with flour and water and over time produce a healthy batch of natural yeast for sourdough bread. I have tried several different flour combinations for the starter you see above. Finally coming up with one that I really like! It's simply two parts sorghum flour, one part white rice flour and one part teff flour. This combination makes for a really healthy starter and a good tasting sourdough.

Tender Gluten-Free, Vegan Sandwich Bread

I came up with this recipe for my daughter and her family. They are on a vegan, gluten-free diet. This was my first egg-free, dairy-free loaf of sandwich bread. I was skeptical at first, but this loaf of bread was amazing! Far exceeding my expectations! Probably the softest loaf of sandwich bread that I have made so far. I used a natural dough enhancer and 1/2 cup of soaked white bean flour in this recipe, my new secret weapons against dry, crumbly gluten-free bread! Here is a link explaining how to make them as well as malted buckwheat flour. This bean flour leaves no beany taste or smell. The results are absolutely worth the effort!

Natural dough enhancers and techniques that work!

I have become somewhat of a food geek lately, doing a lot of research on ways to naturally improve the texture and shelf-life of homemade gluten free bread. I don't like having to freeze my homemade bread to keep it "fresh", really? It's not practical and just a hassle to thaw out a couple pieces at a time when I want to make a sandwich.

I have tried so many tricks of the trade, but nothing has worked better for me than using soaked flours and grains, soaked white bean flour (soaking makes it more digestible and taste much better) and using a combination of powdered ginger and sunflower lecithin (I don't eat soy). Soaking the flours, grains and beans beforehand makes them healthier by minimizing phytic acid, makes them easier to digest and produces a loaf of bread that is much lighter in texture.