Research. Trial And Error. Patience.

After a little over a year of living a gluten free life I am FINALLY coming to a great big understanding... you ready for this? I will not be able to replace all of the foods I love with gluten free alternatives.  Yep.  Took me a year before I was willing to put those words out there and you know, I think I'm OK with this fact.

I'm hoping this will continue to be a liberating epiphany and push me to find delicious new recipes - not replacement foods... not gluten free alternatives... but to embrace the fact that I eat gluten free food and you know what, it can taste pretty damn good.

Breakfast For Dinner ~ Brinner?

Me:  OK Girls, what do you want for dinner?

Sydney (3 yrs old):  Breakfast!

Piper (19 mo):  Uh-huh!

More and more often this is what the short people are requesting for dinner and I am determined to come up with ways to keep Brinner fun.

Hash Brown Nests:

Half a bag Hash Browns (thawed)

2 Tbs Oil

1 tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

12 Eggs

Mix together thawed hash browns, oil, salt, and cheese. Fill the cups of a greased muffin tin about 3/4 full with hash brown mixture.  Create a well in the center large enough for an egg to be cracked into.  Should resemble a nest.  Bake for 18 minutes.  When you remove the nest from the oven lower the oven temp. to 350 degrees.  Crack one egg into each nest and top with a small amount of shredded cheese.  Bake for 13 minutes.  You may need to run a knife around the edges in order to pop the nests out of the muffin tin.  These freeze and reheat beautifully.  Perfect way for small children to enjoy breakfast for dinner!

Looking forward to experimenting with more cupcake shaped foods.  I am hoping this will be a clever new way for me to get the kiddos to try foods that may normally cause them to turn up their noses.

Jenni Kitchen's Cure All Cupcakes

Every time I use Pamela's Products cake mixes I smile :) We have been passing a cold around our house since
preschool started a few weeks ago. It seems it is my turn with the bug... woo!...

After sleeping for 14 hours I woke up with a hankering for Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing. I challenge anyone to eat one of these cupcakes and not smile.

I used Pamela's Products Chocolate Cake Mix - I always add a third egg when making cupcakes using their mixes.



Peanut Butter Icing:

1 Cup Confectioners' Sugar
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
5 Tbs Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/3 Cup Heavy Cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter,vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.  Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

5-6 Cups Yellow Onions, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs)

1 Tbs Cooking Oil

2Tbs Butter

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

3 Tbs Rice Flour

6 Cups Beef Stock (preferably homemade) - Swanson's is Gluten Free

1 Cup Wine (red or white) - I used Yellow Tail Reisling

1 Bay Leaf

1/2 tsp Ground Sage

Salt and Pepper

12 ounces Swiss Cheese, Sliced

12 ounces Provolone Cheese, Sliced

Croutons:  Heal ends of Udi's bread

1. 
   
   

   Directions:  Place heavy bottomed stock pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat.  I used an enameled cast iron dutch oven and it worked beautifully.  Add 1 Tbs cooking oil,and 2 Tbs butter to the pot.Add sliced onions and stir until they are evenly coated with the oil.  - I sliced my onions on the mandolin though next time I believe I will opt for the food processor.  By the end of the slicing my eyes felt like they were full of fire.  Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until they are very tender and translucent.
2. 
   
   
   
   To brown or caramelize the onions turn heat under pot to medium or medium high heat.  Add 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt and continue to cook uncovered, stirring frequently until the onions have browned and reduced significantly.
3. Once caramelized, reduce heat to medium-low and add 3 Tbs rice flour to the onions.
4. 
   
   Brown the flour for about 1-2 minutes trying not to scorch it.
5. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Stir in about 1 cup of warm stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to get up all of the cooked-on bits.  Add the rest of the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf to the soup.
6. Simmer for 30 minutes.
7. To make the croutons, heat oven to 325 degrees F.
8. Drizzle each side of the bread slices with a bit of olive oil and place on baking sheet.
9. Cook the croutes for 15 minutes in oven on each side (30 minutes total).  Once it was finished I cut the bread into bite sized pieces.  Check the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.  Remove the bay leaf (if you can find it).
10. 
    
    
    
    
    

    At this point you could transfer to a casserole dish.  The dutch oven I was using worked quite nicely to transfer directly to the oven.  Place the toasted bread in a single layer on top of the soup.  Layer the cheese over the top of the soup.  Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Turn on broiler and brown cheese well. 
11. 
    

2011 has proven to be a challenge

In July I began to have quite a bit of abdominal pain every time I ate ... no matter what I ate.  After several trips to the ER and many tests later it was determined that I needed to have my gallbladder removed.  Fortunately... and unfortunately it would turn out... this was not an emergent situation and I was able to schedule my surgery for a week and a half after the decision was made.  For the next week and a half my diet consisted of Jell-O and Dilauded.  From July to August I lost roughly 15lbs. and developed gastritis from being on narcotics.

Recovery from the surgery has been slow and has come with its fair share of setbacks.  I was put on a medication to help prevent gastritis after surgery but after having some very unpleasant side effects I was taken off of the medication and it was not replaced with anything.  Within 2 weeks of going off of the medication I started having more stomach pain but chalked it up to part of the healing process.  September 1 (the last day of my 20's) was spent in the ER having blood drawn and a CT scan to rule out any complications from the surgery.  The CT was clean and I was then put on maximum doses of medication to treat for ulcers.  I scheduled an appointment with a GI but wasn't able to get in for an upper endoscopy for another 3 weeks.

The upper endoscopy showed some esophagitis, and gastritis, even after weeks of medication.  The scope also showed a hiatal hernia and bile pooling in the bottom of my stomach.  The medicines are helping tremendously though I am still far from being 100%.  I have been instructed to reduce the stress in my life... which becomes stressful in and of itself.

Hopefully I will find a way to work more blogging into my stress management :)

Dinner

Had I been thinking ahead I would have taken pictures of dinner this evening...

Steak Burgers:
We used some steak we found on special at the local grocery store.  Cut the steaks into cubes and placed the cubes on a baking sheet.  We put the steak in the freezer for about 20 minutes and then pulsed it in the food processor in batches.  For each batch we put in a big sprig of Savory and a pinch of Kosher Salt.  Once all of the steak was ground we formed patties and put them on the grill.  DELICIOUS!  We ended up serving the burgers on regular Udi's bread.  I'm hoping our local stores will start carrying Udi's hamburger and hot dog buns before the end of the cookout season.

Blueberry Lemonade:
Blueberries have been going on special a lot lately so every time we see a buy one get one deal we stock up and freeze them in snack size bags.  This makes them very easy to throw in with smoothies!  For the Lemonade I added the following ingredients to the blender:
2 snack bags of frozen blueberries (not an exact science)
3/4cup Fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4cup Sugar
2 cups of water
1 cup of ice

When I served this I filled the glass halfway with Blueberry Lemonade, added ice, then topped off with water.  Very refreshing.

I also made up a batch of Mint Simple Syrup.  I'm looking forward to making iced tea!

Bakery On Main

Let the fun begin!

Today I received a package filled with goodies from Bakery On Main.  I'm so excited it almost makes me want to wake the kids up and have them start taste testing! ...almost.  Breakfast will be here soon enough.