Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger 2/10 Part 2: Tasty Eats at Home

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa, even though it would sound a lot prettier if it was pronounced as it's written imho! lol) is one of my very favorite grains.

I didn't discover quinoa until I went gluten free, and until very recently had never used it in baking.

But quinoa is aboslutely wonderful in salads and as a hot side dish with all sorts of meals!

When Thomas said he was hosting The Adopt a Gluten Free blogger event for February 2010, I knew it was time to make a quinoa recipe I had bookmarked at Tasty Eats at Home some time ago.

Tasty Eats at Home is a lovely food blog that is written by Alta Mantsch. The blog began as a "regular" food blog, until June 2009 when Alta decided to eliminate gluten from her diet due to a number of GI symptoms she was experiencing. She & her blog have been gluten free ever since.

Tasty Eats at Home has a wonderful mix of American foods and international fare. One of my favorite features on her blog are the "Kids in the Kitchen" posts, in which her children help her with dinner and different recipes. You will find fantastic recipes for Gluten Free Churros, Pan-Fried Trout and Baked Potatoes, and Beef Nachos.




The recipe I tried was Alta's "Quinoa Salad with Spinach, Raisins, and Walnuts." I really loved the mix of flavors here. Quinoa can have a slightly bittersweet taste (even after being rinsed) and that paired with the sweetness of the raisins and the flavor of the walnuts was absolutely wonderful! I ate this salad with my lunches for a week and I always looked forward to it!!

Alta's salad turned out much prettier than mine did, I think in part because she used fresh spinach! The only spinach I had at the time was canned spinach and while it did the job, it made the whole salad green! So stick with fresh spinach to make a pretty salad! :-)

Many thanks to Alta for the wonderful quinoa salad recipe and to Thomas at The GFCF Experience for hosting this month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Event!

Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger 2/10 Part 1: The Cinnamon Quill

I spent quite a bit of time last month baking gluten free bread...



Plain 'ol gluten free, casein free sandwich bread made with whole grains and no rice flour... we'll get to posting that recipe around here before too long...




Cinnamon Rum Raisin Bread... don't worry the recipe will be posted here soon. You will want this recipe! Ever miss Pepperidge Farms Cinnamon Swirl bread? You won't after this!




Gluten Free Girl's Calamata Olive & Rosemary Boule. This is one of the best techniques I've ever learned in making gluten free bread. You can use Shauna's technique with nearly any gluten free bread recipe. It's easy and takes 5-10 minutes to mix up your dough... let the yeast work slowly and naturally on your counter top, or even in the fridge... and then make bread. You'll never miss wheat if you try Shauna's bread.




And last but most definitely not least?


Gluten Free Vegan Bread from Jenn at The Cinnamon Quill.

Jennifer is an incredible photographer and baker. Her blog is beautifully designed and her recipes will make your mouth water. All recipes at The Cinnamon Quill are gluten free, and most are also vegan.

When I decided to participate in this month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger event hosted by Thomas at The GFCF Experience, I immediately wanted to take the opportunity to make one of Jenn's recipes.

Since I was on a bread baking spree I opted to try Jenn's gluten free, vegan bread. I think it's a necessary skill to learn how to make baked goods without eggs, especially if you already have other food allergies. It is not always easy... but with Jenn's tried and true recipes? You will consider yourself an experienced allergen-free, egg-free baker!

I love that Jenn's recipe for Gluten Free, Vegan, Buckwheat Bread uses a ton of gluten free whole grains (often missing from gluten free baked goods) and her instructions for baking gluten free bread are wonderful for beginning GF bakers!

I did make a few changes to Jenn's recipe. I only used 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast instead of a tablespoon. When making gluten free bread recipes I've found that you generally don't need as much yeast as most recipes call for to create a great rise. Instead of sugar, I used 3 tablespoons of honey and I cut down the xanthan gum to 1 1/4 teaspoons. Also, I didn't have any buckwheat flour, so I used quinoa flour instead.

I actually used Shauna's method of letting the bread rise for a long time on the counter & then baking it, because it is so much fun to make an artisan loaf! It made an absolutely beautiful free form bread! I was able to make 2 (1 lb.) loaves using Jenn's recipe. The end results turned out a beautiful crispy brown crust, and a chewy, lovely center! This is definitely a recipe to learn and keep on hand... perfect when you need bread and just so happen to be out of eggs (you'd be amazed at how often this happens in my kitchen!)

Many thanks to Thomas of The GFCF Experience for hosting the Adopt a Gluten Free blogger event this month. And many thanks to Jenn of the Cinnamon Quill for providing such a wonderful recipe!

Now, if only I had time to try out Jenn's latest recipe for Gluten Free Thin Mints and Gluten Free Oreos! Can we say YUM!

**Later this week I will share another recipe review for Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger from an outstanding gluten free home chef! Stay tuned!**

Clara's Thai Breakfast (Gluten Free Casein Free)

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love eggs, I love pancakes, I love bacon, I love bagels...what's not to love?

A few months ago my friend Clara shared with me one of her favorite breakfast dishes. Her mother is Thai and Clara grew up eating wonderful meals such as Laab, Masaman, and Panang. Meals that would be considered quite exotic in my neck of the woods!

One such meal is a basic breakfast of fried eggs over steamed jasmine rice with fish sauce.

Yes, fish sauce. I am a new convert to fish sauce. I have to admit fish sauce sounded very unappetizing to me at first, but after trying Clara's breakfast, I realized how delicious it was and that I had eaten meals with similar flavors such as the anchovy paste in homemade Caesar salad.

To make Clara's breakfast, I fry 2 eggs over easy, so the yolk is warm and runny, but the whites are very crunchy and crispy. Serve the eggs over steamed jasmine rice and sprinkle on a few drops of fish sauce over the meal. Don't over-do the fish sauce unless you REALLY like fish sauce! It can be "too" fishy if you use too much, but just a few dashes and you will love it!! I also sprinkle on a few black sesame seeds for color and crunch.

Clara also has an incredibly detailed post on her personal version of a Thai Breakfast vs. an Australian breakfast. I hope you'll visit her site today and try this wonderful, simple, naturally gluten free breakfast!

Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger - June 2008 - Karen of Sometimes Only Clever

For this month's event, hosted by Thomas of the Gluten Free/Casein Free Experience I adopted Karen of Sometimes Only Clever. Karen blogs about her Christian life with her husband, kids, her current pregnancy, and her hobbies. She is an avid hiker and loves the outdoors and she also is a great gluten free baker and cook! Make sure to check out Karen's "101 Random Things about Me" page.


The recipe that I made was for Karen's "oatmeal" breakfast cookies. These are fantastic!! If you miss things like Quaker Oats breakfast cookies - which I used to eat regularly - these are a great gluten free alternative! They are hearty, full of protein, fiber, and vitamins!! The cookies also store beautifully! Karen uses quinoa flakes in place of oatmeal in this recipe. I love how these cookies turned out and they were a great alternative to muffins, which I tire of easily. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my cookies, but the next time I make them I will add a picture to this post!


Karen also has a great recipe for homemade rice milk, which I'm going to try very soon! I use rice milk often both for drinking and cooking, so having a more frugal, cheaper, dairy and casein free alternative is exciting to me!


Make sure to check out this month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger roundup at Thomas' GFCF Experience today!

Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger -- The Good Eatah

I've been meaning to post about The Good Eatah for nearly 3 weeks. Needless to say, I'm a little behind!

I chose "The Good Eatah" for this month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Event (started by Sea, over at Book of Yum) because she has such a great variety of naturally gluten free recipes! The Good Eatah shares her gluten free and dairy free recipes on a regular basis. She also has an adorable dog named Henry, and she's a new aunt!!

There were so many recipes I wanted to try! Her zucchini fritter-tatas, her cranberry walnut bread, her spanish tortilla (I still may have to add this to my menu soon!), her apricot chews, it's endless!

I finally settled on The Good Eatah's German Chocolate Brownies, a creation she entered into a Pamela's products recipe contest!

Why this didn't win first place, I'll never know!

This recipe is based on using a brownie mix (or your favorite brownie recipe) and then adding a german chocolate streudel topping!

Oh. My. Word.

Delicious! These brownies are so yummy! I actually used a mix from Gluten Free Pantry, which I had not tried before, but I'm glad I did. I made them low fat by using only 1/4 cup smart balance oil, and 1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt. Even with this change the brownies were amazingly rich and gooey!

I made half the German Chocolate topping with coconut and half without, since Michael doesn't like coconut. Crazy guy.

We both loved these awesome brownies! They are yummy, easy, and impressive! I'm definitely bringing these to our next family get together!

This month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger event is being hosted by Rachel at Wheat Free/ Meat Free. Make sure to stop by her site tomorrow to see this month's roundup!

Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger -- Lea is Gluten Free

This month for Sea's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Event, I adopted Lea, of Lea is Gluten Free.

I've always enjoyed reading Lea's blog! She has wonderful tidbits of her gluten free life, occasional gluten free product reviews, and excellent recipes! She's also a huge animal lover with her four furr-babies that I enjoy hearing about!


The Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Event gave me the opportunity to try one of Lea's recipes!




We had a short cold spell last week in the Carolinas and I decided to try Lea's Stuffed Cabbage Soup! I had been meaning to make this soup ever since Lea posted it! It was absolutely wonderful!! I only changed a few things to meet the ingredients I had on hand. Michael begged for potatoes in the stew instead of rice, and I had a container of leftover vegetables that needed to be used, so I threw them in as well. The soup was absolutely delicious!! We ate this fantastic soup for 3 meals and still had leftovers (it makes a TON of soup!)

The flavors of this soup are truly amazing. I loved the idea of adding smoked paprika, which really gives this dish a spicy sweetness. I also loved all of the vegetables in this soup! This is a delicious late winter/ early spring meal and I highly recommend it!

I also can't wait to try Lea's Raspberry Ice-Cream and her White Chocolate Cake.

Lea is a blogger you don't want to miss! You will love her recipes, product reviews, and her gluten free news and updates!

Thanks to Sea of Book of Yum for hosting and founding this wonderful event!

Mrs. G.F. -- Recipes for a Gluten Free Life (Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger)

When I first read Mrs. G.F.'s "Recipes for a Gluten Free Life" blog, I felt like I knew her. I felt like I could walk down my close-knit street of neighbors and find her swaying graciously on a front porch swing. A glass of lemonade would be in her hand, and a tray full of amaretti cookies would be on the table beside her.

Mrs. G.F.'s recipes are simply classic. Most are relatively easy to prepare, have a short list of ingredients, and are full of fresh taste and flavor. I have made MANY of Mrs. GF's recipes. Some of my absolute favorites are:

• Roast Beef with Mustard Paste and Onions (this is excellent for company and a great comfort meal! The aroma is simply heavenly when roasting!)
• Sesame Crusted Pork Tenderloin (OH yum!)
• Greek Village Salad (simple, delicious, and healthy!)
  
• Coconut Chicken Tenders with
• Spicy Marmalade Dipping Sauce
  
• Mini Cheese Cakes (oh baby!)
  
• Simple White Sauce with Shrimp, Scallops, and Broccoli (this goes great with our homemade Caesar Salad!)
• Apple Quinoa Muffins (these were one of the first gluten free items I ever made! They are delicious, and perfect if you cannot tolerate oats!

The new recipe that I made was Mrs. G.F.'s Amaretti Cookies! I had actually seen several blogs recently talk about these easy, naturally gluten free cookies and I really wanted to try them. They are absolutely delicious!! Of course DO NOT overcook them, as I did with my first batch and spent 30 minutes viciously attacking the bottoms of them with my microplane grater (boy I love that thing!) I added mini hershey's chocolate kisses to the tops of my amaretti cookies and they were quite yummy! We'll definitely be making these again!!




These cookies would be perfect for a last minute dessert, pot luck, or a children's class party! They were SO easy and so yummy, and I love Mrs. G.F.'s picture of them on her blog!


Here are some of Mrs. G.F.'s recipes that I have in my ever growing, "To make" list! I can't wait to try some of these!

• The Best Chicken Ever
• Mom Fitz's Oatmeal Scones
• Cornish Game Hens with Raspberry Shallot Sauce
• Greek Meat Loaf
• Kiss Me and Tell Me You Love Me Risotto
• Date Bars
• Black Moons by Jean

Okay, so really I just want to try ALL of her amazing recipes! Each recipe I have ever made in her collection has been amazing, simple, and delicious! You must give Mrs. G.F.'s recipes a try!

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This post is part of a new monthly blogging event hosted by Sea at Book of Yum. The event is called, "Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger." Check out her blog for more details and for the first monthly round up coming up soon!