Grecian Pizza

I have been lacking in both time and inspiration with posting recipes lately. Of course I have been cooking as the folks at my house have this nasty habit of getting hungry every 4 or 5 hours (some every 1/2 hour). But, cooking with the intention of posting about it later is very different from must cooking. For one, I have to actually measure ingredients so I can write the recipe down! The there is remembering to take some pictures (if the recipe actually turned out!). Well, I got it together today and I am going to share one of the recipes on our summer menu: Grecian Pizza. It is gluten free, of course - but also dairy free. I think the crust could be made without eggs if you use the flax egg replacer.

This recipe makes one large baking sheet of pizza (mine is 12x17 with sides) which should serve 4-6 people, depending how hungry they are. ;)


Crust:

1 cup rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup water
1 egg
3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Add milk, eggs and oil - mix well to combine.
Grease baking sheet and spread batter evenly over the sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool while you slice topping ingredients.



Pizza Topping:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 8oz package fresh mushrooms, sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups fresh spinach, washed and torn
1 cup sliced black olives (my favorite are the smokey tasting sun dried olives)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 small tin pizza sauce (or make your own)
1 red pepper, sliced thin
1/4 large pineapple, sliced thin (can used canned, but fresh is SO good)
1 lb sliced ham or other gluten/dairy free meat
any other topping of choice - onions, green pepper, etc

In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until tender. Stir in the oregano to the mushrooms and scrape warm mushrooms over the torn spinach. Toss to mix.

Spread cooled crust with sauce and layer ham evenly over the sauce.


Next, evenly spread red pepper, olives and pineapple.


Top with spinach mixture - this will help hold the other ingredients together.


Place baking sheet in 375 degree oven and bake pizza for 30-45 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve. Enjoy!

Beanie Weinie Scallopini

Sorry - no picture. :(

This is the main dish that I took to our church potluck on Sunday. It is easy to put together and seems to be enjoyed by all.

1 lb GF hot dogs, smokies, or Mennonite sausage (I like mild Italian sausage)

5 medium potatoes, sliced thin

1 18 oz can, baked beans in tomato sauce (make sure they are GF)

1/2 cup medium salsa (or whatever heat you like)

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

-Cut sausage or hot dogs into bite sized pieces.

-Put all ingredients into a large casserole and stir well. Cover and bake at 370 degrees for 1 hour. I often use the slow-cooker for this recipe - cooking on high for 3 hours.

Crispy Fish Cakes

This was in my "New Recipes To Try" folder - and last night I finally tied it out.

I put it to the family vote after supper and 9/9 voted to add it to our monthly menu plan from now on.

:)

I served it with a Creamy Dill and Garlic Sauce.

To add some extra flavor, I substituted a can of tuna for a tin of herring in hot sauce. It added just a hint of heat which was very pleasant. A few drops of Tabasco would add the same effect, I think.

Crispy Fish Cakes

1 large onion - chopped fine

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup cold mashed potatoes

1 lb leftover fish - boned and flaked or 3 cans of tuna in water, drained

2 Tbsp gluten free fish sauce (Nam Pla)

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

salt and pepper

rice flour

seasoning salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

fine gluten free bread crumbs

oil and/or butter for frying

1. Heat the first amount of olive oil in a heavy pan. Add chopped onions and cook gently until clear.

2. Scrape the onions and oil into a bowl. Add the cold mashed potatoes, fish, fish sauce, egg, parsley and salt and pepper. Stir with a fork to mix ingredients. Chill to make it easier to handle.

3. Mix the rice flour with some seasoning salt. Shape the chilled fish mixture into 16 fish cakes. Coat first in the seasoned rice flour, then in the beaten egg and then in the gluten free bread crumbs. Place on cookie sheet until ready to fry. (I ran out of crumbs as I was doubling this recipe - I substituted the crumbs with a mix of rice flour and corn meal).

4. Heat oil and/or butter in a heavy pan and gently fry each fish cake until crispy and brown on both sides. Keep hot until served.

Oven method: This is what I used as I was making so many and it cuts back on the oil. Place the coated cakes on a lightly oiled cookie sheet (I used olive oil). Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Flip cakes and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until golden brown.

Creamy Dill and Garlic Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise (I use Hellman's) or 1/2 mayonnaise and 1/2 sour cream

2-4 dill pickles, chopped very fine

3 Tbsp juice from the dill pickles

1 tsp dried dill weed

1/4 tsp dried garlic powder - or 1 clove garlic, minced (or more to taste)

2 Tbsp dried parsley

Mix well and serve. Keeps in the fridge for at least 1 week. Good with fish or as a veggie dip.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is the epitome of comfort food! Pot pie is usually on the fall menu at our house... just the time of year when a dish like this is most appreciated. Maybe we have been out cutting fire wood or raking up leaves or digging the last of the potatoes... then we'll come in to hot pot pie, fresh salad and sourdough bread, it simply tastes wonderful!

There are some other reasons to serve pot pie: First, it is economical - we were not able to raise chickens this year so we are being stingy with our bought chicken. This recipe feeds our family on about 4 cups of chicken.

Secondly, it gives the cook a chance to be creative. In the top crust, I will sometimes carve a scene of a hen with chicks, sometimes a proud cock, sometimes just swirls and curls like in the picture. When I used this recipe for venison, I carved a buck jumping a fence. Maybe it's silly, but I find it fun. Pie dough is a rather interesting medium. :-)

CHICKEN POT PIE

3 large potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes

3 large carrots, diced into 1/2" chunks

1/3 cup butter or olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 stalks of celery, sliced

1/2 cup rice flour

3 tbsp chicken soup base (gluten free)

salt and pepper to taste

1 small clove of garlic, minced

4 1/2 cups hot water

1 cup frozen peas

4 cups diced, cooked chicken

1 Tbsp dried parsley

gluten free pie crust

METHOD:

-Put potatoes and carrots together in a pot. Add water and cook untill just tender. Drain and reserve to add later.

-Heat the butter or olive oil in a heavy sauce pan or fry pan. Add the onion and celery and cook until tender.

-Add the flour and stir into the vegetables so that it absorbs the extra fat and moisture. Add the soup base, salt and pepper and garlic to the pan and cook on low heat for 5 min.

-Turn up heat to med-high. Add the hot water (can use water from cooking potatoes and carrots) while stirring the vegetables. Bring to a boil and decrease heat to low and cook until thickened. -Add the cooked potatoes and carrots, along with the frozen peas, chicken and parsley. Heat until bubbly. Pour into casserole or baking dish.

-Top with pie crust, following direction is pie crust recipe. Cut slits for steam to escape - or carve a scene :-). Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until lightly browned and gravey is bubbling.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings... or Meatballs!

This recipe was on Tereza's cooking blog and it looked so good (she has a great picture up) that I had to try it tonight. I didn't have any chicken wings so I thought I would try it with meatballs instead. They were a hit with the family (especially the boys :). I served them with a Rainbow Pasta Salad (will post that recipe later), which isn't such a hit with the boys... but they do not really like salads of any kind, so their vote doesn't count :)

Tereza has been dairy free for a while (for herself only, her husband and nine kids eat "normal"). She has recently gone gluten free as well because of various health concerns. She is very creative and has a great attitude, but I think it gets hard to always have separate food prepared for herself. You will want to check out her blog and to get ideas from her journey.

I have copied the recipe just as she had it... I did include the sesame seeds and they were very nice. The only changes I made was to add about 2 Tbsp of vinegar and I used about half as much garlic powder. I also made them in an electric fry pan so not to overheat the house when it is hot.

SWEET AND SPICY CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients:

~ 1 bulk pack of chicken wings

~1 cup ketchup

~2tbsp honey

~1tbsp mustard (I used dried)

~1 tsp salt

~1 tsp pepper

~1tbsp garlic powder

~1/2 cup water

~sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

Arrange the chicken wings the wrong side down in a baking pan.

Mix together the above ingredients and pour on top of wings.

Cover with tin foil and bake in oven at 375F for about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Then remove the foil and broil for an additional -15 minutes or so (on low). Watch you don't burn the chicken at this point~ only "golden" them up a bit.

Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta salad or chow mien. When you place the ready wings on a platter (if that's what you do~I just dish them straight to the plates..plastic ones to boot...yes we're simlifyiers:) make sure you now place your chicken the right side up. It will be nicely covered with the sauce. Enjoy!

Batter For Deep Fried Chicken Strips

For this I either use cut up chicken breast or brown meat cut off the bone. The pieces must not be too thick. Rice flour burns faster than wheat and if the pieces are too thick, the coating will burn before the chicken cooks through.

Traditionally, this is what the kids ask for on their birthdays.

This coats about 3 lbs of chicken cubes or strips.

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp sesame seeds (optional, but very good)

1 1/2 tsp salt or seasoning salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce or bouillon

2 green onions, chopped fine (optional)

Oil for frying

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Whisk the eggs, oil & soy sauce.

3. Add the eggs to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Stir in onion.

4. Let sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour before using. This allows the flour to absorb moisture.

5. Heat oil to 375 degrees.

6. Dip several pieces of chicken in the batter at a time and stir to coat. Remove pieces with a fork and drop into hot oil (if the batter is too thick to work with, add a little bit of water). Fry about 10 pieces at a time, turning when they are brown. I usually cut open a few of the first pieces to make sure that there is no pink left and the juices are clear.

7. When I remove the cooked pieces, I put them on a baking sheet, lined with paper towel and keep them hot in a low oven.

We make a Pineapple Dipping Sauce for this chicken.

1. Puree one can of pineapple with juice in the blender.

2. Heat the puree in a sauce pan and add 2 Tbsp vinegar, sugar to taste (does not need much), and a bit of corn starch to thicken.

3. Cool and serve.