Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A FEW HOT TAMALES!!

 Since we moved from
one of the meccas
of international cuisine - 
Southern California,
I have had to learn
to make many foods
than I enjoyed 
while living there.

One of my favorite
foods has always been Mexican
and there are a plethora
of Mexican restaurants in  
Southern California.
 Southwestern Virginia
has Taco Bell
and a a few
"American-Mexican" restuarants.
Truthfully,
they "don't make the grade".      
 I miss my Mexi-Cali food.

Tamales were always
one of our favorites and
when holidays rolled around,
I always called
Los Golondrinas.
Their green chili tamales,
chips and salsa
are second to none!!

Many traditional Mexican foods
are gluten free
if you use corn masa 
instead of flour.

Here's my try
at making tamales!!


 I decided that I was going
to make two flavors -
pork tamales and green chili.
I started out by cooking my pork
in the pressure cooker,
along with some salt,
pepper, crushed red pepper
and garlic, until it was fork tender.
Then I put my corn husk
in water to soak while
I roasted the Anaheim chilis.
I then mixed  
2 cups of tamale masa 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups of water

After that I peeled the chilis
and sliced the
pepper jack cheese.
I was ready for assembly.

I first started trying 
to put the masa
on the corn husk 
by using a rice spatula,
then I tried a wet regular spatula.
Neither of them worked -
the masa dough
stuck to them both.
I had to resort to 
using my hands
and they worked great.

It was a slow process
but I put the dough
on the corn husk,
then the filling
and rolled
like a burrito 
or sushi
and tied with a 
piece of corn husk.
     
             
 They didn't come out perfect,
but I did try to make
the pork ones long
and the pepper ones square
so you could tell them apart.

Then I steamed them 
for one hour.

While they were cooking,
I decided to try and update
my chili rellenos recipe
and make it as gluten free
as I could -
I did fair but I did still 
mix a smidgen of beer 
in the batter.
     
 They didn't turn out as pretty
as they normally do -
and I don't serve sauce over them -
we like to eat them 
when they are nice and crunchy!!

   
 Refried beans and tortilla chips
are another gluten free food -
just check the labels.

 
And of course it wouldn't be
Mexican food without a good
bowl of salsa.

Who says gluten free
has no flavor?

Just ask my hubby -
he was quite impressed
with his gluten free dinner.

Ole'

Blessings to all who visit here,
Lynn       

Sunday, October 14, 2012

IT'S NATIONAL PIZZA MONTH

 My good friends,
are real foodies!!
And they are always
the first to know 
any celebration that includes pizza!!
I think it must be one
of their favorite foods - 
I know it's one of mine.

When I found out that I needed
to cut out gluten from my diet,
one of my first thoughts
was "oh no, no more pizza".
Was I ever wrong!!

I took one of my favorite recipes
and have made it gluten free!
 Even my hubby likes it!
         
Lynn's Gluten Free Deep Dish Pizza

Crust
 1 cup gluten free baking mix (+/-)
1 cup rice flour (+/-)
1 package yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon basil 
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
 2 tablespoons olive oil  

Dissolve yeast in water with sugar.  Add  1/2 of the baking mix/flour and mix.  Add olive oil and spices.  Mix in more flour until you have a good stiff dough that doesn't stick to the side of the bowl.  Knead briefly until smooth, adding baking mix/flour as neededPlace in a bowl greased with olive oil, cover,  and let rise in a warm place.

Sauce
1 can tomato paste 
(I use Contadina organic)
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion flakes  

Mix all ingredients together and set to side.   

Toppings
1 pound ground beef or Italian sausage, 
browned and drained 
Optional - mushrooms, green pepper,
pepperoni, olives, onions
Mozzarella or Italian blend cheese
  
Brown ground beef (drain if needed) and add other pizza toppings that you wish to the mixture.  Turn off the heat and mix the sauce in with the  beef mixture.  

When the crust has risen, pat out into a greased deep dish pie plate.  Top with beef mixture and cheese.

Bake in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is brown.  Let rest about 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!

Blessings to all who visit here,
Lynn  
 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

SIRLOIN SOUP

has always been one
of my favorite blogs.
They have great recipes
and I usually have most
of the ingredients 
in my cupboard.

 
 About a week ago,
one of the post was for
I had all of the ingredients
except for the leek and 
the fresh parsley.
Yesterday,
while shopping,
I remembered to get the leek,
but forgot the fresh parsley.
I made the soup anyway.
 I needed it to be 
gluten free,
 so I substituted
 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch
for the flour.
Since I forgot the fresh parsley,
I substituted 
1 tablespoon of dried parsley
for the fresh.


The blog recommended
serving crusty bread with it,
which I think would be wondeful,
but it's not gluten free.
I had olive tortilla chips with it
and they were a fabulous
accompaniment to it.
 

It all went well,
with a nice glass of
my favorite riesling.

Blessings to all who visit here,
Lynn


Monday, October 1, 2012

THE SEARCH CONTINUES....

When I started 
my gluten free adventure,
one of the first books,
I downloaded
was the 
Gluten Free Food List.

On Saturday,
my sweet husband,
helped me search the aisles
of one of our local supermarkets
for gluten free foods.
 




I have since then found that
The Celiac Disease Foundation
has a list of grocery stores
that carry gluten free foods
and those stores have a list
of many familiar name brand foods
that are gluten free!!
 


There is a also a website called
that not only list 
gluten free foods,
but other foods that people
might have problems with
such as peanut allergies, etc.
 It might be worth 
your time to look at it.



On Saturday,
I made waffles
with Bob's Gluten Free Baking Mix
using my regular recipe - 
they were superb!!
Maybe better than the ones
I make with real flour.

Blessings to all who visit here,
Lynn