Not feelin' like it...

Here are some pics.. I have been really sick for quite a while but now I am starting to feel better and getting my energy and motivation back. I wont be doing recipes tonight, it's time for bed... but I will post pics of a few different meals.




Chef Salad with homeade GF croutons

I will say that in my grocery shopping endeavour today, I finally found a hotdog / polish sausage / smoked sausage brand that is definitely GF! John Morrell brand at Kroger says NO ALLERGENS NO WHEAT and NO *other things* too. Can't remember them all.

Thyme Roasted Chicken and potatoes

Fresh Pineapple is GF and delicious. AND on sale at Kroger for 2 for 5 bucks :) Dont be afraid of them, they are AWESOME.

Udi's Muffins and GF BLT Pizza

I have been busy and have let my Gluten addiction get to me. I crave breads and crackers and real tasting thick crust pizzas and sandwiches on bread.... So, back on the wagon! I have been eating my usual string cheese, dried fruit, nuts, cinnamon chex, etc (not all at a time) for breakfast. My Amys meals at lunch or whatever Gluten Cootied crap I have picked up somewhere, supper has just felt so difficult lately. Prepping and cooking and cleaning. bahhhh. I really have to be in the mood! Today I made myself just do it anyways. I will talk about my Thyme Roasted Chicken and New Potatoes in the next blog. First I need to catch up on pics and stuff.


These ROCK! I have to hide them from Ben or he cries because I wont let him have one. Seriously, these are 6.99 for 4 muffins and they are so chocolate~y. Krogers has them and Country Nutrition has them. They are available in Lemon Poppyseed and Blueberry, also.

Udi's crust
Olive oil drizzled, Parmesan sprinkled, plenty of fresh parsley
Add mozzarella, then already cooked bacon and bake until golden brown
wish i had tomatoes! cut into 4ths and added romaine lettuce that was tossed in mayo (should use ranch) and covered in coarse fresh pepper. I would cook the tomatoes under the cheese for moisture next time.. in addition to fresh diced tomatoes on top. will have this again but it needs a bit of tweeking.

Keeping It Simple

Today was a busy day that began with me oversleeping and missing my morning route at work. For breakfast I had Glutino Cheese flavored crackers and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. For lunch I took an Amy's Veggie Lasagna to work and a piece of string cheese. For supper I had cereal because I still didn't feel like cooking. LOL Some days just go like that. I need to go shopping tomorrow. WOOOWEEE!!!

After Pics of Aromatic Pork Roast

You wish you had some, huh? I will be eating this for supper again tonight :)

Pork Roast..

I am writing this while my Aromatic Pork Roast is cooking. That is how excited I am about this recipe. I got it partly from a cookbook but changed it alot. You know by now how I am about following directions... I mean recipes! Here is the before picture and if I am not in a pork roast coma I will post the after.

Olive oil, salt, pepper and pork tenderloin from Kroger. (plain and unseasoned)
Use kitchen scissors to cut up fresh Rosemary leaves and sprinkle. The recipe calls for 2 TBL dried rosemary so that means 4-5 TBL fresh.

You have no idea how great my house smells with all of the aromatic veggies and herbs warming in the oven. Fennel, Onion, and baby carrots with olive oil drizzled and salted and peppered. You need a good salting to the veggies.

I am cooking Jasmine rice (aromatic itself... like jasmine flowers) and going to make a gravy from the drippings in the Pork tenderloin pan. WOOOOO....

Lazy Days Can Still Be GF!

I had a bad day. Just emotional and crappy. No particular reason. So I wanted to go to the drive thru. BADLY. I didn't wanna cook. Thank goodness I had gone to the grocery store and have been making a concerted effort to keep yummy, quick, GF food in the house. Here is what I ended up with. Much better than disgusting sodium, fat, greasy, someone else's poopy hands holding, gross fast food. :)

The orange stuff is Hummus. Google it and then go buy some. It is great with veggies or crackers or pretzels. Ben likes it if I tell him it is cheese...lol It doesn't taste like cheese.

Wanted to show a pic of the Hummus lid.


Oh, and lunch was an Amy's GF microwavable meal. Breakfast was Kroger Private Selection Deli Lower Sodium Turkey and a Yoplait Yogurt. Yes, both are GLUTEN FREE!

Corndog Breading Revealed

I want to first point out that I got this recipe from page 26 of this book...




The book offers a corn based recipe or a rice based recipe. I chose the one that I thought that I would like. Corn based. (CORN dogs, DUHHHH!)

INGREDIENTS

1 pound hotdogs
peanut or canola oil (for frying)

Batter

3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 TBL sugar
1/2 tsp Xantham Gum (I used Bobs Red Mill from Kroger... 11.99)
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup milk

Sidenote.. batter is very thin at first. Refrigerate it for an hour or so if you would like it to be thicker.

INSTRUCTIONS

*heat the oil, in a sauce pan or dedicated deep fryer. 370 degrees.

(i didnt take the temp, just put a tiny bit of batter into the oil and it is ready when there is a good bubbling going on but not fierce bubbling.)

*Place a popsicle stick lengthwise into each hotdog. Pat the hotdogs dry to remove excess moisture from their surface. Set aside.

(drying is important for the batter to coat correctly AND so that no water gets into the oil which can cause severe oil popping and spatter.. aka it will hurt you. badly. Also, I only had 2 popsicle sticks so I dipped the mini on the stick until batter looked formed and not runny at all then used a butter knife to slide mini off. Used a slotted spoon to recover minis from oil when they achieved the desired coloring)

*Mix together the ingredients for the batter in a medium bowl.

*One by one, coat the hotdogs with the batter. A rolling motion works well. Place in the hot oil and fry until golden, 3-4 minutes.

*Serve hot.




I used the leftover of this batter to coat the cheese sticks, although there is a recipe in the book for cheesestick batter on page 38. There was such little difference that I just added the spices it called for and Red Lobster Cheesesticks was where I got the idea for rolling them in parmesan. YUM.

*Spices I added to batter for cheese stick batter. A bunch of ground black pepper and cajun seasoning. To the parmesan I added a bit of seasoning salt. String cheese is the type of cheese I used. Any cheese sold in 'stick' form should work.

Try it, You WILL love it :)