Lighter than Air Pancakes WITH GLUTEN

THIS RECIPE HAS GLUTEN!!!
It's just the coolest pancake recipe I've ever run across. The batter comes out thicker than your average pancake batter, it's even ready made for waffles if you have a waffle iron. The pancakes are light and fluffy and thick. Yummmmmm!

Pancake Batter
3 c All Purpose Flour
2 Tbs + 1 tsp Baking Powder
1 t salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Vinegar (it causes a reaction with the baking powder and makes the batter bubbly)
3 c Milk
2 Eggs
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp Oil or Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla - optional
1/2 tsp Cinnamon - optional
1/2 tsp Nutmeg - optional
Spray oil

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl beat all the wet ingredients except the vinegar. Make a well in your dry stuff, add the wet in batches of 1/3 at a time, while stirring. When all the wet is mixed in and the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir.

On medium heat, get your griddle or pan ready. Grease between batches, not between flips. Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the batter and put it on the griddle, it will heap up in the middle. Use the edge of the measuring cup to spread the batter into a circle. Cook until the top looks dry around the edges, then flip and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Makes about 30 small to medium sized pancakes.

Gluten Free Salad Bread Bowls

Try this treat around a nice salad. Yeast and I have big problems working together. Everything I've ever tried to make with yeast has turned out horribly. Most of my breadlike recipes do not use yeast. Advanced options are listed at the bottom.

GF Bread Bowls
1 c Gluten Free Flour (I use a packaged multi purpose GF flour mix)
1/2 c GF Cornstarch
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
3/4 c Milk
1/4 c Oil
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
3 Medium sized Metal bowls (just standard 2 cup mixing bowls, nothing special or expensive)
Foil
Cookie Sheet
GF Spray Oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together, add wet ingredients, stir. Knead into a soft ball. Be gentle with it. Separate into 3 balls. Let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes. Line the Cookie Sheet with Foil, then spray oil the foil lightly. Invert your bowls onto the foil covered cookie sheet. Lightly spray some grease onto the outside of your metal bowls. Press dough ball to cover the outside of the bowl. Use your hand to make sure the bottom (now the top) of the bowl remains flat, and try to keep a little extra dough there as well. (That's where all the salad dressing will soak in later)

Bake 10 minutes, until the bread has become a nice golden brown. Let cool. Gently lift the bread off the metal bowls and invert. Tah-Dah! If the bread is overcooked it becomes a little more crumbly.

Advanced Options
Add 1/4 c cheese to the dough, mixing it with the dry ingredients.

Add 2 Tbs parmesan cheese to the dry ingredients and 1 tsp of milk to the wet.

Use a GF Buckwheat Flour Mix instead of a standard GF Flour Mix.

Making a Caesar Salad or a Greek Salad?
Add 2 Tbs chopped Sundried Tomatoes to the dry ingredients.
Add 1/2 tsp rosemary, basil and oregano to the dry ingredients.
Add 1 tsp Diced garlic to the wet ingredients.

Make a bowl for fruit salad or ice cream.
Add 1 Tbsp Honey to the wet ingredients
Add 1/2 c dried chopped fruits (cranberries, raisins, pineapple, apricots, dates...) to the dry ingredients
Add 2 tsp GF Flour mix to the dry ingredients

Quick and Dirty Lunches

When you're looking in the cupboard and don't see too much, or you're looking for something that doesn't really involve cooking. Here we go.

Rice cake & peanut butter, covered in chopped dried fruit instead of jelly. (I make a smiley face with dried apricots, figs and raisins)

Ants on a log - Peanut butter filled celery with raisins on it. (Use chopped dates, yum!)

Tuna salad made as-you-like-it wrapped like an egg roll in a lettuce leaf.
(Pretend you're making an envelope, cut a square as big as the leaf allows, toss tuna in the center, pull the bottom corner up, fold in the side corners, roll until you get to the top corner.) You can also use chopped ham or leftover chicken, any kind of meat salad thing will work. Once you get the right amount for your taste folded into the lettuce, these are wonderful.)

Hummus rolled in lettuce leaf (Use way less hummus than you would tuna salad)

Egg salad rolled in a lettuce leaf or stuffing a tomato.

Crustless Quiches

These are great. Make em, throw em in the fridge and nibble them cold for the next few days. I found this recipe when the Atkins Diet was popular and realized that they're GF and a very cheap and easy breakfast for the little dude.

Quiche
Note *if you stuff these quiches with lots of goodies, the recipe will make more than you expect and you may want to add another egg to keep it together.
5 Lg. Eggs
1/2 c GF grated cheese
1 c Your favorite breakfast meats. (Bacon and pork sausage should be precooked to remove the grease and to be sure they are all the way done when the quiche is)
1 c Your favorite breakfast veggies.
1/4 c GF Oat Bran
2 Tbsp Milk (cow milk, soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk. Whatever grooves you.)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Dash of Onion Powder - optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Precook any meats that need it. Chunk or crumble meat. Slice, dice or chop veggies. Lightly grease cupcake/muffin tin. Keep a second one available (ungreased) in case you've got more than one tin of batter. Get your gear all ready and together.

Beat eggs, milk and spices together. Toss in your tasty additions. Stir. Add oat bran and stir some more. Use more oat bran if you are adding lots of extra meat, cheese or veggies, this will be soaking up the extra grease and veggie water.

Using a small cup measure or scoop, stir-scoop from the bottom of the bowl and pour into cupcake pan, filling each hole 2/3rds full. Bake. Once the tops look dry but glossy, it's usually done. Eggs keep cooking after removed from heat, but that will only take you so far. I hate gooey egg stuff, so I tend to overcook these. No big deal, I like it that way. Don't freak out, the quiches will rise above the sides of the cupcake holes. Let them rest and they will drop easily out of the tins. Eat them warm or once cooled, toss them in ziploc bags and throw them in the fridge.

Advanced Option

If you want to get tricky, use some of the grease from the meat, mixed with water, salt and pepper and GF cornstarch to make a white gravy, and spoon it over the top.

Recipes to come....

Chinese Beef w/Broccoli
Chinese Chicken w/Rice Noodles and Vegetables
Pancakes That Don't Suck or Taste Like Dirt
Quick and Dirty Breakfasts
Quick and Dirty Lunches
Kitchen Sink Salad
MaJulie's Cornbread
Shepherd's Pie
Baked Sandwiches (kind of hot pockety)
Breadmaker Sandwich Bread
Breakfast Bread
Hummus
Crustless Mini Quiches
Fried Cabbage
Marinated Salad w/Crumbled Bacon

Be warned. Once you taste most of these recipes, they will ruin you for store-bought goods. I'm old school, I do stuff from scratch. The taste and texture is something that you can't just find on aisle 6. I also take as many short cuts as possible.

My Favorite Ingredients

This is a list of my all time favorite ingredients. Things that add super coolness to your recipes.

Diced Garlic - get the large bottle.
Onion Powder - even if you hate onions, it adds something special.
Adobo con Crillollo - spanish garlic salt w/pepper. Replaces salt or garlic salt in most applications.
Maseca - spanish corn flour. Used for tortillas and such.
Ken's Caesar Dressing - Great marinade. I'm pretty sure it's GF. If you know for certain it's not, please let me know.
Lemon Pepper - get the big shaker, it's so worth it.
Bullion - ham, tomato w/beef, beef, chicken, vegetable. If you can find it GF, get it. It can be exchanged for salt, but adds flavor too. I use it in rice to give it some oomph.
Cumin - is a flavor enhancer
Ground Oregano - flavor enhancer
Sesame Oil - kind of expensive, but when you're cooking chinese, it makes the whole house smell amazing.

GF Recipe - Sassy Cornbread Pie (not a dessert)

This is adapted from my grandmother's cornbread recipe and my need for gf "whole family" style meals.



As with all my recipes. GIGO. Gluten In, Gluten Out. If you put stuff in it that has gluten, your meal will contain gluten. Not my fault. Read your ingredients, know your manufacturers.

Meat Mix

1.5 lbs Ground beef
1/2 tsp Adobo Crillollo (spanish garlic salt w/pepper)
12 oz Bottle of Chunky Salsa
1/2 tsp Cumin (flavor enhancer)
1 tsp Diced Garlic
12 oz can Diced Tomatoes
1 egg
Green Tabasco Sauce - optional
8 or 16oz Shredded Cheese (Jack Blends, Mexican Blends. Whatever makes ya happy)
1 tsp Lime juice - optional



Brown and drain beef. Add tomatoes, garlic and salsa. (and lime juice and tabasco if you're up for it) Stir. Add cumin and adobo. Stir. Taste. Need anything? Add it now. When tasty, add egg and stir. Get the ingredients ready for part two. The meat can cool while you're working on the rest of the recipe.

Cornbread Mix

3/4 c GF Yellow Cornmeal
1/4 c Maseca (spanish corn flour)
1 Tbsp Vinegar 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 C Milk
1 Large Egg1 Tbsp Oil
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion - optional
1 Can of Corn - optional
cast iron skillet - not optional

Put oil into cast iron skillet, swirl around. Put skillet into oven. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heating the skillet and the oil is necessary.

Sift all dry ingredients together. When totally blended add onion or corn to this mix if you're gonna going for the options. Beat egg into 1 Cup of milk. Add to dry mix and stir. Slowly add the rest of the milk until your batter resembles a drippy-thin pancake batter. Not watery, more like a beaten egg, sticks to your spoon a bit. Add vinegar and stir again.

Pour cornbread mix into hot skillet. Yes, that is hot oil. Yes, you can get burned. Be careful, kids.

Stir gently to distribute oil through mix. Pour meat mix into center, leaving about 1/2 inch without meat around the edges. Use spoon to distribute evenly. Lift heavy, hot skillet and slide into oven. Bake for 25 minutes. When you remove from oven, sprinkle cheese over entire top of pie. Let this rest for about 15-20 minutes. Slice like a pie and enjoy.



Serves 8

GF Recipe - Pizza Dough and Sauce

I found this recipe online, but it needed a little tweaking.

Makes enough to feed a 6 year old almost 3 times.

I'm going to freeze the spare dough, cheese and sauce. Since we generally do Pizza on Fridays, it won't live for months in my freezer. I figure, the dough is enough for two meals and the sauce is enough for 4, the cheese is probably 4 as well. (It would be 2 for most others who don't constipate at the drop of a hat)

Cost analysis per meal at bottom of recipe.

PIZZA DOUGH
1 c Gluten Free Flour
1/2 c Cornstarch (that has not been processed in the same facility as wheat)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Adobo Con Crillolo (Spanish Garlic Salt w/Pepper)
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
3/4 c Milk
1/4 c Oil
Foil
Cookie Sheet

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add milk, stir. Add oil, knead. Will make a very soft dough. Let dough sit for 5 minutes to breathe. Put foil on cookie sheet to protect from accidental cross contamination. Flatten dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick. If you want to get tricky, get some mozzarella string cheese and quarter them lengthways, then roll them into the edges of the crust. Bake for 7 minutes. This will keep the dough relatively soft in the center. If you bake it too long it becomes a really hard cracker type disc thing.

SAUCE

8 oz can of organic tomato sauce

12 oz can of diced italian style tomatoes

1.5 tsp Diced garlic

Oregano

Basil

Adobo or Sea Salt

Italian Spices

Sugar

Mix diced tomatoes, garlic, sugar and sauce. Add spices as desired. Or not. Add adobo/salt or not. Spoon tomato mix onto dough, as far towards the edge as possible. Use as much as you feel you need. Sprinkle with cheese, veggies, fruit, meat... it's pizza. Pick your own toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges become pretty and golden.

COST ANALYSIS (guesstimated)

Dough

GF Flour - $6 per bag. Cost of 1 cup = 50 cents.

Cornstarch - $1.50 per box. Cost of 1/2 cup = 15 cents.

Baking Powder - 5 cents

Xanthan Gum - 35 cents

Milk - 50 cents

Oil - 20 cents

Spices - 20 cents

Total cost = $1.95

Divided by 2 for my kid is about $1.00 per serving

Sauce

Tomato sauce = 80 cents

Diced tomatoes = $1.25

Garlic - 15 cents

Spices - 20 cents

Total cost = $2.40

Divided by 4 for my kid is about $.60 per serving.

Pizza Toppings

Cheese - 8 oz = $1.25

Peperoni - $2.00

Total cost = $3.25

Both of these are comfortably cut into 1/3rds and rounded up to $1.20 per serving.

Bottom Line

Meal expenditure full total = $7.60

My per meal cost = $2.80