Chicken Nuggets

We had chicken nuggets tonight (instead of yesterday) for dinner. I followed this recipe here that I found on Gluten Free Frugal’s website.

The nuggets turned out really good. They do look a bit unusual, but the second you bite into them, you know you’ve found a keeper!

Weekly Menu

I'm following Carrie's lead and using some cream soups this week. I think we have some fun meals planned; we’re trying to get out of the rut of having the same boring meals over and over.

• Sunday dinner – Tater tot casserole (thanks to Carrie)
• Monday – Chicken nuggets (thanks to GFF)
• Tuesday – Pepperoni pasta, slightly amended (thanks to Org Junkie)
• Wednesday – Spaghetti
• Thursday – Chicken salad
• Friday – Breakfast for dinner
• Saturday lunch – Sandwiches
• Saturday dinner – Cheeseburger bake

I also have some of Carrie’s ice cream in my freezer right now, although I made it chocolate chip instead of cinnamon!

I’m going to be posting my brownie recipe sometime this week; it just depends on when I have time to make them, so check back often!

Check out Kimberly at Living Free for a great gluten free menu round up.

And, as usual, you can find anything and everything over at Org Junkie's menu round up.

Friday Evening

We just got back from a fun evening with friends. We had great food and a great time playing card games.

They made us steaks on the grill which were so YUM! We also had mashed potatoes with Velveeta, sour cream, garlic salt, and butter. I’m definitely going to have to try making those at home. I never would have thought to put Velveeta in mashed potatoes.

We played the card game Hand and Foot. Tim and Darci were on a team and they kind of killed Doug and I. Then we played Liverpool Rummy. It was our first time playing, and we truly enjoyed it. I especially did, since I won! It must have been beginner’s luck.

Now off to bed for me; it’s way past my bedtime!

Buffalo Beef

We had this last Monday (like last week’s Monday), and it was pretty good.

To make the sauce, I just mixed together some Herb Ox (gluten free) beef broth and some Frank’s Red Hot sauce (also gluten free). I thickened it with some water and rice flour.

I just love anything buffalo. I seem to crave the really vinegary sauces, like Frank's. I wonder if I have some deficiency in my diet that would cause me to crave vinegar? My friends all think it’s pretty weird, which it is.

Grocery Trip

Both Tim and I have been down for the count these past few days. My cold hit on Saturday and Tim's came to fruition on Monday.

Now this isn’t just a sniffly nose – sneezy thing. No; in addition to that, there’s the fever, the body aches, the sore throat, and a few other things just for fun. We’ve both been pretty miserable.

Which means... Chinese food delivered for dinner on Monday and leftover Chinese food for dinner on Tuesday.

I actually went to work today, so on my way home I stopped to pick up two movies from the Family Video ("Head Over Heels" and "28 Days"), and I also stopped by the grocery store and got this:


Yup, that’s ice cream, bananas, and a steak. It’s weird what you crave when you’re sick!

High Five

We're out-of-state today for a wedding, so I'm just going to give a quick "high five" to Frank's Red Hot sauce.

I love this sauce! It has a really great flavor, and a good zing to it, too.

Not only is the "high five" for making such a great sauce gluten free (and MSG free and kosher, by the way), but specifically for stating it's gluten free-ness on the questions page!

I love it when it's easy to confirm that something is gluten free.

Thanks Frank!

Baking Bread

Well, I promised my bread recipe, so here it is. I've adapted it a bit since I posted about it here.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
½ cup sorghum flour
½ cup dry milk powder
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tablespoon pectin
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon gelatin

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons gluten free apple cider vinegar
1 ½ cups and 2 tablespoons water

Yeast:
1 ½ teaspoons bread machine/quick rise yeast

Mix together all of the dry ingredients (excluding yeast).

Beat the eggs, and then add the olive oil and vinegar and beat again.

Pour the egg mixture into the bread machine pan.

Add the water to the pan.

Pour the dry ingredients on top of the wet. Make a little well in the dry ingredients and pour the yeast in it.

Set your Breadman TR875 to the gluten free setting, lock the pan in place, and hit start. I use a little spatula to scrape around the edges of the pan a couple times in the first few minutes.

After the kneading cycle (20 minutes) scoop the dough into a greased bread pan. I’ve found it quite important to shape the loaf in the bread pan.

Cover and set to rise in a warm place. After it’s about doubled in size, put it in the oven, preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes.

Check for doneness with a thermometer. It should read between 200 and 210 degrees in the middle of the loaf. A huge "THANK YOU" to Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl (AKA Gluten Free Baking Goddess) for tipping me off to this thermometer trick. It really helps to figure out when the bread is done. In fact, Carrie has a great post that you should check out that's all about baking bread.

Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

This makes great toast (I’m having some right now) and it makes a nice sandwich, too!

Like I've mentioned before, I measure out the dry ingredients for two loaves and keep one for the next time I need it!

Bread, Tonight

I really haven't fallen off of the face of the earth. We just have not been eating anything too exciting recently. We had tomato soup two nights in a row. We did have Buffalo Beef on Monday, so I'll put up something about that; it was pretty good!

The AWANA kids club started at my church last night, so that makes my Wednesdays pretty crazy. And tonight I'm working our church's booth at our local fair from 6-8. After that, I'll put up a post about my bread. My recipe and methods have evolved since I last posted about, so check back tonight or tomorrow!

The Ultimate Egg Sandwich

Tim had to go in to work yesterday evening, so he picked up a Dominos pizza to share with his coworker. He doesn’t get the chance to have “regular” pizza very often, so this was a treat for him.

So I was cooking dinner all for my little lonesome. We have a half a pound of stew beef in the fridge waiting to be made into buffalo beef, so I swiped a few pieces and made myself… The Ultimate Egg Sandwich!



I put in just a few pieces of the stew beef cut into strips, some cubed ham, Carl Buddig corned beef, onions, green peppers, and cheese. It was very yummy and quite filling. I think I overloaded on protein!

Oats and Honey Pancakes

I tried making Oats and Honey Pancakes for lunch today, and they turned out alright, actually. They are a little unusual, but they make a nice variation to regular pancakes. I used gluten free rolled oats, but I think gluten free steel cut oats might work a bit better.



Oats and Honey Pancakes

¾ cup brown rice flour
½ cup gluten free oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
½ cup milk

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Whisk together the eggs, honey, and oil. Then add the milk to the wet ingredients and whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.

Cook in a preheated pan, flipping once as you would a regular pancake. Feel free to sprinkle on some chocolate chips!

Do Not Try This at Home

I repeat, do not try this at home.




I attempted to make homemade gluten free croissants. Needless to say, they did not turn out good. I will attempt it again with a better rolling pin and a majorly tweaked recipe, so if it works out, I’ll let you know!

Beef Burgundy

½ lb. stew beef
½ onion, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup beef broth; I used Herb Ox Gluten Free bouillon cubes
1 cup red wine, technically Burgundy
1 extra bouillon cube, un-dissolved
½ cup water
¼ cup rice flour
4 oz. can of mushroom pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the beef and onions in the olive oil. Salt and pepper the beef. Put the beef, onions, beef broth, and wine in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Test the meat for doneness.

With a slotted spoon, take the beef and onions out of the crock pot and set aside. Pour the sauce into a sauce pan and heat to boiling. Toss in the extra gluten free bouillon cube.

Whisk the rice flour into the water and slowly pour it into the boiling sauce while whisking. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Add the mushrooms, beef and onions.

Serve over rice or rice pasta.


I don’t have a lot of wine on hand; we just don’t use it all that often. I will occasionally use it for cooking, like today; but I only have a bottle of fairly cheap merlot (like $6.00 at Target!). I used that for my “beef burgundy,” so it probably was technically “beef merlot.”

But whatever it was called, it was good! It's a keeper!

Tag - How Fun!

Thanks to Jennifer of The Dzioba Family for tagging me for this fun get-to-know-ya game. Here's how it works.


1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog


Fact #1
I played trumpet in fourth grade, and then switched to percussion in fifth because I wanted to play the timpani. I was horribly disappointed when I found out that you don't play timpani until at least middle school (at least in our homeschool band that's how it worked). I made it into an honors band in sixth grade where I got to finally play the timpani. And I found out that I hated it! Well, now I love timpani and all the rest of the percussion family.


Fact #2
I had one pet dog - Jed - and one pet rabbit - Michal - when I was growing up.


Fact #3
I have a Bachelor's of Music degree and work in human resources!


Fact #4
We just switched to flannel sheets on our bed and I can't wait to get all comfy in the warmth of the flannel.


Fact #5
One of my life goals is to see an albino deer.


Fact #6
I use aluminum free deodorant and fluoride free toothpaste.


Now, let me see... who should I tag?
Paul and Nicole at Catchlight Imaging (seriously cool photos!)
Carrie at Heart of a Servant
Sarah at In Light of the Truth
Kay at Gluten Free Kay
Tenille at Gluten Free Frugal
Sara at Shane's Girl Heart and Soul

Better Late than Never...

Here’s our menu for the week:

• Wednesday – Tomato soup and grilled cheese
• Thursday – Beef burgundy
• Friday and Saturday lunch – Camping with Sunday school group
• Saturday dinner – Buffalo beef
• Sunday lunch – Bean burritos
• Sunday dinner – Cobb salad
• Monday – Rice and lentils

Last week we didn’t have anything too exciting. Nothing was really blog-worthy. We did have quasi-lasagna. It was lasagna without ricotta cheese L, without meat, and with more cheddar than mozzarella. I filled it with onions and garlic and it turned out alright.

Ode to Autumn

On Tuesday morning it was 90 degrees out, and by 5:30 in the evening, it was 70 degrees. Today I think the high was probably around 62 degrees. What a rapid and drastic change! Autumn is definitely coming soon, if she’s not here already.

I’ve always loved Fall. I love wearing hooded sweatshirts and slippers. I love the changing of the leaves; not so much the raking of the leaves, but the colors are beautiful. I love cuddling with my hubby in bed under four blankets and slowly warming up.

I love making chili and other soups and stews. I love baking hearty muffins and making popcorn. I love anticipating Thanksgiving and Christmas and planning traditional holiday meals. I’m already thinking about what to make for Thanksgiving.

Fall is such a special time of year. I’m excited for it to come.

Apple Cobbler

I made Apple Cobbler for our Sunday school party on Labor Day, but unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of it. Here’s my recipe:

Apple Cobbler

6 medium apples, peeled and sliced
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Topping:
¾ cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
¾ cup gluten free rolled oats
½ tablespoon cinnamon

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Arrange the apple slices in the pan. Mix together the sugar, 1 T. cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, and pour evenly over the apples.

Mix together the topping ingredients until crumbly. Spread over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!


Thanks to Gluten Free Kay for the inspiration for the topping!

Cricket

There's a cricket outside my window that is literally so LOUD, that I feel like I'm going INSANE! So, instead of posting about Apple Cobbler, I'm going to shut my window and go to bed!

I'll share about my wonderful (if I may say so myself) Apple Cobbler experience tomorrow.

Weekly Menu

We have $27.57 left in our grocery budget until Saturday. This is doable for us, but it will be very tight since I need to buy rice flour and tapioca flour. Here’s what we have planned for meals this week:

Monday lunch – Hotdogs, corn on the cob, fruit
Monday dinner – Cookout at a gluten-conscious friend’s home
Tuesday – Salsa chicken
Wednesday – Split pea chowder
Thursday – Vegetarian taco salad
Friday – Rice and lentil hotdish
Saturday lunch – I’ll be at my state’s Celiac conference, so Tim can make something impromptu for himself; he’s a great cook!
Saturday dinner – Pizza

Check out some more great menus over at Org Junkie.

Also check out the gluten free menu swap at Gluten Free Goodness.

We’re going shopping today. Unfortunately I think that ALDI is closed. That’s where we get our cheapest groceries, so we’ll just leave our ADLI items for a quick trip on the way home from work tomorrow.


Did you know that Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894? I just read a little from Wikipedia about the origins of Labor Day, and even though it seems quite emotionally driven (“Oh the poor working people need a break”), as a working person myself, I’m not complaining about getting a day off. Actually, I’m having a great weekend of getting stuff done (obviously not blogging, though) and having fun, too!

A part of me wishes I had a three-day weekend every week!