Shrimp Pasta with Asiago Cheese

I'm not a fan of shrimp but my brother is! This is a meal he loves.

Ingredients:

GF Pasta
1 stick butter
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup minced onion
1 Tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon GF Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine or GF chicken broth
1 lb shrimp (I buy cooked, peeled and devained)

Topping:

1/2 cup asiago cheese
1 large avocado (peeled, pitted and sliced)

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil and cook pasta.
2. In a separate pan simmer butter, minced garlic, minced onion, parsley, salt, pepper, GF Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and white wine or chicken broth.
3. Add cooked shrimp and simmer.
4. Serve on top of pasta topped with asiago cheese and avocado.

1000 Gluten-Free Recipes

One thing I got for Christmas was the cookbook 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes by Carol Fenster. So far the only recipe I've tried is the yellow cake, twice! It didn't turn out either time. I was using an extra large cake pan so this could have contributed to the demise of both cakes but I still think they should have worked....

One great thing about the cookbook is that Carol uses a single gluten-free flour mixture for the entire book. This way you don't need to be mixing and buying different flours. She uses a combination of sorghum flour, potato starch and tapioca flour.

For the first cake I baked I didn't have the sorghum flour so I used white rice flour instead. The second time around I used the sorghum flour and I have to say, the first cake tasted much more moist and delicious while the second cake tasted and had the texture of sponge cake. I'll have to test these out again sometime, but I think I prefer using white rice flour in my flour mixtures :-)

Bravo

I wrote about Bravo last Christmas when I was in Michigan. They are an Italian Restaurant located in Rochester Hills, Michigan. They are also really great with gluten-free requests. I was able to bring my own pasta and they boiled all new water in a different pot and made me some delicious gluten-free pasta woozie. Bravo has locations all over (none in the DC area though) you can check out their locations [HERE]

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried these cookies out tonight and they are truly delicious! Nobody could tell they were gluten free :-)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups GF flour mix
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons GF vanilla
1 package or 2 cups GF semi sweet chocolate chips

*Gluten-Free Flour Mix:
2 cups white rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
(sift well)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl.

2. Combine butter, brown sugar and sugar in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Continue beating until well mixed.

3. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir chips in.

4. Spoon the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Do not over bake!

Christmas Sweets

My friend Michelle and I made some really yummy Christmas cookies and mini cupcakes last night. We were up until 2:30 am! But it was lots of fun.

I used Namaste cake mix for the cupcakes and made the sugar cookies from scratch.

P.S. Check out Reston Mom's blog for a Holiday cookie recipe exchange!

Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons GF vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups GF flour mix

*Gluten-Free Flour Mix:
1 cup white rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
(sift well)

Directions:

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until fluffy; add sugar and cream well.
2. Add egg, salt, vanilla, and almond extract; mix well.
3. Add flour and mix until incorporated.
4. Chill dough (It works great if you chill the dough over night, but I've also popped it into the freezer for an hour or so and it's good to go)
5. Roll batter out and make fun shapes or scoop small spoon sized balls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 375 degrees. These bake quickly, take them out right before they are starting to brown!

Wendy's

I often miss the convienence of fast food, especially because I'm always on the go but luckily Wendy's offers some great gluten-free options. Some of my favorite gluten-free options they offer are the chili, baked potato, grilled chicken (plain with no bun) and a frosty (with m&ms!)

For a complete list of Wendy's gluten-free items click [HERE] Follow the link and click on the "Menu items without gluten" pdf.

La Sandia

I met my sister at La Sandia located at Tysons Corner today. It's a modern Mexican restaurant and my sister had told me they had a gluten-free menu so I was excited to try it out. If you check out their menu online they place a (G) next to all gluten-free items.

Unfortunately the menu at the restaurant did not specify which items were gluten-free. We asked the waiter and he said they just re-printed new menu's and they must have forgotten to add G's...ha!

The waiter didn't seem to know what was gluten-free either. He told me the corn chips were not gluten free bc they were made of corn flour. I assured him corn flour was gluten-free so he told me they were not gluten-free because they were friend in soy oil...which is in fact gluten-free! I think he was a bit confused.

Oh well, I figured out that I could eat the chicken enchillada's and some queso and chips. It was ok. I probably won't go there again :-)

But if you're interested...the address is:

7852 Tysons Corner Center, Mclean, VA

Potato Soup

Mmmm, I love soup in the winter time! This is a really really yummy potato soup recipe and it's super duper easy! You'll have to forgive me, this photo was taken with my phone...not great quality :-) Looks way more delish in person!

Ingredients:

1 bag Gold Potatoes
2 sticks butter
4 cups milk
4 cups half and half
1 1/3 cups Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix
1 large onion diced (or 2 tablespoons minced onion)
carrots sliced - if desired
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic salt to taste
Shredded cheese

Directions:

For the Potatoes:

1. Peel about 8 medium sized potatoes or 16 baby potatoes.
2. Cut each potato in half and add to a large, deep pot. Add enough water to cover.
3. Add 2 tablespoons minced onion or diced onion.
4. Bring to a boil (about 45 minutes) then turn heat to low.

In a large sauce pan:

1. Melt 2 sticks of butter, then remove pan from heat.
2. Add 1 1/3 cups Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix.
3. Slowly add 8 cups milk (or 4 cups milk, 4 cups half and half), whisk together well.
4. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens.
5. Add this mixture to the pot of potatoes (do not drain potatoes!!)
6. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes to desired consistency. (I like mine thick and lumpy) Remove from heat.
7. Add salt, garlic salt and pepper to taste! Top with cheese! Enjoy!!

Chili

I made some delicious chili for dinner tonight :-)

I am a naturally picky person on top of being gluten free so my chili was sans beans and diced tomatoes...but you could easily add both those ingredients to the recipe and it would taste, I'm sure...even more delish! I also topped it with Glutino crackers, my fav :-)

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
1 can V8 vegetable juice
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef
2. Add tomato sauce and V8 juice
3. Add 2 tablespoons chili powder and 1/4 cup sugar
4. Simmer and top with crackers and cheese