Nov 16, 2014 | Breakfast, Nut Free
One of the first things I learned to cook for myself back in the day was French Toast. I learned that recipe from my Nanny. And that started a lifelong love of cooking but not of breakfast. That I can thank my mother for – she always loved breakfast. But her usual dish didn’t vary too much from toast, over easy eggs, grits and bacon.
Well as a person with Celiac’s, both the toast and the French Toast have become infinitely harder to manage, not impossible, but harder. One of these days I’ll throw on my Citrus French Toast recipe with a Bailey’s Anglais. And at this point, I can see I’m about to veer way off course. So I’ll just stop my digressing with – I love breakfast!
So this recipe is fun and easy to do. It’s called a Pig Sty because it’s got bacon and it’s messy to make and eat. But it’s so fun and good!
Pig Sty
1 very large red onion
7-8 strips of thick bacon
5 cups (1 kg) shredded hash browns
7-8 eggs (better if they are smaller)
Cayenne – to taste
Seasoning Salt – to taste
Pepper Jack Cheese
- Preheat your oven to about 425 F. While that is working spray down a lipped pan with cooking spray.
- Cut the onions so that you have about 7-8 really large rings about 3/4 inch tall. Place a piece of bacon on the inside of the ring creating a circle.
- Mix your hash browns with one egg and seasoning salt so that it just coats the browns. Fill the bacon-onion rings with hash browns and cook for about 25 minutes – the biggest priority is to ensure that the bacon is cooked.
- Making an indention in the centre of the hash browns, crack one egg into each ring and then cook the whole thing for another seven minutes.
- Top with shredded Pepper Jack and Cayenne, cooking until the cheese is melted (two minutes give or take).
- Serve with some gluten free toast with cream cheese and pepper jelly (this recipe will be coming soon as well!)
Nov 3, 2014 | Dairy Free, Entrees
A long time ago, in a galaxy (or in this case) a country not too far away, I worked in a supermarket deli. That job helped me learn a lot about a number of different foods and the preparation of said foods. At the same time, it helped me flesh out what I liked and what I despise. To this day, I try not to eat ham unless there is no choice.
Bacon, on the other hand, can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. But I’m getting sidetracked.
I worked through most of the sections of that deli including the wok station where I first learned how to do fried rice. Obviously this will not be the recipe they used for a few reasons such as it’s GF, it’s spicy and it’s a non-traditional fried rice. And speaking of the other white meat, it has pork as its meat and like my quesadillas, it’s a full meal deal!
FMD Pork Fried Rice
2 cups (480 g) enriched long-grain white rice, cooked
4 eggs
Olive Oil
1 bunch diced green onions
1 lb. (480 g) pork
1/2 cup (115 g) GF peanuts
2 cups (500 g) frozen broccoli
1 cup chopped carrots
Cilantro
Oregano
Minced Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 cup (125 ml) GF Soy Sauce
1/2 cup (125 ml) Apple Juice
1/4 cup (60 ml) Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp (15 g) Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp (5 g) cilantro
1 tsp (5 g) oregano
- Wash your rice in water to get all the excess starch off. Then you can cook it as a plain white rice or cook it with a bit of chicken bouillon.
- Cut up your pork into small bite-size pieces and cook in a wok with garlic, cilantro, oregano and flakes until done. You can make it as spicy as you want – though I would caution against putting too much since you will add cilantro and oregano to make your sauce.
- Add the carrots, green onions and broccoli with a little bit of the sauce. When the vegetables are bright and cooked through, turn the wok down to low.
- Scramble the eggs in olive oil in a small non-stick pan. While the eggs are cooking you can mix the soy sauce, apple juice, balsamic vinegar and spice to create your sauce. Put the eggs and rice into the wok before adding the sauce and returning to heat. Once the rice has taken the soy colour and been warmed up, serve it immediately.
For an alternative, replace the pork and apple sauce with chicken and orange juice.
Oct 26, 2014 | Egg Free, Entrees, Nut Free
I’ve found that sandwiches are not necessarily an easy feat to achieve with Celiac’s. Most people would say that’s a no-brainer since most bread has gluten. Yet, there are a ton of options for gluten-free bread, some are better than others. Unfortunately most of the good ones that are light in texture are super-small for a sandwich or vice-verse, large but dense.
So I’ve taken to making wraps. And with Celiac’s and NAFLD (look it up), I’ve got to try to cut back on the fat intake. As you might have guessed, most of the time, it’s a battle just to deal with the gluten free, throw in the fat free or light and you might as well throw away the taste. However, if you use cheese and other fatty ingredients sparingly you can lower the fat intake.
At the same time, I needed to add more fish into my diet. Major issue – I hate most seafood, which is why you will see few fishy recipes on this blog. Now that we’ve got that out of the way; here’s the one thing I will eat with tuna. It’s a simple tuna salad recipe for a sandwich/wrap with a few twists.
Cajun Tuna Wrap
2 small cans (240 g) tuna
1/2 red onions diced fine
1/4 cup (60 ml) mayo or salad dressing
1-2 tbsp (30-60 g) Cajun Seasoning
GF tortillas
shredded cheese
lettuce
tomato
flavoured cream cheese spread
- Mix the drained tuna, onions, mayo and seasoning.
- Make a layer of cream cheese as you base on the tortilla. The layer on a good portion of the tuna salad, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!
Oct 17, 2014 | Baking, Entrees, Nut Free
This pizza’s toppings were chicken, red onions, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil and cumin.
This pizza recipe has to be one of the easiest that I’ve come across. Then again, I tend to make them more complicated once I start working with them. That said this recipe is still remarkably simple.
The best thing about this crust recipe is that it’s the closest I’ve come to gluten-filled pizza dough. While I appreciate the artistry of my other pizza dough recipe, this may very well become my go-to recipe. Inspired by Brazilian Cheese Bread, it’s got the texture of a biscuit and a flavour similar to the biscuits available at a certain chain seafood restaurant.
Brazilian Pizza Crust
1 cup (240 g) GF flour (preferably one with Xantham Gum)
This is one recipe – after blending.
1/4 cup (60 g) Parmesan Cheese
2 cups (450 g) shredded Pepper Jack
1 teaspoon (5 g) baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60 g) melted butter
- Blend all of the ingredients together in a stand mixer while your oven and pizza stone preheats to 450 degrees.
- Flatten your dough out into a round shape. You can do this by hand until you get about a six to eight inch round, then I would switch to the roller and aim for about 12 inches across at about a half inch thick.
-
One flip at about six minutes – this should be what it looks like.
Cook it on one side for about six minutes and then flip it over, add your toppings and cook for about another four minutes. Note – if you are NOT using convection then you should cook it eight minutes on the first side and then about 5-6 minutes on the other side with the toppings.
Oct 10, 2014 | Desserts, Egg Free, Nut Free
So as you might have guess from an earlier post, I currently live north of the border (American 
border into The Great White North). And that leads to not having one, but two of my favourite holidays – Thanksgiving! Or as I call it Turkey Day. For some reason, I almost never do turkey any other time of the year even though it’s one of two meals I look forward to in the fall.
Since I was diagnosed with Celiac’s there were a lot of things I had to give up. But I was determined that Turkey Day would not be one of them. Thus the Cajun Rice Stuffing and this recipe for a pumpkin trifle – again, not sure why I never do it any other time of the year. Maybe it’s ingrained that I would be cheating on Turkey Day? But I digress …
This was one of those things that I was determined that I would be able to have. My wife found a recipe and I altered it to fit into my GF lifestyle. And it rocks – thanks to those all important GF graham crackers! The good thing about this recipe is that it can be made either in one large batch or as individual servings.
GF Pumpkin Pie Trifle
16 oz, (440 g) GF Graham Crackers (such as S’moreables by Kinnikinnick Foods)
1/2 cup (125 g) butter
16 oz (500 g) cream cheese
2 cups (500 ml) pure pumpkin
1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla
1 cup (240 g) sugar
2 tbsp (30 g) pumpkin pie spice
2 tubs (30 oz) Cool Whip
- Crush your graham crackers before combining with the melted butter. I found that if you leave it with smaller chunks instead of just dust, that the desert actually has a nice texture. Layer the bottom of a cup with about 2 tbsp (or the trifle bowl with about half your base).
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add all of the ingredients except your base and the Cool Whip. Once the ingredients are smooth add in about two/thirds of one tub of Cool Whip and beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Layer about 2 tbsp of the pumpkin mix and 2 tbsp of Cool Whip followed by another coat of the base and repeat with the pumpkin and Cool Whip. If you’re doing the trifle bowl, use about half of the pumpkin on the bottom and the other half on the top. You could be more ambitious and do multiple layers, but that’s up to you and how thin you want those layers.
- If you have enough crumbs left or you want to save some to put on the top, the effect is nice.
- Chill and serve. You can make this ahead of time, it will be good for even a few days before serving.
