Quick Mexi Rice

This simple rice is a great side for almost any Tex-Mex dish.

1.5 cups rice
2 tbsp (30 ml) chicken bouillon
1 tbsp (15 g) cilantro
1 tbsp (15 g) red pepper flakes
1 cup (225 g) frozen corn

Combine the ingredients and cook the rice how you would normally.

Italian Baked Potato Chips

ItalianChips-closeAs someone with Celiac Disease, you know that it’s extremely hard to find suitable sides that are quick, easy and don’t cost an arm and a leg. Sure, you can do rice or a baked potato for your starch and there are a ton of veggies.

But I have to admit I really am a meat and potatoes kind of guy, when I’m not scarfin’ on nachos! So it really cooks my corn when a restaurant can’t have a dedicated fryer for their fries when they have GF buns for their burgers. Seriously!? And I digress …

I recently came across a different way to cook a baked tater that’s a bit more labour intensive but just as addictive as the chips out of a bag. And they go great for a new breakfast bake that I will be featuring next week, which showcases how GF does not mean Taste Free!

Italian Baked Potato Chips

3-4 medium russets
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Oregano
chili pepper flakesItalianChips-Prebake

  1. As your oven preheats to 475 degrees, wash your bakers. Then slice them into chips at about 1/4-1/8 inch thick. You could use a mandolin if you could get the D!*#$%( thing to work!
  2. Lay them out on a foiled cookie sheet 1 layer deep and brush olive oil all over the top sides.
  3. Sprinkle on your Parmesan, Oregano and chili pepper flakes. I didn’t put measurements because it’s completely up to you as to how much zing you want in your chips.
  4. Bake for about 10 minutes on each side. If you’re doing convection, I found 7.5 minutes top side and about 10 on the bottom. That really depends on how thick you cut your chips.
  5. Serve hot!

Garlic-Parm Asparagus

AsparagusA few years before Celiac Diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. It was because of that diagnosis that I was further diagnosed with Celiac’s. Now I have to watch not only my lack of gluten consumption, but also my fat intake.

So I started at that time looking for recipes that were flavourful and low fat. I found a recipe for baked asparagus and then altered it a bit. OK, so I added a bit of fat back in with the Parmesan cheese but it was so much better than the lemon. Here you go – remember Gluten Free is not Taste Free!

Garlic-Parm Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

  1. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil while your oven preheats to 350 degrees.
  2. Wash your asparagus. After washing bend each stalk until it breaks, then throw out the stalk end keeping the bushy end. These are the pieces you want, below the break would be bitter.
  3. Place your asparagus on the sheet in rows.
  4. Mix all of your other ingredients together and then brush the paste over the stalks.
  5. Cook for about 10 minutes turning at the five minute mark. If you’re not using convection cook for about 12 minutes.

 

Foiled Again Potatoes

A little Pepper Jack and you're on your way!

A little Pepper Jack and you’re on your way!

 

Over the years, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with grills in general. I’ve never had a real good one and have only had real good success with gas grills since you can very easily regulate the heat. So when I saw a recipe recently for foil pouch potatoes I was intrigued. But what intrigued me is that you can cook them typically in either the oven or the grill – who knew?!

Yep, you can crawl through the web and find tons and tons of foil potato pouches to be done and obviously those tons of people knew! So what makes this one different you say?

Well for starter’s it’s GF of course! And secondly it’s got that Spicy flavour explosion thing goin! So let’s not dally – here’s my version!

Foiled Again Potatoes

4-6 medium potatoes
1 red onion
1/2 cup (120 g) pre-cooked bacon bits
2 tbsp (30g) Lowry’s Seasoning Salt
2 tbsp (30 g) minced garlic
1-2 tbsp (15-30 g) red pepper flakes
1 tbsp (15 g) oregano

  1. Slice your potatoes into discs about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and then julienne your red onions.FoiledPotatoes-Preoven
  2. Create a pouch out of aluminum foil or cheat and use a aluminum foil roasting pan that you cover with foil.
  3. Cube your butter or scoop it into the foil in various places. Add all of your spices and bacon in – also spread out.
  4. Close your pouch or cover your pan. Your oven or grill should have been pre-heating by now to 375 degrees.
  5. Grilled or baked it should be around 45 minutes. But be cautious and check it at about 30 just in case!
  6. Once they are done cooking serve with some shredded Pepper Jack cheese and some diced green onions as well.

Cajun Rice Stuffing

Up here north of the border, Thanksgiving is around the corner. And that is a fine reason for me to celebrate as Thanksgiving was my favourite (eating) holiday in the States. It became an even bigger celebration for me after I got married and was able to start eating, I mean, celebrating twice in one year!

One of the best things about Thanksgiving dinner was the dressing. I started using my mother’s recipe for dressing when I first started doing the turkey – unfortunately, I can’t make biscuits. So I started using my mother-in-law’s recipe with bread. Then I got diagnosed with Celiac’s and I realized that I would have to figure something else out.

Fortunately that meant that I was able to do it hot and spicy since I would be the only one eating it. So I went with Cajun and rice – and lots of other fun stuff thrown in. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have …

Cajun Rice StuffingCajunRiceStuffing

cup (480 g) long grain white rice
1 medium red
onion
2 stalks
celery
2 tbsp
(28 g) minced garlic
2 tbsp
(28 g) butter
1 tbsp (15 g) poultry seasoning
1 tbsp (15 g) sage
2 tbsp (28 g) Cajun Seasoning
1 Granny Smith apple
1/2 cup (120 g) bacon pieces

1/4 cup (60 ml) dry sherry

  1. Cook your rice while you saute the diced onion and apple with everything but the sherry.
  2. Once the onions are translucent add the sherry and cook for a few minutes to let it thicken.
  3. Add the rice, stirring thoroughly. Stuff the bird and go!

Mac ‘n’ Cheese

MacCheese

This version used marble cheddar and no jalapenos. Hate it when you forget ingredients and they’re fresh in your garden!

Obviously one of the toughest classic dishes to make GF – besides bread – would be macaroni and cheese. It’s hugely popular across the top two thirds of North America and has an almost undeniable champion brand – Kraft Dinner or KD as it’s called in the Great White North.

Of course, there are GF varieties that you can purchase – at about four times the price. But either way you go, GF or otherwise, nothing really beats homemade with a thick cheese sauce. My version has lots of additions to add complexity to the flavour.

Mac ‘n’ Cheese

4 cups (900 g) GF macaroni noodles
5 cups (1.15 kg) shredded marble cheddar or Pepper Jack, or a combination thereof
1 red onion
1/4 cup (60 g) bacon pieces
2 tbsp (30 g) minced garlic
1 tbsp (15 g) pepper flakes or two-three diced jalapenos
1 tbsp (15 g) cilantro
1/4 cup (60 g) butter
1/4 cup (60 g) GF flour
4 cups (1 l) milk
GF breadcrumbs

  1. Boil you noodles until done.
  2. While the noodles are boiling, saute your diced onions with the butter, garlic, pepper flakes, cilantro and bacon.
  3. When the onions are translucent, add the flour straight to the mixture creating a roux. Cook the roux for a couple minutes until slightly browned.
  4. Preheat your oven to about 350 degrees
  5. Add in the milk cold, whisk together and then let cook over a medium heat so that the sauce will thicken. Once it thickens to the desired consistency – within about 10-15 minutes – add in your self-shredded cheese.
  6. Once the cheese has melted, pour the mixture over the noodles in a casserole dish and stir. Then evenly distribute some breadcrumbs over the top – just enough to coat it. Put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  7. Let it stand for a few minutes and then put your fresh chopped green onions or scallions on top and serve!