My favorite summer meal..

The joke going around DC this week is "the devil called and wants his weather back" so I figured it's time to update this blog with my favorite summer meal.

I think this began as a leftovers meal but I now do all the prep either the night before (when I'm already heating up the kitchen), use leftovers and/or do the prep early in the morning before it gets too hot.

Raw vegetables:
Good lettuce
Bell Pepper
Cucumber
Carrots
(etc red onion, grape tomato, zucchini, bean sprouts)


Cold vegetables:
Potato's
Broccoli
Corn (I prefer to do it on the cob and slice off pieces)
(etc...we've also used green beans, pea's, black beans,etc)

Proteins:
Chicken
Egg Whites (boiled)
(etc. tofu, bacon bits) 

This can be plated nicely on a platter or plate by color and presented nicely with a good ranch dressing on the side, or chop and mix everything and good ranch dressing (I like Marie's Creamy dressing from the salad section of the store) and eat it right from the mixing bowl.

This has amazing texture and flavors, and if GF as long as your dressing!

Recie Links...

GlutenFreeGirl's GF ThanksgivingLinks

And a page I wish I'd had when I started down this path: 50+ GF Foods You Can Eat Today!

And two recipes I want to try:
Ooey Gooey  Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
And an adaptation of Pioneer Woman's  Cinnamon Rolls

Oh and given my recent fascination with Apple Betty, I want to try Apple Crisp

Product Review: Italian Bread

Joan's Italian Bread

Wow, I set this to rise on Saturday morning  as I started my stew. 


By 6pm it didn't look like much, just a tiny lump of dough. It looked smaller than a sub roll. But that's ok - perfect for me even. I didn't need to bake a whole baguette. 


So I brushed it with real melted butter and sprinkled sea salt on top and put it in the convection oven. However I forgot to time it, so I had to go based on guesstimate and sound of the bread. It could have used a few more minutes. My bad. 


However the bread was delightful!! It was crusty on the outside and a little gooey on the inside (that'll go away with proper timing). It was awesome fresh out of the oven Saturday night, and darn good Sunday toasted. 


I have 2 more loaves that came in the pack and look forward to baking them next weekend to go with my vegetable soup~

The house smells so good...

It's cold up here in MD today and I feel like dookey...so onto the stove went:

• Bacon grease left over from breakfast
• 2 Onions
• 2lg. spoonfuls of chopped garlic

I let that that cook on med-high for 10 or so minutes, until it was a nice clearish light brown (wish I'd had shrooms and celery)

To that mixture I added:

• 1lb stew beef
• 1 can gf beef broth
• 1c cheap Cabernet wine
• 2 lg bay leaves
• A large shake of Italian seasonings from Penzey's
• 20 baby carrots cut into thirds

About an hour before we eat I'll add more Italian seasoning and a pound or so of potato's. As needed I'll add more wine and/or broth.I may or may not add some arrowroot starch to thicken it into a real stew.

There's a loaf of frozen gluten-free, dairy-free bread rising on the kitchen window sill.

A taste of Fall

I was cooking for one tonight so I could play with my food some :)

In a well seasoned 6"cast iron fry pan I tossed 1/2 an apple sliced, a palmful of raisins and a palmful of craisins. I heated the pan and then added a salted & peppered pork chop. After it was browned I added some gf chicken broth and let it simmer.

In another small pan I boiled salted water and added thinly sliced cabbage only cooking it until it started to wilt & change color. Then I blanched it in cold water, added a little bit of butter and a lot of pepper. Back to burner #1 - I added broth as needed to keep the pan from drying out but not much. Once the chop was cooked I put it on top of the stewed cabbage and used a touch of broth to de-glaze the pan and make a sauce. I had a serving spoon of white rice from last night that I mixed with the de-glaze sauce and heated. Nummy I like my meat cooked with fruit and the only thing that would have made it better would be fall spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger), I'll add them next time!

Cheated w. Comfort Food

MyLove and I had a special date planned for last night - but I simply couldn't find the get-up-and-go so at 8:30 we put the kibash on going out and I began scrounging the cupboards for dinner makings. I couldn't find anything 'safe' that sounded good - so I made the conscious decision to kinda cheat. So here's what ended up on the (coffee) table...

Chix breast baked in Campbells Mushroom Soup (salt, pepper and herbs d'provance) (bake 350 - 1hr) (contains gluten) 
Uncle Bens Wild Rice (contains gluten) 
Green Pea's
Hot Chai Tea
Baked Apples w/ a crumble topping (gf oats, gf flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger) (bake 350 - 1/2hr)

• Dinner Friday was grilled steak & wilted spinach
• Breakfast Saturday was a a scrambled egg, corn grits, and 2 bacon.
• Lunch Saturday was steak sandwich w/ string cheese melted on the steak on Udi's break (yuck!) w/ raw spinach.
• Breakfast today was 2 bacon and 1/4 fried egg. And leftover apple crumble.
• Lunch today was an Udi;s white bread grilled cheese (yuck!)  & fruit cocktail.
• Tonight's dinner was a lettuce wrapped burger from The Burger Joint. And a few pieces of trick-or-treat candy. 

*&^% !!!!

Futher Mucker! I've been pretty good at reading labels - before I buy anything. 

But for a recent event I picked up these: 

And today happened to look at the ingredients: 

 

Who'da thunk chocolate would have wheat in it!!  

*&^% it! I'll look better next time!