Off the Handle: Garlicky Spinach and Bean Soup

This picture shows a promise of nicer weather....it was taken off the Connecticut coastline on Sheffield Island, from last summer.  It was a really beautiful place if you didn't care about the goose droppings or the vicious mosquitoes.  Just goes to show....there's usually good and bad in everything!

Last week I made a delicious soup to use up leftover beef broth.  It came out really nice.  There was nothing bad about it.  An exception to the statement above!!

Garlicky Spinach and Bean Soup

Put in a crock pot:

2 - 2 1/2 cups gluten free beef broth,
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes,
1 15.5-oz. can white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed,
6-8 cloves of garlic, run through a press, and
1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted. 

Cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Serve topped with GF bacon bits and parmesan....
OR....if you have some of that leftover cooked chicken sausage that I discussed in my last post, cut that up and spoon the soup over it!

Chicken Sausage

How I am fighting the winter blues:

1.  I have flowers.

2.  I got my hair done with low-lights.

3.  I am wearing bright colors.

4.  I write 10 good things about each day in my journal at night.

5.  I exercise at Zumba class.

Of course, you can't do the exercise at Zumba, get flowers, or get your hair done if you can't get out of the house.....luckily we have had a bit of a break here.  The sun shone all Sunday, and it was glorious. 

Still a lot of snow, however....

On Friday I got out to do errands, which took twice as long as it would normally due to the difficulties driving (it's hard to see around the high snowbanks) and parking (there are very few spaces available due to all the snow, which is piled up wherever they could figure).  Whole Foods had their chicken sausage on sale.  Their basic mild and hot chicken sausages are gluten free.  (Always check this!!)  I took eight home and cooked them up.  They can go with gluten free pasta, into sandwiches, in soups, or whatever!

Chicken Sausage

Put your sausages in an appropriate cast iron skillet.

Put in a half cup of water.

Turn on the heat, cover, and let it bubble away for a while.

I let mine cook for about 30 minutes.  You want to fully cook the meat.

Uncover.

Let the remaining water boil off.

Brown on each side.

Eat some and save some for other uses.



Off the Handle: Almond-Ricotta Tea Biscuits

This is another photo from early January in Woodstock, VT. 

Don't expect any non-snow related photos anytime soon.....

Last weekend I perused online for ways to use up ricotta in a gluten free cookie.  I couldn't really find what I wanted.  I wound up with pretty much my own creation.

As I worked, I thought, "What the heck am I doing?"
Then I figured, "How bad could it be?  The ingredients are awesome!"

Turns out it was good enough for the blog.  (Not everything is!)

I sent these to John at college, where he and his friends consumed them quickly.  They are tender cookies, not-too-sweet.  A wonderful way to serve them is in a small bowl, topped with strawberries and whipped cream....kind of a mini strawberry shortcake.  (Amazingly enough, we have strawberries in the grocery store, thanks to the state of Florida!)

Almond-Ricotta Tea Biscuits
(Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream 1/2 cup butter
with 3/4 cup sugar.

Add 1 cup ricotta (I used the full fat version)
and 1 egg.
Blend thoroughly.  Stop to scrape the mixer bowl a few times!

Add 2 cups almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill).

Mix in 10-16 oz gluten free baking mix, or pancake mix.
(I used Whole Foods brand, but I don't think they are making that anymore, so the next time I probably will substitute gluten free Bisquick or something similar.)

Roll into 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls (about 1 Tbs each).

Roll these into turbinado sugar (or perhaps cinnamon sugar).

I think you need something with color here, like the brownish turbinado sugar or cinnamon sugar.  Once baked, the cookie itself is quite "white," even though it browns a bit on the bottom.  That will look a little weird without some kind of covering....

Place the balls onto parchment paper on baking sheets. 
Flatten each ball slightly with the bottom of a glass.

Bake 12 minutes.  Cool slightly, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

 

Update on 5/31/2013:  I made these again, using not quite a full box of Maple Grove Farms GF Pancake & Waffle Mix, probably about 11 oz, until I had a stiff dough that looked like it would work.  These spread out a bit more than the batch above, but they tasted awesome, and traveled well in a box to New Mexico.  We again enjoyed some of them with strawberries and whipped cream, but alone they make a darn good cookie.

 

This recipe is a keeper!

 

 

 

 





Good Ol' Family Favorite Chili

I knitted this nice, cozy cowl for myself.  I wore it the next day after completing it....and I love it!  We need cozy and comforting things in this wild winter weather.

Here is one of my very favorite recipes.  It's one that my family has enjoyed for ages,
and has always been gluten free. 

HH's Good Ol' Family Favorite Chili

Take your cast iron skillet and brown 1-2 lbs of ground beef or turkey.  Drain any fat.

Browning is an important step.  Once I tried to skip this step....
the results were not pleasant!  :(

Mix the browned meat in your crock pot with:

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes,
1 6-oz can tomato paste,
1/2 cup water,
1-2 chopped onions,
1 19-oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed,
garlic or garlic powder to taste,
1 Tbs chili powder, and
1/2 tsp salt.

Optional additions:
 1-2 red, green or yellow peppers, chopped,
1 tsp oregano, and/or
1/2-1 tsp cumin.

Cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Serve with some shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. 

This is a comforting dish on a cold day!

MMMM.....hot and luscious!

Peter had to put a smiley face on his!

Off the Handle: Holiday Pea Soup with Ham

Here is a photo of the snow coming down, looking beautiful. 
It was hard to capture the flakes, but the sky looked kind of like this:

Unfortunately, all this snow has resulted in this....picturesque, but not good for the roof:

Here is what it looks like when the ice dams leak water into your home:

I wanted to post yesterday, but I was a little busy with the roof clearing operation. 
Trust me, this is an all-day affair, even with four adults working at it.
(A big THANK YOU to Katie and Andy for their help!)

The recipe for today is a nice one for after a cold and wet day of work. 
Unfortunately, I somehow never took photos when I made it after Christmas. 
(I think we are generally too excited when enjoying this soup to remember taking photos.) 

This is the last of my winter "holiday" recipes.  It's only a "holiday" recipe because that is when we tend to have a HoneyBaked Ham, specifically Christmas and Easter.  These hams are awesome!  I have never had pea soup from a HoneyBaked Ham bone that didn't get devoured quickly.  And yes....they are gluten free!

Holiday Pea Soup with Ham
Serves 8.

This takes all afternoon (4 hours or so), so plan ahead!

Rinse a 1-lb package of dried green split peas.

Put it in an 8-qt. pot.  Add 8 cups of water,
bring to a boil on the stove, let it boil a minute,
then turn off the heat, cover it, and let it sit an hour.

Do not drain....Add a ham bone from a HoneyBaked Half Ham (or your favorite ham). 
If you want, you can tie the bone in some cheesecloth to keep little bones from separating out.
Cover it again, turn the stove to low, and let it simmer an hour. 

Turn off the heat again.  Take out your ham bone and put it on a platter.  Let it cool a little.  Take a knife and pull off the meat.  Cut up the meat into small pieces.  I am pretty picky at this point, and if it's not a piece of meat I'd love to pop into my mouth then and there, then I don't use it.  I don't go for fatty pieces!

Make sure there are no little bones sitting around in your pot. 

Put the cut-up meat back into the pot.  Discard the bone and other stuff.  I usually put this into a plastic bag before putting it in the trash.  Who wants messy trash?

Add a chopped onion, a shredded carrot, and some parsley. 
You may want to add more leftover ham, if you have it. 

Turn on your stove's burner to low again and let it simmer another 2 hours. 

Taste and see how the seasonings are.  I don't believe I ever had to add anything at this point.  The saltiness/flavor from the ham is perfect!

This is one of those dishes that actually tastes even better the second day.

Beef and Veggies in a Skillet

Today we have snow yet again.  Tomorrow afternoon we are expecting the beginning of still another storm. 

The unusually intense weather here in Connecticut is wearing on all of the residents.  It makes me just want to curl up and hibernate for remainder of the winter with a good book....but instead, I get up, use the treadmill, shovel snow, get to work when it's possible, clean up all the tracked-in debris when we forget to take off shoes, and make dinner.

A cast iron skillet is great because I can whip up dinners with relative ease, browning meat on the stovetop and then finishing a dish in the oven.  Recently I made the following with items I had in the house.  Everyone loved it!  It would be easy to adapt this method to using other meats and vegetables. 

Beef and Veggies in a Skillet

Serves 6

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a 12" skillet,

brown 2 lbs lean ground beef

with 1 onion, chopped, and

2 peppers of various colors, chopped.

(I used a whole red pepper, half of a yellow pepper, and half of an orange one.)

Add 2 potatoes, diced, and

1 can stewed tomatoes.

Bake one hour, loosely covered with foil.

Sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Cover and let sit 10 minutes while it melts.

Serve!

Off the Handle: Pizzelle and Cannoli

When I was in Vermont earlier this month, I found it fascinating to take pictures of the fire in the giant fireplace at the Woodstock Inn.  Every photo is different. 

Then again, not much beats sitting by a roaring fireplace that someone else is taking care of....including the cleanup of it all!

I have been meaning to post the following recipe.  I developed my gluten free pizzelle recipe last winter.  I purchased a brand new pizzelle maker (by VillaWare), and proceeded using Pamela's Baking Mix.  I was so excited at the result that I was literally jumping up and down in my kitchen!  They were fabulous, and at LEAST as good as the standard/gluten-filled version.  (I think they're actually better!)

If you wind a flexible hot pizzelle (right off the pizzelle baker) around a cannoli tube and let it cool that way, you can fill it with a ricotta mixture and actually have cannoli!!  With gluten free eating, where there's a will there's a way! 

If you already own a pizzelle baker and have previously used it for regular pizzelle with gluten, I would be wary of using it for someone who truly needs a gluten free diet.  The crumbs seem pretty impossible to totally clean out.  Proceed at your own risk. 


HH's GF Pizzelle

(Makes about 30)

½ cup butter (1 stick)
2-1/2 to 2-3/4 cups GF Baking Mix (Pamela’s Baking mix is awesome! But…otherwise, try a different pancake mix, or GF Bisquick, or a mixture of GF Flours with 1 tsp xanthan gum and 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ tsp anise extract (opt.)

Melt butter in microwave, in two 20-sec spurts. Allow to cool slightly. Put it in a bowl with the ¾ cup of sugar and mix it up.

Put your flour blend into a large bowl.

Beat eggs into the sugar/butter mixture. Add vanilla and anise and blend.

Put egg mixture into the large bowl over the flour mixture. Blend it well. Make sure there isn’t a clump of dry baking mix hiding underneath all of your nice dough. It should have a soft, dough-like quality (not stiff).

Bake using a pizzelle iron per manufacturer's instructions. I use 1 Tbs. measure per cookie and bake them for 30-40 sec. (Watch for when steam subsides somewhat. I used a timer to time 35 seconds.)   Obviously, this takes a while when you can only bake two pizzelle at a time.  Turn on some rock music and dance around in between.  When you are making pizzelle, it's easy to dance because they are so yummy!!!

Let cool on rack, then transfer to a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Optional: Roll some hot, pliable pizzelle (fresh from the baker) around cannoli forms, using a towel underneath the area for ease of rolling and to ensure a GF surface.  Allow to cool.  Fill with cannoli filling just before serving. 

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Cannoli filling:

Drain a 15-oz container of whole milk ricotta in the fridge for a few hours or more. (Use a strainer.)

Mix this mixture with ½ cup of powdered sugar and ½ tsp vanilla.

Fills 8 cannoli.