The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Do you remember the bread crust quiche I shared two weeks ago?  Here is the other quiche I made that night.  My family preferred this one to the other, and I think I will make it again.  The tortillas made a nice thin crust, though I still think no crust at all is a delicious and easy way to make any quiche. 

Gluten-Free Mexican Quiche

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

• 5 corn tortillas
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. salsa
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Line the pie plate with corn tortillas like this:



Beat the eggs in a bowl then mix everything else in.  Pour the filling into the pie dish and baked it at 350 degrees about 35 minutes.  Mine looked like this:



The pieces of tortilla that were sticking up were too hard to eat, but the rest was very good.  We enjoyed the flavors, and I bet many of you would too.

Be sure to come back Wednesday for the quiche roundup.

This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

Labels: egg, main dish recipes

One evening last week I had a craving for macaroni and cheese.  It is such a comfort food, but not one I’m in the mood for very often.  I had seen a couple of good looking recipes recently, but I only wanted it made one way – like Mom’s.  What is more comforting than eating a tasty dish your mom has made for years?

Mom doesn’t have an exact recipe, so I had to come up with the amounts.  Sadly, I forgot the butter.  It was still good, but didn’t taste quite the same.  I think Mom usually uses more butter than what I put in the recipe, but it doesn’t take much to give it that buttery flavor.  You could cut back on it or leave it out as I did if you’re concerned about the calories, but remember it is macaroni and cheese.

As for the pasta, macaroni is one of my least favorite shapes.  I love penne, but decided to use spirals this time.  I used Tinkyada brand (as always), but any gluten-free pasta should work well.

Mom’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

• 16 oz. gluten-free pasta
• 8 oz. evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• salt & pepper
• 8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
  
  

Instructions
Cook and drain the pasta according to package instructions.  Spray or butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. Combine the milk and eggs.  Put half the pasta in the dish.  Drizzle half the butter over the pasta, then half the milk mixture.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Put half the shredded cheese on top.  Repeat the layers.  Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes or until the egg mixture has set.

Note:  I’m guessing at the amount of cheese.  Use as much or little as you like.

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday.

Labels: egg, main dish recipes

Welcome to “What can I eat that’s gluten free?’ Everyone has trouble figuring out what to eat sometimes, but it can be harder if you’re on a gluten-free diet. Hopefully, you will find some ideas here, and please feel free to add your own link. You can read the guidelines here.

Back in May I told you about a Veggies on Eggs dinner I made. It contained asparagus and other veggies. Although we loved it, I hadn’t made it again until recently. Now it’s on my list of quick and easy dinners. The nice thing is it’s very versatile. This time I made it with broccoli, zucchini, onions, and garlic. I also added some bacon. A conversation with my 15 year old went like this:

Son: “Didn’t you make this before?”
Me: “Yes. It had asparagus the last time.”
Son: “Oh. Asparagus is always a plus.”
Me: “This time it has bacon.”
Son: “Oh! Bacon is always a plus.”

It’s not like he didn’t care for the veggies that were in it. He’s very fond of broccoli, but I hadn’t realized he liked asparagus that much. It’s always good to know these things.

Recipe/Directions:

Scramble some eggs. Fry some bacon. Stir fry some veggies. Cut the bacon and add it to the veggies. Place the eggs on a platter or in a baking dish. Top it with the veggies and bacon. Serve! Some fresh bread goes very well with it.

1. Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free (Blueberry Tiramisu topped w/Greek Yogurt) 2. Heather (Easy Garlic Shrimp Pasta)

3. Ali (Whole Life Nutrition) Whole Grain GF Waffles 4. Meatloaf and Pan-fried potatoes

5. The W.H.O.L.E. Gang-Good Food No Matter What- Scrapple 6. Gina (Forbidden rice, chicken)

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Labels: egg, main dish recipes, What can I eat?

This week we’re doing things differently and having a lunch edition of What’s for Dinner Wednesday. Add a link to your gluten-free lunch idea. Or, if you forgot, go ahead and add a dinner idea. You can read the guidelines here.

I eat lunch at home 99% of the time so I have the advantage of being able to use the stove. Many times I eat dinner leftovers and simply warm them up. I also like to use pieces of a leftover meal and add to it. I often have a fried rice lunch that isn’t necessarily a traditional fried rice but good none the less. Sometimes I don’t use rice at all, but substitute leftover pasta

Examples of what I use in fried rice include:

• leftover rice or rice/quinoa mix
• leftover pasta
• leftover meat, cut in small pieces
• turkey bacon (cooked and cut in pieces)
• leftover or fresh veggies
• egg (especially if I’m not using meat)

You probably know how to fix fried rice, but if you don’t it is very easy. Heat a large skillet and add a little oil. I like to use extra virgin olive oil. Add any fresh veggies that need to be cooked. Stir them around in the oil. Keep the heat pretty high and stir them often so they don’t burn. When the veggies are almost done, add the meat, rice, quinoa, or pasta. Heat through.

If you don’t use meat (or even if you do) and you want to add egg, I cook it last. While the rest of the ingredients are heating I break one or two eggs in a bowl and beat them lightly. I then push all the ingredients in the pan to one side and add the egg to the empty side. The egg cooks up quickly and then can be mixed into the rest.

Many people add soy sauce, but I prefer to just use salt and pepper.

In the picture above I used leftover rice and quinoa, bacon, broccoli, onion and egg.

In the picture to the left I used leftover brown rice, onion, mushrooms, and egg.

As you can see, the basic recipe idea can be used in many different ways.

I look forward to reading your lunch (or dinner) ideas!! We’ll be back to doing dinner ideas next week.

1. Heather (Rice Paper Wraps) 2. The W.H.O.L.E. Gang -Salad for a Locavore with Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette 3. WendyGK(Spring Rolls/Salad)

4. Rachel (Egg Drop Soup) 5. Gluten & Dairy-Free Living (Turkey Quesadillas) 6. Mikki (hamburger salad)

7. Manda (wild rice eggplant salad) 8. Brian (Strawberry Pate de Fruit lunch snack)

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Labels: egg, main dish recipes, What's for Dinner Wednesday

(another variation of the recipe)

I looked at the clock. It was 5:30 p.m., and I knew I didn’t have time to fix the dinner I had planned. I hadn’t even thawed the meat.  Tomorrow is shopping day, so I didn’t have any fresh meat in the refrigerator. I did bake a loaf of gluten-free sorghum bread earlier in the day, but I needed something to go with it. I put on my creative thinking cap, pulled some odds and ends vegetables out of the frig and came up with this:

That’s right. Veggies on eggs. Here are a few comments that came from the family:

• Oh, that will make a nice picture.
• I never would have thought of serving asparagus with eggs, but it’s good.
• Scrambled eggs go well with anything.
• This is good.

The Recipe:
I chopped up and sautéed in butter: asparagus, orange pepper, leeks, and green onions. I set the veggies aside and scrambled the eggs in the same skillet. I made two eggs per person and added seasoned salt. I then spread the eggs out on a platter and topped them with the veggies. I served it with the fresh bread which everyone loves.

There was one more comment that came from the table as I finished off a few stray veggies, “Mom just took a leek.” Sigh. Smile. Life with four guys. You gotta laugh.

Although it’s not time for What’s for Dinner Wednesday, I wanted to tell you about tonight’s dinner. I also wanted to participate in the. If you haven’t visited Erin’s blog, she has lots of great inexpensive dinner ideas. She also has a child who eats gluten free.

For more great recipes, visit  Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, $5 Dinner Challenge, and Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Labels: egg, main dish recipes, what's for dinner

Last night I got creative and made my own casserole. Now you have to keep in mind that the word creative is relative. I’m not a terribly creative person, and my family’s tastes are limited. Therefore, by creative I mean that I made it up, not that it’s very exciting, interesting, or unique. My family did like it very much, however, so I will share my recipe with you.

If any of you who are more creative than I am have any bright ideas for a better name, let me know.

Bacon, Egg & Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 c. white rice (uncooked)
• 1 c. quinoa (uncooked)
• 3-4 c. chicken broth
• 6 eggs
• 6 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon)
• 6 baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 recipe gluten-free cream of mushroom soup
• shredded cheese (cheddar)

Instructions

Cook the rice and quinoa together in chicken broth. I used 3 cups of broth and cooked it for 5 minutes under low pressure in my pressure cooker. It could also be cooked using the regular stovetop method or in a rice cooker.

Once you get the rice cooking, start frying the bacon until crispy. Slice or chop the mushrooms and sauté them in a little oil or butter. Beat the eggs together and scramble them on the stovetop. Don’t cook them too dry since they will be baked with the casserole.

Make the cream of mushroom soup (cream of chicken would work just as well). I had a lot of pots and pans going for this recipe, but the cleanup wasn’t too bad.

When the rice is done, combine everything except for the cheese, and spread it into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The ingredients are already hot or at least warm, and everything is cooked so it doesn’t need to bake long.

Note: You could substitute brown rice for the white rice, or either brown or white rice for the quinoa. For that matter, you could use all quinoa. This combination worked well for my family. They are not especially fond of brown rice or quinoa, but they didn’t mind the quinoa in this recipe at all.

Have you done any creative cooking this week?

Labels: egg, main dish recipes, pork

Here is my casserole creation for the week. I intended to go to the grocery store today, but it has been pouring down rain so I decided to wait until tomorrow. Since I hadn’t gotten any meat out of the freezer, I had to give some thought to my protein options. I decided on eggs and cheese because I had plenty, and we love them. I combined the eggs with pasta and my own sauce. The sauce amounts given are just an estimate; I didn’t measure the ingredients.

Gluten-Free Egg and Pasta Casserole

Ingredients

• 12 oz. penne, cooked (I used Tinkyada brown rice penne)
• 8 large eggs, hard boiled and chopped (good sized chunks)
• 1/2 c. grated cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

Sauce

• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. mayonnaise
• 1/3 c. ranch salad dressing
• 1 tsp. dill weed
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine the pasta, eggs, and cheese. In a separate bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Add to the other ingredients and toss to coat. Spoon into a medium sized casserole dish (2 1/2 – 3 quart). Sprinkle some additional cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This was very good. As I said, we love eggs, and this casserole was just another great way to eat them!

So what did you have for dinner?

Visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang for more egg recipes.

Labels: egg, main dish recipes, what's for dinner

I was cleaning up when I came across this recipe that I clipped from a Woman's Day magazine. I decided to fix it for lunch. My youngest son shared it with me, and we both liked it. The picture is taken before I added salt and pepper. It definitely needs some seasoning, and next time I might try adding some dill or Italian seasoning.


Egg and Potato Skillet
Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add diced potato and chopped onion. Saute until almost done. Add diced zucchini and cook until almost tender. Add about 1 Tablespoon of water, break an egg (or more) on top, cover, and cook until the eggs are done, about 5 - 7 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

There are many tasty, healthy recipes that are naturally gluten-free, and this is one of them!

Labels: egg, main dish recipes

I usually take a break from blogging on Sundays, but I have to share with you something I made. It is a combiniation of ideas I got from Carol Fenster's Gluten-Free Quick & Easy. I only had part of a loaf of gluten-free bread so I made these sandwiches using half slices.

I buttered half of the slices of bread and put them buttered side down on a cookie sheet. I then put a slice of cheese on each piece of bread. Next, I used a small (about 1 1/2 inch) round cookie cutter to cut a hole in the middle of the remaining slices of bread and in slices of ham. I put the ham on the cheese and topped it with the slice of bread. With the holes in the ham and bread lined up, I broke an egg into each hole. Then I topped each sandwich with a little grated cheese. I baked them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

The family loved these sandwiches! The slices of bread and ham were fairly thick so even though we each got only half slice sized sandwiches they were filling. Give it a try some time. I bet you'll like it too.

Labels: egg, main dish recipes

When it comes to quiche, one way to get around the gluten issue is to simply eliminate the crust. That's easy enough! Here is a simple recipe that you can use for any meal. My family likes it plain, but you could easily add some herbs to this.

Crustless Quiche

Labels: beef, egg, main dish recipes