The Gluten-Free Homemaker

My monthly challenge is back, and for August the challenge is to create a pesto.  This pesto is one that my family has enjoyed for several years.  Unfortunately, I put too much garlic in this particular time and had their mouths burning!  If you like broccoli, I think you’ll enjoy this.  Just go easy on the garlic.

If you do find the garlic is too strong, try cooking the pesto a bit.  I used the leftovers in a variety of ways and we found the garlic was fine after I heated the pesto in a skillet for a few minutes.

Broccoli is one of our favorite vegetables, so I’m not sure what someone who doesn’t like broccoli will think.  If they don’t like the texture, putting it in pesto will change it.  If they don’t like the taste, pesto changes that some too, but not completely.  Give it a try and see what they say.  If it works, it’s another great way to get them to eat their veggies!

This recipe includes nuts and cheese as is traditional with pesto.  However, you can leave one or the other out.  I think the pesto would really suffer if you leave out both, but omitting either the nuts or the cheese works.

Also, the broccoli makes a pretty thick pesto.  I ended up adding more oil to the pesto shown above.  You could also cut back on the broccoli.  Either way, it’s good.

Broccoli Pesto

• 1 Medium head of broccoli
• 1-2 cloves garlic (I used 2 large cloves and it was too much)
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1/4 c. walnuts
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/3 c. olive oil (more if needed)

Wash, cut, and steam the broccoli until it is tender but not overcooked.  Place the broccoli, garlic, cheese, salt & pepper in the bowl of your food processor using the regular chopping blade.  Process until the broccoli is finely chopped.  Keep the processor running and slowly add the olive oil through the tube until combined.  Serve with pasta.

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This post is linked to the following food carnivals.  The links you will find there are not necessarily gluten-free, but many are naturally gluten-free or can easily be adapted.

• Delicious Dishes
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
• Real Food Wednesday

Labels: other recipes

I have mentioned the zucchini I’m getting from my garden, but this week the main produce item is cucumbers.  I’m not much of a gardener and have only done it the past couple of years.  Last year I planted about six cucumber plants.  They were large burpless cucumbers and we had them coming out our ears.  So this year I only planted three cucumber plants, and they were the small pickling cucumber variety.  I thought that would be just right for us.  Well, the plants took off, and I still have cucumbers coming out my ears!  Next year I think we will have one cucumber plant.  I really need to go for more variety in my garden, but since I’m a beginner, I like having just a few things that I know will do well.

This granita was born out of the need to find some way to use these cucumbers.  Of course, I know what your thinking—make pickles!  We are really not that fond of pickles.  I chose pickling cucumbers because they are small and have nice edible skin.  I have thought about making pickles to give as gifts, but then I have to get into canning.  For now, I’m giving away cucumbers, eating cucumbers, and making this granita.  I originally called it a sorbet because I made it in my new ice cream maker.  But in the end, it was more like a granita.  I forgot to take pictures when I first made it, and once you freeze what’s left, it definitely becomes a granita.  It freezes together pretty solidly and has to be broken up or shaved.

I’ll admit that the kids weren’t too fond of it.   They didn’t say it was bad, it was just weird.  You have to prepare yourself for that fact that it is not a fruity or creamy dessert.  It will taste like cucumbers.  However, if you like cucumbers and mint, I think you will enjoy this.  If you don’t like mint, you could try substituting another herb such as fresh dill.

Cucumber Mint Granita

• 4 c. peeled, seeded, chopped cucumber
• 1 1/2 tsp. chopped mint leaves
• 1/3 c. sugar (or to taste)
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp. salt (I used 1/4 but will try less the next time)

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until the cucumbers are pureed.  Turn on your ice cream maker and add the mixture.  Mine only took about 10 – 15 minutes.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour it into a large flat container (a 9 x 13 inch pan works well)  and freeze.  About every 30 minutes stir and/or scrape the mixture to break it up.  You can use a fork to “shave” it. 

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More Cucumber Ideas


If you are looking for more cucumber recipes, last year I made cucumber lemonade, and this week Shirley posted a cucumber chickpea bruschetta.  Do you have any favorite cucumber recipes?

This post is linked to some great food carnivals:

• Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
• Delicious Dishes
• Ultimate Recipe Swap

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts, other recipes

Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free is a monthly blog carnival that is run by Naomi of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried.  However, each month the carnival is hosted by a different blogger.  June’s hostess is Zoe's of Z’s Cup of Tea.  There is still time to join this month’s carnival since Zoe extended the deadline to Sunday, June 27th.  Click on the link for more details.

Zoe’s theme for this month is Dairy-Free Delights.  That’s perfect for me since I recently began eating dairy free.  Ironically, I’m doing my first dairy challenge today, and I’m sitting here eating ice cream since it is almost 100 degrees outside.  However, I have been very strict since beginning my dairy-free diet over a month ago. I accidentally ate dairy twice in the first week or so, but since then I’ve been as careful as I am with gluten. I’m surprised I haven’t noticed a difference in how I feel, but there are a lot of things that play into that and I might have other food intolerances as well.  I’m doing this challenge because I’m curious to see how I’ll react.  However, I’m planning on staying dairy-free for a while.

I can’t wait to see what other dairy-free delights are submitted.  Though I was excited about the theme, I realized earlier this week that the deadline was almost here, and I didn’t have anything to submit.  That’s when I decided to make a dairy-free creamy pasta sauce.  The thing I don’t like about this recipe is that it requires using an ingredient that may not be readily available to most people.  Maybe it is, I just don’t know.  I found Mimiccreme cream substitute at my local health food store.  It is gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, but it does contain nuts.  I used the unsweetened variety.

We were very impressed with this cream sauce.  My middle son who is not a big cheese fan said that he liked it much better than regular Alfredo sauce.  I found the Mimiccreme to be thinner than regular cream, and therefore I added some cornstarch to thicken it up.  This is a very simple and versatile recipe, and I hope you feel free to play around with it.

Dairy-Free Cream Sauce

• 3 Tb. coconut oil
• 3 Tb. olive oil
• 1 1/2 c. Mimiccreme (unsweetened)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 Tb. corn starch
• 3 Tb. cold water
• salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil until melted.  Add the olive oil, Mimiccreme, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.  Heat and stir until hot.  In a small bowl or cup, stir together the corn starch and cold water.  Add to the skillet and stir to combine.  Heat and stir until bubbly and slightly thickened.  Stir in salt and pepper to taste.  Mine looked like this:


At this point, you can put it on pasta or whatever you like, or you can add more to it.  I added ground beef that I had cooked and frozen.  I added a lot for two reasons.  One, I was cleaning out my freezer and it needed to be used.  Two, my oldest son has a summer job where he is physically active and works long, hot hours.  He comes home very hungry and consumes large quantities of food.  So after adding meat, mine looked like this:



Afterwards, I wished I had not put so much meat in and just saved the extra for my son to add to his, but once it was in there I couldn’t do much about it.  I would like to make this sauce again and just enjoy the sauce by itself on pasta.  It really was good.

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This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.  Stop by for more fabulous food mad a little bit healthier.

Labels: other recipes

I don’t make sauces or gravies very often, but with Thanksgiving and other holidays just around the corner I thought some of you might be interested in a gluten-free cheese sauce recipe.

I made this the other night to put on cauliflower.  I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but I bought a head of it a couple of weeks ago with some recipe in mind.  I then forgot where I saw the recipe and the cauliflower just sat in my refrigerator.  The other day my husband said, “I keep seeing that cauliflower in the frig, but it never shows up on my plate.  Why don’t you just cook it and serve it with cheese sauce.”  So that is what I did.

This sauce uses sweet rice flour.  If you don’t have any you can use rice flour or even corn starch.  Sweet rice flour is worth having around, though.  You don’t need a lot, but it’s great for thickening sauces, gravies, and soups. 

Gluten-Free Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 c. milk
• 1 Tb. butter
• 1 Tb. sweet rice flour (or rice flour)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 oz. or 3/4 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions
In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour.  Add the butter and salt and heat on medium high heat, whisking frequently, until the sauce starts to boil and thickens a little.  Reduce heat and stir in the cheese.  You can add more cheese if you desire.  Stir until the cheese is melted.

Labels: other recipes

My youngest son wanted to grow tomatoes this year, so we have two plants in our garden. With the very wet spring we had, the plants did well and are now producing lots of fruit—more than we eat. I don’t eat raw tomatoes at all and while the rest of the family does eat them, they don’t eat a lot. I’ve given away some, but many people have their own plants or a neighbor who does. That left me thinking about how I could use the tomatoes. I didn’t want to get into canning or really anything that was a lot of work. I settled on trying to make sun dried tomatoes.

I’ll let you in on a secret right away—they were not dried in the sun, but in my oven. If you have a dehydrator that’s even better. Despite the fact that it was a hot August day, I didn’t notice the oven being on all day (about 9 hours) because it was set at 200 degrees. I’m sure it made some difference in the house, but it wasn’t noticeable.

Since I’m not a big tomato eater, I have never eaten sun dried tomatoes. Therefore, I’m not exactly sure what they are supposed to be like. I’m hoping I have dried them enough. I read instructions at several sites, all of which differed slightly, and ended up doing the following.

First, I cut the tomatoes in half, removed the stem part, and took out the seeds. I used my finger to scoop out the seeds and the liquidy part they are in.



Next, I cut the tomatoes in half again, cutting parallel to the last cut. This left me with slices that were about 3/4 inch thick. I then removed more seeds that the second cut exposed.



Then I laid the slices on cookie sheets that were sprayed with non-stick spray. I lightly brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt. For some, I added garlic powder and dried basil to the oil.



Finally, I baked the trays at 200 degrees for about 9 hours. After about 7 hours I started removing some of the smallest pieces and I kept an eye on them over the next two hours, removing pieces as they were done. By done I mean that they looked sufficiently shrunk and darkened, but not black. I expected them to be more dry, but that might be because of the oil.



I stored the tomatoes in a zip lock freezer bag. I removed most of the air by using a straw, and placed the bag in the freezer so we can enjoy tomatoes later in the year.


If you’re a fan of sun dried tomatoes, I’d love to hear from you. Have you made them yourself? What is your favorite use for them?

Check out Tutorial Tuesday for more step by step instructions on doing things, and be sure to visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang for more tomato recipes.

Labels: other recipes

I’m not a natural gardener. I don’t know why; it’s in my genes. I just don’t have much natural talent for gardening. That doesn’t mean, of course, that I can’t learn and improve, so it is something I’m working on. Last year we did a little bit of container gardening. This year we branched out and planted a small garden with 7 cucumber plants, two tomato plants, one zucchini, and one bell pepper plant.  It turns out that this was a good year to plant a garden because we’ve had LOTS of rain. As you can see in the picture above, my cucumber plants are doing quite well.

We are now harvesting large burpless cucumbers daily. This picture shows a small sample of what we’ve gotten so far.  They look a bit yellow in the picture, but really those parts are white. I’m not sure if it’s this variety or if there is another reason they are pale. They have all tasted good. If you have any tips for me, please leave a comment.

We’ve given away a few, and today I’m sending some to work with my husband for him to give away.  We just can’t eat them all. We enjoy cucumber on salads, but my favorite way to eat them (and I’ve passed this on to at least one of my kids) is on a cucumber and peanut butter sandwich.  My parents introduced me to this sandwich and it was always one of my favorite lunches to take to school. It may sound strange to some of you, but it’s not too different than eating celery and peanut butter.

Making the sandwich is quite simple. First you spread peanut butter on both slices of bread. Then you slice a cucumber and layer the slices on one piece of bread. Put the other piece of bread on top and you’re done.

 

 

 

 

 

In case you’re wondering about the bread, I made this from Pamela’s gluten free bread mix. It’s my favorite sandwich bread.

Yesterday, I ran out of bread and was looking for ways to use the cucumbers. I came across this cucumber recipe file, and saw a recipe for cucumber lemonade. That sounded strange but appealing!  I tried it and really liked it. Here is my version of the recipe.

Cucumber Lemonade

Ingredients

• 1 large cucumber, peeled seeded, and cut in chunks (about 2 cups)
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 lemons, juiced
• water

Instructions

Put the cucumber and about 1 1/2 cups of water in a blender. Blend until pureed well. Strain the liquid into a pitcher and discard the pulp. Add the sugar and about 1 cup water to the blender. Blend thoroughly to dissolve the sugar. Add to the pitcher. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the pitcher. Add enough water to make 8 cups of liquid. Stir and serve over ice.

The theme of today’s Friday Foodie Fix is…..cucumbers! That worked out perfectly for me. Visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang for more cucumber ideas.

Labels: other recipes

When I was first diagnosed with celiac disease, I was also suffering from a corn allergy. Because of that allergy, I learned that vanilla extract has corn syrup in it (at least the ones I found in the store). That information led me to learn how to make my own vanilla extract. I never went back to store bought vanilla.

There are quite a few different recipes out there for making vanilla extract. For the quantity I am making, some recipes call for six vanilla beans, others call for three. I use four.

To get started you need a pint of vodka, brandy or rum. I have always used rum, but in searching again recently for recipes I have read that vodka is the best. You also need some vanilla beans. You might find some at a health food store, but you will likely find better prices online. I ordered through Amazon and bought a pack of 16 beans for $14.95 with free shipping.

If you've never seen a vanilla bean, the picture above shows several. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see that the one under the knife has been slit open. This is done to all the beans. They should be slit lengthwise, but not cut all the way through. And that is almost all there is to it. Slit four beans, put them in a pint of vodka, brandy or rum, and close the lid. Now you need to give it time and some shaking. For the first week, shake the bottle a few times a day. Gradually decrease shaking time over the next month. You will be able to see the extract turning darker. It should sit at least a couple of months before using it. Three months is probably better. I leave the beans in the jar until it is empty. You can top off the bottle with fresh liquor occasionally to keep it going, but I have not actually tried this. What I usually do is every time I start using a new bottle of vanilla, I start making another one. Sometimes I use two beans from the old bottle with two new beans. Like I said, I have read a variety of methods for making vanilla, so you can play around with it and decide what you like best.

The picture on the right shows the bottle I am currently using and a bottle I just started. I'm starting four bottles today. One is for me and the rest will be for Christmas gifts. I will probably look for some nice looking bottles to put the extract in before giving it as a gift. I will also probably divide the pints but keep at least one bean in each bottle to continue giving it flavor.

Making your own vanilla extract is certainly cheaper than buying any brand name extracts. I spent total of $10.75 per 16 ounces on the bottles I just made. I did see a store brand today that was pure extract that would cost less than making your own, but I don't know how the quality is. I do know that it was in a plastic bottle, and I prefer glass. Many people say that making your own gives you much better quality. Depending on how strong it is, you may be able to use less than the amount of vanilla called for in recipes. Personally, I have gotten in the habit of doing it, and I really like it, so I will continue to make my own.

For more kitchen tips visit Tammy's Recipes-Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

Labels: frugal tips, homemaking tips, other recipes